#I don't understand how romances usually work and why people write it in particular ways

[aimless-passerby]

Although I am a shipper but making 'great lovers'/'tragically separated'/'destined to be together'/'ready to die one for another no matter what' out of Bilbo and Thorin is kinda strange to me. I mean any of those can still be applied but not in that grander forms. When people are making Bilbo very self-sacrificing or edgy, they also bite a part of his personality out of him. He wouldn't be corrupted by the ring, this is why he is so unique; and he wouldn't live a misarable life without Thorin, he would move on in a while even if he still decided to live alone. Literally all what happened in canon and can be integrated in fanon.

[airiat]

writerly thumbprint challenge~

rules: look back on your work, both past and present, finished and unfinished. what are five (or more!) narrative elements, themes, topics or tropes that continuously pop up in your work?

tagged by the distinguished @mareenavee, tagging @banjotea @mongoose-bite @obsidianshadow & anyone else who sees this and is down--tag me!

in particular order: fate, trauma, romance, figurative language, kurt vonnegut(?)

fate

always, always always. it's all i write about. different shades, different depictions, but that's what it comes down to. i'm obsessed. i'm obsessed with the idea that the world could bend itself to bring people who need each other together. what that looks like, what that means, how it falls apart--that's what i live to write.

2. trauma

everyone has it. why would i not write about it? but maybe that's just the psychologist in me. usually, i keep the actual trauma in the past. i write the recovery. i tend to like to spin the most convoluted, fucked up situation i can possibly think of, then work my way back out of it. what would it take for this character to heal? that's what i write.

3. romance

maybe this is not so unique and too broad. i have this yearning to experience every single manifestation of love, but unless i somehow become immortal, that's impossible. it's even impossible to achieve in writing. so, i just write what's otherworldly and entirely unachievable.

lmnit is about two literal chosen ones falling in love; ap&nd is about two people loving each other for literal hundreds of years and shepherding in a new world together, which becomes folklore; awfw is about someone who was literally created to love this one specific person. i suppose northern sky is the mundane outlier, but that one's more just for me anyway.

maybe i'll eat my words somewhere down the line, but i cannot imagine ever writing anything other than romance.

4. figurative language

"who cares if the curtains are blue? that doesn't mean anything!"

yes, it does. for me, it does. well, maybe not the curtains, but most of everything else. i'm heavy, heavy, heavy on metaphor and symbolism. i've always been detail-oriented. it's fun to me to string together a collection of little, significant details to paint the big picture. i'm pointillism. everything has to serve a purpose, to mean something. maybe things are missed by a reader, sometimes. that's okay. maybe they'll get it in the next read, maybe it infiltrated the quiet, hidden part of their mind and they don't realize except to have a whole understanding. but maybe it's misinterpreted. that's okay, too. i account for that. i encourage that. you'll see what you want to see, and get out of it what you need to. i'm just painting my little dots on a canvas.

5. kurt vonnegut?

this one's a little murky to me. i read a few of his books in high school, which was a while ago. slaughterhouse five and cat's cradle were chiefly among them, but there may have been a third or even a fourth. i'd have to read them to be reminded, but i haven't done that yet except for slaughterhouse five. i was going through a time when i thought i had to read widely lauded authors to be taken seriously as a writer. now, i don't care. every single bit of writing has merit. but, then, i would say that i enjoy reading vonnegut. and i would say it just like that: vonnegut. baby, you were 15 years old. it's not that deep. anyway, i'll call him kurt vonnegut now and i'll say it with this gentle sort of affection like he's my grandfather, my predecessor, because i'm fairly certain--i feel it as flicker of kinship in something i hadn't read in ten years--that many of my more metaphysical concepts were born from his. without even realizing it. but i'll need to do a little more investigating on this one.

[pretttydemonwrites]

Thoughts - June 4

Happy Pride Month Motherfuckers!

My writing has been pretty sporadic for the past couple of months. I'm not surprised really, I knew that setting a goal to write every day was going to ultimately wind up with missed days, but that was never really the point of this anyways. Whether I do it every day, every other day, or a couple times a week or whatever, I've already written way more this year than I think I've written in...let's just say it's been a while.

I'd like to expand on why that's happened, why I found myself falling out of love with the thing that I straight up decided to major in while I was in college. (Hint: college definitely had something to do with it)

I pinpoint the start of my love of writing around the age of eleven. At the time it was all My Chemical Romance self insert fanfiction and typical My Immortal style vampire stories. A little after that, I started branching out into doing text RP on Gaia Online and that's when I made my first real OC, Cassandra. Stuck her in a less than savory asylum themed roleplay and that particular group I would go on to do several different plots with. That was all through middle and high school, and those roleplays fueled my writing. I still wrote some MCR fanfiction during that time too, but I was branching out! Original stories, original characters, poetry, hell I did NaNoWriMo in like...2011 for the first time and fuckin crushed it.

I was pretty confident about my writing honestly. My friends and I liked it and that's kind of all I gave a shit about. When I started contemplating going to college and eventually decided to major in creative writing, that's when things started to take a bit of a turn.

For one thing, I don't particularly enjoy criticism! I also don't enjoy being told what format/genre/etc to write in, and when you get into advanced creative writing classes (at least at my college) then they usually focused on specific genres. For instance, I took a novella writing class, and a one-act playwriting class, and a....poetic playwriting class? Gun to my head I couldn't tell you what that one was officially called.

Now, obviously I recognize that the point of these classes was to allow you to branch into different formats, learn the conventions of them and use that knowledge to strengthen your skills. But I was a stubborn bastard and I only wanted to write my stuff.

That being said, my work often felt like it was undermined and looked down upon because my influences were very obviously YA/fanfiction/genre fiction based, whereas everyone else seemed focused on being as pretentious as possible, trying so desperately to be the next great white male author. I was resentful of that, and couldn't understand why my writing was seen as immature in comparison to my peers.

Long story short, I think those feelings kind of festered in me all through college so that, by the time I graduated, I had no intentions of ever turning my writing into any sort of career. I felt discouraged and pretty hopeless about my prospects, so once I was out, I was more concerned with figuring out how I was going to survive and pay rent, and I knew that my writing wasn't going to pay those bills. So I just...let it go for a while.

I'd write something here and there, sure. I think I might have even tried to submit a couple things. By and large though, what once consumed a vast majority of my free time was became something of a past life. "Back in the day I was a writer" and such.

And yet, it was still always one of the first things I would tell people if they asked me about my interests. ("Oh I'm a writer. What have I written lately? HAHAHAHA!") I couldn't let that part of my identity go. It had been a huge part of me for half my life, how could I abandon it?

So it was there, always, even if I didn't do anything with it. And then I got into DnD and other TTRPGs and I was doing text RP again and I realized that....I can still write? I'm still an actual writer? And I could write again if I really wanted to, if I could find a way to push past the discouraged feeling in my gut.

So that's what all this has been for, really. I could go on for a while about this complex relationship I have with writing, but it honestly feels so fucking good to be back in it, to be back working at something again. It's not perfect, I've definitely forgotten a lot of the useful shit I did learn in college, but I think that I could get there again.

If you read through this whole thing, I can only assume that you related to it in some way and if so, I hope you're coming out on the other side of things feeling hopeful for yourself too. Thank you, as always, for reading.

[perpetual-fool]

(What didn't happen)

It is the second grade of elementary school, I am seven years old. I am bullied on a daily basis. Most mornings I feel nauseous. The teachers punish me for what happens no matter what I do. Showing any emotion at all invites harassment. I learn that the best way to hide what I'm feeling is to not feel it at all. I push everything down, make myself numb. The adults praise me for being 'stoic'.

It is the first year of junior high, I am twelve years old. Puberty has started and I'm now bigger than the other kids, they stop bullying me. School has become torture. There is only memorization and inane busywork, they don't teach us anything. I don't need homework to pass, so I never do it. I always say I've lost it. I don't keep things organized and I don't look too hard, so it's not technically a lie. One particular day I get the idea that maybe I will start trying. I ask one of the teachers for another copy of the homework I'd already lost, as my parents kept telling me the teachers would help if I asked. "Why should I?" she says, "Because I need your help?" I say, confused. She doesn't reply. I never ask for help again.

It is the second year of high school, I am sixteen. I am dead inside. My religion has taught me that everything I am is evil, and avoiding the 'evil' of others has kept me socially isolated. The only bright spot of my day is orchestra class, which is at least a very little bit stimulating. I end up sitting next to a girl called Rene. She keeps playfully poking me until I take notice. She's small and cute and her bubbly demeanor is intoxicating. She likes me for some reason. We start chatting online. Initially it's all frivolous, but I'm desperate for connection and after not very long I start opening up about my feelings. She doesn't berate me or blow it off or make fun of me. She listens, she asks questions to be sure she knows what I'm saying, and she checks with examples to be sure she understands. It's the first real kindness I've ever known. She opens up too, and I do my best to reciprocate. I fuck it up quite frequently, but she's patient with me and we talk it over whenever I make a mistake, as she knows I haven't been able to openly be myself since kindergarten. And..

I was going to say we went our separate ways until my breakdown in college, but if she had been like this, there's no way in heaven or hell I'd have let her go willingly. (For that matter, I didn't want the real one to go either, but that was her decision.) And I was gonna say she's not a believer to make all this and the next part in particular make sense.

It is the first year of college, I am nineteen. I have no more faith in school, I have reached the end of the line and they still are teaching me nothing. The loneliness and depression have become crippling. I don't go to classes, I can barely leave my room, some days I can't get out of bed at all. I've kept telling myself this must all be for some greater good, but I'm starting to plan on killing myself, and there can't be any greater good for me after that. My faith in my religion is growing thin. Having no one left to turn to, I reach out to Rene. Being worried for my health she asks if I can stay with her. I ditch school, making the two hour drive back so I can see her. Over the next couple days I share all of the crumbling convictions I'd been indoctrinated with and she slowly helps me reach the conclusion I already know is coming. And when it does, it seems like a world of possibilities opens up to me. Rene keeps me grounded through my naive optimism, explaining to me that I can't just tell religious people they're wrong and such.

And I have to stop here. I'd like to say that then she gave me a crash course on relationships, friendship, romance, sex, etc. But I don't know how that would work, I've never had that.

- Writing this, all the usual imagined conversations came to me. But this time I have answers. I feel like I'm going through the breakup again. I'm exhausted. It hurts. The woman herself is long gone, of course. But the loss of the kind of person I thought she was hurts too. She was so full of joy and endlessly compassionate. And still, even from the very beginning, she was my enemy.

I'm torn. I feel good, light. I might finally have my footing. But also, I'm so very empty, gutted. I wanted to be a part of that world, not find out that it doesn't exist. And I do still miss the woman herself. She was.. very convincing. Years later and you're still hurting me. Bah.

Tomorrow will be different.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

i apologize if you've already answered something like this before, but i've seen a lot of fanfics with nonbinary sokka, and i was thinking of writing sokka into an atla au of a book as a character who is two-spirit. its my understanding that two-spirit isn't the same thing as nonbinary, transgender, or any other LGBT identity, and that it has a lot more to do with a spiritual connection, but i might be wrong about that. what i do know is this particular character in this book is winkte, which is Lakota, which isn't an inspiration for the water tribes as far as i'm aware.

i thought that two-spirit was established as a pan-indian term to replace all the different similar terms in the many different languages spoken by indigenous people across the united states and canada (or maybe just canada?), but i'm not sure if that would be what sokka, or any other Inupiaq-based character, would use to describe their identity. is there any term specific to Inupiat similar/equivalent to this that would be more appropriate to use?

You're in luck as being not only Inupiaq but also nonbinary and figuring out what that means culturally, I have a lot of personal experience on the matter!

So first: two-spirit is a pan-indigenous term, chosen by Native folks because the official term used by white academics (before two-spirit was coined) was an old french word that referred to male sex workers and everyone wanted something a little less blatantly disrespectful. It's used as an umbrella term for genders, gender expressions, and even variations on biological sex experienced in many indigenous cultures that don't neatly fit into the male/female binary that many European cultures believe in and uphold today. It's not necessarily a catch-all term for one specific concept found in all these cultures, but rather for a bunch of concepts classified together because they don't fit into the gender binary colonizers understood. You may have seen people saying you shouldn't refer to two-spirit genders as nonbinary and this is why. These genders are the result of cultures that didn't have a gender binary. The binary was a later addition imposed upon them by land hungry imperialists and missionaries who threatened nonbelievers with hellfire.

As for Inupiaq two-spirit identities, I know there is one term used by the Inuit, sipiniq, but i've only ever found it in Canadian sources so I don't know how widespread it is or if it was there in Alaska before they split and went east way back in the day. I do know it was used to refer to intersex people and the only concern with intersex genitalia seemed to be over the urinary tract being blocked. I've read from some interviews with elders where they said it was usually girls, or people who would have otherwise been considered typical girls, who were sipiniq, and that sometimes you couldn't tell until the child was older and their behavior changed from what you would expect (suggesting there may have been an aspect of gender and gender expression to it as well). I've also read elsewhere that being a sipiniq was more an addition than an entire stand alone identity, and they usually lived as their assigned gender at birth. Keep in mind that all this info is pretty scattered and difficult to cross reference, so i'd take this with a grain of salt.

Okay, onto Inupiaq specific stuff i've learned from family and reconnecting!

So, what does queerness look like in Inupiaq culture? Well, we don't entirely know, for a few reasons. Not much energy went into understanding our cultures as, say, the ancient Greeks and Egyptians for example until we had been pretty thoroughly assimilated. It's not talked about much, but romance in general isn't talked about much either, while a marriage was first and foremost for the purpose of having kids and dividing survival work into what can be done with a baby on your back and what can be done without. Polyandrous marriages were definitely a thing, and considering a lot of environmental and cultural factors, were often more viable than polygynous marriages, but also aren't mentioned much these days. The lack of queerness talked about in cultural circles could be the influence of the church, or maybe the idea that frivolities like chasing love weren't as important as starting your own family and caring for your aging parents is deeply ingrained into the culture. Maybe it's somewhere between.

Either way, I think just about every queer person has eventually figured out that just because it isn't mentioned or isn't considered the norm, doesn't mean it never happens. This is also a culture where people had to maintain deep friendships with others of the same sex and around the same age for allies in survival against the elements and human enemies. These friendships are always described as having a certain intimacy that allows trust and a degree of tenderness. Not to mention a man could have more than one wife or a woman could have more than one husband, and the nature of their contributions to the household meant they would spend a lot of time away from the shared spouse and with each other. This brings me to another aspect that doesn't exactly help figuring out cultural norms for feelings or relationships. We didn't have a written language until, about, the 1940s and it wasn't standardized until the 1980s. That means no private diary entries dripping with yearning or love letters of smouldering passion, which are the typical go-to evidence for relationships and attraction in cultures that do have a written language. Whether a man wished he could marry this man he was friends with since childhood more than the most desired woman in the village, or what goings-on two co-wives found themselves in between chores, we may never know.

So when it comes to something as personal as gender, which arguably involves way fewer people than sexual or romantic orientation, it can be a little difficult to figure out how many people felt that their bodies got something wrong or didn't fit their understanding of themselves. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that we very literally don't have a record of it.

So, what does gender look like in Inupiaq culture?

I've often said that the Inupiat leaned pratriarchal rather than stating that they were patriarchal. While patriarchy isn't an inaccurate term, people rarely hear it and imagine cultures where women could have multiple husbands, could divorce their husbands and be welcomed back to their parents' homes, could be the ones to decide whether their sons were ready to marry, etc. Men were by default considered head of the household, but only an idiot would deny the value of a woman with all her skills. The kind of skills men and women were expected to have weren't as strictly divided as one may think. Men were expected to have some proficiency in sewing and cooking, and women were expected to be able to fish, trap, and hunt small game, even if these weren't specialties. In general, gender roles were less about who dominated than we are used to thinking, and more about interdependence and reciprocity.

One thing I think might get to the meat of Inupiaq beliefs about gender as its own concept divorced from biological sex is the belief in reincarnation through renaming. Souls are attached to names, and in giving a baby the name of a dead loved one (i don't think they have to be blood related but often are) as is tradition, the soul lives on through the baby. People refer to that kid as if they were the one they were named after and it's said that the kid would remember things from this past life. But here's the thing: you didn't have to be named after someone of the same assigned gender at birth as you. You could be assigned male at birth, six feet tall, the luckiest at hunting bears, with ivory labrets and hair that was never braided, and that won't stop you from someone your parents' age calling you grandma if you were named after their grandmother. In our current assimilated and Christianized version of the culture, this has become the practice of Eskimo names, which are separate from one's official name on their birth certificate.

If this aforementioned assigned male person found that being called grandma was a source of comfort that made them feel more at ease, if one thing they remembered from being this woman was a feeling that they should be with the women, would that not be comparable to a trans woman's experience? To reiterate an earlier point, we don't have letters or diary entries from these pre-assimilation times. We may never know how many people felt this way. Combine that with the idea that names are inherent to who you are and the fact pronouns are entirely ungendered in all Inupiaq dialects, and I think the trans experience would look and feel very different within this culture. I can't definitively say it would be easier to live and be perceived as a man but feel as a woman, or vice versa, in this culture but I don't think it would be the same as in the current Euro-American cultures we're used to.

When I think about my identity and what it means, i find something very affirming in how my Eskimo name would have been given to boys and girls. By traditional cultural belief, that would mean I lived so many lives as so many different people, male and female, masculine and feminine. I could have been a warrior, a housewife, a keen-eyed berrypicker, an umialik maybe, I could have carved beautiful ivory pieces, been the best dancer, worn down my teeth chewing skins for sewing, and maybe, sometime in the 1960s, gasped at the scandalous implications of red nail polish.

So, in truth, I don't know if a nonbinary Inupiaq Sokka would understand themself as any gender specific Inupiaq culture, but I think they might have a unique relationship to the concept of gender from knowing the beliefs of the culture. That the masculine and the feminine need and support each other, that most people will have a little bit of both within them, that the Inupiat didn't even have separate words for "he" and "she" and the singular they. I know it's helped me understand and accept myself as a nonbinary Inupiaq.

[dootdootwriting]

AHHH CONGRATS ON 600!!! I hope you're doing well heehoo and if its okay can i ask for the whole alphabet with scaramouche?:3 (also pls don't overwork yourself jdjajdkdlfmmeis)

600+ event!!

this is my first time writing for scara so i hope i did okay aha,, under the cut for length!

fluff alphabet with scaramouche, gn reader, warning for inazuma quest/scaramouche backstory spoilers!!

why is his name so long

A-Activities (what do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?)

- scaramouche isn't super knowledgeable about relationships, so he'll just sort of tentatively ask what you want to do and go along with it (though he might act like it's a stupid idea the whole time). really he doesn't care what he spends his free time on as long as you're a part of it.

B-Beauty (what do they admire about their s/o? what do they think is beautiful about them?)

- well first of all, he admires the courage you've got to have to be with him in the first place. other than that, he also loves your smile (but you won't hear him tell you that out loud, unless you're not really asleep when he thinks you are)

C-Comfort (how would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?)

- another thing he's alien to. at first just starts telling you to calm down and is pretty harsh about it. when he realizes this isn't working, he'll reluctantly take you into his arms and start awkwardly patting your head. it's funny how awkward it is and you end up laughing at him about it, which makes him annoyed, but at least now you feel better.

D-Dreams (how do they picture the future with their s/o?)

- scaramouche... either wants you to be by his side as he conquers everything and shows the world just how strong he is, or he wants to do it alone. though it would be much better if you were with him and it makes him sad to think about you not being there in the end.

E-Equal (are they the dominant one in the relationship or rather passive?)

- surprisingly passive, actually. he doesn't really know what he's doing so he lets you make most of the decisions about dates and spending time together. other than that though, he likes to drag you around to do whatever he wants.

F-Fun (what do they do for fun with their s/o? what’s their idea of a fun day out?)

- what's fun? on a day off, scaramouche will wander around and ponder his own existence. you'll have to take him to a market or a park or something so he can actually experience things first - once you do, you'll find he enjoys being alone with you somewhere quiet, where he doesn't have to listen to other people.

G-Gratitude (how grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?)

- doesn't show it, but is definitely grateful, though he also doesn't know just how much of a hassle he can be. scaramouche just sort of assumed love was supposed to be unconditional... but he can tell when he's crossed a line, and he's grateful for you sticking by him despite everything.

H-Honesty (do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?)

- obviously the one big secret is how he came into being in the first place, but once he trusts you enough to tell you about his being a puppet and a test, he's in all the way. he hides little things from you before that but once he's told you, you're in it with him forever whether you like it or not, and that means he doesn't keep anything else from you.

I-Inspiration (did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?)

- he's a lot more tolerable around you! you've been approached by fatui officers asking you "how do you do it?" and saying things like "thank you so much i totally thought i was gonna be yelled at today!" somehow you cool off his temper a bit.

J-Jealousy (do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?)

- JEALOUS JEALOUS JEALOUS man. he gets jealous so so easily and WILL confront you about it. after a while and once he knows he can trust you he gets jealous less frequently, because he knows you're with him for the long run.

K-Kisses (are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?).

- bad kisser at first because he's probably never been in love before. he gets the hang of it quickly though! your first kiss was because he had to shut you up and he couldn't figure out another way how so he just kissed you. you yelled at him after that.

L-Love confession (how would they confess to their s/o?)

- scaramouche confesses on purpose but in a really weird way. he plans it and everything - he takes you out to see the sunset and brings food (almost like a picnic) but then once he gets to the actual confession it's just like "how dare you do this to me? i stay awake at night thinking of you and somehow you're the most tolerable person i've ever met. childe had the audacity to call it love and to laugh at me so he got what he deserved. if you don't feel the same way i'll punch you too." but he doesn't end up having to punch you, which you're both very glad about.

M-Mornings (what’s it like waking up with them? do they sleep late or wake up before the sun rises?)

- he didn't have a reason to sleep in late until he started sleeping next to you. now he's stuck in his ridiculous sleep schedule so he always wakes up before you. but hey! bonus! now he gets to look at you while you sleep, which for some reason makes him extremely flustered (which is really cute to wake up to).

N-Nicknames (what do they call their s/o?)

- just calls you your name 🧍

O-On cloud nine (what are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?)

- when he discovered he was in love he got angry at you. then he realized it wasn't your fault, and, actually, this wasn't such a bad thing. man were you confused though. for a solid week he just yelled at you for no reason. childe guessed correctly when he realized scaramouche's more-unusual-than-usual behavior, but he had the decency to hold his tongue around you.

P-PDA (how are they with PDA? is it fun to them or are they more reserved with their affection?)

- hates pda. will hold your hand and that's it if you try to kiss him in public his face will scrunch up and his ears will pull back instinctively. then he'll avoid you for the rest of the day.

Q-Quirk (some random thing they do when they’re with you for no reason in particular)

- gently taps you at random moments, almost as if he's trying to remind himself that you're here with him.

R-Romance (how romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?)

- scaramouche tries to be romantic? he's doing his best. he tries all the gooey stuff to make you happy like buying you chocolate and giving you stuffed animals but in reality he has little to no tolerance for this kind of thing and you have to reassure him you love him, not the classic romantic things he forces himself to do. after that he stops, which is a huge relief.

S-Support (are they helping their s/o achieve their goals do they believe in them?)

- he's more focused on his own goals and climbing the fatui ladder, but he's also very invested in anything you're attempting to do. wholeheartedly believes in you, whether he outwardly expresses it or not.

T-Thrill (do they need to try out new things to spice out your relationship or do they prefer certain routine?)

- scaramouche likes the security of his routine and the place your relationship is at. he gets embarrassed at pretty much any new milestone and needs some time to get to them, and he gets cranky when things change suddenly, so uh. no, he likes it better the way it is with little to no changes.

U-Understanding (how good do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?)

- not very empathetic, but is very understanding. scaramouche lacks the ability to feel how you're feeling (is it because he isn't quite human?), but he does understand how you work and function, and the best ways to treat you depending on your mood.

V-Value (how important is the relationship to them? What is its worth in comparison to other things in their life?).

- since you're so important to him, you're about number two on his list of priorities, maybe almost tied with his work in the fatui. he can't stand people, but you've wormed your way into his heart, so he's not letting you go anytime soon.

W-Wild card (a random fluff headcanon?)

- any time you give him affection he's a little startled at first, but he comes to love it and eventually will ask you for hugs.

X-XOXO (Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?)

- yes but ONLY behind closed doors. he's afraid if he so much as looks at you lovingly his underlings will laugh at him, and he definitely can't have that. when you two are alone, however, he absolutely cannot get enough of your touch.

Y- Yearning (how will they cope when they are missing their partner?)

- angry angry angry and makes it everyone's problem. when you get back from your trip the mood is dark and agents are running up to you like you're their savior "OH GOD YOU'RE BACK THANK EVERYTHING PLEASE SAVE US."

Z-Zeal (are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind?)

- he would literally kill for you (please tell him not to)

[greyeyedmonster-18]

Hi Grey.

If you ever have the time I would really like ti hear more about your writingprogress.

Like. How do you come up with your ideas? Do you do a outline? Where and when do you write? Are you finishing all your stories before posting them? Do you fact check things? How long time does it normally take for you to finish a story? Have you ever regretting posting a story? Why do you write? Do you have a beta?

Youre one of my favorite authors here and I’m really just curious of the mind and work behind the story’s that I’ve spent so much time with.

weeping. I'm one of your favorites???? what the hell??? thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for being so nice. that just made my day.

i am going to put the answers to all those things below a cut to not spam my dash with a long post. but also, i shouldn't give writing advice ever and while i appreciate you asking your questions, everything with a grain of salt. because...i know absolutely nothing and this is just what I do. (and also, im an affectionate idiot so <3)

How do you come up with your ideas?

often my ideas start with a very very specific image in my mind, and then i go from there. sometimes they happen while im listening to a song (for example, FFTF happened because I was listening to Since We're Alone by Niall Horan and there's a line in there that says Why would you want to be someone else? I love you best when you're just yourself and an entire wolfstar narrative exploded, but i had to figure out how Sirius would be guarded in this particular way and....here we are) or sometimes when im on a walk or driving. also, as a total cop out, i write romance-- i get ideas from making foolish scenarios in my mind where people should fall in love and I'll never have a shortage of those.

Do you do an outline?

No! I don't. Once I have the idea, i usually start by writing the specific scene that came to me first (so for ten reasons, i wrote the voicemail scene first. i heard remus's voicemail in my mind so loud and clear and wrote it out) and i go from there. this is for my own unpacking but i almost always can see how things end in my mind before they begin (lol, isn't that a fucking metaphor; for a fun personal fact, I've always said since i was like...very little that i wasn't planning on living past 33, which is horrifying to hear out of a ten year olds mouth, but like...i still think its true). for almost all my fics, i wrote the ending first and then wrote around it. never chronologically. just everything that i want to happen and then i put it in some sort of order (i wish i could show you my doc for tight ends right now). and then i make them lead into one another.

I DO. however, do an obligatory chapter count. and i mean, so arbitrary, with no thoughts applied to it. NMTW i literally said 14 chapters, and stuck to it. this is the only structure i give myself when i write. and its my job as a writer to make sure i fit in there.

i do the same when im writing tumblr series. so like fault lines got SIX, chosen at random, and six it was. it was my job to tell that story in six parts. no more no less. (this is admittedly weird, i understand most writers dont work this way, but this actually helps me immensely. the only time i deviated was with FFTF when i added more chapters because the chapters i did have ended up being like TOO LONG in my eyes for a chapter, so i broke them up).

but also--i know other authors who DO outline and its helpful for them!! Find what works for you!!! I tried to outline once and the fic never left my drafts.

Where and when do you write?

To quote Shakira, "Whenever, Wherever"

I write a lot in parking lots on my phone. a lot of my tumblr drabbles are written on my phone and in a parking lot, ten reasons and tight ends were both started in parking lots.

otherwise on my desktop! in google docs! or if its smut, in a word doc! i write the best early in the morning or super late at night when i should be sleeping. I write when i can! Usually at my desk, or i'lll bring my laptop over and write while my kid is playing video games or we're watching something on tv. sometimes i write in the middle of my work day when i have a second in my office (this is also very quick and very on my phone). i just wrote smut at a nail salon. whenever, wherever.

Are you finishing all your stories before posting them?

yes. head to toe, top to bottom, signed sealed delivered. the stories are written before i post. this works better for me! i need to see the whole thing finished!! it also makes it very fun for me when readers are commenting and are like...in anguish, and im there like "tee hee, i know what happens next".

tumblr drabbles no. i pants those. fault lines, mercy, the pact (is part four written? nah but its started and i have no idea where its going to go!!!), the best worst thing to have ever happened-- PANTSTED. sat and written flat into the tumblr post machine. no outline, no plan, just feelings and vibes. (and yes this means that the end of fault lines was a pants decision and im very sorry it ruined everyone, whoops).

this again varies from author to author! most of my writer friends write as they go because they like to be align with the readers! or they work better chronologically and will just write and post and write and post, but again, this is something personal! do what works best for you!

Do you fact check things?

Lol sometimes? I probably should more often, tbh. I do a lot of geography fact checking because i couldn't map my way out of a paper bag, but otherwise, not...really. But also, my fics dont tend to have a lot of....information in them that needs a fact check. People are just falling in love. also, not to flex, but i have a big brain that stores a bunch of useless information and remembers a lot of things, so if i write something i usually believe myself (writing tight ends right now and putting my football knowledge to good use and there's been a few times I've been like "...hmmm" and referenced google and WE WERE RIGHT! so i mostly just trust my brain.)

Writing NMTW was also challenging because i had to reference SOURCE MATERIAL to see if there was a designated teacher for x subject, or when exactly school breaks were etc etc. but that said, i did not care about being accurate with full moons or course timestables or hogsmeade visits or anything like that. we...simply do not care. (this obviously does not apply to things that very much need fact checking such as if i were to write a medical procedure or something relating to disability or race/ethnicity/languages spoken; obviously do your homework for that.)

How long a time does it normally take you to finish a story?

Cop out-- it depends! Sometimes less than a week. (The pact is short, will be done by tomorrow most likely). I wrote ten reasons in four days. it took me 3 months to write an alleged wip though. it just....depends on my time and my schedule.

Have you ever regretted posting a story?

Sometimes! There was a moment when i was fresh on AO3 (pre-tumblr) where i got a few really nasty comments and it made me regret posting the story at all and made me regret joining AO3, and made me regret thinking my fics could be a thing or that my writing was worth sharing etc. I know I give FFTF a hard time because they're....out of pocket, but there are parts of that fic i really really like, and it seems to connect with a lot of people, so i can't have regrets about that.

i have deleted a few one shots off my AO3 though, because i decided they didn't need to be shared, but i wouldn't necessarily call that regret. just...re-evaluation.

Do you have a beta?

No. I do have one trusted person though who i send things to before i release them into the public, not as a beta but as.....a litmus test (to see how the fic reads but also for me and how i feel about sharing it in the first place; I've done it before with this person where they got something and then WEEKS later tumblr got it. Sometimes months.). I 10/10 recommend doing this. and i feel so so so so so so lucky that i found someone like that here and they tolerate my existence. but pre-tumblr, it was just me myself and i doing the thing. and also it took some time before i even trusted this person (did i mention im paranoid? and private?) to get my work because you can't take it back. and what if it didn't need to be shared? there are a few things this person has gotten that i havent and will never post. but like...im so fortunate to have that. you know?

I...am way too chaotic for a beta. and also have a very particular way i edit my stuff (because ND) and adding another person into the flow of that can get confusing. Too many cooks, you know?

Why do you write?

i saved this one for the end because my heart.

i think i've said before that like...a lot of my time as a child and a teenager and young adult in spaces was spent believing that i was a bad writer because neurodivergent and i don't understand mechanics of grammar or...words or...write in a way you're supposed to (outlines for example). and spent a lot of time giving my ideas to other people who i thought were GOOD writers.

but i...am a creative person. and sometime in 2019, i hit the biggest artist block of my life where i literally didn't draw or paint for a year. and picked up writing instead.

poetry, and then it evolved into romance, which i...turned into fic and here i am. and ultimately, i write because i like to. because its creative and it makes my brain happy when a sentence just hits, you know? because i believe in love and want to see more queer love stories and if i...can do the thing, i should, right?

i write because i...realized that i had stories in my head that needed places to go that i couldn't express visually through my artwork. also, ive mentioned it here before, that i am...young and have experienced an absurd amount of death and loss in my life (personally and professionally). and...well, i write a lot of fics about grief for that reason. i don't think i could ever run out of words for this (and have also published ACTUALLY on grief, both creatively and academically), and sometimes i write to like...sit with those feelings for a bit.

i...also think i write because i am a soft human in a very hard world in a hard career path who experiences things deeply and these things and observations need places to go. i cant carry them around all day, that's too heavy and my hands aren't big enough.

so i make art. and i dance. and i play music.

and i write.

i hope any of this is helpful. and if you get the courage to come off anon, i am more than happy to talk with you in DMS about processes or answer any more questions <3

[dearestones]

Forgive me for being so curious about you, I thought I'd send an ask for the writer's game. Of course, you don't have to worry about answering them all if you're not up to it—

4) What is your favorite genre to write for?

14) What is something that you feel weird/uncomfortable writing about?

16) Where do you find inspiration to write?

19) Show us the line you want readers to remember from your story.

Also, to answer your previous post, I had assumed you may have had feminine pronouns, as most writers tend to be fem, but that's just something silly my mind defaults to. Your writing, to me...is actually somewhat masculine..? If that makes any sense. I hope that's alright of me to say..?

Hey, Devin here!!!

All of these questions make me so happy! :D

4. What is your favorite genre to write for?

My gosh, I really love writing angst, drama, comedy, and romance. If you check my ffnet account, a lot of my old stuff was whimsical, comedic stuff that... probably aged badly, hahah. Some day, I want to try my hand at horror and adventure.

I also like writing character introspection and analyses. However, my long time love is writing interactions between characters that have had little to no canon interactions.

14. What is something that you feel weird/uncomfortable writing about?

I think it depends on context? If we’re talking about this blog where I specifically rely on requests, well... I really don’t like mischaracterizing characters and sometimes I get requests where the scenario depicted goes against my personal understanding of the character.

I remember receiving a request where the male character was supposed to be jealous that his love interest was getting attention from her coworkers, but like—!!! I headcanon that the male character is more than secure in his position to his love interest. Plus, the request made it sound like the love interest didn’t have the agency to say no/was powerless to stop advances even though my headcanons are like... the love interest can and will punch someone’s lights out if they so wished. Whenever that happens, I usually twist the situation where it still follows the spirit of the request, but adding or subtracting elements from the scenario and giving some characters more agency and... character to justify their actions.

Honestly, I put a lot of respect into the characters I write for and it makes me uncomfortable if I try to portray something that demeans them.

As for personal stuff that I do on my own time... NSFW? I wanna try, hehehe, but all I have are my imagined scenarios. One day, though!!!

And... I suppose experiences or processes that I don’t have the background for. In that case, a LOT of research has to be done.

16. Where do you find inspiration to write?

I rely a lot on this blog, but I suppose opening myself to new experiences, reading stories and fanfics, and listening to music helps. Furthermore, I also use writing as a way to cope with my stress and poor mental health, so there’s that.

19. Show us the line you want readers to remember from your story.

Ooooohhhhhhh! My gosh, do you have a specific story in mind??? I would like to know which one you think is good, hehe. I guess one line that sticks with me, no matter how many years it’s been is a passage from The Winter Traveler which you can find on my ffnet account.

Yooooooo! This and my South Italy centric story I has always been my favorites in terms of some of my more recent works! :DDD

And for your last question:

Hehehe, I don’t mind you using the default on me. Feminine or not, you can’t deny that a lot of people who present as more feminine do write more fanfic and participate more in fandom spaces. (I think the demographics are changing, though, considering that I remember that mindset from the 2010s).

As for masculine writing??? That’s so cool! I actually smiled when you wrote that. Is there a particular reason why you say it’s masculine? I think it’s because I usually default to gender neutral readers and in doing so, I refrain from making mentions to body type, hair, certain features, etc. to make it more inclusive.

Thanks so much, anon! Feel free to ask more questions and I hope that you have a wonderful day! :D

[ardenttheories]

I don't expect a super serious answer from this, but I'm just curious. in a perfect world, how would hs^2 be written? do you have any particular headcanons or plot lines that would be interesting to explore? I understand the hesitation in answering a question like this, because other people might try to discredit your critiques under the guise of "well its not ur headcanons so that's why ur mad". anyways, just curious because I respect your perspective and ideas

In complete honesty? The first thing I would consider vital is a diverse team of people - genuinely diverse - to consider every point of representation with. I’m talking people of different races (to avoid the anti-black coding of Gamzee), with mental illnesses (to avoid the ableism in both Gamzee and Dirk), with different gender identities (to more accurately and healthily portray Jade, Roxy, Vriska, June - any character we could feasibly want to make trans or nonbinary), with different romanticisms and sexualities (so that we could write genuine MLM and WLW relationships without falling into homophobic pitfalls; to avoid biphobic stereotypes), and overall, with different traumatic experiences and triggers (so that we could more accurately gauge what triggers would need to be tagged and how to go over them in an appropriate and respectful manner).

We could never be 100% perfect, but with a team like that, we could at least get close to it. 

Additionally, I’d bring back either fan prompts or closely listen to fan theories and conversations. Homestuck^2 was touted to be written with the fandom in mind; to consider the direction we were asking it to go in, while basing it around a general barebones structure. I’d want to make sure we were including as much of that in as humanly possible. So, if a fan theory seemed like it’d fit into the story? I’d want to include that with the rest of the text; if the fans liked a specific character? I’d want to try and include them more often. Little things to show that we’re listening and that we’re writing the story WITH the fans - like how early Homestuck used to be.

On an actual storyline basis, I really do love the concept of Meat and Candy; that there’s one timeline that goes off the rails and one that is very rigidly stuck to a track. I wouldn’t want to change that concept entirely, but I would want to make it more palpatable for people to read. 

This would mean, for me, absolutely getting rid of anything to do with Yiffany. I’d completely replace that with Dave and Jade having a child together via ectobiology; how Jade has to raise their child in Dave’s absence after he goes missing, how that affects her, who she turns to for comfort and help. 

I’d want to focus Candy more on that feeling of helplessness and dissociation. On John feeling adrift in a world that doesn’t quite connect with him, that doesn’t entirely feel real; how that would affect his relationships, his friends, his family. In this timeline, all of the rebellion stuff would be completely background to the interpersonal connections everyone has (the things that supposedly don’t matter, as is the point of Candy), with much more emphasis on how useless and frivolous the whole war is. It’d get to a point where nobody actually knows why they’re fighting anymore except for the fact that they are, and that even Jane, who started it out of a genuine fear for the human race, is getting tired of it, is losing resources, is starting to realise that she’s drifting away from her own child. 

A truce would be garnered, started by Jane who just very much wants to reconnect with her son, with Karkat taking on the role as troll emissiary. It features long talks in a large, empty room, pouring over papers, where Jane admits that she doesn’t actually know what anyone is up to these days, how long it’s been since she’s seen her husband, since she’s seen John, and Karkat quietly confesses that it’s been several years since he’s seen Dave or Jade, and that he misses them both. 

After that, a lot of the content of Candy would focus on healing. They would get back to their happily ever after, even though some things would never be the same, and there would still be inconsequentialities. It would also correspond with John coming to the slow realisation that he really doesn’t need a plot to be happy at all; that just because it doesn’t matter to the overarching story doesn’t mean it can’t matter to him. 

The Candy timeline, therefore, would close early; it would fade from our view just as Dirk feared, but it would be happy and content, and free from any further meddling. I’d essentially want to enforce this idea that, yes, we can still have happy endings - even if they aren’t “full of meaning”. They can still be satisfying.

The Meat timeline, on the other hand, would have a significant focus on Dirk and his attempts to continue the plot. I think it would be fun, admittedly, if nothing went the way he thought it would. That after all of his villany and his acceptance of destruction in order to facilitate something he thought would be better, he actually just lost complete and utter control. 

The plot isn’t something that he alone can continue. It’s created with character conflict, with motivations and rises and falls and losses and gains; trying to recreate SBURB, to try and restart the cycle, isn’t what a plot needs to be. It isn’t what he thinks it will do. 

I’m unsure if you’ve seen this recently, but there’s been a lot of fanwork around the Lord!Jake English idea that went around several years back (when people saw the Caliborn sona). Now, this I’d want to put into it. 

Jake, fed up with being stepped on, walked over, hurt, suffering from the trauma of being completely and utterly ruined by Dirk, absolutely flips shit. He chases after Dirk to seek revenge, to cut short whatever bullshit he’s trying to do, and therefore much of the comic becomes this constant back and forth with an increasing fear for Dirk the closer Jake gets as he traverses Paradox Space.

It’s very much clear that when Jake arrives, Dirk will lose. There’s no question about it. Nobody suggests that anything else will happen. There’s several arguments on Meat’s Earth C over whether or not they should try to stop Jake, or let him stop Dirk - and whether or not Jake will calm down afterwards or continue his rampage. 

In the end, Dirk fails. Jake catches up to him, and just before he hits the killing blow, the entire thing goes dark. Our narrator dead, the plot abandoned; there is nothing more to see. This I would want to use to enforce the idea that, yes, plot can still be satisfying as hell and still have integral moments and be heavy and harsh - but it can also end in a way that leaves open questions because that shows that it isn’t the best ending you can get. 

And then we jump back to Terezi, using her Seer powers. Both timelines have been her trying to use her powers to See what’s in store, where she should go, what she should do. She’s still floating through Paradox Space, looking for Vriska, and as such she’s met with this... sort of internal dilemma. 

She knows, now, that the chances of her dying out here are high. She also knows that even if she does survive, she’s pretty much never going to see Vriska again anyway. She knows there’s a chance at a happier relationship with John, and that the only way she can get that is if she somehow manages to make a timeline where Meat and Candy merge together at once. 

So, she flies back. She manages to arrive on Earth C the day of John’s big decision, and interrupts him before he can go to the picnic. Through their dialogue, John gets it stuck in his head that, hey, there’s something BIGGER out here that you need to do, but you need to do that amazing thing again where you make a third Choice.

When John arrives at the picnic, he decides to eat some of the pumpkin instead - to which you might be thinking, what pumpkin? The one he put there, of course, using his retcon powers.

So we start on the Pumpkin timeline, written entirely in the 1st person narrative from John’s POV. It’s a completely biased interpretation of what’s going on, but it’s honest to John’s own thoughts and feelings, too, allowing everyone to act the way they usually would do without any influence, but still having a narrative touch. 

It shows John actively fighting to free the timeline from Dirk’s and Alternate Calliope’s narrative controls, those little hooks they’ve planted in it since time began, with a lot of back-and-forth as the two talk to John through the narration (which, he hears their voices as thoughts in his head). 

John attempts to free them both from their own biases and chains, encouraging Alternate!Calliope to leave the space she’s isolated herself in and join Earth C while convincing Dirk to undo the bullshit villain schtick he’s on (and that plot or no plot, there’s still a reason worth living for). 

It’d be a timeline filled with references back to original Homestuck (and funny quips from both Alternate!Calliope and Dirk along the way), a lot of morality discussion, plenty of theorising on narrative control and arcs and the placement of plot and fluff in a satisfying story, and have plenty of representation and romance and hints towards kids, too (such as nonbinary RoxyJaneCallie, DaveJadeKat, aromantic Jake, JohnDirk [because I couldn’t stop myself, honestly, with how their Classpects work so well hand in hand], and definitely RoseMary being the first to adopt a child that they absolutely do not call Vriska). 

It’d fill plotholes the fandom wants to be filled, and it’d have drama, of course, in the form of figuring out a way to destroy Lord English that doesn’t inherently lead to the Candy timeline. But it’d go back and forth between the heavy, plot-filled moments and the slower, relationship-based moments, with more humanising and development of Dirk and Alternate!Calliope and John as rounded characters.

That’s the best my tired mind can come up with right now. It’s something I’ve daydreamed about a lot, actually; how I’d rewrite Homestuck^2, or what my own ending to Homestuck would be using it as a foundation. I hope it makes sense! It’s a fun little thought experiment, honestly.

[dachi-chan25]

I had books that I either loved or hated so idk maybe I need to do another unhaul to ensure I read books I'll actually enjoy.

1- OtherEarth (Otherworld #2) by Jason Segel

🌟🌟

So this was a big disappointment. It started out fine, but I had this bad feeling about what the twist of this book would be about 50% into it, and then the twist comes and it was just as bad as I feared. Honestly I don't even know if I wanna continue with the last book, I have it but honestly I can't say I am looking forward to it, it wasn't just the plot that fell down but the characters felt pretty inconsistent and yeah not a fan.

2.- Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1) by Rosaria Munda

🌟🌟

The only thing I knew going into this was that it was inspired by Plato's Republic and that it was similar to Game of Thrones, so maybe that is why I found it pretty underwhelming. Like yeah I could see why it was based off the Republic with this system of education (tbh I still found it pretty basic and very much alike to other social systems I've read in other YA books) and there was some intresting tid-bits but not enough to keep me intrested. Now the characters, I liked both individually (unpopular opinion but I liked Annie more, I thought she had real potential but it was wasted because the moment she and Lee have this romance her character completely lost herself on thinking about him and what he did all the time) but I do not think they worked together romantically. There is some potential drama for book 2 but I am not intrested in reading it.

3.- The Mistress (The Original Sinners #4) by Tiffany Reisz

🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book was so good. Yeah it was super predictable, but the drama tho. I really loved Layla, she gave us an outsider's insight on Søren and Nora's relationship, and she is just the sweetest that I instantly knew she and Weasley were gonna get together. I cried at that last confrontation scene with Nora and Marie Laure and I am so happy that Nora is back together with Søren because they are truly a good couple despide everything.

4.-Gods of Jade and Shadow - Silvia Moreno Garcia

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I LOVED it. Ever since I saw the cover I was sold. This book I feel like it was meant for me. Like our protagonist Casiopea Tún is a dark skinned mexican girl of mayan descent in the 1920s who meets one of the lords of Xibalba and goes on a quest to help him retake his throne???? And on the way he falls in love with her so much he is about to forfeit his divinity to have a chance to be with her. I just, it was so beautiful, I felt my culture was really represented here, and it's so wierd to see the 1920's represented in Mexico I don't believe I had read something like this before and I will read anything Silvia Moreno Garcia writes from now on. Hopefully we will have a second book for this because that ending makes me wonder what adventures Casiopea will have.

5.-Little Gods by Meng Jin

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book blew my mind. The structure is perfect for the themes . Su Lan was a truly fascinating character though I felt very sad about her, always wanting to escape her past and thinking she was so undeserving for anything good in her life and still fighting to go on. The ending was so good, and all the cast of characters made an excellent conection between the past and the future.

6.- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

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Yeah I am a pretentious ho. I was very intimidated by this book (and anything written by Faulkner really) and I was really having trouble understanding the book at first because the prose is so particular (there are sentences that read like Shakespeare, some are almost Biblical stuff and then most of the dialogue is this very coloquial english with very poor ortography) and as English is not my first lenguage I struggled. But then we get to Addie's death and all this odyssey the family goes through to bury her, and it was so beautiful and exciting. I especially loved everything about Addie's chapter, she was so much better than her husband and she deserved better than what she got. I really liked Dewey Dell and Darl. While I hated Anse Bundren with a passion so the end really made me angry like waaaaat this selfish asshole gets everything he wanted and then some??? But I got why it made sense for the book. So I definitely recommend this, but my advice is to let yourself glide through the book, do not try to understand or make sense of it as you start it because then you become frustrated like it happened to me at first but it's a really beautiful book so I am really considering reading more Faulkner.

7.-Chosen (Slayer #2) by Kiersten White

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I enjoyed this book so much. It's a very easy read and we get some growth on Nina and Artemis. I liked the idea of the Watcher's Castle being a refuge for inofenssive demons. And omgggg I fangirled SO hard when Oz, Harmony and Clem appeared (my fave characters, like literally I only need a Spike cameo in these books to be completely happy). I really wanna see Nina meet Buffy in real life and ahhh I am excited for whatever the next book will bring us.

8.-Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is perharps my favorite book I read this month. It felt so relevant to things that are happening in the world, but escapist enough to bear it. For starters I love a good urban fantasy setting, and this was it. Z was a great non-binary protagonist (the fact the author is also non-binary also helps) like it was pretty original to make them a zombie when necromancy is viewed as wrong in their society and they get discriminated for it even though they knew nothing about how it happened to them. And their friendship with Aysel (lesbian muslim werewolf girl!!!) and Tommy (shapeshifter boy) was amazing. Like the way this book translates real life bigotry and social injustice to this magical creatures was truly amazing I recommend it to everyone of any age. Especially middle graders as this book is meant for that age group and I feel this is an amazing diverse read for that age group.

9.-El murmullo de las abejas de Sofia Segovia

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Realmente este libro es precioso, soy una super fan del realismo mágico y este libro realmente me toco el corazón. Aunque he de admitir que entre a este libro sin saber nada, y bueno que este libro pega diferente en el 2020, yo no tenía ni idea que este libro nos presentaba la Pandemia de Influenza Española de 1918, y bueno es bastante triste leer todo lo que paso cuando nosotros estamos pasando épocas muy similares. Simonopio es un personaje divino, poseedor de una sensibilidad y una inocencia verdaderamente fuera de esta mundo, y la forma en que la familia Morales lo adopta y lo abraza tan profundamente dentro de la familia es realmente hermosa. Fue muy difícil leer acerca de Anselmo Espiricueta porque puedo ver de donde venía todo ese odio y esa ignorancia que terminaron en tragedia y no puedo dejar de sentir lastima por él a pesar de todo el mal que hace durante el libro. Recomiendo mucho esta lectura.

10.-Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

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A book so relevant in our current times. So powerful and impactful even if the book is pretty short. We get to see how the systematic racisim at work. We get to get a glimpse of this awful reality through Kev and Ella, two gifted siblings that have lived this experiences in different ways and they cope with this in vastly different ways.It was such an intimate read I cannot begin to describe how angry and sad it made me, but also very glad I got to read it because we need to keep being aware that this is the reality for black people all around the world and they don't get to shy away from it so we shouldn't either we should see, learn and fight as hard as we can to change things for the better.

11.-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

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I re-read this book to have it fresh in my mind before the new series airs on July. And I liked it better now than the 1st time. This world is so scary because I see so many realistic elements it shares with the present. I felt a lot for Lenina (for everyone who lives in this world really) because she wanted more than what the society had to offer yet was so deeply conditioned as to what was right that she could just supress her emotions with soma. This book is of course full of racist and sexist stuff (cuz woman and indigenous people can never win) but I feel it helps to get a feel about how fucked up society is as a whole. In the reservation woman are subjected to the usual slut shaming and gender roles we get in our society while in London we get a world in which woman are judged for not sleeping around and being happy and infantile. Like it seems controling woman and their relationship to intimacy and sex is always a bit theme is classic dystopic books which makes a lot of sense given it works like that in the real world too. Same thing with indigenous people being treated as savage to congratula te ourselves for being so much more "civilized" never stopping to think how deeply fractured and flawed this may be. We also get explotation and brain washing of working classes and all that fun stuff. Really and amazing book eerily accurate tho.

12.-Brick Lane by Monica Ali.

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This is the story of 2 very different Bangladeshi sisters with very different temperaments making their way through life. Nazneen is a very dutiful daughter that marries the man her father picked for her, moves to London, though her husband doesn't make her happy she tries very hard in this foreign country with so many desires of her own she wishes that she always supresses because of her upbringing. Then we have Hesina, she was always beautiful and runs away with a guy she was in love with, later he abandons her and she gets jobs and loses them because different man keep making her fall for them to abandon them later. Different as they are this 2 Sisters keep relying in each other through letters. I thought it was very moving, and I really liked the ending for Nazneen while Hasina left me feeling worried and unhappy.

13.- Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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I was very hyped for this book and I am so sad I didn't like it. I just didn't feel the world building was cohesive (we have space travel but we don't have baths??? And rapiers as weapons??? Most of it felt like aesthetic decisions) the characters felt very one dimensional to me. And the plot was all over the place, just when I thought I knew what it was about it takes another turn and introduces so many generes but it did not feel natural at all so yeah I will not be reading the next one.

14.- Luces de Bohemia de Ramón Maria del Valle Inclan

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Me pareció una obra maravillosa. Definitivamente captura el espíritu creativo bohemio.

15 .- Don Juan Tenorio de José Zorrilla

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Yo adoro el Tenorio, sin embargo si que he de decir que prefiero la versión del Burlador de Sevilla de Tirso de Molina pues siento que el final es más adecuado. Me parece que aunque la prosa es hermosa Doña Ines pierde mucha agencia en esta versión, me recuerda mucho más a Angelina de la obra "El Honor del Brigadier" que la versión que hizo de ella Tirso de Molina, definitivamente se romántiza mucho más está figura de seductor canalla en esta versión, aun así es una historia arraigada en México, es una tradición para mi verla cada Noviembre, este año me temo que no será posible así que disfrute muchísimo leerla.