Hi again everyone it's me, if you remember. I got a couple people in my dms asking how I'm doing and I'm allowed to write another update so... well. Here I am. Almost exactly 6 weeks since the worst 48 hours of my life.
I guess I'll just get into it since I'm using this as a diary at this point but I did also start journaling but journaling feels kind of lonely sometimes. And a lot has happened that I would appreciate everyone's thoughts on because you have all been really helpful. Thank you so much.
TL;DR: I'm back at work and getting on my feet and going to group art therapy. I met one of my boyfriend's old friends who's taking care of him and putting him through rehab. My old friends are coming back around and I'm trying to figure out how to be accountable and better for them. I'm ok, I'm safe, I'm almost happy.
I went back to work on May 1st because I promosed myself I would. I work at a smoothie shop, and we are a small team of 4 who usually work in pairs with my boss (the owner) there during rush hours and the baker who works before any of us come in.
When I came to open the shop that morning, the baker talked with me and asked how I was doing. I don't want people to know a lot but she has always been nice to me so I vented a little to her. I wasn't expecting how good it felt to talk to someone about everything that happened even not super detailed. Especially when she gave me such a big hug which made me cry tbh and told me to be strong and she was so happy I came back and didn't hide. 🥺
After talking to her and the coworker I usually work with, I felt better about therapy and stuff because talking does help. So when I got the call from that group therapy thing I wasn't as scared and didn't chicken out like I thought I would. I went and met people in my group, and it was a good experience. I am still going today.
A few days after the 1st I got a call from an unknown number. I don't normally answer those but with the situation and numbers I've been calling lately I didn't want to miss something important so I answered. A man introduced himself to me (I will call him "Tom") and told me he was a friend of my boyfriend "Luke".
I had never heard of this person before and I was just completely shocked and kind of just said "oh" and he started talking. He said he paid the rent for May for the suite and said he gave notice of ending the rental agreement, and asked if I wanted anything of mine from the place and if so he told me I had until the 11th before he dumped/sold stuff and start cleaning.
I came back to myself after that and was just like "hang on who are you and did you find Luke or what???" Because as far as I knew Luke was still missing and also I didn't know who he was.
So basically, a little background on Luke's life: He's originally from very very rural Quebec. He was taken into custody by the ministry when he was 8 after his mom passed away via sui and tried to take him with her because of his dad's extreme physical and sexual abuse towards both Luke and his mom. There were no foster resources in his town so he was taken to a bigger city and put with a family there.
He got into a lot of trouble with the ministry and police and kept having to get moved around due to threatening behavior towards his foster family (parents and siblings). Eventually he got into drinking and drugs and very badly beat up his younger foster brother and foster mother when he was 11 or 12. He got diagnosed with a conduct disorder and got put into juvie prison.
There was a project starting at that time in BC that was rehabilitation for juvie kids in MCFD custody. Basically they set up group homes that were staffed by social workers and counselors, like a foster home but run by a non-profit group not one family. This is actually something similar to where I grew up, but mine was for kids who "failed to thrive" in single-family care while Luke's was for kids who were criminals or addicts.
Because of his childhood situation and how they got him into custody, the MCFD wanted to see Luke go through one of those programs and hopefully be better. So they told him either the group home or juvie and he picked the group home, and a social worker from BC came to get him and flew him to the city. But in this new city even though he got to go back to public school and do stuff like gymnastics which he missed, he didn't know english as much and didn't have friends. So he started acting out again and got arrested more times.
Back to now. Tom told me that when he was in grade 10 and Luke was in grade 8, Tom joined a leadership club at his high school. Because of Luke's history he was forced into leadership club's "big brother" program with threat of being expelled if he didn't. Tom got assigned Luke in his "big brother" project, and they became friends, and then they became family all through high school and through Tom's first 3 years at uni. When he was telling me this I was blown away because Luke literally never even mentioned him so I finally just asked "well then why don't I know you? what happened?"
Tom said "Well, you know Luke." And I guess I do. Soooo yeah.
Luke showed up at Tom's childhood home a week after the stuff with Peanut, and Tom's parents called 911 because he was erratic and very high. The ambulance came and took him, and Tom went to the hospital to see him after his parents told him what happened.
At this point I had to go catch the bus but I told him we could text and meet and I wanted to help him clean the place too because I felt responsibility. He insisted it would be fine but I insisted I wanted to help so I texted him my schedule and we arranged a time to meet.
When I told my boss about all of this she and especially her husband asked if I could take a friend or if one of them could go. I told them I would ask my coworker since we have the same days off so I wouldn't trouble his busy schedule and definitely my boss should NOT go because she is getting so pregnant it's crazy and she needed to rest and still does need rest.
So my coworker I will call Nerd bc inside joke (who is male and big so that is helpful) agreed and we bussed to Luke's place. There was a car in front I didn't know so I assumed it was Tom's and sure enough he was there when I went in and was dealing with the fridge.
We shook hands and I introduced Nerd who kind of puffed up and made a stupid joke about beating Tom's ass over funny business but tbh the second I met Tom I got pretty OK vibes. But I guess well maybe I shouldn't trust it but really he was ok.
We went separately through the place and I spent most of my time in my "room" which was just a corner of the living room with a curtain tbh but my stuff was there so I packed it into garbage bags I brought. Kinda got flashbacks of packing as a kid which felt... weird tbh. 🙃
It also didn't help that Tom was kind of weird. Like not in a bad way but he would curse and mutter to himself when he found something gross or messed up like bad food, Luke's collection of drug stuff, that kind of thing. But then he would also tell me and Nerd what to do and where to put trash vs other stuff, but ALSO like... acted like he didn't want to touch anything himself? Like super cautious.
He also asked me stuff about my life here and how things were and what me and Luke did together, and I answered what I was comfortable with but he still kept apologizing and telling me he didn't want to know my personal stuff. Like it wasn't bad weird like I said but I think he was rly uncomfortable. He did pull me aside in the bathroom and asked if Luke ever hurt me and I was able to answer honestly and say no, he never even treated me that bad. But when I said that he kind of scoffed and muttered "that bad" like sarcastically and seemed mad so seriously it was. Weird. But idk if I were Tom I'd probably be pretty messed up about all of this so.
I insisted to help clean and Tom went to take the trash out. Nerd said he had to go soon bc he had an exam he had to study for and I said he could go and promised I'd be ok because I didn't get a bad vibe from Tom and Nerd admitted Tom seemed ok too. So he left but told me to call if I needed him bc he wouldn't be SUPER busy.
After saying goodbye I kind of asked Tom after a while what was going on with Luke. I just needed to know I guess? I don't know, I felt a lot of emotion being back there. Like I felt the love for him again and wished he was ok but Tom didn't tell me anything yet about where he was or how he was just that he was alive and reported found to police.
So... Luke's in rehab on the island. Tom talked to him in the hospital after he detoxed and said he explained the situation that happened. Apparently Luke broke down sobbing when he told him how he killed Peanut, and said the words: "I killed Peanut. I killed Peatie." Tom started crying while telling me this and tbh I cried too. I thanked Tom for being there bc Tom said he held him and comforted him and after all the hugs I got after Peanut and how that helped I'm just glad Luke got that too.
But yeah, so Tom told Luke it was time to get it together and Luke agreed. Tom seems hopeful it'll stick "this time," which he explained their original falling out was bc Luke lied to Tom about being sober after Tom put him through rehab once before. I really hope it will too and I am glad he has Tom to help him and pay for rehab bc it's not cheap especially those private places on the island but apparently the first time it failed it was in one of those cheap places in the DTES and Tom told me since he's been running programs there he's seen firsthand how those places are run and says the private is worth the money. Which I think is sad bc so many people are poor and need help too but it's complicated ig.
Tom offered me a ride home and I accepted. He told me before we got into the car that it would be ok if I wanted to text a picture of his license plate and car and ID to a safe person and I didn't even consider that so I felt kind of stupid but I did do that stuff and texted my boss and told her we were leaving. But tbh I wasn't worried. Tom seemed so nice and he gave me so much closure on what happened with Luke and knowing he's in good hands with someone that seems really sweet and put together makes me feel better about all the choices I made and also makes me feel like Peanut's loss has more meaning.
When I got home Tom introduced himself to my boss briefly and then we went in. She asked how everything went and I told her everything I wrote out here except I started crying hard and she cuddled me and told me to take it slow. But unlike other times I've cried since Peanut passed, that cry felt different. Like I was weak and emptied out, but not emptied out of all the good things, more like emptied out of the heavy things to make room for even more. And I haven't cried since. Not over Luke, and not over Peanut.
So I'm doing ok. Me and Tom met up twice more to clean the suite and I joined him for the inspection yesterday with the landlord. It felt good to leave that on a good note too, because the landlord let me move in back in fall which he didn't have to do especially with Peanut, and always treated us well. He told me that even though I wasn't an official tenant I could use him as a reference.
After the inspection yesterday Tom took me, my boss, boss' husband, and their daughter for dinner at a REALLY nice place which we all said was unnecessary but he insisted. He said really nice things to me about how he's grateful I tried so hard to take care of Luke and knows personally how difficult it is to love him. He promised me that nothing was my fault and that I can let it go now because he's going to take care of him and I should focus on moving forward into adulthood without any burdens. Idk maybe you had to be there but the way he said it was like... maybe I'm reading too much into it but it was like he was really specifically saying this stuff for Luke's sake or bc Luke hurt me and he felt like he had to make up to me? But it was nice either way.
Oh and I reconnected with a few of my old friends from high school!! The ones who I had a bad falling out with over Luke and my bad choices. My one friend Taylor reached out to me after I made my story on May 22nd a selfie of me reading that 'why does he do that' book and saying "1 month single 🙏" I guess a mutual mentioned it to Taylor and she added my number on sc again.
It's only kinda been small talk and stuff so far, but I've been trying to be really nice and I'm waiting for it to come up to take accountability for my bad treatment of the friend group but I'm thinking maybe I should say something first bc no one is bringing it up? Idk, if anyonr has advice I would appreciate it a lot bc I really want to be so much better than I am and I was and everything. For Peanut, but also for me.
This is the last update I'll post bc honestly it feels like things are mostly sorted out and I can't help but feel like I'm wasting people's time. 💀 But thanks again everyone and for those who wanted an update I hope you enjoy this freaking novel...

tl;dr - I need ideas for how to clearly write a grief memoir involving three different times in my life. A before, during, and after the traumatic event. Your own ideas, or even examples of this done well in other memoirs, fiction, film, etc. would be much appreciated.
I’m working on a memoir involving traumatic grief. Four years ago, I lost a family member unexpectedly. I am covering (1) the buildup beforehand, (2) the experience of trauma during and immediately after their death, and (3) the grief, and finally some personal breakthroughs following.
I’ve already listed all stories I want to write, which I’ve drafted about 50% without worrying about how to arrange them too much just yet.
However, thus far, I’ve very loosely arranged my list stories as a 3-act structure. What this looks like is a hook involving a few minutes before the traumatic event. Then a lot of “before,” the setup and development, interwoven with coming to the “present”(the traumatic event), and flash forwards, and back and forth between all three times.
One thought I had is, as I swap back and forth between times, should I follow each timeline respectively in chronological order? Don’t know if this is necessary, though.
I should mention: my purpose for writing is to reflect on overcoming fear. In my case, overcoming fear of traumatizing myself more, so that I can sit with the pain either during the event, or sit with the pain after, aka grieve well. (So in the “before” will cover themes of fear before trauma as well as establish my life before, mostly act 1 stuff, but also development revealing episodes I regret or felt guilt. In the “present” I cover fears I wish I’d faced, and that I regret. In the “after” I cover shock and denial, aka fear that avoids pain. I really want the lead up to right before the climax be where I’ve eventually revealed only piece by piece of the traumatic event itself, then dive into completing this horrific episode, then a climax of one or two powerful moments my therapist and I worked through together much later.)
So much gratitude in advance for anyone willing to read and offer help. My heart yearns to tell this story.

Hello again! I’m not sure if you’ve seen my other posts about a fandom roleplay but this one is gonna be about any roleplay in general, fandoms included. This’ll be pretty detailed and I’ll let you know the parts if you want to skip ahead (I suggest you don’t). If you don’t wanna read all of this, then don’t. This was made for people willing to read blocks of paragraphs and maybe even respond with their own.
INTRODUCTION
My name is Hina. To know more about me, I hail from Japan and I have been an avid writer ever since I moved to the States when I was 11. My second language is English but I believe it’s been pretty good. I recently turned 22 years old and I'm female. Talking about age, I would be comfortable with you being 17+ and preferably at least 20. Roleplaying with minors isn’t a big thing for me, I apologize. Im currently in GMT+1 timezone but that’s temporarily. I’m here until July and then i’ll be in the west coast, PST timezone. Let’s see.. What other information can I give you? I would say I enjoy skating, basketball, watching tv shows and anime, and reading. My favorite anime is Nana and Death Note.
GENRES + FANDOM
I am not looking for a specific roleplay. I would say i’m skilled in all genres. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, apocalypse. All of that. Even slice of life, though that depends on what type of plot exactly. To be more specific on each genre, starting off with fantasy, I'm more used to high fantasy and mythology. I’m not that great with medieval, unfortunately. DnD based role plays aren’t really fit for me and I struggle playing with species like ogres. Just putting that out here. For fantasy, I don’t have any specific ideas.
Sci-fi is the genre I have more skill in. Most of my roleplays are based off of them! Specifically, I’m fine with all subgenres of that.
For other genres like horror and apocalypse, I do have some taste. I really like monsters and creepy things from the horror genre like vampires and all of that and I even have my own idea set up in older times dealing with vampire lords and hunters and all of that. I also enjoy eldritch type horror. I also like that one sun genre of it, like video game horror? I’m not sure how to describe it. I also forgot if it even has an official name or if it’s just something used to describe the horror genre. I like Resident Evil, so maybe that’ll tell you the type of horror I usually enjoy. I do have a developed idea of something more eldritch horror.
More on fandoms! To get some other things down, I usually only play OC unless the character you want me to play is one I know more about and I'm more comfortable playing. The fandoms I like in the more anime way are Jojo’s, Nana, Death Note, JJK, AOT, Haikyuu, and probably more. I’m well versed in the Jojo’s, Aot, and JJK fandoms but less knowledgeable on Death Note since i’ve only seen it once. Other fandoms i’m in include ATLA, TLOK, Harry Potter, Resident Evil, Marvel, DC, and many more.
CHARACTERS
I tend to use character sheets to describe my character, these usually consist of names, background, and personality. More so on appearances, I prefer using animated or drawn references than real life people. I enjoy good enough references where I get the idea of how the character would look like.
The types of characters I write are either the lone wolf type that has some sad past which leads them to want to join someone for a redemption arc or the bubbly character who is the one that brings the mood up and is usually seen as trustworthy and of that kind.
I like all types of tropes, especially enemies to lovers or rivalry. I also really enjoy opposites attract as a whole from either opposite personality or something else they would be opposites in. Enemies to lovers takes my heart, though. I love seeing the characters go past the urge to ultimately hate each other and/or go past their usual way of disliking the others lineage or upcoming.
REQUIREMENT
I think this is my last paragraph on the roleplay. It’s the most important, at least. Requirements. All roleplay searches come with them. Or at least that’s what I heard! But don’t fret, there isn’t much.
I’ve seen this as one of the most used requirements, and I agree with it. As someone who’s first language wasn’t English, I understand that you may not be great at it. But please, I do require a partner that at least has proper use of grammar and punctuation. You don’t even have to use big words or anything, just at least know where to put your periods and the placement of your words.
My second requirement is for you to be LITERATE! Please. I’m a big writer, I tend to ramble on and tend to write more than what I thought I would. (like i’m doing right now) I write multiple paragraphs from the starter until the scene relaxes. I also understand that sometimes writing big blocks of words every response is tiring or boring so I don’t expect it all the time, at least after the starter has been made and in more important scenes. Dialogue also cuts my replies shorter.
Please please please be polite in OOC! We may just be role playing together but kindness goes all ways. If we do include OOC, I enjoy talking about many things. My day, movies, games, funny moments and stories, all of that!
I think that’s the end to this wonderful journey of an ad about my search. I hope you are still here, fellow writer! I would LOVE it if you reached out to me! This wasn’t all for nothing, right!
But don’t leave yet! I do have a passcode. I know this was a jumble of words and rambling but I still have to put one in. I heard that there’s a lot of people on here that don’t read things fully and miss out on rules or information! But.. Just because you read through this all, I’ll gladly give you options on the passcode! Also please put in an introduction of yourself! Don’t think “Oh maybe I shouldn’t bother this person with too much to read”! I like seeing big blocks.
PASSCODE:
What’s your dream country to travel to and why?
OR
Who’s your favorite TV show / Cartoon / Game / Anime character?
Feel free to pick both! Now, that’s all from me. Please don’t put your request as just “Wanna rp”!

• H 💕

Here's a big fat receipt that should be added to the archive, I pulled an all-nighter compiling this into one post. Major credit goes to the vigilant members of this sub & the great information I was able to scour through .
Congrats on identifying Drake's bad behavior with women. I was unsure about the best way to present this because it requires some delicacy & subtlety. During one of my recent deep dives for another piece, I discovered something quite unsettling. I'm aware that there will be a lot of criticism to my post, but I had to say it. People will tell me it's nothing, but Drake's actions speak for themselves.
Before jumping in, I don’tunderstand why this behaviour is getting unchecked. My narrative is completely alleged & all of this is public information.
Let's start from the beginning shall we…
May, 2010: Drake calls a girl on stage fondles the girl and kisses her neck and the crowd cheers along with it. In his defense, he doesn't ask the girl her age but how does it make it any better. He still fondled her without asking for consent in front of a crowd of people.
When the girl tells him that she's only 17 he tries to remedy the situation by saying "how the hell she looks like this" and "you thick". He jokes he can't go to jail and the crowd cheers along with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp5b9dW1nrA
If this was the only time that Drake did something like this, I would have called it an honest mistake but sadly it's not it.
Year 2016: https://mtonews.com/drake-groomed-hailey-baldwin-at-age-14-then-started-dating-her-at-18
Drake knows Hailey Bieber(nee Baldwin) when she was 14 years old and has been a "good friend" to her. They know each other 'cause Hailey is bestfriends with Kendall and Kylie.
In 2016, Hailey was just nineteen where as Drake was twenty-nine. It's legal but here is the deal. Drake knows her since she was fourteen and Drake is good friends with Justin Bieber, Hailey's then ex boyfriend. Him going after Hailey immediately after her breakup with Justin makes zero sense, ethics wise.https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/drake-is-pursuing-hailey-baldwin-w20858I mean why would someone go after his friends ex who's 10 years his junior?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-90gjG044IQ
Drake also got himself a similar "h" charm necklace that Hailey had a penchant for wearing. Ignore Justin in the background for a second and here it is. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/V_91WJgGVQw
Year 2018: Drake and Bella Harris met when she was sixteen. Her dad's a famous producer. https://www.kanyetothe.com/threads/drake-and-bella-harris-timeline.8088605/
When she turned eighteen Drake rented an entire restaurant for her birthday. Um what? I get that they can be friends but she's just 18 and he's 31. https://www.eonline.com/news/968171/drake-and-rumored-girlfriend-bella-harris-enjoy-intimate-dinner https://www.wmagazine.com/story/bella-harris-who-is-drake-girlfriend
Also, in 2018 Drake went after the weeknd's then ex girlfriend Bella Hadid. Abel and Drake have been mates and collaborates since 2010. Drake helped Abel to step in the spotlight while Abel helped with writing Drake's album, Take care and also lend his vocals.
After her split from the weeknd and around 2018, Drake threw Bella her 21st birthday party. Looks like drizzy really likes throwing birthday parties. https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a21999080/drake-bella-hadid-romance-references-in-finesse-lyrics/
Take note that this has happened two times where Drake has gone for his mates exes and I know Hollywood's chill with it but this just feels emotionally predatory. It's not like he doesn't know these girls, he knows them since they were teens. It's not random.
Year 2019: Billie Eilish defends her texting Drake. Drake's 33 and she's just 18. She even comments that Drake's at a level that he doesn't need to be nice to her but that's a whole different level of power imbalance. https://www.buzzfeed.com/terrycartebillie-eilish-revealed-that-drake-texts-her-creepy
Maybe I'm reaching and they are artists and Drake is interested artistically and helps her with the industry but it just weird.
Millie Bobby Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYZPKh74Li8
I can't with this interaction. For one second I was ready to ignore all of the above but this? A 33 year old texting a 15 year old girl that he misses her? and talks about boys? Tf is wrong with people justifying this? People are saying it's innocent but she was 15 and I don't think any grown man should be talking about these things with a 15 year old. Also, Millie posting this https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2018/09/210592/millie-bobby-brown-defends-friendship-with-drake
There is also this thing with Drake and the Kar-jenners and I don't know what to think: https://people.com/tv/kylie-jenner-drake-spending-romantic-time-togethe
https://twitter.com/WizMonifaaa/status/1467919407095681028/photo/4
https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.56014/title.drake-does-damage-control-after-referring-to-kylie-jenner-as-a-side-piece-on-old-song
Drake performed at Kylie's sweet 16:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWX-I6n-AQg
I wonder why no one is calling this out in light of the overall situation. Do other people observe this too but are they ignoring it? or am I overanalyzing this? I'm honestly not sure if this is predatory behavior at this point or if something is being misinterpreted since Drake is in the spotlight. Drake is a wealthy man, so what is going on with his management? If all that is occurring is coincidental and benign, then why are they allowing this to happen? To be honest, I'm not sure about it. I just wonder what Drake is doing with all these horrible stories coming out of the industry. The narrative around him changed over night it seems even though a lot of this has been known, but many just turned the other cheek.
Taking Drake down is just cutting out one head from hydra & another will likely take his place but what it WILL do is send a message to the higher ups that we aren’t slow & it’s just a matter of time until the truth comes out & people will have to face the music.

The name of Count Aurel de Rune was known to many across the globe. And yet, the details of who exactly that person was have always been veiled in shadows. Some talked of him as a misunderstood and charitable figure, others talked of his reputation as the world’s most beautiful man. Some were afraid to even utter his name, as if it was an ill omen, while the more skeptical minds believed that his existence was nothing, but a folk tale. And of course there were those for whom only one thing really mattered - the fact that he was a vampire.
Of course, for most people vampires stopped being the stuff of legends centuries ago, when the ghouls first walked out of the shadows. Little did they know that this one seemingly inconsequential decision would ultimately lead to the annihilation of their species. No one really knew now, but with time more and more deceased vampire bodies began appearing all over the world. And now, centuries later, there was only one left alive. The only being, who knew of where did they really come from, how different was their life, their culture, and why did they all die.
To say that Count Aurel was reclusive would be an understatement. Not a single public appearance for almost a century, no photographs, no voice recordings. Only rumors, eye witnesses accounts and portraits, most of which were diluted in the sea of fakes. His manor stood far away from the human civilization, surrounded by dense woods, on top of a hill, in the northern region of Transylvania. Not much else was known about his personal life. Did he live alone? How did he spend his time inside those walls? What was he like?
It sure seemed like it was going to remain like that until his inevitable death, alone in that manor, if it hadn’t happened already. Until the record of a public letter began to spread on the internet. A picture of a handwritten note found on a front porch of postal office in Transylvania. An invitation to spend one week in the manor, alone with the count, and interview him about his life directed to a person who no one has ever heard of. It didn’t take too long for news programs to crack the identity of this person - a small-time journalist from the United States that publishes their pieces on an online blog.
How did he even learn about them? And what made them so special? Well… That’s something they will have to ask him themselves.
——————
Hi everyone!
Back at it again, looking for an RP partner, who could help me bring to life this gothic story of a young unknown journalist invited to spend one week and interview the world’s last living vampire. Who is that journalist? Why are they so special? Why now and what caused the demise of all other vampires? I have some ideas, but nothing set in stone. Thus, your feedback and contributions would be very much appreciated.
I was careful to keep the description of your character as obscure as possible on purpose. Their sex, age, ethnicity, personality… all of that is up to you. And of course there’s the question of their eventual intimacy with the vampire. It is not required by any means, but I expect that sooner or later in the absolutely majority of the stories they would end up having sex at least once. Now, as I said before, it’s not required. But if that’s something you’d like to avoid, I’d like to hear of an alternative vision of their relationship from you.
In terms of my play-style, I do like taking things relatively slow. Not to the point that it becomes boring, but slow enough to let the characters develop natural chemistry. (password: Sauvignon) Plus, we can always add just a sprinkle of some naughty stuff to spice up the scenes. I tend to write medium-length responses, about 2-4 paragraphs long. I can write more, but prefer not to, as it tends to have a negative impact on how dynamic the rp is.
It is also very important for me that my partner is literate and can write at least two paragraphs. I do have a preference for third person, but I don’t mind first either. I will probably ask you to provide an example of your writing early on - just letting you know in advance.
Another matter that I’d like to emphasize is my attachment to visual references. Characters, locations, clothing, props even… We will still write thorough descriptions, but references are a necessity for me. Could be pictures of real life celebrities or well drawn pieces of art, I don’t really mind either. But there must be something.
Alrighty, that should be all, for now. Reach out if you are interested — DMs only! Please, no one-liners. Let me know who you are, what you like, what you want and why did you like this prompt. And don’t forget the password~
When it comes to the RP itself, I only play on Discord.

New Releases for May 2024

Data courtesy http://www.bookreporter.com
For more discussion, see the monthly New Releases post.

Title	Author	ReleaseDate
Adventure
Service Model	Adrian Tchaikovsky	June 4, 2024
Stuart Woods' Smolder	Brett Battles	June 4, 2024
Biography
Ben & Me	Eric Weiner	June 11, 2024
Traveling	Ann Powers	June 11, 2024
Crime
Joe Hustle	Richard Lange	June 25, 2024
Some Murders in Berlin	Karen Robards	June 25, 2024
Essays
I've Tried Being Nice	Ann Leary	June 4, 2024
The Garden Against Time	Olivia Laing	June 25, 2024
Fantasy
Mirrored Heavens	Rebecca Roanhorse	June 4, 2024
Tidal Creatures	Seanan McGuire	June 4, 2024
Fiction
Seven Summer Weekends	Jane L. Rosen	June 4, 2024
Fire Exit	Morgan Talty	June 4, 2024
Godwin	Joseph O'Neill	June 4, 2024
Malas	Marcela Fuentes	June 4, 2024
The Coast Road	Alan Murrin	June 4, 2024
For the Love of Summer	Susan Mallery	June 4, 2024
Forgiving Imelda Marcos	Nathan Go	June 11, 2024
All Friends Are Necessary	Tomas Moniz	June 11, 2024
How to Age Disgracefully	Clare Pooley	June 11, 2024
Margo's Got Money Troubles	Rufi Thorpe	June 11, 2024
Swan Song	Elin Hilderbrand	June 11, 2024
The Phoenix Ballroom	Ruth Hogan	June 11, 2024
The Sons of El Rey	Alex Espinoza	June 11, 2024
My Magnolia Summer	Victoria Benton Frank	June 18, 2024
God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer	Joseph Earl Thomas	June 18, 2024
Little Rot	Akwaeke Emezi	June 18, 2024
Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books	Kirsten Miller	June 18, 2024
Parade	Rachel Cusk	June 18, 2024
Same As It Ever Was	Claire Lombardo	June 18, 2024
Sandwich	Catherine Newman	June 18, 2024
How the Light Gets In	Joyce Maynard	June 25, 2024
Pearce Oysters	Joselyn Takacs	June 25, 2024
The Year of What If	Phaedra Patrick	June 25, 2024
A Happier Life	Kristy Woodson Harvey	June 25, 2024
Bear	Julia Phillips	June 25, 2024
Honey	Isabel Banta	June 25, 2024
Gothic
The Pecan Children	Quinn Connor	June 4, 2024
Enlightenment	Sarah Perry	June 4, 2024
Historical Fiction
The Dissident	Paul Goldberg	June 4, 2024
The Light Over Lake Como	Roland Merullo	June 4, 2024
Tiananmen Square	Lai Wen	June 4, 2024
All the Summers in Between	Brooke Lea Foster	June 4, 2024
Old King	Maxim Loskutoff	June 4, 2024
Shelterwood	Lisa Wingate	June 4, 2024
Swift River	Essie Chambers	June 4, 2024
The Comfort of Ghosts	Jacqueline Winspear	June 4, 2024
The Last Note of Warning	Katharine Schellman	June 4, 2024
The Last Song of Penelope	Claire North	June 4, 2024
The Road to the Country	Chigozie Obioma	June 4, 2024
Red Star Falling	Steve Berry	June 11, 2024
Do Tell	Lindsay Lynch	June 18, 2024
The Glassmaker	Tracy Chevalier	June 18, 2024
Shanghai	Joseph Kanon	June 25, 2024
History
When the Sea Came Alive	Garrett M. Graff	June 4, 2024
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue	Julie Satow	June 4, 2024
Burma '44	James Holland	June 11, 2024
Taking London	Martin Dugard	June 11, 2024
Humor
Triple Sec	TJ Alexander	June 4, 2024
Dead Tired	Kat Ailes	June 4, 2024
Dad Camp	Evan S. Porter	June 11, 2024
Jackpot Summer	Elyssa Friedland	June 11, 2024
The Rom-Commers	Katherine Center	June 11, 2024
The Wife App	Carolyn Mackler	June 18, 2024
A Novel Love Story	Ashley Poston	June 25, 2024
Memoir
Ambition Monster	Jennifer Romolini	June 4, 2024
Getting to Know Death	Gail Godwin	June 11, 2024
Playing from the Rough	Jimmie James	June 11, 2024
The Friday Afternoon Club	Griffin Dunne	June 11, 2024
1974	Francine Prose	June 18, 2024
Woman of Interest	Tracy O'Neill	June 25, 2024
Mystery
Sunset Lake Resort	Joanne Jackson	June 1, 2024
Farewell, Amethystine	Walter Mosley	June 4, 2024
Black Bird	Mark Pawlosky	June 4, 2024
Don't Ask, Don't Follow	Mary Keliikoa	June 4, 2024
The Unwedding	Ally Condie	June 4, 2024
Cultured	D.P. Lyle	June 18, 2024
What You Leave Behind	Wanda M. Morris	June 18, 2024
The Paris Vendetta	Shan Serafin	June 25, 2024
When the Night Comes Falling	Howard Blum	June 25, 2024
Nonfiction
The Fall of Roe	Elizabeth Dias	June 4, 2024
Romance
Summer Romance	Annabel Monaghan	June 4, 2024
One Last Summer	Kate Spencer	June 11, 2024
Not in Love	Ali Hazelwood	June 11, 2024
Finding Mr. Write	Kelley Armstrong	June 25, 2024
Husbands & Lovers	Beatriz Williams	June 25, 2024
Resurrection	Danielle Steel	June 26, 2024
Suspense
Eruption	Michael Crichton	June 3, 2024
Holy City	Henry Wise	June 4, 2024
Tell Me Who You Are	Louisa Luna	June 4, 2024
Devil's Kitchen	Candice Fox	June 4, 2024
A Talent for Murder	Peter Swanson	June 11, 2024
Assassins Anonymous	Rob Hart	June 11, 2024
Clete	James Lee Burke	June 11, 2024
Horror Movie	Paul Tremblay	June 11, 2024
Middletide	Sarah Crouch	June 11, 2024
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby	Ellery Lloyd	June 11, 2024
The Paris Widow	Kimberly Belle	June 11, 2024
The Dig	Anne Burt	June 11, 2024
What Fire Brings	Rachel Howzell Hall	June 11, 2024
Middle of the Night	Riley Sager	June 18, 2024
Red Sky Mourning	Jack Carr	June 18, 2024
The Midnight Feast	Lucy Foley	June 18, 2024
The Nature of Disappearing	Kimi Cunningham Grant	June 18, 2024
The Next Mrs. Parrish	Liv Constantine	June 18, 2024
Storm Warning	David Bell	June 25, 2024
Sentinel	Mark Greaney	June 25, 2024
Trust Her	Flynn Berry	June 25, 2024
You're Safe Here	Leslie Stephens	June 25, 2024
Don't Let the Devil Ride	Ace Atkins	June 25, 2024
Flashback	Iris Johansen	June 25, 2024
True Crime
A Gentleman and a Thief	Dean Jobb	June 25, 2024

In order to understand, I'll have to give a lot of context surrounding the job, so strap in. I work on a rig in North Dakota and there's a chain of command. The positions (lowest to highest) go floorhand, motorhand, derrickhand (me, 24M), driller, then toolpusher. There is a company representative for our customer but that won't be relevant in this story. The rig runs 24/7, with a day and night crew each working 12.5 hours for 14 day stretches. As you could probably imagine, we get irritated with each other from time to time as we work 175 hours in 2 weeks with no lunch breaks, short smoke breaks if a guy can find a minute. That being said, we do our best to get along out here. Nobody wants to hate someone they are stuck with for that long, no matter how different of lives we may lead form one another. Well, the two tool pushers weeks off are staggered from ours so we get 1 week with TP1, one week with TP2. 2 days ago (under TP2's tower), one of my floorhands told me he was going to write an anonymous email to HR about the condition of his man camp as the hands staying in there have been getting sick. Against my advice and behind my back, he sent the email. I had already discussed the issue with TP1 and he arranged to have the camp professionally cleaned. Word got back to the VP of drilling and he replaced their camp the same day. No problems, right? Wrong. At relief time that afternoon I went out to let the daytime derrickhand go in and TP2 was out there. He brought it up to everyone that there was a second email sent, outlining some problems someone had with him. I don't know the content of said email, but everyone has been referring to it as the "TP2 is a douchebag" email. I wasn't too surprised to hear that HR had been contacted about him because he can be a pain in the ass and very vindictive. I've worked with TP2 for 3 years now and while he has his moments, I respected him (definitely past tense now.) Later on in the evening, I went to his shack to ask him what was going on with the situation and he kept saying "I know who did it. That sucks for them because they have to come through me for a promotion. They have to come to me for anything they need out here." I had an issue with that statement because of how unprofessional (and illegal if I'm not mistaken) it was but I held my tongu and brushed it off. Promotions are a pretty common occurrence out here so it could have been anyone. At the beginning of my shift last night, he called me over to his man camp, where he started grilling me and accusing me of writing the email because I knew about the floorhands email. I clarified with him that I had advised against it and had already made plans with TP1 which I have definite proof of. He continued to press me and accuse me, and only stopped when I brought up all of the times him and I got into screaming matches because I wasn't afraid to call him out. He then said "I know it wasn't you, I just wanted to hear you say it. I know who did it." An hour ago when my relief came to work, he informed me that TP2 had already heavily insinuated to day crew that it was me to, to the point where they knew he couldn't have been talking about anyone else. There's already precursors for legal issues as it's clear as day that he has a vendetta and is trying to retaliate. At what point do I make a real stink of the issue? I want to believe that the issue can be resolved within the company, but I'm not a punk and won't let another man mess with my income/ career path. I have shown nothing but dedication to this company for 5 years and now I'm in a position where I feel like it will come to legal recourse. The hard part is proving retaliation because our job scope covers a wide range of tasks. Some of them REALLY suck. Cruel or unusall punishment seems like a stretch as it's hard to prove with a job such as this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and I apologize for how long winded the post is. I want to be thorough so any advice I receive is relatively applicable to my situation. Feel free to disregard my opinion on the legalities, I wouldn't be here if I had a law degree.

I’m sort of caught in the gears of academic life, university is no joke, I tell you (sigh). Alongside my studies, I’m on personal quest too… trying to piece myself together, to heal and grow. It’s a little like wandering through a maze, gets quite lonely at times but hey, it’s all part of the journey (or so they tell me).
About me:
I’m a man of contrasts. I have a romantic soul, with a twist.
You might be curious about what exactly I mean. Imagine I'm returning home from a tough day at work, and you're there to let me unload all of that tension, whether by simply getting on your knees and giving a passionate... (readacted but ask if you're curious) ;) I’m interested in taking c*ntrol, but I also enjoy the idea of cooking you your favorite meal and taking you up as my passenger princess or simply cuddling as we binge our favorite tv show. This represents the fusion between the heartfelt romantic and the masculine side (with a playful streak) that is me.
Interests? I’ve got 'em:

• Philosophical debates over a Hot Beverage
• Deep dives into books (Fiction to Nietzsche, I don’t discriminate)
• Stargazing with a side of existential musings
• Finding the best local eats or snacking at nights (Foodie is an understatement)
• Movies, Music, Sports, Videogames, Writing, Reading, Poetry and what not.
• Exploring unspoken languages — like the art of touch

Here’s what you get:

• A listener, talker, thinker, dreamer—all rolled into one slightly-overanalyzing package.
• No pressure, no rush—just two souls figuring out how much fun we can have along this wild ride.
• Respect, coziness, and a willingness to share the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of our stories.

I'll stop now, if your heart did that weird little leap while reading this, maybe we’re on the same wavelength.
If you’re down for a bond where we can cheer each other on through life’s weirdness.. with the occasional detour into cuddle town, then hit me up. Let’s keep it light, but let’s also make it matter, you know?
We might not have all the answers to life’s big questions, but maybe we’ll figure out a few together.

My(23F) little sister(21F) started making her own songs after not really doing anything for years and living off my parents money. I’m honestly happy for her she finally found her way in life and is doing something she is passionate about, and I think her songs sound amazing! The thing is, I’m in university studying to become a vet. It’s a lot of hard work and I love it, but I had to put a lot on hold to be able to do it. I have played piano for over 15 years now, and I used to compose my own songs. I also used to write poems often to manage my emotions and I wrote short stories that I posted online, and actually did really well. I haven’t been able to put much time in it for the past few years, but I’m still jamming sometimes and improvising on the piano, and I still plan on publishing a book sometime that I’ve been working on on and off. My sister never played an instrument until 1 year ago, and still mostly sings. She didn’t really write,apart from one time where she wrote a book in an old diary with pictures in it which she did because I had written a book for a competition and she got excited too. That wouldn’t matter at all, if not for the fact that my mom now brags about my sister constantly and how she was always ‘the creative one’ and how it makes sense that she ended up doing this as she was always the one doing creative stuff and writing as a kid. How everyone has different qualities and now she has ‘one creative daughter and one that’s in university’. I know it’s petty of me, but it really rubs me the wrong way. I used to be the one that made songs, wrote stories, poems. I even got to read one in front of the school after it won in a school contest. The fact I’m not doing that right now doesn’t mean that that’s not my hobby, or not something I like to do. My dad even mentioned it to my mom, saying my sister really wasn’t that into music or writing and it was me that did all those things as a kid. She brushed it off and keeps bringing up that one book my sister wrote and her playing music games on the ipad. Again, I honestly am glad she found something she likes doing, but I hate how this is now ‘her’ thing and all the stuff I did is non-existent, except my academic career. She always used to copy me as a kid and wanted to do everything I did, every single sport I was in and hobby I had. My mom found it cute and encouraged her, and it ended up always becoming ‘her’ thing instead of a hobby I or both of us did. It just makes me sad how even as adults, I’m denied of any of my own hobbies just because she does them now. Even now, apart from this I picked up crocheting and my moms first reaction was to teach my sister too, because she also wants to do it now.

1. Renga:

- *Definition:* A collaborative form of Japanese poetry, alternating three and two-line stanzas. - *Example:* Collaborate with a friend to create a renga exploring the changing seasons. 

1. Prose Poetry:

- *Definition:* Poetry written in prose form, blurring the lines between poetry and prose. - *Example:* Write a prose poem capturing the essence of a vivid dream or memory. 

1. Concrete Poetry:

- *Definition:* Poems that visually resemble their subject matter, often taking on unique shapes. - *Example:* Create a concrete poem reflecting the theme of unity or disintegration. 

1. Narrative Poetry:

- *Definition:* Poems that tell a story, often with characters and a plot. - *Example:* Craft a narrative poem based on a personal experience or fictional tale. 

1. Pastoral:

- *Definition:* Poetry idealizing rural life, nature, and simplicity. - *Example:* Write a pastoral poem celebrating the beauty of a countryside landscape. 

1. Elegy:

- *Definition:* A poem mourning the loss of someone or something. - *Example:* Compose an elegy reflecting on the passage of time and the inevitability of change. 

1. Aubade:

- *Definition:* A morning poem often focused on the parting of lovers at dawn. - *Example:* Write an aubade exploring the tender moments before sunrise. 

1. Ekphrastic:

- *Definition:* Poetry inspired by or describing a work of art. - *Example:* Craft an ekphrastic poem in response to a painting or sculpture you admire. 

1. Found Poetry:

- *Definition:* Creating poetry by rearranging existing texts or found materials. - *Example:* Create a found poem using newspaper headlines or fragments of a novel. 

1. Epigram:

- *Definition:* A brief, witty, and often satirical poem. - *Example:* Write an epigram commenting humorously on a contemporary social issue. 

A bit of context.
I write in a style similar to screenplay, because that's how I often experience my ideas and how I like to write.
I often abstract and personify things and events, like I do here.
I don't 'fill in the characters' with trivial details a like appearance, size, culture, race, gender, etc.. or the scenery either.. The characters personality is in the voice, whatever person you thinks fits the voice, that's who it is. same goes for scenery, i provide only the necessary details..
A major goal is to allow allow to the story to fit fluidly with the readers imagination, like a movie script has a clear story but expects the director to fill in many supporting details with their own vision.
I write my stories focused on the puzzles, ideas and experience, they are designed to be digested slowly., not ripped through at speed reading velocity... you are free to read as you please, but just know that they are written and designed to create a specific experience.
pdf: https://dscript.org/stories/Special_Parts.pdf
google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRIZtr6m5Ud8gmNlHTzDUiU-WT_tY37Z9Qr0uW74Ifd4-9zCYazAd-APaTFsZ3JFViXIhzp6OtTFBzI/pub

Re-reading the books again, I just came here to gush over one of my favourite stories in ASOIAF. Ygritte and Jon’s love story.
The show is amazing too because of the obvious fact that Rose and Kit got together and the show does well in complementing their romance, but man.. the books version is just so so sweet 🥹 The way Ygritte follows Jon around all the time, tries to sleep next to him and cuddle with him. Jon stoically trying to keep his vows, despite just being a kid. The other wildlings either teasing or straight up telling Jon “Oh my god just reciprocate already!”
And when they finally do get together its super innocent. Jon finally giving over and allowing himself to feel loved and love someone. Its especially funny when Jon is trying to find every reason not to fall for her, talking about all her phsycial imperfections but as he gets to know her more he can’t help but fall for those aswell. In particular when she sings and smiles to him and the kid is just melting 🤣
It’s also what makes the end all the more bittersweet.. Its one of those deaths that always felt wrong. Wrong in the same way that Ned and Robb’s death felt wrong. She felt like an important character the story could go on without, another great example of George’s masterfull writing I think.

1. Nature Walk and Observation:
   
   • Encourage songwriters to take a walk in nature, observe surroundings, and draw inspiration from the environment.
2. Photograph Analysis:
   
   • Provide a set of diverse photographs and ask songwriters to create lyrics based on the emotions or stories conveyed in the images.
3. Emotion Mapping:
   
   • Have songwriters create a map of different emotions and then write lyrics corresponding to each emotional zone.
4. Word Association Game:
   
   • Initiate a word association game where each participant contributes words, and then challenge them to turn those words into lyrics.
5. Object Storytelling:
   
   • Ask songwriters to pick an everyday object and craft a song that tells a story related to that object.
6. Literary Exploration:
   
   • Have songwriters read a short story, poem, or novel and use it as a springboard for creating song lyrics.
7. Song Title Challenge:
   
   • Provide a list of intriguing song titles and challenge songwriters to build a story or emotion around each title.
8. Character Creation:
   
   • Ask songwriters to invent a fictional character and write a song from that character's perspective or about their experiences.
9. Current Events Reflection:
   
   • Encourage songwriters to explore current events and write lyrics expressing their thoughts or reactions.
10. Dream Journaling:
    
    • Instruct songwriters to keep a dream journal and use elements from their dreams to inspire song lyrics.
11. Collaborative Storytelling:
    
    • Pair up songwriters to collaboratively create lyrics, merging different perspectives and styles.
12. Random Sentence Generator:
    
    • Use a random sentence generator to spark creativity and challenge songwriters to build a narrative around the generated sentence.
13. Travel Diaries:
    
    • Have songwriters write lyrics inspired by their travel experiences, capturing the essence of different places.
14. Historical Exploration:
    
    • Research a historical event and challenge songwriters to craft lyrics that transport listeners to that moment in time.
15. Dialogue Exercise:
    
    • Create a dialogue between two characters and challenge songwriters to turn the conversation into song lyrics.
16. Mood Board Creation:
    
    • Ask songwriters to create a mood board with images, colors, and textures that inspire a specific mood for their lyrics.
17. Reverse Songwriting:
    
    • Start with a chorus or a hook and challenge songwriters to build the rest of the lyrics around it.
18. Genre Fusion:
    
    • Encourage songwriters to explore different musical genres and write lyrics that blend elements from two or more genres.
19. Song Cover Transformation:
    
    • Pick a well-known song and challenge songwriters to transform the lyrics, creating a completely new story or perspective.
20. Personal Artifact Exploration:
    
    • Have songwriters bring in a personal artifact and write lyrics that delve into the emotions or memories associated with that item.

Lesson Plan: "Crafting Stories Through Song Lyrics"

Objective:

Students will learn various techniques for brainstorming and crafting compelling stories through song lyrics.

Duration:

Two class sessions (approx. 90 minutes each)

Lesson Structure:

Session 1: Introduction to Songwriting and Brainstorming Techniques

1. Icebreaker (15 mins):
   
   • Discuss favorite songs and what makes their lyrics memorable.
2. Introduction to Songwriting (20 mins):
   
   • Briefly explain the importance of storytelling in songwriting.
   • Highlight the connection between emotions and lyrics.
3. Brainstorming Techniques (30 mins):
   
   • Teach students ten ways to brainstorm lyrics, including:
     • Personal experiences
     • Observations
     • Emotions
     • Imagery
     • Metaphors
     • Word association
     • Dialogue
     • Change in perspective
     • Storyboarding
     • Concept exploration
4. Group Activity: Lyric Brainstorming (25 mins):
   
   • Divide students into small groups.
   • Provide a theme or emotion, and have each group brainstorm lyrics using the techniques discussed.

Session 2: Applying Techniques and Crafting Lyrics

1. Review (15 mins):
   
   • Discuss insights from the group activity.
   • Address any questions or challenges.
2. Song Analysis (20 mins):
   
   • Analyze lyrics from popular songs, highlighting the storytelling elements.
3. Activity: Writing Exercise (30 mins):
   
   • Provide a prompt or scenario.
   • Have students individually write a short set of lyrics using the brainstorming techniques.
4. Peer Review and Feedback (20 mins):
   
   • Students pair up to review and provide constructive feedback on each other's lyrics.
   • Emphasize the importance of constructive criticism.
5. Refinement (15 mins):
   
   • Allow time for students to refine their lyrics based on peer feedback.
6. Sharing and Reflection (20 mins):
   
   • Each student or group shares their lyrics with the class.
   • Reflect on the diversity of storytelling approaches.

Assessment:

• Evaluation will be based on creativity, adherence to storytelling principles, and effective use of brainstorming techniques.
• Peer feedback and participation in discussions will also contribute to the assessment.

Homework:

• Encourage students to continue exploring songwriting by writing a complete set of lyrics for a song outside of class.

This lesson plan provides a comprehensive overview of songwriting techniques, hands-on activities, and opportunities for reflection and improvement.

"That’s the reason you should never be given control of a Star Trek show and why Mike McMahan’s appointment is as self-destructive and ruinous for the franchise as the Genesis effect.
After four seasons, you really have to pinch yourself that a man whose qualification for writing Star Trek was running a Twitter account for an imaginary TNG Season 8, which imagined plots like Worf’s testicles inflating to the size of a moon and producing their own gravity, and Picard’s head tipping into a time hole and rejuvenating his scalp to the point where new hair threatened to fill the ship and suffocate all on board, is now in a position where the choices he makes about legacy characters may actually become Star Trek canon. "
Ed Whitfield (Opinionoid, Critic's Log)
Link:
https://edwhitfield.wordpress.com/2023/11/02/critics-log-star-trek-lower-decks-season-4/
Quotes:
"Another year, another season of Lower Decks – the animated Star Trek encyclopedia, with its continuing mission to remind you that there was once such a thing as Star Trek, and it was good, and produced television and movies brimming with vivid moments and iconography that one day, in the creatively inert future, would become a reference library for shallow hacks who’d raid it for ideas, as they sought to continue the adventure without an original thought.
It’s hard to believe such an, er, enterprise could be sanctioned as official canon, or be a standard bearer for the brand , but season four of the show Beckett Mariner would call “the decks”, introduced a new threat to the Star Trek universe. No, not, and I can hardly believe I’m typing these words – Nicholas Locarno’s Nova Fleet, but Mike McMahan’s long-gestating ambition to occupy and colonise Star Trek canon.
In reviews of past seasons, we speculated that inevitably, McMahan, like any frustrated fan fic writer, would start to worry less about the jokes (which is a bad idea in a show that desperately needs some) and more about his show’s place in the celestial firmament. After all, one wouldn’t want to be a Star Trek showrunner and have a series that’s entirely inconsequential and has no life independent of those stories whose vitality it parasitically sucks away at to tell its own tall tales.
No, someone in the Lower Decks writers room wants to be part of those beloved TNG, Voyager and DS9 stories, and so, in this latest batch of what Beckett Mariner would call “eps”, this animated non-entity got busy sequelising.
There were weak comic follow-ups to Voyager’s “Tuvix” (the premise being the joke, this was like Scary Movie following Scream), a DS9 follow-up featuring Rom and Leeta, and an egregious and silly sequel to TNG’s “The First Duty” and, in an act of furious masturbation, “Lower Decks”, in which Nicolas Locarno’s story was picked up with all the care and attention of a late-transformed Seth Brundle trying to groom his pet gibbon.
Locarno’s story had, effectively, been told – he became Tom Paris due to the idiotic notion that Locarno couldn’t be redeemed (why not, you might ask?) – and his redemption arc played out in the Delta Quadrant over seven years. But the decision of Voyager’s producers not to literally pick up the character, had the unforeseen and terrible consequence that he was still an exploitable TNG reference, and so we get the Lower Decks version, in which the character has curiously morphed into a megalomaniac, incited mutinies on a dozen ships, and formed a fleet of mavericks who’ve requisitioned a Genesis device (because apparently they’re been mass produced by 2380) for leverage over the Federation.
This ends in a re—run of Wrath of Khan’s nebula battle, and Locarno becoming part of a new planet which is named in his dishonour. I’ll bet you 5000 bars of latinum that you didn’t envision that end for the character when you last saw him in 1992.
If you didn’t have a single original thought in your head, and you were minded to asset strip Trek of old, it’s the kind of ending you might have come up with. That’s the reason you should never be given control of a Star Trek show and why Mike McMahan’s appointment is as self-destructive and ruinous for the franchise as the Genesis effect.
After four seasons, you really have to pinch yourself that a man whose qualification for writing Star Trek was running a Twitter account for an imaginary TNG Season 8, which imagined plots like Worf’s testicles inflating to the size of a moon and producing their own gravity, and Picard’s head tipping into a time hole and rejuvenating his scalp to the point where new hair threatened to fill the ship and suffocate all on board, is now in a position where the choices he makes about legacy characters may actually become Star Trek canon.
Lower Decks seemed so harmless, if pointless, when the worst it could do was feature some Binars, or reference “Time’s Arrow” with a Mark Twain holodeck simulation, or re-run a 40-year old Monty Python gag about a cute little creature being a ravenous killer. But this is a show that’s fast realising it’s the only TNG-era show in town, so has cart blanche to keep raiding the archive to sate its own, self-eating, franchise-weakening tendency. Season 5 is in production, and fuck only knows what horrors this writers’ room of clueless geeks have in store in the episodes bought and paid for. Tom Riker living on a planet with a cloned Deanna Troi? An aged but very much alive Tasha Yar, enjoying the good life on Romulus until a liberated Armus holidays there? Reginald Barclay’s drumhead trial for sex crimes?
Don’t imagine it can’t happen. Lower Decks has a taste for it now. Fans who can tell the difference between pastiche and the real thing will hope and pray that Star Trek: Legacy or something like it gets the green light. Not because Cobra Kai in space is a good idea either, but if the world of ‘90’s Trek is going to continue, let it at least be with some pretensions to dramatic integrity. If not, it’s clear who and what will step in to fill the void.
The show’s one good move this year was Vulcan T’Lyn becoming a regular. The only character who could plausibly transfer to live action Trek, her deadpan undercutting of the hysteria around her has been a tonic and perhaps an acknowledgment that the mania, unchecked, was exhausting for the audience as well as mirthless."
Ed Whitfield (Opinionoid, Critic's Log)
Link:
https://edwhitfield.wordpress.com/2023/11/02/critics-log-star-trek-lower-decks-season-4/

Good morning everyone! Welcome to the writing prompt thread for the Dragon Age series. I hope everyone has fun and lets their muses fly free and they have an excellent weekend!
Submit Writing Prompts Here
GUIDELINES FOR THE WRITING THREAD
Hey everyone. Welcome to the writing thread that is now seven years old.
Below are some general guidelines for the thread. Also please don’t hesitate to add prompts to the linked doc just above. This helps me out greatly when choosing prompts. Whether it’s a specific pov, or a line of a dialogue, or a theme choice, or whatever strikes your interest. Label the type of prompt you want it to be (Examples: bard style, villain pov, Modern Day AU, What If?, 100 Word Drabble Dialogue Only, etc) and then whatever phrase or idea for the prompt itself. Anyways, guidelines below, and also the prompts!

1. Constructive Criticism and interaction is always welcomed and encouraged on the thread. What is not welcomed nor encouraged: Making people feel unwelcomed, whether through unneeded negative comments or downvoting, copying others work and trying to pass it off as your own, or trying to bring in unnecessary fandom feuds/wanks. Please keep any and all negativity off this thread, and continue making it a welcoming place for sharing stories, writing and ideas. This is a place to share our works and encourage creativity in the community.
   
2. Word limit is between 1500-1800. You are welcome to respond to multiple prompts, butPLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR WRITING IN MULTIPLE POSTS. It makes the thread hard to read. Instead, link to AO3, google docs, etc if you go past the reddit post limit. Please keep all visible content SFW. ANY CONTENT THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED NSFW MUST BE PLACED IN GDOC OR ON A WEBSITE AND LINKED-This Thread is To Be SFW If you are unsure about something, then put it in a doc and link it, just to be on the safe side.
   
3. The writing thread will be going back down to 4 prompts- 3 plus freeform.. Every now and then there will be Challenges, or Themes. Every 5 to 6 weeks will be Catch Up Weeks. If you are interested in a specific prompt, challenge, or theme to appear, please don't hesitate to PM me on Reddit or Discord. Also, the prompts are for any character set in the Dragon Age Universe, in any form of media. Ranging from Original Characters, to an NPC in the game or comic, or anything that happened in the books.
   
4. MOST IMPORTANT: PLEASE HAVE FUN! Make us cry, laugh, growl in frustration, cover our faces in secondhand embarrassment, snicker, or awwww at the disgustingly cute fluff. And I want to continue to thank everyone for their part in making this an awesome place to indulge our creativity.
   

Addition: If you are indeed posting, but the post is not showing up, please message the moderators of the subreddit to let them know that there is a glitch.
** Welcome to Catch Up Week! Below are the last five weeks of the weekly threads, where you can dive into the old prompts! **
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

Where do you see the end of the story? watching the anime, it seemed that its ending was really the end-the heroines achieved what they wanted and went their separate ways. However, we were told in the anime itself that they don't say goodbye. and so we got the ranobe series of 10 books. however, unlike the anime, ranobe is built on the principle of slice of life, and the ending of the last book does not seem like that at all. in principle, the genre itself allows you to write history endlessly, and theoretically we can see ojamajo doremi 25th, 30th and so on. however, this will mean a loss of quality and sucking ideas out of your finger, which fundamentally does not correspond to the overall quality and mood of the story. however, as I said, the finale of the last volume does not look like the end of the story at all. this is rather the middle, that is, there is something else that can be said, but at the same time not turn everything into a pipeline. there is another ending option-the death of all the main characters and the beginning of the story of femi. however, this will loop the story. but I can guess what might be the true end of Doremi's story. and to do that, we'll have to jump a little further into the future. even beyond Femi's potential story. The true end of Ojamajo Doremi will be the reunion of the world of humans, magicians and witches. the fact that from the very first season, a long thread ran through the entire story of Doremi and her friends. of all the heroines, only one failed to achieve her original goal. And this is Hana. Only after she does this can we truly say that the story of Ojamajo doremi has met its end.

AI, what a wonderful invention, you can chat with it, play with it, get information out of it and copy their works to do homeworks- wait that doesn't sound right. When I was a kid at primary school, I wasn't good at English, but after about 12 yes old, I begin to develop writing strategies from reading books, especially fiction with action in them, I also like adding blood gore in them sometimes (proud to say I learn how to write animals dying from WC satire) so when the 2nd term writing was about cats and with action, I was pretty thrilled and over the clouds when it was announced. I prepared for it A LOT, like thinking of the plot and even write a draft of the action scenes. And the day comes where we started writing, the teacher gave us permission to use iPad and said for "research" and "learning" and trust us to not do anything else. I actually sympathise the teacher as after that my classmates used some AI to do their work. I don't have perfect grammar, my grammar test IS the one that pull my marks down. And your telling me that people just copy and paste and I have to be extra careful? And the app is self installed by the iPad itself. Good thing? I wrote 900 words (the word count is 250 above, most people wrote 4-500) and given the honour of having my teacher re-read the writing. Bad thing? I nearly have a mental breakdown because of the story while my classmates were laughing. And I don't even know my marks yet, it's either lower or higher than them, and I damp want to drag them from hell to back. So I'm just telling y'all, good luck out there and hope you don't rely on AI too much as most AI generated things are copied from other people.

The Context:

Silent Hill 2 is a 2001 psychological horror video game from Konami. A trailer was recently revealed for a remake of the game, with updated graphics and gameplay.
Angela Orosco is a character in Silent Hill 2. She is 19 years old, suicidal, and implied to be the victim of sexual assault by her father.
With the release of the trailer for the remake, some have noted changes to character designs and models — specially Angela’s.
Our drama begins when a user posts a screenshot of a reply to a tweet. The original tweet includes Angela’s redesigned model and a “non-woke” edited version. The reply tweet points out that the character is a 19 year-old sexual abuse victim.
Our drama spans over two threads as the new trailer and changes have sparked debate in the sub.

The Drama, Pt. 1

One user objects that the character isn’t real:

She's not real

so ?

So that's not a picture of a 19 year old abuse victim. The outrage isn't based on reality

it IS the picture of a 19 year old abuse victim FROM silent hill, just because she isn’t real doesn’t mean she doesn’t signify or carry a message from the real world

Silent Hill isn't real. The events in Silent Hill 2 never happened

[Continued:]

u really are close minded.. sexual abuse and people dying from diseases, depression, etc does happen irl

I never said that doesn't happen in real life. I said angela sn't real, silent Hill isn't real, and all the events that take place in silent hill 2 are a work of fiction, it's made up, it never happened.

Sure, but that's no reason to justify people reacting like they are. One cannot argue 'None of it's real' while also arguing 'these characters are important to me' or 'I want to invest in this series/game' because the point of the game is for you to immerse and invest in it. You're meant to care about the characters intrinsically, and not about 'what they do for you'. It's absolutely fine to be upset if some 15 year old idiot 'consoomer' whose first thought when he becomes upset about how a female in the game looks responds with "You want my money~! I am your demographic!" makes such an ignorant, room-temperature IQ take like this, and it's fine to let them know why.

I didn't say these characters are important to me. Real people who exist are important to me. People who get emotional about other people having opinions on made up characters must have some deeper issues. This is a subreddit for discussing a video game series, it's not Doctor Phil.

You don't seem to understand the concept of context very well

[Continued:]

The context is that you and some others don't like anything I've said because it hurt your feelings. I understand the context that you are implying, but I want you to find a way to say it before I go on

[…]

It's story telling, dude.

I say this with relief, but most people have not expirienced sexual abuse. Obviously, this is a good thing. However, it's pretty clear these days that empathy for people who have isn't wide-spread. The point of storytelling is broadening horizons, through different perspectives. It should not just be about catering to the audience.

Storytelling is that means of spreading empathy. There is value to the experience it has to share, and regardless of if Angela is real, the experiences she's there to portray are not without inspiration sourced in reality. If your argument is "She's not real. It's not real. Why care?" then you don't get the point of the whole of storytelling. Not just games, like, all of storytelling.

I just want to draw you attention to the OP's post, the original commenter in the image said nothing about SA, it's not mentioned instead the OP brings it up as a shield to prevent any criticism of the characters redesign. That's manipulation, and only an idiot wouldn't see it.

But what about word choice?

Calling someone a “fucking worm” is just as childish as the post they’re criticizing

if someone doesn't want to be called a worm they shouldn't act like a worm. even the engagement bait excuse doesn't work, it's gross behavior.

I would never call someone a disgusting worm but that’s just me 👌

lol ok snowflake
Boo hoo
it's very noble of you to come to the defense of some insane misogynist on twitter

No calling someone a worm is objectively hilarious tbh

”Vulnerable beauty”:

She was still the poster girl for the original SH2. Yes she was a sexual abuse victim but there was a certain vulnerable beauty to her that Team Silent/Konami wanted to convey in that iconic knife closeup shot as well as using her face for the actual cover art of the game.

"abuse victim"
"certain vulnerable beauty"
You actually wrote those two things together mate. Get therapy.

a lot of people who apparently have played and think they like silent hill 2 completely lack the maturity to handle any of the themes of the game apparently. angela's attractiveness should not be part of the discourse around her character at all.

A base level of attractiveness is relevant for almost all characters except Eddie. Thats the uncomfortable truth of human nature.
Attractiveness enhances a character’s charm. It enhances melancholic and profound musical performances, it enhances melancholic and profound movies. See Mazzy Star. See 500 Days of Summer. It wouldn’t have been the same if those musical artists and actors had unappealing annoying faces.

just because you are too shallow to empathize with people you don’t find attractive doesn’t mean everyone’s brain is broken in the same way man.

[Continued:]

This isn’t about me. This is about human nature. Look at the top YouTube comments on a Mazzy Star performance. They are praising her visual beauty. And we all know it feeds into the tenderness of the song. Nobody goes “Wtf is wrong with you- her face has nothing to do with the artistic value of the song!!!” You might call it shallow but it’s nothing to be faulted for. We are human.
Angela’s story is melancholic and profound. But Konami wouldn’t have made her the cover art had she been morbidly obese with a pudgy unappealing face. Nor would we SH2 fans hang the game poster of her on our walls if she was morbidly obese with a pudgy unappealing face. That knife pose shot wouldn’t have been nearly as iconic.
Saying all this stuff is very not PC. But there’s a difference between being bothered by the truth and refusing to accept it as the truth.

[…]

You misunderstand the term “vulnerable beauty”. You’re thinking about it negatively in terms of being taken advantage of. It’s not that. Im talking about tenderness and sorrow that is enhanced by natural beauty- and vice versa.
Go on YouTube and look at all the musical performances of songs about melancholy/ vulnerability/tenderness played by legendary artists. Like “fade into you” by Mazzy Star. The top YouTube comments are full of praises on her natural beauty. We know that aesthetic beauty enhances the artistry and vice versa.
Human nature tends to gravitate toward certain types of faces. It wouldn’t be the same if she had a derpy face. There is a reason why Konami decided to use Angela’s face as the cover art for the original SH2 game. Because her vulnerable beauty is a key component of her character. And her character is a key component of the game.
Even for James. The artistic value would be diminished if James had an ugly douchey and generally unlikeable face.

The Drama, Pt. 2

In a second thread, it is confirmed that this is the character’s final design.
DEI is blamed:

i vision apparently given by a DEI consultancy group named Hit Detection.

Holy shit you people treat DEI like it’s the fucking boogeyman. You realize that most games hire DEI consultancy, and they’re not some evil org pulling the strings changing the game, they almost always just check the game to ensure there isn’t any content that will unintentionally offend people?
It’s not some crazy scheme, it’s literally just checking that the writing has the intended response. It’s proofreading.

Because it is. Go actually read the ideology they are based of. DEI is the new fascism

Jesus, you have no idea what fascism means.
Just use pornhub man, this isn't something to go to war for lmao
You know, I was gonna debate you and use logic and sense, but the moment you threw out “facism” because it’s the buzzword of the day, I knew I’d be trying to debate someone with the IQ of a single cell amoeba

Insult to the single-cell amoebas tbh
Sure. Insult the person and not the argument.
Just so you know, I read most of post modernism general theories. It is amazing how it resembles fascism but just much better worded.
So, if you feel so insulted maybe go actually read the texts about DEI,instead of going hating on people.

[Continued:]

They insulted your argument too though. It's just the same basic rhetoric that everyone who thinks this way speaks. It's like you all subscribe to the same newsletter and read the weekly approved script. It's tiring and a waste of everyone's time, including yours.

Dudes never had an original thought in his life, if he didn't just parrot what the other incels say he wouldn't speak at all and the world would be all the better for it.

[…]

Or you could stop being incel
You didn't make an argumeny. You basically said "DEI is fascist go look it up". I looked it up ages ago when all these gamer dudes started scaremongering and it was the biggest non-issue I've ever seen. Like the whole SBI thing that got debunked fucking instantly. Outrage youtubers just found their new target to farm clicks, that's all.
User from kotakuinaction probably gonna link Jordan Petterson video if you ask for links

[…]

Just say the n word, man. We all know what you mean
Yup. People can stick their heads in the dirt and pretend these firms don't affect character designs but it is what it is.
Oh boy. Fuck DEI. Those people came to ruin games. The same way they ruined the other media.

There are allegations of gaslighting:

I cant with so many people gaslighting themselves into liking this design, OR the horrendous voice acting. So many of you guys are in pure copium mode right now, Just like with the trainwreck that is SH short message. This game looks worse and worse every time they show more of it, and everyone sticking up for the hideous character design and pretending the game looks good only because some of you compare it to the miniscule ps2 era gameplay of the OG isn't going to change how crap this remake's vision is. As someone who encourages people to take risks when it comes to remakes and reboots, I will be open minded. But it’s not looking good.

This sub is deleting any comments or posts that even slightly suggest there is something weird with how she looks. Her face does not look like a normal 19 year old girls and if you think it does your on some of that high dose copium.

People on the sub won't take any form of criticism, they'll just downvote you to doom. Her face is rather uncanny imo. I feel like they could've done it better

I don't mind being down voted. I've expressed my opinion and anyone who disagrees is welcome to express theres. What I do find amusing is the "you're just an incel" cope. These are supposed to be people against sexualization but make fun of other people's sex lives. But this is Reddit, so I'm not expecting anything better.

Comparisons are made:

I agree. If they feel inspired by Quagmire from Family Guy, then they should stick to their vision.

Bait used to be believable

I swear Silent Hill “fans” have to be the most obnoxious, I kinda see why we got nothing for such a long time.

Make Genshin fans look almost sane.

Denial used to be believable. Hit Detection worked on this game and that explains a lot.

”Hideous”:

She looks hideous. Can't believe this is what Blooper is doing.

Trust me brother you absolutely look worse than her

Yet you don't know what he or she looks like.
Stand on business and post yourself then lil bro
Sad to see people lack the critical thinking to critique this game. Blooper gave this woman a man jaw and it looks downright ugly. How does a character model from 2001 look better than one from 2024? Goes to show how much team silent cared about their game while blooper is just trying to make a quick buck.

The Flairs:

• “the trend of uglyfying formerly ok looking characters just for the progressive checkmark”
  
• “you’re all shit with your toxic positivity”
  
• “if a female doesn't give them a boner then it's woke”
  
• “theyre mad cuz they cant nut to a trauma victim”
  

Hello there, and good day! I’m female, 20 and from the UK, so I’m on GMT+1 at the moment (damned daylight savings time). I’m on the hunt for a roleplay partner who I can build a world with, or explore an existing world with, while potentially making friends in the process!
The definition of literate/semi-literate around here is so strange- as long as you write in third person with correct spelling and grammar (and nice detail), I’m happy! I’m definitely looking for quality over quantity, I typically write between two paragraphs, and can surpass the discord character limit (2000) once or twice if there’s a lot going on, and certainly don’t expect novels in response.
I’m not searching for any plot in particular, as it would depend on what world we explore, what characters we play, etc. However, I would ask for a nice balance of romance, drama, action and angst within the story we develop. I’m not a huge fan of slice-of-life or modern settings (unless they have a twist on them), and absolutely adore fantasy, historical and sci-fi settings. As for fandoms, I would prefer we play OCs, though if you’re set on playing a CC, I can give you a list of CCs I like!
If you’re looking for a fandom roleplay, I’m happy to explore the following:

• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Cyberpunk: 2077
• Chainsaw Man
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
• Jujutsu Kaisen
• Parasyte
• Yakuza

If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You get a pat on the back and a cookie. 🍪 Please reach out to DM me if this interests you, and tell me what kind of world you’re looking to explore. See you soon!

hii so i am kinda of a beginner writer (writing here and there for the past 3 years), but this last year i wanted to be more serious, and made a one shot comic, then i wanted to make a bigger comic (idk how many chapters)... and i am kinda stuffed with planning and planning and planning... but i am finally making a good progress, finally finished my characters conflicts, the theme and thats when i figured it out... wait, all im focusing on is on the subplots... that yea, to this point, it should be the main plot.
the original main plot is characters are locked up in a place and need to get out. but in this, have my protagonist and his abusive girlfriend, that i wanted to flesh out, that like he finds another partners but his girlfriend is really unstable this and that. so i thought "hmmm the story functions perfectly without them being locked up" so i thought of making them in the outside world BUT BOOMM what about the others subplots?? this person with their sibling that they compare themselves too much, the "new" partner for my protagonist, the MC's mother... ok these were all that i thought-
but like i made so much stuff with the place that I dont want to throw out like the whole deal with an entity and its gimmick, how was the place before the entity running the place. and like, i dont know how my story functions without this place?? but at the same idk how it works WITH this place. like yeah it is the main plot, it should be the main plot, but i am more interested on writing the relationships in there, and less focused on them leaving. i mean, i even thought of the end that like HAS BOTH ??
so. the new story is about them leaving the place and the relationships, but like, shouldnt the place have more focus?? the subplot should like be only a thing that you pick up when you read, not part of the premise, right?? i mean i like both, i think the place should be a subplot, but like ARGHH the story is fucking about my protagonist learning that we shouldnt lose part of ourselves to please others, this and that... and... URGHH
then... should i scrape out the whole place deal and make the relationship the main plot?? but like at the same time it doesnt have too much to be the whole deal but like it is important enough to not be just a subplot?? can the plot and subplot be made into like the whole deals?? or should i announce only the plot??
(sorry for any english mistakes i am brazilian)