#that may one day be novels

[myceliomancer]

Some recent Menagerie City writing:

Oh, and how Jun loved its cities, springing right up around the Painted Mahogany like an ant-nest. Well, they were forest people after all, and what is a city if not a forest? And Jun’s cities were true jungles, great filthy towering things where buildings grew on buildings like galls, roads twisted and knotted and self-cannibalised, churches and temples of all shapes and sizes desecrated each other and themselves; they were hot and noisy with a cacophony of different tongues, spilling their chaos outwards and upwards and downwards uncontrollably, drunkenly.

And it was here, in the noise and the rank, amidst the monkey-lords and the beggars and fortune-tellers and the restless dead and bankers and the vermin and the gods, that the Mahogany stood, unchanging and unmoving, and she grew quiet and she grew thoughtful.

[deus-ex-mona]

favourite stupid relationship dynamic: idiots who would immediately protect and defend the other but never themself

[pinkd3mon]

To trust somebody

[tweltchy]

Jurassic Park Movie: Scientifically accurate dinosaurs in a theme park run by a nice old dude who just wants to make a fun place. Things go wrong.

Jurassic Park novel: Dinosaurs that are genetically modified Frankenstein science experiment freaks of nature that cannot and shouldn't exist. Things go really, REALLY wrong.

And the old dude that runs that park would gladly feed his own grandchildren to the dinosaurs if there was money to be made in it.

[milkbreadtoast]

yu junghyeok and prince cedric have like practically the same design (+v similar personality) but listen the Vibes they have r diff... idk if this makes sense but u know charas w tired dilf energy... YJH has that but not cedric.. hes like a baby.. the way I describe it is YJH is babygirl but cedric is just my baby🫂🔥🔥🔥*gets incinerated* SKJDJ idk if it's noticeable at all but I try to capture diff vibes when I draw them....

when i draw cedric i try to go full shoujo... he is a romance novel male lead... sparkly eyes bright colors 90s anime blush... goes full squish mode when drawing him chibi MFNSKJ🤭

but when i draw yjh im like... no i have to convey the Angst and Depression.... *gives him dark circles and takes the light from his eyes*😇🖤

idk if it's noticeable but I also try to differentiate their designs in subtle ways (besides eye color etc),,, I give them diff eyebrow shapes!! I like YJH with triangle brows(thicker at the ends) and cedric w tapered brows(thicker toward the middle) like the webtoon... I also try to make cedric's hair a bit curlier than YJH🥹

[seraphic-sibyl]

I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been born a frog. I should have been

[necrotic-nephilim]

Fandom: Batman and Robin (Comics) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Underage Relationships: Dick Grayson/Damian Wayne Characters: Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne Additional Tags: Omega Dick Week (DCU), Omega Dick Grayson, Alpha Damian Wayne, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, First Time, Oral Sex, Dominant Bottom, Topping from the Bottom, Gentle Sex, Praise Kink, Soft Dom Dick Grayson, Control Issues, Unrequited Crush, Pre-Flashpoint (DCU), Dick Grayson is Batman Summary: Damian is pent up, lashing out, and Dick is just about at his wit's end about it. When he tries to talk to Damian about it, he learns that Damian is suppressing his own ruts to have some form of control over himself. Dick convinces Damian to give up control to Dick, instead. - Omega Dick Week 2024 - Day 7: Free Day

[ultramarine-spirit]

In the novel, Athy's debut dress is described as white with long sleeves and the skirts made it look like a rose (? I think she was also wearing rubies but I don't remember very well anymore

Don't you have reference photos of what the dress was like? The translation I read is very strange lol

Athy's debutante dress is described to be pretty different in the novel! It was a pure white dress, that seemed to bloom like a flower at the bottom. It also had embedded jewelry and a tulle ribbon tied around the waist, and it had sleeves, it wasn’t sleeveless like the manhwa's. So the translation you read looks accurate. Here is @lithi 's complete translation of how the dress looked like!

I don't have any reference pictures of that dress specifically, sorry. And as far as I know, there's no novel-accurate fanart of the debutante. We'll have to use our imagination.

The thing about debutante balls that... no manhwa seems to get right is that, they weren't just fancy balls to introduce noble girls to high society. They were that in part, yes, but most importantly, they had the purpose of serve as the occasion for young girls of marriageable age (for the time period) to find a husband.

So the balls had a pretty strict dress-code. All debutantes had to wear white (though shades of ivory and pink were acceptable), the dresses were strictly floor-length and with a long train, though the sleeves were short. Long white gloves were also very common. The hair had to be done in an up-do with a veil attached to it, decorated with three ostrich feathers. As for jewelry, pearls were the more common option.

Some details could change depending on the time period, but those were the basics. So no colorful gowns, loose hair, short dresses or stuff like that.

Totally different vibes, even though that debutante dress is pretty modern. But it looks... like a wedding dress.

I was surprised to see that the novel's debutante was actually pretty historically accurate. My guess is that Spoon felt the novel's dress was too bridal, so she changed it to the iconic dress we all know (I've seen people say it feels too "homecoming", teenager ball, but debutantes were kind of just that lol). The part about the dress resembling a blooming rose was kept, but Spoon added the pink details, flowers and patterns, shortened the length and made the dress sleeveless (and gave Athy a tiara! Apparently only married women could wore those at debutantes in real life).

I quite like it. I think the choice was also to better reflect Athy's fashion sense and make her stand out compared to the other debutantes. Athy's dresses are always lovely and elegant, but she uses way more colors, patterns, short sleeves and hems compared to the rest of the girls. I think it suits her free spirit!

And yeah, it would have been kind of weird to see all the girls dressed as brides in the debutante lmfao...

[yumedoca]

I want to write an in depth character analysis about Ataru’s entire character, but if I do, it’ll be as long as a frickin novel because this chad has so many depths to his character that even I can’t keep track of all his qualities. So I’ll write a short one. Usually I hate or just plain dislike the concept of perverts mainly because most of the modern day pervs are so one dimensional and perving is the only notable thing about their character (of course, not every perv is like that but most of them are). Ataru was the first character who showed me that the pervert (or any trope in general) can be amazing if written well. The fact that his perverted moments are actually funny because of how entertaining his moments and character is written like how he puts on a serious guise even though his intentions aren’t pure or just smoothly going with the flow while flirting (mainly with Sakura). Of course then there’s how his interactions with the ones around him and his daily behavior is entertaining as well, like with Mendo, Ten, Onsen mark, etc. Of course, then there’s his interactions and relationship with Lum which has him go from “I hate you!” to “*I… I… I don’t like you, what do you mean?” to “hmph, whatever!” to finally “you know exactly how I feel about you and that’s good enough ♥️ .” It has him learning to control and open up his feelings towards her as time goes on and it’s fantastic. Then there’s him going from a pathetic coward to a pretty cool dude, scenarios which used to scare him previously has shown not to scare him later on and he’s even been put on the brink of death while trying to save his woman. Then there’s his growing kindness, at first even though very kind, his intentions weren’t exactly 100% pure as shown in the cursed rain girl chapter where he dated her so he could build up a relationship with her and eventually properly date her later, even though he did it to cure her curse as well. What he did was nice, but he had a misleading motivation. Compare this later on when he went on a date with the ghost girl, he knows he’ll gain absolutely nothing from dating her since she’ll pass on to heaven once she’s satisfied, but he does it anyways because he felt sorry for the poor girl and his kindness just shines through, he even went to visit her grave later on to pay her respects. So yes, Ataru’s may be a pervert and selfish jerk most of the time, but he gets punished for his actions and that side of him feels like a desperate mask to conceal his nicer side. I think the reason he hides that side is so he doesn’t get taken advantage of by others, but also maybe it’s because he isn’t sure of himself. Which is probably why he only shows that side when the time calls for it.

[stopbeingbored]

“That was always the dream, wasn't it? 'I wish I'd known then what I know now'? But when you got older you found out that you NOW wasn't YOU then. You then was a twerp. You then was what you had to be to start out on the rocky road of becoming you now, and one of the rocky patches on that road was being a twerp.”

Happy PTerry Day, everyone! Read Discworld.

[nondescriptrock]

I'm writing a short gay romance book for class, but I don't want it to go to waste, if that makes sense lol

Would anyone be interested in reading it? I'll probably post it on AO3 regardless

It's about these bitches

[deus-ex-mona]

‼️reset the counter‼️ it has been ✨0✨ days since the last chizuutan content drop‼️

[bisexualdinahlance]

can you explain the Casey McQuiston thing a little further? I'm pretty brand new to the rwrb fandom and not familiar

There's been rumors for years in the RWRB fandom and outside of it that Casey McQuinston used to be on tumblr and was a fic writer for the Social Network/Social Network RPF fandom. Further, there was a lot of rumors that RWRB was SN RPF with the serial numbers filed off. The original tumblr account people say was Casey I'm pretty sure is either gone or dead now, and the fanfic author that people say they are took down their fics years ago. It's very possible that that person was Casey, but like without them fessing up there's no way to know for sure.

Someone on Youtube did a whole video essay deep dive into investigating the accounts, and even read the fic people claim RWRB is based on. The conclusion the video essayist came to was that she thought the author was Casey but that the fic was nothing like RWRB. (Which of course it wasn't lmao, the intro to the book literally talks about how they wrote it during and after the 2016 election - several years after the fics were deleted.) There's a good chance she's right, but while some of the reasoning is good, one of the reasons was literally that both authors "inserted their media opinions superfluously" into the story that broke their immersion because both authors made fun of "blonde women [the video essayist] liked" lol. So I take the conclusion with a grain of salt even if the investigation work was good.

Anyone who has read the book I'm sure can tell that Casey probably wrote fanfiction, but it's pretty clear to me that it's not lol. It just has tropes and dynamics that are popular in fandom spaces, as well as some specific turns of phrases. Which isn't a bad thing lol, RWRB is my guilty pleasure fave, I adore it even if it feels a bit lib in the current political climate.

I doubt that Casey ever saw the rumors - for a while it was mostly just snarky tumblr or reddit comments that brought it up to prove moral superiority over not liking the book. But it's still frustrating to me that like an author is essentially being haunted reputationally by fanfic they might or might not have written as a teenager/college student. Even the fanlore page for the book is completely overtaken by people speculating that it's a fanfiction. I would be PISSED if I got published, and everyone claimed my books were Harry Potter fanfiction because I used to be in the HP fandom in high school and college. And then spread around old fanfiction that I deleted off the internet because I got made fun of for how bad the smut was.

(Part of the "proof" that some people used as to the original fic being RWRB was it was deleted off of LJ but the fanlore page on the actual fic speculates it's because the author was getting bitchy messages about the quality of the smut in the fic.)

Anyway, sorry this wasn't super... coherent I have a lot of opinions on the subject. the TL;DR is that Casey might have been a BNF in the Social Network fandom, and because of that people speculated that they turned one of their SNRPF's into RWRB. It's pretty clear that they didn't do that, but these rumors have haunted the fandom for years because people keep spreading them like they're fact.

And I think authors should be allowed to keep their fandom separate from their professional work exactly because of shit like this lol.

[queen-scribbles]

#YEEEESSSSSSS WHAT AN AMAZING GIFT 🥰💖🥰💖🥰💖#god I don't even know where to start it's all so good#tragen and marii understanding each other so well they can communicate without words or using the force YES#marii having a voice-kink and competence-kink and struggling to keep her mind out of the gutter while tragen gently threatens people YES YE#when brin actually thought he'd trapped them! 😂 alexa play 'now you fucked up' from whitest kids you know#the action! the fighting and the chase sequence! their banter! 😘🥰 YES YES YES YES#the contrast of tragen being so calm and in control as he casually wins 4v1 fights and sprints down hallways without even getting winded#vs aramarii 'force-assisted recklessness' wrinn ripping out wires and stabbing consoles and barreling around corners#him preferring to travel in her ship because his is too gloomy and scares people 😭 darling boy you would've made such a good jedi#(give her a hydrospanner and a week and she can fix it up. she's already planning a shopping trip to bed bantha and beyond with vette)#does he KNOW how sexy his voice is? that he could melt her into a puddle reading space-ikea instruction manuals?#or is he genuinely unaware of the power he wields? thank the stars he's not the type to use it for evil#okay I better stop before I write an entire tag novel 💖💖💖 I'm gonna go eat some cake and read this like. 30 more times

@haledamage I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT. :D I did some poking around in Marii's tag for details and personality stuff but didn't have time to read everything, so I'm happy to have done her justice. 💖 (cut for length)

I love couples who know each other so well it's like they read minds or share thoughts, it's so good. They would clean up at one of those game shows where you have to writ down your partner's answer to a bunch of questions. xD I cannot blame Marii for any of those kinks bc they're all very fair ones to have wrt Tragen. Competence is extremely sexy. 😂 (I might have a bit of a Thing for the M!Warrior's voice. Just a little one. That may have bled through. I mentioned it was self-indulgent, right?)

And I've long headcanoned for Tragen's own universe--and now this one apparently-- that they don't make it common knowledge he has less of a Force connection than your average Jedi/Sith. Might be perceived as weakness yada yada. And people he fights are too busy trying to survive to notice he's like 95% martial skill/5% Force use. This is just one more benefit; someone like Brin goes "How do you catch a Sith? Get him away from his lightsaber and cut the Force and he's nothing" aaaannnnnnddd they're Very Very Wrong. >:3 I love the contrast between Tragen and Marii's personalities, and their complementary roles in escaping(I had to throw in combat. It's my Brand now) were so fun to work out. The thing about Tragen's ship is another long standing headcanon, and Vette will be thrilled to help Marii redecorate. She's already complained about it being gloomy multiple times before the end of the class story. xD (Now I want to write Marii "kidnapping" Vette for a girls' day which just means giving the Celestial Dawn a makeover and Vette's practically dancing with excitement the whole way through Bed Bantha and Beyond(I'm laughing at that again jsyk) bc she's wanted to do this for a DECADE, why didn't you start dating him sooner?!?!? shush with your logic about Emperor's Wrath and Jedi Battlemaster etc

Tragen is... aware some people(Marii included) find his voice attractive. He is NOT aware of just HOW Attractive. We are very lucky he's at least partially ignorant and not the type to use it for evil even if he fully understood bc holy HELL could he conquer galaxies. That voice? His charisma and diplomatic skills? the Arms? YEAH.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023. THAT WE MAY LIVE and NO EDGES from Two Lines Press.

NO EDGES came in my Migrations subscription box earlier this year, and I finally got around to reading it this week! It's a collection of Swahili fiction translated to English. I love little multi-author anthologies because it's the perfect amount of taste testing without committing. My favorites were A Neighbor's Pot by Lusajo Mwaikenda Israel and the excerpt from Nakuruto by Clara Momanyi.

Up next is THAT WE MAY LIVE, which is speculative Chinese fiction in translation! The whole series of books looks really cool, so I'll probably be adding all of these to my library piecemeal.

[flaskoflethe]

Creative Goals for 2024.

Posting this here to force some accountability to myself. I hate new years resolutions, and I have no end of trouble with long-term goals setting. Nevertheless, I want to take the time this year to actually ENJOY creativity.

Finish a Novel

Actually mix