Reblog If You Write Fic And People Can Inbox You Random-ass Questions About Your Stories, Itemized Number

Yoneda-sensei answers tweets about Saezuru pt. 2

Q : If you were to liken Yashiro, Doumeki, or the other characters to animals, what would they be?

A : Yashiro would be a Russian Blue (cat), while Doumeki would be a Golden Retriever.

Q : This might be a bit cliched, but what type of food does Yashiro like? And how well can he hold his liquor?

A : Yashiro is not picky when it comes to food, but he has a weakness for sweets. He drinks sake occasionally. When he’s in a good mood, he will drink ‘til he’s drunk and when he gets wasted, he’ll start taking off his clothes, yell and flirt about, so he causes a lot of trouble.

Q : What does Yashiro normally eat? I don’t see a lot of scenes of them eating, so I thought maybe they don’t have a lot of appetite. I want to see scenes of them normally eating meals and stuff!

A : Even I myself want to draw those kinds of scenes, but alas, I haven’t had the chance to. But nevertheless, Yashiro is not picky so he eats anything, from those made by his underlings to restaurant-made dishes. He occasionally craves junk food, but I think food to him is just something you eat to fill your belly.

Q: Is there a particular reason why Yashiro-san’s hair is parted like that? I think that style really suits him, so please tell us the reason if there is one.

A : There is no special reason, but I think it makes him look like an intelligent yakuza. (LOL)

Q : What did Yashiro-san make or do with the carrots and eggplants that he made Doumeki buy?

A : D-do with them?? (she is thinking dirty here) I imagine he will make the impotent Doumeki fuck him with them with a poker face. (not sure about this!!! why does my nihongo fail me during these crucial times???)

Q : Yashiro-san is pretty smart despite not having gone to college. Would you have had any other occupation for him in an alternate universe?

A : Maybe being a swindler or a lawyer would suit him. (me : aren’t they the same? lol) He’s a really good talker.

Q : I’m really curious about Yashiro’s first name. Also when he was a kid, I think he probably loved his mother, but did they see each other often? Was he a good kid?

A : I have no plans of revealing Yashiro’s first name. I think the message of the song “Beauty is Within Us” by Yohko Kanno closely matches the young Yashiro’s feelings for his mother. I recall listening to it during the time I drew that part. I think at present, that is how Yashiro really feels deep within. I really like that song, so please listen to it if you can.

(it’s an emo song and the lyrics are really sad. But do look it up T_T )

Source with video (in Spanish)

The Humanization of Superman

What Zack Snyder did for the character of Superman is equivocal to the evolution his character went through in the 1980s. Superman had become far too powerful to be of any interest as a character. Through a series of deaths, resurrections, soft reboots, and revitalizations of the character, Superman became weaker and more vulnerable. This forced his characterization to change slightly, as he became more relatable and interesting.

What Zack Snyder did with Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman was add a new layer to this character that contained all of the weight and expectation placed upon Superman, as a character that had to be handled carefully and perfectly, and placed it upon the man. You can hear this very burden in the criticisms of Snyder’s characterization with lines like, “Superman is supposed to smile,” or “ Superman is supposed to be a ‘boy scout’ not gloomy.” The anxiety and introverted personality Snyder gave to the character almost serves as a counter to this. He made Superman carry these expectations and even face them head on in Batman vs Superman. 

One the author and creator of One Punch Man did something similar with his protagonists by realizing that in order to make an all powerful character interesting you have to give them weaknesses that we can relate too, and he does this by making them bad at communication or giving them feelings of loneliness and isolation, as no one is able to be their equal or understand their pain. This leads his characters to often push others away or accept a burden they do not want in pursuit of doing what is right even if they know no one will ever understand or know what they did, but it also allows his character to act unheroic and selfish as they struggle to feel normal.

If future creators were to embrace what Snyder has given to the character of Superman, we might gain a character that can not only be what we all strive to be but also give us a way of delving into the complex nature and burden of expectation and power. Their is a reason “human nature” is always a reference to how we see or interact with the world rather than our physical strength. What makes a character human is their feelings, desires, and relationships, and superhero stories are the perfect chance to delve into these concepts in a significant and interesting way. 

For these amazing movies and a hopeful future for the character, Zack, we thank you. 

Oooooh

saezuru volume 4 giveaway!

i have an extra copy of saezuru tori wa habatakanai volume 4 (and the extra booklet that comes with it) and would like to give it to someone who wants it!

you don’t have to be following me

you do have to be 18+

you will have to be able to give me a mailing address so i can send it to you

i’ll send it anywhere in the world, but i will send it cheaply and it may take a while to get to you

likes and reblogs both count as entries

i’ll randomly select the recipient on december 1 around 10 pm my time (GMT+9) / 8 am eastern

@evilpixiea

I read this yesterday just before heading to the gym, and I wasn’t going to write anything and leave the ideas to my head, but then it stuck the whole time at the gym and still this morning... so here it very humbly is:

All I thought when I read this ask is: “Mana-sama.” Now few will know who Mana-sama is, but he is an important influencer in the early visual kei Japanese rock movement.

Not that The Trinity should dwell into androgynous visual Kei, but Mana-sama was the co-leader of his group, Malize Mizer, despite never speaking in public. In interviews, he would occasionally whisper to the ear of his lead vocalist who would then speak out his words, or more often than not, simply blink or tilt his head. Actually, he was awarded for many years the “best nails of Japan” award and his acceptance speech essentially consisted of him looking cold and giving looks to his interpreter, who would then speak his words.

So that’s how imagine The Batman in The Trinity band: the cold leader who never speaks in public. Occasionally smirks.

But physically, The Batman would obviously not be the originator of the Gothic Lolita. There, I imagine more the like of Toshiya, the bassist of the Jrock band Dir en Grey.

Cold, beautiful, angular and dark bassist of The Trinity. Dressed perfectly (see below) and dark makeup around the eyes. Astonishingly beautiful, but darkly so.

Clark would rather be the lead vocalist, perhaps occasionally dwelling in electric, or even more rarely, acoustic guitar. Bright, energetic, and oh so loved by the limelight. He is not the leader, not even the co-leader. But he speaks all the time to the press and he’s really who you have to ask if you actually want an answer.

(To be honest, maaaaybe a part of Gackt’s new, current persona matches Clark... but for the purpose of this post, since I am apparently on a visual kei reference mood, Gackt would fit the more masculine good looking lead vocalist type for sure)

And Diana? She’s at the drums of course! Beautiful, strong, powerful behind that elaborate piece of instrument. Her dark hair is all loose, curls flying around her face, held back by her golden tiara (what is it called, anyway?) while she executes that solo to perfection. She occasionally lends her voice to the lead vocalist, but mostly it’s all about how her arms move around creating those strong percussion sounds, muscle taunt, golden bands on them and at her wrists catching in the light. She’s also the co-leader. And in interview? Sometimes you’ll get a word out of her, and it’ll be strong and phylosophical, and probably too deep for most fans, who will love to analyze all she says post priori.

(I don’t know whose gif to add for this one.. sorry. EDIT: added a visual.. it’s probably a guy but.. heh. It’s visual kei. Meaning it is probably meant to look like a girl anyway)

If the trinity were a band, who would be the drummer, lead singer, and guitar/bass player? (Also, side thing that Bruce and Clark come off as players but are really hiding a secret relationship) (side-side thing that Diana's the only one who knows about it)

Haha! This ask made me so happy because… can you imagine the Trinity as a band? Seriously. They’re the most un-band-y people you will ever meet. The broody silent type that doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, the ultimate ‘dad’, and a warrior woman who (while a lover of music) is more of a wild dancer than anything else.

If they did somehow organise and take to the stage it would be a thing of… well… not quite beauty.

Especially as they enjoy very different music. Diana we know from the comics likes rock and roll. So she’s up there attacking her electric guitar like it’s strings are the strings of her bow.

Beside her Clark is trying for something slow and country on his normal guitar.

And there, pushed to the front with a I-don’t-want-to-be-here look on his face is Bruce… who can sing. He can sing well and will if he really has to. But, by god, he never thought he would be on stage let alone between these two manics.

Meanwhile the charities that convinced the Justice League to put forward and act look on in horror…

Still, no matter how bad the trio are they book out the venue every time they get on stage and donate all the money to charity. So no one can really complain that much.

Ways to un-stick a stuck story

Do an outline, whatever way works best. Get yourself out of the word soup and know where the story is headed.

Conflicts and obstacles. Hurt the protagonist, put things in their way, this keeps the story interesting. An easy journey makes the story boring and boring is hard to write.

Change the POV. Sometimes all it takes to untangle a knotted story is to look at it through different eyes, be it through the sidekick, the antagonist, a minor character, whatever.

Know the characters. You can’t write a story if the characters are strangers to you. Know their likes, dislikes, fears, and most importantly, their motivation. This makes the path clearer.

Fill in holes. Writing doesn’t have to be linear; you can always go back and fill in plotholes, and add content and context.

Have flashbacks, hallucinations, dream sequences or foreshadowing events. These stir the story up, deviations from the expected course add a feeling of urgency and uncertainty to the narrative.

Introduce a new mystery. If there’s something that just doesn’t add up, a big question mark, the story becomes more compelling. Beware: this can also cause you to sink further into the mire.

Take something from your protagonist. A weapon, asset, ally or loved one. Force him to operate without it, it can reinvigorate a stale story.

Twists and betrayal. Maybe someone isn’t who they say they are or the protagonist is betrayed by someone he thought he could trust. This can shake the story up and get it rolling again.

Secrets. If someone has a deep, dark secret that they’re forced to lie about, it’s a good way to stir up some fresh conflict. New lies to cover up the old ones, the secret being revealed, and all the resulting chaos.

Kill someone. Make a character death that is productive to the plot, but not “just because”. If done well, it affects all the characters, stirs up the story and gets it moving.

Ill-advised character actions. Tension is created when a character we love does something we hate. Identify the thing the readers don’t want to happen, then engineer it so it happens worse than they imagined.

Create cliff-hangers. Keep the readers’ attention by putting the characters into new problems and make them wait for you to write your way out of it. This challenge can really bring out your creativity.

Raise the stakes. Make the consequences of failure worse, make the journey harder. Suddenly the protagonist’s goal is more than he expected, or he has to make an important choice.

Make the hero active. You can’t always wait for external influences on the characters, sometimes you have to make the hero take actions himself. Not necessarily to be successful, but active and complicit in the narrative.

Different threat levels. Make the conflicts on a physical level (“I’m about to be killed by a demon”), an emotional level (“But that demon was my true love”) and a philosophical level (“If I’m forced to kill my true love before they kill me, how can love ever succeed in the face of evil?”).

Figure out an ending. If you know where the story is going to end, it helps get the ball rolling towards that end, even if it’s not the same ending that you actually end up writing.

What if? What if the hero kills the antagonist now, gets captured, or goes insane? When you write down different questions like these, the answer to how to continue the story will present itself.

Start fresh or skip ahead. Delete the last five thousand words and try again. It’s terrifying at first, but frees you up for a fresh start to find a proper path. Or you can skip the part that’s putting you on edge – forget about that fidgety crap, you can do it later – and write the next scene. Whatever was in-between will come with time.

I want to say “I think modern NYC is a lot less dark and a lot less conduisive to some of the BF realities than modern NYC, so I’ll be curious to see how they do it”

Although at the same time, I feel that all the realities are still there, still rampant. They are just less obviously everywhere so it works

Hello domeyashiro! I was wondering if you ever got to reread Banana Fish. I've been reading random volumes from my own yellow french (i'm spanish though) version since I learnt about the anime. From google translate I understand there is a preview this month and, is it going to be broadcasted? Anyway, I'm as eager for it as for Yashiro and Doumeki being back together.

I’ve started rereading the mangas but only got till volume 5 so far, because I got busy with work. That’s my official excuse at least. But I have to admit that I’m also a bit hesitant to continue reading, because I’d get completely absorbed again, and then … you know, it’s mentally challenging and I don’t know if I can go through that twice this year. Maybe I’ll wait with the rest until the anime airs.

I don’t think the event where the preview will be shown at the end of this month will be broadcasted anywhere. If the preview is only a trailer, it should come out soon afterwards, but if the first few episodes are shown, we’d have to wait until the official start of the series of course (but would hopefully still get a trailer soon?) Anyway, the announcements made at the event will probably get published afterwards, so at least we should know the main cast and a few more members of the production staff by the end of the month. :)

I thought they were going to kiss

And here it is...a better quality version, as promised, haha.

Update: I started watching Drive to Survive, season 7, again, which means episode 3. It’s so weird. I actually forgot for a second that I am watching real life [well, it’s Netflix but still], and not a movie.

It’s late. I need to do the dishes

Confession of a rpf writer

I feel incapable of writing anything Gabico. I think the outpouring of Gabico content around Nico’s podium has rushed the narrative forward at a rhythm I wasn’t ready to engage with and unbalanced the beginning of an outline I was grasping at to follow up on what I wrote last week (I think it was last week?).

Nothing dramatic, just needing to externalize the feelings, I think, as I feel a bit overwhelmed and just need to sit with the original narrative to find again the plot points that felt so overwhelming (as in, inspiring) last week. It’s like the plot moved forward without me and I don’t recognize it anymore..

I probably just need to find a playlist that brings me back ^^;

An Open Letter to Tumblr about the Adult Content Ban and How it is Hurting Your Users:

Recently, Tumblr was removed from the Apple app store due to an incident involving child pornography. This incident is incredibly unfortunate, but it doesn’t stand alone. Tumblr was also removed from the app store due to the large influx of porn bots and pornographic spam, users claiming to be proud to be pedophiles, blatant Nazism, racists who are not deleted for sending hate and harassing users, and more. I myself reported someone for harassing me, but because I had blocked the person and couldn’t access the messages where they harassed me, they were still able to send me anonymous asks. Your support staff, with back doors to the website (presumably), claimed they could not access the messages, and I was left SOL. Many features on this website do nothing to actually protect your users from harassment, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Nazis, pedophiles, predators, porn bots, and more. 

You claim in your statement to us that you “have been working on these problems for a long time”. This is blatantly untrue. Please do not lie to us and patronize us. We’ve been here. We’ve seen you do nothing over, and over, and over again. 

We complained to you for months and months about the rampant porn bots, and you did nothing except add a report button on mobile which only reported sensitive content or spam at best. You could have addressed this problem with an effective algorithm, but you did not. We complained to you about being harassed and sent hate speech for being LGBT+, and you did nothing. We complained to you about blogs being randomly deleted, and sometimes you’ve restored them, other times you have not. We complained to you that there were people proudly claiming to be “Minor Attracted Persons”, or pedophiles, and you did nothing. We complained to you about people proudly claiming to be white supremacists, and you did nothing. All of these things are “against the community guidelines”, and yet over and over, you have not found effective ways to handle these problems or suppress the feeling of welcome that these users claim to get here. You have had a long time to work on these problems, but you haven’t addressed them. To say you have is untrue. 

 Multiple other social networking websites, such as Wordpress, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and others have effectively dealt with rampant pornography, racism, pedophilia, and other problems without causing massive issues for their users who are not misusing the platform. They are continuing to find new, effective ways to deal with these issues without causing problems for their userbase as a whole.  There is no reason that you are unable to do this effectively other than that you wanted to do it quickly. You have once again chosen your stock holders over your users. And we have had enough. 

You have already started to ban “Adult” content with a new algorithm. Here are screenshots of just a fraction of the posts you have flagged as containing adult content:

Your new system of simply tackling everything at once is not working. At all. And each of these screenshots is proof of your utter incompetence. None of these posts contain pornographic acts, “female nipples”, or any community violation of any kind. 

We, the users, have been asking you for months to deal with these problems - particularly, the porn bots and bots that spam. In order to block a bot from a side blog, I have to do it manually, even though they are in my side blog’s feed. This is a huge issue for mobile - only users. They keep cropping up in droves, taking over our posts and tricking google into making it look like a legitimate blog linked to a pornographic website. We have complained to you for months and months now, and your solution to simply “ban all adult content” is ineffective. I agree that children should not be able to access pornography - but this is not how you tackle a porn bot problem. Your system is utterly useless, allows for racists, pedophiles, porn bots, and Nazis to remain untouched. It also harms sex workers and real people who may use this website for some forms of adult content responsibly. Moreover, as seen above, it harms plenty of users who have in no way violated your terms of service.

 If you keep this up, you threaten your website and company as a whole. Many of us are backing up our blogs and planning places to go to. 

You already have a content filter for “sensitive” content (content inappropriate for younger viewers). You could have improved this, instead of attacking your entire user base. It seems to be a very lazy “solution”, if you could call it one at all, and one that harms your entire userbase.

If you are going to keep this filter in place and make Tumblr, a website that has never been known for being family friendly and has never claimed to be, you are going to lose millions of your users. We are already planning our exodus. It isn’t hard to follow. Censor us, and we will go somewhere else. That is not a threat. It is a promise. 

Sincerely, 

The users of your website. 

@staff @support