clevermird

[clevermird]

ok time to lock the fuck in *opens discord* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens tumblr* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens gmail* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens youtube* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens an unstable vortex in time and space* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens ao3* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens discord* ok time to lock the fuck in *opens tumblr*

[clevermird]

It’s lady Aurelia Malys

[clevermird]

my body, tearfully: when sleep???

me: my dude we just woke up!! It’s time for wakefulness and doing things and Productivity

my body, weeping: but???? when sleep?????

[clevermird]

I love her

Morai-heg! I didn't draw the portrait of her just... because of reasons :DD But I love the mask I made here, and bird vibes of it c:

[clevermird]

Yrielet is meditating while I deal with a genestealer cult infestation on my ship

[clevermird]

I hope you don't mind the question—please feel free to skip it if it feels too personal. I was wondering: to what extent did your own personality or real-life experiences influence the characters in Silver, Ash, and Bone? For example, do any of their traits, perspectives, or internal conflicts reflect aspects of yourself?

You are the third person to ask me a similar question in the last month, funnily enough (other two were on discord, though)

I think the biggest real-life influence was one that I wasn't aware of at the time I was writing. When I started writing Silver, Ash, and Bone, I was in a really awful job situation. It was just me and my direct supervisor every day, and she used me as a scapegoat for everything that went wrong in the workplace, yelled at me when I messed up, would tell me to do one thing and then get upset when I did it and tell me she actually said to do something else, etc.

I quit with no plan, and started writing SAB a week later because writing is something that takes time without costing money - great when you're unemployed - and because the story had been tugging at me for months prior. But I think a lot of the tension that Jian feels in the early days, the feeling of desperately struggling to make someone happy when she doesn't understand what they want, only that she must please them or else, was born out of that experience

[clevermird]

oh, for sure!

I can't remember what the last thing that made me go "wait, why did I like this" was, but I definitely know there's been a few of those over the years as well. Probably more with movies than books, though.

Review: Into the Wild (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin book 1) by Erin Hunter

When I was 13, I was kind of obsessed with Warriors. I read the books that were out at the time half a dozen times each, spent hours imagining how I’d adapt them to a movie, wrote fanfiction, and built “clan camps” in my back yard and all my friends’ back yards. It gave me what I couldn’t find in a lot of other middle-grade fiction at the time: massive casts of often morally-gray characters, a focus on political scheming (albeit at a kid-friendly level of complexity), and a darker tone that didn’t skimp on the violence in an attempt to avoid scaring me. Somewhere along the way, I outgrew the series, but it’s always held a bit of a place in my heart and I count it as a major influence on my taste in fiction as an adult. 

So when a wave of nostalgia hit me recently and I decided to revisit the series, I was a bit nervous. Although the books were foundational to me, I wasn’t sure how they’d hold up or, if they didn’t, whether it would damage all the good memories I had of them. 

Turns out the answer to “do they hold up?” is… kind of. 

But first, back to basics. Yong house cat Rusty leads a comfortable existence with his “Twoleg” masters, but often has wild dreams of roaming free. While exploring the forest behind his house, he runs into several warriors of ThunderClan, a group of feral cats who live nearby. Although they are initially dismissive of Rusty’s soft existence indoors, their leader is impressed with him and offers to let him join them. Renamed Firepaw, Rusty throws himself into learning the ways of ThunderClan. But life in the forest is not easy and there are three other Clans who would like nothing more than to carve away at ThunderClan’s territory and leave them to starve, not to mention whatever secret fellow apprentice Ravenpaw is keeping. 

Some of the complaints I have with Into the Wild are really just demographic issues. I’m not a preteen anymore and at this point, books written for preteens can feel gratingly simplistic, both in plot and in prose. Which isn’t to excuse bad writing, of course, but even the best-written middle grade fiction isn’t going to read like a novel aimed at adults.

There, are, however, issues with this book that go beyond that. While it’s difficult for me to judge now what a typical child would have picked up on, I think even as a 9-year-old, I would have figured out the “big reveal” moment long before the story actually got to there and many of the other plot beats are similarly well-worn. Most of the characters fall cleanly into basic archetypes – the kind mentor, the abusive mentor, the bright-eyed hero, the best friend, the antagonistic peer – with little deviation. 

Furthermore, Erin Hunter’s dialogue is not good. In fact, I’d say that at points it’s really bad. Unintentionally awkward humor, blatant exposition dumps, and stilted attempts at sounding badass or intimidating litter the pages and this alone had me cringing my way through the first half of the book. 

What surprised me, however, was how good many of the other aspects of the book were. Into the Wild is paced well. Something new happens in every chapter, be it the introduction of a new facet of the worldbuilding or a new plot event, but never so many things so fast that it feels overwhelming or rushed. Hunter makes good use of sensory descriptions, both to place the reader firmly in the scene and, in specific, with the frequent use of smell to remind us that the characters are cats who rely on different cues than humans do. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, however, was how clearly-written and logical the action sequences were. At no point did I find myself confused as to who was where or what was going on, even in the middle of a literal catfight, something that many authors, even skilled ones, struggle with. 

I wasn’t really surprised that the first Warriors book ended up not being quite as amazing as I remembered, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared it would be, either. While it will never be to me now what it was back in the day, Into the Wild is a decent (albeit not great) middle grade book with several elements that will likely appeal to a certain group of preteens and I had enough fun revisiting memory lane to at least give Fire and Ice a shot (especially since I remember that the series improves in later books). 

Warnings: Into the Wild features a fair amount of violence for the age range, including descriptions of blood and injuries and the deaths of several named characters that might disturb sensitive children.

The cats of the Clans demonstrate significant prejudice against cats of other clans and speak very derisively of housecats and of spaying/neutering. Over the course of the story, Rusty/Firepaw comes to adopt these views himself. Although this makes complete sense from an in-character level and I would trust an adult to be able to understand this, those in the target age range might not be able to distinguish the two fully and it might warrant parents having a talk about the topic with younger readers

Rating: 7/10

[clevermird]

Yes! I have gotten so much hate from people in certain segments of the fandom for pointing this out, but it's true!

imo, trying to determine a 'good guy' faction in VTM is futile and flawed at its core. None of the sects can be 'good guys' because everyone is a literal bloodsucking monster by default.

There are individuals (including inside of the sects) that may follow a path of humanity, and even then, they are 'human' in comparison to the others among their kind. Mortal notions of morality and 'goodness' don't always function outside of a stable status quo even amongst the mortals, let alone for vampires navigating their own world with its own unique history and politics among the clans and the sects.

The Camarilla and The Sabbat are usually, obviously, accepted as 'bad' but the Anarchs are not 'good'. They were once the same as the Sabbat and while now they usually lack the cult aspect and generally accept that they have to conceal their nature, they can still be very violent and have schemes of their own. They simply don't want to follow the laws of the Camarilla because they don't wish to be constrained. They object to the Camarilla's lack of personal freedom, not their lack of morality.

A lot of disdain for the Camarilla comes from their desire to wear a mask of civility over their monstrous nature and actions, as well as their more rigid laws and hierarchy. Most vampires that choose to be with any of the sects, want to be on the top of the chain or seek security and resources that an individual path does not provide, they simply have to decide how they want to do it depending on which set of principals appeals to them the most.

[clevermird]

Now in colour

[clevermird]

me whenever I see posts about how canon is shit and can be discarded

[clevermird]

every Saturday, my husband and I go out for coffee (and also pastries, quite commonly). It's rarely an unenjoyable experience, but today it was just perfect.

[clevermird]

Review: Into the Wild (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin book 1) by Erin Hunter

When I was 13, I was kind of obsessed with Warriors. I read the books that were out at the time half a dozen times each, spent hours imagining how I’d adapt them to a movie, wrote fanfiction, and built “clan camps” in my back yard and all my friends’ back yards. It gave me what I couldn’t find in a lot of other middle-grade fiction at the time: massive casts of often morally-gray characters, a focus on political scheming (albeit at a kid-friendly level of complexity), and a darker tone that didn’t skimp on the violence in an attempt to avoid scaring me. Somewhere along the way, I outgrew the series, but it’s always held a bit of a place in my heart and I count it as a major influence on my taste in fiction as an adult. 

So when a wave of nostalgia hit me recently and I decided to revisit the series, I was a bit nervous. Although the books were foundational to me, I wasn’t sure how they’d hold up or, if they didn’t, whether it would damage all the good memories I had of them. 

Turns out the answer to “do they hold up?” is… kind of. 

But first, back to basics. Yong house cat Rusty leads a comfortable existence with his “Twoleg” masters, but often has wild dreams of roaming free. While exploring the forest behind his house, he runs into several warriors of ThunderClan, a group of feral cats who live nearby. Although they are initially dismissive of Rusty’s soft existence indoors, their leader is impressed with him and offers to let him join them. Renamed Firepaw, Rusty throws himself into learning the ways of ThunderClan. But life in the forest is not easy and there are three other Clans who would like nothing more than to carve away at ThunderClan’s territory and leave them to starve, not to mention whatever secret fellow apprentice Ravenpaw is keeping. 

Some of the complaints I have with Into the Wild are really just demographic issues. I’m not a preteen anymore and at this point, books written for preteens can feel gratingly simplistic, both in plot and in prose. Which isn’t to excuse bad writing, of course, but even the best-written middle grade fiction isn’t going to read like a novel aimed at adults.

There, are, however, issues with this book that go beyond that. While it’s difficult for me to judge now what a typical child would have picked up on, I think even as a 9-year-old, I would have figured out the “big reveal” moment long before the story actually got to there and many of the other plot beats are similarly well-worn. Most of the characters fall cleanly into basic archetypes – the kind mentor, the abusive mentor, the bright-eyed hero, the best friend, the antagonistic peer – with little deviation. 

Furthermore, Erin Hunter’s dialogue is not good. In fact, I’d say that at points it’s really bad. Unintentionally awkward humor, blatant exposition dumps, and stilted attempts at sounding badass or intimidating litter the pages and this alone had me cringing my way through the first half of the book. 

What surprised me, however, was how good many of the other aspects of the book were. Into the Wild is paced well. Something new happens in every chapter, be it the introduction of a new facet of the worldbuilding or a new plot event, but never so many things so fast that it feels overwhelming or rushed. Hunter makes good use of sensory descriptions, both to place the reader firmly in the scene and, in specific, with the frequent use of smell to remind us that the characters are cats who rely on different cues than humans do. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, however, was how clearly-written and logical the action sequences were. At no point did I find myself confused as to who was where or what was going on, even in the middle of a literal catfight, something that many authors, even skilled ones, struggle with. 

I wasn’t really surprised that the first Warriors book ended up not being quite as amazing as I remembered, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared it would be, either. While it will never be to me now what it was back in the day, Into the Wild is a decent (albeit not great) middle grade book with several elements that will likely appeal to a certain group of preteens and I had enough fun revisiting memory lane to at least give Fire and Ice a shot (especially since I remember that the series improves in later books). 

Warnings: Into the Wild features a fair amount of violence for the age range, including descriptions of blood and injuries and the deaths of several named characters that might disturb sensitive children.

The cats of the Clans demonstrate significant prejudice against cats of other clans and speak very derisively of housecats and of spaying/neutering. Over the course of the story, Rusty/Firepaw comes to adopt these views himself. Although this makes complete sense from an in-character level and I would trust an adult to be able to understand this, those in the target age range might not be able to distinguish the two fully and it might warrant parents having a talk about the topic with younger readers

Rating: 7/10

[clevermird]

mhmhmhmm yrliet....

[clevermird]

comparing every conceivable vampire character to astarion has gotta be some kind of vampire racism bc what the hell do these mfers have in common besides being a fruity vampire (which is also just every vampire ever)

"you'd love this character if you love astarion!" proceeds to pull up a character that's literally nothing alike

[clevermird]

I've seen a lot of posts going around about this through the week, and I get it: the kudos/engagement economy is in shambles when it comes to fic. We live in the era of content creation.

But the easiest way to get a community of readers is to build one, and the easiest way to build one (in my experience) is throwing oneself headlong into supporting as many works as one can manage. It's not a perfect solution (I don't think there is a perfect solution) but overall, community is like a garden, and gardens grow when you feed them.

Want to receive prompts? Make prompts - but more than that, follow up and send out a lot of them. I just made one, and I sent, I'm not kidding, fifty asks.

Did I get that many back? Not even close. But did I get to watch while the community took hold of them, and engagement went up for everyone for that time, and that was the goal in the first place.

Want to receive commenters? Wax lyrical about how much you loved someone else's work, and they're likelier to want to repay the favour in kind.

Read. I'm guilty of it all the time: writing way more fic than I read, then wondering why tumbleweeds are rolling over some of my works. But I also know that I remember the names of commenters, and those are the fics I go look at first, to see if I can leave support with kudos/comments of my own.

Again, is this perfect? No. But will it help, even a little? Yes.

[clevermird]

High Farseer Eklendyl Ma'ersh, the prisoner of Reaving Tempest (Rogue Trader CRPG)

[clevermird]

lets play with mamas tail