#i am ten books short on my reading goal this year

[writingquestionsanswered]

How many words is too many? I have written over 80,000 words already and don't have a computer to edit properly. I've already decided to split the story among multiple books. But how many should each be? I am aiming for a basic novel to a little bit longer, but as a first-time author, I don't want to write something too long and not get anyone to read it.

Finding Your Story's Target Word Count

"How many words is too many" depends on what you're writing. Every type of story and every genre has a different word count range, and the specific ranges vary depending on who you ask. Here are some general ranges you can target...

Story Type:

Short Stories - 1,000 - 5,000 words Novellas - 20,000 to 50,000 words Novels - 50,000 - 110,000 words Epic Novel - 110,000 words and up (though these are rare)

Age Category:

Middle Grade novels - 25,000 - 40,000 words Young Adult novels - 45,000 - 80,000 words New Adult novels - 60,000 - 85,000 words Adult novels - 65,000 - 110,000

Genre:

Literary novels - 80,000 to 110,000 words Romance novels - 50,000 to 80,000 words Fantasy novels - 90,000 to 110,000 words Mystery novels - 70,000 to 90,000 words

It's important to remember that a book series isn't one long novel chopped up into smaller books. Each book in a series needs to have its own story arc. In other words, a beginning/inciting incident, middle/rising action, and end/climax and denouement. That said, you will need to look at the completed story and identify the natural story arcs that exist within it to figure out where each book should end and the next book should begin.

Something else to consider is your publishing goal. If you plan on pursuing traditional publishing, you might look into writing an in-depth summary of the entire story and working with a developmental editor or book coach to figure out how to best divvy up the story between books. That way, you'll ensure that book one is as strong as it can be, which will increase the likelihood of getting a book deal. After that, if your book sells well enough to warrant the publishing of the next book, you will have some guidance on where to go from there.

If you're planning to self-publish, you can still look into working with an editor or book coach, or even a critique partner, or you can just make the best decision you're able to about how to divide each book. Again, what matters is that each part of the story centers on its own individual story arc.

Something else to consider: if you have a really long story that you want to chop up into pieces rather than individual books, you might look into posting it as a serial on a site like Wattpad, Kindle Vella, Ream, or similar services. Serialization allows you to take a long story and chop it up into sizeable pieces, such as "episodes," and then you don't have to worry so much about dividing it up into books with their own individual story arcs.

One final consideration: Not having the ability to edit properly is not an excuse to publish an unedited work of fiction. No one wants to read an unedited story, even if it's chopped up into pieces. If you want to publish this story, whether online, traditionally, or self-published, you need to find a way to edit it properly and make sure you're putting a tight and polished version of the story out into the world.

Here are some additional links:

Self-Editing Tips Editing Tips Ten Ways to Cut Your Word Count

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[essektheylyss]

Ten Books to Know Me

@aboxthecolourofheartache reblogged her version of this from ages ago but she'd tagged whoever saw it and it sounds very fun and difficult so let's do it!

Tris's Book by Tamora Pierce - I had a habit as a kid of always picking up the second book in a series, so this was the first of Tamora Pierce's books I read. Emelan had an effect on me on a microcosmic level, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, the protag of a whole world of mine is named Tris now, in homage to Trisana Chandler, so. the particulate is still kicking around in my brain.

Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud - Another childhood FAVE. This series as a whole started fucking with what I understood a book to be. Also the ending of it has a vice grip on me to this day, and it is probably why so much of my writing is very vibey and favors ambiguous endings.

Cyrano de Bergerac - This was the first assigned reading I had in high school that I utterly LOVED. I love this play so much, I love the tragedy, I love the quiet sorrow. This was also the first proper tragedy that I remember really loving.

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan - This is a book of poetry and short stories by a Yale creative writing student who was killed in a car crash very soon after graduating, compiled by her professor after her death. I read it repeatedly in college; it is really quite lovely.

Underland by Robert Macfarlane - Apologies to Box who wanted reading recommendations, but she is who introduced me to this book if I remember correctly, and I have spent the two years since I read it habitually picking up Macfarlane's writing without even realizing it. Absolutely phenomenal writing.

Staying with the Trouble by Donna Haraway - @ professor Haraway I know you are a semi-retired scholar and also in the most expensive college town on earth but are you looking for research assistants cuz uh

The Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing - I actually read both Staying with the Trouble and this book on the same weekend in the start of 2021. I compromised on not including Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, which I felt was very cliche of me, by including this book, which had as much of an effect. Read those three and Pantheologies by Mary-Jane Rubenstein and you will have some semblance of an idea of what the spiritual portion of my brain looks like. In the interest of not writing the same blurb four times I left the latter two off but know they make up a little microcosm of 'you could make a religion out of this' for me.

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natskukawa - A Japanese novel about a cat who appears to a teenager after the death of his grandfather, a bookseller. I read it when I was very frustrated with trying to read contemporary fiction and it was a bright spot among that. (I am still very frustrated with the state of contemporary fiction and this book remains a light.)

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Okay I read this one most recently out of this list (over the summer) but it had been on my list for a long time and it really does live up to the hype because it is just so luminous in every sense.

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer - I had to put this one last simply because HOLY HELL. Rewired my brain. This is the goal I aspire to, this is the dream I dream, this is the highest peak among the mountain range of writing aspirations that I climb. If I can one day write anything even akin to the Southern Reach trilogy I will be ready to die, but that is an utterly unachievable goal so God's just gonna have to let me live forever, I guess.

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

a little fic update

Due to needing a fresh start I deleted more than half of my WiPs. Because my goal still is to finish all my WiPs this year. So I only kept the ones where I actually have written something and not just three sentences. I saved the ideas though. I have a Fic Idea document that is three pages long so if anyone is looking for fic ideas let me know. Or I'll make this a writing challenge/follower celebration in which whoever is willing gets a random fic idea to write from this document

I will work on a Joel fic this weekend and then for September as my own personal challenge I wanna write the second part to my Dave York fic You, the next part to invisible string (I want to finish this little series until October) and one sequel to a fic that you get to choose. I already put up a post last week asking for what fic of mine you want to have another part from and some people let me know what they would want to read. So please choose from the ones below

Find the fics in my Masterlist

And for everyone still reading and interested in what I have planned for the rest of the year:

A Halloween Marcus Pike fic in which he touches a bronze cat figurine of a new drop of stolen artefacts that brings him back in time to the witch who put a spell on all her stuff because it kept getting stolen, though she never anticipated her spell to work so well it travels through time. Now she has to figure out how to bring this strange, very good looking, man back into his timeline... or does she?

An arranged marriage AU in which Javi G has to marry the very young daughter of a crime boss to keep the peace, only to end up falling hopelessly in love with her and they both decide to bring down both of their families

A Dieter fic where a big scandal he caused left him no choice but to flee the country to wait until this blows over with his PR Agent who books them both into a four week stay on a private island to spend christmas together. And maybe (wink wink) they finally figure out that whatever they have going on for the last ten years is more than just a professional relationship

Christmas Tree Farmer Pero who against his will falls for the sunshine reader who gets hired by William to save his Christmas tree farm (I am looking for a co-Writer on this fic! If you're interested send me a message!!)

The last six parts of the Stay Universe (most likely short fics)

Only Fans Dave York (if my brain can decide on the actual plot of the fic for a change)

and the last two parts to my Soulmate Joel AU Counting stars

and if I actually manage to write this all like I planned I am gonna give myself an award. Or.... take myself out to a very fancy Chinese dinner lol

[starlightkun]

2024 tumblr wrapped

i was (sort of) tagged by @suhnandmoon (ilysm sunny you're literally so sweet im so honored that pur autre vie and the strawbsunday anthology were some of your favorite fics of 2024). i wrote so many fics that i'm really proud of, tried out new genres, and just had so, so much fun writing in 2024 (so much so that i wrote like 150k more than i did in 2023...)

2024 fic stats

number of works posted: 25 ! (i counted sequels that had different titles to the original fic as separate and multi-parts that were just part 1, 2, etc. as one work) fics in progress: 2 (oh my god who am i?? i only have two official wips wth) total words written: 392.3k in 2024 (that's actually so crazy omfg... i think i need to go outside actually)

top 5 fics (by notes)

1. that hot (sungchan x reader, meet-ugly/forced proximity trope) 2. tongue-tied (model!jeno x journalist!reader, revised sleepless cinderella route for a former member that was deleted) 3. filler episodes (punk drummer!sungchan x normie!reader, band au, the beginning of the venue:hell au) 4. out of left field (baseball player!jisung x rich kid!reader, brother's best friend au/college au, holiday themed) (yall omg that was posted a week before the end of the year?) 5. tourist trapped (sungchan x reader, getting stuck on a ferris wheel, secret relationship)

fun fact, half of my top ten most popular fics in 2024 were sungchan fics

most recent fic

out of left field (baseball player!jisung x rich kid!reader, brother's best friend au/college au, holiday themed)

longest fic

frankenstein complex BY FAR at almost 68k words lmao

favorite fic i wrote

god this is SO HARD, i played around in so many new genres and with a lot of different dynamics and just put out SO MANY fics i adore... if i had to pick ONE, it really has to be frankenstein complex. even tho it didn't get nearly the notes that my other fics do, i did it for the arts not the charts and the people who did read it left THE MOST AMAZING FEEDBACK EVER AND WERE SO INTERACTIVE AND INVESTED it rlly has been... dare i say... a cult classic. sci-fi is my favorite genre to read in my own free time and it was so much fun to finally take a crack at writing it this year (twice)

goal for 2025

keep having fun!!! like i felt absolutely zero pressure or stress while writing this year, it truly was my favorite hobby, and i really want to keep that groove in 2025. ngl, i wouldn't mind my word count going down IF it means that i'm like going out doing things and hanging out with friends and stuff 😅 like this year was incredible from a creative standpoint, but also between work and this, i spent a lot of time inside on a computer...

fave fics books i read this year

sooo i don't really read fic anymore blasphemous i know, but i will rec my favorite books that i read this year:

the complete robot - isaac asimov

this isn't actually all of asimov's robot short stories, but it's most of them. some of his lore was direct inspiration for frankenstein complex. i like this particular compilation not only bc it has all of my favorite short stories, but i think the introduction at the beginning is worth reading as well. asimov discusses the difference between Robot-as-Menace and Robot-as-Pathos stories and i think abt it all the time. my favorite short stories in here are robbie(!!), light verse(!), true love, satisfaction guaranteed(!), feminine intuition, reason, and the bicentennial man(!)

mouthful of birds - samanta schweblin (translated by megan mcdowell)

this is another short story compilation with several focusing on women and various, insidious ways that they're oppressed under the patriarchy (also, the author is argentine, and the characters/setting are clearly meant to be in south america as well), but it's all shown and represented through a surrealist, borderline horror lens at some points. like, don't read this one if you're looking for a light, easy read. there's some body horror and odd, dark imagery, but it's also so, so good. my favorites are mouthful of birds(!!), headlights, the merman(!!), heads against concrete, a great effort, the heavy suitcase of benavides(!)

being mortal - atul gawande

this is a nonfiction book about how we approach mortality, dying, end of life care, and death in the west. the author is a doctor and provides a lot of great insight both professionally and personally. despite the topic, i found it actually be a very optimistic and inspiring read if you can handle open and honest conversation and depictions of grief and mourning

don't really have anyone to tag and it's also super late to be doing this! but if anyone sees this and wants to do it go for it and tag me, i'd love to see it and also make new writer moots <33

[archivewriter1ont]

🐌, 🫘, 🥳 for the ask game!

Thanks for the asks! 🥰🥰

🐌 What is one of your smallest writing goals?

One of my smallest writing goals for 2025 is to complete my Months of the Bad Batch thing (it's not really an event, not a challenge...idk what to call it really). It should be rather easy since it's only four fics a month, and I didn't put a word minimum on them. Here's to hoping.🤞

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

In fanfic, I want to complete and post Family is More Than Blood: Adopting the Bad Batch! It's a companion fic to Adopting Echo and I'm super excited about it.

I am actually working on a full-length novel at the moment, as well. It's a sci-fi thriller, and I'm thinking of posting Part One (the first ten chapters) on Ao3 for feedback, after I'm done editing it to death. My previous self-published books were poetry and short stories, so this is a huge personal project for me. It's also the first book I'll submit to a publisher so I'm VERY nervous, even this early in the game,

🥳 How are you going to celebrate when you achieve one of your writing goals?

When I complete Adopting the Bad Batch or the Months of the Bad Batch, I'll probably read, and reread, and read again because I love everything with Echo or the boys being silly. When I'm done with the novel, I probably won't read it ever again! But really just completing a project is usually the payoff for me, because then I can start something else.

[suzannahnatters]

My 2024 In Books!

After struggling with my reading in 2023, this year I slightly exceeded my 2-books-a-week reading goal, with a total of 106 for the year. I also had a lot more fun with my reading - narrowing down my year-end best-of to just 10 fiction and 5 non-fiction was extremely tough, so apologies to all the wonderful books that didn't make the cut. Without further ado...

TOP 10 FICTION WHAT MONSTROUS GODS by Rosamund Hodge (re-read) I featured an earlier draft of this book on a previous best-of list, but the finished version published this year and I love it even more now if possible. This lush, romantic YA fantasy is a story of sticking stubbornly by your faith, refusing to abandon it even as you disentangle the lies, half-truths, and old wounds that have become a part of it. Spectacular.

CITY OF SERPENTS by Christina Baehr (re-read) I still actually haven't read the final published draft of this book but the second draft made me yell with delight. This entire series has been perfect but this book, with its themes of faith versus fear, the meek inheriting the earth, and its banter, mad science, and suffragism, may be my favourite.

THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND by Jonathan Stroud I Can't Believe I Didn't Write This Myself, it's so precisely my thing. Not just an action-packed thrill ride: this story of a magician's apprentice stealing a powerful djinn for revenge has solid characterisation and gloriously unsparing themes about power and privilege.

BABETTE'S FEAST by Isaak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) I was familiar with the classic film, but the original short story is even richer and more profound. Blixen's theme has to do with how faith is enriched by the experience of art and pleasure, as a small sect of Lutheran ascetics are given an artistic experience of God's grace that then flows from them, enabling them to extend that grace to others out of joy rather than duty.

THE BANDIT QUEENS by Parini Shroff This black comedy about a widow in rural India being blackmailed by the other women in her village into helping them become widows, too, deserves a lot of content warnings for domestic violence, SA, trauma, and language. Yet it's both hilariously funny and surprisingly nuanced.

LONG LIVE EVIL by Sarah Rees Brennan A young woman with terminal cancer gets sucked into the world of her favourite fantasy series and proceeds to break fourth walls, examine fantasy tropes, and have a rip-roaring fantasy adventure while revelling in perfectly purple prose. Along the way it discusses what it really means to be a villain and why we let our main characters get away with murder. I am already pining for the sequel.

THE SILMARILLION by JRR Tolkien (re-read) How to cope with the post-RINGS OF POWER hangover? Group SILMARILLION re-read! This is quite simply one of the most beautiful, moving, good, and true books I have ever read or ever will read. I am consumed with regret that, as deeply as it has influenced me, I will never hope to equal it.

THE HOBBIT by JRR Tolkien (re-read) Still great, and imbued (to a greater extent than I ever noticed before) with Tolkien's perennial themes of artistry and sub-creation.

EMPIRE OF SHADOWS by Jacquelyn Benson Imagine a swashbuckling archaeology adventure like Indiana Jones or THE MUMMY, except with a formidable amount of real Meso-American history and a romantic male lead you don't want to punch in the eye, and you'd have this book. And then the resolution hits, and it's numinous and cathartic and lifts the whole book to a new level. Delightful!

ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine I missed reading this book till now, but I'm not sorry because now I can appreciate it properly. This book isn't just an delightful fantasy adventure with a wonderfully convincing romance - it also has profound themes about obedience and conscience and maturity. Light years better than the movie, and wholeheartedly recommended to readers of any age.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS Because I read so many more than just ten excellent novels this year, I want to THOROUGHLY recommend the following: THE SAVAGE DAMSEL AND THE DWARF by Gerald Morris THE PRISONER'S THRONE by Holly Black A CRANE AMONG WOLVES by June Hur THE HEDGE WITCH OF FOXHALL by Anna Bright THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE by Beverley Twomey SPLINTERED MIND by WR Gingell

- TOP 5 NON-FICTION I didn't read so many non-fiction books this year, owing to spending much of the year plowing through one audiobook that I didn't really love. But the ones I did read were great, and these are my top picks:

WOMEN AND THE GENDER OF GOD by Amy Peeler This short but meaty theology book focuses on what the Incarnation can tell us about the way God values women and also about the gendered ways in which God makes himself known to humanity, despite being far beyond any human conception of gender. It managed to be both orthodox and mind-blowing.

SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN WHO PAYS THE RENT by Judi Dench I inhaled this book inside 48 hours: a legendary Shakespearean actress records the lessons (and anecdotes) of a lifetime spent playing 28 different roles across 20 different plays by one of the world's greatest authors. I learned so much about Shakespeare, acting, and the dramatic art from this book.

THE LOST HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY by Philip Jenkins For centuries, during the early and high middle ages, a vast, now-vanished church flourished across the entire Asian continent as well as the northeastern parts of Africa. This lost history has much to teach us about how the Church can grow, flourish, and remain faithful as a cultural minority - contrary to the demands of many loud voices within western Christianity today.

TO BE A MACHINE by Mark O'Connell Subtitled "Adventures Among Cyborgs, Utopians, Hackers, and the Futurists Solving the Modest Problem of Death". The transhumanist movement has fundamentally the same life goals as Ar-Pharazon the Golden, final king of doomed Numenor, and O'Connell tackles his subject with the outrageous wit it demands, so I had the time of my life.

THE SEXUAL REFORMATION by Aimee Byrd A study of what the Song of Songs has to tell us, not just about the sexes, but also about God's love for his church. So rich that I'll be re-reading it periodically in the future just to grasp all its implications - but it's already had a profound impact on me.

HONOURABLE MENTION THE GOLDEN MOLE by Katherine Rundell - a delightful collection of bite-sized essays about the wonder of the natural world, gorgeously written if somewhat (and understandably) doom-laden.

[chuplayswithfire]

Having managed to meet my reading goal for the year unexpectedly early (24 novels and novellas down so far) I thought I'd share some of the ones I really enjoyed and would widely recommend.

Title: Cemetery Boys

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy

Synopsis: Urban fantasy set in LA based in Latin American traditions, a trans boy brujex summons the loud irritating ghost of his apparently murdered classmate, who refuses to be released unless they find out what happened to his friends, who were with him around the time of his death. Our hero agrees to help his classmate if he promises to go peacefully to the afterlife, which will let him prove to his family that he is indeed a brujo and not a bruja.

Warnings/Content Warnings: non-explicit transphobia, struggles coping with the loss of a parent, family alienation, murder

Title: A Magic Steeped in Poison

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Synopsis: Fantasy adventure set in fantasy ancient China. Our protagonist enters a competition to be the new court tea magician (there's a word but i can say it not spell it) for the princess of the realm, hoping to obtain a magical cure all - her sister is one of many who has been poisoned in a spread of poisonings across the kingdom. the catch? her sister is the one trained in the art of magics, not her.

Warnings: grieving the loss of a parent

Title: The Murderbot Diaries

Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian Future

An organic-mechanic fusion construct who calls themself Murderbot is put into So Many Shenanigans trying to first protect their clients and then protect themselves in an increasing array of Events spinning out from the original novella. This is a series consisting of mostly novellas and a full length novel. Lots of focus on the nature of personhood, and what it means to be a person.

Warnings: dehumanization, discrimination, body horror and violence (but not described in an especially gorey way), the usual suspects for dystopian settings.

Title: A Master of Djinn

Steampunk, Fantasy, Murder Mystery

Set in steampunk fantasy Cairo, an agent of the department of magic and artifacts and supernatural entities is given a new partner and the task of investigating a mass murder. All the while, a stranger who claims to be the creator of the mystic age the world now lives in - a world where ancient magics and magical beings such as the djinn themselves have been returned to live alongside humans - is trying to provoke the people of Cairo into revolt. The majority of the characters are Muslim, and the main character is a wlw in a relationship with another woman. I adored them both, and honestly loved the entire wide tapestry of characters I was introduced to A Master of Djinn is really one of the best books I've read all year, and I've read some really good books this year. The universe P Djeli Clark created is vivid and imaginative and incredibly different from the vast majority of fantasy novels I've read before and absolutely, unlike any steampunk work I've ever read. This is actually the third in a series, as there are two proceeding short stories/novellas set in the same universe, however, the book gives you all the information you need on those events.

Warnings: descriptions of non-graphic violence, there are discussions of racism and colonization

Title: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Genre: historical fiction (recommend the full cast audiobook format)

Synopsis: A historical fiction novel set ten, twelve years after the worldwide Zombie War was declared finished. The history of the zombie war is told from the perspectives of various survivors sharing their stories and understandings of the events that took place in the lead up to, during, and at the conclusion of the Zombie war. Perspectives are offered from characters who experienced the war in countries across the world, and the geopolitical analysis of how various countries and cultures would respond to the zombie war was magnificent. As someone terrified of zombies, I am happy to say that while this book is of course scary at times, it isn't a super graphic gorefest or anything like that.

Warnings: death, mass loss of life, descriptions of combat scenarios, everything you would expect to hear from people who lived through a Zombie apocalypse.

[therandomavenger]

My Endless TBR List

I have accepted the fact that I’m going to die with an unfinished TBR list. And not just, like ‘a few books I never got to.’ We’re talking a full-on bookshelf full with dozens more sitting on the kindle.

This is not for lack of trying. I’ve actually read over fifty books so far this year. I made a goodreads challenge goal of reading 100 books in 2023, and I am on track to meet that goal. But my TBR list keeps getting longer. It’s like a literary treadmill that just keeps going faster and faster, one that I will never be able to conquer.

I have on my bookshelves and on my kindle, over 60 books I want to read. These are the books I already own in some form. The picture I posted is of my TBR shelf. I have a special bookshelf that is only books that I own in a physical format I mean to read. There are 37 books on this shelf. And there are dozens more on my kindle. This isn’t even counting books that I could check out from the library, or that I want to read someday but don’t yet own.

A couple of weeks ago I sat down and made myself a list, putting the books in some semblance of the order I intend to read them. And since then, I’ knocked about four of them off the list. I also, unfortunately, added ten more to the bottom of the list. It’s a problem.

Now, I may be an extreme example, but I think a lot of readers have this problem. One of the problems is that there are so many types of books that I enjoy. I enjoy, especially, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and non-fiction. My audiobook listening tends to be non-fiction. I, for some reason, have a block on listening to fiction. Unless it’s an amazing narrator, I cannot process fiction the same way I process the non-fiction. I made myself listen to the Kim Stanley Robinson Mars trilogy in audio and the narrator was so bad I barely got through it, and it has colored my memory of those books.

I will occasionally read a mainstream romance-adjacent book. I loved Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material and have Husband Material ready to go as soon as I get to it. Although, I must say, in general, I prefer to read Queer fiction written by actual queer people. There are exceptions of course.   

I try to read widely, and as this list attests, maybe it’s a little too widely. There are just so many good books out. I want to read all of them. I set the goal in my habitica app to read for at least an hour a day, and I start off with a short story. I read a bunch from Clarkesworld, the Neil Clarkes most recent Best Science Fiction of the Year, moving on to Rich Horton’s collection, which also includes fantasy. Right now, I’m making my way through the latest Writers of the Future collection. Next up is the 2022 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection.

I basically try to read everything that interests me, no matter the genre or subject, and I am interested in a great many things, which is both a blessing and a curse. I also try to switch things up. I’ll go from a sci fi series to something high fantasy then to maybe some contemporary fiction. I don’t tend to read a lot of Mystery/Thrillers anymore because I read so many of them and they all kind of blended together after a while. I also intersperse the novels and non-fiction with Graphic Novels. I just read the first three Radiant Black volumes and next is Kieron Gillen’s Once and Future  volumes. I don’t read individual issues, because that way lies madness, but the collected editions.

I feel a responsibility to do a lot of reading, because I think it informs me as a writer. I also really enjoy it, it’s not a chore. I am wary of writers who tell me they don’t read a lot. I think you need to read a lot (maybe not as much as I do, obviously) to figure out the things you want to write about. And, to settle a controversy, audiobooks absolutely do count as reading.

So, that’s my reading life right now. I’m making progress, but probably need to quit adding things to the list, at least for a little while.

[ryttu3k]

The book recap! Previous years: [2023] [2022] [2021]

1. How many books did you read this year?

Currently sitting on 43! This does include a few very short ones, but does not include lit magazines (I started reading Uncanny).

2. Did you reread anything? What?

Dracula, this time listening to Re: Dracula (for the second time), while following along in the official Dracula Daily book!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

Top of the list are Chuck Tingle's Bury Your Gays and Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, which both got a 9.5. Books that got a 9 are Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree, When The Angels Left The Old Country by Sacha Lamb, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, The Unbalancing by RB Lemberg, The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White, and for non-fiction, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's More More More, Nevo Zisin's The Pronoun Lowdown, and Jungalow: Decorate Wild. So top ten, but like. Eight of those tie.

4. Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

I'd like to read more Sacha Lamb!

5. What genre did you read the most of?

*waves from the SFF corner*

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

*laughs in excessively long TBR*

7. What was your average Goodreads Storygraph rating? Does it seem accurate?

4.1, and yeah, seems about right!

8. Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?

Yes! Made a loose goal of 36 (three per month), hit that, went for 40, hit that too! Granted, yes, some were very short XD;; I also got a bingo for the Trans Rights Readathon!

9. Did you get into any new genres?

I did read some poetry for the TRR, although I can't really say I'm a big poetry person at this point.

10. What was your favourite new release of the year?

Bury Your Gays. I liked Camp Damascus a bit more, but this was so fun.

11. What was your favourite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

Huh, what counts as 'a while'? Light From Uncommon Stars came out in 2021, is three years 'a while'? Otherwise, Dracula is a perennial favourite!

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Read RA Salvatore's Homeland, the first Legend of Drizzt book. It was……… okay. I don't think I'll continue reading the series XD;;

13. What were your least favourite books of the year?

✌️

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

Oh, hm. That's a week away, so not sure. If I can get a few more in, I would like to try to get to 45! I may try to get caught up on Uncanny?

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women's Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

Light from Uncommon Stars was nominated for the Hugo for best novel in 2022, The Deep for best novella in 2020 (also nominated for the World Fantasy Awards and Nebula novella). Read a bunch of the short story nominees for the Hugos and Locus, including the 2023 winner of both, Rabbit Test, and the 2024 Locus winner, How To Raise A Kraken In Your Bathtub.

16. What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

Oh, hm. Nothing comes to mind for being over-hyped, aside from maybe Homeland? But then, Homeland's always had extremely mixed reviews ranging from 'this is an absolute modern classic of fantasy' to '…it's bad, Jim'.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Not really, they generally hit my expectations.

18. How many books did you buy?

About 25 ebooks, 10-15 physical books.

19. Did you use your library?

Yup! Use your local libraries!

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

tbh my most anticipated release was hearing something about Alecto the Ninth and hearing absolutely fuck all 😭 In terms of ones I was expecting that did come out, I goddamn loved Bury Your Gays.

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

I am drama-free~

22. What's the longest book you read?

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson, at 452 pages. It's just a smidge longer than Dracula, at 440.

23. What's the fastest time it took you to read a book?

I mean. Some were short stories XD

24. Did you DNF anything? Why?

Nope!

25. What reading goals do you have for next year?

Continue an average of at least three a month. Perhaps try for four? I was not very consistent with it.

[dirtanddistance]

Valley Vertikiller 30k: Good Soup

Back when I was in college, I learned I had a knack for something: pressuring my peers to run races. It started with convincing my college bestie to run a beach 5k with my family when she came to our house for Easter Weekend. That 5k spiraled into multiple half marathons, and 13 years later she continues to update me with the latest races on the calendar. I ran my brother's first 10k with him 5+ years ago and, fast forward to now, we put our third marathon together in the books this past summer.

Last year, a friend in my running club introduced me to the Valley Vertikiller, a 30k trail run with a mile of vertical climb with the option to register as a team of 5+ runners, cross-country meet style. As a counterbalance to my ability to drag others into running shenanigans, I am also very easily dragged into running shenanigans. You can read that race report back in the timeline, but long story short, one vegan grilled cheese and bowl of butternut squash soup later I was sold on registering for the next year as soon as it opened.

Thus, we find ourselves in July 2024, signing up for Vertikiller as soon as it opened and making a team in the hopes of convincing enough minions to join me. Quickly one registration turned to four. We would languish being one down from a full team for months, constantly begging everyone around us to join our delusional antics, until all at once it seemed we were ten instead of just a few.

Race day finally came, on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and we all rolled up to the mountain in our race day best. This squad had everything: the first time trail racer, the 'definitely a top finisher', the 'this is the farthest I've run', and a handful of 'we're just here to have a nice trip through the woods'. We had goals ranging from impressive finish times, to personal bests, to 'just finish the course' and 'beat the cutoff'. Hopes and spirits were high, and I managed to convince the majority of the team to don a few face gems which would later become the talk of the aid stations. After a blessing by a member of Semath First Nation, we were off into the woods!

The journey to the first aid station was uneventful; I remained fairly close to my trusty running buddy and face-gem originating accomplice (side story: the face gems originated when we ran Diez Vista 50k, which happened to coincide with Coachella this year. We joked about DV50k being our Coachella and staying festival ready, and the rest is history). Pulling up to aid station 1 a few k's farther in than advertised, I was greeted by latin dance music, a friendly face from the run club, and more Fireball than could reasonably be consumed by the entirety of the team. I browsed the plentiful non-alcoholic offerings and snacked on assorted unlabeled candy until one friend, then my run bestie, filed through. Reunited with my ride or die, we took off back into the forest and left the scenic overlook behind.

The jaunt from the overlook aid station to the second one was, again, farther than expected and involved a decent amount of walking up hill, and sometimes walking not uphill, and an incident of 'oh is that the photographer? Nah that's just a guy with binoculars. Wait no he's the race photographer start running!'. Eventually, we traversed through sufficient gorgeous fall foliage and reached the second aid station, where the harbingers of bestie's doom were first encountered. I will not go into detail, but waxing poetic about how you did not get a food aversion after the last time you vomited up something you were eating at that aid station is now officially added to the official race day taboo list. Let's just say there was some extra sauce left on the appropriately named trail Extra Sauce. We stumbled on together (grateful to not be reenacting the infamous Family Guy contagious vomit scene), Garmin ticking ever higher mileage with each passing minute. The minutes were hours, the hours were days. An entire lifetime passed in the span of a moment. The Squid Line trail, I have determined, must pass through multiple dimensions as that is the only explanation for how long one spends trying to get to the end of it. At what would have been half a mile from the finish if Garmin and the course distance and the stars aligned, we parted ways as I could not be separated from the finish line by another moment of walking, and bestie unfortunately still had a bit of extra sauce. Alas, Garmin readings and stated race distances are not what they seem. Nearly 20 miles from where I started and yet exactly where I began, I was abruptly delivered unto the finish line and a gaggle of the most enthusiastic friends. We awaited the final three finishers from our squad eagerly, and enjoyed the long awaited and highly hyped grilled cheses, soup, and pumpkin pie while sitting around and toasting to our conquest. The entire team had met their goals, and as we were packing up to head home after a day well spent, one of the race coordinators commented on how lovely it was to see such a supportive group of friends, hanging around until every one of us finished, and having such a nice time together. I was too high on the joy of the day, but ordinarily that is the kind of sentiment that would leave me in tears. Moving to a new place, never mind an entirely different country, is kind of a terrifying proposition. Never in my wildest dreams when I got in the car to drive from Florida to BC did I imagine that two years later, I would be sitting on the ground on a mountainside with 9 people I call friends after persuading all of them to run 20 miles up and down a mountain with me. Moments like this are what running is all about to me these days; a fast time is a noble goal, but sometimes it's not the destination, but the friends you make along the way that make the journey worthwhile. Thank you, run family, for another lifelong memory and for making every mile sweeter <3

[lyrsui]

currently working on a poetry manuscript,

and that's been true for the last four years. but around this time in 2019, i had a handful of poems, and i had some vague ideas of what i was writing about--at first i thought i was writing a satirical commentary on internet culture, but then as i wrote more and more, i had these other pieces that were like... sadder. in early versions of the book, i tried to tell a straightforward sort of "story" but the poems didn't work quite that way. so, i found other ways to sort them.

so, what have i accomplished since then?

in the fall of 2019, i probably had like 6-8 poems tops

then i signed up for a yearlong writing program at the start of 2020. it was costly, but it helped me a lot. it was a crash course in poetry. i read books. i wrote new poems. at the end of the program, mid-2021, i had something like 20-25 poems, but i was not yet at a full-length count.

i spent another year writing poems on my own. i joined a writing workshop or two but mostly i wrote in solitude. i finally got to about 35 poems by the summer of 2022. i felt hopeful.

in fall 2022, i submitted my manuscript to first book contests. i had done a lot of revising on my own. i asked a person or two to be my beta-readers. i felt good about most of my poems, as i had been diligently revising the 2019 drafts to their best, and i was nervous about the newer pieces but happy to have them included.

i received a lot of rejections. but i had two poems published online, and a third included in a horror poetry anthology. i was also named a semifinalist for one of the book contests i'd entered. these were all small wins.

i took a break from the poetry stuff to focus on school, then on job hunting. now things in my life have settled down and i am back to thinking about poetry.

i signed up for a poetry conference this weekend, where real live editors offer their genuine feedback and talk craft with us. i'm excited by the opportunity. i was given the first ten pages of notes and some of it was cutting, but goodness it's been so long since i really had sharp feedback on my work, and i am appreciative of it nonetheless. the conference runs till Monday morning. the notes are truly invaluable.

i plan to pursue an MFA in 2025, which would only be an extension of the $$$$ i am invested in my writing already. the yearlong workshop was several thousand, the conference a couple thousand as well. the manuscript consultations i plan to pay for will also run me a few hundred each, and the submission fees add up quick. truly, no one is lying when they say that writing is a pursuit mired in privilege. I am grateful to work a day job that makes a lot of all this easier, but it's cushioned work, isn't it? i recognize that more and more lately.

i am not mentioning the price tags to brag, but really just to highlight that money has felt so necessary in lieu of organic connections or inner networks. money isn't buying me placements in top tier lit mags but i feel like it is buying me the notes and feedback to guide my revision towards stronger poems that may one day be lit mag worthy.

i am excited by the work ahead. invigorated by the energy of knowing i have work worth launching into the world. i plan to use october to edit and refine, as there are many upcoming contests and i want to have better drafts to send along than i sent last year.

i plan to sign up for more paid workshops that will help me with drafting my fiction. i only have one short story under my belt, and i'd like to slowly round out that list too, eventually having three then five then ten, all in rotation to lit mags submissions too. i want my name to hold weight eventually. to become familiar.

it feels really good to have clear dreams and a clear plan for my writing career. my goal is to work on these poems and continue trying to place them. to partake in writing programs that may help me get exposure to other editors and mentors, etc. i hope that by the time i am ready to apply to MFA programs that I will be able to ask for a reference or two out of these workshops. by the time i apply for a poetry MFA, i hope to just use the published poems and an unpublished one or two as well, to feel confident about my abilities. then i'll generate a second book of poetry, who knows about what, and publish that too.

it's all fun to think about!

[gracecarstairss]

Okay, so update. I started up my reread again and I'm going at a snail's pace so that I don't miss anything. I'm reading the Kindle version and I swear, the book was EDITED!!! I wrote this original post on Jan 2, with the same Kindle copy that I am reading right now, and some of the timeline stuff was edited and it is different than what I had written in this post. So there's only two changes from what I previously discussed, as far as I can tell, and they are both about Artal Gremont. The first, which states: "Artal Gremont had been sent away amid a swirl of scandal when they had been sixteen years old" (page 153). As per my original post, Kel and Conor were originally 14 at the time of Gremont's exile. Therefore, this fixes the issue of Gremont being at Antonetta's debut ball when they are 15 (page 145), so technically with this new change it makes sense why he would be there since the timeline matches (let me be clear: this change causes the timeline to match SOLELY for this one timeline inconsistency from pg 145, it actually causes more inconsistencies later though lol). The second change states: "He's a figure of curiosity on the Hill. He was sent off into what amounted to exile nearly ten years ago-" (page 285). As seen above, it was originally said to be "15 years ago" which is clearly incorrect for the accuracy of Kel and Conor's age. This change actually matches up with page 262 that says Gremont was exiled around a decade ago, so it should be all well and good, right? WRONG. Gremont being exiled around 10 years ago matches with the original timeline where Conor and Kel were 14 at the time of exile (appx. 9 years ago). The first change, where instead of age 14, they are now 16 at the time of exile, actually means that Gremont was now exiled 7 years previously, and so the timeline is still inconsistent even with the changes...UNLESS you can consider 7 years a decade/"nearly 10 years" which I don't so idk maybe that's just me, but perhaps that could be excused. In the instance of rounding up 7 years to 10, IF that is what the goal was, then yes, Gremont's timeline is absolutely fixed 100%, all the issues are fixed. I'm just the kind of person that doesn't round that much, like 8-9 years I would round to 10, but 7??? I don't know, maybe others would though. Does this matter?? Absolutely not!!!! I'm just talking atp

(Btw this isn't me trying to be a hater, I actually am LOVING Sword Catcher my second time reading it. I thought it was "okay" the first time I read it, but I think this is a book that you have to read slowly because that's what I have been doing and it's so damn good. The timeline inconsistencies don't hinder my reading experience so it's fine, but I had to write this down because my brain almost short-circuited when I saw the "sixteen years old" change because I was like NO FUCKING WAY.... I have reread that Dial Chamber scene many times so I knew that was edited but i was doubting my sanity for a little bit)

From my reread, I have noticed multiple discrepancies in Sword Catcher when it comes to age and years gone by, relating to Artal Gremont and Kel's age specifically. Kel is 23 years old (Conor is said to be 23 on page 40, and Kel is known to be the same age as stated in the prologue where they are both 10), and was taken by the Palace at 10. Therefore, he has spent 13 years on the Hill. However, he says "I have been watching the nobles of the Hill for fifteen years now." on page 418, which does not make sense because that means he would have been 8 instead of 10 years old when taken into the Palace.

Then, we have Artal Gremont. On page 153, Kel reminisces that when he and Conor had been 14, Gremont was sent away due to a scandal. However, on page 145, Kel is thinking back to when he was 15 (page 142) and gave Antonetta the grass ring. Months later, she has her debut (she is also 15) and he is searching the room for her and "It had been Conor who tapped him on the shoulder, directing his attention to a young woman speaking to Artal Gremont" (page 145). (The young woman is Antonetta, but he doesn't realize it at first). This is more of an offhand comment where Gremont doesn't have much relevance. However, this does not make sense chronologically if Gremont was sent away when Conor and Kel were 14, but he is still attending Antonetta's debut ball when they are 15? This could have easily been an editing mistake. Let's go by the idea that Gremont was sent away when they were 14. Now they are 23, so it has been around 9 years since his departure. This is reinforced by this quote, where Kel is overhearing Bensimon saying that he doesn't want Gremont to come back to take over his father's charter: "Whatever Artal Gremont had done, it was bad enough that Bensimon disliked the idea of him returning, even a decade later" (page 262). This tracks with Gremont being gone around a decade, so this timeline works out with them being 14 when he was sent away. However, on page 285, Kel is asking Merren what Gremont did and he says this: "He's a figure of curiosity on the Hill. He was sent off into what amounted to exile nearly fifteen years ago-". Fifteen years ago??? What? If Kel and Conor were 14 when he was exiled, and it had been 15 years, then they would be 29 years old in this book!! What the hell is going on with this timeline? Maybe I am getting way too deep into this but I had to write out all these discrepancies because the timeline was making me go crazy. I think most of these are just editing mistakes but it’s kind of interesting how many mistakes have to do with the number “fifteen.”

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @velinxi​

Hello! I’m Xiao Tong Kong, better known as “Velinxi.” I’m the creator of the webcomic Countdown to Countdown and have been doing freelance artwork since I was a teenager. I love telling stories with my illustrations! Tumblr was where I first got my start as an artist, specifically a small fandom artist as a hobby… and now I’m somehow here! When I’m not trying my best to stay awake in front of my tablets, I’m usually cooking, gaming, or sleeping. Sometimes all three, in my dreams.

Check out our interview with Velinxi below!

Did you originally have a background in art? If not, how did you start?

Yeah! I’ve basically been on track to become an artist since I was a child. I went to a middle school with an emphasis on arts and a high school specializing in it. I went to SVA briefly for computer arts but dropped out to pursue freelance and webcomics after my first year.

Over the years as an artist, what or who were your biggest inspirations behind your creativity?

My biggest inspirations growing up were Yuumei and Shilin Huang, two titans on DeviantArt back in the day. They still inspire me today, but the list of inspirations has grown exponentially over the years, including artists, movies, entire art movements, etc.

What was your thought process behind the creation of your webcomic, Countdown to Countdown?

Well, Countdown to Countdown started as a passion project back when I was 15, in high school, and pretty depressed. I just wanted to draw whatever story I thought was cool, inspired by my favorite media at the time. There was a very loose beginning and outline, but I was truly just writing as I drew the story. That’s why I had to stop the comic in 2018 and restart from scratch the year after. Now, the story has a set story and a clear outline. It still has similar roots, characters, and themes of neglect, abuse, and escape—but I think the story is a lot easier to follow now. It’s got an artstyle I can actually keep up with in the long run. The origin of why CTC exists also remains the same: I simply wanted to make a story I wanted to read for myself. Which happens to be about two dumb boys with superpowers navigating a hostile world that wants them dead or caged—together.

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

Oh, all the time. It’s part of the process. Personally, though—I just have to draw through it. Every month on my Patreon, I have my patrons vote on a theme I have to draw by the end of the month, and I try my best to make it as interesting as possible. I draw quite a few—tens even, of doodles or compositions for each of these themes to try to make something that tells a story while still being aesthetically pleasing and clear. I think pushing myself like this helps with art block, really. I also do remember to take breaks and simply consume other media I like! It gets the inspiration juices flowing.

Advice you would give to an aspiring creator?

If you do one—your first webcomic should be a short, fun, messy thing. It’s not often you can get it right the first time, but you’ll certainly learn a lot through sheer experience. This goes for a lot of things in art, to be honest.

What is a medium that you have always been intrigued by but would never use yourself?

3D Animation. I briefly learned it at SVA, and I think that’s enough of that tech for me. I accept that there are some things that are truly beautiful if done right, and I am too simple and lazy for it.

What is your goal for the rest of this year?

Get Countdown to Countdown book 2 finished! And live HAHA

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

@yuumei-art on Tumblr, still! They’ve been a huge inspiration for digital artists and storytellers online for years. I have no doubt that many digital artists of my generation have been influenced by them, and they’re still here, making beautiful art and stories. It’s a thing to behold.

Thanks for stopping by, Velinxi! If you haven’t seen her Meet the Artist piece, be sure to check it out here. You can also follow her for more amazing art over at her Tumblr, @velinxi!

[qrmonn]

ty love for the tag & the explanation on how tf one do those things

APPEARANCE

blonde hair (thinking about it) // i prefer loose clothing to tight clothing (barbenhaimer irl i love me some tight short dresses yet Cillian) // i have one or more piercings (4, the goal is 7) // i have at least one tattoo (no tats only tits) // i have blue eyes (i stole the eyes from snakydoodles) // i have dyed or highlighted my hair // i have gotten plastic surgery // i have or had braces // i sunburn easily (dont say that put your spf on) // i have freckles // i paint my nails // i typically wear make-up (like cmon does eyeliner twice a week counts B:/ ) // i don’t often smile // i am pleased with how i look (fuck yes (manifestin selfacceptence)) // i prefer nike to adidas (are you american)// i wear baseball hats backwards (what are those questions

HOBBIES AND TALENTS

i play a sport // i can play an instrument // i am artistic (i am literally a student of fine arts) // i know more than one language (im not american) // i have won a trophy in some sort of competition // i can cook or bake without a recipe // i know how to swim (check previous green) // i enjoy writing // i can do origami // i prefer movies to tv shows // i can execute a perfect somersault // i enjoy singing // i could survive in the wild on my own // i have read a new book series this year (i've had read three books)// i enjoy spending time with friends // i travel during school or work breaks // i can do a handstand

RELATIONSHIP

i am in a relationship // i have been single for over a year try life// i have a crush kinda? // i have a best friend i have known for ten years // my parents are together define together // i have dated my best friend // i am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // i have a long distance relationship // i am an only child // i give advice to my friends // i have made an online friend // i met up with someone i have met online hih

AESTHETICS

i have heard the ocean in a conch shell why would i lie// i have watched the sun rise // i enjoy rainy days // i have slept under the stars // i meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me // i enjoy the smell of the beach // i know what snow tastes like // i listen to music to fall asleep // i enjoy thunderstorms // i enjoy cloud watching // i have attended a bonfire // i pay close attention to colours // i find mystery in the ocean like wake up castaway style or? // i enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favourite season

MISCELLANEOUS

i can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // i am the mom friend // i live by a certain quote // i like the smell of sharpies // i am involved in extracurricular activities // i enjoy mexican food // i can drive a stick-shift (european style)// i believe in true love (not in the slightest ;)) // i make up scenarios to fall asleep // i sing in the shower (as if my life depends on it)// i wish i lived in a video game // i have a canopy above my bed // i am multiracial // i am a redhead (i've been, twice) // i own at least three dogs

I was tagged by @modern-day-classic and @queerhydrangea <3

Rules: bold the ones that are true and tag 15 people to do it.

APPEARANCE

blonde hair // i prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // i have one or more piercings // i have at least one tattoo // i have blue eyes // i have dyed or highlighted my hair // i have gotten plastic surgery // i have or had braces // i sunburn easily // i have freckles // i paint my nails // i typically wear make-up // i don’t often smile // i am pleased with how i look // i prefer nike to adidas // i wear baseball hats backwards

HOBBIES AND TALENTS

i play a sport // i can play an instrument // i am artistic // i know more than one language // i have won a trophy in some sort of competition // i can cook or bake without a recipe // i know how to swim // i enjoy writing // i can do origami // i prefer movies to tv shows // i can execute a perfect somersault // i enjoy singing // i could survive in the wild on my own // i have read a new book series this year // i enjoy spending time with friends // i travel during school or work breaks // i can do a handstand

RELATIONSHIP

i am in a relationship // i have been single for over a year // i have a crush // i have a best friend i have known for ten years // my parents are together // i have dated my best friend // i am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // i have a long distance relationship // i am an only child // i give advice to my friends // i have made an online friend // i met up with someone i have met online

AESTHETICS

i have heard the ocean in a conch shell // i have watched the sun rise // i enjoy rainy days // i have slept under the stars // i meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me // i enjoy the smell of the beach // i know what snow tastes like // i listen to music to fall asleep // i enjoy thunderstorms // i enjoy cloud watching // i have attended a bonfire // i pay close attention to colours // i find mystery in the ocean // i enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favourite season

MISCELLANEOUS

i can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // i am the mom friend // i live by a certain quote // i like the smell of sharpies // i am involved in extracurricular activities // i enjoy mexican food // i can drive a stick-shift // i believe in true love // i make up scenarios to fall asleep // i sing in the shower // i wish i lived in a video game // i have a canopy above my bed // i am multiracial // i am a redhead // i own at least three dogs

I'm tagging @cissyenthusiast010155 @ilovehugslikealotalot @marilynthornhilllover @brookezilla @071523 @sapphicobsesssion @salemxo @brieoftarth @trippinovernothing413 @billiedeansbitch @fortheloveofaphroditesblessings @flositaa @clexamaximoff @sapphicloverx @neuroprincess (I apologize if you somehow don't want to be tagged <3)

AND ALSO WHO CAN SEE THIS CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED AS WELL AND JOIN ANSWERING *mwah💋*

[lovesanmotion]

yandere!ateez joining his s/o’s fan call event

💌 This is: requested

Hongjoong: 

Oh to purchase a hundred copies of your new album just to get into your fan call event was his ultimate goal. And to see that a handful of his serial numbers got in to your spot? Hongjoong felt like he was over the moon, it only meant that he was not only gonna meet you, or twice, or thrice. But five times! 

“Y/N~ can we date?” He would ask during his first fan call event, it was tragic that he was only meeting you on the screen of his phone. But that was already better than not meeting you at all. 

“Of course! You’re my boyfriend now so don’t cheat on me!” You said in a small tone, pouting at him through the screen. Oh boy what you said means something to him already. 

Seonghwa: 

He had a lot of thoughts running inside his head on what to ask you, his heart beat kept racing that he almost forgot that today was his fan call event with you. He immediately started to look presentable to you before answering the call, and when he did, he felt like his heart was ready to jump out of his chest when he saw how you look today. 

“Are you nervous?” You’d ask him, peering closer to the screen. Seonghwa would slightly turn red and lean closer to the camera too, as if he was testing you, shaking his head slightly. “No. What about you?” He’d ask, it was your turn to blush and shake your head. 

“Y/N, do you want to meet my girlfriend?” Seonghwa asks, you made a face as you looked at him in the screen. 

“Why do you have a girlfriend? Am I not good enough for you? Am I not pretty anymore?” You’d act along with him, casually throwing in your fan service. 

“I’m talking to my girlfriend right now and she’s getting mad at me because she thinks I have someone else.” Seonghwa tried to control his laughter, maintaining a straight face. It took you a whole minute to realize that he was talking about you, making you a blushing mess once again. 

Yunho: 

His only intention was to win an album that’s signed by you, however, luck seemed to be on his side that day that he not only won a signed album but also received an email from the company that he had won a fan call event with you. It had been weeks since Yunho last saw you due to the increasing cases caused by the pandemic. And he dearly missed you. So hitting two birds with one stone with you made him feel like he’s the only one worthy for you. 

“I missed you! How are you?” Yunho asks as if you two were close friends. You’d only chuckle. “I’m doing well. Have you eaten?” 

Yunho shook his head before responding “ramen and chill sometime?”* 

(a/n: to those who don’t know, ramen and chill is Korean for netflix and chill) 

Yeosang: 

He felt like he was losing his sanity just because he couldn’t be near you and see you as often as before. Who knew what you could be up to right now, and it drives Yeosang insane not knowing what you’re doing, where you are and how you are right now. So when the news broke out that you were coming back with a new album, he did not hesitate to purchase eight thousand copies all by himself. 

And so during the fan call event, he’d continously shift around in his position and discreetly take screenshots before posting them on his personal accounts and adding a caption of “I miss you, I want to see you again normally” 

San: 

He didn’t know the percentage of his chance winning a spot in your upcoming fan call event and that’s why he impulsively bought hundreds of copies from different stores in order to secure himself. To his surprise, he had won twice and was therefore eligible to meet you via fan call. 

“Y/N, will you be my girlfriend for five minutes?” He asks, tilting his head to the other side, slightly jutting his lower lip out. 

“Why not hours?” You’d ask him back. San’s heart raced, it felt like you were already saying yes to being his. 

Mingi: 

Towards the end of the year only meant one thing for Mingi: another year with you. And what better way to start his new year with you by purchasing your group’s season greetings? He didn’t know if he was going enter the fan call ring since the company strictly mentioned only entering ten fans inside, but to his surprise, his name popped up on the lucky ten winners. And Mingi felt extremely lucky, not only did he won in the fan call event, but he was also to receive a limited polaroid of a member of his choice and a signed album by the member of his choice too. 

But he only has one minute to spend with you. Before you could ring his LINE account, he was already recording his screen, picking up your call. 

“Y/N, I love you” he says, seconds after he picked up the call. 

“I love you too” you tell him, gazing at him through the screen. 

Wooyoung: 

A minute and thirty seconds feels extremely short, especially to Wooyoung. He wanted to spend more time with you. However, the pandemic caused a lot of hindrances with his chances of being able to see you outside. But this time, he thought of something that would make him memorable to you. Someone that you would never forget. 

“Y/N~ I have something for you!” He’d say proudly, showing you a small box through the screen. 

“You got me something? What is it?” You asked him, eager to find out the content of the box. Your eyes widened in surprise as you watched Wooyoung literally get down in one knee and opened the box to reveal a diamond ring. “Will you marry me?” 

Jongho: 

During these trying times, Jongho made himself occupied by learning the english language for you. He wanted to be able to communicate properly and effectively with you. Day and night, he would watch shows to improve his pronounciation and read book and articles to expand his knowledge about the language, all the while he purchased a hundred copies of your solo debut album. 

“Hi Y/N!” Jongho says, finally using what he learned over the past few months with you. 

“Hello! You speak perfect english, you’re so good!” The compliment coming from you made his heart race a mile. 

“Sweetheart, you’re better than me.” He chuckles, grinning to himself as he watches you turn your head down slight to hide a blush creeping into your cheeks. 

[softomi]

now accepting boyfriend applications.

based on my fic idea: you’ve just become newly single, in a drunken fit, you posted a status indicating you’re accepting applications for your next boyfriend. Oddly, three boys take you up on that; sending in their most professional resumes for the position. It seems there’s some fierce competitors. 

next up: literature

It hurt, why wouldn’t it hurt. Your boyfriend of almost two years dumped you over text message with no warning and his reason? He just wasn’t feeling it anymore, what the fuck. Well, twenty phone calls, a hundred text messages sent to him, and a pretty nasty voicemail. The moment you realized just how crazy you were being was when you began pounding on his door at almost ten at night. His neighbors poking their head out to stare, and it really smacked you in the face how stupid you were being.

So you threw caution into the wind. it’s a Wednesday night, your first class tomorrow didn’t start until noon and you’re literature teacher was more of a lecturer so she probably won’t notice if you’re hung over. If anything, you could always ask the guy next to you for the notes.

Thus, you decide to throw back shots to your heart’s desire, sitting in the middle of your tiny studio apartment, on your bed to scream and cry at the romance movie. Love is dead. You groan loudly when your neighbor knocks against the wall, trying to tell you to promptly shut the fuck up.

Halfway through the movie, your mind is already swaying. Your throat stings just momentarily and you sip your cheap wine in hope it’ll dull the shots you had taken previously. When the male protagonist kisses the beautiful female of his dreams, you promptly chug the rest of the wine in your glass. Upset at their love, you wrap your lips around the tip of the wine bottle, drinking straight from it.

“I can find someone better.” You’ve reached a different point in your post break up sadness, you were mixed with anger, sadness, and an overall feeling of I’ll find someone with a better dick.

It’s never a good decision to post on social media while drunk, but it’s a great decision right now. You were going to post a ‘newly single’ status. Just to be nice and not spam everyone, you think you’ll just post it to your private account for your five friends to see. You’ve clearly neglected that step when you press post and it uploads to your public twitter account.

The urge to hurl takes priority over the sudden notifications on your phone. Your hair disheveled as you’re trying to hold onto the toilet, hold onto your hair, and throw up at the same time. The romance film comes to an end once you’ve fully emptied your stomach. You shove all the things off your bed, food falling onto the floor, empty bottle of wine rolled under your bed, remote lost somewhere. You fall asleep despite your cell phone going off.

The alarm jolts you, it causes you to scream, your palm slapping the snooze button and you aggressively pull the wire so that it comes out of the socket. Your head is throbbing and your cell phone is ringing at the same time. Annoyed, your hand stretches along the bed trying to find your cell. When you come emptyhanded, you sit up. Your hand steading the pulsing of your brain and you spot your phone ringing and vibrating on the ground.

“What?” You spit out, not bothering to look at the contact as you try to block out the sun.

“What do you mean what?” The voice snaps at you, “You post about boyfriend applications all of a sudden, did you guys break up?”

Of course he would be the one calling you, the person who loves gossip more than you do, “Tooru, can you like shut up for a second.” Your brain is dying and he’s over here trying to get the latest dish on your love life, “He dumped me okay.”

“That asshole.” He gasps, “Do you want me to come over?”

You look at the time on your cell briefly, “No. I have class all day. If you’re free later?”

“Of course!”

The phone call ends and rather than getting ready for the class you have in an hour, you’re checking your notifications. You have about twenty missed calls from Oikawa, another thirty text messages from him, he even left a voicemail; god he must have been desperate. Facebook is bland, you spent most of your time on Instagram deleting the photos of your now ex, and rarely do you ever get Twitter notifications. Oddly, you have fifteen notifications; all coming from your public account.

haha, boyfriend applications are official open. only taking serious apps lol

“No.” You sit up.

It wasn’t your post that freaked you out, it wasn’t that somehow it ended up on your public account, no you could delete it and pretend as if no one saw it but people saw it.

Is she serious?

If she is, I’m down.

What does serious applications mean?

Three comments, five likes, and four retweets.

And three unread messages.

Your finger rushes to delete the tweet before it can be retweeted even more by random classmates. All was good now. Your finger presses onto the message icon, you’re confronted with the icons of three of your classmates.

The most recent is from Miya Atsumu, a terrible flirt in your biology class. He chose the seat next to you in lab when his friends ditched him and hoarded their own table. He spun around in his chair, shooting you a cheeky grin when you briefly looked at him.

His first sentence was, “Hey you’re cute.”

And yours was, “I have a boyfriend.”.

You skip over his message upon spotting his use of sweetheart in the preview.

The next icon is of the guy in your intro to business class, Kuroo Tetsuro. The first time you saw him was outside of the classroom, you two ended up accidentally reaching the doors at the same time. He lets you go in first and the both of you chose the seats farthest from the board, and closest to the door. Despite his bed hair that made him look like he was going to sleep the entire class, he was a rather studious guy; chill but smart, he was a business major after all.

“Did you understand anything he was saying?” You murmur to him as you grab your bag.

“Of course!” He states, “I don’t look at twitter on my laptop when he’s lecturing.” Ah, he caught you.

Your eyes briefly scan the preview, he’s saying something about a resume and you think he’s talking about the homework assignment. You’re about to click on his first when the last catches your eye.

It’s from Akaashi Keiji. On the first day of class, you were late due to waiting in line for coffee. You awkwardly opened the door to the classroom, everyone turning to stare, and you lower your head, choosing a random seat that now you’re stuck with for the rest of the semester because that’s just how college works. The professor goes over the syllabus and suddenly announces that the person sitting to your right will be your revision partner for the semester.

“Hey.” You stop him and for a brief minute you feel your heart skip a beat because he was absolutely pretty, “Sorry, I’m Y/n. Since we’re going to be partners, do you want to exchange info?”.

“Uh. Sure. I’m Akaashi Keiji.”

“I’m going to be late for my business class. Do you have twitter?” You were never a fan of giving your phone number out. Before he can answer, you’re scribbling your username onto a piece of paper, placing it on his desk before running out to catch your next class.

His message is brief: Did you get my email?

You click his message first; it must have been urgent if he messaged and emailed you. There’s nothing else to his message, his previous one dates almost a week before his current one, telling you that he finished reading the book you recommended and that he enjoyed it.

The screen is pulled up with your finger, alternating apps to your personal email. The subject of his email simply reads Application.

Curiously, you click the attachment he’s sent with no body text. Your jaw dropped, hand placed over your open mouth and a small scream emitting.

“Is he fucking serious?”

His name is displayed at the top, along with his birthday, star sign, zodiac sign, age, even the pronouns he uses. There’s a short sentence under it. I am submitting an application for the position of Boyfriend. You’re internally screaming, blinking fast hoping that this was a joke but his ‘application’ reads like a resume. It lists his education from middle school to his current, his previous jobs, his skills, and his own personal goals for the future.

Your blushing profusely, you want to pull your hair, scream, even throw your phone but you shove down the feelings that want to have you die of embarrassment. You don’t have the energy to sadly explain to him that you were drunk and weren’t serious; ugh and you’re going to have to continue seeing him for the rest of the semester.

You revert back to twitter; your heart suddenly drops when you think about Kuroo’s message. Quickly, you pull up the messages, clicking his and suddenly you want dig yourself a grave because he’s sent a link to a pdf and it’s simply titled Resume. He probably used a resume template and never changed the title.

And sure enough, it’s a fucking professional resume declaring the certain skills he has to be your boyfriend. In fact, like the professional business major he is, he includes a letter of intent; indicating his reasons of interest for the position. It details the little quirks he finds cute about you. You want to break your phone in half with how red in the face you feel.

As you exit his message, you’re slowly praying that Atsumu’s message is just a random flirty comment that he occasionally likes to throw you once in a while or perhaps you’re hoping that he fell in a ditch and you won’t have to work with him for the rest of the semester since he almost blew up the lab station last time.

Nope, it’s a link to a google document. Oddly, you click it. Your heart has sunk to the pit of the earth because when you open the document, you see his fucking name in the upper right corner indicating he’s still on the stupid document.

Fuck fuck fuck. You’re running away from the document, aggressively leaving the page but it doesn’t help that when you end up back at your twitter messages, you can see the three dots, telling you he’s typing.

Morning sweetheart hope you enjoy the app

He sends it with a flirty wink and you stare at it for five full minutes. Curiosity gets the best of you and you click back onto his link, he’s no longer on the same document and you sigh safely. For someone who’s barely passing biology, his document was rather professionally detailed. Damn, he’s on the school’s volleyball team? Weirdly the page cuts off halfway, you continue to scroll until the next title page boldly states: Bedroom skills.

It didn’t help that you were scrolling a little too fast and caught sight of an image showing off his toned upper body. There goes his professionalism.

Your phone suddenly blares low battery, your screen turns black and now your anxiety is through the roof. You jump on your bed, trying to plug in your phone and you’ve just now realized that it is thirty minutes until your first class starts and it is literature. You’re scrambling to find your laptop, you trip on the bag of chips from last night, awkwardly trying to stand as you reach for your school bag.

“Shit!” You scream. You suddenly remember letting your stupid ex-boyfriend borrow your laptop.

You fall to the floor, fingers pulling your hair as you suddenly think about the deep shit your in. First, your boyfriend dumped you, now you randomly have three guys who sent you applications to be your next boyfriend and you’re still going to have to see them for the rest of the semester if you reject them. Lastly, you’re going to have to go to your ex’s place to get your laptop after having made a scene yesterday, and your phone is dead so you can’t cry to Oikawa about the deep shit you’re in.