#yeeting my nonsense into the void

[herewithinthevoid]

Head so empty Spirit Halloween gonna move in and set up shop 🎃

[lurkingteapot]

I've been going through my collection of old (pre-2016 for the most part) academic papers on BL and thought, hey, why not re-read some of them and sum them up so folks can see whether they want to check them out in full?

Today's offering:

Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: “Boys’ Love” as Girls’ Love in Shōjo Manga by James Welker, originally presented at the Third International Convention of Asia Scholars, August 19–22, 2003, Singapore, and published in Signs, Vol. 31, No. 3, New Feminist Theories of Visual Culture (Spring 2006), pp. 841-870, UChicago Press. [Jstor]

Welker starts off with a brief explanation of what the BL genre is, what terminology he uses ("BL" as an umbrella term that includes the earlier names of tanbi, shōnen ai, yaoi, and the long-form 'boys' love'):

“Boys’ love” manga emerged as a subgenre of shōjo manga (girls’ comics) around 1970 just as women artists were taking over the shōjo market.(*) It quickly became among the most popular shōjo manga genres, and its creators became some of the best-loved artists in the industry. (* First published in the monthly Bessatsu shōjo komikku in December 1970, Keiko Takemiya’s “In the Sunroom” (Sanrūmu nite [1970] 1976) was probably the first boys’ love narrative. See Aoyama 1988, 188.) - Welker 2006:841

He goes on to challenge the common perception of BL as a genre "by straight women for straight women":

[T]he genre is widely considered to offer a liberatory sphere within which presumably heteronormative readers can experiment with romance and sexuality through identification with the beautiful boy characters. […] Members of the Japanese lesbian community have, however, pointed to boys’ love and other gender-bending manga as strong influences on them in their formative years […] Clearly boys’ love manga can be viewed through a different lens from that which most critics and scholars have been using, and hence the full potential of boys’ love is largely overlooked: that of liberating readers not just from patriarchy but from gender dualism and heteronormativity. - Welker 2006:842-843

He introduces the texts he will analyse (Takemiya Keiko's Song of Wind and Trees 風と木の詩 kaze to ki no uta, 1976-1984 and Hagio Motō's Heart of Thomas トーマの心臓 tōma no shinzō, 1974), and concludes the essay's intro section as follows:

This reading will employ lesbian critical theory, visual theory, and reader responses to these and similar texts to show how 1970s boys’ love manga is not merely queer on its surface but how it opened up space for some readers to experiment with marginalized gender and sexual practices and played a role in identity formation. - Welker 2006:843

Welker goes into the questions of applicability of theories that weren't originally developed for this specific context – visual theories were largely developed through film analysis; European and North American models of gender and feminist theory, while also having informed academic discourse in Japan, in their origin operate on culturally specific assumptions and need to be applied with care.

He talks about the tradition of androgynous and cross-dressing heroines of early shōjo manga and their connection to the earliest BL manga, the dilemma of the "beautiful boy" characters' gender and sex and how to read these – are they boys? idealised self-images of girls drawn onto boys' bodies? neither male nor female? sexless altogether?, and the way Japanese readers in the 1970s, already culturally familiar with gender performance through kabuki or the all-female Takarazuka Revue and similar troupes, received the gender-bending nature of BL stories. He also comments on the role fan interaction via magazines, and the way readers were learning about queer life in Japan:

By the early to mid-1980s, the magazines’ readers were learning in real terms about the world of Shinjuku ni-chōme, Tokyo’s well-known gay district, described as a world full of “beautiful boys like those in the world of shōjo manga” (Aran 1983, 15), as well as various aspects of lesbian life in Japan (Gekkō 1985). In spite of the connections drawn on the pages of these magazines, the possibility that these narratives might be seen to actually depict homosexuality remains broadly denied. To allow that the narratives might truly be about homosexuality—between these girls-cum-beautiful boys—would be an apparently unthinkable invitation to read the narratives as lesbian. - Welker 2006:857

Welker briefly explores how the example texts of Song of Wind and Trees and Heart of Thomas "serve many of the functions lesbian critics and theorists have outlined as roles of lesbian texts" (Welker 2006:858), then goes on to analyse the flower imagery of roses and lilies that is very prevalent in both titles, the intertextuality of these stories with European and French literature (and how the readers were expected to catch on to this intertextuality). On the transgressive and queering nature of writing and reading BL, he says:

[T]hrough acculturation to gender performance in Takarazuka and kabuki and by such cross-dressing manga icons as Sapphire and Oscar, as well as the deliberate ambiguity of the beautiful boy, the reader is encouraged to see not just a girl but herself within the world of boys’ love and, ultimately, is encouraged to explore homoerotic desire, either as a beautiful boy or as herself, either alone or with others, either as her fantasy or as her reality. […] Regardless of whether boys’ love manga were created merely to offer heterosexual readers a temporary respite from patriarchal restrictions on their desire, some readers found in identifying with the beautiful boy a way through the looking glass to a world outside the patriarchy. And regardless of whether he is read as a boy or a girl, the beautiful boy can be read as a lesbian. […] For readers whose experience of sexuality and gender contravenes heteronormativity, works like Song and Thomas offer narrative safe havens where they can experiment with identity, find affirmation, and develop the strength necessary to find others like themselves and a sense of belonging. - Welker 2006:865-866

I've been out of academia so long that I've lost any sense of what a good proportion of direct quotes to original text is, or whether it's even appropriate to quote as much as I did here. This is emphatically NOT an academic article in and of itself -- I'm posting on bloody tumblr. If anyone wants to add to this, I'll be thrilled.

One of the most commonly voiced criticisms of BL is that it's about, but not (or did not in significant part used to be) by or for gay men. This article does not address this point further—Welker does go into this in his more recent articles, iirc; if you've got beef with this aspect, @ him not me. I do however think it's worth noting that this 17-year-old article already recognises that the genre is queer, and has been since its inception.

[thesulliedone]

Would you like extra spice in your meal?

Well yes, tis the season :D

[carlottastudios]

CarlottaStudios's Unhinged Kaeya Lore Thoughts Post

Link to read the Google Doc:

AT LAST!!! TUMBLR KAEYA NATION, BEHOLD, THE NONSENSE THAT HAS BEEN OCCUPYING MY KAEYA-DEDICATED BRAINPAN FOR MONTHS!

Quick disclaimer/warning: This document is LONG, it's almost 50 pages, so please don't feel pressured to read the whole thing, especially not in one shot. Also, I have included some disclaimers at both the beginning and end, including the fact that I am not an expert in any of the stuff I've written about in this document and if I have made any mistakes, I apologize, feel free to offer corrections, so long as we're all nice to each other. That said, I don't plan on adding substantially more to this document (ex: a new section) as this isn't and was never meant to be The Kaeya Lore Fodder Post of all time. This is just me taking my lore/theory-adjacent thoughts on Kaeya and yeeting them into the void to see if anyone else is interested.

Speaking of interested persons, a few people have expressed interest in this and even asked me to tag them, which is INCREDIBLY flattering and touching (seriously, thank you so much), so I'm tagging them here: @thenerdhoard @eternal-dokja @prophecyflame @mosamosa3pakosh

I plan on eventually making a mindmap to go along with this word document, but that will be for another day because this was already quite a big project to undertake and I need some rest. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy!

[hestzhyen]

On Writing Fan Fiction and Stuff

Just some thoughts since I've been writing my own and reading other's for a few months now... (I only have one on AO3, yes, but I write a lot of stuff I don't share with the wider world.)

Emotional Validation is a Shitty Reason to Make Stuff

I'll admit I was a little disappointed when my 12.9k HakuHiro fic didn't get a decent kudos/hit count ratio. I figured it would be a slog for a lot of people who just wanted to read some porn but man, only 38 kudos and 5 comments (1 of which is me replying) for 547 hits? Not even 10% of the people who checked it out thought it was worth tapping a button for? Damn I suck. 3-ish months of writing and hardly anyone bothered to get through it.

If I finish someone's fic and didn't hate the experience I hit the "Kudos" button. I read smut, gen, heavy angst, fluff, anything that piques my interest... if you do a good job I give you a thumbs up. I figure it's only polite to acknowledge the effort that went in to making the thing, you know? So seeing a bad ratio on my own work makes me wonder where I went wrong.

Obviously I write because I enjoy it- I spend most of my free time dumping my brain out in text form for one reason or another. But there's a part in all of us that wants a little pat on the back for doing a good job at the things we put effort into. And damn it, I'll still write no matter how badly my stuff is received, but... DAMN IT! I wish I didn't care so much about the things I put pieces of myself into.

When I do a weekly chapter post for Kagurabachi it's just me yeeting my thoughts out into the void. This post is pretty much the same. I'm yapping about boring nonsense and it's a bonus if other people find it useful or entertaining. But I wanted Liminal Night to be different.

I normally keep all my fan fiction and personal writings to myself as drafts like so:

Notepad++ is a valid word processor application, I swear

Liminal Night was the first thing I wrote purely for myself and shared.

It was genuinely a bit scary to put myself out there like that even though it's "just fan fiction". It's still the only thing with a "FINAL" tag instead of "DRAFT" because nothing else I've written is good enough to share if something that took me ~3 months to make was met with mostly silence. I'm agonizing over everything like never before now- would the character say this like that? Is the pacing off? Am I being too descriptive here? Should I try to be more abstract with this imagery? It's pushing me to be better, but I hate the motivation behind it.

I shouldn't care so much about people being disinterested in my work. I shouldn't be wanting validation. But I do. I want at least a tap of a button, god damn it. Show me you finished the thing and didn't hate it! The silence gets to me so bad, man...

I'm working on the sequel but now I'm wondering if it's worth it. The canon scenario is so far removed from the premise of this fic that I'd have to use a "canon divergence"/"non-canon compliant tag" and I wouldn't read something with that kind of scenario- I like things to be canon or canon-adjacent as much as possible. And if the masses want bottom Hakuri more than bottom Chihiro but don't want to read the prequel then they won't check it out... if I shift it closer to canon then it's still divergent because Hakuri and Chihiro are separated right now... and I didn't want to do a hosptial fic anyway... and this... and that... and Liminal Night was so boring that less than 10% of the people who checked it liked it so why bother sharing. I'm shit at this and should just keep it all to myself like I always have. Boo fucking hoo.

The logic is so fucking scuffed! I'm a support player for fuck's sake, I know that Big Number isn't the be-all, end-all metric for quality. I'm sick of feeling like I suck just because people didn't like the thing that I was anxious about sharing. Maybe it doesn't deserve the bad ratio! It also got some very sweet comments full of praise so shouldn't those matter too?

I'll still share the sequel. But maybe I'll turn to abusing Anonymous posting if I post anything else like another writer seems to be. Somehow it's easier to be detached from how a work "performs" if it's shared without a clear identity. I have mixed feelings on if my writing style is easily recognisable or not so I'll just assume it's not distinct enough to attach to my name.

Anyway. On to shorter things.

What's With the Humming and Fluttering?

Why do so many characters "hum" in fan fiction? Humming happily, in concern, out of displeasure, etc. Guessing it's meant to be more of a "hmm" type of noise or just wordless emoting with sound... but to me, "humming" implies at least a smidge of musicality in the tone. I don't really have a complaint about it but it's kind of funny to see a sentence like "Blorbo hummed in disappointment at Bleegle's stupidity but said nothing." Is Blorbo functionally mute but still able to vocalize? Is it a special form of communication between them? Do they converse with vocal training exercises?

There's no one-size-fits-all replacement for this kind of thing I think, and it's not like it's a big enough issue that it needs to be "fixed". Heck maybe it's just a Hest problem and it's simply a popular way to indicate a subdued emotion that the character doesn't need to be elaborated on. It's not even really a problem to begin with. Just a bit of a headscratcher for me I guess.

The fluttering eyelashes get me chuckling every time even if it's supposed to be a serious scene. Stuff like "Blorbo's head fell back as Bingus kissed down his neck. His eyes fluttered shut as a soft sigh escaped his lips." makes me think of those corny romance novels sold in grocery stores. Or a silly over-dramatic shoujo from the 70's/80's. I don't know, maybe I'm just not built for romance and smut... my mom always did say I was "as romantic as a rock". It's just so cheesy and silly to use batting eyelashes as an indicator for arousal or being overwhelmed with romantic feelings. Like "Ooh, Mister Darcy" levels of swooning!

I seriously start giggling like a 12 year old when I see stuff like that. Sorry, fellow fic writers. I am too immature to read your smut despite being a grown-ass man.

Show Me the Feels

When I see lines like "Blorbo saw a lone kitten in a box on the ground. The poor little thing was soaked from the rain and crying, clearly too weak to jump out on it's own. It made him sad to see." I go "Yup. That's sad. Agreed, Blorbo." It's not really a bad way to explain things but it's so impersonal. I'd rather it be shown he's sad instead: "Blorbo saw a lone kitten in a box on the ground and his eyes welled up. The poor little thing was soaked from the rain and crying, clearly too weak to jump out on it's own." Why did Blorbo's eyes well up? He was about to cry, probably. What about a kitten in a box would make him do that? It's alone out in the rain and mewing for help? SAVE THAT KITTEN, BLORBO! I'm way more invested in what Blorbo's going to do when I get invested in why he's feeling the way he does.

I struggle with this one a lot. It's hard to keep this advice in mind when I'm trying to describe what's happening and properly tend to everything else that clutters up the brainspace while writing. But I practice it as often as I remember it, which is about as good as I can do with unmedicated ADHD. I think I've gotten better after writing a few challenge pieces where I limited the amount of characters I could use at once and set a max length limit. But we'll see how my next fic goes over (I learn slowly).

And What's With the Awkward Descriptions?

I lied about shorter things.

I don't read fan fiction for a professional experience. I'm not a professional writer myself either, nowhere close. But there are few things that irk me more than descriptors using hair colour, professions, or other unique traits that are awkward in context. Like "the redhead smirked at his awkward fumble" or "The mage thanked him for the news".

BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR WRITING, CONSARNIT. AND TRUST US TO BE LITERATE.

I mostly see this in slash fiction when the writer isn't confident they can be clear about who's doing what when two people of the same gender are involved. So the fallback seems to be awkward uses of "the other man" and "the blonde" to make sure we don't get lost. Stuff like that is the quickest way to lose me in the fic, though. It yanks me by the ear and says "hey, hey, it's Bingus doing the thing here, just so you know- because he's the one with blonde hair. Don't think it's Bongus, that's the other guy (who's a brunette)." Yeah, I know! I got it! You didn't need to clarify that Bingus was doing the thing because context made it clear!

And if context didn't make it clear, then step up the writing game. That's it. Yeah, the person who started the post with a pity party over their writing being unpalatable shit to most people who tried it is telling people to git gud. It's what I'm always trying to do and it's the only way to really stop this sort of thing from happening.

The only time things like "the black-haired man danced away" don't feel out-of-place are in situations where that's the primary way to tell people apart. Like meeting a bunch of strangers at once or describing someone the PoV character doesn't know very well, if at all. It's super impersonal and only makes a lot of sense when the character doesn't have much else to say about the other person. And for god's sake once you've used a "the hair colour" description once, don't keep relying on it. Save it for when noting the hair colour is important. "Hest grabbed the brunette's jaw" -> if we need to know it's specifically the brunette and not the other colour(s) we met, we don't know their name, and the PoV character either knows nothing else to tell them apart from the others OR they don't see the other person as a human with unique qualities and personality

"Hest grabbed the other man's jaw" -> good when there are two options to choose from and one of them is clearly not going to have their jaw grabbed in context

"Hest grabbed Bob's jaw" -> good, yes, do this to be specific in the simplest way possible

"Hest grabbed his brother's jaw" -> good when you want to add emphasis on the relationship between the people involved, but this is another one that shouldn't be overused

"Hest grabbed the punkish twerp's jaw" -> great for giving insight into how the PoV character feels about the person he's grabbing; also use sparingly

"Hest grabbed his jaw" -> HMM! The scary one. But context should make it obvious who "he" is. Your readers should get it if you're being clear. And honestly, this is the one that should probably be used the most!

All of these are valid to use but the rate of usage and context matter a lot. If I had to rank from "use the most" to "use the least" it'd probably go something like: Pronouns -> Names -> Relationships -> Opinions -> Characteristics -> Other Person

I'm very conscious of keeping things fresh and not boring readers with overusing words, especially when it comes to how I refer to characters. No one wants to read a paragraph full of "She, she, she, she, she" to refer to a character even if we know it's Bobette the whole time. But there's a secret: we can and do from professional writers without even knowing it a lot of the time.

If the writing is good enough, we tend to not notice repetition of little words like "he", "as", and "the". They become white fuzz that fades out as the written word pulls us in and we start picturing the scene in our heads. Varying sentence structures, appropriate pacing, and breaks for dialogue all help with keeping up the immersion. Clunky uses of descriptions that don't have anything to do with what's going on have the opposite effect!

You don't have to be a pro, you just have to write with the confidence of a dudebro who thinks his pickup lines will work on a girl minding her own business in public. Readers will probably get it if you are clear enough in your scene direction. So less hair colours and "other persons" and more "he/she/they"!

I think that's it for this brain dump. If you read this, share your favourite Kagurabachi or Kingdom Hearts fanfic!

[caparrucia]

12 and 24 for the writer ask game?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

I shall protect my WIPs and not try to rules lawyer this genie:

I want the ability to automatically find the right song for whatever I'm writing. I have lost focus so many times because the music was not vibing right and then when I finally got it, I had to spend hours listening to it to get back in the mood. Auto-matching magic music player, pls.

I want the ability to kill with my mind any asshole that comes into a fic and goes "Um, actually, in CANON". Or if I'm not allowed to kill, can they just lose internet access? Forever? Yeet them into a void from which they'll never escape.

I want my old writing juju back. :C I used to be able to type out 10K a day without breaking a sweat but life keeps getting in the way now.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

I don't tend to do prep work for fic unless I'm collaborating in some capacity with someone else and therefore need to adapt my goddamn nonsense to another person's needs without putting them through hell. I tend to focus on specific scenes or moments and then just sort of start writing towards them, gleefully making it up as I go along. I've got practice at leaving myself narrative hooks that depending on mood, reception, inspiration and just general pacing, I can go back and lasso into becoming foreshadowing touches instead of just random bits of padding to make the story more cohesive. It's a skill that's pretty difficult to explain, but it's vital to be able to write long form chaptered fic without zero prep or side work, and not have your readers end up a mob with pitchforks because you accidentally lost the plot somewhere in the meandering.

I know how to do the outline and pacing and editing and stuff, but it takes a lot of work and I tend to not bother unless someone's gonna read it.

[thessalian]

Faerun!Alisaie vs Politics and Cults

After an awful lot of wandering and more than a few dead things

Alisaie: Oh, hey, look - mushroom folks.

Gale: Please let them be friendlier than the last few encounters... Not that I'm not grateful for you taking us into that arcane tower - I learned a great deal - but it wasn't fun. And as for the kuo-toa...

Alisaie: Look, I was not going to tell the fish-people that I was a fucking god, okay?!? That's how you piss off real gods and get smited! Smote? Smoten? None of that actually sounds right.

Shadowheart: Just stick with 'angry gods'. Either way, it's getting ugly.

Gale: Um. Yes. About that. I ... may know a few things about angry gods.

Alisaie: Part of me doesn't want to know.

Wyll: And ... the rest of you?

Alisaie: Is a bard. Do the maths.

Gale: Well ... I may have pissed off Mystra. Just a bit. I had the best of intentions! I promise! Lovers give gifts to their--

Wyll: Hang on. Did you just say lovers?!?

Gale: I ... I have game. What can I say? But I decided to do something big and impressive and there's a bit of the tainted Weave in me and that's why I've been asking for magical artefacts, you see - I have to drain them to feed this bit of Weave so it stays in a ball and doesn't erupt and destroy half the landscape but it doesn't seem to be working particularly well anymore.

Alisaie: ...And you waited until we were in the Underdark for this because...?

Gale: Well, if we find an illithid colony, just leave me at the gates with some of that wyvern toxin and run like hell. I can at least do some good as I go out.

Alisaie: .........We. Are. FIXING THIS.

Gale: But--

Alisaie: No. You -- you just shut up. I've got Wyll with that Mizora bitch and Shadowheart getting repeatedly stabbed in the hand by her goddess and Karlach's own body trying to kill her and Astarion's stupid fucking master sending monster hunters after us and now there's this. Fuck's sake, could I just have friends who aren't going to implode?!?

Wyll: Well ... there's Lae'zel...

Alisaie: I haven't found a way to warm up to her yet.

Wyll: What about Halsin?

Alisaie: I am not ready to confront whatever guilt is lurking in there. I'm just not. I have enough to deal with right now. And I guess it starts with mushroom people. Whole colonies grow down here, looks like. And they say nothing grows underground...

A short chat with mushroom folk later

Alisaie: Welp. The duergar around here are chumps. The raising the dead's a bit of a pisser, though. Thanks for the assist there, Shadowheart.

Shadowheart: Shame I couldn't use it much. All our large friend over here did was raise his own corpses, and I wasn't sure if Turn Undead works on myconid-puppeted undead. Why did we bring this ... individual with us again?

Glut: AVENGE MY CIRCLE.

Alisaie: I am not getting involved in mushroom politics. *yeets Glut into the void*

Eventually, on a boat somewhere

Alisaie: So now I go murder the hell out of another drow. I'm not sure if this is politics or just being Saviour of the Mushroom People.

Other Boat: *cruises up alongside*

Duergar: Why've you got our scout's boat?

Alisaie: Your scout's dead. We're reporting back.

Duergar: True Soul, too. Huh. Handy. C'mon.

After a fair bit of negotiation, while stabbing up a Scrying Eye

Alisaie: So half these duergar want Nele saved and the other half want him dead. And either way we have to get him out, if just to get his head. At least it's not mushroom politics. It's just ... brain-worm cult politics. Fuck my life entirely.

Wyll: Still Saviour of the Mushroom People, though.

Alisaie: As a title, it lacks something. Blade of the Frontiers has way more oomph.

Gale: Look - you not only dug into the ... 'brain-worm cult politics', as you put it, enough to get help in our objective, but you convinced them to pay you for the privilege of helping you. Handsomely, in fact. We need an entirely new title for the nonsense you pull.

Alisaie: Just remind me not to ask Volo. Sometimes he's ... yeah, no.

Gale: And that's another thing - you may not have got a cure out of what he had in mind, but now you can see through Invisibility spells. You trip into the damnest luck, you know that?

Alisaie: My command performance got interrupted by mind flayers, Gale.

Gale: And they didn't kill you. And they put you in a position to make a lot of money and save the worlds. Plus the wonderful company you now keep.

Alisaie: Well, I got a Shadowheart out of the deal. That makes everything worth it.

Shadowheart: *blush* ...shutup.

Alisaie: I will not. You're adorable when you blush. And I need some nice picture to keep me going through the upcoming ugliness.

And, sure enough

Nele: Ah, good, civilised company! These idiots took too long to get me out; kill them for me.

Alisaie: Y'know ... I thought this was an awful lot of effort wasted when we could've just let you suffocate and take your head at our leisure, but ... no. No, this works. This gives me the privilege of killing your nasty, unctuous, cruelty-endorsing, worm-infected, gnome-enslaving ass. Bonus points if I lop your head right off your overprivileged shoulders while you're still standing!

Nele: ...wut?

Elder Brithuar: ...Okay, that was worth the extra gold. Let's go, my lads!

Stabnation: *ensues*

And, after an awful lot of running around...

Gale: Alisaie ... not to complain, but...

Alisaie: Yes...?

Gale: We just murdered a metallic abomination at great cost to ourselves. You nearly died doing it.

Alisaie: Well, you're the one who eventually killed the fucking thing, so thanks for that.

Gale: Well, it seemed to be weakest to just being hit with blunt objects and thankfully my staff doesn't melt in heat and-- Anyway! Just thank me by explaining why we're traipsing through lava!

Alisaie: I wanted Karlach to feel at least a little bit at home. Besides, there's a lava elemental she might like to kill.

Karlach: All right! Time to break in this hammer!

Alisaie: Besides, I need to get used to having someone martial on side. If we're hitting that gith'yanki creche, we need to have Lae'zel with us. So I figured I'd start with the more personable melee fighter and work my way up.

Gale: Fair. I'm personally looking forward to travelling with Lae'zel. Maybe she could tell me what life is like in the Astral Plane.

Alisaie: Yeah, because she'd actually tell you shit all--

Karlach: Maybe the people with ice stuff could help me kill the lava monster?

Gale; Alisaie: Oh; right. Sorry.

Gale: *fires Ray of Frost*

Alisaie: *rapid-fires ice arrows*

Stabnation: *ensues some more*

[always-a-joyful-note]

Thinking some fandom thoughts and then about ORV's portrayal of an author-character-reader relationship with the story and realising how....lacking at times the whole death of the author perspective on media can be.

(Turned out to be long and rambly so I put it under a cut. If you like death of the author, probably not for your worldview? Also, beware major ORV spoilers if you care about that)

Like, perhaps I'm misinterpreting something here, but in ORV, we had these three characters plus an entire system that gave us a look into the relationship between author/reader/character. And focusing on the Han Sooyoung, Kim Dokja, and Yoo Joonghyuk dynamic, I realise that none of them really died. Pushing asides Joonghyuk and Dokja for the moment (as I am talking about death of the author), we have Han Sooyoung whose consciousness faded after finishing Ways of Survival.

However, I don't know if we can really call that death of the author, really. Because Sooyoung's whole purpose in writing ORV, her authorial intention, was to save Kim Dokja's life...which she DID. And even after the story left her hands, her intentions were imprinted into the story itself. Yes, Dokja realised that the system was lenient to him because of (spoiler alert) his status as the OD. But at the same time, I think that Han Sooyoung's authorial intent to keep Dokja alive with WoS can also be taken as a factor in the system's leniency towards our reader.

And just jumping from that back to my original point, while death of the author IS fun and can be awesome for reinterpreting stories that the author may have intended as problematic (to our modern standards, at least), to separate the actual story itself from its creator seems just....a tad disrespectful to the author.

Or maybe disrespectful isn't the right word. Like, say, even if said author is objectively the worst of humans, there remains the fact that the story in essence has part of them embedded into it. It doesn't make sense, at least to me, to only give "morally okay" writers the allowance of people who put a part of themselves in their works. Any writer, even those who are writing for money imo, can't help but put part of their own selves into their story...and to separate the story from the author just because we hate the author or hate their beliefs seems a bit counter-productive. You can't just say, after all, that this author's vulnerability in their writing is okay because it's Correct but this other guy's vulnerability should be ignored because it's chalk full of Problematic Content.

But again, that's not to justify authors you dislike or the deeply wrong messages implied in their works. Especially those that could easily be shooed away by employing death of the author. But I think I'd consider fanfic or analyses that ignore authorial intent and their message to be something...new entirely? (Best way I can say it is something something death of an author employed to help the reader create their own narrative inspired by someone else's story rather than it being used to ignore author intent and claim our interpretation is what canon actually meant).

I think there's a saying in music as well as writing that you could play the same exact score or write the same story, it's just that things will come out different depending on the player or writer. (That's not a perfect comparison because the player/musician who WROTE the score could be considered a reader/author relationship...the point is more that the same thing will look different in the hands of different people. And that just as the reader will interpret something in their own way when reading/re-reading (another ORV reference), the author also has placed in their own interpretation and intent in that own work...which should at worst be respected because they DID make that content (and then we proceed to brutally revise it to make something we like better xD) or at best be taken as "word of god" for lack of a better term)

Not sure if any of this makes sense, and I definitely don't have any factual evidence to back up this opinion, but it was just something I was thinking of.

TL:dR? Death of the author is FUN and actually pretty cool but I think the things coming out of it are new(ish) things/works entirely, and og author's beliefs/intentions are important to consider for that text they wrote in of itself.

[mystmoon]

I posted 9,260 times in 2022

That's 1,872 more posts than 2021!

82 posts created (1%)

9,178 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@dingdongyouarewrong

@excessively-english-jd

@akwarelki

@hallandoates1970topresent

@doubleca5t

I tagged 306 of my posts in 2022

#helen watches eurovision - 51 posts

#cosplay - 21 posts

#critical role - 19 posts

#helen cosplays things - 17 posts

#critrole - 14 posts

#critter castle 4 - 11 posts

#helen draws things - 9 posts

#helen edits things - 9 posts

#mighty nein - 7 posts

#ask meme - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#currently trawling through legends of vox machina looking for a more doable version of kima with less armor because i wanna be wifey to this

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

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#4

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78 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

#3

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88 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

#2

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100 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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227 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[deadbutcaffeinated]

Somehow I just wound up in a discussion about how fluffy insides to jackets are a feminine thing.

Like bro- you. You GENDERED keeping out the cold????

You GENDERED insulation?????

Sorry, my mistake, simply wanted to keep away from getting hypothermia from our lack of sufficient sun rays, my bad.

Next you will be telling me that it is too girly to like pasta

[the-dreamspiderdance]

If I died right now I want my last memory with everyone to be good.

[princess-of-the-corner]

woah you seem to know a lot about corners stuff, are you a fan blog?

Me, coming to the realization that some of y’all found me on ao3 first and are unaware of my feral nonsense here where I just yeet ideas into the void at 2 am before writing:

[saphirered]

Oh. OH! Okay. I remembered my request, in case it's been yeeted into the void. I don't remember how it was worded, but I know the gist: Fearne x Reader. Fearne is falling in love with Reader. Fearne's confused because she doesn't really know much about love, and is being very soft and straight-forward. If she thinks something about the Reader, she'll say it, no matter where they are, who is around them, or what they're doing.

This turned into headcanons for some reason. Blame my brain. Hope you like it and sorry for the wait! 😘

(Fearne)

A strong bias in your favour has been something clear to Fearne from the beginning, though she always blamed it on the feeling accompanied with it; you’re like the trinkets she steals. You’re unique in your own way, precious, to be cherished and cared for. You deserve good things in life and whenever life deals you a shitty hand, Fearne finds herself try to sleight of hand those cards to better ones for you because nothing shines brighter than gold than you being happy. She supposes she would do the same for the others… to an extend but for you it’s always felt different. She can’t quite place it and she can’t very well ask her grandmother for advise.

Pieces started falling into place when she got knocked off her feet and you were the first to offer her a hand up. When she took it, the smooth of your skin felt so soft and the way the light hit behind you, it looked like you were glowing, she just had to say something and she didn’t even get the urge of stealing those trinkets you collected after the fight! The others looked at her strangely when she in very roundabout turns tried to tell you you looked pretty. The others might have chuckled but you just told her thank you and it was cute. Her chest felt all warm and fuzzy but not the kind of fuzzy like her ears.

Determined to get to the bottom of this fuzzy feeling she keeps getting every time you smile at her, tell her something nice or compliment her, Fearne tried to get into places of study but found no allowance for ‘non-students’ so she managed to steal a couple of books from around town. Not like anyone would miss them and even if they did, she needed them more! Maybe she’ll bring them back after the’s done? Who’s she kidding? She isn’t going to return those.

Warm cheeks, fever spikes, ache in the chest, tingling fingers, sensitivity, feelings. The medical books didn’t help very much. She’s not sick. But then she overheard someone talking about those symptoms she’s experiencing, something about a story. So she picked up the story, in her defence it was left unattended so how could she not have taken it? The story did reveal some things. Most of it was complete and utter nonsense. Who writes about a dragon turtle looking for its lover among a cult island anyway? But some things were pretty helpful.

That feeling to spend time with you, cherish you, do everything she can to make you happy; that’s affection. Those burning cheeks of hers and queasiness when you say something nice or smile at her; that’s a crush. That and the realisation that her life would be a whole lot more bleak without you in it; that’s something more. Is this what love feels like? And so Fearne keeps consulting that trashy romance novel with a decent amount of strangely specific smut to gain more clarity.

And the more she reads, the more she sees. It’s not like this is the one-sided affections like the dragon turtle (who’s a dick), but instead like the captain you blush too when his lover compliments her. And the book does describe the captain feeling ‘their heart melting in a burst of love’ so maybe you feel the same? She does hope your heart is not actually bursting though, because if so maybe it’s good she still has that book about medicine somewhere. Fearne decides she’ll just let it all out. Every time something comes up in her head she’ll just say it. You look pretty? She’ll tell you exactly how pretty you do, in detail, nothing left to the imagination. Do something badass or nice? She’ll be your hype woman. Someone bothering you? She’ll show them exactly how they deal with that in the Feywild.

The others have begun noticing and may have commented at first, to laughed, and they still do but Fearne’s proclamations are no longer brought in question itself. She thinks maybe she’s not so inconspicuous but why should she be? She likes you. You like her but how much? One way to find out; keep doing what the book does. Wait, how long does this book take place over? She doesn’t have the patience for that!

So Fearne, like all the compliments and little expressions of affection, blurts it out in a declaration of love; “You’re great and I think you’re lovely so how could I not be in love with you.” And so the world stops turning for a hot second, it’s almost like she’s stuck in the Feywild time warp in those moments but she knows she’s not because everyone goes silent and all eyes turn to you and her. Fearne’s heart sinks just a little when you don’t say anything but just look flabbergasted.

But then her worries die down when a red dusting forms on your cheeks, and your take a deep breath. That glimmering smile returns and you tell her the feeling is very much mutual. Fearne goes into a rambling about how the book about the sapphire lady and her captain lover goes on after the confession and it’s more of her asking the question if that’s what she has to go through because she doesn’t think she has it in her to form a cult but a flaming volcano sounds pretty fun so if you’re game so is she.

You suggest starting with a more simple date first. Dinner and some ‘window shopping’ sounds pretty neat and it’s right then Fearne truly feels it’s meant to be. Window shopping it is. And that’s just one date of the many to follow. You got plenty of plans, plenty of adventures to be had, and plenty of time to spend together and watch this thing between you two bloom into something beautiful.

[poisonousquinzel]

me coming online randomly to spout nonsense to my followers about my one true love, Harley Quinn, before yeeting myself back into the void

[cryptidvoidwritings]

So if you were to read this as a prologue to, say, a 40-page tornado of Tuggerstrap nonsense, would this be a satisfying opening?

*yeets into the void*

The day dawned cold and grey and it had not improved all morning, the sun little more than weak light filtering through the thick clouds. The air was heavy with the threat of more early spring snow and a hush had settled over the usually bustling London streets. A cat with any sense would have stayed curled up in their den to sleep the day away in a pile of warm fur— preferably with another cat or two for extra insulation. Munkustrap would have very much liked to be among them.

Unfortunately, duty called.

He yawned, picking his way through the piles of junk and puddles of slush with Alonzo at his side. At least their patrol was almost over; strays and rival clans weren’t much in the business of picking territory fights during the cold months.

Even news of Macavity’s doings had a tendency to grind to a halt over the winter.

“Don’t let Cafalle see you yawning on patrol,” Alonzo said around a yawn of his own.

Munkustrp snorted. “Cafalle relinquished her position specifically so she wouldn’t have to worry about patrols anymore, let alone what I do on them.”

Alonzo laughed. “How do you think she’s taking to retirement?”

“Bossing around her humans, I imagine. It probably suits her fine.”

They squeezed out of the junkyard’s front gate and started down the route. Munkustrap dipped his head every so often, testing the scent markers and making mental notes about which ones would need to be refreshed first. Alonzo brushed over the most degraded of them. Everything else would hold. They just needed to complete this lap of their street trails and then Munkustrap could nap until the afternoon.

This time Alonzo yawned. “Any chance of breakfast?”

Munkustrap considered. They were making good time to the theater and there were very few humans out.

“How about coffee takeaway?”

“How about waffles?”

“We’re not making good enough time to sit down. But we could go to that place with Belgian waffles?”

Alonzo perked up. “We could.”

It would take them off their route, but it shouldn’t delay them too much in getting back. They chatted idly as they turned off the big road and took the small side streets. Munkustrap was half-listening to a story about Cassandra when he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Munkustrap?”

That scent.

“Munkus, you okay?”

He’d forgotten it— at least, he’d told himself he had. It was easy enough to pretend; it had been months since he’d first scented honeyed cardamom. Munkustrap shook himself. He turned to see Alonzo’s worried green eyes and offered an automatic smile to reassure him.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“What is it? What’s there?”

“Nothing. I just smelled something familiar. Ish.”

“Another cat?” Alonzo asked, pointing his ears forward and looking where Munkustrap did.

“Likely.”

“You don’t know?”

Munkustrap shrugged. “Sort of? It was just a scent. Father and I were late to meet Gus. It wasn’t like I had a chance to introduce myself.”

“Well... We’re not late to meet Gus now.”

That was true. Munkustrap pawed at the ground as he looked around. They had time, but... There were a number of bars and restaurants and shops all along Tottenham Court road. The scent could be coming from any of them.

“No. No, we shouldn’t,” he said at last. “I’m not going to have you come on a wild chase with me for a cat I don’t know. Cass would have my head. Let’s get those waffles.”

Alonzo shrugged his acquiescence and they started on their way again. They’d traversed the next block and were waiting for the light to change when honey teased his nose. Munksutrap pushed his whiskers forward.

“Who’s that?” Alonzo asked in the sort of voice that was usually reserved for Cassandra doing... well, anything.

Munkustrap turned to see where he was looking. On the opposite corner, a Maine Coon stood brazenly on two legs, lounging against the base of a streetlamp. In the weak light of mid-morning, his head fur and well-combed mane shone gold.

“It’s... It’s him.”

“Oh.” Alonzo breathed in deeply. “Oh. That’s quite nice, actually.”

Munkustrap gave a startled laugh.

As if he knew he was under scrutiny, the tom across the way looked directly at them. Munkustrap’s mouth felt increasingly dry. The tom turned his body in one long, smooth movement that involved an absolutely unnecessary, but very pleasing, gyration of a hip.

“I guess we don’t have to go on a chase, then, eh?” Alonzo said.

“Uh. Right.”

Munkustrap had the distinct feeling they were being sized up; the tom wasn’t even trying to hide how he was staring. They would have to cross the street in order to be on their way to the waffle place. He cleared his throat and ran his claws absently through his unruly shoulder fur, which had not had the decency to grow into a proper mane.

“Okay,” he said, “Let’s go.”

Alonzo fell back a couple of paces as he followed Munkustrap across the street. The tom lounged against the street lamp, paws resting casually on studded belts that crossed at his hips. He smiled languidly as they drew near.

When they were within a few inches of each other, Munkustrap stood on two legs.

“Good morning to you,” the Maine Coon purred.

His eyes were dichroic: Bright blue and warm gold bisected neatly by his pupils. He had a beauty spot on one perfect, high cheekbone. Munkustrap’s insides flipped.

He’s gorgeous.

“Good morning.”

The thought occurred that Munkustrap had no idea what he would smell like to another cat. He’d never bothered to ask anyone. What if he smelled like... like old rubber and rusting metal from the junkyard? What would the tom think of him? Though he wasn’t turning away in disgust, so it couldn’t be that bad. Right?

“And what brings you out here in such appalling weather?”

“D’you know there are humans around?”

There was a beat of silence. Munkustrap’s cheeks grew hot. He could feel Alonzo rolling his eyes at his back. The tom attempted to stifle a laugh, which Munkustrap was grateful for because Alonzo didn’t even bother. Any effort from the tom was wasted seconds later.

“Aren't you a smooth talker!” the tom gasped around his laughter. “Did you practice that one?”

“Should I have?” Munkustrap grumbled. He stopped himself from scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment and straightened to his full height. “It’s a legitimate question. Any human might see you like this.”

“Might, but won’t,” the Maine Coon said airily. “They never look down to see what’s in front of them.”

“… Fair point.”

Humans were basically blind their entire lives, after all, and cats rarely got caught when they didn’t want to be seen.

“So what brings you out at this time of the morning other than worrying about cats on two legs?”

“Waffles, mostly.”

“Waffles? Did your kitten wake you at the crack of dawn begging, or something?”

Munkustrap looked askance at Alonzo. Even on four legs, he didn’t look young enough to be a true kitten. The Maine Coon didn’t even look older than Alonzo— and Alonzo had insisted on very loudly celebrated turning 16 months old only a couple of weeks ago. He decided the tom was trying to get a rise out of them.

“Waffles seemed like an easy treat for being out in this weather.”

“Anything to keep the kids happy, hmm?”

There was something in the tom’s tone that Munkustrap thought might be envy, though the inviting smile never slipped from his lips. He could feel Alonzo starting to shift restlessly behind him. Munkustrap waved him back.

“What’s your excuse for being out, if you don’t like ours?”

The tom smiled slowly. “Never was in, unless you count hotels. Spent a good portion at Wiscus’s.”

Hote— oh. Munkustrap flushed as the implication landed.

Wiscus’s had a reputation for a reason. With any luck, Alonzo was too busy getting in a huff to have paid much attention. The Maine Coon pushed off the street lamp and let his tail— a fluffy confection of black and gold— drag up Munkustrap’s leg. Munkustrap swallowed harshly.

“Maybe come find me there, if your kitten hasn’t worn you out,” the tom purred. “Anyway, that’s my ride. Enjoy your day and don’t lose the baby. It can be rough out here.”

“I am not—” Alonzo finally snarled.

Munkustrap turned to catch his best friend mid-leap. By the time he had Alonzo calmed, the tom had disappeared. Only his fading laughter and scent remained.

“Ugh, what a smug jerk,” Alonzo grumbled.

The silver tabby chuckled distractedly, shaking his head fondly. “You let him get to you.”

“You need better taste.”

Munkustrap took four legs again, rolling his eyes at Alonzo’s grumbling. “You need to stop letting yourself get riled up so easily.”

He nudged the patch tom with increasing force until Alonzo rolled onto the ground. It distracted him beautifully.

“Do you see how I’m treated?” Alonzo asked nobody.

Munkustrap rolled him onto his other side.

“I would like it known that I’m being abused by an abnormally small battle horse!”

“I’ll show you abnormally small,” Munkustrap play-growled.

He took a swipe that went very carefully wide and thus began the chase, which lasted all the way to the waffle place.

In case either of you might still be interested in these: @falasta, @namethat-i-oughttohavetoldyou

[saltedsour]

tutorial level lore (for real)

i didnt proofread this after 1.75 hours of typing and that's your fault because i said so

expect typos and nonsense

CORRUPTED:

everybody forgets about him like wtf,,,.???? i swear everybody just goes "HIIIII IM SO HAPPY ALL FOUR OF US ARE HERE" "please i'm right here"

playlist mode also forgot about him 😢

to be fair i forgot about them until right as i started typing

also needs a hug. actually fuck that they all need a hug

the,,, the shortest,,... i i cannot..... they're short oh my gosh

probably one of those wiggly cactus fucks but like angry at everything

also the youngest out of all of em.... babeyyyyyyyy...

110% has a cool scarf i mean come on guys

ok to differentiate between corruption and this fucker's name i'm gonna give him a capital C at the start

tbh they all have that certain vibe that i can't explain rn rn but corrupted and blixer the most so uhhhhhh they vibe together share a vibe yeah

unironically dabs

probably the less focused on MURDERING spicy player shapes

"Okay look ASSHOLES I was the first out all of us to be pink so y'all should really treat me with more respect" they don't

has the best song and ill fight you over that

would look rlly cool if they were like....... not Corrupted just not them

glares at chronos every time he says wink out loud.

his last name's probably kyle

CHRONOS:

doesnt have a face anymore. it's a clock now.

NO his face doesn't mostly tell the time accurately and that pisses logic off the most.

ironically dabs

maybe the tallest but maybe logic's taller i haven't rlly decided yet ok ok

he cant right now he's dunking his bible in milk

rlly wants to eat food sometimes so he just yeets like fucking corn flakes at his face. milky ways also sometimes yeets corn flakes at his face.

"Wowwwww you guys have FACES??? smh."

maybe believes the world is flat

types for 20 minutes after you insult him online

would set fire to the tree of life and watch every second of them burning

the tree's probably fireproof tho and like i don't think fighting the fucking shape goddess went well last time??? didn't it??? now u dont have to worry abt getting ur face hurt that's for sure

Probably part enderman at this point like what the fuck how did you get out of that locked room???? You just see him fucking leave out of another room like OK CHRONOS

says wink out loud

does the most jobs for the tree (outside of what they all usually do)

what they're supposed to do (teach those spicy player shapes to not die) isn't what they actually do now (try to kill spicy player shapes unless they're good enough to not die and get the fuck out of there!!!)

Genuinely misses having a face.

MILKY WAYS:

she has the most braincells. and eyes. three eyes. (and three braincells)

second shortest,!!! will fight you

probably the most reliable at reading anything

"okay guys it's been fun but i'm going to space now" *walks out of the room*

probably would be like rlly competitive in video games and like whenever they suddenly win when you were about to win you hear them gleefully cackling thats actually rlly wholesome wtf me

"guys is the world flat yes or no" "does my life depend on the answer???" "YES. YES IT DOES, CHRONOS." "uuuuuuuHHhhHHhhHh"

probably added megalovania to the group's playlist (if they had one.................)

the tree of life definitely once yeeted the fucker she just grabbed her fucking face and went YEET!!!!! no idea why but that 100% happened

played minecraft and left a review saying there wasn't enough squares

fought Corrupted and won

"i'm gonna munch. i'm gonna crunch" just steals somebody's fucking c h i p s and SPRINTS away

strong shitpost energy tbh??

doesn't know the difference between astronomy or astrology

nobody can see any stars™️ where they live and she rlly wants to see stars™️ (it's her aesthetic ok) (smh) (you wouldn't get it)

they might just be in the fuckign void thats not rlly an aesthetic

LOGIC GATEKEEPER:

doesn't understand most memes tbh

YAAYYYYYY SECOND TALLEST.... or NOT!!!!!!!!!!

"guys ur not being logical....... 💔"

would whisper wikipedia articles to you <3

i'd say they could do the best maths out of everybody but rlly i dont trust them with 1 + 1

unironically would type like... this... sometimes...

"guys why are you awake it's like 3 am" "shut the fuck up logic we're eating stolen c h i p s"

probably has rlly cool legs (i forgot to delete this but now i'm kinda liking what me 10 minutes ago said)

they maybe broke 1 law but it was just one of the laws of reality (like a fucking nerd smh)

T-poses regularly to assert dominance over the three shorter peasants.

actually the only one that still likes the tree of life. "GUYS GUYS SHE'S COOL WTF???" "logic please she fucking deleted my face"

fought Corrupted once and lost

favourite flavour drink is water

everybody probably calls them logic because saying three more syllables is just too hard

BLIXER. THAT FUCK:

angry!!

also dabs but maybe???? ironically (he doesn't know either anymore)

wtf he's directly middle height to everybody (bht he's taller than everybody in that stinky new game form though so good for him)

punches stuff!!!!!

"guys where are my c h i p s"

he has a pupil but only sometimes for no reason

probably went into the tutorial gang like wayyyy after everybody else so he's the new shape™️

"hey guys check out this neat selfie" he just shows them an image of sans

kinda "died" but he actually just took over the world

the tree of life also tells everybody what they need to know rn rn so like she just went "heyyy yeah he died 😭 have fun guys" and went off to go be mean to him for like. ever.

he is a cat. he will never forget that. everybody keeps reminding him plEASE GUYS

ahhhhhhhhhh!! water scary

types for a fucking hour if you insult him online

rlly needs a hug

tired 24/7

probably wears a hoodie. all the time. even in the summer.

most focused on spicy player shape murder.