#[[characterisation notes yo]]

[lokideservesahug]

An Unexpected Crossover

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Pairing:Carlos Alcaraz x F1 pilot!Reader

Notes: I've had this in my mind since Wimbledon but only ever ½ created this. Shout out to @yungbludz for fully bringing me into my Alcaraz era and for indirectly encouraging me to post this (il your work) + (an anon comes out of hiding ig). I have ideas for other parts but Idk if I should continue so feedback is very welcome. This characterisation is probably awful but I've never written for Carlos before. I'm very open to advice though.

Summary: Y/N Y/L/N, the only rookie in Formula 1's 2024 season. But many people get excited at her attending Wimbledon especially after some old interviews resurface...

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You weren't ashamed of your boyfriend, of course not. But mornings like these made the constant speculation, talks and borderline harassment about your relationship worth it.

Moments where you woke up earlier and could watch the first breaking of the morning sun fall out between the gaps in your curtains and onto Carlos' face. You watch as the yellow light frames your boyfriend's face, making him look even more pretty than usual.

In this moment, he looked like the perfect image of sleep. And goodness did he deserve it, especially after his performance, that could only be described as truly outstanding yesterday.

You'd heard what people said about yesterday. Djokovic gave one of his greatest performances ever and Carlos still managed to beat him. Even the thought strikes a chord of pride within you and brings a grin to your face.

A sudden groan however wakes you from your thoughts. "Querida?" You hum in response, looking back down to your boyfriend. He lifts his head up slowly and gives you a familiar look (one that you've learnt that at times like these, means he's questioning why you aren't still glued to his side). You hold in the urge to laugh slightly his pouty face and half asleep fueled strop but that only makes his pout get somehow bigger. "Big baby." You lie down next to Carlos, resting your head on his shoulder and weaving your hand under his shirt. Carlos let's out a slight shiver at the lack of warmth in your hands but also simultaneously hums in content. "Eso está mejor" (That's better)

You roll your eyes. "Then shush you big baby." Already anticipating his next move, you whip out your other arm to cage Carlos' hand to the bed. "Don't even think about pretending to be offended. Just go back to sleep." And that order he happily complies with; well after wriggling his arm from out of your grip only to lay it on your back and rub mindless shapes as he mutters "mujer mandona" (Bossy woman). And before you have the time to respond, (probably about the fact that Carlos gets riled up at stuff like that) you feel the familiar shallow breathing of your boyfriend fan across your hair.

You had to do things at some point today. But you suppose you could sleep in, especially for the Wimbledon Champion.

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Jane had given you some elaborate story for if anyone truly cared enough to ask about your relationship, well at least for your standards. You're pretty sure it went something along the lines of:

1. You and your boyfriend met at the start of last year and began dating soon after (but kept it on the downlow due to your job). However, you were so enamoured with him that despite your PR training, you let the fact that you weren't single slip once or twice.

2. He broke up with you a few months ago, leaving you heartbroken but still being mature and understanding.

3. (Possibly the truest element of the whole story) Carlos kissed you when he won Wimbledon for the second time, which he did.

4. Your ex boyfriend saw, came to a realisation, called you up... you know the rest.

It was very PR polished and you knew it, Jane knew it, but it was what you needed. Some story just yo cover your tracks and make people focus on your racing, not your love live. But it almost made you laugh at what lengths people had to go to. When infact the real story was only:

1. You and Carlos started dating at the start of last year...

That's it. No break up, no heartfelt reunion after you kissed another man. However, you and your boyfriend had a good laugh over the whole story and even led to an interesting conversation a few days ago.

☆-☆-☆-☆-☆

You'd just come home after racing in the simulator all afternoon. You look down at your phone and sigh at the sight of Jane wishing you a nice day, finally ending the conversation. You fight the urge to roll your eyes as you unlock the front door and step inside. You take your shoes off and walk to the living room to try and find Carlos.

And exactly as expected, he's sat on the sofa, scrolling on his phone. He looks up as you enter the room. "Buenas tardes cariño. ¿Cómo estuvo?" (Good afternoon darling, how was it). You sigh and drop back onto the sofa, leaving back on Carlos as he adjusts to put an arm around you. "Meh. Same as usual. Jane finally came up with a cover story..." Carlos hums in intrigue next to you as you explain the ins and outs of what might as well be a well constructed pyramid scheme at this point.

By the time you've finished, you feel well and truly worn out but you seek comfort in the feeling of Carlos absentmindedly rubbing shapes onto your shoulder. "I don't see what the big deal is. I mean I told Juanki ages ago." You feel your whole body tense up as you turn to Carlos... "You did what?" You're only met with Carlos' sheepish, confused face. And oh gosh, you feel like you need to lie down.

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Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

As always, likes, reblogs and especially feedback is always welcome!

Idk who to tag so I'll tag my usual people but please let me know ow if you don't want yo be tagged in work like this:

Taglist: @nikfigueiredo @mysoulispainted @leclercings @d3kstar @hiireadstuff @a-beaverhausen @nichmeddar @lozzamez3 @stinkyjax @marymustdie @littlesatanicassholebitch @mehrmonga @insanedeathwish @ems-alexandra @a-disturbing-self-reflection @cherry-piee @thatgirlmj

[uponthebarricade]

Les Mis Arena Spectacular Tour Review

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - Me after watching the show. Hence, here is a very disorganised collection of my thoughts!

TLDR: everyone was amazing.

Bradley Jaden - the man that you are. Wow. I remembered hearing a lot about how amazing he is but I wasn't familiar with him at all. And wow did he exceed my expectations!! I've never really felt connected to Javert as a character - I understand him, but I never really felt what he was feeling until I saw Bradley play Javert. And from the moment he started singing I was captivated by his performance. He elevated the character and gave every line so much personality and meaning that it all felt brand new! Stars was just beautiful. I actually found myself rooting for Javert (and his death didn't feel goofy at all, which is a feat in itself). Probably my favourite of the cast - a lot of hair, a lot of spit (like, a lot...), and a lot of talent!!

Killian Donnelly - I mean, what can I say? I love Alfie and Michael but I specifically chose to see Killian's show because I have a soft spot for him (and I love an Irish man...). And of course he delivered! Not a single note out of place, and he perfectly captured the repentant, fatherly essence of Valjean. His last note in Bring Him Home was gorgeousss. And he and Bradley had great chemistry/tension together, despite the limited nature of the concert staging. They had a very wholesome hug during bows and it was nice to see them taking the moment in :) They deserve all the love!

Marius (Jac Yarrow) - Man, Jac's name is so close to Jack Sparrow that it automatically makes him cool. Jac was great as Marius! I found his performance improved as the show went on, and I think his acting particularly shined during Act 2. Beautiful voice - Empty Chairs was veryyy pretty. Mourning the fact that the boys didn't have the candles.

Eponine (Emily Bautista) - I mean her voice is just incredible and she had some really beautifully placed lines, especially during Eponine's death. It's a bit of an awkward scene to manage with concert staging but she made it seem really natural. On my own was really pretty with all the hanging lanterns as well! I think some Eponine's try really hard to make their version of the song unique/different, but I think the beauty of Emily's version is she kept it simple and effective!

Cosette (Jo Stephenson) - Jo was a lovely Cosette! I didn't extensively check the cast beforehand so I didn't even realise she was an understudy until now. Her voice was soooo angelic and those high notes were *chefs kiss*. Beautiful. And she had a very calm, graceful presence which was well-suited to the character - I would have liked to see just a little bit more of her own personality/spark added to her performance but it was still absolutely gorgeous!

Fantine (Rachelle Ann Go) - Similarly to Jo, Rachelle had a really graceful presence on stage that was perfect for the character. And of course, her voice is smoooooth as silk! Her voice during Valjean's death... whewwwww chills. I think my only criticism would be that some of her vocal choices during I Dreamed A Dream were a bit more "pop", which some people may love! I just tend to prefer the more classical sound.

Enjolras (James D. Gish) - My sister, who knows absolutely nothing about Les Mis, fell in love with James as soon as he came on stage (honey, it's a rite of passage- every Enjolras is a god in human form). Look, I won't lie - as an Enjolras fan I am very specific about the characterisations that I prefer - and James pretty much nailed it! Passionate without being too aggressive, charming without being too boyish, solemn without being too serious. And man.. that voice. Incredible. The only thing I could say is that I think he initially tried to achieve some sort of accent between American and British? And then eventually gave up and resorted to his American accent. Which is fine by me - I actually really like the mix of accents within the cast!

+Enjoltaire - If you know me then you know I am an Enjoltaire shipper and let me tell you, I was on the lookout! Again, interactions between characters was generally limited due to the staging but there were still some really sweet moments - Grantaire just generally always looking at Enjolras. Enjolras patting Grantaire on the back and Grantaire reaching out for his hand. Enjolras jumping to shield Gavroche and Grantaire upon the first gunshots. Drink with me... yeah. Connor Jones was a great Grantaire, but didn't get to see him too much due to the sections cut out of the show :(

Thenardiers (Matt Lucas and Marina Prior) - I mean, what can I say. Literal theatre legends. I think I'm so familiar with the show that the Thenardiers really need to try hard to catch me off guard enough to make me laugh, which they were able to! Good adlibbing between lines, although some were such modern references that it kinda drew me out of the show for a second - that being said, it was very much the more "relaxed" arena show vibe, and not a theatre show, so I can understand those choices. LOVED Matt's Dog Eats Dog. Edit: Love Marina Prior. Fuck Matt Lucas.

My only criticisms: Mainly to do with staging and cut songs/scenes, which I'm not too upset about since I understand the concert setup is quite limited. The overhead lights partially blocked one of the screens, so it was difficult to see during certain scenes but overall not a massive issue. The only thing that really drew me out of the show was the cutting of the Second Attack/Gavroche's death - it's one of my favourite scenes in the show, including the transition from his death to the Final Battle. I just love the buildup in tension and then the emotional release, it feels like such a turning point in the show that makes the rest of Act 2 so sombre. But Killian finished singing Bring Him Home and I'm still emotional and suddenly everyone is dead - wait, what? For a second I thought James was singing the wrong verse accidentally until everyone started getting shot. This is probably not an issue for anyone else, but I was a little disappointed not to see one of my favourite moments. This is why I NEED a fully staged version to come to my city, like, now.

Overall, I feel so thankful to have finally seen this show live for the first time, even if it wasn't in its full-fledged form. It was a magical experience to hear these songs and see this story that means so much to me come to life!!! A dream come true.

Now I have to study for exams. Shit.

[mysterycitrus]

Hello since you're like the only person here I know who's in DC TikTok what are the worst things you've seen/experienced (bad takes, comments, refusing to read material, etc.)

id say the worst universal take is people refusing to read comics, and being proud that they only engage with fanfic and wfa. trying to police peoples fandom experience is unrealistic but the game of tiktok telephone is actively encouraging people not to read the source material. i think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how comics work there — sure, there’s a lot of them (esp for popular, 75+ yo characters like dick and bruce) but in my experience almost every comic fan on earth has a reading list prepped at all times and is ready to explain complicated events to newbies

because a lot of people who talk about batfandom in particular haven’t read the comics, when they talk about the characters what they’re saying isn’t really based in reality. the characters are boiled down to core character traits that aren’t even accurate to the specific characters, and are often reductive, degrading, or just plain silly

acting as if taking the fandom characterisations will lead to a more “diverse and nuanced” version is also hilarious when u consider how jtodd and timmy (in particular) are treated vs cass and duke and especially damian. i have witnessed racism unseen since grant morrison in the early aughts. this is not something to be proud of. please examine why ur treating the ten year old like an animal who attacks poor defenceless [redacted].

on a personal note, as a dick grayson fan rediscovering the fandom after like a five year gap, it’s been pretty upsetting to see widespread misinterpretation of his character (that is now reflected in his actual canon solo 🌝) and that a lot of his pre-existing history with other characters, his personality, and his competency has been given wholesale to someone else to make them look cooler. it drives me up the fucking wall

[galacsin]

Thanks for being open to a discussion about this, I appreciate hearing your insights into these characterisation changes! (Sorry for how long this got)

I have finished the Flash comic now and yes you're right it was boring, at least Riddler's parts, which actually fits right in with something your original reply made me think of, that is, that a lot of the more mainstream 'serious threat' versions of Riddler are, frankly, simply quite boring. In attempting to make him more of a threat they, like you said, rid him of all his most interesting traits - bafflingly including his gimmick like in this Flash comic (unless I missed something he didn't tell a single riddle) or, worse, in OBD - which makes him not just bland but a cardboard cutout that could easily be replaced by other villains (this Flash one by Lex Luthor, TWoJaR by Hush, S6 '14 by Joker, etc) without really having to change much about either the story or characterisation. These kinds of adaptations make him an empty shell that fulfills only the most basic and stereotypical of villain characteristics - stone cold genius, powerhungry megalomaniac, etc. - which are much better explored in other characters and ironically never have really been a part of his personality before this.

You said that he's classically a sort of "just some guy" villain whose gimmick is hard to write if you don't happen to be into riddles yourself, and I completely agree. It's interesting to me how him being 'just some guy' seems to be part of what these writers dislike about him: a lot of the traits that have been changed or erased are ones that mark him as 'average' or 'not special' - his working class background, his mediocre grades and average or low educational level, the limits to his skills and abilities, winning never coming easy for him or even his outward appearance being changed from 'bland' dark hair and brown or grey eyes to bright red hair, piercing blue or green eyes and uncommon styles of facial hair like the infamous mutton chops - with the rest of them being the ones that make him 'weird' or 'weak', like his emotional instability or riddle compulsion. And it feels ironic to me that despite the writers probably assuming that changing these 'average' or 'weird' things about him would make him more special and cool, doing this has exactly the opposite effect, making him just one more guy in a sea of super genius cold mass murdering power broker villains and evil stem majors, when he used to be way more unique as the one 'weird average joe' among the rogues' lenghty list of murderous top-of-their-field genius doctors and professors.

Being a flamboyant thief that likes threatening people but ultimately considers murder boring and whose crimes include such illustrous examples as filling an office building with two tons of prunes or stealing an old baseball contract while wearing a curly fake mustache simply make him much more of a standout than being yet another sadistic mass murderer trying to take over Gotham via toxic gas or Central City via an array of murder drones, like that isn't the exact thing every other villain has been doing in every single arc for the past who knows how many years already. And genuinely? These old 'silly' versions often seem much more threatening or menacing to me than the modern ones, because him usually being a goofy or whimsical minor threat that presents himself as relatively nonviolent makes instances of him losing control of his emotions and flying off the handle or situations where his complete disregard for human lives are on display much more unsettling than if I already expect to see him brutally murder twenty random people before the end of the first arc. Keeps me on my toes.

Anyways this has already become much longer than expected and hasn't even touched on the other things you said about all his different variations being canon at once etc. so I'll end this here and thank you for reading this far!

(Just one more side note: I love that you brought up Villain of the Year because I always found it funny how hard it goes against New 52/Rebirth canon, trying to tell us Lex wouldn't want Eddie on his villain team because he is too much of a silly loser as if Prime Earth Riddler hasn't taken over Central City for a day and Gotham for a month, turned it into an apocalyptic wasteland and just one year after orchestrated the most brutal gang war the city has ever seen. Love the implication that a Riddler in the same timeline as TWoJaR apparently randomly decided to stop being a megalomaniac mass murderer just to become a C lister and do embarassing silly crimes instead for a while.)

... or stealing an old baseball contract while wearing a curly fake mustache simply make him much more of a standout than being yet another sadistic mass murderer trying to take over Gotham via toxic gas or Central City via an array of murder drones ...

Just so people reading this understand whats happening in the later one.

Eddie in these issues:

Breaks his copycat, Arthur Brown, out of prison with the help of Query and Echo.

Pays someone to break his arm so he can get into the hospital, where he executes an escape plan while high as a kite on drugs.

Straps a bomb vest onto Arthur Brown and sends him on a deadly Easter egg hunt to distract Batman.

Dresses up in a ridiculous costume to steal a baseball contract. Images from Detective Comics #705-707

This is the kind of bullshit, I expect when I read about Eddie. I mean even Arkham Riddler, a decidedly more serious take on him has his silly moments.

I am going to ramble on a bit more under the read more.

And don’t even get me started on One Bad Day. I wouldn’t be that mad about it if it weren’t for the fact that we so rarely get stories focused solely on him, ones that are supposed to offer a deeper dive into his character. One of these days, I’m going to rewatch the interview where Mr. King talks about his approach to writing that comic and rant about it here. Why him? He doesn’t care about the Riddler, doesn’t like him, and clearly knows nothing about him. And yet it won an Eisner Award.

Even if you set aside the fact that it’s a terrible Riddler story, it’s just... meh. It ranges from unintentionally silly to “what the hell just happened?”

The points you touch on are fascinating, especially if you consider which iteration of him has what skills. Personally, I see him as someone incredibly talented, dedicated, and hardworking, but he pours all of that into being the Riddler. That’s why I love the idea of him struggling in academia. He doesn’t fit in; his brain works differently. He’s propelled by this almost supernatural drive to do all the insane things he gets up to.

These old 'silly' versions often seem much more threatening or menacing to me than the modern ones, because him usually being a goofy or whimsical minor threat that presents himself as relatively nonviolent makes instances of him losing control of his emotions and flying off the handle or situations where his complete disregard for human lives are on display much more unsettling than if I already expect to see him brutally murder twenty random people before the end of the first arc. Keeps me on my toes.

Exactly. Also this does not make him less of a threat but for writers . Bunch of murder and uninhibited sadism = serious villain.

I’m happy to answer your questions, but if you could focus on just one topic at a time, I’d appreciate it. It’s hard for me to address every observation you’ve written about all at once.

[thatdesklamp]

Hi! I looked at your writing advice page and I think it was really good advice and has helped me a lot, but I was also wondering if you have advice on how to write dialogue?

Because I don't want it to sound boring and cheesy, but I also don't want my characters to be spewing pure Shakespeare lol.

When I read your works, I think you do really well and make things balanced and interesting, with even 3 word sentences :)

Do you have advice?

yo yes I kind of do.

I struggled with writing dialogue most out of anything when I started writing--I'd have to force myself to write it, instead of writing paragraphs upon paragraphs of internal monologues--and so developed a 'Beginner's Method' that ended up working for me:

Talk to yourself as the characters and then write down what you end up saying

For me, this involved pacing around my room and muttering to myself like I was slightly deranged, and then pouncing on my laptop every few minutes to speedtype anything good I came up with. It works best when there's an exchange between only two characters, and you have a general idea of where the scene should go.

Now, this may be the theatre kid in me, but 'acting out' what the characters should say helped me figure out their characterisation better, as well as their vocal mannerisms and inflections to try to make each person 'sound' unique, as well as figuring out how the conversation should flow naturally. It's easy for things to sound forced when you're sitting down and staring at a laptop, so actually getting up and moving actually helped a lot.

Only write out what the characters say, nothing else

At the beginning, I only ever wrote the dialogue. It was just lines and lines that looked like this: I don't think you're right about this made-up conflict we're going to be talking about / maybe i'm not / what do you mean / i mean maybe i agree with you, i'm not right about this made-up conflict / yes you're not

This helps so much with figuring out the flow of the dialogue: you don't get bogged-down in making the writing flowery, or figuring out a really clever way to 'show' that a character is sad without 'telling' they're sad... firstly, just figure out what they're saying.

Add in the flowery bits afterwards

Adding in the 'Person A said' / 'She stared at him' / 'His voice wavered, like [blah blah blah words input here]' after you've written out dialogue helped me loads in the beginning. It then helps you structurally: you can look at your work 'zoomed-out', and make sure you're not clogging your writing with too much description, or too little description, or too much blank space, or too little, or... etc. Nowadays I don't need to really do it like this, as I've got enough practice in that I can figure out the 'flow' as I go (haha) but there are still loads of times when I have a fab idea for how I want a scene to go, and so I just whizz out the dialogue as quick as I can, with only a few markers to help me figure out what I want the characters to be doing. Let me have a look in my notes app to try to see if I've got any IW examples.

[EDIT: HUZZAH!!! I FOUND ONE!!! Here’s literally proof of me doing this for a scene in Chapter 19 of ‘Intrinsic Warmth’:

Which was then expanded (by a biiiig degree!!) into this:

In the first one, I didn’t care about formatting, grammar, anything like that. I’m just concerned about getting the words onto the page, as I know I’ll be able to go over it later.

Other general tips:

Nothing is ever solved in one line

The reader's eyes skip over two lines of dialogue (Person A speaks / Person B responds) so, so quickly. I always noticed that it was like two lines were pretty much redundant until I padded them out with just... more lines. For something to seem significant to the reader, or for there to be a purpose for you to include it, I go with a general rule of four lines minimum.

This is because nobody's mind ever really changes in one or line of dialogue. People don't work like this:

Person A: I'll give you £5 for that dress.

Person B: No way. Minimum price, £10.

(Person A is now convinced and will pay £10)

There needs to be some more back-and-forth, for 90% of people. It's very rare that you'll ever find someone so naturally persuasive that they can change someone's mind in one line, or that someone is so easily convinced that their mind can be changed in one line. Most of the time, it'll look something more like this:

Person A: I'll give you £5 for that dress.

Person B: No way. Minimum price, £10.

Person A: I don't know... I've only got £10 in my purse, and that's for everything today.

Person B: Don't worry, Person A. You know I wouldn't cheat you out of your money!

(Person A is now convinced and will pay £10)

However, each line should still add something new. It could be that Person B tries a new method of convincing Person A, or that Person B tries again, saying essentially the same thing but in a different way. That 'different' way should convey something: are they more irritated, more casual, more angry?

Essentially, don't be afraid of writing more dialogue than less. This doesn't mean you should write random stuff, or dialogue that doesn't serve a purpose, but people talk a lot more than you think. Let them talk.

Use single lines of dialogue, it's okay

As in, the bits in italics:

"Hello," Person A said.

"Hello!"

"Heyyyy. What's up?"

Your reader can keep up with who's saying what, especially once you work on developing each character's 'voice'. I used to get so bogged down by making sure every line of dialogue had the character's name attached to it, but in truth you can write these 'single lines' much more than you think. It helps speed the writing up, and it stops your reader from getting that bored, imo.

I don't know what I'm doing to be so fr

Here's the truth: I don't think dialogue is one of my strengths, at the moment. I've spoken a lot about all of your characters finding their 'voice', so you could basically look only at the character's dialogue and you could know which character it is solely from the words that they're saying. It's important for character development, with dialogue being such an important tool to characterise your characters!

But I honestly don't think I'm the best at that. It's something that I'm consciously working on, and I think writing things other than IW will help me stretch those muscles, but it's honestly not something I've got cracked yet. Which is fine--I'm developing as an author! Everyone is, constantly--and I guess a way to say that I'm not tip-top at this, but as long as you're willing to put yourself out there (as in: start writing, start putting words on paper, that's all) then you're going to improve. And that's great! Ha-haaaa

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

man this movie was SO intense. absolutely love it. here are some thoughts.

so obsessed with the way violence is portrayed in the film, the camera always flinches and averts its gaze at the killing blow, it reacts like a person would. it makes everything MORE intense and hard-hitting. much like gao jianli who is blinded later, your other senses take over in the absence of sight. the sound of the axe hitting the chopping block. the choked-off scream. not only is it incredibly immersive, it's almost a small act of mercy. the viewer is not forced to watch. the victim's final moments are private, hidden from the audience, it's the smallest possible measure of grace. and the film is all about small mercies.

i just really like the camera work ok. there are shots that are totally still and linger on one subject while important things happen out of frame. it's so intriguing. its one of those cool things that ONLY works in film and i just think it's great use of the medium. i was like "damn i should try that--no wait im an artist i can't replicate that with paper."

the only thing i like about MORE than "sweet father-child relationship where they make each other better" is where they make each other WORSE. ok im being facetious but HOLY SHIT. yueyang's actor portrays the daughter of a tyrant to well. she is effortlessly regal. the sweetness. the childish cruelty. the cold-blooded intelligence.

i don't even know how to explain this. ok. so you know what scene where yueyang tells her father she refuses to marry her suitor, and ying zheng replies it treason for a subject to disobey their king, to which she replies tearfully "I am not your subject, I am your daughter." and then he hugs her and says fondly: "you stupid child..." like. this is a VERY specific phrase that parents use. when he said it, i heard my own father's voice. this is immediately followed by "don't you know you are my property too?" the intensely familiar followed by the utterly alien. the way love, politics, power and control are all woven together. the king is the father. the father is the king.

the pacing of the second half is feverish and borders on melodrama. things are thrown at the wall, and not all of them stick. you're sitting there thinking to yourself "what the fuck just happened?" and then SOMETHING ELSE fucking happens on top of it.

ying zheng is portrayed as almost too perceptive and intelligent, like he's peeked at the script. it's an interesting direction to take, especially the part where he sees through the mystics' bullshit. but he seems too modern at times. i would have liked to see the beginnings of the despot slowly taking root, the paranoia, the delusions of grandeur, the phobia of death, growing stronger with each successive assassination attempt.

my biggest critique is the characterisation of gao jianli. theres some ODD choices being made here. for me, the inconsistencies do not read as "conflicted character" it's more like "conflicted director." for a famous musician, Gao Jianli is remarkably one-note at times and his personality seems to yo-yo madly between catatonic, cowardly and suicidal. this could have been very candid and realistic, but the weird pacing just throws everything off. Compared to hua tuo and cao cao, hua tuo's characterisation is clear from the start and his flaws e.g. arrogance and capriciousness--are consistent and well-telegraphed.

[littlerit]

I apologise for the asks in my inbox I’ve still not answered. This just happened to be in my activity box when I’d just finished writing so I have the luxury (or lack of excuses…) of being sat at a desk with my keyboard to hand….

Ta for the tag Clem <3

I have 33 works on AO3

Total AO3 wordcount is around 250k I think….. *checks* 278,324 words!

My top 5 fics by kudos…. Yo, I heard him everyday (Encanto oneshot), my very first fic Quake (Umbrella Academy, complete multichapter), my long fic baby The Time Traveller’s Life (Umbrella Academy, 170k WIP), my other will-hopefully-grow-up-into-a-longish-fic Obedience Suite (in A minor) (Umbrella Academy, 30+k) and finally Five’s first displacement (Umbrella Academy oneshot - prologue to TTL)

I do respond to comments! I love getting comments, and I love responding to them. You’ve shared your reaction with me, I want to share my reaction to your reaction! (or at the very least say thank you and let you know I read your comment!) I’ve fallen into the habit now of generally responding to comments on a previous chapter when I upload the next one.

What fic has the angstiest ending…. hmmm…. Farewell and The Hunt both ends in character death, and by default Five in the Apocalypse Sob Stories are all angsty AF

Ooh the happiest ending. Of Ghoulies and Spoons is just fluff, and The Tails of the Umbrella Aquarium has an angsty start and a happy ending

Do I write crossovers? I certainly write AUs / Fusions, those are my jam. For the Umbrella Academy I’ve done Daemon AU, Howls Moving Castle (would this class as a retelling perhaps, putting TUA characters into the HMC world and adapting it to fit?), and Ella Enchanted AU, and of course a Time Traveller’s WIfe AU. Have I writtena strict crossover where characters from two universes meet and interact? No.

I got a book mark on TTL with a trollish note (‘Zzzzzzzzz’) - they had gone through a bunch of fics and given them rude comments. But thats the worst of it.

I do not write smut.

Not that I know of. I hope not.

Somebody once asked if they could translate my fic, but then never responded or let me know if they actually did or not, so I don’t think so.

I have co-written a fic, Klaus’ moving castle with the wonderful @destinyandcoins

My fave ship…. I do read a lot of Zukka. Also ineffable husbands.

A WIP I want to finish but never will….well never say never. I hope to finish all my WIPS I’ve got up as WIPs. But I did post the start of a Everyday AU and labelled it clearly as free for adoption / inspiration as I just don’t see me having the time to ever really get going with that one. But who knows, it could happen.

My writing strengths… Complex timelines and time-travelling shenanigans. My devious mind and organisation skills combine nicely for that. I also can turn my hand to a mean drabble when the inspiration strikes.

Writing weaknesses…I can go pages and pages without including dialogue. I need to remember people do really be saying things to themselves/each other.

Thoughts on dialogue in other languages on AO3… it very much depends on the context for me. The odd word or phrase used sparingly for effect can really aid in and elevate characterisation or world setting for me. But it can be a fine line between an effect and a gimmick. When long dialogue is written out and then translated for me as the reader I personally wish it was just left in english and clarified in the speech tag that it was said in Spanish/Elvish/Whatever-ish.

The Umbrella Academy was my first fandom, and I’m still there now!

I have written a short oneshot for Avatar Last Airbender, but there is a longfic idea bouncing around my brain (another AU….lol) that would be nice to get out one day. I’d also kind of like to write for Temeraire, but I’m really not sure I could nail that old english voice. I am far too modern I think!

The Time Traveller’s Life is my baby. I’ve put so much work into that one. But I have other favourites too for other reasons. But forced to pick, it’s TTL.

@rockinlibrarian @destinyandcoins @booksasfurniture *mild panic as sleepy bedtime brain tries to remember who writes* @in-a-slanted-outhouse @candiliam328 @aye-of-newt …… if you fancy it, crack on, and if you don’t please ignore :)

Author Interview

(This was originally a tag meme that Mod Ragna was tagged in ages ago, so feel free to tag others if you answer it!)

How many works do you have on AO3?

What's your total AO3 word count?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

What fic has the angstiest ending?

What fic has the happiest ending?

Do you write crossovers?

Have you received hate on AO3?

Do you write smut?

Have you had a fic get stolen?

Have you had a fic get translated?

Have you co-written a fic?

What's your fave ship?

What's a WIP you want to finish but never will?

What are your writing strengths?

What are your writing weaknesses?

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages on AO3?

What's the first fandom you wrote for?

What fandom/ship have you not written but want to?

What's your fave fic you've written?

[fitzrove]

My probably favourite dream of all time is the one where I was the artistic director of the local opera house and it was like half Phantom and half an original drama/mystery plot 😭 take me back country roads

[magicalgirlsasuke]

rr wrote bianca into the series and killed her off solely for nico’s characterisation/as a way to progress the plot without making her part of the plot -- and that makes her the most intriguing character in the whole series for me.

she was a 12 yo solely responsible for her younger brother for 70 years!! her character motive was to be free of that responsibility. to only have to worry about herself for once in her life, to finally have a support system backing her. yet even after she’s joined the hunters and percy is on a quest with her seeing her act for herself, the narrative always notes her thru reference to nico.

we see that despite being notably drained by him, she deeply cares for nico and only feels comfortable leaving him bcos she fully believes percy and the rest of chb are capable of taking over her role as caretaker. with the hunters we see her grow more confident, taking off her hat - yet her tying her hair in the same braid as zöe and some other ways she shown to fall into the line with the hunters, actually suggest that whilst she’s found a place with them, she’s trying to belong sm she’s pushing down her personal identity. i would’ve loved to see how she came into herself throughout the series.

after she dies (doing something for nico), except from the initial search, her death is always framed as ‘oh no poor nico losing his sister’ instead of focusing on how horrific it is that a 12 yo died on her first quest after spending a week at most at chb. it should have been a radicalising event for percy yet instead it’s just a source of guilt at not fulfilling his promise to nico.

nico spending months in the labyrinth trying to bring her back, and years later making another attempt when the doors of death open, are written in solely as a way to forward the plot but that extent of love for his sister that’s always driving nico is by far the part of his character that makes him most endearing to me. and when he finally makes contact with her ghost and she’s like ‘even in death you won’t let me rest’. PLSS.

hades negatively weighing nico against bianca and saying he’s the one that should’ve died instead, is totally just meant to be a way of milking nico’s sadness BUT LIKE keep talking hades i really want to know more. hades went against the rule that says gods should stay uninvolved in their demigod children’s lives and had a direct presence in bianca and nico’s upbringing but ur just not going to expand on what his relationship with bianca was like?? what he means be telling nico this?? the aspects of her personality and the memories he has of her that are weighing on him so heavily?? any indication of who she was as his daughter???

also the hints that she knew who her godly parent was??? EXPAND ON THAT. did she come into some of her power?? did she remember some of her past despite being bathed in the river lethe?? (why wouldn’t children of hades have some power over the river???)

i genuinely want to know her. the sole reason i’m excited for the upcoming nico book is to learn more about her, i’m not even exaggerating.

[still-a-morosexual-help]

tbf some ppl are annoyed that the seasons have had too many mammon centered moments and while my bias is him, i honestly feel like i desperately need some moments with asmo, beel and belphie. sorry but mammon gets way too much attention lmao. but he's my fave so. doesn't help that solmare shoves him down my throat but still. my fave.

Yeah, I definitely understand that. Like I'm not gonna complain cause I think it's pretty obvious at this point where my bias lies and I'll happily welcome more of those moments but yeah for people who aren't interested or who want more of the others I can completely understand how frustrating that'd be. If this was an anime the competition would be between Mammon & Lucifer given how much more focus and development they get

I think the reason it's so focused on Mammon is cause despite being an otome game, MC's relationships with the brothers aren't equal. Because Mammon was always predetermined to be MC's "Sidekick" according to the devs. Even before we started playing his role in MC's life was set so if they don't interact a lot it wouldn't fit with what's already been set in place. It's why MC takes such an active role in Mammon's 2020 birthday event while they more or less took passive roles in all the other 2020 birthday events. The devs decided beforehand 'this is what their relationship is gonna be like' so Mammon always had a headstart and now to fit with that characterisation they need to frequently interact and be close.

For context, in a different otome game, Mammon would take the role of the 'childhood best friend who lives nextdoor' while the others would be the new characters that MC would meet during the story aka there'd be an established pre-game relationship with Mammon while the others have to catch up throughout the game

But because we only have a limited number of lessons it means the others get cut. I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just what it's been like during the past 3 seasons, though there's always a chance S4 will change that.

Overall, for general MC to fit the limited characterisation given by the devs they need to have a bias too. A point that's acknowledged in the game as well:

• MC's dialogue options for Mammon have always been more carefree than they are for the others during the beginning of S1. MC's relationships with the others must improve before they can get to the more teasing/playful dialogue options. But with Mammon, MC's very first dialogue options are friendly/familiar (I believe one of the first things they can say to him is "Yo") and then later teasing/carefree

• Beel in S1 says that MC seems to like Mammon given that they seek him out and frequently talk with him rather than with the others

• By Lesson 4? of season 1 MC and Mammon have already spent time behind the scenes that we weren't able to see that develops their relationship & makes them comfortable with each other to the point that they're clearly regularly sharing a room/bed (this is so early wtf???), as Beel notes that Mammon now leaves his phone charger and toothbrush in MC's room. A series of chats reveal he also leaves his cologne there

• S2 (officially) starts with MC talking to Mammon on the phone?

• Levi in S2 complains about MC always favouring Mammon and asks if it's cause they made a pact with him first (or something to that extent)

• One of the others (Asmo?) complains about a similar thing near the end of S2

• Belphie in a chat explicitly tells MC not to mention what they're doing, to Mammon despite MC not even asking about it

• Mammon says MC and him are close, once in his birthday 2020 event and once in his birthday 2020 UR. He even implies they're so close that they don't keep secrets from each other

• Satan in S3 uses getting Mammon in trouble as leverage against MC to make them stop teasing him

• In a devilgram, while with Mammon, Asmo and one of the others Mammon asks MC who their favourite is - two of the options are dismissive of the question. The third is "Mammon". It wasn't one of Mammon's cards. Pretty sure it was a memory card... the other two options could have been the other two brothers in the room with them?

• The number of times MC was called out for being too soft on Mammon

Additionally, it's Mammon's message written on MC's RAD ID card, Mammon who's a default on the game home screen, Mammon's voice that's used for all the notifications, Mammon who calls you back to the game cause he wants to spend time together once all your AP is restored, and I'm pretty sure the first card we all ever get from nightmare is "The Mammon Way"??? Cause it'd be an insane coincidence if both times that I downloaded and started a new game that was my first card? And the thing is, obviously, this is not Mammon doing it - it's the devs. MC has a predetermined bias because the devs have a bias.

The character notes say that the creator already had a soft spot for dark skinned characters with light/white hair. Mammon's also the only character I know who has "prototypes" who turned up in other solmare games (Zeus from Wizardess Heart & the king from that one discontinued game). Not that those characters were created to be prototypes, it just worked out that Mammon became the newer, more "developed" version of those characters. It's why they didn't have to do any changes to his initial character design too, they already knew what they wanted. And maybe down the line there'll be another newer, more developed solmare character who fits this trope and who Mammon would act as a prototype to.

tldr: Mammon has so much content cause general MC is written to have a bias towards him because the devs have a bias. And while I'm eternally grateful it's completely understandable if others are pissed off and frustrated by this

Disclaimer:

Obviously, everything about the devs and their thoughts/motives are assumptions & my own personal theories based on what is said in the character notes and there's no way for any of us to know for sure why Mammon gets more screentime than the others (for all we know they just needed to pick a 'mascot' character) so despite any (reasonable) frustrations pls don't go after anyone - it's just a game also pls don't sue me Solmare I'm broke, poor & currently without a stable job/income💀

[sophsun1]

Hey!

Ok I’m trying to make sense out of s5 (I haven’t rewatched it lately so I’m probably missing something) and.. while I do get Brian’s change in priorities after the bomb and finally getting to admit his feelings… the thing that I do no get is Justin leaving him bc “they want different things” and then turning him down when he’s offered the things he wants (???) (a marriage? some stability?)

(Leaving aside for a moment how ooc they sound in all this)

In 5x07 B says “that’s right. You’ve told me [what you want]. A husband. A family.” and knowing he won’t give those things to him, J decides to leave. Ok. Sits right with me. but then a few episodes later (s5 feels so rushed and confusing to me, so many changes in their relationship in such a short amount of episodes) when he asks him to marry him, he turns him down. But isn’t that what you wanted? And I do get it’s unbelievable, coming that from B, but… it’s so unclear to me what J wants (and obviously he’s a 23 yo it’s perfectly plausible he has doubts and not a clear idea himself but… the way he’s portrayed in s5 makes him look like he’s only poorly written… and not the character we all know and love)

I wonder if you have some further explanation for this. (Sorry English is not my first language)

Hey anon!

Don't be sorry your English is just fine!

Trying to make sense of season five is a losing game to be honest anon, the characterisation for both Brian and Justin is all over the place. It is definitely rushed and poorly written. I've addressed this in detail before but I think the writers knew they wanted the fire and the engagement and then worked backwards. So they needed to facilitate a breakup and we got this whole mess with the babies and white picket suburban life etc. I mean I don't think even the writers knew what Justin wanted the amount of times the poor boy changed his mind (Even Randy wasn't exactly happy with the plot so you know, we're not alone in hating it)

However Justin turning down Brian the first time he proposes to him does make sense. The proposal comes straight after the fire and Brian saying I love you for the first time which is a huge moment in itself. Justin literally tells him that he's only proposing because he's freaked out about what happened to Michael and Brian does say he had a dream about dying. Of course Justin loves Brian and would want nothing more than to marry him and start a life together but he doesn't want it based on a knee jerk reaction. He wants Brian to want to marry him not because he thinks it's what Justin wants or because he's scared.

Just to note one of my biggest annoyances about them getting engaged after the ily and the mansion proposal is that they never broke up because they didn't love each other, they broke up because they wanted different things. Like you said Justin seemingly wanted to settle down, have kids and a family life like Michael and Ben?! Okay yes, Brian buys him the house but where's the conversation about kids, what kind of lifestyle they both want, they both have careers etc. In the end he runs off to be a penniless artiste - what about the children Justin?!! Such a mess @ writers!

The second time Brian proposes at the house is way more impactful because Justin gets to see and hear he means it. Brian has put the loft and the club the two things that encapsulate his identity, the two places that he loves and scream Brian Kinney up for sale. He's willing to sell them to prove how much he loves Justin and to give him the future he's always wanted. And he does this without even knowing what Justin would say, he's taking a chance on love. The man who renounced love and all that it stood for is now standing in front of the boy who he met under that streetlight saying he's willing to throw it all in be what it may - you cannot get more convincing than that.

Justin now knows he truly means it and he wants to marry him simply because he loves him and he's not afraid to say it and wants to make him happy like he deserves, so no wonder Justin finally says yes.

[bipolstar]

So someone sent me an ask asking about bipolar and had a few questions but asked if I wouldn’t post the ask bc it had a google docs link in it. Its a long post so gonna throw in a read more. Feel free to add anything in the notes if I missed anything!

Some questions I have: how do I tell the difference between adhd distractibility, hyperfocus, hyperfixation, and hyperactivity versus mania/hypomania in bipolar.

I don’t know too much about adhd, but my best friend has it and we’ve compared her adhd to my manic eps before. I think the difference is the length of time it happens and the intensity of it. Plus hypo/mania tends to be something that develops later on and is seen as unusual for you as a person, like you’re acting differently. From what I know adhd is constant for a lot of your life and isn’t like a sudden change for a week or so?

How do I make sure this isn’t just my adhd and I don’t get misdiagnosed as bipolar…. Or it’s possibly bipolar and only gets chalked up to adhd. 

You can’t really lol, its basically giving ALL the information you can to your psych and answering any questions vvv truthfully and trusting them rly

Can depressive episodes in bipolar be constant non stop lasting years or months with very little manic/hypomanic episodes and no point in time having a baseline/okay mood?

Yea I think so! Its a tad confusing bc the classic bipolar fits into that manic-depressive-euthymic cycle but for some folk esp with bipolar 2 it tends to lean towards the depressive end.

Can someone have mixed episodes and depressive episodes without manic/hypomanic episodes?

Yep, its more common for younger people to have mixed episodes than manic episodes. I didn’t know it at the time but for 3ish years I had depressive and mixed episodes before my first manic one. Like there’s a section in my diary being like “yo this sad is different it’s more still, but the last one was LOUD and CHAOTIC and FAST”. But usually that’s a precursor to having your first manic ep, to be diagnosed with bipolar you need at least one hypo/manic episode I believe.

can someone be out of energy or sad while manic/hypomanic?

Bit of a confusing one, if that were to happen I would say it would be more of a mixed ep but I’m not entirely sure.

Can they have the urge to do all of these things but since they’re low energy or physically cant somehow their mind just stays racing and manic/hypomanic?

Oh ya that’s basically what a mixed ep is like lmao its the worst.

Can someone have episodes of mania/hypomania that only last a few hours during the day then cycle back to depression?

Mmmmm yes technically, but I think for a diagnosis it needs to be a bit more than that.

does it have to last ALL day every day? 

I’m not sure?? Depends what you mean by all day, like it really depends on the person but for me manic eps don’t stay at the strongest level all day but tend to fluctuate, but its at least half the day I’m high. 

can someone have a sad trauma breakdown and cry while manic/hypomanic? 

Vvv specific question it would depend on the person.

How can u tell the difference between mania and hypomania? Examples? 

So for it to be characterised as mania instead of hypo, it would have to be either something that properly fucks up your life and you can’t rly function or you have psychosis alongside it. Or if you’re hospitalised for it. Mania tends to last a little longer too. 

If someone has schizophrenia symptoms and bipolar symptoms, will they be diagnosed with bipolar schizoaffective.. will the type of bipolar be specified?

Noooo idea sorry

will they be separately be diagnosed with bipolar along with schizoaffective?

Ye no clue sorry 

I’m currently on my way to the process of being diagnosed with adhd.. I’m therapist recognized  rn but getting assessed soon.I definitely have it. however.. now I’m questioning bipolar .. it makes it confusing bc it’s hard to differentiate my symptoms. My family is also very against me having bipolar.. I never even mentioned it but they always said “it’s a dangerous misdiagnosis and you could never have it!! if u ever get dx with it then that’s wrong and your fault!!” so they’d never accept the diagnosis or symptoms. they’d just say any dx is incorrect.. I’m not looking to get dx with that rn though! but how would I bring it up to my therapist without sounding a bit silly or self dx? tbh she already has red flags so idk if she’ll take anything seriously. 

I’m not too sure, if you have any family members with bipolar mention that bc you’re taken a lot more seriously if you do. Like I said before the big difference between adhd and bipolar is the period of time you’re high, the intensity of it, and whether its unusual for you as a person. Maybe just mention the length of time it happened, and if its out of the ordinary for you? 

If you’re worried about it I would bring it up to your psych, but typically a hypo/manic episode lasts around a week. Minimum 4 days I think. The things you mentioned before the questions do sound manic-y but again its very much dependant on the length of time they happen and whether they all/most of them happen in the same episode? You’d also be acting different and often folk will notice? But that’s just me/people I know. 

Good luck!

[xamaxenta]

I’m sorry if you’ve already made a post about this, and I just missed it, but I saw your rivalshipping fic rec post and was inspired to ask! Do you have any fic rec for spiritshipping? I’m really not picky - one shot, pwp, multichaptered, angst, fluff. You name it, and I’ll read it! Thank you!

No worries, the cool gx rivalshipping fic list you saw wasn’t compiled by me, I reblogged it from @pridewhatpride

But thank you for the ask regardless I’ll do my best to list my favourite spiritshipping fics here, also all from AO3 because I fully agree that fanfiction.net is abysmal and who uses wattpad anymore?

These aren’t in order of how much I like them I’m just going back through them in the order of when I bookmarked them

1. Hey Jerk I think we should make out - By Alcor

https://archiveofourown.org/works/666080

This is honestly just great, great writing style, greater characterisation of both Judai and Johan. It’s short and sweet which is neat and I’ve probably reread this fic about five times, it sits good in the soul yknow, hits the kokoro right

2. Makes Perfect Sense to Me - By RaichuWrites

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14684331

Note the rating on this is E, please read at your own discretion should you the anon be underaged (don’t tell anyone I told you about this fic if this is the case haha) I like yugioh without the fantasy magical aspects sometimes and this fic hits that modern normalcy pretty nicely. I also like their Judai characterisation lots

3. A Crush, or a Boyfriend? - by Snapdragonpop007

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24112111

It has Kaiba and Jounouchi as Judai’s parents which frankly is an incredible headcanon why isn’t this canon? Mokuba would be the number one bestest uncle wtf. I would die for this au its cute and fluff ridden in the best way possible. Again great Judai characterisation am I reading all of these for Judai yeah h o n e st ly (don’t worry Johan I love you)

4. Hopeful Refrain - by ObviousLeigh

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6759934

Popstar Judai you don’t need to say any more than that, now tell me its popstar Judai joining a garage band ? Sign me the fuck up, I am enthralled by musical sensation Judai

5. Regret Grows with You - by Tenka

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8560693

Spiritshipping is a little light in this one, it’s more of a character study with insight and a lot of angsting, love the beautiful title which in its entirety is actually “Regret Grows with You (and you are no longer a child)” gorgeously worded which is what drew me into this fic in the first place. A little bit of Yubel/Judai in here as a warning if they aren’t your thing.

6. All the Kings Men - by Souless_Robot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25702504

I like this one a lot, because it’s tasty thats all I can say, it just leaves a good burn of unrequited love uahhsdh

7. When the Sun Cries - by CaptainPiika

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17216378

Another short masterpiece, seriously how do you writers put together words nicely without going beyond your initial ideas? I love fics that explore the tender feelings Judai has for Johan and how much it hurt him to lose him in the dark world, its gourmet as fuck

8. Multitasking - by “Anonymous”

I will end this with a gratuitously naughty recommendation and y’all what a damn shame the author posted the work without credit, we will never know but I thank them deeply for their contribution to the E rated spiritship content

-

Yo also any fic by Insert111 or Kay_Peaches is great, most of their stuff is rated E, browse at your own interest I guess

And that’s it, hope my recommendations are fun reads for you and that my taste is not hot garbage

[tigerdrop]

Yo i saw that anon you got a while ago bout the characterisation note - u seem to not hear it enough but thats what drew me to your work too!!! I cant even express accurately how good you are at that. Also youre funny as hell

;__; Thank U.......im not sure how to answer this without coming off too full of myself but its not that people dont say it enough. it just makes me super happy to hear every time so i get a little effusive about it. im just a little jester who likes to make people laugh and also make them get into some of the weirdest shit theyve ever imagined

[duncandriver]

Three Perspectives on ‘For No One’.

III.           Music

If the music of the Beatles from 1963 to 1966 can be telescoped in the manner of the previous post (II. Literature), listeners may trace a decline in the energy or enthusiasm characterising early songs and mark a broader spectrum of emotion and experience over time, one inclusive of the sour, the contemplative and the ironic. If ‘She Loves You’ and ‘For No One’ are exemplary of this development, then exhortations (‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’) once aimed at a communal listenership give way to domestic studies that draw us into personal confidence. To put this another way, early Beatles songs offer the listener a facsimile Beatles’ concert, Beatlemania captured on vinyl, where later songs eavesdrop on members of the band, cloistered in the confines of Studio 2 at Abbey Road. On Revolver, this effect is noticeable in how prominent McCartney’s lead vocal is: on both ‘For No One’ and ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, the singer’s voice is intimately close, more subtle and modulated than it was on early recordings. All of these qualities make ‘For No One’ sound like a classical chamber piece, one particularly close to the ‘art songs’ of the early 19th century (those of Schubert, for instance, which set poems by Goethe and Schiller for solo voice to an unusually expressive, intricate piano accompaniment).

George Martin (the Beatles’ producer) is likely to have been aware of this resemblance, as he rented EMI a clavichord (owned by AIR, his company) for the recording of the song in May of 1966. Lending a more prim, exacting sound than the studio pianos could provide, it is an inspired instrumental choice that accentuates the song’s cultured, clean and cold qualities. It also suits the fugue-like circularity of the song’s design: encompassing six eight-measure verses (one dedicated to a French horn solo) and three ten-measure choruses, there is a pleasingly symmetrical quality to the pattern of verse, verse, chorus; verse, verse (solo), chorus; verse, verse, chorus. As Ian MacDonald notes, it is a pattern that expresses the compulsive movements of the protagonist’s mind:

… one of McCartney most perfect pieces, constructed with its author’s customary logic and moving methodically through its classical steps like a chess player. Whether by accident or design, this progress precisely reproduces his hero’s obsessive examination of his predicament: exhausting every possibility, yet hesitating (over a suspension at the end of each chorus) before going round again to make sure all the options have been covered.

With no formal introduction, ‘For No One’ is a song that begins suddenly, rather like the breaking dawn it describes. When recalling the song for the Beatles’ Anthology, it is the ‘descending bassline trick’ that McCartney would remember, and this is certainly a defining characteristic of its verses. Like a series of steps leading down to a gloomy basement flat, the five descending bass notes of each verse are interrupted only by an unexpected minor 7th (what jazz musicians call a ‘blue’ note) before resolving back to the ‘b’ that began them. The effect is indeed circular, suggestive of the repetitious way in which depressed or grieving individuals go through the motions of daily life on a kind of auto-pilot. Something that adds to the sinking feeling of each verse is the ‘dying fall’ in McCartney’s voice as he trails off at the end of each phrase (‘breaks… aches…’) and most especially the end of each ‘blue’ note: it is as if he slides down each verse’s melodic incline to find the comparative low notes they end on (‘noooooo longer needs you’). In A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman writes of the ‘dying fall’ as

a musical swoon. In Blake's ‘Jerusalem’, that swoon comes in the third stanza, in the second syllable of the word ‘desire’, which you have to sing as a sigh to a lower note: Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me my arrows of de-sire! Few desires sound as smoldery [sic] and secular as that one, especially if you're reminded of Cupid's arrow and the double meaning of a word like ‘quiver’. In the Christmas hymn ‘O Holy Night’, the swoon comes right after the word ‘fall’, in the line ‘Fall on your knees’, and just singing it enacts the supplications...

In ‘For No One’ it is neither religious supplication nor erotic-spiritual desire that the dying fall enacts, but rather a sense of inchoate loss, as if something intangible but poignant were falling away from the characters’ lives (love or whatever spark lit their relationship). The resignation of McCartney’s singing suggests acquiescence to this, but there is also a touch of sudden bewilderment in those unexpected blue notes, as if narrator or protagonist were still puzzling over how or when or why this relationship broke down – ‘Why Did It Die?’ All in all, each verse takes the listener on a journey from the slough of despond to a surging emotional peak and then back again. It is a journey that Bob Dylan would replicate nearly a decade later for the verses of his celebrated song, ‘A Simple Twist of Fate’:

They sat together in the park As the evening sky grew dark She looked at him and he felt a spark Tingle to his bones ’Twas then he felt alone And wished that he’d gone straight And watched out for a simple twist of fate.

Each of Dylan’s lines ends on a lilting diminuendo, like a flag lapsing into limpness, with the exception of the sixth line – the last word is lengthened (‘straaiigghhht’) in a musical crescendo before gliding downward into the resigned final line. The same thing occurs in the verses of ‘For No One’, in which the high notes enact the protagonist’s yearning and anguish and then dissipate into the forlorn resolution of each final bar. It is as if each verse contains an impulse to action, one which cannot quite overcome the weight of depression into which it repeatedly sinks. 

There is a little more life in each of ‘For No One’s choruses, which draw energy from the fact that they begin mid-sentence (‘And in her eyes you see nothing’). They also appear more lively due to a ‘busier’ arrangement: a piano’s rocking eighth notes and a prominent tambourine are supported by a rousing bass line. There is also a touch of righteous indignation to McCartney’s voice in these choruses, a sense of his inhabiting the angry headspace in which the protagonist spits out the words ‘No sign of love behind the tears / Cried for no one’. Once again, however, the propulsive energy dies away in each chorus’s final line (‘A love that should have lasted years’) ‘hesitating … over a suspension at the end … as though unable to face an unwelcome conclusion’, as Ian MacDonald notes. 

MacDonald considers Alan Civil’s ‘universally admired’ French horn solo ‘memorable and accomplished’, though he argues it has ‘little to do with the mood or sense of the song, adding only another kind of immaculate indifference.’ One might counter that ‘immaculate indifference’ is, in fact, integral to the mood and sense of ‘For No One’ (as it is to Schlesinger’s Darling) and so may be entirely appropriate to the narrator’s cool regard for its separated lovers. There is, however, something both prominent and distinctive about Civil’s horn solo: it adds something unique to the song’s overall effect that deserves closer examination. Pace Ian MacDonald, Hunter Davies considers it to be a musical obbligato: so integral to the song that it should not be omitted from performance or arrangement. Like the chorus of the song, the horn part is noticeably lively (in contrast to the slow descent of its verses), though it appears stirred by a more upbeat impulse than righteous indignation. Indeed, if there is a touch of warmth in the cold dawn of the song’s world, its harbinger is the ironic counterpoint of the French horn solo, its high note (outside of the instrument’s official range) suggestive of hope and the protagonist’s will to carry on as much as the verse’s descending bass notes articulate his torpor. Perhaps the presence of the French horn and its ameliorating effect is explainable in childhood associations with northern-English brass bands (McCartney admitted in the Anthology that ‘it was an instrument [he]’d always loved from when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful sound’), its beauty distinct from the ‘immaculate indifference’ of the clavichord in the warmth it provides to the song.

Perhaps the fact that Civil was accomplished enough to be able to play above the top of his instrument’s range is emblematic of a virtue implied by the horn’s solo as well as by the instrument’s final, hanging grace note at the very end of the song: fortitude, the ability to rise above adversity and endure or accomplish things that seemed impossible. It is a very McCartneyesque touch to suggest that music possesses the power to stave off hopelessness and provides the strength to endure (‘take a sad song and make it better’). It is felicitous, then, that Schlesinger makes the same point in the final shot of Darling, in which a headscarved, middle-aged woman bursts into unexpected song under the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus: it is an entirely unselfconscious moment of joy, an unguarded and rather innocent expression of self that belies the lady’s frumpy appearance. Unlike Robert and Diana, she has not allowed life’s disappointments to calcify her against hope or the delight that may be found in simple, immediate pleasures. In its own subtle way, ‘For No One’ makes the same point, its final high brass note less an unresolved tension and more a reminder that life goes on.    

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Released with little fanfare this move to more muted songwriting is proof Swift’s music can thrive without the celebrity drama

Taylor Swift announced the existence of her eighth album an uncharacteristic 17 hours prior to its release: “Most of the things I had planned this summer didn’t end up happening,” she said – among them, a headline slot at Glastonbury – “But there is something I hadn’t planned on that DID happen.” Swift only released her last album, Lover, last August. If she was surprised to have emerged from lockdown with Folklore – a 16-track album largely produced (remotely) by the National’s Aaron Dessner – her fans were even more stunned by the fact that Swift would release a record with zero fanfare.

Swift pioneered the art of the all-consuming album rollout. It usually starts with her sharing coded hints that her well trained fans understand immediately. Then there are teasers for lyric videos that beget actual blockbuster videos, strewn with self-mythologising references for Swifties and journalists to unpick. It’s a smart promotional strategy-by-proxy for an artist who has done little press in the past five years, and a good way of making your actions seem as if they were written in the stars. There are sometimes baffling brand endorsements. The often unpopular lead single seldom sounds like the rest of the album. By the time that arrives, a weariness has descended: the sense that one of pop’s all-time greatest songwriters is overcompensating despite her clear talent.

Recent albums, too, have been consumed with the various dramas that have plagued her since the country ingenue became a pop superstar with 2012’s Red. Despite the last 12 months bringing a new, high-profile disagreement with her former label and enduring disputes with Kanye West, thankfully Folklore features none of that, beyond inadvertently arriving the same day as West said he was releasing a new album. Moreover, Swift conveys the sense that her tendency to desire the last word, in public and private, has been her undoing: “I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere / Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here,” she sings on This Is Me Trying.

Folklore proves that she can thrive away from the noise: if you interpret “classmates” as pop peers, Swift is no longer competing. Bombastic pop makes way for more muted songwriting, and a singular vision compared to the joyful but spread-betting Lover. With concerts off the table for the foreseeable future, no longer needing to reach four sides of a stadium may have proven liberating.

Elements of her fanbase have long wanted her to revisit the Nashville songcraft of her youth through an adult lens, but this isn’t that album. Folklore is largely built around the soft cascades of piano, burbling guitar and fractured, glitchy electronica that will be familiar to fans of the National’s post-2010 output – at least part of the album came about from Swift writing to Dessner’s musical sketches. Swift’s most coherent record since her staunchly country days, it’s nonetheless her most experimental, developing on Lover’s stranger, more minimalist end. More than one song evokes the intimate celestial tenderness of Sufjan Stevens circa Carrie and Lowell. At the opposite end of the scale, This Is Me Trying subtly grows into its wracked orchestral grandeur, sounding more unsettling still for how Swift’s voice, processed at a ghostly, vast remove, seems to encompass the whole song with her desperation.

Swift is known for her vocal directness – there is no pop star as adroit at searing a chorus into your brain, or as winking in her tartness – if not her range. But the demands of pop processing mean her voice has never been heard as it is here: the acceptance that colours it on The 1, a bouncy reminiscence of a lost lover from her “roaring twenties”; how weatherworn yet at peace she sounds as she remembers the good parts of a treacherous relationship on Cardigan, a song as cavernous and shimmering as a rock pool in a cave. Her vocal trademarks remain in the yo-yoing vocal yelps on August, and the climactic, processed cri de coeur of My Tears Ricochet, and she holds her own against the wounded bark of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on Exile, which paints a split first in scenes of overt betrayal, and then gorgeous, subtle harmonies at crossed purposes indicating a problem deeper than one infidelity.

Given the more earthy production, some will characterise Folklore as showing a more authentic side of Swift. Not only would that be facile, asserting some authentic self is also explicitly not her aim. In a brief essay included in the liner notes, she says of the album’s concept: “The lines between fantasy and reality blur and the boundaries between truth and fiction become almost indiscernible.” She writes that some songs are about her and others are about invented characters. More interesting than parsing which is which (many are obviously both) is the sense that Swift is interrogating her own self-conception and challenging that personal mythology: how helpful and true those ideas are to herself as a woman of 30.

Swift’s longest lyrical obsession is the loss of innocence, a theme she makes fairly devastating here. Set to high piano flurries, Seven switches between hopscotch-rhyme verses about childhood rituals, and pleading, choral depictions of herself at seven, “in the weeds, before I learned civility,” she sings. “I used to scream ferociously / Any time I wanted.” What conditioning beat out of her as a girl, it beat back in decades later: the tense, slippery Mad Woman traces the self-perpetuating cycle of women being angered by being labelled angry – both massively improve on Lover’s slightly facile gender inequality treatise, The Man, because they’re personal, not projections. Later she recalls naive young love, “back when we were still changing for the better”, then, on Illicit Affairs, willingly entering into a deceitful relationship with someone who “showed me colours you know I can’t see with anyone else”.

The self-awareness that Swift displayed on Lover deepens in Folklore, where she subtly considers the murky line between corruption and complicity, between being a victim and a catalyst. The recriminations are fewer, the fights fairer, and her sense of responsibility in them greater. The seismic shocks of her Reputation-era rude awakening about her public image are still felt: “I can change everything about me to fit in,” she sings on Mirrorball, a gorgeous pedal steel wooze made with Jack Antonoff. Yet she tentatively asserts what’s at her core: the deep dedication she sings about on the resonant, minimalist Peace, and the abiding romanticism of Invisible String.

Lockdown has been a fruitful time for this sort of soul-searching, the absence of much in the way of new memory-formation triggering nostalgic reveries and regrets. This strange summer of arrested development is steadily ending. Folklore will endure long beyond it: as fragmented as Swift is across her eighth album – and much as you hope it doesn’t mark the end of her pop ambitions – her emotional acuity has never been more assured.