kal-down

[kal-down]

I get what youre saying about mafia, but fiction is fiction, and sometimes tropes and settings are used just for simple enjoyment without caring about the real world implications.

Milions of people have died in wars, middle ages or not, yet each fantasy story has them, because its good to read about it - in fiction. Its fun and full of anticipation and building tenstion.

Mafia has become just that, a romantised version far from the original. As long as we keep in mind that its different, I don't see problem with enjoying stories like that, to certain extent.

Fiction may be fiction, but it has responsibilities too. In this case, how mafia has consistently being portrayed in media has heavily influenced how it is perceived. Wars have been and will be used as a narrative source of drama/tension, but people know wars are horrible and plenty of books/movies show how horrible wars are.

In the case of mafia, there is so much content romanticised and glorifying it while not nearly enough to show the reality of things. Also, war is universal. Mafia is more specific to a country, so having non Italian people writing about Italian mafia knowing nothing about it and making it seem so cool is... well.

Do I aknowledge how the idealised/romanticised portrayal of mafia in fiction is just a trope often used for enjoyment purposes? Yes. But it doesn't make it less problematic. And, aside of making my skin crawl, seeing mafia being romanticised as an italian feels vile. Don't get me started on the mafia romance stories.

[kal-down]

Brief vent, because I have to get this thing off my chest. As an italian, I hate when any form of media romanticizes mafia. Especially italian mafia.

I see people drooling over male LIs that are criminals, I see a crimial family being idealised because they are so protective and loving, the concept of honor and pride. And then I think about all the families, shops, lifes destroyed by mafia. About the terror that makes people keep their lips shut about the evil that corrupts our country. About the numerous attacks against the magistrates, judges, prosecutors when the State dared to bring mafia to trial.

Do you know what mafia is famous for in italy? Melting a child in acid. After two years of captivity. To send a message to all the ex mafia members who, like his father, started collaborating with the police.

Absolutely nothing is romantic about mafia.

[kal-down]

The Chosen One - status

I feel so bad for setting aside The Chosen One like I did... I regret deleting most of the asks and content I had on it. I obviously have them saved, but for anyone wanting to discover more about the game or simply browse the (very) old asks and progress, it's not possible anymore.

I debated whether to create another separate blog just for TCO. To keep things tidy and give it back the space, even if little, it deserved. To share some old snippets I had deleted, some scenarios with Rascia (who I still love dearly as a character).

Musings and regrets aside, I want to thank everyone who rated, played and enjoyed the game❤ It was my first ever IF and despite the current hiatus of the project, it was what brought me to the author that I am now.

You can play the first chapter HERE if you haven't already!

[kal-down]

[ask game for writers]

as someone that writes, i know there are a lot of questions i wish people asked about my writing; and i know that this isn’t unique to me. so, to hopefully get these cute lil book club convos going, i created an ask game! category is ✨ bipoc authors ✨

angelou ⇢ which of your characters do you relate to the most?

butler ⇢ is there a character you wish you could develop further?

coates ⇢ how would you describe [character]?

diaz ⇢ what themes do you tend to use the most?

edugyan ⇢ which of your stories is the most personal to you?

gyasi ⇢ easiest & hardest stories to write?

ffitch ⇢ do you choose titles before or after writing?

hughes ⇢ how did you pick [story] title?

ishiguro ⇢ which story was the hardest to title?

jemisin ⇢ what is your favorite AU to write?

kim ⇢ what AUs do you want to try and/or write more of?

lalami ⇢ where do you draw inspiration from?

morrow ⇢ what song is the "soundtrack" to [story]?

ng ⇢ what time of day do you usually write the most?

orange ⇢ do you write more with pen/paper or laptop/mobile?

park ⇢ how do you combat writer's block?

quintero ⇢ do you write with music on or off?

reyes ⇢ what part of writing is your speciality?

sutanto ⇢ what part of writing have you improved in the most?

tahir ⇢ what part of writing do you want to get better at?

usami ⇢ do you have any pet peeves related to writing?

van allsburg ⇢ how many WIPS do you have?

walker ⇢ quote one of your favorite lines you've written.

xiu ⇢ what is the last story you read (on tumblr)?

yoon ⇢ what are some of your favorite stories (on tumblr)?

zevin ⇢ who are your tumblr writer crushes?

[kal-down]

Best pizza toppings?

Currently craving some sort of spicy honey type...

Fav ones in no particular order

Pineapple, Ham and a butload of spicy sauce (your choice)

Canned tuna and canned tangerine (the ratio is hard to get but it's crazy insane good). Also what I'd like to call the Surf of the Hawaiian Turf.

Pickled Cèpes (a mushroom)

Four season: artichoke, bell peppers, ham/prosciutto, olives, mushroom, basil (yes that is more than four seasons, blame climate change)

Just a good margherita

Cheese. A whole burrata on top of a tomato base. Or a bunch of different cheese (gorgonzola my beloved)

sorry @kal-down

[kal-down]

it feels like society is becoming increasingly prudish? the way the naked body is sexualised now is bizarre and makes me feel uncomfortable.

[kal-down]

Announcing the Anti-Romance Jam, an exploration of all the messy spaces and sensations that exist against and around romance! From May 14 - July 14, 2023, submissions will be open for creations centered on anti-romance: what it is, what it does to us, and how we do things to it.

For the purposes of this jam, we invite you to think of anti-romance as a spectrum and a series of questions:

Is anti-romance the opposite of romance, its absence, or something else entirely? Are these things mutually exclusive?

Can anti-romance coexist with romance? Must it? How?

If music be the food of love, what feeds (or devours) anti-love?

Who does anti-romance look like?

Is anti-romance a resistance, subversion, or reclamation? 

How does it do what it does?

What's 🎶 love 🎶 got to do — got to do with it?

Sign up on itch.io | Full list of rules under the cut; feel free to reach out with any questions!

The Anti-Romance Jam welcomes:

Solo- and team-created submissions

 All kinds of games, art, and other media are encouraged 

Including but not limited to: interactive & kinetic/dynamic fiction or poetry; visual novels; TTRPGs; academic essays; zines; scripts; fiction; visual art; etc.

NSFW content with appropriate content warnings included

Previously published work

Revisiting an old flame is encouraged, so long as there is something new (edits, expansions, etc.) involved

The Anti-Romance Jam DOES NOT welcome:

Spam entries - all submissions must be related to anti-romance in some way

Hateful content

The jam will open for submissions at midnight on 14 May 2023 and will close on 14 July 2023 (CST; please check above for your local timezone).

[kal-down]

Coming back from my slumber to see this. Anon. I'm gonna throw hands for Manon. (Btw TTT was so relaxing to play, I really liked it!)

Kindly stop being a dick to IF authors. We write and code and mantain blogs for free. We share out projects knowing we will get next to nothing back, save for the enjoyment of some readers. And that's fine, for most of us it's more than enough.

But, really, being rude and outright offensive on anon to authors is vile. Shame on you.

HAHAHA! Even the pros of IF knew it. YOU ARE JUST A MEDIOCRE WRITER! You deserved more 1s actually.

Yup. My entry was deemed mediocre/middle of the pack. Some thing went right, some thing didn't. But the feedback I've gotten will help me get better and better :)

[kal-down]

Oof I missed so much! If anyone has a moment to spare, please share (through an ask or a comment) all the new amazing Arthurian IFs for my list <3

[kal-down]

Other chosen one protagonists: come from a poor background. Travel light. Sleep rough or pay for the less expensive inn in town.

Kal's Chosen One: is accustomed to linen and silk, sleeps in very rich tents provided by the Academy or in the best inn in town (it's all founded by the King anyway)

[kal-down]

I also realized something as I was thinking about TCO again. MC's reaction to magic is, for all intents and purposes, a disability - though a chronic condition that no one else has and that next to no one aknowledges despite it being very invalidating.

Rascia's colourblindness is a disability that is almost equally overlooked, since it only exists in Kaeh and it affects relatively few people.

All of this to say that MC and Rascia have many parallelisms as characters.

[kal-down]

Kal: "I've got my motivation back, it's time to continue The Chosen One"

Also Kal, while looking at the World doc of the second chapter: "... damn, I forgot how to write in italian."

[kal-down]

you're so cool and inspiring

[kal-down]

Aww, thank you for the tag @dakotawritesif @zorlok-if and @absentia-if 💞

I'll tag my beautiful wife @jaunefleurwrites, soulmate @ascendance-if and chaotic bestie @cova111

was tagged by @magiciansvoyage for this very fun trend of making yourself in this picrew!!!!! ^ o ^ Thank you Arlo!!!!!!

ft. som quick little edits because i like my hair and piercing :)

tagging (tho you do not have to do it if you do not want to - but arlo made their gay wizard self and they are Pretty Cool Looking so it is fun to do -) @thirtybythirty @todays-lessons-if @awildhaunter @acourtofserpents @solangewrite @legend-of-a-savior-if @dakotawritesif @olivewrites-if @kalorphic and all various friends who would like to do it!!!!! >:3c say i tagged u!!!!!

also in advance for those who have already been tagged; thank u for being patient w me bwahaha

[kal-down]

i'm literally the worst at texting back (on any social media) i'm so sorry to anyone who ever DMed me anywhere

[kal-down]

Yeah I was going through a list of if recommendations and there were so many that I used to follow that just don’t exist anymore 😭 it kind of makes me sad but I hope all those authors are doing ok

Me too! I just hope they're well and taking care of themselves!

[kal-down]

I was just now scrolling through the list of IF blogs I follow and the sheer amount of inactive ones for more than 6 months is making me so sad... at the same time, IFs are a huge amount of work and I completely understand lacking the energy to work on them or even manage the Tumblr blog.