#writing an original scene in the style of an author I respect

[tremendouskoalachild]

i like Barriss Offee well enough but don't enjoy anything she's in and haven't watched or read any of it in like 12 years so. i'd appreciate an update or correction if anyone knowledgeable sees this. but here's my likely very skewed understanding of the situation:

2002's attack of the clones arena scene has many jedi, though most show up for a single shot or so, and they have many different alien designs to make it visually interesting. a lot of them don't do anything (not to distract from the main characters' action and because of the limitations of a greenscreen set, as well as some of the costumes and prosthetics not being well suited to action).

two of these background jedi are green-ish ladies with facial markings and head coverings (is this originally for a practical reason because face paint is more complicated when the character's hairline is visible? i don't know enough about film make-up to guess)

Lucas isn't interested in or simply doesn't have the time to establish lore for random background characters, and movie tie-in material is pumped out quickly to drive hype for the films and make the most out of the films' relevance. the early reference books and pre-aotc novels are not very consistent (remember when Tholothians were canonically just humans wearing funny hats for a while? i remember). Luminara and Barriss are officially humans and Jedi Knights for a bit. Barriss' face markings are connected to Depa Billaba's culture.

Barriss doesn't have an official age for a while but is assumed to be around Anakin's age or a bit older.

the Mirialan species is established in the lore, Barriss and Luminara being members. their tattoos are now a part of Mirialan culture. it is established that Mirialans have a deep cultural respect for the Force and Mirialan Jedi often take other Mirialans on as students.

authors are allowed to play around with the side characters because that won't impact the films. Barriss is established as a talented compassionate healer and is the main character of the MedStar duology (2004).

Barriss is at first planned to be one of the Jedi shown executed during Order 66 but the scene is cancelled, much like Shaak Ti and Luminara.

The Clone Wars 3D animated show (2008) begins development a while after the prequels end and slowly starts overwriting the Clone Wars multimedia project, because it is made with Lucas. an effort is made to keep the two projects consistent but it becomes more and more difficult the longer the show goes on. the show does incorporate some lore or events from prior media, but regularly changes them to fit its plot and characterization.

Ahsoka is the child audience pov character and needs a peer for some storylines. there are no young teen girl Jedi in the films but Barriss is close enough and her design fits well with the tcw aesthetic, which often prefers hairless characters for its animation style, especially in the early seasons. she is changed to be around Ahsoka's age and a Padawan.

Ahsoka and Barriss are established to be close, paralleled from time to time, and the writer of their main arc together later claims he intended a romance between them. (i only got this second hand and haven't fact checked this.). the barrissoka fandom forms.

Barriss disappears from the show, which focuses on different arcs for a few seasons.

Filoni is writing an important arc for Ahsoka, which needs to challenge her emotionally and philosophically as well as physically, and must culminate with her leaving the Jedi in order to be absent during Revenge of the Sith. he decides to bring back Barriss as an adversary, for the emotional drama of being betrayed by a friend.

Barriss is intended to die during this 2012 arc but Filoni ends up sparing her for undisclosed future plans. she gets arrested and imprisoned instead.

her character's previous ending, shown in the original novels as dying in service of the Jedi on Felucia, doesn't seem to work at all anymore. the MedStar duology is extremely dubiously canon at this point. the canon reset is imminent and lucasfilm has more or less stopped pretending all these events are part of the same continuity. wookieepedia editors are in shambles.

the multimedia project is officially declared Legends in 2014, and Barriss doesn't appear in tcw's new canon tie-ins. her characterization now comes only from the show. she doesn't show up in any of the prequel-era projects for years, until the novel Queen's Hope (2022).

Filoni's new canon show Rebels (2014) introduces new adversaries in the form of inquisitors, former Jedi who are now hunting survivors. one of the more prominent villains is a female Mirialan inquisitor. there is rampant fan speculation that this is Barriss. it isn't.

Ahsoka becomes a main part of the show. the fandom keeps hoping for Barriss to reappear with her. she doesn't.

Filoni creates a tcw spin-off focusing on Ahsoka (and Dooku) in 2022. Barriss doesn't appear.

Ahsoka gets her own post-original trilogy show by Filoni in 2023. there is some speculation Barriss could appear, possibly as a mysterious new inquisitor character. she doesn't.

in 2024 there is a new season of the animated tcw spinoff, prominently featuring inquisitors. Barriss is now a main character, picking up a while after the Wrong Jedi arc. it has been something like 12 years since we last saw her.

#barriss offee #barrissoka #is that about it barriss stans. i wanna know

[demeterdefence]

even ignoring everything else wrong with lore olympus (which in itself feels impossible) there is just something really egregious and insulting at the way a "modern retelling" over an ancient greek myth just full-heartedly whitewashes the entire culture and mythos.

and it's not like rachel is the first to do it - greek myths and legends have been whitewashed for centuries, depictions of the gods have been categorically stripped of their ethnicity and origins long before rachel got a hold of them. it's the fact that rachel goes out of her way to insult the original myths whenever she can, that she emphasizes and pushes a western-centric mindset and viewpoint over and over and over and not only reinforces the whitewashing, but continues it down the line.

like, this is the first episode.

rachel goes out of her way to mock the original styles and wardrobes of the ancient greek world, and i get her attempt was to make persephone feel "out of place" with the more "modern" clothing that the other gods wear, but it really just does more to a) demonize demeter, who is almost always in traditional clothing, b) sexualize persephone.

go even broader with it, move away from the clothing itself, and rachel doesn't even bother to use any of the ancient traditions that are core to the myths. like for the love of god, she uses a christian wedding for persephone and hades!

greece is the birthplace of modern democracy and had a powerful judicial system, and rachel instead uses the modern / western iteration of court because ... why not

(completely unrelated but the inserts of everyone except eros and aphrodite come from the stupid zoom session zeus had back when he first charged persephone with treason, meaning we have proof yet again that rachel isn't drawing the characters into the scene, she's making pngs and sticking them into pre-arranged backgrounds downloaded from stock images)

and there are ten thousand more examples i could pull, because this is just the whole entire comic. you can look at a lot of modern adaptions and see where things have been modernized respectfully, and where they are done with disdain for the source material - no one is claiming percy jackson, for example, is perfect, but the author took a great deal of care in his research, and the love for the original myths and culture shine through. lore olympus has zero respect for the original stories, exemplified in how rachel demonizes demeter - the actual crux of the myth. it's bad writing and bad research and further attempts to whitewash a rich and storied culture that had people from so many walks of life, who existed in full spectrum of lgbt identity, who did not conform or even know of the world that exists today. you can modernize without erasing it, and rachel's refusal to do so is one of the many issues tacked to lore olympus.

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #i didn't grab the best screencaps bc there was literally so many to choose from lmao #but the wedding always bothered me SO much #ur in ancient greece!!! why are u doing this!!! #like i don't think it's wrong per SAY to have phones or tech in a story about ancient cultures #provided you explain how / why they're there #but of course there is ZERO world building in lore olympus

[fan-fan-tastic]

MEME FULFILLED PROPHECY

Despite being a mass of potholes and quite repetitive, PIDW is very popular, popular enough to have a community of fans. This means not only having fanart, fics and even merchandise, but also an entire culture, with fandom lore and yes, even memes.

One of those was “When Mobei-Jun gets married” it was used to indicate something that would never happen, like “when hell will freeze over” or “when pigs will fly”. It was so popular that there were even some variants, like “it happen at Mobei-Jun’s wedding” or “when Airplane marries Mobei-Jun off”

Shen Yuan really liked this meme because it was supported by canon: there had been several scenes where after a fight, Luo Binghe would look over the spoils and let his right hand man pick a boon. Despite the ever-present trembling maidens, Mobei-Jun would always pick a weapon, or in an instance an ancient relic that had once belonged to his clan. So yeah, Shen Yuan used it pretty often, once he even let it slip out IRL, but luckily no one got the reference.

He even used it once in a thread that went viral: it was a pointless debate over OP’s incorrect interpretation of an arc. Shen Yuan was clearly right, he even had quoted several chapters to prove his point and so the other user had resorted to personal insults. OP had typed something like “You are ridiculous! When will you admit that you are actually a fan of the novel and not an hater?!” To which Shen Yuan had responded with “When Mobei-Jun gets married”

Now, this should have ended the discussion in Shen Yuan’s favor: the meme usually got lots of likes regardlessly of the context, and so he would have won the debate.

But OP for reason had decided to tag Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky himself.  “Great Master Airplane, would you marry Mobei-Jun if it means getting Peerless Cucumber admitting that he likes your story?”

To everyone’s surprise the author (sleep deprived an high on caffeine and energy drinks) actually did answer “Damn, I would marry Mobei-Jun for free”.

True to his writing style Airplane dropped the bomb to never addressed it again. That comment had started another meme, although less popular than the other about Mobei-Jun having been married the whole time to the author himself and the ship AirplaneXMobei became the most popular for the character. There few fans that had written crackfics had been insufferable about it, even resurrecting the ‘I shipped X before it was cool’ format just to flex.

After transmigrating into the scum villain and masterfully avoiding the original good’s fate, Shen Yuan one day receives an invitation to a wedding, accompanied by a mission by the System that just says ‘True to your word: User must respect the vow he once made’. Shen Yuan immediately understands what this is about: he would rather jump into the Endless Abyss than do that.

#I am obsessed by #the lost memes of PIDW #that book must have been a mine of memes #and its community pretty toxic #imagine the DRAMA #not sure if we were robbed or spared #but I still would like to know more #svsss #headcanon time #pidw #Shen Yuan #peerless cucumber #shen quingqiu #airplane shooting towards the sky #Shang Qinghua #Mobei Jun #moshang #somehow?

[jon-withnoh]

Helloooo Jon I'm here for the ask game

😅 🤗 ✨️

Have a great day :)

Camel

What’s a story or scene you’ve created that you’re a smidge embarrassed exists? This is a great question! It always depends on context. I’m very fond of Was Wird Aus Uns as a whole, but in the first chapters it’s a little obvious (at least to me) that I was getting back into writing prose after a long break. Many of the descriptions are a little over-written, but I don’t necessarily want to go back and edit them as I might do with original work, because they also show how far I’ve come since then. I’m a little embarrassed about those chapters (especially when people who I think are really cool are reading the fic), but at the same time I find them quite endearing. Also there’s the smut. Uh, yeah, still embarrassed about that one! I’m leaving it up though, because a) some people have it bookmarked and I respect that and b) it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.

What advice would you give new fanfic writers that are just getting started? Write the story that you want to read, not what you think other people in the fandom want to read. In the early chapters of Nie Wirst Du, I was pushing myself to make the fic more explicit than I’m really comfortable with (those of you who were there from the beginning might remember the initial Explicit rating), because it would have fit right into all those juicy character dynamics I was creating. However, trying to write a more explicit story was also really stressing me out, so I took a step back from it and wrote it in a way I was more comfortable with. Same for Was Wird Aus Uns. It’s fluffy and sweet because that’s what I wanted to read at the time. Some of my favourite oneshots get very little attention, but I still think they’re some of my best fics. Just write the fic that you think needs to exist! There’s some really excellent writing in this fandom and it might be tempting to write in the style of other authors or borrow ideas from them, but in the end, nobody can write the fic you write. That’s what makes it cool and special and yours. Also, if anybody gives you a hard time or is weird about your writing, you don’t have to engage. You could even just mute or block them. We’re here to enjoy a shared space and celebrate each other’s writing.

Give you and your writing a compliment. Well, one thing I’m very proud of is that I’ve really made these characters my own. The way I write Danny, Rebecca, Beatrice or Ich is my own way of writing them and that’s really fun! For me, there’s no tension between having my own versions of these characters and absolutely adoring and enjoying how other people are writing them. We all bring something specific to the table and we’ll all have slightly different perspectives on the same characters. I find that very enjoyable.

Thanks for the questions, Camel! I hope you have a lovely day whenever you see this :)

#rebecca das musical #my fic #ask games

[linklethehistorian]

Okay, I was determined that I was not gonna make this…until a certain post just appeared on my dash for a second time by a second well-meaning individual who just wanted to share writing advice with followers.

I was originally going to just ignore it the first time, but at this point it is very clear that it needs to be said. I will be making this as a separate post rather than a reblog, because I typically don’t believe in writing argumentative things on other people’s original posts, but seriously.

I am utterly sick and tired of posts that are like “all I’m saying is if you do [x thing that actually, plenty of both normal hobbyists and professional writers do alike], I’m clicking out.” You must really have your head pretty damn far up your ass if you think that what you as a singular reader will personally do if you stumble upon a fic should genuinely discourage a writer from writing the way they want to and how they enjoy, for thinking that they should take your personal preference and your opinions into account in their creations — much less to actually make a post that’s clearly meant to intimidate new writers into conforming to your “one true way to write” bullshit.

No. You’re being fucking entitled over something completely free made out of the love and passion and goodness of someone’s heart, and which you’re lucky even exists in the first place; you don’t, in fact, have a right to see people “learn” a “better way” to do things because there are more people out there doing things the so-called “wrong” way than you’d like there to be.

If you don’t like someone doing a given thing, then go ahead and click out — it’s obviously not for you and that’s valid and you’re free to dislike it on a personal level — but it doesn’t make anyone a bad writer for doing it, or less of a writer, or less skilled; even if it were some kind of rule that was once put in in place to do things the way you’re saying — which it’s not — plenty of famous great authors have broken, are currently breaking, and will continue to break these so-called rules and still go on to be famous and beloved because of it, and be considered great and iconic for those choices.

Also, as far as that one I’ve seen which concerns the supposed “error” of describing a person instead of just using their name or pronouns all the fucking time? Tell me you’ve never written a slash fic without telling me you’ve never written a slash fic — or even one where two characters of the same gender are in the same scene for more than a few exchanges, much less interacting.

And if you have written one of those fics, then guess what? It’s time to turn the tables on you and see how the shoe fits: because, as far as I’m concerned, if you take this advice of yours when writing such things, then your fic is actually the bad one, and I’m going to click out of it without finishing, because it sucks.

…Stupid and rude thing to say when it’s directed at you and what you think is good writing, isn’t it? But it’s true: different people have different tastes. I don’t genuinely think you’re a bad writer or that you should change your ways if you write like this, but I also am serious when I say I would never willingly and knowingly read a fic like that, much less would I enjoy it or think it’s ‘good’ insofar as my own personal tastes and interests.

I think your writing style sucks to read. You think my writing style sucks to read. Neither of us are objectively right, because art isn’t about following a certain set of rules decided by someone else — unless that’s what you personally want your own art to be.

It’s one thing to give advice that you personally think is great and give tips on what you’ve learned in your own writing journey, but rudely and arrogantly proclaiming that if someone doesn’t conform to your hyper specific writing rules, they’re a bad writer and what they’re doing is a bad thing is entirely another.

Learn to be a respectful adult that can behave as such: just say “it’s not for me”, and move on until you find a fic that is, in fact, for you and to your tastes, because that’s all it actually is: it’s not for you. And that’s okay.

Grow the fuck up and realize that the world doesn’t revolve around you, and neither does anyone’s fic.

Conversely, if you want to vent about your personal frustration with the commonality of something you personally don’t like in writing, then do so, but don’t act like you’re just trying to teach people the “right” way to make art, and for the love of all that’s holy, don’t ever fucking tag it as writing “advice” when it it’s no such fucking thing.

‘Advice’ isn’t “do this or you suck and [at least impliedly] no one will read your shit”. That’s an ultimatum. That’s an order with set consequences for disobedience. ‘Advice’ is saying, “personally I think you should do this, because it’s what I would do/personally think is the best way of doing it, but, you can take it or leave it depending on how you feel it should be done; the decision is yours to make.”

I hate that people keep reblogging this shit thinking that it is anything other than this or any better than a person who tries to dictate what pairings or stories or characters you write — because it isn’t. It’s rude and narrow-minded and helps no one. All it does is try to fit art into a box, making writing and other forms of art just about checking things off a list of “do”s and “don’t”s to make sure you do it the “right” way, rather than a way of self-expression and actual freedom of creativity.

“But I really won’t read a fic if — ”

Then don’t. No one wants you to, least of all the OP. It obviously wasn’t made for you. Keep scrolling, leave it for the people whom it actually was made for, and find something you actually enjoy and won’t go on Tumblr to bite the hands that feed you by whining about how unskilled your fellow writers are like a little bitch.

#linklethehistorian #my thoughts #thoughts #non fandom #writing #I’m sorry if I sound a little heated but I have seriously had it up to here with those types of posts #the way they are worded they are nothing but entitled and will only create a world filled with new artists turned into boringass conformist #by people who think they are some kind of art purists

[ennunanaiurov]

I saw some tags and even a comment asking me why I didn't like The Song of Achilles, but I can't reply to comments for some reason, so I'll just write my thoughts on the book here. My score for it on goodreads was 3/5, though it was very close to a 2/5

I hope those who asked will find it :'D

Also please be aware there are spoilers mentioned for the whole book, including the ending.

First, I would like to say that I am very into Greek mythology. I love the myths, the legends and the stories, I love gay shit and I love angst. So by all means, this book should have been straight up my alley.

And yet... it wasn't.

I'd like to start off by saying some good things!

I received the hardcover edition as a birthday gift and it is gorgeous. The cover is textile, it has gold accents and the paper quality was really good.

I also have to give huge props to Madeline Miller for bringing Greek Mythology into the spotlight and getting a new generation of people interested and invested in the stories of those times.

Story wise, I was glad to see it respecting the original story of Achilles and not trying to rewrite it in a fanfictiony-style, but more so just introducing a perspective that not many show. Achilles' relationship with Patroclus has long since been looked at as one of lovers, yet many have tried to diminish that and leave them as friends. it's nice to have a book explicitly following them as a couple.

I also liked the fight scenes. They were nicely executed and described, which is why it was such a pity to get so little of them. And this is where we get into the parts I didn't like.

The story is extremely slow-paced when almost nothing happens (the borderline slice-of-life aspect of almost the entire first 2/3 of the book had me banging my head on a table) and too fast-paced when interesting things do happen (the fights, the arguments, conflicts, etc). I understand that the author was perhaps trying to put an emphasis on their life outside of the mythos, but that made it a real chore to get through, because everything interesting was condensed to a paragraph.

An example of this that really pissed me off when I read through it was when Achilles disappeared and Patroclus went after him. You had (1) Patroclus finding out Achilles is missing, (2) him going to the king and basically threatening him into telling him where Achilles was, (3) Patroclus getting on a ship to take him to Achilles, (4) a few weeks to a month (I can't remember the exact time) of him sailing, (5) him reaching the island, (6) him asking to speak to the king but instead speaking to the princess, (7) the princess shooing him away only to call him back later to then (8) show him her famous dancers, (9) Patroclus recognizing Achilles as being one of the dancers, (10) the two of them reuniting and the princess desperately trying to claim Achilles as hers, (11) her revealing they slept together, (12) her revealing that Thetis basically married them, (13) her revealing that she's pregnant, (14) Patroclus storming off only to be followed by Achilles who tried to explain the situation and apologies, (15) Patroclus, obviously, forgiving him. All of this happened in 19 pages (note that the font is also big and the spacing between the text and the edge of the page is also big, so really, this is at most 10 normal pages).

This blew my mind. I was genuinely so upset I almost stopped right there. Like are you kidding me???? How are we going to breeze through so much stuff so god damn fast. it felt like I was reading a resume, not an actual story. And on the other hand you have entire chapters describing one uneventful and borderline boring evening on the beach. Like explain to me the logic there?

It just feels like the the focus was placed on the least interesting things. It made the story not have any real moments of tension for me. Every issue or argument was solved almost on the same page it started.

Another problem I had was the rule of "Show don't tell" which is very popular in movies. I feel like it is as important in books as well, and it is definitely a problem here. We are constantly being told that Achilles is a great fighter, yet we barely see it. We are told Achilles commands his armies with his words, yet we never know what he says. We are told they learn a lot under Chiron yet we never actually see what. It bothered me a lot.

Speaking of the writing, it is overly-poetic. That doesn't really fit my own taste, though I understand why other may like it, so this point is entirely subjective.

One last thing that bothered me quite a lot was the way their gay relationship was talked about or treated. It felt like it was a relationship that was kept carefully, that other characters eyed them because of it. Yet in Greek history, gay relationships like these were extremely common, and not just that, Achilles would have been looked at with even more respect for having a lover. It was a sign of power and status. So the relationship being shown more in the lenses of today bothered me.

My favorite parts of the story were definitely at the very end, where we finally got to be on the battlefield. Like I've mentioned earlier, Madeline Miller is very good at writing fight scenes. They feel real and believable and are described in a way that makes it easy to visualize. But they were short and only really consisted of two or three chapters tops.

I also didn't understand some design choices.

For one, after a space break within chapters, the very first paragraph always misses the first-line indent, yet every other paragraph has it. I do not understand why this is so. Another thing is that the chapters sometimes have a break marked by *** which usually would indicate a scene change or something. Yet the following paragraphs, more often than not, pick up exactly where it left off. So I wonder, then, what was the point of it being there? At the very end of the book there are also 12 blank pages, and I couldn't help joking that they were trying to see how many trees they could kill per book. It's just weird, having so many useless pages for no real reason.

In conclusion, I did not like this book.

The only reason it's a 3 star and not a 2 star review is that the interactions between Achilles and Patroclus, few as they were (and they really were very few. Most of it is just Patroclus crying and waxing poetic after Achilles, but their actual interactions are few and far between), were quite adorable.

I understand where the hype comes from, there are a lot of tropes that are popular, not to mention the gay TM. And booktok did it a lot of good by posting about it everywhere.

However, the book was, in my personal opinion, meh.

#the song of achilles #I don't mean to upset anyone or judge people for liking the book so please don't take it as such #everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I'm glad it's getting people into Greek mythology #just not my thing

[wine4thewin]

Any writing tips for a n00b?

Oh, that’s a loaded question! 😙

I’ve been writing for the better part of roughly 20 years, on and off. Writing takes time and practice and I can say that what I write this year is different from what I wrote the year before or even the year before that. Writing evolves the more you do it and no one wants to hear that LOL

Writing advice is tough, because many writers are different in their methods. Not all methods work for everyone. Fifteen years ago, I would start at page one without a single clue as to the ending…and guess what? In those cases, I never reached the end, even if I had a great starting chapter 😆 I have drawers full of things I wrote when I was young and never finished.

Some people are able to write in perfect order. Some people make an outline with 500 words for each chapter just to get started. My own preference is to envision a beginning, a crucial turning point in the middle, and where I expect the characters to end. Who the characters are and what quirks make them stand out. How will they change? What changes them, for better or worse? I write scenes out of order, scenes I’m absolutely excited about or passionate about. Eventually, the more I write, the more I ‘see’ happening. I started connecting the scenes. I generally create an actual chapter outline once I’m 5,000-10,000 words deep into a story 😅 the outline always moves…it is never set in stone. Ever.

Generic tips with my obnoxious long-winded additions below the cut:

*Don’t get hung up on word count. It’s unnecessary stress. Words should be organic, not forced.

*Don’t write a chapter without a point. Something MUST happen in each chapter. There must be something to push the story forward.

*Write whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about order, cut and paste exists for a reason! I never write in order.

*Write down ideas as they come to you! Anytime, anywhere. Use your phone notepad app. Revisit them later when you have time.

*Think about what you like about your favorite author’s style. This is helpful for new writers as they find their “voice”.

*This is more advanced, but think about how your characters sound! Don’t have two characters say things the exact same way. Like, maybe there’s a character who loves to say ‘bingo’ when they’re excited or a character who never says much at all. Maybe one character swears often, but another never does. You want people to hear characters and know the difference between them. I’ve read traditionally published books that I tossed because I couldn’t tell a single difference between any of the characters aside from their names. In fact, I don’t read as much as I used to, because I became such a fucking stooge when editing my own original fiction & fanfics. While typos and grammar don’t bother me, it’s hard for me to leave plot editor mode 🤣

*If you want to be aggressive, give yourself deadlines. Make yourself write every day, even if it’s just 200 words.

*If you don’t love something anymore, put it away. Don’t force yourself. Inspiration may come back. It might not. Move on and use new inspiration on a new project! I have so many original stories that are chilling for a rainy day when I want to pick them back up again.

*Most importantly, write what YOU want to read, not what you think others want. I once was penpals with a writer I respected and she confided she would not be writing anymore for the series that caught my attention, because, as she said “it wasn’t mainstream enough to catch traditional publishers & traditional readers eyes”. I found that to be saddening, because I knew she loved the dark fantasy world she created, but felt writing solely for other people would earn her better money which is true, but would she love writing as much? Sometimes, the answer is no.

Good luck in your journey writing! Just sit down and write! You might not get anywhere at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Obviously, different things may work for you than for me. Everyone is creative in different ways! 🥰

#asks #writing #writing tips #evilpeaches ao3 random writing tips

[ivory0915]

DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE GENRES

Literature teaches us humanity, to be sensitive and empathetic towards others. It also provides us an outlet for our thoughts, emotions, and imagination. During the 21st century, these literary pieces have transcended from paper to the digital world and has never stopped ever since.

In this blog, I am going to specify three very important and renowned 21st Century Literature Genres, and we will compare and contrast them. The three pieces are: Graphic Novel, Manga, and Doodle Fiction.

Graphic Novels are narrative and written in comic book formats. These novels can be employed in broad manner, encompassing non- fiction to fiction, from short to long stories.Manga, a Japanese word for comics, is a generic term for all comic books and graphic novels originally published in Japan.Doodle Fictions, are literary presentations where the author incorporates doodle writing, drawing, and handwritten graphics in place of the traditional font to enhance the story, or to add humurous effects.

(Differences in terms of Structure) Differences in Manga and Graphic Novels are very little since both are in comic book style. Both of which have panels to separate a scene from another scene. In terms of text, they vary their language and structure in the formality of the pieces. Basically, the most obvious difference in structure is in contrast to Doodle Fictions. Doodle Fictions follow a novel or story book type of narration, unlike the Manga and Graphic Novels. Doodle fictions show both text and pictures in a way like articles are written, while, the comic book styles don't. (Differences in terms of Elements) Although they have their many respective elemental similarities, they're most common elemental difference is in art style and narration. Doodle fictions use handwritten elements to write its text and drawing. Manga use a very specific Japanese art style to draw the graphics, also they are read from right to left. Elements in Manga always pertain, exclusively, to the Japanese. These Japanese elements include culture, the people, environment, behavior, and the likes. Whereas, the Doodle Fictions and Graphic Novels can be from any country. Lastly, Graphic novels use a very Americanized art style in drawing the comic, and must be read from left to right. (Similarities) In order to tell a story, all of these genres need drawings, illustrations, or graphics. To be even more clear, each of these styles includes images that effectively interest readers. All of them are from the twenty-first century. Each genre could not have existed without the use of a computer or other digital technologies.

The three of these 21st century literary masterpieces have many similarities and differences in terms of structure and elements, yet, these don't actually matter when you read them. Just have fun, be entertained, appreciate the art, and live life at your fullest. Always remember to keep rekindling the fire of literature. All sources for the definition of each literature came from 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World.

#Grade11Humss21stCenturyLiteratureFromthePhilippinesandtheWorld

[rydain]

Yuletide 2023 Letter

Dear Yuletide author,

Thank you so much for writing for me! For anyone unfamiliar with a requested fandom, here there be spoilers - please do be warned. For anyone curious about my own writing, I’m over on AO3 under my usual handle.

General Preferences

Yes Please

Canon tone and setting, or a fitting interpretation thereof for a particular bobblehead murder house of 1920s glamour and modern memetic humor. A strong sense of optimism if said tone allows for it, earned as it might be through its share of angst. Drama stemming from the pressures of setting and conflicts of personal goals and life paths. Emphasis on the sweet within any bitterness. Competent characters trying to do better for themselves, futile as it might be at times. Sex if it fits and is comfortable to write, fade to black otherwise.

Hell No

Nonconsensual sex - coercion or rape. Graphic descriptions of illness, violence, or injuries. Non-canon character death. Non-canon abusive interpretations of characters. Lives effectively being ruined. Emphasis on bigotry - excessive slurs or a focus of the narrative rather than a natural influence on how characters are seen or required to live their lives. Stupidity, immaturity, and general facilitation of petty drama from characters thoughtful enough to damn well know better. Humiliation and embarrassment humor. Focus on non-canon pregnancy or parenthood.

The Breakfast Club

Claire Standish, Allison Reynolds

I’d just love to see more with either or both of these characters - especially more about who they are as people, and how the detention experience continued to shape their growth.

Some possible inspiration -

Post-movie mutual appreciation - anywhere from just happy to see each other around to having closer friendly and/or romantic relations.

The aftermath of their awkward hookups with Bender and Andy, whether any of that goes anywhere (short or long term) or remains a one-off reflex of rebellion and the weird bonding aspect of detention.

Flipping the script of Allison’s obligatory goth-to-prep makeover. Does any of that actually vibe with her to incorporate in her own way? Does she encourage Claire to try out a change of style?

Do not want -

Bender/Brian (as a couple - friendship is fine) or Vernon/any of the kids.

Strange Horticulture

I love the bleak yet cozy Edwardian setting and the fantastic catalog of plants created for the game. I’d especially love to see more of the actual horticulture and the townspeople, either canon or original - studying and researching plants, dealing with difficult ailments and people, perhaps even winning over some cynics and skeptics. The more fantastical aspects of the game’s plot can certainly be mentioned - I’d simply prefer a focus on the more everyday business that it leaves so much room to dig into.

Creative formatting (including images), sequences of short stories, and epistolary framing are all very much welcome.

The Sexy Brutale

Gold Skull, Lafcadio

These two represent a duality of torment and forgiveness that I’d love to see explored - either together, or separately if you prefer to focus on one or the other.

Some possible inspiration -

Lafcadio is both an idealized aspect of Lucas and an old friend of his. Was Gold Skull respectively inspired by someone Lucas knew, or is he all in his head?

What does Gold Skull actually do when you see him around the manor? Is he also working behind the scenes in his own way, or more so observing and introspecting? In the prior loops before you take control of Lafcadio, what sort of interaction might they have?

Conversations with each other, and/or Lucas - either in the background of Lucas’ self-torment, or after the ending of the game - helping him come to terms with the tragedy in their own ways.

Greyson Greyson, Redd Rockridge

I ship Greyson and Redd like FedEx, as my fandom presence will attest. If you’d rather write them as friends or colleagues or newly minted partners in shenanigans, that’s absolutely cool, too. My main request is for them to be happy and better off for each other’s influence - either alive in a world where the terrible, horrible, no good spoiler never befalls them, or as ghosts carrying on with the tomfoolery. I’m also cool with full on AU if you want to have fun with these archetypes in some other setting, including a crossover.

I love these boys’ professional competence and intellect - but I also love how their flailing about the theater throws much of that out the window for the sake of bleak humor - so it would be hilarious to see some scenario devolve into a comedy of errors because they’re too busy checking each other out and/or flirting.

Any and all other end game couples and friendships (as friends or romantic partners) are welcome, as are feel-good polyamorous implications or explorations.

Some possible inspiration -

Treasure hunts! How did they get involved with these in the first place? What else were they after - successfully or amusingly not - besides that damn egg?

They're said to be the life of the party. Let's see more masquerade fun times, please!

In a full on alternate universe, they’re both brought onto some heist or other scheme.

#yuletide 2023

[cjp-film]

Critical reflection

FF 29/04/23

Making this film has been a great experience from beginning to end. For starters, our group worked extremely well together, getting on as friends as well as respecting each other’s talents and roles in production. As a first time producer, I was quite nervous and frankly a bit overwhelmed with all the responsibility in pre production, but with the support of my group members (a few who had produced themselves before) I felt more confident. From my past project in Film Genre, we had quite an unorganised production, therefore I was keen to learn from these mistakes and ensure that the same thing doesn’t happen again. This is because a lot of these mistakes led to large, unfixable problems on set and in post production, sadly leaving us with a film which could have been so much better. However, for Juli, I enjoyed producing, and the fact that it gave me authority on set and the ability to make key decisions in order to keep everything running smoothly. I created a tight shooting schedule which I attempted to follow on shoot day 1, however as everyone knows, shooting always runs behind schedule. Instead, on days 2 and 3, I made windows of time where getting a particular shot would be most efficient, giving us more flexibility and freedom over time. As well as keeping an eye on the time on set, I also took on the role of first AD, shouting the calls and using the clapper board - making sure Robbie was aware of which shot or take was which, ensuring a smooth editing process. I helped out with production design, shopping for costumes with Abbie as we built the perfect look for each character, keeping in mind how this would look on location and on camera. The location definitely did a lot for how the film looked, and we took advantage of the big space in which we had this opportunity. We took some time blocking and figuring out where each scene was going to take place, and I think we chose the best setups practically and logically. I think our largest obstacle on set was probably working with the actors. As grateful as I am for them, and additionally being part of the team in making a great film, there were parts of John’s acting performance which weren’t quite what we wanted. He was less inclined to listen to the schedule, he didn’t know his lines at all (even though he had the script for quite some time). This led to a lot of time wasting - a producer’s nightmare. This performance issue was picked up on in the crit, as in the edit Robbie had to cut a lot around it, resulting in a lot of the shots focusing on Juli. Some shots were unusable due to lines being incorrect, or wrong eyeline. This was not the case for the whole shoot however. By the end, the actors had really embodied their characters and it was hard to imagine anyone else playing them.

In regards to the crit, I was pretty happy with the feedback we were given. Personally, I think our final film is original and funny, with brilliant cinematography and a bold colour grade to finish it off. The biggest problems that came up were the jumps in style, and practical issues such as fridges turning on between takes. I think the most praise we got was from the success in cinematography, and how this establishes the mood between the characters well. The characters were also well rounded and bounced off each other nicely - this is due to the clever writing from Abbie. Another thing which I thought we succeeded well with was establishing the mood with the score, which was a stylish opening to the film along with the long shot. But the film as a whole definitely reflected on how we worked well together as a group, starting with the original idea and actually making things happen. I’ve been more ambitious than I’ve been in the past with this project, thanks to a group who wants to make a memorable film. We hope to submit it to festivals and gain a small recognition for it.

[ogmosis]

CRIME FICTION TRANSLATOR INTERVIEW: JOSEPH FARRELL

Joseph Farrell is Professor Emeritus in Italian at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He has translated several Italian novels by the likes of Valerio Varesi and Leonardo Sciascia. His theatre works include English editions of plays by Dario Fo, Eduardo De Filippo, Carlo Goldoni and Luigi Pirandello plus three film scripts by Giuseppe Tornatore. He is co-author with Franca Rame of Non è tempo di nostalgia and La mia vita, le mie battaglie with the novelist Dacia Maraini. His latest Varesi translation is The Unseen, which has been published in the UK through Patrician Press.

Matthew Ogborn: How much fun is it to translate Valerio's novels, which are packed with so much atmosphere unique to a particular region and so many characters that sing on the page in manifold ways?

Joseph Farrell: "Every exercise of translation is a mixture of enjoyment and frustration, a combination of challenges which can lead to a pleasurable sense of achievement or to downright despair. The reference to the 'atmosphere' which is 'unique to a particular region' goes to the heart of the matter. Atmosphere is intangible but vital, and recognising it as central to translation work is the key to the success of any translation. Not all linguistic dilemmas can be wholly resolved, although most can with care and imagination, but there are elements which are specific to the individual writer, some of which escape their notice and as such defy the translator's efforts.

"George Steiner identifies four moments in the process of translation: trust, aggression, incorporation, and retribution. 'Trust' and 'retribution', he writes, honour the source text and the author's intentions, while 'aggression' and 'incorporation' are associated with the efforts of the translator. I like that distribution of responsibility between writer and translator.

"Translation is thus a co-operative work, even if the original writer is dead or unco-operative. Valerio Varesi was highly co-operative, always prepared to answer queries and enter into discussion. A watershed book on translation was Lawrence Venuti's The Invisible Translator (1995) but never before has the translator been so visible and translation so much discussed, rarely by practitioners. Tim Parks is an exception, and unsurprisingly his essays are the ones I find most helpful and acute. Venuti made a much discussed distinction between two tendencies in translation, the tendency to 'foreignise' and the competing wish to 'domesticate'. Parks said that he mistrusts any translator who does not feel both of these urges.

"I agree, but the tension between two remains. Translation is a process of remaking, but what is the writer's role and what is the translator's? This is not to lend any credence to unjustifiable notions of the translator as 'second author', since the author's part is to develop plot, character, individual scenes and encounters, debate questions of values, advance certain views and reject others, and together these elements constitute the author's vision and dictate his style.

"The translator's task is to convey this creation in another language to readers of another culture. The translator has to devise voice and context, to collaborate with, and never contest, a recasting of the original. Transposing the vision is feasible, if challenging, but re-creating the style is the equivalent of the labours of Hercules. D. H. Lawrence, the greatest of the writer-translators – whatever the deficiencies of his knowledge of Italian – insisted on respecting the specificity of Verga's Sicilian work, and particularly of his dialect.

"One of Valerio Varesi' remarkable talents as a writer is his ability to create lively, engaging dialogue, notable especially in the interrogation scenes where his detective is intent on drawing out information, often without alerting the other person he is under suspicion. Equally, the more personal conversations between Commissario Soneri and Angela are reported with skill and sensitivity.

"His works are set in very particular geographical area, the city of Parma and the banks of the Po. He creates the terrain for his fiction, and his readers return to it with the joy of recognition of characters and landscapes. This carefully defined landscape presents no greater barrier to the task of the translator or the enjoyment of the reader than does a novel set in Dostoyevsky's Saint Petersburg or Balzac's Paris. As I noticed while translating successive novels by Varesi, the passages of descriptive prose, particularly of the scenery along the Po or in the countryside outside Parma, were reduced in number in successive books. Perhaps he was unaware of this shift, or felt that he had made his scene sufficiently concrete in the early novels, for there is a sense that all his crime fiction constitute one ongoing, developing novel.

"However, they are also set in an equally definable social, moral or even spiritual zone. The classical detective story, Anglo-American in origin, was essentially a moral tale, and so too are Varesi's. Further, his characters are vividly drawn, bursting with life, with a richness of experience which expressed not just lived experience but elements of local and national history. That added to the delight, and difficulty, of rendering his work in English."

How does Valerio differ from the other Italian authors that you translate from the native language?

"It is the merest cliché to say that every writer worthy of the name expresses his own world and his fiction expresses his reaction to it. Varesi is interesting for, among other things, being author of two genres of fiction normally held to be quite distinct – the crime story and the political novel. On the one hand, he has written a trilogy of novels on post-war Italy, while on the other he has written a series of detective stories featuring Commissario Soneri, but in important aspects the two series merge. His gialli are not merely works written as pastimes or vacuous entertainment to while away empty hours, perhaps while travelling by train; they constitute examinations of Italian society.

"Soneri and Angela recall their own youth in the years of the contestazione, evoking not just the passion of those years but the belief, commitment and hope of that time, and contrast them with the cynicism and shallowness of the power-worship of political practice now. He surveys aspects of Italian society by means of the detective novel. For instance, in River of Shadows, he examines the complex legacy of the Resistance, in Gold, Frankincense and Dust the ecclesiastical influence and in The Lizard Strategy he probes political corruption.

"In some novels, he introduces an oracular figure, an outsider, perhaps a displaced tramp or a priest, whom Soneri meets to converse on matters which transcend the crime investigation and which probe the values, or lack of values of society. This ability to pose awkward political and social questions differentiates his work from that of his contemporary crime writers in Italy or abroad."

Both as a translator and writer yourself, what is it that makes Italy so fascinating to you and how important is crime fiction in commenting on society particularly with the current political landscape shifting towards the right again?

"There are two very different questions here: a) I have written extensively for newspapers and journals on Italian politics, and the main point I want to make is that the love I feel for Italy, its culture and society – and for Sicily in particular   –  is of a quite different order from the political dimension of Italian life. My affinity with things Italian is entirely impervious to any distaste for the conduct of politicians. I should add that I also detest the condescending way in which British commentators tend to observe political behaviour in Rome, or Palermo, as though the conduct of politics in Westminster were of an intrinsically superior level. This judgment has suffered a jolt with events at British Cabinet level in the 21st century.

"I went to Rome in the 1960s and attended university for three years. I was studying philosophy so a knowledge of the literature came later, but I was immediately fascinated by the city, the exuberance of life lived at a different tempo from any I was accustomed to, even by the climate which made possible the banal fact of living outdoors. I was also drawn by Rome's overlapping historical periods as visible in stone, and particularly by its architecture. Nothing made as strong and impact as the diverging styles, and rivalry, of the 18th century contemporaries,  Bernini and Borromini. I had no interest then in Italian politics. This multi-dimensional fascination with Italy cannot be shaken.

"b) In crime fiction, there is no Italian equivalent of the village or drawing murder story of the Agatha Christie type, even if Christie herself is translated and widely read. There is a map of Italian crime writers which covers all Italy, Varesi in Parma, Sciascia and Camilleri in Sicily, Lucarelli in Bologna, and Machiavelli in Turin. They are all linked to their own native places, but the probes in their crime fiction reveal the deep ambiguity of their relationship to these places. They are not afraid to expose beneath the surface decencies a hidden, concealed foundations. This probing has become more relentless since the emergence of Berlusconi as a political force, and the emergence of the League as a national, not regional power. It is reasonable to assume that this wish to view crime not as the act of a deviant individual but as a symptom of a social ill will continue under the government of the extreme right coalition led by Giorgia Meloni."

Read the English version of my Valerio Varesi interview HERE.

Leggi la versione italiana della mia intervista a Valerio Varesi QUI.

#joseph farrell #crime fiction #valerio varesi #agatha christie #sciascia #camilleri #lucarelli #machiavelli #parma #sicily #bologna #turin #bernini #borromini #commissario soneri #the unseen #river of shadows #the lizard strategy #University of Strathclyde #Dario Fo #Eduardo De Filippo #Carlo Goldoni #Luigi Pirandello #Giuseppe Tornatore #Franca Rame #Non è tempo di nostalgia #La mia vita le mie battaglie #Dacia Maraini #Patrician Press #George Steiner

[writerforfun]

8 Rules for Writing Fiction: Tips to Guide Your Writing Process

Protect your writing process. Every single writer will tell you how important it is to stay organized and devoted to your daily work—this will help you get through the rough patches you’re likely to encounter. It can be extremely difficult to get published, and rejection is the norm for most writers. Coping with it will require a balance. You’ll need humility to accept that your work can improve, but you’ll also need a blazing confidence that will allow your creative inspiration to continue flowing.

Find your space. Some authors like to carve out intensely personal space. Authors need to write, no matter the distractions: Jane Austen wrote in a busy family parlor, E.B. White wrote in his crowded living room. Ernest Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegu all worked in the early mornings to limit distractions. Maya Angelou famously rented hotel rooms to get away from daily nuisances. Try to find a space that works for you. It should be free of distractions (a definition that will depend upon your tolerance level) and provide a source of inspiration to you.

Make your writing flow. Some authors are sticklers for the placement of apostrophes, others swear by modern, free-form structure. Regardless of which you align with, your writing should still flow well and be easy to understand. Cut out any superfluous adjectives and adverbs (a likely result of an overly enthusiastic dive into the thesaurus in search of just the right word) and try to eliminate passive voice in favor of active voice. Make your writing more active by looking carefully at your word choices, getting rid of generic words and clichés, and choosing concise phrasing.

Experiment with narrative point of view. Point of view is the “eye” through which you’re telling a story. Most novels are written in one of two styles: First person, which involves a narrator who tells their story. (“I ran toward the gate.”) Or third person, which is the author telling a story about a character. (“He woke up that morning.”) While first person narration can provide intimacy, it is also limited by the perceptive abilities of the character. This can be useful when creating an unreliable narrator or when creating red herrings. Third person narration is a more flexible choice. It allows you to switch between characters’ points of view. You can even zoom in and out from complete omniscience (a narrative voice that has access to all information in the novel) to what’s called a limited or “close” third point of view (a narrative that adheres to a single character).

Believe there’s no such thing as writer’s block. Writer’s block is often an overwhelming feeling of being stuck. You’ve written part of a novel, maybe you’ve even finished an outline, but you just can’t move forward. Every time you sit down at your desk, your mind goes blank, or you can’t decide what to do next. This experience is common among writers, and there are ample tools for working through it. Take a break from the work, do something else for a while, and return a few days (or week, or months) later to view your draft with a fresh eye. The most important rule is to keep moving, whatever that means for you.

Focus on character development. Character and event are inseparable—a person is defined by the series of events that happen to them. In a novel, a character interacts with events over time. Your job as a writer is to learn about your main character by observing how they interact with the world around them. Characters—like real people—have hobbies, pets, histories, ruminations, and obsessions. They have a backstory. It’s essential to whatever you’re writing that you understand these aspects of your character so that you are equipped to understand how they may react under the pressures of events they encounter. Ideally, your characters will be distinct enough to be memorable, but for all those minor characters who are emerging in your novel, it’s good practice to provide hints that will help the reader distinguish who each character is, so they can remember their various story arcs.

Find balance in the types of sentences you use. In all writing, there are two types of narration: scene and dramatic narration. In scene, you show the characters performing an action or having a conversation. This tends to speed up the pacing. In dramatic narration, you simply tell the reader what the characters did, but the event remains “offstage.” This type of narration can slow the story down. To keep pacing from feeling monotonous, it’s a good idea to vary the two modes of writing. For some writers, that means breaking up long flowing sentences with sentence fragments on a paragraph-to-paragraph level, while others switch tones between chapters.

Get your story down on paper. Focus on getting through your first draft from start to finish, and remember that you can always go back and change things later. If novel-writing feels too intimidating, try writing a short story instead. (Though short stories can be deceivingly more difficult to write than novels since they require a concise and extremely economical narrative containing all the elements of a novel—in a fraction of the space.) You can begin with the first chapter, or you can use an outline—you can choose to approach your story in any order that feels right for you. You will inevitably make changes to your original plan along the way, and this is a good thing. If tracking your word count feels empowering, set up daily goals. If you prefer to let your words of prose flow in a self-determined fashion, be kind to yourself and respect whatever output comes.

Article source: here

#writersociety #writers of instagram #writer community #writing #writers #write #writing tips #writing advice #amwriting #writing life #writeblr #writing analytics #writer #writer stuff #writing excersise #Writing Theory #Pacing #Writing pace #Writing pacing #Writing advice writing reference #Writing reference #writers of tumblr #tumblr writers #writers of the world

[snow-in-the-desert]

Dramione Recommendations

Ok so, 2020 has been A LOT but on a personal note one of the most surprising things to happen was me discovering Dramione fanfiction and becoming unashamedly obsessed with it. I really didn’t see that coming but I’m here now and I’m here to stay. 

I think I started reading in the Dramione fandom around mid July last year?? (In all honesty I’ve lost any true sense of time’s progression at this point so I could be well off the mark with that) And I’ve decided to compile a list of all my favourite fics I’ve read so far. Why? I really just want to gush over all the amazing writers I have found through this fandom because y’all deserve it. 

Side note: If any of the authors actually sees this post just dm so I can buy you coffee or post you writing supplies or something idk I feel like that’s the least I can do for all your amazing work x

Remain Nameless by @heyjude19-writing

Ok I have to start with RN because this fic is pretty much the sole reason I decided to create an account with A03 or a tumblr or just decided to get involved with this fandom at all. 

I headcannon this story hard. But I think even if you aren’t a fan of Dramione you should just read this because it is so unbelievably good and well written and poignant and Draco’s sarcastic personality in this is truly a thing of beauty in this - I relate to his inner monologue’s on a deep personal level. 

I could rave about this story any time, any day of the week, just ask me. In fact, maybe I’ll just start a HeyJude19 fan club to fulfill that urge.

There are so many elements that I love but for the sake of brevity, RN is a beautifully told story of Draco and Hermione finding love and healing in a post-war HP setting. Heyjude19 had the very special ability of making me want to simulatenously laugh, cry and swoon with the power of her words. Just stop what you are doing and go read it now if you havent already, ok?  

I also really enjoyed reading Bells on a Hill, Beers, Potions and Unwise Notions and A Shift in Focus, if you are looking for smaller fics, definitely give these a go. They are all funny and heartfelt stoires that will make your tippy toes wriggle with glee. 

The Rights and Wrongs Series by @lovesbitca8

The Right Thing To Do, All The Wrong Things and The Auction are the holy trinity of Dramione writing. I have christened it thus, so mote it be. And frankly I’m not interested in any other opinion than that one, thank you very much!

After reading this series I don’t think I’ll be able to look back on the orginal HP books without thinking of Hermione’s and Draco’s memories of their time at Hogwarts in these fics as anything other than strictly cannon. 

So many things to love about this series but I think one of the major highlights was Hermione and Draco’s use of occlumency. LoveBitca8 created such beautiful visuals with how occlumency works as a magical practice and seeing Draco and Hermione so devoted to eachother to the point of safeguarding their inner most feelings to protect eachother was unbelievably romantic and poetic. 

Also the smut is divine ;)

Manacled by @senlinyu​

My heart will never be the same after reading this story. Like I actually can’t think about this fic without getting a lump at the back of my throat. I have never felt so emotionally ruined after reading anything, compared to the likes of this fic. Just please, please read it. To badly quote HP, reading Manacled will make you suffer but you’re going to be happy about it.

The flashbacks are a rollercoaster in of themselves but the way Hermione inadvertently refers to them when she is still in a state of memory loss was so heartbreaking to read. My heart still aches for them both. Also its a truly satisfying to see Draco and Hermione written in a way were they are both so fiercly protective of one another. They make my insides go soft. 

I also really enjoyed Snow Fall, Now Is A Gift and All You Want by the author but to be honest anything written by Senlinyu is always thoroughly enjoyable and worth a look. 

The Erised Effect by @adaprix​

Ada is QUEEN of dramione smut but ‘The Erised Effect’ is top tier. Its equal parts funny, romantic, sentimental and oh so sexy. Ada really knows how to build and build on sexual tension and doesn’t disappoint on the final delivery. I’m a big admirer of her writing style and just veraciously read whatever she posts but ‘The Erised Effect’ is just golden. A must read. (Also Pansy’s sexual fantasy in this story is a visual I don’t think I’ll ever be able to remove from my brain so thanks for that Ada)

Also quick side note: Adaprix’ stories were the first I read when I was looking into this fandom and it was enough to get me hooked on the pairing from the get go so I have that to thank Ada for too. I remember devouring all the stories she had posted to A03 and when I was done I was like... now what am I supposed to do with my life?? And that’s basically when I began to look deeper into the fandom and thus the course of my life in 2020 changed for the better. 

Some other stories I love by her are Break for Me, All My Sins, The Big 4-0, The Fucklust Series and The Flat in Bath. 

Clean by @olivieblake​

This 6th Year AU where Draco and Hermione work together on a class assignment and end up falling in love had me feeling all kinds of ways when I read it. I almost don’t know where to start but I think one of the stand out things for me was how immersed I felt in reading it. 

Hogwarts is captured really well, you get a good sense of class atmospheres, character nuances and behind the scenes of events that happen in HBP but from a Draco and Hermione’s perspectives. It’s well executed and intricate tapestry of a fic. With an excellent plot twist ending! 

Also Hermione and Draco’s relationship in this is equal parts fluffy and smutty and it just ticks all the right boxes that you want to see for those characters ;)

Breath Mints / Battle Scars by @onyx-and-elm​

The angst in this one is just *chef’s kiss*

God I love this fic. The way Draco is portrayed is very true to his defensive and tetchy character in the original books but he is also given so much more depth. The way his diary entries are written are just so well executed. It’s a true testament to the author’s creative writing skill. And I LOVE how even though Draco is clearly in such a messed up place, he still has a basic level of self respect and dignity that he won’t tolerate being used or undervalued in his relationship with Hermione. 

Yep, I really love Draco’s characterisation in this one if you can’t tell.  But Hermione is also well written too. Her stuggles and trauma of returning to Hogwarts after war is described in a believable and grounded way. And my heart definitely ached for them both. I just wanted to wrap the pair of them in a big fuzzy blanket and tell them that everything will be alright. 

WANDS OUT! by @persephonestone​

This murder mystery / Dramione / Theo x Harry / AU crossover is everything I didn’t know I wanted until I read it. I felt like I was picked up and plonked right into an alternative dimension where all the characters of HP are just living it up in an Agatha Christie novel. 

It’s a funny and clever story that I found refreshing to read amongst all the other fanfics that are usually cemented in the HP timeline or universe. Theodore Nott in this fic is perfection he should be written like this in every fic from now on in my opinion. I couldn’t stop giggling any time he had a scene in the story.

And the ‘only one bed’ trope in this fic is 10/10. I don’t want to give spoilers but ohmygod. It hits all the right notes. 

The One With Technical Difficulties by cassielassie 

Cassielassie has an excellent three part series of Dramone called ‘The One with...” but I have to give special credit to this story in particular for one main reason. ELEVATOR TROPES. I can’t get enough of em. I think I have my early childhood viewings of NCIS to thank for my obsession with elevator tropes they just do something to me that simply cannot be explained with mere words. The palpable sexual tension of being in a broken down elevator with an ‘enemies to lovers’ pairing, a heated arguement breaks out followed by a discovery of mutual feelings and a romantic embrace...

Eugh. It gets me everytime. And this fic is no exception. I loved it for all the reasons I’ve already stated above but also for the attention to detail in Draco and Hermione’s careers makes this one particularly immersive. The dynamics between them established in this one-shot are convincingly portrayed and the chemistry between them is so undeniably hot. 

The Light is No Mystery by @masterofinfinities​

Yooo if you want to read a dramione fic that is a deep dive into Pureblood culture and Post-War recovery but is also a perfect allegory for discrimination and today’s political landscape of moral grandstanding for votes then look no further than this one. 

This story has a bit of everything. Intrigue, mystery, ptsd and recovery, enemies to lovers / secret relationship, government conspiracy and humour, to name a few. I eargerly await every update to this story and am anxious to know how it ends!

The Eagle’s Nest by HeartOfAspen 

Finally! A fic that gives me the Ravenclaw representation I crave. I think I could recommend this fic on the lore depicted of Ravenclaw house alone. ‘The Stacks’ and Rowena Ravenclaw’s own ‘come and go room’ are just such cool details that I could see being real in the HP universe. 

This fic is so cosy and makes me feel like I’m just popping back into Hogwarts for another year. You get to see all the usuals like prof. Mcgongall, Nearly headless Nick, PEEVES, Hagrid, as well as learn more about minor characters from the other school houses. The story follows Hermione going to her day to day classes and there are interesting concepts about magic and alchemy that are explored. 

Draco and Hermione’s relationship in this one is of course very fluffy and heartfelt. But it’s the attention to detail that really makes this fic outstanding and the experience of reading it feels fleshed out and true to HP universe.

A shorter fic by HeartofAspen that I recommend is one called Set in Stone, it has an adventurous, Indianna Jones vibe to it, that I am so down for. 

Teachable Moments by @purplesugarquills

In this fic Hermione is an innocent little virgin determined to learn everything about sex. And Draco Malfoy is her tutor. If that isn’t enough to get you on board then I don’t know what is. Both Heartfelt and Steamy. PurpleSugarQuills writes smut so well but it’s the progression of their growing attachment and the nervous treading of new uncharted waters of romantic relationships for both of them that just adds a whole other level of feels to the story. Also chapter 9 is like reading poetry - its so good. Eugh just give it a read if you haven’t already.

Les Pèlerins by @pacific-rimbaud

This story is high art. It’s transcendent. Reading this story feels like the emotional equivalent of standing around a hundred glowing fairy lights, sipping hot cocoa and being wrapped in the loving embrace of a s/o. I can’t speak my praises highly enough or even become passably coherent in my words when I try to articulate a review. 

From the very first paragraph I felt like I was just whisked away on a Parisian holiday and I’ve never even bloody been to Paris but damn it if this story didn’t make me feel like I was there. The writing style is just so tactile and intense it’s like I could feel the cold winter air brush against me as I read it. Eugh I just completely fell in love with the story and the writer. 

New Year’s resolution. Read everything PacificRimbaud has ever posted online. 

#This post is the online equivalent of me thrusting a pile of books into your hands and poking at you until you every single one #A behaviour I may or may not already be prone to #dramione #fanfiction #fanfic recommendations #I think I may have missed a few but I think I'll try to make a habit of gushing over new writers as I find them #Doing this just satisfies a deep inner urge in me to just compliment the everloving shit out of writers #who made my life a little more bearable with their words

[bomberqueen17]

replies to my post “retelling canon events in fic”

msilverstar said:                                                                                                                            Yes, as a non-reader please explain!   You do such a good job it won’t be boring.                                                           

kayleigh-janes said:                                                                                                                            Seeing as all my knowledge is through what you’ve written, I’d love a summary of what happened. And please keep that snippet, it is hilarious and I love that Morvran gets to have feelings!                                                  

waxscoralpants said:                                                                                                                      Oh poor Morvran hahaha. Also, I know it wasn’t a question in the end, but as someone whose familiarity with the books and games is almost entirely through meet death sitting, I am always happy with any summaries and/or exposition provided!!!                                

sabra-n said:                                                                                                                            I choose to believe that Netflix Cahir has a cousin named Cahir or something because wtf was that                            

astroloquacious said:                                                                                                              Technically I have read the books, but there’s something about the writing style where even though I’d JUST READ IT, I would only be able to describe what I’d read in general strokes and impressions. That said, Milva has my FUCKING HEART, especially the Milva and Angoulême relationship, so any time we can add more Hansa (and also therefore more Geralt roasting) is good to me.         ��                                               

kushielsmercy said:                                                                                                                      Now this is the kind of Morvran whump I’m here for 🤣 It’s a hard life, bud (pun intended)                                                            

girderednerve said:                                                                                                                    i realize there wasn’t really a question here but i do love it when your characters tell stories, it always feels like a present, lively activity. also MORVRAN, relatable, drinking his respect women juice 😭😭                            

_____________

Pardon the weird formatting, replying to replies is like, prohibitively difficult, but I felt I should collectively respond.

I do feel like I lure people into reading subject matter and darkness levels they wouldn’t normally bother with, so I do feel like-- I gotta be nice where I can, LOL, but also like-- man the books are fun but they aren’t good, I don’t blame anyone for not reading them, especially because apparently none of the English translations convey some level of charm/earthiness present in the originals. There’s a bunch of dumb shit in the books, and regardless of translator, the author has an incredible fondness for really impenetrable framing devices that I cannot summon much patience for. So I’m certainly not judging any fan who can’t or won’t make it through reading the books. They’re not bad, they’re just, sort of also like the Netflix series (and for that matter the games), not good either. Like if you’re on the fence, I’d say go ahead, but if they don’t appeal to you then for God’s sake do not force your way through them, if you’re not predisposed to enjoy them you’re probably just going to have a bad time. (And like. The games. Some really transcendent character moments there. And a whole lot of like. Virulent misogyny and writing that super misses their own point. So I don’t expect anyone to seek those out either!)

So anyway. I’ll do what I can there.

And yeah, the only way I can see Netflix Cahir coming around to any of the canon Cahir stuff is if he was fucking possessed or something. [Erik Andre Saying Please Say Sike dot Gif]

re: Morvran whump-- this exact scene will probably not appear but I do plan to torture him along these lines. I’m making him be sort of more demi than ace-ace, so he’d assumed he wasn’t into-- that sort of-- thing, but the more he’s exposed to them and the fonder he gets of them the more he’s like-- uh what-- am i supposed to uh-- hnn okay

and anyway in lieu of therapy I’m going to try kink, so. But that’s all material for the sequel. Pearls is going to end with Lu and Ciri finally figuring their shit out, and then I swear the next story’s going to be JUST from Ciri’s POV because we’re missing out on so much because of the dumbass decision I made in like chapter 2 of this story to leave her POV out because it’s in Trust. 😐 This story wasn’t supposed to be this long, and then I realized how much time-space I had to fill to make it match up, so-- anyway. We’re caught up now so I can breeze through the rest EXCEPT Morvran’s family’s not cooperating and now I’m using framing devices like Sapkowski this is terrible. 

#writing #my writing #replying to replies #morvran voorhis #cahir mawr dyffryn aep ceallach #the witcher #more about my process than anyone really needs #lol