#i have like two long term projects and the retelling

[reddamselette]

thinking about a little speculation idea about valgrace based off would you fall in love with me again from epic (i cried listening to that)

like can you imagine leo dies right? except he still does come back but fate and destiny gets in the way because valgrace were never meant to be alive together in the same universe. bear with me here, walk with me, so he has to go thru so much pretty much to find his way back to camp half blood.

then he does

but it’s been years. he and jason are older, nothing but memories and holding onto hope. and they finally reunite. now run with me, they just talk. they talk for hours and even though leo’s tired, he’s afraid to sleep because this might just be a dream or he finally lost his mind and is hallucinating jason.

and he asks jason if he would fall in love with him again.

and jason cradles his face, looking at him with blue eyes leo has been missing for so long and it’s the confirmation leo needs that this is real, that jason is real. and jason asks him about something only the two of them know about (don’t ask me, it’s between them).

jason tells him that he will fall in love with leo again in the end.

[kaelidascope]

Dude, I love this fanfic so much! I just wanted to ask where you got the idea from. Did you have any inspiration from anyone? Also, what's your favorite fanfic? And want do you recommend ?

AWE bless!! Thank you so much I'm glad you're enjoying it <33

So actually a good 80% of this is written from personal experience LOL I used to dance and was into drift building/racing in my late teens/early twenties! Most of the references or scenes in Midnight Menagerie are references to things I've seen or done in real life, OR stories friends have told me within the same field. (Nora is literally just a rebranding of this one mutual friend we had who just. Absolutely fucking unhinged) Like for example, the anticipated Hangover Chapter is just a retelling of an insane Summer weekend I had in 2017 ☠️ it's a personal delight being able to translate things into the narrative, even more so knowing people find my stupid, terrible decisions as amusing as I do in current times lol

My general rule of thumb is to write from experience. Things I understand either on a technical point or emotional connection. So, if you've read it in my work, it's probably something I've done LOL

Another reason I find drive in writing this type of narrative is that MM!Blake's type of dissociative PTSD is something I haven't seen much in media in general. I've seen people depict her in various ways (some of them good!), but none of them ever really apply directly to me, so I wanted to make something that I could relate to and how to properly navigate life, given the environmental circumstances. Plus some us need better examples on how to juggle mental illness as adults and also be in healthy long term relationships because damn I have zero reference LOL

For the fic recs, oh boy I have so many LOL time to be a pathetic fangirl on main but okay here's the ones that immediately jump to mind (also heads up most of these are mature or explicit rating);

Certified Kaeli Fresh Fics

Let You See My Wilder Side (If I Can See Your Bones)

We all know this one but it is, hands down, my favorite piece of literature of all time. Masterfully crafted and a timeless classic worth several rereads (and I have. Embarrassingly so)

Written by @/lucytara on tumblr || @/explosive_sky on twitter

honestly all her works are immaculate and beyond compare. Also a major fan of I Have A Bullet With Your Mouth On It (That was first RWBY fanfic I ever read LMAO a friend recommended it to me before I even watched the show) I aspire to write like her some day. It's what got me writing fanfiction in the first place. So, credit goes to Erin for inspiring me to post my manuscripts at all. Words cannot express my gratitude and appreciation. I have two book series in the process of being published now and I wouldn't have had the nerve to do it had it not been for this specific fic.

2. One Day At A Time

Also one of the earlier fics I read before getting into the show LOL I love all of @/Frenchsoda 's work, the full list is also worth checking out. I'm a fan of disgruntled Blake who doesn't understand her attraction to Yang but it's so god damn sweet ugh

3. Fucking In Love

Written by @/Set_WingedWarrior and @/Softlight

This one circulates a lot in my social circles. Everyone I know LOVES this one and after reading it earlier this year, now I see why. As someone who worked in the sex industry for a brief period of time, this one's not only accurate but also A DELIGHT to read. The premise is fun, captivating, and worth the wait. I actually discovered a chapter update earlier this year and sent the gc into hysterics because we thought the fic was dead LMAO props to these authors!! They're doing an amazing job and deserve praise

4. You're A Mountain, Full Of Glory

written by champion author @/lescousinsdangereux

I should just preface already that every book Blake reads in MM is a fanfiction that exists because I love Easter eggs. Everyone knows I had Blake reference this in chapter 3 LOL but it's equally as immaculate as Erin's work. I LOVED especially the dynamic between Weiss, Yang, and Ruby in this one. Baby, we're complicated fucking murdered me 😭 also that fuckass Christmas scene, that's my favorite Christmas song LMAO

5. The Home Inside Your Head

Written by the ever skilled @/writeriguess . I found this fic by accident by seeing fanart for it floating around on this site. Got curious, picked at it, and. Oh, my god. It's not very often my brain gets scratched in the right way, but boy this one does it. This author does something specifically unique I haven't seen many do before, and I applaud them for it. There's great detail on the scenes that matter, and the fucking organic build up between Blake and Yang is just. God. Chef's kiss. Truly. It feels so god damn natural and healthy and it's already crossing off several of my agendas already. Give this one a read and give the author some love. SENSUAL FACE TOUCHING? CHAPTER 13????? BOOOOOOOYYYYYYY I'm normal about it

6. You'd Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You)

Written by @/WabaJaba_ on twitter

Okay so this one's completely different than what I've previously listed but HOLY FUCKING SHIT IS IT A THRILLER. It doesn't nearly have the amount of love and attention it truly deserves. A friend of mine recommended it to me because it shook them so fucking hard they were in total brainrot hell for a MONTH. NOW I UNDERSTAND WHY LMAO God I was obsessed with this for weeks myself. It obviously lives up to it's rating, horror fics aren't for everyone. But if you're able to read it, good lord you should. It's chilling, captivating, and had me on the edge of my fucking seat the entire time. Both endings are good, I still can't decide which one I prefer but RAH I will make sure this is seen god dammit

and last but certainly not least

7. You And Me and This Temptation

written by talented author @/ProfessorSpork

Okay this one was an accidental find as well. A friend sent it to me because THEY found it by accident, I clicked on it for later, went looking for a completely different fic that I mistook for this one, started skimming and realized 'wait a minute LMAO I don't recognize this'. But the thing you have to understand is I hate reading. I'm not a reader, I'm picky and it needs to be worth sitting down for long periods of time. This is one of the rare instances where I was so captivated by it I kept reading more and more from the middle where I landed, and eventually just said ykw let me just start from the beginning cus LMAO context.

This one is, by far, one the healthiest and loveliest depictions of first times I have ever seen. This shit was so inspiring to me that it literally kickstarted an essay in someone's DMs why depictions like this are so important. I didn't have this experience irl, and why MM is written the way it is is because its meant to serve as a lighthouse for those who, like me, haven't. This fic however I feel like should be a required read for anyone getting into relationships for the first time because if it's not like how these two interact, LEAVE IT. This is the standard. This is amazingly written, it's the closest I've ever seen canon Yang and Blake be written to date. The fucking souvenir bit 😭 NJKFGNFJKGNGJ killed me, I was kicking my feet laughing for a good minute. This is the kind of standard everyone should look at and go 'yeah, I want what they have' BECAUSE IT'S CORRECT. LOUD CORRECT BUZZER NOISES

Honestly everything in my bookmarks is certified Kaeli Fresh but these 7 are my top faves. They're probably also really commonly known I'm sure but LMAO like I said I don't read much 😭 which is heavily ironic considering I write myself. Anyway this ended up way longer than I intended but LOL <3 <3 go give these incredible authors love!!

[yusakiiiii]

The Fable of Skizz’s Raid

—

It’s on AO3 if you’d prefer to read it there.

—

There was once a Minecrafter known to one of his friends as Skizz Le Man, but many simply knew him as Skizz.

One day Skizz was happily working on a building project when a Pillager patrol snuck up on him. But being a Minecraft veteran, he was able to quickly deal with the patrol.

After defeating the final Pillager, the captain of them, he suddenly got a Bad feeling, like an Omen of ill tidings to come. In hopes that the feelings would fade with time, Skizz logged off for the night.

When Skizz returned to the server the next day, the feeling was gone, but a horn was sounding, and not a horn that imitated an inappropriate sound bite of one of his friends, a horn calling people to arms. And Skizz found himself suddenly surrounded by more pillagers, far more than was in the patrol, he had summoned a Raid. In a panic Skizz flew away to the top of his pyramid where he surveyed the situation.

As he overlooked the Pillagers ransacking his base, two of his friends and neighbours came and joined him on his pyramid. There he recounted to them his troubles and the fact he had left in such a hurry he didn’t even have weapons to fight off the Raiders.

In response to this, one of his friends, Grian, said, “If you just ignore the problem, it will go away.”

Skizz responds to Grian, repeating what he had said earlier in his retelling, “I tried to ignore the problem when I left yesterday but… that went poorly.”

Grian doubled down, “You’ve really got to ignore it for longer. With long terms issues you’ve really gotta commit. Just don’t come back for, I don’t know, a couple months.”

Skizz was very indignant at this suggestion and barked back at his friend, “Oh come on! That’s too mean.” Before whimpering, “What are we gonna do?”

Skizz’s other friend Gem then spoke up, “Well you’ve gotta kill them Skizz.”

Grian quickly interjects, “I told you what to do! Leave it! Ignore it! It’s only your problem if you claim it as your problem.”

Gem remarks looking at the Raiders and their proximity to other peoples builds, “Are they gonna kill Impulse’s villagers?”

Skizz, worried for his friend’s villagers responds, “Well we gotta go down there!”

And as he starts to fly from his pyramid, Grian grabs him by the arm and says, “You’re not understanding what I’m saying. I can’t help but think you aren’t hearing my words.”

Skizz complains with this particular bit of advice, “So I just can’t go over there? Can’t go in my home?”

Grian shakes his head vigorously, “It’s not that you can’t go over there. It’s that you don’t. In fact, why don’t we just turn this way?”

As he says this he grabs Gem and Skizz in each hand and turns them to look away from Skizz’s home and towards the homes of Tango and Pearl, their good friends across the way.

Gem and Skizz breathe a comforted sigh seeing their friend’s beautiful buildings, and then Grian breaks the silence with a, “Gone! See! The problem’s gone! I see no problem here!”

As Skizz wallows a little at this less than perfect suggestion, Gem tries to comfort him saying, “If we don’t want to go with Grian’s suggestion, instead, we can kill almost all of them except one and bury the last one in a hole.”

You see, it was a little known quirk of Illager culture that if an entire first wave of a Raid had been wiped out, others would come as an act of revenge. But if one survived, the Raiders would see this as an act of mercy and not send any more Raiders to attack. And this is the course of action Gem suggested.

Skizz, much happier with this suggestion commented, “Ooh, that’s good. That *is* good!”

And once more as Skizz headed to the edge of his pyramid to fly off, Grian planted his palm in front of Skizz’s chest to stop him saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second.”

Gem interjects before Grian can say any more, “He likes my idea better.”

Grian carries on, ignoring Gem, “Well what looks like is happening, is you’re falling into the trap, of doing something. See, I’ve fallen into that one before. Here’s the thing, you don’t need to do it.”

Gem counters, “But we could also just be proactive and handle the problem. Trust me, you can take them out. You can handle this.”

And trust her he did. Skizz and Gem flew off to fight the Raiders, and helping eachother they were able to, with some injuries, defeat all but one Pillager. But as they were trying to trap this remaining Raider in a hole, Grian, angry they had not heeded his advice, shot down the final raider. He then jeered at Skizz and Gem, “This is what happens when you sort out your problems!”

And not long after, another horn sounded, this time bringing a raiding force filled with the wish for revenge, a raiding force far more deadly than the last. But Gem is well known for her battle prowess, and was able to corner and capture one of the raiders early on, leaving the rest to be defeated by her and Skizz without need to hold back. But just as they defeated the final free Pillager, they turned back to the one they had trapped to see Grian pointing his bow at the helpless Illager. And he released the arrow, along with another wave of angry Pillagers.

Twice more this happened, the brave Minecrafters barely battling their way through the bullish Ravagers and the daggers of Vexes. Until there was only one Raider left. It was then that Grian called out, “Well this is a good spot to just leave the problem now. We can trap this last guy if you want.”

But seeing Grian’s vengeful spirit in him not listening to him earlier, Skizz ignored these words and landed the final kill on the pillager. No horns blared, no Pillagers came. They were finally free from the Raiders. At the end of the Raid there was simply, peace.

—

The above short story is an unreliable narration of part of GeminiTay’s Hermitcraft Season 10 Episode 13. It is loosely following the story of Pandora’s Box (Which was originally Pandora’s Jar until a mistranslation by the way.), but all Fables are meant to have teachings in them, so just as many scholars have debated the meaning behind Pandora’s Jar for centuries, I shall leave you to ponder the Fable of Skizz’s Raid.

[deathsmallcaps]

GUYS. My Win a Commission project is finished!!!!! I still have four months of posting left to do but I wrote, edited, drew and explained EVERYTHING!!!!!

SEVEN YEARS. I started in August 2017 (I was sixteen!) and in August 2024 I motherfucking finished!

The next time I start a long project, it better fucking be a fetus or some shit because I don’t feel like doing something like this everfucking again.

I AM FREE

(If you’re interested in winning my next couple, look under the readmore for some hints. The majority are just reference drawings for the story, not the actual illustrations)

The two main characters for West of the Sun, East of the Moon, a modern retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon set in Alaska. Trans Sapphic love story

The main character Chantha Rasphone, for my gay ‘sequel’ to Childe Rowland. If you like Labyrinth, chances are you’ll like this. It’s the longest story I have ever written, at over 40 printer pages without the explanation, pictures or glass art. It’s even longer with those things.

Gii, the Tatterhood from my Yamana retelling. She has dwarfism and slays a leopard seal with a spear.

Billi, an intersex man and star of the Acacia Tree, my adaptation of The Juniper Tree set in modern Australia. (The picture here is based on Alan Scott’s 1970s picture ‘Face of an Aboriginal* Man, Alice Springs Area’, as shown below)

*Respectful term is the full ‘Aboriginal Australian person’, but I am just quoting the title.

These are not in release order! Next contest starts on September 10th!

[kirkypet]

six favorite fics meme

Thanks @thebyrchentwigges for tagging me!

I haven’t been writing very long (certainly not compared to some 😄), but I’m coming up to my 8th writing birthday so it’s long enough to have gathered up six favourite fics and have a reasonable amount of difficulty about it

I’ve written for two main fandoms: Mad Max Fury Road, and American Gods (tv), so I’ll be picking from them. Let’s say three from each:

Fury Road

I had to work my way through my in-canon headcanon, if that makes sense, before I found my fun place in this fandom - AUs. What can I say, I’m not outdoorsy, gritty or action-driven enough to do justice to the Wasteland proper. But AUs have a bit more room for manoeuvre.

I’m still not clear what’s the proper definition of Fury Road characters in another fandom’s universe is, but that’s what these first two are.

A Bladerunner take on Citadel life, transplanted to Los Angeles with cyberpunk Many Mothers and a Very Special Max.

💡 What made me think of it? I plotted it out while being bored by Bladerunner 2049

📚 What It Taught Me: that I don’t need to be scared of writing action

🎶 The Song: Do You Know The Way To San Jose? (Dionne Warwick) … thump thump thump

Rebel smugglers and elite sex workers in space! This is an extended retelling of the quite comical Firefly episode ‘Our Mrs Reynolds’, with a sequel thrown in because this story spawned a delightful villain and an unexpected ship.

💡 What made me think of it? A tumblr prompt post doing the rounds - something about a Wild West brothel Fury Road AU idea

📚 What It Taught Me? That it’s a joy to get comments where people are YELLING. Incoherently yelling.

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Delta Dawn (Skeewiff)

This is actually my most popular Fury Road fic, in terms of kudos. More straightforward this one - it’s not a crossover or mashup, but a simple fairground AU. Byrch gave me tarot advice for this, for which I’m eternally grateful.

💡 What made me think of it? Listening to Fortune Teller (Benny Spellman)

📚 What It Taught Me: That you can get a whole plot from a single song (more or less)

🎶 The Song that Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Going to have to say Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond) makes me want to cry a little now

American Gods

For me, this fandom’s fic was all about FIXING IT. Fixing the end of season 2, to be more specific. Hence, my first two favourite AG fics are two different flavours of Laura Resurrects Sweeney. They’re both technically series, each consisting of one Resurrection fic, one very short follow-up, and one What Happens Next.

This is the first in the Stir Crazy series, a shutdown-era fic with themes of marriage, belief and shortsighted schemes that have unforeseen consequences. Salim’s in this one - and they’re detectives! (nearly forgot to mention that)

💡 What Made Me Think Of It? The devastation of the end of s2. Simple. The detectives bit to be honest I can’t remember where that came from.

📚 What It Taught Me? I don’t need to be afraid of writing smut (I tackle it in much the same way as I do action)

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Promised Land (by any of the artists who recorded that song BUT name checking Chuck Berry who wrote it)

The first in the I Can Fix Him series. Laura goes to Ireland! Shadow does some self-reflection! Themes include the Geography of Gods (I guess you could say that gods, like grapes, are very sensitive to their terroir), polyamory and everyone acknowledging that they fucked up and being better for it

💡 What Made Me Think Of It? A tumblr picture of a portal tomb in Ireland somewhere, can’t remember the specifics but it was the start of the idea

📚 What It Taught Me: It confirmed that flying from Dublin to the US involves way more liminal spaces than any other international travel

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: it’s a toss up between Alive And Kicking (Simple Minds) and Gettin’ Happy (Dolly Parton) - I couldn’t fit it in, but that’s the middle Zorya sister’s song. She deserved some good lovin’

This isn’t a fix-it fic (I’d got those out of my system by then), but was inspired by Boss Level, a movie that improves with every watch. Simple premise stolen from that film - assassination mark gets stuck in a timeloop and starts over every time they get killed. Laura of course is the assassins’ mark - and there are several gods queuing up to take her out. Sweeney included, but his definition of ‘take her out’ is a little unclear.

💡 What Made Me Think Of It: Boss Level, as mentioned

📚 What It Taught Me: it’s a joy to get fanart

🎶 The Song That Makes Me Think Of This Fic: Joy Division Oven Gloves (Half Man Half Biscuit). The line ‘talk to the hands’, specifically

Thanks for asking!

Tagging @evilasiangenius @bethagain @lurkinghistoric and the very lovely @jandjsalmon whom I’ve only just now looked up on tumblr (I see you recc’d one of these - thankyouuu 💚💚💚). Btw this was just my way of answering the ‘what are your 6 favourite fics that you’ve written’ question - do it however you like

[betweenthings2]

Hi! Extremely late to Talk Shop Tuesday but I hope you’re doing well with your job and I hope you’re getting time to relax in between!

Anyway, this question might be too niche and if it is, feel free to give a non-answer or just talk about something completely unrelated haha BUT I know in my experience there’s been a couple times where I’m reading a book and I just think, “damn this would be a really good plot/retelling but with [insert pairing]” and then for the rest of the book I’m just picturing said pairing in my head, so do you like get that?? Has that ever happened with you? Do you pull inspo for fics from books ever? If not, tell me about your favorite book(s) now/when you were little, etc!

🥤

Hello, Smoothie Anon!! Don't worry about being late--I've kind of lost track of the days. You could have just gone with it and I might think it was Tuesday.

Work is an Experience. Things were slow yesterday morning because everything, pt. 1 was on fire, and then I got sent home early because everything, pt. 2 was, and still is, on fire, so that was *fun.* Things got a little busier today, but I have 16 more days (I have a countdown) of work before I move, so hopefully things stay slow until I leave.

Anyways, on to the Shop Talk Tuesday/Thursday.

I'll have to preface this with the fact that I don't read as much as I used to or would like to. The last book I remember having fic thoughts (trademark pending) about was On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. It's such a moving story and, to be entirely honest, I think it did kind of move me towards my idea for the Unsent Project fic, given the way the narrative is structured. I also wish I could write something like My Year of Rest and Relaxation, but I don't know that I have the skills to write that kind of story. Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It is another book that I think I sometimes pull bits and pieces from. It's about fly fishing and religion, but I think it's also about how things that aren't religion are religion, loving someone who won't allow you to help them, loving someone you can't understand, and carrying those things. I think that these are themes that do kind of crop up in what I write in places.

In terms of pulling inspiration from books, I think I pull inspiration more from the way things are written than the content. I think I've spoken some about Hemingway in asks before, but I love the way Hemingway wrote. He wrote in such a way that I always feel compelled to keep reading. A professor suggested I read A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, which is a short story that is about two and a half pages long, but it lives in my head and I think about it all the time. I'm not saying that I write like Hemingway, or that I want to entirely copy the way he wrote, but I would like to figure out how to write things that are moving and/or compelling to two and a half pages.

Since you've given me the opportunity, I will also share some of the books I love. One of the books I regularly return to is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It has some upsetting content, but it's very well written and I always feel different somehow when I finish reading it. A River Runs Through It has to be on a list of my favorites because it strikes close to home in some aspects and the book itself was a gift, so I feel sentimental about it. I read Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist at the right time, so I'm very fond of it, and I also really enjoyed Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch.

[hallowgracie]

Apples, Snow, and Glass: Fairytale Iconography as Storytelling in Crystal Magic

If you've been following me for a long time, you'll know about my long-term novel project, Crystal Magic. It has survived many different incarnations and re-imaginings and is very dear to my heart.

Starting as a space opera retelling of Snow-White and Rose-Red, as I expanded the original screenplay and short story proof-of-concept to include a second half that focused on the second sister of the duo, linking her with the other more famous Snow White.

However, as I delved into creating a bigger world for the original characters and had to expand the cast, I began connecting more and more fairytales into the lore, using the connective tissue of shared motifs and iconography. The evil queen, the arranged marriage, the enchanted dance, the color red--ideas that appeared over and over again.

They shaped the story and the characters, and with it, I wanted to use these ideas not to necessarily do a direct retelling but to shape the readers' expectations and to use the language of fairytales to tell a brand new story.

As I did, the original characters took on more fairytale roles. Sorrel started out as Rose-Red from the original fairytale retelling, but carries motifs of Guinevere from Arthurian legend, and takes on an equivalent role of the Old Soldier from the 12 Dancing Princesses, the one who discovers a group of young women's secrets involving dancing and secret pavilions.

Coppelius has motifs of the bear princes found in East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Snow-White and Rose-Red, but got his name from a sinister characterization of the Sandman by Hoffman. But his plot line also takes from the general beats of the Little Prince, without getting into further spoilers.

All of these are used with Coppelius to create role confusion. Is he a prince, like two of his major influences? Or is he someone who maybe doesn't truly have Sorrel or the universe's best interests at heart, as implied by the name?

There are a lot of those hints and Easter eggs scattered around the text of Crystal Magic and are there to paint this world that is a fairytale down to its very core.

Through weaving these stories together, we interrogate the role of women in them, and not just the version that we see in Disney adaptations, but ones like in many of the original Grimm tales where these are the stories of women seeking their fortunes and winning everything through their own kindness, courage, and cleverness.

These are the kind of women that Sorrel and Gwynn Marchand are.

[authoralexharvey]

Make Me Write Tag

I suppose this is a tag game now, so I'm doing it. Tagged by @aninkwellofnectar for this--thanks, Cammie!

Rules: Make a 24hr poll listing the titles of every WIP or scene you want to work on. (It’s fine if you only have one, WIP, still make a poll for the vote count). Whichever WIP title or scene or project gets the most votes, write 1 sentence for every vote received.

So, here's your chance to make me work on stuff.

A brief description of each project, if it helps:

ASMLP (A Sharper, More Lasting Pain) - Sapphic Fantasy Dark Academia about two doomed lovers and the monstrous tragedy that tore them apart.

ATHD (Across This Hollow Distance) - Dark fantasy novella and loose retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche.

Hestia Short - No real plot yet, just vibes. I know it's about a woman who has just exited a long-term relationship and comes to terms with being alone and accepting and even liking this newfound lifestyle she's found herself in.

ABTB (A Bitter-Tasting Blood) - Dark fantasy about a monster hunter who is sent abroad to quell the latest monster threat - and about the twisted relationship she enters into with a part-time monster.

Also tagging @magic-is-something-we-create, @linaket, @alistonjdrake, and anyone else with multiple WIPs at this moment lol

[a-very-fond-farewell]

Ok, new profile picture new me I guess! so here I am considering to make a list of all the wips I have under my belt just to hold myself accountable (while simultaneously convincing my stupid brain I have no time to join a new fandom... I’m looking at you Evilive):

Let’s split this between fandoms shall we?:

Word of Honor:

- Children of the Red Dust: the modern!au where ZZS is trying to adopt ZCL but WKX’s job as a Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer gets in the way, with a sprinkle of traditional chinese opera on top

20/33 chapters already done, a new one on the way. I feel vaguely positive about this and I think I can manage updating before the end of the year or the beginning of the next. I’ve updated very little this year, compared to 2022 but.. I do love the story and I want to see it through;

- They Got Exits Covered: the sci-fi!au where the author knows nothing about omegaverse trope etiquette and rolls with it anyway

2/3 chapters already done......... fellas is is bad that I can’t bring myself to finish this one? I have re-written the last chapter at least 5 times, I discovered that I hate writing smut (unfathomable, ik, considering I have written even 45k of dirty sex in the past) if it involves baby-making (??), and I hate myself every minute that I have to sit and work on this project so.......... it will take some more time I fear. the premise was good, we stan a good premise and I love the vibe I got going on but.. meh. we will see;

- (unnamed project 1): aka the noir!au that I really want to bring to the surface but currently have no energy to plan out

0/0 done, none, nada. this one is fun bc I really want to write it and I got at least two chapters done in my drafts already. I wanted shorter chapters for this one, little to no dialogue, more ambiance and vibes than plot.. it’s so close to get started...! but I want to PLAN this right. never been much of a planner tho. idk where to start. does anyone know how to go beyond the ‘plot-points checklist’ phase? bc that’s honestly all I can muster for this one and it frustrates me to no end.

Winter Begonia:

- The Way Home: which is the retelling of the entire drama, episode by episode, through the lenses of a heavier, more overt romantic vibe between the leads (basically a drama retelling with additional historical context from the novel and my own research)

14/49 chapters done and I have already drafted most plot points up to the 25th.. but see my issue here. I love this fic. I. Love. This. Fic. but I cannot focus on it until Children of the Red Dust is done, bc I need multiple steps to get this over with:

need to rewatch the drama diligently, while taking notes (would really like a dvd set of this one, but subs alas..);

need to use the existing dialogue of the show and put it on the page, describing how characters move and react on screen;

add my own new fresh scenes to the already existing plot, which takes a lot of time;

research the hell of the time period and the details of the traditional opera technicalities (bc I’m not very smart, I love to suffer and I love this stuff too much to care);

come up with ways to tie everything up nicely without it sounding cringe;

read the actual novel to tweak things and fill up details from side characters’ lives and.. if you know the original story you probably know how annoying some of the characters are, which makes it difficult to handle at times.

so....l..........I need me time to mentally prepare for that ok? but it’s a long term project and I don’t care if I have no readers. I’m cool;

- Everything will Bloom: aka the follow-up to The Way Home............so it means I have to finish that one first

2 drafted chapters done already. but I need me TONS of research for this baby. it will be set in the early 50’s so I want to get this right. which means that I am reading everything I can and sourcing everything I come across as I go and I’ve been doing this for almost 3 years now. I’m not messing around. I want these characters to have a life after the epilogue!

MDZS:

- necRomance: the crack au people still reblog from my tumblr, the idiotic one, you know the gist

80/100 chapters done, not picking it back up. I don’t care for it anymore, it was a crack project anyway. also, not a fan of receiving comments and get excited to open the inbox just to be told to go fuck myself for not finishing this one. so uncool mate! totally got me out of the fandom. I don’t think I’ll ever get back to it so.. yeah. pick your battles folks *shrugs emoji*

STUFF I AM TOTALLY NOT PLANNING DESPITE BEING BUSY WITH IRL STUFF/RESEARCHING/WORKING ON WIPS:

that one Good Omens human!au inspired by an Italian comedy I am not writing;

that one Evilive fix-it I am not fantasizing about on the daily and I really want to dig my teeth into rn;

that one (extremely unnecessary) [insert classic Victorian novel title] epilogue retelling I’ve not lost sleep researching for;

(3 hypothetical original works that will definitely never see the light of day)

———

and that shall be all folks :D please admire my new profile picture, which I took from the manga She loves to cook and She loves to eat and edited to have a sense of continuity with my previous one (which was Jin Ling from the MDZS manhua). please get yourself a treat after reading this! and check out any of my current projects on ao3 if you’d like but please read the tags! most of my stuff is pretty heavy and at times either obscenely long or dead-dove-ish so.. please be careful!

- Niki (they/them) on my way to 30. can I get a wahoo??

my AO3: humble_prompt_machine

[the-grey-hunt]

was going to put this in a reply, but my professional book expertise has been called on, and the reply got too long.

The Goblin Emperor books by Katherine Addison (start with Goblin Emperor, then read Witness for the Dead), for the intricate worldbuilding of the elvish imperial court.

Also, read Ancillary Justice (trilogy) by Ann Leckie. If you like that, continue with Translation State and the various short stories. Scifi, also fantastic worldbuilding around the space empire and their intelligent warships.

Definitely recommend Ursula K Le Guin; it's up to you whether you start with Left Hand of Darkness (scifi, genderless alien planet and human ambassador) or Earthsea (fantasy series, wizard on a series of island nations)

Naomi Novik, particularly the Scholomance trilogy (about a much darker, more dangerous magic boarding school) and her short stories, Buried Deep (side stories from many of her established universes, and some original universe works).

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, an indigenous fantasy where a First Nations girl with her dragon must attend the colonial dragon training school. Incredible worldbuilding, paralleling the real world rather than set in it.

For cosmic horror: James Kennedy's books, particularly his adult two, Dare to Know and Bride of the Tornado. His YA book, The Order of Odd-Fish, is also really good but lighter in tone.

For a Murderbot fan, try:

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, a novella-length trilogy about a girl from a very isolated Earth society going into space for university, (if you like it, read everything Okorafor has ever written, particularly Zahra the Windseeker. It's worked for me so far!)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (I consider it to be much better than the Martian). More of his scifi.

Time to Orbit: Unknown by Derin Edala (online, but also available in print if you want it). It's a completely normal spaceship with zero problems, ever, and definitely no conspiracies among the crew that built it. After that, everything else on Edala's website.

in terms of non-books:

What the Folklore, a silly podcast about retelling old stories and making up even sillier ways to fix the plot holes. Incredibly entertaining to listen to if you have the patience for podcasts (I don't, but I make myself sit down for WTFolklore)

Dominic Noble's Lost in Adaptation. He does fantastic videos going over books, their movie/TV adaptations, and what worked/what didn't and *why*. I've enjoyed a lot of his videos on stuff I've never read/watched. Also sometimes he shows his cats onscreen.

Watch Secret Sleepover Society's playthrough of Ghost Trick. If you get interested enough, you can play Ghost Trick yourself on mobile, I hear, and possibly your computer. I played it on a console so I don't know the exact computer specs.

Looking for media recs. Any format. Any genre that isn't romance or erotica.

[curmudggeon]

Southern Hope (Arthur Morgan x Female Reader)

❝ If by any chance...in another lifetime, we happen to see each other again, I'll come and find you. And I'll make you fall in love with me, over and over again ❞

In which romance novelist, Mary-Beth under the pen name of Leslie Dupont, writes a coming of age love story based on her favourite gang members in the past, You and Arthur.

Trigger Warnings; Violence | Blood | Angst | Sexual Intentions

A/N: This is a project I've been working on for quite a while. I had the idea in mind when I had the chance to experience the musical composition of Aaron Copland's quintessential American Dream, 'Appalachian Spring' -one of my favourite pieces with such a beautiful storyline. And I wanted to retell it in the form of a book that is available on my Wattpad (ongoing) for you to enjoy from Mary-Beth's POV. I hope you show love to this book as much as I loved writing it. Have a sneak peek at the prologue!

Read on Wattpad here for more chapters to come!

PROLOGUE

Leslie Dupont; Mary-Beth Gaskill

Lemoyne, Saint Denis

November 1907

-

“Mademoiselle Dupont, we expect your next manuscript to be submitted by next summer. Now is not the time to be reminiscing.”

Here we go again

Mary-Beth sighed as her editor, Céline Laurent, had warned her once more for not meeting the deadline to her books. She was in a crucial position in her life. After her debut as a romance novelist, The Lady of The Manor was an instant best-seller across the country. It was the kind of thing she specializes in, silly ol’ romances.

“I promise you, I’ll get it done by then.” Or maybe, at least not for now. She shouldn't have promised something she couldn’t keep, especially in the meantime.

“I’ll take your word for that, if you don’t meet the deadline by then. Y’know what will happen to your contract, Leslie.” Céline stood at the door frame of Mary-Beth’s office with hands on her hips and raised eyebrows.

She knew exactly what she had meant. In fact, she knew the consequences on the back of her head when she first signed that contract with her publishing company. Two more books were requested of her. Or else she would be evicted of her apartment and be forced to live along the streets of Saint Denis for the rest of her life. A life of luxury slipping between her fingers.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mary-Beth disclaimed, the moment her editor slammed the door as she left her office. Heaving yet another exaggerated sigh, she crosses her arms on the grand rosewood desk, flopping her head on top of it. “What am I going to do now…” She murmured into the crevice of her arms.

Mary-Beth was in the middle of a major writer’s block for a few months now. She lost sight of that imaginative space of hers, consisting of the most swoon-worthy romances to the picture-perfect life she portrayed through her characters. A part of Mary-Beth that her readers absolutely adored. But, her head was now a clouded space of everlasting void. It was difficult for Mary-Beth to come into terms of writing again, but she couldn’t quite identify what had put her into this position.

Once she gathered the courage to write again, it all came crashing down like violent tidal waves when she came face to the daunting blank page of nothingness —almost drowning her.

It was as simple as that. Come to work, have a cup of tea, sit down, and a blank page.

Every. Damn. Time.

Maybe it was because she was already nearing her mid-thirties, and she hasn’t found someone to sweep her off her feet. Maybe it was when she first held Tilly’s baby that she found the need to be a mother someday. Maybe it was the overwhelming response towards her writing, she felt the need to hide away into an abyss. Or maybe she couldn’t stop thinking about the time she had come across John again after so many years that the memories just come flooding back.

Or maybe, just, maybe. It was because it’s November.

The most dreaded time of the year. November, in which the seemingly fearsome Van der Linde gang had officially broken up. Guns were fired, ties were broken and deaths were grieved. An unforgettable, painful memory.

She would often think about campfire songs, the girls and, Miss Grimshaw’s constant nagging about undone chores. Oh, how best of friends Céline and Miss Grimshaw would have been if she had heard Mary-Beth had been slacking again. It was her coping mechanism, think more about the good times to get rid of the bad ones.

Mary-Beth remembered when she took in her hands at being a matchmaker. Prancing around the camp, she would eye her two best contenders. You and Arthur.

She knew from the start when you had laid your eyes on each other for the first time, she could see through the inexplicable connection in between. You were both extremely awkward when it came to small-talk or addressing each other as you walked by across camp. However, it never stopped Arthur to come to camp as soon as he could just so he could see you, even just for a second.

The conversation would often start with Arthur while on his way to Dutch’s tent,

“Hey,”

“Hey.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.”

“Yea sure…”

—and that would be it.

At the same time, every single day, at the course of sunset.

You poor socially inept fools.

Mary-Beth, Tilly, and Karen would always see the interaction happen in the middle of their afternoon chores. Grinning from ear to ear. They would elbow each other whenever there was something different about the correspondence.

One time, you would walk past him, suddenly kissing him on the cheek and scurrying away.

Arthur would stop in his tracks, stunned, with a hand-over where your kiss tingled on his skin. Then he would look back at you as you laid down, smiling to yourself against a tree with a book in your hands. And Dutch would yell his name, knocking him out of his stupor before he noticed he was staring for a little too long.

The girls would start applauding for your heroic performance, it was like a groundbreaking plot twist Mary-Beth couldn’t wait to write about when the idea came into mind.

The both of you were like a walking excruciating slow, slow-burn romance novel. That was when Mary-Beth would cue in her entrance as matchmaker as soon as the interaction slowly died down. Your story had to have a happily ever after in her book.

She would pester you and Arthur separately, mentioning each other’s names and slipping in hints of romantic intentions from the other side so the both of you can address whatever this relationship was.

Mary-Beth knew it was a mission accomplished the night Sean was rescued back to Horseshoe Overlook. When she stood aside of the camp watching Dutch and Molly ballroom dancing into the moonlight, she caught a glimpse of you and Arthur behind them. Running into the woods, hand in hand, giggling to yourselves like prepubescent teenagers.

After that night, it was a considered job well done when your chance encounters slowly turned into planned ones. He would take you on dates, and you would show him affection like nobody’s business. A perfect couple, your American dream.

Until it became a nightmare.

And Arthur had passed,

your Arthur.

Ever since then, Mary-Beth wondered what had happened to you. Were you still alive after all these years? She couldn’t imagine how hard you must be coping with the news. Or what if you didn’t know at all? Even when she asked John and Tilly, they said you disappeared that night he passed.

Not even a single trace. Where were you?

Mary-Beth dismissed the thought out of her head, lifting her head away from the desk. She had to let go of these memories for her own well-being. For what seemed like yesterday were merely years ago. But it couldn’t have hurt to reminisce just a bit, for old times sake.

The story of You and Arthur was unwritten, left to collect dust from the lack of content. The perfect example of a sepia-tinted photograph, forgotten. Mary-Beth believed the both of you deserved something much more than a devastating ending. She wasn’t as ruthless as the other authors she had met that held an iron fist when killing off their characters. Mary-Beth wasn’t like that.

And the idea came to mind. She was a romance novelist for a reason; to fulfil all the possibilities for the unconditional love you shared.

And so Mary-Beth picked up her beautiful fountain pen,

She began to write on the great desk in her quiet room.

To write the most beautiful story of the century,

You and Arthur. Arthur and you.

A perfect couple. The American Dream.

A life that could have been so much more,

A life to remember…

[tickly-trashcan]

NaNo Ideas!!!

Hello everyone!! I am... stumped....

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, it’s a little thing every November for writers to challenge themselves to write 50,000 words during that month! I have... yet to successfully complete NaNo, despite trying twice already, and I think it’s because of the stories I’ve been deciding to write.

One thing I struggle with is not only keeping with one story at a time (I tend to hop between multiple projects) and I also end up losing motivation/interest in longer/more dense stories. NaNo is coming up, and I’ve been working on a couple different plans for what to write, but I want to try and stick to one thing to really make sure it’s polished. Under the cut I’ve listed some of my ideas for some stories I’ve been working on, if there’s any that sound interesting to you/you have other ideas, please please PLEASE let me know bc I am desperate to actually win NaNo this year T_T (also sorry these are a little long but i just... i talk a lot when im talking about ideas im SORRY)

Original Story Ideas:

Idea 1 - Pomegranate Tree:

This is one of my biggest story ideas and one I’ve actually been working on for a few years in terms of developing. I have a few drafts written already, once I got through 18 chapters of it but it wasn’t working for me :( Essentially, there are six gods who are wandering in an endless void, but they eventually begin taking pieces of the void and making planets and stuff. They then create humanity and four of the gods decide to join them and live amongst humans. Their descendants are the protagonists (and antagonist!) of the story, which is kind of like a retelling of Macbeth! I don’t want to give too much away but it’s from the four POVs of the descendants and it’s essentially three of them somehow coming together to “defeat” the antagonist one. It’s... very rough and I’ve rewritten it a few times now trying to get the outline right, but something about it still isn’t working. It’s my baby and I love it though, so I’m gonna keep trying to get it to work until it does.

Idea 2 - The Gods Are Against Us:

This is a VERY rough idea, like... I doubt I’m gonna go with this one bc I only have two characters and a loose story... But essentially, humanity has been shunned by the gods because of one person several years ago, and since the gods have control over most things in the world, the world has also turned against humanity. There is one god who has stuck with humanity, but it’s kind of a trickster one who is very unpredictable. He protects the humans and grants some of them gifts to protect the others, and eventually some of the gifted ones group together to try and appease the gods. But like... there’s a bunch of creatures, plants, insects, etc. that are out to get this group, and they essentially have to survive somehow outside of the safe haven created by their one god. The two characters I have rn i absolutely ADORE and I have ideas for the others, it’s just a matter of making an actual story out of the idea so... this one is probably gonna be a backburner project...

Idea 3 - The Little Jellyfish:

This one I attempted to write for Camp NaNo, but I ended up being waaay too busy with work to finish. It’s a sapphic retelling of the little mermaid, and the main character is kind of like a mermaid mutation? Instead of having a tail, she’s a jellyfish, and she’s considered “wrong” because of it. She longs to be somewhere where she’ll be accepted, and one day, she sees a little girl walking along the shore. She talks with her and falls in love, and for mermaids, when they fall in love they REALLY fall in love. She goes to touch the girl’s hand, but she accidentally stings her and the girl runs off. She’s heartbroken and returns to the sea for a few years, never speaking of it to anyone. One day, that same girl ends up in a shipwreck and the mermaid saves her, bringing her to shore. She stings her on accident again, leaving a permanent mark on her. The girl eventually wakes up and is helped by some fishermen nearby, and the mermaid decides she wants to be human to be with the girl so that she never stings her again. It goes like the Grimm fairytale rather than the Disney one, but I really love this one. 

Fic Ideas:

Idea 1 - Green Witches:

This is a random outline I made at like 1 am on the weekend bc I was bored. Idk who it’ll be yet, but it’s two people, one is an apprentice witch and one is a “professional” witch. They somehow meet, and the apprentice witch is taken on as an assistant, and hijinks ensue! Lmfao theres like no plot line with this it’ll just be silly, but i think it’ll be fun. It’s a project I’ll probably be able to stick to, it’s just a matter of whether or not I’ll be able to get it into the 50,000 word count requirement.

Idea 2 - ZeLink 5+1:

I’ve been thinking about writing this for SO LONG and I think eventually I need to stop thinking and just jump in. It’s a two part idea, so there’s a 5+1 pre-calamity and a 5+1 post-calamity! The first part is where Zelda and Link are getting to know each other and Link and Zelda are a bit awkward and reserved and formal but it’s them slowly developing into friends that are eventually much closer than they started. The calamity happens and then it’s them recovering Hyrule in the future after defeating Calamity Ganon and how they slowly start to fall in love and MMMM its gonna be super sappy and self-indulgent but... as is most of my writing hehe. If I don’t write this for NaNo I’ll probably write it soon after, maybe in January next year!

Idea 3 - Collection:

This one is a veeeeery strong maybe, but what I could do is come up with 30 prompts for myself and then write 30 tickle fics corresponding with those each day! Like I said before I do kind of want to write a coherent 50,000 word story, but this is always a backup! If I end up choosing this I’d likely open it to suggestions! (Also i’m really vibing with this one the more I think about it....so who knows!)

Thats....all that I can think of right now! There’s more notes that I have but they are rambles that range from a partial outline to “FROG PRINCE” with no context lol so I don’t want to force anything with those looser ideas. If there’s any other ideas that maybe you’d like to see lmk!

[azusawrites]

A YEAR OF WRITING - 2021 IN REVIEW

Joining in on @ecwrenn's "A Year of Writing" which is a wonderful event that I would like to thank her for organizing! There were a ton of things that happened this year in terms of writing so it will definitely be hard to catch up, haha!

Banner credit goes to @personnedelalune!

WORD COUNT

During this entire year, I've struggled with feeling productive due to a variety of reasons, such as depression and burnout, and it always felt like I was lagging behind on my wips and the things I wanted to work on. So it was really surprising to see that rounded up, I have managed to reach around 300k words of both posted and unposted works!

That felt really wild, haha. Turns out that writing every day even if just a few words did add up little by little! Sure, some of the stuff might not make the editing process, but I'm glad to see there is still a lot of raw material that I can use.

WIPs

The two that I started this year are Mirror Marchen and Nocturnal Animals, which are both dark, urban fantasy (yes, I have a type) and fanfics for the Twisted Wonderland fandom. Mirror Marchen is posted and updated once a month as the novelization process tends to take quite a bit, but it's still the one passion project I want to see completed. It helped me polish my prose quite a bit and reignited my love for fairytale retellings as well. So far it's received positive attention and I'm very grateful for that! It really makes me happy to see others engage with something that brings me so much joy!

Nocturnal Animals is still a wip that I plan to release next year, as I wish to iron out all the kinks and creases, and make sure it's faithful to both the fandom and the VtM lore as much as it can! I told myself once that vampires aren't that fun to write, but it seems that is not the case at all. Dark fiction is surprisingly therapeutic to write and it helped me deal with stress and frustration, for which I am grateful! The modern urban fantasy vibes from this fic are weirdly healing and it contains some of the most beloved scenes I've written yet.

WRITING PROCESS

I started out 2021 with a lot of hesitation and panic in regards to my writing because I had never expected it to be so difficult to express things in a manner that I would be happy with. I'm a perfectionist by nature and an editing demon - I can go months writing and re-writing a thing and still not be satisfied, but lately, I've been trying to kick the habit and focus on the things that I do think I've done well! So, the things that I feel I have achieved this year are-

Better prose. I think it's tighter and flows better, so it makes the text sound more natural as well.

Introspective focus. Getting into a character's head is an extremely rewarding experience and I've loved doing that for characters like Malleus Draconia, who, as long-lived folk, will have a more nuanced and rather different take on things like life and mortality. Getting to express those notions in writing was very rewarding.

Character development. I've always loved making OCs, but never had the inclination to share them with others due to various factors so I've been just working at them little by little and focusing on developing them better. Now that I'm actually writing them too, it really helps with the visualization process since I can see them act out scenes and be influenced by events around them.

Themes. I've become bolder with the subjects that I write about, I think, and more inclined to take risks. And it feels like it paid off since my works are meatier as a result!

Editing more efficiently. Reading especially has helped me realize what sort of narrative I want to emulate for my own stories, so I've become quite ruthless when it comes to taking out and keeping in things that I do enjoy and think would help the story along.

PLANS FOR 2022

For the most part, it's just going on with what I have already started, so more wips will be completed and started, and more concepts explored!

Writing will become an everyday activity as well, owing to the fact that it really helped me pull through from my burnout regarding work and is also managing my depression more or less, haha.

Mirror Marchen will hopefully complete its first arc (Prologue) and starts its second one (The Crimson Tyrant) which will be accompanied by its own introduction and delve more into the worldbuilding and character introspection aspects!

Nocturnal Animals will be continued, and once the first draft will be written and edited, will be posted in weekly batches! It's the one wip that will explore a lot of dark topics and concepts so please look forward to it!

New works that I want to introduce here would be GOETIA, a fic for the Obey Me fandom along with a couple of oneshots pertaining to BNHA and Tokyo Revengers based on a lot of brainstorming and hastily written notes, haha! There's a lot of love and care put into all of these so I'm hoping it will come through as they will be posted!

I'm also planning on venturing into original fiction as well, mostly in the form of an IF horror story that I want to see come to life little by little, along with a YA gaslamp fantasy concept that is becoming maybe a bit too big for me to handle. But oh well, it's fun and that's all that matters!

Thank you to everybody who stuck with me during this year! It's really been such a joy to have you around and I appreciate your company and can't wait to see more of you during the following year! ❤️

[seismicsight]

wouldnt toph being bisexual and promiscuous as an adult be a harmful trope? (for those who dont know, bisexual women being promiscuous is considered a negative trope)

Great question, nonnie! If you’re reductionist about it, then I suppose, but I disagree with the notion that my Toph is a harmful stereotype. MY conception of Toph as having several casual or short-lived adult relationships (with 1-2 long term partnerships sprinkled in) came long before I ever conceived of her as bisexual. I drew it from my interpretation of many facets of her personality and experiences…not the notion that bisexual = promiscuous or the other way ’round.

The thing is, the only way these tropes can be addressed well in characters for whom there lies some truth between the generalization and their lived experiences is to flesh them out beyond those shallow labels. My adult Toph is not JUST a bisexual with a varied romantic and sexual past. Hell, most of my roleplay and meta about Toph analyzes her familial and platonic relationships, her traumatic childhood, the ways in which her disability colors her lived experiences, and her everyday quirks, moods, and way of seeing the world.

For one, I see her bisexuality as an extension of the developmental framework of her character. She gave off strong baby gay vibes to my projecting ass when I watched the show as a closeted kid, but canonically crushes on male characters in the franchise and had to have had relations with at least two men in adulthood (assuming they were consensual encounters). Most importantly, I’m gay. Is it so crazy to headcanon my blorbo as gay too?

As for her “promiscuity” as an adult…another extension of many traits: an avoidant attachment style stemming from her childhood neglect (despite desiring romantic relationships), her fame and popularity granting easy access to potential partners, an aversion to loneliness, a tendency for thrill-seeking and exploration, her strong sense of personal autonomy, her self-image as an evolved thinker on sexual politics, etc. Also, she canonically had two children from two different men who were not long-term partners or even co-parents. Not that this means she MUST have had a body count, but the alternatives (SA, two separate doomed love stories, alternative insemination/planned pregnancy, etc.) don’t jive for me as a writer or my concept of her character. Personally.

Let’s face it. Centuries of problematic social attitudes and literary retellings, adaptations, and more, have yielded negative tropes for just about anything…

Like regardless of sexuality, if she’s promiscuous then she can be seen as inhabiting the Hypersexual Disabled Person trope. If she’s a lesbian, then the All Gays are Promiscuous trope applies. If she’s straight, she still can’t escape the All Woman are Lustful trope. But if she were aromantic/asexual, then she falls into the Desexualized Disabled Person trope. Regardless of any of this, you can say she embodies the Mythical Blind Person who Sees More than Other People Do trope.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Reduce anything down to parts and you can find the potential for harm everywhere. If you step back and take in the whole picture, then you can differentiate between writing that strives for nuanced depictions of complex, interesting characters and the shallow, under-developed work that perpetuates harm.

[fandomn00blr]

Day 72

of @the-wip-project’s 100 Days of Writing

Do you have filler scenes in your WIPs? How do you fill them?

I tend to think of all my stories as filler, if we’re going by the ‘slice of life’ or ‘seemingly unimportant moments’ between the Big Events in people’s lives definition of that term. I like writing within the drudgery of everyday life, I guess? Like, cool...you saved the world. But who does the dishes? 

The things I’m less excited to write, that actually feel like filler to me, are the transitional ‘summary’ paragraphs to try and contextualize these interactions and to get me from one of these little moments or scenes to the next. The big epic events that allow my characters to eventually get to the issue of who will be doing the dishes...I just really struggle to sit down and write those kinds of things.

---

I got tagged by @blarrghe and @noire-pandora today for WIP Wednesday (thank you both!), and I’ve been feverishly trying to draft a quick one-shot after seeing this brilliant post cross my dash again and being suddenly inspired...to cry a little, I guess? 

So here’s some Loghain and Stroud* in the Deep Roads together again, 15 years after Inquisition I guess?, for one final Stroghainoff adventure:

"It's not really you, though, is it?” Loghain mutters, more to himself than to the very life-like apparition of Stroud standing before him, mustache and all. 

“Of course not.” Loghain answers his own question and turns away from the hallucination. “My mind has begun to go, it seems...I suppose it won't be long now..." 

He continues trudging along, muttering to himself and following Maker-knows-what sense of direction he’s got left down here. He hasn’t decided if he’s trying to avoid the Darkspawn and the inevitable for as long as he can, or rush headlong toward them for a quick and brutal end. But he can’t seem to pinpoint the direction the Archdemon’s song is calling him to, so he supposes it doesn’t matter, anyway.

"Did you hear the one about the Grey Warden who packed up everything and moved to the Deep Roads?" the imaginary Stroud-ghost asks.

Loghain stops.

"He said it was his --"

"Don't," he whispers, shaking his head.

“That got a laugh out of you once.”

“The last thing I need down here is a Spirit -- or...or...whatever you are -- following me around and retelling his worst fucking jokes.”

"It's me, Old Man."

He finally turns back, peering at him again through the darkness. He seems more solid than before, but Loghain still doesn’t dare to reach out and try to touch him. 

"My brain could have easily just conjured you up with the same terrible sense of humor that the real you had," he sneers.

"So what difference does it make, then?”

“Well, one of you was real, for starters.” 

Stroud chuckles, and it’s perfectly infuriating, just as he remembers it. “A long time ago, I promised you that we'd do this together, didn’t I?"

"And you broke that promise when you decided to play the hero and stay behind in the Fade."

"You knew that I was already hearing my Calling then. I wouldn’t have been able to keep that promise, even if I hadn’t stayed behind." Stroud thoughtfully strokes his mustache. "But while I was there, I met some...spirits, I suppose. Justice. And he introduced me to Devotion...and Patience.”

Loghain watches him, looking for any kind of break in the illusion.

“How long has it taken you to catch up to me, Mac Tir?”

"Fifteen bloody years…" Loghain grumbles.

"Oh."

"Yes."

"And you've been alone this entire time?"

"Of course I have!"

"Loghain…” Stroud reaches for his hands, whispering, “I'm so sorry."

Loghain stares at his hands, being held by a ghost. A ghost whose thumbs rub circles into him the way Stroud always did whenever he had gotten lost in one of his many rants.

"I'd have taken care of you, you know?" Loghain blurts out.

Stroud smiles. "I know."

"I’d have held you through the nightmares. Force-fed you mush if I had to. And talked as much sense as I could into you for as long as you’d let me. And when the time came..."

"I know." He nods, pulling Loghain into the very real-feeling steadfast sturdiness of his embrace.

*This Stroud got left behind in the Fade, but like, IDK...who’s to say he, or at least some part of him, didn’t make it out of there somehow? Not me. I don’t know how any of this works.

The rest of this is just going to be them bickering and lots of bewildered letters from Orlesian Wardens regarding two old men seen fighting Darkspawn together before disappearing into a half-collapsed tunnel.

Tagging @serial-chillr, @pinkfadespirit, @paraparadigm, @cleverblackcat, @funkypoacher, @juniper-tree, @convenientcoma, and anyone else who has any art or writing or other WIPs you want to share!

[historyisthehype]

From Reggae to Reggaeton: The origins of El Género Pt.2 (SPOILER ALERT)

Last week we explored how reggae and dance hall blew up in Panama after the “Canal Zone” was returned to the country in 1973 and how this led to the credited originators of reggae en español, Renato, Reggae Sam, and Frankito AKA El General.

In this post, I hope to put together the pieces that form Reggaeton as a genre, but I may not get to it all so at the very least I hope to map out how they came together and where.

So, it’s 1985, and Renato, Reggae Sam, and Frankito have pioneered and popularized Panamanian Dance Hall and Reggae, starting a localized boom in the Spanish-speaking world.

However, Frankito earned a scholarship to study business administration in New York. With the support and encouragement of his friends, he left for Brooklyn where his mom was already living. Knees deep in three jobs he had little time for music for while but eventually fell into the much richer and long-standing dance hall scene in NY whose Spanish-language sector was only just budding. Freestyling at underground dance hall parties throughout is where he adopted the name and persona El General.

In 1990, Michael McDonald, a studio owner, and reggae producer took El General into the studio when he saw a growing interest in the Latin community in dance hall and reggae. He figured it would be smart to cater to that audience and had El General cover Little Lenny’s Punnany Tegereg in Spanish.

The genre blew up all over Latin nations and diasporas, but especially in Puerto Rico where hip hop had been trending since the mid-80s.

Thanks to the back-and-forth migratory patterns of the Puerto Rican diaspora, music sharing was inevitable, and rhythms and sounds migrated as often as we did. Primos would bring all the trends to Puerto Rico with them when they stayed over the Summer vacation, while others brought it back from NY after their Summer in the States.

Around the time El General was just stepping off the plane in NY, two guys who’d come to be, debatably the first big names in Spanish-language Rap, Vico C and DJ Negro. They essentially did the same thing that Renato, Reggae Sam, and Frankito did for Reggae en español for rap: after experimenting on cassette tapes and observing the musical wave of the moment, they saw a demand to fulfill for those who vibed with the beats but not the lyrics, due to the language barrier.

After concert promoter, Jorge Orqueño booked them to open for Public Enemy, and the popularity of their mixtape, La Recta Final, Vico C and DJ Negro had pioneered a new aspiration for kids de los caserillos (from the projects). They rapped about real-life issues in the hood and lots of young people could identify.

Ivy Queen, the host of the podcast that this retelling is from, said (paraphrasing) ‘it was like going from black and white to seeing the picture in full color’.

When Vico C and DJ Negro split in 1991, still at the height of their popularity, the reggae/dance hall craze was still fresh.

In order to guarantee success independently and on his own terms, DJ Negro opened a club in La Perla, a caserillo in San Juan, Puerto Rico: The Noise.

Here, following in tradition, he offered freestyling opportunities to anybody who could rap over hip hop or dance hall, inviting people from PR to NY to Panama. With word spreading and its popularity growing, The Noise became the place to want to make your debut, to see if you have what it takes.

With the pressure of an audience instructed to throw drinks and boo whoever wasn’t good off the stage, and one of the biggest names of Spanish-language rap scrutinizing them, hopeful artists would get on stage and rap over a mixtape interchanging between popular reggae and dance hall rhythms and hip-hop beats.

I think I will cut this here, as I promised, at the crossroads where the two genres cohabited the same venue and started to marry.  

I’ll continue this ‘til the end of its origins, the birth of reggaeton as its own genre.

Source:

LOUD: The History of Reggaeton

Episode 2. The New York