#jan does a write

[bayetea]

I don't like the judo flip in moa as much as the next guy but in my eyes it's largely the result of rick not taking female violence half as seriously as male violence (a result of viewing women as weaker and inferior to men such that their acts of violence don't need to be taken as seriously) and not so much anything about annabeth herself. like I do genuinely feel that annabeth is a complex heroine and definitely one of the better ones in the realm of ya action-adventure fiction produced in the past 25 years but she is still a girl being written by a man and all I'm saying is that her writing clearly reflects that sometimes (more in tags)

[leviiackrman]

"I don't feel in control sometimes. After all... I have someone else's thoughts in my head."

more edits || character page || x.x

Tag list (ask to be added or removed): @carrionsflower @statichvm @risingsh0t @simonxriley @tommyarashikage @sevikagf @confidentandgood @unholymilf @florbelles @thedeadthree @shellibisshe @roofgeese @aezyrraeshh @faerune @tekehu @jackiesarch @minaharkers @sergeiravenov @carlosoliveiraa @rosenfey @nokstella @queennymeria @heroofpenamstan @tethrras @viktorgf @d-esmond @solasan @bigbywlf @delzinrowe @fenharel @imogenkol

[4denthusiast]

Of the principles in Cultist Simulator, some seem easier than others to get a feeling for what the common thread is meant to be in their themes, and Heart seemed like one of the more confusing to me, but I feel like I have a better idea of it now after having thought about it in the context of literal hearts. I know in theory that the heart is made of a different kind of muscle from the skeletal muscle, and it's specialised to work continuously, but intuitively it feels weird that it never rests. It speeds up and slows down as needed, but it never stops. If you're lucky, your heart may beat continuously for a hundred years, never pausing once in all that time. If it's injured, it just heals while working. If it's not strong enough for the demands placed on it, it gets stronger while working. Normal muscles need a mixture of work and rest to get stronger, but not the heart, or at least not in the same way. If it pauses for just a minute, that's a life-threatening emergency. Occasionally (particularly if I have a blocked nose), I feel tired of breathing, and take a break for half a minute or so. I suppose there are even multiple sets of muscles that work the lungs, so if one can't be used, others can temporarily take over. With the heart that's not an option, it just has to keep going. If you think about all this, does your heart feel tired? Mine does. I assume it's just psychological. They're built for this after all. I can't remember if I've read anything about Heart Longs, but whatever it is they do, it must be exhausting, but perhaps they're built for it too. If Longs even have muscles, are all of a Heart Long's muscles cardiac muscle? I assume percussigants lack the ability to become tired. The heart must work continuously, because its work is the work of staying alive. It isn't the only part of the body with this property, but it is one of the most visible and obvious. This links in to another of the themes of Heart, vitality. Both Heart and Nectar relate to life, but I think a large part of the difference is that Heart is life like warm-blooded animals live it, needing to constantly keep going because if it stops it will never start again, while Nectar relates more to the much more chill lifestyle of plants. Vitality provides the ability to keep going through hardship, but the continuous act of living is also what creates vitality. Joy, too, inspires action over rest. Most of the game's curses can be overcome with Heart. I guess you just need to persevere and outlast them. The principles generally have something a bit creepy about them, something that's just too much. I think this is what that is for Heart, even though it's one of the more overtly positive Principles. Possibly I'm overgeneralising from a few examples. I'm not sure I can actually describe all the other principles this way. Perhaps it's silly to put too much thought into understanding the principle of Heart, given there is no deep truth to be discovered here in real life, it's just a bundle of associations that the authors put together. That doesn't mean it's not something that can be understood though. The games are well-written, with thought put into fitting things together in a way that makes sense.

[madrabit]

“You're late”, he sighed, almost as if this hadn't been part of their routine for the last few months, or really, for forever. Then his eyes darted behind Jan and a confused expression spread over his face. Jan quirked up an eyebrow, having the urge to turn around and see what Kris was looking for, but he stopped himself, hanging his umbrella onto the little coat rack instead. “Where is Bojan?” Kris continued and Jan just shrugged, swallowing around the little lump forming in his throat, making it hard to speak.

The 6th chapter of Intertwined is up now! I've tried keeping the chapter shorter than the last few, which only partially worked since it's still 6k words, but it's okay.

Also the sad part isn't over yet...

[kazscrows]

Every time I type wylan van eck I accidentally type wylan can eck but… can he?? Can Wylan Eck? He certainly can’t read—

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Class is almost drawing to its midpoint anyway, which means his students will soon clear out to get lunch and he will have some quiet time. He brought the latest romance novel Essek has finished and passed along with him today. Perhaps he’ll dig into that while he’s alone. Plans set, he reaches for his bag to draw the book and his lunch free. He finds the book but of food he comes up sorely empty-handed. Caleb forgets to make himself a lunch for a day of teaching at Soltryce. Luckily, he has a husband to notice such mistakes and help correct them.

The fics continue! Tonight I bring you some classic fluffy, sappy, uber in love Shadowgast :3 basically I reread the last chapter of of blossoming hearts and glittering souls and missed my fluffy boys and then wrote 3k about it. I hope you enjoy!

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Just finished watching Providence. I'll probably have some more thoughts to share about it after sleeping on it, and possibly later if I rewatch S3 again (😍).

Providence and S3 spoilers ahead!

The first thing I can't stop thinking about is that upon giving the Psycho-Pass subreddit a quick look before watching the movie, the only post I saw was about how "this movie should have come out before S3". I didn't read the body of the post in fear of spoilers, but throughout watching the movie, I kept thinking about how much I disagree with that. How insignificant would Akira be if you didn't know he was Kei's brother? How random would Atsushi be as a character if you didn't know what he meant to Arata? Imagine this random kid showing up. No one would react positively to Arata, Maiko and Kei. Akira would feel like a side-character we only cared about for a split second and Atsushi would be confusing in the wrong way. Season 3 wouldn't be the same without the mystery of Tsunemori's incarceration. Objectively a wrong take if you care about the storytelling and characters at all imo.

With that out of the way, while Providence answered some of our burning questions, some have been left unanswered, such as:

Did Gino change his haircut so drastically all of a sudden because he realised the wind blowing in his face meant he couldn't see shit?

I'd be willing to buy that he just enjoys changing styles regularly, though.

Since I'm looking at her... do we know what Frederica's deal is, exactly...? I also can't help wondering - is there a reason why Shimotsuki hates her this much? While she's always complaining over petty things, she seems to hold a pretty specific dislike towards Frederica. Is it really just her personality? (I'd be willing to buy that, too...)

I feel like we have gained a net zero information about either Homura Sr. or Jr. Or Bifrost.

I feel like I had another serious question... before I started joking about Gino's hair. It'll probably come back to me. I guess there's always "can Shou's backstory get a Moment? Anyone else remember how S2 didn't give its new cast the same amount of time S1 did? Babyboy's still kinda just Here rn."

I'm still a bit confused about Jackdaw and Vixen, and the fact that I only just realised that Vixen is a woman probably does not help.

I miss Azusawa and Obata...

Oh right, I think I remembered what I meant to talk about. There are events that clearly happened between Providence and S3 that haven't been detailed, such as Gino leaving the Bureau to join Foreign Affairs, Kunizuka running the fuck out of there or even, I believe, Arata and Kei being appointed as Inspectors. We know that Tsunemori contributed to the latter - I wonder if we may learn more about her reasoning in the future. I think we can also infer that Gino, who stated in the movie that he intends on protecting Tsunemori, had to change plans one way or another due to her arrest.

I feel like we still don't know enough about Akira's relationship to his brother or to Atsushi, and I don't know whether that will be forever left in the air of if it will be detailed. The exact implication of Stronskaya Sr. and her relationship to her daughter are also vague.

Honestly, there's a lot going on in this movie. A lot of politics... a lot of religion... and a thick wall of the story's context. It's complex, and it's interesting how Psycho-Pass is continuing in this direction that already stood out in S3.

I'll just say I'm upset about Saiga. Evil evil bad. I'm really hoping for more content with Arata, Maiko and Kei in the near future because I seriously love them!!! And I want closure for them!!!! Akira was a pretty interesting character, though his quick death was frustrating - which I assume was not not on purpose. Though it happened maybe a little too fast due to the movie format (compared to an episodic format), the revelation of his allyship was set up pretty well. Like I said, details are definitely missing - Atsushi didn't explain why Akira was so willing, and he was interrupted before he could say who he was in his own words.

It was pretty nice to see Kougami be a little cringefail. I didn't enjoy his characterisation in S3, but in Providence, it feels a lot more sensible - like he can really feel that he doesn't have control. I'm satisfied with his and Tsunemori's dynamic in the movie, wherein they care about each other deeply - dare I say, Kougami might even care a little more than she does at this point? - how does that dynamic shift feel my guy? - but Kougami's wrongdoings have weight and the narrative doesn't force him back on her. You can feel that he wants to be back, you can feel that to Tsunemori he never really left, but like I mentioned in a more personal post, Gino's her source of comfort, her trustworthy teammate; Kougami isn't welcomed back by default. This feels natural. This feels like the writing cares about their feelings.

What else... Oh yeah... Did anyone else feel like Saiga was kinda................. hot?

[fideidefenswhore]

[Henry] had asked Lady Shelton whether Mary [was] persisting in her obstinancy. Hearing that she was, Henry became certain that she was being encouraged by secret communication from Katharine. Lady Shelton thought the only possible messenger was Mary's chamber woman. In this she was correct. The maid had been smuggling letters in and out. She was dismissed, as was Mary's confessor, to be replaced by one whom Chapuys characterised as 'Lutheran'.

The King’s Pearl: Henry VIII & His Daughter Mary, Melita Thomas

[fluffclan]

ClanGen Settings

Automatically save every five moons OFF

Allow mass extinction events OFF

Leaders might choose their own deputy automatically (Or i may intervene if its for plot)

Experience-based apprentice graduation is enabled

Dead cats cannot fade away

Mediators

Mild gore and blood is in artwork (whether I draw it is another question)

Allow cats to breed with cats who aren't their mates

Increase same sex adoption

Allow cats to have kittens with unknown second parents

[theladyfae]

starting to remember the reason all my wips are still wips is cause i Will obsessively keep rewriting the intro and it will keep me from ever moving on to the actual body of the fic. and then i'll inevitably lose interest in actually writing it and forget but it will still revolve around in my brain for a good while and its like being in a little circle of hell of my own making. and i have not taken any steps to Stop Doing That.

[savrenim]

legit so excited for my December Nightmare Schedule to be done and I Actually Get To Sit Down And Write Some Stuff

[michelleelizabethtanner]

Normally I don’t like baby being used as a pet name but Rio DEFINITELY would call Beth baby you’re so right about that

I think you do a great job writing dialogue for Rio. Accurate without being too cringe or trying too hard

That is so nice! You have no idea how much I value when someone thinks my characterization comes across believable for either Beth or Rio. Fics that nail the characters really speak to me so it is an enormous honor to hear that you find the dialogue believable and not forced.

Rio has the added challenge of being Rio. Like, I know how to talk like a middle aged, middle class white lady that Beth is. 😂 I will admit, I do struggle with Rio because his dialogue is so particular in canon and I also try to always be mindful of the language I personally choose to represent him, being a middle class white lady myself. And I do sometime re-read parts and just 😬😬😬🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ at my choices for him and wish I would have done it differently.

All that is meant to say THANK YOU! I love his “baby” the first time I had him slip up and say it. And I really love the way he grew into the use of it as a loving pet name as their relationship developed throughout Rough Night. I am absolutely over the moon that you think it works for him in that context! I do love his canonic “hey mama” and probably should use that more in my writing. But there is just something about the softness of a “baby” rolling out of his mouth in reference to Beth. I always picture him using it with that face he had in his “I’m gonna teach you” moment. He calls lots of women “mama.” But “baby” is reserved for “his” woman.

[phantom-does-a-thing]

Since this fic for whatever reason is NOT showing up on my works page????

Tumblr look at my silly fic. It's Rand and Rolan and they are healing everything is great and they are having a wonderful time.

[nevalizona]

31. The Thing You Carry Everywhere.

PLEASE READ TAGS BEFORE READING

Somedays she can't help but remember him at his worst. The things he'd say. The things he'd do. Zeke. A monster. She can hear his words, clear as day. She feels so small, so defenseless. She wonders if she'll ever feel like herself again. He's still the first thing that comes to her mind before making a decision. Will Zeke be happy with this? Will Zeke like this? What will Zeke do if he sees you dressed like this? What will Zeke say if he saw you doing this? Sometimes Rosaylie has to physically shake her head to knock those thoughts out of her head. She is not the same girl she was when she and Zeke started dating, so many years ago. She survived him, and she will survive anything else that follows.

Somedays, she can hear him in her own voice. Tellio Layeo. Her father. Her tormentor. Her best friend. Her other half. He used to be the only person that made her feel safe. But now, just the sight of him sends her into a panic. When he lingers in her voice, it makes her pause. Is she him? Is he her? Where does Tellio’s expectations begin and where does Rosaylie end? He's cruel. He's violent. The loving father she had, vanished overnight. She woke up to being force fed a future she does not want, but she will accept. He watches her with eyes like a beast, waiting to pounce. He'll get his way, he always does. She's putty in his hands. Just like her mother. Rosaylie will do anything Tellio asks, even if it tears her apart on the inside.

She gets phantom pains on her shoulder from where he scarred her, marking his territory. She is his and no one else's. Not even Rosaylie belongs to Rosaylie anymore. Rosaylie drowned in the ocean long ago, revived by Tellio to be exactly who he wants her to be. She is a cog in his machine. She fights against her fate, only to be pushed back twice as hard.

Two men have completely broke apart Rosaylie, piecing her back together again in the way they want. Tellio hates Zeke. Zeke hates Tellio. They fight over their Rosaylie. It doesn't matter what she wants, she's not a person and she hasn't been for years. She is the personification of failed love and being second in command.

[jadevine]

Preindustrial travel, and long explanations on why different distances are like that

Update March 1, 2024: Hey there folks, here's yet another update! I reposted Part 2a (the "medieval warhorses" tangent) to my writing blog, and I went down MORE of the horse-knowledge rabbit hole! https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/741423906984951808/my-post-got-cut-off-so-i-added-the-rest-of-it Update Jan 30, 2024: Hey folks, I've posted the updated version of this post on my blog, so I don't have to keep frantically telling everyone "hey, that's the old version of this post!" https://thebalangay.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/preindustrial-travel-times-part-1/

I should get the posts about army travel times and camp followers reformatted and posted to my blog around the end of the week, so I'll filter through my extremely tangled thread for them.

Part 2 - Preindustrial ARMY travel times: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask

Part 2a - How realistic warhorses look and act, because the myth of "all knights were mounted on huge clunky draft horses" just refuses to die: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/732043691180605440/helpful-things-for-action-writers-to-remember

Part 3 - Additional note about camp followers being regular workers AND sex-workers: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/740604203134828544/reblogging-the-time-looped-version-of-my

--

I saw a post on my main blog about how hiking groups need to keep pace with their slowest member, but many hikers mistakenly think that the point of hiking is "get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible" instead of "spending time outdoors in nature with friends," and then they complain that a new/less-experienced/sick/disabled hiker is spoiling their time-frame by constantly needing breaks, or huffing and puffing to catch up.

I run into a related question of "how long does it take to travel from Point A to Point B on horseback?" a lot, as a fantasy writer who wants to be SEMI-realistic; in the Western world at least, our post-industrial minds have largely forgotten what it's like to travel, both on our own feet and in groups.

People ask the new writer, "well, who in your cast is traveling? Is getting to Point B an emergency or not? What time of year is it?", and the newbies often get confused as to why they need so much information for "travel times." Maybe new writers see lists of "preindustrial travel times" like a primitive version of Google Maps, where all you need to do is plug in Point A and Point B.

But see, Google Maps DOES account for traveling delays, like different routes, constructions, accidents, and weather; you as the person will also need to figure in whether you're driving a car versus taking a bus/train, and so you'll need to figure out parking time or waiting time for the bus/train to actually GET THERE.

The difference between us and preindustrial travelers is that 1) we can outsource the calculations now, 2) we often travel for FUN instead of necessity.

The general rule of thumb for preindustrial times is that a healthy and prime-aged adult on foot, or a rider/horse pair of fit and prime-aged adults, can usually make 20-30 miles per day, in fair weather and on good terrain.

Why is this so specific? Because not everyone in preindustrial times was fit, not everyone was healthy, not everyone was between the ages of 20-35ish, and not everyone had nice clear skies and good terrain to travel on.

If you are too far below 18 years old or too far past 40, at best you will need either a slower pace or more frequent breaks to cover the same distance, and at worst you'll cut the travel distance in half to 10 or so miles. Too much walking is VERY BAD on too-young/old knees, and teenagers or very short adults may just have short legs even if they're fine with 8-10 hours of actual walking. Young children may get sick of walking and pitch a fit because THEY'RE TIREDDDDDDDDDD, and then you might need to stay put while they cry it out, or an adult may sigh and haul them over their shoulder (and therefore be weighed down by about 50lbs of Angry Child).

Heavy forests, wetlands and rocky hills/mountains are also going to be a much shorter "distance" per day. For forests or wetlands, you have to account for a lot of villagers going "who's gonna cut down acres of trees for one road? NOT ME," or "who's gonna drain acres of swamp for one road? NOT ME." Mountainous regions have their traveling time eaten by going UP, or finding a safer path that goes AROUND, so by the time you're done slogging through drier patches of wetlands or squeezing through trees, a deceptively short 10-15 miles in rough terrain might take you a whole day to walk instead of the usual half-day.

If you are traveling in freezing winters or during a rainstorm (and this inherently means you HAVE NO CHOICE, because nobody in preindustrial times would travel in bad weather if they could help it), you run the high risk of losing your way and then dying of exposure or slipping and breaking your neck, just a few miles out of the town/village.

Traveling in TOO-HOT weather is just as bad, because pushing yourself too hard and getting dehydrated at noon in the tropics will literally kill you. It's called heat-STROKE, not "heat-PARTY."

And now for the upper range of "traveling on horseback!"

Fully mounted groups can usually make 30-40 miles per day between Point A and Point B, but I find there are two unspoken requirements: "Point B must have enough food for all those people and horses," and "the mounted party DOESN'T need to keep pace with foot soldiers, camp followers, or supply wagons."

This means your mounted party would be traveling to 1) a rendezvous point like an ally's camp or a noble's castle, or 2) a town/city with plenty of inns. Maybe they're not literally going 30-40 miles in one trip, but they're scouting the area for 15-20 miles and then returning to their main group. Perhaps they'd be going to an allied village, but even a relatively small group of 10-20 warhorses will need 10-20 pounds of grain EACH and 20-30 pounds of hay EACH. 100-400 pounds of grain and 200-600 pounds of hay for the horses alone means that you need to stash supplies at the village beforehand, or the village needs to be a very large/prosperous one to have a guaranteed large surplus of food.

A dead sprint of 50-60 miles per day is possible for a preindustrial mounted pair, IF YOU REALLY, REALLY HAVE TO. Moreover, that is for ONE day. Many articles agree that 40 miles per day is already a hard ride, so 50-60 miles is REALLY pushing the envelope on horse and rider limits.

NOTE: While modern-day endurance rides routinely go for 50-100 miles in one day, remember that a preindustrial rider will not have the medical/logistical support that a modern endurance rider and their horse does.

If you say "they went fifty miles in a day" in most preindustrial times, the horse and rider's bodies will get wrecked. Either the person, their horse, or both, risk dying of exhaustion or getting disabled from the strain.

Whether you and your horse are fit enough to handle it and "only" have several days of defenselessness from severe pain/fatigue (and thus rely on family/friends to help you out), or you die as a heroic sacrifice, or you aren't QUITE fit enough and become disabled, or you get flat-out saved by magic or another rider who volunteers to go the other half, going past 40 miles in a day is a "Gondor Calls For Aid" level of emergency.

As a writer, I feel this kind of feat should be placed VERY carefully in a story: Either at the beginning to kick the plot off, at the climax to turn the tide, or at the end.

Preindustrial people were people--some treated their horses as tools/vehicles, and didn't care if they were killed or disabled by pushing them to their limits, but others very much cared for their horses. They needed to keep them in working condition for about 15-20 years, and they would not dream of doing this without a VERY good reason.

—

UPDATE January 13: Several people have gotten curious and looked at maps, to find out how a lot of cities are indeed spread out at a nice distance of 20-30 miles apart! I love getting people interested in my hyperfixations, lol.

But remember that this is the space between CITIES AND TOWNS. There should never be a 20-mile stretch of empty wilderness between City A and Town B, unless your world explains why folks are able to build a city in the middle of nowhere, or if something has specifically gone wrong to wipe out its supporting villages!

Period pieces often portray a shining city rising from a sea of picturesque empty land, without a single grain field or cow pasture in sight, but that city would starve to death very quickly in preindustrial times.

Why? Because as Bret Devereaux mentions in his “Lonely Cities” article (https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/), preindustrial cities and towns must have nearby villages (and even smaller towns, if large and prosperous enough!) to grow their food for them.

The settlements around a city will usually be scattered a few miles apart from each other, usually clustered along the roads to the city gates. Those villages and towns at the halfway point between cities (say 10-15 miles) are going to be essential stops for older/sick folks, merchants with cargo, and large groups like noble’s retinues and army forces.

Preindustrial armies and large noble retinues usually can’t make it far past 10-12 miles per day, as denoted in my addition to this post. (https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask )

[crescentmp3]

hiii im home! ^-^