#idk tho I read it when I was younger so! maybe the plotline was always like that with fishmen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bulletdove · 5 years

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if u could change anything about aoaf what would u change?

AAAA this is such a good ask, thank you, i spent Way Too Fucking Long on this

(disclaimer: i don’t exactly support RPF, but i think it’s fine to consume it critically. it’s part of fandom, whether we like it or not. and fandom is an area of academic interest for me, so... you can’t understand something without researching it. yeehaw.)

so here’s AOAF: the extended cut. ideally part of a critical edition, because i have academic aspirations.

AOAF stands on its own really well as original fiction, because it didn’t get into heavy speculation and based itself off of “what if”. but the plot was more emotionally loaded than the characters were, i think? (so as far as RPF goes, it’s not that scandalous or ethically dubious.). extended cut would be an Original Fiction type of deal, the same basis as the original one but taking the characters in a different direction and obviously renaming them

the ship plot was good, but that’s extremely Fic (which is a draw of the genre, but also seriously limits the development of non-romantic relationships) so that’d be changed. more family interactions in the present that aren’t for the sole purpose of advancing the ghostf*cking plot, flashbacks to frank and his mom and frank and ray and frank and dewees. other friends hanging out, getting to know mikey. (i need to do a reread, but ray and bob and co. weren’t really that memorable...)

higher stakes. the kidnapping scene fell flat because you knew nothing was going to happen, mikey couldn’t die because he’s mikey, all that stuff. higher stakes for the dead character, too - i need to do a reread, but plausible risk of permadeath would help intensify things.

mikey subplot is of utmost importance. barely anybody who writes RPF seems to know what to do with him as a “character” - since his public persona is/was awkward, super quiet, but still super well-liked? and nobody really wants to figure out the why and how for a minor character, since he always ends up being a minor character - but i’d like some in-depth exploration. bringing out the parallels and differences between him and frank, the dead kid and the maybe-dying kid (assuming heightened stakes), and having them hang out more, is something i’d really like.

i’d have mikey and frank be friends, but also butt heads a lot and rub each other the wrong way - mikey’s a kid and he’s terrified of dying, doesn’t want his mom and gerard and his friends back home to go on without him, wants to explore this freaky town that feels like it’s breathing down his neck [it’s creepy, but he has a good feeling about it], wants to get the chance to be a kid again but also doesn’t want to die before he has the chance to grow up, and keeps having these freaky dreams about a marching band dressed in black. frank has (mostly) made his peace with being dead, thinks his family and friends have moved on without him and been pretty okay, wanted to get the fuck out and grow up but not sell out (gay punk rights), and he knows everything about this shithole and hates that it kind of feels like home. he’s a perpetual kid who knows he can’t grow up until he leaves; mikey’s too grown up already but he’s younger and moodier and both more and less at peace with life and death. they have a lot in common, but they can seriously butt heads.

i’d give mikey a heightened awareness of the supernatural, more mobility (definitely an ill-advised wander through the woods or three), and have him and frank have weird effects on each other.

i liked the sense of weird-hazy-small town that exists out of time, and not wanting to be there but also not really being able to leave (in different ways - frank’s literally trapped, the ways are just waiting and don’t know how long they’ll be stuck there, and their estimates keep changing.) deliberately developing that by having the teenage characters thinking about college and stuff or mrs. way thinking about plans for when they move away again and finding that those plans don’t feel pressing, that they might end up there forever, and maybe that might be liveable? (there’s definitely something wrong with that town, and it’s not just frank) good shit, more emotional depth, frank freaks out but they don’t know he’s a ghost at that point and don’t get it, fuck yeah

a more complicated plotline. more subplots. i think bringing in a different mystery than frank would make it more of a traditionally Literary work, and bring out unexplored dimensions in the characters and the worldbuilding. this time maybe it’d be donna? things around town are pretty strange, the police department is definitely corrupt, her kids keep vanishing in and out of the woods and not telling her the whole truth, gothic etc etc. haven’t thought that part out very much, tbh.

more character depth and development for gerard - AOAF would be the perfect time for him, a depressed kid with a sick brother and dead ghostfriend, to get really fucked up about life and death and his relationship to them, and stop feeling like an early death is some kind of romantic inevitability and realize oh god he really doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want mikey to die it’s not fair, frank being a ghost is cool on the surface but really it’s just awful, and is it really fair for him to be dreaming about his plans for after he graduates when frank is trapped here forever, and mikey might be too? (could bring this in in the kidnapping bit, idk. and some late-night chats with donna.)

more explanation of Why Frank Is The Way He Is. more flashbacks, more backstory, more insight into how he has seriously mixed feelings about his undeath and is trying to be okay with being trapped in the woods forever but really fucking isn’t but also feels like him and the water washing over his bones run at the same frequency - it’s part of him, but he wants more. more detail about that part.

ray and frank interactions. frank looking in on ray’s family, years later.

frank exploring more of the town than the woods - he has to have stood at the edge of the woods and stared as far as he could, he must have been curious, he must have wanted to know what was going on. he gets out of the woods, runs around town, is proud of it for changing and getting kinda-sorta-better? in parts? but hates it for moving on without him.

better ghost mechanics - i really disliked how it felt so easy and handwaved. blegh. the tree-phone was cute tho... (frank would gain mobility in degrees, not all at once, i think. and there would be side effects. more thought needed.)

the epilogue/sequel/whatever was cute, i wouldn’t change that except to make gerard’s eventual successful career a bit more ambiguous - and maybe mikey would die instead of your suggestion of gerard dying, i think that could work maybe. might be between the main plot and the epilogue, though.

showing more of frank’s unlife, and more of the other ghosts - absolute must. mikey spends a weekend at home, sneaks out, sees a dog in the woods that isn’t there, dreams about guitar lessons.

i swear there was other stuff that i talked about with you but i don’t remember... i didn’t mean to make this a whole Manifesto but i’m trying to get everything in in detail sfdklkfsdl rip

slower development of the romance plot, slower realization that frank is a ghost (but less over-the-top oblivious gerard), more developed main and side characters, more side characters (this story was a dudefest! where are the girls.), making the ending feel less contrived (all of their friends are suddenly there, and everything is okay? it needed a more drawn-out conclusion)

this wasn’t supposed to be this long, or take this much time >.

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jaycewriteslikealot · 5 years

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15 Questions, 15 Mutuals!

Spoiler alert, I'm not gonna tag 15 of you, sorry 😂 but thank you so much @chraneness for tagging me!

Are you named after anyone?

My first name came from some book my mom was reading while pregnant (except it was a boy's name and spelt Jace, but they thought it was pretty and added a Y to make it more feminine!) and my middle name (Justina) was my dad's grandma 😊 FUNNILY ENOUGH (storytime) my birthday was on Valentine's Day, and my late had already decided on my name before they knew (I was supposed to be born early March), but they called my grandparents to tell them my name, and apparently, by total coincidence, my great-grandma Justina was also a Valentine's Day baby!! (She MAY have also had type one diabetes, but that's not confirmed) So that's pretty fun 😁

When was the last time you cried?

It's been a little while (which is SO nice, considering how depressed I used to be #lovemedication 💊💊💊) but I think that last time was probably sometime in December?? Idk 😄

Do you want kids?

Yes!!!!! I really really want to adopt kids!! I mean, maybe I'd get pregnant, doesn't sound particularly appealing and I might be asexual, BUT ALL THAT ASIDE I think it's awful how some kids don't have good families and I would love to be able to provide that!!! I have a large extended family and literally all of my relatives are so nice, I'd love to give that to children who need it 💜💜💜

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Yeah, I mean, mostly for humour. Like, one of my best friends has a bunch of allergies and whenever I see something she's allergic to, I say "Ooh, look Alyssa! Your favourite food!" 😂 Y'know, stuff like that, but I'm not straight faced AT ALL so I'm not fooling anyone or anything lol

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I'm not sure?? Demeanour I suppose? Appearance? I don't really think about it? 😂

What’s your eye color?

Hazel ✌

Scary movie or happy ending?

I definitely Do Not like being scared BUT, to the credit of horror movies, they often have awesome mystery plotlines that intrigue me. I just hate cheap jumpscares and/or gorey scenes, so overall, happy endings I guess 😊💜 but I really don't mind endings that are unconventional,in fact, it's pretty great sometimes, but I don't like purposefully being scared so

Special Talents:

I can bring anything back to either Nancy Drew and/or a musical, like any word you say, I'm 99% sure I can make a connection to a Nancy Drew game or musical soundtrack 😂 I also like to think that, after all the years of the intake of mystery-genred media, I'm pretty good at riddles and puzzles 😁 plus the normal talents, I can draw and write and I've been told I'm a pretty good singer, that sort of thing 😊

Where were you born?

Lower Mainland British Columbia, born and raised! It's a gorgeous area, I've always lived in an incredibly kind and diverse community, I have beautiful friends—I'm grateful every day 💜

What are your hobbies?

Writing, drawing, reading, and I suppose singing too, though I don't really do it in front of people haha

Do you have any pets?

Two doggos!! Pepper, a Fermoson Mountain dog (idk if that's how you spell it??) mixed with other breeds but we don't know, and, our new dog (we just got him this past June!) Copper, a miniature pinscher (also mixed)! Copper belonged to some family friends who were moving and couldn't find a place that allowed animals, so we got him! I lovingly call him Demon Dog bc he gets super possessive over stuff and looks like he's possessed, so we can't give him any toys or bones lol they're both super cute tho :3 I'll post pictures if anyone wants

What sports do you play?

Zero!! I'm not a sporty person whatsoever, I kinda hate sports (mostly bc of bad experiences and rude kids when I was younger). But occasionally I'll play sports at youth group (stuff like Passketball, Sweat, Two Ball, Volleyball, etc)

How tall are you?

Just about 5’7”! I'm tol 😋

Favourite subject in school?

English!! 😍😍🙌🙌 I also loved my Intro to ASL 11 class!

Dream Job?

Full-time Author! But, sometimes I really wanna be an English teacher too, but mainly an author.

Thanks again for tagging me, Kelly 💜💜💜 I don't think I'm gonna tag anyone this time, but this was really fun, so feel free to consider yourself honourarily tagged!! 😁

#this was very fun #thanks kelly 💜#jayce tagged

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