#Alas I am not the protagonist to some romance novel I am just a girl in a world that is big and small and also full of chaos and others and

[warmspice]

also in an incredibly dire need to be in love but also I'm fine. don't even worry about it

[mae-gi-writes]

Awkwardly In Love | Mingi (ATEEZ)

Volleyball player! Mingi can’t seem to take his eyes off the girl on the bleachers whose got her nose stuck in her book.

Genre: FLUFF AND CUTE AWKWARD MINGI SBGKJDGJ I CAN’T HE RUINS ME. 

Word count: you just gotta know that it iz quite a long ride. I apologize for that.

----

She's always got her nose buried in her book.

That's what catches Mingi's attention at first.

See, he's not one to read. Nor does he have any interest in reading and books and the things that come with it. Growing up in a household full of children involved in physical sport, books had counted for nothing but a minimal afterthought. That, and the fact that their financial struggles made it so that they didn't spend on books if it could be helped.

So seeing her always carrying around piles and piles of books has Mingi wonder how much extra cash does she have to spend on all this imaginary stories.

When he realizes that the reason she's always on the same spot on the bleachers is due to her cousin being in the same volleyball team as he is, he can't help but start asking questions.

"Yeah she's my mother's sister's daughter," Hongjoong says with a small affectionate smile, "we basically grew up in the same household so she waits for me after classes."

"You guys close then?" Mingi asks in a forced nonchalant tone. He keeps his eyes on the ball being served on the other side, palms already closed and upturned at the ready.

"Ready?" His teammate calls.

"Yeah!" They both holler.

He serves. The ball swoops in a beautiful arc and Mingi steels himself before receiving the ball with trained precision.

Pack!

"Closer than siblings," Hongjoong answers as the ball flies over the net, "why do you ask?"

Mingi is about to answer when he spots the ball. Hongjoong sweeps in, steering his legs to tap the ball high in the air.

Tap!

Mingi's head swivels up, catches the ball to throw it back at Hongjoong.

Pack!

"In!" The referree calls to signal that they've marked the final point to the game. The pair allow sighs to leave their lips as they slowly make their way out of the court.

"Uhm," Mingi's chest heaves up and down with effort. Sweat dots his forehead as he racks for an excuse, "just curious I guess."

"Want me to introduce you?"

"Uh-- I--That's not--necessary--"

It's too late though, for Hongjoong is already calling out her name, "Y/N!"

Her head lifts from where it's been buried in her book.

Her cousin motions for her to come forward and no sooner is she stepping down from the bleachers that Mingi's neck flushes bright red, and he knows deep down it's not from the fact that he's just exercised.

"Y/N, meet Mingi my teammate," Hongjoong's grin is definitely one that is suggestive, which does nothing for Mingi's confidence.

"Hi," she sends him a warm smile, extending a hand. Mingi shakes it and can't help but notice how tiny her fingers are in comparison.

Delicate fingers, so breakable. Cute.

"H-Hi, I'm Mingi," Oh god, he hopes he doesn't sound like an idiot.

"Mingi's always been on the team. He's the ace after all," adds Hongjoong.

"Ah, that's cool," Y/N nods.

That's how it starts really. At every practice, Mingi makes it a must to talk to her, even if it's juet a tiny greeting, or a slight wave of his shy hand whenever he's already on the court when she stumbles in with her pile of books tucked under her arm. There's just something about her, something that pulls him in like an invisible string even though he can barely make his way through one sentence when he's gazing straight into her eyes.

Once, he musters up the courage to ask her about the book in her lap and the amount of joy flushing up her cheeks makes it so palpable that he feels giddy from her own excitement.

"I'm currently reading Peony in Love," holding up the book so he can see, she continues, "it's a historical novel about this Chinese girl that falls in love with someone who isn't her betrothed, then dies only to realize that this someone is actually her betrothed."

"That's actually really heartbreaking."

"Yeah well, so are most romance stories," she shrugs, "like the titanic."

"I've never actually watched it."

"What?! You're kidding me?"

He shakes his head, ducking his head in embarrassment as he wonders whether she thinks of him as a loser because of his apparent lack of intellectual knowledge.

But instead, he is faced with her enthusiasm, "we should watch it someday! It's like a classic, you'll love it if you like dramatic endings."

"You--" he feels his chest tighten in excitement, "you're serious?"

"Of course I am! I'll let Hongjoong know."

His heart does drop a little at Y/N's cousin's name. He'd hoped that they'd be alone, just the two of them.

Nevertheless, he makes his way over to Hongjoong's flat on the said night and is surprised to find not just the pair of cousins But an entire group of familiar individuals that he's seen hanging around the corridors and classrooms.

"Hey you came!" Hongjoong claps Mingi's back as he steps into the doorway, "I invited some of my close friends too. You probably know them."

As Mingi greets the rest of the group whe exchanging soft pleasantries, he finally catches sight of Y/N's figure darting between tall frames before she emerges, grinning, "hi, Mingi right?"

He can't help but blush right down to his toes, "h-hey, what's up?"

"Sorry for all the noise. The guys just wanted to crash here. Told them we were watching titanic and they promised they wouldn't make running commentaries."

"It's alright. I know them all a little. We're in the same class."

"Ah cool. You guys all in the same major then?"

Mingi scratches the back of his head, "nah I'm in Psych. But since they're all in the sciences like Hongjoong we do have same classes."

"Cool. I wish I could've taken Psych," she puffs up her cheeks into a pout and Mingi's fingers itch to pinch her cheeks.

She can't be that cute. She just can't be.

"So are we starting the movie or what?!" One of the guys --his name is Yunho, Mingi guesses -- calls out.

"The way you're talking Yunho, it's almost like you're the one who really wants to watch it," Hongjoong replies sassily while throwing both arms around Y/N and Mingi respectively before guiding them to the tv room. He dips his head towards Mingi's ear as the group settles in, "don't worry bro, I'll make sure you sit next to her."

Blushing furiously at the older boy's comment, the latter doesn't even have time to defend himself when he is being pushed onto the couch right next to Y/N's figure.

"You a big tears kind of guy?" The girl murmured, popcorn in lap. She extends it out to Mingi, who shyly grabs a handful.

"I guess it depends," Mingi murmurs, "are there animals in there?"

"Oh so you're that kind of guy."

He flushes. What kind of guy is she referring to?

The movie starts with the narration of an old lady gazing at a sapphire necklace, bedore the screen gives way to a shot of the ship itself in all its splendour, glistening a bold black and white in the midday sun.

Mingi knows he should be concentrating on the movie. And it's true, he really should, especially when Y/N had asked him to because it is clearly a classic he can't possibly miss out on. But alas, his eyes keep dashing back and forth between the screen and Y/N's face, stealing looks whenever she is not looking. It's almost like a magnetic pull tugging his gaze back to her no matter how hard he forces his eyes away; flitting over her eyes focused in attention, eyebrows furrowed at the middle with her mouth hanging open like a child amazed with naked wonder.

What can she possibly be thinking? What is going on inside that imaginative mind of hers?

What magical dimension is she traveling to without his knowledge?

It's only when the romance between the two protagonists start blossoming that he finally tears his eyes away to focus on the movie itself, all the while sensing Y/N's heat permeating from her body to his in a way that causes a permanent flush in the back of his neck.

The movie ends all too soon, with tears in Y/N's eyes and some of the other guys as they debate over the ending and how stupid Rose was for not giving Jack some space on the wooden board.

"Well to be fair, he would've probably sunk the entire board," Seonghwa argues. He's the pretty boy that everyone knows of, the one whom every girl has been crushing on since his admittance to their college.

"If I were Rose, I wouldn't want to keep living without the love of my life," Y/N points out, "I would've drowned myself with him."

"Jesus Y/N, that's terrifying," Hongjoong says.

"It's true though!"

The look in her eyes whenever she spoke of movies was a look of naked excitement. Like now, Mingi spots the familiar fire burning through her gaze, a gaze he finds alluring on her. It's like it breathes life into her face. It's similar to the one she wears whenever she's reading.

A few days later on campus, he bumps into her hurrying out of the library as he walks in, almost sending her flying before his arm snatches out to hold her shoulder.

"Sorry," he says hastily while putting her back on her feet and releasing her like she's just burnt him.

"S'okay," Y/N sends him a reassuring smile, "where you going?"

"Assignments. I'm late on my research paper because of practice," Mingi scratches his head. He nods towards her books, "what caught your interest this week?"

"Oh I'm just re-reading A Darker Shade of Magic," she grins like a little child being caught. Something in Mingi's heart softens like butter.

"What's it about?"

"It's so cool, it's like this guy with a super cool coat that has hundreds over coats inside it. And he's a magician and there are parallel worlds that have different wavelengths of magic. So he can travel through the different worlds and--" she stops abruptly then before her cheeks colour in shades of pink, "sorry. I'm rambling again--"

"No no no," Mingi cuts her off, causing her to blink, wide-eyed, "please...continue. I--I like it when you talk about your books. You--You always seem so alive and excited."

"Oh," her face flushes even more as another troop of butterflies tickle Mingi's stomach. She's so damn cute! "Thanks...Mingi."

He tries to analyze the flickering expressions on her face, though he guesses it is close to feeling embarrassed.

"A--Anyway I--I'll get going," Mingi hurriedly says, moving past her with flaming red ears upon realizing what he has just said, only to feel her hand clamp down on his.

He turns to see her, averted gaze and all, little fingers clamped onto his shirt, "do you--do you want to...go see a movie sometime?"

----------

Hongjoong had threatened Mingi with a multitude of ways of killing him in case he broke Y/N's heart, albeit the fact that the taller man stated that no, they weren't going on a date,.and anyway flirting had never been Mingi's strongest points anyway.

"Sure. If it's not a date, what is it then?" Hongjoong had asked with a roll of his eyes.

"It's just two people hanging out," Mingi had protested through red ears and scarlet tinged cheeks.

As per the said man's suggestion, the pair decides to meet up at the cinema entrance to choose the movie of their choice. Y/N is decked in a simple white t-shirt, loose cut-off jeans with red sneakers, and as Mingi silently admires her sense of simple fashion the heat that rises through the back of his neck is enough to make him avert his gaze bashfully.

They settle on a romantic comedy and he volunteers to buy the popcorn so that she can find some decent seats. As he settles into the cinema room and the lights dim into darkness, he places the popcorn box into her hands, waving her off upon her rising protests.

"But you--"

"I'll share it with you, don't-- don't worry," he replies, hand scratching the back of his neck.

Don't sweat it, he says to himself. It's fine. It's not a date. It's just two friends enjoying each other's presence.

Halfway through the movie, Mingi reaches for the popcorn only for their hands to collide. He retracts it like he just burnt himself, causing the said girl to chuckle softly. She reaches over then, with a handful of popcorn, before plopping it straight into his mouth without warning.

Mingi blinks. Heat goes straight to his ears.

When his eyes find hers, she only graces him with a timid smile, before returning back to the movie, totally unaware that his heart is now practically galloping out of his chest.

Jesus, what she does to his heart.

Mingi has never been so whipped in his life, but right now, he's pretty certain that he doesn't mind if that means she can accept his heart.

"Well that was fun," Y/N says the moment they step out of the cinema hall, "wasn't expecting it to be so lovey dovey though."

His head ducks, "I'm sorry," he mutters, "I didn't know you weren't into--"

"Oh no no! Not at all! We both chose it. You have nothing to feel bad about!"

"I'm not that into movies," comes his mumble.

"What?" Y/N stops in the middle of the road as she blinks up at him in shock, "you should've told me!"

"I wasn't interested in seeing the movie, I just wanted to see--" he hesitates slightly, "you."

What the fuck Mingi, he feels like choking himself foe his stupidity. Why was he acting like a total turd? This was ridiculous! She's just a girl, a cute one sure, but still! It's almost like he's lost all ability to make conversation.

He tries once more, "I'm--I'm sorry I shouldn't have--“

“No, I“m the one who's sorry. Here, let me treat you. Ice cream?” and then, her eyes widen, "you do like ice cream right?"

That'a enough for his lips to tilt up into a smile, "I'd love ice cream."

---

Once they settle on a bench at the nearby park, it seems like all nervousness suddenly ease from Mingi's consciousness and slowly, he starts opening up to the said girl as they lick at their ice cream cones. The sun sets over the horizon, turning the blue sky in scarlet hues that reminds him of summer days that last forever.

"Architecture's tough but honestly, that was the only thing my parents would let me study," Y/N says, empty ice-cream stick in hand as her gaze sweeps over the park and its passerbys.

"I guess it makes sense, considering our economy recently," Mingi agrees.

"And you? Why Psych?"

He lifts his shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, "I guess I just like analyzing people. It's intriguing, knowing how people think, how they act around others."

"You want to be a therapist?"

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to help people get out of their problems when I can't even help myself."

He feels her eyes on him and finds interest in the way the wind blows across the grass blades.

Her voice is soft when she says, "you don't have to be that kind of hero, if you don't want to."

His heart swells with warmth and sudden affection, though he says nothing but nods in agreement.

It's easily past ten when they trudge back to Y/N's house, with nervousness swimming through Mingi's stomach in apprehension to Hongjoong's earlier threats, though Y/N reassures him that Hongjoong is mostly all talk and no action. That reassures the tall man slightly, until his feet start bristling upon spotting her front porch.

"Thanks for keeping me company today," Y/N tilts her head up, her profile bathed in the backlight of her house, "next time, let's not go to the movies."

Mingi's heart skips, "I didn't mind it."

"I know, but I want to do things that you like too," she grins.

A surge of courage rises through his chest as he tells her that he'd like that a lot too.

Except the thing that falls out of his mouth instead is, "I like you too."

She blinks.

He blinks back, realization settling in like a dull ache in his stomach.

Horror sweeps through him. Oh no.

It hadn't been in his plan to expose himself like this, exposing himself like a dog who wants a tummy rub, but then again there's no sign of rejection that flickers across Y/N's face, which he takes as a good sign as he fumbles for the right words, "uhm, I-- I mean, I didn't mean--"

"You didn't mean that?"

"What?" His eyes widen, "no no! Of course I mean it, I just--"

He gasps at his own words, cupping a hand over his mouth as the girl before him explodes into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"Oh my gosh," her eyes crinkle up into those adorable crescents of hers, "you're so cute."

Scarlet pink blossoms across his cheeks. Averting his eyes, he wishes that the floor can just come and swallow him up right there and then.

"Right," clearing his throat, one hand reaches up to scratch his ear, "well, I-I'll just go--"

He's halfway turning around when Y/N's hand trickles through his, as gentle as water flowing through his fingertips.

"Wait," she murmurs.

His breath stalls. Inhaling a soft breath, he slowly shuffles back, not daring to meet her gaze when he feels like he's just put his heart on the table for her to do with as she pleases.

Her voice is a gentle breath of a whisper, "don't go."

And then, she's up on her tippy toes and pressing a light kiss to his cheek. Mingi's skin practically lights on fire as another round of butterflies erupt in his chest at her touch, and he can't help but stare down at her, jaw slack, as she gives him the shyest smile he's ever seen.

Cute! His mind screams. Cute cute cute!

"So," Mingi's mind comes back into focus upon hearing her voice, eyes finding her biting down onto her lower lip, “Well, uh--I guess--I guess this means I--I like you, or something.”

"uhm,” his ears are so hot with heat he feels they might fall off as he forces himself not to gawk at her, though it’s proving to be quite difficult as he’s trying to muster the courage to come out with a reasonable answer. 

“I--well, uh--how does this--I don't know--do you want to...uh possibly,” he swallows thickly, before exhaling the words in a rush,”...goouttodinnerwithme?"

Y/N blinks in confusion, "I'm sorry?"

Come on, Mingi! He thinks to himself in growing desperation. Don't be such a wimp!

"Do you... want to...go out with me? S--Sometime?" His throat is clogged with so much embarrassment he fear he might choke.

But when he feels soft fingers trace his chin, he looks up, right into her dark brown eyes sparkling with a tinge of playfulness, excitement and naked joy brimming at the corners.

"I'd love that," she whispers.

And she lifts herself up once more to land a kiss on his mouth, softly, shyly, a mere brushing her mouth against his.

Mingi stumbles upon impact, hands unconsciously grasping her waist as his back comes in contact with the railing lining her porch.

His eyes are wide when she pulls away, biting her lower lip like she can't help but feel nervous from this bold action that has taken him by surprise.

"What--" Mingi chokes on his words, lapses into silence while staring down at her.

The girl merely glances down. A blush taints her cheeks and even though his fingers are shaking and he feels like his heart is about to jump out of his chest at the mere prospect of their closeness, his body moves before his brain does.

Closing the gap between them, it's his turn to press a kiss now, a chaste one that tells her that he reciprocates these feelings wholeheartedly. And Y/N responds by wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer so that their chests touch, mouths moving slowly in harmony as they chase each other and mold together in a way that leaves Mingi breathless and his heart stuttering like he's just won a race.

If it is, then it's the most importance race of his life.

It is only when they pull apart, breathing into each other with barely millimetres separating their mouths, that he can't help but laugh at the realization that this girl in his arms is his.

"What?" She says while smiling up at him. So gorgeous, so breathtaking. And she's his.

"Nothing," he can sense the heat flooding his cheeks once more, "I just-- I'm just...happy."

And there it is, that same smile that he loves so much. The smile that holds magical words and countless secrets to the amazing mind she beholds. He can't want to delve into her thoughts and pick at her brain, knowing that all of them are going to be precious memories he'll hold dear to his heart.

That smile.

Hongjoong's voice suddenly erupts out of nowhere like a nightmare, "don't think I didn't see you guys kissing out there!"

---

I’m so whipped for Mingi and he’s like 2 years younger so I feel like such an old noona *sighs*. 

Anyway, let me know if you’d like more Ateez content! <3 Stay safe guys, and thanks for reading! 

[hopeymchope]

Muv Your Luv

So I’ve been playing/reading the Muv-Luv visual novels lately. Mostly because the third title (Muv-Luv Alternative) in the series is SO heavily praised. Unfortunately, to actually understand it/appreciate it, you have to get through two other Muv-Luv titles first.

Prepare to experience TONAL SHIFT.

Muv-Luv Extra is the first VN. It’s basically a generic high-school dating sim/rom-com kinda thing starring a pretty fucking douchey asshole of a protagonist, and I thought it was profoundly boring when I wasn’t actively hating it. The only parts I liked were the endings, which were well-written enough to close out the story of what we’d learned of these characters in a pretty effective way. But overall? Fuck Muv-Luv Extra. It primarily serves as the necessary introduction to the characters and how they act in a “normal” setting; it is literally hours of homework.

Also, all the girls look like they sculpted cat ears into their hair. Please imagine the metric fucktons of product that must take.

Muv-Luv Unlimited starts with the dickwad protagonist waking up in his bedroom like usual... only to find that the surrounding city has been largely decimated. He finds himself in a different world with most of the same characters introduced in “Extra.” Alas, this is a world where most of humanity is dead and the remainder is locked in an ongoing (losing) battle against alien invaders. His old high school is now a military base, and in less than 30 minutes of the opening, the protagonist finds himself conscripted into being a cadet alongside a squad consisting of most of the girls from “Extra.” YOU JUST GOT ISEKAI’D, BOOOOOOOII.

We follow the lead’s experience of meeting all the same people in a new context as he undergoes harsh military training to battle back against mankind’s extinction. It’s certainly a more interesting story than “Extra” was, but it’s also still pretty generic and moves rather slowly. I wonder if I’d like it more if I wasn’t in the midst of a severe bout of anhedonia. But probably not, because humongous mecha are heavily involved, and I honestly have never given much of a shit about mecha. I acknowledge that this may make me a Bad Anime Fan to many, but... sorry. It’s just not my genre.

Bask in all its genericness.

At this point, I was just about ready to quit, except... the ending to “Unlimited” left me MOST DISPLEASED. Regardless of which girl you choose to romance (yes, that’s somehow still a part of this story), the ending is a super-sour note to leave on. I guess they found a way to affect me after all, because I was downright depressed by the conclusion. Maybe that’s a sign that I was finally getting invested in this?

So... partly because of how the third one is often praised as being “one of the best visuals novels ever written” and partly because I needed to get a better ending than “Unlimited” could ever give me... I’ve now ventured into Alternative.

Muv-Luv Alternative starts with the protagonist waking up in his bedroom like usual... except he swiftly realizes he’s experiencing a time loop! He’s still in the same world he was stuck in during “Unlimited,” but now he has the advantage of knowing a lot of what’s coming his way. With that in mind, he sets out to make things go better than they did last time and also try to finally find his way back to his homeworld. He soon realizes that the more he changes things during this cycle, the more it affects events downstream and, subsequently, the less useful his knowledge of the future becomes. So how far can he really take this advantage? And can someone who is an entry-level cadet behind the stick of a training mech even remotely hope to alter major events with far-reaching consequences?

By the time we reach “Alternative,” the self-centered asshole protagonist who was downright abusive to the people closest to him has transformed into a douchey hard-nosed military grunt. It’s... not really much of an improvement, I have to say. The central protagonist is still far from a selling point in this story. Furthermore, a pretty big chunk of the early stages of “Alternative” is just retreading material from “Unlimited,” only now it’s going a little bit faster. That makes it pretty boring until new territory actually starts to be explored, which takes HOURS.

There are still occasional choices to be made, but in Alternative they’re less consequential than ever.

I’m 20-something hours in now, and it’s thankfully become pretty compelling in its new, uncharted events — certainly much moreso than the first two titles. There is complex political intrigue enveloping the humans despite the fact that they’re facing potential annihilation, which is understandably frustrating to our “hero” but simultaneously pretty interesting for the reader. 

On the downside, some of what’s grown more interesting about the writing is just how PRobLEmaTIC some of the viewpoints espoused in the story tend to be. There’s at least some self-awareness of how the patriotic, nationalistic stuff that most of the characters espouse could be viewed as troubling... but it’s mostly an attitude that is celebrated. And that’s not even getting into the weirdly triumphant “If you believe yourself to be little more than a tool for someone else to use as they see fit, then you should be used as a mere tool because that’s what you believe, and that belief is more important than your life, so go forth and die as someone else’s pawn! Believe yourself worthless as an individual, because that’s just who you are!” motivational (...?) speech that I just read through. Is this like, a Japanese thing... ? 

Also, some events that are incredibly boring (like a military ceremony in one scene) go on for FAR TOO LONG, dragging out for more half an hour of non-progress with zero value provided to the overall narrative or characters.

In case it wasn’t obvious, although I am much more intrigued and more invested than I’ve been up until this point, I am still not entirely taken with this “Muv-Luv” universe. In fact, as of this writing, the games still haven’t seen fit to reference or explain their own damn title. Somebody tell me the relevance of “Muv-Luv” to these characters already! 

I am hoping that by the end of “Alternative,” I’ll actually believe this trip was worth all the work it took to get here. I hear that “Alternative” lasts as long as Extra and Unlimited COMBINED, so there’s plenty of time for things to step up their intensity. I won’t write off the entire series as a failed experiment for me yet... especially not when I’m finally caring... but damn, it was a LOT of homework to reach this point. Here’s hoping they pull out some kind of eleventh-hour miracle to justify all the hype around this one.

[scrapsofsky]

I have once more (and a very long time ago) been challenged by Ian Sales to join him in our un-named war to come up with the best arbitrary list of films within an equally arbitrarily selected category. You can find previous iterations of this absurdity here, here, here, here, and here. We have, alas, not done this in a long while, which we can both blame on being busy with many other things.

But in the interest of rekindling silliness, I have been loosely challenged by Ian to come up with a list of 10 underrated SF/F films from the last 20 years, which is a direct response to this ScreenRant list. Since this list is in response to a link with a remarkably open prompt, I’ve opted to stick to the 10 item list format. Future challenges will go back to our favorite number:  5.

Ian, of course, has already dropped his list. Go check it out!

With that in mind, the following list of 10 films represent my attempt to put together films that I consider to be overrated. My criteria is fairly simple:

It must be a SF/F film released since 1999.

It must be underrated in the sense that it is underappreciated by the SF/F community or has largely been forgotten. Box office numbers may be part of the equation, but mostly I will go on my own interactions with the SF/F community and sadly arbitrary interpretations of what has been “lost” to everyday discourse.

I literally don’t care if the movies I pick are considered “good” by other people, and so I’ve picked films that I think are interesting for some reason or another. This inevitably means that you will hate my list and wish me to fall into a pit of endless fire.

So, without further adieu, here’s my list:

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004)(dir. Makoto Shinkai)

One of my first academic essay publications focused on this film, which should tell you how much I enjoy it. Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho is, in my opinion, Makoto Shinkai’s magnum opus. A story of friendship, betrayal, and love. A story of the Cold War, imperial control, and out of control technology. Shinkai’s method of storytelling is remarkable:  low key and vibrant, emotionally tense and freeing. In a world where Hayao Miyazaki is considered the King of Japanese Animation, Shinkai’s work has sadly not received the appreciation it deserves — Kumo no Mukō, Yakusoku no Basho especially.

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)(dir. David Twohy)

I strongly considered putting 2000’s Pitch Black here instead, but I think that film, while perhaps a bit underrated today, has received considerable praise. Its sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick, however, has often been derided for one reason or another. Unfairly, in my opinion. From its Gothic (with a side of emo) aesthetic to its expansion of the Riddick universe into a sprawling space opera to its total commitment to the gritty, morally ambiguous treasure trove of dirty, grungy themes, places, and characters, The Chronicles of Riddick is easily one of my favorite science fiction films of the last 20-ish years. Plus, the cast is fantastic. This is a hill I’m willing to die on. (Also:  I look forward to checking out Furya and Merc City in the near future!)

Night Watch and Day Watch (2004 and 2006)(dir. Timur Bekmambetov)

I’m counting these as one because it’s my list and I can do what I want. This Russian duology is based on Sergey Lukyanenko urban fantasy novels about the conflict between two supernatural factions who monitor the actions of one another as part of an uneasy truce. Part detective thriller and part dark fantasy, the films pack quite a punch. However, outside of the circuit of foreign film lovers within SF/F, they’ve largely flown under the radar, this despite starring well known Russian actor Konstantin Khabensky. If you’ve never seen these films, you owe it to yourself to watch them, even if for no other reason than to watch someone drive a sports car across the face of an apartment complex!

Sunshine (2007)(dir. Danny Boyle)

I considered putting Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later here instead, but I don’t think that film is actually all that underrated even if it doesn’t get as much play today as it did a decade ago. Sunshine, however, has spent most of its existence floating between general praise for its visuals and premise and general dislike for its second act. And, yes, it is a spectacularly gorgeous film, but that second act is, in my opinion, far more interesting than most people are willing to admit. Turning a space thriller into a horror film as a commentary on the paradoxical frailty and strength of the human spirit is, in my opinion, a gutsy move. For me, that move pays off, and it’s one of the reasons I think this film has remained underrated. It doesn’t follow the pattern these stories usually follow. It’s basically Armageddon if that film took itself seriously and Rockhound actually went insane. And that makes it an infinitely more interesting film.

Upgrade (2018)(dir. Leigh Whannell)

If you didn’t get a chance to see Upgrade, you’re missing out. This sleeper scifi action thriller had some of the most compelling fight choreography and shot compositions of 2018, and yet it flew under the radar. I had the good fortune to see the film in theaters; the experience did not disappoint. Much of the fight choreography relied on some impressive camera trickery to follow the lead actor’s movements, giving the entire film a robotic and wonky feel. It’s truly exciting to watch, and I wish more people had had the opportunity to do so in an actual theater. Because it’s gorgeous on the big screen!

Push (2009)(dir. Paul McGuigan)

I will watch almost anything with Djimon Hounsou in it. Push is one of those forgotten little films that takes a less in-your-face approach to the whole super powers concept. In this world, people with powers are test subjects or hidden in plain sight, monitored by a nefarious organization with equally nefarious intents. By comparison to the typical superhero film we have today, Push is quite restrained, relishing in the quirks and trickery of its list of powers and giving actors like Dakota Fanning the space to place (watching her drunkenly stumble around is kinda fun). It’s an imperfect film to be sure, but one that I still love.

Hulk (2003)(dir. Ang Lee)

I’m going to catch hell for this, but Ang Lee’s Hulk is one of my favorite superhero movies to date. I even prefer it to that other Hulk film by a long mile. Lee does give us some of the stuff you expect from a superhero film (big fight scenes and visual spectacle), but I particularly love the softer focus on Banner and his mental state. It feels more like a film that is trying to say something about human nature than a film stuck in an endless action sequence or caught up in villainy for the sake of villainy. For me, that means the film takes more chances with its performance and themes. And I’m always more compelled by the film that tries to do something interesting and failed than I am by the alternative.

Another Earth (2011)(dir. Mike Cahill)

Independent cinema has a tendency to produce some truly introspective and powerful films. Another Earth is no exception. A film about loss, guilty, love, and second chances, Another Earth‘s science fiction premise (a mirror Earth) is really just background, offering an opportunity in the conclusion and lending weight to the central thematic of loss and guilt as the romance between the protagonists comes head-to-head with a secret that threatens to tear them apart. The narrative is at times quite haunting, but it also commands us to think more deeply about what it means to seek forgiveness, to seek second chances, to live with loss, and so on. And if you like this one, Sound of My Voice (2011) is a far creepier film about cults that also stars Brit Marling!

Dredd (2012)(dir. Pete Travis)

We will never get an adaptation of Judge Dredd that is as good as 2012’s Dredd. A vicious, unrelenting and dark film, Dredd is one of those films that desperately deserves more credit than it has thus far received. Karl Urban’s performance is textbook perfection, and Travis’ direction gives this a brutally honest tone. And unlike its predecessor adaptation, Dredd isn’t endlessly mockable; instead, it is a visually arresting satire that makes most action thrillers look tame. There are few films on this list that I would say are perfect. Dredd is one of them.

The Cat Returns (2002)(dir. Hiroyuki Morita)

Studio Ghibli gets a lot of well-deserved love for its many Hayao Miyazaki films (my favorite Miyazaki is actually Mononoke Hime / Princess Mononoke). But one film the studio doesn’t get enough credit for is the utterly delightful Neko no Ongaeshi / The Cat Returns (or The Cat’s Repayment). It’s an Alice in Wonderland type tale (or tail, heh) about a young girl who gets sucked into the secret world of cats. Calling this film delightful is an understatement. It is downright adorable, and it has been sadly overshadowed by Ghibli’s many other exceptional productions. But if you’re looking for a cute (and sometimes hilarious) fantasy adventure involving talking cats, The Cat Returns is the film for you.

And that’s it. That’s my list. I could add many other films here, but I’ve limited myself to ten.

Now for a challenge to Ian and anyone else who wants to take it:  pick your five favorite films featuring talking animals! Go!

It's time for another #FilmChallenge. @ian_sales challenged me to come up with 10 underrated SF/F films released between 1999 and 2019. So here's my list! :D I have once more (and a very long time ago) been challenged by Ian Sales to join him in our un-named war to come up with the best arbitrary list of films within an equally arbitrarily selected category.

[mautadite]

june book round up

10 books this month! 7 books behind schedule, so that means i’m catching up a little. and honestly i feel like i read a lot more than 10 books this month, because one of them was le guin’s massive collection of novellas that took me two months to get through entirely. in fact the reason this is three days late is because i didn’t want to write this entry without finishing that book first. june was pride, and all of this month’s books feature at least one queer character! whoo!

unmasked by the marquess - cat sebastian  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ an extremely charming romance about a grumpy, penny-pinching marquess and the debonair, disarming scamp that he falls for. this was such a sweet romance; there’s nothing to make you love love more than two characters who genuinely become better people for knowing each other. and heck yeah, non binary people in romance!

the lamb will slaughter the lion - margaret killjoy  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ a very cool and creepy little urban fantasy novella with some very arresting imagery. i’ll never look at a ribcage the same way again. punk queers save the world!

the black tides of heaven - j.y. yang  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ extreeeeeemely good story; NOT extremely well told. the time skips could have ruined this novella totally for me, notwithstanding the great characters and plot and world-building. i want to see events as they unfold, not have a time skip and hear that they took place 3 years ago.

killing time at the lingerroot inn - john c. dupre  ⭐️⭐️ alas... bad. could have been a cute fun gay paranormal romp but instead it was... bad.

voyageurs - keira andrews  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ an okay story about romance in 18th century canada. one of the protagonists was too childish for me to really like.

bound to be a groom - megan mulry  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ when i picked up this book about regency polyamory, i kind of expected it to have more... substance? plot? meat on the bone? instead it’s pretty much just about boning lol. but it wasn’t bad i guess.

sapphic in the shadows - leanna headley  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ we all know how much of a slut i am for acd holmes, and this, the fist instalment in a 1920s murder mystery serial starring lesbians, pings all my buttons. i really liked it! think i’ll wait until i can just buy the full book before reading the rest.

time of grace - gabriella west  ⭐️⭐️ lesbian romance set during easter rising, early 20th century ireland. i thought i would love this but alas! wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. didn’t elicit any great amount of feeling from me. just didn’t connect with the main character.

the found and the lost - ursula k. le guin  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ an absolute gem. i ADORED this collection of novellas. (with the exception of the earthsea stories, which was good but just not very interesting to me.) i felt like it took me on a journey to rediscover why i love science fiction so much. and her writing is amazing. lots of great tropes like time travel and generational space travel; deals with decolonisation and slavery and gender and sexism. shout out to “buffalo girls won’t you come out tonight”, “the matter of seggri”, “a fisherman of the inland sea”, “a woman’s liberation” and “paradises lost”.

chronin - alison wilgus  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a graphic novel about time travel in japan gone awry. i’m in love with its potential and its protagonist both. really engaging.

and that’s it for june. for july hopefully i can keep up this momentum, and maybe catch up a bit more. currently listening to jane doe by victoria helen stone on audiobook. not reading anything physical right now, but i unwisely bought  a bunch of books the other day so... i will be soon lol. 

[leilas-digital-scrapbook-blog]

Giving Love a Bad Name – Confessions of a Fanfiction Writer

I know we’re supposed to blog about our major projects this week and I promise I will get to that soon, but I’d like to go off book for a moment to address something that’s been bugging me since last Thursday’s class. As someone who’s always tried to engage with fandom in as creative a way as possible, I hoped a class on user generated content would offer a fresher perspective than the usual amount of prejudice and self-righteous superiority that sadly seem to accompany the subject of fanfiction even amongst people that make stories and their passion for it their bread and butter.

Guess I should have known better.

In the world of professional writers, fanfiction is still a filthy word. It sums up everything that’s wrong with the people you’re sharing your stories with: the obsessiveness, the entitlement, the disregard for boundaries, the penchant for making everything about sex. Worse, gay sex, as unspeakably dirty as it’s hilarious. Be warned, writers: if you make it big, your stories will inevitably become a free-for-all at the mercy of those people. A worse fate than even George R. R. Martin could wish on his own characters.

I’m used to seeing the world of fanfiction belittled and disparaged, of course, and I’m the first to admit that the community is often its own worst enemy. But for some reason it still hurt a little to sit in class and listen to people I’ve come to like and respect during these past few months buy into every bad stereotype associated with the form. Not because I felt called out (though yes, I do write fanfiction from time to time, and I happen to quite enjoy reading it too), but because of the underlying assumptions that 1. something that’s not 100% original cannot be art, it’s a violence in fact, especially if it twists someone else’s creation into something it was never meant to be (in this case, queer representation); and 2. there’s something wrong with creating exclusively out of love, without ever expecting to be paid for it. And I have Strong Opinions on that.

So let’s talk about fanfiction.

Actually, scratch that, let’s talk about my favorite subject – yours truly. As you may have gathered by now, I love fanfiction. A whole fangirly lot. My gateway drug into it was my obsession with Lost about 10 years ago and its pesky habit of offing every character I was foolish enough to get attached to. But lo! Someone was keeping them alive through their stories! I felt blessed. I got to spend more time in a world I loved, and I stopped flirting with the idea of giving up on the show every time another character I liked bit the dust. Everybody won.

Even more than as a fan, though, I appreciated the world of possibilities that fanfiction opened up to me as a non-native speaker. I come from a small town in the north of Italy; the access I had to foreign books in their original language was limited, and if I wanted to read something in English I’d have to spend quite a lot of money on one of the very few novels (usually chunky airport bookshop thrillers or housewife romances – not exactly my preferred genres) that shared a single shelf in the bookstore with German, French, Spanish titles. But fanfiction was free, accessible, and there was so much of it. If I didn’t like a story, all I needed to do was move on to the next. Suddenly there was an infinite library of engaging stories to help me make my English better. True, they didn’t all read like a published novel would – there’s a lot of unpolished, error-plagued, stream-of-consciousness-y material out there. But there are also so, so many beautifully written works, and believe me, even for a non-native speaker it’s very easy to spot the difference.

Fanfiction also gave me the chance and motivation to practice my English writing in a way school never could have done. I’ve been writing my own stories since I could hold a pen, but I didn’t dare write in English until I was a fanfiction-loving teenager. It was a marketing decision, really – my first foray into writing fanfiction was for a fandom so small that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out I’m the only Italian representative, so if I wanted any kind of feedback on my work I’d have to suck it up and try my hand at writing in a language that didn’t come natural to me. I would never argue that the feedback I got on my works made me a better writer – contrary to popular opinion, the fanfiction community is made up of the nicest, most supportive people, and alas, you’ll never get a comment on everything you did wrong with your structure or even just pointing out common grammar mistakes from them (though I was lucky enough to have someone explain to me how dialogue punctuation works differently in English than in Italian, so I guess something can be learned even from the Internet). It did motivate me to keep writing, though, and that made me a better writer. If you think I’m being too dramatic, dishing out this monster of a post nobody asked for just to declare my eternal devotion to fanfiction, it’s because it’s personal to me. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been told that I write in English as well as native speakers, and fanfiction is a big part of why that’s true. I doubt I would even be in this course if it wasn’t for it.

And then, of course, there’s the gay thing. I’m not going to argue about how heteronormativity sucks and representation matters because I’m sure everyone’s as sick of talking about it as I am, but please try to understand how it felt for a gay person like me, used to be depicted in media as a plot device or token secondary-character representation if at all, to be able to step into a world where queerness was the default for once. Where queer protagonists had meaningful queer love stories and queer friends and got to save the world from the Apocalypse too. Or to fight the Empire or go to Hogwarts or everything else fictional straight people have had a right to do since the dawn of storytelling in addition to romancing the hottie of their choice. I’m not asking you to feel as passionately about it, of course, but (especially if you’re straight) you might try and empathize the next time you think a fanart of two boys kissing is something deserving of your amused contempt.

I hope I’m not coming across as the person that screams “homophobe” at everyone who disagrees with her because I guarantee that’s not what I’m trying to do here, but I think the general distaste for slash says a lot about the way our society sees heterosexual relationships as love and homosexual relationships as sex. Yes, there’s a lot of gay porn in the world of fanfiction. But you know what you’re most likely to find? Romance. Not in the saucy literary sense of the word, but in its simpler, most literal acceptation. Fanfiction is just one more way for humans to express themselves, after all, and love has always been front and center in our art. Love, not sex – even if it’s gay. In fact, explicit material doesn’t even make up the majority of what you’ll find on a fanfiction website. Don’t worry, I don’t want anyone to taint their souls by visiting one of those dens of iniquity so I pulled some stats myself. Here’s the number of works for each rating in three of the most popular fandoms on Archive Of Our Own, the current go-to website for the fanfiction community (sorry Fanfiction.net) – Harry Potter, Supernatural and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as of 9/3/2019:

Even counting both Mature and Explicit works as straight-up porn (which I don’t think is quite fair, but that’s a discussion for another day), they only make up less than 1/3 of the material. Kinda disappointing, for a medium that’s supposed to be all about filthy graphic gay sex. Imagine if only one in three musicals actually featured singing and dancing, or superheroes weren’t in the majority of superhero movies. They’re lucky fanfiction is shared for free, or I’d be screaming for my money back.

Maybe I’ve just been brainwashed by SJWs, though, and this has nothing to do with my being an immigrant or a lesbian. Maybe my inability to see what’s so bad about appropriating someone else’s intellectual property for your own amusement is a cultural thing. I apologize – as mentioned, I’m Italian, and we all know Ancient Roman culture was basically just a ripoff of everything those inventive Greeks came up with. It’s in our blood. Hell, our 2€ coin, the biggest, has the face of Dante Alighieri on it, a writer most famous for having written 14.000+ verses of self-insert real-person-fic in which the girl he fancied as a teenager, his favorite author, and God himself all fall over themselves to tell him how awesome he is and he gets to prophesy an eternity in Hell for his political enemies. Talk about wish-fulfilling entitlement. Not to mention all those creatively arid Renaissance “artists” celebrated for stealing characters from the Bible and Greek mythology (seriously, the fact that Greece hasn’t unleashed an army of lawyers on us yet is nothing short of a miracle) and putting them in their cheesy paintings. Other countries can rely on a much stronger moral backbone and endless imagination – I’m sure Shakespeare, Milton, Goethe, those creative geniuses at Disney and countless others never had to resort to something as cheap and despicable as borrowing other people’s characters to tell the stories they wanted to tell.

Either way, I can’t help it – I see the prospect of creating something that will resonate with people so strongly that they’ll make it a part of themselves, that it’ll compel them to make more art, to reach out and connect with other fans, as something incredibly beautiful rather than scary. Maybe this is my usual naiveté speaking, and I will come to eat my words. It’s certainly disturbing that a bunch of entitled fans bullied the Mass Effect developers into changing the series’ ending, and sending actors explicit fanart of themselves is straight-up harassment, but is fanfiction really the problem here? Or is it social network culture, with its power to destroy all barriers and foster hive mind? To give resentment a platform to spread and be heard? I promise that the average fanfiction writer wouldn’t campaign to get an ending changed. They’d just roll up their sleeves and write a better one themselves.

[tumblunni]

Oh that’s cute! The title screen has a random chance of switching between the two different ‘masks’ of the characters each time you boot it up!

Okay I’m gonna start a bloggin’ my comments as I play this game! Woo!

Wow, a quick travel menu between checkpoints in the story is incredibly useful for multiple ending visual novels! I’m surprised I’ve never seen one do it before! Tho its a lil silly the game shows it the first time you boot it up.

Also, randomly, just gotta say that I really like the protagonist’s human form design! The colourscheme is a nice unusual one that just caught my eye immediately, and I like the little dot pattern accessories. Feels very vintage shoujo even if the art style isnt.

I... dont really like her catgirl form as much though. It just feels like the most generic catgirl ever and she even loses her colourscheme, she’s just this more muted version and doesnt have blue hair anymore even?? Like wow, human = non human hair, catgirl = actually plausable albino??? Also its weird that she de-ages when her ears pop out, wtf. I am neeeeeevr gonna be a fan of the stupid ‘looks like a child but she isnt a child so its somehow okay’ anime cliche. Thats what made me worry this was gonna be ecchi when i first saw the screenshots on steam, this design choice is kinda disproportionately used in That Kind Of Dating Game. And catgirls already have a bit of a bad reputation in that sense too :P Also from what little I know about this via the steam description and reviews, it seems somehow her personality changes when she transforms, so she even ACTS more like an actual child.. man why so weird yo... I just hope that none of these red flags come true and I’m just worrying for nothing!

OH. YEAH. WHAT THE GAME IS ABOUT. If I’m gonna do more detailed posts of my Game Excitements, then I may as well give some context first! According to the store description, the protagonist is a seemingly-human girl who suddenly discovers she has latent catgirl powers on her 18th birthday or something? And her love interest has a secret identity too, there’s something about him being a royal guard but acting less serious and more goofy when he’s around her. And that sounds pretty cute actually. And you have multiple routes about embracing your new beast-person powers or trying to become human for real, which is a nice sort of plot that you wouldnt expect. I just hope it lives up to my expectations!

.... every time a catgirl actually says “nya”, it lowers my expectations. Please game, I believe in you, please dont be awful!

Shoutout to my BFF’s pet cat, yo!

Expectations.. plummetting... oh god... the voiceacting how do i turn it off oh god if its gonna be like THAT the whole time i cant stand Generic Anime Voice #5 screeching NYAAAA at the end of each line, holy fuck...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjY3eM7Ta7A Okay, the intro actually is quite cute, even though its just clipart bouncing around. But umm.. the starting text lowers my expectations a bit more, urp... Like.. uhh.. geez... I really do not like the odd trope of ‘but I thought you were just like a brother to me and then we fell in love’. Or rather I dont like how its weirdly common that this is the ONLY way childhood romances are presented in anime, and how like.. its so.. frequent that plots have ‘but its LIKE incest even though it isnt’ as something that just has to be mentioned.. often..?? I dont get it yo. Obviously this isnt actually incest, but it just weirds me out how a game would want to mention incest when it isnt?? As if it would somehow add appeal or something?? Am I overreacting? I mean.. like.. the only other explanation I can think of for why childhood romances in anime are ALWAYS ‘but we were just like siblings’ is that like.. the writers have zero experience with the concept of men and women being friends. Which I could kinda assume already from how this weird angst always has to happen whenever friends fall in love in anime, geez. It always has to be BUT I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS AND WE CANNOT BE FRIENDS NOW WE ARE DATING AND MY FEELINGS WERE ALWAYS LOVE AND NEVER FRIENDSHIP OF COURSE, BLABLABLA. And how if the love isnt recipricated then they almost never get to stay friends afterwards?? And just like.. really.. how EVERY male-female childhood friendship is always ‘we were like siblings’ as an excuse to not really write them being friends?? Its like thats the only excuse they can think of for why a man wouldnt wanna fuck a woman, and EVEN THEN they have to be wrong about their feelings and fuck in the end anyway. This kind of attitude is probably what leads to the sexualization of actual sibling relationships even, and the attitude that rape is inevitable if an attractive woman just EXISTS, and how rape cant happen to men because its just natural any man would want to fuck any woman at any time.... ANYWAY This isnt a criticism of this game (yet), since I havent even played far enough to find out if it does any of this stuff. This is just a vent about how I’ve seen this bullshit happen in a lot of other anime and anime-styled dating sims, and why now I get wary whenever I see a hint of it.

SO YEAH not very high expectations yet, alas which is a shame cos I was pretty excited when i booted it up and now im like BRACE FOR ANIME CLICHES AHOY pretty much describes my first playthrough of FE Awakening too, and I ended up liking that overall even though I had complaints. so I’ll hope for a repeat performance!

ANYWAY now is time to actually get into playing the game, and come back when I have some stuff to say~! I just figured making a post of my initial reactions and speculations and stuff would be fun! Also I didnt expect to be reminded of a rant about anime cliches and waste so much text space on that, lol

BONUS: i like to pronounce the acronym as ‘huhtuhtuhtoym’

[sweetandunholy]

YA novels are composed by many different aspects and formulas that make them the genre that they are, young protagonists, complex (and often pointless) love subplots or triangles, dystopian type societies… And one component that I very often see and very much throughoutfully despise: First person switching Point of Views.

If you didn’t skip your middle school literature classes, you surely are aware of what a narrator is: The voice who tells the story and the determinant of the point of view. If the narrator is a full participant in the story’s action, the narrative is said to be in the first person. A story told by a narrator who is not a character in the story is a third-person narrative.

But narrators do so much more than just telling your story, as the type of narrator you use can do so much more for you. YA novels tend to focus on the likability of their main characters (often turning their protagonists into Mary Sues, sigh) while doing the least amount of work possible and thus it has become a very common occurrence for these types of authors to choose first person narratives because of several advantages they always wish to exploit: ➜The spoon feeding of your main/secondary character’s ambitions, thoughts and motivations through letting them explore their thoughts.

➜The cheap shot at immersion with your readers by allowing them a generic character. Because of how hard it is for main characters to describe themselves without sounding like they’re roleplaying on Omegle (F, 20, brown hair and green eyes) most authors avoid giving characters a clear description of themselves and more of a blank slate personality that’s described through other characters (“But MC! You love going to the movies with us ! Are you really going to pass on hanging out to help rescue animals instead?”)

An overplayed phenomenon in romance oriented YA is this precise blank slate main character who attracts the handsome, new bad boy in school and he finds himself unnaturally drawn to her. This is nothing but lazy play for uncaring readers— Your reader projects onto the main character and swoons as her love interest is here to sweep her off her feet and thus become too busy fangirling over how sexy the love interest is and how much you root for him. (Bonus points if you thought of any novel that wasn’t Twilight, because I could easy list a few many, many more)

It’s cheap, its lazy and its such an over used YA trope.

➜The bias of first person narrators, as the stories are filtered through their brains and emotions. Thus, making it easier to be able to quickly flag characters as “Good guys” and “Bad guys” without having to spend any time developing them as to us to figure it out by ourselves.

➜The unbelievable ease by which first person narrators are able to dump exposition on you without having to resort to the intelligent pacing and logical cohesion of explaining the world as events unfold and make it properly that third person forces you to do.

➜If the novel is thoughtful or intelligent enough to include some good mysteries or complicated plot twists, a character’s musings are a simply way to spell out what’s going on and move on without allowing the reader to discover it for themselves.

Now at this point, I have only spent some time describing why I think a first person narrator is lazy— Not even mentioning the more obvious disadvantages like self-indulgent novels can become within the narrator’s emotions by overreaction and making everything about themselves, the limiting POV by not being able to create action where the character isn’t present, making perspective and perception on the bigger picture almost impossible, the lack of focus and inability to work on secondary subplots as you’re only focused on one story thread, the unreliability of the narrator because of the bias of its brain (which in cases this can be worked wonderfully into a novel, but this is what I call a literary device for non-lazy authors) and the extra time needed to be spent figuring out the narrators voice without being out of character: Alas, a “creative” mind like Tahereh Mafi’s Juliette using heavily complex and scientific terms in her descriptions. Then again, just like Mafi, many YA authors don’t care for this later point and tend to ignore it all together.

But notice how I mention the “limits” of what a first person narration can do to your novel, and backtrack on the immediate thought that’s plaguing your head: “But Hime ! That has a very easy solution !” And it does ! It’s precisely the object of this essay this fine morning: Multiple Person POVs.

If you haven’t clued in into what they are just yet, allow me to explain. Multiple Person first person POVs is a phenomenon that occurs when you narrate a tale in first person, and then switch up the character narrating most commonly when entering a different chapter i.e. Maria narrating chapter one, and Pancho chapter two and Pedrito chapter three and switch back, back and forth. Surely, this phenomenon solves many of my aforementioned problems like: The limiting view of only one person’s bias now extended to multiple, the new found ability to throw some focus and spotlight into other character arcs and subplots and the convenience to narrate situations that are going on outside the main character’s perspective.

If you are doing this, let me tell you one hard truth: Your novel most likely reads like fanfiction.

Those who have spent their years in Wattpad surely understand what I’m saying. There isn’t anything more distracting than beginning a novel and first thing reading the character’s name on top of your page. It is very, very off putting.

It’s lazy, and when not developed properly, really brings out the amateur in a writer. You might think that many readers of YA don’t mind this, and that is the cold hard truth, but there are many other writers and readers out here that still value writing as an art form and not as a self indulgent check-list of how to get a best seller. Put effort into what you do. 

Dual POVs are the most common occurrence of this phenomenon, and usually indicate a clear romance between both parties. This is by far the easiest and the laziest because it avoids having to go through the trouble of really giving each of your main characters a voice: One is a boy, and one is a girl. They do boy girl things until they encounter each other and then think about each other when they are apart. Fun.

Problem arises when the same lazy author I’m describing attempts to add a third or more POVs into the story and everything goes down into a shit show. If you’re not taking the time to give your character voices, then you will most likely turn your lazy cop out into an unpleasant read. Characters will become nothing but names blending into each other you will force your readers to have to constantly remember to tell them apart (A big problem I encountered with The Thousandth Floor but still gets half a pass because the story sort of premised revolving around these five characters- It was just done very, very incorrectly).

Narratives who do this tend to become very convoluted between every minor character and major character that they book switches to. Authors tend to forget the main point they were trying to make and get derailed between the myriads of new character thoughts, and motivations, and glances into their brains that are simply not needed in the story. You’re spending less and less time with the main characters that the reader came in for in the first place. In fact, the biggest pitfall that authors using this system fall with is very simple:

The simple possibility of ending up with readers liking one POV dramatically more than they like the other. Imbalance occurs between POV characters who are given equal amounts of time on the page and the experience becomes tedious and unpleasant.

Most authors who do this switch and jump between characters only to make sure they cover every piece of action away from the main character and I am tired to say this, but it is simply a cheap cop out that doesn’t push the writer to find a creative way to present all the information it wishes to convey through their book.

So enough complaining, what would you do?

Third person is my go to answer. It doesn’t mean my personal stories are all written in third person, but allow me to explain why I would always recommend going for this style.

It forces you to be creative.

Not only that, but you can very well achieve the same advantages from a first person perspective with a third person perspective, along with several other advantages.

Most writers choose to include elements of first-person points of view by mentioning character thoughts and feelings without using ‘he thought’ or ‘she felt’ next to italicized text. This allows for more intimacy whilst maintaining different perspectives and helps break down the distance between the narrator and the characters. In fact, through the third person can still think, feel and experience, but so can other characters.

I believe writing is all about the subtleties, about showing and not telling and third person can work wonders for multiple POVs without even feeling like a multiple POV. Here’s some examples on novels who did it right and novels who did it wrong and why

Novels who did it right:

The Raven Cycle Series by Maggie Stiefvater The Raven Cycle series tells the story of 5 boys looking for sleeping King in the magical, rural Henrietta. Each chapter opens on a third person limited view focused on a different character. Each book discretely changes main character focus by giving one of the 5 characters more screentime than the others. This is barely noticeable, making it a very subtle and pleasant change. Nevertheless of a great plot, the story is also very character heavy and fully immersive. I perfectly know each and every one of these complex and intricate characters, I’m familiar with their voices and characters and switching their focus to each other was pleasant and almost unnoticeable ! … All achieved through the third person.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On is a multiple first person POV novel that just did it right. The novel doesn’t take itself too seriously in its plot and its mostly character driven. This story in fact depends on it constantly switching out narrators for us to really understand what was going on in characters heads as that was the important part of the novel, not what was going on outside of them and in the plot. As the plot was their feelings, their emotions, their thoughts… A really amazing read that almost didn’t bother me with the constant narrator switch (as I really couldn’t bring myself to care for the bits with the Mage, Nico or Ebb, all minor characters that resulted distracting to me).

Novels who did it wrong:

  Pure by Julianna Baggott

Is also an ever jumping first person multiple POV novel that constantly distracts itself by distancing itself from the main two characters and showing distracting, minor characters POV.

It also suffers from another of the aforementioned problems where for a good 100 pages of the book, one of the main characters is completely insufferable and his chapters result bland and heavier to get through.

  The Thousandth Floor by Katherine McGee

Because this book is all about a web of character driven drama, the first person multiple pov approach to it should be making sense. But it is the lazy and effortless way its written that makes this bad, for the characters lack voices of their own or any sort of distinguishing features other than their names. It makes the reading tedious and just hard and complicated to keep up with who is who. It’s like having homework on a Friday.

  Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

The book is completely incoherent— It is a duality that begins as a third person POV when following Akos, but turns into a into a first person POV when following Cyra, the second main character. It is distracting, frustrating and beats any sort of advantage from using third person or first person as a narrator.

Akos is a blank slate and to make it even worse, his story is told through third person as if we weren’t emotionally disconnected enough as it is because the author refused to convey his feelings and character through action.

So ! What do you think? Are there any other books you’d consider did the third-multiple person POV right? Or more rants about who did it wrong and resulted distracting? I’d love to get more thoughts and examples !

Taking a moment to rant about the laziness I've seen in writing YA narrators & how to fix it.. YA novels are composed by many different aspects and formulas that make them the genre that they are, young protagonists, complex (and often pointless) love subplots or triangles, dystopian type societies...

[thejpfdude-blog]

The Upcoming Spring 2017 Shows I’ll Be Watching

Hello friends and welcome to the annual beginning-of-season post about the shows I’m watching for the season! Sorry for this being posted a few days into the season: stuff came up. But hopefully I should be in the clear for now, so hopefully there should be no more delays!

Anyway, a reminder of the usual thing I say in these posts:

I might watch some other shows that are good or drop some shows if they aren’t good, but that’s for the future.

Like last time, I’m organizing these shows into three categories: Full Chance are shows I’m giving the whole season towards, Short Leash are shows I’m giving three or so episodes towards, and One Shot are shows I’m giving one episode towards. As we progress towards categories, expect less words for each anime as I lose interest in writing like last time. Another reminder that MAL links to the shows are on the titles for those interested. So let’s start with…

Full Chance Shows:

Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season: This season is the season of sequels: we have Attack on Titan S2, Saekano S2 (which I’ll talk about later in this post), and this show’s S2. If you don’t know about this show, it’s basically the classic superhero story with a bit of a twist, as almost everybody in the world has a superpower. However, our main protagonist doesn’t, but with the help of the power of friendship (among other things) he’s achieving his goal of being the greatest superhero. Now the first season was a bit disappointing after all of the hype I heard from manga readers, which taught me to never trust the source material readers. But now that all of the slow intro stuff is out of the way, I think this has the potential of being a PLUS ULTRA show. Going right into the action should be good, but hopefully not too much: some slice-of-life stuff is still fun. The first episode was good with this, so hopefully it continues through the season.

Nobunaga no Shinobi: Ise Kanegasaki-hen: The second season of the historical show about a shinobi (who is also a cute girl) helping Oda Nobunaga take control of historical Japan. I’ll admit, the last few episodes of this show’s first season were a bit eh compared to the first few. It also could have just been me getting tired of it too though. This is basically a continuation of the first season: I don’t really consider it separate considering the first season ended airing literally a few weeks ago. So more of the same really, but at the end of the day it’s an entertaining few minutes. Hopefully it continues to be so.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭: Yet another second season, this time the continuation of a show about an otaku who gathers his friends to make a dating sim (uh, it’s better than it sounds). I am both excited and scared of this show. Excited because I really enjoyed the first season of this show, but scared because I have no idea where the show is going to go. I really hope it doesn’t do what it did with the last few episodes and go all fanservice, something I’m not about. I’m excited to see if they go further into the backstories of the characters, something I really liked during the first season. Overall though, cautiously optimistic.

Sakura Quest: In this show, the main character works with a group of people to help revitalize a country town in Japan. This show is the recipient of the “hype” award of the season for me, and that’s not really a good thing. On the one hand, this show is in the same “working” series that Shirobako is in, so it already has my attention. On the other hand, that series also has Hanasaku Iroha, a show I didn’t really like the first few episodes of. Well, it could go either way. So like Saekano S2, I’m cautiously optimistic about this show.

Tsuki ga Kirei: Basically a coming-of-age story of some sort with romance (maybe?) and shiny faces. Seriously, those are some shiny faces. Character design aside, it sounds interesting enough, and I’m about that romance. Complete with the fact that there isn’t a drama tag, and I’m sold. This has the potential to be a nice relaxing show. It could also be horribly bad. Such is life.

Short Leash Shows:

Alice to Zouroku: I actually have no idea what this show is about. Is it a sci-fi show about a girl escaping a lab-prison? Is it a slice-of-life about an old dude raising a young girl? Is it both? After watching the 44-minute first episode, I still don’t know. If it’s the former, I’m kinda skeptical. If it’s the latter, I’m down. I guess we’ll see what this show is really about in the next few episodes, which’ll determine whether I continue watching.

Hinako Note: A moe show about a girl who becomes a scarecrow for her neighbor’s fields. Yeah I know right? Well, the reason I’m watching this is because this is pretty much the only moe show of the season. Kinda disappointing, but I can’t really complain considering the moe overload last season. Kinda sad how that’s become my reason to watch shows...

One Shot Shows:

Eromanga-sensei: A show about a high schooler who writes light novels finding out that his sister is actually the illustrator for his LNs. Also rival arrives. Also apparently the spiritual successor to OreImo, also evidenced by the line “the new sibling romantic comedy”. Also very skeptical to watch this. Alas, I’ll give it an episode.

Fukumenkei Noise: A show about a girl who experienced two “goodbyes” (with promises!) and by the powers of shoujo, she meets them both again in high school. The PV of this kinda turned me off from the show, but I guess it could be decent, so I’ll give it one episode.

And that’s all for preview! This season doesn’t look too good, but it’s still way too early to tell. So until then, I’ll see you in the next post!

[willreadforbooze]

Hello All My Buddies! Into the books!

Linz’s Updates

I’m so behind on reading this week it’s embarrassing. But I had to watch The Circle finale, and I FINALLY started watching The Bachelor. Holy shit does production get these women druuuuuuuunk. I’m almost at THE champagne scene.

What Linz read:

 The Bride Test by Helen Hoang: The “sequel” to The Kiss Quotient was like, fine. They DEFINITELY address the female protagonist’s ethnicity in this one, so that was a good start, but it was still, I dunno, just okay? It had that issue a lot of ok romances had where so much could be cleared up with a good conversation, and that takes me out of the fantasy. Also needed more sex.

Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco: uuuuugh I am not happy about the review I’m gonna have to write about this. Uuuuuuuugh. My stomach hurts.

What Linz is currently reading:

 Reverie by Ryan La Sala: Contemporary fantasy about a teen boy who loses his memory, because of a magic accident, and he and his friends have the ability to get pulled into other people’s super real magic-infused fantasies/”reveries” and the friend squad is able to make sure the reveries get handled so no one gets hurt I think? It’s a little confusing how the magic system works so far, and this might hit my DNF pile.

Followers by Megan Angelo: Two-storyline novel–one about two girls now who do something insane to get super famous, and one in the future about a super-influencer who’s trying to escape her life. I’m explaining it super poorly, but I’m only 3 chapters in and I am LOVING it, it’s so weird.

Minda’s Update

No update from Minda this week—she’s on baby watch!

Sam’s Update

IM ON VACATION!!!!!! Currently at the airport waiting to board my flight. Seeing one of my best friends and then headed off to ALA! See you there!

What Sam read this week:

Silvered Serpents by Roshani Chokshi: Folks this book was fan-fucking-tastic. I love my kids. I love them so much.

What Sam’s currently reading:

Angel Mage by Garth Nix: This is Nix’s newest book that i’m listening to on audio. This is a society that relies on calling upon angels to help them do stuff. Heal, build, spy, etc. When a plague wipes out an entire country, their descendants are suddenly unable to be touched by magic or the same disease overtakes them. Now you can imagine the power dynamics of THAT situation. Anyway, Lilith (of COURSE that’s her name) has some master plan that involves four strangers. The audio was the incorrect format for this book but I finally became interested and then my loan expired so now I gotta wait. FINE.

Master of Sorrows by Justin Travis Call: This is an adult fantasy in a super interesting world. Aanev wants to pass his exam to be an Avatar, a soldier against all magic aka evil. His father figure, Sodar, is the village priest and it’s clear he has some secrets. Aanev has his own too. I’m really really enjoying this so far. Slow start but I’m happy.

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White: This is a weird aurthutian retelling where Gwen isn’t really Gwen but Merlin’s daughter sent from Merlin’s exile to protect Arthur from an unknown threat. I’m only a bit into this but I’m happy with how it’s going so far. Kiersten is really good at hooking me into stories.

Ginny’s Update

Whatsup! I’m currently in Utah and because Sam is on a plane, I’m the one writing this update! It’s been a good week with 88″ of snow, lots of skiing, and finding out that the local minor league baseball team is the SALT LAKE CITY BEES! The fact I now know this is amazing. Oh and also plenty of reading.

What Ginny Finished Reading:

A Pineapple in a Pine Tree by Eve Pendle: MMMM the drama in this was delightful. Both of the main characters are genuinely likable so it’s easy to spend the entire book rooting for them to go ahead and work through their differences. So yeah, this book was adorable. Goddamit, am I the only one who has been rating the books I’ve read during our weekly wrap-up?

Becoming RGB by Debbie Levy and Whitney Gardner: This graphic novel does a really good job of hitting some of the highlights of RGB’s life. I’ve read a lot about the Supreme Court so a decent amount of the information wasn’t new to me, but this way the information was shared was fantastic. I really want to read this book with a small child (come on Nephew, stop being a baby! (that’s a lie, I love my baby nephew)).

A Woman Of No Importance by Sophie Purnell: There are a lot of books about history where it’s really easy to see the bias of the author, this is one of those but seems more deserving than many books. It’s clear that spy, Virginia Hall, didn’t want accolades even though she clearly deserved some. She was a woman spy sent into some of the most dangerous places in Europe during WWII. It’s pretty badass. Whether or not you agree with the author (and I think it’s pretty clear I do) this is still a really interesting look at how spy networks functioned behind enemy lines.

The Christmas Princess by Patricia McLinn: This was a free book from Amazon and I’ll sum it up with I spent a good portion of the book trying to mentally rewrite large sections to make things make sense. The main characters are a member of the State Department that is protecting a woman that has a passing resemblance to, but ISN’T, the lost princess of a country that blah blah blah diplomacy. Honestly though, my biggest complaint is that looking up tidbits about DC does not equal having any understanding of the distance between the Washington Monument and Arlington Cemetery.

Currently Reading:

Masquerade at Middlecrest Abbey by Abigail Wilson: This is a book that Linz ended up sending to me and is an ARC coming out much later this year. Because of that, I’ll probs write a review. Elizabeth has a child out of wedlock and ends up marrying spy Adrian after he attacks her carriage in a small attempt to salvage her reputation. Then there’s a MURDER. This book is definitely easy to read and even though I had obvious thoughts about who the bad guy was since very early on, still a gripping read.

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski: Surprising no one, I’m a very stressed individual. I think reading a book that focuses not on reducing the amount of things that stress you out, but what your body needs to really let the stress relax could be really helpful. Sidenote, listening to this as an audiobook while stretching has been a surprisingly good choice.

Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart: This is the third book in the series and while I really like it, I’m having a bit of a hard time getting through it. Constance Kopp continues to be really cool and I enjoy reading about the variety of cases, I just find myself continually frustrated by the way women in society were treated. I’m about halfway through so I’m definitely going to finish. Just a little slower going for me than usual.

Until next time, we main forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Ginny, Linz, and Minda

Weekly Wrap-Up: Jan 13-20 Hello All My Buddies! Into the books! Linz's Updates I'm so behind on reading this week it's embarrassing.