#i love reading books from the same writer at different points in their career and seeing them revisit topics or motifs

[seven-saffodils]

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[joachimnapoleon]

A look at three Fouché biographies

Over the past few months I've read three English-language biographies on Fouché: Joseph Fouché: Portrait of a Politician, by Stefan Zweig; Fouché: Unprincipled Patriot, by Hubert Cole; and Medusa's Head: The Rise and Survival of Joseph Fouché, Inventor of the Modern Police State, by Rand Mirante. These are a great example of how dramatically interpretations of a historical figure can vary from one historian to another (see also the difference between Alan Schom's interpretation of Napoleon vs. that of Andrew Roberts). And also a great example of why it’s a good idea to read multiple biographies on the same figure, to gain a more well-rounded perspective, instead of simply accepting/adopting that of the first biographer you read.

Zweig is a colorful writer and his biography is highly entertaining—he actually had me laughing out loud a few times—but his depictions of Fouché are so hilariously sinister and malignant throughout that at times it almost feels like a caricature. Zweig also utilizes the least amount of primary source material out of the three biographers--hardly any, actually--and so much of what he writes in regard to Fouché's motivations and thoughts come across as pure speculation or projection, but are always stated very matter-of-factly. Zweig presents a Fouché who chafes at the smallness of the roles he is given, driven by "unflinching selfishness." "When in power," Zweig writes, "he does not work for the State, does not work for the Directory or for Napoleon, but for himself." Aside from raw ambition, Zweig attributes most of Fouché’s actions to his sheer delight in engaging in intrigue for the sake of intrigue, an interpretation that seems to come straight out of Napoleon’s venting on St. Helena: “Intrigue was to Fouché a necessary of life. He intrigued at all times, in all places, in all ways, and with all persons. Nothing ever came to light, but he was found to have had a hand in it. He made it his sole business to look out for something that he might be meddling with. His mania was to wish to be concerned with everything.” Overall, Zweig’s book is worth reading, but out of the three English-language Fouché biographies, it’d be ranked third on my list.

Hubert Cole’s interpretation of Fouché is as different from Zweig’s as night is from day. The key word in Cole’s title is “Patriot,” and Cole’s central point is that Fouché, at each point in his career, was doing what he believed was in the best interests of France, even if that meant negotiating for peace with Britain behind Napoleon’s back, or pushing Napoleon towards a divorce and remarriage for the sake of shoring up the Bonaparte dynasty, or even (repeatedly) abandoning one master to serve another. This is the second one of Cole’s biographies I’ve read, and as most of you following me already know, I loved his dual biography on Joachim and Caroline Murat, the deceptively named The Betrayers, which is actually a very sympathetic look at the Murat couple. Cole is no fan of Napoleon and doesn’t really attempt to hide it, and maybe it’s because of this that he feels inclined to look deeper at the motivations and actions of those who ended up in opposition to Napoleon at various points (and who have therefore been demonized in history books accordingly). Cole draws heavily on primary sources, from letters and memoirs of Fouché’s contemporaries, to Fouché’s police bulletins (quoted at length throughout) to argue that “It is possible… that he was a sincere and moderately successful patriot. It is not uncommon in France for egoists to be hailed as patriots, and patriots condemned as traitors.” Far from the sinister, cold-blooded figure that haunts Zweig’s biography, or the “universally distrusted, feared, and hated” social pariah of Mirante’s, Cole's Fouché is charming, a welcome figure in the drawing rooms of Paris society, with a preference for making friends rather than enemies; nevertheless Cole does not deny that Fouché could also be ruthless, ambitious, and cunning. Cole also uses numerous accounts regarding Fouché by British, German, and Russian contemporaries, “in the belief that their prejudices, if national, are less personal.” Out of these three biographies, this one was my personal favorite, as I think it provides a more well-rounded picture of Fouché as a human being.

The primary focus of Mirante’s book is Fouché’s administration of the Ministry of Police, and the biography goes into great detail about the operations of the police in Napoleonic France, its vast network of informants, subversion of the press, surveillance of emigrés, and steady stream of information flowing in from all quarters. Fouché emphasized to his subordinates how one small detail or event could be “of great interest in the general order of things by its connections with related matters of which you are scarcely aware.” Like Cole, Mirante quotes frequently from Fouché’s police bulletins, as well as from memoirs of the era (though most of the excerpts are those hostile to Fouché). Unlike Cole, Mirante’s Fouché is driven not by any higher patriotism, but—especially after his humiliating flight from France in 1810—by a deep and abiding hatred of Napoleon, towards whose final destruction Fouché is willing to go to any length. Mirante provides more detail on Fouché’s exile and final years than either Zweig or Cole, one interesting aspect of which is the warm welcome Fouché received in Trieste from Elisa Bonaparte, who had been driven from power in Tuscany largely through Fouché’s machinations with Murat in 1814. Mirante ends the book with a critical look at Fouché’s dubious, ghostwritten “memoirs,” the credibility of which he is far more suspicious than Cole, who accepts the argument of French historian Louis Madelin that they are “largely authentic and accurate.” Mirante, on the other hand, is not convinced, and concludes that the memoirs are “highly assailable, at least quasi-spurious, and shrouded in controversy and deceit.” Mirante ends by drawing parallels between Fouché’s policing methods and those of the Gestapo and NKVD in the 20th century.

Overall I enjoyed all three of these for different reasons, and taken together they offer a more complete picture of Fouché. I haven’t gotten around to reading any French-language biographies on Fouché yet, but I do have a couple works on him by Emmanuel de Waresquiel that are definitely on my to-read list.

[stephofromcabin12]

(🗣️) I'm trying to write a PJO fanfic and my oc is a daughter of Athena, so my question is how would you make the oc different enough from Annabeth to make her seem like her own charecter. I think I asked something like this before.

Good question!

Firstly consider what similarities they *don’t* share. Its fine to have similarities — they are half siblings after all — as long as you can balance it with some things that set them apart! It doesn’t have to be huge, and they don’t have to be polar opposites.

Examples:

- Appearance, age.

- Place of birth, family situation.

- Interests, skillsets (reading comic books and being into spelling bees is also a sign of intelligence + counts towards being a bookworm, just saying)

- Humor, cultural knowledge (im never going to let the show writers live down that they wrote Annabeth to have never seen a movie. Even before she ran away? Ur telling me Frederick Chase didn’t sit his baby daughter down for A land before time or Labyrinth? Winnie The Pooh? The dark crystal?? JURASSIC PARK????But he’s so nerdy???? Huh????)

On that note:

- There are many ways of being the same thing. Intelligence and strategising can play out in a million ways.

They might both be smart, but in what areas do they excell?

Where are their interests? Annabeth has her love of architechture, maybe your oc is super nerdy about geography and cartography (good for battle strategising) or even cooking (it is a science after all) — the list goes on!

Places that require intelligence, science and logic:

Art restoration and archival work

Cooking and baking (candy making is straight up wizardry, and Demeter kids are unlikely to be into that specific area of cooking)

Finances and business

Painting/sculpting (art in general)

Music, composition especially but also mixing and producing.

Film and stage managing (techies for theatres is a very Athena kid career)

Logistics in general. Every field ever needs people who can work a spreadsheet and calculate all the possible outcomes of a situation before it happens.

Cleaning (if you mix the wrong chemicals ur gonna poison yourself with mustard gas or something worse)

Teaching

Politics

Journalism

Law

Running a non-profit org/organizing events and protests

Archeology (Must be into: dirt and ugly shoes, sincerely, and lovingly, an archeology dropout)

Anthropology, Psychology, Linguistics

Learning languages in general

Vis dev and animation

I could go on but you get the point I think

Basically: Don’t focus on the core areas they have some overlap. If your oc isn’t named Annabeth, likes archaeology and wears a yankee’s cap, you’re probably good to go.

Remember that everything shapes a person (and character) so it’s not so much about the trait or skill itself but more the effects those things have on your character. Same goes for their relationships.

Lastly consider their purpose and goal (purpose is outside the story: You as a writer deciding what role the character will play. Goal is inside the story: The ‘thing’ your character strives for)

It’s probably not the same as Annabeth’s — so work from there until the venn diagram isn’t a flat circle; some overlaps are fine but they’re not one and the same.

I hope that helps!

[ferronickel]

Hail, flatter! This one, who is a layperson of the arts and comixcraft, has a query for you:

So like, what is flatting?

I've seen your flats in Wifwulf, and I've read about the flats in Looking Glasses, and generally get that it results in an image with similarly coloured areas sharing the same false-colour.

But like, how is it then used? The final images seem to contain more colours and shading, so why not just go straight to this? Why do false colours get used instead of the real ones? How do you pick the colours and how many get used?

How come this is a thing that a whole other person can do separately? I guess that's because it's time consuming - so it saves time somehow?

Thank you! I come in the spirit of humility wishing to relieve my ignorance of your noble craft!

OHOHOHO!!! You've activated my trap card and now I get to ramble about comics craft! And in my area of professional expertise, too! Be prepared for a long post

I'm going to start with the last part of your question:

How come this is a thing that a whole other person can do separately? I guess that's because it's time consuming - so it saves time somehow?

So the thing about comics is that it is one of the most intensely time consuming mediums to create. One person can make comics on their own fairly easily, but it takes forever to produce. Consider that I've been working on Looking Glasses for 18-19 months and have drawn about 87 pages. Now, the western comics industry expects issues to be produced monthly, generally 24 pages in length. It's very difficult for a single person to work at this rate, so the labor of producing comics has been divided. Generally these jobs become:

Writer (writes the script)

Editor (edits the script)

Artist (draws the lineart)

Colorist (colors and renders the art)

Letterer (adds balloons, dialog, and sfx)

Flatter (sometimes 'color assistant' they take the art and prepare it for coloring)

This isn't comprehensive though, there are a bunch of other jobs, like designers and layout artists. Occasionally the artist job gets broken into Pencilers (who sketch the art) and Inkers (who ink the sketch). Basically, by splitting the work amongst a number of people you can produce comics much faster. Not all of these jobs are required, and creator-owed books might have artists do their own coloring and lettering, while big work-for-hire books might have twice as many people working so they can pump out a spider-man book every other week.

Okay, so why Flatters?

Flatting at it's most basic level is just coloring inside the lines. You take a black and white page of art, and you have to fill in every part of the page that will eventually be colored. It's a pretty time consuming task depending on how involved your lineart is.

Flatting a page of Looking Glasses doesn't take me all that long, usually less than a half hour, which is pretty quick. Looking Glasses pages tend to be... optimized for flatting though. There are only ever a few characters and there aren't a ton of background details.

You mentioned Wifwulf (created by my longtime friend and collaborator Dailen Ogden), here's one of it's pages:

Basically everything that's a different base color, (every tree, plant, bit of moss, character, etc.) needed to be picked out separately. Each page of Wifwulf took me a few hours to flat. If Dailen had been doing that themself, those hours would have really added up, but instead they could spend that time drawing and coloring. Now, that said, these pages have a lot of texture, so it's hard to see exactly what I did.

Here's an example from a comic I worked on early in my career. (Lineart by Patrick Custodio)

The writer for this comic loved to put in these incredibly complex crowd scenes, which is something the artist excelled at drawing. I was coloring and flatting at this point on the book, and before I could even start coloring properly, I would need to flat for like eight hours. (I have a much more efficient method these days) It was frustrating because I just wanted to work on the actually creative part, but the majority of my time was spent on something monotonous. As soon as I got the writer to hire a flatter for me, coloring a page would take me only one or two hours, not nine or ten.

So that's why flatters exist, mainly to ease the workload on colorists.

But like, how is it then used? The final images seem to contain more colours and shading, so why not just go straight to this?

Flatting serves a couple of purposes. It's main function, like I said above, is just coloring in the lines. After finishing your lineart it has to get colored in, so in a layer below the lines, you add colors.

The secondary function is preservation. I like to work in a way that is non-destructive, basically, at any point in the process I can restore an earlier version of the drawing if I make a mistake or don't like something. Flats are integral to this.

In digital art, there's this thing called anti-aliasing, where the edges of a line or shape have a drop off of pixel color or opacity. It makes the edges look smoother or blurrier. The three dots on the left are Anti-Aliased, while the one on the right is Aliased, there's no drop off, just hard pixels.

Anti-aliasing is fine until you need to change the color using the paint bucket, or select using the magic wand...

See how the anti-aliased art doesn't play well with these tools, but the aliased art does? So with something like Wifwulf, the final art is going to be full of texture that makes it impossible to select anything again once it's painted. By having a dedicated aliased flats layer under the rest of the artwork, you can always re-select any part of the image you want.

I always leave my flats layer alone, and do any detail work in layers above. For example when I was painting this, it really helped to be able to select just the titan so I could work on those paints without worrying about brushstrokes overlapping the rest of the characters.

One of the other things you can do with flats is quickly selecting certain elements. On most pages, I flat my panels, figures, and background elements separately. Later, with a single button press, I can select just the characters in the scene, or entire panels at a time, which makes things like shading a whole lot easier.

Why do false colours get used instead of the real ones?

If you're flatting for other people you often don't know what the final colors are going to be, so you just pick random ones. Garish colors can be helpful because it makes it obvious that they're not the final colors. Why don't I use the correct colors on my own pages when I'm flatting? Habit, mostly. It's also faster to grab random colors than to track down the correct ones. Sometimes two different things will have the same final color but I like to flat them with different colors so I can select them individually if I need to.

You can see the process a bit here. In my flats, Lancer's spade (eye? eyes? thing) is a different color from his tongue, even if they end up being the same white in the final image. This would help if I ever needed to select just his eyes for some reason. You can also see how I select his body fur color and then add details on top, like his colored fingers and the grey on his arm. Those elements have blurry anti-aliased edges, and it would be impossible to re-select them without flats.

How do you pick the colours and how many get used?

I use the default "additional color set" palette in clip studio and just work my way through it. I pick row and work my way down (for a change of pace I vary which row I start with). How many is mostly dependent on the artwork. You just keep going until you run out of individual objects to color. I have worked on pages where I've run out of colors on this palette and had to start making up more. Typically a page of Looking Glasses only needs around 20-30, though.

So! That's flatting! It's a little known job, and it's how I got started with my comics career, so I have a lot of thoughts on it. I was trying to be concise (lol), so I hope this all makes sense, but I'd be happy to clarify or answer any other questions about this process. I know I didn't really go into how I flat my work, so I can make that post if anyone is interested.

[joannechocolat]

The Final Chapter

A review – well, sort of – of Chris Fowler’s WORD MONKEY.

There are books that you never want to end. Sometimes it’s because of the thrilling plot; or the fantastic world of the story;  or that the central characters are so engaging that it’s hard to say goodbye. Whatever the reason, it has taken me a very long time to reach the end of my old friend’s final book. Not because it was dull – quite the reverse; it may be the finest, funniest, most sincere, the wisest thing he has ever written – but because I didn’t want to reach the final chapter.

This is the memoir Chris Fowler always spoke of writing. The first instalment, PAPERBOY, was the story of his childhood; a life dominated by books, films and comics in a working-class household where no-one understood his passion. The second chapter, FILM FREAK, was the account of a young, ambitious gay man at the start of his career, obsessed with the movies, desperately seeking work in a collapsing industry. The third, WORD MONKEY, was to be the story of a successful career in books, his advice to budding writers, his thoughts on the industry, all presented with the same joie-de-vivre, keen observation, hilarious wisdom and lightness of touch that characterized the previous two. And it is – it’s all those things, and more. More, because it’s also the tale of the final chapter in a life, the last pages of which I read in real time against the backdrop of the pandemic and everything that came with it, including Chris’ diagnosis with terminal cancer and his final, dazzling flare of creativity before the end.

Before I go on, some context. Chris and I were friends a long time – over 30 years, in fact. It began with a letter I wrote as a very new author, thanking him for my only review. From there it developed into a regular correspondence (I still have a stack of those letters, many of them detailing things that later appeared in the books, always funny and generous, and illustrated with little cartoons); and then a growing friendship. We were different in many ways, but we shared a love of books and films, and it was in Chris’ nature to help other writers whenever he could. He saw the rise of my career from teacher to bestselling novelist. He was there at my highest and lowest points. He found me my first proper agent. His company did the advertising campaign for the movie of CHOCOLAT. When he moved from Kentish Town to King’s Cross, I bought a pied-à-terre down the road, and we met up whenever I was in town, usually for a breakfast that would go on till lunchtime.

At the beginning of lockdown, both of us were diagnosed with cancer. They found mine early. His, too late. Over the next three years I tried to come to terms with his terminal diagnosis. I didn’t really believe in it; he was still so full of life, so upbeat, so creative. We corresponded by e-mail and text from our respective chemo chairs; he told me funny stories about his life and his doctors. When lockdown ended, we met up again for our usual breakfasts in King’s Cross. I think I expected to see a change; but he looked and sounded just the same; and he was still writing furiously. In December 2022 he finished editing his memoir; by then he was unable to leave the flat, and I went to see him at home for the last time. I didn’t know it would be the last time, of course, but it’s rare to know these things as they happen. He was getting frail by then, but mostly he was just the same; clever and funny and cheery and filled with stories and book recommendations and accounts of obscure European films that I absolutely had to watch. And he was still writing furiously; short stories, blog posts, tweets, even a new Bryant and May book (he joked that it would have to be a short one). I told him I loved him. He said it back. That was the last time I saw him, although our correspondence went on right up till the end, in March, just weeks from his 70th birthday.  

I still find it hard to believe he’s gone. His voice is still so clear in my mind. And I still see him all over King’s Cross; in bookshops and theatres and cinemas. In the comics and record shops we visited together; in countless breakfast places. And it’s here, in this book, the final chapter of a life well lived, a quite extraordinary life, crowned with achievements (which he typically downplays) and filled with humour and stories. It’s all here, and it’s wonderful, and it fills me with admiration at the talent of the writer, as well as the courage of a man who can take something as bleak as a terminal cancer diagnosis, and work it into something like this; a celebration; joyous, true and filled with unflinching insight.

I don’t know why I feel surprised. I always knew how good he was. But this is more than just a dazzling piece of writing. It’s a testament to the power of words; a reminder that through them, you can shine even beyond that darkness; that life is short, and love is long; and stories can live forever. This is why we write, after all; to push away the shadows. To connect with each other across the years. To celebrate what brings us joy; to prove that we are not alone. So read this book, and read the rest of this astonishing trilogy. And be inspired – as writers, as readers – by the boy who dreamed of the stars, and learned to live forever.

[kakiastro]

Fame in Astrology Series part 5

Topic: Writers

Disclaimer: this just for entertainment and learning purposes, also, please don’t copy my work. Thank you!

Hey y’all I’m back with another part to my fame series! Last time we talked about chefs and what type of cook you are

Here is a link to that post:

Now originally I was going to do politician but I changed my mind after a suggestion was made and decided to look into writers instead. Now whether you’re a book lover or a writer yourself, we’re going to talk about what you can look at in your birth chart that’s connected to writing!

We’re going to use Stephen King for examples because he’s my favorite author 😅

Okay let’s get started

1. First thing we’re going to look at is Mercury and his rulers Gemini and Virgo.

Mercury rules over writing and communication. Gemini rules overall writing and Virgo rules over the details in writing.

Ex. Stephen has Mercury Libra conj Neptune & Venus 4h. Sun Virgo 3h and Gemini 12h

Sun Virgo 3h and he’s a well known(Sun) author, he’s specifically known for how detailed(Virgo) his books are. So with Mercury Libra, he has an easy flowing style that’s pleasing to read, he has the ability to write stories from different character point of view within the same story.

Neptune rules over fantasy and imagination so with it conj his mercury he can create some great stories. Also Neptune rules over movies and most of his work has been turned into live action movies and tv shows. With Venus conj a Venus rules mercury, you can say his stories will be beloved. Him having a 4h stellium because I remember him saying a lot of his writing inspiration come from early childhood fears. 4h rules over our early childhood memories(good or bad). I’ve also notice how women, mothers or family plays a huge role in his stories(Misery, Cujo,The Shining ect) Gemini 12h, he has a great imagination, inspiration may come from his subconscious from pass lives(if you believe in reincarnation)

2. We’re going to look at the 5h next.

The 5h is the Leo house, it’s the house of expressed creativity, this is how people view our art.

Ex. Stephen has a 5h Scorpio conj Chiron and it’s no surprise that he’s known for his horror stories. He has the ability to write out his deepest fears in a story that makes people resonate. Scorpio rules our deepest fears

Chiron is known as the wounded healer and teacher. All of his stories has a deeper meaning and if I’m being honest, his writing may be a healing method for him, he’s healing his own dark fears through his art which is what Chiron and Scorpio 5h is about!

3. Next I want to talk about the moon.

Moon is very important in writing because this is how you emotionally connect to the characters, if you’re not emotionally connecting to what you’re writing or reading then you don’t have a story.

Ex. Stephen has Sagittarius moon 6h. Well this explains why a lot of his characters has big personalities lol Sagittarius ruled by Jupiter , fire sign, most of his characters has intense emotions, there’s also always some sort of spiritual element going on in his writings.

4. Let’s talk about your Mc and 11h

Mc rules over career and public image

11h is how society sees and remembers you.

Ex. Stephen has Mc Aries and Taurus 11h

Aries represent leader or first of something. Now he’s not the first author but he is a prolific figure in the writing community in recent times which is very Aries. Also his Mc ruler (mars) is in Cancer 1h. This goes back to my point how his writings deals with women, family and early childhood fears, hes very open about them. He’s known for speaking his mind but here’s the thing; majority of the public(11h) loves him for it😅(Taurus) he has North Node in 11h as well so he’s mean to talk in public.

Writing Asteroids: asteroid are more prominent if it aspects your personal planets (Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn)

Talent (33154)- what topics you’re gifted at writing in

Apollo ( 1862) - God of music and arts(for songwriters)

Sappho (1864) -the way we express ourselves with words

C(K)alliope (22)- muse of poetry

Euripides ( 2930) -playwriting

Orpheus (3361)- writing plays

some well known writers asteroids

Shakespear (2985)

Poe (17427)

Dahl (6223)

Tolkien (2675)

Cslewis (7644)

Thank you all for supporting this series, I’ve been having fun creating it! Next up is politician, for real this time 😅

Until then

[dracothelizard]

I asked about a different one before but can you tell us about the Selfpub AU please?

OH BOY

I've been self-publishing erotica and romance novellas and novels if 60K counts as a novel sine 2013. I have several opinions on self-publishing in this genre. (There is a reason why I made Ed and Lucius self-publishers in my phone sex AU :D)

The concept of 'Ed is an experienced big name in his chosen career, Stede is a newbie who has dreamed about it for a long time and does weird shit' fits many modern AU concepts, but I think it fits self-publishing pretty well, because it's competitive and outside of the rules and traditions of traditional publishing. (And also, traditional publishing has barriers to non-white and/or queer people while those barriers are lower in self-publishing)

Ed as a Big Name Author in his genre with Izzy as his longterm co-author/editor/PR person, but also Ed is bored AF of writing the same tropey story book after book, because it's what his readers expect and readers get pissed if you deviate from genre expectations. People buy his books anyway! He hardly even needs to be there!

Stede, meanwhile, is an enthusiastic self-publishing newbie who makes all the classic mistakes, including but not limited to spending $$$ on a cover that is very pretty but completely wrong for his genre.

And then Ed and Stede meet and shenanigans and falling in love ensues, obv.

And also obviously, the rest of the Revenge crew is also involved in self-publishing somehow, with Lucius voicing several of my frustrations like 'get a fucking menage category, Amazon, stop letting the FFM writers clog up the lesbian erotica/romance categories'.

Excerpt where Ed is boggled by Stede's cover and blurb choices:

This cover, though, looks fine. A full moon over the open sea, a ship in the background and a shirtless, suitably hunky guy gazing moodily at the reader. It’s not a spectacular cover, but all the necessary elements are there and the title and author’s name are in a legible font. Whoever Autumn Arthurs is, they’re already ahead of a lot of other authors.

Sea Dogs isn’t a great title, but it gets the point across. Werewolves at sea, or by the coast. The hero is probably the standard ex-Marine with some psychological wounds for the heroine to heal while he saves her from some terrible situation or a villain.

Then Ed reads the blurb.

There is zero mention of werewolves or sad ex-Marines.

There are, however, pirates.

The blurb is far too long, but Ed still isn’t sure what the book is about. There’s a battle against the British, but the next paragraph mentions the Spanish. Names of different crew members are sprinkled throughout the blurb, and there’s at least eight of them.

Ed scrolls down to the four reviews, but while they give Sea Dogs four stars, the reviews are also confused by the plot, with one of them asking what happened to the werewolf pack from the previous book. A couple more clicks take Ed to the series’ page, Gentleman Pack, which is a terrible series name.

The first two books have a sunny, clear sky over the woods and cheerful-looking shirtless guys. Both blurbs mention wolf shifters and rival packs.

That does explain the surprise at the werewolf pack suddenly being gone in Sea Dogs.

It explains nothing about Autumn Arthurs’s decisions regarding their covers, or why they switched to a pirate adventure mid-series.

[01zfan]

i love your work so much :) this is not really a request but i wanted to know the process of you writing, as i would like to get into it too.

whenever you write you always use the right words and it just feels so eloquent, how do i get to that stage? i often find when i want to write it’s hard to find the right words.

omg hi! thank you so much for this question i would love to explain my writing process/progression to you! it's quite long but i find it exciting to talk about so i hope you don't mind.

so i want to say first and foremost i do not take myself as seriously as it may seem. i feel like writing stuff like fanfics comes pretty easily to me personally, just because they're quick ideas you can just kinda spit out if you have enough time. it's the writing i do for my professional career that comes as a challenge for me.

in my life outside of tumblr i'm a media studies major pursuing a career in screenwriting/directing/film curation. i also was a writer/editor for my unis newspaper pre-covid. so i do ALOT of writing.

my process usually starts with a fleeting idea while i'm screenwriting or taking a break from screenwriting. if i feel like it's an idea i can't expand upon i usually put it in my notes app on my phone or i just remember it. if i can expand on it i'll usually incorporate it into the scripts i'm writing lol.

but from there i kind of assign the idea to a member i feel like suits them best and i just start writing. now when i write i used to just push through beginning to end in a linear pattern. i did this to kind of build up my discipline for writing, forcing myself to write through the parts i found to be boring. now that i've been writing for awhile though i have given myself grace to jump around to the parts i wanna write. sometimes i feel like the story sometimes flows differently when i write linear as opposed to non-linear. i think you can even tell in some of my fics when i do one opposed to the other. it's not a good thing or a bad thing, just different style.

i would say to get to the point of writing "eloquently" it has alot to do with reading! i take things that stick out to me from the books and screenplays i've read in the past including style, words, etc. reading helps you become a better writer truly. also just actively researching and imagining the point of view while writing. i usually have a thesaurus or tab open on google looking up synonyms and antonyms of words to kinda...diversify? the writing. to try and not say the same thing over and over.

i understand that this may be a little intense for just being a riize self insert fanfic writer on tumblr LMFAOOO but writing is my life outside of this website. i would say seriously just try and work through every idea beginning to end even if it's grueling even if it turns out awful! experience helps, it helps you find your own way to do things as well.

[millermenapologist]

https://www.tumblr.com/millermenapologist/753018718824660992/ive-read-right-now-your-list-of-topics-you-would?source=share

Actually, that was a smart fucking response!! I doubt I would answer in this level, I mean, you made me realize I talk like a teenager compared to you (that's a compliment btw💖)

And I as someone who haven't read the book, You managed to clarify some things I had no idea about, and the whole concept of 90s is actually true and a point that never came to my mind when thinking about lolita: this was an era in Hollywood with this concept of "oh naughty teenager falls in love with older man or a male with some kind of power (like a teacher)" - I mean, The Crush starring Alicia Silverstone is an example. Those really had a part of internalize to people the belief that teen girls have a dubious innocence.

And what you said by the end just confirmed that this movie is truly what I was thinking: a coquette horror story🫠

I feel bad for her. I mean, she had a hard ass fucking life even after him, and then died so early giving birth. When I remember about the girl reading in her backyard or loving a normal life with her mom, it's hard to imagine that this person is the same one that had that life and ending. Does the movie says something about her baby and husband, or not?

Anon you're too kind (๑•з•)))⋆♡⋆ฺ=͟͟͞͞=͟͟͞͞

Also, I 100% talk like a teenager too. I'm one of those annoying ass people who repeats "like" every other word, the magic of having learned English by watching YouTube videos from 2016. My writing just happens to be a lot more curated in style because my college internship was at a place that required a lot of writing and not only I was the only woman, but I was also the only ESL, so... it was the trenches. The trenches, I tell you!

Oh, and on this topic! In his entire career of (bestselling) writer, Nabokov rarely did impromptu interviews: if someone wanted to interview him, he'd ask for them to send him a letter containing all the questions they wanted to ask him, would type down the answers, and then read them out loud during the interview. He claimed that his reason to do so was because English wasn't his native language, but it was very much another way for him to fuck with people.

Rest of the "professional" answer below the cut, and beware that, because of the very last question, I'm gonna mention stillbirth.

We are still getting this kind of movies, tbh. Miller's Girl is from this year, and it comes with a very similar premise too: young girl (albeit this time we managed to get her to turn 18! Let the kingdom rejoice!) goes out of her way to seduce a much older man because the idea of it tickles her fancy, and, as a consequence, his life is ruined from top to bottom despite him being the actual victim of the story.

We did get a lot better, as a society, at treating kids like kids (just look at the stark difference between Katherine Hardwicke's Thirteen and Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade), but as soon as we're talking about (especially) girls in their late teens, then it's still treated like open season.

Anyways, yeah, the movie is a coquette horror story, and I can't but find funny the fact that so many people on TikTok got up in arms when others started referring to Lolita as "coquette." It is. We can acknowledge it's a story about a child being abused while also recognizing its soft atmosphere and pastel tones.

I do wish that the coquette people would also find a way to include the horror too, tho...

[...] to buying beautiful things for Lo. Goodness, what crazy purchases were prompted by the poignant predilection Humbert had in those days for check waves, bright cottons, frills, puffed-out short sleeves, soft pleats, snug-fitting bodices and generously full skirts! [...] Did I have something special in mind? coaxing voices asked me. Swimming suits? We have them in all shades. Dream pink, frosted aqua, glans mauve, tulip red, oolala black. Part 1, Chapter 25, p. 107

You picked them? They're just there for a second, a small detail that your brain barely notices, but Humbert did, indeed, refer to the shade of pink he wanted to buy for Dolores' swimsuit as "glans mauve," and the black swimsuit is not simple black, it's "oolala black," which hints towards it being a lacy undergarment designed to look sexy.

The whole book is littered with descriptions of what Dolores wears, and although the coquette style definitely does fit those descriptions, what it constantly misses is that sense of uneasiness that comes from them, the little details that make you furrow your eyebrows, re-read, and go "Oh."

Also, I definitely forgot to mention this in the other response, but I think that the movies (both) aged Dolores up, brought her to a very vague age that was around ~16ish, but in the book Nabokov was very clear: Humbert is only attracted to children aged from 9 to 14 at most (he has a whole monologue about it that wasn't brought up in neither of the adaptations), and Dolores was 12 when they first meet. The bulk of the novel takes place between the summers of 1947 and 1949, and Dolores was born on January 1st 1935. At her oldest, when she was with Humbert, she was 14.

Sooooo... to your actual question (the yapping I do, my god...).

Charlotte wasn't exactly a good mother to Dolores, and the movie sweetened her a lot, and not just because he brought Humbert into their home (it's a common trait of predators, to target single mothers to have easier access to children).

In the book, Dolores used to have a younger brother, a child who had died at 2 in a very tragic accident (he's never brought up again afterwards, but it does reinforce one of the main themes of the novel: childhood lost, in the most literal of senses), and Charlotte is hinted as having greatly preferred him to her daughter.

The reason why Humbert escalates to plotting her murder isn't because Charlotte sent Dolores to summer camp (although he complains and complains about it, defining it as him losing two months of her beauty), but because she wants to send her away forever.

"Ah," said Mrs. Humbert, dreaming, smiling, drawing out the "Ah" simultaneously with the raise of one eyebrow and a soft exhalation of breath. "Little Lo, I'm afraid, does not enter the picture at all, at all. Little Lo goes straight from camp to a good boarding school with strict discipline and some sound religious training. And then - Beardsley College. I have it all mapped out, you need not worry." Part 1, Chapter 20, p. 82-83

We have no reason to doubt the truthfulness of this conversation because it works in Humbert's favor: of course he planned to murder his wife! He wanted to take away from him the love of his life, whatever else was he supposed to do? Wouldn't the kind gentlemen of the jury understand his actions, had they been in his place?

So... Dolores would've probably ran away from her mother too, if she had had the possibility. Or from boarding school.

As for her husband and baby, the movie greatly diminished their role in the themes of the plot.

For starters, when she writes him the letter asking for help, she does so by opening with "Dear Dad," and then continues to do so for the entirety of it, referring to herself as "Dolly" in the bottom signature. She desperately wants to believe that that's what he'll now be for her: a father, nothing else. Just... she was terribly scared, and this is a sentiment that's completely overshadowed by Humbert's feelings. She's pregnant and penniless, and so terrified for her future that she went out of her way to contact the man who abused her for years (and that she suspects killed her mother) in the hope that he wouldn't act like a monster and lend her just enough money to get to Alaska, where her husband wants to go because he heard that there are a lot of jobs there.

And you know what his response to the letter is? He becomes angry, violent, and plans to murder her and her husband both. He goes to her house with the intention of doing so, and the only thing that stops him is that he suddenly finds himself recognizing his Lolita in Dolly.

Her husband, Dick (and yes, the name is not a random choice), is a hard-of-hearing man who is completely oblivious to what happened to her. Dolores, a girl who spent her entire life being unheard, ultimately married a man who cannot hear her either. She has to yell at him to be heard, has to scream or force herself into his field of vision to make sure he's paying attention. No matter how much the people say they feel for her, she's still isolated, she's still alone, she's still unheard. Dick is as deaf to her needs and voice and personhood as Humbert was.

As for the baby, we gotta do some plot "rearrangement". The movie opens with Humbert reminiscing his early adolescence spent on the French Riviera with Annabel (again, I still don't understand why in the adaptation they have sex, but whatever), and only at the end (and in text) we're told that Humbert died in prison, Dolores died in labor, and that her baby was a stillborn.

In the book, we get this information as a first thing, in a Foreword written by John Ray Jr, PhD, who informs the readers that:

[...] their author, had died in legal captivity of coronary thrombosis, on November 16, 1952, a few days before his trial was scheduled to start. [...] Mrs. "Richard F. Schiller" died in childbirth giving birth to a stillborn girl, on Christmas Day 1952, in Gray Star, a settlement in the remotest Northwest. Foreword, p. 3-4

Nabokov makes you read the entire plot already telling you how it ends: Humbert gets arrested and these are his confessions, a woman married to a certain Richard Schiller dies in childbirth. You already know, and yet, plot-wise, it makes perfect sense that he'd spoil it within its very first few pages.

The following decision I make with all the legal impact and support of a signed testament: I wish this memoir to be published only when Lolita is no longer alive. Part 2, Chapter 36, p. 308-309

Again, Nabokov is fucking with us. The sole act of getting the book published means that Dolores is dead, and therefore it should be of absolutely no surprise, when the reader realizes that "Mrs. Richard Schiller" is no other than the titular Lolita and that she died in childbirth (and generally, though, the very last paragraph of the novel contains so much information and deserves so much analysis that it'd require a post of its own lol.)

So, now for the baby.

One of the main themes of the story is that of the double (Dolores is the double of Annabel; Humbert is the double of Quimby; Charlotte is a double of Humbert's mother; Humbert's name itself is a double; in the scene in which they walk in their room at the hotel where Humbert assaults Dolores for the first time, he describes it by saying that each object has itself and then its twin reflection in the mirror), and Dolores' baby has a double too.

Some motels had instructions pasted above the toilet (on whose tank the towels were unhygienically heaped) asking guests not to throw into its bowl garbage, beer cans, cartons, stillborn babies. Part 2, Chapter 1, p. 146

It's the slightest of mentions, just as with many other things, but it's there, aids the theme and serves as foreshadowing for what's to come. And, again, Nabokov just genuinely liked fucking with his readers.

Uhm... I think this response is finished here? Lemme know if you (or anyone else) wants more of this, because I could seriously go on all day ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁)

[blamebrampton]

Unpacking my life into New House and I have A Lot of books. So I have a project. I am going to Read the Collection, focusing on books I have never read (more than I would like to admit) or have forgotten or felt needed a reread. In theory, I will record them here. In actuality, I have the attention span of a vague vole, so who knows.

To begin! Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. Published Weldon By Mail 1991. Found on a street corner in Marrickville. Never before read.

I am a big believer in street books, but usually I find them in street libraries or perched on fences, often with a chirpy note. This one was found literally on the street. To the point I left notes on a nearby pole and at the nearby bus stop in case someone had lost it running for a bus. I can only assume the many typos in this edition or the very small text infuriated someone to the point they flung it out of their lives and into mine.

Agatha Christie is the best selling fiction writer of all time and her books still stand up as mysteries. I’d always found her interesting: the disappearance, the second marriage to the young archaeologist, the enormous success, but I confess I knew little about the facts of her life in detail. Having read these 454 pages, I still don’t know an enormous amount about the facts of her life past her teen years, but I know her a lot better.

Written over 15 years (begun when she was 60), the book is extraordinarily detailed on her childhood and young adulthood and has some good details about her work on archaeological digs in later years, but skips entirely over some significant parts of her life. The famous disappearance is hand-waved. Her career is reduced to snippets: a shortish section on selling her first stories, another on changing publishers, then a slightly longer piece on writing plays and one’s ability to direct the royalties as gifts. We learn vastly more about her favourite childhood nurses and governesses. In terms of Answering Questions, it is less than ideal, but in terms of giving you a sense of the woman, it’s remarkable.

It is very much of its time and I would flag that there is some really shocking casual racism in parts, though coupled with genuine affection for many of the same people in individual who she dismisses as groups. One thing I found interesting was that, despite wincing at antisemitism in some of her novels (mostly those written early in her career, where it was sadly commonplace in British public thought), she is furious at the rise of Naziism in her autobiography. Not just at the impacts of the war, but at the awfulness of antisemitism becoming a way of life for so many Germans and the vicious cruelty faced by so many Jews. And she never remembers in the text that she herself thought not wholly differently. But, reading up afterwards, I learned that she instructed her American publishers to remove the worst from her earlier books. Still, as Gillian Gill put it, “Christie’s anti-Semitism had always been of the stupidly unthinking rather than the deliberately vicious kind. As her circle of acquaintances widened and she grew to understand what Nazism really meant for Jewish people, Christie abandoned her knee-jerk anti-Semitism. What is more, even at her most thoughtless and prejudiced, Christie saw Jews as different, alien, and un-English, rather than as depraved or dangerous – people one does not know rather than people one fears.” (from https://forward.com/culture/458050/so-what-did-agatha-christie-really-think-of-jews/)

The standout memories of the book are her love for her youth in Torquay, where she was a happy child in a house she loved. These themes recur and become the lenses through which so much of her life is seen. She wishes only for her daughter to be a happy child, she wants only for all to have a safe home, whether they are in Devon or Blitz London or Syria or Iraq. Although there are only glimpses as to her writing methods and the finding of ideas (her success is barely mentioned until the record run of The Mousetrap, save in having the funds to buy more houses and complaints about taxation), many writers will find it reassuring to know that she, too, often sat on ideas for years until they grew into a story. A strange but intriguing book and I thank whoever let it go!

[letsrilakkusu-blog]

Favorite recent reads - Part 1

I was an avid reader as a child but once I got to middle school and high school, there was so much assigned reading that I no longer did it for enjoyment, and once I got to college and didn't have any English or literature classes, I pretty much stopped reading altogether. The pandemic and the passing of a close friend who loved to read motivated me to start again. So, following up my post about A Little Life, I thought I'd share some of my favorite books that I've read in the past two years.

Note: I get overwhelmed when I have too many choices available, and there is an infinite amount of books. So to narrow my options, I focus mostly on works by Asian authors, whether they are translated or originally written in English.

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

An absolutely breathtaking story of a writer (Ruth) who finds the diary of 16-year-old Nao washed up on the Canadian shore as part of what she believes is the aftermath of the March 2011 tsunami. I love the way the narrative switches back and forth between Nao's diary entries and Ruth's experience reading them. Nao's story is ruthless and touches on everything from assimilation issues, school bullying, suicide, Japanese nationalism during WWII, and Zen Buddhism. I felt myself as an extension of Ruth, getting heavily invested in Nao's life and her fate. While I may not have gotten the answers I wanted from the novel's ending, it was magical and open-ended enough to leave me feeling hopeful and uplifted.

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

One of my favorite anime series is Bungou Stray Dogs, which follows a group of individuals gifted with special powers who solve mysteries and protect Yokohama from dangerous organizations, but the characters are all named after real Japanese authors or poets and derive their powers from their respective works. My favorite character is Dazai, based on the real Osamu Dazai, and whose power "No Longer Human" neutralizes all other powers, so naturally when I started my reading journey I knew I wanted to check out this classic.

Shit is dark. It follows one man, Oba, who feels that he is disqualified as a human being because he is so different from others, which results in a fear and anxiety that plague him and his relationships as he heads toward a downward spiral of drinking, drug use, and mental instability. It's fiction but pulls heavily from events from Dazai's actual life. It is unflinching in its depiction of what were most likely his true feelings of alienation in this world that he felt he had no place in, and he took his life shortly after it was published. I felt incredibly uneasy while reading but couldn't stop.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

Kim Jiyoung, a woman, a wife, a mother, starts experiencing a strange phenomenon in which she impersonates other women in her life with eerie accuracy, with no memory of doing so. Her concerned husband decides to have her get psychiatric help, and the novel gives a straightforward history of her life up until that point.

Mostly, this book made me mad. As a woman, reading about the things Jiyoung experienced because she is a woman - a stalker who insisted that she must have been interested in him because she smiled at him in class one time, discrimination during job-hunting, the pressure to have stop working and have a child - was truly upsetting and I'm thankful that I haven't experienced such things to the same extent. Still, as wife anticipating having a child in the future, I really felt Jiyoung's question to her husband: "You said don’t just think about what I’ll be giving up. I’m putting my youth, health, job, colleagues, social networks, career plans, and future on the line. No wonder all I can think about are the things I’m giving up. But what about you? What do you lose by gaining a child?"

Part 2 to follow!

[chrisjake-cp]

[ENG TRANSLATION]

[Interview] A look into the <Trade War’s> Jake Hsu’s treasure book list

BY EACHEN LEE AND SUNNY TSAI

PUBLISHED: 2024/04/30 in Harper's Bazaar TW

Jake Hsu, who graduated from the Drama Department of the National Taiwan University of Arts, started his acting career by participating in works of the ‘Q Series’, and then successfully gained popularity by taking on roles like Meng Shaofei in the 2019 BL series <HIStory3: Trapped> and the heart-warming twin brother Lin Zhenye in the 2022 Netflix series <Shards Of Her>. In 2024, Jake Hsu set his first steps in the suspenseful business-war themed TV series <Trade War>, in which he played a manservant with a complex personality, showcasing not only different aspects but also allowed the audience to witness his acting power. 

As a new generation actor, Jake shared that he maintained his reading habit, ever since his studies. Not only can he keep the fun of browsing through books that way, but it simultaneously is of great help to his acting skills. Let us now take a look at the reading world of our “considerate reader” Jake Hsu. 

Q: What was the book that started nurturing your reading habit? Do you have a daily reading plan?

Jake:  Looking back on it now, the first book that I was crazy about reading is <The Power of Film> (by Howard Suber). It was also the first book I read about movies. It introduced the complicated elements of movies in a simple way. At that time I had just entered University, and that book was like a treasure trove to me, with every page filled with amazing knowledge. 

A memory that is still vivid to this day is when I was waiting to go on [stage] in the black box theatre, snuggling up to the smallest of lights and roaming leisurely through the book. Although I don’t have a fixed reading plan, reading books still fills me with delight and is irreplaceable. 

Q: Do you have any special habits while reading?

Jake: I don’t know if everyone has the same experience as me, but when I start a book, I can’t read another one before I finish the first one, otherwise I would get confused. If I’m reading a novel that has many characters in it, I even draw character interrelationship diagrams, otherwise I would easily forget who is who. 

Q: Do you pay attention to certain rituals when reading?

Jake: I have to play instrumental music while reading, especially Lo-Fi style music, which can make me concentrate better. 

Q: Apart from work-related books, what kind of books do you prefer?

Jake: I was fascinated by world literature at one point. I would often go to the university library’s translated novel section to look for treasures there. I still remember that after I closed the last page of <A Thousand Splendid Suns> (T/N by Khaled Hosseini), I sat beside myself (from excitement) in front of my writing desk for a long time. These days, most of the books I read are materials related to movie creators or famous people, or knowledge reference books. 

Q: Have you ever starred in an adaptation of a literary work that you liked? Or have you ever become a fan of the book because you acted in an adaptation?

Jake: When I was studying drama in university, I performed in the classic <The Mousetrap> by famous British writer and playwright Agatha Christie. From then on, I started loving the deductive logic of this queen of detective (writers). Her most representative character Hercule Poirot has been adapted into television works that I enjoy ardously, such as <Murder On The Orient Express>, <Death On The Nile> and <A Haunting in Venice>.

Q: Please share with us the book that has had the most profound impact on you with respect to your life, and your acting.

Jake: The book that left the deepest impression on my life is <Just Like The Speed of Walking: My Daily life, Creations and the World> by (movie) director Hirokazu Kore-eda in which he describes several philosophies in life. 

(T/N: Jake then shares an excerpt from the first chapter, but I won’t attempt to translate a Chinese translation of a Japanese original book into English). 

The director’s perspective on the world, on roles/characters and on a person has had a very big impact on me. 

And the book that influenced my acting the most is <A Challenge For The Actor> (by Uta Hagen) which I studied while in University. Even though I have developed my own thoughts on acting at this point, the exercices and homework for actors in <A Challenge For The Actor> laid a lot of foundation during my first venture into acting that are still useful today. 

Q: If you have to go live on an uninhabited island for a year, and you could only bring one book with you, which one would you choose?

Jake:  Since it would be a deserted island, I would like to bring the whole series of <One Piece> (Eiichiro Oda), which I hope to finish in due time. If I can’t bring multiple books, I would like to take with me <Freeing The Natural Voice> by Kristin Linklater, practice it diligently for a year and see what happens. 

Q: Finally, please share three of your favourite recent books? 

Jake: First, the two-volume manhua <Shen Ming Convenience Store> by Xie Donglin that I rediscovered at the Taichung Comic Museum. [The author] has turned Taiwan’s traditional gods and deities into characters and tells the stories in a clear and humorous way. I couldn’t stop laughing and really love it. 

The second book is <Selected Film Reviews of Steven Tu: A Decade 2012-2022> which collects his masterpieces of ten years of film criticism. It’s like browsing a map of the film world of the past ten years through the eyes of Teacher Tu, which is close to reaching nirvana. 

Finally, the book in my hand called <Voyage With Kiki Kirin>, which covers the period from 2007 until Kiki Kirin’s passing in 2018. During those twelve years, director Kirokazu Kore-eda and Kiki Kirin conducted scattered interviews in different situations and different times. I feel like I have spent countless wonderful afternoons with this book. 

[kcwritely]

On Realizing Dreams and Becoming a Writer

Hi! I’m a writer just dipping my toes into posting my original works. I’ve spent a lot of time on the fan side of tumblr, writing for my favorite shows, books, movies, and games. But I was always worried my own works wouldn’t live up to the same positive reception and praise as my fan works. So, I’ve been hesitant to share.

But now, I want to branch out and bring my personal writings to the public! Which I find absolutely terrifying, but we all have to start somewhere. I’ve already posted some of my old poetry, but that hasn’t exactly met the welcome I hoped for. So, I thought I would take a more personal approach and share a bit about myself.

I’ve been writing and creating stories ever since I was a toddler. Of course, it was all about pretend and play rather than actual literature at the time. My interest in writing began in earnest when I was around ten years old. My personal life had become unstable at that point, and it was during this time that I truly began to connect with and find solace in books.

I started seriously writing my own stories when I entered middle school. These were, of course, a bit silly. They are undoubtedly full of all the classic middle school tropes, hang-ups, and pitfalls. But this was the very beginning of a lifelong passion. So, I look back on those old works with fondness.

It wasn’t until I reached high school that I began to write and plot out novels. These, too, were ‘cringe’ and are still a bit embarrassing to look back on. But they were the foundation of who I am as a storyteller today. It was during this time that I discovered my love of world-building. I genuinely believe it is one of the best parts of being a writer.

Unfortunately, I also suffered from crippling self-doubt and a severe case of imposter syndrome. So, I never shared my work with others. I often felt that what I created was not refined enough to be read by anyone but myself or my supportive mother. This mindset followed me for many years, making it difficult to chart a clear path toward my future.

When it came time for college, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do. I have other passions and briefly considered following them. However, I ultimately chose to pursue my love of language and literature. I wound up becoming an English major. Although, I had no intention of becoming an author. At that point in time, my confidence as a writer was low. I just thought it would be better to put my talents to use as an editor. So, I pursued a minor in editing and decided that would be my career.

It wasn’t until the pandemic, after graduating college and a horrible stint in Corporate America, that I realized my life was my own. And I could pursue whatever dream I wanted. At first, this meant pursuing a career as a tattoo artist. A very different path, I realize. But I could not deny my love for the craft. Not to mention, this was another dream I had convinced myself was unattainable just because it was I who looked to attain it. Once I realized I could pursue any path I desired, as long as I put in the work and tried my best, everything changed.

I began practicing for hours daily to improve my art and become a tattoo artist. These efforts eventually led to my skills growing dramatically. I was so surprised to realize what I could accomplish if I wasn’t standing in my own way. It was the first time I truly thought of myself as someone with talent. I followed this dream for quite some time, building my portfolio and researching local shops that might need an apprentice.

It wasn’t until one fateful night when I was driving home from a bridal shower that the idea hit me. An old book concept from my high school days resurfaced in my mind, and I suddenly knew what the story needed. When I finally got home, I began writing these ideas down immediately. I didn’t even realize it was three in the morning by the time I finished. From that moment on, I became infatuated with my story. Rekindling a love I had long thought was lost.

With a renewed interest in my lifelong passion, I dedicated myself to my dreams. I decided that this time, nothing would keep me from achieving my goals, not outside influences and certainly not myself. Through this new resolve, I began working on my largest project ever, a seven-book epic fantasy adventure exploring a vast and diverse world of my creation.

Now, I want to share the process of such an undertaking with all of you! From conception to plotting, world-building to character creation, I’m sharing it all! I encourage anyone who is a writer or wants to be one to reach out to me. I am happy to share my experience and help other writers realize their dreams like I have begun to do for myself. If you have read this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing so. I wish you all the best in your writing journey, and I hope you, the reader, can learn something from my experiences.

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about writing!

[humansun]

writing 3 pages a day should actually be the norm lulz

Written Saturday, July 22nd, 2023 at 1:34PM

Why does today feel like someone’s birthday? Like someone close to me. It must’ve been someone I used to know.

Today, I woke up, worked out with Fuzzy, and hit Hot Yoga! It was really wonderful watching Fuzzy experience something for the first time, but also enjoy it. He deserves to have new experiences and so do I. Although yoga isn’t something I’m madly in love with, I do enjoy how I feel after doing it. I love that the poses stretch parts of my body that I haven’t touched in a while. I love hearing my 25-year-old bones cracking and feeling my joints cry for help. So that was definitely the highlight of the day.

Ever since watching Fireflies, I learned that every moment, even though ordinary, can hold so much weight and significance in my life. The fact that at any point, all of what we experience can be taken away from us, is what scares me, but also motivates me to appreciate small things and stay present. That is a lesson I think of often and although it was a hard watch, it was one of those films that give you an important reminder in life, so I’m grateful for it.

My dreams from last night also felt strange. You know when you dream of someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a very long time? I wasn’t happy to see that person in my dream, but I felt grateful for them even if they weren’t always good to me in real life. These dreams that I can’t completely remember gave me the feeling of gratitude this morning based on the contrast of the dream and what I’m actually experiencing.

Even though my grandma and I have a bit of conflict in our history and my dad gets on my last nerve with coming back and forth, talking about the same thing - and talking at me, not with me - I feel lucky and fortunate to live with these two bright spirits.

Grandma has special something about her. Although she has really stirred my emotions a few months ago, almost to the brink of explosion for me, I think she is a cozy person who is damaged. If I just let her act how she acts without letting it affect me, we actually live together in peace! Same with my dad. If I just let him go on and on about the same things he’s been going on about since we were 5, I’d live in peace with him. I credit this emotional regulation and self-control to the book I recently read about mental strength, and to meditation as well as mindfulness.

Especially because my career is crystallizing more with each day that goes by (if not my career then my desire for my career), I’m looking forward to improving as a person, a writer, a reader, a family member, and a friend. Trying to better myself in different arenas means that the behavior in one role will transfer to the other positions in my life and that is a very affirming thought.

Learning to be a better girlfriend to Fuzzy has led me to be a better friend to Mel. Being a better friend to Mel has taught me to understand the complexity and diversity in people we interact with each day. This bleeds into my daily chats with my grandma and dad and whether my neurological pathway is structured and well-designed enough for me to withstand their tactics.

So yeah! Lots of improvement happening that is intangible, but later on tangible. I spoke to a couple filmmakers yesterday (which was amazing), and I’m learning that filmmaking and the industry itself can be what we decide it will be and that will be determined on who we are as people and what we think. Rearranging thoughts and belief systems is probably one of the most difficult things to do in life, but I believe that readjusting where I may be lacking can be deeply beneficial to my career.

Let’s take bravery for example. Had I not implemented this bravery and got the motivation from one of my closest friends, half of the calls I've had lately wouldn’t have happened and I wouldn’t be sitting here, deep in thought about what my next moves are. I wouldn’t be here feeling like I’m at square one, and then battling that thought with realizing that I’m not at square one. You know?

It’s like what Fuzzy said about everything being a library once you know what you want. My creative execution and brainstorming may not be as clear as the analysis I’ve done to think about where I want to be in life and that’s okay. Accepting where I am in my journey is a gift that 25 years of life has given me and I’m happy to have this awareness.

Speaking of awareness, I was talking to Mai via voice message this morning about how the people I feel I deeply admire are folks who are especially self-aware. People who are conscious of not only themselves, their thoughts, their actions, words, interactions, behavior, but also their society, other people, how life works, what’s wrong with life, what’s good with life, and have a good hold on their moral compass, are my favorite people. I’m lucky to have a few of those folks in my life as well, but it’s incredible learning about the lives of people with this much perspective.

They seem to have so many rich experiences and are open-minded to a myriad of things, without practicing too much judgement. Although a few of these folks tend to be more self-critical, I think they are amazing and I strive to have the amount of wisdom they do. I believe self-awareness and deep reflection take work. To sit in silence or even in solitude to understand more about the self or the world is difficult. The fact that some people go above and beyond to trying to learn about themselves is powerful to me.

Today we have the OC Fair lined up, which I’m certain Fuzzy is more excited about than I am. And then tomorrow will be a day focused on domestic rest, but also working on our own projects and not worrying about external things like our jobs or other distractions.

I look forward to my productivity levels, but I think the thing I am looking forward to most is getting the time and energy to dedicate toward my practice. The practice of enjoying what I’m writing, enjoying the journey I’m on, being excited when I see improvement, trying my best to be a better me and having fun in that process. Creatively, I want to look at my work and understand its daunting, but tackle it anyway. I want to take the time to jump on a cozy bed, chair, or couch to read a couple chapters of a book I like or want to finish. Because that is what life is about to me. It’s about learning, understanding, growing, processing, journaling, analyzing, processing again, and developing all of these mental skills to be a better and wiser individual.

It’s never been so apparent to me that music really drowns out my worries. Especially if I’m singing. I’m trying to understand if I’ve been using music as an escape and a distraction to not think about my own life, or if I actually find it as internal therapy. It can be both, I think, depending on whether it’s used in moderation or not.

Writing this entry has been surprisingly really fun. Finding the time in my day to just sit down, write, wordbarf on digital paper and see where my thoughts take me. The previous sheet of paper and all its text actually gave me profound thought and let me sit with my feelings about what I want, why I want it, and what life is to me. Although I’m a huge question asker, and I usually always want a very definitive answer, I learned that there are many questions that will never remain static.

That the answer will change no matter what point you are in your life. The answer may change second to second or next month or the next five years. That is what is beautiful about life and humans and learning and growing and changing and pursuing what makes the most sense to me. My mantra for hot yoga today was “I will be okay”, and that brought me peace. Friends, today’s reminder to you will be that you will be okay. I will be okay. We will all be alright.

Written 2:23PM

Ho! Before I move forward. I want to talk about society for once and not always talk about my feelings.

Dude. Living in Los Angeles at this point just makes zero sense. I went to hot yoga yesterday night as well in Highland Park and it baffles me to see people walk around so comfortable. Like wow. Can’t relate to you dining at these nice restaurants, ordering drinks at these bars. Like, that means you have enough disposable income to spend on drinks and a nice dinner? I could barely order 2 chalupa supremes from Taco Bell without it adding up to $18. 

California as an entire state I’m sure is expensive, but Los Angeles took itself to another level. I wouldn’t be taking any yoga classes or exercise courses if it weren’t for free. I just can’t process it. I am still striving to have a home of my own one day, but jesus, it’s crazy to just think about how people can afford living here. It’s wild. Crazy crazy.

Oh! Another thought (these are all stemming from me reviewing the mental strengths book), its scary to think I’ll be 26 very soon, but I’m trying to morph my fear into excitement about the future and determine the best plan of action to ensure I will be financially, physically, and mentally okay by that point. I think I’m doing like proficient right now.

I’m going to get ready for OC fair soon, but this was a fun time. I’m happy that I wrote this much! I hope I can spend more time writing because it’s actually really, really fun.

[themthouse]

Authors: Ideology v. Practicality

Those approaching the case from an ideological point of view, including many of the authors who signed Fight for the Future’s Open Letter Defending Libraries’ Rights in a Digital Age, tend to either have a history of sharing their works freely prior to the lawsuit (ex: Hanif Abdurraqib, who had published a free audio version of his book Go Ahead in The Rain on Spotify before Spotify began charging for audiobooks separately from their music subscriptions) or have alternative incomes related to their writing that don’t stem directly from book sales (ex: Neil Gaiman, who famously works with multiple mediums and adaptations of his writing).

In these cases, the IA lawsuit is framed as an ideological battle over the IA’s intention when releasing the National Emergency Library.

Many other authors, including a large number of smaller names and writers early in their careers, take a much more practical approach to the lawsuit, focused on defending their ability to monetarily profit off their works. This is by no means a reflection of their own ideology surrounding who has the right to information and whether libraries are worth protecting. Instead, it is a response to the fact that these authors love writing, and they simply would not be able to afford to continue writing in a world where they do not have the power to stop digital collections from distributing their copyrighted work without their consent. These include the authors, illustrators and book makes working with the Author’s Guild to submit their amicus brief in  Hachette v. Internet Archive.

These authors claim that controlled digital lending practices cause significant harm to their incomes in the following ways:

CDL undermines e-book licensing and sales markets, as most consumers would choose a free e-book over paying for their own copy.

CDL devalues copyright, meaning authors have less bargaining power in future contract negotiations.

CDL undermines authors ability to republish, whether as a reprint or e-book, out of print books once their publisher has ceased production. This includes self-publishing after the rights to their work have been returned to them.

CDL removes the income from public lending rights (PLR) that authors receive from libraries outside of the U.S. which operate on different lending and copyright standards.

The amicus brief provides first-person anecdotes from authors, including Bruce Coville of The Unicorn Chronicles, about how the rights to backlisted books, or books without an immediately obvious market, make up a huge portion of their annual salary. Jacqueline Diamond cites reissues of out-of-print novels as what kept her afloat during her breast cancer treatment.

It is worth noting that according to the Author’s Guild, some authors who originally signed Fight for the Future’s open letter defending the Internet Archive have even retracted their support after learning more about the specific lawsuit, including Daniel Handler, who writes under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket. The confusion stems from the use of the term “library” by both the Internet Archive and Fight for the Future. While authors overwhelmingly support public libraries, online collections like the Internet Archive don’t always fit the same role or abide by the same regulations as tax-funded public libraries. Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street, has written the following:

“To this day, I am angry that Internet Archive tells the world that it is a library and that, by bootlegging my books, it is simply doing what libraries have always done. Real libraries do not do what Internet Archive does. The libraries that raised me paid for their books, they never stole them.”

Further Reading:

Amicus Brief [Submitted by the Author’s Guild]

Fight for the Future’s Open Letter Defending Libraries’ Rights in a Digital Age

Joint Statement in Response to Fight for the Future’s Letter Falsely Claiming that the Lawsuit Against Internet Archive’s Open Library Harms Public Libraries [Published by the Author’s Guild]

Copyright: American Publishers File for Summary Judgment Against the Internet Archive

Index:

MASTER POST

First-Sale Doctrine & the Economics of E-books

Controlled Digital Lending (CDL)

The “National Emergency Library” & Hachette v. Internet Archive

Authors, Publishers & You

-- Authors: Ideology v. Practicality

-- Publishers: What Authors Are Paid

-- You: When Is Piracy Ethical?

[notesfromtheozyverse]

How Superheroes and Therapy Saved Me:

A Brief History

I love comic books, and especially, superhero comics. I also love drawing and writing. Superhero comics, drawing, and writing have stayed with me since I was a kid. Naturally I made a career out of writing and drawing superhero comics, right? Wrong.

Oh sure, I made attempts at making comics when I was in high school. I had absolutely no training, no script, not even an outline. So, of course, I couldn’t get past page one, and would quickly give up. I turned to acting during my junior year. I even went to college majoring in theatre. I didn’t become a professional actor, but it turned out to be useful for me. More on that later.

Life moved on. I worked in a video store for several years, acting here and there, still feeling empty inside. Something was missing, but I didn’t know what. I thought changing jobs would help, or that marriage would be the answer, or that having a kid would complete my life, but I was wrong on all counts. I ended up divorced, only seeing my son every other week, in a new job, but one that was unfulfilling. So, I went into therapy.

It was immensely helpful, talking out my problems with someone who had no connection to me otherwise. I was depressed, angry, and often anxious. My therapist helped me deal with all that. She recommended me to a psychiatrist, where I found out that I have a chemical imbalance, as well. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Depression, a type of Bipolar Disorder.

I’ll try to keep it simple. Bipolar Depression is basically when you have more depressive episodes than manic episodes. Three times as many, in fact. You may be depressed most of the day, almost every day. Trouble sleeping at night and trouble staying awake during the day are also symptoms. Worthlessness and excessive guilt are common. You may feel euphoria, but, speaking from my own personal experience, the depressive episodes tend to rule.

Fast forward to 2015. I was doing better, but still a little lost. I wanted to leave a legacy for my son. I also wanted to reach out to others, and let them know that they are not alone. Since college, I had read several books about making comics, and I got inspired. I would make a graphic novel, which is essentially a long form comic book, telling a stand-alone story.

Side note: even though I gave up making comics in high school, I never completely gave up on comics. I kept reading superhero stuff, but I also expanded to other genres. In the late 1990s, comic books focused more on the writer, making the reading of said comic books more interesting and entertaining.

But what would my graphic novel be about? I had always heard that you should write about what you know. Okay, so, what did I know? Well, by this point in my life, 2015, I had been reading comic books, specifically superhero comics, since I learned to read, and I had been in therapy for Bipolar Depression for about six-and-a-half years. So the answer came to me clear as crystal: my graphic novel would be about a superhero with Bipolar Depression, who goes to a therapist to get better, but mainly to regain his lost powers (which was due to his depression).

So, that’s exactly what I did. I worked on the comic, finished it, and gave it to my dad to read. His review was that he “liked the artwork”. I wasn’t;’t satisfied with that. Not to be deterred, I decided to do it again. This time, I tried a different format, landscape (as opposed to the standard portrait), and drew inspired by Matt Groening’s Life in Hell comic strip; simple line work, while still communicating the story to the audience. In April 2016, a year to the month after I started, I published Save Me.

From the back cover:

This is a story about Gus, a superhero who loses his powers. After seeing a therapist in an attempt to regain them, he discovers he has Bipolar Depression. At the same time, he falls in love with a girl at the local coffee shop and attempts to attract her attention.

Will Gus be able to regain his powers?

Will he gain control of his depression?

And finally, will Gus get the girl?

I didn’t reach the millions of people I hoped I would with my graphic novel. Everyone who did read it seemed to like it, which was good. I had my legacy, which was important to me. More important, however, was the fact that I started a project, and saw it through to completion. Also, and this may be most important thing of all, I had finally come to terms with my own Bipolar Depression.

I wasn’t embarrassed about it anymore. I was dealing with it. If it happened to come up in conversation, I didn’t shy away from it. Everyone who knows me well knows about my condition. Not because I’m proud of it, but because I want them to understand why I’m maybe not at my best on any particular day.

I went on to make another graphic novel called The Paranoid Guy. It’s a wacky comedy, partly based on some (very) short films I made in college. I have ideas for other graphic novels, and I am currently working on a one-shot comic book called Freak Like Me. It is done more in the style and tradition of Save Me, at least, I hope so.

Well, that’s it. I still struggle with my Bipolar Depression on a day-to-day basis. I’m still learning about myself every day. It’s a never-ending battle.

But I’m winning, and that’s what counts.