#//I'm not big on the recent uses of the character but I love that imagery of the classic Owl-suit with the skull

[beware-the-owlman]

Dark Nights: Death Metal: Multiverse’s End #1

[delicatebarness]

winters widow | chapter viii

Summary: After Lord James' revelation, there isn't much more time before the wedding. However, someone in the realm has other plans for House Barnes' big day.

Warning: Arranged Marriage. Implied Sexual Assault and Violence. Disturbing Imagery. Emotional Distress. Mentions of Physical Restraint.

Word Count: 1836

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A/N: I'm back, adding more trauma into my character's lives. - Please feel free to leave feedback or let me know where and how you want the story to continue, this is just as much yours as mine. - B

Winter’s Widow: @lanabuckybarnes | @sapphirebarnes | @sebastians-love | @mrsnikstan | @learisa | @railmesebstan | @mishkatelwarriorgoddess | @barnesxstan | @ghalouha | @mrsstuckyboo | @g-nobody | @mishidrish

Everything: @hallecarey1 | @pattiemac1 | @uhmellamoanna | @scraftsku35 | @ozwriterchick | @sapphirebarnes | @rach2602 | @thetorturedbuckydepartment

With the recent revelation of Lord James’ true feelings, your hearts brimmed with a renewed sense of joy and anticipation as the wedding approached. Every waking moment was filled with preparations and each task was imbued with the excitement of the life you would lead as Lady Barnes. 

About a month and a half before the wedding, on one crisp morning, you found yourself mulling over the details of the wedding’s feast. You had been presented with several options from the kitchen staff for the menu, and you were particularly taken with a few dishes. Unable to come to a definite conclusion, you decided to seek Lord James’ opinion directly. 

With a basket of sample dishes in hand, you made your way to the council chambers. As you approached the large wooden doors, you hesitated briefly, hearing the low murmur of voices inside. With a deep breath, you pushed the doors open and stepped into the room. The eyes of the council members turned to you in surprise. 

“Pardon the interruption,” you began, a flush of heat spreading to your cheeks under their scrutinizing gazes. “I just need to speak to you, Lord James, about the feast menu.” 

Seated at the head of the table, Lord James raised an eyebrow in mild amusement. “My last, this is a rather… unexpected visit. What is it you need?” 

You pressed on, holding up the basket, unfazed by the curious, disapproving looks from the advisors. “The kitchen staff prepared some samples for the wedding feast, and I wanted to hear your opinion on them.” 

With a stern expression, an advisor cleared his throat. “My lady, we are in the middle of a crucial discussion regarding our defenses.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” you exclaimed, the realization of what you walked into, and what you heard back in the stables a few weeks back, dawned on you. “I didn’t realize… I’ll wait outside.” 

Before you could retreat, Lord James spoke up. “It’s quite alright,” he said, indulgence and authority laced in his tone. “We could all use a brief respite. Bring the samples here.” 

The tension in the room eased slightly as you approached the table. Placing the basket in front of Lord James, you began to explain the dishes, excitement bubbling over. 

“This is a roast pheasant with a honey glaze,” you stated, pointing to the first dish as you read from a note. “And this is a spiced venison stew. Oh, I also thought a variety of fruit tarts would be nice for dessert. What do you think, my lord?” 

Lord James nodded appreciatively as he sampled the dishes thoughtfully. “They’re excellent choices, my lady. I believe our guest will be quite pleased.” 

The advisors, though initially taken aback by your interruption, seemed to relax as they watched the exchange between you and Lord James. A few even allowed themselves small smiles as you offered samples to them. 

However, one advisor, a grizzled man, sneered. “This is hardly the time for such nonsense. Women should know their place and stay out of men’s affairs.” 

The room fell silent, the air thick with tension. Lord James had been silently brooding at the head of the table, his eyes piercing when suddenly, he rose from his seat. How voice cold and unwavering. “Speak ill of my betrothed again, and you’ll learn just how fiercely I will defend what is mine.” All eyes were on Lord James as he continued, the room remaining still. “She is the future of Winter’s Reach and this House. She will have your respect.” 

The advisor blanched, realizing his mistake. “My lord, I meant no disrespect,” he stammered, bowing his head. 

For a moment longer, Lord James’ eyes remained fixed on the advisor before turning back to you, his expression softening. “Thank you for bringing these samples, my lady. Your input is always welcome.” 

A surge of happiness coursed through you with Lord James’ approval. “Thank you, my lord. I’ll let the kitchen staff know.” You began to leave but paused, glancing back at him. “And thank you for your patience. I didn’t mean to disrupt your council.” 

“Think nothing of it,” he replied, a warm smile tugged the corners of his mouth.

You couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment as you exited the council chambers, the doors closing softly behind you. The preparations for the wedding were falling into place, and with Lord’s genuine affection now clear, the excitement for the future only grew. 

~

The weeks leading up to the wedding passed in a blur, Lord James had been showing a newfound tenderness, and your heart swelled with hope. The incident in the council room was long behind the two of you, but the respect Lord James had commanded in your defense remained a vivid reminder of his feelings. 

You found yourself drifting into a deep sleep, one particularly cold night, wrapped in the warmth of thick pelted blankers. Dreams of your wedding and the future, danced through your mind, filling you with a sense of peace and contentment. 

Suddenly, you were jolted awake by the sounds of distant screams and the acrid smell of smoke. Throwing the blankets and rushing to the window, panic gripped your heart. Flames licked at the night sky, chaos illuminated outside. As you tried to make sense of the scene unfolding below, your mind raced. The once peaceful courtyard of Winter’s Reach was now a battlefield of shadows and fire. 

Grabbing a clock, you hurried to the door without hesitation. However, just as you were about to pull it open, it swung inward– revealing a figure cloaked in darkness. Your heart pounded in your chest causing you to gasp and stumble back. 

“Who–” you began, but the words caught in your throat as the figure stepped into the light of your chamber. 

The figure, tall and menacing, his unfamiliar face twisted into a sinister smile. You could tell by the roughness of his attire and the cold gleam in his eyes that he was not a knight of Winter’s Reach.

“Well, well,” he said, malice dripping from his lips. “Look what we have here.” 

Before you could react, he lunged forward. He grabbed your arm with a vice-like grip and panic surged through you as he dragged you back into your chambers. The door slammed shut behind you.

“Let go of me!” you screamed, struggling against him, yet his grip only tightened. 

“Quiet,” he hissed, a cruel smirk played on his lips. “We wouldn’t want to cause a scene now, would we?” 

Your heart raced faster as you looked around desperately, trying to figure out an escape route. His presence was overwhelming, a suffocating sense of dread filling the room. 

“What do you want?” you demanded, you tried to keep your voice steady however your voice came out in a whisper. 

He leaned in closer, his breath hot against your ear. “Just a little fun,” he whispered. “I didn’t think I’d come across a little doll like you tonight.” 

His words sent a chill down your spine. The realization of his implication fueled your determination to fight back.

You twisted in his grip, a burst of adrenaline helped you to free one arm. But, before you could do anything more, he threw you onto your bed with brutal force. The break knocked out of you on impact, and before you could recover, he was on top of you, pinning you down. 

You screamed in refusal, trying to push him off, but he was too strong. He tore at your nightgown, the sound of ripping fabric under his hands filled your ears. You fought with everything you had, you scratched and clawed at him, but it was no use– he pressed his weight down on you, suffocating and overpowering. 

“Firey one, aren’t you?” he sneered with his face inches from yours. A foul smell came from his breath and a wave of terror coursed through you from the look in his eyes. 

Your desperate struggles grew weaker under his oppressive weight and the night continued to unfold in a blur of terror and helplessness. The chaos outside became a distant echo as the events within your chambers consumed you.

~

The battle had been fierce, but now that it was over Lord James hurried through the smoke hallways of Winter’s Reach. His heart pounded with worry and fear, his thoughts consumed with finding you. As he neared your quarters, he quickened his steps, dread clawing at his chest. 

He noticed something amiss as he approached– the door to your chambers was slightly ajar. Panic surged through his body as he called out your name, pushing the door open. He received no response. 

The sight that greeted him froze him in his tracks. 

Sat on the floor, in the corner of the room, there you were. Your nightgown was torn, barely covering you. Your hands clasped together, muffled words leaving your lips– eyes distant, lost in a world of your own making.

Lord James’ heart shattered into thousands of icy shards as his eyes swept the room. His gaze locked onto the disheveled bed, its pristine white sheets now marred by a stark, crimson stain. The sight seemed to freeze time around him, every small detail etching itself into his mind with painful clarity. Your room, once your sanctuary, now bore the scares of unspeakable violence. 

“Gods, no,” Lord James whispered urgently, rushing to your side. Dropping to his knees beside you, his hand reaching out to touch your trembling shoulder. “It’s me, I’m here. You’re safe now, my love.” 

You recoiled in terror as he tried to embrace you, pushing him away with unexpected strength. Your body shook as you cried uncontrollably. Lord James felt his heart breaking at the sigh of your fear.

“No! Get away from me!” you cried, your voice raw with panic. “Don’t touch me!” 

The agony in Lord James’ eyes matched yours as he froze. Yet, despite your resistance, he refused to leave you alone in this moment of despair. He tried again, gently, his voice steady and soothing. 

“It’s okay, my love. It’s me, it's James,” he repeated softly, moving closer. “I’m here. You’re safe now. I promise.” 

Your sobs continued, you struggled to comprehend what had happened as your body trembled. Slowly, cautiously he reached out to wrap his arms around you, pulling you into a gentle embrace.

“I’m so sorry, my love,” he murmured against your hair, his voice thick as tears spilled over his cheeks. “I should have been here to protect you. I swear to you, I will find whoever did this. They will pay for what they’ve done.” 

Tears soaked his chest as you clung desperately to him. He held you tighter, murmuring comforting and reassuring words as he rocked you gently. Your resistance softened gradually and you began to lean into his embrace, seeking solace in his arms. 

Together, in the silence of your chambers, Lord James vowed to stand by you, protect you, and help you heal.

---

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[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Subtle British Pop Culture/Timeline In CHICKEN RUN

On occasion, I've pointed out when the original CHICKEN RUN is set.

It's often been written that CHICKEN RUN was "set in the '50s", a sort of vague descriptor of its rather dreary post-war England setting. One could assume that from the technology present in the movie, and the homages to 1950s prisoner-of-war films. The obvious ones being STALAG 17 (the number 17 is on the main hut that the chickens all plot in) and THE GREAT ESCAPE. The character Fowler was of the mascot division of the Royal Air Force during World War II. All that talk about his medals. Chocks away!

The easiest way to pinpoint when CHICKEN RUN is set, at the earliest, is knowing what the songs are.

The chickens, in a hut, dance to a cover of Joe Turner's 'Flip, Flop and Fly', Turner's original was released in 1955, an early example of a rock n' roll song. Britain certainly had rock n' roll in a pre-Beatles era, but it doesn't seem as well-known to the average American as American rockers - you know, Elvis, Little Richard, etc. - are to Brits.

Later in the film, Rocky the rooster is jamming out to 'The Wanderer' by Dion.

The song first appeared in North America in November of 1961 - both as a single and as an album track on RUNAROUND SUE (the title track another big hit for him), and if you look in the opening credits sequence, Mrs. Tweedy works with a calendar that says "November"... However, 'The Wanderer' was first released in the UK in January of 1962. And it doesn't seem like much time has passed since the opening credits and the end of the movie...

'The Wanderer' reached #10 in the UK, which was great for an American rock/pop song over there... If anything, the movie is likely set in November/December 1962, so that was plenty of time for 'The Wanderer' to climb the charts, and then be played on the radio every once in a while. Things took a little while in a pre-streaming age, ya know? *waves cane* *I'm actually not that old, nowhere near lol I just love this kinda pop culture history*

So CHICKEN RUN is still kind of a post-war/pre-Beatles England, and it's set in a secluded location inhabited by a middle-aged couple who likely wouldn't have had any idea what was going in the teen beat scene. The Beatles' 'Love Me Do', the single that really put them on the map in the UK, was released in early October of 1962. Being their first true single (not the 'My Bonnie' recording they did in Germany with Tony Sheridan), it charted at a great #17 in the UK... Which of course was nothing compared to what was to come, the strings of #1s, or at least close to that. 'Please Please Me' was the second single, released in January 1963, it hit #2 in the UK. Beatlemania pretty much becomes a thing in the UK by the middle of 1963... It would take a little while for us yanks to catch the fever...

Anyways, CHICKEN RUN is set in November/December 1962. Or maybe it's 1963, who knows, but I think it's pre-Beatlemania rural England. Yorkshire to be exact.

It's kinda funny how the Disney animated ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS shares some similarities in this regard. That film was released in January 1961, and is set in both London and rural England. Its second half during the late fall/early winter no less. The puppies arrive in October, as stated in the film, and the film ends during Christmastime. Snow everywhere, dreary atmosphere, etc.... And then you have the Tweedys in CHICKEN RUN. Mrs. Tweedy is kind of a combination of Cruella de Vil *and* Jasper. She's got the contempt for animals like Cruella, and is taller and the brains like Jasper. Horace, the shorter, pudgier one in the equation - who is onto what the animals are doing but isn't believed, is totally Mr. Tweedy.

That brings us to the recently-released CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET... The sequel swaps prisoner-of-war movies and World War II imagery for James Bond and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. Spy movies in general.

One look at Mrs. Tweedy's high-tech new factory shows that in *spades*. But the folks at Aardman Animations did their homework, a lot of the details and background design and such, it legitimately looks like the lair of a supervillain in a '60s spy movie. Much like how Nomanisan Island does in THE INCREDIBLES, another very midcentury modern-inspired movie and franchise. There's also that charming UPA-esque cartoon on how the chickens are processed into nuggets, great stuff there. I also kind of get a bit of a Gerry Anderson vibe here, too. He was known for marionette shows - done in a process called "Supermarionation" - like THUNDERBIRDS and CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS. I assume most of the crew behind these movies grew up watching those shows.

And of course, a big indicator... Towards the end of the film, all the chickens - brainwashed by mind-control collars that make them all happy-go-lucky - are being forced up an escalator to a popcorn chicken death. In this pretty creepy sequence, they're all doing this while Cliff Richard's 'Summer Holiday' plays in the background. The bright, pastel-colored set adorned with simplistic countryside-looking hills that these chickens are brainwashed in before they are to be ground into fast food is reminiscent of vintage British and European children's programs. I was thinking of stuff like THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT and such, which was also a stop-motion production.

Oh yeah, 'Summer Holiday'. That song came out in January 1963, it was the title song for a movie that was *huge* in England when it first came out. Cliff Richard is the prime example of a pre-Beatles British pop/rock star, I feel he's almost synonymous with that period of British pop music before John, Paul, George, and Ringo showed up. So, CHICKEN RUN 2 is set *after* January 1963. Plus, Ginger and Rocky's daughter Molly needed some time to grow up a bit.

Either this was intentional or not, but it strangely adds up. It's pretty chronological, either by accident or they made sure they didn't have too many anachronisms... Other than the cartoonishly high tech of Mrs. Tweedy's Fun-Land Farms, but then again, the pie machine in the original CHICKEN RUN was kind of improbable too. But that's the fun of the CHICKEN RUN movies, so it's a staple.

And even in other Aardman works, there are fun nods to British pop culture and media. For example, in WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, Art Garfunkel's 'Bright Eyes' can be heard on the car radio in one scene. Garfunkel is American, yes, but 'Bright Eyes' was composed and recorded for the soundtrack of the British animated classic WATERSHIP DOWN. Just in case you've never seen or even heard of that movie. WATERSHIP DOWN is about rabbits, and in the WALLACE & GROMIT movie, they're dealing with rabbits! Quite clever.

Another favorite of mine is in FARMAGEDDON: A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE. Of course, Shaun the Sheep is spun off from WALLACE & GROMIT, he appeared in the short film A CLOSE SHAVE. The second SHAUN THE SHEEP movie brings in science fiction and aliens, a real 180 from the small-scale first film. At the end of the film, the Farmer accidentally gets onto the UFO and is not on Earth anymore! Before they get him back, a song called 'Forever Autumn' can be heard playing on a radio.

'Forever Autumn' is a rewrite of a Lego commercial jingle composed by Jeff Wayne in 1969, with lyrics by Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The two lyricists recorded the first version of that song in 1972 for an album called QUEUES. A couple years later, Jeff Wayne got the idea to do a musical version of H. G. Wells' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. A musical album, bringing in several mostly British talents to retell - through story and song - the British sci-fi staple. 'Forever Autumn' was covered for the album, with lead vocals sung by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues. Of course, another British group... all for the section of the album in which the protagonist - a journalist - fears his wife had been killed in the Martian invasion. "'Cause you're not here." Which is the lyric heard in FARMAGEDDON when they realize that the Farmer went to outer space!

(It takes a special kind of skill to take such a depressing song and make it FUNNY in any context.)

Anyways, those are just a couple examples off the top of my head. Aardman's work is distinctly British, to the core. And the CHICKEN RUN movies give me a fascinating idea of when they are set, a very cartoon British '60s.

[zarvasace]

Fic Rec List

AO3 is holding a Feedback Fest for International Fanworks Day! So, in no particular order, here are 10 fics from my bookmarks that I recommend. :) Most of these fics are by stellar authors, but the list is for individual fics. I recommend checking out the authors as well.

EDIT: fandom code. LU = Linked Universe. FS = Four Swords

Dawn of the Fourth by @lazuliquetzal - (LU, complete) A fic that's on plenty of rec lists, I'm sure! The mastery of plot, character, and language itself is top-tier. This has a mystery-ish plot filled with twists and turns that hold up very very well on rereads! The tension remains taut the whole time, but it isn't too stressful. There are some particular images from this one that have stuck with me since I read it.

Threats and Theatrics by htruona - (LU, complete) This one makes me laugh. A lot. Vio is too dramatic for his own good, and I adore the idea that they might just keep fake blood on them for stuff like this.

A Guide to Living (Again) by @cerame (LU, complete) - Also one that I'm sure is not unfamiliar to a lot of people! It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Shadow, and it was so so much fun to see these other opposite-Links coming around, too. This is just overall a very good time.

Awake, Sweet Prince by @vagueandominousvibes - (FS, complete) There's a lot by Kahl I adore, she's an excellent writer with a wonderful handle on world and words, and this one in particular is one of my favorites. I love slightly spooky fae and this is definitely high on my list.

Count to Nine by @tess-aka-fishy (LU, complete) - One of my top fluff and humor fics. Everyone is in-character in the best way possible, being chaotic but not necessarily on purpose. It's awesome.

It's Dangerous to Go Alone by @hey-adora (FS, complete) - Among the many standout works by Sam, this one is an excellent one to recommend thanks to the showcase of her particular brand of humor, the fun, adventure-y plot, canon-extension worldbuilding, and of course the focus on Vio and Shadow being awful as always.

Keep Your Face to the Sun by Ageofavalon (LU, complete) - This one is a wonderful little fic with, surprise surprise, a focus on Shadow. This one just feels cozy, and I've reread it a lot. I particularly enjoy the way that they adopt him into the LU Chain :)

Take a Number, Any Number by @cluelessmoose (LU, complete) - An outstanding Four whump fic that recently got a very satisfying second chapter. It uses a lot of my favorite whump tropes. The imagery and particular use of words makes this a delight to read.

Soft Glows by @youmixxx (FS, incomplete) - Breaking my hesitant rule of "only complete fics allowed" to rec this fantastic Green/Blue modern college AU story. The attention to detail in this fic is unbelievable—and I mean detail in-text in descriptions and narrative, as well as behind-the-scenes details like consistent schedules. It's beautiful. Don't let the word count intimidate you because it flies by in a haze of glory.

Draw a Circle Around Your Grief by @lattewritesthings (LU, complete) - Dramatic, horrific, bitter, hurt-no-comfort—BUT in a way that doesn't leave you hanging on a thread. It's tragic but the resolution is satisfying anyway. The images are striking and the emotions are potent.

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

hello i am asking politely for your mommy Medic surgeon goresex thoughts. feel free to use the reply to this ask as your dumping ground if it would be easier than an original post!

Welllll if you insist! Putting all this under a cut bc despite my cool exterior I'm extremely ashamed of every thought I've ever had (and bc I wanna put this in some tags and if the juicy stuff is under a cut no one can complain)

Uhhh CWs for sex, gore, goresex, surgery kink, medfet, mommy kink (just the title and the persona for Medic, no specified role for the sub), needles, knives, boot stuff, whatever. This makes me feel like a real writer

Sooo first things first bc I think people won't understand this one at first: Medic tf2 is a man who is a mommy dom. To me and to a lot of other kinky people, there exists a non-gendered semantic difference between a "daddy dom" and a "mommy dom", so women can be daddies and, much more rarely, men can certainly be mommies. Kink educator Evie Lupine describes mommy doms as "giggly, joyful sadists". Sound like someone we know? He's mommy (Mommy doms are also typically more "nurturing" and smothering than daddy doms, I'll get to that later)

I really love characterizing Medic as extremely faux-sympathetic (with flashes of real sympathy every now and again), so he's telling you (or whoever) just how bad he feels for you, you poor thing, that looks like it really hurts, and it's, like, the extra hand he attached to your pelvis. If it does actually hurt and the procedure wasn't successful he will safely remove it, though

Although I definitely think Medic can be mean, I think ESPECIALLY in a gorekink/medfet context, he gives a LOT of praise. He's SUPER full of himself, he'd never deride one of his Crowning Achievements In The Field Of Medical Science!

Similarly, he's very good about giving compliments specific to like, all of a person's inside stuff. The size of your organs, the shade of your blood, the prominence of your veins, the sturdiness of your bones... Medic tf2 is leaned over you on the vivisection table lovingly stroking your liver and cooing about how much he loves the color

This one's kind of a big one for me tbh... I think Medic tf2 would intentionally (consensually, temporarily) incapacitate someone so he gets to take care of them. Misery-style. My favorite version of this is Medic "accidentally" taking too much of someone's blood out during a blood draw, so they get all sleepy and he needs to feed them (with his boobs) and let them rest (on his boobs). Despite it all I think he really does like to feel needed.

I think Mommy Medic can be veryyyy... smothering. Figuratively and literally. He can really heap on the compliments, especially with a character who isn't very used to praise, which is its own kind of sadism. And he literally suffocates you in his boobs/thighs/ass/tummy/whatever. That one's a little less psychological.

Okayyyy goresex time... surgery makes Medic horny and he wants to fuck people's internal organs. Tf2 is really fun for this because the medigun is a built-in explanation for how he can do that while the other person is still awake. In Meet the Medic he should've been straddling Heavy's hips and jacking off onto his large intestine.

I don't know how into drinking blood normal humanguy Medic would be, but he definitely likes touching blood. Getting it all over his hands. I think he'd maybe be more into making you (or whoever) drink blood, lick it off his gloves, off his boots, off his big hairy (eroticized body part of your choice here). One of those things that he probably intends as a humiliation thing but if you're enough of a freak you just enjoy for what it is.

The penetration imagery of the needle. I read something like that recently about the scene in Breaking Bad where Jesse does heroin for the first time and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. You understand

On a humiliation note, I think Medic would think it's Very fun to "force" (lovingly encourage) someone to call him "mommy" if they're embarrassed about it, which I think most of his team would be. Medic using kink to help Sniper drop his inhibitions and give in to his urges and Have Fun is one of my fave bushmed dynamics and I definitely think getting Sniper to get over the hill and call him "mommy" for the first time would be a big thing for him. Of course this is all part of his plan to break you (consensually!) and have you (or whoever!) whimpering into his cleavage as he gets to nurture you

Imagine everything I just said but he's in a sexy nurse outfit that's extremely visibly too small for him. And also just COMPLETELY covered in blood. That's my vision

[jeejascoffee]

Hello there ! I’m a really big fan of your writing , and I’m in a slump at the moment so I’d like to ask ; do you have any tips for writing lengthier fics ? I’ve been trying recently , but it always seems to get to a point where it begins to drag on and sound sort of monotonous . . .

Thank you !

Hey there! Thanks so much for reading! Really glad you like the fics ^__^

Sorry to hear you're in a slump :( That can be so frustrating. I find that the Writing Juice comes and goes on its own sometimes. It has to do with a lot of things, life stuff too. Sometimes the best thing to do is read content that you love, that gets you excited about writing, and wait for the Juice to come back when it's ready. That can happen! As for lengthier fics, sure yeah I hear your struggle. I tend to feel like my stuff is super overwritten actually haha. So, making it concise is something I focus on a lot. A few things that help me:

Plotting. I don't know what your writing setup looks like, but for me it helps to put placeholder docs for each important plot beat of the story. Like major things that happen, how the characters go from point to point to point. Scrivener is a word processing app that helps me do this, I make a folder for each chapter and within those folders there are small text docs for each plot beat/scene. You don't need to use anything fancy though, I'm sure you could do the same on google docs. Folders for chapters, then a new doc for each scene. You might need to rearrange the docs according to what makes sense regarding the order, so if you can have your entire story laid out before you start writing it really does help. This way you know where you're going! What needs to happen in each scene.

To that end, I don't know if you're familiar with screenwriting at all, but I try to approach the scenes (especially in a long, fuck-y-type fic) like writing scenes from a movie. Rule 101 of screenwriting is: All the scenes should serve the larger purpose of moving the story forward. As a writer it's easy to get lost in the "flavor" of the story, but that stuff gets extraneous for the reader. Short character studies are one thing. For longer fics, you need plot movement! That's what keeps readers engaged and stops the story from stagnating. So, as you're writing, ask yourself: Does this scene advance the story? Do readers need to know this in order to understand something that comes later? If not, get rid of it! That may feel awkward at first, but try it. Get rid of any scenes that aren't essential and see how the fic reads. Most of the time you'll find the story flows a bit better.

Show not tell. This is an obvious one, I know everyone is always saying this, and it's true. As fic writers, especially working with characters that already exist and that we love so much, we can fall into the trap of writing long paragraphs explaining what's going on with the characters. Especially internal dialogue. I've found that internal dialogue is actually not as necessary as it feels when you're sitting there at the word processor lol. Show what your characters are thinking and feeling through the way they interact with the events of the story. Facial expressions, or if it's necessary to write a feeling or thought, use some nature imagery to make it more visceral/exciting (not too much! That can be a fine line too). Chapters that are all about characters reacting to previous events are generally not needed. Have them do something that shows how they're working through it. Because that's life, right? We rarely ever get a moment alone with our thoughts. We're always in motion, processing on our feet. Plus, going back to #2, you want your scenes to be forward-minded rather the recursive looks on things that have already happened. The motion should be forward not backward, if that makes sense.

Try to use active voice as opposed to passive voice as much as possible. It feels like a small thing, but it's actually a big help in terms of making your writing flow. More on that here

Now, as I say all this, I realize I've probably broken all these pieces of advice a million times in my fics hahaha! And yes, writing rules are guidelines, not a "one size fits all" type of thing. There are situations where you need to put in a recursive type scene or use passive voice in a sentence for some reason. That happens! Don't stress yourself too much. Which leads me to...

5. HAVE FUN!!! Never forget, this is fic writing. We're not getting paid, we're not going on the NYT most-read list or anything. We're doing this because we love it! If you're having fun, keeping the passion alive, then you're doing great. Write that self-indulgent idfic. Fuck it! Enjoy! If you love what you write, that passion will translate to your readers. For sure. If at any point you're getting frustrated and not having fun, take a break. Not worth it. Also, tortured writing also translates to readers. It's counterproductive. Give yourself grace and tons of credit!! We're doing all this without professional editors. That's not nothing!!!

Good luck with everything, friend. Like I said before, slumps come and go. Give it time and I'm sure you'll be throwing these characters into the sack in no time ;)

Take care! Have a great one.

[kalavakus]

Hello! I'm Kalavakus, Kala, or Kal! 🌲🌿⛰️

= = = = =

Some of my interests include:

-Music, both writing and listening. I tend to enjoy neoclassical, folk, blues/bluegrass, and baroque, but it varies based on season and weather. Ask me about music for an unskippable cutscene.

-TTRPGs. I've been running (mostly Pathfinder 1e) campaigns for a decade and a half. Whether it's a one-shot or a full campaign, I'm always running something.

-Writing. I mostly do structureless worldbuilding, but I've written a few short stories. I lean towards writing classic fantasy or soft sci-fi, but I enjoy a bit of everything. In the summer I also become unreasonably obsessed with cowboys and classic Americana poetry.

-Cooking. I love cooking and baking!

-PoliSci. Unfortunately, the crawling tendrils of politics have wormed their way into my brain to the point of being a long-running special interest.

-Art/Architecture. Especially post-romantic/modern.

-Religion/Ethics. While my own relationship with religion is somewhat complicated and I don't have a fixed religious identity, I find the concept and history of religion and ethics very interesting.

-Nature. Ecology and geography are incredibly interesting! The woods and mountains of my home have a ton of spiritual meaning to me. I especially love trees and mushrooms.

-Photography

-Birds!!! I have a couple bird tattoos.

-Eye and hand imagery

-Planned cities (especially Brasilia), atomic gardening, 60's pirate radio, linguistics, the list goes on and on

Favourite Games: (in a loose order)

-Hyper Light Drifter

-Red Dead Redemption 2

-Disco Elysium

-Hollow Knight

-Mass Effect (2&3 are my favourites)

-Terraria

Characters Tags! I have many more than just these (both old and recent) but these are the ones with tags I use. - #Briar OC: Unwilling god of death and apocalypse from a universe system I use in several campaigns/writing projects. - #Erlking OC: God of gods in the aforementioned universe system. - #Order OC: God of tyranny, brutalism, and winter. - #Lucas OC: Stoner kid haunted by a paranormal creature representing impulsivity incarnate. - #Kato OC: Alexander Katopodis, an angel on a sabatical. - #Elliot OC: Fail boy. Grease aggregator. Scammer and trickster that's not very good at it. Has a bad habit of being mauled by wolves while dressed as a hot dog. - # Theo OC (not used in a while): Occultist and investigator.

Other Fandoms and Interests:

-Lord of the Rings

-Bigtop Burger

-Succession

-Undertale/Deltarune (fairly new to this, wasn't there during the big wave on Tumblr)

-Dune

-The Bear

-The West Wing

-House MD = = = = =

I am always down to make new friends and share my interests! Feel free to message me at any point, although be aware that I sometimes take a while to respond.

[ehlnofay]

writer asks... 🥺🛒🤡✨🎶🎨👀

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels? I think that something that always gets me is when the interaction is nice and good and lovely, and it could continue to be nice and good and lovely, but there are underlying circumstances that will not let it be and even now the cracks are starting to show. I love it when you can see the painful dissolution of a relationship long before it actually comes to fruition. it's so hhhhh and I write it a fair bit with characters like arabella and j'zargo, torr and astrid, pax and martin, and so forth

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc. the thing that draws me most to writing is the characters; I think most of my writing is in some form a character study. I'm perpetually fascinated by how people react to difficulty, how they relate to one another, how their experiences inform their actions. so I think most of the themes that crop up often relate to that. I like using a lot of images and motifs, as well, but I can't think of any that are ubiquitous, though most of my characters have one or two specifically assigned to them that I like to reference

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh? hmm... I'll be honest almost anything with efri has at least one thing in it that is extremely funny to me. she just says things. I'm looking through her document to give an example and there's just so much in here. in her first meeting with savos she asks him how old he is and then raps her stick on the ground and says "you're dead," before he can finish answering. she announces to the group of vampires she's sitting around a campfire with that she isn't sure how she feels about her choice to free them, you know, ethically speaking. she refers to the eye of magnus exclusively as "the ball" and when mirabelle informs her what they've been calling it she says "huh. that's a weird name" (she does not know who magnus is)

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉 I'm genuinely really happy with where my writing is right now. I'm proud of how much improvement I can see over the last few years in how I portray scenes, atmosphere and dialogue, and I see a lot of potential for growth which I find really exciting! since I was a little kid I've wanted to be a published author and I feel like that's actually in the cards for me at some point in the not-too-distant future (assuming, you know, I actually write a book)

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately? I cannot play music or listen to literally anything when I'm writing. I close the door and the windows and ask my siblings to turn down their youtube videos or else I Cannot Focus An Inch. however I do love to listen to music to help me think through my stories and characters... it helps me get into a Mood and I've gotten a lot of ideas that way. most recent song I've begun to associate with a character is the amazing devil's the calling. it's pax (ish) at a very specific story beat

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories? LOVE IT FOREVER. I still regularly look at art fight attacks and go AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I want to give each of them a turn as my profile picture but I keep forgetting :(

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please! the Ludicrously Big Project.... if I keep the other sections to a similar length it will end up over a hundred thousand words, which is ABSURD. if I don't, the first bit will feel like such an insane outlier. I guess we'll see... I don't want to go into too much detail since I am only about a quarter of the way in (ridiculous) and I might trim the section I've written down a Bunch, so I don't want to like. jinx it. or say anything that ends up not being true. I will say that each main part focuses on the same story from the perspective of a different character and it is an exercise in not writing in little scenes pieced together (the reasons it is SO STUPID LONG methinks... if it was just the one character in vignettes it would have ten thousand words cut out and it would be done already) and that none of the characters in it are mine. unless you count the ones I made up expressly for this story. also it is pretty dark... which isn't super uncommon for my longer stuff it seems. I guess the more intense topics demand more space to resolve themselves. but there are parts that might be hard to read (definitely will be hard to write). whenever I post it in fifty years I will be sure to include comprehensive content warnings

[beepofsleeplessdreams]

thinking out loud about some anime an illustrator i like worked on

so, one of my favorite illustrators (at least, I think that's the right term for him) is yoshitoshi ABe. recently i made the decision to look through a bunch of projects he had a hand in, mostly because i wanted to see what kind of stuff he'd attached himself to over the decades. prior to this i'd only seen Serial Experiments Lain, but i feel like basically everyone's seen that so that's not saying much lol. this was partially spurred on by a friend of mine telling me Texhnolyze was among their favorites. at time of writing, i've finished Texhnolyze and NieA_7, and i'm watching Haibane Renmei on-and-off and loving it. the world is bizarre and beautiful, and the character designs are lovely and have so much personality in my eyes. so that's where i started. so below is a series of rambles and thoughts i've had on this little journey of mine up to this point. i've still got a ways to go.

misc. spoilers for Texhnolyze in the next section

texhnolyze was a show i really enjoyed, but falls into the same pit as serial experiments lain in my brain. i struggle to understand what it's trying to say below the immediate surface and i end up primarily enjoying it as a surface-level product. not to say that i didn't make some connections in my head along the ride, i have so many questions about the world that i want answered, and some really fun observations I made. ichise's conversation with the voice in the chair was something that i had a lot of fun picking apart because it tickled that little goblin in my brain that loves social science. with the whole idea that height relates to authority, the pile of stones bringing images of gods on mountains in myth, but the chair tying all that powerful imagery up in this idea of boredom. apathy of the gods and all that. the entire trip to the surface is something that had me on the edge of the seat, and kinda tied into my greater sci-fi brainrot. that whole idea that one a society stagnates and rots people seek "better times", and this is how you end up with so many space prussians/germans being bad guys in older sci-fi anime like classic gundam and legend of the galactic heroes. it's people clinging to an idea of a """better time""" to larp that they're better than they are. this is what was going through my head during the arc of the story on the surface, whenever i saw that outdated technology that lives only in old b&w movies and period pieces. despite these obversations, i feel like i can't formulate a big picture, this is by no means bad, but i can't help but feel like i'm "missing something". though, this might be rectified in lain's case when i get around to it, it's been close to 10 years since i last watched it.

misc. spoilers for NieA_7

this is one that i don't think i ever heard someone talk about prior to me just plucking it off of ABe's wikipedia page. it's this weird slice-of-life comedy about living in poverty but there's also humanoid aliens that are kinda just around and comically failing to integrate into society. that whole second point, with the aliens, i feel it kinda detracts from a lot from the show's actually really simple and touching heart about just trying to escape being poor. the whole thing is kinda tainted with this mild xenophobia for the sake of "comedy" and the vast majority of the recurring aliens are these really mean-spirited racist stereotypes. eventually i came to ignore the vast majority of that aspect of the show, besides the titular NieA, and focus on the part of it that really spoke to me. the main character, Mayuko, is a young adult working 3 jobs on top of going to cram school in a desperate attempt to get into a good college and escape poverty by getting a """real job""" and a """future""". the reason why i use quotations is the same reason why her character really spoke to me. she was so focused on the mere act of survival and vaguely working towards the future that she never found the time to really think about the future. no plans, no dreams, inching towards a success she has no idea how to capitalize upon. something similar happened to me, personally. i spent the vast majority of highschool and college fighting for good grades and accolades with no other plan than to just get away from a very toxic family situation. and i succeeded. i gave up a social life for the sake of advancing and was rewarded by getting poached right out of college into a fairly comfortable. i moved out 6 months later and subsequently broke down. without that constant pressure of ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE i had this sort of psychological explosive decompression and became incredibly depressed, and almost made some very poor and very permanent decisions. i saw a character that was flying towards the same mistakes i made and i was wondering all along if the show would propose some kind of "solution" that i'd failed to see. it didn't offer anything concrete, but something much simpler that i nontheless really appreciated. a loving promise that things will be okay somewhere, someday. the same sentiment helped me when i needed it. i get that that's corny as hell, but i'm a stupid mushy man-thing. it's a show i really recommend people look at, because while the lows are INCREDIBLY low and mean, the heart is there and beautiful.

[golmac]

More on workshop

So. I was asked in a reply why I don't like CW workshop. It's a good, reasonable question. I tried to answer, but there's a character limit for replies. I'll try again here, and hopefully I won't get too bogged down in the details.

Before going to grad school, I worked in automobile factories. In manufacturing, processes are the activities that, in total, lead to a desired outcome. A process that consistently leads to desirable results is said to have a high level of quality.

Workshop is a process, just like painting a car door is a process. There is a loose collection of practices or activities that make up the workshop. We're taught about them in pedagogy classes and articles. Mechanically, workshop favors certain types of writing over others. This is a function of what can be quickly and easily articulated in a group setting.

Its stated goal--making poems better--is pretty loaded. A workshop, like any social organism, has persons with more and less privilege, more and less social capital, and so on. What happens when you get a bunch of people together to make art "better?" A teacher has a big role to play in making such spaces equitable, and some have a lot of success, but the question is still fraught IMO.

The upshot of having people from various backgrounds with different aesthetic tastes is that workshops often... I won't call it the lowest common denominator because that's insulting and not quite right, but it is fair to say that workshops push art in the direction of things that everyone agrees on. I mentioned Raymond Carver in my earlier reply because I think he's the prototype of that Iowa Writer's Workshop author. His stories feature things that are aesthetically very solid. Economical prose with specific, evocative imagery. The narrative voice never editorializes. Masculine, verby constructions. This is the kind of writing that workshop privileges. I could use Mary Gaitskill as a more recent example (I love Mary Gaitskill!).

& you know what? There's a good reason for that. Raymond Carver's stories are very, very sound, technically. So people agree. Be more specific. Don't editorialize. It's very good advice, which is why people keep handing it out. It all makes so much sense that it's easy to overlook the fact that good poems and stories don't always comply.

I had a poem that got published in Nimrod, a nice mid-tier journal out of TU. It's about a single mother at her child's funeral. She's explaining to her child (or talking to herself, perhaps) why she didn't call the baby's father. I spent twenty minutes of my life fielding questions about where the father is, and why he and the mother aren't still together, and where they met, and I'm like Jesus, people, this is a sonnet, not a Raymond Carver story. We never talked about technical features of the poem. This was not an unusual experience for me.

That's to say nothing of workshopping poems about mental illness. I felt like I was being dissected, and I'm not shy about discussing my diagnosis.

Ultimately, I just think groups of people are good at evaluating some sorts of art but not others. I also think that's ok, as long as that's understood.

Anecdotally, my writing students all preferred one-on-one conferencing, anyway. By a wide margin. I'm out of that game, now, but if I were teaching Introduction to Creative Writing again I'd do one workshop (because it's an expected competency of the class) and otherwise do conferences. On my evaluations, students said that conferencing made them feel more valued as writers and that the feedback was more useful. And that was my jam.

[knightotoc]

Musician Heroes

I'm such a sucker for them! Society largely ignores musicians and treats them like shit even though they are the coolest people, so it's always fantastic when we at least throw a bone to a fictional one.

Orpheus of Greek mythology, okay musical Hadestown, and dozens of sentimental Tumblr posts

I like the idea that music on its own is this otherworldly force that can do anything, but music is never on its own, and human nature will always bring us back to reality. Though usually the flaw in human nature is more like "the musician was an antisemite" or "the executives of spotify only pay musicians $0.006," not "the musician loved his wife a lot."

Link of the big medievalist video game franchise for kids

I've seen a bunch of nerds lament that the current Link is no longer left-handed, but I think the far bigger shame is that he is no longer a musician. In past incarnations, he was perhaps the most famous and important fictional musician of them all, not least because you get to push the buttons yourself. In Link's reality, music is the source of magic; in our reality, it's the hard work of genius Koji Kondo; in both realities, it's the bedrock of community and understanding, bonds that make the world worth fighting for. David Collins has an excellent 4-part podcast on Ocarina, and this comment on a video of Majora's Astral Observatory track blew my mind:

The Close Encounters aliens and their influence

The aliens in Spielberg's weird adultery masterpiece "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" initiate first contact with a bizarre but ultimately harmless (?) plan that involves addicting subliminal imagery and a flashy John Williams concert. It's a beautiful and even logical idea that music will be the thing that brings life from other planets together.

There are a ton of direct homages in subsequent works of science fiction, such as the live-action He-Man movie, which inspired this post. "The universe is made of music," Gwildor says to a young Tom Paris actor, and the Earthling teenager is able to use his perfect pitch and melody recall to calibrate the transporter-thingy and build a bridge between Earth and Eternia. The biggest fight takes place in a music store where a ton of instruments gets smashed to pieces with enthrallingly reckless abandon.

A more recent Close Encounters homage is the misunderstood villains of Discovery season 4, species 10-C; but because we can't have any fun anymore, the first-contact-light-show corresponds to hydrocarbons or primary numbers or something, not music.

NOT Cal Kestis of Jedi: Fallen Order

Speaking of musician fake-outs, I was so amped when JFO seemed to actually include music-making. For a franchise so reliant on non-diegetic music, the only musician characters we've ever really gotten have been the turtlenecked Biths in A New Hope's cantina. But Cal is yet another lonely teenage boy who leads a big-budget Star Wars project and doesn't even know how to play the guitar. In this picture, he is using psychometry, a Jedi power that lets you access memories embedded within objects, to play a song that someone else played on it before. That's so cool! But it means he's not technically playing it. It's also a microcosm of JFO's whole story, which is Cal filling in for Cere Junda, confronting people from her past, while you wonder why Cere isn't the main character herself.

Fancy Movies: "Carnival of Souls" and "Boy and the World"

These are two of the best movies about musicians who are really up against it: the nameless busker of "Boy" vs the horrors of economic exploitation, and church organist Mary Henry of "Carnival" vs the horrors of Utah. Great movies to watch while the avoiding the 4th of July fireworks.

Stupid Movies: "Cloud Atlas" and "Dungeons and Dragons"

I have beef with these movies, but that's unrelated to these put-upon, lovable musician characters. Still, Robert Frobisher is better in the book, and Edgin Darvis is better in the version of this movie in my head where death has consequences.

Sad TV Guys

Learning an instrument takes time, and Picard has more than enough of that in famously tragic TNG episode "The Inner Light." He lives an entire life through the mind-altering technology in this alien flute to become the last living memory of a dead civilization. The most musically significant thing about this episode, besides the fact that a real musician is holding the instrument to Patrick Stewart's face, is that they replaced TNG's bombastic credits music with a wistful woodwind.

Another musician who really takes the punch out of being a hero is Ishida Yamato, the bad boy of Digimon. While Yagami Taichi leads the group recklessly through the dangerous digital world, Yamato is most interested in keeping everyone safe, especially his little brother. He manifests the emotional side of their adventure by playing sad songs on his harmonica like a pint-sized cowboy.

Perhaps all this angst is exactly why there are so few Musician Heroes, and quite a few:

Musician Villains!

Tolkein's Melkor/Morgoth and Asimov's The Mule bring discord into their old-timey SFF novels; the sheer force of their free will disrupts the carefully laid plans of wiser, better men, and this free will is represented by their music. Hypnotic and miserable, they are the most interesting people in their universes, and for that the normie heroes must bring them down. Anybody else think the Devil won that fiddle contest?

Webber's Phantom and George Harvey Bone of "Hangover Square" are iconic evil incels detached from reality, exploited and despised by everyone around them, driven to murder by weird and sinister forces. As buildings go up in flames around them, they are left alone with only their music, a fate for only the most committed, and therefore most evil, of musicians.

[polaris-australis]

WIP Update - Replace Their Bones with Doll Parts

I've decided to try to write a more coherent post on some of the recent progress on the novel. For those who read my intro post, I did change the pronoun in the title (I can't decide on if I should use "he" or "they" solely because, well, Cyril's not really a he by the end of the novel).

I did make some changes to a chapter I talked about in an earlier post (Anatomy Practice), but for this update, I'm going to focus on some overarching stuff + a later chapter that I worked on recently.

I will, though, reiterate this paragraph because I'm obsessed with it:

I'll talk about it another time, because of FUCK does this need a longer separate post (I call it the I guess thematic thesis of the novel in a way?? in how it establishes a LOT of Cyril's mental state throughout the novel and gives us the starting point from which he somehow manages to keep going downhill).

Immaculate Perpetuation

The chapter title comes from two terms relating to the Virgin Mary (or versions of the Virgin): immaculate conception, and Our Lady of Perpetual Health. Except, a big thing in this book is continuing cycles of generational abuse as well as toxic dynamics, so I sort of mashed things together into this.

To make it clear again in this post, Cyril's mixed: his father is a rich white guy, his mother is Latinx (Central American specifically, the country isn't specified for reasons so I won't say it but for reference my parents are Salvadoran). Cyril looks like his mother a LOT. She also had significant issues physically and mentally during and after pregnancy. All of this has led to them having an extremely strained relationship where they hardly interact.

Anyways. Cyril imagines whether or not she wanted to drown him during baptism (TW for imagined infanticide I guess??)

To be very clear, this didn't happen. He's spiraling.

The first sentence references a (still not quite edited) part about her ignoring him when he cried as a baby, as told to him by his older half-brother.

At the end of this chapter, he has a dream about drowning in a womb.

(Fun fact: I started editing this section during @coffeeandcalligraphy's livestream the other day. I asked for permission before tagging. If you read this Rachel, I deeply apologize but figure you may appreciate the disaster main character content lmao.)

Lines that I'd like to also mention:

His skin raisins, his insides burning.

Trying to play with verbs more? This isn't my best, just one I appreciate.

He is a body and he is a wound.

I was going to post that whole paragraph, but I'm not super happy with it yet.

Also, this isn't part of this chapter, but it's got a similar theme.

He's my babygirl.

I'm going to wait since this post is long enough, but other excerpts I definitely want to share include the vampire dream (it's relevant I swear) and possibly some of the more religious imagery, in which I cannot figure out if Cyril is comparing himself to Jesus, Judas, or the snake. Or all three. Genuinely would love to make a uquiz out of this.

[trust-is-the-most-important]

whatever carlos is doing with rebecca has nothing whatsoever to do with lando or carlando. nobody outside a handful of shippers who have gone off the deep end thinks carlos and lando are anything more than friends. even the vast majority of shippers don't think they're anything more than friends. there are and never have been any rumours about them and there would be no reason whatsoever for carlos to be trying to disprove anything via some elaborate set-up with a model when there are no rumours to even disprove in the first place. nor is he trying to hide any secret gay anything. he's straight to the point he's verging on no homo.

carlos and lando have a great friendship within f1 and carlos's family seem very fond of lando, but too many carlando fans want to try and act like lando's life revolves around carlos when it's doesn't in the least. lando has his own life and his own friends. they don't even hang out outside of times around races. lando is close with and spends a lot of time with max v and they have a big group of mutual friends in monaco who he spends most of his spare time with. he has a group of close friends from dubai who were at the race in hungary with him and are often in monaco so he spends a fair bit of time with them too. he's super close with martin garrix and they go on vacations together or hang together in the few times in the year they can match up spare time in their schedules. he hangs out with and plays golf with alex albon when they are both in monaco at the same time. he hangs out with daniel whenever they're in the same place and travels with him to races sometimes and through daniel has become friendly with some of dan's friends. he has his close group of uk friends with quadrant. none of that has anything to do with carlos, they have no overlapping life whatsoever outside of f1. so again there is nothing to either hide or disprove.

back to carlos, idk what's going on with him rn. i love carlos dearly but he's never been the disney prince so many fans try and portray him as. idk if people are blinded by his looks but there's such a tendency to try and paint him as some kind of perfect person and put him on a pedestal that people are now freaking out now he's showing he's not and never has been who they decided he was. he used to openly be a big partier in his early f1 days and though he is discreet about it, even now he's one of the drivers you will nearly always find in or around the f1 parties on race weekends. there have been rumours around his lack of fidelity for as long as he was first with isa, right back to toro rosso days. if i'm honest he never seemed like the greatest bf to isa, 90% of the time when they were together it seemed like her having to fit into his life rather than them having a joint life, like you see with couples like george and carmen. isa actually seems much happier now they've gone their separate ways and i'm glad for her.

carlos on the other hand currently seems like a bit of a hot mess and not just with his dating life. he's been belligerent and acting out of character at times in f1 recently. he's doing whatever the hell he's doing with rebecca and her group of equally questionable friends. idk if he's trying to cultivate some kind of bad boy racer image, if he's trying to act out against his very traditional family, if he's having some kind of early mid-life crisis, if it's him acting out post-break up or if he's intent shedding his glossy perfect image he had cultivated and showing the real him. he's been on some kind of image makeover this year with all the increasing thirst-trap imagery and videos produced by guzman and with his behaviour going the way it is maybe it's all an active decision to try and shed his slightly boring, always do the right thing image he had built for himself til recently and come over as more of an f1 driver playboy. maybe he's really fallen for this woman and is being an ass while blinded by lust. idk, but whatever it is i can't help but think it's starting to backfire on him a little because he just increasingly comes over as a hot mess both at work and in his private life and as a fan it's a little sad to see.

Of course, Carlos is not innocent either. None of the F1 drivers are. Almost every pilot has gossip.

And yes, Lando's life does not revolve around Carlos. I think the reason they are so obsessive for them is because he was Lando's first teammate and it was clear that they have a good relationship and can work together very well.

Lando has his friends and so does Carlos. And even blind Carlando fans should accept this.

But we know that there's fans who don't watch f1 for sports.

We don't know what the relationship between Isa and Carlos was like. It's always been private. And I think it's still better than when couples keep sharing pictures together.

And yes, Carlos has not been in his best form lately.

I just hope he finds himself in these few weeks.

[inquisitorius-sin-bin]

My favourite fic of yours: RIDE OR DIE. It has THE best worldbuilding I’ve ever seen in a fic, it’s genuinely like reading a canon novel in second person and I love it so much

My favourite chapter: 27 absolutely 27 need i say more

Something I remember vividly: Ya I’m with Angela, you take reader inserts to a whole other level - normally I’ll read them but it’s always hard for me to get invested if it’s just a blank template, Y/N just draws me out of it so quickly. With the way you write them I feel so immersed, each protag has something different about them and ughhh it’s just so fucking good

Sßssssssdsdff thanks! I have very much enjoyed creating my own distinct alien culture and ecosystems, its one of the things I wish Star Wars was braver about. The prequel trilogy had flaws, mostly in that many of the cultural aspects were borrowed without credit to the peoples they came from, but from a world-building perspective the planets and species they created were a fantastic building point. I think it speaks a lot to the creativity of people like Doug Chiang that so many of the cultural and geographical elements of places like Utapau mesh so well together, and it makes an excellent sandbox to unleash my own creative thoughts.

I am soooo proud of Chapter 27. It was a beast to write but worth it, a standout chapter in this work that simultaneously fits with the themes and messaging, but is so jarring in its perspective and time shift. Appropriately a big impact moment. It was definitely a long-term pay off that I'm glad waited until now to put in. Like you have to really understand Talion and Theo's characters for this chapter to hit so hard. We had to be sort of questioning Tsino's place in all of this. We had to seed previous imagery, the handprints in the tent, the necklace, the incident with the dactilsword, for us to really understand WHY those things were so important to his past.

I'm finally recovered enough that I've started back up on Chapter 28 recently but whew, it was something to jump back to the present after ending with THAT.

And again, I'm so overjoyed y'all love my reader characters. They are each their own, and since their physical descriptions are blank canvasses, I use their personalities to shape them. How do they dress? How do they speak and think? How do they react when they've been frustrated or embarrassed?

I would encourage anyone who considers reading or writing x reader fics to really challenge the pre-existing notion of what that means. See it as a genre with its own unique challenges and rewards. People project themselves onto existing characters or OC's wildly different from themselves all the time, so long as that person is relatable to them somehow. Who hasn't wanted to be a character in the Star Wars Universe? And you don't necessarily want to be you, you want to be someone who fits in, with a role and history and relationships. Part of the tapestry of the world.

I like challenging my characters, thinking about who they are and how they came to meet the Inquisitor, because he's not exactly just out there shaking hands and kissing babies- for you to come across him usually means something has gone terribly wrong. It's my job to tell those stories. Try to find unique scenerios that might put these characters together, and different outcomes that might result from their personalities blending. All while trying to find creative solutions to the ever present name/description problems.

But hey, we don't have a name for the Grand Inquisitor either, so he lends himself to these stories so well!

Thanks so much for the ask!

[winged-paki]

Hi! I really like your fic, I admire the way you write and describe the emotions of the characters. If it's among your possibilities, I would like you to give me some tips for writing (dialogues, scenarios, emotions, narrative arc, etc) I would also like to start writing that way, as if you know the characters personally.

Aww, thank you so much anon! I'm not sure how much concrete advice I can give - I'm not a very experienced writer, especially not when it comes to longer stories like chartreuse - but I can try. Forgive my lack of brevity, I have never once been concise.

I usually write what I know. I write about emotions I've felt before and things that I've been through, and I write dialogue like how I and those around me naturally speak. I try to be an introspective/observant person so I can pick up on how people speak or describe their feelings, and how my own thoughts/emotions manifest in me. All of that makes writing conversations and emotions very clear to me.

I plan out my long stories in advance. Those plans change A LOT... but I think making them in the first place is necessary to keep your story goal-oriented rather than meandering. My plans have three elements: general plot movement, emotional/character arcs, and a scene-by-scene play-out of each chapter. The first and last elements change a lot, but the character arcs usually stay consistent, so I'm able to write those emotional journeys with the endgoal and major moments already in mind.

Perspective is a huge one for me. I think part of conveying a character's emotions is removing the barrier between the character and the audience, even when writing from third person. I try to minimize my use of phrases like "she felt" and "she thought" in emotional moments which kind of pull the audience out of the character's head, and focus on raw hyperbolic imagery, physical sensations, metaphors, and so on like a real-time thought process.

Here's a paragraph I like:

"Normally, they could compartmentalize. They could dissociate. They’d be shaky and skittish, sure, but at least they wouldn’t keep seeing—keep hearing—keep feeling those gutwrenching memories churn in a zoetrope before their eyes and under their skin. That fucking cosplay couple, who Shiver let their guard down around and trusted too much despite Frye’s quiet warning—the way they kissed like hellfire, the way the audience shrieked itself hoarse for them—the way Shiver had felt like their skin was melting, like their blood was boiling oil, the way Frye looked so desolate as she watched, helpless, a corpse walking—"

I tried to show Shiver's panic here through short choppy sentences and jumbled-up ideas and wild imagery. It doesn't quite feel like we're being told how Shiver feels so much as we're experiencing their thoughts ourselves. That, I think, is the difference between the audience knowing how the characters feel and the audience feeling that same shit too.

Regarding emotions, I love contradictions. I think that's the juiciest thing you can do to a character. Frye feeling torn between wanting to be honest to her fans and wanting to support her partner, Shiver feeling torn between loving their partner and fearing intimacy with her, Big Man loving his friends but growing fed up with their bullshit... all this cognitive dissonance can culminate in really explosive fights, dramatic conversations, arguments and makeups, and other fun stuff.

I like to ensure everyone expresses their emotions differently. Shiver compartmentalizes and dissociates. Frye gets anxious and sometimes belligerent. Big Man's anger is quiet and deadly. (At least until the most recent chapter, where Shiver and Frye's "anger styles" switch as a testament to how abnormal they've become.)

I think every scene/scenario should play a legit role in the plot and emotional development of the characters. I construct most scenarios based off how they move plot/characters forward, and also try to ensure I don't become overly repetitive in the situations I show. So that necessitates many settings, characters, behaviors, communication styles, etc.

A big part of how I write like I know the characters personally is spending a lot of time with them. I think about them a lot, even when I'm not writing/planning, and I flesh out their personalities, reactions to situations, interactions with others, etc. in my head. I especially like to focus on what makes my characters different. How are Shiver and Frye different from each other? How are the chartreuse chatroom girls different from each other? Stuff like that.

I'll edit this post if anything more occurs to me <3 sorry for the enormous post, thank you for the question, and I hope this is somewhat helpful to you!

[mediawhorefics]

ms. whore i follow you on goodreads and i always see you reading star wars novellas and i wanted to ask, as someone trying to get into reading them where should i start? there are so many! (if you can tell me, i mean it’s not your job but i consider you a star wars church youth leader) thanks!

oooh, what a good question !!!! i was in your predicament not too long ago so i totally get what you mean. there is a TON of star wars material if you want to get into the expanded universe, which is a cool problem to have ofc, but it's really daunting at first.

idk how much you know about star wars novels so i'm gonna apologise in advance if these things seem obvious but i think it's best to start with the basics, just in case. there are basically two different types of novels: canon or legend. the legend stuff was written before disney bought star wars and is no longer considered canon. there's a whole different post-original trilogy storyline and world that has nothing to do with the sequels, as well as a lot of other stuff from all the different eras of star wars. then, of course, there's the canon stuff which has been published since disney entered the picture. there are a couple of exceptions to this rule, for example, the episodes' novelizations are still considered canon and there are a few other books here and there. personally, i've mostly been going through the new canon stuff so that's what i can speak to/recommend to you. i've read a few legends books here and there, either recently or as a kid, and i have a few more that are on my to-read list because they're considered classics, but for now i'm focusing on canon stuff so that's what i'll talk about :)

now that that's out of the way, i think the best approach to this is to go with things you're already interested in. choosing either a character, a pairing of characters, an era, or even a planet/location that you're a big fan of and picking a book that focuses on that is a good way to get started. then you eventually start knowing the writers and whose style you like best and you can move forward that way if you like. basically, there's no right or wrong way to start them. it's not like there's a designated entry point that you need to use. if you're looking for a completely blank slate, the high republic stuff is a good option: it's all brand new characters and a brand new era they've been developing through novels and comics. otherwise, going with your favourites is a good bet.

for me, as you might already know, i'm a big prequels & anakin fan so that's what i first focused my attention on when i got started. it's led me to some pretty good stuff! i basically picked up the revenge of the sith novelization (which is still my fav sw novel i might add!) first and moved from there. so yeah, ask yourself what you want to dig into and start with that.

still, if you want some personal recs i am happy to oblige :) here are a few of my favs and some less favs that i still consider important reads lmao:

revenge of the sith (matthew stover) : novelization of ep. 3. now usually novelizations of films are pretty terrible but mr stover is insane and wrote the greatest sw book of all time. its so heartwrenching and it adds so much to the movie. 100000000/10

brotherhood (mike chen): anakin & obiwan focused novel set RIGHT after ep 2. shows the transition from master & apprentice to ani & obi being equals, anakin getting used to his new arm, the early anidala marriage, the early early days of the clone wars, etc. its partly set on cato neimoidia and really explores that culture deeper than the prequels ever did too which was great. i personally really loved mike chen's anakin and i'm pretty picky with the way people write him. also! he reuses some pretty significant imagery from the rots novel that makes the whole thing 10x better.

the padmé trilogy (ek johnston): each book focuses on padmé & her handmaidens & the bts/in-between moments of the prequels trilogy. i'm biased because i love padmé and i love female focused star wars media (the very very very little of it we have) but these are just fun adventures that deepen padmé's character. and her relationship with the handmaidens and the whole culture surrounding it. they can be a bit more slow-paced at times but if you love padmé, they're a must. also introduces/develops a bunch of queer characters most notably sabé played by queen of wlw kiera knightley lol.

padawan (kiersten white): 16 yo obi wan questions his life choices and his place, both as qui gon's apprentice and as a jedi in itself, so he kind of runs away on a solo mission that leads him to find answers and inner peace. i LOVED this book. it's very coming of age in the sw universe and features baby obi searching for himself and meaning. also the infamous bi/maybe ace obi passage so that's 5 stars from me for that alone.

master & apprentice (claudia gray): there hasn't been a claudia sw novel that i haven't liked so far and this one is prob. my fav. once again an obi wan story. this time he's a bit older and the story focuses on the unlikely and seemingly ill-suited-for-each-other pairing of obi wan and qui gon. qui gon is such a great character so anything that digs deeper into him and his relationships with fellow jedi is a win for me. but this is just a generallya book with a great plot on to of being a great exploration of that master apprentice team! it makes phantom menace just that much sadder.

leia princess of alderaan (claudia gray): 16 yo princess leia has to complete a series of challenges before the ceremony that will officially name her as heir to the alderaan throne. while this is a coming-of-age story for leia, it's also much more importantly about the disconnect she's been feeling with her parents and her discovery of why they've been keeping her at arm's length as she starts understanding their involvement in the rebellion and their anti-imperial activity. claudia gray's leia voice is really good.

bloodline (claudia gray): now this is a book set after the og trilogy, about 7 years before the sequels, and anyone who has met me before knows that i'm not the biggest fan of the sequels trilogy so novels that focus on this period aren't very attractive to me. but! this was pitched to me as the anakin & leia novel in which the galaxy finds out leia is vader's daughter. and the repurcussionsof that for leia, personally and politically. now you might not know this about me but anakin & leia being the same is my greatest sw belief and one of my very favourite things so i was thrilled to pick this up. and while the overall plot was meh to me ALL the anakin & leia stuff was incredible to me and again, claudia's leia voice is chef's kiss.

lost stars (claudia gray): this is considered a classic and a must-read by a lot of people and they are not wrong. its a book that goes through the entire original trilogy focusing on two childhood best friends falling in love with each other as they become pilots at the imperial academy and beyond. that is until one of them can't handle the horrors of the empire anymore and joins the rebellion. a fantastic book that really explores the effects that some of the moments of the og trilogy would have on regular people in the galaxy and how easily people can become fascists and brainwashed into thinking they're doing the right thing. idk how likeable the imperial side of the main pairing is supposed to be (they weren't to me) but a very interesting character regardless. if you don't know where to start, this might actually be a good choice because it's brand new characters surrounded by familiar events. and it's also jus a fantastic book.

dark disciple (christie golden): based on an unused script from the clone wars, this is the ventress and quinlan vos team-up/romance novel. this is an incredibly popular one that everyone recs. personally, i felt a little let down by it but it's definitely a must-read if you're a ventress fan (which, i am.)

a new dawn (jack johnson miller): plotwise, this novel was average and i didn't particularly care. BUT this is the kanan/hera meeting for the first time novel so if you're a rebels fan and a fan of that relationship it's def. a good read. as i said, the overall plot didn't wow me, but all the character stuff is SO good. kanan falling in love with hera's voice the second he hears it, my beloved...

if you read comics, all the canon vader comics have been incredible. the kieron gillen 2015 run is set between anh and esb. the charles soule 2017 run is set between rots and anh. and the current greg pak 2020 run is set between esb and rotj. five stars. all of them. some of the most iconic vader moments come from these novels and they delve really deep into anakin's character. which hello that's like crack to me.

and here's the i haven't read them yet but i see them recommended all the time so they're worth checking out list:

the thrawn trilogy and the thrawn ascendancy trilogy (timohy zahn): pretty self-explanatory. two trilogies focusing on thrawn and his story of joining & climbing the ranks of the empire. the ascendancy one is a prequel trilogy set before he joins the empire that i'm told is best to read second.

from a certain point of view: short story collection around a new hope. published for the 40th anniversary of star wars. there's a similar collection for empire strikes back.

if you just finished andor and are desperate for more rogue one, the rogue one novelization is meant to be very good. as well as catalyst: a rogue one story and rebel rising (which focuses on a young jyn erso).

and of course, the high republic stuff ! everyone is raving about it. as i said earlier, it's a fresh jumping point introducing a brand new era of star wars and a brand new cast of characters. the first novel is light of the jedi and i've been told it's the best starting point for it all. i'm personally reading that one right now and really enjoying it! it feels different and fresh which is pretty fun, considering how familiar we are with the sw universe.

i think that's it for now? hopefully, that was a little helpful to you. and if you have more questions/comments/thoughts about star wars books once you start reading them, please feel free to come back. i looooovee talking about sw. it never bothers me haha. or even if you want to message me your fav characters/films/series, i can have a dig around my read and to read lists and find some stuff for you! i have a relatively good grasp of it all, even those i haven't read yet. no pressure tho <3

and omg thank you for calling me a star wars youth leader jkgndk that's both hilarious and flattering!!!