#1000 words takes 10 thousand years to write

[chiarrara]

who up happying they new year rn

[slayingfiction]

How I push through writing when I don't feel like writing.

Here are some of the techniques that I use to help me write more often or more consistantly when my laziness/depression/anxiety starts to take over.

I watch TV. I don't do it with the purpose of zoning out though. I watch something popular and well-liked such as the LOR or Harry Potter to get new ideas on how I can develop my story and apply their in-depth world-building ideas to help develop mine. Without plagarizing of course!!!!

Zoning out and daydreaming. As I have mentionned before, daydreaming is a huge part of my story outlining and world-building process. I'll stand in the shower, or take a walk and think about how my charcaters would act/react/behave in situations, mundane or not. Doing this gives me a better sense of my characters, and sometimes gives me ideas for scenes I use later on.

Work on writing related projects. These work well at keeping me distracted while still being productive on my writing goals. Example, I have one story I am working now, I made a new language (alphabet and numbers included) to include as a cool and fun component for the book. So, at times when I don't wan't to write, I continue creating the dictionary (very fun, 8/10 would recommend). Also, for the same book, my characters don't work off the Georigian calendar and 24 hour clock, so I've been working at creating a new calendar (harder than it seems, 2.5/10 dont recommend). These are side projects that help my story, without having to write.

Reading. You saw this one coming, I know. Reading is great, especially when you're editing, your writing style will unconsciously change to be more similar the author you were just reading. Also, most importantly, I'll be reading and think, "this story is really good, but you know what story I like even better? Mine." then change to writing.

This one is my biggest life saver!! I learnt about a year ago that sometimes I'll get bored of writing a story, and have difficulty keeping on track. That's why I finished my first book in 2016 and just started editing the first draft last week. The solution for me was to work on multiple projects at once, because it was much harder to be bored of multiple stories. I stick to 2, but will sometimes add a third. This is easy for me, because I have a list of over a dozen series I want to write. Don't abandon one project for another, use them as a distraction/ motivation for each other, so you're always furthering at least one project. I've never heard someone say, "oh no, i accidentally worked on this other writing project for three months instead of the other writing project I was doing. Dammit." No, we're just happy we have written something. Be sure to have well outlined story lines before starting, don't just start writing randomly or you'll reach a point where you don't know where to go from there.

Author/ writer projects. Maybe this is building a following, or community to share your projects and engage with. Tumblr, Insta, Reddit, whatever it is. My hope this year is to start up my website to offer publishing services (editing, graphic design, short writing courses) and build a following as a writer. (See what I did there? Never a bad time to self-promote ;) ) Having your own projects like this will help you in the future when you're going to try to publish and sell your books!

Talk with friends and a writing community. Never underestimate the passion that will burn inside you when talking about your story, or when others are talking about theirs. Surrounding yourself with a positive writing community can be the best thing for you as a writer.

Write or read (your story) every day. I'm not going to be one of those people that say you need to write 1000 words a day, that's a lot. But maybe try for 100? That could maybe only take 5 minutes, and at the end of the year that's still over 36 thousand words of a novel. Or just read your story, and I've always found it helped me get in the creative mood.

Make a playlist of songs that remind you of your characters, your story, or just puts you in the mood to write. Then play it ONLY when you're having trouble writing. Playing it while writing will not help, you'll get annoyed with the songs.

Just really can't do it today? That's okay, take a break. You deserve it. There's always tomorrow.

Does anyone else have ways they push themselves to keep writing? Let us know in the comments!

Happy Writing!

[ithinkineedamoment]

1. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire

1 of 1000 - Recordings

This project is almost 15 years in the making. Had I been wiser at the debilitating age of 12, I’m sure writing for the sake of writing would have come to me a hell of a lot more naturally than it does now.

Regardless of that, it looks like a 26 year old me is finally getting around to it.

At the tail end of 2010 - I was living in Ramstein, Germany where I found a copy of Tom Moon’s 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. I (my dad) bought it for $15 and there I went becoming evermore insufferable thinking I’m the first person who ever discovered 10 by Pearl Jam. I quickly found two more versions of the “1000... before you die” list - movies and places. Armed with these three lists, I set out to conquer the “best” of the “best” and do obviously do it before I die.

Lofty goals.

But I’ll unpack that I’m sure in a later essay.

Since that time, I’ve plowed through 430 albums, 574 movies, and 142 places. But what of it? What does it matter? Is it enough to watch “Schindler’s List” in a double feature with “The Sound of Music” once and think I can fully process what I’ve experienced? Fuck no!

So in an effort to combat that insanity - I’m starting this project. I will write something on each and every entry of these lists. Will some be long? Absolutely. Will some be short? I hope so. But what is the point of consuming what is meant to be essentials of a lifetime and not give it a second thought? There is of course the argument that these lists are arbitrary and are actually heinously filtered through the lens of old, Cis, straight, white men and women. This idea will undoubtedly come up several if not a thousand times and I don’t think I can ignore it. What I’ve gained, however, from venturing down this yellow brick road of content is greater than the sum of its parts and that is what is interesting to me. How has inundating myself with this “canon” for most of my life shaped who I am and where has it led me?

So as an artist who is constantly stonewalled by the mere act of creation, I asked myself - where do I start? How does this project begin?

Randomly, obviously. I had Sergio scroll through the lists and pick whatever caught his eye.

Somehow, picking Neon Bible by Arcade Fire makes sense.

With this very first entry I begin with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the 2013 adventure comedy starring and directed by our pal Ben Stiller. For the uninitiated, this movie features Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, an employee at Life magazine who is forced on a Carmen San Diego-esque adventure to find Sean Penn in the mountains taking pictures of snow leopards. And it ROCKS.

Everything from the settings to the humor to Adam Scott’s haircut screams the spirit of adventure. I remember sitting in the theater watching this movie having goose bumps down my arms as Mr. Stiller ran for that plane - reading the Life Magazine motto: “To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other, and to feel, that is the purpose of life.”

Fuck meeee, it’s good.

My depressed ass sat there smiling and crying - thinking of how much of the world was out there - all the places I’ve never been and the adventures I’ve never been on. It was enough to keep me going, even if it was only for the rest of the day.

The part that I really want to draw attention to, however, is the song that plays over the scene that I just mentioned. As the words of the motto appear hidden in the scenery, a sick fucking guitar lick kicks in. Suddenly, the absolutely bonkers Arcade Fire hit, “Wake Up” is blaring through the speakers and I am transcended. From their 2005 debut album Funeral, “Wake Up” has been included on all sorts of best songs of 2004, the decade, the century, of all time lists. With lyrics touching on the embarrassment of youth and the gift of growing up, it’s one of the most inspirational songs I’ve ever heard...

(until I listened to the soundtrack and realized that to SOME people, the song “Wake Up” was never in the movie and instead the absolutely DNA-altering Jose Gonzalez song, “Step Out” took its place. Dear Reader, please note it’s a detail I’m moving on from since these songs exist simultaneously in my head for the same reason and since I have Google I found out a licensing issue made us all watch a different version of the movie. Leave me alone).

Ever since that day - whenever I’ve embarked on a new journey, I’ve played these songs. When my plane took off from Germany back to the states, when I walked on my college campus for the first time, whenever I start a new job - they become the soundtrack to my life. “Children, Wake up” to “House on fire leave it all behind you”. It’s the music to my proverbial first steps into my new life.

So again, it’s fitting then, that the first recording, the very first essay of this project, is Neon Bible by Arcade Fire. Their sophomore album released in 2007, Neon Bible is an extrospective triumph of organs and religiosity exposing the world for what it truly is in this post-9/11 hellscape. Full of angst and persistent drums, it’s truly no wonder how this album crosses the boundaries of what is Indie and what is mainstream.

Relistening to the album this morning and thinking about this project, it almost makes too much sense to start here despite its randomness. Take for example the opening track, “Black Mirror” which in my sleep depravity I could have sworn was the intro to “Changes” by David Bowie. Here, Win Butler muses on the notion of the “black mirror”, an unrelenting echo of all the worst parts of ourselves and our world. Impossible to separate from the contemporary connotations of the words “black mirror”, we quickly realize this album is not interested in the joyous release of

Funeral. We’re confronted with screens, cameras, and content - the black mirror of a sleeping iphone or of a buffering video. What does it mean to see ourselves in that reflection? We’re beholden to it.

As we continue through the album, we’re bombarded with rising crescendos of emotions that dissipate uneasily like unlit waves at night - “Black Wave”. There is no comforting exaltation or resolution of discord. It’s isolating! Butler says so himself in “Intervention”: “We’ll go at it alone”. As the number of black mirrors around us increases, the time spent as an individual also increases. It’s interesting that so much of the imagery evoked in Neon Bible is that of the ocean - black, reflective, ever expansive. This brings to mind another song from a few years later: Los Campesinos!’s “The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future.” It should be obvious enough from the title as to why I think this is relevant. The rocking guitar of this jam sways back and forth like the crashing of waves as the lyrics wax poetic on what it means to be alone - “and all you can hear, is the sound of your own heart” - and how hopelessly small you can feel in front of an unchanging ocean before you - “A thousand years, no getting rid of me”.

This cynicism, this anger, I feel is what fuels this album. There is no joy in the face of the “Ocean of Noise” in front of us. There is no reconciliation at the church of the “Neon Bible.” There is nothing new I can say on our modern relationship with technology or media here that hasn’t been said already in a New York Times Op-ed. We are losing control of ourselves to an ocean of influences, media, thoughts, and content. We can scream, and we can shout, but the only escape - according to Arcade Fire - is the place where “No Cars Go”, the liminal space between turning off the lights and before we fall asleep. There, we are finally free from the world and all its power over us. This is the craven freedom that brings the album its only truly joyous song.

So I guess it’s now that I’ve realized the point of this essay - the point of this whole project. I’ve spent years of my life thumping the bible of a church that doesn’t care about me. These lists have become a religion - a system of other people’s beliefs in what should be exalted and glorified. I’ve consumed the content I was told to consume and thought what I was told to think. I don’t think that I’m alone in wanting to challenge “the canon” either. There will always be an unavoidable conflict between what is experienced and what should be experienced; I’m just no longer interested in justifying one over the other. I refuse to let the ocean carry me away. Just as Arcade Fire has ushered me into new phases of my life, Arcade Fire will now usher in a personal rebellion that hopefully will manifest itself across this project where I can Reflektor on what it means to be me.

I have no idea what this rebellion will look like - but my body will no longer be its cage.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Welcome To The Show

Summary:

Scenario 1: Introduction Description: Kill one living thing before the time runs out! Time limit: 10 minutes Penalty for lack of completion: Death Reward: 1000 Coins per kill

(ORV Maribat au)

Adrien had spent many hours reading online. It was better than laying there, in the dead of night. Wondering if his father really loved him if he kept him locked up in this house. Wondering whether his mother’s disappearance was as sudden as his father claimed. Wondering why, if both him and his father were at home as often as they were, Adrien never seemed to see him.

Was it him? What did he do? Could he fix it? Please, tell him how –.

No, he would much rather peruse the internet for content.

This was how he found the story. Three ways to survive the apocalypse. Or Ways of Survival, for short.

It was a work created by an online novelist, who dropped thousands of words weekly. They were, perhaps, a little wordy, a little too concerned with sidestories and lore and fleshed out too many side characters and all the like, but… Adrien couldn’t help but be enchanted. His heart practically jumped out of his chest every time his email got a notification that the work had been updated. There was something about the writer’s specific style that kept him coming back, over and over again, week in and week out. Kept him commenting on what he liked and what his theories were every chapter.

He was the only one reading. Had been since practically the start. After about fifty updates, people started to dwindle… and, by the hundredth, he was the only one. Adrien understood, most people had lives, but he didn’t. Not outside of this story, at least.

That would have discouraged many writers, and yet his writer kept going. After a while, it started feeling like the writer was specifically writing for him.

It felt like a love letter made for him, personally. And he was happy to respond in kind, professing his own love in the comments and in occasional donations when he thought his father wouldn’t notice the chunk taken out of his bank account.

And now it was done. The final update. 3049 updates later. After years and years and years…

Here it was.

But the ending was… strange. Sudden. He never truly got to know just what the Ways of Survival were.

Just that, apparently, he would survive having read this story.

Funny, tongue and cheek. But still strange.

He frowned to himself. Maybe he had missed something? Maybe the author wasn’t all that good at endings? Maybe the Ways of Survival were supposed to be implied?

Well, he could always reread it later, for now he would write out a quick comment:

OmniscientReadersViewpoint: I’m sure it’s a huge weight off of your chest to get this thing done with. I can’t wait to reread it all over and over again!

And, for the first time, he got a response.

TSL123: Thank you for always reading my work. Can I have your email address? I’d like to send you something to thank you.

His heart pounded in his chest as he, slowly, letter by letter, typed out his email address. He looked it over multiple times, making sure that he had spelled it right.

And then he hit send.

It didn’t take much longer than a minute for his email to get a notification.

TSL123@gmail.com: My story has won a contest, and must subsequently be taken down. I would like to give you this copy for safekeeping.

Adrien’s eyes widened as he quickly opened the attachment, and found the story there, as promised. Had the author been refraining from publishing for his sake? And now giving him a free copy so he wouldn’t have to pay for the actual thing?

He smiled. He would have paid millions for the copy, if asked, but he appreciated the gesture. He hugged his phone to his chest, falling back in bed and staring at the ceiling.

And it was then that he was hit with one, very important question:

What now?

He probably should move on at some point. Read something new. But how could anything else compare?

A new hobby, perhaps? But were there a lot of things he could do without leaving his room? Maybe he could get into the fencing classes or modeling his father made him do, but he doubted it, if he hadn't found a passion in it after all these years then he probably wouldn't start now…

He was pulled from his musings by a brilliant purple light. He groaned and peeked one open, half expecting Nathalie to be shining a flashlight into his face to see if he was alive without touching him, only to find something similar to a screen hovering in front of his face.

For a second, his eyes couldn’t really focus on the words. Instead, they slid off, to the strange shape of the screen. It was shaped… like a butterfly?

His eyes snapped back to the white text.

Scenario 1: Introduction Description: Kill one living thing before the time runs out! Time limit: 10 minutes Penalty for lack of completion: Death Reward: 1000 Coins per kill

This… had to be a joke, right? The same format, the same words… it was all reminiscent of the first chapter of Ways of Survival. Someone had to be messing with him. But how could it be a prank? He slowly reached out to poke the screen in front of him, expecting his hand to go right through it, because it had to be the product of a nearby projector or something, but instead he hit something that was very similar in texture to glass.

He gripped the sides of the butterfly, dragging it down to inspect it, looking for a string that might hold it up, and yet… there was nothing.

And, as the shockingly sharp glass began to split the skin of his palms, making blood spill over the sides, staining the otherwise pretty purple, he realized that it couldn't be a dream, either, because his hands hurt.

He tossed the glass to the side, but it didn’t even give him the relief of shattering on the ground, instead disappearing the second it was out of his hands.

But whatever. He was on a time limit.

Stuffing his phone in his pocket, more on instinct than anything, he rushed out of his bedroom.

Okay. Okay. Okay. He knew that the doors and windows to get out would be locked.

A butterfly of purple light fluttered by:

Gabriel Agreste has completed the mission! +1000 Coins!

+1000 Coins for a First Kill Bonus!

Already? Thought Adrien.

He swallowed thickly. His dad had probably noticed the same thing he had.

The rules said to kill a living thing, not necessarily a person.

He swung a hand out, trying to swat the little butterfly, but it had dissipated into thin air before he’d even gotten near it.

Yeah, that would have been too easy.

The ladder to the attic rattled loudly in the otherwise silent house, he didn’t even let the thing fully click into place before he clambered up it, eyes flickering around desperately in search of any kind of movement among the dust.

But he couldn’t find anything. Just a chair, some boxes, and old pictures of his mother that had been left to gather dust.

Why was it that the one time he actually wanted to see a spider, there weren't any around?

The ladder creaked again, and Adrien whipped around.

Nathalie.

He was almost relieved to see her alive. It meant that his dad hadn’t murdered her without hesitation. It meant that his dad had likely found a bug to squash. It meant that, maybe, his dad might have been innocent in his mom’s disappearance.

Almost relieved.

For Nathalie had a knife clutched in trembling hands and tears spilling down her cheeks.

It didn’t take a genius to see what was going on.

“Miss Nathalie…” Adrien began carefully, holding up his empty hands placatingly, backing up slowly, until he couldn’t anymore, blocked by boxes and the damned chair. “I’m going to find bugs for us to kill, we don’t have to do this…”

Nathalie shook her head. “Time is running out,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

She lunged for him.

Adrien hit her with the wooden chair.

The chair shattered upon impact. Her body was flung to the side, glasses skidding across the ground, her thin form splayed across a pile of boxes. The knife clattered to the floor. Blood spilled from the wound.

The last piece of the chair slipped from his fingers.

He couldn’t seem to stop staring at her glasses. Laying on the wood, one of the lenses cracked. Blood beginning to spill down a nearby box to puddle at the feet of the glasses frames.

Purple light curled itself by his arm.

Special skill (4th wall) activated.

Nathalie started to lift her head, groaning.

Adrien knelt to pick up the knife.

He… should have felt worse about it.

He didn’t feel much of anything.

It didn’t even, really, feel like him. It felt more like he was reading about two characters. Distantly, he might be a little sad, but overall it was… fine. He was assured in the fact that it wasn’t really real, and that the person he was reading about was messed up because they were written to be that way not because of him, and that he could always just close the book for the night and go home.

Adrien Agreste has completed the mission! +1000 Coins!

Scenario over!

A few Kwamis are interested in you.

Kaalki has sponsored you +500 Coins!

He dismissed the screens with a lazy wave of his hand. For half a second, his eyes caught on the red staining his skin.

Oh. He had been bleeding earlier. It probably wasn’t good that he’d also gotten Nathalie’s blood on his hands.

He grimaced and cut the end of his shirt up to make two thin strips of cloth to wrap his hands in. It now looked like his tee was a crop top, but he didn’t particularly care as he tied off his hands.

Someone popped into view. It was a tiny person, no larger than the palm of Adrien’s hand, old and probably the type to hobble around with a cane if it were not for the fact that it was a mystical being and could fly.

“Hello! My name is Fu!” He said, coming to hover by his face. “Congratulations on completing the first Scenario! And thank you for not being annoying about how it had to be fake and all that like everyone else, the Kwami get upset when I kill too many potential Incarnations, but sometimes it’s necessary to prove a point. You get me, right?”

Adrien nodded, only half listening, his gaze flitting around in search of anything that might be of use.

Well, the boxes were all clothes and random trinkets his mom had left behind, and the photographs… well, he supposed he could shatter them for glass shards, those could be weapons, but it seemed redundant when he had a knife.

“Ah, I knew you’d understand! If only you’d tell my bosses that! Ha! Now, before your next task, I’d like you to – you’re not listening, are you?” The being pouted.

He scooped up Nathalie’s glasses and then turned to face him, sending a smile worthy of the model he was. “I’m listening. Second Scenario soon. I need to choose a Kwami to sponsor me.”

“I… never got to the sponsorship part,” Fu said, backing up just slightly, seeming confused.

“Context clues,” Adrien sighed, looking up at him. “How do I pick?”

Another butterfly popped into being, and he looked over the list of names that meant little to anyone besides him and, possibly, depending on which Reincarnation he was on, the Batman.

It was longer than expected, but likely nothing compared to the one that Batman would be seeing.

Kaalki

Probably because he was rich. Kaalki was known for liking upper-class people. Choosing them would not give him a leg up over anyone in Bristol.Plagg

Powerful, but dwindles your sanity every time you call upon their power.

Trixx

A good power, almost too good, to the point where it had had to be nerfed by making their Incarnation’s teeth just a little too sharp. Which, of course, would put everyone on guard once they realized what Trixx’s holders could do.

Longg

He didn’t know why they were interested in him, but he didn’t think he could live up to their standards.

Plotter

Adrien stared at that name for quite a while. It was different than the others, missing the five-letter naming scheme, and he didn’t recognize it in the slightest. He hesitated for just a moment, almost tempted to click on it just to see what he would get, but decided against it just as quickly.

He stared at the options he did know for quite a while before selecting Plagg. He had a few theories about his Fourth Wall ability, and he would love to know whether it would counter Plagg’s drawbacks at all.

It wasn’t like he was going to last long, anyways. He wasn’t delusional. It was the apocalypse, and he wasn’t a main character, he didn’t have the same kind of plot armor that Batman did. Chances were, his death was imminent.

So, he really wouldn’t have to worry about his sanity for long.

Besides…

“So, do I head out for the second Scenario now, or…?”

Fu looked at him for a long moment. A purple screen of his own, though infinitesimally smaller, appeared by Fu’s head, and he scrutinized it for a moment. The screen disappeared, then rematerialized, then dematerialized, then he checked again…

He looked at Adrien.

“Why is there no information on you?”

“Why would I know?” Adrien lied. It was almost definitely because he wasn’t an actual character, and therefore no profile should exist for him. “You’re the one with all the fancy stuff.”

Fu frowned at him for just a moment more, before dismissing both him and the screen with a wave of his hand.

“Sure. Head outside, the next Scenario will be starting soon.”

Adrien shoved Nathalie’s glasses and his knife into his pockets as roughly as he dared, and then made his way out of the house.

A few other people were poking their heads out.

Adrien hesitated in the doorway. He glanced back, listening for anyone in the house. But his father was nowhere to be seen.

Not unusual, but… he had hoped that, maybe, his father would have come out and, now that they had both lived through a life and death situation, realize just how precious Adrien was to him. Like in the movies.

But, unfortunately for Adrien, this was very real.

Scenario 2: Get to Gotham! Description: The bubble surrounding the Gotham-Bristol-Burnside area is shrinking by the second! Get to a safe zone in Gotham before time runs out! Time limit: 1 hour Penalty for lack of completion: ???? Reward: 1000 coins

He sighed.

It really was just like the book.

Kaalki’s teleportation would have been good right now. But it was doable, Batman had completed this stretch many-a-times, and had only chosen Kaalki once, on his first Reincarnation.

Besides, Adrien had Coins, and knew how the Store worked.

He pulled up the Store, and started investing in his Stats. His base score was… well, about expected. He did fencing, but only once a week, and he spent the rest of his time reading.

There was a Sanity score, too, which… was a little foreboding, even when at 100.

500 Coins into endurance, definitely, and another 250 coins into speed just to make sure…

Speed: 7 -> 8 Strength: 6 Endurance: 3 -> 5 Sanity levels: 100

He scrolled through some lower-level items, and then opted for a rebreather for 100 Coins.

There. And he still had 650 Coins left!

Yeah, that should be enough. Hopefully.

He glance back inside his house. Still nothing to indicate Gabriel Agreste was even alive, though Adrien knew he had to be.

He shook his head. No use stalling any longer. He started jogging. The bridge on its own was a 30-minute walk, and it wasn’t a nice stroll to the bridge itself, either. Making it in an hour would be difficult.

A couple of people passed him, running at top speed, but he would catch up soon enough. Rich people weren’t known for being extremely athletic, and endurance would be a problem in this Scenario…

His eyes found their way to a young boy who had popped into thin air next to him. The boy was small, probably six or so if Adrien had to guess. He wore a set of pajamas adorned with tiny Spongebobs and Patricks. This clashed terribly with the blood caked underneath his fingernails and the hefty lead pipe he held over his shoulder like a baseball bat. He panted heavily, sweat making his black hair fall in limp ringlets around his face.

Was that…

Character profile: opened.

Character profile?

Tim Drake, 8 Speed: 3 Strength: 4 Endurance: 2 Kwami: Kaalki Special skill: Picture Perfect (Unlocked) Other skill(s): none at the moment

Oh, that was helpful.

More importantly.

He was right! That was –!

Your understanding of this character is high. Would you like to make a bookmark?

Shut up, cryptic but also somehow helpful screen, he’s busy.

Holy crap. That was Tim Drake.

Adrien fought the urge to squeal.

He neared him, blood-covered hands behind his back. Everyone alive now would be murderers, for the most part, but he didn’t know whether Tim had come to that realization yet, and he didn’t want to risk scaring him.

More than necessary.

“Hey, are you good?”

The kid swung at him.

Adrien dodged easily, having been more than ready for that. “You have to up your Endurance in the Store, if you want to use your power more,” he repeated the words he knew would work, for they had worked thousands of times for Batman.

He found himself quietly wondering which Reincarnation Batman was on. Obviously, if Adrien could help it, this would be the last, but he hoped for the first as well. Less trauma, more idealistic, less likely to kill himself after any one thing went even slightly wrong… yes, that Reincarnation would be the easiest for Adrien to help with his expansive knowledge of the world he had found himself suddenly thrust into.

But, for now, he would help Tim.

Tim, who was eyeing him warily. “Store?”

“Mhmm. It should appear at your fingertips if you ask it to.”

Tim glanced at him, and then at his hand, and then back at him. And then, hesitantly, his other hand still holding his pipe in a vice grip, he lifted a hand and said “Store, please.”

It wasn’t necessary to say it aloud, but Adrien didn’t correct him. God, this scene was even cuter in person.

The 4th wall is shaking.

…

The 4th wall is restored.

Adrien glanced at the screen out of the corner of his eyes. Hm.

Nevermind that for now.

Tim hesitantly used all of his Coins to up his Endurance to a 6, and instantly relief washed over him, the tension in his shoulders lessening visibly. He smiled at him. “Thank you. How’d you find that out?”

“Well,” said Adrien. “Once you hit sixteen, you get this magical ability to know everything.”

Tim squinted at him for a minute. “Dad does say teens are know-it-alls…”

“Exactly,” Adrien said, fighting off a laugh. “Once you’re my age, you can know-it-all, too.”

“Like curse words?” Tim said, his eyes gleaming.

“Especially curse words,” Adrien said solemnly.

Some Kwamis have taken a liking to your new friendship.

Tikki has sponsored you +500 Coins.

Secretive Plotter has sponsored you +100 Coins.

There it was, the true way to get Coins. Scenarios were good and all, but could last several days. No, what you needed to do was get Kwamis to watch you, and get them to root for you.

Plagg urges you to hurry along.

And the Kwami you choose as your Sponsor has the most weight on your decisions. Money was great, and could buy you either good items or stats, but when you were an Incarnation then you would have to abide by the rules of your specific Kwami, because they were the only one that could give you a buff. And a buff could be the difference between life and death.

“Are we on a gameshow?” Tim asked, eyeing a screen of his own, though Adrien couldn’t see it. “They’re cheering for me.”

“Something like that,” Adrien said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “If they’re cheering for you, then you’re doing good. If they’re not, then you need to do something good.”

Tim nodded diligently. “You sure are smart, Mister!”

“Adrien is fine, and thanks, but I’m just well-read,” Adrien said, his lips twitching into a kind of grin. “Can I know your name?”

“Oh! Tim! Tim Drake!” he stopped walking to stick a hand out.

Adrien took his small hand in his, and then tugged his arm, forcing him to walk again. “We can do formalities when we get to a safe zone, yeah?”

Tim looked at their interlocked hands for just a moment before breaking into a wide smile.

“Okay, Mist – Adrien!”

The Kwamis are cooing over you.

Tikki has sponsored you +500 coins.

Adrien and Tim shared smiles as they stepped onto the bridge with thirty-five minutes to go.

No wonder Batman kept choosing Tim. The kid really did pick up things fast.

Speaking of Batman choosing Tim…

“Who are you?”

They both whipped around.

“Tim!” Tim squeaked.

The man’s eyes lingered on Tim for a moment, then trailed to their interlocked hands, then found its way to Adrien’s face.

“I don’t know you.”

“Adrien Agreste. Now you do.”

Batman didn’t seem particularly amused by the joke. He stalked towards Adrien, only to stop when Tim held out his pipe, stepping between Adrien and Batman oh god.

Adrien placed his hands on Tim’s shoulders. “Hey, hey, no, we’re not threatening the very scary man, okay?”

Tim frowned up at him for a moment.

“I’ll be fine. Head across the bridge, okay?”

Tim looked skeptical for just a moment. He glanced at Batman, then Adrien. There was a… very visible strength difference.

Adrien pulled out his knife. “There. I’ll be alright. Head over, okay?”

Wayzz has sponsored you +1000 Coins.

Plagg is calling you a self-sacrificing idiot.

Tim sent him one last, wary look before teleporting halfway down the bridge.

Adrien dismissed the screens with a wave of his free hand, stuffing his knife into his pocket once again, and then looked at Batman.

“Why are you here? Nothing I did up to this point should have caused any changes.”

Adrien shrugged. “No clue.”

You are under the scrutiny of a Lie Detection skill.

You have passed.

Adrien smiled. “Glad we’ve cleared that up, can I go now? Time’s a-ticking, y’know.”

Batman raised an eyebrow. “No, because you brushed past the words ‘Nothing I did up to this point should have caused any changes’ without blinking. How do you know about my Reincarnations?”

“I –,” Adrien said, backing up a step. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I just didn’t want to make things awkward by asking!”

You are under the scrutiny of a Lie Detection skill.

Whoops.

You have failed.

Adrien swallowed thickly. It suddenly dawned on him just how intimidating Batman was. Well over six feet tall and approximately 200 pounds of pure muscle. Dark hair throwing his eyes into shadow. And advancing on him very quickly.

He had to fight an instinctive urge to test out the power Plagg had given him. Because, chances were, the spell would bounce off of the man’s plot armor, and if it didn’t then he would experience hell in the next Reincarnation. If he would even be there for it.

And… a hand gripped his shirt, and Adrien might have squealed over the man being so close to him and real, but knuckles pressed against his windpipe, and he was far more concerned with trying to keep his feet on the ground. His hands scrabbled at the one on his collar, desperate to loosen his grip. Fruitless in his attempts.

He should have invested some money into Strength.

The 4th wall is shaking.

Great, thanks. Just what he needed.

His mouth went dry.

Step by step, Adrien was forced closer to the edge.

“WAITwaitwait, I know the future!” Adrien screamed, desperate as his heels passed over the edge.

Batman paused.

His eyebrows knit together.

You are under the scrutiny of a Lie Detection skill.

You have passed.

“A prophet,” Batman mused aloud.

“If that’s what you want to call it,” Adrien said.

Batman stared him down for just a moment.

“Oh, really? You say you know the future?”

His grip shifted to hug Adrien’s throat, and he lifted Adrien straight off of the bridge, letting him dangle.

The water really was oh-so-far away.

“Then prove it. Will I let go, or not?”

Adrien, shakily, removed one of the hands that had been scrabbling at Batman’s.

He flipped him off. “Just drop me already.”

For just a moment, Batman, the man known for caring about nothing other than his goal, Vengeance personified, Bruce Wayne… smiled at him.

“Perhaps you are a prophet, after all.”

He let go.

~~~~~~~~~

Next

[duhragonball]

The Punt Trick

I've been kind of inactive lately because I'm doing a writing project this month and I sort of fell behind on it. My morale was kind of low this past week, but I managed to turn things around this weekend by writing 5280 words, which is more than a quarter of the goal. Not too shabby, so I want to capture how I did it.

Historically, I've been able to write a lot more than 5k in a single day, but I can't do it consistently. It really depends on what I'm writing, and if it's something I already have laid out pretty well in my head, the words will flow. The problem I've been having in August 2023 is that my plot is well laid out, but I'm struggling to put down the words. I know what to do but I'm less clear on how to do it. So it's been slow going.

Basically, I made an hourly schedule for the rest of the month, detailing how many words I would write. I've tried stuff like that before, but the trick this time is that I made the wordcount assignments very small. I didn't think it would help very much, but it turned out to make a big difference.

For years, I would write numbers on a calendar, like "Oh, I'll write 2000 words on Tuesday, and then I'll do 2500 words on Thursday!" and then it'll be 11:48pm on Thursday and I'm 4000 words behind schedule for some reason.

I've tried making it more granular, but that would mean doing things like "At 6pm I'll write 1000 words, and then at 8pm I'll write another 1000 words! Easy!" But then it'll be 7:55pm and I won't have the first thousand done, which just demoralizes me further for the next thousand.

This time, I just decided "to hell with it" and assigned myself 500 words per hour. This turns out to be much more realistic. When I'm doing well, I can bang out 500 words in twenty minutes, but when I'm struggling (like this month), 500 words can take me... about an hour. Well, more like thirty minutes, which is great because if I procrasinate for half of the time alotted, I still have time to get the goal met.

And 500 is small enough that it's easy to overshoot. So chances are that I'll clear the goal with a little more than I needed, which makes the next hour easier to tackle, and so on.

And now that I've had this productive weekend, the schedule I've laid out for tomorrow will be even lighter. Monday I'm doing 250 words for each hour, which is probably too lax, but that just means I'll finish ahead of schedule. The important thing is that I'm not just vaguely declaring my intent to write 1500 words after I get home from work. Normally, I can do that pretty easily, but that confidence turns into procrastination, and I'll put it off until 10:30 at night, and then one thing leads to another and I blow it off completely. With this system, I have to start at 6pm, because it's not about getting 1500 by midnight, it's about getting 250 every hour for six hours.

This is something I really, really need to keep in mind for the future, because even when my writing goes well, I'll still run into spells where it doesn't, and this seems like an effective way to break the logjam. And it might also be handy for smaller projects, which I could break down into even smaller chunks, like 100 words, or even less.

I suppose what inspired me to try this was when I kept looking up at my word-counter and expecting to see some big numbers, and ending up with something dinky like "83" or "112". But with what I'm doing now, those are actually pretty good signs of progress. Chain a few of those together, and I can actually get somewhere.

I'm not sure if this would be helpful for others, but it definitely seems to be working for me, so if you're reading this and you find yourself stuck with your writing, give it a try.

[saving-word-crawls]

Hunger Games Crawl

By: Unknown (reposted by dragonwriterhp)

Reposting this year, all credit goes to the original poster

STAGE ONE - IN THE DISTRICT

Reaping Day: It’s that time of year again. Head over to the District Square and try not to think about your chances. Do a three minute sprint. The number of words you manage is the number of times your name is in the Reaping bowl.

Goodbye: Well, it seems the odds weren’t in your favor. You’re now a tribute for your district. Do another three minute sprint to say goodbye to your friends and family – you’re probably not coming back.

Train Ride: What district are you from, again? Go to a random number generator (like this one) and get a number from 1 to 12. Sprint that many hundred words to show some district pride! For example, district 1 sprints 100, district 2 sprints 200, etc. Optional: If you sprint a thousand times your district number, you have useful survival skills already, and will have a definite edge in the arena. You can do-over one challenge that you fail without losing.

STAGE TWO - PREP WEEK

Opening Ceremonies: Your stylist has some…interesting ideas about your chariot costumes. You have a half hour to reach your district goal (district number x 100). If you succeed, everyone loves your costumes and can’t stop talking about your style. Gain one do-over. If you fail, you look ridiculous, but you won’t be penalized…yet.

Training Days: You have three days to train your body and mind for the arena. Sprint to the nearest thousand to round out your skills.

Private Session: Time to face the judges. You have 15 minutes to put down as many words as you can. Round down to the nearest hundred – that’s your training score. 1-3 will receive a penalty: you get no bonus from the interview section below. 4-6 receive nothing. 7-9 get one do-over. 10-12 get two do-overs.

Interview : Wow, you look fantastic! Time to woo the crowd. Sprint to the end of the scene you’re on. Take a free do-over as well. Caesar really brings out everyone’s best side.

STAGE THREE - THE GAMES

Hovercraft: You’re flying blind – the Capitol doesn’t want anyone to see the arena yet. Type for ten minutes with your eyes shut.

Launch: You’re on your pedestal. Enjoy your last moments of relative safety. You have one minute to reach 50 words. If you fail, you twitch nervously, step off your plate too early, and get blown to smithereens. Game over.

Bloodbath: Do you stay and fight for your supplies, or do you grab what you can and run? If you do the former, do a #1k30min (to put it in Twitter parlance). Succeed, and you get a do-over. If you do the latter, you have an hour. Fail either task and another tribute kills you. Game over.

Day 2: You’ve survived one day, but it’s only going to get harder from here on out. The Capitol decides you’re being boring today and sends a Fifty-Headed Hydra your way. 500+ words in 5 minutes, the sponsors are impressed. You get a do-over. If not, you are badly wounded. Double your next word count goal, and try to do 250 in five minutes. If you succeed, you live with your penalty. If not, you succumb to the poison. Game over.

Day 3: If you have a do-over to burn, skip this challenge. If not, you’re running out of water and need to find some – fast. Write 100 words and roll a six-sided die. If you get a one, you find water and succeed. If you don’t, write 200 and roll again. Same odds. Repeat until you hit 1000. If you haven’t gotten water by then, you die of dehydration. Game over.

Day 4: You’ve been spotted by a vicious tribute. Get ready to run. Word War with someone for 10 minutes. If you win, you get away. If you lose, well. I’m sure you can figure out what happens. Game over.

Day 5: It’s slow today, for some reason. This can’t be good. Nevertheless, enjoy a brief rest by writing for three hours without a goal.

Day 6: It was quiet yesterday because the Capitol poured acid rain in a part of the arena that you weren’t in. Good call. You stumble across the body of a fellow tribute who wasn’t as lucky. Do a Three Digit challenge in half an hour. If you succeed, you find lots of supplies on her and gain a do-over. If you fail, all her items were eaten away by acid. Oh well, at least you aren’t dead.

Day 7: This is it. You’ve made it to the end of the games. Only one tribute stands between you and victory. Word War with someone for an hour, with epic music in the background. Winner takes all.

[foggynightdonut]

Sanatin and Aman (Years) of Noah age

Sumerian Kings and their ages and how it fits with religion

Here are the Kings list and how long they ruled for.

Alulim 8 sars (28,800 years)

Alalngar 10 sars (36,000 years)

En-men-lu-ana 12 sars (43,200 years)

En-men-gal-ana 8 sars (28,800 years)

And so on and so forth. I think the reasonable explanation here is that the Kings did not live for thousands of years but rather the measurement of time for these kings was different and it was recorded as being thousands of years. I think living for 43,000 years is not really plausible but if they were using a different time measurement then it would make sense why different years are recorded.

Notice it ends with "Then the flood swept over."

Now, bearing this in mind, take this verse from the Qur’an 29:14

[Quran 29:14] We sent Noah to his people, and He stayed among them for a thousand years minus fifty years. Then the flood swept them; for they were wrongdoers.

It does not say 950 years directly. It says 1000 minus 50 years. The first word used when describing 1000 years is "sanatin" which means years and when it says minus 50 years, the word used is "aman". This also means years. It's interesting how there are two different words used for years and it does not say 950 years, it says 1000 years using a different word for years and it says minus 50 years using different word for years

1000 years (Arabic word "Sanatin")

Minus 50 years (Arabic word "aman")

This verse then mentions the flood. While this is not explicitly mentioned, it would be reasonable to assume that both the sumerian Kings and Noah were from the same region hence why they have a similar method of calculating age. Furthermore, there is also a flood myth in sumeria

"After kingship came down from heaven .... the kingship was taken to Shuruppak. In Shuruppak, Ubara-Tutu became king; he ruled for 5 sars and 1 ner. In 5 cities 8 kings; they ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood swept over"

So it does seem that the method for calculating age was different and that 241,200 years is not literal, this could be a plausible explanation why the Qur’an uses two different words for years and why it says 1000 minus 50 years instead of 950. It seems that the 1000 years is their measurement of years and 50 is our measurement and so his actual age is whatever the age of 1000 is and minus fifty from that. It's also interesting how the Qur’an mentions and then the flood swept over almost like the account, it does seem that the Quran is almost drawing a parallel. Then after the flood, the amount of rule they had didn't just slightly decrease, it drastically decreased

Jushur 1,200 years

Kullassina-bel 960 years

Nangishlishma670 years

So it's reasonable to assume that they did not live for thousands of years or even hundreds of years but rather the measurement of time was different and that's why in the Qur’an it parrelels the story of them writing the flood swept over but it uses different measurements of time. I don’t think the Qur’an actually copied the flood myth in all honesty and I'm not just saying this because I believe in the Qur’an but to think that someone in Arabia living thousands of years somehow made a parrelel between what they were writing and used the correct measurement of time is dubious at best.

There is also a flood myth of a boat being built, similar to that of Noah. It does seem that both the old testament and the Quran are actually speaking about Noah and the fact that he built an ark.

In order to figure out how long each year was or the age of Noah, you simply have to work out how they were measuring their time. The purpose of the Qur’an nor the Bible is to tell you how to measure Noah's age but it seems to be focusing on the flood. The reason why this measurement is included seems to be because Noah was likely from Sumeria and so it has been included for historical purposes.

[numbersbythebook]

Eber & the Church in Philadelphia

written by Will Schumacher

Per my Eber and Christchurch earthquake post there is this interesting connection to “beloved”.

Strong’s H1730 =”beloved”. It is spelled dalet-vav-dalet. Dalet is the 4th letter and Vav is the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

Dalet (4) vav (6) dalet (4) could be seen as 464. Eber died at age 464. The gematria of “beloved” is 14 and Eber is the 14th generation. 5677 ft = 1730 meters. Eber is Strong’s H5677. Beloved is Strong’s H1730.

In the NT Eber is Strong’s H1443. This verse about “beloved” has a gematria of 1443:

SOS 7:10 I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.

As other posts have mentioned, Eber is tied to the closing of the door through his age at death of 464. I would assume then his birth is like the opening of the door. Eber’s name means “one who has crossed over”. Going through the door/Jesus is crossing over.

Just as Eber is tied to the number 14, so is David. David is Strong’s H1732. His name means “beloved”. His name has a gematria of 14, spelled dalet-vav-dalet. Matthew makes the connection between David and Jesus and the number 14 in his chronology:

Matthew 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

In the book of Revelation Jesus says He is opening and closing a door; I see an Eber connection.

Revelation 3:7-12 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8) I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9) Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10) Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11) Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him My new name.

Number one, notice when Jesus says He is opening and closing the door Himself; He says he has the key of David. David “beloved” is tied to Eber also.

Second, it is to the church of Philadelphia which means brotherly love, similar to “beloved”.

Third, this is the first mention of New Jerusalem in Revelation. It is only mentioned two other times, both in chapter 21. Chapter 21 is related to the 21st generation - Rebekah the bride - and New Jerusalem is said to be the bride. Recall that Eber and Rebekah seem to be tied together quite a bit.

Fourth, Jesus says He will write upon them the name of God. The 144,000 in Revelation 14 also have the name of God upon them:

Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

Revelation 14 is tied to Eber the 14th generation. Revelation 14:4 calls the 144,000 virgins, a hint to Rebekah the virgin bride.

I have seen it speculated that the church of Philadelphia, being the sixth church, symbolizes the close of the 6th day/6th millennium just as God created the world in 6 days and the 7th day is the day of rest, 1000 year reign. If that is true then it would make sense that Eber and the closing of the door is tied to it.

If this is true then Laodicea would be the “church” that goes through the wrath of God. I say “church” because the description given makes one think Laodicea is a false church. Its description would seem to indicate this to be true. They have trusted in their own strength and not Christ.

It is interesting then where the word “Laodicea” comes from. It comes from Strong’s G2992 meaning “people” and from Strong’s G1349 meaning justice/ judgement/punishment/vengeance.

Here is an example of how it is used as “vengeance”.

Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

It is interesting then that Strong’s G5359 = Philadelphia and Strong’s H5359 = ”vengeance”.

Deuteronomy 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Maybe Laodicean does symbolize the people that will undergo God’s wrath/judgement/vengeance and Philadelphia symbolizes the closing of the door to be the bride of Christ and the beginning of the wrath/judgement/vengeance of God.

This is all speculation, but I have wondered if Christ returns and gathers His bride to Him and then there is a period of judgement/wrath in which those who are saved through it go into the millennial 1000 year reign in their mortal bodies. The Church in their immortal bodies rules with Christ.

[savrenim]

okay so the writing prompts You have been sentenced to death in a magical court. The court allows all prisoners to pick how they die and they will carry it out immediately. You have it all figured out until the prisoner before you picks old age and is instantly transformed into a dying old man. Your turn approaches. and subsequent story reply passed my dash again and my problem is I have some Real Answers that are living rent-free in my head but I did not want to write several hundred words in tags of clog up the post so guess I’m doing the tumblr thing of ‘make your own post’

but here we go, answers to this question that my brain has thought up and their rankings:

1. ‘Immolated standing right here right now in this timeline and universe by a 12km planet-killer class asteroid traveling at 30km/s as it vaporizes upon contact with the planet, alongside everything else in a ~200km impact crater’  : 3.5/10

So this one gets points for being the classic ‘Taking You Down With Me Syndrome’ in as far as I can come up with in a minute with my fictional life on the line. Also points for: as unavoidable as I think possible to come up? I have specified here and now, so they can’t teleport me to a different planet or time, or similarly to a different multiverse, which really makes no easy escape for anyone else around me. Furthermore, the specification of being a part of the impact crater makes it less likely that it’ll just happen to me in a magical bubble that is killed without it affecting everyone around me; even if it transports everyone else outside of the crater and just kills me in the impact, enough of the planet’s crust will be ejected into the atmosphere from the ‘crater’ part of the request to heat it up upon friction of re-entry enough to bake everything on the planet’s surface, not to mention the superheated rock around that is basically acting like a nuke causing thermal radiation to destroy everything within 1000km, massive shockwave winds, a magnitude 11 earthquake, etc. Explosions like that happen so fast that 1000% this just flat-out Would Not Hurt, I’d be dead before I realized I was dead. All in all, nice generally spiteful way to go, fun wording to deliver, satisfying thing to stare someone in the eyes at their growing horror and describe.

Points taken away for the facts that (a) I do still die, (b) it is possible that the reason that other people have not done this or something like this already is because it’s built into the death curse that it won’t kill other people for you too and I did not word this carefully enough to allow for killing everyone else in the aftermath in which case I’ve just wasted the wish, (c.) this does kill the entire planet and end possible almost every living species and probably every intelligent living species in I’m guessing the known universe unless there are stuff like fae realms that might be safe but destruction on that scale is kind of petty and I’m not totally sure I would want to do it, I do kind of like humanity and all that jazz. seems like a bit of a waste to take everyone down with me in my grand revenge, unfortunately, I’m too flashy to ask for an asteroid just big enough to take out the village, if I’m going to go down it’s going to be in planet-destroying style.

specs for this description are taken from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs on Earth, which has the advantage that depending on what angle the thing actually hits at, potentially leaving the planet habitable in a couple of hundred thousand years again.

2. ‘By our sun going supernova (at the end of its lifespan)’ : 2.5-6.5/10

So this one gets potentially slightly more points than 1. because it’s just....... interesting. in that there are a lot of options and any of the options are really cool? but also less points bc there are so many options that are SO much more unpleasant. (and yes this is somewhat inspired by Dr Who that was a fucking Iconic episode, moisturize me). but so far as I see it, there are four ways this can go:

(a) The sun just magically goes supernova right now, guess it’s the end of its lifespan because a death curse said so. Takes about eight minutes to hit us, everyone gets killed just like the planet-killing asteroid but tbh in a 10000x cooler manner, all of the advantages and disadvantages of 1 working.

(b) I get teleported into the future to watch the sun go supernova, die very quickly because the sun kills me not the vacuum of space or atmosphere being unbreathable again etc etc, but mostly this begets the question of: assuming that the fantasy planet that I’m on is fairly similar to our own, we are around a G-type main sequence star! Those things don’t go supernova! they don’t have enough mass! which means that I get to watch as a magical death curse attempts to somehow figure out how to make the entire fucking sun go supernova at the end of its lifetime think about what cool science that is!!!!!!! I might die but think of how much data future astromagiphysicists are going to get from this!!!!!

(c.) The Magical Death Curse Does Not Have Enough Energy To Make The Sun Go Supernova And Fizzles Out In Trying, which while it sounds good actually is pretty boring bc they’re likely to just, like, stab me with their swords if it happens. rip me.

(d) answer (b), but instead of teleporting me to the future, I am made immortal until the sun reaches the end of its lifespan and proceeds to go supernova which means that I (6.5) get functional immortality for at least a couple of billion years which is more than long enough to do some interesting shit and probably get tired of being alive and then die in the coolest fireworks display the planet will ever see. points taken away tho (2.5) for not specifying that, like, if I’m surviving until then it’s in a fine preserved manner rather than a fate-worse-than-death manner (rotting like a zombie, frozen in time unable to move but watching everything happen around me, etc).

general points for no matter what happens it’ll be REALLY FUCKING COOL to watch, general points taken away for the lack of control and real range of how shitty the possible outcome might be and that I still die in every scenario here no matter what.

3. ‘In a lich-creation ceremony that turns me into an undead immortal lich’ 6.8-8.2/10

Nice, simple, to the point. Points for: surviving the encounter, it being very difficult for the magic to misinterpret it. Points range for: depending on the rules governing liches in this magical world, it might not actually be that fun to be a lich. Points taken away for: if liches are an established element of this world, they probably know how to kill them, so I’m not out of hot water yet. And also there might be elements of lichhood that are not a completely optimal existence that obviously I would experiment to improve over the course of my new immortality but who knows how easy that would be to do.

4. ‘In a super-special custom lich-creation ceremony powered by my soul and my death that will create a whirlpool of necrotic energy gathering up the life force and magic of everything in its path to power the creation of an indestructible magical object that houses a magical projection of my consciousness that contains continuity of consciousness, memory, personality, the ability to grow and change, allows it to project itself outside of its container as a simulacrum to affect the world, and the ability to gather magic around itself and use said magic, that can sustain itself through any form of energy manipulation either with respect to mundane or magical thermodynamics-slash-entropy-theory, and--’ 10/10

This is the supervillain origin story shit that I’m talking about. Survive the encounter? check. Using a word that the magic recognizes so you have a base for what you’re turned into but customizing for what you actually want? check. Revenge on everyone? check. Easy ability to murder everyone who knows what happened so that it’s that much harder to hunt you down and kill you? check. Avoiding the potential of there being a built-in rule about no directly stating that your death will kill other people here too? check, I never state the whirlpool of magic kills everyone I just make it I can use it to kill them after and tie up all the loose ends to further my own power growth immediately. Ability to watch the sun go supernova? also check; I’m an immortal magical lich now babey I 1000% will use the several billion years that I have to develop our planet’s magical spaceprogram, colonize some other exoplanets, set up a galactic civilization, and then when our sun is dying yeet it into another star so that I get to enjoy the cool fireworks show.

5. ‘By giving up my mortal form and ascending to godhood, bitches’ 115/10

I’m torn bc on the one hand 3-4 are basically just doing this in a more and more specific manner, but on the other hand, oh my god the STYLE, the SNAPPINESS, -100pts for being So Much More Likely To Kill Me but +216 for Okay But Imagine If If It Doesn’t It’s Way Less Stupidly Nerdy Than Very Carefully Describing My Brand New Phylactery As I Try To Come Up With All Of My Ideal Circumstances Of Lichhood

like. I’d probably go for 4. bc I’m careful and want to survive this thing. but I think in my supervillain origin story I will tell everyone that I said 5. better to not give away my weaknesses that way too.

6. ‘By teleporting me 1ft to the left in a completely standard teleportation, retroactively establishing that teleportation in this setting does not in fact move you but actually kills you via disassembling your atoms and creates a perfect copy of you with continuity of consciousness where you ‘appear’’ 7.5/10

Points for: I basically survive the at least implementation of the spell, and I enact abso-fucking-lutely hilarious revenge on everyone but especially all the wizards who have ever teleported by establishing the Existential Beam Me Up Crisis as canon, and probably cause immense socioeconomic damage as suddenly teleportation can no longer be used for people as a quick means of transportation and there are probably a lot of stuffy rich people who will no longer want it used on their goods. Points off for: I am 1 ft to the left and there are soldiers with swords here, while I will get to see the looks on everyone’s faces as this sinks in I will probably still be stabbed and die.

7. ‘By teleporting me to an unknown untrackable safe friendly location outside of the country in a completely standard teleportation, retroactively establishing that teleportation in this setting does not in fact move you but actually kills you via disassembling your atoms and creates a perfect copy of you with continuity of consciousness where you ‘appear’’ 9.5/10

Points for doing everything 6 does while actually saving my life. Points off for not getting to see their faces. Also points off for not giving me free immortal lichhood from it, but not too many points off as I am now free to research and do a lichhood ceremony myself without worrying about a death curse misinterpreting what I want.

bonus: my mutual-slash-housemate’s answer: ‘in the same time, place, and manner that you do’ 6.3/10

sorry it’s good and snappy and points for: combination of either revenge or actually surviving the thing at least for a while, and sheer delivery impact, but points off for not turning a death curse into immortality, zero destruction of planets or stars involved, zero rewriting of the rules of magic, possible body count for your revenge is only one other person, forces you to encounter this person again and die with them which really is something quite intimate for a random imperial sorcerer that you ought to hate the guts of, potentially traps you into an enemy-to-lovers fanfic in which rip now this sorcerer insists on keeping you alive so that they can achieve immortality but that might just be unpleasant locking you in a pocket dimension and not fun tragic star-crossed lovers narrative that you deserve out of it but will lock you in tragic star-crossed lovers narrative otherwise, gives you zero control over time, place, and painfulness of death, and all in all not nearly as flashy or evil as it could have been. and did I mention no immortal lichhood. like come on, if you’re not getting immortal lichhood out of this what are you even doing it for.

[chaosciara]

hello ciara!! i have a bit of an...issue in fanfic writing. See, when i write i kind of have to immerse myself in the pov character' head. (does everyone do this?) and cannot write if I'm in my head (eg. during college hours, college days - where my head cannot be in anyone else's) any suggestions on how to deal with this? it isn't entirely a bad thing but it does prevent me from balancing fic and studies and that...sucks. so any suggestions from you or your followers?

hiiiiii!! I am so so so sorry for taking a thousand years to get back to you

honestly lovely anon, I cannot speak on this too much because I write in bursts and don’t hold myself to any kind of schedule or discipline when it comes to writing

some things I’ve heard work for writing consistency are:

1. dedicate time in your day to write. the same time every day. whether that be in the evening, or early morning, or midday. train yourself to associate writing with a certain time and you might be able to slip in and out of your writing headspace with more ease

2. don’t set unrealistic goals when it comes to writing. if you know you cannot write 1000 words every day (simply because you don’t have the mental energy, time or motivation) then don’t hold yourself to those standards. it’s easy to lose motivation for writing simply because you aren’t doing what you thought you could do. if all you can manage one day is 10 words then that’s enough. if you can’t manage any words that’s also fine.

consistency is important but enjoying the process is more important. that’s really what keeps the writing motivation going.

3. experiment with different characters and different situations. if you love to write coffee shop aus for a specific fandom try writing them for another. or try putting your favourite characters into a completely different genre. if you’re switching up your writing style just a little to suit the genre you have a sort of goal to work towards and a change of scenery (so to speak)

I’m not saying don’t write what you want or what you’re comfortable writing, I’m just saying keep trying to find more things to write about and more ways to write it. a big part of writing (much like drawing) is continually changing and prodding and poking at unfamiliar things to see what changes and how it works with what you already know.

chocolate cake is delicious, but adding a little coffee makes it that much better, you know?

beyond this I don’t have much for you. I hope you find your sweet spot and learn for yourself how to keep school and writing and anything else you like in the juggling pool :)

again I am forever sorry for taking so long to respond to this :( it’s been sitting in my drafts for eons and I just hadn’t had the chance to catch it

anyway, if any of my lovely humans have advice tor anon please do add it here ! it’s always wonderful to spread good writing mojo around

mwah! stay bright, stay well sweet anon <3

[srbachchan]

DAY 4820

Jalsa, Mumbai                May 9/10,  2021                Sun/Mon 12:24 AM

When young suffer .. when the child suffers .. when the haunt of its bearing clouds the mind with nothing but that .. when time and again the repeat of its presence in some permanence in your life propels you to understand the environ is daunting and without consider .. then gripped in remorse and sadness you drop all else and sit with nothingness .. 

One can move mountains in belief and the weight of endless adversity, but if the insides are drenched in the assess that the paths are damaged and worn .. played out in the drama of a fine performance that seeks attention when attention is not the real cause .. then you sit up .. take stock .. work out the for and the against and come to conclude that the eventual set , should be to remove the cancerous pain , bear it for a while but live in the relief that it shall not be there in permanence once removed .. 

The ability to , despite unfavourable nature , shall ever be the halting block .. but the drama and the performance can ever be seen through, especially when you are surrounded by individuals similar in the despite .. 

Your complacency could be renowned .. as may be your penchant for harmony .. but for whom .. your own demeanour shall never be the object .. the other works arduously to be in the attention .. 

Point is .. they seek away from theirs .. we know the seek .. we see the transparent glass that you present each episode .. that glass gives it all away .. it is now no longer the gambit .. it is the humour of farce in the comedy of the bards errors .. 

Best then to ‘away away bright lite ..’ 

Give me room and space to breathe in my birth environ .. that is reason for departure from the fire tests to the charm of warmth ..

I speak in parables .. may be .. but there is a reality to the mind if nothing else .. a reality that brings and weighs you down .. puts the mountain over the head and drowns you with its booming energy of volume suppressing the tone of the need to air it ..

Air it then .. and end it ..

WORK on the conditions about, relentlessly continues .. campaigns for relief and the give .. at forums that cover the seas beyond .. one such the VaX Concert with dignitaries of the celebrity brand and more resolve to join the fight .. and WIN ..

The one immediately below 👇🏿 , be one such  ..

BUT more at home , the presence of the progeny develops into endeavours that stun you with their thinking and thought .. and our little Navya Naveli .. not so little anymore, speaks about the venture she has begun on her own, with her own and determined to build the initiative she believes in .. here be the link .. for one so young and mature in thought and word was truly a moment of great pride as a Nana as grand parents .. 👇🏿 

Link for Navya Spotify Link : https://open.spotify.com/episode/4DnVZj9kRFjrwm71r5ZVc9?si=0x5egAuDQWmXd1qYH2fkvA

... and there is more .. for some are disturbed in the Ef fraternity of the brevity in the Blog and wonder if the mind is disturbed , ill , concerned , indisposed .. 

No it is not .. 

The hesitancy comes from whether to SPEAK or not ..

But whether I show concern over it or not I find that surreptitiously some of them that are the privileged in the World of writing and inform, have through means sourced the matter that was kept under the hatter .. and now as with all matter within these modern times, nothing remains buried in silence .. it rises and volumes the announce elsewhere ..

SO .. my Nana, my grandfather , my Mother’s Father Sardar Khazan Singh Suri the affluent Bar at Law in pre partition Punjab, was married to Amar Kaur Sodhi, my Naani , my Mother’s mother .. and gave birth to my Mother Teji Kaur Suri .. 

The Sodhi’s are considered the descendents of the Guru’s of the Sikh religion .. the location of the birth of the religion being AnandPur Sahib, the  Gurudwara now in India Punjab and a most revered temple of the Sikhs .. 

The readings of the autobiography of my Father, detailing the history of his In Laws educated me .. I never had courage or the need to ask this of my Father or my Mother .. but having known ,it came to me that there has been no remembrance of Nana and Naani through the years .. so a remembrance needed to be done .. 

CovID occurred and in the months and time that has passed from the ‘20 to the ‘21 and one witnessed the hardships of those that suffered .. 

Yes I do charity , but have ever believed it to be done,  than spoken of .. it is embarrassing , in too great a self consciousness .. of one that has ever felt shy of public presence despite the profession - one that has to find its usp in public domains is relevant today for me .. 

The pressure though .. the every day abuse and the filth of distasteful comment has never been of attention to me or to the family .. we have seen it from time immemorial .. happens .. some are ridden with the wisdom that it shall happen .. so all the efforts continued in the quiet .. no divulge to the information agencies .. no talk of it either .. only the receiver knew and that was the end ..

Over 1500 farmers’ bank loans paid off by my personal fund and prevented them from suicide , as the suicides grew  .. from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, UP et al .. calling them over after identifying with respective banks and getting them all to Janak and in the presence of the bank representatives, paying them in person and getting them to strike off the loan , giving each farmer the document that they did not owe any more , that their loan was over and completed and paid back to the bank .. some 300 odd from UP could not all be present .. a bogie in the train booked for a limited number of 30 to 50 of them , from their respective cities in UP, received them in Mumbai , put them in buses , given a drive of the city of Mumbai, brought over to Janak, fed and given the loan cancellation certificate and put back on the train to their homes .. all at my expense ..

The brave soldiers at the border of the Country who had been martyred , their lists sought and their families , young wives and their children, some wives pregnant and expectant , given succour ..

The martyr’s at Pulwama after the terrible terrorist attack , their families spread all over the land contacted and brought to Janak and given succour .. at the hands of Abhishek and Shweta  .. 

Those that suffered during the CoViD last year .. providing food for over 400,000 - 4 lakh - daily wage earners in the country for a month .. feeding almost 5000 in the city each day lunch and dinner .. 

Provided masks , PPE units to front line warriors, Police Hospitals in the thousands .. through personal funds .. donating to the Sikh Committee that was helping the migrants to travel back home in the Inter State busses , where the drivers were mostly Sikhs ..

When the migrants were walking back home, some without the benefit or affordability of shoes .. provided hundreds of chappals and shoes to them .. due to lack of travel facility, booked 30 buses to locations in UP and Bihar and supplied them food and water for the overnight travel ..

Booked an entire train from Mumbai to UP to carry 2800 migrant passengers free of cost at my expense .. and when the destination State blocked the train from coming into their State and cancelled the train .. immediately chartered 3 Indigo Airline planes and flew almost 180 migrants in each flight to UP and Bihar and some to Rajasthan and J&K .. free of cost ..

And as the virus spread, donated an entire Diagnostic Centre  .. opened at Bangla Sahib Gurudwara in Delhi through the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee, set up in the premises of the Gurudwara for medical help for the poor and needy .. an MRI machine and other Sonographic and Scan equipments of expenses beyond my means, but set up inspite .. in the memory of my Nana , Naani and my Mother ..

A 250 to 450 bed care centre set up with further donation at the Rakabganj Sahib Gurudwara today in Delhi and soon to procure for them O2 ( Oxygen ) concentrators, not in stock or easily available , from overseas limited stock to be donated to Delhi where the need is immense and some to Mumbai .. coming in within the week .. 50 of them coming in from Poland by 15th and the rest around 150 from perhaps the US .. orders placed , some have arrived and given to the Hospital in need .. 

Ventilators of immediate need to the BMC and to the Municipal Hospitals ordered .. around 20 of them , of course within my limited means , to be in, in a few days .. some 10 have arrived today and on custom release shall be delivered ..

A 25-50 bed Hospital care centre setting up at Juhu Army location at a School Hall , the Ritambhara School, with all facilities and should be up by the 12th of May .. donated funds to set up ..

3 very important detection machines donated to Nanavati Hospital , last week to help in the detection of CoviD ..

Feeding about a 1000 in the slums and poor sections of the city .. 

Young children .. orphaned by the sudden death of the parents, left in oblivion .. have adopted 2  and shall be put in an orphanage in Hyderabad .. their study board and lodging free till they finish School .. from the 1st to the 10th .. and if they turn out bright to provide them with free upper education .. 

.. and more , as and when the means are affordable ..

AGRANDISEMENT .. !! NO .. let it be emulated .. if each were to put in not the above but even a small drop of assistance, the severity of the situation would begin to ease .. 

It is painful to see the misery around and the inability to be able to do something for them .. 

BUT we shall fight and more than that ..  shall .. WIN ! 

So help me God .. !!

Amitabh Bachchan

[theputterer]

Good Things In 2021

“It’s that time of year again! Time to remember all the good things that happened in 2021. I’ve done this since 2017, and highly recommend doing this as a fun way to reflect (and to have something for future reference when you are feeling Down.)

y’all. we did it.

I don’t really know how to talk about this year. in many ways it was better than 2020, but in many other ways it was not. This month has been very difficult for my family and me. (If you are curious you can read about what happened here).

But this is about looking at the good things that happened this year.

PERSONAL

I finally received my Irish passport!!! This was the last step of my journey in receiving Irish citizenship and was very exciting. 

I’ve been applying to jobs in Dublin and seen some success. I did receive a job offer I ended up turning down for several reasons, including the pay, what happened earlier this month with my family, and the timeline.

I have an interview for a different job next week I am interested in, so we’ll see how that goes!

I updated my resumé for the first time in three years, that deserves notice.

I returned to the ROGUE ONE life (BRIEFLY) and wrote a new fic called death trembles to take us, a ROGUE ONE-THE OLD GUARD fusion/AU.

a new friend on this here app, @riflegoespurr made a moodboard for it!

and special thanks to @kestrelsward for the early enthusiasm!

I am reasonably pleased with how the fic turned out.

I got a new idea for a secret original writing project that I began some tentative work on. It will remain secret for now.

I had some solid success at work, achieving a few goals I had set and improving systems for the organization. Much of this info will remain REDACTED for privacy purposes but if we are Insta friends you know. (Side note but message me if you wanna be insta friends).

I visited a city in Idaho for Work Purposes and it was nuts. They don’t believe in COVID. scenes.

In May, I went to the ocean on a small solo trip and it was very nice.

I got a couple new tattoos there! Color tattoos of lavender and hydrangea to go on my arm.

A friend of mine got married in July and I got to see it AND act as casual bartender which is hilarious because I rarely drink.

I got jabbed and boosted. Please do this when you can.

Anything bolded below is something I particularly enjoyed and recommend. 

MOVIES

2021 movies I saw and liked:

HOUSE OF GUCCI

I fucking loved this. it’s a riot. Ridley Scott can do whatever he wants forever.

BEING THE RICARDOS

BLACK WIDOW

PASSING

THE HARDER THEY FALL

DUNE

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

FOUR SEASONS TOTAL DOCUMENTARY

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO

MALIGNANT

10/10 NO NOTES

REMINISCENCE

NO TIME TO DIE

“I miss you” RIP ME

GODZILLA VS. KONG

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

2020 movies I saw for the first time:

TENET

SHIRLEY

WONDER WOMAN 1984

EMMA.

TV

WANDAVISION

similarly, Leland Philpot on Twitter: “Agatha All Along Trap/Hip Hop Remix”

WESTWORLD

THE WHITE LOTUS

THE OTHER TWO

I’ve started EUPHORIA but I’m not far enough in to render judgment.

Season 15 of IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

BOOKS

I read 64 books this year. Below are the ones I liked and/or had thoughts on:

“The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab

“The City We Became” by N.K. Jemisin

“Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape” by Manchán Magan

“Dearly” by Margaret Atwood

“Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath” by Heather Clark

This book is well over 1000 pages but it is brilliantly written and researched

“The Secret Place” by Tana French

“The End of Everything” by Katie Mack

“The Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alix E. Harrow

“The Trespasser” by Tana French

“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

“Black Sun” by Rebecca Roanhorse

“Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion” by Jia Tolentino

“The Witch Elm” by Tana French

“W-3″ by Bette Howland

“Girl A” by Abigail Dean

“The Witches Are Coming” by Lindy West

“How Long ‘Till Black Future Month?” by N.K. Jemisin

“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler

“Republic of Shame: Stories from Ireland’s Institutions for ‘Fallen Women’“ by Caelainn Hogan

“The Killing Moon” by N.K. Jemisin

“Sin Eater” by Megan Campisi

“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe

RAGE RAGE RAGE

“Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee” by Casey Cep

“Mister Impossible” by Maggie Stiefvater

“His & Hers” by Alice Feeney

“Mirrorland” by Carole Johnstone

“The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig

“Tender Is The Flesh” by Agustina Bazterrica

This book is DEEPLY fucked up but wow.

“A Ghost In The Throat” by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

“The Vanishing Half” by Brit Bennett

“Caul Baby” by Morgan Jerkins

“The Only Good Indians” by Stephen Graham Jones

“Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family” by Robert Kolker

“Persephone Station” by Stina Leicht

“Folklorn” by Angela Mi Young Hur

EASILY one of my favorites of all time!!!

“The Angel of History” by Carolyn Forché

“The Maidens” by Alex Michaelides

I HATED this book. it’s so bad. it is on here because I have to say that.

“Sorrowland” by Rivers Solomon

“Hummingbird Salamander” by Jeff VanderMeer

“When The Sparrow Falls” by Neil Sharpson

this book rules

“2034: A Novel of the Next World War” by Elliot Ackerman

“The Living Sea of Waking Dreams” by Richard Flanagan

“What Comes After” by JoAnne Tompkins

“The Shadowed Sun” by N.K. Jemisin

With this book, I have officially read every novel or short story in N.K. Jemisin’s published bibliography

“The Last Mona Lisa” by Jonathan Santlofer

“Something New Under the Sun” by Alexandra Kleeman

my very rare Did Not Finish. if you did please talk to me.

“The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine” by Janice Nimura

THE BONE SEASON by Samantha Shannon

“The Bone Season”

“The Pale Dreamer”

“The Mime Order”

“The Song Rising”

“The Mask Falling”

LITERALLY WHERE HAVE THESE BOOKS BEEN ALL MY LIFE!!!!! PLEASE READ THEM AND COME TALK TO ME

“Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights” by Katha Pollitt

“Shadow and Bone” by Leigh Bardugo

“Constance” by Matthew FitzSimmons

“Goldilocks” by Laura Lam

“Sabriel” by Garth Nix

“The Fourth Island” by Sarah Tolmie

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“Slaughter-House Five” by Ryan North (graphic novel adaptation!)

“My Heart Is A Chainsaw” by Stephen Graham Jones

MUSIC

Halsey, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power

Lorde, Solar Power

Olivia Rodrigo, Sour

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, Love For Sale

ABBA, Voyage

OTHER GOOD THINGS

Walter Chaw, for Film Freak Central, a review of “No Time To Die” that I found very moving

Joc Pedersen and Harry Styles: Bad Bitches

Steve Buscemi Won Halloween

Bret Stetka for NPR: “How Playing Tetris Tames the Trauma of a Car Crash” 

brains are so fucking weird yo

The Orioles coming in clutch for the Mariners

Dan Odess for The New York Times: “Ancient Human Footprints Push Back Date of Human Arrival In the Americas”

This video of Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain

The saga of the fake high school that played a real game on ESPN

This thread from a man describing what it is like to be in the modern dating game to a new divorcé

I was on the FLOOR

Reeves Wiedeman and Lila Shapiro for New York Magazine: “The Spine Collector”, about a mysterious figure asking for copies of unpublished manuscripts FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

Trea Turner’s magnificent slide home.

Jennifer Senior for The Atlantic: “What 9/11 Did to One Family”. a really devastating, beautiful piece on complicated grief.

Anna Russell, for The New Yorker: “The Beguiling Legacy of ‘Alice in Wonderland’”

Shohei Ohtani’s massive homer. i have never before seen a ball hit the fourth level that far out at Safeco Field.

Dorian Rolston for The New Yorker: “The Trip That Doesn’t End”

Casey Cep for The New Yorker: “Noticing the Mothers of the Old Testament”

Margaret Talbott, for The New Yorker: “The Women Who Want to Be Priests”.

as someone who was raised Catholic and identifies as feminist, this piece was very interesting and illuminating!

Franz Lidz for The New York Times: “She Fell Nearly Two Miles and Walked Away”

This tweet from Mark Harris that still makes me cackle

Ayesha A. Siddiqi, “Sorry for your loss”

Angelica Jade Bastién’s “The Feminine Grotesque” genre list of LetterBoxd. one day I will see them all.

This bonkers play by Javy Báez.

Grown Man Drinks Kool-Aid.

Nora McGreevy for Smithsonian Magazine: “Graves of Enslaved People Discovered on Founding Father’s Delaware Plantation”. (the founding father is John Dickinson).

This guy’s experience getting the vaccine that made me LOLLLL

Simon Levien for The Harvard Crimson: “The Crimson Klan”. Harvard reckoning with its white supremacist ties.

Patrick Freyne, for The Irish Times, eviscerating the British Monarchy via Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah

Philippe Sands, for The New Yorker: “Reckoning With a Nazi Father”. the denial and hard legacy for a family with Nazi relatives.

John Matthias, for The New Yorker: “Living With a Visionary”. 

“When I ask her if she is awake, she says she does not know.”

Katie Dowd, for SFGATE: “The story of ‘Drake’s plate’, the biggest hoax in California history”. a romp.

Jen Chaney for Vulture: “No, They Weren’t Dead the Whole Time.” an oral history of the LOST finale that I kind of think was written FOR ME

Kaylyn Hlavaty for Cleveland News 5: “Her ancestors forgotten, a mantel from a slaveholder’s home bears witness to their lives”. a really devastating reminder of how hard it is for Black people to find their ancestors.

et voila. Happy New Year. let’s be kind to each other.

(Raymond Chandler)

go forth and share your good news and be sure to tag me!

c.c. @leaiorganas @fortysevenswrites @magalis @callioope @cassianserso @i-am-slain @riflegoespurr @alecjmarsh @alittlemomentum @earnestfeeling @jaylie12 @thenewyorkreload @moprocrastinates @andorjyny @the-dala​ @sleeplessant​ and anyone else who wants to share!!!

[steeleholtingon]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you @3friesshortofahappymeal and @momentofch-aos for tagging me.

1. How many do you have on Ao3?

62

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?

1,456,788. (That totally looks like a made up number, but I promise it's not.)

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Remington Steele and Marvel in various flavors.

4. What are your top 5 five by kudos?

Ice and Fire

Flight Ready

Signs/Language of Love

Darcy Lewis: A Cinderella Story

Hidden

5. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Always. I enjoy the connection with the people reading the story.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I promise Angst-with-a-Happy-Ending, so I try hard to stick that landing. I didn't finish part 3 of Symbiosis though, and left a synopsis for readers as a conclusion. That one wasn't a happy ending and was the whole reason I couldn't bring myself to write the story.

7. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I did a Castle/Remington Steele crossover once. That was fun.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Often enough that I have a system for dealing with it. Usually it's the Purity Police attacking me, but sometimes it's a reader who isn't happy with the direction the story is going. I remind readers that the choice to read or not read is theirs. If they can't control themselves, I block them.

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yes, if it contributes to the plot or character development in the story. I don't have any issues writing explicitly, but I can't write it just to write smut.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yep. Ice and Fire gets posted to other sites all the time. It's exhausting sending take down notices, and there's no way I can catch the translations. I do what I can though.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

With my permission? I've been contacted a couple of times but it's never gone anywhere. I think my stuff is hard to translate because I use a lot of idioms and metaphors that don't always work in other languages. My stories tend to be long, too.

Same deal with podcasts.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I have an amazing beta and a writing group. We bounce around ideas and talk through characterizations and plot.

13. What is your all-time favourite ship?

I can't answer that. I love all my ships. If I don't love it, I can't write it.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I won't post if I'm not going to finish it. I'm going to finish Strands of Yggdrasil if it kills me. And it might.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Angst. Whole trucks filled with angst back up into my stories and dump their entire load. I have a request for a Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa story that I could fulfill in 1000 words and it would be this cute fluffy thing. That's not what the requestor is going to get.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Why write a hundred words when you can drag the characters through the valley of angst in a thousand?

For realsies.... I write too fast and drop words all the time.

I can't publish without a beta because it would be incoherent. Is it any wonder that my beta is now a professional editor with a big publishing house? I'm so proud of her.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I try not to unless I'm absolutely sure on the meaning. Spanish I can dribble in and feel okay. I know like three phrases in Russian, and just enough French to get me in a crap ton of trouble.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I was 9 and wrote a fanfic for the Atari game Defender.

My first published fanfic is "Steele Blushing (Part 2)" from the Remington Steele/Laura Holt fandom.

19. What’s your favourite fic you’ve ever written?

Regency Steele and Queen of Steele are my favs from the RS fandom.

Symbiosis, Ice and Fire, Flight Ready, and Stay are such huge stories that I gave up whole years to them. Symbiosis (Jane/Thor) was my first foray back into writing after a years-long hiatus. Ice and Fire (Bucky/Darcy/Steve) just astounds me at its reception. I recently found the original 6 page word doc that turned into the 300K monster, plus all the various stories in that 'Verse. Flight Ready (Darcy/Clint) was the first time I went out on a limb and wrote something really different. Stay (Daisy/Daniel) is a love letter to my SO.

One Year, Flight Plans May Change, Hidden, Ink, and Signs/Language of Love rank up there with my fav stuff.

Ugh. Don't make me choose.

Here's my stuff and you decide:

SteeleHoltingOn at Ao3

20. Tag Yourself

[farfromtommy]

better than this (dad!chris evans)

summary: a little insight into life as a parent with chris throughout the years 

warnings: talk of preterm labor but nothing graphic or major

word count: 2,250

A/N: okay so like this idea came to me at 2 am and wrote it till about 5 in the morning and im crying at the softness. totally unedited and posted bc im so obsessed with it. i havent written in this kind of format before but i loved loved loved it. i was also thinking while writing this to do this but for steve rogers and i swear i lost my mind. if you guys are interested in something like that id love to write this but for steve <3 

masterlist 

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After meeting through some mutual friends you fell in love with each other. Chris swore he would have married you after your first date. A ring came about a year and a half later, Chris not wanting to call you anything but his wife for any longer. One dream wedding and a month-long honeymoon around the world, you were Mrs. Y/N Evans.

The conversation about kids came fairly early in the relationship. Him coming from a big family, he wanted the same for himself. He wanted a big house in the Massachusetts suburbs, the white picket fence, a couple of dogs, and the kids. He wanted to come home from work being attacked by a couple of kids and seeing you walking towards him barefoot and pregnant.

You were an only child to divorced parents, growing up mostly on your own. You never saw yourself as a mom, but always loved the idea of running after a couple of kids. Never wanting to bring a child into the kind of world you grew up in. The sad and lonely kind of world you endured most of your life. After meeting his family after a couple of months of dating and seeing the way he interacted with his nieces and nephews, you couldn’t help but hope to see yourself raising some kids with him.

He loved the idea of raising a family with you.

Grayson Christopher Evans

You brought your first child into the world not too long after your wedding.

You were in labor for about 16 hours before you were met with the screams of a baby boy.

Your baby boy.

He cried and cried until his skin met yours, calming him down almost instantly. Looking over at Chris who was at an absolute loss for words at the little person calming himself with the sound of your heartbeat. He looked at you for a while before looking back at his baby boy.

Chris couldn’t quite process the feelings he felt that night his son was born. He knew how much he loved you. You knew how much you loved him. But having this little person as a tangible expression of your love and commitment for each other was just beyond him. It was beyond anyone.

Grayson was just like his dad. Almost an exact copy of him if you were being honest. The same big blue eyes. The same soft brown hair. The same everything. Lisa often said how much Grayson was just like Chris was when he was a kid. There was little of you visible in him. Maybe he had the curve of your nose and the shape of your lips. But he was all Chris.

His little personality bubbling since day one. You couldn't have asked for a more perfect baby. He giggled as much as he could and played until he fell asleep with a toy in his hand. You were so lucky to have been gifted this little boy as your first baby. Chris had been struggling to balance work and his responsibility to you and Grayson but never failed to make sure you knew how loved you both were, even from thousands of miles apart.

Eleanor Olivia Evans

After another long labor, you welcomed a little girl into your new family of 4. A tiny little girl who, just like your boy once did, calmed themselves down at the sound of your heart and the warmth from your body. Chris once again sat there just absolutely beside himself at the sight of the love of his life with his little girl on your chest.

Introducing Eleanor, or Ellie, to Grayson was probably one of the greatest moments of your life. Chris walked in with Grayson in his arms telling him that we needed to use our indoor voices when talking to mommy and the baby. Grayson quickly climbed to sit right next to you, not bearing even 1 day away from you. You hugged your little boy and talked to him about meeting his sister. Grayson ran his little hands running along Eleanor’s cheeks as you sat there crying at the moment they were having with each other.

Now with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old life couldn’t have been sweeter. You had hardly been working while pregnant with Ellie, still having to keep up with a rambunctious toddler. Before kids, you were doing some writing for all sorts of movies and TV shows. After kids, you took fewer jobs that require travel and stayed mostly local.

Chris not wanting to leave you at home with a toddler and a newborn had made sure his work kept him close or allowed you and the kids to go with him. You both wanted to make sure you were there when Grayson and Ellie needed you.

If Grayson was a mama’s boy, Ellie was 1000% a daddy’s girl. She refused to let Chris out of her sight if she could help it. She refused to sleep most nights without hearing the sound of her dad’s voice and would cry and cry if he didn’t sing her to sleep. When Chris was pulled away for a week for work you were losing your mind trying to get her to sleep.

After a mild breakdown, you gave in and called Chris knowing even hearing his voice over the phone would calm the baby down. He sat there on the phone and just talked to her. She fell asleep almost immediately and slept through most of the night. You thanked Chris and ended up asking him for voice recordings of him talking and singing so you could play them in case he was pulled away again.

Charlotte Rose Evans

Charlotte, or Charlie as she's been nicknamed by her siblings, came into the world with a crew waiting so patiently for her arrival. By far the most painful and complicated birth you have had, she had quite dramatically made her entrance into the Evans family.

You had been monitored closely the last couple of months of your pregnancy as Miss Charlie tried to make an appearance early. You had some complications about halfway through and your midwife had been worried about possible preterm labor. You had started to have what you knew were contractions at 30 weeks and were immediately rushed into the hospital to try and halt the contractions and luckily succeeding.

You were placed on strict bed rest for the remainder of your pregnancy, not even allowed to stand at the stove making dinner, only getting up to use the bathroom and move from the bed to the couch.

It didn’t make your life with an overactive 4 and 2-year-old easy at all. Chris stayed home 24/7 to take care of you and his mom and sisters rotating taking the time to stay with you to help with the kids.

When Charlie did make her debut both of you were as healthy as you could be. Once again, bringing Chris to tears as another baby made their way into your family. He didn’t know he was capable of loving this much. He thought he had reached capacity after Ellie but the love he had for you and his kids just kept growing as you kept adding on.

If Grayson was all Chris, Charlie was all you. Except for her blue eye, which you figured would be a pattern with your kids. She was a copy of you and Chris ate it up. Eleanor is a perfect combination of the two of you. You could see the traits of you as well as the traits of Chris throughout her. But Charlie was completely you.

Grayson fit right into his role as big brother and protector of the Evans girls. He made sure every night he said goodnight to his sisters and told them he loved them with a kiss on their foreheads.

Ellie was excited that she no longer had to share her dolls with Grayson and would finally have a girl to play with. Charlie looked up to her big sister, seeing her as the most amazing person she has ever met.

Grayson, however, felt like he needed another sibling, specifically a boy sibling, and constantly asked you for a brother. He said to you over and over again that his friends at school had brothers and he needed one so very bad. You and Chris had agreed to stop at 3 but had given into the idea of having 1 more to try and even out the numbers. With Grayson in 2nd grade, Ellie in kindergarten, and Charlie starting Pre-K soon, having another wouldn’t be impossible.

Declan Robert Evans

The 2nd boy and the 4th and final child Chris and Y/N had brought into their world. Another perfect mix of Chris and Y/N.

His birth being the last time you would be in the hospital having a baby made it just that more emotional. You soaked in the first moments of his life just a little bit more. Chris cried just a couple more tears, seeing that angel on your chest for the first time. You admired the father of your children just a little more seeing him introduce the addition to the family to your other kids. Adoring the look on Grayson’s face when you set Declan on his lap, finally meeting the little brother he’d been wanting. Asking you if he could take him to class to show off to all his friends.

Walking around your house Declan’s first day home was more emotional than you had thought it would be. You brought every single one of your babies right through your front door. You had pictures littered around the house of moments in your life you were lucky to have immortalized forever. Knowing you had started your family here made you love everything just that much more.

Declan now 5 years old, Charlotte 8 years old, Eleanor 10 years old and Grayson at 12 years old you couldn’t imagine life any differently. You and Chris celebrated 13 years of marriage and almost 15 years together surrounded by the physical representations of the love you two shared for each other was unexplainable.

You had slowly started to get back into the work you loved doing so much after Declan started school. You were able to work on projects offered to you with Chris and had become an unstoppable duo professionally and personally.

Even having the amazing opportunities to do something you loved to do, nothing would ever beat sitting around a table listening to your kids talk about everything and anything that came to mind. Listening to them talk about what happened at school or about upcoming events they want to participate in was the highlight of your day.

Grayson had been playing with a football the moment he could pick one up. Chris nearly cried when Grayson had approached you guys about doing little league football at the rec center. Chris had been watching Patriot's games with Grayson since the day he was born. Taking him to games with Scott whenever they had the chance. The love for football ran in his blood and when he found out he could play on a team he took the chance as soon as it presented himself.

Eleanor had found a love for music and performing, just like her dad. She had picked up music and singing at a very young age, which probably came from her dad's love of performing. You encouraged her to pursue her love for music by telling her stories of when her daddy was young and used to stand on stage before he started doing big movies. She loved looking at pictures and watching old videos of Chris performing in high school whenever she'd visit Grandma Lisa.

Charlotte had picked up your love of reading and writing as soon as she could. Her favorite day of the week is when her class gets to spend time at the library finding new things to read and learn about. So far a running theme with her is books about nature and animals. She loves sitting down with you in the afternoon and telling you about what she learned in the science portion of her day. She had learned about how plants and animals interact and how important they are for all humans. She told you that when she's big she wants to make sure no one ever hurts plants and animals since they are so important for us.

Declan hadn't quite developed a love for something like his siblings had. All he cares about right now is the kind of snacks his mom packs for him and superheroes. You and Chris had introduced him to the world of superheroes recently, knowing that being in school someone was bound to mention to him about seeing his dad on a movie they watched. He was obsessed with the fact that his dad was a superhero once upon a time. He loved watching Chris' movies and would always ask to watch them whenever Chris wasn't home.

You looked at Chris from across the table as Grayson talked to him about football tryouts and asking him if they could practice after dinner. He felt your eyes on him and looked at you with a smirk and a wink thrown at you before giving Grayson his attention again.

You sat back a little to look around at this family surrounding you, knowing there was nothing better than this.

[saving-word-crawls]

Crawl Your Way Through Your Bookshelf

By: FalcoVega

Have all these books staring at you on your bookshelf/library? Let them help you reach your wordcount each day! This will work for fiction novels/novellas, and non-fiction books – something with a narrative or an overarching common theme. But you may be able to adapt it to anthologies/short story collections.

1. Pick a book from your bookshelf or e-reader. Share the title and author!

2. Which year was it published? Take the last two digits of the year, and write that number of words for a quick warm-up. Eg. If it was published in 1997, write 97 words.

3. How old were you when you first read it?

Child, write 100 words.

Teen/young adult (you define the boundaries of that), write 150 words.

Adult, write 200 words.

4. Now, for a writing dare. Find your favourite quote or scene from this book. In the course of this word crawl, try to incorporate that quote or scene into your writing. (If you don’t want a dare, carry on.)

5. What is the physical book like? Tally these up and write the total.

200 words for a hardcover or large format, or 100 words for a paperback.

50 words if it has a dust jacket.

100 words if you bought it new, 50 words if it’s secondhand or a gift.

77 words if it was autographed by the author. (Why that number? Just because.)

If this is an ebook… well, digital bits aren’t as neat as a physical book. =] Write a flat 150 words.

6. Is this book part of a series? Do a fifty-headed hydra 143 for every book in this series! If this is a standalone, do just one fifty-headed hydra.

7. How many books (including this one) do you own by this author? Multiply that by 5, and do a word war for that time. (So you’ll do at least a 5-minute word war.) If you happen to own multiple copies of this particular book… yes, count them all.

8. Who is your favourite character? Which page (roughly, if it’s hard to find) do they first appear in the book? If your book is non-fiction, pick either your favourite/most memorable topic, or quote, or idea, and go to the page it appears on.

Go to the Three Digit Challenge 75 page, take the latest number, and leave that page number for someone else to collect. Eg. If your favourite character appears on page 76, leave 076 words in the thread.

9. Does your book have illustrations, photos, or maps? (Not including the cover, or decorative elements or end papers.) A picture is worth a thousand words, so sprint to the nearest thousand. If your book has no visuals, sprint to the nearest hundred. Or if you’re feeling really ambitious, write a whole 1000 words to make up for the lack.

10. A final challenge… Write as many words as there are pages in your book!

How did you go on the writing dare? Feel free to share how that worked out.

Good luck word-crawling through your library!

[alexseanchai]

Fanfic 2020 in Review

I got tagged by @kasienda @noirshitsuji and @marvelousmsmol and I am tagging whoever wants to play!

1) List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

*filters own works to complete and updated in 2020*

1 - 20 of 57 Works by AlexSeanchai

nope. *adds filter to include only works of at least 1000 words*

unless otherwise indicated, these are all Miraculous Ladybug:

“don’t bake it lying down”, post-reveal Marichat vs Felix Graham de Vanily

“veracity”, canon divergence from “Ladybug” featuring Mister Bug and Verity Queen (so also Marichat, I guess)

“(no request is too extreme, if) your heart is in your dream”, in which Hawkmoth wins, for the thirty seconds or so before Emilie saves Ladybug and Chat Noir’s lives

“tell me you love me and make me believe it”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire ropes Ladybug into helping plan her civilian self’s escape slash social transition

“kingmaker, oathbreaker”, in which Hawkmoth wins and Emilie watches her son remove himself from the family

“stay and let me watch you break it down” (Twelve Dancing Princesses), a modern setting

“set a course for winds of fortune”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire has already escaped and Gabriel and Nathalie are trying to bring Gabriel’s son home

“we ground love in a hopeless place”, in which post-reveal Marinette’s attempt to remain resolutely not in love with her partner dissolves like sugar in coffee when they start a pun war

“ring the bells that still can ring”, in which Alya is deeply confused about why Adrien and Marinette are planning a wedding when last night both were single

“burning wishes at both ends (the cold wind and long loud wail remix)”, in which Gabriel made a monkey’s paw wish and Emilie makes another

“words cannot espresso”, in which Marinette’s OC roommate is justifiably worried for Marinette’s safety, and meanwhile Adrien takes care of Marinette

“the compromise of truth” (the chronologically second-earliest part posted to date of nine lives, snake’s eyes), in which Adrien tells his friends how he won some freedom and respect from his father

“At The Present Time”, the Ladrien/Ladynoir marriage proposal follow-up to @art-deco-shrimp‘s  “Your Presents Required”

“j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”, in which the events of canon must just have been a series of dream sequences, Marinette and Adrien both think, until they both arrive at Chloe’s Halloween masquerade dressed as themselves from the dreams

2) Number of words written:

ahahaha no. I am not counting all my scattered fic drafts and trying to figure out what I did and didn’t write in 2020. I refuse.

AO3 says I posted 162K in 2020. it is counting all of keeps you guessing (like any real love), which (a) I started posting in 2019 (b) is co-written by @galahadwilder​; it is counting all of my meta snippets collection, much of which was written in 2019; it is counting the Vimeo passwords for my vids. but I probably cleared 150K by a safe margin.

3) Your most popular fic:

“veracity” has a four-digit kudos count, wow, when’d that happen? this is also the 2020 work with the most hits and the most bookmarks, but “tell me you love me” has four-thirds as many comments as its nearest competitor.

4) Your personal fav:

“cannot break us, not with a thousand swords”, no question about it. this is the one in which Ladybug proposes marriage to Chat Noir via Princess Bride meme on Tumblr. (if you intend to download the work or otherwise to consume it with creator style off, you want the accessible version instead of the primary version.)

5) Your fav scene:

aaaaaaaaa

—okay so this is cheating and I know it, since Uncertain Humors (the one where Marinette/Adrien is both Orpheus/Eurydice and Theseus/Ariadne) is nowhere near finished, never mind posted (maybe I'll get “Sanguine” done to post on my birthday?)

but it is still my favorite of the year. as you might guess from that description of the story, this scene has content notes for character death:

Hell is a maze. Marinette walks.

This acrid passage has little to see but damp stone, seeming blood-stained in the dim carmine light. At about the height of her heart, the faintly glowing thread cuts through the not-clammy air; it ought to be pulsing at the same rate as the heart it's bound to. She might be able to see her own reflection if she looked down at the open sewage pipe, or at one of the puddles that now and again she splashes through, dampening the canvas of her shoes. She might see reflected what's behind her.

She remembers Mme. Mendeleiev lecturing on human physiology. In healthy humans old enough to have learned how, urination is a voluntary action: one may not know which muscles one tenses and relaxes in order to do so, and probably isn't paying attention to those details when one is doing, but one has conscious control over whether one does. Usually. Stress and anxiety mean some people are unable to relax the relevant sphincter muscle and others are unable to stop themselves. It's voluntary for cats, too: it's one way they mark their territories. Cat-boys have other ways.

There is a moment in every human life when all one's muscles relax at once. Some Parisians have had several such moments.

The thread is braided with itself around her left fourth finger, rows of tiny red half-hitch knots, and falls loosely over the back of her hand to loop twice around her wrist. She holds it wrapped between the fingers of her right hand to keep it at a constant tension, as though knitting with this insubstantial thread, so fragile for something two (two dozen, two million) lives hang from—too thin to sew with, no thicker than one strand of his hair. As she walks, she winds it around and around and around her wrist.

Between her ring finger and her right hand, it loops twice.

Marinette's shoe lands in a puddle she didn't see. The rainwater splashes soundlessly onto her bare ankle and on the stone.

(With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal— It's a very loud song.)

She walks on.

6) A fic or scene that challenged you:

where the firelight fades, no contest. this is the second story I’ve ever been able to stick with more than a couple hundred words past the 20K mark, but it’s easily the twentieth novel-length I’ve begun. (though also, you know that kedreeva post? well, 90K later, I’m less than 15K from completing this 10K fic! I think.) and I have been learning so much about long-form fiction.

there has also been a lot of weeping and tearing my hair. case in point: I just trashed the chapter 15 draft because I figured out the reason it wasn’t going anywhere! I can probably keep the first few hundred words of that draft without any editing, and another few hundred with some revision...

7) A line of writing you’re proud of:

from “j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”:

Everything about their partnership is fragments of sentences in the dream diary Adrien writes in ultraviolet pen. Disjointed flickers of thought even when examined under the black light he hides in the snack cabinet under packets of Super Yoyo sandwich cookies and bags of cheesy Monster Munch potato chips and boxes of petit écolier butter cookies (chocolat noir)—none of which explains the gym-socks smell. All fleeting incoherent flashes, invisible between the mundane lines of La Modification shelved at his bedside between Leroux and Dumas. None of it is solid. Adrien has more proof his room's haunted.

okay let me break this down for you!

* Adrien started a dream diary to make sense of the memories

* in invisible ink, in a book that (according to Wikipedia) is thematically appropriate and won’t (if Gabriel sees it) look like anything other than Adrien developing an interest in French literature

* shelved between Phantom of the Opera and The Three Musketeers

* look I didn’t come up with the name “black light”

* or “chocolat noir” for what English speakers call “dark chocolate”, or “petit écolier” (that is, “little schoolboy”) for that sort of butter cookie

* also not my fault that “chocolat noir” sounds remarkably like “Chat Noir”, which, attentive readers may have noticed, is not a name that appears in the story after the header and before Miraculous Cure

* I found the website of a store in Boston, Massachusetts that caters to French expats, and the yo-yo cookies and the monster chips were right there in the photos, y’all

* the snack stash and the black light live in the cabinet where, in canon, the Camembert lives; yes, that cheese smells in the real world like gym socks

* this story’s akuma was not able to affect anything but squishy human memory: nobody affected remembers anything about Ladybug or Chat Noir or Hawkmoth, not in any solid way, not even when they read news articles about the subject, and this includes Marinette and Adrien not being able to see or hear or remember their own kwamis—but you know what Adrien’s Insta post about his poltergeist and Adrien’s Insta post with the floating sock don’t show and don’t explicitly refer to?

* I love this paragraph so much (my housemates may have been lovingly mocking me over it)

8) A comment that touched you:

there are people (y’all know who you are) who said y’all are studying my style. I ded of blush.

9) Something that inspired your writing:

by volume of fic drafts that can be blamed on any particular person, the winner is probably @norakwami​

10) Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

so that longest-story-ever-written record I set in 2007 with the 89.5K story that, till where the firelight fades, was the only story I’d gotten much past 20K?

I broke that fucking record!

and then I deleted the draft of firelight chapter 15 😭

11) Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I’m starting work on a fantasy novel, a Sleeping Beauty retelling in which I explore (among other things) the economic consequences of the king’s ordering all the spinning wheels burned, and I want to make significant progress on that. and I want to not make my hands any worse; I kind of need those!

(breaking news alert: bodies fucking suck. so does giving yourself repetitive stress injuries in doing one and a half to two people’s worth of work for an organization that was never ever going to pay you more than one person’s worth of pay.)