#reading works best when enjoying it

[impulsivelycontentious]

Uh babe? Being an ass about people's spelling illustrates more how out of touch YOU are than how out of touch THEY are. There are many reasons spelling doesn't always work out or people have wrong ideas about words - of which not reading compex text is not one of them.

Also you should absolutely read spinning silver. It's good shit. 🤷‍♀️

I dunnow maybe read for fun more often than for clout. Reading at all is good. Difficulty with analysing isn't because of the subject matter - we see EXACTLY the same issue with media literacy in film. People have been mad at how progressive star trek is compared to the good old days since what, the second series?

It's a cultural issue and making people read classics isn't going to solve it. Ironically, the best way to better analyze media is to have honest discussions about it.

And part of that is not being condescending and driving people away from reading because what they enjoy doesn't meet your standards of dep enough. You're SUPPOSED to offer things with similar themes or characters - you know, like librarians generally can, and help expand people's horizons via love of the work.

Not whatever this was.

No babe it’s so cool and hot that you always insist that fantasy books written to meet a 4th graders’ comprehension skills have more complex themes and a greater sense of praxis than anything written for adults

[hoshiina]

pairing: hoshina soushirou x gn!reader (no prns)

summary: he struggled to fall in love while you struggled to value your life the way you valued others, entire fic is inspired by one line from nandemonaiyo by macaroni empitsu

warnings: not suicidal acts but it is very selfless behaviour from the reader, reader does not exactly fear death, hoshina calls you "darling"

wc: 1500

Hoshina Soushirou struggled to fall in love, to accept that he was in love without feeling so terribly vulnerable, and you knew this. On the other hand, you struggled to value your own life the way you valued others, and he knew this. And surprisingly, or perhaps unfortunately, this combination pieced together your relationship far better than one would expect.

You were a platoon leader in the 3rd division, and you’ve been for quite a while now. You were good at what you did, bringing people together and livening up the mood when times got dark. Still, you were strong enough to not only get the job done, but also to cover for your officers when things got tough. While you enjoyed what you did, and took pride in the position you were given, you weren’t exactly fond of it anymore.

You were sick and tired of seeing your officers die, and the thought of them gone kept you up at night. Not to mention there was nothing could get rid of the guilt you felt when you had to inform their loved ones of their passing. Well, perhaps you didn’t have to inform them personally, but to you, it was the least you could do. But it hurt you so much, no matter the number of times you’ve gone through it through all these years. Even if it was inevitable considering your job, and even if it wasn’t something you had much control over, you just couldn’t get used to it— nor did you really want to. So a few years back, you had sworn that you’d protect your officers, even if it meant you’d lose your life. If risking your life was going to save theirs, there wasn’t even a need to hesitate, you’d do it every single time.

And Hoshina knew this. He knew you would and he also knew there was no stopping you at this point, because he agreed. He was the vice-captain of the 3rd division, he knew exactly how you felt and couldn’t agree more. He also knew that you took these passings to your heart. He knew the thoughts kept you up at night, and he knew just how much they broke your heart. So subconsciously, he tried not to get attached. He had locked up his feelings after a while and so he loved you a little— just a little. He was good at this too, because he naturally struggled to fall in love in the first place. He struggled to accept he was in love.

And as horrible as this sounded, you knew this and you wanted him to, because when it comes down to it, if you were to leave him behind, what you were doing would be no different. And that was the last thing you wanted to do— leave someone who loved you behind.

While this sounded like nothing more than a broken relationship, at the end of the day you were undeniably in love with him and he was as well— there was no doubting that. Although he didn't believe in being with someone while constantly on the brink of death, he still loved you and he still wished to be by your side, the same way you were absolutely in love with him. So this was just the way it was.

It was obvious whenever one of your officers passed, it was always all over your face. As soon as you walked into your shared unit, even if you put on a smile and laughed, he’d see it in your eyes right away. He’d sense it in the way you walked and the way you talked. The way you’d be a little zoned out, and sounded terribly exhausted.

Every time this happened, he made you a warm cup of tea and squeezed your cheeks as he gave you a warm kiss, and you’d realize that he caught on again. Today was one of those days again.

“It’s not your fault, darling,” he said. “You did everything you could, I know this. You know this.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to mope around and ruin your day,” you said, and he shook his head. “I’m just a little tired of myself, for watching my coworkers who followed my lead and trusted my orders to just… die. Also, horribly ashamed to face their family— I could never apologize enough.”

“Yeah, that’s probably the hardest part,” he said.

“I know they don’t blame me, nor do they show how lost they are when they’re in front of me,” you said. “But when they’re alone, at night, they’ll start to think. It’s always harder for those left behind.”

“I won’t ever leave you behind,” he said as he kissed your forehead.

“Oh, don’t say that now,” you said. “When I’m gone you better not mope around. You're going to go find someone who won’t go dying on you any moment. You better not miss me.”

“Oh, don’t you say that. We’re not trying to jinx anything over here,” he said, flicking you on the forehead, which you quickly put your hand over. “Besides I’ll be fine. You know this.”

You did, and it made you smile. While even you thought it’d break your heart to hear the man you loved say he’d be fine without you, it was still a bit of a relief to you. This was okay.

“But really, you’d better not leave me behind,” you said.

“I would never,” he said.

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

He’d be lying if he said this didn’t break his heart a little, but he did find strange comfort in it. Or he used to at the very least. He had always been this way, it had always scared him to fall in love, to find someone important to him, and become someone important to someone. So being in a relationship came with a large sense of guilt for him, because he was never able to let go of himself and love, and he feared how unfair this was. But now, he could just love you a little, and detach himself from the rest. It was easier for him to do so.

It was supposedly, exactly what he wanted.

Yet, every time there was a mission he thought about you. He thought about whether you’d do something reckless today, or whether you’d come home injured. He prayed that none of your officers would be in danger, because he knew you’d be fine alone. He wished that you’d come home that night and scold him again for staying up too late or drinking coffee at 3 in the morning. He hoped that you’d laugh if he were to crack the stupid joke he came up with just now, and you’d make him laugh in the morning over some silly mistake you'd complain about.

He hoped that you wouldn’t leave him behind.

“Oh,” he said.

“What is it, Hoshina?” Okonogi asked.

“Sorry, nothing,” he said. “I’ll stop spacing out.”

“Rather unlike you, to be,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I fear it is.”

It truly was rather unlike him to be hopelessly in love, and to know that he was. He was hopelessly in love with you.

This just wasn’t the right time to realize, because he had a horrifying number of kaiju to deal with in front of him. Each one of them separately would not have been a problem for him, but there were just so many— not to mention they were working together. He’d be fine though, because he promised he wouldn’t leave you behind, and who was he to be breaking a promise with you?

Soon after, Okonogi had made the decision to call people over to support him, and immediately you rushed over. You knew you had your platoon to be watching over and you weren’t the closest to him, but none of that mattered. If he was gone, you’d truly be nothing, even if that wasn’t the same for him with you.

Yet, by the time you had made it he had already neutralized every last kaiju.

“Soushirou!” you yelled, rushing over to him. He was so beaten up as he lay on the ground, absolutely still, it took everything in you to not think about the worst. Until he raised his arm to give you a weak thumbs up. “You absolute asshole. You promised you wouldn’t leave me behind.”

He smiled as you reached his side.

“You’ll be okay,” you said, sounding more like you were trying to convince yourself. “The ambulance is coming.”

“You know, I was thinking,” he said, and immediately you shot him a glare as if to warn him that this better be good if he’s wasting his breath on it.

But it was.

“Darling, I’d die if you left me behind.”

[befuddled-calico-whump]

(this is not a callout or anything, I'm just curious)

(better explanation of why I made this that reads like I'm making excuses under the cut, lol)

I know the "I feel insecure when reading others' writing" button sounds passive aggressive but I swear that's not the intention. In fact, that's the button I'm clicking. To speak candidly, while time is a big factor for me, feeling intimidated by others' skill and creativity is bigger

so many of you are better at prose or character or worldbuilding than I can ever hope to be, and that's something I should enjoy, something I should be grateful for (and I am! It's amazing to be able to read amazing stories for free, written by people I sort of know), yet instead I turn it into a game of comparing myself. It's something I'm working on, but it takes a lot of energy to approach. Being tagged in stuff here on tumgle tends to help counter that, since it holds me accountable in a "you wanted to read this, stop being intimidated, it's not about you" kind of way. But even without that option, I'm working to appreciate everyone's work without getting needlessly self conscious about it :)

[hopecomesbacktolife]

not me reading this definitely m/f romance novel but reading heavily into every interaction between the main character and her best friend…

[shannonsketches]

Every time I talk to a DB fan who doesn't know or doesn't agree that the whole franchise is an adventure comedy first and an action series second I feel insane but then I find an old Toriyama interview,

You made some comedic scenes where you have minor villains Pilaf & co. appear; how did you come up with a balance between laughs and fierce battles? Do you pay attention to the difference between comedy and battle in making a work “entertaining”?

I believe that, when you combine comedy and serious battles, both of them might come alive even more. As for me personally, though, I much prefer drawing dumb jokes to battle scenes.

as a bonus, every time I'm like 'idk I didn't really like most of the DBZ movies prior to Yo Son Goku and Friends Return and BotG,' and get the 'whAAaaT they're so gOOD' (from my brother, tbh askdjs) but they all seemed really Action-Drama and About the Fight Scenes and I'm like 'meh kinda boring tbh' I get to gaze upon,

In the latest movie, Toriyama-san, you participated in the production from the scriptwriting stage for the first time. What is the reason for that? Was there anything you noticed in coming face-to-face with the work after so long?

I was told about a project for Dragon Ball in its first animated film in a long while, and I read the story outline; while the beings “Beerus, God of Destruction” and “Super Saiyan God” (which goes above Super Saiyan) were interesting, the themes were heavy, and I felt that the world was a bit different from Dragon Ball. Rather than telling them about this or that problematic spot, I thought it would be faster if I just wrote it out concretely, and while I had intended just to give them a model―”for example”―my hand wouldn’t stop, and ultimately, I ended up writing almost everything, including the dialogue. I am reflecting on the fact that I did something terribly rude to the scriptwriter.

Akira "It was bad so I fixed it, oops" Toriyama, Absolute Legend

[pekoeboo]

hey, this might sound really random but i couldn’t message you this and I hate using the message thing on da😭. But lately I’ve been considering using Ao3 but I don’t know anyone who actually used it before.

So I was wondering if you can tell me what it’s like? It’s it hard to use? Should there be things i should be wary of? I noticed the sites I used aren’t the best to post writing I figured might as well take a shot at this site😂

oh hey! no problem - I also don't like using the messaging on dA (also not really a fan of it here, tbh; hence why I've restricted it as much as possible kfjhdfg), so I feel ya on that, haha

oh gosh hmm... okay so my perspective on the site is going to be from someone who never reads fanfiction but only posts my own writing... so there's a whole other side to the conversation I can't even engage with here, unfortunately. but I do personally feel like AO3 is the best option right now for posting writing. however, it is considered an archive, not a social platform. so it does function a bit differently compared to other sites in how you're expected to use it.

they do have a lot of FAQ sections and guidelines to try and help out with understanding what and what not to do, but I tend to have a hard time retaining the info because it's A Lot so I have to rely on like. posts here on tumblr explaining stuff to me instead (checking the #AO3 tag might help? idk if there's a specific tag ppl use to share helpful info tho). the only thing I'm still unsure about is whether or not original content is actually allowed?? I've heard both yes and no and there IS a genre tag for original content so I'm just going forward with the idea that it's okay. for the most part though, the site is made to archive fan works, so you'll def be fine posting that sort of thing for sure.

I do think overall it's a very user-friendly site compared to others I've used when it comes to the UI and such ;o; everything is compartmentalized well and being able to customize the formatting is REALLY helpful and was also the main reason why I switched over from ffnet :'0 it's just... a bit overwhelming when it comes to tagging and organizing a piece of work within the guidelines. that's the biggest stress point for me, personally.

but yeah;; that's pretty much all I know. so sorry I can't be of much more help;;; if any of my followers have better tips on how the site works or have good "starting out" posts to recommend, I'd love for you to join the conversation to help out!!! ;0;

[vse-kar-vem]

why is my self esteem so weird broo

[pergaminaa]

Modern au

To settle the debate, Dorian doesn’t believe that cooking together is romantic.

Often, Manon is just in the way. She has no idea how to make anything, and the one time she helped with chopping vegetables she almost cut off her whole finger which warranted a trip to the ER because she just kept bleeding.

The only way she can help is by being out of the kitchen, catching Dorian up on things while he works in peace. This way, they bond, and he can work peacefully and not worry about any accidents. This is what he calls romantic, not his significant other putting herself in danger and literally just being in his way.

[lemongogo]

j need to get back into life drawing post haste

[courtillyy]

for your fic-a-day thing: maybe something degrassi? nothing post-cam’s death because i’m not there yet, but genuinely fine with any point before. i’m partial to the original next gen (class of 2005/2006) but again, i’m really fine with whoever

ty for sending the request in <3 idk if you care about paige but it was the only idea that my brain could come up with lol. here is the fic

[deoidesign]

For my birthday... read my webcomic! It's literally free! (Unless you want books. Those are not free)

It's beautiful, it's gentle, it's funny, they're canonically t4t and gay... And it's about time traveling vampires solving supernatural mysteries!

I've spent thousands of hours writing and drawing it, and it's really good! I'm not biased!

It's on hiatus right now and coming back in 2 months, so it's the perfect time to get caught up

[idklackingimaginationapologies2]

i love you I love you I love writers that do short paragraphs in fanfic (I have eye problems and my eyes skip around so reading big paragraphs can be painful) and writers who do short chapters in books (I have no sense of time and it's nice to regularly have a built in break point, and it gives me a shot of dopamine to finish a chapter so I can trick myself into reading more) (reading is my favourite thing to do probably but my brain hates it for some reason so I have to trick it into doing it.....even though I really love doing it???)

[sage-nebula]

Books I have finished so far this month:

City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett (started in December)

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Reviews for all of the above can be found on my goodreads, which I invite everyone to friend me on! Please note my reviews are detailed and not spoiler free, so read beyond the rating at your own risk. I also have a recommendations shelf for books I personally recommend.

Book I am currently reading:

Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

[fantasyinallforms]

Hi there! I really hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I happened to come across a few of your Tumblr exclusive ficlets, and I couldn't help but notice that they could use a bit more editing.

I mean, don't get me wrong, your other works are usually more polished with better grammar. Do you maybe skip editing your short stories? It just makes them a little hard to read is what I'm saying.

Not really sure what way I was supposed to take this but ok.

I edit all my work, but I'm dyslexic as hell, and editing is really hard for me, even with programs like Grammarly. I rely on my editor/ beta reader, but I don't always have her edit it unless it's going on AO3.

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that this topic is a particularly sensitive one for me and I find it irksome. Not really sure what you were angling for when you sent this, but I hope it's not too hard to read. (sarcasm)

[aenslem]

look, yall can love that one specific fanfiction of my favorite couple in the fandom and think it's the best thing ever, and it's the most popular work out there and yall think everyone else also should think the same and love it as much as you do, but maybe I would enjoy reading it if yall would stop bugging me with it, like, absolutely every person I ever talked to about this couple for some reason mentioned that specific fanfiction as if it's the best thing in the fandom, even when we were not talking about fanfiction at all. So at this point it's a little awkward to mention to anyone that I lost interest on chapter 40 or smt and idk if it is because it was not as enjoyable as everyone keeps telling me or is it because yall would not stop telling me it's the best thing ever which is a little annoying. also I already read some things which I consider better works. I am not saying which work or fandom it is, but maybe the most popular works in the fandom should not be thrown at fans who just decided to join the fandom like it's a sacred writings we all should love or smt. I might read that work in the future and find it good too, but right now every time I am reminded about the existence of 'this is the best fanfiction of ----' eyeroll is inevitable.

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

it's controversial to say this i guess but i genuinely believe last life was the least interesting life series season and youre all lying to me about enjoying it