#don’t get me wrong it’s still an amazing novel and i enjoyed it a lot

[evie-doesnt-write]

My unpopular opinion is that TGCF is the weakest out of all MXTX books (maybe because she didn’t get to edit it until recently unlike the other two). I still love it and it’s an amazing piece of work but as a narrative, its structure is not as strong as the other two (though I think TGCF is stronger in other regards)

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - We In A Slump, but help might be coming from a very strange source

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Sept 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - I don’t have a lot to say except that the plot is somewhat predictable but the show is still very engaging. War is fantastic. I’m enjoying it a hell of a lot.

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) ep 10 of 12 - The second leads are getting better in this one. I understand where they are coming from, which makes their conflict so much more understandably painful, and honest to a friends2lovers trope. The main couple is kinda standard college relationship drama, but they are cuties.  

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - How is Ohm so damn gorgeous? Meanwhile, babies’ first argument. And it’s sponge bath time. Q has got to be wondering if Min is as meticulous with all kinds of care and attention to detail all......the......time. Somebody here in the hellhole said something about this being "the most BL to ever BL." And I think they’re right. At least right now. Although, watch out, we got us a new contender from the east.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 11 of 12 - I do love the continuation of the perversion, in a good way, of the punishment trope from last week's episode. Oh, has the show finally remembered its title? NO SINGING. 

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - More kidnapping and an attack and now there’s a girl involved and somebody’s going to China and I don’t understand anything! And I don’t really care. Is this how the actual book originally went? Because it’s wild. Also TOO MANY of flashbacks. I guess they got a bit of a boyfriend era, and the claiming during the water fight was cute, but otherwise...... meh

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 15 - One shouldn’t make comparisons, of course, but all I can think about is how amazing Captain was as Noh in the original series. Thus this show is mostly just making me want to rewatch the original. It’d be an interesting twist to have Aim be queer instead of a damaged cool girl slut. Was the helmet hand letting go a foreshadow of the iconic bookstore hands letting go? Also, I gotta say for the second episode of a series there are already too many flashbacks. Why are they using filler when they have so much content crammed into so few (comparable) episodes for a series? It’s annoying. Stop it.

Live in Love (Sun Gaga) ep 4 of 5 - This show has some interesting, if heavy handed, things to say about shipping and trolling, but also predatory/proprietary female behavior. It’s fascinating to see it tackled head on, if handled in a profoundly clumsy manner. I’m not sure how I feel about it. That said, most of this episode was actually an advertisement for a resort in Phuket. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 2 of 10 - I'm getting What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? vibes from this show. Only this is WAY more bullying. It’s very old-fashioned 90’s billionaire romance novel only gay. It’s never a good sign when I’m watching two boys kiss and I really want one of them to just bite the other ones lip off instead.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - No ep this week. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 8 of 10 - Gosh it’s so frikin adorable. Baby got sick. He has SUCH A CRUSH. And such a courageous little confession! Yay! Can’t wait for next week. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YouTube) ep 1 - sure, yes this is, in fact, just Ba Vinh doing his thing with pretty boys again. And yet...... There is a REASON this leapt into the standings guns blazing. So it’s high school set but it's stepbrothers trope. (My, aren’t we popular this year?) I know, but I NEVER get tired of this trope. We got us Bach (BV's sullen tsundere) and Dat (babygirl meets bully). It’s GREAT how the brothers' dynamic is entirely different at school than when they're at home. My ear isn’t trained for Vietnamese, but I think Dat is using different pronouns depending on his location (his personality entirely shifts when he’s at school). I’m not sold on the Bach character, although I always trust BV to serve in the end (at least we know the kisses will be good), but Dat is utterly in love, a touch spicy, and reasonably complex. The surrounding cast is good too, my favorite pretty boy is there playing top dog (woof), and one of the besties is out gay (YAY!). The plot of the show is...... well...... absent. Nothing happened. But if we are aiming for Love Sick slice of life style BL, I'm game. Subs are appropriately terrible and confusing. But I like it A FUCK TON so far, so I’m gonna keep it in rotation. Nice to have Vietnam back in play. What a shocker.

2024 has been a year of upsets.

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 3 of 10 eps - I weirdly enjoyed the farcical music and the utter absurdity of the court case. I also liked how it highlighted what a good team these two are. Frankly I don’t mind a bit of an antihero sleazy lawyer + conman, it's engaging. I’m getting wholesome out of Thailand. I don’t really need it from Japan at the moment. Also I don’t believe for one second our conman actually is serious about the relationship. Conmen gonna con. I'm reminded of the scorpion and the frog fable.

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 8 of 12 - I love Orca so much. I do not love the autotuned version of Orca, but I knew what I was in for with this particular show, it's in the title after all. I did laugh a whole lot when Laing used kha. Hon, I don't think that word means what you think it means......

The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) eps 11-12fin - I never thought I’d say this, but the pacing was off in the penultimate episode. Taiwan, and its chronic misuse of flashbacks strikes again. That said we eventually got a "lock in" trope and Wang being the biggest little flirt shit in the cafe OMG!!! Of course, you shouldn’t use a girl to torment your bf, but it was so well done, I can’t really complain. Meanwhile, teacher kisses. And now I understand exactly why they’re present in this narrative. Clever. Bummer of a burden on that ending though. I cannot see how they’ll manage to stick this landing. [That was ep 11]

AND NOW EP 12 - doomey doomey doom

Not the water bottle trope! Argh the teenage lust of it all. Just stop it. Wang is so smart he knows exactly how bad he has to be to leave the class. And his bf certainly knows that too. And......

......

So that was not an ending and I’m not happy about it and no one is surprised. Even I’m not surprised. I’m just disappointed. Even tho I suspected this was where we were headed I'm disappointed. That’s it. That’s all I got. How do I review something that was such a crushing let down?

Conclusion:

Based on a Mou Mou novel + the Your Name Engraved Herein team, this is old-school coming of age BL and it was bloody fantastic. Tsundere seme to beat all tsundere (smartest + tallest + bestest at everything but people) meets socially-ept cutie smart-ass uke. They're living together by end of ep 1 and start kissing by end of ep 2. A stellar tense slow burn stepbrothers trope that ate my life and than just belly-flopped the finale. What I'm left with is epic levels of disappointment and well...... at least nobody died? My standard "fatally flawed" rating for any BL is 4/10 so I guess that’s what I’m giving it. 

Before you ask me for the stats: Taiwan does not have a history of second seasons. I went ahead and ran the numbers and the odds are certainly not in our favor. I put the chances at 2%.

Yes, I contemplated a revenge rating of 2/10 but even I'm not that mean.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - This is a supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion in Chiang Mai being converted into a café. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In Case You Missed It

Falling For My Boss is vertical format (nash) short from Korean BL about a happy-go-unlucky man who keeps losing his flower shop business because of romantically misbehaving employees (apparently it's a thing). When his best employee brings in a new boy he's worried she's falling for him, but it turns out it's his own heart on the line. He a clueless softy and The Boy is a lost broken sweetheart, making this a gentle little snippet of a show. There's a baby linguistic negotiation, some hung slinging, awkward handholds, and everyone is very pretty. For me the absence of kisses and the vertical format were more annoying than the length, which felt fine but many viewers will find too short. I enjoyed the 30 minutes of cute. All of which makes this a solid 7/10 from me. It was originally only available on this one ap in very short form with ads so I wasn't gonna bother. Then some kind soul cut it together without ads and stuck it up for download. Say thank you.

Oddball recommendation next: This podcast episode touches on some stuff we see in Thai BL so I think it's worth listening to. Journalist Dominic Faulder on the Complex History Between Thailand & Myanmar

Happy of the End (Japan Gaga) - Completed its run. A boy is disowned for being gay, dumped by his boyfriend, and ends up in a dysfunctional co-dependant relationship with his would-be kidnapper. We were due for another messy JBL and it's exactly as expected. I do not like it at all and DNFed. Gossip round the hellhole is that was a solid decision.

Marriage Equality Law has officially been enacted in Thailand...

Yes the actual law. Goes into effect Jan 22, 2025

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Coming Oct 2024:

10/3 Fourever You (Thai iQIYI?) 16 eps - New directs Earth (UWMA, 12%) + Pond (Century of Love, 180 Degrees), Bas (Gen Y, 2 Moons) + Maxky (Why You… Y Me?) and other familiar faces like Bever. Sampler pack university BL from Wabi Sabi that looks like it's trying to be a gay Boys Over Flowers (4 older med students hot boys) and I'm not mad about it. Trailer Not sure who's distributing this but my guess is iQIYI since they had the last few from this house.

10/7 Every You Every Me (Thai Gaga) 10 eps - Jade and Chin have lived over a thousand lifetimes. In each one they somehow manage to fall in love with each other. (This pair, TopMick was piloted in a My Universe ep, that was one of the only ones I liked.)

10/10 Eccentric Romance (Korea ????) 12 eps - Silkwood’s 2nd Thai/Korean colab, that has been in production since 2022 which is a LONG time in the BL world. I'm worried but I like the concept: friends of 10 years who’ve been hiding feelings for each other enter the same university. Plus MURDER.

10/10 Gangster and His Boyfriend (Korea ????) 8 eps? - Kim Dong Bin (famous trainee & idol reality competitor, yeah that happens) stars as a fallen idol who unexpectedly becomes entangled in a gangster family. Discovers that his friend’s father is responsible for the murder of his entire family years ago. I don't know much about this one, neither does anyone else and I'm not sure where I got that release date so……

10/21 Love in the Big City (Korea ????) 8 eps - Adaptation of Booker-nominated famous coming of age novel of the same title by Park Sang-Young. Cynical yet fun loving student writer Young pinballs from home, to class, to Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female besie and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their worries about life, love, and money with soju. As time passes Jaehee settles down and leaves Young to face his problems on his own. Young finding comfort in the arms of the series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness and another who might be the great love of his life. Not really BL. Stars Kim Go-eun (The King: Eternal Monarch), Noh Sang-hyun, and Nam Yoon Su (The King’s Affection). This already released as a movie and isn't very well regarded, this date is supposedly an international release as a series. I'm wary of it being BL.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I got nothing, The On1y One drove me into a funk.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[sarahreesbrennan]

Quick Evil Note

To all my wicked darlings, I have now received rather a lot of messages asking me about the influences of Long Live Evil. And I wish to get messages about LLE and truly appreciate the ones I do get! And I wish to answer them. But answers about influences are tricky.

The book has been out in the US for a little over two weeks, and it’s going so well so far, I couldn’t be more delighted and appreciative about its reception.

But also I’ve been informed (not asked) that two of my characters are obviously somehow both Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy of Harry Potter, and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. (Very puzzling as I don’t think these pairings - and one isn’t a pair - have much in common with each other or with mine. Vague hostility against a vaguely academic backdrop for a bit? For the record… in the book everyone is an adult and I don’t even have any academic backdrops to be vaguely hostile in front of…) This hasn’t happened to me in a long time, because I haven’t had an original novel out in a long time due to illness, and it is upsetting to always be discussed differently than writers who didn’t openly link their real names to their fan identity.

I have very different feelings and new appreciation for fandom than I once had. It’s been amazing to see and meet people who have stuck with me for decades. People are generally way more open and affectionate to and within fandom than they once were. Love matters to me a good deal more than hate. But getting death threats in your early 20s for excitedly telling your Internet friends you were going to publish a book does mark the psyche, and so does having your characters dismissed as other people’s characters.

And we can say there is nothing wrong with fanfiction or writing fanfiction and there isn’t! Fanfiction is great and can be genius. Terry Pratchett wrote Jane Austen fanfiction, and didn’t (and shouldn’t) have people saying Captain Wentworth = Captain Vimes. Still, when a TV show is discussed as ‘like fanfiction’ or when Diana Gabaldon said she didn’t like fanfiction and many said ‘YOU write fanfiction’ it isn’t intended in any kind spirit, even when it’s fannish folk saying it. And it’s just generally odd to have everyone call your apple a tomato, and has had professional consequences for me in the past.

However! All the asks I’ve received have been very kind, and I do want to answer them. I do want to talk about my influences because they are manifold and because I actually think it’s important to always talk about influences. I don’t believe stories exist in isolation - we tell tales in a rich tradition, and also a story doesn’t come alive to me all the way until it’s heard or read.

Long Live Evil is a love letter to fandom: it’s chock full of references to many many stories I’ve loved, to fairytales, myths and legend and Internet memes and epic fantasy and meta. My acknowledgements are endless partly for this reason. I do owe a great debt to many portal fantasies and archetypes and musicals and jokes about genre and plays through the ages, though I do think of my characters as themselves and nobody else.

I was frankly tempted to go ‘Yes I stole EVERYTHING! Bwhahaha!’ But while I am thoroughly enjoying and finding great freedom in my villain era, I do want to talk sincerely to you all as well, especially when asked sincerely interested questions.

But I’m a little scared to do so and have people say ‘AHA! Now we know what it’s fanfiction of’ (it’s happened before) or ignore me and go ‘we know the truth!’ (it’s happened before) and to feel like I’ve injured my book. Long Live Evil means more to me than any other and I really want to get talking about it right, and make sure it has the best reception I can give it.

So. Questions on all Evil topics very very welcome but answers to influence questions may come slowly. Bear with me. I am working on this!

[aviradasa]

Drunk Dancin

Elliott (Sdv) X reader

(art from Pinterest)

This was so fun to write I hope you all enjoy! I got kinda lazy towards the end Sorry it's been awhile sense I've had inspo so this might be bad. Also I didn't proof read this shit🤣🖤 lots of spelling/grammar errors in This one

Masterlist

It had been a rough day on the farm, the crops were dying due to the change in season, the animals were grumpy even though they had plenty to eat and space to wander, And then to top it off the mines nearly killed me, and now I grumpily stumble to the stardrop saloon.

It's a busy night for the tiny bar. Friday nights are always like that, groups and sad lonely souls gather there to drink, sing, and stumble out sometime past midnight every Friday without fail.

As I make my way inside I see it's still relatively quiet. I walk up to the bar nodding my head to Pam who sits at her usual corner.

“Hey kid you're looking rough, what happened this time?” she asks, turning her head to me with a slight chuckle as she takes a sip of her beer. I look at her with a sigh as I slump over the bar lazily grabbing my drink and sliding it closer to me. “Oh, you know the same old shit. Crops are assholes, and my animals and the creatures in the mines want me dead.” I say lifting my cup to my lips and downing half of my drink before lowering my glass. “It’s been fun,” I say giving her a sarcastic smile.

“Jesus kid you outta slow down there wont be any good tomorrow if you're sloshed,” she says with a grin. I look at her with a raised eyebrow before I can respond. She laughs. “I’m just kidding, the best cure for a shitty day is a drink. If I had any extra cash I would buy you one outta pity but well I'm kinda runnin’ a little short for my tab as is so.. Don’t tell Gus,” she tells me with a wink, I let out a little chuckle. “ Your secrets are safe with me,” I tell her before downing the rest of my drink and calling Gus over for another, which he gladly sells me before I get up from the bar and wander to a table neatly nested in the corner. I sit down and after a few minutes, I see my good friend Leah wander into the saloon collecting her drink from the bar. She wandered to the table next to me. “ well hey their Y/n what are you up to tonight.”She asks as she pulls out her seat to sit down.

I look up at her with a grin holding up my drink. “Girl I’m drinking in hopes I don't wake up tomorrow sober!” I tell her as we both laugh. “ Jeez Y/n what the hell did you do now, don't you tell me you passed out in those mines again!” she jokes with a grin on her face as she takes a sip of her beer.

“Hey now I didn't pass out, but I got too damn close to those rock crabs are the devil.'' I shake my head as I chuckle. “ They keep sneaking up on me and by the time I see one of those things there are 3 more behind me.” I say Leah just laughs “Sounds like you need to buy some armor or something if you gonna keep going down there-” she starts to say before a new voice unintentionally cuts her off.

“Good evening Leah,y/n how are you both tonight?” the person says, looking towards the voice we see Elliott. I was starting to wonder where he was normally earlier. “ hey El where were you? You're a bit later than usual.” I ask the redhead. He just chuckles and takes a seat in between the two tables. “Well, you know how I was having a dry spell of inspiration? Well, I don't know What hit me but today I was able to get 3 chapters done in my novel! I was so caught up in it that I didn't even realize the whole day had run away from me. I feel so alive at the moment!” he tells us excitedly. For the past week, Elliott has been talking about how he had no clue what to write in this book of his, it was kind of sad to see him so upset, but now he's happy and inspired again! Don't get me wrong is amazing, I'm happy for him and even happier that he's so much more enthusiastic and optimistic now, but I just wish he was like this 3 days ago. Because now his joy is feeling a bit suffocating. Or maybe that's just because of my shitty day.

Even so, I sit there and listen to him excitedly explaining some plot twist he wanted to add to a future chapter.

As he speaks I can't help but tune into the music playing from the jukebox. It's decently loud but not enough to give you a headache and the songs playing are mostly from the 70’s and 80's. I guess Gus has decent musical taste! Who knew?

About an hour has passed and our little trio has had our fair share of drinks. We sit there joking around for a little longer before Leah thinks it might be a good idea to pull Elliott and me up to dance. “Leah I don’t know how fuckin to dance??” I slur as she pulls me up. She groans “Come on don't be lame let all just dance! I bet you can do it! Elliott, don't you think they can do it too??” she asks him. Elliott being a little less than drunk more on the tipsy side just laughs.

“ You know I think they can! Go on, go dance, you can do it,” he says, giving me a slight push. Without thinking I grab onto his hand and spin around to face him. “You know what! I’ll go if you come with us.”

Telling him to come with us was the worst thing to say ever.

Cause he was an amazing dancer with a couple of drinks under his belt. And he looked divine doing it. His red suit jacket had been long forgotten on the back of his chair, his long red hair was put up messily in a bun and he was dancing like he should have been on a stage.

He swayed and spun, stumbled once or twice, and laughed with us when we pointed it out to him. It was a beautiful thing to witness, but he didn't take my focus away completely, as Leah and I had been spinning around together, jumping up and down bobbing our heads to the beat as we stumbled and laughed.

As we dance my head starts to spin, dizziness overcoming every aspect of my mind and vision almost knocking me down. But as I stumble, a hand grabs my wrist from behind and spins me around full circle. As I nearly fall forward the person's other hand finds its way to my waist pulling me towards them, my back hits their chest and I hear a laugh. “I can see you've been having fun, you should be more careful, you just never know who you'll stumble into.”

Recognizing the voice, a dopey grin creeps onto my face as I turn my head to look at the culprit.

And just as I guessed it was Elliott standing behind me with an oddly placed smirk on his face. Seeing him sobers me up a little bit in the best way possible.

“ Well now you're the one who grabbed me, I could have stumbled my way into anyone I like. you just happened to be quick about it.” I said with a giggle as I spun around one more to the beat of the song playing. Now facing him as we move around the dancefloor.

“Yes, well. Ah, what can I say i can't think of a good excuse at the moment. I’ve wanted to dance with you for quite some time, And when I saw you had wandered out of Leah's grasp well. I suppose you can call me somewhat of an opportunist.” he says as we both let out a laugh

“ Well, I can’t say I'm complaining that you took that opportunity.” I wink “Nothing against Leah she's quite a good dancer.”

“Better than me?” Elliott says with a joking tone. “Definitely,” I responded with a grin. He places a dramatic hand on his chest as he tries to flip his hair forgetting it's put up at the moment “I’m hurt, I thought I was better than that.” he jokes. A small chuckle escapes me at the gesture before the night goes on and blurs together, not in the sense that I don't remember more like that of a watercolor painting when the colors bleed into one another as we had dancing in a wave of color that turns into something else entirely.

The door of the saloon swung open as we exited, we were one of the last few folks leaving. Leah had left about an hour prior leaving us to our fun, not without saying goodbye first. Waving goodnight to Gus, me and Elliott make our way to the town square. Stopping I turn to him with a tired look “Are you sure you wanna walk me home? It's getting pretty late.'' I asked him. It's not like the walk to the farm is long but for him to walk all the way there and then to the beach is quite the trek even with shortcuts it can take quite a while. “Of course. I'm not gonna let you walk home alone at this hour. It wouldn't be right, especially after the drinks you had earlier.” he tells me with a grin i gaze at him skeptically. Looking him up and down.

Even after the long night he looks surprisingly put together in a semi-messy way, his hair is still put up in that messy bun from earlier but now some more strands are pulled out some of them sticking to his face after the night of dancing, his white dress shirt was wrinkled now and his red coat was lazily thrown over his shoulder. Even so, his posture was still surprisingly straight though he was very slightly hunched over but it was kinda hard to notice. After a few moments, I shrugged my shoulders “Well if you insist.”I told him.

“Oh, I insist” he smiles, turning to the side he offers me his arm. I laugh a bit and take it “Trying to pull the gentlemen card tonight Elliott?” I joke as we make our way past the little garden turning the corner to make our descent down the pathway that leads to my farm. “ I don't need to pull a card. It's just who I am,” he says, his voice a bit smoother than before. Making a little heat rise to my face. I thank the dark shadows of the night for shielding the small details from his view. Damn, that silver tongue of his. I think to myself before I remember to respond “Whatever you say El.” I chuckle looking straight ahead of us. The air is cool as we walk but not uncomfortable in the slightest. It is more of a calming breeze that floats past us picking up the smell of some of the freshly bloomed spring flowers with a slight smell of rain from the previous day. I feel as though I could never tire of the night air, And to admit walking with the man that's haunted my dreams each night just adds that little bit more to it that makes it hard for me to remember that it's real.

“Well, here we are.” I hear Elliott mumble pulling me out of my thoughts. I didn’t even realize we had walked up the steps to my front porch. “ thank you so much, Elliott.'' I smile warmly at him as I release his arm from my hold. “ It was really sweet of you to walk me home tonight. And also thank you for the fun night you and Leah provided me with.” I told him.

“It's always a pleasure, and I would do it again any time any place,” he responds with a nod. a small grin gracing his features. A few moments pass before he decides to speak once more

“ Well I suppose it's getting quite late and I wouldn't want to keep you up too late so I guess I'll be going now,” he says hesitantly. I bow my head with a smile before opening my door a small bit of confidence overcoming me as I get i silly idea

“ Well, it's not that late, how about you come inside for a moment and grab some tea before you go?”

“ that. Would be lovely. As long as you don't mind.” he says taking a step inside my home.

“ I don't mind, I offered,” I responded with a laugh closing the door behind us as I went to heat the kettle. It was a small offer but it was a night neither of us would forget for a long time.

[thebeautysurrounds]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how people’s reactions to certain queer shows and something I think we need to examine how we treat more ‘dark’ and ‘emotional’ shows versus more ‘happy’ shows in this case I’m gonna be talking about the “debate” between Young Royals and Heartstopper.

Firstly these shows exist in two different lanes, and draw in two different audiences and potential age ranges, in my opinion, Young Royals is for older teenagers (think juniors or seniors or someone who is about to graduate high school and is going into college) while Heartstopper is geared towards those who are just starting high school or in the middle of it and is in that transitional period of their lives. Obviously, if you are not in these age ranges you can still consume and enjoy these shows, But I want to discuss how people act like they both can’t exist and you can’t like both or both shows existing for a reason. I’ve never really been a fan of punching down or belittling queer media (unless it’s harmful) Queer media in all forms is still lacking (especially those mediums centering WLW relationships). That being said the debate of which show is better is honestly so tired.

For people who say Young Royals is so much better (don’t get me wrong it is an amazing show and by all means like whatever you want) but liking it more because it’s “darker and more realistic” compared to Heartstopper which is "much happier" and "unrealistic," To me is so disingenuous because firstly so what? campy shows that feature queer characters deserve to be unrealistic, What's wrong with being unrealistic? Queer media has been subject to the Burry Your Gays narrative for decades or extremely unhealthy tropes and storylines so what's so wrong with having storylines and shows that are unrealistic or extremely happy? (even though the themes in Heartstopper are realistic).

Have you thought about how that may be an intentional choice? Now bare with me here this may be my over-analytic brain at work but Heartstopper has more or less some of the same themes as Young Royals just shot in a very vibrant and colorful manner to showcase how happy and colorful young love is BUT if you actually have watched the show or read the graphic novels you would know the show and graphic novels cover some heavy themes.

SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT……

I want you to keep the song Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People in mind throughout this...I have a point I promise. Heartstopper is shot in a very poppy colorful way and in my opinion, symbolizes how when you’re young and in love everything feels warm, colorful, and vibrant. While Young Royals doesn't utilize this cinematic style they do use some form of vibrancy to convey tone and emotion. In Young Royals many of the scenes featuring Simon and Willhem's 'good moments' feature the sun especially shining on Simon when Willie is looking at him or whenever they are just in each other's company, this is especially prominent in the last scenes of the last two episodes of season 3.

So while people's criticisms of Heartstopper can be warranted (not saying you can't dislike the show) the comments that it's just so bubbly and bright just aren't true. The last season of Heartstopper saw multiple characters go through traumatic situations and it has been building up that way from the very first scenes in the first season of the show (but for the sake of time I'm only going to discuss both main characters in the two shows) Charlie not only is still struggling with being outed but is also battling with an eating disorder, this is foreshadowed throughout the first two seasons leading up to its inevitable blatant reveal when he is at dinner with Nick and his family where Nick starts to piece together why he is never hungry, passed out on the Paris trip and never finishes his food, which leads his to eventually research the signs of an ED. Nick is also still figuring himself out when it comes to his Bisexuality, while also dealing with the feelings of, feeling abandoned by his father, and having to reckon with the fact his brother is not supportive and dismissive of his sexuality and relationship.

Now before I said keep Pumped Up Kicks in mind that's because while this song has an upbeat, catchy tempo the song actually has a really dark undertone and meaning. So while Heartstopper is shot in a very vibrant colorway most of its characters and content of the show deal with dark themes and it's not all just a happy love story, and if the script for the next season follows the graphic novel closely, then we will see the characters go through even more challenges which also falls inline with the "darker" more emotionally message of the show. So to end this so it doesn't become a dissertation, both shows more or less have the same themes they just exist in two different lanes, I don't know why exactly people are fighting for one to be more valid than the other. When both can exist and be impactful to both or each audience, more queer shows need to exist where the characters are just happy and in love and I need y'all to unpack why you view more doom and gloom (for a lack of a better word) queer shows or movies are more valid than ones where the characters are just happy and have relatively in some aspects great experience when it comes to young love and figuring out one's identity. Sepreatlty why do you want these characters to suffer to find love? Why do characters have to go through something traumatic for their identity to be more valid and for you to relate and want to root for it more versus the latter?

Anyway, this was longer than I intended it to be but I just had to get my thoughts out there. TL;DR: Heartstopper and Young Royals are two great shows and if you think one is better than the other cause it has darker themes you are missing the point or probably objectively missed the dark undertones of the show, and one isn't more valuable than the other.

[myfairkatiecat]

Do you have any general writing tips

I'm aware that my writing is still pretty amateur and I'm wanting to try and get better and elevate it

Specifically my descriptions are lacking

Honestly the way you get better at writing is by doing it. And by reading.

When I got my start in fandom when I was eleven, I’d been writing stories for a long time so decided to try my hand at fanfiction. I wasn’t that amazing but I had proper grammar so I considered myself superior to everyone (I look back at that stuff and majorly cringe, though). I was present on wattpad and the kotlc wiki and was obsessed with writing and reading fanfic.

My writing stagnated. Realistically I wasn’t that bad for an eleven year old. I was actually on track to be pretty good based on where I was at. But I stopped getting better. I started reading more fanfiction than actual literature and writing more fanfiction than original stuff. When I wrote fanfic, I was going for a certain kind of reaction/playing with characters like dolls WHICH IS APPROPRIATE FOR FANFIC but wasn’t making me a better writer.

Eventually I had a fandom slump right before covid and was writing a lot more original stuff. That was the year I finished my first novel (albeit, NOT A GOOD ONE. I repeat IT WAS NOT GOOD) and was reading a ton of YA books as well as classics. That’s when I progressed again.

During Covid I got involved with the Star Wars fandom and started writing more fanfiction again. I gave myself over to the most crackish Star Wars writing ever and I don’t regret it bc I wrote some seriously hysterical stuff. But the REASON I did that was this: fanfiction became to me a way to get little ideas with my characters out of my head, to present the characters to others, and to write something for myself.

Reading fanfic was still fun for me, but I made sure I was balancing it with reading other things.

That’s when I kept getting better.

As I got better my fanfics got better naturally, but I stopped worrying about them. That’s why some of my fics like living in a blur read as very amateurish: I don’t think about the writing really at all. Fanfiction didn’t prove to be a helpful place for me to work on my writing. That’s why my fanfic quality is always a few steps behind where I’m at as a writer and also why my fanfic quality naturally progresses as I learn and get better.

I believe people can practice and improve their writing through fanfiction. Don’t get me wrong. What works for me isn’t necessarily what works for everyone. However, if you’re coming to me for writing advice, my BIGGEST piece of advice is: WRITE ORIGINAL CONTENT.

Writing original content forces you to think more about the world building, plot structure, and character threads. When you’re writing fanfiction, thinking about those things is very helpful, but since the world and characters are already kinda there, it can be easy to skip over those things. Becoming practiced at working with them improves fanfic quality!

If your writing style reads as wattpad style it’s because you read wattpad fanfics. That isn’t a bad thing. (Again. This is coming from me, KATIE, of all people.) As a writer you’re operating within the wattpad system: you read and enjoy fics, and then you write similar ones for others to read and enjoy. If something about your writing style bothers you, you have to break out of the system and consume other things that will influence your style as well as write in your own style and develop your own voice.

So! That’s storytime and sage life advice from Katie! If you want tips on story structure/characterization/overcoming writer’s block and stuff like that, just let me know! But if your main complaint is that your writing sounds amateurish, you can only become less of an amateur by doing it, and if doing it isn’t working, perhaps you’re in a Katie-situation where fandom is stagnating your writing and you’d benefit from trying my Make Original Content Trick!

[womendeservehumanity]

Being aware of how much men hate us makes it hard for me to have any sort of hope. I'm straight (I think??) and I don't think I want to date men at all which is fine because I never dated anyway, but still I yearn for Intimitacy and romance and I can only get that through fiction. You can't be with a man without chopping off a part of yourself first. I wish I were still unaware of how much they hate us, although I think we all know deep down. We choose not to see it in order to...live. it's a heavy burden. What do you with it?

I have never in my life related to something this hard. This sounds like something I’d write omg 😭 I really do feel for you. As someone who has loved romance and romcoms since as long as they could remember, I always had this picturesque idea of relationships. That they were equal. That it wouldn’t even be a question that a man would see women as people and be capable of loving a woman. I thought they viewed women and relationships with women how I and other women view them.

Throughout middle school I had VERY intense crushes. Like I was obsessed lol. I never really comprehended the concept of misogyny and the very warped way men and boys viewed women and girls. I, again just thought they viewed us the way we viewed them. Void of hatred and objectification.

I’ve had one boyfriend in my life and he gave me hope that there were men that were truly capable of loving a woman. That were free of misogyny as much as a man could be. And I truly do think that he loved me and that he’s a good person (pls don’t crucify me radblr). He definitely wasn’t perfect. I didn’t find my unicorn of a man or anything.

Although I had that experience I still have come to the conclusion that it’s not worth it searching for that man who, in a sea of men that do nothing but make women’s lives worse, is a good person and sees me and other women as people deserving of respect. And it’s definitely not the worth the risk. But I still very much feel you on craving intimacy and romance. And it’s so polarizing to innately desire that with your biggest threat.

It’s something I’m still navigating so I can’t give you the most surefire advice or perspective. Women are taught since so young, to center and prioritize romantic relationships above everything. I’ve seen the result, where so many girls have essentially alienated themselves from anything beyond their boyfriend. Identity, relationships, etc. it’s heartbreaking. So I feel like it especially makes the idea of a life without romance seem hard. But familial and platonic relationships are just as valuable. Romance isn’t the endgame and end all be all. There are so many amazing women out there who will show you so much warmth and love in life. And just because it isn’t romantic doesn’t mean it’s not fulfilling.

And I know this is corny and self explanatory but having a relationship and love for yourself is so important. Especially in a world that thinks you don’t deserve that. You do! I practice mindfulness a lot. It helps with feeling grounded and being able to find inner peace. Sometimes I just see how much this world hates women. How much women are suffering globally. How much men truly hate us. To a capacity I could never comprehend a human being feeling. And that the idea of ever being with a man without knowing all of this and him not being apart of the problem is unrealistic. It’s so overwhelming and frustrating at times that it consumes me. And having that mindfulness is why I can still be happy and enjoy life. Another thing. Invest in your hobbies and interests. Take that time for yourself. I love going to the movie theater (my absolute favorite place on this earth) and just leaving everything behind for a 1-2 hours. You deserve that.

Another thing. I still love me a good romcom/romance movie, romance novel, and ship. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with indulging in it. Most of the time it’s made by women for women for the immersion of having that type of love and relationship with a man. Because even non-radicalized women have this silent acceptance that those expectations from a man are ridiculous beyond fiction. I remember a tumblr post noting that that’s why so many men hate and mock the romance genre. The idea of women expecting them to love and express love for them is foolish.

And as I’ve come to realize how men are. Even beyond blatant hatred and violence. Their depthless view of women. How they view sex. It’s just made me not really want a relationship. It’s not that I’m not attracted to them anymore and don’t desire romance but I’ve just lost interest in them. Seeing what that relationship would most likely entail on account of women I’ve seen both in real life and online makes that decision much easier. Women deserve so much more than that.

This was so long I’m sorry 😣 but anon if you’re still here I wish nothing but happiness and love in your beautiful life. Your words truly resonated with me. Still kinda wanting that ignorance to men’s hatred and violence. I think back to those times. When I could never even comprehend a man hating women to the degree I see everyday online. And that they saw us how we saw them. As people. But once you make this realization you can never really come back. I’ve tried in the past. And now I know that it’s in the best interest of myself and other women to not ignore that and live in “blissful” (if you could even call it that) ignorance.

[blimbo-buddy]

Yellowfang/bluestar

Firestar/onestar

Bumble/turtletail

YellowFang/Bluestar

honestly I like it enough. It’s not something I’m nuts over (cause frankly pairings in general are something I don’t care for) but it’s something that I appreciate for what it offers up: Two old women who had lost everything at some point being there for each other.

I think it’s sweet how BlueStar and YellowFang are portrayed in the new ITW Graphic Novel but also unfortunately people don’t care about those moments because I never see waves of posts about that one panel of BlueStar and YellowFang rubbing their faces against each other while blushing; I see waves of posts about stupid fucking FireGrey I don’t care about them. Never does the old woman yuri get any attention it’s always the young man yaoi that gets fans screaming and crying and spam posting about it. Anyways preddy good pairing if I must say so myself.

FireStar/OneStar

I like it in the case of FireStar getting divorced once again and only in that case. I see some portrayals of this done in a way that makes it seem like the final straw that broke them up was OneStar being such an oh so meanie weenie to poor lil FireStar. When really it’s more likely for them to have broken up because OneStar got sick of how FireStar had treated him during the whole Windclan Civil War thing, practically forcing him into the position of leader when he didn’t want it.

it’s something that the fans use to further demonize OneStar. Like yeah he was mean as fuck to FireStar but you’re all annoying as fuck about it and also are wrong in how you view his rudeness towards him

Bumble/TurtleTail

Very solid pairing that I myself enjoy a lot. In recent times though I’ve felt my perception of it change in a little more of a negative light, but in a good way.

don’t get me wrong I really like the idea of a healthy TurtleBumble relationship but knowing what went down with Bumble in the books, it makes me imagine a relationship of the two that started out amazingly but slowly withered away because of TurtleTail practically turning her back against Bumble when she needed help the most. I like the idea of Bumble becoming more and more angry towards her because of this and TurtleTail feeling great amounts of grief and guilt but still unable to fully accept responsibility for Bumbles eventual death. With her even going as far as never truly apologizing to Bumble and kind of dunking on her physical abilities on Bumbles fucking deathbed.

The idea of Bumbles ghost growing angrier at this whole thing is amazing to me and the thought of Bumble herself being scared when she realizes she actually hates TurtleTail now is just -Chefs kiss- perfect.

[teenageread]

Review: It Ends With Us

Initial Thoughts:

Ahh the book that was written for Tik Tok. Seriously, Hoover even had to add a blur at the start of the novel to remind readers to read the first novel first, because that is how the series works. Honestly, Hoover gets a lot of love and hate, but I personally loved It Ends With Us, as Hoover’s take on ending the cycle of domestic abuse. Thus, I was interested to see how Hoover would continue the story now that Lily got herself out of that cycle, along with her and Ryle’s baby Everson. And Hoover continued it. With this novel full of fluff, with a few deep moments, this novel does not ruin the series, but it also adds very little. Sure it was nice to see Atlas and Lily get back together, and experience that familiar type of love again. It was also beautiful to hear from Atlas’s perspective on how much he truly values Lily, but other than that, this novel did not contain a whole lot, nor progress the story any further than the first novel.

Characters

This novel was written from two first-person points of view: Lily and Atlas. Lily’s was the same as the first novel, with thankfully far fewer Ellen entries, and lacking flashbacks to her and Atlas’s past. Sure there were some diary entries read here and there, and even Atlas wrote some letters describing his side of past events, but in general Lily’s voice was the same as it was in the first novel, as she lacked any character development, besides growing the tiniest backbone to Ryle for Emmy’s sake. Reading from Atlas’s perspective, now that was the treat. Hoover wrote Atlas to be a book lover's dream boy by having him be extremely nice to Lily, just wanting to love her, and willing to accept her with all her baggage, including Ryle. He was just good, inside and out, and when Hoover tried to give Atlas his own plot perspectives like his mom coming back, Josh, and even the restaurants, it was nothing to distract him from his love of Lily. He just did it all, and not in an over-the-top way, but just did it, and it kind of made him bland. Don’t get me wrong Atlas’s love for Lily was amazing and what she deserves, but I just wish Atlas held her accountable for things, especially involving Ryle. Like the whole plot point where Ryle thought Lily went to the lawyer, our Atlas really should have pushed her to do that, instead of watching her struggle to handle the emotions of her ex-husband while still trying to live her life. Atlas was good for Lily, but Lily should be better for him, and that is done by getting her stuff together and dealing with the hard issues instead of letting Ryle, her ex-husband, control her life still. Now for everyone's most hated character Ryle, in which I wished Hoover made him more. Either more toxic, or better, Ryle in this novel is the same as the last, where his anger does get the best of him, he shows somewhat remorse, but not a whole lot. I just wish Hoover made him so toxic that he goes to jail, or in recovery where he is doing things to be a better person for his daughter, instead, Hoover has Ryle in the same place as in the last novel. This, like Lily, does not give him any character development, and nothing new for you to root for, or hate against. He is simply the same guy from the last novel with new things to pick fights with Lily about and hurt her in extreme ways.  

Plot

Like the first novel, this book’s main plot is a love story between Lily and Atlas, with a few extra details thrown in the sequel. The first is that Lily’s old love interest, Ryle, is still there and very much present, thanks to the baby that he shares with Lily. This novel has Lily fall in love with Atlas, go on a  few dates, have some drama because Ryle mostly scares Lily to run to Atlas, and so on and so on. Nothing original, and honestly runs pretty much the same as the first novel, only in this one Hoover gives us the impression that Lily will not break up with Atlas 

Writing:

I truly do enjoy Hoover’s writing style, of being easy to read, easy to follow along to, and just light and breezy with a few good moments in there. Perfect, easy read, and honestly the essence of a beach novel, or in this case, a book written for TikTok, as Hoover made that one pretty clear. 

Conclusion: 

Truly did not need this novel, but I am not mad that Hoover did write it. Sure it was all unnecessary, the plot drama unneeded, Atlas’s storyline irrelevant to the main plot. Honestly, Hoover could have attached this epilogue to the epilogue of the first novel and called it quotes, and it honestly would have worked. Sure it was nice to see Lily and Atlas get together, to have the Ryle situation somewhat sorted, and just get more time in this Boston world Hoover created. However, Hoover clearly lacks what makes a sequel a sequel, as they do not extend the world, give us more background of our characters (besides Atlas which they do), or expand the plot, as this novel, like the first one, is another love story where Lily gets to fall in love again, and this time, we hope, she sticks with it, and Atlas is not an abuser like Ryle was.

[otomebanshou]

Opinionated piece on Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-

Below is a very opinionated piece based on my feelings after completing Tengoku Struggle Strayside. Please do not take any of my comments to heart, I just like to ramble and get things off my chest to throw into the void of the internet. Enjoy.

SPOILERS DISCUSSED!!!

Let’s start off with strong feelings. I didn’t like the game. 4/10, I may give it a 5 just for Sharaku being the saving grace of the game to be generous. I was always with the crowd that was down for some longer routes for love interests. This game put that to test for me with 12 chapters (13 for Goemon) for the boys and god damn did it wear me out.

So let’s move on to that. The game is way too fucking long for its own good. Not in a good way is it long, it’s way too damn fluffed up with pointless shit and beating around the bush. I could barely spend quality time that mattered with literally all the guys because the route wanted to push it’s very subpar plotline. 

The plot is atrocious. Not as bad as Charade Maniacs but honestly it was just as insulting. “We need to get the bad guys who escaped hell! …but we can’t fight them.” is honestly a really stupid plot. They had me going for a second, hopeful, that based on how things went down in Sharaku’s route (my first route) that it was all just leading up to a pokemon battle with the route’s villain and Rin was the pokemon trainer. Me, playing it at the time, when I got to the fights with Asaemon, I thought “oh ok! Maybe this is how the game is going to go, that’s cool I guess!” Boy was I fucking wrong. The game doesn’t know where it fucking wants to go other than beat around the bush for 90% of the chapters. 

The routes honestly would’ve been better off at 7 each, 8 for Goemon I guess. Like I said, a lot of the routes spend a majority of the time beating around the bush especially when it comes to feelings and where the fuck the plot is trying to go. Or maybe you’re Kiku and you are bitching and moaning about your sister who hates your guts for 11 chapters. No seriously his route can literally be summarized by: Kiku: Azami! Stop helping the bad guys! 🙁 Azami: ew no I hate you! Kiku: 🙁

Meanwhile, Yona and Sharaku had some of the better routes, developments, and just overall better everything. It doesn’t save the game for me however. It still left me feeling “wtf is the plot actually trying to be” for the entire time. But to give some praise, Yona is a very interesting character and his love for novels, including smutty ones, was a very nice touch that leaves me feeling very fond of him! Sharaku was just wonderful and I really enjoyed how deeply sweet his gestures for Rin were.

JacK, I love you but your route (and your personality) is a bit all over the place. I somehow felt like ranking him as my number 2 because, honestly I don’t know, I just liked him? He definitely had me on a rollercoaster of what the fuck is going on because he’s just so hot and cold and I still don’t really have a grip on who JacK REALLY is. But, like everything else, I’m blaming the writers here.

Finally, Goemon. Disa-fucking-pointing. LOL. He’s not as bad as Kiku, but lmfao, the common route hinted at the fated lovers trope, like a very typical otomate game. Fine ok, I ADORED Akaza so I had some hope. Some faith. DASHED!!!! Goemon is somewhat cute at the very least, questionably obsessed with himself that he kinda sweeps under the rug and never really talks about again, and he’s well liked. But that last part made him kinda boring to be honest. My main issue with him is the route sucked!! Rin and Goemon LITERALLLLLLYY beat around the bush about this whole “I loved you in the previous life” for ELEVEN CHAPTERS. It’s not even like rewarding. Goemon KNOWS and Rin doesn’t. I thought in like chapter 4 or 5 this shit would get cleared up and they’d build into something really amazing. Nah bro Goemon is just like “yeah uwu i really loved this dango shop, the girl there was beautiful uwu” and Rin spends nearly EVERY chapter going “god i wish i was the dango shop, the dango girl, hell the dango he ate ;_;” and Goemon kinda just.. Lets it happen which I found absolutely annoying LOL. I think the only real positive I have for this is Sharaku was funny, no shocker he’s funny in every route, and Goemon’s VA is really good, because otherwise I was really bored. My face when it said: chapter 13 PLEASE JUST END IT PLEASEE I DON’T WANNA KEEP PLAYING THIS SHIT

ALSO THE WRITERS PUSHED IN A RAPE SUBPLOT AND A OUT OF NOWHERE “BETRAYAL(????)” AND IT WAS SO BAD LMFAO like holy moly I felt nothing for that part other than “yup there it is, that's the shit they love to do for no fucking reason WHAT SO EVERRRR”

Ok, we are nearing the end I promise.

Side characters? They ranged from pretty cool to what the fuck is the point of you. 

The coolest? Asaemon, and the couple that I forget the name of. I also kinda like Shin.

Azami is pretty mid tbh. She’s just a bratty girl. Nothing really new.

Shinobikuni is the most disappointing villain? Like she literally… did nothing. Lmao @ the ending where she just kinda lets Goemon win without a fight like “lol you got me i guess!”

Lol Mukkun wtf, the whole betrayal was so short lived it lasted like 2 minutes before it just… moved on… and changed the villain… LOL…………………

And then the white haired dude I forgot the name of. He was actually ok until… yeah lmfao wtf. I honestly couldn’t really even be mad at him because it just was such a sudden and weird choice that I just… didn’t feel anything. I was more mad at the TERRIBLE decision here. And so fucking out of nowhere like why? Actually I know why, it’s only purpose was to cause shock and I’m so disappointed.

The characters who stole the show are obviously King Enma and Mr. Corporate slave. XD They were the most enjoyable and honestly very intriguing of the cast. Always bringing humor to the table and overall brightening up my glum mood from a shitload of pointless text that brought nothing to the table. King Enma was a delight, I wish his presence was more prominent in the game.

Now, Rin.

She’s honestly just ok. The eventual background information about her that you get, obviously, from Goemon’s route was ok. I was kinda with it but that was ruined by how Goemon’s route ended up. Sometimes I really liked Rin then other times I was kinda bored with her. Not that she’s bad or I think she’s a deadpan MC, just… I don’t know, I didn’t really end up loving her. She was just ok. The whole man hating thing makes sense now but I feel more bad for her in the sense I can’t believe the writers just did that to her randomly. I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

I forgot the cat. He was ok I guess. I wasn’t crazy about him. Did chuckle a few times at the dick biting jokes tho.

Last thing, I did *most* of the memory stuff extras, but tbh after Goemon’s bullshit route, I was just so fed up with the game I skipped about the last 25% of them. I completed them by force skipping. I just couldn’t anymore with the game. It was already so long and I was so drained by the game’s refusal to just.. End things.

So yeah. 4/10, other people will probably like it. I also didn’t really think Birushana was a very interesting game, but a lot of people really like Birushana. So, to each their own. I'm happy the game was localized and am thankful for everyone who worked on the game!

That’s it! If you read this far, you get a gold star sticker from me and I’m sorry for my opinionated piece/rant. lol

[redjadethewriter]

Learn To Separate The Person From Their Work: It Will Spare You From Future Disappointment (Creative Careers)

Today, I want to discuss the topic of separating the work from the person. As someone who creates things - whether it be art, fantasy stories, poems, or anything else - I believe that the work I do is distinct from who I am as a person. The reason I bring up this topic is that of the revelations surrounding many artists and their dark secrets. These individuals, known for their work and influential movements in art, music, and other fields, have faced exposure for committing horrible acts, some more sinister than others. Even certain members in the mental health and science field are not the best human beings and they do horrible things, especially to the people in their lives. Some even display psychopathic traits, yet they are globally esteemed figures all over the media. It blows my mind how people fall into the traps of these predators. I think because I’ve met so many predators in my lifetime; I have a sixth sense for them now. But let me move on from this because this would become a 100-page essay if I went in-depth into it.

Storytime:

During my childhood, my grandmother, a war survivor, imparted to me the most important life lesson because of her immense love for me. It was at the tender age of 7 when she advised me not to trust people so easily. At that time, I didn’t fully grasp the weight of her words. However, as I grew older, I began to understand the significance, especially after hearing my mom’s stories about men dressed in stereotypical mafia attire frequently visiting my grandfather and other unsettling issues within our family. I have a sense that my grandmother carried many dark secrets to her grave. These revelations made me appreciate the value of her advice even more as I encountered various situations in my own life. After all, one can never truly discern someone’s true intentions.

This is why I question a lot and I don’t overlook the details in anyone’s character.

But back to separating the person from their work.

Personally, I have never been star-struck by meeting celebrities, famous writers, singers, or artists. While I appreciate their work, I am not a fan of them as individuals. In fact, I’m not a fan of anyone. Even in school, when asked about my most inspirational figure, I struggled to answer truthfully. Instead, I would give the stereotypical response of “Oh, my mother” or “Oh, my father” because, growing up there was really no real role model to look up to, because a good portion of the people I've known all my life have their skeletons.

The exposure of certain famous painters as predators did not surprise me. In fact, I felt a sense of satisfaction because it meant that people would no longer hold these individuals in high regard. However, there is still the matter of the work they have created. Despite their personal flaws, their work holds significance.

In today’s world, people often go crazy over musicians, actors, and influencers from social media platforms. However, I find it hard to understand why they see the person and their work as one entity. While they can do amazing work, it doesn’t mean they are amazing once the cameras are off. I’m going to use the Thai GL’s I’ve been watching as an example. Recently I watched the show called “Blank The Series.” The performances of the two actresses truly stood out, and it was the reason I enjoyed the series and the written work. But I question a lot on why would the original writer write about a major age gap, especially in the novel, the actual age of the characters was 18 and 34, I might be wrong, but in the show they increased the age to 20 and 36. Don’t get me wrong, as long as its two consenting adults entering a romantic relationship fine, but I do question it no matter how good or popular the story was. Even with Fifty Shades of Grey, I question a lot, because the character Grey was an extremely abusive and possessive character, and what inspired that book was Twilight, which Edward was an abusive and narcissistic as well. Let me tell you, writers have their major flaws like anyone else. Even in my stories, I openly admit, I’m writing characters that are people that do horrible things and make huge mistakes.

But back to actors in Blank The Series, regardless of their personal lives, they bring believability and entertainment to every scene. I’m impressed. Despite this, I know nothing about the personal lives of these actresses, yet people go crazy shipping them together in real life. I laugh about this a lot and think, do you know how long actors and film crew have to work together? The lines get blurred, but once the work is done, they separate and that’s it. However, I can understand the chemistry between Charlotte and Engfa in the show “Show Me Love,” even though their acting skills may have not been the best, but their actual personal chemistry saved that messy series. However, it doesn’t mean they won’t improve their craft over time, while exploring different fields. It’s important to recognize that a lot of their public appearances, especially with other Thai stars or even in the US entertainment industry, they are just acting for marketing purposes. Even actors with social media accounts are constantly promoting something because that’s their job. So, we don’t really see who they truly are as individuals. Some celebrities come across as arrogant, while some famous comedians may have hilarious stand-up acts but reveal themselves to be absolute assholes when you delve deeper into the context of their skits. Nevertheless, we still enjoy their work in films and shows, which are all fictional. It’s a conundrum because, many of these individuals their involvement in things is questionable. Yet, we continue to appreciate their work.

Now, I have to admit that some of the Thai actresses from GL’s seem incredibly sweet. I don’t want to delve into scrutinizing them as individuals, but focus on reviewing the characters they portray and their performances. The shows I’ve watched have been delightfully light-hearted, which is refreshing for once. I prefer if the universe keeps their personal lives and potential skeletons in the closet, and stays locked in there until I’m tired of watching Thai GL. Although that may not be soon, though. For once in my dang life, I feel sorry for these actresses, who are subjected to the dark abyss of obsessive fans, but that comes with the territory. Regardless, they might eventually get ripped apart mentally and emotionally from it all, and that saddens me. Oh my gosh, I have a heart. Dang! The coldness has thawed because of Thai actresses. That’s fuckin’ new to me… Ok… Fuck… I guess I’m a fan now, and I’ve totally contradicted myself into Thai GL oblivion. Stoic mask, don’t fail me now. ***Just kidding***

While I’m still on the subject, I think most of the actors in LA are stark-raving mad as fuck. They are so detached from reality. Speaking of which, I still find it amusing how Swifties defend Taylor Swift fiercely. It’s mind-boggling to think that anyone would dare say or do anything negative towards her. I’m convinced that those who do so would risk losing their entire careers and perhaps even have to move to the moon. It’s quite hilarious, really. However, to conclude this blog post, I believe it’s often best to separate the work of an artist from the person themselves. This approach saves us from potential disappointment down the line and if they were to discover that the artist has committed terrible acts and so on, it won’t be so cruel on our souls.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t place anyone on a pedestal; these artists, actors, musicians, writers and so on, are simply human beings like the rest of us. They have flaws, darkness, secrets, traumas, and who knows what else. I hope you understand what I’m trying to convey.

Later.

[hazelcephalopod]

The Great Hunt Ch 31: On the Scent

Cairhien Sun symbol.

Reunions are had and plans are lay what new adventures await our poor little guys and very cool autistic granny?

disclaimer: there will be spoilers, I will tag them but this is a book from 30 years ago that I am desperately trying to finish. I am very ADHD and this helps me do that. Also, it’s my first read thru but I am somewhat familiar with the story and what is going to happen, probably not enough to not be surprised tho. Happy reading! 

All WOT spoilers. 

Rand POV

OH! Verin is the Reader. Well that’s not a Wisdom, but an Aes Sedai kinda is! (Sp: this is wrong)

“Lord Rand of House al’Thor.” Tragic main character disease and a nice coat continues to plague this poor Shepard. 

Oh no he thinks he’s done. Oh you poor sweet dipshit

Love how they do behave like a DnD party but we get the narration that no, NPCs are listening and reacting to this very suspicious and concerning conversations happening in the middle of the street. 

Mat: (summarizes the last few weeks for him)… & where the hell have you been? Rand: Perrins a what?!

Ah. Nvm Verin and the Reader are in fact separate people. Still Verin is here!

Inn found: The Great Tree. Innkeeper: Mistress Tiedra. 

Hurin didn’t smell any Trollocs and tbh I’m not sure there ever were any. Sry Rwnd my guy, I still support most of your wrongs. 

… I don’t think Rand is doing well. Like, this is a lot of suspicion. Which is somewhat reasonable but… idk. This is all a lot for anyone and uh, he’s more than anyone regrettably for him

Warm baths are nice tho aren’t they! 

“…he chose the black coat, to suit his mood…”

Fucking “Selene”… this poor guy (just in general not just her, but also her). 

I almost envy Rand. Got mail? Just burn all of it. No mail. Nor responsibilities. Nor choices to make. Just burn it! It’s flammable! 

“Mat was juggling three boiled eggs and trying to appear nonchalant.” A) how? He’s juggling!; b) who is he trying to nonchalantly impress here exactly? 

Really enjoy Loial having pockets large enough for presumably sizable books. 

Switch POV: Perrin. 

Really appreciate leaning into “who knows what and how do they view those things?” Here. 

I am astounded still that it is book 2(!) and magic portals and different worlds have just been dropped like “yup there’s countless other worlds sorta like ours. And teleportation. Anywayyyy….!”

Verin hearing about “Selene” and the portal stones and shit thinking: this is weird and fucking suspicious. “Hey—”

Mmm delicious meal. Oh and we are back to remembering Mat is dying and other sadness? 

Hey! It’s “The Travels of Jain Farstrider”!

Lord Barthanes… hmm. Familiar…

“There are Darkfriends among the high as well as the low.” -Verin. What an interesting thing to say my beloved autistic granny.  

Barthanes Damodred?! Well of course the rumor would be enough. Tbh if the king was smart he’d have the rumor started for the express purpose of destroying Barthanes. You’d think it would make the king suspicious but I’m not so sure anymore that anyone would care or notice. 

“The more he found out about kings, the less he liked them.” -Perrins thoughts. Yup, a shit for sure. 

Rand like: dammit Hurin how will I burn those letters now! 

It’s like a heist thing! Gotta get in and do the things to the rich guy/s! 

That’s not dignity Perrin it’s fear and discomfort. With a good dash of “I hate this” but because of the former. 

Amazing! Verin: looks at the kings letter “well this is trash” burns it. I love her. 

“People see what they expect to see.” -Verin. Truer words madam. 

5!? These fuckers are obsessed with Rand! Rand! (I mean I think he’s adorable but really?)

Oh oh right. So, uh Barthanes has the horn. That’s what the heist is for. It is a literal heist. I mean, this book has almost everything. We got to a heist, we started with an adventure novel, survival, several other things, and now also a heist. I probably should have mentioned -or tbh realized- this earlier. 

Oh right the giant ass buried statues. Which are apparently the largest of the sa’angreal which can be used by channelers and seem very powerful. The one we’ve seen can only be used by men. There’s two in total. Hmm… I’m sure they couldn’t be important at all. The womens one is on Tremalking. Wherever that is. Apparently they were created as weapons which were never used. So. Probably not important at all. /s

I am sure rn Rand is terrified but this is overpowered by him suspecting the ancient statutes are (somehow) part of the plot to control him and still trying to convince himself he is not the Dragon. Mmm mmm nope. This is all part of the plot to frame him as a false dragon. Nothing else. 

Well what a relief they must be used in tandem to Break the World but one wonders how much damage they could do alone?! /s (the big ass sa’angreal)

… you need to be very powerful to use them. Whose that powerful? No *widely* known man, and several women including Moiriane. No worries until the Dragon proclaims himself. *stares off into the distance suspiciously close to Rand* surely no Aes Sedai would help with that tho right? (Yes sure Verin. Wait did she lie…? No… no I think not)

Perrin, Rand knows less than you think you do. By far. And you admit to not knowing much. I mean technically Rand knows a lot, but tbh I feel like he’s too in denial to actually use that information. 

Another great chapter. Bands back together. Verin is here. They are going to do a heist in a nobles house for the Horn which rests on Rand’s shoulders, and his impeccable half-hated new wardrobe of three very nice coats. More letters were burned. Everyone is loosing it a little bit imo. Absolute a+’s all around. 

[shdo-xplosion]

CURRENTLY READING: the mountain in the sea

by ray nayler

THOUGHTS ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

while reading: very interesting concept. communication is the key to the story and is shown in so many different ways, so many different mediums. it’s a fun motif to watch out for. the characters are compelling, and i don’t get tired of the switching since i’m interested in every story being told. the writing style is easy to follow which isn’t to say it’s simple, but it isn’t overly-complex. i only start to get a little lost when they start diving into rustem’s science-y stuff, and i think that’s kind of the point. halfway through, and while i have an idea of who the “big bad” is, i feel like there’s room for more.

very much enjoying it so far and am already recommending it to my partner!

thoughts once finished (spoilers): i have conflicting feelings about this book. on one hand, i’m unsatisfied with the ending because it feels a little abrupt. on the other hand, it seems like the author ended it exactly the way he wanted to, like he saw something i don’t. and it’s a good ending, don’t get me wrong. loose ends are tied up. there’s a nice bittersweet lesson to be learned. and there’s hope! i guess my biggest hang up is that i want more. i could have read another 400 pages of the book and still not be satisfied, i bet.

anyway. the characters were wonderful. i very quickly grew extremely fond of evrim which was weird because ai actually freaks me out a lot. this book made me appreciate it a little more while also making me even more scared of the technology (lol). i liked ha a lot, admired her. that said, the secret she reveals toward the end is kind of underwhelming in my opinion, especially since it follows evrim’s big vision. that was probably the only scene in the whole novel that felt kind of weak, maybe a little ham-fisted. but then it ended with a wholesome holding of hands so it’s all okay!

rustem was fun to read about. i think i liked his storyline the best, but i enjoyed the interactions in ha’s sections. i’ve always been very interested in brains so his scenes were great, both because of his occupation and just the way his own mind works.

the mountain in the sea is categorized as sci-fi but i feel like this book could also fall under the mystery category because so many questions arise while reading, so many puzzles you want to solve alongside the characters. the concept of consciousness was intriguing and made me stop and think about my own idea of what it is. the communication theme is beautiful and something that everyone could stand to look deeper into. it’s also a very different and original take on culture as a whole, going past the limitations of humans and into a completely different species.

in the end, what i take away from the book is the fact that everything capable of thought has its own life and experiences. sonder. it’s easy to only think about yourself, but there’s so much more than just us in the world. science is amazing, yes, but so is nature.

a solid recommendation from me.

dove’s book club here (ෆ ͒•∘̬• ͒)◞

[bluedalahorse]

Respectfully disagree here with anon re: point #3 about Sara and August, and I hope you don’t mind me turning your tomatoes into a tasty marinara or pizza sauce for my dinner tonight.

Yes, Sara and August are heterosexual and we do already have a lot of straight relationships in media. And yes, to some extent sargust does play to a Jane Eyre story pattern that’s out there and that has been copied by many writers. But Sara’s AuDHD adds a dimension to their story that makes it unique and important, in my opinion. Romances featuring ND characters are still quite rare. Quite often, neurodivergent characters have been portrayed as undesirable romantic partners or disconnected from romance and sex just in general, and often this comes with a gross helping of infantilization for that character. Sara experiencing a requited first love, experiencing desire as both a subject and object, and navigating her first relationship—problematic though that relationship is—counteracts that ableist narrative. We’re starting to see more neurodivergent characters in romantic relationships, but still not a lot. Quinni from Heartbreak High and Lily from Sex Education are the other two examples I can think of off the top of my head.

In my own personal media habits, I’ve already enjoyed and shipped a fair amount of stories centered on canonically same-sex pairings (ask me for gay book recs and I will provide!) but I have fewer options for romances involving canonically neurodivergent characters of any orientation. I very much love Wilhelm and Simon, although for me personally I also find that their canonical queerness feels less novel for me than other aspects of their storyline. (It’s still important, but I don’t think their queerness alone would pull me in.) Whereas Sara’s neurodivergence and the way it’s handled by the text feels more novel to me and less like something I’ve seen other places. In addition, here on tumblr there’s so much fanwork and analysis and excitement I can join in on and vibe with people about when I want to enjoy Wilmon, or when I want to think about them outside the framework of the twelve episodes we have so far. And I do love that, don’t get me wrong! I am often more than satisfied when scrolling my dash for Wilmon content. That said, there’s far far less of that for sargust—understandably so, but it’s very common for me to be scrolling my dash with a craving for sargust fanworks or headcanons that don’t exist in abundance. (Shout out to @all-things-sargust for holding down the fort and doing amazing work, by the way. Your blog is a highlight of my fandom experience!)

And yes, I am aware of the toxicity of sargust, and that it’s too much for some people. That’s super valid if that’s you! Me, I’ve enjoyed a broad range of ships, from softer pairings like Tara and Darcy, to more adventurous, justice-and-learning oriented ones like Uriel and Little Ash in When the Angels Left the Old Country, to ridiculous academic rivals like Rowan Roth and Neil McNair in Today Tonight Tomorrow, to more disastrous ones (look, sometimes it is 2005 and a girl watches HBO Rome and very much thinks Antony and Vorenus should fuck.) So for me the moral questions that sargust raise and the messiness is absolutely 100% part of their draw. I get why other people would find them boring for their straightness, and that’s cool if that’s you, but as someone drawn in by all the other things going on with them, I find them anything but boring. So I suppose it’s all a matter of taste in the end!

1. wille and simon are teenagers with raging emotions. ofc they’re gonna fall fast and hard

2. their relationship did not progress as fast as the show makes it seem. each season covers a period of roughly 2 months or so, which drastically changes the way some scenes with them can be viewed. although we don’t see every interaction between them, it’s clear that they had developed a friendship and crush weeks before they’d even kissed. and their grief over losing their relationship in season 2 is also a lot longer than what we would think. because they didn’t just know and have feelings for each other for a few weeks. we’re talking about a couple months of development between them. that’s why the grief period was so intense for them both

3. august and sara are a straight couple. hate to say it but even in queer media straight relationships tend to get undeserved prioritization. i, personally, don’t think we needed to see every damn interaction between them. especially since their “love” story isn’t original at all. we’ve seen that kind of forbidden and betrayal-laced relationship in tons of movies/tv shows before so honestly, i just think it was a matter of them being straight and BORING. boo tomatoes tomatoes 🍅

.

[moemoemammon]

I just found ur blog and read thru some of ur stuff and im in love !! Ur writing is nice to read, and always gives a nice picture of the situation

If its aight, could u do some headcannons for the demon bros Finding out mc goes real hard on housekeeping ? Im talking fast and good cleaning, does chores without problems, propably even cleans after them (totally doesnt mother them in anyway), all without complaint, mc just cares

Housekeeper MC!

(Feat. GN!MC and the Demon Bros)

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Lucifer

The fact that he didn't have to shove a mop and bucket into your hands like the evil stepmother has him like 👀👀

Out of every person he's met, you and Barb are the only ones that actually enjoy cleaning? And now he's wondering if you've been influenced by him in some way because got damn are those floors sparkling-

Ever since you've arrived, the house has been immaculate. But as much as he enjoys that, he worries that you aren't leaving enough chores for his brothers to do.

They're gonna be lazy at this rate, especially if you keep cleaning up after them like that. He's planning to sit you down and have a good talk about how you should rest a bit, and- D...did you polish his desk????

"MC... as grateful as I am to you, I thought I asked you to rest? You don't have to clean every little thing in this house. You're here as our guest, and more, so I won't have you behaving like a maid. But if you're that interested in keeping your hands busy, you may feel free to maintain my desktop. It looks as good as new, thanks to you."

Mammon

Oh, so you're one of THOSE types, huh? The goody goodies that like to make everything clean and sparkly, huh?? Well don't expect him to help ya!

Was an asshole at first. Made messes to see if you'd clean them, tried to dump his chores on you, etc. But now that you've stolen his heart? Yeah, he wants you to sit down.

You're messing up your hands with all that time spent scrubbing crevices and dusting ugly old paintings, when you could be spending time with him!

Tch, that's it! If it's chores that're keeping you from looking his way, he'll just finish them before you can do anything! Checkmate!

"You're always scrubbin' somethin'! Let my brothers take care of the messes, while YOU sit down and watch this movie with me! Ain't no point in watchin' it by myself, so I ain't takin' no for an answer!" "Huh?? Waddya mean 'when was the last time I vacuumed'??"

Levi

Oi oi oi...! What do you think you're doing with that feather duster?! You don't think you've got the right to approach his figures with it, do you?! WRONG!

But you quickly discover how ticklish Levi is, and he squirms out of your way while watching in horror as you... delicately handle every figure? And dust them from top to bottom, without so much as an accessory out of place..?

Wait... are you seriously okay with picking up all that trash?? S-some of it's sticky from all the junk food, and- Gah! Don't go messing around in his closet!!!

Yeahhh Levi doesn't let you clean his room lmao. It's way too stimulating to watch you carefully touch every surface in his room... I-it's like you're heaven everything with your presence, and...

"S-so yeah! The only things you're allowed to clean are the figures and the outside of Henry's tank! Nothing else, got it?! Anything more and I seriously won't be able to handle it...I won't even be able to sit still in my own room......." 👉👈

Satan

Satan found it funny how willing you were to take up every little chore there was to be done in the house and he's got to admit, reading is much more enjoyable in a tidy environment.

But what he REALLY wants to know is how you managed to dust off every single book in the house, his room included, without him?? Knowing?? And you've done every shelf as well, cleaned out the cobwebs behind it, and even repaired that little tear in the upholstery of his favorite arm chair????

Has also deduced that you're probably the maid character in the books that knows everything. Actually, you're a lot like Barbatos. What secrets are you hiding human 🔫

Just kidding. But yeah, when you insist on dusting his room, he follows you around the room and watches you. You know, just in case you fall or something falls on you! No other reason.

"As much as I like having you here all to myself, it makes me feel bad watching you do that by yourself. Why don't you we clean together? We'll get it done twice as fast, and when we're finished, I'd like to read a book to you. You remind me of a certain character from a murder mystery novel I've started."

Asmo

Eeehhh?!?!? You've seriously managed to organize both his endless skin care product collection, and his ENTIRE wardrobe?!? You're amazing...!

And you don't stop there. You were more than happy to clean his tub for him and everything, and you know how hard it is to get oil off the side of a tub, right? You're a lifesaver!

Asmo casually pawns off his chores too you. Oh, he just did his nails! Can you do the dishes? Ah, he just bought this outfit. Can you take out the trash? He's about to go out with his friends to a party, so be a dear and take care of the common bathroom for him?

Lucifer scolds the shit out of him every time he catches him doing that. You're welcome. But don't think Asmo won't repay you! He'll give you so much love, you'll be drowning in it! Figuratively or literally, depending on your preferences-

"Fufufu... if you wanted my attention, you should've just told me! You didn't have to go tidying up my shoe collection, but I'm happy you did~! If you keep spoiling me like this, I might not be able to keep my hands off of you! Unless... that's what you wanted?"

Beel

Things tend to get pretty messy with Beel around, with the trail of crumbs he always leaves in his wake, and how he manages to get every surface he touches sticky. But you must be a miracle worker...

You're like a living roomba, and his ravenous appetite is no match against your cleaning skills! You seem to predict when the food bits will fall, and it's thanks to you that he can eat without a care in the world!

It's actually kind of scary, though. He'll drop a bite of his sandwich and move down to retrieve it to eat, and... it's gone. Poof. Into the ether of the garbage can...

You can still rest once in a while though, you know? Beel offers to help you with the cleaning, and he's more than happy to let you climb up his shoulders to reach those high places. It makes him happy to know he can lend a hand.

"MC, I already cleaned over here so you don't have to do it. I cleaned there, too. That means you don't have anything else to do, so why don't you have a lunch break with me? It's not good to work so hard all the time."

Belphie

Belphie's one for the more observant brothers, so your clean freak habits didn't go unnoticed. He didn't know if you were obsessed with cleaning, or if you genuinely enjoyed it, but at least you were doing it without a fuss?

And man did you do a good job. Everywhere you cleaned was left with the lingering smell of vanilla and lavender, and... you know, the smell is making him sleepy.

Every pillow his head touches seems especially fluffy, too! When he found out you made a regular habit of washing and fluffing them, and they smell amazing... He feels like he's laying on a cloud...

He won't admit it genuinely, but he really does love what you're doing with the place. It makes him feel a little fuzzy inside when he finds his pillow on his bed, freshly laundered and soft to the touch. He clings to it extra tight those nights.

"You know if you keep this up, I might prefer the pillows to your lap. Ah, but don't worry, I don't really mean it. There's no way a pillow could replace you, no matter how good it smells. I think."

[iguessitsjustme]

There is an interesting phenomena happening lately across multiple shows where there has been an increase in viewers of BL reading the novels that the shows are based off of. I’m not entirely sure why that is, I certainly have theories, but I don’t have the data to back any of them up (I am willing to share my theories if asked but they’re not particularly relevant here). But regardless, it’s definitely happening where a large number of viewers will find a translation of a BL novel and read it before watching the show. And don’t get me wrong, that’s amazing! I am certainly not complaining that people are reading these novels. I will always advocate for more reading, especially from authors from different cultures.

I personally do not read the novels for the shows I’m watching. I have done it a couple of times, but it’s extremely rare that I will go out of my way to find the novels. There’s a few reasons for this. First and foremost is that I find the unofficial fan translations difficult to read and I would rather pay for an official translation of the novels that have to go through multiple checks and also I would like to support the authors by purchasing the novels. I know. I know that we’re just not there yet for BL where there are official translations, but I still can’t bring myself to read the unofficial ones. I really struggled getting through the fan translation of Bite Me, and there was a specific reason I read that one, but we’ll get into this in a bit. 

Another reason that I don’t read the novels is because, truthfully, I just want to watch the shows. I enjoy watching week to week and needing to wait to see what happens. I enjoy experiencing these shows along with everyone else watching. Even if I don’t particularly like the show, I enjoy watching and critiquing it along with others. And that is where this issue and clash starts coming into play. 

Whenever I’m watching a show, I watch it with a critical eye. An analytical gaze, if you will. So oftentimes, what happens is I’ll come across a show that I’m enjoying overall, but something about the show isn’t working for me. Whether that be a character, a plot line, soundtrack, etc. That is when I’ll critique the show (different than hate but that’s another post). Now it’s important to note that what I am critiquing is the show, not the novel. I can’t possibly critique the novel that the show is based off of if I haven’t read it. I also wouldn’t feel comfortable critiquing an unofficial translation (again, that’s another post).

So when anyone makes a post critiquing a show, it is actually irrelevant to bring up the novel as an argument against the critique. I understand that the novel might provide additional context that the show is missing, but that’s kind of the point. The show is missing the context. And that’s the clash. The show and the novel are two completely separate pieces of media. By the very nature of the medium that is portraying the story, it’s going to be different. So the show needs to be able to hold up without relying on people having read the novel. If I need to read the novel to get the necessary context for any aspect of any story that I am consuming through the medium of a show (or movie), then that show has inherently failed at what it set out to do. Which is to tell a cohesive story. I’d also argue that a lot of the shows that people constantly like to bring up the novel for, actually do work as a cohesive story and don’t need the context that people are trying to provide. 

A critique of a show doesn’t necessarily mean that the show is bad or missing anything. A critique is simply something that caught someone’s attention when they were watching and reading into the scene. It is a criticism based on a close reading of a scene, a character, etc. And most often, those criticisms are presented by people with the knowledge and skill set to be able to do that. (For instance, I have a degree and professional experience doing close reads of texts). Critiques are not asking for additional context from the novel. They aren’t asking how it is or what happened in the novel (unless explicitly stated that they want to know).

 It’s important that we, as the viewers, are able to draw that distinction between novel and show because they are ultimately different. A critique for the show might not be the same for the novel, but that’s the point. They are different and they can’t be consumed the same way. I would certainly approach a close reading of a novel very differently than I would a show. I’d actually probably be a lot harsher on a novel than when I’m critiquing a show. Which is another reason I’m not particularly comfortable reading unofficial fan translations. It wouldn’t be fair to the author or the translator to have me read it the way I normally would. 

And that brings me to my last point. I have read a few of these novels and the only one I ever posted about was Bite Me. And I kept those posts on my own blog. I did not go to someone else’s post or blog and “well actually” them about how it happened in the novel. Because they are two separate things and I recognize that not everyone has read the novel nor would want to know and it’s not my place to tell them how to view their media. 

If you want to read the novel, that’s fine, wonderful even! More power to you. I’m so thankful we live in a time where it’s possible and that there are awesome fans out there who put in the enormous amount of work it takes to translate things. But if you do read the novel, please remember: it is not the same as the show, someone critiquing the show is not asking for your opinion on what happened in the novel, and it is always best to make your own posts if you want to talk about the novel. That last point is especially important. People can always filter tags or block/unfollow people that they disagree with or who post novel spoilers, but that doesn’t work when people go to someone else’s post or blog to say it. 

And last but not least, it’s just common courtesy not to give out book spoilers for currently airing shows. It’s 2022 and we should all know better by now. Unless a spoiler is asked for, do not give one.