#hope these descriptions are in any way readable lol

[mariegoos]

Tell me about your three favorite OCs using as many tumblr buzzwords as possible 👀

OK this is harder than I anticipated lol sorry I did this to you.

Lin is my top blorbo, my babygirl who I spend hours rotating in my mind. She is a sopping wet pathetic mess who is just doing her best. If you look at her wrong she'll kill you. She doesn't know what she wants and is generally a bisexual bigender disaster. Does everything wrong, God's favorite mistake.

Wei-Shan is my horse plinko of the bunch. Nobody likes him and he's eating it up at all times. If anyone's going to get Cask of Amontillado'd it's him. He likes the color of the sky and will ask everyone he meets.

Guotin is the dilf himbo Supreme. Men want him women want to be him. Not a thought in his head at any given time. Shares a single brain cell with Lin. However, he is an expert in color theory and WILL employ it in children's hospitals.

Anyway turning this into a mutuals quiz and tagging @facetsofthecloset next peace and love on the planet earth

[sunfudge]

(Gonna send you another ask because I really wanna talk about the new Sunday leaks. HOPE YOU DON'T MIND!!)

AND I AGREE WITH YOU, THE DESIGN IS SO PRETTY, like the colours are so good?? AND WE GET TO SEE HIS WINGS TOO FHSKWKDKWJX I LOVE IT SO MUCH

But I still don't understand the astral express thing 😭 Elio said "And a brother and sister were doomed for eternal separation", which means that Sunday and Robin will never meet again. So why and how did Sunday join the astral express then? If he joins the astral express, he will still has a chance to meet Robin again

OOOOF I NEVER MIND TALKING ABOUT SUNDAY SEND AS MANY ASKS AS YOU WISH IT GIVES ME AN EXCUSE TO RAMBLE ABOUT HIM !!!!

This actually turned out a lot longer than I expected so I'll put this under a read more

The design is such a huge turn from the previous design, and I love that. The old design was almost entirely symmetrical apart from I believe the thigh belt he had, the piercings on his wings and the badge? Ooh actually I have the old design right here to look at and compare

Like LOOK HOW SYMMETRICAL THIS OLD DESIGN IS and we're going to something so massively asymmetrical?

I really wanna ramble about it but because we have so little information, like literally only his fucking in model boots for sure lol, and no information about what he'll be doing in the future so I have very little to go off, but I think this means massive change for him. To go from the way he is as an NPC design to his new playable design with an outfit that fucks on a number of levels we're looking at some pretty big character direction changing stuff

I really hoped they'd keep gold in his design, the gold suits him so well I love it so to see it still utilized in the new design is sending me to fucking Pluto

I'm still not 1000% sure that's even a ticket? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what was being said on the Telegram leaks chat, but I got the impression it was a redraw of the previous art we already got before by an artist. If so, then surely the ticket would be based on the guess that the previous artist made? Because I'm still not sure if that first art was drawn by someone who actually saw the model or not.

Unless they're super dragging us out, surely a leaker would've very simply stated 'that IS an astral express ticket on Sunday's deisgn' so idk. Maybe they wouldn't have? Maybe they're keeping that info to themselves for whatever reason LMFAO who knows

I do still think that the biggest piece of evidence we have for anything at the moment is that Death of a Crow readable, to the point that I think that even if he does join the Express it'll have something to do with Elio. Like you said, if he joined the express he'd be able to see Robin again, but the future Elio talked about was super clear that they'd be doomed to an eternal separation. People have claimed this is due to their differing paths, however they'd still be able to see one another in that case. I think it's literal. As in they will actually be physically separated.

I'm still a huge Path of Finality Sunday truther and this is honestly because apart from Order I don't see him fitting into any other path, but when we learned more about Finality this patch I thought instantly that that was the only other path I could see him treading, the only other path that would fit him. I still feel that way now.

Since there's so much conflicting information about whether that ticket is even confirmed or not I take any art with the ticket with a grain of salt because when that blurry image dropped people quickly guessed it was a ticket first and then all the art came after. I initially thought the art was drawn based off the description of Sunday's design, not the person having actually seen the model. I may be wrong but the whole thing has been so muddy that I don't know what to believe.

Even so, the art of the design will be pretty accurate because we got a description of what it looked like back on July 7th. I honestly think that until someone posts the model, we'll be in the dark. And if he does join the Express, I think there'll be more to it than just him deciding to do that, and I still think he'll be connected to Elio. I just think that readable is such blatant foreshadowing for something.

[wildgeese-badideas]

Is it cool if I ask why you’re completely deleting instead of orphaning? I feel like that’s a good way to feel less connected to something you feel is cringe, while keeping it available to people who liked it and may not know to find you on tumblr to preserve it.

I for one really like Homemade Mess. I think you capture Craig being bad at emotions and the kind of small scale things they’d probably disagree about. It’s cute. It’s fluff adjacent. It makes me feel good.

The thing is…this is South Park. Being in this fandom is cringe (hence why I’m anon lol). Maybe my standards are just low (but tbh I don’t think they’re *that* low) but if every good author in this fandom (like yourself) fully deleted a few things they didn’t personally feel were their strongest, we’d have almost nothing left. The sheer amount of scrolling I do before finding something readable let alone good enough to bookmark lol

Anyways thanks for bringing so much great writing into the world. And sorry is this comes across like overstepping (I truly don’t mean it to). And thanks for all the fics

Oh my gosh so so sorry for the late response! I was dying over a fic and rushed to messaging without noticing the ask notif. Anyway, totally fair question! I get where you’re coming from, but if my stuff is deleted (they’re actually in a private collection so they don’t show up on my homepage but I can still see them if I want to), I feel like I can still revisit it at a later date? Like I can always decide to rewrite it or use phrases/paragraphs/descriptions I liked in those fics for new ones. Versus if I orphan them, I lose all claim to my work and I can’t rewrite/copy without it looking like plagiarism.

I definitely don’t wish to cause annoyance or frustration, though, since I’ve also been devastated by deleted fics as a reader. But one of my favorite authors gave a heads up before deleting so we could save stuff and I always appreciated that, so I thought this was a good compromise? Like I’m totally fine with sending people copies so they can reread whenever if it’s a comfort fic. It’s just that some fics have me caught in this weird in-between of being icked out but I don’t necessarily want to cut off ties just yet in case there’s a way I can make them suit my current style more within the same premise.

If you like Homemade Mess in particular I can definitely take a look at rewriting/editing that to reupload soon instead of deleting. I’m open to redoing anything, it’s just that the “under construction” fics are the ones I was actively already working on redoing.

I hope this makes sense, and I’m really sorry for any discomfort that has brought you! Thanks for even caring about my fics, it means a lot and I don’t wish to demean that support or anything. You’re totally in your right to ask this, and I’ll think about editing Homemade Mess and Buttons, since those are the only two ‘permanent deletion’ fics that I wasn’t going to just combine with an upcoming fic.

Lots of love 💕 sorry for the inconveniences 💔

[pumpkinpaix]

a few notes on translation

hey everyone, in light of some of my recent posts (here and here) making the rounds, I’d like to say a few things.

first, I want to say that I am not interested in trying to find a satisfactory english translation of zewu-jun at this time. I know everyone means well and is sharing different ideas out of excitement. that’s great!! I’m very glad I could get you all to consider the complexity of the title and all the pitfalls that come with trying to translate it! however, I do not wish to receive any more suggestions on how to translate zewu-jun. as I said, forcing one language into the shape of another is never going to work perfectly. that’s the nature of the thing.

I understand the impulse and temptation to try to find words in your own language to describe something that you care about, of course I do. but sometimes, you won’t be able to find those words--perhaps they elude you, or perhaps they don’t exist at all. there’s a discomfort in that, I know, but I hope everyone reading this can forgive me for saying that I want you all to live in that discomfort. after all, I have lived here my whole life. when I speak to my family, I do so knowing that I am constantly interacting with them through translation. that no matter how good my english is, it will fail me when it comes time to transmute my thoughts into chinese words.

not gonna lie, it sucks.

It occurred to me sometime in college, I think, that many people don’t experience this: the inherent alienation of not sharing a native language or culture with your parents. I was fiercely jealous, suddenly. I think about all the times my mother and I failed to communicate because of this barrier. I think about all the times that failure hurt. it all felt very unfair.

in a sort of roundabout way, I suppose my current refusal to provide, or even search for, a simple translation of zewu-jun is my attempt to force some of you to experience this, just a little. the feeling of not being able to capture your thoughts in words. the feeling of not being able to communicate. maybe that’s unkind of me, I don’t know.

every time I translate seriously, I think about how lawrence venuti described the violence of translation:

My use of the word “violence” here has been questioned by a professional translator ... Yet if by this term we mean “damage” or “abuse”, then my use of it is neither exaggerated nor metaphoric, but precisely descriptive: a translator is forced not only to eliminate aspects of the signifying chain that constitutes the foreign text, starting with its graphematic and acoustic features, but also to dismantle and disarrange that chain in accordance with the structural differences between languages, so that both the foreign text and its relations to other texts in the foreign culture never remain intact after the translation process.

Translation is the forcible replacement of the linguistic and cultural differences of the foreign text with a text that is intelligible to the translating-language reader. These differences can never be entirely removed, but they necessarily undergo a reduction and exclusion of possibilities - and an exorbitant gain of other possibilities specific to the translating language. ... The aim of translation is to bring back a cultural other as the recognizable, the familiar, even the same; and this aim always risks a wholesale domestication of the foreign text, [oftentimes serving] as an appropriation of foreign cultures for agendas in the receiving situation, cultural, economic, political. Translation is not an untroubled communication of a foreign text, but an interpretation that is always limited by its address to specific audiences and by the cultural or institutional situations where the translated text is intended to circulate and function. [emphasis mine]

-- Lawrence Venuti, The Translator’s Invisibility, 2nd edition p.14 [line breaks added for readability]

it’s wordy, I know, but I think very important in a time when english is becoming/has become the world’s lingua franca, and brings with it its history of imperialism and colonialism. we have to acknowledge that the act of translation comes with violence, sometimes intentional, sometimes not. i don’t agree with venuti entirely--I think translation always damages, but does not always abuse. regardless, i have a very hard time taking this lightly, which is why I don’t do this for a job lol can you imagine.

i bring this up because it’s something that I want people to consider: that the very act of translation is violent. that the fact that we can experience this story at all is violent. that the constant search and demand for the “right” translation is, indeed, violent. that’s okay. it comes with the territory. i’m here too, and I’m glad to have met you. 💛 but I want us all to be able to acknowledge the fact that every time we talk about the source text in a different language, we are holding knives.

i obviously do not think that translation is bad, far from it. i think it’s wonderful and wondrous to be able to communicate across cultures and across time. i read mdzs in translation first, after all. I had to, much like most of you. without it, I would never have been able to experience this story that has become so important to me! translation, for all that it damages, also creates. it makes beautiful things. it is necessary. I love doing it, I love trying to find the right balance so that someone else can also fall in love with this thing I love.

whether or not you agree that translation is inherently violent is ultimately up to you: this is a philosophy, not a truth. I am not particularly well-versed in the discourse of translation. it’s possible that this is considered a truth in translation circles. as of writing this, I wouldn’t know. however, it is a philosophy that I subscribe to--it ensures that I keep my ego in check and reminds me that, like pretty much everything, translation is inevitably political and that it can have significant ramifications.

i want to end this by cycling back to the beginning of this post. all of the suggestions I’ve received are innocuous and well-meaning. I don’t want anyone to feel bad about sending them. i hope you don’t by the end of this post! like I said, I appreciate that they’re all coming from a place of enthusiasm and love. i promise you, I get it. but I won’t be responding to any others.

if you’ve gotten to this point, i urge you all to read @hunxi-guilai‘s notes on her translation process here. she and I have very similar approaches and concerns when we try our hand at mdzs/cql translations, even if we don’t come from or end up at the same place. Though we have a similar cultural background, we have very different wells of knowledge. she does things I can’t, and I do things she can’t. we prioritize differently. but in that post, you can see a practical application of what I’m trying to say here.

and finally, remember, like hunxi said in her disclaimer: we are human, subjective, and fallible. and, in this case, we are both american. do not take our word as law, do not assume that our heritage makes us experts, or gives us a pass. it’s vital to apply your own reasoning to our posts, including this one.

in summary, here is what I want to say: 1) translations will always fail, 2) translations are always violent, 3) the way many people in EN fandom continue to try and find “the perfect translation” for terms and names is part of that violence, 4) if you like the things I post and talk about, then I hope you’ll think about this too

thanks, everyone 💛

[izzyspussy]

how different is writing an actual book as opposed to writing fanfiction besides the obvious (og characters/backstories/plots)? Bc publishing my writing is something i’ve always wanted to do, but i’ve never felt compelled to be in depth with metaphors/subplots/motifs, and I’m sure they show up but in a natural way? Does that make me a less efficient author for just wanting to create vs putting together a puzzle? I’ve always liked books with plots to be clear and forward, while leaving room for dissection as like an extra activity vs something thats necessary, if that makes any sense, and I feel like that reflects in my own writing and I can’t tell if that makes it less — and for lack of a better word — good. Ik this is a lot, but generally if you’ve got any tips regarding the process and importance of some aspects of professionally writing, id greatly appreciate it <3

Hi, anon! Thanks for asking, let's see what I can do for you for some answers! ♥

How different is writing a book compared to writing fanfiction?

In my personal experience the biggest difference - just in writing, not editing, publishing, etc - writing a book versus writing fanfiction is actually with characterization. If you have a fully developed character in your mind from knowing what happens to them it can be kind of difficult to write them pre-development and have them change on-page. In fanfiction, usually you already have your starting point with the character and you only have to worry about how to get them where you want them.

(And also you usually can't use lyrics for your titles lol.)

In Depth Subplots & Motifs (& Foreshadowing, etc)

These things are super hard and can be very complicated, so don't worry too much if they're not your favorite thing to work on!

I think at least in regards to motif, if you're really writing from a genuine place it pretty much takes form as you go. Sometimes in the plotting stage you have only the "point" or you have only the fun delivery mechanisms - the characters, plot, setting. Whatever little pieces you start with, in this particular case most of the time the easiest way to figure out the shape of everything else is to just dive in and let it happen.

I also do that a lot with fanfiction, actually, because often it's a total accident. @kedreeva has a post about why sometimes you can realize you have to rework your plot only to find that what you've already written already supports your new direction. I think pretty much everything said there can apply just as readily to motifs and to the purpose your story is meant to fulfill for the audience, or for you. I don't remember any exact words from the post though so I don't think I could find it lmfao. It might be a ways back in my /writing-process tag, but maybe they have easier access to it and can share it again, in which case I'll come back and add the link.

As for subplots, those are really fucking hard and there's not much else I can really tell you about 'em. However! You don't always necessarily need a subplot. They can add extra depth to your characters and to your world, or they can emphasize your main plot, but frankly good character development alone can do those things just as well. It can be a little difficult to get a full novel if you don't have a subplot, but not everyone is a novel writer and that's good! Not everyone is a novel reader either.

Metaphors are also mostly for good flavor. Depending on your subject matter and your style, you might not need them either. Off the top of my head I don't think Steig Larsson (Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) used many metaphors in his series, and that mostly just made the content feel more grounded. It's not for every reader (some might call it 'dry' or 'dense' or something like that) but for some people that's their preference!

You do of course need some background and flavor text other than just A, B, and C things happened, of course, but they can be in any style or amount of detail that you prefer. Your editor and test readers will let you know if something doesn't make sense or seems incomplete.

Does that make me a less efficient author?

If you're writing fiction, it's not really about efficiency! It's about being engaging. Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkien both spend pages upon pages giving textbook-like information on their worlds or on character backstory that I personally would have said to cut if I was their editor, but again some audiences prefer that kind of read!

If you think it's more interesting/important/fun to spend time on literal description versus making your work fit an aesthetic, then that's what will be interesting/important/fun for the audience you'll find eventually.

The only thing you can really do to find a style that you are satisfied with and is readable is to practice, share your work, be open to critique (when appropriate ofc), and read a lot.

Other Tips

In fanfiction having an editor, beta-readers, critique partners, and maintaining a group of peers is all really kind of optional and honestly even above and beyond. In publishing that is 100% not true. You absolutely need an editor and test readers, and you need to keep up with other people in the industry and especially in your genre and/or publishing method (traditional, indie, self). Mutually assured success is necessary - not a nice extra - in publishing. You have to be willing to spend time on others' work and to accept the value of their input on yours if you want to make good art and reach an audience.

Again, thanks for sending in an ask. I hope this helped!

♥ Jack

I'm an award winning author. AMA!

[betterdaysareatoenailaway]

Sleep Tight For Me...I’m Gone

Lately I’ve been writing these Better Days Are A Toenail Away™️ posts in Microsoft Word, selecting all and changing the font to Garamond, which is so readable and beautiful, and posting the Word docs, paragraphs by paragraph, inside these Tumblr drafts. It makes things look nice, to my old fashioned sensibilities, but fixing errors is a time-consuming and needlessly convoluted four-step process.

First, I have to copy, then delete the paragraph containing the error. Then I open the doc. and paste the error-ridden paragraph back into Word. After I find and fix the error, I need to save it and copy and paste it back into the post. It's time-consuming because I’m not just copying a paragraph. As you can see from more recent post, what I copied looked more like a photograph of the paragraph, not the words themselves written in Tumblr’s default font Arial. For an example of this, see below. I like the way it looks like old newspaper clippings. I posted an article about how my fent dealer John Smith kept getting robbed, and had resorted to putting a machete in front of his front door as a way of preventing this, a lever of sorts, which is plainly visible in the video I posted,

So today I’ve given up on trying to make my posts look like books or zines, and have given into the Tumblr font, which is about as pretty as a horse with his snout shot off.

There are two much longer posts I’m working on right now, one about Nirvana and one about Soundgarden, respectively, and how both bands were very unlike their public perception, but those posts are taking a lot of work so I’m putting them on the backburner because today is some dumbass corporation’s day where it tries to synthesize mental health and profit and the end result is as baldly capitalist and clumsy as you would expect. 

I’m not gonna name the company, or repeat their stupid fucking slogan. As far as I can tell (which isn't very far), talking about my trauma has never made me feel better. And in fact it has sometimes made me feel worse, because in telling you what hurts and scares me, I’ve given a part of myself away that I can’t get back. When you’re like me, and you’ve lost everything multiple times, sometimes the only form of power you have is how you choose, or do not choose, to tell your story. And in a world where everybody wants to tell “their truth,” silence is power. 

You don’t get to know me, sorry. I’m not gonna hand you my life, both my bad and good experiences, and conclude: “Welp, that’s why I’m so fucked up. Case closed.” 

Honestly, I used to be a little confused, or miffed that my former partner (who is an amazing person btw, in every respect) almost never spoke about some of the traumatic things she’d experienced in her past. I took it as a sign that she either didn’t trust me, or she didn’t think I would be a sympathetic listener, or the mere fact of my gender precluded her from sharing because I couldn’t truly understand what it was she had gone through. It’s not like I ever asked her to talk about it, but I did say, once or twice, “hey if you ever wanna talk about that stuff, I’m around.” She never took me up on it, and I let it go. 

But as I watched her, and saw her life unfold, over the years we spent together, I began to realize I wasn’t exactly in any position to be telling her how to live her life or how to be mentally healthy. After all, she has found success in a number of avenues, both creative and occupational, and I’ve found neither. I'm not saying the fact that she didn't talk much about her trauma is the reason for her success. I'm saying that she's forged a better path through life than I have, and maybe I should take a cue from that.

She never told me what to do, per se. It was more like living by example. But because I’m pretty dense, and a severe addict, our time together actually sorta reminds me now of that Cornell lyric from his first record: She’s going to change the world. But she can’t change me.

I have certainly found that talking about how shitty my life is only makes me feel more shitty, not free, or unburdened, or better. If you wanna talk about your problems, and you find it helpful, more power to you. Just don’t wait for a corporation to tell you it’s okay to not be okay. 

When Chris Cornell died I was so shocked. Of all the grunge icons he seemed the most stable, and he'd survived the rise and fall of two major label rock bands. If anyone had survived the media machine that chewed up and spat out Staley, Cobain, and to a lesser extent Andrew Wood and Shannon Hoon, it was Cornell. He would be the last guy to support hashtag activism like #StarbucksMyLifeSucks. Chris Cornell actually loved to fuck with the best laid plans of corporate rats. Molson once had a few promotional concerts in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, called Molson Canadian Rocks Arctic, with both Hole and Soundgarden playing to a crowd of flown-in grunge fans and bemused locals. But the whole anti-corporate thing grunge was known for actually came through when Courtney Love told the crowd she “use[d] Molson Canadian to douche.” Lol. Here’s a photo of Love arriving in Tuktoyatuk.

Cornell told the same people “so we’re here because of some beer company? Labatt’s?” Both artists’ jabs are funny. Cornell’s was a bit more subtle, but that’s what Cornell was like. 

So today’s post is about Chris Cornell’s suicide, more specifically the media’s reaction to it. For whatever reason, when Cornell died, every single news outlet, from CNN to Fox to CBC, posted “Black Hole Sun,” as if it’s the only song he ever fucking wrote, or – and this is far worse – the only song he wrote that’s worth hearing. The problem with this is more than twofold or threefold. It's fucking hydraheaded. 

Not only is “Black Hole Sun” a mediocre piece of music, it’s a complete misrepresentation of Soundgarden’s sound. 

Now, I’m a huge fan of the A.V. Club series HateSong, in which public figures gleefully talk shit about the one song they hate more than any other song in the world. The Max Bemis (Say Anything) one where he talks about Nirvana’s “Rape Me” as a terrible rewrite of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is terrific, but comedian Anthony Jeselnik’s HateSong takes “Black Hole Sun” apart, and I love it. I think the best line is: I think the more I hear it, the worse it gets. AVC: After the song became a huge hit, Chris Cornell said that he’d written it in about 15 minutes. AJ: I totally believe that. I don’t believe that Soundgarden likes that song. Like, I remember Eminem once said that he knew his song “My Name Is” was going to be a huge hit because the first time he heard it he was annoyed. It’s something about an annoying song that just grabs onto people. But I don’t think that anyone likes “Black Hole Sun.” I’ve never heard of anyone who likes it. I don’t understand why it gets played so much. It’s become a summer jam, and it’s not a summer song at all. Jeselnik is right that Soundgarden didn’t think much of the song. Guitarist Kim Thayil wasn’t kidding when he disparagingly called it the “Dream On” of their live show. And Cornell himself, known for a meticulous approach to his songwriting, had admitted that with “Black Hole Sun”was “probably the closest to me just playing with words for words’ sake, of anything I’ve written. I guess it worked for a lot of people who heard it, but I have no idea how you'd begin to take that one literally.” I mean it’s obvious from the opening lines that Cornell is just playing with words and how they sound: in my eyes/indisposed/in disguises no one knows What songs would have been more appropriate for Cornell’s untimely death? Glad you asked! Cuz there’s like…fucking at least ten that would have been better. I’m not tryna be one of those “the deep album cuts are better maaaaaan,” but with Soundgarden, it happens to be true. With some bands, the single are their best work. With other bands, the singles are the hors d’oeuvres for the entrees. So what deep cuts would have celebrated Cornell’s death a bit better? Well, to begin with, Superunknown’s strange and stately closer “Like Suicide” would have worked, for obvious reasons.

“Tighter and Tighter,” a song that is actually about the moment of death and what it might feel like, is one of my all-time fav Soundgarden songs. Not only is it a creepy and prescient prediction of what Cornell’s death by hanging himself may have felt like, it’s opening line is a good description of the personification of death: Shadow face/Blowing smoke and talking wind

Another sample lyric: “A sucking holy wind will take me from this bed tonight/and bloody wits another hits me and I have to say goodbye/sleep tight for me, I’m gone/and I hope it’s  a sweet ride/here for me tonight/cuz I’m feel I’m going/feel I’m slowing down.” 

The morning after Cornell’s death hit the news my buddy and bandmate James told me that en route to work his phone, which was playing music randomly through his car speakers, landed on “Tighter and Tighter” and he had to pull over because he was tearing up. 

“Fell On Black Days” is another song about depression and mortality. Cornell had the following to say about the song: “Fell on Black Days” was like this ongoing fear I’ve had for years ... It's a feeling that everyone gets. You're happy with your life, everything’s going well, things are exciting—when all of a sudden you realize you’re unhappy in the extreme, to the point of being really, really scared. There's no particular event you can pin the feeling down to, it's just that you realize one day that everything in your life is fucked! 

Now, if that’s not a cogent and even-tempered explanation of suicidal thoughts, what is? Why else would Cornell have admitted to being “really really scared” by his depression unless he knew what that depression could ultimately leasd to? Here’s some lyrics to “Fell on Black Days.” Dig the high literary use of “whomsoever” and “whatsoever.” Whatsoever I’ve feared has come to life Whatsoever I fought off became my life Just when every day seemed to greet me with a smile sunspots have faded and now I’m doing time cuz I fell on black days

Whomsoever I’ve cured I’ve sickened now Whomsoever I’ve cradled...I put you down I’m a searchlight soul they say but I can’t see it in the night I’m only faking when I get it right I sure don’t mind a change but I fell on black days how would I know that this could be my fate?

Eagle-eared listeners might think this version different from the album version. They are right. The rendition in the video was recorded live off the floor @ Bad Animals, the Seattle studio owned by Heart, where Soundgarden would record Down on the Upside. 

“Boot Camp” is a scary meditation about loss of agency that for years was tied with Zeppelin’s “I'm Gonna Crawl” for Creepiest Song to Cap a Discography, until Soundgarden reunited and released King Animal.

“Taree” is about ghost light, influencing events after dying and features Cornell’s most exhausted, convincing “yeah” @ 2:57.

“Applebite” is a Matt Cameron-penned ponderous clunker about Adam’s original expulsion from Eden. Doomy and death-laden.

“Let Me Drown” is a song about letting someone die.

“The Day I Tried To Live” is frequently cited as Soundgarden’s finest achievement, its odd time signature somehow sounds straight, thanks to Matt Cameron’s brilliant time keeping.

“4th of July” is a song about a post apocalyptic urban landscape, where the speaker isn’t sure whether he is seeing fireworks or bombs. 

“Limo Wreck” is a cool death song and has an eerie 9-11 prediction. “Building the towers belongs to the sky/when the whole thing comes crashing down don’t ask me why.” 

ANY of the above songs would have been better than that fucking asinine dirge-like major key fuckaround that has somehow not just become Soundgarden's signature song...but their ONLY song. 

Does nobody remember Johnny Cash covering “Rusty Cage?” 

“Outshined?”

“Burden In My Hand?”

“Blow Up The Outside World?”

Did none of these other songs get stuck in the electric head? (The electric head is Rob Zombie’s term for the technologically advanced culture we have found ourselves enmeshed in, or imprisoned by. It was the subtitle for White Zombie’s 1995 hit album Astro-Creep 2000: Songs of Love, Destruction, and other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head.)

For my money (which ain’t much honey), the song that best fits both Cornell’s artistic integrity and the sad circumstances of his suicide is “Tighter and Tighter.” I once wrote a whole article on the way artists use “yeah” as a placeholder or as a way to convey emotion when words themselves aren’t adequate. Dig that tired, world-weary exhausted “yeah” at 5:35 of “Tighter & Tighter.”

Or the creepy line going into the first chorus: remember this...remember everything’s just black or burning sun. Not that I agree with such a bleak worldview. It’s a writer’s line. And Randy Bachman has said, “when you’re a writer, you’d step over your own mother.” That’s the Cornell I want to remember. Not that he would step over his own mother. By all accounts he was a committed family man. I mean, I want to remember the Cornell who created strange atmospheric sonic worlds, who explored the dark side that sadly, eventually won out. His otherworldly beautiful music is what I choose to remember about Chris Cornell, not his estate tastelessly exploiting “Black Hole Sun” by using a line from the song to title a posthumous Cornell album of covers No One Sings Like You Anymore. Sigh.

First Cornell’s widow said this was “Chris’s last album.” Okay. What about the Soundgarden songs he recorded vocals for before he died? Kim Thayil was pretty diplomatic about it when asked recently. Cornell did record vocal tracks for the follow up to King Animal.

Kim Thayil: “Given our love for Chris, I do not see us reconfiguring without him.”

But he makes it clear in this interview that Cornell’s widow Vicky has those tracks and won’t release them to the band. Maybe because she blames the band for Chris dying that night? She’s not wrong to believe that they would have known, and seen, what kind of shape Cornell was in, at least at the venue, maybe not later at the hotel.

Kim Thayil: “It’s entirely possible that a new Soundgarden album will be released. Certainly. All it would need is to take the audio files that are available. I tighten up the guitars. Ben does the bass. We get the producers we want to make it sound like a Soundgarden record.”

Interviewer: “Is there an obstacle stopping that?”

Kim Thayil: “There shouldn’t be. There really isn’t. Other than the fact that we don’t have those files.”

Interviewer: “They’re not under your auspices?”

Kim Thayil: “Right. It would be ridiculous if [the record wasn’t made]. But these are difficult things. Partnerships and...property.”

You’re just gonna keep those wav files? And why title his covers album Volume 1 if it’s his “last album?”

Oh right. $$$

No one does sing like Cornell, but is “Black Hole Sun” really the best thing he ever did? The best song he ever sang? Should an album of covers be the last thing he gives to the world?

The only honest answer is no.

Sleep tight Chris. You’re gone.

[kitkatwinchester]

Happy Fanfic Writer Friday!!! If you could rewrite your first story with the experience you have now, what would/wouldn’t you change?

Happy Fanfic Writer Friday! 

Oh god. Like, my very first fan fiction? Umm....everything. I would’ve changed everything. I hate that story. XD XD 

But in all seriousness, my first fan fiction was kind of a mess, for a lot of reasons. I was inexperienced, I was 14, and it was written on a whim. That said, what came out is about what you could expect. 

My first fan fiction ever was called Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting (I shouldn’t even be linking it, it’s so bad, but I’ll give you the option to judge for yourself lol), and it’s an author insert fan fiction about me and my best friend babysitting my younger siblings when Sam and Dean Winchester somehow travel to our world and track a demon to our house. The thing about the fic was that, in our world, the show Supernatural did exist, so when Sam and Dean show up, we know everything about their line of work, and we wind up helping them on the hunt. It was supposed to be this really long series where me and my bestie wind up hunting with Sam and Dean for several months before they eventually manage to make it back to their world, but I, for the life of me, could not make it farther than chapter four of the first part in a way that I liked, so I eventually gave up and came up with an ending and that was the end of it. 

All of that said, knowing what I know now, and with all of the experience I’ve had both in life and as as a writer, there are a lot of things I would change. 

For starters, I would not have made it an author insert. While I have nothing against O/C’s that represent my own personality (which I do have), using my own name, but in third person, and with my best friend’s name now just feels...childish and immature. It makes it less of a story and more of a narrative, because I couldn’t really separate myself enough from it. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but the idea of writing an author insert now seems blasphemous, so...there’s that. 

Punctuation. Oh. My. God. Let me tell you, 14-year-old me did not know how to ease up on the exclamation points. Half of the dialogue is followed by an exclamation point, some by a good two or three or four. It’s just...bad. Again, it looks and feels childish and immature, which, I suppose, is understandable for the time it was written, but it still feels embarrassing now. XD 

Show, don’t tell. That sounds so cliche, but it’s true. Looking back at that fic, I feel like there was so much unnecessary explanation. “They did this because they were feeling this way because this had happened so they were thinking this.” When I read it now, it seems so wordy. There are so many words--even full sentences--that I could take out that would make the fic much more concise and readable. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with detailed description, but I’m talking about things like “she opened the door by turning the knob to the right and pushing with everything she had” when these girls are literally running for their lives. If they’re running, I don’t need that description. There should be tension. I shouldn’t be breaking that down, that takes too long! Just help my readers feel the tension with my conciseness. In any case, that’s a big one. 

Along those same lines, in general, I’d like it to be more realistic. Nowadays, I work really hard on that. I make sure movements make sense by walking them out on my own. I imagine myself in the room with them so I can orient everyone properly. I take good character notes--whether they’re my characters or others--and use those to make sure I’m keeping characterizations on point. In general, I just work really hard to make it seem real to the audience in a way that they could put themselves there and it would make sense. This fic doesn’t have that, but I would love it if it did.  

Last, but not least, in general, I’d love it if I could add more complexity to it. Solid word choice, detailed descriptions, snappy dialogue, metaphors, parallelism--these are all things that are in my much more recent fics that I really wish I would’ve incorporated into my first fic. I’m most proud of the moments where things are particularly symbolic, or where ideas connect and parallel each other, and I wish I had done more of that in this story. If I ever went back to edit it, I totally would (though I don’t think I ever will--sadly, the inspiration isn’t really there anymore). I just think it’s missing some of the complexities that would make it deep and meaningful. 

With all of that out of the way, I will say that, for my younger self, my first fan fiction wasn’t necessarily the worst thing on the planet. While I’m definitely not proud of it, it did have some strong points. The attention to small details was great, and I stuck really closely to canonical elements from the show. The fic was also originally suggested by the bestie included in the story, and I wound up including everything she asked for, which I think is impressive given that I wound up cutting it off. So, it does have some strong points, and some things I would definitely leave in, but overall, if I were ever to go back to it, it would need some major rewrites. 

This was a really great question, and I’m sorry it was such a long answer, but I hope you appreciated it! Thank you for asking! <3 

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

You Only Line Once #1 | Line Editing

Sooo, here I am, back at it again with yet another series. I had a lot of fun documenting my line editing journey in my line edit with me vid I posted a while back (which you can watch HERE), so I decided to make this a series on here. I actually intended to start this series back in August, and wrote the intro, but never posted it because I couldn't find a pun for the series title, lol. (I do it for the puns. Pretty happy with this strokes shoutout from You Only Live Once aha.) Two days ago, I wrote up a list of puns based off song titles, and @sssoto​ and @sarahkelsiwrites​ helped me narrow it down to You Only Line Once. Hope you enjoy this new endeavor!

I haven't talked about this all that often, but yessss, I have now started line-edits on my second novel, FOSTERED (which I talk about a lot, lol). I wrote this book when I was 13, and after watching @sarahkelsiwrites​ line edit in her Shrink Line Edit series, decided to take this on. I’m documenting my (very slow) progress on MyWriteClub as well. My goal was actually to get these edits done by the third of February, but at the pace I’m going, am totally going to have to scale that due date up.

I’ve actually re-written a scene from FOSTERED twice just for fun, and I always enjoyed the idea of possibly cleaning up the prose so it was an easier read. I haven’t read this book the full way through since I wrote it three entire years ago. Probably because the prose isn’t all that great, and while I’ve been able to move past that in recent months, I lose motivation after a while, and always stop reading at the same place. So that’s a bit of an explanation as to why I’m doing this exactly (still not publishing these books tho lol).

This has actually been my side project for the last couple weeks, but since life has = chaos the past while, I’m only now launching this thing. Regardless, I hope this journey will be fun (but expect lots of angst because that’s basically all I do when I line edit).

Also a quick disclaimer: *I’m line-editing this book, yes, to improve readability, but this isn't a re-write. My edits will continue to preserve the vibe and writing style of the original draft, so keep that in mind! Depending on the passage, rewrites may be involved (*cough* looking *cough* at *cough* Foster’s *cough* dialogue *cough*), but it’s sort of a selective process (not how I line edit for current shtuff, by the way, thought I’d put that out there).

Onto the shtuff:

Today’s goal: So this actually was my goal two days ago since I’m writing this for that session, but the goal was to (unrealistically, as I admitted) finish edits on chapter 6. If you missed my vid on line editing, I do two rounds of edits, the first pass, then the final cleanup. The first pass takes a very long time, so after I’m done that, I move onto the next chapter, edit that the final time, then edit the previous chapter a second time, etc, etc. Yesterday’s session was for chapter six’s first pass.

What I actually line-edited: I completed the first scene of six, as well as half of the last scene, so not too shabby, since I did make the goal at like 1AM.

Total chapter count: 4 edited in full, chapters 5 and 6 awaiting final pass

Total page count: 25

Updated word count: 89 008 in comparison to the original 88 000

The overall scope: Editing went rather well? The beginning was rusty because I had to remould some very stilted dialogue/fix some pacing issues, but I think the chapter has improved quite a bit. I cut a looooot of things in this chapter, as opposed to adding, which was a nice change, lol.

Music or nahhh: I don't believe so!

How much I angsted on a scale from 1-10: Not all that much. I’d say a 5 at most for the worst of it which was the very beginning of the chapter. I call this a win.

Song title that describes line-editing session: (stole this from my outlannis updates but this question is one of my faves to answer ha) You’re Good by The Narwhals. I felt pretty determined and collected, which was a very nice change, haha.

Favourite chapter edited thus far and why: I would still say it’s chapter one. I like the edits I've made on later chapters, but there’s something about the first chapter that I wouldn't mind reading again. I think I fleshed out Reeve’s voice a lot more in chapter one and made her sound a lot less monotonous which is cool, and I think with the edits, it’s a much better opening. Which is great, because chapter one hasn't really been a favourite!

Excerpt:

(as mentioned before, this is totally still not going to be perfect by any means. this one is pretty neutral/is a good example of what a clean up would look like!)

BEFORE (ft. a surplus amount of exclamation marks):

“Harrison come on! That’s not true! C’mon don’t think like that. If you weren’t here we’d all be dead right now! Do you not remember that little three trick you pulled with Red. Now don’t tell me shit that it was your fault in the first place because if you hadn’t told Red about me blah, blah, blah! You saved our lives regardless! Whether it was caused by a negative decision or not! So stop complaining! Just stop! I’m sick of hearing this because I really don’t like it when you talk about yourself like that!” I snap back, folding my arms over my chest. When he grabs me into a hug, I don’t flinch away, I return the favour.

“So, will you stop it then?” I murmur.

“I’ll try. Thanks Reeve.” He mumbles then has disappeared to the other side, leaving me in the darkness. Yes, there is no light, no sun to warm me. But on the inside, I’m as sunny as ever, my glow revoking every negative thought that has brought me down.

AFTER (ft. a considerable decrease in exclamation marks):

“That’s not true.” My voice is more frantic than I expect. Desperate for him to understand that the mistakes we’ve both made in the last couple days have hurt, but don’t define us. “Don’t think like that, alright? If you weren’t here, we’d all be dead right now. Do you not remember that little three trick you pulled with Red? You saved our lives regardless.” I bite my lip. “I know it’ll take some time, but I think we’re working on whatever this is.” 

When he hugs me, I’m surprised, but return the favour anyway. He’s warm, despite the cool air moulded around us, smells like leather and ground coffee.

I’m not sure how long we stand there like that. But it’s enough time to solidify the lump in my throat, push the stupid feeling of missing something higher and higher in my stomach.

Eventually, he lets go, leaves me in the darkness. There is no light, no sun to warm me. But on the inside, I’m bright, my glow bringing me fresh hope for a new beginning.

she like a lowkey glo up I aint mad. droppin that classic harrisonboiii description tho yasss

So that’s it for this update! I hope you enjoyed seeing how exactly I go about cleaning a few paragraphs up! When I note more dramatic changes, I’ll definitely post about them in an update. :) For now, hope to see you in the next one!

--Rachel