#and also bits written for later sections too

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

can someone please banish this writer's block for me 😫

it's the worst i've had in such a long time and i've tried to be patient with it but it's been fucking weeks now. i want to write so much but whenever i try they just feel like words on a page. every evening i sit down and rearrange them a little here and there and add some new ones, but they all just feel empty and and shit and my brain feels totally devoid of the creative spark i need to make everything come to life.

i know in large part it's my perfectionism getting in the way, but i don't know how to break through it. i don't know how to feel connected to my writing again. i don't know how to shift this fear of not being good enough that surges up every time i pick up a pen.

it's something that's always been there - but usually it at least comes in waves, or my love of what i'm creating is big enough to muffle it. right now, it's all i can hear. my inspiration has been totally drowned out by it. and i hate it so, so much. the fact that i can't access the one thing that brings me the kind of solace and joy and escapism i can't get anywhere else and is so vital to my soul. that i am blocking myself from engaging in the one thing that makes me feel like me.

i just feel so stuck and so lost and i miss being in that creative headspace so much it’s like a physical pain. it feels like part of me is missing, and it terrifies me that i don't know how to get it back.

[assortedshrift]

Captivated by the twst yandereverse au!!

Help! I’ve been sucked back into yandere twst content, specifically the yandereverse au written by @thatnonameuser. Just checked back into The Red King holds a Bleeding Head after being off tumblr for a while and chapters 9 and 10 totally blindsided me. I very much recommend their series to any yandere enjoyers!!

Some thoughts I had while reading the last two chapters (major spoilers)

ch9

Darling being considered an insult in Heartslabyul is one of those worldbuilding tidbits that I love to see. It makes sense that Heartslabyul, and probably Rose Queendom, would stereotype darlings as disorderly and in need of constant correction. 

Like oh, darlings are just naturally less disciplined than yanderes, so calling a misbehaving yandere ‘darling’ implies they’re no better than the people they are supposed to be managing.

Also imagine being a darling and hearing your friend/SO call another person darling with the same tone of someone saying a slur. Idk why but it's super funny to me.

Also again, from the flashbacks I'm guessing that the King of Hearts probably took advantage of this to some extent and played off any disobedience as being ditzy and unorganized. But not too often though, or the Queen goes from “oh you silly darling” to “this leash is for your own sake”.

(omg coming back to this because just remembered that Crewel is from the Queendom of Roses and mr “whips are great accessories” definitely made a fashion line of darling-safe collars and leashes)

Also Trey was so unsubtle with the desserts. Clover, please, you can't say your pro darlings rights while watching them eat food that you drugged!

Trey’s parents definitely taught him how to mix drugs into baked sweets and he definitely got a lot of practice with his darling brother and sister. I bet that at some point the siblings have/will catch on to the scheme but like, what can you do about it? 

*annoyed sigh* Big bro Trey noticed me stressing out over my entrance exam so I’m probably gonna get the sedative brownies tonight.

And after Riddle’s overblot he might even consider branching out to some of the dorm members once in a while. ADeuce being yandere in this au makes them like 63% more feral and I would definitely be tempted to sedate them once in a while.

Speaking of our besties, I really like how Grim, Ace, and Deuce are being portrayed. Yes they're yanderes in a society that promotes violence for the sake of love. But they're still single braincelled goofs who just want to hang out with you. 

Ch 10

The MOMENT the author mentioned a metallic scent I KNEW that wasn't normal pet food!!! And Grim eating it… oof!! If he wasn't just as enthusiastic about eating everything including literal grass I would be a bit more scared!

Gotta admit I was feeling stressed out when reader shouted at ADeuce. Like, we know that this is a school for magical villainous yanderes, I just knew someone was gonna overhear. In a way it's probably a good thing that we were almost immediately confronted by Cater who kinda owes us after the overblot, that could have gone a lot worse.

Additionally, I like how Cater’s canon aversion to his sisters is incorporated into this verse while also doing a bit of worldbuilding in how a family in a yandere society would act. Honestly I’m a sucker for worldbuilding.

Riddle was sweet here, But this section also caused the greatest dissonance between me and the reader-character. I would absolutely be salty about the fact that Riddle shouted our darling status like that. Dude put us in serious danger and I’d want to hold it over his head. Going forward, every time he tries to lecture us about safety I’d say “Well it would be a lot safer if SOMEONE hadn't announced my status to the whole world,” which is definitely a bad idea that would build up to a yandere-style meltdown later. TLDR reader probably made the right call in how they responded to Riddle asking for forgiveness.

I know that as the audience we have access to knowledge that the reader-character dosent, but I was low-key cringing (in a fun way) during the interaction with Trey. 

“... have you met your darling, Trey?”

“Yes, I think I already have.”

YeS, i ThInK i AlReAdY hAvE. Trey you mischievous rat (affectionate).

Oh hey, its Che'nya!

Dang, your really gonna narc on Trey like that huh?

The execution was a harsh reminder that we can't treat our friends here like we would in the normal world. A straightforward bitch-fest resulting in a couple of body bags is horrifying, but Chenya did us a solid, even if his reason was almost as horrifying as the murders. 

But now that I know he's stalking us I can imagine the reader (if she becomes desensitized) could get used to an invisible companion she can (sort-of) let her guard down around and complain to him about the NRA boy’s ghoulish acts. 

Speaking of, I wonder if the original Cheshire Cat intended for a scenario like that with Winston, but was thwarted when their snooping was discovered and the Queen decided to go full mask off.

[herotome]

Devlog #181

Hi-ho, Wudge here!

I'm pretty excited to write this update. It feels like the past few(?) have been kinda downers that bum me out cuz I felt like I didn't do enough, but this past week I accomplished a lot!!!

A little preview...

ID: art of a phone. the screen displays a youtube apology video. The title of the video is "About the Smokescreen Situation," and the comments are turned off.

When I started out as a developer, I didn't really understand what would be built-in for me in ren'py, and I'd have to code in on my own.

Until this point, my playtesting process was....

play through the game from the very beginning

save the game at certain points

take a break for the day

come back another day and squint at the save files trying to determine where I left off, and what still needs doing

replay the game from the beginning again because the save files didn't contain the exact location/world state that I needed to test

...And as I made progress on writing and coding the story of Herotome, it became more taxing to playtest the game from the beginning.

It didn't hit me until very recently, many years into devving, that I could make my own devtool to jump between scenes.

I even wrote little recaps for myself per scene. :') feelsgoodman.jpeg

It took about a full day to code as test these screens, but they've worked beautifully. I'll likely still playteset Herotome from the beginning again sometime before releasing the next episode -- but I no longer have to playtest from the beginning almost every time I playtest.

For now, these screens are for my private use; but with some modifications and testing, I may make them available in the next edition of Herotome.. or in the release after that. We'll see. No promises, because jumping into the game from Scene Selection is useful for me as the developer, but it's a lotlotlotlot more likely to cause immersion-breaking bugs for a player.

And now that I have these screens, it made it soooooooooo much easier to jump to my newest story segments and to work on them - mainly to code in sprite/art positioning segments. Behold...!

I have art representing MC watching #superhero videos while jogging!

Phone and video stills art courtesy of @qkayoostudio

I worried a lot that this solo scene with MC would be boring, but having visible art has really helped it feel more engaging.

If you notice the video titles, view counts, comment section... that's all manually written and coded in by me. Having it all in code (rather than put together in a .png file) means I can alter the writing in renpy very easily without ever switching to an art program, it's an absolute treat I did for myself and I'm very happy about it.

I also uh... made these.. lol.

I've been feeling particularly unsatisfied with my sprite concept art lately, so my tactic to stop indefinitely fretting/fussing over them was to turn the sprites into shadowy stand-in blobs. I'm much more satisfied with the blobs. I no longer have to worry about their sprites' face shapes, fashion choices, body postures, or how I feel like my art isn't good enough.. because for now they're just blobs!

I'll be replacing the blobs with actual character art later, of course, NPC art is just soooo low priority that fretting over their imperfections felt like wasting time and energy.

I also did a bit of positioning for Katie... nothing new to show off from my success, but I do have a curious failure to share.

Somehow, Katie's cute little kitty sprite went to sit on the cabinet and fits there perfectly (aside from uh.. being a bit too big for a cat lol).

Going back to my Scene Selection screen - basically, I got through most of scenes 11-13! Having all the scenes numbered here in a list and immediately acccessible (in various worldstates of my choosing) is sooooo much better for me than the save file thumbnails... Idk if I've been able to explain it clearly at all, but I hope at least my excitement and relief shone through in this devlog.

Stay safe and keep warm,

Wudge.

[popcultureoverdosed]

Reverse 1999- The Avant-Garde Rpg

R1999 is in many regards an Avant-Garde take on the gacha game genre. Everything from it's presentation to story telling is in stark contrast to its comptemporaries. Like many other fans, my first introduction to the game was the iconic trailer that came out prior to the global release. I was watching a random YouTube video when suddenly an ad pops up. I normally skip ads as soon as possible, but this one caught my attention immediately. All the R1999 trailers have a bombastic cinematic style that makes viewers feel like they're watching movie. Hearing Vertin talk cryptically about " the storm" while dramatic music played in the background made me curious just what exactly this game was about. Interlaced with all of that were images of a little girl in a tattered red dress sadistically shooting people and... a talking red apple? I knew right then that this game was something else.

When first playing the game, players slowly start to learn about an apocalyptic event refered to as the storm which erases entire eras of history. Those caught in the storm are wiped from existence. Humanity's only hope is the St Pavlov Foundation and their Arcanist agents. Opposing them is a group of Arcanist terrorists called Manus Vindictae who wish to use the Storm to serve their agenda. It takes a while for the story to build up steam.

The beginning of the story is hard to follow due to how vague and cryptically it's told.  A lot of terminology is used that players won't understand until later. Once the plot begins the thicken, players are presented with a surealist supernatural mystery conspiracy thriller unlike anything you've seen before. The story is intricately written and brings up a lot of historical and scientific concepts along the way. It's not the kind of story you can just speedrun through to get to the gameplay. Each chapter segment is fairly long and dense with information. It's honestly like playing a visual novel rather than an rpg. I'm not complaining though. I've been gripped by the lore since day one and I never know what these writers are cooking up next.

The best part of the game for me is the character roster. It's can't be exaggerated just how unique the characters are. What other game has living scarecrows, a mini UFO, a girl who hiccups balloons and a sapient piece of glass as playable characters? Its clear that just about anything can be an Arcanist in this world. I thought having inanimate objects be characters was weird at first, but I soon grew to love the idea. It was just too ludicrous not to enjoy. I also love how tastefully the female characters are drawn. Everyone either wears time period appropriate casual clothes or the most ornate pimped out dresses you've ever seen. The character designs are conservative yet stylish, creating incredibly rememberable units. These beautiful appearances are complimented by eccentric personalities. All Arcanists have their little quirks that make them endearing. They're strange people living in an even stranger world.

The true cherry on top on all of this is the stellar voice acting. The cast is composed of characters from all over the world and the voice cast reflects this. Most of the voice actors share the same nationality/ethnicity as their character which gives their performance an authentic edge. The large variety of accents makes the world feel alive with personality. In a market where usually only the most high profile gacha games bother with English dubs, it's refreshing to see the producers put so much passion into the voice overs.

In terms of art and presentation, R1999 knocks it out of the park once again. The insight 2 character portraits are immaculately drawn and bursting with details. The background art for the story section is also drawn with enough depth to get players immersed in the setting. The live 2d models help spice things up a bit instead of having to look at a still image the entire time.

Reverse 1999 isn't just some game to pass the time with. it's a clear labor of love for everyone who worked on it. It's always a pleasure to play a game where the devs are passionate about their creation.

[ultrakdramamama]

From Houston, ONEW Emphasizes Happiness and Freedom

Jun 4 

Written By Michael H

In his first U.S. tour as a soloist, ONEW chose to meet fans with a surprisingly intimate, stripped back concert.

There is likely no vocalist in K-Pop with a more distinct voice than ONEW. 

For the past seventeen years, he has been a central figure in the industry, both as the leader of SHINee and as a soloist. His debut album is titled VOICE because there are so few vocalists who can move us like ONEW can. It’s also impossible to imagine what SHINee would be without him. I can’t fathom what the later albums would sound like without his warm voice on tracks like “Who Waits for Love” or “Countless”. For nearly two decades he’s remained consistent as a vocalist who can make you feel, well, everything. 

SHINee is certainly a core reason that Houston fans turned out to see ONEW Sunday night at Bayou Music Center. The group has only toured the United States once, nearly ten years ago. Since then, the group, which is still managed by SM Entertainment, has focused solely on Asia. Up until this year, ONEW, too, has never toured outside of Asia on his own. When he asked the audience who was seeing him for the first time, nearly the entire venue’s audience raised their lightsticks. 

But last year, ONEW opted to sign with a new company, Griffin Entertainment – a change that grants him creative control and autonomy over his career. Since then, he’s worked at a rapid pace to release two new EPs, FLOW and CONNECTION, and organize this tour. 

What’s been most intriguing since has been to witness his ambitions. Who could have expected that ONEW would release an English language track or that he would be interested in a North American tour? But free of the constraints of a major label, ONEW’s has offered surprises. “I began working on this song,” he said about “MAD”, his first English language track, “as soon as this tour was confirmed.” 

Perhaps it speaks to ONEW’s eagerness to reach the U.S., that his tour is bare bones. There is no set, no backup dancers, and no band. (In Korea, ONEW explained, he did have a band. In America, he uses a backtrack for music.) There will likely be no other opportunity to see the singer in such an intimate experience. At Bayou Music Center, where nearly a thousand Shawols watched from the floor, the show felt almost casual or communal. Watching him onstage, you might even mistake ONEW, dressed in baggy jeans and loose button up, for a fresh faced ingénue. 

THE LIVE: CONNECTION, then, has more in common with the DIY tours of Asian artists that I regularly profile on Bias Wrecker than a K-Pop show. ONEW, free of carefully plotted choreography and rehearsed monologues, is having the time of his life. “Why am I sounding like an AI robot?” he joked at one point, after meandering in his opening ment, to loud laughter. This ONEW is unburdened and free to say or be whoever he wants. 

Throughout a 20 song setlist, ONEW only performs six songs from the SM years, selecting mostly b-sides like “Always” from Circle or “In the Whale” from DICE. Yet even when the songs remain largely unchanged there is something unique about these performances that sounds more vital than what is on record. 

Take “Always” for example, a track that sounds perfectly pleasant on Circle. But ONEW’s performance, lifted by his powerful interpretation of the lyrics, hits harder. When he sings that “the good days are never lasting/ Suffering is difficult to forget”, you can feel that he’s trying to meet the audience where they are. If you’re in pain, which he offers before beginning a section for the ballads, then perhaps his music can be healing. 

Healing is a regular theme of this music. “Even when we go through the slightest bit of pain or some days when we’re hurt,” ONEW said before introducing the ballads, “I really hope that you’ll remember this moment tonight, gain strength from it and persevere.” Happiness, too, is a concept ONEW is committed to singing about. Perhaps because so much of his earliest music is drenched in heaviness and awash in shades of blue (which the stage lighting certainly provided), the music made under Griffin leans hard on joy. 

During “Hola!”, he moved through the crowd, waving and smiling as he passed out roses. “I wanted to be able to greet all of you face to face,” he said later. I was struck as I looked around the venue by how many of us are millennials who had likely grown up with SHINee. Many of the fans I talked to that night told me about how they were teenagers when they got into the group’s music. Now, older and with a fair share of loss between all of us, we understand what it means to persevere. 

Understandably, what ONEW gave the most attention to was the new music released under Griffin. He performs CONNECTION and FLOW in full, opening with a banger titled “Focus”. That song lets his vocals soar and entails the most experimental production of his career. There is a lightness to ONEW when he performs tracks like “Boy”, a picnic basket in hand, as he throws out paper planes and sings, “Still the same boy/ Writing in my journal before bed.” I was charmed in these moments because of the sense of wonder ONEW brought to them. 

There has always been a gentleness to ONEW. Watch clips from the early days of SHINee and you’ll see a boy working to gain confidence and be a source of comfort for his members.  One of my favorite moments that depicts this is a scene from SMTown: Live at Madison Square Garden when SHINee bursts backstage to greet their parents, all dressed as if they are at church, after their debut performance. They all seem so young, I think when I watch now, and they are, because they’re teenagers. Backstage, as JONGHYUN sobs after delivering a message for his mother, ONEW walks up to him with a concerned look on his face. He puts his hand on his back, “Hey, what’s the matter” he asks in a soft voice.

I think of this moment because it speaks to ONEW’s instincts from a young age. It foreshadowed the empathy his music would have; the sense of curiosity he’d have for others emotions and in examining his own. How could he use his voice for healing? He’d think of that often, and speak of it even more in interviews. 

In the years that followed, as ONEW experienced several life changing events, he continued to persevere. He released several albums under SM, performed countless concerts with SHINee, recorded an album for his Japanese fans, and then, finally, set out on his own.

Now, ONEW seems most moved by the adventure of what’s to come. “I will continue to change things as I go,” he told the crowd about his live show. But he also seemed to be talking about himself. 

It is fitting, then, that the encore features the music with most direct lyrics about ONEW’s current stage of life. In “MAESTRO”, he compares himself to a maestro of the sea, bending it at his will, swimming as he goes with no destination in mind. “Every single place, aside from the ocean, is too small for me,” he sings in the opening verse. On stage, he performed it with a ferocity that felt as if he was shaking off years of control.

Then came “Yay”, a lead single from “CONNECTION”, that examines his neurosis and anxieties in exacting detail. “In the midst of this growing isolation,” he sings, “ I wanted to escape.” But it’s the final line that felt like the real declaration and performed live, ONEW delivered it with a shout and raised arms: “I’m happy!”

Then, as the lights flashed dramatically, he dove into a full body spin, his head bobbing up and down with a wicked smile flashed across his face. For a moment, I remembered the idol he used to be. I thought of the boy who struggled to lead his members and who was often too shy to speak up for himself. Many of us think we can’t change as we get older and it would be understandable if ONEW wanted to remain comfortable. But at thirty-five ONEW is learning that he can have new beginnings. 

“Are you happy?” he asked the crowd in between joyous laughs. When he asked it a second time, it felt less like a question.  

“YES,” we shouted back, and he laughed with his full chest because he was happy too.

[v3x-y0urs3lf]

Qiu Lin x Loner / unpopular / shy? MC

Written during the demo ⭐️

Tamarack x Popular reader

Depending on what steps I’m talking about, I’ll change Qiu’s pronouns..

Also, I’m aware that being a ‘loner’ or unpopular doesn’t necessarily mean you’re shy. I do occasionally mention the MC being shy, unlike step 1 Qiu I’m not always going to be able to be too accommodating.

I kind of got sidetracked during the end of Step 3, I’m sorry it doesn’t really fit with the theme.

I am incredibly tired right now, apologies if the English isn’t clear. I did not proof read this.

————————————————————

I feel like this trope perfectly fits Qiu during a majority of the steps (1-3 I don’t really know about 4.) mainly because Qiu - despite not really intending on it, just is naturally popular even during step 2 (somehow?)

Step one Qiu just doing his usual thing with being overly accommodating and super welcoming to the new neighbour and they’re just.. not accepting it?

You can try and turn Qiu down softly or even just straight up ignore him and he’d.. accept it? I dunno, going off by Qiu’s normal reactions to when you choose to dismiss him.. he doesn’t seem like he’d care unless someone’s starting to judge or bother the MC and vice versa.

I’d like to just highlight that like.. everyone knows Qiu? I quite literally just imagine a bunch of kids during school constantly asking to play with him and while Qiu feels a bit too mean to decline.. he really wants to go play with his new neighbour?

Qiu would try and introduce the MC (and Tamarack.. maybe.) to all of his other friends but.. Neither of them are really budging which puts Qiu at a bit of a cross point.

I’m honestly not too sure what he’d do, lol. My heart wants me to say that Qiu would just go play with the MC anyways, regardless of how many people want him to play with t them but. My brain is telling me he’d give in to all the majority and play with them for a while before going to find the MC later.

Does that mean Qiu doesn’t want to go play with the MC instead? No. Does that mean Qiu doesn’t look their way occasionally while he’s playing tag with the other kids? No. Does that mean Qiu hurts the other kids’ feelings by straight up turning them down? Also no.

Logically thinking, despite what he wants- Qiu would pick to accomodate for the bigger crowd but leave a section of his time to make up for ‘ditching’ the MC for a moment.

It’s very obvious around that Qiu will always go back for the MC. No matter how fun the game is, No matter how distracted/forgetful he usually gets, No matter how many people he’s playing with- He will. Without a doubt. Go talk or play with the MC for at least 10 minutes before break or whatever ends.

Now, Step two.. “All they want in life is a little peace with the ones they trust. Such as, potentially their very favourite neighbor/neighbour.”

Qiu is still very obviously and very much ‘popular’. That never changes throughout their life (probably). They just don’t want to be.

Picture Qiu and MC, chilling by themselves and just avoiding people. By this stage there shouldn’t be any shyness or complete hatred and so, the two of them just sit with each other comfortably as Qiu rejects and declines any and all offers to hang out with anyone else but MC, Ren, Baxter(?) and.. potentially Tamarack? (Not sure about the last two.)

Unfortunately, Qiu can’t control their popularity or ‘Acquaintances’/old friends and everyone does notice when the ‘popular kid’ starts solely hanging out with one person in particular.

I’m not saying MC is getting bullied.. I’m just saying everyone can tell there is obvious favouritism and high school students can and will be mean.. take that as you will.

This is totally the time for “doesn’t get the hype but warms up to person B”.

I might just be biased but.. After 4 years you’d think you’d warm up to the neighbour kid enough to start to.. tolerate? Be content? .. perhaps even enjoy the presence of?

I don’t want to describe the MC too much but let’s just say the feelings between the both of them are mutual. (As in two teens just wanting to get away from the world.)

The two of you find solace in each other’s presence, the two of you having a mutual understanding that you both don’t really want to interact with the world but you’re totally fine with each other.

I hate how short step 2 was but I don’t know how else to describe angsty teens being angsty teens. So we’re moving onto Step three.

Qiu now understands the MC more, After having 8 years knowing each other and at least 4 years of deep conversations as angsty teenagers they can now officially say they understand your point of view.

Qiu doesn’t try to push the MC out of their comfort zone like he would’ve back in Step 1 but they certainly wouldn’t leave the MC to exactly stay in their own shell of aloofness.

Qiu does try to suggest getting out there, meeting new people but if you totally don’t want to- Up to you! They aren’t you and so they will NOT make that decision for you.

Autumn is up for a chat if you’re looking for one though, even the quietest, shyest, most aloof people in town sometimes need someone their age to talk to. Qiu gets it.

You were there through a very deep part of Qiu’s life and they are ready to be for you too if you want them there. Qiu can’t promise that they’ll help solve your problems or make you the talk of the town, but you better bet that they’ll cherish your relationship far after death do the two of you part.

[fictionadventurer]

Top 5 obscure light vintage novels! (Not sure if my previous ask got eaten, but also curious about this one specifically)

The strictest definition of what I consider "obscure light vintage novels" requires a book to meet a lot of criteria:

Published before 1960

Not recommended to me by anyone I know personally (including on tumblr)

Doesn't have a fancy Oxford-Classics-type edition with an introduction. (And none of the author's other books are well-known enough to have one)

Has a realistic setting

Ideally written by a woman or centered around a female main character

Which means that very few books fit this list. But of those few, here are my top five.

Desire by Una Silberrad: Flawed but fascinating Edwardian novel about an eccentric heiress who meets a soulful author and eventually winds up working for him when she loses her money and he inherits his father's pottery business. Fascinating characters, amazing romance, lots of interesting themes. I'm also going to count the author's other novels in this category, because she's come to epitomize "obscure light classic" for me. The Good Comrade is a much frothier novel with some great characters, and Curayl is highly flawed, but its silver-tongued hero lives rent-free in my head.

The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert: I finished this book less than twenty-four hours ago (so I could include it on this list). It's a 1953 German novel set in 1947, about a refugee family building a home after the end of the war. It reads like, if you can believe it, a cozy post-apocalyptic novel. These people are living through some terrible things, but they make the best of things and manage to find joy. It's chock-full of fascinating details about life in post-war Germany, and reminds you that the people on that side of the war were human too, losing people and places they loved, and doing their best to live in terrible times. There are some superstitious elements later on that I wasn't crazy about, but otherwise I adored this story.

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy: Novel from the 1880s about four sisters who open a photography studio to support themselves after their father's death. Extremely underwritten (one of the girls meets an old flame and marries him between chapters), but a very easy, pleasant read with interesting historical details, and some nice sisterly relationships that remind me just a bit of Little Women meets Oscar Wilde.

The Heir of Redclyffe and Countess Kate by Charlotte Mary Yonge: Books by one of the bestselling authors of the Victorian age who's completely forgotten today. Both get too preachy at times, but make up for it by having amazing characters. The first one is a family saga about cousins caught up in an old feud, and the second is like if Anne Shirley suddenly found out she was a countess.

The Rosary by Florence Barclay: The bestselling novel of, like, 1920. It gets very melodramatic, but I was also surprised at how grounded and witty the characters were. I remember very little about it, but I have fond memories of the reading experience, and it earns a place on this list because when I want to find an "obscure vintage light novel", on some level I'm thinking I want to find a book like this.

I know you didn't ask, but I find myself wanting to list five novels that don't quite meet the strict criteria above, but are close enough that I want to highlight them.

The Dean's Watch and The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge: Goudge isn't exactly obscure in this section of tumblr (which is why I heard of her in the first place), but she's obscure enough that a lot of her books are out-of-print or otherwise hard to get, and these two in particular are among the best books I've ever read.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery: Montgomery is extremely well-known, and this book has an ever-growing and very devoted cult following, so it's not exactly obscure, but it's much less well-known than most of her other books. A deep cut, if you will. It fits perfectly within the light vintage novel category, and has long been one of my favorite novels of all time.

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon: It's got an Oxford Classics (or similar imprint) edition, and is well-known as one of the very first sensation novels, but it's not exactly known among people who don't deep-dive into Victorian literature. I read this last month and loved it. It's a cozy sensation novel with an amazing main character, great atmosphere, and a plot that manages to grip you even while not much happens.

Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther: It's not exactly obscure if it has a movie adaptation, but from what I know, the movie basically ignores the book, which isn't that well-known today. Charming slice-of-life from the very early days of WWII England.

Helen by Maria Edgeworth: Not exactly beloved, and Edgeworth isn't exactly obscure, but this is a lesser-known novel that fits well within this category. The first half had some moments that were so dull I considered not finishing, but the second half was gripping enough that I can mention it as a nice, obscure surprise of a book.

[johaerys-writes]

Ok just a general writing question: how do you EVER manage to finish your works? I’ve been writing fics and books for a few years and I’ve only every managed to finish one and I felt like the quality just…decayed. Like your works stay invigorating throughout the whole thing and you like,,,,actually finish them. Idk what I’m even saying I’m like 8 days sleep deprived. Anyway,,,,

Okay first of all I'm sorry you're sleep deprived, my sleep schedule has been all over the place lately and I know that feeling like that is NOT conducive to writing or being creative or anything at all lolol.... and thanks for your question, I'm not sure I have a concrete answer to your problems but I'll do my best.

I don't think I'm the best at finishing works honestly lol, especially longer works.... I have a few longer fics that are either on hiatus or abandoned and they haunt me to this day, but as you already know writing is hard work and finishing a story is even harder, so I've sort of accepted that I won't be putting the effort into finishing them any time soon. So I guess a part of writing a longer work is sometimes needing to accept that not all stories are going to work, not all stories need to be finished, or they might actually need a long time of being away from them in order to be finished. There's absolutely nothing wrong with shelving a fic you're no longer interested in or that doesn't really work for whatever reason.

But let's say you absolutely, 100% want to finish a fic but you keep running into obstacles? I think first of all you need to recognise why you're having trouble finishing stuff. If you take long breaks between writing sessions and you end up losing interest or forgetting where you were going with something, then maybe you need to be more consistent with finding time regularly, even 15mins, to write (a little goes a long way). If you are someone who starts a fic without an outline and then ends up getting stuck halfway through, then maybe you could try deciding the important story beats ahead of time so that you know where you're going. If you're someone who plans too much and ends up getting bored, you could try leaving room for more for discovery during writing, like leaving certain sections largely unplanned so that you can figure it out on the spot. So I think it's important to identify what exactly is your problem with finishing fics, and try to find a writing process that works for you.

You mentioned that in the one fic you finished, the quality decayed as you kept going. That's definitely a problem that a lot, if not all, writers have encountered at some point. It has definitely happened to me, and I know that I have that thought at least once during any kind of fic I've written lol. When you start a story you're excited for that new idea, you want to explore it, it's all very invigorating. As you keep going, that enthusiasm dampens usually because you have to think about cohesion and connecting the dots and making the plot work and laying the foundations for later things to come etc etc and other kinda not so exciting things like that lol so I think it's normal to lose a little bit of steam midway. As for the quality of the writing getting worse, it's also part of it because as you reach certain points in the story that need to be more "technical" it feels little bit more forced and not as fun as it was at the beginning.

But I feel like a) quality is subjective, especially when it comes to your own writing, and something that reads kind of mid to you might just be perfectly okay for the reader, and b) you just need to keep going!! Push past that feeling, ignore it, go to that friend who always encourages you with your writing and whine about it. Don't let all those "my writing sucks and is horrible" thoughts get to you, every writer I know has had them at some point, so do your best to ignore them and keep going. Your story will have flaws no matter what you do, and if finishing your fic is your goal, a flawed story that's finished is better than a great one that isn't.

One thing that's always stuck with me is something a friend told me a long time ago, which is that if you're looking for perfection you're never going to be happy with what you put out, but if you say "this chapter/fic isn't 100% how I want it to be, but it's 80% or 70% okay, so we're good to go" then that takes a lot of the pressure off you to make things "perfect". Leave some room for yourself and your stories to be just okay sometimes instead of great, I feel like it makes a lot of difference.

And most importantly, remember to have fun with it! Writing is supposed to be fun, so don't be too hard on yourself for not finishing longer fics, sometimes banging out a short one shot and posting it is the way to go.

Hope this helped!

[felinecabinet]

Luckyfiles Analysis

[ID: A somewhat messily colored drawing of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has fangs and glasses added to her design. Clover is sitting down in front of Cabby, who is playing with one of Clover's leaflets. The two are looking lovingly at each other, blushing.

The background is of Paradise Island, various palm trees, bushes, and leafy plants far in the back. The most notable plants are various flowers closer to the front, simple in style and colored like the lesbian flag. End ID.]

Cabby and Clover, a ship that I will be referring to this point onwards as Cablover (sounds like Cab Lover, which is fun!), is something rather important to me! The two have a lot of potential for a dynamic (could be platonic, too!) that gets often overlooked even by the show itself, and I’m hoping that this will help explain why this has invaded my brain for the past several months by this point. :)

Please note that this was all written before Season 4, and therefore cannot take any of it into account. If there’s something that either furthers or weakens this by then, I cannot know about it! Just keep that in mind if you were to come across this later on.

Dynamic

I think it’s best to start with their overall dynamic, or at least how I’d perceive it. Due to how little these two actually interact, this section in particular may end up having a lot of assumptions, so just keep that in mind.

To start with the basics, I think at its core, Cablover can be considered an “opposites attract” relationship. Clover is more carefree, Cabby is dedicated. Clover is lucky, Cabby has constant bad things happening to her. Clover is a plant and often connected to nature, Cabby is metallic and therefore can be considered “unnatural”. On its surface, there’s a lot of appeal for those who love relationships in which the characters end up rather different.

And yet… there’s still similarities, especially once you start digging! Both the two can be rather perceptive; in fact, Clover can identify her butterflies just by their differences in movement, and that requires a really good eye!

[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:

Brybee O...Oh... So... how can you tell your butterfly friends apart? They all look similar.

Clover: Oh, well, if you look closely: Cordelia tends to bob a little bit when she flies; Catalina is always precisely two to three inches above the others; Cassandra breathes a bit too loud; and Jake has less flaps a minute than the girls. But he makes up for it by being the lovable wittle scamp that he is. Don't you, Jake?

End ID.]

Both of them can be quite silly; Cabby very frequently cracks jokes about situations, often involving puns of all things.

[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Bot from Inanimate Insanity. The two are among several gears, Bot even holding one of them. Cabby closes her eyes and points upwards as the captions describe her dialogue as:

"Alright! Now how about we go ahead and- SIFT GEARS! [CHUCKLES]"

End ID.]

Both of them care a lot for others, both of them have different struggles with self-centering, and both of them have felt like they had done too much to hurt others, even sharing a similar coping mechanism of self-isolating.

Their few interactions also indicate a friendly relationship. Cabby states herself that she thinks Clover is a “sweet girl” even if she gets distracted easily and was the first to observe that she was missing from the meeting. It’s also notable to me that Cabby never saw Clover’s luck as a bad thing; rather than viewing it as something that inevitably led others to harm (an assumption made by Nickel that even generally thoughtful contestants like Candle did not disprove, merely instead stating that Clover did not intend this harm), she viewed it as a way to help others in challenges. Even if a large motivation was strategy, Cabby did still seem fond of Clover while including her in the egg drop challenge, even side-hugging her while pulling her close to explain her idea.

[ID: A screenshot of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby has her eyes closed with a finger pointing up, explaining something as she holds Clover close to her. End ID.]

Even shoving her off the cliff was more out of intent to show an example, accurately predicting that Clover would’ve been perfectly okay, and Clover found that fun! This is furthered by Clover directly telling Cabby that she had fun in the Season 3 finale episodes, even.

I think that’s a nice way to segue into more of Clover’s side of things. I think it’s easy to take Clover’s comment about “I would’ve done the same to you!” as some sort of lighthearted threat in response to something she didn’t enjoy, but like…

[ID: An image of Cabby and Clover from Inanimate Insanity. Cabby is looking confidently towards Clover as Clover seems excited, having a big smile with her eyes closed and her arms raised. End ID.]

Look at her :) she was truly so happy to experience that, I can imagine it would’ve been like a fun ride to her! Even if Cabby was confused and maybe anxious at the suggestion, I think it’s very possible that Clover has an inkling that Cabby actually would enjoy such a thing. Cabby is durable, so there’s far less of a danger to her than there would be for many other objects, and she had a blast literally leaping off a cliff in the first challenge; maybe Clover couldn’t have seen how joyous she looked during the action, but she surely would’ve noticed Cabby had no reservations coming out of the tube. Clover herself noted that Cabby had not done anything particularly malicious, and I think this was merely a clumsy attempt to bond with and cheer up somebody who evidently seemed quite unsure of herself even just in her speech.

Building off Clover’s surprisingly good perception, there’s a subtle detail in the argument between Cabby and Test Tube, and how Clover mediates it. Under closer inspection, it’s clear that Test Tube is who turned that into specifically an argument by outright insulting Cabby, even if Cabby was rather irritated while voicing a concern. While Clover does seem to view both sides at fault for the argument, it’s very interesting to me that she, again, goes to first flip Test Tube’s “smile”. Cabby was not perfect in that argument, especially not with what happened after that, but keeping in mind that subtle acknowledgment of the true instigator combined with Clover later saying she hadn’t viewed Cabby as malicious? I think it’s pretty clear that Clover had a far more optimistic view of Cabby than most other contestants did, and saw her intent to do well even through things that could be so, so easy to misunderstand.

Even if that’s about where their interactions end, I think there’s still more to explore with how this dynamic could develop.

Both of them have struggled with their self esteem issues, and even if they largely figured out ways to cope and feel better, that isn’t to say they could never still struggle with those emotions, never feel reminders. How much both of them could connect over the fear of hurting others, assuring the other that they truly mean well, that they don’t seek to cause harm, that they are worth being around.

Focusing on more positives, I think Cabby could help ground Clover in some ways, help her truly bring out that analytical side of her. Clover I think excels most at emotional understanding, leaving logical deduction to be harder for her… at least going off the fact that she assumed Bot would’ve incriminated themself through a crossword puzzle, of all things. They could come up with puzzles as a fun game, perhaps!

Maybe Cabby could even help Clover focus a little more. Obviously it is impossible for anybody to solve everything– Clover’s easily-distracted nature seems to just be how her mind works– but I imagine Cabby could still find coping mechanisms for her that could help, and I imagine it just feels nice to have someone else there for support regardless.

Similarly, I think Clover could help Cabby loosen up a little, feel happier about things. I think Cabby has come a long way in her development, feeling overall better about herself and feeling less of a need to be competitive, but I could still imagine that could be something she’d struggle with over time– and having a little bundle of joy in Clover would be perfect for that. Truly, they could go back to the simple days of leaping off cliffs, kept safe by both Cabby’s durability and Clover’s luck.

Knowing how well Clover can understand others, I think it’d help Cabby a lot to have another perspective on that, too. I imagine that even if she truly tries a lot, it can still be hard to understand others well just because of how her mind works. Having somebody more patient talking through situations with her, helping her analyze things she may be unsure of I imagine could go a long way.

There’s simply a lot to think about! Dynamic-wise, I think this is about all I can extrapolate without getting into outright headcanon territory, at least more than I already have– but I think this is at least a good start. I have more up my sleeve, though!

Connections

There’s some other notable things connecting the two even beyond what I’ve already mentioned, and I wish every single day this was all capitalized on. I can only hope for future content…

Regardless! I think the first thing that’s notable to me is that Cabby had been studying Clover from day one, and we even SEE this in the first episode.

[ID: An image of Clover, Fan, Bot, Goo, Test Tube, and Cabby from Inanimate Insanity. Clover is looking towards the rest of her team, who are all covered in pink dye; while most of her teammates seem excited to have Clover on her team, Cabby instead seems much more focused on writing down something in a file. End ID.]

Like, yes, surely she found her abilities to be very interesting… but, like, she pulled Clover close to her. She called Clover “sweet”. No matter what context you view these interactions in, it’s clear she had a fondness towards Clover.

Cabby’s intense studying of Clover is what led to the wide realization of Clover’s luck, including by Clover herself. In a twist of irony, what Cabby considered to be beneficial for everyone is immediately considered to be a curse by Clover herself, jumpstarting Clover’s arc from being a lighthearted, albeit self-centered girl to somebody with a deep fear of hurting others, now left trying to figure out how to just do good even in the face of outright murder accusations.

…Sounds a little familiar, putting it that way.

Truly, what Clover needed to learn all along is that her luck is beneficial, at least most of the time– she just needed to share it with others around her! Almost what Cabby seemed to pick up on all along by wanting Clover’s luck to help her team.

And yet… Clover does more than that. She needs to constantly be helping, to be making up for this innate gift that she has, no matter how much hatred it’s caused her from some, no matter how she could feel about situations where it may have even hurt her.

I think that’s something Cabby could understand all too well.

The two have had to do so much to prove themselves far beyond the bare minimum, to make up for their very being, just for who they are. They can’t just be baseline acceptable, they can’t just be some person who exists, they need to actively be doing GOOD for everyone around them at all times. I’d argue both have very significant struggles with moral OCD, but I think that’s a conversation for another time. The important bit is… I think both of them would get it. They would get the idea of just their mere selves being what causes harm, just from being there as themselves.

It is evident that this is something the two have also internalized to their core, causing them both to self-isolate in various ways as a result. There are implications throughout I Am Chocolate! that Cabby had been isolating herself away from others, rejecting any means of connection until close to the end, and even episodes later she still says that being alone is “what she does best”. Clover had done similar after believing her luck to be a curse, avoiding others as much as she could in order to avoid potentially “hurting them”.

There’s even something to be said about the avoidance of things deeply meaningful to them. Cabby had stopped using her files for a while after believing them to be a harmful, reductive view of everyone else, and when Clover temporarily became luckless, she went on to talk about how Goo and Balloon being evenly matched is exactly why there shouldn’t be any luck. Neither of them viewed something so important to them as good or helpful, even worsened by how everyone else seemed to treat these things.

And as a side note… even their eliminations have parallels. Both unanimous, and yet so different. Cabby unanimously eliminated out of pure hatred, Clover unanimously eliminated out of pure concern. If Clover is full of luck all the time, then Cabby is devoid of it with how awfully her life had gone throughout the season.

If Cabby was the one to see Clover’s luck as good all along, then Clover was someone who saw Cabby as good all along, even if she didn’t get many chances to say so. Clover pointed out that Cabby wasn’t malicious, and I think she meant it. Even if ultimately Clover wasn’t among those who voted for Cabby, I can still imagine it would’ve meant so much to hear that from somebody, especially somebody less biased due to not quite being friends.

I think there’s a lot of parallels that could’ve been capitalized on between the two. So many things that feel connected, that could’ve led to more ties than what were there. Even if the show hasn’t currently capitalized on any of this, I definitely sure will.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts about these two, and if I’ve helped you understand the ship more, then that’s a win in my book :)

As a bonus, here’s Clover’s favorite moment during her time on Season 3!

[ID: A screenshot of a transcript. It reads:

Brybee: Woah! Exciting! I think that's our cue for the lightning round! Fast answers! Phew! I am nailing this! What was your favourite memory from your time on the show?

Clover: Oh, stargazing with Bow and Goo! Cabby and Test Tube told us all about the constellations and how we-

End ID.]

[nyewclear]

yaaay!!! it's time for the day's afterparty dlc update :-)

didn't write yesterday (was consumed with gacha games) and didn't write too much today (was consumed with my job), but i did get some stuff down onto the script. today i wrote ~830 words!

side note... i think i've been reading the wrong numbers (characters vs words... rookie mistake) on my word counter so i may have grossly overcounted how many words i've been writing as of late 😭😭😭 turns out the whole dlc so far is only around 10.6k words... lol. sorry for being #misleading. if i'm moving at this pace, i can anticipate the total prologue to be about 40-50k or so. my previous estimation of 120k was insane HAHAHA oopsies!!

anyways, here are some of my favorite script bits of the day!

here's what the script looks like right now! i finally finished the whole kurou's car scene, so i'm moving on to the interactions in kixis' car. after that: diner shenangians ^_^

i also decided while writing today that the nsfw portion in the later part of the dlc is going to detail your first time having sex with artemis, as previously i was going to give the option to say whether the two of you have been intimate before. i was thinking about it and, you know, considering the way that i've written the base game, it feels bizarre not to detail every single first you've shared with them (since the whole game is literally about seeing your firsts develop). so at some point i'm gonna have to go into some of these little sequences and rewrite them to give them a bit more of a "woah, this is new" voice. but that's a problem for later— i'm so tired of writing mctemis getting freaky in the back of kurou's car lol i gotta write something else!!!

anyways, that's all for today! as always, the anonymous request form for the nsfw section of the dlc will be open indefinitely :-)

[prophetic-ear-worms]

And by popular demand of absolutely nobody: We haveee!! My malevolent OC! ;D

I love him dearly and I hope you do too!- here's his art and story <3

okay so his name? William Wright (Age: 39) He's in short: almost half-dead KiY cultist… It's complicated.

He is a painter (heavily inspired by metaphorical and symbolic pieces, along with the neoclassical and renaissance era) and (porcelain) doll maker. He dabbled in a lot of reading whenever he was working on a painting, and would write a lot when making his dolls. Due to this, he eventually found the King in Yellow, (In my AU, the book we get to read is a series of "fictional" stories people have written based off of experiences people have been seen to have when reading the play. In this case, William finds the stories first) and fell in love with it. He began to make dolls based on the characters in the stories, paint them into his pieces, and eventually just flat out painting the KiY.

After some while he finally got his hands on the play, though he read it in small sections at a time basically once every week. So-- the madness was not madnessing like the King probably wanted. However, by the time he got a page or two into the second act, he didn't want to stop, he felt comfortable and wanted nothing more but to manufacture his dolls after the King in Yellow and paint works of art dedicated to Carcosa and the madness driven like a screwdriver into his mind. He was fascinated, he found his muse, and fell helpless to the King.

At first, the manner of cultist he appeared to be was mostly just subconscious obedience to what the King wanted him to do. He would hang his new paintings out in the windows of his doll shop, half of the said dolls being in some way marked with the King-- the yellow sign: a small button on each of their clothes; he also made dolls of other cultists or people he had seen passing by that caught his eyes. Occasionally, however, it was accidental. He'd find himself making a doll of someone he'd meet a few days later.

As time went on, he began to lean into it. No longer just something he'd happen to be doing, but something he did specifically so people would see what he felt, and eventually feel the same. He enjoyed much of his relationship to the king, a sense of belonging was left in the place of concern. (KiY-induced hysteria and madness, hell yeah.)

However, sadly, all good things must come to an end. He was killed after closing one night by another cultist of the KiY, something about 'the way he worships our King is blasphemous.' because he only made his art as a hobby and job, instead of pushing the purpose of it for the King. (Somebody didn't understand that just because the purpose didn't LOOK like the usual sort, that didn't mean he didn't want and enjoy seeing the influence it had.)

Sadly once more, instead of moving on and dying, Kayne caught his ass before he could pass on from this mortal plane and dropped him back in his shop with the job of serving as a source for something-- you see, through his time in the shop, because he's in New York, Arthur stopped by after seeing the KiY pieces (which John probably made seem like much more of a big deal than it was.) Resulting in him getting a doll that looked like him. The influence the doll should have had by the KiY sorta cancelled out though, and Kayne took it and used it to try and manipulate his decisions later on (My AU's Jarthur are so damn cooked at every given moment.) The issue was that if William died, the doll wouldn't work anymore because the source would be gone. Making Williams entire existence centered around being kept alive for some oddly mysterious English guy, but he tries to live like he did before nonetheless. (Kayne does get put Azathoth-style to sleep in this AU though, so- yeah. Stuff happens with Will's "life") (Quote for him: Made for a future comic in the making)

"Folk will pass by my shop, where my paintings are. Then they see it, fall into trance for a bit. Though, after they leave-- like a song you simply can't get out of your head-- they look for more. That is what I do, how I contribute, how I offer to him."

[ceescedasticity]

Unforsaken, 15h

(All sections on tumblr)

(AO3, lagging behind but more polished)

(The Changing of the World changed a lot, is the thing.

To start with Eärendil sailed by night among the stars, and very occasionally got permission to go lower — the War of Wrath, leading the Edain to Númenor, a few other occasions. He was forbidden from going among elves or Men in Middle-earth. This was monitored and would be fairly obvious anyway.

(The strictness of the rules was somewhat exaggerated when messengers of the Valar were trying to convince Númenórean kings they couldn't do an Eärendil.)

After the Changing of the World the stars over Middle-earth were a lot farther away than the stars over Aman, and much less sail-able. Vingilot had to navigate through a very thin layer which was not quite obeying the rules of Arda before the Changing and not quite obeying the rules after, something in-between, and much closer to the perils of the Void than Middle-earth or its stars.

And descending from this layer to Middle-earth wouldn't really work, so there was no need to monitor for that.

Eagles of Manwë (and other such birds) sometimes take the trip, but it's tricky. Risky. You have to slip out of the layer into the atmosphere of Middle-earth which somehow requires getting even closer to the Void — it's not a trip taken lightly. And Vingilot would have the additional problem that the airs of Middle-earth are a lot less hospitable to a flying ship than they once were.

Bu-ut…

Peredhil are resourceful in general.

The Houses of Finwë, Elu, Bëor, and even Hador are all better-known for bravery and/or stubbornness than prudence (wisdom, sometimes, but not prudence).

Eärendil and Elwing personally have had some luck with 'ignore explicit lack of permission, seek forgiveness later'.

The Noldor in Aman developed dirigibles early-to-mid Second Age and promptly got their use restricted to unpopulated areas, among other regulations written in — if not blood — high blood pressure. Making Vingilot able to fly in mortal skies is well within their abilities by the Third Age.

On a cloudy summer day when no one in the region is on high alert, with a cloak over the Silmaril and humming a song of concealment…

They did it very very very rarely and they never landed, just threw down an anchor line for a bit.

But. Yeah.

…Though considering that the Valar are likely to also be closely following events at the Crucible they may be getting themselves busted showing up like this.)

Nimloth looks up, though she can't really see that far. That's Elwing?

"…Apparently!" Celeborn says.

Celegorm scowls up at the star. Then he looks around for Maglor, and can't see him. "Where the fuck did Maglor go?"

"I think he got tired of you not listening to him," Risyind says.

Okay fine but when the Silmaril showed up flying low he could've come back.

It takes a while for Elenronyo the Goose to, presumably, talk to Elwing and/or Eärendil.

Khitwê and Risyind gawk at the unusually low star. "Actually that's our… second cousin, isn't it?"

Glorfindel realizes he has to be on Celegorm-sitting duty now.

Celegorm makes some rude gestures skyward. Eluréd and Elurín glare a bit, but being rude in Elwing's general direction is evidently more acceptable than being rude to Nimloth.

Legolas and Gimli show up to gawk at the unusually low star — Legolas waves enthusiastically.

In Gondor, Arwen is starting to feel the strain of maintaining a palantír connection for so long, but she keeps it up anyway. It looks like she's never going to get a chance to meet Eluréd and Elurín in person, and she wants to see as much as she can.

Zuste and Dyn show up to gawk at the unusually low star. (Zuste is actually not much inclined to talk to Leafblight now that she knows Leafblight was — is? — an elf. She's grateful for the aid, but it's just too awkward.)

Maglor still does not come back.

(Or Whiterot, but that's not at all surprising.)

(Out of earshot, Maglor has paused his discussion with Whiterot to close his eyes, pull his coat over his face, cover his eyes with his hands, and start humming loudly.)

The messenger-Goose returns. "As the young one said — if our swan-twins can fly high enough, the boat can take them West."

Caraxitári nods. "And would that be acceptable to you?"

"Better than going by sea," Elurín concedes.

"Is that safe for them?" Celeborn asks.

"Not as safe as the Straight Road, but much safer than flying with us. The boat provides protection."

"We'll go with 'Wing," Eluréd says, after the twins exchange private ósanwë. "We'll meet you there, Naneth."

Celeborn, Caraxitári, Nimloth, and Elladan and Elrohir all decide not to mention that it may not be quite that straightforward. That can be a problem for later.

Then there's an awkward interlude where Eluréd and Elurín don't want to fly up until Nimloth is safely with Caraxitári, but Nimloth wants to be assured they can actually make it to Vingilot.

It's decided one of the twins will go up first, then Nimloth will go to Caraxitári, then the other twin. The twins start to have an argument about who has to go first.

Celeborn manages to get them to draw straws. (Possibly they're a little more susceptible to parenting with both Nimloth and Caraxitári present.)

Elurín gets the short straw. He looks over the group. "It was good to meet you, great-uncle, great-nephews. Thank you for your instruction, Lord Glorfindel." He pauses, searching for something else to say. "Everyone… fought… well? Thank you for fighting with us to free our mother."

Before anyone can reply, he shifts into a swan and takes off.

He has to do a lot of circling. Caraxitári doesn't seem concerned.

Most of the onlookers keep their eyes glued to the ascending swan.

Celegorm however is still making rude gestures at Elwing and/or Eärendil and/or the Silmaril itself.

Eluréd spends almost the whole time whispering to Nimloth.

—Celeborn, who is closest, hears enough to think he might be describing a close encounter with… a lion, maybe? Where were they that they encountered lions?

The full elves are able to make out Elwing-as-a-bird escorting swan-Elurín the last yards to Vingilot, and hands reaching over the rail to help him aboard.

(They can also see that Vingilot is… hanging from… giant sky-colored balloons???)

"He made it safely," Glorfindel says.

All right, says Nimloth. Thank you for looking after them, Uncle.

Celeborn hardly feels he deserves these thanks for a month or so out of over two Ages, but now isn't the time to argue. "Rest well, Nimloth, and I will see you in Valinor."

She turns back to Eluréd. I am so proud of both of you. It's easy to speak to Eluréd and Elurín collectively even when only one of them is in front of you. You will look after Elwing? And your father?

"We promise, Naneth."

After a last lingering touch, Nimloth reaches out to Caraxitári, and another feather glows.

Eluréd doesn't bother with any more goodbyes, but leaps straight into the air.

Everyone watches him climb.

(Celegorm starts muttering imprecations out loud.)

Arwen, via palantír: "I'm having difficulty picturing Elwing letting them play big brother at this point."

Elrohir, to Arwen and Elladan: "I bet she allows it without arguing until they've crossed into Aman's air and the twins can't run away so easily."

Elladan, to Arwen and Elrohir: "No bet. That will definitely be an interesting relationship to work out, though."

And then all of them go quiet, because two of them might hear that story eventually and one of them definitely won't.

After Eluréd is on board, Elwing circles a few more times — swooping a little lower in salute to Celeborn, Elladan, and Elrohir — and returns to Vingilot.

Vingilot ascends, until even the elves can see only a star.

—A star visible in the daytime directly overhead. Eärendil is still watching, after all.

[aalinaaaaaa]

2024 In a Gift Box

Hey, everyone, greetings after another year that has flown by all too quickly! Featuring new friends, a few awards and 400% more holidays (rip my wallet lol), this has been a wild year for me. And that's only half of it.

For some strange reason, my desire to write increases with the hecticness of my life. Much of Obsidian Sapphires' revival/troubleshooting phase occured during the latter part of the year, from October onwards (though I had been tinkering with its plot for some time now). All because I woke up one morning with the solution to a plot hole appearing in my head.

Anyway, preambles aside, here's a few major highlights from my year (in writing terms):

First up, thanks to @druidx for the Year in Review Tag! The premise of the tag is to post one's favourite five or so pieces that they've written throughout the year.

To be truthful, some of Obsidian Sapphires' scenes would make this list only the respective chapters for them aren't completed yet 😅

A Pawn for a Greater Cause — I had a ball writing the starting dialogue, and the prompt gave me a few revelations regarding Petrius' character.

Regrets — This made me cry at 1am, the catharsis was unreal.

To Perpetuate Life — Amazing how almost falling asleep gives me ideas. This piece helped me answer a few questions about Orlaith's backstory, and also gave me extra questions surrounding the lore.

Blue Moon — This feels like a nice deviation from my usual style, it's more dreamy and whimsical. Also, this reminds me to go and work on its second part, lol (because the scope was too big for one piece)

That angsty pining scene — This is not posted as one scene, but rather in splinters because parts of it are dripping in spoilers for Obsidian Sapphires. However, I enjoyed writing this scene too much not to post some snippets.

WIP Roundup

First things first, an ode to the WIPs that I've put on ice to focus on Obsidian Sapphires.

The Lady's Lament, a brief idea born out of a plot bunny inspired by a plot on Wattpad. The idea sprouted in April 2023, but it lives on in the form of worldbuilding ideas for South Arobyre.

And then also, Flamebearer, one of my oldest wips but also arguably my most complex one. It's a story of grief, religious dilemmas and romantic/familial drama, all under the backdrop of sociopolitical turmoil. It's going to take a lot of research and planning, that much I know. Hence why I want it to be as perfect as I can make it, when I have the knowledge and writing practice to do it justice.

In April this year, one of my Flash Friday pieces (Duel to the Debt) sowed the seeds for another piece (An Endless Round) in May, and later on Soulswapped derived from it. I intended it to be a short enough story, a novella of sorts that would be woven into a larger compilation, but it's become its own thing. Already, I think it may get a sequel. But I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Obsidian Sapphires

So its progress this year has been skewed. Like, 'a lot of its progress spawned in October or thereafter' sort of skewed. I woke up one morning and the cogs for the rigmarole surrounding what is currently Chapter 2 all clicked, to the point I yanked out my laptop and starting writing notes until I had to run for class.

Since then, I've had a bunch of ideas, but currently I'm deliberating on the story I wish to tell. It seems more cohesive and easier to plan for when I cut Eshani's perspective out, but at the same time, cutting her perspective would cut or at least hide much of her character development. That and I love her to bits, and she may/may not be a readers' favourite also.

In terms of actual tangible content, bits of the angsty pining scene got posted, as did sections of the first and second chapters. It even came with a few memes, lolololol. (And there's more memes sitting in my gallery/Scrivener notes, this story's quite memeable honestly).

The antagonists got their time of day, however brief so far. And not just the lead meshai, but also the septet of folks angry at the meshai and his fellows.

And this gets onto something that has existed as tags and headings and brief little mentions. A collection of pieces, leading up to answers surrounding some major events in the history of the country Obsidian Sapphires is set in.

That would be This Blood-Stained Charcuterie. It is going to be the anthology of short stories and one-off pieces surrounding Morilast's High Councillors (and indeed, the Court's other denizens and its namesake himself!). A lot of juicy details surrounding certain characters' backstories are going to feature here, I can't wait to get into it. (It's also my excuse to figure out all the bits of lore and convoluted ancestries [who murdered who], lol).

When I finish with Obsidian Sapphires, that is about when I'll start releasing this one. The title could change upon me getting to the end, but we'll see.

Flash Fiction Friday

I started doing these pieces in late 2023, so it's been about a year since my first one (Contemplations). In all, I've completed a total of 28 pieces so far :D

The masterlist came about in early January, because I was inspired by other people who had masterlists for their pieces. It's very satisfying to see it develop from a few pieces to what it is today, a decent few pieces.

Whatsmore, it reflects the trends in my writing, such as the wips that the prompts inspired me for, and what periods I was consistently doing it week-by-week and when the major gaps were.

For whatever reason, I have a tendency of getting inspiration for these at about midnight or so. Even if I get a handful of basic notes written down, it may not still be until late in the night that I can get a piece together, lol.

To commemorate the end of the year, I've started a series known as Flash Friday Flashbacks to celebrate what I've made and show off behind-the-scenes when it comes to notes, context, deleted scenes, etc.

There are a few pieces left in this year's version, which will be reblogged close to the end of the month (to celebrate the New Year).

Next year's edition is going to feature the December 2024 pieces in addition to all the 2025 stuff (which hopefully is a lot). There will also be a 2025-specific masterlist too.

Writeblr Community Events

What is writeblr without its community? It's beyond a pleasure to be part of a group so lovely and talented, everyone has something amazing going for them.

As part of this, there are some people here who create events, discords and/or other initiatives that bring people together. Shoutout to everyone who has done/is doing something along these lines ❤️

Special mentions in my case go to:

@flashfictionfridayofficial for taking the prompt submissions, making the posts, and reblogging everyone's stories (with fantastic comments) every week

@writeblrsummerfest for making a lovely event spanning the entirety of August, encompassed by a well-organised theme and all

@bardic-tales for establishing the @creators-club and doing all the various types of ask/tag games to foster interaction and support

@agirlandherquill for her first ever Writemas! These prompts are impeccable and it was really fun looking forward to the next day's prompts! I wish I could've participated more, but alas, that's how the cookie crumbles. (Also, high five, we're in the same timezone, woo!)

Plans for 2025

Continue with Obsidian Sapphires — I'd love to get the draft finished

Doing as many of the Flash Friday prompts as well

Reblogging people's posts more and hopefully improving at reaching out to people

Learning to draw is something that I've always wanted to do, but I want to get focused with it this year. It would be cool to put my characters in visual form

Getting a handle on the lore and background information needed to compile This Blood-Stained Charcuterie

The Tags

That brings this post to its natural course, the end. Merry Christmas everyone ❤️🎄

Giving a Year in Review Tag to everyone who is on at least one of my taglists (ask, comment, etc to be added/subtracted): @mr-orion @the-ellia-west @guessillcallitart @thereadingfoz @glassstardust22124 @original-writing @honeybewrites @ashirisu @drowsy-quill @oliolioxenfreewrites @theglitchywriterboi @seastarblue @gioiaalbanoart @rae-butter @corinneglass @midnight-and-his-melodiverse @outpost51 @mundanemoongirl @scarletteflamerald @ceph-the-ghost-writer @flock-from-the-void @mattresses-and-macaroni @limitlesswritingvoid

...As well as all these people I'm tagging here: @winterandwords @finickyfelix @wintherlywords @anyablackwood @cherrybombfangirlwrites @kaylinalexanderbooks @angelfevr @thatndginger @thepeculiarbird @ominous-feychild @oh-no-another-idea @space-writes @veneritia @the-golden-comet @jev-urisk @cljordan-imperium @an-indecisive-nerd @mauannacreates @laureleavess @theeccentricraven @paintedbutton (@/bardic-tales, @/agirlandherquill, both of you are tagged for this too)

...And most importantly, here's a tag for everyone in the audience!

Here's to a hopeful 2025! 🎉

[trashcanwithsprinkles]

Dream anon again- for context like. Xiao was child and youngest apprentice in that part of the dream, but was also an adult later? I think I was trying to escape some creep, there were liminal space type office buildings involved, and also I think like. Open harbor type plaza, like Venice.

The blue wooden shipping container thing meanwhile was in a jungle. And like. Slightly more realistic minecraft kind of logic where it was flat and stable in a *tree*. I do not know how we got there. What was going on. My dreams can be disjointed as all hell. I really was drinking the weirdest smoothie of a few different hyperfixations respective juices. I still don’t know how the banana chain worked. It was legit, a banana, then connected somehow to the end of another banana. In a line. Not a bunch. I couldn’t tell you what the things written were but I do know the reaction to seeing them was sad. Xiao was equal parts scared kid, feral child, and martial artist and then was wildly different in another section of the dream. Zhongli only appeared there like twice. I feel like some of the others were there too, probably subconscious kinda yaksha but those are the only two I could tell you for sure. Zhongli had brown robes and they looked fancy as he vanished into the forest like a mysterious spirit.

Anyways. Sorry for just- rambling all of this at you? It was wild and it was also really late when I sent you the message so I wasn’t thinking too much before passing out again. Your fanfics are amazing, thank you for listening and bye I’m gonna go bury myself in a hole for a bit

WHAT is going ON

[trainsinanime]

I'm still considering whether I'll do any non-vague posting about this, but let me just say: Writing long and erudite posts about what you think is wrong with a French children's TV show does not absolve you from the accusation that you're doing… let's call it entry-level analysis. A post can be long and well-written and still just regurgitate the most basic, boring points, and some of them plainly wrong.

Actually maybe don't read this, it may be too salty itself.

"Adrien is sometimes too pushy", "Marinette is sometimes a stalker", "Alya is a bad friend because she's unwilling to bully a random new girl just because Marinette said so", yeah, yeah, we've heard it. More than once. Way more than once. Yes, even with receipts and quotes. Trust me, it's been discussed. These are the kind of standard hot takes of someone who is doing their first attempt at critical analysis, and I actually think on some level we should encourage that. I do believe fandom should be beginner-friendly in all regards.

But man, it can be annoying to read sometimes. Especially when someone uses these hot takes to justify the existence of salt fics. Let me be 100% clear here: Salt fics are not a reaction to flaws in the source material. Salt fics are materially different from fix-it fics. This becomes more clear when you track these patterns over fandoms, and in particular look at my favourite example over in Fairy Tail (sic).

That fandom has a number of fandom-specific plots, like some "angel of death sends main character back to relive the origins with the knowledge they had later" (also very popular in Harry Potter back in the day), but also one that is just 100% salt specific: It's about Lisanna, a childhood friend of the male lead Natsu, coming back from the alternate universe she was trapped in, and displacing Lucy, the female lead, who eventually leaves, sad and depressed, while nobody cares about her. The sentiments are all the same: Feeling depressed, feeling annoyed that your friends are suddenly interested in the new girl, feeling like you don't belong anymore, leaving your friend group to punish them and so on.

There are some differences as well. This whole thing was back in the days of Fanfiction.net, when crossovers were in a whole other section of the site and thus not easily findable, so the whole "…I'm going to run away to somewhere where people want me" never had the frankly hilarious addition of "…and when I'm there I'm going to marry Batman!", which spawned a whole sub-fandom in ML (its fans tell me that it's not all salt; I haven't bothered to check).

But the most important difference: The inciting incident never happened in canon. People just thought it might. In canon, Lisanna did return from her alternate dimension… and then immediately became a forgotten background character. Lucy and Natsu remained just as in love as they always had been, which is to say, very much except they don't seem to notice it. Their relationship was never strained even for a moment.

And still people wrote these stories that are functionally salt fics, with the same storylines, same emotions, same beats. Because salt fics are not about fixing what is wrong with the show. If they were, they'd spend all their time discussing the terribly fucked-up metro map. Salt fics are about exploring feelings of loneliness, isolation, "why are you hanging out with here when I told you she sucks" and just pure spite, in a way that you don't really see outside of pop songs. That is the end goal. The characters and plots are just a way to get there, and they will get twisted as necessary.

This is critical for understanding and discussing the phenomenon of salt fics. Alya is not actually getting demonised because she acted a bit stupid in one episode where everybody but Marinette acted a bit stupid. It's incredibly weird to hear this argument, and then all the supporting quotes for it, in the same post, right underneath, are all:

Alya: Okay, but do you have any proof? Marinette (angrily): Arrghlwargl! No!

Like, come on. Alya is getting demonised because people really want to. Because it works for the kind of story. These stories assume that it's Alya's job to always support Marinette unconditionally, and that any deviation from that, no matter how minor, is a highest order betrayal. And then they go full Count of Monte Cristo on her.

(Well, not really, that could almost be fun. Nobody ever has Marinette imprisoned for fourteen years, get out with the help of a hypnotist monk, use a buried pirate treasure to buy an island, then manipulate a telegraph line to… It's all just torn notebooks and such. Boring.)

The idea that people hate Alya for mostly valid reasons is just plain wrong and shows that you've missed a huge part of what's happening in the fandom. You could use all the Alya hate as an entry point into analysing what her role is in the show, how people in the fandom perceive her role, how people in the salt dom perceive her role, how her role and her personality shift depending on the needs of an episode at the expense of a consistent character and so on. There is some great analysis in that direction out there already, but more wouldn't hurt. "Alya is a bad friend sometimes because of Chameleon" remains an uninteresting take no matter how well you word it, though.

And that's just Alya. Adrien hate, for example, is its entirely own field. In short: Yes, some characters in this fandom are over-hated. Try digging deeper next time.

[songoftrillium]

Werewolf: the Essentials Project Update 12/1/2024

Hello, Kinfolks! So, where is book 1?

In the words of an old teacher: "Vinegar is fine, but wine takes time." If you take something sweet and let it ferment, you'll get a tasty drink sooner or later, but there are many steps between juice and wine, requiring checks and cleanup and careful measuring. Vinegar on the other hand, put anything sweet in any jar and it'll be vinegar in a couple days without trying. It's easy to make something sour, but making something of lasting value takes effort.

In short, the book is not ready yet. I'm still not happy with what we have and it needs a little more work done, both in terms of writing and layout. Some pieces we're waiting for and life just got in the way of some deadlines. Others need some rewrites to capture the pathos right. Others just need laying out and we haven't gotten to them yet.

So, what's our road map for release look like?

Copy editing and layout

In-Line writing

Annotation

Indexing

Preflight

Let's break this down:

Copy Editing and Layout

The copy edit is where you have the written portions of a document and lay it out in a book. This becomes a game of word economy on the page, and sacrifices (and embellishments) have to be written to make things all fit in their sidebars and sections in a manner that is visually satisfying and doesn't waste space. My design ethos is that nobody wants to pay for white paper and double spacing. This isn't a college essay after all.

Where the document template we've been using to write can hold about 900 words per page, the book is tidy enough to hold about 1300 words per page, taking all the preplanned formatting in the master docs largely out the window by the time it hits the page. While we can (and do) perform some formatting magic to flex this number a bit and add graphics to fill out dead page space, that'd require we add and format images for every single page, which I refuse to do. We'd be looking at hundreds of images in the book. While there is some degree of using graphics to fill in dead space, when it's deliberately padded this way on every page, it stands out in an unpleasant way.

In-line Writing

On the note of not using too many images to fill in dead space, I'm doing some writing while doing layout, and by some, I mean a lot. On average I'm adding an extra 100 words per page as I go along. As a perfectionist I'm trying not to make the words empty either, so of what writing I am doing, it's adding value to the book on the whole. While 100 words per page doesn't sound like a lot, in the scale of 250-300 pages I am effectively writing a novel in addition to what's already written. Getting closer to the holidays, people are spending more time with their loved ones and nearly all this writing is being handled myself.

Annotation

This is the biggest one. Annotation involves not just making endnotes referring people to other books but also cross-referencing sections inside the book. If someone sees the word "Rekindling" in the book and clicks it, they can be instantly taken to the main section of the book written on the subject. This elevated the final product to one that is not just informative but also useful at the tabletop for quick lookups.

These cross references have to be added for every instance of that kind of referencing, and that takes time. That same treatment comes for both things being indexed for the back of the book, as well as formatting for the table of contents. This is all well and good, but also, cross referencing cannot happen until all the book sections are added, so there will be additional time needed even after I'm done with the layout. We have our citations ready thankfully, we just need those sections down.

Indexing

Which brings me to indexing, another task that largely needs to happen after all book sections are added and laid out. In order for an index to be effective you don't just need to flag words to add, but you need to create topics and subtopics, and designated white indexed topics are written more comprehensively than others. Like cross referencing, the ability to rapidly find the core articles being indexed means having those sections defined. If you index things without the right topics to place them under you're just doubling the work needing to get done.

Preflight

This one's gonna hurt, and tbh is a massive unknown for how long it'll take to pass. Preflight is a term used by desktop publishing software that consists of a system of checks and error reporting to ensure the book doesn't contain formatting errors before rendering it to its final document. This encompasses word table flow, graphics resolution, and color grading. This is the final check stage, and if we do not pass it, the software may not render the book correctly (or may not render it at all.) WtE as a series is being produced in what I'm calling a "Print-Ready" state. This means the final document is being made at high resolution, in a CMYK color profile, as though it will be printed as a book. To be clear, we are not planning to print hard copies at this time (Paradox Interactive's community content guidelines do not allow printed fan material at the time of this writing.) What this does offer, however, is future-proofing. Should the opportunity present for the series to be printed, it can happen without any ceremony. This will also accommodate higher resolution screens in the future, and we can release a higher dpi edition in ten years.

That said, however, passing preflight is a Sisyphean task, where solving one prerequisite may unsurface others. Converting graphics in RGB over to CMYK is also no one-click operation without things coming out a lot duller in appearance. While it's not hard to do all the proper conversions, it's tedious, and the more images added to the pile, the more time spent converting things manually.

Text being pushed behind the borders of a table is easy to miss and may lead to missing book passages. It's an easy mistake to make, and indeed several older edition books have passages missing for this exact reason. Then, when you bring it to wrap into the next table, it may wreck formatting for the rest of the chapter and need further corrections.

I'll be the one to say giving a fixed release date was a mistake, and it's why I'm not giving a hard release date on final release. I thrive on deadlines, but a deadline on final delivery is a dangerous gamble. I can say confidently we're past the worst of it and that "Soon" truly means "Soon."

The good news is that we're done with writing, but the book isn't ready yet. So, when is it coming out? I'm not sure. I'm at a point where once we're past preflight, I intend to immediately release it, and that's kind of where we're at. I'll have a future update to announce once we're in preflight. When we hit that stage, it could be a matter of a few days or hours until release.

Vinegar is fine, but wine takes time.

In the meantime, enjoy our comic, Cracking the Bone, and we'll see you soon~!