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wymack has so many absolutely golden moments but this one is definitely among the top 5 for me. he is so SICK of these guys walking around in the same three dusty musty fits

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if this doesn't illustrate the perfect exchange between these four people

kevin: (main character speech)

neil: (fast-tracking a fellow character's healing process)

jean: (dramatic declarations of murder-suicide)

andrew: (laconic, uninterested, the sole english-speaker amidst a flurry of french)

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i think the moment when renee gives jean her cross necklace is crazy underrated. jean will never really be religious person again but it’s not really about that. it’s renee placing her faith in his hands—not her faith in religion, but her faith in him. i believe in you, she’s saying to him, i believe that you will survive this. and jean, when she leaves, counts to two: a cool evening breeze. rainbows. because renee also taught him How to survive, at first—not to serve, but to live. survive not to benefit anyone else, but for the sake of being in this world. survive to live and to be loved. the necklace is a reminder not of renee who is a bad person trying very hard to be a good person, but of renee who thought life was over in her teens and needed someone else to help pull her from the bootstraps. it’s one of the first moments in jean’s story when someone tells him they believe he will survive, that he will be okay. everyone else has been telling him he Must survive and what else he Must do in order to make that happen—always an order, always a command, because they know he will submit to those things. renee just tells him i believe you can do this, and if you have trouble believing that yourself, borrow my faith. and it makes me fucking crazy!

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I just finished reading Talking at Night which people have compared to One Day. It was a ‘right person wrong time’ story that follows two people as they come in and out of each others lives. It’s kind of melancholy and beautiful? Should I read one day??

i’ve heard of that! my friend recommended it a couple years ago when i was looking for a good romance. never got around to reading it but perhaps i will this year. but yes to one day! it’s expertly written and craft aside, it’s just a very very compelling story. i also 100% encourage showing the show Before reading the book. u could start go movie -> show -> book but honestly the movie doesn’t hold a candle to the other two formats. sorry anne hathaway!

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They deserve a good nap 😴

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started re reading aftg and every weird specific detail is like a bullet to the chest, what do you mean exy court is as big as a soccer field? what do you mean this teenager enrolled in school and NOBODY HAS EVER SEEN HIS PARENTS EVER???? what do you mean theyre twins but they’ve just met recently wtf?? oh and dont forget one of them is SA victim of course WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY ARE FIVE FEET NOTHING???? and by the way hes ginger because hes the main character OBVIOUSLY

like this book is just vibes man, like can you really explain the plot to ANYONE??

one of the players is an ex-heiress who still uses some of her parents' connections bc despite her cattiness she is still lovable. wdym another player comes from a gang in which she killed people—not to be confused with the main character who is from a gangster family and has seen people be killed. what do you mean kevin is a person that exists in that world. like Huh. wdym andrew stands against the ravens' ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY goals and only lets in nine. wdym he told aaron no girlfriends and aaron said okay because it meant it would be him&andrew and that was fine even if they didn't like each other or care about each other because it would be him and his twin brother. wdym neil is the fastest exy character in the entire series and yet aaron was faster. what if i fucking kill someone

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one day (the book) is so masterfully written im always amazed by the depth and nuance to the characters, their distinct voices, the ease with which nicholls changs pov—sometimes within the same scene, same paragraph— and it's never unclear whose thoughts you're reading, the smooth flow of dialogue. on a simple craft level, i'm enchanted

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watercolor and ink sketch. 4.75" x 6". for sale.

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Don't FUCKING argue with me. "Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag. He didn't want the nicotine; he wanted the acrid smoke that reminded him of his mother." Is a fucking dynamite intro!! Is it edgy as fuck? Yeah. So? Is it hella melodramatic? Probably. So? Is it bad writing? Motherfucking NO! It's damn near expert level execution of several writing principles!

Who is the story about? First two words, next question.

Catch the reader's attention as soon as possible? "Why the fuck is he wasting a cigarette?" Intrigue successfully demanded, next question.

Raise questions that will keep the reader hanging long enough to have answered? "Why the fuck does acrid smoke trigger his mommy issues?" + "Wait it's because he burned her corpse??" Many many more questions raised + blind sided reader via preconceived expectations being subverted, next question.

Character establishing moment? What other characters use for physical and emotional regulation, he uses to fucking reminisce and wallow in his feelings, next question.

Set the tone for the rest of the story? Edgy, melodramatic, and emotionally gut wrenching, NEXT. FUCKING. QUESTION!

The Muses asked Nora to roll for Hook and she rolled a nat 20 five times in a row in 30 words or less. Hook, Line, and motherfucking Sinker bitches

Some of y'all need to stop ragging on AFTG's writing and start using it as a fucking case study cus this shit has the addiction capacity of heroine and god help the goddamn saltine cracker throwing stones

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Ayo Edebiri on her first kiss for W Magazine

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HOOKED RUG WITH HEARTS AND TWO CATS, 1940-50 / Rare Antique American Flags

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some people have gotten on me for calling aftg realistic and honestly i stand by it because i feel like we have to look at the whole picture of the narrative in general, not just individual components. is mafia realistic. no. is exy realistic. no. is a lot of the worldbuilding realistic. not at all. however, the overarching point of the book is extremely real and human, and i think that's why it resonates with so many people, exy + urban fantasy aside - it's about overcoming trauma realistically, or not being able to overcome it at all. it's about nuanced, complicated dynamics and yes, it feels like they're constantly in on something you don't know about, but i feel like that's part of the magic. just like every other character in the book, the reader has to get close to them through sheer determination, and learn their way around them, which is why on the rereads, it becomes more and more apparent. immersive reading experience. does anyone have any idea how difficult this is to do.

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AYO EDEBIRI SNL50: The Anniversary Special (Feb 16, 2025)