#But it was a perfect example on how to write a good fantasy book without creating a whole new world with every detail

[caenith]

T. Kingfisher being so relatable in the author's note to 'Nettle & Bone'.

Pspspsps, read this book. It's amazing!

[amphibious-thing]

Do you have any advice for historical fiction authors who want to try harder to use historical queer language without confusing the average reader? It's something that has been a challenge for me and I've been finding your posts helpful, but I was wondering if you had specific tips on how an author could write better queer histfic for the modern reader.

It can be difficult because it is a balance. You probably don't want to just dump a whole heap of molly slang on your reader all at once. But you also don't want your characters to feel disconnected from the real history of the period.

In regards to molly slang you do have to remember that it was somewhat unique to the subculture. Only people involved in the subculture would be familiar with a lot of the slang. So if you wanted to include a character that uses molly slang you could aways have a character who is not part of the subculture, or new to it, who would serve as and stand in for the audience. This way the explanation of slang words can be weaved into the story in a more organic way.

Of course 18th century queer language is much more than just molly slang. It's good to know what the words mean but also what kind of people would be using them and in what context. For example legal writings will talk about sodomy and sodomites while a casual conversation might be more likely to talk about mollies.

While you don't want to overwhelm the reader you also don't want to underestimate them. If you pepper in historical terminology most readers will be able to pick up on the meaning form context. I think the Montague Sibling series actually does a pretty good job of this and it's a YA historical fantasy adventure novel. If Mackenzi Lee can trust her teenage target demo to pick up what a molly is from context then you can certainly trust an adult audience to.

It's also important to remember that it doesn't have to be perfect. Historical fiction is first and foremost fiction. The most important thing in my opinion is to create the feeling of a full fleshed out world. And for queer historical fiction that should be a world that includes queer people and thus have at least some queer language. You don't have to fill a novel with molly slang to do this, just give a bit here and there where it makes sense in context. The best advice I can give is to do the research and understand the history. If you understand it you will be better equipped to figure out when it makes sense to use historical language and when it makes sense not to. If you understand the rules you will better understand when to break them.

I think this is one of the reasons I like the Montague Sibling series so much. Mackenzi Lee has studied history and while her books are historical fantasy that strong base of historical knowledge really helps bring the world of the books to life. Also I just like that she actually used the word mollies in her YA book!

[Spoilers for the Montague Sibling series ahead]

Though it's not perfectly historically accurate the following scene form The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue feels very grounded in the period. The conversation is between the protagonist Monty and his little sister Felicity. Felicity largely represents the perspective of the popular rhetoric of the day.

"Honestly, Monty, I've never quite understood who's really got a hold on you." "Do you want to know if I'm a bugger?" She winces at the crass word, but then says, "It seems a fair question, considering I've seen your hands all over Richard Peele and Theodosia Fitzroy." "Oh, dear Theodosia, my girl." I collapse backward into the sofa cushions. "I remain inconsolable over losing her." I do not want to talk about this. Especially with my little sister. I came down here for the sole purpose of getting drunk enough to sleep and avoid venturing anywhere near this subject, but Felicity goes on staring at me like she's waiting for an answer. I take an uncivilized swipe at my mouth with my sleeve, which would have earned me a cuff from Father had we been at home. "Why does it matter who I run around with?" "Well, one is illegal. And a sin. And the other is also a sin, if you aren't married to her." "Are you going to give me the fornication without the intention of procreation is of the devil and a crime lecture? I believe could recite it from memory by now." "Monty—" "Perhaps I am trying to procreate with all these lads and I'm just very misinformed about the whole process. If only Eton hadn't thrown me out." "You're avoiding the question." "What was the question?" "Are you—" "Oh yes, am I a sodomite. Well, I've been with lads, so ... yes." She purses her lips, and I wish I hadn't been so forthright. "If you'd stop, Father might not be so rough on you, you know." "Oh my, thank you for that earth-shattering wisdom. Can't believe I didn't think of that myself." "I'm simply suggesting—" "Don't bother." "—he might ease up." "Well, I haven't much choice." "Really?" She crosses her arms. "You haven't a choice in who you bed?" "No, I mean I haven't much choice in who it is I want to bed." "Of course you do. Sodomy's a vice—same as drinking or gambling." "Not really. I mean, yes, I enjoy it. And I have certainly abstained form abstinence. But I'm also rather attracted to all the men I kiss. And the ladies as well." She laughs, like I've made a joke. I don't. "Sodomy has nothing to do with attraction. It's an act. A sin." "Not for me." "But humans are made to be attracted to the opposite sex. Not the same one. That's now nature operates." "Does that make me unnatural?" When she doesn't reply, I say, "Have you ever fancied anyone?" "No. But I believe I understand the basic principles of it." "I don't think you really can until it's happened to you."

The conversation then goes into Monty feelings for Percy which leads to this exchange:

"What are your expectations, exactly? If Percy did feel the same way about you, what would happen? You can't be together. Not like that—you could be killed for it if you were found out. They've been sentencing mollies by the score since the Clap Raid." "Doesn't matter, does it? Percy's good and natural and probably only fancies women and I am ... not."

While its perhaps a bit of an exaggeration to say that they've "been sentencing mollies by the score since the Clap Raid". It works the word mollies, a word most readers probably aren't familiar with, into the story in such a way that the context makes the meaning pretty clear. While Clap Raid might go over some readers heads they will still get the gist of the meaning behind the conversation and perhaps even inspired some readers to look it up and learn some real history.

This scene also takes advantage of words a modern reader would know like sin, vice and natural. They're talking about queerness in a more-or-less historically accurate way without using too many unfamiliar terms.

The Gentleman's Guide to Getting Lucy then gives us this fantastic scene that uses an 18th century euphemism:

He licks his lips, then nods. I reach for the buttons on his trousers, but he cries, "Wait! And I freeze, panicked I've done something else to muck this up, but then he says, "Just ... slowly, yes? Maybe not ... a full game of backgammon just yet." And then every inch of him goes red. "Percy Newton." I sit up over top of him and cross my arms. When he looks back at me with his eyes wide and innocent, I parrot, "A full game of backgammon? What erotic leaflet did you pick up that filthy vocabulary from?" "None!" he protests, but his mouth twitches. "Some." "Some?" Impossibly, he goes redder. "Some erotic leaflets." "May I have their titles? For purely academic purposes, I assure you."

Again the context allows for the readers to gather what is being talked about even if they've never heard the euphemism before.

And in The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy they even go to a molly house!

It is our only topic of conversation as the three of us walk to the pub in Shadwell called the Minced Nancy, which from the name alone brands itself a place where mollies like my brother and his beau can be together openly.

Tho I have to point out that while minced is 18th century language the earliest use of Nancy in this sense isn't until the 19th century.

[oatmealmika]

attack on titan characters and random jobs (modern au) part 2

part 1 part 3

Erwin Smith :

• a military commander, but he doesn’t trust the government at all.

• i know how low hanging this fruit is, but it’s for a good reason!!

• when he’s at his family reunions, he’d be persuading people into joining the military.

• “listen, suzie, are you sure? why not give the military a chance? we allow you to sleep in until 6am!”

• his father was a military man, wanting to uncover the mysteries of the world. unfortunately, he died when on the battlefield. erwin joined the military later on to discover what his father never could.

• people feared him at first, but eventually they really lightened up to him and respect him greatly.

• one of the soldiers has a tiktok account and they post erwin and other soldiers doing weird things throughout the day.

• he watches all the shows/movies that his comrades recommend him!!

Hange Zoë :

• zookeeper or scientist. hell, why not both?!

• hange will talk to the lions like they’re their pets.

• “oh, albert, who’s a good boy? you are! yeah, you are!” “hange, you’re getting to close!!”

• moblit is tired of babysitting hange

• sings the animals songs from the 50s and does so in an accent, i just don’t know what accent it is, though. i don’t think it’d be an existing accent, just something hange made up!

• runs harmless experiments on the animals and is very dedicated.

• invites their friends to the zoo and introduces all of the animals to them.

• absolutely has named one of the animals after levi

• on the topic of levi-

• levi acts like he wasn’t listening to whatever hange was saying when they introduced him to the animals, but he actually was and he memorized all of the animals’ names <3

Levi Ackerman :

• i know he is a writer, also working as a janitor part time.

• he would write something like science fiction, mystery, or fantasy fiction. maybe even a mix of it all!!

• is known in the book community as the author that makes fans cry. he’s even cried while writing his books!

• idk why, but this ‘red swan’ cover gives off levi’s books vibe!

• his humor in his books don’t really land with others, but when hange read his books, they laughed so hard at the jokes.

• very sweet with fans, actually. unless if they take photos of him without his permission, he will turn the other way or stick his head into a book.

• at his janitor job, a student read his books and they eventually became friends. that student is armin :)

• he has a really hard time finding the right words to convey the emotions in his books, but he is determined to find a way to make it easier!!

• inspired characters off of hange and erwin! when they confronted him about it, he was like, “it’s a coincidence, asswipe”.

• has a tumblr he’s barely active on, but he does reblog fanart and the occasional rant.

• spends hours trying to find the perfect name for a character.

Moblit Berner :

• a zookeeper, standing beside hange.

• makes sure they don’t get their head bit off by a lion.

• probably also makes balloon animals for kids (and hange) and he is actually amazing at it!!

• for example :

• ^ hange’s usual order for a balloon animal

• once, hange’s glasses were off and they didn’t know. they saw one of moblit’s balloon animals and they ran experiments on them. they thought it was so groundbreaking about how their insides were only air. levi broke the news to them-

• if there is a tour bus at the zoo or something, hange would be the one usually talking. moblit would be making short remarks and be the “comedic, tired babysitter™️“.

Onyankopon :

• favorite season 4 aot character check <3

• he would travel the world with his closest friends!

• but he would also be an airplane pilot

• or he would be “that guy” who would have an uncanny amount of jobs. like, he has enough money to pay for what he needs and such, but it seems like he just gets jobs for fun?? like larry from the amazing world of gumball (that was the first thing that came to mind)

• he says he is a pilot, though

• once, he showed up in a new blockbuster movie that hange went to the theaters to watch

• often gets recognized by people in public for a job he didn’t even remember he did

• “oh yes, um… i was a voice actor, yes, yes”

• he was in some of the most popular movies of the year, but he will forget about that in a week.

• good thing it doesn’t go to his head, though. he will stay humble.

Yelena :

• something sneaky, like a spy

• a little too good at her job

• like, she’s secretive about everything. even stuff she really doesn’t need to be sneaky about.

• whenever she needs something like a disguise, she’ll go to onyankopon for it (because he also specializes in costume making).

• if you’re into pieck x yelena, here’s something : pieck (even tho i don’t think she’d have this job, too) and yelena, enemies, got teamed up together for a mission. your basic enemies to lovers trope.

• i don’t know much about spy work, if it isn’t obvious :’)

a/n : thanks for reading this, these take a while. i will most likely be making a part 3 to this, containing the warriors (pieck, porco, colt, zeke, maybe i am missing somebody).

anyways, byeee :)

[destinyc1020]

i swear some ppl have a pre-existing bias when it comes to cgi, lmao. that scene in nwh looked good and you also have to compare the material here. the things that spider-man is able to do is honestly something that (despite tom's background in stunts) no person can physically do! so of course they have to use cgi. and so much of it really looks great and just fits the genre and type of film that it is. like sorry but i don't know why people are expecting these actors or stunt people to move like spider-man does, it's just not possible and to create a movement like that purely organically, so yes cgi is absolutely necessary. i of course am always down for a spidey movie with less cgi, but that would mean less swinging, less action so that would be more suited for a character study - which i think tom has said he'd love to do too in nwh interviews! also anons are comparing a fictional desert alien planet in a remote area (or a fictional city in batmans case) to the very real and very busy setting of nyc! like can yall not see why practical sets work for some but not for all?

also, i gotta say the nwh fight scenes were honestly incredible. i think that scene with peter and the goblin in the apartment is really a top tier comic book film fight. the combo of tom and willem doing the actual stunts plus the vfx work turned out perfect. watching the bts i am always amazed by the stunt crew on the spidey films, they really are among the best of the best in the business

I agreed with most of your points here Anon, except for a few.

I don't think the Anon/some fans are complaining about the usage of CGI in general for Spider-man... Like I mentioned in my own response yesterday, Marvel wouldn't be able to showcase half of the fantasy worlds and outer space regions like they do in their films if they didn't use CGI. And like you said, the Spider-man films NEED CGI because he's doing stuff that most humans cannot do lol. 😅

With that said, I think Anon was just expressing frustration with the OVER-use of CGI in films today.

I keep bringing this up, but if you go back and watch "Batman: The Dark Knight", for example, you will notice a stark contrast. I think one of the reasons why that movie was so GREAT (aside from the great acting, the awesome writing, and the overall directing of the film) is that it was shot with barely any CGI, so it actually felt like a situation that could occur in REAL life.

Gotham is a fake city, and Batman scales walls also, but the CGI is so much LESS than what we see in most Marvel films.

Christopher Nolan even swears that he did NOT use any CGI in Oppenheimer in order to depict the explosions, and I think that was a deliberate choice.

This just goes to show that some films CAN be made without so much CGI.

Granted, it does make things much easier when you use CGI.... but there's a sense of realism at times when you don't use too much of it.

With that said.....

also, i gotta say the nwh fight scenes were honestly incredible. i think that scene with peter and the goblin in the apartment is really a top tier comic book film fight. the combo of tom and willem doing the actual stunts plus the vfx work turned out perfect. watching the bts i am always amazed by the stunt crew on the spidey films, they really are among the best of the best in the business

I totally agree!! 😃 The Spidey/Goblin fight in NWH was honestly amazing! 👏🏾 I felt every punch! It seems, the fights btwn Spidey and The Green Goblin are always the most raw, vicious, and intense! 😬

I recall the fight btwn Spiderman and the Green Goblin being particularly intense in the original Spiderman franchise as well lol. 🙈

So yea, don't get me wrong, I'm def not against CGI at all! Sometimes, you actually NEED it for many scenes, and it's used in TONS of films (even in areas/scenes that you don't pick up on), but I can see how having too much of it can get a bit old or even annoying.

NWH deserves some grace though, coz we were in a pandemic, and even the original locations for filming for the film went from multiple locations to just ONE: Atlanta. 👀

MANY films had to just film in one location during those covid years due to health and traveling concerns for the cast, crew, etc.

One thing I'd love to see (that I usually saw in Tobey's Franchise) is the heart of New York City and the PEOPLE in it in the film. To me, that really helps to set the tone and setting for the film.

For some reason, with Tom's Spiderman, they seem to have made the City take a back seat. 🥴

Maybe they will always film mostly in Atlanta. 🤷🏾‍♀️ But I do miss seeing the actual CITY of New York (and not just CGI or sets) in the Spiderman films. 😔

[dank-meme-legend]

It has been six months since my book One Day At a Time was released to the world; half a year!

I don’t know how many people on here have read it, but it has been a story that I am still insanely proud of. I hope whoever has read it and supported it has enjoyed it. All of the support has meant the world to me. (Thank you @turniptitaness for reading the little one-shots that I send you and for being so supportive of my little story kiddos :D)

So, for this anniversary/milestone of sorts, I'm having my asks open for anyone who has any questions in regards to it, the inspiration behind certain elements, unanswered questions, or anything of that nature. You, of course, do not have to send asks if you do not want to! I'm just happy to celebrate this mark in the story's history. <3

To start off with answering things… here are some fun facts! (Contains spoilers for chapter forty-five and onward)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-This story is the second story I’ve ever successfully written. The first was a story called Where They Go, which I turn people away from because the improvement in quality and character writing between it and ODAAT is insane

-Every story I’ve written follows a similar theme and similar structure: a WLW friends to lovers story with some element of parental issues from one side (I have a niche and I’m running with it, I guess!)

-There are two other stories that have never (and will never) see the light of day, one being a fantasy story and another very heavily following the “sun and moon” duo trope

-The first story’s fantasy theme was the inspiration for Ava’s special interest in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a fantasy video game. I was able to implement imagination and fantasy without having to write fantasy, which I was quite happy about

-The first successfully written story, Where They Go, was co-written by my younger sister. She helped me with so many elements, because I did not understand how to write good characters and interactions. With ODAAT, I made it a goal to write it all on my own and it turned out great with an entire year of writing improvement between the two stories being released (My sister did create the original character designs for ODAAT, as well as suggested a few small plot ideas, which I did use and also modify. Overall, this story was more mine than the last one)

-With every other story I’ve written (WTG and the never-seeing-the-light-of-day stories) one out of the two main girls were always autistic-coded. I’ve always wanted to write autistic characters and with Ava, I finally allowed myself to say that she’s autistic, full-stop. I was previously scared of criticism or backlash, but I learned to say, “It’s my characters, I’m allowed to say who and what they are”

-Ava is autistic and there is no trauma about it. She is not treated differently by her friends and family and she is never “asked” or pushed to change who she is. She is seen as desirable by Lilly, not in a pitying way, but out of genuine love. I, as an autistic and queer author, do not stand for all autistic people, nor queer people, or autistic queer people, but it is a niche in writing that I think should be used more (or not, maybe it’ll just be my thing /j)

-Specifically on the Wattpad platform, the writing of parents is either nonexistent or of two extremes: neglectful and abusive, or permissive and non-caring in a different way. ODAAT follows two examples of parents, two examples of mothers. Ava’s mother is a single mother with two other children. She’s kind and the “cool mom” but she has standards and seeks first to understand when any of her kids do something bad or irresponsible. That’s one example; she is not a perfect mom, but she damn-well tries her best. The other example is Lilly’s mother, who’s openly judgmental of “different” people (autistic, neurodivergent, LGBTQ+, or otherwise). She is not accepting of her daughter being a lesbian and that is her biggest problem; she views it as a phase and hopes and prays that it’ll “be over soon.” She is incredibly ignorant but she isn’t stupid. She knows that Lilly has been teased and that her life won’t be “traditionally” easy because of her queerness. She is not the villain of this story, there is no villain. She is an antagonist but in a small way; an uneducated person who’s trying to help her child in an inadvertent way, a way that she learns does not work

⚠️ THIS NEXT FACT MENTIONS SUICIDE AND DARK THEMES! SCROLL TO THE NEXT FACT IF YOU WISH TO! ⚠️

-For a split-second (a couple days) I considered making the ending of ODAAT to be incredibly sad. For that split-second, I was gonna rip away the sense of hope and optimism that comes after things go to shit in chapter forty-five, “Downpour”. I was going to make it that Lilly still gets the chance to get away from her mother and find hope in Ava and Ava’s mother, but as a result of momentarily running away, stuff get worse; Lilly was going to be cut off from her entire friend group and be barreled into a lonesome depression that would end in her… passing away by her own hands. I was going to make her mother irredeemable, a villian in her entirety. (I’ve thought about writing a one-shot for that, though the sadness might be too much, even for my standards). I changed that ending, because 1) there was so much build-up to Ava and Lilly getting together that ripping it all away would (to me) feel like a waste and would feel painful to put the reader through, 2) I wanted to show that ignorant people can be educated/redeemed (even though it’s hard to get through to them), and 3) a happy ending was needed, we don’t need another tragic death of an LGBTQ+ character

-There is no villain and there isn’t necessarily a hero, either. I wanted to show a gray-area of how people are. The phrase, “It explains it, but it does not excuse it” is used to explain that gray-area in terms of conflict and mistreatment

-All four of the main kiddos in the story serve a “traditional” story purpose but done in their own ways. Ava is the protagonist, but so is Lilly. Their stories are separate, but they are closely knit. They are each other’s love interests, not solely Ava or Lilly’s (one or the other). Lucas is the voice of the reader, who sees Ava and Lilly’s chemistry and wants to push them together as much as he can because he (and in turn, the reader) know that they go together like peas in a pod. Rose is logical, the voice of reason to Lucas’ abrupt and sometimes pushy, “Come on, just kiss already!” way of addressing things. They, like Lucas, can see the chemistry but they want it to happen naturally, to progress in a proper and healthy way.

-The four main kids are parallels of each other (which is why they bounce off each other well as a whole friend-group-unit). Ava and Lucas are both imaginative, excitable, and theatrical in their own ways, while Lilly and Rose are both calm and observant.

Those are the fun facts, which might’ve answered every question that a person could put in my ask box. Whoops 🤣😂

-Bonus sorta fun fact not really

I constantly imagine the story as if it were a movie with elaborate and really well done edits to the songs in my story’s playlist, but then I always get sad that those edits do not exist

[sir-klauz]

Sorry but being so adamant that nobody can every write about anything ever in their books that isn’t basically PG or 100% purely nothing included that’s a difficult topic is terribly boring, terribly so far flung from reality, and if you do want fiction, then removing fantasy that might include difficult topics pretty much also participates in pretending it doesn’t exist and it shouldn’t be a problem to write about.

Sure, add trigger warnings and avoid things that negatively affect you and hurt you to read, but saying the writer is evil for including them or is problematic unless they themselves are expressing actually being their character they’re writing about and being a bigot, someone like JK Rowling for an easy example presenting as a bigot and writing alongside as one within her material.

It’s a bit much to put someone who’s say, writing about perhaps a homophobic crime occurring to a character/being bullied and then coining them as problematic themselves for even writing about that and “probably a homophobe themselves” and reducing writers not at all like that to this when it’s not even true.

These things, bad things, villains, and more, as bad as they are, need to be written about sometimes because often characters are Based On Real People, or have elements or depictions of real experiences, and stories need a variety of people because you won’t find many books without a selection of good and bad characters, even in fluffy kids books.

Now, how it’s written, how a realistic negative event is written, if it’s informed or written insensitivity or perhaps a warning and things alike, criticise that instead.

But to suddenly cancel a writer and complain about them and reducing their entire capacity as a writer all for their characters having difficult experiences in a book, or evil characters being present… I mean come on, do you really expect they entirety of literature now needs to only have Heroes. How bland.

And I’m not saying books like that aren’t bad, I love a good warm and lovely book, but I mean if that’s the only genre and writing style there ever was whilst trying to reach this false idea of perfection or purity as a writer apparently needs to be producing or god forbid?

Gimme a breakkk, I know you read several Steven King novels in your teens. Wouldn’t call that slasher movie non-problematic either but you still go watch them on horror night and don’t criticise the creator as “evidently politically siding with Jason Voorhees”, because it’s a fookin horror movie innit.

Don’t consume genres you don’t like that have clear warnings with material in it that you don’t enjoy. It doesn’t make a writer evil for writing about not so fluffy things, what’s important is how it’s done, that it’s not for an undertone of the writers true beliefs, and that they’re been careful to write it well. Be critical, call out discriminatory writing that is coming from the writer, call out if the writing is making minorities suffer from its production, but keep in mind a writer isn’t also a bigot because there’s characters within their work that are. Just like they’re probably also not the banking entrepreneur that swipes a random fashion column writer off their feet on a summers day in New York in their second book.

I mean maybe they are and I guess kudos for having that much time on their hands to be a banker, successful writer and hamming it with a great romantic life as well whilst catching a day with nice weather.

[rachelbethhines]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I adore your salt marathons! It's such a shame to me that the show could have been improved so much if they didn't create convoluted ways to have Rapunzel inserted into storylines that she didn't really fit into, or solving problems that she wouldn't really know how to deal with (even in the book as you recently mentioned where she was somehow teaching Cassandra to swim??) Unfortunately, I think this sort of 'main character must be perfect and able to solve everything/be a part of every situation' ideology is becoming a lot more common in modern cartoons (Ultimate Spiderman, Miraculous Ladybug etc). I was just wondering if you had anymore ideas besides what you have mentioned already in the salt marathons about how they could have balanced characters better, or even wny this sort of thing seems to be beckming more common? (Sorry for the long ask, and thank you for providing fair critiques of the show 😅)

Thank you.

I don't know about becoming more common as this is a problem that you can see spring from way, way back in folk lore like the American tall tales... Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and the like. Which bled into American comic books, ect.

You can even see the problem arise in certain anime, were the favored protagonist overshadows everyone else.

People see heroes as a power fantasy. So the hero can't have flaws or do anything wrong.

Now in a short subject, like the Superman shorts from the 1940s, or a medium where there are few characters, like Bugs Bunny's solo cartoons. Having the protagonist always win and take center stage isn't a huge problem.

But when you get into longer story arcs, with more subplots, and large ensemble casts, you can't make the lead 'perfect' and always right, without risking thier relatability or derailing your story.

Wonder Over Yonder pulls it off, but only because it allows the characters to get annoyed by the main protagonist and even he isn't always right all the time and can make mistakes, even if it's rare.

It takes a lot of self awareness to pull off that type of story.

Now good ways to balance characters and story is to ask yourself, 'who needs what?'

What does Rapunzel need? She needs to grow up. She can't do that if she's not allowed to learn. She can't admit she screwed up if the people that she wrong can't call her out for it.

Rapunzel isn't just hogging the limelight here, she's failing to serve her role in the narrative. That's why she feels superfluous in her own damn show.

So story wise, the audience needed to see consequences for Rapunzel's actions and have the character acknowledge why those consequences are happening, and then alter their behavior as need be.

And while Rapunzel suffers the most from not getting what she needs out the narrative, the writers underserved all of the characters in similar ways.

Rather than asking what the character needs/wants they forced the characters to do stupid shit for the sake of plot and everything just falls apart.

Cassandra did not need to steal the moonstone. There was no reason for it, the writers never provided one, so her arc flies off the rails.

Varian needed justice and a reason to trust people again. He never gets that closure so his presence in season three feels unsatisfying.

Eugene needs to become comfortable with who he is. But is never allowed the agency to do so, so his identity crisis is left unresolved.

I'm sure there's more examples here, but you get the idea.

So when writing, ask yourself, what does the character need? What do they want? Why can't they get either? What's the conflict? How do you resolve the conflict in order to provide what they need, which may or may not be what they wanted?

You answer those questions first and you then have your story. Plot always follows character. It stems from characters making choices. Characters need reasons to make the choices that they do.

If you try to work backwards and have the characters just do things for the sake of the plot and you'll wind up with the mess that is Tangled the Series.

[evanbassmensclinic]

Evan Bass Men's Clinic on Embracing Reading as Your Ultimate Stress Relief Strategy

Unlocking the Power of Reading for Self-Care and Stress Relief with Evan Bass Men's Clinic

Reading is not just about acquiring knowledge or entertainment; it's also a valuable form of self-care. With the fast pace of modern life, finding ways to relax and de-stress is more important than ever. Evan Bass Men's Clinic notes that reading offers a unique form of escape and relaxation, acting as a balm for the mind and soul.

Here, we delve into how reading can serve as an effective stress-relief activity and offer some book recommendations that are perfect for unwinding.

Stress Relief and Benefits of Reading When someone reads, they engage in an activity that can significantly reduce their stress levels. This happens through several mechanisms: Mindfulness - Reading encourages a person to focus on the present moment. As they dive into the world of a book, their minds release their grip on everyday stressors, allowing them to relax. Lowered Heart Rate - Engaging with a book can actually lower one's heart rate and ease the tension in one's muscles, promoting a state of physical relaxation. Escape - Books have the power to transport readers to different worlds and times, offering a break from their daily routines and worries. Emotional Relief - Identifying a character's emotions and journey can help readers process their own emotions, leading to a sense of emotional release.

Best Types of Books for Relaxation Evan Bass Men's Clinic says not all books have the same relaxing effect. Some genres are particularly suited for those looking to unwind: Cozy Mysteries These books blend mystery with a comforting setting, making them perfect for light reading. "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith is a popular choice. Feel-Good Fiction Stories that warm the heart and leave readers feeling uplifted, such as "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman, are great for relaxation. Nature Writing Books that celebrate the beauty of the natural world can be incredibly soothing. "The Book of Ebenezer Le Page" by G. B. Edwards is an excellent example. Short Novels For those who are short on time, concise books like "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway can be impactful and relaxing. Philosophical Fiction Books that provoke thought without causing stress, such as "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, offer a calm yet engaging reading experience. Classic Literature Timeless works like Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice can transport readers to another era and provide a delightful escape. Humorous Novels Laughter has a therapeutic effect, and books like "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome can lighten the mood. Magical Realism For those who enjoy a blend of reality and fantasy, "Invisible Cities" by Italo Calino offers a mesmerizing reading experience.

Choosing the Right Book The key to using reading as a form of relaxation is to select a book that resonates personally. Whether it's a genre not mentioned here or one of the recommended types, the best book for relaxation is subjective. It's about what captivates the individual reader, allowing them to forget their worries and immerse themselves in a story. Evan Bass Men's Clinic emphasizes that making time to read can be a simple yet effective way to reduce stress and find a moment of peace in a busy world. Whether it's for a few minutes each day or longer sessions during the weekend, reading can be a powerful tool for relaxation and self-care. So, find a comfortable spot, perhaps brew a cup of tea, and let the pages of a good book whisk you away. Evan Bass Men's Clinic shares important information on men's health and fitness, fatherhood, and more. Visit this page to read more articles.

[hullabalulu]

Did I Grow Up In A Cult?

While writing what may or not become a book, I began researching narcissism again. I believe my grandmother, whom I lived with for 18 years, is a narcissist, as well as possibly my mother. I’m not a psychologist or expert, but in trying to understand my childhood, the things I have read about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) have really clicked for me.

The traits of NPD, as defined by the National Institute of Health:

Per the DSM, NPD includes:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and with lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood, as indicated by at least five of the following:

Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements, expects to be recognized as superior without actually completing the achievements)

Is preoccupied with fantasies of success, power, brilliance, beauty, or perfect love.

Believes that they are “special” and can only be understood by or should only associate with other special people (or institutions).

Requires excessive admiration.

Has a sense of entitlement, such as an unreasonable expectation of favorable treatment or compliance with his or her expectations).

Is exploitative and takes advantage of others to achieve their own ends.

Lacks empathy and is unwilling to identify with the needs of others.

Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of them.

Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors and attitudes

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556001/

I wasn’t able to see it until I was an adult, but I’m pretty sure my grandmother, and possibly my mother, are narcissists because they have many of the traits listed above. I have listed just a few examples of how they might meet the qualifications of NPD.

My grandmother didn’t help me with my schoolwork but when I was getting good grades, she used it as “bragging rights” to show how well she was doing in raising me, especially when she thought I was going to get a doctorate degree. If I did well, it was because of her. When I struggled, it was because I was lazy.

She also needs constant admiration and attention. Even just going out in public, like to a store or restaurant, if employees didn’t give her their full attention, she would become resentful. If you’ve worked in any customer service job, you know you can’t spend a full hour just with one customer because they feel entitled to your undivided attention.

Her fantasy was being admired for being a living saint. She took in stray dogs, she fed birds, she fed stray cats every day, and she took in the child that no one wanted. Everyone she came in contact with heard about some or all of these.

My grandmother lacks remorse and empathy. Not once did she ever apologize for anything she did, including her lies and abuse. The closest I ever got were “I did the best I could” and something like “I’m sorry you feel that way”. Those are not the words of someone taking accountability for their actions. She is envious, especially of people who have material possessions, while simultaneously believing that if you have any wealth, you are going to hell. She was envious of a coworker’s Jaguar. She was jealous that the neighbor’s daughter visited the hair salon often. When we bought a house, even though it wasn’t new or fancy, she refused to see it. When I told her of our planned pregnancy, her response was “oh no!” and the final discard began. I really think she knew she would be on the losing end if my attention was spread between her and my child.

I didn’t live with my mother so I don’t know her as well as I do my grandmother. My mother had fantasies that she was the best, smartest, most hard-working person at her job. She also exploited people, seesawing between me and husbands or boyfriends for “supply”. She also needed constant attention and admiration. I didn’t see it until the end, but her sense of entitlement about what she deserved, as she put it, shows that when she didn’t get her way, she had a cruel side to her personality. She never apologized, only saying in an email that she was “sorry that things bothered me”. My mother had no empathy for how she treated me as a child, how her mother treated me, or what I was experiencing as a new mother. Instead, her emailed demands added to my stress levels. While I was pregnant, she baited me, knowing I had wanted a relationship with her for 26 years and that I wanted my child to have a relationship with their grandmother. But she didn’t want the work of being involved, refusing to visit us even once. She wanted cute pictures to show her friends at work and to post on her facebook.

My mother (and father) abandoned me when I was 3 months old, or so my family told me. They all told so many lies that I don’t know what to believe. My mother was anti-abortion, but had at least two abortions that I knew about. I believe when she became pregnant with me, she was future-faking, thinking after her divorce from her first husband, she could start a picture-perfect family with this older man. They moved into a rental house, getting distance from her parents, and with this baby she was going to “fix” her broken self. This baby, me, was going to provide her with admiration and was going to need her. She was going to be the perfect parent.

I don’t know what she was like when she was pregnant, but I’m sure she enjoyed the attention. She may have used her pregnancy to hoover my grandparents into her life after the mess she made of dropping out of high school and ruining her first marriage. She may have also used pregnancy to lure the father into marrying her.

When she became a mother, it was never about me. She grew tired of motherhood in a matter of a couple of months. Family and friends often shower new mothers and babies with attention those first few weeks, but quickly the attention fades away. I cried a lot and my mother grew bored and resentful of my impact on her life.

My mother said she would come back for me when she got her life straightened out and continued future-faking. When I was a child and she remarried, at her new house she asked me to choose a paint color for my room. I was thrilled, thinking I was going to get to spend more time with her. After her divorce, when I was 12, she bought a house in our neighborhood and again, told me of her plans for my room.

Once both parents abandoned me and I lived with my grandmother, my mother and grandmother both used me as a pawn. My grandmother used me to guilt-trip my mother about not having a relationship with me. Later on, as an adult, my grandmother used me as a go-between to my mother and my mother used me to communicate with my grandmother. Each was using guilt to manipulate how I felt about the other.

I was “supply” for both of them. For my mother, it was in between boyfriends and husbands. With my grandmother, it was when I was doing anything that she could brag to her friends about. I never understood how my mother’s boyfriends never saw my absence as a red flag. There were a few that I met, early on in the relationship, so it’s possible they didn’t know she was capable of abandoning a baby.

With my grandmother especially, when I was fitting her needs, I was a golden child to her. When I wasn’t doing well in school or giving her something to use to brag to her friends, I became the “lost child” that she didn’t even care to see. As I got older and began questioning the inconsistencies in their stories, I became the scapegoat. They wanted to show the world how perfect and happy our family was, and when I ruined the fantasy, I was punished. For example, in high school I was referred to the guidance counselor for suicidal thoughts. Rather than concern, my grandmother was embarrassed and ashamed that my school called her at work.

When I had my baby, my mother wanted to be involved without any of the effort. She would email to ask for photos to share, but made excuses why she couldn’t visit during those early weeks. I had forgotten until I looked at my emails from that time where my mother and grandmother were going to visit the new baby and then backed out. When I took my baby to visit them, my grandmother told me my mother was sleeping and not to disturb her. At the time my mother questioned why I didn’t come to her house, but said she understood. Then, years later, she expressed anger, complaining that I didn’t visit her while I was in the neighborhood. Even when I explained this again, and told her why I felt the way I did, I was met with hurtful, angry emails from my mother who felt she was entitled and deserved a relationship with us. For years, she sent emails, facebook requests, voicemails and cards on my birthday.

After years of reflection, going no-contact with my mother and grandmother felt like how I imagine it must be to leave a cult or an insular religious group. I never compared my family to cults until I was listening to the “Was I in a Cult” podcast episode “Atypicult: Mental Parental”. I had a bit of a “holy shit!” moment wondering if I might have grown up in a cult-like environment. I probably wouldn’t have cut contact if not for feeling like I needed to protect my children. I would probably still be trying to do everything “right” enough for my grandmother, overextending myself between my children and my mother and grandmother, killing myself in a futile effort to prove that I am worthy. Because I left, I feel like I can finally examine my upbringing.

In both cults and in a family with a narcissist, there is a charismatic and charming leader and everything seems “perfect” from the outside. Most of us have heard of Jim Jones and the “People’s Temple”, which later infamously became known as Jonestown. The People’s Temple attracted members with ideals of racial equality and caring for those in need. A narcissistic family often looks perfect and happy to outsiders while abuse is kept secret. In both the cult and the narc family, there is a veneer of happiness and normalcy where the leaders make sure outsiders believe their version of reality.

With cults and in families with a narcissist, members experience “lovebombing”. When a person first encounters a cult, members are showered with what feels like love, attention, and affection. In narcissistic families, there is a cycle of abuse. In the first stage, there is idealization or lovebombing where a person may receive gifts, attention, or compliments. During lovebombing, these are the “good times” and either they want something or they know there’s an audience. Over time, there will be an “incident” — perhaps you set a boundary, or question the narcissist/leader, or the narc finds new “supply”. The next stage in the cycle is devaluation — insults, rage, silent treatment, or punishment. The final stage is discard or hoover — the leader/narcissist either kicks you out of the group or creates the circumstances to suck you back in, beginning again with lovebombing. You may believe that the person has changed, but most often, it’s beginning the cycle of abuse all over again. Abusers will remind you of these “good times” to hoover you back into the relationship.

In both cults and with a narcissistic family there is breadcrumbing and gaslighting. Gaslighting causes a person to question their judgment and perception of reality. Both a cult leader and narcissist try to make you believe that your thoughts are wrong and therefore you can’t make good judgments or decisions. My interactions with my family often made me question “did that really happen?” For years they told me my mother was pregnant with me when she was 16, but when I did the math I knew she didn’t have me until she was 19. Since I didn’t know at the time what year she was born, I re-did my calculations and figured she must have been born in a different year. When I found a baby book for a baby born two years before I was, my grandmother explained it away saying my mother was on painkillers and that’s why it was filled out incorrectly.

Later on, as an adult, my mother would breadcrumb me with what felt like mini-hoovers. A chain email here, a facebook friend request there. Just small “pay attention to me” interactions online. My mother also had trouble committing to plans, which according to VeryWell, also is a sign of breadcrumbing. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-breadcrumbing-5220677 She wanted to meet me for lunch when I was around five months pregnant, but it took me weeks to set that up. Despite her claims of wanting to be an involved grandmother, she had multiple excuses as to why she couldn’t visit me or I couldn’t visit her in those early weeks and months. Breadcrumbing is leading someone on, making them question whether they care about you.

In both a cult and within narcissistic families, there is usually one person running the show, often an authority figure that is not to be questioned. They consider themselves to be like gods who can do no wrong and anyone who disobeys will be punished. If either a cult or family member speaks out, they are often shunned or met with projection. Projection is like a “no, you!” defense where if you accuse them of a wrongdoing, the narcissist turns it back around and blames you for their failures and shortcomings. If a narcissist or cult leader feels the least bit rejected, they often respond with narcissistic rage. This may result in shouting, screaming or ridiculous accusations and projection against you. If you leave the family or cult remaining members will talk about you and side with the abuser to stay in good graces with the group.For those still part of the group, this serves as a warning to others for how they will be punished should they step out of line.

There is control, domination, and indoctrination, even within a family. It’s not a requirement, but both cults and narcissistic families can have religious components. In my family, my grandmother had a Bible verse to back up her opinions. When I lived with her, I had to believe as she believed or she would lecture me on how I was going to hell. Even when I moved out, if I expressed anything other than enthusiastic agreement, I was risking a lecture over the phone about all the ways in which I was a horrible person and a disappointment to her. I knew not to question the things my grandmother did, but sometimes I couldn’t help myself. We were talking on the phone after her birthday when I was 23 or so, she told me the whole family had gotten together to celebrate. Curious, I asked why I hadn’t known about this and wasn’t invited. Her response, I now know, was narcissistic rage. She blew up, yelling and screaming at me about everything she could think of to hurt me at the time, even berating me for going to church with my mother-in-law. Step out of line and you’ll pay the price through criticism and humiliation, sometimes even in public.

Cults and families with a narcissist are secretive and members rarely discuss what goes on behind closed doors. Outside of the family or cult, members are expected to keep up the appearance of normalcy and perfection. Both narcissists and cult leaders often befriend people in power. In the worst cases, abuse is hidden or members are kept isolated from outside influences that might cause them to question the family or cult dynamic. As a child, I went to school but wasn’t allowed to go over to friends’ houses or have them over to our house. Narcissists have “flying monkeys” that report back to the leader and they may even be abusive themselves. Abuse can be physical, emotional, or psychological in nature. Often there is no privacy and interactions with others are monitored. They may even go through your belongings or use blackmail to keep you under their control.

In cults and narcissistic families, children don’t develop boundaries because they grew up trying to meet the leader’s needs. Children have no sense of self or individuality due to enmeshment with their abuser. The message they receive from the leader is “if I’m okay, you’re okay” and “if I’m not happy, you need to find a way to make me happy”. Children and even adult members are taught to ignore their needs and feelings in order not to upset the leader or narcissistic family member. Respect is defined as nothing less than total obedience. Love and acceptance is conditional if you follow their rules and meet their needs and members are always on “high alert”, walking on eggshells trying not to upset the leader. Both a narcissist and cult leader see relationships as a one way street. They demand respect but don’t respect others as individuals. Instead, they use guilt and manipulation, saying “after everything I’ve done for you!” if you step out of line in the least.

Both narcissistic families and cults have “in” and “out” groups to show expectations for behavior. Within a narcissist family, there are three categories that children often fall into, or a single child can cycle through all three. There’s the “golden” child, the scapegoat or “black sheep” and the “lost” or ignored child. The golden child is held up as the standard of perfection and receives the most adoration within a family. In a cult, there are members that are part of the inner circle or are held as examples of good behavior and are rewarded with praise. This dynamic pits people against one another through triangulation, playing people off one another. The scapegoat or those members not in favor will work even harder to earn the love and validation they crave. In my family, my cousin was usually the golden child and I was the scapegoat. I always heard about how great my cousin was and why wasn’t I more like him. When I did well in school and my grandmother could use my report card for bragging rights, for a short time I was a golden child, but my ability to stay in favor was transient. I had another cousin who probably qualifies as a “lost” child. When my grandmother flat-out told me she didn’t want to see me, or that she should have let me go into foster care, I became a lost child.

Gossip and drama, lies and secrets, and manipulation are the mechanism of communication within both cults and narcissistic families. All of these serve to create mistrust and maintain division and chaos. Unhealthy communication destroys relationships between members so that everyone comes to rely upon the leader figure for communication and directives. In my family, there was always gossip and secrets, including the real identity of my father and my grandmother’s secret will.

Most of the stories I’ve heard on podcasts about various cults come from adults who were either born into a cult or brought into the cult as children by their parents. There are some adults willing to tell their stories about how they came to join cults, but they often aren’t as forthcoming because they feel a sense of shame. For those that became part of a cult as adults or older children, they knew that life could be different. However, when you are born into a family with a narcissist, all you know is dysfunction.

What can you do if you think you are in a narcissistic family dynamic? Many who have dealt with narcissists suggest the “grey rock method” of making yourself as boring as possible and denying the narcissist a reaction from you. It’s not silent treatment or ignoring them, but rather only giving short, straightforward and unemotional responses. This approach is meant to cause the narcissist to lose interest, but may have some risks. The narcissist may try to lovebomb and hoover you. When the abuser doesn’t get what they want from an interaction with you, they may escalate, becoming more aggressive or manipulative. Grey rocking is draining on the person to the victim. It takes immense self-control to hide your emotions and the victim may feel even more isolated.

I wouldn’t say I tried gray rocking as a child, but as a teenager I realized I was stuck with my grandmother. When I was 14 or 15, I knew I needed to try to keep my head down or “gray rock” until I could move out. But because I was a teenager, I wasn’t always successful in not drawing attention to myself. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties that I learned about toxic family dynamics and began to understand more about my own upbringing. I began detaching myself as much as I could, often listening and observing without giving an emotional response. My grandmother often tried to “guilt trip” and bait me with highly emotion-ridden topics. I still didn’t know the term “gray rock” back then, but I tried to resist her tactics.

While I was pregnant at 26, after my grandmother’s reaction to my pregnancy, I began cutting contact, going “low contact” with my family. When I was 27, I went no-contact with my mother and grandmother in an act of self-preservation. However, this meant cutting off contact with everyone in my family, including my cousins, aunts, and uncles. I knew if I cut off my grandmother, any contact with extended family would make its way back to her or my mother, which would cause them to reach out, beginning the cycle anew. My grandmother has never reached out, which makes me believe having children caused her to discard me completely. My mother reached out many times over the years, sending birthday cards or calling me on my birthday, sending me chain emails, or requesting access to my facebook page. I never respond to these attempts for attention because I don’t think she will ever be able to be a caring mother and grandmother. It took me so many years to recognise her attempts to hoover me back in to be supply for her when she is bored. When I see people asking how to deal with a narcissist family member, or if they should break no-contact for the holidays, I advise them not to because they could get drawn back into the narcissist’s cycle of abuse. Honestly, I think it’s the only way — gray rock until you can go no contact and I imagine this applies to both cults and narcissistic families.

[tavarillasgalen]

i think my #1 tip for querying authors would be: check agents’ socials and vet any drama surrounding their clients’ books before you take the time to customize a query to their MS wishlist and preferences. there are so many agents that i queried based on their info on their agency’s site and their MS wishlist and the like, only to wish i hadn’t when i saw their behavior on social media or when it came out that their clients’ books were misogynistic and lesbophobic or white people writing poc stories and the like. you will save yourself so much time and energy by taking the time to really in-depth research an agent and their clients prior to querying them. 

like some examples of insane behavior i’ve seen from agents on twitter: 

- acting like expecting any sort of response to a query is absurd when form rejections can be copied and pasted, and then voila, the author knows the answer is no. 

- using queries that they are CURRENTLY LOOKING THROUGH as examples of what not to do - i’ve even seen agents use screenshots! and i don’t mean queries that are rude but just... general queries. and i don’t mean the agents that will ask if people want query critiques to be posted publicly, that’s fine, i mean agents doing this from their slushpile from people who have not consented. 

- demanding that if you are going to write an identity, you damn well better be said identity and it better be ownvoices, which is SO DANGEROUS for queer people and people writing about trauma. agents who are like this will often end up being shitty in other ways, like, oh, you’re married to a man? you lied about being bi. when... do you know what being bi means???

- generally treating writers with massive amounts of disrespect but expecting endless leeway when it comes to their own time. like getting pissed when a writer sends a nudge when they haven’t gotten any sort of response in months, when that’s months that that writer cannot query anyone else in the agency and has been in limbo with their story. sitting on fulls for over a year without any updates, then being pissed when they find that the writer signed with a different agent when... they didn’t reply to nudges/got mad about being nudged.

- acting like their preferences are the be-all, end-all, when... people like so many different things, and what one agent hates, another adores. goes along with things like ‘NEVER write first person, NEVER write third person with present tense, NEVER write in-media-res beginnings, NEVER introduce us to your character’s life before the inciting incident, NEVER have x amount of POVs’, etc, etc, etc, about every writing preference you can imagine..... i had one agent tell me no one would pick up my book because it was over 80k words, when... that may be true for some genres, but my book was a fantasy, so of course it’s more around the 100k mark?? and it’s one thing to state their preferences in their MS wishlist - that’s good! it lets authors know whether or not their story is a good fit! it’s another to pass their preferences off as cold, hard rules.

and on and on and on......

obviously, not all agents are like this. in fact, some agents, i looked into their MS wishlists and whatnot after finding them on social media because they seemed so nice and considerate from their socials! some agents, i saw their socials, and i was damn glad i queried them, and i put them on the list to query again, because i was like, you, yes, i quite like you. but there are quite a few incredibly entitled, full-of-themselves, rude agents out there which you wouldn’t gather from anywhere but their socials. 

it’s more than worth it to really take the time to look through an agent’s socials, how they interact with people, what their clients are like, and more, so you don’t end up wasting time customizing a query for someone you thought would be a perfect fit, only to wish you hadn’t.

[silkiemae]

The Sunderlands by Anastasia King

The Sunderlands by Anastasia K. King My rating: 1 of 5 stars The Sunderlands is a perfect example of why it’s essential to ensure your beta-readers and editors are unbiased and not your best friends. This book looks like an editor has never even touched it though the author claims a ‘team of editors’ have gone over it dozens of times. I see no evidence of that. The book is overflowing with fragments; the author doesn’t seem to understand how to use proper punctuation or even an Oxford comma. There are hyphenated words that should not be, and many typos and grammatical errors. There are so many anachronisms that I could probably write my own book about them. The author writes solely in fragments or overly purple prose, making the narrative difficult to follow. Words like ‘Man’, ‘Human’, and ‘Sun’ are turned into proper nouns for no conceivable reason. The Sunderlands is advertised as a ‘villain origin story’, but it doesn’t feel like one. Keres is described as a bad guy from the beginning, yet she doesn’t do anything I would consider villainous. This would have been better suited if she had begun the story when Keres died as a child and was resurrected. But clearly, the author was too excited to write her subpar smut, so she had to ensure Keres was at least 19. One of the biggest struggles this book has is being far too ambitious. The author is trying to create her own pantheon from scratch, apparently based on Greek mythology, while simultaneously merging into a world of her own making that includes elves, humans and monsters. Faeries are considered mythical even though elves are technically a class of faerie. While, in theory, this could work, the execution is very poorly done, leaving a complete mess in its place. This book read like a half-baked cake taken out because the baker was too excited to frost it and show everyone how good of a job she did, but the flavor is TERRIBLE. As far as plot, I’m still not entirely sure what it is. The chapters are mainly from Keres’ perspective, but then there’s a random POV from Liriene thrown in the middle and the epilogue is split between the two love interests in the book. I don’t understand the point of the switching POVs if it’s not going to be consistent. It felt strange and jarring to randomly be thrown into someone else’s head when I’ve grown so used to being in Keres’. Keres’ backstory is incredibly vague. She’s chosen by a death god, resurrected for some reason, but it’s never fully explained why. She’s cursed with bloodlust, but it’s unclear if she wants to drink blood or murder everyone. She’s a vegan elf(with bloodlust?), claws, fangs, fire magic, a death curse, she cries blood and is somehow a wolf? And probably more to come. Listen, I don’t mind your character having these characteristics but like…at least make it make sense as to why!! All the powers are revealed randomly, so each time, I think, ‘my god, ANOTHER power?’ Oh, can’t forget that time she heard a man’s arm hairs raise. She also fights with a scythe and bow and arrow and has never lost a fight before or even dropped her bow before. No one has ever even cut her before ever in her life. Like my god, how Mary Sue can you be? Lmao. Her only physical features are ‘opalescent white skin, white hair and green eyes.’ No other feature is mentioned, but no one can shut up about how hot Keres is. She only ever talks about blood, how she’s Death’s right hand, her obsession with blood, her nipples, blood and NOTHING else. I don’t know if she hears this Death Spirit voice in her head or if she’s just insane. She acts incredibly tough and full of resolve, but it’s a mask. She whines and cries when told to do something but does it two seconds later anyway. Of course, it’s apparently impossible to write a medieval fantasy without copious amounts of misogyny. It’s especially disappointing to see in a female author. All the women in Keres’ elven clan are illiterate for some reason. But not Keres because she’s “special or whatever”. Is she trying to make her elves like… tribal or something? But it’s done so ham-handedly that it’s actually offensive. I’ll explain further. Her elves are all vegan and don’t ‘eat animals of the earth (do they eat animals, not of the earth?) Despite not eating the animals, they still kill them for their pelts…which makes absolutely no sense. What an absolute waste. Do they leave the corpses with the rotting meat in a ditch somewhere? Also, vegetarian elves in medieval settings make zero sense to me. How does that even work? Oh, and another thing. The elves don’t wear shoes. Ever. Yet their feet are still soft as a baby and get cut up, which makes…no…sense. You will have calloused gross feet if you have been walking on the hard ground barefoot from day one. You are going to have hobbit feet. Keres says these are all her core beliefs, yet she wears shoes with little to no convincing and feels no remorse. Keres is dead-set on not cheating on her husband but cheats on him immediately. So strong-willed Keres. The arranged marriage plot was dropped about 70 pages into the book. Keres can’t decide if she’s happy about it or not. She didn’t give a crap until she found out her mom wrote a will that said she HAD to marry him and then, like a child, started to get mad about it. She marries Silas anyway, who wants to trap her with the marriage because he didn’t wish Keres to find out about his secret girlfriend at Court, and then when Keres runs off to Court, he…doesn’t even go after her? Or write or anything. Lmao, like what? All the world-building and background information is given in long rant-like info dumps. The terrain/landscape is a mystery. The dynamics of the elven clan are a mystery. The distance between places is a mystery. The weather is described solely through Keres’ nipples. Elves are all-powerful, have elemental magic, and can bond with gods, but I have no idea how these gods impact the world. Everything is thrown at us in drunken info-dumps instead of shown in an actual cohesive storytelling manner. But that’s unsurprising since the author has admitted that she writes this stuff wine-drunk. The queer rep in this book is pathetic. The book starts immediately with a gay character dying. Two random side characters mentioned approximately three times are gay, so Keres can say she’s not homophobic as she tries to murder one of them. “I wasn’t trying to kill him because he was gay. It’s cuz he was human!” But immediately after, as Keres’ sister explains how she was in love with the woman who died at the beginning of the book, Keres legit says Liriene has a sick claim on Katrielle(the girl who died)….like, great queer rep there. The author claims there’s POC rep in this book, and I’m here to tell you that the first POC is introduced 300 pages into the book and is described as having ‘skin like the earth’….just, wow. As for spice…this book advertises itself like it is the spiciest thing you will ever read in your life. Well…there’s little foreplay, just instant penetration and lots of screaming and ‘you like that’ type of juvenile dirty talk. All the men go straight for choking. Like without warning, suddenly, a man is choking Keres. Like…why?????? Why not write some sex that might actually FEEL good to the woman? No woman is going to get off from a man going down on them for .2 seconds and then slamming their dick in. Like, I don’t know about you, but that hurts. Keres constantly talks about how she’s an untouched virgin, and it’s DISGUSTING. Someone compares her to a ‘sheathed blade, shiny and new’, and I literally gagged. You are writing a book for adult women. Please, for the love of god, write about adults. Most of us of sound mind do not fantasize about being untouched virgins or ‘little girls who need to be broken’. That’s disgusting and, honestly, pedophilic. Most of us don’t have mountain peaks for clits, either. The build-up between relationships is nonexistent. There is no tension. There is no chemistry. Just bland dialogue, and then suddenly, a man is groping Keres and biting her without her consent, and she does nothing to stop them. It just is like…I guess this is fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don’t understand why she’s interested in either of the love interests. I’m a person who tends always to find villains fascinating if they’re written well, and like if they happen to be attractive and saucy, then that’s cool too. But I don’t find men who don’t know boundaries hot at all. Darius kisses her without consent, threatens to break her back over his knee(????) and throws her into the river she died in as a child, knowing she can’t swim. I’m struggling to find why I should like either of these men. One of them she’s whining about that she doesn’t even want or like through the whole book until she’s told she can’t have him, then she’s terrified of losing him??? You make no sense, gurl. Someone explain to me what’s sexy about a man threatening to paralyze you lmao; I don’t understand. I will end this review by begging the author to get an editor. Stop lying about it because all I have to do is read your book once to know that no editor went over this. Get someone who will be brutally honest with you because then you might be able to make your book into something resembling what you advertise it to be. Also, one last thing. It’s strange to advertise your book as being like ‘The Witcher, Game of Thrones and Outlander’ when you haven’t even read those books. The author has admitted they have never even read The Witcher series, so like…how do you know if your book is like that??? View all my reviews

[sweetbitterimpossiblecreature]

A Brief And Concise Summary Of Is Wrong With The ACOTAR Series

I think we can agree that a lot of ACOTAR is pretty iffy. Consider this a very brief refresher.

What's Wrong With Feyre/Rhysand (juxtaposed against Feyre/Tamlin)

Rhysand drugs and sexually assaults her in Book 1

This is "for her own good". Because he "has no choice". Despite the fact that, from what we know of the plot, Amarantha thinks that Clare Beddor was the one Rhysand was diddling, and is only interested in Feyre because Rhysand, "her" man male, has taken an interest in her.

If we extrapolate from this we can figure that Rhysand is the one directly putting her into danger.

Now, let's be clear: drugging someone is bad. Sexually assaulting someone is bad. One could argue there were extenuating circumstances. But if, in such a situation, what your mind goes to is "I know, I should assault this person... for their safety" I have questions about your moral qualities. There were a million things he could have done. He could have done whatever he did to Clare - that is, remove her ability to feel any pain - easily. He could have helped her escape. Under The Mountain, he - while still there unwillingly - has a lot of power, as Amarantha's side piece. Maybe this would have resulted in him being punished- however, he is hundreds of years old and a badass motherfucker, and she is a nineteen year old human girl.

Now, onto Tamlin. Obviously not a lot of people really ship F/T anymore after ACOMAF, because compared to F/R, it's boring. I read another person's post about it, which was very enlightening: they said that Feyre's personality is essentially a mirror. When she is with Rhysand, she's snarky and malicious- because she is "bouncing off" his energy. When she's with Mor she's super feminist and "in awe of her strength". On the other hand, Tamlin is kind of an empty character. He's a pretty boy with anger issues, which should be more interesting than it is. SJM manages to make him bland. Because Feyre has nothing to bounce off of, (a lot of this is from the person's post), she and Tamlin together is mainly just him introducing her to his world.

What Tamlin Does: prevents a skinny twenty year old from going on dangerous missions with him and combat-trained soldiers, accidentally blows up a room with her in it, and, at the end, prevents her from leaving the house.

This is not a Tamlin apologist post. Obviously it was really fucking gross of him to do that, and their relationship was toxic. However, a lot of his abuse stems from their inability to communicate, as well as own negligence. He does not knowingly and purposefully sexually assault her or rape her mind. And tbh, leaving a girl without combat training at home while he goes on missions with a bunch of muscled sentries is... kind of reasonable?

Again: not a Tamlin apologist post. It was abuse. However, if Rhysand is "allowed" to sexually assault, mind-rape, and drug Feyre "for her own safety", why is Tamlin demonized for preventing her from leaving his mansion "for her own safety"?

Another pertinent point: Rhys is never punished for sexually assaulting her. It is brushed off as part of his "mask" or that his hand was forced. Jesus Christ my dudes, his hand was not forced under her skirt. If he has to maintain his gross rapist abuser tyrant oppressor mask... why? Who did that benefit beside him? None of his actions remotely helped Prythian. They were done solely for his buddies - five people safe in a rich hidden city - and no one else, which is explicitly stated.

Finally, the power dynamic is fucked up. Feyre is less than twenty five years old. Rhysand is 500. There is a tendency in fantasy romance to romanticize a centuries year old man with a young girl, because the man does not show symptoms of age, and so it is easily ignorable. However, can we just briefly acknowledge how fucked up it is? Rhys is over five times older than Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and other known predators/abusers. She is twenty. That is really fucking gross. She is in a vulnerable position and he takes rampant advantage of that.

If he had wrinkles, liver problems, and erectile dysfunction, more people would acknowledge it.

Let's be clear: I'm not saying writing a book with an uneven power dynamic is automatically bad. For example, in The Locked Tomb series, which is in my opinion THE BEST FANTASY SERIES THAT HAS GRACED THIS EARTH (lol i'm starting fires), one main character Harrowhark Nonagesimus is in a position of power over Gideon Nav, the other main character. However, this is not glossed over or romanticized. Gideon resents Harrow for this- there is a relationship of mutual antagonism, fraught with unwilling familiarity and intimacy from growing up together. They are roughly the same age. While there is a certain power dynamic (in that world, there is a dynamic of necromancer and cavalier, i.e. sorcerer and sword) the "empowered" character (Harrow) emphatically respects her and does not abuse this power, although both would of course deny this, and she does make a show of threatening and being aloof. In short, while Gideon obeys her, Gideon also has power over Harrow, and the idea of what is essentially slavery is not romanticized.

Feyre Doesn't Face Any Consequences For Her Own Actions

Let me present a radical notion: a guy preventing you from leaving his house does not justify completely fucking ruining his country and harming the people inside it.

In other words: Tamlin does not deserve what she did to him.

I know that sounds iffy. We're conditioned to think that if someone is an abuser, then they are the scum of the earth, they deserve to die, torturing/murdering/doing anything to them is completely A-OK. However, here's another radical notion: someone harming you does not justify you doing worse.

Obviously, the effects of psychological abuse can cause you to hurt other people (see: Nesta), but Feyre deliberately and maliciously (oh, God, that insufferable POV of her in Spring Court; she reads like a cartoonish Disney villain) dismantles his country. She uses sexual manipulation (Lucien), torture (causing the sentry to be whipped), and mind-rape (who didn't she do this to? lol).

A summary of the entire first half of ACOWAR: "It smelled like roses. I hated roses. For this capital offense against my olfactory system, Tamlin and the entire Spring Court deserved to burn in hell. I knew exactly what I was doing. I smiled at him sweetly: no longer a doe, but a wolf. He didn't see my fangs.............." *aesthetic noises*

Man. I'm starting to think SJM had a horrible experience at a Bath & Body Works and took it out on the rest of us. Don't do it, Sarah!! I know Pink Chiffon and Triple Berry Martini are way too strong, but don't take it out on an innocent population!!

She steals from Summer Court (there are, yk, other solutions to theft. Like maybe asking politely) and ruins Spring Court. Her boyfriend - yeesh sorry, MATE - does nothing while a dozen Winter Court children are murdered.

Now: moral ambiguity is not automatically bad. Again using The Locked Tomb as an example, in the second book (spoiler alert), Harrowhark has a sort of moral ambiguity. She was raised from the beginning to worship the King Undying as God, and so she obeys him without question. Because of this, she commits a lot of crimes in His name: she "flips" - i.e. kills - the life force of planets, and she plots murder (albeit the murder of someone who tried to kill her first). There is no attempt to justify this. There is also no attempt to paint her as a virtuous and yet also badass Madonna figure. She is desperate, plagued with the "wreck of herself", and the book clearly displays her moral pitfalls. While her POV is of course colored by her mindset, it also is limited by her lack of information, and we as readers can acknowledge that.

BACK TO ACOTAR: Feyre is seen by everyone as gorgeous, formidable, and essentially perfect. Rhys sees her as flawless, "made for him", wonderful, beautiful, blah blah blah. (THEY ARE SO BAD FOR EACH OTHER; THEY EXCUSE AND GLORIFY EACH OTHER'S CRIMES, IT'S SO BAD, GUYYYS). Tamlin is insanely batshit in love with her, or whatever. To the Night Court she's the High Lady. In this way she personifies the Mary Sue character. (Excerpt from the TV Tropes page on Mary Sues: "She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal." Sound familiar?)

There is the Ourobous scene. And yet, paradoxically, while presented as an acknowledgment of her flaws, it is in fact a rejection of them. She sees her own brutality... and instead of recognizing that she has these deep, deep moral flaws and realizing that she needs to grow and be better, she in fact "accepts" them.

Guys: Self love means: "I'm important to me, so I'm going to get a massage today after work", or "heck, why not splurge on some expensive lotion, you only live once" or "you know what? I had a tough day today. I'm going to get that strawberry cupcake". SELF LOVE DOES NOT MEAN "oh, I accept all the war crimes I have done, I love myself". LOVING YOURSELF DOES NOT MEAN ABSOLVING YOURSELF OF ALL WRONGDOING.

It's this refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing that is so grating about ACOTAR. It's so goddamn one-sided. And you can tell that after Book 1, SJM decided to completely change the trajectory simply because of how jarring Book 2 reads compared to the first one.

Also: Feyre is a very, very young girl (compared to the other ruling fey) who did not know how to read for the majority of her life. She has no experience whatsoever in politics. Her being High Lady is not a win for feminism.

Rhysand: He Sucks

First, he is 500 years old. He should be written as such, not as some 20 year old virile frat boy feminist. Fantasy is all the more compelling for its elements of realism, which is a concept that SJM does not appear to grasp.

Second of all, his morals are absurd. He is written as the Second Coming of Christ, as someone who can do no wrong, ever, and his flaws only serve to make Feyre love him more. Anything shitty he does is written as part of his "mask" and she can See Beneath It and knows that it "hurts" him to maintain this "mask".

Fellas, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO MAINTAIN THIS MASK???? There is no reason for it. If A) he does not give a shit about Court of Nightmares (we'll get back to that), only about Velaris, and B) Velaris is hidden/protected from the world, what is he pretending for?

It would not hurt him politically to be seen as someone who cares about his country.

"Pretending" to be "Amarantha's whore" does not in any way shape or form benefit the macro-world that is Prythian. In Amarantha's name, he commits atrocities. He commits war crimes; he systemically oppresses entire societies. It doesn't even really benefit Velaris, because Velaris is already hidden.

Let me put this in a real-world perspective. This would be like if Donald Trump was suddenly like: "I know I was a shitty president but IT WAS ALL PART OF MY MASK, WHICH WAS TO PROTECT THIS MICROCOSM OF PRIVILEGED PEOPLE THAT I CARE ABOUT". Like: okay? Sorry, or whatever, but I don't actually give a shit. What about the parents of the children who died? What about Clare Beddor? What about the people who were held in slavery, murdered, tortured?

Rhysand: omg it sucks that my cousin Mor was oppressed by this toxic misogynistic culture from the Court of Nightmares.

Also Rhysand: lol whatever, who gives a shit about Court of Nightmares. They all suck. They meanie. Lol what did you say? That there might be other girls just like Mor who are oppressed by this system? Lol whatever. I can't do anything, I gotta maintain my Mask. I gotta sit on this throne and show the entire Court that not respecting women is completely okay.

In summary: by parading Feyre around as his "whore" (!!) he demonstrates by example that it is completely okay for the Court of Nightmares to abuse their women.

A good ruler cares about all his people. Rhysand cares about a tiny tiny fraction of his people: those who were fortunate enough to be born into Velaris.

God, I'm exhausted. Onto Nesta:

The only character who successfully breaks the Mary Sue effect Feyre exerts on her people is Nesta. Her POV for the first half is a joy to read.

Obviously it sucks that Nesta was a huge bitch to Feyre for the beginning of her childhood. However, it was wrong for Rhysand to threaten her- he is a man male with a huge insane amount of power, and it is not okay for him to threaten to bring the brunt of it down on a young girl because she was a bitch to his girlfriend.

I've seen a lot of discourse on the morality of F/R sending her out of Velaris. Here is my two cents:

It was okay for them to cut her off of their money. If they don't want to enable her self-harm, that is their choice. Again, it's their money, even if it wasn't fairly earned (Rhysand born into an enormous fortune).

It was not okay for them to banish her from Velaris with the implication that she was an embarrassment. Let me explain.

If Rhysand and Feyre are talking to her as sister/brother-in-law, then that is that. They have the complete right to express disapproval and try to help. However, they should not be using their royal privilege against her.

If they are talking to her as ruler to subject, then they have the power to banish her from the city. However, a ruler would not give a shit about a random subject getting drunk and having sex. So, they should not be talking her about her problems as a ruler to subject.

I've heard it compared to her being sent to rehab. However, rehab is a system designed to help people with certain problems. It has specialized medical centers and involves therapy. Nesta gets her life threatened multiple times. It is not rehab.

In summary: why did SJM inflict this upon us. Throne of Glass was actually good! GAHHH! After the first few books she completely whipped around and introduced the idea of males and mates and fey and that C is actually A and the quality took a huge nosedive. Sigh.

Final horrible but unmistakable truth: The entire ACOTAR series reads like a bad A/B/O fic. I hate to say it but it's true. We're lucky there were no heat cycles. OH WAIT

[forthegothicheroine]

February 2022 Reading Report

Read:

Nobody’s Perfect: Writings from the New Yorker by Anthony Lane

The Many Faces of Van Helsing (anthology)

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Gwen, in Green by Hugh Zachary

Princess Pamela by Ray Russell

Sea Star by Pamela Jekel (DNF)

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale

Taiping Tales of Terror by Julya Oui

Welcome to Hard Times by E. L. Doctorow

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire

Goth: Undead Subculture (essay anthology) (DNF)

Still Reading:

Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy and Horror Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe (anthology)

Does this month have a theme? Let’s call it Deadly Women. Most of these books have some kind of femme fatale or dark heroine in them. Femme Fatale February!

I finished Nobody’s Perfect, of which I’d previously read many reviews and essays but never the whole thing straight through. I love Anthony Lane so much. He’s arch and witty and perceptive, and though he’s known for his caustic reviews (of which Indecent Proposal was my favorite), he has the ability to be bitingly funny when he loves a movie, too (of which his Speed review was my favorite.) His essays enlightened me as to how Nabokov constructed sentences and how high fashion brands really make their money (perfume and accessories.) His short reviews of the bestseller lists in the 90s and 40s may be my favorite of all the essays in book, where he tackles everyone from Ayn Rand to Sue Grafton. His writing is a very good example of how intelligent criticism can be.

I’ve been meaning to read The Many Faces of Van Helsing for a while now, and I finally did! None of the stories blew me away, but there were a few good ones (my favorite being The Infestation at Ralls by Thomas Tessier, a slightly gross story about Van Helsing dealing with an incubus with some great characterization for our favorite doctor.) On the whole I didn’t care for the stories where Van Helsing was evil, but at least My Dear Madame Mina by Lois Tilton gave a believable reason in his obsessive love for poor Mina Harker. With all the stories about his wife ending up in an asylum, I was grateful that in Kim Newman’s Diogenes Club continuity she ended up okay!

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has said she makes it a point to vary up her book subjects and styles, and Certain Dark Things is a fun urban fantasy about vampires in a futuristic Mexico City. I’ve grown bored with a lot of urban fantasy conventions in the last several years, but this one captured me by keeping its vampiric antiheroine mysterious for a good portion of the book and inventing some genuinely creative vampire biology. This would be a good book for people who like spooky monsters and hardboiled crime but aren’t big horror fans- it’s tense without being very gory. And the introduction gave me a bunch of classic Mexican vampire movies I now have to see!

Gwen, in Green was described in Paperbacks from Hell as one of the strangest and most unusual books Grady Hendrix had ever read, and I can certainly see why! It’s the story of a housewife’s descent into a combination of madness and possession as she drifts away from her clueless husband and towards the lure of nature- especially whatever’s in the pond near her new home. It’s partly erotic horror, partly nature’s revenge on developers and polluters, and partly a tale of sexual politics that I’m still trying to untangle. (Misogynist? Misandrist? Both? Neither?) I picked it partly as my Novella choice for the Books in the Freezer challenge, and as it is in fact short and zippy, you may as well check it out if the description I gave interests you.

Ray Russell is a beloved short story author of mine (author of the brilliant novella Sardonicus, and screenwriter of the goofy movie adaptation) so I was very excited to find out he’d written a full length Victorian gothic novel, Princess Pamela! It turned out to be tongue in cheek but also genuinely depraved (more modern gothics need to be genuinely depraved!) There’s some bodice ripping and political murder, and it moves into alternate history in the latter third, which was an exciting surprise. My only real disappointment was the copout ending, but it didn’t completely spoil the fun.

I was excited to read Sea Star, which was supposed to be a bodice ripper about Anne Bonny, and had a wonderful cover! Sadly, the backstory they gave her kind of ruined it for me. Sure, we don’t know a lot about Anne Bonny so I guess she could have been a southern belle with slaves, but did they really have to choose that backstory? I guess it’s a fantasy, like Elizabeth Swan starting out as a fine lady in fancy clothes, but it’s a distinctly unpleasant fantasy. (Am I a hypocrite for being happy about piracy but unhappy about plantations? I don’t know?) Once I saw how long it would take for her to actually get to pirating, I decided it wasn’t worth the wait; a shame, because she had sex with Hornigold and I wanted to see have many other Black Sails characters she would sleep with.

I’d already read the short story Snow Glass Apples (and heard an audio play adaptation!) but the graphic novel version was absolutely worth the read for its stunning artwork. It reminded me of some of the gorgeous illustrated fairy tale books I had as a kid, though they did say in the section with sketches that they tried not to make the art too kid-friendly for fear of giving the wrong impression. If you haven’t read the story already you absolutely should, and this is a perfectly good way to read it. Do you like Snow White and witchcraft and vampires? Of course you do.

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher was a bit of a let-down, though it isn’t exactly bad or anything. It’s an historical true crime book about the murder of young Francis Saville Kent by- maybe- his sister Constance, the detective who first took on the case, and how it influenced contemporary detective and sensation fiction like The Moonstone and The Woman in White. I understand that author Kate  Summerscale wanted to stick purely to the facts, but the Road Hill House case is so strange and interesting that I wanted something much more in depth. Did Constance commit the murder or was she covering for someone with her sudden, strangely-worded confession? Couldn’t Summerscale have at least discussed the question, even if she didn’t want to make her own conclusion? Someone on goodreads said it read more like a thesis paper than a book, and I can see that.

Taiping Tales of Terror is a decent collection of local monster and ghost stories, with a look at small town Malaysian culture, which I knew very little about. I chose it as the Monsters entry in the Books in the Freezer challenge, though it could also fill the Translated entry- maybe I should rework my potential list? It reads a bit more like a YA book than adult horror, but the lines between YA and adult are plenty blurry as it is. I was fascinated to see hw many different cultures have variations on the ‘dismembered woman’s head dragging its entrails’ monster; maybe, as with vampires, it ties back to the way bodies decompose? The ending twist was a good one, well-suited to campfire stories.

I haven't read many western novels, despite having watched plenty of western movies, and it was good to get to one of the classics with Welcome to Hard Times. The title gives a good indication of the central theme- it’s not completely Deadwood-style lurid crime, but it’s a story of the trauma that comes after an outlaw attack, and the efforts to rebuild a town, and the question of whether it will protect the citizens in the future or all be for nothing. Jack Torrence is mentioned reading it in the book version of The Shining, and I imagine it was chosen thematically because it features the disintegration of a family into madness and violence.

The Cat Who Saved Books is a Japanese YA novel that’s definitely on the more unambiguous kid side of YA, a fantasy of metaphorical lessons translated into concrete characters and places ala The Phantom Tollbooth. I would have liked it a lot more as a child, but I still appreciated it. I would certainly follow a mysterious cat that asked me to help save books! Reading it right before Where the Drowned Girls Go was appropriate, as I could imagine it being one of those ‘child goes through a magic door’ settings. (Also, if any Japanese readers can tell me whether it was realistic/legal for an underage kid to just live and work at a bookstore on his own with his aunt sometimes checking up on him, please let me know!)

As mentioned already, my next book was Where the Drowned Girls Go! This entry in the Wayward Children series, about what happens to children who return from portal fantasy adventures, was much darker and more horror-focused, placing its characters in a dystopian school that’s meant to make them forget they ever encountered magic. I was a little disappointed that the school was so purely evil, as I had thought it would be nice to have a counterbalance to the main school where the kids want nothing more than to go back to their fantasy worlds, but that wasn’t where the plot wanted to go. It was still enjoyable, and at least we did meet kids who had good reasons for not wanting to return, and there was at last sympathy for parents who had no idea where their kids went when they fucked off to fairyland. The cliffhanger ending definitely worked in getting me hyped up for the next entry!

Goth: Undead Subculture was the book unread on my shelf for the longest time, and now I feel a bit guilty that I ended up putting it aside. It was a lot more academic than I’d expected, which is not normally a problem for me to read, but it turned into a slog and I finally decided not to force myself to finish something I wasn’t enjoying. I did like the points it made about goth (and subcultures in general) existing in this weird liminal area where it’s partly rebelling against mainstream conformity but also creating its own things to conform to and buy. I’ll keep it around in case I want to try again, or at least try specific essays.

I’m trying to catch up on a bunch of Ellen Datlow’s fantasy and horror anthologies, and  Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy and Horror Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe is a good one so far! I loved Kim Newman’s take on the Corman/Poe/Price movies starting a literal curse where they can only remake Usher over and over again, though the next story about creepy homeless people was less to my taste. The introduction mentioned the rule that none of these stories could be pastiches, which I think is for the best. Let’s see if anyone does a take on Hop-Frog, my favorite Poe story!

[deardragonbook]

How I write “shifters”

Shifters: basically species that shift. In my books I have several. Dragons shift between human and dragon form. Werewolves have several forms and vampires too. 

One of the problems with writing this kind of species is it can feel like a cop-out. Yeah they’re dragons, but when that’s not convenient they don’t have to be! 

So, how do I personally fix that? 

Well, there’s a couple of things. 

The first and main way is by never letting them be fully human. They have what they refer to as a human form, but they don’t necessarily pass. They have slit pupils, claws and fangs and occasionally strangely coloured hair (dragons). Vampires too have fangs, white hair and red eyes. Werewolf's have fangs and claws. They may have two legs, two arms, and a human face but not human is going to mistake them for one of them. 

Plus it goes further than that. (From here on out I’m going to focus mostly on dragons as an example which are the species I work the most with in my book). My character’s don’t only have fangs, they use them. When angry a normal person might glare but dragon’s will growl or snarl. They’ll show their fangs and remind people they are capable of far more harm then appearance would suggest. 

They exhibit behaviours such as basking in the sunlight. 

They are often shown drinking freshly boiled tea without giving it a moment to cool down. 

Sitting almost inside the fireplace on a cold day. 

They may walk on two feet, but while writing I make a conscious effort to never let them be human, because they’re not. If I wanted to write humans I would. And I do. There are characters who are humans who are shown in contrast to them. 

And on the other side of the spectrum, why do they shift? How does that work? How does that change their culture? 

I don’t make a species into a shifting species if there isn’t a good reason. 

Shifters in my book exist due to history, basically any intelligent species is a descendant of fairies. Humans are fairies who no longer posses any magic. Fairies have a humanoid form which is why many species also receive that form. 

Dragons used to shift mainly for mating purposes. But as time went on the human form with their extendable thumbs and smaller size was perfect for much work that goes on. 

Nowadays dragons us their human and dragon from almost indistinguishably, it’s often just a matter of preference which form one will take during their downtime. Although some older individuals do consider the dragon form to be the superior form and look down on the youth who choose to bask in the sun in their two legged form. 

Making sure shifters feel natural in the world you create is important. Suspension of disbelief is hard to pull of but probably on of the most important parts of being a fantasy author. 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

I hope this helped. What kind of a shifting character are you working on? Or what is a shifting character from media you enjoyed? 

[renaissanceer]

Sensuality, Sexuality, & Creativity

Things to note. 1. I am not a teacher. 2. I make up words sometimes to describe what’s going on in my head to the best of my ability. 3. I have a lot to say, because creation is such a huge topic with many intricate aspects. 4. Read with an open mind!

        The formula for pure artistic expression; how it...

is delicately interconnected, the relationship between the Divine Masculine and Feminine on a spiritual fundamental scale, and kundalini energy.

I write this under the beginnings of a scorpio full moon, a few hours before its peak. I have not written in a long long time… and for this to be the subject that ignites my passion…says a lot about this intertwining energy itself.

At the basis of creation…there are two principle flows of energy that compliment each other and are so grandiosicously simple yet complex in their own ways, that they flow together effortlessly.

The divine masculine and the divine feminine. Feminine is the more flowly, free forming, chaotic, incubating..the juice of pure inspiration. The masculine is action driven, the vessel, problem solving, the burning will and excitement to creating. 

There can not be one without the other. Sexuality and sensuality shows itself in art of all kinds, in the totality of the myriads of ways of artistic expression. the artist goes into trance like states of euphoria and complete spirit dancing, the medium being the vessel as you play with the sensuous orchestra of your choosing. Art is sex. All of creation is. Sex is seen in my eyes as the perfect marriage and harmony, the perfect dance of the Divine Masculine and Feminine. No matter your sexual preferences, or gender, one can experience the true essence of sex, through the study, and indulgence of creation. The more you know and practice, the better it feels. The more you get to experience and experiment with what specifically feels good to YOU. 

Sex is world-bending, and personal. It’s unique and curate-able. It’s ancient, and artistic— artesian. 

For me there’s a comfort that creating paintings, and tasting lips alike that shrouds me like a warm blanket just at the thought. The translation of artistic expression to, passion and enamor interchangeably. True art.

 CREATION

Art, Eroticism, Emotion, Mythology… & their interconnectedness

e·rot·ic

/əˈrädik/

adjective

adjective: erotic

relating to or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement."her book of erotic fantasies"

Origin

Mythology is the tale of creation, through symbols. Across all myths, they aim to explain the unexplainable happenings of the world. Both the inner, psychological, subconscious worlds; and the physical, social world we all live in. eroticism and creation go hand in hand. For to be erotic is to partake in an expression of creation. Everything is a symbol and a reflection of the “macro to micro” law. As above, so below. This is true art.

A perfect example of a powerful symbol…..the Serpent

                                    Toltec Dual Headed Serpent

“Ometeotl! This is a traditional expression, which means “may this become real” or more literally, “the two energies (may combine to create),” as depicted by a double headed serpent. It also means the union of the energy heavens and of the physical world. “

The serpent has been one of the most ancient and sacred symbols to indigenous peoples across all regions of the world since even before the beginnings of linear time. I chose this specific Toltec symbol of the two headed serpents, since the art, the tangible mythology, invokes the energy I am calling in further. The dual ends symbolizing balance, the curves in their tails feminine* and free, yet uniform with the direction and intent of the masculine*. The perfect representation of union. And more importantly the beauty and power of divine union. Potent. This balance of divine polarities create the space for manifestation to play about. This is the realm in which nature is in order. The snake is an expression of raw, almost godly power. The eastern world observed the power of the snake through the kundalini practices, using the symbol of the naga as a spiritual reconnection to higher will, bliss, and devotion. 

There are so many symbols in the world. And their main stage to play on is in art. 

[esperanta-dragon]

I feel like there is a need to write down why so many people hate Sylvanas so much, me included. Maybe you can’t stand her too OR you love her and you don’t understand why the hell people can hate such an amazing character. Here is why. And I will try to write this down logically as possible. No “hur dur I hate her because she is a bitch!”. No, I will put down all things so you can understand. And one sad disclaimer... it’s not the character’s fault.

WHY WE STARTED TO LOVE HER

Sylvanas showed up in Warcraft III as a Ranger General of Quel’thalas. She was protecting her country for quite some time when Arthas attacked Eversong Woods in order to get to Sunwell and resurrect Kel’Thuzad as a lich. Sylvanas paid with her life and her soul to protect her people and her country. She was made banshee and was forced to do things against her will and serve the Scourge she hated. But she was still plotting her revenge, didn’t give up until the moment came and she took the chance. She reclaimed her body back and almost killed Arthas, and took over Lordaeron City. Then she took over the undead slowly freeing from the Lich King’s grasp and gave them a place where to stay, becoming their Queen. And since then, she was planning to kill the Lich King for good.

That’s why we loved her (I never did, I will explain that later why). She really kicked his ass. She slapped the Scourge in the face. She never gave up and was doing everything to achieve her goals, her revenge. There are not so many such strong female characters, so resolute. She was not good but also not evil, she was shady, she was not the boring good guy. So why the hell people hate her? She is perfect! Let’s go to what happened during and after WotLK... Because here it starts.

WRATH OF THE LICH KING

As I said, many people adore Sylvanas since Warcraft III. But they don’t understand the character is not the same. She was never good, she was an anti-hero, that’s the fact (the Ebon Blade are also anti-heroes and they are not bad, they just do necessary things to keep the Scourge in check). She was doing everything to take revenge on Arthas. And everything means that she had no problems walking over corpses of her allies. Causalities because of my fault? Pfft! No matter as long as the piece of trash sitting on the Frozen Throne will get what he deserves!

This was pretty much visible after Wrathgate when Varimathras and Putress tried to take over Undercity and Alliance and the Horde saw what she is doing inside the city. Still fine, it was in character, she was doing EVERYTHING to take revenge on Arthas. Everything. That’s why she existed, why she kept going. Even back then, I didn’t hate her. She was still a very well-written character. This is what a character in her position would do. 

But once everything was done, the Lich King was taken care of, she realized there is no point in her existence. She saw the Lich King was not destroyed. They only replaced him. So she threw herself from the Icecrown Citadel and fell on saronite spikes, the only thing that could definitely kill her.

And she ended up in a dark place. And the pain she felt was not like anything she felt before. It was the most horrible, the most inconsolable place. But val’kyras came down to her and sacrificed for her to get her back. Now we know what happened as we progress in the Shadowlands but... let’s say this was the beginning of the end for a good character Sylvanas once was. This was a start of cliché, inconsistency, and a great example that good characters should be allowed to go and leave so they can be remembered as a good characters.

WHAT CHANGED

Look, I came to WoW really late. I was playing on WotLK free servers as I could not afford to pay for official servers. But I knew the story in WotLK and I was still pretty ok with Sylvanas. I don’t remember hating her this much. She was well written.

It was Cataclysm Firelands patch when I finally could come to official servers. And Sylvanas was already doing pretty shady and disgusting stuff. I played Forsaken starting quest line so I know. Raising undead like the Lich King did? No problem for her. She even said she is like Arthas but she is working for the Horde (she never cared for them anyway, it was just more beneficial for her). What happened in Gilneas was not alright. Who gases the whole zone and making it inhabitable? Alright, let’s say Horde was expanding and Gilneas was next to Lordaeron. Alright. But back then, I finally dove deep into lore and I’ve noticed many people are really devoted to Sylvanas. It seemed almost like a cult. And every time I asked people, why they love this psyhopathic banshee, they were like: “She is my Queen! I love her, I would die for her! She is cool, she is taking care of us, she has a good heart!”

Something was amiss here... I couldn’t understand this. I couldn’t see what they saw. I saw a shady, ruthless and careless psychopath who is using her loyal subjects to save herself from something. And many people believed it even in BfA. Me and my friend had to show them excerpts from short stories where she say that “once they were arrows in her quiver, now they are bulwark against the darkness”. They couldn’t believe they loved Queen would not love them back!

But hey, still, I wanted to understand why people love her. I would understand if it would be still Warcraft III or WotLK, that’s fine. But Cata? Legion? BfA? Shadowlands? 

So I started reading all books, short stories where she was. Articles about her. I tried to catch the glimpse of why people loved her: the majority told me she is still good and has a good heart and she is an amazing person. But I didn’t see it. Maybe I am stupid and I don’t understand, I am missing something... So I kept studying, trying to see anything good in her, I was failing. I saw a character falling more down into a pit full of anger and hate. Her loyalists said she was an amazing creature, loving, caring.

And the more I was told by people that she is caring and she has a good heart, the more I was getting disgusted and angry because the more I was reading about her and the more her loyalists told me, the more I saw what Sylvanas is: inconsistent character.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SYLVANAS

In one book she was written like this. In another book, she was written like that. In one quest it was like this, then it was like that. In one expansion she behaved this way, in the next expansion, it was that way. She was doing more and more twisted things and her loyalists kept telling me she has a good heart. My frustration was growing to the point I could not stand her. It felt like I’ve met the person I knew was torturing her friends but when I met them, they told me with bruises on their faces and definitely mentally abused that she is amazing and it’s not her fault, she is just misunderstood and I should love her too.

When she killed Liam Greymane, loyalists were like: “I have no clue why Genn hates her so much! That stupid dog should die!” Yeah right, somebody kills your son and destroys your home, you have no reason to be angry, it’s ok.

She burns down Teldrassil and they said: “Why Tyrande wants to kill her? I hope Sylvanas kills her first!” Sure, somebody burns down a city with thousands of innocent people, it’s fine, let them go, no hard feelings. And sometimes these people are able to justify her actions with: “But this is fantasy! There is different morale than in real world!” Please, guys, never ever write a story. Never touch it. You will end up like Steve Danuser making characters to behave like idiots and without emotions. Stay away. Please. Do world the favor.

I was trying really hard. Trying to figure out what kind of character she is. Find a pattern. Because you can write a chaotic character and still find a pattern and it can be still a consistent character. But Sylvanas? I felt more and more that not even Blizzard knows what to do with her, how to write her... she felt more and more inconsistent and out of place with every expansion. And you know what? That happens to characters which are kept in the story longer than they should. If character losts a meaning of their existence, there are only two options: you either let them go or you have to find them a new meaning. And in case of Sylvanas, the second option led to a narrative disaster.

We were told by Blizzard: “Don’t worry! Everything falls in place! It makes sense what she does!” But after the Sanctum of Domination finale? It was a big fat lie...

Before I come to the cinematic, let me tell you what made me hate her beyond every possible measure: her fandom.

HITLER HAD A GOOD HEART!

In Legion, she was doing shady stuff. But in BfA? She became a Hitler. She burned down Teldrassil because... IDK she snapped and wanted to show one elven archer that you can kill hope? And what kind of catapults she had has reach 20 km? What kind of catapults can burn down incredibly big tree SOAKED in water with thick bark. Was that azerite or... no, I am not gonna get angry. And I won’t even start with the b*shit Blizzard pulled: “Look, just because Sylvanas is right in front of Teldrassil doesn’t mean it was her who burned it down!” They had to lie to us to look that they can create a better story than what it actually is.

She destroyed Undercity so Forsaken lost their home. Is this how you take care of your subjects if you are loving and caring? I think not.

And with her actions, millions of souls from the whole cosmos are going right into the Maw for eternal suffering. And why? Because she was scared. Because instead of thinking about herself and trying to change, she rather schemed with the god of death... who was responsible for her misery. And even teamed with Kel’Thuzad, who was reason of her fate in the first place! And yet, after all this, after mass genocide, destroying souls, millions, maybe billions of souls are suffering because of her... and you can still tell me there is still good in her and she deserves redemption arch... And with love say: “She got us into this, she will get us out of this <3 ^_^” So somebody is making everybody suffer and some people are like “Ooooh it’s fine, I support her! I bet she will realize what she is doing and she will save us!” Would you say the same about Hitler? That he was misunderstood, he was trying to fix something that’s why he murdered millions of people? I am just asking what kind of people her loyalists are in real life.

I have a question... would you still love her if she was a man? Or decomposing undead? Or if she wouldn’t be sexy elf at all? If she would be ugly? I think we all know the answer (disclaimer, beautiful people are not always kind and nice, what a surprise). I bet she would be already killed or hated by majority of the community at least two expansions back. Why Garrosh had to stand trial for war crimes and Sylvanas doesn’t? To be honest, I never liked Garrosh, I hated him, but I never hated him as much I hate Sylvanas. He was at least consistent to his very last moment. But I am fed up by the fact that everybody keeps excusing what she does just because she is a sexy elf. This is not character I can respect. How can you say about such character that she is cool when you know she is commiting genocide? Let’s replace her with ugly elf and let’s see how many of you will still love her.

If you love her because she is a crazy homicidal maniac and you want her to do evil stuff, go ahead, nothing wrong with you, it’s fine. You love her because you think that she has a good heart and she is sending millions of souls into hell because she wants to help us? Take your pills and think twice before going on date with a manipulative person who will use you, beat you but will tell you they love you so much while cheating on you. Thanks.

If you are lying to yourself that she is good and has a good heart because you are afraid you wouldn’t like her anymore as a bad guy, then you love illusion you made around her, not the character itself. And you should seriously think if you really love the character if you need to change it that much in your mind to keep loving her.

GRAND FINALE

“If they are gonna give her redemption arch, I am gonna puke.” Many people told me, they would not. They are not gonna do it. She is beyond redemption, she is antagonist, period. Guess what, they did. The cheapest way possible.

Blizzard kept telling us everything will make sense in the end, why she did all these things. But it did not. And it only confirmed my greatest fear: Sylvanas is an inconsistent character since Cataclysm.

Sylvanas was afraid to go to the Maw. So she got an amazing idea. Let’s free the god of death, the malevolent creature trapped there because for sure he is suffering just like me, and injustice was done to him. He is the reason of my suffering because he made Helm of Domination and Frostmourne, that’s why I was killed and I am like this? I am sure he is a good guy, in the end, let’s remake reality so there is no life and death! That guy must be pretty ok. Oh wait his job is to torture souls? No, I don’t believe he is bad.

So when Jailer gets all he wanted, ofc he say that he will remake all reality and everybody will serve. And Sylvanas realizes: “Oh my, he is just like the Lich King! I didn’t want this! I will never serve!” Even she served him for the past few expansions. And suddenly she sees he is a bad guy. Suddenly.

And then, Jailer gives her half of her soul back... So... this is the explanation? She was doing all this because she was not whole? Is this an excuse for genocide? Now we will all feel sorry for her? Tell her it’s ok, you were not yourself?

I am saying this all the years and I will say it again: the Ebon Blade are order full of those with a fate like Sylvanas. The whole order. Multiple characters suffered under the Lich King like her, lost themselves, were made to kill their friends, their families. And they, too, took revenge on him. But instead of going crazy and trying to hurt everybody because they were hurt, they tried to help and protect people. Maybe they are missing part of their souls too. But are they running around, burning innocents, committing genocide? No. So please, the is no excuse, she was aware of what she was doing. I am not buying this and for sure this won’t make me feel sorry for her. It was her choice. You can be depressed and hurt into the very core and still decide not to be homicidal maniac.

Another annoying thing is, Blizzard kept telling us she is a master strategist and she is highly inteligent. Would a highly inteligent person try to help somebody responsible for her suffering? Being ok with them? There was not shown how come she is ok with the Jailer! Look I thought she is smart but after the cinematic, she does not look like that.

What was her plan anyway? Did she believe such creature won’t betray her, he won’t dump her? I was hoping he will dump her and kill her. That would be the only ending fitting for the character. I didn’t want another Kerrigan, I didn’t want redemption arch for her... I was hoping I will finally like her as a villain. Now I can’t... there is no way I will like her ever again because Blizzard probably can’t do just evil characters. There always must be something behind, some explanation why they are like this. “I was good this whole time!” And I am tired of this... Suddenly I like Garrosh because he was an asshole but he was consistent. He had a good ending. He “died” like a boss.

THEY SHOULD HAVE LET HER DIE

And I mean it. If they would let her go after WotLK, it would be a good ending for her. Tragic end for the tragic character. She fulfilled her purpose and she would be remembered as a good consistent character. But she is making a lot of money, many people love her (not anymore, even people who liked her hate her now and her fanbase is getting smaller) so Blizzard decided they have to milk her as much as possible.

I think everything good should come to an end. “You would either die as a hero or live long enough to become a villain.” In this case “You would either die as a good character or live long enough to become inconsistent and annoying character.” And it happened.

Remember how people were angry how Thrall is getting a lot of attention in Cata? Haha, good old times. How about Sylvanas in 3 expansion cinematics (and some side cinematics like Reckoning, etc) and 2 expansions fully focusing on her (and some other expansions where she is a lot too). How about the 15th figure in a row. And 4th Blizzcon art. And I can keep going.

Metzen had favorite characters... but they were never overused as much as Sylvanas. Vol’jin was warchief for 1 expansion where he did nothing and then he died so she could take lead in story. So many characters are forgotten, pushed down so she can be on the spotlight. And I am sick of it. This is not single player, this is MMORPG. The world feels ridiculously small thanks to this, we have more characters than Sylvanas + 5 characters they keep using and recycling all the time.

And keep using Sylvanas and putting her into the spotlight all the time did not help. You can start hating character you liked before just because you have enough of them and you want to see other characters. This world has a big potential. So many characters are unused because of Sylvanas. Because the lead narrative designer loves her so much that he had to make her the main character of WoW and doesn’t care there is a whole world to take care of. And he does the worst job possible. Because he tried to make her complicated and complex and in the end he was just trying to make it look like that but it didn’t work out. It was just inconsistent. It didn’t fall in place.

Her plot armor is so laughable and it’s the most annoying thing about Sylvanas. How characters around her are so stupid and dumb so they can let her do such stuff (hello Horde in BfA). The whole universe and Blizzard especially is protecting Sylvanas of any harm. How can you like such character when it behaves like Mary Sue? I didn’t want to see cinematic how she comes and beat up really powerful guy without any issues. You know how interesting would be if Four Horsemen managed to arrive earlier and they wouldn’t know if to fight the Lich King or Sylvanas? No, Blizzard wanted to show lady Sylvanas Plotarmor.

And the worst thing is, I feel like Shadowlands are my last expansion in WoW. This is where the story ends for me. And I know that many characters won’t get resolution, many story arcs will never close because they’ve put too much effort to work on Sylvanas and ignore other characters. So many characters could have met. Lore in Shadowlands could have been expanded about The Scourge, death knights, rune magic, etc... it did not. 

So no, Sylvanas is not one of the best characters created. If this is the best WoW can muster then there is nothing to be proud of. We would have good or better characters if Blizzard tried to work with more characters and give them space and a chance to develop. But we will never have them because Sylvanas took the spotlight.

Sylvanas for me is the character who will be put on guidelines on how to not use a character. This character will be perfect for DO NOT character development guidelines. And the whole story of WoW at least in BfA and Shadowlands is a great example of how to destroy the world with an amazing setting and characters. 

I hope I’ve made this clear why many people hate her. Because it’s much more complex problem. This character was misused, written horribly, overused, was given a poor and cheap story arch, made look stupid and it no longer makes sense. And on top of that, many characters will never get a resolution, many storylines won’t be finished because all story was focused on her and not on the world. World which was supposed to be “everybody’s story” was made story about Sylvanas. Just because she sells.

Good job Danuser, I hope you are happy.

Tl;Dr: Sylvanas is inconsistent since Cataclysm because Blizzard tried to make her complex character artificially and failed horribly. She should have died after WotLK and never made Warchief. They should have let her go so we can remember her as a good consistent character

P.S.: I am not native speaker, sorry for grammar errors.