#novels about loss

[rozmorris]

Diary of an audiobook: lessons learned in the making of Ever Rest

Last month I released the audiobook version of Ever Rest, my third novel. All creative collaborations bring surprises, so here are the lessons learned. Meet my narrator My narrator was Sandy Spangler, who narrated my other two novels. Sandy is a longtime friend who designs computer games, but I didn’t know she had also trained as a voice actor. In 2014 I had a generous sponsorship offer from…

[archerygun]

It’s always so heartbreaking to me that every time we see Owen display how he really feels about Luke in canon (the books, and Kenobi) Luke is never there to hear it.

When Owen faces down the inquisitor and declares that Luke IS his son, Luke is already way out of earshot (even though I do sort of consider the Kenobi show non-canon). When Owen talks to Beru after the argument with Luke on the day they die, telling her he feels bad about having to squash Luke’s dreams and wanting to find some way to make it up to him, he never hears it.

Owen’s relationship with Luke WAS complex, and it was rocky sometimes. I’ve always read this as Owen having difficulty being emotionally open, at least as far as the ANH novel and Kenobi show have shown. Owen loves Luke DEEPLY, right to his core. But he doesn’t know how to put that into words. He’s an awkward man! He’s been raised on nightmare hell planet where becoming too attached to someone might end up in them being killed or sold into slavery and you being miserable! Look at what happened to both of his mothers!

When someone you love dies, you look at all their actions with a new light and deeper introspection. Can you imagine the absolute world-shattering thoughts Luke must have had after Owen and Beru died?

Realising he was more deeply loved than he could have ever realised, even if Owen had a harder time showing it.

And Owen’s parental anxiety is shown in Kenobi! Owen Lars, one of the most dedicated fathers in the galaxy, probably died wondering if his son would ever know how much he really loved him.

Owen probably died with so, so many regrets. Owen probably died wondering if he deserved to raise Luke (which he DID) and if he had done enough to prepare his son for the world (HE DID).

Owen Lars has always been a heartbreaking character for me.

[outersyourwilds]

I haven't had too much time to draw bc of work but I wanted to doodle some Hatchling hdffhdrgj

Fun fact my first death after getting the launch codes was me crashing into brittle hollow bc I didn't know how to land! (My partner has witnessed many failed attempts at trying to land without damaging the ship or myself hdfvhdfb)

Also!

Me as a hearthian ::) (this was while I was figuring out how to draw hearthian eyes)

[not-poignant]

I was thinking back to the post I made about ebooks being so much more accessible for so many people compared to paperbacks/hardbacks and the other thing I wanted to add is the vast, vast majority of the time, the author gets so much more profit comparatively for an ebook than a paperback/hardback.

That's not a problem for huge huge huge authors either way, but for small-time authors, or authors with small publishing houses, the difference in profits can sometimes be $2.00 or $3.00 per ebook sold vs. $0.50c or $1.00 per paperback. Really. You pay more, but the author gets a lot less.

In the case of indie authors like myself, ebooks give the highest returns always.

This isn't necessarily something most readers think about, but I have had readers assume that because the book format cost them more, that automatically means more goes to the author. In fact it's often the opposite. There are very few exceptions (university texts come to mind). But in the case of your run-of-the-mill indie fiction, if you genuinely want the most profit to go to the author, get the ebook.

[lucky-clover-gazette]

imagine working retail in a whimsical fantasy video game open world. i’d be pissed too

[concordewillfly]

scared about the future again... guys it looks bad in here. save me dennis cooper

[kakusu-shipping]

Balan is now suffering from Blorbo I Don't F/O syndrome, where instead of kissing the character myself I just make every other character in their media do it for me.

[raayllum]

yk i was going to ask what your takes/predictions are for the rayla/sarai parallels but then i realized they sure weren't gonna be good and would ruin me but then i realized i do not like myself anyways so you have the floor

So I have a lot of feelings about Sarai and Rayla (and Claudia) being women who are doomed by the narrative and I will try to express them eloquently

Post with Sarai and Rayla parallels (pre-S4)

Post with Harrai and Rayllum parallels (pre-S3) featuring all the potential parallel pairs

The Viren-Avizandum theory that Viren paralleling Avizandum in the intro was to also parallel how the dragon queen caused Harrow's loss of Sarai by having Viren cause Callum to almost lose Rayla (pre-S4, largely defunct but still interesting)

Bonus Claudia and Sarai parallels (being used for dark magic, etc.)

With that out of the way:

Rayla and Sarai do have their similarities, given that they see their enemies as people even when it would be far more convenient not to and everyone else around them is telling them not to ("The human looked up at me, and I saw the fear in his eyes" / "You keep calling it a monster!"). And they see these people as well, people, even when ultimately taking the act of dealing the final blow upon themselves (Sarai being the one to kill the Magma Titan, Rayla killing/tackling Viren off the Pinnacle). There is, of course, the very obvious framing parallel between Harrow watching Sarai ride away in 2x06 and between Callum watching Rayla leap away an episode later in 2x07 that makes my heart do a little pitter-patter every time

We know from Callum's Spellbook and from Sarai's argument in 2x05 that she is staunchly against dark magic - just as Rayla is - but they are both willing to stand by Harrow and Callum anyway even when they choose to engage with it: "I disagree, but I stand by you anyway" / "It doesn't matter what you did before, I just want you to be okay again". (This bodes well for S6 Rayllum in particular.)

There is, of course, that Sarai dies saving Viren, and Rayla almost dies killing Viren / wrecks her relationship with Callum by leaving to hunt him down, causing mother and son to both assume, "Without Viren to perform the spell, the heart is worthless and this was all for nothing" / "I didn't find him..." "Oh, so you disappeared for two years for no reason at all?"

While Harrow and Callum parallel each other more framing and devotion wise (Harrow never moved on from Sarai just as Callum never moved on from Rayla, while Sarai must've moved on fairly quickly after Callum's father's death for Callum to be able to remember the man and only have a 5 year age gap with Ezran. More thoughts on that in this oneshot here <3)... I think Harrow and Rayla are more similar personality wise and that Callum also has a great deal of similarities with his mother. (This is also why Rayla-Harrow and Callum-Viren dynamics tend to parallel each other as well, tbh.)

Basically I don't think there's a clear cut-ness to it - almost everyone in TDP parallels each other at least a little with a generational breakdown of

Personality:

Harrow-Rayla

Viren-Callum

Sarai-Ezran

VS Generational roles

Ezran-Harrow

Rayla-Sarai

Callum-Viren

if that distinction makes any sense? There may be more to the Sarai-Rayla parallels (certainly I can see the "Tell me she wasn't your world" + making a choice said woman doesn't want you to make on her behalf involving dark/star magic and shit, which Callum arguably already has) in S6/7 in the way I thought might be happening pre-S4, but I lean more away from it now. There could always be interesting (or sad) stuff I missed though between the two ladies, so anyone feel free to leave your thoughts in the reblogs/replies!

And like yourself anyway, you deserve a seat

[sirenofthegreenbanks]

canon divergence stories where zhou zishu dies anyway and wen kexing deals with the loss >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[triviareads]

back to A Kingdom of Dreams— in classic "I'm a bad bad man" romance hero fashion, Royce thinks way too highly of his *dastardly* lovemaking skills when he freaks out at the possibility of Jenny flinging herself off the parapet afterwards, while Jenny's thoughts afterwards mostly consist of "well that wasn't the sacrifice I thought it was".

[chiisana-lion]

chisa takano the character ever btw. she was sickly as a kid and when it brought other people to make fun of her she'd just fight them. girl who got so pissed at some girls gossiping behind her back she slammed one of them into the wall. she hosed down the guy trying to ask out her friend/crush while saying she thought he was a weed. she threatened that same guy in a family restaurant hours later. shes going through an absolutely soul crushing unrequited love for the first friend she ever made with no signs of getting over her and also kissed her even. my beloved

[justabrowncoatedwench]

*quietly plays through Gotham Knights going progressively more feral over the niche ship of Barbara Gordon/Jason Todd*

[quuerbee]

SPOILERS FOR CH 700+ OF ROTMHS!!

I NEED a fic where that continues on with the conversation yu iseol and chung myung have whenever they're looking for chung jin's remains and yu iseol talks to him about her father. I need a fic that takes chung myungs breakdown and shows it in a different perspective. I NEED A FIC WHERE THE SECT LEADER, AFTER HEARING ABOUT HOW DESPERATE CHUNG MYUNG WAS FOR THE REMAINS, GOES UP TO HIM TO TELL HIM THAT HE CAN COME TO HIM FOR ANYTHING ALL HE NEEDS TO DO IS ASK. I NEED A FIC WHERE MOUNT HUA TAKES CARE OF CHUNG MYUNG IN THE AFTERMATH OF HIM FINDING HIS BROTHERS CORPSE

[bumblingbabooshka]

A Star Trek Novel called “Pocket Full of Lies” really has NO business going so hard.

[llycaons]

I have a lot of love for xl as a character his arc is so wonderful and neatly written and satisfying in ways I haven't seen in very many other pieces of media

[subtlefires]

i've done the math. only 40% of New Haven ocs make it over the age of thirty