#which of their pieces they'd recommend you read etc.

[randomfoggytiger]

I’ve been an x files fan for years now (since 2008ish) but fan fic has never been my thing. If I wanted to give it another go, what writers or pieces of fic would be a good place for me to start? Thanks! 😊

What a dream request, thank you!

Not much of a fic reader? Hm. I drifted to fanfiction because I wanted a canonical hole plugged in; but it sounds like you're looking for quality.

I'm narrowing these suggestions to long-form fics, and going to try to keep them as "fandom approved" as possible. (I'm also cutting back on the "famfic" recs because that's not everyone's cup of tea~.)

Authors whose works could (one could argue, should) be published as novels, in no particular order:

@amplifyme/Lydia Bower, @aloysiavirgata, @slippinmickeys,

@cecilysass, @teethnbone, @dreamingofscully, @sixhours,

@mashnotesofthemythopoeic/Penumbra, @sigritandtheelves/Darla,

@onpaperfirst, @melforbes, @ghostbustermelanieking/skuls,

Jenna Tooms, @seek-its-opposite, @settle-down-frohike,

@frostbitepandaaaaa, @leiascully, @darwin-xf, Beshter,

@scenes-in-between/scullywolf, @scullylikesscience

Here's a brief rundown on each author, to the best of my abilities:

amplifyme

My mother's embraces are frightening in their intensity, and I can feel her fear as though it seeps from her pores. Mulder's arms hold me easily but fully. And there is a calming effect in his touch. He restores me to myself, makes me strong again. I wish I had taken the chance and discovered that years ago.

-Dance Without Sleeping

One of the OGs. Her writing explores the paths of Mulder's and Scully's minds. The Scully in her stories is pragmatic, matter-of-fact, and protective of her secrets. The Mulder in her stories is tender, predictably mercurial, and secretive, as well. The most direct admittance can be the most damaging, and the most healing. Her longest work is, I believe, Dance Without Sleeping; but my favorite, though short, happens to be Light Don't Sleep. Her Ao3 is here.

aloysiavirgata

“That’s a fair question, Senator,” Scully observes in her liquid nitrogen voice. She leans forward in her seat, just a little, just enough, to remind him that predators have eyes at the front of their heads. Scully crosses her legs and gives the Senator the full force of her blue eyes, the hard angles of her good cheekbones.  

She is magnificent, Mulder thinks, smitten. She is Themis, she is Ma’at. One day she will devour the hearts of the unrighteous, his own included.

-Singing of Mount Abora

One of the OGs. She treads the line between poetry and prose so seamlessly you are left, baffled, by her intelligence. Her writing features Mulder and Scully with a little bite: neither are fools, and neither will be trifled with. (They're also wickedly intelligent nerds.) Mulder is Jewish (though that rarely comes up) and was married before (though that only comes up when it comes up.) Canon halts in Season 7, but that doesn't stop her from writing Season 9 masterpieces with Mulder and Scully and their son-- which is where I'd recommend you begin, with By Falling In and In. If that's not your cup of tea, I'd say catch up on her canon divergent Waters of Babylon, Petrichor, and Singing of Mount Abora. Her Ao3 is here.

slippingmickeys

The boy winced and inhaled sharply as her fingers ran over the cleft where the fibula met the talus and she rocked back on her heels, eyeing the darkening horizon. Did he have people nearby? Could she leave him here without guilt? She didn’t really have the time or inclination to take on a project — she and Mulder had tried that before — banding together with other survivors, and it had always ended poorly. And boys his age, as few as she had seen, made her uncomfortable. Her subconscious would scan their features, looking for a genetic echo of the Scully-Mulder’s. Mulder would have to pull her aside and whisper “it’s not him,” and she didn’t have the space in her heart for the guilt. Even now she had to ignore the blue of his eyes and the way his gritted teeth had the same gnathic slant as the only man she’d ever loved.

-North of Zero

One of the OGs. Her Mulder and Scully are practical, capable, sleek survivors. Her writing exists somewhere between the clack of a gun slide and the omnipresence scent of a wild pine forest. She's written extensively on... everything: Colonization, space, POL, case files, mytharc, everything; and well. I'd recommend North of Zero for a starter. Her Ao3 is here.

cecilysass

It’s Mulder, she reminds herself. No matter how long you may have been gone, or what has happened in your absence, you know what to expect from Mulder.

At last he shuffles through the door, and it’s him, definitely him: head bent, looking weary and wilted. He turns to lock the door again, evidently not paying very much attention to his surroundings.

Her heart constricts. “Mulder,” she voices softly.

She can see his whole body go still from behind, but he doesn’t look right away. His back remains to her.

-Pause

One of the OGs. Her Mulder and Scully are weighed by secrets, by their unspoken. Her writing dwells in the silences; and the tones of her work shift depending on the narrative: insular and psychologically exploratory, fast-paced and bitterly overwhelming, slow and unspooling and peaceful-- but always with a bittersweet aftertaste. I would do a disservice if I didn't recommend A Boy on the Beach first; but my personal favorite is Pause (and All the Dead Mulders and Not Orpheus, Not Eurydice.) Her Ao3 is here.

darwin_xf

Mulder. Her genius. Who happened also to be her blithering idiot. A fresh swell of affection overtook her. This is how it was for her, even just talking to him. One minute she was standing in the shallows enjoying or enduring or surviving a day at the beach, whichever kind of day it was. The next she'd find herself walloped and rolled by the rogue wave of her feelings for him. Then she was surfacing, sputtering, salt-blind, struggling to find the steady line of the horizon.

-Vox Mulder: Fired and Wired

One of the OGs. Darwin's writing is clipped and "action" focused. Her Mulder and Scully are fond and quippy and silently torturing themselves with their own repressions or secrets. Vox Mulder: Fired and Wired covers the IVF arc concurrent with Mulder's (secret) brain disease diagnosis; and her notes tearing into canon's handling of the latter arc are incredibly detailed, incredibly satisfying, and incredibly hilarious. Her Ao3 is here.

dreamingofscully

They searched, staying together with Scully’s single flashlight. As she suspected, they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. The cellar was devoid of sound and light, not a single rat or insect scurrying about. No more traces of the unknown substance.

They followed the trail of viscous fluid back to their room. Their adrenaline-fueled trek left her exhausted, and she was hopeful she would be able to sleep for a few more hours before dawn. Not even her fear could break through the cottony haze that clouded her mind. Collapsing on the bed, Mulder pulled off her slippers. 

-Surely, to the sea

One of the OGs. Her writing is practical and pleading-- the veneer that Mulder and Scully front, and the truth. Her Scully has teeth but prefers silence and distance. Her Mulder stubbornly walks the thin line between opening his partner up or closing her back together tighter. Trust-- in each other, in themselves-- can be broken and mended with the right words, the right meaning. I recommend starting with Surely, to the Sea (and my favorite short fic is this one.) Her Ao3 is here.

Frostbite Panda

“I make you a whole person,” she whispers. The slam of sudden memory is heady, destabilizing, threatening to spin her clean from reality. 

He leans forward, elbows on his knees, a sound escaping him that she cannot identify. Truth be told, he looks a bit ridiculous— wrapped in a green sleeping bag looking like a dormant pupa, not the wrecked and ruined man he was. 

-Four Days on the 63rd Parallel

One of the OGs (I believe.) Her writing is grand and touching, a microcosm of the macro effects Mulder and Scully face alongside, and with, each other. Her Scully is reluctant, doubting Mulder's beliefs but trusting him; and her Mulder is courageous and wallowing, afraid to try for fear of rejection. Four Days on the 63rd Parallel (and its follow-up In a Perfect World) explores what would have happened if Mulder and Scully had been trapped in Antarctica, in a snocat, alone, until help arrived. Her Ao3 is here, and requires you to be logged in.

Jenna Tooms

Then there's the matter of Mulder and his reaction to scissors and the razor. When he was first released from the hospital I took him to his old barber. He made it into a seat, and even let the barber tie the cloth around his neck. At the first flash of the scissors, though, he was up and out so fast for a moment I only stood in the waiting area dumbfounded, the baby in my arms.

He will, however, let me cut his hair and trim his beard--which he grew to cover his facial scars. I let him keep it as long as he lets me keep it neat.

-An Acceptable Level of Happiness

One of the OGs (if I recall.) Her writing is just north of canon, veering off to give us better, brighter spots to land Mulder and Scully. Her Mulder and Scully are soft, seemingly delicate with a touch of steel underneath. They've taken a beating, have internalized that beating, and are being supported wholeheartedly by the other person in their partnership. If you want canon-ish, I'd recommend An Acceptable Level of Happiness; if you want mytharc-ish further down the timeline, I'd suggest Truly, Madly, Deeply, and if you want canon veered off from and returned to-ish after Requiem (16 years later), then I'd strongly lobby for Shooting Star. Her Ao3 requires a log-in, here; but Jenna's works are also on Gossamer (here).

leiascully

“Did you see this?”

She blinked at the screen of Mulder’s phone and gently pushed his wrist until it was at a distance she could focus on. Technology changed but Mulder didn’t. She couldn’t count the near misses with magazines and file folders, the threat of papercuts across her cheeks.

“Ford isn’t going to make Tauruses anymore,” he told her before she’d had a chance to actually read the headline. That was also standard procedure. Mulder was a scrolling marquee of odd headlines and interesting trivia. He was the original clickbait, drawing her in with his promises to change her world and alter her perception.

-Taurus Season

One of the OGs. leiascully's prose captures the essence and magic of ordinary things. Her Scully is secretly a wanderer, her Mulder an errant domestic. There is reciprocity in their strengths and weaknesses; and the world is always more beautifully strange together. I recommend her Visitor series, which rewrites Revival canon along necessary lines. Her Ao3 is here, and requires a log-in.

Penumbra

They slipped among the dumpsters at the back of the building and into the empty quivering night, jaywalking the shadows up the hill streets, ringing the manhole covers. False planetary lights floated about in the foggy sky. Scully opened her fawn umbrella. Mulder glanced often behind them, his fingers pressed into the suspension muscles of her hard young back.

-Bad Radio

One of the OGs. Her Scully is strong and silent and will not be swayed; her Mulder is withdrawn and foreboding. Her most infamous work is Heuvelmans' On the Tracks, but I know her better through this post Gethsemane cancer arc fic: its darkness, its inevitability, its immovable-object-meets-unstoppable-force. Her Ao3 is here.

Prufrock's Love

"He says a horse bit him," Duana translated for her mother. Duana stripped off Lord William's tunic and ruined shirt to reveal the wound. "He damages more clothing..."

Lord William stooped to show Caithrin the twin rows of tooth marks on his left shoulder, still telling his woeful tale....

Not sure what was expected of her and thoroughly intimidated, Caithrin did as she would with her own sons. She made the sympathetic face and clucked over him like a mother hen. Lord William, pacified, settled down on the stool by the fire to let Duana doctor him.

-Hiraeth

One of the OGs. Her Mulder and Scully are messed up, secrets upon secrets, love and miscommunication and chaos towards each other and themselves. Prufrock's prose and dry wit can't be denied; and she's most notably known for Belghor's Prime, a Mulder time-traveling story, and Paracelsus, a Civil War fic that loosely locks into her sprawling, transformative "past lives" series. I, personally, prefer Hiraeth, because the Mulder and Scully I read there aligns (mostly) with my interpretation of canon. Her Ao3 is here.

onpaperfirst

The chip was round and under a microscope the texture looked like fish scales. 

The procedure was over in ten minutes. Three tiny stitches at the back of her neck with a gauze pad taped on top. It shouldn’t have worked, but it did.

-Snakebitten

One of the OGs (if I recall.) Her Mulder and Scully are inherently bound, even if the plot has driven a wedge between them. They speak the same language with different words, they work back to each other with lightning speed, they are chummy, they are contented. Their humor is fantastic. Her longest, angstiest work is Snakebitten, a rewrite leading up to The Pine Bluff Variant; but my personal ones are (surprise, surprise) her "part one" and "part two" short fics, Home, Home and Honey Hi. Her Ao3 is here.

seek_its_opposite

She leaves her rumpled partner in the car with the window cracked while she goes to the front desk, glancing back possessively over her shoulder as the woman behind the counter gets their keys. One room, two beds. “I’m not letting you out of my sight, Mulder.”

She keeps seeing him like she found him, on his knees before the ghosts of his childhood. She sees him praying to the barrel of his gun.

-photosensitivity

One of the OGs (I think?) She writes incredible meta on the series; but she's also written one of my favorite short fics, ever (and I have a lot of those.) You can navigate to the rest of her Ao3 through this link, but you'll have to get through photosensitivity first. >:DDD

settle-down-frohike

“I’m fine, Scully,” indignantly going back to the task at hand. And she’d have believed him too, if he wasn’t looking through her, if his pitch hadn’t been a little too high, if he hadn’t forgotten the fact that her shoes were the very last thing to put on and she wasn’t even out of her hospital gown yet. She allowed it out of pity, mostly. Or humor. But his hands shook, fumbling with the laces like a feening alcoholic.

-for the WIP prompt: hospital

One of the OGs. She writes distraught Mulder incredibly well; and balances him with a Scully who is dry, caring, and bouyant all in one breath. I can't rave enough about her short fics (their links can be found here); but I'd recommend this and this and this because they tie together to form a Redux II whole. Her Ao3 is here.

sigritandtheelves

The world is different now, after so much has been lost. It moves a little slower, takes for granted a little less. It is still a dangerous place—because fear is catching and learning that things are not as they seem can make some go mad with denial and rage and terror at the loss of their footing. But it is also more peaceful, in some ways—because loss reminds us to hold love close. Because all the hearts that stopped beating are still felt in their absence. Because people, in the end, come together in crisis. They don’t only tear each other apart.

“I think we did okay,” he murmurs. “With our quarter century.”

Scully leans her head back to look at him. “Just okay?”

“Mm hmm.”

-Advent

One of the OGs. Her writing is pure sensation: cotton and earth and jeans and nine o'clock shadows and soft skin and the tangible grasp of wishes come true. Advent is her longest fic; but I implore you, on my hands and knees, to read all four of her pages on Ao3-- they're not only the gateway drug to other incredible, incredible short fic writers (ghostbustermelanieking, @baronessblixen, @o6666666, all the authors mentioned here, and so many, many more) but are also a shining example of family fic done well-- a very hard skill to pull off. Her Ao3 is here.

sixhours

Back to sleep. Sleep. No big deal. Just go to sleep.

A minute passes, then two. He’s not tired, in fact, he feels incredibly awake. His heart is pounding, a distracting pulse in his ears. The bed is too soft, too deep, too…real. He can hear her breathing next to him, feel the warmth radiating off her body, his senses screaming at the level of detail, the texture, the vividness of it all. Instinct is a dog with a bone, and it won’t let go.

Something’s wrong.

-Lucidity

One of the OGs. Her writing clips along at an even pace, the story driving Mulder and Scully ever forward. Mulder is most often on the outs, Scully most often peering at her partner silently, trying to figure him out and draw him in. But mostly, the two function independently of each other, content to drift further or nearer as long as they are together. I would recommend Lucidity as a primer. Her Ao3 is here.

touchstoneaf

He did not soften, at first.  Did not edge away, nor did he lean into her.  Much like that awful night when their office had burnt he simply stood cold with shock and while she supported him; the steadfast fidelity of their bond never questioned in the decade that they had been together.

“I was there,” she murmured into his shoulder.  /I’ll always be here./  He could accept it now.  She was finally able to press her arms about him in the night.  Feel the strong bones beneath unblemished flesh; amazed that he was even alive for her to hold after an ordeal that had indeed taken him from her for so long that she had lost all hope.  She shuddered and cinched her arms tighter; felt his ribs shift beneath the silky envelope of his skin.  They creaked in protest, but he did not move, and she spoke like one driven. 

-Amor Fati: Destinata (The Fated Love), Act Three

One of the OGs. So OG, in fact, that the butchery of Season 9's mytharc pushed her to write a mythology replacement. Scully is fearful, anxious, but strong to her core. Mulder is lonely, and loving, and afraid to slip back into dark places. Both push each other to become better than they believed they could be. Her Amor Fati, Destinata (The Fated Love) series is still being written; but it's detailed reconstruction is well-worth the read. Her Ao3 is here.

I separated these two authors out because they're the x and y axes of my personal taste:

melforbes

She falls asleep before him. In some ways, it’s a burden to share a bed with someone, not a pleasure; if he moves, he fears he’ll wake her, but it’s horrible to stay so still for so long, especially when he can’t sleep. But he can see her eyelashes in the dark, and her cheek is squashed against her own pillow, and she checked the room when they arrived to make sure that there were plenty of tissues. Had there been a couch here, even a divan, he would’ve taken to that instead, let her sleep soundly without him. The day of the wedding - he almost tenses at the word wedding, not because he dislikes it but because it feels so strange and unreal, as if it never really happened even though he remembers it so easily and comfortably - they had a makeshift reception in her apartment, just cutting cake with her mother and then sharing slices with the Gunmen after her mother left. If anything, it felt more like a funeral than a wedding reception, so many questions tiptoed around, everything too urgent and human to be a celebration, but between guests, she grabbed part of her slice with her bare fingers and pressed the cake against his face unexpectedly, and he looked at her with surprise, and she laughed in an inward way that made her shoulders move. 

-seaglass blue

One of the OGs (I believe.) I have to start here because seaglass blue is grafted onto my heart. Set before Gethsemane, the author based it on a real couple's journey with impending death; and the way she wrote Mulder's POV-- how she kept us always locked in his head each and every day of his honeymoon with Scully-- is forever burned on my psyche. I don't see the emotional damage, if you will, as unnecessary or melodramatic or traumatic-- it's just a window into the slow approach to the end, or a fear of it. (However, if the writing is too "overlapping" or "run-on" for your taste, I'd recommend aloysiavirgata's gorgeously succinct prose, mentioned above~.) All of her works are fantastic; and, oddly, the rest are usually beautifully cozy (if you can find them on her page.) (Note: authors with their own uniquely similar styles include @teethnbone and @enigmaticdrblockhead -- can't recommend their work enough, particularly The Ansted Graft and this list here, respectively.) mel's Ao3 is here.

skuls

They follow Mulder's trail, Scully's heart thudding too hard against her ribs. Skinner is telling her that Mulder wouldn't do anything crazy when it comes, the headache. Pounding against her skull. And then she hears Will crying out: Dad!

Scully bends over, stomach against her knees, clutching her temple. “Scully?” Skinner is saying. “Scully, what's going on?” But she can't hear him over the roaring in her eyes. William is still speaking, rapid-fire in her mind: They're hurting him, Mom, they're hurting him! Make them stop!

In a flash, she can see what William sees. Mulder barely conscious, being dragged outside through the snow. An axe in the hand of his attacker. “Scully, are you alright?” Skinner protests.

-silent conversations

One of the new recruits (I think.) Her writing is an art form: painting broad, sweeping pictures on the tiniest canvases, in the shortest sentences. Her descriptions, characterizations, and dialogue all serve the plot-- not a hair out of place and not a nook or cranny neglected. I will never be over her short fics, but her longer works are crafted carefully, too. If you want a complete rewrite of the entire series' mythology, then the Half-Light universe does it, and does it better; if you want a Season 8 casefile, then snow in april manipulates Mulder and Scully to a very sinister town; if you want Season 7 to properly deal with Mulder's brain disease, encephalon's got you covered; if you want William to stay with Mulder and Scully, William AU (relent, silent conversations, noises echoing, not out loud) bends in that direction; and if you want a complete rewrite of Samantha's abduction, california winter is where I'd start. Her Ao3 is here.

And lastly, do you want to read long-form fill in series? These three are masterfully done.

Beshter

There were few things in the world that Dana Scully could imagine were more arduous in her the world than family dinner night. Perhaps climbing Mt. Everest in the middle of a howling blizzard would be one. Maybe crawling out of the Amazon rainforest with a broken limb would be another. Even walking single-handedly into the desert with just one canteen of water between you and horrible death under the scorching sun could trump the monthly gathering of the Scully clan at her parent's house in Baltimore to have dinner with her parents.

One of the OGs. Her X-files Seasons covers every crack, crevice, and canyon in the show: Scully's life and family separate from Mulder, the journey drawing her closer into Mulder's world, and her own transformation from the green agent she was to the woman of diamond she became. Her Ao3 is here.

scullylikesscience

Over the course of the weekend, Mulder hardly talked at all. When he did speak, he was abrupt, flippant, and sometimes defensive. He still didn’t want to be touched, nor did it seem to Scully that he wanted to touch her. He kept a wall up around him, a protective shield. She tried to give him what she thought he wanted, space and distance, while at the same time trying to let him know that she was there if he needed her. It was a difficult balance. He seemed glad of her company, yet disinclined to talk to her at all.

-Chapter 87

One of the OGs. Her He is the Master of His Fate, She is the Captain of Her Soul series exquisitely fills in Season 7, Season 8, Season 9, IWTB, Season 10, and S11 while filing over and rewriting the incredibly stupid canon decisions along the way. Her Ao3 is here.

scullywolf

Mulder stirred again and mumbled something she couldn’t make out, and she wasn’t sure if he was talking in his sleep or actually trying to tell her something. She leaned over to put her face closer to his, listening.

“They’re not the same.”

She frowned. “What’s not?”

He shifted, blinking up at her. “Moth men. You might think they’re the same as the Jersey Devil, and the circumstances are similar, but they’re not the same.”

“You mean aside from the fact that this is Florida, not New Jersey?”

-Detour

One of the OGs (I believe.) Her TXF: Scenes in Between series plucks one moment from each episode and builds upon it, providing a window into either Mulder's or Scully's psyches. She even tackles Mulder's (alleged) Season 7 brain disease. Her Ao3 is here.

If you want more fic recs, I have lists catalogued under my Collector's Edition tag. If you want even more fic recs, I wrote a fanfic resource post here. And if those aren't enough to appease your hunger, @lilydalexf and @fine-nephrit have pinned master posts that will probably have something for you.

Hope this helped~! And drop back in sometime-- let me know if you read something you enjoyed, or found fanfic still isn't your preference. :DDDD

[khaire-traveler]

Hello!! I'm kinda new (not really, I've been sense july) but I've been working on praying and praying more often

I've been wanting to give an offering to Ouranos and I wanna like say a prayer while I make the offering but I'm nervy to do it because I've never interacted with a primordial deity before

Do you have anything to recommend/ or say? I could also use websites (besides Theoi. Com)

Khaire, i-killed-a-child. Having a child murderer in my inbox is a fascinating thing. /joking /light-hearted

My best advice is and will always be to just go for it. It's pretty hard to do something explicitly wrong when reaching out to a deity, in my experience, and oftentimes, it requires the intention of being a jerk. It doesn't seem like you have any jerky intentions, so I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Just try your best, be yourself, and maybe give a subtle offering before the prayer, such as a glass of water, a piece of bread, or a tasty treat (candy, pastries, fruits, etc.). The best thing you could ever do is be who you are and be earnest about it. Say whatever you have planned, and be open.

If you want more resources and information, please check my pinned post which even has a link to a ton of resources. Websites, when it comes to these things, can be kind of tricky. I would sooner recommend a book over a website, personally, but I understand reading can be a bit of a task sometimes. Try listening to an audiobook if you can; I've been told those are much more helpful than people immediately think they'd be.

Good luck to you, and take care. 🧡

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

Have you a creative process when you make comics or stories ? (Storyboard ect..) and if yes, can you explain it please ??

it depends on what the comic is. Some of them, as a recent example being the upcoming Frilda confession comic, I just come up with it and start drawing. Some of the other's however I need more preparation.

Knowing where a comic is taking place helps to find/look for any references I might need be it screenshots of backgrounds, character model sheets/screenshots, etc etc. If there's a new character or place then either in a series bible (like for my Leilana comics) or on scrap paper make sure to do some rough drafts until u find the right design. Trust me, it'll save a lot of time and paper, there's nothing worse than wearing down the paper with constant erasing only for when u finally get a design u like to have phantom lines all around from how damaged the paper is.

When writing a comic in my head, I'm able to hear the characters' voices and how they'd respond to what the scenario is. Going back and editing it is easier (tho' it makes me redo the whole scene which...yea...) however when I get an opportunity I begin writing things down. This part has the most cuts to every version that was in my head until it looks like it makes the most sense. I'll ask a friend to look it over so I can edit it again and once that's done then I get started on the rest (when I can, I ain't drawing a 4 page comic at 3 am...). Sometimes the script on paper can be wildly different from what was in your head and that's fine, I see it as ur hand(s) (hands if ur typing) editing ur brain and only putting down the important parts of the story.

Because I've been doing this for a while, I can read the script and come up with the panel placements in my head, sketching out the panels with my color-sketch pencils and making adjustments as needed (remember to draw lightly), do brief sketches of the characters and the backgrounds (where needed) and then adding the dialogue, sometimes I change up the dialogue from the script when I notice that it won't fit a word balloon that well or awkwardly, then once it's all ready I ink the dialogue, word balloons and panels in that order. Then ink the characters and backgrounds and effects. I add whatever else I need to do, shading, marker, etc etc and then it's done. Scan it in and either post it or hold on if it's a piece of a larger part.

Don't be afraid to try both scripted and unscripted comics either. I'd recommend scripting it if it's longer, and unscripted can be good for random jokes. A mixture of the two are also fine, I tend to have an outline for my Leilana comics, basic idea on what characters, setting, dialogue/jokes and then once I get the reference stuff done I start drawing. Tho' for the longer arcs, I make sure to write out a script so I can know how many comic strips I'll be drawing.

This method of course is how I find it best for me, it might not be the best for u and so if something doesn't work then don't worry about cutting it out of the step process. Comics r a fun form of art & storytelling and I highly encourage more ppl to try it no matter the skill level.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

saw your post about reading a book in a medieval setting that didn't seem to mention christianity at all. i love medieval historical settings but i dont often find anything where the setting contributes meaningfully to the plot, or where daily life is faithfully represented to some degree. i know it's a high bar but name of the rose is the only really good one I've found. do you have any novels with medieval settings you do recommend?

i enjoyed the story of silence by alex myers for the medievalism of its setting. it is, as the title suggests, a retelling of a medieval text, so i would've been pretty damn disappointed if it didn't lean heavily into its medievalisms. in particular it makes a lot of use of the cultural christianity of the setting e.g. using paternosters to mark time, days being divided by services, knowing the time because of church bells, lodging with a religious order while travelling, etc -- all the things the other book i was talking about notably omitted (made more pronounced by the fact that i read the two one after the other)

could honestly not tell you how much i enjoyed the rest of it because my brain yeets every piece of information about a book from my mind as soon as i finish it lol. it left a fairly positive impression in my brain though.

there were a lot of medieval-set books that i read as a child which i enjoyed and which felt realistic to me then/when i've reread them, but i don't know how they'd hold up compared to modern research! e.g. i loved the load of unicorn by cynthia harnett, and rosemary sutcliff is always a good time

i don't know of many other recent publications (esp. adult fiction) that have a strongly medieval setting that aren't also a retelling of a medieval text though, but that is partly because i have avoided reading quite a lot of pseudomedieval books because so many of them have caused me suffering. i also don't read a lot of Pure Historical novels like your bernard cornwells or whatever, i'm not really into big chunky novels about real historical events, i want pacey genre fiction in a medieval setting if that makes sense. but probably there are some better-researched books in that genre for the purely medieval details

the book i was vagueing about was a "historical" romance novel that had clearly been a fantasy romance novel at some point earlier in its life (judging by the acknowledgments) which the author had retrospectively attempted to set in the fourteenth century with what seemed like almost zero research into what material culture and everyday life in the fourteenth century would be like, let alone how people would experience and express emotions

tbh it was massively disappointing because so many historical romance novelists put a shitton of research into their regency/victorian romance novels and i wish we could have a medieval romance novel that did the same instead of half-arsing it! or i wish that author had left their book as a fantasy romance novel so that i could have still enjoyed everything else about it :( alas. i will just continue to think resentful thoughts in the direction of that book whenever i see it in shops or in rec lists lol

oh ETA: it's ages since I read it but I remember Hild being pretty solid for early medieval vibes? and the sequel just came out so I will probably try to reread it at some point and give an updated opinion

[mcalhenwrites]

I don't know if I can express how much it means to me that people like my writing. How much that is actively healing me and bringing me the confidence in my writing that I lacked for so long. Which I know doesn't make it sound genuine, but when you've heard negative criticisms for so long, it's hard to believe the ones who counter that. I was told for years to have confidence in my writing, and I just couldn't find it. Some of those same people told me to have confidence, but then they'd also make fun of my writing/characters (or characterization for fanfics), they'd defend their friends for insulting me, they never cared about boosting my works when I posted them but cornered me if I hadn't immediately seen what they posted of their own writing, just plain ignoring me unless I could benefit them with crochet patterns/reading their stories/etc. (Some of these things overlapped.) I would spend most of my day working on my writing or reading books, and people would say, "You're not even trying hard enough to get better." (How many of them immediately ditched me when I said I wasn't going to crochet anymore so I could focus on writing? Heh. The number isn't zero, that's for sure. Note to anyone who does crafts: don't become that person known for gifts and be cautious about how often and who you gift pieces to...) I'm moving away from that level of damage. I feel a lot better about my writing. I don't feel as much shame about what I write, how I write, and why I write. There are people out here supporting me. They're buying my published books! I'm finding so much joy now. I will go on r/AO3 and just start upvoting all the celebration posts bc they make me happy. (Highly recommend doing this btw) Anyhow, this is a big thank you to all the people who have supported me, whether it's on Ko-Fi, Patreon, buying my book, leaving comments on AO3, sending asks, etc. (Links can be found easily by looking at my blog, but I wanna get back on topic.) I write dark, heavy content, and my intention is to break hearts or make people think. I'm getting feedback now that I do exactly that, and I'm finally feeling prouder and prouder of myself. People say that you can't find real confidence if you base it on what others think, but honestly, like many things? If people are tearing you down, it helps to have people lifting you up. We're losing the spirit of community in all ways, and that includes supporting artists and writers. My stories matter. They matter to me, they matter to other people. They are so worth telling. I'm glad I didn't give up. And honestly, maybe it's a bit petty but let me be petty: I'm still going, people who didn't want me to, and I'm not only doing fine, but I think it'll only get better with time for me! <3

[esta-elavaris]

22, 24, 28 please <3

22. do you ever worry about public reaction to what you’re writing? how do you get past that?

Oh, all of the time. I used to have panic attacks over CTW, and even now I still think every time I post a chapter that this will be the one that exposes me as an absolute hack and everybody will unfollow and unsub 💀 I don't think it goes away, I think it just get easier to act in spite of. I remember when I was at uni, I gave my novel writing teacher the first chapter of my novel (the one I'm still working on now lmao) and when I had a meeting with him a week later to get my feedback, I walked in already apologising for how bad it was.

He had to stop me, be like "Lucy please just read the feedback, here" as he handed me his notes, and the feedback was literally 99% praise, paired with one minor piece of criticism over a paragraph that I already knew wasn't great. It's just how I am. CTW was written years after that, and there are still times when I'm furiously justifying plot decisions because I was certain they'd be hated and I was defending myself against hate that didn't even end up sprouting up (the captaincy of the Dutchman was a big instance of that), we really are our own worst enemies a lot of the time.

I would highly recommend reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. But also, just get used to doing the thing in spite of that fear. It's definitely disproportionate considering I don't really write anything too controversial, but this is the internet and you do occasionally get people just looking for problems. The funny part being that when they sprout up, I usually just laugh at them - the thought of them cropping up is worse than when they actually do. I just struggle to respect the opinions of people who spend their time being shitty to artists online, not least because they NEVER have any of their own stuff posted.

The only way I'd be able to take non-constructive criticism seriously would be if it came from a respected mutual because I'd know it was coming from a well-meaning place, but my lovely mutuals would never be non-constructive in their criticism, so the point is moot.

24. how do you recharge when you’re not feeling creative?

So I write daily as a rule, and after around four months of that (which were challenging, I won't lie, back when I started in 2020), whether or not I "felt" creative stopped being a factor in that equation. The more you show up, the more your creativity does, it really is like a muscle. Some days are still better than others -- I did find this year that having other creative outlets helps a lot. I think about writing and plot decisions etc. so often while I'm crocheting, because it gets me into that same zone but without the added stress of staring at an empty word document, which can be very intimidating at times.

Reading also helps! Fic is great, ofc, but I really can't emphasise enough how good it is to read books, and cast a wide net for that reading material. Rn I'm doing three reading challenges, one that revolves around classics, another where you read a book from every single country in the world, and a third where it's all book recs from mutuals, on top of whatever I'm mood reading, and I always have at least one non-fiction book on the go, too. Some of those reads end up being absolute stinkers, but it's a necessary process.

28. your least favorite part of the writing process

Descriptions! Dialogue comes so quickly and so easily to me - so many of my drafts start out just looking like a script because I'll get all of the dialogue down and then I have to fill in the bits in the middle. I'm not great with metaphor, and I struggle to wedge in my descriptions in a way that feels natural and not shoehorned in.

When I read back old stuff, though, I don't think that struggle shows too much, which is nice.

I also hate edits, because if I spend too long doing that I'll end up not wanting to post the chapter, so I have to find a nice balance between proofreading and not giving myself a chance to freak myself out...which is how an embarrassing number of typos and mistakes slip through.

Thank you!! 💜

Ask game ✨

[noglorysavehonor]

Just read the book If You Could See The Sun by Ann Liang.

I liked it a lot, especially considering it's not really my genre! It was almost everything I wanted out of a Gen Z, class-conscious, YA straight romance book. As someone who isn't Chinese, but has had many Third Culture friends, I really enjoyed reading its exploration of the Chinese / Third Culture Kid experience.

I do think for the author's first novel it's a very strong work. The characterization and growth of the protagonist was strong, and felt emotionally authentic. The exploration of class and race and culture shock is well-integrated to the plot, and feels neither grimdark nor saccharine... the people just feel like people, not paragons or villains. I think both of these areas were real accomplishments!

My main critiques are about the ending, which IMO is also always the hardest part to pull off. It also means I can't easily talk about my feelings in detail without spoilers, so I'll put em under a readmore.

Overall, for my tastes, I'd give the book a B (85/100). But if a YA romance set in an international highschool in Beijing with class consciousness and mild supernatural elements sounds like your kind of book, I strongly recommend it. I knew going in that it's not my normal thing, and I enjoyed it anyways!

Okay, my (long) thoughts on the ending under the cut:

[Before I start, in case you're a megafan (or the actual author herself??): These critiques come from a place of love and respect; I Am Not A Hater. I just have strong personal opinions about what I want to see in a story ending, and wanted to express them while analyzing how the book didn't fulfill them. My opinions are not facts, art is subjective, etc. ANYWAYS.]

My biggest complaint is pretty common with the way straight romances are often portrayed, and is a major pet peeve of mine:

The payoff of a romance, for me, is hearing the other person say what they like about the protagonist!

Henry's interest in Alice is always implied, of course, but there's never a scene where he outright says every single little thing he adores about Alice (flustering her terribly in the process!) Instead, the payoff of the romance is watching him flex his richboy power to help her (which is great, and I don't begrudge it) and then the kiss.

The kiss is...it's fine. I understand making it the center piece. But I wish it had more to back it up.

I think this sort of approach to writing romance is based on the idea that... you want to leave the romantic lead vague so that the reader can fill in what elements they'd like best. But for me, I want the complete opposite approach. I want to know exactly what these two people are like, and exactly why they like each other!! The whole pull of romance media is seeing two weirdos fit each other perfectly!!

First-person romance especially is so good when we finally get to hear how the protagonist is being interpreted by outside viewers. Which the novel does explore, a bit, with her Study Machine nickname! But I was so sad when it didn't give Henry the chance to explain himself and let us understand him better.

That would have allowed us to reread the whole book while understanding what Henry's moments of bare affection are about! That sense of dramatic romantic irony is so delicious and makes romance stories so re-readable! AND- wouldn't it have been wonderful to watch Alice try her best to deflect and argue Henry out of every positive trait he lists?? To get almost ANGRY that he dares to love her as a flawed person, not just for her successes!!!

AUGH.

Anyways sdkdflkjsd those are my Romance Critiques. (I had the same major complaint with Kimi no Na wa, too...)

My other main critique is: It feels like her characterization as being strongly self-analytical fell off at the end.

I think the best way of pointing it out is the scene in which she lies to her Baba about the true nature of the Beijing Ghost app without feeling a shred of guilt. It felt a little odd given her characterization of strong guilt and filial piety in the rest of the book.

Plus, it's a tough pill to swallow that... she had this entire major thing going on in her life, and she's just not ever going to open up about it with her family, who clearly deeply love her. I recognize that it would be pretty hard to do so given her family dynamic and potential legal consequences. But still, I'd at least like an acknowledgement that it's a sucky position for her to be in, to have to lie (for the rest of her life?) about that.

And while she does recognize that she's been chasing what other people find valuable and not considering what she wants... and she also realizes that if she, as a kid of a poor family, is offered A Million Yuan to do a crime, that's deeply coercive and she shouldn't be held completely at fault while the rich person gets off scotch free (we LOVE the class consciousness!!!)...

I guess I would have loved to see her put two and two together and recognize that Airington is genuinely a bad place for her to be. That she is destroying her health, committing a HUGE amount of crime, and has ZERO social life, all so she can fit to a mold that wasn't meant for her, and kicked her out as soon as her desperation became too evident.

Which, like, she got a chance to call the school out for those things, which is awesome! Very necessary catharsis! And she was close to realizing this stuff, like in the hotel scene where she can't bring herself to enjoy the socialization. She just doesn't make much more progress past that point.

TL;DR: I think overall there's an understandable desire to speed up the narrative once we're past the big climax, but I feel like it went by so fast that important threads of character development lost their chance to reach satisfying conclusions. So a lot of things I personally wanted to see happen in the romance and her own personal growth never got shown.

(Maybe at some point I'll write down my whole visualization of how I would rewrite the ending to address all these things. Listen. The Fanfiction Instinct is upon me. Which means I liked the book! I only ever want to remix stories I really enjoyed! It's a compliment! slkdfjdslkjf)

[amazing-spiderling]

fic writer asks: 1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?)

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

I'm going to be a little cheaty- since there's two fandoms I've written a chunk for, I'd leave it up to the reader as to which they'd prefer, but they both have a lot in common.

If someone was of the Metal Gear persuasion, I'd tell them to read "Rat in a Foxhole", which is a story that consumed my brain and I think I was smashing out a chapter a day or something, because I was SO INSPIRED by a piece of artwork (itself, an album redraw) that my brain was on fire and the only way to get it out was to put the words on the screen. The fic has a bit to do with some information we get from MGS 5, specifically that Huey had intended for his son Hal to be a child mech pilot (the pilots needed to be small because of the limitations of the size of the cockpit). My brain immediately got to wondering about what would happen to such a child pilot once they grew and "aged out" of the program (or the program shut down because wtf). Then I saw @polmcarts artwork of a version of Hal and Dave meeting in some kind of bootcamp and the plot was born.

It's a sort of... meditative fic? I often imagine my stories as screenplays, and if it was viewed in that way, there would be a lot of long silences, detail shots, vast open landscapes etc. It does, of course, include a drawn out winter arc because I'm that bitch, and it's got a few twists and turns before (of course) ultimately ending on a hopeful note.

Likewise "The Man in the Mask" is a Spideypool AU that envisions an alternate meeting, and one of the characters not being forthcoming with who they are and why they're there. This one was another story that was really burning a hole in my brain, although it took me a lot longer to get it out. Having a little Marvel familiarity (with mutants and the legacy virus in particular) helps, but I've had people tell me that I did a good enough of a job explaining the concept in the fic that they weren't too lost. This one reads a bit like a "bottle episode" with the two characters more or less trapped in a single apartment and making the best of it. (I guess you could say Dave and Hal were trapped in the boot camp in the first one, so there's that.) For a story about Wade and Peter, this one also has a lot of introspection and quiet moments before a few things bubble over.

Just like the first story, this one had people screaming at me before they finished off the last chapter, which I think is a bit of a feather in my cap as a writer, it means I sold the drama and brought things to a satisfying conclusion. I call both of these some of my "weird ones" because they're extremely niche AUs that I wrote for myself, so it really makes me happy when they ping with people. I wish I had ideas like these more often.

17. I kind of have a bug in my brain about doing a fantasy adjacent Earth-65 AU featuring "The Merry Janes" and I guess AUs of AUs counts as niche... Oh, god and I really want to write a 616 or NMCU (or combo) one about Matt and Foggy being academic rivals and complaining about each other online anonymously and becoming friends (and more) without realizing. I was watching a compilation of 90's/2000's anime intros and the beginning of "His and Her Circumstances" started spooling little ideas in my head. And now that I'm on a roll, my brain is like "Lol what if Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne AU" where Matt is a "holy thief" stealing/exorcising relics and Foggy is on the side of the law trying to bring him in sfdkdsjflj And of course there's the Madoka E-65 AU I want to flesh out at some point, but that might be a better comic than story. Moral of the story is, Anime: Not Even Once.

25. thesaurus.com LOL I don't actually do a lot of looking at resources when I'm actually writing and I don't have a lot of "go to" pages for things, it's kind of random. I will do searches for things like "what year was this thing invented", but I don't have a bookmarked tab of "popular weapons in ancient china and how to use them" or anything like that. I guess I use Youtube a lot to listen to vapor/chillwave mixes while I write, is that anything? I guess a resource I use is the sprintbot in discord (and my fellow server members) to help get my brain to focus. I keep meaning to try that website that has little doodads on it to help adhd brains focus on writing but i keep forgetting.

[clairethecutepup]

Title: Puppy Eyes and Doll Eyes (Pg. 1)

[Next Page]

First, disclaimers: we all know Ed Edd n' Eddy doesn't belong to me, and the "Assassin AU" of the series is by "C2ndy2c1d". Secondly, it's recommended you zoom into the image for better quality, however possible. For more about this piece and my thoughts, click the "read more" below.

If you're wondering how some animal hybrid, like Claire, exists in this world, I came up with an idea that could make sense. I'd imagine any organization running a business involving assassins would want to craft something that'd make their jobs easier: hybrids that combine humanistic and animalistic abilities, "werebeasts". At the very least, it certainly helped me come up with one idea for a more original series based on assassins.

Just think about how handy it may be, if you could have a servant/partner that was un-dyingly loyal to the point of dying in your place? Plus, the human body would make for an easier time of protecting you and assisting you in tasks, while the animal senses/parts are pretty easy to guess the usefulness of.

Back to the comic itself, I had some issues here and there, like the upper perspective toward the forest ceiling at times. Also, I'll be honest: this AU version of Sarah and Jimmy freaks me out, so that was a mental obstacle to overcome, via getting myself into the Zen of looking at and drawing them. What? They wear masks, they call themselves a creepy-sounding duo name of "Dollies," their main method of weapon is acupuncture and thus means they prefer controlling your body-- don't even get me started on some fan art portraying them as puppeteers, by as simple as their hidden strings being drawn from their fingertips... If that wasn't enough, I've seen how cunning and manipulative these two could be in the actual EEnE series: "If it Smells like an Ed" and "Run Ed Run," and I'd imagine they'd be 10x more clever and conniving, possibly having honed those skills as assassins.

Even creepier, I just know those two would realistically have a field day with Claire, since her small size and animal features would probably make her look like a living doll/teddy hybrid in the duo's eyes. I doubt they'd actually hurt the poor, terrified thing, but I still do not envy her being a likely target of their fun: the teasing, the ability to push her around, the ability to manipulate her smaller body-- even without the puppet strings and acupuncture... Geez, it's like Claire has her own Kanker Sisters, except there's no "lovey dovey" stuff involved-- but I can't decide which is worse!

I also had a bit of trouble with the drawn motions, and I'm not especially proud of the movement in Claire zipping into Ed's arms up there. But, at the very least, I think we can all agree it looks better to use lines and draw SFX, than to do some sort of "overlapping" effects and what else could hide the expressions/etc.

[chonidale]

I don’t go here per se, but I stumbled across some gifs of 50s Choni. Looked up some clips on YT, etc. A self-assured bisexual and a complete disaster lesbian falling in love in a 50s hyper reality is exactly my thing —and then fic scenes started falling out of my head. I figured if I was going to write this thing, I’d watch from the beginning because proper characterization is important to me, which *shrug* is apparently not the case with the show runner?! They gave Cheryl growth only to snatch it away two episodes later for a throwaway plot (multiple times, multiple seasons), or like that one season where Toni was glorified set dressing. I could go on (like all the negative queer tropes) but I know I’m not saying anything new. Clearly Vanessa and Madelaine’s performances did all the heavy lifting. My question though is has someone put together character descriptions for either of them (but especially Toni)? Or maybe there’s a solid fic you would recommend?

i mean, giving characters growth and taking it away or trapping them in an endless cycle of the same shit and issues was literally the show's bread and butter. how many times did veronica and archie have the exact same story making the exact same mistake? kevin and reggie too. the show always prioritized plot over characterization, and it was very annoying when they'd do that with cheryl especially, but it's not like growth and progress doesn't realistically involve mistakes and backwards steps sometimes, and it's not like they didn't finally let that go and allow cheryl to have nothing but growth and positive development in the last two seasons. i think overall, cheryl has the strongest character arc and development over the course of the series, next to maybe betty. toni, well. there's no point ranting about how much they failed her, everyone has heard it all before. i think you're massively underselling choni's story though by saying it was all madelaine and vanessa. they cared more about choni than the writers for sure and did so much for us, and there was a lot of missed potential and opportunities, but i certainly don't agree that there was nothing good about their canon story since i think that looking over the whole show, they have the strongest love story. certainly the most satisfying, imo.

as for meta you can read about the characters, i'm not sure that was really something the fandom was big on. from what i've read and know about their archieverse wiki pages, it's trash and full of misinformation and horrible interpretations of canon, so i really wouldn't recommend going there for research :/ but for fic recs, are you looking for fics that explore head spaces and motivations and characterization, as in expanding on what canon did a bad job covering (like post s6 fics explaining wtf toni was thinking in s6) or are you looking for fics that are more about fleshing out and exploring canon backstory and world building and shit (like companion pieces full of missing scenes from s2-4)? because there are a LOT of those missing scene/canon compliment fics for s2/3, while s5/6 has more fics that try to attempt to make sense of canon events. if any of that made sense. but i have a fic rec page that's split up into sections and have a bit of rambling thoughts that might be helpful in finding the kind you're looking for?

[mooneyedandglowing]

Hi! My first chapbook is coming out and since you've published poetry I wondered if you had any advice on promoting for a first time author.

Hi! I do! + I absolutely love answering these sorts of asks. Chapbooks are notoriously hard to sell, but selling what would be regarded as a pretty successful amount of copies (100-600) is definitely not an impossibility. Promotion + engagement go hand in hand. If you've already begun building a base of readers, you've got a great start. You can continue to build your readership through various social media platforms (I would recommend Twitter, TikTok, Tumblr + Instagram for poetry over Facebook). Learn each social media platform like it is a system: read guides on what works, look at trends, see what the people with a lot of engagement on their posts are doing + take note of what they aren't doing. You can also approach established blogs + lit websites/journals + ask them if they'd be willing to publish a review in exchange for a physical or digital copy of your book (never send a copy unsolicited though, they'll often just wind up trashed). Engagement is relatively straightforward. Learning a little about SEO + applying what you've learned can be immensely helpful. Set up an author site if you haven’t already where you can link people to works you've had published or journals you've been published in + where they can buy your chapbook. Using popular hashtags + searching hashtags in order to find people whose posts you can like + who you can engage with + follow is useful as well. Generally, people won't come to you organically. You have to be reaching out to them + reaching out consistently. When I was actively building my tumblr following, I spent anywhere from 1 to 3 hours each day just engaging with other blogs - + this is something you can apply to all social media. It takes time/commitment but can pay off massively when it comes to getting people to notice you + engage with your work. Being consistent with your own posts on social media is very important as well as it keeps you + your work in sight. Ask followers questions. Write short poems for them. Create prompts they can use. Share some personal things (whatever you are comfortable with). The readers who feel connected to you on some level are the readers who will be most likely to buy your work. Giveaways + flash sales can also be great if those are things you can swing. If you've been published in any lit journals, let them know about your chapbook. They'll often make a post on social media about it + may be willing to even do a review if you ask for one. You can also purchase advertising, although it's not necessary. Outside of the internet, depending on your health status (I wouldn't recommend some of these things to anyone who is immunocompromised due to the pandemic), you can sell your books at poetry readings (approach organizers to set up a reading + a stall! but you can often even sell at open-mic nights - just bring 5-10 copies in your bag. Your publisher should allow you to purchase copies at a discounted price). You can ask local bookstores if they'd be willing to either host a reading or book signing for you (which you can promote online and via flyers) or buy/take-on some copies on consignment to sell, or both. Be active in local writing groups/local writing community. You can ask local newspapers if they'd be willing to write up + publish a little piece on you/your chapbook. You can send out press releases to media outlets you think may take an interest. You can try to set up signings/readings outside of local bookstores as well (bars, cafes, libraries, galleries, universities, etc can all be great places for this sort of thing). Local radio may be interested in interviewing you, no reason not to check!

I'd honestly always carry just a few copies, never know when you may be able to make a sale to someone or gift a copy to someone who can help with promotion.

These are just a few ideas of things you can do bashed out really quickly, but I hope this is helpful!

[minisoc]

As requested, line by line breakdown of testoster2's anti communist rant about parties.

> idk which baby leftist needs to hear this

off to a great condescending start from someone whose only left credit is claiming to be on the left on their Tumblr

> but joining a socialist party will be a waste of your time.

I couldn't imagine a more cop opinion to start us off with. i see things like this and i think: whose interests does this serve? "oh no baby leftists, don't join a party" just brings to mind this image

> you'll probably have to pay a monthly due

that's true. every communist party in history has taken dues from members. it's typically scaled to what you can manage though and it's part of the collective effort of the party organization to make social change. my dues sent comrades to Venezuela and Cuba to learn from socialists there, they produced our programs for free lunches, it built our community centers. i have no regrets about paying my dues, i pay dues to my union as well.

> that goes to like. flyers no one reads

projection. sounds now like op is defending their own lack of action with a lack of belief in the possibility of change. in my experience people do read things and even change their minds after reading things. if people were not able to be affected by the written word then propagandists on all sides would be in a tough situation.

> that you yourself will have to give to people

oh no, you mean joining a party means you might have to do outreach and talk to people? can see why it's not for op, then.

> (this in case the money doesn't go straight in the party leader's pocket).

op has never seen this but says it like it's a fact. it would be pretty easy to find out if your party leadership is embezzling and your party should be structured in a way that you know they'd be thrown out if they betrayed everyone like this. i have that confidence in my party, at least.

this is also very reminiscent about how anti communists engage with propaganda. they feel comfortable making claims of any kind whether supported or not. anyway, this is another obvious cop opinion.

> you'll waste time writing papers and reports and shit, it'll feel like having a second job.

not explained is why writing is a waste of time. i think writing for a party is almost always a useful activity, whether you're making plans for a new action or campaign or producing new agitational materials or analysing the results of previous work so you can improve on it.

it is a job, though. being a communist does mean doing work, society won't change by sitting at home and attacking communist parties on Tumblr. the lifelong sacrifices made by hard working communists are why we have seen so many socialist victories in the last century.

> the most exciting events will be lib shit like elections

this again can only be projection. the most exciting times for me have been in some of the countries largest protest actions, organizing campaigns to free political prisoners, providing at risk communities with basic needs and engaging with them, building new unions, etc. etc

> or peaceful protests that the party would still organize w/o you as a member

here's the key issue with op i think. they want to be vital to the revolution. they don't want to think that they're only one of many people all working together. yes it's true the party will continue without you, especially a wannabe cop like you. but it doesn't mean party work is useless, it just means you are useless as an individual.

> (showing up at a protest w/o having a party affiliation gives you more freedom

freedom to do what, i do wonder? being afraid of party work bc it doesn't let you do whatever you want is kinda silly, if you don't want anyone to ever tell you what to do then yeah don't join a party. if you want to make change in the world then do.

> + makes you a bit less arrestable - as opposed to if a cop saw you carrying a name tag w the hammer and sickle on it. just fyi)

this again appears to have been just made up by op. I've never been arrested for wearing a pin or a party tshirt. i don't know a single person who has. and I've known plenty of people without any markings get arrested.

> all this w/o even mentioning how (depending on your luck) there could be a lot of infighting, splits, sometimes purges

well yes it sounds like there would be a lot of drama wherever op goes but it doesn't seem to be the case generally. my party did form in a split, but over 15 years ago. i don't see any reason to worry that it would happen again any time soon. we don't infight at all, sorta the concept of the party is people who want to work effectively together.

another bit of funny evidence that op is anti communist is the inclusion of the word purges, lol. purge means expulsion from party, ooh very sinister.

> all in all, joining a socialist party is a very, Very ineffective way of building communism lmao

well first it's simply a truth that no socialist country was ever built without a communist party. not one.

but also, did any of ops points have anything to do with effectiveness? all i gathered is they're pushing an individualistic, don't tell me what to do outlook. and the condescension about protests and flyering suggest they want something more adventurist, possibly involving violence. remember the fbi and police always instigate when they infiltrate groups. they always push for criminal actions and violence.

> i'd instead recommend you talk to your neighbours abt their lives, and see how you can help each other.

hey, guess what a party does! do you think our new tenants unions and unemployed councils could come into being without talking to neighbors? do you think our new unions could come into being without discussing the way we could help each other?

> if you live in like a very rich neighbourhood or something, instead of joining a socialist party

well isn't this an interesting premise. i wonder what it says about op that they want to emphasize what the well off should do.

> it'd be way more effective if you joined a liberal/conservative party and then fucked their shit up as much as possible

sure, just see every other attempt in history at wrecking or entryism with the Democratic party. i encourage you to look into it

> if ur only goal is meeting other leftists, only go to the first 2 or 3 party meetings, by then you'll know the scene and you'd have already befriended the interesting people. that;s my advice at least

this piece of advice is generally good. in fact before applying to join any party if at all possible i encourage you to meet with the members local to you, see how they work, see what you think of their ideas and what they're doing. if they're not active in your community, ask why not. there's nothing requiring you to join if it isn't for you. but if you want to make change in this country, learning how to do it from those with experience is best. and working together in an organization that can effectively chart a path forward is the only option there is. every communist revolution was built with the leadership of the communist party.

[barin-mclegg]

Thought you guys would like my chestboat rant. (text version under cut)

[Text version not 100% accurate to the screenshot, in the form of fixing typo's, adding punctuation, something that I personally call "quality of life updates", etc. I recommend everyone to read it over the screenshot, for various reasons, but if you wanna scroll past this is easier]

Ok real talk.

Not real real talk.

Minecraft real talk.

Specifically, chestboat.

I... HOO BOY.

So yes, everyone has hype, this is something we all know.

But I think they're going to change behavior with boats with them. Probably unintentionally.

How we do it now: place boat when needed, break when done.

BUT!

Chestboat, when broken, spits stuff out everywhere (also remains chestboat on break, which puts an annoying amount of question marks around the minecart chests).

Don't know how else they'd do it but hey, my brain functions.

Barely.

So you can't just break chestboat when convenient, meaning you either have to travel by water from the start, or travel with chestboat (or chest + boat, or do it like we all do and just vibe and hope you find wood when you need a boat) in inventory until you need it for storage. Which still has you having to boat back to base. So oceanside bases just got a whole load more common! Boom! And so did piers, because let's face it, it'd be a fucking pain in the ass to have the side of your natural waterside farm be fucking COVERED in boats full of trash.

(side note: How do item-based redstone things handle chestboats? how do hopper minecarts handle chestboats? Holy shit that's annoying)

That, and people would ALSO have a lot more parts of the home that directly have water contact

I'm talking boat garage

Piers probably are a pain for some players, so they make a small hole that a boat can go through with a little piece of water (signs stopping water is probably going to be very popular again. Pressure plates stop water too right? Redstoners, get enthusiastic), or a way to stop water but let boats through for more permanent ways to get your boat in. This way, your base will fill up with boats, or you get organized.

Redstoners will definitely make boat-item sorters, with the chestboat ending up in a chest at the end or placed ready for use by the pier.

There will be a huge increase in mods that are related to boat improvements (again, boat redstone. Connecting several boats. double chestboat. small mods, probably) [proofreading note: I am thinking about a Boat Snake full of chests now.]

People will love it. People will go crazy. Mumbo will have months of content shiny and ready for him. Builders, too, but they'll just make piers and shit

Either people will not care and forget, or people will go crazy.

And so far my chestboat rant.

[a reply to the paragraph about an increase in boat-related mods, from the same person (me)]

(Shulker boats. Enderchestboats. Hopper boats would be weird to make work, but people are creative. Then there's redstone to make chestboats better to use; boat-loader, a switch between survival and boat inv when in the boat [Proofreading note: WHY DO WE NOT ALREADY HAVE THIS FOR LLAMAS/HORSES/DONKEYS??? HELLO???], boat-unloader, the possibilities are near endless. This update will make water-interaction much, much more common then any and all previous updates, if people do, as said, go crazy) Hmm. I think I'll post this on tumblr.

[That's the end. You have gone through my whole rant. Congratulations. Now go, explore the rest of tumblr. Fare thee well]

[edwad]

Austrains anon returns - I read your piece on Mises/Hayek and Freudianism, and I think you'll really enjoy the Wasserman book, and find it really handy for providing minimal starting points for differences between the thinkers, contextualization of their interactions with people like Freud, and the construction of the idea of an "Austrian School" at all. finally - do you think the austrians provide stronger rebuttals to socialist thought than more 'mainstream' econ?

yeah i'll definitely have to get around to it. a large part of the 2nd part of that piece (the highlighting what i see as significant differences between mises and hayek) was actually originally written as a set of questions id sent out on what began as a search for a good biography of the austrian school. by then the wasserman had already been suggested to me, but i had the impression that it was probably more of a popular kind of work than what i was looking for. i still haven't really been recommended anything much better though, so perhaps i'll start there and then move onto other things that seem promising (for example, allen oakley's work on the austrians, since i found his books on marx to be pretty good).

as for your question, i think "socialist thought" is probably too vague to make this an easily answerable question. plenty of of the socialist representatives in the debates surrounding economic calculation etc had entered into these discussions precisely because they'd internalized marginalism into their frameworks. they were attempting not just to show that socialism was better than capitalism, but that the principles of economics dominant at the time did not necessarily only lend themselves to capitalism (and this was largely the point of the mainstream economists themselves whenever they would eternalize these principles to the level of natural law), not to mention the fact that several economists like walras who helped develop much of the "mainstream" framework were themselves socialist (in a vague sense of the word, of course).

austrians have the merit of being closest not just to socialists of whatever variety but specifically to marx's own concerns. the politics are not shared, obviously, but marx and the austrians both tended to feel the need to reconstruct the entire society from the ground up without necessarily taking things like "prices" for granted. how that plays into the calculation debate is pretty important, and i would argue that the austrian side actually had plenty of commonalities with marx, probably moreso than the socialist side did in many ways. again, this is obviously not a political point, but in their understanding of capitalism there is a definite sense in which marx and the austrians are talking about similar things for similar reasons. so while the vaguer socialists could go toe-to-toe with mainstream econ on its own terms, the austrians in a sense are often talking past the socialists and getting at deeper problems which are more commensurable with marx's analysis. this isn't always the case and the divisions aren't always this clean-cut by any means, but it at least clarifies the structure and nature of the debates a little bit imo.

[raleighliving]

Raleigh Hangouts: Cameron Village/Village District

So last time I wrote something like this I talked about the upscale, pricey North Hills community and the pros/cons associated with it. I chose North Hills because, while it's not really representative of the Raleigh experience, it seemed like a region that would appeal to out of towners and people looking for a more urban experience.

The culture designed to cater towards executives on business trips and socialites, while appreciable, it isn't wholly representative of the Raleigh experience however. It's a shiny gemstone set against lower-middle class neighborhoods and a highway exit; a glass diamond set on a gold band.

So I wanted to talk about somewhere a bit more representative of Raleigh as an experience. A place with a variety of options for dining, shopping, and relaxing which doesn't put on any airs collectively; but allows individual stores to be as extra and overpriced as capitalist consumerism will allow them to be.

Of course, the obvious answer would be Downtown Raleigh. You don't get much more Raleigh than the heart of the city itself, and it's full of fun and interesting things to look at....but I hate driving around down there and COVID precautions around there have been hit-or-miss depending on where you go.

So today we're looking Downtown adjacent at the Village District (formerly Cameron Village)!

Just outside of Downtown Raleigh and adjacent to NC State University, Village District is a small shopping district that caters to the local population and the nearby college students.

A collection of small stores, restaurants, boutiques, and facilities which is representative of Raleigh in that there's something for everyone to enjoy if you look hard enough or turn the right corner.

Got a hot date? Take em' to one of the many upscale eateries, walk around the block and take in the sights, and finish with some frozen custard at Goodberry's. Need a haircut? A good book to read? How about some Yoga, or an affordable dry cleaners? Village District has it all.

Affordable housing and apartments sit opposite luxury apartments that tower over the district and charge $1200 for a studio apartment. Affordable fast food options are as easy to find here as fine dining that charges $25 a plate; and clean, decorated streets make exploring the area easy and enjoyable.

If you need to reach Downtown Raleigh or NC State University, it's only a few minutes walking to reach either; or you can rent a motorized scooter/bike for a bit if you're not inclined towards physical exercise (like myself).

It doesn't hold everything you could ever want, but it's got enough to satisfy most wants and desires comfortably within a small radius.

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If you're visiting Raleigh, I'd recommend visiting Tin Roof Teas especially; a small, locally owned tea store that's host to a huge selection of loose leaf teas and tea accessories.

If you or someone that you love enjoys a good cup of tea, but the selection where you're at is whatever's available at the grocery store, then Tin Roof has a grand selection of domestic and foreign tea leaves that can satisfy even the pickiest tea fanatic.

Walking in, you'll be greeted by the mingling scents of dried flowers and it's an experience I'd recommend even if you're not there to explicitly buy anything. Overwhelmed by choice paralysis? They'll brew you a cup of any available tea for a small fee so you can get an idea of what you're looking at.

If you're a Raleigh native, you can also swing by Village District for a selection of boutiques that cater to interior designers and art fans of all sorts. Scrap metal sculptures, paintings, home décor, etc. are all findable.

If you want an eye grabbing piece, you can even check out a gallery like the LaMantia Gallery for high quality pieces from a variety of artists.

I've never shopped with them myself, so I couldn't even comprehend whatever prices they have, but the artwork on display whenever I pass by is always something memorable and eyegrabbing; like this piece of a crowd forming the bust of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If you need a bite to eat, as previously mentioned, there's no shortage of options there either. Burger joints, fast food, and sandwich shops/delis are seated alongside fine dining and bistros so whatever niche you require, they can cover.

In terms of personal favorites, I'm partial to the Village Draft House. A nice bar with excellent burgers and great fried appetizers that make me wish eating high fat/carb/salt/whatever foods didn't come with inevitable consequences beyond injuring my wallet.

If you want something a little nicer, then a popular choice is The Flying Biscuit; a largely breakfast/brunch joint with some later in the day fare that uses high quality, healthy ingredients to appease patrons appetites.

But the great thing is, both these places are puppy friendly! Allowing you to bring your dog and even providing water dishes so long as your puppy is able to behave with other good boys/girls around them.

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Of course, you should also check out the Wake County public library hosted in Village District as well! Even if you've been to other Wake County libraries, this wonderfully maintained 2 story library has a decent variety of books, resources, and rooms for the general public to make use of.

Have small children? They'll love the expansive selection of children's books; and enjoy the numerous events catered towards younger readers. Like the rest of Cameron Village, there's a little something for everyone.

If you do stop by the library though, like many of the other places, be forewarned that they're taking necessary COVID precautions in these troubling times and you will be browsing on an "express schedule" where guests are expected to only remain in the building for a limited amount of time (so you have a reduced risk of spreading/contracting the virus).

Normally, if you're a bibliophile like so many who visit these places are, you'd enjoy nothing more than hours of browsing and considering before finally checking out; but for the safety of everyone involved I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you tried to limit your visits to at most thirty minutes.

All told, Village District isn't perfect by any means; but I feel it's more representative of Raleigh as a hangout spot than North Hills by a good measure. Its more diverse clientele, the blended college and downtown communities, the accessibility and variety are all factors that lend to a more authentic, urban south experience.

It might not be as community focused as Seattle's Pike Place or as glamourous a destination as New York City, but its got its own subtle charm that colors any experience I've had there in a more positive light; which is more than I can say of other similar upscale shopping squares.

If you want to visit, try and do so on a weekend when the weather's nice. That's when everyone's out and about, and you get to really see people come together (when of course, we're out of a pandemic).

[emeraldskulblaka]

Book Review: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

I finally finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke a couple of minutes ago.

I bought it four or five years ago partly because of its genre (historical fantasy), partly because of its excellent reviews.

Having spent between two and three weeks reading it, I can safely say that it's not a book I can recommend unless you want to read it for the language and style it's written in.

I tried so hard to love it, I really wanted to, but I must admit that I failed quite miserably. Maybe it's just not for me, maybe the countless fans whose reviews I've read have been influenced by the language of the book and the reviews by famous authors to believe that they've read a masterpiece, or that they'd sound uneducated if they said they didn't enjoy it. However, it's probably the first option - it's just not for me, despite the fact that many aspects of it had the potential to make it my new favourite book.

Still, I have positive things to say:

the language and style - heavenly. Reminiscent of 19th century prose, written in the 1990s and 2000s. Extraordinarily beautiful, A+.

the characters - thoroughly interesting, most of them relatable, or, at least recognisable. I say MOST, because this doesn't apply to all of them. Also loved the lack of description of the nature of the fairies and Fairie - I had to build up my impressions of them solely from background information and interactions, yet couldn't explain my impression to anyone despite having a clear picture and understanding of them. Quite interesting!

all the references to historical events and persons mixed with completely made-up facts. It was fun to pick apart history and fiction.

the use of footnotes in general.

Nevertheless, the negative aspects sadly drowned out the positive ones.

the lack of a clear plot. One might argue that this is the POINT, but I simply expect a 1000-page novel to have some sort of... direction. Reviewers have pointed out that it's about the relationship between the two magicians Strange and Norrell, but sadly, only a very small part is dedicated to these two together - they spend most of their time apart. Their relationship is outlined at best, and I had no idea what to expect when they worked together again at the end.

the excessive use of footnotes. I love a good footnote, but most of them contained information totally irrelevant to the rest of the book and cut up the little pieces of plot in existence.

the characterisation. It did its job, but very badly. I don't have much to say about it, and this point stands in objection with the positive aspect regarding the characters above, but I guess it's because due to the lack of good characterisation, I built up my own, which clashed a lot with what the characters ended up doing.

the narrator's voice. Sometimes overwhelmingly present (a lot of 'I's, opinions, etc., sometimes completely absent. It wasn't clear how the narrator related to the story.

the lack of rules concerning magic. Sometimes spells worked, sometimes they didn't. Sometimes solutions were right at hand, sometimes people pondered over things that seemed so much more doable than what had already been done before. Perhaps it's inherently faulty to wish for logic in magic, but with all those theoretical and book-addicted magicians, I'd have expected more.

major logical errors. I can't reveal much more without spoiling the book - two examples shall suffice: the fairy's obsession with Stephen Black. Just... why? Plus, Strange never noticing anything magical about Lady Pole, while Segundus notices it when he first sees her.

large time gaps in between chapters. Characters never showing any signs of ageing.

lack of coherence between chapters, too many unnecessary digressions.

Yes, the book had potential. Poor storytelling simply destroyed it, and rendered it completely unenjoyable for me personally.

I'm the last person to complain about digressions (I love Les Misérables dearly, and it's infamous for lengthy digressions), lack of actual storytelling (the Silmarillion is a source of boredom for everyone not devoted to the world of Tolkien) and to demand rules for magic of all things, but, no matter how I look at Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I simply can't praise it as 'ravishing... a masterpiece' (Time), 'gorgeous' (People) or 'magnificent' (Washington Post). It lacks a compelling plot and didn't manage to draw me in.