Replayed The Sly Cooper Series Recently And I Missed These Two So Badly

How to Make the Ultimate Playlist for Your Novel 🎧✨

Writing a novel is all about vibes, and what better way to get in the zone than by crafting a playlist that captures every moment, every emotion, and every heart-flipping scene? Whether you’re in the middle of writing or just dreaming about your characters, having a playlist can seriously bring your story to life.

Figure Out the Mood of Your Novel 🎶

Every novel has an overall mood - you know, that feeling that sticks with you after reading a chapter. Is your book sweet and romantic, or is it packed with suspense and action? Maybe it’s nostalgic and bittersweet. Whatever the mood is, your playlist should reflect that.

Imagine if your book was a movie, what kind of songs would play during the opening scene? Is it more of a soft, acoustic vibe with someone staring out of a rainy window? Or is it blasting pop-punk as your characters road-trip down the highway?

Pro Tip, Pick a theme song for your novel. This is the one track that feels like it could be the heart of your book. Every time you hear it, you’ll be transported straight into your world. 🎧✨

Find Songs for Your Main Characters 💖

Let’s be real, every character deserves their own theme song. You know your characters better than anyone, what would their personal soundtrack be? Is your main character a hopeless romantic who blasts Taylor Swift on repeat? Or are they more of an, Billie Eilish (Ps:I Love Billie) kind of person? Find songs that capture their personality, their struggles, and their growth throughout the novel.

Character A (The Dreamer): Their playlist is full of soft, dreamy ballads like “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard. Character B (The Brooding Love Interest): They’d totally vibe with something like “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood

Match Songs to Key Scenes 🎬

Think about it, When your characters finally have that emotional, heart-wrenching argument, what song plays in the background of your mind? When they share their first kiss, is it something soft and sweet, or fiery and passionate? The right song can totally enhance the mood of your scenes, even if you’re just listening while you write.

Big Fight Scene? Go for something intense, like “Control” by Halsey.

The Breakup Scene? You can’t go wrong with a tear-jerker like “Drivers License” by Olivia Rodrigo.

Add Your Personal Favorites 🎧

This playlist is your baby, so don’t forget to throw in some of your personal faves. If a song speaks to you, even if it doesn’t seem to fit perfectly at first glance, add it anyway. Sometimes, the most random songs end up being the ones that make the most sense as you write. Plus, having your favorite songs on the playlist will keep you inspired and motivated to dive into your story.

Don’t feel pressured to make the “perfect” playlist from the start. It’s a process. You’ll probably discover new songs that fit your novel as you go, and that’s totally fine.

a gift for murray!

Here’s your intermittent reminder that Penelope the mouse

is introduced as explicitly a better RC specialist than Bentley

a top-tier engineer and mechanic

so good at dogfighting than when she became a combat pilot “at a young age” she was instantly elevated to celebrity status

very convincing at pretending to be a different age and gender???

apparently wasn’t lying about being a trained boxer

can hack pretty good

easily matches and contends with Bentley’s intellect and could, therefore, plan heists pretty good

just fuckin picked up a sword and used it to murder a guy who had dedicated his life to being an old-timey pirate captain, and, by extension, swordfighting.

Penelope could kick the ass of the collective Cooper Gang at any point and the only reason she doesn’t is to be polite

important Pride content

How does the gang (and Carmelita) play Among Us?

Sly as Crewmate: Possibly the worst Crewmate, as he gets distracted and, weirdly enough, doesn’t understand the maps. Will lie about his location or describe it badly on purpose just so he gets yeeted out the air vent and can fly around as a ghost the rest of the time. Only once Sly is a ghost will he ACTUALLY do his tasks with any seriousness.

Sly as Imposter: Knows every vent location on every map and the best way to get from place to place through the vent systems. Sabotages a lot and waits at electrical for people to come fix it, then vents out and waits for body report. The fact that he plays dumb on Crewmate usually gets him off the hook for Imposter. Unless someone is really suss on him, you want Sly as your fellow Imposter.

Bentley as Crewmate: Best Crewmate. Seriously. Has lightning fast reflexes for every task, and will actually take the time to teach you if you’re new. He is, however, extremely bossy during emergency meetings, and is immediately suss on everyone who isn’t new. If you don’t have a good alibi, you’re getting yeeted. He also usually calls Emergency Meetings with the button to tell everyone who the Imposters are. If he thinks he got one Imposter and the other is going to kill him, he tells everyone who he thinks is the most suss, and he’s usually right.

Bentley as Imposter: Has a different strategy for every map and knows how to hide bodies. He knows what to look out for and rarely vents. If his fellow Imposter is REALLY good, he’ll sit back and watch the fireworks. His favorite thing to do is not kill anyone and let people throw suspicions around. However, he’s not a good ally, and will IMMEDIATELY sacrifice fellow Imposters if others are suss on them.

Murray as Crewmate: Murray is a bit clumsy at the game in general, but he tries his best to complete tasks. He’ll often vote with the group and is usually sussed on because he’s usually staring at his map. Literally the worst at spotting bodies.

Murray as Imposter: His favorite thing to do is hide in vents and then pop out to kill someone before diving back into the vent. Doesn’t self-report because he knows it looks bad, since he never finds bodies. He excels at double kills with other Imposters because he’s good at reading the in-game “body language.”

Carmelita as Crewmate: Like the detective she is, she is always suss on everyone, and is a new player’s worst nightmare. She has the visual distance of Crewmates and Imposters memorized, and prefers to play with a faster discussion and voting time. She’s usually pretty good at figuring out the Imposters, and typically leads the vote.

Carmelita as Imposter: She knows the game well and uses this to her advantage. She knows how to fake tasks, and will usually follow her fellow Imposter around, either to make a double kill, or to wait until they kill, then report. She also usually self-reports, though if she plans to do this, she makes sure she has a half-decent alibi and is seen as “safe” by other players. However, she dislikes being the only Imposter, as this is when she makes the most mistakes.

Thieves In Time Redux Meme #4

Here's Episode 4 in a nutshell...

And the best part? She does it all without any of the other heroes figuring out she was behind the Black Knight's creation.

And everyone ends up absolutely adoring her. Especially Bentley. He's gonna be so proud of her... The reason? She started this adventure not even wanting to go. To see her going this hard is damn impressive.

Writing this episode is going to be so much fun...

For extra fun, imagine this playing during the second phase of Raleigh's boss fight.

And this for the second phase against Robo-Penelope.

Platonic Relationship Meme: Murray and Penelope

I saw this “Platonic Relationship Meme“ on Tumblr. And I decided to try it with Murray and Penelope. I have plans to try this with other BFF pairs. So feel free to toss out suggestions (fyi, I only plan to tackle characters I’m already familiar with). Thanks to sonicsora  for the great idea!

sometimes you need dialogue tags and don't want to use the same four

Fun afternoon sketch of Penelope from Sly Cooper for @Lionalliance0!

Thieves In Time Redux: Full Story Preview

I thought I'd repost one of my full story previews from DeviantArt. A few months back, I posted this there. It's set during Episode 0, during Sly's portion of the tutorial in Chapter 2. We open just after Sly's little accident crossing over to the museum building...

It wasn't too long before Sly happened upon a small rat guard with a gas mask. Somehow he looked familiar upon a close inspection… Sly brushed it off and picked his pocket before taking him out. "Nah… It couldn't be." Just a coincidence, right? He didn't dare tell Bentley. What would he think?

Almost immediately afterwards, Sly started hearing voices coming from inside the museum. He could hardly make out what they were saying, but he did see shadows in the window. Among the figures he spotted was a strangely familiar… skunk? He didn't bother staying long enough to hear what they were talking about. There was a job that still needed completing.

Sly almost swore he could have heard a squeak coming from Bentley's end of the line, followed by a splash. "Something happen in there, you two?"

This time, it was Penelope, the mouse, talking. "No need to worry about us, Sly. We're fine! Just a literal rat!"

A smile escaped from Sly, followed by a small chuckle… "First-timers are the best, aren't they?" He pressed onward, happy to have someone other than just Bentley and Murray on the main roster for a change. He fondly remembered Bentley and Murray's first time way back in Cairo… Those two had come so far since those humble beginnings…

But whenever he recalled that memory, he couldn't help but remember Neyla, the traitorous Interpol officer/Klaww Gang member… Things were different now. She was purged from this world. Surely he'd never meet anyone like her again, right?

As it happened, Penelope had never been on a full scale adventure like this before. Not from the very beginning, at least. Her experience level easily dwarfed everyone else's. Not that it was her fault. Sly had the gall to retire before she could gain any real experience as a full time member.

He started to regret that decision as he kept going… How could he do that to someone he recently hired? Still, Sly looked forward to seeing what Penelope could do beyond what she had initially been hired for. Better later than never, he thought.