#i'm sorry my answers are novels!!

[saintmachina]

One million dollar question: is it true that the Bible condems homosexuality? I had a discussion with two conservatives who sent me some verses that seem to confirm that but i don't know much about the context although i know this is important too

Let’s start here: why is this the million dollar question? Why does it matter what the Bible has to say about sex, or love, or human relationships? At the end of the day, it’s just a book, right?

Oceans of ink (and blood) have been spilled over not only what the Bible says, but what it does, how it functions. The course of empires, nations, and families have been shaped by the contents of this book, and from a historical and cultural perspective, it holds a lot of weight. But you didn’t ask about the sociological, you asked about the theological, so let’s explore. 

Different Christian traditions vary in their approach to scripture. For example: some Protestant denominations believe that the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. In this paradigm, God is the ultimate author of scripture working through human hands, and the resulting text is both without error and in no way deceptive or mistaken. Similarly, The Second Vatican Council decreed that “the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.” When a member of the clergy is ordained into the Episcopal Church they swear that they “do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to contain all things necessary to salvation.”

Can you see how many of these points of doctrine overlap yet seek to distinguish themselves from one another? Theologians have spent lifetimes arguing over definitions, and even when they manage to settle on solid teachings, the way that the teaching is interpreted by the clergy and incorporated into the lives of the laity varies WIDELY. As much as systematic theology may try, humans aren’t systematic beings. We’re highly contextual: we only exist in relation to others, to history, to circumstance, and to the divine. We simply cannot call up God to confirm church teaching, and I think a lot of people cling excessively to the Bible as a result of the ache (dare I even say trauma) of being separated from God via space and time in the way we currently are.

God is here, but God is not here. God is within us, God is within the beloved, God is within the sea and sky and land, and yet we cannot grasp God to our bodies in the way we long to. In this earthly lifetime, we are forever enmeshed in God, yet forever distinct, and that is our great joy and our great tragedy.

So barring a direct spiritual experience or the actual second coming, we're left to sort through these things ourselves. And because humans are flawed, our interpretations will always be flawed. Even with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives guiding us.

When engaging with any sort of Biblical debate, it is essential that you have a strong understanding of what the Bible means to you, an an embodied individual living a brief little awful and wonderful life on Earth. Otherwise it's easy to get pushed around by other people’s convincing-sounding arguments and sound bites.

Here’s where I show my hand. As a confirmed Episcopalian I believe that reason, tradition, and scripture form the “three-legged stool” upon which the church stands, interdependent and interrelational to each other, but I’ve also like, lived a life outside of books. I’ve met God in grimy alleyways and frigid ocean waters and in bed with my lovers. So my stool is actually four-legged, because I think it’s essential to incorporate one’s personal experience of God into the mix as well. (I did not invent this: it’s called the Wesleyan quadrilateral, but the official Wesleyan quadrilateral insists that scripture must trump all other legs of the table in the case of a conflict which...*cynical noises*)

Please do not interpret this answer as me doing a hand-wavey "it's all vibes, man, we're all equally right and equally wrong", but I do absolutely think we have a responsibility as creatures to weigh the suffering and/or flourishing of our fellow creatures against teachings handed down through oral tradition, schisms, imperial takeover of faith, and translation and mistranslation. Do I believe the Bible is sacred, supernatural even, and that it contains all things necessary to find one's way to God, if that is the way God chooses to manifest to an individual in a given lifetime? Absolutely. Do I believe it is a priceless work of art and human achievement that captures ancient truths and the hopes of a people (as well as a record of their atrocities) through symbols, stories, and signs? Unto my death, I do.

However, I am wary of making an object of human creation, God-breathed though it may be, into an idol, and trapping God in its pages like God is some sort of exotic bug we can pin down with a sewing needle.

Finally, we have reached the homosexuality debate. One of my favorite sayings of Jesus is Matthew 5: 15-17: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit." In other words: look at what religious teachings have wrought in the world. When I look at homophobic interpretations of the Bible, I see destruction, abuse, suffering, neglect, alienation, spiritual decay, and death. When I look at theology that affirms the holiness of LGBTQ+ relationships, I see joy, laughter, community building, thoughtful care, blooming families, creativity, resilience, and compassion. I see the love of Christ at work in the world. I see the hands of a God who chose under no duress to take up residence in a human body, to drink wine with tax collectors and break bread with sex workers and carry urchin children around on his shoulders. That's my limited little pet interpretation, but hey, that's all any of us really have, at the end of the day.

So, I am absolutely happy to do a play-by-play breakdown of why those passages you were given (we queer Christians often call them "clobber passages" or "texts of terror") don't hold water in a theological, historical, and cultural context. We can talk about Jesus blessing the eunuch and the institution of Greek pederasty and Levitical purity laws and Paul because I've done that reading. I've spent my nights crying in self-hatred and leafing through doctrine books and arguing with my pastors and writing long grad school essays on the subjects. Send me the verses, if you can remember them, and I'll take a look. But it's worth noting that out of the entire Bible, I believe there are only six that explicitly condemn homosexuality AND I'm being generous and including Sodom and Gommorah here, which is a willful and ignorant misreading if I've ever seen one.

In the meantime, I recommend books by people smarter than me! Try Outside The Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort, or Does Jesus Really Love Me by Jeff Chu, or Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austen Hartke!

And take a breath, dear one. Breathe in God, in the droplets of water in the air and in the wind from the south. Breathe in the gift of life, and know that you are loved, now and unto the end of the age and even beyond then.

[manchestereyes]

Your tags about the mortgage and the photo they posted made me realize that was it. The memo he sent out. The one people missed. It was that pic of them in the house they bought together. Homeowning homosexuals.

omg YES!!! looking back on it now, it really does say soooo much. firstly, they're in front of the piano. and we know. we KNOW how important the piano, and music more specifically, is to dan. i bet you anything that even when costs were adding up on the builders and things, dan suggested waiting to get the piano, saying he'd be fine with his keyboard and anyway, if all goes according to plan (with wad), he probably won't be home that much to play anyway. but phil would not hear of it. this is their phouse!!! it's been his dream ever since he and dan first met to walk through their house listening to dan play the most breathtaking songs he's ever heard.

so they got the piano. even though it took a chunk out of the dinok budget but it's looking more and more like that's not happening anyway so at least they have this. and they realized it's the perfect space to put small gifts and cards from their loved ones, so when dan needs to let his hurt and anger out on the keys, he'll know he's still loved.

plus... they did it. they finally did it. after years of working with designers and builders and squeezing into a tiny apartment lined with boxes upon boxes and working themselves to the bone long before that--they finally have something to show for all of it. every moment since dan first found phil's channel has led to this. whether together or apart, from the moment they met, they knew they were in this for the long haul.

and now, dan can finally tell that little boy who spent his GCSEs dreaming of finding another emo boy to share his life with, that he did it. and he can rest now. and phil too can tell that uni kid whose heart was growing emptier and emptier at seeing all his friends coupling off that it'll work out for him too. that soon his heart and life will be fuller than he's ever known. because he finally has someone who understands and welcomes the deepest parts of him. someone whose ambition and dreams push phil to explore his own.

they get to exhale now. and it's such a visceral feeling that they have to share it with the world.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

what is your favorite thing about charles and your favorite thing about erik? separately, as in what you like most about their characters :]

a devious question this one is, my friend!!! it's hard enough for me to explain my thoughts cohesively, but having to pick ONE thing i particularly love is difficult. with characters like charles and erik, theres been so much done with their characters over the decades and so they have so many components to them that make them so interesting and fun to observe. BUT I TRY FOR YOU TODAY. under the cut i kinda ramble and the size of this text box makin me anxious

i think if i were to be simple and broad, what i enjoy most about charles is his determination to help others, even if he isn't really thanked and/or if people don't even like him. ofc, this isn't to say he hasn't done wrong- to be honest, the fact he does wrong/questionable things at times is another aspect of him i really enjoy, maybe because- broadly speaking- he's meant to be altruistic (intent vs outcome and all that). i don't know if that's super exciting to most people, but it is for me

as for erik, my reason for liking him is easier to explain tbh. To Be Simple And Broad, his progression from villain to antihero over the decades has been fun to observe (as much as i have so far anyhow) and analyze. i think to be a bit more specific, him using his rage and pain as justifications for his villainous actions is definitely what compels me the most: hurt people hurt and the sort, an idea i've always found interesting (something something vicious cycles and the like). yet now, he recognizes this wasn't really. A Just Thing To Do and is beginning to change that, which i enjoy

[amoscontorta]

Hello! I just wanted to say I'm absolutely OBSESSED with the sylus series. Every update you make also makes my day ❤️ if it's ok, I wanted to ask a question, and if it's something that's upcoming in the fic please feel free to disregard this part. How do you think your written MC would handle knowing about sylus knowing past versions of MC and the history there? They seem to struggle with self esteem so im wondering if the knowledge that Sylus' interest is due in part not to them as they are now would be something....hard to digest(?) Like the self sabotage would kick in "ohhhh it's not me I'm a placeholder" mentality. Sorry if that doesn't make much sense 😥

Hello to you too! Thank you so much for this kind message! I'm really glad you're enjoying the fic, and it's amazing to hear that it's enough to make your day. I am enjoying writing it so much, but I still feel a lot of anxiety posting when I've finished something new. I haven't really written for fandom with any kind of consistency for a long time, and even back when I started, it was sporadic. I'm trying very hard to not worry about how well it will be received and to just try to enjoy the inspiration I currently have with the LADS universe and Sylus in particular, but messages like this are always so welcome and appreciated. As for your question, I'm going to put it under the cut because it may end up being spoilerish?? If I ever address it in this series. Thank you again so much for this kind ask!

So to preface this, I have a bunch of ideas regarding where i want this fic to go, but actually planning? and outline? i don't know her. it's basically like... i need to see sylus and mc at a fancy banquet. I need to see mc kidnapped because sylus is a crime lord. i need to see hurt/comfort in every single one of them. so I don't have a plan, and I don't know if i'll get to writing specifically about your question. but if I do! this might end up being spoilery, in which case I'm sorry for the future repetition! ok since i can't have two 'under the cuts', here's a palate cleanser if you want to stop reading.

Your question absolutely makes sense! I think it's a natural question to have, no matter your level of self esteem. We all want to know the reasons why people love us! I always feel big disappointment when this question comes up in a love story and the answer is ... "because you're you." Uuh, no buddy, I need details and receipts, please and thank you. And I also think that in a universe where past lives are real, and the person who loves you may have had feelings for a version of you from a past life, a natural question for anyone is "Does this person really love me, who I am on the inside now, or does this person love the shape of me, simply because I look and sound like the person he loved?" And for people who find it hard to accept that anyone could love them, like our mc in this series, it would take more convincing that yes, in fact, it's you, you in particular, in this life that he loves, just as he loved you in past lives, even though past you was not the same. So I can definitely see this mc going into what you describe as self-sabotage mode, and needing a shit-ton of reassurance from Sylus that this mc is enough, if not better, than past iterations of mc. Like, it's clear that Sylus's initial interest is because he knows you from the past, but you're still you. You're still a warrior, and incredibly skillful and strong- even canon mc (who i'll refer to as she since infold won't allow more options) in the game is competent, at least in battle, even if sometimes she is a bit cringe or silly because the writers seem to think that she needs to be nerfed on occasion to let the boys shine. But honestly that doesn't happen as much as I would expect based on other otome games i've played. but i digress! I definitely think a big source of angst after Sylus and the mc from this series become romantically involved would be from learning that not only had he not revealed their shared past earlier, but wrestling with the doubt you mentioned in your ask, of "Does he love me for me as I am now, or because I'm a good enough replacement?"

And Sylus's answer would be a resounding "I love you for who you are now, how could I not love someone who surprises me every day with all the emotions you carry inside you and can't hide, when I myself haven't felt much emotion in so long. how can I not love someone who despite being so hurt, is strong enough to keep trying to defend the weak, to keep fighting even when you're on the ropes. how could I not love someone who is funny and smart, and tries to fill my bedroom with plants because I miss the plants that grow everywhere but inside the n109 zone, a place I have to live in because it protects me from the sun and it's where my empire is even though I hate it."

And even further than that, because this is a comforting fantasy for me and maybe for others because we all want to think we are singularly unique for the person who loves us, even though in real life you can love more than one person in your life and all of those loves are valid, and polyamory does exist and is valid, BUT for me personally i like to think that sylus can even love this mc more than past mcs. Like i allude to in the series based on that evil villain bit he gives you about all the crimes you have committed or will commit, i have this idea that the mc he loved was a lot crueler than this mc. just based on how starved he is for touch and how he lights the fuck up if you're even a tiny bit nice to him, i think that the crumbs of affection that previous mc may have given him were enough to satisfy him because he did love that mc, even though they may have been a lot harsher. but when he meets our mc, who is already prepared to protect and care for him with everything in them despite what a dickhead he is when we first meet him, the returned affection and devotion that this mc provides for him is a feast that he almost does not know how to properly process, and he loves this mc as much, if not more, than the other mcs that he has cared for.

ok and now i'm done, i'm sorry if this is WAY more than you were looking for. In the end it would be angsty but sylus will prevail because he loves you so, so much!

[sabrondabrainrot]

🫣🫣🫣

Omigod favorite fandom?!?!!

I can't pick one....

I'm still ride or die for anything CLAMP related or KHR. Katekyo Hitman Reborn my beloved. I still need more ppl to read xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.

So far I've really liked the TMNT community, they seem chill but I only glance in from the outside.

The adventure time fandom cooks.

Very cringe answer but I miss early homestuck fandom....

Oh yeah I like the various danmei and korean novel fandoms.

Scum villain self saving system has me for life....

Also ONE PIECE

Lout of the counts family...

Omniscient reader viewpoint....

Also winx club

And most magical girl fandoms

I like a certain few in the tsams fandom

I miss the days of being a fnaf theorizer. I'm a big sb theorist so one day might write my random theories on fnaf sb.

Kingdom hearts fandom is so amazing everyone is so talented.

Persona actually has a fic I've been writing but it did take the back burner. Lots of fanart I've created for persona.

I go through phases a lot too when I hyper-fixate. So it depends if I actually will go deep and interact with fandom.

Pretty much everything I've done fanart for.

[sortanonymous]

So who in the universe is Lulu?

I don't want to sound mean or anything, but after over a year and a half, I'm still wondering what happens in that Kirby Starlight Theater light novel and especially everything about that Lulu woman. Whether she's related to Susie or whatever (I heard she might be, but I'm not sure). I don't even care about the surprise anymore. If anyone has read that book by now (it hasn't been translated on Tumblr yet), then please tell me absolutely everything about Lulu. At this point, it's too late to really affect my own AU or anything, but I'm just desperate to know.

[bittersweetblasphemy]

the problem with writing a fantasy loosely based on a historical culture is you need to decide how "loose" you're willing to go. like yeah i know they didn't have silk but fuck you there's a literal god sitting right the fuck there and of course he would want that shit. but also would the protagonist know what the fuck a book is?

[elegy-if]

how gory is the game going to be?

well... gore isn't my strongest suit, but i don't think i'm awful at it or else i wouldn't be writing a story with such a gory premise (+ i want to get better at it lol). it's not the goriest thing, imo? but i mainly read horror novels so take that with a grain of salt.

[azems-familiar]

Revan Adarii meets ""canon"" Revan What happens? :p

"canon" revan's a little bitch and wouldn't be able to withstand her sheer toxic queer swag. he evaporates on the spot

[permanentreverie]

I saw you're looking for Dostoevsky recs!!!! I go here!!!!!!!! If you're looking to start his Great Novels™ Crime and Punishment is the obvious starting place (I wrote my thesis on it! Just a really, really solid and engrossing book). The Brothers Karamazov is his magnum opus and like, my favorite book of all time; the only thing is that it's like if a novel were a christian existentialist treatise in a trenchcoat. The Idiot is a great and weird book - def not his best work technically but the ideas he's trying to articulate are sublime and provide great context for the ones he ends up fleshing out more in Brothers K. Feel free to skip Demons tbh; it's a 700 page polemic against the Russian Leftists of the 1860s and 1870s. And so sorry if you've read any of these already ahshdhfhf i just live here

Omg thank you!!!! I've heard great things about Crime & Punishment, and actually picked it up at a second hand bookstore last year! I've been looking forward to it, and hopefully if things keep going well I may even get around to reading it this year! In my copy I downloaded of White Nights I think it included the Brothers K … I'll have to check that out 👀

[scrawnytreedemon]

How to write Main Character: Make them feel unique,make them feel different but also familiar. Like you can see them everywhere at the same time nowhere

Or we can go the easy road and make one with God complex

I feel like ppl don't really make good main characters anymore. They feel the same these days

Ehhh???

Honestly, people do make good main characters, you just have to look. Usually easier to find in non-YA novels, in my experience. They tend to feel more like fleshed-out *people* with their own life-experience than vessels for the reader to insert themselves into,

Which, ironically enough, makes it easier for me to relate to them, even if we are otherwise very different people. If you make your character a person, then inevitably, some of those experiences line up.

If anything, trying to walk that tightrope of having your character just "unique" enough to be interesting while still "relatable" enough as to appeal to as many people as possible is where things can get muddy and you end up failing either way.

I think it tends to affect some genres more than others, but at the end of the day... It really isn't as bad of an issue as people make it out to be. Like, yeah. Mediocre literature exists. Things tend to be mid more than they are especially good or bad.

And I think that's fine.

Plus, tastes vary. There's no doubt alot of stuff I love that people will look at and say is subpar. There is no objective way of looking at fiction-- We all come in with our own biases.

I'm going offtopic. Hope the first half of this reply made sense. Apologies if I've completely misunderstood your point.

I dunno, I just hear these complaints, and it makes me think of alot of those shitty writing guides that I used to eat up (often made by amateur writers themselves), which were very insistent on finding the "right" way to write and ruthlessly mocking anything "bad."

I don't think that's what you were going for, at all, but I still think it's very generalising, and I'm not sure what to make of it?

[jesncin]

Any thoughts on Shayne, son of J’onn and Kendra Saunders?

Ooh I totally forgot J'onn had a son with a Hawkgirl in one of the comics! He looks like a cute lil guy. I'm personally more attached to K'hym but I think it's neat that in some versions J'onn gets to be a dad again. I'm all for him starting a new family :)

[aberooski]

writer emoji ask!! 🤭🎉🌞✨🥺

Oh boy, here we go!! Thanks for the ask, pal!! 😄

🤭 - I think my favorite tag would have to be Never let Chazz go into the woods alone akakak I mean it's my number 1 rule after all lol. Of course the running bit is that it happens all the time and it really never goes well for him now does it?

🌞 - Do I have a preferred time of the day to write? Not really, I just kinda write when the desire strikes. Could be the day, could be 3 am, who knows? But I am more of a night owl, my brain kinda wakes up when I'm supposed to be sleeping so I guess in that sense I do write more during the evening/nighttime than any other time of day.

🥺 - Oh boy I could write a novel about moments and interactions that put me in my feels you have no idea 😭

This question's gonna turn this answer into a novel I'm so sorry akskskak

I think if I had to narrow it down to maybe a few things I could probably say akaksk

As far as interactions go, like ones that happen a lot every single time Hassleberry specifically is protective of or exhibits concern for Syrus I get very emo. Like I added more of those moments to the SBH re-release because I loved the moments I'd done in newer fics so much. But the one specifically that always gets me is the moment in chapter 11 of OUAD where Hassleberry goes to check on Syrus after coming out of his berserked state.

Also the entirety of Salt In the Wound. Hassleberry being worried that just touching him will hurt him because he's so strong and Syrus trying to reach/call for Hassleberry to reassure him but he's too weak and hurt but then Hassleberry says fuck it and grabs Sy's hand while he's just lying there hurt in Jaden's arms 😭 and Hassleberry being upset seeing Sy's scar from the duplicate Camula bite a personal headcanon of mine a moment shared in the re-release of Sustained by Hate that I love

Of course all the copious amounts of moments like that between Jay and Sy make me fuckin cry but when those two have moments like that it hits DIFFERENT and like not even in a shippy way I don't view their relationship that way, they're just cute 😭

And really just SITW in general. Sy is my baby, he's my favorite character and I've never felt more that I was the same person as a character before. Zane needed social consequences for hurting him so deliberately and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't defend Sy's honor. But also the fact that after all of that Syrus still loves his brother and calls out to him when he walks away despite everything just shatters my heart.

And speaking of moments between Jay and Sy I cry over them constantly but there's one moment in particular that kills me man.

There's this one specific moment in chapter 20 of Sons of The Stars where Jaden and the squad, with Axel's help, break into Viper's fortress and sneak into the dungeon to rescue Syrus, who was kidnapped by Axel in chapter 17. And when they get there and break open Sy's cell they have this moment:

It's the "They didn't hurt you, did they?" for me 😭😭😭

Oh yes and literally any Dad Crowler(tm) moment makes me cry. And I exclusively write Dad Crowler(tm) so I'm dead.

I'm almost done with this question bear with me a sec akskak

A moment I've done twice now in slightly different ways that makes me sob my eyes out is that I've given Chazz and Alexis a variation of this 7R Cloti moment in both SoTS and SBH

Of course for Chazz and Alexis the intent is purely platonic whereas I'm screaming and crying and foaming at the mouth because Cloti for life 😤 but tender, vulnerable moments between Chazz and Alexis kill me. I love seeing her caring for him because well, in the show their dynamic is......

But I've always loved the idea of them being close. They're platonic soulmates and she's his found family sister 😭

Also any and all moments where Alexis is protecting Atticus, I'm not okay. That is my favorite Alexis.

Also the entire scene with Chazz and Atticus in chapter 11 of SBH leading up to them holding hands that 😩😭

And real quick before I finally move on to the next question I'm so sorry the NUMBER ONE! Stormshipping moment that gets me all kinds of fucked up!

In OUAD. In chapter 5. We all know what I'm talking about.

🎉 - I honestly have had very unhealthy thoughts about what makes me consider a fic successful. I've felt at one time or another that every single thing I've done was a failure. That it was a flop and I wasted all this time and effort and brain power on ideas that no one but me gives a damn about. I attach so much of my own personal value to how many views and likes and comments my fics get, which isn't really a lot. So I get super bummed out all the time and it makes me not wanna write. But lately I've been trying to climb out of that hole and I've told myself this.

As chessey as it is to say, as long as one person finds enjoyment in something I do, then it wasn't a waste of time. If I find enjoyment in something I've created, it wasn't a waste of time. It was worth it. It was a success because I saw it through and I did it.

I still get bummed out when my stuff doesn't perform super well, well because I'm really excited about what I do and I want to share it with people and have people like my work. But I'm trying to be more optimistic about what constitutes success or not. Of course I still love comments and likes, they make my day and I get so few of them. But when I get sad I look back at the ones I have gotten and I remember that there are people who really do like my work besides me, and that makes me feel a lot better about it all. 😊

✨ - and finally, the hardest thing for me to do 😅

If I had to give myself a compliment for my work, I kinda have 2 I suppose. The first one is kinda a back-handed compliment but the second one is legit so it evens out I guess.

I legitimately think my ideas are good. My concepts for my plots and fics are great.

Camula coming back for revenge? Amazing. Stormshipping Sleeping Beauty adaptation? S+ tier. Whole ass fantasy au I built from the ground up?? Wow. Chazzerella??????? Inspired.

Crossover with GX and Fatal Frame 5???? And Stormshipping + Alexis Mario crossover??????? Literal galaxy brain.

And so on. But I also feel like my ideas are better than my ability to execute them. So I often feel like they're better in my head than how they actually turn out. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that problem with their work. And in that vein I also do the most approximately all of the time and it's kinda to my detriment. I could make writing so much easier on myself and not burn myself out every time I write a fic if I just allowed myself not to include every single tiny little thing. This is why I have such a hard time writing one shots and shorter fics akskksks

But okay, time for a legitimate compliment I guess 😅

I legitimately feel like when I write a character, I'm doing right by them. Like I feel like I do characterization really well, and every Fandom I've written for I've had at least 1 person tell me I wrote the characters really well.

I also think I write some pretty damn good dialog sometimes, and occasionally I'm actually funny or convey romance somewhat okay.

Like I'm good at writing villains. I really enjoy writing mean characters or just generally characters that speak more formally whether they're villains or not. I think that comes from my love of Final Fantasy 12 and how they like exclusively wax poetic in that game akskskka

I've still got a lot of areas I could improve on though, but I think I've at least nailed down a few 😅

[nedlittle]

Your museum work sounds so lovely!

If it's alright to ask, how did you get into the kind of work you do?

well, the easy answer is that if you're going to work in history, it generally helps to have a degree in it. also a caveat that my museum work is a) not indicative of all museum work and generally a museum studies degree is at the very least helpful b) essentially social media based since i am remote. i was actually supposed to relocate and help with more typically museum stuff (i.e. photographing and cataloguing archives, working the front desk) but due to personal circumstances that was not in the cards and they were gracious enough (and really needed the help) to allow me to alter the position a bit. so instead i get to colour-code spreadsheets and make newsletters and write and research articles with whatever sources they give me. the majority of these articles go on facebook but some of them are direct requests from residents, or occasionally, the local hospital who wanted a blurb about their namesake to put on their website. because this position is so writing-based, i sort of make up for my lack of formal museum education with eng/hist experience instead

if you're in canada and you're currently in school or under 30 and are interested in history and/or museum spaces, check out young canada works and canada summer jobs which is how i got both of my museum jobs

[world-of-fire-and-flight]

Embers of Eternity Blurb....Draft 103

A/N: BLURBS ARE THE BANE OF EXISTENCE😣😭 I can't tell y'all how many times I've revised it and at this point idk if I'm just mad at it and that's why I'm having trouble with it or if it still needs work. Would you mind dropping some feedback for me? This is for Embers of Eterinity/book 2 in my Heirs of Tenebris trilogy (Fire & Flight (book 1) blurb here; Fire & Flight general info masterlist here), so any and all help is totally appreciated so I can get this finalized😄💜

The spirits of the Shadow Forest are waking up.

Hidden in the centuries-old legends of the forest is the history forgotten by the country of Tenebris. But for seventeen-year-old Nyla, the 600-year-old history has become her present. Struggling to break the curse binding her to the Woodlane Manor, she and her companions must race against time to find and defeat the evil sorceress threatening their homeland. With the help of Xander and Shamira, the fierce pumpkie who’d taken up the forbidden quest to investigate the disturbances in magic, Nyla searches for a way to break the curse that won’t require a hefty sacrifice.

But even as their small victories swell their hope, the real battle is only just beginning. With the trio forced to confront their pasts, Nyla and Xander must trust the help offered to them by outside sources and connect the missing links provided by a secret society. But what if Dinora raises her army before Nyla and Xander can gather the forces necessary to defeat her? Will defeating her cost them their dreams of the future?

Return to Tenebris in Embers of Eternity, the stunning sequel to [my] epic young adult fantasy series, the Heirs of Tenebris.

[lunaetis]

@v-iciious asked :

“I am who I am because of you. You are every reason, every hope, and every dream I’ve ever had.” // for violet !!

unprompted. || always accepting

─「ヴァイオレット」─  you're a weapon and weapons don't weep.

                THE BEAST OF BOUGAINVILLIA was exactly that. she was a living weapon and a proof of how far one could be pushed into becoming deadly enough to be called a weapon rather than a person. despite possessing an appearance of a young woman, those azure eyes had shown no emotions ever since she was brought up. she was raised, and taught to be nothing but a killing machine. a living, breathing tool for someone to use, and a BEAST to bring victory to her master. fight and kill. blood and ashes. war and sacrifices. that was all she knew. that was her entire life. one order after another. no question, no emotion, none.

                and here she was, the same beast, the WEAPON whose her collar was cut loose and she latched onto the person who freed her from the officials ready to dispose of her. bright blue eyes were no longer emotionless, however, as they sparkled with silent delight every time they landed upon HIM. perhaps, not unlike a puppy awaiting to be petted, to be praised, to be called.

                " i am who I am because of you. you are every reason, every hope, and every dream i've ever had. "

                and the SOLDIER stared at him, feeling the warmth of his hand against her cheek, feeling the warmth of his words seeping into her heart. each syllable registered itself into her mind, wrapping like vines so tightly and securely around the BEATING ORGAN in her left chest. and she stared at him with her eyes revealing everything words cannot.

                she looked at him like he was light, like he was hope in the darkness, like he was that silver-lining through the endless storm, like he was dawn that broke the dark, like he was EVERYTHING.

                and it was just that. it was truth. to violet, lir was her reason to live.

                shouldn't it be her who said those words to him ? shouldn't it be HER who told him just how much he meant to her, how she would be so willing to break every bones in her body just to keep him safe ? it should be like that, right ? her gloved hand slowly came over his own, gently pressing it closer to her cheek as she leaned into his touch, head turning so that she could nuzzle her lips into that the calloused palm that had been stained with blood countless of time. even so, she treated it like he was HOLY.

                lir ... lir ... lir ...

                " please don't go where i can't follow. " it was a plead, a confession, a pledge, a VOW, all in one. in that single sentence, it was clear how her whole existence was tied to this person, how her VERY sense of self was made up, and around, the man before her. nothing else mattered, no one else could come close. his existence in her life was so massive that she cannot comprehend GOING FORWARD without him.

                " no matter where the path you walk would lead, whether it leads to salvation, eternal paradise, or literal hell, i will follow you. i will follow you anywhere. " LOVE ... she knew this was love in its purest sense, in the sense that she would have loved him regardless of time, circumstances, or any change in the future. she clutched his hand a little tighter, then leaning forward just so she could rest her forehead to his. like a lost puppy, like a lost soul finally finding a home after wandering aimlessly for so long.

                " i never dream, never hope. i never have desire for anything ... except you. "

                " if a weapon, a war tool like myself can become someone's hope and dream, then it's all because of you. i owe it to you. because you taught me what love is, all the love i have in me is for you and you alone. "

                " this body, this heart — it's all yours, lir. "