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physalian · 2 months

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What No One Tells You About Writing Fantasy

Every author has their preferred genres. I love fantasy and sci-fi, but began with historical fiction. I hated all the research that historical fiction demands and thought, if I build my own world, no research required.

Boy, was I wrong.

So to anyone dipping their toe into fantasy/sci-fi, here’s seven things I wish I knew about the genres before I committed to writing for them.

1. You still have to research. Everything.

If you want any of your fantasy battle sequences, or your space ships, or your droids and robots, or your fictional government and fictional politics to read at all believable.

In sci-fi, you research astronomy, robotics, politics, political science, history, engineering, anthropology. In fantasy, you have to research historical battle tactics, geography, real-world mythology, folklore, and fairytales, and much of it overlaps with science fiction.

I say you *have to* assuming you want your work to be original and unique and stand out from the crowd. Fanfic writers put in the research for a 30k word smut fic, you can and will have to research for your original work.

2. Naming everything gets exhausting

I hate coming up with new names, especially when I write worlds and places divorced from Earthly customs and can’t rely on Earthly naming conventions. You have to name all your characters, all your towns, villages, cities, realms, kingdoms, planets, galaxies, star systems.

You have to name your rebel faction, your imperial government, significant battles. Your spaceships, your fantasy companies and organizations, your magic system, made-up MacGuffins, androids, computer programs. The list goes on and on and on.

And you have to do it all without it sounding and reading ridiculous and unpronounceable, or racist. Your fantasy realms have to have believable naming patterns. It. Gets. Exhausting.

3. It will never read like you’re watching a movie

Do you know how fast movies can cut between scenes? Movies can balance five plotlines at once all converging with rapid edits, without losing their audience. Sometimes single lines of dialogue, or single wordless shots are all a scene gets before it cuts. If you try to replicate that by head-hopping around, you will make a mess.

It’s perfectly fine to write like you’re watching a movie, but you can’t rely on visual tricks to get your point across when all you have is text on a page – like slow mo, lens flares, epically lit cinematic shots, or the aforementioned rapid edits.

It doesn’t have to, nor should it, look like a movie. Books existed long before film, so don’t let yourself get caught up in how ~cinematic~ it may or may not look.

4. Your space opera will be compared to Star Wars and Star Trek

And your fairy epic will be compared to Tinkerbell, your vampires to Twilight, your zombies to The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, World War Z. Your wizards and witches and any whisper of a fantasy school for fantasy children will be compared to Harry Potter. Your high fantasy adventure will be compared to Lord of the Rings.

You can’t avoid it, but you can avoid doing it to yourself. When people ask about your book, let them say “oh, you mean like Star Wars” to which you then can say, kind of, except XYZ happens in my book. These IPs will never fade from the public consciousness, not while you exist to read this post, at least, but Harry Potter isn’t the only urban fantasy out there. Lord of the Rings isn’t the only high fantasy. Star Wars isn’t the only space opera.

Yours will be on the shelves right next to them, soon enough, and who knows? You might dethrone them.

5. Your world-building is an iceberg, and your book is the tip

I don’t pay for any of those programs that help you organize your book and mythos. I write exclusively on Apple Notes, MS Word, and Google Suite (and all are free to me). I have folders on Apple Notes with more words inside them than the books they’re written for.

If you try to cram an entire college textbook’s worth of content into your novel, you will have left zero room for actual story. The same goes for all the research you did, all the hours slaving away for just a few details and strings of dialogue.

There’s a balance, no matter how dense your story is. If you really want to include all those extra details, slap some appendices at the end. Commission some maps.

6. The gatekeeping for fantasy and sci-fi is still very real

Pen names and pseudonyms exist for a reason. A female author writing fantasy that isn’t just a backdrop for romance? You have a harder battle ahead of you than your male counterparts, at least in the US. And even then, your female protagonist will be scrutinized and torn apart.

She’ll either be too girly or not girly enough, too sexy, or not sexy enough. She’ll be called a Mary Sue, a radical feminist mouthpiece, some woke propaganda. Every action she takes will be criticized as unrealistic and if she has fans who are girls, they will be mocked, too.

If you have queer characters, characters of color, they won’t be good enough, they won’t please everyone, and someone will still call you a bigot. A lot of someones will still call you a bigot.

Do your due diligence and hire your army of sensitivity readers and listen to them, but you cannot please everyone, so might as well write to please yourself. You’re the one who will have to read it a thousand times until it’s published.

7. Your “original” idea has been done before, and that’s okay

Stories have been told since before language evolved. The sum of the parts of your novel may be original, but even then, it’s colored by the media you’ve consumed. And that’s okay!

How many Cinderella stories are there? How many high fantasies? How many books about werewolves and witches and vampires? Gods and goddesses and celestial beings? Fairies and dragons and trolls? Aliens, robots, alien robots? Romeo and Juliette? Superheroes and mutants?

Zombies may be the avenue through which you tell your story, but it’s not *just* about zombies, is it? It’s about the characters who battle them, the endurance of the human spirit, or the end of an era, the death of a nation. So don’t get discouraged, everyone before you and everyone after will have written someone on the backs of what came before and it still feels new.

#writing advice #writing resources #writing tips #writing tools #writing a book #fantasy #scifi #writeblr

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thagomizersshow · 8 months

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I love when sci-fi/fantasy writers throw in a random fact about a fictional species that actually has big repercussions for that species' biology.

Like, there is a species in Star Trek called Saurians who are adorable dinosauroid looking dudes. They've had very little revealed about them despite having been mentioned as early as the original series by way of "Saurian brandy" — a drink that is so strong it can put a Klingon on their ass in one swig.

Other than that, most of what we know about them comes from snippets involving a reoccuring character on Discovery named Linus, who is mostly a comic relief character. Now the reason I bring them up is that in one episode there's a scene where Linus is eating bamboo of all things, and I'm not sure the writers realized how telling this is about Saurian biology.

Bamboo is a damn hard food to eat, and us humans can only eat the shoots of a few species. Even then, raw consumption of shoots can lead to cyanide poisoning if you aren't careful. We still don't know how exactly a lot of animals that eat a lot of bamboo (bamboo lemurs, red pandas, bamboo rats, elephants, gorillas) are able to digest so much of it without getting cyanide poisoning. There is some sort of neutralization process in giant pandas involving the rhodanese enzyme that turns cyanide into the non-toxic thiocyanate that they just pee out, but the process is still poorly understood in other species.

Bamboo is also hard to digest for the same reason all grasses are; their plant wall cellulose is hard as hell to break down. Like, your choices are:

a) you do a poor job of digesting it and just spend all day eating (giant panda, red panda, bamboo lemur)

b) you grow really big and have a big gut (elephants, gorillas)

c) you only eat the parts of the plant that are easier to digest (bamboo rats)

On top of that, bamboo is loaded with silica phytoliths that are like microscopic bits of glass. These evolved to make their tissues even harder to chew and metabolize.

It's hard to make out in the scene, but it looks like Linus is eating raw bamboo leaves. Just picking them up with his fingers and munching on them like it's nothing. That means his teeth and/or jaws would need to be very powerful (maybe hypsodont? or maybe tooth batteries?) AND, because he's eating it raw, he'd have to be immune to the cyanide in some way.

One explanation could be in the Star Trek Adventures TTRPG, where Saurians are said to have an ability called "Enhanced Metabolism" where they recover from toxins faster than other species (my guess is this was meant to reference their brandy being so strong). BUT, that's not the same thing as the immunity real bamboo eating animals seem to have. My head canon is that Saurians have a diet similar to red pandas, where bamboo-like plants are their main diet on their homeworld, but they'll eat other stuff too when it's available, AND they've evolved some way to convert cyanide into a harmless chemical they excrete, like a giant panda.

All of these whacky biology shenanigans stem (hehe) from the casual writing decision to make a supporting alien character seem weird by eating a weird thing.

#star trek #star trek: discovery #sci-fi

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pynkhues · 5 months

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I recently read an article in which Quentin Tarantino stated that fewer movie stars exist as a result of "Marvel movies in Hollywood." I think Jennifer Aniston made a similar argument before saying that there are no longer any movie stars. I'm not sure what that means. I can think of a lot of movie stars right now, such as Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet, and Zoey Deutch etc. what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and Quentin's comments.

QuillBot's

Months ago, when you sent me this ask, anon, I wrote out a really long reply and as soon as I hit post, my laptop crashed and ate the answer, and I was so annoyed at myself for not saving my reply, that I couldn't bring myself to try and re-write an answer. I'm really sorry for that, especially because I think this is such an interesting ask (or well, two asks, because I think the death of the movie star and the impact Marvel's had on the broader concept of a movie star, are kinda two different things).

I've been thinking about it a bit again recently though, particularly as the Oscar race gears up, and Jacob Elordi and Charles Melton''s respective stars are rising in an industry currently desperate to find the new young Hollywood male 'talent', and I've been thinking about it again because honestly?

I agree with Jennifer Aniston, I think the movie star is dead.

We are a long, long way from Golden Age Hollywood where actors like Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe could captivate a public imagination in a way that translated to big box office effect, after all. Hell, we're even out of New Hollywood, an era dominated by names like Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, and Jane Fonda, and the Blockbuster era with Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford.

My original reply went into a lot of the different reasoning as to why this is (like with many things, I don't think there's any one reason for it), in particular how the advent of streaming has changed our relationship with films and TV shows, how the saturation of the market has diluted the staying power of celebrities, how social media and the perceived accessibility of celebrities removes personal mystique which in turn removes intrigue and increases a sense of entitlement, and the fact that so many people having stopped going to the cinema means that the experiential element of seeing a film in a setting larger than life has been diminished.

I think call out culture plays a role too, with any actor on the rise being torn down by tweets they made eight, nine or ten years ago impacting how their star rises, I think the dismantling of the studio system (which is a good thing!) also harmed actors in the long run as studios stopped investing the same resources into making and training stars (they used to be able to sing, dance and act! Now some can barely even act!), and I think, of course, the rise of prestige TV changed the industry substantially (after all, movie stars were movie stars - they traditionally did not, and would not, do TV, which created a clear class structure in terms of screen-based storytelling).

And yeah, I think the language shift from film and TV to content has done irrepairable damage to the artistry of filmmaking and the consideration of a movie star as an actor at the top of their field instead of an actor with the most Insta followers or YouTube subscribers (after all, if everything's content, isn't it the same thing? [no lol]).

Which I guess is kind of where Quentin Tarantino's argument comes in, right? What he's saying is that Marvel's made it so that the IP - the content itself - is the star, not the actor, and I'd say he's probably right with that.

Think of it this way - back in the New Hollywood/Blockbuster era, Harrison Ford was the movie star - he was leading new franchises left-right-and-centre between Star Wars and Indiana Jones, sci fi epics like Blade Runner, leading action thrillers like Patriot Games, The Fugitive and Clear and Present Danger and getting nominated for Oscars for Witness.

He was a movie star in every sense of the word because you could hinge a film - one with a new concept, not just remakes or sequels - on him and be virtually guaranteed a success. He was what sold the tickets, the director just hopefully had to make something good enough people would leave the cinema glad they saw.

Tarantino's argument is the Marvel model - - hell, even the new Star Wars properties, turned the franchise into the star, for better or worse, which means original films can't compete because nobody knows the IP. Back when Harrison Ford was at the top of his game, his name was what helped original films including smaller, standalone works like Witness find an audience, but the studios have changed that. Capitalism has changed that.

Properties with existing audiences and deep pockets for merch were prioritised, only now those franchises are faltering and you've got a generation trained that 'cinematic events' are reserved for blockbusters in established universes, instead of taking a risk on a new film because you know you love an actor who's in it.

Do I think we could go back?

Maybe, but probably not.

I think the place we are now in the history of cinema / TV / 'content' means you can't make a movie star anymore because I think the industry is simply so different that no actor can break through in the same way that even Leonardo DiCaprio could 30 years ago. That industry doesn't exist anymore, actors aren't guaranteed draws (Bones and All proved that for Timothee Chalamet, and Wonka I think could go a similar way), or they have to heavily rely on other industries to become household names which I think dilutes them as a pure 'movie star' (Zendaya's a great example of this - I like her a lot, but how many movies has she even been in? They built her career up in peripheral industries long before they tried to sell her as a movie star, and frankly, I'd question her even as a leading actress yet given she's typically only either been in ensemble casts or clear supporting).

It's a whole new world, and yeah, I think the movie star is dead.

#i hope this makes sense haha #it's an interesting topic #and a shame really #i also think there's a difference between being famous online and a movie star #like zoey deutch i really like and i know film twitter likes her #but she's b-list at best and i doubt she has any broader name recognition unfortunately #whereas timmy and zendaya defs do #but even their star power isn't working #dune did well because of tarantino's argument #the ip is the star #challengers will be the real test for zendaya #and wonka will be timmy's biggest one #because bones and all tanked but is a) genre and b) indie #don't look up french dispatch and little women were all ensemble #so yeah #wonka will defs be interesting to see #film asks #welcome to my ama

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writingquestionsanswered · 11 days

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I'm having trouble coming up with a name for a character, I want something casual, a name you could see a real person having, but I also don't want it to feel like I just chose a random name out of a hat

Casual Character Name

What qualifies as a "casual" character name depends on your story's setting. A casual, realistic name in 1930s Brussels would be quite different from a casual, realistic name in 1700s Hawai'i.

When you say you don't want it to feel like you chose a random name out of a hat, I don't know if you mean you don't want it to feel that way to yourself, or if you mean you don't want the reader to feel that way.

Either way, you can avoid feeling that way by simply not choosing a random name out of a hat. In other words, put effort into your choice. Find something that means something to you, is relevant to the story, or makes sense for the setting.

There are oodles and oodles of name lists available online. You can search for lists of names from particular time periods and locations, you can search for lists of names starting with a particular letter or matching a particular theme. You can find lists of names inspired by book characters, historical figures, Greek gods and goddesses... you name it. Try looking for lists that feel relevant to your story, like names that fit the time and place of your setting, or names that fit a theme in your story. For example, if you're writing a dark fantasy, you might look for a list of gothic names. Or, if you were writing a sci-fi style western, you might look at names that were popular in the 1800s American west.

The links below will help you through this process. :)

Guide: Naming Characters Choosing the Right Name for Your Character

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

#wqaadvice

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genshingorlsrevengeance · 2 months

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Original Writing Project: 916

OKAY, now that I've edited the first few chapters enough, I think it's finally time to have its debut to you all!

This is an original sci-fi story completely written by me, with MAJOR influences from things like Gundam and whatnot.

I want to post it here to get your all's feedback and just to share some good ol' storytelling, so please let me know what you guys think of it, your feedback/comments is always read by me!

I expect to have the first few chapters out sometime during this week after your normal schedule of simping, but this post will just be covering what the main idea of the story is/what shows/games is influencing it.

Below the cut is the blurb, inspirations, main characters, and a story excerpt!

First of all, thank you so much for even pressing the keep reading tab/showing any remote interest. I understand this isn't really what you come to this blog for, so it means the world to me!

Anyways, first up is the story blurb:

===

Story Blurb:

The year is 1177. Thirty-four years have passed since the battlefield had been introduced to the bipedal warmachines known as Soldat D’acier. Though they only stand a few meters above tanks, they were able to reduce armored divisions to scrap metal, and fortresses once thought impenetrable transformed to piles of rubble.

The entire continent of Anis rushed their militaries into an arms race to have their own versions of these steel behemoths.

In the name of expansion and rightful conquest, the country of Florence had declared war on Cumbria in 1155. The invasion saw countless deployments of Soldats on both sides, and death quickly followed in their wake. The two nations signed a peace treaty to end hostilities after five long years, but their crimes wouldn't be so easily forgotten by the people, nor its creations.

Now, the man-made atrocities emerging from the "Enhanced Human Initiative" stoke the flames of war once more, forcing an uneasy alliance. And from the same crime that threatens them, comes their final hope: Enhanced Human 916.

===

Inspirations:

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Mobile Suit Gundam: Narrative Mobile Suit Gundam: Unicorn Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeta The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, Scarlet Nexus, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Girls' Frontline,

I was not joking when I said the major influences are from Gundam. At first I was worried about not being 100% original, but eh. Write what you love, right? Elements of the story, themes, suits, and a unholy amount more is snatched from all the Gundam shows listed above.

Armored Core 6 is what inspired the look of the "Soldats", and how combat flows in the story. The main lead, 916, is called numbers bc of the player character 621. (I also learned that the reasons I chose that number came from my subconscious, specifically Darling in the Franxx and that character, 196 aka Ikuno)

Scarlet Nexus inspired some of the tech things regarding the pilots being able to "read each other's minds" so to speak. Pretty much a less space-magic version of being a Newtype from Gundam, as well as other characters.

Trails of Cold Steel and Girls' Frontline inspired the other cast members, and speaking of which:

===

Main Cast:

Wolf Company

Enhanced Human 916, "Vi", Age: 21

A young man who escaped the "Enhanced Human Initiative." Due to augmentation and surgeries, he remains stoic and emotionless, but thanks to his adoptive family, has shown signs of opening up. Earned his nickname after his violet eyes.

He pilots the Soldat R1-N0, "Rhino", a bulky mech utilizing rush and ambush tactics, armed with a 60mm Autocannon and Heat Dagger.

A/N: Titular character, heavily inspired by Byleth (Fire Emblem Three Houses), and Mikazuki (Iron-Blooded Orphans). My second favorite character to write so far in the story, ironically.

David Collins, "Boss", Age: 53

Leader of a PMC called "Wolf Company". David took 916 in at a young age and raised him to be part of the "family". Loud and proud, he takes great pride in all serving underneath him, and has known to have a temper in anything regarding his age. Earned his nickname since calling him "Boss" was more comfortable for everyone.

He pilots the Soldat "Juggernaut', a machine with the legs of a tank, but upper half of a mech with arms. Armed with wrist-mounted machine guns and twin battle-cannons on top of its shoulders.

A/N: Inspired by Maine from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Don't look too much into that, don't worry. You can also tell from just his dialogue how much I like writing him too. He is my number 1 favorite to write.

Chloe, "Flare", Age: 35

Second in command of "Wolf Company. Chloe is extremely loud, complementing her foul-mouthed nature. Generally regarded as the "Big SIster" of the team. Earned her nickname from her extremely short temper.

She pilots the Soldat "Mantis", a lanky and smaller machine focusing on blitz tactics, able to leap surprisingly massive heights due to its inverted legs.

A/N: Inspired by Bianca (Gundam Thunderbolt), Sasha (Attack on Titan) and Miku (Darling in the Franxx). To everyone I have shown this story thus far, she has been the fan favorite, including her partner in crime:

Hayes, "Screw", Age: 32

The newest "rookie" of Wolf Company. Impulsive, a little too confident in himself but admittedly a talented sniper, Hayes is always eager to prove himself. Earned his nickname from either screwing himself over, or the enemy.

He pilots the Soldat "Phantom", a mech focusing on stealth and sniping, able to keep itself off enemy radar.

A/N: Inspired by Connie (Attack on Titan) and Zorome (Darling in the Franxx). Him and Chloe are a fun combo, as you will soon see.

There's eight more main characters, but I'll let you read their introduction yourself! 916 and Wolf Company will be the ones we'll be following the most throughout the story. Though this part of the cast was heavily inspired by Iron-Blooded Orphans. For those who watched the show, again, don't read too much into that.

===

The last thing I'll have for this post will be an excerpt from the prologue to get things started! Hopefully my slow ass will have the prologue out soon, so please look forward to it!

Without further ado-

===

Story Excerpt:

===

“Doctor Moreau, do you think we go to heaven?” asked the small girl.

Doctor Moreau stopped typing for a moment as her eyes glanced over the terminal, seeing the child laying on the operating table, standing out from the rest of the clean black walls and white tiles. The room was supported with soft lights illuminating the room, complemented by the blue screens and dizzying amount of automated surgical equipment quietly whirring into position.

Moreau pushed her aging white hair away from her eyes, looking at the child, subject designated 403. 403 was about seven, she barely stood up to Moreau’s stomach and had long black hair that stopped at her shoulders. The light blue gown was slightly too big for her, the sleeves extending over most of her hands and just revealing her fingers. Seeing her face again reminded Doctor Moreau of 403's rather inquisitive nature.

“Why are you asking that, 403?” Moreau replied, her tone indifferent. Her fingers went back to typing as she sighed. “If you’re worried about the procedure, the chips are perfectly safe to implant. There has been no previous record of anyone dying from-”

“-But I’m going to die after.”

“...What?”

“After the chip goes into me. Will the others and I go to heaven?”

The question had caught the doctor completely off guard. Moreau had answered questions such as, “Will this hurt?”, or “Do I have to?”. This question was something she could not answer with her usual dismissive tone. She sat up straight in her seat now and turned to look at the child. 403's eyes were still fixated on the ceiling.

“Why are you so certain you’re going to die, 403?”

“That’s what my brother told me. When the chip goes into our brain, we’re sent off to die.”

The girl’s voice stated it as a matter of fact. There was no confusion in her tone of what was to become of her. Doctor Moreau had no response as she stared at 403 with her mouth slightly open. The child simply turned her head, facing her and expectantly waiting for an answer.

“... I certainly hope there’s a heaven, 403. I’m sure heaven will allow good kids like you and your brother.”

“What about my friends? Will they-”

“We’re about to begin the surgery. Please face up towards the light and close your eyes.” Moreau bluntly cut off the conversation.

403 pouted, but complied. It was clear that the answer did not satisfy her as much as she wanted it to. Doctor Moreau took a second to recover and focus back on the job at hand. Facing back towards the terminal, she began typing once more. With the input of several passwords and confirmations, the surgery to implant the combat data-chip into 403’s brain would commence. Afterwards, she would be sent to her brother’s unit, and be deployed to the battlefield.

Just like all the others.

This room had always been nothing out of the ordinary to Moreau. The same procedure had been repeated more times than she could count and yet why did this one make it so hard to breathe all of a sudden?

“Doctor Moreau?”

“Yes, 403?”

“Can I ask one more thing?”

“You may.”

“Can I listen to that song you always play? The one that goes ‘Lalalalala~’? I want to hear it one more time before I sleep. I really like it.”

Doctor Moreau’s lips suddenly dried up as she once again stopped typing. With a slightly trembling hand, she turned to the radio sitting on her desk and nodded.

“...Of course, 403. No more questions, please.”

She could see the smile form on 403’s lips as the mask was gently put onto her face, the anesthesia slowly starting to pump into 403’s lungs.

“...Thank you.”

Doctor Moreau swallowed hard as her finger pressed the on switch of her old radio. Despite being in such a high tech surgical room, her radio was comically outdated. It was a small gray oval-like object that only had a speaker and a few buttons. To even put music in it, she had to insert a smaller rectangle that contained the songs in it via tape. It was a gift from her father when she was 403’s age, the thought of their roles being reversed not lost on the doctor.

‘Sing, sing a song Let the world sing along Sing of love there could be Sing for you and for me…~’

Doctor Moreau could hear 403 softly hum along to the song as her voice gradually became quieter, and eventually turning into soft breathing. The whirring of the surgical equipment and the radio being the only things in the room left making noise. The only remaining step was for Doctor Moreau to approve the procedure to implant the chip into 403’s brain.

“Is there heaven…” the doctor quietly repeated the question to herself, attempting to ignore 403’s startling self awareness of the situation.

"Authorization confirmed, Implant procedure beginning.” A deep robotic voice rang out across the room as the sound of a drill began drowning out the other equipment. Doctor Moreau sat on her chair as she closed her eyes, waiting for the procedure to be done and turning off the radio in the process.

“For me, I don’t think so…Heaven was lost to me long ago.”

...

‘Sing, sing a song Make it simple to last Your whole life long~’

The Doctor was snapped out of her melancholy as the music continued playing. Sighing, she moved to turn it off for good.

“Piece of junk is starting to-” She stopped as her finger was about to hit the switch.

The radio was still off.

Listening closely again, Moreau realized the singing was coming outside of the door.

‘Don't worry that it's not Good enough for anyone Else to hear~’

Creeping towards the door, the doctor put her ears to it and heard what sounded like a chorus singing. The song wasn’t over the intercom, otherwise the voice would be far clearer.

Instead it sounded like-

A sudden sense of dread hit the doctor as she swung the doors open and ran towards the hangar. Multiple guards and scientists were opening the doors along the long gray hallway, joining Moreau and investigating what the noise was. When they finally got to the railing after the doors slid open, none of them could speak.

‘Just sing, sing a song (Just sing, sing a song) Just sing, sing a song~’

Inside the massive hangar stood rows of countless Soldats, giant bipedal machines that stood several meters tall, lined up next to each other as if they were statues. Their bulky legs stood firmly in place and the compact yet slender arms did not move an inch.

The only things moving were their horned box-like heads, slowly moving side to side in perfect sync. Each of the voices emerging from the Soldats were different but singing in perfect harmony.

Their normally offline and horizontal segregated visors were suddenly flickering to life with blue lights, illuminating the large dark room with bright blue rays.

‘La la la la la, la la la la La la la la la la laaaaa~’

Doctor Moreau could hear the voices of security guards rushing down the stairs to halt the singing, shouting orders at the others to back away.

However, the doctor could only hear their cheerful singing along with her breathing becoming noticeably shorter with each second, feeling her chest tighten.

Once again, the question 403 springed up to the forefront of her mind.

“Is there heaven?”

...

===

And that's the first part of the prologue done, hope to have this out soon, and again if you got this far, thanks for taking the time!

See ya soon, and back to the normal content for now!

#not an ask #chris's thoughts #oc story

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copperbadge · 8 months

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I know that it’s been a Very Long Time but do you ever get terribly nostalgic for old/less active fandoms? I confess I recently came back to tumblr and saw that I followed you. I was like, of course Sam storyteller, the Bucky guy. But then I got a hankering for my older and dearer by far love Ianto Jones and went back to reread some of the greatest hits and I remembered. You are not the Loki guy. You are the Ianto guy, to me, and I can’t believe I forgot that. I miss that fandom so much it was so fucking. Toxic. The Gwen bashing, I simply cannot romanticize it in good conscience. But the fic quality and diversity was, dare I say it, nearly unparalleled (in my heart). Like when it hit it really hit you know? A golden age of trashy sci fi indeed. I miss my dead welsh son. Sorry to ramble in your ask box about the dubious old days

Anon, I am so sorry, a bunch of my asks got pushed way down in the inbox and then I forgot they were there, so apologies this is MONTHS late in getting posted.

I, eh, I don't really get nostalgic for old fandoms. Usually I leave them for a reason, but even if I just drift away, my experience of a fandom is pretty fundamentally different from most because of my higher profile. There are things I can't do or say in a fandom that other people could, and there are things that happen to me outside of my control. They're not even necessarily bad things, just stuff like...I'll write a fic in a new fandom, and people from my previous fandom will start engaging with the canon because I did. So often, rather than just falling away from a fandom, I'll leave a fandom and drag a bunch of people with me. They might not even leave the older fandom, but they come along to the new one too.

And often the wanks that pull people in without their consent simply don't touch me because there's a portion of fandom that is either scared of me (or my readers) or just doesn't want anything to do with me. I can't determine which.

Torchwood's a pretty good case in point -- the Gwen bashing was extreme. I wasn't a fan of Gwen but what I saw from the antigwenallies was really, really gross. Still, even though I wrote fic about Gwen and engaged in meta around her presence in the show, I avoided them and thus had exactly one interaction with them ever, which was when they posted up a fic of mine as "anti-Gwen" and I asked them to remove it and never recc anything of mine again. They did, and that was the end of that. Nobody ever came to my posts to attack her or me. Likewise, there was one really, really aggressive anti-Ianto wanker, but she never engaged with me or even as far as I know talked about me, despite the fact I was a huge Ianto fan and wrote a lot of fic about him. I really hated the shit she said, but I also didn't see any value in arguing, so I left her alone and she left me alone. (I won't name her because I checked up on her a few years ago and it turns out she was struggling with serious mental health issues that she'd gotten a lot of help for, and felt really terrible about the things she'd done, so I'm actually quite proud of her. But if you know you know.)

I also just...have a bad memory, so I often don't remember what happened in a fandom, or even sometimes that I was in a fandom. Most of the memories I do have are either vaguely warm and friendly, or "avoid this fandom/person at all costs" based in a negative interaction (which I sometimes don't remember the details of).

So yeah...I mean, Torchwood ended pretty terribly so I don't miss it in part because I try not to think about it. Generally if I have a good time in a fandom and then leave it, it's because I simply said all I had to say there. But I'm usually looking forward, not back, just because the past is a bit of a fog bank for me, most of the time.

#fandom #meta

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igglemouse · 2 months

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The last Sunday of the month and I'll definitely miss it! Why is February so short, huh? Ahh, well, there's still time for some love and appreciation to give out, there is always time for that.

@goodtea-nicehouse ~ Well you all know right now the biases I have for legacies and this is a simblr newer to me that plays legacies! I have really enjoyed their posts and look forward to the new legacy as well!

@woohoojuicesimoleons2 ~ I meant to put this simblr on here a week or so ago but then it was not found! I was like oh no! I was happy to find it reborn! A simblr with beautiful sims and deco and I'd follow for the name alone.

@growing-up-crumplebottom ~ I mean...how can you not like a simblr about our favorite lady Crumplebottom! The posts are fun and filled with humor which I also always love!

@wavvie ~ A very creative simblr that writes fantasy stories what of course are accompanied with amazing pictures! If anyone knows me, I love three things. Fantasy, sci-fi, and horror, and not in that order! So I'm already signed up to this one!

@corrienteallita ~ Another simblr new to me and vanilla sims 4 simblr! I love that! Also a sense of humor that I enjoy! When it comes to simblr I think it is good to show that you don't need 50gb of CC and mods to post here.

Well, the next time you see one of these posts it'll be March. We are already in the 3rd month of 2024 which means we are almost 25% done with the year. It's true by the way, the older you get the faster time seems to pass so make the most of every day!

#simblr appreciation sunday

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taytjiefourie · 2 years

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In-depth character sheet template.

Some people create characters on the fly, they add life and passion to their characters with no help but their imagination. Sadly not all of us are like that. I personally need some help, I need to plan and I need inspiration.

When you start on a character it can be hard to come up with the first idea, for this, I would use a theme, a color, a word, perhaps even a trait or hobby and I base my characters around this one thing, slowly fleshing them out into something more real, more relatable.

The character sheet I'll be sharing is one I compiled over a period of time, it's not remotely complete and I'll jump back in here every now and then just to add more or change up a few things.

a tip: don't just fill in, flesh out.

what I mean by this is try not to simply fill in the sheet, but also give reasons for your answer, instead of simply writing down what nickname your character may have, explain it, who gave it to them, do they remember the memory of when they got it? what is the memory? what does the nickname mean? who uses it? why only them?.

What a lot of people fail to realize is that your character isn't just there a plot tool. A lot of the details you will fill out on the character sheet are useless to the plot, and it's not information you will ever 'tell' your readers, but then what use is it? say your characters are all having lunch, they're chatting and eating and having the time of their lives. now your MC nibbles on her minimal food, she covers her mouth when she talks, she finishes every crumb on her plate while the others have plenty leftover from their big meals, and she cleans up and packs her side neatly before leaving. all this is useless information but it gives your character depth, you won't write this in excruciating detail. it will more than likely just be small comments throughout the main dialogue or scene. then another scene pops up, MC and friend walk past a vendor, MC buys a small snack, something cheap compared to friends, once again she nibbles, she covers her mouth and she throws the packaging in the trash. This shows habits and leaves your readers to speculate. it's not a notable amount of words. just small actions that barely make a dent in a chapter but it allows readers to figure out your character for themselves by nothing of these things. Readers are more likely to love a character they figure out themselves than one they are told about.

Back when I first started making characters, I had a lot of trouble fleshing them out and making them feel real. I went from character sheet to character sheet and I never really could get it right, but eventually, I realized my biggest mistake was that I’m filling out the sheet but not my character, I was being too flat and my characters had no life. So, I started doing more than just filling in the empty spaces in a sheet and started adding more than the ‘needed’ information

Below you will find my own creation sheet I use when making a new character as well as what extra details I add to give life to them.

Name:

The easiest names to come up with are the normal ones you find on our planet, if your comic or world takes place on normal earth you can mostly just google things like ‘baby names’ ‘Japanese names’ ‘Norse names’ ‘medieval names’ ‘Zulu names’ ‘French names’ and you will find tons of them if you want names with specific meanings simply search ‘names that mean...’

Now when coming up with unique names for a fantasy/sci-fi plot it can be a bit harder. There are two methods I personally use when looking for unique names.

Method 1:

The first method, I generally use when naming anything and not just my characters, I use it for races, animals, creatures, cultures, abilities, buildings, planets, foods...

Pick a few words, a phrase or a sentence that describes the thing you are trying to name ‘loud and aggressive but loyal’

Combine different parts of these words or this sentence to make one single word ‘loud and aggressive but loyal’ = ‘oundagsiloy’

Play around with adding and removing letters until it sounds right to you.

‘Zorasilo’ as you can see, I added ‘Z’ & ‘R’ but removed ‘U’ ‘D’ ‘G’ 'N' and ‘Y’

Method 2:

This method is by far my favorite to use when I name characters, I use Pinterest for this myself but google works just fine.

Look through names and what their meanings are.

Pick the names with meanings that fit your character well, I normally pick two but sometimes I might go for three

Combine these names into one, like with method one you can choose to add or remove a letter or two, I rarely do as the combinations usually give me a nice fantasy feel.

Zuko ‘rage’ + Ragnar ‘warrior from the gods’ = Zugnar, Agnuk, Rako, Nako, Naruk, Gnakozu

My final step would be combining the meanings of the names I used into a new one for my new name

Zugnar ‘warrior from the gods of rage’

I used method 2 for the naming of my characters Brarea ‘gaurdian’; Zatian ‘defender of the people’; Seretan ‘Fiery beauty ‘; Chira ‘home of comfort’ and finally Takamira ‘a song of treasure’

Even if the meaning of their names isn’t used in the story it tells me a bit about my character as I prefer having the meaning actually reflect an aspect of the personality of my character.

Nickname:

Most people when they decide on a nickname for their character tend to use a shortened version of the character's name, this is all well and good but you are trying to make your character seem more real so adding a bit more depth to a nickname is a good idea. Just do not do this for every character, every person in a story having some weird nickname with a backstory is not realistic at all.

Ex. My own character Zatian will be called ‘boomy’ by Brarea as a joke when they first meet, she does not get the best first impression and it is made in reference to his rather explosive personality, it comes from the loud ‘boom’ that an explosive makes when it goes off. Though they eventually will have a better relationship the name sticks due to the fact that it fits his personality, it annoys him and Rea lives for annoying the guy as well as the fact that though his ability is fire, he likes to release the fire in bursts from his body which causes explosions.

As seen above, instead of simply filling out what the nickname for my character is I gave it a story, this adds more life to the character and makes him less flat. When you fill out a character sheet always try to give as much detail as possible and make things up as you go. You can also write down a memory that ties with why this person has this nickname or a memory of when they got it, add their feelings about the nickname, do they hate it? Love it? Why? who gave it to them? when was it given to them? how often is it used?

Character Alignment:

Most people both real and fictional can be squashed into a character alignment, this reflects a general moral or personal attitude, which will help shape the expected personality of your character. Do note, that though two characters can have the same alignment, this does not mean they will share a similar personality. Alignments are not a prison cell for your character, characters can vary in personality, ideals, and choices even if they have a similar alignment.

lawful good, neutral good, chaotic good, lawful neutral, neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil, neutral evil, or chaotic evil.

Chaotic Good: These are characters who are good people but do not stand by law and order, often they even hate these two things.

Lawful Neutral: These are characters who obey the law more than caring about good vs evil. They often hold not a care whether laws are good or bad, though they can have enough morals to see when laws are being abused or are downright unfair.

True Neutral: These characters tend to keep a balance or simply don't care. You will often find that they return the treatment they receive.

Chaotic Neutral: These are characters that are not necessarily good or evil, they act based on what is best for themselves. They don't truly have a side and are basically just a bunch of pricks.

Lawful Evil: These characters tend to follow certain rules and often force them on others. These would be characters such as tyrants or corrupted officials, they usually have some powerful position that can be used to their benefit.

Neutral Evil: These are the most common type of evil characters and usually the type of ones you run into. They are simply selfish and see nothing wrong with killing or hurting others for their own gains.

Chaotic Evil: These babies are your psychopaths. They're crazy buggers who don't have nor care about morals. They commit crimes without care and it doesn't bother them one bit. or they see others as tools to use and exploit.

Ability:

Does your world have super powers or unique abilities? What is the power of your character? How do they use it? How did they get it? What do they call it? Is there something about their power that scares them? How has their power affected them in their life?

Weapon of choice:

Does your character need a weapon in your story? What weapon is it? What is its function? How did they get it? What is it called? How do they use it? Do they have a signature move with it? where do they carry it? is there a memory tied to when or how they got it?

Age :

Age is an important aspect of your character. When you work on their age consider the experience your character will have already needed or that they will have throughout your story, a 30-year-old has far too much experience to fit in the role of someone who is going through that blissful and sometimes naive first love, a 12-year-old doesn’t have the experience or emotional control that a 70-year-old war veteran has when it comes to watching their friends die, consider how much your character will learn or how much they already know, consider how you want the people to feel about your character, a 12-year-old watching their friends die will be more emotional and their reaction will be more of a heartbreaking mess bigger tears, screaming, denials, they don’t have the experience to handle it better, whereas a war veteran will be a more controlled, sad acceptance, more expecting and possibly more silently broken.

Next, you need to think about your story's timeline, how long will we be following your character? What needs to happen and will the age you chose reflect well with what you have planned? Say you choose to write a 12-year-old main character and three years down the timeline your character needs to get pregnant, unless your goal was teen pregnancy then you’ll need to change the age.

You will also need to consider the background of your character, for instance, your character has this dramatic background, they were kidnapped and experimented on, but they rebelled and fought against their captors, they escape and stay on the run, and your character led the rebellion, then they went back to take over the place that they were a prisoner in. This is their background, now they are doing whatever for your story but they are ten years old. That is not believable, it doesn’t matter how cool you want your character to be, it needs to be realistic, maybe 17 or 18 I can see but 10?

Due to all the specifics needed when coming up with the age, I usually leave it for last and only decide when I have my character's background and the basic plot line planned out.

DOB:

Is the date of birth important? For the fans of your story, yes for the plot that’s a solid maybe. A lot of people would say it holds no significance but I can argue against that, what if birthdays are important to your character? What if some major plot point happens on your character's birthday? It could be a romance and the main couple kiss for the first time on one of their birthdays, it could be horror with your characters going to a haunted place on their birthday. Birthdays can also simply be important to the world you made or the culture in your world.

Ex. The culture Zatian belongs to and which Brarea and Seretan slowly join holds the date of birth in high regard and it is always a big celebration planned by the family and friends, this has an important role in the friendship between the three as Zatian’s birthday is during a school day and his family is too far to hold the usual celebration, Rea and Tanny though realize this and secretly plan a birthday party with their entire class, and they do it in the traditional style that his culture normally does it. This is the first big moment in the story where Zat realizes and accepts the friendship of the two girls. Zat in return arranges the surprise birthday party for the girls, along with Chira and Takamira. Birthdays become an important event to the group of friends.

Astrological sign:

Like the DOB the importance of this counts on your own world, for my own story with Brarea and her friends, I don’t use astrology as this is something ‘earth’ and not used on the planets and galaxies in my own world.

You can also use Astrology to perhaps help you decide on when your DOB will be by matching the sign that best fits with your character and picking a date from there, or you can use it to start your character building if you don’t know where to begin and what to do with their personality.

Eye Color:

Note: you don’t have to do their physical looks right now, if you want you can skip over this and come back to it later, I normally leave how they look for last

Picking an eye color can be easy just match it to the hair, but other times it’s not so easy, as people love reading into things and breaking apart your character's visuals and connecting said visuals to their personality. It is done quite often by avid fans of a story, especially when it comes to drawing comics. You can go with a stereotype or break away it’s your choice.

Ex. Red is usually associated with Dangerous, Rage, Anger, aggressive, fierce, strong, has a connection to fire, demonic characters often have this color, and dark characters or villains also often have red eyes. Vampires are often seen with red eyes. Characters that fit this would be Flare Corona from Fairy Tail or Bakugo Katsuki from My Hero Academia

Eye shape

Now the eye shape can tell us a lot about a character, the bigger the eyes the more innocent, soft, sweet, or kind the character is, and the narrower it goes the more mature, realistic, and serious the character seems.

similar to the color though, you don't have to work with stereotypes at all.

Body/build:

What is the body of your character like? Are they lean and fit, do they have a bodybuilder-like physique? or are they small with softer features? How meaty are they? Do they have a rectangle build? A circular one? Oval? Hourglass? Triangle? Inverted triangle? Are their shoulders wide, do they have wide or small hips? What about their waist? Are their legs long or short? Do they have wings? A tail? Horns? Explain the physical features of the body and the muscles.

Make sure that the body of your character meets the physical conditions that they would need to fit in with their back story.

Height:

Skin:

What is the color? Why this specific one? Do they have scales? Hair? Feathers? Birthmarks? Where did the skin type come from if it’s more unique?

Face Features:

What is the shape of their face? Is it circular? heart-shaped? box-shaped? Rectangle? Diamond? Oval?

Hair Color:

Counting on your preferred style of work the color of the hair can play an important part in the image of your character, in most cases, the lead characters usually have the most interesting color and/or style of hair, this is to set them apart from the rest of the background cast. Though this is not a rule and if you prefer a plainer style for your own main character that is perfectly fine.

If you prefer a more Anime like style then I would suggest looking up the stereotypical view on the various colors of hair they use, as it tends to reflect the personality of the character, this is not a set rule of course and you can easily just use whichever color you prefer.

Hair Description:

Is it worn in a specific style? Is it long or short? Do they have bangs?

Hair can play a rather important role in the image a character presents, once again this is related to stereotypes. Wilder hair tends to represent wilder, brash, or energetic characters, for female's hair tied in a pony can represent sporty characters, or counting on where it’s tied it can show a sophisticated/ elegant character instead, for men long tied hair usually comes off more elegant, short boy cut on woman are tomboyish and shows a tough character, buns can give a more mature look, twin buns can seem more innocent and sometimes childish. Spiked all over the place or otherwise called ‘Shonen’ hair tends to fit with brash and loud/rude characters, for instance, Ichigo from Bleach, Naruto from Naruto, Soul from Soul eater, Bakugou from My hero Academia, Natsu from fairy tail.

Does your character resemble anyone?:

Is there anyone who your character takes after in looks? Who is it? How do they look similar? Is it just family or do they mysteriously resemble some other person and it might later become important to the plot? Or maybe it’s just a coincidence? Why do they resemble this person? How do they resemble this person?

Ex. Brarea looks extremely identical to two people that will both become important to the story at a far later time, she has no actual relation to either of them. There is also a perfectly good reason for the resemblance which will be important to the plot.

Do they have problems with health?:

Asthma? Low blood pressure? Diabetes? Missing organs? Damaged bones? Bad eyesight? How do these problems affect your character? Does it interfere with the plot? How does it affect the story and/or the character write a small example?

Clothes:

What does your character wear? Think up a work/school outfit, a casual outfit for day-to-day, a fitness outfit for if they exercise, a date outfit, and a fancy outfit for events. Why do they prefer this style of an outfit? Remember clothes say a lot about a person.

Bedroom/house:

What does their room or house look like? What style of furniture do they prefer? Is it arty? Are there a lot of patterns? Is it neat? Is it messy? Is it minimalistic? What do they have in there? Skateboards? Posters of bands/celebs? Posters of movies? Posters of anime? Books? Music instruments? Paintings? An easel for painting? how is it orginased?

Mannerism:

What habits does your character have? Do they rub their neck when embarrassed? Bite their lip when sad? Do they toss their hair? Tilt their head when they are in thought? grind their teeth? Scratch their head? Flare their nostrils?

when you pick mannerisms remember to reflect them in the story, if your character bites their lip when nervous, make them bite their lip when you write a scene where they're nervous. and when another similar scene pops up, do it again. don't put attention to it, just write it and move on. your readers will pick up on it. Do not! do not tell the readers why they do it! do not make an entire passage explaining that the MC bites their lip when nervous. let the readers figure it out for themselves. It makes a character more real and hooks readers better when they have to actually pay attention to figure a character out instead of just being told everything about the character.

Occupation:

Tell me about what they do, do they have a job or are they in school?

If they have a job what work do, they do? where do they work? What is their relationship with their boss? What is their relationship with their co-workers? Is there one worker or a few they really don’t like? Why? Is it the worker's personality or did something happen between them? Make a scenario. Do they have friends amongst the workers? Do the workers sometimes go out together? what do they do together? do they have any good or bad memories from when they went out with their workers?

If they go to school, what classes do they have? Is it a specialized school? A school for heroes? Mechanics? What are their favorite classes, and what are their worst classes? Who do they hang out with during lunch breaks? Tell me about the relationship they have with their different teachers, they hate a certain teacher why? They love a different one why?

Do they like their occupation? Why? Why not?

Education:

If their occupation was school ignore this, if not tell me about what their education was like, where did they go to school, what did they study, what were their best classes, what was their worst, and who was their friends in school, are they still friends or did they drift apart? Who were their favorite teachers, and who did they hate? Do they still keep in contact with any of their old teachers?

Religion/culture:

Tell me a bit about your character's religion and culture, what beliefs do they have, and what day-to-day things do they do because of this? What habits do they have because of this? What do they avoid because of their religion and culture? Don't explain an entire religion just how it affects your character and their lives as well as the plot.

Personality Traits:

Give me three of your character's best traits, are they active? Affectionate? Brave? Loyal? Confident? Considerate?

Now give me their three worst, are they rude? Aggressive? Obnoxious? Lazy? Gullible?

Every person has flaws, and flaws can affect the story, now that you have the main traits, give me a few scenarios where the traits come into play.

Your character is aggressive but considerate, a person bumps into them, they turn around and yell at the idiot that didn’t watch where they were going, they start to walk away but notice that the idiot is rubbing at their ankle, the person who ran into your character twisted their ankle when they fell, your character grumbles and picks them up, they carry them to the nurse while glaring and complaining all the way.

Also, remember that sometimes even their positive traits can be bad for them, they can be brave but sometimes too brave and run into situations that they might not come out of the same, or their friends run in after them and get hurt because your character might be brave but they weren’t strong enough for the enemy at that point.

Fears:

What does your character fear? Give them one big defining fear, loneliness, being hated, being left behind, it doesn’t need to be a fear they know they have; it can be an unconscious one, not everyone knows what their biggest fears are, your character might just discover it over the course of your story or never realize it at all, but your readers might pick up on it if you write it well.

Now give your character some small fears, spiders, the dark, a bee, needles... or maybe your character just doesn’t have any, maybe your character starts off with none but they get traumatized and end up with fears.

Now finally give me a reason as to why your character fears what they do, they drown so they end up with a fear of water, their family dies of poisoning so they only eat food they make themselves.

Coping Mechanism:

How does your character cope with everything that happens to them? The stress, the worry, the pain, how do they deal? what habits have they picked up as a coping mechanism?

Dreams/Goals:

Your character's dreams and goals can and probably will affect the story you make, so list them out and tell me why do they have these dreams and goals? What made it so they chose to walk the path they do?

It's okay not to have dreams and goals for all of your characters, but I would suggest making sure most do, it will help people feel relatable but having a character that’s just there and going with whatever because they don’t have any big goals or dreams is fine, not every person has big dreams and aspirations in life.

I mean I can relate to a character that has no dreams or goals and is simply there because they're just hanging with their friends who get into all sorts of weird stuff.

Family:

What is their family like? Do they have siblings? How are they treated in the family? How were they raised? What traits and what pieces of their personality or hobbies came from their family? Are they rich? Middle class? Poor? Are they dead? How did they die? What effect does the family have on your main character? what relationship do they have with each member? is it blood family or chosen?

Character Growth:

Your character grows with your story, they learn new things, and their personality and the way they handle things adapt over time as they learn the lessons life throws at them.

Tell me what lessons has your character already learned and/or what lessons will they be learning; how do these lessons affect them and change them? What does this mean for your plot?

Ex. Though Seretan is a very confident, loud, and bold girl she is not a leader and follows Brarea, she does not have confidence as a leader and usually stays out or keeps herself busy when the other ‘leaders’ plan, but eventually in the story she will be forced to take up a position as a leader, this will happen several times and over time her confidence in her leading ability and herself grows.

‘I can’t do it, I’m not good enough, I’ll lead us into defeat’ -- ‘I can’t do it but I have to, we will win I can’t let us loose’ -- ‘I won’t accept defeat, we will walk away as the winners, there is no if, in this situation, we will do it’

Optimistic or pessimistic:

Which one is your character? Is it obvious or less so? How does it affect your character? How does it affect your plot? Are there scenes where this can positively or negatively affect your story? Why are they optimistic or pessimistic and not the other? What life experience made them think this way?

What one thing would they change about themselves?:

Why would they change this thing? Pretend you are arguing about it with them and that it’s not such a bad thing, what are their responses to your arguments? Write it out.

Self-esteem:

Do they have high self-esteem? A low one? A relatively normal one? Is it obvious? Do they hide it behind a mask? How does it affect them and the people around them, how does it affect your story? do they have a superiority complex and inferiority one?

Hobbies:

Give your character some hobbies that they like, do they dance? Draw? Write? Walk? Play the drums? Stalk celebrities? Photography? Game? Cook? Karate? Do they train?

Who are their important people?:

Who are the people most important to them and their lives? The good ones, the bad ones, and the horrifying ones?

How do they see themselves?:

What is the image they have of themselves and how does it compare to the way the people that surround them, see them?

What is their relationship with food?:

How do they eat? Do they scarf it down or savor it? Home-cooked meals or takeaway? Waste or make only the minimal?

How are they with Money?:

How do they spend their money? Do they spend every dime they earn? Or do they save up? Do they buy stocks? Has it in savings accounts or is it finished even before they get it? Do they gamble it? Hoard it? Spend it freely on their friends/family?

Emotional or logical?:

How do they deal with an argument? Do they believe in things like serenity? Do they use their heart or mind when making plans?

What is their voice like?:

Is it soft and light? Deep? Is it chipper? Filled with disdain? Cold? Mocking?

How do they talk?:

In short clipped sentences? Long sentences? Big words? Proper? Do they shuffle between short sentences and longer ones? Do they use slang? Do they swear? Sarcasm?

The next step to making your character real, would be to write about them, take story prompts and write how your character would be in those prompts, look up embarrassing scenarios, cute scenarios, and scary scenarios... and write how your character would respond in these situations.

take those 20 questions or get to know you questions and hold an 'interview' with your characters, write how they respond to these questions, what their answer is, and if they're with other characters how these characters react to the answers given. It's also a good way to figure out how all your characters see each other, by figuring out how they'd respond to the answers being given, or how hesitant they are to answer in front of the other characters.

A bonus step would be to write a character sheet for your own characters' family, mainly the parents and siblings but if any other family shows up in the story make one for them too. If the family doesn’t play a big role, the sheet doesn’t have to be as in detail, for me though I would rather take it that extra mile just to make my characters feel more real. Remember if your character doesn’t feel real to you, they certainly don’t feel real to your readers.

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yellowvixen · 6 months

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Logo by @bunnymajo, thank you!!

Better late than never, here's a Q&A for @sonic-oc-showdown

✨ How did you come up with the OC’s name?

I wanted to use a word that meant ice that wasn't extremely obvious, and Rime ended up being perfect! To be specific it means hoar frost.

🌼 How old are they? (Or approximate age range)

Same age as Blaze! She was created ~100 years ago, but like Shadow she was frozen and didn't age until she got woken up.

🌺 Do they have any love interest(s)?

She's aro, so no romantic love interest. That said, she and Blaze do definitely end up in a relationship :3

🍕 What is their favorite food?

Surprisingly, anything spicy!

🎹 Do they have any hobbies?

Ice skating! Rime can create her own ice and propell herself pretty easily, but outside of fighting she's discovered she loves the elegance of truly dancing on ice, and challenges herself to learn difficult jumps. She also likes going for long morning walks, especially on a crisp winter morning when the ground is still covered in frost.

❤️ What is one of your OC’s best memories?

Most of their memories as a child with their brother, although a lot of them are bittersweet to look back on now.

✂️ What is one of your OC’s worst memories?

Seeing her brother die before being frozen.

🧊 Is their current design the first one?

Yup! Some of their fur colour has changed ever so slightly (her muzzle and ear/chest fluff are now pure white rather than the same off white as the rest of her fur) but that's it.

🍀 What originally inspired the OC?

@transgendershadowthehedgehog made a post about how Blaze should have an aro cryomancer rival, and I ran with the idea.

🌂 What genre do they belong in?

@mari-madas gave me the idea that the Sol dimension is centered more around fantasy in contrast with Sonic's dimension being more sci fi. Not a hard and fast rule as they both have magic and tech, but it's about the Aesthetic™. So, fantasy!

💚 What is your OC’s gender identity and sexuality?

Aromantic nonbinary lesbian! Or as she would describe herself, girlthing.

🙌 How many sibling does your OC have?

Just the one, her adopted brother, Gertrude's grandson! Possibly also a Sol version of Biolizard, but I haven't come up with anything for that idea yet

🍎 What is the OC’s relationship w/their parents like?

Like Shadow, Rime was made rather than born, so technically doesn't have parents. But her creator, the witch Gertrude, was basically a mother to her... In a way.

Rime was always perfectly happy with Gertrude and never really thinks anything was wrong with how they grew up. But anyone else might think differently, as Rime was treated more like an animal than a person. Not with (much) malice, Gertrude just assumed that Rime didn't have the intelligence of a regular mobian. This allowed Rime to grow up pretty feral, which she considers a good thing! She won't look too deeply into it. She DOESN'T have mommy issues, promise (lying).

✏️ How often do you draw/write about the OC?

Definitely more since this showndown, which I'm glad of! I want to draw her more in the future too, she simply hasn't been around long enough for me to have made a lot of art for her.

💎 Do you ever see yourself killing off the OC?

I mean... gestures to Shadow "dying" at the end of sa2. A similar thing happens to Rime, so while she does die, it's not permanent.

💀 Does your OC have any phobias?

Large open areas, especially at night. Being in space is particularly awful for her (not that she'd show it)

🍩 Who is your OC’s arch-nemesis or rival?

Blaze ;)

Feel free to ask more questions about her!! Brainstorming how to answer them is pretty much how I've created her lore so far lmao

#i meant to do this ages ago but got hung up on some of the questions. which i just didn't answer djgjghdh #but yaaa here we go !!#i don't. have a name for her brother yet #i was thinking matthew but i knew a matthew and didn't like him so don't rlly want to use that name afjgjfdg #we'll see!#sth #sonic oc #sonic oc showdown #rime the cat #vixentalks

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auxiliarydetective · 2 months

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We've done it!

Or, more accurately, you've done it! Thanks to you, my fellow Tumblrinas, I've actually managed to hit 200 followers!

I never thought I would get this far, but I'm eternally grateful for all the love you've given me, and I can't wait to share many more brainrots with you!

In tune with that, I've decided: Why not let you look even further into my mind? I've given you lots of writing, but why not provide some visuals? And so, in thinking about what I wanted to do for my 200 followers celebration, I came up with...

⁕ Evie's Mind Palace Festival! ⁕

(Placing a cut so this doesn't get too long ^^)

As depicted in this lovely graphic above, I'm going to be focusing on my OCs' fashion for this little event. But not just that! I'll get to the bonuses later :)

For now, text version! Because Tumblr likes not loading images and some people may not be able to view the image

↬ Step 1: Pick an OC of your choice! From my OCs, that is. Hope that was clear. Anyone from the list. I'll even throw in a little bonus and say that unintroduced OCs are allowed! That means the ones on this list AND ones I may have rambled to to you in a chat we've had.

↬ Step 2: Pick an occasion prompt! The prompts are as follows:

Casual (aka everyday wear, aka their basic character design or an alternate outfit or it)

Formal

Training/Athletic

Battle (this may overlap with either 1. or 3. for some characters, but let's assume they actually get geared up for battle)

Hot weather (your typical summer clothes)

Cold weather (sweaters, winter coats, you name it)

Swimwear

Canon event (may overlap with some other categories, but I made this a separate thing for the lore opportunities it provides) - Make sure to specify what canon event you want!

Stealing clothes - You can include who the character should steal from in your ask, otherwise I will pick the victim myself.

Holiday-themed - Pick your holiday! Any holiday counts.

Fandombend - Pick your fandom! (This will probably come with some headcanons on what the OC would be like in the new fandom)

Inspired by a song - Please, pick a song! Preferably from the OC's playlist. I should have a playlist for almost every OC. Hop into the "#playlist" tag on my blog to find them and, if they're not posted over there anywhere, tap on any playlist that's there, let it take you to my Spotify profile, and hop into the "Character Playlists" folder!

↬ Step 3: If you want, pick an extra prompt! Your options are:

Historical - Please specify your time frame! You don't necessarily have to, but I tend to be an indecisive little gremlin, so it would make things a little easier if you could pick ^^"

Fantasy (This, of course, makes little sense if the OC is already in a fantasy setting)

Sci-fi (Once again, this makes little sense if the OC is already in a sci-fi setting)

Steampunk

Cultural - Please pick a culture for me to take inspiration from! It doesn't have to be a real-life culture. For example, you could pick Japan for some kimono art or you could pick the Kuja from One Piece!

Color prompt - Pick your color! I ask that you do keep it at one color so that I have some more freedom, and I won't take specific hex codes either because those specific hex codes might clash with the OC's color palette

Prompt of your choice - This can be literally anything! Yes, also an occasion, in which case it would replace your original occasion prompt. I just didn't have the space to add in all occasions known to man, so if you have another idea, this is where to put it.

↬ Step 4: Send your ask! Done!

Once you've sent your ask, please keep in mind that it might take me a while to answer it. I'll then make a collage/moodboard and get the ask posted. Maybe, I'll also draw your prompt, depending on if I have the energy and/or time for it. If I plan on doing that, I'll let you know in the post and tag you once I have the drawing finished! I may also be swayed into adding a little fic snippet to the answer, if I do feel so inclined. Maybe a song to match the vibes? It'll be a little surprise!

► Rules:

Be nice! It's not hard, and it's basically all I ask.

This is the one time you might not want to shower me in asks because these asks might take a bit to answer. I'm not putting a cap on how many asks per person you're allowed to send, just maybe be mindful of how long they take to answer and space them out over the time of the event.

I'll be accepting asks from the time that this is posted until March 17th. The event ends with the strike of midnight starting the next day. Whenever that may be in your time zone. As long as it's still 23:59 on March 17th somewhere around the world, send in your ask. I might also extend the event if asks keep coming in and I have the energy to keep going.

↬ Additional info for mutuals: You get to ask for crossovers! Just pick one of my OCs and one of yours and I'll try my best to draw them. I might bother you for references though, so be prepared! It doesn't matter how long we've been mutuals for! It could've been five minutes, you're still allowed to send in crossover asks. As long as we're mutuals, let's say, at the time that the ask is answered, it's all good. In practice, that means that you just need to be following me to be able to send in a crossover request. If you ask nicely and maybe say something about why you'd think why our two children would go well together and we share a fandom, it's very unlikely that I'll deny your request and won't follow you back.

Also, if you've ever wanted to say something about my OCs and/or me and my blog, this might be the perfect time for you to do it.

Okay, that's it for now! Love you, everyone! Here's to more fandom-y shenanigans!

Also, behold my new non-OC post divider! It features a lineart sketch of my blog icon in the middle! The icon was designed by @benevolenterrancy pretty much exactly two years ago when they realized my old icon was not, in fact, a unicorn. I still go full-on heart-eyes mode whenever I see my icon, so I figured it was time to remind everyone of the amazing artist that created it <3

Taglist: @starcrossedjedis @oneirataxia-girl @daughter-of-melpomene @fluffle-system @wheresmybloodynauglamir @supermarine-silvally @nanukanal @cody-helix02 (I believe this is the first time I've ever used my full taglist, aka the basic taglist plus everyone from fandom-specific taglists - wowie!) - Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed, for specific fandoms or the general list!

#evie's events #evie's mind palace festival

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collegetennisoriginstory · 6 months

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Idk if u have played stardew valley but if you have who would the ROs romance / want to romance?

This is such a fun ask, I had a blast researching and thinking about the question, so thank you!

So, I've not played stardew valley but I've heard so many things and I really have to sit down and play it one of these days!! From the premise alone, I REALLY, REALLY want to write an IF with a similar game mechanic, set in a sci-fi or fantasy universe, where you run your own tavern/restaurant/diner and get to go fishing/fix up your house etc. while romancing the townies.

Anyway, I read this article on Stardew valley love interests, and this is my best attempt! Additional theories super welcome because yall's guesses will probably be much more well-informed than mine!

Under the cut, cause it got LONG.

Sam: Sebastian

Apparently Sebastian also has a friend named Sam whom he opens up to?? Also the trope of a slightly reserved/withdrawn person warming up to a sunshiny chaotic best friend who's always there for them (and making them laugh) is too good to resist. I do feel like Sam's the kind of person who likes meeting new people and making new friends, but ultimately, they always end up falling in love with the people whom they've known for a long time and have the deepest relationship with.

Tobin: Harvey or Emily

Emily: I feel like Tobin would match really well with someone who's full of zest for life, and who can match their fun-loving, sweet side and add even more color & energy to it! Also I read that they DANCE and COOK and that's just absolutely up Tobin's alley. I can imagine Tobin coming back from a big tennis match and just... hanging out in the kitchen and dancing/listening to music with Emily. I said before that Tobin wants someone who can build a home and a hearth with them, and Emily honestly sounds like that person.

(Also that person Emily's talking to in the screenshot absolutely looks like they could be Tobin.)

Harvey: I feel like they'd be so romantic and happy and cozy together, and as I said before, I think Tobin tends to want to take care of their loved ones and shower love everywhere but it's about time someone did the same for them! Also if anything I can see Tobin really gelling with someone a little older, because of their boomer lifestyle habits (waking up early/sleeping early, aversion to spending too much time online, and going to the library).

Rayyan: Maru

The moment I read "quietly passionate" and "brilliant scientist", I knew this person was for Rayyan! They both understand what it means to pursue excellence and push the current limits of human achievement in their respective fields (and would absolutely support each other in these dreams. I'm imagining Maru cheering Rayyan on at a game and Rayyan helping Maru test out her inventions?)

Also family's a complex, yet important aspect of life for both of them (and there's definitely a parallel with Maru's dad trying to keep her from being her own person, Rayyan sort of feels like their dad doesn't quite approve of their desire to be a pro tennis player) , so they'd get each other on that front too.

Sidenote: "Come to my room if you want to tinker with my gadgets???" Umm....

G: Abigail

Abigail: I think G would instantly be super attracted to Abigail's unorthodox, adventurous spirit, and if there's anything that's G's kryptonite? It's exploring random places (like graveyards/rooftops/mines) and doing new things. They'd probably bring Abigail on some really cool adventures too! And eventually, their relationship would deepen into something that goes beyond 'adventuring', into mutual respect and love, especially as they both start opening up to each other more.

(P.S. It just so happened that the top few love interests mentioned were female)

#college tennis: origin story #ct:os #if #interactive fiction #asks #rayyan #tobin #sam #g #stardew valley

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artist-issues · 2 months

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(I may have accidentally clicked the Unfollow button instead of the Ask button, my bad!! 😅 Still following ya!)

I'm here to deliver you a fun question amidst a world full of negativity, and that is;

If you ever had the opportunity to create your own story/animated film, what would you want it to be about? Who would be the characters and how would you want to write their stories? Would you bring in subtle tenets of your faith, or go all-out Lewis/Tolkien and dive into analogy/Christian values? Fantasy or Sci-fi? Romcom or thriller? Adventure or something cosy and intimate? Any worldbuilding?

Basically, if you could write your dream stories, what would they be about?

Sorry if you've got a similar question before, but I am really curious. Your posts talking about storytelling and faith always fascinate me, and I'd love to know how someone with such a love for Christ and stories would go about creating their own stories 💙

This is a wonderful question! I can't tell you how wonderful. Thank you! I'm so glad you follow me still!

I guess I'd always lean more toward allegory, and fantasy. I don't know how to make a story that isn't saying something very intentionally about God and people and their relationship to God.

It's funny, my taste in stories is more intimate. My favorite Disney movie is Lilo & Stitch, for example. But I have a hard time boiling it down when I make my own stories, because I like to trace every character's motivations back to their source--and when I do that, I wind up world building without meaning to, for way longer than I planned!

I make my stories based off of the Invisible Ink model by Brian McDonald, with a few tweaks to the outline so that it makes sense to me specifically.

So I always start with a thesis statement, the Point of the Story, the lesson I'm hoping it teaches. Then I break it down by listing "characters that need to learn it" and "characters that believe the opposite of it" and "characters that know it already." And then how they all interact, and where they'll be by the end of the story. Fun stuff like setting and fictional history and characterizations come while I'm filling all of that in, kind of naturally, which I wish I was better at giving in to.

Anyway! On to the fun part of your question;

I keep my stories really private because I have learned that if I "tell" the story, even just in a summary or a tumblr post or a text to a friend, I lose a lot of inspiration and a lot of...mental freedom to finish the story itself. It's like once I say it out loud, that version of the story is final in my subconscious, and I have less motivation to tweak it.

So I don't tell people about my ideas. Not unless we're officially or professionally collaborating.

But this question is so GOOD and I so APPRECIATE IT, that I'm going to get over that and tell you about one, for example, that I started doing but probably won't get to make.

I call it "Come When You're Called" and it's a story about a sheep farm, from the perspective of the farm animals (but specifically the dogs.) The style is like if all of Ruyard Kipling's Serious Animals With Their Own Noble Cultures met Albert Payson Terhune's How Animals Thrive Serving Their Owners met Disney's Fun Anthropomorphic Animals.

The main character is a border collie named Sky Blue (she's liver-colored with blue eyes) who is learning the lifestyle of a good dog on her master's farm. She's very energetic. Thats the one word you could use to describe her. She never stops trying to play or have fun. She's proud of being the fastest dog on the property; the older border collie she's learning from, Sharps, isn't even as fast as she is. He's teaching her how to recognize the Master's commands and obey them immediately.

Sharps is excellent at what he does, but he's super irritable because all he cares about is the work. If he had a character arc, it would be to find his identity in how much his Master loves him instead of how well he can do his job. When he first meets Sky, he doesn't like her because there's a subtle fear that he's getting too old to do the work himself. He's very strict.

There's another older dog on the property. His name is Lockjaw but everybody calls him LJ, and he's the opposite of Sharps. He's even older, wiser, and downright jolly. He used to be the guard dog for the whole huge property, but he's been raising a young German Shepherd named Buckwild to take it over. Buckwild and LJ have southern accents and Buck is a very smart, good dog...as long as someone tells him what to do, and exactly how to do it: his default state is laziness. He becomes Sky's love interest.

Anyway, the music would be very highlands-folksy—think The Oh Hellos. Each animal species on the farm has its own "culture," but they all function like a kingdom serving their king, the human Master. When you're living by that code of obeying and fulfilling your purpose, the animals generally call it "Coming When You're Called." But if you are disobedient, lazy, or out for yourself, stealing food or killing the Master's chickens or whatever, you're twisted and looked at with scorn and apprehension by the good animals.

It would be super episodic. 🤷‍♀️ There's villain characters, like a pack of wolves that like to try picking off the sheep every once in a while. Theres also a tomcat who does not Come When He's Called, but just sort of does whatever he wants around the farm and causes mischief. Theres a tiny black kitten who Sky teaches what she's learning, about how to Come When You're Called, who wants to grow up and chase the lazy tomcat off and take his place. Stuff like that.

I have other ideas. One, in particular, I've mentioned before, got me involved with the studio I'm currently working in. It's an allegory to do with a siren, vampire, and werewolf in the early 2000s. But I'll keep that one to myself 🫢 for now! The story the studio and I are making right now is sci-fi fantasy adventure, about a family that needs to figure out their relationship to each other and the world they're finding themselves rulers of...but that's all I'll say about that until it's out there for people to watch!

Really I like creating all of it. I've got a sci-fi idea, three fantasy ones, and then an ongoing batch of monster stories, too! I guess I always tend to create as if my audience is...in that 12-20 range? But really, like Disney, I'd like it if my stuff could be enjoyable for all ages. We'll see! I think! I hope!

Thank you for this question!

#artistissues #me #dog fiction #fiction #writing #invisible ink

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