gingermintpepper

[gingermintpepper]

Freckled Apollo is good, but I actually like the idea of freckled Artemis wayyy more specifically because I think about the Greeks' explanation for Near Eastern people having dark skin being that they were burnt by the sun when Phaethon nearly crashed Helios' chariot that one time a lot.

I just feel like all of that exposure to the sun and Helios' horses and Helios himself would result in him naturally having much darker skin than his sister. Not that he couldn't still have freckles, but at that point they're more liable to be permanent sun-spots due to his over-exposure. Artemis though, who usually moves in heavily shaded areas like forests and swamps and who works in the night? I bet she freckles every time Apollo kisses her cheeks to greet her or whenever they end up wrestling around like cubs over petty nonsense.

You can always tell when Artemis has been spending time with her brother cause she always has the freckles in the spots he touched her last.

[gingermintpepper]

I spent the last odd couple of months working on a single bit of Hyapollo fic and I finally posted it. I'm very proud of myself for getting it done but I am also tormented by how difficult it is to write prose in this style.

Ah well, at least I managed to get something done for Pride Month lol

[gingermintpepper]

Aeschylus all the way!

Even though Euripedes' works are really enjoyable and are phenomenal for me in terms of how he approaches the psychology and internal conflict of his characters, I don't think any greek writer's works have affected the way I see and think about greek mythology more than the Father of Tragedy himself. Maybe it's also not surprising considering I favour the gods more than human heroes, but I'm just very appreciative of the way his works portray tragedy as a consequence of the condition of being born. That it is as natural as life, or joy or, indeed, death.

Literally changed my life type stuff 🥰

I'm curious

I'm personally a Euripides girlie 😁. His plays are the easiest to read for me and have this kind of lively touch. Also, the Bacchae, my favorite play, is from Euripides so bonus point. Nonetheless I still appreciate Aeschylus and Sophocles' works immensely. There's a lot to love in theirs too.

Edit : also if your answer is Aristophanes, for example, you can choose the fourth option. The three tragedy ones aren't the only choices available.

I'd still prefer to keep it only Greek myth-centered though.

Also, I meant youR favorite*. Stupid typo...

Tagging my Greek myth moots : @margaretkart @aliciavance4228 , @sarafangirlart @just-1-scorpio @katerinaaqu @go-rocksquadsfan @galusandmalus @huntressofladyartemis @gingermintpepper @dootznbootz @amostcuriousmythicist

Anyone else is free to join and tag their own moots if they want to.

[gingermintpepper]

I have so many of these laying around so have an old doodle of Eros from back when his hair was short! I really love his old design tbh, it was perfect for making him Brood and Ponder.

[gingermintpepper]

Omg thank you for the tag!

Favourite colour: A nice deep royal blue. Something like a sapphire blue and more jewel toned blues like that are just gorgeous to my eyes.

Currently watching: Nothing lol. I've been considering rewatching the 5th part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure again but I haven't actually gotten around to starting it yet 💀

Currently reading: Poetry Unbound by Pádraig ó Tuama! I'm trying very hard to repair my relationship with poetry so I've been reading a lot of essays written by people who've dedicated their lives to the art. Ó Tuama's writings really make me wish I could relate to poems.

Last Song: Mother I Sober by Kendrick Lamar. I tend to rotate my musical fixings each month and this month it's very solidly RnB and rap. I'm currently on a Mr Morale and the Big Steppers/Ology loop 👍🏾

Coffee or Tea: Tea! Coffee gives me horrible migraines (well caffeine in general does) so I usually drink fruit teas and herbal teas.

Currently craving: Foodwise? Maybe some red mango? I could do with some pommecythere too tbh. In general? Apollo content - specifically about his very complicated relationship with life and death - but I don't think that exists anywhere except in my mind LMAO

Last book opened: Radiant Sin by Katee Roberts. I was doublechecking some stuff about her world structure because I'd seen some posts about her books.

Earbuds, Headphones or nothing: Earbuds! If I had headphones, I'd definitely use those though ☺️

Favourite chip flavour: Whichever is the spiciest

Last place I went other than home: The hospital! I had a doctor's appointment earlier this week and I haven't left my home since 💀

A colour that looks good on you: Bright red!

Last trailer you saw: Oh boy - I guess the Arknights 6th anniversary pv? That's the last trailer I recall actively watching anyway - I don't often look at trailers unless they're shown to me.

I'll go ahead and tag: @superkooku @wishmemellon @konu-d @gotstabbedbyapen and, as usual, anyone else who thinks this looks like fun!

Tagged by: @wizardysseus 💕

favourite colour: Purple! Bluer shades preferred, but any purple a good purple. currently watching: The Murderbot TV series (you're lucky this came out now otherwise I'd have to answer 'nothing' lol). currently reading: Scum Villain's Self-Saving System (... second reread, I went completely off the deep end a couple weeks ago idk), and Rouge Protocol, on my whatever round of rereading The Murderbot Diaries. last song: The City and the River by the Rescues. coffee or tea: Tea, green or black! currently craving: Uhh... chocolate ice cream, maybe? Fic and RP for my current fave ships (Menelaos/Paris and, uh. :v Original!Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan) last book opened: The Iliad! Caroline Alexander's translation for English, but I opened the Greek, too. I needed to check the spoken lines between Helen and Paris so I could put my own versions of them in the relevant scene in The Long Years. earbuds, headphones, or nothing: Headphones. Specifically, noise-cancelling headphones, my beloved. favourite chip flavour: Plain salt. last place i went other than home: Work! (Which happens to be a library-archive institution.) a colour that looks good on you: Noooo idea. I wear my favourite colours if I can get clothes I like with them and that's it. last trailer you saw: The first trailer for the Murderbot TV series.

tagging: @dilutedh2so4 @kebriones @gingermintpepper @edaigoa and whoever else wants to!

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, I know we're all going through the horrible western greek myth retelling machine right now but. BUT ☝🏾 I will die on the hill that Katee Roberts' Neon Gods series is actually REALLY good, specifically because her works aren't trying to be a Greek Mythology retelling at all but instead uses the frameworks like fairy tales and frameworks for her original world.

Unironically, super compelling stuff and the fact that the Olympian names are titles that the society's leaders use and are passed on/acquired by people based on what facet of government they're in charge of is cool as hell.

[gingermintpepper]

for the fic writer asks, 14, 15, 16, 17 please? your writing is so beautiful and fascinating💚

Hello Anon!! Thank you so so much for your kind words!! 🥰🥰 It always makes me so happy to hear people enjoy my words ♡

14) Where do you get your inspiration?

Honestly, the myths themselves give me all the inspiration I need. These stories are so rich, diverse and powerful, I often feel like they're just begging to be dug into and spoken about! There are so many innocuous and auspicious myths that deserve to be told and retold over and over again - stories about the stars and the rivers and all the spirits that inhabit the spaces humans can never tread. Sometimes just reading an ode or hymn can make me want to write or draw!

Apart from that, I also get a lot of inspiration from music. One of the things I struggle with as a writer is the human aspect of capturing characters, of making them feel less like collections of facts that I'm excitedly speaking about and more like living breathing figures partaking in a life crafted by their decisions and conflicts. Music helps a lot with that by giving me templates to imagine characters to which I usually end up refining more and more into what I think fits the character in my mind. Musicals, RnB, Alternative tracks and fado are especially helpful to me so I tend to listen to these genres a lot when I'm stuck with a character and need a bit of a jumpstart.

15) Favourite weather for writing

I don't exactly have a wide range of weather to pick from where I live but my favourite time of day to write is definitely late at night! It's cool and quiet and I don't have to worry about anyone walking in on me loudly talking out dialogue and sentences as I figure out what sounds good lmao

16) Favourite place to write

Well, traditionally, my favourite place to write is my local library (or any library really) but since I've been so sick recently, I've learnt to enjoy writing in my bed a lot too. Writing in the gallery is also pretty nice - especially around sunrise or sunset when it's not too hot yet and the wind is a bit colder.

17) Talk about your writing and editing process

Oh boy, what can I say about my writing and editing process. I don't really like talking about the physical process of writing because it's very painful for me at the moment. I spend a lot of time agonising over the placement of words, the arrangement of them, whether one set of words will convey my concepts better than this other set of words. I restart compulsively, often trashing thousands of words if I feel like things are veering too far away from my original vision for a work and I can spend upwards of eleven hours just sitting down and writing over and over in order to get a substancial amount of words down on a page that I'm content with.

Editing, in stark comparison, is where I have a ton of fun! It's where I fact check a lot of what I've written as well as finish up whatever extranaeous citation table I've had open on the side and it's also where I play my favourite game of "is this as impactful as I want it to be?" Which usually results in me changing out a lot of my turns of phrases, reordering sentences, updating descriptive terms to be more appropriate for the era I'm roughly aiming to evoke and, if I've written sex, editing is usually where I do my best to evaluate whether something ought to be more evocative or erotic and adjust the lewder aspects of a scene to better achieve my goals. I'm usually the proudest of my work after two rounds of editing!

[gingermintpepper]

All done!

I have to put some dust protectors down but now the shelf looks like mine again! 🥰

As a bit of a break activity from the depressing reality of mainstream western greek myth retellings, today's agenda is cleaning out my childhood bookshelf so I can actually fit my newer stuff on it!

I'm already one shelf deep and a lot of these books are either older than or just about 10-15 years.

While it's not particularly aesthetic, the oldest books with their scuffed and torn spines and fraying edges are books I've inherited from my father, some of which he's inherited from his father. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to fit everything on here but hey! That's the fun of things like this lmao

[gingermintpepper]

I'm listening to Kdot while I clean and honestly, Mr Morale is an album that just makes me aggressively daydream about the generational curses that infect the line of Kronos in my work.

There're definite songs that I associate with certain characters like Father Time with Ares or Mother I Sober with Apollo but god, the line "You don't know grief until you know it sober" is just beating me over the head.

As a bit of a break activity from the depressing reality of mainstream western greek myth retellings, today's agenda is cleaning out my childhood bookshelf so I can actually fit my newer stuff on it!

I'm already one shelf deep and a lot of these books are either older than or just about 10-15 years.

While it's not particularly aesthetic, the oldest books with their scuffed and torn spines and fraying edges are books I've inherited from my father, some of which he's inherited from his father. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to fit everything on here but hey! That's the fun of things like this lmao

[gingermintpepper]

Pretty sure I know where you're from (thanks Miku), but I still took a look at your books for the fun of it, saw pizza&pasta, went 🫵ITALIAN 🇮🇹

LMFAO The most Italian thing in my room is my copy of the first issue of Part 5 of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure!

[gingermintpepper]

I dislike throwing away books, especially time capsules like Shryock's 'On Becoming a Woman' but this book is diabolical y'all 😭

There's an entire chapter in here about secondhand daydreaming which cautions young women against reading fiction because it'll make them dissatisfied with life and also they might see themselves in the characters which is "unwholesome". It's definitely a phenomenal text to give some perspective on what ladies were being taught in the far off distant past of uhh, 1960 LMAO

As a bit of a break activity from the depressing reality of mainstream western greek myth retellings, today's agenda is cleaning out my childhood bookshelf so I can actually fit my newer stuff on it!

I'm already one shelf deep and a lot of these books are either older than or just about 10-15 years.

While it's not particularly aesthetic, the oldest books with their scuffed and torn spines and fraying edges are books I've inherited from my father, some of which he's inherited from his father. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to fit everything on here but hey! That's the fun of things like this lmao

[gingermintpepper]

As a bit of a break activity from the depressing reality of mainstream western greek myth retellings, today's agenda is cleaning out my childhood bookshelf so I can actually fit my newer stuff on it!

I'm already one shelf deep and a lot of these books are either older than or just about 10-15 years.

While it's not particularly aesthetic, the oldest books with their scuffed and torn spines and fraying edges are books I've inherited from my father, some of which he's inherited from his father. I'm actually not sure how I'm going to fit everything on here but hey! That's the fun of things like this lmao

[gingermintpepper]

I would like to request to see your oldest, scrungiest cats please!

Signed;

- a certain Saniwa from a far away Citadel

[gingermintpepper]

Ahhh, this is honestly so wonderful to hear!!

Insecure is perhaps the wrong word, but I do often worry that the way I approach the gods is something that will turn people off or will be too alien but hearing that it's an inspiration and that my posts have helped you - truly it means the world! And as for Apollo, I really don't know what else can be done. People will always see and say what they want to - I cannot make people see that Apollo is fascinating and multi-faceted any more than they can convince me he is a jovial, careless womaniser. I'll always champion for more nuanced, thoughtful depictions of Apollo in all his forms, whether he is wrathful or amorous or graceful and in that pursuit of a better Apollo, I'm just very grateful to have found contemporaries who are also searching for more compassionate interpretations of him.

In Pursuit of Daybreak is also an intensely cosmogenial story so things like geneology and inheritance among the gods are huge huge themes in that work, hence why I have to pay extra attention to the gods. I understand that most other retellings or adaptations usually choose to focus on human characters and their lives and so leave the gods as fringe parts or simply do not have/make the space to explore them, so I also have to acknowledge that I'm definitely writing for my interests here LOL. In any case, I'm glad I could help you in any way! Please feel free to reach out any time as well 🥰

Hey,,, so,,, quick question, wdym you love my writing 😭 I didn't even know you read my stuff nevermind liking it!! I'm very very honoured!!

(Also trust me when I say I have a never ending well of good things to say about your writing. I can write essays about it even. Your voice is so gorgeous and the way you write Apollo makes my heart absolutely soar. I wish I could print out your pages so I could hold your words in my hand and revel in the physical weight of them. Please never stop creating♡♡♡♡♡♡)

Trust me when I say that some of your posts about Apollo have inspired the way I interpret him - especially that one about how Apollo and Artemis' relationship as young gods might have changed when he got exiled? Chef's kiss, something I had never considered, love it.

Honestly, I just love finding other people around here that don't have a flat, stereotypical view of Apollo, which is something that seems so hard to find, especially with the recent adaptations that make him a one-dimensional villain character (I'm sure I don't have to name them...) In Pursuit of Daybreak sounds like a really intriguing story, and all your long posts show how much you think about how to portray Apollo well! Plus there's all those other posts about the gods and how they interact with each other... I really love your characterisations of them all.

(Def not stopping creating, if an idea sticks around for two years it's probably worth seeing through XD I started God of the Golden Bow because I didn't think I could write a full novel with the idea. Here I am with, what, 40K-odd words and a rough sketch for an Apollo and Admetus novel? I tend to have two or three projects on the go at once, so it's slow going, but... one day)

[gingermintpepper]

So, I’ve seen a good amount of hate for Emily Wilson and Madeline Miller? I’m kinda confused as to why.

Keep in mind I haven’t actually read Wilson’s stuff, but I did read one of Miller’s books (Song of Achilles) and really liked it. Can someone please explain this?

[gingermintpepper]

Don't wanna sound disrespectful guys but I think the Samurai armors are cool and all but THESE bad boys do not get NEARLY as much attention as they deserve!

(Creations by the amazing Dimitrios Katsikis, also known as "modern Hephaestus", Credit: Dimitrios Karvountzis / Dimitrios Katsikis / Hellenic Armors)

[gingermintpepper]

I was tagged in so many wonderful posts today,,,thank you Universe,,, maybe you do love me after all,,,,