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erazonpo3 · 3 years

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WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

#how did you spend your day

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thejustmaiden · 4 years

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Jaken = Rin's Dad?

Okay, is this how a daughter treats their so-called father?

Most definitely not.

Rin and Jaken's relationship clearly screams of your typical sibling rivalry punctuated with cute and silly moments of playful bickering.

Yes, Jaken may technically be her main provider, but that doesn't necessarily equate to him being more of a father than Sesshomaru. If anything, he demonstrates more of a brotherly love towards her. As we all know, parents (which Sesshomaru embodies more based on real life patterns and parallels) will leave their older more capable children in charge of looking after their younger brothers and sisters. In this case, that would mean making Jaken responsible for watching over Rin and protecting her if need be. Ah-Un offers protection, too. Think of it as Jaken as the big brother and Ah-Un as the family dog who are babysitting while Sesshomaru as the parent of the household is away at work or taking care of business. I mean, they literally fit that description to a tee and I'm dying at the accuracy of it all! 🤣👌

[Quick! Someone write up a modern au where Sesshomaru finally gets out to have a nice date night but everything goes wrong in the most spectacular way. Like maybe Rin and Jaken catch a ride on Ah-Un to go spy!]

I recently revisited some episodes from The Final Act, and I couldn't believe how many moments like this there were where Rin got after Jaken or when she would "put him in his place" so to speak. Obviously, all of it is mostly harmless. I was only surprised by how often it occurred, not to mention how Jaken would just stand there and take it. Towards a supposed father figure, Rin's behavior is downright unacceptable. There's a certain level of respect a child is expected to show their parents/guardians, and that's just not what I'm witnessing here between them. Like at all.

Rather their dynamic has the nature of some sibling relationships like I mentioned above. So I really wish fans would stop pretending otherwise, because based on what we know of father-daughter relationships- healthy ones at least- they don't appear anything like what Jaken and Rin have. If you could please provide me other examples of where we've seen similar portrayals in fiction or in real life, then perhaps I can get on board.

Look, that doesn't have to mean that because Jaken isn't her father then Sesshomaru must be. They can both be her caretakers without necessarily filling that traditional father role. I'm just saying that if we're going to start assigning titles to characters, let's make sure we are accurate and truthful in our assessments. If you're going to label anyone Rin's dad, then it needs to be Sesshomaru. Jaken doesn't have precedence over him in terms of fatherly attributes, that just wouldn't make sense.

After all, this isn't about what you want to see, this is about what Rin very likely sees. It's safe to assume that she views Sesshomaru more like a father than she does Jaken. She knows she's safe with him (broadly speaking lol) and that he'll come for her no matter what. That sense of security and comfort is what a child seeks and what they should always feel in a parent's presence. She trusts and even idolizes him, just as a young and innocent child tends to do with their parents. At that age, parents are perfect and could do no wrong in their child's eyes. Idk about you, but this describes perfectly how Rin is around Sesshomaru.

Rin adores him and will follow him anywhere- yes, even into danger! That's what the innocence and unconditional love of a child will bring them to do if necessary. Fortunately, at the end of The Final Act we learn Sesshomaru takes Kaede's advice when he realizes that leaving Rin with her in the village is in her best interests. That way she'd be able to lead a more normal and safer life alongside other humans. Remember, Sessrin shippers, that doesn't mean he wasn't still a part of her life and didn't witness her become a young woman over the years right before his very eyes. Therefore, if they eventually do become romantically involved, then most if not all of those gifts had intimate and seductive intentions and it essentially constitutes as child grooming.

I understand from a Sessrin shipper's point of view why it'd be so much easier to claim Jaken as the father. In doing so, they diminish Sesshomaru's role in her upbringing. By refusing to acknowledge the real role he had in helping raise Rin (short periods can be crucial and impressionable too esp. in a child's early years so yes they did assist in raising her not only Kaede), these shippers are better able to justify how their filial-like relationship evolved into a romantic one. So yeah, I get it, if I were a Sessrin shipper I'd probably do the same. It's one of the more plausible arguments available to them, after all. "Let's pin Jaken as the father to fend off antis!" is the best chance they've got, but even so, it's still not good enough. But if you insist Jaken is indeed like a father to Rin, then Sesshomaru is most certainly one too. Who says she can't have two fathers anyway?

The thing is however much you want to deny or downplay what Sesshomaru truly means to Rin and vice versa, nothing will ever change or hide the truth of the matter. Please, stop acting like they're only traveling companions and nothing more. Some of y'all even go so far as to say that they're like strangers. Knowing potentially little about a person is not equal to a lack of love and affection. Making big assumptions such as this to defend your ship is actually doing you more harm than good. Let me elaborate.

According to your reasoning, if that's all Rin ever was to him was a companion and Sesshomaru had no real attachment to her, then what precisely is the basis of your ship? Recall that Adult!Rin doesn't exist yet, thus we have no real idea what she will be like or if she's even alive. So how can you make comments like that but then go on later to say "they have such a unique and unbreakable bond" or "only Rin can be the mother because she's the only human he ever cared for" if all that time spent traveling together didn't amount to much in the first place like you claimed to believe beforehand? Do you see how your rationalizing is confusing?

Contrary to what some of you may think, I'm not just saying all this because I'm an anti and I'm obligated to disagree with you, or whatever other excuse you want to tell yourself. Believe it or not, I'm attempting to give as unbiased and objective of an analysis I can based on widely accepted interpretations of family dynamics, development, and any history we know of.

Of course I respect that at times fans will perceive things differently since that's bound to happen. What's hard for me to wrap my head around however is the unwillingness of some fans- not exclusively Sessrin shippers- to apply basic common sense and sound judgment to their observations and deductions.

Looking at all our facts, then taking the small handful of scenes Sesshomaru and Rin do share together into account, one can logically conclude that their dynamic is akin to one found in a typical parent-child relationship. If you still fail to recognize Sesshomaru as a parent to Rin, then that's fine too. In the end, that won't really change the fact that he'd still take on a role resembling an adult figure overseeing a young child's care and protection. Be it as a vassal, guardian, what have you. Plus, nobody is saying here that Sesshomaru doesn't make mistakes regarding Rin's general well-being, but so do all parents. Overall, I think the majority of us agree that Rin is in good hands. Whether it's in his direct company or in his occasional supervision from his frequent visits to the village.

In other words, it doesn't really matter what exact title you assign him in relation to Rin, as the distribution of power is all inherently the same with any and all adult-child relationships. That bond never changes once you've established it either, seeing as it's a special kind of connection one can only form with a child and a child alone.

I was a teacher for a few years, and speaking from personal experience, you don't need to be a parent, per se, to take on a role of authority in a child's life. I know without a doubt that I could never and will never view any of those kids I taught in a sexual/romantic light later down the road; yes, not even once they become grown-ups who are independent and more than capable of making their own decisions. Those of you who disagree are usually missing the whole point though, because we're not trying to dictate what Adult!Rin can and cannot do like many tend to accuse of us doing. This isn't a question of taking away from her autonomy nor does it fall under "purity culture," which is why people shouldn't continue jumping to these outrageous conclusions and really listen for a change. You're deflecting from the real issue here when you choose to misinterpret what we're saying by ignoring the problem we're actually referring to. You cannot present a valid counter-argument if you persist in twisting our words.

Bottom line: once these kids become old enough to pursue a sexual/romantic relationship, of course they have that right if they're ready. All we're trying to say is you guys ought to stop pushing forward this it's-completely-normal-to-want-to-bang-your-adoptive-dad-since-you're-an-adult-and-can-do-as-you-please agenda and not expect backlash. Ship it if you want, but please stop acting like their romance would be the epitome of a pure and healthy relationship.

Sesshomaru may not wear his heart on his sleeve, but it's foolish to presume he didn't actually care about Rin during their whole time together just because he didn't openly express his feelings until the very end. Surely everybody can comprehend that people handle and process their emotions differently. The way Sesshomaru chooses to is completely valid for the most part, so let's cut him some slack regarding this already.

What I'm trying to get at is that any child whose life you played an influential role in will always be a kid in a lot ways to you even when they're old and wrinkly. Just as they will always picture you as the loved one who guided and protected them when they were most vulnerable and couldn't always fend for themselves. Can't we relate this to children we know personally and apply it accordingly?

Finally, I want to end on this note. Could you kindly take a look at these two images below for a second?

The reason I ask is because of something I recently read that's relevant to the topic. There was this pro-sessrin tweet I saw that stated Rin trying to take care of Sesshomaru when they first met is what a mom would do for a child, which in their opinion, translates to Rin being more like a mother than a daughter if anything.

First off: are you freaking kidding me????

Seriously, so now children aren't allowed to tend to their sick or injured parents?! Parents are apparently superhuman and shouldn't be offered a helping hand from a child, even if they mean well and want to help their parent who's in pain?? Now this Twitter user was mostly being a smartass, but at the same time, it was evident they genuinely thought they offered a valid enough point that warranted no further explanation or clarification.

Secondly, by saying this Sessrin fans don't seem to realize that in actuality they're contradicting themselves and proving the point we've been trying to make all along. Glancing at the first picture and moving down to the second, the role of the one being cared for and the caretaker is reversed. So then by their own logic, Sesshomaru IS in fact like a father to Rin.

What it comes down to is the names you give to the roles these characters play aren't as crucial as the dynamic they share. The specific characteristics of that dynamic are what define the importance of said role, not so much the name in the role itself. So real father or not, Sesshomaru and Rin clearly mean a lot to each other. Close relationships are defined and solidified by the devotion and belonging they have to one another, not solely by the duration of time spent together and their proximity.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope you guys got something outta this blog, and that you enjoyed or found some portions of it interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject from this fandom, but only engage in conversation if you plan to be respectful. Thank you!

#inuyasha #hanyo no yashahime #sesshomaru #rin #jaken #anti sessrin #child grooming #family dynamics #parent child relationship

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gamebunny-advance · 3 years

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The Thrilling Continuation~

@kujo-supernova

As to not clog the dashes with increasingly long posts of anyone who has to put up with this, I started a new post~

[Original response here]

K, I agree with 95% of what you said, so I don't feel the need to go over it point by point. Even the stuff I don't agree with I’m not going to really address because it's irrelevant to the argument I’m trying to make. This isn't even an argument about each other's opinions anymore so much as I'm just commenting on the fandom at large now. So basically everything I'm about to say is not really directed at you (except for the last part), and is more directed at this fictional straw man of the fandom that probably doesn't exist, but I'm gonna attack anyway because it helps illustrate my thought process.

But thanks for reading anyway if you do~

I don't take issue with the fandom because I'm trying to defend Kliff or say that anyone else is 100% in the wrong here. This is a story about flawed individuals that make bad decisions. It's multi-layered and complex, and that's why I love this game so much.

My issue is largely with how the fandom in general is hypocritical in the way they treat Kliff because they see him as *more* "wrong" than he actually is, but my goal is not to prove that he was in the “right”.

Yeah, B2J (mostly Mayday) did get to learn from the experience that they were wrong because they're the protagonists: the purpose of their story is to learn that lesson. Kliff exists to be Mayday's "shadow". He represents an extreme that Mayday could have become had she not realized that taking over NSR isn't the solution to her problem. But as the true antagonist, Kliff literally *can't* come to that same realization: it would be redundant. And that's fine. For the purposes of the story that it wanted to tell, Kliff getting a resolution was not necessary, even if it leaves him in a bad spot with the other characters.

But that story is done and now fandom gets to write new ones. He still has a lot of character that can be explored: Now that rock is back in the city, what will he do? Why is rock specifically so important to him? Why does he know so much about every artist in the city? Why does he look so much younger than he actually is? *cough*becausehe'savampire*cough*

But largely the fandom doesn't seem interested in exploring any of that and more than just a handful of people seem to outwardly reject the idea of writing him as even *capable* of the kind of growth that B2J went through.

I brought up DJSS specifically as a counterargument to Kliff because he is THE scummiest person in the cast for all the reasons you said and more, but he is still one of the most popular characters because he has a cool design and a sexy voice, and maybe some people see him as a "sad boi" and want to coddle him. I am also one of those people for all 3 1/2 of those reasons, but I don't believe that you need to think that a character is a good person to justify liking them. There's a lot of reasons to like a morally gray or even morally black character, and agreeing with their actions/opinions doesn't need to be one of them.

I just think it's hypocritical to excuse one character for their flaws and not another with similar ones. Like there's some nuance to it that can change what makes something okay in one context and not okay in another, but I think the comparison between DJSS and Kliff is apt.

In my opinion their shared flaw is being egocentric. They are both willing to sacrifice the health and happiness of others for their own agendas. They express it in different ways, but it all comes from the same place: They think that what they're trying to achieve is more important than the feelings/condition of others.

DJSS seriously does not give a damn about anyone other than himself and he doesn't even have the courtesy to try and hide it. Even after his district is restored, he's still the same asshole he always was. He STILL calls B2J "Plutonians" (and I don't count him saying that "they aren't so bad after all" as "change", because even as a professor he was capable of expressing backhanded gratitude) and his reason for playing music is STILL "self-importance". He is in the same place that he started and will probably continue to abuse his district over his sense of ego unless Tatiana or someone else finally forces him not to. And everyone either accepts that or disregards it because that's just who he is. And again, that's fine, but I find it hypocritical.

Like I feel like many people's problems with Kliff is that they're not interested in exploring his character beyond what has been presented in the text. And that's fine too. It is perfectly valid to enjoy the game as it is and not want to explore it beyond that, but if having such a small scope of a game's themes and characters causes you to get "bugged" when someone presents a different interpretation, then it might be beneficial to look at another reading.

For example, let's go back to the satellite argument. My point about the satellite being "symbolic" was to disprove "murderous intent". His motivations for dropping it are totally separate. You say that you still think his motivation is being fueled by bitterness over Tatiana leaving rock. Your exact words: "I still think part of it was done out of spiteness for Tatiana leaving rock", but I feel like that's a very surface level reading.

In my opinion, rock is just the window dressing to the core of his actual problem: he feels like he's not getting back what he gave. He drops the satellite after her response to this question: "Did my loyalty mean nothing to you?" Which was, "I don't give a damn about you. I owe you nothing." which I think is far from a trivial response.

In any relationship, even a non-romantic one like this, it hurts knowing that the other person isn't as invested in it as you are. Even more so if they were to flat out say, "I don't give a damn about you." Like, can you imagine being told by your favorite content creator that they hated you to your face after you've done everything you could do to support them as a fan? Would most people react calmly to that in the heat of the moment?

Like we don't know the extent that Kliff was involved in Tatiana's life, but Tatiana never implies that he's lying about supporting her after the Goolings disbanded. Their relationship couldn't have been completely parasocial because she immediately recognizes him and addresses him by name when she sees him, and her being Kul Fyra isn't common or easy to obtain knowledge, so he must have been close to her to even know that. We know what he may have been willing to do for her given how much he helps B2J, and had Tatiana been upfront about her feelings with Kliff in the past, then I don't think he would have even bothered to give his sob story because he would have known that she wouldn't be receptive to it.

What I'm getting at is that "abandoning rock" isn't the actual reason he felt hurt enough to want to retaliate. It was likely more about "abandoning him" than it is a loyalty to any particular genre.

Even with this reading of his motivation, I don't think he was justified in doing what he did. Tatiana was totally right in calling him out, even if she was harsh about it, because in the end it doesn't matter how much he might have done for her if she didn't want it to begin with. He should have just walked away and accepted that she wasn't the person he thought she was, but people don't always do the right or rational thing, especially if they're caught up in the heat of their emotions and I think that's a relatable emotion worthy of discussion and dissection, even if it's not positive.

Will reading any of that change your mind? Probably not, but it's another perspective, and that's really all I want to offer.

Saying you're okay with someone liking something that you don't, isn't the same as understanding it, and that's what I want to change. I don't need anyone to agree with me, I wouldn’t start these discussions with strangers if I did. My end goal is to get you to understand where I'm coming from, and I think you're just *barely* missing my point. Hopefully I’m understanding your points too, but maybe I’m wrong about you’re getting at as well. UoU

#text #i dunno if i want this in the main tags #it's gonna show up in NSR regardless #but i do want to be mindful of anyone blacklisting this stuff #nsr

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disappearinginq · 3 years

Note

If you're still doing these: Top 5 fictional characters? Top 5 books?

I like avoiding chores, so yes - definitely still answering asks:

Top 5 Fictional Characters:

1. Sherlock Holmes - I will admit, the more recent versions of this character with Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr. are probably my favorite versions of Holmes, but I will read or watch pretty much anything about this man. I have even Young Sherlock and Moriarty sitting on my shelves, and even House of Silk (when I get the time). I just...I like characters that are the smartest in the room, and while I appreciate the surprise of a humble smart character, I am much closer to Sherlock and his “you can’t really be this dumb...oh. Shit. You are.”

2. Robin Hood - again, I will read or watch pretty much anything about this character, though I will always love Kevin Costner’s Prince of Thieves - and I actually did like Taron Edgerton’s portrayal in the most recent one, even though both versions were absolutely panned by critics. Probably because I wholeheartedly subscribe to taxation is theft, but also because I like any character who rips off people who have it coming to them.

3. Merlin - I should say the mythology of King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table and anyone associated with it. But anyone who knows me likes a bit of subtle magic and either snarky secret wizards or cantankerous old wizards, and to this day, Sword in the Stone is my favorite iteration of this storyline.

4. Tony Stark - Probably for the same reason I like Sherlock Holmes, I like Tony Stark, especially in the MCU. It’s one of the few times that someone is shown with a relatively not pretty version of CPTSD, and how it can alter your brain chemistry to the point of making wildly poor decisions because in your mind, it seems perfectly rational. (Do I like how Steve and everyone else just compacts the problem by complaining that Tony tries to control everything but also that everything is Tony’s fault? No - but that, in a way, is also accurate). Tony is also one of the few characters that witnesses fallout to his decisions, and learns from them. Again, not always the right lesson, but his character does learn.

5. Aliena of Shiring from Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - I will admit, I added her after wondering why I had no women fictional characters, but I realized most of it has to do with the terrible way that women characters are written. Aliena manages to be what I would call unconquerable. The amount of crap that woman puts up with for 1000 pages and still manages to not break, keep strong, think and out maneuver life is truly awe inspiring. I love her character so much.

Top 5 Books.

Hmm. Well, we already said I would read anything about Sherlock, Robin and Merlin, so...let’s branch out.

1. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Follett primarily wrote spy and action novels, so this historical epic about cathedral building in a small town in England in the 12th century. It has epic everything. The characters are fantastic - True Good and True Evil, there’s a nun who places a curse on the bad guys and becomes a witch who lives in the woods. It has everything that is good about the church and everything that is bad about the church. It deals with the every day peoples’ dealings with the constant change between rulers (Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois were going at it in a civil war after the death of Henry’s only legit son). It has a literally epic love story between Jack and Aliena, to whom every love story will forever pale in comparison, and Aliena legit walked across all of Christendom to find her True Love. Movie counterparts are Eddie Redmayne and Hayley Atwell. Everyone who is good gets a Happy Ending. Everyone who is evil gets their goddamn comeuppance in the most horrible of ways and they fucking deserve that shit.

2. Okay, so on the heels of “the most epic story of all time”, I present to you a “It’s not the greatest but I love it anyway” - Rise of Renegade X, by Chelsea Campbell, which is in fact a series, and I love the second and third installment the most, but it’s about a made up city where there are superheroes and supervillains and that’s just how life goes. Heroes are marked with an H on their thumb when they turn 16, villains with a V (it’s a plot point to explain why, but it’s a genetic thing, like a finger print), and on the main character’s 16th birthday, he expects a V and instead gets an X. He eventually tracks down his super hero dad who didn’t know that he existed, and convinces the kid to come live with his family - where he has three other children, and a wife who was permanently crippled by a supervillain. As it goes along, the series deals more and more with prejudice, racism, classism, Good versus Evil compared to Right versus Wrong, and the MC, Damien is the first person narrative, so you get all of his snarky sarcasm first hand.

3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. 100% because of the world building, the fact that it is a fantasy version of Ocean’s Eleven, but also because I truly and deeply adore Kaz Brekker. One of the few characters with no particular power, he’s perfectly human, and absolutely terrifying. And while he has a character arc that I adore, it does not fundamentally hinge on him changing who he is. At the end, Kaz is still a fucking cold hearted, brilliant and scheming bastard, but the audience has an insight to him that maybe Kaz doesn’t even have himself. His issues don’t magically go away. He doesn’t have a Scrooge moment. He has his own set of principles and he stays by them, and what is so lovely is that the love interest accepts that.

4. Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Murder horses based on Irish/Scottish Mythology, and a horse race with said murder ponies. Need I say more?

5. Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. This is going to sound weird as a recommendation, but this book is the book of fucking nightmares. I read it for a class on Ireland because we had to pick either a story about Ireland, takes place in Ireland, or was written by an Irish person. I read this in I think an afternoon and I didn’t sleep that night. Despite the main character being like 11 years old, I would never let a kid read it. It’s a dark, true-to-Grimms’-source fairy tale that is like the twisted version of the Chronicles of Narnia, and a psychological trip and a half. I loved it. It is a true fairy tale - the kid, David, mom dies in the first chapter, and David feels like he failed her because he’d developed this SEVERE OCD ritual that he believed would keep his mother alive (it obviously doesn’t), and his dad, months later, remarries and has a second child, whom David hates. The baby cries all the time, the young mother is preoccupied with a baby and no husband (he’s off fighting in WWII), and David is left to occupy himself most of the time. They move out of London because of the Blitz, to David’s mother’s family estate. It’s old, and creepy, and the garden seems like something is calling to him, that sets a dread in the pit of his stomach when he goes near it. Enter the Crooked Man, a man who offers to give David everything he wants if David tells him his brother’s name. David refuses, and that night, a German plane crashes in the garden, and it turns out, that’s the portal/wardrobe to another world, and David gets dragged into it. And it just goes from there.

Thanks for the asks! They’re always fun!

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animegenork · 4 years

Text

Thoughts on Ivan Chapter 5

And so, here we are. I’m finally doing this.

As a disclaimer: I’m very very very very very very late, and I know that. But I also needed to finish the chapter before having official thoughts on it. (Because that makes sense.)

And now, I can.

I made a Google Doc to write down my reactions each day I played, as I am free 2 play and needed to keep track of this stuff. So here is the entirety of the mess that is my reacting to this chapter. (I’m putting all this under the cut so those who don’t care don’t gotta deal with this.)

TL;DR: Eloise and Ivan both fucked up. Eloise didn’t trust Ivan enough and ended up breaking Ivan’s trust. Now they’re at a bit of a stalemate because valid feeling vs. valid feeling = hella heated argument. [You’ll have to actually read to get the full story behind this.]

There we are. This was about 11 pages in Google Doc form. I had a lot of thoughts about this chapter.

I’m probably going to reference a couple things from this post I did where I dove into Ivan’s head a little bit. If you want to know more, take a read. I, uh... I ended up being really accurate, and I’m still freaked out.

To be clear, I bounced back and forth throughout this chapter on how I felt about Eloise and Ivan’s actions and words. And let me make a defining statement about my stance:

Eloise and Ivan both fucked up.

They did. Don’t try to convince me otherwise.

Eloise

I made a post once wondering why people were mad about Eloise being jealous. Because let’s face it: jealousy exists. I can tell you a story of a coworker of mine whose ex-girlfriend would consistently harangue him about our other coworker simply because she existed in the same room as him. Jealousy is some powerful shit.

Fans of otome games may not like it or want to deal with the past lovers/jealousy trope, but honestly it’s necessary. Romance ain’t a perfect science, and the more obstacles you have to go through to be with the one you love, the better it’ll be. But this post isn’t about that.

I understand Eloise a lot here. She’s met this Constance, who meant the WORLD to Ivan, and she knows how (seemingly) perfect she is. HELL, I WOULD BE INSECURE TOO. Eloise is insecure; she wonders if perhaps she can ever measure up to this past lover that Ivan had. She’s starting to experience feelings she may not quite understand, and that’s perfectly okay.

However, she kinda went about it all wrong.

Okay, sure. If I heard about my crush going and seeing his past lover during the day (risking life and limb to do so), I’d be a little suspicious. Maybe the “stalker” or “obsessed” thought would cross my mind. BUT if I remembered that Ivan was clinging to humanity AND realized that letting someone go who means the world to you is incredibly difficult, I would probably be more rational than Eloise. Honestly, Ivan’s big mistake here is letting Eloise find out about this outings because they poisoned her mind a bit.

Now, she could have asked him, “Okay, but why follow her?” Because that would have made more sense than doing the exact thing she was (mentally) calling him out for. But no. She did the same thing. And she found she was unable to hate this woman who, now remarried, used to completely hold Ivan’s heart.

What really ticks me off is that she did this because she didn’t believe him when he said he doesn’t feel the same way about Constance as he used to. She didn’t trust him enough to take him at his word. I mean, he’s a vampire, so I guess fully trusting him is off the table, even though she was fully admiring his shirtless form like 6 seconds ago (I mean, so was I), but anyway.

In the end, Ivan gets mad (UNDERSTANDABLY), and they argue because Eloise has somehow become a little obsessed with this Constance idea. Do you remember what I said about my coworker? His ex was ALSO obsessed with the idea of someone else in his life. It’s a pretty valid concern, and honestly, considering the way I argue with people, I don’t think Eloise’s freak out during the argument is completely unjustified. When you’re insecure, you are trying your DAMNEDEST to prove that there is merit to your worries.

I really sympathized with Eloise at the end of the chapter. She was convinced she’d ruined whatever it is she has with Ivan and that she should’ve kept her big mouth shut. This is exactly how I feel at the end of really bad arguments.

Poor Eloise. She’s never been in a relationship, right? So of course things would go wrong in the first one. But that doesn’t mean she needs to lose hope!

Ivan

I might get rant-y here. Only because some things people have said have PISSED. ME. OFF. Especially in relation to what I now know. (I’m not about to address the claim that Ivan needs a straitjacket now, but it might come in the future, if my newly-acquired knowledge of the definition of psychopathy has anything to say about it.)

Okay, so. Ivan definitely could have been a little clearer when he explained his relationship with Constance. He certainly could have clarified his exact reasons for going to the Village during the day. But with the bits and pieces I gathered, it was... I don’t know, obvious? When you care for someone as much as Ivan cared for Constance, you’re going to wonder how they’re faring after your sudden disappearance. It’s a thing in fiction where if X Character disappears, they wonder how life back home is going.

That might just be me over analyzing character motivations again. Sorry. (It’s an English/Creative Writing major thing.)

Still, this boy trusted that Eloise would give him space after he dug into this painful wound of his. He trusted that she wouldn’t ask anymore until he was ready to go back to poking it. But instead, she went and investigated on her own. Not only does that speak of her not trusting him, but now, how can he trust her when she did this?

I wanna note that before shit hit the fan (i.e. the argument), Ivan was perfectly content with Eloise visiting him. He was ecstatic that she would come to him so early in the night. When she gave him the plant, he BEAMED! He told her that he didn’t think he deserved to care for something like a plant! HE TOLD HER THAT THE FACT THAT SHE GAVE IT TO HIM MADE IT MORE BEAUTIFUL!

Have I mentioned I was sobbing at this part?

I’m not about to go into the nuances of the Chalice-vampire bond, because not much has been explained about it. However, Eloise did, in fact, say something that was very like Constance (all flower-knowledgeable and such), and the fact that that BRIEF tidbit clued her in to Eloise’s actions is interesting. So, yeah. He gets mad that Eloise went to see Constance in person, because that is, in fact, an invasion of his privacy in many ways. It’s like if I went to see my boyfriend’s ex in person just because he gave me a name. (I don’t have a boyfriend, and I wouldn’t do that. Just by the way.) But before that...

You know what I didn’t see in people’s reactions to Chapter 5? How worried Ivan was about us. He saw that Eloise wasn’t acting like herself. And he asked THREE TIMES (count ‘em in my reactions above, he asked THREE TIMES) if she was okay. The THIRD time, he said, “Did I do something wrong?”

I want someone to explain to me how in the fucking world this clues us in to him not caring about us. But anyway.

This concern, in fact, comes up when Ivan starts yelling at Eloise about being reckless. Because she was. Going too far from Ivan fucks with the Chalice bond, AND she did it during the day (and nearly got burnt real bad), AND there’s a murderer on the loose, AND Vlad could’ve found out. What I think a lot of people looked past was that there was concern behind Ivan’s anger. Anger based on concern is a helluva drug, and Ivan was high on that.

So, Eloise broke Ivan’s trust and endangered herself while doing it. And people are mad at Ivan? Okay. Cool. Good to know.

You know what was really crazy about all of this? A lot of the things Ivan said in this chapter really resonated with the post I linked above. I didn’t actually know Ivan didn’t take change (which had fucked him over in the past) well, but he directly said so. I didn’t actually know for sure that Ivan saw Constance as the embodiment of what he’d lost when he turned vamp, BUT HE ACTUALLY SAID IT (the part labeled, “OH MY GOD. OH. MY. GOD.”). I only vaguely understood that Ivan had a hard time coping with his transformation and feared that he was gonna ruin his relationship with Eloise. And yet! I ended up hitting the nail right on the head! I can’t tell if this means I’m magical or that I’m too good at diving into character’s heads.

The best part is that Ivan is the one to call an end to the shouting match. I’m kinda glad he kissed her, first of all, because there were some logical fallacies and circular arguing going on PLUS all of the emotions both were feeling PLUS the Chalice bond fucking them up a bit, SO it kinda served to tell him, “We gotta stop.” He basically says (and this is a paraphrase), “Okay, you go chill, and I’ll stay here and chill, because we’re both very angry and should probably calm down.” RATIONAL IVAN.

I’m really, REALLY confused why people are bashing him left and right (and I WOULD bring up the straitjacket thing again BUT).

[Side Note: I think at the beginning of Chapter 6, he ended up going out anyway because after an argument like THAT, how do you NOT get stuck in your own head and need to leave?]

Final Thoughts

This could all be bullshit. Even the parts where I directly quote what the English version of this chapter gave me. I could be going in too deep for the sake of defending Ivan. But what the Moonlight Lovers fandom needs to remember is that nobody ever said Ivan’s route was going to be easy. I got my fluff. I got some damn good fluff in this chapter, too. I NEVER expected things to NOT go to shit for the sake of the overarching plot. I expected it. That’s the point of this game, for God’s sake: things go to shit because of [PLOT].

There are two main things I think some people may have forgotten.

1. Eloise is allowed to be jealous. I’m sorry the past-lover-jealousy trope isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but I, personally, find it realistic. Maybe she went about it in the wrong way (although we got some hefty dramarama), but I empathize. I’m hecka insecure; I would be acting very similarly to her.

2. Ivan does, in fact, have a point. He has multiple, actually. I don’t blame him for going further into the “so I would go out to see her-” thing, because how does one properly explain something like that to someone who doesn’t know them that well?!?! Plus, his concern is very clear throughout this chapter, so treating him like he has no emotions/doesn’t give a damn about Eloise is pretty fucking stupid. Perhaps he’s acting rather selfishly most of the time, but do you think Vlad and Bel were entirely selfless 24/7? HELL, I’D BE SELFISH TOO. LOOK HOW FUCKED UP HIS LIFE HAS GOTTEN SINCE HE BECAME A VAMP.

I didn’t really ever plan on doing this post, not until I saw people giving Ivan a lot of shit. Frankly, I’m giving him some shit as well. Considering how close in age Eloise and Ivan are, I’m really not surprised shit hit the fan in this chapter, especially with the decisions both of them made.

But then, I still enjoyed it.

So, yeah. I actually enjoyed this chapter. I was tossed back and forth between empathizing with Eloise and Ivan so much that my conclusion - that both of them had a point and both of them had valid feelings and reactions - was not one I thought I’d make when I went in.

And if anybody else actually happened to find merit in this chapter, don’t be afraid to say so. Hell, you can DM me and tell me EXACTLY why you found merit with it. I don’t mind.

Final Final Thoughts

This is a stupid random thought, but. When did Eloise and Ivan become parts of my psyche incarnate??? Like I empathized with them WAYYYYYY too much. Was this chapter written specifically for me? For a real person who’s felt many of these things before?

Beemoov, did you specifically write Ivan’s route for me? As flattered as I am, this is kinda weird. I didn’t expect to see myself so much in the MC of this game, but here we are.

I’m just bullshitting please no one roast me for having a huge ego it’s just that the coincidence was too uncanny

#moonlight lovers #ml ivan #ml ivan chapter 5 #ml eloise #they both fucked up and i stand by this statement #i'm back on my bullshit sorry #but also not sorry #i stand by everything i said #ivan stans unite #gen rambling again #but not really #this is not rambling in the least #i'm tired now #i crawled into too many character's heads the past few days

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glassesandkim · 4 years

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that’s why i’m still holding out hope even though the writers have continuously let us down. this storyline just doesn’t make SENSE. i think levi being hesitant about nico being “the one” is due to nico’s bizarre behavior, so i’m not confused about that, i’m confused about nico. it seems like just recently he started acting like he only wants sex (levi said “it’s becoming all we do” like it hasn’t *always* been all they do). something must have happened to cause nico to act so different

Okay, so I took this one line in your ask and wrote a whole thing. This line: “i think levi being hesitant about nico being “the one” is due to nico’s bizarre behavior, so i’m not confused about that.” which I agree with but also disagree on when it started and why that senseless train of events’ only purpose was to come to another senseless point.

Levi questioning Nico’s commitment to him started when Nico asked him, “We aren’t at the cohabiting step, right?” which Levi responded with, although unsure and most probably lying to himself, “Right?”. And after Nico asked him if he was tired of staying at his place where there’s no room for his stuff which ultimately lead to Nico saying that Levi would love his own place if he were to find one.

(I am very carefully avoiding words like pushing and telling when it comes to Nico talking to Levi about moving out. Why? Because I do not see Nico pushing Levi to move out or telling him to move out in this very specific scene. It might have happened off screen, who knows. Of course, it’s suggested and implied that Nico would prefer Levi to move out.)

And after that, Levi goes on to meet the Mary Sues of all couples and starts questioning his relationship with Nico and why him and Nico aren’t perfect dance partners like them.

Which makes me go ??????????? This is a good ask that describes how I feel about Levi’s questioning:

ITS JUST SO OOC THIS SEASON. Like, we just went through Nico “stage five clinger” Kim to where he wouldn’t let his boyfriend REACH OVER FOR A GLASS OF FCKING WATER, to where he’s avoiding every feeling and talking to bang his BF that he wants out of his apartment. Like, even that doesn’t fit. He doesn’t want to live together, but he wants to get snowed in together at the hospital and spend every waking second together to bang. NO SENSE IS BEING MADE.

It isn’t until 16x15 when we sort of understand what Levi wants from Nico: he wants Nico to talk to him. He also says he understands if Nico’s not ready to talk to Levi about his parents. Which is great. Which is good. I love that Levi says that and also tells Nico he loves him.

But then we hear these lines: But I want a relationship. Not an impersonation. And this doesn’t feel real.

Again, I am going ?????????????????????????? This is after Levi spends his day looking for Desmond who was impersonating a doctor.

There are dozens of asks talking about this and I felt the need to write out the events leading up to now for you all (I tried to be factual but lol). But I’m not going to talk about how none of that makes any fucking sense to me. Instead, I’m going to talk about Grey’s Anatomy and it’s way of storytelling that thrives on convenience, privilege, and dramatic parallels and how all of that is fucking stupid (but that’s just my opinion rofl).

Whenever a character is having an issue, the medical case of the week always conveniently provides a blueprint or parallel of said issue to the character. For Levi: the old couple showed Levi what a “perfect and in sync” relationship should look like. Demond’s story showed Levi that impersonation = bad.

When, in life, do cases like these drop so conveniently in your lap in order to help you solve or point out whatever problems you’re having in your own personal life? And how does one come to such definitive conclusions after only working on these cases for a day?

Of course, it’s all TV magic. It’s part of Grey’s formula. It’s a formula many shows adopt and do but Grey’s pushes it to a point of unbelievability. The cases are purely there to advance a character’s arc. IMO, grey’s has stopped making us care about the actual cases and patients but rather, molds them in a way so they perfectly tell the doctor what to do. And the patients have, in their own way, become all-knowing, prophets that resemble Mary Sues.

And that’s lazy and unrealistic. And if the counterpoint to that is: this is a tv show!!! Yes, I know it’s a tv show but just because your work is fiction, doesn’t mean it has to be so incredibly obvious on what it’s trying to do.

Then there’s the issue with privilege. And this isn’t entirely schmico related but the doctors on this show now? They are privileged. They have money, they have reputation, and they have connections. They are so far removed from the struggling, broke, and tired interns we saw 16 seasons ago that the decisions they make now blow my mind. No one, in their right mind, would buy a whole hospital just because they were having marital problems. Only people with power and privilege would be able to do that and I guarantee you, 99% of grey’s viewership is not capable of that sort of thing.

But we are now expected to believe these are rational, doable things that doctors do. The decisions these doctors are making in their own personal life AND professionally drip with privilege. And to me, it feels like the writer’s forgot what it means to be unprivileged.

Because being unprivileged is inconvenient.

You do not just up and take in a foster kid. You do not sign your name on insurance forms and skip court dates and continue to insert yourself in a hospital that fired you. You do not get to leave/get fired from a hospital only to be hired again by the same hospital. And you definitely do not and SHOULD not spend a whole day with your patient and then conveniently have a whole epiphany about your long term relationship with your boyfriend.

Wrap all that up with some dramatics, and you get grey’s. Grey’s who relies on cheap, temporary shockwaves in order to explain away and condone unrealistic behaviours and actions. Drama comes FIRST, then how quickly can we make these events happen, THEN coherency and story building makes an appearance.

The art of storytelling has been lost on grey’s. Instead we have this monstrous beast that throws its shit at us and we are told to open our mouths and consume it.

Now, I am not saying stop watching grey’s. I’m just telling you how shitty grey’s is becoming. I loved grey’s anatomy. I was proud to watch it and it was ~~~ground breaking~~~~ in its prime.

Now?

God, it’s like watching your grandma try to be hip but she’s decrepit and dementia has overtaken her mind.

Am I going to stop watching? No. But I’m not going to try too hard to make sense of the actions of these deformed, mutated caricatures we call characters in this show anymore. I will not hold faith in the writers to represent and portray a character that looks like me/acts like me accurately and with grace and care. The characters I used to love are reduced to their own stereotypes and tropes.

I will now expect bullshit because that’s what I’ve been given lately. I might as well be watching a soap opera where senseless, unrealistic dramatics is accepted and part of its charm.

#anyway here's my two cents on why grey's anatomy has lost it rofl #long post #schmico #grey's anatomy //#anonymous #gk asks #important

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justforbooks · 5 years

Photo

Ten reasons why we love Donna Tartt's The Secret History

It starts with a murder, is obsessed with ancient Greece and creates the delicious illusion of being admitted to the most dangerous of confidences

1. It starts with a murder. The novelist's first trick is also her best: in a prologue, her narrator, Richard Pappin, tells us of the murder of Bunny, a crime "for which I was partly responsible". He appears to have got away with it – and yet to be haunted by it. "This is the only story I will ever be able to tell." We will have to read on to find out how he could have done such a thing. Coleridge said that Shakespeare always made apprehension predominate over surprise, and this is what Donna Tartt does. As we read The Secret History, we don't so much wonder what might happen as worry about what will happen.

2. It is in love with Ancient Greece. Donna Tartt proves the truth of what literary parents piously tell their children: nothing can beat the Greek myths. The main characters believe so strongly in the power of these myths that they find themselves enacting one of them. But the novel, through its narrator, is also in love with Greek philosophy and history, with Homer and Plato. At the (fictional) university of Hampden it admits us to Julian Morrow's select class of Hellenophiles and allows us to commune with the most alluring civilisation of all.

3. It has all the best elements of the campus novel. The college where the novel is set is just the picture: white clapboard and green shutters, a clock tower and ivied brick, the autumn glow of Vermont. Everyone who has ever been to university loves this peculiar subgenre, in which we can relive our earliest years of pretend adulthood. But it appeals to non-graduate readers too. Gilded youth is set free to experiment and be absurd; high pretensions co-exist with human weakness. Usually this mixture is comic, but Tartt is clever enough to see its darker potential.

4. It has a classic lonely narrator. Richard Pappin is perfectly prepared to be entranced. Friendless and frustrated, without family support or sympathy, he arrives at university to look for a better life – especially of the spirit. A clever boy from nowheresville, he sets out to "fabricate a new and far more satisfying history". At Hampden he is intoxicated to find himself in the company of the five eccentric, conceited, clever undergraduates who study Greek together and seal themselves off from the rest of the students. He does not so much befriend them as project his hopes and fantasies upon them. So he narrates with the force of passion.

5. It is full of quotations. Within a couple of sentences Richard is quoting from Rimbaud (unattributed and untranslated). The book is liberally scattered with wise sayings in Latin and Greek – genuine fragments of antiquity that are as often mysterious as they are sagacious. You are leaving the sublunary world behind and entering a realm of literary and linguistic riches. Outside the novel's pages people are watching TV and talking in cliches, but within them you are in the company of the best that has been said and thought.

6. It has a charismatic master of ceremonies. At this university there is only one teacher of ancient Greek, Julian, who accepts only a small number of intellectually qualified students. Sardonic, brilliant and charismatic, he presides like some academic magus over the aspirations of the characters. "I hope we're all ready to leave the phenomenal world, and enter into the sublime?" he asks rhetorically, at the beginning of one of his highly unconventional classes. Richard and his companions are devotees of a cult, and Julian is the secular priest, endlessly witty, incisive and mocking.

7. It is obsessed with beauty. Tartt's narrator seems little interested in sex, but is readily intoxicated by beauty: human, natural, or poetic. The novel notices how important beauty is to us, yet how rarely anyone speaks of it. "Khalepa ta kala. Beauty is harsh." (In the ancient Greek, the words for "beauty" and "harsh" chime with each other.) This is "about the first sentence that I ever learned in Greek" and becomes a dictum for Richard. He comes to relish "beauty that shocks you", as Alexander Pope put it – beauty jolts us out of our boredom.

8. It believes in fate. As he looks back on his life, Richard notices all the apparently chance events that led him into the story that he is now telling. Everything is an accident (he applies to Hampden because an old brochure for it falls out of a jacket pocket), and yet telling the story makes it appear destined. "Psychology is only another word for what the ancients called fate," declares Julian. The narrative is shaped by this ancient conviction.

9. It is possessed by Dionysos. Friedrich Nietzsche knew that Greek tragedy was made out of the clash between the powers of reason-giving Apollo and enrapturing Dionysos. Richard learns from his companions and his teacher that the roots of wisdom are not just in Greek rationality but also pagan ecstasy. DH Lawrence would have appreciated what Tartt has learned from the god of wine and ritual madness. Get out there in the woods and rip your clothes off! Richard and his clever, foolish fellow students are would-be bacchantes who learn all about the dangers of this allegiance.

10. It lets you in on secrets. Tartt's title is a cracker, not least because it is true to the appeal of the book. We, like Richard, are being given membership of a select group. One secret is given away at the book's opening, only because we can be assured that others lie in store. Every one of the millions who have read The Secret History has the delicious illusion of being admitted to the most dangerous of confidences. It is as if her every reader is the first and only one to read it.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

#JUST FOR BOOKS #Donna Tartt #The Secret History

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alexsfictionaddiction · 4 years

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12 of the best feel-good books

I think we could all do with a pick-me-up right now. We’ve been in some level of isolation for over a month and we’re perhaps being forced to accept a new normal. However, we’re still seeing frightening and tragic headlines all day every day (ration your news time, if you’re not doing so already), so of course, fear and hopelessness is going to set in. If you’re not used to spending time alone, loneliness is also a huge possibility but we know that books are a great source of solace in times like this.

Maybe you want to do your own research and discover how far into the realms of science-fiction we’ve got. For you, I have compiled a list of the best books that pandemic fiction has to offer but if you’re looking for something more light-hearted, I’ve got the perfect tonic. Whether you need a laugh, to be comforted or to simply remember what life used to be like, here are some books that will help you escape the current face of reality. Above all, remember that it’s perfectly natural for your mental health to be suffering at the moment. Do whatever you can to look after yourself and stay safe.

1. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Remember when you could just move in with a stranger without worrying about keeping two metres apart at all times? Tiffy and Leon share a flat and even a bed but due to entirely opposite work schedules, they manage to not even meet for months after Tiffy moves in, only communicating via texts and notes left on the fridge. But Tiffy’s controlling ex-boyfriend and Leon’s innocent prisoner brother ignite a connection that is fuelled by basic human kindness and a touch of romantic attraction, of course! This quirky rom-com has been a bestseller for over a year now and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a celebration of love, friendship and the unexpected happiness that can come from taking calculated risks. Beth O’Leary’s second novel The Switch has also just been released, so there has never been a better time to read her debut!

2. Wonder by R. J. Palacio

A beautiful story of empathy, kindness and acceptance, Wonder has fast become one of the most popular and widely read contemporary middle-grade novels. Auggie Pullman was born with a facial deformity and he’s attending mainstream school for the first time but of course, kids can be staggeringly cruel to those who are different. Wonder kickstarted a global kindness campaign and spawned a film adaptation, which is one of the best and most faithful I’ve ever seen. It has already given so much to the world and I know you’ll get a lot of joy out of it too.

3. The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Of course, not all sci-fi is doom and gloom. This is the first instalment in Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series and it’s laugh-out-loud funny. It follows a misfit crew of space travellers and their wonderful smile-inducing relationships. Celebrating the coming together of a variety of races, sexualities and personalities, it features a lot of loveable memorable characters who begin to read like dear loyal friends. If you’re looking for quirky, light-hearted sci-fi in a similar vein to Star Trek and Firefly, you’d be wise to start here.

4. Less by Andrew Sean Greer

Arthur Less is a struggling writer about to turn 50 and the love of his life is engaged to someone else. To say that he’s not feeling too hot right now would be an understatement but he has been invited to a range of literary events around the world, so he does the logical thing and accepts them all. We can’t travel right now but with Arthur, you’ll visit Paris, Berlin, southern India, the Moroccan desert and Japan. You’ll also go on a journey of self-acceptance, learn how to love the life that you have and appreciate the time you have left.

5. Hot Mess by Lucy Vine

It’s rare that a book makes me guffaw out loud in public but Hot Mess did exactly that, when I read it a couple of years ago. Ellie is a single woman who hates her office job and is absolutely nowhere near having her life together. However, she does have some great friends and a lovely relationship with her dad Alan, whose drafts of a romance novel are truly side-splittingly hilarious. We see Ellie through terrible dates, trauma confrontation and a quest for true happiness that is hugely satisfying. It has been described as a modern-day Bridget Jones but I found it much more relatable and actually quite a lot funnier!

6. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

It’s the first in a trilogy of novels that explore the trials and tribulations of finding romance when you’re genetics professor Don Tillman. Don likes facts, logic and reason and he applies all of these things to his latest endeavour, The Wife Project. He knows exactly the kind of woman he wants to marry but then he meets Rosie, who ticks none of his boxes and he’s forced to accept that perhaps true love doesn’t always follow the rules. Don and Rosie’s relationship is such a heartwarming, mutually beneficial one that will make you laugh and leave you with a big bag of warm fuzzy feels.

7. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

There is a huge chance that you will have read The Hobbit but what better time to revisit a funny, charming favourite? Re-embark on the quest to retrieve Smaug’s treasure, take back the Lonely Mountain and make a plethora of fantastic friends along the way. As well as relating to Bilbo’s personal growth throughout the novel, I think the idea of facing epic threat and mortal peril in unknown environments and yet still returning safely home to a quiet comfortable life is the reassurance we need that this too shall pass. Of course, it will also be an intoxicating nostalgia trip, so there’s really no reason to not pick it up again!

8. The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

I read this over the Valentine’s Day period and was so enchanted by it. Gavin is a top baseball player for the Nashville Legends and he has recently discovered that he has never given his wife Thea a genuine orgasm and it’s threatening the relationship. So he does the logical thing and turns to his team mates, who actually double as a secret romance book club. They suggest taking a leaf out of a smutty Regency paperback to save his marriage -what could possibly go wrong? Funny, heart-warming and touching, it’s a great choice if you’re looking for a rom-com with a difference.

9. My Pear-Shaped Life by Carmel Harrington

If you’ve spent a lot of self-isolation being wholly unproductive and perhaps not looking after yourself too well, you may be feeling that you’re simply not good enough. Especially if your social media is full of happy healthy people doing just about EVERYTHING. Meet Greta, a struggling actress who is used to playing the role of the funny, overweight girl in all areas of her life. That’s ok as long as she laughs with everyone else, right? But things have been pretty rough lately and it’s only when she hits rock bottom that she begins to realise that maybe things need to go a little bit pear-shaped sometimes. With joy and despair in equal measure, this new novel, populated with an array of wonderful characters, will teach you that true happiness comes from simply being you.

10. A Boy Made Of Blocks by Keith Stuart

Eight-year-old Sam is autistic and struggles to make sense of the world. His dad Alex has also lost himself somewhere along the way and needs to change. Minecraft offers a place where father and son can rediscover their bond and put the family back together, block by block. I reviewed this incredibly moving, uplifting story when it was first released a few years ago. It’s actually inspired by Keith Stuart’s real-life experiences, which I think give it an extra dollop of heart-warmth!

11. The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

The entire focus of this fantastically written YA novel is on embracing your own personal uniqueness and on not being afraid to let it out. Michael is a mixed-race gay teen who has grappled with his identity for his entire life. On arriving at university, the idea of becoming a drag artist causes everything to begin to slot into place. Told in verse, The Black Flamingo will show you how your boldest brightest colours can shine through the darkest of times. Highlighting the power of words and challenging all forms of homophobia, whether it be external or internal, this is a book that I’m sure will become a staple of LGBT+ literature in years to come. As for now, it will simply inspire you to live your very best life, regardless of who tries to prevent it.

12. Reasons To Be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe

As the title may suggest, there is plenty to smile about in Reasons To Be Cheerful. It’s chiefly a coming-of-age novel about a young woman called Lizzie living in 1970s Leicestershire. She has just got a job as an assistant to a work-shy, racist dentist who is desperate to join the freemasons. Navigating this new position alongside a relationship with her alcoholic writer mother, a boyfriend who doesn’t seem terribly interested in her and a few unlikely friends, Lizzie’s life makes for some pretty amusing anecdotes. Whether it’s the simple retro setting or small cast of eccentric caricatures, there is something quite other-worldly yet familiar about it. There is a lot of detail that is relevant to the period it’s set in, including the blatant social prejudices that were so rife at the time. I am too young to have experienced 1970s Britain but it certainly feels authentic to what I know. I have no doubt that those that were there will get even more enjoyment and nostalgia from Lizzie’s life than I did.

#feel good #books #recommended #recommendations #uplifting

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modern-oedipus · 4 years

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Conflict post that got too long and title doesn’t match the rest because I didn’t plan to write so much

Please be honest: Do you think Conflict is an angsty fanfiction?

Despite the amount of sadness, suicidal tendencies, ptsd, panic attacks and even implied incest; I can’t bring to think that Conflict is angst. It’s just the story of two flawed boys falling in love in their most vulnerable moments and learning how to know themselves as they get to know each other.

It might be because I know the whole story, though, unlike the readers who know the first arc only. I mean... it’s perfectly fine however you interprwt their story. It’s not like I’m mad. I’m just surprised when I see things like “this is so sad!” I mean, yes, Ray is not going through best time of his life, but I think it is honorable. It’s honorable that he is trying his best, despite the depression blowing his mind. It’s honorable that Norman is trying to be a little honest with himself despite the chaos he is living in. It’s honorable that Emma sticks with Ray through thick and thin. It’s just characters trying their best, I don’t think it should be needlessly tagged as “angst” because I don’t think I write them that way for the sole reason of sadness. Rather, there is something I want to tell— something I want all of my readers to see.

But I can’t blame anyone since I haven’t written 3/4 of the fanfic yet. I haven’t shown you even a bit of the path I’ve already decided and mentally written for Conflict. I actually wanted to write Conflict tonight, but due to personal reasons I’m not feeling my best and despite my efforts to write Shotgun, I couldn’t write shit, and it won’t be good for my mental health to be in fiction today. Today I need my science and my facts (I say today but it’s 2.40 am and maybe I should sleep).

So, basically, I want to just SHOW by writing instead of giving leaks and stuff, but...

But...

You have no idea how much braining it takes to write Conflict.

Sure, I’m not a professional writer and there may be many better, smarter stories out there, but to me, personally, I put my best into Conflict. I give it all I have. I give it all my experience and everything I’ve learned until age of 21. It is a very condensed, artistic way of me talking about my life and experiences and observations throughout a fictional universe where it is not directly my life, but a world I try to represent in balance. So— to me, ever since I started writing first chapter I treated Conflict like my first book, I mean, sure it is a fanfiction but I thought “I’d give it a try as a hobby and if it goes well— if i can stick to it determined and if I get nice feedback and if people like it, this will give me strength to write a real book!” and BOY I got SOOO MUCH MORE THAN I’D EVER EXPECT, I even got FANARTS and people messaging me or commenting how much they personally relate or how much the fic helped them to go through bad days or how much they’ve seen themselves in Ray or Norman’s situations, and when I read those messages I can’t help but think all of you deserve to see the way Conflict builds up. You deserve to see how many times Ray and Norman are challenged, by themselves, by each other, and by society, and you deserve to see how they respond to them, and you deserve to see how much and how little of a difference it can make to have two people really love each other. Anyway, I went off topic, I was saying that, to me Conflict is a story I’m giving all I have got as the person I am today.

Other fanfictions of mine are moreee easy to write because they don’t have sovmuch in depth characters or complex plots and they are just that, fanfictions, in which I write a ship. But Conflict, man, I treat it like my real novel— which is technically one to me, though a non-profit one dedicated to the manga that really challenged me, and I have no regrets writing it or making it a fanfic. Anyway! Thing is, given the fact that Conflict is heavy, content and chapter length wise, I can’t always get to write it. I could, if this was summer, but this is collehe time and even though I really want to get going, sometimes I need to save Conflict for another time when I’m more available. Me publishing easy to write things like Shotgun doesn’t mean I’m available for conflict. The mental energy they take is A LOT different.

But it’s not in a bad-different way! I love both my fics! I have no regret over time and dedication I have for Conflict! I just, don’t have the time for it all the time, which can’t be helped.

It’s 2.49 am now. I really want to write conflict. First draft of chapter 16 was written two months ago. The scene is completed as a draft. But that scene includes a terrible pstd & panic attack about Ray and I just... /sighs/ don’t really wanna get in mood for something so gloomy? I wanna write more cute stuff like their awkward date on Shotgun... but I really want to keep Conflict going. I guess I’m terrified that given how fragile my mental health is right now, the content of Conflict might make it worse. I’d still proud to have finished a chapter. But thinking about writing about Leslie’s loss and its effects on Ray makes me shiver, because that’s a topic I’m sensitive of and although I almost never get affected emotionally from the ficsbI write (for example, I dont cry writing sad smiles neither do I smile a lot at soft scenes, I’m usually neutral and I simply enjoy act of writing itself) but the 1% chance that Conflict’s content might fuck with my mental health.. as if one last trigger before a breakdown, makes me want to stay a few steps back from Conflict and just breathe.

But I also somehow feel like I’m really available to write Conflict. I don’t know. Why do I care so much about Conflict, you may ask, since it’s just a fanfiction.

I think that’s because Conflict is the first real thing I’ve done (along with many other achievements that exactly started on the same day, July 1) after I got out of depression. It proves me that I can create something— get it visualized— and having people respond to it makes me feel connected to world. Remember the scene I wrote about Ray’s detachment to Emma’s calls? I’ve never gotten physically unresponsive like that, but there were times depression made me detached and to me that’s the scariest part... feeling detached. I feel as if I don’t post a fic for too long (assuming I’m in mood to write), or if I don’t go out/go to school/go to gym for too long, if I don’t meet up my friends or reply back to my texts for too long, I may get detached. If I get detached, I’ll think of dark, terrible stuff. If I don’t return world easily, it may easily slide into a depressed day. Or two days. Before I get back. And those one or two days are scariest because I’ve lived a YEAR worth of them, continiously, and god forbid me or anyone experiencing that. It was terroble.

So when I don’t write even when I want to, I feel as if I might get depressed. Not emotionally. But rationally— be being unable to do things I want to do EVEN WHEN I HAVE TIME AND SOURCES AVAILABLE FOR THEM would build depression up. I sm not saying right sway. Anyway. That’s why I care about Conflict. That’s why I’m staying dedicated. Dedication prevents detachment. When I’m not detached, and thankfully having readers interacting to me, I feel— or prove— that my work is reaching someone. I exist. My ideas mean something. Even if it’s just fan base, ie friends— I consider y’all friends— I mean, we are still kids, right? Most of us are 16-25 and that ain’t even real adult to me, we are just friends befriending each ofher oe so I believe, so like, even if its just with friends it means a thing. It prevents detachment. When I’m not detached I’m motivated. When I’m motivated I want to live. When I want to live I go out and do things. When I go out and do things I get motivated again. When I’m motivated again I write again. When I write I’m not detached. The cycle continues, see? Of coursw, writing is just ONE way to prevent detachment. It itself can’t carry all burden. Same goes for me regularly going to classes, going to gym, meeting up or calling my friends, etc. I’ve learnt that the more places you put a bit of yourself in, less likely you are from detachment. And that’s good. Idk, that’s why comments are important to me. It’s too personal at this point but they really, really, really help me to stay in connect.

So I want to write, so I can be happy, and I can interact, and look at my published chapter, so I can be further motivated to do things tomorrow... but it’s now 3 am and, I, if I start now I won’t be done earlier than 4.30 am and it’ll be cold and I’ll be brain dead, so for my sake, it’s better if I sleep. Msybe studying a bit before sleep will prevent detachment as well. I usually don’t EVER get detached, I’m quite successful at holding myselfnon line, but that’s bc I am careful about triggers. So... not starting conflict will be the best decision.

I don’t know how much time I’ll have in sunday but I hope it will be enough for a chapter update.

If you’ve read so far, thank you, this post went out of hand— but I can comfortably talk about it now because I’m over it, and I’m trying to rationalize the fact that me consistently updating really makes me happy and excited and having fun instead of feeling detached and it’s important and I just love my story and I hope you all feel content and satisfied when you read Conflict’s final.

#nila stuff #conflict #writing #personal #shotgun

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davidfarland · 4 years

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One Impossibility

Short Announcement: Writer's Peak is coming up fast and the time to register is running out. The seminar is this Saturday, November 16th. Find out more here: https://mystorydoctor.com/live-workshops-2/

If you write a novel set in the real world—whether it is historical or modern—you don’t have to worry so much about “creating” as “researching” your setting. But if you are writing science fiction or fantasy, you very often “create” a world from scratch. There are a couple of approaches that you can take to this. The first approach is to say, “I’m going to set my story in a completely imaginary world and there will be no rational explanation for it.” In short, you can say, “In my world, pigs can fly. They huff up air and expand until they float like hot air balloons.”

Sure, you can do that, and it sounds like you could have a wonderful world of make-believe, but it is all rather limiting. Algis Budrys used to say that there is a “one impossibility limit” to the human imagination. Most readers will allow that one impossible thing can happen in a story. Okay, so pigs can fly like hot air balloons. What next? Well, if you decide to add elves and dinosaurs, your one-impossibility rule is broken, and it progressively erodes your reader’s faith in the story. Ultimately, what you’re left with is meaningless glop.

If anything can happen in your world, then who cares what does happen? There isn’t any meaningful conflict, because it can all be magically resolved.

Now, I’m going to hazard a guess that Algis Budrys was wrong. He ignored the fact that there are plenty of people who find it impossible to enjoy a story that has any degree of impossibility. I don’t know what the exact figures are, but I suspect that if you put a single fantasy element into a story—flying pigs—many adults will be unable to enjoy it. Such people will tell you that they literally detest fantasy, and they’re being perfectly honest.

I know authors in my field who might want to hurl insults at such people. They’d say, “Well, they’re just too stupid or unimaginative to enjoy my work,” but the truth is that these are often intelligent and creative people in their own right who find that adding fantastic elements to a fictive work simply undermines the emotional power of the piece.

As the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge suggested, we need to get our readers to attain a “willing suspension of disbelief.” The more suspension of disbelief that you request from your audience, the more readers you will lose.

I’ve never seen a study done on this, but I have spoken to a lot of readers, and I’ve long held to a guess that adding a single fantastical element gives you a drop-off of about 25%. If you add two fantastical elements to your story—let’s say that you have flying pigs and vampires—I believe that you get about another 30% loss on your audience. If you add a third fantastical element—say talking dinosaurs--, you get another 40% loss. After that, I believe that your audience becomes negligible.

Now, there is a value in adding the fantastic to your stories. As William Shakespeare showed us in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” adding fantastical elements to a story draws the audience’s attention. It gets them to wonder what is going on, and it can even evoke a sense of wonder, but it is the realistic portrayal of the human drama that really allows us to touch other powerful, universal emotions.

Thus, eventually a fantasy tale needs to have strongly depicted realistic moments in order to be profoundly moving.

Now, let me get down to something technical: All readers require fantastical elements to their stories in order to gain their attention. If I wrote a story about you, sitting down at your computer and reading this email, and I wrote it in a pedestrian style, and it depicted your life exactly as it is, you’d be bored out of your skull. So I need something to grab you. That something might be the use of heightened language—so evocative and beautiful that it almost seems to be sung. Or I might overwhelm you with the power of my observations. I might make a person different from you reading the email, a person so different in her thoughts and style so that she enthralls you. I might put my character in a place that you’d never imagine—say a Catholic school in Africa. That’s the level at which a realist would approach this task.

Me, I prefer to read stories that have some fantastical element, and the truth is that most other people do, too. That’s why EVERY movie on the top ten bestseller list for this year is likely to have a strong fantasy or science fiction element.

So as a fantasist, I don’t feel the need to insult people who tell me that they’re not in my audience. That’s okay. They like vanilla, I like chocolate. I even understand their feelings. I don’t like too much fantasy in my tales. Personally, I never could enjoy Alice in Wonderland, even as a child. There were too many bizarre things going on, none of it made any sense, and ultimately I lost interest and fell asleep at the movie theater.

So here’s my lesson for today: If you want to create a powerful fantasy, you need to understand that imagination alone won’t make your work powerful. You need to understand and use the writing approaches used in the Realistic movement (the ones you learn about in writing classes in college). Sure, you can write a vampire novel that will attract a wide audience, but as you add werewolves, space aliens, and flying toasters, more and more of your readers are going to respond by saying “What the hell?”

I recall years ago reading a manuscript for a large writing contest that was very well written. It opened with a young elven princess racing through a forest, trying to catch a pixie in a net, when she trips over a log. As she gets up, the log begins to move, and she recognizes that it is in fact the tail of a dragon, which begins to huff as it prepares to breathe fire. The elven princess grasps her magic wand in a huff and ZAP! she turns that nasty old dragon into flower petals.

Well, regardless of how fine a stylist the author was, there was just too much going on. I hate elves. They’re over-used. Pixies and unicorns too. I don’t even like dragons very much. Put them all together and throw in magic wands of ultimate power and I guarantee that you’ve got a groaner of a story.

Yet some of the greatest pieces of fantasy might seem to violate the one impossibility rule. Tolkien of course had dragons, elves, dwarves, and all kinds of impossibilities in Lord of the Rings. So how does he do it?

The answer is quite simple: when introducing your impossibilities, link them together at the onset. Tolkien links all of his impossibilities under one heading: alternate world. If you as the author simply say, “My story is set in the world of Gonrathen,” you can get away with a great deal. Magical powers might be commonplace, and we need no explanation. Strange creatures might exist there, too.

But these days it seems that contemporary fantasy set in our world is all the rage. So how do you create it? Stick to the one impossibility rule, but then link ancillary ideas to your main idea.

Thus, you might for example set your story in a forest in the Ukraine where a race of “elves” have lived in hiding from the rest of the world for a thousand years, fearing persecution for their pointy ears and strange powers. They’re humans, we might learn in an early paragraph, but they’ve evolved differently from us, and thus have telepathic powers—which make humans fear them, because the elves can “whisper” thoughts to the human minds and take control of others.

Do you see how I just linked elves and telepathy? So long as you do the two together, it’s no problem. But if you created elves and then suddenly tell us in book three of your series that they have telepathy, the reader will cry foul.

So now we link some possible consequences of the whole telepathy angle to our core idea: since our elves can read minds, they are able to learn with startling quickness and master all forms of human technology simply by observing another at his craft. They can master languages in minutes. More than that, they can look into the minds of animals and thus learn from birds if any humans are wandering near, and so on. They can look into the hearts of mere humans and judge them, to learn if they are good or evil.

Okay, so you have two possibilities that are linked early on—a hidden race of humans and telepathy, and you’ve linked secondary concepts about telepathy to the major idea.

Now, you can expand on these elves by making more links. Among the elven telepaths in the Ukraine is an even newer strain. They’ve been breeding for intelligence, strength and speed for a hundred generations, and perhaps a new breed has evolved, a class of warriors called the Sharr who believe that it is time to come out of hiding and take control of the world. Thus, the elves have become involved in a civil war that is sprawling out across Europe. See how we’ve moved from “magic powers” to exploring social conditions among our elves?

Do you see how you can take one main idea and build upon it by linking secondary concepts so that the audience accepts a great number of impossibilities?

Yet you have to be careful. It’s easy to get carried away, to try to cram too many fantastical elements into a story.

Readers love having fantastical elements in their story, but you have to establish a set of rules early on and then adhere to it. I recall years ago listening to a science fiction writer crabbing about “all of that fantasy crap,” with its magic mumbo jumbo and complete disregard for things like logic and physics. A couple of years later as fantasy became more popular, his agent suggested that he write a fantasy. I saw him a few months after he had published his first fantasy and asked him how it did. He said, “You know, writing fantasy is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I had no idea how difficult it is. You have to establish your own logic and rules and then stick with them!”

Yep, that’s the key: establish the rules of your world early and then stick with them to the end.

***

I get a lot of "Thank You's" from people that I've helped with their writing but rarely mention it. But I got a couple that make me feel especially good.

"I was excited to receive news that the 'Nuclear Childhood' piece I worked on in your workshop in Provo in March 2018 won an honorable mention in the 88th annual Writer's Digest competition. I credit your workshop with helping me improve and bump up the quality of my writing.... Thank you again." Jill Warnick (Writing Enchanting Prose Workshop Graduate)

"I haven't even told my family yet, but I wanted you to be the first to know - I've just signed a traditional publishing deal for THE XXX series! I would never have started--or finished--this without your superb classes and your kind words of encouragement. In the next few days, there will be an official announcement on Publishers Marketplace." Name Withheld Pending Official Announcement (Story Puzzle Workshop Graduate)

In the Good News Department,

My past student Martin Shoemaker hit #1 on the Amazon Bestseller List last month with his novel "The Last Dance." Even better, he stayed in the top ten for the month! https://www.amazon.com/Last-Dance-Martin-L-Shoemaker/dp/1542007984

#writingtip #writingtiptuesday #writrblr #writingcommunity

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bd-z · 5 years

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Well... I did the thing. I finished reading Lolita

Now that was an odd ride. Very uncomfortable and yet wonderfully written.

I am actually glad I did this because of all the crazy going on in my fandom. I knew the story, I knew of the movie and but reading this book was one thing I’ve never done and it just needed to be.

I'm going to rant now. So ride along if you dare...

Number one. There is no relation between this plot and Beetlejuice. So silly for folks to make that connection. Movie Lydia is a teen, not a 12 year old (actress was 16) and Toon Beej never ever made a pass at Lyds in the seasons where she was 12.

The one where she plays that seductress was in the last season and by that point she was a teen. Perfectly capable of making up her own mind.

Do I approve that Humbert and Lo had a physical relationship... good lord no. That was cringe worthy to the highest. I had no sympathy for either character to be honest.

Lo had her own behavioral issues that even at that age, I (as a child abuse victim, myself) would have been disturbed about. I got my exploration out through fanfiction but she took things further. According to Humbert that is. If he is to be believed which I doubt is the complete truth of the -fictional- character. Yup fictional. Not real.

The author did a fantastic job delving into such a twisted mind. Humbert Humbert is a horribly disturbed person but he sure can turn a phrase. The way the writer evokes sympathy even for a brief horrifying moment is amazing.

After reading this book, I now think less of the anti-shippers in Beetlejuice. That was a massive jump to make. Beej being a dick to marry a teenager is uncomfortable. Yes this is true.

I prefer an older Lydia but I as a human being who was exposed to sexuality at a young age, I understand that there is the potential for sexually active teenagers. It’s a fact. Hormones are a bitch.

Any writers who do write teen Lydia in a sexual nature are only playing on something that is potential for reality.

Raise your hand if you had sex before 18. Raise your hand if you had sexual thoughts at 14. I bet many of you did do this. I myself had a very sensual mind but I tried my damndest to be a good kid.... I made it to 17 but I tried as young as 15 soooooooo yup. It’s a fact of life.

I repeat... Hormones are a bitch.

As for the notion of Nyphettes, all I have to say is yikes. Humbert admitted that he liked them young and that in itself is creepy.

Beetlejuice... well... he likes them female and to be frank, he likes tits. If he were Bisexual (I’m not against that, btw. I dig it) then he has a preference for the mature body.

So no. BeetleBabes is NOT Humbert and Lolita. Those are different in so many ways. Don’t get me wrong, I loved that line in ‘creepy old guy’ because it was pretty funny. The writers had a good time with that.

What I’m gonna say to people who are gonna continue to bitch about my ship and call me a pedo... Me! A protective and loving mother of two, former victim of abuse and a perfectly competent adult who understands the difference between fiction and reality? Yeah... kiddos. Read the book.

You won’t turn into a horrible person by reading a book that is told from the point of view of a criminal. Lighten up, people. Take some time to really study the source materials and analyze the story by the psychological content rationally. Humbert , the character, even says he is a bad guy. The writer of the book made sure that character was well aware of his failings.

His ’love’ for Nyphettes and Dolores cannot compare to the beautiful friendship turned lovers notion that Beetlebabes support.

With that said... That book was great. Creepy, cringy and allllll kinda of wrong, but it is definitely a classic novel that will provoke controversy for decades.

#Rant time

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thewhiteboardofkanjisan · 6 years

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Hmmm...how about 1-30? :-P ["I don't know" is a perfectly valid answer to ones you may not have an answer for yet, and so is guessing.]

Hi @prionailurus!! :D

1. What’s the first game system ( __ Edition D&D, Rifts, GURPS, Shadowrun, etc.) you ever played?

5th edition D&D! I sat in on a Pathfinder campaign once but didn’t actually get to play.

2. What’s the most recent one you’ve played?

Also 5e!

3. What’s your favorite system?

5eeeeeee

4. Is there a system you’d like to play but haven’t?

I’d like to play Pathfinder so I can try the Oracle class out. I’m also interested in another RPG called In Nomine.

5. Are there any systems you’ve tried and did NOT like?

Haven’t had the chance to try any unsuccessfully!

6. Do you have any house rules for the system(s) you play?

Not really? Mostly we have house-handwaves of certain aspects we’re too nooby to enforce, like spell components and rations, and spell prep. That Pathfinder session I watched left me with a house rule I’d love to implement though, that Barbarians can redo a bad roll by punching the table to “pop” the dice.

7. Do you DM/GM for your group?

Occasionally! In my group, I and two others take turns being the DM. Comparing notes without spoilers is a real thorn in the side.

8. Do you say DM or GM?

DM for D&D. I imagine that GM is more fitting for other systems.

9. Do you have a go-to setting?

If I understand the question right, my group’s running campaign is in an ever-expanding homebrewed world of no name, which canonically has an Austria and a New Orleans. There’s a LOT of misty coastal towns, because that’s in the aesthetic of all three DMs.

10. Have you ever run a game, or do you prefer to just play?

I’ve run three campaigns, and there’s a special magic to running, but I do really like playing and being able to get into character. DMing carries a lot of pressure, too.

11. Do you play with game mats and/or minis?

We have a wet-erase mat we keep forgetting to erase and a small set of minis for the party. NPCs and small monsters are played by Monopoly pieces, big bads are amiibos and other kitsch owned by the DM who hosts at his house.

12. How old were you when you first started gaming?

25 c: I’m new

13. How often does your current gaming group meet up?

Weekly, usually, but sometimes we skip a week or two because of scheduling conflicts.

14. How often would you LIKE to meet up for gaming?

Ideally weekly as a minimum. Twice a week would be rad. A week can be a long time to wait!

15. How long do your gaming sessions tend to be?

4 hours min to 6 max. Anything past 5 and people start to disengage and get sleepy because we start in the evening, because scheduling.

16. How long would you LIKE your gaming sessions to be?

I would love to have all-day games, at least for Big Plot Occurrence sessions. With snacks.

17. Have you tried/had any luck with Roll20?

I’ve been trying to connect with a group on there with no luck thus far. I want to use it to playtest some other characters I’ve brewed up.

18. What’s your preferred gaming beverage?

Whatever beer the host is willing to part with, hehe.

19. What are your preferred gaming snacks?

I don’t really snack, we get dinner during our game sessions. Usually sandwiches or pizza.

20. What are your superstitions or rituals regarding dice?

I named a few of my d20s (Rocky, Misfit, Elf One), and I switch between d20s depending on the task at hand. (Rocky is for strength, Elf one is for charisma, Misfit is for attack rolls, etc) I also have a REALLY SHARP d4 from a high-quality set I bought on sale, which I’ve dubbed the 𝕯4 𝖔𝖋 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍 and keep it out for poking people when they have bad gaming etiquette.

Other than that, I mostly just put misbehaving d20s away and switch to my first d20, which rarely lets me down.

21. Do you know anyone with really good/bad/weird dice luck?

Yes! My good friend has NEVER rolled well on initiative in all the times we’ve played. He always rolls 8 or lower.

22. What would you say is your alignment?

Chaotic good, I’d like to think.

23. What is the class you’d like to be?

I’d love to be a bard. Magic and music and charm out the wazoo.

24. What class do you think you’d actually be?

Probably a fighter. I’m good at music, but charming I’m not. Brute strength is where I excel irl. (I do play rugby, after all.)

25. What weapons would you wield? [@thewhiteboardofkanjisan] (It me!)

Sword! I would love to wield any kind of sword.

26. If you could cast one spell, what would it be? [@thewhiteboardofkanjisan]

Probably Fly, or maybe Polymorph.

27. What school of magic would you specialize in?

Either Divination or Evocation!

28. If you could have any creature - real or fictional - as a familiar, what would it be? [@thewhiteboardofkanjisan]

Gonna agree with you, pseudodragon is the WAY TO GO! For a real animal, though, I’d pick a klipspringer antelope or a Honduran white fruit bat.

29. What was your favorite character to play? [@thewhiteboardofkanjisan]

My currently-only character, Mariya, a CG half-elf ex-acolyte bard loosely based on Maria from The Sound of Music. Over time she’s grown away from the source material in a lot of ways. Depending on what the DM does with Mariya’s backstory, I might give her an alignment shift to LN and heavily multiclass in warlock for the second half of the levels.

30. Do you tend/prefer to play characters of your own gender/orientation?

I’ll shake it up with gender, but my group’s world tends to operate under the rule that Everyone Is Bi Always. One time a plot-hook NPC swapped genders mid-session with no in-world explanation just to make it a little gayer (Landon the lighthouse widower. Poor fellow. That’s a story for another day.)

31(Which I’m adding because I think you sent me the ask before this one got added). What do you, primarily, get out of roleplaying? That is, is it for fun with your friends, to experiment with being people who you are not, or something else? [@aetherspoon]

For me, D&D is both freeing and gives me validation I can sometimes miss in real life. I can be things the real world doesn’t allow, but I can also remind myself that Real World Daisy is talented, a good team member, has ideas worth sharing. D&D helped me make it through my final semester of grad school when a really bad semester-long group project was giving me hella anxiety. (I actually wrote an article for the student newspaper about why business students should play D&D. I’ll share it if anyone wants, though my name’s attached to it, but I’ve totes shared that info on here before so it’s nbd!)

#Dungeons and Dragons #D&D #shut up daisy #Hi Candice!#prionailurus #asks #tabletop rpg

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glitterysummerkitty · 6 years

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Dr Bombshell & Mr Hollywood

Please check Master List for direct links to the chapter

Chapter 12

Candice didn’t need the GPS to know that they were nearing the restaurant. She and Mabel had been frequenting this place since their days together at New York University, where they had completed their doctorate degree together. The Red Dragon was a cosy, well established eatery whose owners Mr and Mrs Zeng have been serving the students and residents of the Greenwich Village for nearly twenty years now. They are a lovely pair, who were always warm and friendly towards their patrons. On those glorious end of term, when stressed out students would be buried deep in their books, the Zeng’s would always close late and even post their closing time their kitchen would remain available and students could call the restaurant, at any time to order food.

Candice had always adored them and sought comfort in the fact that she would at least get to meet them tonight. The Red Dragon was her comfort nest away from home, one could say.

As Claire drove them to their destination, she did think about how unfair it was for her to change the destination at the last moment. Their original plan had been to meet Naomi at Central café but she had changed it to the Red Dragon after careful consideration. One would point out that Candice had almost a week to consider it but with each passing day Candice had found herself growing fickle, her mind vacillating between wanting to meet and not wanting to meet.

Nobody, except Melanie, could comprehend her anxiety about the whole meeting. There was a reason why Candice’s friend circle didn’t extend much beyond her Mabel and her sister. Only recently she had come to be a little more comfortable around Dave and that was, essentially, because she was forced to share an office with him.

People, in general, made her nervous and the prospect of having to meet someone for the first time always left her nerves shattered. What was Candice so afraid of? People being cynical, hypocritical, judging unfairly when their own lives couldn’t be cited as an example in an ‘A complete Guide to How to lead a perfect life’, if there was one. Ironically, Candice met more of such people in the place she would least expect to find any- the Church.

Naomi had no reason to judge her. Maybe her book but not her? The judgement of her book wouldn’t be a reflection of judgement of own self, or would it be? Writer’s tended to allow a part of themselves, consciously or unconsciously, to slip into the pages, into their characters. Hence, there was always this apprehension they faced that, maybe, they might have allowed, unknowingly or knowingly, something more of themselves to escape the reeking depths of their own personal Tartaurus and made itself known to the world, a part of them, that should never feel the light of day against it and thereby, giving the imperious world the power to judge unfairly what they would never begin to grasp fully.

Candice tapped her feet nervously and fidgeted with the hem of her suede skirt. They were literally only two blocks away from their destination. The very familiar sight of the flashy sign of ‘Joe’s Watering Hole’ it’s neon coloured lights flashing into the night sky sent unpleasant tingles in her stomach. ‘Maybe this is a very bad idea and I ought to turn around right now!’, she thought to herself and curled her fingers against the palm of her hands.

“Candice. Relax. Please. Everything is going to be perfectly fine.”, Candice sensed a mild irritation in Claire’s voice as she re- assured the blonde for possibly the millionth time that week. A part of Candice felt bad for Claire while the other part was mad at her agent for not understanding why she was panicking.

“I know. But I just can’t stop thinking that this is a very bad idea. What if she doesn’t like my views or my ideologies? What if she wouldn’t want to waste another moment of her life on this book and then all of this will be over. There would be no more e- mails from ‘An Avid Reader’.”, Candice mumbled. Claire turned into the parking lot and as she did she, very discreetly, widened her eyes in exasperation and then schooled her features to profession mode before pulling the gear.

“First of all, I spoke to Naomi personally and she sounded excited and very much interested. Second of all, I don’t think that a woman of such importance would have flown across the country in such a hurry to meet you if she didn’t see something in the story. You want to over- think about something, think about that.”, Claire went for her skull cap which she had placed on the dashboard and wore it before stepping out into the drizzling night. The petite woman with her jet black hair let lose, was glad that it wasn’t pouring any longer like it had been all morning.

Candice frowned as she stepped out of the car and put on the fedora cap over her head. Claire had a point but it wasn’t enough to satisfy her irrationality. Anxiety and fear were never rational.

“Ok then. I will try to be calm.”, she grumbled as she trudged alongside Claire, who seemed to have an unusual skip in her step today and why not?

The struggling agent seemed to have finally found her golden egg. Candice was a brilliant writer with a very out of the box thinking. Maybe rough around the edges, but that was alright considering the young blonde wasn’t trained to be a fiction writer. Claire had read some of her short stories. They were absolutely brilliant. A few were crime/suspense and a few were horror or mystery. Claire had first been very intrigued by them when Melanie had first sent them to her but when she met Candice personally for the first time she had been left baffled by the seemingly sweet, soft spoken girl who wrote stories of such dark themes. One would expect such a girl to write stories about life being all about rainbows, fluffy clouds and happy endings. After a few meetings, thou, the gnawing questions were somewhat answered when Candice revealed to her, bits of her past.

Her past... Reminded of it, Claire felt guilty and looked at Candice as she chewed on her bottom lip, that were swollen already since the blonde had been doing that all day.

“Candice.”, she said silently.

“Hhmm”

“Everything’s alright. I am here for you.”, she promised. Candice looked down at her agent and saw real compassion and something akin to pride.

“Thanks.”, she mumbled as the all too familiar heat began to spread along her cheeks.

“Candice!”, came a nasal voice as soon as the duo stepped in. “Dishi! Come look who’s here.”

Marie’s excitement attracted other patron’s, at the restaurant, attention making an already antsy Candice to want to pull into the shadows but she pushed her chest slightly forward and tilted her chin marginally up and walked towards their host, Marie Zeng.

When a short, lumpy man with a prominent limp on his left leg stepped out the large kitchen double doors, only then did Marie let go of Candice from her bear hug. The warm gush of air emerging from the kitchen engulfed the group.

“Candice. Is that you?”, Dishi Zeng was still wiping his hands on a cloth as he walked towards the group. He pulled Candice into a hug and Candice had to slightly bend down to receive him. Dishi was a couple of feet smaller than his pair. They were one of those rare pairs who didn’t make a lot of fuss about each other’s height.

“It’s been so long. So good to see you.”, he said, while his shrewd eyes assessed the woman standing next to Candice.

“It’s nice to see you both as well. This is my friend Claire. Claire, this is Marie and Dishi Zeng. They have been running this hotel for the past twenty years.”, Candice introduced.

As they interacted some more, with Marie complaining about Dishi’s ever piling waistline, Candice began to feel a little better. The weight of the whole reason, why she was here seemed to lighten a bit in the warmth of the familiar surroundings and Zeng’s.

Thankfully, Marie and Dishi had put Candice well back in the spacious, L- shaped dining area. Candice sipped at her water and looked around nervously, anticipating the elderly woman.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come in with you?”, Jake held an umbrella, protecting himself and his mother from the mild drizzles. The umbrella was totally unnecessary, as Naomi had pointed out, but Jake still held it over them.

He eyed the restaurant dubiously. From the outside it looked just like any other regular establishment but Jake didn’t like it. Or more particularly he didn’t like the last moment change of the venue. Or maybe he just didn’t like this whole idea of his mother planning to meet a faceless author. Jake had tried to look up Lynne Brooks and came up with zilch except for the record of her book and a website of the same. Even the website hadn’t been able to tell much about Lynne Brooks and there weren’t any pictures of her. Not a single one. The whole thing screamed shady to Jake and he didn’t like not knowing what his mother was walking into.

But Naomi was stubborn. She shooed Jake away and mischievously chastised him for fussing over her as if she were child. Naomi checked her wrist- watch and saw that she was ten minutes late. She hated being late.

“Besides you are already catching people’s attention.”, she quickly placed a kiss on his cheek and walked into the restaurant.

“Ok. Call me. I will come pick you up. And keep your phone in your hand. And don’t...”, Jake would have gone on to recite even more instructions had his mother cared enough to stop and listen. He sighed and just as he saw a group of teenagers approaching him he dashed off towards his car.

Naomi was met by a cheerful slim and tall woman at the front of the restaurant. Upon mentioning Lynne’s name, she informed that they had already arrived and ushered the elderly lady to the back of the restaurant. With some fascination Naomi admired the interior of the restaurant.

One look from the outside, no one would have guessed how lovely it would be on the inside. It had just the right amount of lights, with a more sublime Chinese music floating in the air. The simple white washed walls were decked with several photographs. Some looked very old while some looked more recent. Naomi guessed, from the prominent NYU t- shirts and hoodies sported by most in the photos, that they were the many students through the years. She could see in the photos, how much the people owning this place adored the students and vice versa. As she followed the lithe Chinese woman, she wondered if Lynne Brooks was an alumni of NYU.

Naomi had been searching a fairly recent looking photo wandering if Lynne was in one of these when Marie, as the woman had introduced herself at the reception, came to stop before a table and Naomi turned her attention away from the photos. A petite woman with jet black hair stood up confidently with a beaming smile.

“Ms Achs. It’s such an honour to be finally meet you in person.”, the woman said as she extended her hand forward, which Naomi took in hers immediately. “I am Claire.”

“Oh hello Claire. It’s so nice to meet you too.”, she said and turned to look for the woman she had been wanting to meet.

For a moment Naomi forgot about everything as she stared at the woman, who stood before her meekly. Her eyes swept from the flowing golden ringlets that framed her enigmatic face to down to her near to perfection figure. The woman before her was, for lack of better words, stunning.

“I am assuming you are Miss Brooks.”, she finally spoke and pulled her into a hug. Why she did that she didn’t know and so did the poor woman, who very awkwardly returned the hug.

Soon they settled in and their host Marie rushed off to get her drink. All the while Naomi couldn’t stop staring at the gorgeous woman and could barely stop herself from pulling her phone out and calling Jake back to the restaurant. She cussed herself silently for not letting Jake join her when he had offered it.

While Claire made small talks, the blonde sat quietly sipping at her water and making no more eye contact than necessary. Every time she met Naomi’s gaze, she blushed, gave a small smile and looked away. For some reason Naomi found that endearing.

“So Lynne... Can I call you Lynne?”, Naomi leaned back and took a small sip of her own water.

“Actually Ms Achs I have to tell you something.”, she began and Naomi carefully set the glass back on the table. That voice! Smooth like silk, sweet and soothing as honey, soft and pleasant to listen to.

“What is it dear.”, she coaxed as the young woman looked extremely nervous.

“My name... I mean Lynne Brooks is my pen name. My real name is Candice.”, she replied. Naomi didn’t understand the nervousness. There was nothing wrong in that.

“Oh. That’s alright. Besides, the name Candice sounds more apt to such a beautiful girl as you, if I say so.”, she said. Marie set a glass of Cosmo and then proceeded to take orders.

“So Candice, tell me something about yourself. Are you originally from New York?”, she asked once Marie left.

“No. Actually I am from S--”, Candice stopped herself and looked alarmed. Naomi frowned.

“She’s from Chicago originally.”, Claire smoothly covered for the blonde and Naomi looked between the two.

“Yes. That’s right.”, Candice spoke up and gave a smile. Naomi knew that the smile was to cover something up but didn’t dwell on it.

“Wow! You are a long way from home. What made you chose NYC?”, she continued.

“I moved here to do my PhD from NYU.”, her reply was short and didn’t give much details. Naomi could also notice how much effort the young woman took to answer the questions more carefully.

“Oh. That’s great! So you have a PhD in Creative Writing?”, she asked curiously. Seductively beautiful with brains. Candice couldn’t be single, could she be?

“No.”, there was that blush again. Was she embarrassed? Why? “Clinical Nutrition. I am actually a Nutritionist by profession.”

“Wow! That’s great. Wait so... You aren’t a professional writer?”, Naomi was more curious and fascinated.

“No. I started writing as I was very passionate about it. I never really thought I would actually publish one until I met Claire.”, Naomi could see the spark of enthusiasm enter her mesmerizing blues as she spoke about writing. She truly was passionate, nobody could fake that, Naomi decided.

After she made this observation, Naomi steered her conversation more to that direction, asking her more and more about her other works. Slowly Candice had loosened up and was slowly opening up, which was good to see. Every new thing she learnt made her more fascinated.

By the end of the meal Naomi had made up her mind about two things. She was going to make this book into a movie and also Candice was the sort of woman that Jake needed by his side. But, even as she thought these things in her mind, out loud she said,

“Well Candice. I am somewhat convinced by your ideas but I still would like to think over it a little before I come to a final decision. Why don’t we meet for dinner tomorrow night at my place and I can let you know of my decision then.”

#jake gyllenhaal #jake gyllenhaal imagine #fanfiction #fiction #romance #mystery #thriller #suspense #not a real story

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meganmazing · 7 years

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Fics I Read While On Vacation 2.0!

Last month I went on a trip to Italy, and you know what that means... I downloaded a ton of long fics to keep me sane on the long plane/train journeys, and now I’m sharing a few of my faves with you guys! Pro tip for travelers: DO THIS! When you do’t have reliable wifi, and don’t want to pay for the in-flight wifi, downloading a PDF (or ten) from AO3 is the way to go. Their easy system is one of my favorite features of the site, and has multiple downloading formats other than PDF, too. Plus, they include links back to the work in the PDF so you can go back and comment when you do have wifi! Which you should always do, because authors are a gift, and giving kudos and love in the form of comments in return is a wonderful thing.

This time it’s mainly stevetony, with a few phlint, a cherik series, and one reaper76 (r76) for good measure. And guys. The stony and phlint especially...oh my god. Even when Phil and Clint aren’t the mains, I’m screaming about them. For whatever reason, the Marvel stuff I read his time blew me away, to the point where I’m still thinking about some of the stories, despite it being nearly a month since I got back to the states. One fic genuinely changed me, and I never thought I’d say that without a hint of sarcasm, but here we are.

Like always, click the bolded titles for the link, and please read the tags on each fic. Even though I tend to steer clear of the truly brutal stuff when I’m on vacation, what squicks you out may not register for me, etc. Remember to throw some love to the works you enjoy, and come scream about them with me anytime <3

Stevetony

Steve Rogers Is A Child by LagLemon Words: 290k+ Rating: M

Tony gets into fights with Steve all the time and it's driving him insane. Sure, he's not the nicest guy in the world, but all he did was steal a little of the guy's sesame seed bagel - he didn't deserve to get yelled at for something stupid like that.

After drowning his sorrows in hot chocolate and complaining to Pepper about what happened, Tony gets a phone call from Natasha telling him to hurry back home. Something's happened - Steve has been attacked and he's not quite the same man he once was - he's been turned into a child.

With Steve out of commission, the team struggles with what to do and Tony finds himself filling roles he had never expected: babysitter and friend.

THIS is the fic I mentioned in a textpost pretty much immediately after I finished reading. I couldn’t wait for this rec list. My dear friends, this fic gave me a crisis of faith. That’s a tad dramatic, you say? This fic had me rooting for Bucky Barnes and Tony Stark. Winteriron. Yeah. Bucky has an unrequited crush on Tony, and he killed me with it.

Don’t get me wrong, the stevetony here is endgame, and it’s beautiful, but wow. Like. I’m not one to multipship people often - especially not with my top otps - and stony is an og pair of mine. Something about this Tony and this Bucky just...fit? I mean...I think I get it, now. I can see it. You guys win.

I’m still recing this as stevetony, but I had to mention it becasue I’m still in shock weeks after finishing this, and it’s stuck with me. Tony is a character near and dear to my heart, and the story is told from his POV in a way that felt a bit different from the norm to me, and I dig it. Don’t be put off by the child!Steve thing, it’s not forever and it is handled really well in the story. No child sexual/romantic/abuse situations occur. Personally, I would not rec that kind of story.

Falling Into You by sabrecmc Words: 53k+ Rating: M

Tony and Steve end up as fuck buddies after the events of The Winter Soldier until Steve calls it off. When Loki's spell wipes all of Steve's memories since the last time Loki was in town, Tony decides it will be so much easier to just not tell Steve they had something of a relationship. Spoiler: It isn't.

Or, how Steve fell in love with Tony and forgot about it, and how Tony fell in love with Steve and realized it.

Sometimes, you read a fic that is infuriating, heartbreaking, and sweet all at once, in almost every paragraph (at least for the first three quarters of the story). Tony is at his oblivious, slightly self-destructive best here, and you just want to shake the man, sometimes. Not to worry, I also wanted to shake Steve. It’s equal opportunity obliviousness in this one. The story is told with flashbacks to Tony’s memories of their “fuck buddy” relationship as he remembers them while the present mind-wiped-Steve situation is happening. It was done in a way that felt familiar without feeling redundant, the way this trope sometimes does for me. The ending is so worth it, and melted my heart.

A Higher Form of War by sabrecmc Words: 292k+ Rating: M

Tony is a King with a surprising number of people out to kill him. Steve and the rest of the Avengers are fighting for Pierce's rebellion and end up with Tony as their prisoner. Oops.

Basically one of those bodice-ripping romance novels I don't read (ahem) but with far more gay.

Speaking of melting my heart, this fic obliterated it. When I say Slow Burn, I mean it. Oh my sweet lord, do I ever. But you NEED this one if Stevetony is your thing, trust me. It’s AU in the best ways, and uses so much from the first Iron Man movie, as well as the Captain America movies and general MCU. Steve and Tony are painfully true to their characters at times, which brings both the good pain and the bad pain, the way you know you love. Fluff and plenty of angst, along with gorgeous tension and resolutions, and can I just have more of this world? Please? Forever? What is the team up to now? How is everyone? We got two novels worth of story, and I still want more of this universe!

The phlint really is blink-and-you-miss-it, but I am a sucker for the little nods and they made me happy. Also, there are the beginnings of Bucky and Tony being good friends, and I am so here for that friendship right now.

Deep in the Heart of Me by Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar) Words: 257k+ Rating: E

There were days when the realization that he was someone’s father made Steve's head hurt, but mostly he was grateful that he could trust his instincts, because apparently Peter was what had been missing from his life. Yes, he still had lingering, unresolved issues from his time in the Army, and sure, he had what Bucky annoyingly referred to as a criminally untapped ass, and no life outside of work and Peter, but Steve was okay with how his life had turned out because of trusting his instincts.

Unfortunately, those same instincts had straight up betrayed him by going absolutely haywire upon being exposed to Tony Stark.

Veteran single dad Steve runs a tattoo shop. For his 40th birthday, Pepper arranges for Tony to get that tattoo he always wanted, and he winds up with the mother of all crushes instead. Jumping out of airplanes is one thing, but falling in love is something else entirely. Steve struggles with the idea of actually letting someone into his life. Tony is left trying to keep his heart from being broken while Steve figures things out.

I have been holding off on this story for a long time. Something about Steve being the adoptive dad to Peter had me skeptical, and the heavy mental health aspects were not something I was eager to deal with when I first saw it.

That being said, I am so glad I read this. Getting real for a sec, I signed up for a mental health counselling consultation after finishing this. I connected so thoroughly with Steve and his experiences, and of course with Tony, too. But Steve’s journey through this story is honestly on a completely different level of fiction for me. Its heartbreakingly real, and downright visceral at times in the descriptions of how Steve feels, as well as how Tony feels, being in love with a person struggling with mental illness.

I cannot recommend it enough.

Aside from that, the love story between Steve and Tony blew me away, and I fell so in love with their love, it killed me. The ending is beautiful, and Peter is such a wonderful part of it. The family dynamics surprised me with how much I loved them too, with all of Steve and Bucky’s dads, and Clint and Nat being a part of their squad in the military, it fit perfectly in the story. Also: Let Tony Be A Good Father Figure 2k18 is my new crusade.

(I even grew to like Clint/Bucky in this. Phil is kind of in the world? Not a part of the main crew, but he cameos, and that was nice. Maybe that’s how I rationalized it in the beginning: Clint doesn’t know Phil, it’s fine! I like Clint and Bucky individually so much that it worked for me.)

Holding Out For A Hero by Wordsplat Words: 100k+ Rating: T (yeah, I know, cue the comical surprise that one of these is rated Teen and Up)

When Tony was a prince and Steve was his manservant, they were young and reckless and hopelessly in love. But an attack on Tony's life convinces Steve that he can't protect Tony, so he leaves in the dead of night to train until he can. Ten years later, Steve returns to the kingdom a strong and able knight, but his king is both furious and broken-hearted.

One of my favorite things is when I get to be unreservedly on Tony’s side when he fights with Steve. Steve’s reasoning is understandable for his character, sure, but BOY. Plus, Tony has the Avengers backing him up too, and I live for the team supporting Tony. In the MCU right now, the team is basically all for Cap, but the lack of multiple, meaningful, interpersonal connections from the team to Tony in those movies is a rant for another day.

Again, this is another story where the supporting cast has my heart. I also adored the knights being made up of the Avengers, and Bruce’s role, which kicked ass and made me happy. But, this story focuses primarily on Steve/Tony, and their relationship just kills me with how sweet/painful it is in turns. The fluff to angst ratio is spot on.

AND: Tony is a good dad! (LTBAGFF 2k18)

I love their love.

Go Ugly Early by just_another_tinker Words: 161k+ (still updating) Rating: E

He’s The Captain?

This was not good. This was so not good.

There were theories of course, of what The Captain would look like. Most followed the typical Hollywoodesque belief that he was some version of the Godfather, sitting in a dark room with a cigar, commanding his forces with a flick of his wrist. There were even some that even thought that The Captain was not one person, but a whole network of people with eyes and ears everywhere.

The blonde Adonis in front of him was definitely not what Tony was expecting.

Of course, in the end it didn’t matter.

There was a reason no one knew what The Captain looked like.

Because anyone who saw his face never lived to tell the tale.

This is not a finished story, and I am perpetually on the edge of my seat waiting for the next update. I’ve rec’ed cherik Mob/Mafia AUs before, but I’ve never read one with steve/tony and the avengers. I’ll admit, Steve as a mob boss? I was skeptical about how well I’d vibe with it.

Now? Holy shit, friends, I’m living for it. The aspects of Steve’s character that the author explores are everything I didn’t know I needed. Likewise with Tony, but I’m emphasizing Steve becasue it’s so unlike the usual representation Steve gets in fandom.

Apparently the running theme of this rec list is stories where the team is amazing and important to the story, becasue it’s true here, too. They’re Steve’s crew, becasue naturally. I adore the dynamics between everyone, especially when Tony starts to interact with them on the regular.

But guys. The phlint in this hit me in the feels so hard, I didn’t see it coming until I was ready to tear up. The writing is so good, I forgot a key aspect of Phil’s arc in the MCU for a split second and I was distraught. Clint has POV chapters (Phil also had one very recently, but I think Clint has more content overall), and so you get into their relationship and all the emotions Clint’s going through, and and I won’t say more becasue you need to read this one, even if you’re just in it for the phlint.

I know I’m a massive sucker for Clint, and love him wherever he shows up, but this time I’m genuinely impressed. The tags have it as minor/background, but it punched me in the chest like it was the main pair.

Of course, the steve/tony is amazing and addictive, but I had to scream about Clint and Phil for a sec.

Phlint

First Impressions by raiining Words: 76k+ Rating: M

Mr. Clint Barton does not like Mr. Phil Coulson. The feeling is not as mutual as he had thought.

A Pride & Prejudice AU.

So, I will be the first to admit that I have a serious affinity for Austen retellings in fanfic. The only downside with is that I tend to be overly picky about them, to the point where I check out fast if something bugs me, even if literately no one else would be bothered, much less notice it in the first place.

This AU fed my Austen-loving soul and gave me every Phlint thing I’ve ever wanted in an AU like this. Clint’s perspective here is spot-on, and his relationships with Nat and Tony were awesome to read. Not to mention that the author filled character roles perfectly? People were chosen that I wouldn’t have expected but as I was reading I was so on board at every turn, like, yes, of course, this is exactly it! They also twisted the classic P&P story and made it their own, making it fit and make sense for the characters above all, which I absolutely loved. Bookmarked for life. Probably will end up rec’ing this forever.

Phil just breaks my heart, and so does Clint, and I have way too much love for this fic, go read it right now!

And Eternity in an Hour by Selenay Words: 60k+ Rating: E

He comes from a secret place, far below the city streets, hiding his face from strangers, safe from hate and harm. He brought me there to save my life...and now, wherever I go, he is with me, in spirit. For we have a bond stronger than friendship or love. And although we cannot be together, we will never, ever be apart.

When Phil Coulson is attacked and left for dead, he is rescued and cared for by an unusual man who looks like a beast. As Phil heals, he learns that Clint is part of a community hidden below the city, where people who don't fit into the world above can live in safety. In time, Phil has to return home, but he vows to change his life and find a happier, better future.

Phil and Clint believe their time together is over, but they are destined to meet again when their worlds begin to collide.

A Beauty and the Beast (TV, 1987) fusion fic.

I’ll be honest, this show was before my time, and while my mom loved it and I know the basics of the story through her, I’ve never actually seen it. That being said...hell yes. I was hesitant, because Clint is right next to Tony for Marvel characters that I hold really close to the chest, and making him a “monster” had me cautious in the beginning. Fuzz, claws, really? Yes. If you’re thinking like me, go for it anyway! This story won me over so quickly, I don’t think I even knew it was happening - suddenly I was hooked.

It’s alternating POV, with a bit more of Phil, I think, since he’s the character we relate to more, being the outsider character to Down Below. Phil isn’t a secret agent in this, but he’s still a competent badass in that way Phil always is, and he was my favorite from the get-go! Their love story is so sweet, you’ll melt by the end. Also, there are explicit sexy times, and they are great. Plus, body image is dealt with wonderfully without feeling like a PSA.

It’s also not told in first person! I thought it was from that part of the summary, but it isn’t, and I was v happy about that.

The Clockwork Murders by Selenay Words: 76k+ Rating: M

Phil Coulson has two lives: by day he's a quiet, respectable Edwardian gentleman and his biggest risk is on a hand of cards at his club; at night he's a masked vigilante, fighting to make London safer. Keeping those lives separate is difficult enough when his closest friend is the head of a special task force within the Metropolitan police. It becomes even more difficult when his latest case gets dangerously close to home, bodies start washing up on the banks of the Thames, and Detective Inspector Fury's team is tasked with capturing the vigilante.

Clint Barton, Coulson's new valet, is down on his luck and inexperienced at valeting but his skills from his former life may be exactly what Coulson needs. They just need to negotiate their way through Coulson's secret life and their growing attraction to each other. And save London from a terrifying new threat along the way.

Alright, this fic might just be my absolute favorite out of the whole bunch. Not to say the others are lesser in any way, but I LOVE this one! Edwardian Steampunk has never been my thing, but I guess I can’t say that anymore?!

One of the best Phil POV’s I can remember, along with a romance that just consumed me. Phil is kinda like an Edwardian Batman with less gadgets and slightly lower social standing? I was so on board. Let Phil Be Batman. I’m starting that campaign right now. Clint is also a bit like Robin, if Robin was also Hawkeye. The slow build of their relationship is delicious, and so, so rewarding when it finally comes to a head (lol). When they finally got together, I actually fist pumped (just a very small, non-distracting one, because I was on a train at the time and didn’t want to look like a complete loon, but that’s how much I loved this story). Phil and Clint are vigilante detectives and Clint gets to be smart! What a novel concept!

I’m also a massive sucker for AU’s where the Avengers find each other and form a team all on their own. The scenario here is AMAZING and everything I never knew I wanted in an AU team-up. When Nat first showed up, I almost squealed out loud. No shame. Steve and Bucky are off being cops with Fury, off-page, so they’re the only ones missing from the story, but Darcy is here!! Plus, she and Nat have a side thing towards the end, and I am HERE FOR IT. This fic just has me so excited, weeks after I finished it. I’m invested and it hurts.

You know when I care about the plot of a phlint story, that the plot is genuinely compelling, because usually the phlint is all I care about. And the relationship is the foundation from the start, and always the underlying focus, so no worries for the people in it for the tension/sexytimes.

Cherik

An Ideal Grace by afrocurl and nekosmuse Words: 86k+ Rating: M

Cherik is one of the few pairings where the No Powers AU’s are some of my favorites. This is one of those times! Both boys have some mental health issues, especially where Erik as concerned, but it handled fairly well. Erik’s mental health specifically is a major arching plot piece, and his therapy sessions are important to his daily life and aren’t just mentioned off-page.

It’s important to say that there is no underage or professor/student relationship between Charles and Erik. There is past professor/student trauma in Erik’s life, but that is always a clearly negative and traumatic aspect of his life, and something he is working towards healing from in the story.

The only thing that had me a little iffy was the co-dependency between him and Raven, who is his adoptive sister in this, but it is called out, and they are moving forward in this story as well as the sequel. Having those two be siblings instead of her and Charles is a bit different, but I think it worked for the story, even if I still love Raven and Charles as siblings.

The sequel: Love’s Own Crown, I actually think I enjoyed more, since it was less about the identity mix-up and more about their relationship/therapy

Reaper76

The Other One Where Jack is the Gay Roommate by pfaerie Words: 16k+ Rating: E

Straight guy worries he's being homophobic to gay roommate, realizes he's fallen in love with him. Turns out Gabriel Reyes is fine with Jack Morrison kissing guys if it's him Jack is kissing.

This is kind of a remix of the author’s previous fic of the same name (minus “Other” in the title), but with sexytimes and additional editing. This is the roommate trope at it’s finest. It’s Gabe’s perspective, and in a non-powered/modern day AU, which works 100% to the story’s advantage. Gabe cracks me up, and I liked Widow in this too. All the kudos for the humor and smut! I really love this author’s writing style, especially with the way they write r76′s dynamic.

It’s one of those fics I’d give to a friend who wanted to read r76, but hadn’t before. The angst is mostly “I’m not gay, bro! ...oh wait” kind, plus Gabe just being a pill, not any of the massively heavy and dark content you tend to see with this pair.

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