#I don't just have mdzs on the brain but they certainly are what I *draw* the most these days. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

travelingneuritis · 1 year

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Hello! I have been LOSING it over your cyberpunk fic - it's some of the best and most exciting science fiction writing I've read in a long time. I was wondering if you might share some of your influences for the fic? I would really love to read them! I saw you mention Snow Crash in the author's notes and it piqued my interest re: re: what else you're drawing from, canonical, fanfictional, or contemporary.

ok firstly, hi!!!! and holy shit that's so nice of you, what an unbelievable compliment for what I still halfway think of as robot-fucking porn that got out of hand. i'm so glad you're enjoying it!! here's my far-from-exhaustive yet still really long and rambling list of Media In This Genre I Enjoy:

Obviously, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and its loose sequel, The Diamond Age. Both describe a plausible near-future of improved technology, deepening economic stratification, and a society crumpling under the weight of looming collapse. That makes them sound like Any Other Sci-Fi Novel but I assure you, they are a delicious and sensitive read. (The Diamond Age is one of my all-time favorite novels: expansive yet tight worldbuilding, plot that never plods despite crossing multiple years and POVs, and the one trope that cannot fail to make me weak in the knees, Unrelated Adult Unexpectedly Becomes Parent Figure To Endangered Small Child Out Of Sheer Necessity. the nell & miranda storyline makes me cry just thinking about it.)

Michael Moorcock's An Alien Heat is short and weird, about a "perfected" future version of humanity that has absolutely every element of existence (resources, laws of physics, brain chemicals, reproduction) under such tight control that there's nothing left to do except play make-believe all day, every day. so basically, jin sect. Then a time-traveling Victorian housewife gets stranded among the decadents. It's hilarious and surprisingly subtle.

As far as movies go, it feels obnoxious to say Blade Runner, so instead I'm saying Blade Runner 2049! (or as my roommate liked to call it, Blaze Runner 420.) The original is a classic for a reason but parts of it really don't hold up for me; the sequel, though, has pretty much everything I like, and the stuff I don't like is easier to ignore or skip. I love how dirty it makes the future look.

The Fifth Element has super immersive set design/dressing and my favorite costume design from any movie ever. the whole Born Sexy Yesterday thing is a bit much to get past but i still like to watch it for the worldbuilding, which is plentiful. (my roommate: "what dumbass let her google War right before the apocalypse? Just let chris tucker go down on her for 20 minutes problem solved")

I've also been looking at a lot of Richard M. Powers illustrations and like, chewing my hair over how good they are and how much I wish I could paint like that. I do try I think I'm just too much of a tightass lol

As far as MDZS fic recs:

Not Afraid To Know, by Phnelt, is a bouncy one-off about robot LWJ and his first, ahem, experience with a cute backalley technician who teaches him how to feeeel. It's funny, it's hot, and it sparkles with Phnelt's customary wit & charm.

electric heart by sundiscus has been at 3/? since 2020 and probably won't update again, but I still reread it for the incredible worldbuilding and character design. especially love the way the curtain is gradually lifted on WWX's personhood. LWJ's crush keeps pace, obviously.

also the sexy/violent neon noir short series Inside the Mind of a Man is a Massacre by Pip (Moirail). Especially the two one-offs focusing on (droid? Bionic part-human?) WWX and his (handler? coder? lover?) LWJ. Ooh, and when I just went to grab that link off their page I saw they have a new WIP in a similar setting, world.runExecution(), which is 2 chapters in and really exciting so far.

there are almost certainly more that i've read and loved and lost. please feel free to add on with more recs! and thanks for the ask i love talking about this stuff i hope i get some recs back!!

#fic recs #media recs #asks #mdzs meta #mdzs fanfiction #recs

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sword-dad-fukuzawa · 2 years

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26 thru 29 for the writer asks?

REYNIIII TY!!

Weird Asks

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

This depends largely on what the piece of media is. It's pretty easy for Genshin/PGR characters because I can just go through their voice lines and character stories in order to get a handle on their "voice," but for book and anime characters, it's a little harder. Voice acting certainly helps, and revisiting their media helps too so I can get a handle on their speech patterns, tics, and inner monologue.

But if I'm being honest, it's less that I get into a character's head and more they get into mine. If I write a character-centric piece, it's because they appeared one day in my brain's orangerie, sat down at the wrought iron garden table, and started talking--and wouldn't shut the hell up until I wrote what down they were saying XD. I fancy myself less a writer and more a translator or transcriber sometimes.

They get out of my head once they've exhausted what they need to say. Otherwise, they're stuck in there.

I honestly don't regret this. I think my most genuine pieces are the ones where I was just a voyeur to a character's narrative, hastily writing down everything they did in order to turn it into something later.

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

DAZAI. DAZAI DAZAI DAZAI DAZAI, DAZAI MOTHERFUCKING OSAMU.

I hate hate hate this man so much because he's so difficult to write. Not only does he occupy a very strange space in BSD's narrative--both an active participant in the plot and yet watching it happen, both confined within the story and yet manipulating it from the outside--but he has a very complicated relationship with his own identity that is nearly impossible for me to conceptualize! Like.

He hates himself. He knows he's necessary. He thinks he's not human. He's the most human of all. He's not human in the least. He loves his friends. He's saving them because he was told to. He cares about Chuuya. He hates Chuuya. He wishes he was dead. He refuses to die. Like c'mon man gimme a break!! I can't handle all that complexity in a 5k word fic!!

I read the entirety of No Longer Human on a follower's recommendation in order to try and capture his "voice" and it only halfway worked. I dislike writing OOC BSD characters so Dazai is extremely stressful.

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

I answered this for Quinn with Venti, but I also want to say that Jiang Cheng is absolutely delightful to write about for the opposite reasons.

Without spoiling any of thee plot of MDZS--current timline JC? He's an asshole, he's selfish, he's emotionally constipated and unable to process his grief. He hurts people. He himself is hurting. He loves his brother. He hates his brother. He wants to rewind time and he knows he can't. He pretends he doesn't care but also he cares deeply, cares perhaps more than anyone else in the book with maybe a couple exceptions. His particular cocktail of anger issues and neuroses are absolutely delightful to explore, worsen through angst, or attempt to alleviate.

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

Prophetic visions that just come to me randomly! This means my writing is inconsistent and variable and I'll have months of very little writing. Like right now.

When the well runs dry, honestly, I just wait it out. This is my recharging period, my time of absorbing and processing The World in order to regurgitate it later when the mood strikes again. I know that the inspo fairy will come back eventually, and there's no use agonizing about it or forcing myself to write things I know I'll hate later.

Other than the visions, I take inspo from stuff I read, quotes I hear, my own experiences...and occasionally the concepts of my friends :)

#reyni :0 #ty again!#weird asks

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