#i also read several books but mostly fiction so i didn't include

[tchintchun]

October Reading

Adams, William Y., Dennis P. Van Gerven, and Richard S. Levy. "The retreat from migrationism." Annual Review of Anthropology 7, no. 1 (1978): 483-532.

Bender, Barbara. "Landscapes on-the-move." Journal of Social Archaeology 1, no. 1 (2001): 75-89.

Denevan, William M. "The pristine myth: the landscape of the Americas in 1492." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82, no. 3 (1992): 369-385.

Harris, Cheryl I. "Whiteness as property." Harvard law review (1993): 1707-1791.

Kamp, Marianne. "Debating Sharia: The 1917 Muslim Women's Congress in Russia." Journal of Women's History 27, no. 4 (2015): 13-37.

Krahl, Regina. "Tang Blue-and-white." Shipwrecked. Tang treasures and monsoon winds (2010): 209-211.

Myers, Fred R. "Ways of place-making." La ricerca folklorica (2002): 101-119.

Phillips, E. D. “The Legend of Aristeas: Fact and Fancy in Early Greek Notions of East Russia, Siberia, and Inner Asia.” Artibus Asiae 18, no. 2 (1955): 161–77. https://doi.org/10.2307/3248792.

Ridley, Ronald T. "To be taken with a pinch of salt: the destruction of Carthage." Classical Philology 81, no. 2 (1986): 140-146.

Sanborn, Geoffrey. "Whence come you, Queequeg?." American Literature 77, no. 2 (2005): 227.

Shearmire, Brantlee. "The Home Away From Home: El Quartelejo Pueblo Ruins, Scott County, Kansas." (2010).

Snead, James E., and Robert w Preucel. "The Ideology of Settlement: Ancestral Keres." Allpanchis 18, no. 27: 39-74.

Staski, Edward. "Change and inertia on the frontier: Archaeology at the Paraje de San Diego, Camino Real, in southern New Mexico." International Journal of Historical Archaeology 2 (1998): 21-44.

Van Gijseghem, Hendrik. "A frontier perspective on Paracas society and Nasca ethnogenesis." Latin American Antiquity 17, no. 4 (2006): 419-444.

[sineala]

I subscribe to the newsletter of an author I like who wrote a book about 9/11 and the War on Terror and the security state in the US and how it led to the election of Trump, and it's all very serious but apparently the author is writing an Iron Man comics series. I don't read the comics, and a lot of what I know about them comes from your fic, so I'm honestly not sure how much fanon vs canon knowledge I have. 😂 But the series sounds like it might be interesting I think? The author talked about it in his newsletter today. (This link should work. Probably.)

https://www.forever-wars.com/iron-man-how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-succession/

I am actually really excited about this run! I try not to get excited about new Iron Man runs because chances are high that my hopes and dreams will be crushed, and I know that just because someone writes, say, stunningly excellent non-fiction, it is not a guarantee that they will be great at writing fiction at all or superhero comics specifically (cf. Ta-Nehisi Coates on Cap), but judging by everything Spencer Ackerman's been saying in interviews, his run sounds like it's going to explore a lot of interesting themes.

The post you linked links to an AIPT podcast that he was on a few days ago to talk about his new Iron Man run. For those of you who don't listen to podcasts (this is also me), the Iron Man subreddit has what seems like a fairly comprehensive summary of the interview, and I am really looking forward to the run. Issue #1 apparently hits stores on October 23.

But I will tell you why I am actually now really excited about this run. It's not relevant to anything about the comic itself. I am nonetheless very excited.

Last month, after he was announced as the new Iron Man writer, in order to hype up his run, he posted an offer on his blog: if you add the run to your pull list, and you email him proof that you're pulling his run and include a snail-mail address, he will mail you some cool Iron Man stickers.

I eventually got around to doing this last week. I was assuming he didn't actually pay attention to any of these emails so I dashed off a couple sentences about how I was looking forward to his take on Tony because he'd posted a photo of the Iron Man comics he was reading for research and several of them were among my favorites. And then I went off to get bagels.

By the time I had come back with bagels, twenty minutes later, he'd written me a very nice reply substantively engaging with the content of my extremely off-the-cuff message -- geez, if I'd known he was going to be actually reading them I would have put a lot more thought into it, you know? It was very kind and I was not expecting it.

He spelled my first name wrong in the reply, despite it being in the email header and also the name I had signed the email with.

This happens to me a lot. I have a first name that is very common in a lot of languages, but none of those languages are English. I'd say there's a 50-50 chance that a native English speaker will spell or pronounce my name wrong. This is unfortunate, because I live in the US and mostly interact with native English speakers. (My wife @lysimache immediately knew how to pronounce my name. I mean, it wasn't why I married her or anything, but I feel like it was a big plus on a personal level.)

If I have to give my name for something, I will reflexively spell it. The second-to-last time I voted, they'd switched voter lookup to you giving them your name rather than you giving your street address, which was a surprise that filled me with dread. My wife was in line ahead of me and she was completely finished voting by the time the poll workers had finished correctly spelling my name. (The last time I voted, I just handed them my ID, which is not required in my state, but I really wanted this to go faster.) I went to the doctor last week, and when they called my name in the waiting room, they said it wrong. I corrected them. They said it differently wrong a couple minutes later. I corrected them again. They said it wrong again. At that point I gave up.

(If I could think of a name I liked better that I was absolutely sure that most people could spell and pronounce, I would change my name. I still have not found one.)

So, you know, I'm used to it. It happens. Frequently. I was not at all surprised that he spelled it wrong.

He then emailed me again to apologize for spelling my name wrong. Like, immediately. One minute later. He said he was sorry and he knew a lot of people with a similar name.

Dude. Nobody does that. Nobody actually apologizes. Especially not in an email to a rando like me. He did not need to do that. At all. I was not expecting him to do that. He did that. I was honestly touched. No one bothers to do that. But he did.

I got my stickers in the mail yesterday.

I have redacted the portion of the note that has my name in it, but he absolutely spelled my name correctly.

Mr. Ackerman, sir, I hope your comic sells a million copies.

[johaerys-writes]

Hi! I’m pretty new to the world of Achilles and Patroclus (I read The Song Of Achilles last month) and I just saw your post about your love for them. When you said “there's just so much stuff out there about them (tsoa, hades game, the iliad, a bunch of other myths and adaptations, non fiction books, academic papers etc)” I was wondering if you could touch on the other myths and adaptations part maybe? I’m not exactly sure where to begin there but I would appreciate any guidance you could give!

Oh boy I don't know where to start either because there's a LOT. I don't want to overwhelm you so I'll just list a few key myths and adaptations off the top of my head:

Adaptations

So as far as adaptations go, I will include works where both Achilles and Patroclus show up and that are inspired by the Iliad.

Hades Game: I'm pretty sure you're already familiar with this, just mentioning it just in case!

Aristos the musical: it's a musical as the name suggests, and it revolves around Achilles and Patroclus' lives from Pelion all the way to Troy. It's really lovely and has made me emotional on numerous occasions and I love revisiting it every so often! It also has a Tumblr account: @aristosmusical

Troilus and Cressida: this is Shakespeare's take on the Trojan War and it's quite interesting, not really faithful to the Iliad but offers a sort of different perspective on the characters and the events that led to Hector's death.

Achilles (1995) by Barry JC Purves: it's a short stop motion film using clay puppets, it's on Youtube and it's only 11 mins and I think it's worth a watch! I find it very compelling visually and any adaptation where Achilles and Patroclus are lovers is a plus in my book 🫶

Holding Achilles: this is an Australian stage production by the Dead Puppet Society, I really enjoyed it and I found it an interesting blend of TSOA and Iliad Patrochilles, which also featured some cool new elements that I hadn't really seen before. It used to be free to watch for a while but now I think you have to pay to watch it, there's more info on their website.

The Silence of the Girls: a novel by Pat Barker, it's a take on the events of the Iliad mostly through Briseis' eyes, I personally didn't really like the book or the characterisations but hey both Achilles and Patroclus are in it so it might be worth a read.

There are some other novels I've heard of where Achilles and Patroclus appear (A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes, Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane) and also a TV show called Troy: Fall of a City but I haven't read/watched them so I can't really rec them

Myths

Most myths revolve around Achilles, there aren't that many with Patroclus I'm afraid, but here are some of my favourites:

Achilleid by Publius Papinius Statius: this is an epic poem about Achilles' stay on Skyros disguised as a girl and his involvement with Deidameia. It's interesting but I'd personally take the characterisations and events in it with a grain of salt because Romans were notorious for their unsympathetic portrayal of Greek Homeric heroes but it's still a cool thing that's out there and free to read online.

Iphigenia at Aulis: a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides, it's basically the dramatised version of the myth of Iphigenia's sacrifice in Aulis which predates the Iliad, there are many obscure versions of this myth but Euripides' sort of updated version is my favourite, I will never shut up about this play!! Lots of a nuance and very interesting portrayals of Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Clytemnestra, Iphigenia and pretty much everyone in there, well worth a read.

Lost plays: there are several plays in which Achilles appears but that have been lost or survive only in fragments, but two of my favourites are Euripides' Telephus and Aeschylus' Myrmidons. Telephus takes place before the Trojan War, while the Greeks are on their way to Troy. I really like Achilles' characterisation in the fragments that remain and also the fact that he was already renowned for his knowledge of medicine and healing despite how young he was. The fragments that survive from Aeschylus' Myrmidons I think are fewer but the play was extremely popular at the time it was presented to the public and it sparked a lot of controversy re: Achilles and Patroclus' relationship and who tops/bottoms so I think that's kind of funny lol.

There are lots of other obscure little myths about Achilles that I've picked up by reading various books, papers and wiki posts on the matter and that are just too numerous to list here, but what I will mention and that I think concludes the myths section of this post pretty neatly is that the Iliad and the Odyssey are not the only works about the Trojan War that were written, merely the only works that survived. The rest of the books in the Epic Cycle have been preserved either in fragmentary form or in descriptions in other works, and I think the Epic Cycle wiki page is a good place to start if you want to get an idea of what each of those books contained.

I hope this helped! 💙

[lightflame]

Tagged by @bagadew (Also tagging in @waermeflasche because you tagged me weeks ago and I didn't get back to you)

Last song I listened to: Soap by The Oh Hellos. I burn CDs and listen to them in my car. (The first few I tried to give themes and titles, and select the perfect song orders, but ended up kind of bad and the other was cursed and wouldn't play even though I remade it three times, so I just switched to throwing a ton of songs together on "Random Mixes" and enjoying.) I was listening to my very first random mix on the drive home from work and this one came up. It's a pretty snazzy song. I think Theseus and Hello, My Old Heart are my favourites from the band.

Last book I read: Can I do a couple? I just recently finished Play of Shadows by Sebastien de Castell. It's the first book of Court of Shadows, the sequel series to his Greatcoats series. Greatcoats is one of my favourite series, filled with swashbuckling action, clever humour, and an absolutely miserable protagonist, Falcio val Mond, who always manages to get back up and keep going anyway. I read everything de Castell writes, and after a string of books with severe pacing problems (check out The Malevolent Seven for a book that doesn't have a second act) and other problems (I have a hard time seeing any book topping Crucible of Chaos as the worst book I've read this year), he finally seems to be back. The book didn't pack quite the emotional punch of some of his other books, but it definitely made me want to jump up and cheer for the heroes at the end.

The other book I just finished is The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden. I liked her Winternight Trilogy (look it up and be prepared for some absolutely gorgeous covers, with prose to match), so I was excited to see something new from her. This book was about World War I, with some fantasy elements used for magic realism. (Portraying a soldier's struggle with addiction and PTSD through the lens of him losing his soul to the devil was a brilliant idea.) I most subsist on a steady diet of fantasy books, but this one had me hungering to read a few more historical books. I might have to pick up some books about the Halifax Explosion.

Last film I watched: I haven't watched much on my own for a while, but my friends do a movie night every Sunday. The last two times I tuned in, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar and Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown. They were both fairly cute movies. I liked Judas's actor.

Last TV series I watched: I've been making my way through The Office for the first time. I'm on Season 3 and this happened to me, actually. There was some stuff I was like, "Wow, that was funny. I should tell my coworkers about it," but then I realized that I can't be the guy who tells his coworkers about this funny new show called The Office.

Last video game I played: If visual novels count, Umineko. I've been working my way through it slowly for about five and a half years and I'm finally closing in on the end. It's peak fiction and the greatest love story of the twentieth century. It's also funny I picked a game this insanely long for my first visual novel. Other than visual novels, I just finished Pokemon Legends: Arceus, after putting in 104 hours this year. Completing the Dex is my favourite part of any Pokemon game, so having it be more involved and include a big checklist made the game basically crack for me. I've also been casually playing some Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) with my brother. Every time we play it, I'm always amazed by how good it is and how much content it has. I want to take command posts forever.

Last thing I googled: "Dandadan Aira". I just started the manga the other day and I like her best, so I wanted to double check her full name, I think? Other than that I'm mostly looking up when books are available at my local stores. I've been religiously checking when The Book that Broke the World will be available and I'm not even sure if I'm buying it.

Last thing I ate: A few snacks from my snack drawer. I also had a Quaker yogurt bar at work. I bought a big box of them last year, but I had to throw them out because of the Salmonella. (Chewed through a lot of them before that came out, though, including eating three on an airplane.)

Amount of sleep: Supposedly seven hours, since I went to bed right after finishing The Warm Hands of Ghosts last night. The only problem is that if I get to bed at a good time, I sleep fitfully, so I'm either sleeping poorly or sleeping well, but not getting anywhere near enough sleep.

Currently reading: I started Empire of Silence, the first book of The Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio, at work today. I've had the first three books sitting on my shelf for a year or two and I finally got around to starting it. (I'd resolved to do both this series and Kushiel's Legacy this year, after having both for so long, and I got that one done at the start.) I'm not very far in, but I enjoy the writing style a lot, even if a lot of the worldbuilding is obviously cribbed from Dune. (Whoa, look, mentats.) I've heard it picks up a lot in the second book, so I'm excited for what's in store for me.

Passing this on, I'll tag @somerunner @lyssq @soulsinshadow @lunawithsocks and @dancerladyaqua. (They also have currently watching and sweet, salty, or savoury as questions, which I didn't do.)

[insipid-drivel]

Horse writing question I've been thinking about since I read Black Beauty as a kid. If you were to set Black Beauty in the modern day what animal husbandry/cruelty things would you highlight? Are there many issues left in the 21st century now that fewer people need horses for everyday labor? Thanks

I've never read Black Beauty, so I can't really make any informed comments either in praise of or critique of it.

A lot of people seem to assume I was one of those "horse girls" growing up with the horse-themed folders and horse-themed lunchboxes and horse-themed backpacks and horse-themed historical fiction YA library books dreaming of owning my own pony one day.

I wasn't, and as loving as the term may be, I'm agender and don't like the term "horse girl" applied to me, even though it's "the general name of the type of person". Right now, I'm tantalizingly close to getting my bottom surgery, and still get misgendered on a daily basis by literally everyone that speaks to or about me, no matter how loud I scream my they/them pronouns, or how many "Please use They/Them" pronouns I wear pinned to my shirt (I have several, still haven't been correctly gendered, even by the surgeon performing my bottom surgery - my mom only really tries to remember my pronouns when she knows I can hear her, and just reverts to she/her when she thinks I don't know).

I was a stable hand, which is a form of skilled labor that is often unregulated and goes without union or OSHA protections, and is a form of work where underage and child workers are extremely common. If I got injured at work as a stable hand, it was my parents' problem to get me to the doctor - there was no on-site accident insurance or PTO or anything. It is not an exaggeration to say the horses were treated with more care for their safety and wellbeing than the stable hands - myself included - caring for them were. You either worked and made what the boss gave you, or you didn't work and you didn't get paid until you showed up and put in your hours. I was always paid in cash under the table by adults looking for cheap labor with minimal red tape and oversight - sometimes I'd even have relatives "borrow" me and commit me to working at a friend's ranch on weekends "as a favor to their friend/colleague who needed an extra pair of hands" even when I was already balancing working during the week WITH going to school, all before I was 16 years old. Some days I spent more time shoveling horse shit than I actually spent with any horses, but I stuck with the work for as long as my body would let me - even long after I was too disabled to keep riding.

Horse upkeep was something that very much got introduced to my early life because of my dysfunctional biological parents. I mostly worked in barns because I'd grown up around horses and horse-people, and barns are a good place where a traumatized kid can drown out the noise in their head with backbreaking labor, exhausting work hours, and animals that were more emotionally available than anyone I had at home. Earning the trust and affection of giant 1000+lb animals also gave me a sense of validation and power: "My parents may not make me feel safe, but this quarterhorse can kick at 2000lbs PSI and secretly hates everyone but me," is an empowering feeling when you live in an environment where your sense of safety feels like more of an essential daily need than food and water.

[the-writing-mechanic-official]

Character Sheet Elements:

So, I've completely finalized my character sheet on MS Excel, and I found this as an extremely good self-reference tool, and it helped me stay on the path a lot. so I thought I could share how I do it here.

Character sheets might not be for everyone, but if it's your thing, read more.

Basics

So I started of by listing the main characters: protagonists. deuteragonist, tritagonists, antagonists and most recurring ones in general. This first part (color coded in blue) is for ground information like name, appearance, age,

Fields I use:

First Name + Surname/Full Name: Including any nicknames.

Age: At the beginning and end if you have a series over several years or so. I also added "Age looks" because some of my characters are ageless or have longer life-spans.

Hair/Eyes: Even skin tone if you'd like. Eye change is another element of my world so ignore that.

Nationality/Ethnicity/Species: Especially when you have some of them human and some non-human.

Representative Color: Basically a color I think fits into the characters personality. Not important, but I think it's an intuitive touch.

Occupation: Job or otherwise.

Total Scars: an addition of mine since scars are a some-what large focus here.

This list is basic but very adjustable. I've added somethings of my own here, since my world is a Sci-Fi place, and you can too if you write non-realistic fiction.

Not all fields apply to my characters, so that's what the dark blue is.

Below are the tables of Side/Supporting characters: minor antagonists, people who appear a handful of times. You'll need to keep track of them as well, or make some fields labeled "relative". Only the attributes important to the story are here. Don't be worried about blocking a few fields if you don't need to dive so deep to the character.

2. Depth:

This is the part that sets your main cast from the rest, since you see, there are fields you might not want or need to fill.

Fields I have:

Likes/Dislikes: Makes a character more real.

Fear and Flaw: Big problem if one of your mains lack both.

Motive: I realized I didn't add it, but yes. Almost all characters need a motive.

Role: As scene, Protagonist, Antagonist, Confidant etc.

MBTI/Alignment: Not completely necessary, but they give you something to work with. Enneagram does too.

Song: Personal addition. AMVs do not get out of my head.

Obviously not all of those would apply to the side characters. To be clear, Fear and Flaw can be anything you feel would fit like the examples at the top.

3. Narrative:

These are mostly things that affect the plot or my writing. Out of the world things, or rather plans.

Fields I include:

Books in which they get a POV: If you have multiple narrators. If only one, it's unnecessary. If you only have one book, try listing chapters instead.

Font: I use font to distinguish one POV from the other.

Voice: Each character needs a general pattern in their thoughts and dialogue.

Weapons and Powers: Especially if you have specific types of each.

Status: If you're going to kill off some.

Once again, there are details you skip over with the side characters, mainly POV and so. You can also add a reason of death (like Wikipedia or something) or any other field you think would fit your novel.

That's about it! I hope this character sheet design helps you. I also have a books sheet I might share sometime since I have multiple books in my series.

[hwestalas]

Aragorn (a.k.a. Strider) as Frodo first saw him, on a not-so-ordinary Thursday evening.*

This is my first (and so far only) attempt at drawing this iconic scene. It's also almost the only time I have drawn Aragorn without a beard. I initially imagined him without a beard (probably because my dad shaves, I trust my dad, and Strider gave me strong trustworthy vibes**), but I can't get him to look how I imagined. I guess he's inadvertently closer to the animated version in Ralph Bakshi's film, so that's something :)

He is my favorite fictional character (though it took a couple of years before I was willing to let him displace Littlefoot from that position). Aside from his just being such a good, noble, upright person, I mostly like him so much because of the contrasts in his character: he looks scary and ragged and disreputable, but he's actually one of the greatest heroes in the book, both in moral character and in abilities. Speaking of which, he's a powerful healer and a really strong warrior, all at once! This surprises people in-universe (even people more sensible than the Herb Master, such as the Warden of the Houses of Healing).

Oh, and he's the greatest tracker of that age, which is also cool. He's just really, really epic. And I love his sense of humor. I keep forgetting that the whack-a-troll scene exists, which is awesome because then I can laugh about it all over again!***

Funny story and fact citations in the Notes down there V

*According to Appendix A, this was on September 29, which, according to Appendix D, always falls on a Thursday.

**The Story of How I Came to Trust Aragorn:

I had heard some vague spoilers in earlier years about Aragorn being an unlikely king, revealed through his healing powers. Then I read the summary on the back of the novel, and it mentioned Frodo travelling with several people, including "a mysterious stranger named Strider." Aragorn wasn't mentioned by name, but I figured he was a main character, and my brain put two and two together to assume that "Strider" was Aragorn's alias.

Meanwhile, my dad started reading aloud The Fellowship of the Ring. Hobbits showed up, did their thing, and eventually reached Bree... but not without some super sus gate-jumper on their tail. I just knew it was a Ringwraith... Then they entered the Inn, and this super sus stranger was sitting in a dark corner, and he was *invisible*! Well, all you could see was his eyes, but I figured a Ringwraith had followed them right into the Inn! Then Mr. Butterbur introduced him as Strider, and in an instant, everything changed.

I was very excited, because Aragorn had shown up!! And I trusted him from the start; I was rather proud of that. I loved him more and more over the course of the next two chapters or so, and declared that he would always be my favorite, no matter what other awesome characters might show up later! (I knew this to be foolish, but I didn't care.)

I also learned (from him, I believe) that he had been the super sus gate jumper when the Hobbits first arrived at Bree... which means that I mistook him for a Ringwraith not once, but twice - the first two times I saw him!

***If you, too, would like to laugh at the whack-a-troll scene, I would highly recommend LotR Book One (this is the first half of FotR) chapter 12, specifically the middle part that one would expect to be boring. If you start about six sections in, the travel log should soon give way to some mention of trolls, upon the heels of which comes one of my favorite funny scenes.

[twoplayergame]

about your tags on my post, explain to me anything you want about your bmc aus I'm curious

(rubbing my gay lil hands together) you've opened the floodgates i hope you know, so i'm sorry in advance for the walls of text incoming aha.

BUT ANYWAY!!!!

this week (oct 9 to oct 13) is THE exact same dates as the week my LIS AU "Life is Weird" takes place (in 2017 tho), so this infodump will be ALL about that AU in particular!!! also bc the 6-year anniversary of the blog was last month ♥

my icon on this blog is my art from that AU too :]c

EDIT: putting this under a cut actually, so i don't have a mile-long post lol. also, i think i'll make a pinned post with a list of all my other AUs for reference! i have a LOT of half-baked ones i'd love to talk about as well

so:

Life is Weird is a Life is Strange-inspired AU i created in 2017!

the askblog it started with (@asklifeisweird) follows Michael as the protagonist (a la max caulfield), and Jeremy as the equivalent to chloe price.

there's a couple more roles that were originally fairly 1:1 (squip as jefferson, rich as nathan, chloe as victoria, christine as kate, dustin as rachel), but over the years they've mostly grown away from being "reskins" as me and my boyf keep developing the au!

i've also stolen several characters from the BMC book– either entirely or just in name– to fill the background space/chars, since LIS has a whole world of characters and BMC as a musical kinda... didn't, at least back in the day :'D now there's more named bg chars, but keep in mind this AU started before even the 2017 Exit82 revival, so we had uhhh about 11 characters and a book. anyway.

while the askblog itself hasn't exactly gotten very far in the story yet, the au has grown to include more LIS-based ideas as That franchise grew, alongside a lot of our own brainstorming ofc!! there's SEVERAL other stories planned following other characters besides Michael, and a lot of different timelines i'd LOVE to explore (some during blog canon, some just in side stories)

not to mention: since conception, the blog has gone through so many styles of getting the story out there that i consider it a multimedia project at this point. askblog with square panel comics in between, full-on comic pages, writing/fics... and most recently, bust-sprites with different expressions and text in between. i'm also working to add interactive fiction into the mix!!

Michael's story (nicknamed "Redshift" behind the scenes) mostly follows the same beats as the first LIS game, but the further in we get the more we've added to it. i'm especially excited for the LIW-equivalent to the alternate timeline LIS1 shows in (iirc) ep4, as well as the timeline post-Redshift that's inspired by the LIS1 comics :)

shifting tracks, i mentioned this was started Before the first musical revival. because of that and the revival coming out like 2 months later, a lot of the original character designs were based off the 2RT/2015 cast, the E82/2017 cast, or entirely headcanon-based. since then, as more productions happened, appearances have shifted or changed completely!

off the top of my head, some of the more notable ones are:

jeremy: 2RT for current, E82 for younger

brooke: E82 for current, 2RT/NYC for younger

dustin: originally all headcanon, now mainly E82 with some hc

jenna: originally 2RT, now mainly NYC

jake: originally 2RT, now NYC + clothing insp from 2RT

i'd like to take inspiration from other productions as well tbh, but i can't change full appearances much anymore since i've done the fullbody sprites already and i don't wanna completely redraw anyone if i don't have to XD

ok so. i WOULD keep talking but i've realised i have to get ready to see the BACCP production today!!! so i'll leave you off with the AU blogs if you wanna know more or read it or whatever! or feel free to send me more asks, i love this AU with all my heart :]

@asklifeisweird (main/ic askblog)

@bemorestrange (extra content/ooc sideblog)

[eternalwritess]

Hey, I'm that anon that was matched with Charlie a while back (the one with the soy sauce packets). I was wondering if you could match me with one of the Helluva Boss characters?

It's the same info as before \/

I'm a bisexual aroace (If you've heard of "demiromantic"; that's how I experience romantic attraction). I use he/it/they pronouns.

I'm an INFP, though I have gotten ISTP sometimes. I usually keep to myself around strangers, and my first words to people that I'm not introduced by friends are usually just work-related with a bit of small talk (even in fandom spaces, surprisingly). Once I get comfortable around people, I tend to let my childish nature and antics shine through, and once I consider you a friend, it's hard to ever fully shake me off. My friends sometimes call me an "old grandpa", with the way I know a lot of random psychology and biology facts, and the way I fumble with new technology, slang, and texting acronyms. My love of non-fiction and my adherence to grammar rules certainly doesn't help. Simultaneously, they (lovingly) call a 12-year-old boy, with the way I don't hesitate to pull out a "your mom" or "that's what she said" to the conversation and with the way that I almost exclusively watch animated movies and shows over live action ones. I carry with me 15 packets of soy sauce in fish-shaped sachets in my (several) pockets. Why? Because I think it's funny, and the confusion I bring to those around me with my soy collection gives me a sense of joy. (I do other things of a similar calibre, but I wanted to name an example) Despite all of this, I tend to gravitate towards the "Mom Friend" archetype. I carry with me a lot of people pleasing tendencies (I get a lot of anxiety around not upsetting others), and that translates to making sure that the people around me are happy. I also tend to fill a "Therapist Friend" role because of this fact, my psychology facts, and how intuitive I can be at times. I tend to isolate myself, whether by physically or mentally leaving the room, when I feel upset, and I don't really like talking about negative experiences I have unless those experiences have been resolved.

On a brighter note, I consider myself quite the creative person. I draw a lot, though I usually only draw other characters instead of my own OCs. I have a discord server that I use to jot down either: a) my opinion of a certain media b) images/reactions I find funny/relatable c) infodumps about AUs or crossovers that I've made I don't really write, so I consider "c)" to be the next best thing. I also love music. I listen to mostly indie music, with a couple of generic queer bands thrown in there and a couple of musicals' and video games' OSTs. I play the violin and the trombone, so I may be biased in saying that I love jazz (really doesn't help the "old man" allegations, but who cares). In terms of non-creative hobbies, I love reading. Although I find myself drawn to the odd science non-fiction book, my heart lies in fantasy and mystery novels (this does include webtoons, manga, and webnovels, though I don't read those as much). On the same vein, I love video games (where else would I get those OSTs?). I tend to like story-rich games that are either turn-based (think Undertale) or no combat (think Slime Rancher), though if the mechanics aren't too overwhelming, metroidvanias are nice (think Hollow Knight). The last main hobby is food. If I didn't give you "mad scientist" vibes, let me tell you, I "Victor Frankenstein" my way through every meal, when time permits. I mostly mix and match what I'd think taste good together based on what I was craving at the time. I'd also say that, apart from Quality Time, I show affection best through giving foods that I've made. It works in reverse, too, where I get pleasantly happy when people I know well offer food to me. There was this one time I was bickering with some friends and one of them held a packet of chips to my face, and I tell you, the way I immediately shut up the second I saw it... I was almost embarrassed by how well that worked...

I'm really sensitive to a lot of textures, and the biggest ones are stickers (and anything sticky in that way) and wet things (think water fountains splashing water unexpectedly, fruit juices spraying on my face when I cut them too harshly, even stepping on wet floorboards without socks can set it off). Clothing/carpet with short hairs send literal shivers down my spine, but only when I touch them with my fingers/feet. I don't like kissing (at all.), so I normally stick with nuzzling. Hugs and spooning (both with people I'm comfortable around) are okay, however.

I don't really have any pet peeves, other than just blatant disrespect of basic boundaries as well as these boundaries in particular.

I hope you have a good and well-rested day :)

𝕐𝕠𝕦 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕖𝕟 𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙…

𝓜𝓸𝔁𝔁𝓲𝓮!

Honestly the first person that came to mind for you is Moxxie

The way you two met is that he probably say you trying to mediate between an argument with a few others it started getting a little... dicey so he decided to step in before you got hurt

Yeah so those guys are now dead-

He made sure that you were okay immediately afterwards

"Are you okay? Some people in Hell are just so unreasonable,"

After that he offered to walk you somewhere safe (at first he offered to your house but then started stumbling seeing how weird it sounded since you both just met)

He tried getting you talk on the way asking you small questions here and there trying to get to know you more since he found the way you handled the situation between the two guys amazing

"So what do you like to do for fun?"

Once you let your guard down he really fell in love with you

He absolutely adored your more childish nature and it would push him out of his boundaries just a little more

You and him would absolutely bond over not understanding the internet. You would both try to learn it and Blitz (idk how to do the o thing) would try to 'help' you guys (just make fun of you)

He would randomly asking you questions loving your random psychology and biology facts. He admires your will to learn and finds it as one of the most attractive things about you

"Do you know what this is?"

Whenever you pull out a 'your mom' joke he finds it slightly immature and doesn't get it all of the time but Blitz likes it and will encourage you on it

Either way though he finds your sense of humor quite nice compared to Blitz's

He doesn't know why you have the soy sauce packets... its a mystery to him

"May I ask... why?"

You and him probably read series's of books together like honestly I wouldn't doubt it. Its one of the many things you do together

Whenever you get upset and leave the room he gets concerned and will try to give you space but might end up following you and trying to comfort you. But if he sees that you just really want to be alone he'll leave you and apologize

He'll then grab some of your favorite stuff for you and surprise you with it trying to make sure that you're alright

"I know you're having a bad time so... I grabbed a few things for you"

He encourages you to be creative all of the time constantly buying you drawing supplies and praising your work. He hangs it up everywhere... and makes sure that everyone knows that you did it and that its the best artwork in the seven rings

While you and him might not have the same music tastes he loves you anyways and will end up writing songs for you

"I made a little something for you..."

Whenever he hears you play the violin or trombone he swoons and will start hugging you and nuzzling you whenever you're done

Sometimes you both play duets together and afterwards he'll always praise you saying how well you did

Whenever he sees you mix and match food he gets confused and will give you the weirdest little look ever as if he's questioning his life decisions...

But besides that he'll just give you an awkward thumbs up

:Thumps up:

He gets you food... like all of the time. He loves gift giving if you can't tell by now-

Whenever there's a texture that you don't like and it comes into contact with you he'll help you get it off always

He always follows your boundaries no matter what <3

It took him a while to open up to you about his past and he didn't share all of it... but you comforted him through it

[puttingwingsonwords]

November Reading Wrap Up

This month I finished more books than ever before; granted, several were started earlier, so page-wise the difference is smaller, but still there. I think this is mostly because I didn't spend a lot of time gaming.

Shit I just noticed one of the books in the graphic isn't aligned but I'm not going back to change that.

Stats

total books read: 17

2023 reading challenge progress: 96 out of 100 (somewhat ahead)

formats: 3 digital, 4 audio, 9 physical

Books

I finished several 5 star reads this month. My absolute favourite was, no surprise, @re-dracula (yes I'm counting it as a book. in the end I did read Dracula after all).

• Re: Dracula by BloodyFM, Bram Stoker (audio, podcast)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This chronological audio adaptation of Dracula is the best Dracula adaptation out there with an incredible cast, fantastic sound design and awesome bonus songs. I cannot recommend it enough. Together with the Dracula Daily tumblr community it re-enlightened my special interest in vampires and Dracula to the point that I'm still thinking about it every day.

• Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid (audio)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Dark fairy tale meets gothic horror in this retelling of The Juniper Tree. Absolutely loved it!

• Stemmen uit de bodemloze diepte by Anne Resseler (audio)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A Dutch YA horror novella that makes you feel the primal fear of the depths of the ocean in an atmospheric, even comforting way.

• The Seep by Chana Porter (digital)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This sci-fi novella with a unique take on alien invasion is wonderfully strange and existential. The short story included in this edition is also great.

• Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver (audio, ARC)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I had read and loved Chameleon Moon once before, but the audio version made me love it even more! It's intense, emotional, and has amazing effects for ghostly and computerised voices as well as two original songs.

• Activestills: Photography as Protest in Palestine/Israel (physical)

rating: 5 out of 5 stars

A big book full of photos from Palestinian and Israeli activist photography collective Activestills, accompanied by essays and interviews. I greatly admire Activestills' work.

• Stories from Palestine: Narratives of Resilience by Marda Dunsky (digital)

rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Interviews with people of varying occupations from all around Palestine, combined with data and historical and political context, paint a picture of every day life in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank.

• A Map of Absence: An Anthology of Palestinian Writing on the Nakba (digital)

rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A great introduction to Palestinian writing, containing poetry, short fiction and excerpts from novels and essays.

• The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay by Dale Walls (audio, ARC)

rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A great YA contemporary following three queer high school friends, examining the nature of queer love.

• The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan (physical)

rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A fun book in the Percy Jackson saga, with lower stakes than usual which makes it a lighthearted adventure that still packs the occasional punch.

• Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan (physical)

rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Highly enjoyable modern take on Jules Verne feat. deep sea adventures, alt-tech, and an exploration of the weight of legacy.

• Spy x Family Vol. 1-6 by Tatsuya Endo (physical, borrowed)

rating: 4 out of 5

Action comedy that's just a lot of fun and unexpectedly touching.

Currently reading and TBR

I've just started, or am about to start (I've only read the introduction) Freedom Is a Constant Struggle by Angela Davis. I'm also reading the poetry collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Mosab Abu Toha, which is currently available for free among many other books for Read Palestine Week (link below).

I have a few more indie books on my TBR for Monster Manor Indie Autumn (extended through December), and A Thousand Steps into Night is my last 12 books for 12 friends read this year. (Send me a message/ask or fill in the question box on my instagram story if you have a rec for next year!)

[kestalsblog]

Thoughts on Current Young Adult Fiction

Recently, I made it a mission of mine to read a plethora of YA fiction at the library, including a wide range of genres (fantasy, romance, historical, etc.), as well as books composed of prose poems, which can be blended into "fiction" when they're crafted into an overarching story.

I also chose from a wide selection of authors of different racial, ethnic, gender, age, and sexual identities. The one constraint I had, unfortunately, is I only can fluently read books written primarily in English, though I did make an effort to read books that switched between languages, mostly between English and Spanish in my case.

I'm not going to name any of the books I read between last year and now when I started this project because I don't want to call out any authors/titles in a post that might be considered "negative."

I'm a huge supporter of YA fiction, but the primary thing I noticed while reading is . . . lack.

Lack of character development. Lack of exciting action. Lack of intriguing dialogue. Lack of world-building. Lack of surprise.

But more than all of that - lack of passion! Literally lackluster writing. I want sentences that ooze and drip the writer's passion, war-torn, gripping, resonant sentences that make me care about the characters, that make me want to keep reading.

Out of dozens of books, some deemed more "popular" and some more "obscure" (though, let's put some pressure on which books even get selected by "Top Ten" Lists and so on), I didn't read a single one where I really cared what happened next. I barely remember one from the next.

There could be several reasons for this:

I'm a little too old to be the target audience for YA, which is typically around 12-18 (younger than you might think!) I'm sure if I looked back at the books I considered "gripping" when I was younger, I would be disappointed with them now.

Publishers are going to publish what they think will sell - whether for political reasons, big name connections reasons, whatever else. This means not-stellar writing can pass through to the shelves quite easily.

But still! I keep thinking on this. Isn't there a space for YA fiction that can blend the lines with what's typically perceived as "literary" fiction? It doesn't have to be poetry. It doesn't even have to be profound.

But can't it be passionate?

Can't it be poignant?

I suppose my takeaway from this is here: if you are a YA writer, don't let the fact that you're writing for a younger audience hold your writing back from being superb. Teach them new words, new ways to construct sentences. Show them the most devastating character they've ever met. Be memorable.

And, of course, keep fighting against the current market, which is perhaps the biggest hurdle of all. I wonder if any published authors have had to "dilute" their writing to get an agent to accept them or something like that. Is this tepid prose what's truly in style?

[helloquotemyfoot]

Book Backlog Busting Reading Challenge!

I missed an update last week because I've been so busy, and sadly don't have a lot of progress to report for this week either... but you know what, at least I'm reporting on it!

Femina by Janina Ramirez. FINISHED. Really interesting examples and analysis throughout. I feel like this would be especially good for folks less familiar with this period of history for introducing you to figures that are less well known, although I did know quite a few of them due to my own reading. One thing I really liked about this in particular was the strong link to the doing of history in the present and the reflection on the way we use history for our own needs and to understand our own modern society. It was very refreshing to have a popular history book confront this so baldly because it really is an important part of doing history, and part of what makes books like this one so important, but I think less understood by the wider public. Highly recommended.

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North. FINISHED. This book is several different genres in a trench coat, to the point where I can't even tell you all the genres because one of them is a plot twist. But if you want a fantasy science-fiction solarpunk dystopic political thriller (etc) then I strongly recommend this book. If you are scratching your head at that incomplete list of genres and wondering how that can possibly be accurate then I also strongly recommend the book as an experience worth having.

Before We Go Live by Stephen Flavall. FINISHED. This is a memoir by Slay the Spire streamer jorbs, who I am a long time fan and watcher of. I have always valued jorbs's sense of humour and perspective and so when I heard he had published a book I was eager to read it. I did not anticipate quite how hard-hitting this book would be. It deals with professional and personal abuse, the toxic world of gaming, misogyny, and the healing power of being loved by cats. In many ways, it's a very brave and sensitive piece of work, especially as jorbs/Flavall shares his personal struggles in it, at the same time as sharing how being watched by thousands of people 8+ hours a day for a living has created some issues around privacy because... like duh, of course it has. I think what keeps this feeling like an ultimately hopeful book is the central narrative around jorbs's incredible friendship with Hannah, and his own personal dedication to spreading kindness and understanding. Also cats. I'm not sure you will get much out of it if you are not familiar with the online gaming sphere, but I very much recommend reading it anyway.

Since I still have 4 books ongoing, no 'next reads' in this post, just the books I have picked up since I was last here.

Passions Between Women by Emma Donoghue. A study of British lesbian culture and representation from the late seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth, so far it has been a really interesting read and questions a lot of assumptions about the wlw historical experience (because the author takes a broad approach to 'lesbian' identity and includes the experience of all lovers of women). I didn't post a picture of this one as the cover of my edition risks breaking tumblr's NSFW policies.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain by Ian Mortimer. If you've seen my previous posts you'll be familiar with this author's name already. A guide to life in Restoration Britain (mostly England, really, despite the title) as though you were travelling back in time, covering many questions about day to day living and culture which don't come up in traditional histories.

Until next time...

101 books remaining!

[andthatisnotfake]

🧾What is the most memorable book ending you’ve ever read? Did it leave you satisfied or wanting more? 

🧾What fictional world would you love to visit and explore if given the chance? 

📚Do you have a go-to reading spot or do you read everywhere?

📕Who is your all-time favorite author, and what makes their writing so special to you? 

Couldn't resist this ask game! <3

I'm very glad you couldn't resist this ask game! Lol

Most memorable book ending: probably The Book Thief. The Hunger Games saga has a memorable ending as well. Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, a classic Brazilian book I had to read in high school and absolutely hated! Memorable ending though...

Fictional world I'd love to explore: I love sci-fi and fantasy, but every world I can think of sounds even more dangerous than ours lol. I guess if you don't count the dangers, the world from the book I'm reading right now, Crescent City, sounds pretty cool. I'd like to visit Darkover as well, a world from a sci-fi collection I was obsessed with when I was a teenager, mostly because it's been in my imagination for so long.

Reading spot: I read any and everywhere (bookworm only child of the family raised in a time of no mobile phones), but honestly my favorite is just my bed. 😊

All time favorite author: I don't think I have one? I have several authors that, once I enjoy something they've written, I start reading more by them, but I don't think I have an all-time favorite. When I was a teenager, I read everything I could get ahold of by Marion Zimmer Bradley (the aforementioned Darkover series included), but I'm not sure if still like these books if I read them now (especially the ones in the sci-fi series) and, more importantly, a few years after her death her daughter revealed she abused her sexually and helped her husband abuse other girls, so... Yeah, no. I did recently randomly think about The Catch Trap, a book she wrote that was the first queer romance I ever read (it has 900 pages and I read it in 4 days; at the same time I was reading Triste Fim..., which has about 100 pages, and I took the whole month lol - I really didn't like that book). I have the book, but back in Brazil, so I found the pdf to download and re-read parts of it, crying like a baby. Sadly, she might have been a horrible person, but this is actually a good book. Unfortunately there's barely any fanfiction of it (which I would consume absolutely guilt free, since it's not like she's getting any money anyway - though, IIRC, the money from her books now goes to her daughter, the victim, and to help other victims of abuse, so there's that). Damn, this turned into a long answer, but I also need to mention one more: Machado de Assis. He's a famous classic Brazilian writer, who we are also forced to read in high school, but he was a freaking genius! His books are just phenomenal. He understands the human psyche like no one else. Also, he was black, but ask me if I learned that in high school (spoiler alert: I didn't).

Thanks for asking!

[elenajohansenreads]

Books I Read in 2023

#99 - Zen in the Art of Writing, by Ray Bradbury

Rating: 4/5 stars

I've read quite a few books on writing by this point, mostly by authors I respect--Stephen King and Ursula K. Le Guin come to mind as the best of the bunch, though the works are vastly different. I read a fair bit of Bradbury as a teenager, reread The Martian Chronicles recently and found it's still a favorite years later, and mean to read much more of his catalog that I didn't get to on my first pass, reading my mother's original, tattered paperbacks.

That includes this book, which I did not realize before starting was a collection of essays Bradbury had written on the subject of writing over the course of his long career. The format led to some repetition, as anyone telling stories about their life will tell them multiple times over the years to different people--several essays prominently featured the Buck Rogers comic-strip incident, for example. But on the whole, reading essays by the same author that spanned such a long career and breadth of experience was enlightening. Some of the practical advice that worked for him is less practical now, as pumping out a short story a week to send to "the magazines" isn't necessarily as viable a road to potential success as he enjoyed; but the advice pertaining to the craft of writing itself, I found inspiring.

I especially liked his list: the ongoing collection of nouns he kept around for inspiration, which seemed like a particularly useful way to springboard from a simple object, like a jar, to some sort of fantastical horror or science fiction tale about that object. I immediately wanted to start my own list (and I have) but as I didn't feel like a list of object-nouns would be as useful to me as a romance writer, I've started a list of character concepts: a few of my entries so far are "the penny pincher" and "the flower hunter." The first one is inspired by a character in an anime I'm currently watching, because his obsession with the bottom line in his business defines his role, but the broader concept is applicable to so many more situations than the office money man. The second is simply a phrase I liked from a recent read (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous) that, in context, did not literally mean a person who hunted for flowers, but could mean that in something I wrote--in a real-world setting that would probably mean a scientist searching for the flower for some reason, and in a fantasy setting it could be a full-blown occupation itself to supply your inevitable potion-makers with their reagents.

Since I haven't started a new project with this list to hand, I don't yet know how successful it will be as a tool for my writing, but lists appeal to my brain, and this is a long-term sort of thing, not necessarily meant to have immediate effects. (At least, if I'm not trying to write a short story in one sitting on Monday, to revise three times from Tuesday to Thursday, and to finally edit and send out on Friday, as Bradbury apparently did weekly for years.)

Beyond the irritation of the repetitious stories, though, my other gripe with this work is that it's very much a reflection of a man writing in a man's world; he mentions his wife typing his stories, he uses "man" and male pronouns as the default for referring to hypothetical people including the reader, and the authors he name-drops are overwhelmingly male. (The only two women I remember him mentioning are Sara Teasdale and Le Guin. Which are great choices, but they were the only ones.)

I admit that I'm personally bitter about the wife-typing thing, not just because of the massive history of the unacknowledged labor of women supporting male authors, but because my hateful, backwards grandmother assumed I was typing up all of my future-husband's papers while we were in college together. Of course he had to write the papers, because they were his classwork, but I was supposed to be typing them, while I was also doing all of my own work too.

She was absolutely shocked that I let him type his own papers, and did not seem to understand, even after my explanations, that on computers, writing is typing--he wasn't drafting longhand on paper first; and that it was massively unfair and sexist to expect a woman to take time away from her own schoolwork to help her boyfriend with his with no expectation of reciprocity.

Yes, I told her, we often (but not always) asked each other to proofread each other's papers, because we were both good writers; but she was flabbergasted that he helped me with my work.

So, yeah, Bradbury's writing memoir perpetuates some outdated sexist attitudes reflective of his time that happen to also personally piss me off. But setting that aside, it's still got useful things to say about the craft, and about his personal experiences, and even a little about the history and development of science fiction as a genre, so this definitely isn't a "cancel the book" situation. It just raised my hackles sometimes.

[lyrsui]

currently working on a poetry manuscript,

and that's been true for the last four years. but around this time in 2019, i had a handful of poems, and i had some vague ideas of what i was writing about--at first i thought i was writing a satirical commentary on internet culture, but then as i wrote more and more, i had these other pieces that were like... sadder. in early versions of the book, i tried to tell a straightforward sort of "story" but the poems didn't work quite that way. so, i found other ways to sort them.

so, what have i accomplished since then?

in the fall of 2019, i probably had like 6-8 poems tops

then i signed up for a yearlong writing program at the start of 2020. it was costly, but it helped me a lot. it was a crash course in poetry. i read books. i wrote new poems. at the end of the program, mid-2021, i had something like 20-25 poems, but i was not yet at a full-length count.

i spent another year writing poems on my own. i joined a writing workshop or two but mostly i wrote in solitude. i finally got to about 35 poems by the summer of 2022. i felt hopeful.

in fall 2022, i submitted my manuscript to first book contests. i had done a lot of revising on my own. i asked a person or two to be my beta-readers. i felt good about most of my poems, as i had been diligently revising the 2019 drafts to their best, and i was nervous about the newer pieces but happy to have them included.

i received a lot of rejections. but i had two poems published online, and a third included in a horror poetry anthology. i was also named a semifinalist for one of the book contests i'd entered. these were all small wins.

i took a break from the poetry stuff to focus on school, then on job hunting. now things in my life have settled down and i am back to thinking about poetry.

i signed up for a poetry conference this weekend, where real live editors offer their genuine feedback and talk craft with us. i'm excited by the opportunity. i was given the first ten pages of notes and some of it was cutting, but goodness it's been so long since i really had sharp feedback on my work, and i am appreciative of it nonetheless. the conference runs till Monday morning. the notes are truly invaluable.

i plan to pursue an MFA in 2025, which would only be an extension of the $$$$ i am invested in my writing already. the yearlong workshop was several thousand, the conference a couple thousand as well. the manuscript consultations i plan to pay for will also run me a few hundred each, and the submission fees add up quick. truly, no one is lying when they say that writing is a pursuit mired in privilege. I am grateful to work a day job that makes a lot of all this easier, but it's cushioned work, isn't it? i recognize that more and more lately.

i am not mentioning the price tags to brag, but really just to highlight that money has felt so necessary in lieu of organic connections or inner networks. money isn't buying me placements in top tier lit mags but i feel like it is buying me the notes and feedback to guide my revision towards stronger poems that may one day be lit mag worthy.

i am excited by the work ahead. invigorated by the energy of knowing i have work worth launching into the world. i plan to use october to edit and refine, as there are many upcoming contests and i want to have better drafts to send along than i sent last year.

i plan to sign up for more paid workshops that will help me with drafting my fiction. i only have one short story under my belt, and i'd like to slowly round out that list too, eventually having three then five then ten, all in rotation to lit mags submissions too. i want my name to hold weight eventually. to become familiar.

it feels really good to have clear dreams and a clear plan for my writing career. my goal is to work on these poems and continue trying to place them. to partake in writing programs that may help me get exposure to other editors and mentors, etc. i hope that by the time i am ready to apply to MFA programs that I will be able to ask for a reference or two out of these workshops. by the time i apply for a poetry MFA, i hope to just use the published poems and an unpublished one or two as well, to feel confident about my abilities. then i'll generate a second book of poetry, who knows about what, and publish that too.

it's all fun to think about!

[suspicious-pools-of-blood]

Hi buddy! Its Athena, I'm sending this out to all my mutuals - what got you into writing, what inspires you, who inspires you and what music inspires you to write? what do you love about writing?

Hi Athena!

To be honest, I don't actually know when I first got into writing. Especially if we count the "daydreaming plotlines of stories that never actually get written down," I've been doing that since I was a kid. I guess I started writing in middle school; we'd get assignments in English class to write stories and I'd always get way too ambitious and perfectionist with it and have trouble keeping it as a short story haha. In eighth grade we had one such assignment that was open-ended enough that the story I came up with would have needed at least a full book to contain it all, so I ended up just submitting a chapter 1 with a "to be continued" at the end. I wrote bits and pieces here and there continuing that story, but for the most part it just lived in my brain for several years. High school English class was a lot more essay-based than middle school, but my tenth grade teacher was fond of fiction; we had one or two full short story assignments, but for the first few months we also would get weekly vocabulary homework that involved writing a (very) short story using that week's words, and I think that's what really got me into writing. Those were more like one-shots than full short stories, but it made me remember how fun writing fiction is (and it's also around that time that I started writing more predominantly angst/whump, which is now my bread and butter). I just checked my old google drive files and it looks like I started actually writing stuff down around 2017 and actually writing my main story -- which, although nearly unrecognizable now, is the same one I started in eighth grade -- towards the end of 2020.

Inspiration: I think I'm mostly inspired by (1) other media and (2) history, with heavy overlap between the two. Full disclosure, coming as no surprise to anyone who has talked to me for over 5 minutes, I watched Xena: Warrior Princess in 2020 and it permanently rewired by brain harder than anything else ever has. In my elementary school, everyone got their Greek mythology phase from reading Percy Jackson in class, but my English class was the only one that didn't read it, so none of us had that phase -- until I watched Xena, and the ancient Mediterranean became one of my primary hyperfixations. I was never much into history before, but I always loved the medieval vibe of fantasy (although I actually was never into high fantasy/magic worlds); my formative book series as a kid was the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. (Side note, I think John Flanagan having written that series when he wasn't a writer previously was also influential for making me view writing as an activity with a very low bar for entry, so I didn't feel intimidated or like I shouldn't write just because I wasn't aiming for a career in writing.) So when I first started writing I defaulted to the generic run of the mill medieval-England-with-the-serial-number-filed-off setting that a lot of earth-like fantasy defaults to. By high school I think the setting had started to become more original, though still approximately equivalent to medieval Europe. But once I watched Xena, I realized that actually ancient Greece is so much cooler what the fuck. From there I watched some other stuff made by the same people who made Xena, including the STARZ Spartacus series, so I got generally into ancient history because of all that. I started reading a lot more nonfiction history books (as well as well-researched historical fiction, for the vibes) covering various civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean (not limited to Greece and Rome). I'm also half Turkish, so I was raised with the vague awareness that before the Turks there had been a number of great civilizations in Anatolia, from which we were partly descended (fun fact, my parents actually named me after one of those civilizations; it was one of my given middle names, but unfortunately no one told me it was based on that until after a decade of hating it because to me it was just a random girl's name and every time I mentioned not liking it my parents would be like "oh but it's a beautiful name" and I assumed it was just more of them being transphobic and not wanting me to change it to a boy's name lmao). I also sort of knew (though I didn't know the historical details) that our people migrated to Anatolia from central Asia a long time ago (tbc most Turks are genetically only very slightly Turkic, but a lot of cultural elements can be traced back to the nomadic lifestyle, even stuff as simple as our cuisine being a lot more dairy-based than other cultures in the area) and used to be nomadic warriors, what with the horseback archers and all that, so that inspired me for the whole other half of my setting. I also got into the history of the steppes, from the Mongols in the medieval era all the way back to the various peoples such as the Sarmatians or Scythians theorized to have been the basis for the Greek myth of the Amazons. And recently I started watching a Turkish show (okay, I started it like a year ago, it just has very long episodes that I have a really hard time sitting through) called Destan that is set in central Asia before the Turkic migration, and that's probably the biggest influence currently on my writing. [Stefon voice:] This show's got everything. Nomadic tribal politics and governmental organization, a strong female lead, so many strong female characters actually, horseback archery, a pet wolf, kurgans, fantastic fight choreography.

Whoops, wall of text. Here, have some line breaks.

I'll also add, for who inspires me, other writers on tumblr! For me this is more of a whump thing than a general writing thing; I used to feel suuuuuper self-conscious about writing fucked up shit (that was probably the biggest reason why I rarely wrote stuff down, because What If Someone Saw It) but now I open my dash and see way more fucked up shit than I could write lmao so idk if that counts as inspiration, but it definitely gets me past certain mental blocks to writing.

Music is a tough one, because I have OC playlists and whatnot, but those tend to be more "put them on and stare at an empty document for an hour" playlists than actual writing playlists. Sometimes I'll pick one specific song (or just a few) and put them on loop. If I have a song with lyrics associated with a specific scene, that might inspire me to write that scene, but for general writing inspiration I go more for either instrumentals or ~vibes~ music (a good example is Calyx Virago by Xandria, which fun fact is where my OC Calyx's name comes from).

My favorite part of writing is probably the end result. I write what I want to read (as evidenced by the fact that my story basically came about by putting all my hyperfixations into a blender and pouring out the results into a google doc), so I very much am the "Oh boy I can't wait for the next chapter! What do you mean I HAVE TO WRITE IT?!" type of writer lmao. That's also why I do a lot of story development in my head without writing things down, because I imagine scenes more like a movie, and then often have difficulty putting it into words in a way that sounds good. But if/when I do manage to do that well, it's gotta be my favorite part of the whole process.