So I Go To Animation School Now

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WORDS TO USE INSTEAD OF: CRY / CRIED / CRYING

Do you ever find yourself over-using the word “cry” (or “cried” or “crying”) in your writing? Try using these words instead:

sob / sobbed / sobbing

wail / wailed / wailing

weep / wept / weeping

bawl / bawled / bawling

whimper / whimpered / whimpering

howl / howled / howling

blubber / blubbered / blubbering

snivel / sniveled / sniveling

squall / squalled / squalling

yelp / yelped / yelping

whine / whined / whining

shed tears / shed tears / shedding tears

burst into tears / burst into tears / bursting into tears

tear up / teared up / tearing up

choke up / choked up / choking up

well up / welled up / welling up

break down / broke down / breaking down

let it out / let it out / letting it out

turn on the waterworks / turned on the waterworks / turning on the waterworks

open the floodgates / opened the floodgates / opening the floodgates

Since this rant is gonna veer into a total different series it needs it's own post @k1201a.

The Shen Jiu arguments just plain out baffle me when they try to call Shen Qingqui/Yuan a self-insert for the audience and less interesting. Makes me just think they have never read the REALLY bad transmigration-reincarnation novels out there. Shen Yuan was reincarnated into the tragic life taped on cardboard out of karma and he said screw that because Shen Jiu really was for all intents and purposes hated by everyone but Yue Qingyuan.

Once he is, I dunno, REINCARNATED he is Shen Qingqui and embraces that on his terms because he ain't about to go back to living in his old life ever and doesn't want Shen Jiu's dumb choices.

He also draws the line of what he thought of Shen Jiu even in regards to Yue Qingyuan and made him put their old life at peace with the old Shen Jiu and the present Shen Qingqui. Since they chose different paths as the same person.

As if testing it out, Yue Qingyuan let out a, “Xiao Jiu…”

Shen Qingqiu: “Shixiong, it’s Qingqiu.”

Even though it was hard to explain the truth to Yue Qingyuan, Shen Qingqiu still hoped that he could show him the difference as much as possible.

Yue Qingyuan gave a start before he smiled weakly. “… It’s Qingqiu. Qingqiu-shidi.”

Ever since Shen Qingqiu entered the role of a character in the novel, he had always refused to become that scum villain from the original work. He had drawn a clear boundary and was proud of doing the complete opposite. There had never been a moment where he had as intense and impulsive a thought as he did now.

If he really were Shen Jiu, then everything would be fine.

If that person could really hear what Yue Qingyuan just said also, then everything would be fine.

It is just so frustrating with the western portion of MXTX novel fans making the most simple antagonists deeper than they are compared to the main characters because they don't understand what actual literary irony is. These books are not big brain energy and yet they still manage to have such wild takes.

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How to Kick a Reader in the Gut

Disrupt the reader’s sense of justice. 

This generally means setting a character up to deserve one thing and then giving them the exact opposite. 

Kill a character off before they can achieve their goal. 

Let the bad guy get an extremely important win. 

Set up a coup against a tyrannical king. The coup fails miserably.

Don’t always give characters closure. 

(Excluding the end of the book, obviously)

A beloved friend dies in battle and there’s no time to mourn him.

A random tryst between two main characters is not (or cannot be) brought up again.

A character suddenly loses their job or can otherwise no longer keep up their old routine

Make it the main character’s fault sometimes. 

And not in an “imposter syndrome” way. Make your MC do something bad, and make the blame they shoulder for it heavy and tangible.

MC must choose the lesser of two evils.

MC kills someone they believe to be a bad guy, only to later discover the bad guy was a different person altogether.

Rejection is a powerful tool. 

People generally want to be understood, and if you can make a character think they are Known, and then rip that away from them with a rejection (romantic or platonic) people will empathize with it.

MC is finally accepting the Thing They Must Do/Become, and their love interest decides that that’s not a path they want to be on and breaks up with them

MC makes a decision they believe is right, everyone around them thinks they chose wrong.

MC finds kinship with someone Like Them, at long last, but that person later discovers that there is some inherent aspect of MC that they wholly reject. (Perhaps it was MC’s fault that their family member died, they have important religious differences, or WERE THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG!)

On the flipside, make your main character keep going. 

Push them beyond what they are capable of, and then push them farther. Make them want something so deeply that they are willing to do literally anything to get it. Give them passion and drive and grit and more of that than they have fear.

“But what if my MC is quiet and meek?” Even better. They want something so deeply that every single moment they push themselves toward it is a moment spent outside their comfort zone. What must that do to a person?

Obviously, don’t do all of these things, or the story can begin to feel tedious or overly dramatic, and make sure that every decision you make is informed by your plot first and foremost. 

Also remember that the things that make us sad, angry, or otherwise emotional as readers are the same things that make us feel that way in our day-to-day lives. Creating an empathetic main character is the foundation for all of the above tips.

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I've gotten more fond of svsss after @fatalism-and-villainy read it and liveblogged it to me, and I've been thinking so much about what it says about villains, and people's environments affecting what they do, and also/especially fandom and fandom interpretations of villains. obviously societal factors on behavior and how social pressures form villains is a theme through all mxtx novels, but it's really obvious in the contrast between alt universe versions of people!

shen yuan and shen jiu are the most obvious example of this. It's so clear why Shen Qingqiu was the role chosen for Shen Yuan! He's grumpy, demands perfection from himself and others, has a very sharp tongue, is very Intellectual, and has the type of mind to want to write bestiaries and focus on scholarship. He has an enormous wealth of knowledge about xianxia tropes in general and PIDW worldbuilding in particular. ALL of those are Shen Qingqiu traits! He just doesn't envy children who have good childhoods, and therefore doesn't Do Child Abuse.

Originally, he dismisses Shen Qingqiu Original Version as a one dimensional, irredeemable "scum villain." Shen Jiu's backstory doesn't show up in the original work, and Shen Yuan dismisses it as irrelevant.

And this is a mistake. Not only does Shen Jiu's backstory explain why he's the way he is, it continues to affect his life and by extension the life of any Shen Qingqius. Understanding his past and feelings are ESSENTIAL for Shen Qingqiu v2 to keep himself alive! He struggles with interacting with the remnants of the Qiu family, SQQ's past as a slave, and is distressed by the memories he's shown of child SQQ being raped and abused. He needs to know these things, and he needs to have sympathy for the original occupant of his body!

It's not that Shen Yuan seemed to have a good life -- he was a hikikomori, "waiting around to die" -- but the circumstances of his life took his base characteristics that he shares with SQQ and molded him into a totally different person.

It's also visible with LBH1 and LBH2. Original Luo Binghe is not a good person! He responds to his traumatic early life by conquering the world, forming a harem of hundreds of women he doesn't care about, and eventually dies unfulfilled, unloved, and unhappy. SVSSS Luo Binghe has problems for sure -- definitely traumatized! so many mood swings! -- but his positive experiences with Shen Qingqiu v2 were just enough to make him a good person. "People improve when they receive external love and support!"

Kind of obsessed with the tumblr Twitter account

I had to draw this text post by @hozukitofu because I absolutely love the idea of the Jin sibs bonding… JZX gets new friends! JGY gets some people who sympathise with his tragic backstory and don’t treat him like shit (hopefully curbing his murdery tendencies)! Qin Su doesn’t get trapped in an accidental incest marriage! and MX gets a new family who treat him better than the horrible Mo clan :.) honestly, it’s what they all deserve.