#because I found the original draft of my writing sample and edited it

[aesthetic-bastard]

Media Interaction 2023

March

Before Dawn - this is a doujin featuring Kyon and Itsuki Koizumi from the series Haruhi Suzumiya. The anatomy isn't the best at times but it makes up for it with its writing. I appreciate that most of the dialogue in this doujin is narrated by Kyon which is faithful to the source material and I found the narrative about closeted homosexuality to hit really hard.

Algorithm - this is yet another of the many English-translated Kyon and Koizumi doujins I read through this month. The art is very nice but the dialog is just fucking ass, to be honest. I don't have very much to say about this one there was no impression left on me besides the art style which is unfortunate. I did find out later after reading this doujin the artist that made this went on to publish their own original works under the pen name Mikiyo Tsuda which I found hilariously inspirational.

Boy Meets Boy - another doujin featuring Kyon and Koizumi. This one was fucking awful I genuinely felt like I needed to brush my teeth or take a shower after reading it. I really DO NOT LIKE when consent is ambiguous or vague and this is unfortunately a common trope in yaoi doujins I have noticed. The art was also incredibly extreme to the point where it humored me to look at how awful, depraved, and dirty each illustration looked. After reading this one I genuinely felt like I needed a few minutes to recover.

I Don't Understand Adults - another Kyon and Koizumi doujin. The art is kinda janky and hard to understand what's being illustrated when looking at the panels. Kyon and Koizumi have been dating for a month but Kyon has an encounter with Koizumi 7 years from the future and it puts a strain on his relationship. I'm not very fond of angsty tropes so this one was very mild.

Game Boys - this is a short comic series featured in various issues of Genus Male, a male-only spin off of adults-only furry anthology comics. For gay furry porn, this is a very interesting and genuinely good comic about early 2000s online queer culture and self-expression in role-playing communities as well as the struggles of closeted homosexuality in real life. This was actually well written and illustrated and didn't solely focus on gay furry sex. I found a majority of the dialog to hit pretty hard and I think this is a very fascinating retrospective on early furry culture and homosexuality within such communities like furries, role-playing and gaming.

Genus Male Issue 1 - a lot of the art featured in this first comic anthology is excellent but most of the writing accompanying any of the short stories is just kinda mild. There was one short story that really stuck out to me though because it portrayed sex work in a way that wasn't incredibly demonizing but that was my biggest takeaway from reading the first issue.

Super Tecmo Bo - this is an album featuring The Alchemist and Boldy James. This is genuinely an excellent album from start to finish and another rare occurrence of enjoying every single track on an album. The use of samples is mesmerizing and I really like that each track crossfades into the next. I think this is gonna be another one of the top albums I've listened to this year I can not stop going back to it.

Secret Meeting - this is a doujin featuring Char Aznable and Garma Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam. This is probably the most outstanding quality doujin I have ever read so far which is expected from this particular circle (GOMIX) and the most satisfying depiction of this specific pairing. There is just so much that I adore about this doujin I got really lucky to purchase a physical copy of this because the other Charma doujin released by GOMIX is no longer available for purchase online unless it were to be sold second hand which I highly doubt I'll find any time soon. (as I went back to edit this before publishing I scored a physical copy of this second hand weeks later after typing this in my drafts) The art is extremely attractive and identical to the original manga for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. There was a small note from the artist on the first page and what I could piece together from the shoddy Google translation on my phone is that they highly recommend reading volume 11 of the origin because "it's literally BL". The artist also stated they are very partial to the universal century timeline which I think is just very cute of them to state their own personal preference within the Gundam franchise. Something I'd like to add that is just a very special personal preference for me regarding any fan works like this is when either of the characters say "I love you" to each other. When Garma tells Char how much he loves him after they both climax that shit is the world to me.

Rooster Fighter - this manga series is still publishing so from what I've read up to the most current translated chapter I think this is the most stupidly fucking awesome thing I have read. The art is very detailed and the world-building is genuinely good??? I sincerely love how chickens are illustrated in this manga. I'm hoping to pick up the first few physical copies that have been released so far in the US since a lot of the online fan translations I've found vary in quality. The only thing I have to point out about this series is that there is a lot of NTR... with chickens...

Side Trips - 1967 debut studio album by American band Kaleidoscope. I liked maybe a maximum of 2 songs off this album and struggled to hit the skip button when listening to the rest. The genres used on this album are all over the place and made it feel like whiplash to listen to each track. My favorite track on this album would be Keep Your Mind Open

At Home - 1969 second studio album by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue. I liked a few songs from this album, which was about it. I enjoyed any track that particularly featured the use of a sitar as an instrument but besides that, I can tell this is another one of those one-hit-wonder type bands. My favorite track on this album would be Love Buzz

The Addiction Of Wanting To Touch You - another doujin featuring Kyon and Koizumi from Haruhi Suzumiya. genuinely very mild but the English translation is at least legible. This artist chose not to use screentones or any sort of shading that fleshes out the characters so I am puzzled looking at each panel trying to understand what's being depicted. Something that is a constant theme in these doujins with Kyon and Koizumi is whenever they start to make out they instantly say "did Haruhi wish for this" implying that Haruhi Suzumiya is a fujoshi and she wishes to see two men kiss each other.

Genus Male Issue 2 - the illustrations are nice as always but a lot of the stories in these comic anthologies are just weird wacky hijinks that end with gay furry sex so nothing really stuck out to me in this issue besides the art.

Hetalia Axis Powers - wow this has aged horrifically. From racist stereotypes to far right Japanese nationalism to fujoshi bait to historic revisionism to weird jokes about incest. Its revisionism is so all over the place the most I obtained from a history lesson is cringe. The jokes in this anime are about as racist as a G4 host getting ready to review a MegaTen game. There is not much left for me to discuss about this series when going back to it and watching it in its entirety.

On Air - this is a doujin featuring Char Aznable and Garma Zabi from Mobile Suit Gundam. The art in this was so cute it almost made me EXPLODE!! The dialogue and interactions between each character are very sweet and everything I want to see depicted with a pairing that's special to me which is very rare when reading a lot of these kinds of fan works. I am hoping to find this doujin available for purchase online since I really like it enough to add it to my collection.

Hetalia World Series - no different than the first series (very bad) but way more boring. There is a large focus on Eastern European countries but all of them have identical designs with atrociously revised history that doesn't accurately represent any of their personalities. I often found myself really bored watching this series when the attention wasn't on such countries as Japan, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. I did really enjoy the Nekotalia segments and I wish there were more of them.

Evil Empire - 1996 second studio album by American rock band Rage Against the Machine. Very excellent hardcore album from start to finish there is not a single track I don't like and the sociopolitical commentary is still extremely relevant nearly 2 decades later.

Hetalia The Beautiful World - the new art style of this series is hideous and the fujoshi bait is at full throttle. This series in Hetalia is surprisingly less racist than the first two and the historical revisionism is toned down a bit because there's barely any history at all. This series was evidently different than the first two and no longer featured any sort of segments and cutaways which surprisingly made the pacing go even faster but was still a mundane watch-through. The overall drastic change made it feel less like a funny web series and more like 5-minute shorts made for TV despite still being classified as an ONA. I think this is where Hetalia really began to die out as both a series and a fandom.

Meeting Place - this is the prequel to Before Dawn, a doujin featuring Kyon and Itsuki Koizumi from the series Haruhi Suzumiya. The narrative about online gay relationships hits very hard just like the sequel and is probably the best fan work I've seen written with this paring that doesn't reek of homosexual fetishization. I've grown rather fond of this artist's style as I read more translations of their works and I'm hoping to purchase some of them to add to my collection.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam - overall excellent saga within the Universal Century Timeline. I don't think I have ever engaged with any media that has had such an honest nonoffensive sincere depiction of autism which made this series more personally impactful to me than the first. I enjoyed the focus on character drama in this Gundam series and I surprisingly felt very emotional about the romance Kamille shares with Four which is very rare for me to experience when a series establishes love interests. I think what makes Kamille and Four so likable as lovers for me is how sincere and direct their feelings are for each other which overlaps with the depiction of Kamille's autism. This series was very intriguing to me, especially with the introduction of cyber newtypes and that any prominent character classified as a cyber newtype was very autistic coded. There were also a lot of new excellent mobile suit designs in this series and I never really expected to take to the gunpla aspect of this franchise because man do I need to add more of those little colorful plastic fellas on my wishlist.

[victorluvsalice]

Opening Line Tag Game!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Tagged by: @dont-offend-the-bees (thanks Newt!)

Welp, here we go, last 20 stories as listed on AO3, from the first chapter of each -- I suspect I already know one pattern, but we’ll see if it holds up:

1. In A World Of His Own -- "Come on, Alice, keep up!" 

2. Secundus 2: Weird Weird West -- "Victor! Mail's here!" 

3. Scenes From Secundus -- When Victor had been five, he’d asked his governess, Miss Horrocks, what exactly a family was. 

4. A Wedding, A Wedding, We're Going To Have A Wedding -- "I am not getting married in that."

5. Imagine Me and You -- Alice jolted awake, breathing hard.

6. To Sum Up. . . -- Houndsditch was the last place either Victor or Alice had ever expected to find the love of their lives – and yet, here they were.

7. Fixing You -- Ahhh. . .so this is what peace feels like.

8. The Technicolor Phase -- "Eddie?" 

9. Secundus -- It is a world that is both rather like and unlike our own, dear reader. 

10. Scenes From A Multiverse Christmas Carol -- “Now, in this season of giving, it has been decided that – um – that we should. . . .”

11. A Dream Journey -- He was flying.

12. At The Beginning -- “He won’t have to share a room with any of these children, will he?”

13. Mallow Hallow Snippets -- "Hey. Hey you. Up and at 'em."

14. Welcome To Rapture (Twice, In Fact) -- Moving while feeling like you’re standing perfectly still should not be a familiar sensation. 

15. Demolition Lovers -- He never thought it would end like this.

16. Nightmares And A Sweet Dream -- “. . .And wake.”

17. Rabbit Hunt -- Their first Christmas together.

18. Remembering You -- ". . .dear God. . . ."

19. In The Land of the Dead -- Well. At least the house isn't on fire anymore.

20. a) Losing You -- Gradually, the last of the butterflies that had once been the corpse bride vanished from view, swallowed up by the velvet night sky.

      b) Triskaidekaphobia -- "They've been in there an awful long time. . . ."

Okay, the reason I did two for #20 is because I was as surprised as anybody to see Losing You listed after In The Land of the Dead. I must have EDITED it at some point in 2016 and forgotten. . .so yeah, I did the one that’s next in the list on AO3, which is Losing You, and the one that I feel SHOULD be next, which is Triskaidekaphobia.

As for patterns, yes, I think you can spot a reasonably obvious one -- I do like to start a lot of my stories with a line of dialogue or a character thought. Coming in mid-conversation or mid-observation really helps jump-start a chapter for me. I don’t do it all the time, though, as you can see -- and I think it has something to do with the type of story and the length. If I’m doing a short prompt fic, I’m a little more likely to start with an ordinary establishing sentence. Losing You is an exception, but there I was literally describing what happened right after the end of Corpse Bride, so. . . But yeah, I was expecting a lot more dialogue openers, to be honest. I guess it’s not as often as I thought! (Though I bet you if I looked at individual CHAPTERS in a bunch of these stories, it would become a lot more obvious.)

Tagging: I don’t think I’m even following ten people, so I’m just leaving it open -- though @nebbychan, @gaydragonwizards, if you want to give it a shot with your stuff, feel free!

(Oh, BTW, for anyone wondering what the hell items #13 through #17 are going on about -- they’re all part of the Forgotten Vows AUs series I have on AO3, collecting some fic I wrote while RPing as the Forgotten Vows Victor (here on tumblr and on Dreamwidth), most of it before even getting the whole Verse completed in my head. Rabbit Hunt is an alternate take on how Victor gets Alice’s toy rabbit back; Nightmares And A Sweet Dream some dreams I wrote up for my Victor back when he was still struggling from what happened with Bumby (includes an early version of the whole thing with Thirteen!); Demolition Lovers is the Bad End AU and I don’t like it; Welcome To Rapture (Twice In Fact) is two versions of a “Victor gets accidentally transported to Rapture” ficlet I wrote to “audition” for a Dreamwidth game (I didn’t get in); and Mallow Hallow Snippets are stories I wrote from Victor’s time in a game I did get in (and ran for a short couple of months), Mallow Hallow. They’re hardly required reading, but if you like early takes on some of the Forgotten Vows stuff, or just general weird shit, you can read ‘em.)

[ghoste-catte]

multiples of 3 ✌🏼-sgmdrcklee

@sagemoderocklee you’re really trying to kill me lol

This got long as heck so I’m throwing it behind a cut. Read on for answers and fic recs! (Mostly the fic recs)

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

This is a tough one to answer for me generally because I tend to spit words onto the page and once I have written them I no longer remember writing them. And 2020 has stretched on so long that as I’m looking at some of the stuff I wrote in the beginning of this year, I hardly remember what’s even in it. I think at one point someone (@goblin-draws maybe?) mentioned a line in Sleeptalk with Me where the innkeeper calls Kankuro “chubby boy”, and I was like “Oh ... did I write that? Yeah, sounds like something I’d have someone say to Kankuro ...” 

It might be easier to talk about this in other terms. One of the scenes I worked the hardest on this year was the fight scene in Chapter 3 of Skeleton Key. The original draft of the scene was a lot shorter, and a lot of the backstory for Misaki’s revenge quest was elided. The scene as originally written was clunky, confusing, and as my lovely wife/beta put it sounded “like a Naruto villain” was doing the dialogue, when previously she’d found Misaki sinister and intriguing. Which wasn’t what I wanted. I basically entirely overhauled the scene and re-wrote it several times. I wouldn’t call it a ‘favorite’ scene (I hate writing fight scenes generally; having chosen to immerse myself in a fandom about ninja where much of the drama comes from battle is my eternal regret), but it is a scene that I put a lot of effort into, and I’m moderately satisfied with the improved product that resulted.  

6. least popular fic this year

By far my least popular fic by kudos ever is Pitch Perfect. Which makes complete sense to me. It’s a fic where I’ve written 2 characters who are men in canon as cis women, which pushes a lot of uncomfortable buttons for a lot of people. It contains F/F smut, which is something that a lot of people who choose to read GaaLee probably aren’t out there looking for. And people comment and kudos less on smutfics, I assume because they don’t want their username attached to porn or because they’re embarrassed (which I totally get, no shame there). It’s a modern AU with a sports twist, and AUs are often less popular than canonverse in my experience. I will say though that it has a surprisingly high number of private bookmarks compared to other fics with comparable hit and kudos counts. So I assume people are just a bit more shy because the premise is so ‘out there’. I will say as far as my fics go, it’s one of my personal favorites and probably one of the most intimate and true-to-life things I’ve written? So it actually is a little comforting to know that something so vulnerable has relatively little attention. 

9. longest wip of the year

If we’re going based on stuff that’s partially published but not complete, my Gaara-adopts-Shinki fic On My Way Home is my longest in-progress fic at just over 20k words, although technically I started it in 2019. It will probably end up being right around 40-50k when it’s complete, which might end up situating it as my longest fic ever? 

12. favorite character to write about this year

Okay, this is an easy one. I love writing Kankuro. I think he is hilarious. He is the devil on my shoulder and a creature of pure id, and every time I write a line of dialogue for him it’s the summation of my rudest thoughts about a situation put in the crudest possible terms. If there were a megaphone directly from my unfiltered brain giving running commentary, that would be Kankuro.

15. something you learned this year

I have learned SO much this year! This is only my 2nd year properly ‘focusing’ on writing fic and investing any substantial time into it. I think the biggest thing I have learned, though, is how to overcome a lot of my self-consciousness about writing stories with NSFW elements in them. Starting out, I was so extremely shy and mortified about writing fic at all, much less things like hugging or (god forbid!) kissing. So taking on the smut prompts I took this year and really buckling down on learning to write the mechanics and emotions of sex has been a massive learning experience. (And sorry, by the way, if I haven’t gotten to a prompt you sent me in January yet. I do intend to write all of them eventually!) 

18. current number of WIPs

Ah. The call-out question. My general fic process is idea -> outline -> wip -> edit -> ready to post (where the final draft sits in my docs until I gin up the courage to actually post it). So skipping fics that are just “ideas” on the big mega-list, I have 3 fics in the “outline” stage, 13 fics in the partially written “wip” stage, 1 fic in the “editing” stage, and 2 that are complete but yet-to-be-posted. So, like, 19 total in the offing. (The “ideas” list is even worse lol.)

21. most memorable comment/review

This is such a difficult question because every single comment I get makes me do a little dance for joy. That’s not an exaggeration btw I really sit there and like bounce around in my seat for a moment before I open the Ao3 email. I am not an especially emotive person irl, but there have been times I’ve been brought near tears by comments. I’ll also occasionally show them to my wife like !! look at this nice thing this person said !! and she’s indulgent enough to actually read them. There have been a couple comments that have really stuck with me, that I starred in my inbox and return to frequently, but I don’t want to bring attention to someone else without their permission. I will say there was one person recently who mentioned (not in the comments on one of my fics) that they had found someone who does physical binding of fanfiction and they were about to ask my permission to do that, but then the person who does the binding only does certain ships that she likes ... so that, just, absolutely floored me. The idea that someone might actual want a physical copy of my stupid little ninja fanfictions is, like, so truly immense and completely overwhelming?

24. favorite fic you read this year

You can’t make me pick just one!! (For reference, I have bookmarked right around 180 fics in the past year, and that’s not including fics that I just read, really enjoyed, but didn’t think I could ‘handle’ a second time around.) So, skipping over the ones that AREN’T Naruto ... here is a brief sampling of some faves:

Silica by deepestbluest (rated E, GaaLee, ShikaTema, and Kankiba) - An absolute emotional powerhouse of a fic that manages to skillfully interweave three complex relationship dynamics, satisfactorily resolve them, and give you ALL the sandsibs feels in just over 10k words. 

Childhood Not-Friends (series) by MegaWallflower (rated G, KakaGai) - @megawallflower is a KakaGai god for good reason. Absolutely adorable relationship development fics (five of them!) with the premise that Kakashi thinks he and Gai have been dating since they were kids ... Gai just hasn’t been clued into it yet. These stories will give you heart-eyes.

The Bright Side by gidget_goes (rated T, GaaLee) - This is the Buffy AU I never knew I needed, because I’ve never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But truly you don’t need any Buffy knowledge to enjoy this fic. @gidget-goes command of imagery is masterful, and the way they manage to snap from snark to tugging at your heartstrings is awe-inspiring. Gaara breaks my heart in this. And did I mention Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat? Because Kankuro wears a 10-gallon hat. 

Nature vs. Nurture by Bidiza (rated T, GaaLee) - So introspective and so poetic. This looks like a WIP but it’s actually multiple oneshots, although by the end of the second one you’ll be dying for the rest of the promised series. 

I’m a Fool to Want You by BeelieveRosemarie (rated M, GaaLee) - Turns out @tuttiefruttiegaalee isn’t just an amazing artist, they’re a writer, too! Slow-dancing that will break your heart. Listen to the Frank Sinatra song while you read this for extra tear-jerking effect.

Let Love be Known (series) by TenTomatoes (rated G, GaaLee) - This is the twist on the arranged marriage trope and Beauty and the Beast that I didn’t realize this fandom was missing. I’m absolutely obsessed with their concept of Gaara as the Beast

I Could Be by LilacNoctua (rated T, GaaLee) - I know I big up @lilac-writes Worthwhile series a lot (deservedly so, because it’s so good it makes you look at the series and go “Why the fuck didn’t Kishimoto make this canon exactly like this?”), but this story made me absolutely die between the butterflies in my stomach and how hard I was laughing. There’s one line--you’ll know it when you read it--that absolutely bowls me over every time I re-read this. 

And Then Continue by EgregiousDerp (rated E, GaaLee) - Obviously I’m biased because this was a gift, but @egregiousderp writes some of the the best characterized porn I’ve ever read. You will read this and go “Wow! This is exactly how it would happen!” It’s such a tender, beautiful exploration of Gaara’s insecurities and a very real feeling first time, for all its soft edges. 

Cake by citronelle (rated E, KanKiba) - I don’t even know what to say about this one other than ... phew, this is extremely well written, extremely hot, and extremely in character. Just read it. I promise it’s worth it. 

Saudade by YumKiwiDelicious (rated M, GaaLee) - I’ve run around reccing this to just about every person on the face of the earth at this point. If you’re in the GaaLee Discord you probably saw everyone salivating over every new update of this fic and with good reason. The twists and turns of this fic will have you on the edge of your seat, second guessing every single moment. And it will break your heart in the meantime. What more could you want?

the love potion commotion by floating_cats (rated T, NejiSasu with background GaaLee) - One of those fics where you wish the author’s sense of humor was your own. So many hilarious moments in this story, and it brought me a new appreciation for a ship I never would have even considered. 

Finger Lickin’ Good by whazzername (rated E, GaaLee) - Whazz is another one of those authors where I literally want to rec every single thing she’s ever written, she’s just that good. (Speaking of which, if you haven’t read Fools Rush In and its sequel Degrees of Separation, you’re missing out on the best possible Metal origin story of all time. Don’t deprive yourself of this.) But this story is just ... so incredibly in character for a situation that reads like crack. It’s handled with the utmost straight-facedness and it’s so. freakin’. good. 

heart lines by winterberry_holly (rated M, NejiTen and GaaLee) - I don’t even have the words to describe how perfect this fic is. It’s a truly beautiful exploration of Tenten’s relationship with her palmistry hobby and with the people in her life. My heart ached with every single line. 

Standing on Ceremony by kuroashi (rated E, GaaLee) - This is just ... such a beautiful wedding story. So lovely, like getting the best possible warm hug from someone you love. If that love one was slightly strange and socially inept, because, well. It’s still Gaara doing Gaara-things. @baphometsss is another one of those authors whose handling of smut scenes is so stupendous it makes me wildly jealous. 

Thrall by RokiRiot (rated T, GaaLee) - Idiots-to-lovers with a magic AU twist! This is such a wonderful story, and Gaara’s internal monologue is absolutely amazing. And Lee is Deaf in this fic, which I never ever get to see and which absolutely made my entire day/week/month/life. 

Make-Out Consequences by LuxaLucifer (rated M, KakaGai with background canon Boruto ships) - I laughed so hard reading this that I had to take a breather to stop crying. That’s not an exaggeration. The characterization in this fic is impeccable and the humor is to die for. Naruto’s buffoonery truly shines here, and the author’s wit is just beyond anything I could even properly summarize. Hysterical. A++. 

Thirteen Strokes by Luna_Lee (rated T, GaaLee) - Again, like, if you aren’t reading literally everything @sagemoderocklee writes, are you even really a GaaLee fan? But this fic is beyond even for one of Eeri’s incredibly excellent writings. The worldbuilding in this, the cultural notes, the imagery ... it’s all so lush and so fulfilling and so beautiful. It’s a story about love and it’s a story that you can tell has love poured into every single line. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Checkmate by shadowstrangle (rated G, GaaLee) - The pettiness vibes ... this is so funny. Such a cute story and I love Gaara’s sense of humor here. Not a lot of writers give him a sense of humor, but I love how @shadowstrangle gives him a slightly odd, slightly left-of-center take on humor that still manages to be so funny. 

To Court a Village by FanFictionEngineer (rated G, GaaLee) - Another one where my bias is perhaps slightly obvious, but the premise of this fic is amazing. I love cultural misunderstandings, and the idea of Lee trying his hardest to court Gaara ineptly is just so perfect. 

affliction of feeling by theformerone (rated E, SakuHina) - One of those ships that it would never have occurred to me to seek out but that absolutely works with how the author’s set it up. The dynamics here are delicious. It’s so rare to find good F/F porn but this is one of them for sure. 

Tried and Tested by twentysomething (Rated M, KakaIru with background canon Boruto ships and GaaLee) - Iruka’s narration in this story is just incredible. I haven’t laughed this hard reading a fic in ages. And the concept alone (that Naruto can’t be promoted to Hokage until he passes his chuunin exams ... as an adult ... and Sasuke gets dragged along for the ride) is just brilliant. Amazing concept, amazingly executed. 

a fireside waltz by winterberry_holly (rated M, GaaLee) - I really tried not to rec a single author more than once here but for this one I had to. I got about halfway through this fic and immediately started running around ringing the town crier bell like READ THIS FIC! READ THIS FIC! An absolutely smoldering Regency AU with such beautiful, intimate dance scenes. My heart was racing every single time their fingers brushed. If you don’t read anything else on this list, at the very least read this. 

27. favorite fanfic author of the year

I really can’t pick just one. I am lucky enough that @egregiousderp passes me her drafts under the table before (or without) publishing, and getting to read those is a private treat of unparalleled proportions. Some of my favorite things I’ve read this year I can’t even rec because they’re her unpublished stuff. 

30. favorite fandom to read fic from this year

This is gonna come off strange because I just wrote such a long Naruto reclist, but I recently watched What We Do in the Shadows, and found an incredibly talented group of authors in that fandom with really amazingly good dialogue and narrative voice. I also read a lot of fic for the new It movies (even though I couldn’t watch the 2nd one for ~reasons~), and damn if there isn’t a talented crop of authors in that fandom, too. And finally with ATLA making its way onto Netflix, I had the chance to start watching that for the first time and found a ton of really good fic there as well! 

fanfic end of the year asks!

[script-a-world]

How do I keep my worldbuilding consistent when I have multiple timelines and alternate universes? Especially when memories can bleed over too.

Constablewrites: Really, really good notes. You’re gonna need something that allows for a high level of organization and categorization. That might be a tool like Scrivener or Evernote that lets you create folders and tags, or if you prefer physical notes you can use different colored pens, sticky notes, or even multiple notebooks. (There are probably tools out there specifically designed for such a purpose, but I’m not personally familiar with any.)

However you keep your lists, you’ll want to have one set of notes for each timeline and universe that impacts the story. If you have characters hopping around, you’ll also want to have notes for each character’s personal timeline (so the order in which they experience events, which timelines/universes they travel between, what they remember when, etc.). These lists don’t have to be super long or involved--just a brief phrase describing the scene or event can be enough to keep it straight.

Even for writers only working with a single timeline, it can be useful to have a calendar of events. You can call your start point Day 1 and go from there, assign events to arbitrary dates on our calendar, or go into detail with your own system, whatever works for you. The key is just to have a way to be sure of how much time has passed, so you don’t have something like characters saying they’ve only known each other a couple of days when it’s established elsewhere that it’s been a month.

Also, this doesn’t have to be done in advance. Doing it as you go is fine, and so is assembling the lists as you’re preparing to edit and untangle everything. You might save yourself some effort down the line if you sort that stuff out before writing, but not everyone’s brain works like that and that’s okay.

Tex: It’s difficult to make lists and notes if you don’t know what information to put in them. This is a fairly common issue, since the plethora of information available to particularly worldbuilders can easily become a sensory overload.

A calendar of events is an excellent idea, if you’ve got events to catalogue (and dates to go along with them!). Unfortunately that won’t cover the rest of a world, so you’ll need to be careful in how your organize your notes. Please note that both of our suggestions are but one of many methods to arranging worldbuilding notes, especially when it comes to multiple timelines.

Scrivener, Evernote, OneNote, or even a set of notebooks or word documents can be very versatile depending on your style of note-taking. I deeply prefer an iterative process to worldbuilding, wherein I slowly collate and organize scraps of notes into a polished whole that functions as an archive. Usually I keep multiple versions, in case I need to roll back to certain timelines of development and branch off in a different direction, and keep the discarded versions in case there’s a new way to incorporate the research and ideas.

There’s a lot of debate about digital vs physical copies. For digital, the pros are that you can easily edit and transmit files to a high volume capacity, as well as store them in a comparatively small container or even purely online. Its cons, however, are that they’re easily lost, corrupted, or stolen.

For physical, the pros are that the copies are tangible, easy to visually reference in large volumes, and can usually withstand long-term storage without corruption issues. Its cons, however, are that they have a physical weight, can be cumbersome to carry around, and are difficult to edit while retaining coherency.

One of the most successful note-taking styles I’ve seen is a blend of digital and physical. When you’re still developing an idea, a digital format is very useful until you’ve gotten some concrete decisions down. You can do this with some throwaway notebooks or loose paper, too! Just make sure it’s collected in the same place, or at least is annotated in a way that’s easy to identify (e.g. headers of the same colour, washi tape, dedicated ink colours, dedicated folders, etc).

The intermediary point is usually the difficult part, because transitioning into firm decisions about your worldbuilding is where packrat tendencies kick in. “But what if I need this?” is a very common refrain. However, if you’ve isolated your first step, you’ll still have all of your sketches and ideas and notes!

A basic sorting process of “I’ll keep working on this” versus “I’ll set this aside in case I still need this” will tamp down on a lot of that inevitable anxiety. This will give you control over the flow of development, and you’ll always be able to incorporate things from that second pile if necessary.

The main characteristic of the intermediary point is the filing system, and is incredibly useful even when dividing a world into multiple timelines.

The best method that I’ve found for working on multiple timelines is to start from the most common details. Since these notes are likely to be stored with other stories, the first order is fandom vs original work. If you only write original work, it may be helpful to arrange things by title and/or genre.

I’ve made a sample worldbuilding folder on Google Drive (available here) that can be downloaded locally or into your own Drive, and am narrating the main path way; any additional folders you see will largely be blank in order to allow others to learn the overall structure. You can always copy the folders and files I mention into the additional folders, and rearrange as best suits you!

Since I made this for primarily fandom (re-title as necessary for original work), this means choosing Fandom 1 and then World Name 1. Traditionally the first world is the “canon” world, or the original seed, so it gets first pick.

I have in World Name 1 some things pre-seeded:

Timeline 1

Timeline 2

Unsorted

World Name 1 - Meta Info.txt

All of the individual files in there - usually .txt or .docx - have information on them regarding suggestions how to use them. If you already have a method, then disregard and populate as you prefer.

The Unsorted folder acts as a catch-all, and there’s going to be one of these at roughly each level. For the Timeline level, this means working in conjunction with the Meta Info text file - usually discarded snippets and/or research. While you can definitely create subfolders in this one, I would recommend keeping it loose so you don’t create a stressful, nitpicking situation that loses focus on your main goals.

If you have a main timeline, then that’s going to be Timeline 1. However you choose to prioritize the other ones, just make sure you’re consistent with it, and clearly label everything.

Within Timeline 1, you’re going to have the following items:

Story folder

Plot folder

Unsorted folder

Culture folder

World Name 1 - Timeline 1 - To Do List.txt

You already know how the Unsorted folder functions, so pass that one by. I’ll cover the file before delving into the folders. It’s a text file (that’s a bit oddly sized, apologies for that - it can be resized upon opening with Notepad or a similar program), and left without any instructions or suggestions. World Name 1 - Timeline 1 - To Do List is, as it says on the tin, meant to keep track of things that need doing for this timeline. Be it items that need updating, necessary tweaks, reminders for other things, it’s a relatively isolated way to keep track of this timeline on a meta scale.

Moving on to the rest, the Story folder contains two of its own - Chapters and Master Story. I’ve found this method useful, since it’s dumping drafts into a virtual outbox on an as-completed basis. Master Story has a preseeded doc, while Chapters is meant to contain each chapter unto its own folder (Chapter 1 has its own preseeded doc, as well). The guide docs are colour-coded and contain notes for both fanfiction and original work.

The next folder in Timeline 1, Plot, comes with three pre-seeded guide docs of its own:

World Name 1 - Timeline 1 - Characters.docx

World Name 1 - Timeline 1 - Plot Unsorted.docx

World Name 1 - Timeline 1 - Plot.docx

You see how there’s still an Unsorted folder, albeit in file form? That’s for information that can’t be put into Characters.docx or Plot.docx. All three have notes and some sort of sorting and colour-coding applied to them, with some modularity for copying and pasting. Plot.docx functions a lot like programs like OneNote and Scrivener, so the formatting can be ported over if you prefer a more literal digital notebook style.

The last folder in Timeline 1 is Culture. I’ve divided this into Non-Physical and Physical. There’s a readme text file in both detailing the types of things would go into each folder, though otherwise both left blank so you can dive right into creating sub-folder systems of your own. As with the higher-level folders, you can always duplicate the methods of unsorted folders and meta docs!

[womenintranslation]

Q&A between Man Booker International Prize-winning translator Marilyn Booth and bookseller Natasha Gilmore

Here at the WiT Tumblr we’re big fans of the Women in Translation Book Club, the brainchild of bookseller Natasha Gilmore at Idlewild Bookstore in New York City. What began in February as an in-person gathering at the bookstore over bagels, muffins and coffee is now continuing its lively Sunday morning salon online. We recently caught up with the WiT Reading Club via Zoom for a  wide-ranging conversation about Omani writer Jokha Alharthi’s Celestial Bodies, translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth, for which both Alharthi and Booth won the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. After the meeting, Natasha followed up by email with Marilyn Booth to ask her a few questions on how the translation came about, on women’s writing and women’s education in Oman, on the editing of her earlier translation of Girls of Riyadh (on this topic see our posts here and here), and much more. We were delighted that Marilyn responded in depth to these questions and that she also agreed to share them here on the WiT Tumblr. An additional shout-out to Natasha for organizing and hosting the Women in Translation Book Club! (If you’re interested in attending its next meeting on August 9th to discuss Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, email natasha at idlewildbooks dot com for more details.)

Natasha Gilmore: How did Celestial Bodies come to the attention of the publisher, and why did they decide to publish it in translation? Did you have a hand in this at all?

Marilyn Booth: Jokha gave me a copy of her novel when she came to Edinburgh on a visit; she gave it to me both as an interested reader, and as a colleague – as a thank-you for helping her with the final stages of her PhD (we were both at University of Edinburgh then, although she was already back in Muscat). I found the novel intriguing and absorbing, and so I started exploring the possibility of translating it. As I’ve done with a few other works, I translated it without having a publisher, but there was some great help and serendipity along the way: my colleague at Edinburgh, Dr Elisabeth Kendall, suggested I seek support from the Anglo-Omani Society in London, which I did, and they were fantastic.

Understandably, people often assume that I was simply brought in as a translator. But that’s an assumption that doesn’t take into account the way translators work to promote literary works they believe are important. I wanted to translate the novel, and so I did it a bit recklessly, without a publisher. And then, by chance, I found the agent (Charles Buchan (Wylie) and I met at a literary event, and he has been amazing). Charles then found the publisher. Having finished the translation before that, I had tried for months to get a publisher: lots of them turned me down. (A few have written, since the prize, to congratulate us and to express their regret… they’ve been lovely.) We are thrilled that Sandstone published it – they were great, and because Jokha and I both have strong Scottish ties, we’re very happy that the centre of gravity for making the translation happen and then getting it published was our beloved Scotland.

I don’t necessarily recommend translating a novel without having a publisher lined up (!), but sometimes it happens. And because most publishers don’t have staff members to read Arabic fiction, they’re often hesitant to take something on spec, or an author who is unknown. In fact, in the case of Arabic literature, it’s often novels that have already been translated into French (most often – and there’s a lot more translation of Arabic works into French than into other European languages) that get a look-in – which means there is already a process of selection going on. And so my involvement happened first of all through conversations with Jokha, and then encouragement and help from others. Like so many good things in this world, it is about collective work, conversation, mutual care.

I think it is important for readers to recognise that translators play a huge role in bringing works to publication – we are often the advocates who pressure publishers to take this or that. In the process, we do a lot of unpaid work: doing samples (sometimes paid for), writing pitches and draft introductions, translating press reviews. Otherwise, often they wouldn’t have a clue (obviously that is truer of some publishers than others). We do a lot more than translate. We advocate, we are bridges, we promote work. Since I’m not a full time translator, I can’t do as much of that as I would like to do. I think (or in some cases, I know) that lots of translators play this role. It would be good to put our heads together more and think about how we could help each other – some groups of translators do already do this, for sure, and one of the things I love about being a translator is the affirmation and mutual support that I feel from other translators.

I’ve translated quite a number of works of Arabic literature over the years (I think by now the count is about 17 novels, memoirs and short story collections, more or less). But I’ve never been a full-time translator, so it’s usually been a matter of feeling very strongly about wanting to spend time on a particular text. This is a huge privilege! I did have some years as an unemployed scholar—mostly by choice, as most of that time I was a full time parent—where my interest in texts was matched by my interest in income, although the two didn’t always match up in practice.

Although I have translated works by brilliant women and brilliant men both, I do also have a sense of commitment to the challenge of getting Anglophone readers to recognise that long-enduring stereotypes about gender – about women but also, frankly, about men – are just wrong. So the works I gravitate towards, whoever the author is, are likely to respond to that need, though in varied and often subtle ways. One way to deal with this imbalance (and the continuing stereotypes about gender in ‘the Middle East’ that are so tenacious amongst Euro/American audiences, despite so much evidence to the contrary) is to publish and publicize more of the fantastic works that women have been writing in Arabic since the late 19th century. (A lot of my research writing is about that 19th century energy.) But also, to think about how central issues of gender are to Arabic fiction, whoever the author is. And how thoughtful the takes on this are. For instance, two other recent novels I have translated, Hassan Daoud’s The Penguin’s Song (City Lights) and No Road to Paradise (American University in Cairo Press/Hoopoe), are wonderfully interesting in this regard, in their representations of masculinities.

Gilmore: Some of the group members read your piece on Girls of Riyadh, and wondered if you encountered any issues in edits of your translation of a social or political nature?

Booth: No, in this case, the author and I work in fantastic harmony (there were a few things the editor wanted to change and because Jokha and I agreed – ‘no’, we both said – we were able to prevail. There were also some changes the editor proposed that we agreed ‘yes’ to; the editor was excellent, light-touch, respectful - there was mutual respect all around.)

The problem with Girls of Riyadh was that the author didn’t appear to be willing to work with me. In that case, it was the press (Penguin) that had brought me in. I was not advocating for that novel to the press – although I really supported that novel and I still do. I felt very sad about what happened because I still believe it is such an innovative and interesting novel, and it deserves the respect I tried to give it by translating it innovatively. The translation as the author changed it didn’t reflect the innovative, edgy, and often funny (seriously funny) quality of the original. If the author had said, “Hey, I’m not comfortable, can we talk?” I would have certainly been ready to negotiate. There were things I did in the translation that I would have been happy to tone down. But that didn’t happen. It was a very upsetting experience for me. And I’m sad. Girls deserved to have an edgy translation that would convey the edginess of the original.

There have been occasional insinuations that somehow I was vulnerable to this because of not being familiar with Saudi culture. I think this is ridiculous. It is true that I noted to the editor from the start that there were a few usages I would want to ask the author about; there were about five; the author answered one question, and then said she was busy with her exams, which is certainly a valid reason to postpone responses. But the things the author changed were not matters of Saudi culture; they were lines of Lebanese poetry, references to region-wide culture icons, and characters’ language. These were not the items I needed help with. And it is normal – it is usual – for a translator to consult with an author. It’s also (I believe) a mark of respect to do so, as long as the author doesn’t mind being contacted. It’s certainly not a sign of weakness or vulnerability! Any translator or reviewer or author who believes that must live in a different universe.

Most of the authors I’ve translated have been truly respectful of my work – of my different kind of creative writing, in bringing their work into English. In general, I’ve had really great relationships with authors – working relationships and then, often, friendships resulting from that work. A number of the wonderful writers I’ve translated over the years have become truly close friends, some of them for many years now. (And one of them, Sahar Tawfiq in Cairo, has translated and is translating my academic work into Arabic. Fantastic partnership! I feel so fortunate.) It’s a very intimate thing, translating someone’s work – so perhaps, in many cases, it either results in wonderful closeness or in a terrible break-up. I wonder if that is the experience of many literary translators? I do know from conversations with other translators, and from some of the wonderful translator memoirs published over the past decade or so, that very close affective relationships have been forged through translation. It is such a precious thing. I’d love to hear from other translators on this. (At one point, I started doing some research on first author-second author [ie translator] relations, it would be really good to resume this, somehow.)

Gilmore: Why did you elect to change the title?

Booth: Jokha and I have been challenged strongly on this, by interlocutors who either read the novel in Arabic or could have read it in Arabic. I think that is because the title in Arabic is brilliant—but it just doesn’t translate into English. A literal translation would be Ladies/mistresses/matrons of the moon. None of those terms conveys what the Arabic sayyidat can convey: a lot of authority and dignity. (It is also an ironic term in that some of the strongest female characters in the novel would not have ever been considered sayyidat). It is a beautifully ambiguous and resonant title in Arabic, carrying so many associations, and there is no way to make those shades of meaning come through into English within any closely ‘literal’ title. I tried loads of combinations/spins, but nothing worked. So the English title loses some of the meaning of the Arabic but I think that it gains in other ways, which some readers have mentioned, appreciatively.

Gilmore: Do you have a sense of what women in Oman are writing about right now?

Booth: Yes, they’re writing what women are writing about everywhere. Politics of the family, racism and inequality, complex histories of colonial encounter and how they intersect with political contestation more locally, and the various kinds of abuse that arises from all of these. And also love and connection and closeness. Of course, I have not read everything! And I cannot do so, given that my work life is also about teaching and research (which focuses on topics very far from contemporary writing, though there are a lot of shared connections). One thing that is great about Jokha’s novel getting the Man Booker International is that Oman has not been a literary ‘centre’ in terms of fiction (it has a long and wonderful history of poetry composition). Now, Omani literature is possibly getting more attention. There’s a lot of great fiction being written across the entire region, in Arabic. I wish we could get more of it translated. More support for translation—that is what we need. Also more support for translating not just ‘the latest thing’ but novels, short stories, poetry, that came out earlier. There are works from the 1970s I would love to translate, if only publishers were interested.

Gilmore: Are there any concrete literary traditions that the book draws from? There are so many allusions and references, but I also wondered if even the structure of the book was drawn from an Arabic literary tradition?

Booth: Well, one could speculate that it draws from the ‘embedded stories’ structure that is famously evident in the Thousand and One Nights – but I think every culture has a version of this (and let’s not forget that the development of the novel in Europe is also shaped by storytelling, picaresque traditions far to the east of Europe, including the Nights). Jokha’s work is inflected by the very long poetic tradition in Arabic, and specifically in the Arabian peninsula, a tradition she grew up with. What other specific traditions or writers she may draw on, every reader can wonder about. Any writer brings so many different readings to their work.

Gilmore: Do you have a sense of how the book was accepted in Oman?

Booth: It had won a prize in Arabic, long before the Man Booker, so it was lauded and it got notice. But it also was criticized quite a lot (before and after earning the Man Booker), for taking on the historical legacy and hugely sensitive issue of slavery. Some Omanis didn’t think this ought to be portrayed, as a part of Omani history that they argued was long in the past, in terms of the empirical history of slavery. But of course the past is always part of the present. Jokha’s attitude is that this history is Omani history, and that this legacy shapes Omani society to this day. Therefore, it ought to be talked about. Despite these disagreements, the novel getting the prize has been celebrated in Oman. Jokha has been asked to do so much. We’re both thrilled but it is hard to deal with the demands of it all, given our full time work as teaching academics. Also, like me, she’s not someone who likes the limelight …. We are both rabbits in the headlights.

Gilmore: What was literacy and access to literature and education for women in Oman, particularly in the period of the book? Were women educated up to a certain age? Was education and literacy encouraged for women? Was access a class issue?

Booth: Definitely a class issue though also an urban/rural issue. Very much encouraged in Jokha’s family. And now – and since 1970 – a strong priority nationally, education for both boys and girls. (We sometimes forget that in places where girls’ literacy wasn’t high, boys’ wasn’t either – though yes there is always an imbalance. This is part of what I work on in my research on 19th-century Egypt.) There’s been a lot of great work on the history of girls’ education and women’s activism in the Gulf generally – for instance, recently, a lot of documentation of the history of women’s work in the Emirates, and some memoirs coming out. But it is also important to keep in mind, next to formal education, the ways women have created and fostered narratives, histories, and have passed them on – a different kind of knowledge, or of education, that has always been there.

Gilmore: What was the last book you read for pleasure that you loved?

Booth: Oh that is a difficult question right now! I’ve been struggling with teaching on line, it has been a true challenge, though the students have been wonderful and we’ve tried to struggle through it together. And also, I have to read for my teaching and research (reading which is mostly if not always a pleasure, too). I have not been doing a lot of reading recently that is unconnected to that (too tired! Too cross-eyed from reading on line!). But, I return often to 19th century English-language and French-language fiction (as well as fiction in Arabic). Most recently, I was rereading Maria Edgeworth. I think she is fantastic and should be better known. Ennui is amazing (not an easy read, affectively!).

Also, I hugely recommend Kate Manne’s book Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny. Not an easy read, but an important and beautifully written, wise, engaging and (horrifically) important book for this time. I have a huge stack of books to read, fiction and non-fiction ….

[themiscyra1983]

Beta Reading Work and Commissions Open!

Hey folks -

So as you may know, my financial situation is a bit shaky right now. I’m shuffling things around, accepting I may have to pay late fees and be scolded by my creditors and so forth, but there’s still a bit of a gap. While donations are of course appreciated, I’m also willing to pick up some work: namely beta reading and fiction commissions.

Beta Reading Working on a story? A novel? A screenplay? I will read it, tell you what I think, and advise on things I think could be improved! This will include some degree of proofreading and editing, though I’m not a professional and don’t guarantee I’ll catch everything. In addition to marking up your manuscript and providing written notes, this can easily include an audio or video call so we can discuss your work directly.

I’d hesitate to call myself a subject matter expert on anything, but things I know pretty well include Star Trek, Power Rangers, Disney (particularly the animated canon, theme parks, and the Haunted Mansion), tabletop RPGs, software development, Mormonism, neo-paganism and witchcraft, living with chronic depression/anxiety, and some degree of the LGBT experience, specifically from a white queer trans woman perspective.

I’m going to be charging $20 an hour for this, with a minimum of two hours required. I would say ROUGHLY I can do a deep read on about 2000 words per hour.

Fiction Commissions Okay. I’m shakier on this one, and it’s because I’m badly overdue on a longer commission I did for charity - between getting very sick last winter and the madness of COVID, it’s been very difficult for me to write at all. But I am starting to get back into it, so I’m tentatively open to writing commissioned stories WITH some limits.

The rate is 5 cents a word, and I’ll do a maximum of 3000 words. Now, I’m a wordy bitch and it’s entirely possible I’ll go past whatever you actually ask for, so what you’re actually paying for is a guaranteed minimum. Pay me 50 bucks, you’re getting a MINIMUM of 1000 words. I will not charge you for any words I end up writing in excess of that. I will work as quickly as I can, I will send you at least one draft for feedback before I finish it up, and within reason I will publish on the online platform or platforms of your choice - nothing I have to pay for unless you cover it, and obviously unless you’re RUNNING a publication I have no control over getting into a professional venue. If you just want a Private Story Just For You, that’s okay too. You’re paying for it. It might conceivably be found among my papers at my death but otherwise, with reluctance, I’ll keep it between me and you.

Now. I want to be clear on something. I am very leery of accepting paid commissions for fan work. I would PREFER to write original fiction for you. I’m most comfortable with soft SF and modern fantasy, maybe with a bit of horror or darker elements. Will I accept a paid commission for fan work? ...I would prefer not to answer that in a public venue. Talk to me privately.

Regardless, as my fan work is most accessible, here are some samples. As I said, I’m a wordy bitch, so many of these are multi-chapter works in progress. And I don’t generally have beta readers (though my writing group got a look at some of these) so, regrettably, some errors have made it through:

As Dreams Are Made On (my strange Twilight femslash; this book is complete and I’m now on the sequel)

These Our Actors (short stories connecting to the strange Twilight femslash, of which there are two so far)

Out of the Blue (my fairy tale-esque Little Mermaid/Wonder Woman crossover, which I REALLY need to get back to)

Change of Course (in-progress Star Trek fanfic about Harry Kim as a trans woman)

Okay, So You Want To Hire Me... If you’re interested in either of these services, please either message me on Tumblr or e-mail me at autumn dot riordan at gmail dot com. I will accept payment via PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App, with a $20 deposit required once we agree on the overall terms and full payment required on delivery of the story or conclusion of the beta reading process.

Hope to hear from you!

[delicatefury]

So

I’m back in my city, at the LCS, enjoying a coffee on a miserable day. The bar exam is over and I have two days before I go back to work. I still need to do one last thing for my bar application (the state’s a UBE state so I have to do an “educatonal component” on the differences in the state law from the common law. It’ll probably take me a morning or an evening and it’s an open book test that you can keep taking until you pass), but other than that, my time is completely my own for the first time since frickin’ September.

So here’s the plan of what’s going to change going forward:

Back to writing! Good news everyone, I can finally write and plot and all that good stuff without immediately being distracted by the guilt of “you should be studying”. I’ve got some asks to answer, some plots to lay down, and some editing to do but I hope to have a new TDPL snippet at the very least ready to go by Friday. Still no clue when chapter 5 will be ready though. I need to rearrange some plot stuff first.

Also, I plan to have a second or third draft in my one completed original story done by my 30th birthday in seven months, so depending on inspiration, so expect some general writing rants about that too. (I’m going to flood my two best friends with drafts of that once I’m ready. One because she is a nit picker who loves reading more than I do so will easily find every plothole, grammar mistake, and OOC moment for me, the other because she’s been heavily invested in my writing since we were fifteen and I still have some old, old drafts covered in her notes and questions and excited squeeing.)

Reading! My goal is 8 hours a month (at least) which means about two hours a week. I’ve got Terry Pratchett’s Night Watch sitting on the table right now, and I found a copy of The Hero of Many Faces at the used bookstore (warehouse, actually. That place is friggin’ huge), so that’s probably next. I want to finish a book or two a month, so once I reach those goals, I’ll be working on some of my massive tomes from college (Socrates, Plato, some political books and collected writings, some stuff on game theory... etc.)

Drawing! My paper collection habits have left me with a lot of sketchbooks and drawing pads, so if I want to keep indulging, I have to start using them up. Plus, I love having a visual reference for the characters I’m writing. Also, my skills are super rusty. So, I’m gonna try to do a reference picture a day (from Senshistock on deviantart and a couple drawing apps since I can’t do posemaniacs. No computer so the pics don’t load. Which is a shame. Those thirty second gesture drawing exercises are awesome.) I’m also gonna use some time on the weekend to learn/refine a skill. This week? Skin tones. ‘Cause I suck at them. Always have.

Painting! One evening a week (or every other week) just having fun with a canvas and trying new things. I’m tired of bare walls so I’m going to fill them up with my own work and learn as I go. I’ve got so many ideas too, pages of sketchbooks filled with basic designs and rough sketches that I’ve been dying to put to canvas. Also, motivation to get my office clean.

KNITTING! I’m finishing my nephew’s blanket before Easter now that I have the time to devote to learning the new skill needed to complete it. Then finish my brother’s scarf, work on my sister’s afghan, and make myself that pretty summer shawl I want before going back and working on socks for Christmas next year.

Law stuff!

Being Social! Again, no more guilt of “I should be studying” so next time my sister or coworkers say “let’s get a drink” I can say “OK!” Instead of “I really want to but...”

Cleaning! My office and room are nightmares right now. I was doing ok most of the last few months, but the entirety of February... yeah. But it’s spring and I need to pack up my winter clothes (in a new box that I know for a fact my cat can’t get into and which will be at the bottom of a stack of boxes just in case) and take stuff to the dry cleaners and air out the house before we switch from the HV to the AC. So might as well do a whole cleaning/purge, right?

Exercise! I signed up for cardio boxing at the very end of January but have yet to go (you know the drill of why that is), so I’m gonna go get my membership card and try to go at least twice this week.

Job search. My cousin’s wife’s workplace back home (and in the state where I just took the bar exam) is looking to hire people with J.D.’s, and she’s asked for my resume to show to their HR people, so I’ll be cleaning that up and sending it on. I also need to work on a writing sample. My current one is several years old, and, as I’ve been advised, I should probably start doing my own research to submit for publishing (since this is kinda what I want to be doing anyway). Also, my linkedin is embarrassingly out of date and bare, so, yeah. I’ll be working on all that in the evenings too.

Video games. I’ve finally started my Pokémon Sun game (hey, do any of you play it? I’d love to actually know the people I add to my friends’ list for once) and I’ve got a whole friggin’ backlog to get through. I’m gonna save up for a New3DS since the left-trigger of my current one is broke (a mild annoyance for most games, but for some of the ones I really want to play, it completely breaks the game i.e. I can’t aim in any Zelda game and I’m not good enough to play without targeting) as well as a switch.

Work on a side-hustle. Be it producing original stuff here for a Ko-Fi account, finally creating that etsy store for my cute little paintings (remind me to post the fox painting I made for my nephew), or selling my coffee cozies at the LCS, I’ve got plenty of ways to make extra money that I haven’t taken advantage of. No more! If I want to enjoy my daily coffee while still saving up, I gotta start earning extra money.

COOKING! And BAKING! I’ve got so many recipes better suited to spring than winter and so many cookies I’ve been neglecting (macarons and snickerdoodles and fancy iced sugar cookies...) because they take more time than chocolate chip. But now I have time and SUNLIGHT (which makes it easier for me to be productive in the evening. Once the sun goes down my mind says “day’s over” and goes into pre-bed mode. But we’re almost to SPRING so that’s not an issue anymore) so more messing around in the kitchen for me.

Now, is this too much to conceivably fit in a week when I’m still working full time? Probably, yeah. But I’ve always done my best and been happiest when I’m slightly overwhelmed (slightly being the operative word. Last month I was just completely overwhelmed because of that background chorus of “study study study study” going in my head at all times), so Imma try to do it all. Or at least attempt. And if I turn my “indulgences” of reading and video games into important self-care with goals and everything, I think I’ll be more able to healthily fit them into my life and schedule.

And I’m just... so excited to finally move forward. And if I end up failing the bar and have to retake in July? I’ve got nearly two months before I know if that’s an issue and nearly five months before that test anyway so I’m going to enjoy myself until then.

[etsessayprompts819]

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[entergamingxp]

10 Demos That Made a Good Impression

June 22, 2020 10:00 AM EST

With a wealth of game demos, I played a large selection and selected the most interesting that I could find in The Steam Game Festival.

The Steam Game Festival event that is happening right now is a pretty great idea. With all the usual gaming conventions and events cancelled due to current events, why not utilize the expanding digital space? I’ve long been a proponent of game demos, since there’s little better way to know if a game will land. Combining a week-long digital event with public access to a variety of demos and alpha builds is clever, and I hope something like it will continue.

One demo sampling spree later, I had marathoned through much of what the library offered. In total, I’ve played 24 different demos to completion, to the point that I’m as exhausted as if I’d been on a convention show floor. I intended to write impressions pieces for all of these games, so I set myself the limit of two paragraphs per demo. I’ve chosen to split these impressions into two articles so as not to completely overwhelm everyone.

For today, here are the 10 demos among the 24 that stood out to me the most, and why. They’ve not been arranged in any specific order; all of them grabbed me in different ways, so this list shall not be numbered.

Starmancer

Starmancer is a city builder and management sim set on a space station. You set up the infrastructure, reconstitute your colonists from biomass, and then make sure their needs are comfortably met. In return, the colonists can be assigned jobs, which they will gradually level up in. With the right infrastructure, you can scan the system for points of interest to deploy missions to. From this, you can gain additional resources and colonists. With the variety of features and systems at play, Starmancer is pretty damn good, even if it’s nothing that hasn’t been seen before.

The game is well presented, has lots of interesting systems, and handles well for this point in its development. My biggest concern is that I was unable to get water during my demo time, as I never found the required ice asteroids to mine. If mission appearance is reliant on RNG, it’ll eventually be bad luck that sees you out of water, and therefore out of oxygen. My original draft pointed this out as a flaw, but it’s already been patched to be more common, so issue solved. With a decent tail in the research tree to keep gameplay fresh, Starmancer would definitely be worth your time, so here’s hoping it turns out even better.

Ghostrunner

There’s been a real dearth of movement-heavy first-person games since Titanfall 2 and Mirror’s Edge. In comes Ghostrunner, evoking feelings of both of those. It’s a fast-paced game in which you play a cyborg aiming to climb a cyberpunk tower and kill the Keymaster at the top. To do this, you have the ability to run, slide, wall run, use a grappling hook, and even air dash through obstacles. These obstacles are frequently gun-toting enemies that will kill you in one shot, but die in equally short order.

I had an absolute blast playing this one. It utterly begs the player to go fast, think quickly, and use all the tools at their disposal to traverse the environment. Death is frequent but respawning is as snappy, so it constantly drove me to try again. The premise is interesting, the possibilities are enticing, and the demo is way too short. I finished it in just ten minutes, but seeing that timer at the end just made me want to replay it and do it better. Can’t wait to see speed runners get their hands on this, let alone play it for real myself. Ghostrunner is one to watch.

Fights in Tight Spaces

This game wins the Best Name award for this list of previews. That said, it’s also right up there in winning the most approval from me. Fights in Tight Spaces is awesome. It’s a turn-based deck-building game in which you play cards to move around and utilize attacks to best your opponents. What really makes it special is that the player has perfect information; you know exactly what the enemies are going to do. By moving around or utilizing this correctly, you can have them strike each other or set up for more intense combinations.

Completing fights gives you new cards and money with which to heal or tune your deck a bit for future fights. It’s simple, effective, and there’s a lot of possibilities for how these scenarios can play out. The idea of an intense tactical fighting game played via cards might not sound like much, but Fights in Tight Spaces makes it work. The minimalist presentation in the vein of Superhot suits the gameplay immensely. All that’s lacking here is a playback that runs the entire fight at full speed afterwards. Give me that, and I’ll happily pay up to live out my John Wick fantasies in this game.

Spiritfarer

I’d seen a trailer for Spiritfarer previously, but going into this demo nonetheless surprised and delighted me. It’s another sort of management and base-building game, this time set on a boat. You build additions and rooms to meet the needs of the people you’re journeying with, grow crops, fish, and juggle resources. All sounds good enough so far. But then you realize that you’re effectively Charon, ferryman of the underworld, and your residents are spirits being guided to their resting place. Somehow, despite that, the game can only be described as “comfortable.”

Spiritfarer has an achingly beautiful palette of art and colours to it. The animation is gorgeous, the sounds are fantastic, and the entire presentation is so charming and whimsical despite the sober theme and tone. Some of the tasks can be a little chore-like, but with enough passengers and things to juggle, I could really see it being an engaging set of systems. There is a lot to love here, and if executed right, this could definitely be a sleeper hit. Again, Spiritfarer was an absolute delight, and I am looking forward to playing the full thing immensely.

The Riftbreaker

I won’t mince words: this was my personal favourite of all the games I played for this piece, no question. The Riftbreaker is an absolute maelstrom of game systems. You play as a scientist in a mech suit deployed to an alien planet, and have to establish a base of operations. That means RTS-esque gathering of resources, building a base, and setting up automation and defences. This base then becomes an upgradable ARPG hub where you can outfit yourself with new equipment and research. Go out, explore, beat up hostile creatures, gather more resources and upgrades, and deal with an increasingly escalating pushback against you.

I’m a sucker for this kind of interwoven set of systems, and the combination of everything here is executed really well. The action feels good, customization is plentiful, the base construction is intricate, and the tech tree decently varied. Individual systems don’t seem to dominate one another; it all plays well and loops back together. Given that games with smaller and less ambitious systems often struggle with such a concept, this level of intricacy is seriously impressive. It even looks and sounds pretty good, to boot! For a game I knew nothing about previously, The Riftbreaker is now near the top of my list of most anticipated upcoming games.

30XX

More than any other game on this list, 30XX needed no introduction to me. It’s a sequel to the excellent roguelike Mega Man-esque game 20XX, which I still routinely play on my Switch to this day. I was happy to hear of its announcement, and happier still to play this demo and ascertain that it’s absolutely more of the same. This is a good thing.

Because I didn’t need to know much more about it, I didn’t play 30XX for very long. It’s a combat-focused sidescrolling platformer with some roguelike level generation. Items and set pieces are hidden in the levels and can potentially change up your powers, build, and stats. But more than anything, it’s a solid demo that does the likes of Mega Man proud. The new levels and enemies play well thus far, and I look forward to seeing what more comes of it. Suck it, Mighty No. 9.

Cris Tales

Other writers at DualShockers have covered Cris Tales in more depth previously, so I’ll defer to them for this one. I will say that this was my first time experiencing it hands-on, and now I’m completely in love with Cris Tales. It’s a gorgeous world with some seriously fantastic gameplay systems regarding time manipulation. I loved it, and I’m right on board with Nick on his thoughts about it. Can’t wait to play the full thing.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister

This was another real surprise! Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a near perfect recreation and implementation of 5th Edition D&D rules into a video game. The full breakdown of actions and turns is here, as are all the specific class mechanics and options that you’d find in a tabletop session. Solasta comes equipped with a pretty functional character creator, but the gameplay demo utilizes a premade party. Nonetheless, the character creator is available to demonstrate how well it translates.

Even without my own characters, the adventure demo was really quite impressive. There’s party interactions and banter, as well as dialogue with NPCs where you can choose who chimes in or makes a skill check. This will be present for a player-created party as well, according to the devs. I doubt it’ll be quite at the level of Baldur’s Gate 2 or other such classics, but there is a lot to love here. The actual combat and dungeon crawling was varied, with lots of approaches and secrets to find.

Alongside Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3, we now have Solasta to show what a modern D&D video game can play like. Very impressed and looking forward to the full campaign.

Cartel Tycoon

Cartel Tycoon is — as the name implies — a management/tycoon sim in which you build up and manage a criminal business. You build up farms, ship the farm goods to industrial buildings for processing, then dispatch them to be sold at trade hubs. The catch between this and a standard city builder/tycoon game is that the farm grows cannabis, the industry rolls it into joints and hides it amongst legal goods, and the trade hub is a private airfield. It’s a slightly more subtle version of Tropico, in other words.

The mechanics and gameplay in Cartel Tycoon is pretty solid and the game feels quite polished and presentable. There’s a little bit of micromanagement, as your cartel boss and lieutenants are movable units that you can control. You can use them to take over territory, boost the output of buildings, or conduct actions that you’ve yet to research the automation of. I quite enjoyed my time with it, but there was a bit of concern in the late game when I found myself snowballing into an unwinnable scenario. A few more means of balancing out the Terror rating would be nice, but the effects of it causing police or federal agencies to tamper with you was a nice touch. Quite a good game, and one I’ll keep an eye on.

Cosmoteer

This game is a treat. Cosmoteer sees you starting with a simply designed spaceship, and you take it into space to fight other ships. Defeating them nets you money, and money lets you purchase upgrades and redesign your ship entirely as you see fit. Want to make it durable, fly super fast, or simply be a floating brick with a giant railgun? All of these are options. There’s a real satisfying feel to building a good ship layout, then unleashing it on the galaxy and destroying them component by component.

New aspects of gameplay opened as the game continued, and I found myself increasingly more impressed by the scope of it. Want to buy multiple ships and control them as a fleet? That’s an option. Want to accurately control and try to maximize the output of the ship against tougher targets? No problem. Or, you can just keep on building up the one ship into a hodgepodge nightmare or monster battleship, if you’d like. Cosmoteer is clearly a real passion project and I was quite impressed. There’s already a selection of original or iconic sci-fi ships that come pre-built to tinker with, some of which are community-created. Creativity is sure to run rampant with this one!

These were the definite standouts to me from my time spent sampling The Steam Game Festival demos. The event will officially be wrapping up today, so if any of these sounded appealing, you should go check them out and show your support. I will probably end up picking up the full release of most of the games listed here. As for the other games I played, tune in soon and I’ll share my impressions of them in a bonus lightning round.

June 22, 2020 10:00 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/10-demos-that-made-a-good-impression/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-demos-that-made-a-good-impression

[dorothydelgadillo]

What is HubSpot Content Staging (& How Do You Use It?)

Nobody likes doing monotonous tasks, and when it comes to a website redesign, there’s usually at least one where someone will have to click a specific sequence of buttons a few hundred times. 

Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who hasn’t had to do that (yet), or maybe you’re supposed to be doing that right now, but instead started procrastinating by reading blogs.

Or, maybe, you are that person but you don’t have an intern that you can freely force to do the work on your behalf.

Fortunately, HubSpot has given us a wonderful little tool that makes the process of preparing for a website launch so much easier -- Content Staging.

What is Content Staging?

Content Staging is a tool on HubSpot’s CMS which helps make bulk publishing or replacing pages on your website easy.

So easy, that when you’re ready to put your pages live, you’ll only have to click one button (and then one or two more buttons to confirm you actually meant to click that one button).

In addition to that, Content Staging also helps you organize your new pages better by keeping them in a dedicated dashboard and away from your published pages.

The staged pages are hosted on a temporary HubSpot domain that will ensure users won’t see anything before you’re ready.

When Should You Use Content Staging?

Regardless of how you use HubSpot or the size of your site, Content Staging is a feature you’ll want to know about.

Bulk Publishing and Routine Site Updates

The main purpose of Content Staging is to help you easily publish any number of pages. This can save lots of time during website maintenance, whether you’re working on a brand new site, a PPC Campaign, or routine historical optimization.

Updating Existing Pages

When you’re replacing an existing page on HubSpot you have the option of either creating a new page and publishing it at the same URL once it’s ready or editing the old one directly and working with the preview until you’re ready to publish. This can make it difficult to keep track of which pages have been updated and which pages have unsaved changes you may not be aware of. Content Staging helps prevent this confusion by allowing you to build your new pages in a separate staging environment.

It also helps prevents the circumstances where you may have to temporarily unpublish a live page in order to change its URL so you can publish a new page at the same URL.

This can help prevent search rank and crawling issues that could occur otherwise.

When Shouldn’t You Use Content Staging

It Doesn’t Work for Everything

Content Staging is limited to Website Pages and Landing Pages in HubSpot, which means Blogs and Emails don’t get the benefits of this tool. Smaller Projects

If you’re only publishing one or two new pages, you may want to build them as you normally would. Content Staging doesn’t take much effort to use, but the few steps it adds to the process means it may not be worthwhile to use for just a few new pages.

The tool is most useful for replacing existing pages in bulk since it automatically unpublishes and archives them as part of the publish process.

New HubSpot Sites

If you’re working on building a new site but have yet to attach a primary domain to your HubSpot portal, and don’t plan to immediately, then you can skip using Content Staging.

This is because you can simply publish your pages on the default sample HubSpot domain.

These pages won’t be found by your users until a primary domain is added, so as long as you plan your site launch carefully, you can leave everything published in Website Pages or Landing Pages and they will go live once you add a domain and it finishes propagating.

If You’ve Already Started

Unfortunately, HubSpot doesn’t make it easy to move drafted pages from the Website or Landing Pages area to Content Staging, so you don’t want to decide to start using it half way through your project

If you already began creating new page drafts and want to move them into Content Staging, there is a workaround to get them there, but you’ll end up using up most of the time you would’ve saved by using the tool in the first place.

HubSpot will only let you stage a new version of a published page, so in order to stage a drafted page, you’ll have to temporarily publish the page(s), then add them as “Staged Clones” in Content Staging, then delete your original drafts.

It doesn’t take very long to do this, but if you’re already pretty far along with the build out of your new pages then you may just want to keep moving forward with that way you’ve already been doing it.

How to Use Content Staging

In order to use Content Staging, you’ll need a HubSpot Marketing Hub (Professional or Enterprise) or the Website Add-On.

In the Marketing Hub navigation, go to Marketing > Website > Website Pages or Landing Pages.

Click More tools on the left, then Content Staging.

You’ll see a dashboard like this:

At the top of the window, you can then select which domain you want to stage a page on.

Depending on what domain is chosen, you’ll see a list of published pages on that domain in the Unmodified tab on the left.

If you want to create a new version of an existing published page, locate the page in your list of Unmodified pages, or use the search bar to help you find it.

Hover over the row of the page you want to update, then click Stage.

HubSpot will give you two options for how you want to start editing. You can either start with a blank page and choose a specific template or you can start with the current version of the page.

If you want to create a new page (one that is not replacing an existing page), click Create a new staged page in the upper-right.

Once you’ve created a Staged Page, you’ll be able change the template or any of the module content just as you would in the page editor for any Website Page or Landing Page.

Once you’ve finished making all of your revisions to this new version of the page, click Publish to staging.

Don’t worry, nothing is going to show up on your site yet. If you haven’t finished editing your page yet you can return to it later.

In your Content Staging dashboard, you can find unpublished Staged Pages in the Staged draft tab of Content Staging, and published Staged Pages will appear in the Staged proof tab. Staged proofs are the published Staged Pages that you’ve determined are ready to be published to your live site.

Once you’ve finished publishing any of the Staged Pages that you want to publish to your live site, click on the Publish tab to begin.

If you see any warnings at the top of your screen, be sure to pay attention to them and review all warnings prior to continuing.

These messages mean that there is a conflict or discrepancy between one or more of your Staged Pages and a page on your live site.

A URL conflict means that one of your Staged Pages has the same URL as a live page.

If you continue without changing the URL, then the Staged Page will replace the live page. The live page will be unpublished and archived just as it would if the Staged Page were created as a staged version of the conflicting page.

A URL Discrepancy means that one of your Staged Pages which was created as a new version of an existing page no longer has the same URL as the original version.

If you continue without fixing the URL, then the Staged Page will be published at the new URL and the live page will still be unpublished and archived.

If there are no warnings, or you’ve reviewed your warnings and everything looks right, or you’ve fixed any of the issues, you’re now ready to click Publish all to live domain.

If you still have any warnings, HubSpot will show you them one last time.

Ignoring these warnings may lead to a broken links, SEO issues, and overall, a poor user journey/path.

HubSpot will ask you to write a Job Name and Job Description for your bulk publish. This is strictly for organization purposes in case you need to review it later.

Once you’ve added that in you’re at the last step before putting your pages live.

Review one final time and, assuming everything looks right, click This list is correct and I’m ready to roll and then Publish to let the tool do the rest.

HubSpot’s system will begin unpublishing and archiving any pages being replaced and publishing any of your Staged Proofs. This may take a few moments depending on the number of pages being published.

That’s it! Your new pages should now be live for all of the world to see.

Helpful Tips & Insights

To help you ease you into Content Staging a bit more here are a few FAQs:

Can I link CTAs, Forms, or Menus to my Staged Pages?

Yes! HubSpot will allow you to link CTAs, Forms, or Menus to Published Proofs in Content Staging in the same way that you’re able to link to other pages on your HubSpot portal.

Can I use Content Staging but publish pages one at a time?

Yes! In the Publish tab of Content Staging, you can hover over a page and publish it individually.

What happens if I change the URL of a Staged Page?

As you saw above, HubSpot will warn you that there is a URL Discrepancy.

Your new page will be published at the new URL, and the old page will still be unpublished and archived. A 301 redirect will not be added automatically which means the old URL will result in a 404 unless you add one in.

What happens if I use a URL for a new Staged Page that is already in use by a live page, and the Staged Page was created as a new page rather than a staged version of the live one?

HubSpot will warn you that there is a URL Conflict. The new page will be published at the specified URL, and the old page will be unpublished and archived.

I already built my new pages as drafts in Website Pages or Landing Pages, can I move them into Content Staging without recreating them?

HubSpot will not show drafts in Content Staging and does not allow you to import drafts as Staged Pages. A workaround is to temporarily publish these pages so that a new version can be staged in Content Staging. You can then set up Staged Pages as clones of these pages.

Once you’ve staged a page in Content Staging you can unpublish and/or delete the original drafts from your Website Pages or Landing Pages. With this method you will see a URL Discrepancy warning for each of these since HubSpot will attempt to find your original page which has since been unpublished or deleted.

Save Time with Content Staging

Content Staging is a simple tool that can save you a lot of time.

Even if you’re not planning to use it right away, you’ll want know that it exists and how to use it. If you want some help with Content Staging or a website redesign, talk to us!

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/what-is-hubspot-content-staging

[kyell]

Interview with Douglas Smith #SFWAStoryBundle

Douglas Smith is the author of “The Wolf at the End of the World,” one of the dozen books included in the SFWA Fantasy Bundle (set your own price!) along with my own “Black Angel.” Let me say up front for my readership that there is a lot in “Wolf” for furries: it’s about a race of First Nation shapeshifters, who also have familiars (of a sort). What’s more, the trickster god Coyote figures prominently in this book (as Wisakejack). He’s very well written, and you can totally imagine him as a coyote throughout. Besides all that, the book is fun and engaging with a social conscience and I would happily recommend it to anyone.

Doug was kind enough to answer a few questions about his book. Read on:

What are you proudest of about “The Wolf at the End of the World”?

I’d say I’m proudest that I finished and published my first novel, especially since it was a book that required so much research. Looking back, I must have been insane to make that sort of book my first.

I write in the afterword to the book of the extensive research I did to make sure I got the Cree and Ojibwe stories, culture, and current challenges correct. I didn’t mind doing the research, because I fell in love with those stories and that culture, and found in them the same core truth that’s the theme of the book and the same vitality that drives the Heroka. But writing about another culture was a constant source of worry, as I wanted to do my very best to get things right and as accurate as possible and to treat that culture with respect.

But the research didn’t end there. I also had to research, among other things, hydroelectric dams, power generation and transmission; impact on animal habitat of logging, mining, and dams; wolves and their behavior; animal rights and activism; forensic DNA sampling, legality, processing procedures, and timing; what DNA evidence could be extracted from a two-week old exhumed corpse of a murder victim; Cree and Ojibwe language; police procedure in a small northern town and on First Nations reservations; the Windigo psychosis; as well as local flora, fauna, geography, weather, and life in a small Northern Ontario town.

What’s one interesting story or fact you discovered that didn’t make it into the book?

I just went back to check my research file. I have fifty-two pages of single-spaced notes on these topics, with references to the original source material. The vast majority of that research did not make it into this book. But I’m planning sequels, so some of that research and especially the other stories will get their chance to appear in one of those.

Something I found fascinating in Ojibwe stories and traditions is what I’d call the “theme of four.” Everything seems to occur in fours: primal elements used in cleansing before a vision quest (water, fire, stone, wind), aspects of physical world (sun, moon, earth, stars), orders of life (earth, plants, animals, man), species of animals (four legged, birds, insects, fish), seasons, directions (each of which is associated with a color), the stages or “hills” of life (infant, youth, adult, elder), stages of vision (preparation, quest, vision, fulfillment), orders of the Midewiwin, number of days of a vision quest, judges of each gender for Midewiwin judging; days that a corpse is left exposed on burial platform to let soul-spirit leave; days a fire is left burning beside death post of deceased; symbol for Kitche Manitou (circle with four projections); sons of Winonah (human mother of Nanabush); number of processions around the Midewigun before a Midewewin ceremony; aspects of health and sections in medicine wheel (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual).

I make reference to this pattern of four in one of the stories that Wisakejack tells Zach, about the four orders of life, but as you can see, there is so much more. I expect to make use of that in future books, as well as more of the stories I couldn’t find a place for.

  I do recommend that everyone read your Afterword; the amount of work you put into the research is impressive. Is there anything you’ve learned in the years since this book was published that you would like to add or change or simply share with readers?

Nothing that I would change. I continue to be grateful for the response to the book. Unfortunately, I also continue to be surprised by encounters with non-First Nations People who still remain ignorant of the abuses perpetrated on generations of First Nations children in the residential school system. So if I would share something with non-Native readers of THE WOLF, it would be to point them to some resources where they can learn more about the sad and shameful history and legacy of residential schools in Canada. In 2015, the federal Truth and Reconciliation Committee completed its multi-year investigation and hearings, publishing its final report and recommendations. The full reports are available here, as well as a timeline and history of residential schools, together with a set of learning resources for educators and students. Similar abuses took place in the US, and sadly in every country in the world “colonized” by a European power. If you’re unaware of this history, take the time to check out these resources.

  One of the protagonists of “The Wolf at the End of the World” is blind, which I thought was well portrayed. How did you research blindness to write him?

I didn’t do formal research into blindness, so I’m glad you thought Zach’s situation was well handled. I’ve had blind friends and staff who’ve worked for me in the day job. Our youngest son is physically handicapped, but not blind, and I’ve written a lot of characters with physical challenges.

I’m a character-focused writer, which means I can’t start a story until I “know” my characters. I write scenes with a strictly limited point of view, so when I was writing Zach’s POV scenes, I just put myself into his headspace and imagined being in his circumstances but without the benefit of sight.

Those scenes were both interesting and fun to write. Interesting, because I know when I was in the flow of writing the first draft of a Zach POV scene I’d often find myself starting to write a visual observation of the setting before catching myself. But it was a fun challenge, and really forced me to be “in” Zach’s head and POV when writing him. That might be why he was probably my favorite character to write in the book. Well, he and the spirit Wisakejack, whose scenes together were much fun to write.

  What other speculative fiction authors, classic or contemporary, have influenced you?

As a kid, I read Heinlein, Bradbury, and Asimov. And more, but those three were the ones where I read everything by them I could find. I’d say of those three, Ray Bradbury had the biggest impact, certainly when I started out writing short fiction. In university, I discovered Roger Zelazny, who I’d probably list as my major influence, although Charles de Lint would be a close second.

  When people finish this book and naturally want more, where can they go?

Well, if they want more stories of the Heroka, I would point them first to the novelette, “Spirit Dance.” It was my first professional sale (so be kind) and takes place five years before the events of THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD. In it, you’ll meet many of the main characters in THE WOLF.

I also have two other Heroka short stories, “A Bird in the Hand” and “Dream Flight.” Both of these feature Lilith Hoyl, a female Heroka of the bird totem. Read them in the order listed, as “Dream Flight” is an immediate sequel to “A Bird in the Hand.”

All three stories are available as ebooks on all major retailers. See my bookstore for retailer links.

If readers want more Heroka beyond that, they’ll have to wait until I write the next novel, which will pick up things shortly after THE WOLF. The next book will feature all the same characters (well, the ones that survived the ending), as well as bring Lilith Hoyl into the mix. I’m planning two more Heroka books in the same arc.

But those books will have to wait until I finish my current project, a young adult urban fantasy trilogy set in Toronto (and Peru) and featuring dream walking, astral projection, lucid dreaming, rune magic, a lost expedition, and much more. I’m currently finishing up the second book in that series.

I’d also point readers to my two short story collections, CHIMERASCOPE and IMPOSSIBILIA. Retail links for all of my books (print and ebook editions both) can be found on my website bookstore.

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Interview with Douglas Smith #SFWAStoryBundle was originally published on Kyell's Corner

[nancyedimick]

A new constitutional law casebook for our unsettled age

I spent much of last year doing something somewhat unusual for a junior faculty member — working on a constitutional law casebook. With most law students’ and professors’ semesters ending (we here at the University of Chicago still have a few weeks to go in our quarter), I thought I’d write a little bit about why.

The book I joined — “The Constitution of the United States,” by Michael Stokes Paulsen, Steven Calabresi, Michael McConnell and Samuel Bray — had already been through two editions. Each edition, including the third, has reflected a fairly substantial overhaul that has made the book (I think) better and better, but it has retained a basic organizing principle that sets it apart from most other constitutional law casebooks — the centrality of the Constitution itself. Without speaking for my co-authors, who have been on the book for far longer than I have and have written an excellent preface, I thought I’d explain why I think that organizing principle is so important to teaching constitutional law.

First, it means that the book is organized around the actual Constitution, rather than categories of doctrine or epochs of history. The “Separation of Powers” chapter begins with Article I, then goes on to Article II and Article III, rather than placing Marbury v. Madison and the Supreme Court at the very beginning of the course, as many professors do. After this comes federalism and Article IV, then the amendment process and Article V. Similarly, the chapters on individual rights and equality are organized by the Bill of Rights and the subsequent reconstruction amendments. The hope is that students will never forget that it is the Constitution that they are expounding.

Second, this means a focus on the established methods of constitutional argument, rather than an up-to-the-minute (and hence soon-to-be-dated) snapshot of doctrinal minutiae. To understand the scope of the president’s power to remove various executive branch officials you need to understand text, history, structure and two centuries of practice, not just the latest Supreme Court case. (There will be a new latest Supreme Court case soon enough, but it will debate the same arguments from text, history, structure and practice.)

Relatedly, it means that the book tends to have longer excerpts of fewer cases, on the premise that it is more important to teach students how to actually follow and critique constitutional arguments, rather than just to memorize who won and who lost and move on.

It still has some important Roberts court cases, of course — Zivotofsky v. Kerry and NFIB v. Sebelius and Obergefell v. Hodges, for instance — but it also has substantial coverage of cases that other books omit or edit down to nothing, such as Luther v. Borden and Morrison v. Olson and Bakke v. California Board of Regents.

Third, this means that judicial review and Supreme Court precedents are only part of the story. The book includes substantial amounts of nonjudicial interpretation alongside judicial interpretation, and historical materials, including drafting and ratifying history, early congressional practice, etc. This means you’ll find passages from James Madison in the sections on non-delegation, executive removal, sovereign immunity, the necessary-and-proper clause, the spending power and plenty more. It also means you’ll find signing statements and Office of Legal Counsel opinions from the Obama administration and plenty in between. Indeed, I almost hate to call it a “casebook,” because part of the point is that constitutional law is not only about the cases.

(If I have piqued your curiosity at all, you can download a sample assignment on the drafting of the 14th Amendment, or the introductory assignment on the background to the adoption of the Constitution, as well as the Table of Contents.)

Now, I am too afraid of becoming a law-professor cliche to say: In the age of Trump, this kind of casebook is needed more than ever. But I don’t think it is too much to say that we are living in a time of unusual constitutional turmoil, in which the Constitution outside the courts is unusually important. It should be taught in law schools. This is also a time when the Supreme Court itself is taking an increasing turn to text and history, and I suspect that will continue with the newest appointment to the court. So we may be able to improve upon casebooks whose organizing premises date to the Warren and Burger courts.

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/05/15/a-new-constitutional-law-casebook-for-our-unsettled-age/

[wolfandpravato]

A new constitutional law casebook for our unsettled age

I spent much of last year doing something somewhat unusual for a junior faculty member — working on a constitutional law casebook. With most law students’ and professors’ semesters ending (we here at the University of Chicago still have a few weeks to go in our quarter), I thought I’d write a little bit about why.

The book I joined — “The Constitution of the United States,” by Michael Stokes Paulsen, Steven Calabresi, Michael McConnell and Samuel Bray — had already been through two editions. Each edition, including the third, has reflected a fairly substantial overhaul that has made the book (I think) better and better, but it has retained a basic organizing principle that sets it apart from most other constitutional law casebooks — the centrality of the Constitution itself. Without speaking for my co-authors, who have been on the book for far longer than I have and have written an excellent preface, I thought I’d explain why I think that organizing principle is so important to teaching constitutional law.

First, it means that the book is organized around the actual Constitution, rather than categories of doctrine or epochs of history. The “Separation of Powers” chapter begins with Article I, then goes on to Article II and Article III, rather than placing Marbury v. Madison and the Supreme Court at the very beginning of the course, as many professors do. After this comes federalism and Article IV, then the amendment process and Article V. Similarly, the chapters on individual rights and equality are organized by the Bill of Rights and the subsequent reconstruction amendments. The hope is that students will never forget that it is the Constitution that they are expounding.

Second, this means a focus on the established methods of constitutional argument, rather than an up-to-the-minute (and hence soon-to-be-dated) snapshot of doctrinal minutiae. To understand the scope of the president’s power to remove various executive branch officials you need to understand text, history, structure and two centuries of practice, not just the latest Supreme Court case. (There will be a new latest Supreme Court case soon enough, but it will debate the same arguments from text, history, structure and practice.)

Relatedly, it means that the book tends to have longer excerpts of fewer cases, on the premise that it is more important to teach students how to actually follow and critique constitutional arguments, rather than just to memorize who won and who lost and move on.

It still has some important Roberts court cases, of course — Zivotofsky v. Kerry and NFIB v. Sebelius and Obergefell v. Hodges, for instance — but it also has substantial coverage of cases that other books omit or edit down to nothing, such as Luther v. Borden and Morrison v. Olson and Bakke v. California Board of Regents.

Third, this means that judicial review and Supreme Court precedents are only part of the story. The book includes substantial amounts of nonjudicial interpretation alongside judicial interpretation, and historical materials, including drafting and ratifying history, early congressional practice, etc. This means you’ll find passages from James Madison in the sections on non-delegation, executive removal, sovereign immunity, the necessary-and-proper clause, the spending power and plenty more. It also means you’ll find signing statements and Office of Legal Counsel opinions from the Obama administration and plenty in between. Indeed, I almost hate to call it a “casebook,” because part of the point is that constitutional law is not only about the cases.

(If I have piqued your curiosity at all, you can download a sample assignment on the drafting of the 14th Amendment, or the introductory assignment on the background to the adoption of the Constitution, as well as the Table of Contents.)

Now, I am too afraid of becoming a law-professor cliche to say: In the age of Trump, this kind of casebook is needed more than ever. But I don’t think it is too much to say that we are living in a time of unusual constitutional turmoil, in which the Constitution outside the courts is unusually important. It should be taught in law schools. This is also a time when the Supreme Court itself is taking an increasing turn to text and history, and I suspect that will continue with the newest appointment to the court. So we may be able to improve upon casebooks whose organizing premises date to the Warren and Burger courts.

Originally Found On: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/05/15/a-new-constitutional-law-casebook-for-our-unsettled-age/

[kierancoynea2]

What have I learned from audience feedback?

(A quick short I made to show rather quickly some of the feedback that I received in my coursework this year) 

For my A2 media coursework I have been given formative, summative, formal and informal feedback, and all of which has helped me to construct my final three products in various ways: creating a stronger brand image, creating a more professional looking and more interesting group of products. At the beginning of the year I had used three differing focus groups. One of younger teens. Another a group of girls and another a mix of both males and females. All three were used in order to fully represent my target audience up to the planning and partly of my construction of my film poster, magazine review page and short film. However, along the line in the construction of said focus groups, I had decided to use only two focus groups. This is because as my products further developed I had marketed to a more mature audience of older teens and adults. Nevertheless, the use of focus groups has helped me greatly, as where in my AS coursework I had only gained feedback from my teachers and peers and not to the same standard nor amount.

Use of Focus Groups in my Short Film: 

At the beginning of my academic year I had compiled three different focus groups of the likely audience for my final products. Using a focus group has allowed me to keep focused when making my film to market to my audience. I found that the further I had gained i

Formative Feedback:

With the understanding of the following, I will demonstrate how I have improved my learning from others during the process of researching planning constructing and editing my film – and more so improved my products.

I had provided the material in many forms, with pictures, gifs, scripts, annotated video and talking through my other sources to give as much detail and be as coherent as possible for the greatest possible quality of feedback. Most importantly I have used formative feedback consistently and effectively, taking on board all interpretations compliments and criticisms, throughout the year. And has helped me significantly in shaping my products as seen below:

Developing an art style for my Magazine review page:

When Originally attempting to construct my review page, I had asked whenever generating any new material on how I could improve in the development of replicating a professional product, while keeping an appropriate brand identity. This became the hardest challenge personally, as I seemed to generate various differing magazine blueprints that would conflict with the the design of my short film, or would not be representative of a film magazine.

Examples of this include the developing the symbol and separate brand identity of the magazine, as I had originally modified and developed a vector of a microphone jack with the phrase “unplugged film” as the Idea for my short film. However, when asking for advice it was noted that it would be more appropriate to use another symbol to represent my magazine as there would be confusion generated. This being as a microphone could be interpreted as a semiotic code representing music rather than just an interview.

After receiving this information, I decided to redraft my review page that would finally become my final draft.

Although there are instances along the line where I would find formative feedback extremely helpful, such as when implementing a “pull quote”, where I had used an unconventional or impractical method of using a pull quote of increasing the font size in the original placement of the quotation. It was suggested by Mr Coleman that I should take a look at Empire Magazines, as they pull quotes are constructed by copying an excerpt from the text and enlarging the text in a larger font and placing a coloured panel behind the text, all of which is embedded amongst the smaller text surrounding it. After in a sense being given this external source of information I was able to amend this.

Finally, when I was writing the review for my page, I was using a word processor to type my review, then copying and pasting the paragraphs into Photoshop to be placed in my review page. I had not considered the spacing of the text onto the page, as the words were not justified and therefore not conventional to real magazine review pages. This in its self was rectified in when Mr Coleman had also after requesting to review my work so far that the formatting of the paragraphs needed changing.

Film Poster conventions

When planning, constructing and editing my poster, I requested several times help regarding the progress of my efforts, and how I could improve my product in its current state.

Within the planning of my short film poster I was given feedback with my design ideas, that I should Ideally use a green screen in order to achieve the effect I wanted to create. As this was not possible with my actor being unable to come to the school grounds, I had to replicate my own…

Formative feedback in my short film:

Short film choices and reshaping/adapting all

A continuous set of “test shots” and “drafts” of filming after every filming session feedback was provided.

Summative feedback:

The Eberly Centre at the Carnegie Mellon University defines summative feedback as: 

With this in mind, there are numerous times for which I have received a form of summative feedback with regards to my media products. 

 Examples of this include: 

The pitch to the media department on my ideas for a short film. 

A formal presentation of my progress to the media department of 1 minute of my first footage to my film. 

several one to one sessions looking at my progress with regards to all three of my media products. 

My media Pitch: 

My pitch consisted of a premiere pro video file, modelled from a powerpoint presentation that I made, and layered with visual examples that complimented my argument for the narrative of my short film. 

The feedback I received was mostly positive. Mostly to keep the distinctive visual style and at the time to focus on what I was already doing at the time in making a strong identity for my newfound dystopian narrative. 

the main points that I received at the time were that I should... 

Further develop my narrative with the specifics - make a detailed plan in terms of shot list, animatic, and to plan an easier way to explain my narrative. 

Find a suitable name for my short film

Following this I used the given advice on my shortcomings and placed more of my efforts on what I had previously neglected shown below: 

(My script for my short film)

(Detailed planning before shooting scenes with a birds-eye-view location plan around the house). 

(an excel spreadsheet of a plan of what I needed to do)

(production schedule sheet that I used for all of my days shooting) 

(redraft of one of my shot lists)

In terms of planning I had achieved this over the year with specific production schedules a detailed script and storyboard, with a matching short list. 

(storyboard for my short film) 

A formal presentation of my progress to the media department 1 minute of my first footage to my film. 

The feedback that I received for my presentation went rather well, but highlighted my weakness in cinematography in the piece as highlighted by the media department.

My teachers stated that they liked the film noir style for my film, as seen in the “bedroom scene”, but not so much in the following final kitchen scene.

Some of the problems that featured were that my lighting was too dark and generated noise and was not overall very clear. Additionally, the colour distribution of my shots drowned out the characters in my film. Additionally, The mise en scene was not well planned, with garden features that ruin the verisimilitude. 

How has the feedback I have been given help me improve my short film? 

Firstly,  I had changed the setting of my film in order to accommodate for the setting of my film and the corresponding genre. I was avoidant in the scene, filming around the offending features of the room. 

This included filming at a later time, as to avoid any more noise in my shots. 

informal feedback:

A majority of informal feedback I had received had been formative, and was highly effective in helping me generate the best possible products. I have found that though in general feedback received is in small quantities, there is usually a high volume and has has been really valuable. A majority of informal feedback I generally received from my fellow classmates and is more direct and honest. 

formal feedback:

On the other, hand formal feedback I have found less frequent in the past year, but has been highly significant in the developments of my media products. Examples for which are mostly summative shown in the above examples. Almost all formal feedback i had received was from the teachers, giving me a higher quality of feedback and therefore allowing me to reach higher levels of professionalism in my working. 

How has social media contributed to my feedback: 

At the beginning of the year I had used various forms of social media in order to help me understand what my target audience would want from a short film. 

(twitter poll post- before)

(twitter poll post- after)

Using twitter as a form for which to gain information I found moderately successful, as the short responses allowed people to be concise and to the point, thus allowing me to gain precise feedback with a larger sample size. 

(Yahoo answers question)

(facebook poll post)

Both Yahoo and Facebook I found to be unsuccessful in that i did not receive enough responses to gain a valid conclusion. 

Overall the use of social media has help, but not so much as more formalised arrangements or gatherings, as the less interactive the form of communication the less effort is placed back from the audience. 

Audience feedback has helped me identify my own shortcomings in my work, and also help me identify what makes a professional and and entertaining/successful product. Using feedback from both the wider public, several focus groups and my teachers/fellow students. 

So... What Have I LEARNED from audience feedback 

Firstly, feedback when making any media product, and especially when making a film, needs to be persistent and regular throughout all stages of the film-making process (research, planning, construction, post-production). This is absolutely necessary as when in the process of nurturing and constructing something that you are passionate about, usually you will become bias towards what you have made, and think differently (usually better) of your film, than to what the general audience and others around you. An objective viewpoint is what you gain from the said people of your audience and around you - and with this you are able to keep levelheaded and focused on what you want to achieve with your product, and in the process improving your filmmaking capabilities and therefore your media product. This I found to be the most honest reflection in my formative feedback as sometimes imbalances in generated from my eagerness to either convey the dystopian genre or show my art style sometimes lead me to lose focus on my narrative in the early production of of my film. Feedback in terms of my short film ensures that Narrative being shown and the preferred readings and representation is understandable from an audience perspective and that media is communicated effectively. The reasoning for this is because if you create the narrative, then you will be the one who understands what is happening the most - as it is my own vision but may not necessarily be seen by another person who watches my film. Thirdly, Ideas are organic in form - in that ideas and projects constantly change and evolving. For instance my change in my short film from a third wave dystopian film - to now a more first wave dystopian influenced genre film. This proves that feedback is essential when conducting a project such as making a short film, as constant feedback ensures that the creativity when constructing is kept and is on task.  An example of this can be seen from my initial ideas for my short film - to the finished product I have constructed. Summative feedback helps me identify whether I have achieved my goal in making an interesting and professional short film (and ancillary tasks). Moreover, summative helps me to improve my future work as a filmmaker, that is important to me as I go to university to make more short films. Finally, using experts (or at least much more experienced) in the media world in the form of the media department has allowed me to further my skills and push the boundaries to what I can achieve through critiquing and evaluating my work that I have already made, and directing me forward in the right direction in developing and culturing creativity, and industry standard techniques to help me improve the professionalism of my film.

[islandofkiwi-blog]

A New Start

tl;dr: I wrote a sci-fi novel that I don’t want to fall to the wayside during the long, traditional publishing process so I recorded an audiobook version that you can listen to here (YouTube) or if you so choose you can read here. (blog) This is the beginning including the Prologue and Chapter 1. Hopefully I will upload one chapter a week until completion. Now let’s get down and dirty.

An Introduction

22, male, United... oh this isn’t a profile for a dating website? whatever. Welcome to my little island of insanity! Glad you survived the fall, back button is that way in case this gets too boring for you. But please don’t go. It’s lonely and dark and I hear the lemurs scratching on the outside of my hut in the night. Anyways, welcome! I guess this is the part where I’m supposed to tell you what I’m doing on this island, who I am, how you can know that I’m not going to eat you. I mean that last one is pretty ridiculous, though you kind of look hungry. Are you hungry? You look like you could stand to eat more, anyways. Gods! where are my manners. I’m Steven Embers and welcome for the third and final time.

The Book

What do the lemurs say at night, scratching at my door?

“Let me in, let me in, sir. I fear a deadly storm”

I started writing this novel at sixteen, but I had no idea what I was getting into. I had a falling dream, a vivid vision that I wanted to put to words and sometime later I had a catchy set of sentences that I wanted to use somehow: “My name is Bailey Prince. It’s a girl’s name.” One became the beginning, the focus of my story, my motivation, and the other I wouldn’t get to write for another four years. Initially, I wanted it to be a quick story, I wanted to publish a novel before I finished high school. I lacked both the writing and publishing experience to know that was a pipe dream. Writing itself is not that difficult, I think anyone with an idea and enough motivation to work on that idea could finish a full length novel, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted every plot hole covered, every scene to have motivation, every word to have meaning within the whole. It took me two years to get the character motivation and plot in the right place. I finished a proper first draft at twenty, almost exactly four years since I started writing on the first blank page and I actually thought in my naive, little mind that I was done with the story.

Agenting/Query Hell

I never let in the lemurs. You just have to look at their conniving faces to know they’re up to no good.

I knew a little bit about the query process while I was researching during writing, but I wasn’t prepared and lacked the marketing knowledge to appeal to a savvy agent. I think anyone who has tried to cold query an agent before knows what I’m talking about, but let me use a metaphor to explain to anyone who may not have the background:

Say your work of art is a special snowflake and you are the wind who blows that snowflake onto the front porch of whatever agent you researched who is in line with your needs and has experience with your genre. Now, your snowflake may be the most beautiful snowflake ever created with such nuance and character that no one could resist it, but there’s still the issue that around the front steps of every agent, a ceaseless blizzard blows day and night. Millions (I mean probably millions, who’s counting) of snowflakes are blown in from all around the world, and every agent is expected to sweep the snowflakes off their front porch every day and scour for that special snowflake among a million (again who’s counting) special snowflakes that they can sell to make a living, and that’s all before they can go to work to selling their other, laminated, super-special, chosen snowflakes. The odds are not in your favor, my breezy friend. The only thing you can do is blow and blow your snowflake onto more and more agents steps until you have effectively queried every agent in the world.

I didn’t even make it very far. I queried for about two years and maybe fifty plus with only one positive request among them. I was obviously doing something wrong. My writing sample was weak. My first chapter (ironically the first you will listen to/read should you continue your stay on my island) was/is hilariously weak, and I still have my own issues with it after about fifty revisions. My query letter sucked. I threw away probably half of my potential agents on weak queries alone. My spirit was flagging. The process was probably what I hated most about it, because you send out a query letter that you think has potential and you don’t hear back for a month, maybe more, or maybe not at all, and you’re left wondering if you’ll get any help to revise for the next query which you send out a month of no good news in an endless cycle. Anyways, two years of playing the cat-mouse game, I was pretty burnt out and don’t want to pursue traditional publishing for a number of reasons, one of which I will go into in a bit. I don’t like complaining about this out loud, because I’m not asking for pity and I know my own deficiencies. I mean there’s the chance my work was completely unmarketable but positive attitude, yeah?

I came to this island myself. The lemurs are a product of my own insecurity and that burden isn’t on you. Well, maybe it is now.

The (free) Audiobook

#callanAudible #pleasedontsuebecauseiwantedtomakeabadpun #doesAudibleownthetrademarkonfreeaudiobook #feelsliketheydo

So I decided I didn’t want to do traditional publishing and the main reason was because I knew it would take time to gain a benefactor in an agent or a publisher and then it would take time to get it out to market and that was all time I felt like I didn’t have. The science element in my book made me feel like a mad genius when I conceived it at sixteen. It’s less interesting now that genetics has made leaps and bounds. Seriously, my butthole clenches every time I watch a SciShow update on genetics. I need to share this work before the science catches up and I don’t look like the visionary I am! lol. Giant ego aside, I seriously want to share this even if only a marginal number of people will see it compared to if I had chosen to wait until I had it (and my query letter) polished to a point where it was irresistible. I’m also aware that original content on the internet is so easily accessible, and you can entertain yourself without paying a dime for several lifetimes as long as you have access to the internet. That’s why I’m releasing for free. I don’t want to deal with a paywall restricting any potential audience member I have. This is me releasing six years of work without expecting any kind of monetary gain in return. As far as I’m concerned this story will always be free for anyone to enjoy. I haven’t decided if I’ll give up my creative copyright to let people make money off my idea, but if people like it I assume they’ll find legal ways to re-appropriate it anyways. I will be releasing an audio version on YouTube and a text version on Tumblr every week, so if you like it you can follow the respective places for updates. I’ll be releasing them alongside each other, so if I fail to get an audio version out one week I won’t post a text version. I’m hoping I can get them out every Monday. It’s been my New Year’s Resolution for like the past four years to get published so this is me making good on that however I can.

The recording process has been really difficult not easy as far as prepping my voice and editing it together and doing pickups because I realize later that there was freaking echoes in the room I was recording in. Sigh. I will try to get my act together so I can produce consistently. I’m not a voice actor, or a sound mixer, or anything like that. I’m recording on a middle-range microphone, editing to the ear and just doing it before and after work/sleep. Be patient with me, and I hope you like it.

If you look around, even from the vantage point of my tiny island, you can see a couple billion other islands out there, each with a story to be found or some artwork to be shared. We each blow our snowflakes into the world and hope that maybe one person will like it. We can only blow and pray that someone will pluck our snowflake out of obscurity and pack it into their own, precious snowball of experience and it will be part of them forever.

Keep on dreaming,

Embers