#and that phrase means so much especially in relation to one of my favourite lyrics ‘tie a noose around your mind loose enough to etc’ 🥹

[add1ictwithapen]

there was a text above the fake you out lyrics that said “don’t let your brain take your life away” 🥹

[itsdrawingmen]

Hey I am the same anon who came up with the headcannon (or maybe partially cannon) that yoosung can sing and has a sweet voice and to be honest

I would like both fics and headcannon posts and basically EVERYTHING related to it. Let your imagination run wild I really love your work

Secondly rn i cannot find the chat where he mentions that he was in a band but I will try to find it as soon as i get time. Cuz I CLEARLY remember seeing that but now it feels like some sort of Mandela effect. I hope its not mandela effect😭😭😭😭

Ooh, lovely anon, so basically my headcanons are as follows:

Yoosung’s story of artistic endeavours is a little similar to Zen’s in that his parents never took it seriously because you can’t monetize it consistently, or they perceive it as something you must have ‘talent’ to do. Yoosung is not extraordinary, so they’re dismissive. So all he can do, he’s mostly self-taught, with some inconsistent help from especially sweet teachers

He’s extremely embarrassed, especially in front of Zen who’s a professional

Singing is one of his ways of dealing with strong emotions. He picks songs with lyrics that resonate and pours his soul out

He was in a band, so he definitely has a good ear and a sense of rhythm, better than he gives himself credit for, but because he doesn’t have a formal education, he’s self-conscious. In the band, he sang and played percussion.

And also, you're in luck, because I put together a little something - it's more of a 'sketch' honestly, but I like it, so let's leave it here.

The house feels like home, Zen thinks as he passes around it.

His gaze brushes habitually across the textures of the wall, across the familiar cracks, then the ancient graffiti. He stops at the spot, and can almost imagine the heels of his sneakers falling into place, as if there is a slot for them. He smiles. The habituality feels good. The house feels like home. The more now that there’s a light in his windows, poking just over the asphalt.

It’s his favourite place to smoke: behind the house, right by his own windows. Out of the way, away from the prying eyes, where he would only bother himself. Zen pulls out the pack of cigarettes and the lighter. I will quit, he tells himself. One of these days. Yes, definitely one of these days.

The little light flickers, summoned by his fingers. Zen lights up the cigarette and takes a drag.

Then he hears it, rising from down below, quiet still, but his ear catches it immediately.

The voice.

Zen turns his head. The kitchen window is open into the warm spring air.

The light means Yoosung.

The voice.

He lowers down until he is crouching and bates his breath. Yes, there is no doubt. Yoosung is singing.

He can hear the running water and the clinking dishes faintly, and over them, the voice rises, timid at first, then louder and louder, little by little, until it opens heartily into a refrain.

‘Healing, o-oh! Healing, touching, for living!’

That’s such an old song, how does he even know it? He puts so much heart in that refrain, the choice of song is definitely not random. He knows it, no, more than that, he feels it.

Yoosung’s voice betrays a trembly vibrato in the verse. His breathing is wrong, Zen thinks. A normal mistake. He needs to use his belly. He forces it, just a little, but it’s so easily fixed.

He has such a nice voice, though, he can’t help but notice. It’s soft and mellow, on the tenor side — just a tiny bit rough around the edges, evidently untrained, but still already so good. Zen takes a drag of his cigarette and closes his eyes as he exhales. Yoosung’s voice is clear, stable on the notes, if a little inconsistent with the breath, but that gives it charm. After all, the song itself almost asks for it.

He plays around the phrase, his voice growing in confidence.

‘Healing, and help is coming.’

He has a sweet accent, too.

Where did you learn to sing, Yoosungie?

He puts out the cigarette on the asphalt and finds his jar to throw the butt in. Rises quietly, as if not to disturb. Yoosung’s voice has grown, bloomed in confidence, covering the hum of the running water.

‘And so, we need it, all I know, we need it, and so…’

Such an old song. He remembers trying it by ear on his guitar. The strings were so bad, but he had no money for new ones. Healing, he sang, touching. Did he believe, then, that healing and help were coming?

He hasn’t played in so long. He feels his fingertips itch. Will Yoosung sing if he plays?

Quiet, stupid heart.

He doesn’t want to think why his chest feels so full, so fluttery.

He steps springily away, passes around the house that feels like home. Opens the door, descends the stairs. Puts the key into the keyhole as quietly as he can. Presses the doorknob so slowly, so carefully.

As he opens the door, the flat is filled with the voice. He sings something else now, but something even more familiar — Zen knows this song, he remembers singing it for an audition. He remembers his director calling him, telling him he has got the role. ‘Even though the song choice was godawful,’ he told him then.

A good song.

A sad song.

A song about love.

It suits Yoosung’s voice so well, or maybe he just sings it so heartfelt.

He locks the door, he’s slow, quiet. But his chest can no longer contain his voice. He covers the last few steps till the kitchen, and then he joins in.

Then, the song stops, abruptly, leaving Zen hanging. Yoosung turns around sharply, Zen meets his gaze: a little lost, a little glazed, a little bewildered.

‘Hey,’ he says. ‘Why’d you stop?’

‘Z-Zen?’

‘You never told me you had such a cool voice.’

A blush creeps over Yoosung’s cheeks.

‘I… oh, it’s… nothing, really…’

‘Come on, I wanted to sing, too.’

‘Go on…’

Zen huffs, smiles.

‘Come on. Sing with me.’

He's curious now. He wants to know how they will sound. Yoosung’s wet hand reaches up, runs through his hair.

‘Oh, I’m not… I don’t sound well…’

‘You do. Come on. I love that song, indulge me.’

Yoosung smiles awkwardly, apologetically.

‘I’ll ruin it for you.’

‘Try me.’

Zen comes up to the table and leans on it.

‘Come on. Start. I’ll join.’

Yoosung’s smile grows even more helpless.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Deffo.’

Yoosung hesitates for a moment more. Then clears his throat. Zen encourages him with a smile and a nod. Yoosung turns away, stops the running water.

There is a long moment of silence. And then he sings.

And Zen lets him have that verse, then takes a breath and joins in.

His voice is lower, and it supports Yoosung’s so well. They blend together nicely, Zen thinks. Make a good duet. Needs a little polishing, but undoubtedly a good duet. Yoosung turns around to face him slowly, and Zen sees a little smile blooming on his face.

‘You were in love with someone else, but I just wanted you to stay by my side…’

He feels Yoosung’s voice jump off of his own, finally finding a solid base, growing stronger off him. The gaze of Yoosung’s different eyes travels up to fix on Zen’s.

‘You were more beautiful than anyone else, it hurts that I can’t even hold you in my arms…’

Zen has to look away. There’s something in Yoosung’s gaze, in Yoosung’s voice, that reaches deep into him, deeper than he wants to let him.

‘It hurts…’

He allows himself to play with modifications, and Yoosung’s voice holds the melody steady. He has done this before, Zen thinks. It’s impossible he has such a good ear without any learning or practice.

He tries not to think about that something in his gaze.

He honestly tries.

‘I won’t ask anymore, I won’t hope anymore.’

He finally dares to look at Yoosung, at his eyes, now closed as he pours his heart out into the song. He watches him sing, and he notices all the overforced notes, all the oversqueezed falsettos, but still somehow it all falls together into something so honest, so brutal — so perfect. A blue vein pulses on Yoosung’s throat, bulging as he puts effort in, and Zen catches himself transfixed. Yoosung is out of breath now, but he still holds the note before opening his eyes and meeting Zen’s gaze.

‘It hurts…’

Zen is silent. Yoosung’s voice, soft, mellow again, fills the kitchen air, seeps through Zen’s very heart before dissolving.

Then, Zen raises his hands and claps.

We should do this again sometime, he thinks. I should play, you should sing. I will pick up and learn your favourite songs, and I’ll tell you how to breathe with the belly. You’ll tell me where you’ve done this before.

But as Yoosung’s different eyes are fixed on him, and the aftermath of his song still rings through the beige kitchen, all Zen does is simply stand and clap.

[poly-mc]

Afrikaans Song #1: "Storm" by Spoegwolf (Translation: Spit Wolf)

Welcome to my first translation and interpretation of my favourite Afrikaans songs. The Afrikaans lyrics will be in the default font colour (black/white), while the English interpretation for each line will be in red. I say "interpretation", because if a different Afrikaans person were to translate and interpret this song, they might have (probably) used different words in English. I also like to use the "translate and interpret" because, a lot of times, if you only directly translate things from one language to another, they tend to lose their meaning and power. So, in order for them to have the same impact, you need to make the words your own in the other language. Therefore (joh I sound like I'm writing college papers again 😭), since I'll be using that phrase a lot in this segment, I'll be shortening it to T&I.

CW: Most of the songs that I T&I will be tied to my feelings for the Obey Me! brothers (thank you, hyper fixation), which is why I'm posting them on this account and not my main account (which could just as well be my alt at this point, since I hardly ever post on there). I also love imagining what it would have been like to share my culture and everyday things of my life with them. So, this kind of like that. I'll also be writing about how some of the songs relate to the poems that I write about/for them and how I view them. So, if my obsession with the brothers and my integration of them into real-life things makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, I get it and you can scroll past, it's fine❤️

That being said...to me this song kind of encapsulates how we (as MC) always want to take care of them and how they are constantly making us feel special in different ways. As someone who (especially as a child) was always made to feel inferior to those around star, this song really speaks to how they make me feel like I'm actually worth something. Like I'm actually worth fighting for. Which, honestly, doesn't happen much in real life. So, when that happens, even if it's in fiction, I'm going to take that and make the most of it. And kind of try to surround myself with it (as it should) and integrate it with my connotations of songs like this. I know it seems unhealthy, but to me, it feels like healing. This is how I heal. I obsess over/fixate on people and things that make me happy.

CUE TANGENT: Along with that, they're also making me feel truly alive during a very difficult time in my life; after dropping out of college and while I'm looking for a job, so that I can finally move out of my parents' house and away from my narcissistic (adoptive) mother. She's not Asmo's kind of narcissistic, though. She's the kind that picks fights, gaslights and will manipulate you in any way that she possibly can. The kind that really doesn't care about anybody's needs but her own. She only pretends to care about other people's needs in order to make herself look good. Asmo actually cares about other people's needs; he just has a different way of showing it. And he would never do anything to the detriment of somebody else. I mean, sure, he annoys his brothers by how self-absorbed he is. But his self-centeredness has never ended up hurting anybody. In fact, he's always encouraging his brothers to take better care of their skin. Yes, that is unsolicited advice and while that's not ideal, you can still see that he cares about them. Honestly, if I had someone in my daily life, helping me to take better care of my skin, it would be a lot less dry. See, in the province that I live in, the winters get super dry (and cold). So, there's no moisture in the air, for your skin, and it's also too cold for you to moisturise your whole body. While the summers get super humid, though the heat does tend to dry the moisture out a bit. So, you still can't really moisturise that much, because heat + moisturiser = constant sweating. Plus, you'll be swimming regularly (if you have access to pool), so that moisturiser will wash right off. But I digress (a little too late for that😂).

TLDR: This song symbolises how important the brothers are to me, especially during a really difficult time of my life.

Ek wil na jou kyk {I want to look after you} ek wil jou baadjie soek {I want to look for your jacket} jy weet ek speel vir tyd {You know I'm playing for time} voor jy uitgaan {Before you go out} en die wêreld face {And face the world} Toe ek jou ontmoet {When I met you} was ek klaar gereis {I was done travelling} Ses-en-twintig jaar lank {For twenty six years}

Ek hardloop uit {I'm running out}* ons dans by die kar {We dans at the car} maar buite tyd {But out of time} jou voete verward {Your feet confused} ons lywe ryg {Our bodies intertwine} toe ek jou ontmoet {When I met you} het die vloer gestyg {The floor started to rise} na ses-en-twintig jaar {After twenty six years}

en dit storm in jou kop vanaand {and it's storming in your head tonight} as jy so kyk {if you give me that look}

Swart soos die see {Black like the sea} skeer dit weer in my {it tears into me again} sien jy al deur? {do you see through it already?} na wat hier aangaan {to what's going on here}

Dit was ‘n koma {It was a coma} maar ek het jou ontmoet {But I met you} en ek het opgestaan {and I stood up} na ses-en-twintig jaar {after twenty six years}

en dit storm {and it's storming} in jou kop vanaand {in your head tonight} as jy só kyk {if you give me that look}

en dit storm {and it's storming} in jou kop vanaand {in your head tonight} as jy só kyk {if you give me that look}

weet ek daar is iets rein in my {I know there is something pure in me} jou in my {you in me} rein in my {pure in me} jou in my {you in me}**

en dit storm in jou kop vanaand {and it's storming in your head tonight} as jy so kyk {if you give me that look}

*could be interpreted as or running out to give your loved one their jacket (which your were looking for) OR running out of time to spend with them

**in my heart and soul. Like having this person be part of you get your mind out of the gutter Think: Beel at the end of the exchange programme goodbyes. Because this person is in your life and is now part of who you are, you now know that there is good in you after all

[muselin]

Hey! I'm the 2nd gen anon that sent you the ask the other day. I agree with what you said especially the thing about social media.

For the past few years, I've been wondering why I fell out of Kpop because at that time, Kpop was gaining more attraction. I think the first reason would be that many older groups were disbanding. Then, it would be the presence of social media (toxic fans are the loudest). Other than that, I couldn't get myself into the newer songs. I remember thinking that the reason for this was due to newer songs being too westernized. However, foreign producers have been making songs for Kpop artists for a while. Over time, I noticed that a lot of the newer songs (even non-Kpop songs) don't have full choruses. The songs are mostly focused on the beat and the title of the song is repeated in the chorus. I don't hate this type of music but I tend to get sick of it quickly. A lot of 3rd and 4th gen groups are coming out with this kind of music now which makes sense into why I couldn't get myself into them. Even when my favs, which are 2nd gen and early 3rd gen (I actually regard them as 2.5 gen because they had similar styles to 2nd gen) come out with songs that don't have full choruses, I rarely listen to it.

I know in my previous ask, I did say I stopped being a Kpop fan at one point but I did still listened to my favourite Kpop songs as well as trending songs. I don't think I can ever stop listening to Kpop or music in general. I guess you can say I just became a casual listener. I'll check kpop news from time to time but that's it. I couldn't keep up with the fandom.

I don't know if you ever felt this way before but I feel bad for not putting in time for my favs or ults(?). What I'm talking about is things like streaming and voting. Luckily, my favs don't really care because they've been in the industry for a while but I still feel guilty because streaming and voting is a form of supporting the artists you love.

Sorry for the long ask. It's just hard to find 2nd gen fans on Tumblr. Also, thanks for bringing awareness about mental health. Like you said, it's sad that such tragic events have to happen in order for us to bring light to an important topic. With this, I hope people will care for the mental health of others and themselves.

I definitely agree with a lot of what you said. And thank you for dropping in again! I personally don't like songs where the structure is "skimped on", e.g. not having a full chorus, or several lines of lyrics being just the same word or phrase repeated over and over. Although that said, "Sorry Sorry" and "Ring Ding Dong" are what got me into kpop and are the most iconic songs ever and you can't tell me otherwise lol.

For me personally, rediscovering Super Junior and SHINee after 7+ years of not keeping up and being a casual listener was like a shock to the system. With Super Junior it was like, hold up, you mean Kibum, Hangeng, Kangin AND Sungmin are not in SJ anymore?? And with SHINee it was like... how can we go on without Jjong?? And hold on, Taemin is now the biggest solo artist of all of them?? TVXQ was now only Yunho and Changmin and the rest had left?? It was so much to take in.

When I was coming back into kpop circa late 2017, besides BTS I wasn't that thrilled with what I arrived to as a 2nd gen fan to be honest. Monsta X and KARD were a breath of fresh air, as a proper very EDM focused and a mixed gender group, respectively. Musically though, aside from BTS it was VIXX I loved the most and they sit awkwardly in the time line, somewhere between 2nd gen and 3rd gen. They're usually considered 2.5 gen.

It was sad learning about everyone I knew from 2nd gen that was disbanding or not active (f(x), 2NE1, SHINee were just recovering from Jonghyun's passing at the time). But at the same time I was thrilled that so many were still going strong. I felt i could relate to them because I was getting into that later-twenties stage where I was worrying about getting older, but I was comforted knowing my 2nd gen idols were growing older with me, they were already a few years ahead of me and still rocking it.

You see, with feeling guilty about not streaming and voting, I didn't really experience that. When I was an early kpop fan it wasn't even possible to vote outside of Korea so I never felt like I had missed out on these opportunities or let my idols down. When i got into kpop again I did take advantage of the fact that I could stream, vote for MAMA and vote on some music shows. I never felt guilty though because I knew that the majority of these voting drives were for the younger fans, who didn't have full time jobs, families or that many responsibilities. So I always felt I was doing my best as a fan in moderation, without sacrificing all my time, money and sanity.

With 4th gen, I don't even bother with voting. Some people might say that makes me a shitty or lazy fan, but my ults are 2nd and 3rd gen, and I'm only one person. I know 3rd and 4th gen have loads and loads of young fans who do the streaming and voting better than I ever could. I just stream on comeback day and enjoy the music, and buy the occasional album. When I was a young fan I had no money at all, I couldn't buy any albums or go to any concerts. So I don't feel guilty because I can do more now as an older fan than I ever could before to support my idols. I save my voting rights for my 2nd gen faves who aren't as popular anymore, because I know it would mean much more to them to still win awards this late into their careers :)

[russianwave]

Winter Langblr Challenge #WinterLangblrChallenge

Sorry for this not starting on December 1st, but I’ve just had this idea now. I’ve written 31 prompts based around Winter as a means of trying to help us improve our grasp of the language, learn appropriate vocabulary for the season, as well as being able to dive deeper into the culture/s of the country/countries of the language/s we’re learning. 

You can do this in as many of the languages you’re learning as you want, or if you enjoy a prompt but are struggling too much to write it in your target language then feel free to write it in your native language! 

You can complete each challenge either by writing, recording a video/your voice, making infographics etc. Whatever helps you learn! All I ask is that if you’re completing challenges then you try and help people learning your native language who are also completing these challenges. 

You can choose to do as many or as few of these challenges as you want, and post them as often as you like. Just remember to tag #WinterLangblrChallenge (in the first 5 tags of the post or else it won’t show up) and my blog so that others can see the post and I can share it!

Winter Langblr Challenge Prompts

1) Introduce yourself! Tell us some things about you, as well as what language/s you’re learning and why. How long have you been studying them for? What challenges and achievements have you made so far?

2) What winter traditions are celebrated in your country? 

3) What winter traditions are celebrated in the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning?

4) What religious winter festivities are commonly celebrated in your country and the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Tell us a bit about them! Do you celebrate any of them?

5) What are some things that surprised you about learning about winter festivities in the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning?

6) Are there any common winter foods eaten in your country or the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Why not try telling us about them! Have you tried them? What did you think? Do you want to try them?

7) Are there any foods that are eaten especially in winter festivities (e.g. Christmas turkey) in your country or the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Why not share a recipe and give us your thoughts on it? Or even try making something and give us a review! 

8) Are there any traditional clothing worn in your country or the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Why not tell us about them? Would you wear something like that?

9) Post 4 (or more) photos or pieces of art of the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning in Winter and describe each of them (or come up with a short story for each. Make sure you have permission to share them!

10) Are there any winter themed songs in your country or the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Why not translate the lyrics and/or give us a review!

11) Do you have any favourite winter themed poems or stories in your native language or in the language/s you’re studying? Why not talk to us about it? Why is it your favourite?

12) What things would you change about Winter time if you could?

13) What things do you love about Winter time?

14) Have you ever experienced the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning during Winter time? If you have, what was it like? If you haven’t, do you want to? What do you think it’d be like?

15) Do you like writing poetry? Why not try and come up with a winter themed poem in your target language/s?

16) Are there any special winter decorations in your country or the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? Why not talk to us about them? Or even try making one and tell us about the experience! 

17) What is your favourite memory from winter time? 

18) Write a diary entry about a day in your life over the winter period! Or write about what an ideal day in the life would be like over the winter period!

19) If you could get any five people in the world any gift, who would you give the presents to and what would the presents be? Why?

20) Listen to a Podcast episode or watch a Youtube video about winter time in the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning. How challenging was understanding it for you? Did you learn anything new? What did you think about what you watched/ listened to?

21) Think about some of the new Winter related vocabulary you’ve learned, and try to write a short story that includes 5 or more new words that you’ve learned. 

22) Watch a winter themed film in your target language/s. How challenging was understanding it for you? Did you learn anything new? What did you think about what you watched? How different is it from winter themed films in your own country?

23) What kind of weather does the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning have over Winter? How similar or different is it to Winter weather in your own country? Would you like to experience that kind of weather?

24) What new phrases and vocabulary have you learned? Why not share some of them with us! Do you have any favourite new words or phrases? What are they and why?

25) How has Coronavirus impacted Winter (or this year in general) for you? How has it impacted your language learning? 

26) Reflect on this year of language learning for you (or if you’ve been learning for a shorter time, then that time or what it was that pushed you to learn a language). What challenges have you encountered this past year? What language related achievements have you made?

27) What are your language related goals for next year? Do you hope to study in a new way or pick up a new language? What kind of goals do you have set? If you don’t have any goals just yet, maybe try thinking about what kind of goals you might set or talk about why you don’t set language goals

28) If you’ve completed some of these challenges, why not tell us about how you felt about them? What kind of challenges did you encounter? What did you get out of completing them and did it match up with your expectations?

29) Imagine you are planning a week long trip for Winter in the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning. Imagine that you have no budget. What kind of things would you do? Where would you like to visit? 

30) Write a letter to yourself to read in the Winter of 2021. What kind of things would you tell yourself? What kind of things do you hope to have done by Winter 2021?

31) What kind of New Year celebrations are celebrated in your own country and the country/countries of the language/s you’re learning? What differences and similarities are there? If you celebrated New Year there what was it like? If you haven’t, how do you think you would find it?

[theonlygamergost]

Writing tips and tricks! -Fanfiction edition!

I've always liked to write, between writing for schoolwork and writing in my free time, I've developed methods that help me write even if I'm not aware I'm using them, so hopefully, these can be helpful to anyone that decides to read this!

I mainly write fanfictions, so we will be focusing on how to write them.

What to write:

Deciding what to write can be difficult, especially if it isn't clear in your mind, so here is how I do it:

If you want to write, it means that you already have either a character or a situation in mind you want to write about.

So, if you want to write about, for example, a YouTuber/Streamer, you need to find what they will be doing in your fanfiction.

Try thinking about a situation you see them getting themselves into, such as editing a video or getting dragged along by their friends while streaming, or mundane action you do in your everyday life, like the struggle of getting out of bed or going on a car trip.

If you can't find anything elaborate, start with something easy.

On the contrary, if you have a situation you want to write about but you don't know what characters to choose, imagine who would fit the situation best or which personality would be more fun to see in the situation.

But sometimes, it's even worse, you want to write a fanfiction and your starting point is an exchange of actions between the characters

Ex:

A sits next to B and tells them they are going to be alright.

Or even just a phrase!

Ex:

A says to B ”Chin up King, your crown is falling”

In these cases, your best bet is to think about what would happen to you before saying such a thing or something like that happens.

If it's an action or phrase you never experienced, try focusing on the emotion; the phrase is sad, get a reason you would be sad and someone would totally cheer you up if they said that.

The situation is tense? try getting something to happen between the two who would create tension if you were in that situation.

Warning! Boundaries

If you are writing about a real person, such as streamers/youtubers/actors aka a living person, you might want to find their boundaries: rules the person themselves gave the community to follow when drawing/writing them that makes them uncomfortable or are ok with us doing.

Here on Tumblr, there is a quite accurate post of mcyt boundaries that you might want to check out.

If you decide to ”cross” the boundaries of the person you are writing about, be ready to get either nice comments telling you to take off the internet your story or warning you in general...

There are some people that can get pretty aggressive if you don't respect a boundary tho.

You are free to write whatever you want, but just so you know, you'll have to be ready to accept criticism and hate, you have been warned.

When to write:

If you have already tried to write,  you probably realized that sometimes, you just can't write. It's been days since the last time and you can't get yourself to do so!

Don't force yourself:

First of all, writing fanfictions should be fun, so don't stress over them.

Don't force yourself to write, maybe it's not the time, just so you know, if you really want to write, the ”inspiration” or the will of sitting down and typing will eventually arrive, don't worry.

Inspiration at a bad time?:

You are tired and you just want to sleep, yet, your brain starts spitting out brilliant ideas that you are scared to forget.

Don't start writing in the middle of the night, you can used these methods to remember them the morning after:

-Record yourself:

Open your camera and start a video, you won't be recording the video tho, you are interested in the audio.

Just record your ideas!

Ex:

”Ok so... A and B go to the supermarket together... Uh.... They laugh about and then B begs A to buy them sweets... But A doesn't want to... But in the end they give up and they buy it”

You are in a situation in which you can't talk? You can write them down wherever on your phone, the note doesn't have to be grammatically correct or make sense, they just have to help you remember what your idea was.

Ex:

A and B are playing video games when A gets mad at B because they killed them, maybe A shouts at them idk and then B starts crying and hangs up on the vc and A bc they are a dick they don't care but then...

Writing environment!

This is pretty personal, you'll have to try a bunch of these to figure out which one is your favourite.

Silence or chaos:

I personally prefer writing in my room without anyone around talking, but if you concentrate better when noises are around, it's completely up to you.

Music or silence:

If you want to write while listening to something, I recommend choosing songs that either have little or no lyrics, an example is lofi songs, they are pretty chill and usually don't have lyrics.

Games soundtracks work just as well if they don't distract you.

For me, songs with lyrics in languages I don't understand work too.

If you are a stan of Wilbur Soot, his songs even if in English work pretty well, his singing is close to mumbling and his tone is quite low, so try it out if you like his stuff!

I recommend having their volume pretty low so that they won't bother you, also for some reason, I found out that having them on my laptop speaker instead of my headphones allows me to concentrate more, maybe it's just me, but try it out if the other options don't work.

Stay hydrated f**kers!

If you write at your desk, I highly recommend having a water bottle/glass next to your laptop/pc.

If possible, place it in your field of view when looking at the monitor, this will make it so that if you are stuck on what to write, you'll look around and see the water, so you'll take a sip of it.

Also take breaks, just go walk around the house or go to the bathroom, the small distraction should help you focus more, but looking at your notifications or social media will distract you out of your creative mood, you have been warned!

What was that word again??

You are peacefully writing when you want to write a word, but you just can’t remember it! it’s on the tip of your tongue but you just… can't.

As someone who writes in english but english is not my main language, this is often a problem, but don’t worry, everyone has this problem.

These three sites that I found help me TONS and they are free and easy to use! So if you are trying to improve your vocabulary or you just forgot that specific word, these will definitely help you!

Find adjectives for things that you're trying to describe:

https://describingwords.io

Search for words by their definition:

https://reversedictionary.org

Find words that are related to a specific word or phrase:

https://relatedwords.org/relatedto/

I very much hope this has been helpful in any way! If you have a question or want me to re-explain something to you, please dm me and i'll gladly answer!

[mia-cooper]

Fanfiction Questions

from here

Fandom Questions

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Involved as in ‘frantically read every book I could get my hands on, daydreamed about being part of that universe and wrote stories/made art inspired by the books, if not actual fanfiction’? Mm, probably The Chronicles of Narnia when I was six or seven. The next great obsession was The Silver Brumby when I went through my horse stage around age 12, and then Sweet Valley High when I was 15. Hahaha.

2. What is your latest fandom?

Marvel! I’m not into comics and I’m definitely not interested in consuming every last bit of canon material or memorising the variations of every universe, but I love (most of) the movies and Agents of SHIELD is pretty cool.

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

Star Trek Voyager. No contest. I venture to suggest that the older fandoms, the ones that are all about defunct shows, are a hell of a lot more chilled. Maybe because we’ve come to terms with our shitty canon endings and learned that liking the ship you hate doesn’t make someone problematic, unlike some newer fandoms I could name (Yes I’m talking about you, Game of Thrones fans. What the fuck.)

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

I’ve dipped a toe into one or two fandoms for shows or books I’ve really enjoyed and backed the fuck out when the vibe gets weird (oh hey, it’s GoT again), but nope. No regrets.

5. Which fandoms have you written fanfiction for?

All the Star Treks except TOS, and a Trek/MCU crossover. I’d like to write more for MCU someday. Plus I’ve written longhand entire notebooks full of teen romance shit that bore an uncanny similarity to SVH, and my first short story was a fantasy fic that featured a girl whose guardian was a wise talking lion who led her into mystical secret worlds, which is kind of familiar.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Wow. I’m going to define ‘involved in’ as ‘cared enough about to have an OTP’, but I’m guaranteed to forget a ton. In no particular order:

Voyager: Janeway x anyone who can get her off

Discovery: Lorca x Cornwell or Pike x Tyler x Burnham (or any combination of)

DS9: Kira x Jadzia Dax

TNG: Picard x Vash, I guess? I don’t really have any TNG ships

ENT: T’Pol x Trip x Hoshi (or any variation therein)

MCU: Cap x Widow

AoS: Coulson x Skye... no May... no Skye... I don’t know

CAOS: Madam Satan x Zelda

Timeless: Garcy

The Good Place: Eleanor x Tahani

The 100 (shut up): toss up between Clarke x Bellamy and Kane x Abby

Veronica Mars: Veronica x Leo (first run), Veronica x Logan (s4)

Orphan Black: Cosima x Delphine

BSG: Apollo x Starbuck

SG1: Sam x Jack

Arrow: Olicity (so over the show now though)

This Life: Milly x Egg

Yeah you know what... I’m drawing a blank. I can’t think of any other shows where I’ve been invested in The Romance that much.

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

I’m too tired to do every fandom, and besides, I can come around to almost any ship if the headcanons (or fics) are convincing enough. I do have a few hard no-gos, but they might be someone else’s OTP so I’ll shut up about them.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

Reluctantly. The MCU movies are not something I ever thought I’d enjoy beyond a dull evening’s entertainment. I never expected to get attached to the characters. And yet.

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Voyager is my forever fandom and the only one where I’ve really interacted with other fans. The best things about it? In general, everyone is just cool, accepting, open and basically awesome. And talented. I love my Party Bus people.

10.  Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Sure. The 100, Veronica Mars and Agents of SHIELD are the ones I’d dip into more frequently. I really enjoy crossovers between Trek and BSG or the Stargate variants, too.

Ship Questions for your Current Fandom

11. Who is your current OTP?

Janeway x Chakotay.

12. Who is your current OT3?

Janeway x Chakotay x Paris.

13. Any NoTPs?

A few.

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

Janeway & Tuvok! Also Torres & Chakotay, and I’d have killed for more Janeway & Torres in canon. (If they kissed sometimes that would be okay too)

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

Yeah. Paris x Seven. There are like two fics in existence, and yet ... the potential! (Sorry, B’Elanna)

16. Are there any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Nope.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Janeway x Paris. And they’re still way up there, but not quite at the top.

18. What ship have you written the most about?

84% of my fics feature Janeway x Chakotay as either the primary or secondary pairing... holy shit.

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Paris x Torres. I mean, I feel them. I just don’t generally feel the need to write about them.

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

Chakotay x Seven. In another universe, it could’ve been beautiful.

Author Questions

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Actual story that was clearly fanfic? A farcical drunken romp told in the 24th century equivalent of email format called PADDemonium (see what I did there?)

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Lol, a few things that should probably have never seen the light of day for various reasons, some of them leola related. But I’ve only deleted two fics that I can recall.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Relieved. It’s a 30k AU Chakotay moral dilemma backstory that brings in DS9 characters, Section 31 and his longstanding history with AU Janeway. I did so much research for it (way back in the days before memory alpha and chakoteya.net) and I’m really proud of how I wound in canon stuff across series but changed a few key bits and pieces. Only problem is, it’s a sequel to ...

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

... Pressure, which I can’t even read without cringing. My characterisation of Janeway, even Angry Maquis AU Janeway, is way over the top and there are moments that verge on Mills and Boon and give me first, second and third hand embarrassment. God, I’d love to rewrite it. Actually, that’s a lie. I want someone else to rewrite it so I can read it without covering my eyes and moaning.

25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

Desperate Measures, by about 70,000 light years, lol. Although Fragile Things beats it on bookmarks.

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

You know what? A fair percentage of the time, I think of the title first and come up with a plot second. Aside from that, I prefer shorter, punchier titles that clearly tie into the story (Flight Risk, Speechless), though sometimes it’s song lyrics (Burn Our Horizons, your body like a searchlight) or a literary quote (Required to Bear, All the Devils are Here) or a turn of phrase from the story itself (The Prisons You Inhabit). Hey that was fun. Thanks for letting me pimp the shit out of my stories.

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Ugh, it depends on the day. Summaries are harder, I think. I never want to give away too much of the plot, but there has to be enough there for people to know whether they’ll bother clicking. Funny story: I actually ran the stats on this a few months back. Here they are for your edification:

Fics with a one line plot summary = 54%

With two or three line plot summary = 18%

With a short snippet directly from the fic = 16%

With a snippet + a one line explanation = 3%

With a one line plot summary plus a line to date the fic (eg "set in season 3", “episode tag to Worst Case Scenario") or the fic prompt = 7%

And finally, a quote from something other than the fic = 2% (that's only 3 fics).

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

Ooh. I’ll say the final scene in Explosive.

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

I used to regularly ask @jhelenoftrek​ and @littleobsessions90 to beta for me, and both of them are brilliant at it. Lately I’ve been posting without sending my stuff off for editing. This is partly because I’m impatient to get stuff out there, partly because I don’t have as much time to write/edit, and partly because I’m a little less focused on improving my writing and more on enjoying it for its own sake.

30. What inspires you to write?

Little bits of episode dialogue I haven’t noticed before, other people’s fanfiction, stray conversations, fic prompts, song lyrics, random headcanons, fever dreams, dares ...

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

I’ve been really lucky with comments on my fic. The least helpful comment I’ve ever received was on one of my early 30k fics and all it said was “Did you have to take the name of the lord in vain?” Which is kind of funny. The nicest thing anyone’s ever said? I’m very partial to the feedback that starts “I don’t even like this pairing/genre/trope/show but you made me love it”, and particularly “I’ll read anything you write, I don’t care what it’s about.” But all comments are gold. The little heart button is cool too.

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

I’m not someone who can tune out music I love, or leave it in the background to inspire me. If it’s on, I’m fully invested in it. I’m that annoying person in the car who flips radio stations every three seconds until I find something I like and then it’s on 11 and I’m singing along to it. I’m also really picky but extremely eclectic, although there are genres I can’t stand (anything with autotune makes me stabby). That said, sometimes I find a song that I can’t stop listening to for weeks and often that perfect combination of music and lyrics will inspire me to write a fic. For example, I just plotted out an entire J/C story because of this song.

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

All of the above. Although I’m not sure if my longest epic is huuuuuge or just huuuge.

34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

101,467.

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

I have two drabble collections. One is all J/C, full of responses to random prompts and I add to it sporadically. The other is episode additions set on Kathryn Janeway’s birthday (May 20) and added to annually.

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

Angst, definitely. Sometimes it’s smutty angst or fluffy angst or hurt/comfort angst, but often it’s just fucking unrelenting angst. And I’m okay with that.

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

I did the stats on this once, too, haha. Pretty sure I came out fairly even on first and third person with a smattering of second person in there. I’m probably even-ish on present vs past tense, too. I make it a point to mix it up to avoid my writing getting stale or same-y. And sometimes a fic doesn’t really click for me until I try it in a different POV or tense or from a different character’s perspective.

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

I mostly write for canon characters - the fun is in all the different ways you can interpret and imagine them - but I’ve been known to throw in the odd OC, or focus on a character who only got a brief cameo appearance, or write about someone who only appears in beta canon, or who only rates a mention on screen.

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Oh, wow. I’m not sure. I guess the thing I value most about my own writing is my willingness to try different styles, characters, pairings and so on. The thing I strive for most is characterisation that feels true, and I really love it when I get comments on that. Exploring a character in a way that rings true with a reader is the best thing ever.

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Overly long sentences and adverb abuse, haha. No, truthfully, there comes a point in most of my fics, particularly the longer ones, when I really just want to scrap it because in my heart I know it’s dreadful. Usually that passes once I slog through the ‘I don’t wanna’ stage because I’m a bloody-minded bitch, but sometimes fics do get left in the dust half-written. Honestly, though, they’re the ones that probably should stay there.

Fanfiction Questions

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

This is hilarious because I was just talking on discord about my problematic ‘to read’ pile. My unread AO3 subscription emails currently number 29 and my phone browser has 71 tabs open. So here are 5 random picks from that list of exactly 100 fics I should be reading:

Sex on the Beach (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by @traccigaryn​

The Ruby Ring (T, Janeway/Chakotay, Janeway/Tighe) by @trinfinity2001​

Earth is But an Idea (T, Janeway/Chakotay, Carter/O’Neill) by @caladeniablue​

Home (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by Cassatt

Wise Up (E, Janeway/Chakotay) by KimJ

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Only five? Shit. Okay. In no particular order, these are five of the writers I keep coming back to:

quantumsilver (also here)

northernexposure

LittleObsessions

Helen8462

Cheshire

But there are so many others. My chosen fandom is chock full of amazing talent.

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

All of the authors above for various reasons, but also august because her writing is so spare and delicate and devastating, and runawaymetaphor because she writes the most delicious Janeway/Paris, and @seperis​ because I read In the Space of Seven Days literally 20 years ago and I still haven’t recovered, and I could be here all night raving on this topic but there are still many questions to get through.

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

Janeway x Paris. I’m so happy there’s been a little bit of a resurgence in J/P fics lately. Thanks, @curator-on-ao3​, you’re doing the lord’s work.

I’ll also take Janeway x Johnson content any day of the week.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

What the hell? I can’t pick just one! Ugh!

... but okay, here’s the first one that came to mind when I tried to think about this: if you came this way by tree. I’m not sure I’d call it my favourite, but it’s one I revisit often. Ugh, there are so many other fics I’m thinking of now that I really want to list.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Oh, that’s hard. I should probably pick an angsty smutty J/C because that’s a fair proportion of what I write and it’s good to let a new reader know what they can expect. But honestly, I think the best fic I’ve written is The Uncharted Sea. (It’s safe for work. Maybe not for makeup.)

47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

The Archive, of course. Where else can I find ad-free hosting on a stunningly user-friendly interface with absolutely no moralising content restrictions and the world’s best tagging system? That Hugo award is well deserved.

Tumblr is good for headcanons and meta and gifsets and a few other formats that I’m less likely to post on AO3 because I’d feel like I was pissing off people who subscribe to me by giving them some random garbage.

I also have my own website, but I’m not really sure why. Sometimes I post fic there that doesn’t make it to tumblr or AO3.

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

I try to. Honestly I do. I love it when I get reviews, so I figure paying it forward is the least I can do. I’m less scrupulous about leaving comments when I’m busy or reading on my phone.

49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

I mean, I love it when people reblog, but I certainly don’t expect it. @arcadia1995​ is amazing for reblogging stuff *blows kisses*

Nobody owes fanfic writers shit, but I feel like there’s a tacit agreement that if you like what you just read for free and you’re on a platform that makes it easy to do so, you leave a review or at least a kudos, because I’m not gonna lie, posting a fic you’ve worked super hard on and seeing it get very few kudos or comments is a bit deflating. I’m sure a lot of us have been there.

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

During Voyager’s original run I was trawling the internet for Endgame spoilers (I don’t know why; I usually love surprises) and I guess I googled (or whatever the 2001 equivalent of googling was) something like “how does voyager get home” and somehow I stumbled across Revisionist History. At first I had no idea what I was reading - was this a lost story pitch that somehow got leaked? A professional novella commissioned by the showrunners?

Then I started following links and discovered yahoo groups and webrings and Trekiverse and fanfiction.net and all sorts of incredible things I’d never guessed at, including the now defunct ‘archipelago of angst’, a collection of Voyager writers who focused mainly on a darker Janeway than most of the other fic writers I was encountering, and I was hooked. So I wrote a few of my own pieces, and then I lost interest for 15 years. I’m still not sure how I got dragged back in.

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Honestly, in what other way can I indulge my obsessions, hone my skills and talk about it endlessly with like-minded people? Where else can I instantly find a plethora of fiction about the exact topic I feel like reading about on my mobile device and for free? Fanfiction is fucking amazing and I’m so glad it exists in my life.

[nordic-language-love]

hi! i tried to look for an faq to see if you've answered this question before, bcuz im sure im not the first one to ask, but i'm curious as to how you got to the level you are in norwegian? i've been studying it for years and just found that im only A1 in listening, and A2 in everything else. feeling pretty gutted and frustrated, and I remembered seeing in your bio that you're like solid B1. So, yea any tips that have got u where u r would be super helpful! takk :)

Oh I understand that frustration - the first time I took a Norwegian proficiency test I was certain I was at least A2, maybe even verging on B1… came back as A1 for everything. My poor ego took quite a battering that day.

(This got kinda long and I’m really sorry about that :| hope it’s all helpful! Gonna put it under a ‘read more’ so it doesn’t clog up people’s dashes)

I think the most important thing when pushing myself from A2 to B1 was to try and use or expose myself to the language as much as possible. My phone is in Norwegian. I always had a Norwegian CD in my car. I’d listen to audiobooks, podcasts or the radio while I’m doing menial tasks (and when I say ‘listen to’ I mean I’d desperately try and pick out words here and there, never mind whole phrases). I’d try to read at least the headlines on NRK every day, even if I never got as far as reading any articles (sometimes I’d just read the first paragraph of one). I’d talk to my cats in bad, broken Norwegian. I’d sing in the shower. I’d watch a grammar explanation on youtube (Norsklærer Karense is my favourite). I’d write snippets of my thoughts or a bit about my day, even if I ended up just deleting it. Basically, even if I wasn’t sitting down to study properly, I was still doing something - that way I got used to sentence structure and prepositions and other grammar, and the most common vocab got cemented in my head because I was exposed to it so much. I also make sure to ask for clarification when I’m unsure, and when I do post things in Norwegian I always try to use at least one word or sentence structure I’m unsure of and ask for feedback, because if I never push myself and get that feedback I’ll never be able to write in a natural way.

Some things you can do specifically to improve your listening:

1. Listen to Norwegian songs with the lyrics in front of you. This will especially help with learning to recognise words even when they’re spoken in dialect, as a lot of Norwegian sing in their dialect too. When I do this as a learning exercise I usually listen to the song once without lyrics to see what I can pick out, then with the lyrics, then I’ll translate the lyrics (always try to translate them yourself first, then double-check with online translations), listen again a few times with the lyrics in front of me and then I’ll try without the lyrics to see what I recognise and what I’m still missing. Here’s a spotify playlist if you’re stuck for songs!

2. If you use Duolingo - close your eyes or look away from the screen while the sentence is being read and try to understand what’s being said as best you can. Then look at the sentence and replay the audio while reading it. Again, this helps you to match the sounds to the words so you’ll understand better in future.

3. Take advantage of youtube teachers - Torill Høiby offers grammar explanations with text onscreen and Norskkurset by Anne-Beate Stenstøen can be viewed with subtitles. Norsklærer Karense speaks very slowly and clearly, and she often uses written aids. Again, these will help with matching the sounds of the words to their written equivalent.

4. Have the radio, podcasts or audiobooks on in the background while you’re studying or doing housework. This will help you get used to the natural rhythm of the language, even if you don’t pay a lot of attention and can’t understand much. Radio can be found on the NRK website or the app and audiobooks can be found on youtube (just type the Norwegian title + lydbok into the search bar).

5. Watch Norwegian TV shows on NRK with subtitles. Again, you may not understand everything, but you’ll expose yourself to different dialects and you’ll start to pick out more common words (if an unfamiliar word or a phrase that doesn’t quite make sense keeps popping up, look it up then go back and rewatch things again and see if it helps give context to other words).

I also made a post of Norwegian Listening That Doesn’t Feel Impossible - check it out!

@kjaerekrake made a masterpost of Norwegian youtube which you should check out too :)

For your other skills:

A decent textbook is a good investment if you’re looking to improve your level. The Mystery Of Nils is great, and I really like Norwegian Tutor as well (Mystery Of Nils has audio files available online as well as awesome grammar explanations and short vocab lists too; Norwegian Tutor is more grammar-based and comes with a lot of exercises to help push you to the next level. Plus you’ll learn lots of new and more difficult vocab, which is important when you’re looking to reach intermediate level).

Reading articles about things you’re interested in is a good idea too. NRK and Aftenposten are good news sites - try browsing articles related to your interests (I love cooking, so I spent an obscene amount of time reading recipes). Wikipedia’s a good shout too - maybe look up your favourite sport or your favourite animal or a subject you know a lot about.

Write a journal - you don’t have to share it with anyone, but I’ve found keeping a journal reinforces vocab I’ve learnt and has improved my confidence with using the language. You can also look back and spot your own mistakes as you get more advanced, which is kinda cringey because omg did I really write that but also awesome because you realise you’ve improved.

I hope that helps! Learning a language is really difficult, and Norwegian listening in particular is very tricky because of all the different dialects and the fact Norwegians tend not to pronounce half the letters in any given word (I’ve had nowhere near as much trouble with Spanish listening!) But you will pick it up - even if it takes you a bit longer than some people, you’re more than capable. Just don’t give up

[stuckwith-harry]

hey you, i only followed you recently and I really like your hinny fanfics and your poetry. Would you mind telling me about your process when you write? I really wanna learn how to write properly and you seem to take your craft so seriously. How do you built a story, how often do you edit, how much time do you spent on your work, what do you try to go for,...? Thanks xxx

Anon, this is the coolest ask I’ve EVER received, and I’m hanging it on my wall next to all the colour-coded flashcards with poems on them. This is going to be LONG, and by no means exhaustive - I’m gonna jump around and ramble a bit and if there’s anything specific you wanna hear more about, please ask! I fucking love talking about writing!

I’m gonna put most of this under a cut, but before we dive in: yes, I tAkE mY wRiTiNg sErIoUsLy in the sense that I’d like to publish some original bodies of work in my life and to have physical copies of them exist on a bookshelf that’s not my own. I don’t need it to pay the bills, but if you googled my full name I’d like for, like, a poetry collection to show up and not, I don’t know, the two poems I got published in a regional newspaper when I was eight.

(And please let the record show that they’re fine poems for a primary schooler. The cringe years came way after that, kids.)

So, even having some ambitions in the industry, the reality is that I’m a 19-year-old kid with a keyboard and a dodgy internet connection who discovered fanfiction when she was twelve and got hooked for life. We’re going to retire the idea of “writing properly” for now, because writing is supposed to be fun and I haven’t actually gotten accepted into that Creative Writing Bachelor’s degree I so desperately want to do. YET. Don’t let the fancy writing blog (@jessicagluch) fool you into thinking I know what the heck I’m doing. But, okay, with that out of the way, let’s get into what I’m personally doing right now, yeah?

Fanfiction

You asked about process, and the truth is, I don’t … really have one. For the Muggle/FWB AU called “Let Me love” I just published, I actually wrote a pretty detailed outline that I then filled in, which was fun, but it’s not a habit exactly. I’d written a lot of assorted scenes and pieces of dialogue for that one, too, so I had a lot of material and just had to put all the scraps and pieces in order and stitch it all together. After the brainstorming, word-vomity part of writing Let Me love, my #1 task was figuring out where everything went, and making sure it’s all there.

As soon as I’d written a full first draft, no gaps, and the anatomy of the whole thing had somewhat clicked into place, I moved away from it for a while. Wrote something else. Came back maybe a week or two later, polished up the prose a bit very late at night.

Figure out when your creative hours are, if you can pinpoint it at all. Mine are precisely “I was supposed to be asleep two hours ago and I’ve got an important thing tomorrow” o’ clock. Sigh.

Just - leave it alone for a bit, come back with fresh eyes. I love writing Let Me love - I’m working on part 2 right now - but after you’ve fucked around with the same sentence fifty times, you get sick of it. And I did. At some point you have to decide to put down the pen and let it be.

Especially because fanfiction isn’t something you’re writing for a publisher - hopefully, you’re writing it mostly for you - no one is holding a gun to your head to get rid of every last adverb or stuff like that. I can do what I want, MOM. I am allowed to make the thing I’m writing as tropey and campy as I want and hold up a big old middle finger to the rules, if that’s what I want to do.

Fanfiction, to me, is this grand, batshit writing playground. That’s why I fell for it in the first place - it’s inherently self-indulgent and hedonistic and that you can write everything EXACTLY as you please is the primary purpose it serves as a genre. So go wild.

(Process-wise, the one thing I do very consistently is making moodboards and playlists. I like having some inspiration material to swim around in, which helps me figure out what the story looks and feels and sounds like in my head. 

Every fic has a soundtrack. SOUNDTRACKS ARE IMPORTANT, PEOPLE.

Like, Let Me love is all coloured lights and night-time London and texts left on read. It’s neon signs and wearing somebody else’s t-shirt, messy bedsheets and hangover breakfasts and quarter-life crises.

This is the Pinterest board.)

What I pay most attention to is the stuff that gives the text depth beyond the surface. I look for metaphors - and I personally prefer the ones that carry through the whole thing, ideas we explore throughout the story and revisit at the end. I look for themes that hold a story together beyond the plot. I look for subtext and imagery and I want symbolism, goddamnit. 

(That’s the poet kicking in.)

And of course, I’m a product of my generation, so I love referencing other bodies of work and subverting tropes and stuff like that. Hey kids, intertextuality is fun!

(Like, do you see what I did there? See how the phrase “hey kids x is fun” in itself is a reference to something? See??? I’m a fucking genius.)

I think we need some examples. Allow me to toot my own horn for a minute.

In the Halloween 2018 oneshot I wrote, which is about Harry grappling with the anniversary of his parents’ death when he’s a little older, he visits the graveyard with Ginny and Lily Luna. Ginny comments that “it’s freezing”, to which Harry responds with the titular, “you’re warm”. And yes, it’s October, it’s probably cold. They’re keeping each other warm. And yes, it’s maybe about comfort in harsh situations in general, a more metaphorical warmth, if you will. I get it. 

But when you remember this exchange is taking place on a graveyard, you might start to wonder about warm, living bodies as opposed to cold, deceased ones. And then you think about how this whole story is about the living remembering - in a sense, living with - the dead. And how it’s about death as a part of Harry’s life. And you can probably guess by now that all my literature teachers fucking adored me.

(But he’s also choosing a side here, maybe. But I’m merely the author, you don’t have to listen to me at all. My words beyond the words don’t mean shit unless you decide they do and even then you’re going to find yourself knees-deep in a debate around authorial intent in record-time. In the age of “Nagini was a cursed human woman all along”, I’m not sure I want that.)

I also reference other pieces of work a lot. Often poems, and even more frequently, songs. The songs in Let Me love are VERY IMPORTANT and I can’t show you the full playlist right now because SPOILERS. But the chapters are split into sub-sections via song lyrics. Those are part of the playlist. There’s also a lot of referencing songs in general because Harry is a big music fan in this one, but that’s just indulgence on my part. If I want to make a 21st century Harry a Mitski stan, then I will. And I did!

(AND Let Me love has a Friends reference. For funsies, but also, for much more than funsies.)

“I love you / please do not use it” was inspired by a poem by Savannah Brown called “organs”. (It’s linked in the author’s notes at the beginning.)

“It’s two sugars, right?” borrows and/or references a ton of lines and phrases from T. S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men. Most noticeably:

Sublety isn’t my middle name, exactly. (The forget-me-not-blue sky in The Bride On The Train, anyone?)

In short: I like when my fanfictions are worth rereading. I like when you can come out the second read having found a little more than you did the first. I like when you can wander around a little, and, like a treasure hunter, make some strange new discoveries.

Lastly: of course, writing from your own experience helps. Spy on your own life. Collect all the ways in makes you feel, like a thief, write it down, memorise it, put it in the story. Reuse! Recycle! ✊🏻

I fortunately don’t relate to Harry’s childhood trauma, but the feeling at the beginning of “We’ll figure it out” - which is a story set shortly after him and Ginny find out she’s pregnant and he’s struggling to connect with everybody else’s simple bliss, because he’s terrified, and he’s terrified of admitting he’s terrified - that was real. That “wait a minute, this moment is amazing. I’m supposed to be the happiest person on the planet right now. Why am I not feeling it? What is this emptiness? Am I not happy right now? Why am I having doubts? I’m not supposed to have any doubts! What the fuck is wrong with me?”, that was lifted from a specific experience.

Side note, I’m really proud of that one.

Okay, poetry! 

Where there is even less rules and more fucking around ensues!

I read and promptly lost a quote recently about how explaining a song sort of defeats the purpose. (I’ll link it here if I ever find it again.) In some ways, poems and songs work really similarly, and I think it applies here as well: if you could really explain the whole poem in one sentence, or a few sentences, if you could accurately and concisely summarise exactly how it feels, then you wouldn’t really need the poem. My favourite poems (or songs) tend to be the ones that outline a really specific emotion via a few powerful images, but I couldn’t precisely tell you what the emotion is. Like, I know exactly what this thing is saying, I know this exact feeling, I GET-GET it, but don’t ask me to explain the thing, just READ the THING, and you’ll KNOW.

Mitski does this really well. Like, I couldn’t explain to you what Last Words Of A Shooting Star makes me feel, but it does. I can tell you that “I am relieved that I left my room tidy, they’ll think of me kindly when they come for my things” cuts through me like a hot blade but I can’t pinpoint exactly why and I don’t want to. All I know is she Gets It, and that I want her writing chops, goddamnit.

Or, like, look at Laura Gilpin’s Two-Headed Calf. Yeah, I’ve read that poem a hundred times and thought a lot about all the themes it’s presenting me with. But I have zero desire to explain those themes to you, because I’d kind of be robbing it of its magic. I don’t want to tell you what it’s about. I want you to read it and I want to simply sit with the knowledge that we know, we Get It, that “twice as many stars as usual” kicked you in the shins, emotionally speaking, as much as it did me.

Few words, max impact, is key.

In Mary Oliver’s words, we want something inexplicable made plain, not unlike a suddenly harmonic passage in an otherwise difficult and sometimes dissonantsymphony - even if it is only for the moment of hearing it.

I’m realising right now that leading with these shining examples and then following them up with my own thing is nerve-wracking. But I like to think that I accomplished something like that with a little poem I wrote called Basements.

It’s is based on the prompt “back to nature” and follows that, uhm, somewhat loosely, a little subverted. I think it’s about impermanence and nostalgia and the fact that the places we lived in continue to exist even when our lives in them don’t anymore. It’s about that and a lot of other things. Maybe. The truth is, I don’t want to explain it to you: I just want you to read it, and then I hope that it made you feel something, and I’m going to trust that you Get It. Maybe you don’t get the same things I did, but that’s great. I’d love nothing more.

Before it was all those things, it was a poem about my life. The neighbourhood with the yellow house across the graveyard that I spent nine mostly happy years in. (The house, not the graveyard.) Every single thing in there is true: my sister really bust her lip and we both cried; wild lilac really grew there; we did spend most of our summers catching tadpoles, and yes, that neighbourhood was a construction site from the first day we lived there to the very last.

And I really sat in the driver’s seat of the family car about a year ago and watched it from afar. I didn’t come up with that - it’s my life. I only went on a scavenger hunt through my own memories, through the places and records and mementos of my life, and arranged a few specific anecdotes in a way that would give them meaning.

It’s kind of what I’m proudest of when it comes to my poetry - that I get to just live my life and see the metaphor and the meaning and symbolism as I’m experiencing it. I sat in the car and I thought, huh, that’s definitely making me Feel A Thing right now, that I’m sitting in the driver’s seat looking at this place I haven’t really been to in years, my childhood home, where I don’t live anymore. That I drove here myself.

I think that, when done right, specific makes universal. If you arrange a kaleidoscope of memories in just the right way, what it’s making you feel will speak for itself, and you won’t have to explain it. Most people who’ve read “basements” probably didn’t spend countless summers playing in literal holes, originally dug out for basements that were never built because no one wanted to move there. Holes that then grew full of weeds and wild lilac and felt like miniature jungles right outside our parents’ houses. It was perfect, it was specifically mine, but the feeling behind it is universal, I think.

Like, that’s how half of Taylor Swift’s RED works. That’s how most good Taylor Swift songs work. That’s why the bridge in Out of the Woods is so good and why I love New Year’s Day so much and it’s EXACTLY why All Too Well is considered her best song by so many people. Because she zoomed in on the details of her life and let the world take a look. Because “we dance around the kitchen in the refrigerator light” is a line in that song. THAT’s why it MAKES YOU FEEL THE THING.

Back to poems? This:

So we tell them all about the dayWe planned revolutions on my bedroom floor, or how we onceSpent an entire Monday lunch break making life plans over ice creamAnd most of our parties talking politics over beerWe both paid for ourselves.About the days you drive me to school. In your carI am the girl, front-seat passenger of our lives,Who does not need reach for the steering wheel –The road is alright. 

isn’t fiction. These are my memories, carefully selected and re-arranged for Politics at Parties Boy.

I didn’t make up these film stills of a non-romantic relationship that never became anything other than non-romantic because neither party ever made a move. What I did is look at my own life like it’s a piece of fiction. If these memories were a movie, you could pluck them apart and say, see, the screenwriters put this scene here to communicate that.

The truth is, I am the screenwriter and the protagonist and the actress and the director and the camerawoman. I looked at a teenage girl who refused to let her friend buy her a beer at a school party and decided “huh, I guess that tells us everything we need to know” because I was that girl. 

And I did pay for the beer, so we’d never move into “let me buy you a drink” territory. He was already driving me to school.

That’s my best lesson on poetry, really. I look at my life like it’s a piece of fiction and then I make it one. I put personal memories in poems meant to be read by other people, I overinterpret everything that happens to me, am literally constantly thinking about how to work every knock-back and struggle into my narrative arc and look for symbolism in anything from the date, the weather, and the colour of my front door. I watch myself in third person all the time and thus become my own muse. I’m the painter and the painting.

It’s a somewhat narcissistic and masturbatory approach to poetry, but as far as writing about your own life goes, it’s what works for me.

As far as writing about not yourself goes - well, I’m a narcissist and I’m bad at that, but I wrote a poem about the Mars rover Opportunity that shut down this February called Spirit shuts down and Opportunity feels no tremble, no ache. For stuff like that, if you don’t happen to be Struck TM by a lightning bolt of inspiration (which is the exception, not the rule), a good old-fashioned mind-map helps. I just let my robot grief go wild on the page for a bit and what I ended up writing about was death and the human condition and being a teenage girl, maybe.

I really enjoy taking two concepts/ideas and juxtaposing them, watching a theme unfold in the overlap. Like, it’s a poem about a robot AND about being a teenage girl and in between those two lies a poem about the futile attempts to teach a robot human emotion. Maybe.

It’s a poem about how my mum always cries at the airport and about me making my own happiness my priority and it kind of ends up being about my intense guilt of making my parents watch me change and grow and leave.

It’s about the night I wandered through a quiet street in Central London at 1 a.m. and realised that the city of my dreams sleeps like any other place, that people wake up early and make coffee and go to work and have bad days here. That it’s not all dream. It’s some people’s lives. But it’s also about watching another person sleep - the way someone’s face changes when they do.

In the middle lay a poem about finding a friend in a lover. Not the daydream, but my life.

Lastly, I can’t talk about my own poetry without talking about my darling poem 5 disasters. It’s my pride and joy. Like, you could kill me write now and I’d be like, it’s okay, I’ve written the poem I want to be remembered for and it’s this one. I wrote it in less than a day and every time I think about the fact that I wrote

I cravedsomething more violent than death, somethingviolent enough to bea beginningand for my life to be thousands of themI wantednothingto remainexcept the girl that sentthe disastersand survived -may this wasteland bewhere I find her.

… I lose my shit a little bit.

(5 disasters was a rarity in how quickly I wrote it. It often takes me weeks. Sometimes months. There’s poems I’ve been meaning to write for years now and I still haven’t found the words. Take your time.)

5 disasters is a lot of things, but within the context of the poetry collection it’s hopefully going to exist in one day, it serves as almost an instruction manual for metaphors: here, the floods and rainfalls are always change and the forest fires are always my highschool demons and my friends and how they look the same. The colour yellow is always referencing the same love. Basically, I like pinpointing my symbolisms and then crafting a poem around them. You end up creating something like an in-poem universe that you get to navigate like a fantasy novel. Like you’re telling a story about a natural disaster, but it’s all a metaphor, Hazel Grace.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. As I do.

I hope this serves as a starting point of sorts, anon. Most importantly, have fun, don’t concern yourself with all the rules too much. Experiment, be bold, read lots.

Again, if you’ve got any questions, I’d be thrilled to help. Thanks for the opportunity to toot my own horn to this outrageous degree, it’s been a blast.

[squishy-rocks]

English love affair

HEYO!

So- these are some of my favourite OC's

The white she-cat is Lillypetal of Creekclan, a very sophisticated lady who comes off proper, but in reality is a big klutz and just wants to have fun and let loose, she is a tom boy is anything but hides it

The tom is Honeylake of Mapleclan, a tom with one blue and one eye the colour of honey, he is quite popular and good in social situations, if not hyper and always looking for a conversation, though secretly feels bad for a number of things

The two met one night at a gathering. Honeylake was looking for attention out of boredom and felt someone watching him. That's when he saw her. The most beautiful she-cat he had ever seen. The two felt a connection and the she-cat walked over to him, she seemed so proper, well put together. As they got to talking they didn't want to stop talking when the leaders hushed every cat, so they snuck off to some bushes to talk more. They agreed to meet at the border the next night at the tree that was half in Creekclan and half in Mapleclan. And that is exactly what they done.

It started off every half moon. Then every moon. Then at least twice a moon. They were in love, and nothing would stop that. They supported and were there for each other, Honeylake would tell how he felt bad for his brother, Ivyeye, and how he hated that their scum of a father neglected him because Honeylake had funky eyes, which made Ivyeye cold and mean, and Lillypetal would talk about how mean a cat in her clan was to her, but no one ever noticed, or at the least, helped her. The cat? Blizzardfall, a large, muscular grey and white tom, and Lillypetals mate back home. She didn't love him, all he did was call her stupid, useless, all they would do was argue and fight. Honeylake was her safety, the one she genuinely loved.

One day when they met lillypetal was holding a lilly in her jaws and looked upset. He rushed over to her and comforted her as she broke down crying. After getting her to a calm enough state to talk she revealed she was pregnant, and knew they were all his, and she thought, so them and their kits wouldn't be given a punishment, it'd be better to stop meeting. Honeylake was took aback, but agreed, knowing it was the safe option, before she left Lillypetal put the lilly in Honeylakes fur, and told him to remember her. He watched as she padded back to her clan, despair filling him as he also walked home.

Over the moons Lillypetal was being bombarded by a happy, but still mean, Blizzardfall. When he wasn't there her sister was, Snowwillow. She was a beautiful grey and white spotted she-cat. One night, when they were alone in the nursery just chilling Lillypetal told her sister the truth. They weren't Bilzzardfalls kits at all, but Honeylakes. Her sister was shocked but was supportive after hearing how kind Honeylake was, and she did seem happier when they were meeting. She promised to keep it secret and to be supportive.

When the kits were born there was three, a grey tom they named Rainkit, a small she-cat that looked just like her sister she named Snowkit in honourer of her sister, and another she cat who looked just like Honeyeyes but lighter called stormkit.

As they grew it was evident Blizzardfall had no idea how taking care of kittens worked. He would questions her methods, if she really still needed to give them milk, to which Snowwillow would hiss until he left

. When the kittens opened their eyes Lillypetal and Snowwillow were horrified, Stormkit had her fathers eyes, only she had her mothers and and a yellow one. When Blizzardfall saw he was confused, but Snowwillow, having been good friends with the medicine cat said it was a rare thing where the kit has just the right amount of each parents DNA to have their entire person half and half, obviously non scenically quick thinking, but every cat bought it.

As they grew Stormkit became Stormwinds, a very battle ready, smart she-cat. Snowkit grew into Snowberry, a very curious, lost in her own world kinda cat, and Rainkit became Raindrop, a lazy but funny tom with a big heart.

As the kits grew though Stormwinds never felt right, and refused to take Blizzardfall as her father, not only was he an awful cat, but it made no sense, none of "his" kits had his build, none of them his attitude, stance, ANYTHING! Though, her siblings brushed her off. One gathering the three siblings were there with their aunt, Snowwillow, while their mother was at camp cleaning up. While walking Stormwinds wondered off and caught a toms eyes, the same eyes as her, odd, one cold one warm, and his pelt patterns were undeniably hers. He looked panicked but... relived? Snowberry and Raindrop found her and also caught a quick glance at the tom before Snowwillow rushed over and ushered them away. As they were being pushed away Stormwinds heard a tom yell "Hey, Honeylake! Stop staring at Snowwillow and get over here!"

When the gathering was over the three ran home and went to their "bed." When they were positive every cat was asleep they snuck out to talk about it. Stormwinds KNEW Blizzardfall wasn't their father, there was no doubt that Honeylake dude was it, the way Snowwillow reacted, the way he looked at them, not to mention just like Stormwinds. They agreed they'd tell their mother tomorrow at sunset. The next day the three cats found Lillypetal and her sister talking, the two happily welcomed them over, but tensed when they saw their serious looks. Stormwind took the lead, and said the phrase the sisters never wanted to hear. "We know Honeylake is our father." Snowwillow was about to tell them not to be so silly, before Lillypetal stopped her and confirmed that they were right. Lillypetal anxiously waited to be disowned and disgraced. Instead she felt three warm, purring pelts against hers. Her kits assured her they loved her and didn't blame her, that Blizzardfall was an awful cat anyways and they were happy not to be related to him. The five cats spent a good while crying and talking, Lillypetal explaining everything, down to their names, her and Honeylakes favourite kinds of weather. But, they agreed they had to tell Blizzardfall.

The next day they got Lillypetal and Blizzardfall alone, with her kits hiding in case something bad happens, which did. When Lillypetal broke the news Blizzardfall pounced and cut her stomach in an attempt to kill her, Stormwinds attacked him back, getting him away from her mother, while the other two tended to their mother. When they got back to camp Blizzardfall was banned, and the leader, being caring, didn't punish Lillypetal, for it was in the past. At the next gathering they got Honeylake alone and told him everything, he was worried sick about Lillypetal, which surprised the kits, as even after all this time, he still cared and loved her. But, most of all, Honeylake was thankful the kits loved and accepted him as their father.

A few moons after when Lillypetal was healed Honeylake ran to her, which caught the attention of every cat, especially when the two snuggled into each other purring. The leader orded to know why they were acting so close, and the couple decided to tell the truth. The clearing filled with shock and realisation. Fear filled the mates and siblings, but the cats came to an agreement, they stopped seeing eachother, and Blizzardfall was controlling. They decided their punishment was only being allowed to talk at gatherings, which to them, was much better than staring and looking at eachother

After that life went normally, the kits grew and became stronger and Lillypetal and Honeylake kept to their punishment, being excited to see each other without needing to hide their feelings

So yea

that's them, and I love them

See y'all!

If you need anything cleared up- just ask

SPEEDPAINT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9jTbg…

Song the lyrics are in the video!

[as-many-times-as-it-takes]

Hey! I hope I'm not being a bother (I'm about to be a big damn bother) but... I just saw your inspiring Sheith phrases post and all the quotes + your little bit of meta about it made me all misty... but here's the thing. I'm VERY VERY new to the fandom... and to Sheith... and I have NO IDEA what half of those quotes are from or are referring to. Can you help me out with some of them??? No-one I know ships Sheith so I don't know who else to ask!

Hi there Anon! Thanks for the ask!

And first of all to get this out of the way, you are not a bother. When you ask someone to talk about something they are very passionate about, it’s like getting told Christmas just came early. I’ve really wanted to be a more solid part of this fandom, but my shyness sometimes gets the better of me. So every question/ask, etc frickin’ lights up my day okay? Okay!

So I’ll break down the quotes the best I can for ya! Some of them are a little older and it might be a bit difficult to pull up the information for that. If anyone out there knows anything I’m missing better or has a link, etc, please feel free to share that with this post!

Also, since you enjoyed the meta, you might also like my post The Boy who Never Gave Up. This really outlines a lot of the background information shown in the series for Keith and Shiro that give rise to a lot of these quotes!

Alrighty, here we go!

SHEITH QUOTE MASTER POST

This will be a VERY LONG POST with LOTS OF PICTURES, LINKS AND QUOTES so I will be putting in a cut here to help!

It’s good to have you back / It’s good to be back

This quote comes from S01:E01 - The Rise of Voltron. It’s the first moment in which Keith and Shiro share dialogue together. Especially based on everything leading up to it, (Check out my post here for more on that), the tone here is very gentle. There is almost a hushed quiet to it, like you’re looking in on a private moment not meant for your eyes. There was something very sweet about it that just stuck around.

It’s killing me when you are away

So this is a really interesting one that I don’t believe was every officially confirmed by the team behind the show (someone correct me if I’m wrong here!) but a bunch of very dedicated fans picked this one apart into something that stuck with us ‘till the end.

Again in  S01:E01 - The Rise of Voltron, we find this nearly directly after the quote above. When Keith takes Shiro and the other Paladins inside his Cabin, he shows them a bunch of notes, pictures, and assortments of other knowledge he has collected over his years alone, which led to him finding the Blue Lion’s location. However, while he is explaining his notes to everyone, there are glimpses of little sticky notes on his board. Fans looked these over to see if there was anything one these notes that was legible and this led to a really awesome post that you can view here.

The main conclusion was based on the lyrics from “Sugar” by Maroon 5, in which the words are

“I just wanna be deep in your loveAnd it’s killing me when you’re awayOoh, baby “

And the theory is that the note says“Just wanna be ‘something’ and it’s killing me when you’re away”

The something part implying that either A) Keith forgot the lines, B) The lines are a bit NSFW and so were changed slightly, C) Little column A & B? Keith was a little embarrassed and shortened it a bit.

This is all further supported when we’ve seen time and time again how much Keith adores Shiro and when we found out that Keith waited TWO YEARS on hopes and prayers waiting on his friend to come back. That would kill me too…

Shiro loves you baby / #He’s looking at Keith

This amazing piece came straight from Chris Palmer, one of the awesome story artists for Voltron. He posted this image with the words “Shiro loves you baby.” and one of his hashtags was #he’s looking at keith.

You can see the original post here

This, of course, made most of us explode with happiness. Not only was it freaking adorable, it told us that more of the people behind the scenes were quite possibly as invested and/or becoming as invested as many of us were with Sheith (A term which Josh Keaton himself stated he would like to coin for the ship pairing if it hadn’t been claimed already)

Many of the people who work on Voltron have posted something Sheith related. It’s a little hard to pull out specific pieces now as a lot of news and discourse has buried a lot of the original posts, but we’ve been very blessed. We’ve had official fan art, team members favouriting and commenting on fan art and lots of little snippets here and there that hinted that this was very possibly going to be canon.

Just like in The Legend of Korra, Korrasami became a thing later in the show. It was stated (I do not have a specific reference for this, mind you) that while the ship wasn’t originally intended, as the characters grew together with the show, the audience/fandom and with the team creating it, it just blossomed and the characters built a life they never expected. Oh, and many of those same people are working on Voltron~

Ninja mullet finds his true love

Straight from the spunky and lovable voice actor for Pidge, Bex Taylor-Klaus posted this while watching Keith find Shiro for the first time in ages in S01:E01 - The Rise of Voltron. Of course, we were quite excited to see this.

Bonus:

While this one didn’t quite catch on, it’s still pretty freaking precious. Sadly I could not find the original link to these.

Patience Yields Focus

This is a phrase that pops up quite a bit through the series. Each time delivered from Shiro as though this has been advice he’s given to Keith over and over, probably beginning from back when he worked with Keith in the Garrison. While it’s a lovely and wise quote all on it’s own, it’s most notable because of:

This scene. In S02:E1: Across the Universe, Keith brings this up as he is searching for Shiro to come to his friend’s aid. When he hears Keith use this line, Shiro’s asks “That really stayed with you didn’t it?” His tone and expression implying that this meant quite a lot to him. THIS then led immediately to our next awesome quote:

If it wasn’t for you, my life would’ve been a lot different

Immediately following Shiro’s amused surprise that Keith kept his wisdom with him for so long, Keith replies with this. From what we know, Shiro has been Keith’s mentor, best friend, sole supporter, and guiding light for as long as he’s known him. Even if it had never been meant to be romantic, the sheer warmth in Keith’s tone reveals a deep affection for just how important in his life Shiro has been to him.

This one’s for you, Shiro

Forced to take the reigns of the Black Lion to keep Team Voltron going, Keith utters this vow before he charges in. Giving the touching moments leading to him taking up of mantle of the Head of Voltron, the fact that everything he does in what he rightfully believes is Shiro’s place, he does for Shiro is heartbreakingly touching. No matter what, Shiro is never far from Keith’s thoughts and he guides his actions from his heart.

Shiro is the one person who never gave up on me. I won’t give up on him.

Facing the loss of his best friend yet again, Keith dedicates himself to finding Shiro who had been lost to the vastness of space at the end of the epic showdown with the villain Zarkon from S02:E13- Blackout and said this line in S03:E01 - Changing of the Guard. Heartbroken, Keith sees the other Paladins of Voltron working their hardest to move on even without Shiro at their fore, and in his pain he assumes they’ve forgotten him. When Princess Allura suggests that it is finally time that they look for a new Black Paladin, Keith staunchly refuses to even consider the idea and lashes out. While we’ve seen many hints at just how important Shiro is to Keith, hearing something so honest and direct was very sobering. As this thankfully worked out in the end, it’s less somber than it was, though no less meaningful.

And, at this moment, your friend desperately wants to see you

In S02:E08- The Blade of Marmora, Keith undergoes a trial as the result of the Galra fighters discovering that Keith himself owns a Galra blade having once belonged to one of their own. The trial is as much physically brutal and exhausting as it is mentally so. Watching over the trial, the leader explains to Shiro that the suit Keith wears will put him through another part of the trial, showing his greatest hopes and fears. With this quote, it was revealed just how deeply Keith adored Shiro and just how much he feared abandonment from him. When the false Shiro hologram turns his back on him, Keith is prepared to give up everything to keep him from leaving, even if that means losing his chance to discover his past. The word ‘desperately’ really struck a chord along with the rest of the episode, showing just how unwavering Keith’s commitment to Shiro was. And when the real Shiro came to Keith’s side, prepared to fight off the entirety of the Blades to see his friend to safety, we knew the feeling was mutual.

How many times are you gonna to have to save me before this is over? / As many times as it takes

S03:E06 - Tailing a Comet -When a wounded, exhausted, confused, and demoralized Shiro is finally brought back after his mysterious disappearance he shares another quietly intimate moment with Keith. Checking up on his friend’s wellbeing, Keith tells him that the rest of the team would love to see them when he is able, the silence that follows feeling heavy with words he won’t add to it. When he finally turns to leave, Shiro somberly asks Keith just how many times he will have to save him before their fight is finally over. After a quiet pause, Keith smiles and answers him. “As man times as it takes.”

This was actually the quote that inspired me to finally work over my shyness and make a blog. I had been silently rooting for Sheith in the background for ages. But this just really tipped me over the edge. Keith and Shiro’s relationship was never loudly proclaimed or thrown around with flowers and parades. It was this quiet constant, that was always present. They had been through so much together and through countless battles, loss and struggles, their unwavering and mutual commitment to each other was honestly humbling. And that made this scene / quote all the more special for it.

Beloved Mentor / Nothing was worth Shiro’s pain /Guiding Light

Actually for this, I’d like to turn to one of the awesome meta writers for our fandom @dent-de-leon (I highly recommend following them if you want to see some quality content. I know I’ve really appreciated their insight and jived with what they say!)

Dent-de-leon has an amazing master post that they made with a TON of the interview and inside quotes we’ve gotten from all of the amazing people behind Voltron. As I feel it would be a disservice to the awesome post and the time that went into hunting all those bits plus the sources down, I’d like to just link you to it HERE!

You made a promise to me once. You told me you’d never give up on me

Ohhhh boy, we got a lot from S06:E05 - The Black Paladins. When Kuron, the clone of Shiro who is essentially Shiro in nearly every aspect is controlled by Haggar in an attempt to rid their presence through mutual destruction, we are treated to some of the most heartwrenching scenes we have seen throughout the entire series.

Forced to fight his beloved friend in what could have been a fight to the death, Keith never once gives up on him.

In an attempt to shake Shiro out of his mind control, Keith reminds him of the promise he made to Keith long ago.

I love you

I don’t think I’d ever seen a love triumphs over evil trope so potently built up and displayed. With an absolutely heartbreaking performance, Steven Yeun had most of us staring dumbfounded at the tv/monitor wondering if we had just hallucinated. I personally have watched this over and over and even after the millionth time it still makes my chest ache. At the very end of his rope and facing destruction at the hands of his most beloved friend in the whole universe, Keith bares his heart and we mourned with him just as much as we celebrated something so beautiful.

I will never give up on you, but more importantly, you can’t give up on yourself

When Keith and Shiro are falling to what appears to be their demise, we see something that most of us has been excitedly imagining for years. It’s been clear how important Shiro has been to Keith all his life, especially at the Garrison and there are so many amazing headcanons, comics, and other gorgeous pieces of art depicting what the fans have dreamed up to their lives before Voltron. All we know is that something powerful and meaningful had to happen to inspire so much loyalty and love from someone like Keith. During this scene we see Shiro offer his vow of his own commitment, but also of how important he finds it for Keith to believe in himself as well. This has been a constant theme between the two since the first episode. And seeing this sent most of us into a whole new wave of tears after the initial shock of “I love you.”

You found me

S06:E06 - All Good Things. With multiple threats ended, the ultimate sacrifice of the Castle of Lions to save the universe and the knowledge that Shiro’s spirit has been in the Black Lion and that we’re left with the fading body of the clone that fought Keith, all things seem to be hanging on a thread. But with the clone essentially being Shiro with the exception of the mind control and Shiro’s spirit still without a body, Allura demonstrates the amazing and mystic power of her Altean heritage and recovers Shiro’s spirit, placing it inside the clones body and finally uniting them body, soul, mind, and memories all together into a single entity. Calling back all the way to Season 3 when Keith vehemently vowed that he would find Shiro, to when he breathlessly whispered “you found him” to the Black Lion when Kuron was fading in his dying breaths, Shiro brings everything back full circle. Cradled in Keith’s arms, Shiro leans into him and softly tells him. “You found me.”

Cue the crying all over again.

You’re Everything to Me

And after this long and wonderful journey, we’ve received yet another beautiful quote from the team. In an interview with the Main Story Editor Josh Hamilton today from the Let’s Voltron official podcast. He quotes:

Q: So a lot of people were asking, he says “you’re my brother.” A lot of people were saying is that literal brother or is that just a you know, brotherly figure?

JH: It’s–a lot of the time the words don’t matter, it’s like the way you say it. You know what I mean? It’s like, he says you’re my brother, you know, and when he does eventually say “I love you,” those words matter. It’s like “you know you’re my brother, you’re everything to me.” You know, that brotherly love. So it’s hard for him. But no, literally? I hope I’m not spoiling anything, but no.

—-

I think that says it all here. What a gift. I know that scene in the Black Paladins meant a lot to many of us. But hearing this just left me absolutely speechless. In the best of ways. Tears of victory!

And with the hint that we will be finding out more about Shiro and Keith’s past in the Garrison along with all of the events leading up to here, you can bet we’re all eagerly awaiting what we’ll see in Season 7.

But man, it’s been so, so worth it. For many of us, these two mean so much more than just a simple story. And that in it of itself is quite the gift.

Thank you Anon for inspiring me to put this together. It was a wonderful way to spend my night

[deadlydreamin]

okay time for me to ramble about how much i love bts and how much those seven boys mean to me (this is actually a whole 2,390 word fucking essay so you can probably ignore this lmao):

for starters i want to talk about their talent. they have worked so hard as trainees and since their 2013 debut, and a lot of people seem to think they’re overrated. they have worked their asses off to get where they are today and they are always setting new records (or the army is for streams and shit) and doing things never done before when it comes to kpop. members like jin, who started off as a bighit actor with no singing/dancing talent - his vocal coach (and anyone who had heard his vocals from 2013 to now) says that instead of improving, that he’s completely transformed after probable years of staying up until 3am practicing. this is also shown with hoseok, who was meant to be a vocalist and main dancer but instead a rapper and main dancer - he worked hard (with the help of yoongi and namjoon) to learn HOW to rap, and again, if you compare cypher pt 1 to cypher pt 4, there’s a massive improvement in his rap. all of the members work so hard and have natural talent and i just- they deserve to be where they are today. 

i also want to mention each of the members and what they’ve taught me.

starting with worldwide handsome kim seokjin, he’s taught me that hard work and perseverance will get you where you want to go in life. like i said, his vocals have completely transformed and he can sing notes higher than the sky [see his crystal snow triple high note, it gives me chills everytime], and his vocals have become so stable now while performing and i am proud of him. in his wings album solo, awake, he also expresses how he feels that he isn’t as talented as his other six members, and i can relate to this - i also feel inadequate compared to nearly everyone else around me. the bridge also makes me cry a little bit because it’s just- holy shit man. he’s also like the mum of bts, despite his love of cracking dad jokes whenever he can. 

min yoongi, my ultimate bias. he is someone i look up to and aspire to be. yoongi is an incredible producer, lyricist, and rapper, and i could go on and on about his skills. he also works incredibly hard making music and his rapping is no joke, especially in cypher pt 2, 3, and his mixtape are brilliant. more than this, he talks about his struggles with anxiety (social) and depression, and especially his mixtape song the last - a lot of his songs on the mixtape have amazing lyrics, and specific instances of something happening that was incredibly personal to him. despite struggling with his issues, he has kept going, and when i ever get down, i think of how he has learned to love himself, and that i am capable of this too. also i think i relate to him most on a lot of levels - he’s the tired grandpa of the group, but can be silly and fun when he’s with hoseok. he has a hard time showing how much he cares for the others and isn’t as touchy as the other members tend to be, but he still does show he cares in subtle ways and i also can relate to this, because i often have no fucking clue as to how i should express my emotions. he looks like someone that could beat the shit out of you but is actually a big ol’ softie on the inside and he constantly says shit that makes me go “wow, same.” going back to his rap again, yoongi can rap fucking fast, but still can put so much energy behind his verses while doing it - he often builds up, he will go off and rap so fucking fast you question whether this man has lungs, and then go back - all the while you can tell he puts his entire being into his rap, if that makes sense. he also has a wide range - he can go from a kind of harsh, fast rap to a slower, smooth one (compare his verse of cypher pt 2 to seesaw - though seesaw does have his great vocals in it too, the change in his voice is remarkable). 

your hope, your angel, j-hope. jung hoseok is an insanely talented dancer and rapper, and like the other members works so hard. his rapping, like i said, has improved over the years and he’s incredible now. his dancing has always been amazing to look at, because unlike jimin, who was also a dancer pre-debut, he did a lot of hip-hop based dance and he can express literally all of his emotions in his movements which i think is incredible. his vocals are also amazing and bighit needs to give him more vocal lines (like in blood, sweat and tears. that shit gets me every time). he is definitely the member who bias wrecks me a lot and i love his sunshine attitude. he’s a ball of joy and an angel (but also his fancam for that no more dream dance break does actually murder me) and his random outbursts and the fact he is also such a meme makes him lovable too. he’s taught me that i should always have a positive attitude to life and that it makes other people feel good too. hoseok has this effect on the other members (i believe it is referred to as ‘mood setter’ or something?), especially yoongi, where the other members may feel down but hoseok just has to be his extra self and they start smiling - like, yoongi will go from being tired and grumpy. place him in a room with hoseok? they’ll be goofs together and it’s the cutest shit (okay this is supposed to only be about hoseok but i do love me some sope content and i’m gonna go on about them here for a little bit longer). yoongi and hoseok are my two ult biases out of the various groups i listen to, because the two together create this chaotic energy and i love it - see the sope me behind the scenes duet bangtan bomb on youtube. those two are so chaotic in that video. 

the kim namjoon himself. he’s the leader, rapper, and also produces/writes songs for bts. he’s also fluent in english due to watching friends, yet again he has an iq of 148 so he can do pretty much anything. namjoon is the glue that holds bts together - he does a good job of it, too, with sorting out solutions to disagreements and comforting the members when they need it most. if seokjin is the mum of bts, namjoon is the dad. namjoon has taught me that it is important we learn to love ourselves. his two mixtapes are different, particularly with the overall sound and tone of each mixtape - rm has a very hip-hop/rap sound, and is quite aggressive, while mono. is calming and very relaxed and reflective. i listen to rm when i’m feeling aggressive, and mono. when i need to relax or calm down (it is one of three things that helps me relax before going to sleep and also good to listen to after i’ve had a panic attack or something). i feel a particular connection with moonchild, from mono. the message namjoon portrays throughout the song is something with a calming sound, but also something that offers some encouragement to me when i need it, especially the chorus: “moonchild, you shine, when moon rise, it’s your time/moonchild, don’t cry, when moon rise, it’s your time” 

park jimin. his high vocals are incredible and his high notes also give me goosebumps. he has a beautiful dance style that is unlike hoseok’s, as it is more contemporary/ballet focused and his movements reflect this. he has gone through hating his looks and becoming anorexic because of this, and i think that he is doing so much better now (i am talking him not eating a full, proper meal for upwards of ten days). he’s still quite self critical, and hates whenever he makes a small mistake, but i think that he puts so much work into making sure his performance is always perfect that he doesn’t always take care of himself, and that’s what i have learned from jimin - take proper care of yourself, and you should never have to hate your appearance because others develop high expectations for you. again, he works so hard to make sure he has a perfect performance every time and i commend him for this, but also he tends to overwork himself a lot and i’d love for him to take a week off at some point where he can just relax a bit more. he definitely deserves it. 

kim taehyung. i think of the whole vocal line, his vocals are my favourite. he has a wide vocal range, going from notes lower than my not achieved grades to notes higher than the sky (stigma and singularity are great examples of this) - i can also actually sing his parts as i have a lower range and when i can sing a few lines with taehyung, i always feel good. like yoongi, tae can change and influence his rapping “voice”, taehyung can do a similar thing - he can be low and smooth with some high notes, and then suddenly he goes raspy and it’s fantastic (again, singularity vs war of hormone). the other three vocalsists can make their voices rough and raspy, but taehyung i think does it especially well, and it suits his incredibly low notes. despite his low voice, he’s actually got the personality and mental age of a child 99% of the time and to see him on and off stage is certainly interesting lmao. i would also like to add that he too is quite the meme (gucci boy) and he looks really good in a bandana/headband and i need more of that content in my daily life. taehyung was also behind the meaning of the army phrase “i purple you”, which means “i love/cherish/support you”, and whenever someone says that to me, i always feel great for the rest of the day. taehyung has taught me that bts do genuinely love us all and that as long as we support them, they will support us, and the shared love between bts and army. 

the golden maknae, jeon jungkook. jungkook’s vocals are great, and in all honesty i do miss and go back to bts’ older music purely for the reason of seeing this young lad as one, a fetus, and two, to hear him rap. he’s good at pretty much anything he tries, having a black belt in taekwondo and various other things, and he’s currently working hard to study and learn english so that namjoon isn’t the only fluent english speaker in the group. honestly i find the concept of namjoon helping jungkook with english wholesome and it brings a smile to my face. despite jungkook being thrown into fame at a young age, he’s stayed humble and a happy person and i think it goes to show that fame won’t always screw someone up if they have the right people around them. jungkook had six older boys who practically raised him from when he became a trainee (which he must have been 12-13 when he became a trainee) and they taught him well. i’ve learned that from jungkook - by surrounding myself with the right people (though he wasn’t willingly technically, i’m grateful he did have the boys there for him and i couldn’t see anyone else in the group), i can remain what is most important in life - staying happy and humble. 

bts has taught me several lessons in life, and i think that a lot of people dismiss them because they’re korean, because they’re overrated, because their music isn’t in english. what they seem to fail to understand is that emotion transcends languages, and that multilingual people do exist who translate lyrics for those who wouldn’t understand the entire song. even then, if you listen to the truth untold without english (or your native language) lyrics, you can still feel the sad vibes of the song. likewise if you listen to something like anpanman - you will feel the more positive energy and hype that the song conveys without the lyrics. a lot of people don’t want to listen to kpop because they might not understand what the songs are saying right away, but if you take your time and find music with messages you find inspiring and that impact you, it shouldn’t always matter what language the song is sung in, as long as you have a translated version that you can read and understand the basic message of the song. a lot of people wonder why bts has become so popular, and not just for their golden visuals, or their talent, but also the message they spread, especially with their love yourself album series - and it’s easy to see why after that. self love is something that many, many people struggle with and once people understand this message, people like bts because of this. people will listen to music that may not be in a language they speak because once they have seen/read the lyrics to the song in question, if the message stays with them, they will remember the message when they listen to the song, and just the association of the song and the message is enough for people to feel comfort from it. i am like this with magic shop - it is a song made specifically for the army, and about how we can take comfort in them when we are in pain/struggling/etc. the thought of this message enough while listening to the song makes me smile (and cry too lmao). 

anyways, i think this is the end of my rambling. goodnight y’all, and if you read this far holy shit, you are a champion.

[marchofthekillerqueens]

Queen Albums Review: Sheer Heart Attack (1974)

I’m really enjoying doing these, i’m so glad I high key nicked this from @moviestorian because its such a nice distraction from assignments! 

Title: I mean the album cover gives me a sheer heart attack so its relatable. On a serious level I do think it’s a nice title, it reflects the mood and sound of the album and they’ve finally progressed from using their own name as a title! 10/10

Cover: I mean they look a bit awkward but still hot im not going to lie. I’ve always found it a bit bizarre that Roger is the only one maintaining eye contact with the camera and I wonder if this was intentional? In any case the album art is great. 9/10

Brighton Rock: I overlooked this song for far too long! I really like that it opens with the tune of I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside, its a nice touch as Queen II ends with the same tune, again maintaining a cyclical nature to their music even throughout their albums. I really like the key changes Freddie uses throughout the song and that guitar solo is something else. 9/10

Killer Queen: Sorry to be predictable but another one of my favourites. I really dont have an awful lot to say about it I just really like it, it has quite a different feel to some of the heavier rock songs from early queen - its just really fun and lighthearted. 10/10

Tenement Funster: And welcome to the regular ‘I love Roger Taylor’ section of the review. Seriously though, this is one of his better efforts - especially when compared with his previous album contribution. Lyrically its not complex but it is strong and I think it really demonstrates Roger as a dedicated and talented musician - rather than just a drummer. 9/10

Flick Of The Wrist: Another bop. Lyrically strong, and i’m a sucker for the chorus. 8/10

Lily Of The Valley: I really like that this song completes the trio which from Tenement Funster completing that little medley,  but otherwise it is just a nice song that I honestly dont listen to all that often. 7/10

Now I’m Here: This really demonstrates Brian’s ability to write. It’s a pretty standard rock song but its pretty well crafted. 8/10

In The Lap Of The Gods: This is the first song on side two of the LP and I ALWAYS sit next to my record player until Roger has finished screaming before I turn it up so my housemates dont complain. His falsetto in this song makes me weak. I also love Freddie’s voice in this one. 8.5/10

Stone Cold Crazy: Slightly more reminiscent of some of the heavier stuff on the previous two albums, which I love. I think Freddie performs really well in this song and its just such a good metal song. 8/10

Dear Friends: This isn't really one I listen to independent of the album, its very lullaby-esc. It’s a sweet song but I just don’t love it like the rest of the album. 6/10

Misfire: Honestly I just find the meaning behind the song hilarious, but if you’re able to put that aside it’s a pretty well written song, it’s pretty low-key for Queen but super effective. 7.5/10

Bring Back That Leroy Brown: Do I know whats going on in this song? No. Do I love it anyway? Absolutely. A 1920′s banger. We Love Leroy Brown. 8/10

She Makes Me (Stormtrooper in Stilettos): As much as I love Brians voice i’m not a massive fan of his elongated phrases, I really think it drags the song, the verses are great, but it just feels like it drags slightly. This and Dear Friends are definitely my least favourite on the album. 6.5/10

In The Lap Of The Gods… Revisited: I wouldn't say I prefer it to the original, but i do enjoy a new spin on the song. Freddie’s voice really excels here. 8.5

Average: 8.2  Songs Only: 8

[songwritingswift]

If I’m being completely honest, I was really sceptical about reputation when it first came out. It just wasn’t what I was expecting and it always takes me a really long time to get used to things, get used to things that were a surprise. But after listening to it and listening to it, I suddenly found myself in love with it. I have a much more complicated relationship with it than I do her other albums and I don’t relate to it as much as I have earlier albums but then I tend to relate to them more strongly when I reach Taylor was when she wrote them so there’s still time. But regardless of all of that, I love it and I’ve learned a lot from it as a songwriter.

… Ready For It? – Such a powerful opener to the album. It sets the scene so richly, especially lyrically. We’re plunged into this brand new world without time to think about anything else. 

Favourite lyric: Every love I've known in comparison is a failure

End Game – Probably my least favourite but only because I’m not a Future or Ed Sheeran fan. I love Taylor’s section and I think it has some of the strongest lyrics of the album in it. 

Favourite lyric: And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put 'em

I Did Something Bad – I will never forget hearing Taylor say ‘shit’ for the first time... I love how empowering this song is. If I need to hype myself for something, this is one of my go to songs. I would love for Taylor to expand on the burning of the witches at some point. 

Favourite lyric: If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing // They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one

Don’t Blame Me – I love the darkness in this track. I think, at some point in the secret sessions, Taylor said that this one was based around the idea that the three things that can really change a person are love, drugs, and religion and so she tried to incorporate that into the song. I can definitely feel that. I love the gospel like quality to the last choruses.

Favourite lyric: I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy

Delicate – Ugh, the production in this one is so clever and I love a good anti-chorus. The use of the vocoder throughout the album is a really cool way of creating a cohesiveness to it but I also like the way it’s used less and less as the album goes on. I also love how, in the bridge, she sings on all the off beats, creating a really different feel to the rest of the song.

Favourite lyric: Handsome, you're a mansion with a view

Look What You Made Me Do – My brain always assumes I don’t like this song but it’s just the chorus that I don’t really like - I don’t like the spoken-ness to it. But I think it’s SO clever and I love the lyrics in the rest of the song. 

Favourite lyric: But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time

So It Goes… – I feel like this song is not appreciated enough. The symmetry in the lyrics, the imagery, the production... It’s its own world inside a song.

Favourite lyric: But, honestly, baby, who's counting? Who's counting? 1, 2, 3...

Gorgeous – I didn’t really fall in love with this song until I heard it live. Hearing an entire stadium singing it together and it just clicked: I loved it. My one issue with it is that the line ‘unless you wanna come along’ sounds so out of tune to me. Does anyone else hear that?

Favourite lyric: You should think about the consequence of your magnetic field being a little too strong

Getaway Car – I love everything about this song. Everything. It’s a feature film in four minutes. The storytelling is incredible and the imagery is stunning. 

Favourite lyric: THE WHOLE SONG // Should've known I'd be the first to leave, think about the place where you first met me

King Of My Heart – I love the rhythm of the pre chorus and the tension that is then released in the chorus. It’s so clever and creates that feeling of relief that’s mirrored in the lyrics. And I love how the choruses just get bigger and bigger throughout the song. 

Favourite lyric: And all at once, you are the one I have been waiting for

Dancing With Our Hands Tied – It took a while but now I absolutely love this one. And the songwriting behind it is so fascinating. I love the repetition of ‘I had a bad feeling’ throughout, like that was a constant anxiety. It kind of reminds me of ‘Out of the Woods.’

Favourite lyric: I knew there was no one in the world who could take it, I had a bad feeling // I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us

Dress – I’ll admit I was shocked by such a bold statement but now I appreciate what went into it and what it means to make that statement. It’s somewhat fitting that this is one of the most honest and vulnerable songs on the album.

Favourite lyric: Flashback to my mistakes, my rebounds, my earthquakes, even in my worst lies, you saw the truth in me

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things – I love how sassy this one is. I live for unapologetic Taylor. Again, I think this one is so clever (I mean, who else has used the phrase ‘therein lies the issue’ in a song?!) and I love the last chorus and outro. It was perfect for the tour closer. 

Favourite lyric: And there are no rules when you show up here, bass beat rattling the chandelier

Call It What You Want – THE LYRICS in this one! They’re just amazing. It gives us such an insight into her relationship and that’s really special. 

Favourite lyric: My castle crumbled overnight, I brought a knife to a gunfight, they took the crown but it's alright

New Year’s Day – I love this as an album closer. After all the glitter and the fanfare, we’re left with the heart of Taylor’s music and that is her songwriting. It’s gentle and sincere and pulls you into it’s own little world, one more time before the album finishes. And I love that it’s so simple, production wise; a more complicated arrangement would almost detract from it.

Favourite lyric: Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you, and I will hold on to you

There’s so much more I could write but that’s all I can do for now. Ever since the album came out, I’ve wanted to write a huge, in depth thing about everything in it but I just haven’t been able to. I’ve been so unwell this year and had so many bad experiences with medications that just getting through is all I can manage. I’m grateful to have had reputation through it, even if I can’t say it as eloquently as I would like to. Thank you @taylorswift.

[boobdolan]

a review of melodrama (2017) by lorde

hey what’s up it’s your boy b-dawg. the b is for boobs as in breasts. this post is a track-by-track review of melodrama, the grammy-nominated sophomore studio album by ella yelich-o’ connor (aka lorde), a new zealand singer-songwriter who likes to dance funny and eat onions. her first album was pure heroine which was pretty big bc i think people (angsty teens) related to her songs about being an angsty teen.

i’m gonna keep it real with you chief. when i first heard green light (the lead single from the album) i thought it was pretty ass. but you know what. i’m an ass man despite my username. so eventually by some karmic circumstance i was reintroduced to the album and i realised: “hey! this is pretty dope! 😎” and then i ended up writing a 4000-word extended essay on it for the IB. but that’s another story.

green light is also the first track on the album, and it’s a hella effective one. with its intro bringing listeners acapella ella™️ over sparse piano chords, it kicks open the door to the sound of melodrama and immediately subverts any expectations for a pure heroine 2.0. as the song progresses we get additional elements of new and old - the boom-bap drums recall the hip-hop influences that permeated pure heroine, while her high-pitched backing vocals in the chorus introduce listeners to new vocal stylings from a singer who was previously known for being a Cool Bean who was Too Cool for all that stuff.

as the maximalist bop green light ends, listeners are thrown even further away from the sound of pure heroine with sober. personal note: sober was the song i most liked on the album upon first listen. and I can see why. it’s because i’ve got good taste! from the spacey uber-processed backing vocals to the bongo beat to the horns in the chorus, the song’s really unlike much else in the pop scene today. i especially like the “night, midnight, lose my mind” intro because when i first heard it i was like “wtf???? cool 🤠” anyway, point is, ella and her bf did well on this track.

at this point one might think, “this girl has a thing for acapella intros to her songs”. and she does! homemade dynamite starts, like an action movie, in situ, with its musings about top gun and the house party that the album is conceptually based around. one thing i love about the song is its synths. the 80s inspiration is obvious, with the synth pad emulating the iconic Fairlight sound on kate bush’s running up that hill. however, the moodiness of the synth pad is contrasted with a sprightly riff that comes in every now and then, emphasising that Potent Teenage Mix of Emotions™️ that the album is focused around. lorde also uses contrast in her lyrics, pairing wordy, literary, stream-of-consciousness style verses with almost childish phrases like “know I think you’re awesome, right???” it’s things like this that really encapsulate the state of being teenaged to me - that uncertain transitional period between adolescence and adulthood.

the following song starts with a very indie-sounding guitar, which is an unconventional sound for a lorde song. but the louvre is so typically lordey in that it shows off one of her greatest skills - the ability to create memorable, quotable lines with unique phrasing. who else would think of stammering the line “i overthink your punctuation use”?? who else would think of using a spoken “broadcast the boom boom boom boom and make ‘em all dance to it” as a hook??? another thing of note in this song is its extended U2-esque instrumental outro, courtesy of jack antonoff. sometimes when i listen to it, i understand why ella is banging him.

jack then mumbles the intro to the next song and starts playing the piano. after a few bars, ella joins him and her voice basically has sex with his tinkling on the ivories. liability is objectively great. lyrically, she reaches mind-bending extremes that many of her contemporaries can only dream of achieving. there’s a verse where she goes “home, into the arms of the girl that [she] loves” which is very interestingly constructed - it hits listeners with the initial shock of “oh wait is ella coming out” and just Leaves It for a few lines. and theN BOOM!!!! she’s actually talking about herself. that’s pretty cool. one other thing is her rhyme scheme in the line “the truth is, i am a toy that people enjoy ‘til all of their tricks don’t work anymore” which has a devastating effect that always gets me, even though it greatly takes advantage of her bananies voice.

now the listener is halfway through the album, and at this point they’re likely as hard as the feelings in the title of the next song. hard feelings/loveless brings us back into the world of electronic drums and synths after the minimalism of liability, and it does so excellently, providing an ambient atmosphere with its muffled beat and echoey distorted guitar. this song used to be one of my least favourites on the album because I thought the L O V E L E S S chant in the second part sounded kinda dumb and edgy. but then i watched lorde’s performance of the song for VEVO and ?????? WtF????? it really shines with a small choir and a boombox. fantastic. i also appreciate the little paul simon sample that bridges the two parts together - it’s a rare example of lorde wearing her influences on her sleeve for this album. also paul simon is one cool mf. i pop my pussy to graceland 24/7. 😎👌

taking a note from jack antonoff’s albums, the next song is a reprise, which have been used by many artists after the beatles to say “hey look my album is cohesive!” even though the only reason why it’s cohesive is because it’s cohesively shit. that’s not the case with sober II (melodrama), which functions as a response to the first sober. the parent song’s repeated calls of “can you feel it?” are immediately countered in sober II’s first line: “you asked if i was feeling it, i’m psycho high”. that’s cool because it reinforces the house party concept of the album. however, while i think the strings and trap drums combo sounds cool on paper, this production choice is the album’s first misstep because it sounds like jack put together 2 apple loops on garageband that didn’t quite fit.

luckily, before lorde turns into one of the migos, we’re treated with another piano song - writer in the dark. a word about lorde’s vocal performance in this song: WOW!!!!!!!!!! 😃😃😃 good stuff! in the verses, her raspy, imperfect voice highlights the intimacy and personal nature of the lyrics. in the chorus, she double tracks her voice and sings with a more round tone, which gives the eerie effect of sounding a bit like kate bush. it’s ok. i’m a bush man too. jack does a little production trick in the outro where ella sings the hook progressively louder as he fades out her vocal and lets the song be overtaken by strings. while it’s cool, i feel like he quite obviously snagged it from the outro of david bowie’s “heroes”, where a similar trick was achieved by the production god brian eno. jack then did it again on the song slow disco by st. vincent later in the year. side note: i’m still kinda pissed about what he did to st. vincent’s masseduction. more on that another time.

the next song, which should’ve been a single, features the metaphor of a supercut. i’m not sure how i feel about that because, on one hand, the term feels very millennial, like a better-written version of katy perry’s save as draft. you know what i mean? like those songs that aged fast - crazy in love with its pager reference, and payphone with its..... payphone reference. on the other hand, a supercut is pretty timeless, as montages have been used in cinema since the french first figured out how to make moving pictures. and the word sounds cool, so it’s ok i guess. but that’s beside the point. the song’s really nice, with some very interesting moments. one notable instance is lorde’s phrasing and the instrumentation in the prechorus - “in your car, the radio on”. the instrumentation just stops for a beat after ella sings the line, in a genius move that makes the song Even More Boppable!!. another moment is how the beat changes during the final choruses - from mellow, with her voice sounding like it’s coming out of a cassette player, to full, regaining all the instrumentation of the original choruses. then the song ends with a weird echoey vocal outro that’s a fantastic moment for me, especially after the intensity of the final choruses. boner time!!!!! 😃 one last cool thing about the song is that i feel the line “so I fall into continents and cars” is an Excessively paul simon thing to say. it’s one of those abstract things that just sounds GREAT, like “fat charlie the archangel sloped into the room” from his song crazy love, part II.

speaking of part twos, the end of supercut transitions into the bassy, atmospheric synths of liability (reprise). unfortunately, i still haven’t gotten round to fully appreciating this song. to me, it’s the biggest misstep on melodrama. don’t get me wrong - it’s a nice enough song, it’s really chill, but it feels slight because of its association to the majestic, melodic liability. apart from their lyrics, there’s not much that links the two. i feel that liability needed no reprise; it’s a work that stands on its own. i felt the same way about yandhi when kanye west announced it. yeezus doesn’t need another album associated to it! it’s perfection by itself. also, someone pointed out that the drums on liability (reprise) are the same as those on taylor swift’s call it what you want, and the last time taylor and jack screwed up a great indie artist’s work was fast slow disco, which we don’t talk about in this house.

finally, we come to the end of lorde’s house party with perfect places. and what a brilliant ending it is. there’s something so stirring about the drum beat, with its crunchy, decisive snare. there’s something equally moving about the synths and chord progression in the chorus, which give me chills like loud organs echoing in a church. when put together, they sound industrial, menacing, as if they move into your soul and alienate you from your own body. but at the same time, they’re an emotional release, a source of comfort like bruce springsteen’s cathartic 70s and 80s albums. another cathartic element - the use of the word “fuck” in the chorus. i could write a whole essay on it tbh. to me, it represents an intensely freeing release of the bad vibes and negativity in one’s life - for lorde, perhaps, her failed relationship and the state of the world in 2016. you know how studies have shown that when you shout “FUCK!!!!😡😡” after hitting your toe on furniture, it helps ease the pain? it’s like that. so while saying something taboo on the record is such an edgy angsty teenage thing to do, but also reflects lorde’s release from her pain. or maybe i’m reading too much into it.

the album ends as it begins, with ella’s bare vocals, reminding us that she is once again the Queen of Indie Pop. overall, melodrama gets a

9/10

for being really cool. peace out bitches. 🤠

[cherry-interlude]

The Blackest Day - Lana Del Rey Lyric Breakdown

I did at one time interpret this song as being about an actual baby Lana lost but it was so disturbing I was mortified with myself (it wasn't Lana’s intention)

Carry me home, got my blue nail polish on

Lana needs to be carried home, showing she literally is too upset to walk or emotionally needs support; Lana may also be in denial, one of the stages of grief, and wants to be carried by this person; Lana’s “blue nail polish” is symbolic of her sadness

It's my favourite colour and my favourite tone of song

Lana talks about her favourite things to not think about her loss; she likes sad music (“my favourite tone of song”), much like Billie Holiday’s

I don't really wanna break up, we got it going on

Lana doesn’t want to break up with this person so she’s finding it difficult, especially as she thinks everything is fine (“we got it going on”)

It's what you gathered from my talk, but you were wrong

Lana probably said things in arguments that indicated she wanted to break up but she didn’t mean it, yet this person believes it

It's not easy for me to talk about

Lana finds it painful and she’s in a lot of pain

I have heavy heartstrings

This could link to the blue “tone of song”, as strings are used in music and this is a sad song itself; she’s comparing herself to sad music, thus a sad song

I'm not simple, it's trigonometry

Lana is a complicated person, either in general (which is why she sounded like she wanted to break up but didn’t) or in her emotions, as she’s dealing with a lot in this song

It's hard to express

I can't explain

Lana’s sentences get shorter, showing she’s finding it more difficult to articulate her feelings and how she feels

Ever since my baby went away

Lana still calls them “[her] baby”, showing she cares for them a lot and hasn’t let them go yet

It's been the blackest day, it's been the blackest day

Black is the colour of death and mourning and the entire day is mournful for her, so she sees things negatively; the night is usually black so it’s like the sun hasn’t come up for her

All I hear is Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday, one of Lana’s favourite singers, sang sad songs and Lana can’t register any happy music because it doesn’t relate to her

It's all that I play

Lana doesn’t put any other music on (see above)

It's all that I play

Because I'm going deeper and deeper

Lana is going deeper into her depression, or her feelings of love are still growing, which is why she doesn’t try to change listening to Billie Holiday or any of her other depressed hobbies

Harder and harder

Lana is feeling the pain (or love) even harder; it’s a metaphor for when people compare shock as being hit by a train - she can feel an impact and it keeps hitting her harder

Getting darker and darker

Lana’s “blackest day” is getting darker, so she’s getting further away from the light or happiness; Lana won’t be able to be happy yet as she’s still stuck in grieving

Looking for love

In all the wrong places

Lana fails to find a sustainable relationship or a partner that will make her happy; she picks the wrong people (as the people she goes for in her music don’t always seem ideal)

Oh my God

Lana’s exclamation is almost like a shock, as if she’s in pain, either from feeling like the grief is “harder and harder” and she can physically feel it (which does happen to depressed people) or she is surprised by the realisation that she is “looking for love in all the wrong places” or that she is “on [her] own”

In all the wrong places

Oh my God

Carry me home, got my new car and my gun

Lana’s “new car” may be something she bought because she wants to fill the void by buying herself things, or she wants to remove the memories of this person associated with her old car (she references cars in her music which could link to this); this could also be her trying to almost bargain (as people in grief do), so by getting a “new car” she is trying to impress the person who left her and get him to come back; Lana’s gun may either be that she is suicidal or that she wants to bargain with the person who left her, with threats; it’s a link to her ‘bad girl’ persona which has come back to her now this person has left her

Wind in my hair, holding your hand, listen to a song

Lana is still in denial, wanting to hold this person’s hand and listen to the music in the car like she used to; she could also be imagining that that’s what’s happening in the “new car” because she’s isolated (part of grief)

Carry me home, don't wanna talk about the things to come

Lana’s denial is keeping her from accepting what’s going to happen with her and this person, and she doesn’t want to talk about it or the future because she doesn’t want it to be true

Just put your hands up in the air, the radio on

Lana is either telling herself or this person to dance and ignore what is going on

'Cause there's nothing for us to talk about

Since they are no longer together there’s nothing left to say, so Lana has nothing else to cling on to to expand the time they have together

Like the future and those things

Lana knows they can’t talk about the future together any more, and she uses “those things” because she doesn’t want to go into the specifics of what their future once held as it’s too painful

'Cause there's nothing for me to think about

Lana has nothing left to look forward to or want

Now that he's gone, I can't feel nothing

Lana’s emotions have gone now that the most important thing to her has gone, so she feels no happiness or love

CHORUS

You should've known better

Lana is beginning to get into the angry stage of grief; she seems to be speaking to herself or about herself, though she may be referencing herself to this person

Than to have, to let her

Get you under her spell of the weather

Lana is angry that her “spell of the weather” (her bad moods and indication that the relationship wasn’t working, as indicated in the first verse) “got” either herself or him and resulted in parting

I got you where I want you

Lana either has got herself where she wants, meaning she is confronting herself for causing all the problems; she could also mean the person who left her, as she is twisting her depression to making out it’s his fault and she wanted him to leave her anyway (in further denial)

You're deader than ever

Lana either considers herself dead or the person who left her dead to her

And falling for forever

Lana either is “falling for forever” and failing to land out of her depression and ground herself or the person is “falling”, as a continuation to the fact that he is “deader than ever” (falling into death)

I'm playing head games with you

Lana is most likely referring to “playing head games” with the person who left her, still pretending to herself that she wanted to end it on purpose and ignore the fact she didn’t mean or want to

Got you where I want you

I got you, I got you

Lana repeats that she’s “got [him]” but it may be that she’s trying to convince herself it was done on purpose and she was just “playing head games”; it could also be that she’s starting to get confused with this idea and believes she’s still “got [him]” as her other half, which is part of her denial; Lana could also be saying she has tricked herself again or she is finally confronting herself for what she has done and she almost deserves the pain she feels for it

I got you where I want you now

Ever since my baby went away

It's been the blackest day, it's been the blackest day

All I hear is Billie Holiday

It's all that I play

It's all that I play

It's not one of those phases I'm going through

Lana knows this isn’t just one of her ‘sad phases’ (people may believe she’s singing this song because she likes the sad and depressing tone of music, and has done it before so is just enjoying the miserable song) as she truly is expressing her emotions

Or just a song, it's not one of them

Lana knows this song is her actual feelings and she wants to be taken seriously with how she feels

I'm on my own

Lana repeats this phrase most likely because she can’t believe it or she’s trying to accept it

On my own

On my own again

This isn’t the first time Lana has lost someone

I'm on my own again

I'm on my own again

I'm on my own again

I'm on my own again

I like requests