#two of my moots r reading it for the first time so ya

[astralisstar]

i am rereading heod again ^_^

[madstronaut]

me, to myself in early jan:

I can do this, I have plenty of time before the end of the month, am going to read my favefics and comment by writing my rambles at a leisurely pace and then release these little by little, like a trickle, so I don't seem like a complete psychopath anyway it's not like i'll be posting in one go the giant-ass doc in my notes app ive been just adding and adding on like the fucking weasley burrow house rooms

me, seeing it's february 1st:

FUCK IT WE BALL

please give these lovely fics a read (or two or ten) and go comment on the last fic/drabble/headcanon/etc. you've read! I have two more fics I wanted to do that I absolutely adore but I’ll have to leave those for end of february

cc: @obsidiangravity @deadbranch @the-californicationist

https://madstronaut.tumblr.com/post/741107212698730496/faficowrimo-the-challenge-comment-on-every

https://madstronaut.tumblr.com/post/741107329492303872/faficowrimo-the-challenge-comment-on-every

https://madstronaut.tumblr.com/post/741107374804336640/faficowrimo-the-challenge-comment-on-every

now if anyone needs me, I'll be busy doing my taxes <3

I have finished my taxes, it's over for you hoes (by hoe i mean me, i am the hoe)

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/741641340161490944/it-is-currently-madstr-oclock-and-it-is?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/741822624372555776/once-more-into-the-breach-for-faficowriyear

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/742285387862605824/back-on-my-captain-rex-clone-wars-bullshit?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/744090068287897600/babys-first-konig-longfic

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/745265861101764608/babys-first-soap-fic-redux?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/745452646872252416/guess-wot-my-fellow-hoes-fellhoes-youre?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/745910968181309440/prepareth-thineselves-for-another-doozy-of-a?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/749157659265073152/a-little-palette-cleanser-if-you-will-sorry?

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/749243681841823745/featuring-yet-another-within-bedside-table-reach?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/749922660606164992/this-fic-fucking-destroyed-me-in-the-best-way-i

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/750702993461133312/congrats-you-won-madstrokinkbingo

https://www.tumblr.com/madstronaut/751611497306783744/gif-game-suggestion-fishermans-knot-pt-2?source=share

The Challenge: Comment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.

Every chapter. Every one shot. Every drabble. Every ficlet. Whether it’s on a personal website, a blog, or an archive. Whether you’ve read it a hundred times before or you’re reading it for the first time. Whether the fic was posted years ago or minutes ago. Whether you sign your name or leave your thoughts anonymously. Whether your comment is paragraphs in length or a few short words. Comment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.

The Philosophy: Comments are what keep a fandom thriving and growing.

We don’t see comments as a transaction. They’re not a price paid for reading a fic. We see comments as an interaction, a way of building relationships. Comments are a courtesy, not a currency. [x]

Fandom is a relationship between dozens,hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of fans, and the only way for the greater fandom relationship to function, is for those fans to interact. One way to interact is by writing and reading fanfic. A writer prompts an interaction by posting their work; it is up to the reader to then acknowledge (or not acknowledge).

As one of our favorite blogs, @ao3commentoftheday​, said: [x]

“Comment if you can, but don’t be bullied or pressured into it. A comment should be written in the same spirit as the fic itself: wanting to reach out to other people who love the same fandom as you do. It’s not easy to do that, I know, and I don’t hold it against you at all if you can’t.”

The Only Rule: Be kind.

Be kind to your fandoms’ writers.

Please note that this challenge is to “comment on every fanfic you read and enjoy in the month of January.” As our fandom forebears were fond of saying, “Don’t like, don’t read.” For FaFiCoWriMo, we have taken that one step further by saying, “Don’t like, don’t comment.”

No matter how well-intentioned, critique is useless unless it comes from a place of trust. Unless you know an author personally and they have specifically asked for your critique, please keep it to yourself.

It costs zero of your currency and zero of your time to not be a jerk.

Be kind to yourself.

If you do find yourself unable to comment on every fic (for whatever reason), remember this: we forgive you, zero judgement. [x]

[ambivartence]

check in tag

tagged by: @alrightyaphroditie 💘😍

1. why did you choose your url?

kind of cringe now but high school me thought something along the lines of ambivalence + art = sense of love/hating the art process lol

2. any side blogs? if you have them name them and why you have them.

i just have a place i occasionally save art i like (when i remember to) @dreambivartence

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

2013 so... 8 years wow

4. do you have a queue tag?

im too lazy to but most of my reblogs run on queue^^

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

i just think this place is neat :) also recently picked it back up so my art doesn't just rot on my local drive but i was def hooked by the amazing creations and shitposts on here :')

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

yall REALLY really liked this drawing of ten so ig thats what nct moots recognize me for

7. why did you choose your header?

its my fave drawing i've done recently :D bonus that its a gif and the crop is chefs kiss too (except on mobile probably lol)

8. what's your post with the most notes?

for my recent kpop art it's my header post of butterfly taehyung. of all time it's this 3 year old painting of star trek jim kirk which i've come to terms i will never top 😤

9. how many mutuals do you have?

i have no idea how to count but a lot and yall r the reason i keep posting here bc yall leave the sweetest comments and post the coolest shit and at this point i swear i have biases in groups that i don't even follow (...the power that ateez seonghwa holds ... idek who u r LOL)

10. how many followers do you have?

around 400 since i started posting kpop stuff last december

11. how many people do you follow?

over a thousand :O

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

nah that's what my tags section is for hah

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

one or two times day (or more if i have impending deadlines lmfao)

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

thankfully no

15. how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this’ posts?

"i never reblog them but they never fail to make me feel a lil guilty about it" agree

16. do you like tag games?

ya theyre fun i like the music / kpop specific ones ^^ also that pfp moodboard one

17. do you like ask games?

yes ? but i don't reblog them bc im lazy

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

wtf is tumblr famous lol this place is the underground and everyone knows everyone

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

um absolutely i have several but am i too shy to tag them... that's why its a crush no? 😇🥰

20. tags?

whoever reads this and wants to do this. also tag me in a different game in return or something 🤓

[casscutting]

Word Counts: How Long Should Your Book Be?

As I said in last week's post (Click Here to read said post.) In the traditional publishing world, the amount of words in any given novel ranges depending on several different factors. These, for want of a better word, limitations should be applied to self-published work as well.

There are three factors that go into the decision-making process. The first factor that goes into the decision-making process is the targeted age category, ie. Picture Books, Children’s, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, New Adult, and Adult. Obviously, the older the reader the longer their attention spans are the more book they can and are willing to read.

The next is Genre such as Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Non-Fiction, etc. I don’t consider this a MAJOR contributor to word count because any one of these genres can produce a long book or a short one. That being said traditionally certain genres even for debuts are given some leniency when it comes to word count like Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Lastly your popularity as an Author the reason this is a major faction is because if you are a debut Author the publishing house doesn’t know how your sales will perform so they are wearier and don’t want to spend more money printing longer books.

Picture Books usually range from 50 – 2,500 words at most. That upper range is usually reserved for older children ages 5 – 9 years old.

Chapter Books traditionally do not exceed 12,000 words at most. Chapter books are usually marketed towards children as young as 9 – 12.

Middle Grade Now specific genres come into play, however, a good rule of thumb to play by with the middle grade is that word counts range from 20,000 for the younger 10-11 to 60,000 for the older children 12-13. For example, Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater is 18,188 words and is usually marketed towards children ages 8+ Whereas the other end of the spectrum we have:

Wonder by Palacio, R.J. 73,053

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 78,792

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 86,826

As you see these books clearly exceed the 60,000-word “limit” but these books are not common from my research.

Young Adult As we are getting older we crave a bigger world and more story. In the YA category, you typically find books ranging from 55,000 – 90,000 though as fans of Harry Potter, The Hate You Give, Children Of Blood and Bone, Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent will know this is not always the case.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 78,792

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 84,799

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 106,821

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 190,858

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 257,154

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 169,441

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 198,227

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 111,750

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 134,250

Twilight

Twilight 118,975

New Moon 132,758

Eclipse 148,971

Breaking Dawn 186,542

Hunger Games

Hunger Games 99,750

Catching Fire 101,564

Mockingjay 100,269

Divergent

Divergent 105,143

Insurgent 136,000

Allegiant 110,354

I am leaving Four: A Divergent Story Collection because I can’t find a definitive word count for this collection.

However, these aren’t the norm here are a few examples of books closer to the “normal” range:

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton 48,953

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle 52,587

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 60,438

Legend by Marie Lu 75,464

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 78,179

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 87,274

Cinder by Marissa Meyer 87,661

Adult Adult books have the highest word count because adults tend to have the longest attention span and are less donated by larger books. That being said I like many other readers read adult books at a teen so this distinction, in my opinion, is moot.

Most adult books start at 90,000 words on the low end and can go up to and exceed 500,000 words. However, like the rest of these categories, it can be lower as well.

Literary Fiction:

Mystery & Thriller Books

Romance Books

Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 47,094

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 73,404

Life of Pi by Yhann Martel 98,783

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 99,121

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 99,969

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 107,052

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling 162,152

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt 296,582

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane 81,666

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga 87,053

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain 93,416

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen 98,039

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz 99,438

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins 101,704

The Firm by John Grisham 135,293

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 138,952

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn 145,719

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks 48,978

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt 88,895

The Princess Bride by William Goldman 89,426

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 119,394

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells 32,059

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 46,333

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 68,902

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein 84,769

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder 98,315

The Martian by Andy Weir 104,588

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton 117,645

Dune by Frank Herbert 181,493

Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring 187,000

The Two Towers 155,000

The Return of the King 131,000

A Song of Ice And Fire – George R. R. Martin

A Game of Thrones 292,727

A Clash of Kings 318,903

A Storm of Swords 404,604

A Feast for Crows 295,032

A Dance with Dragons 414,788

Fire & Blood (There is a mix of information on this one) 200,000-300,000

Debut For this section, I will be repeating some books I’ve already mentioned. Debut Novels are usually always below 100,000 no matter the age category or genre, though there are always exceptions to the rules.

Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk 49,962

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 60,438

Before I Die Jenny Downham 69,548

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 70,544

Wonder by Palacio, R.J. 73,053

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 78,792

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 89,682

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 97,914

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 99,121

Divergent by Veronica Roth 105,143

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 107,052

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 111,750

The Book Thief Markus Zusak 118,933

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 118,975

Below is a good rule of thumb to stick too for your novel, debut in particular.

YA and Adult Below 70,000: Too short 70,000 – 79,999: Might Be Too Short But Probably Alright 80,000 – 89,999: Acceptable 90,000 – 99,999: Generally Safe 100,000 – 109,999: Might Be Alright 110,000 or above Might Be Too Long

Middle Grade Below 20,000: Too short 25,000 – 39,999: Generally Safe 40,000 – 59,999: Probably Alright 60,000 or above Might Be Too Long

If your book goes far below or above any of the word counts I mentioned you may have a harder time getting published but you never know until you try. Rule #1 of Writing, Know the writing rules. Rule #2 of Writing, Break all the rules.

, Books,, , , , ,  , WIP, , , ,,, ,, , 

[isaacathom]

why the fuck all these sorcerers old maes of rothbarts, huh. and whythe fuck do they always turn her into a swan. like, ok, clavius or w/e the fuck from the second movie gets a pass because it was odettes idea (and, again, i love odette, so im all for it. and it was a good plan). zelda has no excuse. did she not know about this. why would you turn her into a BIRD. WHO CAN /FLY/. why not like... a fucking turtle or smth. slow as fuck. stck in a cave in a mountain. she cant do shit. or is it that odettes just got that swan magic shit stuck on her from rothbart so its just swans all the way down. since i GUESS zelda and clavius are both weaker than rothbart, which makes them weird villains actually. like why would i give a shit about rothbarts apprentice if the one time derek met rothbart he killed him after like, idk, a 5 minute fight? yea derek nearly died but thats an average sunday for him. thats how it is. shot him once he died. this isnt complex.

also on the revive thing. that was why i didnt like the third movie. if we say the first one is ‘good’ (certainly not a bad childrens film, obvs). the second movie does enough new that its not just a retread. odette turning into a swan by her own choice, despite the risks, and her saving derek, and her not dying (tho jean bob did, which i did not remember happening, but ok). and it showed a development in the relationship. and encouraged ol dere-boy to appreciate his wife and mother sometimes. thats good. happy for the guy.

then you cut to movie three and dereks just lying to his wife despite the fact she has VERY REASONABLE objections to keeping dark magic shit lying around, given that she straight up died because of it once. she’s in the right here. derek is noble, perhaps, but an absolute idiot. then odette gets captured again, fuck me, then she gets rescued, again, and then instantly gets fucking killed by a fireball. well i mean fuck i guess. then she comes back even though she defintiely straight up died. in movie 1 you can wiggle the timing of it, held her last breath outta the power of love or whatever, but swan!odette got struck by a fireball and woulda crashed into the ground below, fucking her Right up. she straight up dead. so what the fuck gives. how the fuck is she back? which bitch is magic here. did derek fucking call upon dark magic to revive his wife? i have questions. also its just boring.

ok whats movie 4. christmas? THEIR FIRST CHRISTMAS???? youre telling me that the first three movies take place over the span of less than a year??? and season wise, probably like.. 6 months, tops? what the fuck? jesus. that paints derek in a bad fucking light, i tell ya. fucks him right up. god dammit derek. ‘chest with an r on it’ where did it come from? who put it there? ubertas castle isnt the same castle as the one derek has, since derek’s used to be rothbarts. that was a plot point. if i was gonna find some soul box of rothbarts, itd be in rothbarts old castle. so... why is it in ubertas? is my question? ok.

rothbart did you learn NOTHING from the first movie. stop turning her into a fucking swan. you fucking idiot what the fuck. god dammit. oh, so finally derek dies? took em 4 movies and 20 years. there we go. and is revived by the sprit of chr- oh my god. ok lets not worry about the christmas movie. whats the next one.

ok so i guess the reason she keeps going swan is because shes the Swan Princess. as like, an entity. she didnt become it because of rothbart, she was always it, like, spiritually? prophetically? ok. fine. shouldnt a stopped rothbart clipping her wings or whatever. and she is straight up magic? alright. fair. i buy that. it explains a lot. and the dark arts just straight up try to set her on fire? hardcore. but then you kill some random peasants instead. thats awkward.

ok honestly i think i just flat out dont understand what the 5th movie is about beyond like, prophecies, scullions (the fuck is a scullion? squirrels? ok. also the surname of an australian senator, how bout that) and like.... some shit. dunno what the fucks up with that but ok. we’ll just uh. leave that one. at least i didnt have to imagine odette and derek fucking because given how old i was when i watched the first movie im not sure i ever want to think about that (naturally now i have to. oh boy)

‘scully in ghost form’ ok we’ve gone off the rails here, i think. more fucking ghosts. but like, ghost animals. one who everyone can see? which sort of renders his death in the last film a bit moot, if he sticks around anyway. at least in the original three, people got REVIVED by like, Love or something. poor scully doesnt even get that. just has to be a ghost instead. far out.

oh piss off lads theyre like 12. no romance for the 12 year olds please.

‘uberta, still in love’ didnt uberta and rodgers confess in movie 4 or something. or did we all just sort of not deal with that. its not like they died or anything to wipe their memories. so why wouldnt they still be in love, is what im saying. im confused by this statement. oh my bad i skimmed, she fell in love with some other idiot. alright uberta. go for it i Guess. he’s probably some dark mage but alright dont worry about it.

‘count antonios submarine’ his what? his What? no straight up, his what? they have SUBMARINES????? but??? what?????? ? someone more up to date on swan princess lore, how does he have a submarine????? the tech level has been like, solid pre-victorian before this, right. like medieval english shit. where the fuck did he get a SUBMARINE. A SUBMARINE. what the fuck. ? like i know that the ‘reboot’ or 3d movies are kinda weird for the canon just in general but ? a submarine??? lads.

‘now called prince lucas’ it has not been adequately explained to me why this is. are these wikipedia pages written by children? im very confused. why would he be a prince. alise i get, she was adopted, but lucas still has parents. yea he was given up for adoption at some point, but he’s fine now. so. yknow. ? pardon. wouldnt just giving him a title like Lord or smth make more sense, narratively. like the whole thing earlier was that he felt about his status difference with alise (despite alise being an ex-peasant too? but thats fair) so wouldnt like, giving him a lord title or smth fit that without making No fucking sense. is there some other kingdom now? that he a prince of? wikipedia i need answers.

ok i saw the cover for the 8th movie and what the Fuck did they do to derek. no. my man. what the fuck.

something about that face is viscerally distressing to me. they havent put him on a over since movie 5, probably matching his uh. completely fucking irrelevance. but Oof. keep him off the cover, maybe. what the fuck. im wounded. also the fact yuri lowenthal voices reboot derek still fucks me up even though i have never heard him in the role. as you can tell. by me reading the wikipedia descriptions of all movies post original trilogy. oof.

so, Z’s huh. is that right. Z’s. ok so, first, Zorro. second, there is literally a character whose name starts with Z already part of the canon, that being Zelda from the third movie. she’s dead as fuck, but the track record here prevents nothing.

‘ghost rope’ mhm. ‘glass is the only thing that can hold a ghost’ i cant tell if this contradicts the ghost box from movie 4 or not but i feel like it does. i feel like everything i was just told about ghost mechanics contradicts the 4th movie in some way. then again the fucking rothbart box is just a ??? where did that come from. who put that there. did the fucking forbidden arts manifest it. lads? the box confuses me, still, and its been like 15 minutes since i read that page anyway, at LEAST.

so, ghost rope. and the Z’s are N’s. oh ok. cool.

ok again, the submarine. why is there a submarine. i cant handle that.

ok so what ive learnt is that the first two movies are probably the most cohesive, and at the stretch the first four are probably a decent set. basically, the first movie is fine, and you can watch any up until 4 with it still basically making sense (bar the FUcking Ghost Box???? what the fuck). decently cohesive on plot alone. the 3d jump for movie 4 is good reason to cut it out, but if you dont give a shit then thats fine, right.

everything after 4 is just a ??? ok.

a fucking submarine, REALLY