TftW: Writer's Block
TftW: Writer's Block.
Bojack Horseman (Bojack Horseman TF)
NOTE:
This is a TF of my character into Bojack from Bojack Horseman and is a philosophical and self-aware story based on personal experiences, and this also deals with the subject of criticism and the difference between criticism that was legit, nitpicking and trolling. A Bojack Horseman TF is something i've been meaning to do for a while. This also deals with the subject of making a story in general.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan Forester was a writer and not just any writer, a writer who specialized in supernatural stories about transformations and monsters and yet he used to be heavily criticized by people he knew obviously didn't have anything better to do, some criticisms didn't even sound like legit ones, more like people trying to add logic to something that didn't even need them, and some stories while the plot didn't even need to make sense in it entirety didn't even need anything of the sort in general.
Take for example the Tales From The Web episode 'They Croak', at it's core it was basically just the plot of They Live but with the aliens being frog-people and not skeletal/zombie-like, there wasn't any explanation for the glasses or how nobody else could see them except the main character, because the movie the story was based on didn't explain it either, apart from the fact that Nader (Roddy Piper) gets from a guy played by Keith David. The movie wasn't meant to be some deep philosophical piece about the nature of mankind, just cheesy sci fi fun from the director of the original Halloween.
The story about the werecreature Chumsley, who was basically a comedic version of that 'were-means-man' thing regarding werewolves since he was modeled on a human, a late great comedian named John Candy that was kind of reminiscent of a yeti or gorilla type covered in brown fur, with claws, fangs, a mane, green eyes that glowed whenever the character was excited or under emotional stress, pointed ears and a 300lb build - was also not supposed to have any deep or meaningful story behind it, just a harmless and sweet story about how a fan of a beloved tv show got transported into the world of the show and got to meet the show's star and become the same species as that character - it wasn't meant to be viewed as anything but harmless fun.
Same with the concept of his Yamagoki king story, basically just a CWC parody and nothing more but yet...the criticisms sounding more like nitpicking than actual criticism and it just did nothing but peeve him off, nitpicks were a pet peeve of his after all and it especially annoyed him when people used that kind of tone on him, because to him it sounded like they were being pretentious and acting like a typical film-snob would. He didn't mean harm to anyone, it's just he was embarrassed of his previous behavior but it wasn't his fault though, when his work in the past had been mocked by pretty much all of his enemies, and it kind of make him feel paranoid and like he couldn't trust anyone. The story wasn't meant to be viewed as some kind of meaningful, dramatic piece of literature about the concept of dreams vs reality, it was just harmless fun. But yet things such as convoluted theories about whether or not the character was dreaming/hallucinating the whole thing, comparisons to Lovecraft's work even though the story in general wasn't even remotely like them, and even theories about the character having a god complex or playing god in general were brought up.
He thought that asking those sort of things was unnecessary since they were just stories and nothing to write an overly long essay about, it wasn't like he was trying to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay or anything. He wasn't trying to please anyone and he wasn't going to change for anyone, he felt that if they weren't going to do anything except nitpick and nag, then there was no point. He just was trying to be himself and that was it, it wasn't his fault he was always perceived as being a weirdo. Sure he was a horror buff and loved doing transformations, but he was only doing what he did best.
And while his original incarnations of Tales From The Web were punishment related, those were for a good reason, because he felt that people like the ones in those stories were truly hateful and horrible people that either didn't know better or just assholes for the sake of being assholes. He after all did base the entire series on Tales From The Crypt, and anyone who has seen the show can tell you that even the most likable characters in it got punished for their actions, and some characters like for example Ezra in 'Fitting Punishment' did indeed deserve it. 'Why write about people you don't like?' was pretty much a pointless question that didn't need answering or to be asked from the start, because after all, everyone has people they don't like in their lives.
It was NEVER implied that most of the transformations were permanent, in fact the stories were in anthology format so each time it was a different person, and even if that was the same person getting transformed or whatever - it was obvious that the changes weren't always permanent, heck - some could transform back and forth at will. Personality changes were frequent, yes but some times it wasn't dire to the point of it being akin to losing one's original mind and personality, some times the transformee felt good about it and preferred the new one over the old one.
But he had come a long way since starting out in the world of writing with his watchers on Deviantart and even though he was very embarrassed by how he acted in the past, he still had to admit that he wouldn't have been where he was now without his friends. One evening he was in his study, working on a new TftW episode, he had several in the works but there was one he had been thinking of making for a while. But the problem was he could not think of how the character in the story should start out and he was having writer's block. To get his mind off of things, he decided to check the delivery system to see if he had gotten any gifts from his watchers, and he was pleasantly surprised when one of his watchers sent him something they had made.
That something was a plushie of the baby seahorse from the 'Fish Out Of Water' episode of Bojack Horseman, this naturally made him happy since it was from Bojack Horseman, a show which he had recently gotten into and enjoyed because of how different it was from most animated programming in recent years. The episode with the baby seahorse being his absolute favorite, and not just because the scenes with the particular seahorse were adorable but because of how flawless and beautiful it was in general.
Attached to the baby seahorse plush was a homemade TY style tag with a message on the inside, he clipped the tag off carefully before picking up the plush and hugging it, feeling inspired as he did so.
'Dear Monstermaster13, hope you are having a good time. I hear you are in need of some inspiration so I decided to send you this. Since you gave me such a good idea for a monster, I thought that I'd give you something from a show you liked. Since they were no Bojack toys..at least not yet, I decided to have a go at making them. So here he is, a plushie of that adorable seahorse baby from the 'Fish Out Out Of Water' episode.'
"Aaaaw...thank you."
He hugged the plush and pressed its tummy, the seahorse baby plush making realistic giggling and babbling sounds like the one from the episode. He started writing down the intro of the TftW episode he was working on along with the character introduction, deciding to make the character one that people could relate to. As he did so, he began to undergo a series of changes starting with coarse brown fur slowly sprouting on his hands and arms followed by his own chest and torso.
His stomach inflated a bit, to give him a slightly rounded belly as his black spider themed t shirt turned into a blue turtleneck sweater that was made of woolen material as a grey jacket appeared, he slowly began to elevate in height to 6'6 as he gained about 1200lbs, which was pretty massive but still he wasn't immobile and could still move, his hands and feet stayed as human ones rather than shifting as his grey trousers turned into a pair of cyan colored jeans, a pair of red and white converse sneakers appearing on his new feet. He didn't seem to mind though, in fact he kind of liked it.
In addition to this his hair slowly extended, growing longer and become a mane as his neck thickened and elongated, turning from its fair brownish color to black as his ears developed pointed tips and shifted to become like those of a horse, brownish fur growing around and on his face except for down the middle as a white blaze formed there, a pink bit forming at the tip as his face pushed out into a muzzle. His eyes widening as his appearance became more animated, a couple of lines appearing on his muzzle and also around his eyes as he pretty much now resembled a certain horse tv star.
His voice deepened, gruffened and altered to match his appearance/visage, making him sound a lot like actor Will Arnett, of course he didn't need his glasses to see he was the spitting image of Bojack himself, even right down to sounding like him. His memories shifted a few times and he was fine with it, he was remembering that he was an ex tv-star named Bojack Horseman, who was the victim of a rough childhood among several other things, originally he started out as being somewhat grouchy and bitter but over time he softened up and learned to be a better
person...errr..horse-person.
As he continued writing, he began to think that this was going to be his chance to improve his career, he remembered something about being given a new gig as a writer, he remembered he had been hired to write up a TftW episode. Bojack typed up the rest of the story on the computer and completed it a few seconds later, making sure that there weren't any mistakes. He smiled as he sent the new episode in, a few hours later the new episode was aired online and it was a very successful one, proving to be the most memorable episode of the show so far.
This episode not only made him a household name again but got him lots of positive attention and improved his career, the episode was written and directed by him and focused on a character who got rewarded for his actions instead of punished and the character's actions were kindly instead of mean-spirited. He was satisfied with what he had done and he knew he wasn't perfect, but he was okay with being who he was. In addition to this, he learned a lot from this experience. He was later interviewed about the episode and as his experience as a whole.
"So Bojack...how do you feel about this?
"I feel a lot better. I have learned that not everyone is going to like you and there are some people out there that are lot more difficult to please than others, but you cannot please everyone, trying to change who you are just because someone told you to do it for no reason only leads to pleasing everyone except yourself."
"Those are very thoughtful views you have there."
"Thank you, I believe there is good and bad in everybody. And even the most cynical and aggressive people have a soft said to them, no matter how insults, screencaps, hate journals and issues they have...there is a soft side inside them somewhere, you just have to look extra carefully in order to find it."
"That is indeed true.."
"Also those who act tough and act like they don't care and act like they own the place, are really masking their own insecurities and covering up their real feelings. They aren't fooling anyone except themselves. And if they have to pretend to be something they're not in order to maintain an image they made for themselves, they're pretty much just playing charades, very sad charades but charades nonetheless."
"Any advice for the young writers out there?"
"Yes...remember, everybody makes mistakes. And that's alright, because we learn from them and it is from this experience that we improve in general and experiences like this bring us one step closer to understanding what we are really like. You don't have to change your material just because someone doesn't like you, you don't have to please everyone, there are people out there that mask their own problems by acting superior but they are only fooling themselves, just carry on being the you that you know you are."
And so with that, Bojack carried on with the interview, answering questions and giving advice to the viewers at home, furthermore helping out with others including young writers who were dealing with problems similar to what he went through. He was being a mentor and teacher to them, and in return, learning about them and himself at the same time, learning about the many ups and downs that come with life in general as well.
As for what happened later, he enjoyed being who he was and just doing what he did best and he spent a lot of time reflecting and learning about himself and how to make the most out of what he had, sure he wasn't as beloved as he once was but he had always tried to be true to himself and that's all that mattered.
Remember my friends, the message of this story is that you should always be true to yourself no matter what, there are good people on the internet and bad people on the internet and the latter are often either trolling or just don't know how to express themselves in a non-destructive manner, not all criticism has to be sugar-coated, blunt honesty is required sometimes, but those who act like they think they know what is best for you and your work are always in the wrong and are usually guilty of the very thing they are accusing you of as well. Those who act tough and look like they're all dressed up in their finest attitude, pretending they don't care aren't fooling anymore but themselves, they are trying to fool people by pretending to be two when really there is only one of them and they are hiding behind charades and pretty lies.
That is all they are doing, hiding behind charades and pretty lies. They act tough and like they're the better half but they are only fooling themselves and in the end, they are the fools and not you, no matter how many hate-journals or screencaps they make, they are only hiding their own insecurities and other problems and pretending to be someone else, they are not being true to themselves. They can hide behind as many of their watchers as they want but that won't protect them from their own faults or from own behavior, if they act like a good person towards their friends but not to you, they are not worth your time.
Blocking people like that is NOT an act of cowardice but it is in fact sensible, because you shouldn't have to listen to people like that. Just be true to yourself and do what you do best, you don't have to change for anyone. For you are perfect just the way you are, even if you think that you live in a sea of dreams where no one cares about your words. Just be you and everything will work out for the best, remember...be true to who you are and be proud of who and what you are as well.
Bojack Horseman (Bojack Horseman TF)
NOTE:
This is a TF of my character into Bojack from Bojack Horseman and is a philosophical and self-aware story based on personal experiences, and this also deals with the subject of criticism and the difference between criticism that was legit, nitpicking and trolling. A Bojack Horseman TF is something i've been meaning to do for a while. This also deals with the subject of making a story in general.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan Forester was a writer and not just any writer, a writer who specialized in supernatural stories about transformations and monsters and yet he used to be heavily criticized by people he knew obviously didn't have anything better to do, some criticisms didn't even sound like legit ones, more like people trying to add logic to something that didn't even need them, and some stories while the plot didn't even need to make sense in it entirety didn't even need anything of the sort in general.
Take for example the Tales From The Web episode 'They Croak', at it's core it was basically just the plot of They Live but with the aliens being frog-people and not skeletal/zombie-like, there wasn't any explanation for the glasses or how nobody else could see them except the main character, because the movie the story was based on didn't explain it either, apart from the fact that Nader (Roddy Piper) gets from a guy played by Keith David. The movie wasn't meant to be some deep philosophical piece about the nature of mankind, just cheesy sci fi fun from the director of the original Halloween.
The story about the werecreature Chumsley, who was basically a comedic version of that 'were-means-man' thing regarding werewolves since he was modeled on a human, a late great comedian named John Candy that was kind of reminiscent of a yeti or gorilla type covered in brown fur, with claws, fangs, a mane, green eyes that glowed whenever the character was excited or under emotional stress, pointed ears and a 300lb build - was also not supposed to have any deep or meaningful story behind it, just a harmless and sweet story about how a fan of a beloved tv show got transported into the world of the show and got to meet the show's star and become the same species as that character - it wasn't meant to be viewed as anything but harmless fun.
Same with the concept of his Yamagoki king story, basically just a CWC parody and nothing more but yet...the criticisms sounding more like nitpicking than actual criticism and it just did nothing but peeve him off, nitpicks were a pet peeve of his after all and it especially annoyed him when people used that kind of tone on him, because to him it sounded like they were being pretentious and acting like a typical film-snob would. He didn't mean harm to anyone, it's just he was embarrassed of his previous behavior but it wasn't his fault though, when his work in the past had been mocked by pretty much all of his enemies, and it kind of make him feel paranoid and like he couldn't trust anyone. The story wasn't meant to be viewed as some kind of meaningful, dramatic piece of literature about the concept of dreams vs reality, it was just harmless fun. But yet things such as convoluted theories about whether or not the character was dreaming/hallucinating the whole thing, comparisons to Lovecraft's work even though the story in general wasn't even remotely like them, and even theories about the character having a god complex or playing god in general were brought up.
He thought that asking those sort of things was unnecessary since they were just stories and nothing to write an overly long essay about, it wasn't like he was trying to win an Oscar for Best Screenplay or anything. He wasn't trying to please anyone and he wasn't going to change for anyone, he felt that if they weren't going to do anything except nitpick and nag, then there was no point. He just was trying to be himself and that was it, it wasn't his fault he was always perceived as being a weirdo. Sure he was a horror buff and loved doing transformations, but he was only doing what he did best.
And while his original incarnations of Tales From The Web were punishment related, those were for a good reason, because he felt that people like the ones in those stories were truly hateful and horrible people that either didn't know better or just assholes for the sake of being assholes. He after all did base the entire series on Tales From The Crypt, and anyone who has seen the show can tell you that even the most likable characters in it got punished for their actions, and some characters like for example Ezra in 'Fitting Punishment' did indeed deserve it. 'Why write about people you don't like?' was pretty much a pointless question that didn't need answering or to be asked from the start, because after all, everyone has people they don't like in their lives.
It was NEVER implied that most of the transformations were permanent, in fact the stories were in anthology format so each time it was a different person, and even if that was the same person getting transformed or whatever - it was obvious that the changes weren't always permanent, heck - some could transform back and forth at will. Personality changes were frequent, yes but some times it wasn't dire to the point of it being akin to losing one's original mind and personality, some times the transformee felt good about it and preferred the new one over the old one.
But he had come a long way since starting out in the world of writing with his watchers on Deviantart and even though he was very embarrassed by how he acted in the past, he still had to admit that he wouldn't have been where he was now without his friends. One evening he was in his study, working on a new TftW episode, he had several in the works but there was one he had been thinking of making for a while. But the problem was he could not think of how the character in the story should start out and he was having writer's block. To get his mind off of things, he decided to check the delivery system to see if he had gotten any gifts from his watchers, and he was pleasantly surprised when one of his watchers sent him something they had made.
That something was a plushie of the baby seahorse from the 'Fish Out Of Water' episode of Bojack Horseman, this naturally made him happy since it was from Bojack Horseman, a show which he had recently gotten into and enjoyed because of how different it was from most animated programming in recent years. The episode with the baby seahorse being his absolute favorite, and not just because the scenes with the particular seahorse were adorable but because of how flawless and beautiful it was in general.
Attached to the baby seahorse plush was a homemade TY style tag with a message on the inside, he clipped the tag off carefully before picking up the plush and hugging it, feeling inspired as he did so.
'Dear Monstermaster13, hope you are having a good time. I hear you are in need of some inspiration so I decided to send you this. Since you gave me such a good idea for a monster, I thought that I'd give you something from a show you liked. Since they were no Bojack toys..at least not yet, I decided to have a go at making them. So here he is, a plushie of that adorable seahorse baby from the 'Fish Out Out Of Water' episode.'
"Aaaaw...thank you."
He hugged the plush and pressed its tummy, the seahorse baby plush making realistic giggling and babbling sounds like the one from the episode. He started writing down the intro of the TftW episode he was working on along with the character introduction, deciding to make the character one that people could relate to. As he did so, he began to undergo a series of changes starting with coarse brown fur slowly sprouting on his hands and arms followed by his own chest and torso.
His stomach inflated a bit, to give him a slightly rounded belly as his black spider themed t shirt turned into a blue turtleneck sweater that was made of woolen material as a grey jacket appeared, he slowly began to elevate in height to 6'6 as he gained about 1200lbs, which was pretty massive but still he wasn't immobile and could still move, his hands and feet stayed as human ones rather than shifting as his grey trousers turned into a pair of cyan colored jeans, a pair of red and white converse sneakers appearing on his new feet. He didn't seem to mind though, in fact he kind of liked it.
In addition to this his hair slowly extended, growing longer and become a mane as his neck thickened and elongated, turning from its fair brownish color to black as his ears developed pointed tips and shifted to become like those of a horse, brownish fur growing around and on his face except for down the middle as a white blaze formed there, a pink bit forming at the tip as his face pushed out into a muzzle. His eyes widening as his appearance became more animated, a couple of lines appearing on his muzzle and also around his eyes as he pretty much now resembled a certain horse tv star.
His voice deepened, gruffened and altered to match his appearance/visage, making him sound a lot like actor Will Arnett, of course he didn't need his glasses to see he was the spitting image of Bojack himself, even right down to sounding like him. His memories shifted a few times and he was fine with it, he was remembering that he was an ex tv-star named Bojack Horseman, who was the victim of a rough childhood among several other things, originally he started out as being somewhat grouchy and bitter but over time he softened up and learned to be a better
person...errr..horse-person.
As he continued writing, he began to think that this was going to be his chance to improve his career, he remembered something about being given a new gig as a writer, he remembered he had been hired to write up a TftW episode. Bojack typed up the rest of the story on the computer and completed it a few seconds later, making sure that there weren't any mistakes. He smiled as he sent the new episode in, a few hours later the new episode was aired online and it was a very successful one, proving to be the most memorable episode of the show so far.
This episode not only made him a household name again but got him lots of positive attention and improved his career, the episode was written and directed by him and focused on a character who got rewarded for his actions instead of punished and the character's actions were kindly instead of mean-spirited. He was satisfied with what he had done and he knew he wasn't perfect, but he was okay with being who he was. In addition to this, he learned a lot from this experience. He was later interviewed about the episode and as his experience as a whole.
"So Bojack...how do you feel about this?
"I feel a lot better. I have learned that not everyone is going to like you and there are some people out there that are lot more difficult to please than others, but you cannot please everyone, trying to change who you are just because someone told you to do it for no reason only leads to pleasing everyone except yourself."
"Those are very thoughtful views you have there."
"Thank you, I believe there is good and bad in everybody. And even the most cynical and aggressive people have a soft said to them, no matter how insults, screencaps, hate journals and issues they have...there is a soft side inside them somewhere, you just have to look extra carefully in order to find it."
"That is indeed true.."
"Also those who act tough and act like they don't care and act like they own the place, are really masking their own insecurities and covering up their real feelings. They aren't fooling anyone except themselves. And if they have to pretend to be something they're not in order to maintain an image they made for themselves, they're pretty much just playing charades, very sad charades but charades nonetheless."
"Any advice for the young writers out there?"
"Yes...remember, everybody makes mistakes. And that's alright, because we learn from them and it is from this experience that we improve in general and experiences like this bring us one step closer to understanding what we are really like. You don't have to change your material just because someone doesn't like you, you don't have to please everyone, there are people out there that mask their own problems by acting superior but they are only fooling themselves, just carry on being the you that you know you are."
And so with that, Bojack carried on with the interview, answering questions and giving advice to the viewers at home, furthermore helping out with others including young writers who were dealing with problems similar to what he went through. He was being a mentor and teacher to them, and in return, learning about them and himself at the same time, learning about the many ups and downs that come with life in general as well.
As for what happened later, he enjoyed being who he was and just doing what he did best and he spent a lot of time reflecting and learning about himself and how to make the most out of what he had, sure he wasn't as beloved as he once was but he had always tried to be true to himself and that's all that mattered.
Remember my friends, the message of this story is that you should always be true to yourself no matter what, there are good people on the internet and bad people on the internet and the latter are often either trolling or just don't know how to express themselves in a non-destructive manner, not all criticism has to be sugar-coated, blunt honesty is required sometimes, but those who act like they think they know what is best for you and your work are always in the wrong and are usually guilty of the very thing they are accusing you of as well. Those who act tough and look like they're all dressed up in their finest attitude, pretending they don't care aren't fooling anymore but themselves, they are trying to fool people by pretending to be two when really there is only one of them and they are hiding behind charades and pretty lies.
That is all they are doing, hiding behind charades and pretty lies. They act tough and like they're the better half but they are only fooling themselves and in the end, they are the fools and not you, no matter how many hate-journals or screencaps they make, they are only hiding their own insecurities and other problems and pretending to be someone else, they are not being true to themselves. They can hide behind as many of their watchers as they want but that won't protect them from their own faults or from own behavior, if they act like a good person towards their friends but not to you, they are not worth your time.
Blocking people like that is NOT an act of cowardice but it is in fact sensible, because you shouldn't have to listen to people like that. Just be true to yourself and do what you do best, you don't have to change for anyone. For you are perfect just the way you are, even if you think that you live in a sea of dreams where no one cares about your words. Just be you and everything will work out for the best, remember...be true to who you are and be proud of who and what you are as well.
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