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violetasteracademic · 10 days

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My Two Cents on the People Magazine Article (and Elriel coming home!)

I'm sure this has already been dissected to death and I am potentially late to the game here (I only just saw the article this morning!) but I would like to share some thoughts and insight!

While by no means am I saying this to claim I am *the* expert of all experts, I would like to share that my background and previous career was in entertainment. My twenties were spent in Los Angeles, and (some of you other current or previous LA/New Yorker's may identify with this) you really learn how the sausage gets made and exactly how much money, planning, and prep goes into what we are meant to perceive as "natural." I don't mean to take the shine off of it! Just sharing my experiences. I can't share everything because some of my friends were under NDA's at the time of their employment, so I'll just give a brief overview.

Example: Late Night talk shows and many other major "live" productions that have "live" interviews are, well, not actually live. They typically film in the early afternoon even if they are set designed to look like its nighttime. And while it is in front of a "live" audience, the audience is instructed on when to clap, when to laugh, ect. This is because the interview has already been planned out, and questions approved ahead of time. This is why, even though it seems totally fresh, there are things the "host" received ahead of time. For example, all of the baby pictures and sweet photos of Sarah and Josh and then all of the staged "walking and talking photos" for the MASSIVE Today Show interview and article. And yes, this is the article where we got this absolute banger:

That "felt" like a live interview followed up with a giant article to accompany it, but was actually a full on pre-planned production. Seriously massive for Sarah. And if there's time, you can even do multiple takes and use the best shot for the "live" show. I've seen people comment on thinking Sarah seemed "not excited" in that interview and she was worried HoFaS would bomb, but I'm telling you guys, I don't think she has ever that much pressure or "lights, camera, action" on her before compared to her usual casual "chat" style interviews. Babes was nervous, and she crushed it.

Now to breakdown the new People Magazine article:

This article is being presented as "Everything You Need to Know" aka "we are your trusted resource on all things Sarah J. Mass."

People Magazine, while serving as your "trusted resource" for the world of ACOTAR, would not say the protagonists of ACOTAR are the sisters for zero reason whatsoever. What's interesting is both Lucien and Azriel get small nods, but very little otherwise and zero mention of the ship. Just Elain, baybee dolls. This further cements that this designed to portray the Archeron sisters as the leads of the series.

Now, taking a look at the author of this article to see if she specializes in anything, she really doesn't. Miss ma'am writes about everything under the sun!

She also did the Ultimate Guide to Emily Henry's books. (Major Emily Henry Stan over here. Who is dying for Funny Story to come out?!)

This is a Northwestern University journalism grad who has been with People for a few years. She certainly understands what it is that needs to come from these articles, and that is interest, clicks, money, and trust.

There is simply no reason for major networks like Today and People to invest in these thorough and in depth articles and interviews, on screen and on page, with Sarah and continue to hint towards Elain or questioning the mating bond if it will serve no purpose in improving their reputation or generating interest in the plot of the books. That is simply not how this works, and is antithetical to keeping the gears of these machines well oiled and functioning as intended.

If you read this whole thing, wow! You are an MVP. With nothing but respect to you all, I'm not sure how long I will keep this post up or how much I am willing to talk about my time in LA. I unfortunately had some experiences I am still recovering from and already feel a bit anxious putting this much information about myself out there. But for those who catch it, I hope you enjoy and can feel comforted that this is all a part of the plan. There's a reason you see repeats of themes and conversations in all her articles. It's because they are pre-planned and executed with the goal of reputation and selling books in mind.

*** Thanks to Sara Anne (@SaraAnneReads on Tiktok) who shared her insight from working on the marketing team for a magazine in 2019 that adverts have to share if an article is paid for in someway, no matter how small. Thus I have removed my statement on *this* article potentially being part of their paid marketing budget, as there is no indicator of that on the article itself which is required by law.

However, this could be what is called "Earned Media" where a marketing/publicity rep for SJM and/or Bloomsbury *could* have reached out to people magazine and basically said hey, if you want to write about this, we have an announcement coming up soon so it could be relevant and worth talking about. To which the rep for People would say to the rep for SJM, hey, thank you so much for the heads up. There is no exchange of goods or currency and no promise verbally or in writing to do the article so the ethics stay above board, but all parties benefit from earned media. Sarah's team has now earned additional buzz for the upcoming story, and a news outlet has articles out on a trending topic. However, earned media does not have to be disclosed and therefore we have NO way of knowing if this occurred here or not!

She also shared with me People's statement of integrity where People state's their high standard for ethical practices and journalistic credibility and accountability. (I mean we know they are the kings and queens of "a reliable source close to the individual," but still)

She also caught with her eagle eye that Bloomsbury explicitly states the detailed marketing plan once books are announced, including details like year-long social media campaign, arc readers, ECT. So with Sarah already posting about the next ACOTAR, we can safely assert that is part of the existing laid out marketing plan, and assume additional articles surrounding ACOTAR are all to further generate buzz.

Analysis: Elain's book announcement is coming SOON and marketing is already underway!

#elriel #elain x azriel #pro elriel #elriel endgame #elriel supremacy #azriel x elain

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impossiblescissorspeachpaper · 2 years

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My Universe

Azriel Week Day Four: romance

This little story has been swirling around my brain for MONTHS and I’m so excited to be sharing it with you guys, finally! It fought me for a while, and I’m still not happy with it but hopefully it brings a smile to your face like it did for me whenever I thought about it :) x

Elriel. 2k words. Modern AU.

Holy fuck Elain Archeron was single. The Elain Archeron that Azriel had had a hopelessly pathetic crush on since forever, was single. She had finally dumped her deadbeat boyfriend Graysen for good this time, and she was coming out tonight.

Wiping his sweaty hands on the thighs of his black jeans before running his fingers through his hair, Azriel willed himself to get a grip. He was nervous as shit, but he was also being a massive fucking moron because nothing was going to happen. Particularly since she’d only left her boyfriend a week ago and Azriel only learnt of the newly-single-Elain-situation just forty-five minutes prior when Cassian had texted him.

He really needed to chill the fuck out.

Sighing heavily, he trudged down the hall to his tiny kitchen and fished out a beer from his fridge. Cassian was picking him up, so a couple pre-game drinks to take the edge off wouldn’t be an issue, right?

Popping the cap, he chugged down half the contents and slapped the bottle back down on his bench top. Assessing the situation internally, Azriel noted his stomach still fluttered nervously. Lifting the bottle back to his lips, he drank deeply, draining the remainder of the beer.

Glancing at the clock in his lounge room, he realised Cassian would be arriving any moment to take him into town for Feyre’s birthday festivities; drinks and karaoke at some dive bar she had found. He hated karaoke. No one should be privy to his shonky singing voice. The only place he sang was in the car, or the shower. Alone.

His phone buzzed as a text came through from Cassian; downstairs.

Grabbing his phone, wallet and keys, and slinging his leather jacket over a shoulder, he made sure to lock his door before heading downstairs to the front of his apartment building.

Cassian’s truck was idling at the curb and as Azriel made his way over he glanced up from the footpath and halted suddenly, spotting someone he hadn’t expected to see. Sitting in the front beside Cassian was Nesta, Cassian animatedly gesturing while his girlfriend rolled her eyes at him, a small smirk fighting its way onto her lips… But what had caused his breath to catch was the person in the backseat. Elain. She looked breathtakingly beautiful, outwardly laughing at Cassian’s antics, her head thrown back and her mouth open in a joyous laugh.

The bastard hadn’t mentioned he’d be picking up Elain too, but it was just like Cassian to leave out important details like that. Not that Cassian knew such a detail was important to him… Fuck. He should have had another beer.

Shaking himself out of his love-sick stupor, he strode down the remainder of the path and opened the back door, climbing into the truck as he greeted the trio.

The entire drive into town consisted of Cassian telling stupid stories, Nesta periodically interjecting and telling them what really happened, Elain laughing and chiming in with her own sly and unexpected quips, and Azriel’s palms sweating profusely whilst he tried in vain not to outwardly stare moronically at the angel next to him.

Arriving at the bar and finding Feyre, Rhys and Mor, Azriel immediately offered to purchase the first round of drinks. Partly to make the pain of having to deal with karaoke for the entire night more bearable, and partly so he could calm the fuck down while in the presence on the middle Archeron sister.

Gods she was beautiful, even more beautiful than he remembered. And she was still so kind, and sweet, and had remembered to ask about his cat. And his job. He had been so blindsided by the entire encounter that he couldn’t even remember how he had responded. Idiot. What the fuck was wrong with him? He was never this scatterbrained around women.

An hour and a half later and about four rounds of drinks down, everyone was pleasantly buzzed and gearing up to make utter fools of themselves with some karaoke.

Mor had already selected I Will Survive, a song worthy of her dramatic constitution. Nesta was arguing with Cassian, explaining to him that she would sooner sprout wings and fly then sing a cheesy Grease duet with him. Feyre and Elain cackled beside them, flipping through the endless catalogue of choices, weighing their options and fawning over songs they each loved.

Azriel watched Elain and quietly marvelled at the way her eyes shone even in the dark and dingy bar. Even in the drab surroundings, Elain glowed like the sun at dawn. She was perfect. Her smooth skin, full lips, sparkling laugh; they all called to him. On some deep, intrinsic level he felt as if he was instinctively drawn to her, like some invisible thread lured him to her. He couldn’t help but be enthralled by this stunning creature.

“Alright, what are everyone’s song choices?” Feyre piped up, her hands clapping excitedly.

“I’m gonna sing something.”

Everyone’s heads whipped around in Azriel’s direction, their expressions ranging from amused curiosity to outward shock.

“You hate karaoke,” Cassian stated, a look of slight alarm on his face.

“I know, but I feel like it.”

Mor glanced at him above the song catalogue, a smirk playing on her lips. “Okayyyy.” She dragged out the word. “What ya gonna sing, Az?”

“My Universe,” Azriel breathed out somewhat wistfully, his hazel eyes glancing over to Elain before quickly averting them.

Rhys eyed him suspiciously, taking a sip of his beer. “The Coldplay song?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, I love that song!” Elain swooned, granting him a beaming smile. His heart somersaulted and crash landed in his chest.

“You can’t sing that song!” Feyre retorted.

“Why not?!” Azriel dragged his gaze away from Elain, his eyes landing on Feyre, looking taken aback by her claim.

“Because half of it is in Korean,” Nesta deadpanned from beside her.

“So?” Azriel’s eyes flicked from Nesta’s face to Feyre’s, both wearing twin looks of secret knowing, their eyes gleaming with mirth.

Cassian appeared as if he was about to burst an artery trying to contain his laughter. “Dude, you don’t speak Korean.”

Azriel just shrugged. “Coldplay. My Universe. Write it down,” he pronounced, pointing at Morrigan with the bottle neck of his beer.

Mor puffs out her cheeks, conceding to his orders and entered in his choice.

A table of drunk bachelorettes sing a few off-key pop songs, giggling the entire way through and wobbling on their heels precariously before Mor belts out her dramatic rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s hit song.

Then, Azriel was called up next.

Downing the rest of his drink in one smooth motion he made his way over to the tiny stage. The bachelorettes whistled and hollered as he passed by their group, but he didn’t seem to notice, weaving around the tables with more confidence that he usually would have exuded in a karaoke bar.

Cassian was grinning like a fiend, whipping his phone out of his pocket and ready to record the entire scene, while Rhys looked on with amusement shining in his eyes. Mor in turn looked like she was about to burst out of her seat. For all the years they’d known Azriel, he’d always shied away from any type of attention. He’d always preferred to be in the background, always happily floated on the periphery. Whatever the hell was going on now was going to either be really, really good or really, really bad.

Azriel came to stand behind the microphone and gripped it in his hand as the opening bars to the song played out.

You, you are, my universe And I just want to put you first And you, you are, my universe and I

His voice truly was atrocious. Azriel sadly was, they quickly learned, completely tone deaf. The bachelorettes didn’t seem to care however as they all screamed, clearly more enamoured with his looks that any singing ability he clearly didn’t possess.

“What the hell is going on,” Rhys murmured, a shit eating grin painted across his lips. His violet eyes were wide, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the spectacle that his brother was currently a part of.

“I have no idea, but this is fucking fantastic,” Cassian responded, angling his phone to ensure he was capturing every minute detail of what would become the thing he would proceed to give Azriel shit about for the next two hundred years.

In the night, I lie and look up at you When the morning comes, I watch you rise There’s a paradise they couldn’t capture That bright infinity inside your eyes

As the BTS section of the bridge approached, they all held their breath to see what Azriel would do. When he mumbled over the lines trying to read the phonetically spelled out Korean words on the screen, they all cheered, laughing and raising their glasses as he seemed to take it all in stride, not caring one tiny bit that he was completely butchering the song.

The chorus rolled around again, and it seemed like half the bar was scream-singing along:

You, you are my universe And I just want to put you first And you, you are my universe You make my world light up inside

Looking at the stage, Mor almost spat out the mouthful of drink as she beheld what Azriel was doing next, seemingly content to just bop along to the remainder of the song.

“Is he…dancing?”

Nesta smirked, glancing toward Elain who looked like she was having the time of her life. “He’s doing something.”

“He’s dancing like…” Rhys trailed off. For the first time in his life, he was at a loss for words.

“Adam Driver on the Sunday school desks?” Feyre supplied.

“Yes!”

“He is going to be in a world of pain tomorrow,” Cassian laughed.

“I think he looks great,” Elain replied demurely, a large smile plastered on her face.

“Of course you do,” Nesta murmured from the corner of her mouth. Mor snorted.

Azriel crooned the last few lines of the song, his voice truly sounding like a bag of cats being swung around, but by this point the entire bar was more than a little tipsy and were drunkenly partaking in singing along to the words.

My Universe My Univerrrrrse My Universe (you, you are my universe, and I)

At the end of the song, the entire bar erupted into cheers, Azriel left standing on the tiny stage panting slightly from his efforts. The bachelorettes were going wild, but he didn’t seem to notice. In fact, the entire room seemed to dissolve away as he locked eyes on Elain, her bright smile calling him like a beacon across the floor.

Stepping off the stage he made a beeline for her, never taking his eyes off hers the entire way.

Realising during his return to their table that Azriel’s attention was entirely on her, Elain’s breath hitched. Feeling emboldened by his performance, Azriel strode right up to her, stopping just a handsbreadth away. Elain tipped her head back slightly to look into his eyes, her long golden-brown hair sliding down her back with the movement.

He peered down at her, his eyes skittering rapidly over her open expression. Elain swallowed audibly as they remained standing chest to chest. So close to each other, closer than they had ever been but still just out of reach.

Clenching his hands at his sides so the overwhelming need to reach out and pull her into a kiss wouldn’t win out, Azriel breathed, “Would you like to go out with me sometime?”

The only sign of surprise Elain let show was the slight flaring of her eyes, her pupils dilating, the black eating up the molten chocolate of her eyes.

A blush dusted her cheeks. “Yes. I would.”

“Finally,” Nesta groaned, rolling her eyes, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.

The sounds of their families hooting and hollering were thankfully drowned out by the opening bars of the next song.

*******

@azrielshadowsingerweek

tagging: @offtorivendell @fawnandshadows @the-laughing-bubble @swankii-art-teacher @pagemasters @tswaney17 @sakurakittypeach @thefangirlofhp @wingedblooms

#azrielshadowsingerweek2022 #azrielweek2022 #azriel #day four: romance #elriel fluff #elriel #acotar #acotar fanfiction #elriel modern au #elain #the inner circle

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icedflames · 3 years

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Hi Lina 💐

I was the anon that asked you about which court you’d like to see and what plot hole annoys you. Thank you so much for answering✨ I agree with you, the Autumn court definitely seems to be interesting and hostile and I have yet to read acofs but I’ve seen many people comment on the ‘offness’ of Nessian pre-acofs and in acofs.

I’m just curious to find out your opinion and others on this matter but what do you think people want from Elain to like her?

I really love her character (and she is flawed with all the other characters in this series) but she seems to get unnecessarily minimised and villainized.

Seeing all this negativity in the fandom and the hate towards Elain makes me question why people hate her and what she must do/be for people to relate to her or like her.

Many people want her to turn evil (which in my opinion seems to come from a place of internalised misogyny) or just straight up want her to have awful trauma happen to her to make her more sympathetic (which is a yikes from me).

Idk, people forget that Elain along with the other characters in this series were not created in a vacuum and have been affected by their relationships, environment and experiences to be who they are.

Little rant over, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts and others✨

Stay safe and Sassy and enjoy the rest of your day💕

Hi there! 🖤

Elain is one of my favorite characters in the series so it baffles me to see people that strongly dislike her and wish the worst upon her.

To make people like Elain... Elain would have to fundamentally change as a character. She would have to become super outspoken, pick up a sword and fight to be “useful” (blech, like her seer powers aren’t useful), and maybe get a scar or two?

Just a personal feeling, but I feel like a lot of the Elain hate stems from internalized misogyny. That to be a strong female lead, you need to pick up a sword and fight. That to be strong, you need to adapt traditionally masculine traits.

Elain is feminine. She is beautiful. She loves to bake and garden. She is docile, quiet, observant, and a people-pleaser. All traditionally feminine traits. Yet for some reason, she’s like the worst in these people’s eyes? Please. Go hate on Tamlin - oh wait, they’re shipping her with him now. Her sister’s abuser. Right.

It reminds me a lot of the Game of Thrones fiasco where people hated Sansa but loved Arya. Sansa was traditionally feminine, quiet, and observant. Whereas Arya was wild and desperately wanted to break free of the feminine mold to fight and become a warrior. Both were wonderful female characters yet one was belittled, hated on, and called useless. And for what? Because she was girly? Give me a break.

It’s so upsetting to see this in a female-dominated fandom but here we are...

I think also... maybe a lot of people can’t relate to her femininity? That her being so beautiful and quiet doesn’t allow for the people who dislike her not to self-insert? Most of the hate stems from people not wanting Elain to be with Azriel. It’s mean, but maybe the people who hate Elain and Elriel literally just can’t self insert if they have a story and that’s why they’re vehemently against it? I dunno.

As for Elain’s actual characterization... People who dislike Elain see her as annoying, weak, and useless. “All she does is garden,” or “Elain is so useless.” Ugh. Like, did we read the same books? Because I’m pretty sure Elain’s visions saved the Night Court and Prythian. Not to mentioned her badass moment of stepping out the shadows and killing Hyburn, singlehandedly stopping the war. And then she goes back to baking and gardening like the queen she is.

And don’t even get me started on the erasure of Elain’s trauma. Ugh.

Sorry, I have so many mean feelings towards the people who hate Elain. Oops.

#asks #pro elain

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