7GrandDad

If you kept an eye on the status updates earlier today, you have likely seen my dismay that someone had beaten me to writing the Super Mario Bros as a mafia story. I was indeed rather disappointed, I was eager to portray the world of the Mushroom Kingdom in a much, much different light with different portrayals of characters (especially Mario, who is pretty much a blank slate to begin with outside of his canon heroism and bravery). You might be asking, "But Grand Dad, if you wanted to write a Mafia Mario fanfiction, why don't you do it anyways?" I have a particular need for some kind of spin in my stories. Even in my planned Miitopia retelling that I mentioned last blog post, I plan to do things that doesn't exactly occur in the actual game, including world-building and lore, in addition to filling out those random levels that occur between major story events, mini-bosses, and bosses with some events, character development, and drama between party members and other characters. Heck, there may even be a deviation or two. But knowing there already exists a mafia take on the Super Mario Bros? Who is to say it hasn't been done before that or again since? And if I write my take on such a thing, will I be able to offer a fresh spin on it? I believe it may be best to go back to the drawing board for a potential Mario fanfiction, shelving elements that I liked in the scrapped mafia story for later use.

I haven't made a ponysona quite yet, but my main OC I use, Bubbling Elixir, could be considered heterosexual though I usually don't factor in gender preferences, romantic or for doing the sideways dance, into my characters, since I never really focus on romance. In fact, some of my sexuality-minority characters could fall under the "Have I Mentioned I'm Gay?" and "Bi The Way" tropes due to how little emphasis I put on romance. Though if I did have to make a ponysona, she'll likely be asexual like I am.

Spends two weeks brainstorming on a retelling of Miitopia. Me: "Right then. I believe I may have figured out how to remain faithful to the game's events while allowing room for the main characters to develop, interact, and play off of each other. I also have a few ideas for jokes up my sleeves. I just need to begin writing it out." My brain: "You're being a complete imbecile. No one will like your retelling for Miitopia, all you will get is flames and demands for you to delete the story and end your life. This is the kind of thing that's better off staying in your head than wasting your time to only get insults. And even if the writing is well-liked, you'll just get burned out like last time by trying to keep up with your readers' demands for new chapters." Me: "Thanks for the encouragement." I do not know why, but every time I fully flesh out an idea I get the feeling people will dislike it. I usually have a bad habit of abandoning fanfiction when I get constructive criticism due to fear of it becoming the next My Immortal. I completely realize that the person offering criticism is only trying to help, but I become reluctant to continue a clearly flawed story when I have to face that it is indeed flawed. And even worse, I fear getting flamed, as I have seen many writers and artists receive insults instead of constructive criticism. This fear may have something to do with my past of emotional abuse where my mother's ex-boyfriend will insult my works and imply that I will never become a good artist, behind the thin veil of calling it "criticism". And when I show reluctance with doing art he would simply accuse me of being unable to take criticism. Maybe I am unable to handle being criticized. I don't know. I might type out the story in a Google Doc but I will have to debate over posting it online.

I enjoy Coca-Cola, though I'm fine with potential soda substitutes. Pepsi, Sam's Cola, RC Cola, whatever.

I have several. Playing video games help me feel relaxed or perk me up. Believe it or not, the higher the stakes in a certain game, the better I feel, most particularly after I beat them. I remember fighting Dark Bowser in Bowser's Inside Story when I was younger. Nowadays, such fights I will do to relax include: The Pokemon League in Pokemon Moon, the Dark Sun (the boss of the 8th District in New Lumos) in Miitopia--I'm not insane enough to do the Tower of Dread casually, and I plan to add the final boss fight of Paper Jam to my list when I get there. I also randomly lurk on YouTube. A good YouTube Poop or meme will be enough to bring my mood up. For YouTube Poops, I recommend the Chowder YTP collab and a two-part Frozen YTP called "Cold", and for a quick short meme I suggest the first Collective Poetry and most Protegent videos. Or just binge on the Seth MacFarlane shows such as the early seasons of Family Guy. Later seasons are very hit or miss for me.