#am plotting

[johnwickb1tsch]

Me, imagining Donaka Mark luring Jake Paul to take part in a "real" televised fight...

[theamberalice]

Things that are great about this draft of the vampire novel:

-finally have an ending idea.

-unhinged notes

-doing scenes because I want to and not because I'm 100 percent sure will work

Things that stink:

-I have an ending and it feels like I'm mourning a friend that isn't dead yet.

-there's motifs I can't figure out anymore but feel vital to tone.

-actually writing SUCKS

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

You're just not toxic enough.

[alovecraft]

This turned out...longer than I had intended so I'm going to put everything under a cut to save some space.

TLDR: thought experiment on what else you could do with the idea of a book blanket and how I'm thinking on it.

So, a few weeks ago (? maybe?) I ran across this video on instagram that was more of a reaction of another video. Someone had mentioned that instead of doing a temperature blanket, you could do a book blanket. The video I came across was where someone was basically like "yes, good idea" and held up a book and a granny square where they'd based the colours picked on the cover of the book. I thought it was pretty neat.

Eventually, a few days later or whatever, I ran across the original video, where the person muses about why not. Why not make a book blanket instead of a temperature blanket?

From what I gather, a temperature blanket is one of those...bizarre fiber art pieces that worms its way into the "I could make that" thought process and sits there until the person thinks it's a great idea and begins the attempt.

Up until now, I have never wanted to make a temperature blanket. Because I know me: I am easily distracted.

And it seems like...such a weird thing to take on.

But, I get it. You do you. You make what makes you happy.

Anywho.

The idea of a book blanket has been festering for a little while and I thought it would be kinda cool to see like how I could go about it. Like, yeah, I read a lot in my kindle app (Jamie has basically taken over the tablet so he can use the kindle app on that because the words are larger) and while we have...so. many. books. in this house, sometimes it really is just easier to read in digital format. And sometimes it's easier for us to find our digital copy of the book we're looking for to find the quote (or author or whatever) than hunt through the bedroom, living room, dog room, basement, garage, or pantry to find the book we're telling the other about.

And then I started thinking about other things.

Like: I read a lot of fanfic. I could do a fic blanket. I have tumblr set up to where I can check my likes if I didn't reblog a thing because, let's be honest, I am not the best, most in tune person when it comes to remembering to reblog things. Half of the time I don't even remember to reblog things for myself to look at later. Object permanence is not just for items behind the cabinet door--it is for all things in my life and being a burned out gremlin trying to regain some sort of semblance of life does not help.

So yeah, a fic blanket.

And then I find myself wondering like what would I do for colours? If I stick with a two-colour theme, that would probably help.

. What would Sambucky be? Red and Grey? or Red and Black? . Winterhawk would be what? Purple and...grey? black? . Clintasha is easy: Red and Purple . Clint/Coulson is easy: Black and Purple . But then you get into the: what about the weird Hawkeye/Deadpool fic that pops up randomly? Would that be one of the ones that have to be a three-colour piece? Like red, pink, and purple since clintasha is red and purple? . What about Stucky? Stucky could be red and grey, but then that means sambucky would have to be red and black. Would they be the same shade of red? . Then you have Stony. That's red and red . Or Winteriron, which brings us back to the red and grey theme, so that would make it red, "gold," and grey (gold being that weird dandelion yellow I've got that's more of a Bruins yellow gold) . And the Reader or Y/N or You inserts. Like what colour do I use for the reader-insert fics? I could use the same colour for all of them, but what colour would I use (what colour do I have?) Would it be like one of the weird ombre yarns I have? I don't want to use white because, honestly, I don't think I have white yarn at all in my...12 or so totes of yarn. Do I use my favorite colour (whatever colour that happens to be when I make the colour key)

And then the NHL fic would be easy to do: whatever colours are used for the team. Since I really only read like...Stars and Kraken for whatever reason, that's...Green and black or silver and Teal and white. Boom, there you go. Easy peasy...easy if I have white yarn (do I have white yarn? do I need to get white yarn?). But, if I really wanted to nerd out, I could go onto one of the colour wheel websites that has the exact hexcode (is it hexcode? I don't remember. it's been a long time since did all that stuff) of the colours for each team.

And then that made me think about: what about short stories? I read short stories. What would I do for short stories? Would they be added to the book one or would they be their own little thing? Like...would there be a set colour code for short stories themselves or would I go by vibe of the story?

For instance, the "humans are space orcs" thing, would I go with a black or grey and...mustard yellow because I am a huge dork and immediately think of star trek and how cool Geordi La Forge was. Or like, "The Night Wire" by H F Arnold, would I do green? Like the brightest green I can find in my stash? Or the closest green I can find to the colour of those old library desk lamps, whatever they're called. The super cool ones that offices had in days gone past.

And then you get to like...what about "The Showers" by Dylan Sindelar (at least, I think that's who wrote it. a quick google search leads me to a reddit post that just deep dives into the whole feels of the story. Normally I just pull up Otis Jiry's narration of the tale). Or "Search and Rescue Stories" by...R Brauer (according to the NoSleep Podcast website, that's who wrote it so that's what I'm going by.). Like, what colourations would I do for these? It's not like it's easy, like "The King in: Yellow" (not the Robert W Chambers story, this one is a continuation of the idea and it was in a book of short stories and I came across the audio version and it was wonderful and bizarre and I have not found the device it was loaded on to in years and it is driving me up the wall because I cannot remember the author for anything). Or what about any of the M R James stories that I come across or re read or re listen to, which will happen so I don't even have to think on the "what if I do" thing, because it's M R James and I enjoy "Number 13" and "Rats" and many others.

But yeah, I don't know. It's gone from a fun idea to a weird thought experiment to a realization that I really need a plan to figuring out how I'd actually do it all. I'm still on 5 finished books so far for the year with 4 that I've started (that I'm aware of), plus 5 or 6 audiobooks that I've finished (they'd be going into the book file), with a sprinkling of short stories and a heapload of fanfic.

My goal is to write out everything I've finished (author, title) and set it up so it's easy to find. Books have a 2-3 colour notation for what they'll be with the author and title. Short stories would be a bit harder, but still a 2 colour variation. Fics would be a 2-colour deal with the occasional 3 colours depending on who it is.

While I do read a lot of the same ship in fic, I also do have a tendency to go back and read from past fandoms or check out other things, so it's all up in the air.

Or this could be a normal "all talk no do" where I just brain dump everyhing and then never actually do the thing I want to do. I don't know. We'll see. But, for now, I want to make some hot chocolate and veg out a little more before Jamie inevitably barges in demanding we do something outside in the cold, wet, morning day in order To Get Things Done.

[adreamthatsworthkeeping]

This is what they mean when they say writers can't help but come up with ideas.

I'm listening to Off Menu, a food podcast famously not about books at all.

They have on a guest who wrote a book. It's about a woman who gets ghosted by someone she dated.

I thought from the title it might have been about her dating a ghost. Instant idea pops into my mind and now I have a half page summary of this book I want to write about a woman dating a ghost.

And if I wasn't editing one book, 70% thought a first draft of a second book, with already a third one in the works, I would sit and write this book.

[queenlua]

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one that added 35k extra words to the projected length of this fucking story ahgeilahgleiag

[katsinspats]

Tragic: Guy you based your entire villain backstory on doesn't even remember you

[humming-fly]

I love how much funnier the plot holes from sonic gens become when you throw in the shadow gens plotline

[chamerionwrites]

Honestly this gets at my chiefest complaint/frustration/discomfort with fandom as a whole. Which is: in their rush to defend the artistic merit of fanworks I think a ton of people have really valorized transformation and remixing and reinterpretation in and of themselves, when imo those are all quite neutral actions. When done well, they can expand and build upon and subvert meaning in really powerful and thought-provoking (and fun!) ways. When done poorly, they are just as likely to flatten and oversimplify and decontextualize and completely erase meaning. The simple act of changing something does not imbue the choice to do so with creative validity. It is entirely possible for a cover song to be bad (or just boring!). To exactly the same degree that it is possible to transform a pretty shallow and straightforward work into something deeper and more nuanced and subversive, is possible to transform a work into a vastly shallower and less interesting shadow of itself. As with nearly everything in art, it's all about the execution!

But the second you voice this position (which should honestly be a pretty uncontroversial one imo), you get people shrieking at you about being gatekeep-y and pretentious and betraying the sacred fandom etiquette of Don't-Like-Don't-Read.

And like...listen. I was not raised in a barn. I am 150% capable of quietly back-buttoning out of a fanfic I think is bad or boring - which is exactly what I do when I encounter them - and I am obviously not advocating for stupid ships wars or any kind of harassment or leaving hatemail in people's AO3 inboxes. (Which some people will also accuse you of the second you say anything less than lavishly positive about fandom, in true piss-on-the-poor fashion.) Literally all I am saying is that you can't have your cake and eat it too - that if fandom and fanworks (in the broadest sense) have artistic merit then fandom and fanworks (in the broadest sense) are fair game for artistic critique. Which means, in practice, that I can go on my own blog and make a post exactly like this one - critiquing broad trends, or stating that some interpretations are bad actually, or pointing out that subverting or talking back to or reading against the grain of canon is very different from simply ignoring it, or saying "fandom's culture of collage/remix/fuck-canon-I-do-what-I-want can lend itself to to really creative and interesting art but also to a lot of really bland homogenized cut-n-paste art, not to mention some pretty troubling decontextualization." And that if you feel this rains on your personal parade, you are then free to DLDR by back-buttoning out of my blog and/or blocking me so you never have to see my hot takes again, rather than clamoring in my notes about how I should let people enjoy things.

[mafuyuakgae]

even if I came to love humanity in the end, there’s no proof I was ever here, right?

[egophiliac]

So.... what are your thoughts on Ace's UM, if you haven't been asked this already?

sneaky magic for the sneakiest boy

no but really, I think it fits him really well! I had thought his UM would probably involve something kinda sleight-of-handy or pickpockety! and I looooved that it made such a nice loop-around back to episode 1. ❤️ I was. kind of half-expecting him to just run out and punch Riddle in the nose again. but instead this time 'twas he who offed the queen's head! it was great! and he did it while stone-cold terrified out of his mind! because Ace is the only remotely normal or well-adjusted person at NRC and therefore the only one who is like "we're going to literally die, this is super effed up". but he did it anyway!!!! I AM SO PROUD

[illusioncanthurtme--art]

Prev Next

Would you look at that, I wanted to post 43 images in one post, and tumblr wouldn't let me! Here's the first 18. I'll share the rest of what I've drawn in a moment. PLEASE pretend I drew bills eye scar in all of these. My sleep deprived ass could NOT be bothered :'D

Bills adorable little campaigning outfit is courtesy of @kerink !! It was just so great I HAD to draw it. Here's her drawing.

As always: Support Bills Noble Cause and vote for Ford. We've less than 24 hours people!!

[pokimoko]

I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.

[pixiishi]

“are you sure about this?” “no. but i love you.” “i love you too.” 💚 the kiss

based on the painting “the kiss” by gustav klimt

ID in ALT text

[suntails]

touch the spindle, touch it i say!

[baeshijima]

thoughts on being engaged to duke!sunday, the head of the oak family, an incredibly influential figurehead within society, the close subordinate of emperor gopher wood who brought him and his sister in and raised him like his own, and the villain who faces a tragic ending in a novel you recently finished — the very same one you just so happen to find yourself transmigrated into. he is as cunning as he is blinded, a trait which brought ruin to many in the empire, and one which ultimately brought ruin to himself at the hands of the protagonists.

as luck would have it, you became a barely mentioned side character from a marquis family, whose role was to be the villain's wife stuck in a one-sided love who, too, would get caught up in the tragedy alongside him. however, now that it's you who is stuck in this position, you're determined to try any means necessary to deter him from going down that path, all in an effort to escape your predestined doomed fate!

of course, you didn't expect it to be easy. the day of your arrival in this world was already the night before your wedding, so you had little time to prepare yourself for the nonchalance of your supposed family, how they viewed you as but a means — a tool — to boost their influence and prosperity, the dismissive mannerisms of the household servants, and the absolute beauty of a man you will be married to.

(seriously. the novel descriptions did not do him justice. he was like... like... like he was handcrafted by god himself! and not to mention his sister, robin, was the very epitome of an angel! perhaps you're destined to perish by the god-tier visuals instead...)

to say the least, the wedding ceremony went by quickly. safe to say you didn't spend the night; he was cordial and gentlemanly upon letting you know that he won't do anything until you're ready, that you can take this relationship slow, but somehow you ended up feeling a tad insulted. like, who leaves their newly wedded alone in a big cold bed as they walk out on their own? a sick bastard that's who!

well, whatever. it's not like you need nor want to consummate with him! besides, you have bigger things to worry about — things such as your impending death. and, of course, the only way to stop sunday that you can imagine working is by chipping away at his resolve bit by bit, and opening his eyes to reality.

he is a tragic character, one who cares more about the well-being of penacony and its people than anyone else, but was manipulated into getting his hands dirty in the emperor's stead. you knew this. you sobbed over his story, cursed out the protagonists, and even fought internet randos on novel forums about sunday's motivation and how,

no, he is not just a stupid villain. he is a complex character with flaws and humanity and was cruelly taken advantage of by someone he considered family. he was deceived through the suffering the emperor wanted him to see to make him easily manipulated, creating a rift between him and robin to have that prominent separation. you know what? maybe you're just a !%#@ who can't even #@?"% read properly!

and yet you still find yourself at a loss when faced with the walls he has in place. your initial efforts went as well as it possibly could have; you trying to earnestly help him, while he "kindly" dismisses your offers! well, "kindly" being more condescending since you could read between the lines of his mannerisms and amiable demeanour, but that's fine! you expected this! that just means you have to double down on your sincerity, get through to his heart (somehow), and help him realise humanity isn't as weak as he's led to believe!

you have three years until the novel's plot officially starts, and another year after that until your demise. that's plenty of time to get him to warm up to you!

it was easier said than done, but after your valiant effort and abundance of time put into this relationship, which admittedly you could do with some of that lost time back, you could give yourself a pat on the back with the progress you made! while you definitely could have done without a lot of the headaches, it's safe to say sunday has significantly warmed up to you in comparison to your wedding day. he now willingly eats all his meals with you with some real conversation, takes garden strolls with you in the early evenings, invites you out for dinner at a restaurant at least four times a week, hell he's even joked and laughed with you more frequently! but most importantly, he has begun asking for your opinion before finalising any decisions he is required to make. and he actually listens and considers your side! now, that certainly is the best outcome you could hope for after all this time, and it most definitely will help in your endeavour to save you both from the protagonists!

however, you've noticed he's been more... affectionate? well, at the very least he now willingly holds your hand when in private (not just in moments when you're in the public eye and he has to make sure the family's reputation is spotless), sometimes he will hug you out of the blue ("i just need to... recharge. you have a way of calming me down. i hope you don't mind." ...how could you say no to his supreme god-tier face card? that's just a losing battle you won't even bother fighting against.), oftentimes he opts to just gaze wordlessly at you (robin had mentioned over one of your tea times how it almost appears as though there is no one but you in the world when sunday gazes at you with, in her words, "the eyes of a man so deeply in love!" ...whatever that's supposed to mean...), but a more recent development has been his sudden interest in kissing you; well, more specifically giving you a kiss to the back of your hand or on your forehead — certainly not anywhere near the lips! (besides, he's probably just gotten comfortable with you, enough where he can freely act without judgement. nothing more, nothing less.)

well, either way, development is development! soon enough, the time for the main plot to start has arrived. it of course follows what you remember, from the organised balls to the protagonists meeting to the political aspects of it all. the only difference is sunday's less active involvement in all the schemes and the emperor's ploy. rather, he seems more focused on you and the future of your marriage and even displayed a sudden interest in your practically non-existent relationship with one of the foreign diplomats, aventurine— wait...

"[name]," he calls your name out so sweetly you nearly disregarded it as someone else he was talking to. well, perhaps you would have done had he not suddenly appeared before you, a tight-lipped smile tugging the corners of his lips as he steadily approaches you.

oh. he doesn't seem very happy, if his tense figure is anything to go by. you wonder if one of the nobles grated his nerves a little too much this time?

sunday comes to a halt a step away from you. "i don't like that... gambler being so close to you. it... it brings me a rather unpleasant feeling." there's a slight, trembling pause. not a moment later does he close the gap between you, one knee on the ground as he matches your seated height on the fountain rim, your hands gently enclosed in both of his.

you idly wonder if this is what robin meant by the so-called "eyes of a man so deeply in love" she constantly gushed about, for the way in which he gazes up at you is enough to render you breathless.

"tell me, [name]," he begins once more. there is an underlying desperation woven within his tone, one which has your head spinning and heart thumping wildly as his trembling gaze holds you in place. "tell me, what am i to do with this fervent love and overwhelming adoration i hold for you?"

oh.

...oh.

perhaps your impending doom should be the least of your concerns when you now find yourself in the arms of a clingy husband...

(though, it's safe to say you did, in fact, manage to prevent him from succumbing to his tragic fate! you just gained a loving, yet slight slightly emotionally challenged husband along the way.

well, you can help him work through it; you have the rest of your lives now to figure it out, after all.)