#literary marketplace

[m-c-easton]

Submission Spotlight: Blackbird

A lot of literary journals have closed until fall. This gives us months to dust off old stories and see if we can whisk them up into something tasty. When that happens, the online journal Blackbird is a great place to send stuff. #writing #publishing

Okay, so the bad news is that a lot of literary magazines have closed their doors until fall. The good news? You’ve got a few months to pull up that piece you’d given up on, dust it off, and see what you can make of it. If it fluffs up into something pretty tasty, Blackbird might be the literary magazine for you. Since 2001 (or 2002—different places on their website name different founding…

[leannareneehieber]

Darlings! I'm SO excited! More Ghosts! This time, with GOTHIC feeling!!!! This goth is happy-dancing through haunted houses.

Publisher’s Marketplace Deal Report:

America’s Most Gothic by Leanna Renee Hieber, Andrea Janes

Imprint: @kensingtonbooks

Bram Stoker award finalists and authors of A HAUNTED HISTORY OF INVISIBLE WOMEN: TRUE STORIES OF AMERICA’S GHOSTS Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes’s AMERICA’S MOST GOTHIC: HAUNTED HISTORY STRANGER THAN FICTION, an examination of America’s most Gothic places and hauntings, featuring the weird and wild trappings of Gothic tradition such as hidden passages, wailing women, family curses, and more, with an emphasis on female spirits and the cultural narratives surrounding their stories, to Elizabeth May at @kensingtonbooks , in an exclusive submission, for publication in 2025, by Chelsea Hensley at KT Literary (world).

Non-fiction: History

August 14, 2023

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

I wish I could see a blender and be normal about it.

[author-mandi-bean]

How to Get a Literary Agent

Photo by Rodolfo Quirós on Pexels.com On this day six years ago, two literary agents requested full manuscripts of my novel Moody Blue, which ended up being published by GenZ Publishing. That publication journey took at least five years and that should be a lesson in patience and perseverance for me, but I’m still impatient and rejection still stings. I’ve sent 95 query letters to literary…

[olderthannetfic]

This isn't a complaint, just sort of a musing-- Yeah, if AO3 allowed monetization, it would cause the whole platform to become way shittier, not just for legal reasons. But this kind of reminds me of something I've thought about a lot.

I'm someone who's not a very strong or attentive reader, but the ease with which I can find thousands of appealing works on AO3 means I have ALSO found dozens of writers who grip me enough that I would read ANYTHING by them. I also find reviews and recs for popular book series' to be... very unreliable, but I can consistently find interesting works by looking at user bookmarks and by trawling tags. And I don't even mean in a "oh, this user doesn't want stories, they want tropes" way, because I'm with everyone else that reading the exact same enemies to lovers romance gets kind of boring after a while (no shade on people who enjoy that sort of thing). I mean that sometimes I find an idea and think 'oh, this is a VERY cool literary theme; I wonder how other writers have explored the same idea?' - and then find out that there's a canonical tag that sees very little use, and trawl through people exploring the same ideas about the nature of freedom when you have a duty to family (or whatever it is this time) until I find one that just NAILS it and sets my brain on fire.

In other words, AO3 is the only place I can get the same reading experience that I had in school where there were teachers and mentors who would not only do just about anything to help me find interesting stuff, but also knew me personally and would help me find extremely specific concepts like "I want a story that captures the feeling of being completely owned by another person and the oppressive surrendering of will that comes with it, but which isn't about slavery, religion, or marriage" or "I want a story that's just like Howl's Moving Castle but specifically in these three ways."

I don't wish AO3 was marketplace, but I wish there was marketplace that gave me the experience of AO3. The fact that there is SO MUCH free user generated content on AO3, and that it's so easy to explore with great specificity, means it's the only place I KNOW I'll find something fun. I wish it served as a platform to find professional artists doing silly stuff on their down time. (In fact, last time I fell in love with a fic, I got to talking to the author, who sent me a novel draft with all of the same themes but original characters and setting. That unpublished work is now one of my favorite books.)

I can think of a bunch of platform ideas that would scratch this itch for me, but I can't imagine any of them working out as well since the fandom experience and culture is such an integral part of why fanfic is different from original fic. (And also since monetization makes platforms get shitty fast.)

--

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hiii♡♡ so I recently completed my second novel and am looking to get it published. However, I’m unsure where to begin with the process. Should I focus on sending manuscripts to literary agencies, or is there another route I should consider? I’d prefer not to self-publish, as I’m concerned about the challenges of marketing. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. I hope you're having the loveliest day💌!

Seeking Traditional Publishing: Where to Begin

If you're planning to seek traditional publishing, querying literary agents is absolutely the best place to start. Here's why: there are lots of publishers out there, but of the legitimate ones, the vast majority do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. What that means is that they only accept manuscripts brought to them by literary agents. Now, there are definitely small and independent publishers who accept unsolicited manuscripts, but the problem is it can be tricky to differentiate the legitimate ones from the predatory ones. Literary agents can make sure your manuscript gets into the hands of the right publisher, whether that's one of the big ones, a small publisher, or an independent press.

And, the great thing about literary agents that a lot of people don't realize when they're starting out: you don't pay them upfront/out of pocket. They will take their chunk of change out of the sale of your manuscript to the publisher, so you don't have to worry about saving up for a literary agent.

There are lots of ways to find literary agents to query. The Publisher's Marketplace web site is a great place to start. Query Tracker is another good option. You can also look at comp titles (novels that are similar to yours) and see who represented the author at the time of publication. This information is often found in the acknowledgements, or sometimes you can find it on the author's web site. I would definitely spend some time reading up on the querying process, as well as how to polish your manuscript ahead of querying, and how to write a good query letter. You will also want to make sure you follow the submission guidelines specific to each agent when you do send your query.

Happy querying!

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

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[drdemonprince]

Almost none of Dunham’s characters are possible any more. Jessa, the sinister hipster: eradicated. There are still tightly wound control freaks like Marnie, but all the creative gracelessness that made her bearable has been optimised out by twelve years of the internet. The weird, intense, charismatic boys like Adam have all been irretrievably brain-damaged by some kind of psychotic incel ideology. Ray, the hypercritical slacker, sneering from on top of his unfinished PhD, hanging out with much younger women, essentially if not actually Jewish, with his beautiful hare lip—Ray was the object of five years of cultural terror. He’s back in Cincinnati now, cast out, pickling in his own resentment. The only type that’s survived is Shoshanna. Hard and dense, compact, virginal. Shoshanna is Hannah’s negative. They’re both narcissists, but Hannah’s is a primary narcissism; she’s obsessed with the raw sensuous experience of being herself, being jammed into the world at her particular awkward angle. Shoshanna’s is secondary narcissism, the narcissism of the image of the self, the self as an object, the only object, swallowing all object-cathexes… In front of her Sex and the City poster: ‘I think I’m definitely a Carrie at heart, but sometimes Samantha kind of comes out.’ She survived because her type is typification itself, the process of mutilating the self into categories. That’s how you get ahead in the marketplace, and every last vestige of social life is a marketplace now. Everyone has turned into Shoshanna, men and women alike.1 The Shoshanna-machine spits out holographic versions of Hannah (‘literary it girl,’ ‘thought daughter’) and Jessa (‘indie sleaze’), but it’s all just Shoshanna underneath, one planetary Shoshanna spinning autistically through predetermined space.

A brilliant essay about the progression of time, the stagnation of culture, and why so many people are rewatching the HBO series Girls lately, by Sam Kriss.

[ineffectualdemon]

I don't think authors or book sellers or even reviewers using fanfic/trope keywords like "Enemies to lovers" is bad

Because honestly? It's not new either

1. It's been a staple bit of marketing in Romance for decades ("Bodice Rippers"? Hello!?)

2. It's not that far off of where genre marketing was in the 90s and 2000s "Its another one of those Sword and Sorcery books"

3. People have always gravitated towards and recommended books based on story elements that they really like that don't necessarily tell you anything about the plot

"This book has time travel!" Was one of mine for a long time. I'm still going to read any old trash if there is even a whiff of time travel! And I will be excited and bring it up while recommending it even if it's not relevant to the plot or tell you anything about the genre of story

I am not alone about this!

"This one has vampires!" - vampire friend recommendation

"this one has cool battles!" - friend who likes battles

"this one is really funny!" - friend who likes comedy

I have rarely had anyone start a pitch with the plot ever in my whole life. They start with what they find fun or exciting

Then they will talk about the plot

Online you have less time and also it's an good short hand to get people's attention based on what story elements they love

We just have a lot more specific phrasing thanks to fanfic that helps them quick fire these things

An author or publisher using fanfic/trope style tags to promote their work are not failing by not leading with a plot synopsis. They are doing the equivalent of shouting their goods in the marketplace to attract customers

If someone came to me and said 'Hey, I think you might like this story. It's about time travelling bisexual robots" then I want to ask more questions and look it up and see the genre and plot summary

That two second sell is enough to get me intrigued which is the entire point and if I look at it more and see its say, horror, i might go "ah dang, not for me."

Which is fine

But I might go "hmmm I don't normally like horror but I do like time travel and bisexual robots" and give it a try. And I might not enjoy it but I am making an informed choice

Also with authors especially if you scroll down a little more or click the read more or spend longer than 2 seconds on the video they usually tell you more about the book

And if all you are getting is the literary equivalent of "Fish! Fresh Fish!' And NOTHING else

Maybe that's a reflection of where you are on the internet because where I am if I stop I hear about what kind of fish they have and how long ago they were caught and loads about how it was caught - you get what I mean?

[catt-nuevenor]

Location Change

Right, quick update on the stories. I'm currently on my final read through before submission on the fixed narrative story. Hopefully I'll be sending it off to literary agents within the month.

That means more and more of my brain is tip-toeing its way back to Myrk Mire, and it's had some thoughts.

I don't really consider them spoilers, but treat this as a soft warning for story content.

As you may recall, I want the story of Myrk Mire to be 100% cannon with the fixed narrative story, this presents certain problems I didn't have to contemplate in the previous iteration of the story or characters. Previously you were able to pick the genders of the romantic interests and for those choices to have rather large implications for the continuing narrative. I still want to give folks that choice, but, it means I have eight characters to integrate instead of four.

Let's have a quick refresher:

Previously:

Peyton (M) or Peidyn (F)

Anadora (F) or Abelyn (M)

Louis (M) or Leila (F)

Kelda (F) or Keldan (M)

New Characters:

Plehtin (M) and Pursa (F) Starling, cousins.

Anadora (F) and Abjalin (M) Webja, siblings born roughly seven months apart.

Leiz (M) and Leila (F) Fyls, twins.

Cwylla (F) and Celd (M), friends.

Right, with that lot out in the open, don't you think the old setting of the lodging house would get a touch, cramped with all these folks crammed inside? Plus, of course, our protagonist and their offspring. Speaking of which, I have another post to write-up about the protagonist. Or rather protagonists...

Anywho, my thought is this: rather than setting the main events in the lodging house, I'd set them in the tavern/pub instead. Mawkin's Watch for those who need the prompt. Previously this was run by Myne (Myrna), cousin to the main character's landlord/lady. I'm now planning for it to be a joint Starling enterprise between Myne, Plehtin, and Pursa, with rooms attached for rent. The Fyl siblings, the main character and littlun, and our eventual swampy lurkers, can all pile into said rooms, while the Webja siblings can live with Erda just across the marketplace but spend all their free time with the folks in the tavern. Keeps the cosy atmosphere without the elbowing for space, and helps me explain why the Starlings are all under one roof all the time without contrivance.

More details on storylines and some pronunciation help on the new names can be found in this post:

Intertwining Fictions

Now to figure out the post about the MC... eeep.

[ancientrome]

Marble statue of Eirene (the personification of peace). Roman copy of Greek original by Kephisodotos. ca. 14–68 CE x

Copy of a Greek bronze statue of 375/374–360/359 B.C. by Kephisodotos

Eirene, the daughter of Zeus and Themis, was one of the three Horai (Seasons), maidens closely associated with the fertility of the earth and the nurturing of children. The original bronze was erected in the Agora (marketplace) of Athens between 375/374 and 360/359 B.C. Rarely can an ancient monument be dated so exactly. We know from literary sources that the cult of Eirene was introduced to Athens in 375/374, and six recently found Panathenaic amphorae dated to 360/359 show an image of the statue. The Greek traveler Pausanius saw the work in the Agora in the second century A.D. and reported that it was by the sculptor Kephisodotos. Eirene was represented as a beautiful young woman wearing a peplos and himation (cloak), holding a scepter in her right hand, and carrying the young child Ploutos (the personification of wealth) and a cornucopia on her left arm. The figure brings to mind images of Demeter, the major goddess of agricultural plenty and the mother of Ploutos.

[siriplaymastery]

Marble statue of Eirene (the personification of peace) Kephisodotos, ca. 14–68 CE

Copy of a Greek bronze statue of 375/374–360/359 B.C. by Kephisodotos

Eirene, the daughter of #Zeus and Themis, was one of the three Horai (Seasons), maidens closely associated with the fertility of the earth and the nurturing of children.

The original bronze was erected in the Agora (marketplace) of Athens between 375/374 and 360/359 B.C. Rarely can an ancient monument be dated so exactly. We know from literary sources that the cult of Eirene was introduced to #Athens in 375/374, and six recently found Panathenaic amphorae dated to 360/359 show an image of the statue. The #Greek traveler Pausanius saw the work in the Agora in the second century A.D. and reported that it was by the sculptor Kephisodotos.

Eirene was represented as a beautiful young woman wearing a peplos and himation (cloak), holding a scepter in her right hand, and carrying the young child Ploutos (the personification of wealth) and a cornucopia on her left arm. The figure brings to mind images of #Demeter, the major goddess of agricultural plenty and the mother of Ploutos.

[m-c-easton]

Submission Spotlight: Guernica

If you're looking for a lit mag to place short fiction with a slant towards originality (or even weirdness) and a lot of interiority, may I suggest Guernica? They're open now, and there's no fee. Competition is a tough, so send your best! #publishing

As of May 2023, Guernica is currently open for no-fee submissions here (follow their link to create a free Submittable account). Founded in 2004, Guernica publishes poetry, essays, fiction, criticism, and journalism online. Unlike most magazines, it pays contributors rather than staff; in fact, its staff are entirely volunteers. Rather than a university affiliation, the magazine is partnered with…

[azspot]

On first opening a book I listen for the sound of the human voice. Instead of looking for signs, I form an impression of a tone, and if I can hear in that tone the harmonies of the human improvisation extended through 5,000 years of space and time, then I read the book. By this device I am absolved from reading most of what is published in a given year. I have found that few writers learn to speak in the human voice, that most of them make use of alien codes (academic, political, literary, bureaucratic, technical) in which they send messages already deteriorating into the half-life of yesterday’s news. Their transmissions seem to me incomprehensible, and unless I must decipher them for professional reasons, I am content to let them pass by. Too many subtle voices divert my attention, to the point that when I enter a bookstore I am besieged by the same sense of imminent discovery that follows me through seaports and capital cities. This restlessness never troubles me in libraries, probably because libraries are to me like museums. It is the guile of commerce that accounts for the foreboding in bookstores; I have a feeling of the marketplace, of ideas still current after 2,000 years, of old men earning passage money by telling tales of what once was the city of Antioch.

The Pleasures of Reading

[capesandshapes]

Thinking about the invisible barriers to entry for publishing and how people who grew up in an upper to middle class background with supportive parents will start trickling into writing spaces for the next three months complaining about agents and publishers allowing additional consideration to people, members of the lgbtq+, and the disabled as a result of inclusive pitmads and open calls.

To query in the 2020s means having access to reliable technology in order to type out your novel, internet to query (and I was told in 2019 to send out 80 queries in my first round and expect to receive a form filled rejection letter like once-- the rest would never so much as acknowledge seeing your query), social media so you can be a part of all of the pitching events and jump on whatever opportunities you can (while being expected by some publishers to build your own following at the same time), and not only time but the emotional energy to write.

And I'm not even touching on the educational elitism that runs rampant through the arts, or the fact that many publishers and agents now expect you to query when a highly edited manuscript following their formatting guidelines in an approved file type (and no, it's not an imagined thing, converting Google drive documents to word does effect the formatting).

All of this is just to get your foot in the door. And half the time, the people who will tell you that it's easier to get a book deal if you're a marginalized person willfully ignore the fact that there are millions of people out there who couldn't get into the gated community that is access and stability to start walking towards the door. They don't want to talk about the people who were given additional consideration, but weren't accepted because an agent or publisher didn't feel that they were educated enough, or that they edited their manuscript enough, or their drive to word conversion turned all paragraph indentation into the dreaded five spaces instead of the much revered tabbing.

"You're more likely to get a book deal if you're a person of color, gay, or disabled," even once we move past how ungodly untrue that is, no one who bitches about agency and publisher calls for diverse writers wants to talk about the hundreds of people who were given additional consideration through those calls and didn't receive adequate marketing from their publisher or ended up grossly underperforming for reasons they cannot control. They don't see the people who will see the name on a book or flip to the back cover and put it down. Or that queer and non anglo Christian stories are going to be at a disadvantage in a marketplace dominated by white, straight, Christian culture.

Traditionally published people also aren't likely to be making bank to start off with, considering the fact that the majority of them fail even with all things working for them, and you don't get royalties until your advance is paid out by book sales. Publishers don't tend to give you another book deal or beg for a sequel if you aren't selling well, regardless of who you are.

There's about a dozen poc/lgbtq+/disabled authors from every publishing class (debut year), but everyone who bitches that it's definitely easier to get a publishing deal if you're a minority can only name like three successful POC authors, one disabled, and like if they try really hard like a single gay person in their genre-- like ignore the expanding literary canon that has introduced Toni Morrison and Walt Whitman to English programs across America, who in the genre that they write can they name off the top of their head that is not straight, white, neurotypical, and able bodied. Like, don't get me wrong, they've probably read a few more than just those people but can't remember off the top of their heads... Just like they can't remember the hundreds of books by white straight authors that they have read in their genre. Everyone knows the names of their favorite authors and the people that they consider themselves ~inspired~ by, but there are genuinely so many books by people of privilege that we don't really 'see' half of them.

But sure, whatever, it's unfair that you don't get as many publishing calls for you to submit your literary masterpiece, and you're surely being discriminated against. How will the world live without the new Shakespeare written by yet another monkey on a typewriter-- we even gave it internet.

[dansantat]

48

I’ll let you in on one of my biggest fears.

When I was a kid I was worried I would be completely useless to society and end up homeless.

I used to fear the future.

I’m not joking.

When I was growing up, one of my biggest fears was becoming an adult and trusting in my own abilities to provide for myself. As a little kid I would stay up at night staring at the ceiling worried about what I was going to do with my life. In my mind I had no idea what work was. I imagined wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase filled with only God knows what and going off to an office doing random grown-up stuff and getting paid for it. The worry was wondering what that grown-up works as. What was I going to do with my life? What was my purpose?

True story, when I got my first job at a video game company and got the phone call telling me what my first salary would be I breathed a sigh of relief over the phone saying, “Thank God someone in this world thinks I’m useful.”

Thank you, Christian Busic, for my first job.

My oldest son is graduating from high school this year and I can sense a little bit of that anxiety from him wondering what he will be doing with the rest of his life. I can relate and I don’t give him any pressure to rush to any conclusions. I find it unsettling that some of us bust our humps trying to get into college and then suddenly a university asks you what major you want to do which will decide your path in the future.

Statistically, about 85% of graduating college students don’t do anything with their college degree.

“Find your passion,” I tell him. “It was what you were meant to do.”

Now, I’m at a point in my life where a few of my friends and folks around me are looking into the near future (maybe the next five to eight years) towards retirement. That golden ticket. The moment they can finally get off that train and spend the rest of their lives doing what they REALLY want to do with their lives. This all came as a shock to me. Not about about whether or not some of us can actually retire, but the fact that that time has flown and suddenly I’m nearing the other side of work life. I’ve been adulting for roughly 22 years now, which feels like nothing, and as I reflect on the past years I find myself rather fortunate that I happen to do have had the honor and privilege to do exactly what I wanted and was born to do. I understand that not many people get that in their life. I’m lucky. So, while folks around me are looking to get off the work force train, or at least dream about it, I realize that I have absolutely no interest in stopping, and that’s a good thing.

I think I did something right?

I’ve spent the last 48 years of my life worrying all these years if I’m going to be okay only to stand on the last third of a marathon called "the working life" and realizing that things just might work out fine.

When my father died a few years ago I remember him eating a hot dog as his last meal, which was odd because he was obsessed with his health to the point that he never took pleasure in indulging in fun things so this was something he would never do. All his life he just kept obsessing about eating right and exercising convinced he was going to die of cardiovascular disease when suddenly it was liver cancer. He just sat there eating his hot dog and saying to himself, “What was the point of worrying all those those years?”

He didn’t know I was listening. The best piece of life advice he gave me was something he didn't intend for me to hear, but that moment spoke volumes to me.

Now, here’s where it gets a little interesting.

I realized something recently about myself while attending a few literary conferences and festivals in the past few years.

I’m suddenly the old guy.

While 48 isn’t particularly old I’m finding myself to be the veteran on panels filled with twenty somethings. I see fewer and fewer of the peers that I came up with at conferences. The Publisher’s Weekly Marketplace is filled with young new people I’ve never heard of before. The output of some folks I had admired for years seem to have dropped off a bit and I pray it’s because they’ve willingly chosen to slow their lives down. The scariest part is that I’ve finally reached a point in my life where I question if I have enough years in my life to create all the ideas that I have in my head. It feels like only yesterday that I started out in this business and I was hustling to try to get my foot firmly planted in this literary industry hoping to be recognized by editors and art directors, and you, the readers. Now, I find myself hustling for a slightly different reason. I feel Iike I’m trying to keep up with the younger new voices. As younger generations plant their foot into the cultural zeitgeist I’ve noticed an extremely talented pool of young new literary voices who seem to effortlessly dispense this perfect voice suited to our current youth, but they do it in a slightly different way from me. Their perception of the world is slightly different than mine. To put it kindly, I’ve wondered if the perception of how I view the world has become a little dated?

Call this a self-reflecting form of ageism.

When you write a memoir about yourself you are left generally spending a lot of time reflecting on your entire life and you are left with this inner need to understand every facet about yourself. You need to understand how all the gears work and you constantly ask yourself why you are the way you are. This self-awareness has been quite useful to me. I think it’s important to stand outside of yourself and be completely unbiased as you reflect about who you are. The brutal honestly of my world is that I need to constantly be aware of how the world is changing and ask myself if I’m changing with it. This is not to say that I don’t think I have anything worthwhile to say or write, but I wonder if I’m delivering that message in the right way? In order to speak to people you need to know HOW to say something as well as WHAT you’re going to say. My childhood was filled with toys, tv shows, riding bikes into the night, and building junk forts in some far uncharted corner of town. Today’s youth is filled with the internet, Netflix streaming, texting, and Tik Tok memes.

It’s apples and oranges.

I know folks who use old vaudeville gags in their work. Pies in the face, double takes, and old puns. Tools of an old era that kids are left scratching their heads wondering, “What did the author mean my that? And what’s an anvil?” There’s a lack of self-awareness where they feed their own personal interests not realizing that the audience they serve is completely left in the dark. You suddenly look around and realize that you’re completely out of the loop and if you try to fake it then it will all just come off as awkward because everyone can see that you’re simply trying too hard.

There comes a point in life when you suddenly realize that you aren’t up with all the gossip and trends and the who’s who of social media celebrities but I think the kiss of death to any person’s personal growth is when they say, “I miss the good old days…”

The cruel truth about the world is that if you long for the “good old days” you’re suddenly going to find yourself surrounded by a world you no longer understand because the world doesn’t care if you change with it or not.

I know people decades older than me who feared computers and refused to ever touch one and now they are surrounded by a digital world and they curse it for being fully automated and they can no longer use cash. I know folks who miss old school rap while scratching their heads over what new rappers are playing these days. Do you fear self-driving cars? Too bad, because capitalism says it’s coming whether you like it or not. Does AI terrify you? I mean, yes, it ABSOLUTELY SHOULD, but it’s coming.

My attitude isn’t that I’m being forced to adapt. Now, my view is that I’m eager to see what lies down the road and where my place is in it. I see that the world is changing rapidly and I don’t want to get off this train because the moment I stop looking towards the future and spend more time reflecting on my past is when I stop growing as a person.

I don’t know how well I’ll adapt to the future but I no longer fear it. All I know is that I've done fine for most of my life and I should have confidence that my desire to grow will help me carry on.

There’s no point in worrying.

Take life one day at a time, and just savor the precious moments life gives you...

And eat the hot dog.

[fourswords]

talking about the silly au again!

i mentioned it on my site but not here iirc but i don't think four is very good at reading. like because his story in the manual mentions him being young and on his own and traveling around i just don't think he ever really got good at reading outside of the basics that kids learn (since. y'know. no adults around to teach him. obviously not in school like some other links in the general loz series are. etc.) and naturally his reading speed is really slow and his writing speed is even slower. the only things he really reads are marketplace signs and directional signposts and that's pretty much it, and he has very little interest in getting better at it because he just doesn't care. he doesn't see himself ever being in a position that'll require him to read a lot because all he does is wander around. BUT! in the context of this au, if he WERE to come across a word he was struggling to pronounce or had plain just never seen in writing or something, i think he'd try to work it out in his head long enough to get a headache about it and then just ask knight to pronounce it for him/tell him its meaning if it's a word he hasn't heard at all before (like something that'd only be used in a literary context or smth) because he figured out that knight will just answer something like that for him with no questions asked. which four appreciates because his whole thing is "not making a big deal over anything" and if someone DID try to make a big deal about it he would literally just one-liner his way out of the conversation and slip away the first chance he gets