#and she used to write short stories and often have them published like when i was little

[cruelsister-moved2]

"the truth is she did it alone, and remembered it all her life."

[siriuslywicked]

Tangled Hearts - Chapter One

Pairing: poly!wolfstar x reader

Summary: After years of isolating yourself from old school friends, you find yourself thrown back into their world after an invitation from Lily to celebrate her and James' recent engagement. As you, Sirius, and Remus reconnect, it becomes clear the chemistry between the three of you is as vibrant as it was at Hogwarts. Having been burned before, are you willing to let yourself trust them again?

Tags: drinking, no use of y/n, reader is nicknamed "fluffs," ignoring actual timelines and canon for storytelling reasons, reader is half blood, hidden relationships, wolfstar are closeted babies, ignoring peter bc he gives me the ick, reader is afab, reader wears makeup and can put her hair up

A/N: I am so so excited to be posting this fic. I don't think I've published anything since like 2017, but it has been really fun getting back into writing. I'm open to friendly feedback, ideas for the main story or any extras! I have a couple short extras I might write but please send me your thoughts and ideas! Enjoy!

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You weren’t a stranger to walking home alone on the cold, dark streets of London. Working a demanding Ministry job meant you often left work late. Due to the short distance home you often opted to travel on foot, preferring it to more magical methods of transport. While not unusual, this particular walk left you in low spirits. It was five past seven on a crisp Friday evening, and as the city bustled with life around you, a feeling of loneliness seated itself in your chest at the idea of returning to your empty apartment. 

In the few years since you had left Hogwarts, the state of the Wizarding world—your world—had steadily grown darker. Coming from a half-Muggle, half-wizard household had always left you in a precarious position. You were grateful for your stable position at the Ministry, working in the Muggle Relations Office, it provided a small sense of security. That was one of the things you missed most about being at Hogwarts: the stability. When you were inside the castle walls, it had felt like nothing could harm you. You would always be warm, fed, and surrounded by good company. You often found yourself longing to be back in the Gryffindor common room with your friends, talking late into the night around the fire.

The common room had been replaced by your cozy little flat in London where you lived alone. It was small and in need of renovations, but had unique charms and a homey feel. Your friends had been replaced by a few coworkers who you met occasionally for drinks at the Leaky Cauldron. The sense of security, belonging really,  had been replaced by a near-constant unease and loneliness that seemed to follow you around like a shadow. Occasionally, you’d receive an owl from Lily, updating you on her life with James. They were recently engaged, and you couldn’t be happier for them. You and Lily had been fast friends at Hogwarts. Your mixed magical and Muggle family meant you could understand her, and help her adjust to life at Hogwarts. After being sorted into the same house, the two of you had been inseparable for years, only drifting apart slightly when Lily and James grew closer. Sharing Lily’s attention had been an adjustment, but it had come with a larger friend group, as Lily and James had quickly welcomed you into their circle, introducing you to Sirius and Remus. The five of you had spent your seventh year causing quite the ruckus. Between parties, weekend trips to Hogsmeade, and sneaking through the castle’s many hidden passageways, you had never had a better time at Hogwarts.

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Walking up the red brick steps to your flat, you shook yourself free of thoughts of the past and focused on the evening ahead. Unlocking the door with a discreet flick of your wand, you stepped inside and took in the warmth of your small home. Sitting on the kitchen counter was Lily’s most recent letter, informing you of her engagement. With it, she had sent a picture of herself and James, both smiling and waving up at you. Holding the photograph in one hand, you contemplated the contents of the letter. The happy couple would be in London in a couple of hours to grab a pint and celebrate with Sirius and Remus. You had been invited to join, of course, but you found yourself hesitant.

As close as your group had been during seventh year, there was an unmistakable shift in dynamic as Lily and James became closer. It had left you, Remus, and Sirius to your own devices. The three of you had always enjoyed teasing one another, conversations always full of quick wit and laughter. But like so many good friendships, you had gotten too close and ended up burned. Turns out Remus and Sirius didn’t really want to turn their duo into a trio. Outside of a couple of dinners at Lily and James’s, you hadn’t spent any time with the two boys. In fact, now that you thought about it, more than a year had passed since you’d seen any of the old group, aside from Lily. 

As much as the idea of seeing everyone again after so long made you nervous, you knew how important it was to Lily that you made an appearance. For this reason, you found yourself shrugging off your heavy cloak and padding into the bedroom to change. After changing into a burgundy cardigan and your favorite jeans, you fixed your makeup and messy updo with a flick of your wand. Throwing on an overcoat, you prepared yourself to brave the night once again, feeling the familiar flare of anxiety pool in your stomach. It was just a couple of drinks with old friends—what could be so bad about that?

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Trudging along the castle halls back to Gryffindor after a long week of classes hadn’t been easy. You had felt weighed down by exhaustion, impatiently awaiting the moment you could curl up under your covers and say goodbye to the stress of pre-Christmas exams, if only for a few hours. Arriving back at the common room, you found it unusually quiet. Unlike most of Gryffindor House, you had spent the last Friday evening before end-of-term exams in the library, pouring over notes and trying desperately to recall Professor Binns’s most recent lecture. You assumed the younger students were asleep in their dorms, while the older students—your friends included—were almost certainly at the little bash Hufflepuff was throwing to try and outdo the Gryffindor party that would be taking place the following weekend. An impossible feat, but don’t tell that to any of the Puffs.

Climbing the stairs to your dorm, you recalled that you had lent your copy of Advanced Potion Making to Remus, and you would need it to continue studying in the morning. The chances of getting the book back before noon tomorrow seemed slim, so you opted to sneak into the boys’ dorm and fetch it before crashing. No one would be in right now, and it wasn’t like you and Lily hadn’t been in their dorms before. Quickly changing course, you found yourself in front of the boys’ dormitory and cast a quick charm to unlock the door. Slowly stepping inside, you began searching for the textbook near Remus’s things. Taking in the room, you noticed that the curtains around Sirius’s four poster had been drawn completely closed. Odd for a messy dorm. Surely Sirius hadn’t brought a girl back so early in the night—it was only half-past ten. You flushed at the thought and felt your heart rate increase at the idea that he might be behind the curtain with some girl from the party. Sirius was good-looking, no doubt about it, but you wouldn’t reduce yourself to being jealous of whoever his conquest of the night was. You silently thanked the heavens for the existence of silencing charms and hurried your search.

It only took a moment longer for you to spot the potions book among some of Remus’s school clothes. You quickly grabbed the book and made your way to the door, but before you could grab the handle, you heard a great thump and the unmistakable sound of Sirius groaning in pain. Turning to look, you saw Sirius on his back, looking rather disheveled—his curly black locks untidy, cheeks flushed, and the majority of the buttons on his shirt undone. But instead of seeing some sixth-year Hufflepuff girl on top of him, you saw... “Remus?”

“Hello, Fluffs,” he said breathlessly, looking rather sheepish. If you thought Sirius looked flushed, it was nothing compared to the pink staining Remus’s cheeks—not that you were any better off.

“I was just coming to fetch my book… I thought you’d both be off at the party with the others—sorry.” The explanation came out squeaky as you clutched the book to your chest. Both boys stared at you, rooted to the spot, all three of you seemingly at a loss for words. Remus seemed to catch up with himself first, he extracted himself from his position between Sirius’s legs and stood quickly on wobbling legs. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, struggling with how to proceed. 

“The others don’t know. You wouldn’t mind keeping this between the three of us, would you?”

Glancing between his nervous expression and the still red Sirius on the floor, you nodded slowly and took a step back towards the door.

“My lips are sealed. Promise.” You gave a small smile, still blushing, and quickly exited the room.

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A short walk later, you found yourself standing outside the small pub Lily had mentioned in her letter. You felt anxiety settle in the pit of your stomach as you looked down at your watch: eight twenty. You were early—perhaps you would get lucky, and it would just be Lily and James there. Sirius and Remus tended to be just beyond fashionably late. Keeping that thought in mind, you took a deep breath and opened the door.

The pub was dimly lit, and the air was thick with smoke. The bar was full of Muggle patrons watching whatever match happened to be on. Along one wall was a series of round cushioned booths, each outfitted with its own oil lamp and ashtray. Taking in the scene, you spotted two familiar faces. To your great surprise, Sirius and Remus could be seen sitting in one of the booths. Sirius noticed you first, a large grin spreading across his face as his pale eyes met yours. Despite the hammering in your chest, you felt yourself smiling back as your feet carried you towards their booth. Sirius looked as ever—his curly dark hair pulled into a loose bun, his cream button-down hugging his broadened shoulders. Remus gave you a soft smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, and as you got closer, he ran a nervous hand through his hair.

“Well, if it isn’t our favorite Fluffs!” Sirius grinned.

He stood and pulled you into an embrace as you reached the booth. Standing on your toes and throwing your arms around his neck in return felt as natural as coming home. His cologne smelled of spice and something woodsy, and it stuck to you as you stepped down and went to take a seat next to Remus.

You weren’t sure what you had been expecting seeing just the two of them again after all this time, but the enthusiastic welcome from Sirius had been enough to settle your nerves. 

“Still calling me Fluffs? I was really hoping that after all these years, the two of you would let me live that down.”

“Don’t be silly, dove,” Remus said with a smirk. “That nickname is going to stick around as long as Pads does.”

You let out a small huff at Remus’s comment. It came as a relief that he felt comfortable enough to tease you alongside Sirius, even if he had seemed apprehensive seeing you again. You relaxed further into the booth as Sirius sat down on Remus’s other side.

“I must say, I’m surprised to see you here before Lily and James. Since when were you two so punctual?”

Sirius smiled into his pint as Remus explained, “We’ve got a flat nearby. Prongs asked us to save a booth.”

Rather than linger on the fact they were living together—and what that implied—you leaned across Remus and asked Sirius if he would fetch you a drink. He obliged with a grin and quickly made his way to the bar.

“It’s good to see you again, love,” Remus said, turning toward you. As you took him in, all deep eyes and silky light-brown hair, you felt yourself flush once again. While Sirius had always brought out the bubbly side of you with his exuberant energy, Remus often gave you butterflies with just a look. Despite the years that had passed, it was clear the pair still affected you like you were seventeen.

No sooner had Sirius returned bearing your drink of choice—because of course he remembered—than the happy couple materialized at the booth. After warm greetings all around, the five of you settled into comfortable conversation with drinks all around. 

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It was the first time since Hogwarts that the five of you had had so much fun. A great deal of catching up had been in order, Lily and James gushing over the engagement and wedding plans, Remus and Sirius about their many London adventures, and you about the happenings at the Muggle Relations Office. 

Lily and James were seated on one side of the booth, and somewhere between round two and three, you had ended up squished between Remus and Sirius on the other.

“Did the boys tell you about their flat?” Lily piped up across the table. “It’s just around the corner. Real nice place too! What with two boys living there and all…” She trailed off with a giggle.

So, if it was common knowledge they were living together, did that mean—

“Ultimate bachelor’s pad if you ask me! They’ve even got Muggle foosball all enchanted. The little players have got a mind of their own at this point,” James chimed in.

Apparently not. 

Not dwelling on the fact Lily and James were still in the dark about certain aspects of their friends' relationship, you quickly downed the rest of your drink. Head feeling fuzzy and cheeks radiating heat, you focused your eyes to look at Lily. She gave you a wide smile before grabbing James’s arm and announcing to the group that it was past her bedtime, prompting the group to finish their drinks as well. You all stood and staggered out onto the street, you yourself stumbling slightly and gripping onto the table to help you stand. After Lily and James had said their goodbyes, Lily giving you a tight hug, Remus and Sirius turned to you.

“How are you planning on getting home, dove? Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of disapparating in this state,” Remus teased, clearly amused at how tipsy you’d gotten after just a few pints.

He had a point. You didn’t have a good way to get home besides walking, but it was rather late for that. The other option was casting a sobering charm on yourself, but that just sounded plain unpleasant. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Suppose I could always take the night bus,” you giggled, feeling a little silly for your lack of forethought.

Sirius shook his head before you had even finished your sentence. “Don’t be ridiculous, Fluffs! You can tag along with me and Moony, crash at ours, yeah?”

“Yeah?” you said hesitantly, your eyes darting between the two tall boys. The last thing you wanted was to put them out right after reconnecting had gone so well.

Remus nodded his agreement without hesitation. “Perfect idea, Pads. We’ve got an extra blanket and everything. Don’t you worry, love.”

And so, you found yourself arm-in-arm with Remus and Sirius, walking down the streets of London toward their flat. Correction: street. Lily hadn’t been kidding when she said it was around the corner. During the short walk, you couldn’t help but feel like you were exactly where you ought to be. Something about being back with Remus and Sirius felt so unbelievably right that it made you giddy.

As you rose the steps with Remus’s help, the last drink from the pub hit your system, and you felt yourself lean into him ever so slightly more. Once inside, he laid you down on the couch with the promise of a blanket and a couple of pillows that felt cool on your flushed cheeks. Remus pulled off your boots, and you could hear Sirius talking animatedly to him from what you imagined was the kitchen. You let your eyes slip closed as you settled into the couch, feeling warm and sleepy. The boys' voices became more hushed, and you heard footsteps indicating they were walking toward the couch.

“Dove?” Remus’s soft voice prompted you to peek your eyes open.

“Mmm?”

“Just wanted to say goodnight, darling,” he explained, his hand rubbing soft circles on your arm.

“Night, Moons. Night, Pads,” you murmured, looking at the pair of them and smiling.

“Goodnight, our darling Fluffs,” Sirius replied, smiling brightly.

You let your eyes fall closed once more, drifting off to the sound of hushed whispers and a door closing down the hall.

[fictionstudent]

Why even "show, not tell"?

You must have heard the famous advice “show, not tell” around a hundred times by now. It’s one of the most used writing tools today, I’d argue. Recently in a blog post, I’d even talked about what it actually means and how you could execute it.

But now you must be thinking why it’s even such a thing, you know. Why do we follow this advice? What’s so advantageous about it? Why do even people care? Or do people care?

After much brainstorming, I have the answers to these questions. I hope it can spark some discussions on the issue.

***

#01 - Why yes

So, why you should “show, not tell”? Classic authors didn’t use this technique often. Most of the literature at the time was written in third-person omniscient narration technique, and that means the authors had no means to actually describe how the characters felt or what they thought.

There were a lot of classics that used first-person narration, but maybe those were the only times we could notice the advice actually in use historically. Third-person limited was non-existent, perhaps. Personally, I’ve never read a classic novel that’s in third-person limited narration.

Anyway, time began passing, and people noticed that somehow, this “show, not tell” thingey kinda works. It can convey emotions and information in a lot more efficient way. So editors began searching for stuff like that.

So, one reason can be that it’s simply a superior way to convey emotions. Taking from the example I used in my last blog,

I was angry at Sara. But she didn’t care.

It’s a lot worse than,

She couldn’t believe this. Was this for real? Was this… really happening? Really?

Her fists clenched hard. Her arms were trembling. And her eyes… They tried hard to fight back those tears. But the dam could break any moment now.

How could someone do something like this? And… And to her? What had she done to be betrayed like this?

The latter one actually makes you feel what Sara is feeling—you feel like you are Sara. You can understand her feelings on a much deeper level—you do not just know that she’s frustrated, you know how frustrated she is at the whole ordeal.

Another reason—it’s immersive. Reading in detail how the character is feeling is really a lot more interesting than just reading what they feel and understanding it on an intellectual level. This way, you can relate to the character on an emotional level.

And because it’s immersive, the readers would love the novel. And if they love it, they’d buy more of the author and publisher—and that’s more profits for both of them. So why not?

A third reason—the world is changing. And so are our forms of entertainment.

Today, most of our entertainment is in the form of visual media. When we read novels, we do not always imagine them as someone speaking to us—as readers a century or two ago used to. But rather, we try to create mental images based on the information we’ve gathered. Why?

Because most of our entertainment now is visual. Comics, social media, films—all these widely consumed media are visual. So subconsciously, we all agree that story means visuals. And visuals—along with monologues—are a part of “show, not tell”.

Readers today have a set of expectations that the stories they consume in novels would be visuals, based on happenings. Yeah, there are monologues and narrations, but they sit on top of the foundation that the visuals create. Most commercial fiction does not stand on monologues alone—they need visuals.

Now, I’m not saying that all novels are like this, or all readers are like that. No, far from the truth. I’ve read Murakami’s short-stories that are certainly based only on monologues, with little to no visuals. Or even dialogues, for that matter. And believe me—these stories are just as immersive.

So we can argue that not all fiction needs visuals, but most do. And it’s the same for monologues—read McCarthy.

***

#02 - When to “tell”

Yeah, you heard it right. There’s time you absolutely need to ignore this advice. Writing is subjective, after all—every rule and advice has instances where it needs to be ignored. Exceptions form a big part of learning the application of any sort of rule or advice.

Firstly, time-skip. If you’re writing a scene where you need to have a time-skip, but you also need the reader to kinda know what happened in that time, you can just tell instead of showing.

For example,

And we crossed the seas. The journey wasn’t long, but those days we had nothing to do. We were bored the heck out of our brains. Those days felt like an eternity. Until today, when we finally found what we were looking for—a piece of land in the middle of the Pacific. The Hirohoto Islands.

It's completely fine to write stuff like that if whatever happened in that time phase has little to no relevance to the story whatsoever. If you want to, you could have expanded a chapter or two out of this little paragraph, or even a whole full-length book (lol, really). But if you feel that expanding it would provide no extra meaning to the plot, and you can just skip to the better part, writing like this is extremely fine. In fact, adventure novels are filled with this sort of telling narrations.

Secondly, you can’t show the monologues of the other characters that your narrator is interacting with. Yeah, you can still make use of the visuals, but not the monologues, which is half of the “show, not tell” advice. So you’re heavily dependent on the visuals in terms of showing. But in such cases, remember that you can tell—it’d be the narrator’s interpretation of the emotions of the other characters. It’d be better than head-hopping, I mean. Not recommended, but definitely correct if executed well.

Thirdly, action scenes. You may tell during action scenes because remember that action scenes are supposed to be quick-paced and punchy. This doesn’t really leave you enough space to show the narrator’s emotions and monologues—or the scene would turn up to be slow. And you don’t want an action scene to be slow.

An action scene relies heavily on visuals, though. But if, by any chance, you need to describe anything other than the actual action, you can just tell at that moment to make sure you don’t break the flow and pace of the scene.

Fourthly, you can use tell literally anytime, anywhere. You can use it without restraints. Remember, there’re no hard rules about where you can show and where you can tell. There are gonna be instances where you feel you can apply any one of them—so do apply any one of them. It’s your novel, write it the way you want.

But don’t just keep on telling. It’d be boring. But sometimes, it’s necessary. And sometimes, it’s just a shorter, better thing to do. Use “show, not tell” as many times as you can, but don’t overuse it.

***

Conclusion

I’d said in a recent post that I wanted to talk more about “show, not tell”. And now that it’s over, I guess I’d be doing something else with my life lol.

Anyway, explore the blog if you want more helpful content about writing like this one. Love you guys.

[the-ellia-west]

INTRO POST!!1!!!!!1!

Hello! I'm Ellia! Welcome to my weird-ass writeblr blog! Here's some things to know about me:

I am an Aspiring author and Devoted Christian Woman. I live in the USA (CDT time zone) I am a minor, and the only other language I know is some very spotty spanish.

I mainly write Fantasy, and I'm working on four main projects (Listed Below)!

I like: Jesus, Bright Colors, People, Writing, Reading, Cats, Music, Warm Weather, Rain, Flowers, Dresses, and my Moots!

I Dislike: The texture of wool, Heavy Lifting, Baked Beans, Sin, Satan, Demons, and the Time Travel Trope

Hey! Pst! Before you continue! I have a side blog! Check out @jakkon-and-rose-topic if you want to read some stuff!

Tags:

Ellia Writes - Any talking or sharing of any aspect of any of my WIPs

Ellia's Construction Company - How I make stuff, tutorials, ect.

Ghost Party - Chatting and geeking out with my friends/Moots

Ellia answers - Answering questions

Ellia's Rambling - Me talking about stuff (a little too much)

Ellia's Haunted house - Any posts that I could slot into my story and character/world building. And my pile of creations (Including shitposts)

Ellia's mind palace - Stuff I'm adding to my mental Library :]

Ghost gardens - Aesthetic Pictures and stuff

Ghost scribbles - Art/Drawing Practice

My Wips:

TCOT - (The Cursed One's Throne) - TCOT is a low fantasy Novel Series I have been working on for 5 years, and I hope to publish in the next year, and the Main Wip I will work on and talk about on this blog (Tags: #elliatcot, #ellia tcot, #ellia's tcot, #the cursed one's throne)

J&R - (Placeholder Title) - High fantasy Adventure with Sass, spunk, and a heck of a lot of conflict (To be turned into a comic one day)

StF - (Steel and Feathers) - StF is a High Fantasy project about a Chosen one And stuff (Tags: #stf, #elliastf, #ellia'sstf, #ellia stf, #ellia stf)

Fallen - (That's the title) - A High Fantasy Romance between a Runaway Noble and a Disgraced (probably Criminal) (Tags: #elliafallen, #ellia'sfallen, #ellia fallen, #ellia's fallen, #rustpearl)

StF Short story Masterpost!

Alkain - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Raavas - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 3.5

Old Pinned post Copy-paste below (followed by my moots)

------------------------------------ Hey there! Hi! You! Tumblr user!

Are you a fan of epic fantasy? Want a story with romance, action, and sassy heroes and villains? How about some good old-fashioned ANGST?

If so, you're in luck! Get ready for the upcoming release of The Cursed One's Throne (TCOT for short), coming... well, eventually!

A story of trauma, war, recovery, trust, and love intertwined with curses, magic, sacrifice, and a few too little hours of sleep. Who needs a release date when you've got me, the very entertaining author, right?

------------------------------------

Wtf is TCOT?

TCOT sneak Peek

Worldbuilding

Music

TCOT Ships

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If you made it all the way to the end, have a wonderful day, don't forget to drink water, have a little snack, sleep, take a walk, and Don't forget that I love you :] <3333

[veliseraptor]

April Reading Recap

Stars of Chaos vol. 2 by Priest. I'm not quite grabbed by this one yet. I'm not not enjoying it, but the main relationship doesn't quite have me compelled, and the politics aren't quite sharp enough to get me either. I'm not totally sure I'll keep buying the published volumes, at least not at this time, and just read the rest online to see how I end up feeling about it as a whole before making the financial commitment.

Medea by Eilish Quin. Listen, I'm a Medea apologist, but I'm a Medea apologist who is very much of the "she absolutely did all the awful things she's accused of and she is valid" and the author here is going "she did all the awful things she's accused of but it's not as bad as you thought it was because she didn't mean it!" and I'm just. I'm not mad, just disappointed (again). I was so hoping for a book that would do something interesting with a Medea retelling but I probably should've known better than to think it'd be this one. Why, you may ask, do I keep reading myth retellings about my problematic faves when all I do is complain about them? Hope springs eternal, I guess.

She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan. Exceptional. Might be my favorite books I read in April. I'd already read She Who Became the Sun back when it was first published and knew I'd enjoyed it (was rereading to refresh my memory for the sequel), but I felt like I enjoyed it more the second time around, and I might've liked He Who Drowned the World even more than its predecessor. If you're looking for works of just-barely fantasy with delightfully fucked up queer characters, come get 'em here. I won't say most of them are happy (they're not) or that things end well (they don't), but boy is it good reading.

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling. Decent horror but not particularly outstanding, in my opinion. I liked The Luminous Dead more.

Untethered Sky by Fonda Lee. I continue to struggle with novellas. This was a perfectly good novella but it felt like it could've been a stronger short story, which I guess is better than the other way I usually come out of novellas, which is "this was a fine novella but it should've been a novel."

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler. I really liked this. It has more of a thriller-ish edge than I expected, but for all that I think it's a thoughtful book with some interesting things to say, and I feel like it's one I want more people to read so I can talk to them about it. It's set in a sort-of spooky, near-future dystopia, but a lot of it is about, like, the nature of thought and consciousness. Anyway, I found myself compelled.

Islands of Abandonment: Nation Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn. I found myself reading this thinking a lot about The World Without Us, a book I read many years ago and would kind of like to reread, and which I think I liked more than this (at least in my memory). I was hoping for more analysis than I got from this book, which was beautifully written but more nature/travel writing than science. One thing I did appreciate was the attention paid to the human cost of the "abandoned" places examined in this book - the pain that abandonment often signifies, and the trauma it indicates, in spite of the beauty that may come after.

Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World by Mary Beard. I really liked the way that Beard chose to do this one - namely, taking it by theme rather than by emperor, and breaking down different areas of the emperor's life over time rather than trying to tell a linear narrative. It also let her do some of the better "skeptical" reading of sources that I've read in a popular book on ancient history, where she was actually digging into the "rather than what this says about what this person may or may not have actually done, what does it say about expectations, beliefs, and tropes that people had" kind of reading. And after some of the other popular histories of Rome I've read, thank god for that.

Metamorphoses by Ovid, trans. Stephanie McCarter. Continuing on with my "reading new translations (by women!) of classical epics" run (started with The Odyssey, The Iliad is on my list). It was fun to reread Ovid! As usual one of my favorite parts of this was reading the translator's note and introduction, and I wanted about 500% more of that through the text (tell me about the assonance you're preserving in the Latin!) but did get some of (thanks for the information on the penis/pubic hair puns!). Overall would recommend as a good translation of Ovid that very much does not flinch away from - and makes/keeps appropriately uncomfortable - the sexual assault.

Dark Rise by C.S. Pacat. Slightly more YA than I usually like, but I enjoyed it! I was a little :\ about it for a while, very much feeling the YA cliches of it all, but the late hour twist got me interested again, and I will be picking up the sequel. Did miss the full balls-to-the-wall iddy joy of Captive Prince, though, since I probably wouldn't have picked this book up without the author recognition.

Subversive Sequels in the Bible: How Biblical Stories Mine and Undermine Each Other by Judy Klitsner. I really liked this one, particularly for its commentary comparing and contrasting Eve, and the other women of Genesis, with later Biblical narratives. I don't know how much I buy all of her arguments when it comes to intentionality of all of the comparisons she's drawing, but it certainly makes interesting food for thought, and a good sampler for me of what literary-based Biblical scholarship can look like (and an indication that I'm interested in trying more of it).

Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks. I read most of my way through this book continuing to really appreciate what Banks does with the Culture novels and planning to continue on reading the next one, but not enjoying this specific one as much as I did The Player of Games in particular, and then I got to the very end of it and went "hang on what the fuck???" but in a decidedly good way. And I'm still kind of thinking about That even though it's been a while, which I think is a positive. Anyway, I don't think I'd recommend this as a starting place for anyone to read the Culture novels, or as a must read, but it was on the upper end of a three star rating.

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid. I wanted this to be more gothic horror and less romance and it ended up being more romance and less gothic horror, was my feeling. Not necessarily the book's fault, but if anyone else is eyeing it wondering...now you know.

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. I really enjoyed this one! I was kind of skeptical going in - I'm not a big magic school person, as a rule, and the more I feel like something is hyped to me the more I tend to drag my heels about it - but Naomi Novik is really good at what she does and she clearly had a lot of fun here. It's tropey for sure, but I enjoy the narrative voice (very important, in a first person narration), and the action moves along with what I felt was pretty good momentum. The other thing I was worried about - that it'd feel too much like this was just ~commentary on/against Harry Potter~ without saying anything for itself - didn't materialize for me. I'm looking forward to reading the next ones.

The Monster Theory Reader ed. by Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock. I'm so rusty on my academic/theory reading and I felt it reading this collection, some of which was definitely better than others. Kristeva's essay on abjection was particularly rough as far as "I'm reading words and I know all the words but something about the order they're going in is just not making sense to me." Overall...it was a decent primer? There were a few very interesting essays in there; my favorite might've been the one on tanuki in modernizing Japan's folklore, but there were a couple on "monstrous" bodies that made me wish I had someone to discuss them with. That's probably my main problem reading academic works these days: I want a seminar to dissect them afterwards and I just don't have that.

The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man by Abraham Joshua Heschel. I'm trying to read something Jewish on Shabbat now and finally getting around to reading some Heschel after years of meaning to. I thought "oh, I'll start easy with something nice and short" - yeah, no, Heschel's got a very particular style of writing and there's a lot of theological depth packed into a very short volume. I'm looking forward to reading The Prophets, though.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol. 5 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. I think we're juuuuust about caught up now with the official translation to where I started reading the machine translation, so I'm very excited for (a) things I don't remember as well (b) reading it not in machine translation. Also looking forward to everything about what happened with Nangong Liu and Nangong Xu making more sense this time around, on account of not reading it machine translated, because I didn't follow it so well on my first read and I feel like I'm already doing better. (Though that could also be because it's a reread, no matter how different an experience of one.) Still feel real bad for Ye Wangxi, on so many levels. Mark that one down for 'characters I'd love to know more about what they're thinking.'

The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang. I really enjoyed S.L. Huang's other work with the Cas Russell series, and I liked this book a little less than those. It felt like an almost winner, for me. Certainly I read through it quickly enough, and I can say I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure I'd give it an enthusiastic recommendation. It falls somewhere in the middle between "a fun action/adventure story" and "something I can sink my teeth into" in a way that didn't quite satisfy either itch. Still, it did make me curious about the source material, which is one of the Chinese classics (Water Margin) and I might go and find a place to read that, if I can; if I'd had that background going in I wonder if my experience of this work would've been more edifying.

--

I'm currently rereading A Memory Called Empire so I can (finally) read the sequel (A Desolation Called Peace); I also checked out from the library the next two Scholomance books so I'll be reading those. I'm going to try to throw some nonfiction somewhere in there (maybe The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman, which I also have out from the library, but maybe something else), but I've still got the sequel to The First Sister sitting on my shelf (also from the library).

Outside of that I've got no big reading plans - I'm working my way through some of the unreads on my own shelf (despite what it may look like, about the library books) and eyeing The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky or a reread of Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett so I can continue that series.

[theluckywizard]

2024 Writing Round Up

thank you for the tags @queenaeducan and @lykegenia 🥰 As always I am super grateful to the Dragon Age Fan Fiction discord community! I couldn't have done any of this without them!

words posted:

237,776

additional words written:

Probably another 30-40k

grand total of words:

270,000ish! (about half as many as last year, but the words are a much higher quality and I didn't yeet 120k of them LOL)

fandoms:

Dragon Age!

highest kudos:

In the Shattering of Things with 206 (Cullen x Trevelyan, Hawke x Trevelyan DA:I epic)

highest hit oneshot:

Unvarnished with 1,852 (Blackwall x Trevelyan smut)

new things I tried:

1. Alternate Universe with Kiss Me Moonstruck 2. multi-pov fic with Something Wicked This Way Comes (where five companions search for Inquisitor Rose Trevelyan and manage the situation after she disappears from the Winter Palace ball: Vivienne, Josephine, Cullen, Garrett Hawke and bard Fidencio Frye). 3. my first exchange! I wrote Love at First Fight for Windwalker57 featuring his OC Aedan Cousland and his old flame Marie Trevelyan as they dance around their attraction at the Grand Tourney mid 9:20s

fic i spent the most time on:

My DA:I long fic In the Shattering of Things! It's still going strong and I am super proud of the 80k words I added this year. I've grown a lot as a writer since I first started and my additions to the fic this year have been lovingly and deliberately crafted.

fic i spent the least time on:

Together Alone (Cullen & Bethany DA2 fic) I love it, but it's just lower on the priority list.

favorite thing i wrote this year:

I am super proud of everything I wrote this year, but like last year my fic Kiss Me Moonstruck is right up at the top. (Matchmaking fic based on the idea that Leandra Hawke and her old friend Alsatia Trevelyan are trying to fix up their kids, Garrett and Rose) This time last year it was a nascent fic with just a few short chapters formed, now it's published, about 16 chapters long and still growing. It represents a type of romantic story I just can't seem to find enough of that's both a little bit madcap the way romantic comedies of old are but also real. One with flawed characters that feel authentic to the world that made them and one that explores the juiciness of Kirkwall and the nature of attraction/falling in love and how timing often shits on us and ultimately how to prevail when the world insists on being the worst. Being a DA2 fic necessitates some degree of drama and tragedy because Thedas is still Thedas. I'm really proud of it and I'm so grateful for the people reading it because it is such a niche pairing.

favorite one shot:

Probably An Inexplicable Pull, a little fic I cooked up from a prompt @caitlam sent me that pairs with my DA:I long fic. I was trying to capture that very early glimmer of attraction between Commander Cullen and my out-of-her-depth-but-trying-her-best Herald Rose Trevelyan.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Destiny is Just in the Timing by @crackinglamb (Varric x Cadash, DA2-DAI) The Varricmance we all need! Lamb's fic is so wonderfully snappy, like the whole thing is just smirking right back at me as I read it. I love Varric paired with the Cadash hired to follow him around Kirkwall and keep an eye on him. Spicy, sweet, snarky, FUN. Garrett & Shae are the friendship I needed. Loved this fic front to back! Kingdom Come by @nirikeehan (Blackwall x Trevelyan, post-Trespasser). I adore this grief-addled second chance fic where the Inquisitor makes a whole bunch of questionable decisions with ex-flame Blackwall after the death of her husband Cullen. So good. So crunchy. So hot. Ropes of Fate by @delicatefade I don't think a fic has ever made me scream-laugh as much as this one. Dalish life, written in the perspective of a preteen. Deep Dalish headcanons. So many universal truths about teens. It's brilliant. cut down at the garden gate by @carnalapples (Sebastian x f!Hawke) OH THE ANGST. This fic made me swoon and cry. It's heartbreaking and grabbed me right at the start with a hundred flaming questions.

writing goals for 2024:

1. keep a sustainable pace and avoid burnout 2. get through Here Lies the Abyss in my long fic and beyond 3. continue to learn and grow and stretch myself 4. RESEARCH especially grief stuff 😩

new works:

So many companion fics for In the Shattering of Things! Rumors (Hawke POV), A Sense of Duty (Cullen POV), Thirst (Cullen POV), Serah Bird (Hawke POV), An Inexplicable Pull (Cullen POV), Something Wicked This Way Comes (multi POV) and In Search of a Wayward Bronto (Hawke POV) The Firmness of his Resolve a comedic smut fic written as a gift for my friend featuring her Trevelyan and Cullen. Kiss Me Moonstruck of course New chapters for The Coldest and Warmest Dawn, Together Alone, Chaos Turkeys: Hawke Family Drabbles, In the Shattering of Things.

Tagging the above mentions as well as @skinwalkingxana, @warpedlegacy, @ammoniteflesh, @plisuu, @hekaerges

Template under the cut:

words posted:

additional words written:

grand total of words:

fandoms:

highest kudos:

highest hit oneshot:

new things I tried:

fic I spent the most time on:

fic I spent the least time on:

favorite thing I wrote:

favorite thing(s) I read:

writing goals for 2024:

new works:

[javelinbk]

Javeeieiaahahsidisaiisdgshaj

if you could!?-‘

Could you make a list of unknown, not very mainstream??? (Man idk how to say it!!) facts about John??

Thansjk✅✝️🙏🙏 (no i haven’t taken deugs!!)

Well, we’ve got two problems here, anon. One is that my mind always goes completely blank when I get these types of asks. The other is that I never have any idea of what is mainstream or common knowledge - especially on tumblr where the more insane lore is often more well-known than the boring biographical stuff.

Anyway, I’ll just throw out some random facts and apologise if this is all common knowledge

John had 5 half-siblings. His mother Julia had three daughters - Victoria (adopted and renamed Ingrid), Julia and Jackie. I don’t believe John was aware of Victoria’s existence. His father Alfred (Freddie) remarried in 1968, and they had two sons, David and Robin

John didn't see his dad Freddie from the age of 5 until 1964. John initially refused to speak to him, and asked Brian Epstein to bury a song that Freddie was releasing (he did). In 1967, John and his dad did build up some kind of a relationship, with Freddie and his fiancée Pauline moving into Kenwood in 1968, and Pauline working for the fan club. After John went through Janov's primal scream therapy, he invited Freddie and Pauline to Tittenhurst Park, where John shouted at him and kicked them out. John didn't see his dad again, but they did reconcile on the phone shortly before he died, which was in 1976, two weeks after Paul's dad Jim.

As well as the two books published in his lifetime (In His Own Write and A Spaniard In The Works), John started another book in the 70s, which was published after his death as Skywriting by Word of Mouth. This includes a mini autobiography in which he sounds like a complete arse, as well as an innuendo-ridden story about Paris in which he sounds like a man who shagged Paul in Paris.

Speaking of Paris, the £100 that John used to take Paul to Paris with him has generally been seen (and described by Paul) as birthday money (from his Scottish dentist uncle) for his 21st. But one of John’s half sisters (Julia,I think) has since claimed that it was inheritance from their mum, due to him on his 21st. It’s not clear whether John knew this and didn’t tell Paul, or if he just didn’t know.

John had a bit of a weird obsession with finding a girl who was his ‘type’…

From Skywriting by Word of Mouth... 'I’d always had a fantasy about a woman who would be a beautiful, intelligent, dark-haired, high-cheek-boned, free-spirited artist (à la Juliette Greco)... After a short visit to India on my way home from Australia, the image changed slightly—she had to be a dark-eyed Oriental... Of course as a teenager, my sexual fantasies were full of Anita Ekberg and the usual giant Nordic goddesses. That is, until Brigitte Bardot became the “love of my life” in the late Fifties. All my girlfriends who weren’t darkhaired suffered under my constant pressure to become Brigitte. By the time I married my first wife (who was, I think, a natural auburn), she too had become a long-haired blonde with the obligatory bangs.'

During the Beatles Australia tour in 1964, John slept with a 17-year-old girl called Jenny Kee. Jenny said that, "I don't think he had been with an Asian girl before.  He was very aware of it.  He was quite excited by it.”

On at least one occasion, he said the word 'orgy' wrong. Which is ironic, because he and Yoko were members of a private members bar called Club Orgy

There’s a few anecdotes about John’s sexual encounters. Royston Ellis and David Bowie have both claimed to have a (MMF) threesome with John. Tony Manero claimed that John propositioned him in the 70s.. Jojo Laine (Denny Laine's ex-wife) claimed she had a one-night stand with him. In John Green's book Dakota Days, John is often talking about visiting 'whorehouses' during his supposed househusband years

Speaking of the househusband years, although it's true that John spent a lot of time at home in the 1970s, the idea of John as a 'househusband' is a myth - it was a story cooked up by John and Yoko to hide the fact that he'd lost his 'muse' and was unable to write songs anymore. In reality, Sean was looked after by nannies, and (according to John Green) John used to make Sean ride in a separate limo so he didn't have to listen to him crying. But, John did seem to get a closer to Sean when he got older, and spent a lot of time with him in Cold Spring Harbour and Bermuda while Yoko was working in New York.

Most people probably know that the 'lost weekend' that John referred to was actually an 18-month separation from Yoko, while he was in a relationship with May Pang. But according to May, John was back in her bed within days of him going back to Yoko, and they kept sleeping together for about a year afterwards.

Anyway, I think that's enough for now - apologies again if any of this is too obvious. The problem with John is a lot of the lesser known stuff is more about the darker side of his personality, which is just depressing

[shadelorde]

💖 ✨ 🦷 💥 for the writing ask !!

💖 What is your primary writing goal for this year?

My primary writing goal is to publish my short story version of "The Greater Cosmic Ocean" for school! I am...not. Doing well on that goal right now. but NEVERTHELESS. WE BALL

Another goal I have is also just to write and share more and worry less about making it all organized or cohesive? One of my biggest obstacles to writing is being afraid of just doing little snippets and instead trying to do massive projects.

✨What's one area of your writing that you think needs the least amount of improvement?

I think that I'm doing really well with describing emotions and the pacing of them! It's something that I often get compliments on, particularly using recurring phrases to drive home a theme or motif.

🦷 Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're dreading to write (but is necessary to your plot)? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

Hmmm...I would say mostly I just really hate filler scenes, they're always really hard for me to manage. In "The Darkest Sun and The Brightest Star," I'm particularly struggling with the lulls between plot points where they just wander freely - unfortunately, there are...a lot of those.

💥Is there a chapter, scene, or WIP you're most excited to write? Share a snippet or tell us about it!

In "The Greater Cosmic Ocean", I'm most excited to write Raava (or the oc that Raava will become) waking up from her crystal. In this part, she will become enraged with Amma and try to fight and lash out against her. I always like writing high-emotion scenes, so I look forward to the challenge!

In "The Darkest Sun and the Brightest Star," I most look forward to the betrayal scene, when Wan finds out that Vaatu killed his people who were burning down the forest. Another high-emotion scene!!

[docholligay]

Do you think having such a personalized and detailed headcanon makes it harder to enjoy fic about the show/game that's written by others?

I mean sure, probably.

But unfortunately things I adore, for people named Doc who are me, fall into one of two buckets:

The character work and plot in this show are incredible, I find myself turning it around in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. I constantly discover new things about the show/book/game or the characters in it. I do not read fic about this, because why would I? Every answer I search for is in the text. I want to talk about this with someone, but about what is THERE, not what could be there. Ex: The Haunting of Hill House, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Piranesi, Bioshock:Infinite, Watership Down, Yellowjackets, among others.

The concepts of this could be amazing but are handled so fucking badly so consistently, in a shocking contrast to how INCONSISTENT the character work is, that all I want to do is steal it and make it better. All i want to do is turn it into something that doesn't suck ass when you look at it too hard. So I am going to take it SO seriously, and I am going to develop the rich inner lives for these characters that they lack, with intense backstories and families and motivation for how they got to be the person we know, or know sometimes, in certain episodes or shorts. Ex: Sailor Moon and Overwatch are the biggies here obviously, this is actually not an emotion I feel very often. I don't have intense backstories and extra-textual feelings and ideas about most of the stuff I read and watch, these two are just my Spiders Georg.

So! The odds on me being into something in the correct way to make me want to Seek Treasure Elsewhere but also I have a chill enough attitude about how the characters are that Any Dream Will Do is almost nil. I do not in ANY way mean this in a shady way, but I mostly read published adult fiction for entertainment and not fanfic. I am very picky about my fanfic. So, "plus these two new red and blue girls into Starbucks" often won't work for me, because the reasons to have Haruka and Michiru meet in a coffee shop are completely different from any of the reasons Fareeha and Angela might meet in a coffee shop, and so many of those types are archtypical plug and play stuff. Honestly, I have skated the idea of making a cheat sheet of fanon archetypes of various characters and buying a typewriter to sell 100-200 word 'quick fic' at cons with my sister. That's how common it is to use these archetypes. This is not a criticism! At all!

But, to take the two couples above, I have read so much BORING SHIT about both HM and FA that I could throw up. Lesbian couples have a lot of very milquetoast writing about them, and a lot of meet-cute which isn't really my bag.

But there are authors I love! @oathkeeper-of-tarth was and is one of the best harumichi writers out there and we don't even have all the same headcanons. The rare occasions @verbforverb decides to grace me with "Jewish Mercy I don't Have To Write" I pop a can of bubbly in the tub. And on both fields of battle @keyofjetwolf has stuff I've had bookmarked for years, and there are some things even within Rei's backstory and history that we disagree on.

Actually, to that point what I like is good writing. You can write me into believing nearly anything. There are things I believe about Amelie when I'm reading @lemon-embalmer's stuff that when I go back to my own world, aren't true, but when I'm in her world who the fuck cares, I'm having a great time. EVEN MORE to the point, I read @moonlight-frittata's stupid sun and moon lesbian League of Legends shit and I would rather shoot myslef than know ANYTHING about the game, but unfortunately she has a beautiful turn of phrase and plot flow to her work that I just....read anyway, because it is good. Fucking @tallangrycockatiel had me like 25 pages or so into a story before I was like, "OH SHIT, IS THIS SLASH??? WAIT I DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT BOYS' LOVE!! NO!!" *hits next page* And I still could not care less about that podcast and would never listen to it, and if I did I would be massively disappointed because to my mind, her John and Arthur are the actual article, and whatever the fuck is going on in the source material can eat my dick.

So, yes, I DO think that having a very particular point of view is going to mean I back out of a story where like, "Lena stepped out of her Chelsea flat, custom leather high heels clicking against the step" sometimes, or, you know, "Haruka put down her copy of War and Peace, each meticulous note codified by a color-coded tab. Blue was for historical references to research, green for character analysis, yellow for themes, blah blah blah*" But I am actually shockingly open minded in what I will read, often to the point that I'm reading stuff from SHIT I DO NOT LIKE OR CARE ABOUT, because the quality of the writing is excellent. So, also no.

*I met someone who read books like this and I suddenly realized what the literary equivalent of 'knowing someone is a serial killer' was.

[saturnine-saturneight]

Writerly Questionnaire

@davycoquette posted this up and it looks fun :)

About You

When did you start writing?

I started writing poetry somewhere in my early teens, then expanded to short snippets when my school had a creative writing workshop as part of a week long retreat. I did some minor roleplaying on the [Country redacted] version of Facebook, then started roleplaying on a fandom specific forum at 17... Started running with a group on Discord and Tumblr and learned how to write well with a dictionary always open in another tab. It's how I learned the majority of both my conversational and my writing English!

Are the genres/themes you enjoy reading different from the ones you write?

There are themes I really don't like to watch or read, but love to write, for example medical horror and body horror. I get squicked out when I'm not in control of those. I also adore detective fiction, especially Poirot, but don't have an interest in putting together a murder mystery myself.

Is there an author (or just a fellow writer!) you want to emulate, or one to whom you’re often compared?

I think the way I write is very conversational and very stream of consciousness. I'm a child of the internet, and you could make an easy comparison to other people writing indie online, but I'm not sure the comparison is as easy when you're looking at bigger, traditionally published authors. I think about the way I write in comparison to the Realism art movement sometimes. I want to emulate how people really talk, and I want to get deep into the nitty gritty of a psyche.

Can you tell me a little about your writing space(s)? (Room, coffee shop, desk, etc.)

Laying down ✌️

What’s your most effective way to muster up some muse?

Daydreaming! Dozing, napping, taking a walk, doing the dishes; anything that lets my mind wander.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and places you write about?

Not really. See above, child of the internet, but I'm also not sure I can capture what my country is really like. I never feel all that informed or all that "with it" here.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing, and if so, do they surprise you at all?

Come back with a warrant, lmfao.

Your Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character? (Current WIP, past WIP, never used, etc.)

This is hard for me to decide because I really do love most of my characters equally when I just spend enough time with them. Of course it's Ron right now, I'm writing his story and he's living in a bigger corner of my brain than usual. I never really figured out what he had to say until pretty recently, he's always been a very taciturn narrator and loathe to talk about his feelings in dialogue. Throwing him into a fully moving plot and inflicting The Horrors on him really makes him react, and it's endearing him to me a lot.

Which of your characters do you think you’d be friends with in real life?

Matcha! She's goofy and sweet and she has a lot of things to talk about. We'd just need to set boundaries early because I'm not a fan of being flirted with. I also think I could get along with most of the rest, at least on friendly terms.

Which of your characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

Nat is an amalgamation of the worst traits and tendencies that I see in other people and myself. They're also a bully, which is something that personally makes me see red. They can go be a sympathetic villain somewhere else.

Tell me about the process of coming up with of one, all, or any of your characters.

So the very first one of the bunch was Teo. He was originally a pirate, and I made him to be weird and angsty and complex, but also kind of a liar who'd just boast about things unfounded. I thought this was easy to figure out, but I started noticing people taking him at his word, so I made Haru to call him out on his shit. These two were good foils, but didn't talk that much, so I made Rabbit who can never shut up to deliver some exposition.

When I make a character, they fill a niche in a dynamic, and/or have behaviors and beliefs that I want to write about. The rest is vibes.

Do you notice any recurring themes/traits among your characters?

I try to make them pretty diverse from each other, but there's always a general sense of overcoming and survival that I think is fascinating and write a lot about.

How do you picture them? (As real people you imagined, as models/actors who exist in real life, as imaginary artwork, as artwork you made or commissioned, anime style, etc.)

I don't have 20/20 vision in my imagination, things are pretty fuzzy. Real people, but stylized, I think.

Your Writing

What’s your reason for writing?

To create a space where I can really dig into the things I like and the things that are on my mind. I'm also pretty competitive towards myself. I always want to be better at something than I have been so far.

Is there a specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating coming from your readers?

I love comments that really pinpoint which moments or beats a reader enjoyed...

How do you want to be thought of by those who read your work? (For example: as a literary genius, or as a writer who “gets” the human condition; as a talented worldbuilder, as a role model, etc.)

Just some guy, please.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Character depth and dialogue.

What have you been frequently told your greatest writing strength is by others?

Dialogue also, and a certain sense of... chaos? Urgency? My longer form stuff has been described as 'one long rollercoaster'.

How do you feel about your own writing? (Answer in whatever way you interpret this question.)

Eh. I'm happy when it turns out well.

If you were the last person on earth and knew your writing would never be read by another human, would you still write?

Oh that's a mean question. I do have a little bit of a "what's going to be my legacy" thing going on. Yeah, I think I would still write, though. I really do it for the fun of it as well. It's just a lot less fun when I can't bounce it off other people and see what it turns into where it meets their lives and their experiences.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely what you enjoy? If it’s a mix of the two, which holds the most influence

On a line by line basis, I have an issue of trying to write to a worst faith reader that I'm trying to work through, but the larger picture is completely just what I enjoy and not written to a specific genre, reader, or market.

I am tagging @marlowethelibrarian @fortunatetragedy @paeliae-occasionally @lychhiker-writes @rotting-moon-writes and YOU 🫵

[one-idea]

Speaking of Deuce I know in my heart that when it got out that Ace is Roger's son the WG tried to change his bounty poster to Gold Ace, like not even writing it the correct way. And I know that Deuce has the biggest vendetta against that shit, like "IF THEY DO THAT IS JUST REWRITING THE PUBLIC NARRATIVE TO FIT THEIR IDEALS OF COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT AND DISMISSING HIS PERSONHOOD". Ace's poster still says Portgas D in the timeskip because Deuce, Olivia and Sabo kept getting rid of all of the Gold ones and the Marines got fed up with having to print new ones every time

I love this!

No chosen names are such a big thing for Deuce and Ace.

I can imagine Deuce siting there worried about his friend. Knowing he just lost his little brother who he loved so much. And there is nothing Deuce can do for him. He’s paper that he’s so proud of couldn’t sway the public in time to save Luffy. (He had such short notice, there was no way he could have, but that doesn’t matter to him) he doesn’t know where Ace is, he can’t support him.

And to top it all off someone spilled Ace’s closest secret to the world government.

Deuce is sitting there feeling like all his work is meaningless if he can’t help the people he cares about when someone (probably Olivia) slams Ace’s new bounty on his desk. Normally he’s trilled when Ace’s bounty comes out. He knows Ace loves when his bounty goes up. (And he totally doesn’t have a collection of Ace’s bounty posters)

But this one is different. Ace is still standing there with the same smirk as always (it’s the same picture as always) but the name is wrong. Gold Ace is brazenly printed across the poster.

“If they’re going to be blatantly disrespectful, they could at least spell it right.” Olivia says with a sneer. But it’s white noise to Deuce because, How. Dare. They. How dare they put a name on Ace he obviously didn’t want. How dare they use a name Ace had worked so hard to distance himself from.

Deuce is furious. His true name isn’t known to anyone. Not the Revs, not the reverse crew, not even Ace (he didn’t want to know after Deuce told him he rejected it) Ace is the one who dubbed him Deuce. Who created his new name Masked Deuce. The name the world knows. It’s his name! He would be livid if the World Government tried to tie his brith name to his current life. He rejected it and his family.

Ace did much the same. He chose to go by Portagas because he loves his mom. Deuce knew the name was important to Ace. Whether it was a decision made to hide his connection to Roger didn’t matter to Deuce. No one had the right to make Ace go by a name he didn’t want.

Add on to that it’s to fit the world’s government’s narrative of punishing sons for the sins of their fathers. That it puts Ace’s life in jeopardy for something he didn’t do.

Oh Deuce is hopping mad.

“So what are we going to do about this?” Olivia asked as she watched the rage build across Deuces face. He turned to face her with nothing but righteous furry.

He thought of the brilliant orange flames that often danced around Ace. “We’re going to burn them to the ground.” This he can do. He couldn’t help Ace at Marineford and he can’t be with him in the aftermath. But he can do this.

He’s publishing story after story highlighting PORTAGAS D. ACE and his accomplishment. He’s doing research about what Gol D Rogers was actually like (incase Ace ever does want the name) Sabo and Olivia help him destroy every copy of that stupid wanted poster. (He keeps one, 1) because it enrages him and reminded him what he’s working to prevent, 2) incase one day Ace wants it, even if it’s just to burn it himself)

He figures out where the World government is printing them from and raises it to the ground. No more posters for them! The world government finally relents when he sends them the correct poster (same increase bounty right name) and offers to stop burning all their bounty if they will just print the right one. They have to give in, he’s destroying all of their bounty poster, how are they suppose to bring in anyone if no one knows who to look for.

It his the price on Deuces own head but he’s more than pleased with the resulting new bounty that reads Portagas D. Ace. It’s worth it.

He hopes Ace never had to see the Bounty with the wrong name, no reason to add that to his plate when he’s already dealing with enough.

[misslavenderlady]

My name's Bree. How can I help you?💉📒

Shoutout to @hypocriticaltypwriter for the inspiration!

REF/INFO BELOW CUT 💜💜💜

𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: Bree 

𝐀𝐠𝐞: 25

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫: Female She/They

𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 5'8

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: ISFJ 

Though very shy around others, Bree has a good head on her shoulders and a kind heart. She values the work she does, making sure to help others as best as she can. Not only does she care about her patients, but she also likes to help out her friends and coworkers. Being useful for a greater good is something truly valuable to her, though it can sometimes get the better of her.

Bree struggles quite a bit with stress. She tries to push herself to a point where burnout is inevitable. All she wants is to be helpful, but it can cause her to feel tired and depressed after the long days of work. She feels guilty about the idea of leaving her field of work, as so many patients count on her care. It makes her feel a bit stuck and frustrated. Her biggest dream in life is to become a writer, becoming the next Bram Stoker or Mary Shelley.

She’s fascinated with romance and monsters, inspired to bring such two complex things together. During her free time, she enjoys writing down short stories that she hopes to get published some day.

Bree is used to blending into the background, not really one to get attention from boys in her teenage years. However, she has blossomed into a beautiful young woman, and others are starting to notice her more. Since she’s not used to such affection and attention, it makes her quite bashful~

𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞: Bree is often in her work uniform. As a nurse, she wears a light blue work dress with a white collar, cuffs and belt. Outside of work, she prefers to wear more soft and loose clothing. Usually she wears fun sweatshirts and stretchy jeans with converse sneakers. A special accessory she wears every day is her silver key necklace. It has an amethyst gemstone in the center. 

Her skin is quite pale, as she has to stay out of the sun, lest she want a nasty sunburn. She’s got a dusting of freckles on her face. Her makeup is plain, often just mascara and chapstick. She can’t do a full face of makeup every day, as it would just end up on her face mask whenever she puts it on. 

Bree is more chubby in her features, making her insecure compared to the thin, toned bodies she sees on the Santa Carla boardwalk. However, she’s got several beautiful features and a shapely body. Her hair is flowing and thick with brunette color. She’s got some natural highlights from the rays of the sunshine. She often hides behind her long hair, sometimes too shy to show her face.

𝐉𝐨𝐛: She’s a nurse at Santa Carla Medical Clinic. She works night shifts, as nobody else wants them. Bree is a natural night owl, so it ends up working in her favor. Most of her job is front desk admin work, but she also provides checkups and vaccinations/blood draws when need be. 

𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬:

B (Michael, Sam, coworkers)

My dear, Darling, Beautiful, Sweetling (David)

Baby, Babygirl, Little lady (Dwayne)

Mama, Sugar, Pretty girl (Paul)

Bella, Bellisima, Angel (Marko)

Babe, Baby (Michael)

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞?: Bree is in your typical multi-roommate-in-small-apartment setup. She moved out to California with her friends so she could start fresh, and was able to get set up in the basement of the condo they found. Her roommates are usually asleep whenever she’s awake due to their different work hours, which she doesn’t mind. She finds peace in the night time, though she does tend to get lonely. 

Though their home doesn’t have a lot of space, Bree has worked hard to make it cozy. It’s not far from the boardwalk, meaning a lot of shops are within walking distance.

𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: 

Bree has always been a bit of odd girl. Growing up, she found herself in the school library quite a bit. She was too shy to talk to other kids, and was afraid of bullies that would pick on her for being extra sensitive (not to mention they were quite unkind to her and her chubby features). She would often switch back and forth between romance novels and scary stories, finding equal interest in love and darkness. The two began to blend together, and she became attracted to the monsters that were supposed to frighten her. She found sympathy in these creatures, as she knew what it was like to feel isolated and tormented for simply being different. 

A passion for writing her own stories was born, and every chance she got, she would eagerly write down stories of these monsters in her journal. Ones where they would get happy ending rather than tragic downfalls. It fueled her dream of becoming a writer someday, and even when she pursued a career in the medical field, she never forgot her true passion.

She became a bit more confident in herself when she got older, and ended up making close friends. They were very supportive of her work, and were there for her when her mother got sick. When she finished school and got her degree, Bree found out her friends had their sights set on California. The complete opposite side of the country. She was scared of such a massive change, but her family encouraged it, as she would have more opportunities for her writing to get noticed in such an environment. Touched by their support, Bree took the jump and moved cross-country with her friends.

Until she can fulfill her writing dream, she’s working hard as a nurse. Not only does she provide for herself, but for her beloved chocolate labrador as well.

𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡: She’s torn at the moment. On the one hand, she is infatuated with Michael. He’s kind and gentle and very responsible. She admires the dedication he has to his family and appreciates his sweet nature keeping her spirits up. On the other hand, she can’t stop thinking about the mysterious pack of biker boys that she sees in her office now and then. There’s something about them that draws her in. Something dark and mysterious. It’s like a siren’s call, and she’s powerless around them. 

(She wouldn’t mind a poly relationship, but she does have somewhat of an extra fondness for Dwayne, given how good he is with Laddie)

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐫���𝐬𝐡: Bree was able to use her degree to get set up at local primary care doctor’s office. It was there that she so happened to meet Michael Emerson, a handsome guy who decided to pursue physical therapy as a study once he got his GED. He worked part time in between night school, and Bree was completely smitten whenever they had the same shift. He was so doting and kind. A perfect gentleman who never failed to put a smile on her face. Sometimes his mother and little brother would stop by for a checkup or to simply say hello, and Bree found herself adoring them too. 

Michael explained to her at one point that he had a devastating breakup with a runaway girl he met during a past summer. He didn’t like to talk about what led to their breakup, but Bree never forced him to tell more. She was simply happy to be there for him, and she had a feeling that he was starting to open his heart up to her in return. 

However, he wasn’t the only man in her life.

During quieter nights, Bree started to get visits from four mysterious, yet very sexy bikers. They would ask for a walk-in appointment. A cut here, a sprain there, usual stuff. Normally, the office didn’t take walk-ins, but she was happy to examine them on her own. She suspected something was off about them when she found that their bodies weren’t exactly….normal. The stethoscope she used never could pick up a heartbeat. The blood sample she collected looked sparkly in the light. The thermometer always said their temperature was far below what it should have been. 

She was frightened at first…..but soon became intrigued. 

They were all so mysterious and unusual. The four of them watched her with hunger in their eyes. They’d coo sweet nothings to her, offering to take her out for a date or a ride on their motorcycles. Ask her back to their place for a drink. The more she got to know them personally, the more tempted she felt to listen to their call. Bree had the same fascination in the boys as she did with the monsters she read about growing up.

Little does she know that her indecision between Michael and the Lost Boys is more akin to a fight between good and evil~

[stillresolved]

Dissect your own writing style. What do you do most often? What do you want to take away from other writers (tag them if you want)? What is something you want to break out of?

@eternasci / unprompted.

HI SYNNIE!! I WANTED TO ANSWER THIS FOR THE LONGEST TIME ( and i also looked at your analysis and that is *chef's kiss* i'll be using a format similar to that though i can't guarantee the length :'D )

ironically, tumblr roleplay is actually one of the reasons i began pursuing writing professionally; beginning of my writing journey on here began back in our lord and savior year 2014 :'D i was writing oc x canon short stories ( we called them oneshots teehee) back on quizilla and even did do a stint of rp thru the shitty messaging. lucky for me, almost all traces of my writing before 2021 have been deleted so i will never have to go through the cringe of other people reading my shitty characters and writing back then :) but let me actually answer the questions here!!

WRITING STYLE

this was pointed out to me by one of my writing professors and something i've come to realize more and more, but i don't describe human bodies. i don't like to either ( i have some suspicions on the root of this too ), but perhaps this is why i like tumblr rp so- we are able to use a faceclaim to represent a character; there's no need give a physical description if a picture can do it for you. for me, if there is description, it's going to be more intentional as is the action itself.

to connect with that point, my writing tends to lean more towards exploring character interiority: how the action of the other muse or even just the presence of the other muse will affect their opinions, their perception. i'm most comfortable with beginning from the interior before branching out into the character's exterior/actual interaction in the moment. this might be the reason why sometimes it feels like my replies are drawn out.

i used to wish i could write metaphorically and lyrically the way say, oc.ean v.uong does. however, i've learned that while i can admire that style, it's not one that comes easily for me. my writing tends to be more on the literal side. if a metaphor or a simile slips in, it was unintentional but it feels right. i think figurative language comes in for me when it comes to describing emotions or sensations my characters might be feeling ( ex. one & two ). i don't like to simply state emotions or intangible concepts; there's only so many ways to state a character is in love, but there are a thousand ways to describe a character in love ( ex. one & two ).

these days and my dear lenlen also pointed this out!! but i also tend to use...parentheses generously ^^' of course this draws out mixed reactions from my readers. here, i assume it's okay, but in my prose when it happens, my critique partners tell me to get rid of it :'D i personally love using both parentheses and the strikeout as it lets me play around with thoughts that my muses perhaps don't want to admit to themselves.

i like to think i've managed to weed out some bad habits that tend to be rampant among tumblr writing. when referring to characters, i will only use either their name or their pronouns. unless it adds to the voice of the muse itself, i'll never use epithets ( 'the female', 'the japanese', etc. ) as they really aren't used in say, published writing. when i was younger, i also used to have a bad habit of using 'she looked'/ eye direction. sometimes i do end up writing those things but i manage to catch myself and cut those sentences out. unless it's a significant action, i always usually assume the reader knows the general eye direction ^^'

CHARACTER VOICE.

one thing i know my mutuals and my critique partners tend to tell me about my writing is that my characters are well-developed, each having their own distinct voices. i do notice that my style/how my response is written does differ depending on which muse i'm writing. below are trends in my writing of certain muses:

annie: lots of imagery and metaphorical language involving water and aquatic life. since she is the mad girl, the idea of 'madness' and 'being good' comes up a lot too. tone is a tad more innocent and there does tend to be a bit more metaphorical language as well; to process her trauma, it's easier on her to think metaphorically or about her childhood than to think literally and to be in the moment.

ga-ram: sentences are shorter, less flowy as they are quite curt. responses of them will also be on the shorter side as they don't usually have as much to say in comparison to some of my other muses. also since they devoted like the last 10 years of their life to helping judge kang, unfortunately, they will think of him and make comparisons.

nell: her replies end up on the longer side, mostly because when she talks, she talks a lot. to reflect her never-ending train of thought and her anxiety, the narration in her replies and her dialogue especially tends to consist of long sentences with lots of dashes and interruptions.

suki: i think i've said this before, but the use of dramatic (and situational) irony comes out the most here. because she's quite set in her ways, but also has a tendency to (majorly) misinterpret a situation, i've found that breaking the fourth wall on occasion helps to contribute to the humor and the light heartedness of her threads. you'll see a lot of declarative sentences and exclamation points here.

patrick: unfortunately, he is a man of literature and therefore, has a tendency to ramble. literally- his responses are almost always like 500+ words. his narration is much more formal, much more...sophisticated? i guess just think of british english ( or at least my best interpretation of it ^^' ) also more metaphorical language here in comparison to the others and plenty of allusions to greek and roman myths since he's well read in both.

OTHER WRITERS.

i'll just start off with saying that i don't think i'd be nearly as good of writer if not for my writing partners. one of the best things about roleplay is that writers here aren't in competition with one another; they have to collaborate if they want to be fulfilled here. that being said here's my list of tumblr writers i would say i learned something from:

cyan ( @bloodxhound ) is one of the first people on this hell*site that i like to think really challenged my writing. there's an elegance and a rhythm to her prose (her word choice specifically) that reads so well...reading her stuff made me want to expand the vocabulary in my own writing, going beyond what is used colloquially in american english.

lenlen ( @ptternminds )'s writing always gives me BRAIN FOOD so you have anyone to blame for me going off the deep end when it comes to character interiority, they're the culprit :3 okay but seriously, their character metas and headcanons go HARD and the fact that they're able to incorporate that kind of analysis of both their own muse and of their partner is incredible. it makes want to figure out how to interpret and incorporate the other muse into my replies.

lynnie ( @geaesaekki ) has a different writing style from mine and i appreciate that. rather than showing everything, it's sometimes more effective to simply tell the reader what they need to know. whereas my writing can get roundabout, lynnie's writing style is more direct, straight to the point. it makes her writing accessible to her partners and that directness is actually something i'm trying to work on here ^^'

WEAKNESSES.

honestly, i feel pretty confident in my writing style on here ( my prose is a very different story ); it's not perfect, but it's mine. That being said, i have a tendency to take too long to get to the action of my threads or even to the main point. because i prefer to show most things rather than tell, it can bog down the pace of my writing and also the speed at which i get my writing done :'D

this goes hand in hand with point one, but i also have a bad habit of overexplaining my character's interiority out of fear of not giving enough context. this is something i've also noticed in my prose ( though i do manage to cut it out of my drafts ^^' ) and am working on. trusting the reader more to pick up the details i want them to.

i also think i might need to get more comfy with describing bodies/physical description? it certainly would make writing sensual scenes a bit easier ^^' as of right now, writing appearances, etc. has always been something i've turned off by. but who knows if that'll change one day.

[dramallamasdraws]

Hello!

I'm Drama_Llamas_Draws, and these are my mascots/icons! I'm a bit everywhere on the internet. This however is my very first time using tumblr so bear with me. This is Melvin and my ghost boi

The first mascot I have is my little ghost boi, who does not actually have a name.

He has always just been a stand in for me. He was derived from this photo of me with the leaf on my head.

This was taken by my best friend year ago when the ghost pictures trend was rampant. I have a very strong connection with the paranormal, whether I like it or not. So it seemed fitting for him to become my first mascot.

Also it's much easier to draw a sheet ghost with no mouth vs an actual character with a face and mouth.

My second mascot has come around pretty recently actually. He's only about a year or two old. Affection named: Melvin

I didn't choose the name, it's actually one of my many many nicknames given to my by the same best friend who took the ghost picture. She got the honors to name him and chose Melvin.....And here we are! Haha

I do genuinely love them both though, which is why I have two. I use them interchangeably and one isn't above the other. Despite the fact that the ghost has been around longer they on a level playing field.

The way I see it is my brain runs about a million miles an hour, always thinking of the projected I'm working on, world building, character development, plotting, and much more. That's too much for one me to carry around, so now there's two of me to carry the load!

These are just the faces of well, me I suppose. So I'll tell you a little about me. In case you didn't follow me here from other corners of the internet.

I'm a trained artist, a published poet, and soon to be author. I dabble in a bit of literally everything because I am too ambitious for my own good. Just because I dabble does not mean I am good at it!

I used to post on Youtube and I do plan to get back to it but currently tiktok is my main platform. Which is why I'm moving here.

I love story telling, and I have a few stories that I will be sharing. Fun fact about me was I was a writer before I was an artist but I saw everything so visually that words didn't do it justice so I started drawing.

I would have loved to become a story board artist but unfortunately due to health complications that is no longer an option for me. I can still draw and I sell stickers, and prints. I'm also writing and attempting to publish some books.

Hopefully one day my stories will have strong enough legs to stand on, and they can find their way back to the screen. Even though I can't animate like I used to, or board the same. I still draw scenes and do little things here and there when my body allows.

My stories have a range of genre's all in the middle grade to young adult-ish category. From horror, to fantasy. I like me some magic and paranormal.

I'm a big believer in representation so that plays a big factor in my stories. I almost all of my characters are people of color. Some characters have disabilities both physical and mental, and many are apart of the LGBT+ community. I also dabble in some religious beliefs because they are often heavily tied in people's culture and in society even if we do not realize it.

The main story that I am working on is called "Ruins of a fantasy". That is the big one. But I have many others as well which I will also talk about.

The Ghost Hunters of Gainstown center is my first novel that it currently in the process of being published. It's technically being traditionally published, but it was not a very traditional route. I don't have an agent, it was compensation for an internship, so the editing is not the best and I did it myself in the short amount of time I had. Other stories I have in the works are:

Duel fates (Y.A fantasy featuring disabled lesbians)

Boom, Bang, Bzzt (Y.A Scifi, cyberpunk story, with a mixed race, bisexual lead,)

Don't Sleep (the name is subject to change) (Y.A Horror, Mexican, pan lead)

There are other stories like Hector, Johnathan the clown, and The Billiards Club

Which have art but the plots are still cooking. Jonathan the clown actually have a full plot but his plays out more like a video game (Don't sleep too if I'm being honest) So I'm holding of on writing those. But I will have art to share.

Expect A LOT of art! I've got you catch you all up to speed! And I've been working on some of these stories for years! I hope you stick around for them! :D Till next time!

[lia-land]

Winter by Marissa Meyer

5/5

What a beautiful story. I have nothing bad to say about this book. This might actually be the first time.

This is the sixth book I’ve read this year that was over 800 pages, but this is the first one that didn’t feel like it. It was perfectly paced and the plot didn’t feel overly complicated at any point. With books this long, the characters or plot or both can sometimes feel tedious, but this was so good.

I thought I might find this series too childish, but I didn’t at all. It’s a great story that didn’t rely on shock value through random and underdeveloped plot twists, as many YA books tend to do these days. I really like how she introduced characters throughout this series. For example, we met Thorne in book 2, and then he ends up being the main love interest in book 3, similar to how we met Jacin in book 3 and he’s a main character in book 4. They were subtle introductions where we could form opinions on the characters prior to knowing that they were love interests. I would give this book 5 stars just for this alone.

I immediately noticed from Chapter 1 that we are getting more detailed descriptions of surroundings. I’ve found Meyer to be an author who mostly relies on dialogue, which I personally prefer, as some authors tend to overdo it with the descriptions (Sarah J Maas' interior design book aka Tower of Dawn). Meyer strikes a great balance of both in this book. I often find with YA series that quality of writing tends to decrease as the series goes on and publishers rush things, but this was the complete opposite. I enjoyed Winter as much as Cinder and Cress, and much more than Scarlet.

In YA, authors tend to simplify wars. Often, huge wars happen and they end in a matter of days. That is not entirely realistic (not that fantasy has to be realistic, but this specifically tends to be skipped over lazily). Of course, wars can and have ended in a matter of days in real life, but that’s very uncommon. Here, Meyer maintained that battle element, while also not turning into a full on war, so that she could end the actual battle in one night. This is also beneficial for us as readers because action scenes in YA are not always popular, especially when they’re only introduced in the final book of the series. The main fight in this book was contained to one night and it was on a smaller scale, so it remained more realistic while also not adding a bunch of action scenes. My expectations were low in this regard, so I was expecting for there to be a huge war between Luna and Earth contained into this one book, bur Meyer made the right decision in not doing that.

The ending was perfectly done. I would like to read more books about the characters lives following the events of Winter, but I don’t absolutely need it. (Update: I've since seen that Meyer has written non-canon short stories in this world. This is the best way to do it for this ending. Veronica Roth should take notes). The ending didn’t leave any obvious unanswered questions, in my opinion. It was a very well written story from start to finish. Even though I didn’t enjoy Scarlet, I can appreciate that it was a good story that tied into the rest of the series well and Scarlet as a character became very likeable in this final book.

The length of this book is interesting because it’s more than twice as long as the previous books in this series. I wonder if this was for contractual reasons or if she just wanted to keep the theme of naming each book after a different character, and didn’t want to ruin that by separating this story and making it a 5 book series or introducing a fifth fairytale.

My favorite aspect of this book and this series as a whole is how Meyer integrated all the stories, while still maintaining their importance as independent characters. Perhaps this applies slightly less to Wolf (and Scarlet until the second half of Winter). With this many main characters, it would have been easy for some of them to get lost in the background, but it was very well executed here.

Overall, this entire plot was so unique. This is a take on fairytale retellings that will be very hard to beat. I can’t understand why this series is not more popular than it is. It would also be such an amazing TV show, although expensive. I hope this story gets the recognition it deserves one day. I’m really going to miss these wonderful characters, even Wolf

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @broodparasitism

Who You Are:

Lottie || She/her

I’m Lottie, and I’m currently doing a master’s in creative writing. I mostly write things in between historical, literary and horror about postwar Britain, and other than writing I’m a bit of a music nerd!

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Historical Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Psychological. Adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Literary, if only for its room to be experimental and weird.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

Romance - I’m just not a romantic type of person!

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

I don’t think too much about it, but I think other young queer/neurodivergent women would be the biggest readers of my work, particularly if they’re also British. But I hope that anyone from any demographic would be able to get something out of my work! It’s for anyone who wants to read it.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

Motherhood is something that always creeps up in my work. Hedonism and moral masochism as contrasts is also very important to me! Feminism and class tensions tend to have a big presence in my work as well. It’s harder to say with tropes but if the central themes are there the tropes don’t matter too much to me. I couldn’t get into why they’re important to me without getting much too personal for writeblr, however.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

Something entirely fluffy and comforting or something entirely cynical and hopeless, albeit the first is more annoying. I need some degree of light and darkness or the story feels too uncomplicated to me. For something very specific, I’m not keen on premises where every type of fantasy folklore is incorporated: there’s often too much that isn’t fleshed out enough. I also hate stories that use weight loss as shorthand for positive character development, because that’s plain old fatphobia. And stories without women. There’s no excuse for that.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

I’m working on a manuscript for my MA so I prefer to keep vague on it, but it’s a small town horror about four people in the early 80s coming to terms with a recent death of someone they all had a wildly different relationship with and the way the town becomes increasingly haunted. I’m quite attached to it now. I began working on this at the end of August 2022!

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

It simply brings me joy to do it. I want the stories in my head to exist on paper, because that’s such a rewarding feeling!

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

On and off since I was very young. I can’t remember what drew me to it: it was just something I knew I wanted to do for as long as I can remember (cliche, I know). I say that I began seriously writing in November 2013, when I started what would become my first completed draft of a manuscript.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

I get my inspiration from my local area, and from researching history - and very often, music with connection to that. I think that the starting point of inspiration for my current project was the band Xiu Xiu, but what nonfiction I’ve read since then has fleshed it out into an actual narrative.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

A short story called ‘Minutes’ that helped me get into my MA in the first place. I just struck gold with the plot, and it’s naturally one of my most “polished” pieces of writing. I would ideally like to do something else with it!

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

Not yet, but absolutely in the future.

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

The publishing process doesn’t appeal to me at all - I’m not yet familiar with it. I am afraid of having to water down my work for “marketability”, however.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

It’s quite hard to say. I like the feeling of when an idea comes to you just as you’re typing. That’s always a godsend. The part least appealing…it can be quite intimidating when things are workshopped, definitely.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

I don’t have much of a process. I have to be able to write almost anywhere and at any time of day in order to get things done.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

My currently blog is under a year old. I was peripherally involved from about 2018 to 2021, after which it became my primary tumblr community.

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

Some of my favourite are @queenslayerbee, @aninkwellofnectar , @ryns-ramblings, @dallonwrites! Tumblr either suggested I follow them or I found their blogs via discord.

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

I like a lot of the tag games - especially find the word.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

In the nicest possible way, a lot of the writing advice is really, really bad. I am begging writeblr to realise not everyone needs to post writing advice and that is okay!

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I could be doing more, but I have reservations about sharing my own work and I’m not qualified to be giving advice so all I can do now is help promote others.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

Posts that ask a question to the community as a whole about their creative processes, tag games and excerpts also.

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

I don’t know! There’s not a lot of writeblr posts I can make. I do like making silly little jokey posts about what I’m writing that only make sense of me, I suppose.

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

I am on storygraph as @/fortunavhs, Instagram as @/absinthiumwriting and discord as malcontent#7884!