#write the novel? what do you mean write the novel

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Analysis: Narrative Elements

The purpose of this resource is to assist in the critical reading of narratives, and to help you explore how the effect is created and the meaning is made.

Fiction is best understood by breaking down and discussing terms common to most stories, be they novels, short fiction, movies, TV shows, etc.

Includes: plot, characters, point of view, setting, theme, conflict, and style.

Understanding how these elements work helps us better analyze narratives and to determine meanings. Seven main elements of fiction are defined below followed by a sample of questions to help readers uncover meaning of a given narrative.

Theme

Perhaps the most important literary concept because it is the overarching idea that the writer of the story wants to reader to understand.

All other literary concepts are used to create theme.

The theme is the author’s commentary on a subject.

Example: In Shakespeare’s Othello, one of the major themes is how easily human perception can be manipulated when powerful emotions are at play.

To determine the theme, examine other literary elements of the story.

Questions to Consider: First identify the subject(s) of the story and then ask: what is the writer trying to say about this subject? What literary tools does the writer use to create this theme?

Plot

The structure of the narrative as it moves through time.

Most narratives (but not all) follow a traditional plot structure.

It consists of:

the exposition (introduction of setting and characters),

rising action (events that build conflict for the protagonist),

climax (tension of conflict reaches highest, most intense point),

falling action (the events following the climax), and

denouement (the resolution of conflict).

Questions to Consider: What is the relationship between the events of the story? How do the actions inform the theme of the story?

Characters

The people involved in the narrative.

Characterization - process by which a writer creates a character.

Protagonist - main or central character, often considered the hero.

Antagonist - main character who opposes the protagonist, sometimes considered the villain.

Literary analysis of characters often focuses on whether or not, and to what extent, a character changes throughout the story.

Questions to Consider: What is the motivation of each character? How do characters grow or transform throughout the story? Or do they fail to grow or change at all? What does their growth or lack of growth say about the theme of the story?

Conflict

The issue or problem characters in a story are confronted by.

The narrative is structured around how the characters face the conflict.

The 4 general types of conflicts (with examples) are:

person vs. person (a couple going through a divorce)

person vs. self (protagonist wrestling with depression)

person vs. nature (protagonist trying to survive a natural disaster)

person vs. society (protagonist fighting for civil rights)

The interaction of character and conflict creates the central effect of the story and is the main indicator of meaning.

Questions to Consider: How does the conflict affect the main characters in the story? How is the conflict resolve d and what does the resolution say about theme? How does the conflict change the main characters?

Setting

A time and place the story is set in.

The location can either work symbolically or it can simply be a backdrop for the story to take place in.

Questions to Consider: How does the location, time, and/or date of the story affect the theme? How does the setting affect how the characters respond to conflict?

Point of View

The perspective the story is told from.

This element includes:

First-person narrator: Tells the story from the perspective of one or several characters with the word “I” or “we.” The readers, as if from their own eyes, can envision the characters actions.

Third-person limited narrator: Tells the story from an outside perspective from the perspective of one of the characters (usually the protagonist). The third-person limited narrator can relate events, thoughts, actions, but is limited to that single character. For example, if the narration is from the point of view of the protagonist, the narrator cannot relate events that are happening across town from where the protagonist is, nor can they relate the interior thoughts of any other character. Third person limited narration uses the pronouns “he,” “she,” or “they.”

Third-person omniscient narrator: Also tells the story from an outside perspective but this narrator is not limited to actions and thoughts of one character. This narrator knows all of the in formation of the story and can relate the events of the story, the actions and speech of each as well as the interior thoughts of any character. There are no limits for this narrator.

Questions to Consider: Does the narrator reflect an inner or an outer perspective on the story? Why did the author select this point of view? What would change if the story were told from a different point of view?

Style

The way the writer uses language including diction, voice, tone, sentence style, etc.

Paying attention to these details allows the reader to identify how and why word choice and sentence style, etc. can help create the effect and meaning of the story.

Questions to Consider: Is the diction hard or simple to understand? Are the sentences short or complex? Why did the writer make these stylistic choices? How do these choices add or detract from the effect of the story?

NOTE: Of course, these aren’t the only literary devices narrative writers use to create their stories. Imagery, symbolism, metaphor, foreshadowing, and ambiguity, for example, are other important devices that should also be considered in the analysis of narratives. Source ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

More: Notes & References ⚜ Critical Reading ⚜ Active Reading How to Read for Historical Research ⚜ How to Identify Character Descriptions

[copperbadge]

I did hope to have the latest novel finished by end of year, which looking back was perhaps overly ambitious. It's in good shape but definitely needs work still. Between our busy season at work, NaClYoHo in November, the general madness of December, and dating on top of it all, it isn't even that I haven't had time (though...kinda) but also that I've felt too scattered to focus.

I think sometime soon I'm going to have to actually set aside deliberate time for it. It's always a little more difficult in winter because leaving the house to go somewhere else to focus, the library or a cafe, involves so many extra steps. I have to put on socks to go outside? What nonsense is that? And since more people do more indoor stuff the cafes are crowded, and so is the library. I keep looking longingly at coworking companies where you can just rent a desk/cubicle and go whenever you like, but so far those are a bit beyond my means.

In any case, if I can pull my shit together a little this week, I'll have time to write while traveling, which I'll be doing a lot of, so there's that. Skipping all the difficult stuff so that I could get the bulk of the book written was a good idea, it's just coping now with having to write ONLY the difficult stuff that I'm struggling with. Still, nil desperandum, when a book is this far along it's rare to abandon it, and I have a couple of short stories I want to post when I post up the new novel.

You'd think I'd have learned patience by now but such is not the lot of the writer with ADHD, I suppose. :D

[coline7373]

How to comment 101

A fandom is the subculture inherent to a group of fans. It touches anything related to the field of predilection of such a group of people and is organized or created by these same people. And, like everything that comes from people, it is alive and requires exchanges to continue to exists.

People who receive no comments have often and at length express how lonely it can feel to be shouting alone in the void and how discouraging such silence can be.

I have found after asking around that readers aren’t unwilling to comment, but mainly don’t have the energy or know what to say.

Some readers have also expressed a fear of annoying the author, as they are clumsy with words, or feeling intimidated in front of an author who has such a talent with words that the reader's own words feel too embarrassing. Or not feeling that their own five word sentence is worth the bother.

Every word matters.

Every comment is worth its writing to the author.

I refer you to this post if you doubt the importance and impact of comments on fanfics.

To help those willing to comment, I have done a very modest survey of roughly 20 persons, writers and readers alike, and here is what I have come up with.

For writers:

Write in your notes, at the end of the fic, clearly what type of comment you do not want. 

Clearly stating your limits and preferences helps readers who are uncertain or not very verbose to write in a relaxed way.

If they do not have the anxiety of offending, vexing or annoying the author, they will be more comfortable and therefore more inclined to write.

If you have repeated commenters, try to reply to their comments, even with just a few words. Some people who do not receive replies to any of their comments take the lack of response to mean the author is not reading comments at all, feel discouraged and stop commenting in turn.

If you do read the comments, but don’t want to reply for whatever reason, do say so at the end of the fic, in the notes, so that readers know what to expect and not be disappointed.

For readers:

Do:

About the story: 

You can write about a particular line that you liked, the themes, parallels with canon or within the story, the characterisation, a character’s exploration, a/several character’s motivation, a/several character’s mindset/thinking/emotional reaction, a/several characters’ interaction, the plot, the action happening, the worldbuilding, emotions within the fic, subtext, pacing...

If you liked everything and are overwhelmed on how to narrow it down, you can just say exactly that. “I loved everything!”

You can also focus on pointing out just one moment, one line, one specific thing and why you liked them, specifically. What matters is not that you wrote a novel but that you communicated to the author what made you happy, what you enjoyed.

About you: 

What emotions the fic made you feel, what you think is going on in a wip or what you (think you have) figure(d) out, what you are doing in real life while reading the story, afterward, because of it, and/or how the fic impacted your life (yay! motivation to make art!), how the fic is meaningful on a personal level because x, y, z, what it made you think of, like another fic, a book, a song, a movie, what subject/fact it prompted you to discover more of…

How: 

You can write an essay, a prose, or some serious, meaningful, impactful words but you can also joke with the author as long as you stay mindful or polite. A lot of authors have said they love when people make jokes or break the fourth wall. 

Unsure about your sense of humor? Here is an example: do not write "I hate you! How could you do this to me!” Write "How could you do this? The betrayal! die offscreen.”

Making a parody of what is going on with the characters with a few lines can be funny! Keep it positive. Not everyone has the same degree of sarcasm. But levity and good humor are always welcomed.

Small fics vs longer fics:

Emojis, keysmashing and incoherent yelling are very often correct comments for small fics or drabbles. (Unless otherwise specified.)

They are also loved in longer fics, (unless otherwise specified,) but people who have been writing a story for literal years appreciate you taking at least five minutes to say a bit more than that.

Try to go through all the “about the fic” and “about you” points above, methodically, and choose just two or three of them. Then write just one sentence per point.

If you really don't know what to say, look at other people's comments. Sometimes, you will recognise something you liked too or that you thought was really good. It can help and be the starting point of your own comment.

Long WIPs:

For long fics that you follow while they are being written, people have said they have at first a lot of enthusiasm for commenting, but find it harder and harder to know what to say as the number of chapters accumulate, and so does the number of comments they feel obligated to give in turn.

Please, keep commenting! Love keeps the writers motivated and helps creativity. It’s like shouting in the void and getting a high five back.

Even one line about something specific (a dialogue bit, a reaction, a plot maneuver) can make an author happy.

Writers are not really looking for length or details. They are looking for care. If you read something you liked, just point out what you enjoyed. That's engagement enough. 

Comments aren't really about the act of a compliment. They are about the shared joy of a fandom or a ship or a character. 

Example: “'X character diving headfirst into the sea like that is so like him!”

It’s good. It’s fun. It’s nice.

Some people have said to “save” a chapter, give a kudo and say “looking forward to reading this when I have time!” and wait until they do have time and energy to comment more at length, sometimes two or three chapters at the same time.

It let the writers know their fic is still being read. You just have to be mindful to not let months go by, otherwise, it goes back to leaving the author the impression they invested hours, weeks, months, into something no one interacts with. You can alternate strategies, lengthy comments, short comments, and commenting on several chapters saved.

If all else fails, go back to the tried and true. Choose one of the points above, choose just two or three of them and then write just one sentence per point.

If you are not a native speaker:

Google can help with the bare minimum. It's not great, but it lays the foundations. Write what you think in google translate and the translation will help guide your answer. You can always ask for help from someone else or warn the author that the fic’s language is not your native language, if you are unsure if your words come off in a tone not intended.

At the start of your comment, say “I am not a native speaker”.

Do not apologize. It’s not necessary. Just provide context. Use your words. Be clear.

Remember: 

The writer isn't what they write. They do not necessarily headcanon what they write, nor do they necessarily approve of it in real life. Be mindful to not approve or disprove of x, y, z going on in the fic as if they do. You do not know that.

It’s not about the length or the wording or the quality of your comments. Of course authors love that. But what they love most of all is to hold hands, jump up and down with you and squee and gush about the fandom, ship or character.

It’s about the sharing of the joy.

Don’t:

Do not ask for another chapter and for the author to finish a fic.

Do not threaten the author to put their fics in an AI if they do not finish the fic.

Do not say "I didn't like it" or "I liked but not that" or "It would have been better if x, y, z." If you want to talk about what you didn’t like, whether it’s part or all of the story, discuss it with willing friends. The author is not responsible for you reading something you didn’t enjoy (how it made you feel) and persevering.

Do not “offer” to correct typos, grammar, vocabulary, facts, canon facts, characterisation, ect. unless you know the author and know they are fine with it or they say so explicitly in the notes. 

Do not make demands. Do not.

Like that tumblr op said, “this is not the bespoke zone.” This is off-the rack. If the free suit is not to your liking, look for another free suit rather than demand to speak to the manager for "adjustments."

Tags are not owed to you. Ao3 is not a safe zone. Not everyone agrees on what degree of content merits each tag. Or what qualifies for a tag. So, if you found a fic that was more angsty than you expected and it broke your heart, comment on a part that was good and didn't make you sad, without saying you want a happy ending to the angst fic that was written for angst purpose. Off-the rack, remember?

Exemple:

"I found x,y,z to be upsetting. Would you consider tagging it?"

Vs "Your work is totally x,y,z triggery. You ought to tag it."

Vs "Hey, you do know some people find x,y,z, triggery, right?!? Because they do! So tag it!"

One of those answers is correct. The others aren't. No demands in the comments.

Your emotional well being while reading fic is your responsibility. If your expectations have been disappointed, do not say so. Talk about a point that was positive for you. If your expectations have been exceeded, do share!

Also, if you're mad, I have found that it helps to write your comment, leave it to decant, and wait a week or so to see what it looks like when you're in a different emotional mindset.

Some elements of fics can be very upsetting unexpectedly. It is not the responsibility of the writer to answer that. Nor comments are the place for it.

Once some time has passed, if you still want to talk about it, try to communicate in a way that is neither demanding nor negative. If you can't, talk about it with someone who is not the author.

My own personal opinion:

It can be so easy to focus on the fic and your own inner imaginary garden/cinema, that we sometimes forget to switch from "inner life" to "outer life" and exchange actively with people on both sides of the fence.

But it can also add so much more to the experience <3

Clear communication is always good. Even if you disagree. At least you know where you stand.

Say thank you. Fanfics are a gift. You have been given one. Say thank you. 

[donnerpartyofone]

What was the process like for writing the novelization for Splice? Would you consider writing a novelization of an existing work again?

Eek I'm being interviewed! I'M SO FAMOUS. There are a lot of parts to this answer. The shortest answer is that I really just watched SPLICE in tiny sections every single day for a very, very long time. I had a certain version of the script to work from, but it wouldn't contain the exact things that were said and done in front of the camera (no script would), so I just studied the movie. I scanned the sets for objects I could not identify, of which there are a LOT -- things I've never seen before, and things I've seen but couldn't name -- and searched online until I learned to describe things like hay trolleys and circulating baths. To me, the point of a novelization is that it produces an interior and sensorial experience not offered by a screen, so I tried very hard to expand on the material qualities suggested by the movie.

It never once occurred to me to change anything. Apparently this is an expectation of novelizations. I had a writeup in Fangoria that was very kind about my ability to make psychological sense out of the things people do in SPLICE, but that expressed disappointment that I hadn't added scenes or anything. I'm such an inveterate, pathetic sort of rule-follower, I didn't even ask myself about this. I did change one exact thing, regarding the kind of candy that Elsa eats, because it was meaningful and amusing to me to do so, but I don't think anybody will ever get it. I also included just a little bit of material from the script that didn't make it into the movie, because it was completely in line with my psychological interpretation, which was what I was most concerned with.

I never thought of SPLICE as a perfect film, but I had a lot of thoughts about it, and I think my main contribution was to explain what these characters are thinking and feeling as they wade into this life-changing and profoundly icky experience together. That became very personal very quickly and I was a little bit afraid that maybe this would be how everyone would find out how totally insane I actually am, but I'm told that that part worked out pretty good -- by Vincenzo Natali, among other people, who is SO NICE AND SMART AND SUPPORTIVE. Best guy! When I turned in my draft to the publisher I thought there might be a little back and forth, I did not expect them to send the raw document directly to Vincenzo and I was very alarmed when I heard from him before anybody else, but I really had nothing to fear. He's one of my favorite people now.

I would definitely do another novelization. Actually I think I'm uniquely suited to this because I have a good dose of aphantasia. I didn't even know until recently that it's statistically weird to think mostly or exclusively in words and to have a very hard time visualizing, like, almost anything. When I started telling people this about myself I was asked, among other things, "How do you do anything if you can't picture what you're going to do?" And I was like, uh...I don't know. Maybe this is connected to my extreme executive problems and my problems with goal formation and followthrough. I mean I think this is true, now. And I developed this sort of half-joking self-mythology that I have to be watching movies every second of the day because I suffer from an image deficit and I need external infusions. Like even when I used to draw (trauma took that away, long story, but I drew all the time for like half my life), almost everything I ever made was swipes -- and I think they're pretty good, like it's worthy as art. But I guess for me, art has to be made out of something external that I manipulate. All the art I've ever made without a reference point has been maybe technically OK but really lifeless, you can tell something is missing. So I think the novelization process was a lot like how I used to draw, where I had a completely concrete external referent and I would just sort of tour it very extensively until I had created a twin of it out of my interpretations. And the twin is like, the same but different, it's a clone made out of feelings and reactions. I think that's a worthy sort of art object to make.

There's a thing I'm working on now that I'm sure I won't be able to talk about for a long while, but it involves writing things from preexisting sketches and prompts, and that's a little bit the same. I don't have as much to go on, but I can tell what the shape of it could be, I just turn it over like, what if it's like this, what if it's like this, what if it's like this. And I know that what I'm turning out is really made out of tropes and archetypes, it's kind of a collage, but if the collaging is really earnest and you're feeling your way along with reasonable naturalness, it can turn into something. It's not that different from describing experiences you've had, if you really think about it. The following comment is NOT MEANT TO COMPARE MYSELF TO A GENIUS but I had this nice moment of synergy recently when I rewatched Kiyoshi Kurosawa's CURE, which to me seems so forcefully unique, but in interviews he says things like, "Well I just really wanted to make an American horror movie," and talks about how his starting point was not personal at all, he just wanted to play with the established tools and ingredients people use to build a certain kind of product. And I thought, I guess that's what I do -- not as intelligently or deliberately, but I get how you can work in a way that sounds so formal and empty, and have it produce something distinctly personal.

Thanks for your fun question!

*Virginia Madsen voice* Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. BUY MY BOOK!

EDIT: Oh I kind of lied, I changed *just some of* the music that Clive listens to, to something that would be easier to communicate to a reader. Like I wouldn't use the exact band on the soundtrack because it was too obscure and specific, but I would talk instead about his genre choices because they went with what I was trying to say about him as a person. I think all of it was still pretty in line with the sounds, and the Clive, that appear in the film.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #69 – Please Undo This Hurt by Seth Dickinson

As a general rule, I feel like including a short story (not even 40 generously spaced pages on the ebook) in the list of what I’ve read this year is kind of cheating. But I got this as a gift and found it affecting enough that I feel like writing out my feelings, and in any case I’ve been reading 10,000+ words of web serial a week all year so I’ve got a bit of ethical room to manner here, I think.

This reads like an old school Idea Story, which I mean in the best possible way – a more grounded than usual Twilight Zone episode, a light dusting of interpersonal drama, uncanniness and sci fi/horror vibes over what’s exploring and wrestling with a single thought – or really, a single temptation.

Does it ever like life is a trap, morally speaking? Like every act you take cannot help but hurt someone, like complicity in more distant atrocities than you can count is a precondition of existence, like even when you try to be helpful or do the right thing it just ends up being a different kind of selfishness? Like, if you were the star of It’s a Wonderful Life, everyone’s life really would have been that much brighter if you had never been in it? Like in the final analysis, when all you have ever done or will ever do is tallied up and your heart is weight against the Feather of Ma’at, it will fall so far that it breaks the scales?

Well, what if there was a way out? Not suicide, but something cleaner – to be undone, to never have been, to never have hurt or been hurt in the first place. Wouldn’t you be tempted? How, in a world where there are maggots gnawing on every root, and every thing you care about is just one more hook to draw you deeper into the mire, could you convince yourself not to take it?

I intensely dislike psychoanalyzing authors based on their work. So I will instead say that this story is a truly masterful and incredibly successful exercise in writing from the perspective of someone grappling with intense depression – a perspective that simply takes for granted that the main objection to suicide is that it is a selfish escape at the expense of the distress inflicted on those around you. Even the finial resolution is less any realization of life’s inherent worth or goodness than an acceptance of the necessity of sacrifice in endless and varying degrees. It drips from every sentence, and cuts enough to hurt.

Dickinson is easily one of my favourite working writers, and finding another piece of theirs I haven’t come across before is always a delight. Their short stories especially are quite often emotionally raw and beautifully written enough to effect me like very little prose does. It’s no surprise that both their non-sequel novels basically take one of the short stories as the emotional core and climax of them (something I’d say Baru Cormorant did more successfully than Exordia, which felt like it flinched, but that’s a tangent). I don’t particularly think this would benefit from being expanded on, but the rawness feels similar.

This is by far the least worldbuilding-heavy story of theirs I think I've read, but there’s enough dreams and uncanny events and just colourful imagery for the prose to still absolutely sing. It’s a short enough story that actually quoting any excerpts feels like it defeats the point, but there are some lines and images I already know will be rattling around my head for some time to come.

[nemainofthewater]

Halfway through and currently Fei Liu is winning with 27.4%, followed by Di Feisheng with21.2%, and then Liu Qingge in third with 16.8%.

Tag propaganda under the cut

Fei Liu

#fei liu#and they would have so much fun by @thelaithlyworm

#you know who to vote for by @xiaojingyan-jingwang

#ok so Di Feisheng would fight his clone but only if his clone was in the way of his goals#he's a very focused man#Liu Qingge would totally fight his clone but he'd probably let Shen Qingqui dissuade him first#or Binghe would dive in first before him#now Fei Liu- he's going to attack before anyone stops him and he'll just back down to non-lethal if Mei Changsu says it's ok#but he and the clone would have a full match for fun once they know there's no danger. Mei Changsu wouldn't stop them from having fun#so no one else would interfere either by @okionlywanttoreadforever

#fei liu#didn't even need to read the others#but did and i'm still right#nirvana in fire#HOWEVER#if novels count then it's go to be#mo ran#because he did that in canon by @yuhengwanye

#i don't even think fei liu would ask any questions by @good--merits-accumulated

#SO many good options but i think lei wujie and zhou fei both seek variety#lqq might for both good sparring and bad brain reasons#but i think fei liu is king of would be in heaven if he had a clone to fight#at last a perfect match by @minnarr

#shen li would be lovely and sweet to her clone unless she had reasonable cause to believe it was nefarious#i believe lei wujie would be happy to fight his clone too#but i voted fei liu for the pure unadulterated joy it would bring him by @circumference-pie

Wang Zhi

#WANG ZHI#although he didn't really fight his clone he just locked him up and then used him to fake his own death#Rip by @zhoudadudugongjin

Lei Wujie

#polls#look i don't know everyone here#but this is one of the times when i realize that i do not need to in order to vote accurately#i mean we actually know what wang zhi will do with his double so he's out of the running#and while i 100% believe that ye zhao our poly queen would be up for doing something physical with her double#it falls less under the category of 'fighting' and more under 'zhao yujin sandwich'#but none of that matters because my boy lei wujie is on the list and his sheer innocent delight in being able to go fist-to-fist#with his own clone would be unparalleled by @foxofninetales

#i mean di feisheng absolutely would just to checl he’s stronger even than his own clone#but yeah lei wujie would be the one who is INSTANTLY 100% READY TO FIGHT =DDDDDD by @unfortunatelycake

#I think many of them would but I agree with this propaganda Lei Wujie would be the most excited about it#and I love him by @jianghushenanigans

Liu Qingge

#fei liu is the correct choice but i voted for liu qingge because hes much more suspicious and would assume it is some evil plot.#fei liu might just be playing frankly.#polls!#cdrama by @waterlilyvioletfog

Other

#other!#once again a dmbj write in for OP:#wu xie who does in fact fight himself (or the guy pretending to be him) in tibetan sea flower! by @onmyo-jin

Whether for the joy of it or the fact that there can be only one, these characters would not stop to think before attacking.

Write-ins, propaganda, and images are welcome!

[arizonatea-and-nikolatesla]

When I mention I’m writing a novel and someone asks how far along I am but I haven’t actually written anything- just made my fun lil characters and made random plot points that don’t connect yet

[blindrapture]

In 2011, I started writing a thing, on a whim. In 2013, I finished it. A lot of people seemed to love it? Then over the next decade, I put a lot of work into expanding and editing it, with plans for a complete physical book release that didn't happen. Well, here it is again. As an internet novel. A finished novel, this time.

I will start posting the story on May 21st, 2024. May 22nd will be a day of rest. And then, from May 23rd until October 21st, every day will see a new chapter-- a new log. ("F-Five months?? How long is this novel?" Oh yeah, good point. That won't actually get us to the end. There may be another eight, ten days of chapters afterwards. It is important, however, to emphasize the May 21 - October 21 model.)

I will make sure to put the bulk of the contents under "Read More" breaks, so each log won't clutter your browsing experience.

The logs will have art in them. Not as much as in the original draft, but there will still be some. As of May 1st, I expect art by Rappu, RealaChao, Wiratomkinder, and Vis.

I plan on supplementing the logs with the occasional post talking about the making and intention of the story. I dunno, it's gonna be a five-month distribution period, I'm gonna get antsy during that and am gonna want to ramble. That'll be separate content, though.

And when the story is fully and completely posted on tumblr, I will release the full novel on my Website, where I like to keep the rest of my creations. Both the tumblr novel and the Website novel will be free reading, forever. I reserve the right to try again at a paid physical edition afterwards.

So! That's it. Rapture is coming. OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING is coming.

Trigger Warnings: Sex, Gods, and Rock & Roll. (violence. some swear words. teenage angst, cringe. death. insects. surrealism. symbolism. unpredictability of what will be explained and what won't. sexual acts with dubious consent-- you will be able to skip that part. religious iconography. and so much prog rock.)

Get ready for it.

[oceans-beloved]

Meme dump yayyy🥳✨️

(off to make more now muhahaha >:3)

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

He is not and was never, meant to be sympathetic towards as the novel itself time and again very blatantly makes any sympathy he could have garnered null with the actions he performs. Saying and observing as an audience he is an awful person is not the same at all as saying he is a badly written character.

He is a GREAT aspect that is needed for the novel thematics and needed for Wei Wuxian's own character to represent the moral stance these thematic represents and Jiang Cheng's character is intrinsic to be what it is for those thematics to be as solid as they are at the end. He had a very lucky end for himself given how many others of his same ideals ended up. Staunch traditionalisms with a lack of morals is weak of actual character and humanity, he gets the chance to realize that. I find that fascinating as it blatantly gives him the choice to do as he wants with that knowledge in a confucian/doaist world, and a stand against his own moniker for once. Especially when he does represent this great critique thematically on how Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, Doaist rhetoric is weaponized and this harm is so normalized for the protection of traditionalism.

And it's ironic still almost a decade later how many metas soften this and him, when he as a person is very hateful to sympathy even when it's aimed at himself. Yet has this complex of entitlement towards it with no grace. He is a hauntingly scary and frustrating character that is sadly downplayed. And I think that's just the biggest let down about his supposed fans, that they really don't see him for what he is to the point of convincing themselves his own author either hated him, or didn't understand what she was writing, when everything about his arc was "be better because you still have the life and choice to always do that". And this does not mean it's a prize to be in someone's life you have helped make hell, but you can stop being such a let down even to your own self and take responsibility for what you have chosen and what you are.

idk why but there is this idea in the fandom that if someone hates/dislikes jiang cheng, it is coming from a place of “not understanding” his character or lacking empathy for his circumstances to which i say, respectfully: bullshit. and that disliking/hating jiang cheng is a needlessly miserable experience for the reader, to which i say once again: bullshit.

i can’t speak to anyone else’s experience but for me, hating jc more and more with each of his subsequent appearances in the novels was a GREAT, fantastic, very enjoyable experience because the way he was characterized was so unpleasant that if i had no snarky internal monologue directed at him, the books would be no fun when he showed up! i love to hate him and that’s a completely valid way of interacting with a character! “hating a character is easier than understanding them” is once again, bullshit, in the sense that it doesn’t account for those instances where understanding doesn’t really help in endearing a character to the audience. sometimes, you can understand the complete 1000 pages long backstory of an antagonist and still find him slimy, pathetic and despicable and that’s valid. complex doesn’t always mean likeable. liking a character doesn’t always mean liking the person the character represents.

not liking jiang cheng and criticising him should not be a shocking or offensive thing. his growth comes too little too late. he spends 13 years making himself miserable and refusing to take personal accountability and engaging in any kind of healing. at some point, the tragedies he went through stop shadowing his wrongdoings and my sympathies die down to nothingness and that’s okay. jiang cheng will literally NEVER be dear to me but he’s such a great character and such a terribly-adjusted adult that i want to be able to discuss him in a way that feels authentic to my reading experience of him. does a fan of a character always have to necessarily like the character’s personality and arc? nope. i think loudly and enthusiastically dressing him down in metas is extremely cathartic and shows an understanding of the themes of the book as much as–if not more–as more sympathetic essays about his good sides.

[whothehellisspock]

Me, to my partner: See, I have this idea for a fan fiction… *monologues for a while* Like I’m not gonna write it, it’s just cool to think about.

Me, a day later: So, here are some more ideas for the fanfic that I’m not writing.

Me, another time: Maybe I could like, make it into a prompt/request?

Me, again: So, remember the fanfic I am not writing?

My partner: *gives me a very dubious look*

Me, the hundredth or so time: So, I wrote this bit for the fanfic I’m not writing, do you want to read it?

My partner: *exasperated*

Me: So, about that fic I’m not writing…

My partner: …

Me: …

Me: So, I’m writing this fic…

[biomic]

INSANE NEW BYOON DIESEL FACT

[rekindlevn]

what if i do an uno reverse card on markus and write/dedicate a song for him

He would bawl his eyes out, that's what. Markus is really, really not used to mattering to anyone, so if you put the effort into writing a whole song for him -- something that he knows takes a lot of effort -- he would be beside himself. Please please give him pretty things and gifts from the heart, he deserves it!

[wasabi-gumdrop]

.

[icewindandboringhorror]

finally finished all of one character's entire quests/optional dialogue/questions/etc.... 100,000 words... .... aughhh

[phoenixkaptain]

You know, theoretically thinking about it, one could suggest that Hannibal’s obsession with Clarice stemmed from his obsession with Will Graham. He brought up Will Graham in their very first interaction and you could consider Hannibal as a character quite capable of making mental leaps, such as the leap from “someone killed my sister and made me eat her and now I want gruesome, horrible, bloody revenge” to “anyone who is rude to me should be killed with extreme brutality and I should eat them.”

It could feasibly be suggested that the tactic they (as in Chilton and Crawford and those adjacent) meant to use, getting Hannibal to be attracted to the first woman he’s seen in multiple years so he would give advice, succeeded in a way they didn’t expect it to, Hannibal becoming attracted to the first person he saw in multiple years who fascinated him the way Graham did.

Crawford puts Clarice in Will’s spot. He is trying to use her to poke and prod and annoy a serial killer into revealing themself by allowing them to discover the mistakes those serial killers will inevitably make in their anger and annoyance. Clarice is sent to Hannibal Lecter’s cell to ask for advice, and while Will did make the choice on his own, for the most part, Hannibal doesn’t have any way of knowing that. For all he knows, Crawford dangled a piece of meat in front of him only to take it away and dangle another, slightly different piece of meat. (A less tenderized piece pft)

Hannibal’s obsession leaping from Will to Clarice is reasonable. We don’t know precisely why he became obsessed with Will, admittedly, but we know he became obsessed with Clarice over the course of Clarice taking Will’s place as Crawford’s bloodhound.

So what is the show? The show simply asks the question: what if that obsession never leaped over? What if Will didn’t discover that Hannibal was the Chesapeake Ripper the very first time they met? How would that obsession evolve?

And the answer is simple: the same way, in many ways, that it did with Clarice.

I’ve heard people describe the series Hannibal as putting Will in Clarice’s place, and I certainly agree that that was probably the primary inspiration, but I would also suggest that it was partially: what if Hannibal could build a similar relationship to Will that he did to Clarice? If his obsession to Will was given fuel, how big of a fire could one reasonably start?

How far does Hannibal’s obsession with Will go if he’s never given another subject to obsess over?

That’s the primary question I take away from the series. And the answer I get, is:

Pretty. Damn. Far.