#tory reads

[writtenbycassandra]

i hate it how people criticize tori spring's characterization in solitaire, especially in the original version, when she's actually one of the most realistic teenage characters i've ever seen.

many teenagers in books either behave completely nonsensical considering their age or have an unrealistical amount of strengths that overshadow their negative personality traits.

tori, on the other hand, has a lot of flaws — her pessimistic attitude, which leads to self-destruction and constant stillness, her bitterness, and her habit of judging people too quickly. and some readers seem to disapprove a main character who has these flaws and call her unlikeable and far from reality for having them.

in my perspective, there is no character that portrays the way how your teenage years can be filled with rue, sorrow, and pain better than tori. she is realistic. most adolescents do not just get up after being neglected and ignored. and tori not only had to witness that and her brother's bullying and traumatic experiences — she also suffers from concerning mental health issues, which is a truthful response to the things she had to endure.

calling her unrealistic is like calling normal teenage behavior unrealistic because most of them do not socialize very often or find joy in things anymore. they have grown attached to their computers, writing, blogs, movies, and video games to hide from the real world that hurt them—just like tori did.

she's the perfect example of a character whose character development isn't changing her into a suddenly happy, forever grateful ray of sunshine only because of one moment where she decided that her friends and family were worth it. and some don't like to see a character fighting their mental illness without devolving into a cheery person.

[skateisawesome]

the way my mental health is being held together by one british gay nerd, his rugby lad boyfriend and his depressed older sister.

[buyoump3]

(— THE WATER LAPS AT HIS ANKLES AND IT IS SO TERRIBLY COLD.)

for @pendraegon (x)

[surreal-duck]

Tuesday is chuu day! (x)

[riverzsqsblog]

“It hits me then. I haven’t ever known what I wanted out of life. Until now. I sort of want to be dead.”

- Tori Spring, Solitaire page 371

[nathaniels-diary]

Now that the show introduced Michael I can finally ask but we as a fandom can agree that michael (and tori too but thats a different post) is HEAVILY autistic coded right?

[tosolv]

I wonder if Solitaire is just a reflection of my life stuck in a book, i know it's not but somehow it feels like it. Every emotion that Tori feels is stuck with me, am I crazy?

[aprito]

sos fam...they are so important to me actually...

[haridraws]

Excuse the format (I made this for instagram since that's what the publisher wants, rip) but this is basically a shorter, easy-to-read version of the history section at the back of my new book. (Part 1 || The book)

More about my relationship with queer history (& section 28) under the cut

Looking up history to make a fun queer historical rom-com opened my eyes to how my entire idea of the past in this country was way off.

It also made me realise that part of the reason queer history felt like such new, revelatory information was a law that banned it, which was still in place when I was at school.

Section 28 was put in place by Margaret Thatcher in the 80s, banning "promotion of homosexuality" in UK schools and local authorities. Local libraries were forbidden from stocking anything with LGBT content, and it effectively stopped teachers mentioning any queer history, leaving them scared to even accidentally mention a same-sex partner.

-

just want to add a quote from that article:

legends.

-

Although the law was finally repealed in the 00s, it cast a long shadow. Older teachers were used to it, history books conformed to it, and new teachers still feared homophobic backlash.

Today there's a huge and disturbing rise in anti-trans rhetoric and legislation being attempted in schools and beyond, and it mirrors the homophobic conversations of the 80s. The truth that we've always been here gets met with vitriol - and to be honest, also just outright surprise even by well-intentioned, otherwise widely-read cis and straight people I know, especially in older generations.

I feel like there's also the flipside: once I listened to a podcast where two american women, older than me, were both SHOCKED that anyone was ever executed in Britain for being gay?? For me the threat of execution (before 1824), exile or imprisonment (the two years of hard labour that famously lead to the death of Oscar Wilde) were the main, only things I grew up aware of about queer history.

At best, the queer history I saw growing up was absolute tragedy. Part of what was such a revelation when researching was reading historical accounts that hint at hidden queer histories, secret joys and long, complex lives.

So by the time I finished researching my historical romance book, I'd decided to make an illustrated history section at the back too - these pics are a mini version.

I wish more people knew about the real history we have and how far back it goes - I hope someone unfamiliar might be able to get get a tiny introduction, and recs for ways to get a clearer view of our past.

[kiwibirbkat]

I rly hate the lack of Tori content

Like, I understand why most of the content is about Charlie and heartstopper because! There's more content there, and they have a TV show, and an ongoing plot, and like, Charlie is the main character, and he goes through a lot, so naturally he's going to be the main focus! But like...

Tori has a whole book about her. Not just her own book, but the first book. She's the first character in the Osmanverse. Every other character technically stemmed from her.

In that book, it is almost entirely about her depression, and her struggle, and her downward spiral, and-

Like. Charlie obviously has a lot of struggle. Obviously. But so does Tori, and I wish some people would get that? Like, I get some people haven't read Solitaire. But, like, even in the TV show you can see her struggling in the background and I wish some people would just acknowledge that.

[gt-daboss]

Helpful Giant x Spiteful Tinies

This was a fun one to draw :) There's something funny about a giant going out of their way to help only to be met with a (tiny) middle finger despite their efforts, I'd cry ;-;

ALSO... part of why this was so much fun to draw was cuz of the characters, specifically, @tinycoded360's characters, it was really a joy to draw them, especially Tori (the giant) and Mavri (the one sticking it to said giant lol)

[sofiaisanalien]

To all the people who might read this, I hope you will find beautiful friendships and sweet love stories with people who truly deserve you, I hope it will be just like the kind of relationships that Alice Oseman always tends to write about in all of her books, I hope that every Tori out there finds her Michael, every Charlie finds his Nick , every Tara finds her Darcy, every Tao finds his Elle, every Frances finds her Aled and I hope all Ben hopeS on earth would disappear.

Take care <3

[jimjamkagaricci]

people that have ever said solitaire is too edgy have clearly never experienced being a depressed teenage girl on the verge of a mental breakdown… like the school burning down at the end was just a bonus 💀

[someonewhoisfromabook]

(can we be friends?)

No, really, wants someone be my friend I need one so bad

[surreal-duck]

live drama adaptations part 2 (prev)

cast reveal and girls movie night 🔥

[writtenbycassandra]

i know i've talked about this before, but just think about how well solitaire portrays teenagers. michael and tori are essentially the two sides of the same coin that depicts adolescence. just think about the teenagers right now and how they behave.

tori is sarcastic, self-deprecating, and critical. she used to be a great student, but now she is a burned out kid—abandoned by the people she loves and deprived of any motivation. she prefers movies like the breakfast club (wich she can partially relate to) over classical/educational novels. her parents seem to only focus on her younger siblings while her friend group feels like an escape option she has, so she doesn't have to be fully alone.

michael, on the other hand, seems to be full of life—happy, enthusiastic, and adventurous. but in the inside he is broken, just like tori. he is suffocated by the constant need to satisfy everyone around him with his achievements. whereas tori has given up on trying, he tries too hard. he needs to prove to the people that he is more than what they see in ihm.

that's real portrayal of the struggles teenagers have to face, and not whatever shows like riverdale are doing with their characters.