#More world building than romance

[maximusblack-hp]

Loras Tyrell x OC Male

Technically an Self-insert

He knows which universe he’s in, from his last life he remembers pirating the three-season shows and having to look away from the screen every other second due to his confusion about what he was seeing. As if he knew he shouldn’t be watching for his age.

He was supposed to be killed as an infant but instead, he was safe by his only uncle. Turns out he wasn’t the only reincarnated but so was his half-brother Jon Snow known now as Jaehaerys III Targaryen. Then there is also his uncle Viserys III Targaryen and his aunt Daenerys Targaryen. His aunt is technically the third of her name but apparently, it only counts if the person before you was a ruler. There has never been a female Targaryen ruler so therefore she is considered the first of her name.

The four of them are reincarnated and they have this theory it’s due to their Targaryen blood. It’s not that far of a stretch after all Targaryen can command dragons, walk through fire, and have visions of future or past events.

All of them seem to be immune to fire but Viserys is the only one who feels pain from it and sensitivity to light. He and Daenerys have visions but Daenerys focuses on the past while his focus is on the future. Jaehaerys has a mental link to all of them. He’s practically the medical version of a phone call.

Viserys who is the oldest among them whether in this life or the last will never stop being flabbergasted on how long it took for them to realize they all had past life memories. Maybe it's an old age superiority complex Aegon doesn’t really know. Though Aegon and Daenerys died very young in their last life so they don’t really feel that deep connection to the past like Viserys and Jaehaerys are.

Aegon has this theory that their memories aren’t due to their Targaryen blood but due to their connection with the world they’re in. In one way or another, they recognize this world from one source of media to another from their worlds.

In Daenerys’ World, it was a cartoon for kids about dragons and royalty. In his world, it was a three-volume novel with a three-season show about Dothraki and Sullied fighting against the hierarchy. Though really it was just a premise for NSFW content instead of any actual real plot.

In Jaehaerys’ world, it was a comic about ice monster zombies that could only be killed by fire from a dragon fire. And due to the Targaryens being extinct the nation as a whole was screwed. There were even plans in the making to adapt it into a post-apocalyptic movie of what happens to the ancestors of the main characters' kids in the comics who manage to get over the seas.

Then there is Viserys’ world, the one with the most complex version of the story. When Aegon first asked Viserys about it he got a 10-hour rant about how much it sucked and that he hated it except for the Dothraki and Dragons. Although Viserys seems to hate this world he is oddly very passionate about, with his so-called ‘hate.’ Then again there is a very thin line between love and hate.

Aegon is just happy that the craziness of this world seems to be in a calm trance. Though he knows it won’t last for long but he’s content. He is to be crowned soon by his uncle, no longer needing to hide his true identity or the person he loves.

Everyone knows that Lores is his lover and future spouse and there is nothing they can do. It’s nothing new among Targaryens and it doesn’t matter as long as there is a blood heir. Which shouldn’t be a problem for him since apparently his cousin Rhaegal was birthed by Viserys. The number of secrets among the Targaryen bloodline will never cease to amaze them.

It might take a while before he and Loras have children, if anything it’s shocking it hasn’t happened yet. From how often they fucked like bunnies in the heat but then again he needs to bottom for it to happen. Ageon is willing to do it but it will take a while for him to get Loras to agree since his lover loves Bottoms and never thought of them ever doing it the other way around.

Sighing, Aegon turns around to snuggle Loras’ body under him while giving a kiss to Loras' bruised nape from all the love mites on it. It’s too early for him to worry about other events he’ll deal with later. And not on his own for he no longer needs to hide who he is whether be it his identity or who he beds.

[eternalnat]

I rarely make tumblr posts, but I am so infuriated by this situation I need to say something about it.

Five Hargreeves, who spent 45 years alone in a post-apocalyptic world, and every single moment of his life since was spent trying to get back to his family. The Five who ran himself dry for 2 weeks straight trying to stop the end of the world, and reunite his family. The Five who slaughtered an entire board of directors just to ensure him family's safety. Who turned back time himself, while bleeding out on the floor, just to save his siblings. You're telling me, that the Five whose entire motivation for living was once saving his family, is the same Five, who in s4 has entirely given up, and in the Subway is the one trying to convince Lila to stop looking after 6 and a half years? The Five who never once stopped trying to return to his family in all 45 years of surviving alone, decides to settle down in a greenhouse and live out a cottagecore life?

Furthermore, the same Five who told Lila that Diego loved her, who reassured his brother that his wife wasn't cheating on him and loved him dearly, the same Five who got on with Lila only due to the fact that they both cared for and loved Diego, the person they had in common, is the same Five who stole his brother's wife, whom he had three children with, just because the writers were excited that Aidan Gallagher was finally legal?

Five who hated authority, who despised when people gave him commands, who wanted nothing more than to retire in s3, is now working for the CIA and willingly calling his boss, 'sir'?

Five who used to be so paranoid and suspicious of everyone and everything, who used to solve problems alone and came to epiphanies that saved the world, who didn't even trust a past version of himself, also didn't realise that his boss of many years had an umbrella tattooed on his wrist?

Everything that once stood out about his character is now gone, as if the writers themselves entirely forgot about his existence until the last moment, and added him in as an afterthought, without thinking of the effect he would have on the story.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Asunder

slow-paced high fantasy

a woman who has a contract with an eldritch entity allowing her to see the dead & survives by taking various jobs

when a job searching for stranded smugglers in a cave goes wrong, she ends up with the soul of a dying stranger bound to her shadow

along with a scholar and her old childhood friend, they travel to his home country to find a way to unbind him and save them both

dark fantasy world with gods, demonic entities, arcane magic, and semi-sentient beasts used as transport

[thenighttrain]

the chokehold the hunger games has on pop culture is insane. there are still so many hit tweets/posts about it in 2024, people continue to analyse it and find new things, it changed the dystopian book landscape because everything got compared to thg, and even now i still see YA books being compared to it. it set the standard for YA books, in many ways. and as the years go by, it becomes more & more relevant - it’s so timeless, such an iconic series and its lasting success is very well deserved 🖤

[milfbrainrot]

have always been a bit more neutral to timebomb but it has rly surprisingly grown on me so much ;-; i think i do see it more from the tragedy angle and maybe more one-sided. i'm not sure jinx has ever been in a place to reciprocate the feelings i'm sure ekko has, but it is nice to think about for years down the line and in terms of what could have been.

[coolspacequips]

Have been reading this sci-fi romance and like UGH u ever really wish a book was just at least a little better??? There's stuff in this that's interesting but also a lot about it that's so... Juvenile and kinda undercooked lol...... But it's so hard finding good romance bc for a lot of romance readers this is enough, except even then not really since they prolly didn't fuck nasty enough in this book for the ppl that just need the merest pretense to read smut (which is fine if that's what u like there's just an oversaturation of this, esp when you can have a light plot/heavy smut story with slightly better writing and internal world building without having to explain and describe the 'boring' parts 😅)

[kimboo-york]

CHAPTER 13 IS UP ON REAM!!!

New early-access installments are available to my followers on Ream! (Free chapters being released later on down the line, I promise!)

THE START OF AN EPIC ADVENTURE OF MYTHS, MAGIC, AND LEGENDS BEING BORN! FEATURING A FANTASY ROAD TRIP, A SLOW-BURN MMF LOVE TRIAD, DRAGONS, AND MAGIC DOGS!!!!

The tranquil solitude of Astra’s monastic life is shattered in an instant when a brutal assault destroys the only home she has ever known. Thrown into the untamed, wild magic of the outside world, she must rely on an uneasy alliance: a charismatic thief, a suspicious warrior, an injured dragon, and two demonic dogs. Is her secret and reviled ability to communicate with the dead the key to their survival?

If you enjoy sprawling, epic fantasies but think there needs to be more middle-aged women protagonist necromancers with multiple love interests and an adorable, spunky, and very contrary dragon sidekick, then you will love this story!

[jinx-blackout-84]

Goodnight guys <3

I love you and I hope your night is full of rest. I hope it sits over your shoulders like water, I hope your blankets are warm and inviting and I hope your mind is quiet and tired. I hope it smells like lavender and warm flannels when you fall asleep. I hope you can hear a poem rattling in the back of your mind and I hope it tells you that I love you. I love you because you are sunlight and you keep all of the constellations in those little flecks in your eyes. You are possibility and a universe and flesh and song and love. You are love and I love you. But most of all, I hope that you can set down the weight of being everything and nothing. I hope you can drop the weight of existing that weighs down on your shoulders and I hope you can rest in a night made of collages and green plastic glow-in-the-dark stars that hang above your head to remind you of warmth and peace. I hope your night is serene and I hope the night wraps around you like a hug. I love you.

Goodnight.

[tempestclerics]

rereading tâm's character sheet. my girl is genuinely a disaster but i love her anyway

[ivomartins]

@GOD WHAT TF DO YOU MEAN PSI ONLY GETS 3 SEASONS

[oldtvandcomics]

Happy Queer Media Monday!

Today: Hearts of Heroes series by Molly J. Bragg

I usually avoid reccing ongoing series, but each of these books is self-contained enough to be read in isolation.

(The series as it is at the time of posting on Amazon. I cut out the Kindle prices, but left in the (very high) star ratings.)

Hearts of Heroes is a lesbian superhero romance series that contains, at the date of posting (Time Stamp: 25/9/2023) three books. Each of them tells the origin story of a different hero, the name of whom is also the title of the book. They are all self-contained stories, but the books are all set in the same universe, so that old heroes and concepts pop back up in the new novels. 

At the moment, it is all giving off very early MCU vibes, when everything was still fresh and every movie was about introducing a new hero and expanding their world. Bragg’s three main heroines are all very different, with very different powers and relationships. Their relationship to their queerness is also very different, but they have in common that they all feel very, very real. They are the kind of people who you could come across on Tumblr at any moment, and they would just blend into the crowd of queer users. The author, by the way, actually IS on Tumblr as @themollyjay, so maybe that is why.

The only possible critique one could have about this series is that it works better as a romance than as a superhero adventure. But that can be helped by telling people beforehand, so that they can manage their expectations.

I have done an in-depth review for Queer SciFi of both Transistor and of Aether, but they don’t seem to have posted the Aether one yet. I’m still making this post, because I’m tired of waiting.

Queer Media Monday is an action I started to talk about some important and/or interesting parts of our queer heritage, that people, especially young people who are only just beginning to discover the wealth of stories out there, should be aware of. Please feel free to join in on the fun and make your own posts about things you personally find important!

[cannedsoupcansoup]

Voltron was such a good show at first, it was literally one of my favourites. A part of me always wonders what would come of it if we didn't have all the fucking shipping drama because 1. Romance was not even a central plot element of this show about GIANT ROBOTS IN SPACE, 2. The character dynamics would have been so much better handled if there wasn't constant stress over people interpreting minor interactions as shipping-fuel. Like, if none of the big drama happened, we'd probably end up with a wonderful 10/10 show, but instead we got a show that starts off as 10/10 but ends up as 3/10 with an ending that makes me so fucking angry it's unbelievable.

[3gremlins]

thanks @queenaeducan now all i want is for dragon age dwarves to canonically be able to echolocate and have other cave dweller adaptations

I’m playing Inquisition again

[cross-d-a]

too tired to write too tired to read but I’m nOT too tired to daydream about a new fic au..,,,,,..,.

[olis-inkwell-symposium]

Developing Backstory: Bringing Characters to Life

1. Where It All Started: The Character’s Origin

Place of Birth: Where did your character first see the world? Think about the impact of this place—was it a busy city where they had to fight for attention or a quiet village where everyone knew everyone’s business? This location doesn’t just say where they’re from; it shapes how they see the world.

Family and Upbringing: What was their family like? Were their parents loving or distant? Maybe they were raised by someone other than their parents—a mentor, an older sibling, or even alone. Family (or the lack of it) is usually one of the most significant factors in shaping who someone becomes.

Society’s Expectations: What was expected of them when they were young? Possibly, they were born into wealth, with all the pressure to continue the family legacy, or maybe they were raised to be invisible in a world where survival mattered. How does this influence who they are now? Do they accept or reject those expectations?

2. Childhood Events That Left a Mark

First Taste of Conflict: Think about the first time the character realized the world wasn’t a perfect place. Maybe they witnessed violence or faced betrayal. What was that moment, and how did it stick with them? This moment usually lays the foundation for the character’s emotional landscape—fear, hope, ambition, or distrust all come from these early life lessons.

Childhood Dreams: When they were young, what did they want to be? Every child has dreams—did they want to be a knight, a scholar, or even just someone who could travel the world? Did they have to give up these dreams? How does that lost dream shape them now?

Formative Relationships: Who was their first best friend, mentor, or enemy? Childhood friendships and relationships often create deep bonds or wounds that last into adulthood. Did they have a mentor who taught them everything, only to betray them? Did they lose a childhood friend that still haunts them?

3. The Teen Years: Where They Start to Become Who They Are

Trials and Tribulations: What’s the biggest challenge they faced as they grew up? Was it losing a loved one, failing at something important, or maybe being forced into a role they didn’t want? These teenage years are where the emotional armor starts forming—how did the difficulties they faced shape them into the person they are now?

Education or Training: How did they learn what they know? Were they formally trained by an institution, learning everything by the book, or did they learn through experience, like a street-smart survivalist? What impact does their education or lack of it have on how they interact with others?

Teenage Bonds: Did they have a first love or a first major falling out with someone close to them? These experiences often create emotional scars or connections that they carry with them into adulthood. How does that past friendship or romance influence their behavior now?

4. Key Life Events: The Big Moments That Define Them

Trauma or Loss: Was there a moment that changed everything? Think about a significant loss—maybe a loved one, their home, or a sense of identity. How does this event affect their worldview? Do they build walls around themselves or dive into relationships with reckless abandon because they fear losing more?

Victory or Failure: Did they experience a moment of triumph or devastating defeat? Success and failure leave their marks. Were they celebrated as a hero once, leading them to overconfidence, or did they fail when everyone was counting on them, leading to crippling self-doubt?

Betrayal: Was there a betrayal that shaped their adult relationships? Whether it is a friend, family member, or lover, betrayal often changes how we trust others. Do they close themselves off, constantly expecting betrayal, or try to rebuild trust, afraid of being left alone again.

5. Where They Stand Now: The Present Moment

What Drives Them Today: What’s the one thing pushing them forward now? Is it revenge, the need to restore their family’s honor, or maybe even just survival? Whatever it is, this motivation should tie directly back to their experiences.

Emotional Baggage: What unresolved emotional wounds are they carrying? Everyone has scars from their past—some are visible, others not so much. How do these emotional wounds affect how they treat others, how they react to conflict, and how they move through the world.

Current Relationships: Who’s still in their life from their past, and how do they feel about it? Did they reconnect with someone they thought they’d lost, or are they haunted by unresolved issues with people from their past? Do they have any ongoing tensions or regrets tied to these people?

6. Tying Themes to Their Backstory

Cultural or Mythological Influence: How does their personal story tie into the larger world’s mythology or culture? Do they carry a family legacy, a curse, or a prophecy that hangs over them? How does this influence their interactions with others and their perception of themselves?

Recurring Symbols: Are there objects, dreams, or people that keep showing up in their life, symbolizing their journey? Perhaps a recurring nightmare haunts them, or they carry an object from their past that’s both a source of comfort and pain

7. Character Arc: The Journey from Past to Present

How Does Their Past Shape Their Growth?: Every character has emotional baggage that needs resolving. How does their backstory drive their arc? Do they need to forgive themselves, let go of the past, or accept who they’ve become to move forward?

Unanswered Questions from the Past: Are there any mysteries in their backstory they need to solve? Maybe they’re unaware of their true parentage, or maybe there’s a forgotten event from their childhood that will resurface and change everything.

[urlocalmagicalcat]

really long rant (happy rant) in the tags, mostly towards @synthetic-lavender /vpos

romance repulsed aros and romance favourable aros are both cool and valid but because i never see anything about us: shoutout to romance indifferent aros. romance neutral aros. aros who just couldn't care less. aros who have a conflicted relationship with romance. aros who are fine with romance in some contexts but not in others. aros who don't mind romance when it's not amatonormativity being shoved down their throats. aros who haven't yet figured out their feelings about romance. aros to whom romance is Just Something That Exists. y'all are rad as hell and it's okay not to 'pick a side'!!