Liushen Week Day 3 Prompt: AU

BATMAN & ROBIN.

Draco being the dramatic bitch we all know he is

and Pansy tired of having to deal with it

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Character Development : A Collection of Resources

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress

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Resources

Resources For Creating Characters

Resources For Describing Characters

Resources For Writing The Mafia

Resources For Writing Royalty

Commentary on Social Issues In Writing

General Tips

Guide to Character Development

How To Fit Character Development Into Your Story

Tips on Character Consistency

Designing A Character From Scratch

Making characters for your world

Characters First, Story Second Method

Understanding Your Character

Tips on Character Motivations

31 Days of Character Development : May 2018 Writing Challenge

How To Analyze A Character

Alternative Method of Character Creation

Connecting To Your Own Characters

Interview As Your Characters

Flipping Character Traits On Their Head 

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Traits

Tips On Writing About Mental Illness

Giving Your Protagonists Negative Traits

Giving Characters Distinct Voices in Dialogue

Giving Characters Flaws

Making Characters More Unique

Keeping Characters Realistic

Archetypes

Writing Good Villains

Creating Villains

Guide to Writing The Hero

Positive Character Development Without Romanticizing Toxic Behavior

Tips on Writing Cold & Distant Characters

Balancing Multiple Main Characters

Creating Diverse Otherworld Characters

Foreshadowing The Villain

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Masterlist | WIP Blog

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“but what if my friend gets offended and hates me and refuses to speak to me after i set a boundary” easy peasy! that is not your friend. hope this helps

How would zyx have handled being born in the canon sects?

my brain is mush, but let’s give this a shot. in no particular order...

Yunmeng Jiang: 

Comes over as part of the Meishan Yu side courtesy of Madame Yu, as Yu Lin 虞琳 (no courtesy name, same lin character as in DBD). 

Freaks out when she Realizes some realizations.

And then it’s down to business because she fucking lives here now, it’s her fucking house and it’s going to fucking catch fire.

Due to precociousness and competence from of being Done since birth, she’s trained as the successor of Jinzhu/Yinzhu for JC. 

Pre-WWX arrival, she sticks to teaching/providing emotional and mental support to the Jiang sibs so they don’t end up so screwed by their parents.

(Secretly works with JYL to help her cultivation bc fuck that noise.)

Once WWX arrives, she ends up tag-teaming with JYL to keep the peace. WWX ends up treating her like Shijie #2 - especially when he starts to cultivate and notices that she knows a lot more than she lets on.

WWX: “Lin-jiejie! Play with Xianxian!” JC: “Wei Wuxian, have you no shame? Even our shimei is more well-behaved than you!” WWX: “Our... what?”

(Still younger than everyone, but she never says anything. Conceal don’t feel.)

Overall: more emotionally stable and patient, Exhausted(TM), and much more reserved. Can’t wait to fuck off somewhere.

If the Golden Core transfer thing is going to happen, it’s not going on her watch - she’d knock WWX out, let JC take her GC instead, and then finds a nice quiet mountain to retire onto. Immortality didn’t mean much to someone that has died before. Also, the math then works out. Everything should be okay. Right?

(Obviously, no. But we’ll leave it at that.)

Lanling Jin:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Lanling Jin is... ugh. Name: Jin Zi’ai/ 金子藹 (zi as the generational character, ai for affable/luxuriant)

IDK if you know those dinner parties with your relatives when you are done with their shit by hour 2... but it’s like that 24/7. She awaits the day she’s powerful and influential enough to go feral.

The resources available to her are awful. She’s a close enough cousin that she has to see JGS’s shit all day. Deal with Jin Zixun all day. But for the sake of survival and agency, she grits her teeth and ingratiates herself with Madame Jin to get close to Jin Zixuan and get access to better cultivation education and resources.

Mme Jin cuts her a deal - if she can be useful to her son and the heir of Lanling Jin, she’ll help out on the side.

At first, JZA (god that’s so weird to see a vowel in an MXTX name abbr) is planning to just use JZX and get the fuck out.

And then his awkwardness makes her care. Damn it.

Plan: Get her uncle pushed down the stairs Actively set up JZX to take over Lanling Jin by Year 5 post-Sunshot Campaign.

Reluctantly ends up taking MY/JGY under her wing once she remembers the Qin Su situation. Ticks another year off of JGS’s life.

Best fucking friends with LQY.

(Plans go to shit once she meets people outside of LLJ. Recalibrating...)

(Due to a bad JZX/JYL encounter, WWX makes an exception and she’s the only girl he hates. “Just as insufferable, if not more, than that Peacock.”)

Qinghe Nie:

It’s fucking cold. She complains about humid heat, but she also bitches about cold and snow. All weather sucks.

QHN is probably the only sect that lets her get away with as much as she does in Shuangfeng. Goes gender-neutral again.

Name: Nie Yunxun. Done.

‘Don’t yell bankai, don’t yell bankai -’ as NYX is training with a humongous sabre. Big sword is encouraged. Give an inch, take a mile.

Da-ge energy pulls them in like a black hole. “Damn it, now I fucking care.” None of this Song of Turmoil Shit on their watch.

(”Da-ge,” because NHS latched onto them and NMJ allowed it, “Not everything is so black and white.” Tries their best to slowly make him chill the fuck out.)

Pretty prim and proper despite a foul mouth - slated to take over for Nie Zonghui when it comes time for the new generation.

Refuses to believe that eating dirt is the only future for sabre-wielders. Convinces NHS to trust and confide in them once he figures out what they’re trying to research and test.

(NHS latching on - 1) he catches NYX punning a subtle insult on LLJ during a discussion conference, 2) while escorting NHS to watch a play, he then catches them making the bitterest commentary on the not-so-great plot, and 3) on the days that he really can’t confront the fact that his Da-ge is going to cultivate to his own death, they will lie to NMJ’s face with no shame and let him hide.)

Uses QHN reputation to their advantage to play stupid and guileless. “A pretty, dumb brute.”

In public, NYX is essentially NHS’s long-suffering henchman.

In private, NYX and NHS are the Shady Duo, scheming tirelessly to... make the Cultivation Realm better, of course :) (better for some, not for others.)

Gusu Lan:

This feels worse than LLJ.

Lan Wenhui 藍文慧, wen for literary, and hui for intelligence.

CR is fine to visit, but awful to grow up in.

Grows up like a grumpy version of Lan Jingyi, because she knows that things aren’t going to be okay and there’s nothing she can do about it from her position.

Acts out a lot (like pre-ZYF death little Lin-lin). Sometimes accidentally, sometime purposefully. Living the CR feels like perpetually having an itch that she’s not allowed to scratch.

In trying to ‘tame the little beast’, LQR discovers two methods: 1) stump her with challenging/stimulating work, or 2) make LWJ ‘babysit’ her.

(Never mind telling an eight-year-old to watch a seven-year-old - but it’s the Chinese way to outsource your older kids to watch younger kids)

LWH can’t bring herself to be mean to LWJ. Thus LWJ gains a reluctant cousin-friend, and a buff to his social interaction skills.

LXC dotes on her so unabashedly that she effectively goes speechless for the whole day out of embarrassment.

Thus LQR discovers method #3 to nerf the Little Devil of the Cloud Recesses, and is so proud of himself and his nephews.

(WWX kicks him off his laurels when he arrives.)

Endgame: post-SSC (since she’s not in a position to change much without being scrutinized), seeing the 3Zun’s essentially make an alliance sans YMJ (+ JYL being betrothed to JZX), JGS basically is the most influential leader of the cultivation world.

Fuck no.

She orchestrates a ruse, if you will. ‘Accidentally’ lets JC pull her ribbon and doesn’t object. When questioned, lies and says that ‘he was her first love since catching a glimpse during the Cloud Recesses.’ (Complete with inflectionless voice)

“well shit, there’s nothing really objectionable about this match... so... congrats on your upcoming nuptials?”

Actually using that time to 1) go back and forth between YMJ with a semi-legit reason to interact and collude with the Yunmeng sibs and warn them of the upcoming BS, 2) delay the JZX/JYL wedding, 3) give LWJ time with WWX and hopefully they both get their heads out of their asses.

Shenanigans, fake dating/betrothal-turned-real? idk.

Qishan Wen:

The worst. Worstest. 

Two options:

Option one, side-side-side branch Wen

She’s fucking off.

Learning some cultivation/stealing some manuals, do a little spying and map-making, and deserting. 

Drops some secret missives for the other main sects, when the information becomes more relevant. 

Due diligence done, fucks off to some coastal town as their standoffish, neighborhood Cultivator. 

Micromanages the town and its well-being with the tenacity of playing a city builder/animal crossing in her previous life. 

Grow old. 

Die.

Option two, Wen Qing/Wen Ning’s family, the middle child. Wen Ling 溫玲, ling for exquisite.

She’s close enough to be in WRH’s purview but not in his main family. Whew.

Tries to convince older sister WQ to turn traitor and dip. 

Almost causes catastrophic end for their family bc of premature planning. 

She can’t play the same espionage game as WQ or MY/JGY does with WRH because she knows there’s no recovering from being publicly seen supporting WRH post-SSC. So she just works as a mainline fighter bc at least she’ll be able to defend herself and feel ‘useful’.

Fakes death and deserts mid-SSC. 

If lucky, lives and reluctantly infiltrates LLJ to be in the position to rescue her family after the war.

If she’s not... WWX kills her while she’s on the battlefield. She sees him and picks that moment to fake her death.

In this case, WWX catches her in the act, kills her but she calls out for WQ.

WQ learns about her death. WN is the one to tell WWX about the relation.

Tries to revive her as ‘owing one’ to the Wen sibs, looks for her corpse, encounters LWJ, gets his help to catch her soul with inquiry.

(Prime LWJ vinegar-drinking as he makes up his own reasons for why Wen Yuan exists and why WWX is taking care of him).

Ends up possessing WN on accident when WangXian returns to the Burial Mounds, able to help avert the Qiongqi Path incident.

Grimy spytime shenanigans to fight back against LLJ and surviving, and ends up passing on once things settle.

There’s only happiness here <3333

Studying in Undergrad

I started University in September of 2014. I was in the faculty of sciences and was undeclared because I knew I was not smart enough to get a high paying job doing research. Thankfully whether I was declared or undeclared it didn’t matter. First year sciences is the same for everyone.

This was how I studied for the first 2 years of uni.

1.) Study in a Comfortable Location

Most people find libraries to be a good place to study, however I do urge you to try unconventional places. For example inside a car or laundromats. The place that is chosen does not have to be aesthetically pleasing as long it works to keep you comfortable and focused. You might be pleasantly surprised where you find you concentrate the best.

The place I am most comfortable studying is in the living room while my family was watching TV. I got yelled at all the time to study elsewhere, but it was the living room that I found the most comfortable and where I concentrated the best.

2.) Set Deadlines

Most people know how to set deadlines or so they think. It’s important to know when everything is due and keep that in mind at all times to have a certain level of baseline tension (If that makes any sense). Most people don’t like to get stressed on a daily base, but it’s better to have a low level of daily stress than a high level of stress for a few days. 

I am a very anxious person, so once I know something is due I will do/start it that day even if the due date is 2 months away. I understand that this was very extreme and requires a lot of discipline, but this will prevent or lower the chances of part 3 from happening.

3.) Have Breakdowns (When due)

It’s normal to be overwhelmed by all the deadlines that are coming up, the bad grades, the uncertainty and everything that comes with being a student. It’s okay to be stressed to the point to having a breakdown, as long as you can recover. 

How I prepared for the impending feeling of doom was to have a good cry session. Set a time limit and only breakdown during specific circumstances. This is a good way to release all the negative emotions that has built up. 

4.) Study Hard

I’m not a naturally smart person, so there is no such thing as “studying smart.” I got through the first 2 years of undergrad by studying hard. This requires a lot of work and sacrifices. It’s not fun nor is it pretty. 

Being a full time student requires dedication, motivation and perseverance. Studying and getting good grades is one aspect of getting an education, however it is not the main. It’s important to study hard for the end goal of how you want your life to go.

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”

- Sir Winston Churchill

10 Prompts to Make Your Story More Exciting:

Set someone on fire. Twice.

Pause a chase sequence for a karaoke competition. Make the song choice key to the climax.

Give the villain a parrot whose mocking repetition undermines them at the most inconvenient moments. 

Add a dragon. 

Set your romantic confession scene on a fast-moving vehicle.

Make readers think a beloved character dies, only to reveal them alive and ready for action later. You get all of the angst and none of the hate mail!

Make the power go out at the worst time.

Snow your heroes in with the villain. Do they kill each other or break out monopoly? 

Force your characters to act as other characters (disguises, body swapping, go wild with this one).

Add another dragon.

I fucking hate texas I hate that abortions are more restricted than the guns that cause preventable mass shootings at schools and churches and Walmart and and and and it just goes on like this… it’s “protect the children” “what about the children” until the children are murdered in their elementary school and then it all “thoughts and prayers” “there’s nothing we can do” “don’t bring up gun control now it’s disrespectful to the victims” but I bet all 14 children and that 1 teacher would still be alive if we had any sort of gun laws

too tired to make a post with real words so here's a meme