#tobermoriansass

[essayofthoughts]

7, 11, 13 & 17 for the writers asks!

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Hm so. Two parts. Part 1. When, when writing something, I manage to solve a tangle of problems in a way which feels satisfying and ties up enough loose threads without seeming unreasonable and unrealistic. And Part 2. When I manage to write something that people connect to? Some of the comments on Ripley's Assistant and That Balance May Return and that people have sent me privately give me strong emotions.

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

I hate killing my darlings, hate it, hate it, hate it. I've got better in recent years about deleting lines, but I still loathe it and prefer to rework things and rewrite it than just delete. And the problem is, my memory is terrible, so either 1. I delete it and forget it forever or 2. I remove it to a doc of notes and then forget I have a doc of notes. So generally, when I can, I try to move a line immediately to the relevant doc, or I rework it. I know sometimes it's necessary to delete things but I will never stop hating it and it's probably a good thing for me that I tend to get ideas of whole scenes. That way I can edit a great deal of it, but as long as the overarching scene is the same, I don't mind. (If I have to delete the scene... noooooooo 😰)

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

There is a very solid answer to the first part of that question but it's also complicated so I'd rather give you that answer in private, Mike, if you want to hear it. For another answer of something that's difficult for me to write - torture. I usually get around this by writing indirectly, letting the reader's mind fill in the gaps, because rather as with horror that's often the more effective way, but yeah. Not for me.

I also struggle to write the POV of outright malicious bastards just because I don't see the point of that kind of perspective? I don't see what is gained by being like that. I see it as deeply self-defeating and struggle to write it when I can't make out the goals of it or how it connects to other people.

As for easy - I mean, you've seen my fics. Manipulation, trauma, healing from violation. Angst and Hurt/Comfort in general, tbh. I struggle to write pure fluff, it feels deeply substanceless to me, but angst and hut/comfort have texture and I can always write those.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Mrrm. I don't know that there is much that won't make it in? Like, someone once commented about Ghost Cass something along the lines of how it can be kind of slow paced and... yeah. It's my self-indulgent "Take as much time as you like" fic in some respects, and while I do want to keep the plot moving it's also that... it took me ages to get from writing ficlets and oneshots to writing big fics! I am relishing it now. But also, because of this, a lot of the ideas for lore and history and details and stuff going on off-camera... we'll get bits of it anyway? Characters will inform others of lore, details of what happened elsewhere can be backfilled with other POVs, and for example with the Briarwood Arc part of Ghost Cass there's gonna be a downtime fic, and that's gonna cover Vox Machina, sure, but also some NPCs that are relevant, both within Whitestone and elsewhere, and help to provide some of that additional detail.

Idk. I don't like it going to waste? This is why I used to have such an issue of infodumping worldbuilding into a story. It's the whole reason I made monsterblog way back when, so I could infodump things in one place and redirect to it instead of infodump again in a fic. Instead I kind of work in background worldbuilding as information which a character has due to their background and it provides both worldbuilding and character information.

But I guess like, if I had to pick one piece of random background worldbuilding, lets go with my fave:

In my headcanon (shared with @blorbologist) - it starts with how Whitestone keeps bees. Snow Mead is a locally made Whitestone alcohol, and for mead you need honey. However, if you're making it in reasonable quantities you're probably taking quite a bit of honey, (not to mention honey just to sell as honey, and beeswax) and this is Whitestone, where it's cold and there's a shorter summer, so there's fewer flowers, so there's less for the bees to feed on. Mead was valued by the Norse because it used honey and honey wasn't cheap! It was a rarity, a treat.

But Whitestone makes Snow Mead enough that not all that long after the Briarwoods' occupation is ended Percy is able to obtain some Snow Mead amongst other local alcohols, which means the business has likely been continuing even during this occupation - an occupation which prevented trade between Whitestone and the rest of Tal'Dorei, I would note.

So the beekeepers need a way to sustain their hives, right? And IRL the way that's done is with sugar water. But sugar hasn't been cheap, historically, because it's kind of a pain to grow and refine and it was usually imported and made from sugar cane. We know trade was cut off for five years, so how are these beekeepers getting sugar for their bees? Given Whitestone climate, it can't be sugar cane imported or home grown, so most likely it's sugar beet, as grown in some of the fields near where I live.

And, if they've got hardy sugar beet growing, then they might well even have a surplus of sugar. Which would explain how, even as Tal'Dorei was rebuilding after the dragons, Vox Machina were able to set up a very prolific and successful bakery/pastry shop in Whitestone. Importing sugar, even with their money and connections would be tricky, and Vex doesn't like to waste money - if there's sugar locally they can get and use that at reduced cost.

And, further, it would be a source of income for the whole city even aside from the whitestone and refined residuum from the mountain quarries, which would help to explain why, despite it's small size, it hasn't just been subsumed into Tal'Dorei. Between it's isolated location and it's local sources of wealth, it's able to stay independent where other areas might find benefits in joining Tal'Dorei.

And... yes, that's a headcanon I came up with purely from Whitestone's climate and the fact they make mead.

[essayofthoughts]

NO WAIT IGNORE THE OTHER ONE

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Lets go with Kashra, because that's been eating my brain lately.

My go-to headcanon for Kashra is that when she falls asleep, Zahra loops her tail around Kash's arm or leg or waist - it's a habit from when she was quite young, first wrapping her tail around herself as a self-soothing method, and later using it to hold tight to things that mattered to her (her bag, her staff). It always makes Kash go all Squishle because it means that he matters to her.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Hm, there's a few but I can't recall all of them. A random selection:

The time I was researching the pH of salt water to try to see if would slowly wear away at limestone like acid rain can.

History of horse domestication and use in Iron Age Europe.

Animals which can change sex due to social or hormonal factors for when I wanted to figure out ingredients for a Trans Ur Gender Potion for a fic.

Why some woods burl.

Human evolution and the mix of non-sapiens DNA found in modern humans so I could headcanon Berserkers.

NOT fic, but for my dissertation I found a completely whacked out guy from the Victorian Era who thought that Europe's megalithic sites were built by Appalachian Native Americans and that the zodiac matched to the Greco-Roman gods and also Atlantis was involved somewhere. That one really threw me, if I'm honest.

There are probably more, and this does not include the things I researched when helping you with fic things.

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I.... don't know. Because a lot of the plots I really want to see I've kind of resolved to rolling up my sleeves and doing it myself? At least within fandom spaces. And when it comes to original fiction, it's more that I'd like to see more gothic horror-romance stuff, and more stuff that's willing to meaningfully dig into trauma within the bounds of an overarching storyline, and I'm kind of still discovering the authors I specifically like for those things? There's authors I know are good at it - Martha Wells, for example - but who's writing style I don't always gel 100% with, while, like, I gel with S.T. Gibson's writing style better, but in how they nail the gothic writing style occasionally it feels a smidge to urple for me to take quite seriously because I'm picky.

So... I don't know what my dream theme/plot for a fic is, really, but I do know that unless it ended up being spyfic, I'd probably do it myself.

If it was spyfic, of course, I'd want you to do it, Mike.

Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

[brotheralyosha]

@tobermoriansass

[antlered-vixen]

Canafinwë Macalaurë Fëanárion, aka Maglor.

[brotheralyosha]

@tobermoriansass

Melkor

[sallysavestheday]

End of Year 8+8+8+8 Fic Recs

It's that time again! This was a tough year to narrow down, so you get 8 of each, with no author repeats. There's such great stuff out there to read. Enjoy!

8 of my favorite long fics of 2024

sisyphus, unhappy by @tobermoriansass. M: 140K, WIP. Curufinrod after re-embodiment is the simplest description, but it's so much more. Philosophy, musical theory, racial and sexual politics, a very dark family comedy of manners. Featuring one of my favorite Maglors ever.

Two Half-Kings and a Full Lake Between by @melestasflight and @polutrope. T: 12K. A fantastic exploration of the period in Maglor's regency when Fingolfin had arrived but Maedhros had not yet been rescued. Tense and compelling. Another favorite Maglor.

Northern Stars by @idrilsscribe. T: 62K, WIP. An AU of an AU, featuring traumatized kidnapped-while-young Elrohir making his way back from Harad to Imladris with Glorfindel's assistance. Elegant, moving prose; fantastic worldbuilding; delightfully complex OCs; etc., etc.

I Do; I Will by @littlewhitemouseagain. M: 23K. Fingon fights all the Feanorions, back to back, at his own coronation. Glorious (and painful, and moving, and hopeful, in a very Fingon way).

i've been so worried (you've been so still) by @welcomingdisaster. E: 9.5K. Maglor is drawn to an acolyte of Este after Maedhros is taken. An absolutely fantastic OC, delicious worldbuilding, and peak Sexy Maglor. Just WOW.

a stranger in my bed (a pounding in my head) by vauquelin. T: 11K. A surprise new installment makes this a 2024 fic, hooray! Maedhros and Fingon wake up married. Maedhros wants it annulled because he can't imagine Fingon is happy; Fingon is miserable therefore. Hilarious and touching at once, with the best punchline of the year.

Across So Wide A Sea by @emyn-arnens. G: 20K, WIP. A fantastic epistolary fic: Galadriel writes to Finrod (after his death), as a deliberate historical record that quickly gets very personal. Rich and complex and humorous and poignant. Delightful.

The Other Daughter of Twilight by Anna_Wing. G: 16K. Maedhros/Thuringwethil. Just read it. Go.

8 of my favorite shorter fics of 2024

The Vigil by @balrogballs. G: 5K. Celebrian plans and delivers her own sendoff, the night before sailing. Oh, my heart.

A flickering flame by @camille-lachenille. G: 960 words. Andreth/Aegnor, Finrod, and a Gil-galad origin story, oh ow!

To Evil End by @zealouswerewolfcollector. T: 2900 words. Decades after the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Fingon comes back to Maedhros. Or does he? GAH!!

Body and Spirit by @meadowlarkx. G: 1500 words. An anonymous scholar considers the food and drink customary during Elven pregnancy. Deliciously thoughtful and creative.

we could be kings by @queerofthedagger. T: 1600 words. The copper circlet Maitimo is crowned with is a work of art. He finds that he likes it much better on another's brow. Oh, babies.

Two Peredhil and an Elf in a Boat by @cycas. G: 5000 words. Elrond begins to make his peace with Earendil. Tender, humorous, touching.

precious stone set in the silver sea by rain_sleet_snow. G: 2000 words. A Celeborn/Galadriel origin story in which he is a Teler from Alqualonde. Gorgeous. Read the rest of the series, too.

The Warning Sounds Too Late by @eilinelsghost. T: 6000 words. Part 18 of the fabulous Atandil (Finrod/Beor) series, featuring a family dinner that, like so many, sparks insights and regrets.

8 oldies but goodies, circa 2013-2021, that I've recently reread and loved again.

The West Wind Quartet by @hhimring. T: 16K. Always a fave. Maglor unexpectedly takes on a Sinda as a student. Elegant, original, and moving.

Flawed and Fair by @a-tehta. M: 33K. Classic Glorthelion. Hilarious and tender all at once. Those GUYS!!!

Though All Whom Ye Have Slain Should Entreat For You by @thearrogantemu. G: 12K. Maedhros and Elwe have it out upon Elwe's return. A classic, for all the best reasons.

The Sound Below Sound by @adnirod. T: 35K. Gimleaf eloquence and angst and beauty. Spectacular.

Detour by @dawnfelagund. T: 8K. Reborn Maedhros is resigned to a gloomy life as a teacher in Fifth Age Tirion. Then Fingon Returns, with hope (and stickers).

Defiant Hope, Take Wing, by @lordnelson100. T: 10K. Halenthir: an alternative ending to the War of the Jewels, and a heartbreaker.

a light in darkness, hope in woe, by @admirablemonster. E: 4K. A Gil-galad origin story. Perpetual fave.

Letter 97 by @batshape. T: 9K. Orc academics, Russingon, and musings on the afterlife. Delightful.

8 favorites among my own fics from 2024. If you haven't read them, do give these a try.

When the Hurly-Burly's Done. G: 850 words. Elrond and Gil-galad and Celebrimbor picnic at the edge of the world.

The Blue Line Between Sea and Sky. G: 900 words, Idril/Tuor/Voronwe. Voronwe drowns. And drowns. And drowns.

Larded With Sweet Flowers. G: 400 words. Edrahil's last moments.

O, Blithe New-comer! G: 1000 words, background Russingon. Another origin story.

The Heaped Ashes of the Night Turn Into Leaves. G: 850 words. Glorfindel is being sent back to Middle-earth. Finrod has FOMO.

Deeper Roots Than Reason. G: 5500 words. The Oath of Fëanor makes its way across history and cultures, dragging Doom in its wake. TRSB 2024.

Among So Many Marvels. G: 1500 words. Early friendship between Eomer and Faramir, built around their people's stories.

Molded on One Stem. G: 3200 words. An exploration of Fingon and Aredhel's relationship, in which they are, fortunately and unfortunately, very much alike.

Everyone! What have you been reading? Consider yourself tagged. Please share!

[balrogballs]

Fic Snippet Train!

Share a snippet from a fic that you loved writing but doesn't get a lot of attention! Then tag three other people. I wanna see your writing. :)

Thank you for the tag, @feanors-mom ! ❤️ Here is a snippet from The Stranding of a Sea Serpent, which I had so much fun writing but is one of my least read fics, possibly due to it being first-person stream-of-consciousness from Elrond, the (very-slight) magical realism, or because the take in the below snippet may be somewhat contentious for a number of reasons…

no-pressure tagging @thescrapwitch @queerofthedagger @leucisticpuffin @tobermoriansass

Summary — Elrond, Maedhros, Estel: a strange, cyclical story of fathers and sons, from an old sea-serpent washing up on the shores of Sirion, to a quiet moment by a duckpond in Imladris.

(CW: discussion of Elwing and Maedhros’ canonical “endings”).

———————————

[welcomingdisaster]

Ssssnippet Ssssmonday

tagged by @tobermoriansass @sallysavestheday @melestasflight @aredhels to share a WIP snippet! :) here is something

“Craven,” Celegorm cries, his sword drawn, “craven, and a liar too, ready to doom our brother for the crown upon your empty head, ready to—” 

“Oh, say it again!” Maglor cries. He is not Fingolfin, and this is not Aman; he has already taken up his own blade. “Say what you mean, you coward—tell me how you would take the crown in turn.” 

In a painting, Ellind thinks, the contrast between their silhouettes would be pleasant. There is Maglor, tall and thin, his dark hair half-up and half-loose about him, giving him the slightly disheveled air of a ghost. There is Celegorm, wide-shouldered and squat, his silver hair bound into tight hunting braids, his form technically perfect. 

“I shall!” he cries, and swings his sword through the air in a great arch. 

Had Maglor stayed standing it would have beheaded him; but he spins out of the way, light and graceful as song itself, and his short sword glints in the light. Ellind rears back where he did not, startled by the force of the blow. Her own neck tingles in an odd sympathy. 

There is a clank, steel against steel; Celegorm has a tighter grip, a stronger stance, and forces Maglor back two stumbling steps. Then Maglor abandons his position; leaps to the side, it seems, but no— 

No, he has moved forward. 

Celegorm too is startled by the feint. He lashes out, messily, losing his form—blood stains the delicate blue of Maglor’s over-shirt, and a gasp rises through the crowd—but he has lost advantage, has stumbled, and Maglor does not. The short sword flashes through the air, and Celegorm cries in startled pain, his right hand pierced with the blade. 

His own sword falls, and Maglor kicks it away. 

They stumble away from each other, breathing heavily, Celegorm clutching his wounded hand to his chest. The crowd is silent. The dark lake is still. 

“Are you quite done, little brother?” Maglor asks, his voice cold and venomous and patronizing. 

“Damn you,” Celegorm howls, and leaps at him. 

i'm gonna tag!! @eilinelsghost @thelordofgifs @that-angry-noldo @leucisticpuffin @searchingforserendipity25 & anyone else that hasn't been tagged yet!

[elronds-library]

I think your blog is great! I've started noticing a little smattering of kudos when you share one of my older works (even, sometimes, a comment!). Thank you for sifting up older works for the fandom's (re)consideration.

Secondly, I haven't noticed them on your blog (it's possible I don't know how to search tags) and I think you would love three of my favourite authors jouissant, lonelyvisitor, and clovis_unleashed.

Now, I know this isn't an author rec blog, so here are three works to get the collection started (rather obviously reflecting my tastes).

rules of betrayal by clovis_unleashed (@tobermoriansass)

arrangement for flute and harp by jouissant (@jouissants)

Boys' Trip by lonelyvisitor (@i-am-a-lonely-visitor)

None of them knowing I am sending this. I am sorry for embarrassing you, friends 🫣

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this! The extra kudos and comments for my favorite authors is exactly what I hoped to achieve with this project, so I'm so happy to hear it's working :D

I will certainly check out their works and add them to the queue (which is currently about 4 months deep; over 750 posts and I'm adding to it pretty much daily).

Funnily enough, I had reread 'arrangement for flute and harp' the day you sent this!

(And I think our tastes are pretty similar, fwiw, so thank you for some fantastic reads)

As usual, proper posts for all of these fantastic recs to come in the next few hours.

[polutrope]

Snippet Sunday

Tagged by @aredhels and @luthnethril to share a snippet, thank you!

Around where I last left off in And Love Grew:

"These are Elrond and Elros—” “Their names they have told me.” “Yes, of course. They are Princes of Doriath.” “That realm is no more.” “No, it is not,” Maglor conceded. “But even so, they are the heirs of Elu Thingol.” “What of the Queen at the river mouth? It is told she is Elu’s heir.” “Yes,” said Maglor. “She was.” “You killed her!” Elros shouted. Instinctively, Maglor shushed him, then winced.

@tobermoriansass @melestasflight @leucisticpuffin @sallysavestheday, I would love to read a snippet if you have one to share.

[swanmaids]

thanks for the tags, @verecunda and @curufiin! been a while since I did one of these.

Last song: striptease by fka twigs

Last book: i just finished the hired man by aminatta forna - very good - and i've just started the seven moons of maali almeida by shehan karunatilaka - a bit too early to comment.

Last movie: i actually can't remember. probably something over christmas.

Last TV show: iwtv

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: you need all three, they are a beautiful poly marriage, do not seperate

Relationship status: dating casually

Last thing Googled: ok first off we use duckduckgo in this house. but it was "laundry octopus".

Current obsession: been listening to a lot of podcasts about ancient religion. also eusexua has been on repeat

Looking forward to: pole class tomorrow

Last creative project worked on: i'm still picking away at my amras and wartime sex worker oc fic, slowly. also redacted fic

no pressure tags for @hobbitwrangler @mirillel @tobermoriansass @mircallaruthven @bretwalda-lamnguin

[ravencromwell]

So all you fellow Florence and the Machine fans may know this already--I'll freely admit I come late to every! party. But just in case you don't: in early September, she did a rendition of Lungs with one of the most astonishing symphonies in the UK backing her. It's breathtakingly beautiful, and free to listen to through Sunday afternoon--it says it expires at 11:59 P.M., but I'm guessing that's British time, so I'd figure out what the equivalent was in your time zone.

Don't know for how many of my mutuals this will be of interest, though I think I remember both @pinkcupboardwitch and @muffinworry mentioning they were fans? As well as, I think, the brilliant @avelera And honestly this also seems, just from genre, like it'd be both @bodysnatch3r and @tobermoriansass jam.

[antlered-vixen]

Finrod and Curufin - specifically out of the imagination and to the loose specifications of @tobermoriansass, for his incredible fucking fic that you should be reading right now. https://archiveofourown.org/works/56576218/chapters/143794249

[tanoraqui]

#finrod's mean girl act here has been permanently imprinted into my brain i hope you know that op #he's so mean but so kind#he is going to kill them with kindness :) #absolutely the definitive finrod and c&c post re-embodiment take

@tobermoriansass re: you tags on this post: I'm SO glad it stuck with you, because, non-humbly, it IS so good. Finrod has all of public opinion on his side; he is the hero that history remembers, and Celegorm and Curufin are the villains. People who see him being kind and welcoming to them will think him even better for it, and them so much worse if they still respond with bitter anger or betrayal. People who realize he's rubbing their noses in it will think they deserve the punishment and Finrod, tbh, deserves the fun, and if the Fëanorions can't accept some mild public submission and humiliation, that just shows they're still as terribly prideful as ever. If they can prove themselves humble to the latter and equally amiable to the former, it genuinely WILL help them enormously - so now they're also obliged to be grateful to Finrod, adding debt of gratitude to their preexisting debt of repentance (several times over, what with the multiple kinslayings of his kind and dear allies). Win win win for Finrod, lose lose lose for Curufin and Celegorm, except also win for them, which makes the losing even more bitter. They’re not supposed to be bitter about it because they’re supposed to be Reformed(TM).

[sallysavestheday]

Fic Snippet Train!

Share a snippet from a fic that you loved writing but doesn't get a lot of attention! Then tag three other people. I wanna see your writing. :)

Thank you to @tobermoriansass and @queerofthedagger for the tag.

I usually write Silm fic, but occasionally I dip into LOTR, as well. My Legolas/Gimli fics are pretty popular, but the others are more obscure. Here's one I'm particularly fond of: a little Faramir and Éomer, in a canon-not-impossible first meeting well before the War of the Ring. I love them as friends from the very beginning, and it was a way to indulge my conviction that Éomer is Secretly Into Elves. That becomes clear a little later in the fic, but here's the setup:

It is a tale for the air, so they take their own bread and cheese and fruit to the walls of the city and sit looking out over the great pale plain. Éomer lets the words fall from his lips as he has learned them – rolling through his blood like the hooves of the god-touched horses come down out of the North, Béma’s gift and blessing running with them. Faramir listens with those soft, rapt eyelids, nodding as the rhythm catches him, building the words into a song. “You have a gift for storytelling,” he murmurs, afterward, as the echoes of the imagined hoofbeats fade. Éomer grins, and ducks his head. He did not think it was a thing they valued, here in the stone city, where every corner seems filled with books that tie words down, and all the nobles read. But Faramir is proving full of surprises, unassuming though he may seem. Éomer risks a rejoinder. “Let’s hear one of yours, now, in exchange.”

Read the rest in Among So Many Marvels, on AO3.

@idrilsscribe @emyn-arnens @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras care to share a little bite of something of yours that deserves more love?

[chamerionwrites]

@septembriseur tagged me to post nine books that I’m looking forward to reading in 2025. The last three are obviously the result of my most recent fictional obsession (I did read Treasure Island a lonnng time ago, but I need to take a fresh look through Black Sails colored glasses).

Tagging @tobermoriansass, @silkenred, @deweydecibelsystem, @essayofthoughts, @chthonic-cassandra, and anyone else who’d like to join in!