#i also finished rereading all the novels right around when i started in on of madness and mammals

[rs-hawk]

Do you have any writing tips? Even if it’s not necessarily for smut?

I won’t be touching on tips for smut at all on this post but I can make a separate post for it if y’all want.

My Top 10 Writing Tips

Love all your characters. Yes, even your antagonists. Hell, especially your antagonists. Even if they’re evil for the sake of being evil, if you want a 3 dimensional character, you have to acknowledge that they’re more than just evil to someone. Their mother. Their friends. Their dog. You have to think of their motivations, and honestly?-acknowledge that every character you write has a part of you in them. Maybe just your anger, your fear, your trauma, but love them for that, and it’ll shape them and your works in ways you never thought of.

Don’t reread your work too often! It’s hard (so very very hard) but when you have to crank out 2k words a day every day of the month but 2 it gets easier. Lol. Fr though just keep chugging along. You can reread later. You can edit later. Just get it done.

Don’t edit too much while you’re still actively writing. I know that’s hard, I really do, but if you keep rewriting, you’ll never be able to finish. You’ll keep writing a handful of scenes over and over again until you hate it, your book and yourself for “giving up”. You can edit later.

Write for yourself. It doesn’t matter how good of a writer you are, how beautiful or eloquent your style, if you hate it with every fiber of your being, it’ll turn to dust in your hands. I consider writing work, and when people enjoy themselves at work, not only do they do better, but the consumer enjoys it more. Think about it. If you’re at a restaurant and the workers are laughing and smiling with each other and seem genuinely happy, you’re more likely to go back than if they’re miserable, on the verge of tears and seem to hate being there, right? The same is true for your writing. Readers will enjoy it more if they can feel how much you enjoyed creating it.

Don’t just write. Listen to music. Get up and go for a walk. Text/call a friend. Watch a TV show. Pet your cat. Experience something. It helps you write but it also reminds you that hey, you’ve been here like eight hours. Get something to drink. Take a screen break. Go outside.

Be comfortable while you write. I’m not going to lecture you on posture because I’m currently laying down with my legs drawn up under me, my upper body turned and my phone in the air because I’m trying to put enough pressure on my lower back to pop it. Anyway, even if you can’t stay in one position long, switch. Listen to your body. A “proper” posture can end up hurting you if you don’t ever relax or if you’re putting too much pressure on your lower spine. It’s okay to lean. It’s okay to lay down. It’s okay to sit cross-legged. Just not at the expense of your body. Be aware, and don’t forget to get up and stretch!

Take breaks. Eat. Drink. Stretch. Go to the bathroom. Some people need them scheduled, and that’s fine, but also listen to your body. If you need to use the toilet but you don’t have another break scheduled for an hour, just go. Pause your timer or delay your alarm if you want, but take care of yourself.

Don’t be too rigid with your “starting” plot. We know most of us have that one scene or one character in mind we want to write, so we create a plot around them. That’s fine and I love it, but your writing is like a living creature. You might change while writing it. Your characters and ideas might change while writing it. Let them change. Let you change! You can edit later.

Remember it’s not a race. Just because you see some people dropping 3 novels a year, or 5 Tumblr posts every day doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. No one can write what you write. No one can create what you can create. Your work deserves to exist and be judged on its own merit. Not compared to anyone else’s, even if it’s you five years ago who could crank out multiple posts daily. It’s okay.

Don’t expect anything. Start writing because you love it. It makes you happy. It itches that part of your brain that no other hobby does. That no other love does. I’ve been writing for about 15 years now. I don’t know who I am without it. I have tried giving it up, moving past it, doing other things, but I always come back. Nothing else makes me feel the way writing does. I have gone years without writing, but when I start writing again, it’s like a high. I can go for hours, and I have! I have been lucky to be able to monetize my work, but it took 10+ years and was only because I got goofy about werewolves on a PTR app. You can’t go into the arts and expect to make money right away, or ever. You can hope, and do your best, but don’t only do it because you think you’ll make a living. It’s a sad but real fact. Capitalism makes us think we should only do stuff we can make money off of, but that’s a lie. You can AND SHOULD create just to create. Humans are meant to make art, and if writing is your canvas like it is mine, write to create. Fuck capitalism. Your art existing is enough reason to create it.

#writers on tumblr #writing #author #queer writers #my writing #writers and poets #writerscommunity #writing tips #top 10 writing tips #top 10 #tips #writer things #writer problems #writers block #authors #i wrote this #i wrote something #stuff i wrote #i wrote some words #hope this helps #helpful #helpful tips #idk how to tag this #just trying to help #sorry it took so long #sorry this is so long

[aclowntiny]

hii I was rereading your work and i was wondering if you could do a Seonghwa + firsts when ur free!!!

thankksss

Heck yes! He was next up in my head too bestie 😌 now we’ve only got one man left!

Seonghwa + Firsts

First Date: This man is going to ruin men for you with this romance novel date. He brings you to a farm where you choose and cut flowers yourself make bouquets at the end of the day with them! It’s so cute how wide with wonder Seonghwa’s eyes are, soaking up the rainbows of flowers and your own gazes of shock and joy. You’re sure you looks like he does, filled with the most joyous wonder, but no matter what his infectious happiness is enough. When you finish, he asks if you’d like to exchange your bouquets, and with your heart thumping, you agree. He hands it gently it to you and you realize he picked almost all flowers in your favorite color, a few extras as accents to it, and it strikes you how much thought he put in!

First Time Holding Hands: Honestly, I think he’d do that the moment he first confesses to you. He takes your hand and looks deeply into your eyes as he tells you he really likes you, would you be interested in spending more time together?

First Kiss: It’s a few dates in. You’re not in a rush, and you know he’s a gentleman, which you appreciate because it means you’ve got a sweet guy who isn’t with you to get in your pants- not by a long shot! The moment is so classic it feels like something from a movie. You’re alone together just enjoying being in each other’s company, the feeling of the night breeze. Seonghwa asks permission, reaches over to get something out of your hair…but when his fingers leave it they trace along your jawline and suddenly he’s pulling you softly into his lips.

First ‘I Love You’: You enter the dorms and Seonghwa standing there with a smile, all your favorites laid out for dinner and a vase of your favorite flowers in the middle of it all. He knows it’s been a long day, he tells you, he wanted to do something for you. It wasn’t only that he couldn’t wait to see you. He has something to tell you, too, something to do with the fact that euphoric is the only way to describe how he feels around you. How light he feels every time you show him your caring heart. It means the world just to see you smile like you do when you walk in the door, tell him it’s amazing, and falter before both of you speak the words simultaneously: “I love you.”

First Fight: It’s more like a snip fest with him, like it starts with something kind of petty but you get ticked when he complains that you leave things a mess because it wasn’t that bad, you just lost one thing he came over to get and your home wasn’t a disaster. Then because he had an especially bad day, he replies passive aggressively and you end up icing him out for a bit. The afternoon passes like that, both of you just taking some much-needed space, and you come back together cooled off and ready to apologize.

First Anniversary: A true romantic, Seonghwa one hundred percent considers your hundred days an important celebration. He stays classic with the gift of flowers and matching couple rings for you, taking you out on a boat ride where he gifts them to you on the calm, sparkling water! He tells you then that he can’t wait to hit one thousand days with you.

First Pet: Ok, so Seonghwa really loves furry animals, right? But we all know his true favorite animal! You come home with a surprise, telling him he has his very own dragon now. His eyes light up and a smile spreads across his face as Seonghwa makes the assumption you’ve gotten him a plushie or a lego dragon. Wrong! What you have is a little tank for a bearded dragon lizard all set up with the cutest little decoration you could find- ok, fine, it was supposed to be for a fish tank, but shhh! Seonghwa can’t help but laugh and shake his head, but he also immediately coos and picks up the little guy gently in his hands. Your new baby’s name? Toothless, of course!

#ateez #ateez imagines #ateez reactions #ateez x reader #ateez scenarios #seonghwa #seonghwa x gender neutral reader #gender neutral reader #firsts with ateez #ask #anon #requested

[ninja-muse]

2023 Reading Wrap-up

I feel like this year was pretty average in terms of my reading. Some great books, some awful books, a lot of books in the middle. And while I feel as if I kept hitting slumps, I don’t think my stats really reflect that. I kept reading and even though I didn’t hit my goal of 140 books, that’s more because I read more thick and dense books, spent more time writing, and am one year further from the direness of 2020 and 2021.

This also seems to have been the year of T. Kingfisher for me (and also Ursula Vernon). I read several of her horror novels, as well as Digger and a bunch of the ebooks she makes free for patrons, which are really easy go-tos when you want something light and right now. I was kind of surprised when I realized she was my top author because usually that’s Seanan McGuire.

And I read more ebooks in general, because why should I wait for two months for the library to get a physical book in circulation when I can wait two weeks for it to come in on Libby? I’m still trying to reserve Libby use for lighter, faster, less involved books, because I tend to end up skimming a little more and there’s something about physical paper that helps me retain info better when the text is dense.

Now, stats! Yearly total: 128, excluding rereads and picture books Queer books: 44 (34%) Authors of colour: 15 (11.7%) Books by women: 74.5 (58%) Authors outside the binary: 7.5 (5.8%) Canadian authors: 14 (10.9%) Off the TBR shelves: 39 (30.4%) Books hauled: 41 ARCs acquired: 57 ARCs unhauled: 60 DNFs: 9 Rereads: 3 Picture Books: 6

If you look at last year’s stats and the year before’s, I’m pretty much holding steady in terms of my diverse reading—a little more than a third queer, about 60% female and 10% Canadian, around 6% gender-diverse authors. I’m way down on authors of colour though, and I didn’t hit my stretch goal of 20 Canadians, so those are things I’ll have to pay attention to in the year to come. It would be nice if I could manage more queer books too, but that’s not something I’m going to try for quite as much.

Two of my reading goals for the year were to read more books from my TBR than I acquired, and to keep my ARC levels about even. Seems like I pretty much hit them! I expect that 2024 will see fewer book acquisitions because a lot of my 2023 haul was bookstore visits with my dad and we’ve now hit pretty much every store in the city. I was honestly kind of surprised that my ARC problem stands where it does. I was so sure that I was going to have at least 10 more incoming books than outgoing. Go me! My spring ARC purge really, really helped.

I did all right on the rest of my reading goals. All but one book read (The Great Cat Massacre), which was the real point of the list! I only managed to finish one StoryGraph challenge, if you don’t count my pages goal, and as always I failed to read as many classics as I wanted. I’m starting to suspect I’m not a classics person, despite my interest in history and historical fiction. If anyone has classics recs for me, let me know?

To be completely honest, though, I'm not sure I'm going to continue posting to Tumblr. I pretty much stopped updating my feed in the summer and I've felt more relaxed, both in terms of Things To Do Each Day but also in terms of my reading. When I was more active on here, I felt pressured to read diversely at all times and though I try to have a healthy spread of perspectives, I know that I generally don't and am therefore a bad person by Tumblr standards. I am curious what my mutuals have been getting up to this year so please, sound off! And let me know if you do want to see reviews and wrap-ups continue here.

(Friendly reminder that I'm ninjamuse on Storygraph and LibraryThing, if you'd like to follow me there.)

And if anyone’s interested, here are the rest of my year’s highlights:

Top Five Fiction (not ranked)

The Hollow Places - T. Kingfisher

Menewood - Nicola Griffith

Bookshops and Bonedust - Travis Baldree

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon Chakraborty

Top Five Non-Fiction (not ranked)

Magisteria - Nicholas Spencer

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Evidence of Things Seen - Sarah Weinman, editor

Lay Them to Rest - Laurah Norton

Like Every Form of Love - Padma Viswanathan

Most Impressed By:

Shubeik Lubeik - Deena Mohamed

Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard

A Half-Built Garden - Ruthanna Emrys

Most Disappointing:

Tortilla Flat - John Steinbeck

British Columbiana - Josie Teed

A Killing in Costumes - Zac Bissonette

Tauhou - Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall

Longest Book: The Hands of the Emperor - Victoria Goddard

Best queer book: Diary of a Misfit - Casey Parks

Did I beat 2022? No. Did I beat my Best Year Ever? No. That would be 2021. Did I read more classics? Not even close. Did I read more Canadians? No. I held about steady. Did I whittle my TBR shelves down any? No. Was it a good reading year? Probably about average?

Breakdowns by month:

January February March April May June July August September October November December

#reading wrap-ups #read in 2023 #reading stats #rec lists

[faithdeans]

western au fic recs part 1

i have loads of these but i've decided to re-read them all before reccomending them. idk how many parts there will be of this but probably at least another 2 and one for ficlets! anyway hiii have fun and pls let me know how you find them!!! i also left comments because idk how to shut up!

Vagabonds by chevrolangels [89k]

Dean is a sheriff in a tiny town in Colorado, restless and unsatisfied with his life. It's not like what he's read about in the dime novels since he was little, capturing dangerous outlaws and being the last word of the law. More like tossing the town drunk in a cell to sober up when they get a little too rowdy. But Dean's chance comes when a thief rolls through their town. He pursues the thief, which puts him right into the path of Emmanuel, a notorious outlaw. When he is captured by the outlaw and his gang to be held for ransom, Dean starts off on a journey he could have never envisioned, and learns that perhaps there's more to Emmanuel than meets the eye.

i reread this the other day and if you didn't already see my posts let me say i lost my damn mind all over again. the pacing and characterisation in this fic are perfect. it's a delicious slowburn, the action is amazing, and also as someone who has a hard time handling angst, this fic is the perfect level for me. the end makes me cry because i never wanna finish it. the stories of the side-characters are just as enthralling as dean and cas. i could read a million one-shots based on this fic. i'd probably say it's my favourite fic, period.

The Shawnee Trail by emmbrancsxx0 [166k]

In 1887, Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak lead a peaceful life in Lawrence, Kansas. Dean and Sam are stagecoach messengers for Wells, Fargo and Castiel is the town doctor. When Castiel's patient, Kelly Kline, knocks on their door one night about to give birth, she asks for the Winchesters and Castiel's help in protecting her son against one of the west's most notorious outlaws. To fulfill that promise, the men set out on a journey full of shootouts, trouble with the law, gambling, and an important discovery: Dean and Castiel really need to define the nature of their relationship.

okay to everyone asking which fic i was talking about when i posted "fics that make you pace around your room at midnight while sobbing", i was talking about this. this fic felt like a movie, it felt like i was living it, like i was riding with them. the storytelling is unbelievably vivid. i was hanging on to the "angst with a happy ending" tag for dear life. this fic is a rollercoaster of an adventure and a wonderfully moving ode to the western genre. it's truly one of those fics where you finish it and you can't believe this is supernatural fanfic and not a critically acclaimed piece of literature.

Lonesome Rider by onwardorange [67k]

Dean Winchester, better known as the “Lonesome Rider” throughout the Wild West, spends his days galavanting from town to town, drinking, dancing, and flirting his way into people’s beds. He’s got no responsibilities and no direction in life; it’s just him, his beloved horse, Baby, and the open road. And that’s just the way Dean likes it𑁋or so he tells himself. That is, until the day Sam falls deathly ill. When nothing is able to cure him, Dean makes a desperate deal to save Sam’s life that puts his own on the line. Enter Castiel Novak, a small town preacher in possession of the Colt, a gun rumored to be able to kill just about anything as well as the one thing that could save Dean’s life. When the gun is stolen by a gang of infamous outlaws, Dean and Castiel must travel across the West together to get it back, though what they discover between themselves along the way may turn out to be more powerful than the Colt itself.

this fic was so sweet and full of heart that it actually left me breathless in places. the way dean and cas bickering was written was so s spot on. hurt/comfort that will blow your cock and balls straight off. and the pining!!!! oh the pining!!! something about this story is like a warm hug and i just didn't wanna put it down. also the constellation scene and certain recurring themes to do with it. *dies*

#worm.rec

[carrs-universe-writes]

Well what in tarnation-

Um hello 👉👈 funny seeing you guys here...uh...come here often? Still wondering about my silly little writing? Oh haha...yeah...about that...

Crazy how fast time flies when you have time blindness.

So let's get the big stuff out of the way. I am no longer writing Wolfwater, WCA, or M715 as interactive fiction. I am still writing the stories, but no longer as interactive fiction.

No one knows what's happening with dragon smut because it was just a silly little side project so as of right now it's on indefinite hiatus/canceled.

But the other three are still deep in the holes of my brain. These characters mean a lot to me at this point. But I've lost the passion to make them IFs. Not only is it way too much work for my Swiss cheese ADHD brain to stay focused on, writing is also something I can just kinda do mindlessly. But with IF I have to pay WAY closer attention, and that makes it a stressful thing, not a fun, relaxing form of expression.

To put it simply, it's way too much work that I don't want to do.

So where does that leave the stories? Well, as novels.

I've already started rewriting chapter 1 of Wolfwater, and I'll post it in it's entirety here when I'm finished. Some things have been changed, like now Alex is the protagonist. And given Alex obviously isn't interested in a lot of the romance options, one of the subplots will finally be Ezra and Aim kissing all on their own. Big day!

WCA will be split between Casey and Quincy’s POV's mainly, but there will be no serious changes to the plot, other than the fact that...well...you aren't there.

And M715 will be changed so that Zelda is the main protagonist. Again, very little to change in that story, other than shifting who things happen to.

The original playable IF version of WW ch1 will stay up forever if you ever want to reread it. And nothing is being deleted or changed on the patreon, all the original drafts will stay up. But they are not going to be edited again.

I know Wolfwater especially has been in the works for like 4 years, but unfortunately I used all my dopamine up writing Far Cry fanfiction when I was in middle school, so I'm now a very slow writer.

If you've been here a while, get ready for some deja-vu because: I'm leaving my job at the gas station soon and starting basically my dream job driving a truck. Just me and my dog in a truck all day, not a single customer interaction to be had. Hopefully around the end of summer I'll be there full time and can quit the gas station, which will be better for me. (I feel like I've seen this movie before....)

Um I struggle with genuineness but ummmm thank you to those that have stuck around while I was doing absolutely nothing. But I am writing again, I am back, everything is sorta back to normal.

Now stop looking at me 😖

#update #the rat lives #the rat speaks #ww #wca #m715 #also go follow my other blog where i post little midwest gothic horror snippets

[capinejghafa]

BOOKS

tagged by @saritasoyyo thank you!

Rules: in a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

ok, so i’ve read a lot crap... and sometimes i question my taste in books. so, don't think of this as recommendations. what so ever. Also, I don't tend to read solo books, and 9 out 10 times I accidentally pick up a series.

ASOIAF by grrm. I have a tattoo of the House Martell sigil enough said.

Six of Crows by leigh Bardugo. I first listened to this on audible and I know shocking... but if you've never experienced the audio version, it's such a good listen to. But also it's good on it's own too! I read/listened to this after reading a miserable series and it helped me out my depression. So say what you want about audiobooks lol

Wallflower verse by Lisa Kleypas. Did the series age well? No. But did this insp my love of historical romance? Yes. Also, I have read all of this series... there's a lot. I'm unashamed.

Scarlet Scars Series by J.M. Darhower. Tbh this is a spinoff of a pretty awful series and none of this should work for me... but there's something about reading this when you're in a depression or self-destructive mood that put things in an interesting pov.

Sweep series by Cate Tiernan. I read this when I was 14 going on 15. And oof reading it now it tough but I did love it as a kid and have three complete editions of this specific series.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. This list doesn't have to be good lol I have the longest history with this series and it's just part of me... whether or not I like it.

Charley Davidson series by Darynda Jones. Such a promising start that left me hate reading by book 8. but did i finish the series? yes.

Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray. I debated on adding this because I don’t know if it stuck with me for the right reasons, but i think about it sometimes and I even did a reread a few months ago.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. I read this as an adult™ and the entire time I was like Meg definitely didn’t know how to write a character with depression respectfully and it shows. But I think for what it’s worth, as I’m not the targeted audience, it’s a fast and somewhat charming read. And the reason why I can never watch PD2 again lol

Beautiful Creatures Series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. This is another one that i was not the targeted demo, but it stayed with me in a way that some of the books I was reading around this time didn’t *coughs in romance novels*. I love the potential of the world and what it could have been. And I think about that potential a lot.

did you all need an explanation? no. but i was in a mood to talk about my weird book choices lol i did not follow the rules *looks away*

tagging (no pressure): @totchipanda @linearao3 @whatanybodygets @genuineformality and anyone who wants to talk about books

#saritasoyyo #tagged by #this was so much fun lol #a few of these cured my depression (not really but... they helped!) #random

[zmediaoutlet]

jsyk “the constant vow” is murdering me slowly, chapter by glorious chapter. and what a heavenly way to die! some things I’ve loved thus far, in no particular order: 1. forehead 👏 kisses 👏2. pixie-cut dean’s last ditch attempt at drawing one (1) single boundary between himself and his little brother by denying sam his mouth during sex, followed by his immediate surrender lmao. like how do you maintain a wall between yourself and your literal soulmate when said soulmate is fucking (1/?)

fucking you brains out? it can’t be done. bless him for trying.3. sam’s halting confession that he thinks he’d enjoy going downtown on a dude, if…. if!!!!! 4. “Shouldn't let it get used to people.” holy heck, what a metaphor :((( this moment felt like a gut-punch after dean’s aforementioned failure at self-preservation. he KNOWS the danger they’re in, but they crossed the point of no return long ago, even before dean got himself cursed by a peggy bundy impersonator. (2/?)

5. speak of the devil: “how we know we did our job.” you REALLY brought me around on denise. bravo.6. actually, the entire day leading up to denise’s visit is flawless. you drove them right up to brink, so it was basically impossible for them to rationalize away or compartmentalize the sex any longer; unable to ignore their nighttime confessions. sam gearing up to cross the final line, only to be thwarted by denise. not to MENTION his subsequent bedside drawer discovery. so good!!! (3/4)

(4/4) I can’t thank you enough for gifting us with this beautiful NOVEL about two of my all time favorite characters. at the risk of sounding ungrateful or impatient; do you have a general idea when the final installment will be ready? I only ask bc I’d like to reread all 100k words before the last chapter goes live. I want to be fully primed for the emotional climax lmao.

Oh bud. Oh gosh. Well.

a) I am so glad you are enjoying the thing. It has been, to put it lightly, a goddamn son of a bitch to wade through this last chapter, and it's cool to know there's some enthusiasm about getting there, lol

b) THANK YOU FOR LIKING THE DEER MOMENT. it's like. symbolism and whatnot. I think you're the only person to point it out and I was feeling very self-indulgey but. Woo you, haha.

c) Denise is my bud at this point. --that's not true, I would try to kill her with a crochet hook within two hours, but it's cool that the general mood seems to be 'aww this idiot, she's a hell of a broad.' Just imagine her squishing you to her immense Peggy-esque bosom. :)

d) as far as final chapter: last night I was feeling super optimistic and tonight I am feeling wildly not optimistic, but I really don't want to get hit by the 2x4 of self-doubt and misery again. Best-case we're looking at Friday, to get back on schedule. I really, really want to make that happen; we'll have to see. If not, then I'll try REALLY VERY HARD for Wednesday of next week.

Pro-tip, this is why you don't start posting before the thing's fully done. Confidence is a lie. But also, never fear, this one will get finished. If nothing else I want to check it off the to-do list. Thanks for liking it, bud. It genuinely means a lot. <3

#answers #happy tag

[risingshards]

some follow ups to my last writeblr post!

@pikachugirltits Oooh I remember when I worked at my college library the Discworld covers were really enticing but I never ended up reading them in class, whimsical world building with a lot of cleverness and comedy sounds right up my alley. 😊

@peacekandi sapphic romance eh??? 👀👀👀👀 i'm in

ALSO WHOA I totally saw this book at work like a week ago while shelving!!

@steadfastmockingbird I know I've seen a lot of Lackey's books at work as well, I will see if we have Foundation!!

@aquil-writes I've read bits of those but I think it's time for a reread/deeper more focused read. Some I've started and not gotten around to finishing the book versions so time to rectify that too. 😤

(and honestly I love reading book recs and the whys behind them so if you ever just want to go on a longer Rant™ I would not be at all opposed)

And for my webnovel tips! I'm working on writing some longer posts about it but my starting point is deciding if a WIP is better suited for tradpub or ebook self publishing type deals or better served to be published as a web serial. I spent like maybe a full year debating once I realized my main series Rising Shards (shameless plug) would fit better as a web novel versus trying over and over to more and more despair with the traditional publishing track for it.

SO my rough thoughts are there (again I'd like to write deeper posts on this eventually) for whether or not to take a WIP on the web novel path:

What I’d recommend for a webnovel:

-a story you want to write for a long while, something you're incredibly passionate about

-a story you’re capable/disciplined enough to keep up with writing far in advance and keeping up with regular uploads, something you're prepared to write a lot of

-Characters you want to spend a long time with

-a story you’d want instant feedback on e.g. comments, ships, ongoing speculation, a story you'd rather have released more like a TV show, comic, any kind of ongoing story

-a story with a structure closer to a TV season or a manga/anime arc

-a story that may not fit in with what a traditional publisher is looking for

-a story you’re willing to work at uploading for a long, long time before seeing significant readership, with a lot of patience

-a story you'd rather be in complete control of (not that every book at a publisher the author has no control of, but the one I worked at I was on projects where once the manuscript left the author's hands we pretty much could do whatever with it), is it something you want to control the release schedule, cover art, logo, to have total control of your characters and plot? This also applies to self publishing but it was a big deciding factor for me to have one project that was just maybe somewhat selfishly mine and me on the page basically.

What I wouldn’t recommend for a webnovel

-a story you’re struggling to write

-a story you really really want to try to send to lit agents/publishers/etc. for traditional publishing

-a story you'd rather have released as a single volume all at once first (thinking like a Netflix season releasing a season all at once versus another show releasing episodes weekly), a story that wouldn't benefit from a frequent release schedule/something that's better served being complete in a reader's hands

-a story you think would absolutely be what publishers are looking for

#writeblr #thank you everyone so far for responses!! #webnovels #2023 will be my year of fluff and good books #fantasy writing #fantasy novel #writing wips #web serials #web novels

[spiteless-xo]

Love your fics!! Because you follow a post schedule, what's your writing process like? Do you designate a day or time in your day to write for your stories?

Thank you so much! 💕 Apologies in advance for the absolute novel I'm about to write for this question lol

When I was posting The Boys at School, I had already finished the entire fic before I even posted the first chapter. I gave myself a weekly posting schedule so I'd have a timeline to reread and edit chapters before posting.

With The Boys at Work, when I posted the first chapter I think I had already written about 20-ish chapters? Same reason as above, I gave myself a weekly posting schedule so I'd have time to do rereads and edits, but also with the added pressure of finishing the story lmao

Right now, I have 31 chapters written and another 11 plotted out. Each week after I post the new chapter and answer comments, I usually read next week's chapter and do minor edits on Wednesday and then again on Sunday or Monday before posting. I spend probably like an hour after work each day writing and maybe another hour or two on the weekend if I'm not busy. I try to write every day even if I'm not really feeling it because usually I build momentum once I start writing. If I just waited around for when I felt inspired, I don't think I'd have written anything at all lol

For my writing process with TBAS, I literally just wrote what I thought would be an interesting story for me and then called it a day lol

For TBAW, I've put a lot more thought into the structure and the story so my process is a lot more intense? I guess? Maybe mini-spoilers ahead but nothing major.

The main plot is obviously the love triangle between Jean/Reader/Eren but there's also the sub-plots of Reader's work performance, Jean's issues with his dad, and Eren's denial of his feelings.

In Arc 1 I tried to introduce all those sub-plots, in Arc 2 they really ramp up, and then in Arc 3 they all get resolved. So when I'm planning out each arc I try to plot out how I want each of the main characters to change by the end of the arc and then that gives me a general idea of how I want my chapters to be structured, so then I plot those out, and then I just start writing!

I plot out my chapters in very vague point form because when I write, sometimes I write things happening that I never planned for and it ends up working really well. Literally, the whole scene in Chapter 5 where Reader and Jean go shopping for wine was just a free-ball. Most Core Four scenes outside of the Halloween and the Cabin chapters are free-balled.

And since I have so many of these off-the-cuff, unplanned scenes, when I'm editing I usually reread the ENTIRE ARC to see if there's a way I can tie that scene into the overall plot or if I can make the characters say something that alludes to a future chapter, etc. etc.

Honestly, most of the time when I'm editing, I'm actually just reading. I've reread this entire story SO MANY TIMES!!! I can't even count lol

But in general, I just sit down, write, and try to loosely stick to my rough point-form plot. Editing is the most important part of my story, but I can't do any editing if I haven't written anything. So I just write, no matter how bad it is or how disconnected or disjointed, etc. etc. and then I wait a few days, reread it with fresh eyes, and then start making changes.

Sometimes those changes involve rewriting the whole chapter, other times it's just minor edits or adding/removing a scene. I literally have a separate google doc of "deleted scenes" that's like 50k words of stuff that I've cut out from chapters in the main story, but that I wanted to keep in case I want to use them elsewhere.

ANYWAY sorry for the book!! I love talking about this stuff and my boyfriend doesn't really care so I don't have anyone to gush about this with 🥺🥺🥺 So thank you so much anon for the question, sorry I got out of hand, but I really appreciate the opportunity to talk about something that I love doing ♥♥

#tiff.ask

[emiliosandozsequence]

I decided to introduce myself a little more by telling you some fun facts about myself:

tagged by my bro ​😎 @naysaltysalmon

emilio| they/them | lesbian | nonbinary | pisces (☀️) taurus (🌙) pisces (🌅)

~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~

🌌 i'm puerto rican and irish mostly and that's definitely what shows in my appearance and personality i think too (lol)

🌌 i finished writing 7 book before the age of 21, but i haven't finished a thing since bc of a variety of factors; i am finally working on a novel again though woohoo!!

🌌 i'm a fictive in a traumagenic system caused by a really shitty upbringing (no, fictive is not the same thing as kin); for comparison: to those of you that have read the sparrow, my childhood was rakhat without all the happy parts.

🌌 i'm also chronically ill and disabled, but lol for the love of g-d i don't know what with because doctors are horrifyingly ableist

🌌 i can play the violin and piano and read music, but i have done none of those things in a good long while and i'm actually much better at learning things by ear; i also have perfect pitch, and i think i'm a much better singer than i am violin or piano player.

🌌 i can fence and irish dance; i taught myself how to irish dance by obsessively watching riverdance growing up, but i quit when i started middle school because a) the teacher was a fucking cunt and b) that's when i started really first feeling the effects of having a body that Doesn't Work Right

🌌 i had thyroid cancer in 2016 and so i don't have a thyroid anymore lol, which means i have a really hard time regulating my temperature. i also don't have a gall bladder, which means i have a really hard time eating fatty foods without...revisiting those meals.

🌌 emilio sandoz is me in ways i cannot even begin to describe. like i said that when i finished the book the first time around, but hot fucking damn; i'm rereading during my annotating and posting of quotes on the account i made on twitter and i'm just rerealizing this all over again and it's fucking insane. maybe someday i'll write that dissertation and it'll just be a self-centered, self-indulgent essay about why emilio sandoz and i are the same person; also likely an essay about how fucking amazing mary doria russell illustrates the effects of that level of trauma (coming from someone who has experienced it).

🌌 this really isn't news to anyone who follows me (or read the last point lol) but the sparrow series by mary doria russell is my all time favorite book sequence. i really really REALLY want to be able to talk to mary doria russell one on one about it and fantasize about doing so daily, but the closest i've gotten to that was her approving of my fancast that i posted on twitter.

🌌 i love animals and particularly cats <3 i have two cats that are very definitely mine, but my fiancee's family also has three other cats that cling to me in various ways too. i love them all dearly and love being the resident cat mom; i literally am being followed by at least one of them at all times.

🌌 i love score music. all time favorite genre of music hands down holy fuck. i listen to....usually the score or playlist score i've created of whatever i'm hyperfixating on at the moment; you can see all of those playlists on my spotify. also, according to my spotify, the only lyrical artist i enjoy regularly outside of my score music genre is ethel cain <3

🌌 my favorite genre of media is philosophical sci-fi (examples: foundation, halo, the sparrow, the fountain, annihilation, arrival, sunshine, i origins, the matrix, interstellar, etc.). idek why tbh. i do love space and science a whole lot, but i just came to the realization that this is my genre of choice rather recently when my fiancee pointed it out.

🌌 my biggest special interests are space (and literally everything to do with it; in particular string theory, theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, etc), linguistics, volcanology, religion, and really anything to do with STEM.

~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~🪷~

I hope you’ll reblog and give a few fun facts about yourself so we can get to know each other a little better~! Open to all!

Tagging: @creaturecomplex @chateauofmymind @sarayashikis @thinking-in-broken-scenes @good-as-dead @dykeromanroy @smallredb0y @redwindflower

#eyyy #this was fun #emilio.txt

[theladyragnell]

A tag game!

Tagged by: @emilianadarling, thank you! It’s a pleasure to see you back around my dash these last few months.

Fave Color: Turquoise, most days! Sometimes green, rarely pink.

Currently Reading: I’m in the midst of rereads of Return of the King for book club and Royal Tea Service by Casey Blair (the last book in the Tea Princess Chronicles) for fun! Next new book will probably be the Becky Chambers that came out yesterday.

Last Song: I’ve been listening to Regina Spektor’s new album (Home, before and after) all the time for the past week or so, not sure which song precisely I left off on.

Last Series: I have had so little TV brain lately, ugh. Um, we just started watching M*A*S*H, though we’re only a few episodes in on that, so I think I’ll count that!

Last Movie: The Swan Princess, I was visiting a friend this past weekend and we almost always watch that movie when we’re together. I pretty much have it memorized and I’m not ashamed.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Mmm, probably savory? But there are a lot of good flavors out there in the world!

Currently Working On: An original novel! The second-to-last in a series I’ve been writing since ... 2018, I think? That seems right, anyway. It’s a series of space royalty with lots of politics and a different romance each book (in my head, I pitch the series as a whole as The Goblin Emperor meets Bridgerton in space, though each book obviously has its more specific tropes etc., but basically, the genre is in the Winter’s Orbit region). This particular one is a murder mystery, and I’ve never properly written one of those before, so I’m having an interesting time of it! But definitely enjoying myself.

Also just finished making a shirt and really need to figure out whether I can feasibly do a major weaving project in the next week.

Tags: You’re supposed to tag nine people but I remain too socially awkward to handle doing tags with any kind of grace, so as always, I like seeing people’s answers to things, so answer if you like!

#about me #shut up nell

[jianghuchild]

A Poorly Structured Essay About Why Wes Chan Owns Me

Have any of you watched Left on Shing Wong? It's a 5-minute short film by Wong Fu Productions about a man in Hong Kong who meets... a fairy? An immortal?? According to herself, she collects people's forgotten memories and forms inspiration out of them. The film is part of a larger collection called The One Days HK, which include such notable classics as Lost to Luck and The Spare. That was also their era of just... weird, experimental shit. Like, seriously, have you seen When Five Fell?

Point being, this thing latched onto my brain for the better part of five years and refused to let go. So here's an essay to deal with it.

Part 1: The Title

Oh, you thought I was just going to start expounding on the symbolism of memories? No. I have watched this film start to finish more times than I have reread a Seamus Heaney poem. Which means we can’t approach this like normal film analysis, or even indeed like novel analysis. We approach this the way fifteen-year-old me approached “Personal Helicon” and all other poetry when none of it made sense. Which means we start with the title.

Shing Wong, aka 城隍神, is a type of local deity who guards the city and ferries its residents to the afterlife. And Hong Kong does indeed have its own Shing Wong temple. So, Left on Shing Wong. Something is being left at the temple. Or more precisely, left to the city god. The Chinese title, 城隍遗忆, is a not-quite direct translation. It has all the same moving parts as the English title, but the connotation is interesting. The Chinese language has a tendency to fit more into less. So the phrase they use for “Left on” actually means something more like “leaving memories,” 遗忆. The word for “left” (遗) denotes something like a will, or even regrets—something left behind not by choice, but by an end. The lack of prepositions also makes it ambiguous whether the memories are left to Shing Wong or left by Shing Wong. Which makes sense, considering how the film ends: with the woman leaving Vincent with a new thought.

Now this is where I start drawing connections that don’t exist and have little to no textual support. But a little apophenia never hurt anybody. The story of the film revolves around a writer, Vincent, who meets a strange woman. She says she keeps the memories and thoughts that are lost by the people of the city, and either returns them at the right moment or makes them into something new—inspiration. If we suppose that this woman is, in fact, Shing Wong, then that brings some interesting implications. Traditionally, Shing Wong protects the city on a physical level. The Chinese name literally refers to walls and moats. This Shing Wong is a keeper of thoughts and memories. The implication is clear: the city is its people, and the people are their memories. And when memories are lost forever, is that person a little bit dead? But new thoughts are born—reincarnated, if you will. It’s all a series of microcosm afterlives as parts of us die and are reborn in another.

Maybe you still remember your childhood friend’s birthday, but they’ve long forgotten you exist. Maybe someone out there solves a math problem the way you taught them, but you don’t even remember learning it. We’re all constantly planting thoughts in each others’ heads while our own thoughts grow and wither.

Part 2: The Cat

I’m not going to go on and on about this. Cats have a folkloric connection to the spirit world. Supposedly they can see the yin, or the realm of spirits. And there are two very deliberate shots of a cat in this film. Once on the title card, implying its connection to Shing Wong, and once showing us that the cat can see the marbles. Cats are also considered household guardians, and there is a story of a nine-tailed cat who, like the fox, could cultivate and become human. Which has interesting implications for our mysterious woman. And would you look at that, Vincent can see the woman and the marbles. He can see the spirit world. What does that mean? Is Vincent a cat?? (frantic breathing)

Probably... not?? I mean, Vincent’s friend can see the marble at the end as well, but that’s only after Vincent picks it up. But I do find the connection interesting. Maybe his role as a storyteller also makes him a guardian of sorts. If Shing Wong is a keeper of thoughts, then stories are just thoughts woven into tapestries. (Storytellers telling stories about how storytelling is important always feels a little self-gratifying, but hey—I'm a storyteller, and I know we all have egos.)

And if I’m honest, I’m definitely reading way too much into this. It’s a cat. It’s two shots of a cat out of the entire film. Hong Kong has a lot of cats. It’s also a very pretty cat. And Wes Chan has a good eye for aesthetics. Shall we leave it there? Let’s leave it there.

Part 3: The Stairs

Archetypically, stairs represent a journey. They visualize a character’s growth and the stages of their story. And this is where Shing Wong collects dead memories: in the space between stages of life. When you move out of your childhood home, you forget about that patch of mold in the ceiling. You leave behind your beloved wallpaper and paint your new room a different colour. When you graduate, you lose touch with your friends and make new ones at work. When you get married, if you get married, you leave behind your parents and move on to your spouse, or even your children, grandchildren—or students, teachers, cousins, friends. At every stage in life, you are touching lives around you, losing bits of yourself and picking up bits of others. By the time Shing Wong is done with us, there is no true Theseus’ ship because we have all reincarnated an infinite number of times, dying and being reborn in the spaces between human connection. We are all so much each other that we can only be ourselves.

But more and more, Shing Wong laments, people do not take the stairs. “No one has the time.” More and more, she says, people would rather rush forward. You keep going up and up and up, thinking, “It’ll be better when I graduate. I’ll be happy when I’m promoted. I’ll just keep grinding until I’ve retired.” And it’s not always our fault, either. Who built the escalators? Who put all the good things on the 100th floor and said to the basement, “Just keep climbing,” when they’ve got condos on the 99th? Of course we have no time for stairs. Of course we have no time to plant in each others’ heads, to cultivate our little gardens of connections when the world tells us that our peers are only good for stepping stones to keep going up and up and up. And when we let ourselves die like that, there’s nothing left for rebirth. Shing Wong can’t reach us.

But there’s hope in this story. Vincent takes the stairs. He sits on the steps and writes his book. When we tell each other stories, we are passing our most precious thoughts for Shing Wong to keep. Stories immortalize us, like spores of anthrax in the lungs of an ever-cruel machine. Scheherezade is still alive. Li Qingzhao is still alive. Howard Ashman, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, is still alive. Because they were entrusted to Shing Wong, and Shing Wong entrusts them to us.

Conclusion

Does Left on Shing Wong have to mean anything? Not really. Maybe it’s a five-minute video with pretty effects and nice music. Oscar Wilde would be proud, certainly. But I like the idea of seeing an ocean in a puddle. Because whether he meant to or not, Wes Chan gave us a story about the beauty of connection, about how lost things aren’t truly lost, only passed on—if we take the time to pass them on. Wong Fu Productions’ newer shorts are nothing like this one. Their content is always amazing, of course, but maybe the era of the One Days series is long over. Maybe they will never recapture this transient, magical moment of nearly a decade ago. But they took this lost moment and they entrusted it to the guardian of thoughts. And now this five-minute thought, although dead, is reborn again and again (because I have no self-control and keep gotdamn watching it). And when it comes to something as ephemeral as human memory, maybe that’s all we can really hope for.

Also Kenson Lee has just the nicest Ghibli-esque soundtrack for this film.

#m's writing shenanigans #wong fu productions #essay #left on shing wong #i've had this written forever and i just. never published it. #i originally meant to do this as a video but i can't be bothered to edit #and i've always been more of a writer anyway

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: Sundial Author: Catriona Ward Genre/s: horror, science fiction Content/Trigger Warnings: physical and emotional abuse (adult and child), animal experimentation and death, animal attack (dog), portrayals of severe mental illness, pregnancy, childbirth, blood, gore Summary (from publisher’s website): Rob has spent her life running from Sundial, the family’s ranch deep in the Mojave Desert, and her childhood memories. But she’s worried about her daughter, Callie, who collects animal bones and whispers to imaginary friends. It reminds her of a darkness that runs in her family, and Rob knows it’s time to return. Callie is terrified of her mother. Rob digs holes in the backyard late at night, and tells disturbing stories about growing up on the ranch. Soon Callie begins to fear that only one of them will leave Sundial alive... Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sundial-catriona-ward/17086617 Spoiler-Free Review: So I picked this up because I needed a bit of a break from the Pink Carnation reread I was doing, and what better to cleanse my brain than a horror novel right? So I fed a handful of picks through a randomizer, and Sundial was the one that popped up, so I settled in and got started. And did any of you know it was possible for horror to have layers? BECAUSE THIS BOOK HAS LAYERS. IT IS A VERITABLE LAYER CAKE OF HORRORS. AN ONION EVEN. First layer - What it’s like being in an abusive relationship, and what it takes to survive in one, and then later, what it takes to escape from it. Second layer - Learning that what you thought was your past, your history, was utterly untrue. This is utterly terrible because so much of what makes us who we are is our past. So if you find out that what you thought was your history is, in fact, untrue? That sort of thing is horrific - especially so when you learn that your ACTUAL history is nothing short of nightmarish. Third layer - Learning that you were altered without your knowledge, and that it was done “for your benefit” and “for the benefit of the world.” First, imagine finding out that who you thought you are is NOT who you actually are, and then follow that up with the whammy of learning that you were ALTERED in order to, supposedly, keep yourself and everyone around you safe. Imagine not having this explained to you. Imagine not being ASKED if this is what you wanted. It was just DONE to you. Fourth layer - Finding out that you may in fact be a monster - and that the monster inside of you might be coming out once more to destroy everything you love and care about. Fifth layer - Looking at your own child, and wondering if the monster you harbored inside you is also in them, and that said monster is beginning to manifest. When I finished this novel I kind of stared at the ceiling of my room because WHAT IN THE ACTUAL EVERLOVING FUCK? What makes this even more powerful is that the above layers of horror are also twined around themes of siblinghood and motherhood: how it’s possible to love, hate, and even fear your siblings and/or your parents, and how parents can love, hate, and fear their own children.. Most media portrays the sibling and parent/child dynamic as straightforward, but this story really tackled the complexities and nuances of those relationships. So overall, this book is an amazing, nightmarish read. The slow reveal of the utter horror of the truth at the heart of the story, the peeling back of all those layers of history were immense fun, especially backed by the themes of siblinghood and parenthood that formed the thematic backbone of the story overall. The twists were great too: I didn’t see them coming, but they also made sense in the overall context of the story. This was absolutely the cleanse my brain needed, and I’m also going to have to shovel more of Ward’s books onto my TBR, because this was INCREDIBLE. Rating: five cow bells

#book review #book reviews #sundial #catriona ward #horror #books

[kayliemusing]

end of the year book asks

How many books did you read this year? - I think about 25-30 (which is the least amount I've ever read omg)

Did you reread anything? What? - Almost all the books I read last year lmao. The ones I re-read the most was The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garner (including Once Upon a Brokenheart, which was the first book in that trilogy), The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon (because it's my favourite), The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen, and The Winners Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski. I haven't seemed to find any books that are quite as good as those ones so I was just reading the same content over and over lol.

What were your top five books of the year? - The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber, Fable by Adrienne Young, The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton, The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen, and Cursed by Marissa Meyer

Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? - India Holton and Deanna Raybourn. I think they're smaller authors, but their books are really good, really entertaining and honestly relaxing.

What genre did you read the most of? - YA Fantasy-Romance. This genre takes a hit a lot but when you find really good books in this category, they're so good.

Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to? - Too many. I meant to read Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo and People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry but didn't get around to it.

What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate? - I don't really use Goodreads

Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones? - Not really :( I was supposed to read 65 books this year lol. I upped it because I usually end up around there at the end of the year, but this year just felt like reading content really lacked. However, I did still meet my goals of reading an hour every day.

Did you get into any new genres? - Not really. I seem to stay romance-adjacent with my reads.

What was your favorite new release of the year? - The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? - I think Fable by Adrienne Young. I don't think it's been out for "a while" but it wasn't a new release.

Any books that disappointed you? - The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout, I read a book by Emily McIntire called Hooked that had a really good synopsis but it was the worst book I have ever read in my entire life. It was so bad that I will always remember how bad it was. Awful. Terrible. (Note: I didn't know who this author was and it wasn't a book I was anticipating, but the summary sounded enticing and then I started reading and it was an awful experience). I also didn't really care for The Inadequate Heir by Danielle. L Jensen which sucks because I was looking forward to it, but it wasn't horrible - just not quite what I was expecting.

What were your least favorite books of the year? - I'll give those medals to The War of Two Queens by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Hooked by Emily McIntire

What books do you want to finish before the year is over? - I'm not really reading anything right now tbh.

Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them? - Tbh I don't really pay attention to what books won what so I'm not sure! I usually read just whatever looks good to me.

What is the most over-hyped book you read this year? - I don't know if I read an "overhyped" book this year. I guess A Light In The Flame by Jennifer L. Armentrout, but that wasn't really hyped online, it was more so that I thought it was gonna be good and then it wasn't lol. Actually 2022 was the year I realized I don't like JLA novels at all.

Did any books surprise you with how good they were? - Deanna Raybourn books!!! I'm in love with Stoker and Veronica and honestly, the fact they're not talked about more is upsetting because those books are actually really good. They're cute, funny, entertaining.

How many books did you buy? - I don't remember lol. Probably just shy of what I read (I'll say 20-25 of them I bought)

Did you use your library? - No, I never use the library :( I either bought books at Indigo or through Apple Books and Amazon Kindle app.

What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations? - I think the book I was most excited for was Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber, and it exceeded my expectations. I loved every second of that book.

Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama? - No, but I did watch some book tube reviews for fun.

What’s the longest book you read? - I have no clue omg. The only one that I think was the longest that I can recall was probably A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas (which I read in 2021), but I'm not sure

What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book? - I think over night. I can't remember what book but I remember starting it at like 9 or 10 pm and finishing at like 4:30 am lol

Did you DNF anything? Why? - The only one I really remember not finishing is Hooked by Emily McIntire because it's the worst book ever

What reading goals do you have for next year? - I kind of want to get back to where I was by reading roughly 65 books by the end of the year. This year just felt like there were no books that really captured my attention so when I felt like reading I'd just go back and find a book I remembered enjoying and reading that instead of anything new.

[daedalusdavinci]

im just gonna spitball fic ideas here bc i dont have any rn and i wanna see if this helps me brainstorm

i kinda feel like writing bruharv, but i also feel like i write literally so much bruharv all the time and im kind of sick of being That Guy? it feels like im incapable of doing anything else or something. but i also dont really have any concrete ideas besides vague feelings that are about as coherent as mashing two barbie dolls together and saying “now kiss”

on that note though, i could revisit bruharv as it stands in the jdau, but i dont think theres a lot to say right now. i think i covered it all in lost days. there probably wont be more to say about it until after jason tells them hes back, and then itll be getting into more of the [spoilers] betrayal stuff and harvey and 2f taking the confession completely differently from bruce and how that feeds into the divorce arc and how insufferable they are. btu i still havent really figured out how i want to write jason telling harvey and 2f in particular, and i kinda think i dont want to write it, and just want to skip forward until after? the dick and jason fic was almost impossible to write particularly bc of shit im going thru irl rn and ik that fic would be harder. maybe ill just do that and pick up with a fic of what their relationship is starting to shape into post rh. should proooobably finish reading damians comics first tho and maybe some of cass’s (i might not bother reading any n52 ones, given that almost everything so far has been 100% preboot characterizations)

on a DIFFERENT note but still bruharv related, i could indulge that little voice in the back of my head that wants me to dig my fingers into full on btas characterization with judge and hardac!bruce and the full mess. i dont know what id do with it though i just have a lot of feelings about both of them

setting aside all of that,

im still thinking about that detective eddie/brce au. i just picked up a bunch of detective books from the library yesterday so ill probably read those over the weekend and then maybe ill finally hammer out some kind of plot. but thats not gonna be until this weekend and in the meantime ??? i have a lot of thoughts about like the kinds of people they are and the kinds of characters and the bakcground characters in this au but no plot and augh. maybe i should bend someones ear and just rant characters for a while and see what happens

i also mentioned ages ago that i was thinking abt a pjo au where nico brings jason bck from the dead and leo is heavily involved and shit and i still think that that would be sick asf but id have to reread all of pjo to do it probably and rn my reading list consists of detective novels, then asoue, THEN maybe pjo, so god honestly knows when/if ill get around to it. its also like. when i came up w this idea i was in a place where the vibes w my writing was very much melancholy and bittersweet and heavy on the death and rn im uhhh not in that place as much anymore im struggling to figure out what direction i want to go in instead

maybe ill go back to my roots andjust start writing fluffy pjo fics again. REALLY return to the roots. just garbage nonsense fics. idk.

i wish i had the braincells to write something hs but i dont and i havent in ages and theres a million reasons for that but ill probably try and reread a few of my older fics soon and well see what comes out of that

anyway thats about where my head is at rn lolll i dont expect anyone to have read this but if you have thoughts i wouldnt mind hearing them it helps to feel like im not talking to air sometimes

#tbd

[coraniaid]

Writing asks: 2, 4, 10, 18, 20

Thanks for the ask!

(And … uh, apologies for how long my answer got.  I took the suggestion to ramble seriously.)

I answered 2 here.

4) Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

I guess technically I already answered this too, but another line I’m proud of, from Chapter 13 of the current Buffy WIP, is: ”As apologies go, Faith can't help but notice that this isn't one.”

Oh, and from a very short one-shot (at least so far) Mass Effect fic I wrote last year:

The trip upcity was uneventful. The two asari sat together in the front, leaving me alone in the back to gather my thoughts. Mostly I was thinking things like oh shit, which aren't the sort of thoughts that take long to gather.

... actually, going back to (2), I guess I’d like to write more of this fic in the future, too. The world needs more volus accountants who think they’re the protagonists of a Raymond Chandler novel.

10) How would you describe your writing process?

“Overplanned”, maybe? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever just sat down and written anything longer than a thousand words or so from beginning to end.  I wish I could, honestly, but I just can’t do it.

I usually start off with an outline: breaking each chapter into a number of scenes and working out what I want to happen in each one. Then I have a first pass through each of those scenes (not necessarily in the order they’re going to appear), writing a “first draft” that focuses primarily on dialogue and some placeholder stage directions and (maybe) any big internal monologues or action set-pieces.

When I’ve got most of a skeleton of a chapter ready that way, I might go back and mess around with the order of the scenes a bit, cutting scenes entirely or adding in any new scenes I decide are needed. Sometimes cut scenes are saved for a later chapter, sometimes I take the key bits of dialogue or inner monologue from them and rework them somewhere else, and sometimes the whole thing just gets deleted.

I then try to force myself to go through the whole document from start to end for the first time, expanding the basic skeleton into something that resembles a coherent full draft of the chapter, rereading and rewriting the initial placeholder dialogue as I go. And once I have that draft ready, I usually sit on it for a day or two before reading it over again a few times and trying to revise it, though by that stage I try not to change the general structure too much. I’m mostly focusing on trying to make sure that everyone seems to stay in character throughout, that any big emotional beats happen in the right order and that more generally the different scenes actually fit together into something coherent.

That last stage can either take a day or two (which is how long Chapter 11 of my current WIP took), or something closer to a couple of weeks (which is … okay, probably how long most chapters take). The trap I try to avoid falling into at this point is spending more and more time polishing the scenes that I like and that are already mostly finished while ignoring the scenes that actually still need serious work. (I mean, that’s what I try not to do. And yet.)

… okay, just writing all this down makes me realize how inefficient a way of writing fiction it probably is.

18) Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

No fully fleshed-out alternative versions of anything: I guess that’s one of the benefits of being fairly strict about planning things in advance. But a couple of chapters in my current WIP were very different in those early planning stages.  In both cases I was unhappy enough with what I had after a couple of weeks that I ended up scrapping the initial drafts and starting again from scratch. If I hadn’t done that, I think the overall story would be pretty different, at least in tone.

Also – and being slightly vague to avoid spoilers – there’s a subplot involving Xander in the current Buffy WIP which didn’t ever change as such but kept getting pushed back later and later (until chapter 20, anyway). In fact there are still a couple of lines intended as foreshadowing/references to it in the earlier published chapters that now don’t really make much sense.

(I do like the idea of writing AUs of my own work though! If I could write faster, I’d definitely be tempted to try it.)

20) Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Oh, well, I love stealing borrowing repurposing lines of dialogue or ideas from canon into different contexts. In my current Buffy fic, that mostly means taking important conversations between Buffy and Faith and reversing who says what and why, or taking conversations between Faith and Angel (or Buffy and Angel, or Buffy and Spike), giving one side of the conversation to Buffy or Faith instead and playing around with who and what they’re about.

And the reason I think this works is because the show itself is always in conversation with itself and its earlier seasons too. I mean: you can’t really talk about Spike and Buffy in Dead Things without talking about Buffy and Faith in Consequences, for example, or about Buffy and Faith’s relationship in Season 3 without talking about Buffy and Angel(us) in Season 2.

Really, the whole fic itself is about taking Season 3 and shaking it up a bit so that things which are subtextual or have to be inferred (like the nature of Faith and Buffy’s relationship, or the extent to which Jenny’s death hangs over everyone all season) are made explicit. Not because I think that would have been better than what happened in canon -- I don’t -- but as a way of commenting on and talking about those parallels.

Some examples of that sort of thing I really like are: Faith’s final words to Buffy in the library in Chapter 3 (“I figured you’d be taller”), the dream Buffy has about Angel at the start of Chapter 10 (“You ever going to pull this thing out?”), and the fight Faith and Buffy have at the end of Chapter 16 (“No, you don’t get it. I don’t care.”)

I also love dream sequences, and my current WIP has … a lot of them.

The most recent update (Chapter 21) is basically 14,000 odd words of symbolic dream sequences and foreshadowing and callbacks (to both earlier chapters of the fic and to all sorts of moments from canon). I have promised myself that I will write a properly self-indulgent post about it one day … but probably not until I’ve actually finished the fic.

Before that, Faith has a dream at the start of Chapter 8 which is meant to have a lot of foreshadowing in it: to the extent that the very first line of the next scene is Faith’s Watcher explicitly flagging this as being a prophetic dream.

Off the top of my head, and again being a bit vague in case of spoilers: the snow is a reference to the end of Chapter 12, the crystals and the birthday cake (and Buffy’s line “It’s not your turn yet“) are references to Chapter 14, Faith’s own appearance when she looks in a mirror is a reference to Chapter 19 – and equally all three chapters are variations on things that happen in Season 3 proper, so the references also point to those original episodes – while Buffy’s lack of reflection is a reference to somebody Faith meets in Chapter 11. And of course the clock running down, the neglected state of the library and the fact Buffy’s dressed for a funeral are all intended to foreshadow what happens at the end of this chapter (which I guess I’m still being coy about, if not very subtly).

#asks