#too many words perhaps

[brasideios]

AO3 Wrapped (Author’s Edition)

I was tagged by @krankittoeleven - worlds best beta - thank you very much! 🤍 I’m late to it, but better late than never as the saying goes! 😊

Fics first published in 2024 (not including rewrites & republished work which was the majority of my output this year):

The House in the Plane Tree Grove (M, Alexidas)

By His Hand (M, Thalexios)

Love me in Storms (M, Thalexios)

Hunger Desire Anger Roads (M, Alexidas)

Which is still more than I remembered tbh. Hopefully this year will be better - I have reasons to hope so anyway.

2024 Stats

User Subs: 20

Kudos: 1115

Comment threads: 336

Bookmarks: 240

Work subs: 100

Word Count: 604,709

Hits 25,335

Top 3 fics (for all years by kudos)

Snatched Moments (ACV Ubba x M!Eivor) 167; The Warmth of Home (ACOd Thalexios) 144; Another Turn Around the Wheel (Stardew Valley, Shane x M!Farmer) 137.

Top 3 fic (for all years by word count)

The Good Spartan (ACOd Alexidas) 181,531; The Fire and the Flood (ACOd Alexithenes) 67,542; The Warmth of Home (rewrite) (ACOd Thalexios) 53,714 (If you join all of the Thalexios together as it should be, then it’s second longest at 159,298 & still growing)

Top 3 ships (for all years)

Thalexios, Alexidas and Alexithenes in that order.

Top 5 tags (for all years)

Fluff, Romance, Established Relationship, Falling in Love, Historical References. (No surprises there, my early years in fic were way too fluffy lol).

I feel like I’ve tagged everyone so much lately, and everyone has already been tagged in this, that I’m leaving this one open to anyone who wants to jump in. Consider yourself tagged! 😊🤍

[sharpmouth]

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

[andhumanslovedstories]

I've been running this writing experiment lately to cut out phrases like "I felt" in my fiction writing. Like I was looking at a sentence in a draft that said, "he felt as if character's eyes were pinning him in place." And then I was like, "well, does he think that or is it true? As a result of this person watching him, he's froze. It's not like a thing, it is that thing."

Oh and "almost"! I'm always going, "He felt almost relieved that it hadn't happened." Well, did he feel better that it didn't happen or didn't he? Or "somewhat", I'm always going, "she felt somewhat perturbed."

And like none of that is wrong, to be clear. I don't know if it'd improve your writing, I don't even know if it'll improve my writing, but I use this sentence structure all the time so every viewpoint is from a voice that thinks about what it thinks, hedges its statements, and offers the same ability for wry little jokes formatted in the exact same way. And I have a lot of writing like that and I think (!) that they're good, but read as a whole, I'm like, "god, they all sound the same." Like there's one melody that I write songs to, so even with different lyrics, it's almost (!) the same song. Something I've been struggling with in regards to my writing and why I've felt so blocked is how boring I found writing my usual way. I'd read something and enjoy the individual parts of it, but then I'd step back and I didn't like the whole. And I got good at this enough at seeing that I didn't like it to do it in real time as I was writing, which as you can imagine didn't improve the process of writing because now I was bored AND dejected about being bored.

There's this sentence-level structure fact that I use unconsciously. A pattern I find easy is short sentence, short sentence, short sentence, long sentence. So I write that. "He [verbed]. He [verbed]. Then he [verbed]. As he [verbed] to his [consequence], he [verbed] that [noun] was [statement of condition]." Which could work, it often does make for a nice rhythm, but it's something I reach for often because it's easier for me.

Just last sentence, I originally typed, "I find it easier for me." But if what I mean is "using this pattern is less effort than another pattern," then it's easier for me. One voice is hedging its bets and the other asserting. Either is fine! But they're different! And, again, GOD you would not believe how many words I've cut out of this paragraph as I write it. I'm so chatty. I love using twelve words when six will do. And that gives my writing a specific tone to my ear.

So if I am bored of that tone, why not try using just the six words? Why be understated? Why be afraid of stronger opinions? So right now with my fiction, I'm experimenting with cutting out as many self-reflective words as I can. Sometime you do need to draw attention to the face that this is the character's interpretation, but like you definitely don't need to do it as much as I naturally want to do it. You don't need to always go out of your way to allow the possibility that the narrative voice is wrong. During editing, I trim the weaker ones (I originally typed, "what I consider the weaker ones" Is that more accurate?). But I think them being there in the first place shifts my language which shifts my character's which shifts my plot. It's sentence structure all the way down!!

(this barely applies to my writing on here, btw. i try to do good but yknow this is a tumblr blog. i'm not trying to get a lit mag to accept it.)

Anyway blah blah (chatty!) the point is I've been trying to write in a way opposite of my interests. Something that doesn't take itself too seriously, that emphasizes EMOTION and ACTION instead of minimizing it, and that clips through scenes at a good pace. Doing this been amazingly fun. I've been having such a good time doing it. I am writing so much because I really enjoy doing it. The process of writing is so fun again.

This post is about two things. One is my new mood stabilizer and therapy day camp. The other is about the benefit of pretending to be MXTX.

[synchodai]

HBO's Continued Insistence on Dumbing Down Westerosi Politics

So there have been countless thinkpieces already on how GOT simplified the feudalist politics of Westeros (by giving a lowborn sellsword lordship over The Reach, by having no consequences for destroying the Sept of Baelor, etc.), but I haven't seen a lot of people talking about that for House of the Dragon.

The worst being that the show presupposes that Rhaenyra is the lawful heir when the books showed there are plenty of lawful arguments why she wouldn't be.

Mind you that I've been enjoying the show a lot so far. This is just to vent out my frustration with the writers' failure to fully engage with the values and protocols of the Middle Age-inspired setting. The show seems uninterested in laws of the Realm in a story ostensibly about politics, save for when they're using it as an excuse to amplify depictions of sex and violence.

Blacks vs Greens wasn't a matter of misunderstanding of who each side thought Viserys wanted on the throne. It was the Targaryens' belief of their absolute authority clashing with the Realm's established traditions. Everyone always knew who Viserys chose as heir. In Fire and Blood, Grand Maester Orwyle said as much when he was parleying with Rhaenyra on behalf of the Greens.

Rhaenyra heard his terms in stony silence, then asked Orwyle if he remembered her father, King Viserys. "Of course, Your Grace," the maester answered. "Perhaps you can tell us who he named as his heir and successor," the queen said, her crown upon her head. "You, Your Grace," Orwyle replied. And Rhaenyra nodded and said, "With your own tongue you admit I am your lawful queen. Why do you serve my half-brother, the pretender?" Munkun tells us that Orwyle gave a long and erudite reply, citing the Andal law and the Great Council of 101. Mushroom claims he stammered and voided his bladder. Whichever is true, his answer did not satisfy Princess Rhaenyra.

(For non-F&B readers: Munkun is the Grand Maester who served Aegon III, the king who came after this civil war. Munkun's book, The Dance of the Dragons, A True Telling, is one of Fire and Blood's source texts. Mushroom is the King Landing court jester from Viserys I to Aegon III's reign. One is a source written with academic rigor but is secondhand at best. The other is a firsthand eyewitness account but is from a literal fool who will take every chance to make things more scandalous and sexual to please the crowd.)

In House of the Dragon, they replaced Orwyle with Otto and Orwyle's discussion of legal precedent with Otto handing Rhaenyra a book page from Alicent. It's quite evident here that the writers, much like Mushroom, thought a discussion on the actual laws of the Realm were negligible in this story about a succession war.

Even Alicent made no pretense that Viserys chose Rhaenyra over her children and I have no idea why the HBO writers decided to make her mistakenly think otherwise. Maybe they thought a queen regent pushing her son to take the throne over another woman made her appear unsympathetic as a character, but if anything, this only makes show!Alicent less politically savvy and more delusional than her book counterpart, fully believing an addled king's vague muttering on his deathbed was sufficient grounds to change heirs last minute.

Book!Alicent following Andal laws instead of her husband's wishes makes sense given her Andal upbringing, her devotion to the Faith of the Seven which enforces said laws, and her desire to protect her children from Rhaenyra given that Rhaenyra has shown she's not above murdering family (see: Laenor).

In the books, there was a long discussion between the former king's council on who should succeed Viserys.

Here are the arguments for Rhaenyra:

Rhaenyra was older than her brothers and had more Targaryen blood

the late king had chosen her as his successor, that he had repeatedly refused to alter the succession despite the pleadings of Queen Alicent and her greens

hundreds of lords and landed knights had done obeisance to the princess in 105 AC, and sworn solemn oaths to defend her rights.

Here are the arguments for Aegon II:

many of the lords who had sworn to defend the succession of Princess Rhaenyra were long dead [...]

Ironrod, the master of laws, cited the Great Council of 101 and the Old King’s choice of Baelon rather than Rhaenys in 92

the hallowed Andal tradition wherein the rights of a trueborn son always came before the rights of a mere daughter

Ser Otto reminded them that Rhaenyra’s husband was none other than Prince Daemon, and “we all know that one’s nature. Make no mistake, should Rhaenyra ever sit the Iron Throne, it will be Lord Flea Bottom who rules us, a king consort as cruel and unforgiving as Maegor ever was [...]”

Should the princess reign [...] Jacaerys Velaryon would rule after her. “Seven save this realm if we seat a bastard on the Iron Throne.”

Once again, the show chose to cut out this long political discussion. Instead, the council had already made up their mind and decided to stage a coup (when in their perspectives from the books, it would definitely not be a coup).

For all their marketing how two sides are equally grey, HotD is actively delegitimizing Aegon II. The strongest argument for him is how his claim follows the laws of the Realm, but the show doesn't seem to care about the laws of the Realm or the political need to maintain a more predictable/tested transfer of power.

Instead, the show focuses on Viserys's relationship with his daughter and the mysticism of the Targaryen bloodline. In doing so, they emphasize Rhaenyra's strongest arguments for succession — that she's more of a Targaryen than her half-brother and that her father prefered her.

And what for? Because in our modern-day, we don't have male-prefered inheritance and people can only imagine misogyny as the only injustice here? What about the injustice of a monarch exercising absolute control, thinking that his "superior" heritage makes him above the established laws of the native people?

This is not to say Aegon II is unquestionably the heir. But this is to say that the show removed the political nuance of why people are questioning in the first place. Precedence isn't the end-all-be-all of succession, but neither is "because daddy said so".

[apollo-just-ice]

Textpost time yay! :-)

[blossoms-phan]

i don’t really care about stats because if I do I’ll get way too caught up in my head (I already do) I just like writing for fun and eating up all the other incredible works by writers in the phandom but I find it almost comical that my fic that has the least amount of kudos has the most bookmarks (well over half of which are private) (slight exaggeration on both sides) i guess I can’t really judge bc I have a habit of creating private bookmarks too since before I started writing I really don’t care in fact it would make my life easier for recommending fics if I left them public but we as a society have got to stop the shame around liking reading porn guys I swear nooooooo one cares what you like reading or freakin it to and it would make a writers day if you told them you liked reading it 👉👈

[anglerflsh]

neurodivergency moment on my part

[tonyglowheart]

"You have too much drinkware already" I tell myself, as I lose the battle to making my dreams a reality

( @kayvsworld this is all because of you and ur fun little enrichment dude who would not stop living rent free in my mind)

[to-the-batcomputer]

how i feel about shipping brudick is always switching from one extreme to the other. like one moment i'm thinking about it and i'm like Yes this makes sense this is beautiful and true. the next i'm like oh god i am going to hell for even considering this

[medicinemane]

I don't know... horrible things happen all around the world and it's not a competition

Atrocities are committed against multiple groups in multiple parts of the world at the exact same moment, and none of them erase each other. They all matter, all the people in this world who are being brutalized matter. There shouldn't be any line you draw where one group doesn't actually matter as much as another

You're welcome to prioritize your energy towards helping one group or another, but what's not ok is invalidating or dismissing people who are actively being harmed

Same goes for trying to figure out which social group has things worst (and lets be honest, always using a US lens)

Like... maybe the important thing is to prop each other up and help everyone get on their own feet rather than trying to... pick fights about if physical disabilities or mental illness are less respected (I'm trying to pick a more absurd example but sadly I've seen exactly that argument happen before). Maybe it doesn't really matter and what matters is helping who we can when we can

I'm tired of it, I'm just fucking tired of it. Support people, champion them when the world is just brutalizing them, but you don't need to throw a single other person under the bus to do that

Which seems to be an absolutely impossible lesson for people to learn

[icewindandboringhorror]

recent things

[always-a-joyful-note]

Do you ever think about MEZZO'' and their character development and go insane? Do you ever think about how these two guys who grew up in opposite ways economically both came into the industry with broken families? Do you ever think about how they were so sure they would never get along beyond friendly coworkers but also both wanted to try so hard to get along well with the other? You ever think about how Sogo was so afraid to mess up that he constantly held himself back? Do you think about how Tamaki wanted to learn but had to push past his entire life of putting himself first? Do you think about how they supported each other during the other's reconnecting with their families and, when those families abandoned them, promised to stay with the other?

Just....MEZZO slowly becoming this thing between a real friendship and a family. Not best friends, like they said once, but maybe unbreakable friends

[wormchaser]

chad (no story behind bugger but angie is named after the rolling stones song, it was my favorite song as a kid and i made everyone call me angie. great times.... my best find was probably my leprosy - death cd. kinda unrelated. i plan on ordering chad's signed rock n roll alibis cd when it finally comes out... malicious grin)

thats so cuuute.... i love that so much. i'm listening to it now. (that reminds me of the other names ive gone by in my time...if youre curious i used to go by francis (my middle name). i remember telling my dad i wanted to go by this name (it's a name from his side of the family- my mother got to pick my first name, and my father my middle names) and he like... recoiled in disgust. before that i wanted to be 'jason'). thats so cool!!! i have to listen to that album... one of my favourite record store finds (at this big record store in the city called real groovy) is Why Do They Rock So Hard, a reel big fish like.. greatest hits type CD. i was so ecstatic when i found it. i was obsessed with them at the time & couldn't find their stuff physically anywhere. the poster from that CD is still on my wall and is probably in the background of some of my old selfies/photos (eugh..ive never said 'selfie' in relation to a photo of myself before), but it's since moved across the room. thats so so so awesome..... when does it come out? i saw on the CKY instagram story the other day (my once in a blue moon visit to instagram) and saw there's a new cky shop now!! very cool :^D. you have to tell me about it... youneed to describe the jewel case and the CD inserts and the disc graphics . so i can imagine it in my mind

[unproduciblesmackdown]

"winston quant billions: like anyone else, an entire universe" or "the good news is it's just that everyone's been terrible to you, the bad news is it's just that everyone's been terrible to you"

[outlying-hyppocrate]

I DO NOT WANT TO MAKE UKULELE MUSIC BUT IT IS WHAT I HAVE.

[bluebeewings]

Thanks @foolofafuckingtook for the poll idea