#wow this was fun i havent written an essay in a while

[weirdcat1213]

MXTX and Marie Lu: an unnecessary long post about writers I like very very much

spoilers for Heaven Officials Blessing and the Legend series but not that bad

tldr; They describe things and I like that but I had to make it this long and add some stuff about writing and cultural expectations cuz i guess ill always be an english major at heart

Ok so I need to get this off my chest so I hope youre interested in writing, describing things and cultural expectations

So I've started reading Heaven Officials Blessing cuz I like gay and sad people and I love the donghua so much but BOI THAT WOMAN CAN HURT ME SO GOOD >:D

The simplicity of her words may be due to translation, her own style or part of the normal style in China but it contributes a lot to the books in my opinion. It is because of her simplicity that the reader is able to follow her long and detail descriptions.

Now, a lot of writers like to describe things, and MXTX does this a lot. She describes clothes, places, faces, etc when it's necessary for the story. But what I love about her is how she describes certain actions and moments.

There are moments that just cannot be described in 3 sentences, they're too important. The example that I want to show has not left my mind since I read it because it was one of the best slaps in the face ever.

TGCF Vol. 2: (from the free version I could find but it'll do)

"Before he even finished, there was a loud scream, and Hong Hong-er leapt to his feet, running towards Guoshi to headbutt him.

His voice was young and tender, but his screams were filled with rage, as if his heart was filled to the brim with unspeakable pain and anguish, making many of those present shiver. That young child was covered in injuries, yet he tore and hit out at them like a red-eyed rabid dog, violent and aggressive.

The Deputy Guoshi blocked Hong Hong-er and Guoshi backed away, yelling, “MAKE HIM LEAVE THE MOUNTAIN, HURRY! Don’t touch him, I mean it! That fortune is too toxic, don’t touch him!”

The Deputy Guoshi hurriedly moved aside, and Mu Qing and Feng Xin didn’t know whether to act. Seeing that everyone was avoiding him like he was a poisonous snake, that child was

shaken and started thrashing even harder, biting and screaming.

“I’m not! I’M NOT!! I’M NOT!!!!”

Suddenly, a pair of arms wrapped him around the waist, encircling his small form. A voice came from above his head.

Like look at this! This moment cant be longer than 2 minutes and its described in such way that breaks me. The voice and actions of the little kid (who is kinda doing a bad job saying "hey im not actually dangerous/toxic") get under your skin. The descriptions of his voice, his figure, how he looks yelling, how everyone reacts to this moment, how the MC reacts to this...its all just so amazing. The description grabs you by the ear and it makes you listen, it makes you watch. And thanks to that harrowing description the last bit really gets to the reader. Finally someone bothered to actually listen to the kid and console him. It's so fucking beautiful and it makes me want to eat glass. It really gives you the feelings that an angel really came from above to save a child from the pain in his own heart.

“You’re not. I know you’re not. Don’t cry, now. I know you’re not.”

That young child pressed his lips closed tightly, grabbing on to that pair of snow-white sleeves around his waist with a death grip. He forced himself to hold back for a long time, but in the end, he couldn’t. A stream of tears suddenly rolled down from that round, black eye, and he burst out crying."

And all this emotion, this care for the craft reminded me of something, of someone. The queen the legend Marie Lu.

Although I would say she follows the regular American conventions when it comes to writing (she is american after all), she also takes care in her descriptions. However, in this case I want to talk about how she describes feelings. Marie Lu's characters are not just happy or sad but they have Feelings that just need to be expressed on the page otherwise they will explode. An example:

LEGEND SERIES BOOK 4 REBEL:

I nod again. "I'm sorry. I-"

"I find myself nodding through my tears, wishing I could have turned to him sooner, wishing I could be more like him in every way. "I see them every night," I say to him, my words breaking. "They're there every time I close my eyes, I jump at every sound. I see a soldier in every person standing at a corner. I thought- I thought if I could just drown it all out in the Undercity, if I could replace it with something else so loud and overwhelming, that it might go away- I thought if I could just see the Republic again, return home and understand my past..."

The pain in Daniel's eyes is raw and real. The fear of this was what had kept me silent for so long. He nods once, his hands firmly on my shoulders. "I see them too," he says quietly. "I should have talked to you about my nightmares. I can't expect you to open up to me if I don't do the same."

"Don't be." His eyes soften, and he pulls me into a hug. "You didn't do anything wrong."

It is his embrace that finally breaks my last barrier. I cry and cry and cry. I cry because I'd never let myself truly understand my own brother, because I'd never understood myself. I cry for all the lives that our pasts have set on different paths- for June's loss of her family, for Tess's loss of her childhood, for Daniel becoming a parent when he was himself just a boy. I cry because I'm grateful that we still, in spite of everything, have all found each other.

Because sometimes, broken pieces find a way to make a new whole."

NOW WHY AM I BOTHERING WITH ALL OF THIS. A couple of days ago one of my favorite video essayist youtubers said that his best writing advice was to keep things simple, that that was the best way to write.

This is just one of my favorite moments ever. The MC has been bottling things up for the whole book and on that scene he finally let's everything go. His brother also finally let's go his own fear and allows himself to be soft with his brother. The scene, however, would not work as well as it does without the description of the moment right before he breaks down crying. The feelings he can sense from his brother, his own feelings about his own perceived weakness, etc. These descriptions just gives the reader a window to see how much the characters have in their hearts. Again, it's so many emotions they could explode. Like this scene could have cut short in multiple ways and if it was recorded for a TV show it would not feel as long as it does in the book. Lu bothers with these descriptions to remind the reader that the characters have real feelings inside. They twist and change as it would happen to someone real and that's amazing. I love how she does it every time.

So how come these scenes, really description heavy, are this fucking cool and a short and fast description would not have been able to make them justice?

It's because usually when we talk about "keeping things simple" or "show dont tell" we want to apply them for everything. We want to apply them no matter the author, genre, target audience, etc.

This book explains it way better that I ever could but basically, writing tips and advice are based on what we consider normal. Most people consider the american conventions the rule, so when someone doesn't apply them to their writing, the writing is flawed. In the same book it is mentioned how typical Chinese writing prefers telling over showing things. They just love the details and that can be seen in MXTX's writing. She is following conventions that usually would be deemed as "wrong." Going back to Marie Lu, I want to think that she knows a bit about Chinese writing but she also knows that, even if its not the rule, descriptions help her writing alot; which is why she does it.

This is a nice and long way to tell you that when you read something pls do it with an open mind. Please dont have a mental list of what makes good of bad writing ready to point out an author's flaws. You could be discovering a new convention from a different culture, a convention that can be game changing for the book.

[datingdonovan]

This is not Stozier related, I know but what're you thoughts on Kaspbrough?

hmmmmm i feel like in fics its always presented as like eddie & bill were each others’ firsts..... i feel like in the circles i run in (wow i sound so pretentious this is literally the gay clown movie fandom like shut up cece) theres especially an emphasis on like how eddie used to/does (depending on headcanon/fic timeline) have a hardcore crush on bill (but i mean...... everyone has a hardcore crush on bill....... including me lol). like i think when i first encountered this idea i was a very firm reddie/stenbrough shipper and this kinda weirded me out but i’ve never really gone back and decided that i’d like to read it??? when i think about it as the flipside of stozier and as sort of the one that people point to as an obvious first relationship/crush for bill & eddie i think of it as very soft and calm and friendly and in that way im like i feel like its sort of a given, they click, they’re both quieter and softer around each other and its definitely not as chaotic. tbh that might be bc i think of it as a sorta antithesis to stozier bc it seems like in fics usually if richie/stan get together then it seems like bill/eddie must lol. or theres like a bill/eddie/mike triangle in a lot of fics. anywho i feel like thats very biased toward stozier and sorta writing bill and eddie off as the boring soft ones which really isnt tru like theyre both very bold and intense and have a lot of heart in their own ways but ive honestly never read a kaspbrough fic so maybe im not authorized to comment. also like i made a post ab this the other day but bill & eddie are the 2 losers i personally feel like remind me most of myself (or maybe the ones i just wish i were lol???) probably so like, that’s also a reason for me to write them off as not very edgy or not very cool or boring etc lol. but honestly yeah they feel wholesome and i think they like, do the right thing and theyre noble and honorable and theyre very family oriented and caring and firm and bold in loving each other and others actually. now im thinking of myself dating myself and all the reddie & stenbrough fics ive read and im like man kaspbrough must be like so much nervousness to actually admit it but then once they do its so much comfort. (or possibly no admission. maybe its just there and unacknowledged and i’d follow you to the ends of the earth and then its just there and yeah, ofc we’re dating , duh). also while writing this i thought of why dont we have band bill and manager eddie fics??? do thos e exist??? lets write them lol... im sure theres a lot of sports fics where eddie is track and bill is something else......  now thats reminding me of my own headcanons about a stenbrough rowing scenario omg ask me ab that and i’ll physically die.

but anyways after i read a bunch of stozier i actually became quite interested in bichie but havent had time to go read it or check it out. referring to my other post ab big personalities at first i thought bichie would be like the two big personalities encountering each other which would be a fun dynamic but the more i thought the more i was like are they really the two big personalities??? maybe yes maybe no and who would be the more dominant personality in that relationship now THATS a question for SURE. anyway i know nothing ab bichie either but im much more intrigued by that than kaspbrough. probably bc frat bros richie and bill (but like ESPECIALLY FRAT BRO BILL OK YOU REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND) have big soft spot in my heart and the two of them.... falling in love..... together in a frat...... i would pay money to see that fic done right.

also im sorry i literally write essay s in response to ur qs im just idk im one of those ppl who is pretty uncertain and wants more info a lot of the time b4 i commit to an opinion and i feel like i am always flipflopping between ships im interested in within this fandom so i always have to say oh wait i dont want to make any hard and fast judgements but i still want to give all of my half formed opinions lol. oh ps while thinking ab these im pretty much also always referring to one of my fave posts which is the “it ships written aesthetics” post which i for some reason can’t find rn. its a great post and i feel like i saw that when i first joined the fandom and now like even tho i dont agree with it all i do reference and think ab it a lot LOL

ok essay done

[ask-svt-hearteu]

bestfriend! Joshua

Anon requested: “could you do a joshua best friend au?”

Genre: friendship 

Word Count: 1504

you’ve known Joshua Hong for most of your life

went to the same school all the way into highschool

elementary, not much happened

probably just say hi and stuff like, “Can i use that glue stick when you're done” 

middle school came along and the two of you were officially in the 7th grade

you weren’t really the type of person to have a lot of close friends, maybe only a little over a handful

but you did have a lot of friends, your classmates and friends of friends 

because you never really had a problem having a fun and nice conversation with someone

Joshua was one of those friends, just the nice boy in your math and history class who actually knew all the states and their capital 

until your history teacher decided your class wasn’t allowed to choose their own partners anymore and chose them herself

“Y/n and Joshua, you guys have ‘Causes of The Civil War’ ” 

so as you gave up your seat for someone else, you scooted into the now empty desk next to Joshua

“Hey Joshuaa, so what do you want to do first”

“Hmm we can look at the text book first” 

the whole project had some class time available to work on it but was expected to be worked on at home

“Do you want to do a powerpoint then?” he asks 

“Yeah! What’s your number so I can send you the links and stuff” 

so you guys finished your project a day early and got an A of course

and the conversations should've died there or something 

except when you had to sit next to each other for presentations he leaned over and looked at the paper on your desk 

“You like Naruto?” 

you look down at you rough doodle of Naruto’s face and grinned

“Yeah do you??” 

so that’s how the two of you became close because later that night, you texted him ranting about the latest episode  

and the conversation went on to other animes

then somehow led to whether you finished your essay

then to which flavor of ice cream was best

the two of you, probably the most unlikely friends ever

the nice, quiet boy who hung out with his group of guy friends 

and the social butterfly who pretty much talked to everyone,

and now him

highschool came around and you watched as he taught himself guitar

and joined choir 

“What the freak Josh why am I just finding out you have such a nice voice, it’s not fair” 

“Oh,” he laughs as you poke his shoulder over and over again at lunch, “Sorry my bad”

even though you and Joshua had many different classes and were involved in different groups, the two of you never failed to hang out

one of the these times being towards the end of highschool, where you went to this annual Korean festival together

“Look I wanna go there! There’s fried fishcake” you saying tilting your head towards the stand and proceeding to tug on his arm

“Hold on please!” 

the both of you pause and turn to around to face a foreign voice

your eyes meet a Korean man, who’s facing Joshua

“Do you know what kpop is?” 

he continues to explain how he’s a manager for Pledis Entertainment and scouting for trainees, then asked Joshua if he wanted to join

“Ah can I please think about it?” he says, while you just look at them back and forth

the guy hands him is contact information and gives him a couple days to decide

“JOSH!” you squeal, even though you didn’t really understand the situation much, but you understood something, “You could go be a singer!”

“I know I know, but can I do it? Live in another country? How do I even know..” he trails off nervously

you grab his shoulders and look him in the eye,

“Joshua Hong. I know you kay, you finna spend the rest of your life regretting it, and I know how much you want this okay. What do I always say?” you stare at him pointedly

“If life gives you ramen you take it and eat every last bit,” he says, a smiling forming on his face

“Right!” you say laughing

so for the next two or so years, you guys always stayed in touch

without fail, you guys would at least text every other day

and when he debuted, he sent you tickets to his showcase with the backstage tickets 

so what other thing is there to do besides go

and be extra af 

so of course you went disguised as a fan 

with a baseball hat with seventeen written across 

and a giant neon poster with 'JOSHUA HONG' written across 

and a bright orange t-shirt with the derpiest Joshua face you could find from Seventeen TV 

and let's not forget the gift you prepared him 

you almost lose your voice from all the screaming you did but whatever it's worth it 

and when it's over, you go backstage

 and basically tackle Joshua, proudly 

"JOSH YOU MOTHER FREAKING DEBUTED" you scream loudly 

"Y/N WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?" he exclaims holding his laugh in poorly 

Svt crowds around you dying of laughter from your outfit 

the two of you catch up on everything and you end up pretty much being the last friend or family backstage 

with the other members screaming excitedly around you guys, you talk to them a bit 

"Guess WHAT I gotchu a gift" you say wiggling your eyebrows at Joshua 

he laughs, still on a happy high, "What what, I have expectations" 

"Oh TRUST me, this will be the best gift you've ever gotten" 

you hand him a gift bag 

as he pulls the tissue paper out, looking inside the bag, and immediately bursts out laughing

pulling the item out, the others are laughing and seal clapping 

"thanks for the matching shirt”

"Anytime, now there's more!!" you say winking 

he grabs the last thing from the bag and laughs, extremely amused

dropping the bag in surprise he holds the item to his face 

a water bottle with 'DRINK WATER NOT ALCOHOL' printed on in big, bold, black letters 

"You're gonna be dancing a lot so you need to stay hydrated!" you grin, winking excessively 

"Ah you're the best, seriously" he grins and pulls you into a hug 

fast forward 2 years or so later

your have your life together as best as you can for a college student, and find the time to attend his concert

like last time, nothing will ever compare to seeing Joshua and his group live

as you walk backstage, the more mature ish side of you doesn’t play jokes and engulfs him a tight hug

“You’ve made it so far” you say looking at him with tears in your eyes, ruffling his hair

“Qhat is this you’ve turned soft?” he jokes ruffling your hair also

“College does that to a person I guess” you joke

the two of your haven’t seen each other in over two years after all

and with this limited amount of time you guys made the most of it

right before you have to leave, he tells you to wait 

so you settle down at the edge of the stage, where the two of you were, legs hanging off the sides

he comes jogging back over, a box in hand

“What is this? you already gave me a set of merch” you say laughing, accepting the box as he hands it to you

“A gift” he says, flashing his eye smile

you make a surprised sound,”hmm? what did i do, you already give me a bunch of free stuff” 

“Aye we’re best friends, besides it’s nothing burdensome, promise” he claps his hands together and grins

you pretend to glare at his seriously, “Imma hold you to that Hong” 

opening the box, that was clearly wrapped by a staff member or possibly Mingyu

you know your best friend after all

picking up the object, the first thing you register is it’s a really nice looking water bottle

well as nice as they get

you're a pretty quick person so 0.1 seconds later you register the giant bolded words in your favorite color

‘WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU RAMEN YOU TAKE IT AND EAT EVERY LAST BIT’

you stare at the bottle then turn at Joshua who’s looking at you excitedly

“Wow i'm a freakin philosopher” 

“Yah!” 

“Just kidding~ i love it i’m going take it with me everywhere” you smile, wrapping an arm around his shoulder

“Good and drink water-” 

“And alcohol because yes i'm definitely gonna fill it with vodka or something” you tease

“No no no you better not!” he says pretending you scold you

“Ssshhh we’ll see” you smirk

“Y/n L/n” 

“That’s me, your bff dude” 

he doesn’t bother to try to further the conversation, knowing he’ll lose

and so the too of you sit there 

basking in the stadium lights and sipping on water not alcohol ;) 

MASTERLIST