That’s A Cute Foot Fetish You Got There, Would You Mind Keeping It 25796323689432 Feet Away From Me?

The worst thing about not being able to sleep is that sometimes, you get trapped in your own mind. Your brain conjures up plenty of thoughys, and images, and scenarios, and all you can do is just lay there and absorb. You can't really fight your own mind when you're that exhausted, and it sucks.

Sometimes I get neutral or happy things, like inspiration for shit or ideas for fics, the drive to clean my room.

Sometimes, I get the shit end of the stick. Sometimes I recall a bad memory, or I put myself down, or a little voice is telling me to give up on loop.

Right now, I just want to curl up in a ball and stop existing. My brain hurts and I haven't slept properly in weeks. I might have to talk to my doctor again about pills.

I hope you guys are having a good night though. Sweetest of dreams and happiest of thoughts for all of you~~~

Bad Pacing Advice

Anything that can go wrong, should go wrong. Right?

Not necessarily.

This is really common advice for when a plot feels flat or boring. And sometimes, it's really good advice. But sometimes, it the worst advice you could get. It really depends on why the plot is feeling flat.

A plot is made up of beats: events that have to happen in order to move the plot forward. Another way of saying this is, what things need to happen before the story's conflict can be resolved?

When a plot is falling flat, it generally has one of three problems. Either there aren't enough story beats, the story is moving too quickly from one beat to another, or the story is moving too slowly from one beat to another.

Making things go wrong is good advice if there aren't enough story beats. Too few beats means there might be too much space between beats where the story can sag and get boring. In other words, slow pacing. It can also make the conflict seem too easy to resolve, because story beats are often obstacles that need to be overcome before the story can satisfactorily end.

However, if your story is moving too quickly between beats, making things go wrong isn't always the right answer. It can work if you deliberately use a set-back to delay getting between two points that would otherwise be too close. But just making something go wrong for the sake of it will only add more beats to the story, it won't slow them down.

If your story is moving too slowly, making more stuff go wrong is about the worst thing you can do. At best it just makes your story longer. At worst, it adds new beats between your already existing beats, increasing the distance between them even more. It might seem counter intuitive but making things go wrong (killing a character, losing a fight, getting captured, friendship and relationship drama etc.) can actually slow your pacing down more.

I notice this issue a lot in epic fantasy stories. Maybe it's just me, but I find when things are constantly going wrong -- when the plot isn't getting any closer to being resolved because every time the characters try to take a step forward they end up worse off than before -- I get frustrated and bored. I just start thinking "here we go again. Get to the point!!"

Sometimes your characters need to succeed too. Good pacing isn't making your characters fail at every opportunity. It's knowing when to let them fail and when it's time to move forward.

AU where Sokka’s high-on-cactus-juice encounter with the giant mushroom takes a dark turn. (Also he has a gun)

based on this beautiful tumblr post

bonus:

take figures out of their boxes btw. sew patches on your favorite jacket. go to bed with your favorite plushes. wear the pants you usually save for special occasions. draw something cool on your wall. put a sticker on your laptop. dye your hair and pierce your lips. glass is meant to break, metal is meant to rust. items are meant to be used. that's how the world knows that somebody loved them.

the official zutara dissertation: conclusion

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 

This dissertation set out to prove that Zutara, rather than Kat.aang and Mai.ko, should have been the endgame ship of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It has discussed why Zuko and Katara would make a good couple within the text, how the narrative was setting them up for a relationship and why a Zutara endgame would have served the themes and messages of the show, as well as the arcs of all the characters involved, better than the canon relationships did.

Many have argued that Zutara is too complicated, too deep, too much for a kids’ show - that much of the subtext and narrative and analysis that really makes Zutara brilliant cannot be easily understood by children. But the reason that Avatar: The Last Airbender still stands the test of time today is because it did care about those very things, because it took difficult, complex issues and still managed to make them meaningful, nuanced and understandable. If ATLA could depict imperialism, colonialism, redemption, genocide and war, I see no reason why it could not have pulled off an enemies-to-lovers ship literally coded in the DNA of the show.

In conclusion, Zutara should have been canon because it would have fixed almost all of the narrative, thematic and character problems I have discussed over the course of this dissertation, and elevated the show to near perfection. The choice to deny Zutara of the ending they rightfully deserved is thus undoubtedly one of ATLA’s biggest flaws and its greatest loss. 

But as Dante Basco, Prince Zuko himself and captain of the Zutara ship, put it:  “Sometimes the feeling of what could have been is stronger than what actually happened, because the memory of perfection lasts longer.” 

Though Zuko and Katara’s story ends in tragedy, it is this very tragedy that still makes them so fascinating all of these years later ‐ because the final element of Zutara’s brilliance is the idea of what might have been, in what has been left solely to our imaginations. In the greatest of ironies, therefore, it was only by leaving the story of Zuko and Katara unfinished that it was able to become the beautiful tale it is today ‐ more powerful and compelling, perhaps, than it could ever have been in canon. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Araeph, 2017. Araeph’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. https://at.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/araephs-greatest-hits-vol-2/zfcozrmeby19

Certified Bi Fangirl Disaster, 2020. The Cave of Two Lovers foreshadows the Zutara interactions in the Crossroads of Destiny. https://at.tumblr.com/theotterpenguin/645662327005478912/p30gsur9gexe

DevilDogDemon et. al, 2021. The Effect of Kataang on Aang’s Character Arc. https://at.tumblr.com/burst-of-iridescent/devildogdemon-juldooz-atla-negromouthandafro/hs2r37t0uipp

FunFanFin, 2017. How Zutara Fulfills The Show’s Key Themes.  https://at.tumblr.com/funfanfin/dentist-open-up-me-wellokay-so-not-only-does/pnwuyp5pxxc4

Marsreds, 2017. It’s called the Cave of Two Lovers, not the Cave of Two “Treasured/Close/Platonic Friends”. https://at.tumblr.com/marsreds/its-called-the-cave-of-two-lovers-not-the-cave/njy7bj7qkoko

My Bated Breath, 2020. Wants vs Need - A Comparison Between Kataang, Taang, and Zutara. https://at.tumblr.com/my-bated-breath/wants-vs-need-a-comparison-between-kataang/vvhl7irrdk69

RoyalTeaLovingKookiness, 2019. The Romantic Framing of Zutara. https://at.tumblr.com/royaltealovingkookiness/i-think-the-anon-who-sent-the-zuko-lost-azula-in/rpfdg8oxfmfq

SneezyPeasy, 2021. Get in losers, we’re stanning Zutara. https://at.tumblr.com/sneezypeasy/get-in-losers-were-stanning-zutara/0x2mbtmsp3xu

SneezyPeasy, 2021. Why Aang’s Lines Sound Preachy in The Southern Raiders. https://at.tumblr.com/sneezypeasy/why-aangs-lines-sound-preachy-in-the-southern/q78urhuqp6lm

SunMoonTurtleDuck, 2021. Why Zuko Had To Take Azula’s Lightning for Katara. https://at.tumblr.com/theotterpenguin/its-true-zuko-would-have-taken-the-lightning-for/ki6rg04v45h2

TheMomentofDavyPrentiss, 2017. Why I Believe Katara Canonically Had Romantic Feelings for Zuko.  https://at.tumblr.com/themomentofdavyprentiss/why-i-believe-katara-canonically-had-romantic/m7a6x8a521n8

TheOtterPenguin, 2022. A Counter Argument to “Zuko Would Have Taken The Lightning for Anyone!” https://at.tumblr.com/theotterpenguin/why-is-zuko-would-have-taken-the-lightning-for/amyfkr6oaz45

But also some autistic people will never be able to function perfectly even with all of accommodations and cant communicate any thing to be listened to and they should still be respected and not call weird or burden

what a beautiful day to think of dante basco’s headcanon that zuko fell in love with katara but buried it for the sake of duty and mae whitman’s headcanon that katara fell in love with zuko but only realized it when it was too late 

It's almost 2 a.m. my time and I am so upset right now, I could have added this really cool scene I just thought of into my Kingsman fic!

Imagine Roxy just being her awesome self but she breaks character for a minute because someone brought a dog to the party and she just has to go and at least say hello, maybe pet it a bit, and Merlin can't even be mad because my man freaking LOVES dogs

I need to do a thing at some point, ugh

ao3 is not instagram, and it’s not embarrassing to comment on a story that’s old. we understand that you just happened to come across it now; writing is magical in that you often come across the right story at just the time you need to read it.

also, authors will literally cry over their keyboard if you comment on the stuff they write.

the butch/femme scene of 1990s san francisco by chloe sherman