#writing batshit insane evan is so fun

[arlowthenacho]

ugh i love writing crazy people

[thatqueerbat]

what an episode

wHAT AN EPISODE

i truly could not sum up my emotions without rewatching the whole thing and writing up a play by play this was so unhinged

how we managed to have some of the funniest shit, so quickly followed by actual pure horror. i do not know how aabria does this time and time again. i bow to thee. your murder justification island? insane. and rest in piss boudy boots, its what you deserve. thinking evan kelmps death/resurrection would be some of the darkest points we'd reach in a (seemingly) non horror season? that was a fuck up on my part

overall what a banger of an episode. props to all our magical misfits as ever for playing some incredibly fun, complex, sometimes batshit characters that can dip into so many different vibes. its a lot of fun and im so glad we got this season

[dancingisdangerouss]

Is Al hoping that reader gets Stockholm for him? Is he “inlove” with reader? I get so many questions in my head sometimes trying to understand Al’s perspective (which is difficult bc he’s like a broken computer as Ethan Hawke described) Plus, I saw the songs you listed for ITB and Im interested in the playlist you compiled for how Al would give to reader to convey his feelings for her. I suppose Im into character study for messed up people 😵‍💫

Oh yeah, most definitely. I think he’s hoping she’ll eventually break, and in the meantime, he certainly doesn’t mind her fighting him. I headcanon that he likes the power dynamic and enjoys the feeling of being dominant and having complete control of someone (likely due to the lack of control he’s had in his own life).

That said, Reader also poses a significant challenge; it’s not satisfying to have control over someone who’s willing or easily subdued, because it feels less powerful and less satisfactory if he’s controlling people who he knows are easy to use. So I think it’s a big, exhilarating challenge to get Reader to eventually give in: Kind of like the Ultimate Prize.

Yes, he’s in love with Reader. In the most warped, fucked up, creepy, horrific way, yes, he loves her. It started as just taking advantage of the situation with having accidentally kidnapped a woman, but he actually grows fond of her in his own weird way, namely because she’s so dismissive and stubborn with him. I think he’s just dead-set on breaking her in.

Also, just to make it abundantly clear since antis always harass me about it: Al is batshit insane. The scary part about him is that he’s so deluded and unhinged that you can’t reason with him with logic.

There may be aspects of my story that on the surface will seem cute or romantic, but I like to think I balance it well enough with the dark content to show that it’s not anything to romanticize or idealize in a real relationship. It’s obsessive, terrifying, abusive, and traumatic.

Thanks for all the questions! I always have fun scrutinizing his character, particularly ITB Al. He’s a fun lil’ wack-a-doo to write for haha!

Oh hey, I’m glad someone finally asked lol! I forgot I had this list. These are the songs he would give her as an expression of how he personally feels (in his wacko brain):

Always On My Mind by Elvis Presley

Bring It On Home to Me by Sam Cooke

If You Leave Me Now by Chicago

Because of You by Tony Bennett

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers

Fly Me to The Moon by Frank Sinatra (this one pisses Reader off because she feels like it’s an Evan and her song)

You Belong to My Heart by Bing Crosby

I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis Presley

Hard to Say I’m Sorry by Chicago

Please Don’t Let Me Love You by Hank Williams

Goodbye Girl by David Gates (You can pair this song with the ending of chapter 10)

(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons by Nat King Cole

[tiberelechat]

Just back from vacations, so here are some caliente takes on the VNAs I’ve read during that time, “Witch Mark” and “Nightshade”.

(cw: some mentions of gore and an instance of transphobia)

"Witch Mark" -

it should be so much better than it is dammit

Like, on principle, it's a really good book. The twists in it are really solid, especially the final one, and the idea of Ace & the Doctor gallivanting in a parallel universe inspired by Celtic myths is great. It's also batshit insane, so it helps - Ace becomes best pals with a unicorn, she and the Doctor get captured by fox furries, it's all pretty good fun. It's readable and never boring.

but holy shit you can REALLY see it was the guy's first book. Like damn - I'm not a great writer myself, but even I am better at spotting when my story has GIANT ASS HOLES in it. Seriously, I'm starting to think Darvill-Evans was a bit of a shit editor, because that really should not have been published in this state.

The worst is that some plotlines basically get entierly unresolved: the initial mystery of the bus crash is vaguely handwaved; the fact two close friends of the Doctor get killed and replaced by shapeshifters is ... entierly dropped, and we get no closure on David at all. Like, they spend half the book teasing some kind of big mystery linking him to that parallel world, and, nope, completly dropped.

Which leads to the second problem - ie that there are altogether too many characters. The beginning of the book is a nightmare to read because of it: you're introduced to like 12 main people and then you have to keep juggling with 'em all throughout the first half because you get who's who. It's clunky and weird and in dire need of editing - especially the bits with the two trekkers, which ... honestly, are just kinda boring, I don't really need the detailed tale of what people camping in Wales get up to.

It's a very Welsh kind of DW, which is interesting, and kinda announces Torchwood in a way, but I'm not sure they really ... have a clear idea of what they're going with it. Like, it seems half of it is celebrating Wales and the other is caricaturing it. It's really odd and doesn't quite work, like, at all.

Plus, the tone is wildly inconsistent. Like, you'll read a chapter that's completly quiet and then BAM! you get stuff like  pregnant women ripped open and their babies strangled with their umbilical cords , which, like, really? It gets a bit too much in the #2edgy4you - and it's a shame, 'cause some of the horrific beats earlier on are quite well done, I like all the stuff with the burning of the witches for instance.

Which ... does lead to another problem, ie the fact that as it turns out the story comes very much in favour of burning said witches. Which admittedly are not actual human beings here, but rather some the Thing-like alien, but like, it's not a politically neutral image and it has VERY unfortunate implications.

With that said, the weirdest thing is that the book kinda still works in spite of all that? The basic building blocks are sound, it's just that ... man, it's rough. Still, it's weird and electric and fun, and you can't blame it for being boring or too safe. There are way worse reads.

-----------------

"Nightshade" -

or how Mark Gatiss hasn't changed as an author in over twenty-five years and tbh that is a bit sad.

Like it's not bad. Gatiss can write - he has a beautiful prose, the guest cast is pretty damn large, but, unlike the previous book, never feels confused or badly introduced and everyone has a distinct personnality, the imagery is great.

It's just that the story he uses that talent in service of is ... well, just deeply uninteresting? Like, it's trying. It has a strong thematic premise, as a warning cry against the evil of nostalgia, right in the middle of the 60s, using both the cultural setting and DW as a medium itself. It's a good hook.

But ... At one point, you realize that, not only has Gatiss nothing at all to say about nostalgia, he's like, writing the most pointlessly nostalgic book in the world himself. There is SO much useless continuity in that book - the repeated mentions of Susan, for instance, which come very close to actually working emotionally near the end, but just feel like too much of an obvious call-back. Same for the opening chapter, depicting the Doctor stealing the TARDIS, for ... some reason? Dunno, it never comes into play, Gatiss just wanted to write about some of his favourite (past) parts of DW and so he did. Same for the constant, almost pathological mentions of World War II and the fact he sets an entire chapter during Cromwell's rule, a period he loves so much he'd write an entire historical about it later down the line. Or the fact one of the characters is clearly, like, William Hartnell/that guy who played Quatermass. It's ... self-indulgent, and deeply so, which isn't wrong, but comes off as deeply weird and kinda patronizing when the book is about the evils of nostalgia.

Beyond that, welp, it's basically a slasher movie where everyone dies gruesomely. It's well-done and suspensful, nothing to say there, but the interest is sort of limited, and honestly I'm not sure I want much of DW to be in that style. It feels gratuitous at some point, it really does.

And god, the main character plotlines are so undercooked. Ace gets a boytoy for like, fifty pages and then the Doctor basically kidnaps her for no reason and it's not even adressed by the book? The Doctor is depressed and wants to settle down? Like, those are interesting arcs, but ... develop them, ffs! It's so stilted and lame I stg.

With that said, it's not a bad book. It's fine for what it is, and Gatiss, once again, has plenty of talents. Plus, first major PoC character in a VNA, which is really quite neat.

Also, yay for casual transphobia! (:

"She had balls. Not literal ones, although he suspected that was the case of some of his former girlfriends."

Really? Reaaaaaally, Mark? Yikesity yikes in Yikestown.