#the dead anon poets society

[jamjjamm]

meeks and pitts

[sweaty-toothed-mad-woman]

god, i have my father’s eyes

but my mother’s when I cry

i can run

but i can’t hide

from my family line

[queeringclassiclit]

Puck

from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

submitted by anon

[excessive-linguistic-pressure]

rsl teeth

[brown-heart-anon]

hello!!!

im a new anon, so you probably dont know me

but im heart anon

im mainly going to be putting little messages in people’s ask box

let me know or just interact with this post if you would like to request a message!

my ask box is always open

inspired by @the-heart-anon1

stay safe and remember that you are valued

-🤎

[soullust]

Do you have any dps Neil hcs? Xx

boy do i- sorry it took me so long to answer this i don;t reaally have a reason, i just have depression

he is a an only child. he used to spend lots of time with his mom, who taught him stereotypically girly hobbies (crotchet, drawing, baking)

he started attending welton in 2nd grade and charlie was the first friend he made (they've been besties since)

relating to his father having to "pull some strings" for him to attend welton - has a full scholarship, so he has to keep getting near-perfect grades to keep going there

his family moved from wisconsin to a small as home in vermont for him to go to welton

has a "twin cousin" (a cousin that was coincidentally born on the same day as him) and they're best friends. they used to be inseparable as kids, but live far apart now

is always humming and/or singing to himself

[sweaty-toothedpoet]

Do u associate colors to each of the poets?

hello, anon! i do, actually. maybe that's a bit weird, but-- at least i can answer your question, right?

i associate dark greens with neil the most, although any earthy tones make me think of him. im not exactly sure why. i think it might be because ive always seen those kinds of colors as very warm and comforting; genuine, too. i hope that makes sense.

meeks is definitely a rich brown or corduroy color. it might be because he has a very vintage style, and that's the sort of color i associate with vintage things.

knox is definitely something bright and intense, like magenta or royal blue. it just fits his personality.

charlie is a cherry red, although that may be my bias poking through thanks to his whole lipstick lightning bolt motif. it's a really bold color, but familiar at the same time.

pitts is dandelion yellow, but a darker shade. very comforting and cheerful, with a lot of depth.

cameron is maroon. now, i know that sounds basic, considering it's the color of his blog, but it's a very serious and regal color. it's a good choice for the type of person he is.

stick is definitely periwinkle purple, really elegant and with a lot of flair. it makes me think of the way he speaks, haha.

[rs-cameron]

which one of the dead poets have you known for the longest time?

I think it might be Charlie, if i’m being honest.

We’ve been roommates for a little while, probably because the school staff thinks i’ll be a good influence on him.

[yawping-poets-society]

What about Charlie finding out about Neil’s passing and having the strength to tell the others, particularly Todd?

This was something I wish had been in the film.

hi anon!! thank you so much for the request!! i'm so with you-i wonder a lot about what happened with the other boys before they told todd. what i found in writing this is that the logistics are a bit tricky! i feel that this is not my finest work? but i wanted to get something to you, so hopefully it is okay!

it was long for a post, here's the link (unfortunately it seems like my insert link is just?? not working?? hopefully you can copy paste that, i'll try to rb tomorrow with a working link if i can):

https://archiveofourown.org/works/63014131

first couple paragraphs below the cut!

Charlie woke slowly on that cold December morning, and before he was even fully conscious, he was aware of a sinking feeling of dread in his stomach. It was a feeling he was unaccustomed to–even when shit was hitting the fan, Charlie prided himself on his ability to stay cool and collected. But as he slowly sat up, he knew with an inexplicable certainty that while he was sleeping, something had gone terribly wrong.

He glanced across the room to see if Cameron was awake–if maybe he’d sensed something too–but of course, the redhead was snoring obnoxiously, undisturbed. Charlie didn’t know why he’d expected anything else. He drew himself out of bed, figuring he would walk down the hall, get a drink of water and see if he could shake the feeling off. He tugged on his robe, slid his feet into his slippers, and opened the door as quietly as he could manage, considering the creaky old wood in every one of Welton’s door frames. He set off down the hall, but almost instantly stopped in his tracks at the sight of Hager standing outside of Knox’s dorm. The door was cracked open, and Charlie could make out a pair of silhouettes moving around inside.

He debated doubling back to his room to avoid whatever was happening, but before he could turn around, Hager glanced up and caught his eye. He exchanged a quick look with whoever was inside the room that was almost…pained? Charlie didn’t think he’d seen any of his teachers look even mildly emotional before (well, except for Keating), and certainly not Hager. Not to mention that he had to be one of Hager’s least favorite students in all of Welton. Hager sighed heavily, and then motioned for Charlie to walk down the hall to join him.

[good--merits-accumulated]

how would you say you've come to hone or find neil and todd's voice in your fics? i feel like you characterize them really well. also, i just wanna say i love when people in academia write fanfiction because they have all kinds of allusions and technicalities and sort of bizarre premises and it's the exactly the kind of thing i look for because it's also how my brain works. everything i study in uni i can relate to anderperry😭

Thank you, anon! That's a great compliment. :')

Unfortunately the honest answer is: I spent a number of years (6? 7? Going on 8 now) thinking about Neil and Todd, and I have very severe fandom brain. Also I would like to note that my characterisation of them is STILL evolving, all the time!

Specifically, the way I started thinking about Neil and Todd's characters some years ago was to take the defining traits with which they're often assigned and start shoving nuance into them. Like, Todd is shy. OK. What kind of shy? There's infinite different shades of shyness! Find a core "type" that appeals to you, because those are more fun to write, and start building up layers of personality around it. (Personally, I really like writing a shy! Todd with a certain self-aware wryness, and an outgoing! Neil with a kind of affability.) I cannot stress this enough: if you're confident enough when writing your character interpretations, it will work!

(Another thing is to note is that characterisation is inextricable from environment by nature. You don't have to be zealously faithful to the movie if your guys are on, like, Mars. You don't even have to be zealously faithful to the movie if they're still in Welton IMO)

If you wanted serious advice that's more about characterisation in general, I think the main thing to remember is that Good Characterisation isn't as limiting as it seems from far off. In real life, shy people aren't shy all the time with one solid response to every situation, etc. Walt Whitman quote: I am large; I contain multitudes. You can make a character say anything or act in almost any way as long as you can explain it within the confines of the story, and in fact that's often what makes a story compelling - making someone act in an uncharacteristic way and then spending a bunch of time trying to make sense of why they did that. Just write a lot and see what sticks and what doesn't. Observe the people around you! Look at human behaviour! Take notes! It is the most fun thing in the world.

Also P.S. I wish I was in the type of academia which would actually lend itself to writing the type of fics I want to write! Unfortunately I've got no wish to write about Anderperry in the anatomy lab or doing cardiac exams or whatever. I agree with you - great fics invariably come from people on ao3 who are doing their PhDs or masters in incredibly niche subjects lmfao. Tell me about your niche area and how it fits Anderperry. I want to know :3

[knoxoverstreetluvr]

okay so i wanna do emoji anons/persona anons, so that people can talk to me/ask questionss/make requests, and I can like put an image to a person so yeah!! send me an emoji/name you wanna be through my inbox🙂🙂🙂

(and an edit so this message will get across😭)

[desire-mona]

pre-1995-ish rsl, 1995-ish-to-2001 rsl and post-2001 rsl are three different people in my mind

pre-1995-ish rsl is pretty baby gender-envy whereas 1995-ish-to-2001 is gorgeous theatre nerd intellectual era, and post-2001 rsl is grumpy bastard man (affectionate)

please offer revisions

yeah basically! in my mind those time periods arent impossible to be the same guy, but in a vacuum theyre kinda very distinct from one another.

i guess to go into more detail, late 80s to early / mid 90s rsl is best known for playing boyish characters (obviously teenage characters such as max (manhattan project), jeremy capello, neil perry, etc. but also boyish looking adults like chuck bishop, peter (swing kids), claudio dare i say, etc)

mid / late 90s to early 2000s rsl pretty much accurate with gorgeous theatre nerd but thats also just applicable to his entire life. in my mind this is the era i associate most with his friendship with ethan, probably because of tape and chelsea walls. i also think this was the time period where he fit the bill aesthetically for asshole-ish characters imo.

and ur kinda exactly right with post 2001, but id like to change that to post 2004 honestly. grumpy bastard is correct, but again i think its applicable to him as a person (said lovingly.) house era he was in much more interviews both written and video (from what ive seen) and he got to share more of his personality LMAO. ofc speculation since i dont know the guy but yknow. plus at this point he was settling down and starting a family so the good ol "i dont wanna work lol" sentiment started showing up more, which makes total sense.

[deadpoetperry]

hii, neil what is your opinion on Taylor Swift?

Hi, anon. I don’t listen to much of her music, so I don’t really have an opinion.

If you have any recommendations, though, maybe I’ll give them a shot!

[puckspoetry]

Neil’s dead btw

WHICH ONE OF YOU WROTE THIS

[excessive-linguistic-pressure]

rsl name

His name is Robert Paulson

Jkjk it's Robert Lawrence Leonard aka Robert Sean Leonard

[sweaty-toothedpoet]

hi todd!! i'm trying to read more poetry this year

do you have any recs or favorites i should check out??

hi there, anon!! thank you for the question-- i love recommending poetry to people. here's a list of some of my favorite poems:

small wonders by e e cummings

i like my body when it is with your body by e e cummings

to you by walt whitman

meanwhile by richard siken

ELEGIES (for my father) by khaled mattawa

adult grief by louise glück

if you're looking more for specific poetry books, i'd be remiss not to recommend leaves of grass by walt whitman, but richard siken's crush is just as lovely. i also enjoy reading snippets and quotes from stories that have a poetic quality to them. i hope these are sufficient :)