Masterpost Haunted Masters

Questions, Questions

This is about writing and I have some questions I would like some answers to. They probably aren't going to be answered, but I don't really care.

How do you do research for writing?? It's so hard and makes me want to cry afterward.

How does one write emotions? I'm trying to write a character sobbing and shaking and angry all at the same time. Any writing exercises I could do?

How do I write panic attacks, ptsd attacks, etc... etc...? I want to write them probably to fully sell the effect.

Any tips on writing animals? Cats, dogs, horses, snakes, unicorns, or whatever.

Or anything that isn't human?

Answer if you like; I'm thankful for any help. My brain is half-mush an' I really need some help.

Silly SVSSS AU/fic prompt when Shen Jiu is away on mission finds baby Shen Yuan and takes him back, Shen Yuan looks like his previous self similar to Shen Jiu but not identical. So everyone is convinced he is biologically Shen Jiu's child.

The peak lords find out and freak out...only instead of assuming that the child other parent is a concubine they think it's one of the other peak lords.

Shen Jiu: I found that brat on a mission he's not mine

Qi Qingqi: So you just happened to find a abandoned newborn who looks almost just like you while away on a nine month mission

Shen Jiu: Yes

Qi Qingqi:...

Just every single peak lord looking at all the others like 'Which one of you is the other parent?' just constantly looking between Shen Yuan and other peak lords trying to find similarities.

Shen Yuan terrified thinking all the peak lords are onto him when really they're just trying to figure out which of them gets to claim him as the other parent. (Also some of them really want to court Shen Jiu and are ready to propose... they're all been trying to court him for ages 1 look at Shen Jiu being all sweet with baby Shen Yuan and suddenly the wife beam KO'd all of them)

(Apart form Shang Qinghua who when people suspected him raise both hands like

SQH: NO WAY I DIDN'T HAVE SEX WITH HIM I COULDN'T HAVE I'M ENGAGED TO A DEMON...

Peak lords: Your what?

SQH:...oh fuck

Cue Shang Qinghua awkwardly asking Mobei Jun to pretend to be his fiancee please... Mobei Jun thinks his courting has finally worked)

wuxia, xianxia, and cultivation differences meta

translations: wuxia 武俠, xianxia 仙俠, and cultivation 修真/修仙 (xīuzhēn/xīuxiān)

think i've seen posts on this eons ago, and i'm pretty sure there are tons of these online, but since this has been written up already let's just have another one.

wuxia 武俠

wuxia and xianxia sound similar, but basically for wuxia it is about the pugilistic world (江湖 jiānghú). It is relatively more down-to-earth, and people practice martial arts ("kungfu") in their current life -- they do not do it to become xians (仙) and gods (神) however.

Like Thousand Autumns and Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor, it has more historical background and ties to the current court and kingdoms, because people are living in the moment and concern themselves with worldly issues.

Martial arts may seem unrealistic, but in view of chinese fantasy it would be considered "real". It consists of fighting moves and internal energy, which they call qi or nèigōng (內功), and at times you see people flying around, climbing hills and jumping across rooftops which is qīnggōng (輕功).

xianxia 仙俠

A level up would be xianxia, where characters in the story cultivate to become xians (and gods, like in the heaven official's blessing). They don't really care about earthly issues here now, because their ambitions lie beyond the current world, and cultivation, getting stronger, and an immortal life are majorly all their goals.

You may not always see them working towards that purpose, such as in mdzs they are considered a lower-xianxia society (低魔), meaning people don't go through all the steps of cultivation and only stay at the stage before the "golden core" stage.

In xianxia, characters still learn basic fighting moves aka. martial arts, but to direct the internal energy they use línglì (灵力), zhēnqì (真气), and fǎlì (法力), all xianxia terms you commonly see. "neigong" is practically nonexistent in this genre. That's why people building up their "neigong" instead of "lingli" are likely never going to be able to cultivate.

cultivation 修真/修仙

A subgenre in the xianxia category would be cultivation. Characters actively go through the stages of cultivation, and likely for the MC, because they are the main character, they successfully become a xian and exit the world at the end of the novel.

There are many stages of cultivation, usually defined at the beginning of the novel in the synopsis, and a typical example of the different levels would be this:

练气，筑基，金丹，元婴，化神，炼虚，合体，大乘，渡劫

And with a cursory search, an English translation would be something like this, albeit not with all the cultivation ranks identified.

Qi condensation (练气), Foundation establishment (筑基), Core Formation (金丹), Nascent Soul (元婴), and the names after that vary too greatly with translation and fandom so I'll jump straight to Immortal Ascension

extra info: getting into the philosophy of it all

It'd be interesting to note that the word "xiá" (俠) permeates all these genres. This is something akin to the concept of "hero", but not at all also, and I'd love to speak more on this but this post has already gone way longer than I hoped it would be, so perhaps another day.

Regardless, it is interesting to note that wuxia has a greater emphasis on "xia" than xianxia. (some joke that cultivation doesn't have the word "xia" in it, and much of that is because characters have foregone heroism and focused on gaining powers and working towards ascension instead). As a result, wuxia is more confucianism-oriented, though not without its taoism and buddhism influences.

xianxia, on the other hand, is mainly derived from "dào" (道), from taoism, which is another lengthy concept if I ever get to it.

And some may have heard of the "farming" genre, 种田 (zhòngtián). This has to do with golden fingers (mary sues) in imperialistic china, earning a wealth of money, and all that. It has nothing to do with cultivation, alike they sound in english.

that's it for now, hmu if you wish to ask/discuss!

(and apologies for the pinyin translations, hope it's understandable still! formally writing pinyin they are supposed to be two separate words not one.)

Steve will drop lore on Eddie in this ‘everybody knows this, catch up’ kinda way when it painfully clear that everybody absolutely did not know this.

Like, Eddie asks Steve to move his chair so he can slide passed him like three time in the middle of a party at the Byers and is being ignored. Finally, he’s like, “Ground control to Major Asshole. Can you hear me?”

Steve’s only notices him because he kicks his chair in the process and is like, “Oh, sorry, man. Gotta talk on my other side. I lost my hearing on this side.”

Which, great.

Eddie feels like an asshole but he can actually put that to the side because the whole table is just like, “…what? Since when?”

“Um…” Steve says, like. Yeah. This is common knowledge. “Two years ago?”

One time in the middle of the summer, Eddie is ogling the freckles across Steve’s shoulders at a pool party when Steve yawns. Eddie jokingly asks if teaching Robin to drive tired him out that much and Steve’s like, “Nah, I had a seizure this morning. Those tire me out for days. It’s so annoying.”

“Woah,” because Eddie didn’t even know that was something on their radar. Neither did Nancy judging by the whole plate of hotdogs she just dropped on the ground.

Steve causally mentioned that he didn’t have his appendix anymore a couple weeks after they closed the gate officially. Eddie asked when he had the surgery expecting an answer to be when he was a kid, but Steve gives him a weird look like, “Uh, couple weeks ago.”

“A couple - what?” Jonathan sputtered from across the room. “A couple weeks ago, we killed Vecna.”

“Yeahh???” Steve rolled his eyes. “And then I had my appendix taken out. That’s what happens when you’re stabbed.”

“You were stabbed?!?”

“C’mon, man. You were there. Keep up.”

Eddie is shut up mid-sentence by lips against his and, wow. Whoa. Steve Harrington kissing him right now and Eddie should definitely kiss back but, “You like guys? I’ve had a chance this whole time?”

“I’m literally bisexual.”

got really into drawing killer croc & baby doll from batman animated series for a minute . wanted to do my own designs (mariam doesnt change ofc because shes perfect)

Random thought. . .I'm just thinking about how if Steve does end up pregnant in season 5, it's definitely going to be by Nancy somehow, even if Jonathan is also included in the process. She's definitely going to be smug about it. Nancy Wheeler, a woman, got Steve Harrington, a man, pregnant. She's also really grateful that it wasn't her having to go through with it.

"I got a man pregnant without any help from anyone or anything!"

"Uh, didn't the bat bites - ," Robin started to point out.

"I SAID from anyone or anything," Nancy said.

"Uh, right."

Wingman & Redbird

Showing 'Anticipation' in Writing

Fingers tapping rhythmically on a surface.

Shifting weight from one foot to the other.

Checking the time frequently.

Eyes darting to the door or window expectantly.

Taking deep, excited breaths.

Biting the lower lip in nervous excitement.

Rubbing hands together eagerly.

Whispering, “I can’t wait” to themselves or others.

Fidgeting with objects, like twisting a ring or playing with a pen.

Heart pounding with eagerness.

Perking up at any noise that might signal the anticipated event.

Smiling slightly, as if imagining the future moment.

Knees bouncing up and down while seated.

Glancing at their phone or watch repeatedly.

Clutching a piece of clothing or accessory tightly.

Standing on tiptoe to get a better view.

Ears straining to catch any sound.

Swallowing nervously, throat dry with excitement.

Humming or softly singing to pass the time.

Practicing a speech or action they are looking forward to.

show, don't tell:

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

confidence - prolonged eye contact - appreciates instead of apologizing - active listening - shoulders back - micro reactions

Dan is sulking because none of Dick's friends fear him. He's just "Dick's grumpy/asshole boyfriend"! He hates them all! Except Beast Boy. All the Phantoms vibe with Beast Boy.

(Changed up the ask a tad bc I had an idea lmao)

"So?" Dick asked hopefully. "What do you think?"

His friends had just met his boyfriend, Dan, and he was hoping that they would like him. However, he was disappointed as they all made various faces, most of it negative. Dick wilted as Garth spoke first.

"He seems... fine. Kind of rude and standoffish though."

Rachel frowned. "His soul is even darker than my father's. I think he’s stronger too. I can tell that he didn’t like any of us.”

Vic nodded. "They’re both right. He felt really hostile.”

“Are you sure he’s nice to you? He treats you well, right?” Donna asked, a sharp glare on her face as she looked at her wonder twin up and down. “If he doesn’t, I’ll get rid of him and knock you out of your brainwashing. You’ve been hurt enough, we don’t need another creepy jerk disturbing your life.”

Roy snorted. “He better treat Dick well. Even if he’s stronger than Trigon, we could definitely take him down, right, guys?”

Everyone nodded as Dick sighed in exasperation, although he was smiling a tad. “I promise that he treats me really well. Gar? Kori? What do you two think?”

“Seems chill,” Gar said with a shrug. He stretched out in his kitty form, where he had been curled up and loafing on the sofa. “He gives really good chin scratches and he didn’t hurt me at all. Or any of us. He was really gentle. I can smell he likes Dick a lot too.”

He looked at Kori with a kitty smile, tilting his head. “Kori, you agree with me?”

Kori nodded and everyone looked at her in shock. She smiled and said, “I thought he was quite friendly. Perhaps it was while you all were distracted with the food? He is familiar with Tamaranean customs and was very polite. I can sense that he feels deeply and I can tell that he loves Dick very much.” She looked at Dick with a smile and continued, “As long as you’re happy, I approve. Although his attitude definitely needs work.”

Dick blushed. “Thanks. I like him a lot, though I’ll definitely talk to him about being rude to you guys. He’s kinda… well, maybe not kind of, he’s extremely traumatized, so we’ll work on it. But he isn’t too bad, right?”

He looked hopefully at everyone and they all sighed, looking at each other with looks that promised a team-up if Dick got his heart broken again, before they looked back at him and nodded.

Dick beamed. “Thanks, you guys!” Then he paused and looked at Gar and Kori curiously. “Though I wonder why you two got treated the nicest by him?”

Kori and Gar shrugged, also a little confused. No one had any answers for that either.

Later, as Dick called up Dan to ask him about what he thought, Dick asked, “So… why were you treating Kori and Gar the nicest? Gar said that you were really gentle to him.”

Dan’s response was almost comically bland.

“They’re cats.”