#How to Write E-Book

[s1lv3rp4w3dc4t]

shout out object shows with canon queer ships. I'm talking on screen kiss or even just verbal confirmation. all things considered it's a bit strange you don't really see them that much when you think about how gay everyone here is. I love you ii but c2bc did what you didn't and I think that's actually really nice.

[headcanonsandmore]

Now that I'm reading books by Pratchett's male contemporaries in the 80s and 90s, I'm realising just how ridiculiously ahead of the curve Terry was in terms of writing complex female characters.

I'm reading through the Riftwar Cycle by Raymond E Feist at the moment and (aside from the sub-series that he co-wrote with Janny Wurts) his writing of female characters is incredibly limited (at least thus far; I'm on 'Shadow Of a Dark Queen' at the moment). Virtually every female character is allocated the singular role of either mother, love interest to a male hero, seductive villianess or sex worker.

This book came out in 1994 but it may as well be 1974 given how one-note the female characters are. And that's not even getting into the constant fridging.

Hoping that Feist's writing for women gets better as the series progresses because jeez...

[scvcnofswords]

The dash is buzzing about my favorite post veilguard topic and I am STUCK. AT. WORK. GODDAMMIT

[firesidefantasy]

an angel walks into a bar.

⤳ a wip intro.

genre | queer romance. status | first drafting complete !! vibes | italian countryside, penthouse, bondage bars, empty vodka bottles, drag queens, polyamory, your boyfriend's husband's really terrible band, learning to drive in a ferrari, jumping fences, a gasoline on a bonfire kind of love. in a fancy penthouse in bologna, sebastian silva hides away, jealous and scared of the world in equal measure. then his husband introduces him to a sweet, daring runaway, and the boy invites himself to roadtrip around europe with them for a month. a tender romance begins to blossom between them. sebastian is hesitant, but when his husband goes home, and the boy convinces him to travel a little longer, he is suddenly thrown head first into a love he can hardly keep up with. italy, to switzerland, to croatia, to greece: the boy has demons that haunt him no matter how far they run, and in the middle of the mediterranean with a long stretch of road and no distractions, sebastian realises that he does too. can they face their demons before the road runs out, or will their love crumble and leave them alone once again?

pinterest // spotify // wip page // character sheets

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[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: October Wrap-Up.

Gr8 news: I am no longer very far behind on my NaNo prep reading!! I had to drop JUST LIKE HOME (reread) and HOUSE OF LEAVES, but I got through the rest of my Haunted House and/or Aliens and/or Parasite/Fungus TBR. Here they all are!

Photos and/or reviews linked:

SHRIEK - ★★★★ I think SHRIEK Is my favorite volume of the Ambergris trilogy, taken as a whole--the one-way conversation Duncan was having with Janice was a really neat narrative choice, and then the reveal in the Afterword's Afterword was, in true VanderMeer fashion, mind-blowing.

FINCH - ★★★★ I was actually surprised by how much I liked this one. It helped me figure out a LOT about what kinds of power dynamics I enjoy in borderline-dystopian fiction, and what intrigues me most about limited agency. It wrapped the story up almost too neatly, for a VanderMeer, but I did still have a good time and blitzed through it quickly. Given this one and SHRIEK, I'm counting the Whole Series as a Four-Star read--I'd like to reread it someday, now that I know what's going on.

LEECH - ★★★★★ (reread) STILL ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVES, OFFICIALLY!! It's very gothic and heavy and fucked up, but it does FASCINATING things with POV, and worldbuilding, and storytelling frameworks. PLEASE check the content warnings, but if none of those are hard no's for you, definitely pick this one up. I suspect anyone for whom Animorphs was a Formative Influence will adore this (but so far my sample size is really only 1)--please prove me right.

A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES - ★★★½ This was fun! Not my favorite Kingfisher (that award still goes to HOLLOW PLACES), but I had a good time--I laughed, I squealed over vultures, I blasted through pages to get to the end.

STARLING HOUSE - ★★★★ Alix E. Harrow always manages to write exactly my catnip, somehow. Maybe it's the ADHD, but I'm constantly finding connections to my own writing projects in her work, and STARLING HOUSE was no exception! I liked that this one was more modern, and the sibling dynamic was precious, and I love weird sentient houses where space is more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule. I'll probably reread this one for Driscoll purposes!

WOODWORM - ★★★½ So much rage in such a tiny volume, and I was Absolutely Here For It. I don't tend to read much lit fic, but I do try to read a lot in translation, and I thought this one did very cool stuff with Spanish--the prose felt natural in English, but I loved the linguistic details the translators left in Spanish and how much depth that added. I feel like this one might be a good fit for Carmen Maria Machado fans, too.

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE - ★★★ Call this a low 3, from me. It was Fine, I guess. I liked what he did with the act structure (labeling parts as stages of grief was very cool), and I liked the family dynamics and history, but a lot of the humor didn't land for me (I got a few sensible chuckles, but a bunch of it wasn't funny), and the "oh this author is A Man, huh" moments made me roll my eyes (seriously: Who thinks about their ~breasts~ when an angry taxidermied squirrel is clawing down your shirt?? No One With Breasts, Mr. Dude). This book did at least teach me that I'm not really interested in gore (it's just boring, unlike body horror, my beloved). I might still pick up HORRORSTOR, but I probably won't look into most of his other stuff, if this one is indicative of his general style. Meh.

THE ART OF EXCESS - No rating (didn't read the whole thing). At the end of ALWAYS COMING HOME, Richard Powers mentioned this book as the reason he finally committed to ALWAYS, so I was curious what this Tom Leclair dude had to say about it back in 1989. I had a heck of a time tracking down a copy (it's very out of print, and my local library had to source it from the Library of Congress for me), but I didn't want to buy it to read just the preface/intro/epilogue, because I haven't read any of the other texts he analyzes. Leclair's style was very readable, and I was intrigued by his framework, but I found some of his conclusions eye-rolly, given his sample size. I posted this one because I think Library of Congress books are fun, but I didn't add it to my Goodreads.

BLACK TIDE - ★★★½ This one had me rolling my eyes in the first couple chapters, and I was afraid I wasn't going to like it, but once Fucked Up Shit Started Happening, the momentum really picked up and didn't stop--I blitzed through it way past my bedtime on a school night. It was fucked up and weird and tense and bloody pull-no-punches horror, but it ALSO made me laugh, and I loved our two fuck-ups surviving the apocalypse together. NOTE: Dogs (and Gulls) Are Not Safe, and the cast is small enough that it matters a lot :( if you can't stomach animal harm/death, skip this.

A HALF-BUILT GARDEN - 81/338 pages read; will report back. Enjoying it so far! Glad I put it on my NaNo prep reading list, though not quite for the reasons I planned--the reflections on motherhood as well as parenting outside the binary have been interesting, so far (and that's relevant for my own haunted house endeavors!). A much gentler ride than BLACK TIDE, and the immersive tech reminds me of Murderbot's world, just Earthbound.

Overall! Fabulous month for reading! Anytime I think "wow I need A Break™ from writing or life," this is the type of reading I mean--where I can spend a couple weeks annihilating books within a day to Refill the Words Reservoir.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. I am refining this as I figure out my wrap up posts (epiphany of last month: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[doloresdisparue]

lolita / ada or ardor / lina medina - wikipedia / vladimir nabokov - think, write, speak

[faroffsong]

I read a book in two days which is a record for me, and I have like 20 more books stacked on my bed that I want to read before I have to go back to work. But I know I’ll only manage 2 or 3.

[fan-a-tink]

Welcome ✨

You’ve found your way to my favourite corner of the internet, the place where I store all my love for my current hyperfixations. I mostly post gifs or silly rambles and reblog gorgeous fanart & cool metas about my favourite queer shows and stories.

Tink | 27 | she/her | ace & aro-spec | twitter

I also love making gifs & I’m always happy to take requests if you’re looking for something specific. You’re welcome to reblog my gifs or repost them to another platform, but please tag or credit me if you do.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ safe space

Find all the shows & stories I love in the tags. My own original posts & gifs are usually tagged as #my post or #my gifs. For the gif tournaments, I've used #dbda gif tournament. My writing (fanfiction, maybe a poem or two one day) is under #my writing.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

honestly everything sucks with the x comics rn i don’t recommend you read it or most of them after fall of x, the state of the x-men comics has been genuinely so bad like xmanhunt is the final nail in the coffin for me they’re trying so hard to bring the 80s-90s back but in the most poorly written way possible when everyone just wants krakoa back

my timeline for days has been full of 'krakoa was for lovers' posts and yk.... maybe it was....

[criscura]

I want to get to the good part of this blastvoid thing I'm writing but i do NOT want to write the part before it and I'm procrastinating so fucking hard

Like i know what i want and it'll be satisfying but it's like the reverse of eating beef jerky, where this is the tough gross part you just need to swallow before getting to the fucking SPPIUCCE

[exercise-of-trust]

it baffles me, though it probably shouldn't, that someone can write an entire rpf novel about j. r. r. tolkien finding a mysterious ancient book and going on thrilling international adventures, and get it published with enough success that i can accidentally stumble across it in the sff section of the local library

[chronotopes]

i'm just thinking about professional wrestling now instead of work OR redemption arc discourse

[age-of-moonknight]

Variant cover for Moon Knight (Vol. 9/2021), #25 by Frank Miller.

[emeritus-fuckers]

could i have so,e headcanons of repugnant members with a s/o that twitches, yells and squeaks due to Tourette’s :)?

Repugnant with a darling who has Tourette's

Mary Goore (they/them)

They don't really say anything unless one of your tics somehow ends up with you accidentally hitting them or calling them a slur.

It's only then that they give you an amused look and question you on it in a jokey tone.

They don't mind, it's all cool. You can't help it.

They might make a few jokes about it if you're cool with it.

Not much happens with it, honestly.

If anyone mocks you, their throat ends out ripped out.

DD Sars (he/him; fwb, not s/o)

Oh, he loves it. He thinks it's hilarious.

He doesn't really mock you, but if any of your tics are funny to him, he will snort at them and tease you.

If you have echolalia, he will be sure to randomly say slurs in hopes you pick it up and they become your new tics.

He's a dick, but he's a fucking protective one.

He's allowed to bully you. Strangers aren't.

DD will not hesitate to bring out the knife.

And give the other bully, as Connor once said, twenty-eight stab wounds.

G. Grotesque (he/him)

He makes you feel so comfortable about your tics it's incredible.

Whenever you have a verbal tic, he mimics it with a sweet smile.

He's got echolalia, so he repeats noises you make.

And with how cute and cuddly he is (I love him), it just... feels like an absolute safespace.

You two just chill together, your tics and his echolalia almost creating music together with all your noises.

If any of your tics hurt you, he kisses the hurt place and cuddle you.

You're free to use him as your anti-stress plushie!

E. Forcas (he/him)

He tries to read about it a little so he knows how to help you.

He tries to create as stress-free environment as he can for you, making sure you actually enjoy it.

So if you want a pillow fort on his couch, that's what you get, even if his need to keep his place clean and organized is suffering. It's a small sacrifice for your happiness.

He never comments on your tics, only asks if he can help when he notices they're getting more intense.

If he sees anyone stressing you out, you will actually get one of the very few chances to see him get violent.

And he's a big boy, he can knock a bitch out with a singular punch.

Tom Bones (he/him)

Tom doesn't even bring it up or say anything unless he notices it getting way worse than usual.

He only asks if you're good and if you need anything.

He trusts you can handle it yourself, but he's there if you need him.

He read somewhere that beer helps and while he never bothered to fact-check it, he fully believes enough beer can help with any issue, either by solving it... or creating another, bigger issue that lets you forget the original problem.

He gets new drumsticks if anyone dares bully you.

Sid E. Burns (he/him)

Sid is a chill dude. He doesn't really question people.

If you have tics, you have tics, who is he to judge?

If he can still cuddle you, he's cool with it.

If he notices you getting stressed, he will simply pick you up and carry you away from whatever is stressing you out.

No stress allowed, it's cuddle on the couch time. Fuck anything else, he needs his nap buddy.

If anyone else makes you stressed out about your Tourette's, though?

Let's just say those cuddles will include just a bit more blood covering him and his knuckles will be ruined from all the punching.

Carlos Sathanas (he/they)

Carlos likes scaring people. If he sees anyone stressing you out, they will simply sneak up behind them (he walks scarily quietly) with a wide, cheshire cat-like grin.

Considering he almost never removes his corpse paint (he's a Kesha girlie), he is scary as fuck.

When it comes to you, though? He genuinely doesn't care.

Carlos follows the beautiful logic of "if I can steal someone's food, that's all that matters", so they don't pay much attention to things like that.

Hell, they probably don't notice at first.

He might copy some tics he finds funny or adorable, but he drops it if you wish it so.

Chris Piss (he/him)

The nerd. The horror maniac. The creepypasta kid.

He will infodump to you about Ticci Toby. He even suggests you go to some cosplay event as Ticci Toby and Clockwork (with him being Clockwork, of course!).

He might call you his ticci darling if you're okay with it. He's very welcoming to your Tourette's and puts in effort to make sure you know he's always gonna be your safe space.

He doesn't want you to be ashamed, he believes you should embrace it and be proud of yourself.

Chris is your personal hype man, darling. Because in his eyes, you're the coolest.

And he's sending anyone who disagrees to the hospital.

~

Written by Nosferatu.

[hershelwidget]

wait hang on

HANG ON

DO YOU SEE MY VISION

[secretmellowblog]

The reason I’m having trouble writing the second chapter of my recent Hugo-pastiche Les Mis fanfic is that, every time I try to write Jean Valjean in the style of Victor Hugo, the chapter just turns into an overlong agonized inner monologue of spiraling self-recriminations and self-loathing. and then the story never moves forward. :P

Originally I’d actually hoped for this entire fic to be a short comic, but I changed it to prose after realizing that most of the comic’s script was just Jean Valjean’s inner monologue and yet somehow all that inner monologue was still not enough to feel like anything even close to resembling something like the characterization of Hugo’s Jean Valjean.

This is why it’s so much easier to write Javert. Javert canonically hates thinking and will not do it. It makes everything so much easier