#i hope you don't mind my. many creative liberties. lol

[addysfandomdump]

I had an idea for a Gale where he finally finds that damn 7th Chaos Emerald and got a bit carried away designing them lol. I'm not even done I still have a whole painting of them fighting and a few bonus sketches I need to finish but those are taking a while so I'm posting them now. Anyways Super Gale and Super Bermuda for @son1c!

[worldofheroes]

Say That Again

tom cruise x fem!actress!reader

summary: during an interview, simon calls you out about your multi-lingual abilities, making you say something embarrassing. tom finds it absolutely attractive and can’t stop thinking about you talking in that tone of voice to him.

warnings: 18+, no plot, language, friends with benefits, protected sex

wc: 1.3k

a/n: based on a request by @rveyjules! I took a couple creative liberties, I hope you don’t mind! this has absolutely no plot, so don't go looking for a storyline lol

“Please welcome Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, and Y/N Y/L/N!”

The crowd erupts into cheers and whistles. It takes well over a minute for everyone to calm down. 

“I’m so glad you’re here tonight!” Jimmy exclaims. 

“It’s great to be here,” Tom smiles. 

“So, we have newcomer Y/N Y/L/N to the Mission team. Y/N, what has it been like working alongside these amazing actors?” Jimmy asks. 

“Oh, starting with me,” you blush. “It’s been fantastic. Everyone has been so kind and patient. I’m sure Henry can agree with me on this, but it was a little nerve-wracking coming into a series like Mission with such an established story and characters.”

Henry nods. “The crew has been so welcoming. A big part of it is that Tom really likes to get everyone together even when we’re not filming to form those bonds that you see on the screen.”

“I think that’s what keeps this franchise going is those character bonds we see,” Jimmy says. “Now, does any of that change with filming in different countries?”

“I try really hard to ‘normalize’ Mission as much as I can,” Tom says. “We spend a few weeks here, a few weeks there… It's a crazy schedule. I try to set it up to where we can take breaks and just have fun outside of work.”

“You film in so many countries, is there ever a struggle with the language barrier?” Jimmy asks. 

“I think all of us are at least conversational in a lot of languages,” Simon says. “Some are better than others…”

Everyone laughs. 

“But like, Y/n here is almost fluent in Japanese, which I love,” Simon says. 

“Really?” Tom turns so he can face you. 

“Thanks Simon,” you say playfully, hitting his shoulder. 

“She is! It’s crazy,” Rebecca says. 

“Can you say something for us?” Jimmy asks. 

“Um… Ohayō, ogenki desu ka?” 

“And what does that mean?” Jimmy asks. 

“Just a simple, ‘hi, how are you?’,” you smile. 

“I believe there’s something with the word ara-ara,” Simon laughs. 

“Simon, no!” You laugh. 

“Ara-ara?” Jimmy asks. 

“It’s kind of a meme,” you explain. “But you have to say it right.”

“How so?” Jimmy asks. 

You clear your throat, and then as seductively as you can without embarrassing yourself too much… “Ara-ara.”

Everyone laughs and Tom just about chokes on his water, making everyone laugh harder. 

“That was… something,” Tom remarks. 

“Simon, I hate you,” you say, laughing. 

The interview quickly gets back on the topic of Mission, and wraps up shortly after. 

The group makes their way back to their dressing rooms to change back into “street clothes”. 

There’s a knock on your door. You open it to see Tom standing in the hallway. 

“Hey,” you say.

“Hey,” he says, not making eye contact. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Can I come in?”

“Um, sure,” you say, moving so Tom can enter. You close the door. 

“I didn’t know you could talk like that,” Tom says in a low voice. 

“What do you mean?” you ask playfully. 

Tom tries to hold back a moan. “You sounded so hot… I can’t stop thinking about doing things to you.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You’re not being very professional.”

“Fuck being professional,” he growls, moving towards you. 

“Tom,” you breathe. “Not here.”

Tom reaches out and grabs your arm. He gives it a squeeze and then lets go. 

“You’re right. Not here.” Tom sighs. “Come to my hotel room.”

You nod. “I can do that,” you whisper. 

“Quickly.”

You nod. Tom quickly exits your dressing room, and you hurriedly finish changing so you can get to the hotel. 

You get to the hotel, and you’re standing outside Tom’s room. 

You take a breath and then knock. He opens the door instantly, pulling you in. 

“Tom,” you whisper. 

“I’ve always had a thing for you,” he says softly, brushing hair out of your face. “And the way you said that word…”

“Oh, you like it when I talk like that?” you ask seductively, lightly moving your fingertips up his arms. 

Tom closes his eyes. “You have no idea.”

“Mm… I can talk to you like this,” you say with your hands moving to his chest. 

“Please,” he says in a strained voice, resting his forehead against yours. 

“Do you need to fuck me?” you ask him. 

The two of you have agreed to a friends with benefits relationship, neither one of you quite ready to commit to anything, but needing something more than just friendship. And when the two of you met, you both really hit it off. 

“Yes,” he whispers. 

You start to unbutton his shirt, breathing a little heavier now. 

Tom’s hands find the buttons to your shorts, undoing them and pulling them off. You finish unbuttoning his shirt and slide it off his body. 

“Sweetheart,” he breathes, pulling your shirt off.

You unclasp your bra and let it fall to the floor. 

Tom moans, unable to hold back. 

You work at his pants, pulling them down. 

“Go ahead and fuck me,” you whisper, palming at his groin. 

Tom picks up his pants, pulling his wallet out, then a condom. 

You can’t help the giggle that escapes you. “You always have one on you?”

Tom nods. “I can never guess when you’ll do this to me.”

A moan escapes you. “Fuck, you’re hot.”

Tom walks you backwards to the bed. You fall backwards on it, and he crawls on top of you. 

He starts kissing your jaw, down your neck, down your body. 

“Tom,” you whisper. 

He looks up at you, putting his fingers in his mouth, coating them with saliva. Your hips involuntarily buck, knowing what’s about to happen. 

Tom’s fingers dive into your folds, making you yelp. He circles your clit, making you squirm. 

A finger is inserted into you. 

“Tom,” you moan. 

He takes his other hand and presses down on your lower abdomen, and you can feel his finger petting your walls. 

“More,” you beg. 

Tom smiles, inserting another finger. 

You put a hand on his, the one that’s working in you. 

“I was thinking something… thicker,” you say softly. 

“Fuck,” Tom groans. “Okay.”

He removes his fingers, then his boxers. He strokes himself a couple times before ripping the condom wrapper open. 

You watch him closely as he rolls the condom down his shaft. 

“Tom,” you plead in a whisper. 

“I’m right here,” he replies, starting to push into you. 

“Shit,” you moan. 

“I’m right here,” he repeats, bottoming out against you. 

He slowly thrusts against you, grunting in pleasure. 

“Agh, sweetheart,” he mumbles, laying down on you, wrapping his arms around you. 

“Faster,” you whisper. 

Tom grunts in reply, his hips moving faster and faster. 

“Tom…” you almost cry in pleasure. 

“Come for me, baby girl,” he whispers. 

Your fingernails dig into his back as you let go, cumming on his hard cock. 

Soon, Tom finishes as well. He sighs, letting down all his weight on you. 

You grunt with the added weight. “Fuck.”

Tom sits up and pulls out of you. He discards the condom and lays back down on the bed, pulling you onto his chest. 

“Tom,” you exhale. 

“You didn’t have to talk like that at the interview,” he whispers. 

“Mm, but now I know what it does to you.”

“I think we should change our status. Have a real relationship.”

“What?”

“I’m falling for you, y/n.”

“Tom.”

“We can keep it a secret for a while. Test it out. No pressure or anything for either one.”

You look up at Tom. 

“I care about you so much,” Tom says softly. 

You nod. “I think we could give it a try.”

Tom smiles softly and kisses your head. 

“No pressure,” he repeats. 

“No pressure,” you agree.

[hughiecampbelle]

In Another Life I Did Everything Right (Roman Roy x Baby!Roy)

Character/s: Roman, Connor, Kendall, Shiv, Logan

Word Count: 1,761

Inspired By: the popsicle I was eating lol

Requested: Can you write something with Roman and baby!roy? Whatever you want to do is fine. I really love your baby!roy writing and I adore Roman - anon

A/N: I took a lot of creative liberty lol, I hope you don't mind! Feedback is always appreciated my loves! 💜💜💜

It’s always the same memory, the same dream, that comes to him when the weather is warm, and humid, and he falls into a fitful sleep. It’s a realization that comes to him each time he sees your face: how young you are. Not the chubby cheeks of childhood, yet you remain untouched by adolescence. Though he knows he was a much younger man at the time, he is all grown up now. He feels his age, how old he must seem to you, how worn. Tired. He stands in the grass, the sun bright and willing to burn. He holds two plastic pouches. He knows what they are. He knows what you’re going to say, how worried you are that they’re beginning to melt: popsicles. They wouldn’t have been allowed in the house at all. They wouldn’t have made their way into the shopping cart, nor found a home in the freezer, had it not been for Connor. All his doing. He used to know the story, but tonight he can’t recall. Did you ask him for them? Were they a surprise? How could they have been hidden so well from the disapproving eyes of your father? It doesn’t really matter, he knows, but so much of this dream has become lost to him. It’s been so many years. He can no longer rely on his memory. This day has been contorted over the years, malleable and pliable, until, as far as he knows, it no longer resembles what truly happened. You’re on the pavement, legs dangling off the edge of the pool. The water is clear and, unfortunately, not as cool as you’d like. You wait, hand outstretched, for your treat. He makes you pick. Left, right, left right, left. Finally, you choose left. He smiles. Not then, but now. How big that decision must’ve felt, how harrowing it was to decide, blindly, the flavor. Older and wiser puts things into perspective. Time is funny that way. He’s grateful you remain untouched by this. Let this be your big decision. He tears yours open: orange. There is no mourning, there is no disappointment, though there is a mutual understand red is the best. He holds his up to the light, the wrapper giving way to a dark inky color. He’s glad you picked what you did: no one really liked grape all that much. 

He wants to talk to you, to ask you questions, to understand where it all went wrong, but he is limited. The dialogue has been chosen for you. This is a reenactment, a loop, a labyrinth of muscle memory he must abide by. He settles beside you, legs crossed, listening to your teeth break through the ice and syrup. He wasn’t a spiritual person. He didn’t believe in God or Heaven or Hell. He didn’t have anyone or thing to turn to when things were hard, when times were tough. Sometimes he wished he was. A different person who could pray and believe and have faith. The cynic in him thought it was bullshit. The optimist, weak and tender, fought back as best as it could. There has to be something, right? There has to be something after all this? Life, mortal life, was so small in comparison to the time before and time after. How could there be nothing? He wants to ask you what you think, if there is God out there and, if so, how vengeful they must be. You were young, yes, but you grew up. There were so many opportunities for him to ask you, your views and opinions, and he didn’t. He wasn’t thinking as he was now. He didn’t have the perspective. Instead your voice slices through his thoughts, a knife to watermelon, it all becomes a sweet, sticky mess in the middle of his cheat. Where’s mom? You don’t have to clarify you mean your mother and not his. Logan’s latest ex-wife. They lasted longer than anyone expected, separating just a few weeks prior, when Spring turned to Summer. He speaks, and though he cannot hear himself, he knows his lines. He wishes now he’d been nicer. Kinder. Instead he is full of teenage angst and decides a snide comment is the best option to ease your growing unease given their recent split. Like all of your mothers, Connors and his and yours, they’ve left their children in the care of your father, though he understand this thought is cheap and really, only Connors mother couldn’t help it. Still, two out of three? 

Did you see her today? You watch him, and wait, and your eyes are big, and there is melted popsicle down the front of your shirt. Yes, he admits, for a moment, but refuses any further details. Mascara ran down her face. She wheeled two large suitcases out of their (now Logans) room and down the hall, towards the stairs. He’s not sure where she was going, or for how long, and he suspected you wondered the same thing. Were the popsicles, similar to the cake Logan had bought Connor, some sort of bargain? A peace offering? Sorry kid, mommy and daddy are splitting. Here’s some sugar! Was this Connor’s way of making things better? He noticed the absence of his older siblings lessening these recent months. He found Shiv helping you with your school work, patiently listening to you ramble on about grade school drama: Leah liked Tommy, but Tommy liked Madison, who wasn’t your friend anymore because she was no longer sitting at your table during lunch, so Tessa was your new best friend. Kendall, with whatever he did to busy himself all day, took his evenings to hang out with you, trying his best to have something in common with a ten year old. Connor, who had never been lacking in your life, became an even more involved presence. Wrapped up with his own affairs, and probably several affairs, Logan had little time for his youngest. So here he was, doing his part, hoping a little attention wouldn’t leave you screwed up like the rest of them. 

He wants to ask you what you think of all this. He should have, at the time, but he was uncomfortable. Uncomfortable that, finally, you were earning the Roy name. Your mother was just another wife, you were just another kid he didn’t like or want. You weren’t special, you weren’t going to change him. Uncomfortable because you were a child and children had big emotions. What if you cried? What if you got upset? He didn’t know how to stop it. He didn’t know how to help. You wouldn’t know it at the time (how could you?) but your mother would move on. She’d remarry a few years down the line, and have more children, and leave you behind. Her second husband wasn’t a fan of your father. By association, he wasn’t keen to you either. Roman never asked, even when you got older, how you were dealing with it all. Not just this, but everything. Adolescence. He figured, like the rest of them, you’d move on. Recover. Find your way. You couldn’t. You were in Logan’s custody sure, but it was her you wanted. Holidays, and birthdays, and events, you wanted her. Instead he decides the conversation is over. The in-between is murky. There are popsicles, there is this grimm realization, there is regret, and then what?

He isn’t sure what it is that keeps him reliving this day over the others. There were plenty of times he spent with you, though usually you were drinking, attempting to run away from the family, your bloodline, your future. He saw you so rarely, you were such a different person when he got the chance to really look at you, talk to you. Logan shipped you off to boarding school the school year after your mother leaves. It’s prestigious, and sterile, and ruins any of that person he’s sitting beside. Somewhere between here and then you changed. Not just growing up, though is any other big brother really prepared for their baby to get older? You grew harder, colder, bitter. You drank more. You disappeared often. Your grades suffered, though that kind of information was kept mostly between you and the school. Every so often, Connor would send out a group text saying he was going to visit you. Roman, at least, knew what that meant: you got into trouble and needed someone to clean up a mess you made. Everyone had grown up and adjusted as well as to be expected. They were waiting, impatiently, for you to catch up in maturity. You were a teenager expected to act like an adult, treated like a child. You begged Logan to come home. Your school was far away. It was lonely. It was brutal. But it was the best education anyone could ask for and he believed you were being a brat. 

You wanted to see your mother. It had been years, at that point, since you last saw her. Occasionally you’d receive a cold phone call, but that was all you were allotted. That’s the story, anyways. No one really knows why you went out that night, why it was so urgent, only that you were drinking and you weren’t wearing a seatbelt. They found the car wrapped around a pole. You took your place in the family mausoleum. As far as he knows, your mother doesn’t visit. But they do, all of them. This was years ago, a little over a decade. You’d be all grown up by now. He still sees you as a ten year old. He always will. Maybe he dreams this day, over every other, because it was before everything turned sour. Maybe he just likes the taste of popsicles. Either way, it’s always a treat. He wants to ask you everything he didn’t get the chance to, but he can’t, and soon he will wake up. He’ll wake up in a cold sweat and make a point to visit you sometime soon, taking this as a sign that you’re lonely and looking for company. For now, he looks at you, really looks, and takes you in. You’ve been talking this whole time about what you’ve been learning in school, what Shiv has been helping you with. He will nod. He was bored then, wondering who would take over babysitting duty, but he isn’t now. He soaks up every word. He misses your voice, your mannerisms. So much has changed since this day. So little has changed, too.

[thunder-shadow]

I don't have enough words to thank and praise your fics, you are wonderful, I love the characterizations you give them.

How many creative liberties do you take to give them a characteristic trait? What was your process to give them those distinctive traits? :0

Pd: I'm using a translator so I trust it sounds coherent 😅 your fics help me a lot with my English to learn words. Haha

Awww thank uu <33333

Do you mean like, appearance traits, or personality traits? Appearance wise I just go off of vibes tbh LOL

Back when I wasn't writing fanfic yet, I made a little document where I just threw all my thoughts, and part of that was designs for the planets! I just steal from that haha

For example, Uranus originally didn't have a single braid, actually! He just had long hair with lots of braids scattered within it but when I started writing somehow I just fell upon the idea of him having one braid and now it's a permanent part of my idea for him XD

Versus Earth, he's basically stayed the same the entire time LOL - fun fact, I used to be part of the DSMP fandom and even to this day it's stuck within me bc I just imagine Earth dressing up like C!Dream in all the fanarts (the whole cropped hoodie with tight clothes underneath it) and now that's stuck in my design for him XD Also, I usually imagine him with an ISS hair-clip in his hair bc it just appeared in my mind one day and I was like YES

Jupiter and Saturn... honestly my mental designs for them two were influenced by akkkiii_lol SO much (if you haven't seen their art it's so good they were actually the first to introduce me to jupixturn (when they made a single piece of art for it) and i've been obssessed since). But if I could describe them in one phrase it'd be like... old-timey vampires LOL

I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO DROP THIS IN ANY OF MY FICS YET BUT THE SUN HAS STARS FOR PUPILS

Honestly I could talk forever about my mental pictures of each planet but I won't XD (unless ppl ask for specific planets ;))

Versus like wings and stuff - I have been OBSSESSED with wings for as long as I can remember (the supernatural fan in me popping out), so giving Mercury wings is such an easy decision for me haha

Personality wise, IDK

I literally just type dialogue or mental thoughts and then try to imagine the character saying that in my head and if I can't hear them saying it then I delete and try again LOL

Otherwise, I never know if my characters feel consistent across stories because I can never read my fanfics from a reader's POV 😭 i can only read them with author brain

But yeah, creative liberties... I honestly don't know how much I would say I take LOL

I hope this is what u actually wanted me to talk about ;-; if not, feel free to send another ask, I love talking :DD

And dw, it was coherent!! I'm glad my fics are helping you <333

[greyscale-galaxy]

hi!! i just wanted to send an ask to say that your herobrine fic has become my obsession it’s genuinely one of the best i have read for him! (ignoring there isn’t many)

your writing is so good and some of the lines you use are so perfect 😭 i am so enamored w it and wanted to know if there was any bonus stuff u ever left off or ideas you had but tossed? i know you’re focused on other characters and it was quick thing but if u don’t mind sharing!

Thank you for the kind message!! It means a lot that you love it so much 🥹

You'll probably be happy to hear I have two more herobrine fics planned, and they'll be multi-chaptered! I am still figuring out how I want them to go (and also I have a bunch of other fics too) so it'll be a hot minute before you see them but they do exist and I don't plan on abandoning them lol

I will also say one will be a continuation of my one-shot where Hero must confront his past, and the other will basically be an elaborate ‘they got handcuffed together’ thing, with a bunch of creative liberties taken.

As for abandoned ideas? I do have one, based on an interesting dream I had a while ago, but there wasn't enough for me to figure out a plot for it. Basically, I was aboard a spaceship and was flying over the world of Minecraft. It was heavily implied in-dream that I was from a different world altogether. Herobrine kept popping up around the outside of the ship as it descended and me and the other passengers were like ‘???’ I remember there was a problem on the hull of the ship and I had to put on a space suit to go out and fix it, since we didn't know if the atmosphere was breathable for us, and I actually met him face to face- right before the ship began to crash. EDITING TO ADD: I realize I didn't fully explain, the idea would have been something like surviving the Minecraft world from the perspective of someone who has never been there before. All while being stalked by our favorite white-eyed weirdo. It prolly would have been mostly comedic, while also allowing me an excuse to practice my hand at science fiction lol. Bit silly but I would have made it work, I always do.

That's what I remember anyway and like I said, it was interesting! But I had no idea what to do in terms of plot. Maybe I'll revisit it, but if you or anyone else wants to, I grant full permission to use the idea (I would appreciate credit for it and a link so I can read it tho!!). And that's not the only interesting herobrine dream I've had so if y'all are interested in hearing em just lemme know lol

anywho sorry for the long answer but I hope it answered your question sufficiently!

[aimfor-theheart]

cielo.......cielo, cielo.......four parts of Godmaker (including the prologue) has been out, four times I have cried myself to a 3 hour long power nap. There's just something about the way you write. Pulls me in and drowns me in your world. I'm not exaggerating, your writing style genuinely shakes me up (in a good way ofc).

When I started reading Godmaker, I had jujutsu kaisen's gojo satoru in mind. It was supposed to be a different take with satoru in center. But somewhere down the line everything just washed away and all I see now is YOUR gojo satoru. The way YOU built him. YOU wrote him. Satoru is just a name for me now, the character is completely yours. And please allow me to say how big of a feat that is. I'm not a writer, I'm not even remotely involved with creative writing. But taking an already established character and making me forget the established backgrounds and all??? Even I know that's huge. You're an amazing writer cielo, I hope you know that.

I wish I could pick one favorite part of this chapter but i just can't. It was just too good, start to finish. Oh my god. Reader is WRETCHED but honestly, I don't think I'd be any better given the chance lol. And gojo satoru.....I'm keeping my mouth shut about him cause all I can say rn is [incoherent noise]. You're amazing for writing every character so beautifully.

Waiting every week for this is worth it. Many love cielo, and take care💕 Sorry the ask got so long shdhdhdh

anon this is soooo 😭😭 i'll CRYYY. thank you so much WOW. im sorry for making you cry into three hour long naps LMAO but this is so so kind of you to say.

i was really worried that i was taking too many liberties with gojo. actually, the initial inception of this fic (and i have quite a few scrapped scenes of it) alternated to gojo's POV as well and dealt very heavily with his parents, too. it paralleled reader's parents greatly and her struggle with them. it featured gojo's mom quite a bit. but i thought that was TOO much liberty on his character + the fic is already too long LMAO and that would've made it at least five chapters longer lol and i just....can't. i would lose my mind. i also figured people didn't want to read 30k of my Thesis about how i Think gojo might've been raised?? lol??? i was overwhelmed by it at first too. HOWEVER, we will still get a gojo POV chapter in the interlude since i think showing a bit of his perspective IS important to the story. also its a little nod to myself and the initial concept, where gojo had a much larger POV and arc alongside the reader.

but gosh, thank you!! reader is a wretched little thing. everyone has called her that and i love it lol i am just really enjoying leaning into awful readers. i have quite a few more ideas in mind for some Wretched Ones with different characters.

but THANK YOU again. it means so much to me! pls never apologize for the ask being long, it seriously means the world to me!! i hope you had a wonderful weekend and a good week ahead of you!! much love back to you 💕💕

[tolkien-feels]

Okay, so, I've watched the movies and I've read The Big Three, though I'm still a little shaky on my Silmarillion lore if I'm being honest. Where do I go from here if I want to read more Tolkien? Is there a commonly followed reading order? Should I just go by publication date? (Yes I am motivated to get into deeper lore because of your blog, that's why I'm asking you lmfao)

Oh hey! Happy to see my blog dragging people deeper down into the black hole of increasingly obscure Tolkien works!

I actually have a friend reading the Silm for the first time and I'm already making my little evil plans that can be summed up by "If she doesn't hate it, what can I tempt her to read next?" So I've been giving it a lot of thought lately, actually! Which is why this post ended up, uh, long.

I've taken the liberty of adapting this answer a little bit just in case I have any followers who have read fewer books than you have and find this useful. Hope you don't mind it!

The best way to read Tolkien depends a lot on what you enjoy. If you thought The Hobbit was too childish, don't read his stories for children. If your eyes glazed over when poems came up in LotR, don't pick a poetry book. If The Silmarillion drove you to tears, maybe wait before you get into the more scholarly works.

Availability is also something to consider. Maybe your local library has a few titles already, or you happen to find a good copy of something in a used bookstore, or there's a deal that saves you a lot of money. Alternatively, maybe you're set on reading something but can't find it. You might also fall in love with a story through fandom and want More Of It, or see a pretty edition that you just Must Own. These are all okay! See, the thing about Tolkien is that generally speaking, you can read his works in almost any order, so be open to changing your plans as stuff comes up in your life. I'd be willing to take a bet that the minority of fans read his stuff in any way that makes any sense lol

Personally, I think it makes sense to read in this sequence:

Read these first

The core stuff

The Hobbit

The Lord of the Rings

The Silmarillion

These are the Big Three, and you should probably get to them before you get to anything else.

The Silmarillion might take a couple of attempts to get through depending on how comfortable you are with the style, and I personally had to read it from cover to cover twice before I felt like I had a good grasp on it. @askmiddlearth has a pretty good guide that my friend who's reading it is finding really helpful.

Stories you already know: now with 200% more detail

Most other books won't be Silm levels of difficult, btw! But many assume you're familiar with it, simply because Hobbit-LotR-Silm are usually the ones most people read. So even if I otherwise follow a generally "easiest to hardest" logic, the Silm belongs here.

As an addendum, I would say the LotR appendices are a good bridge, stylistically speaking, to the Silmarillion.

The books in this category can be read in any order you feel like - you already know how they fit together.

Unfinished Tales

The Great Tales of Middle Earth, which is a series containing the following standalone books:

The Children of Hurin

Beren and Luthien

The Fall of Gondolin

Here you'll find mostly unfinished, often contradictory versions of stories you already know - but with lots of awesome detail that fandom tends to consider canon as much as we can.

These are books which contain both stories by Tolkien and commentary by his son Christopher, explaining his father's creative process and taking educated guesses as to how stories connect together and so on. It's a gentle introduction to more hardcore scholarship and if you can handle long tumblr meta I'm sure you can handle these.

Oh, and of these four books, Children of Hurin is the easiest to read by far, so maybe begin from that one. You might even read it before The Silmarillion and possibly before The Lord of the Rings (especially if you've watched the movies) - it's a pretty straightforward novel.

Read these in any order you want

I'm listing them in the order I think makes the most sense, but if you've read the books above you can just pick any section here according to your interest

Fairy tale essays, short poems, short stories and such things

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book

Farmer Giles of Ham

Tree and Leaf

Smith of Wootton Major

The Father Christmas Letters

Mr Bliss

Roverandom

Tales from the Perilous Realm

These aren't technically legendarium relevant but are delightful if you like fantasy. A lot (but not all) of these are very light reading and excellent to read to children who aren't ready for the actual legendarium yet, or to turn to as a break from heavier material.

I really wanted to make separate sections for children's literature and things that just happen to be fairy tales but immediately noticed I had no idea when a fairy tale becomes too grown up to be children's literature, so a single section it is

The Deep Lore™️

You know when Frodo inherits Bilbo's papers (and then Sam inherits Frodo's) and they have to make sense of it? That's what it's like reading HoME.

The History of Middle Earth series, or HoME for short.

(There are 12 books in this series. It's probably a terrible idea to read them out of order, so I won't even list them here)

Basically, these are nearly all the scraps of paper by Tolkien that could be found at the time, put together chronologically and presented with commentary. Here you can find answers to like 80% of the questions you might have after reading the other books, and then answers to a million other questions you didn't actually have.

This feels more like reading a library than a book series - whether this makes you want to read it more or less depends on your taste.

Also! Last year they released The Nature of Middle Earth, which is in the same vein as these but I haven't read it yet so I don't feel quite comfortable saying "Oh yeah this is when you should read it!"

Tolkien as a person: biography, letters and essays

JRR Tolkien: A Biography (by Humphrey Carpenter)

The Letters of JRR Tolkien

The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays

I'm not the best person to ask about studying Tolkien as a person, but these are probably the most famous (and important) books.

The Letters also contain a lot of info about Middle Earth, so they might be worth taking a look even if you, like me, don't feel like reading tons of biographies.

For fans of all things medieval

The Fall of Arthur

Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell

Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun

The Story of Kullervo

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun

These are all translations, commentaries or deliberate imitations of actual medieval texts, as opposed to the ahistorical quasimedieval thing the legendarium has got going on. You probably shouldn't touch these if poetry scares you, though.

And that's it...?

Not really, no. There are other publications if you're a completist, but these are the major ones in every category I can think of. There should be some 30-40 books here anyway, so this should keep you busy for a while!

Note that I won't revisit this post to update it every time a new book is released, so for more recent books, use your best judgment!

[willowser]

Hi lovely! Do you have any tips for writers block? It’s kicking my ass right now :(

oh lord — writer's block, my beloathed ( •̀ω•́ )σ

i suppose there are a couple things i do, the first being — daydream LOL whenever i'm interested in writing something, i kind of play the whole thing out in my head to see if a plot makes sense or if characters work together, and then when i get ready to write, i mostly do it from memory and take liberties where i want to. it's not as detailed as plotting the whole thing out, so i'm still kind of discovery writing it, which keeps my interest. if i'm ever at a roadblock and can't get around it, i'll sit back down and daydream it out to see where i got lost. i usually will go for a walk and listen to music that inspires me, or i do it before falling asleep !

sometimes a scene just doesn't work out the way i thought it would, no matter how much i want it to. if i'm really struggling with figuring out how to move forward with a scene, i'll take a step back and see if maybe i'm going about it the wrong way, and then i try to see if anything else fits. for example, the original ending section of ptmy chapter 3 was supposed to be outside of reader's little restaurant, and there was supposed to be a symbolic peeling of an orange and discussion of touya's life during his time with the LOV — and then it turned into an underground show at a horror-themed bar and meeting a friend LOL i wanted the orange thing to work so bad, but i could not get it to read the way i wanted it to, and so i scrapped the whole thing and went a different route that i am ultimately more happy with. so don't get too attached to certain ideas ! you may be stuck because the story might be trying to take you elsewhere.

whenever i'm starting to envision a story, there are certain parts that come to mind first, typically a climax of some kind or an argument or some pivotal emotional scene that is usually towards the middle/end of the overall storyline. and i will occasionally find myself bored ? trying to fill in the gaps in order to get there ?? so i've recently started just — writing the scenes i want to write. starting there and then working around them. like, 7/10 times i have to do editing of some kind in the end bc i write the big scene first and then the lead up like weeks later, so there's a kind of tonal disconnect, but it helps to keep me interested by getting to write the parts i want ! and even other parts that fall in line — even if they're not major — i'll write those, too, if i find myself stuck somewhere. just getting off that path to try a different one will get the gears in my brain turning.

to add to that point, i have — many open wip's LOL and i don't limit myself if i want to try something new. i've done that in the past and tried to tell myself, "no, you can't start anything new until this is finished," but in the end it just made my rut deeper ? and almost made me resent what i was working on, because i couldn't express the creativity i wanted to at that certain time. so, if i'm stuck somewhere, i'll write something different for a little while. i'll go from writing dabi to bakugou to kirishima, or southern charm to honey, don't feed me (which is my fantasy bakugou fic in the works), and the change in pace and pov and just general setting can kind of help me to see my other project in a new light, once i get back to it. and i get bored of things kind of easy, so after working on something else for a while, i find myself with a new motivation to go back and figure out what the issue was to begin with.

these are the things that i do ! i hope any one of them is helpful to you in some way, and i hope this made some sense LOL but also, writer's block is a natural part of trying to work through something and don't feel too bad if you're stuck for a hot minute ! give yourself plenty of grace and rest your noggin a little 😌🌸💖 it will come to you in time !!

[zaffrenotes]

[TRR] A Tot Debate

Pairing(s): Liam x Katrina, Drake x Alyssa Stiles Rating: G Author’s Note: Here’s my belated birthday fic for @cocomaxley based on a conversation we had with @ao719 and @the-soot-sprite with oddly impeccable timing 🙃 * Happy Birthday to my fellow stubborn ram baby, Gen! I am so happy to be friends with your sarcastic ass, lol and I hope we spend more years coming up with random inside jokes about rice and half a dozen other things 💙 Author’s Note 2: * All main characters belong to Pixelberry, I’m just borrowing them * Katrina Bailey is my MC, Alyssa Stiles is one of my OCs * Many, many, MANY moons ago I wrote a fic where Katrina is pregnant again, expecting twins after she and Liam already have four little princes * Creative liberties were used for canon character birthdates for the sake of this one shot * This is a bit of silliness and my submission for @wackydrabbles​​ Prompt 87: No offense, but I’m not interested. * Word Count: 1099

It was a rare Saturday afternoon in the Cordonian palace, where King Liam and Queen Katrina were gathered in a sitting room with their friends, free of appointments and scheduled appearances. Katrina’s feet were perched upon a plush footstool while she rubbed the small swell of her belly, and she grinned when she felt a flutter from one of the twins.

Liam and Maxwell were in the middle of a discussion over what to watch next, while Drake and Alyssa replenished their drinks and assembled a small plate of snacks. Katrina opened Pictagram on her phone and scrolled through the latest posts, tapping on images she liked, when she paused on a comic. “Huh,” she murmured, looking over the image.

“What’s that?” Drake asked, peering over her shoulder before returning to his seat.

“Comic strip about what kind of potato you are, based on your horoscope.” Katrina scoffed at the screen. “I am not a plate of curly fries!”

“What am I?” Maxwell craned his neck, curious to their conversation.

Katrina looked at the screen again. “Potato chips,” she giggled. “Lyssa's sweet potato fries, Liam’s sweet potato mash, and you,” she paused, pointing at Drake, “are a big bowl of mashed potatoes.” Katrina pulled up a web browser and typed away at her screen, quickly reading through the lines of text. “It’s okay, with the new star signs I’m now a Pisces, and I accept my new fate as a bowl of ube ice cream.” She grinned brightly at her friends.

Everyone’s brows furrowed at Katrina. “The what now?” Drake inquired.

“According to the new dates with the thirteenth astrological sign, I’m a Pisces,” she repeated. “You haven’t heard about it? It was a whole thing last year.”

“Wait. What? Why would they need to add a whole new sign to the zodiac?” Maxwell pulled his phone out of his pocket in search of answering his own question.

“It’s always been there,” Katrina replied. “NASA looked into it, and I guess the ancient astrologers omitted…” — she looked down at her phone screen — “off…offy…?”

Drake held his phone in his hands, having pulled up a similar article about the 13th sign, and glared at the name. “This is crap,” Drake added. “There’s no room for it because I can’t even spell it, let alone pronounce it.”

Liam leaned over to look at Maxwell’s screen, peering down at the name in Greek. “Ophiuchus,” he repeated, stressing the last syllable. “Or perhaps off-ee-yoo-kus?”

“That sounds like a weird cross between Ryu’s dragon punch and mucus,” Maxwell chuckled. “Why would they leave out an entire constellation?”

“It’s easier to split up three hundred and sixty degrees into twelve even pieces and match up with calendar months,” Alyssa answered.

Katrina looked down at the article. “With the new signs, Max would be a potato salad Capricorn, Lyssa’s an oven roasted potato Virgo, Drake gets to be twice baked potatoes as a Gemini, and Liam…” Katrina stopped reading and glanced up at her husband, smiling awkwardly as she bared her teeth. “You’re the new sign, and have no potato representation.”

“Pardon?”

Alyssa stifled a laugh as Katrina held out her phone to Liam so he could read the screen. “Looks like your birthday falls in between Scorpio and the new sign, so you could go with either.”

“But neither of those are the sign I’ve grown up as!”

“None of us fall under the signs we’ve grown up with,” Alyssa replied. “I am not a Virgo.”

“I don’t like this new zodiac. I refuse to acknowledge it,” Liam said, shaking his head.

“Li, it’s okay, you can be any kind of potato you want to be this way!” Katrina bit back her smile as she spoke.

“Don’t patronize me, Trina,” Liam quipped. He glanced back at Maxwell’s screen. “Why does Scorpio only get a week to make room for this…this…what is that symbol even supposed to be?”

Alyssa squinted at Katrina’s screen. “A man wrestling with a snake, apparently.”

“Cordonia won’t acknowledge this information, even if the rest of the world decides to. I won’t allow it.”

“Don’t you want to be a modern leader? Someone the people can look up to and admire for taking steps towards becoming an innovative country?” Katrina tucked her lips between her teeth, but the corners of her eyes crinkled as she restrained her amusement.

“No offense, but I’m not interested.” Liam rose from his seat and pulled his phone out from his pants pocket. “I need to speak with the head of our space agency as soon as possible…today, if need be,” he spoke into the phone. “It’s important.”

—

Half an hour later, Liam paced back an forth in front of one of the large palace windows, running a hand through his dark hair while the other pinned his phone to his ear as he engaged in a heated discussion with the head of the Cordonian space agency, with a look of utter disbelief across his face.

Drake and Maxwell had gone back to scrolling through movie options on the screen, having lost interest in the constellation conversation. They were more interested in debating over whether the group could handle the four hour Snyder version of Justice League.

Alyssa smirked when she turned her head to look at Katrina, who was holding a bowl of the purple tuber ice cream between her hands. “Y’know,” she began, leaning over to nudge her friend’s shoulder, “would’ve been easier to just ask for the ice cream if you had a craving. You didn’t have to make your poor husband’s brain implode.”

Katrina shrugged, pleasant smile on her lips as she withdrew the spoon from her mouth, savoring the cold, creamy dessert as it melted down her throat. She felt another flutter from one of the babies. “I take joy in knowing I've blown your minds about astrological signs solely because I don't wanna be a curly fry. Ooh!” She sat up a bit. “Fries would be great with ice cream!”

The ladies looked over at Liam, who continued to pace in front of the window and spoke rapidly in Cordonian. “Should you tell him now, or after his phone call, that NASA eventually debunked the whole thirteenth sign thing?” Alyssa cast a wary look to Katrina.

Katrina pushed herself up off the sofa. “You call down to the kitchen and ask for extra crispy fries and whatever snacks you and the guys want, I’ll make sure Liam doesn’t fire the poor guy on the other end of his phone call,” she giggled. “I’ll blame it on the babies.”

[weathereyehorizon]

Hello again Valentine!

Happy Sunday!

If you are trying to figure out who I am, I’m glad to entertain questions. We still have a couple more weeks before I reveal my identity unless you crack the code sooner. 😆

I think you’re very brave for going back to school! The thought of starting all over now makes me ill (maybe anxious is more appropriate), but I admire anyone who has the strength or courage to do that.

I’m always looking for ways to improve my writing so I appreciate the recommendation about the trope thesaurus. I’ve realized a lot about what I can fix over the past few months so improving the quality of my stories is something I’m continuously interested in.

Do you have favorite authors in the fandom? There are so many amazing authors in this fandom and I know I haven’t read all of them. I’ve been yelled at by franz in the fandom shocked I haven’t read this person or that person. It’s not intentional at all. I think I’ve missed a lot of really good fic because for the longest time I’ve gravitated toward multi-chaptered fic. I used to think that one-shots couldn’t possibly give me enough story, but the more I read, the more I realized that logic was incorrect!

Are there a lot of outsider POV fics in the fandom? I haven’t really read any of those. The concept sounds interesting. Do you have any to recommend?

There isn’t a lot that will make me nope out of a fic either. I think honestly I feel committed once I start even if certain things drive me batty. I think the only reason I’ve noped out of a fic was for incorrect tagging.

In stories, do you mind if the author takes creative liberties, or do you prefer stories with a lot of research?

Talk soon!

Your Secret Valentine 😘

Good morning! ☀️

I don't know that I'll actively try to figure out who you are, only because I'd be very bad at it! 😆 But I'll certainly take any clues you happen to drop along the way to see what I can figure out. I do wonder if you've ever read anything I've written before?

Thank you for the compliment about persuing another degree. It's not exactly starting all over, so it's not quite so daunting, but it's a challenge for me all the same.

I hear what you're saying about making improvements in your writing. The only way to get better is to write lots and read lots, and luckily I love both of those things, so its been a pleasure to work on improving my craft.

I have many, many favourite authors! At the risk of most definitely leaving someone out inadvertently, I'll make a list off the top of my head:

5ambreakdown, agoodpersonrose, blackandwhiteandrose, blueink3, Deenerann, DelilahMcMuffin, DesignatedGrape, dinnfameron, Distractivate, falconeggs, High-Seas-Swan, houdini74, iola17, lastchancecafe, Lisamc21 Mad_Lori, maxbegone, missgeevious, nontoxic, poutini, redwineandqueer, samwhambam, schittyfic, smallumbrella, SweetSirius, thegrayness this_is_not_nothing, vivianblakesunrisebay, wardo_wedidit, yourbuttervoicedbeau

Yes! Incorrect tagging sends me!

I'm going to ask the farm witches to do a list of outsider POVs to share with you. I know I've read quite a few and they're so much fun!

I don't mind creative liberties. I'm good with hand waving and questionable timelines. Lol! But it is very impressive to me when an author has clearly done their research as well!

I plan to read and write all day. I hope you have a wonderfully relaxing day, whatever you get up to!

~weather 💛