#because it's a novel‚ you literally have to make them all from scratch

[sskk-manifesto]

Delusional take: season 5 is 6 episodes of Stormbringer and 6 episodes of manga adaptation

[gingerjolover]

what does soft!gf do that drives naomi crazy 🫣

HAPPY KINKTOBERRRRRRR

(everyone cheered!!! 🥳🥳🥳 mama got a new job!!!!)

i have to find one of them actual kinktober things but for now, one day for each munagenius member? yes or no?

who better to start then my precious nomi baby who i saw BELT good luck babe in nyc this weekend?!

let’s blurb it up:

the things soft!gf does that drives nomi crazy (pt 1)

-first things first we gotta say that naomi literally loves anything that soft!gf does

-genuinely she could be buttering a piece of toast in the kitchen and naomi comes behind her, slapping her ass and being like “damn mami”

-“mami” is a new nickname from nomi

-naomi looooves seeing gf read, whether it’s just an article on the phone or a big novel curled into the couch, naomi could watch gf’s eyebrows furrow for hours as her eyes scan the pages

-cooking, specifically chopping, gets naomi going fr. something about the precision and her focus, tongue poking out the side of her lips hat makes naomi feel all warm and fuzzy inside

-when soft!gf first wakes up, her hair all messy, cheeks and eyes puffy with sleep, the way she nuzzles into naomi, her hands rubbing nomi’s top scars makes them feel like they’re floating

-naomi is obsessed with the way soft!gf treats their animals. bruno is like their baby, watching her bathe him and walk him and teach him tricks fills naomi with a type of fondness that they can’t really explain

-when soft!gf gets her nails done…bro, naomi can’t handle it. it could be the simplest just like baby pink almond manicure and naomi is going nuts over it, kissing her hands, rubbing lotion into them and helping her apply cuticle oil

-scrunching her nose makes naomi FERAL, something about the bunny-vibes of it all makes nomi ravenous

here’s a section for you lil nasties:

-LOVE LOVE LOVES when soft!gf rides the strap like wowzaaaaa

-there’s never a time where naomi will deny her to getting on top and rutting against the silicon, there is something about being in control despite being under her, watching her face contort, fingers gripping her hips as they help guide the movements

-loves the subconscious widening of soft!gfs legs when naomi rubs her thighs, it’s like a little treat when soft!gf blossoms open like a flower for them

-back to the nails, SCRATCHES, naomi’s back is always WRECKED after a manicure and naomi relishes in it because they love pushing her to a limit where she literally has to maim them lol

-we already knew this, soft!gf is babydoll after all, but trying on lingerie…. should be illegal how horny and honestly insufferable naomi becomes when watching her saunter around in the new pieces naomi picks out

-soft!gf can NEVER get through an at home workout because quite literally naomi will have her bent over something, plowing her from the back. It’s the shorts and the sweat and the mat in the middle of the floor that just screams easy access for naomi

babies… i am RUSTY

im slowly starting to get back into writing! i love you all!!!!!

[chocolatepot]

Saw a post about how you need to read original fiction and not just fic to write books, and I had some thoughts but they're not so much a direct response so I figured I'd make my own post ...

You do need to be conversant with original fiction to write it, but also - that doesn't mean that your fiction diet as you write needs to be primarily original fiction. If you want to write a book, you've probably spent a lot of your life reading original fiction even if you're in fandom now. That all counts. (Assuming what you want to write bears at least some resemblance to what you've read.)

Fanfiction really doesn't teach you to develop characters and settings on your own, it's true. It particularly lets you be lazy about not describing them physically, and not having to do any work for walk-on characters who exist in canon. You also can get used to writing romantic short stories that would be completely unmarketable if they were not fic.

However, fanfiction still can teach you a lot of transferable skills, if you want it to. You can write novels to stretch your ability to plot a longform story and follow through on 60k+ words. You can consciously work to improve your prose, your pacing, and/or your physical/emotional descriptions no matter what your subject matter. You can write a story that focuses on how a character changes and develops, and you can focus on a minor character from canon and do the work to make them three-dimensional. If you're into AUs, you can also work on worldbuilding or writing a believable historical setting. Literally the only thing you don't really have the opportunity to do is create your own main characters from scratch.

And I feel like that's actually the easiest part of writing. Sitting down and writing a story that lasts over 80k words or so, is compelling all the way through, has defined character arcs, etc. is way harder than making up the initial concept. If you're in fandom, you clearly Do Stories whether they're on the paper or onscreen, and so you probably have a lot of character types in your head already to start messing around with.

There was also a point in the post about how if you don't read you're not going to understand where your story fits genre-wise, and you're probably going to think that it's new and genre-breaking when it isn't - and that leads me to two thoughts. One is that not feeling able to place your own story if it crosses genres might be more common to writers than you think: it just came up in a Bestseller Experiment podcast ep I listened to the other day as a normal thing due to the writer being too close to their story. I have good comps for my novel (there's a T. Kingfisher that is incredibly similar in concept and key characters) and I still feel like "oooh ... is it more fantasy or more historical ..."

The other is that fic makes it so you're more likely to actually write something that genuinely doesn't quite fit in the boxes. That's something I've been thinking about since Winter's Orbit. That book, if you don't know, was originally written on fail_fandomanon's spinoff writing meme and posted on AO3. It was always original fiction, but it has a fic-like sensibility: there's a strong political intrigue plot alongside a strong queer romance plot between a playboy who's not really a playboy and a smol bean with trauma. If you read the GoodReads reviews from when it was published, you can find many sf fans complaining that the romance takes up too much space and romance fans complaining that there's too much plot outside the romance. I think now with the rise of "romantasy" there's more tolerance for that, but that label feels like it's getting less useful as it broadens to mean "fiction written by a woman that includes a romance" (and it feels very m/f to me but we don't have time for that now). Because so much of ficwriting fandom focuses on stories that heavily foreground romance but don't hit the traditional romance beats and also writing the characters figuring out who's committing industrial espionage or whatever. In a romance novel, the romance is absolutely the A plot and the whatever is very much B plot (if not somehow C). In sf/f and thrillers, the whatever is the A plot and the romance is around the edges. Fic teaches us to do them both equally, because the point of the story is to see the characters getting together (often not like canon, when it comes to m/m and f/f) while having a plot to deal with (like they have in canon). Also, in a lot of cases of genre-mixing, determining which one it "counts as" is really determining which one it will sell better under, and that's not something a person outside of the industry can generally tell, regardless of what they're reading on their own.

[corporateslave13]

But always when you need it the most… there is a Song

There's something about Twelve’s line, “When you least expect it, but always when you need it the most… there is a song,” that scratches an itch in my brain. ⚠️ Long read ahead.

No, really think about it. River's existence in Nine's era is metamorphic. Fresh from the Time War, Nine is canonically aro/ace, aggressively defying the notion when he learns that River could be (is/was) his future wife.

Whether the Nine x River Big Finish audiobooks happen pre-Rose or during her time, I like to believe that he subconsciously starts believing he can love again because River shows him how. River shows him that he can love again, that things will eventually get better for him.

He’s the only Doctor that reads her diary, for God's sake. Nine x River will always be my favorite #DoctorRiver dynamic—a relationship of equals not because it's preordained, but because they are simply them.

They grow old together, taking things slow, and despite comments about their relationship being completely queer platonic, there's something about loving someone so divine that you imprint an entire archipelago when their entire interaction was erased in existence.

River in Ten’s era is about overcoming grief—the start of River’s ‘lover’ era, might I add.

After "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead" (which could be a separate essay), the next time Ten interacts with River is through a series of correspondence—aka love letters—right after Donna leaves.

Ten is full of angst, he’s grieving, and River's letters give him all the distraction he needs to overcome Donna’s absence, become the Doctor again, and save billions of lives.

I also love how gentle and smitten they both become after a few adventures/letters. Ten grows so concerned about River being in prison that he even offers to help her escape. Plus, they have a designated table at a café they're regulars at!

This is also where their good banter begins—Ten initially disapproves of all of River's naughtiness but eventually accepts it. Dude is so in love he overlooks genocide so River can make some money (allegedly). He even makes River jealous by hanging out with Jane Austen just because he’s sulking over River stealing the Scroll of the Apocalypse Vault.

Can you feel my obsession when I tell you he starts off avoiding fixed points in time but evolves to doing it nonchalantly in Eleven's era? River’s influence is immaculate!

I’m not done yet, because in Precious Annihilation, Ten is literally River’s servant. Imagine the Doctor waiting for River to get dressed, annoyed by how long she’s taking, only to drool when he sees how beautiful she is.

Teasing her, protecting her, writing love poems about her, and literally screaming when she’s hurt—Ten x River is a slow burn, and oh, what a sweet era that is.

It devastates me that the call for help in the Library IS meant for Ten's face—older and more affectionate. In the Day of the Doctor novelization, right after they took a bath together, Ten gives River a peck on the cheek. He then spends an hour sitting on the TARDIS floor, resisting the brandy in the cabinet when he finds out River’s current mission is for Lux.

I need more Ten x River content please.

River in Eleven’s era? Need I say more? The Boyfriend.

I want to start off by saying that Eleven being 'childish' kind of makes sense, given that he knows this is his last regeneration. I’ll keep this brief because their on-screen adventures, though not enough, speak for their chemistry.

River saves Eleven’s Doctor in so many ways and at so many times. I know the show plays it as if the Doctor always rescues her, but I think Eleven’s adventures with River are mostly for his benefit.

River x Eleven is all about squaring up misunderstandings, hate, stubbornness, and pain their younger selves gave each other.

I’m ignoring the portrayal of River's emotional impermanence in The Husbands of River Song (even though I know it’s for the plot and buildup) because I genuinely believe their dynamic is healing.

The notion that they go on dates every night and the Doctor initiates a kiss every time she drops him off? You can’t convince me otherwise that Eleven is a bad husband.

River even mentions in the R+J audio that they got married several times other than the forced one in The Wedding of River Song. Even though the wedding was unnecessary, they did it anyway because they wanted to!

Also, let’s not forget The Angels Take Manhattan, especially when the Doctor gives his LAST regeneration energy to heal River’s wrist. I love them, I love them, I love them!

And of course, the actual husband: River in Twelve’s era.

They accidentally meet right after the Doctor loses Clara—when there’s an unspeakable hole gaping in the Doctor’s heart, when he thinks he can no longer smile or laugh again. There is a Song.

I also love how River is so smitten, even though she doesn’t know this is her Doctor yet. Twelve's jealousy and his correction of the mistake of saving Clara show that he can't do that to River—not to her. Then there’s the Doctor’s misconception that River wouldn’t understand, honoring her plead in Forest of the Dead: “Not those times. Not one line, don’t you dare.”

Twelve x River is domestic bliss. Their dynamic is finally about expressing their feelings toward one another—living their life to the fullest. (Except for River’s death, of course.) No longer chained by spoilers, they have 24 years of linear time.

=======

River was always there in the most important moments of the Doctor and them to hers. In those what seems like trivial moments where all hope is lost, they always find their way back to each other.

And I think that's what makes their relationship more tragic, because even tho both spend an eternity together, they always seem to be stealing moments just to be with each other.

=======

Thank you for tolerating my yap, I'd like to write more but it's literally 4am and I haven't slept yet. xoxo

[carnalhaus]

I know people usually ask about your art, but I've fell in love with your writing ngl, whenever I see bits of it on here and tiktok. It's as if I'm reading extracts from some famous author, it sounds so professional. I guess it would be a harder question to answer but do you have any tips on how to improve storytelling/writing?

you caught me at a good time because i’ve been working on the second draft of long bright dark like a madman.

first of all, thank you berry much. that’s pretty surprising honestly because i always thought my writing came off pretty rushed and awkward, but i think everybody is their own worst critic.

now i’m probably the worst person to ask because nothing i ever do is about improving, but i can try and talk a little bit about what helps me generally. something i discovered relatively recently was that making friends with other writers helps a lot. i’m very reclusive so i was a bit nervous about it, but it’s a lot of fun. it’s good to surround yourself with people who inspire you and motivate you. it’s like parallel play, almost. bounce ideas around, send snippets and blurbs, talk. i read the first two chapters of my friends novel last night and it was like i took a shot of meth, and now it’s four in the morning and i’m still writing.

i would also say don’t be afraid to let it marinate. step away, stop looking at it for a little, and go look at other things instead. read other things, watch stuff, listen to music, go places. strings of words that’ve come to me while doing other things have ended up being some of my best lines. if you look at what you’re doing for too long, it gets all funhouse-y. while you’re reading other things, try not to compare either. structure, prose, and stylization is unique from person to person just like any other kind of art. have fun and play around with what you see instead, incorporate elements you find interesting and see how it fits in for you. literally just play.

don’t be afraid to rewrite things completely. i think most people think of this as draft 1 vs draft 2 etc etc, but i think it can really apply anywhere in the process. if i find myself getting stuck on a particular paragraph, i open up something completely new and start the portion from scratch, keeping in mind the lines that i liked, and trying to reword things that bothered me. i tend to get distracted with so many things on a page at once, and end up not being able to tell what’s irritating me when i’m stuck. working through it from the beginning without jumping around, but still having that original there to refer back to, makes it much easier to sort through.

this is a fun one, but the music you listen to while you write might be fucking you up. just the other day a friend of mine mentioned how she tends to listen to music without lyrics while she writes, because lyrics end up distracting her. turns out i focus much better when i don’t have words in my ears. i’m not that disciplined so i don’t stick to it always, but it definitely helps me focus.

similarly, i think your environment in general can really help. i tend to draft things on my phone because ideas come to me very quick and scrambled, and it’s the best way to get them out. i’ve started to sit down with a drink at my computer and transfer it into a proper document to sort of descramble. even silly stuff like the colors and format of the page can help. make it look fun. i like sitting down at my desktop when im able because i think my pink fancy keyboard helps me feel more professional.

if you have questions about anything specific, i can always try and answer. here’s an unedited lbd passage.

[lesbian-kyoru]

i love all your fruits basket fanfics!!

what do you recommend watching after?

i feel like nothing could ever compare 🥺

nana was my favorite anime before furuba

thank you so much that’s so sweet!! and it’s funny you mention nana, because that’s been my big hyperfixation of 2024 lmao. i hope you’re okay with recs for manga as well as anime since i tend to read more than i watch. my biggest recs if you enjoyed furuba would probably be:

chihayafuru: a sports manga about three childhood friends and the ways their lives intersect. very complicated, engaging characters and an equal focus on platonic and romantic love (mostly lmao). the anime is 3 seasons and incomplete, but i HIGHLY recommend it as well as the manga! the emphasis on the interpersonal and coming of age themes is what draws me to it, similar to furuba

sand chronicles: after her mother’s death, a young girl navigates grief, love, and growing up. from that summary i feel like the parallels to furuba are very apparent, but i was so touched by the depiction of grief and mental health in this story, and i really cared about all the characters. the MC is one of my favorite female MCs in all of shoujo now! i don’t believe it has an anime but the manga is so worthwhile

skip and loafer: basically high school slice of life but with some of the most devastating, careful character writing you’ve ever seen! i love the emphasis again on platonic love and romantic love in this series, along with its very nuanced portrayals of queerness/aromanticism & reckoning with what romantic attraction even feels like. the anime is only 1 season but the manga is a must read, it’s like a warm cup of soup

boys over flowers (anime/manga): this is a controversial pick but if you love stuff that is insane and camp, BOF is a must-watch. poor girl goes to a rich school and all the rich guys get obsessed with her but also bully her. imagine if all the goofier tropes & potential cliches in furuba weren’t subverted……then you would have BOF. but like it’s FUN. i do unironically love the female MC because she is a bitch but she’s MY bitch. the boys are horrible but i love them as well

(added because I thought of it after posting) heaven official’s blessing: feels silly to rec since tgcf is literally so popular BUT i need to make the case for how hualian, the main ship, are sooooo yaoi kyoru! just trust me!! the animated series has two seasons and then the novels are truly a delight. if you’re looking for that same romantic high that reading kyoru’s story for the first time gives, you absolutely need to experience hualian. impeccable mixture of centuries of yearning + the simplicity of enjoying each other’s company

i hope these recs are helpful! and as a general starting point a lot of 90s-2000s shoujos may scratch that furuba itch for you as well!

[kikuism]

the best books i read in 2024!

this year was all right in terms of reading. there were many duds, but the books i did enjoy i truly enjoyed, and really stuck out to me in a sea of mediocrity. there's a difference between a book i think is good and a book i think is great, and that's when it changes my brain chemistry in a way that inspires me as a writer <3 all of these just had a little kick to them. i really wanted to emulate some of what these books did in my own work.

intermezzo: i'd never picked up a sally rooney book before because i wasn't interested in them being primarily romance oriented, but the brothers being the main characters here intrigued me so i picked it up and the rest is history <3 this was so tender. it's about the importance of community and how the small kindnesses of the people around you are what will save you and how people need people. it was so lovely. and i was completely enamored with her writing style, the way she used two completely different styles for ivan and peter, it was so effective. and i love when a man is in intense emotional pain, so ivan's chapters were like crack to me. i don't care if this didn't really have a plot, or that it was, as one review said, ‘just sad people doing sad things’, it scratched such an itch in my brain and made me realize i do actually quite like contemporary if it's written like this. introspective, meandering, somber, thoughtful 💙 my favorite book of the year!

in memoriam: historical fiction my beloved <3 so i've already spoken at length how i adore english novels that take place in the english countryside around the ww2 era (or any era of turmoil/at the cusp of change) so it was a given i was going to love this, and i did. i still can't believe this is a debut....the character work was astonishing, the newspaper clippings made my heart drop every time, the meditations on england, the futility of war and the clarity it brings, the way the wool was pulled from their eyes all made for such an immersive, emotional experience. it was so unbelievably good. again, i'm in shock this is a debut.....i can't wait for what else alice winn does.

pink heart jam: my only manga! this was completely unexpected. i loved this one so much. bl is full of tropes i couldn't care less for so i was shockingly pleased how normal this was. like, the two main characters were even the same height (!!!!), their conversations felt so realistic and honest, there was a tenderness and maturity to it all that i absolutely didn't expect (the bar is in hell). is it perfect? well, no <3 but the older i get, the less time i have for nonsensical garbage, especially in the bl genre (why is it so hard to find a tender, raw story that isn't just gratuitous sex and unsavoury tropes and which also has a lovely art style.....), so this was literally a diamond in the rough—i'd honestly given up finding anything worthwhile. i'm so disappointed that part 2 was cancelled....i know i won't find anything else like this for a long time.

poor things: shockingly funny! i think it's really hard to do the 'new human learns about civilization' type of story in a way that's both engaging and entertaining but poor things manages it and more. a scathing critique on capitalism and patriarchy. what struck me really is how pathetic all of these men are, whining and flapping about in the name of some supposed goodness they are working toward. the use of language, especially hyperbolic language made for a book that i did not expect to be so funny, and bella’s dialogue was such a treat. two different narrations of the same events by two unreliable narrators makes for a reading experience that has you questioning everything you've just read while reaffirming the core themes of the text. it's genius.

the library at mount char: i don't want to say too much about this one, but there's a genre of book i like to call simply fucked up. just outlandish in the best way possible. what a wild ride.....everyone should read this one!

now for my two honorable mentions—

the goldfinch: this is no surprise.....i'll read anything donna tartt writes. like what else is there to even say about her. she's a master at the craft, and i loved sitting back and relishing in that fact and knowing i was in such capable hands. i loved the experience of reading this. she created such a world and such a colorful cast of characters and i loved being along for the ride, especially as someone who's enamored with art and art history. i'd been meaning to read this one for years and i'm so glad i finally did! when's the next book donna!!!!

prophet song: really harrowing, really prevalent story that absolutely moved me to my core with some devastating imagery that's going to stay with me. a family torn apart, a mother's ironclad will in ensuring the survival of herself and her children. it was hard to read. all throughout there was a permeable tension pulsing just underneath the surface which made for an unputdownable experience. it's really important. everyone should read this one!

[crguang]

Okay sat, I might’ve forgotten to my anon mark at the end of my last message aand I’ve reread part 4 like 5 times, but still, 

what the fuck, literally was thinking abt it in all my classes. And I will be yapping, as I guessed.

First of all, fuck Kafka really wish I was tbh she is so annoying, like just assuming r isn’t that upset, like they’re just having a little argument when r is grappling w the fact that they fell for a criminal, and literally killed their coworkers and a ton of other people, she is pissing me off. Also the stuff abt Kafka and her nihilism…giving me some thoughts. Btw have himeko and Kafka encountered each other in this, or has Himeko just heard abt her? And shes so nice, calling r everyday and being so understanding…

I can’t imagine what Kafka did when she found out she got blocked. Her going to text u and then realizing she’s blocked…kafka pausing when she sees that r blocked her. Kafka waiting to get unblocked as she orders gifts for u, who keeps checking her phone for messages from u as she sends more gifts, reminiscing abt when your first met in the store, silver wolf and blade noticing how Kafka seems to be waiting for smth, Kafka who decides to text you on an encrypted number to see how you’re doing, Kafka who sees that she isn’t forgiven and orders so many fucking flowers bc she didn’t know ur favorite. Ugh I can imagine her bringing all of them into r’s house, god she’s pathetic, I need to kiss her so bad so she shuts the fuck up.

anyway I may or may not have started writing a Kafka fic 👀 tbh I don’t rlly read romance novels so idk how the typical academic rivals thing usually works, trope wise. For some reason I keep fixating on her fucking nails. Like to me, she has them manicured all fancy, but Im fairly certain shorter not manicured nails are better for fingering. On her violin ofc, obviously. I played cello middle and high school, and I kept them long, bc I liked scratching people don’t ask I was a strange kid, but I feel like she’d keep them short bc she’s rlly serious abt it. Also Kafka is so dislikable, her ego is so big, and she’s always calm, like if she didn’t look like she was trying and still top of the class it’d piss me off too 😭

Also in the wardence event rn, I haven’t played it bc I’ve been sleeping or smth like that, but silver wolf shows up 😭 like ik it makes the most sense, since she has holograms but Kafka showed up as a hologram once ok 😭 but what silver said is like “i heard u we’re joining the wardence, and two whose names I won’t mention insisted I go check on you. Why couldn’t they do it themselves.” Ugh Kafka is so obvious it’s actually gonna kill me. And yes wtf couldn’t Kafka have showed up, she’s worth like 11 billion, so ik she can’t show up all the but cmon. 

-🌠

hehfjfjgjfjfj posting a new chapter and having ppl go “man fuck kafka” is funny as hell because honestly, yeah, fuck her😭 i think it was important for me to portray how her personality can be irritating in certain contexts and how being with her really wouldn’t be bliss all the time cause she doesn’t deal with emotions much, and that includes others’. she’s not totally detached from them which is why she does try but it’s very clumsy. it’ll be elaborated on in the next part but in her mind she really has picked the best outcome here and even if she was acting in her own interest, she was protecting R, she’s just an information hoarder. being on the opposite side means you dont know wtf is going on in her head and cant explain her behavior as anything else but “she doesn’t give a shit about me”. it’s an interesting situation to write that’s for sure but im glad that her efforts, though genuine, make yall feel irritated bc thats the point hehe

what i wrote about kafka’s nihilism was not entirely true, and i did it on purpose because R doesn’t know her. i do think that nihilism/finality creates a certain distance between her and accountability. when you tell yourself that this outcome was always a possibility, that it could have happened anyway, the choice you make is no longer fully yours which means that the consequences aren’t fully on your shoulders as well. i think that makes it easier for the stellaron hunters to do what they do, that and the goal they’re working towards that is supposedly the best outcome for humanity. but kafka is anything but passive. she is not “subjected” to things, she has an active role in her future and the ones of the millions of people that it touches within the constraints of destiny. i think with nihilism it’s easy to fall into a state of learned helplessness, where you suffer through the things happening to you because “nothing matters” and “it was going to happen anyway”, but kafka is not like that at all. “if destiny doesn’t propel me forward, i’ll be the one to push destiny”— this is what she does, so describing her as a drop in the ocean isnt entirely accurate because she’s making waves. R will learn that

himeko and kafka have crossed paths canonically before the trailblazer so it’s the same in this. i like that himeko has an opinion of kafka that has been cemented through their brief meetings over the time. in that one “keeping up with star rail” where kafka’s kit is presented, hime has a lot of shit to say about her 😭 all bad. she’s also aware that kafka plays mind games in it so really for her to hear “kafka manipulated me” was like “fork found in kitchen” there’s no surprise there. one of my favorite qualities in hime is her understanding and ability to understand multiple perspectives at once, it develops her already deep empathy and its just very admirable. shes a very soft character, i love her

AND YESSSSS SHE DEFINITELY REACTED LIKE THAT TO BEING BLOCKED HDJFJFKKG she stared at her phone like “oh. they’re really mad” and decided to give them a few days to cool off which is why she sent the first gift and after that she’d be wondering whether to text you or not for like a week; would open her phone, type in your number, pause for ten seconds then go “they’re probably still upset” and send another gift. silver wolf would be like “damn youre on your phone as often as i am. whats wrong with you” and firefly’s eventually the one telling her to go there herself to apologize and not wtv tf shes doing which is why kafka finally texts 😭 shes funny asf. the sheer ridiculousness of ordering hundreds of flowers and taking over half an hour to place them inside your apartment (that she technically broke into) to surprise you is so patheticcccc i would have swooned a bit im sorry. like omg youre pathetic get out of my house but also kiss me before you go… “forget it i’ll just get all of them” can she die 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

aaaaa im glad you have time to write the academic rivals au!! typically people have the rivals work together in some sort of assigned group project to force them to interact together but you can go about it differently, like one of them’s practicing for a big piece and the other gets to the practice room too late but but the others are taken and they have to practice the same thing anyway so might as well. or the mc is struggling and kafka happens to pass by and give her some (snarky) pointers which turns into her showing her how its done and the mc actually learning from her (which would make me homicidal). they could also just happen to meet outside of the school context and start developing a new relationship that way. do what feels right!! and yeah, kafka’s nonchalance makes it seem like shes effortlessly good when in reality she takes that shit seriously and practices often😭 it’d still piss me off tho idc

silver wolf showed up in the other event and its just so ridiculous how they always have her everywhere man😭 like fine she’s always keeping up with new games coming out and shit but would it kill them to show kafka once im gonna tear my hair out, we even got to text firefly during the wardance like im gonna screammmm. but kafka and her sending SW to check ip on the tb is so stupid they care so bad😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 typical of kafka not to show or text herself i need to strangle her. the lufou hates her tho so it’s WHATEVER.

[purple-scrunchie]

Heathers Headcanons that Live Rent-Free in my Brain

(Some of these are new, some have been rotting in my notes app since January lol also LONGPOST WARNING up ahead.)

Veronica:

Was also a wolf kid (iykyk), wore those dog ear headbands to school from the middle of 3rd to the beginning of 5th grade

Has a pet corn snake named Cornelius. She's had him since she was 12 and loves him dearly

Can't even be trusted with a toaster in the kitchen, can and will find a way to set something on fire

Her favorite movie series is Indiana Jones. She loves the thril of the action scenes and the concept of carefree adventuring

Fucking unstoppable at just dance. She wins by a landslide every time

Had one of those giant picture encyclopedias as a kid

Despite spending so much time journaling and studying people's handwriting, hers is still a mesy disaster (this annoys Chandler to no end)

Likes to doodle in her journal too

has been journaling almost every day since she was 8. She keeps all of her old finished journals in a locked box under her bed

Loves making friendship bracelets for everybody she appreciates

Was absolutely a band kid. She played trumpet but quit sophomore year because she couldn’t stand Kurt and Ram anymore (they were just there to get some elective credits in)

Heather Chandler:

Hates everyone except her favorite three people (Duke, Mac, and Ronnie) And sometimes even them

Gets fucking livid when people touch her stuff without asking (this includes Veronica)

Especially if you touch her hair/skincare stuff (which is one of those 989,752,300 step process ones)

If she doesn’t get her beauty sleep, she’s even more of a megabitch than usual

Super protective of her friends and loyal to a fault. Once you're in her inner circle, there's no escape

Speaks french fluently

Most of the time she spends with her parents is on the whole-summer trips to France they drag her on. She despises these with a burning passion

Learned how to paint in France, and she's gotten pretty good at it over the years

Has gorgeous, looping cursive handwriting and insists on writing everything in red ballpoint pen. (Her teachers hate this)

Almost always has really vivid lucid dreams. She writes them down in a dream log and they’re her main artistic inspiration

Secretly loves Romance novels. Will read them and giggle like an excited 12-year-old when she's alone

Heather McNamara:

Was super clumsy before she started cheer. It’s definitely not as bad as before, but it’s still there. She’ll still trip over her own feet sometimes

Lactose intolerant, but her favorite drink is milk

Loves to click her pens in class

Goes through chewing gum at frightening speeds (think a pack or more a day)

Is really close to her dad

Whenever her dad goes on a business trip, he brings her a new hair ribbon. She keeps them all in a drawer in her nightstand.

Was the biggest horse girl as a kid

Will still happily talk about horses for hours

Loves astrology even more. Her dad cuts out the horoscope section of the daily paper for her and she keeps them filed away by date and season

Loves to read her friends their horoscopes

Definitely has a million constellation/planet charts all over her walls

If it doesn't have mustard on it, she won't eat it

Carries around a bottle of spicy mustard for this exact reason

Heather Duke:

Literally like 5'0 (152.5 cm)

Will not be caught dead without her heels on

Has two younger siblings, Hunter (12) and Hannah (also 12, they’re twins)

Has a black cat named Gatsby

Gatsby loves to curl up on her neck when she reads, and she’ll absentmindedly scratch behind his ears

Her parents forced her to play the piano from like 1st grade onwards. She has the skills of a concert pianist but hates the instrument with a burning passion

Her car is a 1980 Jeep CJ5

Secretly really likes cars. Will talk to McNamara about cars while McNamara reads her horoscope

Loves to fix her friends' cars

DESPISES condiments. She believes that if you can't eat it plain, it's not worth eating. (the exception to this is hotsauce lol)

Has a bunch of cute stationary and study materials (y'know, all the glittery gel pens and color-coded sticky notes) but uses them for the dumbest things

JD:

5’10 and still growing

Was really into dinosaurs when he was younger. He still has a collection of little plastic ones in his room that he sometimes (though he’d never admit it) gets out and plays with

Cooking shows are his guilty pleasure. He fucking loves being in the kitchen, it’s almost as safe to him as a 7/11

He cooks as a form of self-expression

Loves to bake too, will make things for his friends

Tried to make Chandler an apology cake one time (which did NOT end well for either of them)

One of his most prized possessions is the blue and black friendship bracelet Veronica made for him when they met. He wears the damn thing everywhere and it’s getting beat up

Loves to take walks alone in the dark or the rain. He thinks it’s nice and peaceful

Constantly losing pens. Was it the trenchcoat's fault? Probably. Will he get out of the trenchcoat? Absolutely not.

Hope you found some you enjoy lol, PLEASE feel free to add on/tell me your own/send requests for more!

[monpalace]

Fanfic devil (affectionate) :3

I HAVE MORE TIME THOUGHTS!!

Time is the type of guy that LOVES laying ontop of you. Resting his head on your stomach/chest while his arms are wrapped around your waist!

He loves this for a few reasons! 1, he feels as though he’s protecting you with him covering most of your body from outer harm and 2, your head scratches are the best??? You could knock this man out in a matter of seconds when you play with his hair

He honestly gets a little upset/pouty if he doesn’t get his nightly head scratches. Like you could be reading a book or doing something that is taking your attention and Time will just flop down beside you and huff.

Imagine a pouting husky, thats him

(Modern) Time in highschool/college gives jock/greaser vibes?? And imagine his s/o/crush having a more punk/alternative aesthetic?? Power couple frfr

(Modern) Time in highschool was the type of guy that, after he sent a flirty test to his crush, he’d slam his ohone down and walk away. Like hell do laps around the house at he just OVERTHINKS and blushes at how stupid that was.

Will fucking dive bomb his phone when he hears the notification ding

This could be modern or regular Time but, imagine you two are reading a mystery novel and you both are trying to solve the mystery while reading??? Like yall dead ass bought another copy of the book so you could tear it apart and put all the clues on a board

Hes so cute when he has to wear a set of reading glasses as he looks over some ‘clues.’ You give him many kisses while he has them on, and he has no idea why you random get super lovey but he’ll never complain

Time is the type of lover that loves to watch his s/o get ready in the morning. Its so domestic to him?? It reminds him that he’s more than a hero now, hes more than just his sword.

But he is also the type of lover that will lock his arms around his s/o’s waist and try to keep them home. Like, he’ll still be lying in bed and youll be at the edge if it, having come back to give him a kiss before you left, but now your just….stuck

He just straight up refuses to let you go, giggling to himself as you try and break free. You do end up on the floor at one point, just laughing as you try to crawl away from him.

He just drags your ass back up into the bed. You aint going anywhere tonight, good luck!

i also love your thoughts on this stuff so much 😭😭 got me laughing and smiling at this shit

fanfic (solar) system 🫶🏽

aren't huskies notorious for being loud and dramatic asf? you forget to massage his head one time and he just pretends to cry while spewing on about "oh so you don't love me anymore? you hate me? did you just tell me to literally sleep with the fishes? you never want to see me again in your life? you can't stand the sight of my face? you want me to fuck off and die?"

he strikes me as the type to whine when you get up and use the bathroom or get a snack like that one tiktok audio because, if time is one thing, it is clingy-- but it's amplified when he's tired

he also drools. i don't make the rules.

you make the mistake of wearing a cropped top, wearing one that raises easily, or just forgoing one altogether and there's either an unbroken line of saliva going from your belly button to your chest (he likes listening to your heart-- it reminds him you're alive) or it's just all up in your neck and pillow 😭😭

time's knowledge on anything punk/alternative is seriously lacking before meeting his s/o. he knew nothing of the style, music, beliefs, etc, etc but he got really into it once you introduced him to them

BUT IMAGINE MODERN! TIME (OR HIS S/O) OWNING A MOTORCYCLE?

he gives you his helmet whenever you both ride on his because he says he doesn't have a spare (he does) and that he just wants you to be safe. sometimes he situates you so that he's behind you while he still maneuvers/controls the bike because he's just cool like that (he practiced it a lot with his friends)-- but he also melts whenever you're in control of the bike because he gets to take the backseat and put his hands around your waist like in those movies

(he says he traded it out in college for something more "practical," but he really just has it hidden in a shed/garage somewhere. he goes in and repairs it whenever he has the time since it's so old and he's to attached to sell it)

time would send something like "i liked your shirt," and then toss his phone out a window before anxiously trying to do something productive. he tries to put off answering as long as he can so he doesn't come off as desperate but he ends up biting his nails and giving not even 45 seconds later

he squeals like a child when gets a "thank you (: i liked your jacket," before immediately over-analyzing with a little corkscrew board and everything. "should i buy something with [brand] so they'll compliment me? would they like it if i got them something with [brand] on it? is this a sign they like me or am i just being delusional"

HE'D LOOK LIKE SUCH A NERD WITH THE READING GLASSES THOUGH? imagine he actually has terrible eyesight, you take his glasses and put them on, and immediately walk into a wall or something? 😭

"woah! you might need glasses more than me lol"

"you look like a fucking mosaic and picasso painting mixed together. stop talking"

his little grandpa glasses lower his intimidation by a landslide so he rarely wears them, so it's only natural you drown him in affection. he takes it in stride (even in public) and asks why you're so obsessed with him when you wear them and you only respond with ";3c" or something

trippy i will like,, collapse and die or something 😭 character a keeping character b from leaving the bed/house is my one weakness

assumedly, time is stronger than you, right? because of that he'll definitely manhandle you back into bed with little effort, day clothes be damned-- if you keep trying to fight him even after he goes back to laying right on top of you, he uses the excuse of "i'm the goddess' chosen hero. tell them i need you for something"

"i can't do that if you keep me here."

"then i'll go in with you and tell them tomorrow," and then he doesn't. he pulls the exact same thing the very next day for the rest of the week

[blood-teeth]

hello! just listened to the spotify playlist for "this grave calls you home" and i am SOOO HYPED for the demo release!! how's the progress going so far? awesome music taste btw i'd love to know more; is this your first time developing an interactive story, and how long have you been stirring this idea in your head for? :D reading about it makes me want to rewatch the media it's inspired by lol. esp alien

howdy there!!

AHHH THANK U SO MUCH!! you have no idea how much this ask made my day :') !!! u are so, so sweet!! i try really hard with these playlists lol so i'm soooo glad!!

progress is going good!!! I have all of the prologue coded!! i had the thought just to drop it this week to let everyone have a little sense of the tone of the story, but I do want to add a few more things to it since the pro really is only a page.

i'm wanting to try composing somewhat of a soundtrack for the game, so that'll take me a bit, but the pieces won't be overly complicated because music theory is mine enemy >;(

it is not my first time developing an interactive story!!

Tell Me If There's A Way Home was the first story i ever posted online and something i first started writing in 2019 and posted here on tumblr in 2021. it's, like, literally the story of my heart. so i've spent the better part of 5 years (!!!!) trying to get it right. i reformatted tmitawh from an interactive novel to an actual real life novel that i'm currently trying to query to literary agents. (trad publishing is HELL) while i've been working/waiting on this, i've been doing something stupid and making a game about it (???) idk perhaps more to come on this later. the reality of trad publishing is that your book just may never be sold, straight up. so i'm preparing other ways for everyone to be able to witness this story just in case.

The Mouths Of Elysium is currently my OTHER IF that I'm (still!!) working on. a small demo for this is available here! this was inspired by my terrible brain's obsession with Jim Henson's Labyrinth and also my desire to see women be terrible and twisted because i think it's hot. i am not sorry about this >:-)

This Grave Calls You Home hit me like a lightning strike pretty much immediately after watching Interstellar. in the past, I've also posted something about a post-apocalypse story after humanity fled to the stars, but felt that this too was not right and so I took a break from this to figure out the story a bit better. it came to me 2 years later in the form of this story!! i was compelled by this idea of a lone astronaut. they're literally like cowboys, just in a different setting. loneliness is the singular thing that scares me most in this world, above anything tangible and not. space is the epitome of loss, of loneliness. nothing exists and therefore, you do not exist. i became so very nearly feverish with this idea of an astronaut lost forever in space, the memory only barely surviving the absence and then the implications of this as well.

i also love media where the narrator of the story is not the main character and more of a witness. of course, the MC of TGCYH changes the story based on the choices you make while reading, but in truth The Astronaut is the protagonist of this story. this story doesn't exist without The Astronaut.

a lot (read: all ) of my work revolves around this concept of loss, grief, and then the after. what does it look like when you are a stranger to yourself after these traumatic events. what does it look like when you have to manually pick the pieces of yourself off the ground, hands shaking as you slot them back together in this now fucked up, mismatched picture of who you were before. what happens when you realize you have to start from scratch with all new pieces. is it better to get back what you've lost, or is it better to move on? this question propels everything i write, i think.

[kings-highway]

i've got quite a lot of fics written but they don't seem complete or cohesive enough to leave my docs,,, i don't know how to outline fics so everytime i get back to them im all over the place and end up doing things from the beginning do u have any advice :⁠,)

so... mhm... this is an interesting question. First of all I GREATLY appreciate you asking but unfortunately this installment of King's "advice column" is going to be half rant, half pep talk, and like maybe a sneaky 3% advice because the truth is... I don't know.

first off: I don't outline anything. Never have. The few times I do outlines it's for the sake of "trying to outline" and never because i wanted to. If you ever see me say the phrase "my outline" what Im actually referring to is the dance-break hallucination of the characters I've set to whatever Top 40 song Im listening to at the moment. I... cannot help you with outlining. Not really.

But I have some things that may help you overall. It sounds like the problem you have is with editing, not writing. Which... if you're new to editing or haven't edited a lot, can be entirely tedious and confusing and you might be saying "ach, but whats the difference!" - the difference is everything. I, personally, love editing. editing is where a story comes alive and can be perfected. If you have a finished full draft of a story, and you truly dont know where to go next... the next step is to be done with it. Literally. I've been working on a personal novel for about 2 years now, and half that time is spent waiting. Put away your draft, write something else. In 2 months, 3 months, come back to it and read it again, change anything you're no longer satisfied with. You'd be SHOCKED how much just taking a break from a story can improve your understanding of it. You may think of things to change in this waiting period - hold off. Hold it in. Let it stew. consider it caramalizing onions. there's simply no way to rush it. NOW - you expressed the sentiment of "i always end up doing things from the beginning-" I say... no you dont. That IS editing. My story has fully changed from front to back multiple times. That new draft you wrote from scratch? congrats, thats your second draft. Not your first. then you do it again. And again. Until the edits become smaller and smaller and smaller. And then when you hate it enough, you say "i cant possibly touch this anymore" and thats when you let someone read it.

And the truth is, they should have been reading it before. Feedback is infinitely important, in the editing process. You cannot expect to only ever show the best product. I have friends who have read drafts of my novel that wouldnt even be able to recognize what it is now. but I could never have gotten it to this point without their feedback. You have to be okay with letting someone - even just one person - see your bad first draft. THEY will be able to tell you where your cohesion is or isnt and how to improve it.

BUT that brings me to a second point, and the idea that this is probably fanfiction. Now, your initial ask was a little vague, so consider the first response there me being under the assumption you were interested in completely finishing a novel or short story with incredibly serious intent. Now Im going to assume you might be looking to publish chapter by chapter or take it "less seriously" because its just for having fun.

And to that i Say:

if youre publishing chapter-by-chapter (and writing chapter by chapter) your cohesion is gonna be shit!!! thats a first draft youre putting out into the world, babe, its gonna be ass! but embrace the chaos!!! I have learned and developed SO MUCH as a writer by publishing chapters one at a time, namely how to "punch through" that lack of cohesion. Consider your first draft a challenge. no matter how many errors you make, you are NOT allowed to go back and change it. that thing you committed to chapter 2? well its chapter 18 now and you either need to address it, or ignore it and hope your readers dont comment. You are beholden to your own writing and theres nothing you can do. Make it work. Its probably not as bad as you think.

Which brings me back to my initial point - dont trust me on cohesion!! Or, maybe, don't trust *yourself* on your judgement of your story. I'm assuming if you're asking you like at least 1 of my stories, so here's that aforementioned peptalk bit from the beginning:

if we're talking about incohesive stories and bad choices and things that REALLY should have been edited, I'm the (hehe puns) King of them. (I sometimes just vaguely think about Paranormality and want to tear my hair out - and yet this is one people seem to love the most!) here's two facts from my stories that are currently still available to read on ao3:

1. In "The Island" Jasvir and the rescue team make a 24 hour journey in about 6 hours (Because I forgot where New Zealand was and didnt fact check before)

2. In "Soulmake Adventures" Tendou describes how Ushijima stays at his apartment when he's "in the city" despite that city being Tokyo and the home base for the Adlers and Ushijima really should, like, have a home. (It did not occur to me to even check)

And Honey, if you think I had a plan for even one goddamn second of Paranormality you're mistaken. Holy shit it's just nonsense after nonsense after nonsense. I REALLY should have like, at least at one point, like... thought ahead. I just kept shoving stuff in and backpedaling and doubling down on things. But it was FUN to write. And people had a lot of fun reading it. I could edit it into something cohesive, but I dont think it needs that. I think if youre writing fanfiction, maybe its okay to just let it be a little bit loose and fucked up for the sake of the joy of it.

here's.... uh.... 3% advice:

1. have an ending. the stories where I know what my last scene (or my last line) will be always get drafted easier and with less stress. I dont mean have an ending idea. I mean literally mentally map out the last paragraph. Really helps me keep on track

2. talk to people. Walk them through your premise and your themes and what you want it to be. saying it out loud almost always will start clicking puzzle pieces together.

3. learn editing. unfortunately im not talking about grammer and spelling, i mean proper content editing. You have to build this skill seperately from your writing.

4. accept that your first draft is for vibes and fun. Push forward and do your best to "force it" however you need to, but;

4.5. understand that deleting work is part of the creation process too. If you do scrap an entire draft and start over, youre not "starting over" - youre starting draft 2. Thats editing!

[openphrase123]

no mirabelle monday inutile update this week, so. tiny author infodump about the first act and of the fic below the cut (spoiler alert for the fic up to the current chapter, chapter 11) and also maybe some stuff about what to expect for act two??

this is probably obvious but i'm having SO!! MUCH!!! FUN!!!! BEING EVIL!!!!!!! every time someone yells in the comments or wails in despair i gain so much life. i'm serious about the fic tag about the story ending happily but holy hell i'm going to make everyone work for that happy ending

anyway when i was writing i was scratching at the walls of my enclosure during every chapter the siffrin namedrop didn't happen. geez it took so long for siffrin to get their canon name. why did i do it like that. (i know exactly why i did it like that)

the red formatting. i did that on a whim in the second chapter and went "hold on. if i can do that here i can do this Anywhere" and now #FF0000 is my best friend

i was struggling with what to put in the visions of the future because. i don't want to give everything away. but also i have learned from dnd that you can drop literally anything in a paragraph like that and 90% of people at the table won't connect the dots because context is everything. i thought people would get that siffrin was a star in the eclipse chapter but only a few people really caught on by then

there are a few lines and paragraphs that get repeated more than once, and that is. extremely intentional :) i will not list all of them but here are the highlights

ch1 | ch11

ch1 | ch8

ch1 | ch4

and also some lines that will be Very Fun in hindsight of act 2 tee hee

i'm currently at this very moment finishing off the jouvente chapter... i have a lot of the other chapters after that written in sections, and all of the chapters up to jouvente done (intermission and one other) but like. whew. the other party members really make this fic bangin.

by the time the jouvente chapter comes out i'll be posting the isabeau angst document. and let me tell you those two are FUN to read back to back. my new favorite pastime is bothering isabeau in new innovative ways

odile in act two is also. oh my god. i can't say it at all but i love her. i did this in curtain call but i love writing odile as a catalyst to Problems, like without her the Problems still would have popped up but she's just being economical about it. her catalyst in this fic is, admittedly, less mean, but it's still there

bonnie. smiles. i don't want to talk about bonnie yet.

and siffrin - well i don't really know who that is!! too bad!!!

i don't think i've said it in any official channels yet, i've mostly alluded to it in comments - but loop IS in this fic. slightly differently than canon though. i shan't say. i think they'd be a little different considering the situation i've put them in. still the same vibes though

anyway. act two. i said this in a comment also but it's very much structured like a novelization of a jrpg. which i am having a lot of fun with. there's a tutorial fight and everything. as well as your Typical JRPG Travel Locations (that vision of the future is Not Lying the fancy paper mario train is here) (no ff7 golden saucer though i am Sorry)

and. if you have made it this far. you have passed my test here is a preview for next week's chapter

[featherymalignancy]

Okay like if you agree, but….

here are 3 trends that I wish the fantasy genre would take a break from for a little while.

*Quick disclosure, this isn’t meant to feel overly negative, I mostly want to hear other people’s opinions on these trends and others!*

Hungry Games-esque “a competition with deadly stakes” plot lines. On the one hand, I get it, because like the rest of the world, I was totally enthralled by this premise when it was first introduced in the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale and later, the Hunger Games. However, at this point the idea of the main character entering into a deadly competition feels a little tired and predictable, and unlike Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, the many of the latest iterations lack the searing social commentary which made the premise so compelling. Notable Examples: Serpent and the Wings of Night, Lightlark, The Jasad Heir

Motherfucking EPIGRAPHS. You know, that line or paragraph of text which proceeds every chapter. In the fantasy genre, often it is an except from a historical or religious text from the world in which the book is set. And here’s the thing—it’s not that I hate epigraphs, or that I don’t understand their purpose. They can be an elegant way to add context to the story without burdening the main narrative with too much exposition, and they can also help the created world to feel more “lived in”. Having said that, I feel like they are starting to get way overused, and for me, they’ve gone from feeling like a cool way for the author to provide context and add meta commentary to their story to serving as a slightly less clunky vehicle of info-dumping. Like…am I supposed to be remembering the characters of this lore which I only ever hear about through these epigraphs, because I can assure you, I am not. In other instances, they can feel like an authors lack of faith in the reader, as if they are afraid we might miss the point if they don’t include an unsubtle cue as to where we ought to focus our attention at the start of every chapter. I respect the role epigraphs have played in fantasy classics like Dune and Wheel of Time, but I currently feel the number of novels employing them has become fatiguing, and I hope the trend of including them decreases, at least in the short-term. Notable examples: Fourth Wing (Empyrean Series, Swordcatcher, Furyborn (Empirium series)

A [Blank] of [Blank] and [Blank] Not much to say here other than…when are romantasy authors going to let this go?? 😮‍💨😮‍💨 While you could argue the true genesis of this title naming convention could be GRRM’s A Song of Ice of Fire, I think we can all agree that—for better or worse—it was the popularity of ACOTAR that sent this title style into the stratosphere, and at this point, it has become ubiquitous to the point of literal disorientation. To me there is nothing inherently wrong with this title style (though I would also argue there is nothing particularly gripping about it, at least not enough to warrant a trend of this size) but it basically renders all of these books—which are already of a similar vibe and style—virtually indistinguishable. As a reader on the hunt for new books to scratch that romantasy itch, it’s nearly impossible to tell the dozens of titles bearing this title apart, which means I have no sense which which ones I’ve read, which I haven’t, which caught my interest, which I started and didn’t care for, etc. I have idea how much of this is a consequence of publishers trying to capitalize on a known entity in order to make the most money and how much is just the fact that naming a book is really fucking hard, but good lord, what is it gonna take to stop this madness? Notable examples: quite literally too many to name

What do yall think? Do you agree, disagree? What are some fantasy trends you’d like to see go away/make a comeback

[spopsalt]

I'm a disabled adult when I say this: Catra is an absolute ableist piece of shit and also the creator of other people's disabilities, yet fans say that we're ableists for not liking her

*sighs*

Tbh, even if Catra was actually canonically disabled (especially having BPD, autism, or whatever disability people headcanon her having), that doesn't excuse the fact that she has not only disabled others (Octavia with her missing eye and Adora's mental health decline to name two things because to actually list them all would be like writing a novel), but also used Hordak for his disability and having it be presented as a "girlboss villain moment"

Disabled characters can still be held responsible for bad deeds that they created, even if they had a valid reason to do so

If Catra was actually disabled, she'd definitely fit under the topic of "disabled characters written by an ableist person"

However, considering she isn't actually disabled, fans are too detached to actually differentiate between canon and headcanon when it comes to making these arguments

Thank you! For people saying she has bpd, you know that she can still be ablest right? She literally exploited Hordak's disability, and, I hate to sound like a broken record since I mentioned this in another post, but how is that not basically taking a wheelchair from someone with broken legs! I'd be fine if it was rightfully shown as the fucked up thing it was, but nooo she's a cool girlboss and is never held accountable for doing that! She literally permanently disfigured Octavia by scratching her eye, and why!? I seriously do not get how she's never called out for it. Same with Perfuma for putting Entrapta ON A LEASH! Or literally every character with a physical diablity being a villain. The ableism in this KID'S SHOW is astounding.

[fenimores-book-nook]

Books (again) and other things

10.22.24 ~ Tuesday

Welcome back to the Book Nook! First things first: HAPPY ASEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK! I want to do something special for every day of Ace week (I have yet to decide what) and today it's going to be a drawing of a frog with an Ace flag that I found on Pinterest. Maybe that's what will happen every day, I guess you'll have to tune to find out this week. ;) I'm also aware that Asexuality Awareness week started two days ago, on the twentieth and it is in fact, October 22nd. Tuesdays usually feel like the "actual" start of the week to me since it's the first day of work for me. So...it makes sense to me.

I will also be going on a trip to Arizona on Thursday, so you best believe Imma be rocking some Ace and Aro pride while I'm there. ;) I wanted to try to wear something Ace or AroAce every day but I might've forgotten today. BUT I have made AroAce bracelets to sell in the shop I work at, so we got one of those on. Plus, I got my nails done recently and they've got purple ombre, so I think that counts as well.

Something I did for Aromantic Awareness week is make a bunch of Aro colored bracelets and had them out for free, so I want to do that again for Ace week! But I am low on those bracelets, so I'm gonna be a bracelet making machine when I get home today. Besides, better late than never. ;)

One of the main things I wanted today's blog post to be about is a book series that I really love. The Baby-Sitters Club (the graphic novels) books based on the original BSC books by Ann M. Martin. The illustrators/authors have changed as more books have come out but I love looking at all the different art and writing styles.

This is probably the main book series that I will always get new releases for, no matter how old I get, no matter what age the books are for. (Quick side note on that topic: it literally does not matter how old the books you read are intended for and it does not matter how old you are. Heck, I'm twenty and I regularly read middle grade books. Because I like them. And that's all that matters. I'm someone who has had a bit of trouble with not feeling embarrassed with reading some of the books I read but I shouldn't feel embarrassed! No one should. READ WHAT YOU WANT TO READ, WHO CARES WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK.) Okay. Side note over.

I never really got into the original Baby-Sitters Club books, though I've read a few of them. I love the graphic novels a lot, I feel like the art adds so much more to the story. So far, there's 16 of the graphic novel adaptations out. (And yes, I have all of them, hehe.) I know they've skipped some of the original books, probably because they felt they didn't add enough to the Baby-Sitters Club universe. (Or not, I don't know.) But the ones they have made, I love. And of course, we're going to talk about my favorites.

These are three of my favorites out of the BSC! I'm sure if I re-read all of them, I'd include a few others, but we'll talk about these for now.

Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye is book number 11 in the series. Lemme just preface by saying, Stacey is probably my favorite BSC character's point of view to read from. She and Claudia are probably my favorite BSC members, honestly.

I love this one because it's Stacey moving back to New York City and while her leaving Stoneybrook is sad, the way she looks at moving back, I really like. Also, I've always wanted to go to New York City and explore, so I'm gonna love any of the books that have to do with it. As well with Stacey and Claudia's friendship, I love it so much. In this one it's shown quite a bit, their dedication and care for each other. The art style in this is one of my favorites. It was a bit of a change to get used to when Raina Telgemeier stopped illustrating them (I love her own books as well), but I think I kind of prefer this style more. I love them all, but this one just scratches my brain right.

Jessi's Secret Language, book 12. As a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults), I really, really love when authors include deaf representation. There needs to be more representation, but over the last few years I've really noticed deaf characters being more included in books. As well as deaf representation, I'd love to see more normalized LGBTQIA+ representation. Seriously! But we're getting on a tangent now.

I love book 12 because of the things I've already stated, but also it's such a sweet book too. Jessi's love for dancing and how the kids and other BSC members show their support; I love it all.

And the last Baby-Sitters Club book we'll talk about today: Stacey's Mistake, book 14. Like I said about Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye, I love all the New York City vibes in this one too. But I'm also drawn to it because of the friend issues that happen. I haven't read this one in a bit, but I remember something in my brain going, "oh wow, I feel seen." I love books that make you feel like that. The way everything ends up okay-like every BSC book but that's partly why I love them so much-makes my heart smile.

I love all of the Baby-Sitters Club books and I will probably revisit talking about them in the future. They just give me this comfort and peak my interest every time I read them. And I'll also add: this is probably the only series that I've felt a real interest in writing fanfic and/or creating fanart for. But fanfic in the sense that I cast some of the characters as AroAce in my head. Honestly, it's kinda a lot of fun; I can see why people like creating an alternate story line to original stories in this way. :)

That is all for now, have the best day ever, and never stop reading what makes you happy.

All my love,

Thalia <3