#i think it makes writers have to be more creative about how they solve problems | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

comics-and-fanworks · 2 years

Text

ML College AU

Disclaimer: My problem with ML is with the writers and their decisions, not really any one specific character. Am I salty towards some characters? Yes, but it’s mostly due to how they’re written.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think it would be interesting to see a College AU for Miraculous Ladybug, specifically Marinette learning that she doesn’t always have to take care of everyone.

In this AU, Mari would definitely be in a University with a top fashion program, and would be very busy with her work. Sure she still keeps up with her old classmates, but she’s not as involved as she used to be. She was so burnt out from having to constantly look after her classmates (via planning trips, events, doing favors) that she’d almost forgotten what it was like to just take time for herself. She could also make new friends in college, who are more independent than her old classmates were, and don’t pressure her to overwork herself. Much to Marinette’s surprise, when she helps them, they return the favor and help her as well, so it’s a very nice change of pace. Marinette is thriving in college, creatively, emotionally, mentally, and physically.

It could start with one of her former classmates having a problem, and requesting that she fix it. Force of habit maybe? Or maybe that they’re just so used to having their Everyday Ladybug handle everything that they aren’t used to figuring out things for themselves. When they were all in class together Ms. Bustier usually had Marinette sort things out whenever there was a problem, which not only hurt Mari, but hurt her classmates too since all they learned was that when there was a problem, you have Marinette fix it. Mari could hear Bustier’s voice in her head telling her to swoop in and save the day, but one of her friends asks her what could she do? The classmate in question goes to a completely different university, Marinette no longer has to deal with it. So she replies back that she can’t fix it and they’re going to need to figure it out on their own, and it’s like she dropped a bomb on them.

She would be hounded with messages calling her all sorts of names and demanding she fix it immediately. Lila would wail about how she knew Marinette was a bully all along, and Adrien would privately message her and tell her it’s her responsibility, no it’s her sole purpose to fix their problems. Demands would be thrown at her, she would be called names, insults flung along the lines of “You’re supposed to, it’s what you’re here for,” and “You’re not good for anything else!” It comes to a breaking point, and Marinette’s new friends decide to get involved. In the group chat overflowing with accusations, insults, and demands, her friends send one text:

“This is Mari’s new friend group. Are you aware that you all do not go to the same school anymore? Are you aware that you are now adults? And are you aware that you can’t expect Marinette to solve all your problems anymore?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is my first time posting a prompt for ML, let me know if there are any problems and feel free use this if you’d like!

#marinette deserves better #marinette dupain cheng #class salt #bustier salt #adrien salt #lila salt #ml salt prompts

419 notes · View notes

concerningwolves · 5 months

Text

There's a post I can't find now that was expressing frustration that a lot of writing advice on writeblr (don't edit as you write, try switching POV for a scene if it's not working, only write the dialogue/only write the action, etc.) is for first drafts and not subsequent drafts. And I do agree, at least in part; a lot of writeblr is focused on how to, y'know, write the story.

It did make me think, though, and what I thought was this: ogres are like onions.

Or, more accurately: stories are like onions (and ogres?), because they have layers, too.

Writers who use the drafting method write drafts, and with each draft, the story gains more layers (layers of meaning, plot coherency, more cohesive ideas, etc). By draft four or five, a story has enough layers that it looks both pretty and structurally sound. Ideally, the only changes you'd need to make at this point are upper-layer, superficial ones – reshuffle some paragraphs, cut some excess scene padding, smooth out some awkward prose. Maybe rewrite or reposition a couple of scenes. Mostly though, the story feels fixed in place and is semi-polished, which is often the biggest obstacle preventing a writer from solving a problem.

Early drafts typically come out kind of wonky and unstable, their component ideas still sludgy from the primordial creative soup. Writing them can feel like sticky, awkward work – but it's also when the ideas flow most freely! The prospect of going back into that sludge might suck, especially if you've already started to see the final version of your story take solid shape, but it might also be the answer to the problem. Sometimes you have to peel back the pretty layers to look at the uglier structure beneath to see what isn't working. Other times, you need to be more hands-on and pretend you're still in the primordial creative soup to get the brain gears properly lubricated again.

Digital art also has layers. Some artists start with a rough sketch, others with blocks of colour. As the layers build up, so does the picture, but every now and then there'll be something about the picture that just isn't right. If the problem is in the sketchy early layers, the usual options are to either a) go back down to that layer and fix it there, then correct the upper layers to match or b) start again, this time learning from the mistakes made before. If something isn't working for me when I'm doing a digital painting, I'll also sometimes open a fresh canvas and mess around with the same concept in different variations as if I'm starting from scratch, then return to the original piece and use whatever I learned to fix it. So long as I don't prematurely flatten the layers, I've got plenty of wiggle room to figure things out in.

So, yes, some writing advice is only going to work for specific stages of story-making. But also, the creative process is a dynamic one, and no part of a story needs to be set in stone until all the layers have been flattened into their final form, ready for sharing with other people.

#writeblr #writing advice #been wrestling with this idea for a couple days now

24 notes · View notes

invisibleicewands · 1 month

Text

“In every room I go into, every office, every institution, people tell me, this is what we’re doing to encourage more working-class writers. They reel off all the things they’re doing, and it sounds impressive, it sounds amazing. And you think: if all these people are doing all this, WHY ARE THINGS NOT CHANGING FASTER? WHAT IS GETTING IN THE WAY?”

Under the hot, bright lights of a packed-out auditorium at the 2024 London Book Fair, Michael Sheen is getting angry. His is an unthreatening, crowd-rousing kind of angry, but still, in an appropriate way – he’s mad.

The actor and philanthropist is speaking on a panel convened to discuss A Writing Chance, the programme co-founded by the actor with New Writing North and Northumbria University that helps working-class writers enter the writing industries. So far, the programme has been successful. The theme emerging on the panel is, if changes have been made in some areas, what’s holding things back in others? And what cultural changes might have to come before we solve the problem?

“You have to admit there’s a fundamental conflict between the system that’s set up, and what we’re trying to achieve,” says Michael. “I don’t know what the whole answer to that is, other than revolution.”

It says a lot about the mood in the room – and, we suspect, the rest of the country – that the laughs prompted by this conclusion feel rather approving. We firmly believe that elites have been hogging and hoarding opportunity for too long now. The support for A Writing Chance confirms that many, many people agree.

The initiative was launched in 2021, with 11 unpublished writers awarded places on a programme of support and mentoring. One, Tom Newlands, publishes his first novel this summer; another, Maya Jordan, signed a deal at the book fair. A new cohort will be selected soon, with the programme now supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Michael Sheen, the Charlotte Aitken Trust, Faber & Faber, The Daily Mirror, Substack, Audible, with research supported by AHRC, Northumbria University, Bath Spa University and York St John University.

For the London Book Fair panel, Michael is joined by Professor Katy Shaw from Northumbria University, plus Tracey Markham, head of UK at Audible, Farrah Storr, head of writer partnerships at Substack, and the Huddersfield-based novelist Sunjeev Sahota. Katy and Michael begin by reflecting on the successes of the first completed programme: writers emboldened and published, policymakers in the Houses of Parliament briefed and, most importantly, great writing exemplifying the talent out there waiting to be discovered. “What came in was just way beyond anything we had hoped for really,” says Michael. “And there was a sense of revelation, the feeling you were seeing into worlds that have just been closed off, into experiences I had never thought about.”

Ideas about how to give working-class writers more confidence and access to publishing are peppered through the hour-long conversation: a creative curriculum in schools; intervening with gifted people at younger ages, like sports coaches; encouraging more people to take advantage of digital platforms, even if printed-book authorship remains the ultimate goal. Around halfway through, Sunjeev makes a brilliantly clear-eyed analysis of what being working class really means, and how it relates to identity politics. At the same time, he provides a devastatingly simple explanation of why working-class writers need support.

“Publishing is an elite space, but it’s quite a diverse space in terms of people’s racialised or sexualised identities. However, it’s not at all diverse it comes to people’s economic backgrounds, or family income. Indeed, many of the non-white people I encounter in publishing are often from just as comfortably-off backgrounds as their white counterparts.

The creative industries, he says, have tended to treat class as being another cultural identity, as if class should be considered in the same way that we might talk about race, gender, or sexuality. “But I think a more universal, class-first politics will do more for the weakest members across all identities than any identity-first kind of politics. I find that taking an identity-first approach just tends to benefit the elites within the identities.”

Lest anyone doubt the existence of a market for work originating outside the elites, the extremely upbeat Tracey is on hand to reassure them. Audible attracts a notably diverse audience, with large black and Asian listenerships, and a high proportion of young men. To satisfy this audience, the old-style audiobook, with its middle- and highbrow titles and Received Pronunciation narration, has been overhauled in favour of books more suited to audience tastes, and accents.

“Our customers really want accents! We spend a lot of time working with voice agents to widen access to the audio-narration industry. I think what’s super-important now is that your accent is not prohibitive – if you have a Welsh accent, say, that doesn’t mean you can only read stories set in Wales.”

Tracey stresses there is “so much more to be done” to widen socio-economic diversity in the whole publishing industry. But although it might still be a case of taking “baby steps”, a wonderful thing about books is their power to drive change elsewhere. “You know, it’s hard to explain to someone that’s not from the UK how much your accent kind of signifies to people when they first meet you. And with voice, we can kind of break down a lot of those barriers, and actually encourage it and welcome [diversity].”

There’s a similar note of flexibility and responsiveness to audience needs in Farrah’s account of what Substack offers. The relationship between digital and print is always evolving, and in her vision, it’s a question of the one complementing the other. Printed books still have more prestige than publication on digital platforms, but the latter can help offset the material challenges associated with the former, she argues. Echoing Sunjeev, she points that “the problem for people from a working-class background is that your advance gets paid in separate lump sums. People feel, I don’t have a regular income, I can’t make this work, I might end up falling out of the writer ecosystem.

“So, on Substack, we say, well, okay, you’re writing the book, but you’re probably going to have thousands of words leftover. So just put them on Substack and talk about the novel at the same time.”

Lots of people she works with end up making liveable incomes and building readerships for their work, which ultimately is what keeps them in the game. It’s a reminder that we shouldn’t necessarily define “writing” as the production of traditional forms such as novels and plays.

No one at this event – the queue for which was so long that dozens were unable to squeeze inside – believed all the barriers facing working-class writers would be dismantled any time soon. Few, though, can have left without believing that A Writing Chance has begun the job – and that that job is worthwhile.

Wrapping up, Michael recalls someone from the inaugural group who told him that in their community, becoming a writer seemed about as likely as becoming an astronaut.

“They said that there was no chance of it. They said, ‘I didn’t know anybody else who lived where I live who was a writer, so I didn’t know how to begin, or where to start. It was like saying I want to go into space.’ But that changed for them.

“And of course, now, there are all these wonderful spacemen.”

#Michael Sheen #The London Book Fair #interview #A Writing Chance

13 notes · View notes

just-a-carrot · 4 months

Note

How does the main five (including Cecil and Hunar) feel about their occupations? Do they all like their jobs or do any of them just do it for the payment?

is this in regards to their jobs in OW or their jobs in OC?? there would be a difference there at least for some...

i'll start with OW:

Iggy: Does enjoy his job for the most part. He likes that he can work freelance from home. And he likes coding and problem-solving. However, he hates networking and dealing with clients. It's not his dream job by any means and he does hate it sometimes, but it's not the worst. So I'd say a somewhat positive neutral.

Genzou: Chose to go into bikes mostly on a whim and because he couldn't think of anything else and really hated it at first when he was in training, but grew to love it and working with his hands in general. He does get a lot of joy out of his work and he loves having his own shop, getting to work with bikes all day. He doesn't enjoy the financial and business aspects of it though and he's often stressed about profits. But the job itself he does enjoy and he even tinkers around on his own personal projects in the shop, too.

Orlam: Hates everything about his job lol. Does it literally because he has nothing else to do but needs the money to pay for rent and food.

Gidget: Certainly believes they want to be a model lol. And I do think they get a lot of pride out of choosing outfits and going in for shoots. But it's not what they'd really like to be doing. Also they need to do a lot of random odd jobs and occasional part-time work to afford it, which they hate.

Bucks: Didn't like working the delivery truck that much, especially because of the weird hours and because she spent most of the time sitting in traffic or driving long hours, so she didn't get to move around much. Does mostly enjoy her manager position though as she's a good manager and it lets her interact more with people and be more active. Is definitely not her dream job though, she wants to be out playing softball or at least doing something physical and active, some kind of team sport or as a trainer, etc.

Hunar: Well, he doesn't really do much in OW. He's a writer and would love to spend his full time writing or being somewhere quiet to think and read, or maybe go on trips or quiet hikes to think up ideas. He's not really able to do this because of Saydie though. And even before that, since Bucks was busy at work, he had to take care of most of the house-related stuff, dealing with finances, mortgages, planning, family stuff, etc.

Cecil: His job is just attending to Gidget??? LOL he knows nothing else, it's what he was manifested for. He loves Gidget very much and enjoys being there for them but is obviously not always keen on their choices.

OK now to OC:

Iggy and Genzou are basically the same re: jobs in OC.

Orlam: Loves his job dearly. It gives him so much energy and makes him feel so important. He gets to meet new people all the time and make grandiose presentations and have lots of luncheons and meetings. It's his dream tbh.

Gidget: Likes their job a lot, but I wouldn't say that it's like... they would definitely do it even if they didn't need the money. I think in an ideal world they would love to just be a full-time volunteer and go around volunteering for all kinds of events and organizations, but they can't, so they also do something where they can be creative in a variety of different ways and work with a lot of people.

(LOL I HAVEN'T THOUGHT ABOUT THE SPECIFIC JOBS BUCKS, HUNAR, AND CECIL HAVE IN OC SO YOU'LL HAVE TO FORGIVE ME LKDJALDKF)

#ask: ow #ask: iggy #ask: genzou #ask: orlam #ask: gidget #ask: bucks #ask: cecil #ask: hunar #ask: char info #ask: char preferences #ask: iggy info #ask: genzou info #ask: orlam info #ask: gidget info #ask: bucks info #ask: hunar info #ask: cecil info

17 notes · View notes

sylvies-chen · 10 months

Text

after seeing a tweet about season 2 coming out I thought now would be a good time start The Bear to fulfill my need to have seen every single show in existence! I’ve only seen the first 5 episodes so far but here are my thoughts:

it seems everyone in this show except marcus (he’s just in the corner perfecting his lil donuts!! leave him in peace!!) teeters so beautifully on being absolutely detestable. some *cough cough richie cough cough* do venture into unlikeable territory but then when they do, the writers bring in a scene that instantly gives them an extra layer and shifts you towards empathy. it’s a really delicate balance but so far it’s working for me!

this is, at its core, a show about how to go about taking pieces of something broken and turning them into something better and beautiful, revamping it without discarding its true nature— and this is true in both the inwards sense, relating to carmy’s (and sugar’s and richie’s) grief and mental health in learning how to move on from a tragic loss but not forget your past pain, and then in the outwards sense as well regarding to the restaurant and the Chicago community, how to make a successful restaurant without forgetting the people they serve, how to not be a gunslingin’ dive but also not a gentrifying posh joint.

speaking of that internal turmoil though, I’m absolutely lovinggggg the bear motif and it fits perfectly with this idea! it’s like carmy has so much bottled up inside him, both good and bad, like his passion to change the restaurant mikey left him but also his pain and grief and sorrow, and him trying to let the bear out of the cage and slowly tame it or control it in his dreams is very reminiscent of someone trying to get a hold on their own psyche. but it’s like. no dude. you gotta let it all out, let it go wild! both the pain and the ambition! it will let you be more loving, be healed, and be a better leader! gosh, it’s so so good.

JON BERNTHAL IS IN THIS?? Oh wait I think I vaguely remember @levijeanqueen watching this show just to see Jon Bernthal on her screen. sky babe this is me formally saying that I should have followed in your footsteps sooner omg I love this

richie gives me whiplash because he starts crying about his kid and I wanna give him a hug and tell him he’s a good dad but then he yells at syd and I get filled with rage and then he calls the cops on the mobsters when someone else solves the problem he couldn’t because he can’t stand not being needed and then anti-hero by taylor swift starts playing in my head because it’s him hi he’s the problem and what do you mean he accidentally drugged children with xanex i-

sydney is my GIRL y’all!! she has such a passionate, eager spirit about her that she can’t hold in and yet she also lacks confidence in a lot of ways and like. she is me!! I am her!! I kin this woman so hard. (that’s actually my first time using that word I hope I did it right lol). I’m so obsessed with everything she does, I can’t wait to see her grow and evolve as a chef, and to gain more confidence! also I need to learn more about her backstory right tf now like what was that catering business?? what’s her family like??

I don’t know where people are shipwise with this show?? it’s not a show that offers a lot of substantial material on that front but shipping is so much more fun when you have zero expectations and can kind of just go with the flow and take your own creative liberties so I like having fun with it. anyways I definitely feel a certain vibe with carmy and sydney but also marcus is so outwardly sweet to her when no one else is so I’m not mad about that either.

I think carmy and syd are like… two side of the same coin? they’re not the most alike but they’re not polar opposites either, they’re very much foils of each other and they each are the parts of the other that the other wishes they were. like sydney very openly wants to be skilled like carmy (she’s skilled on her own ways though might I add) and be a fearless chef and innovator, and carmy I think less-openly wishes he was like sydney: new, fresh, eager, not beaten down by the verbal degradation of high-end culinary culture, hopeful about the world and creative. I really like that sort of connection between two characters, it kind of alludes to a deeper idea that this bond was meant to be in a way? their chemistry is fucking fire too like wow

but then there’s marcus and sydney, which I think is cute because marcus has that sort of fun experimental eager green energy that sydney has and that many others (like tina and richie) have discarded or snuffed out, so I think he could be like a nice bright spot for sydney. idk. I need to know like a million more things about her character as well, she deserves all the screentime in the world. but in the meantime I’m just chilling, enjoying the little itty bitty crumbs that let me have my fun lol

anyways I’m sorry if that was too long for you lovely folks but I hope it was a worthy interruption to your regularly scheduled tumblr scrolling because I really love this show and I can’t wait to finish these last two episodes before moving on to this new season!!

#the bear #the bear fx #carmy the bear #carmen berzatto #sydney adamu #richie jerimovich

50 notes · View notes

izabesworld · 1 year

Text

Roma attitudes and how to present us in your writing.

The top of this piece primarily discusses negative stereotypes in writings, so you can understand why these aren’t really true, and the bottom has a header which you can read to see how to present us as we are.

FOR MORE READ THIS.

Do I think this piece will be groundbreaking? Absolutely not. Do I hope this piece will prevent AT LEAST one writer from making a common mistake in their writing? Absolutely.

I want to start of with Roma Family Loyalty. This is something people are eager to show in their writing, presenting family units as something that is powerful and strong, which is great. However, like all families, we have limits.

A popular mistake in Peaky Blinder fanfiction is the misuse of this loyalty. It’s not shown in celebration, we don’t see Roma characters celebrating character achievements to the small things like better results in school and moving up in a business.

However, what we do see is family loyalty in a way that portrays us as violent. We read about a family member killing a character, and don’t see the backlash the character should receive. We don’t see the distrust you now feel for that person, we don’t see the problems that now arise. Violence committed by Roma is such a common topic in fan-fiction, when in fact, it is very rare.

Of course, the Peaky Blinders series is filled with blood, guns and knives but it’s also filled with Aunt Pol’s love of God, it’s filled with Arthur’s character change, it has Ada’s moving on from old family ways for a better life for herself and her children. All things that would’ve been celebrated.

A Roma family would’ve been ecstatic to see the change in Arthur. It would’ve been celebrated and praised, not pushed off and ignored. It’s not something that happened over night, it required dedication and support from those closest.

You often see scenes in “Shelby Sister” series where the Shelby Sister in question is afraid of Aunt Pol and Tommy because she gets beat. When this too, isn’t a reality.

Of course, it does still happen, and I don’t want to dismiss ANYONE who is a victim of this time of punishment, however, in Roma it’s extremely uncommon. (We are more creative).

When in the series has Aunt Pol been portrayed as someone who beats Finn as punishment? When Finn smoked that cigarette, he received a tap to the head and a word later. He was not beaten, so why is it done in fiction?

Roma families protect their family, they do not beat them. (Still not trying to dismiss anyone who was a child beat by their Roma family, this is just an in general <3). DESPITE the times they lived in where this was considered normal.

We are not genetically violent. We do not grow and and think “guns are okay”. In our world, they are not. At the time, everybody owned a gun, however, we knew the consequences of using one. It wasn’t a first option, nor was it really an option at all.

Selling Family Members?

We do not sell family members. This one is a BIG one for me.

We do not get in debt with another Roma family and offer daughters to solve that debt. We speak to them… Like everyone else? I’m not sure where selling Roma children has come from.

We do not offer out children to random Roma families. We do not meet a wealthy Roma man and think, “yes, I will sell my daughter to him”.

Yes, we do have a history of arranged marriages, and they do still happen today, within reason. We do not marry happy people with happy relationships. We do not marry people who do not want a partner. We do not marry people because they’re “too crazy”.

We marry people with what’s best for them. We ask people what is that family like? Where do they travel? Is there any significant history in that family I should be aware of? Families spend MONTHS even YEARS getting to know the other family beforehand, asking around and getting to know them.

Esme and John was a one off thing, and was a marriage I don’t believe was presented right. The Shelby’s and Lee’s were already familiar with each other, having spent years of connections. Esme needed a husband, and John needed a wife. Esme was not quickly given away at convenience, do you truly think families would allow that??

Our whole lives do not revolve around spirituality and thinking we are being followed by ghosts. We do not live in a constant state of paranoia — it’s unrealistic.

Of course, we dabble into it once in a while, we explore what we can’t see and test the waters, but we are not running around believing there is a bad omen behind us.

Reading People.

Honestly, I do believe this is also something exaggerated in people when writing. We don’t sit and analyse you when we first meet you, but we do try to find out about you before we begin sharing details of ourselves.

We don’t go, “oh, she scratched her nose, she’s a pathological liar”, but we do go, “he’s quite fidgety, perhaps he’s uncomfortable”.

Yet we do still make mistakes, we are not upper beings who know all and do all. We do still make bad friends, and become close with people we do not truly know, despite the fact we thought we knew them.

We do still get in arguments and upsetting conversations, we are not immune to emotions.

Enough of the negative.

I’ll be blunt and honest, we do still make mistakes. We will still get in silly fights, we do still push people a little bit too far, which is normal, we are all human, no?

Roma feel emotions, we get sad when our day isn’t going right, and feel happy when our dinner came out perfectly cooked. We feel love for those closest to us, and feel an intense amount of care for them.

We have friends, lots of friends. Sometimes they’re only Roma friends, other times we meet them in primary school.

We have family celebrations, where we thank musicians by licking money (notes 💴) and sticking them to their foreheads.

We have horses, often not many but us usually a family will have one.

We are not natural riders. Of course we do pick it up quite quickly, having seen those around us do it so often, however we do make mistakes. We do fall off our horses, and we get upset when we do, because it hurts and we’re human. We do have good days with our horses, where we are content and happy.

We make AMAZING meals with cabbage, this could be a whole post in itself. However, we aren’t too good with cooking bread, (for some odd reason?).

We sit with our families and talk about our days. Yes there is secrets, but we do still discuss “why on earth have they changed that shop?”

Just remember when writing us, we are regular human beings, and I think you’ll do okay! <3

#finn shelby #peaky blinders imagine #peaky blinders x y/n #peaky blinders #tommy shelby imagine #tommy shelby x y/n #tommy shelby x reader #tommy shelby #arthur shelby x reader #peakyblinders #peakyblindershelp #izabesworld peakyblinders #izabesworld

115 notes · View notes

cere-mon-ials · 1 year

Text

2022 in kdramas

*that I finished

I spent my January nursing all that The Red Sleeve broke (my heart), nourishing what it gave me (provocation to write, notes here), cursing what it did for my overall k-drama viewing expectations. I am still mad that Lee Se-young wasn’t recognised for what she did in TRS, a show that belongs to Deok-im and her alone. I had finished Good Manager a day before, a long-winded bromance between Namkoong Min and Lee Jun-ho. I didn’t think much and truth be told, I don’t remember much either. Happiness fell flat after three episodes; stayed for the remaining episodes because of the excellent chemistry between the main characters. I evidently watched Coffee Prince many years too late but I saw every reason why I might have never finished school if I had seen it earlier.

Run On kept me thrilled on occasion, became white noise otherwise. I loved seeing my two joys, running and translation, woven into the show, loved the miracle of found friendships and homes, and a defiant writing philosophy that healthy relationships are worthy of being probed. Despite how unbearable Our Beloved Summer was about Ji-woong’s unrequited love, I could see the good-naturedness of the story writer-nim was trying to tell. I loved watching why the two leads fell apart and what brought them together. I loved that this had something to do with communication but I loved even more, that it just had to do with having grown up and realising you can love something you’re not and that’s one way to experience life. Kairos is the most underappreciated show that tackles time-travel. Great writing with exceptional attention to detail.

February was spent with the duology of the Ahn Pan-seok—Kim Eun—Jung Hae-in universe, the k-drama equivalent of Austenian bliss. Both shows benefit from Kim Eun’s thesis that romance may be intimate but love, in a patriarchy, demands a public that must accept it. Ahn Pan-seok is the finest orchestrator of moments that feel like the time lapse that falling in love is, that thing that people often reduce to soulmatism or violins at first glance. In One Spring Night, it works. In Something in the Rain, it fails because Kim Eun was still finding her voice as a writer who is stumped by what makes for the ‘right’ kind of conflicts in a 16-episode arc. I don’t think that’s the only problem with SITR but it’s the one she solved with marvelous elegance in OSN. In both shows, the main leads are charmingly, refreshingly communicative with each other. But it is in OSN, where Kim Eun figures out that being vulnerable is not the same as talking about vulnerable things, and how to make it count for all relationships that matter. Son Ye-jin and Han Ji-min, I love you both equally.

In March, I began paying an honorarium to the guard of my Jang Hyuk horny jail. Deep-rooted Tree made me cry in at least 14/24 episodes. A Joseon murder mystery wrapped in a drama about accessible language as the beginning to breaking down class barriers and nation-building, with nerdy love for character interiority? I ate that up. Han Seok-kyu is the only reel King Sejong ever. Just like Jang Hyuk is the only reel Bang Won ever. My Country: The New Age is a shallow show with hilarously lofty dialogues and masterful action sequences. In my most generous reading, MCTNA attempted to ask if Bang Won’s modernity could have come at a lesser price; is modernity not equivalent to audacity? Woo Do-hwan is almost as good at portraying audacity as Jang Hyuk.

Having Park Eun-bin and Kim Min-jae play Brahms in a riveting duet is exactly what Do You Like Brahms? set out to do. Introverts are rarely done well on the screen and getting it right with not one, but two leads is an achievement too. If you are a person fuelled by that mystical "passion," the creative arts industry can be a cruel place. Chae Song-ah is, by all accounts, not as talented as the others around her, and this is not a story of stick-with-it-till-you-rise-from-the-ashes. Even the hope that it might be is wonderful writing because Song-ah is far more assertive than anybody gives her credit for, like a baby who holds onto your finger with shocking strength. In classical music especially, there is no such thing: you are good or you are out. Park Joon-young is great and yet, he is begging for an out, because being good is just the beginning. These two and the other characters are deeply in love with music and they want to protect that love. They all find out that in the end that love needs sustenance, not protection.

I binged Fated to Love You in April, in a private experiment to see how much Jang Hyuk brainrot I can take. (Let’s remember this is a summary of the shows I finished.) I came out of it with brainrot for one more Jang. Outrageous show, outrageous star power. Soundtrack No. 1 was a forgettable experience save for the fact that I am now a person who looks up Park Hyung-sik’s MDL page on the reg. I think everybody is right about Twenty-Five Twenty-One: (a) Baek Ye-jin and Na Hee-do were always going to break up (b) It was a terribly-conceived finale. Two other opinions I am going to leave here: (c) Ji Seung-wan, darling of my heart, should have been the lead for the show that writer-nim actually wanted to do. (d) More people would see this, and also may have responded with thoughts beyond ship discourse, if Na Hee-do was played by anyone other than Kim Tae-ri.

I think people were right about criticising Lee Soo-yeon’s Grid too. The science of time-travel took some leniency. I get why the finale would have been unsatisfying, even as a setup for a potential second season. But I offer that the thesis of LSY’s shows is never in how they end, because they are not moral science lessons for the future. Grid’s deeply introspective themes of time-travel and the greater good begins with the the sun, the most reliable force in a human's life, turning against mankind. This immediately takes away a human as ultimate antagonist, when it easily could have been. For LSY, the future is the darkest place with unknowable power and we have the task of paving a path of light towards it. Time-travel is not the science-fiction component with which to imagine our behaviour in an unrecognisable, but possible, place. It’s the fucking fantasy. Even if we got the chance to change the past, we really couldn't. The future is what we have got to change and the present to make the first move. Those dreams of going back, repenting hard enough, flirting with what ifs? Not going to cut it. LSY's meta elegance is in bringing the intensely personal version of this theme in parallel to the big one: divorce. FWIW, she had all these threads tie together by Episode 7. I get why she said Grid is the next iteration of her life's work—an exceptional mind.

Park Min-young could have chemistry with a rock, and thank god, Seo Kang-joon isn’t one. When The Weather Is Fine is the rightest show about life in the countryside. It nails the fine line of a tight-knit community that shows up for you and also, how easily they can be the first source of judgement, as people who know your secrets. Best book club in a k-drama. Very well done pining. Imo is my favourite character and she should publish that novel because “Hey. Who do you think killed my brother-in-law?” is a banger opening line. I first saw Lee Jae-wook in this show.

During the weekends of April and May, there was My Liberation Notes. I watched it like a scheduled therapy session, although I do not think Park Hae-young is aiming for catharsis with her works (despite it seeming like the most common outcome). I didn’t have the word “healing” in my everyday vocabulary so often before k-dramas. It’s a genre of k-drama that is meant to be comforting, to inject slowness into everyday life as an antidote for the ills of modern society. Bullshit. There are multiple wide shots of the Yeom family tending their farms, eating in peace amid the greenery, and they are claustrophobic. It might feel like complaints, and you’re free to think that. But PHY knows, as most people my generation do, finding an escape is actually really easy. That’s not the point. The point is to be less sad about being who you are; to know that who you are is enough to make a living, find love if you want it, make peace with your family. This show is about siblings as the real loves of your lives.

I don’t remember what I was doing in June.

Pachinko is not a k-drama strictly speaking, but let’s do it. I adore Min Jin Lee and I am afraid to admit how emotionally attached I am to the world of Kogonada’s eyes. In MJL's book, the linear structure is meant to make you feel like the history of a family can also be a history of the other themes that consume intellectual space. In the show, there is no such thing as a past, or a history. Nothing is done, nothing is over and under the rug. You see Sun-ja’s and Solomon’s stories at the same time because there's no distance that makes what happened then far enough from what's happening now. For this alone, Pachinko is a superior adaptation. I have a shrine for every woman in this show. Watching Yumi’s Cells 2 has been among the happiest experiences of my TV viewing life. Bloody Heart could have been bloodier. I respected that it reached a conclusion without feeling the need to give a neat answer to its central question of assertive power as driver of both unity and chaos—there’s humility in realising that the answer need not be determined in one generation. Jang Hyuk thirst got me into the show, Kang Hanna’s outstanding face and smarts kept me there. Lee Joon’s Lee Tae nearly made me quit. Park Ji-yeon, muah. I watched the back half of Signal in July. It is no fault of the show that I was zapped out of will to see women being killed. There were two scenes of Kim Hye-soo’s that wrecked me bad, I had to quit watching for couple of days. Thank you to the makers for giving a genre-defining template. (Kairos did do it better.)

Alchemy of Souls was super fun as a weekly watch. Daeho is boring to me as a setting and the plot ventures into territories worthy of critical thought once in a blue moon. But I admire the ambition, and the storytelling does have its moments. Lee Jae-wook is a menace. Inhaled Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryung over four days; I enjoyed it. Extraordinary Attorney Woo tried. I also binged Reply 1997. Reply 1988 is always going to be my favourite and I am not going to watch R1994 for a conclusive test of veracity.

Between these shows, their endearing efforts at being fulfilling shows about love of different kinds, I nibbled on episodes of My Mister. I couldn’t watch two episodes together; it was so potent, so unbelievably demanding of my attention in every way imaginable, and I gave it willingly. I wrote about the show here.

October brought the best mystery/thriller show of the year: May It Please The Court. It was written with a clear idea of how much to bite, knew how to chew on it, and that’s why it also landed the best conclusion of the year. The show is astute about forgiveness and justice, and well, forgiveness in justice. I think the show’s success is in how it trusted both its characters and the audience to process what this means to them. Jung Ryeo-won and Lee Kyu-hyung have impeccable married energy from first scene. Lee Sang-hee is the best, the hottest, the finest.

Little Women is the mystery/thriller show with the most potential of the year. It wasn’t until episode 11 that the show lost me but I do think the flaws began revealing themselves a lot earlier. I didn’t appreciate the show’s insistence that the central crime of the show was Sang-ah’s murders and not the patriarchal cult that pretends to be a meritocracy. I thought the Vietnam War references were in conversation for a whole different reason: I viewed it as a nod to the first war where losing means more than winning. That war is the blueprint for the 21st century exertion of control for the right to capital and target audience, rather than mere territory and pride. But this symbolism wasn’t what came through and I understand those who pushed back on how the war's references, along with an exotic flower, rang hollow. LW did get characterisation right, particularly the way poverty alters how intelligence is perceived and valued. It’s ambitious premise—that Louisa May Alcott was wrong in deciding these sisters would taper their poverty with unusual politeness—is radical.

I will rewatch the first 11 episodes of May I Help You in several trying days of my future. Baek Dong-joo and Kim Tae-hee, butlers to the dead and the alive respectively, are companions, friends and lovers, in that order. What's not to love? The acts asked of them are rarely grand but they are delivered with emotional heft. I forgive all the detours taken from episode 12. I tend to find it dull when everybody and everything is connected to each other. In this one's ending, it's quite lovely. I see the vision in saying that we only know Dong-joo’s story because that’s the story we have tuned into. The miracles could be happening to anyone at all. I wish writer-nim wasn’t so Christian throughout—the throwaway line about suicide put me off. Best piggy-backing scenes in a rom-com and also, favourite kiss, I am going to say.

98 notes · View notes

elfyourmother · 8 months

Note

Do you consider yourself a lore breaking, lore bending or lore adhering roleplayer? Does this adherence to lore depend on the kind of lore you're exploring with your characters; i.e. you play fast and loose with ideas xiv has yet to develop, but you tend to pay close attention to the fleshed out ideals? Is there lore you have modified that you're proud of and would share here?

I view lore as a starting point for me to jump off from and make my own. Always have.

I find strict adherence to game canon for its own sake creatively suffocating and always have, in every setting I've ever written in. It’s pretty much entirely because I grew up on DMing and writing in Forgotten Realms, which took a very DIY approach back in the day that was heavily encouraged by its creator. Everyone's Realms were equally valid, according to Word of God, and there were often intentional "blanks" left in sourcebooks for the DM to fill. These books emphasized over and over again that the DM was the ultimate authority on canon, not TPTB or the novels or anything else. That philosophy has informed my approach to worldbuilding in the transformative fandom sense for the last 30 years. That and being a queer Black femme of color who is very rarely satisfied by canon narratives rife w racially problematic tropes. I change things to make a space for myself and my characters and the stories I want to tell, by necessity. FFXIV is no different in that respect.

That said, I don't smash SE canon just to smash it either. Despite how bonkershits a lot of Gisèle's canon appears on the surface (eg. post-war Ishgard's constitutional monarchy with King Aymeric), everything I change has been carefully considered and engineered for as much internal consistency as possible. As much as I operate on Rule of Cool, I need things to make sense for me to have fun.

But I am distinctly not a roleplayer, for this and many other reasons. I'm strictly a fic writer, and I don't ever collab with people. The world Gisèle operates in is constructed entirely for her, and my own enjoyment, by design. So no one is forced to deal with my stuff if they don't like it.

That said, King Aymeric is probably the lore I’m most proud of. I wrote a ficlet for ffxivwrite last year on it here, but the cliffs notes: Aymeric invoked the ancient covenant between man and dragon when begging Hraesvelgr’s aid against Nidhogg and vowed he would restore it, but Hraes said that because that covenant was broken by an Elezen king, only an Elezen king could restore it. Hraes was wily though, it wasn’t just upholding weird draconic custom in saying that. His ulterior motive was to make Aymeric guarantee his people would be united enough not to turn on the Dravanians once Nid was handled. the end result is that Aymeric restored the Ishgardian throne (“The Azure Throne”, as a nod to Haldrath), but as a largely unifying figurehead/ceremonial position with Parliament strictly defining the role of the king. Artoirel is Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. Aymeric’s still LC of the temple knights in addition to his royal duties. He wasn’t giving that up lol.

making a constitutional monarchy plausible in the context of the story was challenging and I think I’ve done a solid job of it tbh. I wanted to lean into the Arthurian romance vibes of HW but also solve the fundamental problem I had w how it ended, which is that I don’t think it’s a terribly realistic scenario for ppl who were under a theocracy for 1000 years. Aymeric essentially having his hand forced by Hraesvelgr solves the issue of why he would restore the throne and tbh I don’t flinch from the complications of squaring that with the revelations about Ishgard’s founding, I think it only plays more into Aymeric’s ambivalence about the role he’s been thrust into.

#gatheredfates #ask bisho

20 notes · View notes

knowlesian · 1 year

Note

I enjoyed your OFMD meta so much, I wondered your opinion on the symbolism of oranges in that show and in Goncharov — I mean, when Katya tries to win over Goncharov by taking him on a tour of the Moscow subways, and sends her gang of thugs to buy oranges from that “babushka” — I’m not imagining the parallel in OFMD, am I?

first off thank you, and second: absolutely! we already know david came in with movies like butch cassidy in mind and imo there is absolutely zero chance david and co didn’t see goncharov, too. the thematic overlap zones and then ultimate subversion on the meaning of the film is way too close to be coincidental.

forgive me for going a little broader before i focus on the katya and goncharov courtship flashbacks, because i really am over the moon about the connections here and how the ofmd writers repurpose old themes and storylines only to steer them in entirely new directions.

in goncharov we’ve got scorsese doing his... i’m gonna call it his best attempt at capturing the feel of russian lit. goncharov’s men are angry, explosive, and ultimately doomed. fated to die, unable to avoid How Things Are; the narrow limitations of their own understanding what is acceptable masculinity and what is not means they stay children, playing at war.

(and while scorsese is always gonna scorsese when it comes to the women in his films, katya and sofia make out better than most. i’m endlessly impressed with the way ofmd improved on that foundation; the vibe between those two isn’t NOT hiding in plain sight between mary and evelyn in ofmd, i’m js)

leaving the somewhat flimsy overall politics of goncharov aside, it does a pretty good job handling the overall ‘these expectations are actually killing more people than ice picks’ thrust.

i think it’s really interesting how the oranges in ofmd function as sort of... depending on how you look at it, love/family/growth beat, especially when we look at katya’s attempts to reach out and make the best of a marriage of convenience and how that calls back to some of mary’s efforts in the flashbacks we see in e4.

it’s not the same orange, but it IS? somehow?

because like, look: i wouldn’t say this was an intentional creative choice from scorsese, but like every huge interpersonal problem in goncharov could be solved if the narrative just... let people be gay?

(this is semi-joking oversimplification. i get that letting a scene about eating anchovy or gelato drop the subtext and just be about oral sex does not actually solve world hunger, but also. only semi-joking.)

katya attempts to use her family’s enforcers to obtain sustenance; and by that sustenance, eventually obtain love.

it’s poison fruit/poison tree.

...you know, in a way i think the emotional equivalent to stede and ed and the orange in goncharov is actually the gelato scene, and the oranges in goncharov are actually an inversion of the orange in ofmd. especially since i totally forgot until now that we get that lingering shot of katya’s oranges sitting out in that weird glass bowl until the housekeeper throws them away, which... probably there’s some class stuff to be said about that bit too, but for now i’m obsessed with how when you keep that in mind, no WONDER we get the petrified orange in ofmd.

katya didn’t go get those oranges herself; they were obtained impersonally and i think ultimately foreshadow the end of the movie. they’re food that could have been eaten by someone who actually ...you know, wanted oranges at all, wasted on a marriage that was over before it ever began.

and then we have stede’s orange, impervious to rot and time and representing a family that became a real family for the first time ever on stede’s final departure, because they let go of the old expectations for what family (and love) even means and also stede’s love for ed and the crew, etc etc etc.

ugh. u g h. the 4d chess the ofmd writers play here splitting themes and characters so we get the oranges in a different context and through different food is so amazing. no 1:1′s!!! what a galaxy brained bunch of bastards. hate them.

anyway i’m sure there’s a bunch more here (and i didn’t even yell about how ofmd takes the borderline nihilistic commentary on time in goncharov and spins it into a show that insists no literally: if you’re alive, there’s still time. you can always change which is like... so, so perfect) but yeah!!!! i agree, i think the parallels are unmistakable.

#this dumb dumb meme i LOVE IT i love this ask i love this website #very srs analysis about a very real film here (aka: this is a joke. if you see this and you missed the initial madness... i'm sorry)#goncharov the musical should be our next meme

119 notes · View notes

gtunesmiff · 7 months

Text

4 Common Problems with the Creativity Process in Songwriting

(Edited from an e-mail...)

Impostor Syndrome

The problem: Living in constant fear of being found out, for someone to point at you and say "this person is an impostor! I bet he doesn't even know what notes an Ebmin∆7(#9#11) is made up of!"

The underlying mindset: Thinking that making songs is a skill that you either have or don't have, and that there will be a clear point in your life where you'll suddenly be able to do it.

What you need to realize: This moment where you suddenly feel confident in your work doesn't exist. Learning a creative skill is a continuous journey.

What to do: At any given point, do the best you can, and learn as much as you can. That's all you can do.

Writer's Block

The problem: You have stopped writing regularly, out of fear that nothing good will come out.

The underlying mindset: Thinking that creativity is "god-given", an external source that you have no control over. And when it doesn't come, all you can do is wait.

What you need to realize: Creativity is driven by you. See it like a working relationship you have with your muse: the more work you do, the more your muse will feel obliged to chip in. But your muse is lazy: If you work for a few hours in a row, she'll ignore that. Do it every day, and she won't be able to ignore you.

What to do: Write with the sole purpose of activating your muse. The goal is not to write something good, it's to communicate to your brain that you are in creative mode.

Stuckemia

The problem: You're writing a song, and you're not making progress.

The Underlying mindset: If I get stuck, I must not have the talent, or I'm doing something wrong.

What you need to realize: You are stuck for a very simple reason: You have encountered a specific problem you’ve never dealt with before, and you don’t know how to solve it.

What to do: Figure out exactly what the problem is and brainstorm solutions. It’s ok to go for the obvious solution if you can only think of one (“but that would be such a cliche!”), it's more important to get unstuck than to be brilliant. You can always rewrite later.

Perfectionitis

The problem: Not finishing your songs because you're "fixing" and rewriting your music over and over again.

The underlying mindset: I can't release anything less than perfect or people might think I'm lazy or dumb. But what I liked last week seems obvious or uninspired now.

What you need to realize: As long as you keep pushing yourself, you will always be better tomorrow. But that doesn't mean yesterday's songs aren't worth releasing! Songs are time stamps. See them as diary entries: This is what you believed or thought when you wrote that song. It's not your job to rewrite every song until you love it, it's your job to write the best song!

What to do: Jump into the mind of your past self. Figure out what you actually wanted to say or do with your song when you wrote it, and then make that as clear as possible.

An Observation

Something interesting happened after my last mail. I asked you where you struggle the most with your process, but most of the emails I got concerned skills: how do I write melodies to lyrics, how do I write better melodies or chords, etc.

None of these are about process.

That's not to say that you didn't listen, rather it seemed to me as though most of you don't even know what process means and why it's so important.

In other words, the problem is you don't even know why you struggle.

You think you need to learn how to write chords or better melodies, or produce better.

But the truth is that if you don't have a process, none of these will get you anywhere, except stranded in a pile of unfinished songs.

All creative work consists of two big parts:

Skill: how good you are at writing melodies, producing music, ear training, coming up with engaging lyrics, etc. This is the stuff we mostly teach at Holistic Songwriting Academy, and it involves both study and practice. Very important, but useless without:

Process: how you actually write songs. Which instrument do you start with? How do you make sure you don't get stuck and what do you do if you do get stuck? How do you make sure your songs get finished, and that they're as best as they can be? How can you enjoy the creative process, and write more songs quicker? How do you make sure you don't drive yourself crazy? How do you deal with your ego, your perfectionism? How do you deal with tight deadlines?

~ Friedemann Findeisen || Holistic Songwriting

17 notes · View notes

rayless-reblogs · 5 months

Note

For the author ask game, 5 and/or 11?

5: How do you know when a story is "done"?

Hm, that's a good one... I've often started projects without a strict outline, but I don't think I've ever gone into a long project not knowing how it ends. But that's not quite what the question is.

Even if you know exactly how things are ending, there's still the question of "When have I written enough?" And I definitely have trouble with endings! Like I said last week or so, I want a story to have closure, but I never want it to feel too pat. Having an ending too wrapped up and perfect feels very artificial to me, and I enjoy some elements of ambivalence and ambiguity even as things close -- this issue wasn't resolved ideally, this thing could still happen, A was solved but B was a byproduct of it. The fanfic-writer in me likes the idea of fairly open endings, because that gives the reader room to speculate and put their own interpretation on events.

I think for me, the ending comes when I feel like the mood is right. Obviously I need to clear up everything the story requires to be cleared up, but after that I want to make sure the tone feels right, then I can hopefully land on a memorable closing line and make my exit.

With Eola, the most recent book, I struggled with its ending for literal years. I wasn't sure what was bothering me about it except that in some vague way, I didn't know if it was enough. Without outside help, it can be hard for an author to figure out if a feeling like this is a real problem, or is it the usual creative angst of your work not living up to the unattainable ideal you saw in your head? Unfortunately, there's no measuring cup you can pour your story into to make sure all the measurements are right.

I remember talking about it to a friend whose writing sense I really trust, and they reminded me about climaxes and how somewhere, whatever's happening, the protagonist needs a moment of choice and agency. Looking back over Eola's climax, I realized I hadn't done that, meaning that not only was my protagonist's arc weaker, the climax didn't offer much catharsis, so overall there wasn't a very strong sense of the story even ending. So I went back to the climax and beefed it up.

When it came to Eola's epilogue, I'd rewritten it many times. I'd added and subtracted details, but never entirely changed the ending itself, and I'd always felt discontented with it. But because I went back a step and improved the climax, it improved the ending too. Which made me feel better about setting it down and saying, "Okay, this is done."

So the best I can say is -- it's done when it feels done? That's not useful, I know. Someone needs to invent that measuring cup. The mathematical side of writing the ending is making sure you've covered all the narrative beats you want to. But the non-mathematical, emotional side is ending when it feels right.

11: What punctuation do you love too much?

This is embarrassingly easy. The long hyphen, the em dash. I don't know why it started, or exactly when, but I do remember one of my high school teachers remarking to me, "I liked hyphens a lot at your age too." Well, I'm sorry, Mrs M, but I'm not that age anymore and I'm still drowning in hyphens. I'm making a conscious choice not to use any at this exact moment, but they fly in like darts most of the time.

I think part of it is that the em dash feels more expressive than a comma. If I write, "The Boxer heard a sound behind him, the evil pitterpat of Asher's cat," that works fine dramatically. The comma provides an adequate dramatic pause as you read. But ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I'm going to write, "The Boxer heard a sound behind him -- the evil pitterpat of Asher's cat." For me, it simultaneously pauses the reader for that dramatic beat and rushes them along, adding tension and energy.

And that's fine as far as it goes. But it goes too far. I will also throw that em dash into dialogue, and character descriptions, and onto the ends of paragraphs, and if I'm feeling really saucy, onto the front of paragraphs.

Reading my stuff over, I start to feel ridiculous. There's always a stage where I go through and try to kill as many em dashes as I can stand, making them boring little commas (ugh) or breaking lines into shorter sentences/fragments. Anything to stop there from being an Overdramatic Em Dash in literally every paragraph.

Maybe I haven't actually answered the question. Maybe I don't love the em dash. Maybe it's my greatest enemy.

Thanks for the asks!

Meme here.

#writing #editing #meme #em dash

7 notes · View notes

stevensavage · 5 months

Text

Hard Because We’re Inside

Writers, artists of all kinds, can be incredibly hard on themselves. If you’ve dealt with such creatives, you know it. If you are such a creative, well, you’re nodding along. I myself can be harsh towards my skills, abilities, and works.

I’ve wondered why we do this. I mean sure, not every artist or writer self-flagellates, but it’s common enough that I feel there’s something to it. We creatives can turn on ourselves.

A book could be written on this - indeed I’ve written about it before. But one of the reasons that comes to mind is simply that we’re inside something no one else can experience.

Each creative person is living inside their own unique experience and creations. No one can see the flaws of our work because only we have them inside our head. No one can see the flaws in our process like we do as we are the process. No one lives with them as much as us - only we know what that’s like.

We experience our creations and creativity so intimately its easy to see the flaws. It’s also hard to express or connect as no one can really get what’s going on as they’re not us. It’s lonely, in our face, and intense.

Solving it is also hard because our self-loathing is so intense and personal. For us creatives wanting to mitigate this - and help others, I think there’s a few lessons.

First, any creative has to be aware of their own mental health and use our awareness of how personal our experience is. Being aware that yes, we have unique experiences, yes its hard to share, we can approach our own well-being better.

Secondly, I think we can network and connect with fellow creatives so we can support each other better. Being aware we’ve got some isolation, we can mitigate it as best we can socially, in writer’s groups, etc. It may be hard, but we can try - and our fellows can tell us when we’re being too cruel to ourselves.

Third, we have to remember creative support groups - writer’s groups, art jams - have to be about more than what we make. We have to talk challenges and problems in being creative and what we face. You can’t just talk word count and editing them go away. Creative people need people because hey, we’re people.

We might be in our heads because we do a lot of work there. But we can have guests and we can visit. With a little less sense of disconnection, with more people to understand, we can get more done and maybe get over those times we’re hard on ourselves.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

#writing #creativity #psychology

6 notes · View notes

popjunkie42 · 2 months

Note

You're such a doll. 🥹❤️

🚀🏷️🎁

I was traveling this weekend so just catching up with fic asks!!

🚀Do you like to outline your fic first or create as you go?

Lol I was just discussing this on Sunday! I absolutely outline but I am definitely a lazy, create-as-I-go pantser with a lot of writing. I'll generally get a big burst of creativity when I come up with a new story I'm excited about and I know the broad strokes of everything as well as a few scenes that come to me. I might write it down, I might just remember it. I like the story to unfold as I'm writing it, and a lot of times I'm solving plot problems and discovering emotional through lines as I write as well. It's a messy process and I love it. :) I will say Psyche-Eros is going to be 60k+ words for part one, and I just did a bonkers detailed chapter-by-chapter outline to keep me on track, so I definitely need it for longer works...

🏷️Is there a tag you like to search when looking for fanfics to read?

Honestly the only thing I search is for new Feyre/Rhysand fics! I'm lucky to be tapped in here and get a lot of recommendations from people. And I've found so many good pieces and writers just by searching for new Feysand fics on AO3!

🎁Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

Ok I shared this a bit elsewhere but I think I've already posted a lot of my fave bits from Psyche-Eros so you get something new :) This is an Azris meeting UTM...be gentle, it is my first Azris.

“And how is your dear circle? Is The Morrigan in hiding from her father? He looks at me strangely every time I mention how much I miss her glowing countenance.”

Azriel was still, a dark storm brewing.

Eris knew. Only in seeing Azriel, in the hard iron bars of his mental shield, had he been able to dredge up their names, bits of their faces, like pulling memories out of sticky tar. Their names felt heavy on his tongue.

“I’m not speaking about them.”

“Won’t you? And don’t you want to know what your illustrious High Lord has been up to? Just this evening I watched him make a low fae dance for hours until his feet were bleeding, and then knock him unconscious so quickly his face cracked on the marble floor. Apparently Amarantha thought he had sneered at her in the hall.” No reaction. “We all knew Rhysand was a bit of a monster, but he truly seems to have found his calling in this place. Who knew he would take to servitude so well.”

The lilt of his voice was a taunt, a plea for reaction. He wouldn’t stand for stoic silences today. “Does he even know you’re here?”

The barest hint of a smile, the corner of Azriels’ lips twitching. His eyes like dark coals. “I came to see you.”

Eris huffed a laugh. “How flattering, that you came Under the Mountain just to needle me for information. You’re like a hungry cat. I should never have fed you. Now you won’t stop coming back.”

A smile, a flash of sharp teeth. Menace glistening in shadow. His dark wings rustled as he pushed off of the table where he had been leaning. His steps indeed like a stalking cat. Until he stood in front of him, his wings casting a shadow over the high lord’s son, the fire crackling and looming behind him.

“I wasn’t hungry. But you fed me anyway.” His leg closer, parting Eris’s knees on the couch. Azriel leans down, his eyes going to Eris’s lips. “Says more about you than me, I would think.”

#acotar fanfiction #acotar #fic ask game

3 notes · View notes

scoops404 · 8 months

Note

☉ what do you do when you get stuck writing?

I cannot for the life of me find the symbols so this one because this happens to me a lot and I need advice :) -sel

Ha yeah I had to copy and paste the symbols myself, lol!

What to do when you get stuck writing. A couple things have been helpful for me. The first thing is to re-read everything and make sure it's fresh. Don't let yourself get frustrated, just recognize very analytically, that something is wrong and it can be fixed. Take some time away from the doc, but keep thinking about it. Think about making fanfiction of it, what other things could happen? You don't have to commit to any of those things. Like, sometimes I'll pick the weirdest things and imagine it to the end (weird meaning like everyone develops tentacles or something). This is just a good way to loosen up and let new ideas come to you. Because half the time it's because I'm writing myself into a corner. This advice is very anecdotal for me because I've only ever had to solve this for myself, so take that with a grain of salt!

take time away from the doc until it's not so fresh and the lines are blurry and you don't remember 100% of what you wrote, and then get out a notebook and a pen and write one version of the ending, or even just the next scene. Sometimes that will shake things loose. I did this with Just One Touch when the last two chapters were not cooperating and ended up changing quite a lot (this is another reason why i like to write the majority of the fic before I post it, in case it changes drastically and I need to add more things to the beginning to support the end).

If it's a particularly bad problem (such was the JOT last two chapters) start a new fic that will be short and let your creative juices work on that while your hind brain continues to think about the original fic. Take long walks listening to music. Take a long drive if you can. A long, luxurious shower. Those places tend to be where my mind wanders and ideas come to me, including how to fix things.

If needed, it's okay to show to a friend and say something like "the vibes are off, something's wrong but I can't pinpoint what, can you help?" and have them read it. Don't let them or yourself get stuck in small details like words or spelling, this is big picture stuff. There's time to fix little things later.

And then, for more general writer's block where nothing comes to me--take a BIG step backwards, hang out with friends or family, go to a museum, watch a new series or show, and let your mind wander. The good news is that it will always come back. This kind of block usually comes to me in the months with less light or right after i publish a big fic I'd spend months working on, almost like a withdrawl symptom. But, it will come back.

Like I said, this is very *me* advice and probably won't work for everyone, but start making notes about how/when you work the best/worst so you can kind of predict things. For me, if it's a winter month and I just posted something huge, i don't panic if the words aren't coming. It's a known thing, so no sense in worrying about it, it'll come back.

Hope this helps! Thanks for asking, Sel <3

7 notes · View notes

biblioflyer · 1 year

Text

The writer's strike and franchise fatigue: two heads of the same coin?

Context: I'm shamelessly reposting a comment on a popular webforum where someone posed the question "What's next for Star Wars?" that prompted a lot of discussion about the whats and whys of what's working, what isn't, and of course everyone's favorite hobby: performing yet another autopsy on the Sequel Trilogy. I declined to go there in favor of speculating on the production side.

Ultimately I think the future of Star Wars requires Disney to do what a lot of franchise owners have been resistant to doing for various reasons: allow their creative teams a wide latitude to fully develop their ideas without unnecessarily harsh deadlines tied to quarterly earnings reports. Now that isn't to say that projects can fail on their own merits.

I don't know for a fact that Book of Boba Fett was timid, awkward, and boring because the showrunners couldn't make a cut that worked with the time and resources allotted, but we were mostly all impressed with Rodrigues' work on Mando so we were cautiously optimistic that a Cool Gangster Drama with Boba Fett could be a thing. So what the hell happened? Solve that mystery and I think you ensure that Star Wars has a future.

Looking at another popular "Star" franchise, we see a lot of similar problems with uneven writing and what seems to be differing opinions both inside and outside the franchise as to what exactly it means for something to carry that name. What sort of stories can you tell? How do you tell them? Can you have a point of view character or does it always have to be ensemble? Can you deconstruct the setting only to reconstruct and reaffirm it in the finale without losing the fans?

What explains "bad" writing? Coercion by the studio? Writer inexperience? Showrunner inexperience? A failure to find the right balance between modernizing the storytelling of a franchise without it becoming illegible as part of that franchise or to cling so hard to fan service that it is afraid to experiment and becomes a less interesting and murkier Xerox of itself?

Something that I found fascinating in the discourse around the writer's strike is that the format of streaming TV with its short seasons has turned everyone involved in these productions into gig workers. Unless you're one of a half dozen showrunners who have helmed widely acclaimed franchises, modern tv has become severely siloed on the production side: writers have limited opportunities to learn directing, editing, and show running. They also have limited opportunities to see how their work translates to the screen when it lands in the hands of directors, actors, set decorators, and FX artists.

If you add up all of the live action Star Trek shows produced to date, you end up with 8 seasons of streaming that equal roughly 4 seasons of broadcast era TV. Which means that under the old paradigm, a traditional TV show would only now just be airing its second "good" season. Which, shockingly enough, maps very neatly to attitudes about Strange New Worlds and Picard Season 3, and to a lesser extent Discovery season 4.*

*To the extent it will ever be allowed to make a second impression, which is another seeming "problem" of the streaming era that needs addressing since any "failed" first season is very likely to result in a sub-franchise that is going to get cauterized and forgotten about given the era of a permissive financial environment for funding additional seasons and permitting a production to recover and learn from their mistakes is pretty much dead and gone.

Were I Disney, given these realities, I would probably fund 2 or 3 "stables" of Star Wars writers and production teams. One for light hearted action comedy, one for "serious drama," and a third for something more esoteric. Maybe a fourth for big budget tentpole films. Keep them employed and give them opportunities to develop their tradecraft.

Don't be so quick to slash and burn a dud, use failure as permission to experiment. If nobody cares about Book of Boba Fett anyway, why not take some risks and see if some writers who are claiming they can turn in a second season that can "fix" the first season by turning the stories that go nowhere or are halfhearted into the first chapters in more meaningful stories? People already tend to avoid series that have only one season anyway and become ever more likely to do so the more time passes without more seasons so you're just throwing away your investment by not trying to salvage it.

This is incidentally why I'm not antagonistic towards the prospect of trying to rehabilitate the Sequel Trilogy. The Prequels are poorly made but were rich in potential. That potential was not left on the table, it was exploited until we can no longer separate the Prequels as they originally stood from all of the tie in media that added depth and nuance to the setting and storybeats.

So were I Disney and I have all of these props and set pieces in storage doing me absolutely no good, then of course it will eventually be time to try to make the Sequel Trilogy good. Maybe do some Director's Cuts and then build out the universe to make it feel less claustrophobic and less overtly a bigger, louder, dumber rehash of the Original Trilogy.

#star trek #star wars #the mandalorian #book of boba fett #star wars sequel trilogy #star wars prequels #star trek discovery #star trek picard #writer's strike #disney

18 notes · View notes