#{ She's actually the main character of my very first novel I've ever written. }

[chronosbled]

{ I think this border is pretty nice to be honest, and I like the way it makes my icons look as well. }

[badscientist]

Writeblr Interview Tag

tagged by @sableglass. thanks! im breakin out the proper syntax for this one.

Short stories, novels, or poems?

No idea. I haven't explored writing enough to know what I prefer. As a teen, I wrote a lot of poetry due to the affliction of Being A Teenager and drug-related conflict between my parents. Then as I got older, I wrote mostly scenes for bigger ideas. Dead Meat just happened to turn from a dream into a planned three-parter with six total characters (Betsy, Sanderson, Clive, Ankhanum, Betsy's mom, Eleanor), but as you can see, that didn't quite work out.

What genre do you prefer reading?

Overwhelmingly horror. A sprinkling of fantasy here and there. More recently I've been into non-fiction. I have a few exceptions to my I Don't Read Fanfiction clause as well.

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

The first five or so parts of Dead Meat were written by the seat of my pants. I did eventually sit down and outline the remainder of it. Even now, the final part isn't even fully drafted, but it'll get there.

What music do you listen to while writing?

Instrumentals. Videogame soundtracks are great for this. Big fan of writing to Silent Hill music.

Favorite books/movies?

For films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Iron Giant, The Thing. …I absolutely love more movies than this, I swear, my brain just feels like fudge right now and unless I have a convenient list of my favorite things to refer to, I can't recall them. Same thing applies to books. I was a big Stephen King fan back in the day, less so as I've gotten older, but I don't think I'll ever be able to rid myself of the brainworms The Langoliers, The Dark Half, Tommyknockers and Firestarter gave me. I read them at formative times in my life and they'll always be nostalgic for that reason.

Any current WIPs?

Dead Meat. I have some other ideas I'd like to get to, but right now I'm trying to focus on that.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you what would your standard outfit be?

I depict 'OC Jacquin' in sweaters and coats a lot but the reality is I'm usually in a polo shirt or button-up and slacks, or boxers and tank tops. But those aren't as stylish and I have to look superficially cultured. (He also has long hair! My hair's very short IRL.)

Create a character description of yourself:

…Gonzo from The Muppets.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't at least subconsciously write and incorporate traits people they know or have met or have seen into their work. So the answer's yes. Though the funniest example is my QPP Cinna, because they're a main character of a project to come.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

No. I get too attached. And then I'd feel sad about killing a person that isn't real. (Sweeps Ankhanum's murderous tendencies under a rug.) Don't look at that.

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Water. I usually only drink coffee and tea when I first wake up.

Slow or fast writer?

Varies. Depends on how my brain's doing on a particular day. Feels like it's being cooked like an egg or in molasses and then it's slow going.

Where/who/what do you draw inspiration from?

It all boils down to a love of horror and biology. I like two things. Don't look at me.

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Ideally, Ankhanum. He's the coolest thing TO be in my work. But realistically, I'm just Jacquin. While he's a flavor of Ankhanum, he's also just some Guy (butch) with a body horror gimmick.

Most fav book cliche & least favorite cliche:

Combining these two because I really just do not read enough books to know. I'll give anything earnest a shake, even if it's not something I'm normally into.

Favorite scene to write?

They're tricky, but I get a thrill writing fight scenes. I'll actually paste a bit of the one I had the most fun with early on:

Suddenly, Betsy was in total darkness. She stopped in place and hung her head, trying to reorient herself. The generator didn't kick back on. She pulled the flashlight free from her belt. Though it'd make her a beacon in the night, its weight in her hand was a comfort.

Betsy reached the mudroom.

There. The door to the yard.

She ran for it. It burst open from outside the moment she put her hands on it, shoving her backwards. The weight of her bag was too much; she pinwheeled her arms and fell back onto it. The flashlight dropped from her hand, striking the ground. Betsy scrambled to get back up, grabbing for the light. Something lashed and knocked it further away. She was struck and knocked forward. She twisted herself around and rolled over to the flashlight.

Sanderson's pupil shrank as she shined the light on him. He stood between her and the way out, tail whipping behind him. His nostrils were flaring, not taking his eye off her.

"Doc. Get out of my way," she said.

Reason for writing?

Sanderson lunged. Betsy swung her flashlight at what was left of his head. His jaw grew, splitting open, catching the flashlight in his teeth. A few of them cracked from the force of him locking onto it. Chatting was officially off the table. Betsy strained against him. He growled around the light. She slammed her other arm up against his throat, pushing him back. The mouth on his stomach snapped at her.

There is a wall between myself and others that has always existed and this is a Manifestation of Othering the Neurodivergent (a mean kid is better at diagnosing mental illness than a psychiatrist, and even though this was 20-30 years ago, it Sticks), so writing is. A ladder. I can at least sit on my wall and wave to people.

[chickycherrycola]

For the writer asks ❤️👻🦋🦈💕🎬💭

Seven questions in one answer post? Let's goooooo 😤🙌

From this Fanfic Writer Asks game

❤️: What is your favorite line that you've written in a fic?

I'd have to go with the following snippet from under your skin:

'He wants to be the heat emanating from her body, the hot water dripping down the planes of her abdomen. He wants to be the scars on her skin, the freckles on her face and the bruises on her legs and arms. He wants to dig his fingers so deep into her flesh that he can no longer tell where he ends and she begins. He wants to be under her skin and in her veins, the energy in her cells and the breath in her lungs.

The very life force that sustains her.'

Heheh 😜

👻: what is your wildest headcanon?

That Maka's mother was a witch. Not sure if it qualifies as 'wild' per se, but i think it's pretty damn compelling and it would explain her absence from the series and Maka's life. @victoriapyrrhi wrote an excellent fic exploring this and I cannot recommend it enough!

🦋: which character is your favorite to write?

SOUL EATER EVANS, WITHOUT A DOUBT 😭💕😩👌 I love writing a pining man. A hopelessly, disgustingly, horrendously down bad man in love (Exhibit A the snippet from the first question lmao). There's also just... a lot to unpack with his character in general. The manga kinda sidelined his character development after he became a Death Scythe imo, when there was still so much more that could have been explored - his inferiority complex, how exactly he copes with the legacy of his family/brother now that he's carving out a different legacy of his own, did he ever have any sort of relationship with his family while he was at the DWMA? How did he adjust to being Kid's weapon as well as Maka's? Where the heck does his 'loyalty to the point of suicidality' thing come from, and does it extend to Kid as well as Maka when he becomes a Death Scythe? I could write a million fics from his POV and I wouldn't tire of it.

🦈: which character is the toughest to write?

My original characters. OCs are definitely the toughest thing for me when navigating original fiction and I think this is my main obstacle that I need to overcome on the road from fanfic author to published novelist.

💕: what is your favorite fic you've written?

This answer might surprise folks cause a lot of you probably follow my work for my smut, but my fave fic that I've written is (no place like) home for the holidays. A lot of the story centered around Soul and his past and his family, so I had a lot of fun with those details (especially writing Wes, dear lord did I have fun writing Wes and crafting his whole character). I wrote Soul as transmasc for the first time as well, which is a headcanon that is important to me. I also think of this fic as a bit of a turning point in my writing journey - it originated as a series of loosely connected scene ideas that I somehow managed to weave together into a cohesive, novel-length narrative, and I definitely felt my writing skills 'level up' while working on it. When I go back and reread, this fic is where I definitely start to notice a consistent difference in my voice and writing style. I learned a lot while writing it!

🎬: if a movie or show were based off your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

King of My Heart, 1000%. And actually, I got this question from several of you, so I'm saving it for it's own post later this week. KOMH fancast in progress 👀😎

💭: what inspires you and your writing?

I find inspiration everywhere and sometimes I truly... don't understand how my brain works. Opening a pair of Bluetooth headphones once gave me a book idea. Entering the wrong information into a flight status tracker website once gave me a book idea. Just hearing certain phrases will give me fic and novel ideas! Ideas and inspiration can come from the most surprising places sometimes. Music, in particular, is very inspiring for me as well. I maintain individual character and fic playlists, and often, just listening to a new song and really paying attention to the lyrics will give me fic/story ideas.

Holy MOLY this post got long. If you read all of that, I'm genuinely impressed 🤣

Thanks for playing!

[anxiousgoblinsworld]

writeblr intro!

Hello! ^_^ I'm new to the writeblr community so I suppose I should introduce myself!

⚔️ Some random useless facts about me:

Kayla, she/her, 27

asexual/somewhere between sex-repulsed and indifferent

creative writing student

nature lover, hiking, boating, riding the horses

but also very lazy

renaissance fairs and the ocean are my safe places

i enjoy learning about a wide variety of topics but my favorite subjects to geek out about are swords, sharks and kpop/kdramas

My dream is to one day be able to write full time. A few years ago I was at the lowest I've ever been in my depression and stopped writing entirely but I've recently picked it back up and I'm trying to find my footing again.

I've never sought out a writing community before, so despite my rising anxiety around sharing my work, I've finally created this blog where I plan to share any and all of my WIPs

I've been sitting on this draft (that I absolutely love) for just about two years now, and I've decided it's finally time to attempt the arduous task of overcoming my anxiety which means actually allowing myself to write with the goal of publishing/sharing the story.

I primarily write dark fantasy which almost always contains magical elements and because I'm asexual, everything I write is "clean fiction". The sexy stuff makes me un-comfy so I avoid it as much as I can in both my reading and writing. However I am a hopeless romantic so a lot of my stories do contain romantic subplots.

My storylines tend to be very character driven. I'm a sucker for good character development and relationship building

⚔️ My WIPS

I'm in the process of rebranding it as this project did begin as a ff that I fell in love with writing and am now working toward making publishable. The main concept is remaining the same but I'm currently building an entirely new world, adding probably too many new characters and giving it a much more "fantasy" vibe

I plan for it to be a series centered around 5 main characters, with each novel written from a different perspective. This is the first of the five.

🗡️In the Mind of an Assassin

Known as the most feared assassin in Koszmar, Jax is deadly in both looks and skills. Never has he been bested at what he does - until now. But the one thing which may very well lead to Jax's demise is the last thing anyone expected - a child.

[wordsifelt]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hi! That was a hard question to answer lol, but after several hours of deliberation I have arrived at the following 10, in no particular order:

Mo Dao Zu Shi and Heaven Official's Blessing by MXTX: (danmei) So yes i cheated a little, these are two novels by the same author, but what I like about them are the same, the author writes relationships extremely well, and she writes very well rounded characters. The plot is very nuanced and makes you think.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett (Tv series): Truly is a gift to humanity, i love this series, I love how queer it is, how the love permeates everything, how very humane it is (also I'm a sucker for mythological fiction, Percy jackson was a favourite growing up)

Loveless by Alice Oseman (novel): This novel is brilliantly done, and perfectly explains being on the aroace spectrum. I read it recently and it's helped me so much with my own journey discovering my sexuality.

Not Me (Thai drama): Apart from having one of the sweetest romances I've ever seen in any media, this drama also focuses on a lot of political issues, revolution, anarchy etc. Also a great exploration into queer joy. I think it is the only drama i have 10/10 stars

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo: well written characters, good motivation and plot, beautiful world building and most of all amazing representation, one of my all time fantasy favs.

The All For the Game trilogy by Nora Sakavic: I went into this series with actually zero expectations and it has consumed me for years until I can't find anything else even remotely close to the raw emotion this brings out in me. I don't think anything will ever surpass this. Definitely my comfort read.

Yuuri on Ice (Anime) : One of the first queer anime I ever watched. I love figure skating, the animation style was beautiful, and the love was there. It's a very comforting and fun anime to watch.

Given (Anime): Yet another amazing queer anime. Great exploration of grief and healing and love. Also amazing music.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak(novel) : It's such a bare look at the holocaust and at how it affected those persecuted and involved. Beautiful writing style. I can never read this without crying.

Heartstopper by Alice Oseman: Queer joy for everyone 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 (need I say more?)

Some honorary mentions:

Gideon the Ninth: This book drove me insane

I Wish You All the Best (novel): beautiful exploration of non-binary gender

Word of Honor (Chinese drama): I love the main couple, they've got great chemistry

Sasaki and Miyano(anime): most wholesome fluff anime ever

Hope this answers ur question. And I hope you find some good recs in this!

[chocolatepot]

Still thinking about my thoughts on Austen and asexuality and writing-while-aspec ...

One of the reasons this is so fascinating to me is that it took me years to realize I'm aspec - that the way I feel and think about sexual attraction is fundamentally different from the way most people do - but once I did, I started to look at my own fiction and saw evidence all over the place. But it's not "evidence" that anyone not-aspec is probably going to pick up on, I think (given that nobody has ever asked me about it, lol).

Like. I write characters who are attractive, and other characters notice that they're attractive, but they just note levels of attractiveness in passing because those are ... things you notice! But in my writing, it's just another trait, on par with other good traits like "being nice", "talent for art", etc. I don't think I've ever written a main character who actually falls in love based on looks; the closest I tend to get is writing Ed/Stede in AUs where Ed notices Stede's looks before they even interact and it's a major factor in his approaching Stede, but a) that's an established character for whom this seems specifically IC, not one I've invented, and b) even then, this is wayyy scaled back from what seems to be a "normal" allosexual response based on the fandom.

And this is something that makes me think of Austen, because characters' attractiveness in her books is registered, it affects their public perception and their value in marriage, but on the page it is not a big motivator for them. They're largely pursuing either money/status or else, if they're sensible, a true meeting of minds with mutual esteem. Being good-looking is a benefit and an attraction, but on par with a host of other personal factors.

Mr. Darcy recognizes that Jane Bennet is very pretty on first meeting but expresses no desire to dance with her - he's mainly focused on the social implications of the looks of one's dance partner. His own attractiveness is up in the air in the book, based on his manners and his money. Anne Elliot is described as having been "an extremely pretty girl" in her youth, but also "with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling," while Captain Wentworth was '"a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy" - all of these things coming together with his boredom and her lack of anyone to love to make them a match. Mr. Tilney is "very near" being "quite handsome", but what makes an impression is his wit (in good and bad ways), and Catherine Morland is repeatedly described as good-looking, but her enthusiasm for Henry is what mostly draws him in. Edmund Bertram is attracted to Mary Crawford's "beauty, wit, and good-humour" and the "peculiarly becoming" talent she has for playing the harp. And Henry Crawford's feelings about Fanny, while stimulated by her looks, are much more complicated.

It's really easy to dismiss all of this as nineteenth-century prudishness and/or adherence to the principle that marriage needs to be based on more than attraction. But there are plenty of period novels where it's clear that a heroine's looks are a primary focus for the hero or the villain! It's very normal for nineteenth-century novels to have characters moved by each other's beauty in a foregrounded way. This might have been a deliberate choice on Austen's part, but it wasn't a requirement. (And she's hardly prudish. The books are pretty frank about the fact that people do in general feel and act on sexual attraction.)

The idea I keep coming back to is that there's such a big grey area encompassing finding it more romantic to not focus on physical attraction, thinking it's more realistic to have a holistic kind of attraction, etc. with general proximity to the concept of asexuality.

[janeturenne]

Hey so I'm that weirdo who turns up on the internet once every two years and then vanishes again into the ether...

Okay, first things first: I'm gonna be at Big Finish Day in London tomorrow. If you're there, please say hi! I'll be in CIA-Ace cosplay, complete with Docs and bomber jacket.

The big thing, tho, is that, after 15-odd years of ficwriting, I have finally gone "...these literal millions of words of fiction that I've written probably at some point began to constitute the kind of thing that even late-stage capitalism would recognize as Labor, huh." So when my husband and I started toying around with a premise based on our RP characters, I went - fuck it. Imma polish this up, put it on Wattpad and see if I can't take a crack at actually making a living from my writing. I've only wanted to be a writer since I was, y'know, five. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, yeah?

And so I've posted the first two chapters of a new original novel - not the one that some of you may have heard me talk about before (which I'm still being a bit precious about and trying to save for a publisher), but one that, if you've read and enjoyed anything else I've ever written, I hope you might like. It's Victorian and fluffy and romantic and, I hope, sexy, but it's also full of literary allusions, banter and female characters who absolutely will not be fucked with. Mostly it exists, in fact, as a giant middle finger to Leo Tolstoy, because I hate Anna Karenina on such a visceral level that it takes 60,000 words to say how much. Also, if you look at some of the characters, squint and go "...they look familiar," you're probably right. The main stately house is called Longbarrow Hall, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

So! If you've ever read and enjoyed anything I've ever written, can I please ask you to at least take a look, and consider sharing this post? Even if you find it's not really your thing, it would be so helpful to me to get eyes on it, especially early on. It's 100% written at this point, and is posting in 20 chapters. The first two are up today, and the subsequent ones will post every Friday hereafter.

Thank you very much! If you'd like to learn more, a full description is under the cut below.

No Doom But Bliss, by Jane Turenne, on Wattpad

A story of hard-won second chances, No Doom But Bliss is for fans of Bridgerton, Downton Abbey and Outlander, or anyone who likes their bodice-ripping grown-up, feminist, and a little messy.

Lady Tess Keighley has long since realised, too late, that her husband's interest in her is political rather than personal. Edmund got exactly what he wanted from marriage into her family: the office of Prime Minister. Tess, on the other hand, got a decade of neglect and cruelty that has left her believing herself wholly undesirable.

But that isn't what Kantor Mamblestone - Scotsman, ex-soldier, and currently her husband's secretary - sees when he looks at Tess. Her beauty, brains and sweetness are enough to leave his previously respectable Victorian soul in no little degree of torment. And, sweet though she may be, Tess has more fight in her than it seems…

[droids-in-disguise]

Favorite Books I've Read in 2023 (so far)

So fun fact I read a lot, here are my top 10 books that I’ve read so far this year, in the order I read them. Never really posted this sort of thing on tumblr before but I thought I’d give it a try.

Book details and some of my thoughts under the cut.

A Thousand Steps Into Night by Traci Chee (2022)

YA Fantasy

A Thousand Steps Into Night is a book I 100% picked up because of the cover and because it was super cheap. I hadn’t ever heard anything about the book or author. The best way I can describe this novel is that reading it conjured up the same feelings that I get from watching a Ghibli film. Our protagonist Miuko is an ordinary girl from a small village until one day she is cursed and slowly begins transforming into a demon. Hoping to find a way to break the curse, she begins to travel the land meeting lots of colorful characters, gods, and mythic figures along the way. It’s a very atmospheric and wonderfully written book that pulls a lot of inspiration from Japanese mythology and folklore

A Restless Truth by Freya Marske (2022)

Romance/Fantasy

This is the second book in the Last Binding trilogy. I feel like you could probably get away with skipping the first book if you wanted to since both books are somewhat self-contained, but why would you? The first book (A Marvellous Light) is awesome. Our story takes place in an alternate-Edwardian England where magic is real and certain people can practice it, unbeknownst to the rest of the non-magical population. Maud Blyth, a non-magical person who has the privilege of knowing about magic, is working with members of the magical community as well as her brother (the protagonist from the first book) to prevent a dangerous magical contract form falling into the wrong hands. She is travelling on an ocean liner when the old woman in her care ends up dead. Cue the murder mystery shenanigans and sapphic romance!

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun (2022)

Romance

I actually read this book twice this year, once by myself and once for my book club. It has what is quite possibly one of the most bonkers rom-com plots I’ve ever seen and I love how ridiculous it is. Basically, our main character Ellie meets a women in Powell’s books and they have a magical, Christmas one-night-stand. Fast forward almost one year later, Ellie is having a difficult time out here in good-old Portland, OR after getting fired from her dream job and having to instead rough it as a barista. In a last-ditch effort to not lose her apartment, she agrees to marry her job’s landlord so he can get his inheritance and Ellie gets a percentage in exchange. However, it turns out that her one-night-stand from last year is her new fake-fiancé’s sister. GASP! The only place this book loses points for me is that there’s too many goddamn Taylor Swift references.

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (2021)

YA Sci-Fi

If I had to pick a favorite out of all these books it would be this one. Reading this book felt like getting hit by a bus. Our POV character is Ambrose Cusk, an astronaut aboard the Coordinated Endeavor who has been sent on a mission into deep space to rescue his sister. His only companion is another boy named Kodiak who comes from a rival nation (think Cold War-ear space race). As they slowly start to interact with one another it becomes clear that for some reason neither one of them have any memory of the ship’s launch. The only knowledge they have of what’s going on comes from the ship’s internal computer and infrequent communications from Earth. As they begin to investigate, they discover a lot more than they bargained for. The first half of this book is like your typical gay space adventures and then at like the 50% mark onwards the rug gets pulled out from under you and you just have to go WHAT THE FUCK and then when you finish the book you just have to pretend like you’re fine and can move on with your life (you can’t). My only complaint is that this book should not have been YA, like there’s absolutely 0 reason for it to be.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (2021)

YA Thriller

This book was unexpected for me. I have a habit of just reading books I know absolutely nothing about because someone, somewhere said it was good and because I think the cover is pretty. For some reason I assumed this would be a fantasy book but it’s actually a thriller/mystery novel, which is not at all a genre I typically go for. Our main character, Daunis Fontaine, is a biracial Ojibwe girl who loves hockey and her community. Her status as an unenrolled member of her tribe has her stuck with a foot in each world. After a family tragedy, circumstances push her to agree to work undercover with the FBI in order to find the source of a dangerous substance that has infiltrated her community and threatens the lives of those she cares about. I found Daunis to be an extremely compelling character with a strong narrative voice. Watching all the layers of the mystery getting peeled away through her investigation was extremely satisfying. She uses mainstream scientific knowledge in tandem with more tribal specific knowledge of botany and medicine in order to figure things out, which I thought was super cool. This is another book where I feel like it could’ve gotten away with not being YA, but I don’t feel as strongly about it as I do in regards to The Darkness Outside Us.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (2023)

Sci-fi

Where to even begin this one… Have you ever wanted a book that was partly a story about a robot found family on post-apocalyptic Earth and partly a Pinocchio retelling? Yeah me either, but I’m so glad I got it. Victor Lawson is a human raised by robots. He has a peaceful existence with his android father and other mechanical friends until his curiosity unknowingly alerts robots from his father’s former life to their existence. Vic’s father is captured and it’s up to the rest of the family to rescue him. Victor is also asexual and how he describes and navigates his asexuality was so similar to my own it was like looking in a mirror.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (2023)

Memoir

This was a wonderful memoir about a queer Muslim as she reconciles those two pieces of her identity, and the struggles she faces finding community. Growing up religious, there were a lot of experiences in this memoir that I personally related to. Something I really enjoyed is how the author retold stories from the Quran and used them to frame her own queer experiences. There was a lot about this book that was very comforting to me, and I feel like it was written in a way that was accessible and easy to understand.

Black Sun (and by extension it’s sequel, Fevered Star) by Rebecca Roanhorse (2020/2022)

Fantasy

Black Sun is the first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, an epic fantasy series with a world inspired by pre-colonial American civilizations. This series has such a large and complex cast of characters, with chapters from multiple POVs, so it’s impossible to say if there is really any one protagonist. Essentially, the upcoming solar eclipse foretells the return of the crow god and the unbalancing of the status quo that has previously been maintained by an order of priests. Some characters are working to make sure this comes to pass, some hope to prevent it, and some aren’t quite sure where their loyalties lie. By the end of the first chapter I already knew I was in for a wild ride (the book opens on a mother sewing her 12-year old son’s eyes shut, ew). This series also features a queernormative world, where non-binary characters and same-gender relationships are commonplace.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (2021)

YA Fantasy

This book was so cool and really had a lot going for it. Briseis Greene has the uncanny ability to grow and control plants. She and her two moms live in Brooklyn where they run a flower shop. One day, a visitor arrives to tell Bri that she has inherited an old country estate in upstate NY from her birth family. Bri wonders if this house could be the answer to her family’s financial woes and so they travel upstate where Bri begins to learn more about her abilities and her family’s history. Every answered question leads to dozens more unanswered and between strange individuals wandering the estate, townspeople who seem to know secrets, and increasing instances of violence and vandalism, Bri begins ask herself if staying here is worth it if it means her family might be in danger. This book is a queer, mythology inspired, part urban fantasy, part thriller/haunted house story, of a modern fairytale. Truly something in it for everyone.

[winterinhimring]

1, 5, and 6 for the latest ask game

Thanks for sending this!

1: Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

The current project that's most consistently under construction is The Right Question, a fix-it for The Amazing Spider-man 2 (NOT something I ever expected to write fic for) which could very well be subtitled "Gwen Stacy and Aunt May Fix Everything (Harry Helps A Bit)". It's making pretty good progress and most of the main conflict has already been solved, so really what's left now is cleaning up loose ends and revelling in the fix-it a bit before I wrap things up. I think what I love most about it is the dynamic that's developing between Harry, Peter, and Gwen. Harry and Peter have spent most of the fic trying to express friendship for each other by mutually going 'I will sacrifice myself for you. Let me sacrifice myself for you PLEASE. I AM GOING TO JUMP IN FRONT OF THIS BOLT OF LIGHTNING FOR YOU DON'T YOU DARE TACKLE ME OUT OF THE WAY WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SAVING ME I AM SUPPOSED TO BE SAVING YOU'. Gwen, meanwhile, has the brain cell, and has spent most of the fic trying to get them to actually TALK about all the things they sorely need to talk about, but crises keep happening and the boys keep running off into the blue before she can sit them down and sort them out properly. It honestly cracks me up laughing.

I'm also planning to add another arc to A Lot Can Happen In Twenty Years, a collection of short stories set after my rewrite of Spider-man: No Way Home in A Far, Far Better Thing (a series that started life as 'let's fix the post-Endgame MCU' and ended up spanning the entire live-action Spider-man multiverse). So far, entries to that have included lots of Osborn family bonding and a Raimi-verse edition of Electro; the next arc, if I ever actually write it, will be about the Raimi-verse Vulture, whose existence I've teased in previous fics, but who has never actually shown up on screen. So far, it's just in the planning stage, because I'm trying to get The Right Question written before I start it. However, I can already tell that it's going to be chock full of father-son feels and bonding between Norman and Harry, which is one of my favourite things, so I'm really looking forward to when it's written. (I don't want to have to WRITE it but alas, such is life.)

Finally, there is my oldest and least consistently worked-on project, aka That Pesky Original Novel, aka The Finding. It's about a pair of college students who stumble across what I can probably most easily describe as a magical artifact (though magic is really a bit of a misnomer for the way I've set up this world, and in-universe everyone would insist, correctly, that it's NOT magic), find themselves in the sights of quite a lot of interested parties, and have to figure out who to trust and what to do. It has been nominally in the process of being rewritten ever since I first drafted it in high school, but it has actually made some progress lately. It might get finished this year or it might take me another decade; who knows?

5: What character that you're writing do you most identify with?

This is a tough one! I tend to write characters that are similar to me in some crucial ways (I don't think I've ever written someone who's naturally open with their emotions, because that is simply baffling to me on a fundamental psychological level), but very different in others. It's not quite a case of opposites attract, but it's pretty rare for me to look at a character I write and strongly identify with him or her. I can find bits or pieces of myself in most of the characters I write (my sense of morality in Peter, my determination in Gwen, my dislike of emotional vulnerability in Norman, my snark in just about everyone, etc.), but I don't see my whole self in any of them.

6: What character do you have the most fun writing?

It depends on a lot of things! Right now, though, probably Harry Osborn, because he's (a) ridiculously dramatic and can always be relied upon to take a plot in new and interesting (by which I mean supremely angsty) directions, and (b) SUCH a snarky little dude who WILL unleash it on anyone he considers deserving at the slightest provocation. He considers quite a lot of people deserving and I love writing snark, so it's a writer and character partnership made in heaven.

Thank you for sending this question! I had lots of fun answering it.

Ask game is here.

[wutheringmights]

I have to provide some context for this one.

Once a year, some friends and I get together to put on a big powerpoint night. We go hard for these. I usually do a big presentation where I analyze a piece of media. I put a lot of effort into doing the research for these. I once did one on eugenics rhetoric/ideology in My Hero Academia, for context.

This year, I want to do a presentation that tackles the antisemitism and fascist ideology in Attack On Titan. Naturally, this required research. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article on Polygon when I read that Attack On Titan has a YA novel spin-off. Not a light novel translated into English. A YA romance novel written by an American author published in English for American audiences.

Huh, I thought. You guys can probably tell by some of my reading choices that I deeply enjoy putting myself through some god-awful books (primarily YA). And one that's a tie-in to an anime I love being a hater for? Sign me up.

I bought myself a used copy and read it the moment it came in the mail.

That's all the context you need. Now that I've covered my ass, let's talk about what I actually think about Garrison Girl by Rachel Aaron.

It's not the worst thing I've ever read. The prose is overall decent, and I can appreciate that the main character has a pretty clear character arc. The best contribution Aaron made to the Attack On Titan series as a whole is a section towards the beginning where she takes about 2-3 pages to just describe how grotesquely horrifying the Titans are. I always thought the Titans were more funny-looking than anything, so this was a much needed improvement.

Everything else... ugh. Where do I start?

First off, the romance with male lead Jax drove me nuts. On paper, it's probably okay. Aaron put in a lot of effort to make sure they started off hating each other before slowly falling in love. Unfortunately, I really don't like Jax as a character. He annoys the hell out of me, and there was one too many times where he forced the main character, Rosalie, to apologize for something she did not need to apologize for.

The plot is largely episodic, theoretically tied together by Rosalie's character arc. By itself, it just feels like a slightly boring set-up for a larger series. It's fine. Some of the antagonistic characters were too cartoonishly evil for my taste, but it at least works. Having a plot that works is a surprisingly tall order, so I will give Aaron credit for that.

But in context of being a story that ties into Attack On Titan...

Attack On Titan is very good at being self-important. It is a very stupid story with some glaring writing flaws that can hide its issues under the veneer of depth and complexity. As long as you do not think about Attack On Titan too hard, it is a fine watch. Then it started including things that you HAVE to think about like eugenics and persecution, and it becomes glaringly obvious that the author has no real idea how any of this stuff works and only cares about the aesthetics of war.

None of that is in Aaron's book. On one hand, THANK GOD. On the other, this doesn't feel like it fits in with anything in the anime. Where are the gruesome, meaningless deaths? Where are the characters waxing poetry over their moral choices? Where are characters doing batshit things that can only be described as "cool as balls"? Aaron tries to squeeze some of this towards the end, but that still means reading 200 pages of lighthearted military exploits.

This just feels ill-conceived.

I have never read anything else by Aaron, but from a quick perusing of her Good Reads account, I don't think I would have picked her to write this. In her Reddit AMA, she says she took the project because she's a big fan of the show. Good for her, but I don't think she did a good job at making something that fits with the show.

But any Attack On Titan tie-in shouldn't be written for teens. An older target demographic would have opened the doors for a lot more of the anime's signature flairs.

I just think the very existence of this book is fascinating. Every time I check out the YA section at B&N, I always see more novels that are part of bigger non-book franchises: Disney princesses, Avatar the Last Airbender, Marvel comics. Whoever decided in ~2016 that American publishing should try to go anime was ahead of their time.

Yet, it seems like this book didn't do well enough to generate a trend. I haven't seen any other anime novels. But anime is more popular and more mainstream than it has ever been. Surely, another attempt will come.

Yet, Attack On Titan is a last of its kind. While anime is hugely popular, none of the big series now are the same ubiquity that early Attack On Titan did. Do you remember 2013 when the show first came out? Everyone was watching it, even non-anime fans. Many of the articles I read credit it as jumpstarting Crunchyroll. They also say that it's the perhaps the last property that every weeb could be expected to have working knowledge of, much like everyone's latent knowledge of Shonen Jump's old Big Three. There is so much variety and options at this point that weebs aren't watching all the same shows anymore. It's the last titan of an old age of anime fandom.

I don't know if anyone will ever attempt a novel tie-in again. Should it happen, then this is a strange, ill-conceived product ahead of its time. Should it not, then this is the most unique and strange attempt to profit off of a mainstream anime.

I hope Alex Aster writes a novel for Naruto. That's the good ending.

[teethoftheeditor3]

I was gonna start this with "I wanna talk to you about" but quickly realized its more like this:

I'm gonna talk and you can't stop me.

Anyway, I want to talk about a book I've been reading. I've already discussed a number of my thoughts on Youjo Senki, a book with a much larger following in Tumblr than I ever expected. I think that book is actually pretty fun. The apparent idolization of 20th century Germany is... concerning and it kinda feels like it was written by that kid in highschool that claims to be a history buff but only knows WW2 military history. That said, it is a book that goes into the logistics of war and is chock full of flawed characters. Even Tanya herself, or rather especially Tanya. But this isn't a post about Tanya, or rather it's a comparison with Youjo Senki as a reference frame. I want to talk about a little something called...

86

Eighty-Six is similarly a light novel with a war setting, however it's set is a purely original world sci-fi setting compared to the alternate history / urban fantasy setting of Youjo Senki. The story is very complicated to summarize to a point where the one thing I want to talk about is. Essentially:

The story is set in the Magnolia Republic, the fact that it's a republic is interesting in the setting but not that relevant to this little rant. The neighboring empire declared war on all of it's neighbors and began waging an autonomous war that drove the Republic to the brink of extinction, crushed to the 85 sectors of the capital city. During this, the dominant ethnicity in Magnolia declared all other ethnicities to be little more than "pigs in human skin" as a way to deny their citizenship, seize their property and conscript them to serve in the military as front line soldiers. These peoples, the 'Colorata' as they are referred to in the story as a generalization of not Alba, are forced into internment camps or serve 5 year military service to get their citizenship back, all outside the 85 sectors, the de-facto 86th sector making them "the 86". I'm not gonna pretend the racism plot is not sloppily handled, oh boy is it extremely messy and I definitely think it could have and should have been handled better, but once again, not the point of this rant so I will leave that extremely loaded minefield for another day. This military service is piloting these mecha spider tanks which are pretty fuckin rad but also are flimsily constructed and handle poorly. Inside the 85 sectors, these are referred to as "unmanned drones" because if the pilots aren't considered human, then there are no casualties in the war.

Okay, summary out of the way. Let's do this. (Btw, I'm not fully through book one yet, but I had to talk about this.)

Our main characters are split in two, an ace squad of "Processors" (86 Pilots) led by Shin aka Undertaker, and Lena, their Alba 'handler' with her heart... mostly in the right place unlike most of the upper brass of the military. I'm again not going to dig into too much, please go read it yourself it's very good, but there is one bit I want to talk about that made me go 'holy shit' and it is a spoiler so fair warning. The scene comes after a pivotal moment in Lena's character arc that forces her to confront her own biases and realize some of her own shortcomings, while also showing the uncompromising divide that exists between the her and the 86 that she can't overcome just by being friendly with them. In fact, it showed how her efforts were at best in vain and at worst actively harmful to everyone involved. She realizes for the first time the true extent of the damages done, and in a way this is the first time where the plot point about racism becomes more nuanced in how it relates to the oppression of marginalized people and how it takes immeasurably more effort to make things right than it does to fuck them up in the first place. After all of this, and then a few more slightly horrifying revelations for good measure, Lena and Shin are speaking over comms when Shin says:

"You're going to lose this war, Major."

Now, I think Asato Asato has a tendency to overexplain some of her really good bits and this is one of them. Shin explicitly uses the words "You're gonna lose this war," despite being a soldier of the republic, if not on paper because of the aforementioned dehumanization. Asato Asato specifically calls attention to this wording, and while I think it could have hit harder if she didn't, I'm in a way glad she did because people that may not think too deeply about it will at least know the gravity of this line. While Shin is not in any way a representative for the 86, this line delivers a perspective that seems to be held by a lot of the Colorata. In no uncertain terms is he telling her that he has no allegiance to the Republic, he is not on her side. Sentiments of this sort are shown to exist in a lot of their squad, and in a way became the catalyst for Lena's character growth, but how this line is delivered, and when it's delivered adds so much to it that is hard to put into words. This one line perfectly highlights the difference in perspective between the 86 Processors and the people and military of the Republic.

It also brought to mind Youjo Senki when I read it, not because Tanya doesn't also have good lines, but because it shows how the two books talk about war drastically differently. Youjo Senki is, at it's core, a book that has a one track perspective on war, awe. There is some talk about how war is bad and the conditions are miserable, but it is mostly covered by Tanya being inhumanly good at war. The Empire in Youjo Senki is highly nationalistic and is supposed to command respect and awe for it's military and strategic might. But 86. Eighty-Six at it's core is about the human cost of war, in more ways than I'm explaining here because spoilers. The Magnolia Republic is a mess. And worst of all it's a mess in ways that are sometimes frighteningly similar to the real world. There's the rampant discrimination, wealth inequality, there's about to be a food crisis, a lack of funding, and that's just the start. Basically everything is sucks, but the powers that be are hellbent on putting up the illusion of utopia, and most of the citizens believe it. And that's saying nothing of the autonomous war drones that seemingly have no programming of international wartime law or the concept of sparing civilians. The war in 86 is shown to be hell, yet the people living through it are given humanizing character moments which makes the awful shit they have to deal with seem that much worse. It helps that the cast is more than just one person, but each of the cast of 86 feel so much more human than Tanya... although her characterization is intentional too.

Long story short, I think 86 Eighty-Six is very good, and I recommend it. I loved this moment and wanted to talk about it, and I really said like nothing. Is it perfect? No, but the only book that's perfect is... well I haven't made up my mind. Like with Youjo Senki, my opinion is open to change and whatnot, and I definitely should read more of both so I have a more informed opinion but my backlog of books is endless and I picked these up preowned at my local comic shop.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, and also Id love to hear about how the anime handled this scene. I never really got into the show, but it's been on my reading list for a while.

[bbygirl-aemond]

Hey! I Love Stormbreak, you make my Sundays less scary Lol. Keep writing!

I was wondering if you've ever written any original work or if you've ever considered becoming a traditionally published author?

aww thank you so much! always happy to help with the sunday scaries, i get them too and answering comments is an excellent distraction hehe

i have written some original work before, but none of it's published. when i was really young i wrote two novel-length original works. i don't remember them very well, but one was some elf-like fantasy world where the main character was the bastard slave child of an evil king, and the other was a modern setting with vampires and what i know as an adult to be some kind of illegal human trafficking? not like a sex kind, like a "humans are living blood bags" kind. so you can definitely say i've enjoyed whump and fantasy from the beginning?

in more recent years, i've written some short stories (<10k words). there's one about a society that uses happy memories as currency, with a mom giving up a memory of her daughter walking for the first time. there's another about an astronaut who's sent to mars to help terraform it, only to realize she's been tricked and the government is leaving her there to die. my favorite is about a closeted lesbian witch in a salem-esque setting who's driven insane by the ghost of her first love, who was a victim of anti-witch hysteria. so again... heavy on the angst lmao.

right now, i enjoy writing fanfiction because it requires very little actual effort and discipline. it's almost entirely wish fulfillment, and you get to jump in with fully-formed characters, world, and plot, skipping the boring exposition. it's also "safe" because any pressure to create, or criticism, is purely online, so i never feel trapped by it. i think this type of creative writing suits my current situation (sleep-deprived phd student) where i just don't have a ton of time or patience to deal with any of those things.

all that being said- i DO very much plan on spending the majority of my life writing and publishing original works of varying lengths. i'm in a very fortunate financial position where i don't actually have to work a regular job, and the older i get the more i appreciate how privileged that makes me in my ability to actually center my life around creating for creativity's sake- completely divorced from any need to publish by a certain date or appeal to a wide audience in order to make profits. so i only plan on really working up until i turn 30 (which will admittedly still give me 6 years post-phd in the workforce). after that i'll have full reign over how i allocate my free time, and that's when i'll be able to put in the elbow grease required for a longer original work.

...so like a decade from now, check back in and there will probably be some highly dramatic, psychologically intense, at least somewhat magical works hitting the shelves, written by yours truly.

[jenneferofjengaberg]

I just finished reading Red, White & Royal Blue and then I watched the movie afterwards. I had actually bought the book a couple of years ago but never got around to reading it. Then the movie dropped, so I decided to finally hurry up and read it before I was spoiled for every single plot point. Turns out that wasn't totally necessary, but more on that later.

First the book. I really liked it. Not the best book I've ever read or anything, but it was really good. Very cute and enjoyable. I loved the characters, and I liked that we basically had a modern day epistolary novel. Henry and Alex's emails and texts were so lovely and the romance was really sweet. Also, can't put my finger on it, but the book gave me real Jane Austen vibes? It was completely contemporary, and yet? Old fashioned at the same time, in the best sense of that word.

I also really weirdly enjoyed the political background. It was kind of bittersweet, being immersed in a fictional world where the disaster of 2016 never happened and democracy wasn't like, on the verge of toppling at any second.

Ok, now the movie. Let me say that I think the actors they chose for Alex and Henry were fantastic, and they probably have the best on screen chemistry I've seen in any romantic movie in a very long time. They were terrific, no complaints whatsoever about any of their scenes. They were adorable and sexy, just perfect. Nicholas Galitzine was, in particular, very good at portraying Henry's fragility and vulnerability, the desire to be loved authentically in a life that's stifled by artifice.

Zahra was also perfect. Literally can't imagine anybody better to play her than Sarah Shahi. It's almost like the role was written for her.

And yet, I am slightly disappointed in the movie. Mainly because they cut so many characters, and the ones that were left kind of got blunted. I mean, they got rid of June entirely. A whole sister and they got rid of her. Nora was there but she was way less developed than in the book. Not sure I could even describe her as having a personality at all in the movie other than "Alex's bff". They cut out the whole Rafael Luna plot, and replaced it with that Miguel guy, turning a minorly interesting political intrigue into a "jilted lover gets revenge" plot, but like, the most boring version of that trope ever.

I get that it's a movie and some things have to be condensed or changed. I don't mind them having Alex's mom and dad still being together and excising the stepdad or changing the queen to a king (in order to be sensitive I guess). But I do feel they could have made the movie 20 minutes longer and at least kept Alex's sister, and maybe made the Miguel plot at least somewhat resemble the plot with Rafael Luna. It's kind of like they got the main pairing and plot right, but phoned everything else in, which makes for a regretfully uneven film.

[ink-bunny-blue]

Review: The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

So, I'd like to introduce you to one of my favourite books ever written:

"In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed — a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home."

-(Blurb taken from Goodreads)

Note, this is the second book in the Cemetery Of Forgotten Books series, but it works perfectly fine as a standalone. I will review the first instalment, The Shadow Of The Wind, later.

Like much of Zafón's writing, this book has everything you could wish for in a gothic novel: a writing style so heavy with atmosphere, a setting that seems to take the role of a living being, characters so complexly woven from both light and darkness. But at its heart, The Angel's Game is a love-letter to writers and storytellers. A bulk of the book follows the characters working on their various projects, exploring the highs and lows all writers go through in their creative journeys. There are many little references and inside jokes that fellow writers would certainly appreciate (such as Isabella's subplot, where she finds increasingly drastic ways to procrastinate and ends up writing practically nothing throughout the novel). So if you're a writer, or simply love stories about artists, I would recommend it a lot. (And now I desperately want to own a typewriter.)

The characters were one of the main things that shone brightly in this book, as every single one of them felt so real to me. Even though the protagonist David is a very cynical person, he was definitely loveable with his macabre, deadpan sense of humour and whimsical imagination. And despite being a pessimist, he has a very hopeful streak, which he refers to as his "Great Expectations" after the Dickens novel. Corelli, as well, was a brilliant antagonist, and Zafón did an amazing job at constructing a character who was undeniably creepy in every way.

The prose is exactly as I love prose to be: immersive and lyrical, yet it never bores you by being purple. I will always be sad that I will never be able to experience the book in its original Spanish, but Lucia Graves' translation is gorgeous nonetheless.

I definitely wouldn't call this a light read, as the story's main mystery is complex and surreal, leaving a lot of readers baffled (judging by the reviews I've read). I actually had to read it twice before I understood what this book was actually trying to say, and once I did, I decided it was my favourite book I'd ever read.

(Spoiler review below)

......

David Martin is by far one of the best unreliable narrators I have ever encountered in fiction, and it becomes clear as the book goes on that his perception of the world is vastly different the one the other characters are living in. You will begin to see contradictions, plot-holes, and inconsistencies, which the narrator notices too, yet he tries his hardest to convince the reader they are not there. That his story is correct. That his madness is the reality. Even when he encounters a huge reality check close to the book's climax, and the elaborate conspiracy he's constructed is completely torn down, he still retreats further into his delusion and blames the other characters for not being able to see his truth.

Yet his story is so convincing because of how tightly he holds onto it, and on my first time reading, I completely believed him. People always like to hate on "it was all a dream/hallucination" type narratives (and I see why. They are seldom used well), yet this book sets up and executes it so perfectly, from the well-grounded beginning all the way to the epilogue where poor David is living in a complete state of psychosis (which is explored further in the rest of the series). The Angel's Game was never a story about a Faustian pact with the devil, a haunted house, and a mysterious cursed book. Its the story of an artist trying as hard as he can to hold onto reality as his life is slowly consumed by mental illness. And I will always be in awe at how masterfully Carlos Ruiz Zafón was able to hide so much tragedy within a supernatural mystery novel.

[lordeasriel]

What don’t you like about the tv show version of Marisa

Well, it's not Marisa, for one thing. It's a very crude and poor attempt at bringing her on-screen. Talking about what I dislike about her means this gets intrinsic with the show's greatest flaws, because they are a big part of what is wrong with her portrayal.

First issue I have is that she is a very washed down version of what Marisa is. She's soft, purposeless other than "Lyra is my daughter" and overall she is a dull character. Had Book! Lyra ever met her, she would have found Show!Marisa boring.

Marisa's lack of purpose is deeply tied with many narrative problems, such as shallow worldbuilding (the non-women scholar bullshit from season 2, for one, and the lack of daemons) and even with Boreal, they played it very safe and boring. When Marisa deals with him in the books, she is power-playing and very strongly too; he isn't a nobody. In the show is very meh, Boreal is almost on even grounds with her, which makes her scheming silly and uninterested. Worse than that, she whines and cries so much in front of him (in episode 5, season 2 specifically, and this is where I left the show and I do not intend to come back lol) that it makes no sense. Marisa's vulnerability is only seen in specific moments of the book — with Asriel at the bridge, then later at the abyss, once with Lyra in the caves. There is a reason why she is vulnerable in those instances, and only then. Making her open herself to Boreal is utter garbage, plain and simple.

Second issue I have is how they set the tone for her to be a scorned mother. The show plays, again and again, the "I've always wanted you Lyra but--" card. They make it seem like Asriel stole Lyra from Marisa's throbbing chest and disappeared into the night, and oh! how desperately she has looked for her beloved child. Honestly! All the fucking books, even TBOD, show how she didn't want Lyra then and when she finally did, it was out of self interest and vanity. Only later, in TAS, is when she finally warms up to Lyra. They erased her character development for the sake of some motherly tears and I loathe it.

This pair's with Sami's latest post which just proves what I've been saying since season one: they took a great, leading character female character and they made it all about motherhood. It's insulting. Marisa is so much more than a mother. She never wanted to be a mother.

Third issue is the "She is bad because of how oppressed she has been" issue. Northern Lights, chapter four - Lyra dines with the women and the master and you have a whole discussion on female scholars and how Lyra felt pity for them and so on and how Mrs. Coulter was very different. Like, anyone who had actually bothered reading the novels could tell you that Lyra's world is a patriarchal world, but the women still find their way around, as they have since forever in our world.

Now for the show, this pisses me off on many levels, but my main issue is with how they try, so hard, to have Marisa say - and this is important, it's never shown, it's only ever said by her - how men get the better end of the deal, how she had to work so hard to get where she was and blah blah blah. Honestly, this is very true for the show; they bothered very little to write meaningful women into it, the one change I would have appreciated very much, but as in regards to the truth of the character, it's just nonsense. This whole shenanigan could have been fixed with Hannah Relf's presence, because she alone would prove that Marisa's cruelty and malice are innate traits, not a byproduct of her world being sexist. It makes no sense.

If you're looking for more insight into that, I recommend Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss which is an analysis of episode 5, season 2 and this patriarchy business on the show. It's very good and insightful and more reasonable than I will ever be discussing the show lol

There's no excuse for Marisa's poorly written character. It's a waste of Ruth Wilson's acting and a damn shame for a studio that so often claimed to have learned from the movie's mistakes (which they, very very obviously did not as Marisa from the show and the movie are very, very similar). That's why I've only stuck with books since season 2, because while Philman sometimes does stuff I don't entirely agree with, he has a great grasp on the woman he wrote, which is why I leave you with Madame Delamare's own words about Marisa, something the show writers failed utterly to understand and therefore could never truly bring her to screen:

"Delicately and subtly," she mocked "Marisa would know how to show some force. Some character. She was all the man you'll never be."

[clairelsonao3]

Happy STS!

I haven't gotten a chance to read what you've written so far, but I'm curious as to your process. What was the source of inspiration for your current WIP? Did you start with characters who wouldn't stop talking in your head? Flashes of moments? Images inspired by music? What do you fall back on when you need to be re-inspired?

Happy STS and thanks for the ask!

No worries, my ongoing WIP on Ao3 is over 100K posted words, so I by no means expect you to. 😂

Good Slaves Never Break the Rules is the long-time-coming perfect storm of three main influences.

First, I started writing it almost eight years ago to entertain myself on a transatlantic sea voyage (that's worth another whole post altogether), and some of the characters and early situations (I won't say specifically which ones!) were inspired by the unusual dynamics that pop up when strangers from vastly different origins and roles onboard are pressed together in a small space with no choice but to work and spend time together (very soon, my imagination wildly diverged from what actually happened however 😂).

Second, for a long time, I've been an avid reader of pretty much any and all slavefic (there's a lot on Ao3, both fanfic and original) and much of it is good. I always especially liked the alternate universe ones that had slavery transposed to a modern setting. But for all of that time, I could never find THE story I was looking for, the one that uses many of the common whumpy slavefic tropes (although this was long before I was in the whump community, that was just a happy accident) but is also a preferably M/F romance, using a very different type of male MC who, despite being a slave and the target of pretty much constant abuse of all kinds, has much more in common with conventional romance heroes than the perpetual helpless victims that slaves tend to be in fiction. And the female MC, rather than being some powerful dominatrix type who can do whatever she wants, is an ordinary girl who is also oppressed in a way by the society she lives in, is blind to its wrongs, and has to have her eyes opened to be brave enough to stand up for what's right. And though power dynamics are always at the forefront, the MCs come to see each other as equals. So this was also one of those "I guess I'll write it myself" moments.

Third (and I don't think I've ever had a chance to discuss this on this blog before, so thank you!), having studied the classics, for many years I've been enamored with the ancient Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, who tended to use slaves as main characters -- and I do mean main characters. They're active, clever, funny, charming, often manipulative (but always for the right reasons), perpetually involved in zany plans and schemes, and they're anything but victims. I'd written a few things inspired by these plays previously (including a quasi-historical short story and my very first novel, also historical and of a writing quality typical for an 18-year-old, many years ago), but now that my writing skills are far more advanced, I thought it was time to try again, using a modern alt-history setting this time. Plus the plays themselves are just really fucking funny, and my story incorporates a lot of humor (and a lot of really dark stuff, too, but that's usually how it works with me).

As for getting re-inspired? I also had to do that quite recently after writing and posting a monster chapter and needing a break. What helped was rereading some of those earlier scenes that I was really excited about, and doing some tag games on Tumblr (including the Q&A I tagged you in) that allowed me to just have fun writing in my characters' voices and kind of re-re-discover them.

Thanks for a great ask!