#Sorry I wrote a dissertation to your anon it will happen again

[girlonthemoon81]

No problem with your critique however Smoke was with Annie not Mary lol. Her character was quite selfish as well would elaborate but nah

OOPS! Thank you so much for correcting me. I tried to double-check the relationships before posting, but there was barely any info out yet since the movie just dropped, lol. Do you mean that Mary or Annie was selfish? I’d genuinely love to hear your take because I enjoy seeing how other people are interpreting the characters. If you meant Mary, I kind of see that perspective, especially if you're not approaching the movie through a feminist lens. Her character was poorly written from the start. She’s positioned as a privileged white woman who mostly wants Stack for his sexual prowess (his penis lol). Most of their interactions are overly sexual. The train scene where she brings up him saying, “I love you” mid-fuck (i.e., her line, "You said you loved me while you fucked me and stuck your tongue in my cooter"), or the scene at the juke joint where it’s all about sex and being sexually alluring again. She only has one somewhat vulnerable moment, and that’s with Sammy, when she briefly opens up about her family and personal history with the twins. That moment showed she is aware of social caste systems, such as race and class. To me, the selfish one is Stack, but not in a “he’s just a selfish guy” way. He’s just the typical emotionally stunted, misogynistic man who fears vulnerability and can’t view women as human beings. He just uses Mary for sex and refuses to emotionally connect with her. I wouldn’t even call their dynamic a relationship (that's another conversation for another day). I found it disrespectful how he always told her to "Get the fuck away from him." That, honestly, to me wasn't just about his inability to form emotional connections, but it has more to do with his inability to see women, especially women he sleeps with, as human beings (Madonna-Whore Complex). This becomes a weirder intersection because, socially, Mary is a white woman. She’s rejected by a (Black) man who both (sexually) desires and resents her. She doesn’t understand (or refuses to accept) that he doesn’t love her and likely never will. Especially not in the way she needs to be loved, with care, consistency, and emotional accountability. And unfortunately, this is a hard reality for a lot of women in heterosexual relationships, particularly interracial ones (where many white women think Black men will "love/respect" them more because they are white, but those men just hate women in general and date them because they are socialized to be "submissive" to the man; we can also account that they use these women as objects to climb the social hierarchy).

It’s a double-edged sword when we look at this in the context of the 1930s. Yes, Stack is a Black man in a violently anti-Black country. He’s navigating racialized violence and structural limitations everywhere he goes. But at the same time, within that structure, he’s still a man. And in gendered terms, that gives him material and emotional power over Mary. He gets to dictate the terms of their dynamic. He has the power to want sex without offering love, commitment, or emotional care. Mary, on the other hand, is expected to take that emotional hit and still orbit around him. And even though she’s white, her gender positions her below him in certain ways, especially within the private/domestic sphere (you can read the separate spheres and the cult of domesticity Wikipedia page to learn more, but it basically states: men in the world, women in the home). We forget that Black men got the right to vote before white women ever did. That fact alone should tell you how deeply rooted misogyny is in American society. Mary wants a loving relationship on equal grounds. But Stack is not capable of giving that. Not because he’s Black, but because he’s a man who’s never had to be emotionally accountable to women. And the film makes no effort to explore those concepts. Instead, her need is made into a very humiliating joke (I have no clue if you have seen the movies in the theater or if they are on streaming services but his lines were meant to be laughed at, to make her the butt of the joke and to humiliate her). She combats this by exposing her sex life with him. As for Annie, I’m super curious how she could be viewed as selfish (if that is who you are calling selfish) because her whole character is written through the “strong Black woman” and “mammy” misogynistic tropes, which literally deny her any room to be selfish. So I’d love to hear more of your thoughts heehee

[gojonanami]

Dearest Sab,

I can't even find the words to express how much I have enjoyed reading chapter six and this series as a whole.

For me, this series holds such a special place. I have had so much fun watching its inception, reading each part, thinking about it, and I am so happy that it concluded on such a wonderful note. I think I will look on this time fondly – I have truly had such a fun time reading your work, engaging with your page and watching this story grow.

As for this chapter, I truly really enjoyed it. It's so good. I loved the way you chronicled their journey. I am so amazed – you're honestly such a fantastic writer. The dialogue literally made me cry.

I think the lines said by Suguru were some of the most romantic lines I've read. I was literally, physically moved as I read them. They're just so potent. You can literally feel his love through the screen.

This chapter was so enchanting that I just can't find enough words to chronicle it. It's such a beautiful stories that I can wax on and on and write pages on your story. I just know that I can write a 5000 word response to this series – the length of a short dissertation.

I am still reeling from the scenes. They're replaying in my head. From the beginning scene, to the scenes with Yuta, to Suguru's dream, the ice cream date, the presentation, the reconciliation...

And, oh my gosh, Yaga knowing? Ah, of course he'd know! And it ended up being so sweet...

And the scene in Suguru's office? His passion, want and love? It was so romantic, I literally had to pause and stare up at the ceiling because I was feeling myself getting heart eyes. It's so good.

And the end too?? The poodle?? And getting a new place? How sweet?

(Also, you set up Yuta's part so nicely. Looking at his future? What a cool way of doing it!!!)

This is such a beautiful series. I love it so much. I love Professor Geto so, so much. He's so, so cute.

Thank you so, so much for producing this gift <3

I know you've written before about worrying about writing long stories, but honestly, I have enjoyed them so much. I loved reading each part – they read so well & they flowed so well.

I'd like to acknowledge how much work you've put into this series. I respect you so much and admire you so, so, so much for writing so much and so well and so cleanly.

Thank you for writing this series which holds such a special place in my heart. It is truly a gem. A beautiful, beautiful gem.

Dearest anon,

this is so sweet — I can’t find the right words to reply to this 😭💕the series holds such a special place in my heart too and the fact so many of you resonated with it means the world to me. the engagement and love you all had for this series was the thing that kept me going and kept me inspired so thank you really 💕😭

I’m so glad 💕 I’m sorry it made you cry but also thank you 🫶🥹😭 it’s one of the highest compliments a writer can receive 🫶 it means so much to me that you especially enjoyed this part since it is the conclusion to the series and I’ve seen so many of my favs ruined by a lackluster ending which is why I went about this s particular way and way it took me two weeks to write it (even though I’m on break between jobs at the moment).

that is so sweet and if anyone wrote an essay about my fic I think I would sob because this ask is already enough to make me cry haha. I’m so glad the scenes were memorable — I was worried it wasn’t cohesive enough and truly tried to make sure it was.

Yaga wasn’t supposed to know but as I wrote it, I thought it would be perfect for him to know 😭 and to help them find each other again.

after how much happened in that goddamn office with me toying with all of you, I had to let them do it at least once hahaha.

ahhhh I’m glad you liked the ending — I had that last scene in mind from before I started part five — I only knew I was going to reference the first scene of part one. the rest came as I wrote it. and the set up for yuta came after since I added it in since I nearly forgot to add it in there.

thank you so much for reading and for your lovely words — I can’t tell you how much they mean to me. I do worry about it haha -/ it seems like the stories that are popular are just smut — and I like including smut but I also love writing complex human relationships (not bashing pnp in any way because smut is so freaking difficult to write) and so my fics are long — and obviously that’s not for everyone. It makes me happy that it flowed well 😭😭😭 I always worry about that!!

thank you so much for reading and for being here and for your incredibly kind words — there’s no words I can find to thank you for being here and sending this my way. 🥹💕 I hope you’re here for the other stories I wrote 🫶

[letteredlettered]

diff anon, i have a different problem with that anon in regards with word counts, I usually don't have a words to say, like usually my story ends up being under 10k even if I wanted it to be a lot more - I don't know if its because I'm just writing all the big plots and not enough small things, but your story always have so much content and it all feels so smooth and none of it boring.

In however many days it’s been since you left this ask I have been composing a response in my mind. At one point I realized I’d have to break it into four posts and link various parts to other parts wiki-style. It probably would have been 10,000 words. I do not have time to write that response, so he’s the tl;dr without having written it (I tried to cut for length but tumblr wouldn’t let me):

1) I’m a long person, almost six feet. Maybe that’s how my brain got long, and my thoughts are long. The thoughts I have feel like one continuous thought, and I feel like I have to tell you all of it. Even conversations I have feel like a conversation continued from another conversation. Not everyone is this long and I think that’s a good thing.

2) Long isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just long. So write what you want, but if what you want is long, I have some advice.

3) The advice I’m about to give isn’t about how to write well. In fact, it’s the opposite of how to write well in today’s day and age, and part of the length of the initial response in my mind was a dissertation on what “good writing” really means. The short version is that many 18th c writers used omniscient POVs and told you many extraneous things not pertinent to the story with complex syntax and flowery word choice and a delightful number of adverbs, and Hemingway came along and taught us all differently, but one is not inherently better than the other. Many stories from western cultures follow a shape like a graph but that is not inherently better either. Certainly there is good writing and bad writing, stories that move us and those that do not, but almost everyone that talks about how to write well is talking about how to write to match a certain accepted style. If you want to get lauded by others, if you write for kudos and comments, if you write to get published and be paid, then listen to advice about how to write well. If you would like to write a story that would make you happy, do that instead.

4) Here is the advice if you would like to write something long: a) put yourself in the characters’ shoes, b) don’t skip over anything

5) I'm just going to talk about Away Childish Things, sorry if you haven’t read it. The idea for first part of that story was “Harry gets de-aged. Draco sees how sweet and fiercely loyal and vulnerable Harry is. Meanwhile, Harry latches onto Draco, thinking Draco is the smartest, coolest, handsomest, kindest, most wonderful adult ever.” I had no specific scenes in mind, but I thought they could just hang out and Draco would do things like show him magic and make him dinner and read him story books. I thought Harry would get de-aged and that stuff could happen right away and then somehow Harry would grow up but Draco would de-age and then we could get into the rest.

So then I de-aged Harry, and I didn’t want them to stay where the accident happened, so I had Draco Apparate them to Draco’s flat. Then Draco being awesome was meant to begin so Harry could have a great time--except I pretended I was Harry. I thought about Harry at the beginning of Sorcerer’s Stone, and I realized I didn’t know what magic was. I had never met an adult who was kind to me, whom I trusted. Strange things happened around me all the time and I got blamed for it--and I realized, I would not want to stick around. I wouldn’t trust this guy. I would try to leave.

So I tried, over and over again, to make Draco explain, “Ah, yes, there is such a thing as magic and you have been de-aged,” but then I pretended I was Draco. I thought over what I knew about Harry at 11, and I realized I had no way of knowing that he was neglected and abused. He’s famous in my world; those Muggle relatives probably worshipped him like royalty. It would literally never occur to me that he didn’t know that magic existed--even if I had read it in the papers, my belief in Potter’s arrogance and pretentiousness and self-centeredness had been so real for me at 11 that even though so many of my opinions in life had changed, I had never grasped the reality of Harry’s early home-life. And so I would blithely assume he knew what magic was and that I didn’t have to explain.

The result was 17,000 words of a first chapter that was solely about Harry coming to understand that he had in fact been de-aged and that magic was a real thing, and that maybe he shouldn’t run away because he was in the future and had no where else to turn, and about a Draco struggling to get Harry to believe him and through the course of that happening realizing that the kid had been severely abused and hadn’t even ever had a proper hot chocolate. n

I mean. I’m sure many folks agree that that was the best chapter, but I spent literally 8 rewrites trying to get them to just ACCEPT THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES and get to the fun parts, except if you treat them as real people with real reactions to things with different perspectives and different knowledge coming into the situation all the sudden there are all these logistics--and as it turns out the logistics are the most fun.

So then I thought, oh, but the next morning they can do the fun stuff! But. Instead of summarizing the next day where now that they have accepted their mutual circumstances, they can develop a routine, I asked the question, “What happens when Harry wakes up? Does he have on pajamas? What does he have for breakfast? When does he take a shower?” This resulted in a breakfast conversation and bacon which is another part of the fic that is extremely important character-wise, though plot-wise it is entirely unnecessary. Some people certainly care and think that it is a poorly paced and unwieldy story--and it certainly is. Many do not care and love the bacon fiercely; I am one of those people; I wrote what I wanted and enjoy it.

6) ughhhhhhhh I have so much more to say about this. But anyway, these are the main reasons my fic is so long.

7) I will say that despite all my blather about what is “good” vs what is just a current style, this kind of thing is uniquely suited to fanfic. If Away Childish Things were an original fic, people would be a lot less interested in what Harry ate for breakfast. The first two chapters get across the emotional points you need for the story to continue--it establishes that Draco didn’t know what Harry went through as a child and now does know; it establishes that Harry likes and trusts Draco and thinks he’s cool. You don’t know more than that, but there are five chapters of it because I WANTED Draco’s Patronus to be a fawn and I WANTED us to get to see Harry strike out on his own without adult support just like he does in the books; I WANTED to see Draco lose his mind over it and call him darling. I’m sure other people wanted it too, because with canon they know what a Patronus means and they know how Harry tries to fix things for himself in canon and they know Draco is a hateful bigot who stomped on Harry’s face and was willing to get Harry killed, and so to watch him lose his mind, to watch him clutch at Harry and call him darling, meant so much more than it would have. Therefore, even though the story is not in fact a good shape and has many extraneous bits about dressing gowns and what the word Gryffindor means, the added bits we’re not supposed to keep because they don’t help us tell the story sharply are delightful. Like I said, some people disagree! But again, it’s about telling a story you want to read and live in, not something to sell or someone else will say is great writing.

THE END (for now, thank you for listening)

[ssfoc]

(***) if it weren't for the lack of media outlets then. Or maybe just less documentation on it. Information access is so available, worldwide and free though not necessarily accurate. It'll be easy to lose focus, to care more about the echoes and not the sound. Because why not? Its there. Last, would you mind maybe recommend other blogs that talk about 1D music or just music in general. I dont have musical background so its always interesting to read and compare from different perception/mindset

(****) Music is what interest me the most about 1D, and I hope they create more music in any kind (solo or otherwise). I think we became fans for various reasons, not one more valid than others, and its important to remember that. I’m trying not to lose focus. Thank you for your time, friend. Also, IS there anyway to send long post without breaking it to parts?? tumblr is a new thing for me :)

I do have a lot of great pop music blogs and podcasts to check out!

Blogs:

Popjustice: has a Spotify account of new music to follow. A lot of new music to listen to on the site

Pitchfork

Stereogum

The above three are all very mainstream pop music sites. Lots of industry news, reviews of new albums, samples to listen to. 

All Music: reviews a ton of music. I trust their reviews mostly. It’s a good place to start on most music. Also connects bands from one LP to another, which I find very helpful– tells me a lot about band history and the development of their sounds.

Fluxblog: I happen to like Matthew Perpetua a lot, if only for the fact that he listens to and reviews a lot of indie, rarely played, unusual sounding music. He has a shit ton of music on the site for download, all the way from the 1970′s.

Podcasts:

I love listening to pop music podcasts. Often they are hosted by people who have spent years studying and writing dissertations about pop music– about music theory, sociology, fan psychology. Everything about it is fascinating. I love the podcasts that talk about theory and songwriting. You would be surprised by some of the insights you learn. 

Pop Unmuted: love Scott Interrante, the musicologist, and Kurt Trowbridge, his friend. They discuss everything in an entertaining way, and often have great guests. 

Song Exploder: Love love love this podcast. They breakdown the elements of songwriting so it looks like a mess o the floor, and then slowly put it back together.

Sodajerker on Songwriting: haven’t listened to this as much, but plan to

Switched on Pop: smart smart smart people. You will never listen to pop the same way again. Start with the episode, “How to listen to music in four easy steps.” The Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah will be broken down in such an intelligent way, you will have to pick your jaw up from the floor. 

And the Writer Is: Ross Golan’s podcast. He wrote If I Could Fly with Harry. Lots of people with varying experiences in industry, all with very interesting stories. Savan Kotecha, Julia Michaels, Sir Nolan, Bebe Rexha, and many, many other excellent writers have spent an hour talking here. 

Addendum: I don’t know how to send long asks without their breaking up, anon. I’m very sorry. However, I’d love to chat by message if you want to. My message box is always open. Last, I am not aware of any blog, besides mine, that discusses One Direction music with song-by-song analysis. I have reviewed songs from requests. I will also review any future solo songs from the 1D boys that seem interesting to me. Thanks for reading!