queenofnightdreamland

[queenofnightdreamland]

You know what disgusts me ?

Go see Zutara fanarts on Instagram and often see emojis like 🤢🤮, or comments like "I prefer Kataang", "I'm going to pretend I didn't see anything", "I need holy water for my eyes", "Zutara would never have worked together" (damn, besides I'm tired of seeing this bullshit declared 24/7 by the antis, because we all know that Zutara would actually work very well together but there that's not the point)

How fucking old are these people ?! Fanarts takes time to create ! It’s the work of an artist ! Aren't these people ashamed ?

For example, I don't like Gwynriel, but when I come across a magnificent piece of fanart, I put a like and that's it, I'm not going to post a nasty comment to the artist (even if from what I understand some Gwynriel stans don't have this courtesy for Elriel fanart and go so far as to harass certain artists for their works, which is also a shame).

We're talking about fanart.

You have to calm down after a while.

[queenofnightdreamland]

it’s always “let aang swear” or “let zuko swear” but y’all are missing out on the comedic potential of katara being the one who has the dirtiest mouth. she swears like a sailor but is just better at hiding it than everyone else because she doesn't want to influence aang or toph, and tries to keep up pretenses of being proper.

after all the time they spent fighting each other as enemies and sparring as friends, zuko’s the only one that knows this about her but no one believes him.

(for those who question where katara could possibly learn to curse, i ask - have you ever assisted women through childbirth in a world where epidurals don't exist? katara has. like c'mon. she knows all the swear words).

[queenofnightdreamland]

[queenofnightdreamland]

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

[queenofnightdreamland]

[queenofnightdreamland]

Part 183 of my bakery “enemies” au!

I'M BACK AND READY FOR DAILY UPLOADS!!!

First / Prev / Next / All

Kofi

[queenofnightdreamland]

I saw someone on Booktok (not gonna name who) talking about how The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang didn’t work for them, for multiple reasons.

Most of his reasons are up to interpretation and taste but there was one thing that was said in the video that irked me

“Rin’s female rage just didn’t work for me.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about that particular statement because Rin doesn’t really experience female rage throughout this story?

Feminine rage is, by definition, rage felt due to sexism, gender based discrimination, or injustices levied on women. But Rin doesn’t experience any of this. This is not the source of her rage.

Rin’s rage is a result of classism, colorism, and racism that she experiences in her own society, and then later by foreigners trying to colonize her country. Her rage comes from deep rooted cyclical injustices that affected her and her people. Her rage comes from atrocities and war. Her rage comes from abuse.

This is not to say gender plays no role in TPW, the catalyst for this story is Rin desperately attempting to run away from an arranged marriage her adoptive family is trying to force her into. But this is not the source of her rage, this is not what drives Rin throughout the story.

I think it is important to make the distinction between what is and is not feminine rage. Because to label all rage experienced by women “feminine” rage the term loses its meaning and becomes a new way to belittle women’s feelings.

Feminine rage is important.

Women experiencing rage is important.

We need to remember the distinction.

[queenofnightdreamland]

Me: Okay, Brain. Think about what happens next in this chapter.

Brain: *Skips three chapters ahead*

Me: No, no. This one, this chapter, the one we are writing right now.

Brain:.......*47 scenes forward*

Me: NO

[queenofnightdreamland]

[queenofnightdreamland]

genuinely one of the worst things that’s happened to television in the last few years (exacerbated by streaming services) is death of Filler. going from 20 episodes to 8 because “we didn’t really need that episode where the main characters went to the beach right? it had no long lasting effect” but we DID!!! we needed to see how they act without the Big Bad Plot and to establish the dynamics between the characters and lay in the sun (do they forget sunscreen? how do they react to a thieving seagull? do they get buried in the sand or do they do the burying?). the plot isn’t everything. the action doesn’t hit as hard without the quiet moments. give us character development and our little scenes back

[queenofnightdreamland]

recently i have seen so much zutara (zuko x katara) arts and i feel like i'm a ten-year-old again watching Avatar for the first time and shipping them without even knowing what it means

[queenofnightdreamland]

[queenofnightdreamland]

If there is ONE thing I have to thank natla for, it’s the Zutara renaissance. I knew that this would happen, I felt it in my BONES. All my friends doubted me…and yet here we are in the year of our lord 2024. Avatar is trending again and Zutara content is abundant. What a beautiful time to be alive.

[queenofnightdreamland]

Intimacy is not just about sex. It's having heart-to-hearts, staying up all night talking, sharing childhood memories, thoughts, fears, dreams & hopes for the future. It's uncontrollable laughter, direct eye contact and feeling each other without touching - it's exchanging energy

[queenofnightdreamland]

Pro-writing tip: if your story doesn't need a number, don't put a fucking number in it.

Nothing, I mean nothing, activates reader pedantry like a number.

I have seen it a thousand times in writing workshops. People just can't resist nitpicking a number. For example, "This scifi story takes place 200 years in the future and they have faster than light travel because it's plot convenient," will immediately drag every armchair scientist out of the woodwork to say why there's no way that technology would exist in only 200 years.

Dates, ages, math, spans of time, I don't know what it is but the second a specific number shows up, your reader is thinking, and they're thinking critically but it's about whether that information is correct. They are now doing the math and have gone off drawing conclusions and getting distracted from your story or worse, putting it down entirely because umm, that sword could not have existed in that Medieval year, or this character couldn't be this old because it means they were an infant when this other story event happened that they're supposed to know about, or these two events now overlap in the timeline, or... etc etc etc.

Unless you are 1000% certain that a specific number is adding to your narrative, and you know rock-solid, backwards and forwards that the information attached to that number is correct and consistent throughout the entire story, do yourself a favor, and don't bring that evil down upon your head.

[queenofnightdreamland]

When I say that my favourite atla ship is Zutara people assume that I dislike Aang. But that couldn't more further than truth. I love all the kids in team avatar.

I really like Aang, I just don't find his relationship with Katara romantically interesting and therefore I don't ship them.

So if you like both zutara and Aang please like or reblog this post. I want to see how many of us share this mentality.

[queenofnightdreamland]

Favorite Zutara fanfics!

(always updating)

Bluetaraverse (series) by mielemare

91k words (not complete)

ATLA Book 4: Ashes by elayne_cypher

306k words (complete)