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thetypedwriter · 3 years

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Lore Book Review

Lore Book Review by Alexandra Bracken

Lore by Alexandra Bracken was one of 2021’s most anticipated YA novels and it's easy to see why. The plot summary itself is enough to pull you in with the intriguing concoction of calling it the combination of The Hunger Games and the Percy Jackson series.

What’s not to love when you fuse the illicit danger of Katniss Everdeen with the mythological enchantment of Rick Riordan’s masterpiece?

Turns out, quite a lot unfortunately.

Before I get into why this book didn’t live up to the insurmountable hype it built up, I’ll attempt to give a basic summary. The key word being attempt as a good portion of this novel’s plot was a mind boggling and convoluted mess.

The book takes place in modern day New York which Bracken likes to remind you every other paragraph with small snippets about how the city that never sleeps smells like sewage and is yet still the best place on earth apparently.

Don’t get me wrong, I love New York as much as the next person, but the pandering to the Big Apple got annoying after awhile.

Within the cantankerous city lives a girl named Lore which we are introduced to by means of her kicking ass in an underground Chinese restaurant’s fighting ring.

Pretty strong start.

Lore’s world (and the reader’s frankly) is tipped upside down when Lore’s long lost childhood friend, Castor, reappears to warn her that he is looking for her. Terrified, Lore is then at first unwillingly thrust back into the world in which she was born-a world dominated by violence, bloodlines, and the Greek gods who are very much alive and out for vengeful retribution.

In a very exposition-dump heavy conversation, we learn that Lore is the last of Perseous’ line with the rest of her family having been horrifically murdered, that a week long event called the Agon occurs every seven years in which the original nine Greek gods or their reincarnated selves become mortal for seven days, and that a series of killing often happen because if you kill a Greek god you then become that Greek god as well as inhabit their powers, abilities, and immortality.

Well, until the next Agon that is.

The currently reincarnated God by the name of Wrath is attempting to end the Agon by killing all the other Gods, but in order to do it he needs to wield a special weapon called the Aegis.

Unfortunately, only the Perseides can wield this shield (for some reason) and thus, Wrath is out to get his hold on Lore as the last of her line so that he can bring this eons old competition to an end with himself as the sole victor and only remaining God.

Confused?

I’d be surprised if you weren’t.

Now, I love Greek mythology. I’ve read the classics and would say I’m fairly up to date on the stories, the legends, the gods, and the stories they represent. I’m not an expert, but I would say I’m knowledgeable on who the major figures are and what they stood for.

I genuinely think this book would have been miserable for anyone that didn’t know anything about Greek mythology.

Bracken does a terrible job of explaining what the hell is happening at any given point, and she often throws out allusions and references to Greek mythology without bothering to explain a single shred of information about it.

In addition, after this laughably and poorly explained world and plot at the beginning, it is almost never explained again. It’s brought up, as are names and titles and weapons and relationships, but it’s never explained in a way that’s feasibly understandable.

At the beginning of the novel Bracken lists who all the important characters are, their bloodlines, and their titles.

I soon figured out why, as every other sentence a name like Wrath or Reveler or Tidebringer or whoever was brought up, and it was impossible to keep track of so I didn’t even bother.

Even Lore brings up that the names are ridiculous, which I appreciate, but the meta moment of clarity doesn't make it any better.

Also, what Lore and her friends get up to over 90% of the novel is a muddled mass of bewilderment.

Why do Lore and Castor and the others need to find Artemis? I don’t know, but sure, whatever, sounds good. Why was Lore the last of her line again? Oh yeah, right, okay, I guess. Wait, Castor died? Oh, he didn’t? Why not? Oh, we’re not going to explain it. Sure, sure.

Throughout this entire novel, what the characters are doing and what is happening is almost impossible to follow with the way it's presented and the way Bracken developed her world. I think this was a really cool idea that had very poor execution.

Points for the originality and the inclusion of Greek mythology, but all of the positives were taken away when that originality was flushed down the drain with a lack of explanation and logic.

Lore very much reminded me of a shoot-em up, bang-em up action movie. Almost every other chapter was some sort of super intense, super climactic fight scene, chase, theft, break-in, etc.

Now. I do think action scenes are hard to write and I think Bracken actually did an incredible job of writing action in a way that was entertaining and thrilling.

However, when the action takes place every ten pages it gets really old, really quick. Towards the end, I downright started skimming the fight scenes, because they lacked so little depth and stakes and we had read so much action at the end point that it had lost all vigor and vitality.

Continuing with the action movie metaphor, most action movies focus solely on the bright explosions and the crazy fight scenes as their selling point of the whole movie, often to the detriment of the characters, plot, and development.

Now, some people like this. I am not these people.

I find action movies boring as most of my enjoyment from consuming media comes from the characters and the developments they undergo.

My biggest criticism with Lore, other than the astonishing storytelling, is by far the characters. I just...didn’t care. About any of them.

Bracken tried to make Lore come across as a strong, opinionated, fierce, angry female character and while sometimes she succeeded, more often than not I found Lore temperamental, aggravating, impulsive, selfish, and shallow.

Bracken very much invoked the tell-not-show strategy that makes any book hard to get through. While there were some decent moments of showing instead of just stating, more often than not, Bracken would tell us that Lore was strong by having other people say it or others calling her weak.

I appreciated Bracken’s feminist agenda and how strongly Lore felt about gender inequality, even if it was a bit heavy-handed at times. Still, I did appreciate this inclusion of civil rights on this front, even if some of the circumstances to incite it were ridiculous or over the top.

In addition, I hated that there was all this backstory that we were just told but not shown. Like in my last review of Wilder Girls, Lore suffers from an intrinsic failure of getting me onboard with these characters and their relationships by telling me how I should feel about them instead of exposing them through action.

I was told:

Lore and Castor haven't seen each other for seven years, but my gosh, Castor is just the best and is so beautiful. Ensue obligatory YA romance.

Lore has a best friend! Yeah. Her name is Iro. Here she is! Um. Okay. Why was this necessary?

Miles is just the coolest best friend ever. Like, look how cool and chill he is. How funny is it that he has no idea what’s happening? Really not funny at all. He was a useless character used to build empty stakes.

The list goes on and on, but Bracken will throw out some sort of fact or relationship and just expect the reader to go “Okay!” Which. I didn’t. On any of those occurrences.

Often Bracken would do this in the use of flashbacks at the most inopportune times (during a fight scene, after someone was injured, right before a huge revelation, etc). These flashbacks were the worst. I do not care for adolescent Lore and child Lore was somehow even worse.

The romance in this book, much like an action movie, is off to the side and really only there to fulfill the trope of having a romance.

Lore and Castor are boring. I don’t know what else to say. Castor is too perfect to be likable and Lore is the opposite. Nothing about their romance was unique or well-crafted.

The kiss between Van and Miles I also saw coming a hundred miles away. I also thought it was pointless as Van and Miles had known each for six days and had had maybe two conversations. So. No. I didn’t care at all about the romances.

It actually made me laugh and scoff simultaneously at the end when Lore is looking at Van, Castor, Iro and Miles and smiles because she realizes that these people are her family.

Ummm. Sorry?

Castor disappeared for seven years and you’ve been reunited for seven days. You’ve hated Van your whole life until this week. You also haven’t seen Iro in seven years and she tried to kill you at least twice in this book. Miles is...fine, but again useless. I don’t even know why Bracken included him except to make Lore worry about him which she only did about half of the time.

Phew.

I know this review has come across largely negative, so this might be surprising, but I didn’t hate it. It lacks substance and depth, but it was entertaining.

Just like an action movie.

If you want some hyped fights and a plot that really doesn't matter and characters that won’t stick with you, but a fast-paced narrative that keeps you on your toes nonetheless, then you would probably enjoy this.

It’s like the equivalent of watching a James Bond movie or one of the millions of the Fast and Furious. Bracken tries to develop the characters, but at the end of the day, most of the story is made up of cool fights, magic, and weapons. If that’s your speed then you would probably really love Lore.

Recommendation: Action, action, action. If you want some high intensity, get-your-blood-pumping enterprise then this is your novel. The writing is fluid, the adrenaline-inducing scenes are non-stop, and everything else falls to the backdrop of external fights and villainous monologues. If action is not your preferred genre, then your best left to get your Greek mythology needs from Percy Jackson or the Song of Achilles instead.

Score: 6/10

#lore #alexandra bracken #6/10 #ya fiction #YA Books #YA literature #book blog #book review #top books #teen books #Teen Romance #teen fiction #Book Recommendations #YA Book Review #ya book rec #popular fiction #popular books #greek mythology

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sullustangin · 3 years

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1, 7 & 10?

1. What was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

Earliest ones I remember are Star Trek fan fics that centered around Mr. Spock (when I was in 3rd grade, before there was internet) and also a Sherlock Holmes fic that still doggedly lives on somewhere in a broken hard drive (when I was in high school ...?). I did some FF7 fic too in high school that was published online, so technically that was the first fandom I did that there is evidence of.

First published pairing I really went for was 10th Doctor and Reinette (Madame du Pompadour). I even had a Fireplace Man Livejournal group at one point. XD

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

I think everyone struggles with getting their grandiose ideas in their head on the screen or on paper and trying to make it at least half as good as what was in your head.

I am struggling with building up to moments: the necessary things that have to be conveyed and said for a dramatic scene to be really satisfying. Can’t I just publish the dramatic scene? Good writing involves groundwork, and that groundwork can sometimes really, really drag on the writing end. The groundwork needs to be in-character for it all to play out properly, so there are some scenes that are rewritten several times because one character was too open and honest with another or too angry or not logical enough. Fan fic is whatever the author wants it to be -- but I get really hung up on in-characterness and compliance to canon. I’m the sort of writer that will take notes from canon sources and refer to them constantly in the writing process. It can be so meticulous that it’s not fun anymore, which sort of defeats the point of fan fic......but then I finish the fic and really do like the canon-supported details/interpretations that aren’t always in the mainstream.

Reader response also gets to a writer, so it’s not the writing itself, but the anticipated reception. You worry you offended someone by writing a character “wrong,” especially if it’s a fan favorite OR it’s a character you personally hate, but you want to give them a fair treatment in your universe.

I personally get immense satisfaction from writing out Eva’s smuggler plots and adding twists and turns to the established canon. I like complicated things. Then I hit the publish button and it’s like, “uh oh.” Did I lose the reader? Do they view it as overcomplicated? Is this character being overdramatic? Is this out-of-character? Is my headcanon anathema to someone? I definitely won’t unpublish or rewrite something due to reader reception, but that doesn’t mean I don’t agonize about it. I confess to hitting the reload button on AO3, watching kudos/hits ratios and getting antsy about comments. I keep telling myself that I can just write the fic for myself and be happy about it. My partner reads my fic before I post it, and he likes it too. But....

10. Do you enjoy writing dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

Often, the words coming out of people’s mouths will come in first in scenes for me. It’s annoying. I don’t know what they’re talking about, but it sounds good. I hate that: I have a great set of exchanges but no way to fit them in. They’re rabid, ankle-chewing plot bunnies.

The plot bunnies don’t go away until I construct the grand plot or scheme or conspiracy that the words are in -- I swear to God, my writer’s notebook looks like Russell Crow’s office in “A Beautiful Mind” because of this Rishi fic I’m writing right now. That has links and turns and clues and things I plan to scatter throughout the plotline. That’s fun. Planning and outlining is FUN because I can see the patterns in front of me. IT’S ALL COMING TOGETHER.

And now I have to integrate that into a story and not spoil everything right away. UGH. So the construction of plot is probably most enjoyable for me -- the big plan that is to be executed. The drag is getting it executed -- the exposition of the grand plot. That includes the groundwork, then the highly emotional scenes that are written and re-written. Dialogue is fun, but they’re nasty little creatures if left untended.

#swtor #writing #author questions #thanks for the ask #askbox #swtor fan fiction

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jamestaylorswift · 4 years

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The Archer - Analysis

I was nudged to write out my thoughts about “The Archer” and I’m honestly glad for the push. This song is so beautiful yet haunting. I don’t see people appreciating it as much as I think it should be appreciated.

Standard disclaimer that this is my own personal reading of the song. You are free to disagree with any or all of what I say. There are many good interpretations of this song out there. It helps that it’s a very evocative track 5!

This analysis is not short. Sorry.

——

Combat, I’m ready for combat

I say I don’t want that, but what if I do?

‘Cause cruelty wins in the movies

I’ve got a hundred thrown-out speeches I almost said to you

——

Unlike other tracks on Lover, there’s no concrete imagery such as a garden gate or prom dress in this song. Taylor is sharing what only exists in her mind. This is a story told purely with metaphors. It’s important to lean into them.

The purpose of the first verse is to contextualize the rest of the song. She introduces the idea of being torn about wanting a fight. She would only want to fight someone if she has a really good reason to do so. Her driving force is “cruelty winning in the movies.” Her thrown-out speeches are the thing that would start the fight. Tossing the speeches implies that she is unsure not of the content of the speeches but of entering the fray of battle that would ensue after delivering them.

It’s very hard for me to see these speeches as anything but coming out speeches. Coming out (even as a non-celebrity) is often stressful. Cruelty winning in the movies is a nod to the fact that mainstream media depicts LGBTQ characters meeting tragic ends. Taylor, as a wildly famous celebrity, has cultural influence. Her coming out would impact the culture; it could change the endings of those movies. But her impact would only be measurable years in the future.

This verse is also where she first addresses the “you” in the song. I think the “you” is essentially a random observer/everyday Joe Schmoe. It’s nobody in particular because it could be anybody. The only thing remarkable about “you” is that she’s directly addressing them. That makes this story personal.

——

Easy they come, easy they go

I jump from the train, I ride off alone

I never grew up, it’s getting so old

Help me hold onto you

——

If the “you” in this song is a random person who has some benign preexisting opinion (whatever that may be, including a non-opinion) about Taylor Swift, then the “they” refers to arbitrary people who are on the fan/hate train. “They” come and go easily and represent flux in interest in her. I read the metaphor about a train with momentum as the implication that general interest in Taylor waxes and wanes but is inherently self-sustaining because of her celebrity. In this song, “they” aren’t necessarily the enemy like the public was, for example, in reputation. She just doesn’t concern herself with “them” anymore. It’s the “you” who has her full attention and who is sticking around to hear the story.

Finally, we get the first of many “help me hold onto you”s. This one is her articulating why she’s telling this story in the first place. It’s “I want you listen to this story and try to understand.” It’s “help me,” but in a chill way.

——

I’ve been the archer

I’ve been the prey

Who could ever leave me, darling?

But who could stay?

——

The archer is the zodiac symbol for Sagittarius, the centaur, Taylor’s astrological sign. Taylor exists in parts, just like a centaur: she is part her celebrity persona and part her real self, an amalgamation who is a Taylor different than either of the constituent halves. To the “you” it’s Taylor in her purest form. It’s impossible to completely separate her celebrity from her person at this point.

The chorus is about the duality of Taylor’s being, her actions, and others’ investment in any part of her. As the archer (hunter) she has aggressively exercised control over her public persona. As the prey (hunted) she has been a passive victim chewed up and spit out by the public/industry/etc. for things outside of her control. Sometimes it is her own actions that drive people away or attract people to her. Sometimes it is by individual choice that people board or leave the train.

The archer, Sagittarius, is also symbolic of a prophet who can predict fate. The prey is a victim of a terrible fate that, by nature, cannot be changed. I prefer to think of the archer/prey metaphor as commentary about the duality of fate rather than intense combat (for which a bow and arrow would probably be insufficient). This song is Taylor trying to reconcile the certainty of her future with distress about the unknown consequences of present-time decisions.

(Note that this first chorus is where the bass drum beat starts. It represents anxiety about the future. The first part of the song is exposition. The drum only comes in when she starts worrying about the “what ifs.”)

——

Dark side, I search for your dark side

But what if I’m alright, right, right, right here?

And I cut off my nose just to spite my face

Then I hate my reflection for years and years

——

Nobody Joe Schmoe has no obvious reason to hate Taylor for anything that she just said. But Taylor knows what comes next in the story. She’s anxious about Joe Schmoe’s reaction to what she’s about to say.

Taylor admits to doing self-destructive things. Because of the context she provided at the beginning of the song, I believe this is a reference to staying closeted. The “reflection” could be the literal reflection of her now-noseless face. Hating it is pure personal regret for self-destructive actions. The “reflection” could also be the mirror which her fans/the public hold up to her. Her self-destructive choices manifest in others’ toxicity. Hating what they’ve become starts with hating the ways she enables that behavior. (It’s really both “reflections.” The duality of man, yadda, yadda, yadda…)

More important than blaming herself for any (*cough*) past decisions, she articulates the pain of being in the closet in two simple lines. Burying a significant part of yourself by hiding behind a carefully constructed lie is exhausting. It’s sad. It also provides protection and safety and it’s unfortunately all too common. Cruelty wins in the movies, thus people are cruel to themselves.

——

I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost

The room is on fire, invisible smoke

And all of my heroes die all alone

Help me hold onto you

——

I think people consistently underestimate just how morbid “The Archer” is. Taylor reveals that her prophetic future is death—specifically, becoming a ghost, thus leaving an imperceptible trace of herself. She already feels suffocated by that possibility. Her suffering is invisible. She might just be left to die a slow, agonizing death via asphyxiation. Worse yet, what happens afterwards? Asphyxiation from invisible smoke would make it seem like she just dropped dead of her own accord. Or if the smoke somehow became visible….well, if you could see a ghost in the first place, a smoke-filled room would make that impossible. The implications are staggering and they’re all sad.

Few, if any, of Taylor’s heroes have literally died alone. I’m going to go out on a short limb here and say that Taylor probably sees parts of herself in her heroes. Therefore, the “heroes” in a song supposedly about the dilemma of coming out are other famous people who were/still are closeted. Taylor identifies herself as a potential role model for the younger generation like her heroes are for her. Her heroes’ lonely metaphorical deaths are exactly what she fears. Dying alone is being in the closet indefinitely. It’s being misunderstood and not having any way to rectify that situation. Perhaps this song is about the mortifying ordeal of remaining unknown.

As evidenced by the invisible smoke in the room, she thinks her metaphorical death is certain and imminent. The “help me hold onto you” is now “help me,” but in a very unchill way.

——

‘Cause they see right through me

Can you see right through me

I see right through me

——

As a reminder, “they” = random people in the public and “you” = nice, ordinary Joe Schmoe whom she wishes could understand her predicament. Being see-through is being seen without substance. Therefore, what the bridge is not saying is “don’t you see how obvious it is, isn’t it wild that people don’t pick up on me and/or my lover being loud in public?” It is saying “I am literally a ghost to ‘them’ because ‘they’ look at me and don’t see any of this pain, I’m basically dead to myself too because I feel like I’m already doomed, you’re my last hope so please say you see me.” Who cares about reaping the benefits (love, adoration) from the mortifying ordeal of being known? At this point she’s pleading simply to be seen as herself. “I see right through me” is her worst fear. This is why this line breaks out of the bridge and bleeds into the surrounding choruses.

(The bridge, to me, is where it becomes clear that treating the “you” as her lover with whom she could come out does a serious disservice to the rest of the song. Her lover as “you” inverts the meaning of the bridge. This makes the story inconsistent. I appreciate the gravity of the “help me hold onto you” line if it were spoken to a secret lover. However, being seen/understood is more intimately tethered to being out as an individual than being out with another person. In my mind, it makes more sense for this attitude to be an invariant of the song.)

——

All the king’s horses, all the king’s men

Couldn’t put me together again

‘Cause all of my enemies started out friends

Help me hold onto you

——

The Humpty Dumpty rhyme is basically “anthropomorphized egg sits on top of a high wall, anthropomorphized egg falls off the wall and shatters irreparably.” Taylor as Humpty Dumpty makes the wall she’s on top of the pedestal of fame/success. She’s saying that coming out would topple her from her pedestal. Her image as a woman who became famous for writing heterosexual love songs is as fragile as an eggshell. When it breaks, what is left behind?

“All the king’s horses, all the king’s men” might be a reference to her fans whom she once considered as friends but whom can also be incredibly toxic. I read it as a catch-all for anyone who isn’t Taylor. The key of this verse is her musing on why an eggshell can’t be repaired. It’s not for lack of manpower. It’s that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men—everyone, literally—are enemies and don’t want to reconstruct Humpty Dumpty. They simply don’t believe Humpty’s death is so tragic that they would spend effort to change his fate.

Taylor fears that darling Joe Schmoe, a friend to whom she is addressing this story, could become an enemy by conscious choice. She can give Joe Schmoe the truth and plead to be seen, but Joe Schmoe can still choose to see right through her anyways. It’s terribly frightening to be honest yet have that vulnerability go unacknowledged. Taylor coming out is her facing the prospect of instant confirmation that good people do not care. She could die a ghost despite efforts to be visible.

——

Who could stay?

You could stay

Combat, I’m ready for combat

——

Coming out is a choice but being gay is not—it is fate. She has no control over how others react to that. Taylor slowly acknowledges throughout the song that her future isn’t in her hands. She ultimately shifts away from the prophet/victim binary by reiterating that she’s sure of herself and that whatever happens, she’s not going down without a fight.

Lover the album isn’t just about romantic love. This song is not construing an inherently unequal and sometimes toxic relationship with fans/the public as love. “The Archer” romanticizes the possibility of someone reacting to honesty with kindness and understanding. Love is being seen.

#gaylor swift #kaylor #lover #music analysis #my post

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justheretobreakthings · 5 years

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In the Spirit of the Season - Chapter 3 of 4

(Previous Chapter)(Next Chapter)

Word Count: 2,201 (Total Word Count: 5,907) Read on AO3

Here you are, readers, the third and penultimate chapter of my @voltronsecretsanta2k18 fic for @narts-art!

Also, a giant thank you to everybody who has been following and supporting this fic and others in my archive. I’m working at chugging along and getting back into the swing of writing, and the comments, likes, and reblogs here have been wonderful motivators!

Anywho, onto the chapter! Hope you enjoy!

In no time they had arrived at Pidge’s room, and she was shoving the door open and wading through the veritable junkyard that was her living quarters.

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” she said as she brought Keith to the corner of her room. Two of her space caterpillars lay dozing on top of a lumpy grouping of shapes all covered by a sheet.

“Pidge, I’ve already seen your caterpillars,” Keith said. “What do they have to do with – ?”

“No, no, not them,” Pidge said. She poked at one of the caterpillars to wake them up, and once the little creatures had woken and floated off, she took hold of the sheet. “I wanted to show you this.”

She ripped the sheet off, and Keith stared at the piles of junk underneath. He tilted his head and slowly asked, “Wait a minute, are those – ?”

“Yep,” Pidge said with a nod. “I’m proud to present: the Paladins of Vol-trash!”

Keith took a cautious step forward as he examined them. “So… what exactly are they?”

“Do you remember that mission a while back when we’d gone and rescued Allura from the Galra, and afterward we went through that corrupted wormhole and all got separated?”

“Yeah. That’s where you got the caterpillar things, right?”

Pidge nodded. “It is, yeah. I was on this nebula planet that basically seemed to be some sort of intergalactic junkyard, and it was just me and the caterpillars. It was… quiet. And I was there for a long time, felt much longer than it was, and I got – I got lonely.”

She plopped down onto her bed with a sigh before she continued, “I’m not very good at being lonely. I don’t handle it well. But usually there’s, like, some way to cope, you know? Like, I only ever had a couple of friends at a time at school growing up, if even, but even then I had clubs to focus on and Matt to come home to. And when Matt and my dad left for Kerberos, it was lonely at my house, but I still had Mom, and Bae Bae – my dog – to keep me company. And then at Garrison, I had classes to focus on, and then later I had Lance and Hunk. I still got lonely plenty, but it was easier to shake out of it.

“Then that stupid wormhole happened, and I was stranded on this strange planet with no one around and nothing to do but wait. And, well, it got to me. I just… I needed someone around. I didn’t want to be alone, I wanted – I wanted the people I cared about to be back with me. I wanted to have my family there.”

“Is this… me?” Keith interrupted. He had a hand stretched out, and was tracing a finger delicately around the rubber washer that made up one of Trash Keith’s scowling eyes.

“Well, yeah,” Pidge answered. “Like I said: I wanted my family.”

Keith straightened up and turned to her, his violet eyes wide, and he opened his mouth slightly, but seemed to be lost for words. So Pidge kept talking. “I really mean that, you know. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to get shot out into space with, and – and I care about this whole team. It’s become a second family to me. And that family includes you, Keith. You’re, like, the tough, stubborn, reckless emo brother that I never had and never knew I needed, but that I wouldn’t give up for the world.”

Keith turned back to face the Trash Keith. “I… didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know that I thought of you as family, or…?”

“Yeah. Yeah, basically. I just – ” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “It’s… new. It’s a new feeling. I’m not really used to… I mean, ever since Dad died, the only person who I’ve ever thought of as ‘family’ was Shiro, and, well…”

He trailed off, and silence echoed in the room for several ticks before Pidge softly said, “You miss him. You miss him the way I miss Matt and Dad. And I get it. That’s – it’s a deep hurt. It’s agonizing. And I’m sorry it had to happen to you.”

“You too,” Keith said. He sighed. “You know, the year before Shiro left for Kerberos, he took me home with him to spend winter break with his family, and that was the only real Christmas I’d had since the ones with Dad when I was a kid. Only one where I really felt like… like I was welcome there, that it was okay for me to be celebrating. It, um, it kinda made the next year’s hurt that much more.”

“You were out in the desert at that point, weren’t you?” Pidge asked. “So, you spent Christmas alone?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

Pidge snorted. “Nah, I’m gonna go ahead and be sorry anyway. Because that sucks, and it shouldn’t have happened. I mean it. You shouldn’t have had to spend Christmas alone. Hell, you shouldn’t have been alone at all, in the first place, but especially not for Christmas. And you don’t have to be alone, Keith. Not anymore. Not now.”

Keith was silent, eyes on the Trash Paladins, so Pidge went on. “I know how hard losing Shiro again must be for you, and I know it’s not something you’re just going to get over. But we’re all there for you. I’m sorry if you hadn’t seen it before, if we hadn’t made that clear to you, but we are. And I hate seeing you destroy yourself without Shiro around. We’ve all been worried about you. It’s like… it’s like when we lost Shiro, we started losing you too.”

“Oh.” Keith brought his arms up to cross them tightly over his chest. “I… I’m sorry. I, um, I hadn’t meant to worry anyone.”

Pidge stood from the bed and moved to lay a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault, dude. This whole thing hit you hard, and, well, that’s fair. And, like, I’m not offering a cure-all for it or anything. But everyone on this castle would love to help you feel a little less lonely, if you’ll let us. And you’re always invited to everything we do as a group, okay? Because you’re part of the team. And that means you’re part of the family.”

“… Thank you, Pidge,” Keith said in practically a whisper.

Pidge patted his shoulder and stepped back. “And while we’re on the topic, you’ve always been welcome at our movie nights. That open invite was open to you too. I always just kind of assumed you didn’t want to come, but, um, you know.” She reached up to scratch at the back of her neck. “We’re doing one tonight, since, like, watching Christmas movies is tradition and everything. In the lounge at the twenty-two-varga mark. It’d be really cool if you came.”

“Thanks,” Keith said softly. “I’ll… keep the offer in mind.”

“Good.” Pidge smiled. “Now, go on and take your shower. You’re gonna stink up my room.”

Keith returned her grin with a slight upward twitch at the corner of his mouth. “You seem to have me confused with your dirty dishes,” he said, gesturing toward the haphazard stack of plates on her desk.

“Ugh, you sound like my mom.”

“No, no, just your responsible big brother who knows better than you.”

Pidge practically tossed him out the door.

She kept her eyes out as the group settled into their typical movie night arrangement that evening: her and Hunk on one couch - the space beside Hunk normally reserved for Shiro empty - Lance and Allura on the other, and Coran setting up the film with a pile of cushions on the floor ready and waiting for him. All were decked out in their sleepover attire, the paladins in their matching silky pajamas and lion slippers, and bowls were set out and filled with a puffy Altean grain that the team’s humans had deemed close enough to popcorn to work as the go-to movie night snack.

“Now,” Coran said as he finished setting up the old projector, “Altea doesn’t exactly have any equivalent festival to Earth’s ‘Christmas’, but Lance described the sorts of films that humans typically watch in celebration and I tried to find one that was on theme. I believe you mentioned that Christmas films tend to take place during times of cold weather?”

“That’s right,” Lance said with a nod.

“Excellent! Then I’m sure my selection will be perfectly suitable! We will be watching… well, the title is pun in Altean, but it would probably most closely translate to ‘Frozen Death’. It’s about a group of Altean explorers who become stranded on an icy planet and must face off against both the elements of the cold, and the fearsome Blizzard Worms that live beneath the ice and seek to devour them!”

The paladins stared at Coran in silence for a moment before Lance cleared his throat and said, “Uh, that sounds… very festive, Coran. Good pick.”

“Ah, this will be a treat,” Coran said. “Shall we go ahead and start?”

The others glanced around. “Should, uh, should we wait for Keith?” Hunk asked.

“If we wait for Keith,” said Lance, “We’re never going to get to watch the movie.”

“Yeah, but, Pidge said she was sure he was going to come to this one, right, Pidge?”

Pidge sighed. “I mean, I thought he was, but…” She trailed off and chewed at her bottom lip. She really thought she had gotten through to Keith earlier today, but, honestly, he was so difficult to read. “Go ahead and play the movie,” she mumbled.

Coran nodded and turned down the lights, and a holographic projection began to play as he settled into his spot on the floor. Pidge nestled herself deeper into the couch, trying to keep her focus on the movie.

They sat through the opening credits and the opening scene, an expositional, dialogue-heavy one that gave the paladins some good laughs whenever the castle’s translators were thrown by the film’s old audio and tossed some nonsense words into the mix. An action-laden scene played out next as the Alteans crashed onto the frozen planet, and in the quiet afterwards filled with wordless shots of wreckage and landscape, Pidge heard a throat clear behind her. She turned around and her brows shot up in surprise.

Keith stood in the lounge’s entryway, one hand on the frame, hovering anxiously like a student trying to figure out whether they had just wandered into the wrong classroom. He had fulfilled the dress code, wearing his red paladin pajamas and red lion slippers, a look that seemed utterly out of place on Keith but that delighted Pidge all the same.

“You made it!” she cried.

“Y-yeah,” Keith said. “Is, uh, is there still room for - ”

“Of course there is!” Pidge said. She jumped up and ran to take his hand and pulled him toward the couch. Keith followed her gracelessly, no doubt unused to walking in slippers considering that normally he didn’t even sleep without taking off those boots of his. “Hunk, budge up, Keith gets the middle,” she said, and Hunk obliged, smiling and patting the cushion after he vacated it.

“Good to have you, buddy,” he said as Keith cautiously lowered himself onto the couch.

“You guys done?” Lance asked. “You’re drowning out the movie.”

Pidge rolled her eyes as she plopped down by Keith’s side. “It’s not The Maltese Falcon, Lance, you’re not gonna lose track of the plot.”

“I’m not worried about the plot, I just think those two explorers seem to have a lot of romantic tension going on and I want to see where it goes,” Lance said, pointing to the holographic screen.

“They’re both gonna get eaten by giant worms, that’s where it’s going to go.”

“You’ve seen this before?” Coran asked.

Allura turned to shush them, and Pidge made a face at her before settling back in and resuming watching the movie.

After a few doboshes, she slowly leaned to the side and tentatively rested her head on Keith’s shoulder. Immediately Keith stiffened, and Pidge wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t have done that, but he didn’t shrug her off or ask her to move, so she stayed. And it didn’t take long for Keith’s posture to relax, adjusting to her weight on him.

Pidge smiled and let herself melt into Keith so that she was more or less nestled against him, and Keith tilted his head to rest up against hers. Keith, she noticed, had just about the same build as Matt, and for quick moment, it was like being back home, staying up late on a weekend night to watch episode after episode of some TV show until they both fell asleep.

It was a cozy feeling. She wondered if it was one Keith ever had experienced before. Either way, it was one that left her feeling sleepy, and her eyes drifted shut long before she ever got the chance to learn whether those Blizzard Worms had managed to come out the victors.

#voltronsecretsanta2k18 #platonic kidge #vld keith #vld pidge #vldgen #my writing #fic: in the spirit of the season

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squirenonny · 6 years

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How you even get people interested your fics, asking for a friend thanks

Aw, man, isn’t that a question for the ages?

So I’m gonna preface this by saying that there’s no magic quick-fix to attract more readers (however much we all wish there were.) Writing for the big ships or posting a fic featuring a popular trope/AU when it’s popular is going to get you more readers than writing niche fics, but chasing trends isn’t going to make you happy and it might even hurt the quality of your work. When you post and whether there was some big fandom or IRL event that drew attention away from the newly published pages (or flooded them, burying your fic under ten pages of Klance week ficlets or whatever) can also play a big role.

Secondly, and I know you’re probably not going to like hearing this, try not to worry too much about numbers like hits/kudos/bookmarks/reviews. They don’t mean as much as you think, and they aren’t a reflection on your skill as a writer or the value of your story. The best thing to do is to find some other way to measure success–maybe it’s how many words you’ve written, maybe it’s whether you stick to a consistent update schedule. Maybe it’s reaching that scene you’ve been dying to write for forever. But make sure it’s something that’s in your control, because depending on the faceless masses for validation sucks, and you deserve better.

Okay, on to some advice for attracting readers.

1. Rework your summary. Confession time: I hate writing summaries. Hate it. I’m already not good with short form and trying to sum up a story in a hundred words or less is even worse. But it’s one of the most important skills for a writer to learn, since it’s your one shot to get people interested enough to click that link. If you’re stuck, here are some suggestions, with examples of how I’ve used them for my own stories.

Pick a (short!) excerpt from your piece. Maybe a brief exchange of dialogue, maybe the opening line, maybe something else. It should be something that doesn’t require context to understand and that makes people want to find out what happens next (or what led up to this moment.) Example:

This psychic—Lance the Lucid, according to the posters, and Keith wasn’t even going to comment on that—was a charlatan, plain and simple, and Keith kind of wanted to punch him. Sure, Lance knew how to put on a show, but Keith doubted there was anything more to the act than charm and dramatic flair.

Pidge sighed, catching Keith’s eyes. “At this point, they’re pretty much our only hope.”

If you’re writing an AU, especially a canon divergence AU, put the focus on what you’re changing. Example:

Shiro used to dream of Earth. That was before the Arena, before Haggar, before he joined the Galra army. At least he has an ally, a Galra officer named Keith. Together they plan to bring down Zarkon’s empire from the inside.

Matt never thought he’d see his family again. Then he crash-lands on Earth and Pidge rescues him from Garrison custody. But his homecoming is short-lived. Now the Holt siblings, along with Lance and Hunk, must find the Voltron lions and free the universe from Galra control.

Or: Galra!Keith, double agent!Shiro, red paladin!Matt, black paladin!Allura, full series AU.

If you’re writing something tropey, or a twist on a cliche, maybe highlight that. Example:

[following a short description of plot] Canonverse Soulmate AU with romantic and platonic soulmates (and some gray areas in between)

Sometimes the simplest thing to do, especially for shorter stories, is to do a one-two punch in your summary. The set-up and the punchline. The scenario and the twist. The status quo and the catastrophe. Think “Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” Or better yet, the next part of that intro–defining the Avatar and then hitting us with “and then he vanished for a hundred years whoops.” Whatever you do, keep it short. Example:

When Keith was seven years old, he spent a year in La Quinta with a boy named Lance, the best friend he ever had. Ten years later, Lance and Keith reunite at the Garrison–only Keith doesn’t remember who Lance is.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that shorter is (usually) better, but you want to include enough to hook readers’ attention. It’s hard, I know, but keep working at it and it’ll get easier. Seriously–write five completely different summaries for your fic, all under 100 words. Give yourself a 5 or 10 minute limit for each so you don’t agonize too much. Set them aside for a while, then come back and see what works. Or write a list of all the things you’re most excited about in a given piece, cut out any major spoilers, and try to work one or two of the others into your summary.

2. Be strategic about your tags. If you’re posting on AO3, use tags people are going to search. Angst, hurt/comfort, fluff, any tropes that feature prominently, any relationships (especially gen ones) that are a major focus. Be wary of overtagging–Shatt shippers, for example, know all too well how common it is to search for Shatt and turn up only Klance fics with a passing mention of Shiro and Matt going on a date. But plenty of people search for specific tags in trying to find new stories. Use that.

Similarly, if you post on Tumblr, use your tags efficiently. The first five tags on a post are the ones that the post will show up in (i.e. if you have a tag tracker or go to tumblr.com/tagged/____) Tumblr’s search looks at the first twenty tags, I believe. So use your first five tags for either the most popular or the most niche aspects of your fic. (i.e. tagging it “klance” will have a larger potential audience, though it’ll get buried pretty quickly; tagging “matt holt” or “shatt” gives you a much smaller potential audience, but one that’s more starved for content so will probably click your link at a higher rate.) Prioritize, and leave your organization tags/tag commentary for after.

3. Your first chapter should pack a punch. This one may be a little harder to put into practice if you have an existing fic you’re trying to drum up interest in, but it’s worth keeping in mind. If your summary and tags get people through the door, your first chapter (in a multichapter fic)/your first few paragraphs (for any fic) is where people decide whether or not this is worth reading. Goals to strive for:

Your first line, or at most your first paragraph, should hook reader’s interest. It should ask an implicit question–what’s happening? How did we get here?

(the equivalent of) Your first page (a couple hundred words, tops) should establish the situation and forward momentum. Diving straight into action with no context can be confusing, but lingering too long on exposition can make people tune out before they get to the good part. I’ve heard it said that the first 250 words should establish three things: character, context, and motive. Who are we focused on, what’s happening right now, and why does it matter? There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but make sure you know why you’re deviating if you decide to do so.

Your first chapter (assuming you have more than one) should leave people wanting more. Don’t leave them in the middle of the set-up, or they may not be motivated to continue. But don’t give them everything they need to see where this is going, or they won’t bother waiting to find out.

**Update: There’s now a follow-up post talking a little bit more about how to start a story, with examples!**

4. Persistence is key. Out of all the advice I can give you, this one’s going to be the hardest to follow, I’m sure. It can feel like you’re throwing words at a void and getting nothing back. Sometimes you have a real slow start. Sometimes you’re writing self-induldgent rarepare stuff, and it seems like you and two other people are the only ones who ship it–and those other two never comment.

The thing is, writing fic (especially as a newcomer or writing niche fic) is like playing Marco Polo at a death metal concert. Not only are you shouting into a sea of noise, but you’re also trying to find the relative handful of people who are going to answer. But here’s the thing: if you yell “Marco” once and get no response, then go home, you’ll never find those other people. If you keep yelling–maybe stay in one spot and yell over and over, maybe wander around calling out every so often–you’ll find someone, and then you’ll find someone else, and then maybe someone else will start shouting with you and find three more people. It starts slow, but it builds momentum.

In terms of fic, though, what does that mean? It means keep writing. Maybe keep hammering away at this one fic–excellent if it’s something you’re excited about, something you need to write no matter what. You keep putting it out there and you’ll start to beat back the wave of random chance that conspires to bury your fic because of weird posting times or an onslaught from a fandom event.

Maybe write a bunch of shorter fics, participate in bangs and exchanges and other events. You might hook readers with your Klance soulmate AU that you did for a secret santa, then tempt them into trying your other stuff (true story.) You might make friends by chatting in a big bang’s discord, and they can help you write more attention-grabbing summaries, or can signal boost on Tumblr. (Or just be that one person who stans your writing and keeps you motivated through low hit counts on AO3.) Or you might just hit a whole bunch of people’s rarepair/nich buttons and start building a following that way.

Or maybe it means going a little more off the rails. Try a different fandom. Write original fiction. Write an 80k Marauders-at-Hogwarts fic for yourself, edit it, and only then start posting a chapter a week so you can grow your reader base without the low number of comments chipping away at your motivation because joke’s on you, hit counter. I already have the next chapter done. And the one after that, and all of them, so they’re still coming even if no one’s reading. ha-ha! (Also a true story.)

Look, the point is, building a reader base is hard, and it’s frustrating, and a lot if it is based on luck and fandom trends, and you’re always going to want to get caught up in the numbers. Even once you have readers, you might get frustrated because the tropey shipfic with a shoddy plot that you BS’d your way through has ten times as much love as the lovingly crafted, well-plotted AU that you’ve poured literally thousands of hours into. Because writers are all starved for feedback, and with the exception of people lucky enough (or unlucky enough) to hit a fandom sweet spot and get shot straight into the realms of That One Fic Everyone Knows About–with the exception of those freak accidents of fate, the people who have sizable followings are almost always people who just plain love to write and do it regardless of what anyone else says or does.

So don’t write for the readers. Write for yourself first, and love what you write. Write stories that need to be told. Stories you can’t bear not to tell–because when you care that much about a story, it shows, and when the right people find your story, they’re going to love that you love it. Trust me. The right people are out there. You just have to keep shouting until you find them.

#anon #answers #writing #advice #writing advice #long post

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existentialburden · 4 years

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1: what was the first fandom and/or pairing that you wrote fic for?

officially? Undertale! more general story than specific ship. unofficially? the first one to get started on Actual Writing was Fairy Tail as a co-op effort, the first one to be mentally written was Animal Jam, and the first one roleplayed was Pokemon. no specific ships for any (and none at all for AJ), but notable ones are self-insert ships.

2: do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? if so, what do you like about them?

I don't :(. I think about it every time I see one, but writing on a deadline is usually required and I'm not too good at starting something and then actually... finishing it.

3: do you write fics from start to finish, or jump around?

both? mostly write from start to finish but a select few fics have me jumping back to write the first part last. introductions have never been my strong suit.

4: do you outline before you start writing? if so, how far do you stray from that outline?

I rarely outline- a select exception is the horrorterror Enny lore/story. I've never been good at outlining, either, but so far, horrorterror Enny is Right On Track!

5: what is the perfect environment for you to write in?

picture this. your friends are busy. everyone in your house is asleep. you keep rambling about characters in a group chat no one checks. it is 11:35 pm so of course you can't go to sleep before another round hour. you are in bed, all toasty and warm and unbearably alone. your phone is still plugged in, the cord pulled taut as you type. you desperately want to sleep, but your thoughts are making too much noise for your brain to rest. you want to sleep. you are so tired. you want to sleep. everything is too much and too boring all at once. you want to sleep.

you open up a new wip document and start frantically tapping away to get rid of this lonely, tired feeling and hopefully wear out your thoughts.

this is one of two situations you are able to write in. you have started and finished an entire fic like this before in one night.

you are me.

6: if you're really concentrating, how many words can you write in a day?

I'm not sure! I don't typically check. all I know is I've finished a full fic in one night before even if it was just a oneshot. still a nice, considerable amount for me.

7: which part of writing do you struggle with most?

actually writing lmao. no but... either sticking through to the finish, stopping when a fic reaches a natural conclusion on its own, or writing a proper first few lines. ughhhh intros. naming things is also rough but hey at least I can just throw a meme in there as placeholder and then Never Change It.

8: do you listen to music while you write? if so, share a song that's been inspiring you lately.

sometimes, but usually not for fics. essays yes (I torture myself by putting a song on repeat until I'm done so I write faster to make it stop). when I do listen to music, it HAS to be a song I'm already familiar with (so I don't focus on the lyrics and try to add it to 5 different playlists)- a personal favorite is Lifetime Achievement Award by Lemon Demon because it has a frantic sort of feeling to it without being too dance-y. perfect for my hectic writing. also anything on a certain friend's certain viking-esque playlist.

9: do you prefer to write AUs, canon divergent, or canon-compliant fic?

AUs are a personal favorite of mine, but canon-compliant is also super nice to write when I'm in a cuddle mood. which is always. no one can prove that these characters didn't nap together :). I love reading canon divergent fics possibly more than the other two though! which is cool!

10: do you enjoy writing dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

oh, dialogue. absolutely dialogue. holy shit dialogue. exposition is also fun but no plot allowed we die like men. plot is too much responsibility which is HILARIOUS for someone who loves AUs. dialogue is just fun! exposition is nice to ramble about but feels weirder to do Official Writing with >:P. my writing style doesn't allow for this many exclamation marks but maybe I'll try writing with an excitable character as the narrator for once and see how that goes.

11: if you could only write angst, fluff, or smut for the rest of your life, which would it be?

probably angst because I'm Like This. fluff is a close second. smut is totally fine for me to write (says my exact count of 1 unfinished smut fic) but it is MORTIFYING to share that with my friends. I don't care how close we are sharing my personal horrorterror smut is the most concentrated form of the mortifying ordeal of being known and I hate it but I love sharing my writing y'feel? ANYWAY ANGST.

12: is there a trope you haven't written yet but really want to?

...one day I'll be able to write an Actual Slow Burn Fic with Mutual Pining, holy shit. I have no patience for romance I just want to skip to the cuddles and agonize over how they got there LATER. also one day I will bully myself into letting me have my Normal High School AU.

#ask #egby says shit #AAAAA TY ANON!!!!!#by bully myself I mean bully my friends into reading it

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weblistposting-blog · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on Weblistposting

New Post has been published on https://weblistposting.com/warrior-for-fact-and-beauty/

Warrior for Fact and beauty

Reading Anthony Esolen’s brilliant new book, Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Lifestyle, in which the acerbic Catholic gadfly indicates remedies for the legion ills besetting our often wicked Lifestyle, I was reminded of a well-known essay with the aid of another gadfly, H.L. Mencken, “The Libido for the Unpleasant” (1926), wherein the editor of The Clever Set defined taking the train through Western Pennsylvania and marveling at “the unbroken and agonizing ugliness, the sheer revolting monstrousness, of every residence in sight . . . churches, stores, warehouses, and the like.” For Mencken, “they have been downright startling; one blinked before them as one blinks earlier than a man together with his face shot away.

It becomes as if all of the greater advanced Expressionist architects of Berlin have been being given drunk on Schnapps, and positioned to matching aberrations.” And his conclusion couldn’t be greater provocative: “Right here is some thing that the psychologists have thus far unnoticed: the affection of ugliness for its personal sake, the lust to make the sector insupportable. Its habitat is us. Out of the melting pot emerges a race which hates Beauty as it hates Fact. The etiology of this insanity merits a wonderful deal more study than it has were given.” In many methods, Esolen’s e-book may be visible as a response to Mencken, a meditation on why Beauty and Fact are such inseparable mates—or contrariwise, why falsehood always begets ugliness. Really, Esolen’s problem for the absence of Splendor in our Way of life has all of Mencken’s passionate solicitude. “Our younger human beings aren’t handiest starved for nature,” he writes. “They may be starved for Beauty. Everywhere they turn, their eyes fall upon what is drab or garish.” Their schools, their song, their get dressed, their rapid-meals eating places are unlovely.

Certainly, even their churches are Unsightly. To gauge the fine of Esolen’s appreciation for what this means in cultural phrases, we can flip to his description of Chartres Cathedral. “Chartres,” he says, “is a superb symphony of limitless works of sculpture, glazing, tiling, carpentry, masonry—and poetry and theology too.” And, for Esolen, a professor of English at Providence University, all this stimulated, painstaking, beautiful craftsmanship defines the folks that right away commissioned, made, and delighted in it: “If you went to the notable Exposition [in Paris, in 1900], you may suppose that the most critical thing is to make machines that turn things . . . In case you went to Chartres, you’ll no longer want to suppose, you will surely and effortlessly perceive that the maximum essential thing become to sing with the Psalmist, ‘I had fun after I heard them say, Allow us to cross as much as the residence of the Lord.’”

If what we agree with defines our Lifestyle, no one can be surprised that folks that positioned faith in such propositions discover themselves incapable of art, religion, tune, literature, rigorous technological know-how, or other works of the lasting cultural price. One motive Chartres is so beautiful is that it was designed and built, like so most of the incredible cathedrals of Europe and America, to honor Mary, who stimulated an exquisite deal of Western artwork. What perfect of womanhood might feminists installed her area? Right here, Esolen is blistering:

If we’re to consider the ladies’ magazines on sale at groceries and drug stores, a female is enthusiastic about her frame, eager to examine new intercourse hints, constantly at the look ahead to dirty revelations approximately pop-Way of life celebrities, susceptible to consulting horoscopes, prepared to shell out a lot of money for new fashions . . . And firmly devoted to “girls’ fitness,” which relies upon on contraceptives and abortions and the whole lot else that is supposed no longer to restore healthful characteristic to a diseased organ however to thwart the natural movement of a healthful one.

If some readers find such writing insufficiently nuanced, they will discover a good deal of the ebook exasperating, for Esolen isn’t large on nuance. “Preserve it usually in mind,” Esolen says, in his great foursquare manner: the arena hates the circle of relatives. The nation is the circle of relatives’ enemy. The state grows with the aid of the family’s failure and the country has a hobby in persuading humans that the family can do nothing on its very own. It hates fatherhood and makes little pretense in any other case. It hates motherhood, although it makes a display of championing the unwed mother in addition to the mom, who, because the Unsightly phrase puts it, “has all of it,” although a moment’s reflection must suffice to show that no one can give his or her career to a profession and a circle of relatives and the area people.

Tradition is described via what we consider however also by using what we are saying. “All existence,” Henry James believed, “comes back to the question of our speech, the medium via which we speak with each different, for all lifestyles comes back to the question of our members of the family with every different.” James remains our greatest novelist, and he foresaw the degradation of speech that now pervades our Subculture. He saw it in the impossible to resist upward thrust of newspapers. He saw it inside the banality of the Anglo-American level. He saw it in what he referred to as “the abyss of human phantasm that [is] the real, the tideless deep.” And he found out how consequential such threats to the power of speech are exactly due to the fact he found out that each one “our family members are made feasible, are registered, are verily constituted, by means of our speech, and are successful . . . In percentage as our speech is worth of its remarkable human and social function; is advanced, delicate, bendy, rich.” And for James, it observed that speech’s “nice its authenticity, its protection are consequently supremely crucial . . . For the distinction and integrity of our life.”

But Esolen rightly sees what the aesthete in James misses—that earlier than our speech can be “developed, delicate, bendy, wealthy,” it must first be genuine. And Here is in which the social prophet in the author comes to the fore. “We have no desire now,” he tells his readers bluntly, “however to live in a global whose governments and most successful businesses are generators for the mass manufacturing of deceit.” George Orwell couldn’t have positioned the matter extra precisely, but it is what Esolen exhorts his readers to do in reaction that units him aside: “We ought to no longer best refuse to provide credit score to the lie. We—and our youngsters—should refuse to utter the lie, or to apply its language.” The language of deceit is ubiquitous within the pages of the elite press, in billboards and advertisements, in physician’s places of work, libraries, and museums, on television, radio, and the Net, in colleges—and in church buildings. To degree simply how false and dehumanizing this language of deceit is, Esolen gives an example that comes naturally to an creator who lives and works along the seacoasts of new England.

When the fishermen on an vintage schooner set down for the night, they did no longer communicate about democracy, diversity, equality, inclusivity, and the relaxation of the nonsense. They talked about their paintings: the ocean, appropriate spots for cod or halibut, the ropes, the terrible meals, sails that wanted restore, what ports they’d visited, and what they saw and did there. They mentioned domestic, their children, the girl expecting one among them in Saint John’s, diverse misadventures with the police. They mentioned human things . . . If considered one of them did release into political cant, he’d be roared down by way of the others or have a shot of whisky splashed in his face.

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