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tanadrin · 8 months

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@zvaigzdelasas arguing in replies is annoying, so i am just going to put this in a post

Khmer Rouge wouldn't have been what it was without the US overthrowing Sihanouk bc of his perceived socialist sympathies and instituting & upholding the violent Lon Nol regime. You are in the imperial core in 2023, you are not in Angkor Wat in 1970

not my main point, which is just that revolutions (at least in the classic sense of storming-the-barricades or even just extraconstitutional shenanigans) are chaotic situations with unpredictable outcomes. you can get lots of positive changes. you can get lets of shitty ones. they're great for authoritarians and fascists in equal measure to sainted socialists or w/e. they do not solve the problem of having to do politics, but the rhetoric around the One True Revolution acts like it's the end of a long process, and not the beginning of a new, much more dangerous one.

if by "revolution" you just mean "major set of reforms carried out by winning control of existing political structures," sure, that's a lot less risky. but this would involve engaging with those wicked corrupt and nasty institutions of liberal democracy people are always so scornful of.

liberal democracy has pathways for lasting change [Citation Needed]

since the middle of the 19th century the US and Britain have seen massive improvements in income distributions, the creation of and the expansion of the welfare state, universal male suffrage, women getting the right to vote, (in the US) black people getting the right to vote, gay people going from criminals to a minority with rights protected under the law (including gay marriage), plus a laundry list of smaller but still important and lasting democratic, economic, and social reforms. yes, progress is not monotonic. no, no party is credibly threatening to (say) reimpose legal segregation in the US, or strip women of the right to vote anywhere in Europe. "nothing ever gets better" is an absolutely deranged take, especially when a lot of the reason things have gotten better is leftists willing to fight for improvements even if they fell short of total communist revolution.

You're aware of the world historic wave of reaction going across the western world like, right now right

Obviously! And I love the idea that a communist society would be magically free of prejudice or reactionaries leveraging it for power. Because it wouldn't be! And socialist countries generally have a human rights record that reflects similar issues!

(here I said even this language of "imperial core" involves assumptions which are silly and which i'm not willing to grant. marxists use the word "empire" in a way which is not actually very useful and has little explanatory power)

"within the geographic distribution of the highest value added surplus" very obvious explanatory power when the question is one of control over global labor capacity

i don't know if you're being deliberately disingenuous or what but the marxist use of the term "imperialism" is in fact much more sophisticated than that

and i think it's wrong in important ways, especially in the postcolonial period. the usage originated when colonial empires in the literal sense were very important; now, not so much. while there are important postcolonial dynamics of exploitation worth talking about, i do not think the framework of imperialism as articulated in the 19th century is anywhere close to sufficient, and it should be abandoned.

also don't wanna get bogged down in the weeds, just pointing out that one of the really irritating things about arguing with communists is you use words in annoying ways that inhibit rather than facilitate analysis.

And these are things that, for example, the AfD aren't trying to roll back?

you know you can look up the AfD's party platform online? like it's full of stupid, awful, xenophobic shit, and they are rightly reviled, but "return to the constitution and political structures of the German Empire" is not in there. i think the fact that even the biggest party of right-wing reactionaries can't imagine rolling back the clock more than a few decades is noteworthy--there are political gains over the history of modern leftism which are now so universally respected literally no one remembers we had a fight about them once.

like, obviously things have gotten better for the vast majority of people in germany, britain, or the US since the 1870s, and i don't know what we accomplish by pretending otherwise? except maybe creating some kind of martyr complex where we pretend leftism (and the labor movement in particular) is much less effective than it actually is.

i am going to mute replies to this and my other posts in this series, because on this particular morning i would rather have a root canal than argue about the word "imperalism," and i suspect this is the kind of argument that could go on literally forever. i do not think we are likely to persuade one another, but i have laid out why i find the contemporary marxist perspective on these things deeply unpersuasive (to the extent i can without rehashing a bunch of old posts), so i feel like i have said my piece.

#and i still don't feel like the real meat of my argument was engaged with #a lot of little smug jabs don't really constitute an argument

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gffa · 10 days

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I think it’s wild that people think talking about the comics and using them as examples is gatekeeping to those who haven’t read them.

Because I haven’t had the opportunity (and also the sheer amount scares me and idk where to start) to really get my hands on much of the books/comics so I love seeing people like you post about them because I get a lot of information and lore that I otherwise wouldn’t know.

Aww, that's very sweet of you to say! And the truth is you actually don't need to read the comics or books or games, if you don't want to. They're there for added enjoyment if you like that kind of thing and I do think they can greatly enhance your experience and I love to put together recs lists for starting points or collate citations for a reference guide! But also the way Star Wars is structured is that you don't really need to read them to participate in fandom, as long as you watch the primary sources of the movies + TCW (or whatever primary source is for your "era" of fandom), you'll get along fine. Hell, I've even said that you can get away with not watching TCW (despite that it is primary canon to George Lucas' Star Wars) and be fine. I would gently encourage you not to feel too overwhelmed by the Star Wars content out there, there's plenty of people who will help you navigate it if you want! It's not as much as it seems when you first start, and it's super fun to just pick a run that sounds interesting and read that! But if you'd rather just enjoy seeing it cross your dash in snippets, that's fine, too. I will happily continue yelling about Star Wars comics because sometimes they're not worth it for a lot of people, but that one panel was fun. p.s. check our your library and see if they have comics there or see if they partner with Hoopla, because Hoopla has a TON of the Star Wars comics, and if your library does partner with them, it's so easy, you just log in with your library card and you get a limited number of borrows per month, but it'll get you access to SO MUCH. And as long as you're reading within any given series, you don't have to worry about reading order, for the most part, imo. Just read what sounds interesting! (or let me shove recs at you. ^_~)

#lumi.txt #star wars

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racefortheironthrone · 3 months

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sorry to send an ask about such an old post (loved it by the way!!!), but do you have any citations for charles' education history? (tumblr dot com / racefortheironthrone / 650366189549338624)

its kind of become a running joke among charles obsessives (theres dozens of us! dozens!) that he's actually just adding degrees to a list whenever he needs to seem qualified 😭 bc he's always assigned this long list of degrees, but its so hard to find individual confirmations of them in the text! and even when you think you've found one, there's a detail that contradicts a different supposed confirmation. but he IS clearly, to reference your stellar phrasing, superfluously educated

thanks! + thank you for sharing a perspective on 616 charles that is interested in who he is as a person — we desperately need more of that 🥲

Hi, not a problem - always happy to chat about Xavier and X-stuff.

I got the info about his educational background from the Marvel wikia (which is a very handy resource for anyone who's into X-stuff, btw), so I would look to the footnotes there.

It's possible that Xavier's engaged in credential fraud; that happens quite a bit in elite higher education. As I said in the post, however, I think it's more likely that:

"Charles has difficulty with social interactions, because he didn’t have much in common with his chronological peer group and spent a lot of his life in a bubble of other academics."

As a coping mechanism for his social awkwardness, he became a perpetual student and then a perpetual academic, so that he could stay in his bubble and avoid having to grow as a person by interacting with people with different backgrounds and life experiences.

And this tendency is quite common in the Marvel Universe: T'challa has 5 PhDs, Hank McCoy has 6 PhDs, Reed Richards has 18!

Now from a Doylist perspective, this is just due to the fact that comic book writers don't understand or care about the economics of academia and are just looking for a simple way to communicate "this character is a genius."

But from a Watsonian perspective and an insider perspective, it suggests a lack of self-confidence and sense of direction, such that rather than going out on the job market, getting a job and having to show their intellectual community that they can drive a coherent research agenda, these people just want to stay in the psychological womb of studenthood where they can keep trying to "find themselves" with disconnected dissertations in different fields.

#xmen #xmen meta #charles xavier #marvel #marvel meta #academia #higher education #my day job #professor x #hank mccoy #beast #tchalla #black panther #reed richards #mister fantastic

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veliseraptor · 4 months

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xuexiao hanahaki au for the ask meme cuz I feel like if anyone's gonna get me interested in a hanahaki au, it'd be you XD

high praise! I mean, this is me writing a trope I generally don't like (though I've now read...I think two takes on it that I actually did) by means of going "taken seriously, there's something here about the grotesque, painful, and distorting power of love, and that's neat" especially when it's applied to xue yang. because xue yang in this is the one getting hanahaki'd. basically I was going "I can make this absolutely horrific/focused more on the body horror of it all, and that sounds like fun" and that's what initially kicked off me thinking about this as something I could actually write.

(I think somebody asked me about it, at one point, but of course now i can't find the post.)

I also can't find the other post that was the second phase of me going "oooh I think I can make this work for me", which was about hanahaki not being about unrequited love but about repressed love, or unexpressed love, and playing with that, where it's not about how someone else feels but (in this case) about how xue yang does, and how that interacts with the way xue yang does (or doesn't) recognize or understand his own feelings, and...yeah. basically (1) make it horrific and (2) make it not about unrequitedness but something else that I personally find more compelling

the short version of all of this is "making xue yang cough up flowers for fun and profit is a new way of making him suffer I haven't tried yet", so there's that too.

EDIT: found the post I was talking about!!! the "originally created" thing sort of [citation needed] for me, but the concept itself I like

There were the things about Jinlintai that Xue Yang expected to appreciate (good food, warm bed, consistent supply of sweets), and the annoying things that he might’ve predicted if he’d thought about them (the people, mostly). Then there was the shit that came as a surprise, like the performances that got put on sometimes. Plays of stories he sometimes knew and sometimes didn’t, some better and some worse and some just stupid as all fuck. “Was that supposed to be Liu Qiuyue?” Xue Yang asked Jin Guangyao, who paused, pulling his brush away from the letter he was writing, and looked at him. Xue Yang waved a hand. “Last night. The story. That’s what it was, right?” “I believe so,” Jin Guangyao said after another moment, setting the brush down. Xue Yang smothered a smile of triumph at the indication that he had his attention. “Why do you ask?” “Cause it was different than the version I’d heard,” Xue Yang said. “The story I knew she wasted away cause she wouldn’t eat after Prince what’s-his-name turned her down. But this one had her…” He wrinkled his nose. “Puking petals, or something. Unless that was supposed to be symbolic.” Jin Guangyao gave him one of those looks that he got sometimes, like Xue Yang had surprised him by not knowing something. Xue Yang could never decide if it annoyed him or was a good thing. It was the reverse of what most people were surprised by, anyway.

#conversating #malicemismanager #fic excerpt #lise memes #the sad queer cultivators show #xuexiao

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coinandcandle · 2 years

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Coin's Research Tips

As you may know, I do a lot of research for my posts, to the point of adding references and citations. So I know very well that occult and witchy history is murky at best and full of nazis at worst. Here are some tips I've come up with for those of you who want to do your own research.

Cross-reference. Especially when you're looking into something that isn't widely accepted as fact or truth. For example, correspondences vary by region and culture, but a lot of times you'll be able to find similarities in the meanings of correspondences by looking at multiple sources. Cross-referencing also helps keep biases in check!

Use Wikipedia as a starting point. High School may have scared you away from using Wiki as a source, but it can be really helpful! Go to the citations and reference sections at the bottom of the pages and you'll see a few, and sometimes a lot, of references that you can go off to read!

Check for references and citations, and then check those references and citations. There can be dozens of links in someone's reference section or on their blog, but if none of them are valid or have any historical relevance to the post, then they're useless.

Look for reputable sites. These are often sites created by experts or consult experts. (Check below for resources)

Look into the author. Sadly the occult has a long history of bigots weaseling their way in, be sure you know who you're reading from.

Know that researching a bad person and why they're bad is not a bad thing and you are not bad for doing it.

Look for credentials. Why should you believe this author? What cultures and circles are they a part of? Are they academics, scholars, or historians? Find the credentials needed for whatever you're researching.

Fact check. Especially if it's your first time seeing the statement somewhere, see if there are other credible sources that back this statement up.

Ask for references. This really only goes for blogs or social media. No one who researches and writes about it should be offended by you asking for references.

Ask around. If you're looking into something but don't know where to start, ask your witchy friends! You can also send me an ask and I'll do my best to send you resources if I can find them.

Talk to people who actually practice what you're looking into. If you're researching a culture or practice, talk to practitioners and see what they have to say before proceeding further.

This doesn't just go for those of us that love research, at some point in everyone's path, they will stumble across something that needs to be looked into. You can also use these tips for casual research!

Here are a few of my favorite resources:

Sacred-texts.org

Your local library

worldhistory.org

@s-n-arly shared a list in this post of useful research sites such as:

refseek.com

worldcat.org

linkspringer.com

base-search.net

pdfdrive.com

If you're a person who also loves to research witchcraft and the occult, please add your favorite sources and tips in a comment or reblog!

Enjoy my posts? Consider leaving me a tip on my ko-fi!~

#witch history #witchcraft history #occult history #beginner witch #coin's notes

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bleachbleachbleach · 7 months

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Hello, it's me again! I'm the one who sent you question about 'which captain are married'. Your answer was really genius, I read it thoroughly though it's just your headcanon 😂 Just adding some information, believe it or not in this damn Bleach Jet interview there's also one question frankly asking 'Do you have any details about Shinigami's income? Like their monthly salary, allowances, etc'. (Which I thought this as a very hilarious question because 'WHY SO RANDOM??' 😂). Then you know, Kubo gave a very detail information, including the nominals of the salary and how each captain had their own mansion as an allowance. Just like a normal company. I'm pretty sure they also manage anything regarding bereave or insurance lol. I'm just curious which Squad is responsible for accounting and finance. Or they probably have their own financial divisions outside of Gotei 13? Well never thought about it before 😂

THE SALARY THING IS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PARATEXTS LOL. Who would want that information, you ask? The target audience is VERY much us. I legit think it's one of the first things I looked up when we were first returning to Bleach. Bleach fills the workplace drama space on my dance card; of course I wanna know what the payscale is!

Each division is probably responsible for tracking its own finances and submitting them to Central 46 as the Soul Society equivalent of the IRS (Internal Revenue Service, for non-USians). Yumichika, for example, definitely does the books for 11th. No one else in that division has even ever seen such a book.

What I wanna know is how the budget proposal process works. Prior to the start of each fiscal term, does each Division submit their past and proposed budgets? Do they go straight to the 46 for closed-door deliberations/rulings, or does a version also need to be reviewed and passed at a captain's meeting before heading up to 46? I ask this because I think it would be absolutely torturous for them to sit through such a meeting, which naturally means I want them to have to.

I don't know what the citation is for this, but the Bleach Wiki mentions that captain's meeting decisions are made unanimously. I feel like that can't possibly be true, unless a unilateral "well, Yamamoto said so" counts as "unanimous" (though the AU where the Gotei is committed to an anarchist governance style is also appealing to me, LOL). But imagine a captain's meeting where they had 13 budgets to review and pass: There's a Q&A period. Each captain has a time-limited amount of time to suggest friendly or unfriendly amendments and/or to plead their case about whether the budget should pass or fail. You can yield time to other captains, or move to extend time (though this then also has to be voted on by all the captains in attendance). Speaking from personal experience, this process can take literal days. Just imagine. IT'S HORRIBLE I LOVE IT.

Other things I wonder (under the cut):

-- What factors determine what the Gotei's overall operating budget is? Are they fully funded by the noble houses? Do they accrue wealth by any other means? How does the Soul Society macroeconomy even work.

– What’s the deal with this mansion that each captain gets? Where are these mansions located? Is it like the White House, and there’s a bunch of historical rooms with names like The Sakura Sitting Room? Is there a hallway with portraits of all the past captains that you have to walk past every morning on your way out the door? Even better, what if they don’t each get a whole mansion, but only a wing of a mansion? Then they all have to live together, Big Brother style. Central 46 is always watching.

-- Does the Gotei have an endowment? Have they invested in the Tokyo Stock Exchange? What about the Rukongai Rice Futures Market?

-- Are there ever special funds/one-time line items that need to be voted on? Was post-TYBW reconstruction back-burnered until the next fiscal year because they Had to Do the Budget First because their extant emergency response funds got exhausted after the FIRST invasion?

-- Are the Divisions automatically funded equally, or if they write a really good budget proposal can they be awarded more money? Is the only way to get more money to officially declare and register a specialty with the Central 46 Office of Division Specialties, like the 9th and Seireitei Communications, and the 12th's lab budgets? Outside of the regular budget allocation periods, are there earmarked funds/grants to which divisions can apply separately? Are you only allowed to take state money, or can you apply for grant-type arrangements with noble houses or non-Gotei entities? What about gift funds?

-- Why are damages from the captain's personal salary and not the division budget? Did someone just tell Komamura and Hitsugaya this, but it's not actually true and they're the only ones who think this? Or does this suggest that the budgeting within the Gotei actually has no procedure and nothing is actually funded at all, because none of the founding members considered that a military organization represents an operational scale that does not actually translate 1:1 with an individual's personal finances??

-- Regarding individual salaries: Do people get annual raises even if their position stays the same? Like, if you're an unseated shinigami for 500 years are you paid the same on Day 1 as on Day 182,625?

-- How do people pick up their salaries? Is there a physical paycheck? Cash monies? Credits? Is the currency the same in the Seireitei as in Rukongai (is it used EVERYWHERE in Rukongai, by every one)? Rukia using credits on her phone from Living World-side bounties, so some portion of their commerce is digital… but is that only in Living World lol.

#asks #shinigamiology #no brain just bleach #bleach headcanons #we are very sorry this ask spent so long in our inbox but it was because we were so excited #about it that we put it in the solar-powered slow cooker and it took forever to finish

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respectthepetty · 11 months

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After Remember Me, I thought I'd be done with Ultimate Troop, but once I found out that Tonnam was directing Dinosaur Love, I was easily persuaded to give it a go, and now the visuals are speaking to me, so I gotta post about it!

This man in his "Hedgehogs. Why don't they just share the hedge? 'NO'" shirt with the bee cap is me. I feel seen.

I love that the opening credits established three times that Tonnam is the director with Yang, who was the assistant director for Step by Step, Bed Friend, and Future. But why is there so much "FRAGILE" tape on that air unit?!

We have Park and Sam. I have more faith in it now!

So if this show does well, will we get the other stories like "Sharks Don't Eat Meat"?

This is my new citation buddy! I'm going to use this image whenever I need a source cited.

Ultimate Troop only has one apartment, and it makes sure to get good use out of it. (@colourme-feral - Dinosaur Love x Remember Me)

Unlike what the shirt has led us to believe, this moment is not "Good Times"

The fact that this place is called JOINT and actually has a sign that reads "Of course i know how to a roll a joint" is delightful.

Dino's shirt has a lot of text, but the most important is the "I have never learnt from anyone" portion with the smiley face poster right behind him while his friend dances around in his Joy Division shirt ("LOVE, LOVE WILL TEAR US APART AGAIN!" <- my emo heart as soon as I saw it).

Oh, the poster reads "Smile if you like me" and of course the token "Wish You Were Beer" neon sign!

Sir, a sweatshirt stating a reversal of fortune is the perfect item to wear when you are about to break up with your boyfriend but run into the guy crushing on you first.

Why does Rak keep wearing shirts like this?! Charlotte, Age: 3 yrs, Mood: Happy, Owner: Unknown

And we are getting little side stories after these cute little credits!

I like it!

It's cute, and I'm getting a good amount of images for my "the clothing is speaking to me" collection plus I have a new citation buddy!

#dinosaur love #episode 1 #the clothing is speaking to me #background noise #this was cute

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hekateinhell · 1 year

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we don't talk about Riccardo at Trinity Gate often enough, what's his role there? How does it go? What happens when Marius visits?

Three questions in one, I love it. 🥹 Let's break this into two parts:

What's Riccardo's role at Trinity Gate and how does it go?

These are the three mentions of Riccardo at Trinity Gate that we get in the last trilogy:

The other ghosts hung back. And one of them, a very personable young male, rather husky, with dark olive skin and curling black hair, appeared to have been weeping. I couldn’t help notice that Armand was almost directly behind him and rather close to him.

Armand went with them, his arm around the dark-haired ghost, the ghost who had been weeping, and the door was closed.

And that male ghost who’d come to Trinity Gate, bringing tears from Armand, the one called Riccardo?

By my read, it feels intentional on Anne's part to have what appears to this big healing moment for both Armand and Riccardo's spirit occur at Trinity Gate. Trinity Gate is where Armand and Louis started healing, separately and together. It's where Daniel goes to give his relationship with Armand another go.

To wax poetic: Trinity Gate is a place of solace and second chances. They're vampires, they have forever (or they think they do) to fix what went wrong. But immortality is going to be pretty lonely if you keep putting off those difficult conversations and keeping others at bay! (*ahem* Armand and Marius; Armand and Lestat; Marius and Pandora).

Wow, so deep... 🤧

What happens when Marius visits?

SPEAKING OF MARIUS.

I know we (me) talk a lot about Armand's trauma and why XYZ explains his behavior, and how he's grown so much through XYZ so he's not the original toxic, manipulative villain that Anne wrote in IWTV and TVL, (drop an AR/VC quote for citation), it's my fave character development arc, blah blah....

BUT I don't think we (me) talk enough about Marius's trauma and how that informs his behavior and why it can also explain XYZ. Mostly because I don't have a reason to do so -- it doesn't usually factor into the things I obsess about when the vampire ADD kicks in.

I think it's necessary here though, if we're talking about Armand, Riccardo, and Marius. We know in B&G that Marius referred to Venice as his "Perfect Time"; we know how deeply he loved the boys in his care, how much he wanted to provide for them and offer them a good life; we know the guilt and devastation he felt following what happened with the Children of Darkness, and how he blamed himself for not destroying Santino when he had the chance.

I posted it here before, but like imagine how Marius felt when/if he read TVA and found out exactly how Riccardo died? Marius loved all the boys. Yes, Amadeo was special and the love was very different, but they were all Marius's children in a way. By his own account -- his responsibility; he loved them, he tried to save them.

I went off on a tangent but back to your question... I think that Riccardo's presence could also serve as a balm to Marius's soul the way it does Armand's. Of course it's not the same -- Riccardo being there for Armand is more in line with forgiveness, forgiveness for the horrible way in which he died. Riccardo being there for Marius looks more as just a simple comfort, a reminder of that Perfect Time. And I think that, in turn, can serve as a common ground for Armand and Marius to mend their relationship further and heal the old wounds that span five hundred years.

One thing I noticed in B&G is that Marius never once referred to Armand as "Armand," it's "Amadeo" all the way through to the present day. Someone once made a comment somewhere that Lestat and Louis need a common muse, a common ground, to have any kind of functional relationship. I think Riccardo, at least temporarily, could be part of that common ground/common muse for Armand and Marius. He could help bridge the gap between Amadeo and Armand for Marius, as well as the gap between the Marius of now and the Marius of Venice for Armand.

*I don't even know if I answered your question and I'm sorry, I've just been emotional over Marius lately and I blame you 100%. 🫠

#spending my friday night crying about riccardo armand and marius do i know how to party or WHAT #you ask and hekate answers #riccardo #armand #marius de romanus #armand/marius #the vampire chronicles #vc

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elwenyere · 7 months

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Fic Writer 20 Questions

I was tagged by my beloved @frostbitebakery: thank you so much, my friend!!!

1.) How many works do you have on ao3

2.) What's your ao3 word count?

301,664 words

3.) What fandoms do you write for?

So far, the MCU, Star Wars, and Top Gun.

4.) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Call Me By Your (Pet) Name (MCU, Sambucky)

Tactical Engagements (Star Wars, Codywan)

Citation Needed (MCU, Stony)

Helps to Relieve My Mind (MCU, Sambucky)

Good Soldiers (Star Wars, Codywan)

5.) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do, yes! Sometimes it takes me a little while to write back if things in real life are hectic, but eventually I do, because I love chatting with readers about what they noticed in a story and what I was thinking about/working on while writing.

6.) What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I have never written what I would call an unhappy ending. But sometimes what we know about the canon ending can still make the ending of a fic bittersweet, and that's true of a fair number of fics I've written. I think the two fics that leave canon angst most fully on the table are my MCU ficlet A Stitch in Time, which is about what else Steve might have done while returning those stones, and my wee Star Wars piece Yes, It Feels Like That, which is a moment with Leia's grief during ANH.

7.) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I swear: I used to write plenty of fics that were happy all the way through! That happens a lot less frequently now. But Right on Time is just about the happiest ending I could give to a post-war Codywan, and my Sambucky fic Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice is (to me) maybe the funniest fic I've written.

8.) Do you get hate on fics?

I've been very lucky with readers who are largely very generous.

9.) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I am a relative newcomer to writing smut, but I have dabbled, yes. I'm not sure what kind of smut it is. Feelings-forward, I guess?

10.) Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I think the only thing I've written that could come close to being classified as a crossover was my very first multi-chapter fic, Should You Choose to Accept It, which included characters from both the mainstream Avengers and Agents of SHIELD and mashed up the plots of Iron Man 3, CA: TWS, AOS Season One, and Mission Impossible 3.

11.) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12.) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not yet!

13.) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Yes! The Stony identity porn/professor AU fic Citation Needed was a collaboration with the incredible @festiveferret, and it is the most fun I've had writing fic.

14.) What's your all time favorite ship?

Cannot pick a favorite, but my first OTP was Mulder/Scully, and they will always have a special place in my heart.

15.) What's a WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?

God what a painful question. 😅 I am a stubborn bastard, and I don't know if I've fully admitted defeat on any of my WIPs, even the ones I've neglected the most. But the WIP that's probably been waiting for my attention the longest is the sequel to my Stony fic Three Little Words; or, Five Times Steve and Tony Didn’t Actually Apologize + One Time They Did, which I cannot abandon or scrap for parts because I'm really attached to the bits that I have written, but which I haven't been able to make progress on for a long time. Bug me for snips about it if you like: I would love to be able to share what I have so far.

16.) What are your writing strengths?

A borderline aggressive amount of figurative language, narrative beats that feel layered, and I think I have a decent ear for dialogue.

17.) What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm so, so, so inexpressibly slow, and I also build up increasing levels of anxiety about WIPs when I'm not getting outside perspectives about them, so I find it nearly impossible to write anything longer than 20k.

18.) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have experimented with this a little bit in the past, and I'm currently trying it again in a WIP in a language I'm not deeply familiar with, which is nerve-wracking. But I think it can be so effective when done well, and I'm excited to keep growing in that area.

19.) First fandom you wrote for?

Stony in the MCU: a missing-scene fic from Endgame

20.) Favorite fic you've ever written?

I love all my children equally, but my Codywan fic Recollection is probably the fic that felt most ambitious to me at the time that I wrote it: memory-related temporal shenanigans, surreal scene changes, some heavy psychic territory, and my very first smut scenes. I'm proud of how many new things I tried.

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Open tags for anyone who would like to play!!! This was very fun: @ me with your answers if you'd like to join. <3<3<3

#tag game #writer memes #thank you for the tag frost!!!

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irrigos · 1 year

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okay, I finished reading Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett, and i have some opinions on it, and about Clay Men in Fallen London. Shocker, I know. Irrigos? Having opinions? I'm only 80% opinions by volume!

This is really long and rambling, and I WOULD apologize for that, but, idk man you chose to read it.

anyway, I'm gonna preface this by saying that I am not Jewish. I've been pretty forthcoming about that on here, I think, given that every post I make somehow becomes about how I was raised Catholic.

so... the Clay Men are golems, yeah? I don't think I really need to argue that that's so, and even if I did, I'm not really sure how I would (or, rather, I don't know how someone would disagree, beyond "but they're not CALLED golems")

I've always thought the Clay Men were such an odd addition to Fallen London, because like... why are there golems here? In folklore, the golem was made to protect the Jewish people (in the most famous story, the golem was made by Rabbi Loew in 16th century Prague to protect the Jewish ghetto from pogroms and blood libel) but like... there's no imperiled Jewish community in Fallen London. I mean, I don't think there's been any mention of any Jewish community whatsoever. So why are there golems? What purpose do they serve?

I know in canon, they were created by the King with a Hundred Hearts. But I'm not really sure... why. The lore wiki says that the Clay Men come into existence when the King dreams (but also, the article on Clay Men on that wiki doesn't cite any sources, and has a big banner saying it doesn't meet their citation requirements and might contain theories and headcanons. So I can't verify where in the game it says that). I know the King's backstory and all, and I know why he's a city, but I just don't really see why that resulted in the creation of a race of golems. Not really sure how his divorce was aided by the presence of an entire race of swole mud dudes, but... well what do I know

Anyway, the reason that I read Feet of Clay is because it's all about golems, and also... it's kind of the only answer I can think of for why there are golems in this game? I mean, golems aren't really a staple of the Victorian era, like Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes, and they're not a staple of the cosmic horror genre (that the game at least makes a lot of gestures towards), like squid people or uncaring cosmic entities. And it doesn't seem like any of the FL founders were Jewish, or had any particular attachment to the golem as a folkloric character, so like... why? This is just a theory, and I might be totally off-base, but the best reason I can think of is that the Discworld books are incredibly famous and iconic and (especially in the UK) ubiquitous, and... they have golems, I guess? I don't know, I'm grasping at straws here because I have NOTHING. I understand all the talking animals and the fish people and sentient cities from space, but the golems? The golems confound me.

Especially after reading Feet of Clay, I just wish Fallen London would actually DO something with the Clay Men. There's been a few stories focused on Clay Men, but... well I've made no secrets about the fact that they've been the ones I enjoyed least. I think The Clay Man's Arm is gross, I think Factory of Favours is boring, I think the Comtessa storyline is... idk uncomfortably racially coded? ("Rich young white woman is kidnapped and killed by someone that is less than human but still undeniably A Man who claims to be in love with her" is uh. literally a plot point in Birth of a Nation? That really famous 1915 movie about how awesome the KKK are?)

The golems in Discworld are such a rich thematic vein-- they function as allegory for Jews, for oppressed workers, for automation, for the power of words in general. What is the narrative purpose of the Clay Men? What do they add by being in the story? What would be different if any given Clay Man that shows up in a story was replaced by a human? In Feet of Clay, you couldn't replace the golems with humans, because the story would cease to function. If you replaced the Clay Men in the Comtessa story line or in Factory of Favours with a human, or a Rubbery, or literally any other being that exists in the Neath, what would really be different, narratively and thematically? In my opinion, not a whole hell of a lot! So why are they here???

Anyway, I'm hoping that Mask of the Rose has more meat on this particular narrative bone. I know FBG has mentioned several times how much research they're putting into representing Jewish characters in MotR, and I know there's going to be a Clay Man lodging in Horatia's, too, and if David and Rachel don't have something to say about the fact that golems are real, I'm gonna riot.

Also, I couldn't think of a good way to work it into this post, but I really like this Jacob Geller video about the golem.

Thank u for reading all this mess. If you have any thoughts about Clay Men and what they mean, uh... well, let me know, because I'm stumped.

TL;DR:

#fallen london #i feel like i should make a tag for these sorts of posts but idk what exactly #but i love doing narrative criticism on fallen london #this game is my beautiful wife and i love her so much #but also i have to figure out how she works or my brain will grow mold

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paso-liati · 9 months

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Good Omens (TV) and the 7 Classical Types of Love

Word of caution I guess, this is an essay that is a few citations short of getting it's bona findes. It's 3, 217 words and is estimated to be about a 16 minute read. This sucker's long, my children. It's a meta that discusses love thru a sort of academic(ish?) framework. Anyway, if you like long-form essays about fictional people-shaped-beings being in oodles of love, you've got one, and if you don't, I've saved you from the horror of expanding the post.

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Sometimes I get a pathological urge to write an essay about something I'm obsessed with and right now (and simmering for awhile) it's Good Omens.

This essay is about love, and some of the kinds of love that English is ill-equipped to talk about. I've tried to organize my thoughts around the kinds of love as conceptualized by the Ancient Greeks/Early Christians. There may be other systematic classifications of the differing ways of talking about love, but the only one I've read about enough to write a half cogent - though probably still unhinged - essay about is the Ancient Greek one. Note, most of the kinds of love aren't mutually exclusive, but some of them do fade into the background as other kinds of love become more important to the relationship in question or are transformative. So here we go:

Agape - universal, selfless love, empathetic, kind, cosmic, communal, pure, rare

In the beginning, there was agape. Before Aziraphale and Crowley ever met one another, they loved one another all unknowing.

Not only does this one come first, it's really, really important - and I think it reverberates beyond the story into our poor benighted world. You know when a good story gets into you, one that won't let you go, that burrows under your skin to nestle in your heart, where it hurts and heals? Those stories have taught you something. That's why they hurt. Learning is growing and growing hurts. For a little while, anyway. I believe these lessons come when they're needed, when we're able to perceive them. I believe a lot of books have more than one, but I think agape is what we're meant to learn from Good Omens now. At the very least, it's what I'm meant to learn from it.

Ancient Greeks started talking about agape and slightly less ancient Christians continued. It was considered difficult to achieve and harder to sustain. It was also the kind of love to strive for because it was how Jesus was said to have loved everyone and everything. "No greater love hath any man than this, but he lay down his life for his friend." I think agape is the kind of love that holds people and communities together when everything else falls apart. (Gestures at everything.)

Agape is the bravest of the loves. It is fearless in its kindness. It will be kind in the face of evil. It will be kind in the face of indifference. Agape is feeding refuges and not asking or caring which side of the war their papers say they belong to, because agape knows they belong to the side of not seeing their children ground into puree by powerful people perverted by too many weapons and too few scruples.

It's supposedly the default state of angels, probably only the default state of some angels (and one notable demon). It doesn't require any sort of other connection to the object receiving the love, as it's broad, all encompassing, and empathetic.

Agape is openly practiced by Aziraphale and covertly by Crowely. "I want to destroy the blameless children of blameless Job the way I destroyed his blameless goats," says Crowely, somehow both sarcastic and convincing all at once… until a crow bleats and Aziraphale reveals the transmogrified animals, whereupon he makes that face, you know the one, when he is just so very, very pleased that Crowely still has his empathy, his agape, even after the war in heaven, even after Falling.

Aziraphale also shows agape in the Job story when he doesn't quite know what to do with himself upon learning that heaven actually wants these cruel things to happen to Job - and perhaps worse - doesn't understand or even care to try to understand, why they're cruel. But Aziraphale cares for no other reason than that he loves in brave kindness, and lies to do that act of kindness. Even by the end of series 2, Aziraphale still can't quite believe that Heaven, the Archangels, and The Metatron wanted Armageddon, or that with the exception of Gabriel, they still want Armageddon 2.0.

I think most of us want Aziraphale and Crowely to realise they're in love and acknowledge it. I was convinced they were after season 1, and I think agape is where it started. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that there isn't a more powerful way to tell this story than to frame it as a love story, with agape as the shared moral foundation upon which their True Love must rest. It is sine qua non. If they didn't share this one thing, they can share nothing else of substance. Agape is why Crowely is a demon who does kind things that get him punished enough to need Holy Water. Agape is why Aziraphale is an angel who lies though he believes it will cost him damnation. Agape is why they both try to make a guess at Right and Wrong and harm reduction. Agape is why they're able to team up and work towards a shared goal. Agape, selfless, open, fearless, empathetic kindness. For the cosmos. For Earth. For animals. For humans. For each other.

2. Ludus - Infatuated, flirtatious love

Ludus is a crush, that most mortifying state of being that couldn't care less that you're immortal and so can't die to end the squirming delighted, soul-crushing torment.

I'm putting this one second not because it's a super powerful form of love but because it's pervasive in the story. Crowley and Aziraphale flirting is everywhere. They've flirted and heart-eyed each other from the cradle of creation to the end of days. Somewhere the scroll holder for starting up the universe still has Aziraphale's name doodled on it. I like that this form of their love is cute, sweet, and wholesome while containing an element of pining as well. It's adorable and we humans can sigh and giggle and go awww.

Ludus can remain casual, a fun, playful fling, or it can - and in their case already has been - added on to other kinds of love. They start with agape, move straight into ludus, and by the end of that scene in space, they're already well in the early throes of philia which will just get stronger the longer they know and care about one another…

3. Philia - The love between friends, the bonding of souls, classically considered the most trustworthy type of love

Philia is a love of deep trust and unshakeable loyalty. I've seen it described in one breath as platonic and in the next as something that arises out of the transformation of Eros (more on that later) into something deeper. I think it can be either. Sometimes people become inseparable besties with no romantic interests whatever. Sometimes people who are besties catch romantic/sexual feelings and become friends who add that to their relationship.

Our heroes barely spoke to one another and were head over heels in philia. They aren't, I think, quite at the point of being ready to suffer the growing pains of acknowledging just how deep that philia goes, because they have other loves to grow first, but it's there, simmering, likely all the more for the break up. They trust one another more than they trust anything, anywhere, anywhen, and I wager that includes God, however conflicted that may make Aziraphale. Speaking of that conflict…

4. Storge - unconditional, familial devotion

Storge is usually described as a parental or fraternal love, but in my reading there always seems to be a heaping dose of obligation, fealty you might call it. I see storge as a kind of responsibility or duty-based love. But it's very protective. Remind you of anyone?

I think Aziraphale struggles with this one. He loves what Heaven probably advertised itself as being in the earliest propaganda scrolls and maybe what it was for him when he existed with Crowley before time, before the war, still unaware of cruelty in the face of an indifferent(or worse) god, a happy witness to the ecstasy of creation.

This wraps round to his agape for that creation, perhaps felt all the stronger for Crowely having been a creator and also a member of the Host.

The Host that Aziraphale misses (or at least misses his fantasy of what he imagines it ought to be like) to the point of wondering after Crowley's loneliness as a demon self-alienated from Hell, and later to calling Crowely round to report his good works since he no longer reports to Heaven. Heaven are awful, but they are his family and he seems to feel storge towards them.

Aziraphale knows that Heaven is flawed, and finally - will wonders never cease - even acknowledges it. The critical difference between storge and philia is that storge isn't a shared love between equals. Storge is unidirectional. It's typically described as the love of a parent for a child, even though that child is a monumental cunt. Well, here Aziraphale (child) loves Heaven (monumentally cunty parent) unconditionally. They don't reciprocate his love and sadly don't have to do.

There's more to it than that though. Even if Aziraphale wanted to alienate himself from Heaven he couldn't. Remember how I said he also loves (agape) Earth? If there's a hierarchy to his loves, and I don't see why there wouldn't be, Aziraphale probably loves (agape) Earth and loves (all ways always) Crowley more than he loves (storge) Heaven, even if he isn't ready to admit it yet. He loves Earth and Crowley so much he'll risk deletion to try to fix his awful, cunty family.

Because if he doesn't somehow change Heaven - an institution that only builds its pretty sandcastles to test the building by kicking them over - the Earth, all the cosmos, Crowley, and whatever of his divinity he invested in them, will sooner rather than later be destroyed as well.

Look at that, there's that agape again and philia. I don't know if he can love the awfulness out of Heaven, but if love is enough, he's half the equation.

But guess who else seems just steeped in storge? If you said Crowley, the demon who still prays and can stroll around Heaven indistinguishable from an angel and open top level records, you got it in one. Crowley's storge is no doubt for his fantasy of what he imagines Heaven/god ought to have been. I would be surprised if his and Aziraphale's fantasies weren't pretty similar.

But the difference is Crowley knows - really, really knows in the marrow and meat of the burnt bones of his soul - that it's a fantasy. He knows that Heaven is flawed and he knows that it's flawed because no one has ever been allowed to ask what Good is. Or Evil for that matter. Or question anything going on there.

"Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it," wrote St. Augustine, possibly speaking in moral absolutes that still reverberate in the prosperity gospel. But how would anyone in Heaven or Hell know one way or the other? The Metatron could have God Themself hog-tied and locked in a broom closet in Hell for the last 4000 years and say, "I'm an angel, what I've done must be Good" and most of the Host would have to nod along because they have been denied knowing and thus free will.

"Be pretty funny if I did the right thing and you did the wrong one," said Crowley on the last day in Eden. Very funny, but I think that's how it shook out.

Part of me thinks, in the end, it will be Crowley's storge combined with Aziraphales that will be instrumental in the resolution of things so that they can have their happy ending. Maybe it'll have something to do with Crowely dealing with his impulse to flee. I wouldn't go so far as to suppose he'll reconcile with heaven, but I do think he'll work through his familial issues and maybe reconciliation with himself.

Which leads us to…

5. Philautia - Love of self, self-care, self-compassion

It sounds narcissistic and it can be, but it doesn't have to be. They say you have to love yourself to love another, and I think the non-pathological levels of philautia are just that.

Aziraphale needs to love himself enough to acknowledge that he, like Crowley, somehow against all odds, has cobbled together a sense of Right and Wrong. That being an angel is what has made him Good, that his love has made him Good, and that he is not Good by affiliation but by (heretical?) choice.

He can't really love Crowely in the fullness of philia - to say nothing of pragma - (more on that later) until he loves that in himself that gave away his flaming sword, and until he loves himself more than he loves being able to fall back on the institution. He seems to already be moving past that though.

Crowely needs to find philautia too and is likewise on that path. He couldn't really open himself up to Aziraphale if he hadn't started to make some kind of peace with himself. He looked beyond insulted when Aziraphale offered to re-instate him as an angel, and well he should do. I think the unfairness of the rejection that led to his damnation hurt him, but I don't think Crowely dislikes what he's made the wreckage of an angel into. He loved his precious, fragile existence with Aziraphale around after foiling Armageddon. Now he must learn to love it without him, maybe come to terms with the fact that sometimes he is nice, for no other reason than he wants to be.

It hurts that they're apart in the story now with no clear path back together and no promise of a series 3, but they've grown together as far as they can. Now they need to grow as individuals for a little bit (hopefully not terribly long), because if they don't grow, they are never, ever going to learn to communicate properly. Which they will need for…

6. Pragma - Enduring Love, aka the HEA

Pragma is the love you work for, fight for. It's a repeated choice and it isn't always easy. Pragma is a steward that shelters love and nurtures it to weather every storm. It is the canopy against the rain, but there's some work to keeping it strong enough not to collapse under the weight of the water.

If the kiss at the end of a movie or book feels satisfying, if it steals your breath, or swoops in your chest, it comes of the writer convincing you that the characters have or will have this kind of love.

It's what Nina and Maggie were talking to Crowley about. It's why Nina won't rebound with Maggie and squander the chance of pragma for the temporary balm of Ludus and/or Eros.

Pragma is what Aziraphale and Crowley have to work towards for their love story to feel satisfactory. They could have all six other kinds of love, and it wouldn't feel satisfying f they didn't get this one right. This is the one they're working for, hurting for, and suffocating without. But they need to work on themselves so that they can do the work of this kind of love.

Pragma introduces a break in Crowley "saying something clever and [Aziraphale] say[ing] something unintentionally funny back." They'll end up doing that, but once they get into pragma, they'll be witty around being nourishing to and for one another. They'll be able to say "I love you" not "let's get fantastically drunk" or "I forgive you." Pragma comes off shades off, righteous pride down, open soul-rending honesty, trust, and work, that for immortals is a big commitment. Forever is a really long time. And not long enough. So here's where I tell you that I love the sad ending of Series 2. I didn't think I would, but this is the rend they have to mend to get to where they love in a way that feels meaningful to the promise of their story.

I also quite selfishly want them to achieve pragma because I don't think I can survive another desperate, pleading, miserable kiss that looked painful because it was born of pain.

And last love of the lot…

7. Eros - Physical, Lustul love of the physical body

This one's kind of pointless in this context all thing's considered, but I'll write a little here about it to be thorough, I guess. Eros seems to kind of be misunderstood, I think, and I'm not sure if I fully understand it even after having read about it a fair amount. It's not exactly the desire, attraction, lust, or sexual component of what we nowadays call romantic love.

Eros is only pure, undiluted desire, attraction, lust, and sexual interest, and that interest is only physical. Nothing else. At all. I don't even think hate-sex qualifies because the hate suggests some kind of emotional component that isn't about some chemicals making you wanting to raw someone because you like their pretty body. The closest thing I can think of nowadays is maybe anonymous hook-ups. "You're hot." "Cool, I think you're hot, too, let's smash." Or since the rest of this draws from the Greeks, there's the example of Zeus and Ganymede. (And no you should absolutely not google that at work if you don't know about it).

The second there's something else to it, it's not quite eros anymore. Eros can lead to a fling maybe with some Ludus to make it more fun. It can end there or transform into philia. I'll remind you philia doesn't have to be platonic. (I'm looking at you Achilles and Patroclus).

Classically it was considered a wild and dangerous form of love because it wasn't formed from or about the kinds of social attachment that lead to stable social or familial bonds. Philia was was the trustworthy love. I suspect that even in the ancient world it wasn't uncommon for one half of an erotic love pair to catch feelings and for the other half to just. Not. And then discord ensuese.

So. For our two heroes, I think this one was out of the question before time began. They loved one another before they had physical corporations to lust after, even if lust had been invented at that point, which it probably hadn't.

None of this is to suggest they couldn't one day decide to add physical pleasure to their relationship, the same way they've decided to do loads of human things.

They could make every kind of Effort and do the tango horizontialis under the aurora borealis for a decade or twenty, just for funsies, just as they’ve chosen to enjoy eating and drinking and collecting material property.

But. It can't really be eros. They're already in six other kinds of love that are deeper than eros can ever be. And if that's not enough, because sex would be a conscious, considered choice, it also can't be the hormonally deranged, almost drugged state of lust that drags people along against their will. (Literally Ganymede).

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens meta #I think?#7 kinds of love #classical love

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peachdues · 9 months

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i won't lie.... i may or may not open up tumblr every hour or so just to stalk your page (this is insane i need to stop).

how long does it take you to write every chapter/part of phantasmagoria??? or just fanfictions and works in general. or maybe every 10k words,,,, whatever's easiest to estimate the time for

CAUSE YOU WRITE SO MUCH OMG?????????????? it's insane (in such a good way) also is phantasmagoria j 3 parts or more? epilogue? or.... > . < i'm curious so so curious

i wanna swear off of fanfiction after you're doing w phantasmagoria but I STILL WANNA READ TWAHM AND SEASONS IN LOVE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH maybe i should block tumblr x-x my obsession is insane

THANK YOU ALWAYS FOR WRITING :DD it felt so weird stalking your page/spotify playlists without interacting so uhm here's an ask and a notice that you might have an influx of comments on your posts. or none. depending on if i cut myself off of this addiction!!!!!

TYTYTYTYTYTYT FOR WRITING it's genuinely so beautiful i wanna steal it HOW DID YOU GET SO GOOD AT WRITING IMA LEAVE NOW HAVE A GOOD NIGHT AND DAY

aww thank you!

I mean, as a writer, I obviously don't want you to swear off fanfiction lol, BUT I get it. You've gotta do what's best for you!

Phantasmagoria is my first 3-part fic, so Part III is currently being written, and it will feature an epilogue (y'all aren't prepared, I just KNOW it). It will probably be about as long as the other two parts (bringing the grand total word count to around 35k words).

To answer your question about how long it takes me to write -- it really depends, lol. I write in short bursts (usually when I have a few minutes), and write on my phone. It depends on what I'm writing, too. For example, I wrote Veneration in 20 minutes while I was at the starbucks drive-thru. I wrote Part 2 of Tell Me to Stop (Kyojuro) in about 2-3 days (that was 16.5k words).

I've had blurbs written for Phantasmagoria since June (well before I announced it), BUT I spent about 6 hours this past weekend filling in the gaps. Part II was probably the part I had the most content already written for. I could probably have done it from scratch in about the same amount of time, if I sat down and wasn't interrupted. Part 3 is arguably the one I've had the least amount completed, and right now, it's sitting at about 5k words, and I would say I'm only halfway done, if that.

However, for me, banging out a 10k+ word fic in a day is child's play -- BUT that's because I'm in a profession where 90% of my job is writing, and writing fast. I've churned out full, 25-page legal briefs in a matter of hours, with full citations. In college, I wrote a 30-40 page research/policy paper a week. Same in law school. It's just second nature to me at this point.

Thank you so much for your kind words! I really appreciate it, and I appreciate the time it takes for you to read my nonsense. Sending you my undying love!

#peach's asks

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cara-delaney-author · 3 months

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Author brands 'n shit, I guess

So I somehow managed to lose a post I really wanted to reblog to an unexpected re-log. The post was about a Vox article talking about how the concept of a personal brand and a platform is poisoning artistic industries, particularly writing and music. So we're just doing a new post instead.

The article makes some really good points, especially about how now more than ever, authors (and musicians, but I write books so that's what we're mostly looking at) can't just do the thing that's in their job description. We have to do the marketing as well. And that is such a wild concept to me, who grew up convinced that I would one day land a publishing deal and be a famous author. I had this idea of how the traditional publishing industry worked, and for a long time, that idea was fairly accurate. Now?

If we now also have to do most of the marketing for our book to even stand a chance.

If advances are shrinking to the point where even successful authors are forced back into day jobs.

If print-on-demand means that nobody has to shell out thousands for a print run anymore without knowing that they'll even sell a fraction of the books.

What do we even need the traditional publishing industry for anymore?

Midlist books and authors are disappearing. The focus is on bestsellers, on "the next big thing", to the exclusion of almost everything else. That's not a sustainable plan. Sure, in theory, producing nothing but bestsellers would make you thrive. But you can't. You simply cannot guarantee that 100% of your books are going to be bestsellers. The vast majority are not. Even big pre-existing audiences don't guarantee that. Just look at these incredibly funny numbers provided by the New York Times, about celebrity books that "flopped". And I'm using that word loosely - tens of thousands of copies sold are GREAT, actually. But when you calculated your sales potential based on an audience of millions? It's nothing.

This really pokes a lot of holes into the idea that big platform = big sales, but here we are, being asked to flap our arms about and make silly voices in funny little TikToks to promote our work. When that should be the publisher's job. So, again - what are they even still good for, if you aren't coming to them already famous?

Though the article also comes with some questionable takes, albeit when it cites other writers. Specifically when it cites Defector writer Israel Daramola about music criticism, and how more and more professional outlets are closing or get incorporated into other publications. How this means that the ecosystem of criticism is shifting to "a loose collection of Youtubers and influencers", and how "This has all helped produce a mass of music fans who don’t understand the value of criticism and outright detest being told the things they like might suck." Which is just so baffling to me. Of course they don't like that! Do you?! If you think the point of criticism is to forcibly explain to people why the thing they enjoy is bad, actually, you really suck at criticism. Criticism is meant to give you an idea before you engage with something, of what the quality might be and whether or not you'll like it. It's not meant to make you go "oh, well, if this artist I love is bad, I should probably not listen to them". Stop doing that! Let people enjoy things, it doesn't matter if you, personally, think the thing in question is "objectively not good". People are allowed to enjoy "bad" things, for fuck's sake. This is the exact kind of elitism that drives people away from professional, thoughtful and educated critique.

I find this particular citation odd, because Daramola does make a point much more related to the subject of the article - that the reduction of music criticism to subsections and listicles is a symptom of a similar problem as "author brands" in the music sphere. If you don't already have a big platform, a successful brand, you won't find support. Budding artists struggle the same as budding authors, where the industry whose entire business model is built upon taking risks on new talent and building that talent up is now refusing to do that, and shifting all of that work onto the artists. This has very little to do with the audience, and everything to do with the business people calling the shots behind the scenes.

There is a whole lot wrong with my industry these days. Art gets more and more commodified. The content doesn't matter anymore as long as you, the author, can sell a lot of it. Once you have proven yourself, the publishing gods might decide that you're a guaranteed success, and deign to give you the kind of support they should have given you from the beginning. Only now, there is no risk for them anymore. That risk was all taken by you, the person with the most to lose.

One last time - if that's how traditional publishing works now, what is it even still good for?

And I haven't even gotten into how this entire system is also rigged heavily in favour of the (white, attractive) Anglosphere, while the platforms themselves have global reach. So the Anglosphere is actively sucking the air out of the room with its ever-growing cultural hegemony even on the level of individual artists. The article touches on this, too, though it brushes past that pretty quickly, and one of the linked articles in the section basically just says "if you're from a different culture, consider simply ignoring that and doing it the American way". Fabulous.

I don't have any quick, easy fixes for this problem. I don't think anybody has. But if you're a reader, if you're a music lover, maybe next time you're looking for something new, consider looking past the big hits. Ignore the huge platforms, and maybe go and find some indie artists to try. There's a lot of gold to be mined here, even if it's getting harder and harder to find. It takes a little more effort, but it would mean the world to the indie artists on the other side.

#writing #books #publishing #self-publishing #publishing industry #music industry #author marketing #author branding #American hegemony #long post

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stackthedeck · 2 years

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do you have any spideydevil headcanon’s to share? i’m honestly desperate for new spideydevil content and no one in this fandom is making any anymore :(

I KNOW RIGHT!! About a month or two after no way home, Peter and Matt kinda dropped from the mcu fans' radar. I actually have a lot of thoughts about how Marvel's constant stream of content is bad for transformative fandom in the long run and migratory sub-fandoms within relatively stable fandoms but that's a post that requires academic citations someone please ask me about this dear god I couldn't fit it into a three minute tiktok and if I just post an essay about the mcu that'd a special unhinged cringe

But spideydevil headcanons! (this isn't about mcu Peter, hate that I have to say that, but you know)

They get together almost by accident. Both of them almost exclusively date non-heroes and that always goes wrong, there's always something they can't give to their partner because they have to be a hero. And so they swear off dating, in fact, they swear off dating together. They were venting to each other and decided hey let's do this together. And when you're really aware of the fact that you're not dating, you realize you're acting like you're dating. Bringing food to stake-outs that quickly just become picnics, crashing at each others' places just be annoyingly touching on the couch, panicking whenever either of them are in an above average amount of danger. They have like a whole brothers-in-arms type of deal but also kind of a friends with benefits type of deal because it's Matt and it's also Peter let's be real they're both sluts. After about the fifth time of waking up to Peter clinging to him in bed after a dinner at the top of a skyscraper the night before, Matt's like "okay, I'm pretty sure this is dating."

They do a lot of fixing each other up after fights. Peter's healing factor is good, but it's not that good and Matt is Matt so the first aid kit is well stocked. Peter usually tries to patch himself up, he's too precious with his secret identity that he's often suffering alone. The injuries will always heal eventually, but Matt still fuses over him and know that he's hurting, touching him carefully. Matt has plenty of people that know he's Daredevil, he could call Claire or Foggy or Karen, but he calls Peter. Peter doesn't touch him like he's made out of glass, just slaps the bandage on and tells him to be more careful next time, or call him before the fight. Even though he knows Matt can handle himself, he still presses his bruised knuckles to his lips and kisses them better. Knows that Matt can take the pain, needs the pain, but still doesn't want him to suffer.

Peter is Jewish and Matt is Catholic and you'd think that'd cause some problems, but it doesn't. Peter's non-practicing and Matt's a bad Catholic, but they both love to talk about religion. They don't argue the little details because neither of them keeps the little details of their own faiths, it's always more about throwing questions at each other the "what ifs" and the "how do we know" and "are we really sure" kind of questions. vocalizing that doubt, it grounds them and connects them to that higher force. They both like talking and thinking and letting faith be a place of doubt is oddly enough reassuring. They both have very different experiences with faith, both practice very different faiths, but that connection to something higher, little rituals when they can, connecting with a community, it's different but it's the same. Peter still thinks Christians are superstitious and weird and he's right and you couldn't pay him to go to a mass, but he likes how Matt sounds when he prays, his fingers gently rubbing the rosary beads. Matt gets invited to high holidays and he adores the joy that religion brings to Peter's family and community and respects the solemn history, aspires to the level of knowledge and discussion. Anytime Peter brings Matt to Aunt May, she asks, "so when are you going to convert" and Matt says, "when Peter proposes" and Peter hates them both and is pretty sure they're both joking...maybe.

Peter's spidey sense has nothing on Matt's radar, but it is better than most people. They throw things a lot. If it is not nailed down and it must be given to the other person, it's getting thrown. Foggy nearly has a heartache when Peter swings by the office and just chucks a thermos of hot coffee at Matt who catches it without flinching. This also results in them throwing themselves at each other (insert that Brooklyn 99 meme). Which results in trying to sneak up on each other. Peter falls from the ceiling into Matt's open arms and pouts because "I was so fucking quiet how did you know? I was really trying this time!" Matt uses his ninja skills to sneak into Peter's apartment, controlling his breathing and heart rate, surely he's not a danger to Peter's spidey sense because they're dating. Peter finds him within moments of stepping in the door and dips him into a kiss which Matt accepts but he does whine the rest of the night. But both of them have reflexes that board on pre-cognition and this makes for some wild team-up fighting. Like Matt flips off a skyscraper the same second Peter arcs into a swing, catching him and then throwing him again so that both their swings are perfect, the two of them tossing the billy clubs around like a ping pong ball so fast the bad guys can't even see it, lot of crazy acrobatic shit

Matt is horrified when he actually witnesses Peter's hand-to-hand combat skills. Like Peter's web combat is something completely by his own design, Matt can't touch that. But holy shit who taught Peter to throw a punch? No one?! He can't let this stand, super strength and healing are the only things keeping him standing. Matt brings Peter to Fogwell's and it brings up old memories of Elektra, but also his dad and the good and the bad, old and new mix together and there's nowhere else he wants Peter. He shows him how to throw a punch, how to hold himself, how to make a fist and there's so much touching. Like Matt, you don't need to put your hands on him to make sure he's in the right position. But if they also fuck in that boxing ring that's nobody's business but theirs. Suddenly Peter isn't all awkward long harsh lines, he's tight and controlled and there's always been power behind him but now it's focussed. It's beautiful and terrifying, but that proper form works wonders like holy shit he has so much energy now that his body doesn't need to pour extra strength into shitty punches and heal micro fractures in his hands

Peter has a spot with everyone he's ever been serious about. With Gwen, it was the Brooklyn Bridge. With Johnny, it was the statue of liberty. With MJ, it's the top of the Rockerfeller center. With Matt, it's the Chrysler Building. It's very climbable, lots of places to swing from. The right kind of quiet when you get up high enough. Late night meetings that started as all business that turned into friends hanging out and shooting the breeze that turned into their spot. turned into picnics and secrets they couldn't tell anyone else and nervous kiss that turned confident slower than they should have

they have this fun game called "if you don't sleep I'll personally knock you unconscious" it was a joke at first, but their "self-care" talks have devolved into violence multiple times. It's how they show affection. MJ has walked into Peter's apartment, Matt in the full devil costume and shoving water down his throat. She preceded to help hold Peter down and also made sure he took his vitamins. They both have equally terrible self-destructive personal habits that they both hypocritically criticize each other for, but coffee is the no go zone. They both have crippling caffeine addictions and neither will challenge the other about it, in fact, they're enablers. "how much did you sleep last night" "I've got five hours max this whole week" "I'll cover your patrol while you get eight hours" "It sounds like you're trying to break up with me" "fine, I'll make a pot of coffee, but we're only staying out till four tonight."

Matt and Peter are both massive nerds but in different directions. Stem kids vs humanities kids. Peter will sit and babble at Matt for a solid hour about this one chemical reaction he's observing in the lab and there's evidence that it could be occurring in the human body but they need to run more tests but if it's the case then... and on and on and once he pauses to talk a breath, Matt's like so cool babe let me tell you about this court case from the 80s that actually sets a legal preciden that could be destroy copyright law if we spun it right. This goes on for hours. They adore it, it's great.

Matt is a cat person, Peter's a reptile guy, and they do not own pets. They don't want kids, they don't want to get married. They are both allergic to commitment. But the fact that neither of them has offered commitment or even asked about it is its own form of commitment. Like an unspoken promise that they want to be together in some fashion, probably dying in battle together, is enough and exactly what they need. Because they risk death every time they put on the suit and they can't commit to anyone because they're so fragile they have nothing to commit. They work because no one understands the superhero life like them

(nsfw) Matt—both in and out of costume—is constantly fighting for control, fighting to be respected and seen as powerful. If he lets go of that control for even a second, if he's seen as less than perfect for even a second, his life falls apart. Peter feels like he has no control, his life has been one unstoppable force after the other. They kinda naturally fall into a dynamic in the bedroom of Matt giving up control and Peter taking it. It works for them, they have safewords, and it's really really good. Peter is really into tying Matt up whether this is a spider thing or a Peter thing is a subject of endless debate. He likes hearing Matt beg, knowing that he wants him, wants what he can do. Matt likes the noises Peter makes, those small gasps of pleasure when he finally takes what he needs. He likes the praise that he gives so easily and openly, it makes Matt feel precious and wanted. He likes being manhandled a bit, Matt's a big guy almost pure muscle, but Peter is stronger, can throw him around if he wants or if Matt asks, begs.

#asks #spideydevil #matt murdock #peter parker #this is not about mcu peter!!#this is about literally any other peter #frankly it's about comics peter #who has been an adult for decades now

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