#twilight reread 2020

[givemethedamnflowers]

A couple years ago we had the twilight renaissance now we have the hunger games renaissance and im fucking living for it yeah babes go back to happier times

[therealvinelle]

Has your opinion of twilight changed since starting this blog?

Not that I can think of.

As it is, @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin and I were more or less normal about Twilight, but we fell back into the fandom after a Near To You reread in 2020 and began talking about it, one thing led to another.

Midnight Sun confirmed every headcanon and we've been dug in since. We will never change.

[terramous]

twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @sznofthesticks (thank you!! <3)

How many works do you have on AO3?

66

What's your total AO3 word count?

256,858

What fandoms do you write for?

actively writing for 911 lone star, my hero academia & chicago med. previously wrote for julie and the phantoms & onf

Top 5 fics by kudos:

1 - just for the sake of saving us 2 - mixing fireworks and gasoline 3 - tomorrow may not come again 4 - will the fever break or will i burn from within? 5 - call it fate (paramedic tk au)

Do you respond to comments?

i do not, i like to be able to see my stats but i appreciate comments a lot and i reread them often

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

shape-shifting in an endless sleep which i know people in my comments will never forgive me for

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

lead me somewhere i've never been which is my happiest fic in general marjan and tk have my whole heart

Do you get hates on fics?

i got a few hate comments on hands are tied and clocks are ticking but other than that and the occasional hate for never updating that one mha fic even though its been three years i don't really get hate comments

Do you write smut?

once and it sucked!!

Craziest Crossover:

i have never written a crossover

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope. jillian and i started on one but never finished

All time favorite ship?

tarlos have finally usurped malec in my heart, no one is doing it like them

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

probably the nyc fics i started back in 2020 with my oc khai because i love him but i feel like i would have to entirely rewrite the 9k i have for them to make even the slightest bit of sense

What are your writing strengths?

i dont really think i have strengths but i had to answer this for my creative writing degree recently and i said details. i like to think that i include a lot of details and make them somewhat significant

What are your writing weaknesses?

pacing. i always think im writing too much or too little in a set amount of words.

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

love it. i could never write it because the only language i could do myself would be japanese

First fandom you wrote in?

twilight

Favorite fic you've written?

i think my magnum opus was we've never slept six feet apart because i love it and i think it's the perfect fic even though it's sad

tagging @nancygillianmvp @welcometololaland @morganaspendragonss @crockettmarcel @marjansmarwani

[masked-disciple]

im sure someone has asked this but 696

#696 is delightfully, wonderfully, holy-shit-I-didn't-realize-how-little-art-I-had-of-him-what-the-fuck Hero of Wind and Voices, Tarim 'Laqir' Nakoshima, chosen Hero of Kharos! Pictured here as his recolor.me from 2020, a very bad drawn image from 2014, and a base art from 2012. As you can see, he's always had Generic Anime Protagonist brown hair and green eyes, and has always had that bright-red and bright-cyan motif around him.

When @castcuraga decides he is ready to open commissions, I will give him somewhere between 150-300$ CAD and he will do a fully painted picture of Tarim for me, and it will be glorious, and it will force me to draw a full reference of him, which tbh he really needs.

I know I said 'a few facts'. You're getting a fucking infodump and you will like it, Tsuko-my-dear, because Tarim is one of my oldest OCs, and if I'm not mistaken, my oldest OC that I still use. I think... I'm pretty sure the only older OC that I have is Tranq (Shadow Tranquility is her full name, and I have no idea if she's ever coming back, I won't rule it out).

Tarim has been with me for over a decade, and I love him, and he deserves the world. He was the protagonist for Vocal Paradise, my very first NaNoWriMo novel in 2012. I won that year. I was so proud of myself. He came back for 2017 in Starlight ~ Beginning of the End, which I should reread because the only info I apparently put on NaNo itself was "tarim has to leave the vamps because shit blew up, naitofiara is there," so 10/10, me.

2018, Firstlight ~ The Cultist's Blade opened with "Tarim Nakoshima is dead, the Reihe having consumed him after a Fragment left him in the wrong timeline. [..] Thus, a new group of Twilight Warriors must be chosen." Three years later, Tarim makes his as-of-right-now final appearance in 2012 with Dragonsword ~ His Last Night's Requiem as not only the owner of the titular requiem, but "Not so long after the initial fall of Kagiru Network, two strange young men appear in the middle of the Salem Academy courtyard. One looks Tarathiel Draconis in the eye, tosses her the necklace he had around his neck, and fades to nothingness." which is a pretty metal way to die.

So, now that I've established Tarim's been around for fuckin ages and likes haunting the narrative, who is he?

Tarim is Maradeim! Originally called the Cherchant, which is French for 'searching', because when I was 12 I was learning French so a great deal of the language made it into my writing. The Maradeim are from Ilya Loremmi, the oldest of my original worlds (and very much still a part of the Aethel!), and specifically from the city-state of Isuparingu, which I think is a google-translated-romaji corruption of 'inspiration'? Anyway, they were birthed by the goddess Ivonnu, who's still around, in a fight with her sister Ikuto, who is also still around as Kharos' daughter and being pissy in the woods.

What makes the Maradeim different from ye average elf? Uh, they're grey? Yeah, I know, good question.

Maradeim have been established to be Pretty Rare, so you don't see 'em much outside Isuparingu, and almost never outside the Lorem as it is. Four of the Detan Burata - Zona, Seikyoru (who you may know better as Athena Cykes), Myn, and Rokichi - are Maradeim. To date, Tarim is the only named, non-DB Maradeim character I currently have. (There's two others in my records, Felix and Jaycinda, but I highly doubt they'll ever reappear. I would have to totally rework them, and changing names and designs for characters who didn't have more than that is just making new characters.)

Tarim has average brown hair, spearmint green eyes, gunmetal gray skin, and a jawline sharp enough to slice a man alive. He stands 5'9", would probably be called an otter if he were in a gay bar, and from what I can tell, is the Most Average Maradeim To Ever Maradeim.

He doesn't have parents. Why doesn't he have parents? Dunno. The very first iteration of Vocal Paradise was actually a story my first soulbond, Iban, told me about growing up in the desert. He was making shit up because he was babysitting his younger brother, but I still took it for inspiration. Eventually I moved Tarim to Ilya Ustuxe, I think in 2017 for Starlight, where he actually was an illegal immigrant, worked as a veterinarian for horrors that come out of the woods, and promptly had a super-gay romance with the king, Morcair Rakshara.

Tarim's role has always been that of Protagonist, when he appears; and if he does appear as the Mentor Who Dies, it's because of how his powers and prophecy have always worked.

The oldest prophecy I've ever written was the Prophecy of the Five Heroes, in various forms, and the kicker to it is that people have tried to fulfill it, and crucially, they failed. There's been three generations of Heroes: the first was the Bringers of Hope, the second was the Crafters of Balance, and the third is the Challengers of Fate.

The Bringers of Hope failed so badly that none of them have ever even appeared in any written works: the only thing left of them is their titles, and the fact that they failed. (I know their names, though, and their relationships with each other. Hehehe.) The Crafters of Balance was Tarim, Nyktophotia, Elrua, Akui, and Ikane; who were all actively written out of the narrative when their powers overwhelmed them. They still haunt the narrative. The Challengers of Fate are Tarathiel, Kinefira, Ezra, Saga, Tessa, and Leilahi.

You'll notice that there's six challengers, whereas only five of the other two. Really wonder why the first two groups failed, folks...

Regardless. Tarim is the OG Hero of Voices, and his main magical power is to command the three Alyvian spellsongs - the Reihe, Sterben, and Lautlos - and to reshape the world of travel, Ilya Serina, to his will. He begins using the Sterben, and eventually the Reihe, and only once uses the Lautlos. Contrary to Tarathiel, who primarily uses the Lautlos and sometimes the Sterben, and only uses the Reihe when she purifies her own heart.

Tarim has always been the protagonist, and his job is to be dragged through the Serin into varying parts of the wilderness of the Aethel by the plot, being pissy the entire time and befriending a bunch of animals, sometimes being dragged around by a girl who is supposed to be his love interest and who he doesn't give two shits about. The only person he's shown any romantic interest in was Morcair, who he died on very purposefully and who he kept a lot of secrets from. Morcair's pretty bitter about it, and helps out the Challengers only for Tarim's memory. Lmao.

You'll notice, though, that right up top I said that Tarim goes by Laqir. This is because while I knew from the start what his name was, he has never willingly given his name to another person in his entire fucking life. Seriously. If he weren't sorted under the Ts, I wouldn't have told you his name was Tarim. In my actual files where all his art is, he's listed under Laqir. When I make the wiki, he'll be listed under Laqir as well, and his actual name will only be in the sidebar.

When I write him, he always and only uses he/him pronouns, and only gets named in the narrative after someone asks him his name onscreen, and he has to give it. The first time he did in Starlight (because tbh I barely remember all the shit that happened in Vocal Paradise), it was to Morcair. Tarim panicked, glanced around outside the carriage they were in, saw a road sign for Laqir Lane, and told him his name was Laqir.

What fuckin name was he going by before the shattering of the Aethel? Gods only know. It sure fuckin' wasn't Tarim.

Why he has this issue, I have no idea. But he won't give you his name, just Laqir, and gods only know if Nakoshima is his actual surname either. Prob'ly not. I have no idea why he was orphaned in the desert. He got to Ilya Ustuxe by being a stowaway on a ship as a teenager and is Super Illegally There, but fuck you he's Laqir Nakoshima, consort to the King and Hero of Voices, no one is going to be asking for his passport.

The red/blue thing he's got is something he famously shares with Nyktophotia: that's actually an Alyvian thing, and they both have it through their use of the spellsongs. Tarathiel only does that when she's actively using her powers, and Kinefira simply refuses to use the spellsongs so she doesn't get to be special.

Tarim is a grumpy, generous guy honestly. Dislikes being personable, dislikes being dragged into shit, a very Bilbo-like character tbh? Genuinely very loving, absolutely atrocious at trusting people. Super reliable, though, and has an interest in chemistry.

Tarim is also the actual owner of the Kharosian stronghold on Ilya Kava, as well as a low mansion on a phantom island in Ilya Ustuxe. He stored most of his personal stuff in the Ustux, and most of his Hero stuff in the Kav. The Challengers use his stronghold in the Kav as their primary base of operations in the Aethel, since they don't reeeeaaally want to go to the Ustux and deal with Morcair's grief over Tarim, but Tarim himself is still haunting both of these places in what fragments of consciousness he's managed to plant in them, so he's all smug about that.

It'd be nice to go back and write a few stories for him, tbh. It's been a while, and most of the things he's done in Sagiverse sum up to angrily being written out of the narrative onscreen to pass the mantle to Tarathiel. We should go see what he was up to before that.

[send me a number between 2 and 787 for a few facts about that OC, please send me more these are super fun]

[mommy-mystic]

Being as UNHINGED as i want

Backstory - I reread the Twilight saga every time I get pregnant.

For the first time in my life, I relate to the Bella Swan in the first Twilight book where she is constantly muttering and complaining about Forks being "too green,". During my last reread in July of 2020(when I still lived in CA), I couldn't imagine that being a dilemma I would ever face. In fact, I was envious. That's why those god damn books and their icy imagery became my favorite summer series. Comfortable. Predictable. Stupid. And, Cold. A chilly mood, if you will. Cold aesthetic. 

Anyway... now that I basically live in a southern swamp, & the weekly storms leave the sky oscillating between deep grey & brilliant blue (and the gardens/plants in a more saturated shade of green that I’ve ever seen) I am starting to miss the warm, orange/pink and strikingly fiery hues of the sunsets back in the California valley. Loud, boisterous, and attention-seeking sunsets. Drama queens. Show-offs. Sunsets as vain as the people living beneath them. But GOD, I miss those.

For now, my Hot Cinnamon Sunset flavored tea is giving me an ounce of that energy & vibrance I used to feel looking at the sky on those evenings. 

Do u think that’s why Bella was feeling so homesick for a place as shitty as Arizona? Was it that weird claustrophobic feeling of the sky closing in on you when it rains?

[jameyannefuller]

I am recovering from knee surgery and in a reading slump, so yes, I am rereading Twilight. Please join me in judging myself and pray I don't get stuck in the same rereading loop that trapped me for months in 2020.

[ellie-crys]

☆ • ☆ • ☆ • ☆ • ☆ •

/ wieiad / ~

- Breakfast: skipped

- Lunch: too good peach yogurt (80 cal)

- Dinner: red lentil soup (250 cal)

total: 330

/ excercise / ~

• 2020 2 week shred day 2

• 10,560 steps

• 20 mins strength training

☆ • ☆ • ☆ • ☆ • ☆ •

I got the first twilight book today, decided to reread the series and collect the books this time ^_^ bella is lowkey th!nspo..

[twi-sight2020]

I’ve got a theory...that it’s a Vampire

So before I say anything else, I just wanna say, wow...I have so many followers. Thank you all so much! But also, who would have thought that, in the year of our lord 2020 the most popular blog I’ve had would be me reviewing Twilight. The fandom is still very much alive and well! But damn, so many of you. I love you all! So Bella is supposed to give her theories, but she begs for another question to be answered first.  She wants to know how he found here which is....her scent. Charming. Then she is aghast at his theory that her brain is on a different frequency than everyone else’s and that’s why he cannot hear her thoughts. Edward pretty much sums up my thoughts on this with this. “I hear voices in my mind and you’re worried that you’re the freak?” All that being said, again, here we have this mystery about Bella, this aspect of her that could have been built upon and explored. After all, as of yet, the villains have yet to be introduced,  it seems like this is set up to be more of a self contained story and yet.... sigh. This is pretty much  dropped. So after a bit of these, Edward demands to hear her latest theory which is ....vampire. Yes, after 124 pages Bella drops the “V” word and then explains to Edward all about Jacob and how she flirted with poor Jacob to get the information about the “legends” and she came to the vampire conclusion....and then decided she didn’t care . Edward is, honestly kind of appalled that she doesn’t care if he is a murderous little critter. Like....bless him, he knows that he is trash sometimes and is very concerned when other’s don’t see it. Side note: Edward also feels sorry for Jacob, because , bless , the poor boy did not deserve this. We get the “How long have you been seventeen line” and I honestly love how Edward is just like “Yea....done that for a while “ And then they go through the  myths and facts of vampires. They don’t burn in the sun, no sleeping in coffins. And he doesn’t sleep, at all, ever. In fact he seems wistful about the idea . Kinda makes you feel sorry for him for a minute. Which ...i go back and forth with Edward, tbh. Sometimes I love him..other times I wanna throttle him. It’s a tough road. So then he, of course, brings up the fact that, you know....vampires have very very special diets. Bella tells him that Jacob mentioned his family doesn’t nom nom on people. Edward points out that, yes, they do try to avoid people but they are still, you know, dangerous. of course, Bella has the self preservation of a capybara ...hell, at least they can hide in water, Bella just....dives right into danger every time. She’s like my cat that tries to jump on the dog that chases her and nips at her on the daily. no self preservation, nada. Course, Bella at least is going after a hot vampire. My cat is just...not right. So Edward explains he doesn’t  want to be a monster, the Cullen’s “vegetarian” diet, and the fact that sometimes it’s harder than others to keep from biting humans. And oh, Bella, honey, he might have told you he wanted to kill you but, you have NO idea how close you came to being Lunch.  Bella clues Edward into the fact that she’s noticed how his eyes change when he’s hungry. Which he finds amusing, but then...then he explains how it “makes him nervous” to be away from her. Now, it kinda makes sense from Edwards point of view, because this girl is...well she’s kinda taken over his brain. Her smell drives him nuts and yet he feels protective of her because she NEARLY DIES EVERY FIVE SECONDS. as he points out when he sees the scrapes on her hands.  Again, this could have been a really neat plot, him being destined to be the one to either save her or kill her...but no....not that. Because, instead, we get Bella also being anxious when she doesn’t see him because.... teenage hormones? Idk...i get being upset when you don’t see your crush but the anxiety bit is kinda over the top, especially when she starts FUCKING CRYING when he points out that it’s one thing for him to be fixated on her and another for him to drag her into it. *sighs* Maybe this is a me thing, I dunno, but crying makes...no sense to be at this part. If it were supposed to be the rush of all the night’s events catching up to her...sure, but over this? This girl was completely unfazed 5 minutes after being rescued from a possible gang rape, but is crying over this? I don’t get it, I really don’t. I know I’m basically the worst at reading emotions, and I really don’t understand people a lot of the time but this...... seriously, if anyone has any idea on how her brain works...drop me a line? Cause I’m...really at a loss for understanding this part. Like maybe it’s because I’m a #dead-inside millennial, or maybeI’m a robot , but the emotional trainwreck that is Bella.....yikes. Edward apologies for making Bella have an random crying spell, and then ask her what she was thinking when she was nearly attacked-cause, you know, bringing  up trauma is a great way to make someone feel better/s. Like, come on Edward, you’ve been alive for a long ass time, and yet you really suck at people. Apparently Bella thought about trying to fight and scream because she....falls down alot when running. Edward says he’s fighting fate trying to keep her alive and i’m just like???? “Dude...compassion??? She almost ...fucking hell.’ I am a bit frustrated with these children.  Edward promises to be in school tomorrow and then ask Bella to promise not to go into the woods alone because ‘he’s not always the most dangerous thing out there.” Bella...you’ve been nothing but curious this whole time, but when he says “Let’s just leave it at that.” you have no questions? None? You’ve had it confirmed vampires are real and one is telling you there is worst stuff out there and you just....let it go? Like I get we’re setting things up for a sequel but...... come on, it’s a bit lazy for her not to prod a bit.  Also, does this mean Edward was stalking her when she went into the woods that morning to? Jesus...   He tells her to sleep well  and then we get a bit on how...nice his breath smells. Which, i know, it’s all part of his apex predator self to draw people in but it’s still a weird thing to read about.  She gets inside, takes a shower and realizes she’s freezing and begins shaking and trembling. she talks about her mind trying to suppress things and, for a brief minute, I think she’s actually going to have a ...reaction to everything that happened. Now, mind you, I don’t want her to be a shrinking violet, but her emotional responses are so ...over the place. She cries when Edward isn’t around, or when he points out he’s dangerous... but when she is put in actual danger, it rolls off of her. Gotta say it confuses me but...what do i know? I can watch horror movies till kingdom come, ready mystery novels, see medical gore and autopsy with no problem but I cry every damn time a pet dies in a movie...or music video. (I’m looking at you”Happier” by Bastille) So she’s not freaking out over the days evens, no, instead we’ve getting one of the most famous (and sometimes infamous) lines from the series.  “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” Imma...just need a sec to unpack this here. Obviously we know he’s a vampire and it’s pretty obvious he wants to eat her (and not in the fun way) but the last bit.... In love with him...oof. I know teen love comes on fast and hard but this...you’ve only had a few actual conversations with him, and even fewer have been him not being a douche. Do I think she’s in LUST with him? Definitely.  IS she in awe of him saving her life all the time? Of course. Intrigued because...vampire? Oh hell yea. But...you’re not in love with him Bella. Do I think she is later? Of course. But at this moment, I think it’s way more infatuation than love. She knows very little about him, in fact, with the exception of the vampire bit, I know more about a stranger from their facebook page than what she knows about him in this moment.  Edward has stalked Bella enough that he knows everything about her. And while that brings up a whole fuck ton of other issues, at least it means he knows enough about her to have genuine feelings (as creepy as his behavior may be)  But Bella, you’re not in love...not yet. Alright guys, i know this one was a bit more ranty then some of my other’s and this may turn some people off , but i said from the start I was gonna be honest about the good, the bad, and my feelings on it. I don’t care if people disagree, in fact, I welcome discussion. If you wanna message me and talk about certain bits, go for it! Just, make it clear if it’s a question/conversation you wanna have in private or something you’re cool with me sharing on the blog to futher discussion. Alright guys, love you all and , until next time,  Stay safe!

[yenichuu]

◇─◇─◇𝕊𝕡𝕪 𝕩 𝔽𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪◇─◇─◇

Genre: action, comedy, slice of life, romance

Author/ Artist: Tatsuya Endo

Status: ongoing; 47+ chapters, 7+ vol. (2020 - current)

Summary:

"Twilight", now going under the name “Loid Forger”, is assigned possibly his hardest mission yet, Operation Strix. As part of this mission he needs to marry someone, pretend to have a child, and enroll them into the prestigious Eden Academy in order to get close to his target Donovan Desmond. He ends up adopting Anya, a mind-reader and marrying Yor, an assassin. However, all of them are hiding their identities from one another. What could possibly go wrong?

My Thoughts:

10/10

One of the funniest and more adorable manga that I’ve read in a while

Great comedic timing, dramatic irony and hilarious plot lines that makes the story even more enjoyable and whimsical ❣️

Anya is the definition of chaotic good I love her so much

Besides the central plot of Loid completing his mission, the real star of the manga is Anya, the telepath. Anya has her own storyline that takes place at her school as she tries to navigate school and new friends  👏🏻👏🏻

The family dynamics written so well and its been so interesting to see how three strangers pretend to be a family together

I also loved seeing how characters’ relationships grow not only amongst the family, but also with other side characters ❣️

Shout out to Yor for being the fiercest mama bear and for trying really hard to be a good mother even if she struggles with it a lot

Top tier hilariously drawn facial expressions 

Someone also please give Loid a break so he can take a long nap.. poor man never stops working and keeps having years of his life shaved off by worrying over his chaotic daughter 🤡🤡

The Forger’s family moments give me such warm fuzzies as even though they start off as strangers, they all come to deeply care for each other in their own ways 🥰

Conclusion:

Spy x Family is a super fun, lighthearted and cute read. The manga never disappoints when it comes to comedic timing and hilariously drawn facial expressions. I personally own all the volumes that are currently out in English and have reread them all multiple times, never getting bored of them. I am so excited to see how the rest of the series plays out and how each characters’ relationships with each other will develop (especially Yor/ Loid and Anya/Damian). Please support the author by buying the books (if you can) on Amazon or by reading the series on VIZ, the official site. Also look out for a potential anime adaptation of this series in 2022, I know I’ll be one of the first to watch it! :)

[koolkat9]

💖

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

💖 What made you start writing?

I was writing since I was little. I literally found a book a month or so ago of a story from before I could even properly write for myself. I had drawn the pictures and then told my mother and grandmother what to write. It was a hilarious read honestly. I still wonder what happened to that prince and princess and if their parents ever did let be together.

But I didn't seriously start writing or I guess it's more like I didn't consistently start writing until like...2020? Like I had story ideas in the past I tried to write out, only to give before I barely begun. There was actually a period of time where I wrote a sequel idea to Rise of the Guardians and actually thought I could send it to Dreamworks and have them see it (and possibly produce it). Guess you could say that was my first fanfiction xD (before I even knew what fanfiction was). Like all I remember is that it focused on Pitch Black's daughter and she was found by the guardians and...That's all I remember. Her name was Twilight. Perhaps I could draw her at some point because I remember what I wanted her to look like. Gosh I'm rambling.

Anyway 2020. I get the book Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Main character is a fanfiction writer who goes to school to make a career out of writing (funny how my life is becoming just that). After reading that book I was like "I want to write fanfiction." I didn't really know where to start. Arthur was my fav character and at the time and with my limit experience only have looked on Wattpad and some Fanfiction.net (specifically older fics) I felt the fandom did him dirty (yes I'm talking about the 2012 uwu must protect England). But I wasn't into any England ships. Then I thought of my OTP of the time: Ger//Ita. But I did not feel comfortable writing for Italy. Then I remembered hand-holding buddies were a thing. Erroneous Epilogue had just been made a few months ago so GerEng was still fresh in my mind. Even before shipping GerEng I held the headcanon that Lud and Art got together for a football match in memory of the 1914 Christmas Truce. I was like: "I can use that headcanon and make a GerEng fic." Because GerEng had very few fics to it's name especially on Wattpad which is the site I started on. Eventually, when everything shut down and I found I had a lot of time on my hands I began writing everyday and I soon fell in love with these two dorks and they became my new OTP.

Honestly I'm getting a little emotional writing this because, like I've shared in a previous ask, I just got into the creative writing stream for uni and writing is thus becoming more serious. It's just...hard to believe how much writing has been involved in my life and how I didn't start taking it so seriously until I began writing fanfiction. If it wasn't for Fangirl, if it wasn't for GerEng, who knows if I would be where I am now.

And I'm also emotional because when I started out writing, I of course hoped to gain some traction, but I never imagined I would get to where I am now. I never thought I'd find such lovely online friends. I never thought I'd write something people would come back to reread when they felt down. I never thought I'd get so many followers who are all wonderful and who binge my writing and find comfort in it. And I definitely never thought I would actually get fanart for the fics I write. It's amazing to see how far I've come and I can't wait to see where I go from here.

Sorry... That last bit wasn't really part of the question but I had to get it off my chest. Thank you, everyone. For supporting me and for your lovely comments.

[sboochi]

do you think you would ever write Hijack fic??

I already have!

People who have followed me for a while already know, but english isn't my first language. I wish I was confident enough to write in english but alas all the fics I've ever written are in italian :(

I haven't been able to complete a fic in months and now whenever I get an idea I usually make some art and post a rant here so at least I can get it out there.

I wrote a Twilight AU fanfic in 2020 (can't believe this is a sentence I'm typing) when I was unemployed, got a writer block that winter but I managed to finish the fic in 2021.

(I'm writing a summary under the cut in case you're curious abt the fic in question)

The story roughly follows the first Twilight volume: Hiccup is forced to get back to Forks to live with Stoick (he and Valka divorced, but return to friendly terms in the background as the story goes on) and starts a friendship with Astrid and the rest of the gang. Jack and the Guardians are all vampires and live together (North creates toys, Bunnymund opened a cafe, Toothiana goes to medical school and Sandy is usually away doing Something™). This year Jack decides to go to high school to get used to human contact since he's young and unexperienced. Toothiana joins him to jeep an eye on him.

Hiccup meets Jack, who also works part time at Bunnymund's cafe. Long story short they become friends and fall in love.

Jack's in danger though because the vampire (Pitch) who attacked him before North saved Jack by turning him into a vampire is back for revenge with the help of Eret.

Hiccup ofc wants to reason with them, gets kidnapped by Eret, fails to change Pitch's mind and the Guardians save the day. Hiccup loses a leg but The Evil is Defeated.

If you know italian or are brave enough to use the google translate feature this is the link to the fic I guess?

The idea might be silly and quite random but honestly I remember having a lot of fun writing it and coming up with plot points and character arcs. I scrapped the idea but the httyd gang was supposed to be a pack of werevolves at first! I ended up with a really interesting and natural arc for Snotlout (the scene where Hiccup gives him a privatemath lesson is one of my favourite), Astrid gets to be a badass, and each Guardian has their own human backstory! Every chapter is divided in two POVs, Hiccup's and Jack's, but one chapter is told by Astrid's and Eret's perspective.

When I reread it I notice the mistakes and wonky plot moments but I've become really attached to it! I even have notes for a sequel (starring Dagur and Heather as werevolves this time!)

[balioc]

BALIOC’S READING LIST, 2021 EDITION

This list counts only published books, consumed in published-book format, that I read for the first time and finished.  No rereads, nothing abandoned halfway through, no Internet detritus of any kind, etc.  Also no children’s picture books.

1. Lies of the Beholder, Brandon Sanderson

2. Cthulhusattva, various (ed. Scott R. Jones)

3. The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy, Christopher Lasch

4. The Solitudes, John Crowley

5. On Safari in R'lyeh and Carcosa with Gun and Camera, Elizabeth Bear

6. The Mask of Mirrors, M. A. Carrick

7. The Cult of Smart, Fredrik deBoer

8. A Russian Doll & Other Stories, Adolfo Bioy Casares

9. Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, Jonathan Shay

10. The Invention of Morel, Adolfo Bioy Casares

11. Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power, Anna Merlan

12. Bloodline, Will Wight

13. Lammas Night, Katherine Kurtz

14. Never Knew Another, J. M. McDermott

15. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Anne Applebaum

16. When We Were Executioners, J. M. McDermott

17. The War on Normal People: The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future, Andrew Yang

18. We Leave Together, J. M. McDermott

19. The House of Always, Jenn Lyon

20. The Assassins of Thasalon, Lois McMaster Bujold

21. Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Drew Karpyshyn

22. The Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire, Tom Holland

23. The Maidens, Alex Michaelides

24. The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, Various (ed. Benedicta Ward)

25. Hawkwood's Sword, Christian Cameron

26. The Dying Earth, Jack Vance

27. The Eyes of the Overworld, Jack Vance

28. The Most Holy Trinosophia, the Comte de Saint Germain (ed. P. Manly Hall)

29. Cugel's Saga, Jack Vance

30. Rhialto the Marvellous, Jack Vance

31. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach

32. Strange Beasts of China, Yan Ge

33. Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, Various (ed. George R. R. Martin & Garner Duzois)

34. The Dragon Waiting, John M. Ford

35. An Unclean Legacy, Jenna Moran

36. The Girl and the Stars, Mark Lawrence

37. The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Alexandre Dumas

38. Ten Years After, Alexandre Dumas

39. Louise de la Vallière, Alexandre Dumas

40. The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas

41. Reaper, Will Wight

42. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin

43. Princes and Poisoners: Studies of the Court of Louis XIV, Franz Funck-Brentano

44. The Moon and the Sun, Vonda N. McIntyre

45. The Liar's Knot, M. A. Carrick

46. The Last Graduate, Naomi Novik

47. Knot of Shadows, Lois McMaster Bujold

48. Jade Legacy, Fonda Lee

49. Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir

50. Zadig; or, the Book of Fate, Voltaire

Plausible works of improving nonfiction consumed in 2021: 11

[“plausible” and “improving” are being defined very liberally here]

Works written by women consumed in 2021: 17

Works written by men consumed in 2021: 30

Works written by both men and women consumed in 2021: 3

Balioc's Choice Award, Fiction Division: An Unclean Legacy

>>>> Honorable Mention: The Dying Earth

Balioc’s Choice Award, Nonfiction Division: The Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire

>>>> Honorable Mention: The Cult of Smart

Cultural Heritage Award For "Good Job Spending Many Hundreds of Pages Painstakingly Foreshadowing and Setting Up a Plot That Will Instantly and Dramatically Go Nowhere": The Vicomte de Bragelonne et al.

Cultural Heritage Award For "Some of You Guys are Pretty All Right, Some of You are Entirely Bonkers, But All of You Have Like 1000% More Integrity and Insight than Your Contemporary Counterparts": The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

**********

Somehow, impressively, this year was even worse for my reading habits than 2020. I didn't read nearly enough -- you'll notice a lot of very short works on that already-pretty-damn-short book list -- and, overall, the stuff I did read was much too low-quality.

(I was seriously contemplating making a couple of snarky anti-awards this year. Some of those books were bad.)

Public transit really made a difference, man.

Anyway. Onwards and upwards. I'm guessing that 2022 may continue to be pretty rough, reading-wise, but...we will do better.

I continue to seek recommendations for Really Good Reading Material. Especially recommendations for Really Good nonfiction -- stuff in the "I now feel I know something substantial and important about the world" or "I now feel like I've been shown how to see things in a whole new light" categories. Excellent fiction is also great, of course, but I do have a small stack of plausibly-excellent fiction to which I haven't gotten yet (so that I could plow through easily-digestible trash, in many cases).

[therealvinelle]

Is there anything that reading Midnight Sun made you think about the events of Twilight differently? Like a particular segment thats just SO different from Edward’s pov that you had to sit down and reevaluate what you thought you knew?

Ah, see, funny story.

In late Spring, early Summer 2020, @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin and I got back into Twilight, to my recollection because I reread the incredible fic that is Near To You and plunged us back into the fandom's fanfiction archives.

With a renewed interest in Twilight we naturally got to discussing Twilight, and being the people we are we started coming up with theories and headcanons for Twilight, filling the gaps and coming up with explanations for why characters do the things they do.

These theories and headcanons were mad, outrageous, and completely unhinged in every way. They were also exactly the same theories and headcanons that you see on our blogs now.

(Take one example - the Muffin and I both took for granted Carlisle, Esme, and Edward knew about Rosalie's plan to kill Royce King II and friends, as that would have been impossible for her to hide. Since she spread the kills out over the course of a week as opposed to a one night extravaganza, we also assumed that they did not attempt to get in her way. Meanwhile, from the fics I've read it appears to have been fandom consensus that they either disapproved and wanted to stop her, or they flat out didn't know what she was going to do.

Come Midnight Sun, and we learn that not only did Carlisle know about it and let it happen, he aided her.

God, that sweet sweet rush of vindication.)

You see, when Midnight Sun came out, we thought... well I don't recall specifically what we thought, but I think we were mostly intrigued with what Meyer would make of it. She created Edward, let's see what her POV of the guy is like. Could be a total miss, of course.

Well.

Turns out, Midnight Sun was exactly canon as we saw it. It validated our every thought about not just Edward, but Bella, the Cullens, about the very world of Twilight.

It was completely unreal, I can't stress that enough. Imagine if JKR dropped a Tom Riddle book and he's this depressed, tragic character who carries no prejudice against Muggles and he had no baby Death Eaters in Hogwarts(can't find the link).

Wouldn't happen, right?

Yet, it did with Edward.

The Muffin and I had our completely wild theories, and then Stephenie Meyer didn't just confirm them, she doubled down and said "Actually, ladies, you should have ordered another pizza box." because in a lot of cases we had in fact been too conservative in our estimates. Meyer went further than we would have dared. (Carlisle helping Rosalie is a good example of that.)

To bring back the JKR example, imagine that the Tom Riddle book she releases has Tom spend his free time volunteering for the Red Cross.

It was wild, I don't think I'll ever experience anything quite like it ever again.

[edwardskhakipants]

The real reason I got back into Twilight was because at a Superbowl party in 2020, there was a drunk girl who was talking about Twilight to anyone who would listen and I just sat there and let her talk at me for almost the entirety of the party. And that conversation was what inspired me to reread the books a month later in quarantine, which sparked the idea to write my first fic, which gave me a reason to start this blog and so on.

ANYWAY I think I'm going to see this girl tonight. Should I tell her what her drunken ramblings awoke in me?

[an-absolute-travesty]

Ok. This is totally not kotlc related. I just need advice lmao

So I’m reading a book.

I hate it.

Im about 100-something pages in. It’s like a funny sorta bad, but still painful. Very “I can’t believe you wrote a twilight ripoff in the year 2020” situation. It’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad.

But my sister got it for me because it’s an author she likes. I have no information over whether she likes this book in particular.

Do I keep reading it for the meme, or do I drop it so I can start on my reread of The Diviners so I can read the rest of that series?

[protagsdeadparents]

Crave: First Impressions/Book Summary

So Crave is described as a Paranormal Fantasy with a feminist perspective. It’s a New York Times Bestseller, was awarded the “Best YA Book of 2020” by Glitter Magazine and even got movie rights picked up by Universal. 

The book itself is about a girl moving to Alaska, after her parents pass away, to live at the academy her uncle is the headmaster of. While there she discovers the school is full of supernatural creatures. Specifically vampires, dragons, shifters and witches. And she ends up falling for a vampire at this school who has a deep dark mysterious past. Sound familiar? Yeah, because it’s marketing itself as a “feminist Twilight” and they’re claiming that critics are calling it such. 

We have actually read this book once before when it came out in 2020 during the height of quarantine. This is just a reread before we dive into the next part of the series and give this six book series our blind reactions. This book is 65 chapters long, and it is filled with a whole lot of nothing but teenagers making out and drawn out scenes that take three chapters to resolve. But, we will keep our opinions on the overall book until the end. Kal:  Again, full disclosure we’ve read this book already, but just to bring in sort of what I thought of and wanted out of this when I found this book. So, I believe I found this book out of the blue while looking for some bad YA to read for the little book club Marina and I wanted to do between us. Now the cover itself already gives away that it’s a copy of Twilight, with the black book cover, white flower with blood the petals. The book title font also mimics Twilight. The bar is low for this series, especially since it has set its standards pretty low to begin with. I expect it to follow a similar formula to the teenage girl falls in love with supernatural monster plot and not stray too far from it. But, I do expect this book to have learned from the failings of the series it’s claiming to be better than and be more conscious on the racism, the age differences, the weird romanticism of stalking, etc. Marina:  So the very first thing we heard about Crave was that it was "feminist Twilight". My immediate thought was "okay is this actually going to be feminist or is this going to be some girlbossified bullshit". I think it's pretty lazy, if I'm being honest, to have the main marketing tactic for your book being "oh it's the improved version of this thing that already exists."