Tbh I Think The Funniest Phenomena That's Been Happening In The Last Couple Years Is "youtuber, Having

I love fanfic writers. Never change.

He wants Alastor's attention (audio by: @Vindooly on yt)

Joining a small fandom for the first time is like getting hit with a brick. How do people do it 😭😭

This high school drumline’s incredible performance included only drumstick

Pro Tip: The Way You End a Sentence Matters

Here is a quick and dirty writing tip that will strengthen your writing.

In English, the word at the end of a sentence carries more weight or emphasis than the rest of the sentence. You can use that to your advantage in modifying tone.

Consider:

In the end, what you said didn't matter.

It didn't matter what you said in the end.

In the end, it didn't matter what you said.

Do you pick up the subtle differences in meaning between these three sentences?

The first one feels a little angry, doesn't it? And the third one feels a little softer? There's a gulf of meaning between "what you said didn't matter" (it's not important!) and "it didn't matter what you said" (the end result would've never changed).

Let's try it again:

When her mother died, she couldn't even cry.

She couldn't even cry when her mother died.

That first example seems to kind of side with her, right? Whereas the second example seems to hold a little bit of judgment or accusation? The first phrase kind of seems to suggest that she was so sad she couldn't cry, whereas the second kind of seems to suggest that she's not sad and that's the problem.

The effect is super subtle and very hard to put into words, but you'll feel it when you're reading something. Changing up the order of your sentences to shift the focus can have a huge effect on tone even when the exact same words are used.

In linguistics, this is referred to as "end focus," and it's a nightmare for ESL students because it's so subtle and hard to explain. But a lot goes into it, and it's a tool worth keeping in your pocket if you're a creative writer or someone otherwise trying to create a specific effect with your words :)

One common Undertale misconception that really frustrates me is when Sans is portrayed with a strong innate sense for RESETs and alternative timelines. Like, that he remembers the RESET timelines better than the other characters who only have occasional feelings of deja vu or even that he can sense when a timeline is RESET.

And that’s, like, almost the opposite of the actual text of the game. While pretty much every main character can have slightly-different dialogue in a Not-True-RESET, especially if the Player had previously befriended them, based on the idea that they have lingering memories/feelings from before the RESET - 

Sans has no real dialogue changes based on this conceit. All of his changes are based around noticing Frisk has different reactions based on their memories of the precious timelines. 

Other characters do also make observations like that about Frisk, like Mettaton and Toriel. But Sans is distinctive because this is the only way his comments change between RESETs and there are a lot of them from him.

Because that is what really frustrates me about this misconception. People mention it as one more thing that makes Sans cool - but the actual truth is far more badass. Sans is one of the people in the Underground who remembers RESETs the least. I think memory-resistance to RESETs is probably tied to Determination. Flowey, the second-most Determined person in the Underground after Frisk, can remember everything perfectly.

Everyone else has some vague feelings and deja vus. And Sans, he’s the least motivated person in the Underground - both in the sense he’s lazy and in the sense he’s fucking depressed.

That probably means he has very little Determination. Thus, he doesn’t remember anything that happens between RESETs.

And yet, he is still the character most aware of them. Because he has the technological know-how to read and analyze timelines.

And because he has the observation and analytical skill to notice a RESET from other people’s reactions and behavior. Whatever it’s Papyrus thinking he recognizes someone or Frisk’s behavior implying that they know something they shouldn’t have. Sans main RESET-related skill is just being able to identify these moments and come to the correct conclusion about them. And with that he manages to be the most aware character in the entire Underground.

Like, the one point where it might seem like Sans remembers something from a previous Timeline is the Fake Spare scene during his boss battle. 

But it’s all pretend. Unlike the previous lines from other characters that I mentioned, this dialogue plays even if the Murder Route is the first time the player touched the game. Sans isn’t remembering anything in this scene. But he makes an educated guess that the Immoral Time God probably tried using their powers for good at first, so they were likely ‘friends’ in a previous timeline. And in most cases, his guess is right on the money - tricking many players into thinking this is another case of the game actually reacting to their past actions.

And as always, Sans can only tell if his lil’ trick worked or not based on the expression of the Player Character.

Arguably, Sans even uses his lack of Determination and cross-RESET memory to his advantage in his boss battle. After all, the whole point of this fight isn’t to kill the Player - Sans understands this is impossible. This is a war of attrition, trying to get the Player so frustrated and annoyed with the unfair fight that they just ragequit or RESET the Timeline. And this war of the Player’s patience versus Sans’ stamina and will is infinitely easier for him when he doesn’t actually perceive all the Player’s previous attempts against him.

Like, for the Player this might be the billion time they go up against him, they’re aware of some of his patterns and tricks now but they’re probably also frustrated and angry and exhausted. Meanwhile, from Sans’ POV, this is still the first time this is happening. He knows it’s not from the Player’s behavior and Frisk’s expression - but he doesn’t feel it like the Player does. 

He doesn’t feel the frustration and repetition of the endless stalemate. So he’s always as fresh as a daisy no matter how rugged the Player is getting.

And that’s part of why Sans is so cool in the first place, like, in general. He’s technically the weakest person in the Underground, lacking in every standard evaluation of power in the setting - no ATK, no DEF, no HP, no DETERMINATION. But he’s darn clever enough to overcome these weaknesses and even use them in ways that make them into strengths, enough to be one of the most dangerous and most aware guys in this whole setting.

Sans can’t remember anything, and that makes him awesome.

saiki kusuo/hp crossover where saiki is reincarnated as harry potter with all his memories intact, and the “power the Dark Lord knows not” is just saiki’s ungodly arsenal of psychic powers. 

points: 

the dursleys are the worst kind of bullshit saiki has ever seen, and saiki either a) puts an end to it within the first few days, or b) just straight up leaves, no one finds him until he’s twelve and it’s time for him to attend hogwarts 

“you have been accepted into the hogwarts school of w–” [saiki incinerates the letter in his hand and goes back to reading his book] 

saiki’s greatest ambition in life is to live a perfectly normal, unassuming, peaceful, boring life. an ambition so great it immediately lands him in slytherin. 

saiki finds himself saddled with every awful “chosen one” trope that has ever graced the earth. he thought being the protagonist of a gag manga was bad but this is worse

this is so much worse, he can’t even play along with the narrative anymore. he is going to turn this into a comedy if it kills him

saiki surreptitiously solving the problems of everyone around him. finding neville’s toad. making sure people’s potions don’t explode. dragging draco malfoy’s broom back down to earth when he tries to show off during the first broom riding class. saiki is not going to tolerate any bullshit and he most certainly is not going to tolerate anyone trying to go into the third floor corridor

and you know what, since quirrell and voldemort are apparently sharing a body (which – how, actually, it’s so disgusting he doesn’t want to know–) he might as well take care of the problem within the first week of school 

voldemort shows up again second year. WHAT THE FUCVK

all of his dorm mates are intolerable, and saiki very quickly figures out a system where he will pretend to go to sleep in his dorm, but then he just teleports to an unused hufflepuff dorm and enjoys himself greatly on his own. a triumph. a triumph slightly ruined by the house elves knowing he’s there, but a triumph nonetheless. 

“but it’s impossible to apparate within the hogwarts castle!!” saiki stares hermione dead in the eye and then teleports anyways 

saiki is very carefully mediocre in every single one of his classes in an attempt to kill any notoriety that comes along with the name “harry potter.” except potions class, because snape always gives him a far worse grade than he deserves and saiki is a mean and spiteful soul. saiki makes a point to be the best god damn potions student that snape has ever had

fred & george weasley catch saiki doing something ridiculous with his powers, and they’ve been bothering saiki ever since. saiki is full of regret 

fourth yr: saiki stays far far far away from the triwizard tournament. he is perfectly happy when cedric is elected, and claps enthusiastically. the goblet of fire turns blue. it spits out his name. saiki is so furious the goblet of fire cracks in half 

but the most important part of this au is 

saiki with a wand 

he doesn’t even need a wand he’s just pretending to use it 

someone: augh, this levitating charm is so difficult! how does anyone do it?! saiki: 

this au is 9x better if you imagine that saiki doesn’t even have magic powers – he just has psychic powers, and he’s very good at pretending he has magic. except transfiguration, everyone thinks he’s a bad student cause he has never done a transfiguration spell in his life – but hermione is convinced he’s some kind of secret genius at wandless magic because she caught him levitating a book to himself in the library once. saiki has deliberately failed every magic task appointed to him in front of her since. hermione is convinced saiki is spiting is spiting her specifically by not doing well in class. she’s right 

EVEN MORE HILARIOUS TO CONSIDER: saiki doesn’t even bother pretending he has magic, he just shows up to hogwarts and never says anything and never talks to anyone else, he turns in impeccable classwork and homework, but he never performs a single spell because he doesn’t see the point. it gets to the point where the teachers are genuinely worried he might be…. perhaps… a squib? is he a squib? 

saiki figures it would be really troublesome to let this go on any longer, but he is also extremely against saying anything out loud ever, and he is also extremely against showing any wordless or wandless magic because who knows what kind of attention he’ll get then 

cue incident in class where a student’s spell goes wrong, badly, and everything is in chaos, and saiki is so tired he decides, fuck it, he does not want to deal with this today, and he uses his psychokinesis to forcibly subdue everything that is going wrong. he’s in the corner of the classroom, so he thinks he’s safe & no one will notice – but nope. professor flitwick noticed. professor flitwick is staring at him with starry eyes. god damn it 

saiki briefly considers erasing flitwick’s memory of the event, but, well, if flitwick tells the other teachers about what he saw then no one will wonder if saiki is a squib anymore. probably. 

but you know what would be great? if everyone thought saiki was a squib and he got fucking chosen by the goblet of fire. everyone riots 

there are so many good things that could happen when you combine saiki’s deadpan self + sheer OP ability with the entire ridiculous hp universe and i love it

Im literally sobbing I found a list I made describing the keys from Locke and key (tv version) as I was watching the series when it first came out bc I think I wanted to write fanfiction so I made it to keep track of all the keys?? But the way I described them was so weird and also inaccurate for several (tbf some details u don't find out until later in the season and I hadn't made it that far idt) and I completely totally forgot about the entire thing until just now when I went through my Google docs

so for all people who dont watch locke.and key here's a rundown of most of the keys that are introduced in the first season, written by me probably as I watched the show in real time

spoilers might be here I think?? Idk I'm just posting it because I found them kind of funny esp since I couldn't remember writing it At All

***

Making a list of keys here so i dont forget:

Ghost Key: allows u to astral project and go outside of your body and talk to dead ppl. Very cool right. Unfortunately if u forget to go back through the door or someone else closes it before you go back through yourself and take out the key, you become a permanent ghost. Whoopsies!!

Anywhere Key: can take u wherever u want to go as long as youve been there or have seen a door there. It cant take u where u havent been bitch. So dont even think about ur crush’s pants

Puppet Key (also known as the music box key): when inserted into the music box and the music is playing, that person can control other peoples actions. Pretty damn scary

Mending Key: i think if u put something in a certain cabinet thats broken and then lock and unlock it it comes out fixed?? Idfk. does not work on people. sorry grandma

Head Key: theres a nasty lil hole that appears in the back of ur neck and when you insert it you can go into your mind and do shit!! And even put things in and/or take out shit like personality traits and memories and whatnot. I wouldnt go near this thing tbh. Don't try puttin nothing in my neck u dont need to see my mind

Flower/Plant Key(?? I dont think it has an actual name): it unlocks a tree and then memories in paint jars rise out of the ground?? I dont actually know what this one does. Something to do with memories idk Edit: this should have been fuckin obvious but it controls plants :))

Mirror Key: u put it in a mirror and then an evil you will appear in the reflection and beckon you forward like “come to pappy” and you can go through the mirror and end up in an evil funhouse thingy with lots of mirrors and versions of yourself?? Apparently lots of people have died trying to get out and its a prison of self?? He had to go in with a rope around his waist to get his mom out?? 0/10 would not recommend you might die

Echo Key: “can bring people back”-random guy offscreen, 2020. Apparently if you use it to unlock the wellhouse and then yell someones name into the well like you at le jour d’amour (spoiler alert that person gotta be dead) an “echo” of them will come back and u can talk to them. Its considered disrespectful to use it tbh because u disturbing the dead

Identity Key: basically an identity crisis meets polyjuice potion. A keyhole appears under ur chin and then you insert it and turn the key and then you can look like someone else. Eww gross!! 

Matchstick Key: a lighter. You touch it to something or put it in a keyhole or wHATEVER idc, and whatever u put it in bursts into flames. Fun fact, this also works on people!! Haven’t you ever wanted to just set yourself on fire? Well now you can with the Matchstick Key!! Limited edition because a demon stole it from a child then pushed said child onto train tracks. Also spoiler alert if you use it on yourself you die. Because u fuckin set yourself on fire. What did u expect, to not spontaneously combust??

Shadow Key: Key for the Crown of Shadows. I think u put it in the crown of shadows and then it works. It summons shadow kreechurs to work 4U. Very awesome ikr

Omega Key: literally has no other purpose than to unlock one specific door. The Omega Door (very original name oooh scary ooooh *ghost noises*). Beyond this door lie unimaginable eldritch abominations that Will Definitely Kill You. so unless you want to die at the hands of shadow demons, this aint the key for u. Use it as a mantle decoration or something