The Force: “Here’s The Chosen One!”

This scene in book 17 has me going feral what does it MEAN WHAT DID IT MEAN!?

Richard Chen’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Part I

What about ‘far too young to die, far too old to live.’ For the fic ask game?

Definitely Tim! A study of his non-aging and how so much has happened to him yet he's not allowed to pass his teen years. He's eighteen and hey, his little brother is fourteen now. Remember when he was six years younger than him? Tim was sixteen for, um, fifteen years? He thinks? He's seen countless of his loved ones die and move on and age and grow and he's eighteen. He's eighteen and he can't die, it won't let him die, they will not let him die, but they won't let him live either, and he's so so tired. He's so tired, but he's Robin! (He. He left Robin behind didn't he? Isn't Damian Robin? Why are there two Robins? Why did he go back?) Robin doesn't give up. Robin doesn't die, except when he did and she did and he did and he did and wow, Tim's the only one that hasn't died? Maybe he wants to die. Maybe he doesn't want to be Robin. Maybe he wants to be Nightwing or Batgirl or- or, maybe even Batman! (No. Not Batman. He's seen what happens when he's Batman.) But, please, he wants to live, but everyone keeps going back, regressing, forgetting what they've been through together, who they are, and Tim too, but suddenly they're back to normal and it's like nothing ever happened. And Tim's the only one that knows. He's too young to die. He's too old to live. He wants. He's stuck in a funny kind of limbo, isn't he?

...

He's so tired. He's so, so tired.

#I LOVE HOW DRAMATIC THE FIRST ONE IS #ICONIC NIGHTMARE MONSTER MAN OFFERING THE GALAXY TO HIS SON THE HERO #THE STUFF OF EPICS RIGHT THERE #AND THEN THE SECOND ONE IS JUST #"[SIGH] I DON'T KNOW WHAT I EXPECTED" #HE'S SUCH A SCRUNKLY WET CAT IN THE SECOND ONE #GET YOURSELF A VILLAIN WHO CAN DO BOTH #WALKING NIGHTMARE FUEL ONE MINUTE #AND THE NEXT JUST A SAD WET CAT OF A DISASTER MAN #NOBODY DOES IT LIKE ANAKIN SKYWALKER

19 BBY, Cirz and Enah are coming back from a mission.

21 pages, one-shot, the rest is under the cut:

I’m not sure exactly how to articulate it but—there is this bizarre base assumption i see from people discoursing about children’s media, and that’s the assumption that children are somehow unfamiliar with negative emotions. Like, maybe you’ve managed to completely forget your entire life before you turned eighteen, but kids spend a lot of time being hurt, and scared, and angry. A lot of people had terrible fucking childhoods, and a lot of kids are having terrible fucking childhoods right now. When i was a child, and i read books where bad things happened to kids, that was in no way shocking to me, i already knew bad things happened to children. It made me feel more connected to those stories, not less, and it made it more impactful when those child characters overcame it all in the end. That’s important for children. A lot of them are in desperate need of a little hope, and they aren’t going to get it from nothing stories with no conflict. They put conflict in children’s media for a reason

Also i see some of you handwringing over child protagonists going through, like, the most basic hero’s journey. Please, for the love of god, realize that you as an adult are going to understand children’s media differently than the actual kids it’s intended for. Because you’re all grown up now, you aren’t going to be able to relate to a child protagonist. You’re going to see a child in danger. The children the story is meant for are going to see a kid like them who is able to face hardship and triumph

In a lecture series on Youtube, #1 New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson talks about the three P's of plot structure: Promise. Progress. Payoff.

Promises are particularly important in the beginning of the story, as they draw in the audience.

Progress keeps the audience invested, particularly through the middle of the story. If there is no sense of progress, then the reader feels as if the plot isn't going anywhere.

Payoff is what fulfills the promises of progress. It rewards the audience for sticking around, and if done properly, creates a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the story.

While all three can be tricky in their own right, many writers struggle to create a proper sense of progress, which can lead to saggy middles.

Luckily, Dramatica Theory breaks plot down into eight story points that essentially encapsulate progress.

If you apply them to your stories, your writing will always have progression through the middle.

1. Goal - Every story has a goal. It may be a goal of aspiration, such as becoming a top chef. Or it may be a goal of thwarting something, such as stopping a murderer. Whatever the case, a story's goal is what enables us to measure progress. If there is no goal, then what one does, doesn't really matter. We have no orientation or purpose, so there is no sense of moving forward or backward. The goal allows progress to happen.

2. Requirements - In order to achieve the goal, something is required. This can be broken down into two variations. In one, the characters must follow an order of steps, like following a set of directions. In the other, the characters must do or obtain things in any order, like a shopping list. The characters in Jumanji, for example, have the goal to restore the world to normal. The requirement is to win the game. But they must do this in a proper order--they can't skip turns.

3. Consequences - Consequences are what happen if a goal isn't achieved or hasn't yet been achieved. In some stories, the protagonist is trying to prevent the consequences, but in others, the protagonist is trying to stop the consequences that are already happening. Consequences might be thought of as overall stakes. In Ralph Breaks the Internet, if Ralph and Vanellope don't buy a new steering wheel for Sugar Rush, then its characters will be homeless.

4. Forewarnings - Forewarnings convey that the consequences are getting closer, becoming worse, or becoming permanent (depending on the story). If a dam is in danger of breaking, then a forwarning may be a crack that shoots out water. In Back to the Future, Marty's family slowly disappearing from a photograph works as a forewarning.

5. Dividends - Characters will likely receive small rewards for little successes along the journey to the goal. These are dividends. For example, on her journey to fight in the war in her father's place, Mulan is rewarded honor and a place in the military when she is able to retrieve an arrow from a wooden post that none of the men could get down.

6. Costs - Just as the journey may include dividends, it also entails costs. These have negative impacts on the protagonist's well-being. In order to win The Hunger Games, for example, one must be willing to kill others, which also includes psychological trauma. In order for Frodo to get to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring, he must suffer a loss of innocence. This is a cost.

7. Prerequisites - There are often certain essentials one must have, to pursue the goal at all. These are prerequisites. Prerequisites on their own don't bring the goal closer. This is why they aren't requirements. In Interstellar, a spaceship, equipment, and astronauts are needed to travel space to find a new home (goal). But simply having those things doesn't necessarily mean the characters are closer to discovering a liveable planet.

8. Preconditions - Preconditions do not directly relate to the goal. They are "non-essential constraints or costs placed on the characters in exchange for the help of someone who controls essential prerequisites." In Karate Kid, a prerequisite is that the protagonist must receive extra lessons from a master, but the master adds the precondition of doing chores. One does not technically need to do chores to do karate.

Some of these points are more direct--like requirements--while others are more indirect--like preconditions. The direct points will usually be more intense than the indirect. As you apply these elements to your stories, you'll create a sense of progress--especially through the middle, which will help make any story more satisfying.

[Sold out display]

Speaking of DC stuff, I've been turning my old art into enamel pins lol. With revised art! All of these are currently sold out but I figure you guys may be interested in seeing the art vs. final product ahaha. Will likely convert more fanart into pins soon 😂

enamel pin store here (for other designs)

A Captain’s Love

A fully colored digital comic of the Strawhats from One Piece.

The first page only contains a panel with the words "A Captain's Love.“

The second page shows Luffy and Nami holding hands and smiling at each other. Pictured underneath is a close-up of their interlinked hands and the gray silhouette of a person asking "So, are you guys dating?" Another panel shows Nami's reaction: an appalled expression on her face and "huh?" written in bold red letters.

The second page depicts Luffy sitting on Zoro's lap, happily eating meat while Zoro is drinking. Next to them is a gray silhouette again, asking: "isn't that weird?" At the bottom of the page is Zoro's reaction: an intimidating glare with "WHAT" spelled out in big red capital letters behind him.

The third page contains a drawing of Luffy and Usopp, sleeping on spread out blankets and pillows on the floor while cuddling. Again, the silhouette of a person is in the corner, remarking: "you know what people might think." Usopp's reaction in an extra panel is giving the person a deeply disapproving side-eye, asking "oh yeah...?"

The fourth page depicts Luffy tighly hugging Robin while lifting her in the air as both of them are grinning. The gray silhouette of a person is asking: "Are you really gonna let him act like that with your girlfriend?" Pictured underneath is Franky, deeply confused expression on his face, only responding with a bewildered "uhh...."

The last panel shows Luffy, grinning and holding his hat. The asexual and the aromantic flag are pictured behind him.