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arcadia-of-pluto · 4 months ago

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Excerpt/Teaser for "Storge Love"

Storge; one of the eight forms of Greek love, meaning "a protective, loyal, and selfless type of love".

Paring(s); LADS Zayne x reader

Word count; 922 (for the teaser)

Themes; brother's best friend trope, small age gap (of 5 years, reader will be 23 and Zayne will be 28)

Warnings; none, but it will be 18+ with mature content

Characters included(in the full one-shot); brother! Caleb, grandma josephine, Tara, Yvonne, Greyson, Jeremiah, and slight mention of the other male leads

Notes; Hey guys! I feel weird not posting anything at all, so even if it's short...I want to post a little bit from my Zayne x reader that's a part of my Trope's one-shot series. I'm currently writing this one and my Rafayel one at the same time (both are at 2k words currently)– and I would be working on Sylus's too, but his trope is still currently being voted on.

Anyways, this one-shot is probably going to feel really disjointed and rushed, just because I want to skip through the years quickly to get to present day reader and Zayne. I don't want to spend too long in the past, but that's where this excerpt begins!

For as long as you can remember, Zayne has been a constant in your life. He and Caleb first met in middle school when you were eight, but your first meeting with Zayne was a different story.

You, a quiet yet hyperactive nine year old, were excited to play a game with your brother and his friends. It was his thirteenth birthday and you all decided to play hide-in-go seek at one of Linkon's many parks. Your grandma was seated at a picnic table, not too far away, and waves at you with a bright smile as you went to go play. She was obviously worried about you, seeing as you're a relatively quiet child– you don't try to seek out others, but you crave the attention. You never wanted to get close to anyone, but cried whenever you were alone. She knew you were a bit different since adopting you, but she tried to accommodate for you as best she could.

“Hey, Caleb!” One of your brother's friends whispers something in his ear and Caleb nods his head. “Alright, pipsqueak, you're it first!” Your brother says to you and a frown ghosts across your lips. Really…? That's…not fun. You're not good at finding people, but…he's the birthday boy and grandma always says that “when it's your birthday, what you say goes.” But you're not sure if that only applied to you or Caleb as well..

“Oh, alright..” You sigh before turning around to rest your forehead against a nearby tree. “How high do I need to count to?” “Hmmm…five bazillion!” One of Caleb's many guy friends laughs before it all goes silent. You decide to close your eyes and give them one minute. Sixty seconds…

It was still quiet, save for the wind and the parents talking amongst themselves, whenever you opened your eyes and you looked around, noticing that they really did all leave to hide. “This is so…fun.” You mutter to yourself with a deep sigh, kicking a pebble before beginning your search.

You found half of the dumb fourteen year old boys because they started laughing as soon as you got close, some even making fart noises. Real mature…

“Hey Y/n, I remember seeing Caleb go down there!” Caleb's blonde friend, who seems pretty nice, points toward the woods. “Grandma said we shouldn't go past the gazebo.” You tilt your head to the side before nodding it. You wave back as you run off. “I'll go get him! Thanks for telling me.”

“Caleb!” You cup your tiny hands over your mouth as you yell; looking up at the trees, inside of fallen trunks, through bushes. You wince as a thorn cuts your finger and you can't help the small sniffle that escapes your shaky lips. Your glassy eyes looking up at the sky, noticing it was a pretty shade of pink– well, it would've been pretty if that colour didn't mean that the sun was setting. The sun was setting and you realized you were lost.

Was…Caleb even out here? No. That boy had no reason to lie to you! Besides, if Caleb is really out here, he's probably lost just like you. He'll find you…probably.

But your optimistic demeanor fades rather quickly. You sit down at the base of a tree, picking at the loose threads on your skirt while your other arm hugs your legging-clad knees to your chest.

You take a few shallow breaths, trying to calm yourself down. It was difficult though. You were terrified of being alone, scared of the dark. You squeeze your eyes shut and rest your forehead against your knees. “I wanna go home…” you sniffle, trying your best to not completely break down.

“Hello?”

A shout shrieks past your lips and you quickly look around with wide eyes, suddenly feeling more scared at the thought of a disembodied voice talking to you. “W-who's there?” Your hand pats around until it wraps around a twig and you hold it to your chest as protection.

“Oh, Caleb's sister…how'd you get out here?” You finally spot a head of black hair as a boy walks up to you. “I-” You want to say more, but the overwhelming feeling of relief washes over you and you finally allow your tears to escape. “One of C-Caleb's stupid friends told me he was out here, and I got lost, and scared…and–” you wipe your face with your sleeve.

“Uh…” The boy is seemingly uncomfortable for a moment and pushes his glasses up before blurting out, “Do you want some ice cream?”

Your tears instantly dry up and you tilt your head to the side. “Are you trying to kidnap me? I'll have you know that my grandma and big brother both said that it's not worth it to kidnap me because the kidnapper would want to bring me back almost immediately.”

I'm not too sure when I'll post the full thing for this and Rafayel's "Ludus Love" but I just wanted to post a teaser to give yall something to read while waiting for 'Twist of Fate'!

I also really wanted to get to Zayne's one-shot because I recently fell in love with him because of his birthday 5 star card. (It took me 80 long, agonizing draws but I finally pulled him 😭)

#lads #love and deepspace #lads zayne #love and deepspace x reader #love and deepspace zayne #teaser #lnds x reader #lnds zayne #lnds zayne x reader #lads zayne x reader #zayne x reader #zayne love and deepspace #lads x reader

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sunflowerharrington · 7 months ago

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@steddiebang2024 project reveal!! This is not a drill!

I’m so so excited for this year’s Steddie Bang! I’ll be collabing with the amazing @mvnsvn6 for this project! Forget everything you know about Stranger Things and Saltburn and dive into this adventure with us. You can find the summary and a little excerpt will be under the cut.

Looking forward to posting this Fall :)

Summary:

Eddie Munson knows he won’t make any friends at Hawkins University. He knows it. He knows it… Until he crosses paths with Steve Harrington; a hunk who’s got it all: the looks, the ladies, the money, and a mansion way too big for an eccentric family of five and a butler. He’s got a mansion.

He’s got a mansion.

or, Eddie Munson is twenty years old and enrols at Hawkins University. He falls in love with a guy from university, falls out of love with the same guy, grows to resent him — even though some feelings still lie at the bottom of his heart — and the aftermath of it all.

Excerpt:

The sun shines bright, the grass is greener than ever and the skies are pure, perfect blue, with no clouds in sight. Shadows follow Eddie as he cycles along the road by the crystal-clear river, and he breathes in the fresh air. Today’s going to be a good day.

A buzzing atmosphere flutters around him like butterflies, but it’s pretty bittersweet. Why? Because some god-awful racket is disrupting the peace. It’s Steve, sitting on the verge up ahead, cursing under his breath as he kicks his bicycle. What ever could be the matter? Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Eddie smirks as he passes, but stopping to help might get him on a page in Steve’s good book. He breaks to a halt in front of Steve.

“Hey, what happened?” Eddie asks, as if he doesn’t already know the answer. It’s a flat tire and the chain is looser than it should be. Steve has the bike upside down, trying to fix it by staring at it, hoping it’ll do something. Spoiler alert: it won’t.

“I’ve got a flat tire.” Bingo. “Chain’s loose too.” Double bingo.

“That’s bad luck,” Eddie says, and for once, something truthful comes out of his mouth— Eddie stops. For once, uh… he says something useful? Maybe? Eddie rolls his eyes. He has to stop changing his story! He was doing so well.

“I’ve just been trying to fix it,” Steve says, looking down at his feet. “Of course it’s when I’m already ten minutes late for my tutorial.”

Ooh, a tutorial. Eddie rolls his eyes. So posh. Jesus H Christ.

“Where is it?” Eddie asks.

“Just off Cherry Lane.”

“Oh shit.” That is pretty far away. Poor boy’s gonna have to walk all the way there on his own like half the people in college, probably. Eddie scoffs, it’s nothing. A walk is nothing. A run? That’s hard sometimes. Walking’s easy, and a good time to have a cigarette. And it’s less dangerous, and a lot easier, to smoke while walking than riding a bike. The scar on Eddie’s right arm is proof of that.

“Yeah…” Steve trails off, pouting like a kicked puppy. Jesus Christ, and Eddie thought he himself was dramatic.

They both look at the bike at the same time. It’s pretty much a goner. There’s no way to fix it in time for Steve to get to his stupid fucking tutorial before it’s over.

“I skipped last week to go- don’t tell anyone- but I went on a date with uh… Can't remember her name, sorry. Heather, or something. And I’m already in trouble with my parents for scratching some of the paint off it, so…”

Oh, poor, poor baby. Eddie internally rolls his eyes. Is Steve seriously trying to make Eddie feel sorry for him? Eddie’s pretty sure Steve’s parents could buy him a thousand bikes if he asked. But… He wants to get on Steve’s good side. He’s definitely popular around campus, and having that under his own belt could be good. Might get Eddie laid by a pretty girl if he’s lucky.

“Look, I’m not really going anywhere,” Eddie says, smiling at him. “Just taking these back to the library. So you can take my bike if you want?”

“No, no, no, I couldn’t. I mean, it looks like rain, I wouldn’t want to—”

Eddie can’t help but melt under Steve’s gaze, and that smile. Jesus H. Christ. “I’m not really going anywhere anyway. I can just get it back from you later. You’re in my college, so…” Perfect. He’ll get to see Steve again. One point for Munson.

“Am I?” Steve asks, keeping his gaze trained on Eddie.

Eddie sighs, his eyes downcast. “Yep.”

It’s a big college, sure, but how has Steve not seen him around before? Has he forgotten about their exchanged looks and smiles around campus whenever they cross paths? Does anything even really matter to him?

“That’s so kind, are you serious?” He asks, getting up from his spot by the tree. “That’s so kind, man. Are you sure? I mean, it’s a long walk back to college and I don’t want you to feel like you have to wheel it back.”

“You want me to take yours back?” Eddie asks. Oh what, so this douche thinks he can tell Eddie what to do now? He doesn’t even know Eddie’s name and he’s already giving him orders. Maybe it’s because Eddie looks easy to manipulate into doing whatever he wants.

But that’s what he wants Steve to think.

Eddie likes to think of himself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s the strategy in life that gets people everything they want. And what is it Eddie wants? More. More. And even more. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get that, and so far it’s taken him right to Steve Harrington by a tree just outside of Hawkins University.

It didn’t exactly take much for him to get accepted; a carefully curated persona full of smiles and the story about his upbringing. That, and all the little extras: no criminal record—that the police know of, he knows how to make people take the fall for him. Bless Gareth, Frankie and Jeff—no drugs in his system, and a willingness to go down on anyone in any room to keep up his good GPA score.

Bedroom eyes go a long way, and the lack of a gag reflex goes even further. He’s willing to become the local slut to get what he wants. He doesn’t even have to try hard. Eddie is a slut and he’s damn proud of it.

“Oh, no, no, no!” Steve starts. “I’m sorry, I just thought that since I have your bike, you’ll take mine?” Eddie’s works, Steve’s does not, it makes little to no sense.

“I mean, I can wheel it back to college for you, it’s not that far away,” Eddie proposes… to get on Steve’s good side, of course.

“Thank you.” Steve takes Eddie’s bike from him.

He must be so used to people bending over backwards to help him.

Steve grins. “Oh, thank you. Thank you… I’m sorry, I don’t know your name. I’m Steve,” he says with an apologetic look. Oh, but is it fake? Who knows? Everything is fake around here. And posh, rich boys like Steven Otis Harrington are no exception.

I already know your name. And you have no idea just how much I already know about you, Steve.

“Eddie. It’s Eddie.”

“Eddie. Eddie, I love you.” Eddie’s eyes widen as Steve grabs him by the shoulders, planting a kiss on the top of his helmet. Even though he doesn’t want to play it safe in college, he also doesn’t want to get a concussion. So the stupid helmet will have to stay on. “I love you, I love you. Seriously.”

“Like I said, no big deal.”

“Thank you so much, Eddie,” he says with a wide smile, hopping onto the bike, swinging his leg over to put one of his feet on the pedals. “So kind. You’re a fucking lifesaver, really. Thank you.”

Eddie scoffs. Yeah, sure. He’s so thankful for it. Sure. Eddie rolls his eyes when Steve isn’t looking, too focused on pedalling to look back.

“I’ll just leave yours in the bike shed, yeah?”

“Yeah, fine.” If Steve even so much as scratches the bike, it’s over for him. No more talking, no more looking… Eddie will just have to find a new friend, or else pretend to forgive him to stay on his good side.

“Thanks, Eddie!” He calls over his shoulder. “I love you!”

Wow. Does love even have any meaning to him? Does Steve even know what love is? Surely not if he’s telling a fucking stranger that he loves them.

Eddie watches Steve disappear around the corner, leaving him standing alone, holding the broken bike. This is so stupid. He’s gonna look like a fucking idiot walking a bike all the way back to campus. But who cares? It’s not like anyone’s even going to pay attention to some small-town boy anyway…

But Steve might.

He just might. Because that’s all Eddie’s ever wanted.

Attention.

And he’ll do pretty much anything to get it.

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #steddie big bang #steddiebang24 #saltburn au #i regret nothing

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wingsoverlagos · 9 months ago

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The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 1: Before Lewisohn

0. Mark Lewisohn’s Star Witness 1. An Introduction and Primer 2. The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 1: Before Lewisohn >You Are Here< 3. The Classic™ Contract Story, and Why Lewisohn Distrusts It 4. The Evolving Story of Kim Bennett, Pt. 2: Tune In 5. Lewisohn’s Other Sources 6. Lewisohn’s Portrayal of Kim Bennett & George Martin

After two posts and as many months of build-up, it’s finally time to look at Kim Bennett’s presence in Beatles history before Mark Lewisohn’s Tune In. As a refresher, Kim Bennett was a music plugger involved in a brief chapter of the Beatles' story, who Lewisohn draws on as a crucial witness to ~debunk the myth~ of how the Beatles’ first landed their recording contract with Parlophone. I’ve previously shown an example of Kim Bennett’s presence in Beatledom here, in an issue of Beatles Book Monthly, just a few pages before the name of a young Mark Lewisohn. I’ve also discussed some of the ways Lewisohn slants a story when he’s set on overturning a classic narrative – you can find that here.

Section 1: Mark Lewisohn on Kim Bennett

Part of the appeal of Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles-signing scoop is Kim Bennett’s oft-stated absence from the Beatles narrative. Lewisohn found and memorialized a man who had been marginalized from the Beatles’ story, a hero integral to their success who was erased from history due to his inconvenience to the legacy of a certain acclaimed producer. Not only has Lewisohn turned a classic narrative upside down, he’s righted the wrong done to Kim Bennett by the powers that be--or so he would have us believe. The importance of Bennett’s testimony and his exclusivity to Tune In is a crucial element of Lewisohn’s myth-building around himself and his work. Let’s take a look at a few examples:

In a 2014 interview with Dierdre Kelly, Lewisohn calls his revised version of the Beatles’ recording contract “probably one of the biggest things in the book.” As for how he came to that version of events, Lewisohn says, “It all fell into place when I met a man called Kim Bennett…without whose incredibly tenacious efforts—and he was never named in any book—we would never have heard of the Beatles. He literally was the story’s hero and he tells us a very different story.” [Emphasis mine]

From Allan Kozinn’s 2013 interview with Lewisohn, we get the following exchange:

Kozinn describes Bennett as “someone who had never been interviewed,” and Lewisohn not only doesn’t correct him, he furthers that idea by saying Bennett “had been trying for years to get people to listen to his story…and nobody wanted to know.”

As a final example, we’ll return to the episode of Nothing Is Real (season 7, ep. 7) that I excerpted in my first post on Bennett.

A partial transcript [emphasis mine]:

“I approached him, and he was so happy that I got in touch with him because he knew the true story of how the Beatles came to be signed to EMI and he knew that it was his efforts that had made the difference, and without him, it wouldn’t have happened. The Beatles possibly may never have happened without Kim Bennett, and he’d been trying to tell people for years, and people didn’t want to know.”

“He was a very frustrated man because no one had ever paid him the attention that he felt was his due.”

“…and if I hadn’t of got to him when we did, we wouldn’t know him, and we would always have that bizarre gap of how they got signed by someone who never met them.”

Again and again, Lewisohn tells us that Kim Bennett had been trying desperately for years to gain recognition for his action, and everyone ignored him--everyone but Mark Lewisohn. This is decidedly untrue. He has been mentioned in multiple Beatles publications by major names in Beatles history, which you can find in Section 3. But first!

Section 2: Biographical & Background Info

Here he is, the man of the hour, Kim Bennett - and I bet you thought that was the Barry Sisters! On the left, we see Kim Bennett's floating head from his days as a singer, and on the right, we see him fraternizing with Russ Conway circa 1967 - Bennett is in profile on the right. I've dug up some biographical information on the enigmatic Kim Bennett, and I wanted to share it here along with a little context about music publishing to make the accounts shared in the next section make mroe sense. If you're confident in your early-1960s music industry knowledge and know who Kim Bennett and Sid Colman are, scroll right along to Section 3.

I've cited Lewisohn a few times in this section when other sources weren't available. Every time I cite him, I put a quarter in the "Risky Citations" jar - once I've filled it a few hundred times, I'll take it to CoinStar and use the money to buy a copy of Fifty Years Adrift.

The Parlophone Contract Story is a story with many bit parts, most of whom won't appear until my next post--there will even be a figure! I'll assume you know the Beatles, Brian Epstein, and George Martin, the man who would become the Beatles' main producer. In the parlance of the times, George Martin was the A&R man (artistes and repertoire) of EMI's Parlophone label. As the A&R man at Parlophone, George M. has the head of the label, with duties including scouting artists, matching his stable of artists with songs, and overseeing the recording process.

Alongside record labels like Parlophone, Columbia, and HMV, EMI had other companies under its corporate umbrella. One of these companies was the music publisher, Ardmore & Beechwood (A&B).

Music publishers manage song copyrights; they make money by marketing and disseminating those songs. In the early 20th century, the big moneymaker for music publishers was sheet music sales. By the 1950s and 60s a sea change was in progress as record sales grew and eventually eclipsed the sale of sheet music. Just as the medium through which songs were sold changed, so did the way in which music publishers sold those songs: originally, song pluggers from publishing companies would pitch their songs to orchestras, brass bands, and dance halls, seeking out groups who performed live music, so that their audiences would go out and buy sheet music of the songs they’d heard (Southall & Perry 2006, p.ix-xii). With the rise of records, song pluggers would pitch their songs directly to A&R men; they would visit the A&R men in their office and sing the songs they had on offer, accompanying themselves on the piano while they did (Martin & Hornsby 1979, p.48). They could then market those records to sell their songs. If a song was recorded by multiple artists, as was often the case, the song publisher benefited regardless of which version of a song played. This set their interests slightly apart from record producers, who only benefited if their version of a song sold.

Let's illustrate with a Lennon-McCartney original: the music publisher for Lennon-McCartney's music, Northern Songs, would profit from both the Rolling Stones version of 'I Wanna Be Your Man' and the Beatles version, but the record companies would only benefit from the version they released - the Stones version meant money in Decca's pocket, while the Beatles version benefited EMI.

(I'm sure their are some additional business/contract complexities that come into play, but I believe the general principle is correct)

EMI Music Publishing would one day be a Big Fucking Deal, but when the Beatles joined in 1962, it didn't exist yet. Publishing was a minor interest for the company, and they had only a small publishing presence in the form of A&B, which opened in 1958 (Martland 1997, p.262). A&B was set up to handle the publishing interests of two American companies, Ardmore Music Corp. and Beechwood Music Corp., both of which were owned by Capitol Records (Cash Box 1958 Jul 26, p.34). Capitol Records had been purchased by EMI in 1955 (Southall 2009, p.25), and A&B was set up a few years later to handle their catalogue in the U.K., while also providing and option to publish through EMI for any interested songwriters. This was done at the behest of EMI Chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood (Southall 2006, p.9-10).

From its genesis, veteran music publisher Sid Colman (1905-65) served as general manager of Ardmore & Beechwood (Cash Box 1958 Jul 26, p.34). He would serve in this role until his untimely death in April 1965 (Cash Box 1965 Apr 24, p.47). You will encounter multiple spellings of his name, but Lewisohn assures us that Sid Colman (rather than Syd Coleman) is correct (2013, p.856). Kim Bennett served as his assistant and music plugger.

Born Thomas Whippey (1931-2004) (Lewisohn 2013), he became a Decca recording artist in 1954 under the name Kim Bennett. He recorded six singles, none of which charted. I haven’t found any of his work online, but for an idea of the type of music he released, here are other versions of two songs he put out: ‘Softly, Softly’ by Ruby Murray and ‘The Kentuckian Song’ by Eddy Arnold. He maintained a day job as an office worker until 1955, then briefly worked as a musician full time. He worked a season at Butlin’s (not the same location as Ringo), played some clubs, and toured with the Ambrose orchestra, but his career as a singer had petered out by late 1956. As Don Wicks puts it “[h]e was a victim of the growing rock and roll industry no longer interested in a soft pleasant vocal style.” (Wicks 1996 pt.1)

He resumed work at a toy warehouse, (Wicks 1996 pt.1) but later took a job in music publishing with B. Feldman & Co. Ltd. (Cash Box 1967 Jul 22 p.65). He began work with Ardmore & Beechwood no sooner than August 1958. He was still with Ardmore & Beechwood as of June 1965 (Cash Box 1965 Jun 5 p.55). By July 1967, he had moved to South Africa, where he ran a newly launched publishing company, Francis Day (S.A.) (Pty), which was established to manage copyrights of B. Feldman & Co. Ltd., Francis Day & Hunter, and Robbins (Cash Box 1967 Jul 22 p.65).

According to Lewisohn, Bennett spent his later years in Shropshire in “quite humble circumstances (Nothing Is Real, Season 7 Ep. 7, 29:30). He was interviewed by Lewisohn on July 27-28, 2003 (Lewisohn 2013 p.869). He died in 2004.

While biographical information on Bennett between 1967 and 2003 is slim (perhaps nonexistent), his role in the Beatles story received several mentions in print in those intervening decades.

Section 3: Kim Bennett in Beatles History

As I highlighted in my first post in this series, Kim Bennett was quoted in Beatles Book Monthly Issue 70, but that isn't his earliest appearance in the Beatles lore - he first appears in an earlier issue of BBM, issue 13, published in Augst 1964, p.22-3. He's mentioned by BBC DJ Ted King in relation to his work plugging 'Love Me Do'.

To summarize: Kim Bennett went to lunch with Ted King and pitched “Love Me Do” to him. King wasn’t fond of the record, but Bennett’s enthusiasm convinced King to play it on “Twelve O’Clock Spin.”

Our next Bennett sighting (and the first to use Bennett as a source) is the aforementioned BBM Issue 70, p.8, published May 1969.

This is part of a piece titled “When did you Switch On?” whose author is unattributed. Whoever they are spoke to Kim Bennett directly. Here’s what we can gather from this piece:

Kim Bennett was Sid Colman’s assistant

Colman “had quite a job to persuade George Martin to see the Beatles”

Bennett, presumably, was in the room when Colman “first heard the Beatles’ tapes”, since Bennett is able to relate what Sid Colman said on the matter

Colman decided to call Martin because he did not have a similar-sounding pop group, while the other EMI A&R men did

Bennett next crops up in several of Bill Harry's books, starting in 1982. Bill Harry is the founder of Mersey Beat and was an art school chum of John and Stu's; he's written a number of reference books about the Beatles, including The Beatles Encyclopedia, The John Lennon Encyclopedia, and The Book of Beatle Lists, among many others. Four of his books mention Bennett. The information in these books seems to be pulled from the two BBM articles highlighted above - with the possible exception of the last one. The books where Bennett is mentioned include:

The Beatles Who’s Who (1982): An encyclopedia of Beatle people. Bennett does not get his own entry, but he is mentioned in the entry on Sid Colman (p.84). Bennett is said to be Colman’s assistant, and his involvement in “Love Me Do” promotions is noted without detail.

The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia (1992): Bennett now gets his own entry (p.84-5). Again, this appears to draw from the Beatles Book articles. More detail is included here than in The Beatles Who’s Who. Bennett is mentioned again in Sid Colman’s entry (p.168). There’s a reference to Colman and Bennett liking the demos for “Love of the Loved” and “Hello Little Girl”, which is not mentioned in BBM above. However, these songs were referenced in relation to Sid Colman in The Beatles Who’s Who, so I think Bennett is just lumped in with Colman here.

Also in the Colman entry, Harry points out two conflicting accounts of the promotion of “Love Me Do.” George Martin wrote in his memoir that Ardmore & Beechwood did “virtually nothing” to promote the song, but Ted King, in BBM Issue 13, said it was Kim Bennett who got him to play the song on “Twelve O’Clock Spin.” This apparent contradiction will be discussed in detail when we deal with Tune In’s version of events, but for now, I’ll say this: it can be true that Kim Bennett did his best to promote 'Love Me Do' and acheived limited success while still falling short of the expectations of George Martin (and, crucially, Brian Epstein).

The Encyclopedia of Beatles People (1997): Bennett has a brief entry (p.45) and is mentioned in Sid Colman’s entry (p.92-93.) The Sid Colman entry includes this quote from Sir Joseph Lockwood about the Beatles’ publishing rights “I don’t blame Sid Coleman [sic], because he published the first two songs without a contract. He wasn’t getting any support from either the record producers or the solicitors.” This quote appears in Ray Coleman’s The Man Who Made The Beatles (1989), seemingly from an interview conducted by Coleman while researching that book.

The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia (Revised & Updated, 2001): The entry for Kim Bennett includes the entirety of the entry in the 1992 version with an additional two paragraphs (p.135-6). These paragraphs are emotionally charged and add information not available in the two articles from BBM. After detailing Bennett's involvement in 'Love Me Do' promo, Bill Harry writes,

“It’s ironic that the two people who were so enthusiastic about the Beatles and helped to get them with EMI in the first place were to have George Martin shut the door in their face by suggesting to Brian Epstein that he see Dick James about being their publisher. For one thing, it was Coleman [sic] who, after talking to Brian realized that the only A&R man at EMI who hadn’t rejected the Beatles was George Martin. Apparently, Coleman had a hard job persuading Martin to see Epstein. Even then, Martin wasn’t initially impressed by their sound. He only agreed to a test session at EMI’s No. 3 studio four weeks later, then another three months elapsed before the release of their first single. EMI and Martin weren’t even confident enough to give the Beatles a plug rating. Artists such as Cliff Richard received an ‘A’ plug on EMI’s Radio Luxembourg shows. The lowest was ‘B2’. The Beatles weren’t even given this low plug, EMI gave ‘Love Me Do’ a nil rating. “So Bennett had a hard job pushing the record without EMI using their clout. As a result, Epstein refused Ardmore & Beechwood the future Beatles publishing. Had he done so, the Beatles might have retained the rights to their own songs, and Coleman might have received some acknowledgment for having placed the Beatles into his hands in the first place.”

It’s hard to say whether or not additional information from Kim Bennett made it into this article. Much of this could be pulled from other sources and presented through a negative lens stemming from Dick James’ involvement in the Northern Songs debacle. There are, however, two elements here that are consistent with Bennett’s later accounts that might suggest that he spoke with Bill Harry: (1) the phrasing that George Martin “shut the door” in the face of A&B, rather than Brian Epstein actively seeking out a different publisher and going to George for advice, and (2) the blame placed on George Martin for the Beatles low plug rating. Both new elements, and both inconsistent with certain other versions of events.

In Philip Norman's revised Shout! (2003), there is unambiguous evidence of Kim Bennett's participation.

In the original 1981 release, Sid Colman and A&B are mentioned, but not Bennett; in the revised edition, not only is Kim Bennett present, but the information surrounding him is clearly more than the familiar, regurgitated tale found in Beatles Book Monthly.

Norman doesn’t give citations, so I can’t say conclusively how he got this new information. There may be an interview with Kim Bennett published somewhere that I haven’t come across, though I’m inclined to believe either Norman or one of his research assistants spoke to Kim Bennett directly. The phrase “According to Bennett” appears a few times in Shout! (2003), which reads as if the information is coming directly from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Since the revised edition was published in the same year as Lewisohn’s interview with Kim Bennett, I considered that Lewisohn might have shared his information with Norman, and Norman may have rushed an edit. I looked for the exact publication date for the revised edition of Shout!—it was weirdly hard to find—and that put to bed any ideas of Norman cribbing off of Lewisohn’s notes: Pan Macmillan Australia gives the release date as January 9, 2003, several months before Lewisohn interviewed Bennett.

The Contract Story, as presented in the revised Shout! starts in the usual way: Brian gets an acetate made from the Beatles’ demo tape, the technician likes it and puts Brian in touch with Sid Colman, who works for A&B upstairs. Colman is interested in publishing the original Lennon-McCartney numbers. Then Kim Bennett enters the picture (Norman 2003, p.164-5):

Bennett likes the disc, too, and suggests they record the Beatles independently in the for-hire studio below their Oxford Street office. Colman takes Bennett’s idea to Len Wood, managing director at EMI, but it goes against protocol, and Wood won’t allow it. Only then does Colman put Brian in touch with George Martin. Colman and Brian have a “gentlemen’s agreement” that A&B will get the Lennon-McCartney publishing rights if they get a contract with George M.

It’s a short passage, but there are already a few problems here. First, the timeline doesn’t make sense. Most early accounts have Brian’s meeting with George M. occurring the day after Sid Colman hears the tapes (see A Cellarful of Noise, The Beatles (1968), and All You Need Is Ears). The largest gap is given by Lewisohn’s Chronicle (p.53-55), in which Epstein is said to have met Colman “around February 8” (a Thursday), with the Epstein-Martin meeting occurring on Tuesday, February 13. The Epstein-Martin meeting date seems to be pulled from George Martin’s date book (he has a meeting with a “Bernard Epstein” on that date), but I’m unsure what brought Lewisohn to the February 8 conclusion. Based on other information in the Chronicle, my best guess is either a meeting between Colman and Martin on February 9th, or a letter sent to Decca by Epstein on February 10th stating he had secured a recording contract. Whether or not he had met with Colman, Epstein certainly hadn’t secured a recording contract on that date – it was purely bluster, a kiss-off to Decca.

Regardless, even if Epstein met Colman on February 8th rather than February 12th, that’s a narrow window of time for Bennett’s story to occur. Rather than trying to place the group with an A&R man at EMI, Colman does nothing until his assistant suggests they record the Beatles themselves. This is unorthodox. A large part of the job of music publishers, as I’ve said above, is to pitch songs to A&R men to get them recorded. In this case, they’d be pitching a group along with the songs, but it seems strange that they wouldn’t try to work their contacts at all before making the jump to DIY. Still, let’s assume that happens. Colman takes the idea to Len Wood. Len Wood’s office at the time was probably at EMI House in Manchester Square, which isn’t far from A&B’s Oxford Street location, so assuming Len Wood had an open schedule, and Colman felt a high enough degree of urgency to immediately take Bennett’s idea to the managing director, I suppose it’s possible that Colman took Bennett’s idea to Wood, was immediately shut down, and then called Epstein back in to set up a meeting with George Martin if we assume Epstein’s first meeting with Colman happened on the 8th rather than the 11th. Still, it seems odd to me that these events wouldn’t turn up in Epstein’s account – getting shut down by the managing director of EMI Records is sort of a big deal, and would add to the drama of the everyone-rejected-them-but-George-Martin-story.

The other big issue here is that this version of events contradicts Bennett’s account from 1969. Rather than simply overhearing Colman’s conversation with Epstein and subsequent persuasion of George Martin, Bennett now has a more active, central role. He’s not driving the story, but he now gives a version of events in which he’s one of the Beatles’ earliest champions. I don’t think it’s unfair to consider that Bennett’s increased involvement in the story might indicate an interest in being more than a footnote in Beatles’ history.

Bennett is mentioned again during the promotions of ‘Love Me Do’ (p.182-3):

Bennett secures some airtime on Two-Way Family Favourites by “repeatedly nagging a radio producer friend.” This is not the same radio show mentioned in Beatles Book Monthly Issue 13 (above), but it’s in keeping with Bennett’s role as a plugger—and that’s where Bennett’s involvement ends in Shout! (2003). There’s one more tantalizing mention of Brian’s “gentlemen’s agreement” with Colman, which he breaks due to his dissatisfaction with A&B, turning to George Martin for publishing advice.

There you have it: Kim Bennett’s evolving story pre-Tune In. It starts as a bit of extra detail that fits inside the greater framework of the Beatles’ Contract Saga, and, after thirty years, morphs into something that contradicts Bennett’s earlier version and the many other accounts of the same events. Things will get even stickier once we get to Tune In. But first...

Section 4: Why Does It Matter?

I can think of three explanations for why Lewisohn pitched Bennett as an unheard witness when he had, in fact, gone on the record before, and none of these explanations helps the credibility of the story.

Explanation 1: Neither Lewisohn nor Bennett knew about Bennett’s previous statements on the matter. This would be extremely damning for Bennett’s reliability, as it would mean he had forgotten both his 1960s statement to Beatles Book Monthly (plausible) as well as the interview that led to the information included in Shout! (concerning). This scenario also requires Lewisohn to be unaware of the above Bennett appearances, which doesn’t reflect well on his abilities as a researcher. If you find someone who you think has never been on record, you might want to at least look him up in the glossary of books by major Beatle authors.

Explanation 2: Bennett knew; Lewisohn didn’t. Perhaps Kim Bennett either neglected to inform Lewisohn of his past interviews, or outright lied to him on the matter. Lewisohn says that Bennett is “known for a dogged persistency” (Lewisohn 2013, p.571), has said that Bennett “just picks something up and he will not let it go,” (Let It Roll 2020, ~25:50), that he is “very insistent about things” and by the time Lewisohn interviewed him, “was a very frustrated man because no one had ever paid him the attention that he felt was his due.” (Nothing Is Real S7Ep7) Could this tenacity and feeling of entitlement to a part of the Beatles’ legacy have led Bennett to present himself as a bigger scoop than he really was? Might he have sold Lewisohn a tale of exclusivity and, perhaps, a version of the Contract Story more salacious and headline-grabbing than the truth?

Again, this explanation also hinges on the idea that Lewisohn was in the dark about Bennett’s prior interview(s), which is a huge oversight, but not as damning as explanation 3.

Explanation 3: Lewisohn knew and lied. Whether Bennett told Lewisohn outright that he had been interviewed in the past or if Lewisohn came upon that information in his research, Lewisohn chose to portray his interview with Bennett as exclusive. Perhaps this was purely to make his “scoop” seem juicier. Perhaps he was reluctant to give Philip Norman credit for finding Bennett first – there seems to be no love lost between Lewisohn and his former employer. Or perhaps Lewisohn knew that Bennett’s prior accounts made the story told in Tune In less credible. The early anecdote related in BBM already conflicted with the revised version in Shout! – if Bennett’s account, as related in Tune In, presented further inconsistencies, it would undermine Lewisohn’s major finding.

I’ll close with a segment from one of the better Lewisohn interviews I’ve heard. It’s from Ken Michaels’ radio show ‘Every Little Thing’, conducted in ~2013, and it’s one of the rare instances where an interviewer gives Lewisohn any pushback or asks follow-up questions regarding some of his more explosive claims. It’s an uncomfortable listen – Ken Michaels even appeared in the comments of this YouTube channel to counter claims that he has beef with Lewisohn– but satisfying to hear some meaningful questions when so many people are content to simply deify Lewisohn. Here's the relevant exchange:

youtube

KM: Aren’t there also problems with certain people that you’ve interviewed that have played some part in Beatle history that want to really elevate their status?

ML: Oh yeah, oh yeah, and it’s up to authors to ensure that they don’t get what they want. And there are unfortunately too many authors who just very happily take the stuff they’re given without challenging it. You’ve got to challenge all these things. And unless something completely fits into the framework of the story, you can’t use it.

Next time, on Days of Our Lies: the Classic Version of the Contract Story, and why Mark Lewisohn is so intent on debunking it. After that, we’ll finally look at the Contract Story as portrayed in Tune In.

Sources:

Cockcroft S, Carty J. 2023 Feb 14 [conducted 2023 Jan]. Nothing Is Real – Season 7 Episode 7 – Mark Lewisohn Returns [podcast, season 7, episode 7]. Nothing Is Real. 1:17:15. Available from: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mtbNIreAY0Car6VASuZGV?si=b1e322e001a347e3

Coleman R. 1989. The Man Who Made the Beatles: An Intimate Biography of Brian Epstein. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 400p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 19. Available from: https://archive.org/details/manwhomadebeatle00cole/mode/2up

Kelly D. 2014 Jul 30. Setting the Record Straight: Interview with Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn. Critics at Large. Accessed 2024 Mar 4. Available online: https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2014/07/setting-record-straight-interview-with.html

Kozinn A. 2013 Dec 27. Tune In, and Turn On the Reading Light. ArtsBeat: New York Times Blog [accessed 2024 Feb 6]. Available from: https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/tune-in-and-turn-on-the-reading-light/?_r=0

Lewisohn M. 1992. The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York(NY): Barnes & Noble Books. 365p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 14. Available from: https://archive.org/details/completebeatlesc0000lewi/mode/2up

Lewisohn M. 2013. 1st U.S. Edition. The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1: Tune In. New York (NY): Crown Archetype. 932p.

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Apr 24. Great Britain. Cash Box XXVI(40); International Section p.45. Accessed online 2024 Mar 18. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox26unse_31/page/44/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Jun 5. Great Britain. Cash Box Vol.XXVI(46); International Section p.55. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox26unse_37/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1965 Jul 24. Great Britain. Cash Box Vol. XXVI(53); International Section p.53. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox27unse/mode/2up

Lichtman I [editor]. 1967 Jul 22. Overlooking South Africa. Cash Box Vol.XXVIII(52); International Section p.65. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox28unse_50/mode/2up

Martin G, Hornsby J. 1979. All You Need is Ears. New York (NY): St. Martin’s Griffin. 293p.

Martland P. 1997. Since Records Began: EMI: The first 100 years. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. 359p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 17. Available from: https://archive.org/details/sincerecordsbega0000mart/mode/2up

Michaels K. 2013. Mark Lewisohn interview [radio broadcast episode]. The Beatles – Every Little Thing. Originally aired on XM Radio. 1:53:18. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjAUtngSoKc

Parnes S [editor]. 1958 Jul 26. Ardmore & Beechwood Open London Office. Cash Box Vol. XIX(45); p.34. Accessed online 2024 Mar 18. Available from: https://archive.org/details/cashbox19unse_43/page/34/mode/2up

Southall B, Perry R. 2006. Northern Songs: The True Story of The Beatles Song Publishing Empire. London: Omnibus Press. 218p. Accessed online 2024 Mar 13. Available from: https://archive.org/details/northernsongstru0000sout/mode/2up

*Wicks D. 1998. Updated 2012. The Ballad Years: From the Bombs to the Beatles: a Directory and Discography of British Popular Music-makers from 1945-1960. Accessed online 2024 Mar. Available from: https://archive.org/details/theballadyears/Book%20Contents/

Wilcox N. 2020 Apr 27. How The Beatles Got Signed [podcast, season 7]. Let It Roll. 57:21. Available from: https://dcs.megaphone.fm/PAN2878353172.mp3?key=5204cb23c38410bae94e208461239e2d&request_event_id=e800ecea-9c5e-40f2-90e3-dad820306501

Images from The Ballad Years and Cash Box 1967 Jul 22

*The Ballad Years by Don Wicks was originally published circa 1998 (by a company called In Tune International, of all things!) There is some great contextual info included at the Internet Archive link; to condense it here, after the original print run of the book, Don Wick continued to update the book, primarily to reflect the death of artists. He distributed these via Microsoft Word Document, and the 2012 version of these documents was uploaded to the Internet Archive. I believe that is the reason for “The Barry Sisters” being plastered across Kim Bennett’s face – the pages including artists’ pictures have very wonky formatting.

#mark lewisohn #the beatles #tune in #kim bennett #sid colman #ardmore & beechwood #it's TOO LONG but what can ya do #bless you if you read this whole thing

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neonthewrite · 2 months ago

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ooh a direct sequel to Bowman of Wellwood, I really want to see this, this is what happens between Bowman of Wellwood and for science, could we have some samples to wait please please please? (I told myself when I read for science that I was missing some elements)

Hello I loved the Little extract from Bowman and the Cat I really wanted to see Bowman and Rischa In the human world Just after the events of Bowman of Wellwood Now I'm very excited and I want more There will be- Are there any other extracts? And how long until the sequel to Bowman of Wellwood?? Please I need to know that I love your work and I can't wait♡

Are you writing a sequel to your Bowman book bc I would totally read it!

Got these questions all pretty close together, so I hope no one minds me addressing them in one post!

It's true that For Science (cowritten with the wonderful @nightmares06, author of @brothersapart ) takes place after the would-be sequel to Bowman of Wellwood, so readers of that AU probably noticed a few things that hinted at what might have happened in the sequel, titled Teven of Nowhere. Those who didn't read it ... well, I'll leave it to you to decide whether you want to dive into that crossover, but Brothers Apart as a whole is a great time so I highly recommend it!

As for other excerpts, this project was being worked on a while back (oh my god ... almost 10 full years ... I'm so OLD). So to write it now I would make some big changes to the style and such, even if the broad strokes of the story would remain the same. I haven't gotten around to completely fixing the outline for it, however I did post excerpts of it for NaNoWriMo 2015 - it was actually the reason I started a dedicated writing sideblog in the first place!

I could probably find a "new" (unposted, but still rather old writing) snippet to post soon, since everyone asked so nicely. :)

Lastly, I am really really grateful to receive these messages. Sometimes I can be quite hard on myself, especially my older writing, so it is really wonderful to know that something I made still gets responses like these ones.

I have not worked on the Teven outline in a long time. And the last year or so has been a struggle to work on any writing at all, for various reason. But this kind of encouragement is really helpful, and reminds me that I love these characters too. I miss them.

I gotta get back to work.

#bowman leafwing #jacob andris #bowman of wellwood #teven of nowhere #for science #future plans

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avalonia320 · 3 months ago

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Claudia's Revenge

It's officially October in 13 minutes here so I'm posting an excerpt from the next upcoming chapter of my IWTV fic, Darkest Before the Dawn. The Ghost Claudia storyline is starting to rev up and I'm getting excited to write it. Plus bonus Daniel!

***

Louis du Lac! You there?

Daniel, he smiled as he opened the door. It’s about time. He hesitated a moment, taking a deep breath. Actually, it’s sooner than I expected. I thought your research would take longer. What have you found?

He could feel the hesitation before Daniel spoke. Louis, we need to do this in person. Why the fuck are you still in New Orleans?

Louis could feel himself tensing as he walked inside. What did you find, Daniel?

Let’s talk about it when you get here. I’m in L.A. You could be here before dawn if you head to the airport now.

I can’t. I have…things going on. Tell me what you found.

Daniel sighed extra heavily for his benefit. It seems you may have been right.

Louis closed his eyes. How many?

Dammit Louis, I’m worried about you.

How many, Daniel?

A resigned groan. 196 deaths that I could verify. There’s probably more, but the records are gone, or families didn’t want the stigma associated with their loved ones death.

You found almost 200 deaths that you could connect to the Theater des Vampires over 70 years ago in a three day period? While you’re on a press tour?

Daniel snorted. Don’t underestimate my investigative abilities.

Oh, I’ve learned the folly of that already. Nor would I doubt your connections at the Talamasca. Louis smiled despite himself. I thought they were trying to cut you off. Something about you prying where they didn’t want you to.

Yes but my source is not above a little bribery. Which was not cheap, by the way. Turns out the Talamasca had the same thought you did, but only about fifty years earlier. They had a whole file.

I see. What was the common denominator?

The deaths are all within a year after the trial. They’re also all eerily similar. A rash of suicides or homicides, depending on whatever conclusions the local investigators came up with. Same MO for each one. Each victim had slashing wounds and died from severe burns. Only ones that were different were an Army transport carrier that crashed upon takeoff with 15 soldiers returning to the US from Paris. It was confirmed the troop had visited the Theater des Vampires the week before. It was covered up, of course, blamed on a mechanical failure, but the truth is, the bodies that were recognizable enough to be examined all had severed Achilles tendons. The plane caught fire on impact. Coroner concluded most of them lived through the crash, and some could have survived if they had tried to get out of the plane. They didn’t. They sat there and burned to death. Internal reports blamed severe PTSD that caused some kind of mass psychosis.

Claudia, Louis whispered.

Claudia, Daniel confirmed. I’ve got to be honest, Louis. This is freaking me the fuck out.

She told them she’d kill them all, Louis was still whispering more to himself than anyone else.

Yeah, well there’s certainly the argument that they all had it coming.

I knew it was real. I knew she was still here, Louis stood up and began to pace the room. I think I’ve found a way to talk to her.

Talk to her? Why the hell would you want to do that? Louis, I’m serious. Let this go. If it’s been 70+ years and she hasn’t shown up in your bathroom mirror yet, I think you’re safe. Maybe it’s just what she needed to do to rest in peace. My suggestion is you let her continue to do so.

She’s not resting. I’ve seen her.

Fuck me, Daniel groaned even more loudly. Every time I think you couldn’t possibly say something more horrifying, I’m sadly proven wrong. What the fuck do you mean, you’ve seen her?

Exactly that. She’s here in New Orleans. She led me to someone who can help.

Please tell me it’s an exorcist.

Not exactly. She’s a waitress. Her name is Lillie. She can see ghosts.

A waitress named Lillie that can see ghosts. There was a thumping noise and Louis was pretty certain Daniel was banging his head into something. I hate this for you. No, you know what? I hate this for ME. The girl was scary enough when she was only a vampire. Slap ‘vengeful ghost with mind control powers’ on top of that and it gets exponentially more terrifying. You’re gonna unleash her and somehow manage to survive the fallout just like you do everything else and I’m the one who’s gonna get Bloody Mary’d by Ghost Claudia.

Nothing’s going to happen to you, I promise.

Yeah, I distinctly remember you saying that to me several times before. If Claudia kills me, bet I’m coming back to haunt your ass.

#iwtv #iwtv fanfiction #ghost claudia #louis de pointe du lac #daniel molloy #the vampire claudia #my writing #darkest before the dawn

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moonspirit · 4 months ago

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Hey moon, this doesn’t have anything to do with shipping and I’m not sure if you’re still doing requests or anything, but what do you think about Armin looking up to Erwin as kind of a father figure?

Like they have a lot of things in common and Erwin canonically acknowledged how smart Armin is, and kind of respected him for it. And Armin losing his whole family before he was a teenager probably impacted him so much, I think he’s kind of a sensitive person who tries not to show it, but just thinks Erwin is so cool.

Sorry for the long paragraph.

Hello anon!

I'm sorry for inserting an excerpt I once wrote; a really tiny bit about this very thing (for those who read VBEOW, this is from Ch 10) :

In that brief moment that he fires his flares, he feels honoured and proud to be working under his Commander. To stand beside him, see the gears working in his head, understand the logical reasoning behind his strategization – skills obtained through so many years of glorious, bloody experience.

He watches Commander Erwin Smith choose his priorities.

I really agree with the notion that Armin looked up to Erwin not only for his intelligence and Commandeering skills, but also as a substitute parental figure. We never got much of the two beyond their canon interactions (over too soon by S3) but it's really good to imagine that Armin sought Erwin out several times for an intelligent conversation.

I believe one of the best things Erwin did was attempt to lift Armin up into a more Commandeering role considering he was still a green recruit.. The S3 part when he puts his soldiers under Armin's command is one of my personal favourites. Him recognising Armin's potential to be someone far greater in the future speaks to Erwin's ability to judge a person well by their character, personality and talent. I think that by doing these things such as giving Armin credence when he voices his suspicions, doubts and theories, acknowledging his intelligence and strategic skill, he was not only ensuring the development of a future Commander succeeding him, but also in giving the 15 year old a push to see for himself what he's worth.

That said, I'm not of the opinion that Erwin's and Armin's similarities are many aside from the obvious surface level ones. They are both good Commanders, they are both sharp, they are both highly skilled tacticians and strategists and they're both blonde, blue eyed, and bushy eyebrowed. But that's about it imo. Where Erwin was rather selfish, Armin was incredibly selfless. Where Erwin employed approaches that could lead to mass casualties, Armin was incredibly cautious and prioritised minimising loss of life. There are others too but that's for another post.

On the fatherly front, for Armin, yes, I see it. I see him thinking he'd like to learn from Erwin, study his methods, put forward his own and get feedback on what works. I also can see him yearning to be acknowledged by Erwin in some small way as a result of the admiration he holds for the Commander. Armin really respected Erwin for his singular focus and determination - something he's known to waver in himself thanks to his insecurity and hesitations (here's another difference between them).

I personally like to think they played a game of chess or something together, sometime. By accident, of course. But in that game Erwin probably saw a lot in what this boy was made up of. Similarly I think Armin saw what his Commander was made up of, only bettering his understanding of the person, and making him glad to have spent one hour, even if just one hour, with a man of his stature and excellence.

Because you see, he will be searching for a parent figure all his life. Nobody will *be* that forever, he will just spend life finding bits and pieces of what his parents could've been like to him if they'd lived. He found them in Erwin, Hange, Levi... And he will continue to find them in others as his life goes on. Because when you can never have the one thing you want to have, you are condemned to a life of yearning.

#askies #armin arlert #erwin smith #headcanon #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #aot #snk #arminarlert #aot erwin #character analysis #meta #?#sorta

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ace-malarky · 7 months ago

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intro post 2024

sup lads, it's been like two years and I figured the pinned post probably needed updating

wait it has almost exactly been two years that's hilarious

Anyway. some things haven't changed. Name's still Ace, no matter what I write on the notes I send to my old library

I'm always up for tag games and random asks!! throw 'em my way as you like :3

pronouns are in flux! predominantly they/them, sometimes it, occasionally he. It varies on the bit, but you probably can't go wrong tbh

we're - we're going to say early 30s. it's not wrong and it's better than this being outdated in a little over three weeks when it all changes once again

no I did not plan this, no I can't do a basic formal outline, I have to ramble. what did you think i wrote for.

Other Places I Can Be Found include twitter & instagram under more or less the same username

~~~

Writing Focuses!

Everything is fantasy, everything is queer. Excerpts can be found under Writing Pieces

I'm largely jumping around between vaguely connected scenes and character work right now, but there's definitely a pattern!

mainly;

Soul of the Party - when a series of mysterious thefts sweep across town in the weeks before the annual tournament, Solaris is removed from the duelling tournament to avoid bringing attention to his cousin's family. Instead, he and his cousin and a band of Feral Mages investigate on their own and find a plot targetting one thief from Off-World (ft. four separate magic types, light crime, sword fights, mistaken (secret) identity, curiosity almost killing the cat)

Shapeshifter WIP - when things start getting tense between neighbouring countries, Syn volunteers to slip across the border and pass information back in an attempt to avert the looming war. They may have underestimated how hard it was going to be to go back when no one recognises them and their own best friend hates them (ft. pining, friends-to-lovers of the star crossed variety, hand wavy world building, questionable morality, questionable spying techniques, A Certain Level of Dumbassery, some Fucked Up Shapeshifting)

Dumb of Ass, Snake of Tits - a DnD story of a dragonborn monk who leaves their monastery to see the world, ends up with a Morally Dubious Courtesan for a travelling companion, gets cursed (twice), has a slight corruption arc, but somehow still comes out better than they started and with a boyfriend to boot (ft. travelling, fights, the unwillingness to wear a shirt in camp and making that everyone else's problem, other uses for bras when you don't have tits, revenge, What Sharp Teeth You Have, unquestioning kindness until it isn't kind, overthinking but eventually manage to communicate about it, slight pining, one vaguely horny dragon)

@dorksndisasters for the not-technically-dnd campaign that I run! The full first draft of the first arc is up there and I am currently editing to make it less stilted and transcriby

and, you know, the usual. Fair Folk, Superheroes, Pirates, Time Travel, WereCreatures, Winged Folk, Storytellers, Dragons, Vampires, Curses, Even More DnD. All of the WIPS can be found on this page and some of them are in this definitely out of date post here

I'm always up for answering questions about any of them, even if some haven't been touched in literal years. They're still growing mould somewhere in there. Branching out in ways I didn't conceive of.

~~~

World Building

also a big ol' thing here, the main tag is world building but that isn't just my stuff in there, it's also a lot of reblogs

largely centered around the Mist Worlds which is where most of my WIPs are set. There is an Overview post, a Magic post, a bit on the Mist Itself, and also the Worlds (and a page where this is collated)

some bits are incredibly handwavy and made up on the fly, other bits I have been thinking Too Much about for Too Long

~~~

Characters

Oh boy we got 'em. Occasionally can be found via rambles on Sundays (Thursdays, under new management) under the tag So It Ends

Syn and Maverick are competing for blorbo of the year right now and if a wip or specific characters aren't mentioned, these are probably who I'll answer ask games for

Syn - a distractable and mischievous shapeshifter who volunteers to be a spy because "pretending to be someone else is what I do" no we're not going to unpack that right now. they/them, big fan of antlers. also goes by Vale or Lance

Maverick - a frost dragonborn who's a little bit naive to the ways of the world and prefers to assume the best of people if they can. Likes to help, doesn't question as much as they should. Not quite an "everything happens for a reason" mentality, but certainly thinks that they got what they deserved at points. they/them, has been known to act without thinking on a number of occasions

#talkin' malarky #writeblr intro #writeblr #intro post #long post #can't do images for shit lmao sorry about the wall of text #can't do brief either ahahaha #but I think that's maybe more clearly laid out. idk.

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kingedmundsroyalmurder · 8 months ago

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Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Fandom: Tortall - Tamora Pierce Characters: Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau, Delia of Eldorne, Maura of Dunlath Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Frank discussion of treason, Truce for the sake of the traumatized child Word count: 6625

Summary:

“This is Maura of Dunlath,” Sir Alanna says. “She wanted to talk to you.” Delia can’t quite keep her surprise from her face. “Is that so?” she asks. “My sister Yolane was executed for high treason three weeks ago yesterday,” Maura says, and Delia blinks. “I wanted to ask you some questions.”

Oh hey, were you expecting literally any of the fics I've been posting about for days now? Too bad, you get this instead! The ten-years-on discussion between Delia, Alanna, and Maura of Dunlath that I didn't know I needed until yesterday and have now written. Enjoy!

Excerpt:

Lady Delia of Eldorne does not receive unexpected visitors. The Hag-Daughter comes twice monthly, to instruct her in matters of faith and hear her confessions. In years past, the Lord Provost’s agents at Eldorne called upon her regularly, to ensure her continued good behavior and impress upon her the mercy the Crown had shown in permitting her to live. Now, with over a decade gone by and Delia having long since come to terms with her lot in life, the Provost’s agents have been reassigned elsewhere. Her own family visits rarely, generally only once a year during Midwinter, and she is permitted the company of neither personal friends nor admirers. (Upon first hearing her sentence read out, Delia raged at the phrasing, assuming the King was rubbing salt into the wound that was her failure to find a husband at court. With the benefit of a great deal of forced reflection and perspective, she wonders if it was the King’s awkward attempt at guessing her interests.)

She spends her time reading and working on embroidery. With good behavior has come the right to send and receive letters – combed through by the Lord Provost’s agents and probably others besides – but she has few correspondents. She never had many friends, and what few she did have abandoned her long ago, terrified that treason might be contagious. A great deal of her time is spent in prayer and reflection – the letters she does write are primarily to the Hag-Daughter – and in sanctioned artistic pursuits. Delia never used to be artistic, except in matters of her own presentation, but a decade of enforced solitude and idleness has introduced her to many new ways to pass the time.

It is a monotonous life but not, as she is reminded near-constantly, a bad one. It is a far nicer life than she deserves. She tries her best to be grateful for it.

She has been imprisoned for eleven years and four months when a knock sounds on her parlor door and Rodwin the guardsman announces that she has visitors. Delia sets down her embroidery, a slight frown on her face. It is too early in the month for the Hag-Daughter and the wrong time of year for any of her relations to undertake their once-yearly pilgrimage to gawk at her.

“Enter,” she calls, and it is all she can do to keep from gawking herself as the door opens and in strides in Sir Alanna the Lioness, looking like she would rather be absolutely anywhere else.

#writing #tortall #achievement unlocked: completed piece of fiction #Alanna and friends

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not-poignant · 2 years ago

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What made you decide to host original fiction on AO3? You're the first (favorite) author doing serial original fic online that I think of these days, though I've not dabbled since independent domains were the most common strategy. I'm hoping to make progress on a project of my own in the soon, but am having trouble finding sites without fairly restrictive content policies--are there/were there other contenders for hosting Fae Tales that would have let you go so dark, or is it AO3 or bust?

Hi anon!

I think from your tone, you're starting off with the assumption that I was trying to be a professional writer and then chose AO3, and that's not the path I took at all!! No one in their right mind generally chooses AO3 if they want to make a profit off of their original writing for a lot of reasons, and a lot of fanfiction authors leave AO3 so they can make a profit off their original writing (and some do both - write fanfic under one name, and original fiction under a completely different name. My path isn't even the mainstream fanfic writer's way of breaking into original fiction, lol).

So my journey was basically that:

I was writing fanfiction on AO3 that became quite popular in its small fandom, and I put two OCs (Original Characters) into that story that got especially popular and started getting fanart during the fanfic. A few people at the time said 'I ship these two' and I was like 'eh I don't want to write it.' And then in typical fandom fashion eventually I was like 'okay I'll just give it a try.'

I wrote several PWP hatefucking chapters mostly to see if they even really worked as a couple (they did!) - since they weren't a couple in the fanfic, they were mortal enemies, lol - and these chapters popped off among a very small number of people and I thought 'you know what, these characters deserve an actual story, because I don't want their tale to have a tragic ending' (which it would have done).

So I wrote more of the story, and eventually I got a message from a reader saying 'hey can you open a Patreon account so we can support your original writing, because it doesn't feel fair that we're getting all of this for free.'

So I opened a Patreon account.

And then about 3 years later I thought 'actually...I think I can turn this into a proper job.' And I...tried lol. It's not a very 'proper job' by the standards of people who started original writing purely for income, but it is quite a proper job for me, lol. I still write fanfiction because I love it.

I never chose AO3 as a place to build a career exactly, I just put original fiction there because that's where the readers were who already liked the original characters, and it didn't make sense to put it anywhere else. I also never expected at the time to make a formal leap into original fiction, I was actually planning another fanfic and then got completely derailed because we were all enjoying Fae Tales so much.

I stay there because I can post any fictional content I like pretty much - no matter how taboo - without fear of reprisal from the site or fear of having my account banned etc. for content. I stay because the warning and tagging system is the most sophisticated in the world. I stay because the search system is also the most sophisticated in the world. I stay because I love the spirit of fandom, and the people who find my original fics there already understand reading serials and WIPs and ongoing stories. I stay because I really enjoy AO3 comment culture, which is uniquely different to anything else anywhere on the internet, but especially other free serial sites like Wattpad, Royal Road, Inkitt and more. I stay because having to invite people to come to my Tumblr to see my posts and excerpts and sometimes find out about Patreon is a feature and not a bug, because it means the people who eventually find their way to my Patreon probably want to be there more than the average reader who never needs to leave AO3.

I stay there because Wattpad needs incredibly short chapters and I like longer chapter lengths (and long serials). I stay there because the comment culture of Royal Road is a lot of 'um, actually' folks alongside some decent folks, and you really have to love constant constructive (and not so constructive) criticism even on your most viral stories, and I am baby. I stay on AO3 because my friends are there, and so are many other folks who I enjoy the thoughts and company of.

To my knowledge, the only other place that allows really taboo content officially (i.e. not 'it's against the rules but everyone does it') is probably Ream, which is a subscription site like Patreon. And they're very recent. I will be setting up a mirrored version of my Patreon account there for all the folks who can't access Patreon due to like...credit card / bank reasons.

If you want to write a super dark, taboo serial, there aren't many free serial sites in the world where that's truly okay. I'm going to take some risks on Wattpad soon with the Fae Tales canon and we'll see how we go, lmao. AO3 is particularly unique because it started for many of us fanfiction writers who were getting banned and censored on other fanfiction and fandom platforms (like Livejournal Strikethrough, which was a huge historical event in fandom around censorship), so it literally - in many ways - was invented to protect and give space to the people who are writing adult or taboo fanfiction (and then later also original fiction). It is designed to be a safe haven for those of us who understand that fiction is just fiction when it comes to sexual fantasy content.

In the past year I have considered other dedicated serial sites for my content and frankly I don't believe any of them are 'safe' for me re: the nature of my writing (I don't feel my writing is as dark as some, but it certainly has 'rape as titillation' quite a bit, and pretty broad scale dubcon). Royal Road doesn't suit my genre/s, Inkitt is possible, but I'm not sure if my work will do well there, Wattpad is a risk but is huge and I'm not mad if my account gets banned there, Tapas allows some taboo, but is very clear that it wants no serials intended for the purpose of sexual gratification and requires 500-1500 chapters maximum, which is a bit of a downer for someone like me who has 3-10,000 word chapters, lol.

If you want to be a professional writer of adult sexual/taboo content who makes money off your writing, I wouldn't recommend hosting your works on AO3, I'd recommend publishing novels and when you have enough of a backlist, potentially offering chapters of future novels as early access on Ream (Patreon will actually also ban accounts with taboo content if you're hosting it on Patreon - and while most of us are safe at the moment, they get stricter over time).

AO3 is, imho, a great place for original authors who already love writing fanfiction or reading fanfiction, and already love fandom, and want to participate in the culture with original stories. Readers on AO3 are very savvy, clued-in people who are overall likely to be suspicious rather than welcoming of original fiction on AO3 in general (many refuse to read it outright), and who also can tell when a newcomer author is just there to try and make a profit off them. But they are also some of the most ride or die, wonderful, best readers in the world once they love your work. (I know this from experience as a reader too, lol, I am ride or die for a few authors there myself).

That doesn't mean it can't be done, it just means there's a steep learning curve re: fandom etiquette (thoroughly worth it, do recommend it, it just will take some time - months, not weeks - to feel it out). AO3 also strongly prefers/requires all original fiction there be posted 'in the spirit of fandom' - which has broad interpretations, but it does mean an effort needs to be made to at least understand and enjoy fandom.

But yeah if you're purely professional career focused, AO3 is not a first-line strategy imho. That's why...there's not many people doing it this way - even viral fanfiction authors don't do it this way, anon, when they decide to writing original fiction based off their fanfiction success. Use Smashwords, Ream, your own host site for direct sales etc. there are erotica and dark fantasy authors who are making WAY more money than I am using paths like this.

I love my path, I love it, and I do believe more people could use it and make it work, but I'll be honest with you - I know I could be making more money if I chose different paths, I'm on this path because it's fun.

#asks and answers #pia on writing #pia on publishing #my path is 'oh god i tripped and fell into getting paid for my writing by accident'#'oh shit actually i think i'm going to make this a job'#at no point did i ever make a smart business decision because i was always just #following the readers and what they wanted #because i was (and am) having so much fun with them #i've been making a few more *deliberate* business decisions lately #but only if they don't compromise my ethics and purpose #which means there are plenty of times i've chosen a path that doesn't give me as much money #or *any money*#which is not how most of y'all are doing this dsalkfjasdfa

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the-lighthouse-lit · 9 months ago

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I was tagged by @cruulsummer

The rules are simple - find a sentence, or excerpt, that includes the words you’re given and paste it in, and include a link to the finished story if you want. But honestly, these are guidelines at best - do what you want.

I’m tagging: @lunarmoment @scorpioaqua @laestrellapanda @raevenlywrites @blushroomx @fiora-miriel

My words to find: Red - Sleep - Writhe - Shallow - Bet - Safe - Look - Anger - Help

Your words are: Intention - Suit - Dark - Smirk - Heavy - Spread - Music - Stop - Alcohol

Red and Help (double whammy because it’s a long bit!) from The Invention of Gravity (a Gravity Falls 1800’s AU that will probably never be finished…):

“What’s your name?” Mabel asked.

“Wendy Corduroy!” Grunkle Stan shouted from the ground. The three looked down. “Get in here!”

Wendy descended from the tree in a series of exact movements that told the twins she’d been slowing down for them before. The twins observed as she ran into the house after their uncle, long red hair mostly out of its cap flowing freely behind her.

The two looked at each other, finding themselves higher up the tree than they’d ever intended, and now alone.

“…How do we get down?” asked Dipper.

Inside, Wendy Corduroy was telling Stan, “I can chop wood, make pegs, I can empty up a mattress and fill it up and sew it back up again with help, I can almost cook on the spit without burning it, and I can clean and shoot a rifle.”

“You’re already hired, Miss Corduroy, I spoke with your papa,” Stan told her.

Sleep from There’s Probably a Moral at the End Somewhere (my Teen titans play-format Fairytale AU, posted here)

STARFIRE: She is floating two feet above the ground. You who know her best, is this how she sleeps?

ROBIN: I don’t even know if she sleeps. I don’t know anything about her. And everything I thought I knew about her was wrong.

I’ve got nothing for Writhe, or Squirm, or Thrash, so I offer you Struggle lol, from a roooough draft of my original story Surot (found absolutely nowhere):

“But if the bathrooms are closed, you can get the key from the hut over there, just ask for Laura…”

I stopped myself. Stella looked kind of jittery and nervous. When I’d motioned to the bathroom she’d dove forth, and now that I’d presented her with a challenge, her eyebrows arched, like she was slightly shocked she’d have to struggle in this way—or like she was calculating she’d spent too long talking to the class freak and was panicking about it.

“Hold on,” I say, and I hold my camera to my chest as I go to the hut myself, all the while wondering why I insist on doing things for pretty girls. It made me feel like a boy. Or like a rough maid from a period drama doing stuff for her delicate ladies.

Shallow from The Club of Unauthorized Heroes Year 3 (yet unpublished):

Dick’s breaths were shallow. His mind was stuck on the here and now. He felt like he should be reviewing the mission—searching for where they went so wrong. But really all he could think about was how much Gar hated hospitals. How annoyed he’d be when he woke up.

Bet from Feral (an entry for BBRae Week 2022, found here):

“That was cool. Quick and clean. Bit sloppy at the end, though. Anyone could see what you were doing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The girl’s voice was a grave whisper. Nearly a hiss.

“You chose a good area, too,” Gar went on regardless. “Lots of distracted loaded pockets around. I bet there’s even some left for me.”

Safe from Over Again (my Teen Titans-Miraculous Ladybug AU, first two chapters found here):

He took in her sarcasm and decided to one-up her. “Hm. You tell your crush you like them yet?”

She groaned, all her coolness gone. “I never should have told you about that.”

“But you did,” he reminded her with a big grin.

And she still didn’t know why. How had she told Beast Boy when she hadn’t even told Kori? She guessed she felt he was safe. Kori might try to set her up with Gar if she knew; it wouldn’t take her long to figure out who her crush was. But Beast Boy was detached from her world—he went to her school, but he couldn’t let her know that.

Look from The tide is full, the moon lies fair (my only She Ra fanfic, a Seamista oneshot, posted here):

He laughed, and it rumbled through his chest. “Really. A small fire. Without me needing to be there?”

“Maybe the venue missed you,” she returned, moving away to look at his face—his handsome face with the jaw and the ridiculously sharp moustache and the hyper-expressive eyes. She’d missed the chance to really look at it, before.

She tilted her head up to kiss him, and the whole world fell into place. To come back into his arms after a long time was a feeling she wouldn’t trade for anything.

And finally, Anger from The Club of Unauthorized Heroes Year 2 (which is published here, but not this bit yet!):

Gar looked back and forth between the faces in the car windows. “Jen?” He turned to Terra, whose face turned from anger to panic when he did.

“You haven’t figured it out yet, slug-face?” taunted Mikron. “Are we gonna have to spell it out for you?”

“Figure out what?” Gar returned. “That you’re Hive? We knew that for ages.”

“Do you wanna tell him?” Baran asked Terra. He was clearly having the time of his life.

#again. sorry I’m over a month late to this tag!#The very sad circumstance that I had writer’s block on a week off work of all times is the only reason I got to this #that also means I hate every line of this ha😭. anyway #tag games #writing tag game #fanfiction tag #writing

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withlovelunette · 2 years ago

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Matryoshka Doll & Wooden Soldiers writing update #1

I'm here to share some excerpts from the first chapter! You can find the WIP post for this story here if you want a more thorough introduction, but it’s essentially a retelling of Hoffmann’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King with elements of steampunk and magical curses weaved throughout. This post is pretty short because I’m a bit picky with my own writing, but I hope you enjoy regardless!!

So the first chapter is mostly dedicated to establishing the situation/setting, Clara’s character and her relationship with her mother. For context, Clara’s been sent off to go live in the city with her godfather, Drosselmeyer, and this is the opening paragraph!

Clara Stahlbaum never defended her mother’s state of mind, lest she also be labeled a hysterical woman. She’d packed a single suitcase and taken the first train out of Marburg’s countryside, not to pursue womanhood nor stardom the way her mother had, but to “seek respite”, as her father put it. Very few traveled further north during the month of November. Winter’s reach had expanded with each year, powdering the land in white to claim every valley and pine forest as her own. Godfather Drosselmeyer would regularly report on the local rumors within the city in his letters–about the snowflakes acting as spies for a fairy queen further north, or that a vengeful curse had overtaken the land–and Clara read each and every one of them as thrilling stories before bed. Such rumors aside, the harsh winters didn’t frighten her, but spring had never felt as distant as it did now, as Clara steps onto the locomotive that will plunge her deeper into winter’s grasp.

Honestly, I’m always very unsure of how to start a story, and I’m still not completely sold on this first paragraph, but I think it functionally does what I want it to do, so I’ll probably rephrase and restructure it in a different draft.

This is just a random excerpt that I sort of liked:

Her mother had always said that to get all the strands of Clara’s hair slicked back and neatly assorted into a tight bun was an undertaking, as if her hair refused to comply with the disciplines of ballet, her hairline embellished with golden baby curls in defiance. In her mother’s absence, Clara had wondered if her hair would refuse to be slicked back into a bun ever again.

I will probably move this part to a different chapter at some point ^^;

Here’s an excerpt of Clara reminiscing on the train. It’s a continuation of the previous excerpt except I have no plans of moving this part (for now).

The scene of her mother bowing on stage as the applause drowns out all other sound, even her own heartbeat, is fresh in Clara’s mind despite its age, onlookers tossing out fresh bouquets of camellia and sealed yellowed envelopes to proclaim their admiration for the prima ballerina. Such admirers had remarked how Clara was the spitting image of her mother. She believed that anytime she watched her mother’s performance, she’d been staring straight into her own future, and she held onto that promise with pride. But then her mother’s hair grayed, her eyes sunken in, and her skin clung to her bones in a way that could only be considered flattering on a young woman. The convictions that once made her attractive and lively made her difficult to work with, the perfectionism that once made her brilliant made her controlling, and Clara could no longer aspire to such a future.

Initially, I want to present Clara’s retirement from ballet as if it was something she did by choice to avoid her mother’s fate, because that’s exactly how she copes with her injury (which is the actual cause behind her early retirement). She’s mentally trying to reframe her retirement as something she did by choice, rather than something she did out of necessity, because she already has a bunch of reasons she could have chosen to retire early.

That’s all I really had to share from the first chapter since I’m still reconstructing it, but I hope it wasn’t too short/long of a read! I’d love to make a post about character creation or constructing character psychology or something along those lines one day, so maybe I’ll do that if it’s something people would be interested in? Or anything fairytale related, let me know!

Tag list: @sam-glade @strangerays @writing-is-a-martial-art @amywrites256 @eurydicefades @serenanymph

Let me know if anyone would like to be removed/added to the tag list for writing updates and additional content for this wip!

#wip #the nutcracker #original post #md&ws #writing update

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misslisamiray · 6 months ago

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A little delayed, but finally, here's Chapter 6 of Down With the Rickness! Those of you who remember the excerpts I posted before I started posting actual chapters may notice this features two of them, but longer now! New chapter is below the cut.

Back on Earth, Morty was looking for a place to hide the portal gun. He thought about just putting it back in the garage, but no – that would be the first place Rick would look once he noticed it was missing. After a few minutes of thinking and realizing there really wasn’t a “good” place to hide it, he decided that under his bed was as good a place as any.

“Rick will probably be out for a while. But I think I’ll need help once he wakes up. Better find Dad.” the boy said to himself. He decided to get dressed for the day, since going back to bed was clearly not an option, then went to find Jerry.

“Dad? You here? You didn’t listen to Rick and go next door after all, did you? Dad?” he called, walking through the house and checking anywhere he thought Jerry might be. Kitchen, no. Living room, no. Mancave, no. Bedroom, no. Then Morty heard noise coming from the attic.

“A raccoon or possum or something must’ve gotten in again. Perfect day for it, too. Good thing Rick made Dad immune to rabies.” Morty sighed, heading up the stairs to the attic.

“Hey, Dad? I know you’re having fun up here with your little friends, but it has to wait. I need a hand taking care of Rick, and… what the hell are you doing up here, exactly?” he said, puzzled by the sight in front of him. Morty had expected to find his father either playing with or being attacked by a wild animal or two, depending on the temperament of whatever had gotten into the attic this time. Instead, Jerry was sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes, some of them tipped over, and piles of disorganized anime VHS tapes.

“Oh, hi Morty. You know what Sailor Moon is, right?” was what he received as an answer.

“Ummm, yes? Classic 90’s manga and anime that’s known for popularizing the magical girl genre in the U.S. And for the old dub making the questionable-at-best choice of trying to pass off two clearly lesbian characters as cousins. Why are you asking me about Sailor Moon?” an even more confused Morty replied.

Ignoring his son’s question while he went through another pile of tapes, Jerry said, “That’s right, Morty! I loved watching it before school as a kid, but I’d forgotten all about it. Then there was this time last year when Rick disguised me as his assistant using something he called a ‘reusable Sailor Moon transformation sequence’, and you see, it brought back all the good memories I had of watching that show when I was young. Along with the bad ones of the boys who liked Dragon Ball Z instead bullying me, but I digress.”

“Uh-huh. That’s great, Dad. Well, mostly. That last part sounds like it sucked… Anyway, nevermind the walk down memory lane right now. I need you downstairs to help me with Rick.”

“Oh. Is whatever the Mimicking Disease mimicking now really bad, Morty? Am I going to come downstairs and see it’s turned all his organs visible, and we can like, see the damage being done to them in real time? If it’s that you’ll warn me, right, Morty?” Jerry worried, getting squeamish over his own made-up scenario.

“No, it’s nothing like that. Rick made up the whole Mimicking Disease thing. Well, I don’t know if he made up that it exists. It might? But he definitely made up the part about him having it.” Morty replied.

He was about to explain further, but was cut off by his father saying, “So it is something worse after all? I thought Rick sending your mom and sister away was a little odd. *GASP!* Morty, you’ve been awfully close to him this whole time, haven’t you?” He quickly backed away from Morty, scooting backwards until he crashed into another box of tapes.

Morty rolled his eyes and said, “Dad, calm down. Rick just has a cold. A pretty bad one from the looks of it, but still just a cold. The thing is, he’s not dealing with it well at all, and apparently store brand otc cold medicine is the only substance out there he has like, no tolerance for. Or hallucinating melting walls is what those internet weirdos meant by the expired medicine ‘working too well’? I don’t know. I do know he’s making this whole thing a lot more of a problem than it needs to be. And it’s probably going to get worse when he wakes up, so come help.”

“But why would Rick lie about having some weird alien disease to hide having a cold? It doesn’t make sense. Now, him lying about having one alien disease to hide having a worse one, that makes sense.” Jerry continued to worry, gulping nervously.

“I don’t know, and I don’t get it either. I’m sure there’s a reason. Probably a reason no one but Rick would understand, or maybe even he doesn’t. But it’s Rick - that’s true for almost everything he does. Please just come downstairs. I see you’ve already given up on your big plan to help to do this instead.” Morty replied wearily.

“Given up? Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong, Morty. This is all a part of my plan.” Jerry stated, starting to look through another pile of tapes.

"Your plan to help Rick feel better is... old anime VHS tapes? I mean... okay? Maybe it would distract him or cheer him up a little. He'd probably enjoy some, maybe even most of this stuff. That's actually not a bad idea, Dad. But it's also not a priority." Morty said.

"You misunderstand. I'm not looking for something for Rick to watch. I'm looking for something I need to watch. And once I do, then I'll know exactly how to help your grandfather." Jerry replied matter of factly.

After standing there for a moment, dumbfounded and not knowing what to say to that, Morty finally asked, "So, your big, great plan is to spend the day going through these boxes, then watching Sailor Moon? And that's supposed to teach you... something relevant to our current situation?"

"It's not going to take me all day, Morty. If your mom and I had done a better job of putting these tapes away, I'd already have what I need. And it's not as if I could watch all 200 episodes and 3 movies in a single day even if I tried. No, there's just one specific episode I need to find. I know it's technically a 'filler' episode, but it's a classic. Episode 71 of the original English dub, “No Thanks, Nurse Venus!” The bad guys infect the city with a flu virus as part of their evil plan, and all of the Sailor Scouts are down with it - except one." Jerry explained, his voice taking on a singsongy tone at the last part.

"From the title, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's Sailor Venus?" Morty said, the urge to scream growing by the second.

"That's right, Morty! For some reason, she and Artemis - that's her mentor/talking cat - remain completely fine, so Mina sets out to nurse the rest of the team back to health. She's honestly terrible at it, but she means so, so well." Jerry replied fondly.

"Dad, I - where do I even start listing everything that's wrong with this 'plan' of yours?! 1, that sounds more like a magic spell than an actual virus. 2, you can't learn anything about treating an illness by watching an old anime episode, and, and..." Morty sputtered.

"Oh, Morty. It's because I told you it's a filler episode, isn't it? Or maybe because I specifically need to watch the old DiC dub? For someone with only the most basic understanding of Sailor Moon, you really don't have any business being a snobby purist. And for your information, Mister, this episode is so good that even people who normally are snobs about that sort of thing enjoy it." Jerry said, shaking his head and giving his son a disappointed look.

“Dad, of everything that’s wrong with your plan, which is EVERYTHING, that’s easily what’s the least wrong! Just because Rick told you to go be stupid upstairs, does not mean you had to take that as literally as possible! You’re not going to come downstairs and help me, are you?”

“Obviously not, Morty. Until I find that tape and watch that episode, what help could I possibly be?” Jerry replied with a shrug. He was clearly annoyed his son still didn’t seem to understand his plan, even after he’d explained it so well.

“I mean, you could go out to get more medicine. Or keep an eye on Rick while I go do that. Or maybe make food? There’s a lot of things you could do, actually. But it’s fine. Just stay up here and keep doing what you’re doing, Dad.” Morty sighed, deciding there was no point in further trying to talk any sense into his father. Jerry was already back to looking through tapes, humming the Sailor Moon opening theme.

As Morty walked back down the steps, he muttered to himself, “What else is going to help Rick get better? I know he needs to rest, and that we need to get more medicine. And obviously that I can’t let him near more than a single dose at a time. But is that like, it? Feels like there’s more I should do. Aww geez, we really don’t have to deal with normal problems like this often, do we? Kinda makes it harder when they do come up. I hope Mom and Summer get home soon.”

A few minutes later, Morty had made his way back to Rick’s room. Expecting his grandfather to still be asleep, and not wanting to wake him, he slowly, carefully opened the door… only to discover the bed was empty.

“Rick? Are you in here?” Morty asked tentatively, stepping into the room and looking around. He checked under the bed and in the closet. No Rick.

“God dammit!!!” he yelled, kicking the nearest wall before going to search the rest of the house.

“Rick! Where are you?! You need to go back to bed! Rick!” he called, walking through the house. First he checked the bathroom. Empty.

“You in here? Rick? Come on, this isn’t funny! Are you like, hiding because you’re mad about the medicine?” He checked the living room next. Still no Rick.

“He couldn’t have gotten far. Kitchen, maybe?” As soon as Morty stepped into the kitchen, he realized that it was also empty, but there was noise coming from the garage.

“Dammit, I should have known!”

Morty ran into the garage and was immediately taken aback by the sight in front of him. Rick was dressed in his normal clothes again, but his labcoat was crooked and sliding down his left shoulder. He had a sock and shoe on his left foot, but a slipper on his right. His belt was unbuckled, and Morty was fairly sure his shirt was on backwards. He was trying to keep his blankets - there were now three of them - wrapped around himself while he set up another experiment and had to keep pausing to adjust them.

The experiment in question? Well, it wasn't clear exactly what Rick was trying to accomplish, but he'd gathered the petri dish containing the blood sample he took earlier, a couple of empty ones, and some used tissues, and was arranging all of them on the garage floor... in front of a large ray gun on a pedestal.

"What the hell do you think you're doing now, Rick?! Whatever it is, stop!" Morty yelled, startling Rick and causing him to stumble forward and bump into the ray gun. This led to it flipping so it was facing the roof, which it immediately shot a hole through.

"Ow! Dammit, Morty! Look what you made me do!" Rick complained, rubbing his forehead where he'd hit the ray gun.

"Uh-huh. Weird way to thank me for that hole ending up in the roof and not your head." Morty said wearily.

"Okay, so this wasn't on the right setting for what I'm *Cough!* trying to do just now. But I would've figured that out on my own without your so-called help." Rick grumbled, turning a dial on the ray gun and repositioning it so it was once again aimed at the assortment of things on the floor.

"And what exactly are you trying to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? I hate to admit it, Morty, but you were right about the idea I had before being terrible. *Sniff!* Shrinking you down to microscopic size to talk to the virus? I don't, don't know what I was thinking with that." Rick admitted as he rearranged the petri dishes. The pile of blankets slid down a little, and he started shivering again.

Noticing that, Morty helped adjust them around Rick's shoulders, saying, "Glad you realized that, but you still didn't answer my question."

"Huh? Oh, *Cough!* right. As I was saying, making you or a clone or a robot germ-sized is not the right way to handle this situation at all. In fact, the way to deal with it is the exact opposite. What I need to do for this negotiation thing to work is make the germs human-sized." Rick explained matter-of-factly.

"Rick, no! Don't you see how that's even worse than your original plan?!" Morty asked, rightfully horrified.

“Huh? How so? There was a lot that could have gone wrong with the original plan. Even though I’d send you in armed in case the little peace talk fell through, you *COUGH!* woulda been seriously outnumbered in here, Morty. And God forbid anything happened to prevent me from getting you back out. Let’s face it, I am not in peak form today. And it’s not like there’s anyone else here to help. Shit, maybe I shouldn’t have sent Summer away. Eh, I’ll make it up to her once I feel better. Anyhow, *Cough!* *Cough!* if we do it this way instead, all those risks go away. We’ll be face to face with the bastards and on an even playing field.” Rick replied, not understanding Morty’s concerns.

“No, we won’t be! Instead of just me, it’ll be the two of us vs… How many germs are in a person’s body when they have a cold? Millions? Billions? It’s at least thousands, and I’m pretty sure it’s a lot more than that! If you make them all human sized, they’ll overrun the house, then the neighborhood, and, and wouldn’t being exposed to germs that size make everyone around really sick? How are you not seeing everything that could go wrong with this idea, Rick?!” Morty yelled.Visibly annoyed, Rick answered, “Obviously I’m not going to make all the germs our size, Morty. I mean, to do that, I’d need to remove all of them from my body first. Which would require, among other things, a full blood replacement. Which I *Cough!* might not live through, and if I did, I’d already be cured once I was done. And then why would I waste my time talking to over – to a bunch of oversized *SNIFF!* germs, huh, Morty?” Morty was once again at a loss for words due to the crazy plan being explained to him – something that had already happened too many times for how early it still was.

#rick and morty #rick and morty fanfiction #rick and morty fanfic #fanfiction #sickfic #more tags to be added when I'm more awake & it isn't almost 2:00 A.M.#for now I'm cuddling up with my Rick Bear and going #my writing #fanfic #my fic #rick sanchez #morty smith #jerry smith #chapter 6 of... I don't know #crossposted on ao3 #crossposted on fanfiction dot net #morty really can't catch a break #this will continue in the next chapter #more tags to be added when I am more awake

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chayscribbles · 2 years ago

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chayscribbles’ monthly writing update ☆ december 2022

posting this one a little early as i'll be posting my writing year in review post on the 31st!

☆ STATISTICS.

words written: 11 936

projects worked on: Andromeda Rogue; The Gemini Heist (or, The WIP Formerly Known As "Secret Space WIP")

proudest accomplishment: idk i feel like this has been one of my best writing months in a while. i just feel it in my heart of hearts

books read: Discordia by Kristyn Merbeth

☆ GENERAL COMMENTS.

so i've been pretty MIA these past few weeks :/ i just started a new full time job which is quite physical and while i am enjoying it immensely, i'm usually tired at the end of the day to come on writeblr.

BUT somehow i've still been finding time to write! lots of fun things are happening in the chaynematic universe.

i've also been drawing quite a bit too! i'm really challenging myself to draw out of my comfort zone (which really just means drawing backgrounds that are more than a shape or a gradient, welp). currently working on a piece for my new wip which is... taking way longer than i would like 😅

reading comments: Discordia (which is the final book in this space opera trilogy i've been reading over the last few months) was good, not great, and the ending felt a little anticlimatic, but i can understand why it ended the way it did. a solid 4/5 stars because i still had a good time. anyways if you like Chay Stories, i recommend this trilogy! it's far from perfect and a little rough around the edge but it's still fun and enjoyable and hits all the right elements i personally love! (sibling drama in space! funky alien tech! bisexuals, plural!!!!!)

more specific wip-related comments + featured excerpt below.

☆ COMMENTS: ANDROMEDA ROGUE (draft 2)

i tend to work on this one when i don't have the brainpower to think too much, as a lot of it is just polishing or expanding on things that are already written.

i did add some new scenes that i hope will add more meat to the story. one is a phone call Azami witnesses between her father and some other politician, which is meant to add some political backdrop to the conflict between the planets. the other is a scene where Azami tries to run away before being placed on the expedition, but gets caught by her brother Ansel, as i wanted Azami to be more active in trying to shape her fate from the very get-go, and also give her and Ansel more scenes together. i haven't quite finished the latter one yet though because i haven't had the braincells to write any completely new scenes for this wip lately.

i also really reworked an exposition-heavy chapter where Petra gets the rundown of the expedition, and the scene right before they leave when they're given a tour of the ship to make it less clunky, sprinkling description of the ship into the team's actions as they get settled in instead of throwing a big wall of description at you.

so as of now a good chunk of act 1 is already rewritten!

however i do think in the second half of the month the steam for AR (which was all momentum from finishing AR3) has cooled down a bit and my mind has shifted elsewhere. which brings me to my next section...

☆ COMMENTS: THE GEMINI HEIST (outlining / draft... 0.5?)

in case you missed it: i have a new wip !!! (technically it's not new because i've been secretly working on it sporadically since spring, but it's new to most of you.) i'm having a ball writing about these awful gay women doing crime in space!!! i really missed that New WIP High haha. i feel like a kid in a sandbox.

i realized partway through the first act that the way i was writing AR wouldn't work for GH. because it's a heist i'll have to plan thigns more than i did with AR... but having a too-detailed outline feels too restricting. so instead i'm attempting to fast draft this thing so i can get a fuller picture of where i'm going, but still be able to plants this draft which seems to be the way that works best for me. (probably because you can't spell plantsing without plants.)

except that i'm really bad at not getting caught up in details while drafting, especially when writing dialogue-- these guys always end up talking and talking way more than i intend lmao. so i'm calling this more of a draft 0.5, where some parts will be more detailed but others will... not. i've pretty much skipped all description or non-essential worldbuilding. that's a problem for Future Chay.

☆ FEATURED EXCERPT.

this is from gemini heist chapter 4, where Leo is trying to convince Illiana to help them, and Euna and Gabi are... not exactly helping.

Illiana’s chest tightened. She took a deep breath. “How do I even know I can trust you? You’re a criminal, aren’t you? Why wouldn’t you take the money and leave once I’ve given you what you want?”

Leo leaned back in her chair. “I’m an honest criminal, Heir,” she began.

The shorter, chubbier of the two minions spoke for the first time, muttering under her breath, “I’m pretty sure ‘honest criminal’ is an oxymoron, actually.”

The taller, muscular one reached over and gave the short one a little smack on the arm. “I don’t think the Captain appreciates you calling her a moron, Gabi,” she scolded.

Leo’s overall expression didn’t change, but Illiana didn’t miss the exasperation briefly flashing through her eyes.

Leo, to Euna and Gabi: i have total faith in you guys

Leo, to herself: there's like a 30% chance they both die

☆ TAGLISTS. let me know if you want to be added/removed to any of them.

general taglist:

@nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @quilloftheclouds @ashen-crest @writeblrfantasy @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @extra-magichours @avi-why @lefttigerobservation @chazzawrites @bardolatrycore @innocentlymacabre

andromeda taglist:

@bebewrites @nicola-writes @dgwriteblr @the-orangeauthor @retrogayyde @akindofmagictoo @quilloftheclouds @nora-theteawriter @ashen-crest @corpsepng @writeblrfantasy @chaylattes @toboldlywrite @celestepens @stardustspiral @pepperdee @cheerfulmelancholies @extra-magichours @writeouswriter @cilly-the-writer @lefttigerobservation @rose-bookblood @drowsy-quill @chazzawrites @cynic-and-chief @enchanted-lightning-aes @aesa

gemini heist taglist:

@florraisons @akindofmagictoo @cream-and-tea @nicola-writes @memento-morri-writes @antique-symbolism @rose-bookblood @afoolandathief @pepperdee @avi-why @zonnemaagd @chazzawrites @analogued @enchanted-lightning-aes @innocentlymacabre @kahvilahuhut @celestepens @cilly-the-writer

#chayscribbles writing update #wip andromeda trilogy #wip andromeda rogue #wip gemini heist

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