#(also sharing all these snippets has really emphasized for me how long all my sentences are jfc)

[thee-morrigan]

for the word search game... hum? or space

Secret third option: both of 'em!

Hum, from--like so many of these snippets lol--an upcoming chapter of attachment theory:

She was still laughing, low and rich, when he caught her other hand and pulled her forward, fingers tugging at hers, coaxing her closer, closer, the easy warmth of her laughter stretching into a pleased hum as she slid into his lap and kissed him, her hands sliding into his hair, fingers curling over the nape of his neck.

And space(s), from the (apparently never-ending) fight-about-your-mommy-issues fic:

That odd twinge of guilt in her chest was back again, as if it were her fault somehow that her mother only ever seemed to see the absence of someone else when she looked at her; guilt, perhaps, that she had never learned to interpret the spaces between the words her mother didn't say.

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in

[bookwyrminspiration]

Do you have any thoughts on the amount of italics in Legacy? I haven’t really seen anyone talk about this, which makes sense because who wants to have a conversation about italics but the sheer amount of italics in Legacy made it a bit more of a distressing reading experience for me. (Also for clarification, this isn’t against Shannon or anything. I don’t think having a lot of italics is necessarily a bad thing, it’s just someone’s writing style.) Keeper does frequently use italics generally, but Legacy seemed to have far more than the previous books, at least to me. It felt like every other sentence had a word italicized for emphasis, and I don’t know why but that just made dialogue so confusing to read for me. Often italicized words can change the meaning/tone of a sentence, but it‘s sometimes difficult to identify what exactly it’s representing when it’s used in so many different ways so frequently. (Not even including telepathic convos here.) Like is it italicized because it’s sarcastic? Because the word’s being drawn out? Because the character is shouting? That word has more emotion than the rest of the sentence? And I’d often have to reread the sentences multiple times to try to understand what‘s going on because it doesn’t make sense that they’d be sarcastic here, so is it emotional? But this isn’t an emotional conversation is it? Just to give a quick example of what I mean, I’m going to put a snippet from legacy here. Since I don’t know how to do italics on anon, the words that were italicized will be in caps instead, so this is a warning to people who are sensitive to that.

”’If I were in your position, I’d DREAD having to talk to him and stall doing it for as long as I could. THAT’S why I want to help. I can save your from the hard parts- AND get stuff taken care of faster.‘“

((Kinda spoiler in this next one-))

“’SERIOUSLY?’ Fitz’s eyes narrowed when Keefe nodded. ‘Wow, you really hate Tam THAT much? Because he’s the one who’ll pay the price if you’re not there- you get that RIGHT?‘ ’He’s also the one who told Keefe to stay away,’ Sophie argued. ‘TWICE.’”

((Also am I the only person who completely forgot that convo happened? Fitz was really hitting where it hurts my goodness.))

I always have thoughts, nonsie. It's a burden and a curse. Wait. That's not how the saying goes but it's too funny to take back. But I'd love to have a conversation about italics! They're an interesting but difficult part of writing to utilize, as they add stress to the sentence in a way that completely changes their meaning! But also you have to be careful with them because they're so powerful!

I know there's been times when I've been writing and I've wanted to emphasize something but I already used italics earlier in the sentence/paragraph and I have to decide if the emphasis is actually worth it or realistic. Because while I want to bring attention to that specific word, the character might not! But on to what you're talking about!

You make an excellent conversation! A sentence has its basic meaning, and then adding an italicized word changes that! But there are so many ways that it can change it that it takes a bit more energy to figure out. You're trying to determine how it was changed, maybe reading the line again or saying it really exaggerated in you head to get the full effect. And when a book has that a lot, all those moments start to add up. Personally, it can go so far as to break my immersion in a story because I'm trying so hard to figure out what the sentence means.

Keeper definitely does have it's share of traits--well, Shannon has her writing traits! And italics is one of them. Another one people might notice is her tendency to use the word "corrected" as a tag after dialogue (like said, mumbled, laughed, asked, offered, etc). It's as common as Edward chuckling in Twilight! Used with telepathy just separates it as a type of dialogue without using the quotation marks that indicate its being said out loud, so I won't comment on that.

But you're definitely right. Legacy used a lot of italics. An overwhelming amount. Especially those lines you mentioned! At that point the italics are taking over the sentence and aren't contributing to it anymore. I'd probably rewrite the first one to have a dialogue tag after "seriously?" to convey the tone, and just get rid of the emphasis on "right" but that's my preference.

Okay just to confirm (not that I don't believe you, but to find even more evidence) I've got my copy of Legacy next to me and am flipping to random pages. it is. A lot of italics. I flipped to five random pages and of those five, each one had something italicized. I don't think all of them are necessary. All the italics change the sentences as that is their purpose, but I don't think they're all enough to warrant use of italics and that it's really repetitive in the story.

I wonder what Shannon's reasoning was. I found the quote you mentioned (the second one, on page 700-701) and it's an emotionally charged conversation and that would explain the emphasis, but then again it really disrupts the flow of conversation. At least for me it does. I can reasonably understand Sophie's "Twice." In response because she's matching Fitz's energy, but it's Fitz that stands out here. Perhaps this was to try and showcase some of the anger he'd been working on and how it's manifesting through slightly aggressive speech instead of flat out blaming people like he did in Exile.

It's also entirely possible Shannon's in the middle of an italics phase! Writer's go through phases all the time as writing develops, getting attached to words and manners of speaking, something that can even be tracked to an extent. In my experience this usually happens when you're trying really hard to avoid something else and lean too heavily into a new thing, which then becomes the new thing to avoid and it's a whole cycle--hence the phases! For example, I've been using the words "just" and "simply" a lot in the past few weeks/months and I don't know where it came from but it's coming up a lot more so I'm trying to avoid it, but I don't know what's gonna take it's place as I try to get around those words. She could be using italics to avoid a dialogue tag she'd been overusing or perhaps her editors thought there wasn't enough variation on the page.

Whatever the reason is for the increase in italics, you're 100% right that's its unusual and new and makes it harder to read. it's not a bad thing, like you said, but it is noticeable! Writing is very difficult and it's really easy to rely on certain words/phrases, so I think that's my main guess for why it's happening, but no way to know for certain!

[oresamalovesong]

Kurusu Syo in symbols

I want to talk about the kanji that’s used for Syo’s name. There’s a lot of symbolism behind it and I really want to share it with you guys! Here are my thoughts:

Breakdown

Kurusu Syo written in kanji is 来栖 翔

His given name consists of one kanji:

翔 (“shou”): this means “to soar” or “to fly”

Doesn’t this ring a bell? It immediately reminds me of True Wing. The title is pretty self-explanatory but here’s a snippet from the lyrics anyway because I love the song:

Fly high! Fly high! Take courage!

Fly away! Fly away! Look straight ahead!

As well as Challenge!:

Flying along, I’m running through

This amazing world

Personally, I like this kanji because it kind of looks like it has wings attached to it or like it’s going fast. The strokes of the first radical are kind of similar to the lines we use in comics to indicate speed.

Fun little fact: the pronunciation of 翔 (”shou”) resembles 小 (also ”shou”) which means “small”. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide on that one.

His surname is composed of two kanji:

来 (“kuru”): it usually means “to come” or “to arrive” but I’ll use a secondary translation which makes more sense for Syo, “to come from”

栖 (“su”): this means “nest”

When we put all the components together in a short and sweet sentence, we get: flying from the nest.

Isn’t that pretty? Syo is like a bird leaving the nest!

Interpretation

Basically, his name is a representation of his life.

The “nest” is his home in Nagoya where he spent most of his childhood bored out of his mind. His heart condition prevented him from doing anything so he just watched series all day long. One, in particular, is called “Prince of Fighting”. That’s how he learned about Hyuuga Ryuuya. Like Syo himself said, he was weak back then but Ryuuya-sensei gave him the determination to become strong.

The “flying” part represents his decision to attend Saotome Academy and to become an idol just like Ryuuya-sensei, it’s his dream. His songs have a recurring theme of tough journeys, conquering obstacles and running and flying towards his goal, representing his path to stardom. He emphasizes it’s by no means easy but a few bumps in the road won’t keep him down!

I think we can all agree that his name is very fitting! ☆