It’s A Very Refreshing Cocktail. Perfect For This Nice Fall Breeze.

How Matt Mercer introduces your backstory

“You were trying to save a Wish for me?”

“Yeah”

After hearing it mentioned on the most recent Between The Sheets episode, here is a throwback to the Gather Your Party episode where Marisha does her take on a Desdemona monologue from Othello!

Tips to finishing creative writings

Have one main piece and several smaller ones The story you are most eager to write and has some form of a developed plot should be your main story, but don’t limit yourself to only that piece. That’s when you abandon it. Instead, tell yourself, “I have a good idea for another story. Let me write 500-1000 words of it.” This allows you to put what’s in your mind on paper. You can also get a feel for it and see if it is really something you think you could write an entire story for. When you finish your main story, come back to it and make that your new main if you still want to write it.

Use your desire to write another story to finish the one you’re working on Continuing with the point from above, if you are still extremely excited about your small work, use that enthusiasm to fuel your current story. Tell yourself, “I need to finish X story before I can write Y story.” You will write so much more and so much faster than you ever planned. You can also be proud that you finished something you originally planned to abandon.

Love your characters This may seem obvious, but writing is hard if you don’t even know or like your characters. Draw your characters together. Give them funky clothes or send them abroad. Even make an AU of your story in your head. If you can’t draw, find an avatar creator and give your characters a tangible image. The more you love your characters and give them personalities, the more eager you will be to write about those characters.

Take a break Be kind to yourself. You’re only human. If life is stressful and writing is more of a chore than it is fun, take a break. When you have more free time and are excited to write again, sit down, grab a pen, and find yourself happily immersed in a world you haven’t visited in a while. Good luck with your stories and be kind to yourself <3

Sam/Scanlan giving up his plan to use his ninth-level spell to save Vax.

Sam has some brainstorming for monsters

So I was rewatching Nott and Caleb’s conversation in e27 — the one where Nott talks about Molly’s impact on her and how much she loves the party. And there’s a couple of parts where she talks about her (and Caleb’s) life before the M9, how she was “in the darkness,” “hiding in the shadows and ducking into alleys to get away from people,” safe but “not really alive.” 

And it struck me, given recent revelations, that Nott probably is probably talking about her life before she became a goblin, too. 

Because yes, of course, Veth was happy with Yeza and Luke. But it’s clear that even in her happiness, she struggled with heavy self-esteem issues, heavy enough that when she became a goblin — after heroically saving her family — she saw her situation as a projection of her worst insecurities. Veth, as a halfling, was anxious (though maybe not so much as Nott); she suffered emotional scars from years of childhood, both from neighbours and her own family. Even before she became a goblin, Veth must have ducked into alleys to get away from people. She must have spent time hiding in shadows, out of breath, waiting for her bullies to stop chasing her. Maybe, when she was older, avoiding all the people who had bullied her as a kid.

And speaking as someone who was bullied as a kid and is still dealing with that as an adult: that shit, that anxiety and low self-esteem from being ridiculed as a kid, it really does feel like darkness. It does feel like you’re not really living. It’s really hard to live to your fullest potential, when you’re barely coping. And I think that, as happy as Veth was at the apothecary, with her family, that she was probably going through a fair bit of that. 

The situation that eventually led her to the M9 was horrible, of course, and it’s awful that she’s been separated from her family. But her experiences with the party — “having fun and winning contests and killing bad guys and rescuing children,” as she tells Caleb — are really good for her, in many ways. Veth ran from bullies, but Nott stands up to a blue dragon. Veth didn’t have many friends, but Nott has a whole new group of people whom she loves and would protect with her life, a group of people who rely on her and care for her. She’s a successful, brave hero, and sometimes, when she’s delivered the killing blow, she even feels that way. Something Veth never felt, probably could never imagine herself feeling. 

Nott’s newfound happiness with the M9 was touching before, but now, it’s even more touching knowing that she did have some happiness before, and this is still a new, wonderful experience, something she’d never have gotten back in Felderwin, something that may help to heal some of her childhood trauma. And I hope that she does get to settle back down with her family someday, but I think that if she does, she’ll be so much better for her adventures. 

“…and I reach in, and I grab the dodecahedron.”