Obviously they shouldn’t conflict, but sometimes it happens. That’s why it needs to be fixed. (For example, I had a plot point that depended on a character pulling a shapeshifting act; after a year or so, I realized that the said character’s species wasn’t capable of shapeshifting, so I had to change something.)
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But there is not conflict there is an opportunity. Why do this character can do X?
Could their specie shappesift in their past?
Can the character being cursed or being submitted to a experience that changed their abilities?
Can be that one of their parenrs are for other species?
It is not a setting problem it os only problem of explain in the rules
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Mara –
The narrative is ever evolving for some, and that is why the world building needs to stay flexible in the details.
The rules were very clear though, so the question was whether to change the rules or the character. I ended up changing the character, since that had less of an effect breaking something else.
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I hope everyone is having a productive April.
I’ve written chapter two of Daemonglass and started on Chapter Three before realising that I had a story point happen much too early which meant I had to go back and rewrite the ending of Chapter Two and push the original ending to a later date.
I should hopefully be going into the hospital tomorrow as long as there is an available bed. Which means my heart surgery could take place Tuesday morning. I should be in hospital for about 6 days in total but will have 3-4 months off work and intend to focus on writing my planned novella during that time as this surgery is what inspired the idea and I can hopefully use my experience to enrich the story.
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You will be in our thoughts and prayers, Matt. 
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Seconded.
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As someone that is in medical problems and with surgeries. I want to give you all my cheers and support. You will be fine soon and we will all giving you great feedback for your new game.
Now rest and follow doctor’s orders
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I just want it done now. First date got cancelled and then the second one was pushed back due to me not being well. So I’m hoping this is third time’s the charm.
I have to call on tomorrow at noon. I’ll update once I know for certain.
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Mara please refrain from using the r-word that way.
Thanks.
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(And now I’m hung up thinking how much I like the worldbuilding in that particular story. I should do something with it.)
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I erased the post. But I still don’t understand the differences in meaning with silly or stupid. It is not clear for me. Sorry if I offended someone. In spanish the equivalent is not a slur. So I got all mixed up
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Wow! A lot has been happening here this month.
That’s wonderful! I’m happy you can embrace your identity and feel comfortable sharing it with the community here. It’s a testament to the caring community you and the other mods have helped create, first the CS forums, then the world!
@poison_mara You are always welcome to join the writer’s group if you think it’ll help. We all struggle with our writing, viewing it through our overly critical eye. Sometimes, letting others read our stuff is the best thing for us. It can provide a perspective we can’t achieve on our own.
This is a fantastic way to make something positive from a challenging experience. I wish you all the best. Hang in there!
Also, the writing group that we’ve started has been going well. Though we did have some people drop out, adding more work to already overworked people is tough. But I’ve considered it an investment in my craft, which is important to me.
On a personal front, April has been a challenging writing month. I am finally approaching the end of a home renovation project I have worked on full-time for the last year. Gutting a 70-year-old home to the studs and rebuilding, I quit my steady long-term career to go into business for myself, and it has quite possibly been the most challenging thing I’ve done. But, the last several weeks, I’ve been working long hours to finish this thing up and hopefully knock on wood, and finally make some damn money. Because of that, my writing time has suffered, but I’ve begun waking up an hour earlier to get a little writing done. I’m dedicated to finishing this thing. But, ugh, I’m exhausted. I was able to finally push out an update for Children of Iseir Book One: Born under a Blood Moon (WIP) [Update 4/28/24 70K words], two weeks after my initial goal and not nearly as far into the story as I hoped. Like this house, I’ve learned that these things are not accomplished overnight if you want to do them right. Brick by brick, step by step, you’ll eventually build something you can be proud of.
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That test was open book. XD
I haven’t had much time to work on my game this month, and what work I have done hasn’t been anything coding wise or writing wise. I’ve mostly been reworking the outline I have currently, and some character peices. Since I didn’t throw a snippet at ya’ll for the 15th, I figure I’ll do so now.
Snippet
Zhu Wenqian shouldn't be here. The scion of an ancient and powerful line of nobility shouldn't be *hiding* in the heated and sweaty furnace of a blacksmith's shop. Zhu Wenqian shouldn't be here, he is disturbing the workers. No less than three of the apprentices have *looked* at him, and whispered to each other. No doubt gossiping. The idea sets his blood to boiling like the water-now-steam the blacksmith just thrust a red hot blade into. "Young Master..." The voice of his Momo, Tian Sufeng, cleared through the clangs of metal and startled him. He shouldn't be startled. He's a warrior. An imperial guard. He can't let himself be complacent just because he's at home right now. Who would protect his elder sister, his Jiejie, if he wasn't careful and got himself assassinated? "Momo Tian, what is it." He acknowledged. His eye do not leave the blacksmith's shoulders as he brings the heavy hammer down on unruly metal. Shaping it. Molding it. Like a captain to his complement of soldiers. Like a father to a son. "Young master seems to be thinking hard. This old servant wonders if they could be privy to Young Master's thoughts?" The old servant asked, gentle tones soothing to the inner turmoil of Zhu Wenqian's thoughts. This voice had sung him lullabies and patted his back in the dark of the night when he was too small to know that dear wasn't allowed for a scion of the Zhu family. Perhaps that was why his lips spilled out, "Father wants me to press His Majesty for an appointment to General." He hadn't known what to say when his father had said such a thing. His impeccable father, who had been a bastion of righteousness all through his childhood, now demanding he play politics against the Emperor himself? There was no winning that. Not against the shrewd ruler of their world. (edited)“And Young Master does not wish to?” The Momo pressed, their hands carefully tucked into their sleeves. He had a moment of imagining this person he so trusted running to his father and telling him that Zhu Wenqian was going to disobey. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck, into the thick, layered robes he wore when not in his imperial guard uniform. They felt heavy and impractical. He picked at the embroidered turtle on one sleeve. His face remained impassive, the draw of his brow subtler than the draw of a bowstring, the only sign of his discomfort. “I do not.” He admitted under the clangs and calls of the apprentices. He was sure Tian Sufeng heard him, as close as they were to his shoulder. But this was something he didn’t dare say louder. To go against the head of ones family was to invite charges of filian disobedience. And worse, to display unrest in their family might destabilize the entire Zhu clan. "His Majesty has been nothing but kind to me. He dotes upon Jiejie. He is a good and just ruler. If he does not deem me worthy of such an appointment yet, it can only be because I am lacking in some way. " He explained, closing the Phoenix shaped eyes he shared with his sister. “To demand or beg for such a thing… Would that not be exactly the sort of corruption His Majesty has been trying to stamp out? I cannot. In good concience I cannot.” It didn’t matter that he guarded his Majesty’s chambers daily. That he spoke with the man, and was his brother in law in all but legality. It did not matter that His Majesty had given him permission to speak freely on multiple occasions. His Majesty’s trust was something to be guarded and treasured as a thief guards his hoard. It wasnt something he could trade and barter for a higher position. But his father and mother seemed content to ignore that. “Hypocrisy.” He hissed to himself, sharp as the slice of a half-finished blade through the air. The word drew righteous anger from his chest and his brow drew taught.
He felt he could not forgive this hypocrisy, his fists tightening against his lap, as he realized he’d made up his mind. Father could order him all he wished, but Zhu Wenqian was not going to bend. Even if it might save his life some day, the Zhu Family did not need a scion who bent over backwards like an eager to please eunuch. His backbone would be straight as steel, even if it meant discomfort for those around him. “Young Master has made a decision?” His old Momo asked, and in their tone, he heard understanding. “Yes. I have.” He stood, and turned to leave the blacksmith’s workshop. He would not delay the discussion any longer. And he would not bend to corrupt thinking. His father had taught him better than that. His Majesty had taught him better.
I learned a lot about this RO doing this. The prompt was “Your character is in therapy.” And I had to get creative since Ancient China didn’t have therapy as we know it. So… I did this. XD
That said, I think I’m gonna do this for each of the ROs and the main villains too. Just so that I can get a better idea of how they work.
Two days to the end of the month, and I’m spending time working on characterisation instead of actually pounding out the rough draft. …Feels like I’m moving backwards.
In good news though! I’m getting a car tomorrow! Which means I’ll reclaim a good 45 minutes of my day back from the commute!
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Was going to save this for next snippets day, but since Niki is posting… This is my favorite therapy prompt fill ever 
Anne Asare-Taylor therapy session
Anne acknowledges the woman in the therapists’ chair with a nod and crosses the distance to the electric kettle in three long strides. The room is more barren than usual, the faint edge of dust tracing lines on the corner of the side table showing that a number of picture frames have recently been removed from their spot. “Doctor Sanchez has already left for paternity leave, I see.”
She pours herself a cup, and holds the kettle up for the therapist to see. “You want some?”
The woman waves it off, and Anne sets herself down in the plush armchair opposite her, slouching just a little. “So, you’re new here. Anyone tell you what you are up against today?”
The therapist clutches her tablet just a little tighter and straightens in her chair in a fruitless attempt to rise above the woman opposite her. “First of all, I’m Doctor Allen, and I’m here to-”
“Assess my mental state in order to determine my field readiness after the latest mission. I know the drill.”
Anne takes a slow sip of her tea, glasses fogging up slightly from the steam, as the therapist struggles to maintain her composure.
“So you know this assessment is important for your future in the military?”
Anne takes another sip. “You didn’t take a look at my file before now, didn’t you? I am fairly sure it has a big red stamp with ‘handle with caution’ on the front cover. I can not even fault you for it, really. Going into an introduction without preconceptions will no doubt be beneficial to a lot of your usual clients.”
The woman quickly scrolls through the pages, her frown deepening by the moment.
Anne places her cup on the accompanying dish on the side table and sits up in her chair, arms lightly resting on her knees. “Now take a peek at my service record. The unredacted parts, at least. It should give you an idea of what you’re working with.”
The therapist does just so, and what little color she had drains from her face. “I- I see. How does your usual therapist deal with your… unusual situation?”
Anne leans back again, rolling the tea cup between her hands. “They usually stick with the basics. ‘How did this last mission affect you. Do you feel like anything in your recent past might have affected your stability of mind. How are your wife and daughter doing.’ Those kind of things. No real personal questions. Only what is absolutely needed to ensure I am able to fulfill my given tasks.”
Doctor Allen chews on her bottom lip for a while and switches back to her assessment form. “Has your latest mission affected you in the way you just said?”
“It hasn’t.”
Anne drains the last of her cup and deposits it and the saucer in the kitchen corner’s inbuilt sink. “Since you are new, I will allow you one question other than the usual to sate your curiosity. Take your time. I am in no rush.”
Doctor Allen blinks a few time, blankly staring at her screen, scrolling back to a passage of Anne’s personal profile she skim-read before while Anne retakes her seat. “It says here you have been in a stable relationship for close to twenty years now?”
One of Anne’s eyebrows raises ever so slightly. “Was that a question?”
“Yes, no, I mean, it is pretty rare for someone with an antisocial personality disorder to be in a stable long-term relationship. How did you manage?”
Anne leans closer to the therapist, idly twisting her fingers together. “Time and familiarity, I suppose. We had been traveling together for over half a decade before anything on a personal level happened between us. We had developed some form of codependency by then.”
Doctor Allen is scribbling some notes very quietly, tablet half-hidden behind her arm. “Codependency? In what way?”
Anne’s mouth twists in a wry grimace. “While I do not particularly care most of the time, I am not unaware that my presence tends to unsettle people. Dzifa handles most of our interpersonal business.”
The therapist almost fumbles her pen at the statement. “That’s it? She’s useful, and that’s why you keep her around?”
Anne shrugs. “It’s as good of a reason as any, isn’t it?”
She blankly stares as Doctor Allen tries to gather her composure. “Are you convinced I will not leave this office and start to indiscriminately murder people, at the very least? Our allotted time has passed, and I would like to get on with my day.”
The therapist only half manages to suppress a slightly hysterical giggle. “Right. Right. I just… A few more questions, if you’ll allow it.”
She quickly scrolls through her assessment form. “Since your last assessment, have you imbibed excessive amounts of alcohol, or taken excessive amounts of either prescription- or street drugs?”
“No.”
“Have you caused physical harm to people other than what was asked of you in the line of duty?”
“No.”
“Have you felt the urge to cause physical harm to anyone to a degree that goes further than your usual baseline?”
“Also no.”
Doctor Allen scribbles down a last few notes and tucks away her tablet. “Then I see no reason to keep you here. Have a nice rest of your day, miss Taylor.”
“Asare-Taylor.”
“Excuse me?” Doctor Allen looks up from where she has a death grip on her tablet.
“Miss Asare-Taylor. That’s my name. Or Miss Asare, if you wish to keep it simple. You might want to take note of that.”
The therapist nods, expression even more shell-shocked than before, while she clutches her tablet like a lifeline. “Miss Asare. Right. I’ll remember that.”
Anne tips her head in return and slips out of the room, leaving only the cup and saucer in the sink as proof she was in the room at all.
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Sounds like something I could write for a lot of my characters, if only I had any knowledge of what actually takes place in a therapy session.
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I can help with that but there are many types of therapy methods. And even maybe changes from cultural ways. But I can give you an idea if you want.
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The type of therapy doctor Allen is aiming for is called Cognitive therapy (or ‘talk therapy’) which revolves around talking about and trying to rationalize your feelings, identifying underlying causes, etc. I hope it’s clear that the way Anne is doing it is not the way you’re supposed to.
Aside from that there are countless other types of therapy. I’m following creative therapy at the moment, since that’s a form of therapy that works for me. Other common forms of therapy include things like animals (usually dogs or horses), dance, etc (also falls under creative therapy, but very different from painting/drawing/etc type I go to).
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It needn’t necessarily be a ‘typical’ therapy session. Writers came up with some creative scenarios for their therapy sessions. @Niki_Christopherson had one submission set in a blacksmith’s shop and another was a peek into a character’s journal. Mine was a character speaking to a bartender and getting into a fight. The ‘stroll’ as we call them was just a creative exercise to get writers thinking of their character’s backstory and working on delivering that information in a natural and creative way. I think everyone did a great job and I’m excited to see what else they come up with in the future.
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Oh, I’m aware there are many kinds of therapies, and I’ve found information enough to be pretty sure which kind works for each character, I just don’t have enough knowledge to write an actual session.
@Robd5822 Ah, so that’s where the prompt came from! I was wondering, but was not curious enough to ask. 
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