To start, when I say outlining, I mean part of my job is to be the girl that creates scenarios that some publishers give to their in-house writers to write. I've only gotten to ghostwrite three separate books that are available on kindle. I won't list them cause of a) NDA and b) their in-house editors changed things in ways I don't always like.
But what I've learned in that field is that "made to sell romance" novels are boring as fuck. Extremely conservatively heteronormative and tropey. Now, I don't mind tropes because tropes are tools after all. And what matters with a tool is how you use it to creates something beautiful and interesting and thought provoking.
But most of the clients i've had over the years didn't want that.
A lot of them pushed back when I tried to create women leads with drive, ambition, and pride. Most of my clients wanted stories of women who needed to be saved. I can't remember the last time I got to outline a story when the client accepted a woman lead who had her own shit together and found love via a more mutual even level and a mutual sharing of resources (emotional and financial).
Now, I've been told that that's because the "Man save woman" stories sell. And I don't have the numbers so that may very well be true. But, I want to share stories of more even romances. When, IF there is a sub/dom aspect, it's because power is willingly given and shared rather than "I'm on the outs and need you to lift me up).
It reminds me of an article from YEARS ago, when a black woman porn writer/director was told to write movies with "black woman subservient" themes because her clients told her that "that's what sells". I wondered then as I do now, "Is it that that's what sells? Or does it sell because you give no other option?"
As you can guess, this week has me thinking a lot about that. And hopefully, starting this year and into 2025, I will finally get off my butt and throw my hat in the ring and write the stories that I want to read. Because my clients certainly aren't interested.
And who knows? Maybe I'll help prove that I'm right.
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A friend encouraged me to throw this up for my Birthday so, here it is. I don't need anything on this list so there's no pressure or worry. But thought I'd share if you're interested.
I think this week I'll write about some of my lesser known OCs. Just need to decide who. I know I got my FFXIV gals and Charlotte from WoW on my brain lately so it'll likely be one of them.
Heya Hiya friend, I'm Fiona aka "Fi-Fi Squeaks". I'm a transgirl writer and streamer mostly on twitch, ko-fi, and patreon.
I specialize in fandom writing, erotica, fantasy, and horror and love fighting games. Visit my links some time or check my pinned for my relevant tags and info.
Art by bulartww (twitter) and Camelot respectively
When I met my friend Allfia, I knew that I had found an amazing artist and friend. They gave me one of my favorite Vixiee pieces of all time that I will be printing and putting up in a frame when I get a little more money after this recent move. But let me tell you about the time they created my current favorite WoW OC.
(Art by Allfia)
I still remember when I contacted allfia to create some art for me. I literally asked her to give me a blood elf fencer and said "she was free "You are free to design whatever you like, as long as she is black and is a fencer."
Apparently this thrilled them over the moons because I got a ton of design sketches over the time that followed. And I'd like to share those with you.
(Art by Allfia)
Slowly, I got to see this beautiful woman come to be and it was pure magic ya'll. My vague concept of a pirate hunter and her cute look even got Allfia to make this fun little reaction.
(Art by Allfia)
And it culminated in this piece that is just god damned stunning.
(Art by Allfia)
What I'm saying is you should go and support Allfia. They will stream art and they are just a really awesome chill person.
https://x.com/okayheyoallfia
I was thinking about this after a shower, but I think I want to celebrate roegadyn next month. So expect tons of roeposting of new writing and gposing of my OC, Pfrymlona Greinfyrwyn. But since I"m in the mood,
So let me blather about herj and what I want to do with her.
(Art by Chizups)
Honestly, I don't need November as an excuse for it, but I miss playing and rping my girl so bad ya'll. I'm on a new server and I think I've only done a handful of rp events in total.
I know, with my bestie's permission, I'd like to write about her and her partner though. Because I love these two and I can't get enough of them. But most importantly, I feel like of all the OCs Pfrymlona knows, it'll be Frey who gets her to open up about her feelings of disconnection with her heritage and to really embrace her own identity. Maybe even get her to continue learning how to read Old Roegadyn letters, since Pfrymlona is only literate in Eorzean.
(Art by MaddieBiscuits)
Beyond that though, I just love FFXIV. I'm a proud member of Wuk Lamat's defense force. And I am eager for the next patch so I can check out the FFXI raid.
You know, I sometimes ask myself why I'm so dedicated to fighting games. Especially when I think back to how, for many years, I avoided them entirely because of big name toxic streamers and the toxic attitudes I've seen from fighting game players I knew personally.
I think I now have an answer that I'd like to share with you.
Characters and Story
So first, I know that story has never been the MAIN thing for fighting games. Stories and endings are usually very simple and straight forward. And even today, I'd never dare compare most fighting game stories to in depth tales spun in RPGs (Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous) and certainly not from print books. However, there is gold to be had and a huge part of that comes from the characters.
For example, as a transgirl, Bridget's discovery of her transness in Strive was mindblowing. And it got me to get back into fighting games. It's easy to want to cheer on the struggles of characters when you can understand their motivations and gimmick. In a way it's kinda like cheering on your favorite professional wrestlers. You can see their gimmick, you know what they're about and you want them to succeed.
In fact, I joked with my bestie that the more sympathetic I am to a character, the more likely I am to want to main them. And then I consider characters who are like me (biracial/black/creatives/entertainers/so on). And then a variety of factors. The characters I like most are all characters I sympathize with (Manon), enjoy their personalities (Leroy), or enjoy their interactions with the rest of the cast (Anre).
Vision
I won't get into details on medical things, but I have a medical condition that, at present, makes it hard for me to see small text on a screen. This has made me hunt down text size mods for Owlcat's Pathfinder games so I could actually read the text as I played. Or supersize my UI in FFXIV so I could actually function.
This is also why I'm fine with more actiony games and why I welcome voice acting when I can get it. I love to read. But I hate squinting or shoving my face in front of a book or screen when text is too small.
Fighting games, for the most part, don't provide this problem for me. The characters and sprites, particle effects, and moves are large. Healthbars and Super meters tend to be easy to read. So my vision doesn't really become a hindrance to how I play. Simply put, I can play this game without a lot of extra hoop
Mastery
Finally, I am not, in any shape of the word, a master at fighting games. But, I am getting better each time I pick up the controls and battle with my friends or with strangers in ranked. The game never changes and, barring patches and updates, the tools don't change. So I can feel myself growing better.
I remember a discussion about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in videogames in Super Eyepatch Wolf's Shenmue 3 vid. I can look back and see how I've improved as I play. And that's a feeling I can't get out of most rpgs.
For example, when I think about how proud i was to make it into silver with Luke in SF6, I was not very good. I didn't know combos. I didn't understand frames, and I barely knew how to anti-air. But now, I'm good enough that I can pick up the basics of a character fast. I can see my gameplay AS I play and point out my own mistakes. In short, I'm much better and I can keep getting better.
So That's Why I...
There are other reasons of course. Like I haven't talked about how much music, visuals, and vibe get me into fighting games. Like I love character and stage themes. I love how massive these weird fighter personalities can get. And I adore the hype of new characters and the tournament scene. In fact, I hope to one day make my own Evo push (even if I end up losing in Pools, I want to try and see how far I can go).
It's also why I've been playing more fighters both on and off twitch. And why I invite you to play fighting games if you are even slightly interested. I realize that competition and pvp can be scary and frustrating for a lot of players, so I would say seek out fighters with rich singleplayer modes.
Here's a short list and explanation on games I think might be good to look into. I am not saying these are the best of the best or even the best for new players (since I also enjoy games like The Black Heart). These are just the ones I personally enjoy and I'm sure more experienced fighter gamers will have better suggestions.
Street Fighter 6: World Tour Mode, ON ITS OWN is worth the price of entry. You get to play a created character going through a story. While the story is mid at best, the fun part is learning how to play via the minigames and challenges, meeting the signature characters and learning stories about them, and creating disgusting busted combos of moves that you pick up as you play
Best of all, you don't need to buy season passes to use dlc character moves for your create a character. And you also have the standard story mode, an arcade with classic games you can play on your own, and recently a mode to train against virtual opponents at various skill levels.
Good shit.
Tekken 8: Similarly to SF6, there's an arcade quest mode. Which is built to teach you how to play. And it gives you advice geared towards the characters you want to use. And the character episodes are very short runs with five fights for an ending that's often silly and nonsensically enjoyable.
I will say that the main "story mode" is meh for me, but I'm told that a) Tekken's story was always a secondary thing and b) This is my first Tekken so I don't know anything about these characters before I played.
Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising: So the main reason to try this game is that it's free to try. You get to play some of the single player story mode, the "not-Fall Guys" mode, and you can play with Gran and a rotating pool of two other characters.
Obviously, there are things about the free to play mode that stinks, but I'd say getting to try a good game for the price of free is NOT a problem.
Anywho, if you play Fighting Games, I'd love to hear what draws you to them.
