#but I can rely on sanderson

[dont-tell-mom-and-dad]

#fandom #fantasy #fandom thoughts #cosmere #brandon sanderson #george r.r. martin #cosmere memes #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #valyrianscrolls #bookblr #reading #mistborn #stormlight archive #the cosmere #started reading #elantris #the other day #and i love it #so if it's one of sandersons weaker books #i know #i'm in for a ride #I don't hate #grrm #but I can rely on sanderson #to actually #publish #books #and not spend more than ten years #on one

[avelera]

Ugh, popped on Twitter to geek out about the Wheel of Time S2 and immediately find a bunch of WoT dudebro fans complaining that a 15 book series of 800+ pages each isn’t getting the exact word for word adaption that exists inside their heads when they read the books. And let me remind you all, these books were my life, my first fandom, and basically my personality pretty much from when I first read them in 1999 until Robert Jordan died (alas, I read to the end but Brandon Sanderson never quite captured the magic of RJ’s writing for me again, even if I think he did the best job anyone possibly could.)

So let me just say from a place of deep respect and obsession with these books that any hate for the show based on it not being a page for page adaptation is patently insane. Much of Wheel of Time relies on the strengths of prose which are untranslatable to a visual medium. Stuff like how magic (or the One Power) feels to cast makes up a huge proportion of the book. You can externally portray a feeling, sure, but there are still limits.

They forget that Book 1 was written to be standalone and has a ton of inconsistencies with later books that need to be shored up. That means logistical changes which cause necessary alterations almost all of which have actually been massive improvements in my mind. For all my love of Wheel of Time, its pacing is atrocious and I think even RJ would agree that if he could go back with the whole story in mind and edit it to be more streamlined, he absolutely would have. The show HAS to do that or we’d still be in the goddamn Two Rivers with the book pacing.

Centering the first season on the White Tower and Moiraine’s POV makes sense. The book relied on Moiraine being a Gandalf figure that gave information away at the pace of reader reveals, in tiny drips meant to tantalize a slow-paced book’s reader. That would be immensely frustrating for a tv show viewer of a story set in a sprawling fantasy world that needs tons of explanation and world building up front to have any idea what’s going on. Focusing on Moiraine, who has the answers, instead of sticking to the ignorance of the kids isn’t just a good choice it’s very nearly the only choice you can make. The White Tower is one of the most complex and interesting parts of that world. Centering it and introducing it earlier was an incredibly wise choice.

Other smaller choices make sense too if people thought about it for two seconds. Aging up the kids makes sense. They’re teens in the books and it would be incredibly awkward on screen. But once you age them up, it makes sense that at least ONE of them has been married before. Perrin makes SENSE to have been married if he left Two Rivers later. He’s a responsible guy with a good trade and a level head on his shoulders. He’s sweet and caring and mature. Of course he got married, he’s from a small farming community in a medieval-esque world with shorter life expectancies. Furthermore, I love Perrin to death but his obsessive fear of hurting Faile later is frankly ungrounded in anything that isn’t benign misogyny on some level. It doesn’t update and translate well on its own. Giving him Laila, giving him the manner of Laila’s death grounds his later attitudes towards Faile so well I literally gasped when I put it all together.

Other changes like in S2 having Min and Mat meet the way they do in Tar Valon was genius. It matters more that Mat and Min have rapport than that they meet in the same circumstances as the book (and Mat wouldn’t even remember that meeting anyway lol). The rapport set up and the way it showed Mat’s genius and con artistry was brilliant. Showing these characters LIKE each other was incredibly engaging and endearing which is so important because the adaptation has to be enjoyable to non book readers too, especially since the 15, 800+ page books of meandering pacing are pretty much impenetrable to new readers. Book readers simply can’t make up the majority of the audience, there’s not enough of them to sustain a show with any kind of budget which WOT requires. Thus, it needs to be an enjoyable show in its own right, not just a meandering exact adaptation ffs.

I can literally point to any show change and say it was either logical, practical, thematic, or simply genius. Wheel of Time desperately needs an edit to be accessible to modern audiences. What an adaptation prioritizes is always a risk that’s going to be run for a fan of the original material but so far I’ve been wildly impressed by every choice made in how logical or thoughtful and most of all loving it was to the actual important emotions and themes of the book. Any complainers are seriously missing the point of what an adaptation even is.

#wheel of time #wot

[onlycosmere]

Questioner: My question is about biology and genetics. We've seen that magical systems rely on *inaudible* genetics, like allomancy, or spiritual DNA. Can we use *inaudible* CRISPR to either weaponize or take someone's magical ability or give them a magical ability?

Brandon Sanderson: Kind of. The in-world version of this is Hemalurgy, as you already know. There are methods that would do this, but straight genetics alone with CRISPR wouldn't do it.

You need the spiritual component for these to work, almost assuredly. You might be able to use CRISPR... no, I don't think there are any of them it would work on. Is it possible you could make someone into a kandra?

That may be possible, right? But I'm not 100% sure on that.

Questioner: Can you use CRISPR with Ashyn viruses or bacteria?

Brandon Sanderson: Probably not, but that's more likely. I'd have to think on that. I'm gonna say "probably not" for now, but we'll minorly RAFO that. Good questions.

#mistborn #the hero of ages #cosmere #the silence divine #brandon sanderson #cfsbf #root #wob #realmatics

[ionlybleedbubbles]

Writing tips deep in my heaps of cringe, that are actually good (imo) :

When writing in third person, don't say what a character cannot do while talking from their perspective. Frame the idea by telling us what they can do, or through the opinion of other characters. For eg. Instead of saying "Mattie was bad at flying planes", say "Mattie preferred cars to planes, and would much rather his brother do the plane-flying." See? Now you've even managed to drop in a nod about his brother. You could also say, "Kevin felt safer when Mattie's brother flew the plane than when Mattie did." Put the blame on Kevin - don't judge Mattie yourself. As a narrator you must pretend to always be on your MCs' side. Ofc, this would vary with different styles of narration, but this is a general rule.

Show how important a character is by how much time you take to talk about them. You would describe your MCs well, and bring up their hobbies and interests. You wouldn't describe a background character as much. You can use this to humanize or dehumanize characters. You may initially talk very little about the main villain yourself, and rely on dialogue among the other characters. This makes the villain feel like a force rather than a person. As the story progresses though, and you decide you want to drop in a *hairflips dramatically* sad back story, you can humanize the villain, and make them more understandable as a person.

Learn from art. Try describing different sceneries or portraits as practice. Also practice writing comic books or manga as stories. Visualizing your story as comic or manga panels can really help you understand pacing and paragraphs. Take note of their vibrance and positioning.

Learn from people's mannerisms and how they are received by other people. For eg, when we ask my dad a question, he pauses to gather his thoughts before speaking. Out of respect, we wait silently during this pause. This shows how confident and charismatic my dad is. A friend of mine only verbally roasts people within our friend group, and apologizes profusely after. This shows she is both empathetic and extremely quick-witted. I could create well rounded characters based on just examples as simple as these.

This tip is what I like to call 'the fake solution' and is employed by many famous authors. For this, you force readers to make assumptions. Maybe about how the magic system works, or about who the villain is. Make it seem like the characters have come to a conclusion and that conclusion is the final solution to conflict. Then tear down those assumptions and create a whole other ending. Similar to the red herring, except this time it's all in the characters' heads and dialogue. Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy is a good example of playing with assumptions forced upon readers by the writer.

In your first chapter, focus on creating potential. You don't have to jump into the heart of the action right away, but you have to make sure your readers understand the potential for this action. For example the opening chapter of Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys is relatively low paced, but it leaves you with questions. It makes you wonder who the boy who talked to Blue is, and how Blue will deal with life after such a strange prophecy. This makes you need to continue reading, to find answers.

For good worldbuilding, study at least a little bit of history. Wars and military tricks make for good free prompts. If your world contains vibrant races, make sure you research and incorporate the history and implications of racism, social hierarchy and trade. Understand how this will impact travellers and mercenaries (audiences love those). Make up your own old wives' tales and coping mechanisms.

Understand that the best stories are written around an idea rather than a character. Your protagonist is simply the face of your story. The weather of the world reflects on the protagonist's choices and health. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games focuses on the dark side of media and politics and how they are used to control a people. Notice that by the third book, Katniss, our protagonist, is doing very little herself, though her few moments are loud and powerful. Katniss could achieve nothing alone. It takes a whole bunch of people to fuel the revolution. Note that it is completely okay to write a character based story, if that's what you like. But there are tons of those. If you really want to make an impact, make an idea-based story.

Respect all your characters equally. You may love some characters more than others, but remember all your characters are representatives of people. Make sure each of them has a voice and a chance to prove themselves.

Use prose to your advantage. Let the length of your sentence define whether the sequence is fast paced or slow. For example, if your want to show surprise, your sentences must be short. Instead of saying "She snatched the last dagger and stared at it, observing each engraving", say " She snatched up the last dagger. Each engraving was sick, gnarled. "

That was a heck of a long post, but that's all from me. Feel free to add your own or contradict anything I've written.

#writing #writing advice #author #teen author #brandon sanderson #mistborn #raven boys #maggie stiefvater #the hunger games #suzanne collins #writing tips #worldbuilding #character design #character traits #writing research #fiction #fiction writing #story

[markantonys]

parsing through my thoughts on the TOM gawene conflicts as i've been rereading some of their scenes while working on my fic! as always, my interpretations are colored by my role as gawyn's defense attorney lmao

the core of these conflicts really is so good to me. because we have egwene, who has a complex about needing to do everything herself and thinking she can't rely on other people to do things on her behalf (due to her experiences of needing to strong-arm into supporting her aes sedai who only raised her because they wanted to use her as a puppet). and we have gawyn, who has a complex about needing to be useful to a more important person at all times (due to his upbringing as "a living sword for elayne's/andor's use"). and so OF COURSE they run into a problem of gawyn trying too hard to be useful to egwene, egwene getting mad that he's interfering and presuming she needs his help, and then gawyn getting upset that egwene is rejecting his help and not letting him be useful. tasty, delicious, organic, and in character if you ask me! and throughout, we see that they both care about each other and both ultimately want the same thing (gawyn becoming egwene's warder), but just can't quite understand each other well enough to get onto the same page about making that happen.

now, sanderson's spin on it of "oh, gawyn's too used to being a prince so he struggles to follow orders and play second fiddle" isn't the correct read to me. imo it's based on real-world, patriarchy-rooted assumptions of what being raised as a prince would be like, but in andor's matriarchal monarchy, gawyn has always been raised to play second fiddle rather than hold the spotlight himself and he never had a problem with it prior to TOM (in fact, he was actively miserable being a large-scale military leader), so transitioning from being elayne's first prince to egwene's warder shouldn't be too big a shock to his system. and he's usually shown to be pretty willing to follow orders - UNLESS those orders are to do nothing, which most (all?) of egwene's orders to him in TOM are. because he Needs To Be Useful and can't accept that sometimes he can help somebody best by Not Doing Anything (encapsulated perfectly by the "gawyn i need you to do something for me" "yes anything" "stop guarding my door" "what no!" exchange). so in that sense i think gawyn behaves pretty in-character in TOM, but sanderson just picked out the wrong reason for what's making him behave that way.

thus, the resolution of the conflict does stumble a bit. egwene being put in a situation where she would've died if gawyn hadn't helped her works for her end of it (learning to lean on others), but on gawyn's end it's kinda clunky. the lesson he Truly needed to learn is that sometimes the best thing he can do is nothing, but sanderson was under the impression that the lesson he needed to learn was that his place is in egwene's shadow and he must come to her as a warder rather than as a prince. hence, the resolution on his end is him accepting his own death as the price to pay to keep egwene alive. which is........kinda the opposite of what he needed to learn and basically contributes to his actual death in AMOL.........wait a minute, WAS this a mishandling by sanderson or was he deliberately making gawyn learn the wrong lesson to set up his death? lmao

anyway, at the end of the day the whole bloodknife sequence is SO goddamn romantic that i don't even care about some of the details of gawyn's motivations feeling off to me. literally a top 5 most romantic WOT moment from which i will never recover!!!!

#wot #wot book spoilers #gawene #gawyn trakand #egwene al'vere

[emmalovesfitzloved]

Can you tell me about Fitzloved?

"OH MY GOSH, AM I ABOUT TO INTRODUCE YOU TAYLOR SWIFT?!"

that's what i first meme when i saw your lovely ask! hahahah

Introductions

So its a fandom based on the epic fantasy series that follows for the most part, 2 soulmates, from their childhood all the way to their older years as they grow from friendship, partners to lovers. And I have to admit, the way it's written is almost euphoric. It's utterly lyrical.

So introductions now put aside, 'Fitzloved' is the ship name for "Beloved" (one of his many names) name of the characters and "Fitz". They are the two ongoing protagonists in one of the most respect and wonderful high fantasy series ever created, Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. They are the main couple shall we say that span the 16 book series. I think a lot describe it as the "mona lisa of fantasy series" within the genre. It's aesthetic is very much evermore meets folklore meets Merlin. Its veryyyyy cozy fantasy and perfect for the season but also the Fall/winter.

The big 5 writers of fantasy rn i have been told are: Brandon's, Robin Hobb's, GRRM (Although he's lost a lot of respect in the community because of his insane hiatus!), Steven Erickson's (Malazan series) and Joe Abercrombie. While you will see with the Cosmere, Brandon is very much straight to the point, prioritises fights, magic system building and very cohesive ensamble casts. Unlike her peers, Robin Hobb on the other hand, is a delicacy. A slowly made dessert that has sweet and salty tastes if you will. And another defining feature is that her series does not involve a massive war at the epicentre of the fantasy plot, which ironically is rare in high fantasy now a days.

Of Cats and Closed Doors by @tragediegh

HOWEVER. The WAY in which i was introduced to this series is kind of dumb and silly, i.e. very me lol. i stumbled across a fiction on ao3 under 'in a the cabin era way' tag and stumbled across @tragediegh's soul-binding, amazing wonderful fiction called Of Cats and Closed Doors that is still ongoing and she updates mostly weekly! At first, not joking i thought it was an original work, but only well into crying, loving, reading, laughing, did i realise when i looked better at the tags it was actually based on ROTE lol. I was new to ao3 that's my only defence :P

And what @tragediegh and Hobb are doing probably tell from my handle, is make literally my roman empire. Like I reread chapters everyday before going to sleep. It's fr fr my safe space. and what i love is the maturity in which they both write, as they create stakes in different ways. She creates a very tangible atmosphere, a world you can touch, the foods cooked, how they smell, and what the character's rely on. From banquet halls, to the wood carvings the Fool leaves behind, the well lit fireplaces, mugs of ale and coffee on the table, through jewels adorned, to how the dragons gleaming like jewels in the sky… it's simply amazing. You get me. There is NEVER a moment where you feel like it's a slog or dull moment. Like I did sometimes while reading the Stormlight Archive or Outlander (those books in their defence, are longer individually).

And like I said, the thing I LOVE the most with how they make us and fall in love with Fool (one of the protagonists) through the eyes of naive and a socially sometimes challenged Fitz. Fitz himself, is the most passionate, handsome, humble hero i've ever read. He is a bastard prince who from day 0 was neglected, abused, unwanted, un-named, manipulated, gaslit just all around most traumatised character one could read. Which most people end up overlooking and resenting bc he is riddled with insecurities (despite him being a hotttie hot chiseled smokie pie that everyone wants to cuffff) and developed unhealthy copying mechanisms that can effect the readability of the main series. Which is entirely relatable. I strongly believe the hero of Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson that everybody loves, is heavily inspired by Fitz in ROTE. In fact I think Brandon said it was one of his fav series.

But really, the masterpiece of this world is obviously the Fool. When I look at the other characters, its a bit like watching a glorious puppet show - I can see how the strings are moving and what the puppets are made of…But not so with the Fool, he is an infinite mystery and creating a character like that is something I`ll never be able to get out of my head. he is other worldly. Put Tolkien fae and beautiful faeries to shame with his grace, elegance, mysticism. His story with Fitz (the other main character) with that @tragediegh and Hobb are doing imo is one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Gender Identity

And I think also, Fool (also known as Beloved to a special someone 😉) is a lgbtq+ individual, and their identity and how they chose to present and address themselves daily (and not address it!) plays a massive role in the ROTE/OCACD overall. It extremely realistic, how it's writen, where for the most part some characters are confused, don't know how to navigate the topic. Which isn't helped by how private and mysterious the Fool remains. But for the most part, is heart warming, as the gender fluidity of the Fool is openly accepted by his mate (YES MATE) with open arms as he accepts it, and it's got me CRYINGGGG as i type this fr....! These characters were created pre-2000's, which just goes to show how timeless these gender questions and acceptances really are i think!

Music

CANON FOR ME swiftie songs that are FOR fitzloved to get a feel r:

ur loosing me

my tears ricochet

invisible string

stay don't go

the lakes

mastermind (YASSS beloved go manipulate ur boy fitzieee ily)

dress (as of chapter 48 and beyond hopefully alkdfjalkdjfj)

and Fitz's song for me for ever will be:

i see fire live and in session by ed sherran (i just feel the literal passion that fitz has through this song not to mention the howl XD)

Conclusion

So yeah, I cannot recommend enough this ongoing story and series to you.

TLDR: Fitzloved is a ship i read myself to sleep every night and cry about how amazing they are XD

Feel free to ask any more questions about them or even my favourite artists that do ROTE work bc ngl this post was 2x as long as i included artistic work but it was getting too long so i decided to leave that for a more specific ask :)) As you can tell i can just dedicate entire evenings singing from the top of these crusty english rooftops how amazing and life changing these two silly beans are. I hope this was enough of a good overview of my love for them and why! :)) Hopefully one day you will give it a go, and i swear your life will be changed for ever ! <333

#fitzloved #OCACD #realm of the elderlings #tragedigh #ILYSM #MUAH #alastairstorm #ask #ROTE #fitzchivalry farseer #Fitz #The Fool #The Catalyst

[a-halo-for-you]

Hard Magic Systems - A Chaotic Understanding

(DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to come across like I know anything but there are some things I’ve learnt and tried to make sense of so here you go… Also, I have read books that helped this abstract understanding of this thing, not sure if I should write them here but if you’re interested feel free to message me, I should reply within 1-3 business days.)

A Hard magic system is a system that follows rules. It has clearer definitions of what is and isn’t allowed and what is or isn’t possible and the consequences when something goes wrong. 

An example I have come up with is from Leigh Bardugo’s ‘Shadow and Bone’ series. In her stories, Grisha are capable of ‘Small Science’ and fear the act of ‘Merzost’ which in Ravkan means magic. For her magic system, their abilities rely on drawing upon the components of an element in order to wield it, abiding by the laws of physics. Any that use Merzost are often villainised for it - it is very very bad and not allowed hence most villains use it. 

Having these rules in place can aid a reader in understanding how the system works, it adds stakes to characters and narratives and can be a creative tool in problem solving without audiences or readers feeling cheated by a cop out display of magic. For example if someone just wishes all their problems away and suddenly the world wasn’t ending - the only time this could be effective would be if the journey the characters went on was crucial enough to feel like it's an accomplishment to get that far. Like in Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters, we’re not miffed that Annabeth is rescued by the Golden Fleece because 1# We know her enough to love her and 2# They worked so hard to get to it in the first place. 

When something is resolved without any stakes, rules, limits, journey and growth it feels like a cop out, the way we watch when some writers accidentally put themselves in a corner they can’t get out of so they make the entire journey a dream by the end? Or hey, let’s just fix it with time travel! It feels kinda pointless because there are no stakes and even a soft magic system will have stakes but I’ll get to that in another post. 

When magic is used as a tool it becomes a part of the characters journey from Luffy and the GumGum Fruit to Harry Potter and being a Wizard. It becomes a part of and aids their problem solving like any other skill. 

If we look at Avatar: The Last Airbender, it takes place in a world where the audience understands people can manipulate the elements, it makes sense when Katara has her bloodbending experience because early on in the show it is established that waterbenders can draw from not just oceans and rivers but trees, plants and human sweat. Their abilities are practised, trained and developed on through the show, I mean, even Aang has to progress in order to become the Avatar and when we see him master the elements we feel kinda proud to see him kick ass and when Toph progresses to bending Metal or Zuko with his lightning- I mean excuse me?!! 

We love the magic because it's a part of their journey but it doesn’t just fix things or make them worse - it’s how they use it that matters. 

Predictability is an important part of a Magic System because if you want to keep things in order you’ll want to make sure that your Hard Magic always has a consistency to it that follows the world and story narrative. Like in My Hero Academia, the predictability would be that each character has a quirk that they are learning to control and train in order to become heroes, however they each have limitations from their personalities, physiques, mentalities, ages etc that hinder them along the way. 

‘Limitations are more important than powers’ Brandon Sanderson. 

Babe. This is for real though. I don’t care how powerful a character is, it’s not interesting if they don’t have a weakness, the more powerful they are? The more painful the weakness. You want them to lose that power or feel the consequences of their power, hurt their weakness. For fun. Anyway- 

-Once you’ve sorted the rules of your system you can look at the particular limitations, weaknesses and costs. Oftentimes I’d say strength is different from power cause someone's power could be fire but their strength could be their friends and as we know, their strength can also reflect their weakness. 

You could have a shape-shifting character but the longer they stay in their animal form the more animalistic they become creating disastrous long term effects on the group or like Nico from the Percy Jackson series, he uses shadows to travel so much that it quite literally becomes a danger to him, ‘as the more you do it, the more you lose contact with the physical world’.

Anywho, this is the end of my Hard Magic System rant - I don’t actually know if this is helpful but it helps me so maybe it will help some stranger on the internet idk. 

Don't blame me coffee made me crazy~

Next time I’ll post about the Soft Magic System and it will likely be as messy and chaotic as this one but hey-ho, 50% knowing what I’m talking about to 50% aimless passion seems acceptable.

#writers on tumblr #writing process #creative writing #writeblr #fantasy #modern fantasy #dark fantasy #percy jackson #my hero academia #avatar the last airbender #grishaverse #writing magic #magic system #fantasy worldbuilding #fiction writing #worldbuilding #fictional characters #magical characters #fantasy character

[red-qsiyv]

Soft Magic Systems

[this is taken from my discord message on a writing server]

A soft magic system has more freedom and it is less defined than hard magic systems. They often rely more on feelings and intuition rather than logic and reason (they usually don't explain why things happen, as well as limits of the magic in what it can do. It's more of how something happens). Basically it's more mysterious and less limited than hard magic systems, which most of the time do follow a certain system/rules, or is basically like a different "science."

One thing that's worth noting is that soft magic systems are often used as a means of adding depth and complexity to the world-building, rather than as a focal point of the story. This means that while the magic may be important to the story, it's usually not the main thing that drives the plot forward, and it's more likely to be used for creating atmosphere and setting a tone.

Here's what Brandon Sandersons said on his website regarding soft magic systems: 

“The really good writers of soft magic systems very, very rarely use their magic to solve problems in their books. Magic creates problems, then people solve those problems on their own without much magic…” “…use the magic for visuals and for ambiance, but not for plot.”

I find that reading about Brandon Sanderson's essays and blogs regarding magic systems very helpful :D

But here’s some other tips:

1. Since it’s a soft magic system, you should leave some elements vague and unexplained. The premise of soft magic is that it’s mysterious and often otherworldly or unpredictable. You can leave hints and clues on aspects without fully explaining everything.

2. The magic system may depend on the theme and atmosphere of the story. It’s important to think about the world or the setting of the story regarding soft magic systems, as it greatly depends on it most of the time.

3. You can start a soft magic system by considering the tone and mood of your story, emotions you want readers to feel when reading the story and the magic, and more. This can help with appropriate elements in your story. It can be things like artefacts, spells, potions, phenomenons, mythical creatures, and more. Also consider the source of the magic and how characters interact with the magic itself.

#writing tips #literature #ren-isbored #writing #writers #writing advice #fantasy #worldbuilding #fantasy writing #magic systems #soft magic #i'm archiving this message i wrote on discord for myself #but if you find it helpful then i'm glad lol

[samasaur]

answering your tags, I haven't read any of Brandon Sanderson's books yet, but he teaches a sci-fi/fantasy creative writing class that's on youtube and been highly recommended. have you read from him, if so what did you like the most?

yes i am a Big Fan of his — it is probably more accurate to describe me as a fanatic. I just tried to go through his list of works to see which i've read and which i own, and while i wasn't able to get a solid count, I've read most of them and own a fair amount.

the thing to understand about recommending any of Sanderson's books is that the vast majority of his works are set in the same overarching universe, called the Cosmere. While different series are (usually) set on different planets, the magic systems all follow an overarching set of rules, and as the Cosmere continues, we're going to see more and more crossover. that being said, you can read almost all of his currently published books without knowing the wider implications. so with that said, I recommend starting with either The Emperor's Soul or Tress of the Emerald Sea.

I've been suggesting The Emperor's Soul to people for years as a gateway to Sanderson's work, for a couple of reasons. First, it's a novella (I think somewhere around a hundred pages?) rather than some of his gargantuan other works (multiple of his books are over a thousand pages). Second, I think it has a really cool magic system, which I feel is one of Sanderson's strengths. Third, it won the Hugo Award for Best Novella, so I have some critics backing me up. And last but most definitely not least, I really like it. Which is always something you should look for in book recommendations!

Tress of the Emerald Sea was one of the "Secret Novels" Sanderson wrote while quarantining during the pandemic and published through the biggest Kickstarter of all time. Although I still haven't gotten my physical copy, I read my ebook copy on New Year's Day, the day it came out, and I really loved it. The inspiration for it was "What if, in The Princess Bride, Buttercup goes after Westley to rescue him?" It was a very fun read that, like The Emperor's Soul, teases connections to other Cosmere books without relying on you having already read them. This book also has a cool magic system, but even cooler is the worldbuilding, which I think is Sanderson's greatest strength.

I'll also point you to Sanderson's page on where to start.

As for my favorites, the two above are probably my two favorite single stories of his, but I also love The Stormlight Archive (epic fantasy) and Elantris (because the magic system is like programming) and Mistborn because the magic system is cool in a different way and Warbreaker because of the humor and

I like pretty much all of his work. Sanderson's works are also varied enough that even if you don't like any of the above works, you may still like some of his other works.

If you have any other questions, please do ask me — clearly, I love talking about them (and books in general).

Also, just because I love how Sanderson announced his Secret Novels, here's the video:

#brandon sanderson #cosmere #reading recs #miabrown007 #asks

[jurisffiction]

can't make this a real serious linked post because i'd be beyond a parody of myself but it's sort of neat that castiel's autistic traits can be tied back to the same sort of things that can cause autistic traits in human beings. not to say we have a full somatic medical understanding of autism in humans but there's clear links of the comorbidities of connective tissue disorders inter alia and neurodevelopment where. for example. if your connective tissue is not as reliable as usual you then may not ever grow familiar & automatic with it and therefore not develop strong interoception / proprioception, so you don't know how or when it's safe to fade out recurrent stimuli and your focus looks more like overcorrecting hyperfocus* (*this inches towards the monotropism theories which i care less for actually but that's discourse for another day) both physically and mentally with alexithymia and social difficulties not just Because You Just Don't Get It! but because your mind+body is slipping and sliding and reacting unexpectedly so you get terrible feedback from any situation let alone the INTENDED bad feedback from society so instead you can maybe manage by relying on logic and facts in held structures instead. and cas is. well. huge sensory input capacity angel shoved into new tiny human body. Direct allegory all the connective tissue is squished in there all wrong and novel. Of course he's autistic. if this was part of the lore of a brandon sanderson series or something like that there would be multiple subreddit theory threads talking about how genius it is as a world- and character-building brushstroke and how much sense it makes but you know it wasn't on purpose even at all

#this post honestly brought to you more by me getting mad about monotropism theory than enamoured w gay angel. and also. By me travelling rn #long post #i .

[void-valkyrie]

MWII Could Have Been Great

Hear me out! Cod MWII would have been better if the player character was Gary ‘Roach’ Sanderson. Soap already has/had an established character, and instead of Gaz (whom I had to wiki search to figure out who he even was) Price’s partner should have stayed Soap. Because 1) having Soap’s mentor be Ghost takes away from Soap and Price, and 2) as the player who has played MW1, 2, and 3, I know Soap is a badass and will/can live or survive, so I was never worried or stressed during any mission. His story was already fleshed out, he doesn’t need any more story. Soap AND Price’s story have already been told/experienced. They should have focused on Ghost and Roach instead! Have the first mission be all: “Here’s the new FNG.” Ghost *approaching as he’s introduced* asks: “What kind of name is Roach?” Roach replies: “Which anime convention did you just get back from?” Soap/Price say: “Be safe FNG.” “Don’t want to lose another one.” Ghost when the mission starts: “Don’t fuck this up FNG.” and Roach says to himself “I’ll show you FNG.”, because one doesn’t get called a roach without living through some shit. I’d let the player take kills from Ghost and then save Ghost after he almost misses a jump (turning the trope table). So this way, on the mission Alone: firstly, I’d be all hair raised and edge of my seat screaming “NOOO! It’s just like the Hideout mission! Please live!!!” because i don’t know if they’ll kill Roach off, and poetically because here, Roach is injured, surrounded by bad guys, and weaponless, meaning he has to rely on Ghost’s experience to get him out (and as Ghost is already at the church, it means he’s already escaped and waiting for you, the turned tables have turned). So their dynamic comes full circle where Ghost knows Roach is skilled, and Roach respects Ghost as the more experienced. They can both rely on each other. In the suicide mission I’d have Price or Soap ask: “Ready to die?” Roach and Ghost simultaneously: “I can’t die.” “I’m already dead.”

#mwii #cod mwii #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #john price #gary roach sanderson #mw2022 #modern warfare #modern warfare 2 #cod:mw #soap mactavish #john mactavish #simon riley #call of duty #mw22

[welldonekhushi]

CoD x CSM — The Main Characters

From the previous post, I present you the main characters that are present in the AU, and will play a role in each!

WARNING! Keep in mind this is also merged with the Chainsaw Man story, so proceed with caution.

Gary "Roach" Sanderson 🪳

The main protagonist. Roach lives a new life of survival as the Chainsaw Man and kills devils for a living. He currently works for the Public Safety Devil Hunters alongside Ghost, Soap, Price and others.

His behaviour is pretty gentle but at the same time aggressive, because of meeting a few devil properties in his human form. Though Roach hopes that he'd finally get peace and happiness from the family he found after the terrible childhood he went through.

Simon "Ghost" Riley 💀

A devil who works for the Public Safety Devil Hunters. While being a devil, he hates his own kind along with humans, wishing to live a normal life without any suffering. Through his nickname itself, he's actually the "Ghost Devil" in form of a human male, who can disappear his body according to his own will and furiously attack it's targets. Let it be for devils or humans.

Before his life as a Devil Hunter, Ghost enjoyed killing humans for his benefit but sooner or later his own abilities made him feel so isolated from everybody, reason why he chose to do something better by hunting down devils so he can find a family which can rely on him.

John "Soap" MacTavish 🧼

Yes, his name might be "slippery" yet hilarious, but he's a man you cannot mess with. As a human himself, being skilled in killing devils, Soap's only dream was to join the Public Safety Devil Hunters and protect humanity from the devils — the ones who killed his mother and father too. Soap's hatred towards the devils pretty much explains why Ghost and him didn't get along together at first. They two can be seen arguing or almost fighting, but slowly they develop into a bonding once they get to know about each other better. There, Roach understands Soap's pain of losing someone beloved so it also gives him a reason to sympathise with the hunter.

Soap's very fond of Price being as their mentor, that accidentally he called him as a father figure. Wow, John.

Jonathan "John" Price 💲

You hurt his beloved ones, you'd pay the price! This man is an unstoppable force and every devil has got his eyes on him. Being the eldest of the Devil Hunters, he's the guy who'd hold his children on a leash so they can't do anything stupid yet chaotic. He's quite a reserved person but at the same time strict and distant. Still, he is worried for his teammates and would do anything for them.

Price also works as a second-hand command for Makarov, the head of the division. Price himself, doesn't find him much friendly knowing what he had done in the past. Still, being grounded to his rule and wrath, he kept himself quiet.

Vladimir Makarov 🔫

The high ranking Public Safety Devil Hunter with a very mysterious personality. His face looks calm, content with his voice gentle, but sometimes you could just feel the thoughts and intentions this man has in his mind. He wants people to work under him as a human or die in his hands as a devil, like he has full control over his surroundings. He is pretty much fond of Roach and Price, finding them as an easy target to get what he wants. The power he holds on everybody is remarkable, whether you realise it or not.

Sooo here are our main characters! The rest might be revealed sooner so, stay tuned ;)

#cod #call of duty #call of duty au #cod mw #call of duty modern warfare #gary roach sanderson #simon ghost riley #john soap mactavish #captain price #vladimir makarov #chainsaw man #chainsaw man au

[dulcewrites]

Yes, i totally agree with you, one can be triggered after reading George's books, that's why I prefer Brandon Sanderson. His characters are more interesting, dialogues are brilliant and he creates a whole new worlds that are fun to explore. And how he describes magic, that's masterpiece. George relies too much on history, he hadn't created anything new, he just took characters from war of 2 roses and added magic and even more incest and that's it. I am not saying that his books are terrible, but there are lots of authors who have written better fantasy books and sadly are less popular

I like Brandon as well. I’ve only read like the first three book of the mistborn series but I enjoyed them a lot!

#asks and requests

[liamarmitage]

The Rings of Power

Let us get something out of the way. I am a Tolkien nerd. I have read everything published as primary (or quasi primary processed by his family) of Tolkien’s as well as a selection of biographies and other secondary materials. I liked more than I disliked in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and even found things I liked in “The Hobbit” trilogy. I went into “The Rings of Power” wanting to love it. I did not. However, I think it is interesting to look at what worked and what did not from a writing standpoint.

My first complaint was in the opening moments of the show. I understand fully that they wanted to enter the story in the midst of events and not rely on exposition. However, in an 8 hour plus series heavily reliant on the stories and creation of the world I think a three minute explanation of the creation of things would have been a good idea. Why? It would have helped establish an epic tone, a sense of continuity that this story stretched back to the creation of Arda itself. If nothing else Rings should be an epic, something it consistently failed at.

I will also disclaim that I have no major issue with the condensing of timelines as a narrative necessity but I do as a question. If they had found a way to entertain those long stretches of time instead of events happening in what appear to be mere days would that not have also helped create a sense of epic struggles and events? Would that be really, really hard? Absolutely but it was also a billion dollar production. When you spend more than a billion dollars creating a show tackling big challenges should be something you are prepared for.

Now, let us break down the parallel threads that establish the story and see what worked and what did not. The choice for this narrative structure can be a powerful one for telling a wide reaching story. And beyond here lay blatant spoilers. You are warned.

First, the hobbits. They avoid the terms hobbits or halflings and simply call them harfoots. This is in my mind the single most successful of the storylines. We get to like a young harfoot named Nori who could potentially be an ancestor of Bilbo and Frodo. We see a migratory race quite different from the staid Shire-folk. I saw that Brandon Sanderson wrote about their callousness about not being burdened by those who can’t fend for themselves as Grim Dark Hobbits. I have not listened to his comments yet, instead choosing to write out my thoughts first. I agree however that the callousness implicit in some of the statements was not what I wanted out of proto-hobbits and other elements build the idea that these are not the hobbits we know well without going that far. 

Central to this thread is the Stranger, who is Gandalf, the Maiar who arrives to become one of the five Istari. The attempts to paint Gandalf as Suaron were misguided and ridiculous. I did at times second guess myself and wonder if it could be Saruman but that was silly, the elements all pointed to Gandalf. But that does beg the question - where were the meteors for Saruman and Radagast? Did they come earlier or later? Do we not get a brief image of the Blue Wizards? I understand leaving the Blue Wizards out as obscure but the Brown and the White are not, both are featured in the Peter Jackson films. Some questions add depth to a literary or cinematic world. Those are good to leave open. Some are just distracting.

Also distracting - I had understood that aside from condensing the time line that nothing would contradict Tolkien sources, only add to it. But after finishing the series and thinking about it I realized that was not true. At least one major thing, the arrival of Gandalf clearly contradicted the appendexies of Lord of the Rings when it is said that Gandalf arrived on Middle Earth by boat in the Gray Havens. 

The inclusion of the Ascetics was simply a poor choice. They wanted something weird and to further create ham fisted confusion about if it could be Sauron. Also, Gandalf’s sudden mastery of language at the very end? Really? And before I leave this thread, the amount of exposition was annoying and often unnecessary as it was shown. Don’t tell the viewer when you can show them. And if you have shown them don’t tell them too! Still, this was the best of the threads. Now let us look at Galadriel.

Galadriel. Tolkien himself wrote contradictory things about Galadriel so there was plenty of room to work.  The actress has presence and I’m willing to ignore the ridiculous elven martial acrobatics. Look, I’m a fan of Shaw Brothers kung fu films, I have a strong capacity to suspend disbelief for fantasy. However, my biggest gripe is that Galadriel is a dumb ass. Spirited, yes. Sincere, yes. Correct even. But dumb as a fucking brick. And what is it with elves and boats? I, I just can’t. From the boat sizes to design to STANDING IN A FUCKING ROW BOAT ON A DANGEROUS OCEAN!?!?!

It looked very poetic, which is important but when something is screaming stupid the poetic element gets lost. When Galadriel then jumped to swim back across AN OCEAN I started calling her AquaGal. However it is here that her storyline starts to include Halbrand/Sauron. I actually liked how they handled Suaron himself but … why was he on a raft in the middle of the ocean? I can only imagine he was trying to reach Numenor to infiltrate it but there didn’t seem to be much of a plan and why save Galadriel? There is a compelling story to be told if he really believes he is making the world a better place or even once did but we don’t see any of that. The reveal at the very end was an opportunity for flashbacks and explanations we didn’t get.

Royalty - apparently you act like royalty if you have Mithrandir’s staff up your arse.

Gil-Galad - oh my god, the stupidest fucking elf in the universe and they made him high king. The argument for why he wanted to banish Galadriel is ranked among the stupidest things ever put in a script. It completely pulls you out of the narrative. 

The Numenorians. I was salivating for this. The nobility! The grandeur! The race of Numenor! What I got were a bunch of xenophobic small minded idiots. Essentially, they are Tolkien’s MAGAites. And that is a problem as it is one of several places where modern motifs of class conflict and socio-political narratives are overlaid on Tolkien’s world in a way that does not fit naturally. It will also date The Rings of Power, while Tolkien attempted to make The Lord of the Rings timeless. We can debate whether or not some issues stemming from WWI did or did not enter anyway (they did) but he tried and those issues of desolation from the Great War still work as technology for warfare has only become more powerful not rolled back. 

They’re going to have to work hard to make me give a shit about Isildur too. Elendil actually worked really well too, and had too small a role for his charisma. All in all the writing of this narrative is good but misguided at times. 

The third narrative late in the series intertwines with Galadriel’s and that is the story of Elrond and Durin. This is a clear attempt to do a call back to the Gimli / Legolas BFFs that worked for many fans of Jackson’s first trilogy. Having Elrond be a speech writer didn’t sit well with me at first but his story arc won me over. The arc that is building to Durin’s Folly works for me as well. However, the ‘we must clothe ourselves in mithril or we must leave Middle Earth’ bit … that is another long discussion but methinks the writers didn’t actually understand why the elves had to leave Middle Earth eventually but that is a debate for another time. What is not debatable is that it wasn’t going to be WITHIN ONE YEAR!

Sigh.

There were a number of moments of mind numbing stupidity in the writing that disfigured a lot of good surrounding it. 

And that brings me to Celebrembor - the elf needs to go back to Blacksmithing 101 if Sauron’s advice is insightful to him. Seriously. I’ve never done blacksmithing, just read and watched a few things casually and this is fucking obvious to me. 

But hold on, we still have another storyline to look at - the black elf and the south men. Just to be clear I doubt Tolkien thought of elves or hobbits ever being black but he was a pretty good soul and if you’d pointed it out to him I think he would have endorsed it. He was guilty of cultural racial biases but he also showed the ability in his life to have his own assumptions challenged and get past them. Plus, I’m very much in favor of things that piss racists off so bring it on!

The good news is that I’ve saved the best for last and I mean that sincerely. This storyline caused no bewildering rage until the very end. The dialogue was good, action was good, characters not stupid. I could have had the medic get a couple more points in Wisdom and Intelligence but she wasn’t dumb either. The complaint has to do with Theo, a young teen introduced who steals a Macguffin. The Macguffin is tied to Sauron and leads to the good kinds of questions, speculation that makes you think about the story rather than pull you out of it.  Could Theo become the Mouth of Sauron? Could he become the Witch King?  These could be great tragic arcs and Tolkien’s epics are born of heroism and tragedy - neither of which we see any of in this season though with five seasons to work with hopefully this is simply building blocks. 

Now to the bewildered rage - the Macguffin gets used and its role apparently complete so it won’t lead to a tragic arc for Theo which is a shame as I was getting engaged by that and liked the kid - which makes the knife really twist when the tragedy kicks in. But it did lend itself to a lot of questions about Elven intelligence since for a time untold they left the key to igniting Mt. Doom sit around unmolested in THEIR WATCHTOWER!

“Hey, Bob, we have the key to unleashing hell on earth here, think we should take it apart?”

“Nah, it’s kind of pretty.”

“It’s a statue of the Dark Lord and we’re the good guys.”

“I was always into Grim Dark a bit you know.”

“Okay, okay, how about the key then, let’s fill it in so that no one could actually turn it and unleash you know, the hell on earth.”

Sigh. “That would be work. Let’s go get some wine see if we can pick up some of those human chicks instead. I’ll grab my black mascara.”

“Fine, let’s do it.”

I mean it’s so mind numbingly stupid I’ve come to the conclusion that an intentional theme of this work is that everything Tolkien painted as noble - Numenorians and Elves are all so dumb I wouldn’t trust them to watch my dog while i’m on holiday.

Still, I’m going to watch season two. Fingers crossed.

#tolkien #rings of power #hobbit #lord of the rings #amazon prime

[kaznaths-thoughts]

I don’t know what to call Rothbard and Gazpus’ magic system other than "mnemonic." It relies on you remembering the spell at hand and employs rhyme in order to achieve that end. Mnemonic magic makes sense when surveying Rothbard and Gazpus’ entire philosophy. It is also quite unique in the TTRPG space. It does have its competitors though, and they have their own benefits and drawbacks.

Vancian magic is most common due to Dungeons & Dragons’ popularizing of the system. You have prepared spells with a certain number of spells you are allowed to cast per-day, materialized as spell-slots. Its benefit is its clearly defined perimeters, its limitation of spells which can be presently used, and its openness with regard to selection of spells. The drawbacks, on the other hand, are philosophic in some sense. What, in fiction, does the spell slot mean? What, in the fiction, is the explanation for the limitation of the spell slot and not individual spell use [which more aligns with Jack Vance’s use of magic]? And why in fiction do spell slots reset after use if magic is something outside of the caster being tapped into? It is hard to philosophically justify, though it creates a good systemic balance for spellcasting characters and their non-spellcasting compatriots/enemies. 

Psionic magic has become more popular post-3e Dungeons & Dragons and is often used in place of Vancian magic. Psionic magic is any system which uses a resource-like token or point system in which points are expended for use of magic. Skill, of course, defines how many points a character may have or expend. In fiction, this makes good sense - magic is a resource that can be expended and recharged like a form of energy in a person. However, mechanically it can be quite frustrating. This is true of all of D&D’s magic systems - magic users are often weaker than everyone else in every other area, so when their magic is expended, the character becomes rather useless and this can be frustrating to the player. 

"Allomancy" or "resource magic" is another form of magic, which sees far less use, and in some ways for obvious reasons. Allomantic magic relies on the player’s use or expending of a physical resource like metal or clay or some other good [see Sanderson’s Mistborn & World of Dungeons], and was meagerly incorporated into Dark Sun as a part of a pseudo-Vancian “Defiling Magic”. In essence, if you run out of the resource, you run out of magic. This lacks favor because it involves an intentional management of inventory, something which most players and Storytellers dislike. For this reason, it is often incorporated into a system, rather than being allowed to stand on its own - Dungeons & Dragons, as noted, has flirted continuously with Allomantic magic, even in use of the modern “spell components”. 

Lastly, one magical alternative is Eugenic magic. Eugenic magic is magic which is innate to a character due to their family genetics. Magic in this system is an inherited trait. This sees use in fictions like Harry Potter, Dune, and Star Wars; and in TTRPG’s through the influence of “Kids on Bikes”. Eugenic magic usually makes magic one of the defined stats of the player’s character - like Charisma and Strength. In “Kids on Bikes”, they use the “Weird” stat; other systems like “the Window”, “ Cornerstone”, and “Stormbringer” use it in this manner, substituting their own term. This is often the preferred method for those who either don’t like Vancian/Psionic magic or who often are on the receiving end of magical damage within a game. There is a sense of “leveling the playing field”  when magic becomes a stat like Strength or Charisma. It has its mechanical problems of course, such as how does one determine what spell effect takes place when using a “spell check” and how extreme the effect is allowed to be. If it is the Storyteller/Dungeon Master, it lies squarely outside the user’s control and this can be extremely irritating to players. And there are some notable philosophic problems with the system and its effect on the story; essentially some characters are just genetically more special than others in one way or another that gives advantage. A world of Eugenic magic is a world of hard-fast genetic traits, where genes can determine one’s abilities to do this or that, which is fine if the Storyteller and players are willing to reckon with that as a reality in their world. But they cannot simply ignore it. 

Sword & Backpack’s Mnemonic System is great because it places magic firmly in the hands of the player. It is a do-or-do-not way of doing things. Outside of combat, it acts like any other trait though a bit more complicated in execution. Which is fair, because magic is not a trait, but something else entirely. In combat, it can be dispelled by a spellcaster though; avoiding its effects is then equally in the hands of players. Its use and consequences in combat therefore, remain fairly balanced while distinct. It also makes the firm statement that magic is not a sword and a sword is not magic, while still balancing its use in combat such that it is not an automatic success. Furthermore, Mnemonic magic can be picked up by anyone throughout the game, as Rothbard and Gazpus note; a Wizard is only a Wizard because his character is devoted to magic, he can learn fighting and fighters can learn magic as well. Its downside, of course, is its complexity for the player and its lack of limitation in use. For a Storyteller, a spell that can be used as many times as the player wants can feel unfair and counterbalancing it feels equally unfair to players. 

So what system is best? My Thought is that it entirely depends on the sort of story you want to tell and the sort of players you have at the table. If your players hate memorizing things or struggle quite a lot with doing so, Vancian or Psionic magic may be better. But if they hate stats and figures, and keeping track of rests and so on, it may be better to employ Eugenic magic with an openness to what they choose to try to do. 

Story-wise, one should consider how the magic is going to shape and effect play, as well as the world you are playing in. A Vancian world of knowledge is different from a Mnemonic and experiential one. Both are different from a Psionic world, and a Psionic world is different from a Eugenic one. How we treat magic as a fact of our universe unfortunately has major ramifications for how our whole world functions as a result. So pick carefully; and make sure your players are onboard.

#long thoughts #ttrpg #magic systems #dungeons and dragons #d&d 5e #punk #sword and backpack #Kids on Bikes #Cornerstone RPG #World of Dungeons #OSR #tabletop games #long blog #I really didn't mean for this to be so long #I regret nothing #The Window RPG #Stormbringer

[thewatercolours]

29, 31, 32

29. What's the hardest thing about writing?

Making everything click together satisfyingly, motivation, and the way my creativity feeds off other people, for better or worse.

Often I'll have a million ideas for a given project, and it can be easy (even when working with a strict outline) to just try to throw EVERYTHING in there till the scopes becomes huge, and tying it together coherently in a way that suits the story becomes difficult. Especially if I've been feeling stuck, it can be easy to just throw in complications and parallels because they feel like they're clicking the pieces of my story together. But this is often what Sanderson calls "moving sideways rather than moving forward" - something's happening, but not necessarily at the service of the story. I'm a discovery writer who likes to incorporate a certain amount of outlining as I go, and this is the fruit.

It's hard to keep up momentum. (Not a lot more to be said on that one. Just... ugh, perseverance.)

As for the last - writing by necessity is a somewhat solitary activity - but I don't focus well without other people in the mix. This is partly why I gravitate to fandom writing as easier - there's community as you go. But relying on sharing my writing with others as a source of creative energy makes it easy for me to focus a little too much on validation sometimes, or to worry too much about what others will think of the piece. And to find it hard to work on the original stuff there isn't a built-in fandom for.

Writing hard. Writing also worth it anyway.

31. What was the most difficult fic for you to write (but in the end you made it)?

"What's Past is Prologue" (the Well Fic) and "The Witch" because they were my first two fics I posted, and I was perfectionist about them. I spent about four months on that tiny Well Fic! And about seven on "The Witch." I was so self-conscious about them. And then I experienced the sweetness of kind comments and let my standards drop. :-)

32. Do you have a word/expression that you always use in your writing?

Yikes, does the em-dash count? I'm trying to ween myself off of it, but it's HARD. Also my characters love to say things "softly" (an adverb at that!) I have my neverending cycle of rut words, always spinning always changing every few months. "Just" and "like" never get off the cycle of overuse, though. Also things tend to be "glorious," or involve "glory." (If you can think of some right off the top of your head that I use a lot, I'd love to know! This thing gives me a giggle at myself, and doesn't embarrass me anymore.)

#Thank you for the ask!