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televinita · 4 days

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Books Read in 2023: The Why

That's right, just because it's much closer to 2025 than 2023 doesn't mean I can't still pull out this out! Mostly because I found in my Tumblr drafts that I had already done the work of putting the cover collages together, and what am I gonna do, waste that?

ANYWAY, BOILERPLATE EXPLANATION TIME: In a tradition I accidentally started for myself in 2016, at the end of the year I look back at my reading list and answer the question, why did you read this particular book? Books are arranged in chronological order of read date (unless it made more sense to put series books together), split into groups by target readership age, plus nonfiction at the end. As best I can tell, anyway; choosing between YA & middle grade for older books is often a trip. I'll toss in "how I heard of it" if I can still remember...

ADULT FICTION

(split into two parts because there are a lot)

Run Rose Run - Dolly Parton & James Patterson. 2022.

Half the promise of a companion album, half just because “girl runs away to become a country star” sounds like the only-slightly-older version of my beloved Somebody Everybody Listens To.

How I heard of it: a book blog

Treasure State - C.J. Box. 2022.

Read & enjoyed the whole Cassie DeWell series so far (this is #6).

The Pink House - Louise Platt Hauck. 1933. Family Matters - Louise Platt Hauck. 1934.

See this post.

These Silent Woods - Kimi Cunningham-Graham. 2021.

Recommended by a Goodreads friend + father-daughter bonds* + self-sufficient life off the grid. (*the PLAN was to picture Owen + Maisie but then this gifset from Big Sky happened)

The Siren of Sussex - Mimi Matthews. 2022.

The Belle of Belgrave Square - Mimi Matthews. 2022.

Don't know what Past Me was doing with the collage order here, but I read Belle first -- originally checked out because beautiful cover + horses + Beauty and the Beast retelling for the latter. But on this particular day? I started with the second one because I was on day 2 of my Tom Hiddleston Spiral and omg look who just so happens to have a romance on deck featuring a British love interest.

And then I cycled back to the first book, now even more enthusiastic about my plan to cast Dev Patel as the love interest.

How I heard of it: book blogs

The Santa Suit - Mary Kay Andrews. 2021.

Picked it up for the cute cover, and then the first page was so much like the start of Arnie and a House Full of Company (woman driving up with her pets to a beautiful but decidedly overgrown/neglected old house she’s about to move into) that I got immediately sucked in.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Twenty-One Truths About Love - Matthew Green. 2019.

List format, bookstore owner, and mainly: it’s so flippin’ rare to find books about married couples in love whose only conflict is external, let alone such books from the man’s perspective.

How I heard of it: Barnes & Noble

The Bookshop of Secrets - Mollie Rushmeyer. 2022.

Beautiful cover + MN setting + antiquarian bookshop + hunting for a lost local treasure??

How I heard of it: can't remember :[

A Different Blue - Amy Harmon. 2013.

A mostly-age-appropriate student/teacher romance which I have saved for a billion years to get the casting right, only to throw that plan to the wind when I decided I could use Hiddleston for this too (plan quickly abandoned as he does not fit at all beyond sharing a nationality)

How I heard of it: Goodreads, a full decade ago

This Bird Has Flown - Susanna Hoffs. 2023.

I MAY have been googling keywords trying to find a novel that reminded me of Hiddleswift, and instead I got a way better option for casting him in (this one worked beautifully).

The Escape - Lisa Harris. 2020.

Bought cheap at a book sale because thriller (marshalls hunting an escaped fugitive) in the woods/mountains!

A Thing of Beauty - Lisa Samson. 2018.

Thought it would be a romance plus an element of cleaning out a hoarder’s house. "Former child star" sounded cool too.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Love For Beginners - Jill Shalvis. 2021.

Bought cheap because beautiful cover + a summery romance including dogs.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Bellman & Black - Diane Setterfield. 2013.

Jack Davenport narrates the audiobook and literally no other reasons.

How I heard of it: Libby (the app)

Smothered - Autumn Chiklis. 2018.

It me! (I’ve never seen another book about a college grad who immediately moves back home with her parents and struggles to find a job.)

How I heard of it: Dollar store

Doctor Who: Autonomy - Daniel Blythe. 2009.

Tie-in novels featuring Ten are always quick/fun/easy fare, and this one is set in a mall (!), but mostly, the audiobook is narrated by Georgia Tennant.

How I heard of it: Libby

Something Wilder - Christina Lauren. 2022.

A romance featuring an overnight trip on horseback AND searching for treasure?? Sold.

How I heard of it: Book blogs or YouTube

Famous For a Living - Melissa Ferguson. 2023.

A romance featuring an Instagram Influencer detoxing (fleeing the backlash of a scandal) via a job in a National Park? Sign me all the way up.

How I heard of it: Once Upon a Book Club

Dr. Laurie's Conquest - Berta LaVan Barker. 1980.

Bought cheap because romance about a vet, w/ specific mention of a horse. Read now for the Mount TBR challenge because it’s short.

How I heard of it: Goodwill

Something Wild & Wonderful - Anita Kelly. 2023.

Pacific Crest Trail = hiking inspiration! (and a side of romance never hurts)

How I heard of it: a book blog

Tin Camp Road - Ellen Airgood. 2021.

Loved her middle grade novels and wanted more of her writing; this plot looked more exciting than her adult debut.

How I heard of it: Goodreads/author's back catalog

The Grim Reader - Kate Carlisle. 2020.

Cute cover, and cozy mysteries make great audiobooks, especially when book-centric.

How I heard of it: Goodwill

Lady Sunshine - Amy Mason Doan. 2021.

Beautiful cover, I loved her debut, 70s music scene in one timeline, and inheriting an estate in the other? Sold.

How I heard of it: Barnes & Noble

The Small Room - May Sarton. 1961.

Small, compact size + an intriguing setting and premise perfect for the fall season (young English instructor’s first teaching job at a New England liberal arts college; the publication date added to the intrigue).

How I heard of it: used book sale

The Study of Animal Languages - Lindsay Stern. 2019.

It is not very often you find novels about two college professors married to each other. Also, the title topic intrigued me.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Two Rogues Make a Right - Cat Sebastian. 2020.

Good Omens Season 2 briefly awoke the slash urge in me, and then this happened. Reviews calling this an indulgent, plotless pile of hurt/comfort fluff (positive) sealed the deal.

How I heard of it: Reddit

Home Before Dark - Riley Sager. 2020.

Hype convinced me to try one of his books; a woman restoring a supposedly haunted house definitely looked like the best one.

How I heard of it: book blogs, originally, I think

Lock Every Door - Riley Sager. 2019.

The House Across The Lake - Riley Sager. 2022.

I LOVED the above and immediately wanted more, and since the waitlist for his new one was too long I went for the next-best-sounding ones because they had the coolest settings (and THEN I was finally satiated for a while).

The Paris Apartment - Lucy Foley. 2022.

I had such a good time with Lock Every Door that obviously, it was time for another apartment mystery I’d been vaguely thinking about reading for a while, again due to its cool setting.

How I heard of it: book blogs

The Apartment - S.L. Grey. 2016.

When I searched the above in my library catalog, this title came up in relation. Absolutely I want to read a horror book set in a Paris apartment! (especially as the age difference between the MC and his wife maybe made me think about Michael Sheen & Anna. don’t judge me)

A Paris Apartment - Michelle Gable. 2014.

This ALSO came up in the search results and HELL YEAH I would like to read a novel based on one of the most fascinating news stories I’ve ever heard. (I actually had two options for this, but went with this one first because it seemed more literary; I wasn’t really in the mood for a romance)

Dead To Me - Cath Staincliffe. 2012. Bleed Like Me - Cath Staincliffe. 2013. Ruthless - Cath Staincliffe. 2014.

Catching up the Scott & Bailey TV series, learned they have tie-in novels?? IMMEDIATELY checked the first one out of my library and had such a good time with it that I rounded up the remaining ones ASAP.

How I heard of it: library catalog

The Good Turn - Dervla McTiernan. 2020.

Still in the mood for detective fiction from across the pond so time to finish out this trilogy.

When The Reckoning Comes - LaTanya McQueen. 2021.

This had some good reviews and I was intrigued by the prospect of a horror novel featuring a wedding at a haunted plantation. Maybe a mob of ghostly former slaves bringing a bloodbath? (no. it’s not that graphic. But it’s really good)

How I heard of it: a book blog

Plain Bad Heroines - Emily Danforth. 2020.

Her debut exceeded expectations so I was vaguely curious about this very different book, since she’s only published the two in over a decade, but my interest was solidified when I found an ARC copy with a promotional fake-newspaper insert inside. Wanted context for appreciating that.

How I heard of it: Goodreads/author's back catalog

Fair As A Star - Mimi Matthews. 2020.

Watching The Essex Serpent means I’m back on my stan train following a summer break, and what’s that? My new favorite romance author has one featuring a vicar?

How I heard of it: Goodreads/author's back catalog

You Look Something - Jessica Mehta. 2020.

Random library shelf pull because short read, interesting cover and premise (first-in-her-family college student, but written for an adult audience), and immediately intriguing writing style.

A Haunting on the Hill - Elizabeth Hand. 2023.

Cool cover + “officially licensed return to the setting of Shirley Jackson’s novel”?? The setting was the best part of that book so I hoped this would be the actually-scary version of what I wanted that one to be.

How I heard of it: ooh...can't remember if Goodreads, book blog or YouTube

Daughter of No Worlds - Carissa Broadbent. 2020. Children of Fallen Gods - Carissa Broadbent. 2021.

This random tumblr post about a series I'd never heard of before immediately sparked a vague hope to make this Loki/Sylvie-shaped; liked the first book enough to throw myself into the second, though I got burned out and have yet to finish the trilogy.

The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton - Eleanor Ray. 2021.

“It's easier to love things than people. Things are safe. Things will never leave you.” I've never identified harder with a line from a book summary in my life.

How I heard of it: ...Goodreads? maybe? COME ON SELF this was literally only 10 months ago.

The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone - Audrey Burges. 2023.

A (magic) dollhouse and a 30-something reclusive blogger? It me! Add an implied romance with a guy who (somehow) owns the real-life version of the mansion and this sounds tailor-made for me.

How I heard of it: BookOutlet

Forgotten Trail - Claire Kells. 2023.

Read & enjoyed the first two in this National Parks mystery series, new November tradition unlocked.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Thornyhold - Mary Stewart. 1988.

Saw a cool illustration in a Readers Digest Condensed and wanted full context because I always love a Cool Mysterious Overgrown Inherited House.

How I heard of it: did I count this as "in another book" or "used book sale" when I made my graphs last year, I wonder.

The Last Ranger - Peter Heller. 2023.

I really like the way he writes both nature and men. (I also may have been fully immersed in my Jensen-Ackles-in-Big-Sky era.)

How I heard of it: Barnes & Noble

Just Like Magic - Sarah Hogle. 2022.

Loved her previous romance, and though skeptical about this one, I trusted the 5-star rec of a blogger with very similar reading tastes (she was CORRECT).

How I heard of it: a book blog

========

YOUNG ADULT / TEEN

(again broken into two segments because there are a lot)

The Little Woods - McCormick Templeman. 2012.

Bought cheap because pretty cover + boarding school murder mystery

How I heard of it: used-book section of Barnes & Noble

Lawless Spaces - Corey Ann Haydu. 2022.

Mostly the beautiful cover, a little bit the promise of stories from multiple generations of women in one family.

How I heard of it: book blog

Friends Like These - Jennifer Lynn Alvarez. 2022.

Loved her first YA thriller.

How I heard of it: Goodreads/author's back catalog

Scattered Showers: Stories - Rainbow Rowell. 2022.

I love her but not all of her writing styles; after waiting One Eternity (9 years) for more contemporary writing from her I did not hesitate.

How I heard of it: book blog

We Walked the Sky - Lisa Fiedler. 2019.

Dual timelines: one teen a circus performer, the other her granddaughter who’s just inherited a Box of Memorabilia?? Two things I adore.

How I heard of it: dollar store

Butterfly Yellow - Thanhhà Lại. 2019.

Mostly intrigued by the working-on-a-ranch aspect.

How I heard of it: book blog

Five Survive - Holly Jackson. 2022.

Liked the whole AGGGTM trilogy, was excited to try a different and more thriller-y flavor from her.

How I heard of it: book blogs or YouTube?

Texas Gothic - Rosemary Clement-Moore. 2011.

A google result while trying to find a lost book for someone, and: Ranch-sitting? Ghosts? Kitchen-witch type magic in an otherwise real-world setting? That beautiful cover? SOLD.

Maybe One Day - Melissa Kantor. 2014.

Cancer novel + best friends have both been reliable staples for me in YA.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Last Secret You'll Ever Keep - Laurie Faria Stolarz. 2021.

Sequel (or really companion novel) to a book that impressed me 2 years ago.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

If You Find Me - Emily Murdoch. 2013.

Intense curiosity about how a girl who'd been hidden away in a trailer in the woods with her little sister by their neglectful mom for almost a decade would cope with a return to society and her bio dad.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Coming Back Alive - Dennis J. Reader. 1981.

70s teens running away to live off the land is one of my favorite tropes.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Final Gambit - Jennifer Lynn Barnes. 2022.

Love this series!

A Wild Thing - Jean Renvoize. 1970.

Another 70s teen running away to live off the land. This time in Scotland!

How I heard of it: lost-book forum on either Reddit or Goodreads

Beloved Monster - Helen Markley Miller. 1968.

18-year-old girl inherits a sprawling mansion? LET’S GO! Especially if it’s also vintage.

How I heard of it: ooh, it's been 5+ years, can't remember. Maybe a Goodreads friend?

The Perfect Place to Die - Bryan Moore. 2019.

Oh I ABSOLUTELY want to read a YA novel set in Chicago’s infamous murder mansion.

How I heard of it: Goodreads (via a staff rec post)

Song of the Shaggy Canary - Phyllis Anderson Wood. 1974.

A slow-burn romance between a divorced teen mom and a 20-year-old recently discharged soldier? Sign me up.

How I heard of it: pretty sure it was one of the Speaking for Ourselves volumes.

Loki: Where Mischief Lies - Mackenzie Lee. 2019.

Step 1: watch the Loki series as a result of your newfound actor stanning + an influential gifset, fall in love with the character and the seemingly-canon ship.

Step 2: immediately google for YA novels with this dynamic.

Step 3: have officially licensed YA fanfic fall straight into your lap.

I Tell A Lie Every So Often - Bruce Clements. 1974.

Found at a book sale, vaguely wanted to read ever since reading an essay about it in Lost Masterworks of Young Adult Literature.

Losing Gabriel - Lurlene McDaniel. 2016. Somebody's Baby - Lurlene McDaniel. 2017.

Books 3 and 4 in a series I love that the library doesn’t have; I already owned the latter and was glad to be able to continue after buying the third at a book sale.

The Last Exit to Normal - Michael Harmon. 2008.

Got it in a blind bag and thought it would be interesting to read about a teen (in Montana!) coming to terms with his fairly-newly-out gay dad’s relationship. (narrator: it wasn’t)

Camper Girl - Glenn Erick Miller. 2020.

Inherited camper-van + road trip!

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Year of the Rat - Clare Furniss. 2014.

Bought cheap because unusual premise in YA (mom dies giving birth to second child) + pretty cover.

How I heard of it: used-book section of Barnes & Noble

You Look Different In Real Life - Jennifer Castle. 2013.

Needed an audiobook, unusual premise for YA (reality/documentary series checking in every 5 years with teens they first filmed in kindergarten).

How I heard of it: Libby

Thief of Happy Endings - Kristen Chandler. 2018.

Love this author, plus horses. Specifically, mustangs!

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Summer of Sloane - Erin L. Schneider. 2016.

Pretty cover and just looked like a solid, summery contemporary YA novel.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Lake House - Sarah Beth Durst. 2023.

WHAT IN THE AWESOME SPOOK COVER (also, stuck on an island with an obviously and very unexpectedly abandoned/destroyed summer camp?? Spoooook!)

How I heard of it: YouTube, and I even specifically remember where -- GabbyReads

The Foreseeable Future - Emily Adrian. 2018.

Beautiful cover + unusual post-grad life plans (working as a CNA instead of college) always interest me

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Don’t Slam The Door When You Go - Barbara Corcoran. 1972.

I love this author...and yes, we have yet another round of runaways trying to live off the land. :D But this time in a ghost town!

How I heard of it: OpenLibrary

The Last Beautiful Girl - Nina Laurin. 2021.

Beautiful cover + Influencer + creepy historic maybe-haunted house, sold.

How I heard of it: Barnes & Noble

The Island - Natasha Preston. 2023.

Reliable (if mid) genre author + an empty amusement park setting? also, Influencers being lured to creepy islands for Murder Reasons never gets old.

How I heard of it: YouTube

Mermaid Park - Beth Mayall. 2005.

A google result while looking for a lost book title, idea of a girl training as a “mermaid” swimmer at a theme park sounded intriguing.

Everything Beautiful Is Not Ruined - Danielle Younge-Ullman. 2017.

I’ll read basically anything you have about teens being sent to Wilderness Struggle therapy, so this was on my TBR, but was particularly motivated after reading Paris Hilton's memoir and not being able to (cheaply) get my hands on Sarah Stusek's book.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Body of Christopher Creed - Carol Plum-Ucci. 2000.

Loved her second novel, have been curious about this one due to its acclaim for a while and then I found it at a book sale – read quickly to send it on its way again.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Creep: A Love Story - Lygia Day Penaflor. 2022.

Teen girl rationalizes stalking to enhance the experience of shipping her very-accessible real-life OTP? Sounds like the less-legal, IRL form of what we do every day with our favorite celebrity couples on social media and I was curious to see it play out. A little bit because I also made personal celebrities out of some classmates in school, so I recognize the thrill of seeing them in person, though I did not stalk them.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Silver: Return to Treasure Island - Andrew Motion. 2012.

90% because the audiobook is narrated by David Tennant and for once it’s not part of an obnoxiously silly children’s series. 10% because adventure and treasure-hunting.

How I heard of it: Libby

Game Change - Joseph Monninger. 2017.

I like this author and have a soft spot for high school football (further enhanced by the football-player character on the new Goosebumps series).

How I heard of it: used book sale

The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone - Adele Griffin. 2014.

Mixed media formatting! Such a cool and unusual way to tell a narrative.

How I heard of it: I thiiink, many years ago, I was specifically googling for books with unusual formatting.

Heartwood Box - Ann Aguirre. 2019.

"When Araceli Flores Harper is sent to live with her great-aunt Ottilie in her ramshackle Victorian home--" literally sold. (combined with how it looked like a horror book w/ the possibility of ghosts)

How I heard of it: used book sale

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous - Suzanne Park. 2021.

Cute cover and title, YouTuber in need of social media detox, FARM IN IOWA SETTING?? Sold.

How I heard of it: library browsing

Nobody Else Can Walk It For You - P.J. Petersen. 1982.

Found on the “free” cart shortly after hearing about it on Goodreads' lost-book forum and thinking it sounded like a cool thriller.

Dream to Me - Megan Paasch. 2023.

Haunting cover similar to my beloved Amelia Unabridged, sisters, inheriting a mildly creepy old house

How I heard of it: library browsing

These Things I've Done - Rebecca Phillips

Bought cheap at the dollar store for the girl-dating-late-best-friend’s-brother aspect (shared grief ftw!). Read now to confirm I could unhaul it.

=========

CHILDREN'S / MIDDLE GRADE

Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave - Jen White. 2015.

Bought cheap at the dollar store because cool cover + sisters fending for themselves when abandoned by dad.

Polo Cowboy - G. Neri. 2021.

Sequel to a surprising hit I read last year.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Diddakoi - Rumer Godden. 1972.

Recommended by a Goodreads friend because horse! + Traveler girl + reliable classic author.

Stella - McCall Hoyle. 2021. Just Gus - McCall Hoyle. 2023.

Dog book! recommended by a Goodreads friend. Loved it so much I read the companion novel ASAP.

Grand National - John R. Tunis. 1973.

Bought cheap at Goodwill because vintage horse book; read now to see if I could get rid of it (yes).

Running Out of Time - Margaret Peterson Haddix. 1995. Falling Out of Time - Margaret Peterson Haddix. 2023.

Reread of a childhood classic in anticipation of the new sequel.

Ten Miles Past Normal - Frances O'Roark Dowell. 2011.

I wanted to read about a girl growing up on a goat farm.

How I heard of it: OpenLibrary

Sweet Home Alaska - Carole Etsby Dagg. 2016.

I liked her previous book and was excited to learn about another part of American history that was new to me.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Thornbush Jungle - Rutherford G. Montgomery. 1966.

I will read anything he writes about animals.

How I heard of it: antiquarian bookstore

Maisie Lockwood Adventures no. 2: The Yosemite Six - Tess Sharpe. 2022.

Loved the first book, finally bought the second when I couldn't borrow it from anywhere.

The Eagle's Shadow - Nora Martin. 1997.

Reminded me of my favorite childhood movie, Journey to Spirit Island (at least in terms of setting and a similar culture).

How I heard of it: used book sale

Lila and Hadley - Kody Keplinger. 2020.

Girl + dog story, with a photographic cover (is the only thing that overcame my author grudge).

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Me, The Beef and the Bum - Charles Hammer. 1984.

50% funny title, 50% I love cows

How I heard of it: a book about teen books

Sardines - Sashi Kaufman. 2022.

Pleasantly surprised by her ability to write boys in YA, waited a million years for a third release from her (even if it was middle grade).

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Vandals of Treason House - Nancy Veglahn. 1974.

Vintage book about cleaning up & learning about a historic house? Neato.

How I heard of it: Goodreads/lost book forum

Sire Unknown - Marjorie Reynolds. 1968.

“Read because…” Vintage horse book, next question. (as to why I read it NOW, working on the Mount TBR challenge and randomly pulled this from the shelf)

How I heard of it: used book sale

The Explorer - Katherine Rundell. 2017.

Liked a previous book of hers, always love “crashed and got lost in the jungle” stories.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Gallery - Laura Marx Fitzgerald. 2016.

STUNNING cover + excited to read about a girl working as a maid in a fancy 1920s mansion

How I heard of it: a book blog

NONFICTION

A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City - Drew Philp. 2019.

Available audiobook + always interested in old-house renovation.

How I heard of it: Libby

Wildflower - Drew Barrymore. 2015.

A People magazine cover story on her reminded me I had meant to read this, since she’s always been a favorite actress.

How I heard of it: ONTD

The Zoo on the Road to Nablus - Amelia Thomas. 2008.

Bought cheap because beautiful cover + always interested in reading about specific zoos, especially those affected by war in the Middle East.

How I heard of it: used-book section of Barnes & Noble

Gizelle's Bucket List: My Life With a Very Large Dog - Lauren Fern Watt. 2017.

Reminded me of Boomer’s Bucket List, but also I will read most pet memoirs

How I heard of it: Goodreads

My Bookstore - ed. Ronald Rice. 2012.

What could be better than a bunch of authors writing short essays about their favorite bookstore?

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Animals Welcome - Peg Kehret. 2012.

Who can say no to a short memoir aimed at kids about animal rescue, especially by a prolific children’s book author from my youth.

How I heard of it: used book sale

Open Book - Jessica Simpson. 2020.

I’ve always liked her despite not knowing much about her work; seeing this at Goodwill finally inspired a read.

How I heard of it: ONTD

The House of Spirits and Whispers - Annie Wilder. 2005.

Saw it at a garage sale, definitely here for a spooky haunted house of relatively local interest.

The Actor's Life: A Survival Guide - Jenna Fischer. 2017.

I LOVE HER.

How I heard of it: ...hm, can't remember! maybe ONTD, maybe just Office fandom in general?

This Is Not a Pity Memoir - Abi Morgan. 2022.

While in another acute round of stanning Mr. & Mrs. Tennant via the latter's social media, I was trying to figure out what kind of novel would most satisfyingly represent the vibes of their relationship and concluded it’s not the falling in love so much with them as it is the steadfast endurance, so maybe hurt/comfort in the form of illness? A bit of googling later and this was so wildly, absurdly on the nose despite being nonfiction (a British actor and a wife on the writing/production side of the industry, with kids) that I had to read it immediately.

Paris: The Memoir - Paris Hilton. 2023.

I don’t have strong feelings about her as a person, so I was mostly just curious – especially the part about being sent to abusive juvenile behavioral rehab facilities, a topic I’ve always found fascinating.

How I heard of it: ONTD

The Writer's Tale: The Final Chapter - Russell T. Davies & Benjamin Cook. 2010 edition.

Good Omens sends me directly into a Doctor Who renaissance, time to finally read this tome I’ve been saving since the last time that happened! (four years ago) This is the only era of Doctor Who I care about so the more detail, the better.

How I heard of it: Half Price Books. Like back when it was relatively new, and I was a fool who didn't get it because it was pricey.

The Last Bookseller: A Life in the Rare Book Trade - Gary Goodman. 2021.

The subject latter alone would have gotten my attention, but this was actually my favorite bookstore until it closed.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World’s Most Brilliant Dog - Andy Rosenfelt. 2015.

Read & loved his first book about big fluffy rescue dogs, wanted more. Read now because a Goodreads friend just read it and reminded me of that fact.

How I heard of it: Goodreads

The Office BFFs - Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey. 2022.

I LOVE THEM AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP AND THEIR PODCAST.

She Memes Well - Quinta Brunson. 2021.

Love Abbott Elementary; had completely forgotten this existed until I was looking at Goodreads Choice Awards nominees of years past and then read on a whim.

Tell Me Everything - Minka Kelly. 2023.

Speaking of things I found out about via Goodreads Choice, I don’t know much about her as a person, but she’s really pretty and this sounded compelling and harrowing.

Sold to the Lady in the Green Hat - Emma Bailey. 1962.

I love auctions (well, estate sales, but same principle), I love old books, and I LOVED the illustrations and charming humor of vintage domestic memoirs I saw immediately at a glance.

How I heard of it: sale corner of the library

The Woman in Me - Britney Spears. 2023.

Mild curiosity due to inescapable hype, but mostly just determination to publicly confirm it wasn’t any better than her sister’s book, which I read the year before.

How I heard of it: ONTD

=========

Whew!! Done. I'd like to tell you and myself that I'm keeping up with 2024's log, but I actually got bogged down in trying to log every detail (cover thoughts, where it's set, why I was drawn to it, why I read it now, where I got it from), and burned out around early June because this is also the year I'm going to read 200 books apparently.

And this post already feels pretty messy. So. I guess we'll just see if it is in fact the last one or not..

#why I read #how much did celebrities and other media consumption influence my reading this year? come inside to find out!#LONG post once opened

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oh-hawkeye · 2 years

Text

I'm so angry I don't even wanna scream.

MOST OF MY EPISODE ANNIVERSARY DATES WERE WRONG AS HELL!!!

I MADE ALL THE POSTS WITH WRONG DATES PIVATE so that they don't misinform anyone.

I'LL FIX AND MAKE THEM PUBLIC AGAIN WITHIN A FEW DAYS.

I'm sorry :(

[EDIT: changed "max. 3" to "a few" (days)]

I knew when was the first episode aired and after that I assumed they were aired every week. I WAS SO WRONG! I don't know how I could make that mistake.

I'M THREE EPISODES AHEAD and MOST OF MY POSTS TAGGED "this moment appeared on TV exactly 50 years ago" ARE WRONGLY SO!!!

I've made gifs for 11 of the first 17 episodes and only the first two are tagged right. All the posts past E05 are dated wrong.

I have to fix it somehow, and I will, but I don't even know how.

[under the cut I'm not longer angry, but sad instead, and I explain why that matters and why the reason it matters to me so much isn't as crazy as it can seem]

I'm not sure how I'm going to fix this. I'm so angry!!!

I tried so hard to make those gifs on time, often failing, very often rushing like crazy to manage on time, more that once making it literally the last minute, doing all the posting manually because the queue couldn't handle the accuracy I needed.

I tried so bad to make the perfect anniversary blog/celebration. I wanted it so much that at times the struggle to keep up took the fun out of it.

I'm not doing this because I'm such a die-hard MASH fan. I'm not obsessed so much that I needed the anniversary celebration to be perfect for the sake of it. I came up with it because the idea itself seemed so cool, and the opportunity was too good to miss.

At the same time it seemed like a good idea to do something MASH related (other than watching the same episodes over and over) to keep me interested as it's too easy to lose interest in something if there's no new content to fuel the excitement.

That's why I care about everything being on point even more than I would if it was only the matter of celebrating the anniversary. I'm doing it for the sake of the form even more that I'm doing it for the content itself.

I've just relised that means that most of my posts are/will be (I'm counting also the episodes that I didn't post yet) wrong. MOST OF THEM.

That basically means I didn't post my gifsets on the scenes' anniversary as a rule. I made them so sometimes.

That means that the whole idea failed. If at least a bare majority was right I could say that the project is full of shortcomings, is hanging by a thread, and is terribly flawed but it is at least accomplished. And this? This is just an incomplete collection of draft notes.

I was so excited about this idea, and the fact that someone with a popular MASH blog told me they think that the idea is "cool" and "fun", and that "that extra effort is admirable" (about posting on the exact anniversary of the scene) made me feel sppreciated, and even more confident it's worth the trouble.

And now what?

I have to find a way to manage the mess, as fixing it is impossible. Then I'll have to make up another tags for those posts that were originally tagged as on time. Then I'll have to change all those tags, which will be the most annoying and time-consuming part, as the mass editor can only do so much.

I have to think fast, as I can't stand the fact that almost all my blog is a lie...

I know it's just a silly internet thing, and I'm too old to care about such things, but I really feel like crap.

I could really use cheering up. Any attempt at that will be greatly appreciated, even if I doubt anyone will even read it. I'm not popular enough (actually not at all) for people to care about me spilling my guts on a fandom blog.

However if you read that through this all - thank you! My non-mash posts are usually not being read, and I think people would prefer me not to write at all. So if you do - thanks again :)

#thoughts around mash #I'm getting personal #me blogging #mash 50th anniversary #mash anniversary #mash blog #m*a*s*h blog #mashblr #mashposting #the posting snafu of 2022 #posting snafu

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ciutae · 4 years

Text

hello :)

#was going through my drafts and saw a gifset i jad set to post #its like 2 years old lmfao i kinda wanna post it because it'd be a waste #but ive been inactive for so long o doubt anyone would see it on their tl now #its a kookie sleeping compilation gif #if anyone's interested ill post it djhdhd #also hi yes if you're wondering whats happening im on stan twt full time #not as an army tho.....#ateez completely stole my heart ive been an atiny for like 5 months now :D #uh thats it #love u all 🤺#idk if ill ever come back to this account but ya #missing my moots tho we had such fun times in here #edit: i realized i have 3 unposted gifsets haha

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shijiujun · 4 years

Text

tell me baby

A gratuitous sick fic for Inspector Qiao, and he finally eats from the spoon Lu Yao offers him because third time’s the charm - Inspired by this gifset

===

It’s a slow day at the station today with all their leads dried up, but Youning and Lu Yao are investigating outside right now and Chusheng doesn’t doubt that the both of them will turn up with new evidence soon enough, if not have the whole case solved when they return at the end of the day.

There isn’t much to do but to sign some papers and ensure everything is properly documented. When Boss Bai first asked him to be Inspector, Chusheng hadn’t quite thought about the ridiculous amount of paperwork that passes through his hands every single day.

Still, his tasks for the day don’t take much physical activity, but seated in his chair at his table, it takes everything Chusheng has to concentrate.

His limbs are numb for some reason, and every single movement makes some part of his body ache. It’s not like they’re in the deep of winter or even anywhere near autumn, so there’s no reason for him to be feeling this cold.

Exhaling shakily, he wonders just what the hell is wrong with him today.

Chusheng swallows with difficulty, his throat bobbing with the action. Glancing at the empty mug at the corner of his table, Chusheng is certain he just took a large gulp of water, so why is his throat this parched?

“… Inspector? Inspector Qiao?” asks Ah Dou, who’s standing in front of him with a confused look on his face, “Are you… okay?”

He doesn’t feel okay, but Chusheng doesn’t know why he would feel anything but.

“Hnn,” he makes a noise of assent, clearing his throat with a frown. “Just leave it there, I’ll look at it later.”

He’s finding it a little hard to breathe and with frustration, Chusheng tugs at his tie, loosening it. Ah Dou still hasn’t left, staring at him with his brows furrowed.

“What’re you still doing here?” asks Chusheng, leaning into his chair. “Don’t you have work to do?”

“Yeah but… Inspector, you really don’t look so good,” Ah Dou persists, which is very unlike him. “I think you should go to the hospital if you’re feeling unwell-“

“You’re not usually this nosy,” sighs Chusheng, sounding more tired than reproachful. “I just have a headache. Don’t worry.”

“I’ll get you a cup of warm water then,” Ah Dou says, oddly considerate today, but Chusheng isn’t lying about the headache, and all he wants is to be left alone.

Standing as Ah Dou picks up his mug and starts to walk in the direction of the coffee table where the water flask is, Chusheng begins, “Ah Dou, I don’t need-“

He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence because he’s keeling over in the next moment, nearly braining himself on the surface of the table if his hip didn’t strike against its edge first, and he lands in a messy pile on the floor instead. The ceiling slants above him, and gosh, he’s so fucking thirsty-

Someone is calling for him, but he can barely hear anything outside of the ringing in his ears. As dark spots fill his vision, Chusheng thinks maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to skip a trip to the hospital yesterday night after that ambush at the docks.

Right before he slips under, all he remembers is promising Lu Yao that he would pay for five baguettes today.

===

“Are you an idiot? Did you not bring your brains out to work today?” is the first thing he hears when he wakes up.

Disoriented, Chusheng blearily surveys his surroundings, dazed. He’s floating a little and everything seems overly yellow and green, and it feels like he’s been asleep for a little too long. He doesn’t usually sleep in, always up at the crack of dawn to train and keep in shape.

Turning to the side slowly, that’s when Chusheng sees San Tu seated in a chair next… next to his bed.

The man looks displeased, his arms crossed over his chest and looking more petulant than angry, and Chusheng knows he’s in trouble.

If he tells anyone that he, Qiao Chusheng, one of the Eight Martial Arts Masters of Shanghai, is a little cowed by Lu Yao’s frown, they would surely laugh at him.

Memories of how he landed in the hospital resurface in his head. Chusheng looks towards the glass pitcher at the bedside table, and luckily Lu Yao isn’t too angry to ignore him. The man pours him a glass of water, before helping him to sit up a little, fluffing the pillows behind his back as Chusheng drinks slowly but liberally, because he’s really, really thirsty.

“How long have you been doing this?” Lu Yao asks then.

Confused, Chusheng blinks, “Doing what?”

“This is just like that time, when Zhi Qing-ge kidnapped me and you rescued me but refused to tell me!” Lu Yao snaps, and Chusheng winces. “At least you went to the hospital then with Youning. Guess what the doctor said to me earlier? That the wound on your right side was infected because you didn’t treat it properly and it was continuously bleeding when it needed stitches!”

“You said you didn’t get hurt in last night’s raid,” Lu Yao says, glaring at him.

“I-“ Chusheng begins, but Lu Yao cuts him off, “And then the doctor says you’ve got other scars on your body that look rather recent, ones that even Youning didn’t know you had. How long has this been going on?”

“San Tu,” Chusheng sighs, “It’s okay. This is nothing-“

“Nothing? Ah Dou freaked out when you fainted on him earlier! What were you thinking? He said you looked unwell all morning and refused to listen to him when he asked you to rest. Qiao Chusheng, do you think this is a joke?”

It’s not the time or place for this, but hearing Lu Yao utter his full name for the first time, Chusheng feels a chill run down his spine. No one has ever dared to call him out like this.

He likes the way his name sounds on Lu Yao’s lips and how angry his San Tu looks right now.

Clearing his throat, Chusheng musters a smile instead, “San Tu… I’m used to this. I just miscalculated and I’ll be more careful next time. Don’t be angry. I’m the patient here, you know.”

“Next time?” Lu Yao asks, incredulous. “You’re thinking of a next time?”

Knowing that Lu Yao will probably go on if he doesn’t do something, Chusheng reaches out and tugs at Lu Yao’s arm until the man sits down quietly.

“I’m sorry,” Chusheng repeats, and frankly, part of him is a little touched that Lu Yao is so angry at him. He’s never had anyone angry at him for something like this.

“San Tu, if you don’t stop yelling, the nurses are going to come in and-“

“Chusheng-ge!” a yell comes, and both men flinch.

Lu Yao sits back and relaxes as Youning storms in. Chusheng pales, and his hand raises as if to facepalm, but Youning is quicker. She looks ready to give Chusheng hell on Lu Yao’s behalf too, and that she does.

===

Lu Yao, when he’s not distracted by antique wares or expensive restaurants or his English books, is a pretty self-sufficient person who can take care of himself. He’s a little vain, timid and dumb on some counts, but the man can cook very well, knows how to clean up after himself in a way that Youning still forgets to sometimes.

Chusheng himself can cook, but he eats takeout or heads back to Boss Bai’s house for the occasional meal more often than not, so when he wakes up next to the aroma of pork ribs and old cucumber soup, he has to pause for a moment.

“You’re awake,” Lu Yao says, glancing at him with narrowed eyes, probably still pissed off that Chusheng tried to hide his injuries from him. “Eat up. The doctor said you should have some soup.”

“Where’s Youning?” he mumbles, still groggy from the drugs and this is exactly why he hates hospitals.

“She went back home first, she’s got a draft to rush out tonight. This soup was on the stove for more than four hours. Man-jie told me that I should cook it under a smaller fire for more than three hours, so you should try it.”

Lu Yao scoops out a spoonful and blows gently at it, before bringing it to Chusheng’s lips.

When the man simple stares at him, Lu Yao glares, “Why would you- you don’t want to eat again? I cooked this myself when I could have been sleeping and even Youning helped to stare at the fire for an hour, and you still don’t want it-“

Chusheng cuts him off mid-rant, leaning forward and eating from the proffered spoon obediently.

“… how is it?”

“Hnn,” Chusheng hums, looking at anything but Lu Yao, “It’s passable.”

Suddenly, Chusheng realizes how close Lu Yao is next to him seated on the bed. He’s not used to being in Lu Yao’s care- or anyone’s care for that matter, and this whole thing is jarring, to say in the least.

“Passable?” Lu Yao scoffs, but scoops up another spoonful for Chusheng anyway.

Chusheng bends his head to reach the spoon again, and at the last moment, it dawns on him again how strange this whole thing is. He moves back, saying, “I can eat on my own-“

His eyes go wide as Lu Yao ducks in and kisses him, cutting him off. Chusheng can swear his mind goes blank.

When Lu Yao finally pulls away, there’s a hint of a blush on his cheeks, and he’s not looking at Chusheng either. Clearing his throat, he puts the bowl into Chusheng’s hands.

“You should finish the soup,” Lu Yao says, picking up his jacket from where it is lying over the chair, “I’ll settle your discharge with the doctors.”

Chusheng looks up, blinking, “San Tu-“

“And you better not do this again,” Lu Yao finally meets his eyes again, though the blush doesn’t go away, “Youning and I are going to check you over after every fight. You better not hide another injury from us again, and I’m dragging you over to the hospital if you so much as have a cut!”

That seems a little of an overkill, but Chusheng can’t help but smile.

“And if I don’t listen to you?”

Lu Yao blinks. “Then- Then I’m never-“

“Never going to kiss me again?”

“Never going to make soup for you again,” Lu Yao enunciates firmly, but his ears are now red too as he turns on his heels quickly to escape the room.

Chusheng laughs to himself, shaking his head. Licking at his lips, he wonders if Lu Yao would give him a repeat performance later, but he supposes they have all the time in the world for that now.

===

The next time they get caught in a shootout, as promised, Lu Yao and Youning (and even Ah Dou, hovering a few feet away and trying not to get caught looking at him) make him take off his jacket, roll up his sleeves and lift his shirt a bit to show that he’s fine.

The rest of the officers pretend they’re not looking, even though a shirtless Chusheng at the station is nothing new.

Of course, when they get home, Chusheng lets Lu Yao do a close-up inspection.

In the privacy of their room of course, so that Lu Yao can inspect every inch of his body thoroughly.

#my roommate is a detective #民国奇探 #qiao chusheng #lu yao #chuyao #fic #mriad #ignores canon #set sometime after all the drama and politics go down #and lu yao's fam is begrudgingly ok with lu yao in shanghai #solving crimes

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angel-deux-writes · 4 years

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Hi Angel! I've been a big fan of yours since HCM, and so I wanted to express my concern for your wellbeing. There was that big break when you took a month or so to finish HCM before posting it in quick succession, in order to not have to deal with the comments. Now, from what you've been writing in the notes to Dorne Rights, it looks like you are experiencing something similar. The selfish fan in me wants you to keep writing and keep posting, but the basic human in me is more worried that (1/2)

you are unhappy. Nothing is worth making yourself unhappy over, particularly not something that’s meant to give you pleasure. A favourite author of mine back in the days of my Spike/Angel obsession had a disclaimer on her stories telling readers to please not leave feedback of any kind, not even constructive criticism, on her fics because she finds them unhelpful. Her comment section was full of chats about various topics in that fandom, rather than her own fiction. Might help. (2/2)

Hello! I really appreciate this message, because you’re right: fanfic writing isn’t good for me.

(lol putting this beneath the cut because it’s way too long)

It’s actually my experience in this fandom that has made me realize that writing in general probably isn’t good for me, but unfortunately I feel a drive to it and can’t seem to stop myself from thinking I’ll one day get published, so that’s a bit of a downer. The truth is that I’m naturally disposed toward thinking that I’m shit, my words are shit, and every thought I’ve ever had is unoriginal and poorly written. It’s always been like that, from the time I wrote my first attempt at fiction at 7 years old to now at 31. It takes a lot for me to share my writing with people. I started writing fic at 14, basically as soon as I discovered that I wasn’t the only person composing stories about Han and Leia in their free time. I’m sure that my fics were horrendous. I give myself a hard time now, but 14 year old me probably deserved it even more. But there were sweet people on the internet who encouraged me (and lied to me) and told me that my stories were good, and that made a huge difference.

(that and my freshman year english teacher, who was very very cute and earnest and young and made me feel like I could actually be a writer.)

I’ve never been a part of a fandom before. Discourse and meta and long discussions about canon events have never interested me. I’ve said that before, and it remains true! I consume what canon there is, and sometimes I like it, and sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I’m so dissatisfied with it that I need to write something, and so I do. I don’t think I’ve ever written fic for something that I found entirely satisfactory. The extension of my being part of an actual fandom in the past was probably reblogging a few gifsets and recommending it to friends. I’ve just never had that sort of communal experience. This, the J/B fandom, was my first time really getting into it. It’s the first time I’ve ever made friends online that weren’t just frequent commenters on long multichapter fics! It has been exciting and I’m grateful for it! It’s just also probably not good for me.

It’s just, like, every time I post something, I’m fighting a very loud and very desperate voice in my head that’s saying “you’re shit and you shouldn’t bother”. It’s why I’m so good at writing first drafts of novels but so, so bad at getting past the second. It’s why I usually post fics only until I’ve worked out my frustrations: one or two fics per fandom and then ghosting away forever. It’s very hard to defy that voice and post something anyway, and this fandom experience has taught me that no matter HOW many stories I post, I’m ALWAYS going to have to fight that voice. And it’s gotten actively stronger. “You’re not what this fandom wants” “You’re not good at this” “Everyone’s just being nice” “You’ve overstayed your welcome”. Paying attention, often by accident, to the discourse and the metas only makes it worse, because my brain automatically turns to “well YOU don’t write them like that. That means you’re wrong”. I can tell myself as many times as I want that I myself like many different interpretations of J/B! My brain goes “yeah, but you’re just an idiot who doesn’t know any better. There’s a right way, and you’re not doing it”.

THIS IS ALL SO DRAMATIC! But it’s just the truth! Every time I post something, it’s against my nature. NO ONE outside of fandom reads my writing! I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve allowed my close friends and family to read things. So while it may seem like, idk, like I should just be able to get over it, negative comments, or even SLIGHTLY critical comments, really hit me hard. For all the positive feedback I get (and I really AM super grateful for it, and it means the world to me), those few critical voices seem louder because they’re agreeing with what I have already known about myself. And so it feels almost like a victory, but a shitty one. “Ha! I was right this whole time! I AM a shit writer, and I’ve for some reason tricked those other people into thinking I’m good!”

For a long time (much longer than I’ve ever written for any other fandom, obviously), I was able to shove it to the side. The J/B fandom HAS been super good to me, and they HAVE been wonderful about giving me feedback and making me feel welcome and included. But those negative voices are just SO LOUD to me, even though I know logically that they shouldn’t be.

It would be easy to point to a specific problem and say that my issues will be fixed if only I can address that. I do it CONSTANTLY. Maybe if I stopped tagging other relationships. Maybe if I stopped tagging other characters. Maybe if I tagged my works super specifically. Maybe if I made author’s notes about how I’m a shit writer and people shouldn’t expect things from me. Maybe if I just wrote “THIS STORY IS WRITTEN ALREADY AND IM JUST EDITING AS I GO! PLEASE DONT SUGGEST THINGS!” I just feel like, increasingly, I want fewer and fewer eyes on my fics. It’s the opposite of the problem I thought I would have. But my confidence took a huge hit with HCM, and then I was finally feeling good enough to post Dorne Rights. It was probably a mistake!

idk, maybe it’s just all the shit that’s going on in the world + in my personal life. Maybe it’s just time. Maybe I’m just running out of inspiration. But the positive voices aren’t loud enough to drown out my own negative self-voice this time, and so I’ve been trying to figure out how to handle it. Part of me wants to delete Dorne Rights with the intention of reworking it and maybe posting it again down the line with fewer tags and a lot more reminders that people can write their own stories if they don’t like mine. Part of me wants to just do a HCM and post it all at once so that I can leave the finished product up (even if I now think the entire thing is garbage). Part of me wants to stop writing fic entirely, at least until the next time I watch something with an ending so bad it fucks me up. I think my solution will probably be a massive step back from fandom for a little while. I’ve been feeling a drive to work on my original stuff, and I should probably lean into that. I would like to still write and post J/B, once I find the inspiration, but I’m tired of feeling like this is a job. I think I got so deeply sunk into this attitude of “I NEED to write and post constantly because these people want me to, and they actually like what I write!!” that I stopped writing things because I wanted to write them and started writing them because I wanted to write things for other people, to make other people happy, and so that they could tell me that I’m not a shit writer at all.

I should make it clear that I do intend to write my JB fic swap thing FOR SURE. I will drag that story out of myself no matter what. But in general it’s probably just healthier for me to not spend so much time On Here especially, and on fic in general.

#this got maudlin and it's way too dramatic but whatever #it's been a long time coming tbh #im sorry for turning your ask into this lmao #it was not my intention when i started to answer it #but then I just kept typing #ladywinterbottom

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meandmyechoes · 4 years

Text

A collection of diaries.

[Jun 12th, 2020 9:09:49pm]

idk, really feeling like getting away from the Earth for awhile.

The Artemis Fowl movie is coming out. actually, has come out by now. and I’m having a good time rereading the books but I’m still too early in the series to decide whether I should scrap the rest and jump straight to the movie. I probably shouldn’t - in the sense that I should brush up the first book (since I just finished 2 this afternoon and sped past half of 3 just now), watch the movie, then have the rest of the series to fall back on. I remember the excellent plots in 456 and would love for a bit more time to savour them. 7 and 8 is important for Artemis’s character so eventually I should arrive there as part of a thorough re-read, just not sure how all that’s gonna fit into my simultaneous tumblr schedule.

It was never a question that I’m gonna make gifset(s) for the AF movie. Not sure if anyone out there would be focused on afedits but it wouldn’t be surprising if one or two random passer-by post a gifset or two to commemorate the event. Again with edits, time is of the essence, especially when I intend to promote the movie via trailer sets. But I do fear I end up having more prompts than expected like with TCW which now span 8 pages. I mean, even 10 AF gifsets would’ve been quite the workload. and when I do have that much inspiration, I would’ve to delegate to littleafthings, or afparty for a wider audience for stuff like single character/scene sets as not to clog up the main Clone Wars programming. and I do slightly want to get in touch with the old AF fandom (who happens to cross paths again in TCW! what a chance!) to see like how much people are still around. :/

ah with Clone Wars.

well, I have THREE stock gifsets ready in the drafts so it’s not like I’m pressured to publish anything. But I do want to keep making new gifsets (esp. for Echo and Fives) so I can publish these stock ones! especially meta fuel like my padawan! I don’t really have a solid take on it, because it’s not like a big naming thing. and I’ll be reviewing name dynamic anyway along with translation series. which led me to want to finish the movie for name dynamic first. i only have 2.5 now and i planned on 5? for the movie. there probably won’t be that much notes in regard to the movie but idk, i NEED to finish that business.

another thing i’ll be interested in working on is the biology metas, since the old lekku post flared up again. right now there’s actually 3 going on. i’ll be polishing stress/stripes first, because the main argument checks out, i just need some more backup knowledge of hormone system and adolescence growth of humans and see i could streamline and merge human and togurtan system. I also need some visual aids to help popularize it i guess, :/ but i wasn’t intending it to be a full-blown rebelsoka model analysis/comparison because that was more or less a given, i don’t even have an artist’s eye for it :/ and i kinda only did the first lekku post because the visual aid was already available for me to steal :/ I mean, I could do it :/ but it’s also more work :/

before the lekku post re-flare, I was gearing up to make the Kiros ecology post because I became interested in categorizing montral arch shapes (for women at least) that was just a beginning idea and i meant to take my time to do that. but with the flare it feels like i should publish something quick in response first so i guess i’ll dust off that draft again.

I discussed sth about Force inheritance with little bro last night, it wasn’t an exactly enlightening conversation but we did think alike so often so much, he just understands the way I think, and we raised some more interesting questions. mostly regarding if a person’s midichlorian count stays constant through out their life - does it go down with severed limbs? or go up with embryos? which led to when exactly do midicholrians enter a person’s ‘life’? Thus, what happen to midichlorians after its host’s death? Would most rejoin the Cosmic Force? and the Force ghost appearance mechanism? what happen to their midicholrians? Since MC are defined as a ‘conduit’ of the Force, is it the necessary medium for a consciousness ‘one with the Force’ to manifest in the physical plane? If so, are those their midichlorians or midichlorians from the surroundings (because the Force is ‘an energy field created by all living things’?

you can see I have some predisposition about my own questions but a lot of them remain unanswered.

What category of symbiosis does “midicholorian-life” falls into?

Midichlorians live inside the body so endosymbiosis.

Both species benefits so mutualism.

But is it obligatory (both dies) or facultative (one survives)?

This definition is essential to answer the interchange of midichlorians in the Cosmic Force and the physical plane (i.e. its human host and the Living Force). From there, one could tackle on the equillibrium - balance of the Force in an energy/numerical sense.

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[Jun 22nd, 2020 4:41:07pm]

another tumblr draft therapy session. this is going to be ALL over the place.

I just want to - sing? I’m sleepy and don’t want to do anything. but I have like, duties. and things/wip left from last week and over the weekend to attend to.

A main reason of things piling up is not (just) because of me procrastinating, but I’ve also been reacting a lot. that’s actually causing me to lose focus in my own compass. not to say regarding the blog that grand, but (selfishly) on a personal level like I want to get (those) things done.

It’s a bit of pressure from both the follower pressure* that i feel a little“monitored” in my actions, and a personal drive to fulfillment. I’ll come on and dash, mostly just out of habit and it’s not like everything is mind-blowing every day. But I got inspired by the fandom’s creativity a lot, even though that’s winding down. Besides the couple of stories I want to work on seeing other people’s art (that I have a small part in requesting), I’ve been getting tagged in’s and messages. it’s just me to react to people liking my stuff. I’m still surprised and thankful for every reaction i get, even though the tumblr population and thus the culture - gifset format and their habits in like/reblog ratios has changed drastically since 2016.

I always feel like I open my tumblr drafts - and then don’t want to do anything. Right now it’s probably more related to my physical fatigue, after a week of going out every day under the 30°+ glaring sun. I’ve been setting daily goals and never getting around to finish them - then dragging on to only sleep at 4am. Not healthy. This pattern has even lasted a whole week already! (if not a month!)

and it’s just - a weighing ton of workload - that while I’m happy to work on/through - in the same time became a bit intimidating. I know that I’ll feel more satisfied when I’m finished with them, and I honestly find joy in doing work like this - creating for my favourite story & fandom. but everything from every aspect piling on me at once left me a little bit sour. (*╯︿╰)

and I really feel like screaming from the bottom of that pit.

you see i’ve been keeping a queue since the amazing stuff from a month ago was so blooming while my post frequency and number has went down. it feels like a lot has left (temporarily) again now the hype is over. and i surely don’t and can’t blame them for not living on the internet 24-7. but i sure do feel a bit maladjusted in the finale aftermath. like i’m locked in this hell hole and everybody else has moved on for recovery shows and new hobbies. I can’t even find interest in a prolonged activity. I do have a lot of backup interests/hobbies to fall back on, but I seem to have no attention span to stay anywhere but tumblr. :(

I’m always so uptight into checking the activity page it’s almost pathological. I’m always refreshing it looking for sth to react, while my sanity demands otherwise. It’s only if nobody on tumblr is looking for me at my posts that I feel safe enough to retreat to a soundproof cave or I’m ignoring people. and it’s conflicted because I do like interacting with other people who are as passionate as I am about my favourite people. however the truth is I’m not good at making/keeping friendships* so it could be a strain on my lazy ass :(

Reasonably, I know I should set a particular time to check activity only, or just close the site/log off for the while. I should work harder at keeping limits like that just to coach myself into shape.

Also I should mention this weird adjust to U.S. time that left my work day to start circa 22:35...

#sometimes i forget coffee fix everything #i just need to aggressively karaoke

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[Jun 24th, 2020 3:52:51pm]

everyone is so fuckin’ talented on this site...

i’ve always wanted a sewing machine, even clothes-making is a very very low-ranked hobby of mine, and i’m no way skilled at that...

and i’m finally buying it for my 23rd birthday, in trade for new book space in the house....

everyone artist in the tcw fandom is so goddamn talented....

everyone who draws tcw characters in alternative fashion... i blame you all for my latest shopping spree on a new sewing machine and sixty brands of fabric...

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[Jun 25th, 2020 12:21:13am]

haha let's try to write something. It's 23:05, Wendnesday, Jun 24th. Ah, last year today I was already in Osaka, sound asleep onboard the bus to Tokyo. Right now, I binged three episodes of Clone Wars after a good glass of Choc-Milk Tea and two of Mom's sweet soup.

My eyes are wide awake and in my chest it's like butterflies fluttering. I'm so excited by things and so deflated at the same time. I fucked up my own sleep schedule now I'm perm stuck at a 4am/4pm/4 hours rotation and it sucks. Because I can never seem to gather enough energy in the day time to work on anything important. I'd have ideas in my brain but no outlet. and when I'm more adjusted to waking up after cooking and eating a meal, my body goes into digestive fatigue and demands a nap again. so in the end I get no fucking thing done while the clock hits eleven.

I guess I'm suppose to write, at the wee of night. But it also doesn't feel that right, as an excuse. If I must say, I do prefer working/writing in the afternoon, for I feel more energized to do it then. Now it's the night and my whole indoctrination tells me I should sleep. Maybe I should do it now so I can wake up some time early tomorrow, yeah let's do that.

Another thing I want to rant at least once (more) is how much I fucking miss Japan. like I really miss the sunny days and windy nights and the foreign land. Forcing myself to speak another language and being miles and miles away from chores and people. Getting Financial freedom. Arguably I've been buying and cooking the past few days too, generally putting two meals in my body every day, and that fulfills me to a degree, but I do want a more purposeful task. To say the least, I guess I'm ready to look for a job now, just that my uni/degree is very very messy and while i'm reluctant, i'm sure i can work that out avoid the problem in a few moves.

Haha, I also need to apply for that government grant so I can pay for bills and a good time next month. There's $10,000 and I think it's gonna evaporate by the end of the year, realistically. I suppose my mom will need some of it, when she asks. I'll be spending $1000 on dining, that's for sure. While I do want a good machine, $1000+ for a seldom hobby and a high-risk-to-be-thrown-around-during-mum's-tantrum item is still too much. Hopefully, I can score a second-hand at around $500. I also objectively needs a new phone. I've been using this second-hand one for two and a half years now, while the model is a product of 2015. It can't charge or read memory cards proper anymore. While I do prefer older models like this for its durability upon fall and removal of battery, I do need a new phone so I don't have to listen to the same six songs over and over again. But I hate picking out new phones - generally comparing products and prices at all for the tedious work, and honestly I had solutions around that, so I'm not all that out for buying a new one. idk, maybe I'll hold out for another six months longer before I absolutely have to get a new one.

I've been doing more art lately (by art she means sketching and lately she means the past three days). I just want to. I'm really glad scuttlebuttin find me interesting enough to chat with, and I'm overwhelmed by all these amazing artists on the website. Which makes me want to draw things too, but I have no skills :( I have years of practice ahead of me just to draw a profile. I thought I could design some clothing, but alas, that's not something you force upon. It's definitely there, down the line, but right now the inspiration is not responding.

And what I should really do, is write. Articles, metas, fics otherwise. I have this long list of debt in my wip drafts that I owe these projects themselves to get onto. and it would honestly be something I'd love to get on. I remember one or two months ago when I'd be fiercely typing on the keyboard and it felt good. So I want to be writing that stuff. Instead/On the contrary, I'm writing about myself, which in itself it's not a bad thing, it's still meaningful - but I could use that time to write something that's also meaningful to somebody else.

Overall, I just want to bring more positivity into the fandom, create more buzz and discussion around it. I'm incredulous that artists do draw my "request" because I (don't want to) feel like cheating them by asking for their effort without repaying them in some way. Which is why I do try to create a story/scenario to go with the thing, in a very minute way of giving thanks. (but I sucks at speed)

and I HAVE TO, have to talk about the influx of followers. Looking back now, I remember I had bare 400 followers when i first came back in March (398 to be exact), and most of that are dead/porn blogs. Now I have an active following of at least 200 people, 10 or so that interact daily, and fandom talents that I hold to the highest regard as mutuals. Just... what an incredible honour. That, in a way definitely brings a kind of pressure I didn't had, say back in 2013-6 while tumblr is a window into lives across the globe, but my blog was a tiny and safe haven to express all my doubts and frustration, pride and mania. I didn't have to worry about my text posts being seen. The follower count is a large part of why I feel I need to be more responsible for my speech along with my years added. So more often I find myself therapeutically typing into the tumblr draft just to clear my train of thoughts. I understand this is still very much my space and I shouldn't be too paranoid about people fixating on me, a fellow random internet stranger. but... it's not that I want to be... more private, but I kinda also wish I could publish stuff without thinking someone else would go through it. and most rant it's not even like, it'd be upsetting (to the reader) if it was actually seen (because it's mostly just very me-specific self-doubt). You know, my heart skips a beat when I rant something personal and it gets a like - like, I don't even know what you mean! and I don't want to second guess! but the knowledge that someone read this very me-specific thought - and took the effort to leave a heart - gives me even more self-doubt.

More tumblr stuff. Now that every one has moved on (to other shows or back to work), I'm feeling lonely (because the dash and my favourite people are not as active anymore) and cramped (because I'm interacting with new people and my posts got way more popular way easier than during the run, with less competition and algorithm). and the sad, sad truth is I understand the whole working mechanism behind the whole thing. Our age group are adults and have working jobs and it only makes sense if they queue during weekdays or not come online daily - because real-life responsibilities are important that way, but i really, really miss the buzz of May even the migration is a huge sign for me to move on myself as well, one that I want to believe in. It's been difficult to adjust, which is why it took me two whole months to, and I'm only beginning to think of more real-life responsibilities/non-tumblr activities now. So I want to isolate myself from this site a little, find a day job and set up an actual rhythm to my life, then I can return to tumblr/gifing/clone wars as an escapist hobby instead of having it taken over my life completely.

I also feel kind of left out because I'm not in the active clone sub-fandom. They've been denying canon and inventing fanon for years. With or without the Clone Wars resurrgence, they'd've still done the the same. And with the general disinterest in the Jedi Order and the tragedy of clones, nothing has changed in the status quo for them. They simply went back to creating happy AUs and clone OCs which is why they bounce back much faster than Ahsoka (Anakin) stans like us. On the other hand, Kenobi stans, a new discovery for sure since my departure are "destined for infinite sadness", so it's not like the pain of the finale is anything new to them, and with Obi-wan departed three weeks ago, they theoretically had more time to recover. So I guess I'm still lonely in my woe.

If you ask for my personal closure with The Clone Wars, it's half-baked - or coming undone. I still haven't written a definitively eulogy (poem) for them - it, and I haven't published every meta I have on just the final scene. Nor had I mad much progress with the big cinematography analysis I desperately want to do. It just... invoke such a sadness and immobility in the solemness of that scene I hardly know what to do. These are some healthy hobbies/vents that could really benefit from a proper rhythm of the day. I mean - I'm ready to catch a break - a tiny tiny bit of aesthetic fatigue from canon!Ahsoka even - and I still stand by when I said the Bendu knighting her gave me the closure I need. I would've been perfectly content if I didn't know she came back from Malachor as Ahsoka the White. but now I do? I desperately need her to interact with Luke/Leia and REUNITE WITH ANAKIN'S FORCE GHOST. I dare not to think too much if she's immortal. and I really don't want the mess regarding her live-action rumours. I hardly know if anything's true and I don't want to think things that I have a backup plan for when I don't like it. I don't even want to mention Ahsoka. I just... take me back to the start.

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[Jun 26th, 2020 4:23:02pm]

you subscribe to patreon for quality work but if you follow me on tumblr dot com you only get exclusive untagged shitposts

ah the bless of tumblr’s late night + my time zone’s afternoon.

to put tags on a meme kind of defeat the purpose of a meme

not cosplaying ahsoka is a sane decision I’ll never attempt in my life, but i’ll never stop postulate what texture would lekku feel like. 6′aSZ..;p

my biggest complain against live-action ahsoka whatsoever is NO material will make lekku look organic enough. look at my icon.

one thing led another i sketched some tcw(clones)-themed sailor fuku and there’s no explanation rex’s’s model has to have abs.

i’m feeling really fluttering on (in?) the inside. Every day I learn something new from the Star Wars universe and I already feel obsessed enough. There’s so much to learn!

every day tumblr user scuttlebuttin post new artwork at 5am-ish in my time and I wake up to its majesty every day from then on i’m a non-funcitoning human popsicle melting in the 30°C weather the whole day i-

every day i come on tumblr dot com, reblog my friend’s stuff, then crawl back under my own rock

i don’t know why this week the last two days has been like this - i’m tired all the time, sleepy all the time, i have no motivation to initiate anything ever. I have stuff floating in my head, I feel my whole being locked in thought and I’m overwhelmed by... time. the passage of time. laughing at me in the face. (I’m probably getting emo again before period)

i kinda want to do gifs but maybe nothing i ever do will top that vader-soka post ever

and the monthly ‘get fancy’ urge flared up again. and i’m still sitting on my lazy ass, torn between ‘working/writing’ and ‘get the fuck out and exercise’.

i think i would’ve displayed enough conceitedness by now for people on the internet to decide i’m obnoxious

this post has dragged on from the afternoon to now 3:36am in the morning. it’s a collection of scattered shitposts across the last few days. and as evident, i can’t even get a proper diary written.

no i have nothing else to vomit

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new diary. [27/6/2020. 3:40am to 4:16am.] parenting.

I talked with little bro last night. Yes, we haven’t seen each other again for another week. Yesterday was Dragon Boat Festival so we all met up at Gramp’s for dinner. On our ride back, he started talking about psychology and existentialism - not that he know the term - and a little bit conspiracy theories. I’m really glad he finally starts questioning his life. and I’m even surprised at myself being calm about his development on track with mine, two years behind.

Being/living away from him is beneficial to both of us, to an unforeseen extent. I’m relieved of the constant dread to raise him while being irresponsible myself. I can barely hold myself together while I pile on more unnecessary burden - roles that I don’t even qualify. Everything you do is magnified in her eyes.

Then since last year, our society and more importantly the micro-society that is our family... underwent some fundamental changes, to say the least. He is able to see behind the curtains to ugly truths and learnt to rely on himself, while being a good communicator on his own. I know how important it is for a teenager to have a listener, and that’s the role I’m trying to fill in. He also understands our similarities and differences between us, and the four of us, better than any one. He’s also more athletic, outgoing and sociable than I could ever be. So the new direction I will steer him in is diverse but accurate language to coach him in acknowledging and expressing his emotions over impulses. I felt like he is already capable in the empathy department (and he will be more sincere than I’ll ever be, because he doesn’t have ASD. Even with his one-sided experience with people on the spectrum, he understands the evil in the state media’s portrayal of the condition, among other disabilities)

The Summer is a political awakening, and his personal awakening slowly gains momentum since then even though his school’s Liberal Education curriculum doesn’t sow that seed. Unlike my school, his curriculum skipped over Personal Growth and Interpersonal Relationships in like two months while we had a year to talk about everything. The lessons on actualization, gender stereotypes, idol worshiping, generation gap, to romance theory, parenting styles and family function during my twelfth year really helped with my inquisitive puberty self. Since the second term, they’ve been on Hong Kong’s economy and sociopolitical participation - which undoubtedly has to be toned down after self-censorship and the bottom licker of a bureau head. From the fact they are a Band III school, the materials are already ‘dumbed down’ compared to my school but they honestly talked about too much things too shallow (I can attest because I was there at his online lessons.) I’m not even gonna complain about spoon-feeding info - model answers of an interpretation instead of the method, because that’s the general style of teaching in Hong Kong for the past two decades, and you have to start somewhere, BUT. During these precious formative teenage years, it’s important to teach the 13/14-year-olds HOW TO THINK, more importantly, how to think others would think, and recgonize validity: respect where it’s due.

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[Jun 7th, 2020 7:21:49pm]

there they go again. #autism rant

TVB is back with another autistic (asperger) character. (who is basically a ripoff of Shaun Murphy as my preliminary search unearths)

I’m-- slightly fuming at it. While a firm believer of seeing the whole picture, I couldn’t help frowning because it most certainly sounds like they are glorifying autism by painting it ‘savant’ and ‘cute quirks’, just playing right into the stereotype and making as if autism is something you want in your kids by IT HELPS YOU RAISE A DOCTOR. Especially under such a pressurized education system like Hong Kong’s where people feed ‘smart drugs’ to kids.

I mean, every once a few years they run dry and will write another autistic character. Usually the more common ‘typical’ autistic men still in the care of a single mother played for ridicules and tear-jerking. you know, your usual type of disability played for chicken soup for the sound. I’m rolling my eyes so hard at this hegemony for playing ALL kinds of discriminatory stereotypes that I honestly didn’t bother to speak out. Like the whole city knows their talents run dry and credibility low, so I just hadn’t bother.

Anyway, I’ve always been interested in a character study for autistic portrayal on the small screen from the TV station that DOMINATES and profits. (RTHK out there doing the lord’s work by actually casting actors with corresponding conditions in much more accurate portrayals and passionate stories, but they have a viewership share of barely 1%) and it was sparked by one very heartfelt performance in the 2015 drama, Smooth Talker. To my surprise, autism is no longer introduced as one of the two extreme; neither a genius or an idiot. It isn’t a form of intellectual disability or ‘lesser’, just ‘different’, and she is a girl.

So I was very, very invested in the character’s journey even though she only has a secondary role. They still played tropes like ‘beautiful face, weird brain’, but the Asperger character is also very well-informed in her condition, has personal goals, and manage to foster positive male friendships and grow from those around her. All in all, that was the staple of positive, and accurate autism portrayal in my eyes. I still love that drama and her particularly to this day.

:/ All in all, a copycat but stereotypical Shaun is a regress no less, but what do we expect from a state media now. just fucking sad people are fed more and more disinformation from news to entertainment, and the ignorant mass that feeds on TVB? are the exact mob of short-sighted selfishness the society needs to eradicate.

P.S. I just looked at his featured trailer. It’s playing RIGHT into the trope I hate most - that autistic pepole have no self-control. Yes, our brain tells us to do things at inappropriate times, but the whole purpose of socialization, and extra training because we are autistic, is to familiarize us with a reasoning mechanism to process emotions that could be foreign to us. Like people have impulses in their brains all the time and I bet we only act on 1% of them. Or that as an asperger autist myself, I would be extra mindful of my behaviour in my public, or around people I love (when I care), because I’m intelligent enough to know that society perceive differently than me. The fact that he initiated physical contact and wrap himself around his crush/colleague pushed my brows together in a tight lock.

The next scene has the said crush/colleague reciting back to him his autistic traits. hmmm. He started the trailer by saying he has a ‘normal’ IQ and stated the same difficulties? and that his medical training should’ve made him knowledgeable even if his condition was left untreated as a kid? which it isn’t? I fuckin’ hate this kind of senseless exposition. the only part they got closer to reality is maybe his banging head on the wall or preference for ambient noises. so yeah they got the ‘problems’ right.

also autistic people definitely do not talk like monotonous robot.

Follow Up: 27/6/2020 6am

The drama has been on a while (3 weeks) now. *breathes* Their relationship obviously doesn’t work. The insistence of using the exact words ‘ASD’ instead of the laymen is hypocritical. The set-up of mother-in-law/new wife rivalry is cliched and exhaustive. Inclusion of typical “autistic” patients in cameo roles as representation to the variety of the spectrum and exploration of the caretaker’s stress is... shallow and stereotypical.

I’m all for two imperfect people growing and learning with each other but they are pushed into marriage because the girl is dying?? and he simply stayed physically next to her the whole time?? woah, where’s the attraction? passion, intimacy, commitment - understanding? They don’t know what they’re getting into in a rush and they’re not ready.

okay, the actor is not bad. but would i say he’s good? original? No. He’s borderline accurate at glance, but I wouldn’t say he’s charming.

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[Jun 4th, 2020 7:41:31pm]

*sigh* I don’t know what to do again, so I’m going to therapeutically type into the tumblr draft and not publish anything again.

hmm the typing does feel right. but I don’t even have anything I want to say, per se. I do wanna go take a walk though,

I’m depressed and I don’t want to do any thing (until the next sun’s up and then go back to sleep) It’s not like when I’m restless when I would be fluttering looking for work to do. I opened the WIP list and lost interest in every. single. project. I love them and want to get them done all the same but I just looked at it then turn my head away annoyingly. I wanna sing my heart out. But I feel like I have a lot of thoughts locked up inside my head and it’d take either a very long type or some quickly frustrating handwriting to get out. :/ it could also be the period talking

*breathes* I try to remind myself to breathe

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[May 31st, 2020 10:30:03pm]

idk man idk what i want to do right now so i’m going to threaupetically type into the tumblr draft and not publish a thing :)

well i’ve been doing a LOT late actually. writing and giffing and buffing up the WIP list again. and i do like writing, but i guess for different reasons in different media. like on mobile, i’m more encouraged to start and list stuff out. but i have to come back to a desktop keyboard organize everything. hmm any way i love writing and i’m DESPERATE to get back to proper skysnips meta and or fic *air kiss*

*sigh* i have like so many things i wanna do~! right now, from all my heart, I actually wanna rewtach the wrong jedi arc. i miss them together and i miss them so much and i need that nostalgic pain. i just miss them so much!!!! okay!!!!!

~let’s go read some fanfic now :p

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[28/5/2020 14:30-15:00]

#personal #dark thoughts in the day of an afternoon

the disillusion of the justice system should serve as foreshadowing and thus, a warning to the people who still have faith in 'one country, two systems' which ultimately is merely a caricature of a constitution.

I used to believe in the justice system, not just the concept of justice served, but an actual system I can rely on. With every new court ruling, or lack there of of a prosecution, I believe less and less people could still hold the same faith in it. But if they still cling on to the mirage of 'a whole country', that we could somehow be the precious snowflake under a tyranny -

The phenomenon actually has only boiled over since the Anti-Extradition Law movement. But it has been simmering and boiling us alive since 2016, when the law was abused to disqualify democratically elected councillors, when they remove the force of change that once tried to play their game.

My mom questioned me that a lot, why wouldn't we work our way up to position of power and change from within. I stumbled once, I stopped explaining twice, and I barely manged an eyeroll the third time. That has been her philosophy imposed on me all my life. and to have that motto ripped apart, to have reality forces me to confront it - is a... destructive experience. (deconstructive would give a clearer meaning but it certainly destroyed (a part of) my old self and honestly caused some emotional damage)

I'm not saying sorry though. I'm not repairing that. I know all the right way to hurt people ok. and sometimes I like it. I don't understand people who don't understand that people can be sadistc. like, you can hurt people for fun. but most times it's not a very strong motivation, sometimes you just hurt people because you want to see them hurt, and that in turns feeds back to the Fun.

and honestly I don't hate myself for it. and I confirmed that I wouldn't woo for it in the future. and honestly I don't care if anyone die alone in despair. but this begs the question of, if you don't care, why would you rather choose this path? yeah i don't care, so i don't for this question as well. I am power-hungry!

I'm listening to lam chik's interview from rthk. He talked about letting go and holding on. he talked about reflecting on why we say the meanest things to the people we love most. I realize that when I was 16 ok. not trying to judge him or anything, just the philosophy discussed in the show. He was pleaing, a point in his life, wishing the pain would 'go away'.

I was thinking, how are you so confident that it wouldn't? that you could hold on to what you like? what you choose to believe/remember? what gave you the arrogance to defeat age and your own brain's decay?

It's

#echoesdiary

1 note · View note

coquelicoq · 5 years

Text

person who has never seen the untamed explains the untamed

this is for @jessenigma, who said in response to this post:

well now I definitely want you to describe what you think it’s about based on gifsets and screaming, even though I don’t know the drama

ask and ye shall receive, my friend!

first, my credentials for explaining the untamed to you:

i have never watched a single episode,

i have never read the source material,

i have never consumed any other adaptations of the source material,

i’m not very familiar with this genre, so i’m missing a lot of knowledge of genre conventions, and

i don’t know chinese, which hampers my comprehension of some of the posts i see about it, BUT

i DO have a lot of mutuals who make content about the untamed and i have been injecting angsty gifsets of it directly into my veins for the last 2+ weeks*, which as it turns out is all the qualification you need to make an uninformed tumblr post about a show!!

i’ve never gone looking for any information about this show or its source material, so all i know about it comes from tumblr posts that have come across my dash or from the few fics i’ve read, which obviously don’t have to adhere to canon so who knows if the things i’m taking away from them are things i should be taking away from them.

i’m gonna number my guesses so that folks watching the drama can score me if they want to. come tell me how many i got wrong!!

*[OKAY sorry i just found this post in my drafts...i started it like a month ago but it started getting really long and i never finished it. i think i am actually gonna start watching the untamed soon, at which point i will no longer be a person who has never seen the untamed, so i’m posting this before it’s too late!]

source & production. the untamed is a chinese tv drama based on a novel. idk what the name of the show is in chinese, but i think people abbreviate it to...cql? unless i’m thinking of the database programming language sql. which i guess is possible.

the novel is called...something with the initials mdzs, which i think translates to “grandmaster of demonic cultivation.” (i wanna say mdzs stands for mo dao zu shi, but don’t score me on that because everybody just calls it mdzs so i’ve only seen it written out a couple of times on ao3. maybe just give me extra credit if by some miracle i got it right?)

there have been a bunch of other adaptations of the source material, including a manga, a radio drama, and an animated series which is currently in season 2!

the novel has canon gay characters, including the two mains who are in loooove and get married, but the untamed isn’t allowed to show gay relationships. it’s hella queercoded though.

the two lead actors are xiao zhan and wang yibo. that is literally the extent of my knowledge about the cast. they’re both extremely pretty.

one thing that i didn’t realize right away, and this could definitely just be my genre and/or cultural ignorance, is that the entire show (i think) is dubbed by different actors? so each character has a voice actor and a...body actor (idk the term lol) and they’re two different people, like james earl jones/the bald white guy who played darth vader in return of the jedi. idk why, though. nobody is commenting on it, which is why i feel like it might be a genre thing.

worldbuilding. the show (and probably the novel too but idk anything about the novel) is set in a fantasy universe full of long hair and flowy robes and that whole aesthetic. also, magic!

cultivation is, as far as i can tell, the study and practice of magic, specifically with the aim of becoming immortal? like i guess if you get good enough at it, you can’t die? but i haven’t seen anything that goes into the implications of this. does that mean there are a bunch of really powerful old people in this universe? how common is it that people achieve immortality? maybe no one has ever actually done it before and this is all theoretical, we (meaning i) just don’t know.

there are different cultivation sects that i guess practice different forms of immortality magic, though maybe they are organized around some other principle. people in the same family seem to be in the same sect. idk how you go about joining a sect if your family isn’t already in that sect, but it seems to happen somehow. sometimes you just get adopted, but it seems like there must be other ways.

idk anything about magic systems in this universe, but it seems like you can make magic happen via the playing of musical instruments. you don’t have to, though; you can also do magic through hand gestures. idk if you have to say any special words to make it happen but i don’t think so.

people seem to do different kinds of magic even within the same sect; one lady can shoot purple lightning at people, but her kids can’t (or maybe they just don’t feel like it).

there’s something called a “golden core” which = your soul i guess? or some kind of reserve of spiritual energy inside you, maybe? and if you don’t have one for some reason, there are certain kinds of magic you can’t do anymore?

ANOTHER thing i don’t know is whether anybody can be trained to do magic or if you have to have some sort of magic gene as a prerequisite, but my guess is that it’s the former.

places. the cloud recesses is some sort of cultivation academy...or maybe it’s a monastery, or a spiritual retreat of some kind? i think it’s more like a boarding school, though.

the show covers two time periods, 16 years apart. the earlier period takes place in the cloud recesses.

i think yiling is a city? but i’m not sure.

the burial mounds is also a place and some shit goes down there. some angsty shit. i may not know what it is exactly, but i know it’s angsty af. i mean, it’s called “the burial mounds.” it would be kinda strange if it were a super happy place.

characters. the two main characters are lan wangji and wei wuxian. for reasons that are not clear to me, they are also called lan zhan and wei ying. are these nicknames? are wangji and wuxian special names they were given upon joining a sect? no idea.

lan wangji is also called hanguang jun, which i think is a title rather than a name, and it may or may not be the same thing as calling him one of the twin jades, which he also is, whatever that means.

(the other twin jade is his older brother, lan xichen. i don’t get the impression that they are actual literal twins, but what do i know.)

wei wuxian is, later on, also referred to as the yiling patriarch, i think when he starts his own cultivation sect?

it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out, but wangxian is their ship name, not some other separate character.

lan wangji has an uncle named lan qiren who teaches at the cloud recesses.

wei wuxian is an orphan of humble origins who was adopted by the jiang family.

dad jiang (whose name i don’t know) rescued wwx from being mauled by a dog when he was but a wee bairn. he’s now understandably terrified of dogs.

idk mom jiang’s name either but i don’t think she likes wei wuxian very much? i think maybe she also teaches at the cloud recesses.

his adopted siblings are jiang cheng and jiang yanli (who he and everybody in the fandom calls shijie, older sister). jiang cheng also has another name but idk what it is.

pretty sure there’s a lady named ah qing but idk anything about her so i’m not sure that counts.

wen ning is a guy who wwx brought back to life. now he’s a very sweet, adorable zombie and everyone’s afraid of him :(((

the only other character whose name i know is ah yuan, who wwx and lwj were taking care of when he was really little. he got adopted by the lan sect after wwx died (more on that later) and now he’s called...lan sizhui? or similar? the main thing you need to know is that he’s an angel and i would die for him.

okay, how did i do??

#the untamed #disclaimers: i didn't make any updates to correct stuff that i have since figured out #i ran out of steam before i could write down my guesses about actual events of the plot so whoops haha #i guess i could still do that because i remain VERY unclear on most of the plot but maybe i'll do it separately #i missed some major stuff. like at the time i think i had no idea that fighting supernatural creatures was a big part of the show #and finally i wrote this before the show had finished airing #anyway!#they say ignorance is bliss and i'm gonna enjoy mine as long as i have it #my posts #links

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lostwcrlds · 2 years

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1. So, Mun… how’s your drafts box/inbox looking? 2. Name a favorite sound to write to 3. What is your writing space like? What’s the vibe?

Munday Meme || Accepting

1: So the only reason my drafts look so full is because keep all my graphics/icons in there. I roleplay on mobile and my old phone didn't have much space and I also draw, make gifsets, make graphics, and make videos. So I needed to delete things a lot to keep working on my other projects. Now I just keep my icons and graphics in there because my gallery is not at all organized and it just makes it easier to find things. Especially when my phone was full of Kenobi screencaps for all my edits and art 😅. However I do have 6 threads I need to respond to.

2: Music! Not just for rps too I listen to music when I write my fanfics as well. I have a whole playlist to write that fanfic to. Which is just the Undertale and Star Wars soundtracks 😅

3: I don't really have a writing space. I just write wherever and whenever when I have the inspiration. Like I mentioned before I rp on mobile.

#home; ooc

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tottwritesfanfic · 7 years

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So, I was tagged by @gilrael for the following:

List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on.

This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets!

HOO BOY.

Listen, my first reaction was pretty much “I can’t list all the things I’m currently working on. It’s...no one wants to read that whole list. It’s too long. There’s too much.”

I have been called out good and proper, but you know what? This is what the read more button was made for. These won’t be in any particular order, because I really don’t have an “order” in which I work on things? Also, some of these projects are so far on the back-burner that I really can’t say I’m actively working on them, but I never know when inspiration will strike next and divert me from what I should be doing. Essentially, if it makes the list, I think of it in my head as “imma finish this.”

Buckle up peeps, because we May Be Some Time.

My Epic YA Fantasy Series Featuring Pretty Much Zero Romance. I neglect this series way too much for something I consider my firstborn, but this is my Passion, okay. My very username is derived from the initials of the series title. I’ve been writing and rewriting it for almost two thirds of my life now, and one day when I have something to show for that labour of love, I will be screaming about it from the rooftops. Mark my words. Also I counted this as one but there’s like...at least five novels, and also shitloads of maps and worldbuilding notes, and songs, and I have a boxfile of old pictures drawn by myself or my sister, and progress on three or four conlangs... It’s hard to really convey just how much of this shit there actually is, if I’m honest.

Hope’s Fire My first ever proper fanfic, and also sorely neglected of late. I love this story so much though, and once I push past the block I have for the current chapter I can’t wait to progress with it, because there are fuuuun times ahead.

A Standalone Novel (sucky working title is “The Aspect’s Choice”) Another YA novel, which...actually has a complete draft? Like, start to finish with no skipped scenes or anything like that. There’s magic and shit, and also no romance for the lead, it’s like this is a theme in my works or something (there’s a background romance this time tho, for those of you who like shipping).

A Fantasy Trilogy about paradoxes and multidimensional travel. I’m mentioning this one now even though I’m kinda...not working on it that much, because I’ve borrowed heavily from it for some fanfic projects. The first novel is a fantasy spy thriller, the second is a sort of...ensemble piece about a major disaster at a futuristic interdimensional traffic control place a lot like an airport/train station, and the third one is a journey through space and time on a sorta magic train which explains how the fuck the first two books are actually connected.

A World of Trouble (The Spy AU) Haikyuu fic! I started this for the HQ Brofest last year and it’s really taken off. The plot for this story was shamelessly nicked from the first book in the above trilogy, albeit with some fairly substantial divergences.

Until We Move On My...actually, daaamn, this was my first HQ fic. I entered this fandom in a fairly definite fashion, with Suga already dead and Oikawa following shortly after - I swear it’ll have a happy ending for them both eventually tho.

Metanoia, Renascent, and Equanimity (the Trinacriform series) I debated listing these separately, to be honest. There’s no denying that Metanoia and Equanimity are higher up on my list of things to work on than Renascent is right now, but all three are still important to me and all three are going to be finished someday. Ultimately they’re here as one because holy shit this list is going to be long enough already. Rest assured I do actually think of them as three separate entities in my head!

The Triffid AU (just gonna list these because there are Several and holy shit I’m still so far from the end): Dangers Unseen - First in the series, Karasuno accidentally sleep through the apocalypse. Interview Transcripts - Set a few months after DU; tells all the side-stories I have to skip in DU for pacing reasons. Seijoh arc (current working title of “In Search of Silver” which will almost certainly change) - I haven’t posted any of this yet but it’s hecking angsty. A Bit Like Home - Sequel to Dangers Unseen, set a year or so after. Also hasn’t been posted anywhere yet. At the moment it’s mostly bokuaka stuff but the idea is for it to be a collection of sorta halfway standalone stories. I have more ideas for this AU than just these, but I haven’t started writing them yet and I’m not GOING to until this list gets shorter.

An Error of Cat-Astrophic Proportions I’m not gonna lie, this basically started out as a stupid halfway-joking crack fic and it got out of control.

Partner Fic to “The Carpenter’s Gift” I started writing this and got a couple of thousand words in and then basically started over. I’ll get there. Probably not before the following though:

KiyoYachi Soul Animal AU fic Set in the same universe as “The Carpenter’s Gift”, sorta...around the same time?

Another Original Fantasy Trilogy I love my fantasy, okay? The three novels in this series are all technically started, although only two of them have any substance: The Legend and the Lake is a novel about a Great Hero, and how he...actually isn’t as much of a hero as he’s going to be remembered as. Spells and Fire is about a real fucking hero and her apprentices, and how she absolutely will not be given full credit for all she does (because she’s a bit of an arse) The Lake Guardian’s Child will be a story about a minor goddess who meets a mortal that immediately falls in love with her, and their journey to cure him of that love because he’s actually sorta engaged already.

Not Within This Restless Heart A HQ!! poly soulmate au which will probably piss off a lot of people by teh end, because no one who’s read it seems to have caught on about how complex the poly relationship is actually gonna be.

Digimon Frontier Fic - working title “Loss and Gain” I can’t really explain this one properly. It’s Angst, that’s all.

Best Laid Plans A secret santa fic I need to finish! I have part of the second and final chapter written, but life intervened and I lost my flow. Hoping to get back to it some time in the next week.

Bokuto Koutarou’s Excellent, Totally Foolproof Plan To Save Christmas As above, really (except it’s the final of 3 chapters, and it’s also the sort-of sequel to “An Error of Cat-Astrophic Proportions” ). I want to finish this up soon, so hopefully life will stop being annoying!

Lifetime Achievement Ennotana fic in which Ennoshita is a film director up for a highly prestigious award he’s dreamed of for his whole life...but he has amnesia and it currently means nothing to him.

Travellers AU - Yachi story For the HQ Brofest! Details are hush-hush for now but it’s the same universe as my time travel practical joke fics. Expect similarly ridiculous stuff.

Things We Misplaced Someone accidentally challenged me to write angsty smut which wasn’t hatesex. Smut is not my thing but I’m really stubborn okay, so I’m writing it.

BNHA Bang Fic Details are under wraps for now, but it’s gonna be fun.

A Zine Fic. It’s early days, okay?

Swansong It angst. Also not being posted to this account, for Reasons.

The Digital Fallout AU A ridiculously wide-scope Digimon AU featuring crossover appearances from like, almost all the series. It’s very much on the back burner for now but I still like thinking about it. Someday. Currently comprises of two kinda short fics: “Adventure’s End” and “The Home Frontier” but I’ve planned a LOT further.

Connection Problems This was going to be for the HQBB in 2017 but I got a massive block and had to put it on hold. I’m hoping to revisit it and finish it up by...maybe Halloween.

The Book An original novel I’ve intermittently been working on for a few years now. Essentially the titular book may or may not be sentient, but it is definitely malicious.

First Draft The..um...sequel to my standalone novel, and both my fantasy trilogies. In my defence it started out as a joke and spiralled out of control and now I want to write it for real but I literally have seven novels to finish first.

...so yeah. That’s more or less all my active (on some level) writing projects. Hopefully I didn’t forget anything! There are a few more which I have ideas for, but I haven’t started them yet and I’m not going to until this shitstorm is a little less overwhelming. I also have costumes for my kids that I’m about to make, but...I’m not going into other creative ventures here because I will literally never finish. Oh, and there’s tagging, too... Huge apologies for dragging you to the end of this hot mess, but I’m calling on @draculasstrawhat and @ahiddenpath along with any other mutuals who didn’t already get tagged (I know I took long enough to do this that a lot of people already did!) No obligations of course, but I love seeing what people are up to!

#tag memes #progress update #tott's life #i'm pretty much hopeless I know

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myriadimagines · 7 years

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Works in Progress Tag!

Rules: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

i was tagged by the super @justcallmesailor !!

so you can find my full works in progress/to-do list here, but under the cut are just a few more details on which ones i’m working on!

i’m going to tag @lotsoffandomimagines @imaginingthefandoms @imaginesbutgay @fantasyshows @purityimagines !!!

so i draft and prepare my drabbles in big chunks. usually i split them up by whatever gif imagines has been requested in between, and if there’s too many drabbles before a gif imagine i’ll split it up in half. that probably didn’t make sense at all.

drabbles + the prompts:

Star Wars: Jango Fett

“None of that matters anymore.”

Star Wars: Bail Organa

“Do you smell burning?”

Stranger Things: Eleven

“Is it supposed to look like that? Are you sure?”

The Maze Runner: Gally

“Don’t you ever do that again.”

Kingsman: Jack “Whiskey” Daniels

“Just marry me already.”

Kingsman: Jack “Whiskey” Daniels

“I just don’t know how to look forward anymore.”

Game of Thrones: Sansa Stark

“I waited and waited, but you never came back!”

Kingsman: Brett Huang

“Don’t give me that look! You started it!”

Stranger Things: Eleven

“You’ve got something on your cheek.”

Game of Thrones: Gendry

“Somebody’s in love!”

Game of Thrones: Gendry

“I’m sick of feeling useless!”

Star Wars: Jango Fett

“Are you… are you flirting with me?”

Baby Driver: Monica “Darling” Castello

“How about we put the gun down and talk about this?”

“I came here to kick ass and chew gum... and I’m all out of gum.”

and then 1 gif imagine:

imagine being Darling’s younger sister and her teasing you about the crush Baby has on you

now i should probably mention when i was drafting this round of drabbles i realised i had received a request with dustin henderson from stranger things with a romantic prompt. seeing as these kids are only like 12 years old, i will not be writing anything romantic with them. i deleted that request, sorry!

and technically this is for my personal blog @prjnceoberyn but i’m also working on an oberyn martell graphic/edit for a game of thrones blog i co-run (@gameofdailythrones), which you guys should check it out if you’re interested!!

#s talks

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hosokey · 7 years

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✨ tag game about tags ✨

@ixmyg thanks for tagging me jennnn ilu!! 💗💗💗

Rules: write down the last 15 tags associated with your bias

ps: I REALIZED THAT MY DUMB ASS PUT THIS ON DRAFTS AND FORGOT TO POST IT LATER ALKFSHAJFIKLAF SO THE TAGS ARE A LITTLE OLD ;-;

🌻 JUNG HOSEOK 🌻

1. what did we do to deserve this lil angel??? 2. i love him :( 3. what a cutie! 4. a prince indeed :’) 5. I LOVE HIM AJOSFNAOIJFASOKD WHAT TO DO 6. why does he have to look so stunning and sexy and lovely???? 7. i just love l o v e LOOOVE when he smiles like that 8. i love when he’s wearing glasses omg 9. he knows he’s giving us heart attacks 10. *giving him a thousand of hugs* 11. i’m just like… full of love right now laldmskdnaodn 12. i lost my life to this gifset r.i.p. my soul 13. how to keep a straight face while watching him smile like that?? 14. i’m a big hoseok’s forehead enthusiast so 15. this post is heaven for me ⛅🌟🌙

tagging the cuties: @jiminms @knamjoon @dimplesjoonie @taeonie @cuddlyagustd @chimchimssuga @bfkook

#this is the perfect game for me bc i never shut up on tags #I'm sorry if i annoy you guys on daily basis bc of that 😅#tag game

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ancient-trees · 7 years

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Current WIPs Meme

Rules: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on: writing, art, gifsets, whatever.

Tagged by @theticklishpear and indirectly by @brynwrites. Going with Bryn’s question format because at this point the “expected length” for all my projects is a big ol’ SHRUG EMOJI. Or just plain “long.”

Novels - I am unfortunately a huge fan of ensemble casts and multiple interlocking plotlines, so my (still unnamed) series consists of several novels in a not-necessarily-linear order that merge into one cohesive whole by the end of the thing. The story is about a world that was broken in a magical cataclysm thousands of years ago and never quite healed correctly... and now something has begun picking at the seams.

The Self-Slaying Dragon (...working title. I like the wordplay, but I don’t think it quite FITS the story the way I’d want a title to) Status: Right now I’m rebuilding it from the ground up, in the interest of giving full-on Planning a go (rather than Plantsing like my previous attempts), outlining the whole story before I dive back into prose this time. Counts: 50,195 words of an unfinished NaNoWriMo first draft, 3,927 words of an attempted restart, and a shit-ton of pages of notes. Blurb: Dragons are forces of nature: half-physical, half-spirit nexuses that anchor Magic into the world, sometimes also serving as metaphysical guardians to humankind. But when a power-hungry wizard's attempt to soul-bind the Great Storm Dragon and commandeer his magic goes horribly wrong, the Dragon is ripped loose from his anchor-point and takes off in a roiling storm of magic, raining blind fury upon the people to whom he’d been sacred protector. The wizard is left to answer for what he has done... only, somehow in the failed binding the Dragon’s consciousness has become lodged in the dying wizard’s body. And so it’s the Dragon himself, along with the wizard’s traveling companion and a young dragon-priest in training, who must figure out how to set things right... before his mindlessly-raging Dragon-self destroys his people, his people find a way to destroy the revered protector who has apparently betrayed them, or some even worse consequence occurs.

The Unbreaker’s Tale Status: Writing is on hold while I focus on Dragon, story’s being developed bit by bit in the background as I work out how the novels weave together. Counts: 22,172 words Blurb: Ever since he was a child, Perrath has had a magical talent for mending broken things - and a passion for helping people to go with it. Then one night a strange wind sweeps away all the magic in his village... including his innate gift. He’s been searching for it ever since, with a scruffy dog at his side for companionship and a probably-still-functional finding charm leading the way. While he misses his magic, he’s found that in the meantime he really enjoys a life of wandering - going wherever his finder points him, meeting new people and exploring places he’d never heard of, using his mundane skills to repair people’s things in order to get by. Until he finds himself in a sticky situation out in the uncharted wilds, and learns that promising to fix something for malevolent shadow-demons is maybe not a good idea…

Other stories in the series, which aren’t being AS actively worked on (except obliquely, as the whole thing gets built):

(still don’t have a title for this one) Status: Was written for NaNo AGES ago, before I knew it would fit into a series. Will need to be 99% scrapped and redone (this is a good thing). Counts: 50k+ words, draft unfinished Blurb: A holy fae prince and an unsuspecting message-runner wind up someplace they’re emphatically not supposed to be. Rules are broken, prophecies are mislaid, bounds are transgressed - and in the frayed wilds of the spirit realm, no rule ever gets broken without dire consequences.

(No title for this one yet either) Status: Another old NaNo draft. SLIGHTLY less of it will need to be scrapped than the previous novel. Probably. This one might be an aside for personal worldbuilding and not make it into the series proper at all. Counts: another 50k+ unfinished draft Blurb: Ages before the present-day events of the series, there lived a people who could use magic as easily as breathing. They kept the peace and ruled over the surrounding lands unchallenged for countless years, until one day the unthinkable happens: a threat arises against which all their magics are useless. A young queen must decide the best course for her people in a time when all roads seem dark.

The Hollow Road (That title might end up going to a later book, depending how events line up) Status: Vague planning stages. Some of the characters for this one actually date back further than all the other novels, but they’re getting massively overhauled from their original versions. Counts: A lot of notes and a few sketches Blurb: Thanks to a valiant sacrifice-beyond-hope made by the parents she’s never known, Aleoth supposedly harbors within her the soul of a great evil… and no one has ever let her forget it. Stifled and stigmatized by those who were supposed to be her protectors, she runs away and takes up with a band of notorious brigands. But whatever she does, she can’t escape the unnerving creature that has haunted her dreams all her life, or the disasters that seem to follow her steps. When events begin to come crashing in around her, she’ll have to figure out who and what she is and what she really stands for.

Non-writing WIPs:

Tamuran Webcomic. I do the art and some editing and write a few characters, and a friend of mine does the story-plotting and most of the writing. Status: Still on hiatus right now. Counts: Writing - 828 chat logs of various lengths, which cover about 2/3-3/4 of the first story arc. Comic - 551 pages in 16 chapters. Blurb: Nashua is a wild elf searching for his wife, children, and entire clan, who have all vanished without a trace. Kip is a shapeshifter and spoiled court lady left reeling after losing her place in the world. Hhr’skhygh is a deadly forest predator who likes hunting, exploring, and reading unabridged dictionaries... but can’t seem to escape his trouble with curses. Ranon is a young royal heir forced into exile when his brothers conspire with long-banished sorcerers to seize their father’s throne no matter the cost. Together they find themselves racing across the wilds of Tamuran on a desperate quest for aid, as strange forces close in and the consequences of the princes’ dark pact begin to engulf the land.

(Tamuran is awful to write blurbs for. Any attempt at basic plot summary ends up sounding like the most excruciatingly generic fantasy story ever created, and kinda.. misses the entire spirit of the thing.)

Costuming - Thranduil’s battle armor from The Battle of the Five Armies (I hate sewing. I like making stupid-elaborate things out of foam and whatever else I can find to work with...) Status: Progressing very slowly, since the room where I have space to work on it is getting renovated and I’ve been focusing on other things lately. Counts: I have most of the materials gathered and scattered pieces and templates made... which will get adjusted and remade ad infinitum before I’m happy with them. I have a coat prototype mocked up, and about 2/3 of the ventilating done on the godforsaken wig...

Tagging: hm. @aetherdragon, @adrastuscomic, @whitherling, @greyliliy, @titherdel, @zyrenskistudios, @locirodrawsstuff, @wigglytaf, @elfyarts, @felix-duskglass. (I know I’ve heard about some of you guys’ projects elsewhere, but if you’d like an invitation to talk more about them here, go for it.) And anybody who has WIPs they want to talk about, really - tag me, I’d love to hear about them!

#memes #writing #my novels #webcomics #long post #writeblr

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imsfire2 · 7 years

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WIP meme

Do This: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or as little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on: writing, art, gifsets, whatever.

I was tagged by @thenewleeland - thank you very much!

And, ahem, you asked for it...

(I will add a read-more after a bit, since there is rather a lot of this. Don’t panic...).

Fan fic – all Rogue One at the present time

In a dark time, the eye begins to see

AU in which Cassian is an artist and Jyn is sent by Saw Gerrera to model for him as a cover to get into the Imperial Archives on Corellia. Angst, feels, smut, action and drama. WIP – currently writing chapter 38 in draft, with the published text on AO3 now up to chapter 35.

Keeping faith

AU in which Cassian and Jyn survived Scarif and are still with the Alliance, but are separated during the battle of Hoth. Jyn is taken prisoner and then discovers she is pregnant, and angst and many feels ensue. WIP – currently on just over 9,000 words in draft with the published text on AO3 standing at just over 6,000.

Hot and wet

Rebelcaptain one-shot that won’t behave; primarily feels, not as smutty as the title suggests!

In your eyes

Rebelcaptain one-shot, a follow-up to A little more information (which was itself a follow-up to one of the Paths of hurt and darkness stories, On attachment elsewhere). Cassian is hospitalised following a suicide attempt, post-battle of Endor. Serious angst and feels.

The Hope of Lyonesse

Only just got started on this, basically it’s still at the planning stage, and it may be a monster as there’s a lot of material to work with. Rogue One/Arthurian legend/other Celtic legends mash-up AU. Cassian is Tristan, Jyn is Isolde, Draven is Mark of Cornwall, Chirrut and Baze are the last two acolytes of the Order of Merlin, Bodhi Rook is a character who fuses the roles of Bedwyr and Brangäne. Mon Mothma is King Arthur, and is a rather more active figure than usual. The Rebel Alliance is the seven Celtic nations, Albion, Cornwall, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Lyonesse and Galicia; they have a system of loose alliances and treaties cemented by dynastic marriages, and are trying to work together to fight off invasion on two fronts. The Empire is an unholy alliance between the Saxon invaders coming from the east and the magic-wielding Formorians of Hy-Braseal invading by sea from the west. Tarkin and Krennic are Saxons, Vader is the Lord of the Isle of the Torrent. Other SW characters being slotted in gradually. Warning: Do not expect a happy ending.

Captain Andor lives for a day

Only just got started on this, too! Total contrast to the above. A Rogue One/Miss Pettigrew AU. Late 1930’s setting, with jazz music, cocktails and romance for all. Expect fluff and feels with just an undertone of angst (because some of the protagonists are not stupid and are aware of politics).

Original fiction

The Bargain of Liberty (working title)

Just got started on this, so don’t look for it anytime soon! Especially as, being original fic, it won’t be going on AO3.

Historical fantasy set in a sixteenth century AU in which the Spanish did not succeed in conquering the native kingdoms of Central and South America. Consequently the balance of power across the world is totally different. In London, Dr John Dee has worked a great act of magic, the eponymous Bargain of Liberty, to ensure the freedom of his beloved sovereign, Elizabeth of England, and her people, and to enable her to marry her true love, her cousin Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots. A work of magic which has had unexpected ramifications. As our story begins, two British spies, Emilia Tanqueray and Kit Marlowe, and a mestizo Aztec sleeper agent, Javián Cuauhtémoc Sanchez, set out together to thwart the plans of the Inquisition. The Inquisition’s goals are to overthrow the Emperor Axayacatl the second of Mexico, and to send an Armada to invade the island of Britain…

Also sitting in my Dropbox, Pt 1: Uncompleted original fiction

The taker of daughters

This is a rewrite and expansion of an earlier Hansel and Gretel: Witch-hunters fan-fic. Significant character changes and hefty filling-in of background. A steampunk historical fantasy using characters from various ballet versions of folk tales, set in the aftermath of a great war between the High and Low Kingdoms of Faerie and the Middle World of Humankind. Main character is now Klara Stahlbaum (from The Nutcracker), other characters are her brother, who I’ve named Anton because I don’t like the name Fritz, a Firebird, an OFC who is a human/Firebird mongrel, the Lilac Fairy, and a pregnant giantess. The main antagonist, the Taker of Daughters, is Kostschei the Terrible. Currently at just over 77.000 words. I’m not sure if this is working, though. I’m having what I can only call tonal problems and struggling to find a balance between the darker and the less-dark elements of the story. So it may end up being abandoned altogether.

The Smiling Assassin

This was a NaNoWriMo project from 2014; a thriller about a retired MI6 agent working for a small London charity, who gets pulled back into his old world when a friend from the past asks him for a favour. It backfired at around 36,000 words when I realised the plot was not only derivative as all hell but also really sucked!

Fortitude

A Sci-Fi story about first contact with a telepathic alien species; needs re-writing a lot, but the basic storyline is still good.

A dream of death

My “no-zombies zombie apocalypse” story. Yeah, that.

Midnight in the Café Tana

An urban fantasy about a local government employee who is a practising witch, and her attempts to help her ex who has fallen victim to a psychic vampire.

Nohomer

A Sci-Fi piece mixing a love story inspired by Pelleas et Melisande with a background of social conflict between rich and poor in a far-off future of Rampant Intergalactic Capitalism.

The war is over

A Sci-Fi story inspired by the core ideas from my very first ever fan-fic, which was a sequel to Return of the Jedi written when I was a teenager. Key plot points are A) the Emperor is dead and the beleaguered Evil Empire is on the verge of losing the galactic civil war, looking for ways to fight back and sabotage their enemies, and B) any Emperor worth his salt is bound to have a son-and-heir tucked away somewhere.

Also sitting in my Dropbox, Pt 2: Completed original fiction

The Healers

A magic realist historical fantasy Western; a faith healer who really can heal rescues a member of the Jesse James gang from certain death and hires him to ride shotgun with her. They travel through 1880’s Missouri having assorted adventures, healing various people and one another and trying not to get killed by various other people who want to bring him to justice, while falling in love. Features lots of gritty local colour, dirt, violence, whores, blood, sex, angst and feels. I had a ball writing this and it’s probably my best piece of full-length original fic so far.

The Secret Country

Urban fantasy with people who have real magical powers/superpowers trying desperately not to get found out and caught by a government agency determined to make use of them as weapons. Flawed as a piece of writing, but quite an exciting read if you can get past a few sticky patches.

The eternal love of Gabriel Yeats

A slightly bonkers magic realist historical fantasy, featuring time travel, reincarnation, doomed romance and a lot of major character death. Very fond of this one too though it has its issues as a piece of novel writing – it’s much too episodic and has a big structural flaw which I never managed to solve successfully.

Ramundi’s sisters

A historical romance about an artist and his three sisters in early C20th rural Sicily. Very angsty and feels-y, with thwarted love and lots of unhappiness for everyone. This was my first full-length novel and although I think I’ve improved a lot since as a writer then I’m still fond of it because I remember the thrill of writing it and having it flow.

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