#i was actually way more invested in the worldbuilding and like. all the documents more than the actual story.
Text
perkele! what a mess!
#my art#ahti the janitor#beat controls main story tonight. was good. legally obligated to play the alan wake games now#love that ahti showed up and i immediately went ''this guy is the coolest motherfucker alive'' and i was RIGHT#i was actually way more invested in the worldbuilding and like. all the documents more than the actual story.#cheering everytime the board gave us a phone call. the inverted black pyramid is my second favorite character#remedyverse#<- going to make that my catch-all tag for control and mr wake. bc u know i will be rbing stuff when the time comes.#i can feel that alan is going to change my brain chemistry. somehow. we'll see it when that day arrives.
60 notes
·
View notes
Text
My last post to get people to talk about their creative projects has gotten something of a theme. People who are trying to write a book, but instead of actually writing it, are writing a bunch of…other stuff.
I may be biased because I do very little of that extraneous writing, but I think there’s two main places that situation comes from:
Being scared of writing the book/story
Not actually wanting to write a story
And both of those things themselves could probably be a whole post or series of posts, but let me break them down one at a time to see if it helps anyone figure out what’s going on with them.
Being scared of writing the book/story:
Basically, the writing you’re doing instead of the story is procrastination and avoiding actually working on the story. You don’t want to be writing it, but you’re afraid if you actually write the story, you’ll mess it up, so you’re writing other things and trying to prepare yourself utterly and completely so you know exactly what you’re going to do…except none of that “prep work” worldbuilding and character exploration is actually making you any more confident.
So here’s the thing: You can rewrite the same story from scratch several times if you don’t like what the first try looks like. You can edit the story over and over if you don’t like what it looks like.
Some prep work helps a lot of writers. But at the end of the day, it’s really not helping you write the story. The story is the story and it’s not any of your asides, and the longer you spent avoiding the story and building up All These Cool ideas, the scarier actually writing it is going to get. Because now you have a thousand cool ideas and you’re even more afraid you can’t do them justice than when you had one kinda interesting idea to pursue. You’ve invested all this time—what if the story isn’t good?
It's still going to be better than no story. And you're not going to get better at telling stories without trying to do that specific thing, because of the discussion we're about to get into...
Not actually wanting to write a story:
The people who said this to me in that post were largely writers. But the thing is that doesn’t really get talked about is that…writing isn’t really one hobby.
There’s a lot of kinds of writing, and some of them overlap, but they all require different skills and they require different interests, and they satisfy different parts of a person, if they satisfy any.
Writing a novel is different from writing a short story is different from writing an analytic essay is different from writing standup is different from writing a screenplay is different from writing a Wiki entry is different from writing a business report is different than writing marketing copy is different from writing a technical manual is different from…
I majored in creative writing and minored in professional writing, and I have been writing for 25 years. I have tried a lot of those kinds of writing. I enjoy most of them, because I enjoy wordsmithing. I enjoy putting various words together to see what they look like. Not everyone does, but they might still write because…
They like storytelling. Not everyone who likes storytelling is a writer—sometimes they draw, or make a video game, or pain, or act, or direct, or sing. Lots of ways to tell stories exist! And if you like writing but don’t like storytelling, maybe you’d be happier writing analysis essays or business reports, or marketing copy (which can be storytelling, but is very different from narrative).
And maybe, it leads you to writing long character profiles and worldbuilding documents.
Writing a novel and writing detailed worldbuilding documents are honestly basically different hobbies. You might like both! Or you might not, and just feel like “I like writing,” means you have to write a novel or a short story.
You…don’t. Writing doesn’t mean you have to write any specific thing. You should find why you’re drawn to a specific activity, to figure out what is satisfying you about it.
It is perfectly okay if you enjoy writing about made up worlds without wanting to write a novel about it. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
So basically:
If you want to write a novel, just do it already! If you don’t, you don’t have to keep telling yourself you will because you feel obligated to do it. Just enjoy whatever part of the process you enjoy.
17 notes
·
View notes
Note
What’s your preferred way to write? On a PC, laptop, phone, in a hardcover notebook? Something else entirely?
Also, how do you organize worldbuilding, references, outlines, and other stuff for your projects?
Don’t mind me, just taking notes… 📝 👀
Hi, Sofie!😊Thank you for popping into my inbox!
I almost exclusively write on laptop/PC/iPad/even my phone when I get the chance. (When I was a waitress I was in my Dragon Age kick and would write on my tickets front and back so I wouldn’t “be on my phone” the whole time. I have the majority of the future scenes of The Smallest of Deeds transposed from those tickets, and I still have them in an envelope tucked away.) Otherwise I’m a tech/cloud enthusiast haha. I have enough blank notebooks that I want so very badly to get into the habit of actually using them, though…one day!🙏🏻
As far as my notes…they’re usually chaos lol. Most of the time they end up just being billeted lists at the start of my documents. Plot points and twists, character details, etc, all lined up so I can check them easily. I add them as I think of new things, like snippets of dialogue or scene ideas and the like.
I am currently in the process of transferring all of my Docs to a platform called Dabble, which is also cloud compatible, since Google decided to allow AI to delve into that space. I need to save a bunch of my old college/uni assignments into my Word Documents, but my PC is still out of commission for the time being so that process has been on hold for a while, unfortunately.
(I digress.) Dabble has character cast, plot grid, and worldbuilding notes features that help me to organize a lot more effectively, which is why I like using it so much. You can pull up your “notecards” within whatever chapter or scene you’re writing in at the time, and it’s enough of a blank slate that I don’t get overwhelmed with feeling like I have to fill everything out. (I swear I’m sponsored lol, but it really is nice if you can afford to pay its subscription fee. It just feels a lot more secure than Docs, runs more efficiently without lagging, and has features that allow for importation and exportation. It structures the document itself like a manuscript for easier transferral, and it has cloud syncing and allows for others to comment and access for beta reading and the like. I’d highly recommend checking it out!)
In the Morning Light (or, currently, That Poison, Reconciliation) is the first fic that I’ve really invested in organizing since I’ve had a bunch of different documents over the span of ten years keeping track of all my ideas. I’m exclusively writing it in Dabble rn.
Speaking of which…I’m a week late for an update, huh🥲I have some free time tonight, so I’ll try to work on the next chapter!
4 notes
·
View notes
Note
COMES IN TO BOTHER YOU. what was the first fic you wrote? do you have any cool keychains/trinkets you carry around? if money and time was no object, what field of study/career would you pursue? what is a book youre currently reading?
WOW SO MANY QUESTIONS I LOVE IT!!
Let's get you some answers then:
First fic
... Already stumped at that one, because damn my memory is so fucking bad. I can't even ruffle through my documents on laptop because when I first started writing I had a different one and I'm not sure if I transfered all the files when I upgraded.
*tries to make the brain do the thinking thing*
I think actually my first try at anything fanfic like was with my super cringy self-insert thing into the Percy Jackson universe. I didn't even know fanfic was a thing at the time and I'm pretty sure I deleted that document because it went absolutely no where, so yeah that was probably it. I was and still kinda am pretty obsessed with Uncle Rick's work, so it's no surprise to me that I tried my hand at writing fanfic without knowing the concept even existed. However I wouldn't be able to tell you what that story was about even if you put a gun to my head so I can't really give you much detail.
Cool keychain/trinkets
Unfortunately no cool keychains for me, I have a heart shaped one my mum got me from her trip to Berlin but that's pretty basic. As for trinkets? Do earrings count? Because I have some pretty dope sword earrings.
The keychain situation might change though, because my friend is going to Japan in May and he promised to get me a souvenir, so maybe I'll have a cool KHR keychain soon (might get something else though who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)
Field of study/career
It's a toss up between Writer and Owner of Small Crochet Business. I would love to spent my day just being creative and making stuff. I do like science and I think with all the time I invested in my studies I can say I'm not bad at it but it's not my passion. Like, learning about new stuff is fun and I certainly can do experiments and data analysis but give me the option to simply chill on my couch/bed and just create, I would choose it over science every single time.
I'd probably need to get a better grip on scheduling my day because I realized having a strict routine does wonders for my mental health but otherwise just let me make stuff and I'll be happy.
BOOKS
*stares at all the books in my shelf that I've started but currently don't have the energy to read*
...
You want me to choose just ONE?
Well, if we take the one I read the most recently it's Assisstant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Meahrer. It's a cozy fantasy romance, easy to read and quite funny at times. I liked the premise so I picked it up and I'm over half way through but my brain is so focused on writing right now, I don't really have the motivation to read (which is very strange since normally it's the other way around.)
Other titles that are gathering dust in my self:
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch; also funny but in a more serious way, very heavy on the worldbuilding which is awesome but it takes a lot of brainspace so I put it on hold for now.
As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson; I binged the first two books in the trilogy in a day, but this one a bit darker than the others (which makes sense because shit happened) and I need to be in a certain brainspace for that.
The colour of magic by Terry Prachett; I read a lot of Discworld as a kid but I read it in German. This book is my first try reading Prachett in his original glory and it's actually a bit difficult, because again very heavy on the worldbuilding.
I know you only asked for one book, but I'm a chronic oversharer and you asked about BOOKS okay?! I'm bad at controlling myself when it comes to book discussions, so be glad I just kept it to four examples, I could have listed more!
#ask answered#thanks for the ask tango I really needed a distraction#the WIP I was working on was driving me up the wall
3 notes
·
View notes
Note
i'm rereading dark continent arc to prepare myself for new chapters and I WANT TO SCREAM! i only reached ch 345 and why?! why is it so good? why the pacing, the questions, the mysteries, all of it just makes me go insane? Why is hxh so good????? Why it is so interesting????
YEAH!!!!!!!!! i can't yell enough about it!!!!
i'v been reading a lot of ongoing series lately, and some of them definitely seem to have been inspired by hxh but i usually find them lacking in some way. they don't scratch that same itch, even when they're attempting to do very similar things. i've been thinking a lot to myself about why that is so i guess i'll take this opportunity to blurt out some of my thoughts in some attempt to make them cohesive.
WORLDBUILDING!!!!!!!
the worldbuilding in hxh is so comprehensive. togashi doesn't just think "this sounds cool so i'll write it", you can tell when he gets an idea he considers what it means within the world of hxh.
i've read some series with lengthy, wordy worldbuilding. it gives you the impression the worldbuilding MUST be comprehensive, the author MUST have put a lot of thought into it, because there's just so many dang WORDS happening, but when you thinking a little bit more logically about certain elements, the whole thing just starts to fall apart. it feels deceptive and lazy to me when authors get really in the weeds on certain things that as a whole just don't make any sense in the story they're writing. i swear that sometimes authors will intentionally be as convoluted as possible, like a science study or a legal document, in the hopes that it dissuades you from picking it apart. togashi's worldbuilding feels genuine to me because i know he's not saying shit just to sound smart, he's telling you RELEVANT information that's NECESSARY for your reading experience, and it just so happens to also enrich your understanding of the world/characters.
2. CHARACTERS!!!!!!!
i've said this a billion times but i truly think togashi is a master at making likable characters. within just a few panels, a character you never thought you'd ever become invested in is now suddenly one of your favorites. characters aren't one dimensional -- some are presented that way at first, but it's all in order to make a humanizing moment they have later on all the more unexpected and endearing. a lot of characters also have an "outer personality" (how they present themselves) and an "inner personality" (how they actually are), which i guess is a bit like "gap moe" lol.
50 notes
·
View notes
Text
Anon sent me a very wonderful ask about Myriad Trickery last night but I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it, so I'm pasting the ask under cut along with my response.
hi my name is not important but what IS important is that you handcrafted Myriad Trickery and you are the finest argument of why i phucking love fanfic SOOOO much. you have crafted a storyline i never even thought about and put a Metric Ton of care into story structure, worldbuilding, and RELATIONSHIPS, (yes relationships, not just romance because y/n getting to know the squad is SO WELL ILLUSTRATED, like the progression is so delishus. especially with pros. oh to be someone named celeste with a shitty ex husband and smol kids you need to get back --- anyway) like. shit these last few chapters Hurt me. i would like. beat my own ass up for making my babies so sad. so mad. smad. but like, you gotta get your money tho. so shoutout to y/n and wanna know for doing what they have to do with their skillset. also can we talk about y/n l/n for a second?? making them a P.I.??? in-fucking-spired. doing The Absolute Most with 4 entire personas and using them to sink their fingers into hardened criminals and SUCCEEDING at making most of them catch feelings???? teach some classes please because i cant even do that with 1 person!!! (lets leave out the fact that y/n fell too because the squad is so fun to be around.) y/n being knowledgeable in stealth n subterfuge, AND armed with their wits to get as far as they did despite not being an indestructible tank??? we cant all be like jotaro so we make do babey, and thats part of why i love y/n so damn much. im too soft, im not a tank at all and i dont want to hurt anyone or make them sad (well unless they do it first) but i dont even care that the difference between me and y/n is the one with jupiter and phuckin earth. y/n is engaging asf and going thru their thoughts is a treat. like its not ME me, but the way you write them makes me feel like i understand them completely. so i have an easier time immersing myself without anything getting me out of that immersion. your writing????? has me on the edge of my seat. im even using my voice to say their lines!!! y/n and i…… we r kind of dumbasses tho but im a corporate slave 8/5……. still. i wanted to read the next chapter on ao3 so hard, i was legit sneaking peeks at my phone at work -- very risky because we got undercover unauthorized breaktime snitches --because i wanted to know all the juicy details of what was going down, and now i regret it because im finished with the chapters on ao3. i want to experience the story for the first time again but you can only experience something for the first time only once!!!!! im gonna reread my fave parts, which is everything with prosciutto because he is my absolute favorite. but like, im happy you're here on tumblr so i can send all this directly to you. you make me want to print Myriad Trickery out and have it bound so i can pull it off my shelf and read everything cover to cover, like a bedtime story. i dont have the words to thank you enough for the monumental effort you did to give us this story except for: thanks so much for giving Myriad Trickery to us for free. shit if i were a publisher i would want to give you a book deal but for now here is a big ole virtual kiss for you for imparting the greatest reader insert saga -- yes. a wholeass saga -- ive ever read.
Hello anon! Where to begin?! I cannot describe how much it means to me that there are people this invested in my silly little stories. I'm a person who writes more for comfort than actual writing merit but MT is one of the few stories where I really wanted to create something to be proud of on a literary front, and that's what makes it so hard but rewarding to write.
The good news is that I absolutely do want to continue the story. I started a planning document for the next chapter soon after the last and it's been empty until last night, when I finally got down a paragraph on how I want the next chapter to begin. My problem is that I wrote the initial plot entirely around the build up to the big twist reveal, and it's kinda hard to come down from that, but I do have a basic idea of what I want to happen.
I may just cut down the remaining plot to about 3 chapters, but no matter what form I do want to get something out.
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
alright i want to apologise in advance a bit, because I recently tripped and fell into another BNHA fixation, and it's sorta getting in the way of my other stuff.
So. If I look as if I've jumped fandoms for the next however long...I really haven't. I just added to the pile, and I'm returning to my old VR AU because holy ensemble cast, it sure does scratch that itch.
...is it bad that ensemble casts are basically a prerequisite for any fandom I might get invested in enough to write for?
Anyway, not the point. The point is that I'm channelling my current obsession into NaNo this year (as co-ML for Kent's region I try to give it my all when I participate!), so I'm afraid everything else is probably not going to get much love for the next few weeks or so.
Probably. I know what I'm like, and I usually find it hard to stick to one project at a time, especially if I don't want to burn out. TBH, that's the other reason I'm doing this - so far, the only part of this AU i've posted is a standalone prequel fic which no one really cared about anyway because it had no ships. So if I burn out and this goes nowhere, at least I haven't left anyone hanging, right?
Also, if you want to take a peek at any of the decidedly excessive worldbuilding notes I've been putting together for the last couple of weeks, just hit me up. So far there's like...10k of it, including my musings on how the hell to turn quirks into VR hacks which make sense on a digital platform. Some of these are more straightforward than others, let me tell you.
I am also decidedly in love with how OFA/AFO works in this setting, but that's for me to know and you to find out if I ever get as far as posting this damn thing.
also also dropping this here because I can and it gives you a bit of an idea of the setting: In the AU, basically the surface of the planet got screwed over a couple of hundred years ago, and everyone lives underground, logging into a VR world where they can roleplay as pre-disaster humans for the sake of their sanity for their waking hours. Quirks are basically government-sanctioned hacks which people apply to their VR accounts, because ultimately it was easier to legitimise and legislate them than try and get people to stop doing that. A chief problem in the story is dealing with the fallout of an entire world of people who no longer remember how to touch grass. (It's a lot more serious than this, but basically my planning seriousness is inversely proportionate to the tone of the fic itself, and I just. I cannot talk about my work in any other way.)
Here's a snippet from my planning document to give you an example:
Aizawa is just a regular-ass dude who got his hero licence in spite of his Exploit rather than because of it. He’s also IRL ripped because his eye problems aren’t exactly conducive to 16 hours of screentime a day. This is why no fucker has heard of him, because all his heroics happen in short, irate bursts before he logs out to dose up on fucking eye drops.
His chief strength in this AU is not a borderline gamebreaking exploit, it’s the fact that he can, like, actually function in the real world a hell of a lot better than most folks.
Which meeeeeeaans, that he becomes 1A's teacher in the real world, after they all realise they need to buff up for this shit because they’re (mostly) totally clueless on how to function outside of the Interface. In this fic, UA is basically 1A's super secret offline school where they learn proper fitness and agility, and the physical, mechanical skills they’re gonna need in order to pull off the heist of the century. Hahaha, Aizawa is gonna be That Guy who is super strict about everyone’s screen time lmao.
#tott's life#progress update#bnha stuff#Interfaced With Reality#ah man it actually feels good to be able to type that series title again?#I genuinely really loved working on this AU before#and i'm super excited to work on it again#not least of all because there are SO MANY THINGS which the manga has made more interesting since i last did anything with bnha
1 note
·
View note
Text
thanks for tagging me @flowercrown-bard!
Fanfiction tag game
how many works do you have on Ao3?
36 (which is honestly a lot more than I’d have thought)
what’s your total Ao3 word count?
244,36. Fun fact: most of that was written between August and December last year
what are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Of Witchers, Bards, and Broken Hearts. So far no surprises. This fic got wildly popular and at this point I’m still not sure why
Toss a Coin to your Lover. The first witcher fic I ever wrote! I vomited out 1k words at 2 am and then look what became of me...
The Best Laid Plans. Ahhh, yes. The mistletoe fic. One of my personal favourites.
Handsy Strangers and Clever Bards. This is a very short fic of mine in which Jaskier is hit on by a stranger and says that Geralt is actually his boyfriend. Not a lot happens but it’s pretend relationship, so I get it
To Find Warmth Where There Is None. The Kaer Morons cuddle pile fic! I love that one
do you respond to comments, why or why not?
I try to, but I tend to forget. I just love interacting with the author when I’m writing comments, so I imagine my readers might feel a similar way. I also love interacting with readers, getting to know their opinions, theories, etc.
what’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?
See, here’s the problem: I don’t really do endings, I reach a point where I don’t know how to continue and slap that thing on the internet. Besides that, most of my fics just end with the couple getting together. But if you’re looking for a fic with a particularily sappy ending, I’d recommend my entry for Zutara Week 2020.
what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?
ahhhh, I think this would be this angsty baby here. Geralt apologises to Jaskier after the mountain, but they have to keep their relationship secret, feat. a beautiful (albeit very sad) artwork by @spielzeugkaiser
do you write crossovers?
no, I don’t really see the appeal
have you ever received hate on a fic?
I think I might just start to cry if I ever did, so I am very glad that I haven’t
do you write smut? if so, what kind?
I tried writing smut a couple of times and am absolutely unable to read any of it again. I’ve said so several times but the only Geraskier thing spicier than a tomato I’ve got is this
have you ever co-written a fic before?
Not a fanfic, no! But I’ve got a 200k monster with @parttime-creative (that I have to continue, whoops)
what’s your all-time favourite ship?
Zutara. It’s almost been 10 years since I lost my heart to that ship
what’s a wip that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?
Probably We Were Born Sick, just realistically speaking. I’m not as invested as in OWBABH and the drive is kinda gone...
what are your writing strengths?
Honestly, I think that is more a question for my readers than me. But judging from what I’ve been told before, I’d say it’s creating secondary characters? Oh, and another thing that I enjoy immensely to write are dreams and visions.
what are your writing weaknesses?
I would say body language. Not that I have problems envisioning it, but then turning it into words is driving me nuts. Also, travel logs. These are also the most boring things for me when I am reading.
what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?
So, here’s the thing: as a reader, I don’t particularly care about that, I can just skip it. Only when it’s like crucial sentences, then I’m all for it (ASOIAF with Valar Morghulis/Valar dohaeris my beloved).
As a writer, worldbuilder, and linguist, however? I fucking love my conlangs. And I love incorporating them into the story. But I do realise that most readers don’t care for that and that’s okay. I don’t really incorporate it into fics anyways. (My original work/pathfinder campaign tho? different story)
what was the first fandom you wrote for?
The first fandom I wrote for (as in published a fic in fandom spaces) was for the Warriors novel series in 2010/2011 I think? Although I did not use any of the original character or even the setting! (If you ask me, I had a stellar premise and to this day I maintain that it was better than any of the later seasons. but oh well)
That was when I first became aware of fandom. I have, however, still the document of a self-insert Dragid Feuerherz fanfic from when I was about 8
what’s your favourite fic you’ve written?
I would say it’s OWBABH, because I really love that AU with my whole heart... BUT the fic I’m definitely proudest of is For You I’ll Always Wait (very loosely inspired by my absolute obsession with Hadestown). I wrote eight entire poems for it! I analysed Jaskier’s ballads so that I could replicate the tone and the rhymes and metre and everything! And it’s almost entirely set in a dream world with weird laws of physics and deities and stuff! I even printed it and bound it as a book!
Yeah, I love that fic. I loved writing it and, what’s even more important, I love reading it.
Thanks for tagging me, this was fun!
I’m tagging @witcher-and-his-bard, @parttime-creative, @contemplativepancakes and whoever else wants to do this
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fic in a Box 2021 Exchange Letter
Dear creator,
Thank you for taking your time to check my requests. I know my requests can sound a bit tricky, but please don’t be discouraged. I wish you will have good time writing first and foremost!
My AO3 is Tren, if you wish to check it out.
Likes: comedy, casefics, canon compliants, AUs, time loops, bodyswaps, roleswaps, “being hoisted by your own petard” plotlines, snark, pettiness, rivals, enemies to friends to lovers, violence, friendships, and character bonding,
DNW: explicit sex (makeouts and fade to black is okay), A/B/O, mpreg, rape depicted as positive (so no “it’s okay, because the other person enjoyed it/it was what they truly wanted”), trans headcanons, soulmate AUs, stories ending with surrender to fate/destiny, fourth wall breaking in canons where that doesn’t occur, character has cancer or other real-life terminal disease AU, word “queerplatonic”.
Also, I included what ships I’m okay with in each fandom. Please do not include any ships that aren’t canon and I have not allowed in those sections (if you feel really strongly about a ship I haven’t mentioned, you can always ask through mods just in case).
On a separate, but similar note, I’m okay with OCs as long as they don’t overshadow the characters I requested.
Additionally, while I almost never request fanart as possible medium, because I prefer my main gift to be fic, I would be very okay with receiving fanart treats. Also, feel free to peruse my old letters if you get your hands on them. I never stop being interested in fandoms, and if I requested something once I will still want it in the future.
REQUESTS
Medium opt-ins (they are the same for all the fandoms):
Length Opt-In: Drabble
Length Opt-In: Drabble Series
Medium Opt In: Any - Any In-Universe Documents
Medium Opt In: Art - Drawn - Comics
Medium Opt In: Art - Drawn - Fanart
Medium Opt In: Art - Excerpts from a Character's Sketchbook
Medium Opt In: Art - Tarot Card
Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - Bureaucratic Paperwork
Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - Excerpts from a Journal/Notebook/Sketchbook
Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - Field Report
Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - Mission Report
Medium Opt In: Illustrated Text (Art & Writing) - In-Universe Scientific Documents
Medium Opt In: Writing - Unreliable Narrator
Medium Opt In: Writing - Non-Linear Narrative
MARIMASHITA! IRUMA-KUN
I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in English.
Kirio Amy/Suzuki Iruma
There are many good ships with Iruma, but this one just has a lot things I like. I love enemy ships with both sides being way too emotionally invested into each other so this was inevitable. I love how this relationship starts as this really wholesome friendship and school festival preparation, except Kirio turns out to be a bit messed up and wants to blow up everyone. But then they both accept the outcome and go on with their lives still thinking about each other. Iruma goes through a lot of trouble to keep the club operating even though Kirio has been pretty much expelled. And then Kirio is now obsessed with Iruma as his anthitesis and perfect enemy.
I’m okay with the potential story happening at any point in the canon. I would love both a story set before the festival while Kirio is still hiding his true colors or a story set after it. Maybe Iruma runs into Kirio somewhere after he escapes prison and instead of calling an adult, he tries to stop Kirio from causing trouble on his own. As for pre-festival story. Maybe some upperclassmen steal important parts from the club and Iruma and Kirio set out to get them back.
Naberius Callego & Suzuki Iruma
I love Callego for being a much better take on Snape than original Snape ever was. The second the series made Callego Iruma’s familiar I knew this was about to get good. And it was. I love how Callego slowly warms up to Iruma, even if he is still allergic to his and Sullivan’s antics. I love that Callego is actually a competent teacher who cares about his students, but at the same time he would rather eat a whole lemon than admit it out loud.
For prompts, maybe Sullivan ends up having an important business and Opera isn’t available so he dumps looking after Iruma on Callego for a few days. Or Iruma is struggling with studying since so many things are new for him, so Callego ends up forced to help him catch up with the material (if you are following manga inclusion of Balam is always welcome). Or maybe Iruma gets into usual trouble ends up stranded somewhere and the only one he can call for help is his familiar.
Crocell Kerori | Kuromu/Gyari
One of the last thing I expected to get this year was a canonical yuri romance in this manga, but here it is and it’s perfect. I love how it is pretty much built on mutual pining. I love how Kuromu loves Gyari, but refuses to reciprocate her feelings, because she knows that she needs to remain unattainable to keep their relationship alive, and I love how Gyari is never ever going to give up.
I would love to see more of the time when they worked together. We know it was love at the first sight for Gyari, but I would love to see how Kuromu’s feelings grew. Those hours they spent together practicing, maybe a not-date where they sneak together to scout a venue where they will be having their first big concert, or maybe a small contest that would sow the seeds for their future rivalry. I would love any and all of it. Also, Gyari doesn’t seem to be aware of Kuromu’s civilian identity, so I would love a story where Gyari meets Crocell Kerori rather than Kuromu. Does she recognize her? Or does Kerori manage to successfully trick her? Maybe Gyari makes a full investigation after hearing rumors that Kuromu is attending Babylys. I would also love any sort of future fic for those two.
AUs and ships
I love the worldbuilding around the demon world, so I would ask that if you decided to write an AU that it still incorporates demons. I would definitely love an AU where rather than getting summoned to demon world, Iruma accidentally summons either Kirio or Callego into the human world. Maybe Iruma’s parents try to use him as an offering, but instead he ends up bound to a demon. I would love to see Kirio excited to unleash suffering (even if his weak powers severely limit him in that regard) onto human world just to discover that he made contract with the biggest pacifist possible. Or Callego being torn between wanting to return home as soon as possible (he has classes to teach!) and wanting to somehow help the weird human child that just keeps getting into trouble. Any other demon-focused AU is also welcome. For Gyari and Kurmou, maybe one of them is a human who ends up summoning the other as a demon. How different would their relationship be then? I’m also fine with any sort of AU divergences scenario. Maybe Iruma keeps accidentally sabbotaging Kirio’s terrorist plans without realizing it. Or Iruma ends up summoning Callego more often as his familiar when he gets into trouble. What if Gyari also attended Babylys.
As for ships, I’d rather avoid any love triangle scenarios for this canon, so please focus on just one pairing per character (competing for Iruma’s attention is normal for this canon, I’d just rather not see outright romantic competition). It’s self-explainatory for Kirio request, but if you want to include some shipping elements into the other requests I also ship Iruma/Amelie and Callego/Balam.
VIVY: FLUORITE EYE’S SONG
Solo: Vivy
WB: Any
I would love a look into some alternate timelines or missing scenes. Feel free to go as tragic as you like for alternate timelines, or make a happy end, or anything in between. I just think the core concept of the show has a lot of potential in that regard. For a more specific prompts I would love an AU where Diva doesn't disappear, but maybe she and Vivy end up spliting in some way (I'm sure Matsumoto could find a spare body or something). Or maybe a story where one of the Sisters ends up dragged into Singularity project (I really loved what they did with Elizabeth in the show).
For more worldbuilding prompts I would love a more in-depth look of how Matsumoto as more advanced AI differs from the past eye and how that gap is slowly being closed with each case he and Vivy resolves. Or outsider POV on how Vivy’s and Matsumoto’s actions shape the world. Them turning off the plant producing new androids and the subsequent suicide would definitely get coverage. I would love to know how the whole thing was officially explained. Are there conspiracy theories on the Internet? Sisters are involved in every major incident, would people suspect something?
AUs and ships
I would prefer no setting changes for this story. Any other AUs are fine. As mentioned I would love any look for alternate timeline. I would also love an AU where Diva doesn’t recover her memories and keeps helping Matsumoto while trying to regain them.
Any canon pairings are fine.
SOUSOU NO FRIEREN
I read new manga chapters as they get translated so feel free to incorporate anything from the manga that’s available in English.
Frieren
Frieren/Himmel
I love how this manga is a slow-paced fantasy dealing with loss and inevitable passage of time. And I love Frieren for being one of the best depictions of an elf whose long life actually affects their outlook on life and actions.
I would equally love the insight into Frieren’s present with her charges and the past with hero party. What other shenanigans they get into on their journey? What kind of weird magic Frieren pursued? I would love to see more of her mentoring Fern and Stark. I also love to see her interactions with the hero party. Maybe some more insight into how they fought with demons, since Frieren seemed to have picked up a number of enemies during that time. For some more specific prompts: maybe Frieren accidentally stumbles ona cursed item that erases her memories (or just her memories of Himmel). How would it affect her? What would the party do to help her? Or maybe a demon kidnaps someone from Frieren’s party?
Feel free to include any other characters, they are a colorful bunch.
AUs and ships
I’m fine with AUs as long as Frieren’s long lifespan is preserved. Her perspective is very much shaped by how long she has lived, so I wouldn’t want that aspect to change. One exception would be, a roleswap where Himmel is an elf, while Frieren is a human, and exploration of how both of them would be affected by having a different lifespan. An AU with mythological creatures or similar could be interesting.
I would very much love Himmel/Frieren, though I also enjoy how the manga softly builds on their connection. I also enjoy the budding romance between Fern and Stark.
ONMYOJI
I like all the characters so feel free to include any of them in the story. Bonus points for Ennmusubi doing some subtle matchmaking.
Hakuro/Kusa
I love both of them and how much Kusa looks up to Hakuro. I would love to see them have some adventures together. Maybe they help some other youkai? Or one of the onmyoji? I would also love a deeper insight into how Kusa became stronger after getting inspired by Hakuro. How did she try to improve herself? There definitely was some trial and error and I would love to see that.
Shiranui/Kinnara
That pairing came out of the left field for me, but I absolutely love the interactions the two of them had so far. I would love to see them meeting more, their feelings growing each time they see each other. I also feel like a story where they keep meeting each other in a dream would really fit them, as they would long to finally meet each other in reality.
AUs and ships
I’m fine with any AU. A modern AU with archer Hakuro and gardener Kusa would be cute. Or a dancer Shiranui and a musican Kinnara. Alternatively an AU where one of the two is onmyoji could be very interesting.
I’m fine with Hakuro’s admiration for Hiromasa being present as long as it doesn’t overshadow her relationship with Kusa.
DRESDEN FILES
Harry Dresden/Lara Raith
I was sceptical of this pairing all the way through Peace Talks, but then Harry and Lara had this intense falling out, Murphy had died, and suddenly this is a supernatural arranged political marriage and I love everything about this situation. I mean everything. Harry still being in mourning and absolutely not wanting to be forced into this arrangement, Lara still being distrustful of Harry, suspecting that Dresden is using their brother as a bargaining chip, Mab expecting both of them to present themselve as a couple for political reasons. It’s just terrible time for both of them, but so much fun for me.
I would love to see them forced to attend various supernatural events to present themselves per Mab’s wishes. How badly would Dresden handle it? Also it was confirmed that he was marked with true love which means he and Lara probably can’t even touch directly. How well do they hide that fact from everyone? How much guilt would Harry have once he realized that the mark has weakened or disappeared now that he started to develop feelings for Lara? How much chaos will ensue when the wedding does happen?
AUs and ships
I don’t want any setting AU for this fandom, because the existing setup is just too perfect. I’m fine with a divergence AU as long as Lara and Harry are still forced into arranged marriage.
I would want for Harry’s past relationships be acknowledged mostly because him being in mourning is part of what I find appealing about his situation. I don’t expect any scenes actually showing him with his past lovers, but I would be very okay with them appearing.
TALES OF CRESTORIA
Feel free to include other Tales characters. My faves are the cast of Xillia, Symphonia and Graces, but I’m also fine with including other characters (I would appreciate proper introductions in that case, I still haven’t played some of the games, so I might not recognize everyone just by their name).
Solo: Lloyd Irving
I would love more insight into small, but murdeous Lloyd. Seriously I loved the idea of Lloyd originally being manipulated into killing Colette and would love to see Lloyd remembering his lost memories at some point (bonus points for also exploring the idea of Colette as an artificial construct). Also I'm always a sucker for Kratos and Lloyd awkwardly trying to rebuild their familial bonds. What if Lloyd went with Kratos after all? What would happen if they ran into each other again.
Stahn Aileron & Leon Magnus
I would love more of Leon's utter suffering as he searches for a way to turn his best friend back into human, so people stop thinking he's crazy whenever he tells his sword to shut up. I would love to see him reunite with Crestoria’s main cast and getting annoyed at how chaotic they are. Or running into Sorey again. Honestly, I would love seeing him interact with pretty much anyone, and grumpily helping them kill monsters/do charity/etc. Or exploring Stahn’s and Leon’s past. I would love to see their childhood and how they grew to be such a good friends.
I haven’t played Destiny, so please give me context if you want to include any elements that aren’t in Crestoria.
Velvet Crowe/Milla Maxwell
I thrive on the twisted codependency those two have in Crestoria. I will take both good, tragic and/or ambiguous ends for this relationship. Whether Velvet decides to forgive Milla or kill her it will be great. Give me all those twisted emotions, the hesitation, and pain both of them are carrying.
For straightforward approach, maybe the two of them stop in a town while chasing the last Incarnation and Milla decides to throw a party (because it’s some sort of festival, or maybe she found out it’s Velvet’s or Laphicet’s birthday and wants to make some amends however small). Or maybe one of them gets hurt during the fight with an Incarnation and the other ends up nursing them to health.
For some more levity, maybe Velvet and Milla ran out of money and pick up some side-job to have enough money for an inn. Maybe they work as waitresses and are both great and terrible at it at the same time. Or they have to take care of kids. Any other amusing job is also good.
AUs and ships
I’m fine with any AUs, though for Stahn&Leon request I still want Stahn to be the sword. I’m okay with Stahn turning human (or from human to sword) in the course of the story or being human when showing his past with Leon.
I don’t want Velvet or Milla paired with anyone else or Asbel/Cheria. Other than that there’s too much ships. Please inquire through the mods about specific ones.
FATE/GRAND ORDER
WB: Any
Please only include NA content, I want to avoid JP spoilers
I would love to explore any part of the setting really. I especially love the various interesting connections Servant have with each other that might not be obvious at first glance (like the fact that Iskander is also a pharaoh). I’m just fascinated by all the intricate historical connections. I would also love to see how some Servants would react if they were taken to Singularity/Lostbelt/Event they weren’t a part of.
Alternatively I would love to see exploration on how different the protagonists upbringing is from other mages especially given how bad they are at magic. We get some of it with Crypters (I loved how frustrated Kadoc was at the fact that the protagonist is even worse at magic than him), but I would love to see more of it. Maybe some Servants try to teach protagonist magic or prepare them for interactions with Clock Tower mages.
I'm fine with both male and female protagonist. Feel free to do anything from a serious character exploration to zany antics. I love both moods FGO jumps between, you can't go wrong with that. Historical context always welcome. I'm fine for any usual suspects when it comes to plot ideas: be it training simulator shenanigans, "oh no we lost comms and are stuck in Singularity", Moriarty scheming, to someone wanting to make Master happy in their own special, dysfunstional and/or possibly destructive ways
Some of the characters I enjoy: Gilgamesh (any), Mordred, Karna, Medea, Saint Martha, Ereshikigal, Danzo, Jeanne D'Arc Alter, Mysterious Heroine XX, Sitonai, Moriarty, Goredolf, any character from pairings section solo. Though honestly I love pretty much everyone in Chaldea except Columbus.
AUs and ships
Obviously, no setting changes AUs, but feel free to Canon Divergence
Pairings: Amakusa/Semiramis, Izou/Ryouma, Kintoki/Fuuma, Romani/Merlin, Romani/protagonist. Also feel free to assume protagonist/everyone (except the "child" Servants). Feel free to ask about other pairings through mods, I’m definitely missing some
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
Worldbuilding: Countries and Governments
A fantasy world needs countries and governments. To create governments, some research must be done. The best way to create believable governments is to mimic world governments. This can be done by either choosing a government as a model or creating a new one from scratch.
To make a new government, it is important to know some basic information. Historically, there have been many forms of government like monarchy, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, and tyranny. There are two main ways power is passed down. Either the ruler(s) are elected or they inherit power. More recently, the different types of governments that we see are direct democracy, representative democracy, socialism, communism, monarchy, oligarchy, and autocracy.
Types of Governments alphabetically:
Anarchy: this is when a state, society, or country is without government or law. This is often seen as a negative, but in your fantasy world this can be a positive thing. Research anarchist philosophies. (Not on your work computer!)
Aristocracy: This is a government ruled by the elite, privileged upper class, nobility, or a “superior” group. This can be because of education, magical or physical ability, or wealth. Or a combination of these things. Have fun with it.
Authoritarian: This is a government where individual freedom is restricted by the power of the government. That government is not accountable to its people. I see this used a lot for dystopian governments where the government forbids all forms of expression and individual freedoms.
Autocracy: This is a government where one person is the unlimited authority, power, or influence. To create an autocracy, research despotic governments.
Capitalism: This is actually an economic system, so you will still need a type of government. It is an economic system where people invest in and own their own businesses and property. Wealth is made by private individuals and corporations.
Communism: This is a classless society where private ownership is abolished and the means of production and provisions for survival belong to the community.
Confederation: This is an economic or political union of sovereign states in which membership of each state is voluntary. A modern example of this is the European Union. A historical example of this is the Confederacy during the United States Civil War.
Democracy: This is a form of government where the supreme power is in the hands of the people or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
Empire: this is a group of peoples ruled over by an emperor, empress, or other sovereign, established usually through coercion.
Federation: This is a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a federal government.
Feudalism: This is where the land in a kingdom belonged to the king, who gave some land to lords or nobles that served him. The lord or nobles gave some of their land to vassals, who served the lords. This is the political, military, and social system in the Middle Ages.
Libertarian: This is a government that advocates the freedom of thought, expression, and free will and protects it people from coercion and violence.
Monarchy: This is a form of government where the supreme authority is vested in a single (usually a hereditary figure) ruler like a king. There are different types of monarchies like: absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, diarchy, elective monarchy, emirate, and federal monarchy.
Oligarchy: This is a form of government where power is divided among a few persons. These people are usually wealthy, powerful, or influential. Some types of oligarchic governments are: ergatocracy, kritarchy, plutocracy, stratocracy, and theocracy.
Polyarchy: This is a form of government where power is divided between three or more persons. This could be a triarchy, tetrarchy, or more.
Republic: This is a form of government where power rests in the body of citizens who are entitled to vote for representatives to exercise the will of the people. Some types of republics are: constitutional republic, democratic republic, parliamentary republic, federal republic, and a socialist republic.
Socialism: This is an economic system where the production and distribution of goods are controlled by the government rather than by private enterprise. There are many kinds of socialism, and some even tolerate capitalism. This is different from communism in that all communists are socialist, but not all socialists are communist.
Timocracy: This is a government where possession of property is required to hold office.
Totalitarian: This is a government that does not tolerate differing opinion and that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life.
The key to deciding this is who is in power, how they got there, and what powers do they have. There are other unofficial types of governments like if a mob or terrorist group controlled a country.
Alternately, a strategy for creating fictional governments, is choosing an actual country and period. For example, France in revolutionary periods vs Nazi occupation. For actual information on the government during French Revolution, check out https://www.history.com/topics/france/french-revolution. It’s really fascinating.
I chose many governments during times of revolution in countries like France, The U.S., Sudan, and Egypt as inspiration for the type of government conditions I want in my story for several main countries. I used other governments, and I created my own for the other countries. Many of my countries are
I liked the idea of having a ruling Council of Elders, with a judge-type ruler for my MC’s home. These people are moving away from socialism and into a capitalistic society. They are mostly democratically ruled, but a judge acts as a deciding factor.
This is going to vary greatly, depending upon the story you are writing. But a well-defined world should have a decent mixture of government systems. A lot of time in traditional fantasy, I see monarchies and autocracies. While I think they have their place in a fantasy world, I think simply relying on them as the only represented government lacks creativity. One trend I’ve noticed is the use of representative democracies in fantasy. I love this trend.
When I went about creating countries for my fictional world (which I literally call World), I first listed my races. (See my post on creating fantasy races for information about the races I will list.) Each race will be sporadically spread through World.
I knew I wanted my main group of Lowasii to live on the northern island. That is where they will originate before branching out into the world. I created four countries for Lowasii. They did not assimilate into other cultures. I placed countries on the northern island, the desert on the main continent, and the northern mountains on the main continent, and a southern island.
For Trolls, Goblins, Riverfolk, and Boulders, I mapped out territories. I wanted most of them to be nomadic that follow migratory patterns of various prey. I gave them a capitol for each race, but mostly they control one large region each.
Humans spread out over the whole continent of World. They each have their own name for the planet, just like earthlings do. I wanted humans to live in every terrain and region. Their cities tend to clump together sometimes, and some are less concentrated. I also needed my countries to vary in size from one another. In the U.S. and other places, smaller cities tend to cluster around larger ones- so that’s what I did.
Lastly, I created the Underground, where the Underlings live. I wanted their ruler to have conquest on their mind. Because of this, there is only one underground country. That country has begun conquering surface-world cities one by one. These surface cities must become “night cities” to allow the Underlings to avoid sunlight.
When I planned all of these cities, I put them on my world map, and I listed them in a Word document. To me, both are important. If I am trying to determine the proximity of place A to place B, I refer to my main map. Otherwise, I refer to my Word document for details about this place.
Naming these cities was a fun process. I looked at our world map and tried to mimic sounds. For example, I saw the Icelandic capitol of Reykjavik, and I wanted one of my northern mountain cities to have a similar name. I called the Lowasii city, Nagdjik.
Another way I named cities was by brainstorming natural resources that surround the city. More will come on that in another post. So for example, there is a city in the U.S. called Salt Lake City, named after the Salt Lake.
It is totally possible to create a world and only define one city, working your way out as needed. It would still be a good idea to know who that city’s allies, trade partners, and enemies are and where they are on your map. You can really fill in the rest later. Or never, if that’s not important to your process. It’s kinda like Reese’s- there’s no wrong way to make a world. Just have fun with it.
Resources:
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/maps/forms-government-2018/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20different%20types,an%20oligarchy%2C%20and%20an%20autocracy.
Blogs I found with more information:
https://springhole.net/writing/things-to-know-when-creating-fictional-governments.htm
https://goteenwriters.com/2013/09/24/storyworld-building-creating-the-government/
https://myliteraryquest.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/creating-a-fictional-government/
8 notes
·
View notes
Note
Hello! For the meta asks, would you do 1, 5, 8, and 17?
you did not come to play, lilac! thanks for all these questions! <3
1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
oh lord. that’s a... question. i have. so many current projects, i don’t even know where to start. this is gonna be long so please bear with me lol i’ll probably give more detail for some fics over others, and i’ll only go over fics I’ve got documents for because otherwise we’d be here forever.
The Art of Love: so this one is obvious because it’s been in progress for the last 2ish years? no i think it’s three now. I won’t go into detail with this because the fic is roughly halfway through, so there’s plenty of content for that up! I’d say the progress with that fic is actually going really well, though. Unlike Alliance, which took 8 years--five years of writing, three of editing--TAoL has been up for way less time, and is already about to hit the halfway mark! I really need to get back to it, tbh because it’s been way too long since my last update.
Honor Bound (sequel to Alliance): so this is.... kind of on pause. I’ve got the first three chapters written, but my focus has been more on TAoL when it comes to my more complicated, long running stories, so HB has taken a backseat. I think I won’t get back to working on the Allied Nations Saga until after TAoL is done, in all honesty.
Find Me: this is my HS AU, which has been on the back burner forever and I feel terrible because I think it may honestly be my most popular fic. Unfortunately, AUs/slice of life stuff is difficult for me because I’m more interested in politics, so I lost momentum on this fic. It is about halfway done. I have a good chunk of chapter six written, but not enough that I could say I’m close to finishing it.
It Eats Your Heart: obviously I just started this one, and it’s a horror fic. I’ve really gotta sit down and do some major plotting on it because I only have some very vague ideas currently.
Pearl-Filled Lungs: this is one of like three ningyo AUs I have--the other are pirate/ningyo AUs (and ones actually a selkie not a ningyo). I started it last year for the GaaLee fest, and it’s been sitting unfinished for far too long. I finally sat down recently and plotted the whole thing out, so I’m hoping to get back to working on it soon! It’s only 5 chapters in total, so I don’t think it’ll take me super long to get through once I sit down and do it.
Who Dares to Love Forever: This is a working title, and I may change it. This is a fic idea I’ve had for a couple years, inspired by the song Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen. This particular fic is a vehicle for my sage mode!rock lee headcanon, and explores just how effective Chiyo giving Gaara her life would have been given she was an old biddy. So the idea for this fic is that Gaara’s running out of time because Chiyo only had so much to offer.
Absolution: this is another fic that I’ve had on the back burner for years. it was initially inspired by art by @brianadoesotherjunk but quickly spiraled into something much bigger because of course it did. This particular fic is one I’m extremely excited about. I need to go back over the first part, because I feel like it’s not quite right, but I do technically have the first part done. This fic follows Gaara struggling with bouts of narcolepsy that trigger nightmares induced by trauma and guilt from his childhood. These nightmares are incredibly dangerous for obvious reasons, but even more so because Temari’s baby is on the way. Temari and Shikamaru are married, living in the Kazekage estate, and with their baby coming and both needing/wanting to get back to work, they also need a nanny. Unbeknownst to Gaara, the year prior to the events of the fic, Maito Gai died, succumbing to the 8th Gate finally, and Lee has since been spiraling. His depression has become so self-destructive that he’s been taken off active duty. Shikamaru, along with the rest of the Konoha 12 (minus Neji and Sasuke), get together and discuss what to do. Tenten believes that Lee being a nanny would be the perfect thing. And so Rock Lee is sent to Suna, hired by Shikamaru and Temari as their live-in nanny...
We Need Not Be Yellow Tulips in a Garden of Gardenia’s, Yet We Go the Way of the Red Camellia: true to form, I decided that a hanahaki fic was something I had to do, and I was not going to pass up the chance at being as Extra As Possible with the flowery language, ergo the ridiculous title. I’ve gotten part way through the first chapter of this fic, but the whole thing is roughly plotted out and each chapter title is just as extra as the whole fic’s title.
Thirteen Strokes: so this is a fic I have--once again--had on my mind for ages, and--once again, because I am nothing if not a caricature of myself--inspired by a Florence+the Machine song, All This and Heaven Too. I started writing this the other night, as I wanna use it for GaaLee bingo. It’ll be 13 chapters, as per the 13 strokes that it takes to make the character for love, ai, in Japanese. The fic is from Gaara’s PoV, and follows his journey with and his relationship to love, with lots of worldbuilding and politics because it wouldn’t be an Eeri Original without those things.
Scarification: this is another idea for bingo based around the prompt shinshoubyou, which is a fictional disease where your emotions cause physical marks on you
Fill in the [ ]: another bingo idea, based around the prompt bouaishoukoigun, the fictional disease where you forget the person you love if it’s unrequited.
The Eagle’s Augury: an idea that allows me to play around with more worldbuilding and focus on Karura. In this fic, the curse (mentioned briefly on the Naruto wikia) that has led to every single Kazekage being assassinated, is coming for Gaara, and Karura is trying to warn him from beyond the grave. At the same time, Temari and Shikamaru’s marriage is approaching, and their ceremony is being held in Suna, with all the fan fair a marriage for someone from the Kazekage line should see. Again, another fic inspired by Miss Florence+the Machine, the song is Mother
Pomegranate Sun: this is a fic that I am... so excited about. Another fic that was originally inspired by a Queen song, Under Pressure, and has of course taken on a life of its own. This fic, I am actually going to be writing with @ghoste-catte! It’s an arranged marriage trope, and I’m super pumped for it! We’ve only got a little bit started, and it has obviously not taken priority for either of us since we both have a lot of fics on our plates.
The Ballad of the Dragon and the Phoenix: this is a fic I’m really excited but is going to take a LOT of research to get off the ground. I had this idea sometime last year, I wanna say? This fic is another self-indulgent headcanon about Lee’s origins, his family, etc. This fic starts when Gaara shows up on Lee’s doorstep, asking him to accompany him to another country for reasons Lee cannot understand. Gaara has been in talks with Phoenix Kingdom, hoping to forge a new relationship only to find that the Emperor wants to use shinobi for militaristic purposes. Lee doesn’t understand what help he could possibly offer the Kazekage, but he can’t very well turn him down.
okay, i’m gonna stop there. these are the ones I have titles and documents for, and honestly that’s probably way more than you wanted to know about lol
5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?
Despite the fact that most of my fics end up from Gaara’s PoV, I actually identify with Lee the most!
8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?
Yes! Which is hard to find, tbh, because I am a sucker for political dramas with slow burn romances, but I don’t see a lot of that in the GaaLee fandom. I’m not as into like slice of life or short stories where the characters get together quick, I’m really not into established relationship fics unless it’s a sequel, so I tend to avoid those. I like AUs but it really depends on the AU, because I ultimately prefer the canon and I love seeing the way people write the shinobi world and all its rules and cultures and things. I’m just a big fan of worldbuilding, politics, and slow slow burns. Not this 25k SLOW BURN! crap because that is NOT a slow burn. I wanna see a fic that’s 200k words in and they still haven’t even figured out they’re in love! I like stories I can really sink my teeth into, ya know?
17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?
Oh gosh. I generally don’t think too much about it except like hoping people don’t think I’m like a stuck up asshole because of how I talk about my writing, writing in general, my hcs, etc. I mean, obviously I don’t expect everyone in this fandom to like me--and there are ppl I’ve gone out of my way to be vocally against because they do nasty shit--but largely I feel like I come across as too intense, so even the general population of GaaLee fans that I do want to interact with I’m always a lil nervous that people secretly don’t like me and basically are like “oh god this bitch again” when they see me in the tags. But I just get really excited and invested in my ideas, and honestly for the longest time this fandom was SO small and there weren’t a lot of people putting out content regularly so it was like a handful of us so I think it made me more emphatic about GaaLee lol I think I always like assume people aren’t as excited about my writing as I am or that people are like “too much politic, i need more romance”.
I’m always surprised when people really love my AUs, like Kado or Find Me have had such fantastic reception, and it’s like people just eat that shit up so much. And then I look at like Alliance or Art of Love and get kind of confused because I think by comparison those are more interesting and more developed than my AUs. I put a shit ton of work into everything I write, especially anything that requires research, so it’s not to say that I do less work per say, just that I feel like TAoL and things like it are more interesting and more developed, and the relationship feels.... somehow more to me there than in an AU.
a lot of my motivation really just comes from the lack of content this fandom had for so many years, and the fact that Naruto could have been a much more interesting series and I love worldbuilding so much. I think my motivation for each fic is different though. Like Alliance was started because I wanted to write something different from what was mainly in the fandom at the time because mind you I started that in 2010. But my motivation for TAoL is more wanting to tell a beautiful story with a complex narrative that looks at the failings of the shinobi world. Whereas like any slice of life fic is really just meant to be a fun break. And sometimes I write something literally just because I wanted to fulfill that trope for the GaaLee fandom--again, a lot of my ideas have been sitting for years and years and years (TAoL was an idea I had literally right after starting Alliance, but I didn’t get to it until 2017), so a lot of ideas that are old are because at the time that trope hadn’t been fulfilled yet in the fandom though that’s changing a lot with the recent GaaLee Renaissance of the last couple years.
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
ancient gods part 2 thoughts that literally no one asked for
stone imps suck ass
i dont mind that all the new enemy types were reskins, but mechanically i didnt find them all that fun and in fact (with the exception of the shrieker zombies) i thought they all kind of ruined the flow of combat a bit
it’s definitely weird considering that one of the biggest criticisms people had about the base campaign is that combat was too prescriptive and there was only a one size fits all solution for each enemy (which is think is both untrue and unfair, i just think the game telegraphed that poorly at the beginning with the introduction of weakpoints + the cacodemon grenade swallow insta-stagger)
stone imps suck major ass
the final boss fight actually is my favorite boss fight in doom eternal +tag1/2, even though it made me very angry. take out the tyrant/baron/manucubus/pain elemental spawn he can summon in the last phase for no goddamn reason and i actually think it could be really fun (which is more than i can say for the final boss in tag 1)
glad that spirits didn’t really make a big return. they really ruin the flow of combat and there’s only ONE way to deal with them, which is a problem that doom eternal is perceived to have but didn’t actually have before the dlcs (as i mentioned above)
stone imps suck the biggest ass
you could have replaced every story cutscene with a minute and a half of static and i wouldnt be able to tell the difference. it’s a shame because i think doom 2016′s story was actually pretty good for what it is, but eternal and its subsequent dlcs really just lost the plot completely. it doesn’t feel like it’s having fun with itself but when it tries to it feels like idk. redditor humor.
the environments were really nice in the first two levels. the last level was kind of a letdown. i’d rather have the repetitive level design of 2016′s hell levels than that. it just felt pretty bleh, like a reskin of urdak
stone imps suck SO MUCH ass
the music is great but i think i was too panicked for most encounters to really appreciate it so im gonna have to wait for youtube rips. hulshult and levy continue to kill it though and i think they’re both really great follow-ups to mick’s soundtrack.
this one didn’t feel as buggy as part 1, but there’s still a big collision issue with this game. at least i didn’t get stuck on the walls as much as i did in part 1 (which actually led to me dying in a slayer gate and oh my god. oh my god fix the collision PLEASE)
oh yeah slayer gates are gone now? i like the escalation encounters, i think it’s a good way of combining standard encounters + slayer gates + optional/secret encounters. kinda bummed to lose slayer gates and i think that goes hand in hand with this expansion really just killing exploration entirely
it’s a big shame the only extra things to find when exploring this time around were codex pages because at this point i dont even read them. they’re not as bad as 2016′s lore documents but i just am not invested in the worldbuilding they’ve been trying to set up at all.
stone imps fucking suck ass btw
#i know no one follows me for um ... hot doom takes but here it is#im just rambling oh also i guess minor spoilers under the cut if you care about doom eternal spoilers
1 note
·
View note
Text
February Wrap Up
oops dragged my feet on this but i got it started on time oops
Down Among the Sticks and Bones- I really enjoyed this novella!! I loved the world introduced in Every Heart a Doorway, but I was worried about disappointment, so I put them off. Jack and Jill are pretty dynamic characters (and well written twins, wooo!!!). I love how their arcs mirrored each other and how we saw nature vs nurture, which is always a great dynamic to explore (esp with twins, hint hint). It was a little short and gory for my taste, but I enjoyed the audio book a lot.
Overall grade: A-
Beneath the Sugar Sky- I didn’t like this one quite as much, it was a little more disjointed (which I suppose fit the world), but I liked seeing the different worlds, esp the sugar one and the (literal) worldbuilding behind it. It was so inventive and my favorite part. Oh, and the narrator for this wasn’t as good and Kade’s accent was so annoying to me.
Overall grade: B
Belle Revolte- I didn’t finish this. I bought the ebook, so that was disappointing. I liked the author’s previous book and wanted the ace rep, but it was boring and confusing. I forgot who characters were because I wasn’t invested in them. And the world was nothing special, although the use of the word hacks was distracting and confused me because I’m used to hack meaning a fraud. I got halfway though.
Overall grade: D-
When It’s Right- I think this was cute. . . . it’s fine. . . I didn’t finish it maybe??? Who’s to say.
Overall grade: C+
Trade Me- Courtney Milan is brilliant??? Why isn’t everyone reading her books??? Like, even if you don’t like romance, her books are just . . . wow. Like, great character development, complex relationships, relevant themes, in depth discussion of all kind of diversity. . . .Just read her stuff, trust me, please.
Overall grade: A
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder- Sometimes, you just need a good murder mystery. It’s good, here’s my review.
Overall grade: A-
His Every Need- I’m ashamed I read this book. Don’t read it.
Crown of Feathers- I swear, this is one of the next big fantasy series, but no one is talking about it??? It’s not the most groundbreaking book, but it has some of my favorite fantasy tropes and reminds me of fantasy books I read as a kid. I love the characters, I’m invested in the romances, I like the history. .. There are phoenixes??? It’s fun and emotional and I really think more people should be reading this. A few too many povs for my taste, and I don’t love all the historical documents we get to read, but I genuinely have fun reading both books and I want more people to read them. (sorry just repeating myself but pick them up please) Review here.
Overall grade: B+
The Way You Make Me Feel- WHY WASN’T THIS GAY???? This was good and fun but it should have been gay. Sweet story tho.
Overall grade: B-
The Summer I Wasn’t Me- Never read a book set in a conversion camp. Not as depressing as I thought it would be. Surprisingly uplifting. Good queer rep. It’s really sweet and lovely actually. I found all the characters dynamic and interesting and I loved seeing them all. Also, a primarily queer cast. Message me for trigger warnings. It’s worth reading if it sounds interesting.
Overall grade: A-
Spindle’s End- A reread. I loved this book when I was younger, but now I just like it. Still an amazing retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Focuses on women and the relationships they form (and it would have been so much better if it had been gay but whatever). Also, great magic system.
Overall grade: A-
Ripped- This was a short story and it was a romance novel and it has the ex boyfriend's bff becomes the love interest and it was totally hokey but fun.
Overall grade: B
Girls Made of Snow and Glass- Dragged my feet on this book because I knew I would either love it or it would completely let me down but it was sooooo good!!! I love stories that are about adoptive parents and their kids??? That familial love story is just so gorgeous to me and also I love how the fairy tale was retold and it was gay and I will be reading the authors other stuff.
Overall grade: A-
The Cruel Prince- Didn’t love this, I won’t be reading the next ones but I’m glad I did read it finally. It’s not really up my alley.
Overall grade: C+
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
Branched out quite a bit this week into Adult with this one, it was a bit of a scramble to finish it before this review needed to be done but... I did it!
Chosen Ones//Veronica Roth
★★★ / ★★★★★
Summary in One Gif:
Pros:
discussion and breakdown of the ‘chosen one’ trope and Its psychological impacts
interesting use fo magical integration with the modern world
Cons:
SO SLOW at the beginning
meh characters
method of backstory did not work for me at all
Plot: 4 / 5
The first part I was bored out of my mind. After that, the rest was interesting plot wise, it’s definitely an interesting concept, and definitely deals with a part of these sort of YA tropes (This is an adult novel, but its almost written as if its a sequel to a YA novel in a way… hard to explain) in a very unique way. I feel like this book was… almost there. It just didn’t quite hit it for me. It’s definitely an interesting angle, it just wasn’t a hit for me. I predicted most twists as usual but the rest of the book wasn’t enough to make up for it. Also towards the end I was kinda like… wtf???
Pacing 2 / 5
Part 1 was EXHAUSTING to read. If I hadn’t had to finish it for review day, I probably would have taken a week to get through part 1 alone. I will talk a bit more about the official document excerpts in the worldbuilding part, but I think they impacted the pacing quite a bit, it made the narrative feel choppy and just sorta, ruined any chance of flow to build up. Part 2 picked up a bit, but it wasn’t until about halfway through the book that I was actively reading instead of forcing myself to do it because I knew I needed to have it finished.
Worldbuilding 3 / 5
I think Roth had this idea about using official documents to fill in the backstory of what happened with the original conflict and it… just didn’t really work. I didn’t feel an emotional connection to the events, and given how deeply they impacted the characters and Sloane particularly, telling them to the reader in a very disconnected way… just didn’t do it for me. Ultimately even by the end when I knew the whole story… it just did not work for me as a mechanism of backstory.
Characters: 2 / 5
I didn’t like Sloane even a little until about halfway through the book.. And I really didn’t like Matt or Esther. I liked 1 character, but even saying who they are is a spoiler so I’m gonna not. Anyone else was just… there??? At least I wanted to like Sloane, but, she just, didn’t do it for me. It might have a lot to do with the aforementioned style of telling the original conflict, but I just… felt NO connection to any of the characters. I wasn’t emotionally invested at all. Characters for me are a HUGE part of whether or not I like a book, there’s a lot I am willing to overlook in other areas if the characters are engaging, and I think thats a big part of where Veronica Roth lost me on this one. Given how much trauma Sloane has, there were definitely parts where I should have felt something and just the book had zero impact on my mood at all. I just, didn’t connect to them at all. They get two stars cause I didn’t want to strangle them and I was vaguely fond of a few.
I’d recommend for:
People who like the breakdown of YA tropes, don’t mind a choppy narrative and care more about plot than characters. If you like stuff that talks about the consequences of trauma and being the subject of these sorts of prophecies etc, then you might very well enjoy this book.
Would I travel here?
Nah.
Overall Thoughts:
I think this book just… was not meant for me. It shouldn’t have been that much of a departure from what I usually read, its the same genre of stuff I read, just adult rather than YA. It’s certainly not the first Adult novel I’ve read, and I am… an adult, so I’m not confident that in it of itself was why it didn’t work for me. I’ve read other things by Veronica Roth, the Divergent Trilogy back in the day, and while I was probably like 12 or 13 when I was reading that, I did enjoy those. It wasn’t the author, or the level that wasn’t right for me… so I’m not sure what was.
Ultimately… I just didn’t vibe. In all honestly, if hadn’t been reading it in order to write this review, I probably would not have finished this book at all. I wouldn’t have gotten past the incredibly slow beginning to get to the stuff thats actually mildly interesting. It gets 3 stars because… I really didn’t hate it, it just very much was there. There really wasn’t anything that I actively disliked about it… it just didn’t provide any sort of connection or… really much of anything for me.
See you next week!
Katya
#chosen ones#veronica roth#3 stars#katyas reviews#booklr#bookstragram#bookblr#reading#books#book review
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
BEHIND THE SCREEN: GM Prep for Deliverance, OH (Mystery 1)
Thank you so much to everyone who left a review of our show in February! I’m so excited to be able to share my GM notes and a little bit about how I prep for our sessions with all of you, which are contained in quite a long post beow, and I’m more than happy to answer any questions that come up, so send them my way and I’ll get to them as soon as I can!
Fair warning: this post contains spoilers for... the entire first eight episodes of Deliverance, OH, quite literally, so if you haven’t finished listening to the first arc, it’d serve you best to listen to episodes 00-08 before reading my notes. I don’t think there will be any other spoilers for future episodes, but if there are I’ll be sure to mark them with plenty of space for you to stop or skip reading them.
Thanks again for your support, and enjoy this little walk through my brain on Monster of the Week!
-Christine
ORGANIZATION
I do the majority of my GM prep for this game in one big google doc I call “Session Outlines” which I store in a folder that has all of my worldbuilding notes, monster ideas, intro scripts, alternate playbooks, etc. I like having everything in one place so I can cross-reference with old arc while I work and on the fly, and this is as close to organized as I get.
The “Session Outlines” document’s got a handy table of contents with links that I can follow to quickly get where I need -- the breakdown is based on the Mystery prep system that Monster of the Week gives, so each arc has it’s concept, hook, monster, minions, bystanders, locations, and countdown. I’m going to go through each of those, but this is what the outline/table of contents looks like on the first page of my doc:
As you can see, I give each arc a catchy, stupid name that no one else ever sees, just to entertain myself.
Also in this doc, right at the end, I have the countdowns for various long-term arcs so that I can reference them when those intersect with things happening in smaller mysteries:
I’ll get a little deeper into countdowns further on in the post for anyone who hasn’t run Monster of the Week before, because they’re my absolute favorite part of prepping for this game.
PRE-MYSTERY PREP
Now, the first mystery in Deliverance was the first time I’d ever run Monster of the Week, so there are some aspects of prep that I’ve altered a little as I’ve learned more, but let’s just go through each page of my original notes from that arc.
The first page of my notes is always where I put the high-level thematic stuff that I want going on. The Concept for the arc -- in this case, a complicated question of morality, responsibility, and control that comes up when you find out that the monster that’s killing people is just a kid that doesn’t really know any better. I knew that with this arc I wanted to immediately set up the season with the question of: can we say that a monster is intrinsically evil, and if they are not, how does that effect our moral responsibility in re: trying to stop/hunt them?
Some of that came from my own agenda coming into the game, and some of that came from our episode 0, with Andrew flagging an interest in this strict anti-monster sect with rigid morals and absolute obedience, and also with Roman flagging an interesting in the nature and morality of monstrosity by choosing the Monstrous playbook. I figured a question like this would instantly give them both a strong agenda, and build an interesting tension between two of the four main characters if I could get them to butt heads about it.
The hook is pretty straightforward: what direct action or effect of the monster’s presence are they going to notice first, what’s our “opening shot” so to speak. I’ve been reading the essay collection Dead Girls by Alice Bolin lately and feeling guilty about having killed Delaney off before she was ever even on screen, but at the time I chose what felt like a trope-y establishing shot for the season so that it would become very quickly apparent where I was attempting to turn certain other tropes on their head. Anyway, someday we’ll be returning to Deliverance again and all I can say is that we may or may not have seen the last of Delaney Chapman... but that’s all stuff for later.
I also always put Chase’s start of mystery move on the first page of each mystery’s notes for a few reasons -- mostly so I don’t forget to ask him to roll it, but also because his result will, in part, develop the tone that mystery’s going to have. If he rolls a 10, this is going to be a mystery where the Kindred is working closely to solve the same problem, but if he rolls a 9 or below, the group is going to be more splintered, he’ll have fewer resources on hand, and on a 6 or below, they’re going to be actively obstructing him in some way. In play, I bold the result he rolls on this page so that I don’t forget, weeks and weeks later when we’re recording the third session in the mystery, what it was that he rolled, and so I can look back later and remember the progression of his relationship with the sect.
Anyway, after all of that’s set in place, I move on to firming up the details of the monster -- powers, attacks, weaknesses, all of that good stuff. Most important is the MONSTER TYPE, which is one of my favorite things about Monster of the Week.
For anyone who hasn’t taken a look at the Keeper preparation sheets for Monster of the Week ( HERE! ) I’ll put in a screenshot of what I’m talking about so that it makes sense.
The first thing I do in creating each monster is pick its type/motivation. Some of them are really obvious, but sometimes having the opportunity to pick an unexpected or non-traditional motivation for a traditional monsters is even better. I’ll elaborate more on that some day when I do one of these posts for a later mystery, because Clara is pretty straightforward in terms of monster type. Here are her full stats:
Now-- I’ll admit, at the end of the day Clara maybe wasn’t the monster in this arc. I went back and forth a lot on how to frame this arc in terms of monsters and minions, because the crew was never actually meant to fight or kill this kid. But, again, I was so interested in setting them up immediately against someone that made them question their internal concept of “monster” that I went with it. She was for me, ultimately, the central focus of the arc: the cause of the conflict, the motivation for the other involved characters, etc., even if she didn’t end up being the climactic conflict of the whole arc.
Clara didn’t appear on screen nearly as much as I expected her to: I’m not sure I ever got as far as her physical description as written here. I picked her type as BEAST because, in her uncontrollable werewolf form, that was what she would do -- so if they hurt her, and she transformed in response to that injury, that was what she’d do.
I also write this neat custom move for werewolf bites, but then none of the PCs got bitten by anyone. Still, I stand by the possibility of time-pressure and tension inherent in that 7-9 option.
As for weaknesses, my understanding of the werewolf healing process changed a little bit in play as I started to describe it happening to Evelyn, so between sessions I crossed out the original idea. I honestly have no idea, in retrospect, where I was going with the second bullet point, but thus is the fun of digital ephemera, it still lives in this google doc even though I have clearly ignored it for the rest of forever.
That link about mercury, for the record, goes to an instructables page I found for “how to kill a werewolf” -- Andrew still gets mad at me that “quick silver” not being literal is the reason he has to clarify whether anything I say is a metaphor or literal, but I thought it was way more interesting than Chase’s already having the perfect weapon (his silver knife) on hand.
Minions are up next:
As you can see, most of the heavy lifting here was in picking their Bystander Types since all three of them were werewolves with basically the same ability. I even copy and pasted from Clara to the point where I forgot to change the pronouns in Henry’s “supernatural powers” section. You can also see the little copy-and-paste checkboxes I use to represent harm on Henry’s stats -- there was so much happening at the end of that battle that I never fully caught up with filling those checkboxes in, and I think I also had them in my paper notes (which we’ll talk about later in this post).
The big motivation here was to differentiate Evelyn and Henry as two sides of the coin: both doing “bad” things to protect their sister, but going about them in different ways, with Evelyn -- who has an investment in this town, a life here she needs to protect in addition to protecting her sister -- being subtle, less destructive, really focused on protecting more than on doing whatever it takes, where Henry -- who has just moved back, and has no attachment to Deliverance itself except his family -- was going to do anything it took to get people off Clara’s scent, killing anyone who got suspicious.
You can see that I’ve face-cast Evelyn, here -- I do this for maybe 25-30% of the NPCs I make for this show, either ones I think are going to be particularly important or ones where an image of them just immediately comes to mind. In addition to Evelyn, I think I have actors in mind for Damaris, Van, Larkin, Blanche... Maybe that’s it? I also originally had one for Remedy (blonde Zoe Kravitz) but some incredible fanart has swayed me to having at least 3 different mental images of Remedy.
I should note that my actual writing process for these notes is not in the order they appear in the doc: at this point, I usually try to at least sketch out the countdown because I’m in the mindset of thinking about the monster and what they’re going to do -- and then I fill in the bystander and location details to suit the countdown, making any adjustments to the countdown that I need to to accommodate new ideas.
But, in my notes Bystanders and Locations are next, so:
First thing of note: somehow, Sheriff Commander-Jones’ wife, the medical examiner, never made an appearance. She is just chilling in the background of this show, waiting for someone to need to talk to a coroner at the morgue, happily married to a very overwhelmed Sheriff. There are a ton of details here that never came up, and one of the things I learned from this first mystery is that I’d over-prepped the hell out of it. My bystander notes these days are a lot simpler: name, pronouns, age, brief physical description, type/motivation, and a one-word trait usually is about it.
(Melissa was going to be so good, I’m still so sad I’ve not found another way to bring her into things. Maybe someday...)
You can also see here the common symptom where I leave something (Yasumoto’s trait) blank to come back to and then instantly forget about it and it just stays blank forever. Also, I don’t know why the hell I wrote “charming” in Jason’s description. He was never truly meant to be charming.
I keep the little Keeper list of bystander types/motivations in the doc below all of my pre-made Bystanders in case I need to come up with some on the fly, but more often or not I forget to write them into the notes. Evidence: Remedy is missing from this document after I made her up on the fly when Chase needed healing.
Locations are notoriously my least favorite part of prepping. I’m not good at coming up with interesting locations so I struggle through outlining the important places. I spent a lot more time on it with this arc than I do later on in the show, but my go-to is a few keywords describing the feeling/appearance of the place, and what information they might come across there.
After that, we get to my favorite part of designing a mystery: the Countdown.
For those who haven’t read or run Monster of the Week, the Countdown basically represents the steps of what the monster would do if the hunters didn’t interfere, and it gives a sense of direction as to how things will progress. It’s broken up into 6 steps, and the story can move from step to step when the heroes take too long or fail rolls, etc. Here’s my countdown for the first mystery:
This one was super concrete compared to some of the ones I’ve written. A recent countdown ended “And then the world ends” or something like that, so this one was a nice, concentrated countdown for a first foray into the game.
I italicize countdown lines in my notes as they happen in play: when people stall for too long early on, or when they fail and I get to make an off-screen hard move. I think the shadows line here was activated when they took the time to take Chase back to the farmhouse to get healed, which meant they wouldn’t be able to find the information I had for them in the morgue. The rest of the countdown was altered by their decision to go after Evelyn -- because Evelyn couldn’t go after Damaris, Henry did, and thus didn’t go after the police.
I hang out on the Countdown page while we play, until I need to reference something else: it gives me a broad overview of where things are going to go, so switching back and forth between that and the list of Keeper moves on the Keeper reference sheet helps me improvise my responses to failed rolls and decide what’s going to happen as the characters go to specific place. I like keeping this focused outline of what the monster is trying to accomplish in the front of my brain at all times, because it makes it easier to decide what conflicts might arise and what threats are out and about.
The last section I prepare before we start the first session for the mystery is a broad mystery information section, which isn’t necessarily in the outline of Keeper prep that Monster of the Week provides. For some mysteries I use this a lot, for others it’s just a line or to, but it’s my catch-all space for any information I can’t fit anywhere else but think I might need.
In this case, it was both notes about werewolf transformations and also a sort of CSI-esque explanation of what had actually happened with Delaney and Jason the night before:
Again, most of this information didn’t get used -- and I’ve sense balanced out my over-prepping problem, but I almost always have something I want to remember that doesn’t fit in any of the other prep, so that’s what this section is for.
I think the biggest thing to note here is that a lot of this information is in flux: I’m always playing with what things will work, what things won’t, what will make for interesting decisions based on what the PCs are doing, and adjusting my information and planning from there. Less kill your darlings and more let go of cool ideas when better ones come up, but it’s all about being able to adapt on my feet when things aren’t going to plan. I try really hard not to imagine the full arc of the story and how I think it might go, because when I do they inevitably go in the opposite direction. My focus is more cementing the ideas and themes and questions I’m interested in so that I can find ways for those to come up no matter what the players decide to do.
Now, that’s all the prep that I do before the first session. But most of our mysteries for Deliverance take 3-4 recording sessions, so what do I do during and between?
DURING AND BETWEEN SESSIONS
During sessions, I tend to make notes on paper because it makes less noise while other people are talking than typing does (I am, as anyone will tell you, a notoriously loud typist), so write some brief notes from the session on a page for that session, and then another page of notes of whatever I’ve scrawled down immediately after we finish recording where I make note of where I want the next recording to begin -- what hooks there are for each character/group of characters, what needs to be addressed, what they’ve been in the middle of, etc.
I dug through the pile of papers I brought back with me when I moved back to the US this summer to find my scratch page notes for the first mystery (recorded August-October 2017), which are below -- a few handwritten, and one pre-game section that I decided to type because, if I remember correctly, I was making these notes during a lecture because I had procrastinated until the last minute. Major apologies for my oft-indecipherable handwriting; I’d translate, but most of the time I, too, have no idea what it says.
This one below was my post-session 1 notes, along with my general on-hand notes during the recording of the first mystery -- I’ve got harm checkboxes, Andrew’s description of the farmhouse for reference (which, admittedly, I have not looked at again until just now), and then some notes about where people are headed and what they’ve encountered and/or promised.
Looking back at those harm checkboxes, I think I nerfed Henry’s harm-count because I was pretty sure I was going to kill Chase if I didn’t. I was very much still getting the hang of how much harm monsters can do vs. how much harm hunters can do.
No, I don’t know what those numbers on the top are. I want to say that was Jason’s iPhone password?
This one above is pretty typical for what my pre-session notes look like in the middle of a mystery -- each character or character group and then a quick note about where they are/what they’re going to be doing. This looks the most like the notes I take these days, now that I’ve been playing the game for a lot longer. They’re fairly sparse! Basically enough to give me an opening introduction as we start recording and then ask “what do you do?” and go off of whatever their answer to that is.
Another important note: much of this NEVER HAPPENS. “storm begins, takes them back to the station” who????? The quickest lesson I learned with this game is to not hold on to anything too tight because better things come up so quickly that you can’t afford to hesitate before abandoning ship and jumping to them.
As you can see, sometimes these notes are a “here’s what happened” or “here’s a thing you need to remember” note, sometimes they’re a “this is an interesting place to start” note, and sometimes they’re a “how the fuck am I going to get them back on track” note. Usually, I’d say, it’s that last one, with this particular group of characters. QUESTIONS are huge, in these notes -- “Where are you going now that Zeke’s kicked you out of the farmhouse?” is, I would say, the ideal kind of note for me to start off a session with.
Anyway, all that to say: for me, the real work of Monster of the Week is asking the right questions. Having a monster is important and having some idea of setting and bystanders is important, but if I had ten minutes to prep a Monster of the Week mystery, I would have: monster, countdown, and a strong hook, and I could probably improvise it all from there.
38 notes
·
View notes
Text
Coming Attractions!
First Monday of the month (and year!!), which means it’s time for a Coming Attractions post!
(This has been crossposted to my new Dreamwidth fic archive here.)
So, overall analysis--I didn’t get as much done as I would’ve liked, either over the past month or the year as a whole, but I think I did produce some decent content, so there’s that!
Precipice:
Yep, I’m super behind where I wanted to be, lol…Arc Six took me almost the whole year, damn. Uh. I think what I’ve learned from this experience is next time I plan out an arc, however plot-necessary, that is going to be 99% fluff, I need to re-evaluate my life choices and not do that because this is really super not in my wheelhouse. Not on that kind of sustained level, at least. Saw is also not particularly easy for me to write, so hiding in the other half of the plotline wasn’t really an option either. It probably didn’t help that I changed where I was going with that half partway through (in my original version, he was actually behind the bombing/kidnapping attempt, but then I realized that that made absolutely no sense while he still has custody of Jyn…). Ah, well. At some point, I should probably sit down and reread the entire arc because maybe the finished product, with some distance from the uber-frustrating process, won’t feel as forced/not-good as it does to me now…
Anyway. Now that my whining is out of the way...there’s one more chapter in this arc! It should go up sometime in the next couple days. Featuring the Jedi reuniting and comparing notes; and Padme finally reading her parents and sister in on a few important details. And then we get to Arc Seven, which has had like five working titles over the past month, and I still haven’t settled on one, lol…This arc will pick up roughly three years after Arc Six, and involve more Infernalis, a key turning point with Luke and Lavinia, and Anakin and Leia probably going to Jedha to achieve a specific milestone. (Because I decided to stick closer to canon than Legends on this particular topic and I don’t want to straight-up invent a planet…should be fun!)
As I think I’ve mentioned before, after Arc Seven, (which I’m guessing will be roughly 15 chapters; as amusing as it would be to end these first seven arcs on Chapter 75, there’s way more to cover than I can fit in nine chapters), I’m going to split the fic into another document. Partly for length/convenience--this thing is going to be over 200k by the time I’m done with Arc Seven, I’m 99% sure--and partly because there’s something of a tone/focus shift for arcs 8-14. Also, there’s a longer timeskip than usual--six years between Arcs Seven and Eight. (Which, if you’re counting, you can probably guess what’s behind the shift… :D )
Also, as per usual, I’ll probably do a couple bonus fics this year--not sure when, exactly, or under what context, but I like bonus content.
Other Fanfic Projects:
I’m hoping to actually get back to Distaff and/or Auxiliaries and/or Phoenix!Verse this year. And put out some more Valdemar AU, probably--I do still need to write, at minimum, Hera, Obi-Wan, and Ezra getting Chosen--maybe some more Handler AU, too. Plus an AU outline or two--finishing Let’s Go Steal a Crossover; adding more to Ventress and Her Tiny Time-Travelling Conscience; a few other concepts kicking around in my head...
In terms of other long-form/fulltext projects, I am participating in SWBB again this year, but I’m now finding myself without a plot. I was going to do either our faces like a mirror or the Untitled ObiAniDala AU Epic, but over the past few days I’ve come to the conclusion that these are both massive undertakings and I am vanishingly unlikely to finish even a rough draft of either by the time said rough drafts are due. So, as much as I’d like an extra Incentive to finish OFLAM before the new Clone Wars episodes air and potentially Joss significant chunks of it, this is not going to be it.
The reason for this is that, for OFLAM, I have to do a lot of buildup if I want the ending to pay off. Plus, I have a whole bunch of white space to fill in during the eight years between when Bo comes back to Sundari after the civil war ends and when she leaves to join Death Watch. …most of which would involve that buildup. I mean, I could probably finish the first chunk, which covers Bo-Katan’s experiences while she’s on the run/actually during the civil war, but that doesn’t feel like a complete story to me? (Also, 95% of it would basically be Bo-Katan and miscellaneous OCs, with a brief appearance by Pre Viszla and maybe Jango Fett will turn up? Anyway, I’m not sure that kind of setup is appropriate for challenge purposes.) So I’m reluctant to do that.
(The title for this project, for anyone who’s curious, comes from Vienna Teng’s “Antebellum.” The first verse doesn’t entirely fit, but all the rest…)
As for the Untitled ObiAniDala AU Epic, it, uh. Look, the timeline diverges 25+ years before AOTC. I actually have a lot more of the plot worked out for this one, but it involves a) a crapload of worldbuilding and b) a primary-focus courtship narrative, which is also not super in my wheelhouse. I can do it, I just don’t think I can do it in the couple of months I have, you know? Especially since about half of what I’ve written so far deals with the backstory around the breakpoint, mostly focusing on Bail. The other half does deal with the main plotline, but…yeah.
So, yeah. I’m working to come up with a new concept that is simple enough for me to finish in time but engaging enough to keep me Invested without wandering off into too many recursive AUs, lol. One possibility would be to turn my Bail Unfucks the Timeline AU outline into a fulltext fic, but it doesn’t really have an ending, even in my head…ah, well. I’ll pick something, hopefully soon, and get it done. I do pretty well when I’m working to an externally-imposed deadline, at least…?
Anyway. As a bonus, some teasers for OFLAM and the Untitled AU Epic!
Satine wasn’t in the main audience hall, or our father’s old study. She was, as it turned out, in the little cramped closet of a room she’d always liked, when she was doing homework or writing letters or whatever she decided she needed privacy for.
I took a breath, wondering exactly what I’d find--if she’d changed as much as I had, if she’d…
I shook it off, raised my hand, and tapped on the door four times quickly, then twice slow, just like I always had. To let her know it was me.
I didn’t wait for her to answer, because I couldn’t bear the suspense anymore. (Also, I had never really waited for her to answer, why start now?)
Satine had half risen behind her desk, even paler than usual, and--stars above, her face was a little leaner, her eyes a little darker, but that was my sister. Still my sister, my beautiful, charismatic, powerful older sister.
My Duchess. -- our faces like a mirror
“Look, you need someone to break into places, I’m your guy. And Ahsoka fits into ventilation shafts,” [Anakin] went on, before Obi-Wan could actually object. “I may not have tried anything as complicated as an Imperial prison, but I can do this. And you’re gonna need all the help you can get.”
“Face it, Obi-Wan,” Ahsoka said. “You don’t get to do the noble lone-wolf Tragic Hero thing on this one. You’re stuck with us.” -- Untitled ObiAniDala AU Epic [based on this prompt from @obianidalasuggestion]
Original Fiction:
Definitely hoping to do more in 2019 than I did in 2018. Starting with writing stuff outside of the big Summer Challenge on rainbowfic…
Goals:
Last year, my goals/New Year’s Resolutions were:
1. Keep up with Precipice updates, complete Arc Seven by the end of September.
…yeah, this one, uh. Didn’t happen.
2. Write at least 15k of original fiction
Closer to 2k…Lux and Farglass Cycle archives.
…nnnnope.
And here are my 2019 goals:
1. Finish Precipice and at least one full arc of Protectors/Precipice II.
2. Write at least 7.5k of origfic content.
3. Start posting OFLAM and/or Untitled ObiAniDala Epic AU.
4. Revive a semi-hiatused fic (Distaff or Auxiliaries or Phoenix!Verse)
5. Update Lux and Farglass Cycle archives, and transfer tumblr archive to DW.
6. At least for AU outline installments of some kind.
7. Complete BB submission, and keep an eye out for other challenges/exchanges/whatever.
1 note
·
View note
Last Seen Blogs
mirrenandatkinsonfan
Jayne Atkinson and Helen Mirren fan
kardiarodi-blog
Ródi
untitled-alexandremoratto-stream
¡Sehen 7 Gefangene (2021) 4K stream Deutschland
untitled-alexandremoratto-stream
¡Sehen 7 Gefangene (2021) 4K stream Deutschland
bgthree
Astarion’s Purple Shampoo