#raven is my favourite poem since i was a little kid

[siginari]

...Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"...

Glad to see there are Poe's fans at Larian Studios

[mikarchive2]

what i read in february 2023 📚

1. teatro grottesco by thomas ligotti - ★★★★ - picked this up because i randomly read one of his short stories on a train once and was so enamoured ... a short story collection centered around a subtle existential sort of horror that is less about gore and violence and more about something unknown but dreadful lurking in your peripheral vision . some of these, especially the ones from the deformations section, felt very welcome to night vale . delicious . makes you feel like a kid listening to scary campfire stories . i enjoy hanging out in the world created by this narrative voice so much

favourites: purity, the town manager, the clown puppet, my case for retributive action + in a foreign town, in a foreign land

2. the raven and the reindeer by t. kingfisher - ★★ - i think what im doing here is trying to read a fairytale retelling every month 👍 ... this really did not work for me though . the writing style felt so childish ( this could have been a book for twelve year olds ) + the story did not go anywhere and stayed extremely surface-level throughout the whole book . yeah sure there were lesbians but no actual substance whatsoever . the reading process was somewhat enjoyable because the humor was alright, but thats pretty much the only redeeming quality

3. the world keeps ending, and the world goes on by franny choi - ★★★ - i believe this is a case of ‘its not you its me’ because even though the way the author plays with language is straight up fascinating something about her poetry never clicks with me . i had the exact same issue with soft science as well - there is a certain detachment and coldness to her style that doesnt allow me to properly process the poems on an emotional level . still, i really liked the fourth section, it was so imaginative and full of the kind of resilience that is only born out of utter hopelessness

4. the passion by jeanette winterson - ★★★ - unfortunately i have the same issue here as with franny choi - something in me just always refuses to click with jeanette winterson . the author is trying to lead me somewhere by the hand but she is always slightly out of reach . this is my third book by her and while i can see and appreciate her craft it just never leaves a lasting impression on me its so strange ... i enjoyed the imagery + the philosophical ideas about love and passion but the story itself ... i dont know

5. the sandman: world’s end ( vol. 8 ) by neil gaiman - reread - i am not rating these god bless and putting them in the review post is probably not a good idea either since i ramble about them enough as is . what can i even say about a series that pretty much formed the way i understand the world and the human condition . stories within stories within stories . the foreshadowing here is insane and probably unnoticeable unless you are rereading . its hard to say what the writing process here was actually like perhaps it was way more spontaneous than i imagine but it all seems so meticulously and purposefully planned its just stunning

( + two books i left unfinished last year because of my broken ebook reader and decided to finish this month: )

6. wyrd sisters by terry pratchett - ★★★ - ( looks above ) my reading order here is very ‘frequently bought together’ ‘do not separate them’ huh ... this was very shakespearean which was fun but not ideal for me personally because it means some things definitely flew right over my head . i think i enjoyed equal rites a little more ? however at the end of the day its just your typical discworld novel i laughed i witnessed some well-written women and losermen i laughed some more . what else could i ask for

7. when i grow up i want to be a list of further possibilities by chen chen - ★★★★ - wonderfully heart-warming and radiant and witty and has the power to restore your belief in love and tenderness at least for a moment . this kind of literal and confessional american poetry usually isnt for me but miraculously chen chen made it work ! basically the hype is well deserved

up next: im actually not sure im trying to slow down since i need to get through some college textbooks 💔 ... + im sure want to finish the sandman which is really enough for the next one thousand years . considering mrs. dalloway by virginia woolf too someone called it a spring read once and ive wanted to read it during this season ever since

[firstfullmoon]

just some random questions because you’ve got Taste™ and I’m interested in your opinion, hope you don’t mind; why do you dislike Shakespeare’s plays? Have you read anything of Goethe (shameless promo but the sorrows of young werther slaps)? What do you think are The Best YA novels? What are your go-to literary recs? Do you prefer poetry or books? What are some of your favorite song lyrics? Do you have any poems or books or lines that remind you of someone or something you cherish, and why? Love♡

i don’t necessarily have any reasons i guess i just studied too many plays of his and idk they just bore me i don’t see the appeal. and i haven’t read any goethe but i’ll give it a try!

the ya novels i personally think are the best are aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, i’ll give you the sun, the perks of being a wallflower and the book thief. although i keep a special place in my heart for the hunger games and divergent series i won’t lie. also more recent one the raven cycle and six of crows although i wouldn’t say they’re the best per se but you get rly attached to the characters

my go-to literary rec would be: the little prince, anouilh’s antigone, to the lighthouse, the haunting of hill house, to kill a mockingbird, his dark materials, the lonely city, on earth we’re briefly gorgeous, any clarice lispector (i’ve only read near to the wild heart but was absolutely transported) and that’s all i can think of rn!

i honestly couldn’t choose btw books and poetry! i’ve been reading 24/7 since i was a kid so books obviously mean a lot to me but nothing touches you like poetry does you know?

i have way too many favourite song lyrics!!!! some of the top of my head: love is the warmest color (alt-j), please could you be tender and i will sit close to you / but i still remember everything how we’d drift buying groceries how you’d dance for me i’ll start letting go of little things til i’m so far away from you / i am my mother’s child i’ll love til my breathing stops i’ll love you til you call the cops on me (honestly all of lorde), wild women don’t get the blues but i find that lately i’ve been crying like a tall child so please hurry leave me i can’t breathe please don’t say you love me / i glow pink in the night in my room i’ve been blossoming alone over you / i couldn’t bear to be where you don’t see me (same all of mitski), i didn’t know that you were lonely if you’d told me i’d be home with you (again all of fka twigs lmao), and i know it’s bad when we look out but bad bas people don’t live in our house so i’m gonna look good for you honey get myself together spent you all of my money and i know it’s hard enough to love but i woke up in a safe house singing honey let’s get married don’t wanna walk alone so let’s get married etc (the bleachers let’s get married) also so many lyrics of florence welch like i don’t know anything except that green is so green and there’s special kind of sadness that seems to come with spring and hozier as well no grave can hold my body down i’ll crawl home to her. like too many to write them all sorry!!!!!

as for the last question nothing comes to mind i’m sorry! there are probably tons but i can’t think of any right now

[maybankiara]

tagged by the lovely @kiarasflowr thank you so much lili

what’s your favorite kind of weather? what do you like to do during that weather?

rainy summer days. the ones where the clouds are dark and the rain is heavy, but it’s still quite warm and the air smells like wet asphalt. there’s something exceptionally calming about it. 

i love this kind of weather at home, because it’s hot enough for me to be able to have an open window and hear the rain and feel the smell from the comfort on my room. there’s a vanilla-scented candle on my desk in my room and there’s fairy lights my dad put into a frame of a big picture of the brooklyn bridge. it’s the perfect writing conditions, especially when i get myself into a cozy blanket, and it’s the only time when i’d write without music, because the rain is enough.

what’s your favorite scent of candle? perfume?

gingerbread and vanilla for the candles. gingerbread reminds me of christmas, of happiness (christmas is the only time i’m home for a big family celebration, and my entire massive family dines together). vanilla is super soft and i’ve been associating it with writing and productivity for years now. 

my favourite perfume is the only one i have (i’m extremely picky about perfumes) and it’s from a knockoff victoria’s secret store. it’s very sweet and girly, and i mostly wear it because i don’t feel very girly most of the time. 

do you have a favorite flower? what is it? do you know the meaning and it is important to you?

poppy. i have this really vague memory of when i was a kid and we’d play with poppy seeds, wear the flowers in our hair and pretend we’re witches. there was also a time when i had just received bad news and was cycling home from school through a field, and there was a bunch of poppies right where i stopped, and it made me feel like it’s not the end.

if you could get any tattoo you wanted what would it be? why? where would you get it?

“excelsior” on my left wrist, or across my forearm. it’s from the raven cycle, my absolute favourite book series, and the reason why i’m studying creative writing in the first place. reading this book made me fall in love with writing as a craft, with exploring worlds in a really unique way, and writing things that feel like magic. without it, i would’ve been somewhere entirely else. 

also, it’s one of the main characters’ catchphrase and means “onwards/upwards”, so it also serves as a motivation for myself to keep pushing even when it gets hard. but also, the character who said it is very much like the person i aspire to be in life.

(the only way i’d get a tattoo is if i can attach 548992 meanings to it lol)

do you have a favorite poem? why is it your favorite?

this is kind of up my own ass, but it’s a poem i wrote during summer. i wrote it when i realised that loving too hard made me lose the person who meant the world to me, and i wrote it as a reminder for myself to be mindful of how much love i give to someone, and not let myself give it all away without getting any in return. 

you can read the full thing here, but this is a short version of it (different poem, same meaning)

give your love to someone who deserves it.   make it a bouquet of the prettiest flowers for the right person.   do not pluck the most dashing rose for someone who only gives you the thorns.

what’s your favorite color and what things or feelings does it remind you of or make you feel?

it’s blue. i don’t know why. it just feels right, you know?

what vibes do you get from me? what song or color do i remind you of?

dude, lili, my darling, you’re like every harry styles song in existence. you are absolutely one of the sweetest, kindest, most caring people i’ve ever had the chance to meet. you have this almost ethereal vibe, just pure goodness, and it’s something that the world needs right now so desperately. 

i don’t have a colour for you, but you make me feel like sitting in a field of flowers on a warm sunny day, at the end of spring, when all the flowers are in full bloom and my friends and i are just messing about. 

what’s on your bucket list? if you could only choose one thing to do before you die what would it be?

this one’s weird, but to go middle of nowhere in virginia, us. i don’t know why but i’ve always felt this really odd need to go there, as if i’ll get there and suddenly my life will make sense.

if you could have only one wish what would it be?

for the world to be a little kinder place. i know it’s a cliche, but it’s true.

do you believe in the paranormal? ever had an experience?

i don’t believe but i’ve had experiences (lol)

there was a time when a gypsy woman “lifted” a curse off my little sister. my sister was six months old and wouldn’t stop crying, but after that moment, she never cried half as much ever again. 

when i was younger, i’d hear voices calling my name and footsteps when everyone was asleep, and i was the only one hearing any of that. i had a doll that would randomly talk (it was battery-powered). the extractor fan in my kitchen turned on to power 3 in the middle of the night (it’s old and you really have to push to even get it to 1).

i’ve also been oddly good at knowing what people would say/do before they did. like deja vu, except before it happens. also with predictions - usually things happen in my dreams and then happen in real life. (best example - i dreamt i was on a night out with the girls from my volleyball club and ended up talking and spending the night with a hot guy from the gym whom i’ve never spoken to. that was tuesday night. flash forward to thursday, the exact thing happened - we made out in a club. i’ve never seen him outside the gym before.)

do you or have you ever gotten high? what was it like for you?

oh dude!! one time. it was some weird shit and i had too much and i just ended up throwing up without feeling the high. haven’t been able to stand the smell of weed since lol

tagging @kiarasflowr (i want to see your answers, too!!) and i thought i’d tag some more people i’d like to get to know: @heywards @spilledtee @drewstarkey @outerbxrafe @snkkat @softstarkey @popesscholarship & anyone else! there’s definitely people i’m forgetting but i cannot remember your urls for the life of me.

[notoriousgrd]

Shocktober Days 1-28

Ok, it’s Sunday and I’m not at the folks’ as usual because my brother’s working today, so taking the time to update my Shocktober log post. This is a long one so fasten your seatbelts,

The Devil Rides Out (1968) - been meaning to watch this for over twenty years, finally did and loved it. Christopher Lee and Charles Gray are excellent and I can see how the whole chalk circle bit influenced me at of Doctor Who:Battlefield.

Hotel Transylvania (2012) - I’d planned on another movie but with real world being so horrific that day, changed plans and watched this really fun animated movie.

Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors (1965) - not the first portmanteau movie I ever saw (that’d be Twilight Zone:The Movie) but the first Amicus one and definitely my favourite. Cushing and Lee, DJ Alan “Fluff” Freeman Vs plants, Roy Castle and his voodoo trumpet, Michael Gough and Donald Sutherland as a doctor. Cushing and Castleford reunite later that year for a certain movie involving Daleks.

Quatermass And The Pit (1967) - last Quatermass I saw, having seen all the television versions and other movies over the years. Much like the Doctor Who/Daleks movies nicely compresses three hours of black and white telly into an hour-and-a-half of glorious colour. I hadn’t seen this when I saw Doctor Who:The Daemons so the parallels were not apparent to me. Andrew Kier is an excellent Quatermass, just behind John Mills in the 1979 telly story.

Christine (1983) - I hadn’t seen this in a long, long time, enough that I completely forgot Harry Dean Stanton and Robert Prosky were in it. Been even longer since I read the book, so can’t say if it’s a good adaptation, certainly a good movie though, the non-cgi car repairing effects still look awesome.

Deep Red / Profondo Rosso (1975) - the only Dario Argento movie I’ve seen and decided to rewatch after Mr Ash mentioned it. Looks lovely, an awesome soundtrack,

Deep Star Six (1989) - One of a few horror films rushed ahead to try and cash in on all the hype for James Cameron’s The Abyss. This one sees many of the people behind Friday The 13th doing an underwater m onter movie. It’s daft fun, I like the monster and it’s got one of my favourite actors, Miguel Ferrer in it.

Ghosts Of Mars.(2001) - One of the three John Carpenter movies I’d not seen, seems to get a lot of stick, but again, a fun action horror movie, with a really good cast (Natasha Henstridge, Pam Grier and Jason Statham) and a nice way of telling the story.

AvP:Requiem (2007) - we were kind of on a trash train for a bit, as this is another movie decried as the worst thing ever when it’s a perferctly competent horror movie with some really nice deaths and a nice basic concept. Take eighties slasher movie environment, add alien death machines.

Life (2017) = This was really, really good. a relatively realistic sci-fi horror that starts off a bit Andromeda Strain but end up Alien. Another great cast, and kudos for a certain point for having a disabled character who’s treated the same as any other crew member right until the moment they fall into the tired trap of his disability leading to his death. Other than that though, really enjoyed this, some really nasty deaths and nothing really set off my “SPace doesn’t work like that!” sense.

Leviathan (1989) = The other movie trying to cash in on The Abyss hype. Another good, fun underwater monster movie with a great cast (Peter Weller, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Richard Crenna, Ernie Husson, Meg Foster), a great Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack and some nice effects work.

The Rezort (2016) - recommended to me by Mr Ash of the Hammered Horror podcast, low budget zombie movie with a great premise, that being that they got the zombie plague under control and have actually set up an island where people can pay to go and shoot zombies on a kind of undead safari. This is also used to try to help people who were traumatised by the zombie event. Of course, this being a horror movie, things rapidly go sideways. Barring a couple of moments, the small budget doesn’t show and the premise is a nice change from most zombie movies.

Waxwork (1988) - I’d seen the sequel to this years ago, when in 1994, my then local Blockbuster was having a massive sell-off of ex-rental tapes wuth no covers for a couple of quid each. Me and my flatmate at the time bought a pile of them, probably fifty tapes between us and this was one of them, a very silly hoor movie with a premise that lets them do little horror vignettes as part of a bigger story. This does that too, it’s another fun romp, with some lovely distinguisdhed actors (David warner, Patrick Macnee and John Rhys Davis) havnig fun with the material.

Friday The 13th Part IX:Jason Goes To Hell (1993) - I’d made my way through the first eight movies a while back, but as always got distracted and forgot to go back and finish off. So with it actually being Friday The 13th, I decided that day to fix that. This is…not great. Jason is killed and becomes a body surfing demon. Really only notable things are Kane Hodder;s wee cameo as an FBI agent, the Book Of The Dead form Evil Dead being being found in the Vorhees house (and thus being what brough Jason back from the dead at some point) and Erin Grey.

Friday The 13th Part X:Jason X (2001) = This one however, is a huge amount of fun, Jason is captured and the plan is to put him in cryogenic status to stop him from killing again as it’s obvious at this point, he can’t actuaslly be killed. Of course, things go sideways and him and the doctor responsible for freezing him are found hundreds of years later when Earth’s a wastland and taken back to a spaceship. Yes, this is Jason Goes To Space and takes a lot of cues form other sci-fi things, space marines, holodecks, evil corporations etc and uses them to make a fun action horror romp that never takes itself too seriously.

Mr Vampire (1985) - One of my all time favourites. Saw it in the mid-nineties when Channel 4 had a seasib if Hong Kong action movies, many with a spooky side to them. This movie introduced me to the Jiangshi, Chinese hopping vampires and this movie is a fun, action comedy with plenty f great action scenes, slapstick and scares.

The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970) - As mentioned above, I’d only ever sene the one Dario Argento movie, so decided to fix that. His directorial debut is a mirder thriller where the main character witnesses an attempted murder and soon finds himself in danger with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Great stuff.

Until Dawn (2015) - this is a game for PS4 rather than a movie and with the length it could easily count as between four to six horror movies. It’s an interactive adventure game with excellent motion captured performances, a great plot, great setpieces and with the choices you can make, anywhere between everyone and no-one can survive. I made it out with only two deaths and I know how those can be avoided. One of the best horror games I’ve ever played and highly recommended. Virtual Peter Stormare in particular veeres into the uncanny valley on several occasions. Great stuff.

The Raven (1935) - on the title cazrd it says “suggested by” Poe’s poem, but all that amounts ot is the name and a character who’s a bit Poe obsessed with nods to a couple of his other works in there. Has Lugosi and Karloff, is okay as these things go.

The Car (1978) - was surprised to find most review sites think this is a load of bollocks. I enjoyed it as a kid and still enjoy it now. It’s basically Jaws with a car that appears to be possessed by the devil. Been so long since I saw it, forgot James Brolin and Ronny Cox were in it. there’s some nice direction at points and it’s definitely not as bad as its reputation would have you think.

The Raven (1963) - Another part of my plan is to watch the ROger Corman Poe adaptations, I picked this first because it has the trio of Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and boris Karloff in it and the last movie I watched with them all was Comedy Of terrors which was a blast. I could happily watch Price and Lorre mucking about for hours, the first half-hour is mostly the two of them sparking off each other. It’s a tale of warring wizards, everyone looks like they’re having so much fun and I had a grin on my face throughout. Lovely and highly recommended.  Also has a young Jack Nicholson in it.

The Fall Of The House Of Usher (1960) - Corman, Price and Poe again, a far more sombre affair but again really good. Vincent Price is one of those actors I can watch in anything.

Suspiria (1977) - Back to Argento with weird goings on in a prestigious ballet school. The plot is not really important, you watch Argento mivues for the visuals and amazing soundtracks. Really enjoyed it.

Phenomena (1985) - Argento once more, with Donald Pleasance (with a lovely Scottish accent), JJennifer Conolly in her movie debut and a chimp with a razor. The usual sumptuous visuals, great soundtrack (with Iron Maiden and Motorhead showing up at points) and the usual twisted plot. Had one of those rare monets I really go “Ooooh!” and curl up a bit when someone gets stabbed in the hand with scissors.

The World’s End (2013) - probabl;y the worst of the Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun Of THe Dead and Hot Fuzz being thew others) but still a brilliant movie. It starts off as a middle aged man trying to recapture his youth by getting his childhood friends to finish a pub crawl they never managed as teens, then turns into Incasion Of The Body Snatchers/ Great all-star cast and two of my favourite fight scenes in horror movies, the one in the gents toilets because of the wrestling moves and thew one in the pub a combination of Nick Frost (I love big lads kicking arse) and the remix of Silver Bullet’s Twenty Seconds To Comply backing it.

Attack The Block (2011) - I had difficulty with this first itme I watched it, I live on a council estate and the main characters weere a bit too true to life for me to begin with. This time though, no problem. Premise is a load of big gorilla wolf motherfuckers crash land in a council estate in London and a bunch of ASBO kids and a nurse take them on. It’s notable for having John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker who would both go onto much bigger sci-fi things with Star Wars and Doctor Who. It looks great, sounds great, the creature design is unique and this time round I spotted little references like the tower block being Wyndham Towers and it being near a Ballard Street.

[mariedtofiction]

50 bookish questions tag

Thank you @thevajunglebook​ for tagging me! (I’m always up for being tagged in anything btw)

1. What is your favourite book and/or book series of all time? 

It’s maybe a boring answer but it simply can’t be anything other than the Harry Potter series

 2. What is the longest book you have ever read? How many pages?

 According to Goodreads it's Winter by Marissa Meyer at 827 pages 

3. What is the oldest book you have ever read? (Based on its written date)

I read parts of the Iliad for class, but the oldest book I’ve read in its entirety is probably Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

4. What is a book series that everyone else loves but you do not? 

I wish I’d read The Mortal Instruments when I was younger where I would have probably loved them. But I read them last year and though they were entertaining enough they’re not worth the hype in my opinion 

5. What book or book series would you like to see turned into a film/ TV series? 

The Shades of Magic Trilogy! I just want all the Lila and Alucard scenes tbh 

6. What is your favourite stand-alone book? 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I reread it at least once every year

7. What is a book that you feel glad for not reading? 

I’m proud of myself for DNF-ing Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I was 200 pages into it and thought it was kind of stupid and kind of sexist.. 

8. What is a book that you feel guilty for not reading? 

The final book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Dreams of God’s and Monsters. I really should have read it last year when I finished the second book, but for some reason I didn’t and now I need to reread the previous books

9. What is a book you have read that is set in your country of birth? 

Hamlet by Shakespeare 

10. What is a book that you own more than one copy of? 

I own four copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone...

11. What horror book made you really scared?

I don't like horror oops 

12. What book do you passionately hate? 

Shadowland by Alyson Noel. I’m embarrassed by how long it took me to realize how bad the Immortals series is, but they were my first books in English and I was just high off the fact that I understood what I was reading

13. What is the biggest book series you have read? How many books are in it? 

I loved everything Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen when I was little so I own a lot of the books inspired by their movies and TV-shows. I owned and have read the first 32 books of the Two of a Kind Diaries

14. What book gives you happy memories? 

The first book in Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries series is so precious to me. Again it’s a series I read when I was younger, but I reread them last year and I still absolutely adore them even if it’s mostly because of the nostalgia. 

It was the first book where I felt more connected to a character than to my real life friends. I wanted Mia Thermopolis to jump off the page and be my friend 

15. What book made you cry? 

I’m not really a book/movie crier... The only book I can think of where actual tears left my eyes is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the part where SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS Harry walks towards the forrest to die 

16. What book made you laugh? 

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Banard made me laugh mostly because it was so incredibly cute! It’s so sweet and meaningful at the same time, it’s possibly my favorite read of 2017

17. What is your favourite book that contains an LGBTQ+ character? 

We are Okay by Nina Lacour is amaaazing! I love it

18. Have you read a book with a male protagonist? What is it? 

Ha! Yeah I have. History is All you Left Me by Adam Silvera is one of them

19. Have you read a book set on another planet? What is it? 

The Martian by Andy Weir is one of my all times favorites I recommend it to everyone! 

20. Have you ever been glad to not finish a series? Which? 

All of the Percy Jackson spin offs. I started the first book of the Heroes of Olympus series and promised myself to never pick it up again. It wasn't Bad and I liked the original Percy Jackson, but I don't need any more Rick Riordan in my life

21. Have you ever read a book series because you were pressured?

I'm ashamed to admit I'm more likely to be the one pressuring others when it comes to books. But there was this fantasy-series when I was maybe 8 yo that my teacher forced the class to read and I absolutely hated it (it had more male characters than Dead Poet's Society)

22. What famous author have you not read any books by? 

Brandon Sanderson but I plan to fix that

23. Who is your favourite author of all time? 

Rainbow Rowell 

24. How many bookshelves do you own? 

7 but most of them only hold like 10-15 books

25. How many books do you own?

Around 200 I think 

26. What is your favourite non-fiction book? 

I think it’s Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Rhonda Vilcox

 27. What is your favourite children’s/middle-grade book? 

I don’t really read middle-grade anymore, but back when I did The Shamer Chronicles by Lene Kaaberbøl were my absolute favorites. They’re translated into English and if you enjoy great characters and dragons I highly, highly recommend them! Here’s a little link

28. What is your next book on your TBR? 

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson has been calling my name lately or maybe The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

29. What book are you currently reading? 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the audiobook read by Stephen Fry 

30. What book are you planning on buying next? 

I own way too many books I haven’t read yet so I’ve set myself a goal for the summer: I can only buy five books in total from June-September. The books I’m itching to buy right now are:

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

(However I’m going to a yard sale tomorrow and there’s no way I’m not bringing back a book or ten...)

31. What was the cheapest book you bought? 

My copy of City of Thieves was just 1$

32. What was the most expensive book you bought? 

It’s either the Hamiltome (Hamilton: The Revolution) or the illustrated Harry Potter books 1 and 2 

33. What is a book you read after seeing the movie/ TV series? 

Matilda by Roald Dahl

I first watched the movie and thought it was way too revenge driven. But maybe the original story would be better so I bought the book, but ended up seeing the musical before reading it. The music was great and the show had its moments, but I’m sorry to say I didn’t really like it that much. Finally I read the book. And though it was better than the movie I still didn’t really like it.  

34. What is the newest book you have bought? 

The Hufflepuff version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

35. What three books are you most looking forward to reading this year? 

One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake!!

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

and I’m finally going to get around to reading Radio Silence by Alice Oseman (I know I’ll love it)

 36. What is a book you love that has a terrible trope? (Love triangle, etc) 

The Raven Boys series. There are several tropes to point out, but I think the forbidden-lovers-trope is super terrible. But I still really like the 2/4 of the books that I’ve read!

37. Have you read a book in a different language? What was it? 

I read almost all of my books in a language that isn’t my native one. I’ve read books/novella in English, Danish, Swedish, and German 

 38. What is a book you’ve read that is set in a time period before you were born? 

Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars

 39. What book offended you? 

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

 40. What is the weirdest book you have read? 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I really didn’t like it

 41. What is your favourite duology? 

I wouldn’t exactly call it a favorite, but I haven’t really read that many duologeis, so I’m going to say The Wrath and the Dawn 

 42. What is your favourite trilogy? 

Captive Prince or The Hunger Games!

 43. What book did you buy because of its cover?

Rebel of the Sands was a pure cover-buy. It’s not something I do all that often although I will search and search for the prettiest cover of a book if I like the summary

44. What is a book that you love, but has a terrible cover? 

I hate the design of my copy of Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

 45. Do you own a poetry anthology? What is your favourite poem from it? 

Poetry is kind of a hit and miss for me but I do own two anthologies. I loved the one I’ve read which was the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace. My favorite poem from it is this one 

 46. Do you own any colouring books based off other books? 

I was gifted a Harry Potter one and it’s too pretty I can’t color it in!

 47. Do you own any historical fiction?

I own The Bronze Horseman as an e-book, All the Light We Cannot See, The Book Thief, and a few others

 48. What book made you angry? 

Sophie’s World!! Grrrrrrrr.... I cannot talk about that book calmly

 49. What book has inspired you? 

I don’t 100% agree with the message of Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson but it inspired me to think about my summer in a way I previously hadn’t

 50. What book got you into reading?

We start and end with Harry Potter. The first time Harry helped me was when my parents read them to me as a kid and one day I took over and read them myself. And then Harry helped me again two years ago after I hadn’t picked up a book in years

I tag @thebookgiver, @bookswithmichelle, @thoughtsfromaravenclaw and anyone else who wants to do it! 

[midnightliar]

the beautiful, luminous, inimitable @violaeade​ tagged me for 50 book questions!

1. What is your favourite book and/or book series of all time?

oh maybe everything leads to you by nina lacour! it just really gets to me

2. What is the longest book you have ever read? How many pages?

uhh idk what’s the longest harry potter book bc probably that? i dont... read books that long usually

3. What is the oldest book you have ever read? (Based on its written date)

ummm i think and then there were none by agatha christie? i dont keep track by time tbh but i dont read that many old books bc i tend to have trouble reading them

4. What is a book series that everyone else loves but you do not?

the raven cycle lol

5. What book or book series would you like to see turned into a film/ TV series?

oh god most of them? 99% of the lesbian ones for sure. percy jackson would make an excellent animated movie series imo. i’m clearly biased but tasu/teota would be great on screen. 

6. What is your favourite stand-alone book?

most of the gay ones i read are standalones and theres so many good ones... i already said everything leads to you but we are okay and you know me well are also extremely good! of fire and stars killed me as well. 

7. What is a book that you feel glad for not reading?

god. straight ones? ones that i heard are racist or homo/lesbo/bi/transphobic, but in general i’m picky abt what i read bc i don’t read that many books.

8. What is a book that you feel guilty for not reading?

i was gonna say i don’t feel guilty about not reading books i don’t like/don’t want to but that’s a lie- babe if ur reading this i am SO sorry i never finished the last chaos walking book

9. What is a book you have read that is set in your country of birth?

most of them lol that’s what i get for living in america. i read we are okay pretty recently which takes place in new york, the state i was born in, so that’s a bit more specific.

10. What is a book that you own more than one copy of?

i have 2 copies of redwall for no reason other than my high school library was selling one for a dollar so i bought it even tho i had it already. i have a couple copies of some of the a wrinkle in time books bc i got some of them as gifts a bunch. 

11. What horror book made you really scared?

omg i don’t read horror but that one skulduggery pleasant short story about bubba moon or whatever freaked me the fuck out tbh

12. What book do you passionately hate?

um i haven’t read enough terrible books to say i hate them that passionately? but i rly kinda hated trc. oh yeah i read the first c*aptive pr*nce book in hs on the recommendation of a friend and it just made me so uncomfortable the entire time i really. did not have a good time with that one and i wish i hadn’t read it

13. What is the biggest book series you have read? How many books are in it?

skulduggery pleasant! theres 9 books plus short stories i still can’t believe i read all those

14. What book gives you happy memories?

aw sabrina answered this with the flywheel by erin gough and i have to say the same bc she sent it to me for my birthday, full of annotations of thoughts and jokes she made herself AND got it signed by the author, and i’ve uhhhh never felt so loved in my life

15. What book made you cry?

oh the book thief for sure. everything leads to you made me cry a bunch while rereading it even tho its not sad? thos were love tears. that happens a lot actually.

16. What book made you laugh?

skulduggery pleasant! there’s so many good lines in that one. my dad used to always hand me a book he’d just read and tell me to read a certain chapter he found hilarious but i never read the whole book but he always found hilarious memoirs too.

17. What is your favourite book that contains an LGBTQ+ character?

lmaoo like all the books i read are gay? the abyss surrounds us/the edge of the abyss have really unique lesbian characters because they’re so angry and vindictive and dumb and interesting and DRAMATIC so that one gets a shout out

18. Have you read a book with a male protagonist? What is it?

what the fuck is that (ok i legit just finished reading when the moon was ours by anna marie mclemore tho bc my gf rec’d it and it was p good)

19. Have you read a book set on another planet? What is it?

does fantasy count? bc then of fire and stars. uhh chaos walking is on a new planet. a wrinkle in time involves other planets too! wow i’m crushing this one

20. Have you ever been glad to not finish a series? Which?

the raven cycle lol i thought it was a finished trilogy when i started the first book so i just never read the last one and i am so relieved

21. Have you ever read a book series because you were pressured?

not really? i don’t really feel pressure, i value recommendations from my girlfriend friends way more than things that are trending or popular. i’ve read a couple that i blindly picked from internet lists that i didn’t care for tho but that was really a while ago

22. What famous author have you not read any books by?

pretty much any author we were supposed to read in high school. any classic or even modern famous author i probably haven’t read. i’ve read like a dozen books ever

23. Who is your favourite author of all time?

tbh nina lacour is really up there. when i was really young it was definitely gail carson levine. i rly loved anne ursu’s books as well.

24. How many bookshelves do you own?

only one! and a bunch of boxes that i never unpacked after we moved like 3 years ago. my mom wants to put a big wall bookshelf in our house somewhere bc this one didn’t come with any like our last house did but who knows if that’ll happen.

25. How many books do you own?

are u trying to make me count?

26. What is your favourite non-fiction book?

ohhh i don’t read much of this genre. i always avoided it as a kid and i’ve been meaning to get into it more but i haven’t yet. i’m really looking forward to reading a sally ride biography tho

27. What is your favourite children’s/middle-grade book?

the chronus chronicles by anne ursu were my JAM in elementary/middle school omg. i also really loved the may bird series which i didn’t read until high school.

28. What is your next book on your TBR?

i’m about to start georgia peaches and other forbidden fruit finally! my gf bought me 10 things i can see from here and i love her so whenever that arrive i’m probably gonna devour that. i want to reread a wrinkle in time soon since the trailer comes out this weekend! plus a million others

29. What book are you currently reading?

i literally just finished when the moon was ours which felt like it took me ten years to read and i haven’t started another yet but it’ll be georgia peaches bc thats the other one i got from the library and i already had to renew them haha

30. What book are you planning on buying next?

um this old west lesbian novel called backwards to oregon! i’ve been craving westerns lately but as always i’m also craving gay content

31. What was the cheapest book you bought?

i used to buy a ton of old paperbacks, usually goofy looking sf or fantasy novels from library sales for dollars or quarters so definitely those.

32. What was the most expensive book you bought?

i can tell u the most expensive book i got for free was a beautiful bound collection of hg wells stories that i just got from some book at bea before it was bookcon lol

ones i actually paid for... do art books count??

33. What is a book you read after seeing the movie/ TV series?

nah i usually have no intention of reading the book if i watched the show/movie first

34. What is the newest book you have bought?

akdjghksjgh a lesbian western novella called from the boots up for a few bucks on kindle

35. What three books are you most looking forward to reading this year?

the rest of the gay books i’ve bought but haven’t read yet! not your sidekick and labyrinth lost, i’m VERY excited to reread a wrinkle in time and i also really want to read stone butch blues

36. What is a book you love that has a terrible trope? (Love triangle, etc)

crush by sr silcox has the cutest lesbian teen summer romance AND one them is secretly a rock star avoiding her fame bc her controlling dad was turning into HIS dream instead of HERS akdjghksdjgh its fantastic i adored it

37. Have you read a book in a different language? What was it?

oh no i’m dumb as hell

38. What is a book you’ve read that is set in a time period before you were born?

for some reason dave at night by gail carson levine popped into my head first? that was my favorite as a kid and i reread it all the time and i think it took place in the 20s or 30s with all that good good jazz shit

39. What book offended you?

hm not sure how to answer this one

40. What is the weirdest book you have read?

idk the may bird series was pretty weird. gone by michael grant? i read the first for a high school book club and i just could not get into it or understand it even a little

41. What is your favourite duology?

ditty the abyss surrounds us & the edge of the abyss !!

42. What is your favourite trilogy?

wow i really haven’t read that many trilogies esp ones i loved. i guess may bird or the chronus chronicles then!

43. What book did you buy because of its cover?

the maze runner! also bc i heard it was good but i hated that book so

44. What is a book that you love, but has a terrible cover?

honestly i can’t think of one rn

45. Do you own a poetry anthology? What is your favourite poem from it?

nope! i also hated poetry as a kid and have only tried to get into it recently. i have a book of sappho’s fragments and i want to get tracy k smith from the library but thats about it

46. Do you own any colouring books based off other books?

nope

47. Do you own any historical fiction?

thats possible

48. What book made you angry?

the maze runner really did?? for some reason and i don’t get mad that much but it just really had me steamin. sabrina also said grasshopper jungle and i’m inclined to say same lmao. i haven’t read it but seeing all the lesbophobia in not otherwise specified recently made me really mad and also upset

49. What book has inspired you?

aw inspired is a serious word to throw around. the miseducation of cameron post, idk if it “inspired” me but it was my first lesbian novel and that really did a lot for me.

50. What book got you into reading?

i think it was a wrinkle in time! or maybe roald dahl books before that, but a wrinkle in time was definitely up there, and maybe the shadow thieves by anne ursu

i’m tagging @reading-takes-you-places and @mywomensworld and anyone who wants to! i don’t talk to many people here but if you follow me and want to, go for it!

[fraysquake]

any question you have yet to answer :]

Ahh yay thanks lovely! Here we go under the cut with a heap of questions!

1. things that inspire youGoing through my inspiration tags for my stories, and chatting to friends about my fics too. When I get really stuck I just go rant to someone, usually @lady-baratheon​ or @duuvals​ and they give me great advice and help me get back to being excited about my writing again :)

2. things that motivate youEver looming deadlines haha. But when it’s a fic with no actual deadline I often just go watch the show to get into the feel of it, or with TMD I’ll watch some The Originals and just watch Davina’s scenes to get back into Ariana’s voice which is weird but it works!

3. name three favorite writersAhh so hard to pick! Okay here are three but I have so many more!!!@opheliamayers because she puts so much work into her stories and the little details in her work honestly make such a difference. Her Bad Blood series is so intriguing and every chapter has me sending her a hundred messages like ????????@papermoon262 yes you girl! Your writing is honestly such an inspiration. reading The Gloaming is always so satisfying because you have such a powerful way with words@lydamartin because Elsa was one of the first OCs i fell in love with! Alice always writes characters with such clear voices and you can totally imagine them fitting into their canon universe :)

4. name three authors that were influential to your work and tell why1. Maggie Stiefvater because the way she wrote the Raven Cycle books just blew me away. I love how she writes and ties in so much interesting mythology and her writing is so different from typical YA books. I read her books and I just want my work to be creative and intriguing as hers!2. JK Rowling because she set up her series so well and did so much planning and it really paid off! She really inspired me with how dedicated she was to her work and how she let the characters evolve and grow over the course of the series. also her writing isn’t super complex but it still feels complex somehow!3. E Lockart because We Were Liars honestly shook me up so much and it made me want to write the kind of plot twists that shake a reader the way that book did to me. The small subtle foreshadowing was so brilliant and i definitely think it influenced the way TMD has turned out so far.

5. since how long do you write?I’ve been writing since I was a kid, like no lie. I used to dictate stories to my mum and make her write them down for me because I was weird that way, and then after we got a computer I would type out all the stories floating in my head.

6. how did writing change you?It’s made me a lot more patient on myself for sure, and also just makes me appreciate other writers so much more like I understand how stressful and time consuming writing is!

7. early influences on your writingOh gosh i’ve been writing for so long I honestly can’t say! Definitely Enid Blyton because I grew up reading her books almost exclusively and I loved all of her mystery books! 

8. what time are you most productive?Haha almost never, but I’d say probably middle of the day or otherwise like late at night when I’m the only one still awake. 9. do you set yourself deadlines?I try to but it usually ends up stressing me out so now I just write with a vague idea of when I want to update but I don’t let it dictate my writing too much. 

10. how do you do your researches?Painstakingly! I like to know what I’m talking about and I like detail in my fics so I have a big folder of bookmarks just for each story, with any relevant links so I can go to them quickly. TMD has a heap of links because I stupidly created a chemistry nerd and I almost failed Science at school so I constantly have to look up little terms so Ariana can sound convincing! I also did a lot of research into poisons and the effects of certain poisons which can’t look great in my browser history but oh well! And then there’s a whole heap of Druid articles I have on reference too because I like to be prepared! So yeah I like my research! Hopefully it does show in the fic :)

11. do you listen to music when writing?Yes I either have my TMD playlist on youtube or I just throw on a Spotify playlist, usually like my Weekly playlist since it’s full of nice chill tunes :)

12. favorite place to writeI actually just sit in my kitchen haha. There’s lots of nice sunshine coming through all the windows (if it’s sunny) and my laptop charger is there so I can just write without running out of power :P

13. hardest character to writeOooh that’s hard! Maybe Genevieve just because she’s probably actually more like me with her anxiety etc but also has a lot going on in her brain and I want to get her story right so I often end up overthinking it and then she doesn’t quite read write. So her scenes are always harder!

15. hardest verse to writeRight now Riverdale because the show is still new and I don’t want to write too much and then have it all contradicted on the show so my story doesn’t make sense. I’m mapping out Madison’s story now and it’s just hard not knowing the direction the actual show is going to take things in. 

16. easiest verse to writeTeen Wolf and my little DOTN stuff for sure :) 

17. favorite AU to write I gotta say my Scallison AU where they do get back together because that was so satsifying to write. My fave fix-it fic that I’ve ever written :P

18. favorite pairing to write I actually love Stiles and Ariana because their banter and bickering is just so fun. They’re like a little argumentative sibling duo and it all comes very naturally to me :) I also loved writing Ariana and Violet whoops. 

19. favorite fandom to writeTeen wolf of course!

21. least favorite character to writeHonestly Derek because he’s so tricky!!! I don’t know why but I just never feel like I’m getting his tone correct which is why he makes very rare appearances in my fics haha. 

22. favorite story you’ve ever writtenTake Me Down because it’s the longest I’ve spent writing a story and Ariana is the most developed character I’ve created :)23. least favorite story you’ve ever writtenProbably my Chasing Shadows fic which I had a whole plan for but it got too complicated so I kind of abandoned it instead and it left on a cliffhanger so whoops.

24. favorite scene you’ve ever writtenAll of Chapter 11 in TMD because I’m just really happy with how it ended up and it set up a lot of things for the story ahead, while also being a good climax for everything I’d be building to!25. favorite line you’ve ever writtenEither “So much for always having clean hands.” or “It was never meant to be like this.” Simple but they both sum up a lot of things and they kind of capture the fic pretty nicely. I really like my little motif of Ariana and her determination to keep her hands clean but I also love the ending of the prologue because “It was never meant to be like this.” is a nice tag for the story :)

27. best review you ever gotAh all the reviews I get are always amazing! I did love the review on my Scott centric fic Numb where someone said they’ve gone back and reread it several times and still got emotional every time. That was really satisfying to read as an author, especially since that’s one of my favourite stories that I’ve written. 

28. worst review you ever got About ten minutes after I updated once someone just commented ‘update soon’ like hun I just did??? Let me breathe for a sec? But it wasn’t that mean so I can’t complain :)

29. favorite story/poem of another authorAh gosh probably Inkheart by Cornelia Funke because that book is just always going to be close to my heart even if the trilogy sort of went downhill. I will always treasure that book and how magical it was to read! 

42. do you plan or do you write whatever comes to your mind?Oh honey I plan to death. My story outline for TMD is almost 2000 words alone, with detailed points for each chapter. I also have plot outlines of what needs to happen through the story and any foreshadowing that needs to occur, and when it comes to light. It’s a lot but I do love planning it out and I’m glad a lot of people seem to notice how extra I go haha :P

43. would you ever write a sequel for (insert fic title here)I’ll assume this refers to Take Me Down since that’s nearly done and hell yes! Book 2 is called Fight For You (which has multiple meanings yay) and I don’t have a date for it yet but it’s going to take place in Season 5A! 

44. do you write linear or do you write future scenes if you feel like it?I definitely write all over the place. If I have inspiration for a particular scene I like to just write it down before I forget and then I can tweak it and adapt it when I actually get to the chapter. I’ve actually got scenes from each of the last chapters of TMD already done so I just need to fill in all the blanks now! And I’ve got scenes from Book 2 already written already because I have no self restraint...

45. share the synopsis of a story you work on that you haven’t published yetAlright here’s a little synopsis of my Riverdale fic coming soon:

(fic title tbc because i am indecisive af)

Madison Cooper has made it her mission to separate herself from her family as much as possible, especially Betty, her younger sister by just ten months. But after witnessing the breakdown of her older sister Polly at the hands of Jason Blossom, Madison couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. 

What happened on the 4th of July is a mystery to everyone, including Madison. All she knows is she came to her senses a week later in the woods, covered in blood with no recollection of what happened. But how long until Madison’s memories resurface? And what exactly will she remember?

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

“Fanfic writer asks”: Skipping the “asks” and doing the answers!

I just saw this and I’m too excited to wait for someone to see this, decide what to ask, and I wanted to answer all of them, anyways.

Some of these are fill-in-the-blanks for askers, so I can’t answer them. But if anyone wants elaboration, or wants to know a specific something in regards to a particular story, or character: Absolutely, feel free to send me some!

Questions taken from here: http://criminal-minds-fanfiction.tumblr.com/post/172926526725

--

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction? Oh geez, we practically need a time machine for that. I was only 11 or 12! I started "writing" fanfics with my action figures (guest-starring other childhood toys) as far back as I can remember. Literally, from the time I was 5-8 and obsessed with Pokemon and Yoshi's Story and Powerpuff Girls, I was playing out stories and adventures, from beginning to end, imagining backstories for why they're there, what they were doing, what motivated them. They even came with continuity (from one play-session to the next)!

As for actually writing it down, though... That also started Very Early. I think I must've been 11 or 12? The earliest one I ever dated was 2005, anyway. They were descriptive, illustrating actions to display emotions, and characterization was... well, it Sure Existed (even if it varied from "So Wrong", to Definitely the Right Remark).

But ever since the moment I touched a pen to my first fanfic notebook, it was about my OCs (and Raven, because, surprise surprise, she was my favorite to write about). I've had plot since I first took those Crayola twistables to paper to illustrate the story in my head, the first story I ever Had a Solid Plot For (that is, Mystery Sickness-- which is being rewritten with Actual Explanations, re: Why Dove Made Her Feel So Shitty in the first place): that was also in 2005. (Fun fact: it was originally in Poorly-Drawn Comic Form). The actual "novelization" went through to 2007.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one? As my fanfiction.net profile will tell you: "Author has written 32 stories for Teen Titans, Pokémon, and Ruby Gloom." - The Ruby Gloom fanfic was abandoned, unfortunately. (It was a direct and shameless self-insert, that got abandoned because, quite frankly, I had no idea what to do with it. Maybe I should put it up for adoption at this point...) - A Work of Magic (my Pokemon fanfic, with related bios/etc) gets written for very rarely, because the inspiration to do so is rare and sporadic, and more tied to a Specific Scene I want to write, than where I left off in the story. @w@;; - A Steven Universe fanfic is in the works, though I'm struggling to flesh it out.. due to the Aforementioned Preoccupation with The FAVE MOMENTS, moreso than the backstory and movement through those moments. @D;;

And then, you have the Teen Titans stories. You know, the ones with Dove, and Kary, and Srentha, and Leyla will eventually be there. My most precious, dearly beloved, absolutely irreplaceable OCs. My TT story folder has about 100 files, which belong to about 30 full-length stories. (And that's not counting the oneshots, like Heart to Heart, which is still one of the best things I've ever written.) There are also a few poems here and there, particularly Dove's Prophecy (of self-fulfillment, really), and stories illustrating Dove's childhood, her mother/grandmother's past, Srentha's childhood... There's just Quite A Lot! I've been doing this, writing them, for 12+ years.~ And my fandomatic obsession for Teen Titans has never dulled, quieted, or been forgotten. So yes, I definitely do have a "particular" favorite. I may prefer exploring their world through my OCs, but damn, is it more FUN than any other world to explore!

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer. Ah, you can probably tell it's OCs by now. At least, MY OC's. Someone else's OCs, well, I tried that once, they were going to commission me. But I never got it finished. (I just didn't have quite the same connection. And I didn't know the canon; that can't have helped.) But character I *do* get to know, like my girlfriend's OCs in our collaborations (or characters I got to know so well through playing together that I just totally shamelessly adopted, specifically: Kary), I do enjoy writing for~ There's just something so incredibly special in knowing that you, solely, are responsible for their growth, their development, and their well-being. It's a bit like having kids, without the screaming. (At least, without them screaming in your ear. Dove and Kary have both done their fair share of screaming, come to think of it...)

( (( Although, to be fair: I've never tried writing a writer insert. I doubt anyone would actually WANT to endure the stories I put my characters through... ;P )) )

4) What is your favourite genre to write for? Fantasy? Action/Adventure? It's hard to say, because I actually write for a HUGE variety of Genres. But I guess my favorite, if I can encompass all of them under this one umbrella, would have to be Hurt/Comfort.

5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why? DAMN IT, DON'T DO THIS TO ME.

Gods, that's hard! Basically ALL of my stories are multi-chaptered... Well, it's definitely one of my Teen Titans stories. DDD has definitely been the most challenging to write, the most fulfilling to finish chapters on, and the most pivotal point in Dove's life, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Writing for Azar in "The Final Journey" and Dove taking her first unintended steps into heroism has been so personally touching for me, and it does so much good for Dove, and especially her relationship with the team, that it's just so, so special to watch. Something Special About Srentha is probably my most epic multi-faceted story, and the narrative timeline (handling two very distinct and separate struggles in totally separate places) is really challenging me to grow as a writer. "Continuum Wars" is going to be the grandest scale of struggle and magic, so I'm really especially excited to start figuring it out. It is just so, so HARD to decide on ONE; they're all so special, and I love watching my style evolve with each story, and more than anything, watching my characters come out of these situations alive. lD;;

6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why? you mean the Teen Titans and Pokemon crossover where Dove brings home a Misdreavus? been there, done that. Honestly though, every single one of my stories has its place in my characters' lives, and is important for continuity. And personal growth. And I've honestly never been ashamed of something I've written.

(If you travel far back enough in my fanfic archive, you WILL find a really old character bio for Dove, which I completely revamped, because I didn't learn until later how to frame her without comparing her to Raven, even though she's always been a very different and independently-extant character. Also, the bits I learned about Being Kept A Secret and her grandmother's exile were Nearly Learned around 2010, 2012...)

7) When is your preferred time to write? Whenever the inspiration bug bites! ASAP!! But as for general adding and editing, it's fairly late at night, usually~ Sometimes afternoons. Usually an hour or more after eating, and especially when it's cool and quiet in the room.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from? Canon, personal experience (my personal struggles, my search for my identity, and my struggle to define myself), and sometimes even my own spirituality. (Wild shit goes down when you get into astral exploration, let me TELL you!)

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote? Can I just... use my personal favorite? (If you have any questions about a particular fic, or universe, or point in a character's life that didn't happen in the fics, let me know and I'll gladly answer!)

- Holy GOD, the climax scene of Dove's Dark Discovery! It takes place entirely in Dove's mindscape, while Dove's power is maxed out, and you've got a very powerful telepath and a TREMENDOUSLY power empath battling within a mindscape that has been slowly devastated over the past few months, and it's just this absolute EPIC culmination of their powers and, to a degree, even the connection they'd been forging since Dove came. Dove seriously oversteps some boundaries, Raven nearly kills Dove by accident, it's seriously crazy stuff.

Bonus: Way back in, like, probably 2008 or 2009, when titansgo.net was still around: I had asked my all-time favorite fanfic author for critique on the climax. His advice, to make it "three times as long and nine times the punch", absolutely inspired me to reach WAY higher with their fight, and once I realized what kind of mind-bending maelstrom shenanigans can go down in a MINDSCAPE, the scene fairly EXPLODED with potential!

And I especially like the fact that, including the revisions after his (entirely justified) advice: This scene has gone through like nine different incarnations. And my favorite part: It was originally inspired by a battle in the Teen Titans videogame! I think my little sister was playing White Raven (who my mind always read as Being Dove, because White Cape and Magic Powers), I was playing Raven, and the battle took place in "Nevermore", Raven's mindscape. It was actually a good fight. And I was fucking AMPED... But also emotionally RAVAGED, because "holy shit, Raven fighting Dove... in a mindscape......" And the scene happened like two days later. (In middle school. Honors Spanish class. As a note in the margins of my assignment notebook!)

Gods, guys. That scene is just so incredibly important, and it has come oh, so very far~

10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind? I'm gonna answer one that I really like the ending of, but feel free to ask for others. Like, maybe one I've actually published, that you've actually read? 8F But honestly: Spellbound pt. II. I haven't published it yet... but it ends in absolute tragedy. The reason is twofold: First off, I knew Dove and Srentha were end-game, so although Dove was falling pretty deep into love, I couldn't have him hanging around... 8F But also because I wanted to illustrate the strength of sacrificial redemption. (I don't want to give too much away, because... well, that's the ENDING. But it's heart-wrenching and I can only hope I've done it justice.)

Other faves include: Srentha having heart-issues at the end of Something Special (because it's the Very First Symptom that something is going to be Dreadfully Wrong with him in the sequel), DDD ending with Dove absolutely traumatized and seriously hurt (because the following story is going to be all about her learning to Take Action on her pain, instead of hiding herself away), and A Work of Magic ending with everyone thinking Mistress had died trying to save her family... but the ending is, and the epicness kind of speaks for itself in this: "You can't kill a ghost."

11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it? You mean like the way I completely rewrote Dove's character bio 6 years later, in response to all the accusations of her being a Mary Sue? Despite literally nothing (but more specific illustration) changing in the way I wrote her? 8F Other than that, absolutely not! I mean, if someone made a valid point I would. But nobody can tell me how to write my OCs, you know?

12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why? My OCs. But you probably mean canon characters... and that easily comes down to Raven. She's just so layered, working with very inward, introspective mechanics, before she takes her action, usually in a very well-thought out direction, or sometimes an INSANELY emotional outburst, and either way, it tends to be Very Important, Poignant, and Make a Difference in the scene. I relate to her; I idolized her for the longest time; I know exactly how to write the struggle between not being able to express your emotions, and being true to yourself, because I've lived it. I'm an empath, so writing her empathic powers is always sort of therapeutic, because outside of my mirrorbook, I'd never gotten to EXPLORE that aspect of myself before. Her wit is hard to capture sometimes, I'll admit, but, I mean, I was making the nurses at the hospital laugh all the way up to my procedure, armed with nothing but my dry remarks. I think I'm up to the challenge.

13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why? Beast... Boy...... I'm sorry, I really am. I've just never been able to relate to him, or understand how his mind works (if it even works at all?), or write him into any of the plots-- outside of, like, trying to cheer Dove up, which is iconic and appreciated on Dove's end. But otherwise? What do I even DO with him? His sense of humor is just... so lowkey annoying that I sincerely cannot fathom why it's So Funny, let alone make it up for him. (Thankfully, at least the comics come in handy for exploring Why he's Like That, which has honestly helped a lot more than anything the show ever did. All but ONE of his episodes, were... pretty crack-tastic. And that just doesn't mesh well with my stories that are Trying to Deal with a Serious Issue Here.)

14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx? - You can ask about multiple stories. Mostly, they're descriptive of the Most Iconic Thing, or Most Pivotal Plot Point, in the story! "Something Special About Srentha". "Dove's Dark Discovery". "Growing Up Demon: Leyla's Story". "Mystery Sickness", being renamed "Soul Sickness" for poetic value, but still keeping that iconic "Sickness" thing, while also making it More Relevant to Raven Specifically. The exception is probably "Unforeseen and Unforesaken". Yes, it's misspelled, I did that on purpose for visual balance in the title. It's weird. I know. But it's Intentional. (Still highly important things though, because it illustrates both Dove's arrival, and what happens once she's there, being unforeseen. And Dove absolutely hardcore valuing the team because they don't Forsake her.)

15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names? Bold of you to assume I have this kind of CONTROL over them. Seriously, the way my writing works isn't so much "I get to decide what they do", and more like "huh, this Resonates. That must be a Thing... Let's try to seek out all the relevant details on why it happened, how they reacted, and how it ends!" It's like detective work. And this is absolutely best illustrated by trying to find Srentha's name. Because holy frick. What kinda name is that. (Turns out, it's literally in another language. 8F It means "flight", by the way! Onomatopoeia for the sound wings make.) Anyways, I literally found out one day that, "Dove tried to keep her pregnancy hidden... That must mean she had a kid. With someone." And thus began the Classic RHS Storytelling Search for "who's the guy?" And immediately I knew his name began with an "S". So I tried a bunch of names. I figured it was feminine-sounding, for some reason, thus I realized it ended in "-a". I knew it had two beats. Finding the "-ntha" was the easy part, it was figuring out how the heck to parse "Sren" into the right sounds and number of beats that was the REAL challenge. It wasn't until I remembered "Sri Lanka" exists that I figured out his entire name. (It's pronounced without the English "sh", though - it's just "Sren". As he says, "like Wren, with a Sss.")

16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx? Mostly, they came to me when I was thinking about my characters' lives. Except The Final Journey, that one was based on "the crystals" my girlfriend illustrated Dove having in her room, and I kinda just took that entire concept and made it Azarathean and RAN with it!~ (If you're curious about any particular story, let me know!)

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on. "I killed six people. Do I deserve to die?" hello, this is your daily reminder that DDD absolutely Destroys Dove's self-image. But because it's So IMPORTANT and uhh, it was too Dark for me to leave that there, I also want to quote Raven's responses, which include "We all have our dark days," and "I do know that pain, that guilt. I know it better than anyone...[but] Solitary confinement won't cure it...[and] we don't want to see you leave." And also, "You won't be able to help anyone if you destroy yourself first."

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them? Oh, stars. Let's see... The first "wip" I abandoned was a character I named "gayla", not knowing "gay" was actually a word, first of all, but her concept turned out to actually be part of Srentha's story, and honestly I should've figured out that "heh, same name as Raven's nursemaid" wasn't a thing. {lD (Whose name was actually Galya, by the way. I didn't realize that mistake for like, five years.)

I only so very RARELY abandon an actual story, though. I know there have been a couple of Moment Concepts I've lost, due to not writing them down; that honestly hurts much worse. ;; But there's the aforementioned Pokemon+TT crossover, where Dove brings home a Misdreavus by accident. That was purely self-indulgent, and it just didn't fit with the timeline, so I decided to stop writing that AU. It was really more that I wanted to focus on The Other Stories, and only had 3 short chapters planned. (The one where the little ghost gets herself stuck in Raven's mind had so much potential! But I didn't know how to write Raven's emoticlones in without Raven becoming aware of it. And now that I think about it, that could've been what got Dove to send her back.. But, eh, I've long lost the story file for it, and long LONG lost interest.)

If anyone tells you "A Work of Magic" is abandoned, they're wRONG, I'm just really, really caught up in Dove's struggle with DDD and Srentha and Steven Universe (even if I'm not really writing that fic most of the time), so my inspiration to write that story with As Much Lighthearted Fun Silliness as it deserves is seriously impaired. =w=;;

Oh, but I did kind of abandon the story from Sieara's point of view, because honestly, I'd rather just explore her through Dove. (That little bird gets plenty of epic spotlight moments; she even channels Azar's spirit at one point. Or two. ;P ) But mostly, I abandoned it because I didn't want to write about a bird being too old to reproduce, getting close to death, and then dying, anymore? (It was going to be about her noticing Dove spending more time with Srentha, Srentha's bird dying, and Sieara meeting Dove's daughter, and dying shortly after. But I... don't know, I didn't want to write that Angst without a Resolution.) I wrote that story for Exactly 1 Day, and then decided to stick to writing about her through Dove.

19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to? I fully intend to do sequels to all of them, thank you very much.~ (At least for the TT fics, all of them are connected in some way. A Work of Magic has both a sequel and a prequel planned. And the Steven Universe fic is really only planned for One Conflict, I really don't want to explore it much beyond that singular unit of Canon Divergence.)

20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently? That would be akin to lying, with the way my stories and my characters go.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire? thechroniclerjon, holy stars and envy batman. This is one writer who knows how to build a conflict, write magic in a way that's both Believable, and Relatable, and Awesome, and interweaves different plot threads into one rather EPIC confrontation. Obviously I couldn't take the element of religion into my stories, being so totally personally disconnected from it. (spirituality? ABSOLUTELY. Let me explore aLL the Azarathean feels!) But like. Those descriptions. The conversations. The build-up. The plot-twists. The raw emotion. I aspire, very much, to someday, in my own way, find a style that translates as much Excitement and Tension and Delight as his stories manage to convey.

Also, the author of Learning to Breathe Underwater, because that story had amazingly spot-on characterization, included so many canon elements (despite being Canon Divergent) while still having its own (very well escalated, incredibly well-executed!) plot! I write for the Teen Titans universe far more than Steven Universe, but I really admire their way of including basically every single character, giving them plenty of attention and growth, and giving a lot of them development in the process. I don't know if I could do that, but someday, I'd like to try.

22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it? The old Mystery Sickness. Like, the first version. It was, ah... originally what I now call an "emvent", and if you know what that is, great; if not, I don't want to go into details, but it's a story that helps me process my phobia? Which, geez, poor Raven okay, but what's really "cringe" about it is the way I narrated it in first-person. XD Weird metaphors, she had a Detective Noir tone for some reason, and let's just say there's a reason I never shared any of the panels. (I kept it secret because of the phobia. Equally as horrifying, I kept it in words because of the pictures.)

23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence? Silence, but I prefer gentle background noises I'm used to. (Like birds fluttering around, gentle aquarium filters and the water rippling, wind in the trees, etc. It's an ADD thing; lowkey background noise, if kept at a distance, helps me focus.)

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes? Eh. I have the Occasional Mood for it... like, once a year. 8P But generally, I'm just Not Interested. Sure, Dove and Srentha have... done some things that would entertain fans of the genre. And actually, some things that get borderline supernatural. But mostly, I'd just really rather be writing other things.

25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story? Oh, stars. Yes... Yes. Dove's Dark Discovery. (I drew on... an awful lot of personal experiences, and none of them were good.) Plus, her guilt and self-flagellating... let's just say it's a major Depression Mood. Also noteworthy: I cried writing the Death Sequence and farewell letter in Spellbound pt. II. I've cried for Dove's loss of Azarath, and her mother. I've cried for the things Dove and Srentha tell Leyla when she's really struggling (because, dear gods, if only I'd heard those words when I was a kid)... It doesn't happen often. But sometimes, it just... gets overwhelming.

26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write? ASK ABOUT ANY OF THEm, because DEAR GODS, there are PLENTY. But the hardest of all was DDD. I struggled with describing how/why an Extremely Gentle, Timid Pacifist was suddenly Losing Herself to Internal Evil, and doing Terrible Things. I struggled to capture the IMMENSITY of the mindscape battle, both in how these two Incredibly Powerful Demi-demons were unleashing their powers, and also in how much of a personal toll it takes on BOTH of them afterwards. And now, I'm struggling to find the words for Dove in the aftermath, because... Gods, there's just so much turmoil and emotion. It echoes an awful lot of Seriously Dangerous Depression Thoughts, right down to suicide ideation and lashing out at the people she loves because she doesn't think she deserves them, and aren't they all fools for loving her. All I can say is thank god Raven's such a realistic beacon of hope, because (much like she did for me, come to think of it) she's able to help Dove battle those thoughts with reminders, wisdom, and hope.

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow? This one depends entirely on the story. Generally, it's really quite sporadic and incidental. I write out the scenes as they come to me (usually WAY out of order), and then figure out how they all fit together. Sometimes I don't even realize two scenes are in the same story at first! Or how they're related. I tend to write the beginning, several scenes from When Things Are Very Serious, then go back to fill in the blanks. A lot of times the climax happens either before I know how to start the story, before I know what led up to it, or before I know how it ends. (DDD began with the climax scene. Heart to Heart began with realizing Srentha had a heart attack as a child.)

And then other times, it begins with a vague concept, and I start writing right at the beginning. (Something Special was first written at the beginning, with Srentha performing a spell. I didn't know what it was going to do, just that it was Relevant. A Work of Magic started with me in the Pokemon world wanting a Misdreavus, and developed into a full-team adventure from there. Unforeseen and Unforesaken, or rather "Unforeseen Surprises" in its original form, starting with the very moment Dove showed up, was written as I went along, knowing which points I wanted to hit before the story was over, but writing the scenes as they came to me.)

A Work of Magic has a lot of travel scenes, and moments that take place in specific areas, with Specific Species, so I had to plan out a timeline from region to region, to make sure they weren't in Sinnoh one day, then encountering a Unova legendary, and battling a psychic type in a Kanto forest the very next day, you know? Then there's DDD, which is such a gradually PROGRESSING story that I definitely had to outline some of the chapters, too. Making sure Dove's gradually growing powers were highlighted, and she wasn't going from Total Telekinetic Failure to Suddenly Really Strong and Breaking The Entire Gym Room in the next scene. That sort of thing.

Either way, it's usually As I'm Writing that I notice the connections, the causes rooted in previous stories or scenes, and the Effects These Incidents Have as I'm writing it out. I always start with An Incident and A Concept, because I wouldn't have a story to write without it. But where it becomes Actual Scenes, and what order I write them, depends entirely on the order I discover them.

28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction? What a Mary Sue was supposed to be, and that Dove isn't what they claimed. That criticism that so many reviewers threw onto her bio wasn't at all helpful, I didn't know what that meant, let alone how to fix it, and I didn't know how to demonstrate that Dove wasn't, in fact, "entirely like Raven", because she had her own powerset, her own history, and her own personality. To be fair, a lot of the Highlights on Their Differences happen in later stories, and it's the initial shock of "why the frick is wearing those clothes and using that mantra", so of course on first impression, it's like. "Raven? similarities???" But... I don't know, it's just so very OBVIOUS to me that, unless we're talking about Timid!Raven (the emoticlone), their differences are so VAST. And I spent a lot of time, WASTED a lot of time, trying to kill the assumption. It really wasn't worth it.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like? DOVE'S! DARK! DISCOVERY!!! I nearly BROKE myself (both of time AND emotion) writing this thing! I understand that Some Friends can't Do Sadism, but like. This story is 250k words long, I've dumped a GREAT DEAL of my heart and soul into it, and Dove's plight seriously needs to be recognized to understand her growth moving forward. But! There! Are! So! Few! People! READING IT. The story has like 20 reviews on fanfic.net, BUT THE CLIMAX HASn'T GOTTEN ANY yet? ???? Please recognize the metaphorical blood, literal sweat, and literal tears I put into this. Gods. Yes I wish it got WAY more love.

30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at? That poem from middle school, "The Raven and the Dove"? It's a neat poem, sure. Kind, of, a unique concept? But it's not very well explored, it just goes "here are their differences. They're opposites. But they get along." No explanation of how or why. (That's all in the fanfics.) It's not nearly as rhythmic as Dove's Prophecy, it's not clever, it's not plot-twisty, and as far as poetic cred goes, I don't think it's anything special. ? ?? I mean, somebody found it online, and contacted me via email, and it nearly got PUBLISHED. (But I would've had to pay them to include it in their book, which I wasn't down with.) I just don't understand, literally at all, why so many people really LIKE it.

31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer) SEND ME FICS, I WILL READ.

32) Are any of your characters based on real people? Nah, they're all based on themselves.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten? My favorite fanfic author read, and then complimented, the (second or third version of?) the climax scene in DDD.~

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten? Mostly just comments on Dove's first bio that went, "She's such a Mary Sue, burn it and scrap her entirely to start fresh"? (Thank *all* the gods that I didn't take that advice, because she's incredible and deserves to exist in her own right.)

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest? Honestly? The first thing I do is WRITE about it. Unless I'm prompted to, or rambling about something that has me Inordinately Emotional, I don't really share them.

36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s? Don't worry, outside of Azarath's canonical demise, I only ever write somebody ACTUALLY dying once. But she comes back, because that's what she does, apparently.

37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written? Bold of you to assume I write comedy! But seriously, probably Srentha's debut story. When he discovers pizza, he assumes pepperoni isn't edible (a fair assumption, really, but he's vegetarian anyways). When he tries the cheese, his reaction is just so DELIGHTFUL and warm; he laughs so hard he's literally crying. The things he says and does when he's sugar-high are hysterical. He's just so exuberant and energetic, absolutely positive, he really brings a load of smiles to the table, and both I and Dove irrevocably love him for it.

38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it. I don't know if I have an answer for this. I don't really read a lot of Tumblr fanfics. I've already collaborated with Pix in RPs, my girlfriend and I have already collaborated on stories for both Kary and Pokemon, and the author of The Chronicler Saga implemented one of my scenes into his stories. What more can I really ask for?

I mean, if anyone WANTs to collaborate, just let me know, and I'd love to work something out.

39) Do you prefer first, second or third person? Third person, multiple, and preferably omniscient (or damn close to it)! Exploring everyone's inner workings is Exactly My Style. (And just more fun for me to write.)

40) Do people know you write fanfiction? Well, I only talk about it, like, once every three hours or so. (/sarcasm)

41) What’s you favourite minor character you’ve written? Sieara? Alerina? As for actual Canon Characters, I'm having a righteously wonderful time characterizing Azar. Lapis is fun and interesting to work with, but she's so full of emotional "tides" that it's really hard for me to write for her.

42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx. (I have only ever done songfics on papers, and wound up not needing the songs after all. They were all Evanescence, of course.)

43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it? Not that I know of! Someone once guessed Dove was Raven's cousin, on Unforeseen+Unforesaken, and I haven't written the climax (when Raven realizes Dove is Trigon's child) yet. That's about the closest anyone has come.

44) What is the last line you wrote? Oh, stars, let me check. (This is where Tracking Changes comes in handy. ;P ) In Nothing Good Lasts Forever, the story that's (possibly going to be renamed "Even in Death", when Raven takes Dove back to Azarath for closure): This may or may not be polished before publishing. But this takes place immediately after Raven pulls Dove from a flashback.

"There's a lot you have to deal with. Your mind has been seriously damaged by what you've been through. I wonder..." And she trailed off there, hesitating, considering the concept before she dared give it voice.

Dove kept looking up at her, confused and seeming entirely absorbed in her analysis. It was so true. Tearing her apart, every time she remembered... The nightmares and flashbacks wouldn't let her forget it.

45) What spurs you on during the writing process? My own excitement, curiosity, and even desperation to learn what happens next! And a general sense of lowkey affectionate "tribute", like I'm the only person with these peoples' stories in my head, and they deserve to have their stories told. And also the hope that, maybe, someone, somewhere, will read the story, and if just ONE person feels their heart soothed or their struggle validated by my writings, then I've done a good thing, and that's all I really want.

46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it? (Someone ask me, because EVERYTHING has sequels, and if you want to know about it, just Ask!)

47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about? DO IT??

48) What’s your favourite trope to write? I'm... not sure, entirely, but probably "bullshit [insert genre here] magic".

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about? I remember one OF the first fics I ever read, because for about 7, 8 years, I was SCOURING fanfiction.net to find it again. It was about Raven having terrible visions, Azarath being destroyed, and Robin feeling her pain through their connection, but thinking it was heartburn. And then a group of people dropped in, took Raven away (on a spaceships? Though hyperspace???). And they were going to rebuild Azarath. And I think Robin had just discovered Raven was gone, before the story ended. Oh, and they spelled Azarath like "Azerath". That's all I can remember, but I really do wish I'd known what happened, because that story had me absolutely HOOKED. (But alas, I didn't have an account at the time, and I was reading it at the computer lab.)

50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why? Ohh, this one's hard. I'd drop smut like it's hot (haha, get it?). But seriously, I'm a 99%-sex-repulsed aroace, and I've only ever written like 5 half-done smut scenes. Imagined a Fair Few more, but they don't keep my interest for the long multi-hour process of editing that comprises my writing process.

This probably means "romantic fluff" though, right? I mean, I HAVE to write angst (because let's be real, without Angst I wouldn't have much of a story, since all of my stories are Driven By Characters Issues, WAY moreso than external events). But I really think the REAL beauty of my characters is how they go through that angst, and COME OUT with each others' support. I don't know how to write angst without someone being supported (i.e. "Hurt/Comfort", really), and I don't know how to write fluff without something Heavy bringing it on.

Secretshipping (Dove+Srentha) is equal parts angst and fluff, because honestly Angst is in Dove's Job Description, and Srentha is so light-hearted and goofy and silly that he balances it out (and Dove has some goof in her, and Srentha has some rare moments of angst, and it's how they interact and balance out and HELP each other through it that really brings them to LIFE together). Kary's whole characterization is because The Angst seriously fucked up her psyche, but scenes between her and Dove (and Yo-yo!), even her future husband, can get seriously silly and fluffy. Leyla's real growth and development comes from Realizing that the World is Not Like her Sheltered Life. (And how she doesn't want to expose her parents to Her Angst.) But it's also the fluffy deep softness and sincerity she and her parents share that gets her through these realizations. So like... Angst and fluff go hand-in-hand for me? I wouldn't be able to write one without the other.