madeupofnothings

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

I'm honestly impressed by my own timing, getting into mp100 - well, specifically serizawa, as he happens to be exactly my favorite type of character - right before a whole month of unrelated fan celebrations of the guy. so much art i almost feel spoiled for choice!!

[nyxshadowhawk]

A Retrospective on Harry Potter

Why did I like it in the first place? What about it worked? Where do I go from here?

I have decided to give up Harry Potter.

J.K. Rowling’s reputation now stinks to high heaven. At this point, she is quite indefensible. And even if that weren’t the case, she is not someone that I would want to associate with anyway. Meanwhile, the internet has not only turned against her, but against Harry Potter itself. An innocent question on Reddit, about which Hogwarts Houses the ATLA characters would be in, got downvoted to oblivion. Innumerable Tumblr threads insist that fantasy fans should get into literally anything else (suggestions include Discworld, Earthsea, The Wheel of Time, and Percy Jackson). And now that Harry Potter is no longer a sacred cow, there has been a recent slew of video essays that rip it to shreds, attacking it for its poor worldbuilding, unoriginality, and the problematic ideas baked into the original books (like the whole SPEW thing), etc. Those criticisms always existed, but now they’re getting thrown into the limelight.

It pains me to see such an ignoble downfall of Harry Potter’s reputation. If Rowling had just kept her damn mouth shut, Harry Potter would have aged gracefully, becoming a beloved children’s classic. I'd still plan to introduce it to my own kids one day (after Rowling dies and the dust settles). It’s not surprising that not all aspects of it have aged well, since it’s been more than twenty years since its original publishing date, and everything starts to show its age after that long. I acknowledge that most of the criticisms of the series that I’ve seen lately are valid, and I’ve read plenty of better books. And yet, when I return to the books themselves, even with the knowledge of who JKR really is inside my head, I still really enjoy reading them! There’s still a lot about them that I think works!

None of the other things I’ve read have had as collossal of an impact upon my identity, my values, and my own writing as Harry Potter. It’s hard to move on from it, not just because it’s something I enjoy, but because I have to literally extract my identity from it. I don’t know who I’d be without Harry Potter. I don’t know what my work would look like without Harry Potter. I don’t know how to carry it with me as just another piece of media that I like, as opposed to a filter for who I am as a person. So, with all that in mind, I have to ask myself why I liked Harry Potter so much in the first place. If I’m going to move on from it, then I have to be able to define and isolate the things about it that I want to keep with me. Something about it obviously worked, on a massive scale. So what was it?

It’s not the worldbuilding. The worldbuilding is objectively quite terrible, especially in comparison to that of other fantasy writers who knew what they were doing. At best, it’s inconsistent and poorly thought-out, and at worst it’s insensitive or even racist. Is it the characters? The characters are, in my opinion, one of the stronger parts of the story. But I felt very called-out by one of the many online commentators, who said that anyone who identifies with Harry is too cowardly to write self-insert fic. (I do not remember who said it or even which site it was on, but I distinctly remember the phrase, “Reject Harry Potter, embrace Y/N.”) The reason why people get so invested in Harry Potter’s characters is because they’re easy to project upon, and it’s possible that my love of Harry comes more from over a decade’s worth of projection than anything else. The incessant arguments over characters like Snape, Dumbledore, and James Potter ultimately stem from the fact that these characters do not always come across the way Rowling wanted them to. As for the writing itself, it’s decent, but not spectacular. Harry Potter is something of a sandbox world, with less substance than it appears to have and a crapton of missed opportunities, making it ripe for fanfic. For more than ten years, I’ve been doing precisely that — using Harry Potter as a jumping-off point to fill in the gaps and develop my own ideas, some of which became my original projects.

So what does Harry Potter actually have that sets it apart? Why are people so desperate to be part of Harry Potter’s world if the worldbuilding is bad? What, specifically, is so compelling about it? I think that there’s one answer, one thing that is at the center of Potter-mania, and that has been the underlying drive of my love of it for the past decade and a half: the vibe.

Harry Potter’s vibe is immaculate.

You know what I mean, right? It’s not actually a product of any specific trope, but rather a series of aesthetic elements: The wizarding school in a grand castle, with its pointed windows and torches and suits of armor, ghosts and talking portraits and moving staircases, its Great Hall with floating candles and a ceiling that looks like the night sky, its hundreds of magically-concealed secret doorways. Dumbledore’s Office, behind the gryphon statue, with armillary spheres in every single shot. Deliberate archaisms that evoke the Middle Ages without going as far as a Ren Faire: characters wearing heavy robes, writing with quills and ink on parchment instead of paper, drinking from goblets, decorating with tapestries. Owls, cats, toads. Cauldrons simmering in a dungeon laboratory. Shelves piled with dusty tomes, scrolls, glass vials, crystal balls, hourglasses. Magical candy shaped like insects and amphibians. A library with a restricted section. A forbidden forest full of unicorns and werewolves. That is the Vibe.

There are five armillary spheres just in this shot. They are unequivocally the most Wizard of tabletop decor.

There’s more to it than just the aesthetic, though. The vibe is present in something that writers call soft worldbuilding.

There’s a phrase that writers use to describe magic systems, coined by Brandon Sanderson: hard magic and soft magic. Sanderson’s first law of magic is, “An author’s ability to solve problems with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.” A hard magic system has clearly-defined rules — you know where magic comes from, how it works and under which conditions, how the characters can use it, and what its limitations are. Examples of really good hard magic systems include Avatar: The Last Airbender and Fullmetal Alchemist. If the audience doesn’t understand the conditions under which magic can work, then using magic to get out of any kind of scrape risks feeling like the writer pulled something out of their ass. It begs the question, “Well, if they could do that, then why didn’t they do that before?”

You may come away from that thinking that having clearly-defined rules is always better worldbuilding than not having them, but this isn’t the case. Soft magic isn’t fully explained to the audience, but that doesn’t matter, because it isn’t trying to solve problems — its purpose is to be evocative. Soft magic enhances the atmosphere of a world by creating a sense of wonder. If your everyman protagonist is constantly running into cool magical shit that they don’t understand, then the world feels like it teems with magic, magic that is greater and more powerful than they know, leaving lots of secrets to uncover. Harry Potter, at least in the early books, excels at this. The soft magic in Harry Potter is what got me hooked, and I think it’s what a lot of other people liked about it, too.

The essence of soft magic is best summed up by this scene in the fourth film, in which Harry enters the Weasleys’ tiny tent at the Quidditch World Cup, only to find that it’s much bigger on the inside. His reaction is to smile and say, “I love magic.”

That’s it. That’s the essence of it. You don’t need to know the exact spell that makes the tent bigger on the inside. You don’t need to know how Dumbledore can make the food appear on the table with a flick of a wand, or how he can make a bunch of poofy sleeping bags appear with another flick. You don’t need to know how and why the portraits or wizard cards move. You don’t need to know how wizards can appear and disappear on a whim, or what the Deluminator is, or where the Sword of Gryffindor came from. You don’t need to know how the Room of Requirement works. Knowing these things defeats the purpose. It kills the vibe, that vibe being that there is a large and wondrous magical world around you that will always have more to discover.

One of the best “soft magic” moments in the books comes early in Philosopher’s Stone, when Harry is trying to navigate Hogwarts for the first time:

There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armor could walk. —Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 8

Many of these details don’t come back later in the series, which is a shame, because this one paragraph is super evocative! It establishes Hogwarts as an inherently magical place, in which the very architecture doesn’t conform to normal rules. Hogwarts seems like it would be exciting to explore (assuming you weren’t late for class), and it gets even better when you learn about all the secret rooms and passages. The games capitalized on this by building all the secret rooms behind bookcases, mirrors, illusory walls, etc. into the game world, and rewarding you for finding them. The utter fascination that produces is hard to overstate.

Another one of the most evocative moments in the first book is when Harry sees Diagon Alley for the first time, after passing through the magically sealed brick wall (the mechanics of which, again, are never explained). This is your first proper glimpse at the wizarding world and what it has to offer:

Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, “Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad....” A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium — Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon.... —Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 5

What works so well here is the magical weirdness of wizardishness juxtaposed against normalcy. Eeylops Owl Emporium is just a pet shop to wizards. A woman makes a very mundane complaint about the price of goods, but the goods happen to be dragon liver. Broomsticks are treated like cars. All of these small moments contribute to the feeling of the wizarding world being alive, inhabited, and also magical. It gets you to ask the question of what your life would be like if you were a wizard. What do wizards wear? What do they eat? What do they haggle over and complain about? What do they do for fun?

In Book 3, Harry enjoys Diagon Alley for a few weeks when he suddenly has free time, and we get to experience the wizarding world in a state of “normalcy,” when he isn’t trying to save the world. He gets free ice creams from Florean Fortescue, gazes longingly at the Firebolt, and engages with delightfully weird people. He’s a wizard, living a (briefly) normal wizard life among other wizards in wizard-land. And that is fun. It’s so fun, that people want that experience for themselves, enough for there to be several theme parks and other immersive experiences dedicated to recreating the world of Harry Potter.

One of the greatest things about Universal was its phenomenal attention to detail. You can hear Moaning Myrtle’s voice in the women’s bathroom, and only the women’s bathroom. The walls of the Three Broomsticks have shadows of a broom sweeping by itself and an owl flying projected against the wall, so convincingly that you’ll do a double take when you see it. Knockturn Alley is down a little secret tunnel off of the main street, and that’s where you have to go to buy Dark Arts-themed stuff. It’s really well done.

Another thing that contributes to the vibe, in my opinion, is that the wizarding world is slightly macabre. They eat candy shaped like frogs, flies, mice, and so forth, and they have gross-tasting jellybeans. In the film’s version of the Diagon Alley sequence above, there’s a random shot of a pet bat available for purchase. In the third film, when Harry is practicing the Patronus Charm with Lupin, the candles are shaped like human spines. In the first book, this is Petunia’s description of Lily’s behavior after she became a witch:

Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school, and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was — a freak! —Philosopher’s Stone, Chapter 4

I remember reading this for the first time, and it just kind of made intuitive sense to me. I suppose it fits into the “eye of newt and toe of frog” association between magical people and gross things, but somehow it works. Unfortunately, this is retconned later with the knowledge that wizards can’t use magic outside school, but before that limitation gets imposed, the idea of Lily amusing herself by turning teacups into rats seems like an inherently witchy thing to do.

That association between magic and the macabre shows up elsewhere, as well. In The Owl House, Luz’s interest in gross things is one of the things that marks her as a “weirdo” in the real world. When she goes to the magical world of the Boiling Isles, weird and gross stuff is absolutely everywhere. That world’s vibe leans more towards the macabre than the whimsical, but it works because you sort of expect the gross stuff to exist alongside the concept of witches, and that they would be an intrinsic part of the world they inhabit. You don’t question it, because it’s part of the vibe.

(The Owl House is one of the few things I’ve encountered that has a similar vibe to Harry Potter, but it’s still not the same vibe. In fact, The Owl House outright mocks the expectation that magical worlds be whimsical, and directly mocks Harry Potter more than once. The overall vibe is much closer to Gravity Falls.)

The Harry Potter films utilize a lot of similar soft worldbuilding with the background details, especially in the early films that were still brightly-colored and whimsical. For example, the scene in Flourish and Blotts in the second film has impossibly-stacked piles of books and old-timey looking signs describing their subjects, which include things like “Celestial Studies” and “Unicorns.” When Harry arrives in the Burrow in the same film, one of the first things he sees is dishes washing themselves and knitting needles working by themselves, taking completely mundane things and instantly establishing them as magical. In that Patronus scene with Harry and Lupin, the spine-candles and a bunch of random orbs (and the obligatory giant armillary sphere) float around in the background. One small detail that I personally appreciate is the designs on the walls above the teacher’s table in the Great Hall, which are from an alchemical manuscript called the Ripley Scroll:

It’s all these little things that add up to produce The Vibe.

Obviously, much of the vibe is expressed very well in John Williams’ score for the first three Harry Potter films. The mystical minor key of the main theme, the tinkly glockenspiel, the strings, the rising and falling notes that mimic the fluttering of an owl, the flight of a broomstick, or the waving of a wand. That initial shot of the castle across the lake as the orchestra swells, as the children arrive at their wizarding school:

If you grew up with Harry Potter, just looking at this image gives you The Vibe. The nostalgia hit is definitely part of it, but The Vibe was already there, back when you were a child and you didn’t have nostalgia yet.

In my opinion, only Williams’ score captures this vibe — the later films, though their scores are very good, do not. But the soundtrack of the first two video games, by Jeremy Soule (the same person who did Skyrim) absolutely nails it. This, right here, is Harry Potter’s vibe, condensed and distilled:

This is why I feel invalidated by the common advice “just read another book.” I have read other books. I’ve read plenty of other books, many of which are wonderfully written and have left an impact on me. But there’s still only one Harry Potter. To date, there’s only other book that has filled me with a similarly intense longing for a fictional place, and that is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. That book deliberately prioritized atmosphere over everything else in the story, and actually lampshades this in-universe. The Night Circus has a plot and it has characters, but it’s not about its plot or characters. It’s about the setting and its atmosphere. It swallows you up and transports you to a fictional place that is so evocative and so magical that you just have to be part of it or you’ll die. And even then, The Night Circus has a different kind of vibe from Harry Potter. In this particular capacity, there’s nothing else like Harry Potter.

The thing is, I don’t think Rowling was being as deliberate as Erin Morgenstern. (In fact, given many of Rowling’s recent statements, I question how many of her creative choices were deliberated at all.) She was throwing random magical stuff into the background without thinking too hard about it, which works when you’re writing a kids’ story, but stops working when you try to age it up. Actually, scratch that — soft worldbuilding is definitely not just for kids! The Lord of the Rings has a soft magic system, for crying out loud, and Tolkien is the original archmage of worldbuilding. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that prioritizing atmosphere over meticulousness is bad worldbuilding. That is a valid way to worldbuild! Not everything needs to be clearly explained, not everything needs to make sense. The problem is that Harry Potter doesn’t balance it well. Certain things do have to be explained in order for the magic to play an active role in the story (and the setting of a magic school lends itself to that kind of explanation), but no rules are ever established for the kinds of magic that need rules. When you begin thinking about the rules, you’re no longer just enjoying the magic for what it is. At worst, you begin running up against the Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

It wasn’t actually the “aging up” of the story that did it in, per se, but rather, the introduction of realism. The early books were heavily stylized, and the later books were less so. A heavily stylized story can more easily maintain the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. That’s why, for example, you don’t ask why the characters are singing in a musical — you just sort of accept the story’s outlandish internal logic, and the inherent melodrama of it doesn’t take you out of the story. Stylized stories are more concerned with being emotionally consistent over being logically consistent. The later Harry Potter books changed their emotional tone, but without changing the worldbuilding style to compensate.

In addition to the more mature themes and darker tone, Harry Potter introduced more realism as it went, but Rowling did not have the worldbuilding chops to pull this off. There’s the basic magic system stuff: When you begin thinking about it too hard, something like a Time-Turner stops being a fun magical device, and starts threatening to break the entire story. Then there’s the characters: Dumbledore leaving Harry on the Dursleys’ doorstep in the first book is an age-old fairy tale trope that goes unquestioned, but with the introduction of realism in the later books, it suddenly becomes abandonment of a child to an abusive family. The exaggerated stereotypes of characters like the Dursleys become tone-deaf. The fun school rivalry of the House system is suddenly lacking in nuance. And then there’s the shift in tone: The wizarding world that we were introduced to as a marvellous place is revealed to be dystopian. You start thinking about how impractical things like owl messengers are, you start wondering if Slytherin is being unjustly punished, the bad history appears glaringly obvious, the quaint archaisms become dangerously regressive. Oh, and the grand feasts are made through slave labor! The wizarding world suddenly feels small and backward instead of grand and marvellous. J.K. Rowling’s bigotry throws it all into an even harsher light.

This is why I’ve always preferred the early books and films to the later ones. There’s a lot of things I like about the later ones, but they’re not as stylized — they don’t have The Vibe. Thinking about things too hard is just a necessary condition of adulthood, but it’s still possible to tell a dark, mature story that is highly stylized. I really think JKR could have better pulled off that shift if she was a more competent worldbuilder. But it is painfully obvious that she did not think things through, and probably didn’t understand why she had to. In her defense, she did not know that her story would end up being one of the most scrutinized of all time. As it stands, her strength in worldbuilding was in the softer, smaller, deliberately unexplained moments of magic that were there just to provide atmosphere. And there were less and less of those as the books went along.

Pretty much all the Harry Potter-related content released since the last film — including Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts, Hogwarts Mystery, Hogwarts Legacy, Magic Awakened, and that short-lived Pokemon Go thing — have been unsuccessful attempts at recreating The Vibe. In fact, the only piece of supplemental Potter content that I think had that Vibe down pat was the original Pottermore, back when it was more of an interactive game. And of course that got axed. That was right around the time things started going downhill.

Some of the art from Pottermore’s original Sorting quiz.

So what now? Well, that’s the question.

I think I can safely say that The Vibe was the reason I liked Harry Potter. It’s the thing I still like the most about it. I’ve spent years chasing it, like an elusive Patronus through a dark wood. If I can capture and distill that Vibe, and use drops of it in my own work, then perhaps I won’t need Harry Potter anymore.

I'm gonna write the story that I wish Harry Potter was, and when I'm a famous author, I won't become a bigot. I'll see you on the other side.

[comically-callous]

Hello! I noticed that your requests are open.

I was wondering if I could request a (2023) Wonka x Fem! Reader where she’s a writer who had/has been writing about the happenings with the startup of Willy’s chocolate shop, and writes about chocolate but has yet to find a chocolate she really likes so Willy makes it his mission to create something perfect for her, which leads to the two of them falling in love?

No pressure if you can’t! Have a great day!

Yea

Willy Wonka x Fem! Interviewer!Reader (Wonka 2023)

A/n: Just wanna say thanks for all the support! I was really nervous about posting my writing, but y'all have been nothing but supportive 😽 My requests are open (see pinned post for info) feel free to request any character 😛

After the sudden success of Wonka's chocolate and the downfall of the chocolate cartel, there were a lot of publishers around wanting to get the story of exactly how this all occured.

Willy was getting a lot of requests for one on one interviews from a lot of different people. But, he decided to do one with the only interviewer he'd met before.

Y/n.

She'd talked to him before all of his success, back when he was still hiding from the chocolate cartel and having to do his business in secret.

She was one of the few people who had taken him seriously while also not seeing him as a threat.

He was a bit excited to get to see her again.

The interview was happening in the part of his factory that was considered his office (he didn't like that title, because it sounded "too serious"). When Y/n arrived for the interview Willy sat right next to her.

"Thanks for letting me talk with you." She started. "I can imagine you've gotten a lot of offers from different publishers to talk about everything that's been happening lately."

Willy nodded. "There have. But, I wanted to see you." He replied, offering her a soft smile.

"Oh?" She tilted her head. "Is there a reason for that?"

"For wanting to see you? Of course there is. It's because I already know who great you are at this." He stated. "After the last time we talked, Noodle read me the part of the paper that our interview was in."

"Noodle?"

"Oh, Noodle's sort of like my business partner. The brains of the operation."

She nodded. "Could you tell me more about that?"

"Absolutely."

Willy went on talking about Noodle, how she'd helped him, the adventures they'd gone on, and how close they'd gotten. Y/n continued asking questions, Willy gave adequate answers, and eventually, Y/n closed the notebook she was writing in with a satisfied nod.

"I think that'll be enough for now." She said. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes, actually." Willy leaned forward in his seat. "I wanted to ask you a few questions."

She blinked. "Oh?"

"I feel like you know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you." He explains. "And I think I'd like to learn about you."

She was a bit flattered by that and gave him a faint smile. "Alright... Feel free to ask me your questions."

"Why'd you become an interviewer?" He asked.

"I think everyone's story is worth telling." She began. "And what better way is there to learn about someone's story than by asking them directly?"

Willy liked that answer. "How long have you been an interviewer?"

She thought for a moment. "The first time I interviewed someone was for a school project when I was 15. So, technically... 7 years."

He liked doing this. He liked learning about her. Maybe he just liked talking to her.

"What's your favorite chocolate?" He asked.

"I don't have one."

"What?!" His eyes widened. "Everyone has a favorite chocolate!"

She shrugged. "I don't."

"Do you not like chocolate?"

"It's not that I don't like it. I've just never tried a chocolate that stuck out to me."

Willy couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could someone not have a favorite chocolate?! "Well, we've gotta change that." He said as he got out of his seat.

"Wha-"

"Follow me!" He took her hand and began leading her down the halls of his factory.

She was about to protest, but she realized she didn't have anywhere she needed to be. And why would she pass up the opportunity to spend more time with a guy who was this cute?

He led her through the factory, stopping in different rooms to let her try the many variations of chocolate he'd made. And each time she said the same thing.

"It's good."

He was glad she didn't hate anything he'd given her, but he wanted to impress her! He didn't know why he wanted to impress her so badly, he just knew this was something he needed to do.

After several more attempts at wowing her, Willy sighed, feeling a bit defeated.

"Well, Y/n..." He said. "I guess you really don't have a favorite chocolate..."

Oh god, now she felt bad. She thought for a moment before speaking again. "Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it," She said. "I really liked the third one that you let me try."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think that one's your favorite?"

"Definitely."

He beamed. "That's great! That's amazing! I'm so glad you found one you liked!"

Y/n smiled at his excitement. Truthfully, she couldn't even remember what the third chocolate she'd eaten was. But, if saying it was her favorite made Willy this happy, then it was definitely her favorite.

She finally left the factory, surprised to see that the sun was starting to go down which meant she'd probably spent a good 4 hours with Willy. She'd barely gotten 2 steps down the street when she was stopped.

"Wait!" She turned to see Willy running toward her holding a jar of... Something. He stopped in front of her and caught his breath for a moment before handing her the jar. "This is for you."

Y/n looked at Willy, at the jar, and then back at Willy. "Why?"

"Because it's your favorite." He smiled at her.

"Oh!" He was giving her a gift. That made sense. "Right. I knew that. Thank you."

"It's no problem. We should... Talk again soon." Willy suggested.

"For another interview?"

"Just to talk with each other." He smiled at her. "I think you're fun to talk to."

"Oh." A blush creeped on to her cheeks at that. "I'd like that."

His smile widened. "Great! I'll be looking forward to it." He began to step backwards toward his factory. "Till next time, Y/n."

Y/n gave him a small wave goodbye before finally continuing to walk away.

A couple minutes into her walk she opened the jar he'd given her and popped one of the chocolates into her mouth.

Maybe this one really was her favorite.

[another-goblin]

One of Dr. Ratio's PhDs is in Natural Theology, where he published the work "Aeons: A Natural Phenomenon" and got hailed as the "most sacred prophet of Aeon non-theism" (basically, the way I understand it, "Aeons exist, but they are not special, they are not gods")

So it's not just "Stop worshipping geniuses yall", it's "Stop worshipping Aeons" too. Which is quite ballsy.

Then I did a little research about the meaning of "non-theism", and it can mean different things, but look at this quote I found on the "non-theism" Wiki page (by Pema Chödrön, a Buddhist nun):

Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold […] Non-theism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves […] Nontheism is finally realizing there is no babysitter you can count on.

Does this remind you of something?

Dr. Ratio: ...but even a life marked by failure is a life worth living — it is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up.

Basically the same idea: don't rely on these higher beings who don't care about you; you'll do better if you realize that you are on your own. 

BTW, the aeons who get personally involved in human affairs tend to do more harm than good, so whether they are actually worth worshipping is a good question for another time.

But returning to the 'Aeon non-theist' thing. What is funnier, him writing this paper after not being accepted into GS (totally not being bitter about failing to get the attention of a certain someone, nope) or before (I wouldn't be surprised by Nous' reaction. "Oh wow. F you too, dude. No Genious Society for you")

On a slightly unrelated note, what "being recognized by Nous" entails anyway? It's not about being an emanator or belonging to the path of Erudition, it's used as a euphymism for "being invited to Geniuos Society." Is Nous involved in it at all? Do they decide whom to invite? Do they send a magical letter to the chosen ones? Imagine Nous considering Ratio but immediately noping out because he's clearly Lan's guy.

But what if Nous isn't involved? What if there's a boring commission that decides whom to invite to GS and then proclaims it as "someone has attracted the gaze of Nous". So again, imagine them considering Ratio, ever-hyperactive, getting 8 PhDs, making discoveries left and right, and teaching dozens of courses. Now imagine him finally being invited to GS: getting a GIANT confidence boost and having access to the Guild resources, starting, like, 10 Simulated Universe-sized projects at the same time. GS just wouldn't be able to handle it.

PS: I'm aware of (and agree with) the prevailing theory that he wasn't invited because he wasn't just seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge, something something. So don't take the last part too seriously, I'm just being silly.

[see-arcane]

The Vampyres--The Bones and Blood of the Book

Good news! I’m not dead and the book isn’t either! Just shambling slowly through the wasteland of the publication process. It’s been a bit since I last waved this bloody morsel around. So, consider this a progress report on the state of the novella, the prospective publishing options, and a few other questions that have been bouncing around in the inbox.

EDIT:

I have a website now! For some reason.

It's See Arcane Scribbles.

Smaller Edit:

Got a Spotify too for story soundtrack goodness:

COVERS

First things first—and the first part of a finished book is the cover. Here are some mockups I’ve been juggling, starting with the original placeholder. They’re far from perfect, but I’m proud of what I managed with a fairly skinny graphic art skill set.

FINISHING, FORMAT, AND FINANCE*

*(OR, THE HEADACHENING)

Copyright: Technically speaking, you have the copyright to your own writing once you put it to paper or screen. But this is somehow a different thing from a legally-binding registered copyright, which everyone declares is a must-have if you want your work to be protected with more than a non-textual trust-fall exercise, hoping nobody steals your work and runs.

That said, electronic registration with the copyright office is $65, or $45 to register one work by one author.

ISBN: I only recently learned the words behind this acronym. ‘International Standard Book Number.’ It’s the ID on a book that marks it as unique and helps commercial booksellers and libraries circulate it. Each iteration of a book—paperback, digital, hardcover, new editions, et cetera—has its own ISBN. When you’re publishing on your own, you purchase ISBNs through a service called Bowker.

One book/version’s ISBN costs $125.

There are better bargains the higher the number of books and/or versions you go, starting at a bulk of 10 books for $295. But as I only have the one (1) skinny novella on the table, that’s a no-go. Which begs the question of how many ISBNs are in store for this little monster. It depends on how many formats I go with.

eBook: The quickest and most cost-efficient option across the board for any self-publication service. Short, sweet, no printing pains of trim sizes or distribution costs or formatting, oh my. Nice.

Paperback VS Hardcover: …But I am now and forever a sucker for physical media. Even though it’s a teeny brochure of a thing, I want to hold a physical copy of The Vampyres in my hands! So bad! And every service I’ve looked through has stated the obvious: Hardcover costs more than paperback. My heart won’t break if I have to stick with paperback to spare everyone’s wallets—hardcovers are pricy in both directions!—but I am a little torn. Especially as physical size might affect the price too.

Here we have two of my favorite quick reads, an anthology of Poe stories and Clive Barker’s novella, The Hellbound Heart.

The Poe book is a clothbound hardcover. 6.5 x 4.5 inches, a bit over 120 pages.

The Hellbound Heart is roughly 8 x 5 inches (about standard for a novella), at 164 pages. But unlike Poe, it looks like Barker took some liberties with the spacing and font size.

Standard size dimensions cost less than unique cuts, which means that whether paperback or hardcover, I sadly have to say goodbye to the petite palm-sized edition I was hoping for. On the upside, good news to us crap-vision readers—the font’s going to get H U G E in order to make the book more than a pamphlet with delusions of grandeur.

Audiobook: The fact is, my voice is not up to the task of reciting anything with appropriate gravitas and I think we’ve all been spoiled by @re-dracula and assorted other podcasts’ skill in orating. I don’t have the cash to hire a professional and I’m not about to accept anyone’s freebie offers. I won’t pickpocket friends for their talent. If an audio version ever comes along for any story of mine it’ll be down the road when it proves worth the format’s effort and cost.

REVIEWS (and a Foreword!)

It was the best of times (People reading the thing! Commenting on the thing! Good good good—), it was the worst of times (The Mortifying Ordeal of People Reading and Commenting on the Thing). Time for what every advice site declares a book absolutely must have the moment it’s thrust into the wild.

Reviews, reviews, reviews.

I’ve already bitten several bullets and passed copies out to a handful of fellow scribblers to scrutinize, their reviews destined to be hung up like literary gold stars on their bookselling site of choice, my own included. Now comes my preliminary grovel to readers en masse to please drop a review, a comment, a blurb of any shape or size where you can once The Vampyres drops. I’ve already gotten some early comments that have consisted mostly of screaming. Screams also count as a review.

As an aside, there are two folks in particular who I reached out to who exist in the stratosphere of Coolest People in the Vampiric Lit scene. They promptly exploded me into disbelieving giblets when they told me, yes, they’d be happy to read my little story and offer up a review and a foreword for the book respectively.

I’m not sure what the decorum here is, but for safety (and surprise’s) sake, I’ll not name names. But they are names I’ve been happy to come across for the past two years while neck deep in the undead book club. I’m infinitely grateful to both of them and am waiting on pins, needles, stakes and kukri blades by my inbox so I can pin their words up inside the book itself.

FUTURE SCRIBBLING

To get one of the biggest questions out of the way, let’s talk about Barking Harker.

My very own object lesson on sunk cost fallacy.

I wrote my way through a goddamn cinderblock of text without even grazing the finish line of the first section of the story. A story made of so many convoluted triple-decker layers of subplots and side characters that it had the structural integrity of a monolithic Nature Valley granola bar, just waiting to fall apart under its own weight. Such is the hubris and curse of too-many-words-itis. The Vampyres remains a miraculous fluke, jotted down during an overdue break from BH’s slog. Not just because I tripped and fell into finishing the story, but because it’s comparatively compact! Brevity at last!

For those still craving the assorted gothic and ghoulish promises of the initial novel idea, don’t worry, those aren’t going anywhere. I’ve just crumbled the metaphorical bloodstained granola by my own hand and have done the sane thing of parsing out the various subplots to become the foundations of their own stories. Which they really should have been from the get-go. Insert 100+ clown emojis here.

On that note, I am turning into WIPs Georg over here. Good god.

I hesitate to throw myself all-in again and make promises of X Story that may leave me spinning my mental wheels or ballooning the plot out into a behemoth that can’t be steered back on course. Even so, here’s a peek at a few ideas I currently have on the brain.

So.

Not exactly lacking for stories. It’s just a matter of seeing which of them breaks ahead of the herd and squeezes out into the publication ether first.

LAST BIT  

Blah, blah, requisite reminder that I have a Ko-Fi where you can donate a buck or commission my best attempt at art, blah. Any pennies are a help.

But I’m betting very few of you came around here for my doodles. Somehow, a good amount of people tripped into this pit with me because you enjoy the rambles and horrors I’ve written over the years. Maybe some of you will even buy my book once it’s out. And you, there, on the other side of the screen—you’re reading this right now. You made it all the way to the bottom of this pile of exposition just because you wanted to. So, thank you.

Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for reading before and reading what’s to come. Thank you for giving me the confidence to even consider shouldering my own work out into the wider world.

Thank you.

P.S. If you want to re-read the preview, go here!

[genericpuff]

Hey quick question.

How do you know if you should make a webcomic? I have this story idea that’s been floating around in the back of my head that I think could work well for a comic series. But the problem is I’m mainly used to writing screenplays and more traditional writing.

What I’m saying is, how can I tell if making a webcomic is worth it or if I should stick in my comfort zone?

I mean, there's no definitive right answer when it comes to "knowing" if you should make a webcomic. It really just comes down to you. Do you really like the medium? Do you feel your story has to be told within that medium to achieve its goals?

Same thing goes for whether or not it's "worth it", it really comes down to how you define that. For some people, simply posting their comics online to a few readers each week is worth it. For others, if it doesn't get into print or publishing or whatever have you, it might not be quite so justifiable to keep up with. Neither is better or worse than the other, both reasons are valid because it ultimately comes down to what we as individuals are trying to accomplish and what we define as "worth it" on a personal level.

I actually live on both sides of the spectrum right now because with Rekindled, posting it on Tumblr and getting all the great feedback and company through the audience it's gained makes it worth it. But that worth was defined by my expectations going in - I wasn't making Rekindled for money (legally I can't), I wasn't making it to get an Originals deal or anything of the sort, I was just making it because I found myself deadset on going through with it after months of it living in my head rent free, and so what I've gotten out of it as a result is very much worth it, all I was really looking for was maybe some other readers who would enjoy reading a transformative 'foe fiction' from a former LO fan and I've found those readers in spades simply due to the demand.

Time Gate, on the other hand, was something that I wanted for years to be a 'successful' project, defined more by actual tangible growth and gain. Because I came up with it as a kid, for a long time it was my "magnum opus" project, the thing that I wanted to see get turned into books and an anime and a video game and all those sorts of things as 'proof' of how good it was. Of course, I know now years later that those expectations were WAY too high and it resulted in me feeling incredibly depressed over it for ages. It made it hard to work on and even though I did have some readers, I didn't see it as "worth it" because my expectations were a lot higher than that of Rekindled's going in. But that was simply a matter of experience at that point, because I had been making original comics for so long, when I went into Rekindled I knew a lot more what I was capable of, what I wasn't capable of, and what boundaries I was willing to put down for myself. Even still, I do still want to return to Time Gate some day and when I do, I want to still treat it like a series I want to get off the ground as an actual published piece of work - it's just that this time around, I actually know how to make those steps and be proactive in my approach (and I know where to keep my expectations) which is certainly a perspective and skillset I didn't have when I was 15 LMAO

I will say, realistically speaking, it is a lot harder to pursue webcomics as a writer, because the reality of this medium is that most people who go into it are artists who learn how to write to make a webcomic, not the other way around. Unless you're willing to learn how to draw - which is a whole other skillset that requires years of work and patience - you're likely going to have to seek someone to collaborate with and - I cannot stress this enough - it's not going to be someone you simply find on reddit who's willing to work for free. Again, many of us as artists went into webcomics with a project already in mind, so most artists are already working on their own passion projects, trying to convince someone else to work on yours is just not realistic or fair. I'm fortunate enough to have @banshriek along for the production of Rekindled and even then I still pay for their contributions out of pocket, they're as invested in an LO rewrite project as I am (and thus they're given a lot of room to make suggestions in both the set designs and the writing), and I still had to carry the first 20ish episodes on my own before they joined along, i.e. I would still be making Rekindled if they weren't onboard, but having them is a massive help that's taken the comic to a whole other level in its artistic production.

But that doesn't mean it's hopeless! There's a lot of interest right now in webnovels and writing comic scripts is still a completely viable way to get into the comics industry if you're really interested in doing so (fun fact: before I was making comics, I wrote fanfiction! This is probably not shocking to hear all things considered LMAO) There's a reason Webtoons owns Wattpad now, webnovels are a no-brainer when it comes to adaptations to visual mediums, and webcomics have become part of that environment by extension. So at the very least, if you want to get your story out there, there are loads of ways to do it that don't require you to make a comic - but if you really want to make one, there are ways to get into that industry through writing in other ways such as pitching scripts to comic publishers and/or going indie with webnovels. Ultimately, if many of us webcomic creators stopped drawing our works, we'd still be coming up with stories to write, because that's what's really at the heart of these sorts of projects. So even if you can't get into comics right away due to lack of visual artistry, that doesn't mean it's off the table forever ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

Sorry, that was a lot of rambling but I hope it helps ! Remember to keep your goals and expectations manageable, and most of all, write lots! You'll be doing it anyways regardless of whether or not you get into comics, so whatever value you see in getting into comics is up to you to determine! You don't have to know right away, it might be something you'll find along the way or have to adjust as you get more experience, but don't stop yourself from getting creative and messing around until you find out what works! You won't know if it was worth leaving your comfort zone until you try it <3

Good luck! (•̀ᴗ•́)و

[thegambitgazette]

Know Thyself: How This One Exercise Shaped My Writing

“Know Thyself” Interpretations

Heraclitus: “It belongs to all men to know themselves and think well.”

Charles H. Kahn: this fragment echoes a traditional belief that “know thyself" had an essentially similar meaning to the second Delphic maxim, “nothing too much;” both sayings might be considered alternative ways of describing the virtue of sophrosyne.

Heraclitus defines sophrosyne as the art of “perceiving things according to their nature,” apparently referring to the perception of objective, material facts. If so, and if self-knowledge is the same as sophrosyne, then, as Kahn writes, “the deepest structure of the self will be recognized as co-extensive with the universe in general … so true self-knowledge will coincide with knowledge of the cosmic order.”

A fragment from Ion of Chios provides the earliest explicit reference to the maxim. It reads: “This ‘know yourself’ is a saying not so big, but such a task Zeus alone of the gods understands.”

“The unexamined life is not worth living” -Socrates

Soliloquies of Augustine: The book has the form of an “inner dialogue" in which questions are posed, discussions take place and answers are provided, leading to self-knowledge. The first book begins with an inner dialogue which seeks to know a soul. In the second book it becomes clear that the soul Augustine wants to get to know is his own.

The Consolation of Philosophy: Boethius writes The Consolation of Philosophy as a conversation between himself and a female personification of philosophy, referred to as “Lady Philosophy.” Philosophy consoles Boethius by discussing the transitory nature of wealth, fame, and power (“no man can ever truly be secure until he has been forsaken by Fortune"), and the ultimate superiority of things of the mind, which she calls the “one true good.” She contends that happiness comes from within, and that virtue is all that one truly has because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.

Meditations: Marcus Aurelius likely didn’t intend for Meditations to be published, as the work centered around his own self-analysis and self-guidance. Aurelius advocates finding one's place in the universe and sees that everything came from nature, and so everything shall return to it in due time. Another strong theme is of maintaining focus and to be without distraction all the while maintaining strong ethical principles such as “Being a good man.”

...to think that all of these classic works are “regular” people figuring themselves out. I decided to do the same.

Writing My Own “Soliloquy”

I’d like to clarify that I, in no way shape or form, see myself as this great thinker or philosopher or anything like that. I recognize that this practice is but one way to understand myself, especially since I struggle with mental health and a lot of spiritual questions (but that’s another topic).

In choosing to write my own soliloquy, I am becoming my own Devil’s Advocate. Like Boethius, I’ve decided to structure my journaling as if I am arguing with someone. I will choose a topic that I am passionate about or that I am having my own crisis over, such as “Why do I not believe I am a good person?” or “Why do I prefer logic over emotion?” or even “What draws me to classical paintings?”

What I found is that anything and everything that I am attached to says something about me on a deeper level.

Here is where it gets a little tricky: in continuing to argue with myself, I’ve found that I get better at coming up with counter points. In other words, this self-analysis becomes more and more complex the more used to it you get. It’s almost like you’re playing some mind chess and this fictional opponent, who is also you, as they are but your own Devil’s Advocate, is also getting better and learning with you.

But, to me, that is what makes this “Know Thyself” maxim important. You are not meant to have a full-fledged answer. We are constantly evolving and changing, as will our knowledge of how we perceive ourselves and how we perceive the world in response to it.

How It Affects My Writing

To start with the obvious, the character development and creation changes so much when you get to know yourself. At least, for me, the world becomes less and less black and white (not that it ever was black and white to begin with). Because of that, my characters become more dimensional.

I am no longer afraid to write controversy. There is a... debate, for a lack of better words, on the media literacy rate nowadays. Because of this, I would fear that, just because I wrote about it, people would assume that I am in support of it; or, for example, just because there is a mainstream focus on one demographic, that nuances of that focus cannot be written about (again, another topic).

However, writing my soliloquies reminds me that my work is meant to be a message from myself to the audience first and entertainment second.

As artists, authors, creators, etc., there is a danger in losing ourselves to appease the masses. There is the question of whether we should create what we want or stick to what is trending, and I’m not immune to that spiral, either.

In knowing yourself, you become your #1 advocate. You know what your boundaries are, what your morals are, and what your values are. It gets harder to allow those who don’t do that same work to sway your pen.

Closing Words

Whatever form that takes, get to know yourself. For me, that’s journaling whenever I can as if I’m debating with someone. Grab a journal meant specifically for this exercise and go crazy! No one’s going to read it (unless you become someone like Marcus Aurelius and your own version of Meditations comes out. In which case... sorry?)

Never stop challenging the way you think, too. It can be uncomfortable and hard, but change always is. Perhaps you will stick to your ideals, and that’s okay, too! Do not live life on the easy path.

As always, these exercises are not a substitute for professional or medical help. I will always encourage those who need it to seek therapy, as I believe it is a great tool to use alongside this exercise, should one feel inclined to do so.

[guardian-of-time-if]

Final Years with MC snippet: Tzesar

I wrote another snippet to go with the one for Lukyan I released yesterday. This one is for Tzesar. It doesn't have MC in it nearly as much, but since he'd be actively hiding his thoughts from MC this felt better to show where his headspace would be at. I hope you enjoy!

Also forgot to mention this in the last one, but there shouldn't be anything in these snippets that is an actual spoiler, but they do take place decades after the plot, so there's hints of where the characters will end up if you'd rather not know.

Tzesar flips through another esoteric, ancient tome. This one is proving to be even less relevant than the last. Perhaps elvish tomes weren’t the way to go. They already had immortality, why would they seek magic to recreate it? But that would suggest that human writings would be the best source for magic to prolong life, and he was pretty familiar with all human mages worth reading.

He was running out of options. The elven texts were more and more worthless with each one. None of the texts by scholars he recognized offered practical solutions, only theoretical starting points. While he didn’t necessarily mind doing the experimentation himself, he’d prefer to have a more concrete starting point. He’d rather not cause a lethal accident because his textual sources were too vague. He’d even tried asking Sentinel for help the Dragon Seekers could offer, but had been flatly refused. Or at least, Tzesar assumed that the elf walking away without waiting to hear the full question was a no.

“Excuse me,” a voice calls, forcing Tzesar to look up from his tome.  

“Headmaster?” He asked, surprised to see one of his former teachers from his days at school.

“I hear you are looking for old tomes detailing ancient magics.”

“That is true,” Tzesar answers. He knows this man, spent years learning from him, but decades at court have taught him not to trust when people show up unannounced claiming to have solutions to your problems. “How did you hear that?”

“One of my students tried to steal these volumes from our library,” he replies, holding up a stack of books. “Our guard brought her to my office, and she told me the grand arcanist of Nytheris was offering more gold than her entire village makes in a year for ancient tomes of unknown criteria. That was odd, I thought, knowing that the grand arcanist was once one of my students, and has full rights to visit our library any time.”

“I actually thought to plan a trip soon,” Tzesar interjected, coming very close to a lie. He’d thought about going, but immediately decided against it because he would have to explain to MC why he was leaving. 

“Well, I did some asking around of my own to ascertain which tomes you would be looking for. Once I accumulated a list of titles, I found a common thread. So tell me, child, why would you waste so many resources hunting down a form of immortality?”

“Who says that’s what I’m after?” He asked, turning away from the professor. 

“I may not be Eldrin Carathroth, but I did catch you sneaking into off limits sections of the library in your free time, and using unsanctioned magic in your dormitory. Your lies are as easy to see through now as they were then, even if you do hide them under a courier’s smile.”

“Fine,” he admits. “I’m looking for ancient texts about immortality. I’m hardly the first human to look into the existence of such magics.”

“You are far too good a student of history to claim ignorance on why such magics are so dangerous.”

“Those men were idiots,” Tzesar answers bluntly. “I am a genius. I’ve studied their mistakes. I won’t repeat them.”

“Which brings us back to my original question. Why do you pursue this path? You are the grand arcanist for a much loved king. The greatest wizard of our age. Do you really need the glory of uncovering immortality as well?”

“It’s not about glory,” Tzesar insisted. “It’s about… me. I need it for personal reasons. I won’t publish my research. No one will be able to use it after me.”

“Then why don’t you ask your brother for help?”

“He won’t help with this. He wouldn’t understand.”

“I thought you were close.”

“We are, but we can’t talk about this. He doesn’t… he wouldn’t…” Tzesar lets out a groan as he words seem to fail him. What is it about being in the presence of a mentor that reduces one to a child even in old age. 

“Then why wouldn’t you ask me? Or any of the professors you were close to. I know you miss Eldrin, but surely he wasn’t the only one you can trust.”

“I do trust you, but you have elven blood you wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m only half elven. I still age, and I’ll still die, it just takes a couple decades longer. I’m even getting close to death myself. Are you afraid?”

“No!” He hated how alarmed he sounded. 

“It’s normal to fear death.”

“I don’t fear death. I just can’t be the only one…”

Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that. That was too honest. 

“Only one?”

“Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.”

“Your love,” the teacher says, suddenly, seeing through every wall Tzesar had tried to keep up. “She’s going to outlive you.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I always knew your pride would be the end of you, but I never suspected it would be like this.”

“Pride?” Tzesar asked, not bothering to hide how insulted he was from his voice. “You think its about pride?”

“You can’t handle not being the best at something. If the woman you’re in love with can best death, why can you not?”

“Its not about beating death.”

“Then tell me what you would do if you found immortality.”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I’m going to leave these books here, not because I think they’ll help you, but because I hope that reading the perspective of men who have lost themselves to the pursuit of immortality will prevent you from doing the same.”

“I won’t lose myself,” He promises. 

The professor leaves, and is soon replaced by MC. She walks over to where he’s deep into one of his tomes. 

“Tzesar,” she calls softly, nudging his shoulder. “You’ve been down here forever.”

“I’ve been working on my research.”

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in a week,” she says, peeking over his shoulder. He shut the book before she could see anything important. “Why are you hiding away down here?”

“I’m not hiding,” he insists. “I’m doing research.”

“You just shut that book so I can’t read your book.”

“It’s government secrets.”

“Are you serious? How long have we been together?”

“Why are you being so nosy?” He asks, hoping to distract her.

“I’m not being nosy. Why are you being so shady?”

“I’m a scholar, we primarily do our work in privacy.”

“Why do you need privacy from me?”

Because he has a strong feeling she wouldn’t approve, but he can’t say that, so instead he sighs. “I don’t need privacy from you. It’s just not ready for sharing yet.”

Her shoulders slump. “Do I need to worry?”

“No,” he promises. “I have everything under control. I promise I’ll explain everything once I can.”

When he had finally found a way to preserve his life, so they could stay together. He didn’t have many years ahead of him, but all he needed was one lucky break. If he had any say over the matter, he was going to find a way to be immortal with his MC, even if it killed him.

[merakiui]

Mera !

Your new Riddle fic aodniqndoadb I love how Darling remains true to the fact Riddle and Her never said "I love you" to each other. The "I adore you" really got me feelin some type of waayy AHH THE WAY MY HEART JUST BREAKS

I must ask, sincerely so; the writing is uniquely different from your usual. The formal is the same but the flavor?! OH! YOU HAVE MADE SOMETHING TRULY FIERCE IN THE KITCHEN TODAY -- and ugh, the dialogue? It also got me speaking some type of way (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ You're so amazing! You truly keep outdoing yourself, makes me believe that you will continue improving over time and that's so.. amazing. You're amazing ma'am orz. So my question, how long has this been in your drafts? It reminded me of pieces of your old fics. Very nostalgic tbh.

Finally, I must admit. When I finish reading, the first thing I said amidst the silence was . "I adore you something fierce." Usiwndsonziw really impactful! And how lucky are we to be called Mrs. Rosehearts the entire time 😍😍🙏 finally, the ending. I was surprised at how happy it was- Since you never write a story without an open ending. So it's truly hilarious that the children found the Moro's mirror. Oroboros in it's finest (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤ sorry for the ramble, thank you again for the great meal!

- Wild flower from your garden (iforgor my anon name to usbiandjs mb)

Wild flower anon, hello!!! :D aaaaa this is incredibly kind of you!!!!! 🥺 if anything, you're the amazing one!!! I'm so happy this fic was enjoyable and can be a fierce meal. (˵ •̀ᴗ•́˵)و hehehe!! I am never finishing a fic in one day omg...... ^^;;; that was terribly exhausting, but I had so much inspiration after seeing Riddle's new card and I just had to see the vision through to the end. <3 aaaaa the woes of a writer!!!! Every word was worth the exhaustion, though. Anything for the beloved Riddle!!!

This story has been in my drafts since 2022!! I thought it was very nostalgic, too!! I think what makes a 2022-era merakiui twst fic is the feeling of adventure and peril!! It felt very much like Sea Glass: the reader is placed in an uncertain situation and is fighting against whatever force (i.e. the yan) is trying to keep them there. It was very exciting to return to that style for this fic!!

Aaa that is true!!! Actually,,, I was going to write the bad end instead of what's published, but I felt it would be better (and more cathartic for the plot) to give a happy (albeit bittersweet) ending for Reader and Riddle! It did feel strange, though. ;;; I'm so used to writing open endings or endings that just aren't good for either the yan or darling (or both). That's probably why I decided to keep in the final part with the three children who find Moros. I couldn't resist. Since Moros aligns with the concept of death, it's only an inevitability that he returns to the reader. Truly Ouroboros at work!!!!

Thank you so much for reading the fic!!! ( ∩´͈ ᐜ `͈∩)💖

[inkskinned]

he had to hurt her like that, look at the cinema he made. did he? how do you know? the ends justify the means, huh. a woman could never actually act this well, it had to be real, a snuff film. yes, she was hired for her talent - but pain will make the talent brighter, right.

he is not alone. there are men around him who think like this. who choose actresses they can manipulate, exert power over. who write scripts that demand the pain be felt. she must hurt to uphold the message.

(an aside. author's note, i guess. in poetry, when the words cannot hold themselves up, we actually blame the writers. it shouldn't matter who speaks the literature. the words should carry their own weight. be their own scaffolding.)

the men in the room all applaud each other for doing less. they say they push boundaries. they're leaders in their field. they ask the hard questions.

when they get your resume, they put it into a pile that they will put into a trashcan. when they get your screenplay, they will use it as a coaster. when they build their museums, they will have a disjointed room dedicated to "repairing" the ways that women and people of color have been eradicated from "fine arts". it will be self-effacing. we may have overlooked some artists, they apologize. but really it's not our fault that white men make better art. (those men and their works are in permanent displays. for more on this, see: the way that he laughs at your work will make you sick to your teeth). in six weeks, their apology will be scrubbed and the room will be scrubbed and all the paintings will go back into storage.

they know they are right. sure, okay. maybe we have had less opportunities. but what would we have done with them? not something like this. it took a man to do this. okay, okay. it was deranged, we can all agree about it. but look at the product.

in your life, when you wake up, isn't it grand. if they made a museum for people like us, it would be a cycle of empty frames. of ruined videos. of songs with a voicecrack. all the little plaques reading some variation of a theme. here is where my work would stand if someone like me could actually get published in this fucking industry. here is the work i tried to make, before my agency was stripped from me. here is the placeholder of my dreams, but i could not afford them in this society.

if you keep walking, out in the greenhouse out back, the whole world is full of color. every fabric and fortuneteller and feverdream we spat out in despite. centuries of brightness, of novelty, of exploration. of talent, of wisdom, of creativity.

there is only one sign here in this alexandrian library. the sign acts like an epitaph. you already know what it says, don't you. THIS ISN'T ART, it tells you.

the blankets. the chef-level 5-course meals. the carefully-colored journal pages. the abandoned works-in-progress. the library of fanfiction. the margin drawings. somewhere in there, an actress makes a face, and you think - oh shit! she's really broken! but then she smiles at you, winking. she could do it, you know. she could always act like a starbeam. it's just that his name is the one scrolling at the bottom. she hadn't wanted to undress for him. she goes home and gets forgotten. in our museum, another blank frame goes up on the wall.

they'll give him an award, looking to the camera with almost an apology. he will laugh ruefully. nobody will do anything. little white strings will drip from his fingers. young boys in film studies will continue to chainsmoke while explaining how beautiful it is that there's violence in those scenes. she couldn't have done it without him pushing, he'll tell you, shrugging.

but what if, you wonder. what if he had never existed? without him, what else could we be making? all that time and love and spirit, allowed back into the light. into knowledge. what has he taken, to give us his art?

and is it a trade worth making?

[dipplinduo]

Just a lil' check-in regarding S&S D engagement <3

Hey! I’ve honestly been debating on making this post, and I’m hoping I can come across intentionally here:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten an increased amount of asks/comments/etc. that are essentially inquiring about S&S D updates in ways that seem to be more on the “demanding” side, for a lack of better words (e.g., repetitive, insistent questioning regarding updates, not-so-politely worded “requests” to either abandon certain storylines or add something into a storyline, and even expressions of dissatisfaction/disapproval for when I’m choosing to write for something other than S&S D itself).

I’ve chosen to remain disengaged from this kind of behavior since it personally has felt upsetting, discouraging, and pressuring to receive. It unfortunately doesn’t really seem to be going away, and it has been affecting my writing process. So I just wanted to make myself a little clear here:

I personally don’t appreciate and will remain disengaged from interactions I’ve characterized above. I feel that I put a lot of hard work into what I do choose to do, and I also really do enjoy writing dipplinshipping content in general. I know many people on here may be following me primarily for S&S D – and that’s fine! But please know that I’m putting an equal amount of passion and effort into the other works I’m writing, and while you don’t need to read them if you don’t want to, publishing them still means a lot to me, personally; I don’t view them as being any “less” than S&S D, even if S&S D is pretty much my magnum opus in terms of hits/engagement.

I recognize that I’m pretty playful in my interactions in general, and a lot of these interactions may be coming from a completely well-intended place. So I do have faith that many of the comments I’ve received probably wouldn’t have been said if people knew how I’ve been feeling about receiving them. I’m hoping this post can clarify things going forward and help us all have a better understanding of each other as we celebrate dipplinshipping and have fun engaging with each other. 😊

That being said, here are the types of engagements that have felt really enjoyable regarding S&S D, and personally motivate me a LOT to keep writing:

Asks/discussions about things/moments that you’ve liked, or are wondering about (I’m open to constructive criticism, too, of course)

Asks/discussions that express general excitement, theorize, or talk about/inquire about potential breadcrumbs, etc.

Fanart! God, I love your fanart!

Headcanons too – whether they’re S&S D related or not!

Reactions to chapters, or quite literally anything that sparks dialogue (these ones I do deliberately delay answering so it doesn't spoil people immediately after an update, lol, but omg I love, love, love them!)

Lastly – I will say: I am actively working on Chapter 13 right now! I know how much people are eagerly waiting for it, and I’m grateful that it’s highly anticipated. It’s my full intention to write well rather than just write for the sake of producing; I want what you read to be of quality and worth your while. I will be letting you know when it’s coming out, as I always do!  Thank you for your patience and understanding. 💕

With love,

dipplinduo

[le-panda-chocovore]

Satosugu Hurt/Comfort + Fluff

@get0suguru I said I would so here it is !

Honestly, I don't think I'll write an entire fic but I need to get the ideas out of my head. Feel free to use this for your inspiration (and send me the link please !)

This is not properly written, this was a bullet list of ideas and I just took off the bullets because the paragraph became longer and longer and it was a mess. Feel free to use this for your own inspiration (and please send me the link if you publish something) !

English isn't my first language and I'm very tired, sorry for the mistakes.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ───

Geto Suguru & Gojo Satoru - 3rd year students

After Riko's death, Suguru slowly starts to spiral and question his role in the world, while Satoru starts training more and more alone and is sent on solo missions. The encounter with Yuki worsens Suguru's state.

Satoru notices that something's wrong and invites Suguru to eat something with him. Suguru feels a bit better when those blue eyes are looking at him. They make the habit of sharing a meal whenever they can.

They spend more and more time away from each other and Suguru's still spiraling, but every time they manage to meet, he allows himself to enjoy the life he has a little bit. Those blue eyes might be worth the pain.

Haibara dies and Suguru's hate for non-sorcerer is growing even quicker than before. He wonders why he's still there trying to protect them. He doesn't want to risk his life for them. He doesn't want to lose his friends for them.

A few days after that, Satoru finds his friend standing alone in the gymnasium. "You look like you're going to disappear." Suguru doesn't look at him when he answers "I'm so tired. I don't think I can keep going on." Satoru hugs him desperatly "Please stay with me. I'll figure things out, I'll make it easier for you, I'll give you everything. Stay for me. Please."

-Alternative to the emotional moment because Gojo won't act serious if he's not forced to (and because I don't know which dialogue I prefer)- Satoru, half-joking : "You look like a ghost, like you could disappear anytime." Suguru, not looking at him : "Maybe I can. Maybe I will. I can't find anything worth the sacrifice, I can't bring myself to be happy in this world." Satoru, rolling his eyes like the dramaking he is : "Duh, I'm here idiot ! Am I not the source of your happiness ? Am I not the best thing that happened in your life ? Am I not the one who brings a smile on your pretty face ? Don't you dare say that nothing in this world can make you happy when you're friend with me, dumbass !" Suguru is speechless, then he laughs and Satoru's proud to be right. Suguru calls him an idiot, but he agrees.

They're even closer than before now, always touching some part of their skin whenever they're together, and Satoru constantly reminds Suguru that everything will be fine as long as they stay together. He says things like "Look at me, I'm here." and "Can you stay for me ?" and "Remember that you're not alone" and "Just try to endure it a bit longer, I'm with you" every now and then. It gives Suguru the strength to keep going day by day despite his deep disgust with the jujutsu world.

Sometimes, Satoru is away for a long time, and Suguru is alone with the disgusting taste of the curses he has to swallow. He feels sick and awful, and he's so close to giving up everything. Satoru calls him when he can but he won't be back soon. He makes him promise to wait, and Suguru's not sure if he can do it. So Suguru crashes into Satoru's room and spends the entire time in the bed, which smells like Satoru. It helps.

One time they're cuddling in Suguru's bed (because Satoru decided he would sleep there that night) and Suguru grows an obsession with Satoru's small waist. Like, he can't stop touching it, it's driving him insane, he feels so high, like he just took every drug existing. Of course Satoru notices "Is that me or are you having an existential crisis over my waist ?" but of course it doesn't bother him at all. Now he uses this too as an argument to make Suguru stay at the school : "You can't live without my perfect body. Can you imagine running away and not being able to touch me anymore ?" The worst part is that it works.

Suguru saves the twins and kills the two adults who were accusing them, but he restrains himself from destroying the whole village. Instead, he calls Satoru who immediately teleports there despite being on a mission elsewhere. Satoru covers the crime scene and tells Suguru to pretend that the two non-sorcerers got killed during the fight against the curse. It's classified as collateral damage. The two of them bring Mimiko and Nanako to the school and teach them about the curses and the exorcists.

Now, Suguru has two more reasons to stay. He's still depressed and he still hates the monkeys, but he starts to believe that things would end up fine. He has people to protect now, he has people to love. He can fight for that.

When they graduate, Satoru and Suguru move out of the school with twins, and they take Megumi and Tsukimi with them.

[melodic-haze]

Sorry for the Emilie question. I totally forgot to check the masterlist as I thought of it right around I woke up for some reason. Making me want to do it then before I forget. Anyways enough with my excuses. I promise not to do that again, and I deeply apologize once again. I will stub my toe as punishment.

For today, I made sure it's about someone you love. Yae Miko. She is apart of a publishing company and she writes light novels right? So do you think she uses her experience with you as huge inspiration for them? Imagine if uses Genshin's version of Tumblr to post and share her more risqué thoughts and idea in secret. Then you finding out and just asking stuff that you would like; just to give her the idea and use it on you irl.

As always, have a great day and even better luck. While I sit in my imaginary corner of shame for making such a critical mistake lol.

-���

NOOO DON'T FEEL TOO BAD 😭😭 it was an honest mistake it's okay 🫶 better to req someone I may actually write about rather than req smth Outlandish like a man (or even a chr written as a dom but that's more dependent on my mood tbf)

SHE ABSOLUTELY WOULD WRITE THINGS IN TEYVAT TUMBLR WITH YOU IN MIND YES 😭😭😭😭 JUST LOOK AT HER PUBLISHED FANFICTION OF RAIDEN FUCKING EI 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 she wouldn't outright state your name in her posts or anything like that, but she'd probably base things according to you. This is Especially True if we go meta and she writes fics for characters in Teyvat too, specifically characters that remind her of you

It's easy for Miko to just publish Pretty Please, Kitsune Guuji without a care in the world bc she's Ei's familiar and long-time friend (if they're not married dating in this case as well) therefore she doesn't even get a slap on the wrist 💀, but with you? OHHH ABSOLUTELY NOT she REFUSES to let you know she writes about you on the internet under an anonymous handle

I think she'd be rather open to her risqué thoughts ngl. She loves fun, and teasing you certainly is one way to have it 🫶 if it's something extremely left field, then she'd either keep it to herself or gently bring it up to you. What I personally think she'd hide from you is the more romantic thoughts she's had from time to time; think like having a picnic, staying in for a nice cuddle....hell, she'd post smth about a hypothetical scenario in which you're able to shapeshift and you can nap with your partner that way 💀 like girl you are NOOOOOT SLICK

You'd definitely have to ease her into actually acting out on them purposefully. You'd go on dates, yeah, but they'd probably be mostly her teasing you and being cryptic, with a little bit of romance at the end. She's been alone for so long, she thinks that such soft moments will stay as fantasies that she writes out 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ it's worth it when you actually coax her out of that sad mindset though

If you were famous in Teyvat though she'd probably write 'headcanons' and stuff about you that are actually just your actions HAHAHAHAHAH

[best--dress]

Ten Questions for Writers

Thank you for tagging me @aristocratic-otter! 🥰

How many works do you have on AO3? As of this week - three!

What’s your total AO3 word count? 26,297, which seems low for a year's worth of writing, but I have a lot written for Who Are You In The Dark that isn't ready to publish yet

What fandoms do you write for? Just Carry On

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I am admittedly not the best at responding to comments. I get sort of overwhelmed by people saying nice things about my work and every response I draft in my head feels completely insubstantial to express how precious their comment is to me. I am making an active effort to be better at replying though 🥺

Have you ever had a fic stolen? No

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but I'd love to! @iamamythologicalcreature and I have kicked around some really fun ideas

What’s your all-time favourite ship? It's gotta be snowbaz. I think about them all the time

What are your writing strengths? Banter, flirting, and conversation generally come pretty easily to me. I often laugh at my jokes while I'm writing; I don't know who else is laughing, but if I think it's funny, I'm pretty happy. At this point in life, I also think I'm pretty good at just getting started, writing on a blank page, trusting that it will go somewhere and it doesn't matter if it's shit at first.

What are your writing weaknesses? Everything I write is short as hell - I've always been a really succinct writer. I feel like all of my stories would be much longer and more fully fleshed out in another writer's hands. I'm also always working on "show, don't tell"...the eternal struggle

First fandom you wrote for? Carry On is the first I've ever published anything for. But I was definitely writing some kind of self-insert Baby-Sitters Club fic when I was 9 years old. Too bad I didn't have the Internet back then??

Tagging @iamamythologicalcreature @thewholelemon @mooncello @louisandtheaquarian

[softrozene]

Just a Few Minutes

Anonymous requested: Mind if I take a shot at a request for a scenario? NSFW Female!reader x Dutch (if you are ok writing for him, if not, Arthur then?) takes you to Bronte’s party, (reader) teases him (either her sultry dress or planting secret little kisses on his neck when no one watches) to the point of just needing a few minutes (ok, a lot of minutes) with her alone? Thnkx bb 😊

rdr2 masterlist

I was going to do Dutch for this but I’ve been in an Arthur mood lately and I’m thirsty for Arthur LMAO I hope you enjoy it, Hon!

 I want Arthur to say Yes, Ma’am to me

Originally published on March 22, 2020

Arthur Morgan x Female Reader

Warnings: strong suggested n s f w, sleepy writing so grammar errors

Words: ~900

-

You have never felt more thankful for a person in your entire life than you did for Molly O’Shea right now. She and Trelawny have shown true brilliance in choosing your outfit tonight for Bronte’s party. Trelawny used his vision as a man to make you look delicate and sexy.

The dress hugged your curves a bit too tightly but with Molly’s vision and experience in wealthy gowns, somehow made it look extravagant and not like a working girl’s dress. She even lent you one of her favorite shawls to bring more attention to your chest.

Your job was to just be the eye candy of course. You didn’t care too much for that job but it was worth it the minute you realize that your lover, Arthur, kept glancing at you during the ride in the stagecoach. This night was already a win in your eyes.

As soon as you stepped into the garden, you could feel a dozen eyes on you for a brief moment. The feeling of being watched by so many people disappears just as fast but you already did the main part, catching the attention of the party for a brief moment. You can feel the content of your boss and discontent radiating off of Arthur as he goes to mingle with the party per Dutch’s orders.

Though you played your part and talked with men who ogled you and women who seemed to desperately want to be on good terms with you, your eyes followed Arthur’s form. For this party, he cleaned up rather well. He looked good in a suit but oh boy did it make you want to tear it off him.

You can only assume he feels the same way about you from the way he keeps trying to find you within the crowd. You finally go up to him and take his hand. He flinches before visibly relaxing when he realizes it is you.

“Hello Handsome, mind pouring me a drink?” You ask your voice light and airy.

He raises an eyebrow but plays along. “Anything for a beautiful lady.”

He hands you a glass of champagne and you quickly place a kiss on the corner of lips. He freezes and you can feel his cheeks heat up. Smiling to yourself with victory, the hand not holding the glass glides down his chest.

Arthur quickly pulls away and excuses himself. The flustered look on his face vanishes as soon as he returns to his own task at hand. Every once in a while when the two of you finally made eye contact you would be dramatic and wave at him before blowing him a kiss.

You wait a while, get acquainted with the people, and then finally spot him talking to Dutch after the mayor. You excuse yourself from your current conversation and wait a moment before following Arthur is wandering off after a butler. Thankfully most of the snobs here wouldn’t look into this since Arthur is keeping a safe distance.

He disappears into the mayor’s mansion and you wait at that entrance. You could be his cover if he gets caught. He is quick and out within a minute. You nearly give him a heart attack from being right there waiting for him and he looks around anxiously.

He questions you, “Are you in insane following me?”

“I think we have quite a few minutes, don’t you think so? Besides, it would be much better to be caught or to come back with me being the lovers we are than you mysteriously coming back all by yourself,” You murmur as you scoot closer to him.

His eyes fall to your cleavage and you laugh. He lets out a growl-like sound. “Damn woman. Teasin’ me all damn night. You have no idea what you do to me,” He states as his hands grab you by your waist and pull you flush against him.

His hands pinch at the tight fabric of your dress and your body grows heated. It worsens upon feeling his erection through his suit pants. Your arms immediately reach up and wrap around his neck. You use your fingers to comb through his locks and he practically melts from the touch.

“You sure you wanna be caught pirooting at this guy’s party?” Arthur questions trying to keep his logic in place.

With a gentle move of your hips to his, he changes his mind.

“Those dumbasses can wait. We only need a few minutes.”

You place a gentle kiss at the front of his neck and whisper in a sultry voice, “Help me hitch up my dress.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

 Bonus:

It definitely didn’t take just a few minutes.

When both of you return to the party, or well the first floor, your crew is waiting and Dutch doesn’t look too pleased. That is until he takes the sight of both of you in. He laughs.

“Ah, young love,” He murmurs.

Dutch is laughing like a mad man now. Hosea chimes in, “You mean dumb love. (Name), Arthur, you both might want to get those twigs out of your hair. Molly and Josiah ain’t going to be too pleased with how you ruined her dress you big brute. I also do not think Molly wants that shawl back.”

[xhxhxhx]

Yesterday, Eli, my husband, asked if I would write about anything besides what was in my head. I took offense, but it is a question worth asking.

"When will you write about something real?"

I.

First, I feel no particular need to write about the Court, which finished its last term on the first day of July, and will not hear argument again until the first Monday in October. 28 U.S.C. § 2. There is no urgency, and I feel no urge to create it.

In my first post in this series, I paraphrased, without attribution, some of the questions presented in the first arguments of the term. As the paraphrase suggests, they are arcane ones.

Williams v. Washington, No. 23-191, to be argued October 7, 2024, asks whether plaintiffs must exhaust state administrative remedies before bringing claims in state court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, our catchall constitutional remedies provision.

Royal Canin U.S.A., Inc. v. Wullschleger, No. 23-677, also to be argued October 7, 2024, asks whether a plaintiff may, after their suit has been removed to federal court, defeat federal-court jurisdiction by amending their complaint to omit federal questions.

These are abstract questions, about suits and courts and claims and questions, which makes them somewhat bloodless. They are also subconstitutional questions—questions not controlled by the Constitution—which mutes public concern.

I will, I hope, be able to write about them, and with blood, and concern, and the rest. But first, the groundwork: I needed to prepare the way.

II.

To write about the real, I needed to prepare the way for myself.

First, I needed to take up writing again, and publishing. To get into the habit. Second, I needed to explain my aims, to myself as much as to my readers. Third, I needed to hone the craft.

If we set aside memory, then, to make publishing every day possible, you must transform your experience into content with a high degree of efficiency. You have to get as much out of it as you can.

For lack of a better word, you have to milk it.

To extract content from experience efficiently, you must either write pure fiction or about something immediate, and ready to hand: a text, a current experience, or recent memory.

In daily commentary, you write against, or in dialogue with, other texts, more or less ready to hand, or compilations of texts, likewise, such as the daily record of events ("the news"), the tabulated fact ("the data"), or the edited selection ("the feed"), whose methods of compilation you are more or less familiar.

At a high level of efficiency, you have to write something true and amusing about each bit. Perhaps it's novel: explain it. Perhaps it evokes something: evoke it. Or perhaps you can carry your audience by summary and narration: summarize it, narrate it.

To really milk it, you have to have that knack, either on the output side—perhaps for drawing out the explanation or the evocation—or on the input side—perhaps a knack for taking in text, or selecting it, for summary or narration.

But in either case, you have to take what you take in, and get as much out of it as you can. To make something of the text without simply copying it or pointing to it. To milk it.

III.

Today I have nothing. I'm still getting into the habit, still explaining my aims, still practicing the craft. I'm still learning. But nothing comes from nothing.

Maybe tomorrow you'll get a few drops.