#fraught relationship the playlist lmao | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cornerstonc · 3 years

Text

Repost don’t reblog!

The muse’s playlist, feel free to explain why or what made you pick them!

The muse’s theme song: Emmylou -- First Aid Kit

Oh the bitter winds are coming in And I'm already missing the summer Stockholm's cold, but I've been told I was born to endure this kind of weather [..] Now so much I know that things just don't grow If you don't bless them with your patience

Song that plays when meeting your muse the first time: natori would like for it to be something Nice and Decorous-Sounding like southampton, particularly the part that starts about 30 seconds in, but it’s probably like. 9 to 5 playing faintly in the distance like a 24-hour supermarket at 3 am

Music that best fits a normal day in their life: Comptine d'un autre été, l'après-midi -- Yann Tiersen, also possibly Main Titles -- Rachel Portman

i’ve honestly used this song before as an ‘everyday life’ theme for muses, but it’s still the one i default to for characters like natori who most likely lead relatively normal lives which may still be fraught with personal issues and little mundane burdens and such thinking emoji

there’s this very particular hhmmmmm driving?? feeling to this song that makes it very easy for me to envision it playing over an otherwise soundless ‘movie’ of natori’s morning/day, aha

the second one has about the same Feel to me, but is maybe a little less. intimate-sounding?? by virtue of it being a little more bouncy toward the end

Music that plays in a moment of high tension: Gratuity’s Apartment -- Lorne Balfe

listen i’m sorry but this sounds exactly to me like what would play in some scene involving natori metaphorically gathering up his skirts and setting out to Do Something He Really Doesn’t Want To laughs

also yes i am one of the probably .2% who liked home lmao

Battle theme: Dash-A-Long -- Yoko Shimomura

okay. look. i can not see natori participating in any kind of battle. he’s not a fighter, no matter how many times he might impulsively jump right into danger out of a misplaced feeling of responsibility. you will find him hiding behind an overturned table stress crying

but the idea of him, in a video game verse, setting up a light minigame for the protagonist or some other visitor to the cat kingdom, to try their hand at is very endearing to me

Music that best sums any relationships with your muse (feel free to list out shipping verses and whatnot): Arrow -- Cheryl Wheeler

Maybe love is not as gentle as my memory Maybe time and wishful half-remembered fantasy are the greatest part Wish I could feel my heartbeat rise And gaze into some gentle, warm excited eyes And give myself as truly as an arrow flies In windless skies I wish I could fall in love Though it only leads to trouble, oh I know it does Still I'd fool myself and gladly just to feel I was, in love

An angsty song: Little Again -- The Secret Sisters

fun story, this song once reduced my mom to tears. on second thought that’s not a very fun story

“it’s one of those days when you wake up in some broken city with nothing but home on your mind. and all of these days when they add up, they amount to nothing, like all the ones you’ve left behind.” like jfc

bUT i should probably mention natori is a generally content creature, and the amount of nostalgia he feels for childhood and his younger days is honestly an amount and such that would probably be expected of anyone his age shrugs

A deciding/crucial/important/final boss battle theme: Race to Resting Rock -- James Newton Howard

i decided to go with something more ‘contemplating an unpleasant decision’ or especially ‘being confronted with that untoward epiphany you’ve been not so blissfully ignoring’ which is exactly what this sounds like to me jfkjfd;a

what happens next is a good one, too, for Really Bad Circumstances

Music that plays at the end of your muse’s arc/story: the intermission music from monty python and the holy grail hmm maybe Not Meant to Be -- Harry Gregson-Williams

BONUS-- music that best sums up an AU: House on a Hill -- Passenger

the only AU i can think of is the manga-inspired verse i have going on on the ask blog thinking emoji

there’s supposed to be a number of mysteries i had hoped people might get invested in, so i don’t want to Spoil anything, but i had been using this song as inspiration for what a certain, long-gone character might have at one point used in order to sell the idea of the cat kingdom to natori

#;dash games #;music #hA I FINISHED IT........#F I N A LL Y #long post

4 notes · View notes

multsicorn · 4 years

Text

multsicorn’s infinite fic playlist

some friends in a chat were talking about comfort fic! so I have Made A List. Ten of my very favorite fics to reread when I need a boost, in ten different fandoms. In no order. And with no particular theme, that I can tell. They’re probably all more-or-less mostly self-contained enough to work even if you don’t know the canon? Certainly the Hockey RPF fic is (cause I don’t know anything about the canon there!), and who doesn’t know HP, etc....

.... four are about fucked-up families, (cause I find that cathartic, and people dealing with it comforting), two are polyfic, (because more relationships interacting to me means ~more love~), three are really mostly about the ~feel~ of the universe, (the fun mundanity of a not-quite-mundane canon universe! or of a perfectly balanced space au), and then the last one is... about how to know if you’re in love on one side of it, and about how to get over it on the other (because how does one romance).

the ones about fucked-up families:

When The Lights Go Out, Will You Take Me With You? by narceus (Glee, Kurt/Blaine, m, ~11k). I love the way that it punches out my heart and then puts it back together? Lmao, that’s very personal. But I love the way that - what can I say. This isn’t a fic about romance, it’s a fic about family - well. How sometimes your family is your boyfriend, and your mutual friends, how sometimes ‘family’ is something you have to leave, and real family is something you build. ‘This is exactly what it’s like,’ and it’s wish-fulfillment, and, yes, somehow it’s both of those things.

You can run away with me any time you want.

Come Marching Home by ossapher (American Revolution RPF/Hamilton, Hamilton/Laurens, t, ~9k). Fraught relationships with family members who think they love you but they really really don’t are my jam, and the way that this fic deals with a younger still-dependent sibling who’s caught in the middle between John and his horrible father is especially my jam. Also, fics that transform a complicated set of characters/relationships/etc. from canon to a completely other setting thoughtfully, which this fic ‘verse has a lot of fun with.

John Laurens attempts to reconcile with his U.S. Senator dad after years of minimal contact. It's family, though, so nothing goes as planned.

Theft of Assets, Destruction of Property by Helenish (Harry Potter, Draco/Neville, e, ~23k). I love the way that Draco here builds a life up out of nothing. It’s very cozy from one angle, full of cooking and baking and making a house a home, but it also goes hard on the way that abused children will internalize their situation as the expected baseline of life, which I appreciate very much.

Surely it is a mistake to allow a single youthful indiscretion to cloud an already promising career.

A Month of Sundays by Kelfin (Hockey RPF, Erik Johnson/Gabriel Landeskog, m, ~69k). I love the push-pull of a relationship that naturally slides very quickly into something very close and intimate, that keeps being pulled back from that by Erik’s internalized homophobia. I love the way the story negotiates the very real knock-on effects of that on Gabe, his maybe-maybe-not partner, and the way the Erik negotiates ‘I love my family... but they don’t love me.’

Unlike some guys, who freak out when things get even a little bit gay, Erik is fine with this stuff. Erik's not even fazed when Gabe's attempts at flirting with him start to get semi-public, a fact that, by his own judgment, makes him at least five to seven times more tolerant than your average forward-thinking American.

the polyfics:

Everything That You Can Keep by Dira Sudis (dsudis) (Vorkosigan Saga, Aral/Jole, backgroundy Aral/Cordelia, e, ~30k). I love this story’s negotiation of not just polyamory (and I love negotiation of polyamory stories - how two people in one relationship share feelings about yet another person, and figure things out? yes, please), but specifically of all the added complications that come out in the highly hierarchical, secretive, and loyalty-based Vor society. When even asking about asking is a matter of trust, requested and given? That goes straight to my id.

The impossible takes a little more time, a lot of negotiation.

Love: The Package Deal by jjtaylor (Bandom, Frank/Gerard/Lindsey/Jamia, m, ~30k). I love the way that the different relationships are layered over and relate to each other - that’s one of the big things I like about polyfic - and the way that the amnesia smashes them together by bringing a past relationship to the present, while making the present one abstract and back to square one. I love how the amnesia in fact smashes together all the highs and lows of eventful years’ worth of Gerard’s life: artistic success, problems with drugs and addiction... they’re all right there waiting for you.

Gerard gets a special kind of amnesia. Frank gets to reexamine his idea of acceptable relationship structures. Lots of people fail to communicate effectively, but they all sure remember how to kiss.

the cozy weirdness of the universe:

it's a new craze by attheborder (Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley, t, ~6k). The development of the relationship strikes a nice balance between angst and sweetness, but what I really come back to this fic for is the fictional advice podcast! That Aziraphale and Crowley start together, which it’s about, and the way that they sprinkle their up-close experience of history into their discussion on it - and then the way that the fandom latches onto and tries to make sense of that. It is just, purely, A DELIGHT.

CROWLEY: I try not to make a habit of gratitude, but I must give our appreciation to everyone out there who’s been listening and subscribing to The Ineffable Plan. AZIRAPHALE: Ooh, yes, we’ve become quite popular, haven’t we? CROWLEY: Yeah, just hit number eight on the advice charts … No advertising at all. AZIRAPHALE: Mm. How … miraculous. CROWLEY: … Aziraphale. You did not.

***

Crowley and Aziraphale are very possibly the people least qualified, on the entire planet, to start up an advice podcast.

But what else is there to do when the world isn’t ending anytime soon, you’re technically on indefinite sabbatical from your lifelong careers, and you need a plausible excuse to spend more time with your best friend who you’re definitely not, absolutely not, maybe just a little, actually maybe overwhelmingly in love with?

A Resolution of Territory by arboretum (Hikaru no Go, Hikaru/Akira, e, ~10k). I just love imagining spending my life playing Go, okay! This fic is wonderfully immersive in a weird-but-good everyday reality, of spending your whole life immersed in a game that just fascinates you, alongside your friends - and your boyfriend, too, which is to say, the one person who shares your fascination in the most direct and deepest and mutually obsessive way. Eventually he’s your boyfriend, of course.

The point is, life is hectic, but it's good.

The Vastness of Space by shysweetthing (Yuri on Ice, Victor/Yuuri, e, ~17k). I love the way that the space setting here gives scope for best-friends-and-partners, for cute and amusing low-stakes shenanigans and then cleverly solved higher-stakes adventure. I love how sweet Victor and Yuuri are in caring for each other in dire circumstances, and why they both see each other as beyond their reach in the context of this imagined world.

As chief communications officer on board the Interstellar Alliance Fleet’s Star Ship Victory, Yuuri doesn’t have to think about who he actually is on his home planet. He just has to listen to his captain, do his job, and…not fall in love with his best friend, the ship’s science officer, Victor Nikiforov.

Well. Two out of three’s not bad.

Then his mother calls with the worst possible news: She, the Empress of New Nihon, has arranged Yuuri’s marriage. There’s only one thing Yuuri can do: Fake a boyfriend, and fake one fast. Who better/worse to play that role than the friend he wishes was more? What can go wrong? It’s not like Yuuri can fall more in love...

the how does romance (with my beloved controversial otp):

if you change your mind by leetlebird (Check, Please!, Jack/Parse, e, ~35k). I love the way this story shows Jack trying to work out what love means for him, anyway, and Kent learning to deal with and work around feelings that he thinks for most of the story are unrequited. And the cozy jury-rigged domesticity of especially the final chapters/scenes.

Beneath the table, Jack’s hand squeezes around Kent’s knee. And -- Kent forgets. For just a few seconds, he forgets that they can’t be together, that Jack doesn’t want him in that way, that he’s trying to move on.

“We’re friends, right?” Jack says.

“Yeah, Zimms,” he says. “We’re friends.”

Or: Kent and Jack are friends, then friends-with-benefits, then maybe something more. Kent isn’t sure.

#*#fic recs #anyway i spent enough time writing this post i hope someone likes it #but if not at least i got to Examine My Preferences? lol

3 notes · View notes

theexecutionerssong · 5 years

Note

Hello, darling! I wanted to say thank you for reblogging that Destiel fic "Ninety One Whiskey" yesterday because it made me read it and I absolutely love it! So I was just wondering if you have any other recommendations? This was my very first Destiel fanfiction, I've never read anything from SPN fandom before so I'm very unware of those tresures out there! :)

ahhhh you have no idea how happy that makes me! here are a few of my favorites that I’m copy pasting from my old fic rec page. Most are a few years old, I’ve got way more and some more recent ones too if you’d rather. They are all deancas centered. If they aren’t online anymore then let me know and I can send you the file as I’ve got over 3000 saved lmao also I LIVE AND BREATHE for angst, if I don’t cry my eyes out at some point then what’s the point sdfghjk you’ve been warned

‘Til the Last by miss_grey (American Civil War AU, my fav ever, probably)

When the war came, Dean Winchester was determined that he was not going to get involved. He had more important things to worry about than some rich man’s fight. He had work on the farm and he had taking care of his family. Nothing else was worth his worry. But in August in the Year of Our Lord 1863, when the soldiers came knocking, they weren’t asking. They dragged Dean away.

Dean and Cas have been best friends since they were kids. When Dean is drafted into the Confederate army, to what lengths will Castiel go to ensure that Dean makes it back home alive?

Exonerated by thecouchcarrot (thriller AU)

Years ago, Dean Winchester was the detective who put serial killer Castiel Goodwin behind bars. Last spring, Cas was proven innocent and his conviction overturned. Neither could’ve predicted the way their lives would intertwine…

Lost Souls by thelastknownwriter (thriller AU)

Homicide detective Dean Winchester is thrust into a past he has tried hard to forget when he finds himself leading a manhunt for an unlikely killer: his childhood best friend, Castiel.

Painted Angels by WinJennster (human AU, so much damn angst but damn it’s worth it)

Author Castiel Novak has finally hit the big time, with a book based on his failed college relationship with a brilliant painter. He’s put all his pain behind him, but at a book signing, he comes face to face with Dean Winchester for the first time in twelve years, and the reunion doesn’t go like Cas hoped. Dean’s a broken man, with a lot of scars and secrets, shoulders weighed down by his demons and self loathing.Cas sees a second chance with the man he’s never stopped loving, but Dean’s moved on, and is about to get married. Sam launches a “brilliant” plan to reunite his brother and his best friend, but Cas is worried it will all blow up in their faces, and he’ll go through the agony of losing Dean a second time.Out of the Deep by riseofthefallenone (merman AU)

Stay away from the light-beds. Stay in the deep.It is the first thing hatchlings are taught the moment their fans unfurl and they can swim without their parents to buoy them along. It is the first rule, the first law. It is the beginning of every boogey-monster bedtime story told when they settle against the cliffs to sleep.Castiel should have listened better.

To Raise A King by riseofthefallenone (medieval/royalty AU)

This must be some kind of horrible joke at Castiel’s expense. Is he truly expected to protect a King? One who has been their enemy for as long as he can remember? He is much more suited to being a part of the army, or at the very least someone who helps to train the knights. That would be far more preferred than having to watch over the King. It means Castiel would get to keep fighting – and that’s the only way he knows to give meaning to his life.

Tramps Like Us by mkhunterz (human AU)

Dean Winchester’s life is falling apart. He’s lost his job, his apartment, and his brother, all in one day. He seems to break everything he touches. Frustrated and alone, he drives off into the night with no idea where he’s headed. But then he meets Castiel Novak, a quiet and reclusive man with a haunted past, and suddenly he finds himself with a very specific destination in mind.

Kiss You When It’s Dangerous by zoemathemata (thriller canon divergent AU)

When his partner Uriel, betrays him, Federal Agent Castiel Novak is saved from becoming a ritual sacrifice by brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. Discovering the world of the supernatural and learning about werewolves, wendigoes, vampires and things that go bump in the night also leads to learning more about Dean and the strange life he and his brother lead. The more he learns, the more Castiel finds himself drawn into Dean’s world and toward Dean himself.

Until Uriel wants to complete the ritual he started.

Pick It All Up by thepinupchemist (human AU)

Army veteran Castiel Novak is a wreck after his tour in Afghanistan, brought home to his brother’s apartment in Lawrence, Kansas with scars both mental and physical. He copes poorly, and during one night of bad decision making, meets somebody just as much of a disaster as he is – a prostitute named Dean Winchester. And suddenly, two damaged men might not be as irreparable as they believed.

The Bird That Feels The Light by ratgerastory (canon, no romance, Dean is a 5 year old but it’s the first I read almost 10 years ago and one of my favorites ever)

AU from 5.18 (or thereabouts). Castiel awakens in the middle of a smoking crater, stranded and very much human. According to the people who have discovered him, it’s six months to the day after Michael and Lucifer faced off on the field of battle outside of Detroit, and Castiel isn’t the only one to have returned. When, at his insistence, they take him to this other person, he finds a child –a little boy– and realizes that, contrary to all his expectations, he has been reunited with Dean Winchester. The world has changed in their absence, and not for the better. Sam is gone, whether dead or simply missing is uncertain. Castiel is given the name of a man in Idaho who may have answers for him. He is faced with the task of travelling cross-country with Dean, who is dependent on him now in ways he never was before, in order to discover the truth. But along the way, as he and Dean learn to know and trust each other once more, Castiel begins to realize that the answers he thought he wanted might not be the ones he needs.

the inexhaustible silence of houses by Askance (canon, I adored it but it left me in pieces, it took me weeks to get over it)

Almost two years after the world doesn’t end, Castiel falls from grace—and loses his voice in the process. It is the impetus for confession and change; before long, he is settling into a loving relationship with Dean, the Winchesters are tired, and hunting for a place to land has taken precedence to hunting anything else. Dean and Castiel fall in love with the strange little house on the end of Swallowtail Drive, and for a little while life is as it should be—sweet, affectionate, and beginning afresh. But more and more Castiel sees and hears things in the house that beg the question of whether or not a place itself can be alive. The walls and rooms seem to shift and grow and breathe, and one night, Dean comes home from a hunt changed in a way that Castiel cannot explain. In the months that follow, their domestic bliss takes turns for the dark and sour, and the confusion of their circumstances will ultimately test everything Castiel knows about the man he loves, and everything he believes to be true.

Last Man Standing by cerulea (canon, purgatory!verse)

Picking up exactly where we left off at the end of Season 7, Cas and Dean are stranded together in Purgatory struggling both to save their lives and their friendship amidst constant peril.

After The Fire by Themista (canon, end!verse)

Starting in 2013 and going through 2014 this is the story of Dean and Cas in their ill-fated quest to find the colt and shoot the devil - set in the endverse alternate reality seen in 5x04 The End. The apocalypse poses Dean and Cas many threats along the way, as they have to contend with the croats and Lucifer’s demons, led by Meg, all while trying to work out whether they can trust the infamously devious demon Crowley, with whom they already have a bloody history.

Twist and Shout by standbyme and gabriel (human 60-70s AU) (I don’t care how divisive and unpopular recommanding this one is, I was skeptical going in but it’s been years and I still have to skip Can’t Help Falling In Love and Twist and Shout when they come on shuffle in my playlists, that fic destroyed me))

What begins as a transforming love between Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak in the summer of 1965 quickly derails into something far more tumultuous when Dean is drafted in the Vietnam War. Though the two both voice their relationship is one where saying goodbye is never a real truth, their story becomes fraught with the tragedy of circumstance. In an era where homosexuality was especially vulnerable, Twist and Shout is the story of the love transcending time, returning over and over in its many forms, as faithful as the sea.

I also read ABO fics but I don’t know if you’re into that so I’m not including any in this list ^^ enjoy, let me know if you find something you like!

#gaelle parle #spn #fic rec #Anonymous

8 notes · View notes

mukur0writes-blog · 6 years

Text

25 Q’s (tag)

Thank you to @leapwriter for the tag!!!

1. Is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

Yes. I have this one super in-depth concept that will require...well, a shitton of research. I’m talking binders full. It’s highly political and involves an outrageous amount of extrapolation and speculation based on history and real-world politics and foreign policy as well as past relations and state’s relations and...long story short, Tennessee secedes from the U.S. as they threatened to do a few years ago under the Obama Administration. the U.S. responds with high tariffs to this new “independent country” and rip, Tennessee, which is not self-sufficient in any shape or form, goes to hell. It would follow several characters and examine “illegal immigration,” wealth and poverty, the nature of activism, and the consequence of conservative backlash.

2. What work of yours, if any, are you embarrassed about existing?

Anything written before 2013. Some after.

3. What order do you write in? Front of book to back? Chronological? Favorite scenes first? Something else?

So far I’ve always written front to back, as it would be read, but lately I’ve been considering going more freeform and doing scene by scene, but that requires a solid outline and I have never in my life been able to outline with any actual success.

4. Favorite character you’ve written?

Depends on the day and who I’m currently working on. fan characters, Mukuro forever.

5. Character you were most surprised to end up writing?

this is probably more relevant to canon characters that I’ve picked up for fanworks, tbh. like...Genos of OPM? I never would have expected. Colonnello of KHR? wtf

6. Something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change now

there’s some shit I wish I’d refined in the current OPM fanfic, Androgen Blues, but I’m not gonna go back and heavy edit published chapters before even updating lmao.

7. When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I don’t share my online works with people irl, period, ever. but I’m okay telling people that I write I guess. people ask hobbies and like, that’s the biggest one so I can’t exactly hide it

8. Favorite genre to write

depends on the day. I love horror and speculative fiction. spec fic is where my heart truly lies, but horror is damn good, too. admittedly I have a lot of practice writing erotica, too.

9. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

pinterest boards because I’m a fucking pleb. I like to read manga a lot and sometimes I get lucky and get bright ideas and inspo. music is a huge one. xkito and SuicideSheep are so important to my writing.

10. Write in silence or with background music? Alone or with others?

this depends 100% on the day. some days I just need some goddamn quiet, some days I have to plug into some music to write. some days I’m too noise sensitive to listen even if I wanted to.

11. What aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

I mean, I started writing when I was like 10, so...I sure hope all of it. lmao. technique, narrative, maturity, prose, readability, variation, style, character building, world building, audience awareness, relationships, dynamics, tone, pacing, planning...

12. Your weaknesses as an author?

i’m so fucking ADD. i’ve never finished a project with more than four chapters or forty pages so far. and I used to have a million ideas a day and go back and forth constantly but after I got into fanworks i started channeling that all into RP threads and shit and now i feel pretty bereft of ideas? i need to get creative again and start thinking in originality instead of au’s and stuff.

13. Your strengths as an author?

i like to think it’s characterisation. character depth and interest and relatability. character variety and dynamic.

14. Do you make playlists for your work?

not so far. i have playlists for writing in general, but not for specific wips

15. Why did you start writing?

it seemed cool i guess? i wanted to join in with people. i was a humongous daydreamer and realised i could write it down.

16. Are there any characters who haunt you?

my own characters?

I mean...the oc’s from when I was a stupid 13yo struggling with undiagnosed ptsd? those definitely haunt me.

the vampire knight next gen oc’s. those...those will never go away.

17. If you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?

this sounds dramatic but I don’t do those...talk to your younger self things. I can’t go back there. maybe in 20 years.

18. Were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? What were they?

god. so many...

early on, Maximum Ride. and Wheel of Time. talk about conflict. Garth Nix was in there somewhere.

as time went on, Anne Rice really had a hand in my style and storytelling and interests maturing. Oscar Wilde further refined it and encouraged me to start looking at human theory and experiment with writing.

Kyoko Mori really really dug into me in early high school. I’m sure her books have had a very profound impact on my writing.

my brain is totally blipping on more but I’m sure there’s a ton. before my ADD made reading a big issue, I read abt an average-size book a day. sometimes 1000 pages. i was one of those kids.

19. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timelines, ect.?

well organised bulletin points on a wordpad or something. seriously. i’m not...super in depth with organisation and notes and stuff. when i start working with full-on 100% original worldbuilding i’ll have to start using scrivener’s more in depth functions.

20. Do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?

usually long sit-down sessions. that’s always the goal. but sometimes a little is all i can do.

21. What do you think when you read over your older work?

how old? lmao, if it’s the shit I despise pre-2013 i can’t bring myself to read it. it’s fraught with “oh shit that’s trauma wow fuck me” -> dysphoria. then there’s just the weird ass feeling of not remembering stuff you know that you wrote. and shame. i’m bad at having to be perfect, thinking everyone is judging me, all that shit. even some stuff from last year i’ve read over in the last couple months and just cringed and curled up. i really need to rewrite it.

22. Are there subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

yyyyyyes. i mean there’s triggers for sure--like I could never ever write something involving syringes. i’d probably literally hurl. uh...abuse is a biggie. I can write it but it will mess with me, and there’s the tightrope of dealing with a victim who is probably glorifying the abuse to themselves while not glorifying it in a story, and like, i’m someone who’s been there and been addicted to that roller coaster so yeah, i totally could end up romanticising it without even knowing it (or because i couldn’t go into detail on it without that barrier). sometimes i think that varies by the day. i do write abuse but it’s usually venting more than anything to publish.

23. Any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

helped and hindered.

24. Have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

fuck hyperfocus, lmao

25. Copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud of.

p...proud? of writing? surely you jest. no but the one i’m really proud of doesn’t really have any snippets that are interesting without context of the whole thing, sorry.

tagging @tofu-writes and @starcraftcd if you’re interested!

#tag

4 notes · View notes

clayray3290 · 3 years

Text

Clayray Closeout 2020

Alrighty, I am writing this in 2021 because I had things to do on New Year’s Eve lol.

Well, 2020 has been quite a difficult year. I am grateful to be as fortunate as I am, but at the same time, most of the year I have spent full of rage and despair and frustration and fear and grief at all of the loss and all of the injustice and just all of the horrific things that have happened this year. For 2021, I’m trying to find hope and to gather strength to persevere and keep on doing my part in fighting for what is right and contributing good to the world.

Art played a huge part in helping me get through this year, so let me take a look back at some of that great art:

Music - Artists

BTS

Jesse & Joy

Niall Horan

Glass Animals

McFly

Taylor Swift

Fiona Apple

Little Mix

Chloe x Halle

Secret

Who knew BTS would top this list? I’ve followed them from before their debut, but I am a casual fan at best. Though I was supposed to take my mom (who is a bigger fan than I am) to the concert at the Rose Bowl this year...until the pandemic happened.

Obviously, I did not go to any concerts this year, so there are no artists that got a bump from my having seen them live this year. However, some old standbys released some new albums this year - Jesse & Joy, Glass Animals, McFly, Little Mix. And speaking of Little Mix, news of Jesy’s departure from the group sent me into a spin down memory lane listening to their discography more. Also T. Swift’s two (2!!) new albums were in heavy rotation as well.

Secret made this list too, even though of course they’re disbanded now. My love for them stays strong, and their solo releases this year I enjoyed - Particularly Jieun’s Make It Love.

Chloe x Halle I started listening to much more than before, because “Ungodly Hour” is a fantastic album. Which juuuuust missed the cut of my top albums.

Music - Albums

BTS - MAP OF THE SOUL: 7

Niall Horan - Heartbreak Weather

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Cast - High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Original Soundtrack

Jesse & Joy - Aire (Versión Día)

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Starry Cast - Starry

Glass Animals - Dreamland

ZOMBIES 2 Cast - ZOMBIES 2 Original TV Movie Soundtrack

Taylor Swift - folklore

Beyoncé - The Lion King: The Gift [Deluxe Edition]

HSMTMTS and Z2 are products of work, but there generally are some fantastic songs from these soundtracks that I love independently. Olivia Rodrigo has turned out to be a star, and “All I Want” is gorgeous. And “Flesh & Bone” in particular is incredible and young people found such meaning from its lyrics, like “No more hesitation, it’s time we start to realize / With all this separation, silence is still taking sides.”

I have a fraught relationship with Glass Animals’ Dreamland right now because I had bought a limited edition vinyl, but there has been a whole rigmarole because it was super delayed (literally months!) and I went home to Michigan and so then I had to change the delivery address to my friend’s, and then she moved, too, so it has been a whole thing.

Starry is an as-yet unstaged musical about Vincent van Gogh, and it is exquisite. Please give it a listen and fall in love with it like I did.

Lastly, I once heard “Fetch the Boltcutters” as “Vegetable Goddess” and I cannot unhear it.

Movies

Soul Yes, would love if we could have a Black protagonist be a Black protagonist for the whole movie, but look, this is a beautiful beautiful film that is so meaningful. I cried so much.

The Old Guard It would be an honor to be slayed by Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne, or Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Palm Springs A delightful time loop take, and just so darn charming.

Emma. Works better as a comedy than a romance, but lusciously shot and Anya Taylor-Joy takes one of the trickiest Austen heroines and brings her to full life.

A Recipe for Seduction Okay, this one’s a joke. The KFC x Lifetime “movie” is ridiculous, but I have no regrets watching it.

The above list is just of movies that newly came out in 2020.

I watched a whopping 390 movies in 2020, 200 of which were Quarantine Movies with my friend Richard w/a Beard (Our 200th was BLOODY NEW YEAR, literally begun on New Year’s Eve with just moments left of 2020). Rw/aB and I watch mostly B-movies, slashers, giallos, psychedelic musicals, 80′s sex comedies, kung fu movies, and made-for-TV kids’ movies. And the KFC x Lifetime movie. (For the record, my top 5 of these movies would be: Blood Beat, Killer Workout, Pieces, StageFright: Aquarius, Mr. Boogedy. Honorable Mention to The Apple and Miami Connection.)

Honorable Mention: Sound of Metal (Technically a 2019 movie), Lucky Grandma (Also a 2019 movie), Hala (Again 2019), the Disney+ music specials like Hamilton and Black Is King, the Pixar SparkShorts particularly Loop, our DCOM releases this year - Zombies 2 and Upside-Down Magic and Secret Society of Second-Born Royals

Films I Want To See But Haven’t Yet: Minari (I can’t believe I haven’t seen it yet), One Night in Miami..., Definition Please, Disclosure, The Forty-Year-Old Version, The Personal History of David Copperfield (DEV PATEL), Nomadland

Television

I May Destroy You What an awe-inspiringly incredible show. Michaela Coel is a force.

Ted Lasso On a much lighter note than I May Destroy You, lol. This show could’ve been so stupid, but it is actually so deft and wise and mature. And just so full of heart.

The Baby-Sitters Club It is hard to take a beloved work and reboot it. But this show not only made it contemporary, but updated it to be relevant and to ring true for today. And it is just simply a really good show.

Normal People My heart aches from this show, and in the best way.

Little Fires Everywhere This show took an incredible book and distilled it into its best form, packing just such gut punches along the way.

Not New: Pen15, Crash Landing on You (Did a group watch with friends for this, like we did with Erkenci Kus last year!), Schitt’s Creek, What We Do in the Shadows, Watchmen, Kidding, Succession

Honorable Mentions: Never Have I Ever, The Queen’s Gambit, Lovecraft Country, Bridgerton, Dead Still (A show about a Victorian dead people photographer!), The Amber Ruffin Show (I’m not actually much of a late night person, but I adore Amber Ruffin), Dash & Lily, Supermarket Sweep Reboot, Julie and the Phantoms, Taste the Nation, Little America, The Stranger (RIP Quibi)

Shows I Haven’t Finished Yet But Will: Ramy, Saved by the Bell Reboot, Gentefied, The Mandalorian, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist

According to my Trakt, I watched 282 hours of TV and 522 hours of movies in 2020 (But this was before the last week of 2020, so this is an undercount). That’s 805 hours total, which would be about 33.5 days lmao, so basically a month of my year was spent watching something hahahahahaha. I watch a lot.

But apparently, I listen even more? According to my Last.fm, I scrobbled 30,916 songs, making for total listening time of 74 days and 8 hours. Whew! Well, let’s get into my top songs then~

#Clayray Closeout

0 notes