#and reader is purposefully an unreliable narrator

[ghost-proofbaby]

listen if reader breaks eddie’s heart tune my heart breaks

AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MY HEART BREAKS??

his heart breaks

OKAY BUT WHAT IF HIS HEART IS ALREADY BROKEN??? WHAT IF ITS BEEN BROKEN SINCE THE VERY FIRST NIGHT HMMM?? SHE CANT BREAK SOMETHING HE ALREADY SHATTERED IT HIMSELF

[gladiatorcunt]

🪺 - # WINTERGREEN CANDY CANE !!

cw: canon typical mind games, baby trapping/pregnancy, manipulation, reader’s emotionally constipated, tashi’s injury, cunnilingus, cockwarming, tit fucking, established tashi & patrick (there’s no feelings between them but they stay together for reader in the beginning), lactation, not rlly smut focused despite the tags, DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT, ambiguous baby daddy (even though the ending can be read a certain way), one mention of patrick x art, afab reader, there’s a thought about you being injured but it’s not serious, small time skip (?) type thing and implied future pregnancies, purposefully vague/unreliable narrator vibes

patrick and art’s descriptions are heavily insp. by these posts

consider commissioning me or leaving me a tip if you enjoyed!

They never tell you that Tashi got injured on purpose. She’s too good to fall victim to what plagues so many athletes, but you don’t know that. You, her assumed rival and yet also the poster child of sportsmanship. Rivalry can bring out affection in people, it can highlight the need for someone who can understand you better than anyone else possibly could. You’ve never been anything but soft and sweet, but you can still summon the lightning streaking across the sky in your eyes when the game begins. There’s a glow around you that Tashi craves like a moth craves the shadow behind the light they fly into.

Tashi’s fall from her pedestal was painful and the hardest decision she’s ever made, but for the first time she made it for love. The set up was the easiest part, but now she has to actually make the serve. And she can’t do it alone, she’d be stupid to be blind to how her boyfriend and his best friend’s stares linger. What she and Patrick shared fizzled out a while ago, but if she lets him go, then that signs her up for a battle she’d rather avoid. Sometimes pleasure can be derived from depriving an animal of the chance to kill rather than setting it free and giving it an opportunity to go after you first.

Who knows, maybe someday you and her can share matching injuries.

Luckily, Patrick shares the same sentiment, quickly agreeing to the arrangement and plan when he visited prior to the injury. Art’s good at downplaying his toxicity, so Tashi wasn’t concerned about if he could play the part of a “worried friend”. You’ll bust into the office while she’s getting checked out to see Art there, and the infatuation you've been harboring for him will keep you in place. The queen on the chessboard who can’t really move however they please at all. Patrick will return in a “rush to see his girlfriend”, and you’ll be too intrinscingly intertwined in their web to cut yourself loose.

You weren’t the one she was playing against, but because of your “friendship” you’re there in the audience when it all goes down. The shock of something career ending happening to someone who had the most potential of anyone you’d ever seen is staggering.

You practically run to see if Tashi’s okay, and the disappointment that you might never play with her again is palpable. But she’ll be fine, you tell yourself, she has to be.

Art has already left by the time you get to the room she’s in, doing one of his parts of the plan and allowing Tashi to put everything into motion. He’s waiting nearby, running his hands through his hair as he imagines all the ways he can comfort you. Because you will need comforting later, and your future husband knows the best remedies for your incoming sadness.

You’re standing gobsmacked in front of her bandaged knee, a confirmation that this is really it. You shrug off your bag and let it slide down your arm to the cold floor. Your mouth opens but the words don’t come out. You struggle to know what to say as Tashi’s eyes meet yours.

“What am I supposed to do now, huh? My top competitors gone up and left me hanging.” You sigh, trying to keep the kicked puppy look out of your eyes.

She’s in pain and you’re making this about you. But if you and Tashi aren’t bound by Tennis, then what are you bound by. Your friendship doesn’t go beyond the court, so what do you even share now?

There’s no big declarations, no babbling where you word vomit about glad you are that she’s okay. Neither of you are those kinds of people. The energy in the air is dead, but the situation is too serious for awkward small talk. All you two can focus on is what’s ruined, but only one of you can also acknowledge what stands to be gained.

“Take a break, then.” She says plainly, a touch too proud to beg. “For me, I mean who else am I gonna let see me like this?”

That last is an attempt to lighten the mood, to use humor to point out how you’re truly the only person she’d let see her in tatters. Your eyes widen and you freeze, but then you take a seat next to the cot and take her hand. Your smile could destroy the sun, she thinks, and even if the earth was plunged into darkness you’d make it feel like there was nothing to be worried about at all.

“Okay, just for a little bit.” You chuckle and rub her shoulder delicately.

You don’t know what on earth possesses you to say it, but you realize that the absence of a challenge would drive you insane. There’s other reasons for it, ones you’re aware and ones you’re not. But you and Tashi have a way of saying just enough without ever needing to be raw and reveal what you really mean. If there’s a coherent meaning to be found.

“A little bit” ends up being forever, your pregnancies see to that.

Tashi makes Patrick and Art hinge a match solely on who’d get first crack at it; they play so savagely that you’d think they were stray dogs fighting over moldy scraps of food. She’s there when you get morning sickness and she sends the boys out with a list of what you’re currently craving at that moment. She’ll brush your hair and do your skincare for you, rubbing your belly while everyone’s asleep and telling you’re baby that she’d better be their favorite (after you of course).

Tashi takes pride in how she pleases your pussy when you’re too swollen to put in any of the work. She licks broad stripes up your soaked cunt, nipping at your clit and getting you to cream into her mouth in no time at all. She presses sweet little kisses up and down your folds, wishing you could see her love on your pussy properly. They’ve had competitions on who can make you squirt the fastest, and Tashi will never fail to mention that she’s never lost once.

Patrick gets really into cockwarming, getting you nice and settled in his lap. He has to take deep breaths so he doesn’t immediately start thrusting, he knows he has to think about the baby. But the pregnancy has made you impossibly tight, and your hormones make you go crazy for his sweat and natural musk. You’ll whine at him to hover over your head so you suck on his heavy balls. You nag about how he needs to take better care of himself, but you’ve grown to love swallowing his tangy load while you’re suffocating in his pubes.

When that happens depends on how long either of you can hold out, Patrick will tease you about how slutty you’ve been lately and squeeze your face with one hand. His cock will twitch inside of you, snug and strangled. He'll suck Art off till both of their lips are bleeding and you’ll motorboat Tashi’s tits to pass the time. You’ll start swiveling your hips somewhere along the way and his resolve will crumble like it never existed in the first place.

That’s for later though. He fastens the ugly neon cartoonish headphones over your belly and turns on the attached mic, doing storytime with the softest grin on his face.

Art on other hand likes fucking your leaking tits, he loves when drops of milk lube up the slide of his dick in the valley between them. He’ll thumb at your sensitive nipples and flick them, cooing at you when you moan and lap at his cockhead during the split second it reaches your mouths. He’ll look after your breasts outside of the bedroom. He’ll massage them and drain them for you if they’re feeling particularly sore, two of them will be latching on either tit while the third will be sucking on your tongue. His pecs bounce with every languid roll of his hips through the pocket his hands create, and he brings your hands up to them so you’ll grab on and leave scratches.

Art gives you more cum, his literal breeder balls are too big and full, and he’ll bet that he’ll give you more children. His thrusts have a certain punchy rhyme and rhythm to them while Patrick’s are sloppily enthusiastic and feral.

Art picks out supplies for the nursery with you, supporting your vision wholeheartedly and agreeing with every color and stuffed animal you choose. He and Patrick continue with their careers, and Tashi finds a way to coach them both, they need to support you and the new member of their slightly dysfunctional family. Tashi writes up the speech you give when you announce your early and extremely unexpected retirement, and she massages your feet when you collapse on the couch from the sheer emotional exhaustion. Art pecks each of your toes as she does so. Patrick plays tic tac toe against himself in the hollow of your throat.

And when the baby’s born and they can finally see who actually got you knocked up, Tashi says that maybe Patrick will get to be happy that he’s finally won something.

- faetreides 2024. do not repost, translate, or give my works to ai

[em-dash-press]

The Biggest Differences Between Points of View

Sometimes stories flow from our minds. They jump onto paper when we channel our creativity, announcing themselves without plans or outlines. Other times, we have to make specific choices before putting pen to paper. Picking between the different points of view is one of them.

These are the biggest differences you should know about to choose the best POV for your next manuscript.

First-Person Point of View

First-person point of view happens when a protagonist tells the story from their perspective. It focuses on their experiences and understanding of things, while leaving out the direct input of other characters.

First-person POV uses “I” or “we”

It lets the reader in on the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings

It sticks with the protagonist’s understanding, opening the possibility for an unreliable narrator or plot twists as your protagonist learns new information later.

Second-Person Point of View

Second-person point of view happens when the author addresses the reader through their narrator. It brings the reader directly into the story and occurs less frequently in fiction manuscripts because readers generally want to experience stories, not feel involved.

Second-person POV uses “you” to address the reader.

It talks to the reader directly, like: “You sat in the room and listened to your brother talk.”

It doesn’t appear in fiction very often because readers don’t want to be actively involved in fiction novels. They also haven’t experienced the story.

You may only use this POV if you write fanfiction that purposefully involves the reader.

Third-Person Point of View

Third-person point of view happens when the narrator isn’t involved in the story. It includes pronouns like “he,” “she,” and “they” to describe characters. Writers use this to provide objective narration or an outside perspective so readers never fully understand what goes on in a character’s mind until the character or plot reveals it.

This POV also has three types:

Third-person omniscient: The narrator knows each character’s thoughts and feelings. People often relate this to the narrator being a god figure because they’re all-knowing.

Third-person objective: The narrator uses third-person pronouns, but doesn’t access the characters’ thoughts and feelings. The reader gets an objective view of the plot while the characters' outward words and actions further the emotional undertones.

Third-person limited omniscient: The narrator knows each character’s thoughts and feelings, but spends most of the time with the protagonist. The author has more choice over which character’s inner workings get revealed and at what time.

Point of View FAQs

What does point of view mean?

Point of view describes how a writer tells their story. All three offer different strengths and weaknesses, depending on the story you want to write.

What is an example of writing from an unusual point of view?

Writing from the second-person point of view would be most unusual in a traditional fiction story setting. Readers don’t pick up books to get themselves personally involved in the plot. It works better in fanfiction settings.

How do you pick a point of view?

You can pick a point of view for your story by going with your gut or reviewing the purpose of your plot. Sometimes stories have obvious perspectives, so we know how it’s going to translate on paper.

Other times, writers have to consider what they’re about to write. A manuscript that needs an unreliable narrator to deliver key plot twists might go with first-person POV or third-person limited-omniscient POV.

If you’re writing a story that jumps perspectives between more than one character, third-person POV could provide the omniscient tools you need to convey each different mindset clearly. You could also use a limited-omniscient point of view to jump mindsets while staying just within each narrator’s mind. The other characters around them would have minds that are off-limits to the narrator.

You don’t need to pick one point of view and never stray from it. If it feels wrong while you’re writing, edit what you’ve already written to morph it into another POV. Writers do this all the time. It’s one of the creative freedoms you have in your writing practice.

-----

Try not to stress too much about memorizing the different types of point-of-view or picking one for your next manuscript. You can always switch POVs by reworking your draft if you need to. They’re all great options. It just depends on what you’re writing, the plot elements that are most essential to your story, and what experience you want to create for the reader.

[sugoi-and-spice]

Chapter Three - Careful What You Wish For

Pairing: Bully!Dabi x Fem!Reader, (3rd Person)

Summary: If a boy is picking on you, it means he likes you. She could almost laugh. By that logic, Dabi must’ve been fucking in love with her. That thought was what finally made the tears start to spill. Not because of how ridiculous it was or how isolating it felt.

But because it was exactly what she wanted.

CW: Alternate Universe - No Quirks (My Hero Academia), Dubious Consent, Unhealthy Relationships, Bullying, Manipulation, Humiliation, Childhood Friends, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Power Play, Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Drugs, Alcohol, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Attempted Sexual Assault, Rough Sex, Hate Sex, Smut, Porn With Plot, Explicit Sexual Content, Angst and Porn, Sadism, Loss of Virginity, Unreliable Narrator, Suicidal Thoughts, Dirty Talk, Name-Calling, Depression

A/N: An extra little content warning, there are instances of displaced anger and resentment, as well as suicidal ideation in this chapter. I feel this is a good time to remind readers that both Dabi and the MC in this story are unreliable narrators - they think things that are objectively untrue due to their traumas.

Remember, it is never a child's responsibility to save another child from abuse. And living a purposefully destructive life is a form of suicide.

Read Full Chapter on AO3

[excerpt]

When she was eight years old, she fell out of a tree in front of Touya’s house and hit her head on the concrete. 

Despite the many warnings from her parents, she and Touya played in that tree all the time. What was she supposed to do? It was way too big and twisty to pass up, a tree almost custom-built for climbing. She hadn’t even gotten the highest that she’d ever climbed that day, and Touya was several branches up ahead of her, teasing and goading her to follow him, catch him— faster, faster!

One moment she was climbing — her foot catching on a strangely pliable-feeling branch — the next, Touya was holding her in his arms, sprinting to her house as he cried for her mother. She didn’t even remember the fall really, she was pretty sure she had blacked out. But she remembered the pain and fear after, the tears already gushing down her cheeks when she came to, not to mention Touya’s own as he held his hand tight to her gushing forehead.

She’d made it out of the ordeal with a skull fracture and some stitches, not to mention a good old-fashioned concussion, but overall okay. When she returned home from the hospital, however, she was distressed to see that the tree was gone and that Touya had a black eye. He’d told her that it was because he fell too. And she believed him.

At the very least, she could honestly say that her head right now didn’t hurt as bad as it did that day.

But it was pretty damn close.

She lifted to her elbows with a groan, trying to rub some of the blur from her eyes. Things did get clearer as she blinked away the last of her sleep, but it wasn’t quite right yet. Blue. Everything was blue. And unfamiliar.

It looked like she was in a hotel room, a small one. It was more like a ship cabin, just large enough to fit a narrow walkway around the king-sized bed to one of two doors, and to open the drawers of the dresser doubling as an entertainment center with its surprisingly large flat-screen. The one currently turned on to some late-night variety show.

“Look who decided to wake up.”

She snapped towards the voice, where Dabi sat up against the pillows next to her in just his white undershirt and boxers. He didn’t even look at her, seemingly more interested in whether or not the idol on screen could guess what was in the box she was currently sticking her hand into, than anything to do with her .  

“Where—?” she started to sit up, glancing down as she felt the bed sheet fall down into her lap, then froze.

She was wearing nothing but her thin little white bra and (luckily, upon quick further inspection) panties.

“Oh my God!” she yelped as soon as she realized, yanking the covers up to her nose, “D-D-D-Did we…?” She couldn’t even finish the thought.

Dabi scoffed, “Hell no.”

“But… W-We’re not wearing any clothes.”

“That’s because you threw up all over them.”

And here she’d thought it was impossible for her to get any more embarrassed.

“I-I did…?”

“You’re lucky this place has laundry services.”

“Oh God,” she groaned.

A rush of nausea ripped up her throat before she could get any other question or apology out, brought on seemingly by the bloodrush of sitting up fully, and made even worse by the dry, rancid taste she was suddenly feeling on her tongue.

Dabi sighed, grabbing one of three water bottles off of the shelf behind him and tossing it into her lap.

“Drink.”

“I—” she gagged again at the thought, “I don’t think I can.”

“That wasn’t a request.”

He didn’t need to tell her twice with that tone. She quickly tore off the cap and started to down the water like no tomorrow. Dabi watched the frantic bobbing of her throat, sighing as a not small amount of water spilled down her chin and chest in a frustratingly not unattractive way. 

“Yeah alright, enough. You drink the whole thing that fast and you really will be sick,” he tapped her arm with the back of his hand before pulling a little Altoid tin from the shelf behind him and popping it open, “Take three of these.”

She eyed the tin of pills nervously then looked back up to Dabi.

“W-What are they?”

“Vicodin,” he said, completely stone-faced, “That’ll knock that hangover right out of your system.”

Her eyes widened commedically, “N-No, I don’t think I—!”

“It’s Tylenol you dipshit.”

She was relieved, of course. Although, not completely.

“...I read that you’re not supposed to mix Tylenol and alcohol.”

He groaned, loud and obviously annoyed. What the hell was he even doing here at this point? He’d met the requirements to not be a shitty person when he’d brought her to the hotel in the first place, he should’ve just fucking turned around as soon as she’d dropped onto the bed. She had a roof over her head and a door with an automatic lock, his duty was done. So why the fuck was she actively trying to make him regret sticking around even more than he already did?

“Do what you want, girl scout. I literally couldn’t care less,” he barked, snapping the tin closed and moving to climb off the bed.

“W-Wait,” she breathed, after a particularly rough throbbing knocked her brain, “I’m sorry, can I… Please?”

Luckily, he didn’t give her any extra flack for her indecision, just tipping a few pills into her hand.

“Small sip, alright? I mean it,” he said, “I’m not gonna clean up your puke twice tonight.”

She nodded sheepishly, popping the Tylenol into her mouth — all three at once.

“What time is it?” she exhaled after her last sip, not really worrying too much about the answer yet.

But that’d change on a dime.

“Three A.M.”

“W-What?!” she shrieked, throwing the covers off her, “Oh my god, oh my god, I gotta get home!”

As soon as her feet touched the carpet, a giant wave of dizziness crashed over her, causing her to lose her balance and fall back onto the bed.

Dabi just rolled his eyes at the sight. 

“Fucking relax,” he spat, “You’re in deep shit anyway, right? What’s an hour later? Might as well wait until the trains are running again at least.”

She couldn’t exactly argue with that logic, although it did very little to ease her anxiety. That seemed to matter even less to Dabi, she noticed, as she hazarded a look back at him. He just returned to flipping through channels, tired of this particular game show and fruitlessly searching to find something at least slightly more engaging.

He was being just as aloof and uncaring as usual, not giving her even the slightest time of day outside of taunting and demeaning her. 

But still, the fact of the matter remained…

“...you stayed with me.”

Continue on AO3

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[jedischooldropout]

My opinion of House of the Dragon S2

(From a book reader)

Hi ya’ll, I’ve read a lot of opinions about HBO’s adaptation on HOTD S2 with a lot of people saying it’s “not faithful to the book.”

As someone who has read Fire and Blood and ASOIAF multiple times, here’s my take:

I feel like HOTD is the best adaptation of GRRM’s work to date. Now, granted, season two isn’t finished yet and my opinion can change, but when compared to the Game of Thrones adaptation, it’s nailing it.

Fire and Blood is written as a history book, with unreliable narrators and gaps in information. I think the show writers have been doing a pretty good job fleshing out those characters and making them more complex. For example, Helaena is pretty MIA in the book after the Blood and Cheese incident. Now, she’s given dragon dreams and she is still very involved with her family and the events in King’s Landing. Baela and Rhaena also have more to contribute with their efforts to patrol the crown lands and forge alliances. This is great!

That’s the thing about history books, we will only know what happened as hearsay and second hand information. We won’t know the emotions and relationships that happened behind the scenes. The show is illuminating that. When people say “Aemond didn’t burn Aegon in the book.” The account we received in the book was that Ser Criston planned a trap at Rook’s Rest and Melys was surprised by Vagar and Sunfyre.

If you look at this account like a history teacher, which I used to be, you realize this may not be the whole story:

This account was written by a maester and a septon, both orders of which have headquarters in Oldtown where the Hightowers control, so they’re going to write things that make the Greens look more favorable. So they would never admit that anything about the battle was unplanned. Of course they would say Aegon was valiant and helped plan the trap. It doesn’t look good if your king is drunk and shows up at the battle because he wants to prove himself.

Having Sunfyre participate in the battle is poor tactics. Ser Criston is a seasoned commander, he would never agree to risking the King’s life, especially when that King rides a dragon that could be protecting King’s Landing. Remember, the Greens have only three dragons: Vagar, Sunfyre, and Dreamfyre (Helaena’s dragon). Why would they risk not only the King, but one of their dragons when Vagar is the biggest dragon in the world and can easily take out Melys? 🤷‍♀️

Now, Aemond burning Aegon is not explicitly stated in the book. The narrators make it seem like it was collateral damage after Aegon and Rhaenys are locked in battle thousands of feet in the air and Aemond descends on them from above and slams them both to the ground. Yes, Rhaenys and Melys did the most damage to Sunfyre and Aegon, but Aemond and Vagar go in from the top rope 🤼 and body slam them to the ground shattering their bodies. They also say Rhaenys’ blackened corpse was found next to her dragon, which tells me that Vagar was also blasting her and Aegon with fire. And we all know how Aegon was found. Regardless of Aemond’s reasoning, he did purposefully attack his brother and Rhaenys.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the season to see how they interpret the events in the text. Remember, some things might change from the book because of budget reasons, time, or they have a great idea to enrich the characters.

For example, the Brienne/Hound fight never happened in the books, but it was such a badass moment and illustrated a common occurrence in the book of various characters running into each other and having what looks like a small interaction that has major consequences.

If the show isn’t your cup of tea and you’re not enjoying it, I understand. I felt that way about the last two seasons of GOT. But before you say it’s not following the book, just remember that Fire and Blood is a very different kind of book.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk 😆

GIF from @gameofthrones

[emeritusemeritus]

Hello!! Could you write an angsty Fred x reader scenario, based on Melanie Martinez's song "Pacify Her"? Basically reader it's completely in love with him, but Fred doesn't realize it since he's in a relationship with Angelina Johnson (who does know about reader feelings, and bothers her on purpose). If you don't like the idea, ignore me hehe 😊❤

Hi Anon! Okay I have to admit, this one threw me for a loop but my gosh I actually love how this turned out. Hope I did your request justice! 🖤

Pacify her.

Warnings: Reader is delulu. Mentions of infidelity, unrequited love, slightly deceptive and devious behaviour from reader. Sorry Angelina. Unreliable narrator, plotting.

Word count: 1.3k

Someone told me stay away from things that aren't yours. But was he yours, if he wanted me so bad?

Loving Fred Weasley was as easy as breathing. He was funny, charming and unbelievably handsome, the kind of person people are naturally drawn to. He'd drew you in like he had so many others before you, becoming best friends so naturally that it felt like two magnets pulling together, unable to pull apart even if you wanted to. He was easy to like and even easier to love, a change that shifted so subtly that you'd never been able to put your finger on the moment that you'd started seeing him differently. But that's all we was and all he would ever be, your friend. You longed for more, longed to have him see you as you saw him, to have him feel what you felt and to stop the cruel and twisted emotions that came with unrequited love.

But then one day he did; he opened up, felt that pull to another person, wanted all the things you'd hoped for with him for so long only it wasn't for you, it was for Angelina.

She was beautiful, smart and incredibly talented on and off the quidditch pitch. Looking back now it was obvious why Fred liked her, blatantly so, on paper she was a natural fit for him, yet you would never find peace about it nor be happy for them as long as you tried. He was yours first.

He had always been completely oblivious to your affections, only further proving that he only saw you as a friend and nothing more, no matter how hard you tried to make him see; a fact that killed you deep down inside. To make matters worse, you and Angelina did not get along, at all. Once upon a time you might have been considered friends, but that was long in the past. You were the only girl in the inner friendship group, his best friend, natural competition for all potential girlfriend just by your standing in his inner circle. You were the one that the girls didn't trust, they didn't like your friendship with him; probably because you were so clearly in love with him.

For the sake of Fred's happiness, you'd tried to push down your feelings, to be at least cordial with Angelina even if it tore you up inside but the universe wouldn't allow you to fall with dignity, instead it seemed intent on smiting you wherever it could. You’d become almost numb to love now, numb to the pain and distraction it caused, pushed it down until it lay dormant inside you. One day it would escape from the prison inside you, the day that Fred Weasley told you he loved you.

Angelina knew how you felt about Fred, it was obvious from the looks she gave you, the roll of her eyes when Fred laughed at your jokes, the way she'd always try and physically put herself between you and Fred, being overly touchy and smothering whenever you were near, only to give you a smug little smile that he never seemed to notice. The way she whined constantly when she didn’t get her way, like an overgrown toddler that didn’t know how to communicate. It was childish, stupid and getting on your nerves.

I can't stand her whining

Where's her binky now?

Watching them on the quidditch pitch was like enduring purgatory with no hope of paradise on the other side. Her hands all over him and the secret whispers that made his cheeks heat up redder than his hair, it was all for you. Purposefully done just to hurt you, to punish you for having feelings for her boyfriend. But he was yours first.

Pacify her

She's getting on my nerves

Her whining only got stronger once he’d made plans with you to visit the kitchens after hours, something you often did to kill the hours on a boring evening. She whined and clung to him with a pout whilst he tried to reason with her, a pointless effort you thought. Why was he with her? Why joy did he get from her companionship? Did he actually have feelings for her or was he just stuck? Unaware that he could have had you, a much better fit for him, someone that could love him for exactly who he was, in exactly the right ways.

You don't love her

Stop lying with those words

The cracks started appearing only a few months into their relationship, your eagle eyes missing nothing. Her whining and near constant pout had been incessant, all because Fred and George had invited you to the Burrow over the summer holidays, an annual tradition that had been established years ago. You’d goof around down by the lake, fire off fireworks on the warm summer nights, perhaps steal a beer or two from Arthur’s stash and eat the best food you’d ever eaten for the whole week curtesy of Molly. Of course she was unhappy about that, trying to persuade him to cancel, to change his plans and go to meet her mum and dad. When he didn’t fall in line immediately, she became pretty unbearable to be around, if she wasn’t already before. Fred started looking tired, worn down, his restrictive relationship becoming a burden.

And loving her seems tiring

So boy, just love me.

Summer came around quickly and your visit to the Burrow was well underway, surrounded by the family you loved, the boy you loved. You had hardly stopped laughing since the moment you arrived, immediately met with warmth and love. The hug Fred gave you lingered for a while, his warmth, the sweet scent of him and the softness of him lingering all around you for what seemed hours.

Until the letters started coming.

George had sighed, silently protesting the unceasing flow of letters sometimes multiple times a day. Errol was exhausted, completely depleted after two days of flying back and forth, usually with less than soft landings. Fred hadn’t said anything outright as he’d sat and replied to her but you could tell he was getting frustrated, his usually playful demeanour beginning to wane.

It’s late night, perhaps early morning when you both sit on the floor in his and George’s room, the light of a little lantern illuminating the space between you as George lies fast asleep in his bed, oblivious to your little gathering. You’re wearing Fred’s sweater, the early morning chill creeping in through the small, unavoidable gap in the window. You’d like to say that you hadn’t been prepared for it, forgetting your sweater, appearing to forget about the tiny but impactful crack but in reality your sweater lay unneeded at the bottom of your bag.

Fred sighs, resting his forehead on his bent knee as you sit crowded together between the beds, his shoulders resting on George’s bed frame.

Your eyes flick up to him, worried about the heavy sigh until your eyes follow his gaze, looking at the building stack of unopened letters that sat on their shared desk, all from today.

You don't love her

“Tell me,” you say gently, giving him the option to finally be truthful with you. He looks up at you for a moment, holding strong until you see his resolve break, shoulders dropping.

“It’s just not easy, not like it should be… not like it would be with you.”

“Then be with me.”

Time stops as you stare at each other, the words finally spoken out loud after so many years. Cards finally laid out on the table.

The last letter he sends Angelina is a definitive end to their correspondence and to their relationship.

Tired, blue boy walks my way

Holding a girl's hand

That basic bitch leaves finally

Now I can take her man

[astral-mariner]

It's finally here---a preview of my long Vegeta/Raditz under Freeza fic, Homeworld Lost! I've posted the prologue and the first chapter of Part 1 as a teaser.

I've written 9 out of the story's 12 parts and have close to 130k words in my manuscript thus far. When I've completed and edited everything, I'll start posting regularly/weekly. Until then, I may update with more previews sporadically. (So feel free to subscribe on AO3 to be notified when previews go up.)

This is a fic 10 years in the making. I've had the story in my head for ages, and I began the short story that eventually turned into this novel-length work sometime in 2014. It took me a while to produce this preview because I had to rewrite some of my earliest drafts! (The majority of what I have written was all written after 2022, and I've written more than 70k words since the start of 2023.) I'm about 75% complete overall.

Please tread carefully in reading, however. Homeworld Lost is a darkfic. It's meant to disturb the reader, and I wrote it with a mature audience in mind. Genre-wise, it's a horror story in a science-fantasy setting. It deals with many sensitive subjects and handles them in an explicit way. There's blood and gore, fucked up relationships, torture, sexual violence, a lot of existential angst, and some in-depth explorations of trauma and its aftermath. And yes, there will be some kinky erotica. Heavy on the sadomasochism and twisted power dynamics. Sometimes it will be purposefully mixed with horror elements. If such things aren't to your taste, that's okay. But it was meaningful for me to write, and I'm sure that others can get something out of it too.

I made a pretty bold decision in how I told the story as well. It's in first person from Raditz's POV, and it is framed by Bulma's private journal entries as she processes what she reads/translates. I know this may put some people off, but I truly don't think the story I'm telling could be better told another way. Unreliable narration is a big element in Homeworld Lost and is part of the story all by itself. The reader is meant to question what's really going on and how honest the characters are being. 

Anyway, enjoy! Comments will give me fuel to finish this project 💖

[ladysomething]

Okay, even though from reader’s POV I can excuse a lot of what Max has previously done/said, cause I can see the bigger picture, but right now, after reading last chapter I absolutely back Charles’ concerns. Like, that bathroom? It’s so reasonable that it has ignited all the worries Charles has had since the very beginning. And to be fair, at this point all communication issues are on Max. Regarding how terribly scared and desperate Charles is at this point, it’s quite understandable that he wouldn’t ask Max himself or probably wouldn’t believe him either. And unless Max has some good reasons for keeping Charles in the dark, I really do blame him and he should have done better, he literally has traumatized person in his flat and doesn’t do a lot (can’t say anything cause he had his few moments) to ease his concerns and help him deal with the whole situation. Okay enough of me ranting, the chapter was so good and I’m too invested in the story… also that smut scene… loved every moment of it, but I have feelings it’s gonna backfire in the near future. Can’t wait until next Wednesday!

honestly everything you've said is kind of the point!!!

Max's POV is there to provide some balance to the reader, and to highlight just how unreliable Charles is as a narrator - but Charles still just has no idea! he's certainly purposefully ignoring some key pieces of evidence, but he's also got such fair reasons!

Max treated him terribly as kids and repeated anti-omega rhetoric for years, then he got an omega that mysteriously disappeared, and now he's borderline abusing Charles by being so restrictive of his rights. like, what else is Charles supposed to think?

[firesofdainix]

now i ask you 😈

2, 4, 5, 8, 22 (im curious, i always use song titles bc i cannot think of good titles otherwise LOL), 27, 28, 30, 56, 74, and 75 :DDDD

Original Ask Post

2. Where do you get your fic ideas?

It depends on what I'm currently consuming, with the exception of already-written fanfic. BUT most of the time those concepts need to be fleshed out, and most of the time I hear a good, REALLY good song lyric that can deepen the concept, or think about it WAY TOO LONG in the shower or when I'm sleeping. its... a hit or miss of ideas basically 😭

4. How do you choose which fics to write?

oh boy okay so. this is a bit embarrassing but because I have so many WIPS I have to use spin the wheel to see choose, especially since idk what to write. but if I'm lowkey inspired with one of my fics, then i'd choose that fic immediately! if I get tired, I'll move on to another one!

5. How many wips do you have? what fandoms/pairings are they for?

i have 4 current wips im actively writing right now. two are for demon slayer with no pairings involved, and two is for solarballs: one is the Jupiter x Uranus fic, and the other is my Jupiter & Sun fic that I'm still going over because IT'S A PAIN TO WRITE. then there's a new brainworm in my head, basically Uranus x Planet X and their relationship, and a Vercury one-shot where the pair have the worst sexual tension ever

8. post an out-of-context spoiler for a wip

it's posted!

22. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

preferably during the process. fun fact, take on me is named "toxic earth and mars yaoi yippee" in my gdocs and its the funniest shit ever. some fics that are based off song lyrics are already prepared, while some I have to create titles out my ass for (e.g: ganymede's one shot, earth going evil)

27. What area of writing do you feel strongest in?

uh. probably descriptions? or figurative speech. i haven't done purple prose in a while but I also think I am good at writing that :P

28. What area of writing do you want to improve in?

FIGHT SCENES!!! also, writing unreliable narrators and showing different points of views, along with ambiguous characters!!! and dialogue because god most of it sounds like I try way too hard

30. How much do you edit your fics? Do you edit as you write or wait until you finish the first draft?

if it's a one-shot, i go over it once, decided it's good enough, and post it. if it's like, a multi-chapter/ or beyond 10k words that's where I genuinely try and look for mistakes. because I might contradict myself two pages in 😭

56. Are there any fics that you would change or rewrite if given the chance?

not really haha! im in denial in thinking that most of them are okay LOL

74. Do you have a fic you wish got a bit more love?

AFTERMATH NEEDS MORE COMMENTS!!! and Take On Me (I love u regular commenter Axtumn 💞)

75. Is there a particular fic that readers gravitated towards that you didn’t expect?

SO MANY. I didn't expect to get so popular since my au was just for me to indulge and post for!!! after the battle, ganymede, saturn's moons hanging by a thread, and galileo figaro were the ones I didn't expect to blow up. i expected tsunami to blow up since I purposefully made the summary like that LMAO

[guardsbian]

things I have learned about writers who are also your readers, from online critique sites and writing advice

it's very long and very snarky, so under the cut it goes

they hate the word "was" because of the dreaded "passive voice." if you use "was," they assume it is because you have not heard of the great evil that is "passive voice." in order to best educate you, they will purposefully misinterpret your sentence to greatly exaggerated degrees, as if they were talking to a child they despised

a good chunk of them will hate non-literal word choice. rather than simply say that something was hard to understand, they will instead say "X doesn't do Y," as if you were fully unaware that eyes do not literally jump, or weapons do not perform actions without the assistance of a hand, or a sensory adjective used does not necessarily correlate to the expected sense one would associate with a given noun. you are not allowed to invoke metaphors or similes as it pertains to description unless you spell out in your text that you are making a non-literal comparison

similarly, some people do not like reading non-linear or non-literal action: if a thought is not occurring during a specified action or moment in time in which one has time to think, then it is a confusing shift of perspective that confuses the story's tense. because, somehow, when the thought in the narration was expressed in-universe is more important than the fact that the thought was relevant enough to express

unreliable narrators are good, unless they're too unreliable, in which case you are lying to your reader and they're bad and you should rewrite your entire story from the perspective of someone who isn't your plot-driving protagonist

the concept of a "mary sue" is somehow really important and relevant

americans don't always understand why british stories are written in british english

someone will recommended you check out dan brown (in general), or stephen king's "on writing"

gender is the most important thing about a character. if a character's gender is not immediately evident, then the reader will assume a gender, because there is no other lens through which to interpret a character's actions. anything outside of immediately noted as male or female is assumed to be ambiguous, unless it's supposed to be nonbinary or something, in which you also need to elaborate on that immediately, because they/them is too confusing as a grammatical concept unless you specify that someone is nonbinary, and if they're ambiguous, then you should just make them not ambiguous

you need to get into the heads of your characters. after all, men are squares and women are circles. men looking at their female love interest will get so boob horny that they won't think about anything else. women looking at their male love interest will give an enchanting YA romance description of his personality and maybe even... his looks?? men are also hormone-driven procreation hounds who can't act normal in a love triangle or whatever because they want to propagate their genetic line so badly. but also don't be afraid to write gay people!! they're just like everyone else, guys

no one will be worse at reading your work than a middle aged man who's been writing for decades and apparently has dozens of books under his belt. don't ask if they're traditionally published, none of the answers will be satisfactory. if you are a teenage girl then these men are going to tear apart your work as if they're scrolling through a fanfiction cringe compilation and you're not literally 15

what the fuck is symbolism? this passage's purpose isn't immediately evident to them, so instead of asking you about it or elaborating on how it might have disrupted the pacing or confused the scene's focus, they're going to tell you that you need to delete it because it's pointless. and they know this because of the single chapter they've read of your story

but fear not! because they're just being honest :)

plus, the better way to take criticism you don't agree with isn't necessarily at face value, but corroborated across multiple perspectives, which can help you find the underlying root of an issue that people have decided to harshly and immediately ascribe to pretentious word choice, or pronoun confusion, or obvious inexperience, or any other number of really weird reasons that literally no one else said out about your work

[loosingmoreletters]

i sincerely hope there are thousand more “who wouldn’t want to marry lan zhan?” oblivious in love wei ying moments, for lan qiren to suffer through, in the in-laws road trip au 🙏🏽

also ich anted to ask if the fic is only gonna be from wei yings pov or if maybe later on we get a chapter from lan qirens pov, as a treat?

Aaah thank you so much for the ask! (Getting asks about fanfics on tumblr is always Extra Special in my head ❤️)

And yes, we’ll get Lan Qiren chapters! The first one will be chapter 4!

I decided to stick with Wei Wuxian first mostly to show his current lack of information. He’s not even quite sure what date they have besides the vague season (not that he says so explicitly, king of unreliable narration strikes again) and all the conclusion he comes to from what surrounds him.

Lan Qiren, meanwhile, obviously knows what’s been happening in the world (well, to a degree) and is more than less purposefully withholding information from Wei Wuxian. One of the reasons should become very apparent in the next chapter (to be posted Tuesday if I can finish chapter 5 in time), the other is straight up that Wei Wuxian is terrifying.

Like, in canon we don’t really get the sense of that when Wei Wuxian is resurrected because he decides “yes, I’m gonna act like gay lunatic as a cover this tracks 10/10” and frankly speaking behaves incredibly chill. Sure, we hear about things he allegedly committed before dying, but there’s always this filter because we don’t see Wei Wuxian act like that and the characters surrounding him aren’t even 100% if he is Wei Wuxian, or just Mo Xuanyu after all.

So yeah, kicking this fic off with Wei Wuxian’s POV because he is very smart about a lot of things but doesn’t quite realize just how much his return unsettled Lan Qiren.

But trust me, there will be plenty of Lan Qiren POV in the future, definitely also to my and the reader’s amusement about some of Wei Wuxian’s conclusions ;)

I intend to make this fic the funny get along sweater in laws road trip those two deserve.

Not that Lan Wangji knows that yet.

[thorniest-rose]

(after reading some of your recent asks) I gotta say that I really don't find much of your stuff that dark. Maybe I got used to darker stuff when I entered fandom spaces in the early 2000's, because there was a big dark fic movement happening at the time. I know age gaps get to some people, but spit play squicks me and I don't think that's dark because of that. Especially considering that while many of your younger Steve posts revolve around how much Eddie is struggling, I have always gotten a sense that a large part of the reason Eddie can't walk away, or get his jail bait and be done with it, is because he has genuine feelings for Steve. Eddie's not trying to groom Steve or harm him in any way, he's a dude with feelings for someone he probably shouldn't have feelings for and he's out there doing his best every day in the mean time.

Idk if any of this makes sense and maybe I'm projecting onto your ideas as someone who is close personal friends with someone who got themselves in a similar situation when we were about the same age. (got to watch the couple in question finally work it all out a few years ago which was great, amazing how little a five year age gap means after you're 25)

I really enjoy your writing and find it refreshing either way. Hope you're having a good day!

Hi! I agree, I don't think sour candy is a dark fic and I don't think I ever necessarily talked about it like it was. It's about forbidden desire, but I've been very open about how it wasn't written just to be a kinky kind of Lolita fic featuring Steve as an underage sexpot, or for it to be about abuse where Eddie's grooming and taking advantage.

However, it's important to remember that Eddie's an unreliable narrator and the fic is purposefully written in a soft, dreamy way to lure the reader in. It's also important to remember that while Eddie does for sure struggle, and wants to keep his distance from Steve, he has been following the boy home and having sexual fantasies about him since Steve was 14. So while it's not actively abusive, it's definitely inappropriate and unsettling. Plus, as I've said before, while the age difference is a major factor, the fic is also about addiction and class. Eddie thinks he's dirty and doesn't deserve something as beautiful as Steve. He also hates Steve for growing up rich and pampered while he had nothing and was abused by his parents. There's a lot going on beneath the surface.

As for my other fics, I agree I haven't written much dark fic for the fandom but I really want to, I have SUCH a craving to go all out. Like I wanna write my stalker Eddie and serial killer Eddie fics so bad, I just haven't gotten round to them yet!!

[quaranmine]

you took unreliable narration and ran with it so hard. it’s like. the genre the emotions the setting even the basic plot all of it is warped by grian’s perception of it. and it’s so obvious while you’re reading. but it just hits so hard ogughhhhhh

YESSSSSSS the unreliable narrator aspect of this story is one of my favorite parts, actually. It's a sad story to write but it was fun to write in such a limited perspective while still making sure readers realized what I wanted them to. One of the main questions of the story in my outline doc is "Is this a conspiracy, or does Grian think it's a conspiracy?"

Grian's point of view touches every part of the story. All his basic views of the people around him are influenced by it--you have to ask yourself, is this person he's interacting with Actually being unreasonable, or is it just him? Like, with his interactions with Linda in chapter 9 he's being pretty awful in his descriptions of her out of just. general suspicion but if you read between the lines she's just acting perfectly normal lmao. He feels like everyone else is against him, because he feels like the only one who believes Mumbo is still alive. And well, maybe he is, but that doesn't mean everyone else is an antagonist. He repeatedly holds people at an arm's length or has bad-faith interpretations of their actions.

He's got unreasonable and irrational feelings about Mumbo's disappearance associated with his grief. He think it's his fault. He has self-destructive behaviors related to this (never looking to his own future, not going to work, poor self-care, self-isolation, among other things...) His view of Mumbo himself is warped by the grief, to where he sort of creates him as a flawless person in his mind. To him, Mumbo's a person who did everything right all the time. Grian works so hard to apply as much logic as he can to everything while purposefully ignoring things he finds upsetting. He's so logical it wraps back around to being illogical since he won't acknowledge the most likely scenarios.

One of my favorite trends I'm seeing pop up in the reviews of this story is of people who started out more on Grian's "side" so to speak, who slowly drifted over into expecting the actual story's outcome. I know that readers are primed to believe him and think that he will be proven right just because...that's how a lot of fictional stories go. But the readers have a clearer head than Grian does. Eventually all the irrationalities of his thoughts and actions pile up until it's clearer and clearer he's unreliable. Grian can't see through his own thoughts because he's stuck in his own head and living in the story. But the readers have the benefit of seeing everything more wholly. And to be clear when I say being on his "side" I don't mean that there's a right or wrong side to be on, just that people often start the story more inclined to believe Mumbo's alive. And by the end of it....not so much, even by the point that Grian's still clinging to it.

I think his unrealiability just makes the emotion of the story hit harder, though. I think it makes him more painfully human. It means I can truly tip the world on its end for him, because it shifts the entire narration of the story. As the author I just flipped back and forth between wanting to hug him to wanting to shake him lol.

[wholelotofweird]

Meowdy, I hope you're ready to take a peek at all of the books I've read the last 3 months!

By read, I do also mean listened to. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks, because my brain is bad.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

I love a good mystery book, and this is a good mystery book. The narrator has a strong voice and is up-front about their unreliable nature. This book does a great job of making sure you are on the narrator's side, it never feels like they are purposefully keeping readers in the dark in order to pull a gotcha.

Pacing and suspense are SO well balanced to the point where I devoured this book in a day.

Paladin's Grace - T. Kingfisher

I was so prepared for this book to lean way more heavily into a fantasy world where I'd have to learn more terms and how social systems work, and just 1000 other things that can put me off of fantasy books. It's part of the reason I put it off for so long after getting it recommended to me (sorry, Ben.)

THIS BOOK, THOUGH, is not that at all. We don't have to learn new names for "church" or "palm tree". The author manages to thread the line between assuming that readers know the world already, and not creating a bunch of buckwild new words. The handholding though the worldbuilding is so light that you almost don't even feel it.

The setting manages to feel modern and fantastic all at once, which is just... The perfect food for me. The pantheon exists, but it isn't the focus.

This is a romance novel but not a bodice ripper, or overly erotic. I feel the depths of the emotions between the two main characters, which is what I really want.

My one gripe is that the final resolution feels very deus ex. Now, if I was going to pull out my fancy degree and analyze this, I could make an argument that the ending is supposed to feel that, for [spoilers]. But... I'm not sure how true that is. Maybe I'll have to re-read the book and keep that argument in mind.

Even with the ending, this book is lovely.

The Cybernetic Tea Shop - Meredith Katz

This book is short and sweet and a lovely look at an ace relationship.

I haven't read a book sub 200 pages in about a billion years, so many modern books are 600+ pages. Some of them! So good! Others!! Painfully long! This book manages to build an amazing world, atmosphere, multiple characters, and a believable romantic relationship all in the space of a few hundred pages.

Not just that, but the story happens to be about grief, and life, and what it is a person really wants. There are a handful of books I've read in my life that I connect with on such a deep level that I feel seen and changed, Convince Store Woman is one, and this is one.

Cults - Max Cutler

Taking a hard swerve into some non-fiction. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this one. I'm not HUGE into true crime (anymore, 14 year old me S U P E R was), so I was a little concerned that I was signing up for some grim, overly detailed, look into the crimes.

What I got instead was a thoughtful look at the psychology behind cult leaders. Yeah, there are a few sections that are pretty grim, but the book doesn't revel in them, if that makes sense. There is never a point where I feel like I am supposed to be ENJOYING the crimes being detailed.

The focus on not just the leaders lives pre-cult, but the lives of the cult members does a ton of work to unmythologize (.... new word alert) some of these leaders.

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

So... I don't know. I didn't dislike this book, but I'm not sure I'm a fan. I will read the second one when I have access to it, but I don't know that I'd read this one again.

Here is a true fact about me - I don't read summaries of books or horror movies. This, as you may imagine, leads me to having to some WILD times with media.

Anyway, the point is: I was expecting a mystery period piece. What I got was a fantasy mystery period piece. It was fun, it was a little overly complicated. At the end of the day, I was definitely not the target audience for this.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - Janette McCurdy

Jesus. Christ.

When i-Carly was popular I was juuuuuust old enough to say I hated it, while watching it with my younger sisters pretty frequently. I didn't make sure to watch any of the big event episodes. I didn't see every episode, but the show was a constant in my life.

To get such a raw look at someone's life who was molded to be a 'peer' was WACK. Jennette doesn't sugar coat anything. Her experiences are raw and honest and it is probably the only way these experiences could be expressed.

Paladin's Strength - T. Kingfisher

You may be asking "why didn't you put this up next to the first book?"

Great question.

I'm putting this list in order that I read them, so like. Ease off.

I equal parts liked this book just as much, and had trouble getting through it. I am once again in love with the world and with the characters. During some of the middle of the book it felt like the book was 600 pages just to be 600 pages, and not because things needed to be said.

When I was in college I was accused of writing too many "stage directions" in my literature. I blame my years of RPing on Gaia Online and fan-fic writing on that. There is a definite style that comes from those writing exercises, a style where you want all of the readers to know everything from point A to point B. The thing is, not all of that is needed. I don't need 200 pages of sexual tension and flirting to believe in the relationship of two people. It's the "show don't tell" rule taken to the extreme.

There are some times when it's okay to tell and not show.

I like this book, I wish it was shorter, I will be reading the next one in the series because, damn it, this series is fun.

The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold

I don't tend to read fantasy books Like This anymore. When I was younger this type of book was my bread and butter. I've found that a lot of them (to me, at my advanced age) are tedious. And I'm tired.

This book! Manages not to be tedious and absolutely cradled me in the arms of fantasy I loved when I was younger. The book isn't, plot wise, comforting and yet I felt comforted reading it. I understand that the sentiment makes little sense. I'll say, though, if you were like me and were/are a big fan of Tamora Pierce's work - I cannot recommend this book enough.

Mrs. Sherlock Holmes - Brad Ricca

What is more cool than a woman lawyer, investigator, and social rights advocate in the 1900s? Basically nothing. This is another non-fiction book that truly brought to life the folks it detailed. I am OBSESSED with this woman.

I had never heard of Grace Humiston, which seems like an absolute shame, not just because she was cool as all hell, but because she spent so much time and effort protecting the underserved classes of 1900s New York. She was a lawyer who often worked for free to represent folks who could either not speak or write in English and were being taken advantage of.

She became an investigator, basically, because she knew the police were not putting effort into it.

The Salt Grows Heavy - Cassandra Khaw

This was another one that I didn't read the summary for before jumping in. I knew it was a queer book and I knew there was a mermaid, I didn't need any other convincing.

Here we have another sub 200 page book that tells an amazing love story. A story of personhood and growth and revenge.

It is not an easy read either in content or syntax. I haven't really put any trigger warnings with any of the other books, maybe that's a system I'll implement if anyone is interested. But this one: Body Horror, and Gore. If you have a weak stomach I would, sadly, not recommend this to you.

That said, this book is one of the more poetic ones I've read in a long time. Every word feels purposeful in a way that I don't run into often. Keeping the book short works perfectly for that style. If it were any longer I could easily find myself getting lost in the writing.

Legends & Lattes - Travis Baldree

This book has been on my TBR for... A While. It took my friend starting it and sending rave reviews for me to pick it up.

Here's another fun fact about me - My brain is broken. I have a hard time engaging with media that I KNOW I will enjoy, simply because. Because why? I don't know. To be contrary? Because I don't want to be disappointed? Because I'm scared I'll like it too much?

Who knows, don't recommend shows or movies to me and expect me to get back to you in a timely manner. You have to wait 3-5 years.

So, knowing that, I am glad I forced myself to pick this up. This is the coffee shop AU that we all love. The creation of this AU was treated with such love and care, it's clear the author knows what's up. All I want is a big strong character to fall in love with a smaller, softer, character and also run a little shop.

This book delivers on that and more. I cannot WAIT for the next book.

Leech - Hiron Ennes

I'm going to start with the easy stuff - This is a wonderfully dark book. I'm not usually a gothic horror reader, but wow. This book is about horror, identity, reclaiming the self. My library had it miss-tagged as romance which??? It is SUPER not.

The harder part is putting into words how I feel about this book. I like this book, it is complex and poetic. There were times where I felt like I was about to crawl out of my skin, in a good way. Emotions are so viscerally described that I could feel them in my gut.

The history of the world feels so deep, and the author does an amazing job at making me feel like that there are things going on outside the view of the character. That is an amazing skill to pull on, making the world around the character feel truly alive.

I told my friends when I finished it that sometimes "u read a book and the book read u."

I haven't put on my literature analysis hat on in nearly a decade. I would LOVE to spend more time to sit with this book and peel back the layers and figure out all of the ways this book makes me feel seen as a queer person. I don't have the words for that right now. Just know that I felt it.

Ghost Eaters - Clay McLeod Chapman

I don't know how I feel about this book. I think, overall, I like it. I think the plot is interesting, but the book isn't really about the plot, it's about the character. It's about grief and relationships and healing.

I felt like the first 200 pages were a real struggle for me. Unlike some of the other books I've read on this list, I did read a blurb about this one. I wonder if that was why the first 3rd of this book was a struggle. I was waiting the hook to find me. Instead, I had pages and pages of character exploration. I don't hate character exploration! But it wasn't what I was expecting.

The end... Left me feeling sad, and a little hopeless. Which, I think is the point. I think is why I don't read a ton of horror books. I love horror movies, I don't mind if the endings of those are bleak and hopeless. I think the difference is time spent. Reading a book takes so much more time and dedication and like... I want to be happy, is the thing.

I like this book, I think it's a wonderfully written look at addiction and grief and the ways those can eat a person alive.

Paladin's Hope - T. Kingfisher

I devoured this book in 5 hours. I... I opened it and did not put it down. I think this one may be my favorite of the three. I think the author managed to strike the exact right balance of tension, romance, and action.

Unlike Paladin's Strength, I never felt that there were these big empty spaces -- There was momentum.

I want to once again say that I LOVE that the characters are into their 30s. As a person also into their 30s it's just nice to see folks who feel real. Maybe I've been reading the wrong books for years, I simply feel a deep connection for characters similar in age who are just so... Normal (ignoring that some of them are paladin's of a dead god... you know what I mean).

[acacia-may]

Heyo! I saw that you love A Series Of Unfortunate Events and that's so cool, I love it too but sometime I have the feeling it's not well-known. Question, what do you think about the adaptations, the film with Jim Carrey and the Netflix series? Personally, I like them too, but I also understand why they're not for everyone's taste, which is fair. I'm just someone who loves books, film and show of this series, so I always wonder how it's for others.

Hello there! Thank you so much for the ask! I so rarely get ASOUE asks so this is really special and very exciting to me! 🥰

I do love A Series of Unfortunate Events (I also enjoyed All The Wrong Questions). ASOUE was such a big part of my childhood and something I've gone back and reread several times in my life, and I've always gotten something new out of it which I think is the mark of an incredible story. It was also something I got to share with my two sisters, so it's special to me in that way as well. I'm much older than both of my sisters, and my youngest sister and I are nearly 10 years apart in age, so it was kind of difficult to find things that we all could enjoy together, especially when they were young. However, we read ASOUE aloud when my youngest sister was old enough to understand/enjoy the series and also in preparation for the Netflix series which was scheduled to be released, and she just loved it and we had so much fun reading it together. I tried my best to do all the voices... (I remember I could never quite get Book Olivia/Madame Lulu's and kind of butchered my way through Book 9 😅). When they were very young, my sisters wanted to have these imaginary "VFD meetings," and it was a very silly game but always so much fun to get to play at that with them. [And to this day, my one sister's nickname in my phone is actually still "Jackalope" as a very meme-like reference to her always being the "Jacques"]. Anyway, I have so much love for that series and a lot of good memories related to it. 💕

Long story short: I have an appreciation for the ASOUE adaptations since I think it's a very difficult story to adapt due to the fact there is barely any, actual "canon" information, and I especially liked a lot of Netflix's interpretation of the series. However, they are all very separate things in my head (so it's almost like I've got a "Book Lemony," "Netflix Lemony" and "Movie Lemony" in my mind, just for an example). My ramblings about the adaptations got so long and are riddled with spoilers so I am putting them under the cut!

(Warnings: Spoilers for all iterations of ASOUE and mentions of death, murder, & trauma)

As far as the adaptations go, I think that the nature of ASOUE makes incredibly difficult to adapt in any medium. Lemony is an incredibly unreliable and biased narrator, and the canon is often (purposefully) ambiguous, contradictory, and riddled with plot holes, which makes for a great story in which the reader really gets to take the reigns and, in a way, "make the canon" whatever they want it to be. It's such a different experience because we/the readers, honestly just don't know so many things about the story, the world, and the characters so it's up to everyone to kind of "play detective" and essentially create a canon of their own--but, at the end of the day, that "canon," as each individual reader perceives, is probably 20% actual canon and 80% headcanon (and that's being generous). So for me it's difficult to judge the quality of an adaptation of this story because I really view a lot of my personal perceptions and understanding of the series as my headcanons rather than the actual canon so my perception of the tv show and the movie is really just me comparing Netflix's headcanons or Nickelodeon's headcanons to my personal headcanons, if that makes sense? And in that way, like you said, I can completely understand why one or both of them would not be to someone's taste.

I personally see both adaptations as separate things from the book series and will often talk about certain characters as like "Netflix Kit" or "Book Kit" and things like that. They really are that separate in my mind. Overall though, I really enjoyed the Netflix series and was really happy with a lot of what Netflix did. I did not go into it expecting a lot because I just figured that my interpretations were going to be different than theirs, but I was extremely surprised by how similar the portrayals of a lot of the characters were to what I was imagining in my mind. Esme especially was just phenomenal--everything I had ever imagined her to be like! The children (both the Baudelaires and the Quagmires) were great! I loved a lot of the guardians/supporting cast: Monty, Josephine, Georgina, Vice Principal Nero, Hal, Justice Strauss, Carmelita Spats...I can't even list all the people. It was just so well-casted across the board!

And even characters who were different than what I imagined in my mind were really wonderful! I really liked the portrayal of Netflix Fernald for instance--he was much more likeable, and I loved that friendship he had with Sunny (and how that hinted at his own relationship with his (long-lost) younger sister). Netflix Count Olaf is another example of a character who I feel much more positively about in the Netflix series than in the books. Overall, I think Neil Patrick Harris's Count Olaf was a much closer interpretation to how I personally imagine Count Olaf than Jim Carrey's Count Olaf. Netflix Olaf was definitely, ultimately much softer and more sympathetic than I how I imagine Book Olaf, but I think overall Harris did a good job of treading that fine line of being a very melodramatic villain but also being actually threatening and menacing. I can really appreciate how difficult that must have been because Olaf is such a very complex character and I can see why he wouldn't be an easy one to portray. And of course, Netflix Olivia is basically an entirely different person but a very amazing person!

Which reminds me, I know that Jacques gets thrown out a lot as a character whose Netflix interpretation didn't quite match up to what people were imagining, but for me (and this was probably the most shocking because I always felt like the odd one out when it came to my personal interpretations of Book Jacques), Netflix Jacques was very, very similar to what I imagined his book counterpart to be like so I was feeling very excited and very vindicated that I wasn't the only one who imagined in that way. I think the most radically different (besides Olivia of course) was probably Ernest, but we know basically nothing about him so I don't have a problem with Netflix Ernest. For all we know, Book Ernest could secretly be an evil cowboy and lasso someone and boil them alive in curry--but my personal interpretation of Book Ernest is that he would not have done that. But I recognize that's all headcanons so I don't really have a criticism there.

Besides with Ernest (who was much more of a coldblooded killer than I what I was imagining), I think most of the changes in the Netflix universe painted the characters in a much more positive and sympathetic way than what I was imagining in my mind. Netflix made them less broken, less traumatized, less morally dubious, and ultimately much more well-adjusted than what I had been imagining based on the books. I think Netflix Lemony and Netflix Kit are both good examples of this. Neither one of them are nearly as jaded in Netflix as they are in my interpretation of their book counterparts. I love them as characters--have always loved them so I want these good, happier things for them. I want a universe for Kit where she gets to hold Little Bea before she dies. I want a universe for Lemony where he gets to reconnect with his sister one last time. And yes, though I realize that most interpretations (including my own) of Book Kit Snicket would have never, ever, ever in a million years been on board with jumping ship on VFD when she got pregnant and running away to island to the raise the baby away from all that, I still want that universe. I still want that universe where things are a little less bleak and a little more hopeful, so I feel I am very biased in that way because in a certain sense, I was grateful that Netflix gave us a happier, more hopeful world for these characters that I loved.

Overall though, despite the differences, I think Netflix ASOUE was made with care. I got this feeling while watching it and squealing over the little details and references to all parts of the Snicket-verse that the people who made it and were involved in bringing this story to life really, genuinely cared about the source material. They were forced to pick an interpretation and though that interpretation might not be exactly like mine, I can respect that they picked theirs with thought, effort, and care because they loved this series. And it was really such a delight to get to experience an adaptation that was made by people who clearly have as much love and passion for this series as me, if not more.

I'm not as fond of the movie. I feel like it missed the mark in terms of the macabre sense of humor of the series and was more tonally uneven than what Netlflix made. I did love the portrayals of the children in the movie--especially Klaus. Movie Klaus's sass was just top-tier. I loved watching his faces in the background! They're hilarious! But they didn't give him glasses (at least not ones he wears all the time), and the movie is just kind of full of little things like that that just kind of miss the mark for me. I wasn't a big fan of Movie Olaf either--I felt that he was too goofy and not threatening enough as a villain, but I did love Movie Monty. He's such a sweetheart, but Netflix Monty was just as good. The same with Movie Lemony versus Netflix Lemony. Jude Law and Patrick Warburton kind of played into different aspects of Lemony's character so they're very different portrayals but both still good.

My favorite thing about the movie by far, however, is the soundtrack. I have owned it for years, and I still listen to it all the time. I was just listening to "The Letter That Never Came" last week, actually, when I was working on my piece for the Wicked Way Exchange. I just love the music! It's gorgeous and fits better with the tone of my interpretation of the series than probably anything else in the movie. I grew up with this movie, so I think there is some nostalgia there, but if I wanted to watch or recommend an adaptation of ASOUE, I'd definitely choose Netflix.

Thanks again for the ask and for indulging my ramblings! Feel free to drop by to talk about the Snicket-verse anytime! 🥰

[blurrymango]

Hey, I was reading your bio and I’m a little confused: What does “anti first person POV” mean? Is it a joke that’s flown over my head, or something else? Thanks in advance, sorry if it’s a silly question

It means that to put it simply- I highly dislike first person point of view. Now, there is a bit more to it. But that is, basically, it.

My favorite book series, The School For Good and Evil, has a chapter in first person POV. And it is godawful.

Majority of what I read is fanfiction nowadays, and when I say the narration as "I" instead of "he" or "she" or "they" or even my beloved underrated "you" I instantly click out of it.

Now, I don't hate all first person POV shit. Like. The Great Gatsby and American Psycho are both EXTREMELY good. American Psycho being unironically one of my favorite books of all time.

But generally, first person POV is. Well. It's not utilized well. Like in American Psycho, I feel like the first person POV is used very very purposefully there, putting you the reader in the shoes of this unreliable narrator who is. SO very disturbed. But then there's shit like the first person POV section of one of the School For Good and Evil books which is so shitty it makes me question how the writer was dumb enough to keep it in.

I know a lot of first person POV shit is like. Journal entry or diary formatted type books which is. With the exception of a book I picked up from the library in middle school that was like. A really edgy journal entry style book about a high schooler or something dealing with some intense mental health shit or whatever. I remember the cover of it was like. Eyecatching as hell. GOD I WISH I COULD FFUCKING REMEMBER A SINGLE THING ABOUT THAT BOOK.

I just spent far too long trying to find it and holy shit why can't I remember what it's called. I am so. SO ffucking frustrated that I can't find it. So it's like. From the perspective of like a middle schooler or a high schooler who was like. Recommended to take up journaling by a guidance counselor I think. And there was art.

ONE OF THE CHARACTERS WAS LIKE. Visually represented by a smiley face I THINK. Uh. Because the character was like. Fat. Or something.

Oh FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

Uhhh. I think one of the characters in the book got sexually assaulted at one point. Gosh I. I wish my memory worked better.

Sorry anon I'm like. Extremely pissed off that I can't find this ffucking book god I wish someone would help me try to find this ffucking book oh my god.

If I don't find this book I will like. CRY or something.