#nevanna likes mind stuff

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I found a couple of decades-old books on hypnotism at a used bookstore last weekend. I didn’t end up purchasing them but I did document my discoveries for posterity.

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Gordon after introducing a villain who exploits and psychologically manipulates a group of children and teenagers, tries to torture a seventh grader just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and compels several innocent people to commit suicide and/or murder: “yeah, this is also a middle school series”

(I am not trying to play “which series is edgier?” here. Both Masterminds and The Hypnotists are excellent, even if the latter is somewhat more relevant to my interests.)

gordon after putting kids through gaslighting and manipulation, running away from home because everything about their lives were a lie, and "killing" off a character in the end of the first book: "yeah, it's a middle school series"

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From a recent Discord chat

It’s always nice to be Perceived.

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I just wrote in an AO3 comment, “I am a huge sucker for soft, consensual telepathic intimacy, even more so if one or both parties are haunted by a psychic whammy that was neither of those things.”

You know this trope.  I know this trope.  I’m sure that there must be others who cannot get enough of this trope.  Am I wrong?

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Mental manipulation?

:D :D :D :D :D

MY VERY FAVORITE FOREVER.

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I don’t know what this is referencing but I’d probably be into it.

ur in his dms. I’m in his brain casting thunderwave at the demon prince corrupting his mind to help free him from his curse. We are not the same.

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in which it is nice to be Recognized

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so i've been going through some of your tropes/whump/etc tags and loving them, but i haven't yet come across a mention of my personal favorite mind control/possession trope, the forced/third-party confession—character B is inside character A's head, and "casually," maliciously, smugly, reveals to A's friends C/D/E/etc everything A's been working so hard to keep secret. how A was partially responsible for C getting hurt, how D unknowingly hurt A, how A's been in love with E for years…

Anon, I like the way you think! I’m not sure if it’s more or less horrifying if the rest of the group knows that it’s not really their friend talking...

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...HEY TMA FANDOM, have any of you read the Hypnotists trilogy by Gordon Korman? It’s a middle-grade series about a Plucky Youth who discovers he can Do A Mind Control and learns to develop his abilities at an Institute For The Gifted.  So, basically everything I didn’t know I needed when I was the target age for the books, but had more or less figured out by the time they were published.

The Charismatically Evil Mentor Figure who runs the place is unscrupulous about bending people’s minds - including his protege’s - in various terrifying ways.  He’s pretty much what you’d expect, and somehow I completely forgot between rereadings that his first name is Elias.  

If you think I didn’t cackle when I picked up the book again more recently, you are wrong, my friends.

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Mind meld, anyone?

Between Zoom birthday parties and three-hour House Party hangs, people are finding new ways to stay connected with their loved ones while practicing safe physical distancing. Tumblr Creatr Jennifier Xiao (@jxiaoo) has a few new ideas for friends to stay #TogetherWithYou if you’re feeling particularly adventurous. 

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someone: hey, what kinds of stuff do you write?

me:

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For the meme... MIND CONTROL. :P

My brand on Tumblr, on AO3, on Livejournal and its sister sites, and all the way back to fanfiction.net.  Over 18 years of mind control in my posted fanworks, and counting.

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I’ve written a few times about Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni novels and how their incredibly sensuous depictions of telepathy almost made up for the aspects of the series that I found frustrating or boring.  I have not, up until this point, said much about the prequel series, The Legends of Camber of Culdi.

There is a reason for this, I suppose: I only read through that trilogy once, nearly a decade and a half ago, and found them even more full of the things I disliked about their predecessors (dull and convoluted religious and political intrigue concerning a lot of characters that I did not care about).  Also, many of the supposedly sympathetic characters were even more inclined to invade minds and erase memories for the greater good (THE GREATER GOOOOOOOD) than King Kelson or General Morgan, but to this day I’m not sure if that is part of what drew me in or part of what drove me off.  (I feel that way about a lot of mind control content.)

And yet I feel like the Camber books deserve a mention, because they also contain lines like this, “Gently, lightly, Tavis initiated mind contact, letting Javan experience it only as an intensification of the physical touch they shared.” (Context: Javan is a prince whose memories have been modified For This Own Good; Tavis is his BFF who’s trying to help restore them.  There’s a fair bit of psychic experimentation, full of “I won’t harm you” / “I trust you” etc.)

And also the scene in another character hits Tavis with a psychic infodump of all the Plot that he’s missed or that has been magically concealed from him, which contains phrases like, “dizzying surge of blind, submissive trust” and “breathless mingling of memories and perceptions” and “sheer ecstasy of psychic communication.”

...

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I think that says it all, except that, if you’re curious about these books but don’t want to seek them out, fantasy author Judith Tarr wrote an excellent recap which is available here.

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@tanoraqui @amusedmuralist you’re welcome.

When Caretaker rests their hand against Whumpee’s cheek and Whumpee’s eyes slip closed as they lean trustingly into their touch? I feel that in my soul

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Celebrity twitter, giving solid advice: Have the courage to say what you need in the moment. Most people aren't mind readers.

Me: ...MOST PEOPLE?

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@flo-nelja and I were talking about “dating someone with mind powers” tropes today and this is what we came up with:

“oops I read your thoughts on accident”

“oops I now have details of your relationship history downloaded into my head and DID NOT WANT TO KNOW”

“let’s negotiate boundaries so I’m not in your head all the time”

“who hurt you? I’ll kill them with my brain”

“we can share our desires, sexy or otherwise, without having to talk about them” (this could go to some really good or really bad places, or both)

“we can be together even when we’re physically apart”

“i understand you better than you understand yourself”

“I trust you more than I trust myself”

“what if your lover is manipulating your mind without one or both of you realizing it?”

+ add your own!