#i also remember it being under review? i think the author wanted to rewrite some stuff

[celestair]

i just remembered this one long fic of aizawa that i used to read here on tumblr but i cant remember the name or the username of the person who wrote it but the reader had heightened senses as their quirk and was a close combat teacher to the ua class SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME FIND IT

[lambden]

fic writer review

tagged by @dameferre (on main) <3 this ended up being long so i’m throwing it under the cut! thank you for the tag, i’ve wanted to do this for a while!

tagging: @weedsinavacantlot @mosaicscale @jaskiersvalley @unyielding-as-the-sea @chubbykatsudon @ohnomybreadsticks even though I know some of you have already done this!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

78. one is anonymous right now for a flash fic challenge so it isn’t showing up. i have no fucking idea how i got here (AND i’ve deleted so many stories...)

2. what’s your total ao3 word count?

542911 which is truly horrendous. somebody stop me

3. how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

so i’ve MOSTLY written the witcher/dead by daylight/until dawn, but i have 25 fandoms with currently published works. yikes

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

-number one is a stupid fic with a polyamorous ship (+ a trans character) for a fandom i no longer care about and a book series i really hate. i regret writing it (and have said so in the notes), i was at a place in my life where i wanted to write this incredibly self-indulgent thing after diving headfirst into canon, and now rereading it with a critical eye, it just makes me annoyed.

-number two is, SOMEHOW, the geraskier scent kink fic?! i don’t understand how this has more kudos than some of my other fics!!!!! people really love smut huh

-number three is venom smut

-number four is the cave, my longest fic! it’s an until dawn fix-it that is very self-indulgent and definitely needs a total rework haha

5. do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i try to respond to all comments that aren’t anonymous! like elle said, I appreciate it more when people notice an obscure reference or something. I think the one word/emoji comments are still nice but they don’t personally have much of an impact on me. and all this being said, i am perpetually behind on my comment replies I currently have 246 to do 😔😔😔

6. what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

it’s the one i’m publishing next week for the whataboutthebard event hehe

7. do you write crossovers? if so, what’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i love crossovers i think theyre very fun! i wrote an (unpublished) crossover where deadpool and cable are the superhero identities of face and hannibal from the a-team. it was a birthday gift to a friend and it was VERY indulgent especially with the non-linear timeline (because cable) but whatever, i reread it recently and it still slaps

8. have you ever received hate on a fic?

i have but nothing that really irked me so badly i remembered it, oops

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

i sure do which is hilarious because as someone who is sex repulsed like 95% of the time irl... how do i keep getting away with this

10. have you ever had a fic stolen?

okay no i haven’t (to my knowledge) but also someone once wrote an until dawn fic “inspired by” the cave that basically took the exact same plot and ....??? made it worse/simpler? it was hard to read so i wasn’t 100% sure but. at first i was flattered and eventually it just got annoying, even though they barely wrote anything for it

11. have you ever had a fic translated?

people have offered but none have followed through!! wah

12. have you ever co-written a fic before?

i’ve planned out fics with people but the writing process is difficult enough without someone else there. i would really like to get into those train fics where each author writes a different part though, i think it’d be a ton of fun

13. what’s your all-time fave ship?

it is probably, just statistically, eames and arthur. but there are so many lmao how could i choose

14. what’s a fic you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

i should probably put the cave here but i’m close to the end of that one actually, just need to sit down and do it! but ‘spectacular’, the kingsman/baby driver crossover i worked SOOOO hard on, is probably not something i’m ever going to feel comfortable finishing. or if i do, i will be rewriting it so that it’s clear that i’m headcanoning baby as someone other than ans*l elg*rt (john boyega...? 👀) but yeah at this moment in time i can’t see that happening

15. what are your writing strengths?

idk.. i like my dialogue!

16. what are your writing weaknesses?

scene transitions, endings, editing out scenes that aren’t cohesive and don’t contribute anything but I love Them Your Honour, falling into the same boring writing style with each sentence having the exact same structure

17. what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages on a fic?

i think it needs to be done correctly and there has to be a reason for it

18. what was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

i dunno man... naruto maybe???? d. gray-man? sh*rlock??????????? perhaps les mis when i was a baby and literally only cared about eponine and cosette

19. what is your favorite fic you’ve ever written?

it’s really hard for me to choose only one answer here 😔 I really like my laegjarn/fjorm stuff and the ocean’s eleven fic i wrote, and i LOVE the dialogue in my veep fics <3 for dead by daylight i’m still proud of my jake/evan summer camp slasher AU! and i like most of my witcher fics, i’m really excited about some things i have in the works right now.

if you actually made it to the bottom, thanks for reading!!! 🥰🥰🥰

[ginnyzero]

Publishing vs. Marketing Category

Okay, so book and writing community on twitter tends to have these flare ups of convos about books being shelved wrong and authors pointing out reasons such as their gender, or race, or even the content of their books being say, fantasy for them being placed on the wrong shelves in libraries and bookstores. Now, there is a human bias element to this. There are librarians and book buyers for stores who do see a female fantasy author and assume they must be YA no matter the content. Plus, everyone and their mother tagging things incorrectly on twitter or shelving badly on Goodreads.

Let’s dive into the INDUSTRY side of this though. The industry has two different and at times clashing categorizations of books, there are the publishing categories and there are the marketing categories. And while some, specifically some age targets and genres the marketing and the publishing categories will align, there are others that the age target and marketing target may be under the same “name” technically and then their aims completely clash.

Yes, I’m mostly talking about YA. (Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance can fall in here too.)

So, the publishing category of Young Adult, is pretty much what you’d expect. Young Adult should have protagonists of the age groups of 12 to 18, and most likely dealing with “coming of age” themes and “finding their place in the world” and quite possibly “being the chosen one.” I personally find theme categorization for age groups to be really limiting. But I read Brian Jacques from third grade on... so. .. yay fighting mice. (And I was into Star Wars at grade 7, like Timothy Zahn Star Wars. I am not the typical reader.) It’s just something to be aware of if you are querying agents because agents deal with publishing categories and not marketing categories. (And agents have biases too. Like, come on, Unicorns should not be limited to MG. How dull. Agents though will look for anything to clear stuff out of their slush pile, I guess.)

Young Adult publishing category books range between 40K words on the low end and 80K words on the high end. I’d aim for 50K words depending on age group. Remember, YA readers especially read upwards in age groups. So you’re 12 year old is going to be reading about 15 year olds and your later YA readers will have aged out into the adult category of books (supposedly. This is where MARKETING categories become a thing. More in a second.)

New Adult is not a thing. Until it gets a spot in bookstores. It is officially not a thing. Querying New Adult will get you nowhere. Don’t bother.

So, you’ve written your MS and it hits what you think are all the Adult markers, from age of the protag, to theme, to having ‘adult’ content such as sex, drugs, and violence. (Violence is so weird b/c we’ve normalized violence while keeping sex taboo. So, if your book has sex, it might be considered Adult, more than if your book has violence. Even then... marketing categories.) You’ve queried it as adult. You’ve got it through an editor and it’s been pitched to a publisher and they’ve picked it up and your marketing materials come out. And they, meaning the cover, and the blurb, all read Young Adult in their style and tone.

And this may be confusing because you wrote an adult book, why are they marketing it to YA? Like A Crown of Thorns and Roses? (Fae court romance is... err, dead on arrival btw.)

It’s because YA is also a marketing category which no longer equals the age group category. And there are some very popular book series you can thank for this, Twilight, Hunger Games, Vampire Academy, and Divergent are among them. These books were not only popular among teens. They were popular among their mothers. So, publishing quickly pivoted from YA being this age group category with certain things, to a marketing strategy to try and keep the attention of the moms of the teenagers with sex, and love triangles, and I dunno, forbidden romance. By the time ACOTAR came out, publishing decided maybe they should try for this college age, New Adult category so they could market these “sexy fantasy” type books to older readers and get the sex out of YA. So, they used ACOTAR to try and make New Adult happen as a marketing category for book buyers. It didn’t work. Because no one, like with Harry Potter, wants to split a book series across 2 sections. (And lo and behold Young Adult was kind of born because they didn’t want to keep the later HP books in the children’s section.)

And because it didn’t work, YA is now a mess. Because they still don’t want to give up those sweet, sweet, mommy dollars.

There is one very large aspect of publishing the author has no control over. Their marketing. Especially, their covert marketing done by the publisher. Covert marketing is the type of marketing indies salivate over, b/c covert marketing is basically the publishing house deciding where on the bestseller list this book is going to be, how much advertising it gets, does it get a fancy book launch, what is the advance of the author, when is it going to be published and will it have competitors in its genre that same month, who among the reviewers gets to read it, the style of the book cover, and more importantly, what, where, and how much book shelf space it gets in stores. Is the cover turned out? Is it at the front of the store? Does it get it’s own display? Or is it in the “new releases display?” Which book buyer at the chains gets to see it. How do Librarians get a hold of it and which ones? Because the buyer of say, romance, is not the buyer of young adult. The Adult scifi/fantasy book buyer is going to be different than say, mysteries. Same for librarians! There are more than one librarian in your system choosing your books! It is very important who your book gets to be put in front of, what they think of it to how it is going to be received and pushed on bookshelves. There was a very infamous romance buyer of a major chain store who refused to buy POC romances because she thought they didn’t sell.

If your book chain buyer, refuses to buy fantasy books or scifi books by female authors b/c they think they won’t SELL. Then, the publisher feels like in order to get your book to sell, they have to put it into a marketing category where it will sell, Young Adult. Because what do most of those “Young Adult” books have in common, women writers. (Urban Fantasy was almost an exception to the rule on SFF gendered authors. Then... UF became dead on arrival as they thought the market was glutted and yeah. Good luck on getting an UF published, you’d be better off writing paranormal romance. Same type of setting, different genre rules.) It’s not about the content of your book, or the age of your protag, or the theme of your book at that point, it is “What will make this book sell.” Publishing is an industry where profit is not a dirty word. Their job is to make your book sell and if they think it will sell better as YA, they will pitch it as YA.

Even if the book is written for, uses language appropriate for, and has content really intended for adults.

Be aware that Young Adult scifi is a very, very rare buyers market. For some reason, publishers don’t think they can market it? Dystopian yes. Scifi... no. So, if your YA is scifi, like either rewrite for adult or keep your eye open for that very rare time they’re willing to TRY and publishing YA scifi. Or, publish indie. (Dystopian is also I think DOA.)

Is this confusing? Absolutely! Because there are plenty of readers out there who are in the adult category, who don’t keep up with publishing trends, and don’t realize if they want vibrant fantasy books, they may have to look in the YA section of their bookstore. They’re adults. They want vibrant fantasy adult books. And I say fantasy because you see this happening MOSTLY with fantasy. It happens with other genres too, but it is a huge problem in fantasy due to, well, the combination of publishing trends (white, older, male) and the human bias. So, many times, if you want that cool marketed as adult fantasy book not written by a white older male, you are going to have to order it through the ‘zon because you aren’t going to find it most likely on your bookstore shelves. (Science Fiction is another kettle of fish. Outside of some very established authors, it’s not really publishing. It’s a very small category outside of indie. Like, Military SF was a thing for a bit in indie! Just... yeah. Sigh.)

Conclusion: Publishing category does not always equal marketing category. Even if the publishing category and marketing category are named the same thing. And it’s probably not going to change until something major happens that the big four are FORCED to change their current publishing and marketing methods. (Yeah, big FOUR now. Scary.) It’s a complicated system with the author having the most at stake and the least amount of control (and often the least amount of pay outside of agents.) I mean, when Disney of all corporations, doesn’t want to pay Alan Dean Foster his legal royalties for a book they acquired when they got Star Wars, there is a PROBLEM in the system.

Just be aware if you are going into this publishing game. I cover this and more in my FREE PDF “I Finished a Book, Now What? A Tongue in Cheek Guide to What Happens Next.”  Everything from editing types to querying to social media for authors.

It’s available for download on my website. https://ginny0.wordpress.com/books/

[lambourngb]

Get me out of here - places to go when canon is complicated

It’s Day 3, time to celebrate those stories that I turn to when I can’t deal with canon, or when I don’t have the emotional energy to untangle all the emotions I have for what’s going on in canon. Alternative universes, the safe harbor for us. Below are a mix of rewrites of canon, remixes of canon, or out right not even set in Roswell- to fill every type distance you want from canon- from near to far.

The first story I’m reccing is a long one,- so pardon the very long review below.

my love is a life taker by @jocarthage (267,600) So one day, Jessi popped into discord to share a dream she had about timetravel and being able to save yourself in the past basically, particularly Alex getting to give his baby-self a hug, and we all went, “holy shit that’s a cool fic idea please write it!” and really reality sucks right now with quarantine and whatnot, so what better thing to do than follow a WIP? I can’t tell you how badly I needed to something to look forward to as I was staring down a milestone birthday with all my plans in tatters, and this story filled the void.

Okay- now about the actual story itself, the world building about time travel in this is incredible but easy to absorb. Jessi dumps you straight into the action in chapter 1 with Alex, at 28, assassinating an Iraqi intelligence agent in 2009 that averts a bomb that was planned on US forces. You learn so much about both the story-universe and Alex here- one, that even dressed in mask and killing someone, Alex is kind and uses morphine as an overdose and has arranged for his victim’s family to be compensated, you learn that time agents can only visit places they themselves have visited during that time, and Jesse Manes had dragged his son, who was ‘time aware’ to every place of war and ruin on the planet before he was 18 and that, Alex’s victim, even as he’s dying, recognizes what a shit childhood Alex had but that Alex doesn’t.

The next part is where Alex’s time crystal malfunctions, instead of returning him to 2018, it takes him to 1998 where an 8 year old Michael is getting beaten by his foster dad and Alex, out of his time line mysteriously, visible to only Michael, saves him, but only temporarily. We all know with abusers, until you’re out of the house, it’s just a matter of time before the next beating. However, with one act, Alex at 28 starts putting into action (even though he doesn’t recognize it at the time) the steps to save his own life as he works to save Michael from his childhood. Each mission, each jump through time, Alex meets Michael, always a year apart and only for 1000 seconds, or almost 17 minutes. Jessi takes you through some of the darkest points of US foreign policy, only as Alex takes control of his life, he also starts to change the missions, and change the world. The details of places, people, food, etc are authentic from the author’s experience, if you don’t click on the links at the end of the chapters and disappear down google-rabbit holes about the events in history, well- you’re made of stronger stuff than I am.  There are lots of heavy subjects discussed, but there’s always care and honesty behind the intent. The way Michael grows, the way Alex grows, and of course the journey to the present time when they could be together? It’s like pining on steroids but it’s so wonderful. I wish I could pull out one thing that I loved in particular in this story- but it’s impossible, only to say that I love that I could disappear completely within the confines of ‘my love is a life taker’ knowing that I would be kept safe by the author, that goodness prevails.


when I’m oceans away by @neapeaikea (28,000) this is a post-2008 shed canon-divergent AU where Alex Manes, after the best/worst night of his life bolts from Roswell and leaves Michael behind. 10 years later, on the hunt for a child conceived at Caulfield, Michael walks into a youth home in California and finds Alex. A few things, I love that this author writes an Alex who didn’t join the Air Force but still lost a leg, I don’t really enjoy disability erasure in modern AUs (I’m better at looking past that in historical or sci fi aus) . It’s pretty clear after five minutes that the connection between the two men is still there and strong despite anger, secrets and guilt. The teasing and flirting between them is great but so is the acceptance of baring their vulnerabilities. I loved the care they take with each other, and the tie in to an alien child is just so perfect.

Crucibles (series) @ninswhimsy (9,000)- I’m cheating and naming both here, but obviously nin had her finger on the pulse of fandom, by writing crusade-set queer stories before The Old Guard ever boomed into a fandom from the movie. I was lucky enough to trade DMs over the ideas of holiness and the body, and how Alex would have treated himself, certain of his doomed soul, and how Michael would have responded in turn. It’s no secret I love everything Nin writes, but this series stuck in my mind. I will be drifting off to sleep, and think about Alex walking through the ancient city of Aleppo, ready to be done with his burden and Michael there with soft palms and scented oil, and boom! I reach for my kindle to re-read it.

no regrets if we walk this new road by @andrea-lyn (97,000) This author has written so many amazing AUs, some quite far away from canon events like her Mummy AU or her Avengers AU, but I have to say, I have a very soft-spot for this rewrite of season 1 for a lot of reasons. I mean, it’s 2020, so my appetite for Cop!Max is definitely at an all-time low, so the idea of exchanging his job with Kyle’s was extremely appealing. At least Kyle is a POC holding the badge, not a white man like our canon. Anyway, politics aside, this story is special to me for the scorching good Isobel/Kyle relationship that develops, the way Isobel sharpens herself into a lawyer (not an event planner) and how Michael rounds his own edges off in turn by becoming a teacher (and being secretly married).  Each deviation from canon made complete sense once you alter the way Rosa’s death affects the pod squad, and how they covered it up ripples out toward Liz, Kyle, etc. 


Layer on layer, down on down by @dotsayers (9,440) I love sci-fi tropes, especially time-loops, but they are incredibly hard to write (I know, I abandoned mine a while ago) so this story stands out because of just how well done the execution is and also the angst. Michael in a time loop about Caulfield, like how great/agonizing is that? The plot is so good, how it ties into Caulfield and why it happens in the first place, like wow.  The care, and the hurt, and the fatigue that Michael has in this story, oh you just want to wrap him in a blanket. There’s a tiny throwaway line about how one of the first things Michael learned to do in foster care was to make himself heavy and unmovable- and you instantly picture kid!Michael not wanting to be removed from a house - like my heart broke! The structure of the story, with the background of his just how much he loves Alex but how badly it hurts to see him die, really makes this study of 1x12 special. Along with all the angst, there’s tiny gallows humor lines, so am I weird, that I laughed through a couple of these scenes even as Michael kept dying?

Petty pace by @aewriting (11,600) Aewriting has a couple of stellar AUs, so trying to pick just one was difficult, but I rather feel this story is sadly underappreciated it (mind the tags). It was a remix of @iwontbeyourmedicine ‘s fantastic ‘Freaky Friday’, where the humans and aliens swap roles. Alex in the role of Michael basically was something I had never pictured until Ly wrote that story, and now feel utterly changed by it, especially with this backstory- the idea of Jesse Manes bringing a foster child home? Incredibly well done because there’s an off the charts level of menace in this story. The way Jesse watches Alex, who at first mistakes it for how a pedophile might size up a victim, but then catches on quickly that it’s so much worse in a lot of ways. And Alex is such a loner in the beginning, even as he reconnects with his pod siblings Liz and Maria, he’s still planning on keeping his head down and leaving Roswell far behind. Like freedom is literally the only thing he can conceive of for himself, no real dreams outside of that until Michael slips under his defenses. I probably could have saved this story for angst day- because the second half of the story, if you don’t sob while you read it, then I dunno. It’s helpful to read Ly’s story right afterward as a reminder that things do get better for Alex ten years later. In a lot of ways this story is sadder than canon (though there’s no murder of Rosa/4th alien), I’m comforted that at least Alex has Liz in the aftermath, alike in heartache in a way that Michael didn’t have because of the pact he and Max made about Isobel in canon.

Unexpected tidings by @bestillmyslashyheart (24,800) Another rewrite of canon, that explores a couple of very interesting questions, like what would it look like if Michael never made it back to Roswell as a kid but met Alex by chance in 2008? Imagine the cornerstone of the Lost Decade love affair revolving around the mundane questions of a long distance relationship that wasn’t built on the pain of the shed or Rosa’s death? Marlo writes an amazing take on this, that is both real and deep with the normal couple problems, before introducing that spanner in the works of oh yeah, aliens are real. With Michael on the east coast, and Alex finishing off his service in Roswell, Project Shepherd still entangles Alex with Liz bringing him in on the secret in hopes that with his hacker skills he can track down the third alien child that Max and Iz remember so they can warn him. As interesting as the current plot was, I found myself absolutely revitted the slow piecemeal reveals that Marlo doled out about Alex and Michael’s relationship over time. (I also while rereading this recently got very nostaglic for season 1 Alex who didn’t trust Jesse as far as he could toss him.) 

Don’t Punish Me For What I Feel by @winged-fool (3,600) Tarsus IV AU - another wonderful author with a catalog of great AUs, both sci-fi and dark, and honestly it was difficult to narrow it down to one. This story, well in 2009 I was a hard core Trek movie fan, so when I saw a trek-fusion story appear, I knew I would love it just on that basis. The thing is, this gave me Michael as the Captain, a surprisingly rare role for these space fusions, even though genius level repeat offender Jim Kirk and genius level repeat offender Michael Guerin seems pretty married in my mind as a connection. As a Tarsus-like story, all the tags are well earned by the story that Alex finally shares with Michael. It hit on so many levels, the hurt/comfort level for sure, but also to have a story where Michael is this stalwart protector of Alex was really nice to find. 

this isn’t the ‘holiday best friends championship’ by @usbournejez (6,090) alright to leave this on a lighter note, my final AU rec is this masterpiece by Kieran that was part of Malex Secret Santa gift fics- and what a gift it was to all of us! The way she writes established Malex is first-rate, because she always includes their canon-levels of snark/sharpness but it’s never directed at each other and that’s something I love. Here we have Alex, where we learn in just a few short lines, is a huge control freak but has the extremely big emotional handicap, and that’s his love/fondness/deserve to caretake Michael. Emotional cactus Alex who is soft for Michael? Love it. There are small drops of angsty backstory peppered in this, but really that just fuels just how sweet and wonderful the main theme of the story- which is Alex might hate the whole world at large, he loves, protects and worships Michael (and vice versa). As someone who can bake cookies, but that’s about it, I was still enthralled with the baking details and this story has never failed to encourage me to eat dessert before dinner basically. 

[foodreceipe]

The 1990s Moments That Changed the Way We Think About Food

By: Anna Hezel Illustrations: Ellie Skrzat

The ’90s were a decade of information, SnackWell’s, and sun-dried tomatoes on everything. Here are eight events that shaped our opinions about cooking and eating.

1. The Launch of the TV Food Network In April of 1993, a young and scrappy Food Network launched with a debut lineup of French chef Jacques Pepin, writer David Rosengarten, Mrs. Fields founder Debbi Fields, and Emeril Lagasse, a little-known Louisiana restaurateur in his mid-30s with only a handful of prior television appearances under his belt.

Dorie Greenspan, who worked at the network during its launch as a consultant and producer, remembers it as a pioneering time in the unexplored realm of food television. On the TASTE Podcast, Greenspan recalled the head of programming at the time saying, “We’re going to make somebody a star, but we don’t know who that person will be.” It swiftly became clear that Emeril was that star.

In addition to the runaway hits, like Essence of Emeril, there were misgivings during the launch. “This was really a startup in every sense of the word,” she told me. “We made some terrible mistakes. We couldn’t figure out a bunch of things. We tried doing a call-in show, which seemed revolutionary. We were learning.”

The only model the network had at the time for programming about cooking was public television—shows like James Beard’s I Love to Eat and Julia Child’s The French Chef. But the move to cable meant a move toward the mainstream. “I don’t think you can underestimate the impact of that,” says Ruth Reichl. “That’s the moment that food really stopped being the provenance of the elites and became part of popular culture. Children watched it and were interested in chefs, and chefs became cool in a way that they hadn’t before.”

2. Fat Is Bad, But Everything Else Is Good At the tail end of the ’80s, a few influential government reports were published, recommending that Americans consume less fat. Americans internalized this as a directive that it was OK to consume as many calories as they wanted, as long as those calories weren’t coming from fat. A zany infomercial nutritionist named Susan Powter encouraged Americans to fill their shopping carts with cereal and low-fat chips, and SnackWell’s were born, promising unlimited amounts of dessert with no health repercussions.

Lay’s launched one of the most famous product missteps in the history of American consumerism. WOW chips, introduced in 1998, promised the same potato chip flavor with only one gram of fat per serving—a feat made possible by frying in a synthetic fat substitute called Olestra. Almost as soon as the chips hit the market, accounts started to pour in of horrible stomach woes caused by the chips. The FDA famously used the phrase “anal leakage” to describe the side effects, leading to one of the grossest and most memorable PR disasters in the history of packaged foods.

3. Sushi Goes Mainstream By the ’90s, sushi had existed in the United States for more than three decades, but this was the moment when it really caught on, especially as Japanese companies opened offices in U.S. cities. “It all started when Sony bought Columbia Pictures in 1989 and the entire West Coast went mad for sushi,” speculates Alan Richman, who was the restaurant critic at GQ at the time.

Everyone started opening sushi restaurants, including Robert DeNiro with a then little-known chef named Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, and in turn, sushi evolved from a rarefied luxury that one could only find in coastal cities to a casual, affordable treat that happened to fit perfectly into the era’s philosophy about nutrition. And then grocery stores started to catch on, stocking their refrigerator cases with plastic trays of California and spicy tuna rolls.

4. The Dawn of Online Recipes When we talk about the kind of rapid globalization that happened in the ’90s, it’s hard to avoid talking about the Internet, which shattered our spatial relationships to one another by making it as easy to talk to someone in Australia as it was to talk to the kid in your social studies class who lived down the street.

As the Internet became woven into our daily lives through services like Prodigy and America Online, it was only a matter of time before this rapidly growing technology became a way to disseminate the recipes and cooking advice that you could previously find only in magazines and cookbooks.

In 1995, Condé Nast launched Epicurious, a forward-thinking database of recipes compiled from some of the company’s food and travel magazines, including Bon Appétit and Gourmet. By the end of the decade, blogging platforms like Blogger and Xanga had emerged, paving the way for a generation of self-publishing food bloggers, like David Lebovitz in 1999, and Heidi Swanson, Pim Techamuanvivit, and Clotilde Dusoulier in the early 2000s.

5. A New Era for Restaurant Critics “I think the ’90s were the great era of restaurants in America,” says Alan Richman. The economy was strong, people had money to spend, and newspapers and magazines had budgets to send their critics to eat out and report on the latest trends in food. Fine-dining stalwarts in New York, like Le Bernardin, Daniel, and Jean-Georges, were thriving. But it was also a time when critics like Robert Sietsema at the Village Voice and Ruth Reichl at The New York Times started to clue diners in to the fact that “eating out” didn’t always have to mean French restaurants with white tablecloths.

“I was interested in talking about the way real people ate,” says Reichl. “I felt like restaurant reviews in The New York Times had been geared to a very small group of wealthy white people. And I thought everybody should go to restaurants.”

When Reichl reviewed her first Korean restaurant, Kang Suh, in 1993, three separate local Korean newspapers from New York reached out to her for interviews. When she wrote about a soba restaurant called Honmura An that same year, it caused a flap among readers who weren’t used to seeing “a little Japanese noodle shop” receive three stars.

6. NAFTA Reshapes California’s Food Landscape In 1994, NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) was signed, formalizing a trade agreement among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. As Tina Vasquez writes, the agreement was greeted with lots of anti-immigrant pushback among Americans. Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the Mexican president at the time, promised Americans that the agreement would reduce migration by stabilizing Mexico’s economy.

Instead, the agreement caused vast unemployment in Mexican industries that struggled with their new competition, leading to one of the largest historic spikes in immigration to the United States from Mexico. This brought a boom of Mexican grocery stores, butchers, restaurants, and other businesses to the U.S., especially in Californian communities like the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Grocery store chains like Chavez Supermarkets, Vallarta Market, and Northgate González are still thriving in these parts of the state.

7. Italian Food Goes Regional In my house, in a suburb of Buffalo, New York, the ’90s was the era when the green Kraft canister of Parmesan cheese in the refrigerator was replaced with a little plastic-wrapped triangle of hard cheese and a hand-crank cheese grater. Starbucks and Olive Garden (which were founded in the ’70s and ’80s, respectively) were starting to make their way into every suburb, and Americans were warming up to the idea of saying “venti” out loud.

Marcella Hazan, Italy’s Julia Child, published The Essentials of Italian Cooking in 1992, and Molto Mario (starring Mario Batali before he had been accused of sexual assault) first aired in 1996. Americans were coming to terms with the fact that Italian food was more than a plate of spaghetti and meatballs—it was a cuisine with discrete regions, like Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna. And of course, every chef and home cook in America started putting sun-dried tomatoes on everything.

8. The Collapse of the Soviet Union Rewrites the World Map When the Soviet Union ended in 1991, the entire world map changed. Countries that hadn’t had a spot on the spinning globe in decades reemerged, and a few altogether new ones were formed. Suddenly, trade opened up between these countries and the rest of the world, spurring a period of wild, unregulated capitalism. Soviet-government-owned food-manufacturing companies started going out of business.

“Everyone wanted pizza, and later in the ’90s sushi, and there was this huge flood of new, very shoddy quality global foods, to which most people didn’t have access because the prices weren’t regulated,” says Anya Von Bremzen, the author of Please to the Table and Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking. “It’s a decade that’s remembered really negatively in that former Soviet bloc.”

The dissolution of the USSR also increased immigration to the U.S. from former Soviet countries. Cuba, which had been a close ally of the Soviet Union, was plunged into an economic depression, during which lack of ingredients lead to a loss of traditional Cuban cuisine.

On a broader level, as Von Bremzen points out, this large-scale globalization was the start of another very ’90s concept: nostalgia for all things regional.

https://www.tastecooking.com/1990s-moments-changed-way-think-food/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Recipes:   https://www.tastecooking.com/recipes/

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Got Milk? Make Salsa.

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: This isn’t a rom-com (1/?)

Author’s notes: So this was basically the first thing I started writing when I got back to Keanu fandom after Parabellum, but it remained sitting on my files because it still felt weird to write and share rpf. But after so many rewrites, I think I’m finally ready to do it. I’ll be posting new chapters every Monday and I’d love some feedback. The entire thing is set in 2013.

Wordcount: 2174

Warnings: none for this part

Part 2   Part 3  Part 4 Part 5

As Lilah stood outside the address given to her, she took a deep breath and asked herself for the third time what was she thinking when she let Isaac talk her into doing this. She had so much to do.

Sure, she had the morning off since her advisor was out of town for a conference, but Lilah still could have been prepping her Monday class or even reviewing her paper.

But Isaac knew her too well. He argued that it had been ages since she had taken a day to herself and as soon as the words movie set came out of his mouth, she dropped everything else and came running. The prospect of since the cinema magic working up close was too good to pass up.

So, she waited outside the set, waiting until Isaac finally showed up, dark curls sticking to his reddish face, probably from jogging through the building. He flashed the security staff a quick bright smile, before ushering Lilah inside, guiding the way through a maze of corridors, walking so fast Lilah barely had the time to take a proper look at everything.

“Thanks so much for doing this, Lih! You’re a lifesaver,” he commented over his shoulder. “One of our extras just didn’t show up today and we’re behind schedule already.”

“It’s fine,” she said as they stopped by a table where an agitated looking brunette sat with a clipboard and walkie-talkie. She checked Lilah’s ID, before collecting her contact information and telling Isaac to take her to the wardrobe department to change.

Before Lilah could even finish shoving her ID back in her pocket, Isaac was whisking her away.

“So, what kind of movie is this?” Lilah asked as she exchanged her street clothes for the costume, a beautiful red dress, and some killer heels. “It’s not a rom-com, is it? Izzy, I’ll kill you if you’re making me play extra in a rom-com.”

“It’s an action flick, relax,” he replied, and Lilah could actually hear the eye-roll in his tone. “I will never understand your hatred for rom-coms.”

“What’s to like about them?” she asked stepping out of the dressing room. “They sell women unrealistic, almost pathological expectations for love and romance, also…”

“Lih, this isn’t your dissertation. You don’t have to always take it so seriously.” Isaac said cutting her off as he led her to the hair and makeup chair.

“I mean, one can appreciate all the clichés without really thinking it’s gonna happen to them. I mean, how many couples do you know that started as two unlikely people that are perfect for each other having that first meet-cute then moving on to silently pinning over each other. Then having the classic love triangle that might lead to the epic conflict and break up so they can have a heartfelt reunion later, with the grand romantic gesture, the speech and finally their happy ending…”

And even though Isaac’s words pointed out the improbability of it, his dreamy tone told Lilah he still hoped it could happen to him someday.

Lilah rolled her eyes fondly because he was such a hopeless romantic.

She, on the other hand, prided herself on being pragmatic. She believed in love, of course. She wasn’t that jaded at twenty-nine; but to Lilah, love wasn’t something that just happened. You didn’t just stumble on the love of your life by accident someday.

“You look smoking, honey!” Isaac declared, snapping Lilah out of her thoughts. “Come on! Chad and David are already on set and ready to shoot.”

Lilah only had time to grab her bag before he was leading her once again through the maze of corridors to and ample room that looked a lot like a speakeasy, from the jazz band on the stage, to the smoky air, dim lighting and leather booths.

“Now all you have to do is sit still and look pretty.” He flashed her a teasing smile and ignored her eye-roll. “I’ll check on you during lunch break.”

Lilah waved her goodbye and watched as he moved to a pair of men standing by some monitors talking. They exchanged a few words, before Isaac disappeared again, probably off to run another task.

They filmed for around two hours straight. Lilah couldn’t see much of was going on because her table was facing the band and away from the area the camera seemed to be focused on and she couldn’t exactly turn to see, even if she really wanted to, but she managed to sneak a couple of glances whenever they called cut.

“Ok everybody, let’s take 15,” one of the directors announced.

Lilah stood up, stretching her back to work out the kinks of being sitting still for too long in an uncomfortable chair.

She took a few moments to search for Isaac, but he was nowhere around the main room and Lilah didn’t want to risk getting lost in the building. Instead, she picked a water bottle and a protein bar from craft service and looked for a quiet place to wait for filming to resume.

Lilah found a hidden corner in of the set, out of the way from most of the staff and quiet enough that she could pull out her book. She settled on one of the free chairs to read a little. Soon, she was absorbed by the text, shutting off everything else until a passage caught her attention, and Lilah couldn’t help but snort at it and offer a counterargument under her breath.

“Are you pro or against dualism?” Someone asked from just outside her line of vision, probably catching the cover of her book when Lilah held it closed while digging for a pen in her bag.

“Against obviously,” Lilah replied with a small snort as she looked up, her eyes going wide at the sight before her. Shock making her drop her pen and book, which he picked up.

“Really?” He asked with a curious frown. “Why?”

Lilah as she stared at him, she couldn’t get her throat to work.

He was so much taller than he looked on the screen, with broad shoulders and a strong chest. His dark hair was slicked back with gel, the tips touching his nape. He was spotting a well-trimmed beard, some fake bruises, and a black three-piece suit. Lilah didn’t think anyone could be this handsome, but she was obviously wrong.

“Where are my manners…” he said offering a hand. “Hi. I'm Keanu.”

The gestured kickstarted Lilah’s brain again and she shook his hand with a quick, embarrassed laugh.

“I’m sorry! Hi. Lilah,” she rushed to say. “I’m Lilah.”

“Nice to meet you, Lilah,” he said with a warm smile.

“So, you don’t believe in the mind…” he commented, handing her pen and book back and Lilah did her best to smooth the wrinkled edge.

“As an immaterial entity that exists apart from our bodies like Descartes proposed? Not really. I mean, let’s face it, he just gave it a pseudo-scientific look to the idea of a soul.”

Lilah looked up from her book, catching the way he was watching her with a smile.

“Sorry,” she huffed a breath with an embarrassed smile. Was she really babbling about dualism to Keanu Reeves?

“No, no,” he assured, taking a seat next to her. “Go ahead.”

“Uh… well,” she hesitated, glancing at him again. “I mean, it’s been what? A couple of thousand years? Probably more, but we still can figure out what the mind is.”

“I always thought of it as what makes us human. Theoretically, of course.”

“Ok but wouldn’t that be more like what it does than what it is?” she pointed out. “But let’s run with it, anyway. How does a mind make us human?”

“Well, for one, isn’t it supposed to give us a conscience, intelligence, all that…” Keanu trailed off with a hand gesture and Lilah smiled.

“But those brain functions. Are we saying the mind is the brain?” she couldn’t contain the way her smile widening even more. This was fun.

She loved talking philosophy, but Lilah rarely had the chance of doing it outside a classroom. And here she was actually talking dualism with fucking Neo!

“If it was the same thing, why would we need two concepts?” he inquired, brow furrowing in a small thoughtful frown.

“You just made my point for me,” Lilah said, and Keanu chuckled. “And it can’t be part of the brain either, because theories seem to agree that the mind isn’t material and our brains are very material.”

“Maybe there’s another dimension out there,” he offered with a shrug, leaning forward on his elbows which brought him closer to Lilah.

She bit her bottom lip to suppress the urge of making a Matrix joke.

“Ok, but then how is something that is immaterial influences our very material selves?”

Lilah watched as Keanu paused, considering her argument, that thoughtful frown returning, and Lilah took that time to admire him. If her teen self could see her now, she would probably have a heart attack. Keanu had been her movie crush for as far as she could remember, ever since she watched the Matrix for the first time.

And here he was, in the flesh, just talking to her. It was almost surreal. Was this a dream? Was she going to awake any minute in her bed?

“Alright, you got me,” he said with a smile, catching her attention. “I have no idea, but don’t you think there should be something there? Shouldn’t a man be more than just atoms and chemicals? Something more transcendental?”

“What? You’re a Kant man?”

The words were out of her mouth before she could contain herself. Her tongue slipping on the pronunciation, making it sound like a completely different thing and Keanu busted out laughing, turning bright red.

It took a second for Lilah to realize how it sounded, but when she did, she covered her face with her hands, mortified.

“Oh my God! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean…”

“It’s ok,” he assured, still chuckling. “It’s fine. Really. I am not a Kantian, no but I can see the value in his transcendental man theory.”

Lilah tried to make her mouth work, to say something else but all she managed was an embarrassed chuckle. She could feel her cheeks burning.

“I’m so, so sorry…” she managed, voice coming out muffled. “I just…”

“Sometimes you forget to double-check what are you saying before putting it out there?” He asked with a soft smile and she nodded. “I do that all the time. Don’t worry.”

“Is there a way to fix that?” she asked, finally lowering her hands.

“I’ll let you know when I find it,” he replied with a little smile, before he ducked his head, letting out a small chuckle.

For a moment they just sat there, still chuckling together, cheeks red and awkwardly avoiding each other’s gaze, until someone cleared their throat behind them and making both turn around to look.

Isaac stood there with his hand pressed to the earpiece he wore and a clipboard in hand. Lilah could see he was barely containing his smirk as he looked between her and Keanu and she winced, wondering how much he had heard.

“Sorry to interrupt. Keanu, Chad needs you.”

“Thank you,” Keanu said getting up and turning to look at Lilah. “It was very nice to meet you, Lilah.”

“You too,” she replied with a small smile, watching as he walked away before turning to look at Isaac with wide eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me you worked with Keanu Reeves?”

“I don’t work with him, I work around him,” Isaac pointed out with a frown. “Also, that was the nerdiest flirting I’ve ever seen.”

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t flirting.”

“Yeah, right!” Isaac snorted in disbelief. “Come on. Break’s over.”

Lilah followed Isaac back to the main area of the set and the same table from before. This time, she caught a glimpse of Keanu chatting with one of the directors. She thought his lips quirked into a smile when he saw her, but she was probably just imagining as she sat down again.

“Shit! I should have asked for an autograph. Or is that too weird?” Lilah asked Isaac.

She was doing so well, but that Kant thing threw her off and she went right back to that strange awkwardness she usually had around people she found attractive. Lilah really thought she had outgrown that.

“It’s not weird. Extras ask for autographs all the time,” Isaac said with a shrug. “And maybe while you at it, you can ask him out.”

“Haha.” Lilah rolled her eyes at the way Isaac wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Isaac, no! It’s Keanu Reeves. Are you nuts?”

“Fine,” he replied with a huff, but the glint of amusement in his eyes didn’t fade. “But you do know what that felt like right?”

Lilah frowned in confusion and he flashed her an excited grin.

“It felt straight out of a rom-com.”

­­­tbc

Go to part 2

Taglist (give me a shout if you want to added.)

@poisonedjoinery @ringa-starr @curly-minnie @i-cant-remember-my-old-login

@caryled @beyond-antares @kathorax @krazycags01 @meetmeinthematinee

@red-pill-blue-pill @baphometwolf666

[chicago-reeed]

PHCK ME - Reed900 Fic Rec List

Hello!!! You might not remember, but awhile back I mentioned I had the start of a fic rec list that I planned to post (which I never did). To celebrate all 1K+ of you, I thought I would finish the list for you! It is my duty as a loyal reed900 servant.

DISCLAIMER: This list of reccomendations was made purely out of personal opinion. I by no means want to discredit any other fics/authors. Some may not agree with my choices, and that’s totally understandable. I just wanted to share these fics because I personally enjoyed them <3

I didn’t include some fics because they haven’t been updated in a long time, or I didn’t remember them enough to give them accurate reviews. Also, I’m sure there are many more fics that I forgot to put on here (these are from my ao3 bookmarks). I might include them in a future update.

Anyways, all of my recs are under the cut! There are a lot!! I had eight pages worth of them in my documents haha

Mint Condition - by itsdefinitive - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - Reed could see what they were going for there -- the whole infallible super-soldier thing.  A monument to testosterone made perfect, cast in steel within plastic.  It was actually really creepy.  Maybe that was on purpose.

The first reed900 fic I read, and it’s honestly what got me into the pairing itself.

Charon - by Vapewraith - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin Reed, a mess of a human being, just wants to be left to his self destructive tendencies. RK900, an android designed by the most brilliant minds in the world to be the perfect machine, is desperate to grasp the full range of emotional freedom now afforded to him. The two will need to find an equilibrium before their incompatible personalities—and an eccentric serial killer with a dangerous piece of tech—swallow them whole.

I can’t even describe how much I love this fic. I’m a slut for horror, and there’s plenty of that in here. It might just be my favorite. Definitely recommend.

Two Sides of a Vaguely Similar Coin - by ZombiBird - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 13/? - RK900 is lost.

It’s been months since the Revolution and he’s still no closer to figuring out what the hell he’s supposed to be doing with himself. He feels like an outsider in his own body. Completely detached, nothing more than a quiet observer; like he’s looking down at the world through a layer of glass instead of fully living in it.

Gavin Reed is a temperamental asshole.

This isn’t news, okay? Gavin’s fully aware of what he is. He burns bridges instead of building them. Bites hands instead of shaking them. Would rather drown in a sea comprised of the consequences of his faults and misdeeds than try to change the way he is. Because people like him? Maybe they deserve to drown.

[Alternatively: Both lost in different ways, Gavin and RK900 try to figure their shit out and end up learning that, sometimes, it takes two people who have absolutely no idea what the hell they’re doing to get a goddamn clue.]

I don’t remember much about this fic, if I’m honest. Not that the story is forgettable, it’s just been awhile since I read it. However, the title definitely stood out to me so I know it was very good :P

Captcha Encryption - by Cerulaine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 18/? - It's a little over a year after the android uprising and it's still the end of the fucking world.

Back in the day when things became shit he used to enjoy a drink or two. Or Five. It all depended on how long the shift ran. After 'The Accident' he can't even cough without Nines breathing down his neck anymore.

He just wishes everything would go back to normal, but if there's anything Gavin has learned it's that you can't unring a bell once it's been rung.

Or whatever. Fuck if he knows.

Similar situation to the last fic: I don’t remember much about it (my memory SUCKS), but I do remember thoroughly enjoying this one.

Daydreamer - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 21/24 - Large purple bruises twined prettily around the corpse’s throat, every finger defined in perfect cruelty. His eyes tore away from the handprints as a cold finger traced the lightning strike scar across the center of his face—drawing his attention to a small, blue lipped smile.

“Do you think you’ll ever leave this town, Gavin?”

________

When a series of Detroit murders are linked as originating in his hometown, Gavin Reed is unwillingly assigned the case. Fowler insists that his history with the place and people will hugely benefit such an investigation.

He was fucking wrong. 

This fic is one big holy shit moment tbh. Really fantastic. Really makes you wonder why these authors aren’t paid to do this.

All Aboard the Underground Railroad - by Senjihae - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 11/? - What starts as sticking it towards his half brother evolves into something with the potential to rewrite android history as he knows it. Gavin doesn't realize what he gets himself into until he is mistaken as the 'Android Messiah' of all things. It's not like he goes out of his way to help them, but his life gets a lot harder once Hank is assigned a shiny new boy toy ('sent by CyberLife').

Things only get worse when he's gifted a heap of metal of his own ('sent by Elijah Kamski').

(Yeah, fuck off Elijah)

Very interesting fic. Gavin is RA9 so that’s a thing. A nice slow burn!

Dragon Become Age - by errantwheat - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content Warnings - Chapters 11/? - Y’all wanted me to write dragon age!au so I did :)

YES! YES! YES! DRAGON AGE AU! YES! YES! YES! (it’s really gud)

Warmth - by TheRedPaladin101 - Teen and Up Audiences - No Warnings - Chapters 1/1 - Gavin frowned, the aching in his shoulder fading from his mind for a moment. “Then give me my jacket.”

“Your jacket is in no condition to keep you warm,” he stated. “For now, use mine and stay warm while we wait to head back to the station.”

----

Five times RK900 gave Gavin Reed his jacket, and one time Gavin gave his in return.

Very wholesome. Lives up to its title. Some good ole hurt/comfort!

Letifer - Terminallydepraved - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 19/19 - Gavin Reed is a DPD beat cop determined to make detective by any means possible, and putting an end to a string of murders looks like the quickest way to accomplishing that goal. Unfortunately for him, he fails to account for the real culprit— or the thought that perhaps he isn't the only one on the hunt for a killer.

(Now with cover art by Leetmorry!)

I love beat cop!gavin. It humbles him. And vampire!nines is scary and amazing. Love how the author wrote both of these characters (and the others too!). I definitely recommend this one!

A Strange and Beautiful Creature -  by LittleLalaith - General audiences - No warnings - Chapters 7/7 - Scientist Nines is called in to Amanda's lab to assist with a new discovery - a genuine Mermaid.

While Amanda is indifferent to the creature's circumstances, Nines builds an unlikely connection to the specimen and they grow a little closer than either of them expected.

(AKA Gavin is a sassy sea slug and Nines thrills in breaking the safety protocols)

Mermaid au! Nines wants to save mermaid Gavin, and it’s all very wholesome.

I Think You Do - by spotlightonmringenue - Teen and Up Audiences - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/? - “Son of a bitch, there’s another one. What the fuck is it doing,” Gavin says, grip going white on the gun as the android continues to stare at him without acknowledging Connor.

“RK900, my name is Connor. I’m part of a group called Jericho that recovered you from Cyberlife’s Production Center late yesterday. We are currently in the Detroit Police Department Central Station. Are you feeling okay?”

“It doesn’t feel shit,” Gavin mumbles, resisting the urge to step back as the RK900 takes a step closer. It holds out the cup, and Gavin’s eyes dart to it for only a second before flipping between Connor and his doppelganger.

“You requested coffee,” it says, and Hank sighs, leaning back against his desk while rubbing a hand over his forehead.

Quality ‘enemies to friends’ content. Nines is intimidating. Gavin is confused. Good times.

Flying with Crooked Wings - by UnCon - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 20/? - “Listen, kid,” Gavin started, cutting off the desolate child. Sure it was sad his dog had died but it wasn’t Gavin’s fault no one taught the little twerp chocolate was a dog’s kryptonite, “he’s in a better place, alright, so if you’d just stop asking for him to come back—it’d be much appreciated.”

“You promise?” the eight-year-old asked, his big brown eyes looking like glass—fragile and sparkly.

“Yeah,” Gavin lied, looking away as he did it—his halo going a bit crooked. To be honest, he wasn’t sure where dogs went after they died, only that he was tasked with calming the little boys and girls who despaired after them—at least until his punishment was up. “So just, you know, go to sleep and all that.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a world where angels and demons inhabit the same earth, both searching for a way to overthrow the other, both failing--Gavin sits right in the middle, with a crooked halo and a pair of wings to match. It's not enough to be a bit mischievous, however, he also has to get caught up in the demon brothers' scheme to take over heaven. Perfect.

Really good! This fic has the interesting dynamic of Gavin as an angel and Nines as a demon. Check it out!

The Red String Will Still Connect Us Ten Thousand Miles Apart (and to the moon and back) - by Jillflur - Teen and Up - Content warnings - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin, an ‘unlovable’ man without a Soulmate. He was used to it, never had one since he could remember. However, that little fact changes when he wakes up one day and realizes that he suddenly has a Red String connected to his ring finger. It only gets worse when months later, an android walks into the precinct who apparently is his new Soulmate!

Can androids even have Soulmates?!

To make everything even more complicated, a sudden new killer is on the Streets, and he murders people by cutting their Red Strings!

A soulmate fic by our very own jillflur! So good. Amazin. I love the red string trope so much. Yall should big read.

the prince & the reed - by Pence - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 2/? - "I wanted to marry you," the prince murmured, polished armor gleaming as he stared down at the injured man--icy eyes tinged with sadness. Regret.

A guttural scream ripped from the soldier's throat as a heel dug into his wound, arm coated crimson from his weeping shoulder.

The soldier's teeth were stained pink as he jerked his chin up to grin toothily at the other man, bloody fingers scrambling down his thigh in search of the dagger tucked into his boot.

"Then drop to your knees and ask me properly, Nines."

Okay this fic is only two chapters and hasn’t been updated in awhile but GOT DAMN do I love how the author set this medieval fic up. I’m a slut for the medieval au’s, so that’s just extra points.

Not a teacher but I can teach you a thing or two - by Adishailan - Teens and Up - No warnings - Chapters 20/20 - Gavin owed the walking hunk of plastic. He owed him. Ugh, Gavin hated owing people stuff. It gave him a horrible feeling in his stomach, like indigestion, except worse because it involved emotionsTM. This, coupled with the fact he was pumped up with drugs and suffering a concussion, was why he was about to make a terrible, terrible mistake.

“‘Kay. Fine. Thanks or whatever. Lemme know if you ever need anythin' prick.”

RK900’s LED went yellow at this, and this time Gavin was pretty sure he was doing the processing thing. It was still yellow even when he nodded in a serious way and said:

“That would be useful.”

Oh man this one is BIG CUTE! It’s so soft, and is a fantastic slow burn. I totally recommend this fic.

O May I Join the Choir Invisible - by BanishedOne - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 13/? - Gavin Reed was a new inmate at a prison where the infamous killer, R. Nathan Kearney, was on death row. Circumstances led to an unfortunate encounter.

Okay don’t quote me on this but I think you can find the rest of this fic on Twitter. It was posted in a bunch of seperate posts and it was really confusing but there was definitely extra chapters. You can find the post here (or at BanishedOne on twitter). Other than that, this is a really good fic! The boys get into a lot of trouble!

Neon Maps - by caffienefueledfeels - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 11/11 - Everyone has their limits. Gavin is about to discover several of his own.

He's broke, barely scraping along, and struggling to keep an aggressive black-mailer off his back. On top of that, the grey-eyed distraction in his bed is about to test his heart in more ways than one.

Cyberpunk fic!! Super interesting! Go check it out!

Computers Are Elaborate Cat Beds, Actually - by errantwheat - No Rating - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 6/? - “Marvelous find, Gavin. They’ll promote you for this, surely.”

Gavin pulled an exaggerated frown. He was awfully animated for a robot. “Jesus, What kind of human are you? I’m waving a fucking kitten in your face and you’re still a bitch.”

Really cute. I’m pretty sure there’s some art to go with this fic. Super duper cute reverse au!

More Than a Woman, More Than a Bride - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Content warnings - Chapters 38/? - When Gavin’s life is threatened for the last time by a violent gang expanding the production of a new drug in Detroit, Captain Fowler must come up with a plan for his safety. Perhaps forcing a marriage between Nines and Gavin wasn’t the best solution he could come up with...

Oh man. This fic. Let me tell you. I’ve been with this fic since the beginning and it is one hell of a roller coaster XD. The author updates constantly, it’s really impressive.

More Like You - by Mooneye - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 1/1 - “This next bit’s going to get awkward. I’m going to interface with you.”

At that he could feel the collective confusion in the room. His eyes darted up to look at Hank and then Nines. They both seemed eerily still and were possibly thinking that Gavin had surely lost his mind.

Gavin has kept his prosthetic arm, with good reason, a secret from humans and androids alike for as long as he’s had it. The prospect of losing Nines threatens to unravel everything, but perhaps it’s worth the cost.

The idea of Gavin (an android hater in-game) having a prosthetic-android arm is definitely interesting!

An Unforeseen Union - by AvixiLynn91 - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 16/16 - Gavin and Nines are sent undercover to investigate a slew of brutal murders at a gay counselling and therapy resort for androids and humans. They're forced to pose as a couple, but soon feel their relationship becoming more than an act as real feelings develop.

I loved the dramatic whodunnit vibes in this fic! It gets crazy :P

The Great DPD Kink-Off - by connorssock, LittleLalaith, Skye_Willows, Stujet9rainshine - Explicit: only suitable for adults - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 24/24 - It started out as a bit of rivalry and turned into a competition. Who was the kinkiest android in town?

If you like smut, then read this. That is all I will say.

The Black Nights, The Long Dark - by bvssbot - Explicit - Content warnings - Chapters 8/12 - translation of an amazing russian fic тёмные ночи, долгая тьма (the dark nights, the long darkness) into english

An unknown catastrophe was the reason Gavin ended up stranded alone on a godforsaken Canadian island. Having almost made peace with the thought of living in solitude for the rest of his days, he saves the life of a pilot named Richard, whose airplane crashed in the middle of his humanitarian mission.

Shit, I loved ‘The Long Dark’ and I love this fic. I don’t speak russian, unfortunately, so I must wait to read the end. But this is still amazing and you all should read it.

Detroit: Outlast - by Cardboardghost - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 1/? - Connor Upshur is a down on his luck reporter, who spends his nights getting drunk and passing out at home. A mysterious email calls him to Mount Massive Asylum, owned by the Cyberlife corporation. Armed with nothing but a camera and his wits, Connor must brave the asylum's horrors and find way to save the people Cyberlife stole from him.

Gavin Park is a beat cop looking for a more well paying job. So when an offer to work private security at the Cyberlife corporation all but falls into his lap, how could he refuse? Gavin quickly realizes things are not what they seem, and in an attempt to expose Cyberlife, he ends up further in their clutches. Now he and Connor must work together to claw their way out of the asylum's depths, and the familiar faces that wait inside those walls.

This fic only has onw chapter, but go check out Cardboardghost’s art if you finish reading this!! They have provided so much quality content for the Outlast/DBH crossover I didn’t know I needed.

Gin & Tonic - by limchi - Explicit - No warnings - Chapters 8/? - People didn’t like Gavin Reed. Gavin Reed didn’t like people. It went together like gin and tonic, you can’t have one without the other. Nines hated him and he hated Nines. Those were the rules they played by, the rules that couldn't be changed - until fate decided they could.

It turned Gavin into pretending to dislike and Nines into a dense idiot with a crush, unable to grasp the concept of love. Both in utter denial. The catch: gravity worked against them, pulled them together at a frightening pace. Push against and defy the rules of nature or go along the prevailing forces?

Your friendly neighborhood reed900 fic. Very epic slow burn and fluff (and a hint of angst tbh). I definitely recommend!

Bitter Half - by turnabout - Mature - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 5/5 - Gavin Reed was born unmarked, and had spent his entire life expecting to die like he lived - alone. It isn't until Tina points out the new serial number on his chest that he realizes everything is about to change. Whether that's for better or for worse is up to him.

I’m a sucker for soulmate fics and this one does not disappoint!

K-900 - by Serazimei - Teen and Up - No warnings - Chapters 3/3 - Gavin and Nines were a great team. Unfortunately they were both huge workaholics. That's why when Nines' body gets busted on a job and the needed parts aren't available yet chaos is inevitable. Needing to choose between waiting and potentially being of no use at work or participate in one of Kamskis experiments and transfer his mind into an Android dog the decision is easy to make.

Who knew being in a dog body could become such a hassle? Not Nines, that's for sure.

Nines is a pup!!! I don’t believe I’ve seen a fic like this yet, so it’s really cool!

Thanks I'm Hating It - by Lupo (LupoLight) - Explicit: only suitable for adults - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Gavin goes to a fast food burger joint and Nines judges him. Then he realizes that Gavin isn't as much of a dick as he used to be, except he is, but in a different way. He isn't sure how to react to this knowledge.

QUALITY reed900 content

Bloodstains - by DeviantAlicee - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 12/? - Nines is an interrogator & detective for the DPD with a dark past. His thick skin & smarts helping him to be one of the most valuable members of the department. He's cold & daunting.

GV200 is one of the first police android models who's partnered with a cruel beat cop who not only hates that his partner is an android but doesn't think GV can feel any of the cruel things he does or says to him. The android doesn't speak up due to the fear of being shut down.

Nines has no clue that the android he bumped into at a bar is in fact a police android. He just thinks that he might be somebody in need of some help. But, as time passes by & a new drug that can be used by androids begins to circulate, Nines begins to realise the situation is a whole lot more convoluted than he originally thought.

This is a really interesting reverse au! Check it out!

Team spirit - by ilse_writes - Mature - No warnings - Chapters 4/4 - Someone had the unholy idea to go camping with the department, all in the name of 'team building'. Gavin is not liking it very much. That tall instructor with his haughty manners and cool eyes... that one he likes very much.

I don’t think I’ve seen another au quite like this one. Very epic content, can we hit Gavin Reed?

Wake Up - by SkySquid22 - Mature - Content warnings - Chapters 6/? - “Gavin!”

GV200 slipped out of his stasis. He didn’t get a chance to open his eyes before a file came down on his face, smacking him.

“And here I thought tin cans didn’t sleep.”

Something was wrong.

Something was very very wrong.

DIS GOT ME  F U C K E D  U P!!! Bruh @skysquid200 really out here shaking my world with this fic. I was hollering while reading this like I got HYPED

Natural - by Erik_Heinrich - Teen and Up - Author chose not to warn for content - Chapters 1/? - They are all wing people.

Gavin gets partnered with Nines. As expected hes not too happy about it, but their partnership seems to be going well. That is until spring comes along. Nines wings seem a bit fidgety and Gavin is nesting. Nines doesn't realize he's been trying to court Gavin, and Gavin is just as oblivious.

or. They are both complete idiots the whole time

WING FIC WING FIC WING FIC!!!! Yall dont know how long I’ve looked for a reed900 wing fic. My homie @phckingusername out here doin God’s work <333

Thank you all so much for 1K!!! Being able to hop on Tumblr everyday and talk to you guys makes me so happy!! I really hope I didn't f up this rec list anywhere lol. Hope u guys like it!!

[rhysnrivers]

Odyssey to becoming a Published Author

(Note: with Odyssey being in the title, this is quite a long post.  The link to the facebook page that leads to where my novel can be bought from can be found at the bottom of the post, as can some of the initial artwork done)

So, despite never been a ‘blogger’ per se before, I’ve decided to write this article about my journey from having dreamed about writing and having my own works published, through to actually writing my ideas up and publishing them myself, as I’m sure that there are many an indie author and authoress out there who can relate and have been through the very same journey I have.

First thing’s first.  Rhys N Rivers is not my real name.  It’s a pen name.  There’s something in being anonymous when it comes to writing, almost like a sense of freedom.  This day and age of social media means that almost everything we do is recorded somewhere on the internet, and an opinion or action from ten years ago can be drudged back up to be ridiculed by the Facebook jury and/or the Karens of the internet, in line with the fashionable opinions of the day.  A pen name grants anonymity and to some degree, security.  The only people who know my identity are my immediate family and a few close, trusted friends.

When people embark on a new venture; be it a new hobby, learning a new language, travelling the world, changing jobs etc, the journey actually begins long before said venture starts.  Quite often, the journey always begins in the classroom, at home, in bed, in daydreams.  It begins as a state of ambition.  A plan that one day, will be put into action.

My authoring journey was no different.  Mine actually began around the age of eleven.  I was of the Harry Potter generation where I was the same age as the main characters in the early years when a new film came out each year.  J.K. Rowling got me into reading beyond in school, and I - being one of the cool kids, clearly - read a lot throughout my early and mid teenage years.  It was admittedly predominantly fantasy based, (Tolkien, Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Garth Nix) or Bernard Cornwall’s historical works before I branched out into people like Wilbur Smith and others.  When I was around 14 or 15, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code took the world by storm and I also ended up reading all of his works. School provided a sophisticated reading list, which included Dickens and Golding, and so growing I had read through a rich and broad variety of fiction.

Where actually writing was concerned, I think it was about the age of eleven or twelve that I realised that I wanted to write properly.  I think it was actually after reading William Nicholson’s Wind Singer when I decided, and I set to task in writing coming up with a fantasy novel.  I didn’t start writing the plot straight away; I actually started coming up with characters and places, even drawing out a world map.  That was really fun to do.  It had a sense of total control to it.  What I decided was what things were.  Where a kid may not feel in control of things in other parts of life (insecurities of school, friends, growing up, relationships etc), this was something totally different.  The ability to create your own fictional world, in whatever genre you go for, is a form of escape and release in which you can develop your talents and ideas.  

There were lots of elements to what I was planning out - which included ideas from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Legend of Zelda, The Wind on Fire among others.  To be honest, I’m actually glad that ‘project’ didn’t get very far.  Poor Christopher Paolini, the author of the Inheritance Cycle quadrilogy of books, was slated by certain groups and reviewers for his alleged lack of originality and using of ideas from other stories.  In Paolini’s defence, he was only fifteen when his first book was published, which is something that most fifteen year olds don’t achieve!  But I think that had I completed mine, it might have faced the same criticisms - not necessarily from reviewers or publishers, but perhaps friends and family reading through it first.

School, in particular, provided me with a lot of enthusiasm and inspiration to write (clearly, I was one of the cool kids).  My GCSE English teacher was a great bloke (probably still is) and gave great, honest and constructive feedback to the entire class’ work.  Our first piece of English Literature coursework was a piece on creative writing and I elected to do a piece on the topic of an opening chapter/opening chapters to a novel.  Having just read Dan Brown I did my piece in his sort of style: bloke copping it at the start, trying to prevent some conspiracy from going ahead, then the reluctant hero of the story gets dragged in to solving it.  My piece didn’t revolve around religious groups or secret societies, but around a historical artefact.

Out of 54 marks, this scored 52.  I was more than happy with that.  I had no idea where the story was going to go but I was determined that I would one day finish the story.  To this day, I still have no idea where the story is going, but I am certain that it will be the last novel of a set of three, dragging the main character, a desperately-can’t-wait-to-retire detective, through painstaking research, learning about history that he wouldn’t usually be arsed about and running away from people, of whom he’s becoming more and more of an embuggerance (word-invention credited to Terry Pratchett) to.

For some reason, I really can’t remember why, but about a year later the option was given to my English class to rewrite that piece of coursework (we were about four out of five coursework pieces done by that time).  I was of course happy with my score but I saw this as an opportunity to try something new and see what ideas could again come spewing from my mind.

This time, again sticking with the opening chapter(s) option, I wrote about a start of a medieval conspiracy, beginning around the Battle of Crécy and going…err…I still have no idea where!  But this piece resonated better than the previous piece, earning full marks from my English teacher, along with the comments “…should come with an 18 rated certificate.”  Again, I vowed that I would complete this story one day and see it published.  This one I think I will try to make into a three-book story.

The summer after completing my GCSE exams I did the normal stuff: went on holiday with family, chilled out with friends, even attended the World Scout Jamboree that year.  But I also by then had a set of ideas in my head that I wanted to turn into novels, and wrote that list onto a computer, and saved it to my USB memory stick.  I have no idea where I last saw that USB stick…

After I left school I joined the British Armed Forces.  I’m not going to write too much about what I did, where I went etc (not because I was part of some uber-top-secret unit, but more-so that it just doesn’t contribute to this post) but my priorities changed.  I read a lot less and writing properly in the near term future just was not a possibility, or something that I wanted to concentrate on at that time.

In early 2017 I was considering a career change, and during that time I joined fanstory.com, under my real name.  The purpose of doing this was to put myself into an environment with other amateur writers, gain inspiration from other budding authors (and hopefully give some inspiration back), and be in a place where my works could be read among ‘peers’, giving me a good steer on things.

It was on this website where my first novel, Payment, was conceived.  There was a competition going for short stories up to 7000 words long in the horror genre (“Put your readers on edge or terrorize them”) and so I thought this was a good place to test out to see what people think and to  develop my writing style.

It took me a couple of weeks to put Payment together and submit it.  I had never considered writing horror before but this, again, was an ample opportunity to try something new and see what I could come up with.  I decided to go with a 19th Century narrative; much like Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker.  I prefer to think or the horror genre as the old neo-gothic styles of writing - the old ghost stories.  Horror, in recent years, both in writing and film-making, has taken more of a gore and shock factor turn.  Personally, I think that will turn horror more into the thriller genre.  To me, horror should be about ghosts, vampires, witches - the occult and the supernatural.  And that’s that I have tried to achieve with Payment. 

What surprised me the most during the writing of this were my decisions to use the first-person narrative - something I used to despise growing up, and the use of a one-word title.  For some reason it used to bug me no end that it was becoming more and more common that artistic projects, be they novels, films, dance, visual art etc, would use one-worded titles.  I used to think that was a cop-out.  But here I am with Payment - a novel told in first-person narrative…

I have always thought that my writing style was/is closest to Terry Pratchett’s.  I’ve never tried to emulate him but his style of using irony, dry humour and satire, whilst also plummeting to some very deep philosophical ideas.  But I couldn’t do that whilst writing Payment.  The thing is with writing horror, is that you have to be able to maintain that macabre atmosphere all the through.  That actually isn’t easy.  I found there always has to be a sense of the character’s isolation, a sense of doom and gloom, and a sense of something about to happen.  

I didn’t win the completion that I entered.  I don’t think it even made the top three.  The votes are cast by the other entries’ writers and maybe a few other people.  I can’t remember if you could vote for your own project but I think you could.  The entries placed above mine, although I thought their storylines familiar with ideas already done, were admittedly much easier to read than my entry.  A 19th century style of writing will always lose to simplicity when people have a number of works to read.

But that didn’t deter me.  I’d created a fictional work and was determined to show it to the world.  I didn’t go ahead with the career change at that point but decided to fully review Payment, at get it out there as a completed project.

Fanstory is a good platform, it really is.  I’m not sure why, but after only a couple of months and having written a few competition entries, I came to stop writing on it.  My old job was getting in the way and to be honest, I was getting impatient with writing on it.  I had the mentality that I wanted to be published right now sort of thing.

A couple of years later, I did go ahead in a change of direction career-wise.  This provided the opportunity to fully revise Payment and make it into a ‘novelette’, more than 7000/7500 words but fewer than 17,500.  I would then prepare it for editing, get the artwork sorted and then publish it online for maybe a couple of quid.

I was actually in Tanzania at the time when I thought that Payment had been expanded enough to put out as a novelette.  Once I’d finished writing, I showed it to a couple of the volunteers I was working with and they both enjoyed it.  Although I was pleased about that, I still wasn’t satisfied with it.  I had touched on quite a few themes in the work but I don’t feel like I had explored them all as much as I could have.  Although complete, it felt very much incomplete.  At the same time I wanted to expand the work into a full novel and also I didn’t - mainly because of the challenge of maintaining that horror atmosphere.

I decided that, in order to put more meat onto the bones and develop this short story/novelette into a full length novel, I needed a goal to work towards; something that has an end achievement that will make me work to expand on what I had already done.  And so I set about looking for horror writing groups and/or competitions on the internet. 

In not much time at all I came across the Horror Writers Association (HWA).  They are a group that cater for all things horror and occult in fiction.  There, you can advertise your works, read or recommend other people’s works and learn about events - namely the StokerCon.

But what attracted me to them the most was their sponsorship of the Bram Stoker Awards (“for Superior Achievement”).  These are awards that are given out to authors and authoresses who have had their works judged in certain categories.  The one that has caught my eye is the ‘First Novel’ category.  A quick reading of the rules informed me of the minimal word limit:  40,00 words.  Perfect.  There’s something to work towards, with a chance at winning what is described as ‘the Oscars of horror writing’.  When I returned from Africa I set about the task of bolstering a 17,000-ish novelette into a 40,000 word minimum horror novel!

I have read Edgar Allan Poe in the past, and even bits of Mary Shelley.  For more inspiration in keeping that spooky, Neo-Gothic atmosphere, I read some parts of Bram Stoker and H.P. Lovecraft.  Despite all of that, I initially found it difficult to write again on the same piece of work that I started almost three years previously.  It was only after reading Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, where I became inspired by her power of description to turn chapters, paragraphs and sentences that belong in quick short stories to ones suitable for a long read.

In January, this  year, I had finally finished.  I expanded heavily on the ideas that I was before concerned that I was rushing through and before I knew it, my word count was well over the 40,000 words I wanted to achieve!  I read it all again myself, edited out any spelling or grammar mistakes that I had seen, and sent it out to beta testers (readers) for opinions and editing.

Following the last edit - of which there wasn’t relatively much to do - my debut novel stands at a word count of 53,850 words!  That isn’t considered very long by today’s standards.  To give a point of reference, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is estimated to be around 77,000 words long (depending on who is doing the word count).  But my novel is longer than The Woman in Black as well as other novels such as The Great Gatsby and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and considering it came from a short story of 7,000 words I am still happy with it.

Concurrently with writing the novel came the task of finding an artist/illustrator for the cover.  That was a more difficult task than I expected.

Not only did I want to find someone who could create a suitable cover, I also wanted that someone to be able to do ‘scene art’; by which I mean a picture at the start of certain chapters.  The reason for this is that I see a completed novel itself as a form of art, and scene pictures add to that completed projected.  In fact, I actually wanted a sort of teamwork between the writing/art found in the Edge Chronicles books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell.  

I combed Facebook for a very long time, joining all sorts of groups and pages for amateur artists to show off their works, hoping to find someone who I thought was suitable for my work.  To my dismay, there was very little, I thought, that I could go off.

Around October time I put an advert on a freelancing work website, just for an idea of who else is out there and possibly able to take this up.  I did receive a fair few responses but, again, there wasn’t really anyone whose work suited what I was after.  A couple of them, one of them being an art company based in Central Asia, actually got quite nasty about it.  They were expectant 

It was when I was on a course in Spain that it was suggested to me to look on Reddit, as Reddit “literally has everything on it.”  I had never actually been a proper Reddit user before; I’d clicked the odd link from Facebook but had never really interacted with it before. 

The guy who suggested Reddit to me was right - Reddit has literally everything on it.  There’s so much information to be found on so many topics it seemed unlikely that I wouldn’t find what I was looking for on it, and so I combed through a few sub-reddits dedicated to (freelance) artists and checked some of them out.

So I once again posted out an advert looking for artists and this time the response were much more positive, and enthusiastic!  It really was quite uplifting to see and hear from so many people who were interested in taking up the project and I received so many messages.  Everyone who commented on the post and/or messaged me with links to their portfolios, I checked out their work.  I honestly don’t think there was a single person whose works of art that I wasn’t impressed by.  There is so much that can be found at deviantart.com and artstation.com and so much talent to be viewed and be in awe at!  Everyone who directly messaged me got a return thanking them.

One of the people I got talking to was a young lad from Sweden called Daniel Percy, whose artwork I also checked out.  My preferences came down to him and another guy from Germany, and after speaking with Daniel he agreed to take on the work.

Daniel does a lot of freelance art work, predominately doing concept art work for electronics companies (I want to say video games but don’t take that as gospel), but he still found the time to do this properly, compiling several drafts of the cover and inside sketches.  We collaborated quite often on what to change, ideas to put in etc.

The finished artwork is incredible!  I’m showing some of the initial first-sketch ideas here along with the final book cover, along with a couple of since-altered scene pictures, just for an idea of his talent.  You’ll have to buy the book to see all of the finished sketches ;)

And the final thing to think/worry/mull over until stupid o’ clock in the morning, was the publishing aspect.  Luckily, ever since I’ve thought about writing (as an adult), it has become increasingly easier to get your works out there.  The rise of the internet and social media age has made self publishing so much more accessible, and that is the route I have gone down.

At first, I wanted to go down the traditional printing route.  I - again showing cool I was as a kid - always liked the idea of a fresh and printed book in my hands.  But, there are two reasons why I haven’t done this:

The first one is environmental.  Even before the climate change debate became a fashionable thing to signal your virtues about, I was uncomfortable about the idea of trees being cut down for my creation, unless I could be 100% certain that exact same area would be immediately replanted.  It’s true, there are forested areas specifically for this kind of thing but the amount of bureaucracy involved, along with the middle-men, wouldn’t make it an immediate thing.

The second reason is that the majority of writers who send their works in get rejected by so many publishers.  Yes, people refer to J.K. Rowling’s story of being rejected twelve times (and again later by one of the same publishers when she first wrote as Robert Galbraith) before Harry Potter became a hit, but as the option of the internet is there, it makes sense to negate that possible rejection.  In the event that my works do get noticed and attract the attention of publishers, then great!  But if they don’t, at least by online publishing, I’ve still achieved putting my novel out to the world.

Finally, today, Friday the 13th (intentionally - it is a horror novel after all ;p ) of March 2020, I officially became a published author.  It is a fantastic, monumental feeling.  My story, my novel, my creation, is out there for people to buy, read and hopefully, enjoy.

If there’s any advice that I can give for anyone aspiring to be an (indie) author, it is this: just write your ideas down.  Sounds simple, if not downright obvious, but it really is incredible that so many people don’t achieve their dreams or aspirations simply because they don’t do them.  The world of authoring and indie writing is so much more accessible now than it was even fifteen years ago, that is takes a great lot of effort not to find at least one platform to get your works out onto.

It is also incredibly easy to find every excuse in the book to not write at all.  School, work, family etc, being the big ones, and they are legitimate reasons.  But they are only obstacles themselves to an extent, before you yourself make them obstacles.  Start small.  Set yourself half an hour on an evening.  No more, no less.  Half an hour to start getting your ideas onto paper and then after a week, you’ve spent three and a half hours writing.  You’d be surprised at how much you’ve achieved after three and a half hours of concentrated effort.

If you need motivation, there are plenty of people out there, particularly on the internet, who give great examples of motivation that apply to all disciplines.  Joe Rogan, for just one example, has plenty of people on his podcasts who talk and give advice on self-betterment, and it can apply to anybody.  If you want to write, you will find the time and means to do it.  It doesn’t matter how long it takes; everybody finds their ways at different times. 

As to my next works, what am I going to be writing next?  Well, shortly after writing Payment as a short story I thought of another idea to write about, and use that particular project to actually develop my writing style.  This next one, of which the first ‘act’ as such does already have a skeleton outline to it, is a light hearted yet philosophical at times medieval adventure, combining humour and seriousness together.  I’m not going to divulge ay more information the storyline because, although it’s a simple idea, I believe it’s one that no-one’s done before and some smart-arse with more time on their hands than I can easily bash something together using my idea!

The school coursework pieces?  They are still on my ideas list and will no doubt be developed into their own proper projects and they hopefully will also be published just as Payment is!  The fantasy that I started aged eleven?  Absolutely no idea.  Whilst I would certainly like to do fantasy, going for originality is going to be difficult, as the standard format (young hero finds out he’s the ‘chosen one’ and goes on a long quest) has been done to death, as have a lot of fantasy ideas already.  George R R Martin had the idea of using the idea of old English houses warring against other in the past, and that was used to great effect even before he threw in the ice zombies!  So that one is going to be a case of properly allocating some time to sit down, think and decide how I’m going to go about, but make no mistake, I will go about it!

Thank you all for taking the time to read through this!  I hope its provided at least some entertainment or light (ha!) reading, and I hope you’ll feel interested to buy my debut novel!

My Facebook page can be found at:  

https://m.facebook.com/Rhys-N-Rivers-Writing-101015961412385/?ref=bookmarks

All the places where Payment can be bought from can be found there.  I thought it better to post one central link than the individual ones.

[p-and-p-admin]

Interview taken from The Severus Snape and Hermione Granger Shipping Fan Group.  (Admin approved)

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718373383293/

Hello Loten and welcome to Behind the Quill, thank-you for letting us get to know you a little better.

Many of our members will know your works with Post Tenebras, Lux and Chasing the Sun being considered classics for the SS/HG pairing.

Thanks for the invitation, hello everyone.

What's the story behind your pen name?

There's a werewolf novel, Bareback by Kit Whitfield. In one scene a character is looking at the moon and mentions that in Old English poetry they would use the term loten to describe a night when the moon was bright enough to see by. I haven't been able to verify it since the author may well have invented it, but I love nights like that and I liked the word, and the rest is history.

Which Harry Potter character do you identify with the most?

I get asked this a lot, actually. There is no one character, I don't think - I identify to some extent with most of the characters that feature more frequently in my fics, or I wouldn't be able to write them (the exception is Lucius, as far as I can tell he's truly fictional and not derived from anything in me). I probably have more in common with Hermione than the others, at least my version of her, but it's hard to say for sure.

Do you have a favourite genre to read? (not in fic, just in general)

Fantasy all the way. My mother nagged me into reading The Hobbit when I was around seven or eight, and that was it. I do read other genres but a good 85 per cent of my reading material almost certainly has magic or dragons somewhere in it.

Do you have a favourite "classic" novel?

I have a few. I like all of Austen's works, my favourite is probably Sense & Sensibility. I've just finished re-reading Jane Eyre. I like Elizabeth Gaskell's novels as well.

At what age did you start writing?

My mother is one of those parents who hoards everything her offspring do, and among the boxes of paper is a short story I wrote and illustrated when I was maybe five, about a flying shoe (imaginatively titled The Magic Clog). And when I was six I had a poem published in an anthology of children's verse (I don't remember how that came about; I think my school was asked to get involved, had a competition and picked out a few that ended up in the book) - my contribution was a piece of free verse about a dripping tap. So it's something I've always done, though I started taking it more seriously as a teenager developing roleplay characters.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

My best friend when I was around thirteen was into fanfiction, she wrote Stargate SG-1 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer fiction at the time. I don't know how she got into it herself but she introduced me to reading it, though it was a year or two before I found the courage to try writing any. My early stuff was... not very good, and I will never admit to being the author of any of it now!

What's the best theme you've ever come across in a fic? Is it a theme represented in your own works?

Oh, that's a hard one. I like seeing consequences being explored - often authors will give a character the backstory or motivation they need them to have for the sake of the plot, but if it's not one of the main characters they won't pay it any more attention after that. When it's done well, I do like stories exploring the realism of just how a character would be affected by what happens to them. It adds a new dimension to their personality, and the psychology behind it is interesting in its own right. We're a product of our experiences, and so are fictional people. I try to show it in my writing as well - why a character does something is as important as the thing itself.

What fandoms are you involved in other than Harry Potter?

I read fics from all sorts of fandoms, but Discworld was where I first started writing (badly). It's a pretty small fandom despite the legions of fans worldwide, so I got to know a few writers there and learned more about what I was doing. Took a break for a while due to personal reasons, and when I returned under this name I started off in the even smaller Tamora Pierce fandom, trying my wings before entering the madness of Harry Potter. These days the Potterverse is still my first love along with the other two, but others include the Wheel of Time, Good Omens and too many smaller ones to list. I don't write for them or anything so active, though.

If you could make one change to canon, what would it be? Do you have a favourite piece of fanon?

Snape surviving, and the HG/SS ship, naturally! Do you listen to music when you write or do you prefer quiet?

Music, or Youtube videos (I watch a lot of Let's Plays), or just having the TV on. I can't concentrate in complete silence, my mind wanders to other things. I also talk to myself if there's no other source of noise and I'm trying to break the habit.

What are your favourite fanfictions of all time?

This would have been far easier to answer a few years ago, but I read less and less fanfiction as time goes by and I don't read Potter fics at all any more. My personal headcanons have developed more and more over the years, and nobody's headcanon is the same as anyone else's, so I end up disagreeing with fics these days because it's not how I would have done it and it makes it difficult to enjoy them.

The best fic I ever read was also the one that introduced me to HG/SS, but at some point, along the way, it was deleted and the author removed their account, and I've never managed to remember the title or pen name to look for it elsewhere. I don't remember the plot either after so long, but the characterisation was absolutely superb and the ship just made so much sense that I never looked back.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? How does that affect your writing process?

A plotter, definitely. I always have a first draft mostly complete before I start uploading anything. Initially, it was just because I realised I was writing longer stories and didn't want to risk hitting writer's block or real-life delays and having to go on hiatus in the middle of uploading a story, but later I realised I preferred it. I don't have to worry about writing myself into a corner or contradicting myself, I can take the time to make sure things are coming across the way I want them to. And it means I never have to force myself to write 'the next chapter' to a deadline - if I don't want to work on whatever comes next, I can jump ahead and write something later in the plot that I do want to work on. I also find it a lot easier to plan a story around a timeline to get the overall pacing right.

What is your writing genre of choice?

I don't really know what you'd call it. Slice of life, I suppose? I like stories about characters rather than about plots.

Which of your stories are you most proud of? Why?

Most of them, in their own way. My Tamora Pierce series, even though they're nothing groundbreaking and even though I know I could write them far better now, because they were the first things I wrote that I felt truly pleased with and because the overwhelmingly positive responses gave me the confidence to keep going, to try for something completely original rather than a retelling, and to venture into a far bigger and much more terrifying fandom.

Post Tenebras Lux, because it's (almost) exactly the story I wanted to tell and (almost) exactly the way I wanted to tell it. Chasing the Sun because it's the best written of anything I've done and I can see how much I've improved over the years, although I prefer the content of PTL. And I'm incredibly proud of the thousands upon thousands of positive and constructive reviews both of them gathered along the way,

I never expected to attract much notice at all and it's been a tremendous help to me both as a confidence boost and helping me see more about how others view storylines and characters in ways that I'd miss. I think overall it's PTL I'm most proud of, with CTS a close second.

Did it unfold as you imagined it or did you find the unexpected cropped up as you wrote? What did you learn from writing it?

Talking about CTS and PTL both, they're more or less the way I imagined them. Sometimes I'd get a review showing me a perspective I'd never considered, and one or two of them ended up having quite a long-running impact. Sometimes I'd reach a point, particularly in CTS, and realise that what I had planned for that part of the story wasn't going to work and I'd end up writing something completely different.

During the writing of both of them I mostly learned about how my brain works and how to organise myself to write at my best - I think I've learned more after they were done; I re-read both of them every year or so and see things I could have done differently and things that work and things I no longer agree with.

How personal is the story to you, and do you think that made it harder or easier to write?

Back to PTL for this one, since most of CTS' plot isn't completely mine. I never planned it to be particularly personal to me; at the time I just wanted to write about my favourite character and give him a better ending than canon did, and enjoy myself telling the story. As I went along and started touching on different subjects it became more personal - I've experienced bullying and depression, amongst other things, though fortunately not on the same scale as the characters I write about. I think it made it both harder and easier; stirring up old memories wasn't particularly pleasant, but it meant less time researching and rewriting those particular parts because it felt more real, to begin with.

What books or authors have influenced you? How do you think that shows in your writing?

That's another hard one. Subconsciously I think almost everything you read influences you at least a little. I tend to divide books into three categories - ones I don't enjoy and don't finish (which is rare but does happen), ones that were good but ultimately forgettable, and ones that deserve to be re-read, and I've probably learned something from almost all of the latter kind.

If I had to name one author it would be Terry Pratchett. His writing spanned such a vast spectrum it blew my mind wide open from the first time I picked up one of his books (I think I was ten or so) and he's still the author I come back to time and time again and find something to enjoy and appreciate no matter what my mood is. He's known for humour but there's so much more in everything he wrote. As for how outside influences show in my writing, I really don't know but I can guarantee they're there.

Do people in your everyday life know you write fanfiction?

Not really. Some of my school friends did, but over the years I've lost touch with all of them. Of my family and current friends, the ones that would understand fanfiction don't share the fandoms I write for, and the others just wouldn't understand the concept. I'm not ashamed of it, I just don't know how to explain it to someone who has no overlap with this world. Some of my online friends know, but half of them I met via my fanfics in the first place, so I'm not sure that counts!

How true for you is the notion of "writing for yourself"?

Where fanfiction is concerned, there's no point doing anything else. If you're trying to make a career out of writing you do have to write for your audience at least to some extent, but one of the joys of something not for profit like fanfiction is that you can tell the stories you want to tell and don't need to impress anyone.

The whole reason PTL exists is that I couldn't find a fic that told the story I wanted to read, so I wrote it myself. CTS primarily exists so I could fix a lot of the parts of canon I had the greatest problems with. The fact that other people agree is amazing and I still get warm fuzzies from every review from someone sharing the same opinion, but that wasn't the point.

Starting out in small fandoms meant I had no expectations for reviews so I never felt the need to try and court them, and every piece of feedback was a pleasant surprise rather than a main motivation. It's also a lot easier and more enjoyable to write for yourself; my other fics are mostly small one-shots based on prompts from other people, and many of them were a real struggle to write.

How important is it for you to interact with your audience? How do you engage with them? Just at the point of publishing? Through social media?

I'd say it's pretty important. I try to answer every signed review where possible, and it's always surprised me when people tell me they weren't expecting it - it seems to be something most fic authors don't do. It never occurred to me not to at least thank someone for taking the time to leave a review, and for those who leave longer reviews with questions or observations or (constructive) criticism I like the chance to explain some of my reasons for a particular decision or to talk about something in the fic or the wider fandom or writing in general.

That said, I don't have much contact with readers outside review responses and FFN messages. I don't really use social media (hence the format of this interview). Nothing against it, but introversion and a lack of much free time (and, it must be said, a little laziness) mean it's not for me at this point in time. I do have a blog but it's not very active.

What would you most like your readers to take away with them when they've finished your stories?

Honestly? I'm happy if someone finishes and thinks 'that was a good read, I enjoyed it'. Anything else is icing on the cake. Sometimes I get lovely messages from people who've been going through rough times and they tell me something in my stories resonated with them and helped them feel a bit better, and that's an incredible feeling. Others tell me they've been inspired to work on their own writing or to read more about a subject I mentioned. Some just want to let me know they've checked out a song or book I referenced or quoted and they liked it. All those are great, but as long as someone likes the story and enjoys reading it, that's enough.

What is the best advice you've received about writing?

The most specifically useful was probably "when you're writing dialogue, read it out loud". Time after time I've done that and realised a piece of a conversation was very awkward and strange and been able to rewrite it. In a more general sense, the best thing I've seen was "don't force it". If you're not in the mood to write something, don't try to, because it'll be far lower quality than if you wait until you're excited to write it down.

What do you do when you hit writer's block?

That ties into the previous question. Usually, I leave that piece of writing alone and either work on something else or move away from writing entirely and give myself a break for a few days to clear my head. Sooner or later something will shake loose and I'll see my way past whatever the problem was. (This usually happens either in the shower or while driving, when I can't do anything about it, because the universe just hates people sometimes!)

Has anything in real life trickled down into your writing?

Oh, absolutely, though I can't give many specific examples. As I mentioned before, my experiences with bullying and depression definitely added an extra dimension to the way I write about those issues, but that's the only obvious thing. I haven't consciously included any specific incidents from my life anywhere in my writing, but I'm sure there are a lot of small things I haven't even noticed. And there are definitely some details that are me, such as certain characters' music tastes (or a preference for black forest gateau...)

Do you have any stories in the works? Can you give us a teaser?

I get asked this one a lot! Yes, I do plan on at least two more long Potter fics, if possible. I'm fairly sure at least one of them is going to happen. I have some concrete writing and a lot of notes. But it's difficult to avoid treading ground I've already covered in existing fics, I don't want to produce anything that feels too similar. I also wrote both PTL and CTS while I was unemployed and living with my parents, and now I'm living on my own and working, so I have much much less free time. No teaser, I'm afraid :)

Any words of encouragement to other writers?

The only way to get better at writing is to write, so write. Don't worry about not being good. That can come later. You can always rewrite anything. My early fics under other names range from thoroughly amateur to absolute trash that I've disowned, and there's plenty of original writing that will never, ever see the light of day.

If you write something down and hate it, leave it for a while and then go back and look at it and figure out why you hate it. Try not to be afraid. It takes real courage to let other people see your writing for the first time, and nothing hurts like your first negative review, but the world won't end. Criticism comes in three forms - misunderstandings that you can address; genuine criticisms that you can learn from; and, very rarely, flames or trolling that you can ignore. Most people will have a valid point, and most of them will genuinely be trying to help you.

And READ. Read everything you can get your hands on. Fics, books, blog posts, newspaper articles. If you don't like something, try and work out why. If you do like something, try and work out why. Exercise your imagination and the rest will follow.

Thank you so much for spending some time with us Loten, it was a genuine pleasure getting to spend some time getting to know you better.

[theeddiewarnerstory]

IndieView with Imania Margria, author of The Pacemaker

The Pacemaker was based off a nightmare I had. I wrote most of what I could remember down, and it transformed into this.

Imania Margria – 19 December 2019

The Back Flap

Minerva Walsh forgot everything about her life before her eighteenth birthday. Since then, betrayal, hardship and strife plagued her life over the last five years, and good fortune was never on her side. However, when Minerva receives a full-paid scholarship to the most prestigious school in the country, Calendula University, and is given a chance to restart her miserable life, she feels her luck has changed.

But after arriving, the dark shadows and deadly secrets looming underneath the serene façade of this academic paradise shows Minerva that her new life is far from the peaceful escape she thought it would be. She learns about the curse haunting the university and claiming innocents’ lives in unusual accidents. Minerva also gains a strange power which lets her control the heartbeats of time and space and enter a world outside of reality. To solve the mystery behind Calendula’s curse, Minerva must use her new powers to investigate the secrets surrounding this elite school before the curse claims the lives of those close to her. But as she draws near the truth, pieces of her missing past come to light. Can Minerva unravel the mystery behind her forgotten memories and the school’s curse? Or will she become its next victim?

About the book

What is the book about?

The Pacemaker is about unlucky, amnesiac Minerva Walsh winning a full-paid scholarship to the college of elites, geniuses and scholars, Calendula University and having to learn to adapt to her new home. She soon learns it’s not all glitz and glam when she discovers this academic paradise is swarming with dark shadows and deadly secrets. One of these shadows is the curse which is responsible for claiming the several victims’ lives in unusual accidents. Not soon after learning about the curse, Minerva develops a strange ability that lets her control the fluctuations of time and space and enter a world outside reality. Minerva must use her new powers to investigate the truth behind this curse before it claims more lives.

When did you start writing the book?

January 2018.

How long did it take you to write it?

​ It took a bit over a year to finish The Pacemaker.

Where did you get the idea from?

The Pacemaker was based off a nightmare I had. I wrote most of what I could remember down, and it transformed into this.

Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

The dark scenes were difficult for me. I’m very sensitive to circumstances like that. So, if I write a dark, depressing scene, the character’s feelings transfer to me, and I’ll be in a heavy mood for a while.

What came easily?

The romantic and action scenes. I’m better at writing romance and action (mostly supernatural or fantasy) scenes than dark scenes because they can be emotionally draining.

Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?

All characters are fictitious.

Do you have a target reader?

My target reader is late teenage years about 18+. Mentality wise someone who likes supernatural or fantasy mixed with some psychological thrills, romance, some sex, and lots of drama

About Writing

Do you have a writing process? If so, can you please describe it?

​Yes. I have a process. First, I write out a general outline and figure out the titles of the chapters and how many there will be. Next, I write out the separate outlines for each chapter and make chapter checklists for writing, editing, reading, rewriting, final editing, and final reading. And finally, I start writing everything out mostly in pen and paper first. I like to have a first draft for my records, and it makes easier for me when I type it up later. I used to not have a process, and it drove me mad. It took me forever to get anything done. Whenever I organize what I need to write or make checklists of what I need to get done, it makes accomplishing those goals easier and motivates me to finish them.

Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?

I do outline and make checklists. I figure out the overall outline of the story then the chapters’ names and finally their individual outlines. I also make checklists for writing, editing, reading, rewriting, final editing, and final reading.

Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?

I would edit after each chapter. Then I read through the entire book and do a point edit before doing a final edit, rewrite, and read.

Did you hire a professional editor?

Yes.

Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?

Yes. I do listen to music. The kind varies depending on the story and scene. But I normally make playlists, under the names of the books I’m working on via YouTube of the music I listened to while writing. I make them public while I’m editing and marketing the books.

About Publishing

Did you submit your work to Agents?

No, not really.  Since I’m not interested in working with a major publisher. I will hire a PR agent for my upcoming works to help me market my books from Sep 2020- on.

What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?

I decided to go indie because I like being in full control of the publishing and marketing process. I also like to have complete ownership of my work and not worry about it being tied to a specific publisher until my contract runs out or when I get lawyers involved to retrieve all rights from that publisher. It’s been a hard, long learning process, but I love the freedom of being my own boss.

Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?

I use a professional. For The Pacemaker, Panagiotis Lampridis from https://bookdesignstars.com/ made the cover.

Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?

I try to create a marketing plan, but it depends on my budget. For now, I’m kinda improvising.

Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?

Plan everything. Not just the book you’re working on. Plan out the costs for book cover and interior design. Plan the costs for editors and publishing (if you don’t decide to use Amazon and use Ingram or something). If you use a service like Ingram, plan the name for the publishing name you want to use (because you are the publisher if you use their service and buy your own ISBN and barcode). Most newbie indie authors think you just need to write your book find a publishing company and release your book, then you’re done. (I’ve been there done that.) They don’t realize that’s the easy part. The most important part is marketing your book and getting it to potential readers to get those first reviews and sales. Planning out a thorough marketing strategy and executing it is crucial to the success of your book. Because as an indie author, unless you’re publishing with an independent publisher (not Amazon, Lulu or Ingram), you have to be the writer, editor, PR agent and so much more. You don’t have the same liberties that traditionally or indie authors published by an independent or hybrid publishers have.

About You

Where did you grow up?

I’m Jersey girl born and raised. I was born in Livingston, spent my first 12 years of my life in East Orange and then the rest in Kearny, NJ.

Where do you live now?

I still live in Jersey.

What would you like readers to know about you?

​I’m a down-to-earth person who’s kinda shy. I’m just recently becoming more active in social media and literary events like poetry reads. I’ve been absent on there for a while, because I’ve been caught up finishing The Pacemaker and learning to stand in front of a crowd again since I tend to do in-person events for my upcoming 2020 novels, Eyes and Scarlet Moon. Follow my social media for more updates on locations: https://linktr.ee/imaniamargria .

For this new year, I want to connect more with my readers, and let them get to know more about who I really am. I’m going to try and be more active on social media and even make a vlog so they can see a little into my process and life. I also want them to become more involved in my development as a writer. So, I made a Patreon page where my readers can subscribe for as little as 3 dollars and get one-on-one contact with me, access to exclusive canon content that won’t be released to the general public, opportunities to get a sneak peek at chapters of upcoming books or becoming a beta reader or an ARC reviewer. This not only helps me connect with my readers but helps me get an idea about what they want, receive direct feedback, dedicate all my time to them and my writing, and create new high-quality content. Link to join is https://www.patreon.com/imaniamargria .

What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m doing final rewrites and edits on my romantic suspense novel, Eyes, so it could be released in the coming spring.  https://linktr.ee/eyesthebook It will be available everywhere books are sold.

End of Inteview:

Get your copy of The Pacemaker from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

source http://www.theindieview.com/2019/12/19/indieview-with-imania-margria-author-of-the-pacemaker/

The post IndieView with Imania Margria, author of The Pacemaker appeared first on The Eddie Warner Story.

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[jmschrpp-blog]

Alphabet Project

A- Alphabet

I was in Kindergarten when I learned how to use the Alphabet. I was in K-A  and our classroom had the letters on the walls. In class, we were given workbooks each about different letters. We would read, write, and color in these books. After working on each section, our teacher would review the letter with us and we would take a quiz. At the time, these quizzes seemed very difficult and impossible. We were required to write the lower case, upper case, and a word with the letter.  This went on for months and months and at the end of the year it got extremely difficult. When we finished the whole alphabet, we had to take a test. Our test was we had to write our whole first and last name, to prove that we learned the whole alphabet. This is not hard now, but being a six year old and barely being able to hold up a pencil, this was not easy. Everyone in the class were shaking in their seats and we were scared. Little did we know that we had the best teacher in Kindergarten hall and she taught us everything we needed to know. After completing our test and getting good grades, our teacher awarded us with candy.

B- The Boy in  the Stripped Pajamas

I first heard about this novel when I was in fourth grade. I watched the movie and felt as if I connected with each of the characters. After creating that bond, I could not stop there. I decided to go out and rent the book from my school library. I was so excited to reconnect with the characters in the book and immediately went and found a bean bag. I cracked the book open and started reading. During middle school, we had a break between classes and I would always go read in the library. I would also go scarf down food in the cafeteria then run to the library and start reading again. This was the first book that I had ever wanted to read, because I loved the movie so much. This was also the first book that I read that I felt like the characters were telling their story, and not just the author. This book spoke to me and will forever be one of my favorite books.

C- Crucible

In tenth grade, I had to read the Crucible. Nobody in the class was excited, because we had heard from our older friends, that the book is terrible and the tests were hard. Our teacher required us to finish so many pages and then take a quiz over what we read the next day. I had no problem doing that, but I like to enjoy a book and not just read because I have a test the next day. When I am reading a book, I like to try to cope with the characters as much as possible. I am trying to learn what is going on and why is that happening. Anyway, we had to read huge chunks of this book at a time and I would always fail our quizzes. Due to many of my fellow classmates just smooping or reading spark notes. Our teacher had to make our quizzes very detailed and very difficult. This book a lone dropped my English grade down to a C and I was never able to bring it back up. I hate this book for this very reason.

D-Doctor Seuss

When I was a young boy I enjoyed my Doctor Seuss books, especially The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. I would constantly run to my mom yelling "Mom, Mom, Mom, can you read me Doctor Seuss". She always knew which books I wanted to read and which ones were my favorite. She would always say "Of course honey, I will be up stairs in a minute". I would then sprint up the stairs and already have my favorite book sitting my my side. For some reason these books just never got old to me. I loved these books with a passion and even tried to read them on my own. This was not the best of ideas, I did not really understand what was going on. The only thing I understood were the pictures, I knew what was going on because my mom had read to me over and over. These were my two books that sparked my reading career and I loved these books so much as a young boy.

E- Eighth Grade

In Eighth grade, I had a terrible teacher. We read two books by the same writer. I'm sure everyone has heard of him. His name is Mark Twain. My teacher was so in love with him and his books. She would constantly show us pictures and tell us about how she went and visited his town. Everyone in the school dreaded going to her class, because we knew it would be about the same thing and about her love for him. The first book we read in the class was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I enjoyed reading this book, until I looked at her syllabus and saw we were started Huckleberry Finn right after. I knew what this meant, more lectures about him. When we were finally done with all the Mark Twain lectures and books, it was finally time for her exam and of course I Christmas Treed it and ran straight out of that classroom.

F-Frankenstein

During my senior year of high school, I was required to read the book Frankenstein and write a research paper on it. The book was not long and it was not boring, but of course my classmates were so lazy that they just read Sparknotes right before the quiz. My teacher soon caught onto them and decided she needed to make the quizzes extremely detailed and then that class got real. We walk into our first "real" quiz and of course my classmates go onto spark notes and start reading. As soon as the bell rang my teacher got up and started passing the quizzes out. I figured I would be fine because I liked the book and read it the night before, then I read number one. Number one asked, "When Frankenstein was peering through the window what color were his eyes". I read that question and froze, because I could not even remember. I read through the rest of the quiz and the same thought went through my head. I decided to just use my best judgement and guess on the questions. My teacher soon came around and picked up our quizzes. To my astonishment nobody around me knew the answers either. My teacher soon came around and gave us back our quizzes and the average grade was a two out of five. She then said that we should start taking notes on the reading and take her quizzes seriously. In the end, I still failed every quiz on Frankenstein for the next three weeks.

G- Grades

During my school career, I have been pretty good at English. I could do all the fundamentals, but when it came to writing I was not all that great. I always spend so much time writing and try my hardest and my papers come back looking like my teacher gave her child it to color on. I never could figure out why it was so bad or why it makes no sense when I wrote it and rewrote it one-hundred times. My teachers in high school typically made us rewrite a paper if it made under a sixty-five and I think I had to do that just about every time. I would work so hard and use my teachers tips and then get my paper back. My paper usually looked just about the same, but I made about a seventy.

H- Huckleberry Finn

I have already stated in this project that I now hate Mark Twain. I think I know every place he has been, every comet he has seen, and even the meaning behind his name. Anyway, after reading his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I felt as if I could relate to his book. I grew up in the small town Marion Arkansas. I am about five minutes away from the Mississippi River and cross it about everyday. I have always hung out with my buddies Max and Layton that live just down the street from me. When I was younger, me and my friends used to take the boat out and launch it in a small river behind his house. We used to just float up and down the river all day fishing and swimming. We also used to camp out in fields around our houses on long weekends and wake up in the morning and duck hunt somewhere nearby. This is how I related to Huckleberry Finn.

I-Intelligent

I like to think of myself as an intelligent and bright guy. Through middle school and high school I typically had good grades. My teachers also always said that I was intelligent, normally when they hand me something back and said I made a bad grade and should have done better, because I was smarter than that. Anyway, the only times teachers ever complemented my brain power was when I failed, and my parents normally did the same. Whenever I do something wrong or something just flat out stupid, they hit me with the same old thing. They always like to say "You are way smarter than that" or "Why did you do that, you know better. I know you are smarter than this". I normally am shocked but just take the smart part as a complement. Anyway, thats how I know I'm intelligent.

J-Jungle Book

This was my favorite book I had to read in high school. I'm an outdoorsy guy and love animals. At the beginning of the year when I saw we were reading it, I was so excited. I knew this was going to be the book I wrote my research paper on. This was my first big essay of senior year and I was surprised at how excited I was to write it. I think it was mostly because I knew after that paper, I was halfway done with research papers in high school. The other half of me was ready to crack this book open and start reading it. I loved the movie so much and honestly loved the book even more. It was my favorite book I read in all of high school.

K- Kindergarten

Kindergarten was the year, that my academic career started. I remember sitting at my table with my new friends, and trying to read the letters on the walls. We had the whole alphabet a long the walls and shelves full of books for us to read. My favorite part of kindergarten was not the reading though, it was defiantly the parachute. Me and my buddies, were the trouble makers and probably are still considered that today. We always would wait for everyone to lift it up and then we would run to the other side and take our other friend's spot. My teachers would yell at us every time we did that and we normally went home with a yellow card every day. My other favorite thing to do, was when we used to get cans of shaving cream and cover our tables in it. Our teachers let us do this, when we were working on writing out new letters in the alphabet. We would do this about once a week, when we were moving onto a new letter in the alphabet and everyone loved doing it.

L- Let Down

During school, I defiantly had my share of ups and downs. I made good grades and I made bad grades, I made good decisions and I made bad decisions. High school for me was defiantly full of trial and error. I always felt like I was a let down, when I came home with a test and my parents see that I failed it. They always would yell at me and then tell me that I should have studied more. They would always make me study extremely hard on the next chapter test for that class, even if its a Saturday night and I don't have the test for two weeks. I also felt like a let down when I expected that I did good on a paper, then I get it back and the guy next to me made an A and I have "see me after class" across the top. Seeing that is always worse than an F, this to me usually means that you got such a low grade that the teacher wants to give you points to get a higher F.

M- Mother

Throughout school my mom has always been there to check up on my English papers. She is extremely good at writing and has actually started writing her own children book. She seems to always know what my papers are missing or what needs to be corrected, even if she has never read the book. My mom actually used to be one of my teachers and had the opportunity to teach my brother and I. This was at a very early stage in my school career, but I find that very interesting. She has always been very good with every subject, but math. She was my English tutor when I needed her most and I appreciate everything she has ever done for me.

N-New School

After my sophomore year I decided to transfer to Briarcrest. This was not for any other reason than I wanted to further my baseball career. My goal was to play college baseball and to keep playing for as long as possible. Of course this never happened. What I found when I transferred though is that I actually began to enjoy school. I made better grades and has closer friends. I found that having good teachers made my school life very enjoyable. My English teacher was by far my favorite teacher. I had the opportunity to have her for two years and I became very good friends with her. Her class was very difficult, but she understood that and took extra time out of class to help us out. She even would stay after school for two hours, so we could get help or just talk to her about any troubles we may be having. She was a great teacher, and even will shoot us a text from time to time telling us that she misses us and hopes we are enjoying college. I like to drop in from time to time and say hello to her and socialize with some of my younger friends. My English teacher was a great teacher and changed the way I viewed high school.

O-Outdoors

I have always loved being outside. I have spent many of days with my dad hunting or fishing. When I was younger, I used to always love reading books that had some form of hunting or fishing. I also used to go sit out on my back patio and read books. When I moved to Arkansas, me and my friends spent weekend after weekend working on a shed. We built this shed on the back side of my farm. It was a two story tin shed, with a deck on top. We used to hangout in the shed, grill out, and even fish off of it. This wasn't all I used this shed for though. On nice days, I loved going and sitting in a lounge chair on the deck and do my homework. Around this time, I was reading Huckleberry Finn and doing this helped me connect to the literature. I always could picture what was going on and imagine that me and my friends were doing the same things, based on stuff we did around our houses.

P-Procrastination

I have always waited till the last minute to get work done. In my head I always say that I have time, then I typically look up and boom my assignment is due in an hour. This is how my mind has always worked. I find small things to do instead of doing what is required of me. My biggest issue, is I am extremely busy now that I am in college and I also love to procrastinate. Those two things do not mix vey well. Throughout high school, procrastinating was not a big deal. This was only because the assignments were not too difficult and our teachers let us start assignments during class. Now that I am in college, getting assignments done is very difficult. I am on my own, very busy, and have lots of homework due in lots of classes. Procrastinating is something that you can not do in college and I need to teach myself not to do that.

Q-Quit

Throughout high school, I was never quitter. I would work my hardest and try to accomplish the tasks given to me. My teachers and coaches always said I am a hard worker and will go somewhere in life. This changed last year. In English we read a book just like we always do and then we finished it, took a test, then something different happened. After the test, our teacher handed each of us a paper. It said Essay on Frankenstein. It was Spring of our senior year, we were ready to get out of that class and just be free. This made every one of us mad, because we did not have that much time to finish. We graduated in a month and a half, have senior stuff almost every day, and I had baseball games every day of the week. This essay not only was the longest essay I had to write and it was the most stressful, this was because if we fail we have to keep on rewriting it till we pass. This was because without a passing grade on the essay, you do not pass the class and you do not take the exam. I had the weight of the world on my shoulders and I was nervous. All I wanted to do was quit and just be done with the essay. I was working countless hours and staying up late every night. I wrote and rewrote and looked over everything, I worked ours on this essay. A few weeks later I walked in to class, slapped that ten page essay on her desk and walked to my desk striding with confidence. About a two weeks later, I got my paper back. I got a sixty-five. I was not mad and I was not sad. I was just glad I did not have to rewrite this paper like everyone else.

R- Reading Test

Throughout middle school, me and my friends loved to read. We would got to the library every day and pick out books to read. We typically stuck to our "Magic Treehouse" and would read them almost every day. After finishing a book, we had to take an "ARP" reading test on the book. Taking these test would raise our reading grade and would allow us to read harder books, that we were typically not allowed to read. Every so often we would hit a reading check mark and would win free coupons to restaurants or we would win toys or candy. This was the biggest thing at school, because everyone knew when the library would refill the treasure chest, because we would see our librarian walking down the hall with bags of toys and candy. This always meant, when we got the chance we have to go get a book and start reading. This became a competition among the grades and we all were trying to get the highest reading score. The highest reading scorer always would get the best prizes, sometimes even including a book of his or her choice. Doing this sparked my reading flame and it is still lit today.

S-Suck at reading

Throughout high school I was not the best of reading. I tried my hardest to read books but I just could not sit down and focus. I would read each page, take notes, and try to understand what is happening. After all of that I would still sit with the book in my hand and still not know what happened. I was a decent reader in middle school and was able to read above my reading level, but that all changed in high school. The books got longer and the words got weirder. I love to read books, but the books do not like me. I try so hard to understand and read books for test, but when the teacher hands me the test its almost like I never even read the book.

T- Magic Treehouse

In middle school, I loved the Magic Treehouse series. I probably read every single book throughout sixth and seventh grade. Me and my friends loved to sit in the library and crack open the book. I loved to read these books all the time. This was my favorite series of books and I honestly might start reading them again. When we were in library class, me and my friends would always sit at the table closest to the Magic Treehouse section so we could see which books were there. We would also read the books as fast as possible, so we could trade with each other or we could go return the book and get another book. This series was the reason why I started reading and I would so read it again.

U-Misunderstood 

Throughout school, teachers never could understand what I was trying to say. I would work my hardest and try on papers. After writing the paper and getting my grade back, it would say “could not understand what you were saying”. I would read my paper over and over after seeing that. I never quite understood what they would mean by that comment. I would read my paper in my head, then take it home and read it out loud. It never made any since to me. In high school, our teachers would allow us to turn in the rough draft for a homework grade and they would put their thoughts and comments on it and return it. It never seemed to fail that they misunderstood my paper and I was back to rewording it the next day. This would always throw me for a loop, because I do not know how to reword what I am thinking to make it better known. I flat out thought that everyone would know what I am saying and it was not confusing at all. This is what made papers extremely difficult for me throughout high school. 

V-Villanelle 

Senior year of high school, graduation right around the corner. The only thing left to do is to write a Villanelle. Our teacher said she made it the last project, because it would be a fun send off for the seniors. She was so wrong. She handed us the project and immediately started showing us examples. Everyone in the class was so lost, but did not care, because they were planning beach trips and places to eat after graduation. Me on the other hand I was contemplating what to write about. About a week into the project, I decided on baseball. I started writing and just got stuck. My Villanelle just was not flowing like I imagined it. I wanted this last project to be a banger, so I decided to throw that away and start from scratch. I kept on brainstorming and settled on my favorite thing in the world, duck hunting. My project flowed, it had that rhythm and spunk I was looking for. I flew through that project and I was finally happy with the way it turned out. It was a masterpiece, something I would want to frame and put on my wall. I was jumping with joy when I saw I finished a week early and the project maybe took me an hour. This project was the worst project, because of the timing of it, but it was my favorite because I got an A

W- Writing 

I’m going to be flat out with you. Me and writing are not friends. It just does not come to me that easily and I hate doing it. I always seem to add unnecessary commas, run ons, and I can not really spell either. I always think I am doing amazing and my paper should be published, but yeah I get it back and its always a VERY low grade. If I am going to be honest my issues might be this bad, because I wait till the absolute last minute and type papers turning class. I always seem to work best under pressure, at least that is what I always thought.  My teachers always told me that my paper would have been a lot better if I did this, this, and this but then they hand it back and I always have to think “how many pens did she use to grade this”. My writing abilities are very minimal but I still give it my best and try to make my papers as best as I possibly can. 

X- X marks on papers 

My teachers were always very good at drawing X’s on my papers. They loved to strike words out and hell even sentences. I always would sit there and stare at my paper and think to myself “I’m honestly pretty sure there are more X’s on this paper than there are words”. I have had papers that teachers have graded that I felt like their five year old son got a hold of and grades because there were lines going every which direction and symbols I have never even seen before. After transferring from CBHS, my English teacher got extremely strict. She had us carry around an Easy Writer and after each rough draft we would have to write out the definition of what we did wrong, the sentence, and how to correct it. Most of the class would get it done in ten to fifteen minutes and I normally was having to take it home for homework. My teacher always picked at my essays and always would make corrections to things I never even thought existed. I always got essays back covered up in red ink, and I was never mad or sad. I just started to accept it and knew it was going to happen. 

Y-Yelled At 

I was never really “yelled” at my parents for bad grades. But they sure did like to storm in my room throwing a fit after they saw my weekly grades. I was never a bad student. I always did my home work, made decent grades on test and really did work hard. You might be asking yourself “What could they possibly be mad at” or “What do you mean, it sounds like you are a great student”. I was asking myself these same questions, but the answer is essays and writing assignments. Like I have been preaching throughout this assignment, I am absolutely terrible at writing. My parents were always mad when I got papers back because “your mother is an excellent writer” and “your father’s grandmother was an English teacher”. I had big shoes to fill and I never can fill them. Writing never came easily to me and I always struggled. I write papers and rewrite papers. I also would get my mom to read them and Hannah, the smart girl, to read my papers. I tried to make the best possible grade I would and would always come out with a C or usually and F. 

Z-Zeros 

I never once did make a zero on an assignment, that I actually did. There are plenty of assignments that I just could not bring myself to do and just accepted the zero because I didn't know what was going on. I did however make such low grades on assignments that I might as well had made a zero. These assignments were usually in math and on rough drafts. We can talk about the math another time though, because I am still not over that. On a rough draft, my grade typically ranged in the twenty-five to sixty-five range. Unless I really worked hard and worked on it all the time. I normally never did this unless I had no plans and was not playing a baseball game. In high school I had my eyes set on one goal, and that was to play college baseball. As you can tell that never did happen and that really affected my grades. It never really affected my homework, because I was able to get most of it done during school, but projects on the other hand. It really hurt my grades that were not due the next day, because I knew I had time to do them and would always just put it off till it was due. I mostly did this in English because I knew the outcome before hand and just accepted that. I made grades so low that I honestly should have just turned in a paper with my name on it. This is how my writing goes and hopefully it gets better this year, now that I have more free time on my hands. 

[maiji]

Finally managed to get my hands on a copy of Genji Days! (Thank you libraries ♥️) It's a selection of diary entries from Edward Seidensticker, the second of the "main trinity" of Tale of Genji English translators (Waley being the first and Tyler the third, of course), from the time period when he was deeply focused on this project. The entries run from 1970 to 1975, and it's not just Tale of Genji-focused; there's many other aspects of his day-to-day - slice-of-life snapshots, the politics of the time, as well as thoughts on/experiences with other classic and contemporary literature and writers, though ultimately the recurring theme/topic is the translation work.

I think any modern reader, no matter how much you love the Tale of Genji, would agree that reading it from beginning to end even just once is an endurance test. Translating it - trying to get into the author(s?)'s head and reverse engineer intent and meaning a thousand years later - is a darned intimidating and impressive task. On top of this, he was dealing with the shadow of Waley's work (generally considered a masterpiece of translation, yet also known as a rather "free" adaptation, with not an insignificant number of cuts and alterations). As a creator it's comforting in many ways to read Seidensticker's own worries and insecurities about what he's doing as he slogs through drafts and rewrites. And obviously he has some interesting and insightful things to say about the writing and characters, but he also has plenty of funny and sarcastic comments too (see second photo lol). Even when I disagree, I enjoyed seeing his perspective - and the changes in his perspective - as he progresses through the story and revisits it at different places and times. (He was bouncing around the US, Hawaii and Japan over the course of the entries - mainly Ann Arbor, Honolulu and Tokyo.)

The beginning of the book is lighter on mentions of the translation work, though in the preface he says the focus on Tale of Genji really started in earnest in 1966 but that there were translation drafts of parts even before this time. Mentions kind of drift in and out, and as you move further and further in time it grows stronger until he’s in his “intense” final stretches.

There’s a lot I enjoyed. Below are point form notes on a few things that stood out to me and I happen to remember at the moment.

Acts of translation and creation

I didn’t know that Seidensticker actually originally started with the Uji chapters and actually wanted to publish them alone before being talked into doing the whole thing!

His glee at finding translation errors (not creative translation license) when cross-checking his work against Waley’s translation made me laugh.

The level of detail and effort that went into the readthroughs and re-readthroughs - he reviewed and revised his drafts by checking against Waley’s translation and Murasaki Shikibu’s “original” text at the same time, to see where things differ or drift and to attempt to justify his reasons for his translator’s choices or at least feel good that what he had done wasn’t complete garbage. 

Theories and thoughts on the original author(s) and also trying to figure out the thoughts and intentions that Waley had when creating that renowned translation. Because of the whole reverse engineering aspect, I find it fascinating to read about translators getting a feel for the author’s voice, and then feeling out of sorts when they hit a part of the work that just doesn’t seem like it was written by the same person. He also had lots of commentary hypothesizing what Murasaki Shikubu might have planned in advance or not, and also wondering why Waley cut or edited certain things - and sometimes resignation that (paraphrased) “goddamn Waley was right, this part is a bore and killing me” lmao

His struggles on how to deal with character names and where to introduce them without it sounding stupid.

Thoughts on how translators, in an attempt to make dialogue sound natural, may often end up with characters that basically sound like them... because of course your own speech and mannerisms seem natural to you. Yeah, I feel this.

Some days loving his work and feeling effortless and then the next day coming to his work and hating it all. And nearing the end of finalizing his work and getting super zen-like and hitting a who-cares, whatever, let-it-out-into-the-world stride while still alternating and flipping over to anxiety and nightmares about it. So relatable. 

Having nightmares about losing his work in a fire and getting super paranoid and moving his copy of the final work and a nicely typeset copy so that they are stored at opposite sides of the campus. My level of paranoia.

Character opinions

Omg his love for Yugiri. LOL. If there’s one thing I came away with with regards to Seidensticker’s opinions on the characters, it’s that he thinks Yugiri is the bomb and deserves all the marriages and all the babies. And TBH, I like Yugiri a lot myself so this his commentary really made me remember why I appreciated this character so much... until the Yugiri chapter that made me nearly throw down my book. That chapter didn’t seem to bother Seidensticker though.

Related to this, Seidensticker doesn’t seem to care for Kaoru very much at all. I find this really interesting, because for me, many of the reasons why I like Yugiri are why I like Kaoru. Even more interesting - Seidensticker seems to very much prefer Genji to Kaoru, and even NIOU to Kaoru. Choo Won, the lady who helped him with retyping his drafts, makes a comment implying Niou is preferable to Kaoru as well (that Kaoru seems smaller and meaner if I recall correctly). I’ve actually not read Seidensticker’s translation of the Uji chapters, so it makes me wonder how much of that is also his bias implicitly coming through his translation (similar to the point earlier about how translators unconsciously make characters that sound like them).

His remarks on liking Yugiri and Tamakazura more and more as he works on the translation, and how as he gets older he prefers sensible characters to romantic ones. I feel this as well lmao

A growing appreciation for the Kokiden lady that mirrors my own feelings. (I have thoughts about Kokiden that I will share also whenever I get around to doing her illustration for the Genjimonogatari series.)

That he thinks the Suetsumuhana chapter is fantastic. YEAH I LOVE IT

Random sex stuff

I wasn’t expecting so much talk about pornography and collecting porn and critiquing porn. I particularly liked this: “Then I stepped into a movie to see how the pornographers might be doing. They have made no advances at all. It is still very much a matter of gasping and writhing under a blanket.” (This attitude completely reminded me of some fics/doujinshi I have read)

His getting invited to a Japanese host club and (separate incident) a sex toy shop in Shinjuku and being absolutely fascinated.

Being questioned about his sex life by a Noh actor. His diary entry is like (paraphrased) “I kept making up lies lollll I might have to answer to this one day...”

[arachcobra]

Naruto Episode 6 Review

Whining always gets you what you want in the military.

Review of Naruto Episode 6: A Dangerous Mission! Journey to the Land of Waves

ArachCobra

So we start off with out intrepid trio hunting for pussy. That ism they're hunting down a cat. The cat of a fa two man who obviously causes the poor creature no end of discomfort, but hey, animal abuse is hilarious. So the Hokage and company, which includes Iruka because... Ehm... Well... Wait, why is Iruka here? Doesn't he have classes to teach? Or is it because he has to keep an eye on Naruto? I don't know.

Anyway, as the Hokage gets ready to hand out another mission, Naruto throws a hissy fit, demanding a real mission. Yes, because when you've completed one mission, you have the right to dictate what missions you get. Seriously, he's such a whiny brat here. He says he wants to be a ninja, but clearly, he doesn't care much for what that actually entails. The Hokage even goes out of his way to explain to Naruto why this low rank, low effort missions are important.

And Naruto ignores him to talk about noodles.

Seriously, he's being such a brat. Really, I wouldn't blame the Hokage if he just kicked him out of the whole nija thing right then and there. Naruto has no respect for authority or the hierarchy. He doesn't get to just dictate what missions he should get. I wouldn't mind if he just complained, but no, he outright fucking demands to be treated like fucking royalty, handed whatever whatever he points at.

And the worst part? They frickin' agree. Because Naruto wants to “prove how he's not just some brat anymore.” Well maybe you could prove that by doing your job, you snot-nosed little asshole. But no, they give him a C-rank mission like he wants.

Enter Tazuna. Without a doubt the best character in the episode, mostly because he keeps taking the piss out of Naruto. He's hilarious.

So off they go to the Land of Waves, with Tazuna constantly nettling Naruto, who quite frankly earned it. Ten they suddenly get jumped by the Demon Brothers(At least, that's what they're called on the wiki), who seemingly tears Kakashi to confetti and then go for Naruto.

Which really makes no sense when you think about it. They're after Tazuna, but taking out Kakashi first makes sense, since he could probably do some damage protecting the guy. What's Naruto going to do? Whine at them. Anyway, it's all so Sasuke can save him and look really cool doing so. Then one of the two assailants goes after Tazuna and Sakura jumps in front, only for Sasuke to jump in front of her. And then Kakashi shows up, taking out the two ninjas by... Grabbing them. Which somehow knocks them out.

So Kakashi admits he just hid, because he didn't expect Naruto to freeze up. Okay, hold on a second. I'm actually going to take Naruto's side here. He thought his teacher just died in front of him and then he was jumped by two guys, who outclassed him by a really wide fucking margin. He shouldn't, by your own rules, even be fighting guys like these yet. So him freezing is unfortunate, but perfectly understandable.

And then he gets some internal monologue about how cool Sasuke is, how much better he is, how he did all the things and we're only some homoerotic subtext away from being encouraged to suck the guy off, that's how hard they're banging this drum about how utterly awesome Sasuke Uchiha is. We get it already. Give it a rest.

And then Kakashi explains how he knew they were about to be ambushed and why he decided to let it happen, all of which makes sense and is actually pretty cool. Turns out, Tazuna is being targeted by more than just bandits and rogues. So Kakashi muses that since they are now far beyond the scope of the mission and should go home, but Naruto stabs himself and swears a blood oath never to retreat or back down.

Which is fucking stupid for a ninja to swear. Accepting the premise that these guys obviously are much more combat oriented than real life ninjas, they're still supposed to be more akin to elite operatives. Never backing down or retreating sounds great in a sort of hotblooded heroic way, but it is stupid. It's stupid for a ninja, who's supposed to be a master of escape and evasion. And it's stupid in general. If you're outmatched our overwhelmed, there is nothing wrong about pulling back. This isn't courageous, it's suicidal. But because he sworet hat oath, they go on with the mission, despite none of them beside Kakashi having the qualifications. Because Naruto said so, bitches. And so they leave the Demon Brothers behind, never to be seen again. I presume they starved to death under that tree.

Somewhere else, the villains meet up to foreshadow how dangerous they are. It's very ominous, but actually a pretty cool scene.

I'd say this episode is average. What's good is good, but Naruto is intolerable in this, treating his village's military like a platform for his personal glorification, which indicates that despite his desire to be ninja and hokage, he has no fucking clue what it means to be either.

Givenea

So, the chapter is up to a great start showcasing our main team on the job, catching a runaway cat. It’s is for all intents and purposes a good scene, giving us insight into the daily life of a ninja. Naruto’s bratty behavior ruins the good start immediately though.

The brat complains and mouths of to his most superior officer. And then proceeds to utterly ignore said officer, when he is kind enough to explain why Naruto gets the missions he gets, instead of you know blasting Naruto’s ass out of his office.

How is this kid not fired yet?

Can’t give the Hokage too many points here as he rewards Naruto with the kind of mission he wants.

Most of the rest of the episode then goes with Naruto being a brat to their client.

The we get a fight scene to show of how cool Sasuke is. How cool? So cool that he steals all spotlight from his teammates, including stopping a pretty badass moment from Sakura as she steps in to protect their client.

Then we end on Naruto being a brat again.

Sigh, less of this please.

Fluttersniper13

Ehm... (Takes a deep breath) I mean, it was stupid. There was baby Naruto I believe. Cool old guy. More stupid. More baby Naruto. Ehmm... Walking, I think. Can't remember, it was stupid. Comical death scene. Stupidity. Also Sakura being useless. More stupid, more stupid, more stupid. Blah, blah, blah. And then a guy with the longest sword and a guy with a voice that could shatter windows. And yeah, that was the end.

Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13125294/5/Naruto-Rewrite-1-Road-to-Ninja

[fineliners]

A MASTERPOST OF MY TIPS ON LEARNING ANCIENT GREEK!

I am by no means a master of this subject, as I’m just taking my first semester now. But I am getting like 100% in the class literally and at this point I think I’ve amassed a good amount of tips that can help people.

I’m making this masterpost because i always looked for info like this when I was thinking about studying classics but couldn’t find anything. A lot of the tips for learning modern languages don’t really work for dead languages--you can’t watch a Netflix show in ancient Attic Greek!

Without further ado, here is what to expect and all of the tips that I’ve learned so far. If anyone has any questions about Ancient Greek or classics feel free to message me!

01. Starting Ancient Greek: What to Expect

If you’re learning Ancient Greek I’m assuming you’re taking it in school. I understand wanting to learn it on your own however I really wouldn’t recommend it, resources are hard to find/expensive and it’s a difficult language so you’d be better off learning with some guidance. I’d recommend just taking a course at your university and seeing how you like it--so this post doesn’t have any particular tips for self-studiers.

That being said, starting Ancient Greek even in a classroom setting is daunting. It’s a difficult and unpopular language and there’s a lot to learn--sorry folks but it will probably be about three years before you start reading any Homer. Readings in first year courses are fairly simple and highly adapted from their ancient sources.

So anyway, this is what you can expect from Ancient Greek: it’s a big time commitment. You will be studying it more days of the week than not, and it takes dedication, practice, and a lot of memorization. If you already have a heavy or difficult course load then it might just stress you out, but it’s up to you to decide how much you can handle. I take the class four days a week and have nightly homework that’s taken up in class, plus a longer translation assignment every weekend that’s due on Mondays. My class also has weekly quizzes to study for.

The one good thing about this language (well there are lots of good things but) is that your class size will likely be small unless your university/high school has a freakishly large classics program. For me this means that there’s a lot of discussion, class participation, and going over homework, which keeps me accountable. I deal with a fair bit of social anxiety but in this case it works to my advantage--I’m so scared to embarrass myself in class that I’m extra motivated to keep up and do all my homework!

Long story short: learn Ancient Greek if you love it. Learn it if you desperately want to know it. Learn it if you love classics and ancient authors. It’s a difficult, convoluted, confusing beast, but I love it and I hope that you will too.

02. Learning Stuff

Vague title, I know. These are just my general tips on how to actually learn the information like vocab, verb and noun forms, clauses, etc.

for basically every set of tenses or declensions that you need to learn, I like to make a chart. I make my own printables to help me memorize all the forms and then I basically just write in the chart over and over again to study for my quizzes

however, this won’t work for everyone. it works for me because I’m a visual learner, but you can adapt my methods to your learning style

also, it’s a bit more complicated than just copying out the chart. To form memories in my head I need to make connections. If two endings are the same, or if a row of endings are similar but with a different vowel for example, I note those connections and write them down first when filling out my chart

as for vocab, the best thing is doing quizlets/flashcards and reading the words aloud to connect with the meanings. Also doing your homework because it’s likely that the vocab will show up in the homework and sort of force you to learn it

Ancient Greek can be very hard because in all likelihood most of your work will be parsing and translations--since it isn’t spoken anymore you don’t learn “conversational” Greek skills or anything like that and it’ll be a while before you start reading more than a short paragraph of sentences at once. So it’s hard to study because you can’t really use the usual tips that people give to immerse yourself in the language. If you feel like you need to do more but don’t know how, do as many problems in your textbook as you can and even make up sentences for yourself to translate

03. Keeping Up

Keeping up in Ancient Greek class is absolutely necessary to your success. You can come back from falling behind if you’re a strong student but it’s not fun and I don’t recommend it, so just try to keep up really. How do I do this?

practice five days a week. I have this class an hour a day for four days a week, so I practice each of those days. I also usually practice on Sunday nights, doing the homework that’s due on Monday. I like to leave my homework to Sunday night because it takes me out of weekend mode and gives me a quick refresher on what we were learning so that I’m prepared for Monday’s class

take advantage of weekly diagnostics such as quizzes and make sure you’re doing well on them. If you get a bad mark, make sure to find out why

DO YOUR HOMEWORK. It sounds obvious but it’s very important. Ancient Greek is cumulative and if you aren’t doing your homework and keeping up then you’re not going to do well. 

use the homework to actually learn. Do the exercises to the best of your ability and note any problems you have or anything you couldn’t figure out. Take them into class the next day. Even if your teacher doesn’t take up the homework in class, talk to a classmate or the professor about your questions and try to learn from what tripped you up in the homework

stay organized, of course. Make sure you write down important dates from the syllabus like the day of the midterm and the exam so you stay focused

review old concepts. For my current project, I’m making a simple notebook that I will be filling with lists of vocab by unit and a quick guide to every declension and verb voice, mood, and tense ending so that I can flip quickly through the notebook for reference while I’m studying/doing my homework. Doing something like that may be a good opportunity to review anything that tripped you up when you first learned it

a fun little tip I have is using my other classes to study. I’m taking all classics courses so if in an English-speaking class we start talking about the ekklesia, I’ll rewrite it in Greek as εκκλησια or whatever at the side of my page. It’s fun and it helps me remember my vocab!

04. Studying for Exams

to study for my quizzes and midterms, I mostly just do all the things listed under the “Learning stuff” section but in one sitting

review EVERYTHING. Review it even if you think you know it because Greek is confusing and overwhelming and you don’t want to let your hybris get in the way...

learn the vocab first, that will make it easier to do parsing and translation exercises

if you’re learning verbs or nouns in particular, parse over and over until you feel confident that you can recognize all the forms

do as many translation exercises as you can and look out for repeating formulas and conventions that might confuse you (for me, I just got very tripped up on a relative clause where there was no verb in the main clause, instead the adjective was in predicate position so the main clause was very short and the relative clause had a regular verb and an infinitive. Nasty shit like that. Just look out for it)

focus on what you find the most difficult and what will yield the most marks. For me, I focus on memorizing verb forms and that stuff, rather than English to Greek or Greek to English translations, because I find I’m usually good enough at figuring those out as I go along. However this will vary depending on what you know best

honestly, this will depend on you as a person, but I don’t recommend starting to study too soon if you’re caught up and familiar with the material. A lot of Ancient Greek is memorization so if you start studying too early you’ll probably forget a lot of stuff by the time the test comes around. This might be just me but I always carve out a few hours the night before to refresh my mind and re-memorize all of the forms. If you’re keeping up (as per above), doing well on your homework/quizzes/assignments, and feel comfortable with the material, this will probably work for you too.

I hope this post helped someone! I know I’ve always been disappointed because tumblr has tons of studyblr posts for Latin but very very few for Ancient Greek, so I wanted to make something that would be useful for any Greek lovers like me :) If anyone has any questions about the language, classics in general, or anything, feel free to drop me an ask!

[everythingbutthecat]

The Suicidal Elephant in the Parlour or Anne of Green Gables and Depression, Loss, & Suicide

by Adrianna Prosser

It’s no secret I’m a redhead, and it’s likely no surprise that when I was young I pretended I was Anne of Green Gables. In fact, my first best friend from junior kindergarten was a raven haired girl that I nicknamed Diana (hi Erin!) and she in turn called me Anne. When I was 14 I played Anne in my regional community theatre show in the musical (see community newspaper photo below) and it caused quite a stir: the theatre sweetheart who was supposed to play Anne with her beau as Gilbert was thwarted by me, an awkward untrained teenager who already knew the libretto by heart and I owned a straw hat. That show defined my love for theatre and my love of Anne transformed into a love of performing and storytelling. Anne was my life. Anne was me. From her temper to her bombastic nature, her hyperbolic narratives and of course her wild imagination, and let us not forget her competitive nature at school was all playing out pretty much the exact same way only in 1980s Canada in Barrie, instead of PEI in the 1880s.

^1998 newspaper article photo with me and my “schoolmates” in Avonlea school for South Simcoe’s Anne of Green Gables musical production in Cookstown, Ontario.

Naturally I watched the Megan Follows series of Anne until the VHS tapes wilted and wouldn’t play in my VCR. I used the musical version as my audition songs to get into theatre school and plays. I even grew up to be a schoolhouse teacher in a 1910 museum where I involuntarily (ok ok I did it on purpose) looked like Anne in Anne of Avonlea when she gives up her scholarship to stay with Marilla and teaches at the nearby school. I made time in my curriculum to read aloud from Anne of Green Gables the infamous chapter “Tempest in the School Teapot” to my grade 3’s and did voices for Diana, Anne, Gilbert and Mr Andrews; the crack on the head was always the best part played by the schoolhouse strap and a quick thwack to an antique desk. The kids would jump and laugh and want me to read more - what happened to Anne with an e?

Anne has been a big part of my life since I was 5 years old.

Then the CBC casts RH Thompson as Matthew and all of a sudden I’m back in Avonlea with earnest dread: what are they doing to Anne? I hear mixed reviews, I can’t seem to make myself watch it. It has been years since I have shed tears for the reveal of LM Montgomery’s secret: her granddaughter went public to say that Lucy had died by suicide. There was a note in her journal that seemed to indicate as much. I haven’t grieve the author of my youth, but now with this new rendition coming to TV I was going to have to face much more than childhood memories.

The CBC version called Anne The Series is wonderful: the vistas, the costumes, the character work… but there is something hard and dark around the edges. Gone are the warm hues, the bright scenery, the soft focus - this version has the contrast up, the grit and clarity filter showing weathering and wrinkles, and blues and greys highlight most every scene. I am intrigued to see some scenes play out exactly as I remember, and then others make me weep.

I enjoy adaptations, I am an actor and playwright and have read and performed several Shakespearean renditions of the same title over and over again in different ways throughout my career. I get it. Why do the exact same thing when it’s been done before? My thoughts and feelings are that of someone who GETS IT. I liked that in 2017 when this version premiered, we have such days celebrating mental health and focusing on mental illness like #MentalHealthWeek or #BellLetsTalk or suicide prevention day is September 10th and we as a collective here in Canada are getting better at being mental health advocates and de-stigmatizing depression, therapy, suicide and mental illnesses to the point that we are able to talk about it in pop culture (ie. 13 Reasons Why, The Virgin Suicides, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, etc…) and we are left to unpack it at our own pace and level of understanding as an audience member. So when this Anne adaptation starts to inject Lucy Maud Montgomery’s narrative into Anne’s I feel two things: 

OF COURSE now we can talk about this! Now we can interpret the reasons why Anne was talking to her reflection in a glass window and named her mirrored self Katie and talked to herself like as if she was two people - THAT isn’t normal. They could be dissociative disorder and throughout the show we see ways in which Anne has dealt with trauma, loss, and the loss of her innocence (though I don’t think rape was implied she has heard and or seen sex and possibly witnessed rape in this adaptation,) at such a young age that of course she needs imaginary friends to help her deal with her situation, or even just the profound loneliness she lives. OF COURSE there would be residual PTSD moments that leave Anne riddled with inaction and mental scarring hearing from every person that she is not a person but a tool to keep the household running and forced to care for three sets of triplets; being told all the while that she is not a family member and reminded of it constantly. OF COURSE we should raise awareness of the things that were happening in Canada around this time like the beginnings of the Suffragettes and women’s rights activism, and of course we should inject that history into a retelling where we as a viewing audience can accept that lens showing us a bit beyond the warm fuzzy historical narrative we are used to.

BUT. And it’s a but I am still struggling with… When the show paints a portrait outside of what’s in the book and rewrites the scope of its characters ambitions and actions - I get mad. And I don’t know why. The specific scene I’m talking about is when Matthew, brilliantly portrayed by RH Thompson (of Road to Avonlea fame,) Here is the show and the book version:

Having re-read all of Anne of Green Gables to see where the artistic liberties by Walley-Beckett for the CBC version (she wrote on Breaking Bad and I joke that this is Breaking Anne,) are and where the book informs the adaptation. (I wanted to know if Marilla and Matthew had been given made-up backstories or if they were indeed in book *fun fact Marilla WAS courted by John Blythe, but the Jeanie button story, though adorable, never happens for Matthew as we are constantly reminded in the book of how shy he is to women, Anne being the only exception.) And of course the suicide scene was never in my recollection but I had to be sure that as a child I wasn’t just misunderstanding LM Montgomery’s intentions.

This is where my very biased opinion takes the milk crate:

Matthew Cuthbert from the novel never exhibited depression, suicidal attempts, nor “invitations”. When I say invitations I mean the signs that one may perceive as invitations to recognize inner thoughts and feelings to be that of a suicidal nature. And the show version of Matthew also does not exhibit these invitations. But that is not to say that impulsive suicides don’t exist, just that they are very very rare. Also, in Christian Victorian society they are DOUBLY rare. So to, speaking to his character (in both book and show version) do I question Walley-Beckett and her exploitative use of suicide in this narrative - it seems wildly out of character and ridiculous. 

It seemed the choice was made for ratings and getting fangirls like me bawk at this rendition and give buzz to the show rather than playing into the original story’s nuance - like how I applaud her use of mental illness in Anne and that is why she is the “gypsy witch” that everyone calls her in the book: it is why she isn’t like everyone else on the island because everyone else on the island hasn’t been abused like Anne has. The stigma of being an orphan is explored and highlighted with the picnic scene in the show that doesn’t happen in the book. Anne has to triumph over her snobby neighbours not once like in the book (she saves Diana’s sister from croup) but defies a RAGING HOUSE FIRE in the show at the Gillis homestead to save a child and help put out the fire (a nod to her reading everything under the sun even a fire fighting manual at the train station, a call back to the first episode). 

Sure. I like the in-between the lines bits like that. In fact upon re-reading it a lot of the action doesn’t take place on the page, it is usually recounted to us by our grand storyteller Anne herself, so the events are wide open to interpretation because often LM Montgomery says ‘and the concert happened’ or ‘and the school year passed’ and that’s it. My friend JM Frey writes how "Anne is an unreliable narrator.” and I agree.

But, what I can’t handle is imposing trendy topics into a show that is near and dear to many a Canadian heart for the sake of ratings. I thought it a bit odd how blunt the feminist sewing circle was. Not in the book by the way but huzzah for modern narratives and exploring what that gossip and chit-chat would be at Mrs. Lynde’s sewing bees (in the book it’s her gatherings). And clearly what spurned this whole blog-novel is the suicidal elephant in the parlour...

Then the other side of my heart believes this is a good thing, this new Matthew who is depressed because he is getting older and can’t “spare himself a mite” and then his reluctance to listen to his sister leads to them losing all their money. He has the same symptoms of the men who jumped from the ledge of their workplace in the Great Depression. Guilt. Blame. Loss of hope. Burden. And being the sole provider, or being told that one is by culture and society, he is overwhelmed and not only that he is weak in body so he can’t fight as hard as he used to… is suicide so unheard of for our dear Matthew? Many a Christian soul has taken their own lives. Many a Victorian had too, so too our dear writer LM Montgomery is believed to have taken her own life just outside of Toronto proper at the house she nicknamed “Journey’s End.”

While I cannot deny my anger and resentment and frustration with this new rendition of Anne of Green Gables I am reminded that the original still lays intact on my bookshelf and I can re-read it anytime. That maybe this new Anne is taking characters we have invested our love and time with for over a century and that perhaps this unsettling feeling that Matthew would try to take his life is the exact hurt we need to feel to address the suicidal elephant in our own lives. 

When my brother died by suicide I was, am, beside myself with questions, guilt, blame, and looking for reasons. This scene made me react in a similar visceral way, to be sure because I am suicide bereaved, but also I had a pre-existing connection with Matthew since I was 5 years old! Matthew is a fictional character and I am not equating him with my real life brother, but I can’t deny that the way this rendition of the story being told rattled me to the core, and I don’t think it would have elicited the same response with a new tv show about a teenage girl with a distraught father figure who attempts suicide after a huge money loss. My love and time wouldn’t be as invested, and so using a beloved cultural phenomenon like Anne to share these themes, and with a main character no less, seems…. bold. And perfectly infuriating for the right reasons.

So while I digest all these feelings I am resolved to let them stay in this area of grey. The show isn’t wrong and the book isn’t right, or vice versa. What I can take away with certainty that I am glad LM Montgomery’s work is being appreciated all over again, along with her new Heritage Minute 

^which not only focuses on her talented writing, but that she wrote such an epic while struggling with depression. That message that you can still create and create great things while depressed is a message we need to hear and celebrate. We also need to own that some people are suicidal and we all need to step up our efforts to help our loved ones around us know that they can talk about it, seek help without judgement, and lean on us. There is no need to read between the lines like we are here with Anne, and we can ask our friends and family directly for help when we too have thoughts and feelings that make us want to end our lives.

“It was the last night before sorrow touched her life, and no life is ever quite the same again once that cold, sanctifying touch has been laid upon it.” -LM Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Chapter 36 “The Glory and the Dream”

Thank you Anne for once again growing up with me and helping me understand my thoughts and feelings a bit better.

[leonajasmin-writeblr]

25 Questions

Thanks for the tag @rain-likes-to-ramble ! It’s the longest tag game I’ve done, so I’ll put it under the cut. Be warned, it gets progressively more sarcastic.

1. Is there a story you’re holding off writing for some reason? 

I’ve been wanting to try and rewrite some of my fanfic from when I was 13/14 for a while to make it less cringy and have a direct comparison on how my writing has changed. But the main thing I’m holding off is a novel(la) called The Scramble. It’s in the same universe as my other WIP’s (with some of its events being mentioned in The Indignant including an appearance from Chris) but it can be read standalone. I’ve got the cast and rough plot sorted out but as it was originally fanfiction, it’s taken a while to weed the fandom parts out of it. 

Brief summary: Sigurd Losnedahl, being the backstabber he is, decided to get involved with the Norikan Civil War despite insisting to his two sons he wouldn’t. Now Eirik and Halldór are stuck in the epicentre of the battle and since neutrality is even more dangerous than picking sides, they’re scuppered. After being taken under the wing of enigmatic Taisto Astergaard, Eirik is entangled with the man’s adopted daughter, Christine, and the only way the polar duo will live is through them ending the decade-long war. The only problem is, his father’s so obsessive with his cause that he now will do anything to put a bullet in his head. And Halldór’s disappeared- how convenient.

2. What work of yours, if any, are you embarrassed about existing?

The fanfiction that I mentioned in Q1 that I plan on rewriting. 

3. What order do you write in? Front of book to back? Chronological? Favourite scenes first? Something else?

Front to back. I tend to leave exposition and descriptions out of the first draft (unintentionally) so I’ll fill in those when I feel like it.

4. Favourite character I’ve written?

Phineas. He was originally a one-dimensional villain (I created him when I was 9) but he’s now one of the most complex characters in the series with the undoubtedly the most well-developed backstory. He’s also developed a great sense of humour over time, and his relationship with Jonathon (who I haven’t introduced on Tumblr yet but I need to. He’s a close second) is one of my favourite things to write.

5. Character you were most surprised to end up writing?

Vladislav. In my plan, he was only supposed to appear in 2/41 chapters. After his personality change, he quickly became one of the major characters. Originally, he was a vain flirt with an ego out the roof. Now he’s a sensitive but righteous boy training to be a lawyer to persecute his mass murdering uncle. Pretty big development for someone who was only created 7 months ago.

6. Something you would go back and change in your writing but it’s too late/complicated to change now.

I’d have added a District based on somewhere in South Asia and also one based on somewhere in Africa. I’m thinking about adding them at the end (since I’ve already stated in my novel that more Districts will come with time), but it’s too late to add them from the beginning.

7. When asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?

I love telling people I write but hate the follow-up questions, “Tell me about your book!” *pulls out garbage which doesn’t even reflect what my novel is about*

8. Favourite genre to write.

Speculative Fiction. While making characters is my favourite part of writing, I also love world-building. 

9. What, if anything, do you do for inspiration?

I actually play High School Story, Hollywood U and The Sims with my characters inserted. It’s been helpful for one-shots and AU’s more than anything but has given me traits about characters to add to their dimensions for my main works, so it’s win-win.

10. Write in silence or with background music? Alone or with others

Background music and alone. The music has to be a specific genre though.

11. What aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?

How I portray emotions. In my older drafts, characters recovered from the deaths of their close friends/relatives in 10 minutes and seemed callous. Now they are all crybabies to compensate.

12. Your weakness as an author?

I rely too much on dialogue and miss out a lot of description.

13. Your strength as an author? 

I write a pretty mean villain (pun intended). This man was reading my work over my shoulder since I mostly write on the bus home and the first thing he said after, “Are you okay?” was “I like Rylan even though he’d scare me sh*tless from the looks of things.” I think I should put that as a review on the book’s cover once it’s (hopefully) published. A 70-year-old man I met on the bus does sound like a reputable source.

14. Do you make playlists for your work?

I have a playlist for Cyrus and that’s it which 90% is Eurobeat since he has a needo for speedo. There’s only has one chapter in his POV.

15. Why did you start writing?

I was a cocky six-year-old and thought I could write a better version of a film I’d just watched. It ended up being about two best friends in a milkshake parlour despite the original film being about a castaway girl. The connection still makes more coherent sense than the fact I got the idea for The Mastery from Mario and Sonic at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃

16. Are there any characters who haunt you?

Alex in his angsty stage. He would threaten to kill people 25/8 because he found out he was adopted.

17. If you could give your fledgeling author self any advice, what would it be?

Keep writing. If you’re that dedicated to your project that you have to write it straight away, remember you can always edit in the future if it’s not up to your standards. And even people who’ve been writing decades are still improving as writing is wayyyy too subjective to be ‘perfect’ at.

18. Were there any works that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? 

George Orwell’s 1984 has affected my world-building. Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses and Maggie Stiefvater’s Wolves of Mercy Falls series gave me the idea to write under two characters alternating POV’s.

19. When it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, etc.?

Charahub and a timeline which I’ve drawn by hand on the back of some unused wallpaper.

20. Do you write in long sit-down sessions or little spurts? 

Either 5 words or 5000, no in between. It depends on whether I feel inclined to write or have inspiration.

21. What do you think when you read over your older work? 

Cringe at all the unnecessary words and repetition- one sentence in my 2012 draft of The Mastery is literally, ‘Alex got up off his bed, walked out of his bedroom door, walked down the stairs, walked into the living room before standing in the doorway of the dining room’. 

22. Are there subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?

Anything to do with extreme physical or sexual assault. Or sex in general since I’ve not written much smut before. 

23. Any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?

Meeting my biological father at 16 rather than knowing him from birth. Also, one of my characters has impaired vision like me so its easier since I knew all the terminology and experiences without much research.

24. Have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?

Handguns. I’ve used rifles before (I’ve gone clay pigeon shooting before) but since handguns are illegal where I live, I’ve not seen one in person nor had any idea of their usage or the terminology. Quite a few of my characters own them as a precaution so I had to learn. 

25. Copy and paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you are particularly proud of.

(It’s not short but I freaking love how Chapter 36 of The Mastery panned out. Note this is the chapter 70-year-old man liked)

“Cyrus, Keung. Not the most ideal reunion. How has the family been since I was disowned?”

Keung’s jaw twitched, “I think the reason you kicked out was valid enough. You killed your own grandmother, Rylan.”

Rylan, another one of my many cousins, let out what from his mouth movement looked like was a hearty laugh but sounded like a giggle, “It sounds more impressive than getting disowned for supporting the black sheep in an argument, does it not?”

Keung’s hand had been on his spoon all this time, and he was clenching it to the point his arm shook, “I know grandfather wants nothing to do with either of us Rylan, but that doesn’t mean I want to associate myself with a murderer.”

“You stayed under the Xu thumb for long enough. There are fewer fingers in this room than the number of people Tatsuo has killed. Some are justified, I’ll give him that, but others were falsely accused with no chance at justice.”

He leaned at an angle so that he could stare at me, “It’s good to know that you’re being independent for once in your life, Cyrus. Regardless, it’s a real shame you subsequently allied yourself with another family of murderers.” 

“What else could I have done?” I said, “The Ninth District needs allies, and I have genuine friends from Ivanska, Phinea and Willsborg.”

He cooed as he came to lean against my back, “Considering how we’re he half-breed scum of the family, I thought you’d have considered an alliance with me. You’re the only relative of mine I like and who hasn’t seemed to have fallen under Xu indoctrination.”

“Grandmother accepted the fact we didn’t decide to be half-breeds,” I hissed, “Out of everyone you could have killed, why her?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, “I intended to kill Tatsuo. The fact she drunk the poison I’d slipped into the Mansion was a mistake. I don’t have many regrets but that is one of them.”

He distanced himself, “I have little in common with the man who I once saw as my dear grandfather, but one of the few things I’ll admit is that if we need to, we’ll both use blood to make a point.”

-

My tags are (don’t feel obliged!) @unico-rn-ffee and @alittle-writer