#metawriting

[juleskelleybooks]

The Fae Prince by Margot Kiers

One of the projects in my long-term WIPs folder is inspired by one of my favorite literary formats, which is: A book about a book. Think The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern (by William Goldman), although not with the comedic tone.

So The Fae Prince by Margot Kiers is planned to be about a professor and a grad student who are both equally obsessed with this obscure work of queer literary fiction. The grad student is doing their dissertation on it. (I keep waffling about the genders involved. I'll get there.) As part of their research into the life of the mysterious author (who was most certainly a penname for someone whose true identity was never discovered) and the context surrounding the publication of the book (almost no records exist), they also explore the "existence" of a controversial, unauthorized second edition. Some theories are that the author wanted to circumvent the Hays Code sad gay ending by writing something more hopeful (a la Maurice); or that it was written by a fan who wanted the human boy and the faerie prince to end up together and "published" it; etc.

At any rate, when you write a book about a book, you don't HAVE to have the book that it's written about, I guess, but why wouldn't you?? So the above tiny notebook (key for scale) is what I bought to write The Fae Prince in. By hand. With a pencil. And as it grows organically, I'm hoping it will have little foibles -- crossed out words, erased passages, scribbles in the margin -- that help inform the eventual meta-book about it. It's an experiment, but one I'm looking forward to working on over the next several years (this is not a fast project and I am a slow writer). But I'm obsessed with this little notebook and wanted to show it off and talk about it a little bit. <3

[the-fae-folk]

The Final Wall (Part 3)

The easiest way to manage such a thing would be to combine them with something metaphysical, while it's arguable whether or not metaphysical things are real, there is enough doubt about it either way to satisfy my personal conviction that they are real, and thereby satisfy the conditions for my own challenge. For example... I could write a character who is the very personification of Mercy, who in the story they exist in they are there within every person who chooses to be merciful, existing as that act itself, called into being by the choice to act upon feelings of compassion, empathy, and pity. And thus, if they are the very act of Mercy itself, that could extend beyond the boundaries of the story. Regardless of whether they are physically real or not, Mercy is something that exists in our reality, outside the realms of Fiction and Meta-Fiction. Even if the character cannot take the same form beyond the story I've written, I have chosen to make them not just representative of Mercy within the narrative, but the act of Mercy itself. So in some form or another they have agency outside of the story, outside the control of creator and audience. I told you it was a trick. A clever workaround. You could still argue that it's not really the character themselves, that Mercy was already outside the boundaries of the story and therefore using it to give the character agency is cheating and doesn't count. You could argue that the agency still lies in the hands of the people who are making the choice to be merciful, and not in the hands of some abstract metaphysical concept of Mercy. You could argue all of that. If I were to choose a different, perhaps better, metaphysical concept... I'm sure there would be a way to argue against that as well. The fact of the matter is, I don't know how to really give a character real and true agency, to give them and only them the absolute and unquestionable ability to give them their own freedom of choice. Because to do such a thing would require me to be able to grant life to a character, to pull them from the page, and to truly understand myself what it means to be real and to have genuine agency. I cannot do any of those things, not really. But this trick, this writing workaround? It's a spark of what I'm trying to achieve, a glimmer of something I hoped for. And that is already a step closer than I ever thought I would be able to go. What is the point of all of this? I'm not really sure of that either. It's just my own pondering as I make my own writer's journey. But maybe it can offer some insight to you on the nature of fiction and characters and reality, maybe it can give you something you didn't have before. Influence you in a way that neither you nor I can control or even understand. And that, perhaps, is another step closer.

[worldrevoked]

chinas

i think the main difference between china [friend's version of anthro countries media] and china world revoked is that despite both being hollowed out shells of women china world revoked is fundamentally more optimistic because her psychiatric cure is the immortal science of marxist-leninism

she is the master of dialectical behavioral therapy and basically i think if you gave china world revoked ten minutes alone with china [data expunged] she would fix her and they would also fuck

now china wr is a stone top and china [data expunged] is a robot but they would have milfy yuri sex somehow

[scribblelustslut]

I haven't let words take me like this in a good long while. they're writing themselves through me, and I release them to the wind.

I used to have such a history with them. such intimacy. such an unbearable need to run my fingers through them and play. but it hasn't been so for a good long while.

free, ardent words became strangers to me with time. instead, I'd only willingly go to them to process emotions, safely and hidden, to my eyes alone. always for a purpose.

chaotic words, subtle poetry pleading to be touched, big thoughts bent in different ways. words that poke into something without the need to dissect. to touch only. to caress. awaken.

words that come from inspiration, from a fleeting thought, from the beauty of a moment. a scent. words that speak of not self contained truths. that need a vessel, a pen, a touch. I found them again.

this feels like coming home.

photo: from my seat window, at my last time flying back.

[the-world-annealing]

Interesting post, starts off strong, loses some steam in the second half (imo).

While staying away from anything too transparently political is probably a smart move for the overall point, I can't help but notice how there's a very clear alternative to the therapy-speak paradigm that's being criticized.

In this alternative paradigm, humans are not merely bundles of feelings and experiences that sum to form Traits, but rather they possess some type of Fundamentally Correct Core, and any humans who deviate from that have failed to that their core from outside forces.

Back in the day, that core was our God-given soul and the outside forces were demons (and to some people it still is), but you can also go and argue that the human psyche has been fine-tuned by evolution and that Modern Culture is trying to wrest it out of alignment.

And that gets stereotyped as a liberal-conservative distinction, and sometimes it is, but i actually think there's a lot of examples of psychology-adjacent debate where this distinction takes precedence over more traditional political dimensions. Someone like JBP fits the conservative mold only partially, but he's the foremost champion of the correct-core-assaulted-by-outside-forces model. It's certainly not a mindset exclusive to conservatives, just as there's presumably conservatives who found BoJack and EEAAO quite resonant!

So if this article explains and criticizes liberal-coded 'A24 writing' that focuses on trauma-derived psychological traits, what does the other way of writing and analyzing characters look like? Simple; a focus on that moral core that A24 does not believe in, on people who are Naturally Excellent, on champions of virtue surrounded by sin, on people who remained moral paragons while enduring great hardship, something that is almost a contradiction in terms to trauma narratives. You see it in ben shapiro's short stories (especially Utopia), you see it in Chick tracts, you see it in W.S. Lind's Victoria, you definitely see it in the bible that all these are inspired by both directly and indirectly.

(and this is mostly an aside, but I think an interesting third option here is actually presented by ratfic of all things, which defines and explains its characters via their goals; even the most emotion-driven developments get conceptualized as new goals suddenly popping up)

another really interesting post from kriss. as usual, not entirely endorsed. but getting at something

[metawriter]

The Silent Hill

The silent hill has no resting place anymore It is as loud and crowded as that other The one where the noises overshadow the quiet places of rest But on the hill there’s no resting None more for the wicked Than for the good It is a place of torment Where are heard even exquisite laments The dead, the good days gone, and those in disrepair There the shout of heroes lost to the turning of…

[m-i-r-p]

Dazai as sherlock fyodor as the other guy can’t remember the name the evil one idk it’s early morning but let me cook

[deancasforcutie]

metawriter!Metatron describing what Dean and Cas would be to each other if they weren't on Chuck's network:

[zeralight-asks]

// any interactions with AwA, be it an ask or otherwise, are tagged with '#teampoet official'

// fourth wall breaks have been tagged with '#unreality', but I will also now be tagging them with '#tw fourth wall break' and/or '#metawriter'

[the-fae-folk]

The Final Wall (Part 2)

My challenge was clear. How to set up a story in a way that despite every single card being in the creator's hands, the character could actually have even the tiniest instant of genuine real-life agency beyond the control of the creator and audience? So many stories that depict such a thing, but only as a gimmick, only crafting more and more meta-fiction layers, never actually offering that elusive quality I sought. It is difficult, especially since I'm working with the assumption that these characters are not truly alive, merely extensions of my own consciousness and thoughts, and those of my audience. Even if allowing them to realize that fact, that they are, in a way, a part of me and the audience experiencing their story, might be a clever way to break past the barrier between the fictitious and the real, it still cannot grant them agency. They are still bound to me, to my will and control, or that of the audience. For a long time I was caught in this conundrum, trying to find a way to achieve what I wanted short of somehow miraculously gaining the power to cause characters to spring to life from the very pages of the book (as its depicted in the novel "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke). But after considering the matter for a long time, I did discover at least one way to achieve my goal. It is a trick, of course, a clever workaround. Yet it may give me at least a spark of what I'm hoping for. I was inspired by, of all things, Greek Mythology. Where the gods depicted are more than just characters of the stories, more than just the deities that overlook the world. They were, to the people who worshiped them, the personifications of aspects of the world. Zeus wasn't just the lord of the sky, he was the sky. The Morai were not only the spinners, weavers, and cutters of fate for mortal and immortal alike, but they actually were fate and destiny, the personifications of a part of reality. Of course, I personally don't believe in a predetermined fate or destiny. And I don't personally believe in or worship Zeus, so I cannot speak to his existence at this time. The Greek Myths were coming at this problem from the opposite direction, beings that were worshiped as being real already having stories told about them, moving into the world of fiction from the outside, instead of trying to reach the outside from within. Although, there may yet be a way I can use their technique for what I want. If I were to take the character and bind them inextricably with something that is real, I might be able to give them a way to at least give them the power of agency, even if they will never be able to truly act upon it with intention (you know, being fictional and all). Making a character the personification of a natural part of the world has its problems though. If I made a character the personification of the sky or sea or forests, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are those things outside of my story. I would have to write a story and set up their character so that not only were they the personification of a thing, but they were able to know and understand things beyond the story and beyond me, able by their nature to act without my knowledge of it, even if they cannot visibly do so within the story itself.

[hotpinkstaples]

the metawriting from worlds collide was honestly so peak. it was an old-school cosmic boss battle, but the Themes And Lesson stayed true throughout the whole event..... don't matter if our heroes are real or in our head. as long as we stay true to ourselves and fight the good fight, then all that matters is we tried. and they DID! worlds collide, you will always be famous

[theeleventhsignofthezodiac]

Unknown Photographer

Cumma Corporation MetaWriter software vending machine, 1983.

[scribblelustslut]

(funny thing about this place is the new side of me it's awakening. I always wrote too prolifically, too much, too rambly, too lost, in poetic descriptive prose and almost complete lack of form. now these notes, these little things, they're writing themselves out of me, it's a flow of less being more, and so definitely constant, so constant I cannot turn it off at once. I haven't even scratched the surface of where I thought this would go.)

where will this go?

[roostertuftart]

aside from your partners, who are some sp fanartists you can recommend? especially style since that's my favourite ship

Ahhh I love the excuse to make a rec list!!! This is gonna be bit long! I've collected as many names of people that I could think of that I feel relatively fond of in terms of their artwork and personalities, and I decided to include some fanfiction writers I find to be worth a follow as well!! Hope that's okay ^-^ Also I'll be including my partners anyway since I want this post to come of use to anyone else new to the fandom and looking for style creators here :3

@bbathsalts - AMAZING style artist but also general multishipper

@erratic-brainrot - great metawriter, creates a lot of headcanon related posts, multishipper but loves style, esp as a part of a poly

@pononoin - especially fond of their silly creatures and scene!Kyle x goth!Stan

@traitor-boyfriend - meta writer and amazing artist, and I love their style artwork so much.

@south-park-meta - Wonderful style artist and AMAZING meta writer. Super nice person too!!!

@emilyartstudio-s - I have to assume you already follow her because like- Who doesn't in this fandom??? And for good reason!! But yess, one of the most iconic style artists in the fandom!!

@foxydodo - Really talented style artist!!!

@stankyles - Beautiful artwork, makes some cute comics too!

@glitchygorge - SOOO many good ideas, talented artist, has awesome AUs and headcanons, and has a youtube channel where they post south park (including style!!) videos as well!! I know this is Tumblr recs but they have way too few subscribers tbh

@eatbabies0 - Very cute art close in style to the show's art!! Consistently adorable stuff!

@feralhoundbones - cute style artist!! Draws a lot of au stuff of them as monsters and doggos and stuff uwu

@rk-reikyo - GORGEOUS art, my god. It's so high quality, and they have such cute style stuff, some of it being fully rendered short comics!!

@rainyfroggy - Doesn't draw quite as much South Park as they used to but they still do occasionally!! Definitely check them out!! Their art is so adorable and they're a super sweet person!

@clint-eastworm - God, they are so talented- Their work is stunning and very sweet and warm!

@marshwayle - Their art style is adorable!

@kiritila - Gorgeous art style, it's so pretty, and he has a really amazing fanfiction you should check out that I'll just drop as well :)

@miraco - Really beautiful artwork!!!

@lozislaw - omg loz ilysm DEF follow her. Gorgeous artwork and AMAZING fanfictions- Writer of probably my fav fanfic ever that I'll just drop here as well :)

@cherrysleepover - Beautiful style artist and super friendly person!!!

@adriabun - Aghh, I love their art, it's so cute!!

@wormfan77 - Dude their work is STUNNING

@virgosfreckles - SO talented!! Makes a ton of little comics and has a really cute animatic!!! Beautiful art style :]

@stripen - Really cute art style, I love their comic for the stylezine!

@dusksmote - Really talented artist and writer!!

@chifrija - Really beautiful art style!! Aghh I love it

@maccha-1228 - Really beautiful art!! They do a lot of traditional stuff which is pretty rare online these days, and it's so good!!

@d00dlecj - Super pretty art, and has some cute style comics!! I actually just found them today for the first time and I cannot believe I have been missing out for so long

@bunytime - Very good style artists and (I think?) one of the people who ran the style zine.

And lastly, not an artist but an amazing writer, @fayoftheforest !! She's got some beautifully written fanfics, and just makes a lot of very good South Park (especially style) posts about headcanons and meta and all that fun stuff :3

Here's some AUs/ask blogs I also find worth checking out!

@ask-the-freedom-pals-au - Okay a bit of a self boost here but my AU with @erratic-brainrot

@shipstylennyman / @flippingyouoff - So this is a poly between the main four boys but technically still style!! Their main is worth following too!

@south-park-dimensions - Super cute art style and really neat AU that I need to catch up on lol

@wgo-southpark - I keep up with this over Instagram better and if you have one, I suggest following them there since they share a lot of extra stuff on their story- But anyway! Super well written South Park teenager AU, and they've got some style in there that is emotionally ruining me ahaha

And lastly, some style related blogs revolving around fandom events :)

@styleweek - Coming up in the next few weeks so follow them now!

@spstylezinestylezine - Just came out and full of very beautiful artwork from many of the people listed above as well as others I probably missed! Give it a look :)

[beguilingcorpse]

i don’t remember why i followed you at first, but i love your tlt analysis posts!

MWAH i love writing tlt analysis posts!! the books demand close reading tbh and it’s so fun to interact with media that wants you to do that. + the metawriting side of tlt tumblr has such galaxy brained takes lol we’re all scholars and philosophers at this point

(tell me on anon why you started following me!)

[deancasforcutie]

#and specially this far out from anything concrete it's just people talking to get people talking. that's it. #also sorry but if you cannot trust... some people... to talk seriously and intelligently *about what's already aired* #why tf would you pay any attention to what they say about anything much less stuff that's still very early stages? (via @ironworked)

if this is about way-too-early speculation on actor involvement I think this tweet about sums it up:

It's the year 2024. Nobody should still have to point out PR IS NOT SHOWRUNNING due to spn revival discourse. And yet. Here we are.