#can be understood whether you've read the novel or not

[forgetme-eternally-blissfully]

HOLY MOTHER OF ALBERU THIS IS AMAZING

Okay but super really? this is incredible. I feel like I'm going to be watching this on repeat for 15 hours until I've extracted all the happy hormones that it's emitting

The world's greatest actor || Og Cale animatic

After 155 frame later I present to you my tribute to the original occupant of cale henituse body

Do I gonna make something like this again in near future? Well who knows

[whetstonefires]

See I don't necessarily disagree with what seems to be the primary reading that Yue Qingyuan's shifu fucked him over, caring nothing for his needs or preferences and only for whether he was useful. That makes sense, it ties into plenty of the generational and societal themes of the story. It fits.

But iirc we don't actually get enough information to know that's what happened.

And the thing is it would be so in-character and also thematically appropriate if Yue Qingyuan absolutely did not explain his goals or why he was working so hard, because it was private and shameful and he didn't expect any sympathy, and there was a high risk of losing everything if he blabbed.

And also if he engaged with the existing ruleset with which he was presented, i.e. 'can't go off on your own on personal business until you've mastered your sword,' in the most negative and controlling manner possible, as absolute commandments.

He's a different kind of guy but he comes from the same background as Shen Jiu! It fucked him up also!

He is very very very not a guy who trusts the system to make allowances for him--even once he has all the power he 'does what he wants' and 'makes selfish choices' as a conscious transgression; not something he has a right to do, just something he can get away with so he's gonna. (And ofc he spends almost all the latitude he grants himself on sqq.)

And even less is he a guy who opens up easily.

He isn't too proud to ask for help or pity, so much as he just doesn't expect to get any.

So in this interpretation, he understood that rule as a non-negotiable barrier in his path, the target to overcome, and focused all his considerable will and talent on overcoming it through the sphere of action he felt he had control over.

And fucked himself up bad.

Whereupon his teacher, possessing absolutely no context for this dumb shit their star pupil pulled, did the only thing they thought might work to save his life, paying in the process no attention to the raving of someone deep in a psychotic break.

Like, I feel like there should have been a better, kinder medical option, but I don't know for sure that there was, so I can't say with certainty this was the kind of cruelty that derives from not caring enough.

And it really would be kind of elegant and so typical of Yue Qingyuan's fundamental tragedy if the real mistake was 'not confiding in anybody' the whole time.

And he was just so deeply sunk into the understanding that explaining and asking were useless that, even looking back, it never really occurred to him that maybe his mistake wasn't 'fucking it up when trying too hard to solve everything on his own' but 'assuming there was no help to be had, and that he had to do it all on his own.'

Like. What if this really could all have been avoided if he'd just trusted and communicated with the adult in charge of him? But of course, of course his history of trauma (neglect, child abuse, exploitation, being the One Responsible for the younger kids whom he could not keep safe) meant he was absolutely not going to do that.

It was basically impossible. For the person he was, the person the world had made of him. And that's always been the core tragedy the whole novel circles back upon.

People can only ever be themselves, and so very often the elements of self that let them survive until now are that which dooms them, that means they need someone else to intervene if they're ever going to be saved. Because your personal doom is always the thing from which you can't save yourself.

[snifferish]

Sneafie Book Review: "Where the Dark Stands Still" by A.B. Porenek

Alright gamers that's right I'm posting book reviews on my tumblr, BOO! Jumpscare! Anyways I'm a spoiler free kinda guy here we go.

This week I read Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Porenek, this is a Young Adult Fantasy novel that leans slightly into the gothic genre. It's got a lot of Polish Folklore, It's kind of a beauty and the beast retelling? The author and the marketing has compared it to Howl's Moving Castle, which is why I originally took interest in it.

Personally, I gave this a four star rating, but on the Sneaf'o'meter of precision I'd say 73%

Let's get into the good and the everything else.

First off, If you like fun prose and description, this is for you. The Author's range of being able to describe something so beautiful and then transition to something grotesque and everywhere in between is wonderful. This ability comes into play frequently with how she describes the house in the story (which is sentient).

The magic system in this??????? Spectacular, I loved the concept. I've seen things similar to it, but it was so simple yet meaningful (AHH!). Probably my favorite part.

Another really prominent point in the marketing is the amount of Polish Folklore. There's a few specific spirits and demons referenced that are apart of it. I'm no expert on Polish folklore that's for sure, so I can't say whether it was truthful, or what the Author directly took from it. However I can say it was refreshing, new and I learned things :)

Okay sooo... Welcome to a segment called, why not five stars? I hesitate to say something is "bad" about about this book because I think it's really just preference at this point.

The exposition was normally paced but around the exposition into rising action area I felt like It was stalled. Really the book was just giving vibes left and right which is totally cool to some people, but because some information was withheld to certain points I felt like I was missing a lot of the foundation for the conflict and by the time I understood the conflict I was just like ahh, okay.

The romance plot within the story is pretty big, and to me it felt, okay. Just okay. I'll admit I'm a stinky gay that holds heterosexual romances to high standards so maybe that's why I wasn't so into it??? Again! I was so excited, I was thinking yes, it's like Howl's Moving Castle! and I just didn't get that. However, a lot of people who read this and reviewed it did get those vibes, so... not sure. Also, I think pet names just aren't my thing.... It's not usually something I find appealing in romance storylines.

Ultimately, I still really enjoyed this book. This is Porenek's debut novel, and I think it's very promising! Her writing style is excellent and I imagine she can only get better.

Also, this doesn't effect my rating at all, but I am begging fantasy Authors of all kinds to considering adding pronunciation guides. There where times I had access to my computer and I could look it up, but even then I don't know if google is telling me the right way to say it.

if you've read this I'd love to know your thoughts and if youre going to read it, well same, basically, do tell.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

I saw an ask about whether you could do a remake of F/SN in the style of FF7R and I agreed with the responder's take on the matter but I wanted to bring my own two cents in, because a lot of people when they think of "sequel", they think of the kind of sequel like Shrek 2 for instance. Mechanical sequels, where one follows directly after the other in terms of time and plot. Shrek 2 happens after Shrek 1. It's simple stuff, and this makes the vast majority of sequels.

Rarely however do we talk about thematic sequels, and I don't mean the idea of a spiritual successor (although, personally, some do count). Often times a spiritual successor is not in direct conversation with its predecessors, but often fits in a more referential or sometimes even reverent position. Many times spiritual successors aren't even in the same franchise; this is how you get games like, for example, Signalis. For an example of what I mean, let's look at the Silent Hill trilogy.

OH YEAH BABY ITS THE FUCK BLOOBER TIME OF THE POST but no really, Silent Hill 2 is often not considered a sequel at all, it's often considered a standalone entry into its franchise and while there is a lot to be understood and appreciated from the game by itself, it's not meant to be standalone. There's a 2 there. It's in direct conversation with Silent Hill 1. Part of why Silent Hill 2 worked so well for so many people is the fact that James' journey has a twist to it. It mirrors Harry's for quite a long time on purpose, before revealing that this was a trick!

Silent Hill 3, while being a mechanical sequel to Silent Hill 1, also does this. It sets itself up where it seems like its going to follow the same path as Silent Hill 2, playing along the lines of guilt, before nope! Sike! It's Silent Hill 1 baby, except we're not here to feel guilty, it's time to get revenge and end the nightmare and kill God. It's a trilogy, and the works complete each other more when combined with each other.

Fate/Stay Night is a lot like that. It's a bit more obvious in terms of what it's going for in that it is one work instead of three, but given the amount of discussions about which route is canon and what not I assume a lot of people missed it. This is why Hollow Ataraxia is the way it is. Which route is canon? Fate/Stay Night is canon, because these are NOT three standalone routes that can be enjoyed separately. They have their own merits, but they're meant to be interpreted as a package, which I understand is hard this game is really fucking long y'all.

The game disguises this by having the routes branch from each other in a pretty similar way to a normal visual novel, and presents them as a result of your choices rather than as a cohesive unit. The game also does kind of giveaway the game though by not letting you play the UBW route (with one very minor exception that leads to a bad end) or the Heaven's Feel route early. There's an order to these, you must stick with it.

These routes are, obviously speaking, thematic sequels. There's no need for the Heaven's Feel route to rehash the character development that Shirou receives in the Fate route or in the UBW route. The game knows you've read those already, and its coming in with a baseline assumption of who Shirou is. The Shirou as Heaven's Feel begins and establishes its hold over the narrative is a lot closer to the Shirou at the end of UBW than it is the Shirou at the beginning of the Fate route. We aren't grappling with Shirou's realization of self, because he's already gone through that, we need to test his ideals now and make him realize that there are things and people more important than his dream.

The three routes together represent Shirou's journey as a hero, his hero's journey if you will, and how his ideals mature and his image as a person is forged. He comes out of Heaven's Feel complete, almost as if he's lived through three different versions of those I think 20 days it's been a bit, and maybe its only through the medium of a visual novel and its mechanical framework that this journey can even be completed.

You can't make an FF7R style remake of F/SN, because F/SN is already that. It's already got two similarly styled sequels built into itself, and it even has the wacky sequel already done in Hollow Ataraxia.

[misdre]

the "non-native speaker writing fic in english" starter pack contains:

looking around for words. forever. it never stops. you don't know how little english you know until you try writing fantasy in english

having the perfect word in your own language, looking up an english equivalent, there is none for some reason ("how do you LIVE without this word?!?!?!") so you have to use some totally diluted roundabout alternative that doesn't give you the satisfaction of the original at all

knowing that some phrase/idiom exists but not quite remembering what it was so you google an approximation and hope that google understood what you tried to say

not having any idea whether some phrase/idiom even exists but you try googling an approximation anyway.

the phrase doesn't exist so you create your own/directly translate from your own lang and hope it makes sense

prepositions. prepositions. prepositions. having to constantly use a collocation dictionary (or google) to see what preposition this and that verb or noun wants. my language has no prepositions, you have no idea what a hurdle this is.

constant checking whether a verb is transitive or intransitive so whether i can write nonsense like "they pretended [noun]"

reading novels in english and always going "i didn't think this word could be used like THAT" so immediately jotting it down like you're studying for an exam because clearly there will be a fic writing exam at some point of my life

figuring out you've been spelling a word either the british way or the american way all your life and had no idea it even was one of those and not just universal. like what the fuck. does this happen to anyone else or is it just me not realising all these sombre/sombers and rumour/rumors and dishevelled/disheveleds and ax/axes.

looking for words.

[the-demi-jedi]

Luke reads The PROX Transmissions

So the main hero is apparently some kind of genius scientist, but also an absolute trainwreck. Off to a good start.

Stephen must look so absolutely ridiculous walking around with, like, a window shaved in his hair with a number tattooed on his skin. Man should have shaved both side of his head to just look less like a madman, but I also understand that at this point, he doesn't give many fucks about what people think.

This makes me think whether Stephen is based on Dustin or if Dustin is, like, a separate entity in the lore.

The amount of profanity is rather... excessive for a book that presents itself as a sophisticated sci-fi novel.

Seriously tho. There's something so funny about the fact that Starset has exactly 0 curse words in their entire discography while this book has at least one F-bomb per page on average.

"Aston Wise was a drunken asshole." Well, I'm not sure if you're in a right position to judge, Mr. "has sex with students" Browning.

Aston Wise is like Elon Musk if he was as cool as he thinks he is (but man he's indeed an asshole)

TBH I never really understood that "pathetic sopping wet dog man" meme, but I think it could apply very well to Stephen

I like how both Aston and Steven are supposed to be some kind of geniuses yet they seem to share a single braincell

This book can be pretty campy sometimes. And I definitely do NOT mean it in a negative way.

Evil CEO, aka. the most realistic villain

Motherfucker pays his people 37K per year and then [shocked Pikachu face] when they betray him

Regretfully, I have to inform you that not even this book is immune to the "breasted boobily" trope.

So Dana's daughter is Sarah? For a second, I thought it might be Sarah the Sarah aka. the BMI influencer from the "Icarus" video, but that's not consistent with the timeline.

It's incredibly in-character for Aston Wise to think like "What would be the best way to introduce people to a message from the future about the collapse of civilization? LET'S CREATE A KICKASS ROCK BAND AND THEY'RE GONNA PLAY IN SPACESUITS"

One of the book's most bonkers qualities is that it regularly and fluently oscillates between "pulpy, campy thriller feat. suited thugs with guns" and "the deepest, most profound, most thought-provoking shit you've ever read with your two eyes"

It's so funny how Dustin describes himself as kinda politically neutral and yet. The villain is a CEO of a megacorporation. The shady villainous organization is called "Collective of Industrialists" and they're like 0,1% away from being those comical cartoon capitalists with top hats and twirling mustaches. The Message, the very thing Starset is about, can be basically boiled down to "unchecked capitalism can and will cause utter, irreversible collapse of the society". While there are phrases used like "healthy capitalism" (which I'm not sure can exist), the book overall is more left than beef on pizza.

"Jay Bezie, the owner of a major internet retailer" LMAOOOO

"Partick Walman" the author just fucking GAVE UP on being subtle

I'm feeling weird about the concept of the Everything Machine being able to print, like, fully functioning humans. What makes it so that it doesn't just print a lifeless body? Then there's this whole debate about soul / some "spark of life" that can't be replicated. I know the Order are all scientists so they don't give a damn about it, but what if they didn't colonize PROX, but only filled it with some lifeless flesh drones?

Okay so overall, the book ended in a very satisfactory way, but also left enough cliffhangers and loose ends to make you HYPED for the sequel. Also... it raises some questions about the lore revealed in the Divisions/Horizons era. How did Aston become "The Architect"? Does it mean he's evil now, or just a persona non grata for the Order? And what about the takeover of the Starset Society by the Order of Teslonia (which signalled the release of "Horizons")? Does it mean they are one entity now? And what role does Stephen Browning play in all of this? So many questions.

Overall 10/10, a must-read for every serious and self-respecting Starset fan.

[thecpdiary]

NetGalley Reviews

Cerebral Palsy 'A Story' is now on Netgalley. If you're on Netgalley and interested in reviewing my book, you know what to do! Below are two recent reviews.

Thank you to Bethany Casey and Kelly Purdy for your reviews.

Bethany Casey - NetGalley Review

Cerebral Palsy: 'A Story'

"Ilana Estelle didn't know she had Cerebral Palsy until she was forty-six years old despite all the signs being there when she was a child. As the second born of a pair of premature twins, she also felt somewhat different from the other children her age, even her twin, but could never fully explain why.

In this stunning debut novel, she not only tells her story but enlightens the reader on what it's really like to live with Cerebral Palsy and teach insightful lessons about the resilience of human nature, about body positivity and health awareness.

Part memoir, part informative guide, part motivational story - this unique and striking novel reads in a warm, friendly, and familiar voice while still giving us the facts and the truth about a very common health issue that the general public know shockingly little about. Of course, every single person is different, and the way any health conditions affect a single person is unique, so by reading just one book a reader can't understand the full scope but Ilana tries to be as inclusive as possible in her writing, both in content and in her easy to follow style.

We feel anger at the discrimination people with Cerebral Palsy and other health conditions face, sadness at the treatment and difficulties they live with, frustration at their lack of choices but also hope as Ilana’s positivity shines through each and every page.

Whether you're just looking to learn, or you've been affected by Cerebral Palsy yourself, this will give you a beautiful starting point on your way to understanding.

"I live with Cerebral Palsy, but I choose not to be defined by it."

Kelly Purdy - NetGalley Review

Cerebral Palsy: 'A Story'

"As a person with cerebral palsy myself, I was very interested in this book. My disability isn't something that I talk about often, except with those closest to me, and I will talk about it if someone asked, but I am always interested to hear about the experiences of others with cerebral palsy. I connected quite deeply with the author's story, and I remember that when I was growing up, I felt as though my disability wasn't properly understood, that there were many misconceptions about it. Parts of this book did make me tearful, but at the same time, I found it uplifting and inspiring. I felt the author expressed herself in a way that enabled everyone to relate to her. This book had a lot of advice on understanding and dealing with cerebral palsy, but it also discussed other disabilities and health issues, as well as offering advice on mental health, boosting self-esteem, and much more. If you have cerebral palsy, or love someone who does, you may enjoy this book."

If you're interested in dealing with your mental health and you fancy grabbing copies of my books, you can order Kindle or paperback copies on Amazon, and through the following link https://linktr.ee/Ilana_Estelle

For more of my book reviews, please check out my site https://www.thecpdiary.com/category/my-books/

[tamelee]

Hello :3, I hope you are feeling well 🤧💕.  I wanted to share with you and get your opinion. I recently read an interesting tweet explaining what is canon and makes sense in "Naruto" and "Boruto". This tweet was written by an ardent hater of retsuden, so I knew that this information could be trusted, but I was very surprised when I read that the anime "Boruto" does not create fillers because it is a guide to the universe or something.

I know that Kishi himself worked on some arcs, I know that some episodes better show the development of characters of a new generation and such episodes, of course, can be considered canon, because they are directly related to the manga. But basically the anime consists almost entirely of some kind of utter nonsense, which simply cannot be considered a canon in any way.

In the same tweet, the novel dedicated to Kakashi (unfortunately I can't remember the name) was marked as canon, because it was filmed in anime. That is, the people responsible for the anime can stuff anything into it and it immediately begins to be considered canon? Obviously not. Of course, I still won't take all these anime fillers for canon, since they just don't make any sense. Perhaps I misunderstood something, because after, in the tweets of the same people, I saw how they refuted the canonicity of the ss scene from the anime "Boruto", because it was not developed by Kishimoto.

I would really like to know your thoughts on this. And, for God's sake, I'm sorry if you didn't understand anything, my English is still bad 🤧.

Hi @stupendousfishdiplomatdeputy !!! 💕

I understood you perfectly!!

So.

There is no such thing as "the individual/(sub-)fandom thinks (x) makes sense so it is Canon."

It's either Canon or it's not.

ANIME CANON = FILLER?

KISHIMOTO & BORUTO

It reeeeeaaaaaallllyyyyyyy is that simple!

Now why would a fandom torture themselves? Why pretend they're in some Avatar Universe to play some mind-bending Uri Gellar-type tricks? What is there to gain?

If you look at the filler-list from 'Boruto' then you can see that more than 80% of the Anime is filler. It is a joke. Yet their fans very defensively claim that it is only around 11% or so.. why is that?

This is because they claim that episodes marked as "Anime Canon" aren't filler, but as you say "a guide to the Universe". (How creative.)

That's complete and utter bullshit.

Did they forget that the entire world-building has already been done? People are more than familiar with it. Unless of course, they're not. Let me explain.

The creators, although they make questionable decisions, aren't stupid. They are aware that most Naruto-fans loathe the show which means that now they have a new audience that is very defensive about 'Boruto'. An audience that knows that their show has many haters. Objectively, if you've never seen 'Naruto', then 'Boruto' can be confusing. "Anime Canon" could be seen as.. "new 'Boruto' audience Canon only" for that reason.

Get it? It has nothing to do with the 'Naruto-verse' turned 'Boruto-verse'. Nothing to do with 'Naruto'. It is there to entertain the new audience (who don't care about the OG-story) and its info could or could not be in alignment with the original story. Depends on convenience.

You know what that means right?

Filler.

Anime Canon = Filler.

It doesn't matter if it "makes sense" or not.

The existence of 'Boruto' doesn't make sense, so there you go. Besides the point though.

If a fandom has to make guesses, sift and sort whether as to something "can be marked" as Canon or not then that in itself is a red flag. The answer immediately is: no.

That's why even after years, the Naruto-fandom keeps fighting over shit like this..

"But Kishimoto worked on-" Oh really? Where is the source? Where is anyone's source? No, honestly. All these people claiming to know what Kishimoto is doing over there "overseeing the 'Boruto' production".. I wish people would stop using Google or Twitter for their Naruto-info 😂

He oversees the Manga, yeah probably because it's stated he's the supervisor (I guess), but not the Anime.

Look, I have read the arguments- don't get me wrong. 'Boruto' is a new era. An era of technology. A world where you don't even have to be a Ninja to use NinJutsu. The possibilities are endless! But even the fans admit that the Anime is filled with static, vague and underdeveloped arcs. And I read them complaining about the creators putting in little to no thought- how is that world-building in the Anime-only, how is that considered in alignment to the Manga, to the 'Boruto-verse'? How is that acceptable? How, in their words, not mine: "the OG-fans should just shut the hell up about 'Boruto' because it is not disrespecting their lovely 'Naruto'."?

The 'enticing incident' occurs in the Manga and this (I hope) will happen dynamically. This is supposed to be a fully-developed event. The main-story and author doesn't need the Anime to help it develop and explain such crucial events. You can see it as an enhancement. Something to bring it to life- a challenge. It is led by the Manga since the Anime follows it in this case at least. They just chose horrible timing since they got greedy. (I don't know why else.)

"In the same tweet, the novel dedicated to Kakashi (unfortunately I can't remember the name) was marked as canon, because it was filmed in anime."

So Konoha Shinden (Yukemuri Ninpōchō) arc was in the anime too. What if for example they'll say they'll animate Hetsuden as an arc in the 'Boruto' series as well? That would be a disaster, but they can call it "Anime Canon". Suddenly 'Boruto' has dinosaurs and flying motorcycles and.. oh wait impossible because then Sasuke would need his Rinnegan and Kurama would have to come back etc..

Thank god.

Okay but let's say they would. Would that suddenly make it Canon then? Just because they decide to adapt an extra arc and animate that bs, would that make it Canon!? Of course those fans will say "yes", but of course the answer is "no". Of course they'll make up a hundred excuses as to why it "makes sense" that the answer for them is a "yes". It is still "no".

They can blabber on as much as they want, it won't change anything.

I hope that helps! Have a nice day stupendousfishdiplomatdeputy I hope you're well! 🧡^^

[thedragonlover]

Dragon Recommends You Read The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Lots of people have probably been talking about this book on Tiktok, but if you're like me and don't have one of those, you might've missed this gem.

I happened across it by chance, and after reading the quote on the front cover ("like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket") I was like Okay You've Got My Attention. And the first page inside had another quote saying this was the "greatest feel-good story ever to involve the Antichrist." Therefore I was obligated to read it.

The first bit of the book presents the fairly boring and bleak life of the main character Linus Baker, a forty-year-old man who has no family, friends or loved ones. He's a caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth, or DICOMY. He visits orphanages for magical children to evaluate them, making sure the kids are being properly cared for and deciding whether or not the orphanage remains open. Suddenly, he's called by the bigwigs (Extremely Upper Management) for a meeting where he's given an incredibly classified mission: To check out one of the most isolated orphanages where the "most dangerous problem children" go, run by Mr. Arthur Parnassus. Thus Linus' life begins to change quite rapidly.

I want to talk so much more about the book but I don't want to spoil even a little bit, so I'll bite my tongue. But I can say that the way Klune writes this novel is incredible. It begins very matter-of-factly, the world simply black-and-white and oh so dreary as Linus trudges through his daily life. You can see when things begin to change for him. All of the children? They're so fantastic. One wrote a poem and I CRIED reading it. And oh man don't get me STARTED on the love story portion it's SO GOOD but I can't spoil any of it!!! You really must read it for yourself!

Warnings for those who need it would be for references of: past child abuse/neglect, past deaths of intelligent sentient/sapient creatures, past starvation leading to parental death, kids pretending there are cannibals in the forest or man-eating snakes/insects, morbid/dark humor for shock value (mostly via Lucy), and past fires in a home.

Despite this situation the kids find themselves in though, and the adults who now care for them... this novel becomes so very bright and warm. Because, as is mentioned in the book, the word "orphanage" here is a misnomer; Mr. Parnassus' orphanage is truly their home.

As if all of that wasn't enough to hook my heart, I literally learned this today:

And I wanted to cry because I was so HAPPY to see someone so open about being on the ace spectrum. And somehow, I had known this, subconsciously. Because it certainly permeates his writing, in the simplest and smallest of ways that hit so powerfully by the end. Like Klune understood me.

This story reached out like a gentle, warm hand and touched my heart. I so very rarely feel that in stories. I'm so very glad he's written this and other stories. I hope other ace people out there can feel the same comfort and joy from his writing.

[heytherejulietx]

Haunted ~ Jughead Jones

Masterlists

Requests are OPEN

Notes - Hi so I’m seriously proud of this fic, and even though I feel like all of my Riverdale fics flop I’m super happy with this, so if you could reblog this and get it more reach that’s be amazing. (Also, on a note not related to this, I am working on the requests and I’m so sorry about the wait for them, but I was having trouble writing them so that’s why I wrote this fic. Sorry everyone they’re coming soon!)

Warnings - Pure angst and hurt. Be warned.

Word count - 5.6k.

Riverdale tag list - @idont-knowrn

If you’d like to be added to any tag list please just tell me!

You and I walk a fragile line

I have known it all this time

But I never thought I'd live to see it break

~

Everything changed when Jughead moved to the South Side. Of course, she couldn't blame him for moving, she knew he had to. With his dad behind bars for a murder he didn't even commit and not being able to stay at the Andrews household any longer, he didn't have a choice in moving. Living in his dad's trailer was better than staying with a foster family whom he didn't know, though living on opposite sides of town and now attending different schools meant they saw less and less of each other. And to be completely honest, Y/N missed him so much. She missed having him stay over at her house before school since her house wasn't far from Archie's. She missed waking up with him in the mornings, being greeted with lazy kisses and warm hugs. She missed sitting with him in class, helping him in math and getting his help in English literature. She missed after school dates at Pop's; sharing each other's milkshakes and helping him write his novel.

But once he'd moved, the cracks in their relationship started to appear. At first it was just missed phone calls and being left on read, though soon it developed to frequent arguments, being stood up on dates for the Serpents, and just not seeing each other much anymore. It hurt her, because she missed her once perfect boyfriend, who was now so caught up with his new school and his imprisoned father's gang to give any sort of time or attention to her. Maybe it was selfish, but Y/N wanted him to focus on her, and not anybody else, even if just for one night. She could tell that their relationship was headed downhill, though she thought that it would be fixable. They had been through so much already, surely this wouldn't break them apart, right?

~

It's getting dark and it's all too quiet

And I can't trust anything now

And it's comin' over you like it's all a big mistake

~

Y/N frowned down at the Pop's menu sat on the table in front of her, scowling at the small printed words there. This was the third time he'd missed one of their dates, or just forgotten about it all together. She was guessing it was the latter, as Jughead had been too wrapped up in the Serpents and with Toni Topaz to think of anything else. She was certain that he was getting bored of her, or tired of her company. He was hanging around with a gang now, his people, so surely his plain old north-side girlfriend was getting tiresome? She took a glance out of the window beside her seat, seeing that the sky was darkening into evening - dark oranges and blues swirled together as the sun went down like an artist mixing paint on a canvas. When she'd gotten to Pop's it was still daylight, but he had taken so long to show that now it was getting dark.

Before she knew it, disappointed tears were brimming in her eyes, and a lump was forming in her throat. Why couldn't he just spare a few hours to go and see her? At first, she had given him the time he quite clearly needed, and the benefit of the doubt. He had just moved and he was adjusting, and she got that, but now it had been weeks and there was still no effort put in from his end. It wasn't like he was even a proper member of the Serpents, so she just didn't get it. 

After another few minutes she had paid for the one milkshake she had drank and the one that had been left sitting on the table untouched, that was meant for Jughead, and then left the diner. It was cold outside, the kind of cold that seeped through your clothes and gave you goosebumps. Though she already felt the cold disappointment that had been sticking with her for weeks, now. On the colder days before Jughead had moved, he would give her his denim jacket as they walked to Pop's after school, but just the thought of that now made her want to start crying. She couldn't remember the last time she had been wrapped in his jacket, or even his arms for that matter.

Before she knew what she was doing, Y/N had pulled her phone out and called him, anger washing over her and replacing the sadness she felt. He picked up after six rings. Usually it would only take one.

"Y/N?" He asked, no 'love' or 'baby'. "Can I call you back later? I'm with the Serpents."

"Couldn't you have spared one night from the Serpents to show up to our date?" She scoffed, lifting her free hand to wipe her eyes which were now streaming with tears. 

"What?" Jughead asked, sounding confused. "We didn't have a date today."

"Yes we did." Y/N sniffled, her lip quivering when realising he'd forgotten. "This is the third one you've missed for Christ's sake, Jug. I shouldn't trust anything you even say, anymore."

"I'm sorry I've been busy." He huffed, sounding more irritated than anything.

"Yeah, you're always busy now." She swallowed back the lump forming in her throat. "Too busy to come and see your girlfriend anymore."

"Y/N, come on-" 

Before he could say anymore she cut the call off, not ready to hear it. Once her phone was back in her pocket she covered her mouth with her hands as she started crying, her chest heaving with each choked sob that passed her lips. Soon it hurt, though nothing hurt as bad as the sadness consuming her from realising he didn't love her like he used to.

~

Holding my breath, won't lose you again

Something's made your eyes go cold

~

It was almost midnight when Y/N heard the rumble of a motorbike turning into her street corner, before she heard the noise cut off right outside her house. It wasn't unusual for Jughead to come and see her after a fight, though it was unusual for them to fight so often. The most they had ever argued before the move was when his father had first been arrested, but she understood that he was just so stressed with everything that he was lashing out at people. Though this was different.

Y/N hadn't moved from her bed since she had gotten home. She hadn't even changed out of her clothes, she had just gotten into her bed and cried. She was still crying by the time she heard her window being pushed open further and someone stepping into her room. Y/N had the covers over her head so she couldn't see him approaching, though she felt the bed dip when he sat down beside her, and felt his hand rubbing her back through the covers. She sat up just enough to turn and move her arms around him, pressing her face into his chest as she started crying again, holding onto him tightly.

"I'm sorry." She heard him whisper into her hair as he wrapped his arms around her shaking body, which only made her cry harder. Did he really mean that? She couldn't be sure.

"Do- do you still love me?" Y/N couldn't help but ask through the tears, needing to know. It felt like he didn't, or that he was loving her less and less every day.

"Of course I still love you." Jughead sighed, his hand lifting to gently run his fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry I've been so distant lately, I've been busy sorting out stuff at South Side High and with the Serpents. I really didn't mean to forget about meeting up with you, okay?"

Y/N sniffled a little as she nodded, just holding onto him a little tighter. Whether she completely forgave him or not was a different question, though she was willing to give him another chance to prove that he really did mean what he said. 

"Hey." He said softly, moving his hand underneath her chin to tilt her head upwards. Her red-rimmed eyes locked with his and she watched his expression soften somewhat when he took in her features, though there was something about his eyes that made her stomach swirl with uneasiness. They were just so cold and unlike him. Maybe he didn't really mean what he had said.

~

Come on, come on don't leave me like this

I thought I had you figured out

Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted

Come on, come on don't leave me like this

I thought I had you figured out

Can't breathe whenever you're gone

Can't turn back, now I'm haunted

~

After that night, Jughead had promised to make it up to her and come and see her the following weekend at Pop's. And to be honest, she really needed it. Her week had gone absolutely horribly, with Betty suddenly becoming cold and distant towards her. Y/N couldn't fathom why Betty had become so cruel to her; she just knew that the last time herself and the Cooper girl had spoken, it had ended in a long string of insults from Betty then her walking off. So she could really do with her boyfriend's comfort, after her best friend clearly didn't want to be around her anymore.

Y/N sipped on her milkshake at Pop's as she waited for Jughead to show up, his drink sat untouched opposite her on the other side of the table. Once she had hit the ten minute mark she began to grow worried that he wasn't going to show, but thankfully she spotted him pulling into the parking lot of Pop's after she had heard the rumble of his motorcycle outside. A smile was painted over her lips as she waited for him to walk inside, though it quickly faded once she had caught sight of him.

His face was full of cuts and bruises, most of them looking extremely painful. At first she had been worried that he had been in a fight with somebody at his school, though her stomach sank when seeing the leather jacket he was wearing. The leather Serpents jacket.

He had clearly caught sight of her expression, as Jughead sighed as he slipped into the seat opposite her own. "Y/N, I meant to tell you-"

"That you'd joined the gang you told me you wouldn't?" She whispered, her eyebrows furrowed with disbelief. "Why would you do that? They're dangerous, Jug, they're a biker gang. Are you kidding me?"

"They aren't dangerous." He frowned. "They're like family."

"They're like family?" She scoffed. "Oh, and I'm not anymore?"

"Hey, I didn't say that." Jughead frowned a little more.

"Maybe you didn't say it, but you've been meaning it for weeks!" She practically exploded, sitting up in her seat as her waterline burned with the build up of tears again. "When was the last time we both properly hung out together, hm? Or ate dinner together? Or even spoke to each other without arguing?"

"I told you I've been busy, with-"

"With the Serpents, yeah I know." Y/N scoffed. "You never have time for me anymore, and that's all I'm asking for. I miss you, Jug. You could have at least told me that the reason you were too busy to spare a few hours for me is because you were joining a fucking gang."

"What is your issue with the Serpents?" He snapped defensively, making her flinch at the harshness of his voice.

"You said you wouldn't join them, you promised me, remember that?" She asked. "Oh, but maybe you don't, since you seem to be forgetting a lot recently." She huffed, lifting a hand to wipe away the tears that had started falling. "They are dangerous, Jughead, have you even looked in the mirror recently? If you had to do that to join then what else might you have to do now that you're involved?"

"Will you give it a rest?" Jughead snapped, causing her to flinch once more. "Like it or not, I'm a Serpent now, okay? And I'm sorry that since I have this thing called responsibilities now that I can't spend every minute of the day with you." 

"I didn't say that, Jug." She whispered, more tears falling. "I just miss you, we never see each other anymore and when we do it's... it's like you're a different person."

"Yeah? Well if I'm so different then why don't you just find yourself a new boyfriend, then. One that fits the criteria." Jughead scowled as he got out of his seat, shaking his head as he looked at her.

"Hey, wait." Y/N whispered, also getting out of her seat. "Don't go, Jug, I'm sorry." She whispered, reaching out to touch his arm.

Jughead was still frowning as he pulled away from her touch immediately, shaking his head as he just turned away and walked out of the diner, leaving her stood crying as she watched him leave.

~

Stood there and watched you walk away

From everything we had

But I still mean every word I said to you

~

Despite everything Jughead had said, they didn't break up. A few days later Jughead had stopped by her house to apologise, and for once it looked like he meant it. He had been close to tears himself as he ranted to her about everything, but mostly about how sorry he was and how he couldn't stand to lose her. By the end of the conversation she was crying too, and she had agreed to give him another chance. Maybe by this point she should have noticed just how many chances she had given him recently, and saved herself from any future hurt by breaking up with him, though she couldn't do it. She physically couldn't be without him, it pained her to even think about it.

Everything was good for a while. Betty had given her an explanation as to why she had been acting so funny, and definitely one she hadn't been expecting at that - as she had been getting phone calls from the Black Hood - the infamous serial killer who had taken up occupation in Riverdale over the past however many weeks. Whilst it was a complete and utter shock, she had immediately forgiven Betty, as she understood that she had become distant from Y/N so that the Black Hood wouldn't kill her. And things with Jughead had gotten better. Whilst he was still different to the soft and loving boy she had known before the move, he was clearly making an effort, and that mattered a lot to her.

Jughead had been especially better once his father was out of jail. It was a huge relief for everybody to have FP out, and whilst his return meant Jughead having to step up as Serpent King, Y/N was making an effort to try and understand the Serpents more, so she had been helping Jughead plan FP's retirement party in the Whyte Worm.

Though she had also been meeting up with Toni Topaz there, who was helping her learn the Serpent dance for her own initiation. 

Whilst she still wasn't too fond of the Serpents, she wanted to be there for Jughead to make sure he didn't end up getting hurt or imprisoned like his father, so she had agreed to do the extremely sexist 'Serpent dance' and partially join the gang to keep an eye on her boyfriend.

Even though she wanted to keep him safe, on the night of the party she felt horrible. On her way to the bar she felt nauseated at even just the thought of stripping into lingerie and dancing in front of a whole bar of gang members, but once she was there she felt even worse. The smell of alcohol once she had walked into the building was sickening, and it only made her worse. She was almost convinced enough to leave altogether, though once she saw her boyfriend approaching she knew there was no way of getting out of it now.

"Hey." He smiled once he had reached her, planting his hands at her waist as he leaned down to give her a kiss - thankfully the action helped calm her a little. "You look amazing."

The compliment made her blush a little, as she was only wearing a peach skirt and white blouse, though she couldn't help but wonder what he would be thinking later once she had revealed what she was dressed in underneath the good-girl outfit.

Soon the party was in full swing, and somehow she had managed to lose Jughead in the crowd, though she had managed to find Toni sat at the bar instead. Whilst she wasn't extremely fond of the Topaz girl, she was grateful that she had wanted to help her out with the dance.

"Hey north-sider." Toni greeted once she had sat at the bar, stood on the other side of it. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I'm about to throw up or pass out." Y/N told her, scanning the room for a moment before looking back at the pink-haired girl. "Give me something." She tapped the bar, hoping a drink would help. She didn't even drink - but Y/N was hoping that some alcohol would help calm her nerves.

"Are you sure?" Toni asked as she started pouring a liquor into a shot glass for her. "You don't exactly look like you can hold your drink."

"Please, I need some confidence right now, and if that means drinking to get some then so be it." She sighed.

"Alright then." Toni placed the glass on the bar in front of her, looking a little concerned.

Y/N lifted the glass and eyed the liquid for a moment before lifting it to her lips and knocking back the whole drink in one. It burned it's way down her throat and made her start to cough at the horrible feeling, though despite that she put the glass back on the bar and tapped it, signalling that she wanted another.

"Another?" Toni asked. "Are you sure? Maybe that's not the best idea."

"Please, Toni. I won't be able to do this completely sober." She sighed.

Toni just nodded and started to pour her another one, though as she did Y/N's attention was soon locked on the stage a little away from the bar, seeing Veronica and Archie stood there with the Karaoke machine that Y/N had managed to hire for the party earlier in the week. Tearing her gaze away she took the second shot pretty quickly. It still burned horribly on the way down, though she didn't start coughing again. By the time she had taken her third shot, Veronica and Archie had ran off of the stage mid-song, and Y/N had left the bar to quickly move onto the stage, once Toni had said that it was now or never.

Once she was up on the stage she had managed to meet Jughead's confused eyes in the sea of people, and somehow she didn't tear her gaze as she started singing the rest of the song as she unbuttoned her blouse. Y/N tried her best to look seductive and confident as she stripped herself of her clothes and started dancing, and the alcohol did help a lot with that. She was able to focus solely on the dancing as she moved over to the pole on the middle of the stage and spun around it twice, before lowering herself down onto the floor in front of it. The mass amount of people watching her didn't even phase her as she had moved back to the microphone to sing the last few notes of the song, though once she met Jughead's eyes again she felt her stomach sink with nausea. He had that same cold look in his eye again, the one that looked like he had lost all of his love for her.

After the dance was over Y/N had left with her clothes to change in the bathroom of the Wyrm, missing the speech that FP had started as afterwards she went to stand outside by Jughead's motorbike to cool off. It wasn't long before she spotted Jughead walking out of the back entrance of the bar to come and join her, his expression one she couldn't even read. She could just see that he was not happy, not at all.

"Hey," She said softly as he approached, though was met with no reply once he was stood in front of her. "What's wrong? Was it the dance?"

"It's everything." His voice broke as he shook his head. "And yeah. Why would you do that?"

"I wanted to be a part of this." She told him. "The Serpents, your world."

"Why?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he frowned at her. The expression made her uneasy, as it was one she was all too familiar with recently. "Archie knew to cut bait. Now I'm dragging you down. I'm dragging my dad down."

"He's still figuring it out." She told him softly, trying to muster up a genuine sympathetic smile. "And it's gonna be okay, we'll figure out whatever we have to do together." Y/N reached out to place her hands on his chest, though frowned when he had immediately stepped backwards.

"No, Y/N. Mm-Mm." He shook his head. "Not together."

The words struck her like he had just slapped her around the face. Her head tilted a little as a sudden coldness rushed over her body, nausea swirling around her stomach once again. Was he really about to break up with her?

"Y/N, if you stay, I don't know if I can protect you anymore. You might get-" Jughead paused as he ran a hand over his mouth, before planting both of them on her shoulders. "You probably will get hurt. I can't let that happen to you."

Y/N felt her waterline burning with a build up of tears as she stared back at him, starting to shake her head. "That's not your decision to make." She practically whispered.

"Actually, yeah it is." He stepped backwards as he spoke, the painful cold gaze returning to his eyes. 

"How many times, Jug?" Y/N asked as the tears started falling down her cheeks, her voice becoming wobbly with emotion. "How many times are we going to push each other away?" She gave a light push to his chest as she spoke, taking in a light breath as she tried to stop the tears. 

"Until it sticks." The harshness in his voice just made more tears fall as her expression crumpled. "This was my dad's one chance at going straight, and I wrecked it. I'm not going to destroy you, too." He moved to turn and walk away, though Y/N started following instead.

"Just tell me what happened, Jug." Her voice broke as she moved to grab his jacket and turn him around, tears cascading down her face faster as she reached up to cup his face in her hands. "Tell me."

"Please," His voice was weak, and she could see that he was holding back tears, too. "Go home."

Jughead stared at her for another moment before pulling away from her hold, and turning away to walk back into the bar. Y/N couldn't stop the oncoming wave of sobs as she watched him walk away and head back into the bar, her heart aching as she covered her face with her hands. She felt like somebody had just ripped out her chest. He wasn't her's anymore, and she wasn't his.

~

He will try to take away my pain

And he just might make me smile

But the whole time I'm wishin' he was you instead

~

The next day, Y/N had found out on the same night that Veronica had broken up with Archie too. She had been at Pop's trying to fight back a fresh wave of tears, when Archie had taken a seat beside her and started up a conversation with her. She eventually just broke into a fresh wave of tears as she tried explaining to Archie what had happened, and he had moved his arms around her to hug her, trying to comfort her in the best way he could. Though it felt wrong - his arms felt different to Jughead's, they were more muscular and harder. That fact alone just made her cry harder as she held onto Archie, as she wished it was Jughead sat with her instead. But she couldn't seem to let go of Archie - needing the reassuring contact even if it wasn't from the right person. So she just held onto him tightly as she cried, silently wishing it was Jughead instead.

~

Oh, oh, holding my breath, won't see you again

Something keeps me holding on to nothing

~

Y/N returned to Pop's the day after, hoping to catch Archie there again. Though as she had walked though the doors of the diner, instead of seeing her red-haired friend, she saw Toni sat at the table beside her usual one instead. She frowned as she looked at her, knowing she probably knew about what her gone down between herself and Jughead at FP’s retirement party. She had tried to walk part Toni without being noticed, though just sighed when she heard her call her name.

“Y/N?” She asked, causing the girl to force a smile as she turned to face her. “Listen, I’m sorry about what happened between you and Jug at the party.”

“It’s fine.” Y/N shook her head. It wasn’t fine, far from it, but she wasn’t about to stand and talk to Toni Topaz about her feelings, of all people. “It’s probably been a long-time coming.” She sighed.

“Listen, I-“

“Y/N?” Another voice came from behind her, an all too familiar voice, causing Y/N to frown as she turned around and saw Jughead stood there. She hadn’t seen him since the night he’d broken up with her, and hadn’t planned on seeing him for a long while, knowing she wouldn’t be able to handle it. Though instead of tears of sadness filling her eyes like she thought would happen, angry tears filled them together as she put two and two together. She glanced between him and Toni, and just shook her head as the tears started falling. He was meeting up with her, not even three days after they had broken up.

“Nice.” She whispered. “Rub salt in the wound, why don’t you?”

“What?” Jughead asked, before his eyes widened as he looked at Toni before back at her. “Y/N-“

“I don’t want to hear it, Jughead.” Y/N shook her head as the tears fell faster, quickly stepping past him and towards the exit of the diner to head outside. Her vision quickly became blurred with tears as she walked, breathing becoming a difficult task as she pushed back any verbal cries trying to escape.

“Y/N wait!” Jughead called after her. “It’s not what you think, please.”

Y/N turned around to face him as she started full-on crying, despite trying not to. “No, Jughead, I don’t care!” She shouted through her tears, her whole body starting to shake. “Just leave me alone, okay? I can’t be around you right now.”

Whilst Jughead stumbled over his words trying to say something, Y/N just turned around and walked away as she started sobbing freely.

~

Come on, come on don't leave me like this

I thought I had you figured out

Something's gone terribly wrong, you're all I wanted

Come on, come on don't leave me like this

I thought I had you figured out

Can't breathe whenever you're gone

Can't turn back, now I'm haunted

~

By the time Y/N had gotten home, she was a mess. Her chest hurt with each rough cry that passed her lips but she couldn’t stop. Weeks of emotional torture she’d endured, watching Jughead fall out of love with her, and just as things had started to seem okay he’d broken up with her. He had said it was to protect her, because he couldn’t let her get hurt, but was that really the reason? Or was he really just not in love with her? And wanted to be with Toni instead?

Once she had managed to get to her room she just slammed the door and fell to her floor, her hands covering her face as she hunched over. Everywhere hurt; her chest, her throat, her eyes, her heart. She felt like screaming, screaming for hours until her throat was raw and she couldn’t make anymore noise. Though she couldn’t physically stop the sobs long enough to even try to scream.

Her hands were shaking once she’d moved them from her face to plant them on her bedroom floor to stable herself, the shakes travelling up her arms and through her body until her entire frame was quivering with the agonising pain she felt. The tears couldn’t seem to stop, either. It felt like she had been crying ever since the break up, and for the most part she had.

“You’re not gone.“ She sobbed, hitting the floor with her palms before hunching over again as she continued crying. “You can’t be gone!“ The words mixed in with her crying to the point where she sounded like a wounded animal, begging for death. And in a way, she felt like it. Y/N didn’t think she could survive without Jughead by her side.

~

You and I walk a fragile line

I have known it all this time

Never ever thought I'd see it break

Never thought I'd see it

~

Another week passed before she saw Jughead again. The first time she had seen him after the break up it had been an accident, though this time he had asked to meet up with her, and for some reason said yes. Y/N tried telling herself that she had agreed to go simply because she was curious about what he had to say, though the real reason was because she was hoping he wanted to meet up with her to get back together.

For once, Jughead was there before her, though the scene looked so odd. For a start, he wasn’t even wearing his signature beanie - just the Serpent jacket that looked so foreign to her. And there was nothing on the table. Usually when they met up, whoever got there first would get each other’s favourite milkshakes. Though the only thing there was an untouched Pop’s menu.

“Hey.” Jughead said softly once she had sat in the seat opposite him, not beside him as usual. “I’m glad you came. I wouldn’t have put it past you if you didn’t.”

“What did you want to talk about?” She asked, just wanting to get it over and done with. Whilst she wasn’t crying herself to sleep every night anymore or tearing up at the mention of his name, she still didn’t trust herself to be with him for too long, in fear of setting off her uncontrollable flow of emotions.

“I just...” Jughead sighed. “I wanted to say I was sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have been so harsh with you about it. I probably could have done it all in a nicer way to make it easier for the both of us. And, I just wanted to say that I wasn’t meeting up with Toni last week in the way that you thought. Really, Y/N, she just wanted to make sure I was okay.”

Y/N scoffed quietly as she shook her head, a sad smile making it’s way to her face. “And I was thinking you wanted to get back together.” She whispered, though he heard her.

Seeing his eyebrows furrow and the shake of his head was enough to make her eyes brim with tears again as a lump formed in her throat.

“Y/N, I can’t do that.” He whispered, reaching across the table to take her hands in his. “You’re in too much danger with me, I can’t let anything happen to you.”

“I can handle it, Jug.” She tried telling him, though her throat was clogged up with tears and it made talking an extremely difficult task. “I can handle it, please can we just try.” Tears starter falling as her voice broke, her hands tearing from his as they flew to cover her face. After a moment she felt the seat dip beside her as he sat down, his arms winding around her and pulling her into him as she started crying.

“Please don’t leave me.” She started crying, the sound of her heart breaking almost louder than her cries. Almost. “Please, Jug, this can’t be over, I never thought I’d see this break, please.”

Jughead was stiff as he rubbed her arm gently, letting his lips linger on her forehead as a way of trying to comfort her. “I’m sorry.” He whispered, his own voice thick. “I have to. Y/N.”

At that she just started crying harder as she held onto him, trying to soak up his hold, his touch, everything, as she knew once he left she wouldn’t ever get it again. She turned to be completely pressed into him as she sobbed into the cold uncomfortable leather of his jacket, trying to hold onto him for as long as possible. Though she knew everything was over, and she couldn’t even take the thought. She couldn’t stand to live without Jughead in her life, she just didn’t want to.

She was haunted.

[oddhour]

hi gina!! i've followed your journey from HPFF to author-dom, and it's so incredible to see what leaps and bounds you've made. congratulations on finishing your manuscript! i can't wait to buy your book THE VERY SECOND it hits the shelves. you're a huge inspiration to me and countless others. maybe this is weird, but do you have any advice to share for aspiring authors? you seem to have found a good niche and community. no worries if you don't want to answer—thank you for being an inspiration!

:’))))))) this is a very nice message to get while i'm fixing the Entire Middle Third of my book

The first thing that comes to mind is: you should try to be in a community/group that largely writes for fun before you enter a community that writes for some form of profit. The former is healthier for your actual creativity, and you want to make sure that part of you is strong before wading into any place where people worry about marketability, or deadlines, or the next big thing, or making a living. The worst that can happen is killing your original love for writing. Be aware of whether you want to make your hobby a career, because you will have to make compromises and concern yourself with a lot of non-writing things. (I didn't pursue visual arts because my gut knew I would hate having clients dictating the things I designed, I also didn't have a certain drive in wanting more of my art/designs out there, which I do with my stories).

I think you should be certain of what you want in a creative friend/critique partner before seeking those out, too. It's important to find others who are on the same page. Years back, I specifically sought out writers who were also in the process of writing a manuscript, who had posted writing excerpts that I liked, and who seemed relatively confident about their writing. I didn't become friends with everyone—maybe because we didn't totally vibe or maybe because I'm not what they're looking for, etc. But that's fine! I made a few really good close writing friends and a lot of other kinds of friends, because not everything has to be about writing.

When I started this manuscript, I knew I wanted to get an agent with it. I also thought, it's okay if I don't, and I can always revise more or write a different story. I'm lucky in that I already had a great support from readers before I ever tried to do this. Many aspiring and debut authors haven’t had the experience of having their writing widely read, and it can cause a lot of anxiety and hunger—wanting that validation from readers and not being sure if people will like your writing (even if a publisher buys your book, from that point it’ll be two years until you see it on shelves). I don't have those feelings almost at all, and it's EXTREMELY freeing. Even if people didn't like what I wrote professionally, I know that I've written many things that people DO like, and even just that shields against anxiety.

(Midway last year, I got into fanfic again briefly because I fell in love with Claude von Riegan of Fire Emblem—it happens—and it was really nice writing oneshots in a day without really thinking about them and posting them and getting comments again. It was a wonderful reminder that I could, in fact, write, during a time where my manuscript was yelling "you have no idea what you're doing." Sure my fandom detour delayed my manuscript completion by a few months, but it was creatively and mentally worth it. I have friends who are active in fandom and fanfic the entire time they're pursuing pro publication as well).

I'm always improving my writing. I'm revising my entire middle third right now, because my brain finally understood how to make a story Book-Shaped instead of being a loosely connected set of scenes like fanfic is. I'm picking up a lot of holistic skills I never had before. Everyone's writing process is different and you need to be actively paying attention to your own. You should try new tips and tricks to see if they work with your process. Most will not and that's fine—now you know! Some will, and that's even better.

And I'm still having fun! I have my ups and downs, but it's a very familiar set of ups and down, and that comes with the experience of having written for a decade. I think finishing a story is the most important milestone, because it'll probably be the one milestone you come back to most often. I'm glad I made it a point to finish my fanfic novels, because it laid the foundational confidence that I can finish stories, even if it takes a long time! Also, writing an ending is nothing like writing a beginning or middle, and skillwise it's important to crest that hill—being able to write the part where the entire story comes together. Build a writing process around finishing a story.

This is now a long rambling thing, I hope it covers some topics that are helpful!! Thank you again for the message and now I gotta get back to work <:

[adoresomemedia]

How to Create a Viral and Effective Marketing Campaign

The Art of Creating Viral Marketing campaigns What adoresome has anlysed after working on numerous projects is that.

You're all set to unveil your brilliant company to the world now that it has finally been established.

Since you don't have a tonne of money to spend on marketing, you instead heavily advertise on all of your social media platforms.

At first, you observe a favorable reaction, but it is confined to a selected group of your closest friends who have faith in you. Everything fades down after a day or so.

The influence you hoped to have was considerably greater, yet it wasn't as strong as you had anticipated. You're disappointed, believe you failed, and don't want to try again.

Even if what you created could have been excellent, it didn't reach as many people as you had hoped due of the way you disseminated your message.

Adoresome has worked on numerous projects that did very well on social media, we have a team that have expertise in these subjects.

Are People Willing to Share This Content With Their Friends?Whether or not anything becomes popular only depends on how widely it is spread. This is what makes anything become popular and snowball into something enormous.

Start by asking yourself whether anything would make me want to share it if I were to see, read, or hear it for the first time.

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The information should be compelling enough for you to want to share it with your friends because you believe they would find it useful.

Does Your Marketing Make You Feel Anything?Whether it's a video, sales letter, or audio, your material must first evoke an emotion in the audience in order to reach as many people as possible.

The majority of the feedback on Blind Devotion was from people saying how emotional it was. The love tale was so touching that it gave all of our viewers the "feels."

Are There Any Unexpected Unique Elements in Your Content?

Your brain is activated when something unexpected happens to you. Given the abundance of marketing information available, it's simple to ignore a lot of it since you've seen so many of the same strategies employed.

It sticks out to them and actively engages them in the moment, however, if the audience encounters something novel and novel that either adds some form of shock value or helps educate them.

This will undoubtedly greatly enhance your brand.

The unexpected turn in Blind Devotion's narrative occurred when the focus shifted from the woman to the husband. In the Thai life insurance ad, it was the daughter's realisation of the person responsible for her father's survival.

Most people are unaware of the problem of becoming viral.

You may assume that the fact that your marketing campaign went viral would result in a huge increase in leads, but this is utterly untrue.

I understood that keeping your business viable isn't dependent on how popular your material is online. Loyalty is the most important factor in ensuring the sustainability of your company. And this can only happen if we start establishing a real relationship with our customers. Customers that are loyal to you will buy your goods on a regular basis and follow your business. They are the ones who will continue to purchase from you even if you provide equivalent services and goods at a lower price.

When the competition is fierce, the only way to win is to strengthen your relationships with your clients. not only by making an impression.

How can we use this in our own companies, then?

The ideal strategy for gaining customers is to connect with them more and surprise them less.Clarifying your company's goal, cause, or beliefs in your marketing is one of the best methods to connect with prospectively devoted consumers. People that can relate to it will have a strong connection to your business as a consequence, which will motivate them to act.

Imagine a commercial that doesn't mention how many accolades they've received or why their product is the finest, but instead begins by empathising with you and a significant issue you've been facing.

Your allegiance swings to this business since you believe they share your beliefs and comprehend what you're going through. You feel slightly linked and more understood as a result of this advertisement.

There is a large demand for better businesses in this world that help fulfil a need and address significant problems in our society rather than seeing consumers as a figure on the quarterly report. When marketing is sincere, it can build amazing customer connections.

[quaylinsims]

True to his word, Henry had the coach driver stop in a town on the way to his cousin's house. At first glance, it was super cute and historic. Everything looked to be from around the Civil War era. Much like Henry's suit and the stagecoach and the "roads" and...

Henry bought a newspaper and asked where one could go to find a pre-made dress for a little girl. He was directed to a corner shop. When we got there, I looked out and noticed the dresses and everything else were also from the 19th century. Henry's newspaper said 1850.

My heart began racing, and my head began pounding. Thoughts started flashing through my mind: How did I end up in 1850? That shouldn't be remotely possible! How do I get home? Can I get home? Do they have plumbing? Does my family know I'm gone? I hate those ruffly hoops skirts. How do I live in an era where women can't even vote? Does my family think I'm dead? Will I ever get home?

I started hyperventilating. Henry patiently waited for me to calm down, and I knew he had no idea how to help. Still, he tried. He put a cautious hand on my back and rubbed it slowly, gently.

Think! Think! One thing at a time! I need to wear clothes. This man is helping me. One thing at a time.

I slowly regained my composure and let Henry know I was ready to go.

Inside, the shop was very girly. The man behind the counter greeted Henry, who in turn said he needed to buy me a few dresses.

A few? Wow.

The man finally looked at me in my tent, his eyes widening. He quickly glanced back at Henry as if to size him up, but the latter was calm as ever.

Soon, I was trying on dresses.

Then our destination rose up amid the fields .s book, and Henry gave him some money.

"I really appreciate this, Henry," I said when we were back in the coach.

"Mr. Baldwin."

"What?"

He sighed.

"It is inappropriate for a young girl to call a man by his first name. Honestly, child, did no one teach you manners?"

Shit. I really messed that one up. That's right. 19th century. I have to be proper. I've read a lot of period novels and watched a lot of period tv. Thank you, Bridgerton. I can do that.

"Apologies, Mr. Baldwin," I correct. "I can do better. Your generosity is deeply appreciated."

I even bowed my head a little and offered a sheepish smile. He looked stunned at my reversal.

"That is much improved," he said. "Now then, Miss Swan, we will be going to my cousin's house. He is Mr. Tobias Nickelby. He has many... people in his... employ... I trust you will be well-behaved?"

"Of course, Mr. Baldwin."

He nodded and fell silent, reading his newspaper. I recalled some genealogical research I had done and the newspapers I had searched for obituaries. They published a lot of local social news, like who was passing through, who was visiting whom, whether my grandparents' homing pigeons made it back to Cleveland. I smiled and quietly chuckled to myself at the memory. I wondered what was in this newspaper.

We had to stay in an inn that night. We weren't far from Mr. Baldwin's cousin's house, but it was too far to venture further in the night. He rented me my own room for my privacy. I was grateful. It did not take me long to fall asleep, what with the eventful day and all.

We were back on the road in the early morning, eating breakfast at dawn and heading out of town. By noon, we were almost there.

"Now remember, Miss Swan, you are to call my cousin Mr. Nickelby."

"Yes, of course, sir."

He smiled.

We took a turn east. Thick trees on the right, vast fields on the left. There were men and women out working in the fields, wielding tools and carrying baskets.

Then our destination rose up amid the fields and we turned down the long driveway.

To call Mr. Nickelby's home a house was an understatement. It was a lovely mansion. Lovely until I got a closer look around me. All the workers wore tattered clothes, and none was white. Except for the odd fellow here or there just standing around barking at the others.

I wanted to cry. This was the past. I knew that. This was 1850. Of course slavery was still a thing. But to see it...

"I don't want to be here!"

Mr. Baldwin quickly turned his head at my outburst.

"I can't!"

"What ever is the matter with you?"

Mr. Baldwin sounded more surprised than upset.

"Th-this," I stammered, tears beginning to fall. "This is-isn't ri-ight!"

He looked out as we neared the plantation house's front.

"You are not wrong, child," he nearly whispered. "But we must be respectful of our host."

I wasn't sure if I could do that. I shook my head.

"How is your imagination? Can you pretend they are not there?"

I must have given him quite the stare because he looked back at me with shock.

"Remember your manners."

His tone was almost scolding, but before I could say anything, he was hopping out of the coach.

Mr. Nickelby -- whose formal name I use out of respect for Mr. Baldwin, not the vile filth that owned humans -- greeted his cousin with a roaring "Welcome!" Mr. Baldwin gestured to the coach, and said something about me. The former waved a greeting in my direction and escorted Mr. Baldwin inside.

I had to leave the coach.

I stepped foot onto a working plantation, and I shuddered. I knew from school and documentaries and movies how frighteningly awful they could be. I looked around for something that didn't seem tainted by malevolence, and I saw a small tombstone under a tree.

"That there was Mrs. Nickelby's favorite tree," said a voice behind me.

I turned to find a beautiful woman in a yellow dress and an apron standing about four feet away. I could just make out a scar on her left brow under her hair and a tattoo on her right wrist. She caught me staring at it.

"Come, Miss. There is a room for you."

She led me upstairs to a very frilly room.

"Thank you," I said, my voice catching in my throat.

I caught sight of her tattoo again. I knew it was a brand. I wanted to cry again.

"I am so, so sorry," I say, trying not sob.

"I'm surprised you care, Miss. If I may say so."

"Of course you may. And I promise you: this will all end one day."

She gave me one of those looks adults give children when they've said something so innocent that their naivity is both adorable and sad. I knew this look; I'd given it to my nephews. It broke my heart that she didn't have that hope.

I did not go down to dinner that night. For the next three days, Mr. Nickelby entertained Mr. Baldwin, and I ate what little I could in my room. I never met his daughter, and she never tried to introduce herself to me. Though I understood we were about the "same" age.

Finally, Mr. Baldwin knocked on the door.

"Come in."

He entered, took one look at my I-just-finished-ugly-crying face, and frowned.

"What has you so upset, child?"

I couldn't talk about how I was stuck 171 years before my "present" and so far removed from those I cared for, but I felt I could possibly mention the horrors I knew about and even had seen from my window. I took a deep breath.

"I hate this place," I admitted. "Enslaving humans beings, it's just so wrong!"

He pulled the chair from the corner to the side of the bed.

"Just yesterday, I saw an overseer whip a man so violently that--"

I had to pause. I didn't think I had more in me.

"It was awful. The crack of the whip. The blood. I could tell what it was even at night."

I buried my face in my hands and tried some deep breathing exercises.

"I am sorry, Miss Swan. No child should have to see that."

I looked up at Mr. Baldwin.

"No human should have to endure that," I answered.

My tone was harsher than I would have liked it to be, but Mr. Baldwin didn't show any shock or disppointment.

"Well, we will be leaving in the morning," he said, rising from the chair. "Hopefully you will feel better once we are on our way."

Through the lens of the 21st century, it nearly enraged me that he wasn't more upset by things. Everywhere I looked, everything I saw reminded me that I was in 1850, yet I could not wrap my head around what I knew to be an ass-backward, hateful, ignorant way of life.

It was somewhat of a relief that Mr. Baldwin at least also disagreed with what those in the south were doing.

It took two weeks to get to Philadelphia. I was relieved to be in the North. I was just about to ask Mr. Baldwin if I would be staying with him.

"I have written ahead to a cousin of mine here in Philadelphia," he told me over breakfast. "She is a teacher at a school for girls, and I have secured you a room there."

I was stunned.

"Do not leave your mouth hanging open, young lady."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Baldwin. I'm just surprised."

"Why? You can read. You are an intelligent girl. Why shouldn't you go to school?"

Well, I can't disagree. I've always loved school, but it's a little elementary for me, my dear Baldwin. I do have advanced degrees.

"You are always so generous, Mr. Baldwin. I wish I deserved it."

"I will leave you with an allowance, and I will send more regularly."

I was speechless. This sort of kindness always made me feel uncomfortable, and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to dote on me.

"Why are you so kind to me, Mr. Baldwin?" I asked quietly.

He smiled and placed his napkin on the table.

"Come, I want to make a stop first."

The stop, it turned out, was for me. Mr. Baldwin took me to a bookstore on our way to the school and told me to pick out anything I wanted. Of course, the books I really wanted to read weren't out yet. But I found a few.

"This may be the most generous thing you've done for me yet," I smiled.

"I'm glad you're happy," he he said with a chuckle. "We are near the school, so you can always come back here."

"Oh, I will."

I wondered about the possibility of somehow getting home and bringing some mint condition first editions with me.

He wasn't wrong; the school was very close. His cousin, much nicer to look at and not a slaver, welcomed us in. She was warm and comforting, not unlike Mr. Baldwin. He left as night fell.

She showed me to my room, which I would share with another girl, Anne. Anne was quiet and very hard to get to know; she mostly ignored me. When I wasn't in class, I was often upstairs reading, sometimes under my blanket, but only when the sun was bright through the windows.

I received regular letters from Mr. Baldwin and his wife, which I did not expect. She seemed like a lovely woman to know. I hoped I would get a chance to meet her.

The Baldwins went to Boston for the holidays. Mrs. Baldwin's father was there, and he was ill. I was glad she had a chance to visit with him. I was homesick, too. I wondered how my mother was and if the nursing home was treating her kindly.

I frequently visited the bookstore, found a few others, and scanned newspapers for any bizarre stories that could be like mine. But to no avail. I had no other way to figure out how to get home.

Late in the spring, I received a letter from Mrs. Baldwin inviting me to stay at their home for the summer months.