#in other news i've been reading some really good books in my english class

[deciphered-narrator]

i haven't been writing lately bc i've been very very stressed but i do have 9/10 chapters of aiadw outlined, the last chapter is just going to be annoying bc i'm changing things from my original plan. also i still have to type up the rest of cosmophagia draft 2 (easy) and then completely reformat the story again (not easy)

[irisxstardust]

— snow on the beach » e. williams

a/n: i've been obsessed with this for days now i had to get it out of my brain. if something isn't right or factual, no it isn't. hope u enjoy anyway. also idk if this'll have multiple parts i just ended it where it felt right. also i'm bad at summaries just read it anyway. based off the taylor swift song hyperlinked here.

summary: you're minding your own business when the familiar book in your hand sparks ellie williams' interest. a couple french fries and cold drinks later, you're on her surfboard learning how to surf; you've always wanted to learn, but actually learning seemed as rare as snow on the beach. so what happens when it snows on the beach?

cw: (very minimal) swearing, suggestive desc, its really just fluff tbh. didn't describe reader or their clothing/hair at all. surfing is a pretty inclusive sport as is so there's no worries there.

pairings: (loser) sufer!ellie x beachy!reader

wc: 2.5k

You stand up, quickly rubbing grains of sand off your backside before turning to face down your towel. Grabbing it by the corners you lift it up and sake it, clumps of sand falling away into the ground beneath you. 

The wind had been extra harsh all afternoon, leaving a fine dusting of sand all over your beach gear. You would huff, stand up, shake out your towel, and flop down on it only to repeat the process again twenty minutes later. 

You sit back down on the towel, picking your book up and flipping back to your marked page, little sand grains embedded in creases in random pages. 

The book was new, one you'd bought with the beach in mind, and all you wanted to do was read it. Obviously, the wind had other ideas - as did the universe. 

"Good book." 

You hum, head shooting towards the speaker. A young woman comes into view, hair short enough that it cups her jawline, wearing short black shorts and holding a cream-colored surfboard.

"That's a good book. I read it last year in my English Lit. class. Worth it," she nods, eyes glancing from your book to your face.

You recognized her from countless beach days prior - she always came alone, always left alone, and almost never spoke to anyone aside from a polite "morning" or "see you later" to other surfers. She was in some of your classes too, only the science or math ones, though, and you were fairly certain she was a STEM major. 

"Oh, yeah! I'm only halfway through but it's really good so far," you smile, "only got it to read here." You shrug and pull your legs in, sitting criss-cross on your towel, mind swimming as your eyes skim the girl.

"You come to the beach just to read?"

You roll your eyes, "it's not a bad thing - plenty of people do it." 

She doesn't respond aside from the nod of her head, eyes now focused on the ocean in front of you. 

"There's not many surfers today," you say suddenly, "watched them all leave a few hours ago." 

She nods, "yeah, I haven't been here in a while either; hasn't been any good waves recently." 

"Didn't look like it."

She chuckles, her eyes glancing over at you again - up, down / down, up. She scans your little area as if she was looking for something before bringing her eyes back up to your face. 

"You didn't bring any water with you to the beach?"

You shake your head, "I left my bottle on the counter at home." 

She exhales loud - laughing quietly, "Wanna grab something with me?" Her head gestures toward the restaurants on the boardwalk though her eyes stay trained on you. 

You ponder it for a moment before marking your page and setting your book on your towel. "Where were you thinking?"

She grins, "which is your favorite?" 

•••

"So, how long have you been surfing?" You ask, hand resting gently around your cool glass of water. 

She swallows a bite of her fries and leans back, looking up in thought. She finally looks back down and shrugs, "couple years. Ever since I moved here, basically." 

"Is it fun? It looks fun," you turn to glance at the beach through the window before turning back to the girl - now known as Ellie. "I love to watch people surf."

"Oh yeah, I love it," she smiles. "You've never tried it?"

You shake your head, furrowing your brows out of surprise, "oh absolutely not," you scoff. "That'd be like if it... if it snowed on the beach - fucking insane." 

She shrugs, "you never know until you try it." Her eyes have a devious tint to them, her voice suggestive. 

So you walk out of the restaurant together, across the beach to your towel and her board, little whips of excitement flashing through your veins. 

"Is it hard?" 

"Nah," she shakes her head and scoffs, "just gotta get used to it. You can practice here for now." 

She flips her board in the sand so it is facing the right way, waxy side up, and she pats it a few times with her hands. 

"The wax might feel a little weird but it's not really noticeable in the water," she says, resting on her knees to the side of the surfboard. "Uh, here, lay on it." 

"What?" 

"You have to lay on it," her face it blank, ears red. "You know... in the water when you start paddling towards the wave... you have to lay on it." 

"Oh! Yeah..." but your feet are unmoving. You stand there, at the edge of her surfboard, rethinking the position you put yourself in. 

"Here, I'll show you." 

She stands again and you step back. 

She drops herself on top of the board, straddling either side of it while looking up at you. "If you're just sitting there you can sit like this: one leg on either side of the board. It's easier to lay down when you sit like this." 

You nod, eyes scanning her sandy legs. Her top is digging into her sides tightly and you think that looks uncomfortable as she shifts her position. 

She shifts so she is laying on the board, stomach flat against it. "That's how you'll lay down. Just-" she does it again. "Like that." 

You nod, again. You're briefly rendered speechless while you watch her muscles flex as she lays down again. 

"Then," her voice snaps you back to reality. "When you're ready for the wave, you gotta jump up-" she props herself up with each arm holding either edge of the board while her legs jump to the center of the board. She stands slowly, "like that." 

She laughs softly as she meets you face on again, your eyes wide. "You do that in the water?" 

"It's not that* bad it's just... it takes a minute to get used to," she shrugs. "Wanna try?" She steps off the board into the sand behind her. 

"I don't really know anymore..." but you step over the board anyway, slowly lowering yourself onto it. You repeat her motions, just a little slower and shakier, as she watches from the side. 

"Oh see!" She says as you hop to your feet on the board. "You're basically a natural." 

You try to hide your laugh but it comes out as a snort anyway as you narrow your eyes at her. 

"Am not. I told you, it's like snow on the beach." 

She shakes her head, grin still plastered on her face, "but believe it or not... it really does snow on the beach in some places."

You snicker, "maybe I should learn there." 

She laughs, "just try it again! You'll get better." 

So you repeat the process again: sitting on the board, laying down, then jumping up. And again. And again. And - guess what? - again. 

Once you're not shaky on the board Ellie smiles and picks it up, "ready to actually try?" 

"Waste of time if I don't try after all that," you snort.

"See? Now you get it." 

You laugh and walk towards the water beside Ellie, swinging your arms by your side. 

She wades through the water, looking back to see if you've run off yet or not every so often. Once she decides you're both in far enough she pulls the board across the surface of the water to you. 

She helps you swing a leg over and onto the board, the back of it dipping a little. She scoots you forward, hand on your lower back, before she hops on after you. 

"Comfy?" She asks, kicking her feet a little and sliding up so your back is pressed against her front. 

"Oh, yeah," you nod sarcastically, "could take a nap right here." 

She scoffs, "I hope you drown." 

"Is that any way to talk to a friend?" You ask incredulously, feigning offense and surprise. 

"I wouldn't play so innocent, babe." She says, and the sarcastic tone is there, though you still can't help but to inwardly squeal and kick your feet at the pet name. 

The banter broke with your pause and Ellie began to talk about how waves work and the different parts of them.

You, however, were mostly only paying attention to the way the veins and tendons in her hands, that rested on your knees, flexed as she spoke. Your eyes traced her hands, from white knuckles to the tips of her long fingers, it was like you couldn't tear your eyes away from them. 

"You good?" She asks, one of her hands tapping your upper arm. 

"Yeah! All good," you lie, cheeks flushing with heat. "Just... watching the water," you mumble. 

She doesn't seem to entirely buy it, but she shrugs it off anyway as a small wave begins to flow in your direction. 

"Let's just ride this one out so you can get a feel of it," she suggests, kicking her feet and twisting the board so you both are facing the shore. 

Your eyes scan the sand, searching for any forms of life. It's pretty dark now, you think, everyone's gone home for lunch. We're alone.

The wave softly brings the board forward all the way up to where you started. 

"Not too bad?" Ellie questions, and you can feel her warm gaze on the back of your head. "No snow on the beach yet?"

You shake your head, laughing, "not yet, but the night isn't over yet either." 

She laughs and little wisps of her hair tickle your temples as she leans just *that much* closer to push the surfboard back out into open water. 

•••

"How 'bout this one?" Ellie asks, eyes roaming past you to the horizon, the wave standing proud as it pummels towards you. 

In the hours that came after your first wave, you'd managed to flip your position so you were facing Ellie. You completely forgot about actually trying to surf, only riding out every small wave that came from nearby boats. 

"Oh, yeah. How are..." 

"I'll just hop off," she shrugs. 

You pause for a second too long because Ellie is sliding off the board and pulling your leg to get you to flip around on the board. 

"Remember; lay down then hop up, kay?" She presses her hand on your thigh, giving you a reassuring squeeze before backing away and treading the water a few feet away from you. 

You inhale shakily, wondering if it was too late to back out. 

The wave comes quickly, and you twist the board with it, quickly finding Ellie's eyes as you turn. 

"Now!" She cheers, motioning for you to stand. 

You put your hands flat on the board and nervously walk your feet to the center of the board. You stand shakily, legs half bent and arms held out to try and help your balance. 

"Wait- Ellie!" You shout, watching the water crash down around your board as the wave pushes you towards the shore. "How do I get off-"

You slip back, losing one of your feet as you try to balance yourself again on the board. Before you can process what's happening, the world is spinning from view and you are splashing through the water, thousands of little bubbles clouding your vision before you close your eyes. 

You surface quickly, coughing a little from the sudden water intake, but Ellie swims up beside you, pulling her surfboard to your chest so you can rest against it. 

"That was great!" She laughs, "I forgot to tell you that you'd fall but-"

"I hate you." You say sharply. 

"Fun though?" One of her brows raises in curiosity and you can't bite back the smile that's slowly forming.

"A little," you pinch your words and Ellie grins.

"Wanna go in? It's getting pretty dark. Sharks like to come out at-" 

You make a face, "get me out."

Ellie laughs and holds the board as you push it down and sit on it again. The newfound, strong, waves push you back to shore quickly and within minutes you're shaking out your sandy towel and wrapping it around yourself. You dry off and cover your swimsuit with a sheer coverup, sliding on some sandals and putting your book in your tote bag. 

"That was... surprisingly the best day I've had so far this summer," you say softly as Ellie walks you back to your car, the leash of her surfboard dragging on the ground between the two of you. 

She smiles and glances at you quickly before looking back down at the ground, "was it the surfing or..."

"Not entirely."

She bites the corner of her lip before looking back up at you, "wanna do something else, then? Together?" 

"Got anywhere in mind?" 

"Town's pretty full of tourists right now but... I know a few places-" 

You point out your car in the lot, leading her down one of the aisles. You reach the car quickly, opening the trunk to throw in your dirty towel before turning back to Ellie. You hold the strap of your tote bag with both hands, like a little kid, as you skim Ellie's figure once again. 

"That'd be great. You have your phone on you?" 

She mutters some random answer before patting her wet and empty pockets. 

"That's okay," you pull a pen out of your tote, "I don't have any paper though-" 

"That's fine- um, here," she holds her hand out towards you and you wrap your hand around her wrist, beginning to write out your phone number on her forearm.  

"Let me know?" 

Her cheeks are pink as she nods, eyes reflecting the soft moonlight as she stares at you with the biggest star-eyes you'd probably ever seen. On the water, Ellie was some macho man, confident in herself and all that she put into the world; but off the water, Ellie looked like a scared little girl who had no idea what was going on ever.

"Thank you," you start, "for the lesson and lunch."

She smiles, breaking eye contact and looking at your feet before looking back up and beginning, "anytime. Seriously, if you ever want to go out again you can text me. I don't mind taking you out, I'll just have to bring another surfboard." 

You laugh before opening your arms and pulling Ellie into a hug. As you pull back you kiss her cheek, squeezing her shoulders.

"Oh, of course, I'm never taking anyone else to the beach again." 

She nods and laughs, almost choking on air as you pull away and towards your car. You get in and wait for Ellie to walk to her car before pulling off and driving into the road, heart pounding. 

You turn the radio up, hoping to distract you from your myriad of thoughts for just a moment. The song is halfway through, but you recognize the song almost immediately. 

I can't speak afraid to jinx it

I don't even dare to wish it

But your eyes are flying saucers from another planet

Now I'm all for you like Janet

Can this be a real thing, can it?

Are we falling like snow at the beach? 

Weird but fuckin' beautiful

Flying in a dream, stars by the pocketful 

You wanting me tonight, feels impossible 

But it's comin' down, no sound, it's all around

Like snow on the beach

a/n 2: if ur reading this i hope u enjoyed 🫶🏻🫶🏻 lmk if there's any typos. inbox is always open. love u all😚😚

[mejomonster]

How did you learn Chinese, like did you use a specific program like Duolingo or did you take classes? How hard was it to read Priest's novels with where you were at in your language learning journey? I want to get back into learning (been wanting to since I watched The Untamed,) but I gave up about 8 months ago 😭

Hey ovo)/ so uh. That's a big question. I have a studyblr @rigelmejo so if you really want the full on journey lol its on there, steps i took and what I studied and progress and study tools I found and used and stuff I've linked for people.

For the shortest tip I can give you? Would be to check out the Heavenly Path site if you're interested in learning to read novels. You'll need to figure out your own way to study about 1000 common hanzi, basic grammar, and basic pronunciation (I link resources on rigelmejo), but after that point the Heavenly Path site has reading resources for graded reading, easier kids novels, easier manhua, webnovels by difficulty level, all the way up! So you can at that point just follow their recommendations and use reading tools they link (like Pleco and Readibu apps which I suggest you download asap - they include tools where you can click a chinese word when reading for translation and audio pronunciation and pinyin). So yeah at 1000 hanzi, just start reading from their suggestions! (Also consider downloading Bilibili Comics app as it has English and Chinese free manhua, so you can start reading manhua earlier, and youtube/viki.com learn mode and Any platforms with dual english/chinese subs and start trying to look up 1 word every 5 minutes or more as curious and practicing reading the chinese words in subs you've learned). I suggest you check out all pages on the Heavenly site, they link a ton of resources.

The short-ish version of what I did the first year I studied chinese? I fumbled a lot, read through an entire grammar guide summary in a few weeks here http://chinese-grammar.com/, watched some YouTube tone videos and went through a pronunciation guide here https://www.dong-chinese.com/learn/sounds/pinyin which took a week or two and I'd do it every few months, read through the book Learning Chinese Characters: (HSK Levels 1-3) A Revolutionary New Way to Learn the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters by Tuttle publishing in about 2 months (I really liked their mnemonics to help me remember hanzi), started Ben Whatley memrise decks 1000 Chinese common words and 2000 common words (took about 2 weeks to finish one then I took a few months break then studied the other 1000, mainly focusing on studying new words and not reviewing until the last week if I had time - in retrospect I think learners would do better with the Chinese Spoonfed Anki deck but the memrise courses I used worked fine for me). I was watching cdramas as usual most weeks, English subs with the Chinese hardsubs on the video file like most youtube cdramas, with Google Translate app on my phone to look up a word every several minutes as curious. Once I was 3ish months in and learning the memrise Ben Whatley 2000 common chinese words, I read some Mandarin Companion graded readers in Pleco app then some more 300-600 word graded readers in Pleco. That gets me to like month 6ish. Then I started reading manhua and looking up words in pleco or Google translate when I needed to in order to grasp main idea overall (or was curious about a particular word). Kept reading graded readers in pleco.

Around month 8 I tried 天涯客 and 镇魂, both brutally hard. I was reading in Pleco in the Clipboard Reader (from websites) or the Reader tool (i bought it for like $20 dollars along with handwriting recognition, OCR, and expanded dictionaries). Mandarinspot.com has a good reading tool too that can add pinyin if you need it, and Readibu in some ways i prefer to Pleco depending on your particular reading needs on a given day. Tried a few easier webnovels, tried a pingxie fanfic 寒舍 which was hard but easier than priest novels (love that fanfic). I kept bouncing between webnovels then around month 10 天涯客 novels took about 1.5 hours to read through a chapter. At that point I brute force tried to read it or 寒舍 daily with 1 chapter a day, got 28 chapters in before i burned out with 天涯客 and 60ish chapters into 寒舍. It was about a year in. I cram studied 500 hanzi in some common hanzi deck with mnemonics I found on anki over a month, hoping if I improved vocab I'd read easier. I also was gradually trying to watch more cdrama with only chinese subs, around month 6 I finally watched Granting You a Dreamlike life full episodes with no eng subs (about 5-10 word lookups an episode), watched 15ish eps, then after that shows got less daunting to try watching.

A little over a year in Word of Honor came out and I watched it in chinese first because I was too impatient for eng subs. After that went decently I got braver about reading, tried Listening Reading Method (see @rigelmejo for those experiments), more stuff etc like extensive reading with no word lookups.

In retrospect I WISH I'd started with easier novels Heavenly Path recommended. However on the other hand? I've seen people who read their first cnovel with Pleco as early as 3-6 months in which blows my mind. So me picking hard novels to start isn't the Hardest thing in comparison lol. This past year (so at start of year 3 studying lol) I actually read like 10 things on Heavenly Paths easier recommendations and it helped immensely in filling in gaps in vocab and reading fluidity I had. So if you do pick a priest novel as your first novel and manage to chug through it without giving up, be aware "easier" novels may still have stuff you can learn later so don't rule them out as reading materials later on.

I've also seen people do literally no study except maybe some curious Google searches on hanzi or grammar or pronunciation, then brute force read novels in Readibu until they improved. A brutal way to do it but possible. (I really recommend at minimum learning hanzi are made of radicals though as it makes recognizing and remembering them so much easier).

I think the best thing I did for learning to read was just being Brave and Trying to read regularly. And it gradually got less hard.

[inhibitcomic]

I thought it would be fun to take you on a little journey through some old Inhibit art!

First up is Paulina, who was originally meant to be captured by Urquhart and sent to Earl in Chapter 2 - the kids getting ready to go down to breakfast would have been interrupted by them seeing a new resident arrive, and later we would have been introduced to her in class. I'm glad that didn't happen, the comic is much better the way it is now. These are from 2013/2014.

You can also see here what I was talking about in this ask RE: Paulina's hair being "oil"! Her face shape was also originally much more square than it is now, I tried to be very strict with that angle but by the time I got to the comic I realised that wasn't realistic.

Vic has just been wrung like a wet towel since 2010. These are from 2010 to 2014. He was originally a side character, and then shuffled reluctantly into role of main character. He also used to be a confident jock. Vic is named after Victor Frankenstein because that's what we were reading in English class when I first wrote his character and I was scanning around my room for a name idea like uhhhhhh

Have some more Vics from 2013 (which I redrew in 2021 because I'm a sucker for a redraw). Chronologically these come between red hoodie Vic and "uh" Vic:

Julia hasn't changed much at all, though she was originally a more sporty girl. She just lost a leg and some fingers over the years, she's always been a goofball. Along with Vic, David, and Cameron, Julia is one of the only characters remaining from the original version of Inhibit! Everyone else got cut or replaced. Paulina was kiiiinda in the first version but under a different name and role; the original weird girl with a connection to the protagonist was called Margot and she worked for Urquhart.

Masha was a later addition to the story so here she is from 2013/2014. Yes, as previously mentioned, she was originally a doublade gijinka so here's that drawing lmao. Her hair was so small! Masha is named after Maria GentleWhispering lmaox2

Some 2010-2013 Davids! The half life shirt has me creased every time I see it because I know I was all about that "the cake is a lie" and other Valve meme shit at the time. David was the original protagonist's boyfriend; her name was Charlie and she, David, and Vic were in a really badly written YA love triangle. It's okay, David, I saved you. You're gay now.

And some 2014 Nates to cap it off! Nate existed for a year or so before I finally decided to draw him. None of these are good. I do like the second drawing on the left because I hadn't settled on a final concept for the Urquhart uniforms yet so I was just going wild. Vic also already had a broken nose here, I'm not sure why. That drawing turned into this little exchange.

That's all I've got for you! If you haven't read Inhibit, you can check it out for FREE at inhibitcomic.com, or pick up the first two books on Kickstarter right now!!!

[insanefan]

Writer Interview Tag

Thanks for the tag @hydropyro!

I will tag hmmm @gothic-ivory and... whomever else might feel inclined to join in!

Questions and answers below the cut <3

When did you start writing?

I used to write stories in primary school, I know. I believe about 5th grade was when it really started, with my stories about my dogs being superheroes. Grand adventures for these creatures who meant so much to me. Then, in 7th grade, we had a creative writing assignment in English - a gathering of witches! We had lots of prework for it, everyone had to write a 'postcard home', 'what does your character see in the crystal ball', 'what's in their suitcase' and so on and so forth, but then finally we were let loose.

Now, I'm writing this in English too, so one might think "ah well, pretty normal then". But I am not English, now am I xD No, at this point we'd had English lessons for about four years, I believe? The weakest in class wrote a story of about two pages. It was a good effort! But English was hard. I didn't understand it, but I could still appreciate the effort. Now me though... at ten pages my teacher went "you need to stop". I ended up with twelve. That sort of... sets a starting point, I think. That's when I went "ohh. oh I like this."

So I suppose what that means is; I started writing stories in English in 7th grade. 12 yrs old! Starting to be a while. And, uh, I've kept at it since. 90 % of the time in English. I started writing fanfiction also at 12, though a bit later in the year, and since I wanted to talk with people about it, I had to write in the 'shared' language, as it were.

My aunt, currently a journalist but previously an author, laments that I don't write in Norwegian. She claims there's a power in writing your own language. She may well be right. Maybe I'll get to it sometime.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Well, yes. I am a voracious reader. Always have been. I do mainly enjoy a variety of fantasy and folk genres, but I am also of mind that it's incredibly healthy to broaden your own horizons, so I often get books at the library that the librarians have recommended for one reason or another, even if I would not necessarily have chosen them myself. 8/10 times I enjoy them and learn something new. So I read a lot also in non-fantasy genres, though not a lot of sci-fi.

When it comes to my writing, it's 1) mainly fanfiction these days or 2) RP. The fanfiction I usually write in the universe it's set, though granted that's often one fantasy world or another, while the RP I tend to go looking for more fantasy-esque things. I'm also very much a 'fluff and angst' writer; tragedy and comfort, exploring one's own path to healing and the sharing of affection and warmth between characters is something I write a lot of. Should I branch out and try to tackle deeper themes, other ideas? Maybe. I might, if I get inspired at some point.

It might be it's easier if I try my hand at more original fiction. Food for thought.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Not really? There is always inspiration to be found in reading other things, and there's the concept that 'everything is copied from somewhere' and whatnot, but I really think it's more a case that everything you read, see, hear, experience and learn becomes part of this massive pool of knowledge you have. That you can pull from when you write. And sometimes that means you emulate a specific writing style. But I can't say it's something I am actively trying to, nor have I had my work compared with anything insofar as I'm aware.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

My writing space is wherever I'm sitting comfortably with my laptop accessible. Or a notebook. I do have around 15 notebooks full from cover to cover with writing from my younger days, and they're hilarious to look through, not least because gods beyond have I improved since! But I write much, much faster with a computer.

I had a shitty laptop from I was around 12, but it was at upper secondary that I really started writing on the computer for real; we got our own laptops from school, and I spent... probably too much time writing stories instead of doing my actual schoolwork xD I still have all of those texts! Put them in my dropbox and have carried them around since. I believe I'm up to about 1500 separate documents for different stories now.

Of course, sometimes you can't bring your laptop, and that's when notebooks are good to have again. Or, in worst case, my phone. I do have a note app, I just sincerely dislike writing on the phone with its annoying autocorrection and whatnot.

Also tho, I did recently get a paper tablet (reMarkable) for work which feels like writing on paper and can turn handwritten text into computer text (to some degree; I have shit handwriting) and can regardless save the files so I have them in one place 👀 It's a very expensive notebook but so far I am loving it A Lot.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Lamenting about the lack of one? Honestly, I'm not quite sure. Sometimes I get inspiration out of nowhere, sometimes I struggle. Music can help, sometimes.

What is your reason for writing?

Otherwise I'd never get peace! There's always ideas swirling about in my head of various completion and loudness. If I don't write they take up too much space, not allowing me the space for other things, like, say, my work. I need the ideas out on paper or in a document to trap them there!

Honestly though, I also simply enjoy being able to describe events. Describe things that are happening to the characters, how they're reacting to them, what it does with them. I'm something of an introspective writer, I suppose, I'm very interested in the inner cognitive life of the characters I'm writing, and so it's almost always an exploration because these characters, much like people, are multi-faceted and don't necessarily react as expected.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Hah! If people comment or interact with me regarding my writing, literally anything motivates me. Showing excitement for my excitement becomes excitement^2 you know? So really, even a comment as simple as "I like this character!" will cheer me and motivate me, though of course the moment you start commenting "I liked when character x did this" or "what are your plans for character y?" I will end up in high gear because then it's a conversation.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Do they think about me? Odd thought. I'm always surprised when someone tells me they've thought about me if I'm not present. Which is also an odd thing, isn't it? The idea that you slip your friends' mind if you're not an active presence?

May or may not be a result of bullying in my youth, that one. Gotta work on it.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I suppose perhaps character development? I enjoy multi-faceted characters, so I often try to make mine as 'human' as possible, with all our faults and fantastic abilities. There's nothing I enjoy as much as putting a character in situations and having them realise things about themselves.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

All told it's probably a bit of a mix, but it leans to writing for myself. I've posted some things, both back in the days when fanfiction.net was it and on ao3, but as previously mentioned; 1500 documents. I've posted, what, 15 things on ao3? I write because I want to write and because I can't find what I want to read and thus need to write it myself. If someone else enjoys it too, it makes me happy! But it's no necessity.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I enjoy it! I will reread my own stories on a pretty frequent basis, honestly, because I've written them for me. When people also offer a lil compliment or comment that they like it too, it's incredibly nice, but in the end, yes, I do like my own writing.

Still things to learn, but I can learn them while enjoying it, instead of learning them because of feeling misery.

[theinconveniencing]

HIIII CARMEN 😁😁😁😺

1, 6, and 12 for the ask game pls

HIIIII TALIA!!!!🤓

what are three shows in your watchlist that you've been meaning to get to?

only three. well freaks and geeks has been there for literal years. succession and I'm not just saying that because it's you I've been meaning to I promise. and the bachelor season 24. which is next on my list and I don't care I love trashy reality tv sue me

what do you use to keep your place when you're reading a book?

well I mean anything really. generally a sticky note but I do have an actual painted bookmark I got from somewhere for free. the other day I was straight up using a hair tie tho it's the wild wild west

what's something about your best friend that you love?

im not just gonna say one thing that's criminal and insulting to her. I met her in senior year english class and we happened to be in the same choir class and she was new to the school because of some truly insane circumstances and there are a million different universes where we didn't meet but I'm so beyond fucking happy we live in this one. I've had best friends before but nobody has truly been here for me like she has. no matter what you say to her she handles it with grace. she doesn't make me feel judged for anything I say or do. I say this with love but she's an absolute ditz but she doesn't take herself seriously so we can just laugh and laugh about the things she says. she's one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. her instagram stories are some of my favorite things ever. she's always willing to give people a second chance. but somehow she still talks shit with the best of them. she's such a generous person and has amazing tastes in movies and she can bring up the same joke twenty times in a day but still manages to make it funny. she's always down for some ridiculous bullshit adventure we decide to do on a whim. she loves live music and has this hilarious intense one sided beef with dua lipa. she manages to tease me in a way that doesn't ever feel insulting. she cuts hair and is really fucking good at it even though she only goes to class when she has to. she's the most talented makeup artist (that makes it sound like she's licensed or something) I've ever known in my life like I'm serious. she's incredible. she's so confident and never afraid to just be the most honest embarrassing version of herself possible. she literally has a five nights at freddy's themed car. even in the face of the most dire circumstances she always has the faith that everything is gonna work out. and it does. she has a lifetime of ridiculous anecdotes and she attracts weird people and always has some new story to tell of some completely bullshit thing somebody said to her the other day. she got hit by a car one time before we even met but she always laughs when we talk about it. she loves metal music but her favorite song is no hands. she has a beautiful voice and she isn't afraid at all to scream songs in the car. she's obsessed with hummus. she has great style I'm always obsessed with every outfit she wears. and well I could go on but I love her a lot🫶

[neonmeron]

木曜日　2023/10/12

こんにちはみんなさん！

みんなは元気？私はまあまあ。木曜日はあまり好きじゃない。:/

今日のトピック：や、～なければいけません、midterm review

So this past 金曜日 was the midterm. It wasn't that bad and we already got our scores but I wanted to go over our midterm review sheet.

I have a challenge for you! I want you to write down what you think the answer is based on my previous posts. There are one or two grammar points I don't think I've gone over with you, so I'll do that now.

The final grammar points i need to cover are や And ～なければいけない／なきゃいけない

Let's start with や!

や connects two nouns like と except や suggests that the things referred to are proposed as examples and that you are not exciting an exhaustive list. It's similar in the way that たり is used. 練習しましょう。

 AやB (A and B, for example)

東京や大阪に行った。I went to tokyo and osaka (and may have visited other places)

おにぎりやラーメンを食べた。I ate onigiri and ramen. (and may have eaten other things)

Honestly there's not much else to it. It's really straightforward!

Next is ～なければいけない／なきゃいけない

This is used to say when something has to/must be done. ねければ is the more formal version and its more often seen in the written language while なきゃいけない is more colloquial and mainly found in the spoken language. To conjugate, you need your verb in the present negative form. For example:

勉強する＞勉強しない＞勉強しなきゃいけない

作る＞作らない＞作らなければいけない

歌う＞歌わない＞歌わなきゃいけない。

待つ＞待たない＞待たなければいけない

食べる＞食べない＞食べなきゃいけない

Let's do some practice sentences!

火曜日に日本語の試験（しけん）があるので、たくさん勉強しなければいけません／いけない。Because I have a japanese exam on tuesday, i must study a lot.

もうすぐ母は家に帰るので、車を洗わなきゃいけません。Because my mom is returning home soon, i have to wash the car.

食べすぎたので運動しなければいけません。Because I ate too much,  I must exercise.

今、私の双子はフランスに住んでいるので、手紙（てがみ）を送らなきゃいけません。Because my twin is living in France right now, I must send letters.

熱があって、喉（のど）が痛（いた）いので、薬を飲まなければいけません。Because I have a fever and my throat hurts, I must take medicine.

And that's about it! Congratulations reader, you got through (almost) all the genki lessons!! Here's to another successful semester. 頑張れる！！

Let's move on to the midterm review. Do you have your pencil and paper ready? (bonus points if you write the kanji)

Our midterm review was in the format of a story. 始めましょう

You are an exchange student in tokyo. You are on your way back to Tokyo from a one day trip to Oze. The train stopped half way for a while due to a minor road accident. You get bored, so you start talking to a woman/man sitting next to you. The person asks you “where are you from?” how would you say this in japanese?

出身（しゅっしん）はどこですか。

Ask the person has ever been to foreign countries

外国（がいこく）に行ったことがありますか。

The person commented that your Japanese is very good. Be humble like Japanese people and say “No, no. I have to study more”

いいえいいえ。もっと勉強（べんきょう）しなければいけません。／勉強しなきゃいけません。

Go on to say “i want to become better at japanese”

日本語がもっと上手（じょうず）になりたいです。

The train finally starts moving. You ask the person where they are going now. The person says, “I wanted to buy clothes. I'm going home now.”

ふくを買いたかったんです。でも、今から家に帰ります。

The person continues to say, “I need to cook tonight because my mother is sick.”

母がかぜをひいているので、今晩（ばん）料理（りょうり）しなければいけません。／しなきゃいけません。

You ask the person if his/her mother is all right. The person tells you, “she caught a cold and has a fever. But she is okay.”

かぜをひいて、ねつがあるんです。でも大丈夫ですよ。

The person goes on to say, “but she’d better not work today. She should sleep a lot.”

今日は働かないほうがいいですね。たくさん／よく寝たほうがいいですよ。

I wrote down たくさん while my teacher wrote よく and i was a little confused but i think you can use either.

You ask the person what dish you are good at making. The person answers i often make curry rice, pork cutlet, tempura, and so on

よくカレーライスやとんかやてんぷらを作ります。

The person asks you if you cook a lot. Tell the person that “I want to cook more but I am too busy.”

もっと料理したいですが、いそがしすぎます。／いそがしすぎるんです。

The person tells you that they have to do an English homework assignment. You ask the person what they do in class. she/he says, “we read english books, write essays, listen to the news, and so on.”

私たちは英語の本を読みたり、作文（さくぶん）を書いたり、ニュースを聞いたりします。

You ask the person if they practice speaking as well. The person says, “I took the conversation class for a month but I quit.”

一ヶ月間（いっかげつかん）、会話のじゅぎょうをとりました。でもやめました。／とりましたが、やめました。

The person says, “the teacher's english was too fact! But I am interested in English conversation.”

先生の英語は早すぎたんです。／早すぎました。でも、英語の会話にきょうみがあります。

（（に）きょうみがあります＝to have an interest in)

You offer some help. You tell the person that you can be his/her English conversation partner. You both decide to tutor English and Japanese to each other. You get off the train in a happy mood. 

The next day your advisor at school tells you that you looked very happy. Yell your advisor with a lot of excitement, “i met a fantastic woman/man on the train yesterday!! We will practice English and japanese!!” (hint- use んです）

昨日、電車ですてきな女の人／男の人に会ったんです！私たち／いっしょに英語と日本語をれんしゅうするんです。

How’d you do? Comment how much you got! I'd love to see your scores. If You didn't get them, no sweat! A lot of my answers were different from what my teacher wrote..

I want to apologize if these lessons feel rushed. I'm trying to not make them feel that way.

じゃあ、皆さん、お疲れ様！！

今日の歌は&TEAM - UNDER THE SKINです。

Notice any errors? Lmk!! I always want to fix my mistakes so I can learn better. ありがとう！

[stormblessed95]

Danmei anon here!

Ahhh! I didn’t think Id get a reply so soon! Heaven official’s blessing (or tgcf as its more commonly called in the fandom - it’s short for the chinese name tian guan ci fu) is actually not what the untamed is based on . It’s based on the founder of diabolism.) bit tgcf is a great choice (it has an anime too in netflix under the same name) and both books have the same author - mo xiang tong xi or mxtx for short. She actually has another book called scum villain’s self saving system which i also recommend. Theyre all fairly long-ish but i think tgcf is the longest one.

Danmeis are actually pretty varied and has so many sub genres. I recommend using novelupdates so you can see how many they are (and you can cater the tags to your own preference) here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series-finder/?sf=1&gi=560&mgi=or&sort=srate&order=desc Danmeis are actually webnovels (like ao3 but for original works, some of them are free some you need to pay) and since they’re in chinese, they’re only accessible to non chinese speakers thru translations unless they’re published. Novelupdates has links to translations for each novel, as long as they haven’t been officially slated for official english translation and publication. Some translators will password lock theirs until you provide proof that you bought a copy off of the authors site of choice like JJWXC as a way to support the author which i fully support!

For other recommendations from other authors i really liked so far:

Mist

The Little Mushroom (widely favorited in the danmei community and has been published in english)

Golden stage (also published in english)

Qian Jing Jiu (very plot heavy and actually the first danmei i bought! It’s infamously so plot dense and has so many characters that the translators have a separate list for them and you actually need to read it lol)

Nan Chan

First Class Lawyers

Joyful Reunions

Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Storm (I’m reading this now and it’s so good!!!)

FYI, please take note of the trigger warnings for wach books because some of them are pretty brutal and triggering (perfect example is Husky and his White Cat Shizun, that one has a pretty long list of TWs and I don’t go near it at all) 😭

Some danmeis are so freaking long tho like I saw one with 700+ chapters and translations are still only in 300+ 😭

Also for non gay (but very plot heavy) I recommend Omniscient Readers Viewpoint!!! It’s a Korean webnovel but the english translation is very good and the fandom is very active! It’s around 400 chapters long I think and has an ongoing webtoon too.

As an Asian, I can say that the asian literature has a tons of stuff that I can’t find in fhe usual mainstream community!!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading tgcf and I’m excited for your thoughts when you finish it!!! And if you dive into another danmei too!!!

I've been told! Same author, but different story! Lol so I was wrong, but I was close! I'll look into all of these! Thank you! I'm always open to new recommendations! And after I finish the book, if I like it, I'll probably look up the anime to watch then too! I'm going to the bookstore today actually, so idk if these will be there or if they will only be on the site you sent, but I'll keep my eye out! And if anyone else has other suggestions for me to check out while I'm out! I'll check out Novelupdates later tonight too! I'm in the middle of TGCF clearly as well as another novel I'm annotating with a friend and a 1.3+ million word fanfic. Fanfics should count towards goodreads reading goals because dang. Lol but I will be looking for something new soon, so thanks! And if you want a post about my thoughts/a review of TGCF, let me know. Or if you just want to DM me and I'll share my thoughts with you, please feel free to do so! 🥰 I'd love to Chat books with you!

[godlizzza]

3 + 17 + 21 for the book asks! :D

Yeee!

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

-Swordheart by T Kingfisher

Amazing fantasy/romance about a woman attempting to be married off by her family, who finds a magical sword left to her by a deceased relative. When she draws the sword, it releases an immortal warrior bound to serve whoever wields the sword. The two of them then escape together and travel across the land in search of legal help for her. Halla and Sarkis are amazing characters, with great chemistry and the journey they take together, both physically and emotionally, is soooo good.

-City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Historical fiction/coming of age set in New York City in 1940 about a young woman named Vivian, who's been kicked out of college and is sent to live with her theatre director aunt. I'll talk about this book more in just a sec haha.

-And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A crime/thriller about a bunch of people invited to an isolated island by a mysterious person known as U.N Owen, however soon after they all arrive, they start dying one by one to the theme of a haunting nursery rhyme. Agatha Christie is the queen of crime for a reason and while I'm most familiar with her Poirot mysteries, this standalone book was so creepy, so atmospheric, and full of so much dread that I think it might be my favourite of hers that I've read so far.

-The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

You may have seen me reblog quite a bit of stuff from this series and that's only because it took over my life for a good few months there. This series is so hard to concisely describe because it's unlike anything I've ever read before. It's a Scifi series set in the distant future where humanity is spread out across the solar system, and there's a House on each planet that practices some form of necromancy. Book 1 follows our protag Gideon, an indentured servant to the ninth house, being roped into joining the reverend daughter of the house, Harrow (who she fucking hates) in this competition where duos from each of the nine houses are sent to a dilapidated castle on a distant planet to try and unlock the mystery of ascending to a higher power known as lychtorhood. All you need to know is that the series is funny, action-packed, mysterious, confusing, often mind-fucky, and gay as hell. Just read it.

-She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki.

A manga series this time! I read quite a few manga series that I really loved this year (Cherry Magic and My Love Mix-up were also contenders for this spot) but this series holds such a special place in my heart. It's a slice of life romance about two women, Nomoto and Kasuga, who live in the same apartment building and bond over their mutual love of food. They cook together, go out to eat together, and just spend loads of time together. It's very sweet and wholesome. Watching them grow closer and seeing how much they love spending time with the other and are just looking for any excuse to invite the other over is sooo cute. There are 3 volumes out in English rn as well as season 1 of a live action tv show adaptation, which is also really good. It truly makes my heart sing and is the best Yuri manga I've read so far.

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

Here's where I circle back to City of Girls! I knew very little about the book going in and was surprised at how immediately taken I was with it! The narrative voice is so strong, and the way the book tackles so many things- friendship, romance, sex, family, passion, changing political climates, class- it's all so good. The book is a wild ride. You go through a lot with Vivian, including her highest highs and lowest lows, but through it all you see the simple journey of life that everyone goes through. It's truly an amazing book and one I'd recommend to everyone, even if you don't typically reach for historical fiction.

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

I haven't participated in any but I've seen quite a few unfold. The ones sticking out to me rn are that girl on tiktok who would loudly and publicly thirst over hockey players because they reminded her of fictional hockey players she'd read about in sports romances, to the point where she was literally at games irl filming these men and catcalling them. It got so bad that the wife of one of the players came out on instagram to talk about how uncomfortable this shit made her and her husband feel and the tiktoker's reaction was to be like LOL get over it. wild.

There was the one where this indie horror author saw a negative review of one of his books, so he publicly started dragging the girl who'd made the review and even dedicated a book he wrote to her, and was just generally a massive dick.

And most recently that upcoming debut author who had made a bunch of fake accounts on goodreads to boost the rating of her book and bomb the ratings of fellow debut authors. Then when people started to follow the trail of breadcrumbs she'd inadvertently left behind, she made a fake conversation between her and a supposed 'friend' on discord admitting to being the one behind the review bombs. Eventually, proof of her being the culprit got released and she lost her book deal, her agent, and all her author friends. Sucks to suck.

[greaseonmymouth]

Sooo, regarding your tags on that last post, do you have recs for old gay books, by any chance?

yes and no - as a teenager I read what I could get my hands on in the library and it was all in Danish and some of those books I don't know if were translated or not, and by that I mean translated from another language into Danish, or vice versa. One of those books I'm pretty sure was actually translated from Swedish because I remember the author name sounding Swedish and the characters were Swedish and Danish... lots of formative old gay books that had been sitting on the shelves since the 70s, 80s, 90s, that I can't find again.

anyway, one of the books I read as a teenager that was very formative for me was an Irish novel, When Love Comes to Town by Tom Lennon. the main character is a teenager, gay and struggling to come to terms with it, gets a boyfriend (bisexual, he fucks off to Belfast and cheats on him with a girl, classy - there's a fair amount of biphobia in the book, which I remember because I remember thinking it was weird how so many of the characters were warning him off bi guys when it was just this one guy being an asshole) but he also has a girlfriend because he's trying to keep up appearances and it's all a huge mess. he makes other queer friends. some of those queer friends he makes are transvestites, and there was a HIV positive guy who passed away. this book was formative for me for many many reason but the stand out elements were the found family and queer community, how they stood together and supported each other in the face of a lot of hate and discrimination and rocky family relationships and friendships. they found joy together. also I might be misremembering but the main character was like, really good in English class and was friends with his teacher and I could relate, lmao.

I read these two a bit later, in my early twenties, but Faggots by Larry Kramer and Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. I actually need to read Stone Butch Blues again because I remember very little about it, but Faggots made a huge impact on me, it was written in the late 70s or early 80s and takes place in new york and while much of it is satire, satire is built on truth, you know? and it showcases such a range of queer experiences and characters, exaggerated and over the top, but with a very real core of human emotion and struggles. it is also a criticism and I've since read that this book was very controversial within the queer community at the time

Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley also comes to mind, it's a 90s novel but fuck me if I can remember the plot

I also want to briefly mention the Astreiant series by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett - written in the 90s by queer couple Melissa and Lisa, this is a fantasy series where the world-building has queerness built in and while I love it just for what it is, I also think it's fascinating from a sociological point of view because you can infer a lot about their priorities but also what (American) society was like at the time. for instance this is a matriarchal society and it has queer relationships nobody bats an eye at, but yet there isn't marriage equality?

for recent books (er, say published in the last ten years ish? or let's just say in this century) written by people older than me, I want to recommend:

Less by Andrew Sean Greer - this is a love letter

Mr. Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo - this is a beautiful book and love story but it will also show you what it's like to be somebody who's been a closeted gay and black man since his early teen years in Antigua and move to the UK and now as an old man in London still in a relationship with the same man

Closet Case by Robert Rodi - this is one of those general fiction novels where the main character gets themselves into absurd situations and if it were heterosexual, it would've been a comedy, a romcom even, and adapted for screen. but it's gay. this author has written many more gay novels (and also! a very gay graphic novel about Loki for marvel, illustrated by Esad Ribic) but this is the only novel I've read by him

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif I also read in my early twenties and it's one of those books I Think About A Lot because it's kind of an absurd book but the plot entirely falls apart without the gay relationship at the core. I didn't know it was gay when I picked this up (in a secondhand bookstore in Edinburgh, in 2011), I just read it and the plot unfolded and unfolded and then the revelation? I Think About It Often.

[journeytothewest-daily]

New volume! Thanks for keeping on! I took some notes for chapter 26!

Wukong (no more Wade Giles uwu) demands that Tripitaka receive his three meals and six teas every day. That's not bad for a mendicant ascetic! I'd quite like to be guaranteed that, hahaha! There's a typo calling him the Tank Monk later in the chapter, very funny.

It's funny how reading Pinyin, which is all anyone uses now, feels unusual, while individual trees having names like Long-life grass of reverted cinnabar seems normal. You can really get used to anything.

I was quite surprised that the immortals are described as youngish-looking! We usually imagine a Greek philosopher-looking sage here, but even Plato was a virile, hairy wrestler once, I suppose! They always carry around gourds with stuff in them; I've seen the like in movies, but were they ever made of gourds, do you think? Pumpkins weren't around in Tang times, at least I think not.

Is Eight Rules and Idiot the same character? The switching between in the same paragraph seems to go against best writing advice, but I daresay I'll not write anything that will survive 500 years! Incidentally, he quotes a saying "put on the cap to increase riches." Is that a real saying or did he misunderstand something comedically?

There are several beautiful poems about specific natural sites here, and I wondered where Chinese people would learn these. Would they have to read them? Are they carved into stones near these rivers and mountains? Is poetry a part of the curriculum? Accented Cinema on youtube said poetry is a large part of Chinese culture, and I'm jealous. We all disliked it in Norwegian class :(

These supposedly rural and simple immortals have jade tea cups and wine goblets! That sounds nice! They should redistribute them to me! Hahaha! They have eternal life, after all, and isn't time worth at least as much as money?

Also, shout-out to the peach thief! Can't believe we got another peach thief here!

1. Same! I too struggle with having that many meals and teas (no money). To be a Tang Monk...

2. About the looking young thing, East Asians have a gene whose name I've forgotten that makes them mature more slowly than other ethnicities. My biologist s/o will kill me if he knew I've forgotten the name. So yeah, in my fantasy or historical despictions even of older people, they won't have many wrinkles (in others do). Remember that Taoism is about prolonging your life, so it's only normal that saints are young looking, while in the West ™ our idea of wise and saintly is Plato, Saint Patrick, etc.

3. I think that the only original to Asia gourd is the Wax Gourd, so they might have been using that.

4. Yes, Idiot and Zhu Bajie are the same and I too dislike a bit the constant change of name. I looked up the saying in English but couldn't find anything, and my chinese isn't good enough to try to translate it back into Chinese and look it up. I know that some of you are reading the OG Chinese book, could you tell us if it's a real saying?

5. Poems are very important in all cultures I'd say, and of course also in China. People who got an education in the past not only had to learn how to write poems but also to learn them from memory. For the imperial exams you were examined on your poetry. I think normal people like you and me in China would have learnt them from memory when a passing singer said them and retained. People used to work their brains more in the past, methinks. If you cared for poetry and you were a peasant, you'd try to memorize it and say it to others so you weren't a base man, but an intelligent peasant, closer to heavens because poetry comes from heaven etc.

5. It's only normal that immortals have jade things :) Maybe they lack in other commodities, but would you rather have a precious jade cup or ten IKEA mugs? I am sure they didn't even buy it, but they just sprung out of thin air in their house when they became immortals.

Thank you for your analysis :)

[faustinebellamy]

Me

Aah, thank you for the tag, @luck-and-larceny! It's fun to get to talk about the OOC stuff a bit! 1. Are you named after anyone?

My original name is the same as my great grandmother, but I'm not exactly named after her, it was more like "That works out." I changed my name a few years ago, and the named was partly inspired by the book Ella Enchanted. The book, not the movie.

2. When was the last time you cried?

It doesn't really take a lot to make me cry. I read a post about a grizzly bear raising her cubs earlier today.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope, and no intentions of having any. I do have 2 cats though!

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sarcasm is practically the national language of Denmark. That being said, I use it a lot less than I used to.

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

My family in general were never huge on playing sports. I did play handball for a short while when I was 6 or 7, but my extracurricular were usually more on the creative side. I played the cello throughout my childhood and teenage years.

6. What is the first thing you notice about other people?

I've never really thought about it! Like @luck-and-larceny I think it's just like a general vibe thing?

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

I really enjoy both, depending on my mood! If it's one of those "you can only ever have one," I'd probably go with Happy Endings cause I feel like a world without those seems harder to go through than a world without fear, but I do really like watching scary movies as well, so... Both!

8. Any special talents?

I like to think I'm fairly creative and good at thinking on my feet. I'm a terrible planner, but very good at just winging it.

9. Where were you born?

In Denmark, in the outskirts of Copenhagen. Fun fact, I was almost stolen from the hospital as a baby.

10. Do you have any hobbies?

I play video games and RPGs. I enjoy storytelling in general, so watch a decent amount of movies and TV. I don't get as much reading done as I used to, sadly. Sometimes I draw or write. Is daydreaming a hobby?

11. Do you have any pets?

Two cats! Palida is a fluffy white Norwegian Forest Cat we brought with us from Denmark. She's deaf and a total diva. Monroe is a scrappy ginger kitty who we adopted from a shelter after he was picked up on some street in New York. When is their Disney movie coming out?

12. How tall are you?

Just under 5'8. Pretty average in Denmark, though I've been told I'm fairly tall in the US. I have no idea.

13. Favorite Subject in School:

Danish (similar to what would be considered English in the US), History, Art. In high school, we also had a class on Ancient Greece that I was very into.

14. Dream job?

I'd still really love to work on storytelling in games, but I have accepted that it's probably a pipe dream at this point. I don't know, something that lets me have a flexible schedule, be creative, and not having to deal with too many people, and *especially* not having to deal with bad management.

15. Eye Color?

Blue-greyish? They pick up a ton of color from the surrounding lights, so it kind of depends. My passport says blue.

[seyaryminamoto]

Hey! Not related to your story but rather to your native language. Do you’ve got any tips for learning Spanish in a (possible) fast way? Any sites or recommendations for learning techniques? Anything that makes it easier.

That would help me a lot. Gracias 🙏

Related to my previous ask. Any tips how to learn the right pronunciation?

For efficiency's sake, I piled both asks into the same one, haha.

In all honesty... learning a new language is kind of particular to each person. Some people respond to some methods, some to others. The most popular current method to learn a new language is Duolingo, I have parents who are unhealthily hooked on it (?) (okay but for real, they keep going to war with total strangers to stay in the top 3 of the diamond league or something?? who'd have thought my parents would join anything that feels like a battle royale game... certainly not me!). But for some people, it might be easier to take a proper class with human instructors rather than a green owl (?)

Personally, I learned English extremely early in life, which made it so I picked it up and never really put it down. The great, sophisticated method through which I learned... was watching TV in English as a little kid :'D I couldn't watch Disney shows in Spanish because we only had access to the USA Disney channel in my youth, therefore, if I wanted to enjoy my cartoons and my animated movies, I had to figure out wtf anyone was saying, and through a mix of asking my parents and my older sisters what each word meant, I somehow started picking it up a lot more than I ever realized I had.

This might sound a little impossible for you now since, yes, kids pick up languages faster than adults, and better, usually, since it becomes kind of instinctive to them. But it's not completely pointless advice: while I'm a HUGE advocate for watching TV shows in the original language they were created... I suggest that you watch shows dubbed in Spanish. Whether Latin American or European Spanish, you pick whichever accent and style you prefer, haha. But watch TV shows or movies, whether produced in Latin American countries or in Spain, or simply dubbed, and you'll be practicing while having fun! Put on subtitles while you're still not confident in your knowledge, it's wild how that actually helps you pick up words and meanings without your awareness. In this case, I bring up my years of experience being the weaboo I proudly was: I can understand a lot more Japanese than I realized simply because I've been watching anime in Japanese with subtitles since I was 11-years-old. That certainly helps in making certain things click in your head without your awareness. It's so real that when my mom started watching K-dramas, and made me watch them with her, I took to picking up a few simple elements of Korean structure, some basic words, obviously not enough to pretend I actually know/understand Korean, but enough that I was surprised to find that, with zero intent to learn the language, I still picked up a thing or two by instinct!

The other major advice is basically the same thing but a little more sophisticated and deliberate: read a book translated to Spanish. Preferably, a book you already know by heart. Find a translated version of any books you're really attached to... and keep your English copy nearby, too. If something is confusing? Take your English copy and find the same scene. Use a dictionary too in case you're confused about the exact meaning of the words. But when you're revisiting something familiar in another language, you pick up a lot of things, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not so intentionally.

I don't know if I had other ideas on how to help beyond taking a class or so, but for now, I think this should be a good starting point and my best advice based on my own experiences learning other languages. So... good luck! Hope you learn plenty! :D

[canmom]

a journal type post

i visited some of my grandparents today. I'll give their names, Jenny and Rick, since i doubt that's enough to be PII and it's hard to talk otherwise.

i haven't been able to see them in a long time, thanks to the pandemic. Rick is... likely pretty close to dying, and Jenny is also definitely struggling at this point.

of my four grandads (lots of divorcing and remarrying on both sides of the family) Rick was always the one that i had the hardest time with. he would be brusque and overbearing at the best of times, and cross lines at the worst, and the older i got i felt like he really stifled my granny, in their very traditional middle class marriage. but he's mellowed out a lot (both of them have really), and i found it much easier to spend time with him today, despite a ton of other stuff weighing on me.

we got to talking about books. it's funny, this is something I've never thought to connect with him on, even though he evidently reads a lot. he was very happy to tell me about his favourite authors, in a way that was so sweet and like. i honestly quickly lost a lot of that resentment i had felt towards him in the past. so i went home with my arms full of RF Delderfield and Barbara Erskine, and this prompted my granny to add on her favourites by Katherine Lynn Davis.

they're all historical novels of one sort or another, a long way outside my usual zone of literature. Delderfield writes about long duration social history revolving around the British people going through social change, his central character usually a young man returning from a war. at my age, my grandad had just left the RAF - i don't believe he fought in WWII, it might have been the period when National Service (conscription by another name...) was still in effect after the war and the UK geared itself up for the Cold War, but he stayed in for twelve years, apparently not enough to get a pension, leaving due to some kind of complications around a divorce that I didn't quite follow. he became a salesman - selling cardboard boxes I think? there's a lot I'm vague on. anyway, he's very fond of Delderfield, and it has something to do with Delderfield's prose, the particular feeling of Englishness it gives, but also the historical details - one of Delderfield's series charts the rise of motor transport in the UK, which I won't lie, I'm easily enough of a nerd to be curious about.

Erskine's books seem to follow a different template. just going by the blurbs, the general structure seems to be that a young woman in modern England is haunted by a connection to another woman a thousand years in the past, suffering under court politics or the witch trials or similar. so again, the theme of the past bearing on the present. Davis, i only have a couple of books so can't generalise, but this one's about three women from different parts of the world (Scotland, China and India) drawn together for a lot of high drama in the 1800s. the sequel seems to be about their descendants. it could be really cool or it could be awkwardly racist or it could be awkwardly racist but still interesting as an artefact of a time (...the late 80s), who knows. and this is all just... cursory examination of the blurbs.

all of these books are full-on doorstoppers. they're also... completely unknown to me, which is probably an indictment of how narrowly i tend to stick to my genre. not that there's a moral obligation to read widely, but it's good to be aware at least. anyway...

I kind of wear on my sleeve that my feelings about "Englishness" and "Britishness", the egregore, the entity that lays claim to me, are very negative. today I also watched an episode of the new BBC show about the founding of the SAS, with snappy action movie dialogue and expensive CGI and a pointedly anachronistic classic rock soundtrack, with the depressing feeling you get when you watch well executed propaganda. hard not to think about the release of this piece about the sacrifices of a roguish, brave, witty SAS coinciding with an ailing farce of a Conservative government and the death of the one (inexplicably) well-loved symbol of the British state, all that jazz. (coincidences - this had to have been in the works for some time - but still).

anyway. so... the idea of the spirit of the British people is liable to make me break out in a rash. don't tell me about that, tell me about the idea of "britishness" being replicated forcefully through history, imposed on successive generations, an eternal reproductive futurism motivating all manner of atrocity. so i feel like... if what people say about Delderfield is true, I might find it... challenging.

i am nevertheless curious about all three of these authors! not just a way to connect with my grandad in what could easily be his last year on this planet, though there... there is that. but also that social history angle... for all my bluster about how much I dislike this country, it's more that I dislike the idea of countries altogether, and having to belong to one. and on some level, a severe case of don't-lump-me-in-with-them-ism. knee-jerk anti-patriotism.

but reflexive loathing is no more revealing than comforting fantasies of national character. both of them assume a 'thing' into existence. finding loopholes to be like... well i like such and such British author but I have a defence of how they're acceptably critical of the country so it's ok, that's cheap.

what I do like is having at least some idea of how things got to be the way they are. I can't help being from here, so I could at least stand to understand 'here' a little better. around a decade ago, I walked back from Exeter's gender identity clinic with an older trans woman who could tell me when a bridge was made by looking at its materials. that's so neat that I still remember it! in the garden of the shared house in London where I rent a room was a stone disc with icons of the USSR on it. why was that there? the weight of the machine of history is overwhelming, Marx was right to call it a nightmare, but it is interesting. you can't just stop at 'this sucks'.

so if the ways of thinking that prevailed in the past were very different, they certainly aren't unrecognisable; it does no good to try to set myself above them and imagine I'm more enlightened. and like, that's just all my baggage anyway. i don't want to be unfair to any of these authors, and miss what my grandparents valued in them. (I'm too tired to look up Engels but I recall he had something interesting to say about a well written bourgeois novel.)

anyway, like i said, they're doorstoppers, and i still have like a third of Worth the Candle to read, so don't expect detailed comments for a little while. but it was eye opening in a way, it's too easy to remain blinkered in your little corner and box off the rest as something you'd have no interest in. i know where I'm at with sff and comics, but on some level i find the 'general fiction' shelves intimidating, with no idea where to start or the codes being deployed, and that's limiting. anyway I'll let you know what i think. eventually.

[demdifferentstories-29]

Get To Know Me

Thank you for the tag, @quite-right-too <3 No pressure tags - @bronzeagepizzeria, @naaer, @hgracieeees

What is your name? Lily.

For how long have you had this account? Technically around eight years (the original @demdifferentstories account), but this one is around nine months old I think?

Favourite food? I'm forever a slut for chocolate!

Favourite drink? Really depends, honestly! But you can never go wrong with Coke/Pepsi (can you tell I have a bad sweet tooth yet?).

Do you have any siblings? Three, and I'm the youngest of them.

Do you have pets? Yes - a very silly, chaotic bichon frise. He's the third dog I've had. My cat passed away earlier this year and I miss her deeply!

How old are you? Just turned twenty!

How many languages do you know? Just the one (English), however, I was pretty damn good at Japanese in high school and I'm keen to learn other languages.

What's your all-time favourite movie/tv show? Movie is easy - Spider-Man (2002). It's been my favourite film for sixteen years! In terms of TV, Friends has always been a big comfort show for me as I grew up watching it. Broadchurch and Jessica Jones Season 1 are some of the handful of shows I've rewatched multiple times, so I think it contends. Regarding Doctor Who, I really only genuinely care about RTD's era, so not overly sure if that would qualify!

What are you enjoying to do in your free time? At the moment, all I really do in my free time is write :,) But I also read, play guitar and sing, and I draw and embroider every so often.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Ambiverted with a tendency towards extroverted - once I'm comfortable with you, it's hard to keep me away!

Your favourite music genres? Metal and rock! More specifically, I've always enjoyed metalcore and other emo subgenres, but I listen to an array of bands.

Your dream place to visit? I would really like to visit the UK/Europe - specifically (Northern) Ireland, England, Scotland and Italy. I'm not the biggest fan of travelling, so I'm content with staying where I am.

Something you wish you were better at? I've always had really bad practising habits, so I wish I was more proficient in my guitar playing - it's something I always add to my New Year resolutions lol. Would also like to pick up piano, and I wish I was still into art/drawing as much as I used to be. Also would like to be a bit better at acting - I think I've gone a bit stiff since transitioning from high school theatre to university theatre as the classes aren't as practical.

How long do you take to respond to texts? ASAP! I'm not afraid of being an immediate responder. However, I might take a while if I'm busy/unavailable or if I'm not in the mood to talk to people (not anything personal - constantly socialising at uni and work drains me a lot and can make me a bit overstimulated/whelmed, so I just need alone time to balance it all it as I can find messaging to have the same effect as physical interaction/communication).

Do you have any tattoos? If not, would like to? I have three - one is a peace lily (namesake), and the other two are text ones related to the band Muse. I have about a dozen more planned, but they are expensive.

What's your sexuality? Bisexual!

Do you like reading? If yes what's your favourite book? Love reading, but I've found myself with not much time for it this year (including fics :(). My favourite book is Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - it's the first installation in the Hannibal Lecter series, and I think it's criminally underrated and overshadowed by The Silence of the Lambs. I also really loved The Handmaid's Tale when I read it - stuck with me for a long time.

Have you ever been in love? I don't think so. Maybe a little bit?

What's your relationship status? Single, but content.

Have you ever been heartbroken? Not romantically, but definitely by friends and family.

Best memory you could think of? I have a pretty horrible memory, but I can still recall the excitement I felt about my first concert.

Worst memory you can think of? Ah, my greatest strength! I won't delve into the more sordid/upsetting parts of my life, but things like having meltdowns/overstimulation prior to my diagnosis and not really understanding what was wrong with me were always quite upsetting for me.

Do you have any fears? I've always been a pretty bad arachnophobe, but I've gotten better. We won't get into others.

Are you a morning or a night person? It tends to shift depending on an array of things, but probably night - I have bad habits of staying up.

How many pictures you have on your phone? 12,314 (yes, I know - I'm insane).

Who was your favourite childhood crush? Oh, boy. Well, we can credit Kirsten Dunst and Kate Winslet to my (subconscious) bisexual awakening. In terms of men, I always thought Tobey Maguire had a cute quality to him.

Are you a romantic? I mean I don't really have the data to back it up, but I'd say probably - I have plenty of romantic fantasies and desires. Plus the shit I write can be so mushy and intimate.

What’s your dream date? No idea, really. Probably something that allows us to be relaxed, take our time and chat - a meal, a walk, etc. I imagine I would probably already be heaps stressed out about going out on a date, so avoiding overstimulation and such would help my case heaps.

What are your hobbies? Music, writing and reading are the primaries. Embrodiery is a smaller one that I hope to make more regular again. I also collect vinyl and CDs. Hope to get more involved in acting/theatre production during the rest of my degree too!

[cepn]

Hey! I've been following you a long time and I remember you were learning Russian a while back. Could you give advice to someone learning it? What programs did you use, if any? Did you take any classes and did it make a difference? I am not a native English speaker but I became completely fluent in it through the Internet, however this seems much harder to do with Russian as its a far less accessible language than English. I'm sorry for all the questions, any advice would be appreciated!

i've been interested in learning russian since high school but only really got the opportunity to properly study it in university classes. for me it was really critical to have a structured class, and learning with a native russian speaker was critical to help with pronunciation and little special cases like specific rules for certain words, etc. - ever since i've stopped taking russian classes i've kind of fallen behind in terms of keeping up with it, so if you need external structure to motivate you to study consistently classes are pretty essential

i don't think you wouldn't succeed outside a classroom environment, but it would help a lot to find a russian speaker who's willing to practice speaking with you. as for actually studying the language, i'd strongly recommend taking a structured approach using textbooks and other references. in my first few university classes i used sputnik textbooks, they seem almost child-friendly with a lot of illustrations but they're very accessible for beginners and include workbooks as well

in later classes i used слово, which is way more dense in terms of having more words than illustrations (compared to sputnik, i mean), and luggage, which is a grammar reference and exercise book. i also used the book russian through art for my last russian class, it's more specialized vocabulary for discussing art, music, and architecture, but it's a good resource if you're interested in that stuff and it helps with general vocabulary-building as well (plus you learn a lot of cool stuff about russian art history)

a non-textbook resource i haven't really used (because i'm lazy :/) but have heard good things about is the new penguin russian course, which is a beginner overview of the language and its grammar. if you want to get more confident in reading comprehension and pronunciation, you can try something like this teach yourself russian short story book; normally i feel kind of weird about any resource made by or marketed toward real or aspiring "polyglots" but as long as you're not deluding yourself as to its usefulness, it's good for practicing speaking at the very least

if you're studying it properly in classes or with books to guide you, you can definitely use websites like duolingo as a study aid - i wouldn't depend on it obviously but it helps with vocabulary and grammar practice. also it can kind of be intimidating to do this but if you want to find places online where russian speakers congregate, you can start small by browsing a site like vk. my russian friend sends me memes all the time and i always feel so proud of myself when i can actually understand them lol

i hope this was helpful in some way, if not though just let me know and i can try to find other resources or strategies that could be helpful in your studies ^_^