#reading things

[frownyalfred]

want your favorite author to update but don’t want to be too pushy in their comment section?

here’s 5 things you can do to encourage them:

Reblog their fic link on tumblr (bonus if it’s with tags)

Bookmark the fic with a note about what you’re excited about/love in the fic

Recommend the fic to your friends or local discord channel

Draw art or create other media for the fic (as indicated by the author’s comfort level)

Leave them a comment when re-reading about the parts of the chapter/story that stood out to you the second time

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

yall gotta learn to separate "this character deserved better" (as in "this character has an intentionally tragic story that is supposed to feel bad") and "this character deserved better" (as in "this character had so much potential and was failed by the writer")

[olskuvallanpoe]

I hate when people say that the only thing to get out of literature is romance and sex. Like people who think that haven’t experienced literature enough. There are so many important things that literature can do, and boiling it all down to romance and sex just diminishes the other work that it does.

[ace-trainer-risu]

something I think of often is that one time I was reading this fantasy series by a male author and I got to the third book in the series and it was like, suddenly and noticeably more misogynistic in a kind of bitter way and I was like Man what happened did the author get divorced or something haha jk jk

and then uh Yeah. it turned out he did. he literally did get divorced. Like bro I WAS KIDDING I'M SORRY

[averyauthorship]

Books that feel like autumn🍃🍂

Happy fall, everyone! It's official. I usually don't post about reading on here, but bookish content goes hand-in-hand with writeblr content, so here we are.

This is just a list of books that I've read (or am currently reading, in one case) that remind me of fall. They just have those good autumnal vibes, even if they don't all actually take place during fall. Check them out if you have time, and have a lovely season.

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (series) by Ransom Riggs

A Daughter of the Trolls by McKenzie Catron

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

The Spiderwick Chronicles (series) by Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Pumpkin Heads by Rainbow Rowell & Faith Erin Hicks

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw

The BFG by Roald Dahl

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

[lokisgoodgirl]

Idk why it took me so long but I finally got a kindle cover and I love it 🥹 for someone who spills as much as I do, truly a miracle it's lasted this long.

[welcometololaland]

You got an ask regarding leaving negative comments. Your response was great, but I wanted to add something.

Anon's objection was that they were disappointed by the end. While I definitely being disappointed, trust me, this is actually an opinion. Even when someone asks for feedback, opinions should be delivered carefully. I have beta read here and there, and been in a few critique groups IRL. This sometimes means reading stories where the author took a direction I hadn't seen coming. If I feel a smoother landing was needed, I give my two cents. If it wasn't my kind of twist or ending, I stay silent, because that's not really the point.

Likewise, I'm sure my writing's disappointed people who were hoping for a different story. It happens.

tl;dr: If you weren't asked for feedback, don't give it. If you were, base your feedback on what the author was trying to say (or what you think they were trying to say), not on what you wish they had said.

this is a great point on a writer's intention and direction and a helpful insight on why respecting that is important. i didn't have anything to add other than to say thank you for sharing!

likewise, i wanted to say thank you for the perspectives shared on the previous post - i'll close this topic off with a happy reading and happy writing to everyone involved!

💜

[caramelcuppaccino]

finally i’m starting to read the last book of the howl’s moving castle!

[wolfsbaneandotherfunactivities]

Excerpt from Tes Of Asunder (unfinished Chapter Titled Drunk Idiots, posted for @kaylinalexanderbooks )

Welp, the ship is ashore for a bit. Everyone is on shore, doing whatever they will. Only two remain, and both believe that they are the only ones aboard Asunder. 

Aj went to the bar for a quiet evening alone. They walked into the bar on the ship and grabbed a bottle before sinking into a stool behind the bar. They planned to simply stay there, drink, and cry for a decent portion of the evening since they knew that the crew wouldn’t be back until at least early morning. Then no one would have to deal with them drunk. They were pouring their first drink when they saw Liv had walked in.

Liv pays them no attention as she sinks into a stool with her head in her hands, barely holding back a scream. “Bad night?” They asked, passing the drink to her. They got themself something sober. They knew better then to drink around their crew, especially the crew that’d never seen drunk.

"I should have let Naan kill him." She looks at the drink and gives it back. "Sorry I need something red tonight."

They nod and pour her a glass of wine, moving that cup to the side, hoping to get to it after she leaves. “Zayn again?”

"Who else?" She picks up the glass but doesn't drink at first.

“Figured, what this time?” they swished their drink.

"He's been in my cabin recently…. Like a lot, and it's been awkward in the morning sometimes, so I told him to just keep some of his clothes up there. Make it easier for everybody, you know? Well, he hung his uniform in there. His uniform."

“Seriously? That’s awful, why are men so stupid,” They really weren’t super familiar with everything going on, they were only partly kept in the loop but what they did know is that that wasn’t exactly a good thing. 

"I don't know. I think he just wasn't thinking, I mean… He can't really get rid of it, but he needs somewhere to keep it, but that's the only thing up there, and he went ashore and I don't know if he's coming back." She'd been casually sipping at the wine, but now she downed the rest of the cup and set it on the counter.

“I mean, did he take anything with him?” They grabbed the bottle and poured her another glass before setting the bottle on the bar, knowing that it was quite likely to go empty before night’d end.

"I didn't go through his stuff. I feel like that would make it worse. I mean… I'm supposed to trust him, right? Can I trust him?"

“Not for a moment, men are stupid, trust me, I was one before I was a god, zero brain cells, never know when they’ve found a decent person to be with, least the ones I have met didn't,”

"I used to think he was different… I don't know anymore. What if I was wrong?" 

“If you are  wrong we just gotta wait till we’re ‘bout a day from shore, he’ll make real good friends with sharks real fast,”

"What? No- no, I don't mean that at all-" She sighed and took a drink, just looking and feeling miserable. "He was different. I just don't know if he still is."

“I can get that….He talks about you sometimes….he does care, even if he’s stupid,” they took a sip of their own drink finally before setting it down and messing with the rim. 

"He always did… He gave up everything for me, you know." She wiped a tear from her eye and took another sip, but mostly she was just staring at the liquid.

They smiled a little and looked up at her “Then I doubt he’s runnin’ off now just since things are rough,”

"Or he just hates me now. I think… I think I might hate me now if I were him."

“Hey, hey, no assuming people hate you after the first drink, never goes well,”

She laughed a bit. "Less an assumption… More a fear, and a lot older than just the first drink. I just can't figure out what I did wrong…"

“Could have been nothing, do you do that bit where you always assume everyone hates you if they show the slightest sign of maybe wanting to take a break?”

She blinked a few times and shrugged. "I don't know. I've never really thought about it before."

“I do that…. You’re only tipsy, yeah?”

She nodded. "That doesn't sound like it'd be particularly fun." She poured herself a third glass, for the moment… Just so she could stare at the color.

“Wouldn’t at all,” they sighed and looked over at the rum before looking back at her. 

"You had a rough day too, I take it?" She watched them carefully, hoping to get her mind off of things.

They nodded a little. “Yeah, but, it happens,”

"Often?" She muttered, almost hoping they wouldn't hear. 

They smiled a little “I’m alright, promise,” they tapped their glass on the bar “Just, a little messed up some of the time, same as anyone,”

"Yeah," she said. "Anyone…" then she laughed a little. "Sometimes I wonder how much I overthink."

“Me too……S’pose that’s enough of that, should we switch to a lighter topic ‘fore the bad thoughts cause a storm?”

"If you've got one to offer."

“None I think you’d enjoy too much,” they sighed.

"To misery, then." She raised her glass in a clumsy gesture of a toast. "May we wake to find our friends don't hate us."

“Amen to that,” they clinked their glass, “you mind me locking the door?”

She shrugged. "No, I suppose not."

They went and locked it, mostly making sure that no one got in. They had caught on that Liv may not be appreciative if anyone else in the crew saw her in this state. “So, what’s the plan now?”

"Drink away my sorrows and pray nobody else can walk through walls?"

“Good plan,” they nod thinking about it a little “Was my plan too in all honesty, but, well, someone can walk through walls,”

"I'm not a ghost, I swear. Captain Nychos thought I was at first… I'd rather not a repeat of that."

“Nychos?” They sat back across from her and took a sip of the drink they still hadn’t finished. “This is a story I don’t think I’ve heard yet,”

"I don't say his name often… He was Asunder's captain before Siren. He's dead now. She ate him."

“Good for her,” he smiled a little “Not too fond of human myself in all honestly, something about it, just don’t taste right,”

"I don't think I've ever tasted it. Nychos deserved to die, though."

“I’ll trust you on that, never seen you have bad judgment on it before,” they looked her over, trying to figure out if she was going to try to run off or something. 

She sighed. "I've made my fair share of mistakes. That's not one of them." She thought about saying more, but she just rubbed her leg and took another sip.

“And I’ll believe you,” they chose not to ask about the leg. “Tell me, do you regret becoming a pirate at all? Many people I’ve met in my time have, but I don’t take you for the sort,”

"I don't know. I don't think so. I regret it less than my other life choices."

“Good enough… best decision I ever made,”

She lifted her glass. "Cheers to that."

They clinked their glass again and smiled before taking the last swig and grabbing the rum glass “Being a god isn’t as great as they tell you you know,”

"I don't doubt it. It's hard enough being a first lieutenant."

“I’d imagine…people only ask me for help when no one else is available…that’s why I am always late coming ashore…people will pray to any god that’ll listen….so, so many don’t listen,”

She twirled her glass to watch the liquid move. "I don't doubt it. If Gods are anything like people, you can get about one in one hundred to listen to a damned word you say, and that one will deliberately choose to ignore you nine times out of ten."

“Exactly, and considering we are people, many do just that…..you know it isn’t a coincidence I ended up here during a storm,” they took a sip of their drink. 

"I suppose I never thought about it."

They nodded “I am not quite sure who, or how, but someone asked for any god who would listen, you all got lucky and got the most useless of them,” They downed the rest of their glass.

Liv flinched a bit. The only other person she knew to use that particular phrasing was Zayn. "I don't think I'd say that much. You might not be god of the weather, but you might notice… He didn't answer."

“You’re right, but I’m not exactly what you’d call useful,” they poured another glass “ I make ducks, wooptidoo, what else? Why do you think I took on so much work on the ship? Have to be of use to someone,”

She flinched again. She didn't know why. Some things were just better left unsaid. "I don't think… That kind of thinking. It doesn't work. I'm a pixie who couldn't even fly for over a decade, but…" Her mind was slow and words weren't coming clearly. She knew what she was trying to say, she thought, but getting it out was harder. "But I think there's more to people than that."

They nodded a little and thought as they drank “But still…..you’re… you’re more of a person than I…”

"No. If Gods don't count, Fae don't count."

“You haven’t seen what we go through to get here….I’m not even alive,” they set their drink down and elbows to the table.

She pulled out a small knife and stabbed it through their hand, licking the blood off when she pulled it off. "When I was in the academy for the Guard, we were taught that if it still bleeds, it's still alive. By Fae definitions, you're still alive, and I find we're difficult to argue with."

They grabbed their hand “That is the worst possible test!” they took a cloth from under the bar and held both ends of the would “Ow, ow, ow, ow, you do realize this isn’t going to heal right, right?” they were trying to stop the bleeding and not say ‘ow’ more.

She grimaced a little, realizing that was a lot of blood. "I should go find a doctor." She stood up, kind of clumsily as she started stumbling toward the door.

They put a giant duck in front of it “I’ve got it Liv, It will heal,” they took the cloth off and grimiced even before pouring some of the rum onto it.

Her eyes grew wide at the sight of the duck, and all thoughts of finding a doctor left her mind. If she heard what they said, it wouldn't have mattered, but she hadn't… Exactly. "Oh my god," she said, squeezing the duck's neck. "Oh my god, it's so big. It's so big. Aj, have you seen this? It's so big-"

They are a little distracted bleeding and all. They summoned another plush duck, this one made to look like it was injured. They took the wrap from it and used it on their hand, velcrowing it on. 

"Aj, Aj- Do you think you can make a snake? I love snakes. They're so long and they just wiggle around- And their bellies are soft. They're just soft, and so long. Long wiggly babies- Siren won't let me have a snake on the ship. She says it gets too cold, but I could make it a sweater." By now, she's crying about it.

“People who stab me don’t get snakes!” also, they can’t make a snake. They can however have no clue how to deal with a stab wound  that is bleeding on things

“No,” she said. "No, I didn't mean to- I didn't, I swear- I just wanted to help-"

“Okay well still, stabby people don’t get snakes!’ they grabbed a new cloth with their non-bleeding hand. 

"Snakes are so cute tho, they're just these skinny squirmy babies, wiggling around on their bellies- So soft little bellies-"

They shove the first cloth into the wound and use the clean one to put pressure “Do. Not. Snake,”

Her eyes lit up and she excitedly tried to climb to her feet, only to fall back into the duck. “I can snake? Oh oh oh- What if it was wearing a little sweater- With a lizard on it-”

“No! Bad! No Snake! Snake Bad! I’ll bleed on it!”

“It might taste good to a snake-” She waved her hands enthusiastically to try and imitate a snake eating something.

“Liv…..Liv what is that?”

She looked at what they were pointing at, or tried to, at least, thinking she saw a sweatered reptile wriggling across the floor. “Oh my god- snake-” she tried to follow after it but her legs wouldn’t carry her and she ended up kind of crawling, kind of just crying in a heap on the floor, where she cried herself to sleep.

“Liv, Liv you nightmare from hell don’t you dare leave me alone with this kid! I don’t know what to do with it!” they tied off their bandage and looked at the snake “.......Do you want, like……….to play scratch? Or like, a beer or something?”

The snake seems curious. It sits up a little and sticks out its tongue. There’s a lizard on its sweater. AJ picked up the snake and held it kind of like a baby. “Hello there,”

Somebody knocked on the door. “Is everything alright in there? I thought I heard…” Zayn forced the door open despite the duck, and the lock, and stood there blinking. “I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“So, uh, I have a son now…..like, by blood……Liv might be the mother…….How do we want custody to work?”

Zayn blinked for a few moments and glanced at Liv on the floor, then the bottle on the counter. “I- How much did you let her drink?”

“Not that much,” They chose to ignore the bottles. The snake looked at Zyan and started to make its way to the counter, exploring the world. 

“Are you… Sure about that? Aj… How much?”

“Like, maybe three glasses? Maximum four. She stabbed me by the way, and now there’s a son and I don’t think it helps that I’m on my second, and-” They sat on the stool and rubbed between their eyes “I don’t know how to be a parent!”

“Relax,” h e gently picked up the snake and let it curl around his arm, glancing back at Liv. “It’s a snake, it’s a reptile. It’s not like an actual child we can royally screw up or anything.” He glanced back at Liv, knowing he should probably get her to bed instead of letting her stay in the middle of the floor but not having the energy to deal with that.

AJ is crying now. “This wasn’t supposed to happen” The snake smelled the drink on the counter and sneezed “Bless you,” the snake suddenly had a little yellow hat with an orange bill. It looked at Zyan and tilted its head. It was confused about everything.

Zayn sighed. He didn’t really know how to deal with this, either. “Just… Please, Aj, explain how we got from the stabbing to a magical snake.” 

“Liv was a god for a second there,” They wiped their tears and adjusted theirs son’s hat. They wanted him to stay warm.

Zayn blinked and stared at the unconscious woman. “I think I’m going to have to ask when you’ve both had time to sober up. It’s only going to take her, what…. A day?”

“.............Maybe more? I don’t know what’s in her system. Whatever is in mine I’d think,” Oh great, the tears are back.

“Okay, fine, we’ll deal with that later. Let’s just- Deal with the stabbing, alright?”

“Right, I’m bleeding, I forgot about that… ow, ow, ow, pain set in again, help,” they grabbed their bleeding hand again. Blood had leaked onto pretty much everything they’d touched in the last few minutes. 

“That’s- Uh- Not good. And Doc’s out still, I bet- Damnit, Octavia-” He took a breath and shook his head. “I don’t know… Did you try licking it?”

“That’s how we got the Baby! He doesn’t even have a name yet, my poor son,”

“Right, right… I don’t know, I’m not a doctor… And nobody knows where Captain went, so this- This… could be a long night.”

“I mean do you think licking it would actually help? Like, would it hurt it more? I don’t know what to do about this! No one teaches gods what to do if they’re stabbed! Just to not let people drink your blood but we see how that’s going!

[frownyalfred]

your friendly weekly reminder:

ratios don’t mean shit

no fic is too short or too long

you don’t have to do what your commentators want

some of the best fics get 0 comments

some fics get more kudos because they’re in a popular fandom/pairing at a popular time

people will enjoy your fic without commenting and that’s hard sometimes

keep writing ❤️

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

every time someone describes a book with tropes instead of plot I lose a year of my life

[olskuvallanpoe]

born to read, forced to be so fatigued that I can’t keep my eyes open even though I really want to read

[daniwib]

About comments like 'Update soon!' or 'More please!'

It seems that many of those who leave these sorts of comments and other variations thereof are not writers yourselves. So, you may not realize that a simple demand for more without any other feedback can be very disheartening for writers.

Writing a story takes considerable effort. We invest hours in crafting, editing, and perfecting our work. Our stories are our babies, and despite the time they consume, we love them dearly. We write and share because we find joy in it, not because we earn money from it. We create content for you to enjoy, free of charge, simply because we love it. Then we set our babies free into the wild in the hope that others will enjoy them. And maybe, sometimes, tell us if they did.

No one is expected to comment. It’s nice if you do and we adore it, but it’s not a rule. And some people have very valid reasons for not commenting. We get it. This note is not about that.

It’s about how receiving a comment that merely demands more without acknowledging what you enjoyed about the story does not inspire us. It does not make us leap up and start typing madly, merely because you told us to.

What it does do is reduce our creative efforts to mere content production, making us feel as though you expect us to churn out stories on demand, without any appreciation. And quite often that stops us from writing at all.

Please remember that fic writers are not machines. We are people with lives that demand our attention - we have jobs, families, and sometimes we even like to eat or sleep. That’s why many of us update on a schedule. Demanding more won’t change that.

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

A kind and thoughtful comment will always be more appreciated than a demand for more – and will encourage us to keep writing like nothing else will. If you don’t know what to write, that’s alright. Short and simple is perfectly okay! If you do want to write something more, here is a great guide to get you going: 101 comment starters.

[ace-trainer-risu]

I've been reading the Witness for the Dead books by Katherine Addison and I just love Thara Celehar so much. Firstly, all Thara does is Go Through The Horrors and drink tea. every day this man wakes up, puts on an ugly coat, suffers The Horrors, rides the tram, and then drinks some tea about it. not necessarily in that order.

secondly I love that this man fully considers like, "A friend said nice things to me" or "a nice man tried to gently flirt with me" to be equally as bad a Horror as "a ghoul tried to eat me" or "I was beset by ghosts eternally reenacting an ancient war crime." maybe someone being nice to him is worse, even. the emperor was kind to him one time and he's never recovered.

[averyauthorship]

More bookish, non-author-related content. But I'm sure we're all at least aware of that one bookmark alignment chart that's just around, so I made my own version. Tag yourself, if you dare >:)

For half of my books, I'm Cute Normal. For the other half, I'm Practical Normal. In a pinch, I'll become Practical Gremlin.