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dduane · 1 year

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BTW… re: Smut

... off my comment to this post the other day...

I'm an entertainer. Writing's a form of entertainment. (And not just for the readership: for me, too.) To be aroused by art one's experienced is (almost by definition) to be entertained, I'd say. If someone's jerking off to my erotica, then all I can do is lean back in the typing chair, smile a bit, and think, Good! I got the job done. :)

(...with the tags: #and no I'm not going to let on where the smut is#why would i deny anyone the delights of the search#and of being repeatedly mistaken#while possibly finding smut writers who're better at it than i am#:) ...)

...and then noting (with affectionate amusement) some responses:

Well, troops, better get busy filling in that bingo box. 😄

Also: I have to say (while stressing that I absolutely appreciate the humor behind "shocked, shocked, scandalized...") that the dissonance is, temporally speaking, a bit ill-founded. Because while I may be best known for the Young Wizards works these days... by no means did they come first. This did.

A soft chuckle in the darkness. “Lorn, remember that first time we shared at your place?” “That was a long time ago.” “It seems that way.” “—and my father yelled up the stairs, ‘What are you dooooooooing?’ “—and you yelled back, ‘We’re fuckinnnnnnnnnnng!’” “—and it was quiet for so long—” “—and then he started laughing—” “Yeah.”

Granted, from the here-and-now POV of readers with access to the hot-'n'-spicy shipfic or PWP on AO3, this sort of thing (and the numerous other lights-often-off or dialogue-only sexytiems passages in the traditionally published Middle Kingdoms works) would be seen as pretty small beer: soft, non-edgy stuff. Yet in 1979 apparently there were those who found the sex and sexualities on display in The Door Into Fire arresting enough that the book got me nominated for the Astounding Award (for best new author in the field) two years in a row.

There's no question that the broadly inclusive tone set by the Middle Kingdoms books went on to affect and underlie the YW universe in very basic ways. (There've been some scholarly works written by academics who've picked up on this, so [much to my relief] this perception hasn't been just me imagining it.) But I'll grant you that those who don't know the MK novels wouldn't be in a position to make the connection. (shrug) This is just one of those things that comes of having a lot of fragmented readerships who don't know about each other... a side effect of having done a lot of different things during a career. I can also understand how not knowing about the MK works could leave people who know me only, or primarily, as someone writing for a younger readership, a little bit disoriented (or maybe concerned) when the issue of me writing openly sexual material rears its head. But that wouldn’t be a change of direction. It’d be, to some extent, more a return to form.

Anyway: I consider erotica—and its more casually-dressed (or undressed...) cousin, smut—to be perfectly legit forms of literary expression; ones that can soar to unexpected heights if you're willing to put in the work. The sexy-stuff-writing muscle requires periodic exercise if it's to remain viable and/or useful. So I exercise it. And being a 70-year-old person who sometimes creaks audibly when she walks has done absolutely nothing to decrease my interest in the subject—the brain being, after all, the biggest sex organ, and the one least vulnerable to the depredations of time. If anything, nearly fifty years of experience (and three and a half decades of marriage to @petermorwood) have added... let's just say nuance. 😏

Now this whole concept will doubtless horrify some of the "Eww, You're Too Old To Be Writing This Kind Of Thing, Go Get A (Home) Life" types. To which all I can say is, "...Well, good!" By and large, such folks are not my readers anyway. And as for any of them who are, and can't deal…? They need to understand that (pointing off to one side) those people over there—the various kinda-straight and pansexual and bisexual humans, and the gender-fluid fire elemental, and the otherly-gendered Dragon, and the mostly-gay ones enthusiastically shouting "We're fuckinnnng!" down the stairs—are Nita's and Kit's godparents. Without the members of that extremely mixed marriage and their increasingly extended family, there might be no Young Wizards series... not least because it was the splash made by the first of the Middle Kingdoms books that got the Errantryverse crowd in through a major publisher's door. And the series’s continued (modest but still noticeable) success through the second and third volumes kept the writing of new YW books going for a good long while.

...So. For those who may have had questions: HTH. 😀

(And now back to the unending search for a more graceful synonym for “testicles”.)

#Young Wizards #Middle Kingdoms #writing young adult fiction #writing adult fiction #writing adults-ONLY fiction #all sisters under the skin

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shai-manahan · 4 months

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Hollowed Minds Progress Update 1/02/24

Hi! I hope you're all having a good year so far! I planned to post this last night but I was too anxious over having to return to work lmfao (with the holidays being over and all). Anyway, I know it's been a year since my last update; believe me, I'm upset about it, too, and I'm trying to make up for that.

To be completely honest, aside from my health, one thing that's been stopping me from progressing steadily was my attempts at improving the way I write. I was struggling to find my own style the entire year, experimenting over and over (sometimes without rest, like an idiot), and I know that probably sounds stupid, but writing as a craft is so special to me that I want to be better at it.

It did backfire, though. A lot. Mostly because I couldn't maintain a balance between this and irl stuff.

The thing is, I plan to write trad novels and short stories in the future. I plan to go back to writing screenplays, too. I don't think I'll ever stop making IFs, but there are things I want to write about that I can never do through this medium (and the same is true vice versa). This is also why I tend to keep editing HM while trying to push through with newer updates; this is the only way I can learn more about what I wish to do in the future. This is my chance to practice and experiment, before I get anything published and make the kind of impression I aim to make.

And I think I finally found the style I love to use the most this time.

I feel ready now to post progress updates regularly at least every two weeks (this one doesn't count). I was ashamed of my slow progress for quite a while, but I know I can start moving forward again. I'm also just eager to show you the story I've always wanted to share, and that'd never happen unless I push myself so :').

You're free to ask for progress in case I miss doing this btw, just. don't be an ass about it lmao. And feel free to send asks as well!

So far, this is what I'm trying to improve for the posted demo:

conciseness

strengthening the settings and the descriptions involving them

revising a few dialogues that do not fit the characters at all

readability and making some details clearer

overall pacing of ch2's first part

the nightmare scenes

reassessment of which variations would be most important to the plot and MC's characterization.

everything else I cannot think of right now

I think I'll dedicate a week or two into finishing whatever needs to be cleaned up so there'll be less game-breaking bugs that might happen for the new content. But after that 👀

That's all for tonight!

P.S. recently bought a lampshade and damn. this is definitely much better for my eyes when I write.

#hollowed minds series #interactive fiction #hollowed minds #wip #writing #progress update #hollowed minds progress update #hollowed minds book one #if wip #interactive novel

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vavandeveresfan · 13 days

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Don't share anyone's pseudonym.

I have to change one of my professional pen names because a friend I thought I could trust, one of only two people not in publishing who knows, blabbed to her writing group that the nom de plume is me.

This pseudonym is one I've only used for short stories. But I was going to use it for an new novel. But now I have to change it. Thank god we hadn't gotten any further in the process, because if it were already being printed I'd be stuck with the present pseud.

If someone entrusts you with their pen name it's because they trust you to keep it to yourself.

It doesn't matter if you think it's not a big deal to tell others. There are many reasons writers use a pseudonym. Some are commercial, some are very personal. In fanfics it may be the author is under 18 and doesn't want family to know she writes sex scenes.

When a writer has published under a pseud, that name becomes their brand. They don't want to have to change it.

If someone asks you to not tell anyone else, do this:

If you're a writer who uses a pseudonym, the safest bet is to tell no one. I know it sucks to not be able to show someone a story/fic and say "I wrote this!" But if you felt you needed a pseud in the first place, the safest secret is one never told.

I have three other pen names, each for a different genre, one for fanfics. Only my dearest best friend of 22 years, who's my first editor, knows their mine.

Now I have to come up with a new pseudonym. And that ain't easy! Especially when it will/might end up on the cover of my book.

BTW, if you're choosing a pseud, pick one whose surname begins with M. That'll give you a good spot on library and bookshelves.

#writblr #writers on tumblr #writing community #writerscommunity #writing #writer #writers #writer problems #writing problems #pseudonym #traditional publishing #pen name #nom de plume

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lovemyromance · 26 days

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Idk why this is a hard concept to grasp:

Anything that would move the plot or character development forward.. is included in the book.

Major developments that move the plot forward - included in the book.

Character interactions that are important to the integral plot - included in the book.

Plot points to set up for future overarching plot - included in the book.

Therefore it makes absolutely no sense to have an entire couple that has been foreshadowed for 3 books now to break up in a bonus chapter.

That would leave readers confused. They will ask "oh, weren't Az & Elain a thing?" They will wonder about all the moments they read between the pairing in the last book.

It also makes no sense to include a new love interest in a bonus chapter.

I know people love to bring up "Have you read the bonus chapter?" any time someone says they don't know where Gwynriel came from. I think it's funny, because if Gwynriel was foreshadowed in the actual book, don't you think they'd be asking "Well, did you read the book?" Why is the first question "did you read the bonus chapter?"

That's what Elriels ask, btw, if someone even says they don't know where Elriel came from (very rare occurrence). They don't point to a BC where Azriel is explicitly showing desire for Elain (though that would be too easy), they point to the 3 books of canon text.

Gwynriel doesn't have anything outside the bonus chapter. And that bonus chapter is also heavily skewed based on their interpretation of the text. Most people still do not see romance between the two even after reading the gwynriel's beloved 2nd half of the BC.

My point is, if someone opened the next ACOTAR book and it was Azriel suddenly head over heels for Gwyn of all characters, people would be confused. Yes the bonus chapter is available, but most people haven't read it, and even then, it's not a very solid foundation for a whole BOOK of their romance.

SJM is not going to write something to cause more confusion with the plot in a bonus chapter. She's not going to suddenly break up the couple she's been foreshadowing for 3 books and insert a new love interest in a limited edition version of the book only found from one bookstore in the US.

And I know there are people that are like "Oh well SJM has written full marriages in the BC."

I assume they are referring to singular occurrence of that in the HOFAS BC.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Ruhn & Lidia get married in a BC. That's true. But their marriage and that BC occurs at the end of the book. After the main conflict has been solved, and it is essentially a happily ever after epilogue type bonus. It is not a major development of the plot nor a shock or twist to anyone. They were already mates and together. Them getting married in the bonus chapter was just a fun wholesome way to add to the series. In fact, the entire event was so lowkey Ruhns mom wasn't even mentioned as being there.

There were no questions raised after that BC. SJM could write a 4th CC book, and their marriage would likely not have any relevance to the overall plot of that novel. She could have never published it, and it wouldn't have changed a thing.

Thats the difference. BC do not cover major plot development, they sow seeds for the future and are sometimes just for fun. They are often not needed or relevant for the plot in the book at that time. So they are not included in the book. That's it. She doesn't write bonus chapters to cause even more confusion.

But I thought it was obvious 🤷🏻‍♀️

#elriel #azriel #elain archeron #pro elain #elain x azriel #acotar #antigwynriel #elain

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writingquestionsanswered · 1 year

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New Writer Worried About Dull Writing

Anonymous asked: I’m relatively new to writing creatively and fear my work is too beige - is this a problem like so many people say? Or is there a market for my blunt speaking (I do include metaphors/similes, btw). I read books like [popular series] and the writing style is similar to my own, but I still feel somewhat insecure.

If you're a newer writer (meaning you have not been writing for years and do not have numerous completed and critiqued works under your belt), it's far too early for you to worry about the quality of your writing. Far too early. One of the biggest misconceptions about writing is it's something you're just instantly good at... that quality and style are innate, and that anything you write should instantly be publishable. And that's just not how writing works...

Writing is an art and a craft. And like any other art and craft, most people don't sit down to do it for the first time or the tenth time or even the thirtieth time and find they've mastered it. If you take up baking, you're probably not going to have artisan bakery quality products after a few months. If you decide to learn the guitar, you're probably not recording an acoustic guitar album after a year. If you decide to learn karate, you're probably not going to earn your black belt within two years. Are there exceptions? Sure, but it's super rare.

Even when you hear that an author "hadn't written much" prior to writing their breakout debut novel, most of the time you find out that, in fact, they had written a lot. They wrote in college... maybe even have a degree in English or communications... they took creative writing classes or attended creative writing workshops... or they were prolific fan-fiction writers, bloggers, journalers, or even journalists. But they don't think to count those things because they're not original creative fiction stories or novels written with the intention of publication. But the thing is, it all counts. All writing is practice. And all writing that is shared and receives feedback from at least one other person helps you grow and improve your craft.

So, if you're new to creative writing--even if you have experience as a blogger, journalist, communications writer, etc.--the best thing you can do is focus on getting a body of creative fiction under your belt. Your quality and style will improve and develop over time. When you're ready, seek feedback from others... from alpha readers, beta readers, critique groups, critique partners, or post your stories on fiction sharing sites. Feedback will help you see where your strengths and weaknesses are and will help you hone your skills. And as your skills improve, so will your confidence! Which isn't to say you won't still sometimes have doubts... even the very best writers do... but you will learn to believe in your writing and your skills as a writer. ♥

(↓↓↓ Because it's expected at this point... ↓↓↓)

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#writing #writeblr #writing community #writing tips #writing help #writing advice #wqaadvice #Youtube

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leliosinking · 14 days

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Hot take I guess but the fandom was way too hard on this book (and still is tbh) and for what? Because it isn’t interested in fan service? If anything Anne’s writing was at its best when she ignored what fans wanted, and I think it’s time for a reevaluation of my boy Vittorio the Vampire.

I just think this was such a promising start to New Tales (more than Pandora, even) and I sort of hate all of you for boycotting it or telling new readers to skip it. (as far as i’m concerned TVA, Merrick, B&G, BF and BC are all unofficially New Tales anyway.. TVL-MtD are the only proper vampire chronicles, everything else falls into different categories, but I digress).

With regard to Vittorio, however, we were given a true blue Ricean vampire hunter novel (the only one mind you) with an actual, functioning plot and some of the best action she’s written since TVL… and you all shunned it. And I get it, we don’t read these books for conventional, commercial plot contrivances, but for the florid language and richly crafted characters; but this is the rare Anne Rice novel that’s just.. fun for the sake of fun?

And no, I’m not blind to its problems. It absolutely needed another draft or two (as do a lot of the later VC entires) and no, Vittorio is not her strongest protagonist by leagues. But what we got was still filled to the brim with good ideas?

The Court of the Ruby Grail cult, especially, is one my favorite of Anne’s inventions. Like their dynamic with the local human villages feeding them their castoffs was legitimately disturbing and IMO better executed than most of the times she retreaded the Children of Darkness post-TVL.

And while Vittorio the character might be kind of boring, Florian and Ursula carry this novel and deserved to enter the larger narrative tapestry on their strengths alone but “waaah Lestat and co. aren’t here” so “it’s bad” or whatever.. I really can’t stand some of y’all.

Anyway, this is long enough and I really didn’t set out to write an essay in defense of what is ultimately a mid-tier entry into this series. But. I still feel that much in the way that MtD and Blackwood Farm have been recently reassessed as good novels that happen to be bad VC entires I think it’s time for some of you to similarly reevaluate Vittorio the Vampire, because this is a good vampire novel, it just isn’t a good vampire chronicle (well I think it is and yet and yet and yet). But it’s still part of the series and it does fit into the larger picture despite what some will have you believe.

If this is your first time, I personally like to read VTV between Body Thief and Memnoch. I think it is better thematically situated there than between TVA and Merrick as initially published. The archangels that enter later in the story build nicely upon David’s vision of God and Satan in TTOTBT and make for a strong intermission full of angels and demons that assist in setting up the Dantean finale of MtD. (I have more suggested reading orders btw, some other time perhaps).

I dunno.. if you like this book please let me know lol like I could use the solidarity because I feel like I’m the only one (I have it ranked #6 out of 15). But yeah, I think Vittorio is probably the most underrated and most unfairly slandered entry in Anne’s entire catalogue if I’m being completely honest.

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #anne rice #lestat #amc iwtv #vampire chronicles #amc interview with the vampire #the vampire chronicles #Vittorio the vampire

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falloutjuli · 1 year

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After a long debate with myself slelf I gave up and said “Fuck it, we publishing this now”. I felt like something was missing but I cannot for the life of me find out what. Anyways, Im hella down for a potential second part, so lemme know if yall would be interested in it, I‘d make the reader afab in that one tho.

Btw unless specified, I normally try to keep the reader gender neutral.

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NSFW Johnny x Reader - Talk dirty to me

Wordcount: roughly 2.2k

Short summary: Johnny discovers some mosquito bites on his companion and they get talking about some naughty stuff.

Warnings: Masturbation, Blowjob, Johnnys bug bite fetish, dirty talking, reader really likes some jockey from Kentucky (whoever that may be lmao)

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

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A book, campfire, a starry night sky, and two good friends. What more could one ask for? You certainly couldn't as you were comfortably laying down on your sleeping bag, skimming the pages of the book you picked up in the last town. It was just a little something to keep you busy during breaks.

"Whatcha readin'?" Johnny asked next to you, leaning over a little. You were laying on your stomach, not bothering to look over. "Romance novel. It's quite crappy though." You replied and Gyro let out his signature Nyo-ho-ho.

"Romance? Never took you for that kind of person." He said and sat down on his sleeping place. "I do not actually read it normally; I just took whatever I found in the store. But man, it's so bad. I feel sorry for anyone who got this with the genuine intention of enjoying it." You replied and closed the book. You'd make sure to grab a new one in the next town.

Gyro and Johnny just laughed before falling into a casual conversation that you just listened to. It was a nice relaxing Time in-between the heated race where you had to focus 100%. You sat up to get rid of your coat. It was more than warm enough, especially with the fire nearby, so you tossed it aside before laying back down. Your head found place on your crossed arms to rest and relax as you thought about which paths to take tomorrow.

Gyro and Johnny had stopped talking and silence lingered around the little camp. Your eyes looked up and saw Gyro laying down too, his signature hat placed onto his face. Looking over to you right you saw Johnny staring intensely at you, a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Johnny?" Once he heard his name spoken, he prayed his eyes away. "Yeah?" "Why were you staring at me?" Johnny hesitated, his head looking from left to right. "Eh, you got a mosquito bite." He pointed out, his finger pointing at your arm. You turned to have a look at it and sure enough, four bites, varying in sizes. "Ah shit, they got me through the coat." You cursed, not knowing which effect these insignificant bites had on your blond friend.

He coughed, still looking incredibly flustered. You laid your head back down on your arms, enjoying the rest and not paying much attention to Johnny's weird behavior. You only noticed something was off when his eyes constantly went to your arm throughout the next half an hour.

He didn't know you watched him through your hair that nicely covered your face. Was it maybe worry, that you might have gotten an infection? Mosquitos did carry diseases so it could explain his weird behavior. But that theory was out of the window when he hesitantly extended his arm to have his fingers brush over the bites. As soon as his fingers touched your skin, you felt incredibly hot, unsure what to do.

His expression seemed pained almost, as he was biting his lip, his eyes squinting. "Johnny?" You called out, feeling a little weirded out as you weren't sure how to interpret his doing. Never in your life have you seen someone turn around so fast, desperately trying to pretend that didn't happen.

"Johnny, I know you're awake."

"I'm not."

"Sure." You replied sarcastically and waited but he wasn't going to explain himself. You came closer, poking him in his side.

"Johnnnyyy. Explain yourself. I'm not mad or anything, I just wanna know whyyy." You whined, your poking continuing before he grabbed your hand and shushed you. He arched his back, checking on Gyro who was still soundly sleeping, not noticing the commotion.

"Okay. But don't tell any soul! I will shoot you if you dare to tell anyone!" He threatened, aiming his finger at you. "Promise." You said and sat cross legged. Johnny propped himself up with his arms, his face looking away as he hesitantly spoke.

"Well I... This is really embarrassing but... I have a bug bite fetish." You blinked a couple of times. "A. what." "B-Bug bite fetish." You nodded slowly, trying to process.

"So you find my mosquito bites hot?" Johnny let himself fall back onto his back, his hands coming up to cover his face. "Shut up." He said, as you chuckled slightly. "Nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone got their fantasies or fetishes." "Even you?" He moved his hands slightly to peer at you from under his beanie he had pulled down.

"Like I said everyone. I bet even Gyro does." You laughed and looked over to the Italian man.

"T-then tell me one of yours! That'd only make it fair!" You waited for a moment, pretending to think about it while scratching your chin. "Mhm, fine, for fairness after all." You shrugged, making Johnny finally remove his hands from his flustered face.

"I have this fantasy about riding." Johnny looked at you dumbfounded. "Riding? You mean as in horse riding?" You shook your head. Scooting even closer to him, you leaned down to his face. Your breath tickled his ear, which made the blond shudder.

"No, I really wanna ride this one genius jockey from Kentucky." Johnny’s eyes widened, he swallowed harshly, trying to get rid of the sudden feeling of suffocating from embarrassment.

"Do you?" He finally spoke, hearing you chuckle as soon as he said that. "Yeah. I wanna see his face as I show him I don't only ride horses. I wanna hear him say my name as I choke on his dick. I wanna show him what I can give him, shower him in praise as he marks me as his. God I really have a thing for that man." With that you drew back, looking at him.

His face was covered in a huge blush, his fingers fiddled with one another on his chest, the effect your words had clearly visible by the way his pants bulged. "Night Johnny!" You happily declared, content with your work, getting back on your bag to lay down and rest, a big smile stretched across your face.

"H-Hey!" He called out desperately, almost too loud before he remembered he wouldn't want Gyro to wake up to this. "You can't just go to sleep now!" His hand shook your shoulder as your back was facing towards him. The way he reacted to all of this had you giddy.

"I can't? I thought we were just talking about fantasies! And I told you mine, so it's all said and done." You toyed with him, growing amused by how desperate he was to get a reaction from you. "Aw Darlin', come on, don't leave me hanging like that!" You bit your lip. Damn, that accent had you weak. That damn jockey from Kentucky.

"Well... I guess it'd be rude to get you all worked up like that. But i will need something from ya." Johnny stared at you impatiently, only wanting to hear your demand.

"Beg." You stated dryly, smirking when he shyly looked away trying to hide his reddening face.

"Please. Please help me get some relieve." You laughed and presented him the bitten shoulder. You looked at him through half lidded eyes as you spoke. "You sound pretty like that. I might need that incorporated in my own fantasies." "How dirty." "Rich coming from the guy begging." You got him there.

Johnny knew it was better to not get too snarky otherwise you could easily decide to not help him anymore, so he pushed his sassy side aside to play by your rules. "Why don't you tell me more about that Kentucky guy thing?" He asked as his hand wandered down into his pants.

"Oh him?" You made sure to get seated between his legs as you continued. "Well... He's just the prettiest guy ever. Man, those strong arms make you wish he uses them on you. I mean God, I wanna be pinned by him." Johnny’s breath staggered, and you looked down to his lower half to see his hand wrapped around his cock, stroking it.

"And you wanna ride him?" You nodded, enjoying the image of said scenario. You kept your eyes closed as you continued talking. "I once saw a good bit of his torso while he changed shirt. Wow. That's when I first had that thought. I just wanna show him how good I can make him feel, ride him until he begs me to stop." Johnny leaned forward, his forehead resting on your shoulder and his heavy, irregular breath hit your skin, giving you goosebumps.

"You think he would do that?" He asked. "Potentially? I mean you can never know. I always try to imagine what face he will make when he cums. How it'd feel if his hands grip into my skin, leaving marks. I sometimes wonder if he'd mark me."

"I bet he would." Johnny answered, his answer barley a whisper mixed with soft moans as his hand keeps working on himself. It felt so special that he played along to your little game. "Oh, to be his. Sometimes when I'm on the road with him, I only think about him in dirty ways. I'm a hopeless case." Johnny’s tongue flicked over your shoulder, giving the bites a careful lick. He could feel you shudder.

"Wow darlin' you sure got a dirty mind." You wanted to snarkily reply so badly, but you much rather listened to his breathless whispers against your skin. "To know you so shamelessly think about that guy all day long..." You nodded absentmindedly. Slowly you turned your head to him, waiting until he lifted his head to look at you too. The image of his lust filled eyes, the flustered expression and his dick in his hand was now forever engraved in your brain.

"If Gyro wasn't so close by... The...the Things I would do to you... They'd make even him blush." "Same here." He replied before biting his lips. He imagined those things and it felt suddenly even harder to control himself.

"What would you do?" You questioned. "I'd already have you on me, fulfilling what you were fantasizing about. I want you to scream my name." "For you I'd do anything." A sort of starring contest broke out between you too as you only looked at one another with hungry eyes. Damned be Gyro.

At last, you made the move to slowly get down, trying to not break eye contact while doing so. Carefully you shooed his hand away from his cock to replace it with yours. As soon as you did you could notice that Johnny's breath hitched, making you smirk. With great anticipation, Johnny watched you dragging your tongue from bottom to top before a chunk of his dick disappeared in your mouth.

The blond threw his head back, a moan escaping his lips before he quickly pressed his hand upon it to keep quiet. His reactions only motivated you more, making sure to put extra care in everything you did. Your tongue swirled around his tip when you weren't busy seeing how deep you could take him in.

Seemingly pleased with your efforts the hand that previously kept his mouth shut now found its way into your hair, gripping it from time to time while you worked away on him. It didn't take long until you could tell by his breath, whimpers and suppressed moans that he was getting close.

Determined to end with a bang you bobbed your head up and down a few more times before taking in as much as you could with a hum. The sensation of it and the sight was too much for Johnny to handle and so he came deep in your throat.

You patiently let him ride it out, giving him one final lick to clean him up, before getting up, letting him watch you swallow his cum.

The confident smile that adorned your lips was now forever stuck in his mind. With the back of your hand, you wiped away any leftover saliva around your mouth before getting up to get your water canteen.

Johnny was left behind still feeling high on life before he too quickly fixed himself up. A bit of awkwardness lingered in the air now that the deed was done. Johnny awkwardly got back to his sleeping bag to lay there staring at the sky and you soon did the same.

You twiddled with your thumbs, all confidence from before gone now. The silence was only broken when Johnny decided to break it.

"Hey Y/N?" You hummed, signaling for him to continue. "How about at the end of the stage, when we stay at the hotel, we take a break from Gyro?"

"To do what?" A moment passed before he answered.

"For you to show that Kentucky guy your riding skills?" You had to smile, a chuckle even escaping you.

"Sounds good to me."

The awkwardness drifted away to be replaced by comfort and warmth. You two went from looking at the stars to looking at each other. You adored the way his blond hair fell around his face, framing it perfectly and pretty blue eyes that looked at you. That damn Kentucky guy would now even more dominate your thoughts, especially since you still had a good bit of way to cover until the stages end. Damned be Johnny.

#johnny joestar x reader #jjba johnny #jjba x reader #jjba johnny x reader #johnny joestar #steel ball run

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ladybeug · 9 months

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was scrolling thru your art tag enjoying your comics when i suddenly discovered you were the one that wrote strangers in the bright lights. having gotten into miraculous only very recently, was tickled to experience a very small identity shenanigan of my own

incredible fic btw; i love it soooooo much. brilliant, hilarious, sweet, poignant. out of curiosity have you read much postww1 modernist stuff? i adored the usage of free indirect discourse for the narration, drunken and in motion and alive, almost reminded me of virginia woolf in a weird way lol. sorry if this is weird

Hello!! I'm about to get long-winded and self indulgent in this reply, fair warning :)

here goes:

Wow!! I don’t know how you found strangers in the bright lights if you got into ladybug in any time frame that can be described as “very recently”, I wrote that in 2018 when I was digesting some personal stuff and in a fantastic ladybug renaissance (of which I have now had several, I think I’ll die in this fandom).

But I’m so glad you somehow did. I only write every couple of years when I get really specific ideas, and the time I spend on it turns into memories of who I was when I wrote it. I feel like that must happen to actual writers too, ones who write often, but I haven’t written “often” since like 2009 and have never asked, so there you go.

But I guess that’s all to say that I am very attached to that story and it’s also one of the only things I’ve written that still feels like it hit the chord I was aiming for. It is so cool that anyone still reads it!!

To actually answer your question: I have never read virginia woolf, and the only modernist stuff I've read was years ago for school classes. I have to admit none of the style was inspired by classics, but instead inspired by the weird disassociation of trying to be alone in a crowd.

I have a final self-indulgent thought, it is a fun fact I realized as I was going down memory lane about this:

I associate ‘strangers in the bright lights’ with a friendship I made that stands out as one of the luckiest and rarest friendships I’ve made – I went to a mountain goats concert alone, and stood up at the front early, and met someone else who had gone to the same mountain goats concert alone and had stood up at the front early. It was one of the fastest and most comfortable connections I’ve made, and we liked each other so much we stayed in touch, even after they moved away. We are still in touch every so often, and as far as I’m concerned in a few years they’re going to publish the best fantasy novel you’ve ever read, so watch out for that.

The fanfiction is in part inspired by that beautiful feeling of meeting someone new that you want to talk to, and they want to talk to you, and a drink or two has propped up your self esteem and you don’t have to worry about who you are tomorrow, just who you are right now. It’s escapism. You feel important, and carried by that feeling, for as long as you are there. Lonely who? Not me. Trapped by past versions of myself, who? Not me.

Anyways the fun fact is - I found out this morning that concert was a year AFTER I posted this fanfiction. I didn't know about that moment of my life as I was writing this. The two are so connected in my mind that this is genuinely surprising, but the concert was in September 2019 and I published the fanfic a year beforehand.

In the words of mr. mountain goat himself: we held on to hope of better days coming, and when we did we were right!

#i am also tickled to be involved in your ML secret identity shenanigan #its absolutely wild to me when people find my ladybeug blog AFTER they find something else i did - bc this blog is my biggest platform by f #r #anyways thank you again for the kind words and the soapbox on which to share some of my thoughts #strangers in the bright lights

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 10 months

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Hellsing Rewatch: Episode Three Thoughts

One | Two

I loooove Pip

My favorite thing about Hellsing is that Dracula the novel has canonically been published in it. How did that happen! Why! Did Van Helsing commission it?? Are they meant to be genuine entries of their journals as a found footage thing?

It’s really funny and appropriate that the Wild Geese are like lmao monsters?? But also if I was a mercenary taken to this shady ass mansion with its own barracks etc I’d just believe any insane shit

Rip Iscariot letter Not Bomb stamp, you will be missed

Integra and Alucard both having a taste for the ugliest possible hats

Maxwell is SO extra he’s crushing his own glasses! Sir you need those!!!

Andercard 💖💖💖💖💖 They’re so fucking insane I love them

Also does this museum have no security? Is no one like uh. They’re drawing guns here.

AGDHFHFHGF Alucard grumpily going back to bed, does that mean he was asked to accompany them to the museum or was he just being nosy?

It’s SO FUNNY how Maxwell is Anderson’s boss now, he’s practically his son

HDJFJFGHDD REMEMBER MAXWELL MAKING INTEGRA SAY PLEASE IN THE MANGA

Why does Maxwell sound so proud when he reveals that the Vatican helped the Nazis 🥲

It’s so so so funny that Major and Dok personally showed up to the museum to watch all this discussion go down and also WHY IS DOK BLOODY AND WHAT IS THAT OUTFIT

What does Alucard mean that only Millennium, Integra, AND HIM are crazy enough to enlist the undead as soldiers. Are we talking level zero or something else????

Also lol. lmao. Walter acting like he doesn’t remember Millennium

HOTEL TWINK HIIIIIIII

Alucard did NOT need to do that poor twink right that, he changed his fucking life. He will never be the same

I looooove the shot of Alucard walking into the hotel room with the rippling air around him

“With any luck they’ll not only dig their own graves but pay for the funeral as well” fucks tbh. It’s a really good line

The spirit of Harkonnen being like “Something terrible is about to happen” and it’s really just Alucard waking her up.

I love Alucard subtly correcting Seras saying “Good morning” with “Good evening” but also like idk taking the moment to respond politely despite being like “btw SWAT team here to kill us.” He also waited a REALLY long time to wake her tbh

I’m generally ambivalent to the gun spirit dream sequence shenanigans but the choice to have such a light silly scene before the absolute carnage that is the Rio hotel fight is such a good tonal shift.

Rio sequence my beloved 💖

I love the beat when Integra questions if Alucard is going to show any restraint or like moral qualms at all in the face of adversity and Walter reminds her that he’s a monster. It definitely has the tone of a conversation they’ve had before.

Alucard’s so mad at the soldier committing suicide like I WANT THAT OUT DAMNIT

He’s having such a meltdown!!

“This is just the way it is” is it tho 🤔

Oh no the Rio call. In front of Walter’s salad

I think the Rio call (where Alucard is doing all this grandstanding about being a monster with zero remorse and needling her about potentially not being up to making a tougher call) is actually really interesting after him reacting so strongly to the one soldier killing himself, and then seeming to lose his own resolve a little bit when he realizes he’s been so harsh to Seras.

Walter like “I’m only the butler… I an not engaging with this shit”

Elevator sequence 💖💖💖💖💖 It’s truly really good nonverbal storytelling

I love that Major monologues so much that no one’s even trying to talk to him, they know he’s just going to keep going.

“I’m called the Dandyman” and Alucard’s like. Did I ask.

“There’s absolutely no reasoning with you people” WHEN DID YOU TRY TO REASON WITH THEM

Pip 👏 gets 👏 shit 👏 done 👏

The show does such a good job establishing just how gross and disgusting Alucard is

Oof the arm scene 😬

The one panned out shot where Alucard’s drinking from Alhambra and his proportions are so fucked that he looks like an Adventure Time character

Alucard making Pip on the fucking hijacked helicopter with a gun to the pilot’s head while he monologues 😭😭

It’s so funny how seriously Dok takes everything whereas Major is just like “Hell yeah!! Mayhem!!!!”

Dok’s still bloody omg, it’s also all over his coat like front and back? Did he deliberately just splatter it for edgy aesthetic purposes?

I NEVER noticed that young Walter was placed with the Millennium characters in the end credits. It’s crazy that they have that so early lol

#hellsing #hellsing ultimate #i ramble sometimes

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doodle-pops · 1 year

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Hello, are reactions open? If so can I please request a how our elves would react to finding out the reader is an author? Like they publish really popular novels under a pen name then one day they see their elf is reading their book and they casually ask how they liked it, but then suddenly go “oh, yeah! Btw I wrote that. That chapter was a bitch ‘cause I stabbed my eye with the quill” *queue shocked Pokémon face* — 🌼 anon

Nice to see you 🌼anon.

The moment you broke those words to them, WHIPLASH. You wrote this? You write? How come you never told me? Wait, do you write about us? Is this book about us? Why did you write about someone else? They'll rattle questions off their tongue while gaping at you. Amazed, shocked, baffled, admiration. You can see it in their eyes. "Your writing is beautiful, perhaps one day you can write about us? I believe our love is worth being told."

- Maedhros, CELEBRIMBOR, Fingolfin, FINGON, Turgon, Finarfin, FINROD, Ecthelion, PENLOD, ELROND,

Forgets about the fact that you wrote a book and only remembers 'I stabbed myself in my eye' and flings themselves out the sofa to baby you. "Are you alright? Your eye, is it better? Come let me attend to it." It's only after they get satisfaction with attending to your already-healed eye, they'll remember the book *facepalm*. They too are overly excited about your writing adventures and would question you on the inspirations behind each book or story. Would ask if one day they can collaborate with you and write a tale about you both.

- MAGLOR, GLORFINDEL, ROG, Elrohir

Okay, two words 'Grammar/Writing Nazi'. "You used the wrong phrase here. This word is better to use than this one. Why didn't you use a metaphor here, it would have made the tale more captivating? You spelt this wrong. You're writing a book and you can't spell simple words love, tsk....I enjoyed it though, the tale was wonderful..." You probably wanted to punch them and yourself for speaking. The most you could do was shake your head in disbelief and mumble a "I expected this!" with a chuckle. You understood that they were good intentions.

- FEANOR, CURUFIN, ERESTOR

#🌼 anon #reactions #maglor x reader #celebrimbor x reader #fingolfin x reader #turgon x reader #finarfin x reader #finrod x reader #penlod x reader #ecthelion x reader #elrond x reader #erestor x reader #maedhros x reader #curufin x reader #elrohir x reader #fingon x reader #glorfindel x reader #silmarillion imagine #doodlepops responds

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safarigirlsp · 4 months

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Thank you for sharing my ask list!! We need to have a good old fashioned tumblr sleepover one of these nights lol! I’d love to know your answers to Qs # 11, 15, 18 & 21 !!

Merry Christmas! I hope you and Tori are having a wonderful holiday!

I love your Writer Ask List! I'm going to link it in my masterlist if I can ever get the stupid thing it edit and work. I hit my link and pic limit on it last year sometime, but I'm too lazy to create a new one. But if I hit edit over and over enough, it forces the changes through somehow, so I've been managing xD.

11. What is one fic you want to re-read for the x time in 2024?

I love these fics as much as any novel!

Fathoms Below

Beautiful Beloved

Flip NSFW Alphabet

And then Silky's incredible Assassin Mills, Underworld Kylo, Practical Magic Flip, The Bear and the Maiden Fair, and Ubi Amor Ubi Dolor.

I have a couple books by my favorite published author I want to reread this year too.

15. Which of your fics you would recommend to a new reader that discovers you in 2024?

I can never pick any one of anything, so I hope you enjoy spam!

Flip:

Bah Humbug

The Case of the Colorado Cannibal

Ghost Town

Everything A Big Bad Wolf Could Want

Mills:

Maneater

Jacques:

A Lady Worth Fighting For

Here There Be Monsters

Witchcraft on Your Lips

Wargrave Hall (This one will be finished soon! But it has all the bs I like!)

Kylo:

Kylo the Malevolent

Crossover with ALL the guys!

Bah Humbug

18. Would you consider writing an original work in 2024?

Definitely! I have two 'novels' that are ready to be proofed, edited, and pitched. One is adventure, one is horror. Both with romance too. I have a few more ideas for novels I want to write too. The problem is always choosing which one to write first!

I have a supernatural story with some occult stuff and the Devil; a wintery adventure story; an action hitman story; a joint modern adventure/old west suspense story; a comedy FBI story; and a suspense murdery mountaineering story.

21. What character do you think you'll leave behind in the new year?

As of now, I'm only writing for Jacques, Flip, Mills, and Kylo. I don't think I'll officially leave anyone behind, but Kylo interests me the least these days. I've never been into space Kylo and I've only written AU's for him. I'm not closing off the possibility for more Kylo AU's in the future, but these days when I think of AU's, I want to write them with Jacques. And I need to write more with Mills too.

Btw We need to get our asses back in gear and get some serious writing done in 2024!

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linklethehistorian · 1 year

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Linkle, I must know, what are your thoughts on Mori as a character? His actions and motivations?? Id love to hear your opinion, btw that last chapter of cherish was great!! I loved it so much!!!

Ahhh hello there, anon, thank you so much! 🥺😭💕💖🥰 It’s such an honor to get a message like this from someone who is reading the fic. 💕🥺💖🥰💕🥺💖🥰 I’m so glad you liked Chapter 12; it definitely has one of my own personal favorite scenes, tbh (but I won’t take up your time talking about that right now lol). Having a fan base for Cherish is truly lovely; I’m so blessed by each and every one of you. 🥺💖

As for your question, I’m always happy to share!

Before I say anything at all on my opinion, though, I’m first going to make it clear that I am completely setting aside that one…particular matter that has been discussed to death by the fandom for the moment, because I fear far too many people tend to forget that it is entirely possible to make any remotely positive commentary on a fictional character without that actually somehow meaning you condone his alleged…preferences. For the people in the back that need to hear this out loud to be set at ease: I in absolutely no way do.

Now with that out of the way for a bit, let’s talk about the rest of Mori. I’ll throw it under the cut, though, both for length and for potential spoilers of multiple light novels (Dark Era, Fifteen, Storm Bringer, etc.) and obviously the manga up to his last appearance in current arc. Oh and obviously the typical Mori-related trigger subjects. Yeah.

Honestly, on a general note, these days I think Mori as a character is super cool; I’m not sure where precisely I’d rate him on the list of characters because I honestly like nearly every character in BSD and think they’re pretty awesomely written, but on a general scale of 1 to 10, he’s a very solid 8 or 9 for me.

My first introduction to him was…admittedly not at all the best possible representation of him.

When I first joined the fandom, I began my journey through the series by watching the anime adaption of Dark Era, at the behest of a dear friend who said I would be best off doing so before I watched the rest of the show (of which there were only two seasons at the time) and then reading the manga, in order to get the best and most meaningful experience; it is not something I remotely regret, and in honesty, I would probably wholeheartedly recommend any new people to do the same, if they intended to start with the anime. Regardless, though, this decision did have the impact of making me immediately strongly dislike Mori as a person from the very start, given what he did to the orphans, Oda, and Dazai by extension.

Really, I wouldn’t say that I came to see him in any particular shades of grey motivation-wise until I watched the episode titled Double Black, in which there was the first reference of what would have become of the Port Mafia and Yokohama as a whole had he not usurped the throne to the organization so many years ago.

After that, I began to look at him with a bit more understanding and curiosity, horrible and ruthless though his nature may still mostly have been. Fifteen (specifically the light novel, NOT the anime) — which it should be said, I think is the best existing canon representation of Mori in terms of giving us a good look at his thoughts and motivations — only amplified that outlook and interest for me, and I think it alone is largely to thank for why I enjoy him as a character as much as I do in current time.

Although he’s definitely not someone I’d feel particularly comfortable writing an entire story solely around — as I don’t believe I’m expert nor absurdly passionate enough to do so compared to some genuine Mori fans that I know are out there out there — I nevertheless really, really do enjoy writing him, especially in Cherish (which is only the second time I’ve written him, if I’m honest — at least, in anything I’d consider publishing, anyway).

There’s just so much potential in him plot and personality-wise; he is incredibly flexible of a person in terms of his thoughts, mannerisms, motivations, and actions, which makes it super fun to explore and play around with when telling a story. I’d say he easily has one of the most fun personalities among the BSD ensemble, purely because of utterly unpredictable it can be; on one hand, he has moments where (at least outwardly) is capable of being extremely friendly, outgoing, generous and unassuming, and yet on the other, he is very much always inwardly observant of all that is going on around him and capable of quickly switching to being cold, calculating, and openly cruel at the drop of a hat. But even then, usually, his cruelty doesn’t come in the form of physical violence; it’s often emotional manipulation, intimidation, taking your fears and weaknesses and using them against you to get him whatever he feels he needs in the present moment. Sometimes, it isn’t even outwardly visible that the switch of gears happened; he knows how to poison you in the sweetest and most unassuming yet effective way possible — whether that poison is literal or metaphorical. He’s definitely the kind of person who could sing you to sing to sleep every night and kiss your cheek every morning even as he’s secretly plotting your demise. lol

That being said, I think a lot of the fandom, in their hatred for him as a person, tends to mischaracterize him a lot, rather than looking at it objectively. I’ve seen a lot of fics and general fandom takes that portray him as a sadistic person who is cruel simply for the sake of being cruel and does terrible things to others purely for the enjoyment factor, but that is 100% not who Mori is; canonically, Mori does what he does mostly, if not entirely, out of what he feels is necessity as the leader of the organization. Now, I’m not saying there may not be parts of him that enjoy certain things he does — it’s certainly more than possible, and even highly probable — but his actions as godfather are driven by achieving what he feels is the optimal solution, not by personal pleasure and amusement; as a matter of fact, in Fifteen, he even made it clear when speaking to Chuuya that he fully acknowledges a lot of what he does is morally reprehensible — he just feels that it is his duty to commit these atrocities for the ‘greater good’ of the organization, and that the end therefore justifies the means.

The thing is, there is a character in BSD who is exactly the way this portion of the fandom characterizes Mori, and he was even a member of the Port Mafia, so if people really wanted to canonically explore this dynamic of a character who wholly gets off on tormenting people, causing suffering and probing others’ heads rather than doing it as just a business practice, they absolutely could still do it and be true to canon by writing about said other character; it’s just that it’s not a convenient truth that a lot of the fandom wants or likes to face — because that would mean acknowledging that it was everyone’s beloved Dazai and not the oh-so-despised Mori who used to think in such a sick and twisted way during his days in the criminal underworld.

Granted, some people do write both characters very well and very accurately, and I applaud them, but I do find it frustrating when the fandom reduces either Mori to this purely evil, sadistic villain who is bad just for the sake of being bad, because he is so much more interesting as he truly is in canon.

It’s this dichotomy where his dedication to the overall well-being of his people and company is admirable and even understandable, yet at the same time his individual actions when you look at them from a moral perspective are pretty much all morally reprehensible in some way, shape, or form — if not in every way. The same is true of his time in the army; as a general concept, his desire to protect Japan during the Great War was on the whole admirable and understandable, we know that he was well-meaning about it, but at the same time, no matter how desperate the situation was, what he did to Yosano and his entire army was absolutely disgusting and unacceptable — especially because it came so easily to him to do it and he made no apologies for it nor expressed any guilt over the suffering he caused later on.

Do I think Mori is, on the whole, a good person? Absolutely not. Do I think that he sometimes has the best of intentions in mind with his schemes? In the grander scheme of things, yes; it’s just that he mostly doesn’t care who or how many he has to hurt to achieve that so long as it’s slightly less than his net gain from doing it, which in turn cancels out things enough to prevent him from ever being labeled as being or acting as a “good person” at any moment.

I think the best, most objective description of him is to say that he’s pragmatic and ruthless.

…And then obviously there’s the part that everyone in the fandom discusses to death — about the main universe version of him being into little girls. Not a whole lot to say about that; it’s gross, it’s wrong, it’s unforgivable, it’s morally reprehensible, and it’s chilling and disturbing and it definitely completely disqualifies him from being labeled a good person even if he had been able to earn that title from something he did somewhere along the way.

That being said — and I know this is probably going to be controversial to a lot of the fandom, so let me say upfront that I’m not saying that that isn’t 100% a valid and understandable reading of who he is and the way he feels based on all the evidence throughout the series, nor am I trying to convince anyone otherwise — purely because it is fiction and therefore all made up to begin with, at least for my own personal comfort, I typically choose in my own personal readings to just look at him as someone with a particular weakness for little girls because he’s fatherly — although I make no effort to claim that to be the objective truth, nor does such interpretation affect or influence any of my writings in any way; it’s simply the way I prefer to engage with BSD on my own personal time — outside of my writings.

As a matter of fact, in my one fic, Bittersweet Belief, he was intentionally written with the intention of being portrayed as a groomer, and in Cherish, his ‘tastes’ will be portrayed no less nor more suspicious than how they are in canon, and therefore it will never be fully, directly addressed, but may be interpreted however you wish.

I do not need people coming to me providing evidence of why they believe there is no way to look at it differently, as again, I am not arguing that it is objectively untrue in any way that Mori is written to be a pedo in BSD, and when in public spaces among other people talking about it I don’t even try to say otherwise, much less convince anyone of it. I understand fandom etiquette and I am not trying to erase anything about him from others’ perceptions in order to make him more “likable”. I am just engaging with BSD, whenever I am personally reading it and watching it, in the way that is more comfortable for me. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, yeah, Mori’s a super fun character to write and observe in the BSD world! I think there’s a lot of depth to him and he’s very well-written — probably among my top past antagonists purely for the super interesting personality and the purely pragmatic outlook to life and business.

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hopetorun · 6 months

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tagged by @bropunzeling and @postoperation 💕

Rules: Go to your published works on AO3 and list the first fic you ever published there, the last fic you published, any fic that you wrote for a fandom/ship only once, your favorite fic you wrote in the fandom/ship that has the most works, the fic you wish more people read, the fic you agonized over the most, the fic that sprang fully formed from your mind without any effort, and a work you are proud of—for whatever reason.

first fic (on ao3): perspective, a star wars (legends) eu rarepair fic that i wrote for yuletide in 2011 that honestly was like pulling teeth at the time and i don’t think i’ve ever reread. i crossposted and then deleted some social network fic but i honestly don’t remember if i ever backdated any of it correctly anyway so this is probably the first one regardless since i got an ao3 specifically to participate in yuletide in 2011

last fic: make a better mistake, the brady/quinn home by now timestamp i put on here the other day. i don’t have much to say about this really except that it was fun to write out one of the bits of their backstory, which i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about

fic for a fandom/ship i only wrote once: don’t read the last page, broadchurch pornography i wrote in the year of someone’s lord 2021 after rewatching because my mom hadn’t seen it and wanted to. i wrote so much het porn in 2021 and yet i still can barely bring myself to write any of the common slang terms for vagina 💀

favorite fic in the fandom/ship with the most works: well in the summer of 2012 i was possessed by demons and wrote two then-avengers/now-mcu fics but i can’t say i like either of them. i guess i think this one is better, if pressed. honestly i don't feel a need to delete them but i am glad that no one ever seems to read them lol

fic i wish more people read: the sky is big enough, which i feel like i've said before! i really like how it came together but dropping 15k unannounced and unheralded on a medium-sized fandom and peacing out isn't exactly the best way to attract readers 😂 at least it exists for me to pretend is part of the game of thrones canon

fic you agonized over the most: this is kind of a toss-up. on the one hand, it took me the better part of six months to write preference, which clocks in at a not actually all that long 37k, because for mysterious reasons it was just a really slow story for me to pick through and i had to put a lot of thought into what i could do with each scene since the structure (which i imposed on myself btw. i made this problem) is so limiting. on the other hand the actual writing sessions for home by now were easy and productive but the story took ten whole entire months of my life, a major characterization revision just under halfway through, and a major pacing evening-out three quarters of the way through. both involved a lot of crying about whether the story was actually good.

fic that sprang fully formed from my mind without any effort: okay this is a throwback and also such a rarepair as in the only fic in the tag but years ago i wrote jt compher/his college teammate kevin lohan and it was just such an enjoyable story to write because i had a clear vision of the arc and it came together neatly and the non-linear structure meant i got to play with some fun juxtaposition. anyway: instructions for dancing

a story i'm proud of: this is not the end. was this a ridiculous thing to write in any year, much less the year 2020? sure. but write it i did, and it was the first novel-length story i ever successfully wrote, much less completed and edited and posted. and i think it's a nice story! proud of myself for getting over the long story hump and proud of myself for doing it while also doing graduate school. and proud of myself for finding something to do with my time so that my entire life didn't just become work and grad school in 2020.

#i'm not tagging anyone bc idr who's already been tagged but if you feel moved you can pretend i tagged you #my fic

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the---hermit · 1 year

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Random and not planned reflection on my reading goals so far this year because I feel like it (the fact that I want to buy more books but my stupid brain tells me that anytime I want to spend money for myself I should feel guilty has more part in this than I'd like to admit)

My personal reading goals for the year are:

Read 52 book (one book each week, I lowered my goal because I have no real odea of how being back in uni will influence my reading habits on the long run)

Make an effort to read books from my unread pile

Read the books I buy right away (I did it last year two and it went very well out of a little over 60 books at the end of the year I hadn't read only five or six, that I have now all read btw)

So how is it going? It's going very well at the moment. Since the beginning of the year I read 20 books, 13 of which were from my unread pile. So at the moment more than half of my read books of the year were from that pile. I bought 4 books so far, and I fully read two of them, and I am currently reading the third. The fourth of this list is not in my reading priorities because it's the book published by the authors of a podcast I really like and the contents of the book have all been parts of the episodes they made. So I know already the contents of the book, I mostly got it to support them and to annotate it when I'll be reading it. It could very well be one of the books I won't read this year. Additionally I was also gifted one book, which I read, so there have been no real additions to my unread pile, which is great. I have held myself back in the past couple of months, I have come across books I avoided buying because I knew I wouldn't have read them right away. I have a bad feeling the next time I will go to a bookstore I will make some damages because at the moment aside from the book I am currently reading I don't have real priorities in my physical tbr. This reflection was mostly useful for me to get an overview of how things are going with this goal. Also my graphic novel section is now fully read which is insane to me, and I am really in the mood for some new graphic novels, so I might treat myself with something new. This year I would also like to bring back going to the bookstore with no real plan and just get something that calls for my attention by an author I don't know. I found so many graphic novels this way when I was younger, and I really miss just browsing through the shelves and licking something obscure that just feels good.

#i wrote this last night and didn't edit it so there might (probably) be typos #but you know what i don't care #i might edit later #bookblr #booklr #studyblr #books #book goals #bookish #reflection #cris speaks #reading #reading goals #mine #the---hermit

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kimyoonmiauthor · 1 year

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The Lie: You can only make a story around character or events nothing else~~

USian Lit professors ruining writers again and World Lit with it. This isn’t one of those posts where I say, “If you start with character or events you’re wrong.” It’s about my core philosophy OPTIONS~~~ Options. The ones that everyone railed against after the 20th century and people turn their noses up at because, ya know, questioning status quo as PoCs, Women, queer people, disabled people–i.e. the majority of the writers and readers when you put the market together, yet somehow the publishing industry doesn’t want to cater to us... were told flat out if we do it, we’re being snobby, Literary, or Ohhh... insurrectionists. (Or whatever, mostly called “inferior”) And if you don’t believe me, go read Robert Scholes’ writing book where he thinks that only white straight men can write... (OK, maybe I’ve read too many of these bozos.)

My exact problem is being told we’re wrong for doing it another way. And that this way is too snobby, when it’s probably one of the oldest methods in the history of literature. So strap in, let’s get into it.

I get it, some people are going to act like victims at this point and say are you saying that it’s wrong? Or even, what do you mean this method was invented by a bunch of prejudiced white men who often tried to take credit from less privileged people? I cover that in the other series of posts so you a see how we got here (and I warn you I found it super depressing. Especially slapped with blatant racism, sexism, anti-queerness, etc.)

What I think is you can accept the origin story of where “It’s either events or character” comes from (Great Man Theory, BTW, which is imperialistic), delve and QUESTION it heavily, and then challenge the origin more deeply by thinking about it critically and how you would like to overcome that and make their story.

Questioning what’s handed to you critically is the whole point of the Worldbuilding and Worldwide Story Structures post. Doesn’t say it is wrong. It just gives you more options to think about and engage in.

Morals

Honestly, when it has the answers and is reinforcing the status quo, rather than questioning it, it is often boring.

Pros: It engages directly one of the two tenants (when done well), Makes people think. The secondary is then makes them feel.

Cons: When done badly, it can feel preachy, rather than introspective. And people often hate their morals being questioned so may refuse to engage. It’s also prone to getting banned.

Authors who stated they use this: Ursula Le Guin (Who gets hated by Structuralists)

Toni Morrison (Who said so on Charlie Rose--why would you think it’s conflict?)

Star Trek... most of it.

Some of the early writers of Star Wars.

A lot of Sci-fi writers including Octavia Butler.

A Tree with Deep Roots (K-drama) also engages in this.

As a secondary, Outlander often asks questions about Morality (Diana Gabaldon)

Making a story around this would look like finding a central moral question and then breaking that moral question into parts and then finding characters and events to address those parts.

You start from the widest point down and deliberately make it so.

Ways to Live

More common with Indigenous Peoples of N&C&S Americas, not all tribes/nations of course. And particularly with Plains tribes such as Zuni. Also common to Aboriginal people. A tad bit to some Polynesians, and parts of Africa (scattered)

Pros: When done well it makes you ponder on it for days, because often there is a central value, which is not a moral, and you’re turning it over in your head over and over again.

Cons: You have to craft the story very, very carefully, and it may take some time before you get it to land just right. This may not go over well for people who improvise their writing. Because when the story is well put together it suddenly has this clicking feel to it which is difficult to achieve.

Also kinda better for shorter stories (or I’ve never seen it done in novels yet--if you have one, drop it in the comments please~~) and made up folktales...

Themes

Thematic plotting is where you take a central theme and then kind of snowflake it out from that, similar to morality plotting. Often thematic plotting and morality plotting has overlap, meaning they often are done together.

But a theme can be anything like fairies, divorce, marriage, disability, etc. And then you’d break it down for each of the parts and figure out how to represent that through character and events.

So, let’s say your central theme is disability. You might break off Neurodiversity and put that to the side and ask if it is a disability. Then you might want to find someone to represent that and the views about it.

You might also then take someone who is a wheelchair user and then decide you need a character for that.

But you also may want someone who is in a walker.

Then you might decide that you need someone who is disabled, but doesn’t “look” disabled.

Then you might think about what does disability mean for each of them and how are you going to address disability rights in your story. So say the Neurodiverse person you’ve made has Sensory Processing Disorder. You might ask, “Is this really a disability?” And about ableism and disablism. From that, you might formulate an event to demonstrate this.

You can also do it from events. So for example, you think that a disability rights rally about X issue is needed to show the different views. But overall, it always loops back to the theme.

Pros: Engages the reader to think, primarily. Feel is kind of second on the list, if the theme is teased out well and focused. Generally the ones that do well are philosophical and delve deeper on an idea. Say motherhood. What does it mean to be a parent. Something with an endless well to talk about that interests the author. I love theme babies and when done well it can do things like make you cry over a damned potato. Or even rocks on a cliff. Damn you both. I’m tearing up thinking about it. WHY!? Why am I crying about rocks with googly eyes with text on the screen?

Cons: Themes that don’t grow beyond the base idea often feel stagnant. It’s better to let your themes evolve over the course of the story. If you choose a theme you don’t have a lot of ideas on it can feel too sparse. And if you over pack it without any kind of organization, it can feel chaotic, rather than organized.

Generally people who use milestones--or set out event points in the road do better with this one. Pure improvisers tend to dislike this, though it can work if you’re sure you can hit the points in an organized fashion.

Authors:

Divorce Testimony by Na Hyeseok (Theme is divorce and marriage, and a memoir)

Hong Sisters (especially Greatest Love. Crying over a potato...)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (Primarily theme first, then tone).

Tone

I have to say Japan does it best... but I’ve also seen tonal theming from Indigenous peoples, Magic Realism, as a secondary on other East Asian drama regions, in Horror, as a secondary in some African Lit and West Asian Lit. It is really difficult to nail if you start with character+event. And honestly USians, in particular, have a really hard time nailing tone, in general.

Pros: Emotions come first and hits you directly in the feels first, which might make you reel in your head for quite a while. It’s much, much harder to guess plot points from the outside looking in. The bubble effect I refer to often in Japanese dramas which makes me envious is much easier to achieve. Because tone takes a while to develop over the course of the story, guessing ahead becomes near to impossible. You don’t know what the final effect will be until it hits you square between the eyes. And then the emotions are overloaded, when done well.

Cons: Tone takes a while to develop. It often dies a quiet death because of the whole “I NEED EVERYTHING ON PAGE ONE” mentality from US pressuring other regions to do the same. It does not work well with impatient people. Also, it takes a high amount of skill to do well, and usually command of tone on all levels is a last, not first skill for writers of all regions. Hitting people in the feels the same way across the board is HARD. Really hard, which is often why it’s paired with thematic and moral plotting.

Authors:

Natsume Soseki Botchan is a master class in this.

(Central Story driver)

Sometimes, some regions just go by the central story driver which then dictates the rest of the events and character. Honestly, I think conflict is probably the worst for this because people don’t generally love it. Conflict is not on the list of things that makes things go viral. People LOVE cooperation, for example. But often people will go by a central tenant of the story driver and choose from there. Absurdists might think about ways to subvert the conflict to make a joke.

Other methods

For example, Diana Gabaldon takes pieces from her research, makes a scene from it, and then writes characters around it, and then slowly stitches it together. She started out originally with character, however, the bulk of her writing, according to her is done through research then write method. The downside of this is huge word count since integration is not the first concern.

Some people start with interesting subjects they’ve found such as Guy Gaviriel Kay. He starts with research, then works on integration. Similarly, Ordinary People by Judith Guest was started from a newspaper clipping.

Some authors start with a sharp image, rather than event or character.

Some authors start with setting. Since there are so many parts to “What makes a story” theoretically you can start with any of them. The only thing I would think you really have to think over is how will it hang together.

The point is, while starting with character or event is not wrong, finding other methods to plot might make your story stronger depending on how you command the tools. And let’s not forget that writing is a craft, so why not utilize as much of the toolbox as possible?

#writing advice #how to start a story #debunking

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