Made This At 2am

Writing advice...

... About military things from a soldier :)

Pt.1 / ?: Guns

You wanna write a story with a militaristic setting, like CoD or R6S? And you wanna have action, but you've got no clue about guns and gunfights and don't know where to start?

Well, lucky for you or not I know what that feels like and I've also got the combat / real life experience to help ya out!

Feel free to hop in my askbox or dm's and ask questions. I'll gladly elaborate and do my best to answer in full and plenty.

Happy writing y'all! :)

So, first of all: Guns are heavy. As in multiple kilogramms heavy. A loaded rifle can easily weigh anywhere between 3 - 5kg. Handguns can be between 900gr - 2kg. The exact weight depends on the gun itself and wether it's loaded or not. A gun w a full magazine is obvs gonna weigh more than a gun without.

Second of all: Despite what you see in video games, you do not just pull the trigger and blast your whole magazine at the enemy. It takes seconds to empty a rifle but gunfights can last for hours - hence why soldiers are trained to count their shots and only shoot in salves.

Third of all: If a soldier ever gets to the point where they gotta pick up rifles found on the ground cause they're either outta ammo or lost theirs... They're probably fucked.

Fourth of all: Soldiers know their weapons. They know the exact type, the name, how to dis- and reassemble it in under a minute, gloves on and eyes closed. We know everything we could possibly know about our gun, down to the exact number of how much it weighs. And yes, we gotta take our gun apart and thoroughly clean it after every. Single. Use.

Fifth of all: Do not - and I repeat - do not shoot towards the sky. That bullet you just shot will come down somewhere (gravity n all) and no one can predict where and what damage it'll possibly do upon impact.

Little Witch Academia (リトル ウィッチ アカデミア)

Full-color character designs for Little Witch Academia, illustrated by Yoh Yoshinari (吉成曜) were included in the March 2013 issue of Animestyle Magazine (Amazon Japan), along side an interview with the creator.

My collection of clothing references for writing. 

Am I wrong

Omg that last ask was awful. I’m sorry people are being like that with you. But can I ask why I know about Russia invading Ukraine, it is definitely something I’m against but why are you getting so much hate 😟

It's okay, it doesn't bother me, thank you for your support!

Here's as far as I understand why people either: support Russia, or, ignore Ukraine;

A lot of modern online 'leftists' believe that in ANY situation, America/The West is ALWAYS the bad guy. Some of them don't even believe that countries OTHER than the West, can do imperialism, colonialism and invasion. This is idiotic.

continued for a long bit under cut

As a symptom of this, all of these 'leftists' really fucking hate NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), and think it's some violent tool of oppression and colonialism. I am aware that NATO is a tool of very complicated geopolitical motives, but as far I'm concerned, countries have to ASK to be in it, and it's just a defensive measure for smaller countries in Europe. Ukraine, for a long time, has been trying to get NATO membership, because for so many years now Russia has been fucking with its borders, and as time progressed, more and more Ukrainians have been voting in favour of NATO.

But because these people know nothing about foreign policy, they immediately think "oh because Russia ISN'T the West, then it's okay" and they follow aaalll the russian disinformation and propaganda (of which there is a LOT) and just,, completely ignore Ukraine.

A lot of leftists also are just.. really obsessed with Russia?? And the USSR?? They genuinely think that Russia has ANY right to tell its neighbouring countries what to do. A lot of leftists argue that Russia is doing this shit because it doesn't want Ukraine to join NATO. So???? This is not an excuse?? Ukraine is a sovereign nation, it has every right to join NATO. Russia needs to mind its own fucking business and stop meddling and bullying its neighbours, maybe THEN NATO won't really be needed. This is EXACTLY why Ukraine wants to join NATO! Because Russia is fucking with its borders!!

They think NATO is the aggressor. No. Ukraine has been ACTIVELY trying to join NATO, I think it even got declined BY NATO itself at one point!!

Also, a lot of people are just not aware of what is happening in Ukraine. Like the details of Russia directly funding the terrorist groups in Donbas. They don't know about Viktor Yanukovych, who was an elective for Ukrainian presidency, but was actively Pro-Russian and had connections to the Russian government, who tried to appease Russia, and when the people disagreed with him, he tried to quickly pass laws that would make it ILLEGAL TO PROTEST THE GOVERNMENT. He was later kicked out, and then fled to Russia, of course. They don't know the Russian Government's history of just lying, making baseless accusations, of silencing any voice against them, the corruption, propaganda, some of them don't even think the USSR did anything bad! Because in their head, if its not the West, then it must be okay!

And it sucks! Because now Ukrainian people are gonna suffer for it!

I have seen not long ago a post about "spain's dark side" so...your opinion about that? (I kinda have a feeling of knowing why himaruya came up with that and, if I am right, I am not sure if I like it. It's not that I don't like the dark side thing, but if the reason is what I think, then I don't fancy it)

Great question! Please excuse the length of this response in advance, and if I go off on any tangents. To directly answer your question: I have a horrible feeling that Dark Spain is inspired by the Spanish Black Legend/La leyenda negra, and I don't like that at all. You've really hit on an important topic here, so I'm going to extend this discussion. I call this upcoming piece: Why I don't like Dark Spain and why we, as fans and creators, need to be mindful of how we enjoy our beloved series.

Side note before we begin: I'm going to be talking from a writer's perspective, since this is what I mostly do. My opinion is just that, nothing more. Some will agree with me, others won't, and that's okay. If you're happy with the terms, let's crack on.

Part 1: "Dark" characters I'm not against 2P or "dark" versions of a character if it's required for a particular setting. Let me show you what I mean, using some fic plots I just pulled from my head: Example one: You've got this gritty, fantasy gangster city plot. You use a real city as your location, but the characters are human. Antonio's the leader of a huge criminal organisation and therefore he will do incredibly bad things. It's trigger warnings ahoy. Is this portrayal okay? Sure. (read on before you hit that reply button) Example two: You're writing a horror fic. Antonio's a sexy merman who's more likely to decorate his cave with your entrails, than serenade you on a beach. Is this plot fine? Absolutely. It's dark af, but you're writing sexy merman horror. It kinda’ comes with the territory. Did you see how I wrote "fantasy" and "human" in bold? And did you see that I used Antonio, not Spain? There's a reason. I personally believe in this: When your story uses Hetalia characters in their human form (i.e: Antonio is just Antonio, he does not represent Spain), there's much more freedom and flexibility. I've read many excellent works with darker themes who use real locations alongside human versions of the characters, and do so brilliantly. They're wonderful stories, and they don't cause harm. They're fiction. Fantasy. Fiction. Did I mention fiction? On the flip side: When we are writing the characters as country personifications, who represent the people and the history, we must take proper precaution. The same applies to writing about historical events. (To be continued down below.)

Part 2: Dark Spain

As someone who's been in fandom 10+ years now, my problem with Dark Spain is this: a number of creators back in the old days seemed to agree with my Black Legend theory/concerns, and yet they willingly made content for it. Not everybody did this, but I certainly saw some who thought "wow dark crazy Spain because Inquisition", applied it to certain ships because "ohh angst leads to romance, what a plot" and that is wrong on so many levels. If you know the Spanish Black Legend, then you know how bad this is. It's an incredibly difficult topic because it is, in the simplest sense, massive propaganda designed to seriously damage a country's image. I welcome Spanish input on this, but personally I think using this as some edgy portrayal of Antonio in your fics is insulting. Don't bloody well do it.

(Please note that the fandom is MUCH better now, but it doesn't change the fact it has, and could still happen. I used past tense for a reason, as I do think things are improving.)

Russia is another character which suffers this treatment, and I do think we have a responsibility to be considerate. Many countries have done awful things, mine (the UK) included, and yet our characters have escaped receiving this Dark persona. It's not fair, it really isn't. It's a poor judgment call on Himaruya's behalf if my theory is true. If I'm wrong, then this argument is void. Either way I feel like Himaruya should've specified how and why Dark Spain came about. Part 3: Historical writing

Here's where it gets interesting. I'm not saying "don't write historical hetalia fanfiction", and I never will say it because historical fiction exists. You can go in your local bookshop and boom, people are making real money off it.

I'm not one of those lucky sorts, but I am contributing to that genre myself. Despite lots of magic, fantasy and general artistic license, my story Gatito can be considered historicaI.

It's set in England, 1569. Spain and the Netherlands are two of the main characters, and yes, their conflict is referenced. It coincides with the timeline, and all the while I write them as personifications, I can't pretend that tension between them doesn't exist. If I did, that'd probably be even more insulting to their history, and no doubt confusing for the reader.

The main plot is a daft mash of Arthur misusing his magic, a vile fictional man from Antonio's court who wants his head, and poor Netherlands and Portugal get wrapped up in the drama along the way.

The Dutch conflict is featured, but not the plot. The event is occurring right in the middle of a fictional disaster which Antonio is trying to overcome. It's acknowledged, but it's on the side, to put it simply.

I use human names (Antonio and Abel) and explore that situation from an emotional, human perspective. I do not claim that Abel is a victim, and no one thinks he is either. Personal HC time here: I don't think any of the characters look back at their history and think "wow, poor me". Everyone's made mistakes, and they've all played a role in hurting someone else. My history teacher once told me this: The more you look, the more you see. There's many sides to a story, and even to this day, I doubt historians have truly, faithfully documented events so that it's fair on every nation involved. That's why we need to try and learn history from multiple perspectives, and why when writing hetalia characters during a historical event, we should show the reader as many viewpoints as possible. If you don't, then... well. I frown at you. More on this in part 4.

Part 4: Conclusion/advice

I won't pretend to be a saintly figure in the fandom, and this rant is a bit of a mess, but I hope you get what I'm on about. Thank you if you're still reading.

I'm going to finish with a bit of advice that has helped me have a positive time, and allowed me to create works for a series I really love:

1- If your story is historical, and you purposely want to paint a country in a bad light, think before you do. Don't slander another country for the sake of your comfort character or ship. If your story is set during a battle then yes, they can moan about the opposition, but don’t go hardcore. You know what I mean.

2- Research, research, research.

3- You want to write a particular character. Their human name is unconfirmed, or you don't know a part of their history, but you want to write about it. What should you do? Talk. I had this very dilemma regarding Portugal's surnames, and I just asked Portuguese mutuals on Tumblr for help. I received numerous valid responses in under an hour, and I felt better for it. 10/10 highly recommend.

4- If you've gotta' write Dark Spain: Keep. It. Fictional. If you don't believe my theory behind it, cool, crack on. But if you agree with me, then yeah, I've said it enough. Respect the country.

5- DO explore history. It's fascinating.

6- If you write historical hetalia and you feel that something might be misunderstood: PLEASE USE DISCLAIMERS, END NOTES ETC. I write number 6 from experience. There is a scene in Gatito where a significantly stressed Antonio attempts to summarise the Dutch conflict. He's being blamed for countless fictional issues, and rather than think things through, he blames himself for Abel's pain as well. He does it on a purely emotional basis. Have you ever had that really bad day, and things keep getting worse? Someone comes along and says "you did x y z and I'm mad", and rather than argue your side, you accept it?

That's Antonio in that scene. I know it is, because that's how I intended it to be read. His answer is flawed, to say the least, but in his human heart, he can't help it. I used the end notes as a warning/apology/explanation for this scene. I don't want it to be misinterpreted, and I don't want to disrespect Spanish history.

7- If someone does comment/ask about a sensitive, historical part of your work: don't rant. And don't get offended. I believe we all need to talk more. Have conversations about HCs, how we would write/imagine different scenes, and use it to improve your work.

8- Have fun, and be sensible. Thank you again for reading, I hope this helps to some extent. I know I've thrown my opinion out here, but if you strongly disagree with me, don't @. Move on, embrace what you believe, and everyone's a winner. (This really should've been number 9 on the list haha.)

Diictodon, who survived the most brutal extinction event on Earth, is happy to see you made it to the other side of that year. Eat well and rest for a bit, you deserved it

as promised (thumbs up) heres a lil uhhhh simple breakdown of how i general do fur things! can be applied to hair in general and also clouds and grass depending on how you work it (thumbs up pt2) feel free to request other tutorials