Checkpoint 3: Offer & receive

[nepenthee]

Hello! How is the challenge going for you?

We have had some more sign-ups in the last while, and it’s nice to see that the event being well underway isn’t deterring people from joining. :> The event playlist is also coming along; if you happen to listen to something fitting while working on your site, do consider sharing with us!

This checkpoint’s theme is as follows: Post a WIP of your challenge shrine and ask something you’d like hear about from your fellow webmasters, web-related or not. This can be as specific or abstract as you’d like (e.g. a paragraph, a crop of the layout header, a colour scheme; coding input, style concerns, writing advice, tools etc.).

You are welcome to use this post to chat about anything related to the challenge even if you do not take part in the checkpoint theme.

Comments

[nepenthee]

This checkpoint is posted later than planned, sorry. My past few weeks have been very full, weekends included. I hope that my coming weekends will stay free and that I can chat a bit more here soon.

---

An excerpt from my shrine's introduction:

That is not the case here. There is no clear message that I need to convey. (The story speaks for itself.) In its stead: an intangible sort of sorrow and sympathy. Perhaps what I want to express this time is simply that: a sentiment, to show that something existed, that it mattered, to call attention to it so that it will not be forgotten. In more sentimental terms, one could say that the drafting of this shrine is an act akin to mourning, an attempt to make sense of what it is that I am feeling as I wade through the mire of my own emotions. In this manner, this shrine is as much of an autopsy as it is something someplace between elegy and requiem.

Something I'd love to know:

Do you have any favourite DeviantArt accounts/galleries/collections when it comes to layout resources (e.g. textures, brushes)? :>

[evenstar]

The challenge, for me, has brought up that oldest and most impossible to answer of questions...

...why do I get hit with inspiration for a thousand OTHER projects right when I've decided to dedicate my free time to THIS one?!

^.~ I'm being silly, but honestly, I've added two THREE, I just realised more TB-adjacent projects to my to-do list and keep dipping into them when I fear I might get irritated with or sick of my challenge shrine's subject (close to impossible, but I'm a nervous bunny :P)

My whole shrine is aaaaall over the place currently, so I'll just share a little from what will either be the opening paragraph or something else, depending...everything's very nebulous at the moment!

[Shrine Title] is not about the part of Subaru that survived the murder of his reflection. [Title] is a look at the ghost of the boy that Seishirou murdered along with his sister, the boy who will never return. The Subaru we met and fell in love with in Tokyo Babylon has gone, and cannot come back -- just like his darling sister will never, either. In some ways, Subaru's murder was the precise opposite of his twin's -- Hokuto's beautiful, hopeful, loving spirit endured even as her body died. While Subaru remains physically whole, more or less, his own spirit was mutilated beyond all repair.

Cue the tears. T.T

[evenstar]

In this manner, this shrine is as much of an autopsy as it is something someplace between elegy and requiem.
Oh, I feel that like an arrow to the heart. Just beautiful.

I have no whole galleries/accounts I favour, I've realised! O.O; I have a thing where I find a new set of brushes, use them to death, end up getting my attention taken away by something offline...and then forgetting I have them and searching for new ones~ XD Oops. I've been slightly obsessed with differentxdreamz's brushes lately, though...very ethereal and ghostlike ♥

[larissa]

I... have not been working on my site at all, oops. To be fair I've had a lot of life stuff going on, but I gotta get moving. Thanks for the checkpoint to help motivate me, haha.

In any case, here's an excerpt from one of the pages I already had written:

What Shadowbringers does, and what is most obviously emphasized by Ardbert’s character, is to actually have you grow and change as a result of the narrative. Yes, the Scions are concerned that their Warrior of Light is slowly turning into a Lightwarden, but they’re pretty hands off, as far as friends go. They leave you to your own devices a lot. Part of this is to emphasize the player’s ability to interpret each scene as they like — to keep this feeling like a self-insert story. You don’t want to be pigeonholed into a storyline that takes that freedom away from the player.

But because you don’t have a voice, you can’t tell the other characters in the story that your character is struggling with these revelations. Ardbert, therefore, exists to bridge that gap. Ardbert actually cares about how you’re doing, and checks in on you after every major plot point. In-universe, this is because you’re the only person he can talk to. Of course he’s invested in your well-being: he doesn’t want to be alone again.

How it actually comes across, though, is that it feels as though you genuinely have a friend who cares about you. You may feel the same way about the Scions (individually or as a whole), but Ardbert’s the one who gets what you’re going through. He’s literally there every step of the way. This is your journey together, not one you’re on alone. Just because Ardbert is a ghost doesn’t make that feeling less real.

I have a lot of feelings about the role of a silent protagonist, okay. We love a narrative foil.

My question for the week is: does anyone have advice on editing text you've already written? I struggle with this a lot; once something is written, I have a hard time changing it, even if it needs tidying up. What methods do you use when you need to revise or edit something you've written?

[larissa]

God what a mood. As soon as I start working on a project I immediately want to work on 18848294 different things instead... I wish you luck regardless!

I love this opening paragraph already!! I can't wait to read everything you have to say about Subaru; he's such a perfect character for this prompt and there's so much to dig in to. Very excited to see what you make!

[nepenthee]

omg yes Larissa and I briefly talked about this question shortly after the challenge started, and I do in fact find myself thinking intensely of some other shrine projects these weeks.

I realize you're asking a rhetorical question, but it makes me think of a conversation I had with my mentor years ago. I tend to hold myself back when it comes to pursuing passions that require deep immersion over a prolonged and undefined period of commitment (e.g. shrining), for fear that my very limited energy will otherwise not last for the important long-term RL/work tasks that need doing, and other precious things (such as relationships) that need tending – conserving my resources out of a sense of obligation, basically, also towards my own wish not to drop or lose anything that I'm juggling.

My mentor back then said that rather than preserving myself and thus repressing my desires along with the creative drive, I must absolutely pursue those desires; the flow that comes from that would inevitably influence all the other things in my life, and give me the energy needed to keep everything important in flow; and my life would arrange itself around it, and in turn reveal what's important (in any specific phase and in general).

Others may keep themselves from creative pursuits for similar reasons, or because they're too occupied with daily tasks, routines, distractions and struggles to carve out time for creativity. What happens when we give ourselves to the craft, however, must be the same, hence all that inspiration and that pulling from all sides! (It also makes me think of what I'd once read about our ideas hitting us when we're in the shower... the effect of idle time and the flow of water.)

Anyway, although all the inspiration and musings regarding other projects that are now rattling in my head at times feel like an unwelcome distraction, they also fill me with hope... and I can't wait to finish my event shrine so I can tend to all my other thoughts soon!!

---

I LOVE YOUR PARAGRAPH SO MUCH!! Hokuto mention included, because some things in TB can only be fully examined in triangle constellation. CLAMP SHRINES TB SHRINES YES.

Also, can I bring up how much I love that you signed up and told me this is about Subaru from TB specifically, not X, as if that were somehow odd... (I get where you're coming from.) TB and X are such distinct works, and X is clearly not about Subaru, so what we see X' Subaru from a very specific angle, one that serves X' themes; in any case, as you write, TB's Subaru is gone (in many ways). Now, in a time where stories are told and retold in endless multi-season series, remakes/reboots, spin-offs, franchises, crossovers etc. (ugh), I think it's more important than ever to look at characters not only (as is most frequently the case) as a single continuity, but within the context of the original work with its very own style and message. (And even to critically examine the different characterizations rather than just lick it all up as "truth", canon or not.)

I am very much looking to seeing your Tokyo Babylon domains populated after all this time!!

[nepenthee]

I will admit that after all this time, I don't even have personal go-to sets of brushes yet (neither decorative ones nor for drawing/erasing) and have largely been using Photoshop's limited default ones... So I'm happy for any recommendations, and also just to see what people like using! :D Credits sections are fun to browse, but hearing it from the persons themselves is different.

[nepenthee]

STORYTELLING ANALYSIS YES! Gimmeeeee. I am looking forward to getting a better sense of FFXIV's storytelling and style when all the FFXIV shrines in this event are eventually made. :D Also, kindly let me know from what point on you can be regularly kicked into website work and it shall be done.

Hm, I must be the opposite when it comes to editing; I edit so much and frequently, even to the detriment of actual writing progress. Either way, I think editing is easier, more efficient and more effective when the text has rested for a while and when you're editing a large chunk rather than single paragraphs at a time (e.g. as you're still writing the page). Editing should also be in service of the site and its flow/narrative/message as a whole, so knowing how the segment you're editing slots into the whole and where it needs to lead next (and therefore what it should avoid mentioning or repeating) is of immense help.

I like to have a separate document (or even just Scrivener's notes sidebar) for phrases or thoughts that I like but need to discard/alter because they no longer fit; that way, nothing feels lost, and I may later move them to a different section where they are better suited. When rereading paragraphs, be it as I write or during sessions where I'm reacquainting myself with the project, I often highlight passages (or even just terms) that need editing later.

I don't know if any of this is helpful. What do you mean by tidying up? Style/language, context/transitions or something else? What bothers you that requires editing?

[larissa]

You should probably start kicking me sooner than later, tbh, I need the push...

Anyway, I've been looking at the first few pages of the site and going "I should punch this up and rewrite it," and yet I have a strange attachment to what I've already written. I know the answer is just to toss it in a separate file and keep it in case I need it, but that's always been so tough for me for some reason... I struggle with the same thing in fiction writing.

In any case, I'll take another stab at it and try to figure out how to convey what I want. Thank you for the advice!

[toothpastepancake]

I can't remember if I posted this yet but :') from the homepage

"Anna is negative space. Anna exists in a black hole of memory. Forgotten. Rose-tinted glasses; John thought their relationship was wonderful, but they hadn't seen each other in over a year when Anna was taken, she willingly gave up their anniversary to go to the opposite side of the universe, and she flirted with a widow during the trip to Z'Ha'Dum. The truth about Anna is coated in other people's relationships with and perceptions of her. It is intentionally obfuscated."

My question is - how did you decide what kind of content to include on your shrine? I'm kinda struggling with that. There's not a lot of Anna content in the source material; the version of her I'm making the shrine for doesn't appear for more than like, 5 seconds! I made a 3d game about her but I feel like it's not enough!

[larissa]

It depends on the site, but usually my subject informs how I want to write about it, and how much content I'm able to put out. For example, I love music, but I have no technical background in music whatsoever and can barely place specific instruments in a song, so I can't talk about that kind of thing in any depth. But it's pretty easy to write about how you feel about something, even if the resulting site is on the smaller side. (Example: my site for my favorite band is maybe 1500 words long in total, but I think it provides a pretty good starting point for anyone to check them out.)

In your case, I'd ask what drew you to this character specifically. What do you want a visitor to come away knowing or thinking about Anna — or how you feel about Anna? What matters enough to you about this subject that it's worth making a whole website about? And since this is a challenge with a specific theme, how does your subject intersect with that theme, and are there similar examples of it in the same or in other works?

I hope that offers at least some food for thought!