If you have a piece of a story you’re stuck on & you think I might be of assistance with a transition prescription, plot diagnosis, or a character autopsy, appointments are currently available.
Contact my secretary Lucy HERE (it’s Ask, don’t get excited, you don’t actually speak to her, she tends to be cranky anyhow).
Kindly limit your message(s) to 2 max per a given issue, please-and-thank-you. 😷
(We haven’t done this in awhile, and the weather’s gross here, and I’m chained to the desk doing other stuff, so hit me up. I’m around. And possibly bored. I’m definitely bored. Save me.)
Hey, dear. I have a prompt on my 2019 Kink Bingo card that I am having trouble getting started on. What advice can you give me for my Cupping square? :) By the way, thank you for opening up your ask box for things like this. I really appreciate it. <3333
* Let’s call this is an 18+ discussion, not graphic or anything, but if you are a young’un scurry on, or if you embarrass easily, may wanna bypass. *
Welp. This one got me. I’m not ashamed to say I had to go to Urban Dictionary for confirmation that this is going down the road I suspected - imagine my surprise when seeing this in the top definition spot:
My presumption, given the context, is that this is not the one K-Bing implies.
Now, medically, the answer is clear as to how such a scenario would play out, with the standard turn-head-and-cough, but that’s not the advice which you seek, and there’s no literature on PubMed that’s gonna solve my dilemma.
So I think the best route for you to go is similar to the medical approach, which is that said cup does not happen unaccompanied, there are other actions. Ideally, it’s going to be surrounded with at least a little plot, an interesting scenario. And you have two options that I can see, one risqué and one that’s just balls-out… um… you know. That. What I said.
(Keep in mind I don’t write the kinkage and that what I know of them could fit on the head of a pin. But I’m good at the sex. #humbly Let’s hope that transfers.)
I suspect a knee-jerk would be for this to fall under the category of “Never Neglect The Balls”, and to be sure, you can definitely go that route - a stellar beej, or a beej that’s prolonged because of all the attention given to ‘em. You know. A disparate ratio between the tree and the fruit, as it were.
Possibly more interesting - and dancing in the area of what may be another square, if there’s a gettin’ busy in public one - is playing around under the table/tablecloth whilst on a double date scenario. Or dinner with parents. Make it an uncomfortable situation to begin with, is my point. Such a scenario as this one (other peeps in close proximity) takes the beej element completely out of it. And dude can be surprised that she’s unzipping him, but then be into it, but then be like “Hey, she’s not strokin’ the salami here, she’s just being all tickly and tracing little swirls on the boys”. Pretty soon said salami will be totally outta the way, and yahtzee, more access.
I find balls on the whole boring (sports, formal events, these) so this may or may not be good advice. Above all, I’d be creative. And that sounds like a decently creative scenario to me. 😉
.
Here’s the scoop on visiting Dr. Nash for plot prescriptions
I have a question!!!!! I saw your post about how a reader insert doesn't have to have y/n, so do you have any tips on how to do this? thanks Dr Nash 😍🧡💙😍💜💚😍
Easiest trick? Give ‘em a nickname that’s something readers could relate to/have a decent working knowledge of. So, for example, not “Red”, because not everybody has red hair. But! We can suspend disbelief to a degree when it comes to stuff integral to the character.
Think along the lines of something to do with occupation. I had the lead male call one of my “readers” Snipes, because they are [”you” are] a sniper. “Doc” if a physician, maybe “Teach” if a professor, stuff like that.
I had another character where she stated she wasn’t comfortable giving her name to another character, so he asked if she had any nicknames, and she said “Grace”, because she tended to be clumsy, and her family called her that as a joke.
I advised a friend recently to give her lead protagonist a nickname related to where they’re from; she went with Dallas. Though I’m biased, I think Nash has a nice ring to it, as well. 😉
And remember, during scenes where it’s two people talking to each other, there’s no need for them to say each other’s names - they know who they are, and there’s no one else in the room. Unless somebody is yelling (either across the house or because we’re angry), we typically don’t make a point to use the other person’s name.
Also nothing wrong with throwing in “Hon” or “Doll” or “Kid” or whatnot, depending on circumstance/who’s saying it (such as a romantic moment or flirty moment). Otherwise, pronouns do fine. In any event, like I say, I figure there’s already suspension of disbelief that “you” are in their world, say as a hunter in SPN or someone with powers in Marvel or a detective in Sherlock, so a touch more, re: occupation/hometown isn’t too much to ask, I don’t believe.
On a tangential side note, when it comes to reader inserts, I think the bigger mistake - in the sense of throwing readers out of the story - is drilling down too hard on physical characteristics (hair type/color, height, eye color, skin color, etc. - excepting when it’s purposefully meant to be, say, a large-bodied reader or person of color reader or ace reader, etc. - those stories are intending to target an under-served audience).
.
Here’s the scoop on visiting Dr. Nash for plot prescriptions
You discover that Y/N in all of her incarnations is in fact some kind of vampiric/parasitic entity, (similar to the polymorph from Red Dwarf.) Infecting and feeding on the intelligence, creativity and good taste of all who encounter her kind, forcing some to spread the infection. Assuming the protagonists have some level of immunity, or at least enough good sense to avoid a terminal case, how would they go about killing the bitch?
Whilst your story is not afflicted, others may be, those languishing in the drafts of fanfic writers, ready to infect all the other drafts, thus this must be addressed.
Parasites are conquerable, but they are nasty and spread like crazy through some manner or another, be it a thing (contaminated food or water, for instance) or a living, breathing vector. Sadly, we are dealing with both. The things are the stories, and the vectors are twofold: primary are writers, and secondary the readers who further disseminate Whyenne and her adventures to the masses. It will not be possible to remedy the things (stories) already out there, that bell’s been rung, so the mode of eradication must stem from those stories yet to enter the population.
Now, much like the situation with mosquitoes and malaria, the answer isn’t to do away with the vectors, mosquitoes serve a purpose in the ecosystem (though I can’t recall what) and their destruction would surely impact shit we like. Plus, it’s nigh on impossible, though I hear certain sub-species can be rendered null by cutting off the jizz or however mosquitoes get knocked-up. I suspect if readers become more discerning, stop blowing their wads at mediocrity, this would slow Whyenne’s roll. But to do away with either would be of detriment to the fanfic ecosystem, can’t go that route, best to flood the readers with uncontaminated wares: good-to-great, above-average, considered, measured, well-plotted, fun, deep, heart-grabbing, soul-stirring, and in general feels-inducing fics, preferably those featuring no Whyenne, or at least a minimal amount.
At the same time the uninfected writers flood the market, as it were, and begin to have impact upon the infected readers, the primary vectors who are carrying the disease must also be addressed, despite the fact that they likely suffer no symptoms, ergo they have no idea they are spreading the bleccch. As this is clearly a cranial parasite situation, and the brain is a layered place, it will prove difficult. Parasites can get wormy, drill deep, set up shop, and grow to crazy lengths, the kind that makes pythons go: “Well, damn.”
Anti-parasitic is the prescription, it’ll bust through the cell wall and garble up the lil’ fucker’s genetic material so it can’t multiply. And the best anti-parasitic for Whyenne Epidemiosis is Abetadiazole, commonly called “Beta”. But not just any Beta - daily Beta for one week, that which is not merely a test reader, that which serves as editor, that which says, “Hey, you do realize you’ve used Y/N twenty-two times over the course of about 800 words, right? Maybe we throw in a pronoun or five? Ten? Fifteen?” The host of said parasite will, of course, initially display the side-effect of Hurt-Fee-Fee-itis. This is just the beast in their brain talking. They’ll likely need more courses of Abetadiazole. But it’s okay.
The tough - those capable of self-critique and of accepting critique - will survive, their immune system will kick in and begin rejecting the inclination to use Y/N in every paragraph, assuming they are capable of paragraphs. Signs the treatment is working is when Y/N does not make an appearance in the first few paragraphs. Immunity will shows signs of becoming more robust when Y/N does not appear above the cut. And in some cases, this is the best we can hope for.
.
Here’s the scoop on visiting Dr. Nash for plot prescriptions
do we know anything about john winchester's parents, besides Henry? Do you have any speculation as to why the boys were named after Mary's parents? We learn from Henry that he hadn't abandoned young John. Thanks to Abaddon. But I need more!
Ah, an autopsy. Everybody gown up. Grab the rib spreader. This is gonna be a good one. Characters like Millie are my most favorite when it comes to writing in the vein of “based on…” and “adapted by…” because we have little information on them, meaning we can fill in those cracks ourselves, but at the same time? In this case, at least? The little bit we’ve got on Millie holds a lot.
Brief disclaimer: I am of the opinion that the writers (excepting Kripke, who was playing the long game with a five-year plan) aren’t doing as much foreshadowing and employing other sneaky-tricksy, deep-seated literary gambits as I’ve noted more than a few viewers assert; it seems to me that the writers backtrack and use past plot points (broadly, that is - evidence has shown us that, on the whole, they aren’t precise canon adherents) to bolster present/immediate-future arcs. However, it gives us the opportunity to expound upon the more minute things/characters they’ve forgotten about and/or left to languish.
Let’s do a list of knowns vs. unknowns about The Mysterious Mrs. Winchester, because the former’s more important than the latter when getting our brains on task for an adaptation/based-upon piece, a.k.a. fanfiction. I have used her as a pivotal player (in the backstory) for my big story, so minus some specific lines I just pulled from a script, the following is coming from my (canon-based) notes. You have come to the right person #humbly #not really #Millie’s my jam
Check this out.
Millie has only come up twice in the show, most recently on Lady Antonia “Brain-Diddle” Bevell’s grossly incomplete mood board, then in a flashback during a conversation between Henry and Josie. Watch your step for that turd of exposition dump up top:
Catch that?
Item #1: Millie is aware of Henry’s job / The MoLs
Perhaps she’s even met Josie - decent speculation, Josie is her husband’s partner, at least for now, in the context of their novice/initiate status, and Josie felt comfortable referring to Millie by name to Henry, vs. saying “Your wife is lucky to have you.”
To what degree is Millie in-the-know? Specifically, is she aware of the paranormal bend of it all? That’s a crack we can fill. She could very well be under the impression this is some sort of niche government division.
I vote “no”. I think Henry would’ve said, “Except she doesn’t know, Josie. She doesn’t know what we deal with, how dangerous the work can be. All she’d know is that she’s become a widow….”
A little sidebar to bolster my claims of her being in the know - whether Henry had, in the past, started tip-toeing down the road of cluing in John on his work is unknown, but he sure as shit was starting to edge there based on the whole “What’s that pin mean” - “You’ll find out” exchange. Now, Henry’s smart, and smart people know that telling your offspring to keep things secret from the other parent is a dumbass move, from beans to beanstalks, and particularly when they’re in mouthy toddler beansprout stage, that crew can’t keep anything secret, it ain’t how they’re wired.
So Millie knows, and I think Millie knows about the bumps in the night. I think she knows Henry’s father and grandfather were members. And she knows that means John’s on deck. And she knows that’s bad news. Here’s why.
Item #2: Millie & John move from Illinois
Henry went missing in ‘58, we’ve no idea when when she moved. Was she from Illinois? Did she move alone? Did she have family somewhere? Did she go there first? Did she go straight to Kansas? Why did she end up in Kansas? Nobody knows. We’ve zero knowledge of anything in this area. Plot away.
But we do have the knowledge she got herself and her son the hell outta Dodge. She left friends. Took John away from his friends. Left the house she shared with her husband. Again: did she lose the house? Did she not have a skill set that would’ve = decent employment? Do the MoLs not have some sort of killed-in-the-line-of-duty spousal/family payout? Was it a crappy one? Got me.
Point is, single motherhood is tough now, much less the further back in time you go. It’s possible she did just fine on her own.
But let’s talk probable.
Item #3: Millie remarried & put down roots in Kansas
When we meet adult John, a random in town tells him “Say hello to your old man for me.”
[glances around]
Cool.
Now, the writers - when they had to do the whole MoL thing in order to get us to the bunker so there was a stable set piece for consistency or budget or whatever - absolutely forgot this one-off comment that was made in the infancy of the show, guaranteed, hundred percent, no way I’m wrong. Same goes for the one-off “comes from a family of mechanics” line that some fans glom onto.
These are canon misfires that piddled into the ocean, never tore through the hull of another ship, and are No Big Deal. [yes I know the difference between cannon and canon, I’m being cheeky, nobody “@” me] Upshot is, we get to stick it into the Millie file. Make stepdad a mechanic. Boom. Done.
In any event, I use the phrase “puts down roots” because this is where John returned to when he left the service, got a job as a mechanic, ultimately started dating this chick named Mary, so this was home. We can reasonably assume, then, that he’d lived there for most of his life, given how young he was when he signed up for the service*.
[* Note: I state vs. suggest because I have extensive character autopsies done on both John and Mary; I’ve covered a bit of my Mary diagnoses elsewhere; just letting y'all know it’s why I tend to state things about them vs. quantify it with “My impression is…”, etc., because I’ve got a decently robust pile of evidence to support my statements; J & M aren’t the topic here, though]
I actually like the misfire line about mechanics, and I like saying that stepdad is a mechanic, because it tracks with items #1-4 above, and gives us…
Item #5: Millie didn’t want John to be in the Men of Letters and made critical life choices to prevent such
Two points for this item:
—> She went from being the wife of an academic professional involved with covert ops to being the wife of a mechanic
This isn’t impossible or strange or noteworthy in-and-of itself. I’m not saying it is, not shitting on blue collar workers or persons who specialize in a trade vs. those on a scholarly track. I don’t mean to infer that Millie - as a single mom in the early ‘60s - lowered her standards or something, that she was desperate for a husband and took what she could get; on the contrary, based on how important knowledge and order was to Henry, how he looked down his nose at what he found to be the pedestrian lifestyle/life choices of hunters, I’d assert that Millie was quite intelligent and perhaps even “upper-crust”.
But that sharp turn, regardless of the impetus, does go to our Millie profile. It’s just interesting, that flip of her switch, especially when you combine it with the move from her established life with a young child.
—> She never told John the truth about Henry’s disappearance
Why? Why would you do that to your kid? Why would you allow him to have the impression - and the heartache from - believing he was abandoned?
Because - what trumps everything (or should) for a parent?
Protecting your kid.
The Namesake Question
Real answer: the characters didn’t exist at the time the show’s skeleton was being assembled.
Moving on to the answer(s) we can divine based on canon…
First obvious answer, on the Millie front, is they had two boys. Yeah, yeah, could’ve been “Miller” or her maiden name or something, and we don’t know their middle names, etc. Knock it out, throw it in as a plot point. And true, it’s not like they went with, say, Henry and Sam. The Dean character could’ve pulled off the nickname “Hank”, admittedly difficult as it is to imagine from our current vantage point. So, you’re right - it’s a thing.
Again, I’ve long had autopsies done on John and Mary, adding to them over seasons 11-13 (when I started watching in real time), and those are lengthy, winding roads that do branch off of the Millie highway, but aren’t the topic here. Just a reminder that all the things I’m presenting below in a factual tone, I’ve got evidence to back it up.
Based on John and Mary’s behavior, their choices, their parenting styles, we can paint a pretty clear picture in our minds of their childhoods. For John, we’ve covered the broad sweeps of his to the extent we can by way of examining Millie. For Mary, we have more, and have seen her parents and their behavior, their choices, their parenting style. I don’t see the Campbells as putting family first above all (they put the mission first - sound like anyone else we know?), whereas Henry has been shown to love his wife and son more than anything, so had John been exposed to him? Wow. We probably wouldn’t recognize him.
But as it stands, John doesn’t have an instinctual reaction to put family above everything else. Neither does Mary, as we’ve since learned. Dean does, vehemently, and as Sam matured, his instinct has changed to be this way, as well. It happens - some of us, either purposefully or unintentionally, end up replicating our childhoods for our children; others, like Dean and Sam, strive to do the opposite. Even siblings growing up in the same environment can go different directions - it’s a crap shoot to a degree, whether when, upon leaving the house, you go out the front door or the back.
So while I don’t see that Mary was particularly close to Deanna and Samuel, I do find there’s enough to support that John wasn’t close at all to Millie. Absence of evidence does not = proof, true, so the lack of him talking about his mother alone doesn’t exactly make a solid case. Having said that, there’s multiple reasons (again-again, that’s for another time) based on solid evidence (i/e, John’s actions/decisions), which have me leaning towards he and his mother being anywhere from distant to estranged, not covering that list, but one that’s germane to our current topic is this:
When John got busy investigating Mary’s death - or letting folks assume he was working through his grief by ditching his business and checking out on being a father - he left Dean and Sam with Mike and Kate Guenther while he was off drinking and researching, perhaps others (and yes, Bobby later, but I’m talking about initially, in their hometown) if the Guenthers were unable, and who knows who all if he left for days at a time.
So why did John and Dean and Sam not ever stay with Millie? Why were Dean and Sam not left with their grandmother? She was right there.
Well, the answer is that the writers didn’t think of Henry (and by extension, Millie) til seasons later, but for us, it’s a crack that could be filled, a nice deep one, too.
Three possibilities:
(1) Millie had died prior(2) Millie and John were not close, possibly estranged(3) Millie did help watch after Dean and Sam
Numbers 1 and 2 are plausible, and it actually could be both. Could also spin it to where Millie was dead, stepfather was alive (we have evidence of that, see above, RE: rando dude’s “Say hi to your old man for me”) and John wasn’t comfortable leaving Dean and Sam with him, or there was some reason the stepdad was unable to take care of them, or maybe John loved stepdad dearly and would have stayed with him/left the kids with him, but stepdad had died or remarried or moved away before Dean was born. Fill in that blank yourself.
I don’t find number 3 very probable, as it’s not mentioned in John’s journal. He specifically mentions Mike and Kate several times. He even mentions Missouri meeting Dean and Sam, how they really took to her immediately. He would’ve mentioned Millie.
I say all that to say, the lack of naming one of the boys after Henry is of note, but not mysterious for me because John was under the impression that his father ditched him and his mother. And, um...
.
INT. DINER – DAY
We see a close-up of a black-and-white photograph of HENRY holding a baseball with his arm around a young boy holding a bat. HENRY is sitting at a table holding the photograph. DEAN and SAM are standing at the counter.
SAM Driver's license says he's Henry Winchester from Normal, Illinois. He knows Dad's birthday, the exact place where he was born. Dude, that's our grandfather.
DEAN I'm just saying before we break out the warm and toasties, let's not forget that, uh, H.G. Wells over there left Dad high and dry when he was a kid.
SAM But maybe he didn't run out on Dad – I mean, not on purpose. Maybe he time-traveled here and, I don't know, got stuck.
DEAN Yeah, well, either way, Dad hated the son of a bitch.
.
So name-wise for the Winchester side? Miller, Mills, a maiden name - I can see something as a namesake for Millie still being plausible as one of their middle names; a Henry namesake never had a chance in hell.
And despite neither John nor Mary behaving as if they truly buy into the whole FAMILY IS EVERYTHING stance, Samuel and Deanna died a horrible death, and not far away - it happened when both John and Mary were in the mix, Mary specifically. I don’t see her having to push very hard to get John on board with naming their kids after her parents following a shared traumatic experience.
Alrighty, then.
We can send some samples off to the lab, I hear the Stynes run a really thorough one not too far from here, but I’m pretty satisfied - pass me the sutures, time to tag and bag.
.
.
.
.
That was gross, I’m so apologizing.
.
.
.
.
[whispers] I’m totes not. 😏
Hello, person who has read this far! See HERE for how to make an appointment with Dr. Nash.
My dear. What have you got for finding good villain motivation? Something between Scooby Doo evil realtor and complicated universal domination? I'm at a loss.
Ah, I see. This is a case where the diagnosis lies in vision - not the villain’s, but ours, as writers. The best villains aren’t the ones who are EXTRA! whether it’s in a cartoonish sense or in a super-powered megalomaniac sense. The best are the ones who are human.
Yeah, yeah, I know some of them aren’t in stories - werewolves, vamps, alien overlords and whatnots - but we gotta pretend they are. We gotta pretend they are just as human as we are, maybe they’re smarter in some sense or maybe they’ve got more resources, sure, yet at the end of the day, they’re motivated by the same stuff. The vampire nest comes after the heroes not because they’re hungry - well, maybe, but the hunger’s secondary - but because they’re trying to keep their unit (perhaps they’d consider it their family) intact.
The scariest thing about these sorts of enemies is that they think their actions are justified - true, all villains think this - but in their mind, there’s a sense of virtue to it. Same as the hero’s mentality. Heroes will compromise morals, they aren’t perfect, and they chalk it up to the greater good, to the bigger picture, to ends justifying means. Villains are the same.
So try this: flesh out an outline as if you were planning the arc for a hero - then think of the villain as the hero. Hell, think of that villain as your hero: what would your hero do in the same situation? Make the villain do that - it’ll give the hero a wham-dinger of a fight, they’ll be toe-to-toe combatants, matching wits, similar strategies, whatever the case may be.
Start with what motivates the hero (family? helping those who can’t help themselves? killing bad guys? all of the above?) and mirror that in the villain. Bottom line: make the villain resolute in his beliefs, make him believe he’s defending his family, believe he’s helping people, think he’s taking out bad guys - make him believe he is the good guy.
Unwavering belief in the face of contrary evidence is, in my opinion, a quite frightening and villainous characteristic.
.
Here’s the scoop on visiting Dr. Nash for plot prescriptions
