#how can you objectively say you know it well enough to write a review?

[camelspit]

hey. maybe you shouldn't write a book review if you haven't even finished the fucking book. btw.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

You seem like an incredibly well read person, plus someone with a lot of insight into intimacy because of your work. So, in light of your romance book reviews, which are an absolute highlight on your patreon, do you have any insight into what is needed/suggested for a good romance novel?

g o d this is so fucking hard and also really fun to chew on. I want to preface this by saying this is ENTIRELY subjective and based completely on what I *PERSONALLY* find that I enjoy in a romance. this isn't, like, an objective guide on how to write a romance that doesn't suck. that doesn't exist because people like different things, and I'm speaking from one perspective.

also I should say that my preferred flavor of romance novel is solidly contemporary. I haven't read many historicals, certainly not enough to opine well on them, I don't do those mafia dark romances or whatever the fuck, and I've barely dabbled at all in any kind of fantasy romance, whether they're full high fantasy or witchy urban fantasy stories. (although I'm about to do one of the latter next month, you can vote for a book on my patreon rn!)

having gotten all of those caveats out of the way, here's some shit I like and dislike:

there are exceptions to this but broadly, I prefer a POV for everyone involved in the relationship. to me a romance where we're only seeing events from the POV of one member of the relationship automatically makes it seem like one person matters more in a dynamic where everyone should be of equal importance. also, god, if the plot's really going to hinge on not knowing what's going on in one partner's head suggests that miscommunication is going to be a pretty critical part of the plot, and I hate that shit. TALK TO EACH OTHER. I'LL KILL YOU.

on that note, there needs to be an actual compelling reason why the characters can't be together, okay? the #1 driving tension of every romance is "why the fuck can't they be together yet" and you BETTER have a good answer. whether it's interpersonal or external forces, if there's a very easy solution to what's keeping them apart then your characters look dumb and I'm bored. one of the most frustrating romances I've ever read involved two characters who were mutually attracted to each from the JUMP, who refused to act on it because they were coworkers (neither of them in any position of authority of the other, nothing unprofessional or inappropriate about it) and they were "only" living in the same state for A YEAR. A FULL YEAR !!! shut up. get a grip and kiss each other.

now, having said that: whatever your bullshit reason is for these two characters to be interacting with each other, you need to COMMIT to that shit so hard that I, the reader, will feel silly for even questioning the logic. the worst offender I've ever seen on this front is D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding, which pulls its protagonists together via a reality TV competition and then just... promptly loses any interest in really dealing with the actual realities of being filmed 24/7? it's insanely distracting how little the book engages with its central hook, and was a huge point deduction for me. whereas you have, like, The Bride Test, a book with a premise that skirts dangerously close to a little bit of human trafficking but embraces the whole premise so wholeheartedly that you completely forget about the potentially horrific elements in there. who cares that Esme was bribed here with the promise of a green card if she seduces a man she's never met? there's whimsy happening! we've moved on! it's literally fine and she's in no danger except the danger of a BROKEN HEART.

this one is going to seem SO obvious but like. I need them to be actually like each other. I'm not saying they can't be mutually bitchy while they grow to like each other or anything, they don't have to always be NICE to each other, but there are so many M/F romances where the dude is just flat out fucking MEAN and condescending to the girl until he decides he wants to fuck her. and sometimes even after that! stop it! after a certain point I don't want her to fuck him I want her to run him over a car!!!! there's suuuuch a line between "guy I butt heads and exchange banter with but could fuck if we just got to know each other" and "man who hates me and is for real fucking bullying me."

"kisses only," "doors closed," whatever term they use for a romance novel without any sex scenes on page, I don't like it. listen: I know that they're not everybody's cup of tea, and I FULLY recognize that a lot of romance novel sex scenes are unfathomably cringe. and yet, I need them. partly because they're funny, but also because if this book wants me to be invested in the developing relationship between two adults who are supposed to be WILDLY sexually attracted to each other, then I want to see the damn sex. no matter how many bad similes or unfortunate adjectives it entails. and if you're not going to show me the sex, don't you dare have the characters gushing about how great it is. I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much. (I'm looking at you, Sorry, Bro.)

related: there's this thing that I call "Horny Wolf Syndrome," which is derived from this tweet:

initially I used it to refer to when previously sweet-tempered male romance protags inexplicably started talking like horny wovles during sex scenes - "LET ME SEE YOUR PRETTY CUNT ON MY COCK" and the like - but now I more generally use it to refer to scenarios in which characters of any gender completely dispense with their established personality while they fuck in order to fulfill a more broadly appealing, one-size-fits-all sexual fantasy. I hate that shit; if your characters act like completely unrecognizable people during sex, you didn't write very strong characters. one of my favorite things about writing sex scenes is that it's so SO interesting to see how their the characters' personal quirks translate into a setting that's very different from most other contexts, and it's deeply disappointing when authors take the easy route in favor of some pornhub dialogue.

one of the things that actually won my most recent read, Raiders of the Lost Heart, a HUGE amount of points with me was how frank the female lead was about initiating sex for the first time. it was completely in character for her and felt really different than any other book I've read, and honestly? it was a breath of fresh air.

[throneofsapphics]

old faces, part 11

Rowaelin x f!Reader

Summary: you and Rowan meet again after seven years, and deal with the fall-out of a secret. 

Warnings: mentions of violence

Word Count: 3159

A/N: I know it's been 6 months, but I'm just getting back to a place where I'm able to write this story! I'm sorry this took so long <3 thank you to @whisperingmidnights for your help with this part

series masterlist

“Your plan is to piss them off?” Fenrys looked at you like he prayed you were joking. 

“It’s not my whole plan.” 

“But it’s part of it?” 

“Figure out how desperate they are, and I can get a good gauge on how dangerous or useful the object is.” 

“Don’t underestimate their intelligence,” Fenrys cautioned. 

Rowan wanted to snarl at the male, he might as well have agreed this was the best plan. It was a good plan, he could admit that, there was only one pitfall - a very big one. It puts you in harm's way. No, it makes you even more of a target than you already are.

“What if it backfires?” Aelin asked, and Rowan both admired and was incensed by how calm she seemed. “What if others become suspicious, start asking around, and end up wanting the same thing they do?” 

“There’s always a risk,” you chewed on your bottom lip. He was about to open his mouth, to say ‘exactly’ or, ‘it’s too great of a risk,’ when you turned your gaze on Fenrys, then Aelin, then him. 

“From a strategic standpoint … if it weren’t me -” 

“It is you,” Aelin interrupted, but you continued as if she hadn’t said a word. 

“What would you say? What if the potential knowledge we’d gain is of great risk to Terrasen? Aren’t we better off knowing?” 

“It’s not much of a question if you put it like that,” Fenrys muttered. He didn’t look particularly happy about it, but Rowan knew he agreed. 

He turned to Aelin. ‘What do you think?’ his eyes asked.

“She’s right.”

Gods. He knew he would, if it wasn’t you, if it was nearly anyone else he’d task them with figuring it out. 

“We know a few Akkadian males are searching for some kind of artifact or weapon,” Fenrys started, ticking things off on his fingers, “and that it’s possible they are working independently, that they want to keep this secret. We know they have … dangerous knowledge of your past, and they’re connected with some kind of underworld.” 

There’s no real other way they’d know Andal - a male he’d like to kill one day, if only for the fear and pain in your eyes when his name was said. 

Aelin pinched the bridge of her nose. “We see if it draws some kind of reaction, see if anyone else is surprised, if he’s really acting personally or if he’s a scapegoat.” 

He prepared himself to protest, but your past words ‘don’t coddle me,’ echoed in his mind. With your characteristic stubborn tenacity, you’d already set your mind to this. At least you were letting him help, at least he could do something to help keep you safe. Rowan latched onto that mentally, onto the small consolation he got. 

“We need to ensure your safety,”  he emphasized, sending you a challenging look. Rowan knew this wouldn't be as desired if they didn’t all go in on it together. Sure, you could do something similar on your own, but he knew you well enough to tell when you didn’t quite want to. When you wanted help, even if your stubborn pride kept you from agreeing to or asking for it. “You won’t -,” Rowan paused and correctly himself, “don’t need to do this alone. Anymore.” 

You agreed, and the planning began. 

-

After two long hours of hashing out every detail, reviewing and reciting them until Rowan was satisfied, Fenrys and Aelin looked ready to explode. You found some comfort in it, but even you were tiring. 

When Rowan and Aelin locked in on one of their silent conversations, you turned to Fenrys, angled so they couldn’t see your face, and mouthed “leave.” 

He winked, and made a poor excuse for a departure, but they didn’t seem to care. 

There was an impending sense of doom, perhaps your mind playing tricks on you, but you couldn’t help feeling like something - maybe everything - would go wrong, no matter how much planning you put into it. 

The Queen and King stood as well, murmuring ‘goodnights,’ before you could say anything. Fuck. 

Your ill-thought out plan had not included that. 

Aelin stopped at the door, hand on the brass knob, Rowan a few steps outside, paused as well. Golden hair fell like a curtain over her shoulder, her head turning  as you slowly stood, teeth digging into your bottom lip. 

Time slowed, her eyes tracked the movement, darkening when they reached your mouth, teeth digging into soft flesh, perhaps imagining them digging in somewhere else. You certainly where. Step by step, you crossed the room towards her. Your footsteps sounded obnoxiously loud, thundering almost as loud as your heart. She turned fully to face you, hand letting go of the door. 

Less than a foot away, you stopped. Eyes glimmering, she tilted her head - daring you. 

This time, you didn’t back down. Hands reached, cupping her palms - still she waited. You could see how the patience cost her, a small curve of your lips and she nearly snarled, but you cut off the words forming, pushing forward to close the gap. 

Soft lips, slow movements, hands wandering, grazing over shoulder, down sides, settling on hips - moving all over as if you couldn’t wait to memorize. 

A low whistle from the hallway - who, you didn’t care, but heard Rowan’s snarl as a response. Aelin’s arm wound around your waist, drawing you closer, shifting your attention back to her. 

You felt Ceri’s magic, likely just down the hall, and stumbled back. 

Hurt flashed over Aelin’s face, through her eyes, mouth parting in dismay. 

“Ceri,” you hissed, “and company,” you added as an afterthought.

The hurt faded, replaced by a smile and a knowing nod as she stepped out of the doorway. 

“Tomorrow,” she said, the word a promise and a plea. You nodded, but couldn’t shake the sense that tomorrow might not come. You cursed yourself for thinking so negatively, for winding yourself up into a state of gloom. Things would work. They had too. There was too much at stake, and too much to lose. 

Four sets of shuffling footsteps - Ceri accompanied by the little … gang, to say the least. The three E’s, Edde, Edie and Elias.

Ceri burst through the door, her friends trailing more cautiously behind her. 

“They can spend the night, right?” 

“I don’t think that’s how you ask a question,” Rowan said dryly. 

You fixed her with a sharp look before she could roll her eyes. 

“We- we can go,” Elias said, voice barely carrying. He’d always been the most cautious of the three 

You opened your mouth, already ready to agree, seeing the sharp look Rowan fixed her with out of your peripheral, but Ceri cut in first - 

“Please, can we spend the night here?”

“Yes,” you laughed and waved them back towards their rooms, shooting a kind smile towards her three friends. In all honesty, you were surprised she asked, but figured she only did it because Rowan and Aelin were also present. 

-

“You might as well adopt the three of them,” Aelin commented. She’d meant it half as a joke, but saw how your eyes brightened. 

“Maybe when this is all over.” There was a distant look in your eyes, accompanied by the slightest upward tilt of your lips. Not the distant gaze of someone in pain, but someone thinking forward, thinking of the future. 

‘Maybe’ might as well be a yes, considering your expression - and if the three of them agreed, of course, but she couldn’t see them declining it.

Aelin didn’t know how anyone could turn you down, not with your pretty eyes or -

Rowan coughed next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Not pleased with looking away from you, she managed to turn her attention to him. 

“Going to stare all night?” He asked silently. 

Aelin didn’t dignify that with a response, instead let her eyes flash briefly to your lips, before murmuring goodnight’s to all of the room’s occupants, noticing the flush on your cheeks as you tracked her gaze. 

Aelin was out the door as Rowan gave his own goodnight’s, and she already knew that once they were back in their rooms he’d gripe that she happened to be the one closer to you. 

Two fingers touched her lips, her back pressed against the stone, mind wandering - wondering when she’d get to kiss you again -

You appeared in the open doorway, eyes wide with panic, head snapping back and forth - had your magic told you something? 

Aelin realized she trusted you implicitly as you tugged her back inside, slamming the door behind her. 

“Aelin and Rowan decided to stay a little longer,” you yelled - a course of acknowledgements coming from further down the hall, already in one of the rooms. 

“He’s - they’re both down a hall or so,” you were blinking rapidly, your breaths obviously intentional. And you didn’t need to clarify who ‘he’ was. For your sake, Aelin forced a tight, tight lid on her anger - and saw Rowan do the same. 

She felt Rowan’s wind sweep past her - buffering against your shield, she felt it as a small crack opened for him - letting his wind slide into the hallway, likely clearing all traces of their scents, along with Ceri and her little gang’s away. When had she become so attuned to your magic?

She heard him as he crossed closer - pausing a few feet away from the door - before continuing on, making it to the end of the hall before he backtracked. 

“I redirected our scents, not erased them,” Rowan murmured quietly - although your magic would block any noise from escaping.

“So he knows where,” you said aloud, arms wrapping around yourself. 

Rowan moved quicker than she could, his arms laid gently over your shoulders, almost hesitantly. When you didn’t flinch, when you leaned into him instead, he tugged you closer, brought your chest to rest against his, other arm wrapping around, fingers running through your hair. 

Aelin saw when you let your beautiful mind stop running, your face tilting, cheek pressed against him, arms coming around his waist. The moment when you relaxed, and let Rowan give you comfort like a lover would. 

-

Another familiar, but friendly scent tricked through the door. Fenrys. He was both grateful and annoyed with his timing. 

“You can let him in,” you sighed. Rowan tightened his arms around you, afraid the moment might leave before he truly got the chance to enjoy it. “And you can let me go,” you whispered. Aelin was by the door now, her hand perched right above the knob. 

“I’d rather not,” he muttered, but stepped back anyway. 

Maybe the day had been too long, and likely he was reading into things but he saw a flash of disappointment on your face. 

Regardless, he’d stepped back just in time - the door swung open, revealing Fenrys - looking unusually grave. 

“I didn’t interact,” his tone indicated he would’ve liked to, very much so, and the words proved Rowan’s inkling from earlier - the wolf hadn’t gone far at all, and having known the male for decades, he wouldn’t for the rest of the night. 

-

Laying back in bed, staring at a ceiling he’d memorized hours ago, Rowan rifled through his memories. 

Maeve had a vague interest in acquiring the types of objects made by your family, but the makers were, as far as she knew, always in Antica. Unattainable. To Maeve, the individual objects wouldn’t have been worth hunting down, not when she could acquire a source. He wondered if one day, if Aelin hadn’t come in and drastically changed his - all of their lives, he or one of the others would’ve received an order to find you or a member of your family. 

Somehow, thankfully, she had no idea your mother made her way into Wendlyn. He figured yours or her magic must’ve kept you hidden, that made him wonder how they’d found you.

It was obvious, he realized with the barest tinge of guilt. Your position in Aelin’s court would undeniably bring attention to you. Expose your abilities and bloodline in a way you’d avoided for so long. That brought the question of why you had accepted, considering it’s you, you knew the risks - hence why he felt the barest tinge of guilt. Maybe, after so long, you were sick of hiding. It wasn’t any use debating, rash decisions were uncommon for you, and rarely did you tell him exactly why you made the choices you did. A bit like Aelin, but not in a good way, but unlike Aelin if he asked you he’d usually get a straight answer. Usually. 

Nothing from his past campaigns with the Akkadians, past experience with the two Fae currently stirring too much trouble, gave guidance on how tomorrow could play out. 

The plan. One he’d made them go over countless times until everyone in the room looked like they wanted to kill him, that’s when he knew to call it quits, if you stuck to it then maybe things would work out. Too big of a maybe for him, but there was no other choice at this point. 

“Try to sleep,” Aelin murmured sleepily, he heard sheets rustling and felt her head rest on his chest, hand sliding over his stomach to rest just below his ribs. 

“We’ll see,” he kept his voice low, and traced circles into her back, the bare skin warm and smooth under his calloused fingers. Her breaths were even, and she’d already fallen back asleep. 

Rowan closed his eyes, and figured he could at least try and follow his Queen’s suggestion. 

-

Fenrys tried for his usual jovial manner in the morning, but it was obvious he was on edge over breakfast. You waited to call him out until after Ceri and her friends had left, accompanied by guards.

“At least pretend everything is normal,” you pushed your food around on your plate, “or you’ll tip them off and ruin our big plan.” 

The second half was laced with some sarcasm, in hopes to placate both you and him. He snorted, but none of the tension left his body, if anything it seemed to increase. That was a failure. Hopefully the rest of the plan would work out - even with the sense of doom still hovering over you like a storm cloud.

Finally letting the spoon clatter to the plate, your hand went up to trace your scar, thumb running over the still raised skin. It shot back down as you saw Fenrys tracking the movement. Most days, you hardly noticed it, but the habit reemerged once in a while. 

You glanced at the clock. Another part of the plan. Maybe you should’ve come up with a more interesting name for it. You brought it up to Fenrys. 

He let out an edged chuckle, “operation don’t cause another international incident?”

“Technically,” you tapped one finger against the table. “They started the incident.”

The statement did feel a tad childish, but in a good way, a way that lightened some of the invisible pressure pushing your shoulders down. 

“So you admit there already is one,” some of the tension had actually left his shoulder and a small sense of accomplishment filled you, but you just shrugged. 

“Operation mitigating international incident.” 

“OMII isn’t a worthy enough acronym.” 

Fenrys’s eyes lit up at the last word. Acronym. 

After taking the time to come up with your name, the two of you were nearly late - having to cut through a secret passage to make it on time. 

O.S.H.I.T. 

Successfully hinder international tactless-assholes. Hyphenated because according to the two of you, “O.S.H.I.T.A” doesn’t have the same ring. You’d also agreed to only inform their Majesties of the moniker if the plan was successful. 

“Why do I feel like you two were up to no good?” Aelin leaned over, no more than a queen consulting one of her advisors, whispering to you. 

“We would never intend to cause trouble, your majesty.” 

A very un-royal like curse came from her lips, thankfully just loud enough for you to hear, and you fought back a smile. Fenrys winked at you from across the room. 

-

Sun warmed your skin, the temperature absolutely perfect for an early summer mid-morning. They’d requested you stay in the castle until all parties had departed. But, there was no reason you couldn’t wander around some of the gardens. Fresh air was good for you, and you felt like you’d spent far too much time in a stuffy castle recently. You ached to get back to your home, considering everything went fine, hopefully that would be sooner rather than later. Not that you need permission, you reminded yourself. 

You had to fight to keep a big grin off your face. All of the worrying, all of the stress and pressure felt worth it now that you were on the other side. 

Yes, their eyes had flashed with anger when you ‘responded to the inquiries,’ publicly and slid them a handful of notes, drawing curious eyes from their companions. It had been a relatively simple plan, but you’d spent hours rehearsing answers to every feasible and not-so-feasible reaction, making it feel much more complex than it should’ve. But they’d departed that same night, and with them left a weight off your chest. 

At least, that’s what you thought before the cool flat side of a blade pressed against your neck, angled so the slightest wrong movement would have you bleeding out on the floor - dead within a minute, something clamped around your wrist - iron, and your magic winked, reduced down to a mere puddle. Some, but not nearly enough to get you out of this. 

“Don’t move,” a voice snarled in your ear, breath warming your neck. You didn’t dare swallow, didn’t dare attempt to form any words. It wasn’t them. Not the two Akkadian’s who’d been haunting you for the last week. Who had they sent? How many others were involved?

Despite your efforts to clear your mind and focus on the current … situation, names kept whirling in your head, making it near impossible. 

Ceri. Rowan. Aelin. Fenrys. Edde, Edie, and Elias. Reya. Ani. Ines. 

‘Safe,’ a familiar and wise female voice murmured in your ear, ‘they are all safe.’  Your chest loosened a fraction. Your mind reeled through every defensive maneuver you knew, and none of them would guarantee to get you out of this alive.

You froze as his hand slid around your front, you couldn’t glance down to see, did you want to see? But … just the briefest pressure of something sliding into your pocket, a crinkle of paper. Why would they slip you a note? The thought fled from your mind with his next words. “Listen carefully,” he hissed, “to what happens next - your life depends on it.” 

Why now, you thought, why when I have so much to live for?

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #69 – Please Undo This Hurt by Seth Dickinson

As a general rule, I feel like including a short story (not even 40 generously spaced pages on the ebook) in the list of what I’ve read this year is kind of cheating. But I got this as a gift and found it affecting enough that I feel like writing out my feelings, and in any case I’ve been reading 10,000+ words of web serial a week all year so I’ve got a bit of ethical room to manner here, I think.

This reads like an old school Idea Story, which I mean in the best possible way – a more grounded than usual Twilight Zone episode, a light dusting of interpersonal drama, uncanniness and sci fi/horror vibes over what’s exploring and wrestling with a single thought – or really, a single temptation.

Does it ever like life is a trap, morally speaking? Like every act you take cannot help but hurt someone, like complicity in more distant atrocities than you can count is a precondition of existence, like even when you try to be helpful or do the right thing it just ends up being a different kind of selfishness? Like, if you were the star of It’s a Wonderful Life, everyone’s life really would have been that much brighter if you had never been in it? Like in the final analysis, when all you have ever done or will ever do is tallied up and your heart is weight against the Feather of Ma’at, it will fall so far that it breaks the scales?

Well, what if there was a way out? Not suicide, but something cleaner – to be undone, to never have been, to never have hurt or been hurt in the first place. Wouldn’t you be tempted? How, in a world where there are maggots gnawing on every root, and every thing you care about is just one more hook to draw you deeper into the mire, could you convince yourself not to take it?

I intensely dislike psychoanalyzing authors based on their work. So I will instead say that this story is a truly masterful and incredibly successful exercise in writing from the perspective of someone grappling with intense depression – a perspective that simply takes for granted that the main objection to suicide is that it is a selfish escape at the expense of the distress inflicted on those around you. Even the finial resolution is less any realization of life’s inherent worth or goodness than an acceptance of the necessity of sacrifice in endless and varying degrees. It drips from every sentence, and cuts enough to hurt.

Dickinson is easily one of my favourite working writers, and finding another piece of theirs I haven’t come across before is always a delight. Their short stories especially are quite often emotionally raw and beautifully written enough to effect me like very little prose does. It’s no surprise that both their non-sequel novels basically take one of the short stories as the emotional core and climax of them (something I’d say Baru Cormorant did more successfully than Exordia, which felt like it flinched, but that’s a tangent). I don’t particularly think this would benefit from being expanded on, but the rawness feels similar.

This is by far the least worldbuilding-heavy story of theirs I think I've read, but there’s enough dreams and uncanny events and just colourful imagery for the prose to still absolutely sing. It’s a short enough story that actually quoting any excerpts feels like it defeats the point, but there are some lines and images I already know will be rattling around my head for some time to come.

[genericpuff]

I don't know the term for creators who became popular outside the traditional steps to "make it" in their profession; then when people started taking their work seriously and giving them criticism, these creators saw it as an attack because they are not used to mentors and studies.

Smythe's professional training is vague at best, being a folklorist. Then there's the creator of the popular hell cartoon that became her own executive producer and director in her 20s (I'm not going to say her name since it tends to attract her rabid fans) and becomes reactive to any kind of criticism on Twitter. Then there's that TikToker Devon Rodriguez, who became popular for sketching people on subways, and when an art critic gave a mild review to his art gallery, Devon unleashed his fans on him.

Like am I seeing a pattern here for artists? And I guess, what do you think we can learn from it.

Ah, so this is a very interesting (and broad) topic that we've touched on in discussions in ULO and other webtoon-related communities. So buckle up, it's time for an ✨essay✨

I think the best way I can sum up my thoughts on this issue is: the vast majority of people who become paid content creators don't seek out a job as content creators, a job in content creation is just something that happens to them.

I say "content creation" because this is something that applies to a lot of other platforms and online mediums as well, such as the examples you included (TikTok, Youtube, Twitch, etc.). And don't get me wrong, it's not like every successful content creator out there didn't work their asses off to get to where they are, but for many... it still involves an element of luck. People don't go to school for it, people don't "apply" to become influencers, and much of it relies entirely on just making stuff until it gets seen and propelled into success.

I think a lot of these issues arise with the creators themselves and how they view their own work. The reality is that many of us artists have been treated as the "rejects" of society, we constantly feel like we're misunderstood and have some deep inner pain that we express through our art, and instead of going to therapy, we come up with OC's. It's a lot more fun and it's a lot cheaper LOL Webcomics naturally wind up being the perfect lightning rod for people who feel that way, where we can pour ourselves into the characters, the world, the narrative, in a way that perfectly mixes our talents for art and our need to express our innermost thoughts and feelings about ourselves and the world around us. So when our art gets criticized or rejected ... it can be hard for a lot of artists to not feel like it's a criticism of the self, a rejection of our identities, an attack on our feelings and experiences, because we've tied so much of ourselves to our work. And this can make that transition very difficult for people who are trying to go pro, because being professional demands separating yourself from your work, at least enough that you can view it objectively, recognize its flaws, seek out pathways to improvement, and not take every bump in the road personally.

A lot of successful creators are people who just never made that transition. It's led to an abundance of professional creators who know how to film themselves or react to content or, in the case of webcomic artists, write stories about their OC's, but don't know how to actually navigate the industry at a professional level. They don't know how to read and negotiate contracts, they don't know what deals are actually good for them and which ones are better left on the table, they don't know how to manage teams of people, they don't know how to react to the attention, praise, and criticism of their audience - they're just doing what they've always done, but now they're making money doing it.

None of this is to speak ill in any way of the creators who've found success and are still just doing what they've always done for money. None of this is meant to be a slight on the creators who are using webcomics and art as an expression of their deeper selves (I do it myself, it's very cathartic!) because ultimately that's what makes your work your work, the fact that you made it, with all your good parts and bad. Many of these creators are capable of running their platform without any issues because they've learned how to play the game, or because their platform is made up of people just like them so their audience is more like just a social circle.

But many of them still also can't operate on a professional level and those are the ones we often see getting called out and held accountable when they do shit like, I dunno, scamming their audiences for money or making alt accounts to manipulate user reviews or plagiarizing from other people's work or just being really REALLY shitty to their own audience.

Often times these are people who are just doing what they'd normally do as a hobby, became well known for it, and managed to turn it into a living. But they never actually learned how to turn their hobby into a job, and themselves into professionals.

And artists especially are prone to this because, let's face it, a lot of us are just weebs having fun drawing our blorbos, so of course if we get a chance to monetize that, we're gonna! We should! We should want to be paid for our work and time and efforts!

But we also have to remember that it's a different ballgame, especially if you're turning your audience into customers. "I'm just a baby creator doing this for fun" doesn't and shouldn't apply anymore once you start signing contracts, selling your art as products, taking people's money to fund your projects, etc. because now it's not just your art, it's what you're expecting people to pay for so you can eat and pay your bills and live.

As much as our art is often personal and should be cherished as such, you can't expect people to want to pay for it if you're not setting a bar and meeting it, or if you're not treating your audience with any amount of dignity or respect.

I'm not saying you're not entitled to having feelings or still wanting to treat your art as art, but the line between art and products is there for a reason, it's to set people's expectations and ensure that both sides are having those expectations met. Webtoon creators suffer from the same thing that a lot of Youtube creators and other types of content creators suffer from in this transition, and I feel like HBomberGuy summed it up best:

"In current discourse, Youtubers simultaneously present as the forefront of a new medium, creative voices that need to be taken seriously as part of the 'next generation of media' - and also uwu smol beans little babies who shouldn't be taken seriously when they rip someone off and make tens of thousands of dollars doing it."

It's not gatekeeping a medium, it's not telling people they aren't allowed to have feelings or to want to still have that personal connection to their work in spite of the professional level it's achieved, it's simply just expecting people to actually live up to the label of 'professional' that they're using to make money.

And this especially goes for someone like Rachel, who claims to be a 'folklorist' despite all the contrary evidence that says otherwise. This is the same person who copy pasted the first result on Google as her source on a simple word definition:

There's a second part to that HBomberGuy quote that also actually applies to Rachel really well in this discussion, concerning how she labels herself a "folklorist" and how that's affected and influenced the greater discussion surrounding Greek myth:

"But on the opposite end, Youtubers who act like serious documentarians gain a shroud of professionalism which then masks the deeply unprofessional things they do. We just saw that with James. I think [James] partially got away with what he's doing for so long because he acts so professional about it, so people assume, 'there's no way he could just be stealing shit!' so they don't check. And on top of that, a lot of James' videos contain obvious mistakes and made-up facts... but because they're often presented next to well-researched stuff he stole, no one questions it. I've seen James repeat a lie in his videos, and then other people claim it's true, and link his video as the proof. He has helped to solidify misinformation by seeming like he's doing his diligence."

There's always going to be discourse over what's legitimate and what isn't when it comes to Greek myth, there are loads of things we still don't know simply due to the knowledge being lost to time. But there's something to be said about a white New Zealand woman using her self-insert romance comic and platform to build a veneer of professionalism and legitimacy around herself, as if she's the authority on the subject, while simultaneously relying on first result Google searches and citing works that have no real foothold in the way of scholarly or "folklorist" discussion.

All that's to say, you're right, her professional training is vague at best. She's never completed a longform comic prior to LO, she's not doing her due diligence in actually engaging with the media she's trying to "retell" and exposing herself to the voices of those from the culture that's tied to it, and she's not holding herself to any sort of standards when it comes not only to being a professional, but a professional who's been held on a pedestal for all these years. She's still operating the same way she was 5 years ago - drawing and writing whatever pops into her head and sending it to her editor for uploading, with next to no intervention or guidance. Except now it doesn't have the benefit of being new and having "potential", it's getting noticed and called out more now than ever because it's been 5 years of this shit and it's been getting worse on account of her clearly being burnt out (or just giving up/not caring) and the readers can't be sold on "potential" anymore.

And that's all I have to say on that.

[mollywog]

When the Stars Align

Start from the Beginning | Part 5

“Peeta.”

He jolts from his seat on the chaise. She’s so quiet he hadn’t heard her approach, “Katniss.”

It’s evening now, well past dinner. She must have dined at the Abernathy’s. He’s had hours to review their initial encounter, too much time to dread and anticipate a reprise.

“I didn’t know you’d be here. I requested some milk from the kitchen.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hall, “I can ask Sae to send it to my room…”

“No, please stay.”

She eyes the door wistfully, before nodding and slipping into a seat across from him, “please let me apologize for earlier. I was surprised by your arrival. I’m sure it’s not the welcome you expected.”

“I do not expect anything, though I must admit I was surprised to find you here as well.”

She flinches, sinking into her seat, a worry line creasing her forehead, “I can leave if you wish to have your home to yourself.”

“That is not what I meant. This is your home as well and you are welcome to come and go as you please. It is only that you have not been to town these last two seasons.” As soon as the words leave his lips he wants to kick himself.

Katniss frowns, “you’ve been keeping track of me?”

“Sae’s letters were full of you.” He waves his hand flippantly. If she only knew how those fleeting mentions of her had fed his soul these past years, “Haymitch’s as well, as were the solicitor’s and tenants’. Everyone was eager to tell me how well the estate was managed in your care. I trust my thanks we’re conveyed?”

“Funny you never thought to write me yourself,” she scowls.

It’s not an unreasonable critique, but his temper flares all the same, “And I suppose all your letters to me were lost in transit?”

The arrival of a steaming pitcher of milk breaks the tension and Katniss readies two mugs. He’s missed watching her perform little tasks. Whether pouring tea, listening intently, or singing, she’s mesmerizing. He watches her hands elegantly move from milk, to honey, to spice, to spoon until she’s satisfied with her concoction.

She’s careful not to touch him as she passes the cup, but his skin still buzzes just the same at her proximity. He closes his eyes as the milk hits his tongue. It tastes like coming home.

“I am sorry,” she says barely above a whisper, breaking his trance. “I should have written. But by the time I’d felt ready, I’d convinced myself you would not want to hear from me.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. “I am sorry as well. I-”

“I’ve missed you,” she’s not looking at him as she speaks and he watches her profile as she swallows back feeling.

A mixture of joy and shame surge through him, that he was cared for enough to be missed and that his absence caused her pain. “And I, you,” he says. If this had been two years ago, he might have taken her hand in friendship and reassurance, but now she’s seated herself far enough away to be just out of reach. He’ll need to move slowly to regain her trust.

“Will you tell me of your travels? Not tonight of course. You must be weary… but soon?”

“Only if you will tell me of all your rambling walks at Bakerston and your objections to the new vicar.”

She raises a brow.

“As I said, I’ve heard much of you through my correspondence.”

She smiles this time, small but genuine, before rising from her seat, “I accept, though it is an uneven trade as you can hardly avoid hearing my qualms with Mr. Heavensbee. But that will have to wait. You’ll excuse me if I retire?”

He nods and she moves to leave, but pausing before she disappears behind the door, “welcome home Peeta.”

[thebootycrusade]

Oh man am i going to catch some heat for this but someone needs to say it at least once, and my hot take after reading wottg, even after reading a few other review post from notable blogs here, is that the pjo fandom here whos 20s+ needs to realize that they arent the target age demographic/audience anymore. Ive been reading the books since tlt hit the shelves, and even with that much investment i recognize that these are, at their very core, books still written for older kids and early-mid teenagers.

We've had books where characters die, get tortured, and explore other heavy topics on page, but face it, we as 20somethings will never going to get a cannon rrverse book that fully addresses the trauma or ptsd these characters have throughout the series because those topics we want explored as adult readers are way too dry and a little advanced for that age group to stay engaged, and actually chronicling the healing from them wouldnt be so easily explored in a single series. The trio recognizes that they have been through a lot even in demigod standards, but having the ability to talk and articulate through that trauma isnt easy when youre still in it. Being an adult with hindsight, i can recognize that parts of my early life were traumatic, but in the moment, was i able to recognize it as trauma or ptsd? no, i just knew it sucked. while i was in it or slightly removed from it was i ever really thinking about it in any deeper form past "well that fuckin sucked"? no. (does it sound like a familiar demigod anyone?). was i able to recover from it neatly and concisely in a couple months or years? no. and the most important part: could i do so in a way that would sound entertaining or even the least bit appealing to a 12yo when put into writing? Fuck no.

Even switching it up to ricks actual storyline, are there really mischaracterizations? or do we just think people stay the same from 12-16 or 16-18 especially after taking into account everything in the books? or are we just rewriting cannon to "fix" the timeline because now its not following the fanfic fanon timelines and characterizations again. Percy is objectively an awful and unreliable narrator throughout the books, but because we are only ever shown his view of a situation we as readers have to discern if he is reading a situation wrong or if we are. We already know all three of the trio are impulsive, capable of bad ideas, and still (surprise surprise) figuring out how growing as people works because its already rare for greek demigods to live into adulthood, so of course things will happen or are witnessed by percy that can be observed as being completely out of character. Lets be real, the trios entire past 6 years have been "plans with just enough 'winging it' for the world (and conveniently you) to survive" and now that they are finally given some breathing room together, would they really be cognizant of or care if something was "in-character" and consistent with all their past choices? did you make all the same choices at 18 that you would have at 12? 16? hell even 17?

[writingwell]

20 13 fanfic questions

Thanks to @randomfoggytiger for the tag. I didn’t do all of them, just the pertinent ones, and I modified those just to include ffnet as well. 

1. How many works do you have? 26 on AO3 (for my mature rated Spy Castle stuff); fanfiction.net has 278 Castle fics;and about 300ish archived at Gossamer for X-Files.

4. What are your top fics by kudos/reviews? The Return of Vulcan Simmons, Tempest (not a spy work!) on AO3; ffnet would be One Hundred Days of Summer (co-authored with SandianeCarter) and Dash It All.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yeah, I think if you take the time to contact me, you deserve the respect of hearing from me. It might not be a full-blown conversation, but I’ll do what I can with a full-time profession and a writing one as well. Also, suuuuper sorry, just discovered AO3 has an inbox. 300 days ago, some of you messaged me and I am just now seeing those. Lol. 

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I have a spy fic where the two of them are just so at odds, so grieving with and over each other… okay that’s most of them. But I try not to end on angst, as it’s supposed to be the journey not the destination. (Angst is a twisting of the heart, not a place where you stay. According to me.)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Dash series has the ‘happiest’ endings. Not because life is happy, but because they figured out how to create contentment within what they’d been given/dealt in life. And in ways other versions of the Castle characters hadn’t accomplished. They did the work.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Oh definitely. A while back, I turned off comments on tumblr for about a year as I processed and healed from some targeted attacks, and I can say that I came out more certain of myself and my writing. But I was also an adult who had not been forced to weather these attacks as a vulnerable 13 y-o on social media (as so many of you are unfortunately dealing with). I was able to detach, center myself once more, and rise above because I’d grown up IRL, so to speak. I have a faith in something bigger than me which, while it doesn’t look like what it did, has sustained me and given me the confidence to know my worth even as it spurs me to be/do better. 

9. Do you write smut. If so what kind? Oh definitely, lol. It’s on AO3. Usually I like to explore M/F with a third in there for kicks, as the concept of generosity and giving within the sexual relationship/experience is intriguing to me.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I objected to the term ‘stolen.’ I’ve had my fics, without my knowledge, posted elsewhere, translated without my knowledge, and changed to other fandom characters to be posted elsewhere. However! I’ve had loads of people ask me too, and I really appreciate being able to go visit them. (Stolen would indicate I somehow own these fanfictions, and I do not, as that would be a legally difficult hill to stand on. I also do not perceive collective fan art in this manner, because the world is all of ours.)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Oh there’s a co-written story that me, carto, and muppet47 started and have NEVER finished. We all know Castle has to go to jail, but we can’t write it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Writing it the first time. Correctly. As in, it comes out the way it should or ought to or how I am seeing it in the moment. I have the right rhythm, I can spell and I have the grammar skills. My first draft is fast and good enough for submission. Of course, I go back and edit, and I have to, but I’m very blessed in not ever going through anything like writer’s block.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Secondary characters. I have a tendency for tunnel vision, where all I want to do is talk about and to and for the main characters. If they have friends or family, I barely include them. I can’t manage to care that they exist. But all of us live in a complex web of relationships and community; no one is alone. My last novel, Taste of Salt, was an concentrated effort to include as many other perspectives as possible, so it was told through the POVs of the two main characters and interspersed with flashback chapters from the POVs of their friends, family, coworkers, chance encounters, medical personnel, kids, support networks… there you go.You have to do the thing that’s hard. Write it out, over and over, keep practicing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Yeah, sometimes it becomes necessary for the character. But please keep it to a minimum (imo) as it detracts from the reader’s understanding and experience of reading. It ought to be rather easy to understand what the person is saying due to context or just the flow of the scene. If you’re writing in English, and you have a character visiting France, then obviously some of that ought to be in French, but after a while, you can indicate that the language is being used while writing it in English. I say this because most of you are fandom writers who are not writing for literary audiences; therefore, don’t ruin everyone’s fun my making it incomprehensible or inaccessible. Please.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Don’t ask me to choose between my children! I can tell you that Dash holds a special place in my heart due to the amount of readers who said it gave them understanding of their own sensory issues or their child’s autism, etc. Spy gave me one of my greatest friends, carto, who continues to love and support me and my writing. 

I won't tag anyone, because I deleted so many of these questions, but feel free to answer or share or talk with me about them!

[i-mybrunettelady]

im enjoying playing guardian again after not playing it for a long time— also having brainrot about nyra at the same time (i’ve been reading through her tag a bit 👀). so i have questions im curious about

maybe i need to read about her more, if you’ve already talked about this, but how did nyra’s guardian powers manifest? did she always have them since she was young?

& how did they develop over time? did her powers adapt with her as she traveled (like how you got a new elite specialization in each expansion)? is there anything unique with her guardian powers that other guardians don’t have?

omg hiiiiiii

i am so !! that you like my girl!! thank you!!! i'm so glad we are all unwell about her, actually, and i get very emo whenever people tell me they like her ;;; she's my dottir! and i'm so happy you're enjoying guardian!! if you ever have any questions for it (sans wb which i don't really play) my dms and inbox are open <3

a lot of my guardian nyra hcs and lore are like. old content almost and live in my head and i don't talk about them as much here, which i probably should since they're due for a review/revision. a few core things remain:

she was a magical late bloomer; humans generally are, seeing as they're not originally from tyria, but she was a late bloomer even for human standards. she got her magic at 15. i wrote some of it here for my commander week prompt!

she is a firebrand/dragonhunter mix in canon. her starter abilities resemble dragonhunter moreso than base guardian. she doesn't use firebrand tomes but she uses the mantras, and she doesn't have blue guardian fire. she doesn't use dragonhunter bow (even if i use it mechanically for her build.)

she can use light to transform it into physical objects.

her weapon pipeline goes like this: hammer (PS to HoT) -> staff (HoT - EoD) -> polearms/spear (SotO, JW and onward) + a crystalline weapon called Lightbringer that she can shape to be whatever she wants it to be, a gift from Aurene.

her powers progression is less tied to elites and more tied to her magical usage i'd say. in PS she's only had her magic for about four years, enough to know basics of how to operate it, but not enough to be the caster she will become in the future. we're talking spirit weapons as aids to her melee, hammer attacks. when mordremoth gave her her shoulder scar, she had to switch to staff because wielding a hammer with a badly healed shoulder is unattainable, and her magical abilities developed further.

during her time in elona, she spent some of it in the company of roni gehianu, who she got the knowledge of mantras from that help her to this day! i give little nods to this in my writing sometimes when i describe her making a motion and being suddenly calmer than she'd been before, for example, so she gave them day-to-day usage as well. by season 4 she developed her own blend of guardian that she technically is to this day :)

in cantha she never really took to willbender. she took notes on willbenders' mobility, which help with her spear fighting, but never quite leaned into that part of her training fully. this might change if i give wb another shot and i see if i like it, but for now, she isn't a willbender.

i will also add that if she wasn't a guardian at all, she'd be a warrior, and a spellbreaker at that, because her magical proficiency could've also been inverted and become an ability to repel magic. for an awesome exploration of this idea that i don't think i'll do well bc i'm too attached to guardian!nyra, look no further than Wayfarer, an amazing high fantasy interactive fiction novel that is legit one of my fav pieces of media of all time. Anyways.

thank you for dropping by and for dropping this question! i'm always down to talk abt my girl and abt guardian and like. get my brainrot constantly enabled further <3

[sunscreenstudies]

How to Get Your Life Together

1. Set Clear Goals

First things first, you need to know where you’re headed. Take some time to write down your short-term and long-term goals. These could be anything from acing your exams, saving money, to learning a new skill. Having clear objectives gives you direction and motivation.

Tip: Use the SMART criteria to set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

2. Create a Daily Routine

A structured routine can make a world of difference. Start by mapping out your day, including study time, work hours, meals, exercise, and relaxation. Consistency is key to building healthy habits.

Morning Routine Example:

Wake up at 7 AM

15 minutes of meditation/journaling/movement

Shower, wear an outfit that makes you happy, put on sunscreen

Have a healthy breakfast (stock up on that protein!)

Create your to-do list for the day

3. Prioritize Your Tasks

Not all tasks are created equal. Learn to prioritize by using tools like the Eisenhower Matrix, which helps you categorize tasks based on their urgency and importance. Focus on what truly matters and tackle those tasks first.

Eisenhower Matrix:

Urgent and Important: Do these tasks immediately.

Important but Not Urgent: Schedule these tasks.

Urgent but Not Important: Delegate these tasks if possible.

Not Urgent and Not Important: Consider eliminating these tasks.

4. Declutter Your Space

A cluttered space can lead to a cluttered mind. Take some time to clean and organize your physical environment. This can be your desk, room, or even digital spaces like your email inbox.

Decluttering Tips:

Tackle one area at a time.

Use the Marie Kondo method: Keep only what sparks joy.

Create designated spaces for your items.

Whenever you lose something: after you've found it, put it back in the first place you searched for it (10/10 life hack right here!)

5. Develop Healthy Habits

Your daily habits shape your future. Focus on building habits that contribute to your well-being and productivity. This includes eating well, getting regular exercise, and ensuring you get enough sleep.

Healthy Habits to Consider:

Drink plenty of water throughout the day.

Incorporate a 30-minute workout into your routine.

Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

Setting a time limit lock on your phone for apps that don't serve you (looking at you Instagram, and that goes double for TikTok)

6. Learn to Say No

Overcommitting is a common pitfall. Practice saying no to tasks or commitments that don’t align with your goals or that you simply don’t have time for. It’s okay to prioritize yourself and your needs.

Saying No:

Be polite but firm.

Offer an alternative if possible.

Remember, you gotta fill your own cup before you can pour into anyone else's!

7. Reflect and Adjust

Lastly, regularly reflect on your progress. What’s working? What isn’t? Adjust your strategies accordingly. Life is dynamic, and so should be your approach to managing it.

Reflection Tips:

Keep a journal to track your progress and thoughts.

Set aside time weekly to review your goals and routines.

Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small.

Remember: Getting your life together is a continuous journey, not a destination!

[snarktheater]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[claireelizabethsblog]

~ August's Books Reviewed ~

The month started out strong with me riding a Sanderson high, then I did a thing that I objectively hate and know will 9 times out of 10 have me reading less, which is started several books at once.... as of the end of August I was reading three books at once, yet none of them were finished so none of them get included in August's round up... look forward to that in September I guess!

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

(763 pages)

The stress I felt reading this was unreal... which is simply evidence of how good it is. It genuinely was pulling actual visceral reactions from me and I physically could not put it down at points. I know this is a shorter review than usual, but I can think of nothing else to say.

I gave this book 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

(748 pages)

An amazing conclusion to a really really good trilogy. The twists and turns of this were so well executed and completely shocking in exactly the right way. The ending in particular I never could have seen coming. If this were a spoiler review I'd be able to go on more, but for now, I leave with simply the promise that if you love fantasy novels, Sanderson novels, epic twists and/or social/religious/political commentary then you should definitely give this series a try!

I gave this book 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(585 pages)

I was gifted this book and admit to being a little wary before committing to reading it, as a general rule books that blow up exclusively on social media tend to be a let down to me after the copious amounts of hype they've received. I'm pleased to say that was not the case with this book. If anything, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It was extremely uniquely written; it was emotional, clever and beautiful. The characters were all so complex and felt genuinely so real. I would say that was the highlight of this book, the characterisation. Every character you could relate to a real person. You sympathised with their decisions, or at least understood them. Like real life, there was no villains and heroes. Bad people and good people and somewhere in the middle people, sure. But also like real life, the last group was the most prevalent, and the first two groups different to each individual's opinions. I would actually really recommend this book to almost everyone I know who reads, I'm pretty sure everyone could find something in it that keeps their focus, be it the mystery, the love story, the characters....

I gave this book 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The twist of a knife by Anthony Horowitz

(373 pages)

I am like 90% sure that this was not the first book in a series, however it stood well as a stand alone book too! Like the other Horowitz book I read earlier this year, I found this novel a little slow to pick up at first, however I did get into it in the end. I found it clever and quirky and I loved the meta elements. Ultimately, it was exactly what it was advertised as - a light, humorous murder mystery - and actually, I'm not mad about taking a break for something silly every so often!

I gave this book 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio

(422 pages)

After the success of The Seven Husbands, I felt brave enough to try another recent social media favourite book. I'd seen mixed reviews over this one, however my flatmate strongly recommended it and as usual, our tastes in books aligned and it was extremely good. Despite the predictability of the plot, I was fully engaged the entire way through which speaks to how well the characters were depicted that I was willing to look past the predictability of it all just to read more about the people. In fact, I would like to make this a formal call for more people to start writing fanfictions for this novel because I want to read even more about these characters and am being denied that currently based off the limited options on ao3 (if anyone has any good recommendations please let me know!) I think, if I had read this in another month it would have received five stars, however it was let down by the fact that it was read within the same weeks as Sanderson and The Seven Husbands which meant I could not in good conscience give it full marks when the plot was just a little too easy to see coming for me. Therefore....

I gave this book 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[thatstormygeek]

Another passage from the Cass review that has garnered attention reads as follows: 16.20 For birth-registered females, the impact of testosterone will give a higher sex drive than they might have experienced during their biological puberty, and after one year will result in robust increases in muscle mass and strength (while birth-registered males will maintain their muscle strength) (Wiik et al., 2020). In the absence of any experience as an adult cis-woman, they may have no frame of reference to cause them to regret or detransition, but at the same time they may have had a different outcome without medical intervention and would not have needed to take life-long hormones. [Cass report, p. 195] This seems to suggest that trans male/masculine youth should not take testosterone because, if they do, they will never know what it would have been like to be a cis woman (presented here as the healthier outcome: “without medical intervention”). More crucially, if they do transition sans regret or detransition, well, we can never truly know for sure whether transitioning made their lives substantially better because they don’t have the proper “frame of reference” to assess that (read: because they didn’t turn out cis, we can’t trust anything that they say about themselves). Can you see how twisted this line of thinking is? As bioethicist Florence Ashley responded, “By that logic should we force cis people to take HRT just so they can have a frame of reference for what it’s like to be trans?” Ashley’s comment was obviously intended to illustrate a point, but let’s take their proposal seriously for a moment. What if we administered cross-sex hormones to all adolescents, just to make sure they aren’t trans. If they don’t like the effects, no worries, they can always choose to stop taking these hormones once they’re 18 (when they’re old enough to “know for sure”). After all, many “objective and science-minded” pundits have assured us that there is nothing wrong with forcing trans adolescents into unwanted puberties, so the same probably holds true for cis adolescents, shouldn’t it? And if these kids complain about the effects of this unwanted puberty—discomfort, cognitive dissonance, dysphoria—well, those are subjective feelings and we shouldn’t let them get in the way of science! I’d imagine that this thought experiment generated visceral reactions in many readers (it certainly did for me writing it). Can you imagine the horror of being forced into the wrong puberty? Well, I can. Firsthand. Same goes for most trans people. And if you can relate to how horrific it would be for a cis adolescent to be pushed into a puberty that was abhorrent to them, what’s preventing you from extending those feelings to the trans daughter from the earlier anecdote? Or to the trans boys who Cass seems to think need to experience a cis womanhood in order to acquire a proper “frame of reference”?

[offdensen]

i wrote a review for army of the doomstar on letterboxd for my third watch (after marathoning the entire show in one day) and i wanted to share it here, too.

spoiler free.

⛧⛧⛧

i think it's time for me to say something actually substantial about this film now that i've rewatched it after having gone through the entire series once again.

the thing is, it's impossible for me to judge this fairly or objectively. my attachment to this series, to the music, to the characters, to anything that brendon small touches means i can never be unbiased about the production of the film. i spent years lamenting the lack of a proper ending, thankful for 2017’s galaktikon II: become the storm providing an infringement-avoidant ending but still left wanting. having a proper conclusion after so long is a wonderful gift, one that’s made me cry every time i’ve gone through it.

what's so incredible about this film is that it’s as if no time has passed since the doomstar requiem. i can certainly feel that ten years have come and gone since this series was unceremoniously cancelled by the powers that be at [adult swim], and i definitely carry at least some of the teenaged bitterness from that still, but army of the doomstar picks up so well from where we left off that it's a testament to the passion and love the cast and crew have for this silly little show about death metal musicians.

you can tell that these characters live in brendon small so intensely after all this time. he picks them up effortlessly, not just in his performance, but also in his writing and direction. tommy blacha is as strong as ever, particularly as a haunted, tormented murderface. how extraordinarily lucky we are to have victor brandt, mark hamill, and malcolm mcdowell returning to give their characters one final hurrah.

visually, it's an absolute treat. army of the doomstar feels cinematic in a way that makes it stand out not just compared to its source material, but also to its [as] contemporaries. it still has that slight titmouse jank that i dearly love, enough that it doesn't feel divorced from its roots; it is the logical conclusion to the art evolution the show had been endeavoring through every season. not showing this on the big screen, even for a very limited run, is an injustice.

music has always been metalocalypse's high-point and it remains true here. brendon small never really departed from that heavy sound during the show’s temporary death, having expanding upon it in galaktikon II with a stronger emphasis on synth. this really shines in the film’s score, balancing its orchestral and guitar-forward metal elements delicately well. dethklok itself is as technically impressive as ever, returning with that more mature sound from the last season. dethalbum IV works delightfully well as a companion piece.

i don’t know how this film would fair to those that haven’t revisited the show since it was still airing new episodes, to those that never kept up with the overarching story, or to those who were particularly married to what we were given in galaktikon II. the grand spectacle of become the storm was traded for something that better resembled the thesis of the show, the thread seen throughout that tied ego and selfishness to loss and destruction, not just to others but also to oneself.

i also don’t think it could be evaluated fairly as a standalone film. truly, how much does it matter how well something stands on its own when it's sewn from a grander piece?

army of the doomstar is different, both in overall tone from the show and plot-wise from its proxy from 2017, and i think this is to its betterment. it is still funny like its origin, but it is also heartfelt, it is genuine, it is sorrowful, it is hopeful. it is a love-letter to the music it was birthed from and to the fans that kept it breathing. it is niche, but it is ours.

thank you, brendon, for not breaking up with us.

[windvexer]

I'm an aspiring author (completed last year's NaNoWriMo, regularly futz around on AO3), and while I usually get a fair bit of writing done, I still feel like I could pull off more on most given days, and feel unfulfilled and uneasy by the end of most writing sessions. Do you ever run into such problems, and have you ever employed magic as a means to help with this?

Thanks for this ask, it's given me a lot to think on.

Reviewing my own work since I started publishing, I think it's safe to say that I write a lot.

And I still feel just as you describe.

I do not think this is a productivity problem. I do not think this feeling is solved by writing more or writing better.

I believe that this problem must be solved by doing a heck of a lot of deprogramming about all that how to be an author stuff that puts ridiculous pressure on writers to fit into specific molds. And figuring out exactly what it is that is making you feel uneasy.

Just like witchcraft itself, there are so many writer 101 "rules" that do not work for everyone, I suspect that does not even work for most people, and that are just going to make you feel a lot worse about yourself if you let them have a presence in your life. One of these things that I think infects us is the pressure of productivity.

As far as magic - yes, I have used magic to help me, but nothing like a spell. I received a reading very early on in my nascent writing career that advised me that if I focus on the numbers, I'm never going to do well. I've just got to focus on telling a good story. This advice has helped me time and time again.

As for my own magic, I pray. I ask for guidance and paths forward. I ask to get out of my own head. It works for me.

If anything, I think perhaps the worst advice is to just write better or write more. I'm very far from perfect on this. I think for me, a part of it is my usual method of getting things done: I just turn on the "on" switch and work ten times harder than everyone else, and finish in a day what it takes most people two weeks to do. Then I burn out for two weeks, lol.

But it doesn't work like that with writing. You can't churn out a novel in a day. It's been a big learning curve for me because now I have to figure out consistent productivity without burning out.

And I think that's what gives me that feeling of unease: ok, I wrote 5k words today, but I worked for 4 hours and that's only 7% of a novel and I've barely made any progress, oh my god it's going to take me two more hours to get to the first plot point and I'm going to need a break, it's going to take me THREE DAYS to write 10% of a novel, oh my god I'm a failure, why can't I just get this done?!

Which objectively is ridiculous, isn't it.

It's like spirit work. It's the scary ghost in the corner.

In terms of commercial writing - needing to produce content and sell things in order to make money - it behooves a person to understand their own productivity. How much you can produce versus how much you are producing. It's the numbers of self employment.

But I think the numbers are the scary ghost in the corner. You know they're there. You can see them, you know they're a part of your life.

But you're not supposed to stare at it and let yourself drown in how stressful it all is. You're supposed to ignore it and get on with things.

That feeling of I could pull off more on most given days is a ghost. I Could Pull Off More haunts you. The primary symptoms are feeling unfulfilled and uneasy.

If you can't banish a spirit, the inevitable next step is learning to live with it. Learn to see it and identify it when it appears - this will help you untangle its insidious whispers from reality. Repeat charms to rebuff it - "I've done enough today and I choose to be happy with my work" is a powerful one. Assign it to other tasks to distract it - in an area you typically struggle with, perhaps (mine is doing laundry).

But more than anything, stop staring it in the eye. Stop welcoming its presence as important, or validating it as a taskmaster that drives you forward.

The love of your craft is supposed to be the blossom that attracts your buzzing bee nature. You're supposed to be running towards what's beautiful and fulfilling, not running away from a scary ghost.

If you would like a witch quest, you can employ your understanding of magic to great benefit in parsing the mundane: try identifying 2-3 activities which refill you with the joy of finding and writing your stories. Develop rituals around these activities and learn to employ them to your benefit.

For me, it is reading. The ritual is picking up a book and reading. I read and ghosts are banished, and I am refilled. Happy bee, not haunted.

Easy, easy.

[twilightguardian]

@kob131

The OP blocked me so I didn't see your reply. Which, fair enough, if they don't want to get notified of our discussion. It was their post, we honestly should have moved off it earlier.

I switched because you literally said your problem was his arrogance. What, would you like me to ignore that and keep focusing on the word spite? It was what I was originally talking about, with most people either claiming one or the other or usually both at the same time, and then you clarified your position on the matter. So I switched. It's not hypocritical, my dude. It's how conversations work.

You don't get to talk about me sidestepping your challenge. My response was to tell you to actually watch his damn content because that's where you'll find it if you want to see it so badly and you ignored it and then shot back a challenge at me without acknowledging it. That's not how things work, my dude. Learn about how burden of proof works, please.

If you couldn't possibly bother to look up anything on Raymond's channel that's your own damn fault, like it would be my own damn fault if I saw... idk, one video of Unresolved Textual Tension's videos and complained about Maria's flippant recapping of the book she's reviewing. If I didn't watch any time they review a book she likes and she still reviews the book the exact same way meaning she isn't flippant out of hate, me bitching about how salty she is would mean I have egg on my face. There's plenty of examples in his reactions where he praises the show's writing that tell me you didn't even bother.

You don't get to make stuff up about how you perceive someone to be when you don't bother to do anything except watch (maybe, or maybe you don't, I don't know you, nor have I looked you up. I am just responding to you as you are right now) his Fixing videos and then claim he's arrogant because he said on his twitter one time that he thinks he's better than M&K.

And really, who cares? Having a writing job on a show doesn't inherently make you a good writer. It means that their works are public and up for critique, which anyone is free to do. Writers on other shows are called bad all the time. Stephen Moffat was called a bad writer all the time who should have stayed an episodic writer. Raymond has said that he doesn't think they're BAD writers, either. Just that, like Moffat, their strengths are with shorter, more contained stories. You'd know that if you watched his content, because he's said it multiple times. Point is, Raymond backs up his words with action while most people don't. Most people just sit and complain and say 'bad writer' and then move on with their lives. Raymond is a writer and is doing FRWBY and his own content outside of Fixing RWBY.

Anyway, I do believe I didn't fully take a look at what you were saying and respond to it, you're right, so I'll correct that.

Prove it. And not by saying "this thing sucks". Actually explain in detail why certain things you take issue with are a problem and taking into account the changes Fixing RWBY has made into context. It should be easy for you to do, since you claim he didn't do a single thing better. Not a single aspect is done well. Nothing at all. So you should have plenty of material to choose one thing.

Keep in mind that I may actually agree with you on something. I don't think Fixing is perfect, but just because I don't think that something is the way that I would have done it means that it's bad necessarily. You have to look at more than one aspect before you determine the difference between it not being for you and it being actively bad. Stepping away from your personal preferences to look at something objectively, I can understand the decisions made.

Mupa and I talked about how it would have been easy to make Ren or Jaune Ozpin's host. Ren has the green theme, same as Ozpin. He can also pull off the wiser-than-he-seems aspect. Jaune is meant to be Joan of Arc. Hearing voices in his head is RIGHT THERE. Missed opportunity, if you ask me lol

Though I've said it before, I actually chewed Raymond out in vc once for replacing Oscar because I was looking forward to seeing his interpretation of Oscar. I also pointed out that the point of Fixing is to stick to canon as close as possible.

Thing about spiteful passion is that you quickly get burned out by it. It wears you down if you keep it up for long periods of time. Raymond has been working on Fixing RWBY for YEARS. Because he loves the show. He's said he loves the show multiple times on his channel. Doing a big project on something you love also wears you down, but you are rejuvenated in the end by the end product. Things made out of spite are only effective in the short term, not the long.

You're making a lot of assumptions here, bud.

That a fan, who has less power than the creators, cannot or should not have the ability to insult the writing. He doesn't insult the writers, at least as far as I remember. He doesn't say 'fuck Miles/Kerry the piece of shit' or anything like that, he says he's a bad writer. Oh. How terrible. He's made jokes before about burning idols of Miles in his backyard, sure, but that's not an insult. It's comedy. You don't have to find it funny, but it's not meant to be taken seriously, it's not a threat; the guy jokes around a lot.

That as a fan he should be held up to the same standards as the professional writers, who are held to a professional standard and judged accordingly. Keep in mind: a lot of fanfic authors out there do believe themselves better than the writers of the fandom they write for. Or unrelated professional authors. There's a reason 'I've read/written better fanfic than this' is a common insult.

He does less and risks less of himself than the original creators. What does this even mean? How do you know how much work Raymond does or does not do to make Fixing RWBY? Creating a base world like RWBY is easy. It can be done in mere hours. Or any story meant for younger audiences, not to talk about RWBY specifically. Sailor Moon is a very simplistic story whose premise and characters can be created in a few hours. Spice and Wolf is a premise that is very simplistic world building. And I've seen plenty of authors who have put blood, sweat and tears into writing fanfic, or rewriting something. Making sure the lore is correct, or references something, the characters are fundamentally the same, expanding on things, adding things that don't contradict, and if you are changing aspects of the canon lore, making sure it still is within the boundaries of what the canon is. My own fanfic is an example I've put a lot of thought and effort into with it being an AU pseudo-rewrite based on my gripes with my own main fandom, so I have to constantly cross-reference to make sure I get characterization right despite the alternate scenario and build up new character arcs from scratch despite a lot of the work already being done for me. To say that because he's building off something already established so he doesn't work hard is an insult to all fanfic writers.

This is just reiterating the point you've already tried to make. He's a fan who is not making money selling Fixing RWBY. Thinking that you should criticize a fan making a fan project is a dick move in any fandom that I know of. It's a nonsense question and just makes you look more like a bully. It's a power dynamics thing. Raymond has no real power over RWBY. He's "punching up" as they say. Anyone claiming that they should have the right to criticize a fan and say things about them because "they're doing it too" is being petty and acting like a child.

For the record: didn't Miles literally say he hates people who criticize just to be spiteful or to be mean? He called out people who do that because it's inappropriate. So why do you feel it's okay to do it when the person you're supposedly defending doesn't condone your behaviour?

Raymond loves criticism, actually. He looks forward to any time someone can give him honest critique of the show. He actively says at the end of his Fixing videos to leave comments and criticisms in the comments section. He addresses them. He's acknowledged mistakes that he's made, and strives to do better.

Not all criticism is written equal, though. Saying 'I think this thing is weak/poorly executed because of xyz reasons' is different from 'ew you did zyx how dare' or 'how dare you change [literally anything] you're a hack writer'.

One is a genuine critique talking in detail about the flaws and why they view it as a problem. The middle is saying they don't like a concept. Okay? Noted, I guess. The other is straight up being a troll or a petulant child.

Raymond takes into consideration the first, sometimes the second and laughs at the third. But he's also allowed to defend himself.

Skipped to here in your next post because I already addressed what you said above.

It's subjective. Also, you're being the second person in the example above. What else am I supposed to say here? 'Nuh uh.'

If you don't explain why, there's nothing to talk about. I do not agree it doesn't improve shit. I don't agree it bloats anything and I don't agree that the project is overworked.

Like I said, get up off your lazy ass and look at his reactions for yourself. They're right there. He talks about what he likes and what he doesn't like and everyone usually says he's consistently the nicer one of the group (to RWBY) apart from Dashie. It's not my job to make you drink, I will just point in the direction of water. If you haven't watched his reviews and caught when he compliments the show, that's on you. If you haven't seen when he says directly that he loves the show, that's on you.

But here, scroll through this guy's post. If the videos are still up then watch them. Now you can't say I didn't show you where. Because they're right there.

Eat your words.

Back to your current reply.

It literally doesn't matter, friendo.

Also you claim to know how much his book has been seen now? How many people bought his book? Since you know so much, please tell me, I'm curious. His video views on his announcement aren't indicative of that, I hope you know. The Artificer has been reviewed by at least one other youtuber, a booktuber, so it's out there. It might get picked up by more. Not everyone who casually reads books leaves reviews, either. I know I'm one of those people, because I have nothing substantial to say, or I just don't feel like it even if I do.

I ask why the hell do you care about his other works and whether they're popular. But if we're comparing here, you have a company of at least 300 people by the time of volume 2 compared to a single man. And you think a company with a budget of any kind, no matter how small it may be for marketing and merchandise is really comparable to one man? Like frig. Bigger youtubers than him don't even compare to Company money. Shadiversity for instance, for all his popularity, doesn't compare to Company money.

It's disingenuous of you to act like they are.

I'm not lying lol

Saying you're a better writer than X doesn't make you spiteful gtfo with that stupid argument lol

You're so caught up with that one little thing. Is that your main gripe with him? Would you actually think not a whole lot is wrong with Fixing RWBY if he didn't say that one singular thing you don't like? Are you basically trying to give him a taste of his own medicine? If not, then what the hell does it matter? He said something you don't like. Do you go around disliking and talking shit about everyone who has said something you don't like ever? Or do you move on because in the end it doesn't matter?

You think he's not proving himself better. Say how and why. Popularity doesn't matter, my dude. There's plenty of quality shit out there that's obscure. Look at all the things out there that bombed at the box office but became cult classics. Doing numbers is not indicative of quality.

You perceive him to be arrogant. Doesn't make him so. I think you just have a stick up your ass because he insulted someone you have attachment to and admire and you view him as a bad guy meanie head for it.

I don't think he owes Miles or Kerry anything. He doesn't need to be nice to them. It's ridiculous to think that just because his channel makes money off RWBY content that means he has to be grateful to the writers of the show and thus not say anything derogatory about them.

It's also none of your business, nor do I understand why you whiteknight (not meant to be an insult, it's just late and I can't think of synonyms) for them so much when you don't even know them personally as people. They're professionals. They're big boys with big boy pants who take criticism a lot better than you have. It's the professional world. They're not the only writers who have had mean things said about them, and they're not the last. They probably have learned to let the criticism roll off their backs and pick out what is harsh, but fair criticism and what is just people frothing at the mouth.

He's not fucking MysteriousMrEnter where he used to fly into such a rage calling them names and wishing death upon them he caused other people to harass the writers of Spongebob on twitter. He said the writing was bad. You can criticize someone's work without insulting them as people. You can criticize someone's work without thinking the writers are bad people. Raymond has shot ME down when I said they were bad writers and explained to me where he thinks their strengths are. I've said it many times. If you haven't seen him say it when he has multiple times, that's on you.

He HAS said things in a fit of rage and he regrets it. Terrible thing owning up to his mistakes and trying to be better. What an asshole.

Nah. It's because after I replied to you the first time I learned you're a known issue in the community and I had little faith in you that you would actually be honest. Plus, I'm busy; leads to inaccurate reading, for whatever that's worth. I'm making up for it with this by giving you the proper attention. If I was actually like Lilith Fairen I would have blocked you the moment you replied to me and then kept talking about you behind the block, laughing at how pathetic you were for being a rwby stan who thinks it's okay to harass small creators and blah blah despite that not being the reason you were talking to me.

It's happened before, where I thought I could have a decent conversation with someone only to learn they'd actively ignore anything Raymond said that was positive, the person wanted to believe whatever he wanted about the man and say shit about his content due to that false belief that he hated the show. I'm glad you are actually talking to me and engaging, but we'll see where it goes.