#writing 122 really did a number on me
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Ao3 Wrapped
I like numbers so here I am delving into my works again!
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Overall stats for 2023!
User Subscriptions: 164
Kudos: 4,786
Comment Threads: 695
Bookmarks: 1,308
Subscriptions: 288
Word Count: 198,621
Hits: 30,820
That's an increase in everything except subscriptions, I had a good year. It was the year of many smaller fics, mostly, with just a few longfics.
I am particularly touched that user subscription count, that people want to stick around to see everything I wrote, especially as I broke into a new fandom this year and did some Original Work. Thank you all for coming along for the ride!
Fun Stats:
Fics Published: 31, including four on anon, for 198,621 words
Number of One-Shots: 28— I went pretty hard into exchange this year, and that encourages oneshots. I only wrote one multichapter for a bang, one for an event, and finished one ongoing from last year. Of all of those however only 2 were under a thousand words, so I did less sort of treats and drabbles than I did last year.
Number of Multi-Chapters: 3, 4 if you count the one that's still sitting at one chapter that I might continue someday. Ulp. Okay so the good news is all of those multichapters are finished, but the bad news is I still have multiple ongoings from the previous year that are just languishing. Did I mention I went hard into exchanges this year?
Number of Inspired Works: 3, two of which were because I participated in challenges where everybody writes a fic inspired by the one in front of them in the chain! And also Droid wrote me an excellent phandom shubbleandwilbur fic. :D
Longest Fic: Freaking Out In The Middle Of The Street (With The Complete Conviction Of Someone Who Has Never Had Anything Actually Really Bad Happen To Them) (28,369 words), my silly worldbuilding nonsense multichapter, but I started that one the year before, so if we only consider the ones I did entirely this year that would be my bang fic, A Hundred Things You Have Not Dreamed Of (27,743 words). I had a lot of fun with dehumanized human weapon recovery with that one.
Shortest Fic: Taking A Break (335 words), basically an overgrown drabble that I wrote on tumblr when people were challenging me to write anything as a QPR. Soley put on tumblr to help boost up a relationship tag (misskristin/missa/philza).
Most Kudosed Fic: Twenty Minutes After The Family Dynamic is Forcibly Assigned By The Government , at a staggering 568 kudos for a fic that isn't even a thousand words, which is just proof that if you write something while the kettle boils at the exact moment that a fandom is exploding and it makes it to the top of the tag, it can stay up there for a while. People are STILL reading and kudosing that one and I don't even know how they find it.
Most Viewed Fic: Freaking Out In The Middle Of The Street (With The Complete Conviction Of Someone Who Has Never Had Anything Actually Really Bad Happen To Them) , at 3,629 hits! However, 1,528 of that is from last year, so really the hits for this year are only 2,101, so my top hits is A Hundred Things You Have Not Dreamed Of , 2,990 hits. and that is 100% the power of being a daily-updating multi-chapter, the hits on that one exploded for that reason. But the hits on multichapters are always higher.
Most Subscribed Fic: Freaking Out In The Middle Of The Street (With The Complete Conviction Of Someone Who Has Never Had Anything Actually Really Bad Happen To Them) again! 87 Subscriptions! But a full 76 of them are from last year, so we're back at A Hundred Things You Have Not Dreamed Of, with 49 subs.
Most Bookmarked Fic: Look it's Freaking Out In The Middle Of The Street (With The Complete Conviction Of Someone Who Has Never Had Anything Actually Really Bad Happen To Them) again 122 bookmarks, But 58 of those were from last year, so. Again. Different fic— and it's Twenty Minutes After The Family Dynamic is Forcibly Assigned By The Government tied with an anon fic, with 117 bookmarks.
Most Used Fandom: Dream SMP with 12 fics, but QSMP is coming up fast with 7 fics!
Least Used Fandom: That is the Internet & Social Media (Anthropomorphic), with one fic! Let's fucking go for Yuletide assignments!
Most Used Rating: Teen, 23 fics
Least Used Rating: Gen, 2 fics, and Mature, 2 fics
Most Written Relationship: Technoblade & Phil Watson | Philza, 9 fics. This is down from 10 last year. I'm falling off.
Most Used Additional Tag: Guys, don't make fun of me, but it's Food. Beating out Fluff this year. I know I keep writing about food. I KNOW. I will get more original beats next year.
Most Frequently Used Characters:
Philza (21)
Technoblade (11)
Ángel Missael Castañeda Vega | MissaSinfonia (4)
Chayanne (QSMP) (4)
Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF) (3)
Niki | Nihachu (2)
Toby Smith | Tubbo (2)
Tumblr (Anthropomorphic) (1)
Reddit (Anthropomorphic) (1)
DID TOMMY SERIOUSLY NOT MAKE THE LIST? Wow, tide change. Anyways, it was a fun year. Here's to more next year!
Last Year's Stats
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@ussjellyfish and @purlturtle 🤗🤗 two tags, I feel so wanted. Thank you guys!! ❤️
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
82. More than half are Once Upon a Time as that was the fandom I started writing with my AO3.
2. What’s your total ao3 word count?
942,705 which is annoying. I have quit fanfic for the time being and not having made the million is disappointing. I mean I have written more than a million I am sure as I never cross posted anything from my fanfic.net account and I have some on my HD I never posted.
3. What fandoms do you write for?
None at the moment. I still have much affection for Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, The Librarians and Star Trek. There were a number of ideas on my list that I never got round to writing. I feel nostalgia for it but with my spoons (or lack thereof lately) I have to choose. I can’t write original and fanfic, and for now I am wanting to write original.
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Fall All Over Again (Once Upon a Time) - 181
Before the first Dark Curse the Evil Queen had a paranoid moment, which meant in cursed Storybrooke, Gold and Lacey were married. Therefore when Belle falls over the town line - Lacey returns. Everyone is shouting at her, and everything is wrong, so Lacey does something she never did once in 28 years of marriage, she turns to Gold for protection. In turn Rumplestiltskin does something that Gold never did in 28 years of marriage - he tells Lacey that he loves her. Belle loved him, so can Lacey fall for him all over again or will the curse mask true love forever?
and the Brighter side of Life (The Librarians) - 150
When Eve takes Flynn home, to meet her parents, she realises with dawning horror that he’s the first serious boyfriend they’ve ever met. The secrets of the library mean her parents know so little about her life, and her new status as an immortal threatens to create a gulf between them. But for now she still has her parents, and it seems if her mom has anything to say about it, the entire annex has gained her parents too.
Painting Layers of Love (Once Upon a Time) - 137 [Abandoned/Incomplete]
Belle French lives alone and she likes it that way. She’s lived alone ever since the terrible car accident which killed her mother and claimed her eyesight. Belle spends her days painting, in complete solitude, until one day she wakes up and hears movement outside. Somebody has moved into the cottage next door. She had grown comfortable in her solitary existence until Mr Gold crashes into her life. Now her future is uncertain, like a blank canvas, waiting for her to apply the paint and decide what kind of story she is creating.
All I Needed (Once Upon a Time) - 129
When Emma told her high school sweetheart Neal, that she was pregnant a month before graduation, she didn’t know what to expect. The last thing she expected to find was a family, and a place to call home.
Transposing Digits (Once Upon a Time) - 122
The phone in the library had always been silent, until one day it started ringing. Belle French answers it and discovers that life really can turn on a dime - or in this case a wrong number.
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Yes mostly. AO3 has stopped emailing me even though my profile says I should get them (I have checked and they aren’t in spam) and if I delay too long I feel awkward about replying. Also sometimes I don’t if I am unsure what to say. But mostly yes I do reply because every comment I receive is treasured, and I want them to know I am grateful.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I don’t really do angst - I am Team Happy Ending all the way. My first thought was “The Beauty and the Tragedy” (Once Upon a Time) because the original ending was totally angsty. But I felt bad as even though it was poetic it was sad, so I added an alternate ending happy ending the very day I posted. So I think probably “Ghost of a Memory” (Timeless) as that was just pure pain. Both of these were character death, so not like me.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Oh man I have quite a few pure fluff. The most sickly sweet zero angst, zero anything but sugar though is probably the amusing (for the question) titled “Happy Ending” (Sanctuary). My OT3 got married.
8. Do you get hate on fic?
Fortunately I don’t think I have. I don’t think I am popular enough to have attracted it. I did once get two commenters arguing with each other which didn’t feel good.
9. Do you write smut?
Not anymore really. I did for a time. It was a very big thing in the Rumbelle fandom and I wanted to fit in. I don’t regret it as it was a good writing exercise, and it allowed me to explore a wider range of ideas. However, once I started to drift from the fandom I lost the urge to write it. I wrote mild smut (more feelings) in my Time Will Tell (Sanctuary) fic as it was an important part of the character development/plot. I think if I ever write it again it will be along those lines.
10. Do you write crossovers?
Yes. I have written a couple. They are always the most fun. It’s great to put certain characters together like I loved having Nikola Tesla (Sanctuary) and Claudia (Warehouse 13) meet. I regret that in that crossover I didn’t manage to get HG and Helen ‘on screen’ together. The name clash aside, they are two fascinating women who have a lot in common. I did have on my ideas list more of a Warehouse 12/Sanctuary crossover (with time travelling Myka) but I never got round to writing it. My problem is my fics are so long and writing basically novels is time consuming. Anyway one of the easiest ways to crossover is I have something of a hobby of basically taking the Ancients (Stargate precursors) and seeing how many universes I can crossover with them as a backdrop. Such fun.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not of which I am aware.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Don’t believe so.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
You may laugh as this but I am 99% sure the answer is no, and yet I have some weird paranoia that says maybe? It’s like I think I have forgotten something. Yet I am sure the answer is no. Stupid brain.
14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?
When I’m obsessed I am really obsessed. Like I go all in super hard. But like a flame the hotter I burn, the shorter it tends to live. Afterwards it’s not that I don’t like it anymore, it’s just that it’s not an all consuming thing, and then I find something else to go crazy about.
But that being said if I have to pick one then I will probably say Bering and Wells (Warehouse 13) as it seems to have the most sticking power thus far. I do wonder if that’s because I fell into it when I wasn’t writing, so my obsession (like a fire) was banked and therefore has lingered long term. I still like to take part in the gift exchange every year. And next year if I have the spoons I would like to put together a Bingo for the fandom. With having given up fanfic I’m not really active in any other fandom at the moment. I would like to do some more fanart but aforementioned spoon shortage - it’s a problem.
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?
Beyond the Lake. It was a Rashoman Job inspired Librarians fic, crazy complicated which is why it didn’t get done but the concept compels me. I can call this a WIP as I did write a couple of chapters. There was also my Noir Warehouse 13, I had I don’t know 10 pages or so starting on that? But alas never to see the light of day.
16. What are your writing strengths?
95% or so of the time I finish what I start. I have a couple of abandoned fics on AO3 (guilt, guilt) and yeah there’s a few on my HD. But I have written several long novel length fics, and they did get done. So I think I have reasonable discipline.
I’m also never short of ideas. I can come up with something for any prompt if required (probably), and I do like my ideas. I mean I suppose I would (they are mine) but yeah I think the ideas are good. I sometimes doubt my ability to realise them but the ideas themselves, solid.
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Many.
I used to think my biggest issue was description but while that does need serious work, I have a far bigger problem - my characters think too much. They don’t talk to one another. When they have a problem they think about it, no conversation. It makes it very static and not much action or banter.
Truthfully I think it’s because I personally think about everything far too much. I don’t talk to people with speaking (I type on discord a lot) but actual conversations? Barely ever. Mum checks in on FaceTime with me almost every day but if it wasn’t for that I would go literal weeks without talking to a soul probably. So anything that happens I am hardwired to think about it - not talk about it - ergo I have absolutely no idea how to craft conversations. What do people talk about?
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
You know it’s funny I have been contemplating this in my serial recently This particular case is set in France and so a lot of people should be speaking French. In the end I decided not to worry about it for the first draft. I think in revision I will sprinkle in some flavour words (like please, thank you etc.) and then keep the dialogue in English but try and make it sound like a plausible speech pattern for them. Maybe say it’s in French but if my character speaks French, then they understand so it’s written in English. I don’t know. It’s like when I try and write Sanctuary with The Five from the 19th century, they sound very different from someone like Claudia who is all pop culture references. I want it to feel accurate but also the reader needs to understand and in novels having a variant of subtitles might be annoying.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
This says wrote for, not published. I am relatively sure I wrote some self-insert Famous Five adventures when I was about six (long before I knew fanfic existed). I definitely messed around with some Diagnosis Murder when I was 9 (again before I knew fanfic existed). Obviously, when I was 11, The Royal/Heartbeat was the first actual fandom, with the posting and everything. I explained how that came to be before.
20. Favourite fic you’ve written?
Ooof. I think… I really liked and the Sins of Atlantis the Librarians/Sanctuary crossover. It was entirely self-indulgent and a lot of fun. I also had fun with the Odyssey: Future’s Legacy (Warehouse 13/Sanctuary) crossover. The Star Wars fusion Across the Stars I did for Once Upon a Time was also cool. Sometimes I have these ideas and they just work for me, they like click something in my brain and unroll and mesh together, and just yes. The Beauty and the Tragedy doesn’t even read to me like I wrote it, there’s a clever poetic twist that is so unlike me. I have a soft spot for quite a few fics. It’s not that I think I wrote them well (I didn’t) but the ideas sing to me. I am my own audience in this respect.
But I think ultimately my answer has to be Between Two Fires, a Once Upon a Time fic. Set on a made-up sci-fi world. I could picture it clearly and it riffs off the Jack and Irina relationship in Alias. It was quite a short fic but there is so so much more of it in my mind. Truthfully one day that will probably get expanded and changed to be an original novel trilogy. I have notes. That fic just stuck with me, there is something there to be developed.
Tagging: @tinknevertalks, @ladyelysandra, @enterprise-come-in, @sarcasticsciencefictionwriter, @urban-trek-thru-middle-earth
The questions!
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
2. What’s your total ao3 word count?
3. What fandoms do you write for?
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
8. Do you get hate on fic?
9. Do you write smut?
10. Do you write crossovers?
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?
16. What are your writing strengths?
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
19. First fandom you wrote for?
20. Favourite fic you’ve written?
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Chenford + Tim finds out about Nucy
Hey Anon -
I've written 2-3 fics with scenes where Tim finds out but I'll share the most recent version below that I wrote with Quesera and WannaBeBold (I'm like 50% sure we already posted this on Tumblr but I honestly don't remember).
The One Where Tim Finds Out About Nolan
EXT. LA BREA - FOOD TRUCKS - DAY
Officers Celina and Thorsen are sitting at a table out of earshot while Nolan and Lucy wait for their lunch orders from the food truck. Last night at happy hour, Tim and Lucy announced to everyone they’d been dating for a while.
NOLAN
“So, have you told Tim that we used to date?”
LUCY
(shakes her head)
“No, not yet. Why?”
NOLAN
“Just estimating how much time I left have to finish writing my will.”
LUCY
(laughs)
“Good point… I’ll tell him tonight.”
NOLAN
(squirms)
“How about tomorrow?”
LUCY
“Why?”
NOLAN
“I can’t get a flight to Japan tonight but I can probably find one tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to visit Henry and Abigail anyway.”
LUCY
“Oh, shut up. It’ll be fine. He won’t even care.”
END SCENE
INT. BAR - WILSHIRE BLVD - NIGHT
A few months later, the Midwilshire gang is gathered at their favorite bar to celebrate Tim and Lucy who just got engaged.
NYLA
(holds up a finger)
“Okay, okay, but wedding rule number 1: No exes.”
TIM
“Normally, I’d agree. But Lucy and Rachel are good friends–”
NYLA
(interrupts)
"No exes! Do you want to sit there knowing one of your guests has done the dirty with your future wife?"
TIM
(opens his mouth to respond)
LUCY
“Oh, come on. All of that is in the past. And what about Nolan? He has to be there.”
Tim reels back.
TIM
(his response comes out in a choke)
“Nolan?”
GREY
“Oh, dear lord, someone please burn my ears off.”
LUCY
(taps her chin with her finger)
“That’s right… I just thought about telling you but I never actually got around to it.”
NOLAN
(whispers)
“You said you were going to tell him months ago.”
LUCY
(shrugs)
“I forgot.”
THORSEN
(shudders)
“Uck. And I thought the bar was too low with Chris. No offense, man.”
NOLAN
“I mean… I’m a little offended. I’m better than Chris.”
The crew looks around at everywhere but at Nolan.
NOLAN (cont.)
(rolls his eyes)
“Wow.”
NYLA
“Really, Lucy? No one told you that was a bad idea?”
LUCY
“Well, Talia brought it up once or twice. How dating a cop was bad for my career…”
Tim laces his fingers through Lucy’s reassuringly.
NYLA
(waves her hand)
“No, no, not that. Screw that.”
NYLA (cont.)
(teasingly)
“I’m talking about dating Nolan being a bad idea.”
BAILEY
“Hey! Now I’m offended.”
NOLAN
(to Nyla in mock offense)
“What the heck? I thought I was your favorite.”
NYLA
"Now who told you that?"
Nolan points at Angela.
ANGELA
(shakes her head nonchalantly)
“Hmm... That doesn’t sound like me…”
NOLAN
(exasperated)
“You started this, Aaron. The next round is on you.”
THORSEN
(nods unapologetically)
“Fair.”
LUCY
(chuckles)
“I’ll come help.”
Thorsen and Lucy head to the bar.
Emmett walks up and pats Tim on the back.
EMMETT
“Hey man, I heard you’re getting married. Congrats.”
TIM
(stares at him for a moment before responding)
“How did you know I was getting married?”
EMMETT
(points at Bailey)
“I just joined the 122. Bailey’s house.”
Tim closes his eyes and sighs.
BAILEY
(slowly pushes Emmett back toward the other end of the bar where firefighters are gathered)
“This is not the best time.”
Thorsen and Lucy return and start topping off glasses from the freshly filled pitchers.
WESLEY
(to Tim)
“If it makes you feel any better, we didn’t know either.”
Angela suddenly finds a spot on the wall very interesting. Wesley notices immediately.
WESLEY (Cont)
“Right, Ang?”
Everyone’s waiting for her to respond.
ANGELA
“Oh, please. Of course I knew! I just didn’t stick my nose in their business like Talia did.”
WESLEY
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
ANGELA
“Because you turn into a gossipy little schoolgirl when you drink.”
WESLEY
(hangs his head)
“I do not…”
JAMES
(clears his throat and pats Wesley on the back)
“You really do, bud.”
TIM
"What about me?"
ANGELA
"What about you?"
TIM
"Seriously? You're my best friend."
ANGELA
"You two had vibes. There was no way I was telling you."
TIM
"When she was my rookie? No, we did not."
People are nodding along with Angela and muttering under their breath.
TIM
(leans in)
“What was that?”
Lucy elbows him in the side playfully.
CELINA
(steps forward)
“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I’m sensing someone coming through with a J name. He wants me to tell you there were definite vibes.”
Her statement is met with stunned silence.
CELINA (cont.)
(frowning)
“He also says Smitty owes him 20 bucks. Do you know who this is?”
CELINA (cont.)
(before anyone answers, Celina’s face softens)
“But what he really wants me to tell you is… it’s about damn time.”
Tim and Lucy smile sweetly at each other and he leans down to kiss her. Everyone in the room starts clapping, egging them on. Tim dips Lucy back and deepens the kiss as the Midwilshire crew cheers, the sound of glasses clinking in the air.
END SCENE
Kudos and comments on AO3 are always appreciated! Thanks for reading.
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Fic-writer questions!
I stole this from @runicmagitek so thank you! I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but I know I have a number of talented fic-writing mutuals, so take a stab at this if you want to.
I'm going to include original fiction in a few places, as well as all my fics currently posted to FFN, just so we have more data to work with.
How many works do you have on AO3?
FFN: 52
AO3: 10
What's your total AO3 word count?
FFN (assuming their word counter is still functional, which is perhaps foolish of me): 601436
AO3: 517070
What fandoms do you write for? Tales of the Abyss, Transistor, and Fate most recently. In the past, Persona, Suikoden, Harry Potter, Soul Nomad, Makai Kingdom, Yggdra Union, Wild Arms, and some assorted others.
What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (Including FFN's faves):
363 – Birds (Harry Potter)
333 – Death and Ker (Persona 3)
182 – Elysion (Persona 3 & 4)
180 – Word on the Inside (Persona 4)
122 – Crime and Creme Brulee (Persona 4)
All on FFN! These are all very old fics, and I think I'll need a good long while before I get numbers like that on AO3.
Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Generally, yes. I like to let the reader know I'm aware of them and appreciate them leaving their thoughts, because readers who do want to comment are a minority. As for situations where I wouldn't, I'd probably ignore a flame. Or if a person leaves a bunch of comments at once, I might not respond to each individually. Or if someone left something without much context, like “huh” or “wow”, I might have no idea how to respond and just leave it.
What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hm, it could depend. Anyone who's reading Scarlet has probably already played Yggdra Union and knows we're going to end with our fourteen-year-old heroine falling in battle while desperately defending her kingdom. “Misbegotten” focuses on the Demon Path of Soul Nomad, so, again, you'd go into that with a certain expectation of angst. So I think my ending that combines the most angst with surprise is the ending of “Cycles”, a Normal Path Soul Nomad fic where I decided to explore the game's concept of reincarnation. So someone dies at the end, very abruptly and somewhat graphically. The fact that I let Gig and Revya be married in it adds to the angst. Looking back more than ten years, yeah, it's very angsty, but I got some good feedback for it, so I don't regret it.
What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? On the subject of happy endings, I've been accused of not liking them. I love happy endings! But I do live in some dread of things feeling too pat and “wrapped up with a bow”. A lot of my oneshots are fairly low stakes, so the endings are happy enough, but looking at my longer stuff... Soul Searching ends with Gig and Revya getting married, the world being at peace, everything on a pretty happy note. (Unless you count the tragedy of Danette eating all of Gig's and Revya's hotpods, and, honestly, you should.)
Do you get hate on fics? I've never gotten seriously flamed so far. In the early 2010s, there was this one anon going through Persona fics and leaving very short flames on MinakoxShinjiro stuff, barely changing their wording at all. It was extremely low effort, impersonal, and I don't really count it.
Do you write smut? If so, what kind? No, I wouldn't say so. When it comes to sex, I tend to focus more on a few individual details than a moment-to-moment description, and then the reader can fill in what they're comfortable with. With my latest original project (not Eola), I did get the threshold moment of my mom reading the draft and saying, “You write sex really well!”
Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Okay, so when I was much younger, in the early 2000s, I had this long-running thing I wrote that I ended up calling “Kuja's Coffee-Bean Cafe”. Basically, it was a crossover of every video game I'd played at the time, where Kuja from Final Fantasy 9 ran a restaurant where all the various villains gather and have their own hierarchy and petty infighting and shenanigans. Some good guys are allowed to visit, and some of them have been captured for the villains' amusement, and all of it was played for humor. Trust me when I tell you that it was very funny to me at the time and it does not hold up. (Though it did make me speculatively ship Sephiroth and Celes, and I still think that ship has merit...) Since then, I do still sometimes write crossovers, but they're for my own amusement.
Have you ever had a fic stolen? Last year (I think?) there was a post going around about how a lesser-known fan archive was grabbing stuff from FFN and AO3...but I honestly don't remember whether any of my fics were affected.
Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope, not that I know of.
Have you ever co-written a fic before? My best friend and I came up with a Lion King sequel which I then wrote down. Some years later, me and the same friend wrote two original novellas together. For the first one, one of us would write a paragraph or two, and then the other would take over, and it built from there. For the second one (which we never finished), we each controlled a main character, so we would switch off for dialogue and individual actions, but otherwise we shared the rest of the story. It worked pretty well, and if you have a writing buddy whose style works with yours, I highly recommend it.
What's your all-time favorite ship? I'm not sure I have a mathematically favorite ship versus whatever ship I'm currently most focused on. In 2019, it was Red and Boxer from Transistor. Last year, it was Asch and Natalia from Tales of the Abyss. Right now, I've been swinging back towards Archer and Hakuno from Fate.
What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I've always been sad I never finished Public Speaking, my Suikoden V longfic about super minor npc Salisha Raulbel and what she thought of the war. It was very niche, but readers still found it and enjoyed it. I hung with it for two years, between 2006-08, but a lot was happening in my life, I was changing as a person, I was getting into new fandoms, and I couldn't maintain my interest; I also abandoned another long Suikoden fic and an original novel during that period. What's even worse was that the fic was over halfway done, and for a couple years afterwards, I would get comments asking for an update. I think that's part of why I now never start posting fics until I've completed at least one draft. Do I think I'll pull one of those 10+ Years Later updates? Probably not. But it was a good fic, and I'm sorry I left people hanging.
What are your writing strengths? I'm told my dialogue and descriptions are good. People also seem to respond well to my emotional scenes. And of course on my next book I'm going to put this right on the cover:
“She writes sex well!” – Her Mom
What are your writing weaknesses? Having just praised my dialogue, I'll admit I have a problem with slowing down dialogue to add too much physical communication – compressed lips, narrowed eyes, raised eyebrows. I know it can start to feel ridiculous, but I want you all to see the scene I'm seeing and I can't very well hire actors. I also feel like my fight scenes aren't the greatest; I find them a pain to write. Probably a byproduct of not running around the wilderness with a sword myself. I also, no matter how hard I try, fall prey to typos. I'm pretty good at editing other people's work, but my own writing is a whole 'nother animal.
Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I think it's a case by case thing. In general though, it can be overdone, especially if the author is, say, writing a character who's speaking in Spanish, but they keep having the character saying “I'm going to do my tarea” or “I need to go to la escuela!” when just saying “homework” and “school” flows so much more naturally. On the other hand, language is culture and character and history – using some of it can be very helpful in establishing setting and even time period. It also changes depending on how tightly we're in a character's pov. If we're right in the protagonist's head, and my hero doesn't speak French, and they overhear a spy saying, “J'ai volé le lapin sacré!" the meaning should remain a mystery. I shouldn't have the translation provided in a footnote or a parenthetical. On the other hand, if the pov is more pulled back and omniscient, then the author can translate it while reminding the reader the hero didn't understand it.
Overall, when it comes to using other languages, I think you need to keep the reader's needs in mind. If you want to throw out foreign phrases for a bit of flair, go for it, but limit it to phrases that aren't crucial to understanding the scene or story. Otherwise, you need to find a way to elegantly explain what's being said, without making it feel like a footnote. Something like that just breaks the immersive feeling of reading.
First fandom you wrote for? Probably that Lion King story. It was called The Lion King IV: The Revenge of Scar. There was a) no Lion King III and b) no Scar. I called it that because it took place three generations after the original (because that's how titles work), and Scar apparently had such a long con going he'd foreseen the actions of future evil lion villains who'd never even met him.
Favorite fic you've ever written? I'm going to repeat what I said on this post – The Beast in the Dark, the third installment of my unposted Fate trilogy. All three fics were written with the intention that I wouldn't be sharing them. That's also true of the Muse Trilogy and all my recent Tales of the Abyss stuff, but the Fate stuff was at a somewhat sadder, lonelier period in my life. I think that's one reason it's so special to me. Also, like I say in the linked post, because I wasn't going to share it, I allowed myself to throw all sorts of over the top tropes at it. I think it really helped me along in my writing, and, arguably, opening it up for public consumption might mess with how I feel about it. We'll see. I'm still not sure about posting it.
When it comes to fics I have posted though, I'll refer back to the same post and say Death and Ker. It was a fic that was really exciting both to write and post, right as Persona 3: Portable was coming out. I feel a lot of nostalgia for it, and while it's not perfect, I think parts of it still hold up.
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20 question writer meme!! Tagged by @jaggededges123
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
I have 122!
2. What’s your total ao3 word count?
239,332. :D a lot more then I thought!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
So I’m a “i write what I fancy” BUT my top fandoms I’ve written for are MDZS,Nope, Good Omens, and Danganronpa (if combined all my fics of each series together). My current fandom I’m writing for is Team Fortress Two where I have too many wips 😂
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Kidnapped? Rescued? Lies or Truth? - Svsss, 500 on the dot, Shen Jiu/Tianlang-Jun, Not rated
Can Peacocks Swim? - MDZS, under 1k, Jin Zixuan/Wei Wuxian, Teen
Talk Dirty To Me (In that Unnatural Voice of Your’s)- Scream, under 1k, Billy/Stu, Mature
Crowley is a very bad demon who does terrible things. Like take care of a bunch of orphans. - Good Omens, 3k, Teen
A Mark Without Pain- TGCF, under 1k, Qi Rong/Lang Qianqiu, Mature
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Almost always! Unless a comment makes me uncomfortable I try to respond to everything! Ive recently got some “more” comments that I haven’t but even comments that are just emojis i respond to. I love comments and love reading them so I try to get across to people I really appreciate them ☺️
6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
I remember you… Do you remember me? ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/36298375 ) I had a whole 2022 Whumptober yet I think this one takes the cake on angst. So angsty I had to write an alternate less angsty ending 😂
7. What is a fic you wrote with the happiest of endings?
A New Beginning (https://archiveofourown.org/works/37391902 )
So I’m taking this as something that has angst but a happy conclusion - and I feel this fic is one of those.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
Surprisingly no? I’ve gotten a few comments that are kinda iffy but most comments are very sweet!
9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?
Lots of smut- so much in fact most of its in my Works in Progress 😭 I’m so terrible at finishing smut but I usually go with darker themes ☺️
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
Oh!! Their all in my wips 😭 I did start making a Mdzs/Nope crossover which would probably be my strangest if I ever finished it up
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Nope, but one time one of my aus I made with a friend got stolen! But that’s s story for another time
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes! Unfortunately I don’t have the link of the translation but my fic Pocky got translated into Russian ! (https://archiveofourown.org/works/27507364)
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before
Nope
14. What’s your all time favorite ship?
Statistically speaking- if going by number of fics- Aziraphale/Crowley. However, I have to say an all time fav would be Jessie/James (Pokémon) a ship I’ve never read nor wrote for. Just one of those childhood nostalgia ones.
15. What’s a wip you want to finsih but probably never will?
All of them 😭 In all serious though I’m terrible with long fics and while I have grand ideas it’s hard for me to stick through them. My Danganronpa/TGCF AU will forever be in my heart (and full planned on a discord server) but will likely never see any light of day.
16. What are your writing strengths?
I’ve been told my dialogue flows well and that I have a good hold on how people would react.
17. Writing weaknesses?
… Smut? I feel I’m slow on making it because I overthink it.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
Oh!! I’ve done this!! It’s fun and also terrible. I feel I’m getting translations wrong but I do my best. I did once try to write a whole fic in another language— unfortunately that fic is lost to time.
19. First Fandom I wrote For?
On ao3 Rick and Morty. On amino, though, I wrote for Undertale first. And my first fics were mini comics I made at home for Pokémon.
20. Favorite fic you’ve written?
The Inter(Viewers) ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/40985745/chapters/102715464)
It’s the longest finished fic of mine and I’m really proud of that fact! I put a lot into it and it has some of my favorite scenes.
Tags: I’m sorry I don’t know who to tag- please my fellow writers jump on this if you want to do this!
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What's stopping you from posting every slightly interesting thought you have onto the internet? That's a genuine question bc every day I find less and less reasons to not just make a bunch of bullshit posts abt thoughts I'm having. The only thing stopping me currently is the memory of a blog I used to follow that did that and every original post of theirs had like 3 notes TOPS. I'd be devastated if I consistently put things out there and no one gave a shit, even if they were just stupid little text posts
#writing 122 really did a number on me#I think my thoughts are important now#watch this get like 2 notes if that hehe#that's fine tho#sometimes it's nice to post smth you know won't get attention but like consistently not getting attention does shit to my ego (bad shit)#ya know?#idk what this is#answer the question if you want tho I am curious what limits ppl have and why when it comes to a relatively anonymous platform#like how do you determine what thoughts deserve to be posted and which should just stay in your head?#anyway anyway#ramblings#corascrap
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Time’s Age Headcanon
Masterlist
I know this isn’t the usual Chain x reader post but hear me out.
I’ve avoided this for a while because I’ve tried to stay away from aging headcanons. No particular reason why but I might go and write that anyway since I’ve forgotten why I avoided it.
But Time... I’ve been crunching numbers Old Man, and I might be close.
I don’t think this will get particularly long but I know this isn’t most people’s cup of tea, so I’m adding a cut.
***
Now Time was more or less nine or ten years old during Ocarina of Time. Even with the seven year skip he’s still ten-ish by the end of it. So this is our base line.
Majora’s Mask is where things get finicky. This is where the whole time travel, time loop thing comes into play and messes everything up for our hero.
So basically, for those who don’t know, the game takes place over the course of three days. You have three days to save the world but mostly, this town called Termina from a falling moon.
By the end of the three days you go back to the beginning and keep repeating this process until you save the day. Yay.
Three days.
Time kept living through three days continuously.
It’s maddening but it doesn’t really add up that quickly in terms of years.
Ten trials is a month one hundred trials is a little less than a year.
For one year to pass, Time (or in this case the player, it doesn’t really matter) would have to have gone through one hundred and twenty one full trials with two days left over. So really, 122 runs.
That’s a lot of times to revert time to fix the moon from falling.
I doubt even the worst players for Majora’s Mask would have taken that many times.
So no, he’s not 60 years old.
Someone other than Malon go tell the Chain that. And tell them that he’s also not any older.
Our number is now below 60.
But let’s say that it takes Time years to go through all of Majora’s Mask anyway. Or maybe some more finicky time travel things happened in his adventure with Warrior. What then?
We know that in his adventure with Warrior he still appears to be ten or so years old. Realistically it’s to keep the model and facial recognition similar but I digress. (I also don’t know if this is canon to Jojo’s story but it is here). But who knows what Time’s been doing in between that time and even after. Maybe he was still reversing time? How many times did he have to do that on the battle field with no one else being any wiser?
How many times did he have to do it to learn the full extent of the spell the ocarina casts? How far back can it go? What if three days really is the limit? What was the moment Time learned that it didn’t send him far back enough? (That’s a fic for another time)
What if, since in his fist adventure he was a child in an older body, he had the ages flipped on him?
Most people agree that since Majora’s Mask, he’s older than he appears.
But (and this is where the math (however little it was) stops and the head canon begins) what if he was the same age gap by the end of his third adventure?
So in his first adventure, teen is actually ten. By the end of his third adventure, baby face is seventeen. (Or maybe he kept messing with time even after that? Who knows? With a three day limit, that’s a lot of times it’s been used)
So it would mean that Time would have more or less used the ocarina 852 times to have it add up to those seven years, given the three day window. I feel like I’m being very generous with this. It could very well be less than that and therefore less than seven years.
Seven years is the difference though, I’m keeping it solely because feels cruelly thematic.
Time in the comic is physically in his thirties. And I’m willing to put him at 35 max just because it feels nice but 33 is also a good number. So somewhere there.
From physically 33 - 35, with a seven year difference, it puts Time at a age range between 40 - 42.
Still very middle aged and it would makes sense why Malon laughed so hard at the Chain’s guess at his age.
It would also put a thirty year old man in his forties and I think that’s why Malon knew he wouldn’t want her share that.
Time is more or less 41 when given a lot of wiggle room.
So he’s really not that old.
He’s just jaded.
#linked universe#linkeduniverse#of course jojo and pull a spin and reveal it#but i doubt it#and i had to write my thought down before it drove me crazy
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2021 Writing Journal
I’m kinda burnt out right now and that oddly felt like the perfect time to write this, so I’m doing a year retrospective/writing accomplishments post. I’m writing this on the 17th and will update the totals on the 31st to get in December.
Date format is dd/mm/yy. This is a 2021 retrospective but also includes some mention of the 2020 since I only started writing fic halfway through that year. This is like half writing and half personal stuff. It’s basically a writing journal entry.
It feels weird to say “I wrote about a million words this year” and also “I didn’t reach all of my goals”, but there it is. I met (most) of my word count goals, but I didn’t do as many projects as I wanted to. Still, I did a lot this year, so I’m going to try to focus on that while also not omitting the parts that I’m disappointed in.
Stats:
Total fic word count in 2020: 642,829
Total fic word count posted in 2021: 949,240 (according to AO3)
Total word count in 2021 (including unpublished projects but not content cut edits): 980,702 (according to my tracking spreadsheet. Includes my novel and upcoming, unfinished fics).
Total updates (chapters/one-shots) in 2021: 122
I think the AO3 total is inflated thanks to things like the DITM edit bringing over the 36k that were already there last year into this year’s total. I know that my total in the tracking spreadsheet should be, at minimum, 76k more thanks to unpublished projects, not to mention one shots and other chapters still in progress. According to my spreadsheet, I wrote 903k in fanfiction this year. It’s also possible that AO3 just tracks word count differently as well.
Goals:
I started this year with an 800k total word count goal for the year, which I considered a lowball goal (I wrote 642k last year in about six months, so theoretically should have been able to write 1.2mil in a year), but I knew I was going to have some health struggles this year (and boy did I) so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself to write. I ended up reaching that goal on 15/10 and set a new goal for 900k, which I reached on 18/11. I then set a goal for 1 million, which was really the minimum I had wanted to reach for this year despite my lower stated goals. I never reached that goal, sadly, but I at least came close.
Truthfully, I really wanted to write 1.2 mil this year, both because I knew it was kind of possible and because a friend told me about a fic they once read that was that long. Now, that fic was written over like 10 years, but I’m insane. It turns out that I burn out every few months though, so while it’s possible for me to write 105k in month (my highest count for a month this year, in October), there’s a backswing of unproductivity that comes afterwards, so I can’t do that for 12 months in a row.
I didn’t know that before this year, though. Writing has actually made it easy to see the pattern of my burnout and depression flares, not only because I can see my productivity in my word count, but also because I tie the emotions I was feeling at the time to what I produce so it is now very easy for me to recall how I felt in January because I remember how depressed I was while working on strange disease and I know I was writing it then. I’ve never had such solid markers to tie my mood to before, so writing (and tracking it) has really helped me to understand myself and my own patterns over the last six months.
--
Beyond word count, I wanted to make a dent in my “Upcoming Projects” list. I didn’t have a specific number of projects that I wanted to complete, I just wanted to go back to blitzing through an entire 10 chapter fic in two weeks like I was doing at the end of the summer in 2020. As previously discussed about burnout however, that really wasn’t possible. I’m trying to be happy with what I can do, because I know it’s actually a lot, but it is frustrating when my ideas pile up and I have new ones at a higher rate than I complete old ones.
From what I remember, I started 2021 with a list of about 7 projects that I wanted to write: strange disease (done), asgne (done), the greys (done), ihtwcyn (done), wdtfd (done), 5gr (not started), and oesab (not started). While I did write most of the things that I came up with last year, I also came up with a whole host of new ideas, to the point where I am starting 2022 with 7 fic ideas waiting again and have even more novel ideas. It feels like I’m cursed to always have more idea than I have time, but who knows.
This year has seen me shifting towards more interest in original projects (starting around the Catradora anniversary actually, that’s when the first novel idea I had this year started forming) and I’m kind of hoping that the more complicated/involved nature of these ideas means the number I have of them will be lower so it feels less like I can’t keep up with my own mind. Of course, these ideas also take longer to plan and write so....
Still, I’m not complaining about having ideas. I know it’s a good thing. I wanted to complete more projects in 2021, but I completed 10 “major” ideas in the form of multi-chapter fics, plus 1 novel. Counting my ongoing project for December, that’s about one major project a month (even if that average isn’t how things were written in reality. Some projects took two months, others like 3m2 took two days).
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My other goal was to not adhere to a schedule anymore (after I found it was contributing to my first burnout period this year back in January/February) but to, on average, post at least twice a week. I sometimes went a week without posting (I think the largest gap, aside from the hiatus I took in November for my novel, was 15 days). Long gaps were usually in between projects as I planned the next one, got acquainted with the world, and wrote at least two chapters for the next project, but I didn’t want to force myself to write or get ahead in my writing, so I just post whenever I have one chapter edited and the next drafted, hence the “average” goal. For most of the year my schedule was 2-3 posts a week, leaning more towards two. I took November off posting entirely (after posting 3 days in a row at the start of the month) and then came back with the lesser goal of 1-2 times a week in December since I was struggling with burnout again.
I met this goal easily. I wish my posting wasn’t as variable with back-to-back updates and then an entire week of nothing, but its the nature of posting when something is ready and not holding it back, which I definitely prefer. I’m really happy with how much I posted and am fully planning to actually ramp it down in 2022 as I focus on personal projects more often (though I will be writing fic as well, I miss Catradora when I don’t).
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Overall, reading this back it seems kind of ridiculous to be disappointed with how much I’ve written, though that doesn’t stop me from thinking “if I can write 10k in a day, why can’t I do that single day?”. I know it’s ridiculous, especially given the burn out thing, but it is something my brain does. Still, writing this made me feel a bit better about what I’ve done this year.
Writing Tracking:
On August 4th, I started tracking my writing in a spreadsheet. I did some research before going with a spreadsheet - I was certain there had to be a software or premade template that met my specifications - but I couldn’t find anything that met all my specifications, so I set about creating a spreadsheet from scratch. I have always loved making spreadsheets, but I usually use them for stuff like cataloguing or sorting. I was a complete novice when it came to Excel formulas, having never written one before, but I needed to learn it anyway so I taught myself Excel by creating this spreadsheet. I spent a lot of time working on the sheet in August, all while logging what I was managing to write at the time (which, given I was sick and burned out, wasn’t much).
I still tweak the sheet sometimes, and especially have been adding new features over time or fixing ones I implemented poorly initially, but it was mostly done in August or September. I love my writing spreadsheet and find it really helps with my motivation, as well as things like understanding my mood or burnout like I talked about above. I can see exactly how productive I’m being day-to-day in my monthly summary sheet and overall trends in my yearly summary sheet. I can compare statistics between my different projects in my projects sheet too, like tracking their length vs my predictions for them and how quickly I wrote them.
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Community:
I was going to just put my final thoughts, and then I got a DM from a reader (my DMs are actually off unless I DM you once first, sorry) and I realized I would be completely remiss to not talk about another massive part of my writing experience: you guys. If anyone’s still reading at this point anyway.
All the engagement I get on my stories has not only been massively motivating, it has helped me improve my writing and gave me a purpose during the pandemic and my last year of health issues. I’ve had multiple people tell me that my stories helped them get through quarantine and I don’t have words to describe how that makes me feel. I often feel like I’m failing if I’m not meeting some certain, statistical metric and it makes me lose sight of things, but sometimes I remember the kind of impact my writing has had for some people and it almost feels like a purpose to life beyond the constant rat race of capitalistic life.
I got so many comments and asks this year, not to mention fanart and other things that when I think about make my head spin, and it was all because someone else enjoyed my work enough to dedicate a small part of their life to it. When my fics started getting more popular I remember thinking “the first time I get fanart from someone outside of my friend circle, that is when I will have made it” and then it... happened. And it just kept happening. It’s truly one of the highest compliments you can give a writer, to be so inspired by their art that you make your own, and that’s only scratching the surface of the stuff that has happened this year.
The engagement blows my mind as is, but it also inspires me. I’m much more interested in writing original stuff because I know there are people so invested in what I do. My entire life I have written and wanted to write (Remember, I finished my first full novel at age 11) but I always thought I would just write them for myself and maybe edit them to show my friends/family if I liked the draft enough. The way people have reacted has really motivated me to put more into crafting my original projects and actually doing something with them.
I don’t respond to comments/etc as much as I would like due to anxiety, nonverbal periods, and a general lack of spoons, but they really make a difference in my attitude. Sometimes the rare shitty comment can stop me from writing for the rest of the day, but the people who are truly kind or helpful really make a difference. Everybody who commented/sent an ask/drew fanart/etc this year: thank you. Without all the engagement I definitely wouldn’t have written or posted as much, even if my writing is ultimately for me. My writing came further in the first year of writing fic than it did in the decade of personal writing before that, thanks to stuff like people telling me their favorite parts that showed me what worked. You guys have made a difference in my life too.
Happy New Year, I guess, wherever you are. Here’s to 2022 being a better year (I’m not optimistic, but I refuse to be cynical either).
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I posted 1,160 times in 2021
1132 posts created (98%)
28 posts reblogged (2%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 0.0 posts.
I added 1,716 tags in 2021
#mod funky - 578 posts
#anon - 369 posts
#fnf ruv - 122 posts
#fnf garcello - 109 posts
#fnf whitty - 103 posts
#sibling anon - 100 posts
#sleepy anon - 86 posts
#ruv - 84 posts
#ruv x reader - 84 posts
#fnf ruv x reader - 81 posts
Longest Tag: 134 characters
#(yknow what if yall want mod updates we're just gonna leave a link to our system blog bc the number of us is slowly growing oisdjfsd-)
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
Okay I really wanted to request this soo tomorrow (8 June) is my birthday and I was wondering what Garcello and if u could add ruv too I'd love that, would do when its their S/O birthday
casually queues to post on your birthday- happy birthday!! take these two lovely lads as a gift! my birthday is coming up in a few days, so this was fun to write!
~ Garcello and Ruv (Sarv makes a big appearance-) Celebrating Their S/O's Birthday ~
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182 notes • Posted 2021-06-08 06:07:11 GMT
#4
Garcello with s/o who constantly calls him pet names, like sunny/sunshine, sweetheart, darling etc. Blush Garcello, blush! I think red suits him well 👁ω👁
I agree!!!
~ Garcello with a S/O Who Constantly Calls Him Pet Names ~
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194 notes • Posted 2021-06-11 07:17:28 GMT
#3
Tired reader x ruv and sarv cuddles?
yESSSS- im gonna do separate but let me know if you want me to change anything!
~ Ruv and Sarvente (separate) Cuddling with a Tired S/O ~
tw: knife mention (its only in one bullet point-)
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216 notes • Posted 2021-06-04 07:54:29 GMT
#2
Garcello (I'm so sorry I just simp so much for this man) and any other characters you enjoy if they had a s/o who was always tired, sweet, and cuddly?
VRCSVE dw i simp for him too- and wow you really described me with this one huh /hj also i did just him because i had a lot to work on-
~ Garcello with a Tired, Sweet and Cuddly S/O ~
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232 notes • Posted 2021-06-02 13:31:33 GMT
#1
Heya! I was wondering if you could do some headcanons with Garcello, Whitty, Sarv and Tankman (plus any other you would like) when covid happened? Like we're all in lockdown plus they live with their s/o? Idk if that makes much sense but I hope you understand
hello!! i do understand, don't worry! i don't do tankman tho but i hope the other 3 will suffice! i also lost my writing for this so oof-
~ Garcello, Whitty and Sarvente during Lockdown with Their S/O ~
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260 notes • Posted 2021-05-30 20:29:27 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
#my 2021 tumblr year in review#your tumblr year in review#WHEEZE yall-#surprised garcellos on here the most djfnsk
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Zexal Month 2021
since things went haywire in real life, I figured this would be the best way to participate in the event this year. I’ve been doing it since 2018, and it’s been such a pleasure to be a part of this nice fandom, we’re small but still alive! Without any more delay, let’s tackle the first week! @zexalmonth
Week 1: Welcome to Heartland City
Day 1: Who are you? Introduce yourself! When did you get into Zexal? What Fandom are you in at the moment?
you can call me shif, I prefer gender neutral pronouns. I like drawing and writing (especially adult content), video games, music, among other things. I’m extremely socially anxious and can also talk nonstop, go figures hahaha. I like when people talk to me and I promise I do not bite
finally found out when I got into Zexal and it was in 2015. I only ever watched the sub though. I read the manga for the first time last year and it was really fun
Yu-Gi-Oh! (mainly Zexal. Yes, it’s still my “current fandom”). And I’ve been reading Boku No Hero Academia and 19 Days. Early this year, I got into NBC’s Hannibal, and before that, Yashahime (Inuyasha’s spinoff). It’s difficult for me to get into new things, I usually rotate between the few fandoms I’ve been into. I’m mostly a gaming person actually hahaha probably doing something Zelda related when not busy
(did introductions last year and the year before, but there’s always something to add and changes to talk about I guess?)
Day 2: Who would you be in Zexal? Champion? Alien? Tomato? Alternatively, what part of Heartland City’s society do you find interesting?
would be a part of Astral World, but the “bad guys”. Think of the Barians, but before they got kicked out. I do not find Heartland City or the people there particularly interesting because I’m not a huge fan of futuristic/sci-fi stuff. I guess I enjoy how all kinds of people chose that place as their home, from scientists (the Tenjo family, the Arclight family), to adventurers (the Tsukumo family), and I like how that city seems to be the core of interdimensional occurrences
Day 3: What’s your favourite moment or favourite episode in the series?
episode 98 (the Dark Zexal one) will always have its place in my heart, but since I talked about it last year, guess I could talk about other of episodes I enjoy
I love all episodes in which Number 96 appears, all 12 of them T^T... it is such a shame he did not have more screen time: 20, 25 (recap), 37, 38, 89, 101, 102, 110, 111, 112 (dead), 131 (doll), 132 (doll)
I also have a soft spot for Yuma/III focused episodes such as their meeting (ep 46), their dramatic duel (eps 47-49), and when Yuma is depressed after losing Astral and III helps him (eps 112-113)
that incredible Eliphas X Yuma duel, which is one of the best and longest in the series (eps 118-121), followed by Yuma’s reunion with Astral and one of the cutest scenes in the show (eps 122-123)
really liked the episodes with Ryoga/Nasch focus in the last season, in special, his duels with IV (eps 124-126) and Yuma (eps 141-143)
Day 4: Who’s your favourite character? Which Zexal Characters would you like to meet?
oh, tough one! Guess not many things have changed from when I got into Zexal ー In 2019 and 2020, Astral was the one for me ー but maybe some things did change...!
this year I really delved deep into my love for Number 96 and I guess they’re tied in 1st place now hahahaha, I would say I like Number 96 slightly more maybe?!? And, very surprisingly, Yuma grew so much in me! Probably for all wrong reasons hahahaha
Day 5: Zexal has so many cool locations and backdrops. Where would you want to go in Zexal?
Astral World. It’s my favorite location in the show and it’s a shame they didn’t explore it as much since it only appeared so late in the last season
#zexal#ygo#yugioh#ygo zexal#zexal month#shif#shif writes#PICTURED: ME AND 96 OMG Y'ALL#forgot to add Alito and Mizael eps lmao
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2021 AO3 Year In Writing
tagged by: @laurabeatrix
I definitely didn't start this weeks ago when I was tagged and then not get a chance to finish it and completely forget about it until I went to check my drafts for something else. *cough* I'm also incapable of giving short answers, so I decided to do a "read more" and save any mobile users from a ridiculous amount of scrolling to get past my nonsense.
1. Number of stories posted to AO3:
7
2. Word count posted for the year:
260,927 words (though really only around 190K of that was written in 2021, a lot of it was written in 2019 or 2020 and I only got the courage to share in 2021, haha.)
3. Fandoms I wrote for:
The Dresden Files
4. Pairings:
Harry/Murphy, Harry/Lara, & (sigh) Harry/Marcone
5. Story with the most:
Kudos: 80 Floors Up (122)
Bookmarks: 80 Floors Up (21)
Comments: All's Fair(59)
6. Work I’m most proud of (and why):
Mm. I’m really pleased with how All’s Fair turned out. It’s the first story I’ve ever fully planned out and written methodically, with the knowledge that I’d be sharing it with people and so it needed to do story-y things. This is the first thing I’ve ever written that felt like I really had to work at it, but the end result is something that I feel is actually pretty well polished.
Runner-up shout out to The Detective & Miss Murphy though. I went into it with only the vaguest idea of when the Regency era even was and having precisely zero experience with either consuming or creating Regency romance books/shows/movies. I expected it to be a total disaster, and while it definitely is not the best thing ever written or even the best thing I’ve ever written, I think it’s turned out pretty well so far. Jane Austen I am not, but since @LauraBeatrix’s original inspiration for the conversation was Bridgerton, and Julia Quinn is also definitely no Jane Austen (which I know now, because I’ve read like four or five of those books at least, so thanks for that LauraB :P) I’ll take it. I also genuinely put more time and effort into research for this fic than I did for all of my college classes combined last year (8 of them? 9? A bunch) and while I’m not exactly proud of that fact, I’m not not-proud either.
7. Work I’m least proud of (and why):
I’m tempted to say 80 Floors Up because it is the fic I have put the absolute least amount of thought or effort into – it was a silly premise that I wrote in a single weekend including editing time. But it did turn out pretty good despite being somewhat ridiculous?
I guess I Caught Fire. Every time I look at it I feel like it’s missing something, like something’s off about it, but no matter how I poke at it I’m not satisfied.
8. Share or describe a favourite review you received:
It’s been a good year for reviews. Honestly, everybody is so sweet and supportive. I started 2021 kind of on the fence about whether to continue posting things and very insecure in my own writing but people have been so nice. I have genuinely cried from comments received several times this past year.
(Not that I have a folder on my phone with screenshots of comments that I flip through when imposter syndrome gets bad or anything. I’m not desperate for validation. It’s cool.)
But my absolute favorite review? Gotta be this lovely gem from @LauraBeatrix:
9. A time when writing was really, really hard:
I hit a snag in The Detective & Miss Murphy for a bit there where I had waaaaay too much planned content to fit into waaaay too few chapters, which was super difficult to work through.
I also have had a few instances (once for All’s Fair, twice for yet-unposted WIPs) where I’ve had to dwell on That Scene from midway through Battle Ground and that’s been a very different kind of difficult.
10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:
Harry and Murphy are constantly surprising me in The Detective & Miss Murphy because they never do quite what I expect them to do. I have whole scenes planned out and then one of them just says something out of nowhere, or does something crazy. You know what I didn’t expect at the start of writing a regency romance? That my hero and heroine would have a woman tied up in the heroine’s bedroom to get information out of her. Didn’t expect that to happen. Absolutely insane. I have no control over them.
11. A favorite excerpt of your writing:
This bit for All’s Fair keeps sticking with me and I’m fond of it: “I remembered when she’d been mine and I’d been hers. When we’d professed our love and when we'd acted on it. I remembered when I knew with all of my heart, mind, and soul that I belonged wholly and completely to her, that I would never love anyone the way I loved her. We were made for each other, in the sense that years of shared experiences and friendship had forged us into complementary shapes, worn and scarred but familiar and comfortable, fitting perfectly together.”
12. How did you grow as a writer this year:
I have definitely gained a lot more confidence in myself. Two years ago, getting an even vaguely critical comment on something would haunt me for weeks and make me question whether or not I should continue posting. Even at the beginning of last year, I frequently questioned whether or not I should bother sharing what I wrote, if I was just being stupid and arrogant to believe that other people would want to read it, etc. I'm not saying I've magically become immune to criticism or anything, but I'm at a place where I can get a negative comment, process the feedback (if there actually is any), and move on with my life without losing sleep over it. Which is progress.
13. How do you hope to grow next year:
I want to put more of a focus on original work in 2022 than I did last year. I still expect most of what I write to be fic, but I'm starting to entertain the idea that 15 year old me might have been right after all and I should try to become a published author.
I also want to invest more time in actually learning how to be a better writer. I've listened to TED talks and interviews and things like that here and there with authors I respect, and sometimes I pick up good advice, and sometimes I think the advice isn't for me, but I want to spend more time doing that this year. Writing, like any art imo, has a large instinctive component, but that doesn't mean you can't better hone your instincts with training.
14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc):
Last spring I stumbled across a post where some total strangers were discussing wanting to see fluff of Harry/Murphy. One person in particular had a specific request, I think she said she wanted to see Harry at another Murphy family reunion? I don't remember now. Whatever it was, I had this fic that had been sitting in my drafts since 2019ish and it sounded like just what she was looking for. So even though I thought it was kind of a poorly-written fic, I posted it on AO3 and shared it here, hoping maybe one or more of these people would see it. Even if it wasn't very good, I figured not-great content is still better than no content, right?
That very particular stranger was @laurabeatrix, who did see my fic, and had a ton of kind things to say about it, and has basically not stopped saying nice things about my fics since. She is my biggest cheerleader/muse/emotional support beta reader/tinfoil hat co-conspirator/3 AM rambling thought sounding board/all-around wonderful person. I can honestly say without exaggeration that at least half of what I've written this year wouldn't have happened without her, or at least wouldn't have been posted. Also, she made art for a fic that I wrote. Art. Like for real fanart. It's been months and I'm still kind of freaking out about that because seriously how cool is that?
15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year:
No current events from my life, though I've definitely drawn from my life experiences. There's a scene in Paper & Jewelry where Harry's watching Murphy use a step ladder to try to put baubles on the Christmas tree, which was directly inspired by my wife watching me nearly break my neck several times trying to string the lights on our tree a few years back.
Also, not sure if it counts but most of the time when I choose to set a scene in a specific place in Chicago it's because it's a place I've been and often have pictures I can reference. Several of Lara and Harry's dates in All's Fair are locations the wife and I have also visited together. Really wish we weren't living in plague times, because it's been way too long since we had a chance to get out there and I'm itching for it.
16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:
Share what you've written! I don't care what you've written. I don't care if its an obscure ship from an obscure fandom with a weirdly specific set of tags that you think only you could possibly care about. Someone wants to read it. You think it's bad? It's probably amazing, but even if it isn't, to be honest, who cares? If you liked the idea, or the dialogue, or the setting, or whatever enough to write it, someone else will like it too. It's easy to get caught up in the number of kudos, or the number of comments, but honestly, even if there's just one other person out there who reads it any enjoys it, you've still made an impact on the world, you've made that one person's day better for a few minutes (or hours, or if you write as much as I do maybe days) just by sharing your ideas, your art. Don't second-guess yourself.
And if you're writing for one of my fandoms, this goes doubly for you. Odds are if there's only one weirdo who is going to like your fic, I'm that weirdo, and I want to read it, lol (But seriously, you're better than you think. How do I know? Because I've never in my life met a writer who was as bad or worse than they thought. We all think that. It's okay. Just share anyway.)
17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:
Very close to finishing Detective and Miss Murphy which is both exciting and sad. I'll miss it but I'll be glad to have it wrapped up too.
After that, I've got a kind of dark post-BG longfic I'm working on, which will let me play with myths and deities, some of which we haven't had a chance to see yet in canon, and I'm both nervous and excited for that prospect. We'll see how it works out.
As always, I've got about two dozen other misc WIPs too, most of which aren't ready for me to talk about them yet, but I'm sure there' will be plenty of forthcoming fic for 2022.
18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read:
As usual I'm not directly tagging anyone because I don't do that, but if you're reading this and you would like to provide your answers, consider this me, tagging you. I'd love to read your thoughts!!
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Fairytales for fuckwits: Meghan, a children's book, and the school bully tactics of the British tabloids...
Piers Morgan's obsession with Meghan Markle continues, while Mike Graham appears worried there may be too many big words for him to understand.
Mic Wright
May 6
On May the 4th, there was a great disturbance in the force, as if thousands of tabloid reporters and talk radio pundits cried out at once: The Duchess of Sussex had announced she was writing a children’s book.
Since the earth-shattering news that Meghan has written a story about the relationship between father’s and their sons — apparently based on a poem she wrote for Prince Harry — the tabloid press and talk radio stations have gone into meltdown.
The Sun has managed to crank out seven hysterically-pitched stories on the announcement since it dropped — the book isn’t out until June 8th — with each more unhinged than the last:
MEG TO PAPER Meghan Markle writes children’s book inspired by Prince Harry and baby Archie about ‘bond between father and son’
MEG-A MOVE Meghan Markle’s first priority should be mending broken relationships with royals not writing kids’ book, expert claims
SOUNDS A BIT WOODEN ‘Schmaltzy’ Meghan Markle ‘on dodgy ground’ with kids’ book celebrating fathers ‘after own bust-up with dad’ says author
DOUBLE DUCH Meghan Markle accused of copying her kids’ book The Bench from another story – but author defends her
NOT WRITE Piers Morgan slams ‘hypocrite’ Meghan Markle for kids’ book on ‘father-son bond’ after ‘ruining Harry and Charles’ ties’
'RIDICULOUS' Meghan Markle using Duchess of Sussex as author name ‘laughable’ after she wanted to cut Royal ties, says royal expert
CUT PRICE Meghan Markle’s kids’ book has price slashed already at Amazon and Waterstones
You’ll notice that Piers Morgan — a man who has turned one drink with Meghan after which he claims she “ghosted him”, which took place in 2016, into a five year and counting obsession — gets his own story there. That’s The Sun filleting Morgan’s spittle-flecked Daily Mail column on the book for its own news piece.
Morgan, who trails his columns on Twitter like they are exciting new releases rather than the tabloid equivalent of a letter scrawled in faeces forced through your letterbox, dashed out his thoughts on The Bench with the indecent haste of a man running along while his trousers fall down.
Image description: “Twitter avatar for @BreeNewsome
DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES
@BreeNewsome
Piers Morgan’s obsession with Meghan Markle is genuinely disturbing. He’s really just using the guise of journalism to be a public stalker and harasser.
May 5th 2021
1,414 Retweets10,252 Likes”
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Beneath a typically screaming Mail headline — How the hell can Meghan 'I hate royalty but call me Duchess' Markle preach about father-child relationships when she's disowned her own Dad, and wrecked her husband's relationship with his? — Morgan howled:
… she continues to cynically exploit her royal titles because she knows that's the only reason anyone is paying her vast sums of money to spew her uniquely unctuous brand of pious hectoring gibberish in Netflix documentaries, Spotify podcasts or children's books.
Of course, her equally cynical publishers don't give a damn about any of this shocking double standard.
Forget the fact that Meghan had a good degree of personal fame before she ever met Prince Harry, Piers Morgan accusing anyone else of being a cynical fame chaser is beyond parody. From his earliest days as a gossip hack, Morgan has muscled into pictures with the rich and famous, desperate to be someone.
When Meghan was willing to indulge him, he showered her with praise, but once she stopped taking his calls, he turned into the Tinder match from hell. That he has been married to his second wife, fellow controversialist columnist Celia Walden since 2010 seemingly did nothing to dampen his obsession.
Having repeatedly interviewed Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle — another man aggrieved because a woman would rather not spend time with him — Morgan sneers:
If she really cared about father-child relationships, she'd take a chauffeur-driven limousine on the hour-long trip to see her own father who's never even met either Harry or Archie.
It’s projection again: Piers Morgan’s ego is so egg-shell thin that after Meghan decided that one drink was more than enough, he’s spent 5 years seeking revenge and convinced that he’s been wronged, just like her ‘poor old dad’. That’s the ‘poor old dad’ that insists on talking about his daughter to journalists at every possible occasion.
At the end of an article that implies Harry and Meghan contributed to the death of Prince Philip — he died of natural causes — and rants on about “the woke”, Morgan ends with this:
But then as we've seen from her gruesomely self-interested behaviour during a pandemic that's caused so much devastation and pain to billions around the world, Meghan Markle doesn't really care about anyone but herself.
Remember, the Duchess of Sussex’s only ‘crime’ here is to write a children’s book which people will be free to buy or ignore with equal ease. But, as ever, Piers Morgan treats the news with all the proportionality of a US drone strike.
The real story here is about how Morgan — the bittiest of bit-part players in the narrative of Meghan and Harry’s lives — is so desperate to upgrade his place in the cast list that he will rant and rave to stay relevant. His departure from Good Morning Britain came after his last stream of invective about Meghan and he knows this schtick gets him the attention and money he craves.
Image description: “Twitter avatar for @MariaLRoach
Maria Roach
@MariaLRoach
Meghan Markle inside the tiny space called Piers Morgan’s head. #duchessofsussex Tap Dance GIF by Miss America
May 5th 2021
122 Retweets1,619 Likes”
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Aside from Morgan’s column, MailOnline has published 9 other news stories on or related to the book announcement. The most telling of them is one that links the Duchess of Sussex’s book to another one… by the Duchess of Cambridge.
Headlined Bookshelf battle royale! Kate Middleton shares a glimpse inside her Hold Still photobook just a day after Meghan Markle unveiled her own £12.99 children's story, the story unsurprisingly treats Kate with kid gloves while continuing to imply that Meghan is the kind of person who would make gloves out of kids if it suited her devilish schemes.
There’s no shade thrown at the Duchess of Cambridge for revealing further details of her book just hours after Meghan’s announcement. Instead, the story — lavishly illustrated with images from the book — gushes:
The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a glimpse of her photography book Hold Still ahead of its release on Friday…
… Kate, 39, a keen photographer, launched a campaign during the first lockdown last year to ask the public to submit images which captured the period.
It even includes a mention of an image of a BLM protestor saying:
Over the course of the project, the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including a Black Lives Matter protester holding a sign reading: 'Be on the right side of history.'
If Meghan had done the same she would have been decried for “supporting extremists”. Remember the contrasting way their mutual taste for avocado was covered?
15 Headlines Show How Differently The British Press Treat Meghan Markle Vs Kate Middleton | Bored Panda
Over at The Daily Telegraph, Spiked alumna Ella Whelan offered her thoughts on a book that isn’t released until next month under the headline Meghan Markle’s fun-free children’s book may put an entire generation off reading, which makes it sound like a grimoire full of dark magic rather than a gentle children’s book about kids and their dads.
Just as with the Mail’s story on Kate’s book, it’s worth imagining what Whelan would say if the Duchess of Cambridge had written The Bench. Look at the following section…
It reveals something of the political superficiality of Harry and Meghan’s activism that an “inclusive” book would use the military father as its promotional message. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing, but if my kids have to read about soldiers, I’d prefer Hans Christian Andersen’s tin version rather than the woke posturing of a former royal.
… and notice that because Meghan is the author including a father who is in the military is “political superficiality”. If Kate had written a story that featured an analogue for Prince William — who also spent time in uniform, though in less dangerous circumstances than his ‘spare’ brother — Whelan would likely deem it a ‘touching tribute to their love’.
Similarly, Sarah Ferguson — the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, top Yelp! reviewer for Jeffrey Epstein’s houses and noted avoider of FBI questioning — uses the title Duchess of York on her many execrable children’s books.
Now that Meghan is the tabloid’s new monster in the monarchy, Fergie’s antics are pointed to as a positive with her books flattered even as Meghan’s as-yet-unpublished book is panned.
Image description: “Twitter avatar for @talkRADIO
talkRADIO
@talkRADIO
Meghan Markle is releasing a new children's book about father-son relationships.
Mike Graham: "It's so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she's still in high school... it's not exactly Tennyson, is it?
@mrmarkdolan | @Iromg Image
May 5th 2021
36 Retweets221 Likes”
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Over on talkRADIO, Mike Graham — a melting mass of expired meat — ranted about a children’s book, worried perhaps that it will contain too many long words. Speaking to his colleague, Mark Dolan — Dennis Pennis without the charm — Graham crowed:
It’s so juvenile. This is somebody who acts like she’s still in high school… I don’t have anything against her for any particular reason, other than she’s a bit too American, you know. She thinks everything is just great and cheesy. Rhyming the words ‘joy’ and ‘boy’. It’s not exactly Tennyson, is it?
Ah yes, that famous children’s author, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, known for such devastating rhymes as this one from The Lady of Shallot: “She left the web/ She left the loom/ She made three paces through the room.”
I’m not saying The Lady of Shalott is rubbish — though I do still hold a grudge against Tennyson after some very tedious teaching in high school — but that focusing on one rhyme in a poem is an easy trick if you want to say its shit. That Graham cannot see the irony in decrying writing a children’s book as “juvenile” is just one of the reasons he’s employed by a station with less than 1% reach.
Image description: “Twitter avatar for @NadimJBaba
Nadim Baba
@NadimJBaba
Piers Morgan ranting about the one who got away in 5, 4, 3.......
Media Guardian @mediaguardian
Meghan wins copyright claim against Mail on Sunday over letter https://t.co/cJZTgDMvgz
May 5th 2021
1 Like”
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There’ll be a new round of these columns, stories, and talk radio segments when the book is released, particularly as The Mail on Sunday just lost the second part of Meghan’s copyright claim against it.
There’s nothing that either Meghan or Harry could do that wouldn’t drive these rats in a sack rabid. If they did nothing, they’d be called lazy. When they make things, take jobs, or really say anything the very media that benefits hugely from stories about them scream that it’s a cry for attention. And yet Piers Morgan regularly pissing himself in public is “commentary”.
#meghan markle#prince harry#duchess of sussex#duke of sussex#piers morgan#brokenbottleboy#toxic tabloids#uk press
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And ... now it’s 2021.
18aFor the past few years, I’ve made a New Year’s Day goal for the coming year of writing a certain number of words each day. The first year, it was based on the 43 words I managed to write on New Year’s Day. When I ended that year having met my goal, I boosted the next year’s goal to 50 -- and ended up beating it by slightly more than double. Still, my goal is to encourage myself to write more, not to set myself a bar I feel from the outset I won’t clear. So I kept my goal for the third year at 50 words, too, even as I silently hoped I’d beat the 100-word-a-day mark again. I didn’t. But I did beat the 50-words goal, coming in around 79 words a day. So ...
I’m trying this again for 2021. I’m keeping my daily word goal at 50 words a day, trying to set a goal I feel is attainable (even in a rough year) while hoping I blow it out of the water.
It’s not that I don’t have ideas. Right now? I have an active WIP (that’s proving frustrating, though I haven’t abandoned it) and a couple of ideas I want to write after I finish the WIP. I take that as a good sign. But, as LyricalSinger noted in an essay for the Spark! newsletter, it’s not about “finding time to write” but about “finding time to think”. I’ve always called it “focus,” though I feel it’s the same. When I’m “focused,” I can zero in on a scene or an idea and run through it in my mind until the words, the images, settle in and allow me to capture them in a doc. When I’m not focused, my brain pings off of those ideas like a pinball -- “it could be here, or what if it’s there? how about over there? green is good. what shade? light. no dark. how about that wonky shade that’s really cool? no, too much. wait, why am I even worrying about the color when I have no idea where it is?! the chalet’s lovely -- wait, what happened to the shack?!”
So, yeah. Focus. That’s my goal for 2021. Even though I don’t have any plans to write any words today, which will be a first for a New Year’s Day in about four years, I’m hoping to manage enough focus -- enough finding of time to think -- in 2021 to manage to write an average of at least 50 words a day. Venturing forth ...
Dec. 24: My goal, which kept getting pushed, was to have my WIP finished before Christmas. And, well ... I made it! I wrote 175 words on Dec. 23 and another 813 today. And my doc has two sections noted where I wrote words that didn’t get added to this post, so add in ... 271 from Dec. 19 and 818 from Dec. 7-8. That gives me a year-to-date total of 47,721 words in 358 days and a daily average of 133.298 words. I am ... pleased. Even if I don’t write another word this year, I will end the year having written an average of 130.74 words a day. It feels ... good.
May 2: I have written so little this year that I forgot to add what little I have written to this post when it happened. So, starting by going back to March 23, I wrote 1,365 words in the course of about a day. An idea that I forced myself to get down on paper before I could think about it too hard and turn it into something complex and requiring more bandwidth than I have. That means, as of March 23, I had written 1.365 words in 82 days, for a daily word average of 16.6 words a day. As of today, May 2, I have written another 291 words. That means I’ve written 1,656 words in 122 days, for a daily word average of 13.57 words a day. That’s well below my goal of 50 words a day. But ... I have joined an exchange that will require me to write, so I’m hoping the deadline inspires me. Peace!
July 16: I kind of let this slide for a bit, though not intentionally. The exchange did get me writing again. It’s still a struggle but I’m trying and (I think) having some degree of success. My exchange fic ended up being around 5,200 words. (Gdocs and AO3 disagree on the actual count, but 5,200 is not inflating it.) I also finished up my WIP that had been lingering since February 2020. It’s hard to quantify new words on that one, since much of the delay was trying to get already-written words to settle in where they belong. But I’m going to say at least 1,000 words were new. And I’ve been chipping away at a new WIP. In the past few weeks, I’ve managed 3,256 words (not including a few thousand words in the Gdoc comments bar outlining timelines, etc.) So ... realizing that this isn’t absolutely precise, I’m going to say I’ve written 84,56 words since last I updated. That would give me a year-to-date word count of 10,112 words in 197 days. That results in a daily word average of 51.329, which actually brings me back in line with my goal of averaging at least 50 words a day. I still would love it if words were flowing more easily -- I miss the days when I could sit down and knock out 1,000 words in the time it took me to type them, vs. spending an hour agonizing over 120 words. But progress is progress and I’ll take it and hope it continues. Peace!
July 19: I didn’t manage to write Saturday or Sunday (17-18), on Saturday because I was running on autopilot and on Sunday because my allergies were giving me fits. They still are, but I decided it needed to happen anyway. And I managed 334 words. That brings me up to 10,446 words in 200 days, for a daily average of 52.23. Still wish words were coming more easily. Still will take it, regardless, and be glad to be making any progress!
July 26: What a weekend. By Friday, July 23, I had managed to write 809 words since last I checked in. On Saturday, July 24, I determined those 809 words had two serious flaws -- one potentially salvageable and one fatal. I burned it to the ground, started over and ended up with all of 144 words for Saturday. It was frustrating, and I woke up Sunday, wondering if I’d even manage another 144 words that day. Instead? I ended up with 2,900 words total (including the 144 from Saturday). After I was in bed, I jotted down a few more. This morning, I cleaned up those and added a few more, for a total so far today of 252 words.
Since I trashed the 809 words, I’m not counting them in my total. Instead, I’ll add my weekend total -- 2,900 words -- and today’s -- 252 -- to make 13,598 words in 207 days. That’s a daily average of 65.69 words. Now to see if I can keep the writing momentum going this week. I’d love to have my WIP ready to post before I leave town this weekend.
July 29: I managed 152 words on July 27 (life kept me busy). I also wrote 362 words on July 28, along with doing some beta-ing -- and working. (Why must work always interfere with my fun?!) I have added another 445 words this morning and am hopeful I can add at least a few more before the day is done, though work is going to be busy, so it might not happen. Anyway, that brings me up to 959 words this week and 14,557 for the year -- 210 days -- and a daily average of 69.3 words. I’m probably not going to have my WIP finished before I leave town this weekend, as I had hoped, but I’m still making progress. And I’m good with that!
July 30: A quick update ... I added 385 words today. That brings me up to 14,942 words for the year -- 211 days -- and a daily average of 70.81 words.
July 31: I’m supposed to be packing to head out of town. Instead, I’m waiting for the washer to stop so I can transfer a load. Then I’ll hop in the shower and try to get out of here as early as I can. (Life happened last night -- nothing terrible, just a wrench in my schedule -- and I didn’t get anything done that I had intended in preparation for my trip. So ...) Anyway, while I wait, I added another 104 words to my WIP. That could be all I have time for today, but it’s more than I expected to get today, so ... that’s a year-to-date word total of 15,046 words and a daily word average -- in 212 days -- of 70.97. Considering my word average at the beginning of May was less than 13.6 words a day? I’m pretty pleased. My goal now is to maintain my writing momentum.
Aug. 4: This morning has been slow, writing-wise. My usually quiet house has been fairly bustling with people milling about, which really stymies my writing. But, on Aug. 3, I wrote around 302 words -- it was closer to 350, but then I edited some of it this morning and added a few more words and am counting some of the old words in today’s count. Which, so far, is 61 words. That gives me a two-day count of 363 words, a year-to-date word total of 15,409 and a year-to-date daily average of 71.337 words in 212 days. I’m frustrated that I haven’t managed more so far today, but I’m trying not to beat myself up over it, considering I’ve written around 5,000 words in just more than a week. And, hopefully, I’ll either find time later today to write more, or my house won’t be so *awake* at 7 a.m. tomorrow.
Aug. 4, updated: OK, it was a slow morning, but I seem to have made up for it during the course of the day. Including this morning’s 61 words, I now have added 609 words for today. So ... that brings me to 15,957 words for the first 212 days of the year for a daily average of 75.268 words a day. (Of course, there’s no guarantee any of those words are any good -- it’s all a bit of a daze right now -- but ... fingers crossed!)
Aug. 7: On Thursday (Aug. 5), I added 833 words. On Friday, I added 1,150 words -- and finished my WIP (well, except for any changes my beta suggests). That brings me up to a year-to-date count of 17,940 words and a daily average -- in 218 days (I may have gotten off on my day count, but I just recounted) -- of 82.29 words a day. I also wrote an entire WIP -- 7,557 words, not counting the 800+ I wrote and then trashed before starting from scratch -- in just 13 days. That’s the most words have flown easily for me in a few years, and I’m pretty thrilled with that.
Aug. 13: As of Aug. 12, I had added 368 words to my WIP, after a couple of days of more sorting of the timeline. So far today, I’ve added 430. That brings me up to a yearly total of 18,738 words and a daily average of 83.65 words in 224 days.
Aug. 16: Between Aug. 14 and 15, I added 1,155 words to my WIP. That brings my year-to-date word total up to 19,893. That gives me a daily average, in 227 days, of 87.634 words. I’m not sure what I’ll get written today, but my doc is open and my fingers crossed.
Aug. 19: I didn’t add many words Aug. 17 or 18, though I did have some good progress on sorting what I needed to fill a gaping hole in one section on the 18th (and signed up for another exchange), so I count that as progress. So far today (she says optimistically, as if there’s even a remote chance of writing more before this day is over), I have added 307 words. That brings me up to 20,200 words in 230 days, for a daily average of 87.826 words.
Aug. 22: I have added 1,826 words to my WIP in the past few days. Still a long way to go, but it feels good. That brings me up to a year-to-date word count of 22,026 words in 233 days and a daily average of 94.53 words. I would love to write more today, but I have other things on my schedule (fabric-y things) that are creative and productive, too, so ...
Aug. 23: I added 142 words to my WIP today. It’s not a lot, but it finished one scene and got me started on another, so I count that as a win. It brings my year-to-date word total up to 22,168 words in 234 days, for a daily average of 94.73 words.
Aug. 25: I added all of 27 words on Aug. 24. (I beta’d 13,000 words, though, so no self-criticism there.) Today I added 344. That gives me a yearly word total of 22,539 in 236 days and a daily average of 95.504 words. Even better, my WIP is getting longer and, while I still have quite a bit to write, I see progress.
Aug. 27: I have managed 584 words today -- most of them before 8:45 a.m. I had hoped to add more during the day, but work has interfered more than intended. Anyway, that gives me a year-to-date total of 23,123 words in 237 days and a daily average of 97.565 words. (I’ve written around 8,000 words during August!)
Aug. 28: I have written 843 words so far today. I’m hoping to add more before it’s over, but ... that brings me up to 23,966 words in 240 days. (IDK where my day count got off again. Anyway ... That gives me a daily average of 99.858 words a day. I like that average much better than the 13 words a day I had in May.
Aug. 29: I have (astoundingly) written 1,383 words today (and finished a scene!). That brings me to 25,349 words in 241 days. That’s a daily average of 105.18 words, which astounds me. I wrote so little for so long so late into this year. I was considering that this might be the year I didn’t meet my 50-word-average goal. And, yes, there is a long way to go in the year, but ... even if I don’t write another word this year, I’ve managed to beat my average. That feels good. Now to see just how high I can push my year-end average before I’m done.
Sept. 3: I have been writing daily, though I didn’t always post about it, because I wasn’t sure the words I wrote one day would survive to the next. And I was right. But I think the total of what remains of the past few days has a bit more permanence to it. So ... I can say I’ve added 783 words in the past few days. It finishes a scene in my WIP and leaves me at a good stopping point to shift gears to work on an exchange. Meanwhile, those words bring me up to 26,132 words in 246 days. That’s a daily average of 106.227 words. Onward ...
Sept. 11: It’s been a few days since I updated. In that time, my new exchange fic has turned into a doc of 2,676 words -- a few of them offered by my beta :-) -- that may or may not survive the next five weeks. Still, it brings me up to 28,808 words in 254 days so far this year. That’s a daily average of 113.417 words. I’ll take it!
Sept. 19: Despite a lack of updates, I’ve written almost every day, if only a sentence or two. And it’s hard to quantify today’s word count, because words were added here and there throughout. But the doc has climbed to 4,485 words, which means I’ve added another 1,809 words since last I updated this post. That brings my year-to-date total to 30,617 and my daily average in 261 days to 117.306 words.
Sept. 23: In the past few days, I’ve done a lot of word tweaking, which makes it hard to come up with a definitive new-word count. But my doc now has 5,479 words, which is an addition of 994 words in the past few days. That brings my year-to-date total up to 31,611 words and my daily average in 265 days to 119.286 words. I think it also means I’m done with this particular fic -- I even have a title! -- and can either move on to another new one or return to the WIP I paused to ensure I had this one done by deadline (which is still shockingly far in the future for me to be done already)! We’ll see ...
Oct. 1: Since last I updated, I’ve written 997 words. I still have quite a bit to write on my WIP, but it’s progress, however slow. It brings me up to 32,608 words in 273 days, for a daily average of 119.443 words. Onward.
Oct. 9: Words have been slow this past week. But I’ll take what I have. I have managed an even 600 words in the past eight days, for a year-to-date total of 33,208 words in 281 days. That’s a daily average of 118.177 words. It’s a slight drop from my September average, but I’m hoping to get back into the groove of my WIP soon.
Oct. 14: I haven’t yet started writing today, though I hope to do so soon. But I wanted to update this first. Between Oct. 10 and Oct. 13, I added at least 1,179 words to my WIP, bringing me up to a yearly 34,387 words in 285 days (not counting today’s 286th day). That’s a daily average of 120.656 words. I’m happy with that! Very happy! Though I don’t really have any idea how many more words my WIP will require and I’d really love to finish it in the next three weeks. We’ll see what happens.
Oct. 15: Between yesterday and today, I have managed 137 words. I’m OK with that, because they are words and because I spent today focused on mapping out my timeline for this section of my WIP. That’s progress, even if I only added 21 words to the narrative. Anyway. That gives me 34,524 words in 287 days, for a daily average of 120.29 words a day.
Oct. 17: I’ve added another 277 words. That’s 34,801 words in 290 days. (IDK where my day count messed up, but 290 it is.) That leaves me with a daily average of 120.003. Not sure how I lost ground on that one, but ... it likely has to do with the lost day. Anyway.
Oct. 26: I have added 938 words in the past nine days. Not a great amount for the time span, but it is what it is. That’s 35,799 words in 299 days, which is a daily average of 119.5 words. Still quite a bit to do on my WIP, but ... I’m getting there.
Oct. 28: I have written 587 words in the past two days. Not nearly as much as I had hoped for vacation days, yet way more than I expected when I went to check. That gives me a year-to-date total of 36,386 words and a daily average in 301 days of 120.88 words a day. I’m pleased, but I don’t think I’m going to make my hoped-for deadline in 12 days.
Nov. 14: There’s been a lot going on in the past couple of weeks. I’ve been writing, but it’s hard to quantify. Some of it involved more thinking than writing. Some of it involved reworking a section, which meant new words were created but old words were lost, and I don’t know how to say, “this is how many new words I made,” so I didn’t say. But, this weekend ... I wrote all of 79 words on Saturday (an amusing nine of them the exact same word; it was a mood:! Today? Today I’ve written 1,062 words. That makes (at least) 37,527 words in 318 days this year. That’s a daily average of 118.009 words. It’s a slight drop but, considering the words uncounted and the two weeks of unquantifiable progress, I’ll take “slight” and be happy.
Nov. 20: It’s been a rough week, but I managed 446 words today, for a weekly total of 712 words and a yearly total of at least 38,239 words. That makes a daily average in 324 days of 118.02 words. I wish it could be more. I wish I could be finished with this WIP (the end really is in sight, I think). But I’m making progress and that’s what counts.
Nov. 27: I’ve made (surprisingly) good progress the past few days. I’m not quite sure how, but ... Not including today’s efforts, I’ve added 2,061 words in the past week. Adding today’s 750 (so far) brings that total to 2,811. That’s a year-to-date total of 41,050 in 331 days and a daily average of 124.018 words. I’m so close to the end of this WIP I can almost taste it, though I also recognize I have a major scene left to write. All things considered, though, I’m rather pleased with where I am!
Nov. 28: Between adding a few more words on Nov. 27 and today (and rewriting some for which I can’t really account), I’ve added another 1,023 words to my WIP. (I really hope they’re good words!) Anyway. That brings my yearly total to 42,073 words in 332 days and my daily average to 126.725 words a day. That’s also my second-highest yearly word total, behind 2019′s 47,000+ words. I’m not sure I’ll manage to beat that before year’s end, but I’m hoping to have fun trying!
Dec. 5: Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 4, I added 330 words. So far today I’ve added another 773. That’s a total of 1,103 words to add to my year-to-date total. So I’ve now written approximately 43,176 words in 338 days. That’s a daily average of 127.739 words. More importantly, it puts me that much closer to “done” on my WIP -- though I’m definitely not counting my chickens before they hatch. At least, I’m trying really hard not to do so. (That said, I’d really love to have this WIP done and posted before the new year, so ...)
Dec. 14: I have struggled a bit the past week or so, largely because I’m down to one scene in my WIP and I have so many hopes and dreams for it that it’s feeling intimidating. But I finally have had a minor breakthrough, so I thought I’d update ... in bits and pieces since Dec. 5, I’ve added 1,592 words. That brings my year-to-date total up to 44,768 words in 348 days. That gives me a daily word average of 128.64. Which goes to prove that every little bit helps, I think.
Dec. 18: In bits and pieces since Dec. 14 -- most of them today -- I’ve managed to add 876 words to my WIP. (Which is so painfully close to being done. That is, as long as my beta doesn’t disagree.) That brings me up to 45,644 words in 352 days, for a daily average of 129.67 words. I would love to have a little less going on real-life-wise at the moment -- the holidays are always crazy -- but I’m glad I’ve managed what words I have in the time I’ve had.
Dec. 24: My goal, which kept getting pushed, was to have my WIP finished before Christmas. And, well ... I made it! I wrote 175 words on Dec. 23 and another 813 today. And my doc has two sections noted where I wrote words that didn’t get added to this post, so add in ... 271 from Dec. 19 and 818 from Dec. 7-8. That gives me a year-to-date total of 47,721 words in 358 days and a daily average of 133.298 words. I am ... pleased. Even if I don’t write another word this year, I will end the year having written an average of 130.74 words a day. It feels ... good.
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Fifty Great Classic Novels Under 200 Pages
We are now end of February, which is technically the shortest month, but is also the one that—for me, anyway—feels the longest. Especially this year, for all of the reasons that you already know. At this point, if you keep monthly reading goals, even vague ones, you may be looking for few a good, short novels to knock out in an afternoon or two. So now I must turn my attention to my favorite short classics—which represent the quickest and cheapest way, I can tell you in my salesman voice, to become “well-read.”
A few notes: This list will define “classic” as being originally published before 1970. Yes, these distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, but one has to draw the line somewhere (though I let myself fudge on translation dates). I did not differentiate between novels and novellas (as Steven Millhauser would tell you, the novella is not a form at all, but merely a length), but let’s be honest with ourselves: “The Dead” is a short story, and so is “The Metamorphosis.” Sorry! I limited myself to one book by each author, valiantly, I should say, because I was tempted to cheat (looking at you Jean Rhys).
Most importantly for our purposes here: lengths vary with editions, sometimes wildly. I did not include a book below unless I could find that it had been published at least once in fewer than 200 pages—which means that some excellent novels, despite coming tantalizingly close to the magic number, had to be left off for want of proof (see Mrs. Dalloway, Black No More, Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. etc. etc.). However, your personal edition might not exactly match the number I have listed here. Don’t worry: it’ll still be short.
Finally, as always: “best” lists are subjective, no ranking is definitive, and I’ve certainly forgotten, or never read, or run out of space for plenty of books and writers here. And admittedly, the annoying constraints of this list make it more heavily populated by white and male writers than I would have liked. Therefore, please add on at will in the comments. After all, these days, I’m always looking for something old to read.
Adolfo Bioy Casares, tr. Ruth L.C. Simms, The Invention of Morel (1940) : 103 pages
Both Jorge Luis Borges and Octavio Paz described this novel as perfect, and I admit I can’t find much fault with it either. It is technically about a fugitive whose stay on a mysterious island is disturbed by a gang of tourists, but actually it’s about the nature of reality and our relationship to it, told in the most hypnotizing, surrealist style. A good anti-beach read, if you plan that far ahead.
John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937) : 107 pages
Everybody’s gateway Steinbeck is surprisingly moving, even when you revisit it as an adult. Plus, if nothing else, it has given my household the extremely useful verb “to Lenny.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945) : 112 pages
If we didn’t keep putting it on lists, how would future little children of America learn what an allegory is? This is a public service, you see.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) : 112 pages
A people-pleaser, in more ways than one: Sherlock Holmes, after all, had been dead for years when his creator finally bent to public demand (and more importantly, the demand of his wallet) and brought him back, in this satisfying and much-beloved tale of curses and hell-beasts and, of course, deductions.
James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1933) : 112 pages
A 20th century classic, and still one of the best, most important, and most interesting crime novels in the canon. Fun fact: Cain had originally wanted to call it Bar-B-Q.
Nella Larsen, Passing (1929) : 122 pages
One of the landmarks of the Harlem Renaissance, about not only race but also gender and class—not to mention self-invention, perception, capitalism, motherhood and friendship—made indelible by what Darryl Pinckney called “a deep fatalism at the core.”
Albert Camus, tr. Matthew Ward, The Stranger (1942) : 123 pages
I had a small obsession with this book as a moody teen, and I still think of it with extreme fondness. Is it the thinking person’s Catcher in the Rye? Who can say. But Camus himself put it this way, writing in 1955: “I summarized The Stranger a long time ago, with a remark I admit was highly paradoxical: “In our society any man who does not weep at his mother’s funeral runs the risk of being sentenced to death.” I only meant that the hero of my book is condemned because he does not play the game.”
Juan Rulfo, tr. Margaret Sayers Peden, Pedro Páramo (1955) : 128 pages
The strange, fragmented ghost story that famously paved the way for One Hundred Years of Solitude (according to Gabriel García Márquez himself), but is an enigmatic masterpiece in its own right.
Italo Calvino, tr. Archibald Colquhoun, The Cloven Viscount (1959) : 128 pages
This isn’t my favorite Calvino, but you know what they say: all Calvino is good Calvino (also, I forgot him on the contemporary list, so I’m making up for it slightly here). The companion volume to The Nonexistent Knight and The Baron in the Trees concerns a Viscount who is clocked by a cannonball and split into two halves: his good side and his bad side. They end up in a duel over their wife, of course—just like in that episode of Buffy. But turns out that double the Viscounts doesn’t translate to double the pages.
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899) : 128 pages
I know, I know, but honestly, this book, which is frequently taught in American schools as an example of early feminist literature, is still kind of edgy—more than 120 years later, and it’s still taboo for a woman to put herself and her own desires above her children. Whom among us has not wanted to smash a symbolic glass vase into the hearth?
Leo Tolstoy, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) : 128 pages
Another classic—Tolstoy can do it all, long and short—particularly beloved by the famously difficult-to-impress Nabokov, who described it as “Tolstoy’s most artistic, most perfect, and most sophisticated achievement,” and explained the thrust of it this way: “The Tolstoyan formula is: Ivan lived a bad life and since the bad life is nothing but the death of the soul, then Ivan lived a living death; and since beyond death is God’s living light, then Ivan died into a new life—Life with a capital L.”
Richard Brautigan, In Watermelon Sugar (1968) : 138 pages
Brautigan’s wacky post-apocalyptic novel concerns a bunch of people living in a commune called iDEATH. (Which, um, relatable.) The landscape is groovy and the tigers do math, and the titular watermelon sugar seems to be the raw material for everything from homes to clothes. “Wherever you are, we must do the best we can. It is so far to travel, and we have nothing here to travel, except watermelon sugar. I hope this works out.” It’s all nonsense, of course, but it feels so good.
James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) : 140 pages
Another early novel on the subject of passing—originally published in 1912, then again under Johnson’s name in 1927—this one presented as an “autobiography” written by a Black man living as white, but uneasily, considering himself a failure, feeling until the end the grief of giving up his heritage and all the pain and joy that came with it.
Thomas Mann, tr. Michael Henry Heim, Death in Venice (1912) : 142 pages
What it says on the tin—a story as doomed as Venice itself, but also a queer and philosophical mini-masterpiece. The year before the book’s publication, Mann wrote to a friend: “I am in the midst of work: a really strange thing I brought with me from Venice, a novella, serious and pure in tone, concerning a case of pederasty in an aging artist. You say, ‘Hum, hum!’ but it is quite respectable.” Indeed.
Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) : 146 pages
If you’re reading this space, you probably already know how much we love this book at Literary Hub. After that excellent opening paragraph, it only gets better.
Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man (1964) : 152 pages
Isherwood’s miniature, jewel-like masterpiece takes place over a single day in the life of a middle-aged English expat (who shares a few qualities with Isherwood himself), a professor living uneasily in California after the unexpected death of his partner. An utterly absorbing and deeply pleasurable novel.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, tr. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, Notes from Underground (1864) : 154 pages
Probably the best rant ever passed off as literature. Dostoevsky's first masterpiece has been wildly influential in the development of existential and dystopian storytelling of all kinds, not to mention in the development of my own high school misanthropy. Maybe yours, too? “It was all from ENNUI, gentlemen, all from ENNUI; inertia overcame me . . .” Actually, now I’m thinking that it might be a good book to re-read in pandemic isolation.
Anna Kavan, Ice (1967) : 158 pages
The narrator of this strange and terrifying novel obsessively pursues a young woman through an icy apocalypse. You might call it a fever dream if it didn’t feel so . . . cold. Reading it, wrote Jon Michaud on its 50th anniversary, is “a disorienting and at times emotionally draining experience, not least because, these days, one might become convinced that Kavan had seen the future.” Help.
Jean Toomer, Cane (1923) : 158 pages
Toomer’s experimental, multi-disciplinary novel, now a modernist classic, is presented as a series of vignettes, poems, and swaths of dialogue—but to be honest, all of it reads like poetry. Though its initial reception was uncertain, it has become one of the most iconic and influential works of 1920s American literature.
J.G. Ballard, The Drowned World (1962) : 158 pages
Only in a Ballard novel can climate change make you actually become insane—and only a Ballard novel could still feel so sticky and hot in my brain, years after I read it in a single afternoon.
Knut Hamsun, tr. Sverre Lyngstad, Hunger (1890) : 158 pages
The Nobel Prize winner’s first novel is, as Hamsun himself put it, “an attempt to describe the strange, peculiar life of the mind, the mysteries of the nerves in a starving body.” An modernist psychological horror novel that is notoriously difficult, despite its length, but also notoriously worth it.
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956) : 159 pages
Still my favorite Baldwin, and one of the most convincing love stories of any kind ever written, about which there is too much to say: it is a must-read among must-reads.
Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (1913) : 159 pages
A mythic, proto-feminist frontier novel about a young Swedish immigrant making a home for herself in Nebraska, with an unbearably cool and modern title (in my opinion).
Françoise Sagan, tr. Irene Ash, Bonjour Tristesse (1955) : 160 pages
Sagan’s famously scandalous novel of youthful hedonism, published (also famously) when Sagan was just 19 herself, is much more psychologically nuanced than widely credited. As Rachel Cusk wrote, it is not just a sexy French novel, but also “a masterly portrait that can be read as a critique of family life, the treatment of children and the psychic consequences of different forms of upbringing.” It is a novel concerned not only with morals or their lack, but with the very nature of morality itself.
Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Sailor (1924) : 160 pages
Bartleby may be more iconic (and more fun), but Billy Budd is operating on a grander scale, unfinished as it may be.
Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) : 160 pages
Everyone’s gateway to Pynchon, and also everyone’s gateway to slapstick postmodernism. Either you love it or you hate it!
Franz Kafka, tr. Willa and Edwin Muir, The Trial (1925) : 160 pages
Required reading for anyone who uses the term “Kafkaesque”—but don’t forget that Kafka himself would burst out laughing when he read bits of the novel out loud to his friends. Do with that what you will.
Kenzaburo Oe, tr. John Nathan, A Personal Matter (1968) : 165 pages
Whew. This book is a lot: absolutely gorgeous and supremely painful, and probably the Nobel Prize winner’s most important.
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood (1936) : 170 pages
In his preface to the first edition, T.S. Eliot praised “the great achievement of a style, the beauty of phrasing, the brilliance of wit and characterisation, and a quality of horror and doom very nearly related to that of Elizabethan tragedy.” It is also a glittering modernist masterpiece, and one of the first novels of the 20th century to explicitly portray a lesbian relationship.
Yasunari Kawabata, tr. Edward G. Seidensticker, Snow Country (1937) : 175 pages
A story of doomed love spun out in a series of indelible, frozen images—both beautiful and essentially suspicious of beauty—by a Nobel Prize winner.
Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) : 176 pages
This novel, Rhys’s famous riposte to one of the worst love interests in literary history, tells the story of Mr. Rochester from the point of view of the “madwoman in the attic.” See also: Good Morning, Midnight (1939), which is claustrophobic, miserable, pointless, and damn fine reading.
George Eliot, Silas Marner (1861) : 176 pages
Like Middlemarch, Silas Marner is exquisitely written and ecstatically boring. Unlike Middlemarch, it is quite short.
Muriel Spark, The Girls of Slender Means (1963) : 176 pages
The girls of Spark’s novel live in the May of Teck Club, disturbed but not destroyed by WWII—both the Club, that is, and the girls. “Their slenderness lies not so much in their means,” Carol Shields wrote in an appreciation of the book, “as in their half-perceived notions about what their lives will become and their overestimation of their power in the world. They are fearless and frightened at the same time, as only the very young can be, and they are as heartless in spirit as they are merry in mode.” Can’t go wrong with Muriel Spark.
Robert Walser, tr. Christopher Middleton, Jakob von Gunten (1969) : 176 pages
Walser is a writer’s writer, a painfully underrated genius; this novel, in which a privileged youth runs off to enroll at a surrealist school for servants, may be his best.
Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) : 179 pages
Read for proof that Holly Golightly was meant to be a Marilyn.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958) : 181 pages
A powerful, clear-eyed, and haunting novel, which at the time of its publication was transgressive in its centering of African characters in all their humanity and complexity, and which paved the way for thousands of writers all over the world in the years to follow.
Leonard Gardner, Fat City (1969) : 183 pages
Universally acknowledged as the best boxing novel ever written, but so much more than that: at its core, it’s a masterpiece about that secret likelihood of life, if not of literature: never achieving your dreams.
N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn (1968) : 185 pages
House Made of Dawn, Momaday’s first novel, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and is often credited with ushering in the Native American Renaissance. Intricate, romantic, and lush, it is at its core about the creaking dissonance of two incompatible worlds existing in the same place (both literally and metaphysically) at the same time.
Chester Himes, If He Hollers Let Him Go (1945) : 186 pages
Himes’ first novel spans four days in the life of a Californian named Bob Jones, whose every step is dogged by racism. Walter Mosely called Himes, who is also renowned for his detective fiction, a “quirky American genius,” and also “one of the most important American writers of the 20th century.” If He Hollers Let Him Go, while not technically a detective story, is “firmly located in the same Los Angeles noir tradition as The Big Sleep and Devil in a Blue Dress,” Nathan Jefferson has written. “Himes takes the familiar mechanics of these novels—drinking, driving from one end of Los Angeles to another in search of answers, a life under constant threats of danger—and filters them through the lens of a black man lacking any agency and control over his own life, producing something darker and more oppressive than the traditional pulp detective’s story.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) : 189 pages
All my life I have wanted to scoff at The Great Gatsby. Usually, things that are universally adored are bad, or at least mediocre. But every time I reread it, I remember: impossibly, annoyingly, it is as good as they say.
Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin (1957) : 190 pages
Still one of my favorite campus novels, and short enough to read in between classes.
Charles Portis, Norwood (1966) : 190 pages
Portis has gotten a lot of (well-deserved) attention in recent years for True Grit, but his first novel, Norwood, is almost as good, a comic masterpiece about a young man traipsing across a surreal America to lay his hands on $70.
Philip K. Dick, Ubik (1969) : 191 pages
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and A Scanner Darkly have more mainstream name recognition (thank you Hollywood) but Ubik is Dick’s masterpiece, filled to the brim with psychics and anti-psis, dead wives half-saved in cold-pac, and disruptions to time and reality that can be countered by an aerosol you get at the drugstore. Sometimes, anyway.
Clarice Lispector, tr. Alison Entrekin, Near to the Wild Heart (1943) : 192 pages
Lispector’s debut novel, first published in Brazil when she was only 19, is still my favorite of hers: fearless, sharp-edged, and brilliant, a window into one of the most interesting narrators in literature.
Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962) : 192 pages
This novel is probably more famous these days for the Kubrick film, but despite the often gruesome content, the original text is worth a read for the language alone.
Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (1954) : 193 pages
Comyns is a criminally under-read genius, though she’s been getting at least a small taste of the attention she deserves in recent years due to reissues by NYRB and Dorothy. This one is my favorite, permeated, as Brian Evenson puts it in the introduction of my copy, with marvelousness, “a kind of hybrid of the pastoral and the naturalistic, an idyllic text about what it’s like to grow up next to a river, a text that also just happens to contain some pretty shocking and sad disasters.” Which is putting it rather mildly indeed.
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) : 194 pages
In 194 pages, Janie goes through more husbands than most literary heroines can manage in twice as many (and finds herself in equally short order).
Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome (1911) : 195 pages
To be honest with you, though it has been variously hailed as a masterpiece, I find Ethan Frome to be lesser Wharton—but even lesser Wharton is better than a lot of people’s best.
Joan Lindsay, Picnic at Hanging Rock (1967) : 198 pages
The mood this novel—of disappeared teens and Australian landscape and uncertainty—lingers much longer than the actual reading time.
Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop (1967) : 200 pages
“The summer she was fifteen,” Carter’s second novel begins, “Melanie discovered she was made of flesh and blood.” It is that year that she is uprooted from her home in London to the wilds of America, and it is that year she comes to term with herself. “It is often the magical, fabular aspects of Carter’s stories that people focus on, but in The Magic Toyshop I responded to the way she blended this with a clear-eyed realism about what it was to live in a female body,” Evie Wyld wrote in her ode to this novel. “In a novel so brilliantly conjured from splayed toothbrush heads, mustard-and-cress sandwiches and prawn shells, bread loaves and cutlery, brickwork and yellow household soap, the female body is both one more familiar object and at the same time something strange and troubling.”
Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com
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My prompts
So I have written some prompts that you can ask to use. I will continue to add more. The ones that have italics or look like 'this' can be anyone's dialogue. I just added it so you know it's not only one person talking. To ask, you can just request the number of the prompt/s you can ask for multiple prompts, but please don't add too many. The ones that have a period at the end of the numbers, don't mind that. That's for me to remember something. Okay, anywho, take your pick :D. Remember you don't have to request one of these, you have your own idea, that's good! I'll be happy to write it! If you have a certain gender you want the reader to be don't forget to ask! You can also request me to add prompts to the list too! Okay so here's the prompts :)
1
"Oh no."
"What is it? What happened? Who died?"
"I think I just felt an emotion."
"You have GOT to be kidding me."
2
"Excuse me. I have to go make a scene."
3
"They're like a hurricane in human form."
4
"Fix it."
"It's a ransom note: I don't care about grammar!"
"There is no excuse for bad grammar."
5
"What does the little blinking light mean?"
"It means... wait blinking light?"
6
"What letter comes after 's' in the alphabet?
"T?"
"Ooh, yes please!"
7
"Why is there a magical portal in the bathtub?!"
8
"I love you from the bottom of my heart, but I don't trust your cooking. Stay out of my kitchen."
9
"We can't have a crisis- my schedule is already full..
10
"How long have you been standing there?
"Longer than you'd like."
11
"Small fire! I said to set a small fire! This is not small!"
12
"I want to go home."
"And I want to go to the moon. It ain't happening, sweetheart. Time to accept that."
13
"It's really not that complicated."
14
"Close the door."
15
"It's three in the morning."
16
"Why are you helping me?"
17
"Just trust me."
18
"What are you thinking about?"
19
"Someday you'll thank me for kidnapping you?"
20
"Who sent you here?"
"I wasn't sent here... if anything, it was an accident."
"Made by whom?"
"Myself, I suppose."
"You sent yourself here on accident?"
"Well, I certainly didn't come here on purpose..."
21
"I just want to be happy."
22
"Can I sleep over? My parents are fighting again."
23
"Why won't you let me help you?!"
24
"You know we make a pretty good team."
25
"You're a horrible liar."
26
"You're freezing. Come here."
27
"I'm saying that because I care about you!
28
"Sing me a song please.
29
"I can explain./!"
30
"Come here."
31
"The real treasure was the memories we made along the way."
"I almost died!"
"Ah yes, that was my fondest memory."
32
"They're crying, what do I do?"
"Go comfort them."
"How do I do that?"
"Start with hugs."
"With what?"
33
"Somehow you don't even have to open your mouth to make my head hurt."
34
"Stop waking me up in the middle of the night."
35
"Any shorter and you'd probably fade out of existence."
36
"I fixed you breakfast. I know it's just a bowl of cereal, but it's the only thing I can't burn."
37
"You just gave off the impression that you want to murder everyone you look at."
38
"It's not my birthday."
"It's definitely your birthday."
"Give me a calendar and I will prove it to—oh. Never mind. Happy birthday to me."
39
"Bold of you to assume I wouldn't just summon a trans-dimensional entity to help me avoid all my problems."
40
"I'm not human. I never was. So, why are you expecting me to act like one?
41
"Everything here can kill you, but I can do it most efficiently."
42
"They took my wallet. Yes, just my wallet. Well.... maybe my passport too."
43
"I don't think of you as a protector. More like a friend."
44
"You deserved that."
45
"Shh, shh. You were dreaming."
46
"I won't leave you behind."
47
"You should be in bed."
48
"What's our exit strategy?"
"Our what?"
"Oh my god, we are all going to die."
49
"Oh my god, you're taking up the whole bed."
50
"I could keep you safe, they're all afraid of me."
51
"I trusted you!"
52
"I know your secret."
"You're gonna have to be more specific there, buddy. Which one? I have a lot of skeletons in my closet."
53
"Who gave you that black eye?!"
54
"Everyone keeps telling me your bad guy."
55
"Why? Because I don't want you to get hurt, that's why!"
56
"You're scared of that, aren't you?"
57
"Come on, when have my calculations ever been wrong?"
"Well-"
"Shut up, that was one time."
58
"Enjoying the view, sunshine?"
59
"While I do enjoy the silent treatment, I wasn't aware I had done anything to you."
60
"I think that's enough."
61
"They deserved it."
62
"What... is this?"
63
"You can't be serious!"
64
"I'm not sorry!"
65
"Who are you?"
"Oh sweetheart, I'm your worst nightmare."
"Wait a minute. Your that guy that tripped over my shoes on the bus this morning and said thank you-"
66
"Just because I'm helping you doesn't mean I care, your death would be a minor inconvenience. That's all."
67
"You owe me."
68
"Don't make me come in there."
69
"Don't touch me."
70
"That wasn't funny."
71
"I am fully convinced you never graduated kindergarten."
72
"Am I doing it right?"
73
"For God's sake! Who have you killed now?"
74
"Do you even know how to fly this thing?"
"Normally, I'd lie and say yes, but considering the fact that I almost flew us into that building, I'm going to assume you know the answer."
75
"What are you doing?! Don't eat it!"
76
"Feel free to admire me."
77
"You're insane!"
"I know! Isn't it great?"
78
"You don't know a thing."
79
"The truth is I never loved you."
80
"Is this a game to you?"
81
"Stop yelling at me."
"I'm not yelling at you! I'm just... being abnormally projective in the vocal region!"
"Otherwise known as yelling..."
82
"Don't ever forget me. Please?"
83
"I screwed up."
84
"You're my regret."
85
"No, sir. I am not underestimating the kidnappers. YOU are understanding my grandmother."
86
"Stay away from the llama."
87
"No one visits my grave anymore... wait. I don't even have a grave!"
88
"Tuna shamed."
89
"Well, I can scratch that off my bucket list."
"Who puts getting arrested on their bucket list?!"
90
"I-I can't stop it. I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, it's okay. Just breathe.
You don't have to be sorry for anything. I got you."
91
"What am I supposed to tell my parents? 'Hi mom and dad, I ,snuck out past curfew, almost died, discovered I can teleport, and now I'm joining a gang of superheroes.'"
"Maybe don't use the word 'gang'."
"You think that's the part they'll have the most trouble with?!"
92
"Give me the wallet or I shoot."
"No."
"What do you mean no? I'm serious, I will shoot you."
"Let me repeat myself. No."
"Um... okay I guess."
"Aren't you going to shoot me?"
"I don't know. This hasn't happened before."
"Well, until you do, wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm starving."
93
"Watch me."
94
"I thought you were dead."
95
"You're never going to let that go, are you?"
96
"Was that supposed to hurt?"
97
"You have to leave right now."
98
"I love you."
99
"I hate you.
100
"I didn't catch your name."
"I didn't throw it."
101
"How long has it been since you last ate something?"
102.
"No, don't look at me!"
103.
"How many marshmallows can you eat?"
104
"Why did you kick so much in your sleep? Are you constantly dreaming about soccer?"
105
"Destroying lives, one person at a time."
106
"Why exactly do you need chloroform at 2am.
107
"Just breathe."
108.
"STOP EATING MY LASAGNA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"
109.
"I don't understand why you should feel the urge to do that."
110.
"I trust you."
"Wow, that incredibly... stupid of you."
111
"You broke my heart and all you can say is sorry?"
112
"You can't really blame me can you? You can only blame yourself."
113.
"You keep painting me as the villain."
"Because you are the villain."
114.
"Who could ever love someone like you?"
115
"I never stood a chance, did I?"
"That's the sad part - you did once."
116
"I've missed this."
117.
"Who are you to tell me how to live my life?"
118.
"Are you going to yell at me too? I guess I do deserve it."
119
"I don't want to have another surgery."
120.
"Quit touching the IV."
121
"I was going to say something mean about them, but decided against it."
122
"How do you like raisins? How do you feel about a date?"
123.
"Are you going to stand there or are you going to kiss me? I'm tired of lying to my diary."
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Analysis of The Real Jake (SPOILERS)
I can't decide whether to make this post a stream-of-consciousness style or group it into evidence for x... but since it's easier, I'll just write my thoughts as I go. Although a lot of this is factual ties to, say, FNAF 4, things like relating Margie to Henry are just my own headcanon and you can do with that what you will AKA don't take this all too seriously, but have fun with it. There’s also specific notes about Michael Afton, for those that just want to know what was said regarding him (presumably).
Before I start, please note I've had three hours of sleep in the last... 28 hours? IDK I can't math, especially not on this little sleep. So, there may be errors. I tried to make a note on things I was unsure about, too.
Note: I wrote this before the Evan=CC theory was all but confirmed. Although I believe this theory from the logbook, I think a lot of these notes are still valid.
Read my notes under the cut:
Margie shares similar physical appearance to Henry: Pg 84 “The window fan blew a lock of her shoulder-length brown hair across her upper lip so it looked like she had a mustache.”
“Mrs. Afton” stand in is mentioned: Pg 86 “...it had been four years since his Mom had died...” (Jake is 9 in the story)
I notice when Scott mentions plaid. Pg 87 “...a green-and-blue plaid plush chair...” I mostly wanted to note this since canonically, Henry had a green plaid shirt.
“William” stand in is mentioned. Pg 89 “And you know he thinks about you [Jake] all the time?” “So, he has to concentrate on what he's doing... ...I don't want him thinking about me and end up shooting himself in the foot or something.” Pg 102 “Yeah, I did. [I spilled some chocolate ice cream] Right on my shirt!” Pg 122 “I did that today! [While playing a DDR like game, breaking a shoelace.]” (Admittedly, I only counted these because I headcanon William is much more of a bumbling fool than he appears. It comes up very often as you can see... although you could write it off as Evan just trying to relate to his kid.)
“William” stand in is mentioned. Pg 92 “...Margie was pretty sure Evan couldn't afford to replace a washer and dryer” and “...Evan, at his rank, could barely afford her” Pg 110 “Gillian's house shared stlying with Evan's, but hers was probably four times bigger.” (Again, I headcanon William and his family is on the low end of middle class, if not lower, in terms of income. Particularly, the house is cramped.)
“Mrs. Afton” stand in is mentioned. Pg 93 “First, Jake's Mom was killed.” Pg 139 “The mom's dead.” (You could infer that she died via something akin to a car crash in the context of the story, however if you reflect it to the games given the commonalities, I like to think of this as confirmation that William murdered her, given the word 'killed' is used.)
Margie records herself on her cell phone. Pg 93 (and on other pages) (Again referencing my headcanon for Henry, in which he records ideas/diaries often. At minimum, Henry is referred to as “Cassette Man” in PizzaSim so... I just thought it could make for an interesting comparison.)
Jake mentions his “friends”. Pg 99 “Patty and Davey... Vic... and the twins... Ellie and Evie... Kyle, Clay, and Garrett” (Also, he isn't mentioned until later, but there's his best friend Brandon, too. I noted these in reference to CC talking about his 'friends', either IRL or the plushies. I assume his IRL friends are the MCI victims. The number doesn't add up though. I really, really wanted to make a connection about the twins, considering Charlie and Sammy are twins, but there wasn't enough evidence to write it off as anything other than a coincidence. Also... Clay, really? We need another double name in this series? Ugh.)
What's your favorite flavor? Chocolate Pg. 102 “What flavor did you get?” “Chocolate. Duh.” (This is a stretch, but it did remind me of Help Wanted's final level in the main game, where you're asked to choose your favorite cake flavor. Although, they're discussing ice cream here.)
Maybe some insight into William's personality? Pg. 103 “You ever do that, Evan?” “What?” “Let off steam.” “Me? No. Steam is pretty much what keeps me going.” (Just more evidence that William is obsessed with his work. You could imply “steam” implies he runs like a machine, but that's stretching a bit.)
Pg. 113 -118 (Jake climbs out of his window to run off to play at the arcade with his friend. Obvious parallel to the child in Midnight Motorist, although it's daytime and no animatronics/fursuits luring him.) There is this, on Pg 121 also. Jake says, “We played all the racing games. I love racing games.”
PURPLE Pg 121 “...did you get a slushie at the arcade? I got one. I got grape. It turned my tongue purple.” “My tongue's purple, too!” “Purple power!” (Uh, do I really need to explain this? I should note that Evan is the one mentioning “grape”. I guess William likes grape flavor and purple.)
'Michael' is mentioned. Sort of a stand in for Michael Afton, but it should be noted that Michael and Evan are brothers in this universe. Pg 126, 127 “Michael...lived in Europe for a few years...” “Michael's a serious dude. He's, well, a little different. He's intense about making money...the way he is about it... can make him seem like he's not human.” “So, he's like a cyborg with bad programming?” Michael has some dialogue: “You must excersize caution. You could get chocolate on my suit, and that would be bad. Very, very bad.” (The very very bad thing is a running joke in the family, which is why this comes up. I don't have a lot to say about it, though. I think Michael [Afton] being obsessed with money seems a bit counter intuitive to how we know him, but who knows? I also want to note that Evan doesn't seem antagonistic towards Michael; in fact, he “hate[s] to ask him for favors”.)
Also, Pg 141 “His [Michael's] flat, gruff voice was unmistakable.” Michael is also the first one to hear his father is dead and informs Margie about it. “I have been notified that Evan's dead.” Pg 142 “She had only met Michael the one time, and she knew the way he processed the world was very different from what was “normal”” Michael also states to Margie: “I've got Evan's will... you're Jake's guardian and he left you the house and some savings. I'm the executor.” Margie also says: “He[Michael]'s a numbers genius, manages money for the wealthy people and has made a killing doing it.” “He's not a bad guy. He just doesn't know how to connect. He doesn't feel the way we do.” (Just more Michael characterization.)
Direct FNAF 4 easter egg references: Pg 128 “...the IV stand lurking in the corner of the room” Pg 129 “...and the line of perscription medication bottles marching across the top of the chest of drawers”
Margie is more than a nanny and possibly in love with Evan: Pg. 139 “She'd come to love Evan, too... like a brother.” Pg 140 “...she was included in the outings, movie nights, game nights, and storytelling time...” Pg 149 “...she wanted Evan to be more than just a boss, and being in his room when he was gone made her feel like a lovelorn stalker.” “Love him like a brother... She snorted. Boy, had she been lying to herself.” Pg 158 “What she was feeling called for a screaming fit or a total mental breakdown.” (Yeah, this is just me reading too much into this for Willry content, haha... But still. I am determined that Margie is a Henry stand-in.)
'I will put you back together' Pg 140 “I'm trying to bring you home whole.” (Evan is discussing “no man left behind” with his son, Jake. I think this is obvious.)
William's home office? Pg. 149 “When he was home, she'd go in and vacuum or put away laundry... ...when he was gone...coming in here felt like an invasion of privacy.” “Evan's room would be her room.” “...I'd feel like I was sleeping in your bed, she thought.” “...the room felt discretely masculine.” “The walls were covered in family photos.” “The shelves were stuffed with fiction... mysteries to classics, nonfiction... how-to books...from rebuilding a car engine to planting a garden.”
FNAF 4 reference. Pg 152 “Outside, a dog barked.” (You can hear a dog barking as ambient noise during nights when playing FNAF 4.)
Other notes:
It happens a lot, but one of the main things in the book is the doll Simon and how Jake talks to it. This is very blatantly a reference to the Golden Freddy Plush (“Psychic Friend Fredbear”). The story confirms it's Jake's father, Evan, talking through it. Although it makes the one scene in FNAF 4 a little wonky (the only scene where we see Purple Guy), I think it's pretty much confirmed that it's William talking to CC now. Obviously, we already suspected this due to Sister Location's “Secret Room”. In this story, Evan says he did it because he wanted to give Jake some hope he would live. Combined with both the IV/medicine bottle easter eggs (in the story and FNAF 4) I think it's plausible to assume that CC was taken home after the Bite of '83 for a period of time before he passed away. I will admit, also, that Evan definetly comes off as a very caring father (in comparison to how we presume William is based on what we've seen of him as a person; although I argued this before on this blog, I don't think William hates his kids. I think he's neglectful, moreso as the story goes on. I think he resents Michael for many reasons but I won't go into that here. I just don't think he's the abusive monster the fanbase interprets him to be—at least not early on.)
The cabinet reminds me a lot of the closets in the novel series. A built in shelf with a doll in it. A doll that represents a child. Considering Margie tends to this doll (see Pg. 130-135), I have to draw more parallels between her and Henry.
The fan is mentioned A LOT. I don't really know why, but I guess we can't help but think of every single FNAF office when it's brought up. Specifically, on Pg. 106, Margie mentions the fan in her room is as loud as a jet engine and the sound made her nervous. Once again, I'm reminded of PizzaSim. Seriously, screw you fan.
The heat is mentioned a lot, too. I know the story takes place in summer, but this did remind me of Pizza Sim.
Pg. 93 “Margie sat down in the faded blue webbed lawn chair that was set up, for reasons she never understood, in front of the shelves by the stairs.” (I noted this because it's specifically called out and I don't know why.)
Margie talks about why she's working for Evan: Pg. 95 “I didn't get the internship I applied for.” I like to think her and Mia (from 1280) were after the same internship. (I may be misremembering, but I'm pretty sure Mia mentioned an internship at the hospital.)
Jake is mentioned to have brown hair, green eyes. His favorite color is green. He also wears green often. I couldn't find anything really interesting about it. It would make more sense as a Puppet reference, tbh (because of the green bracelet (and eyes? I may be remembering wrong) I guess it's also worth noting that Elizabeth has green eyes.
Pg 135 “Are you afraid people will think you're murdering me?” “...I could end you so quickly you'd never make a sound.” (Just an odd conversation between Jake and Margie. Margie is joking here, obviously.) Also, Pg. 136 “I just figured your [Jake's] wires got crossed or your circuits were frying.” (Admittedly, I don't know what to make of this. Could be a reference to Robot-CC, if you believe that or MikeBot [I don't], but more likely just ironic dialogue. It could also reference Jake's future in the Stichwraith?)
Pg 139 “Sometimes, Margie wished she was like one of the robots Jake liked so much.” (Although I can't really compare this to Henry, I did write William with this mindset and thought it was worth mentioning.)
Pg 141+ So, Evan dies overseas (he's a soldier). (I think this could be hinting that William has been springlocked around the time CC passes away. Jake has been home for some time after his diagnosis so we can infer based on that and the easter eggs that CC was brought home to die in peace. At the very least, William's probably very absent during this time. Possibly brought in for questioning but not arrested. I don't know. I feel like there's something to this.)
Pg 154 “Dave's at work.” (Why? Can we not use established names? Aghhh)
Pg 155 “The ambulance arrived at 11:32.” (I don't know why this is stated so outright. I couldn't find a reason, except that a few paragraphs earlier they say it will arrive by noon. I don't know why it's so specific, but I felt like noting it anyway.)
Pg 159 “Five people. Five sets of eyes. And none of them noticed...” (Yeah. We all know how important 5 is in FNAF.)
Three medical personel are mentioned. One at the end is named Nancy [No Last Name Given], but I like to think its a reference to Man in 1280 and we're dealing with Heracles Hospital once more, although it's never said in this story. Speaking of, the only thing that really stood out to me in 1280's story was that a billionare funded the restoration of the hospital. I like to headcanon that was Henry's doing—I imagine him obscessing over overcompensating for his mistakes by giving back in every way possible, even if it isn't directly related to him.
So, this post only took two hours of my life. I hope someone gets some use out of it, be it for my intended Willry purposes or maybe those Michael fans that are curious about it. If you enjoyed this post, let me know. I'd love to write up more of these if I have the time.
I have other write-ups on this blog, too. Just search fnaf theories on my blog page!
#fazbear frights#spoilers#blackbird#the real jake#michael afton#william afton#henry emily#crying child#willry#helliam#fnaf 4#five nights at freddy's#fnaf#fan theory#fnaf theories#fnaf theory
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