fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3821 ]

[ SECRET POST #3821 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3821 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Movie: It Comes At Night]

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03.

[iZombie]

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04.

[New Girl]

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05.

[Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid]

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06.

(Doctor Strange)

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07.

[Fire Emblem]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 26 secrets from Secret Submission Post #547.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sometimes that will happen. Technology, it makes our lives better. I totally hear you with "At least if I don't finish this one, no one will be disappointed...."

Re: fic - mostly I'm... It's mostly that I'm not sure of my approach to storytelling the first half (more boring than melodramatic, I think, involving POV characters who then vanish for Reasons), and then the second half POV character is difficult to write in general. I dunno. I'm going to keep at it and then go back once I've got the first draft and see what needs overhauling and what I like.

Where to start with Kamen Rider. Ah. :D I have a lot of opinions. So many opinions. If you want to start with something current, the series airing this year - Ex-Aid - is definitely something. Friend of mine describes it as "a pretty ballsy critique of consumer-driven capitalism & corporate IP rights abuse for a show selling toys to 8-yr-olds."

Most of my opinions are confined to the last 18 years or so of KR broadcast history, though; I haven't seen any of the Showa Era series, and if you know what that means skip everything in the parentheses (Kamen Rider first aired in '71 or 72 and then irregularly until the early 90s - these are the Showa Era series, all of which had involvement from the show's original creator; this was followed by a lull for several years, and then the franchise was revived in 2000 with Kamen Rider Kuuga and since then it has done a new series every year).

Ryuki (2002) and Blade (2004) were well-received, Den-O (2007) was well-received, if anyone tells you to watch Decade (2009) it's a mess and full of plot holes and don't listen to them, W (2010, pronounced "Double" because Japan) is pretty solid if you want to get a handle on what Kamen Rider is like, OOO (2011) is excellent, and Gaim (2013) was REALLY well received.

My personal favorite is Agito (2001), but you could also start at the beginning and watch Kuuga. And then just go chronologically. There really is no bad in the first five series, except that the end of 555 (2003) lacked any sort of resolution oh my god WHY. Hibiki (2005), Kabuto (2006), and Kiva (2008) all have their own issues, but if you've gotten as far as Blade going chronologically, you're probably not going to dislike any of the following series.

I would say, either watch Ex-Aid and see how you like it (themes are video games and medical drama), watch Agito and see how you like it (not so much with the themes because of how early on it was with the Heisei series but involves an amnesiac dude dealing with weird monsters), go chronologically, or start with everything written by Kobayashi Yasuko (Ryuki - 13 Rider battle royale, Den-O - time traveling trains, OOO - oh god my heart).

That may have been a less than helpful wall of text, now that I think about it...

Regarding the fic, just remember that if it's entertaining you, it'll probably entertain at least a few other people! At the end of the day, there's nothing wrong with writing something that's a little self-indulgent, too. I mean this WIP that I'm working on has some id-ish elements to it, but screw it, I enjoy the catharsis.

And clearly I got your passion going with the question about Kamen Rider! I do appreciate the time you took with that wall of text.
I am tempted to start from OOO, based on what you wrote, since it sounds like there's some angst, and I am the biggest sucker for angst. Unless it's not a good one to start off with?
Since I don't (yet) know if this'll end up being my thing or not, I figure it might be better to start strong, and then if I get into it, well by golly I'll have plenty of episodes ahead of me :)
So maybe start with a later series, and if I like it, go back to Kuuga?

Fair, fair. And I am entertaining myself, so... :D

Re: OOO - there is angst. In the beginning there is v. little angst and quite a bit of comedy, because Kobayashi Yasuko does this thing where she starts a series with all sorts of adorable and then stomps all over your heart with expertly applied fridge brilliance. There are elements regarding which I do feel that the ball was dropped, and it's not perfect, but I really, really liked it. The first time I saw it, I finished it and realized I was crying over bird monsters. Every time I revisit it, I remember that I am not, in fact, actually over it. (I don't know if this says more about me or the series, honestly.)

But yeah, you could start with OOO and if you like it, watch the first gen Heisei series (first gen = anything before Decade). Den-O is another really good one to start with, has angst, has more humor, and was all around an enjoyable experience. Every time I hear the opening theme, I get little happy warmfuzzy feelings. (Again, this Pavlovian response may say more about me than about the series...)

There isn't really a BAD one to start with, except Decade. Don't start with Decade. (It has many good points, it does, but oh god. Don't start there.) Or Ghost. Don't start with Ghost, either, it's adorable but kind of frustrating.

Oh, and if/when you do see Kuuga, it was Odagiri Joe's breakout role. Which should tell you something about it. :D

In that case, I'll go look both OOO and Den-O up, and see which one pulls me :)
I honestly don't know if I'll get into it, but hey, I've been hunting around for some new media to casually watch, especially since I'm getting sort of disappointed in anime lately.

I shall refrain from starting with Decade, then! XD

And good luck with your fic, too. I'm in a bit of a similar boat. I wish I had somebody really discerning to tell me if my characterization is working or is just an emotional mess. I have my beta, and she's pretty good, but not as rigorous as I'd like, with some things. Still, I'm glad I have her, at least!

I mean, you can tell me the fandom, and if I know it.... :D

Final Fantasy VII.
*hopeful*???

Ah, damn. All I know about that one is dude with a giant sword plus dead friend plus super hot villain. :( I'm sorry.

Curses! Truly ours is a star-crossed relationship XD

Well let me tell you, there's some quality angst and mindfuck to be had. I'm 50k into a story about an MC with PTSD, hallucinations, memory loss, and self-inflicted torture.

My first reaction to that was "gimme." I would read it. Break the cutie, dammit. Angst and mindfuck can make for really good stories.

PTSD does weird shit to people, most of it directed inwards rather than outwards, so if you're hung up on whether a clinical manifestation is appropriate, hit up the DSM-IV? Or Google scholar. Which can then be applied to said character, or you can use it to see what's typical and then take his personality from there. (Maybe you already do this. I dunno.)

I mean TO BE HONEST since it's a time-travel fix-it AU, it may be enjoyable even without knowing the entire series? I have no idea. I may also just be being wishful because I'm desperate for reactions lolol

I haven't actually looked up too much clinical PTSD for this fic because there's so much fantasy shit going on in there that it's not really useful, I think. My MC (Cloud) is fucked up because he was literally the last living being on the dying planet, which then sent him back in time to fix everything that went wrong, only he's physically 5 years old now, so he shoots himself up with the super-soldier-making stuff so he'll be strong enough to fight his nemesis 5 years early, only the side effect of that is fucking with all his memories and persistent hallucinations.
So at the beginning of the story he's sort of massively traumatized from being alone only he doesn't REMEMBER what happened and because his memories are fucked he doesn't quite remember how he's supposed to save the world, either. Also he was used as a human experiment for years in his past life, and had a massive identity crisis, AND was mind-controlled by the bad guys multiple times.
This cutie has been fucking broken to bits and put himself back together with nothing but sheer tenaciousness.
So like.... the whole situation is so OTT and ridiculous that I'm not even trying to bring too much real-world stuff into it, because I'm pretty sure that if we tried to be AT ALL realistic he'd just have to be in therapy forever and that's it XD

"Wait what" and "no, no, ignore the DSM-IV entirely" are fighting each other for the position of Initial Response. Also the word fix-it, I do not think it means what you think it means. :D I'd still read it, tho. Planning to post on AO3, FF.net...?

.............wait, was the MC 10 in that game? Really? That makes all the porn I've (generally accidentally) encountered way more disturbing.

I don't know that he'd be coherent enough for therapy, IRL. All the drugs for this one. Lots of benzos. Yep.

Ah, no no, in-game he's 20! In my fic, he's mentally 35 but physically 10 and THAT SUCKS TOO because nobody will take his attempts to save the world seriously. (also, puberty is going to be so awkward...)

I mean it IS fix-it in the sense that he saves (almost) all the people who end up dead in the game, he saves the world, the world is in a better state than it was before, he has people that care about him, etc. It's also high tragedy in the sense that I didn't want it to be one of those cases where the fixed timeline is unequivocally 100000000% better than his previous one. So in this case, while a lot of things are way better, he suffers some personal tragedies that leave him kind of conflicted and bitter about the whole thing, because one of his most important relationships from his previous life gets basically ruined in this new one (and this is going to hurt for everybody, a lot, including the readers :DDD). Also there's some dramatic irony going on, like the fact that in order to physically enhance himself, he has to do to himself some of what the insane scientist did to him in his past life... See, he's wondering whether he'll manage to save the world, but the readers (should be) wondering whether he'll destroy himself in the process.
SO I MEAN TECHNICALLY IT'S A TRAGIC-FIX-IT-WITH-HUMOR-AND-ANGST. I think.

I'll be posting on both ao3 and ffnet, but I'm 50k in and there's probably another 50k to go, so it'll be a while yet before it's done. Hence the desperation for interim readers!

(it's my turn to wall-of-text at you, I see XD thank you for reading!)

Hey, we just had a conversation in which enjoying Things With Length And Plot were mentioned. :D Wall of text is fine.

I want you to know that I now have the mental image of a fluffy white blue-eyed kitten attempting to look fierce as a stand-in for Cloud-in-your-fic.

I like also that things are not going as entirely planned - you pull on one thread, you unravel the tapestry, right. So he's meeting most of his goals but other things are getting fucked up in the process. Which can be very satisfying to read. Or watch.

I'm happy to interrim read, but I can't tell you if your characterization is consistent re: canon. I can probably tell you if your characterization is internally consistent. I can tell you general impressions on atmosphere and timing, that kind of thing. (Also if someone with v. little experience with canon can follow the story...)

You are right. I'm so used to fucking microblogging that I feel like I have to apologize for writing words, haha.

tbh fluffy white kitten attempting to look fierce is basically what Cloud is in this fic. I even did a drawing of tiny kid!Cloud with giant swords looking cute and frustrated because nobody will take him seriously.

Yeah, see, in some time-travel AUs I feel like things are a little... too easy? And the canon is pretty fucked up. So like, I want him to have something resembling a happy ending, but hoo boy is it going to be fucked along the way.

tbh, if you enjoy the fic (because regardless, you do need to enjoy the thing, and follow along with the plot to some extent, otherwise there's really no point), then I'm fine with you checking it for internal consistency. I've got like 500 balls in the air, so having an extra set of eyes would be awesome, if you're willing to try! And I do hope I'm keeping everything moving, but also solving things in a satisfying way.

Um, how do you want to do it, though? Since you have to deanon. I don't know if you have a DW account you can send me a message with, though. Or you could message me on tumblr with an email/preferred contact method? Or if you have an ff.net account, you can message me there?
(and honestly, please don't feel pressured >_> I know I'm kind of dancing like PLEASE DO EET but I have also long ago learned that not everybody will like my fics, and that's okay! See, in continuation to our conversation about important life lessons from writing fanfiction...)

I have none of these things, sadly. Not having a DW is 90% of why I'm anon on FS, TBH. My gmail (and AO3) is cici.nota (actually it might be an underscore on AO3, come to think of it, where you can see a Transformers WIP that has been there for like, four years and this is why the next project was written in its entirety before I posted anything) - toss me the fic and I'll try to look at it over the weekend.

If I end up not liking it, I will be v. v. polite about it, and also try to be constructive. (Though I hope I do end up liking it, it sounds fun, and also I enjoy generally tend to enjoy poking at other people's fiction. Habit developed in childhood.)

Sent you an email! See if it gets to the right place :)

I do hope you end up liking it as well, though like I said, I will 100% understand if not - it can be really tough sometimes to read a fic that's for a fandom you're not into, even if the premise sounds amazing, because a lot of fanfic does rely on some prior attachment to the characters in order to work. So I mean, it could even be something as simple as "this sounds like something I'd be into, but I just can't really muster up emotion for the characters".

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #3821 ]

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

Re: People totally used to be more tolerant of slow writing.

also that it's a game...

Re: also that it's a game...

Re: also that it's a game...

Re: also that it's a game...

Re: also that it's a game...

Re: also that it's a game...

Oh, good, he was an adult the whole time.

Re: Oh, good, he was an adult the whole time.

Re: Oh, good, he was an adult the whole time.

Re: Oh, good, he was an adult the whole time.