#while I make music and write books and screenplays

[rowanhoney]

I have so many creative projects I want to complete in the next 10 years but I’m extremely limited cos I have to work !!!!

[vidavalor]

"You love trains": Crowley & Aziraphale inspired 'North by Northwest'

Putting my film studies background to good use here with some film history & historical context under the cut.

The "what does the J stand for?" exchange in The Blitz, Part 1 and the inability for the audience to initially understand what Aziraphale is mouthing in The Blitz, Part 2 are both references to Hitchcock's classic spy thriller, 'North by Northwest'. I didn't link the clip that goes along with The Blitz, Part 2 in case some of you have never seen this film because it would ruin your experience of it. (Definitely watch it if you have not as it's a masterpiece.) Since The Blitz scenes are taking place in 1941 and 'North by Northwest' was released 18 years later in 1959, Crowley and Aziraphale aren't referencing the film in the dialogue but, instead, could be presumed to be the source *of* the dialogue in the film... just like how Shakespeare lifted Crowley's love poetry for 'Antony & Cleopatra'... and the 'North by Northwest'-referencing part of The Blitz, Part 1 *is referencing* the 'Antony and Cleopatra' reference because it's the reveal of Crowley's first name. But... it gets even better...

The writer of 'North by Northwest' was legendary Hollywood screenwriter Ernest Lehman, whom we're now presuming to have been a friend of probably at least Aziraphale's. Lehman wrote a dozen or so classic films and, outside of 'North by Northwest', is most famous for writing adaptations of several famous musicals, including the adapted screenplay for... 'The Sound of Music.' But, no, somehow, we aren't done yet with how amazing this is lol.

The thing that makes this all even funnier is that 'North by Northwest' is responsible for probably the most famous train metaphor in cinema. I'll spoil just this bit as it won't really ruin the overall movie for you if you haven't seen it but don't go any further than here if you don't want to be spoiled at all. If you've already seen it, you totally know what I mean. *laughs*

In 1959, when this film was released, you still couldn't really show sex on screen in a mainstream film. If you showed two people in a bedroom at all, they were cisgender, heterosexual and married and they slept in two separate beds. The level of sex happening in the above clip was *wild* for the era and the fact that it was put into the film the way it is-- that an unmarried woman picks up a hot guy on a train and they sleep together and she's still the heroine of the film and all of that-- was really nothing short of feminist revolution in a film in this era.

The film has a famous "love scene" of sorts that follows not long after the one I linked above, where the two of them are in a cabin on the train and starting to get it on but constraints of cinema coding at the time limited how far it could go. So, to imply that the main characters do, in fact, sleep together, the film famously cuts away to a shot of the train entering a tunnel-- making the train itself symbolic of sex. Because of how famous the film overall--and this scene in particular--became, it became a thing to use trains euphemistically for sex in other cinematic works following it. There is literally no way that Crowley and Aziraphale have not seen this movie so while Aziraphale was happy to make The Bentley into a sexual metaphor while angling for the car keys, Crowley is half-heartedly griping in flirty response by continually referencing trains, another sexual mode of transportation-- the one that that they inspired lol. Hence Aziraphale's bemused little lololol-but-won't-give-him-the-satisfaction-of-seeing-my-amusement face here:

Sunglassed!Cary Grant is Crowley and the old movie chemistry and the semi-coded flirty banter and someone please, please write a fic where Aziraphale says "I don't particularly like the book I've started"-- I will pay you lol.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Hello!

I am currently writing a novel that takes place in a traveling circus. Since all the primary characters are performers, their acts are, of course, a very important part of the story/who they are. Therefore, I'm wondering if you have any advice on how to go about describing the performance acts (i.e., contortion, trick-riding, clown acts, etc.) in the book? I fear the descriptions will end up sounding boring, being confusing, or seeming convoluted. I've primarily worked on screenplays for films, so this has been a great struggle for me. Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much!

Describing Circus Acts

1 - Map Out Your Need - Before you do anything else, it will help to map out the specific moments in the story where these performances will occur. What specific feat, trick, or sketch is being performed and by which character? Is it a performance, audition, or practice? Who else is watching? Who is the POV character? Does anything unusual need to happen with the performance?

2 - Research the Details - Once you have the specific moments mapped out, it will be much easier to research the details, and having a grasp on the details is essential to good description. You can create a much more authentic image if you know the names of different contortion poses or different trick riding moves, for example. Since you mapped out the need in step one, you should have a good idea of how much of the performance will need to be described to the reader, too.

3 - Consider Sensory and Emotional Details - Another part of creating an authentic and impactful description is remembering to consider the sensory and emotional details. What can the POV character see? What can they hear? What can they smell? What can they taste? What can they feel, both physically (touch, internal cues) and emotionally? See: colorful costumes, props, the joyful faces of the audience. Hear: prop noises, music, audience laughter. Smells: popcorn, circus animals, people smells from the crowd. Taste: circus food, bile rising in throat from nervous anticipation. Feel: warmth of the crowd, numb butt from hard seats, butterflies of anticipation, sense of thrill and joy.

4 - Resist the Urge to Overdo it - Even if these performances play a big role in the characters' lives, if the reader wanted eleven hours worth of circus performances, they'd probably just watch eleven hours worth of circus performances on YouTube. The performances themselves should play only a very small role in the actual action... like Katniss Everdeen's bow skills, Luke Skywalker's piloting prowess, and Arya Stark's Faceless Man shapeshifting abilities. They're shown only when they add something to the story, and never just for the sake of showing them.

5 - Some Telling is Just Fine - Obviously in fiction we want to rely on showing as much as possible, but there are certainly times when "telling" makes more sense, and telling is a great way to make sure these performances feel like the important part of the characters' lives they are without feeling every scene has to highlight such a performance. For example, once you've shown a couple of contortionist performances, you might instead have the contortionist doing something else in a scene... helping another performer, making repairs on a costume, or doing whatever they do in their spare time, and maybe have them talk about an earlier performance or something they're going to do in a performance that night. You and even have other characters refer to other characters' performances. For example, "I don't know where Ribena went. She was monkeying around with her horse's saddle while Lian was doing their Double Marinelli bend finale, and I haven't seen her since."

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[otakusheep15]

Matchup for @thecurrator

So excited for our exchange! I've never done a sibling matchup, but since you're doing one for me, I thought I'd try my hand at one as well! (this got very long btw. hope that's okay!)

For your romantic matchup, I went with Vil! I think the two of you would get along well together, and I think a lot of your traits compare nicely with his.

For starters, he would think you daydreaming is cute. He would, naturally, make sure you're paying attention in class and important meetings, but besides that, he wouldn't mind too much. While Vil is no introvert, he does value his alone time, so he can empathize with you. He would also be down with listening to you ramble during quieter moments, such as when he's doing skincare after a long day. He may not always respond to everything you say, but he is listening and he will remember every detail. Speaking of which, Vil is a very good listener, meaning he's a good judge of character. He's excellent at reading people, so the two of you have that in common. A common hobbie for the both of you is standing off to the side of an event and judging everyone else in the room. (Also, he's associated with purple, so he's perfect on that level as well.)

Vil also quite values authenticity, creativity, and emotional intelligence, both in himself and others. These traits are especially vital to him considering the type of industry he works in. With so many fakers around him at every hour of the day, it's refreshing to have someone who values the same realness as him. While Vil is certainly empathetic to an extent, it doesn't define his character, nor does it dictate how he treats others. Just because he empathizes with someone does not mean he'll treat them any different than anyone else. That being said, he will give a little extra attention to those he cares about. He always considers your feelings, especially since you're quite sensitive. He always makes sure you're doing okay, and if you're having a hard time getting over a particular memory of getting hurt, he'll do his best to help you where he can.

Vil's giving love languages are gift giving and words of affirmation. Gift giving is obvious, as he has the money to provide you with whatever you want. Words of affirmation, however, are a bit more difficult to get out of him. He never sugarcoats his words, and getting a compliment out of him can be tricky. However, when he does give compliments or praise, you know his words are genuine. His receiving love languages are quality time and acts of service. With how busy he usually is, it's nice to just be able to relax with someone he loves without having to worry about work or school. Acts of service are also nice because he so often has to do everything himself, so when someone does something for him, it means a lot.

You and Vil also share hobbies. He doesn't get much time to read considering his schedule, but when he does have the time, he loves relaxing with a good book. He also regularly enjoys reading screenplays. Speaking of which, one of Vil's dreams is to write and direct his own movie, so he definitely does some practice writing on the side. Listening to music is something he does less frequently, but he does enjoy it from time to time. He also writes some of his own music as well.

Vil would be super into character analysis. He tends to dive quite deeply into the characters he plays, even for the smallest of roles. He would also absolutely take you shopping, as he knows all of the best stores for what you need. If you ever crochet anything for him, he would melt for sure. If it's wearable, he'll wear it whenever he can. Otherwise, it would sit on his desk so he can see it whenever he's in his room. Since you love pretty scenery, many of your dates would involve going somewhere with a good view, such as a boardwalk at sunset or a secluded part of a flowery garden.

Vil does exercise on the regular, but he would never force you to join him. Of course, he encourages you to stay healthy, as physical and mental health are very important to him, but he would never make you do something you don't want to. Vil is also very smart, so he would do his best to make studying more enjoyable for you. He definitely encourages studying, even for the boring or unlikable subjects, but he at least wants you to enjoy it. While he is famous, Vil would never make you go out in public with him. He's famous, so of course he regularly has to deal with fans and paparazzi. He would never make you go out with him since he knows they would likely bother you. But, if you did go out with him, he would protect you from them. He's good at keeping you with plans. if anything changes, he'd let you know as soon as possible, and he'd make sure you're always comfortable. If you ever want to back out of something due to it changing last minute, he would understand.

As for your sibling matchup, I'd match you with Ace. The two of you have very similar energies, with the only difference being that Ace is a bit more extraverted. Still, I think the two of you would be a good sibling duo. I could see the two of you emerging from your rooms to bother each other for a few minutes before retreating to continue your own thing. For the most part, y'all would stay out of each other's way without much trouble. Fights tend to be over small things, like taking out the trash or washing dishes. Ace is pretty laid back for the most part, so real fights don't happen often, and when they do, they're resolved fairly quickly. Overall, very chill, normal sibling dynamic. Or, I assume, at least, as I have no sibling dynamic to compare this to.

Rules for matchups

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week's writer spotlight feature is: @maryofdoom! They have forty-four Stranger Things and forty-three Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson works on archive of our own!!

@mojowitchcraft recommends the following works by ArgentumCivitas:

Tessellation

Every Time: A Steddie Drabble Collection

Corroded Coffin - Live On Tour - One Night Only

He Carries Me Quietly

Higher Education

Mary is such a talented writer, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by her. She’s an incredible story teller and very generous with brainstorming offering advice. - @mojowitchcraft

Below the cut, @maryofdoom answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

To quote Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes, “I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul.” But for real, though, it's because my bestie and writing partner called me up on Discord one night and said, “Mary, you need to watch the first episode of Season 4 of Stranger Things. Right now. I mean it. I think the show is in love with Eddie.” (…Some, shall we say, substances may have been involved.) However, I stick with it because I love both the boys as characters. I think they're interesting. They have a lot of interesting aspects about them to explore, both singly and together, and I think we're all enjoying that.

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

Mutual pining! Good God, give me so much pining that I think I’m in the forest. Give me so much pining that I need to use an oil-based paint on them. Give me so much pining that I’ll saw those two boys into planks and repanel my house. 

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

By far, it's when one of them has a crush on the other and is pissed off about it. There’s so much potential for sparky, interesting dialogue with other characters (and with each other) when the boys find themselves in that situation. And then it leads to interesting moments when they finally turn the corner and realize they’re not actually mad at the other one, they’re in love. 

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

There are so, so many that I love. But instead of giving you one of the big ones, let me share this gem: Love My Way, by dreamspaces. It’s very short, at only 1,346 words, but sometimes a bite is as good as a meal. 

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

It might be interesting to do something with “and they were roommates.” I haven’t truly messed around in that space, yet. I also haven’t done a proper enemies-to-lovers, either, mostly because I can’t stand to set up a proper enemy relationship at the beginning…but I am chewing on an idea at the moment that might necessitate that sort of opening relationship between them.

What is your writing process like?

 It tends to follow a very specific order of operations:

Get an idea from somewhere. Possible avenues for ideas include conversations with friends, news stories overheard from NPR, something that hits while I’m listening to music, posts on Reddit, anything that turns up from general blorbo rotation, the works.

Write down the idea in my notes app of choice (I use Evernote)

Begin adding more thoughts and concepts to the idea (sometimes even snips of dialogue, if they hit interesting)

Once the idea has reached a critical enough mass, transfer it to Google Docs and turn it into a draft (if it’s a one-shot idea) or an outline (if it’s a longfic idea)

FOR A ONE-SHOT: begin writing the draft

FOR A LONGFIC: begin writing the outline, according to the outlining method detailed in Tom Lennon and Ben Garant’s Writing Movies for Fun and Profit (this book is half how to make it as a screenwriter in Hollywood and half solid craft advice on how to write a screenplay, and though I don’t want to write screenplays and though I was very skeptical until I tried it out, this is the only method that has worked to get me to finish any actual novel-length works)

FOR A ONE-SHOT: when the draft is done, put it down for as long as I can and then come back to it and revise it, heavily, to make it better

FOR A LONGFIC: once the outline’s done, actually write the thing 

FOR A LONGFIC: once the thing’s written, put it down for as long as I can and then come back to it and revise it, basically rewriting it completely

FOR A LONGFIC: do the same thing again, and then again, pausing in between each iteration for as long as I can

FOR BOTH A ONE-SHOT AND A LONGFIC: once it’s to the point where I don’t hate it, get ahold of my bestie and writing partner and have her read it and crit it and tear it apart

(cry a little because her crit is probably right)

Implement the good changes and ignore the bad ones - sometimes we have a (good-natured) fight about which ones are which

Send it to my other writing friends for their thoughts and comments and incorporate those, in a similar fashion

Revise, again

Once it’s as done as it’s going to be, make a posting schedule (if it’s a longfic)

Get it out there, according to the posting schedule

Begin working on the next thing

Do you have any writing quirks?

I mean, I can sit here and say “Oh no, I definitely don’t,” but I’m sure that I do. I am sure I have a distinctive writing style, just as everyone else does, but I would have to defer to anyone who’s read multiple works I’ve written to pull out any specific “quirks.”I will note that I really try hard to get the characters’ voices down, in their dialogue. I don’t know that I always succeed, but I try.

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Oh, a schedule, ABSOLUTELY. More power to those of you who post when you’re done writing, but I am the kind of person who needs to have everything DONE and ready to go before I put even a HINT of it up online. You can see this from my writing process. It doesn’t lend itself nicely to just throwing stuff out there as a work in progress. 

Which fic are you most proud of?

Oooh, good question. I would have to say it’s a tie between the next two fics on this list. Tessellation, because I worked really hard on it (and because I figured out work skins), and He Carries Me Quietly, because I think it’s beautiful. The way it ends still gets me, even now. Not just because of the action that happens, but because of the words that I chose. I read them and I’m like, “...I wrote that? Damn, girl.”

How did you get the idea for Tessellation?

I mention it a little in its ending note, but I got the idea for Tessellation from a couple of places, one of which was the Steddie fandom itself. I love the idea of every single one of these 25,000+ stories about Steve and Eddie all being true all at once. Even the story of Stranger Things itself, as we see it on our TV screens, is just one possible version of the story that’s happening somewhere. (I truly believe that. I didn’t become an extremely lapsed Catholic for nothing. HECK THE RULES.)

When writing Tessellation, what was something you didn’t expect?

It was surprisingly easy to make connections between the six stories. It wasn’t like I was hunting for places to jam them in—they ended up falling into place very naturally. And I think my favorite one of these is when Steve, in the space story, is describing the spaceship that he pilots as “Rusalka class, she’s a good swimmer,” to Eddie, who presumably understands what this means in the context of the sci-fi world in which they live. 

What inspired He Carries Me Quietly?

It started as something else entirely—a whole established-relationship fic with the kids coming over to Steve and Eddie’s (either house or apartment) to play D&D, with an arc about a blind Max being included as kind of an oracle or super-NPC through Eddie passing her index cards with Braille on them, so she could be part of the game when and if she wanted to be. The whole thing was supposed to be told in flashbacks. I had a whole scene where Steve was figuring out how to bake cookies for everyone with whatever meager ingredients he had on hand. …Then it took a hard left into religious trauma, through some meandering means.  I guess it would be reasonable to say the inspiration, at that point, was seeing a tweet on then-Twitter with some speculation about how Eddie had come to live with Wayne. If it was the common (and unfortunate) queer-kid arc of being disowned by one’s parents. And then I thought, “Let’s go ahead and put Steve through that too, but let’s do it several years after it happens to Eddie, so that Steve has someone to guide him through the whole process.”

What was your favorite part to write from He Carries Me Quietly?

I think it was probably the opening, because of the rhythm of the sentences and how the sounds fit together with one another. I mean, if you choose to check it out, try reading the first few paragraphs out loud. It’s kind of what I think of when people talk about how writing has a cadence, or a musicality to it.  That, and the ending. The ending, starting with, “There’s one more thing that Steve wants to know,” was one of those things that just fell perfectly into place. I can see it so clearly in my mind: the two of them having a conversation, late at night in bed together, after a traumatic day. 

How do/did you feel writing Higher Education?

I love this goofy little story! It was part of a Discord server gift exchange in 2022 and my recipient said “College AUs are my jam,” so this is where my mind went. I wanted to consider a world where Eddie was the frat boy, instead of Steve. But if that were the case, the fraternity would have to be a pretty non-traditional one, wouldn’t it? The fictional Lambda House is based heavily on the fraternity house where I used to hang out in college. (It was at an engineering school and was populated entirely by nerds.)

What was the most difficult part of writing Higher Education?

The actual writing itself, honestly. Winter 2022 was a really difficult time for me, personally, and though I signed up for the fic exchange with all optimism and good wishes, it was a struggle to get everything done in time. 

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

One that really stands out to me is from Wrong Number, which was a oneshot I wrote based on a short conversation with some Discord friends. Picture it: Eddie and Jonathan and Argyle are all hanging out in the basement, and they’re all extremely high. Argyle, in his own way, can sense that something is wrong with Eddie. In order to get him to confess to whatever’s on his mind, they reference the pact they made that “anything said in the basement stays in the basement. It’s the law of the basement.” That just hits me as something so quintessentially Argyle. 

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

Oh my, yes! I have two longfics in the pipeline that I hope to be sharing with everyone soon (or, well, as soon as I can get them through my Process). The Music of the Spheres is a Regency AU with a smoldering slow burn and an eventual happily-ever-after, while Home for the Holidays is a genre mashup: Steve’s in a Hallmark Christmas romance and Eddie’s in a psychological thriller. I am also rotating a couple more ideas in my brain that could potentially be longer works as well, but we’ll see how those go.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

I think the esteemed and prolific two-time-Hugo-Award-nominee Dr. Chuck Tingle puts it very nicely when he says: “CREATE. BUILD. EXPRESS. CONQUER THE LYING VOICE THAT SAYS YOUR TECHNICAL PERFECTION IS BETTER THAN TRUTH OF THE MOMENT. FILL THE VOID WITH ART and do not fear because weve got your back buckaroo. we are ALL creators in our own way so LETS HECKIN CREATE.” Let’s heckin’ create, buckaroos. I’ll see you out there in the word mines.

Thank you to our author, @maryofdoom, and our nominator, @mojowitchcraft! See more of @maryofdoom's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[liamthemailman]

The island saga at this point can be it’s own feature length film like the trailer would be fire…

[Camera flashes to a cork board with pins and string connecting imagines of people labeled MIA. Across from it is Lemon, observing the information with a steady glare as tense music plays.] “Just what in hell’s name does she want with them…”

[Lemon slams his hand onto the desk with his teeth gritted]

[Screen goes black before a sliver is out into view by King taking out a book from the shelf in front of the camera’s few. A wideshot of the room comes to screen as he walks off. King glances over to Valentino.] “You said you were briefly part of the scheme?” [Valentino simply nods as King walks over and grabs his shoulder tightly.] ”Spill what you know.”

[The screen goes black again until Sofia turns on a light, flipping through photos with me crossing out names.] “We lost our best way of getting King…”

[I mutter bitterly, sharply looking up to Sophia] “Well, I have another plan that may work even better…”

[Sofia starts to explain her plan as his words are muffled out by the screen fade.]

[Camera flashes to Khushi then Jokest3r then Teabagtoes, all with various looks of shock or disbelief on their face] “Give him back…”

[Khushi’s words have a subtle echo as the tense music crescendos to words on the screen saying “Revolutionary storytelling & plot” by New York Times]

[Camera shows Arjun desperately trying to escape before being tied back with a rope around him. Vincent looks at him and their captors fearfully while Mayvey has a scheming look on his face. Arjun’s hoarse yelling attempts continue into hysterics as the camera shows another review “Shows a dark side with new characters.” by Activision]

“We have to get out of here!”

[Queen’s voices pierced through Arjun’s slowly fizzled out yelling as she looks between Ace and Sofia with a serious gaze. Jack walks closer and hands a letter from King to Queen.]

“Hell. On. Earth.”

[The music becomes subtle, adding a clicking noise. Ace states each word coldly as the camera shows Lemon’s board again. He turns, looking at Sergeant Kennedy] “Are you sure we can even do this?”

[Kennedy asks with furrowed eyebrows] “Shiloh… he have to at least try.”

[Lemon responds before the camera flashes white to the screen, showing a series of shots while the music becomes louder than ever; Jack setting a match on fire, Roger crying as he gives Kennedy a gentle hug, King writing a letter, Ace laying in a boat, Jokest3r & Trabagtoes talking over coffee, & Valentino pinning a photo of “The Squad” to the cork board.] [The camera zooms into the photo before flashing to a gun in Sofia’s hand that is pointed to the camera. The music stops.] “I never wanted it to end this way.”

[She says just above a whisper before the camera goes black at the piercing sound of a gunshot. The title appears on screen as eerie music plays…]

THE ISLAND SAGA: GOOSE ISLAND

[A goose walks across screen before the camera cuts out.]

God that took too long to write…

Hope you liked my trailer from a VERY unprofessional screenplay writer This all seems a lot cooler in my head 💀

what the hell..

i dont know what i was expecting but i wasnt expecting a whole ass script. hello? i can tell you that this is so well put together. like its so vivid and i can picture it clearly?? like DAMN. you even have the sound cues n shit!!

from one unprofessional screenplay writer to another, hats off to you because SHEESH??? THIS IS SO COOL?? I HAVE THE URGE TO MAKE STORYBOARDS AND A SCRIPT????

im in shock. you dropped this into my inbox for FREE??? i dont know if you have any plans for the film or entertainment industry but you should actually consider being a writer LIKE WOAH. this much creativity has so much potential.

dont worry about things sounding cool only in your head. i was told that i was a madman while i was pitching my first short film in class and three months later it became the class favourite when the finished project was presented. so dont doubt yourself. you never know if your ramblings bring you places.

[01zfan]

don’t know if you’ve already talked about this but can you take us through your writing process? do you write on a computer or your phone? how do you find the motivation? do you make a plan before writing or do you just wing it? do you read/listen to anything for inspiration? how many words do you write in one sitting? how do you tackle a writing slump? 😁😁😁😁🤍

omg first of all thank you so much for your interest in my writing it really means alot agh. i do talk about my process here and here but i will gladly talk more about it because i LUV talking about writing heh.

usually my writing process begins one of two ways. i either have a concept of what i want to do that comes to me as a fleeting idea while im working on a screenplay or an assignment. sometimes i save it in my memory but sometimes i’ll write it really quick in my notes so i don’t lose it. the other way i get ideas is from the requests you guys send me! it inspires me alot, definitely a majority of my fics are from requests you guys have sent me. my favorite thing is when i can put multiple requests together to kinda curate a really good fic for you guys (and that way i get to do multiple peoples requests in one go!)

once i have the idea i usually write a bulk of it on my computer. i’m honestly a very impulsive writer when it comes to fanfiction so i used to jump around alot when i was writing. like for example i remember when i was writing argue with you part three i jumped around alot to different parts of the story and then kinda bridged the gaps. sometimes i’ll jump around to different fanfics i’m working on as well like sometimes i’ll be working on three at a time just jumping around to wherever my mind goes. i used to write straight through all the way to build my tolerance of making a linear story but now i just kinda go with whatever i feel like. i write on my phone too, but mainly when i write on my phone im tweaking stuff and editing bc i’m usually on the go when i’m on my phone. (i have edited so many fics and perfected smut scenes on public transit LMFAO)

i find the motivation to write because i love it a whole lot like it’s kind of hard to explain it but it’s like an innate part of me now to write and always wanting to write. like sometimes i can’t go to sleep until i write something whether it’s an assignment, a screenplay, a fanfic, a journal entry etc. i haven’t gone a single day without writing something in god knows how long. so i’ve never been too much in a writing slump, usually i just read where i left off and let my mind run from there. i find motivation also in reading books and other authors work. i don’t usually listen to music when i’m writing, unless it’s a request or i hear a song that reminds me of a member and an idea comes from that.

i truthfully wing most of the fics i write on here especially if it’s a request i kinda just go with a vibe and follow it till i eventually reach the end. i’m always driven by the same goal to kinda make it read like a reformatted screenplay to kinda transport you there. i think personally i did this the best with in the middle and should’ve told me. but sometimes i’m really driven by story and personalization of the members like i did with bike peg, your birthday, and trigger finger. i really want to become a better writer at feelings and incorporating more analogies and figurative language in my writing because i think it would take me to the next level. human like me was like a very amateur teaser of what i want to write (not as tragic of course but just very emotionally driven)

i genuinely couldn’t tell you the most i’ve ever written in one sitting. i’m gonna say 5-6k words because i wrote non-refundable in one sitting and i was also jumping around writing other stuff while i was woking on that one (i guess i can consider sungchan as a muse?)

sorry if i talked too much but i really love writing a whole bunch i could talk about it till the cows come home. if you ever want me to break down certain passages or excerpts in my fic and how i came up with it i would love to do that so freaking much you have no idea. once again thank you for asking and having an interest in my writing process :D

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 5/5

Book Blurb:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone who gave us A Merry Little Meet Cute comes a new holiday rom-com—’tis the season for second chances!

What happens when there’s no room at the inn and you and your potentially demonic cat become roommates with your grumpy one-night stand?

Part-time adult film actress/one-time adult film director/makeup artist Sunny Palmer has accidentally sold her very first screenplay to the Hope Channel. That was six months ago. Fast forward to a looming deadline, an uninspired Sunny has returned to the source of her inspiration in Christmas Notch, Vermont, to immerse herself in the local Christmas miracle on which her fever dream of a movie pitch was based.

Isaac Kelly, former boy band heartthrob and the saddest boy in the music biz, is the latest owner of the town’s historic mansion. After his years of heartbreak following his young wife’s death, Isaac’s record label is done waiting for new music. What better place to attempt his first holiday album than a snow-covered mansion where he can become a hermit in peace?

But after their best friends’ wedding leads to them waking up together in a freezing motel room with questionable wiring and a broken shower, Isaac takes a chance and asks Sunny to stay with him at his home. Surely the place is big enough that he’ll hardly see her or her unhinged cat. But when the two discover they’re both creatively blocked, they make a handshake deal: Isaac will help Sunny hunt down the truth behind the local lore, and Sunny will find Isaac a new muse.

And with these two opposites under one roof, there’s no way this jingle bell mingle could go off script…right?

Review:

It was only suppose to be a one night stand... but now he's asking you to move in and become his muse/roommate??? This is bound to be one jingle bell rock. Sunny Palmer is a part time adult film actress/one time adult film director/makeup artist who has accidentally sold her first screenplay to the Hope Channel.... and after 6 months she needs a new idea. Cue Isaac Kelly, former boy band heart throb turned the saddest boy in the music industry after his wife's death. Isaac is a bit of a recluse and has bought the town's historic mansion... and he has to write new music but he has no inspiration.... except for Sunny. Sunny and Isaac hooked upped a while back by when they attend their best friends' wedding.... one thing leads to the next and they're sharing a hotel room and much more... and then Isaac asks Sunny to move in with him in his giant mansion. It's a huge mansion he won't even notice she's there... yet when they both realize their creativity's blocked they come to a new agreement: Isaac will help Sunny solve a local lore and she'll find him his new muse (since she refuses to be his muse)... yet the more time they spend together under one roof the harder it is to just be "roommates with benefits"... but can Isaac ever love again and can Sunny be with someone who isn't ready to open up his heart yet? This was such a cute and HOT christmas romance read. I adored Sunny and Isaac, they love each other so much and were so supportive of one another. They were so in love with one another from the first moment and everyone around them could tell except them. This series has been such a fun one to read and the spice in it is top notch. I love this series so much and would absolutely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a hot holiday romance!

Release Date: September 24,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Avon and Harper Voyager | Avon for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[kammartinez]

I’ve always been curious about what it feels like for an author to see their work translated into another medium. The question seems particularly interesting with a film like Oppenheimer, the biopic directed by Christopher Nolan that opened in theaters this week. It tells the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” and is based on a mammoth, Pulitzer Prize–winning 2005 biography that took 25 years to research and write. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, is more than 700 pages long; at first glance, it’s difficult to imagine how a book this granular about a subject this complex became a movie. Sadly, Sherwin passed away two years ago, but Bird was able to have the uncanny experience of “meeting” Oppenheimer while visiting the set of Nolan’s film. I talked with him about this encounter and about his book’s path to Hollywood.

First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic’s Books section:

Bird and I spoke over the phone a day before the film’s release. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Gal Beckerman: How are you feeling?

Kai Bird: Well, my head is spinning a little bit. It’s very weird. This book came out 18 years ago. Where was everyone then?

Beckerman: Well, you did win the Pulitzer Prize. So you can’t say that it was ignored.

Bird: That’s true. I can’t complain. But, you know, it got on the paperback-best-seller list last week. It never made it on the best-seller list back then.

Beckerman: It took a long time for it to be picked up and adapted.

Bird: Well, the book was optioned. But, you know, years went by, and nothing happened. So we were very lucky when I suddenly got a phone call in September of 2021, and I was told that Christopher Nolan wants to speak to me. I didn’t realize it then, but looking back at all his other work, he’s really the perfect director for this book. He’s always been interested in time and space and memory, science and science fiction. So it makes perfect sense that he could be attracted to a book about a guy who was a quantum physicist.

Beckerman: So the shift to film felt pretty seamless to you?

Bird: The way Marty [Sherwin] and I both thought about the book—and this would be true of any potential film as well—was that it might be an interesting story to follow the making of the atomic bomb, but that if that’s all there was, we wouldn’t be spending all these years—25 years—on it. What gives the story its arc is both the triumph of [Oppenheimer’s] achievement in Los Alamos but then the tragedy of what happens to him nine years later, when he’s brought down from being America’s most famous scientist to becoming a nonentity, humiliated on the front pages of The New York Times. His loyalty to the country is questioned. That’s what makes the story really interesting. And so, when I first had a meeting with Nolan, he was not sharing the script with me at that point. He said he works confidentially, although he’d done a whole draft already. He works very fast. I told him I thought it was important to focus on the trial. And I think he was relieved to hear me say that, because when he showed me the screenplay a few months later, it really is a lot about the trial.

Beckerman: Were there aspects of the book that you thought would be particularly difficult to communicate in film without the benefit of hundreds and hundreds of pages?

Bird: The quantum physics. This was also a struggle in the book, because it’s so complex. But actually, Nolan really attempts to explain quantum or give you a sense of the music of it. He develops a good analogy in the film. He has Oppenheimer walking through an art gallery in the 1920s, when he’s studying quantum, and he’s looking at Cubist pictures done by Picasso. And he’s staring at them, and he’s seeing the quantum in Picasso’s images. That’s not specifically in the book, but, you know, Oppenheimer’s mother was a painter and an art collector. She bought early van Goghs and several Picassos, so it’s entirely appropriate.

Beckerman: Did you learn anything about filmmaking through this process?

Bird: I saw the film for the fourth time last night. And each time I see it, I see layers that I didn’t see on the first occasion. I hear some of the dialogue that I missed on previous occasions, because it is very fast-paced. Nolan is really quite interesting as a filmmaker, I think, precisely because he’s not trying to bring you along. He’s not trying to make sure you understand everything. He’s leaving little clues throughout the visual experience that he doesn’t explain. So, for example, if you know who the physicist Richard Feynman is, he is portrayed in the film, but he’s never identified. But on several occasions, you see this young man banging furiously on a bongo, and that’s Feynman.

Beckerman: And if you know, you know!

Bird: Exactly. He wants people to leave the theater with questions: Oh, who was that? And questions about, you know, McCarthyism, living with the bomb, and why did that happen to Oppenheimer? Was it just or unjust? He’s not giving you the answers. And he does that with the whole very weighty issue of the decision to actually use the bomb, which is still controversial history.

Beckerman: I know that you went to visit the set while they were filming. I’m curious if you could tell me a little bit more about what that experience was like, just the uncanniness of it. And, you know, meeting Cillian Murphy, who played Oppenheimer.

Bird: It was very bizarre. When I met Cillian, he was being introduced to me after shooting a scene, and I shouted out, “Dr. Oppenheimer, Dr. Oppenheimer. It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been waiting all these years.” And then we had a five-minute conversation. And I told him I thought it was interesting how well he had captured Oppie’s voice. Oppenheimer’s voice was always very soft-spoken. It’s the kind of voice that makes you want to lean forward to make sure you’ve caught every word. And each word is pronounced very meticulously. And he speaks in whole paragraphs. Cillian’s response was Oh, well, I’m glad you think so—but, you know, we try not to imitate the voice; we try to simply capture the spirit of it.

Beckerman: Well, that seems a pretty apt description of adaptation when it works well, as it sounds like it did in this case.

Bird: I just think I’m a lucky, lucky author.

[fancifulflora]

Headcanons for the modern au of the tale of crowns s/o's?

OH hoh ohoh youve done it now anon, I have so many hcs brewing for a modern!AU with these LIs and AUs give me a whole lot more creative freedom to go hog wild

Azad/Ashti

They'd come from a relatively well-off family, spending a lot of time at the public library with their mother when they were a kid

That is, until their father became sick, their mother forced to take on more hours and their elder sister and them put in charge of making sure their dad was alright

Even with limited time, during middle and high school, they found a lot of fun participating in musicals and plays- although when they grow older they'll vehemently deny it.

Their passion for reading and writing continues throughout their childhood, pushing them to major in English

It's during college when they'd meet the other LIs, first bumping into R at the library

After college, they'd find work as a writer, enjoying a pretty relaxed life off of the royalties

They'd dabble in poetry and might even write up a screenplay or two due to their background in theatre

Outside of that, they'd spend a lot of time with their family, taking care of their sick father when their sister couldn't

I also think there's a real possibility they may turn to teaching as a profession too

Being a professor or high school teacher for literature, they'd try to instill the same love for reading in all their students

Nothing embarrasses them more, however, then going out to catch up with friends just to see the latest novel or book they've published being passed around

Dara/Delal

Honestly the most 'normal' of the LIs in their childhood

They come from a military family, at least on their mom's side, so it left them with their other parent most days while she traveled.

Was a kid that kept themselves busy with different types of extracurriculars

They'd take on a sport or two, but find real passion in martial arts

Surprisingly, they also enjoyed choir, being a bit of a natural at it

Despite the family ties, they'd have little to no interest in actually serving, however, a free ticket to university is a hard offer to pass up for most families struggling financially

Still, seeing the effects that it had on their mom gave them second thoughts

Regardless of whether they get it covered through a military program, their athletic prowess alone could easily get them plenty of scholarships if they committed themselves to a sport

The first person they'd meet in college would be A, the two bumping into each other on the way to the gym

They'd probably major in kinesiology considering the career they take up

After college, they'd teach self-defense to others and be damned good at it too. They're strict, but it's more like they're particular over form- not wanting improper form to hurt their students.

They might even own a gym or a center that they'd teach in. They'd be a strong motivator for those wanting to get healthy, and an invaluable resource for those looking to find introductions to new interests like judo or rock climbing.

Though, sometimes they think they do their job too well- X constantly pestering them to spar or challenging them to beat a personal record whenever they stop by.

Rozerîn/Rêzan

Was adopted at a very young age so they don't know much about their birth parents

Since they showed a lot of promise when they were young, reading books far beyond their reading level in elementary and winning science fairs left and right- they skip grades

A handful of them

It also helps since they don't come from a lot, so their performances win them a shit ton of scholarships

It's a little surprising for those who see the teen in college, their first encounter with the other LIs being with X who assumed they were a high school student that had gotten lost

Due to their love for animals, they opt for the veterinarian path, majoring in biology with a focus on zoology

They may double major in the humanities or literature just to make the most out of their time at university

During college they'll find a great professor that quickly becomes like a mother to them, helping them find internships and job opportunities after college- even including them in research projects done over the summer

Unlike the others, being very young when they start college lets them spend more years fitting in classes that are neither for their majors nor minors

So long as have their funds covered, they're happy to explore and take classes that interest them

Hell, they probably have so many scholarships the school itself might pay them to attend

And once they're ready, maturing enough, they'll start their work with animals- keeping in close contact with the small handful of friends they've made over the years in university

Xelara/Xelef

Was raised by a single mother for most of their childhood, until a housefire left them an orphan, both emotionally and physically shut off from others

Bounced around in the foster care system until they were brought into a family in a rough neighborhood

Luckily, that's where they met two kids around their age, quickly becoming friends

Coming from a poorer family, they worked a few odd jobs here and there with their friends to make it into a good university

But instead of going down a direct path, they opted to attend part-time, continuing their work outside of that

It certainly helped pay for a lot of their classes, but was a way they could support their family, their tight-knit community back home

And make enough money to support a rather lavish lifestyle

Didn't really major in anything specific, but did take classes that offered them certifications that would help with getting the job they did want

To be a firefighter

It's actually where they met D, the two bumping into each other during their first aid certification courses

Even after their college days are over, they are certain to keep pestering the more intriguing characters they bump into

And besides, they'd have to keep in contact with their college friends- there were far too many jokes unmade, challenges unwon for them to do otherwise

[fasttube]

The Literacy of Lyricism: For Swifties

I stand by my seat at The Eras Tour and eagerly await the arrival of one of my favorite artists as the clock on the screen counts down. The screams around me reach an unimaginable volume as we all hear “It’s been a long time coming.” I look out at the crowd and see so many faces. Almost every single one was screaming or crying, some were doing both. This singular person who was coming up on stage had created a mass fanbase of people who would cheer for her through thick and thin. In fact, Taylor Swift has created more than just a fanbase, she’s made a community. Communities can be defined simply as a group of people whose interactions create some kind of unity and commonality (Prior 26). However, the Swiftie community goes further than this by becoming a discourse community. It’s a discourse community through which people engage with each other on topics relating to Taylor. Where they have online chatrooms and in-person events to discuss and share their thoughts on Taylor and her music. Where dozens of fanfictions, parodies, blog posts, and even full-length college courses are created to spread the “word” of Blondie, a term of endearment by fans for Taylor. I make it sound like a cult, and although some people take it seriously enough to call it a religion, it’s just an accepting community that shares the goal of appreciating and sharing the music of Taylor Swift (Swales 12). Because of all these things, I find it fitting to define the Swiftie fanbase as a discourse community, according to John Swales's definition. The main mechanism through which Swifties appreciate and share Taylor’s music is through her lyrics. These lyrics enable Swifties to pursue writing and advocacy in some of the contexts that Taylor writes about. Through Taylor Swift’s lyricism, the literacy of Swifties is uplifted and encouraged in the contexts of emotional expression, feminism, and insecurity.

Writing and literacy can take many forms. It can be in the form of poetry, screenplays, non-fiction books, Tumblr blogs, or lyrics, among many others. Lyricism, especially, is one of the most popular ways that literacy can be learned and spread. Although I have heard my fair share of lyrics and songs with questionable messaging and imagery, I believe most artists value their lyrics. One such artist is Taylor Swift. About an hour into the concert, I stood by my seat eagerly anticipating the next song and saw one of her backup singers hand her a guitar. She strums casually, gives a little speech about love, and asks, “Do you have about 10 minutes to spare”. The crowd goes absolutely buck wild, all of us recognizing that she’s singing the 10-minute version of her Grammy award-winning song, All Too Well. For the many Swifties at the show and me, this song carries much meaning all because of the touching lyrics she wrote. As the bridge of the song builds, I take a deep breath and prep my vocal cords to scream out as loud as they can.

“And you call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest. I’m a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here cause I remember it all too well.”

I look at my cousin next to me and she is brazenly sobbing while singing each lyric and screaming as she recalls that last time someone hurt her and made her feel the same feeling that Taylor was singing about. That’s one of the beauties of the lyricism of Taylor Swift, the relatability that allows people to feel comfortable sharing their feelings.

Blondie’s music has always been catered towards women, both young and old. So, the teenage girls within all of us that have been heartbroken a dozen times over because of our fresh, unexperienced hearts, really FEEL every word that she writes. This feeling is especially multiplied when I look online and see hundreds of blog posts, tweets, and images detailing how a stranger hundreds of miles away feels exactly the same way that I did. Knowing that someone else feels the same way I did, gives Swifties the confidence to share their stories and tell others of their ventures, both gleeful and sorrowful. In this way, the Swiftie community uplifts and encourages each other to write their feelings. The encouragement that is provided among the Swifties community and from Taylor Swift’s lyrics, empowers fans to engage in literacy that has to do with their own emotions and manner of expression. Even as someone who is studying to be a writer/editor, I still find it difficult to find the right words to express myself and my feelings. I often find it impossible to put pen to paper and write exactly how I feel in regard to what I felt at a specific moment; it’s why I have never been one for journaling. The masterful lyricism with which Taylor Swift writes is one that inspires me to find better ways of expressing myself. And this is something that is further fostered by the Swiftie community. Every cover, parody, inspired piece of poetry or art, is uplifted and celebrated by Swifties. They’ve even come together as a community and created fan chants to sing during some of Taylor’s songs and a slurry of inside jokes that only other Swifties would recognize. This scale of supportiveness and expression of the community is something that is second to none among the often-toxic fandoms that many recording artists have amassed.

Soon after the Red era of songs was over, the entire stage was emptied as just Taylor walked towards the end of the stage. At the end of the stage stood a wooden piano, decorated with painted flowers. The entire audience was abuzz with anticipation as we waited to see what song would come next. Taylor spoke, giving a relatively long speech about the love she has for her fans before introducing her special guest for the evening, Aaron Dessner, one of her co-songwriters. The crowd went wild once again, I stood in confusion but cheered and asked my cousin “Who’s that?”, “That’s one of her songwriters,” she said. I understood the cheers now, this was someone who had written some of Taylor’s most powerful and touching songs. He begins to play the piano, everyone sitting in silence trying to see what song it was. This was what was called “Surprise song time”, where Taylor would choose two songs from her discography to sing acoustically. It was different at every show so the fans never knew what surprise song was coming even if they knew the full setlist. In the midst of Aaron’s piano playing, “What did you think I'd say to that?” is sung, and as if they were commanded to do so, the crowd screams in unison and begins to sing along with Taylor. After the first verse, she almost angrily sings

“Good wives always know, she should be mad, should be scathing like me, but no one likes a mad woman. What a shame she went mad... And you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out And you find something to wrap your noose around. And there's nothin' like a mad woman”

I feel anger well up from deep within me as I recall all the times, I have had to suppress my feelings for fear of being told I am “crazy”. This is an experience not unique only to me, but rather one that could be felt by every woman who exists in male-dominated spaces (which, let's be honest, is almost everywhere).

As a woman, I find it to be incredibly important to read, listen to, and watch material that empowers women and supports feminism. This applies to books, movies, academic texts, and music. Music is mostly the one that I surround myself with the most. Music is the media that reaches the widest audience, as it can be listened to, recognized, and appreciated beyond the barrier of language. The lyricism of songs like “Mad Woman” and some of Taylor’s other songs, allows Swifties to be empowered and embrace their femininity without fear of judgment. The song reminds me of the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a story about a woman who slowly goes mad as the men around her ignore her and her pleas for help. Although in this story the narrator actually does become a “mad woman” it is because of the lack of reception and mental help that her physician husband refused to give her. Both this story and Taylor’s song encompass the experiences that most women have. Experiences where men undermine the feelings of women and place them under this umbrella of being “crazy” rather than acknowledging their very real feelings and issues.

The lyrics behind “mad woman” encourage women to put their feelings into words, specifically their feelings about being a woman. Women are inspired to become feminists through songs like these. Although feminism has gotten a bad rap, it’s really just a different word for equality (Logsdon 5). In this constant struggle for equality, the sharing of female rage and despair actually uplifts women to continue the fight, rather than delving them into a depression from the lack of equal rights. The feminist lyrics behind some of Taylor’s songs, promote Swifties to engage more with feminist rhetoric and discourse. From this, the community gains a newfound courage to share and engage with feminist literacy. This form of literacy actually encourages abstract and conceptual language (Havelock 1). The metaphorical nature of her lyrics adds a visual component to her already descriptive and immersive audio. In this song, the lyrics give Swifties the image of a man pushing and pushing a woman till she reaches a point where she goes mad. The relatability of Taylor’s lyrics once again serves as the catalyst for why Swifties engage so much with her music and get inspired and empowered by it.

The crowd was still yelling, with screams getting more and more raspy as people lost their voices. The first surprise song had finished and left all the women in the crowd with a rush of adrenaline as they thought of all the times, they were told they were “mad”. These screams continued as Aaron left the stage. Screams still cheer out for Taylor as we see water being projected onto the stage. Taylor readies herself assumes a position similar to that of professional divers and literally jumps headfirst onto the stage. “What the, that was so cool!” I remember exclaiming to my cousin as we watched the interim visuals of Taylor Swift swimming inside the stage. Soon after this truly jarring moment, the final era of the tour, Midnights, was about to begin. I really wasn’t ready for it to be over, I felt what seemed to be every emotion possible throughout the last 2 and a half hours of this show. I probably screamed the loudest of everyone in my section, even with my already shredded vocal cords from the night of excess screaming. We eventually reached my favorite song from the era, Anti-Hero. It’s a song I, unfortunately, deeply relate to.

“It’s me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. At teatime, everybody agrees. I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror”

My throat grew tight as I felt the emotions rush through me, it became almost painful as it combined with the soreness I already had. I knew exactly what it felt like to be insecure about the things you do and to have anxiety about what you could have done better. It’s a feeling I know isn’t unique, but one that still hits hard nonetheless.

It’s not often that I get emotional in a space with so many people around. I normally like to keep my emotions to myself. But something about the experience of seeing this person on stage singing about this feeling that I had had so many times before and that I see so many people around me sharing, had me close to tears. The song itself is upbeat and happy sounding, but the lyrics tell a story of anxiety and insecurity. As a student, I especially relate to the feelings in this song as I often question my abilities and wonder if my writing is good enough. And I know I’m not alone. In a letter to her students, Erica Dolson exclaims about how she so desperately wishes that she could allay the sentiments of stress and anxiety that her students express to her (1). Despite advice on breathing, healthy habits, and professional help, those emotions are still there. One thing that has really helped me with my anxieties and insecurities is knowing that I am not the only one who feels this way. Dolson explains that she also feels those same stresses and anxieties as her students do. Taylor Swift, this person who people have long been idolizing and claiming to be perfect, also feels that same way and she’s letting us fans know that through her lyrics. She’s insecure about her writing, her actions, and herself. Swifties feel these insecurities and anxieties too, and by opening up about these things, Taylor Swift is sponsoring the normalization of vulnerability and creating mental health literacy.

Through this normalization, the Swifties community becomes a supportive space where people can express their feelings and show their vulnerability with people who will try their best to uplift someone out of those negative thoughts. On Twitter (I know it’s X now, but that name is stupid so I still call it Twitter), I’ve seen dozens of posts from Taylor Swift update accounts who apologize for being inactive because of their mental health. Rather than attacking this person for being absent and being upset that they didn’t get their daily Taylor Swift news, the community supports that person and tells them to take their time and prioritize their own health. This isn’t really something hard to do as they're just being decent human beings, but such support among fans is uncommon in a lot of fanbases. By giving each other empathy, offering support, and encouraging open conversations about mental health, Swifties contribute to a broader understanding of emotional well-being within fanbases.

As I write this piece, still in my post-Eras Tour depression, I continue to think about all the lyrics of Taylor Swift and how they have touched the lives of so many people. Through her lyrics, Taylor Swift has sponsored the literacy of her fanbase and inspires them to be raw and creative. The Swifties community has been shaped by Taylor Swift's impactful lyrics and now serves as a vibrant discourse community that encourages emotional expression, feminism, and mental health. Through the shared experience of her lyricism, Swifties finds not only entertainment but also a source of empowerment, understanding, and connection with a broader community that extends beyond The Eras Tour. Taylor Swift's lyrical artistry, combined with the communal spirit of Swifties, has cultivated a space where literacy transcends traditional boundaries and embraces the human experience.  So, just remember, when the crushing weight of the current state of the world and your own anxieties and emotions get you down, just do like Taylor Swift and “Shake It Off”. 

[nerice]

rating (roasting) my novel titles

(((saw a post like that abt films n thought it would be funny. here's plot synopses also plug plug hehe))))

nerice/black cat story: 3/10 functional but is literally a placerholder title. i hate it here

the rise of azra: 5/10 no points for creativity and spoils the ending but at least its accurate!

lighthearts/nighthearts: 10/10 biased opinion but i am right. superior aesthetics in the soulless department and fun to abbreviate & works perfectly for the two narrative arcs. god tier

shadow revenge: 7/10 sounds like a random YA novel unfortunately but will make you go OOOOH!!! Fuck. at the end when shit clicks & is elevated thru that. also teen me's first novel title i have to like it <3

dream game: 12/10 im a liar i still like lhnh best but THIS TITLE !! is my favourite !!!! the endgame the dream game of winning of succeeding (everybody was hurt in the process) nd specifically on the lucie/faye front (dream games..) IT DOES SO MUCH AT ONCE. impeccable

melody of the doomed: 7.5/10 motd is one of my favourite abbreviations so while the full title is very basic, writing an entire book for the sake of the cathartic linn/faye rematch & titling it like that is so sexy of me

long lost flame: 8/10 THERE IS SO MUCH WARMTH IN IT !!!!! everyone is finally going home and recovering what they lost. i am soft for it, even if i have the sneaking suspicion it was sparked by a hamilton quote gifset (unknowingly) back in the day f.

bonus round: novella, offcanon & au (no placeholders)

white crown: 6/10 sounds very good but has very little actual plot relevance past a single rune/ash thruline. oops

reefair: -2/10 this used to be an oc last name. repurposed into a short story collection title. the point ???????

甘さ: 1(0)/10 LOOK AT LEAST I GET TO BE DISCREET ABT IT. would prefer to find a proper title at some point though if i come up with one for this before qs romnov im killing myself

platinum road: 4/10 but a 20/10 to me song reference title that has simply the perfect vibe and mouthfeel to it despite making absolutely no sense. also very easy to typo as #platinum toad, unfortunately lol

dark maiden: fml/10 as a standalone title it is atrocious. the song line applies to faye but any synopsis makes it sound like it would be about sky. awful we hate that; HOWEVER i am whipped for this song my lifeblood my everything my magnum opus one day ocmv and therefore. it is what it is <3

3 kingdoms au: 5/10 what it says on the tin. would be more upset if 3kau wasn't such a cute abbreviation

the great escape: 9/10 another Basic Music Reference but IN CONTEXT it is perfect <3 abbreviates beautifully, goes so well w tge minor/the quiet place on the side. that album sponsored the screenplay & there is no question abt this being the rightful title of it. taking off one point bc the guy doesn't even escape at the end lol as if i'd let him

rich girl pride: 10000000/10 ultimate perfect title for a qs hsau we stan. i take no criticism thanks for coming to my oc talk

[kamreadsandrecs]

I’ve always been curious about what it feels like for an author to see their work translated into another medium. The question seems particularly interesting with a film like Oppenheimer, the biopic directed by Christopher Nolan that opened in theaters this week. It tells the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man known as the “father of the atomic bomb,” and is based on a mammoth, Pulitzer Prize–winning 2005 biography that took 25 years to research and write. American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, is more than 700 pages long; at first glance, it’s difficult to imagine how a book this granular about a subject this complex became a movie. Sadly, Sherwin passed away two years ago, but Bird was able to have the uncanny experience of “meeting” Oppenheimer while visiting the set of Nolan’s film. I talked with him about this encounter and about his book’s path to Hollywood.

First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic’s Books section:

Bird and I spoke over the phone a day before the film’s release. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Gal Beckerman: How are you feeling?

Kai Bird: Well, my head is spinning a little bit. It’s very weird. This book came out 18 years ago. Where was everyone then?

Beckerman: Well, you did win the Pulitzer Prize. So you can’t say that it was ignored.

Bird: That’s true. I can’t complain. But, you know, it got on the paperback-best-seller list last week. It never made it on the best-seller list back then.

Beckerman: It took a long time for it to be picked up and adapted.

Bird: Well, the book was optioned. But, you know, years went by, and nothing happened. So we were very lucky when I suddenly got a phone call in September of 2021, and I was told that Christopher Nolan wants to speak to me. I didn’t realize it then, but looking back at all his other work, he’s really the perfect director for this book. He’s always been interested in time and space and memory, science and science fiction. So it makes perfect sense that he could be attracted to a book about a guy who was a quantum physicist.

Beckerman: So the shift to film felt pretty seamless to you?

Bird: The way Marty [Sherwin] and I both thought about the book—and this would be true of any potential film as well—was that it might be an interesting story to follow the making of the atomic bomb, but that if that’s all there was, we wouldn’t be spending all these years—25 years—on it. What gives the story its arc is both the triumph of [Oppenheimer’s] achievement in Los Alamos but then the tragedy of what happens to him nine years later, when he’s brought down from being America’s most famous scientist to becoming a nonentity, humiliated on the front pages of The New York Times. His loyalty to the country is questioned. That’s what makes the story really interesting. And so, when I first had a meeting with Nolan, he was not sharing the script with me at that point. He said he works confidentially, although he’d done a whole draft already. He works very fast. I told him I thought it was important to focus on the trial. And I think he was relieved to hear me say that, because when he showed me the screenplay a few months later, it really is a lot about the trial.

Beckerman: Were there aspects of the book that you thought would be particularly difficult to communicate in film without the benefit of hundreds and hundreds of pages?

Bird: The quantum physics. This was also a struggle in the book, because it’s so complex. But actually, Nolan really attempts to explain quantum or give you a sense of the music of it. He develops a good analogy in the film. He has Oppenheimer walking through an art gallery in the 1920s, when he’s studying quantum, and he’s looking at Cubist pictures done by Picasso. And he’s staring at them, and he’s seeing the quantum in Picasso’s images. That’s not specifically in the book, but, you know, Oppenheimer’s mother was a painter and an art collector. She bought early van Goghs and several Picassos, so it’s entirely appropriate.

Beckerman: Did you learn anything about filmmaking through this process?

Bird: I saw the film for the fourth time last night. And each time I see it, I see layers that I didn’t see on the first occasion. I hear some of the dialogue that I missed on previous occasions, because it is very fast-paced. Nolan is really quite interesting as a filmmaker, I think, precisely because he’s not trying to bring you along. He’s not trying to make sure you understand everything. He’s leaving little clues throughout the visual experience that he doesn’t explain. So, for example, if you know who the physicist Richard Feynman is, he is portrayed in the film, but he’s never identified. But on several occasions, you see this young man banging furiously on a bongo, and that’s Feynman.

Beckerman: And if you know, you know!

Bird: Exactly. He wants people to leave the theater with questions: Oh, who was that? And questions about, you know, McCarthyism, living with the bomb, and why did that happen to Oppenheimer? Was it just or unjust? He’s not giving you the answers. And he does that with the whole very weighty issue of the decision to actually use the bomb, which is still controversial history.

Beckerman: I know that you went to visit the set while they were filming. I’m curious if you could tell me a little bit more about what that experience was like, just the uncanniness of it. And, you know, meeting Cillian Murphy, who played Oppenheimer.

Bird: It was very bizarre. When I met Cillian, he was being introduced to me after shooting a scene, and I shouted out, “Dr. Oppenheimer, Dr. Oppenheimer. It’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been waiting all these years.” And then we had a five-minute conversation. And I told him I thought it was interesting how well he had captured Oppie’s voice. Oppenheimer’s voice was always very soft-spoken. It’s the kind of voice that makes you want to lean forward to make sure you’ve caught every word. And each word is pronounced very meticulously. And he speaks in whole paragraphs. Cillian’s response was Oh, well, I’m glad you think so—but, you know, we try not to imitate the voice; we try to simply capture the spirit of it.

Beckerman: Well, that seems a pretty apt description of adaptation when it works well, as it sounds like it did in this case.

Bird: I just think I’m a lucky, lucky author.

[heartxshaped-bruises]

Hi friend! Just wanted to ask, since you work with screenplays and filming - where do you get your inspiration from? And is there any materials (like actual documents, videos and such) you've benefitted from filming school that you would reccomend?

                                   ✧･ﾟ  𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃.

HEYHO NONNY !!

Thanks for the interest. I'd say that it entirely depends on what kind of movies you want to do or what stories you'd like to tell. I believe the worst thing you can do is working with resources and materials that you know you won't work for you, but people still recommend it.

Personally, I find MY INSPIRATION in music videos and music itself, most of the time. Like, two of my big movie projects originated from songs I heard that lead to characters who then inspired me to write their stories and make two shortfilms. And those characters are Benji and Joe from this blog here. My upcoming Bachelor's movie is also rooted in several songs and music videos that gave birth to the protagonist whom I used to write a while ago on here, too.

AS FOR WRITING, we get a lot of literature recommended when it comes to Screenplay Writing, but I find a lot of them kinda pretentious and they don't help me with my approach. What I still think should be a standard reference though is STORY by Robert McKee. It doesn't force the author's own opinion on the reader like others and gives you clear examples why some stories / movies work better than others based on techniques and facts, what could be the issue and how to fix it. It's less a book to read and more of a reference book, though. But I always found it very helpful.

Another thing I personally turn to has always been a book from Hirohisa Tanaka's HOW TO DRAW MANGA's series. It mainly focuses on teaching you some techniques and tricks how to develop interesting and surprising stories, or how you can "stay in creative shape". Technically, it doesn't have something to do with movies at first sight, but it works for me and it's fun. You should always consider material outside of your bubble.

WHEN IT COMES TO VIDEOS and such we actually do have our own huge digital encyclopedia of video tutorials made by the staff and students, courses, interviews and such that are only accessible for us. So I couldn't help you out with these, but as I said before -- turn to materials that benefit your story.

But I can warmly recommend one vid that my Screenplay teacher showed us and it was a simple but huge game changer for my stories: Writing Advice from Matt Stone & Trey Parker. I've never seen this put better into action than in Riot Games' ARCANE series, I would've never noticed if my teacher hadn't shown me this video.

Outside of my film school I watch A TON OF VIDEO ANALYSES of series and movies that I love so I can compare them with my own views and understand how they work. And they dont have to be exclusively from professionals and fellow filmmakers bc lbr, you just have to look at letterboxd reviews and you know we're a totally different kind of breed than your everyday movie-lover. It's also good to just watch reviews of regular people and see how their opinion differs from professionals.

Channels I personally enjoy are:

The Closer Look (Writing & Constructing Stories w/ examples from famous media)

The Vile Eye (Analyzing Evil // Villains)

Cinema Therapy (Psychological Aspects of Characters & Filmmaking)

Broey Deschanel (Analyses of popculture & politics)

schnee (In-Depth Analysis of ARCANE)

abitfrank (Overanalyzation of fairy tales, creepy stories & movies)

Hello Future Me (Reviews)

Friendly Space Ninja (Reviews & thoughts on recent series / remakes)

verilybitchie (LGBTQA+ analysis of movies, series and politics)

And generally, I ofc watch videos about the kind of filmmaking that I wanna do. So, in my case I watch a lot of videos about visual comedy in the style of Edgar Wright, how he uses Sound Design (a highly underappreciated department) and so on. And I also bother with materials covering these topics:

Morally Ambiguous Characters (I need writing-heavy resources)

Bizarre but endearing Dialogues (Watching movies that have this; researching in my book how to write conversations; watching vids on how to NOT write a dialogue)

How to do Music Videos (Watching music videos from the 90ies and early 2000s bc that's what I am going for; analyzing how music videos work, what it tells you about the song etc.)

Symbolysm & Color Dramaturgy (basically just research of the meaning behind each one, how to give the audience information, how to evoke emotions in the audience... and also watching movies where it's very clear to tell - like Crimson Peak and the like, if you're inexperienced)

That was a lot of text now, sorry about that. I'm not sure if you find any of this helpful, but I guess the general thing I can tell you is to directly look for materials and sources that speak to you and are specifically for you. The things that work for me might not work for you and vice versa.

I personally don't find any use in bothering with excercises and materials that only show me how much I don't want to incorporate them in my own work.

I hope this helps??

[freeced]

How do you do it all? You make fantastic music. You write and draw little ghost comics. You manage multiple social media accounts, AND you're adding little doodles to your asks? Where do you find the time?

See, it's funny because - first of all, thank you - see it's funny because I don't feel like I really do all that much! I've always had way more ideas for things than I've had energy to DO those things, and so any amount of completed work I do put out pales in comparison to the vast scrap heap of things I'll realistically never get around to. As a matter of doing so many DIFFERENT things, well, I kind of feel like a great wheel of cheese tumbling down a mountain. I didn't have anything when I started, but it's been a long time now and new interests just seem to stick. Some of them stay stuck on pretty tightly for a while (like comics) and have just now come flying off in a direction that everyone can see them. Cheese similes notwithstanding... I think I'm pretty bad at actually managing social media accounts! True social media managers have schedules and plans and look at data and know how to engage an audience and I...I just talk. When I have to actually promote something, it's very hard for me not to be apologetic about it because I just assume nobody wants to see it. Not that nobody wants to see the THING, but that nobody wants to see me POST about the thing. I'm a work in progress. My own projects - comics, the music and videos on my YouTube channel(s), my podcasts, when I have one, streaming, when I remember to - actually occupy the minority of my time because I'm always so busy doing the other work that pays the bills more consistently: writing for other channels, VA, vocal/instrumental/songwriting comms, features, and so on and on and on. And on. Even still, I don't really feel like I do all that much at all, because I have a little thing in my head that tells me I'm lazy and another little thing in my head that never stops giving me ideas. I don't mind the second one so much. But because of that, I'm not sure I really know how to relax. I've been making more of an effort to lately, which is perhaps both paradoxical and self-defeating, but I did read a book cover to cover in a cafe a few weeks ago instead of working like I normally would and I think that's a tremendous stride. That said, I still haven't managed to convince myself that it wasn't a waste of time, because I've read that book before, and I just now realize that I also persuaded myself that it was okay at the time because it's one I've always wanted to adapt into a screenplay and it counted as work. One step forward, two steps back. But it's a damn nifty moonwalk.

[otnesse]

And that isn't even half of the stuff he did that was bad:

He was also responsible for sabotaging Great Mouse Detective's successes, Rescuers Down Under as well (though to be fair, apparently diminished returns for The Rescuers' reairing played some role in that bit as well). And he came close to firing Bill Farmer and replacing him with Steve Martin.

Also, he's the reason why Linda Woolverton, aka the same misandric hack who wrecked Sleeping Beauty with her Maleficent movie and boasted about it, was hired into Disney. And to further elaborate on that bit, he pretty much rejected two writers for Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which at that time was planned to be the next feature film after The Little Mermaid). One, Jim Cox, who Michael Eisner not only chose to wrote the screenplay, but even managed to go as far as to track him down to Mexico to call him to do it while his family was vacationing after reading his story treatment for it. He then did a lot of work to make it into a full-fledged screenplay, but then Jeffrey Katzenberg basically nixed the screenplay and to make matters worse, he never even bothered to give him a reason, heck, not even any excuse, no matter how flimsy, for rejecting it. The most he ever told him was "no one bats a thousand." This was while The Little Mermaid was still being prepped for theaters, BTW. Then we have the more well-known Richard Purdum draft, which got some headway, only for Katzenberg to nix that one, citing that one as "too dark, too dramatic" (ironic, considering what he nearly did to Toy Story later on, more on that to come). He then said, apparently because of how critics complained about Ariel being "cloyingly sexist" just for even WANTING to go for Eric in the first place (all while clearly ignoring how she saved his butt twice and already dreamed about becoming human well before she even laid eyes on him, much less met him face to face), that Beauty and the Beast ought to act as a musical bonanza with a feminist twist. How feminist, you might ask? Well, that's where Linda Woolverton came in, hiring her purely because she left behind her book Running Before the Wind (which, BTW, was definitely not suitable for Disney), and she then proceeded to make Belle into a women's libber as well as pretty much trashing on marriage as an entire concept, made the villain into an obnoxious pig archetype just to do some take thats against her former boyfriends, and pretty much sabotaged the whole true beauty coming from within bit. And there's evidence of Katzenberg and Woolverton viewing their audience as morons via certain... writing decisions in the movie (like changing Gaston's attempted pre-mortem one-liner due to thinking audiences didn't get why Gaston was fighting Beast despite most likely sitting through the movie up to that point, or the Gaston reprise that had him gloating key details of his blackmail plan to literally everyone in the village, or even Beast having to explicitly tell Cogsworth that he released Belle despite Cogsworth most likely witnessing it.). Now, by itself, that wasn't too much of a problem since Beauty and the Beast STILL managed to more than make its money back, and even nearly win an academy award. But down the line, I'd argue that movie did more than anything to ultimately ruin Disney, including more mean spirited takes on the Disney Princess line (which going by what Linda Woolverton said was deliberate) and also culminating in the Maleficent movie (which Woolverton herself made clear in a TIME magazine article had repeated the themes she intended to impart in Beauty and the Beast, and did I mention Maleficent's notorious rewrite in that movie was exclusively HER idea, and that even Angelina Jolie, Maleficent's actress in that movie, disagreed with making her a woobie goody-two-shoes?).

We also get into Pocahontas, where he tried to focus development on THAT movie over The Lion King, viewing the latter as a guaranteed failure for, and I kid you not, "talking animals", warped American History to basically be a weird mixture of Romeo and Juliet as well as Howard Zinn's textbooks. Let's just say his projections were WAY off regarding the results of that one, and some of the failures of that film were self-inflicted.

And then we get into Toy Story and his near-disastrous handling of that movie. Remember when you said he was a micromanager? Well, he REALLY showed that bit about him in that movie, where he consistently demanded for Pixar to add more edge to the movie, which had as a consequence Woody, the intended main protagonist, becoming extremely unlikeable. And by "unlikeable", I mean he was a complete jerk to everyone, actually threw Buzz out of the window on purpose and then basically verbally abused Slinky when the latter hesitantly had to agree with the other toys that Woody's action to Buzz was terrible. When it was shown to the executives, they were appalled, and Pixar had to rework it to be the movie they wanted it to be. Had Katzenberg gotten what he wanted, in other words, we wouldn't have a Toy Story, or a Pixar, and we'd probably have to wait another decade for any chance at a 3D CGI film.

Oh yeah, and might as well add the reason why he was fired from Disney: He attempted to pressure Michael Eisner into giving him the president spot. Eisner was reluctant, as he didn't want to backstab Frank Wells, but assured him that if something happened, he'd get Wells spot. Let's just say Eisner REALLY regretted saying that three months later, when Frank Wells' chopper crashed and he died. The second the news came out, Katzenberg basically was all celebratory over his death and immediately claimed he was now in charge. This disgusted everyone at Disney, eventually culminating in Eisner having to take up the spot and firing Katzenberg for this crap. Oh yeah, and did I mention that under Katzenberg's direction with the live action movies, he was personally responsible for a -$247 million LOSS for Disney? Something that came to light in that aforementioned lawsuit about his severance package?

And I'm not sure the roasting of Disney Princess movies was at all good (besides, Beauty and the Beast if anything was a huge roast of its own on that front).