#and they were all classic books too

[hanhwrites]

Didn't realize how much of a nerd I was until I walked into a bookstore and immediately freaked out because they had really nice books

[sukibenders]

Is it just me or does the way Hera is portrayed in the PJO/HOO series feel out of touch? By that I mean, while it plays into the idea of Hera's relationship with her husband's children and ideals of family, it seems like Rick just took that and ran with it without actually wanting to dive into those aspects and develop them more (ngl, his writing for his female characters, especially the goddesses, could use some work even if I do enjoy them). The reason Hera is the way she is with her husband's children is because she can't punish him [Zeus] directly due to him being more powerful (and the last time she turned against didn't he literally hang her from the sky)? And even while I'm not justifying her actions, there's a method to them, so why would she go after other random demigods like Percy and Annabeth? Or at least in a way that was written better than her falling into a trope (I enjoy this series with my heart, but the criticism about how the gods are written holds some value that shouldn't just be ignored either). Like, I don't know, it just feels like there was more that could've been done with her character instead of just immediately writing her off as the cruel, cold-hearted, evil stepmother (a trope that's overplayed, especially when not even bothering to give them any depth). I could write ideas, but then we'd be here all day.

[greenerteacups]

favorite relationship (non romantic or otherwise) in the hp canon? one thing I love about lionheart is Harry and hermione’s friendship - criminally overlooked in the books imo pidgeonholing hermione into only the “nagging mum” role for so much of it ! these two are siblings!

interesting parameters! my favorite non-romantic relationship in canon is ron and harry, actually. i think that hermione has great friendships with both of them, but the sheer intensity of the bond between ron and harry is unmatched anywhere outside romantic pairings in the books. harry latches onto him basically at first sight and imprints like a baby goose, and goes, "excellent, at last, a Friend; i will now spend all of my time and attention on you Forever." what's that? hungry you say? sad you say? i will buy you All The Food. then draco "definitely homeschooled" malfoy rocks up with his hilariously incompetent friend overtures and harry says right that's cool, but you threw shade at ron, so you can fuck right off forever. i've had this weird little ginger in my life for less than a day and if anything happens to him i'd kill myself. bye.

and ron drinks! it! up! because he's never had it! he's never been First for someone before, and he LOVES it! and he responds by becoming an instant ride-or-die for harry. that's not a reading, either, that's straight up text: in book 3, ron says, verbatim, "if you want to kill harry, you'll have to kill me." and he's thirteen!! takes him about five minutes to get there, too — in the ten weeks they've known each other before christmas break, eleven-year-old ron weasley tells his MOM about his new cool friend, and whatever he writes is so glowingly effusive that molly knits harry a goddamn family sweater (if you knit, you Know) without having stone cold met the kid! not to mention — ron (at eleven! eleven years old, ron weasley!) decides to pass up his only chance to see his parents until june, not to mention missing his family christmas, so he can stay at hogwarts and keep harry company! because harry potter will never be lonely if ron weasley can help it!!

basically. ron and harry are the original platonic soulmates. they ARE the catherine-heathcliff "he's more myself than i am" dig-up-his-grave-so-you-can-lie-in-it type of love. they are each other's destiny and each other's choice.

[cuteniarose]

The consequences of my poor financial decisions are here!!

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Principle of Moments

start of a scifi space opera series

a teen girl in the far future where humans are oppressed learns she has a destiny & a lost sister and escapes

and a young time traveler who’s given up trying to find his father through time, and is about to settle in 1812 with the prince he loves, but is unwillingly thrust into the future

they both learn their fates are entangled by a prophecy, and have to race across the galaxy, followed by a galactic emperor and the legacy of heroes from an ancient religion

[groundbreakingdot872]

Ever think about the fact that Uther fell in love with a corpse?

That Catrina was dead, had already been dead for weeks, when the troll strutted into court wearing her face

And speaking of the origins of their plan- the troll had likely scavenged the estate of Tregor after the invasion minutes after the event, kicking bodies out the way on her instinctual hunt gold

Instead of finding anything valuable, which the bandits had already taken, she found pretty personal belongings, too lesser for a thief... and the lady that they belonged too.

Brutally murdered maybe, but intact enough to be recreated, and impersonated.

Finding her manservant’s body fallen nearby made the idea too easy to conceive, a "Jonas" in hand and the personal items of Catrina ruthlessly ripped away, the plan wealth beyond their imagining was already in motion

And then in the aftermath, of the whole horrid, gruesome, embarrassing affair, when the rumors had died down enough…

Uther must’ve gone quietly, in the early hours of the morning, to visit Catrina’s grave - the real Catrina

Laid flowers, and shed a few private tears over the woman he had never met, but had strong feelings for, perhaps love. Her physique and voice had enchanted him, in more ways than one, and temporarily given him a happy out from the sins of the past

Though it must've unsettled him, that he had fallen for the figment of a woman, not even a ghost, and pledged his entire Kingdom in a heartbeat over a pleasant if pitying face

Although I'm sure the irony, of beloveds coming back to the present, wearing marred faces with a masked intent for vengeance over ghosts of his evils, must have eluded him...

[chemicalarospec]

libraries are the best places in the whole wide world!!!

[piplupod]

been listening to the audiobook of the first warriors (cat series) book and... man. MAN !!! no wonder ravenpaw's whole thing here made me incredibly uncomfortable and scared in a way I'd never experienced while reading before when I first read it in like grade 4/5. it is such a mirror for the abuse (the control aspects mainly) and emotions I was feeling but didn't have the awareness of at the time (<- had been convinced that the way their family operated was normal and couldn't find out otherwise bc they weren't allowed to talk about any aspects of their home life to anyone outside of the family because "family is all you can trust, you can never trust anyone outside of this house". haha don't u love it when ur mother's abuse lines up with things present in the BITE model ☺️☺️☺️✨✨ very epic and cool /sarc!!!!!)

absolutely jarring experience though to be casually working on landscaping a big area in m.inecraft and then oops here's a big thunk on the head from this children's series you were obsessed with as a kid! here's a puzzle piece for you to put into place! WHAT THE HELL MAN 😭😭 im just trying to NOT think for a little while,,, truly there are so few escapes bc the abuse permeates so many aspects (dare i say... all aspects...) of my life right down to the media i connected with as a child.

and no I'm not going to examine why I enjoyed Huck Finn and Heidi so much because that one will DEFINITELY kick me in the stomach repeatedly 😐

[stergeon]

for the writer ask

💭🚦💛 💌

💭 What inspires you and your writing?

this is a real marketing major-ass answer (from your local marketing major), but i love sharing knowledge and telling stories. writing’s one of those things that’s a bit of a compulsion for me—i’m always writing something. i took a five-year break from fiction writing before i stumbled ass-first into fanfic last year, but even in those years when i was focusing on my career, i was writing guides and trainings and a ton of other stuff—just not anything fun, lol.

writing is also so cathartic. sometimes i set out to tell a specific story, but at other times, a particular emotion gets me in a vice grip and i have to put it to words before it’ll go away. my stories tend to wind up as emotional dumping grounds as a result.

i don’t write things pulled directly from my own life, but there are bits and pieces of myself and things that have happened to me scattered throughout stuff i’ve written, and usually when i’m about 75% of the way through a piece, i’ll realize it’s absolutely related to something i’m currently going through. funny how art works that way, even when you don’t intend for it to.

and occasionally i just have a fire lit under my ass about an issue and i get so hot about it that i gotta compile my thoughts. looking at you, silver snow

🚦 What sort of endings do you prefer to write: ambiguous, bad, happily ever after, etc.?

look, i would love nothing more for them girls (pick whichever girls you please) to have a happy ending where they kiss and are stupid in love for the rest of forever. i love reading those kinds of stories. but in my heart of hearts, i love an ambiguous ending. i like when there are still questions after the story ends. i like thinking about where things could go or how the characters will go on after the events of the story. like, shared space could be read as having a happy ending, but i don’t really think it is. and with the victors; the vestiges, well. you’ll see :0)

come to think of it, i’m not sure i’ve ever written a happily-ever-after, but i don’t think i’ve ever written a 100% bad ending, either. i read too many bury-your-gays stories and watched too many sad european queer coming-of-age films in my youth to ever be happy putting that kinda thing out into the world. i want to write about love with all its ugliness, but not despair or hopelessness. i think what most appeals to me about an ambiguous ending is that lingering feeling of hope. it’s not the same as the kind you get from a happily-ever-after, and something about it speaks to me.

💛 What is the most impactful lesson you’ve learned about writing?

honestly? how to take criticism. i took a creative writing class in high school where we had to read our work out loud and then receive feedback on it from the other writers in the class, and that did a lot for me. going into that class, i’d already been writing for forever and had won some little local writing contests and such, so i was a wee bit of a pretentious douche. but i’d never gotten real critique before beyond, essentially, spelling and grammar checks. it humbled me lol. it made me grow so much as a writer, and i could see where i needed to improve or where my head was wedged way too far up my own ass for others to follow. it also helped me recognize strengths i didn’t know i had, and that was huge. it’s easy to get into a self-doubt spiral when making creative work, and good, constructive criticism can do so much to help avoid that.

to this day i love critique. i like knowing what worked or didn’t work so that i can continue to improve as a writer and do better next time. did my themes land? did something really work, but another part fall flat? i’d love to know!! i try to treat everything i write as practice for the next thing, and frankly that’s helped take some of the pressure off so i don’t go into total Perfectionist Mode.

i know critique is kind of a sensitive topic in fan spaces, but i think that’s because a lot of people have gotten unsolicited criticism that is purely critical and isn’t constructive. but getting good, constructive criticism will do so much to help a person grow as a writer. it’s scary, and sometimes it hurts! writing is very personal for most people, and it stings when things aren’t received the way you think they will be. but i know i’ve grown more from having my failures pointed out (and, very importantly, having the good things about those efforts acknowledged) than anything else.

💌 Is there a favorite trope you like to write?

actually Just answered this in another ask!

[poirot]

anyone has book recs for me, I'm desperate (preferably less than 300 pages, no romance, no ya lit, nothing that includes torture scenes of any sort ; I like gothic fiction, classic child lit, classic lit in general, whodunits, i'm open to everything tho I say after asking for something very specific LOL)

[coquelicoq]

i’ve been trying to think of ways to keep up my spanish since i moved and don’t know as many people to speak it with here; i saw you’re reading out loud in french every day how’s that going? would you recommend it to maintain fluency? :)

it's going well! it's great for maintaining vocab for sure, especially if you read recent stuff (as opposed to novels from the 1800s lol). and it's been helping a ton with my pronunciation; actually speaking the words helps with your own articulation as well as your oral comprehension to a lesser extent. i think it's a pretty good option in the absence of conversational partners, and it's really not necessary to spend a ton of time on it per day, especially if you're already fluent. you could read a chapter a day (or 10 pages, or 5 pages, or whatever) just to keep your hand in. worth a try if you have some spanish-language books available!

[frostkingoftheapocalypse]

//.

[13eyond13]

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[freepassbound]

🙄, 📚, and 💻 for the ask game please <3

🙄 What character from a movie/tv show/book etc. do you think was most like teenage you?

Shrek. Absolutely, Shrek.

📚 What were your favorite books growing up?

Well... I mean... it was the same as today - Star Trek books.

💻 What type of Youtube content do you enjoy the most?

Uh, mostly I watch soccer videos. 😅

Analysis and gaming, though (sometimes highlights).

Otherwise, I just listen to music.

[j-femmescoli]

episode title references bbc sherlock to original conan doyle stories:

a study in pink = a study in scarlet

the “pips” in the great game aka the tones he gets on his phone are a reference to the five orange pips

a scandal in belgravia = a scandal in bohemia - where we meet irene adler in the books too

at the beginning we see john titling some entries of his blog, including the geek interpreter = the greek interpreter, where we meet mycroft in the books, the speckled blonde = the speckled band, and the naval treatment = the naval treaty

the hounds of baskerville = the hound of the baskervilles, obvi

the reichenbach fall = in the final problem, the short story where sherlock dies (doyle is forced to retcon this into faking his death when people beg for more sherlock stories) he and moriarty go off a cliff at reichenbach falls into the water below

the empty hearse = the empty house

the sign of three = the sign of four, where we meet mary in the books

his last vow = his last bow, the last sherlock holmes book story-wise

the six thatchers = the six napoleons

the lying detective = the dying detective

the final problem = again, the final problem