#but also i just thought the prose and writing style was straight up bad

[rotzaprachim]

i’m not of the school of all classics suck tiktok literary theory. however what i CAN say recounting my literary adventures of this year is. i was fucking stunned how jane eyre had a certain watt pad 1st person POV my mom sold me to one direction  je ne sais quoi about it that i found surprising, hysterically funny, and also nigh unreadable 

[thefeathercollective]

we're 99.9% sure that portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa was plural.

okay uh disclaimer. we're not a psychology or literature expert by any means. we rarely even read poetry. we only heard of this guy in high school literature class and the thought stuck with us and then we found plausible evidence lmao. also, as a plural system ourselves, we're clearly biased.

and a considerable amount of this post will be sourced from wikipedia. and this is the first time we've made a post like this. please don't come after us I'm just writing this for fun lmao

huge ramble ahead!

who even was that man

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (Portuguese: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du pɨˈsoɐ]; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language. He also wrote in and translated from English and French.

yeah that's who the man was. but what really sparked our interest in him during class and made us wonder if he was plural were his...

✨heteronyms✨

y'know pseudonyms? when someone writes under a different name than their own for whatever reason? these are similar, but the catch is that the different names have different personalities, supposed appearances, philosophies, all that shit.

the term was coined by Pessoa himself, and his heteronyms were written as if they were real people. they had detailed careers, histories, etc. he had at least 70, although I vaguely remember some other source estimating it at around 100.

"but eva, these could just be OCs or something!",

he had 3 main ones though, being Alberto Caeiro (known for interpreting the world as-is, without greater meaning or anything, like some sorta anti-poet), Álvaro de Campos (a naval engineer who even had multiple phases in his philosophy) and Ricardo Reis (who wrote with a lot of structure and rationality, and was very pessimistic).

I predict someone typing. to that, I begin my endless copy-paste + ramble about all the things that make us think the heteronyms were headmates.

I'll throw in a section of a letter Pessoa wrote to some other poet (bolding the parts I find relevant because I don't love walls of text lmao)

How do I write in the name of these three? Caeiro, through sheer and unexpected inspiration, without knowing or even suspecting that I'm going to write in his name. Ricardo Reis, after an abstract meditation, which suddenly takes concrete shape in an ode. Campos, when I feel a sudden impulse to write and don't know what. (My semi-heteronym Bernardo Soares, who in many ways resembles Álvaro de Campos, always appears when I'm sleepy or drowsy, so that my qualities of inhibition and rational thought are suspended; his prose is an endless reverie. He's a semi-heteronym because his personality, although not my own, doesn't differ from my own but is a mere mutilation of it. He's me without my rationalism and emotions. His prose is the same as mine, except for certain formal restraint that reason imposes on my own writing, and his Portuguese is exactly the same – whereas Caeiro writes bad Portuguese, Campos writes it reasonably well but with mistakes such as "me myself" instead of "I myself", etc.., and Reis writes better than I, but with a purism I find excessive…)

so not only does he describe writing Caeiro completely unexpectedly, he also gives the same sort of opinion about his heteronyms' writings that we've seen (and experienced) plural folks give about their headmates' typing or drawing styles.

hell, "writes better than I but with a purism I find excessive" is exactly my opinion of lynn when he does our assignments lmao

the semi-heteronym surfacing when Pessoa is sleepy could be some sorta dissociative state that lets a headmate come through, be it straight-up fronting or passive influence... but I'm probably forcing it too much here.

uhhh here's something on the heteronym thing from some guy called richard zenish. I bolded some parts again

For each of his 'voices', Pessoa conceived a highly distinctive poetic idiom and technique, a complex biography, a context of literary influence and polemics and, most arrestingly of all, subtle interrelations and reciprocities of awareness. [...] Pessoa was often unsure who was writing when he wrote, and it's curious that the very first item among the more than 25,000 pieces that make up his archives in the National Library of Lisbon bears the heading A. de C. (?) or B. de D. (or something else).

"okay.... they could still be characters though"

the heteronyms were aware of and sometimes interacted between themselves. wikipedia's list of Pessoa's heteronyms even has the man himself as a heteronym and pupil of Alberto Caeiro, although I don't feel like going after the source for that bit.

dear hypothetical person I'm quoting here, you're entitled to your opinion. but how about we take, say... a more DID/OSDD-y approach to things? because there's things that hint that Fernando Pessoa's plurality could be traumagenic and/or disordered too.

When Pessoa was five, his father, Joaquim de Seabra Pessôa, died of tuberculosis and less than seven months later his younger brother Jorge, aged one, also died (2 January 1889).

(written by himself about himself:) Nothing had ever obliged him to do anything. He had spent his childhood alone. He never joined any group. He never pursued a course of study. He never belonged to a crowd. The circumstances of his life were marked by that strange but rather common phenomenon – perhaps, in fact, it's true for all lives – of being tailored to the image and likeness of his instincts, which tended towards inertia and withdrawal.

(written by a schoolfellow:) For one of his age, he thought much and deeply and in a letter to me once complained of "spiritual and material encumbrances of most especial adverseness". He took no part in athletic sports of any kind and I think his spare time was spent on reading. We generally considered that he worked far too much and that he would ruin his health by so doing.

so childhood trauma, check...? at the very least this stuff doesn't sound very good for a child's mental health.

Pessoa's earliest heteronym, at the age of six, was Chevalier de Pas. Other childhood heteronyms included Dr. Pancrácio and David Merrick, followed by Charles Robert Anon, a young Englishman who became Pessoa's alter ego.

"I can remember what I believe was my first heteronym, or rather, my first nonexistent acquaintance — a certain Chevalier de Pas — through whom I wrote letters to myself when I was six years old, and whose not entirely hazy figure still has a claim on the part of my affections that borders on nostalgia. I have a less vivid memory of another figure . . . who was a kind of rival to the Chevalier de Pas. Such things occur to all children ? Undoubtedly — or perhaps. But I lived them so intensely that I live them still; their memory is so strong that I have to remind myself that they weren’t real."

oh I just found some spiritual stuff too

the appearance of the first heteronym was after his family members died so that's one thing... and like, that's not just one childhood heteronym but at least four. and well, to me they sound a bit too vivid for your average imaginary friend.

Pessoa's interest in spiritualism was truly awakened in the second half of 1915, while translating theosophist books. This was further deepened in the end of March 1916, when he suddenly started having experiences where he believed he became a medium, having experimented with automatic writing. [...] Besides automatic writing, Pessoa stated also that he had "astral" or "etherial visions" and was able to see "magnetic auras" similar to radiographic images. [...] Mediumship exerted a strong influence in Pessoa's writings, who felt "sometimes suddenly being owned by something else" or having a "very curious sensation" in the right arm, which was "lifted into the air" without his will. Looking in the mirror, Pessoa saw several times what appeared to be the heteronyms: his "face fading out" and being replaced by the one of "a bearded man", or another one, four men in total.

........

man, this wikipedia article is extensive and full of stuff that supports our silly little theory, huh.

yeah, so he attributed it to spiritual reasons which is fair and valid, but... "owned by something else" all of a sudden? the thing with the right arm sounding a lot like partial possession in tulpamancy? seeing his heteronyms' faces in the mirror?

yeahhhh.

(I'm guessing the magnetic aura thing could be some sorta derealization, contributing to the he-was-a-dissociative-system hypothesis, but that's yet another stretch on my part.)

(plus, spiritual plurality is a thing.)

oh! this thing he wrote sounds a lot like it too.

"This tendency to create around me another world . . . began in me as a young adult, when a witty remark that was completely out of keeping with who I am or think I am would sometimes and for some unknown reason occur to me, and I would immediately, spontaneously say it as if it came from some friend of mine whose name I would invent, along with biographical details, and whose figure — physiognomy, stature, dress and gestures — I would immediately see before me."

let's just do a quick google..

am I biased? yes, very much so. but y'know. you can see I have my reasons.

to see if any people with more qualifications than we have think the same about Fernando Pessoa possibly being plural lmao.

...oh, yes. contrary to what we thought a couple years ago when we had that class about the guy, other people have indeed thought the same. and written about it.

keywords "fernando pessoa mpd" give us:

this paper from 2012 (in portuguese) that... well, I *think* it claims he had mpd but it's very convoluted and abstract about it

this little... forum post? from 2009 that quotes a dead link :v

this one seems kinda cool. it regards Pessoa's positive approach to his heteronym-having as a creative condion called Pessoa Syndrome, and later mentions some Multiple Personality Order (not disorder). don't love some of its wording about mental disorders and madness... it's good to see someone consider healthy multiplicity as a thing that exists, though. it also claims Pessoa became someone with multiple personalities through his heteronymic writing, which is yet another possible origin I hadn't considered before for some fucking reason.

this one cites a dissociative process

this one straight up calls it "subject plurality"!

conclusion ig. I'm pretending to be organized here.

other keywords (like "fernando pessoa dissociative") provide some more results :0 but I've been writing this post for far too long now and would rather not read through more odd wording lmao

it really surprises me that wikipedia doesn't mention the possibility at all from what I've read and ctrl+F'ed. I thought we were being a conspiracy theorist about it but then I found even more stuff to back us up, including other people's analyses. so that's nice.

and I think this kind of thing, of plurals of the past, should be talked about more in the community. it's really interesting to say the least.

...

how does one even end a post like this one.

uhh thanks for reading!!

[snarktheater]

I read part of your Maze Runner reviews and wanted to ask about toxic masculinity and purple prose. I still have trouble seeing toxic masculinity as I always thought guys could talk about women being attractive amongst themselves but also know that appearance does not define anyone. That's something that guys can joke about. And I wondered about purple prose, as I have always been a descriptive writer with how I describe things, and I wondered if I am being descriptive or writing purple prose. Any advice for these topics?

P.S. I am worried that I have biases because I am a straight, white, male who has predominately grown up in a small metro city in Texas. I went to college, which definitely opened my eyes, but I still have trouble adjusting to the world as it changes(commuted from home). I've been introverted most of my life and the two friends I have are white men. My parents always taught me to treat people the same, and I always thought that was the right thing to do. I never thought of anyone being superior or inferior to anyone else. Now I hear that it can be bad to treat people the same way as it could disregard their backgrounds or upbringings. I only share this to provide context to my character and whether I can still learn to be at least a good or decent writer/person.

Okay i'll start with the purple prose because, well, it's been ten years and i have to recant some of it. I mean, the prose in these books did annoy me. I do not like it. I've just grown enough to recognize it's more "not for me" than "objectively bad" and i think the phrase purple prose pathologizes or vilifies a certain style of writing that's ultimately valid. Ineffective in my opinion, but I'm sure it has its perks.

What I would say on the topic instead (now) is to be mindful of the medium you're writing in. Having encountered that type of prose more, my working theory is it tends to irk me when the writer comes across as writing as if they're making a movie in their head. Which is not playing to the strengths of the medium you're in, and kind of comes across as if the writer wrote a book by default, because they didn't have the means to access a hollywood-level production, rather than out of a genuine love of the medium.

At least, that's how it feels to me.

It's not like describing visuals is inherently bad, but it's much more powerful if you can give the visuals meaning. Tell us how the visuals makes someone feel. Make the scene affect something. Sparkle in some theming! Don't make those curtains just be blue.

Toxic masculinity is a much broader topic, one that a single tumblr ask can't possibly begin to cover. But to bounce off your example: the issue is that "men talking about women's appearance in private" doesn't happen in a vacuum. Women are objectified in society, and it reinforces that notion when they're treated as literal objects to be discussed behind closed doors.

But that's not the part of it that I would really put into toxic masculinity. To me (as far as I understand as someone who has a very layperson understanding of it) the part of it that's toxic masculinity is how the act of discussing it with other men, or people perceived as such, behind closed doors, creates an environment in which one can either participate in it, or see themselves devalued. Speaking from experience as a queer person: there's nothing more terrifying than being forcibly dragged into that conversation, and having to decide how to navigate it without putting myself at risk. And I'm actually attracted to women, contrary to popular belief. It just so happens that my gender is complex and my attraction to women is more akin to a lesbian asking Agatha Harkness to put a curse on me, mommy. But interestingly, if I brought that to the table in boy talk, that would also get me ostracized. Because it's not just about talking about women's looks, it's about doing so in a prescriptive way, one that enforces a certain type of attractiveness above others (and that intersects with race, ability, etc) and that also enforces a certain power dynamic in the attraction of a man to a woman.

(Well, I say it's terrifying. It was as a teen. As an adult who has grown comfortable enough with his autism to make it everyone else's problems I just side eye and go blank until they stop)

But this doesn't affect only queer people, obviously. This same mechanism of social ostracism also affects any man, even a cis straight man, who would want to object to the treatment of women, or express a less conventional kind of attraction (like, say, the example I just cited, although I've yet to see a straight man say that about Agatha Harkness).

And that's...not easy to wrap your mind around! You kinda have to deconstruct your entire world view. It's not easy. The only reason someone like me might have an easier time of it is because I've had to do it to figure out who the hell I am in the first place.

This is why I don't think your point about treating all people equally works all that well. Maybe something may have gotten lost in translation, because it's not about giving someone preferential treatment. The thing is, objectification is harmful to everyone, not because you're feeling or expressing attraction (or lack thereof) but because of the implied power behind it. And that power, in the world we live in, is concentrated in the hands of privilege and wielded against the marginalized. So it's more that, in trying to redress social injustice, it's more urgent to call it out when wielded in that direction.

And just to be clear, as I hope was obvious in my little segue: you can still be horny without objectifying someone. It's about treating them with respect, as people with autonomy.

Anyway. Last thing I'll say is we live in an age where you have countless opportunities to find other perspectives, even if you're introverted and with friends who are mostly from a similar background. I am very much a shut in. That's what the internet is for.

[thedramasummer]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19 (as of today)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

115,459….in 4 months (with another 4440 as of today)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

RWRB on AO3 but I started writing Kingdom Hearts, Fullmetal Alchemist and a litany of other things in AIM messages back in the day

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54451198 (the stars are in your eyes)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55120552 (of all the people on hinge)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/54270691 (snapshots of you and me)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/53698612/chapters/135933751 (5 Times Alex Claremont-Diaz was Bad at Self-Care and One Time He Got it Right.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55339042 (tell me again when you don't have a fever)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why? Why not?

Yes! Sometimes I fall behind, but I always make sure I reply just because I appreciate it. I'm still kind of a newbie writer in the fandom so people responding to my work means the world to me.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Currently, in terms of completed fics, probably forgiveness (can you imagine?) aka Catherine apologizing to Henry, Bea, and Philip. I'd say it's a hopeful ending at best, but it isn't wrapped up nicely in a bow because that whole family dynamic is super messy and it needs a lot of work to make better.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Gotta say it's the follow up to snapshots--paint me a pretty picture, because not so spoilery spoiler--Alex awkwardly proposes without actually proposing and it's nauseatingly cute imho.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't and I really hope I don't. I'm always open to receiving constructive criticism.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

So the funniest story in the world is that I was afraid to write smut until January and now half of my fics are smut, because it's kind of a palate cleanser for all the angsty, heavier stuff I'm writing. I really try to keep the smut light and fluffy and I'm working on stretching out my writing muscles when I write smut in terms of getting out of my comfort zone.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Haven't finished one yet. I have a dungeons and dragons inspired fic, isekai style (Alex and Henry falling into Faerun with look alikes for the rest of the Super Six) that I started when I first started writing FirstPrince that I need to remix and clean up.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I'd be honored if anyone asked

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Why yes. Wrote a lovely one with @cactusdragon517 (: The Joys of Mild Narcissism - MayQueen517, acheinmybones - Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston [Archive of Our Own]

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Gotta say it's FirstPrince. In my pre-tumblr days it had to be Roy/Riza from FMA or Axel/Roxas from Kingdom Hearts.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I started a Hadestown AU and it's kinda sitting in GDocs, hanging because I have no idea what to do with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I gotta say it's dialogue and setting scenes. It's my favorite to write. I am also good at the analytical/cerebral stuff.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

The more flowery language/straight prose. I sometimes am a bit too straightforward and I'd like to be a bit more descriptive in my writing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I tone check it constantly and double check with friends who are native speakers to make sure it isn't clunky but I love it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

If we're getting SUPER honest...Warrior Cats

20. Favourite fics you’ve written?

My two favorites are the birthday fic (birthday blues and smiles too)--I love the found family vibes from Super Six in the resolution of the fic vs. the hurt caused by Ellen and Oscar respectively. I think I did really well with the comfort part of the hurt/comfort.

Figure Me Out--my demi Alex character study. I myself am demisexual and I see a lot of myself in Alex. Demi!Alex is one of my favorite headcanons and being able to explore his different relationships with different people and how he shows and receives affection and comes into his own is very personal and important to me.

I was tagged by @anincompletelist

If anyone else wants to do it, feel free!

[vzyee]

gonna collect my thoughts on on earth we're briefly gorgeous since i finally read it after four years of it being the biggest thing in every sphere. preface is that i know this was like landmark literature & i can acknowledge that while also you know griping.

so first of all i thought this was straight up memoir when i read it due to assuming it was an extension of his more autobiographical poetry.

i made a joke abt how it reminded me of barry s3 but its like, the comparison is nearly there. turning from just depthless ancient sadness to like, extremely contemporaneous colloquial language and stylings. which isn't to say that the depictions of generational trauma in gorgeous (ancient sadness) are necessarily more remote/removed of course & in a lot of ways the early aughts details are alienating when you'd expect them to be grounding.

i also noticed how neatly this fits into the like goldfinch genre which im always going on about. obviously it borrows quite a bit thematically from the big gay dark academia epics (art trauma and memory) although crucially the academia element is sort of plucked out of the story. he goes to college this seems like it would have major implications in the narrative of americanness and yet it's barely factored in. and further barbara kingsolver totally did the whole first day on the tobacco farm thing in demon copperhead down to the gloves being too big. i'm calling dc a big etc gay novel even though it barely is because it also to me derives from that same tradition. However. and the point is. it disrupts that genre primarily by not being an epic. Like the prose is actually very efficient. a lot of the scenes are precisely what they are. to my taste i actually like a very long unwinding of every mood and development from one stage of life & being to the next & i do think. gorgeous accomplishes a lot of that even if nonlinearly. but for instance in the "sometimes being offered tenderness" scene, that felt to me like a moment that could have been more thoroughly arrived at as something that fundamentally changed the terms of little dog & trevor's relationship and their understanding of their place in their own & each other's lives. but instead it is so distilled. which is interesting. in a lot of other ways obviously it doesnt seem like theres a ton of disruption as with the dramatization of violence, drugs, intense angst etc and the very knowing floaty tone of the narration. which i did not appreciate as much.

last big point had to do with like, maturity of voice. to me this still seemed absolutely like . well a debut novel. an early work. i've read some of night sky with exit wounds and i have some familiarity otherwise with vuong but i don't think i've read anything more recent than gorgeous. i really like ocean vuong in interviews and i think he's immensely quotable which is a gift some writers have whether due to insight & reflection or just composure both of which are very impressive. vuong i think has both. however i think the impression i got over and over in gorgeous was that his voice either hasn't fully developed or he's still coming to terms with how to use it in practice. i think about this a lot, like what the metric is for a "mature" and "developed" individual voice vision style whatever in writing. basically it's when your conviction matches the level of your ambition & i did not see true conviction here. which is not a bad thing in and of itself in a novel of fragmentation disorientation and resistance. but amid the confusion and the immense efforts of the narrator to preserve recollect and reassemble there are still these grand poetic gestures of generalization summary and aphorism. once again "sometimes being offered tenderness feels like the very proof that we've been ruined" (one of the most successful attempts at generalization i think).

also he says somewhere in an interview that he's working against legibility which i'm not entirely sure he does. he mentions genre bending and the inclusion of for instance butterfly and opioid trivia, he mentions nonlinearity. all of this though is honestly more or less digestible, and the novel is actually fairly rigidly structured. Especially with the amount of im gonna call them tropes maybe cliches. that dictate the general plot progression. quite legible. & i feel even stronger abt that now that i realize those actually were conscious authorial placements and not like, real life experiences that just happened to follow a highly exaggerated narrative arc. which genuinely confused me when i was reading i thought he had to be at least embellishing. and he was

[supersoakerfullofblood]

Two of the best dialogue tips I've gotten

Characters don't talk like people, but they should sound like they are. This advice is pretty nebulous until you see it in practice, so we'll look at an example in a second. People in real life have conversations, but writing an entire conversation down would take pages and be a chore to read. A whole conversation would break writing's cardinal rule to be precise and only include in your prose the words that matter. At the same time, if the conversation is important, you don't want to skimp on the dialogue, because more words = more notable scene in the mind of the reader (as it should). One example from Plath's The Bell Jar:

Jay Cee wanted to teach me something, all the old ladies I ever knew wanted to teach me something, but I suddenly didn't think they had anything to teach me. I fitted the lid on my typewriter and clicked it shut. "Doreen grinned. 'Smart girl.' Somebody tapped at the door. 'Who is it?' I didn't bother to get up. 'It's me, Betsy. Are you coming to the party?' 'I guess so.' I still didn't go to the door. They imported Betsy straight from Kansas with her bouncing blonde pony-tail and Sweetheart-of-Sigma-Chi smile. I remember once the two of us were called over to the office of some blue-chinned TV producer in a pin-stripe suit to see if we had any angles he could build up for a programme, and Betsy started to tell about the male and female corn in Kansas. She got so excited about that damn corn even the producer had tears in his eyes, only he couldn't use any of it, unfortunately, he said."

You can imagine this scene playing out in real life: after "I guess so," there's almost certainly more banter between the narrator, Betsy, and Doreen, and more words would likely be said within this dialogue too, but only the vital organs of the dialogue is put onto paper. You can also go a little more maximalist if your style flows like that. Take this exchange from Jackon's The Haunting of Hill House:

"Luke leaned himself wearily against the wall of the upstairs hall, his head resting against the gold frame of an engraving of a ruin. 'I keep thinking of this house as my own future property,' he said, 'more now than I did before; I keep telling myself that it will belong to me someday, and I keep asking myself why.' He gestured at the length of the hall. 'If I had a passion for doors,' he said, 'or gilded clocks, or miniatures; if I wanted a Turkish corner of my own, I would very likely regard Hill House as a fairyland of beauty.' 'It's a handsome house,' the doctor said staunchly. 'It must have been thought of as elegant when it was built.' He started off down the hall, to the large room on the end which had once been the nursery. 'Now,' he said, 'we shall see the tower from a window'—and shivered as he passed through the door. Then he turned and looked back curiously. 'Could there be a draft across that doorway?' 'A draft? In Hill House?' Theodora laughed. 'Not unless you could manage to make one of those doors stay open.' 'Come here one at a time, then,' the doctor said, and Theodora moved forward, grimacing as she passed the doorway.' 'Like the doorway of a tomb,' she said. 'It's warm enough inside, though.'"

Characters in this passage and the book as a whole are chatty, which isn't a bad thing, just an element of the prose style. Typically, the older you get with books, the more dialogue-heavy they are (because older writing styles skew maximalist in all ways, including dialogue), and more modern books lean dialogue-light (because modernist writing styles have affected how we view written mediums). But even in the Hill House example, characters aren't holding a full conversation. The narrative takes pieces from what each character would be saying in the situation, because only those pieces matter to the flow of the book and the information the author needs to convey. However maximalist or minimalist you want to go, make sure you leave something on the cutting room floor. If your prose is dialogue-heavy right now, try cutting a few words, maybe even a few lines of dialogue, to see how it sounds trimmed down!

2. When characters are talking, make sure they want different things, and make this show in their dialogue. This doesn't need to happen all the time, but it should in any scene in your story that pushes the characters/plot forward--which should be most scenes--because this creates conflict. I've heard this advice called "competing scripts." If you have two characters who both want to go to high school homecoming, you can't write compelling dialogue. Character A says, "I want to go to the dance," character B says, "Wowee, I do too," and then they go in the next scene. Dialogue isn't needed here. But what if one character wants to go and the other character doesn't want to go because their ex is there, but they also don't want to tell character A because that'll cause drama? Then you get sparks flying! Here's an example from Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven:

"'It keeps spreading,' Orr said, feeling inadequate and despondent. 'The war, I mean.' 'Does it worry you?' 'Doesn't it worry you?' 'Irrelevant," said the doctor, smiling his broad, hairy, bear's smile, like a big bear-god; but he was still wary, since yesterday. 'Yes, it worries me.' But Haber had not earned that answer; the questioner cannot withdraw himself from the question, assuming objectivity—as if the answers were an object. Orr did not speak these thoughts, however; he was in a doctor's hands, and surely the doctor knew what he was doing. Orr had a tendency to assume that people knew what they were doing, perhaps because he generally assumed that he did not. 'Sleep well?' Haber inquired, sitting down under the left rear hoof of Tammany Hall. 'Fine, thanks.' 'How do you feel about another go in the Palace of Dreams?' He was watching keenly. 'Sure, that's what I'm here for, I guess.' He saw Haber rise and come around the desk, he saw the large hand come out toward his neck, and then nothing happened.

Haber, a scientist studying dream psychology, wants to run his tests on Orr, and Orr isn't super into the idea. You can see social sparks fly in "Does it worry you?" "Doesn't it worry you?", and in how Haber is only really concerned with his research. These characters enter into the dialogue wanting different and fairly opposite things, and it creates good drama! Here's one last example from my own writing that might help. The scene is of a man named Oskar and his spirit guide named Selby:

“'Hm?'” She looked down at the box. 'Oh. Your fylgja. Spirit animal. I named him 'Kelby.'' She pointed to the floor behind her, and Óskar saw that her fingernails, chewed short, were blotted with the same black makeup as the rest of her ensemble. A large, wooden box sat where she pointed that on closer inspection held a miniature home and dirt floor. 'A project for the mouse. Keeps me from thinking.' 'But my gift!' Óskar said. 'He will eat the ends!' He steeled his resolve and scooped Kelby out. The knot inside lay unaffected in the dream’s wall. The mouse flicked his whiskers on Óskar’s palm. 'He likes you,' Selby said. 'You should like him too.' Óskar squinted, and the mouse mimicked. 'I am a mouse person?' She shrugged. 'Seen worse. Óskar—grandpa—was a goat.' 'The goat is noble! Strong.' Óskar puffed. 'The mouse is small, shrewd. But what more can you say of Óskar of the Sea Traders?'  He again caught Selby from her stolidness, and she looked up for the first time since his arrival. Her eyes were older than her skin, gray. 'He was. I liked him.' She shook her head. 'But he was a goat. All goats eat dirt. You at least get table scraps.' 'I will eat a full meal!' Óskar spread his feet and held his arms wide, and Kelby leapt from his palm to his box on the floor. Óskar was large but felt himself shrinking under the woman’s gaze above him. 'It is my destiny to kill and be honored! The hall will be—' 'Do you love your dad?' He lowered his arms and was quiet. 'I did.' She sighed and returned to herself, and Óskar found no response. Then, 'The world is cold. Lots of big spooks.' She cocked her head. 'Die in battle, no?' The empty spaces crept from her voice, and Óskar felt something pleasant underneath, a fondness he couldn’t name. 'If you love him, why would you follow your fate? Die in a fight, die with honor and never see him again?' Óskar stuttered, 'It is what he wants! To be a man well-regarded and rich in community.' Selby laughed to herself. 'Is this what you want?' 'It is.' She retreated to her upkeep again, and as Óskar opened his mouth to interrupt, she blurted, 'Go to Toftanes, just south of here. There’s a'—she hesitated—'monster in a cave there. People call him Oddmund. If you kill him, they might honor you with a title.' 'Oddmund the Beast.' He tossed the name in his speech, weighing the foe by its syllables. 'Oddmund sounds a sinister chord! But I will end it.' His breath hit the air and, far off, a sail rose.

Oskar is concerned pleasing the honor of his dead father. Selby is concerned with Oskar realizing that honor was a lie and with recognizing that his current family is what matters most. These concerns conflicted in the dialogue until Selby realized she could use Oskar for her own ends: killing Oddmund, her old lover, and calling him a beast so he'll agree to it. Competitions like this make dialogue a strong and necessary part of prose!

i hate having to write dialogue like how do people talk? I don’t know😭

[greensaplinggrace]

do you have any darklina fic recs?

I certainly have a few! But first I want to clarify that I don’t really read fic when I’m writing it, and since I have so many fics in the works right now, I haven’t really been reading a lot of fanfiction. So this list probably won’t be as extensive as it could be.

Here are some other great fic recommendation posts, however:

DARKLINA FIC RECS by @vicioux

DARKLINA FIC RECS // part ii by @vicioux

Darklina Ruling the World Together Fic Recs by @clubofthestarlesssaint

Tumblr Ficlets

Aleksander’s First Memory by @kestrafagnor

Fivan Talk About Darklina by @jomiddlemarch

a little light in the great, big dark by @valkyrhys

Alina tells Mal she’s with Aleksander by @lorsanbitch

Darklina week day 5: intimacy & touch by @starlesscne

AO3 Fanfiction

if it ain’t me by larry_hystereks (Incomplete - 10/13 Chapters)

alina’s in her second year at Yale when she meets aleksander at one of his frat parties.

a hookup with the potential for more, only if alina wasn’t still struggling to piece herself together from last year’s breakup.

or: alina, zoya, their trust issues, and the men that fall for them

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I’m only at about chapter 6 of this fic currently, but so far it’s one of my all time favorite Modern AUs. The characterization for Alina and Aleksander is incredibly well done, and the entire fic itself is so feminist and queer in such a refreshing way. Aleksander and Alina are bisexual as fuck, both with their own separate complex lives, and much of Alina’s own traumas and relationships are explored outside of Aleksander.

There’s some Zoyalina, with Nikolina friendship and endgame Zoyalai. There’s some mystery and some tension, but nothing too extreme, and a lot of the fic is merely an exploration in growth and overcoming one’s history and learning how to move on in healthy ways. I love it.

She Wears a Collar (With My Name) by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

She is immortal, and whatever lingering hints of humanity she may have once had have long been bleached from her heart.

I will grant you one wish, boy, if it is in my power to do so. What does a Shadow Smith most want?

"You," he answers.

Written for Darklina Week 2021 - Day 2: Role Reversal

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This piece is just exquisite. This author’s writing style is one that I particularly enjoy. Their stuff is always so uniquely composed and crafted, and this one especially is a work of art. The way Darklina as a relationship is portrayed in particular is fascinating to me because it’s a role reversal but it’s still so complex. Aleksander’s character is nailed.

the bright sun was extinguish’d by athousandwinds (Complete)

Somewhere, deep in the dark forests of Ravka, a boy grows up on stories of Sankta Alina of the Wastes, the Sun-Scorched Saint.

---

This fic is just straight up magnificent. It’s so engaging and I love love love the way a role reversed Aleksander who joins the army is portrayed. He reminds me so much of Demon in the Woods Aleksander, as if he’s exactly what a grown version of that young boy would be. When I say I adore his characterization in this I’m not lying.

If I wanted any completed fic I’ve read to have a second chapter, it would be this one.

Winter in the Little Palace by redisxwing (Complete)

Written for Yuletide 2020.

Baghra and Alina's wildly different perspectives on the Darkling, and how things could have gone if nobody listened to Baghra.

Warning: Baghra is written as a harsh and arguably abusive parent, and this is darkfic about that relationship, with a side of shipping. Everything is terrible (except the parts that are pretty much okay).

Canon divergence pretty much as soon as Alina gets lessons in summoning.

This fic is likely not compatible with King of Scars (or any subsequent work).

---

As is said in the summary, this one makes Baghra a bit more extreme. If you’re a fan of Baghra, this fic probably isn’t for you. But since I’m not a fan of Baghra, I had no problems with it.

My biggest praise for this fic is in regards to the character interactions and the POVs. There’s a brilliant grasp of unique perspective and how to convey it, and that talent is carried over into the way character interactions are brought to life in the text. Also, there’s a scene where Alina gets kind of protective of the Darkling, which is one of my biggest weaknesses when it comes to Darklina.

Good Ideas by FelixRivers (Complete)

Alina Starkov had a very good idea. Aleksander Morozova would definitely agree. (or: Alina wants to go camping and Aleksander won't complain)

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This fic is just straight up adorable and hilarious. They’re such a cute couple and Alina’s POV is great. It’s just pure fluff and humor 💕

I’m not a bad girl, but I do bad things with you by SanktaJenya - @sankta-arya (Complete)

Winter had been hard on Old Baghra and Ana Kuya was worried about her, so she decided that Alina should make the trip to her cottage on the other side of the woods to bring her some food and kvas. On her way there, Alina meets a stranger...

Darklina Red Riding Hood/Company of Wolves AU

Darklina Week, Day 4, Fairytales

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This fic has a splendid grasp of tension and atmosphere. It’s very enchanting and dark and intriguing, and it nails those aspects with absolute precision. I love the style and the way the fairytale is incorporated into the narrative. It’s truly a masterpiece.

The Wretched by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

“We are strangers, but I want to help.” He growls at her, mocking and mistrustful. “I understand,” she said. “You think I am one of them. I certainly look like one of them. But I want to help you. Will you let me?” Prompt: fairytale. Alina saves a dragon.

---

Okay so I’ve mentioned this one before as one of my Top 5 fics of all time and I still stand by that. I can’t even describe why I love this fic so much except that the pacing is amazing and the prose is stunning and the story is beautiful. Aleksander is a dragon and Alina is a witch, and their relationship is just so...interesting and fascinating and lovely. I would literally kill for this fic. There’s such a softness to it as well. Such a tenderness. Idk, I just really love it.

Show Me Who You Are (I Want To Know) by Ceris_Malfoy (Incomplete - 12/?)

Alina takes her future in her own hands and makes her own decisions.

---

This is a great “what if Alina had stuck around after the reveal” rewrite. It doesn’t have Mal bashing and in fact still writes them as close friends, which is something I’m fond of in Darklina fics. Aleksander is allowed to be soft and Alina is allowed to be powerful, and I really enjoyed the take on their dynamics as a power couple wherein Alina is given a lot of control.

There’s something to be said for the way Aleksander is written in the scenes where he must be honest and earnest with Alina. I really enjoy the way they both come to equal ground, and I’m even more fond of the way Alina is allowed to grow darker without losing her light. She also engages a lot with quite a few other characters, developing tons of friendships and alliances on her own that help strengthen her as an individual character.

on this bridge between starshine and clay by @rhea-imagined (Complete)

"His breath narrows for a moment, his fist clenched tight before he forces himself to loosen it. She is his only opportunity for salvation, but vulnerability is not a cape he wears easily. “In those days, there was less prejudice against Shadow Summoners. But everyone fears the dark, in one way or another.” He does not look at her as he waits for the penny to drop, half-hoping it stays suspended in the air."

In which Alexander comes clean to Alina and tells her about his true identity in hopes that this will help convince her to take down the Fold.

A rewrite of the fountain scene in episode four, with a good!Darkling that is trying to make amends.

---

This is my all-time favorite good!Aleksander AU. He’s kept in character despite the major changes made to his motivations, and Alina is given a lot more agency in her own story. It’s the first fic in what might become a series, but it can stand alone beautifully.

I love how Aleksander and Alina’s relationship is allowed to grow tense without breaking, and how it’s a clear sign of change but not abandonment. I love how both characters are able to think for themselves and become self-aware and are given the chance to think critically. I love the character interaction so much because it’s honest and fresh and engaging. Everything from the smallest action to the most off-hand thought is in character and meaningful and incorporated with an amazing style of writing. It’s a very refreshing piece, and the writing only makes it that much better.

Bunnies of a Feather Stitch Together by Ill_Ratte (Complete)

"Just as Alina called to the light, gathering and twisting it into a ball in her hands, the door swung open.

Kirigan blacked out the door frame. His appearance enough would have surprised Alina, but there was something clutched in his arm, something dark and floppy. It almost looked like the stuffed toys that had been passed around to the younger Orphans." - Alina and The Darkling bond over a love of soft things

---

Soft stuffed animal shenanigans. Bits of trans!Aleksander, which I’m very fond of, as well as just a lot of fluff with a bit of something bittersweet and sad in a good way.

Half Lie by Ill_Ratte (Complete)

"Baghra always talked of the demon that had stolen her daughter." Or, Alina learns the hard way that the Darkling isn't the only one who deals in half-truths

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This one is trans!Aleksander, and it handles it in a very interesting way. It’s quite sad, and deals a lot with Baghra & Aleksander’s relationship through Alina’s POV. I want to give a warning for transphobia, because it does center around that a lot as the premise, but it really is worth the read if that isn’t a trigger for you. This is one of my favorite trans!Aleksander fics, and the way it handles emotion and grief and pain is quite extraordinary.

The CEO and Helioseismologist by mrthology (Complete)

Aleksander Morozova doesn't get sick. He's the CEO of one of the most successful companies in the world, one that he had built from the ground up with blood, sweat, and tears. He exercised daily (usually), maintained a healthy diet, and kept himself fit.

He wasn’t sick.

Too bad no one believed him. And too bad Genya decided to call Ivan to take him home before also calling Alina to take care of him.

Maybe, just maybe, being sick wasn't so bad. Especially not when he has such a wonderful girlfriend.

---

Both of the fics in this series are great, but I love this one in particular because I’m an absolute sucker for hurt/comfort. Anyone who’s been on my blog for a while knows that it’s my all time favorite trope to read, and this fic fits the hurt/comfort trope to a T in the best of ways. It’s very tender and in character, and Aleksander and Alina are so soft with each other. It’s adorable and really makes you feel for Aleksander, and the caretaking is done perfectly.

All the different layers of dark (thousand little suns) by Anuna (Complete)

One month after the Winter Fete, Aleksander returns to the Little Palace, and Alina has been missing him.

Or

Episode five canon divergence in which Alina had never left Os Alta.

---

This one is soft emotional hurt/comfort smut. They’re both so open and vulnerable with each other, and it’s so beautiful to read. I love the writing style and the emotion in this one. It makes my heart ache in the best way.

An Honourable Man by liviy695 (Complete)

A reimagining of the scene after the winter fete. Alina catches a glimpse of a caring Darkling after he returns from integrating the Conductor. Plus, no Baghra interference.

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This one is what it says on the tin, in that Baghra doesn’t interfere and they’re allowed to talk after the Darkling interrogates the Conductor. But more than that, it’s a great imagining of how a scene where Aleksander reveals Marie’s death would have gone. There’s a sort of quiet to it that I appreciate, with grief and solemnity weighed against care and vulnerability.

I see the real you (even if you don’t, I do) by Anonymous (Incomplete - 8/?)

A series of questionable decisions lead Alina to meet the Black General a bit earlier. Butterfly effect ensues.

---

I’ve only read half so far (I hadn’t realized it had updated!! 👀👀) but I’m already in love with this fic. Alina’s dialogue and perspective is perfect, her relationship with Mal and the other cartographers is great, and I really enjoy how much personality she has. Aleksander is so smitten, but more than that, his characterization is soft but not weak. It feels almost as if he’s swept up by Alina, instead of the other way around, and I quite like that.

Of parenting by Anuna (Complete)

Alina finds out how her husband handled yet another parenting situation.

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This is pure adorable Darklina parenting fluff and I live for it. Yet it doesn’t lack depth and in fact explored Alina and Aleksander’s relationship with parenting quite well.

i have a longing by LRCee - @ladylyannastark (Complete)

“So, Alina Starkov, risk-taker, how did you end up being editing’s newest wunderkind?”

Alina Starkov is rising in the publishing world. Singlehandedly responsible for editing (see: rewriting) the hottest book of the year, she lands a coveted spot at Morovoz Publishers. It's the position she's always wanted, at the biggest publishing house in the country. Life is perfect. That crush on her boss though, that's gotta go.

---

OKAY! I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH!! Let me tell you, as someone who is not too fond of Boss/Employee dynamics, I was very wary going into this fic. But boy did it deliver in a way that was perfect for me.

The relationship that develops between Aleksander and Alina is complex but healthy, and it never feels as if there’s too much of a power imbalance or anything that would make Alina feel forced or unhappy. The tension lies purely in how she fears others will perceive her, and not in how unhealthy her relationship with Aleksander is. For somebody who’s often attracted to unhealthy ships, I have to say that my favorite fics are usually ones that don’t have that type of dynamic between the characters. This fic delivers on that.

Also, Aleksander’s POV surrounding his struggle with his Russian heritage and his feelings for Alina is amazing, and has some of the best writing and characterization I’ve seen.

You receive: an evil demon; I receive: human souls by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

The next morning while she tried to tell herself it was a dream, that of course there wasn’t a fucking demon in her house, she found a note taped to her fridge.

“You might eat this shit,” it had written, “but I would like some fucking souls please.”

Darkling Week Prompt 7: free choice. Alina has a demon in her house.

This is absolute crack, and I have no idea what the fuck is wrong with me.

---

May I just say that this is the most fun I’ve ever had when reading a fic. It’s interesting with a bit of mystery, and Aleksander as a little shit of a demon is hilarious. Alina in this fic is great too. It’s such a unique take on her POV, especially when you reread it after knowing the ending. 10000/10, this fic is brilliant in every way and I love it.

I had been lost to you, Sunlight by BrytteMystere (Complete)

A Girl became a Woman, became a Sankta, became a Goddess.

Or: An Immortal Alina calls upon merzost to reunite with the Prince of Shadows she lost long ago. She may have lost herself in the process.

But then again, maybe time and endless wars did that instead.

---

You really just have to read this one to get it. It is utterly haunting and fascinating in the best of ways. The writing style is strange and novel and fits so well with the story being told. The composition of the fic as a whole is genius.

I Look Inside Myself (And See My Heart Is Black) by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

"When is a monster not a monster? Why, when you love it, of course."

Written for Darklina Week 2021 - Day 6: Favorite Quote • King & Queen • Monster

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Once more, this author comes through with an absolutely breathtaking writing style and story. The imagery is elegant yet brutal, simultaneously horrifying and glorious. There’s a certain way these stories are written, like fairytales, where the beautiful becomes the macabre and becomes ever more stunning because of it. It’s very dark but in a good way - an almost bewitching way.

Afterlife by @aceofnowhere (Complete)

“You are asking me to leave?”

“Not asking, shadow,” she said. “Telling. Time to get unlost, loser.”

Day 3 Darklina Week prompt: Modern AU (I mean, barely)

Alina expels ghosts from purgatory.

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@aceofnowhere once again bringing the best of the paranormal to the Grishaverse. Literally everything you write is amazing idk why I’m even pointing out individual fics when I could just rec your whole page. But anyways!! This is fun and interesting and Alina is a badass. Aleksander is, of course, compelling and dark and kind of a little shit, and it’s all incorporated seamlessly into an existential paranormal narrative.

Once Upon a Shooting Star by Ceris_Malfoy (Complete)

"But most of all, she was drawn to a vast darkness that reached out above all of them, a void so hungry for companionship that she knew she could fulfill."

---

Let. Alina. Be. Feral!! Anyways, I clearly have a type when it comes to storytelling, and it’s whatever the fuck this person has got going on. Feral!Star!Alina is literally the light of my life. Her interactions with not only other people but the world in general are so well done, but my favorite parts about this fic are the numerous ways her relationship with Aleksander is described and depicted.

I love the dark and light imagery, especially with how it’s portrayed as them filling in the gaps of each other’s lives and supporting each other instead of trying to block each other out. There’s such clear passion and joy and love and devotion between them. The central focus of this fic is on her and Aleksander’s relationship, the interplay between them and their powers and the way her light fills his loneliness, the passing of adoration and trust and reliance between them. It’s very beautiful and I love it.

A Blaze of Light by Keira_63 (Complete)

They discover the Sun Summoner in the burnt-out remains of the Shu laboratory in which she has spent the last seven years of her life.

Or, the Darkling finds himself with a Sun Summoner whose greatest wish is to burn Shu Han to the ground. He is happy to oblige her.

---

👀👀 Badass Alina and Badass Aleksander. The ultimate power couple, and Alina burning a path through Shu Han before they both burn a path through the world together. The darkness and rage in this one are handled very well, and the way that rage turns to coldness and then resolve is done so well. This fic is very cathartic and also very furious, and reading it is certainly a trip down emotion lane.

One more for the Road by Rist (Complete)

He returns to the war room shaken, and finds an Alina that cannot leave without at least having tried.

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This one hurts so much but its soooo gooood!!! Very smutty but also very tender and very bittersweet. Sad and soft all at once. I just... love the way Alina and Aleksander are written so much, and Alina’s complicated feelings for him are explored in such detail and depth. This one is truly worth the read.

[dailylogyn]

Logyn Meta: Loki & Sigyn’s Relationship in Mythology

It’s a classic tale, and arguably one of the most famous in mythology: How Sigyn held a bowl above her lover’s head to shield Loki from the snake’s venom, in turn, holding back Ragnarok a little longer. 

But how did Loki and Sigyn come to be married? How did they meet? How did they fall in love? 

With so many questions, but few answers we are left with in what has survived with the stories today, we are often left to ponder how the story of Loki and Sigyn came to be. As have many others before me, I will be exploring my thoughts with what information we are given to ponder as to how these two lovers became a thing.

To answer this question, we must go back to the beginning where Sigyn was first introduced to us in the mythologies, presenting the ONLY information we know about their relationship -- specifically: The Poetic Edda & Prose Edda.

In the poem, Lokasenna, the most famous of poem’s with the couple, it talks of how Loki has been bound by the gods with the guts of his son, Nari, and how his son, Vari, has been turned into a wolf. The Goddess Skadi fastens a venomous snake over Loki’s face, from which venom drips. Sigyn, stated as Loki’s wife, stays by his side and holds a basin under and catches the venom so it won’t drip onto her husband, but when the basin grows full, she pulls it away to empty it, during which time venom drops onto Loki, causing him to wither so violently that earthquakes occur that shake the entire earth. 

In the poem, Gylfaginning, Sigyn is introduced in Chapter 31 as being married to Loki and that they have a son by the name of “Narfi or Nari”. She is then mentioned again in Chapter 50 where events are described differently than in Lokasenna; Vali, described as a son of Loki only, is changed into a wolf by the gods and rips apart his brother, “Narfi or Nari.” The guts of Nari are then used to tie Loki to three stones, after which the guts turn to iron, and Skadi places a snake above Loki. Sigyn of course catches the venom in a bowl. This process is repeated until he breaks free, setting Ragnarok into motion.

In the poem, Skáldskaparmál, Sigyn is introduced as a goddess, an Æsir, where the gods are holding a feast for their visitors and in kennings for Loki: “husband of Sigyn” and “cargo [Loki] of incantation-fetter’s [Sigyn’s] arms.”  

Now, knowing the little knowledge we have on their relationship, it’s time to explore it from the Viking’s point of view, which is where this all pretty much originated from, in order to understand it better.

Viking Way of Love and Life

I’m no expert in this category, in fact, I’m still learning about it as I go, but there are some important key things to note here about the Viking’s POV on things and how it ties into Loki & Sigyn’s relationship. 

Divorce was completely acceptable in Viking Times. In fact, women could own property, request a divorce and reclaim dowries if a marriage ended. She could divorce him for a good number of reasons actually. 

Women often remained faithful to their husbands, although they were known to have extramarital sex. If they were caught cheating by the husbands, it usually ended pretty badly for the women. 

A Man couldn’t marry his concubine, so his wife wouldn’t have to feel threatened about competition. They usually all lived in the same household. Adultery concerning the husband was okay, but not the wife.

Vikings didn’t categorize people as homosexual, bisexual, straight or etc.They differentiated between submissive and dominant roles in sexual relationships. Homosexuality was acceptable with limits.

Poetry was a big part of Courtship. 

Typically marriage was usually for alliances, set up by families and parents. However, this doesn’t mean there wasn’t romance or love between couples or potential marriages. 

Family life was important to Norse Men and people usually aimed to survive: typically by marrying and having children. 

How does this apply to Loki and Sigyn? Now, let’s dive into the typical hypothesis of their relationship. I call it a typical hypothesis because it hasn’t really been outright pointed out in the mythologies, but it’s something the Mythology community usually agrees on concerning Loki and Sigyn’s relationship from what we know here.

A Hypothesis into Loki & Sigyn’s Marriage

The marriage between the two of them alone is usually questioned by others, especially concerning Loki’s chaotic nature and Sigyn’s undying loyalty. Obviously, she could have divorced him whenever she wanted to if things were bad, but instead she remains by his side which leads us to the fact, not only does she truly love Loki, but she also knows more to him than we do -- as if there is a secret hidden side to the god of Mischief.

It is sometimes implied that the marriage between Loki and Sigyn was an arranged one to establish position in Asgard  -- as marriages typically were in Viking Times. This doesn’t mean there wasn’t love between them, In fact, it could have been a perfectly arranged marriage. 

Sigyn isn’t blind to Loki’s flaws, knowing perfectly well how her lover is and accepting him flaws and all -- unlike the other gods. It’s more than likely she knows about his other children: Jormungandr, Sleipnir, Hel and Fenrir, just as she probably knows about his affair with Angrboda. Again, this wasn’t an uncommon thing in Viking Times for a man to have another lover and other children with them. 

Loki is very much a family person, just as he enjoys having fun. There has never been anything alluding to him abandoning his family or abusing Sigyn and his kids despite what pop culture or other versions may say. Instead, they have been taken away from him by others in someway (ex: Vali having to kill Narvi as the gods use his insides as Loki’s bindings. Odin taking away all of Loki’s children, making Hel the ruler of the underworld, Jory the serpent of Midgard’s sea and Fenrir locked in bonds. Lets also not forget Sleipnir becoming Odin’s horse and most of his children dying during Ragnarok because of said gods. Sigyn’s whereabouts are unknown and Angrboda is dead. Case in point: I’d wanna start Ragnarok too.) 

Vikings typically used motifs or symbolism with their writings. This is where the “opposites attract/compliment each other aka Balance of nature’ comes into play. While Loki is outright known as a Trickster God, hence the God of Mischief (which is typically harmless pranks or fun), but it usually ends with bad results for him, turning into Chaos. And what’s the opposite of Chaos? Constancy and Order. Although it isn’t outright stated, she is pointed out as Loki’s loyal wife and seems to offer that Constancy to his Chaos. Hence, some of us refer to them as “Different Sides of the Same Coin.” 

Conclusion

Loki and Sigyn’s relationship is typically misunderstood by others nowadays thanks to how little information we have on them in the texts, some peoples own interpretations of their relationship (*coughs* MARVEL COMICS *coughs*) and how much Sigyn still remains to be unknown by others. 

I believe that if their relationship was to be portrayed in the proper way, taking everything here into note and not given to writers who don’t understand or refuse to take the time to understand their relationships/characters, they might actually be understood better overall. A good example of this I’ve found myself is from the German Movie: Mara and the Firebringer and Neil Gaiman’s book: Norse Mythology. They both explore Loki and Sigyn’s relationship in a proper light, not undermining either of them and exploring their thought process and actions in ways that only strength their relationship and one another as individual characters bonded together in marriage. 

Bonus mention to The Bifrost Incident by The Mechanisms for their interpretation of Loki and Sigyn’s relationship as well. 

_____________________________________________________________

SOURCES:

Viking Love: 8 Facts about Love and Love making from the Vikings - https://historycollection.com/eight-facts-love-marriage-viking-style/

The Love Life of the Vikings - https://historyofyesterday.com/love-life-of-vikings-f21c9ed58d4e

Norse Mythology Character Tropes - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/NorseMythology

Mara and the Firebringer TV Tropes (SPOILERS BEWARE) - https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/MaraAndTheFirebringer

Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology (Book) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_Mythology_(book)

The respective Edda’s are linked above by their names. 

[thefloorisbalaclava]

I need that promised Dinner Date for Mechanic!Frankie!!! <3

Of course!

Pairing: Francisco ‘Catfish’ Morales x F!Reader

Warnings: Two awkward cuties who haven’t been on a date in a long time and another kiss. A longer one this time.

[mechanic!frankie masterlist]

Frankie smiled down at his phone as he read the text “Dinner tonight. My place” for the fiftieth time that morning. He couldn’t believe it was actually happening. He thought that the kiss you two shared might have scared you away, but here you were inviting him to dinner.

“Hey boss,” one of his mechanics said as he walked into the office. Frankie fumbled his phone, making it fly up in the air before landing on his desk. “Am I interrupting something?” the man asked, amused.

“Uh...no. What’s up?” Frankie cleared his throat and stood up.

“Is she hot?” The worker grinned and leaned against the doorframe.

“Get out,” Frankie said calmly.

“Wait, is it that woman that brings her car in like three times a week? She’s fucking hot, man. Way to go.” He clapped Frankie on the back as he walked past him out the door.

“Don’t talk about her like that.” Frankie rolled his eyes and began cleaning his tools.

“It’s a compliment, boss.”

“Hot? No...she’s gorgeous, beautiful, stunning...so much more than hot.” He stared off into space dreamily as he spoke.

“Man, you got it bad or maybe you got it good,” the man joked.

“One more thing like that outta your mouth and I’m sending you home.” He put the wrench he was cleaning down roughly and glared at his worker. “Be respectful, please.”

“Yes, boss. Sorry, boss.” The man walked off and busied himself and Frankie went back to daydreaming about you. 

He found himself feeling bad for thinking so much about the small kiss you two shared. It wasn’t like anyone could read his mind, but he still felt a little guilty. He also felt guilty for wanting the day to go by as fast as possible so he could get to you faster.

He closed up shop and headed home to shower and dress in some of his nicer clothes. He knew you wouldn’t have a problem with anything he wore but he still wanted to look nice for you.

Should he tell you he was getting ready?

just got home. be there soon, he texted and left it at that. You didn’t need to know that he was showering and all that.

After his shower, he looked at himself in the mirror. The towel sat just below his tummy and sucked it in, imagining how he would look if he was a bit more svelte. He’d definitely fit into his clothes a little better. He wondered if you liked your men a little more toned than he was.

“You’re an idiot, Francisco,” he sighed before walking away from the mirror and getting dressed.

The button up shirt he chose was one of the nicest he had. It took him about ten minutes to decide how many buttons he should leave undone. He didn’t want to look like he was trying to hard although he really was. His hair was almost completely dry by the time he finished dressing completely. He looked in the mirror again and tried styling it in different ways. He was so used to wearing a hat that his hair never seemed to look right without it. And his stubborn, errant curls went wherever they wanted anyway.

“Screw it,” he said quietly, standing up straight and giving himself a once over. He turned to the side and looked at his butt. “Hmm...” Then shook his head. “What the hell am I doing?” Before he did anything else stupid, he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door.

Right after he knocked on your door, he regretted not asking if he should bring anything. You opened the door and greeted him with a bright smile.

“You made it,” you said happily.

“I did. What...did you think I’d stand you up?” he asked as he walked inside.

“No, but, uh...” You looked him up and down and he felt his face getting hot. “I’m surprised some other woman didn’t snatch you up before you got here.”

“Oh,” he chuckled sheepishly, looking down at the floor.

“What I mean to say is that you look very nice. I mean, you always do but...you look nice.”

He shrugged. “Thanks.”

“Any time. Uh...you can come into the kitchen if you like.” 

He hung up his jacket and followed you in, watching you move to and fro. “Anything I can help with?” he asked.

“Nope, you’re my guest.”

“Okay. Smells good,” he commented.

“Thanks. It’s not quite as delicious as what you made me for dinner, but I hope you’ll like it.” You placed a plate on the table. “Please sit.”

“I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“I put wine out but if you want something different just let me know.” You made yourself a plate and sat across from him.

“Wine is...fine,” he said, shaking his head. “Sorry.” He picked up his fork and took a bite before nodding happily. “I knew it.”

“What?”

“It’s delicious.”

You clapped your hands together. “Good!”

You two talked about everything. It was easygoing and fun and something Frankie had avoided for so long. He knew he had just had dinner with you the other night but there was something even more pleasant this time around.

He smiled at the way you got a little more talkative and expressive when you got wine drunk. You laughed at his jokes, you even finished some of his sentences. Before he knew it, you were sitting in the chair next to his and had it turned so you could face him.

“Want some more wine?” you asked after finishing another glass of your own.

“No, I still have to get home, you know,” he joked. You both laughed then just looked at each other.

“So...” You put your glass down and held out your hands. “Lemme see your hands.”

“Hm okay.” He put his hands in yours and you turned them over, surveying them, feeling them. “Rough, I know.”

“They’re lovely hands,” you told him.

“What are you gonna do to ‘em? You gonna read my palms or something?”

“No, I just wanted to...” You looked at him and forgot what you were going to say. “Um...hold...them...”

“That’s fine with me...” He said your name quietly then you said his and then you were kissing. You both sighed into it like you both had breathed the very air you need into each other’s lungs. You let go of his hands so you could lock yours around the back of his neck, fingers tucked into his curls. Your tongue touched his first and he made a small sound before doing the same. Every time one of you pulled away it just started all over again. Neither of you could get enough.

The softness of your lips, the softness of his. Urgent yet not greedy or forceful. Sweet yet passionate. He’d never forget that you tasted of wine and that you smiled when you kissed. You didn’t have to know that he had opened his eyes a few times just to look at you.

When you finally pulled away from each other, you were both breathless.

“Um...wow,” he said quietly.

“Was that okay?” you asked.

“Okay? That was more than okay.” He touched your face softly and you smiled at him.

You both lingered at the door--him outside, you inside. You couldn’t bring yourself to say goodnight so you just kissed him again.

“I had a wonderful night,” he said, “Thank you.”

���Me too. I hope we can do it again sometime.” You ran your fingers over his knuckles then he turned your hand over so he could kiss the back of it.

“We can. I’d love nothing more,” he admitted. He leaned in for one more kiss which you gladly gave to him. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Francisco.” You closed the door and smiled dreamily to yourself before twirling around the living room. 

Frankie could see you through the window and he chuckled before driving off. He touched his lips. Everything he had kept himself from all those years he had found again on your lips.

frankie taglist: @fakenoods @oldstuffnewstuff @the-bird-suit @lestrange2703 @findhimfives @windfallss @rach7 @surfsup666 @theghostwiththemost-babe @marshmallow--3 @mrschiltoncat @aplaceofpeace @josepedropascal @jeeperky @allthingsnarcos @laymegentlytorest @stanfordscrush @fangirlingss @nathan-bateman @darthdumbasss @helga1031 @master-obi-wan-kenboneme @heythere80sbaby @deserttastesbitter @dindjstarin @mandodjarinn @frankie-stein18 @funkylittlebisexuall @16boyfriends-and-me @marvelousmermaid @slugbuggie @ladyblogger-margie @queenbbarnes @dodgerandevans @terrormonster55 @queridopascal @hells-bells-x @allmahfeels @elizabeth-von-winken-universe @blackberries45 @darnitdraco @nemo-my-name-forevermore @dindjarinneedsahug @littlefairygirlx

permanent taglist: @magicsuperheroes @feelmyroarrrr @the-dazzling-urbanite @phoenixhalliwell @liveloudwriteloud @tumblogbykarapaloma @jaime1110 @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @pascal-isaac @dazedrhapsody @pascalisthepunkest @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @tiffdawg @freak-of-nature2002 @kingpascals @saltywintersoldat @theocatkov @mandilflorian @cyaredindjarin @themarcusmoreno @the-feckless-wonder @loki-098 @arabellathorne @dindisneydjarin @punkpascal @opheliaelysia @takens-world @huliabitch @stardelic @kandomeresbitch @havenforafrazzledmind @thisis-theway @stardust-galaxies @mrsparknuts @jedi-mando @frankiemorales @edencherries @lilkermit14 @virtualxjournality @thirstworldproblemss @emesispo @heresathreebee @tangledlove27 @marvgrrl @hayley-the-comet @insoucianttt @witchyavenger @coaaster @starless-eyes-remain @wanderlustmags @wonderfulfluffer @lv7867 @pedropasscals @pedroepascal @wigwitch @seasonschange-butpeopledont @theoria850 @roxypeanut @autumnleaves1991-blog @kenedyybrooklin @artsymaddie @dindjareen @silverfish-kingdom @heyitmelexie @gredandfeorgesgirl @mandaloriandindjarin @moonlight-prose @rosiefridayrogersunday @ssppoorrkk @amalie-buch @lucifer- @mstgsmy @randomness501 @darthadeline @youarenewformetoo @thehippiequilter @whovian-gurl @neverlandlibrarian @chibi-liz05 @dragons-of-the-usa @over300books @borderlinedindjarin @mudhornchronicles @cosmoschick @linkpk88 @lovingramsey @djvrins @escapedthesarlacc @coni-martina @pedrospunk @burrshottfirstt @jitterbugs927 @xserenax-13 @anatanotegami @doin-stuff @djarinsruni @aerolanya @icanbeyourjedi @bison-writes @strangelittlenobody @dinsbeskar @sarahjkl82-blog @neontiiger @houseofthirst @intu-witch-tion @ennuiandthebourgeoisie @littlebopper96 @boxdyeblonde @empressamidala @myheart-pedro @mtjoi @purplepascal042 @goalkeepernerd @rebelliouscat @leaiorganas @eternallyvenus @mandocrest @kellyozz @the-wishmonger @maythxthirstbxwithyou @andiebell2023 @moonlightburned @videogamesandpoorlifechoices @leonieb @freeshavocadoooo @auroraariza @kalimont83 @notabotiswear @martellthemandalor @beesting77 @medeasmiles @diaryofkali @mando-amando @venusdjarin @mystical-934 @blackmarketmummy @hauntedmama @mamacitapascal @insomniamamma @pedro4ever @greeneyedblondie44 @mitchi-c @prideandpascal

[sophielovesbooks]

ALRIGHT I'VE FINISHED!!

So now I shall pass judgement. 🥰

1000 Ships - Kate Weinberg

Good! A good start to this anthology. I love her writing style. The story was quite simple but somewhat emotionally complex. Plus it features a character from her novel "The Truants"! 8/10 stars

Pythia - Olivie Blake

A weird one, let's be real. A bit absurd. Refreshingly different, though, and partly in interview style. I enjoyed it overall. 7/10 stars

Sabbatical - James Tate Hill

Hm, not sure about this one. It was fun to read it but sort of absurd, once again? The ending to me was bizarre rather than rewarding? But hey, at least it wasn't boring. 5/10

The Hare and the Hound - Kelly Andrew

Amazing!! Probably my fave in this book, if I had to pick one. The plot was just super engaging and fun, in my opinion. The dialogues between the main character and his mates were EXACTLY the type I love to read. I adore that trope where you are not sure whether the main character is losing their mind or not. Another character was really intriguing to me as well. I sort of guessed the main twist but that's okay. The style flowed so nicely as well and was so atmospheric. I don't like to hand out perfect ratings, but actually? Yeah, whatever, I'm feeling generous. 10/10 stars

X House - J. T. Ellison

Lmaooooo! I straight-up HATED this one! A poor imitation of the dark academia genre with stunningly amateurish writing imho. This author, for whatever reason, cannot keep their tenses straight?! Like, how did this one go through peer review aka editing?? The style was so incredibly clunky as well, like a how-to on what not to do. Ridiculous plot. Odd pacing. Laughable characters. It's a big no from me. (I've read another book by this author that I didn't really care for, so that checks out, I suppose.) Most entertaining hate read I've had in ages, though! 1/10 stars

The Ravages - Layne Fargo

Good! Fun. Cute. Not, like, super remarkable in my personal opinion. But well written with a plot that's easy to get into and a likeable sapphic main character. Touches interestingly on toxic relationships. Yeah, I enjoyed it. 8/10

Four Funerals - David Bell

Hmm, well. Not awful but not great either, in my view. Also the plot didn't feel very dark academia to me, to be honest? The atmosphere just wasn't there? It made an okay short story but it wasn't anything special. I didn't like his novel "Kill All Your Darlings" much, either, so again, this story sort of confirmed my opinion of the author's writing. 5/10 stars

The Unknowable Pleasures - Susie Yang

Oh shit, actually this one might have been my favourite?! Or it's a close second at least? Really, really engaging. Really drew me in. So interesting and unique as well. A story that doesn't provide simple answers and makes you reflect. The ending... wasn't super satisfying but that was kind of the point. It's interesting because I remember DNFing a book by Susie Yang because I didn't like her writing style, but here I really enjoyed it. So I should probably give her another chance? Again, feeling generous I'll go with 10/10 stars

Weekend at Bertie's - M. L. Rio

This was the story I bought the whole book for!! I was so excited for it and... it let me down a bit. I feel terrible writing this, but it is what it is. It wasn't bad by any means, don't get me wrong. Only the prose didn't flow as nicely as in some of the other stories, I thought. I felt like it was overly complex at times. And the plot... was okay, but a bit strange as well. Creative, yes. But a bit odd. And the biggest point of criticism is that, unlike IWWV, it didn't feel super dark academia to me. So... squinting and feeling sort of guilty I think I'll go with... 7/10 stars? Okay, no, that's brutal, 8/10 stars

The Professor of Ontography - Helen Grant

ANOTHER REALLY GOOD ONE! I literally just read it this morning so it's all fresh. But yes, two really likeable MCs and a cute romance. The setting was so fleshed out, it almost felt like a novel? Like, there was more than just that short glimpse that you often get with a short story? This one also encapsulated the dark academia genre perfectly in my view. A mystery with horror elements. Loved it. Another 10/10 stars

Phobos - Tori Bovalino

Yeah, quite good. Not too bad. All about secret societies and inition rituals. We got some fairly interesting character portraits in not a lot of pages. It was suspenseful. Can recommend. 9/10 stars

Playing - Phoebe Wynne

This one was okay. The writing was good and atmospheric. But I think it was meant to be twisty and to me the ending was so obvious from very early on so I kept wondering whether anything surprising was going to happen. And it didn't. I'm also not sure the author selected the best scenes to write out/depict in detail for this particular story, if you know what I mean. I'm making it sound worse than it was, though. 7/10 stars

And that's it! If you've read this book, let me know what you think.

I am doing sometimes super fun today. It's Sunday and I don't have any pressing responsibilities. So I've decided to do sort of a spontaneous readathon, something I have never done before!

For as long as I like, I'll stay in my little reading nook with coffee and snacks and read. 🥰📖☕️ Hopefully I'll finish In These Hallowed Halls, which is a dark academia anthology.

Would anybody like me to rate each story once I've finished the final one? 😊 (Because trust me, I've got opinions!)

[tmisaccidentreportbook]

MAG023, Schwartzwald

Case #8163103, Albrecht von Closen Release date: June 15, 2016 First listen: 16th October, I think I was on the morning feed for this one.

This one was a hard one for me to get into really. Not because of the topic or anything, I think maybe because of the antiquated writing style. Look I’ve tried to read Austen but I couldn’t hack the writing style, I don’t know what it is. I think it’s a bit rich of me considering I have a habit of going off into purple prose. Also, I think there’s also something it about being a Regency man on means that just has me going ‘ugh, rich white man problems.’ But there’s so much lore dumped in this one, I ought to be all over it.

- OK, so 1816, the birth year of The Magnus Institute, first located in Edinburgh apparently. As I’ve said, proper dandy man era. Was, as I’m digging around, also known as ‘The Year Without A Summer’, as the eruption Mount Tambora in Indonesia had disrupted the planet’s weather patterns and temperatures dropped, resulting in failing harvest, widespread food shortages, violence and disease, coming in hot on the heels of the Napoleonic Wars. Bad times, plenty to be scared of in 1816.

- Feels appropriate then that the statement has us entrenched in some deep, ancient European forest. Something oppressive and cold.

- To the tune of ‘Take a Break’ from Hamilton ‘My dearest Johaaaan...’ Was Albrecht von Closen on the list of Johan Magnus’ historical boyfriends? I don’t remember. ‘…and pressed upon me…’ yeah, I bet he did.

- ‘…Schwarzwald, what you would call the Black Forest…’ I did remember this from somewhere in my Geography A Level, but it took me a few days before the realisation that The Magnus Archives has its’ own ‘Blackwood’ hit me in the face. But yes, something ancient and established, at once serving as protection from invasive forces and threat of what lurks with in.

- ‘…every effort to provide him with guidance and such affection as he may have lost.’ The emotional repression of the upper classes is sitting so heavy right now…

- Had to look up what the fuck ‘profligacy’ meant…

- ‘I have never met so sober and prudent a soul as seems to exist within young Wilhelm.’ Ah… do you think ‘old soul’ was the same short hand for ‘neurodivergent child’ in the 1800s as it is today?

- The description of the forest in winter is making me just a little bit feral.

- ‘I will admit that I didn’t entirely relish the thought of staying in the Schwarzwald until the spring thaw...’ Hate to break it to you bud, but you’re going to have to wait a bit longer than you would other years.

- And looking up what ‘sojourn’ means. Jonny once again giving me the word envy.

- ‘…I never wished more keenly that I had been able to bring my library with me.’ Ok, you’re winning me round.

- ‘…but more often I would simply choose a direction and stroll into the trees for as long as my fancy held me and then simply follow my own trail of footprints back…’ If you were anyone other than a rich, straight, white man, you would be dead. By rights, you should be dead.

- Sure, just hang about in a derelict grave yard in the middle of an ancient forest, 1 hour before sundown, what could go wrong?

- ‘… another small bud of memorial stone blossoming through the frosted earth.’ Look that image, like snowdrops poking through.

- ‘So who was Johann von Württemberg?’… No seriously, who was he? Do we ever find out?

- ‘…I found myself marking trees with my pocket knife…’ OK so he’s go a little sense to him, good.

- Oh my days, get this kid outside.

- We have a wee slip up here. Previously, the name of Albrecht’s wife had been stated as Clara and here it changes to Carla. I don’t think this is anything more elaborate than a simple slip.

- This mausoleum could be touched by so much; The Dark, The Buried, The End, The Lonely. But if memory serves, its’ The Eye’s isn’t it.

- The description of the stranger at the clearing’s edge is weird, makes him feel a little ‘man out of time’ with his strange dress and ‘peasant German’ which, can I just say, rude to point it out.

- Another good staple of horror; a wise local as the ‘Harbinger of Impending Doom’ telling you in cryptic terms not to fuck around and find out. And what do the city slickers do? They fuck around, and they find out. Typically, not for very long.

- ‘… could not see his eyes beneath the brim of his hat, but I could still feel his gaze upon me.’ Where do you eyes be oh wise one? As some power taken them perhaps?

- ‘No, sir, you have nothing to fear from the dead.’This is both very sage advice, it’s the living you need to watch out for, and very comforting, because it reminds me that if malicious ghosts were a thing, we white folks would have died out generations ago. The British would be the first to go, are you kidding me? We’d be gone.

- ‘… a single farmer who couldn’t mind his business.’ Mate, you’re the one who’s wondering around areas you’ve got no business in.

- record scratch Well, I hope Martin was wearing cute pants. Also, I love how you’d expect him to be a fumbling mess but I can hear the ‘it’s before 7, I owe you and the world nothing’ in his voice. He’ll probably realise what happened later and will spend the morning face down at his desk while Tim cackles and Sasha pats his shoulder sympathetically. I bet Martin has good legs though.

- As I’m listening to this, I can’t help but think how much man power this excavation would take when it was done in the 1600s or 1700s.

- Bookshelves in the tomb, adding to my funeral vision board.

- ‘… I still felt the most acute pang of loss. To see such a volume of knowledge, possibly unique in all the world, utterly destroyed, was incredibly painful to me.’ NERD! But yeah, big mood.

- So we’re adding grave robbing to the list of things that have been confessed to in statements.

- ‘Für die Stille’, ‘for the silence’…. What? So we’ve got the engraved eyes and the books, but where does silence come into it? Waiting in silence? Can’t help but feel like Johann had surrounded himself with his books the same way a pharaoh's tomb is stocked with all they’d need for the afterlife.

- ‘… apparently there was an old man in Schramberg by the name of Tobias Kohler.’ Is that our guy at the forest edge?

- ‘… until you were seen’… well, isn’t that nice. Seen by what? Johann or his librarians?

- ‘(the priest) simply nodded and, gathering up six strong, though deeply fearful, men, they headed out toward the cemetery.’ When you say ‘deeply fearful’ do you mean ‘God fearing Christian men’ fearful or do you mean ‘Athenian youths being sent to Crete’ fearful?

- Ulrich I, Count of Württemberg 1226 – 1265, or Ulrich II, Count of Württemberg 1254 – 1279, unknown if the latter ever married.

- Footprints in the snow. I KNEW those eyes would be gone! I remembered, ha!

- What made him stop? Was weird little Wilhelm standing at a window, watching it happen and holding the eyeless man’s gaze and slowly shaking his head?

- ‘Whether to a light-fingered servant or just my own carelessness, it is gone...’ Fucking rude! 

- ‘I can’t say I know much about Jonah Magnus or the origins of the Institute...’ Oh bud, oh no.

- The succession of the Counts of Württemberg was already feeling a bit spook and then we add ‘keeping company of witches’ and we’re in full on McNope territory.

- Or was this man at the edge of the woods Rudolph Ziegler, or was Ziegler just a burglar that had a misadventure. What could The Eye have wrought to make it look like ‘an animal attack’? Unless… Unless Ziegler took the coin and whatever would have come for Albrecht came for him instead. But what was it still?

- And we see the setting down of family tree roots for the Keays. I think the Mary Keay mentioned may not be the mother of our Gerard, maybe the grandmother, because if Mary was born in the 1920s, she’d have been in her 60s by the time she had Gerard. So either it’s a naming convention, a mistake or Mary found something to keep herself young.

[mylivejournalsucks]

Didion.

Eve and Joan in one week. Wow. No wonder Los Angeles is raining.

Joan Didion is a drug everyone must try once. Some people get hooked. I was fortunate to be one of those people.

I discovered her writing in a class taught by Mark Greif. I forgot what the class was or what we’re studying. I just remember reading a lot of texts by boring old straight white intellectuals and feeling like the biggest bimbo on planet Earth. At 21 and 22, I still believed there was a certain way to be A Writer and Think About Things. Everything I was introduced to in college made me feel out-of-step, like I didn’t get it and never would. Then Slouching Towards Bethlehem entered the chat. The assignment was to read the essay and discuss how Didion felt about her subjects. Did she like them? Did she care about them? How did her writing style inform her feelings?

I read the essay at the Starbucks on Astor Place (lmao) and was immediately like, “Who is this moody rich bitch who hates everyone and everything?” Her prose was electric. It felt like a song I was finally able to hear. I went to class the next day ready to discuss. It was clear Didion did not think much of these hippies who were frying their brains like eggs on the side of a highway on a 110 degree day. Reading Didion, it felt like she had contempt for most people and most things, besides Los Angeles, New York, and Sacramento.

I immediately devoured everything she wrote. Like any young person with feelings in New York, I read “Goodbye To All That” in my studio apartment in the East Village and thought “OMG...it me.”

After Slouching, I flew to LA for Christmas break and read The White Album, Play It As It Lays, and Year of Magical Thinking back-to-back in an underwhelming coffee shop on Beverly called Buzz that has now been replaced with another underwhelming coffee shop called Andante. (See how I’m listing names and locations? It’s impossible to discuss Joan without falling prey to her tics and quickly realizing A.) that’s not your voice and B.) thank God because no one can measure up to Joan.)

Beyond Play It As It Lays, I didn’t dabble in her fiction because, uh, it’s not as good. In fact, I reread Play It As It Lays in the fall and found it to be nihilistic and overdramatic. (How many fucking freeways does this Weekend At Bernie’s lady Maria have to drive on? Also, when she has, like, a plumbing problem in her mansion in Beverly Hills so she just moves to an apartment in Hollywood instead of dealing with it? #goals)

Joan’s power is in the personal. She speaks with a cool authority. Reading her, it feels like she’s driving you in her Stingray Corvette, weaving in and out of traffic effortlessly, telling you How It Is and you’re just in her trance, nodding along.

I love how unapologetically bougie she was, how her and her husband John seemed low-key kind of like insufferable social climbers in Hollywood. By all accounts, you did not want to get stuck next to Joan at a party. She barely spoke, was fragile, had migraines, was terrified of the weather. She was too smart, too fragile. She was bad at doing Life Things. She wanted to either take her speed and sit at the typewriter or take to the bed.

It might sound like I’m roasting her but I’m really not. I sincerely love everything about this woman! Reading her was the first time I felt like there could be a place for me. Here Joan was, eating chopped salads at La Scala and writing about her feelings for Vogue, and it had real value. More than the pages and pages I read of straight white dudes writing about, like, their dog and quarries. 

I saw Joan once, in conversation with Griffin Dunne at Symphony Space doing promotion for Blue Nights. I use the words “in conversation” loosely. Griffin talked, Joan Didion grunted and looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. I loved it. I loved how cranky and over it she was.

I wrote about the event for my job and the post caught the attention of an editor at The New Yorker. She wanted to meet me for lunch at Conde Nast (working in media in 2011 could be really random) and so I did and we talked and it was lovely. She gave me “Speedboat” by Renata Adler. “If you love Joan,” she said. “You’ll love Renata Adler.”

I read it. I did love it. But It didn’t make me want to sit down and write, like Joan did. Reading Didion feels like being put under a spell. I read one paragraph and I need to write immediately. Otherwise, I sincerely think I might die. I’ve never had that with anyone else’s work and maybe I never will. 

We’re lucky she decided to share her brain with us. And I hope there’s no Santa Ana winds in heaven. Joan was triggered by the Santa Ana winds.

[pebblysand]

[the thoughts on canon-compliance you did not ask for.]

last night between 2 and 3 in the morning (look, i couldn’t sleep, got up to write, then got caught up, okay? don’t judge me for my terrible sleeping patterns please) i had a super interesting discussion with a few people on the hinny discord channel about the definition of canon-compliant-ness. i think this is fascinating because to be honest, before getting into the hp fandom, i didn’t even think this was something one could disagree about. to me there was what was canon, and what wasn’t. a very black-and-white sort of system. i’m finding that it’s not.

through the discussions that i’ve had both on my fics and other people’s fics, it seems that i can narrow down - in the hp fandom - three elements of canon.

i. the events of the books/films

now, as a general disclaimer, you can obviously argue about whether the films are ‘canon.’ you can also argue whether cursed child is canon. there’s a lot of elements which differ between those and lots of opinions about how to look at them. personally, i tend to ignore cursed child. as to the books v. films, i pick and choose what suits my story more. generally, that’ll be the books. but for instance, i’m writing a harry&hermione friendship one shot right now, and there are a lot of movie-isms in that story because that is an aspect that was more explored in the films. however, for the purposes of this post, i’m mainly considering the source material to be the seven books. nothing more or less.

having said that, to me personally, that’s what ‘canon’ is: the events of the story and the characters that gravitate around those events, as described in the source material. things like: tom riddle killing lily and james, or harry, ron and hermione rescuing the philosopher’s stone. anything departing from that is, de facto, an ‘au.’ the whole world of what-if scenarios: what if Harry was sorted into slytherin, what if dudley was a wizard, all of those, to me, are aus.

generally, both as a reader and a writer, those are not scenarios i’m particularly drawn to. my default answer to those what-if scenarios is: ‘well, if harry is sorted into slytherin, there’s no story.’ or at the very least, there’s no story as i know it, and if there’s no story as i know it, then i’d rather read/write original fiction. it’s obviously a very personal preference and there are exceptions to this preference. i loved the changeling [1] for instance, and love the self-aware style of dirgewithoutmusic’s aus [2]. but as a general rule, that is not my preferred genre.

now, aside from the what-if scenarios, there’s also the question of filling in the gaps of the story itself. like, i find it interesting that we only make tsunamis [3] is labelled as ‘canon-compliant’ because i get the feeling that a lot of people would disagree that a fic in which hermione is harry’s first kiss is canon compliant. but, by exploiting the silence sometimes left by the author and turning it to your advantage, are you writing an au? is a negative space canon? is silence canon?

again, as a matter of personal opinion, i would not push my definition of canon-compliance as including blank spaces. to me, as long as it does not contradict the letter of the text, adding in events to the books to suit your story (i’ll address character in point ii) does not make your fic an au. to give another example that was brought up to me regarding my own work, i don’t believe that the events described in chapter nine of castles [4] are au because they exist in a blank space of the books. the fact that harry didn’t notice the 1:1s between ginny and amycus doesn’t mean they didn’t happen, it just means that they’re not in the positive space described by the books.

ii. the characters/characterisation

(as a quick vocab note, please note that below, i’m using the terms ‘ooc’ to mean that the characterisation of a character in a fic is not canon-compliant. they’re synonyms to me.)

now, while the above was pretty straight forward, i believe that this is where i perhaps differ from the masses in my interpretation of what “canon-compliance” means. more i discuss with people, the more i realise that i don’t really think there’s a real ‘canon’ characterisation. or at least not in the big things. like, yeah, it’s canon that harry likes treacle tart, because that’s a fact. but anything that is down to psychology or perspective of the character is, to me, generally up for grabs.

as a human, i believe that there’s things that people do, events that they go through, that condition them to act a certain way. while there is a core to every human being, i personally believe that in life, anyone would basically be capable of doing anything, given the right circumstances. i’ve recently - rightfully - been told my writing is all about the power of choice in our life, the reasons why we make those choices and the people those choices lead us to be. for example, do i think i might murder someone tomorrow? probably not. do i think i might be capable of murdering someone in wartime? perhaps? i don’t know, that’s not the world i live in and my life choices have not lead me to find out the answer to that. however, my point is: to me, good ‘characterisation’ is down to the circumstances and choices outlined in any work of fiction. hence, good characterisation is essentially, to me, equal to good writing.

i often say that good writing could make me believe anything and i mean it. i don’t tend to gravitate towards these fics because these ships are not my personal taste but i genuinely believe that good writing could make me believe in drarry or rarry if it tried. it’s funny because over the course of the discussion yesterday on discord, this was brought up ‘well, no one tags drarry as canon compliant,’ and i’m kind of like, i don’t know whether or not they do because i don’t read it but if they did and none of it contradicted the events as detailed in the books, perhaps it could be? like, that would take really good writing (imo), but good writing has - on occasion - made me believe in dramione a couple of times, so why not? in ‘til the sirens come calling [5], good writing made me 100% believe that harry and hermione would have an affair together. in we only make tsunamis [3], it makes me believe that they had this quiet little relationship building throughout hogwarts that we never knew about.

now, though, i suppose the question isn’t: do i believe it? the question is: is it canon? and, i think that’s where i differ from most people because to me, it is. to take ‘til the sirens come calling [5] as an example, i believe the fic is an au because hermione marries victor krum in the end. that’s going against the hard fact presented by the epilogue, and thus makes it an au. but i don’t believe the concept of a harmony affair is inherently au, because nothing is inherently au, character-wise. it’s about how you write it. how those people get to that place. that’s what makes canon-compliantness, in my opinion.

for example, for that fic, truth be told, we don’t know what those nineteen years include per canon, so they could very much include an h/hr affair. and whilst i don’t believe that the characters as they are in the books would have an affair together, i believe that the characters as they are presented in the fic, with the events and hardships that they go through, definitely would. good writing, to me, is - in part - recognising that characters are moving on a spectrum and that whilst their decisions/actions might not make sense in book-verse, they make sense in fic-verse. good writing is convincingly moving your characters from book-verse to fic-verse, and it not feeling ‘off.’

if it does feel off, that is bad writing to me, and that is also ooc-ness/non-canon compliant. it means that for whatever reason, the writer has not successfully transitioned and explained said transition through the events outlined in the story. with the right prose, you could make me believe draco decided to take on a career as a ballerina dancer after the war, and it would still be ‘canon-compliant’ to me. on the other hand, i have read fics (i won’t name them because that would be shit and also i don’t keep track of my ‘bad’ reads) where harry, ginny, hermione, or ron all act according to book canon and yet, their motivations felt off to me and completely ooc because the writing didn’t successfully lure me in. specifically, there was a lack of character evolution that i found uninteresting. i read mostly post-war stuff because i want to see my characters grow up [6].

as a last, additional note on characters, i also think that the characters in a story only exist within the prism of how we view them. this means that to me, locking my own understanding of a character's personality as 'canon' is particularly difficult because my understanding of a character is unique. i believe there are as many harry-s or ginny-s or hermione-s as there are readers. so i think saying someone's interpretation of a character isn't canon-compliant is odd because i don't actually believe there's any wrong or right answer. as i said, do i believe it likely that draco would become a professional ballerina? no. but if that works within your understanding of his character as described in the books, who am i to say that is or isn't canon compliant? i'll admit, the idea makes me sort of lol though.

iii. tone

lastly, i’ve come to find (in potter particularly) that canon-compliance might include tone. as in: hp is a story that is a) written in a certain style and b) written for children/young adults.

regarding style at a), this is honestly the main reason why it took me 15 years to write potter fic, despite the fact that i’ve been a fan for even longer than that. i genuinely thought you had to write like jkr. and i, well, don’t write like jkr. i love the books, but i don’t even particularly like her style. i like: camus, and sorj chalandon, and sally rooney, and dirgewithoutmusic and copper_dust [7]. i have zero ambition to write like jkr and don’t particularly want to read stuff that is written like her stuff either. it’s a style that imo works for her, but it doesn’t work for me as written by other people. i don’t particularly think you need to stick to her style to be canon-compliant.

which brings me onto my actual point: b) hp is a story written for children. young adults perhaps, for the later books. it sometimes explores dark themes but the writing style, the tone, etc. is lighthearted enough that it appeals to a younger audience. there’s snogging but there’s no sex, there’s violence but the torture is mostly off-screen, etc. issues like sexual assault, substance abuse, etc. aren’t explicitely brought up in the books, although they would one hundred percent fit in a book about a war that wasn’t necessarily aimed at children. the question is whether this setting and tone is part of what we call ‘canon-compliance.’

honestly, i don’t know. i didn’t think so until it was brought up to me that castles might be a dark!au and i was like: maybe? like, if you want it to be? i know what i like to read in fanfic: i love the exploration of serious themes that were not explored in the books, or explored differently due to the fact that they were written for children. one thing i will say and insist on is that i don’t think castles is all dark. i actually make a point of having lighthearted moments in each and every chapter, even just a notch, because i am attached to the fact that life as a concept is a mixture of good and bad, and you could laugh at the funeral of someone you loved, again in the right circumstances. but yeah, to me the post-war world is dark. so if tone is part of canon-compliance, then yeah in that way castles (as well as most of the stuff i read, to be honest), is a dark!au.

as a last side note, i’m not sure what that means for my other, lighter stuff though. like are the wolf’s just a puppy [8] or slipped [9] more canon-compliant than castles? i never thought about it in those terms but perhaps? it really opens up a world of questions in my mind and i don’t really have the answers to them.

conclusion:

so in sum, as a reader, what i mean as ‘canon compliant’ is basically a) the events as described in the source material and b) the characterisation of characters as they are at the start of the fic. if character evolution is sufficiently justified and well-written in the following thousands of words that the fic has, then said characterisation can still be canon-compliant, even if the characters act different than they would have in the source material itself. i’m a fan of good writing and good writing can make me buy into literally anything. it takes me places that i've never been before and convinces me that those places are the ones i should be in.

as a writer, i hope that regardless of 'compliance,' whatever i write at least makes ‘sense’ to people within the universe, even if they don’t consider it canon-compliant, per se. i feel like i can’t really be the judge of that. from the discussions we had last night, i feel like there are as many versions of what is and isn't canon-compliant as there are people.

.

.

---

[1] the changeling by annerb

[2] the boy with a scar series by dirgewithoutmusic

[3] we only make tsunamis by disOrdely

[4] castles by yours truly

[5] ‘til the sirens come calling by vexmybones

[6] as a side note and to take my own stuff as an another example, i totally agree that harry in castles isn’t harry in the books. i don’t think there’s much debate to be had in that assertion. i wrote him like this frankly because every other fic i’d read didn’t. they often had him sort of continue to be perfectly himself after the war, which i felt wasn’t speaking to me on a deeper level. imo, i think the war’s done a lot of scarring and the fic is about him growing into a new version of himself. so, to me, if i get a comment that says ‘i don’t think harry would act this way but i really love your writing’ it’s somewhat flattering but also confusing because i don’t really understand how one can enjoy the writing but not the characterisation. to me, they’re so intrinsically linked. what the comment tells me is: i think you did a very poor job at explaining character evolution and justifying character x’s [harry’s] choices but i still like your writing, somehow? i suppose that’s nice, but it doesn’t particularly compute in my brain. like, if the character feels off, it means the writing feels off and thus, why are you still reading? i appreciate all and every comment that i get but it doesn’t mean they always make sense in my own brain. if i’m honest, these comments often send me into an ocean of self-doubt about how shit my writing must be.

[7] copper_dust’s work and profile.

[8] the wolf’s just a puppy (and the door’s double locked), again by yours truly

[9] slipped (and said something sort of like your name), same.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Black Sun. By Rebecca Roanhorse. New York: Saga Press, 2020.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: fantasy

Part of a Series? Yes, Between Earth and Sun #1

Summary: In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: blood, violence, gore, body horror, drug/alcohol use, self-harm, suicide, mutilation, reference to child sex slavery

Overview: I came across this book while looking for fantasy novels set in non-European-inspired worlds. I got really exited about the premise: a pre-Columbian, indigenous-inspired story? With multiple perspectives? And crows? It sounded great! Unfortunately, I couldn’t give this book more than 3 stars for a number of reasons: I felt like the writing could have been a little bit better and that character motivations could have been more clear; and I ultimately didn’t feel like the story was a true race-against-the-clock until the end. While I’m intrigued enough to pick up book 2 in the series, I do wish this book had done a little more to make me feel connected to the plot and the characters.

Writing: Roanhorse’s writing reminds me of some New Adult prose styles: it feels straight-forward, clear, and well-balanced, but sometimes tends to tell more than show, especially when it comes to emotion. I really liked that I could follow the prose without issue, but I often felt like Roanhorse was dumping some info on me and expecting me to absorb it right away. For example, Xiala (one of the protagonists) tells us that she’s always felt like an outsider and that’s why she has such an immediate connection with Serapio (another protagonist), but I didn’t exactly feel that. There were also some worldbuilding details that seemed to be inserted to flesh out the world - which was great - but ultimately didn’t feel relevant to what was going on in the plot.

This book is also told from multiple perspectives and flashes forward and backward in time. While I personally was able to follow the voices and time skips just fine, some readers might find it a challenge.

Also, without spoiling anything, the end of this book seemed to rush by WAY too fast, and I honestly didn’t feel like most of the book was building to it.

The worldbuilding, however, was wonderful. I really liked the way Roanhorse described the look and feel of everything from the tastes, smells, sights, etc. and I loved how diverse and rich everything felt. While I don’t know enough about various Indigenous groups to comment on whether or not the cultural elements were incorporated well, I did like that various populations didn’t seem to be monoliths and varied in terms of social structure, dress, and custom.

Plot: The plot of this book follows two-ish threads: in one thread, Xiala must get Serapio to the city of Tova in time for “the Convergence,” a time when the celestial bodies are aligned AND there’s a lunar eclipse. In the other, Naranpa must navigate a plot to oust her from the priesthood while also dealing with rising opposition from clan Carrion Crow (and their cultists, with whom Okoa is involved).

Because of the many POV characters and the flashbacks in time, it was difficult to feel any sense of urgency in either plot thread. Xiala and Serapio’s thread was a travel narrative, and most of the conflict stemmed from the fact that the crew just straight up did not trust Xiala. At first, I thought we were getting a narrative where the crew mistrusts Xiala because she’s Teek, but then they appear to be ok with her in what was a pleasant subversion of my expectations. But then something happens and we’re back to what I expected, and it proves inconvenient for getting Serapio to Tova in time. Because I didn’t feel like I had much of a reason to want Xiala and Serapio to succeed (Serapio’s motivations are mysterious and Xiala mostly wants wealth), I felt pretty “meh” about them potentially missing their deadline. I would have much rather seen Xiala (and perhaps the crew?) be challenged and grow from the setbacks she experiences at sea, and for her to become more personally connected to Serapio so the journey shifts from one done to earn untold wealth to one where Xiala wants to help her friend (even if said friend ends up being deceptive).

The Tovan plot is likewise a little “meh” because there wasn’t a huge sense of urgency or suspense. I felt like I didn’t know the clans enough to feel strongly about their politics (aside from understanding that killing people is bad in the abstract), nor did I have a concrete reason for wanting the institution of the priesthood to remain (once I learned more of their history and the fact that most priests - called “Watchers” - would rather be elitist than minister to the people).

Perhaps that’s why I felt a little underwhelmed by the plot as a whole: while things certainly happened, I ultimately didn’t feel like they impacted the characters’ inner lives much, or if they did, that evolution was told to us more than shown. While I understand that Black Sun is the first book in a series, I still would have liked the plot to have more of an impression on the characters.

Characters: I think it’s safe to say that this book follows 4 main protagonists: Xiala (a Teek sea captain who fills the Han Solo archetype), Serapio (the mysterious blind man with crow-themes magic powers), Naranpa (the Sun Priest who struggles against traditionalists to make the priesthood more active in people’s lives), and Okoa (the son of the murdered Carrion Crow clan matriarch). While I liked all of these characters, I do wish they had been a little less dependent on archetypes (lusty sea captain, Chosen One, etc). Maybe things will change as they develop in later novels, but for now, they’re fun and certainly likeable in their own ways, but not mind-blowing.

Xiala is likeable in that she’s a hot mess with a heart of gold. She drinks, swears, and gets into trouble, all in the pursuit of earning enough wealth to make a living. She is also Teek - a member of a (rumored) all-female island clan, whose members have special sea-based magic. I liked Xiala’s connection to the sea and the way she communicates her people’s stories and cultural values. However, I do wish she was challenged a little more to want something more than material reward.

Serapio is an intriguing character in that he fits the archetype of dark, mysterious Chosen One. While I appreciated that he wasn’t a gruff loner (instead, he seemed eager to connect with people while recognizing that his appearance might unsettle them), I also think his backstory is a little too “edgy” for my tastes. His motivations were somewhat shrouded in mystery, which made it hard to know whether or not I wanted to root for him to succeed, but because he’s not a complete jerk, I found him interesting enough.

The connection between Xiala and Serapio could have been a lot stronger than it was. While I liked that they bonded over their “outsider” statuses, I ultimately felt like this was told to us rather than shown. Thus, when they kind of sort of “get together” later in the novel, it doesn’t feel earned. I didn’t understand what Xiala saw in Serapio other than his physical attractiveness and (maybe?) feeling like he didn’t treat her as a foreigner. While fine, I wanted Xiala to be more attracted to Serapio’s personal qualities, not just that he was nice to her. Same thing for Serapio: I didn’t get the sense that he had genuine feelings for Xiala personally, just that she was intriguing because she was Teek.

Naranpa, the Sun Priest, was an interesting figure in that she was caught up in the politics of the priesthood. While I liked watching her navigate the various setbacks and conflicts with traditionalists, I ultimately wish I had been given a more compelling reason to root for Naranpa to succeed. Trying to make the priesthood more hands-on and philanthropic is all well and good, but it felt too abstract. I wanted Naranpa to have more personal stakes - because she comes from the “gutters” of the city, is she more invested? But if so, how does she reconcile that with her decades-long absence from where she grew up? There was a little of that, but ultimately, I didn’t feel like I had a reason to want the priesthood to continue. I didn’t understand why Naranpa was so attached to the priesthood as an institution; why didn’t didn’t she cut her losses and go elsewhere?

Okoa is something of a late addition. His perspective doesn’t appear right away, but I think that worked out fine, considering when it appeared. Okoa is a warrior who finds himself torn between keeping peace between his clan and the Priesthood and joining a rebellious cult who wants to restore the old religion and seek revenge against the Priesthood for past trauma. While I think his perspective was important, I didn’t personally feel invested in this plot or Okoa’s dilemma. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t feel like the rebels were treated as having a real grievance; we’re told about the past and told that it was harmful, but because we don’t get the perspective of someone dedicated to the Cause, I didn’t feel like I could sympathize with it. Okoa himself is resistant, calling the rebels “cultists” and saying that though he understands their grief, he doesn’t want to support violence. Perhaps if Okoa felt threatened by the cultists, or if their cause was a true threat to the stability and well-being of the clan, then I could feel more involved. But as it stands, Okoa was somewhat wishy-washy, and I couldn’t quite understand the stakes to make his indecision feel justified.

Side or supporting characters were interesting. I really liked that Roanhorse included plenty of queer characters, including trans and non-binary/third gender characters who use pronouns like xe/xir. My favorite was probably Iktan, the head of what is essentially the assassin’s branch of the priesthood.

TL;DR: Black Sun is an intriguing fantasy with intricate worldbuilding and premise. While I personally felt like the inner lives of the characters could have been more developed and the plot more compelling, I think this book (and author) will satisfy many fantasy lovers, and I look forward to picking up the next novel in the series.

[quetzalpapalotl]

Eugenesis part 6 + epilogue: EUGENESIS DOESN’T EVEN HAVE KINK

Well, I’ve talked about the reveal regarding the Quintessons already. Not bad but not that great. But Xenon turned out to be a compelling villian

The Quintecon bodies always existed, but only on a time loop. They just are. Roberts pulled this much better in Elegant Chaos, but really, that about everything in Eugenesis, isn’t it?? The real treasure is constrasting it with Robert’s recent work and see how much he has grown.

I still feel he needs to learn to be kinder to relgious people. Now, I have no love for religion and do love those “everything you know is a lie” twists, so big, so epic, but he seems unable to write religious people without making them look like foolish fanatics.

There were actually more survivors than I expected so yay!

I’m still super dissapointed about the lack of mechpreg and I’m so angry at the fact that’s a sentence that came from me. The fertility of the Transformers race had no bearing at all on the plot. I guess the tittle does make sense since what the Quintessons were fighting over was to be able to give life. They weren’t birthing tho, they just made robots on pods. I’m mad. But well, the infame of this fic is not JRo’s fault, is it?

At the very least, it seems like the Quintesson births were indeed a way to link how the Transformers would become a bio-mechanical race, so it had purpose?????? Besides JRo being fucking weird??? No, it didn’t!! Transformers don’t do budding anymore accordin to the wiki, JRo!!! I really thought you were gonna come up with a plot to make them bring it back, but no! You make it sound like it never went out of practice!! What about budding making the robots evil?????? What about it???? How to fix that?

Also, I’m not letting you off the hook with all those weird allegories in the prose. Seriously, why are you like this?

This was a parade of misery down a lane of weird analogies and uncomprehensible descriptions, and yet it was oddly beautiful. Perhaps that’s not the word, maybe sublime is better. When Roberts wanetd to hurt me, he did, and it hurt every time. A truly grimdark tale can’t pull this, you just become detached from it all, but I feel I will carry this all of this from now on. And even if characters didn’t have as much of a focus as on Mtmte, the ones he shone the spotlight on do shine and I love them. As always, I will die for Optimus Prime and he had such a good take on him.

I think my favorite part is how the prose is made of smal snippets of rotating POVs It keeps things engaging and lets you have a bigger picture. He perfected this style by the time he got to bullets. I wish I could read more stuff like this.

Now, it could have done with some more jokes, but I do respect how seriously he took this. He looked at the Transformers franchise and played it straight. He really delved into what it means for a race of near-indestructible robots to have been a war for so long. So of course the answer was gonna be painful

BUT NO MATTER! PROWL IS ALIVE, HE’S ALIVE BITCHES, FUCK YOU ALL

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆ ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆ ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

[tryalittlejoytomorrow]

20 questions, writer’s edition:

I was tagged by my favorite child @flythesail ! ;) Thank you!! ❤️

How many works do you have on AO3?

39 stories. That’s...a lot. Especially as I used to have around 20 other fics on ffnet that I never crossposted. Maybe I need to sleep more.

What’s your total AO3 word count?

528,088 words.I KNOW. I’m talkative, okay??? It’s crazy to think about the fact that almost a half of this word count is my kevison fic tho. 👀 👀

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

SO MANY FANDOMS

The 100 / Bellarke

The Hunger Games / Everlark

Star Wars / Rebelcaptain + Han/Leia

Marvel / Clintasha

Still Star-Crossed / Rosvolio

Arrow / Olicity

Marvel’s Runaways / Gertchase

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries / Phryne x Jack

Shades of magic / Kell x Lila

Six of Crows / Kanej

This is us / Kevison

NCIS:LA / Densi (so many moons ago, all deleted)

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Friends (I’ve watched us as we changed) / Bellarke modern-AU / The 100

it’s not easy for me to belong here (I’m learning) / Kanej / SoC

Girl, ya can’t conceal it / Bellarke

no remedy for love (but to love more) / Rosvolio / Still Star-Crossed

Things just don’t grow (if you don’t bless them with your patience) / Bellarke

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! Feedback from readers is so important, so I do my best to reply to all meaningful, encouraging feedback. It shows both my appreciation, but also starts nice, interesting conversations sometimes. :)

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I think that would definitely be a Bellarke fic, I have been known to be mean in that fandom... 😛 I’d say, if we go with angstiest ending, I’ll have to pick I came here to get some peace. I have another story that’s far angstier as a whole, but the ending was more hopeful.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Mmh, I think I’ll go with Rosvolio on that one, and the series starting with no remedy for love and ending with for love is such a daily good thing. The sequel, epilogue of sorts, was almost as long as the original fic itself, and it was all about giving these two the agency they deserve in their finding each other and growing into love.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I did once, but never completed the fic. It was a Dark Matter/The 100 crossover. Though was it really one? I don’t think so. I used the main characters from the 100 in the context of Dark Matter? Anyway. As evidenced by the fact that I never did finish the thing past the first chapter - no, I don’t write crossovers.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Are there really writers who don’t? Bless your hearts. I’ve been active in writing for various fandoms since 2011 and I’ve had the usual cocktail of anon hate, death threats, insults, etc.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Yep. Sex is a conversation, and writing dialogue is one of my favorite things, and they’re basically the same. Sex is a form of communication like any other - be it awkward, passionate, peaceful and quiet, a routine, a habit, a bad habit you can’t kick, sorta meh, or bad. So I guess I write all kinds of smut? Smut with feels is obviously a favorite, but it’s nice to write smut that is just about two people who can’t be apart from each other, passionate and hungry for one another.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yup - and not subtly at all. But at the time ffnet did nothing about it, and neither did the fandom. Even though people knew that this person had stolen my story and only changed the characters’ names to fit another ship, people still read it and commented it. Insert #lesigh.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I was asked, once, but I said no. This just feels weird to me.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. My head and my writing process are messy enough as they are, they don’t need the intrusion.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

It’s like asking someone to pick a favorite child. Which everyone could do, really, we all know it. Still, it’s not proper to ask. But I’ll go with my childhood and ultimate otp, Piper and Leo from Charmed. They taught me what love was.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Mmmh, I don’t think I have one atm? I gave up on some wips back when I was writing for The 100, but I know I’ll never pick them up. My only current wip is for Kevison, and I do intend to see this through.

What are your writing strengths?

Clearly my style? I’ve been told it’s kinda poetic, and I do like my prose and my flow - a stream of consciousness, a line that’ll go straight to your heart, long sentences of uninterrupted thoughts, a window into the character’s soul. I also have a very good grasp on the characters I choose to write about - I only write when I feel like I know them like the back of my hand, so characterization and being true to who they are is my number one priority.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I have no discipline. I’ll write for days on end, get one, two, three chapters ready...and sometimes a month passes by and I have nothing, my brain is completely empty, and I feel all squeezed out. I could never wait until I’ve completed a work before posting it, for instance - and I mean, I’ve been working on my Kevison fic for 17 months now, so, in a way, lucky thing I didn’t wait, right?

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If it fits the character and the context, why not.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter! It was a lifetime ago, I was 12 and I wrote what I expected the fifth book to be before it came out. Needless to say, it was bad.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Once again, asking someone to pick a favorite child isn’t proper. I have a sort of very unique love for something always brings me back to you, one of my rebelcaptain fics. First of all, it’s the only work who’s ever gotten a fan edit made about (thanks again to the lovely person who did!). I also think the writing is solid, the dialogue and the chemistry between Jyn and Cassian on point. And I loved working on that AU of their first meeting(s) through the galaxy.

Tagging: @queenofchildren , @lullabiesandgoodbyes , @alienor-woods and whoever else wants to do it!