#i see i've started to work out a technique to this motif

[vimse]

random cloud paintings i made over the past week

[cboffshore]

"Bridal Portrait of Uncertain Origin"

Artist unknown, circa the Fall of the Preeminent (estimated)

Oils on bespoke canvas, silk tulle, gilded oak frame

Shortly after the last Yin-Yang Eclipse prior to the Merge, this portrait was discovered in the attic of the Temple of Airjitzu, despite no records of the portrait ever being displayed inside. Indeed, "Bridal Portrait of Uncertain Origin" lacks any solid provenance or provable history. The materials and techniques used only further obscure the truth; perhaps the only thing certain about it is that it exists.

Examination of the structure of the canvas and gilded wooden frame indicate classical techniques from the end of the Era of the Stone Warrior; however, chemical analysis of the paints, varnish, and other materials used to finish the base revealed compounds identical to substances readily available in civilian art supply establishments of pre-Merge urban Ninjago, specifically those available shortly before the portrait's discovery.

Further complicating matters, the image itself is a web of self-contradictions and mismatched details. The subject's pose is highly informal, but the portrait itself - from the level of detail in the oil paint to the larger-than-life scale - is lavish enough to suggest a formal reason for its creation. The subject's attire, too, is highly unusual. Of all known ceremonial attire in the realms, the blues, sharp lapels, and floral motifs rendered here most closely match traditional Djinjagan royal wedding garments (hence the portrait's given title). However, the presence of only two arms, human legs emphasized by a jumpsuit, and the highly unusual structure of the outfit preclude it from being truly Djinjagan in origin and match no other known ceremonial garments from any realm.

Despite all of these bizarre qualities, perhaps the most intriguing part of the portrait is the silk tulle veil flowing out from the painting to drape over the edge of the frame. Independent analyses by multiple art historians found absolutely no point of the connection between the veil and the canvas; the fabric seems to proceed from the image itself, as if the frame is in fact only a window sill separating the viewer from the bride. Furthermore, chemical analysis of the veil revealed trace quantities of organic Latrodectus sotoii venom - a toxin found only on one island in all sixteen realms, which was nowhere close to the portrait's point of origin. Combined with the spiderweb embroidery on the veil, as well as the subject's trio of spider shaped brooches and venom-coated raised hand, the presence of this toxin may be the most reasonable thing about this portrait.

(Now: notes from the artist.)

The process for this one was utterly unlike any other artistic project I've ever done. This all started with me thinking back over a past Skybound analytical piece of mine and thinking how fun it might be to try putting it on an actual person instead of the template croquis I designed it on. (Also: seeing how my texturing methods have evolved!) One Dallon Weekes photo and a Reel about quick contrapposto armature doodling later and I was off to the races.

Initially, this was only supposed to be a souped up edition of the original look - the second image shown just above these notes. Then, while I was trying to figure out how I wanted to display the veil, I wondered: wouldn't it be neat to let it drape out of the frame? Except for I didn't have a frame involved at that point.

At which point I decided, well.... let's make a frame happen. There was already a decidedly haunted portrait energy coming off of this thing (fully intentional, but that's what happens when two of the albums you associate most strongly with your Skybound work are Vices and Virtues and Violent Things), so I thought: let's put it on display. Let's let the veil creep out to meet actual gallery air. Furthermore, why not give it a scary ass, borderline SCP ish existence? I do love an excuse to try and write a museum plaque.

Put another way: If you walked into a gallery and saw an oversized portrait of you on one of the worst days of your life that never happened, except for all the details were wrong (but just right enough to suggest the artist knew what she was doing), would that be fucked up or what?

Some other assorted notes about this:

The design of the gallery space itself was inspired by an image of Crystal Bridges, an art museum in Arkansas that I'm hoping to visit later this year on a trip I'm taking to that area. I've had a family friend hyping it up for years now, and I've looked into it a lot; it's an incredible space. In the fictional lore of this painting, it ends up in a Crossroads art preservation institute of some kind that hangs on to art and artifacts from throughout the realms that crashed together in the Merge. (I couldn't quite squeeze that into the plaque writeup without sounding clunky.) Crystal Bridges, an American art museum with a dizzying range of works, inspired that idea and seemed the most appropriate place to base my fictional gallery on. Here's the image I used as reference, taken from a Google result from their site:

There is, in fact, text on that plaque on the wall. It's too tiny to read, but I promise that's text. Barring a few minor changes, it's the same as in the writeup; I typed it out, screenshotted and removed the background, and laid it out on the plaque. Much easier than trying to draw out teeny individual words.

Something else I couldn't fit into the plaque but tried to imply via the details was that this piece survived whatever collection it was originally in and made it through the Merge inexplicably intact, much like Nya's memories of the deleted timeline still hanging on even after the full reset. Weird as some stuff in this world is, there truly is no escaping it. Better get some nice lighting on it and try to get to the bottom of it. (I do also think it's funny how I bent over backwards trying to help this unnamed plaque author curator character trace every possible origin path when the motive for making this was just... fun. I just did this for fun and then I tried to make it look so grand and terrifying.)

The outfit in the portrait is faithful to the original design, with a few tweaks: the web collar is now gold to stand out against the veil, the veil itself is much longer, there are now two more spiders on the skirt, and there's a birdcage-inspired crinoline under the skirt. That last one was a technical decision, as the lace this time around didn't feel like it could hold itself up. Also, it's a convenient source of more symbolism if you need one.

That's about all the notes I have for right now - if I think of others, I'll be sure to add them. If you have any questions or comments, the inbox is always, always open.

Thank you for stopping by the exhibit.

[a-nice-and-interpretive-fanzine]

[ID: A cream-colored banner that says "A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: essays and art about the meanings we've found in Good Omens." There is a photo of a book page with a key on it behind the banner text. The photo source is rosy_photo on Pixabay. /end ID]

A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: Information Masterpost

Welcome!

This is a zine for those of us who love the subtle, complex work that is Good Omens, and who’ve enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the fandom as people interpret how the many moving pieces of the story come together, creating a slightly different meaning for each of us.

To put it simply, it’s a book full of the fandom’s own analysis and commentary about the Good Omens TV show, enhanced with illustrations from our brilliant artists.

This zine is analytical in the sense that all the writers are expressing their own nonfiction thoughts and feelings about the show, rather than writing fanfic, but it is not meant to be heavily academic. Anybody who likes to pick apart the series and discuss it should be able to enjoy it.

The zine will contain essays by fans who are passionate about analyzing and interpreting different parts of Good Omens - the characters, the plot, the writing techniques for the book and script, the cinematography of the TV show, the popular content of the fandom itself. Accompanying these essays will be black and white illustrations from our artists.

How are you organizing this process?

May 1-May 15: Everyone submits their application to do writing or art through a Google form. Behind the scenes, I’ll be setting up a separate email and Discord.

May 16-20: Applicants will be screened during this time.

May 20: I’ll email everyone to let them know the outcomes of their applications. The final participants will get a link to the Discord server for the zine (totally optional, of course).

May 21: If there’s any clarification or solidifying of ideas that needs to happen, I’ll contact you and discuss with you by this point. This is also when artists will be matched up with essays.

May 22 to August 14: This will be a period of just working on our essays and art. The Discord chat and Tumblr will be there for support and for exchanging ideas!

August 15: Participants need to email their full works to the zine’s email address by this date. No special formatting is needed; I’ll do that in InDesign.

August 15 to August 31: I’ll be putting the zine together in InDesign.

September 1: Preorders will open.

September 30: Preorders will close.

October 1: The zine order will be placed!

October 15: Assuming all goes well with printing and shipping, the zines will be shipped out in waves starting on this date. If the printing or shipping from the manufacturer is delayed, then shipping will just start ASAP.

Writer Application HERE Artist Application HERE Asked and Answered Questions on Tumblr The Fanzine's Page on Twitter

Read below for more detailed information about the zine in a Q and A format!

What are the specifications for the zine contributions?

For writers, I’m starting with 3k words or fewer per essay (approximately 10 pages at the size of this book). This depends heavily on how many participants we actually get, so it may change!

For artists, I’d be looking at black and white works, 300 DPI, 5.5 x 8.5 inches or smaller. If your art is supposed to fill up the entire page (i.e. no white space), please make it a total of 5.75 x 8.75 inches with nothing too important around the edges to account for bleed during the printing process.

Can I submit an essay to this zine if I’ve already posted it on Tumblr?

Not as you’ve already posted it. We don’t want to just copy/paste the exact thing that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of people have already read.

However, it IS fine and maybe even a good idea to take the same thought from your post and refine it, preserving your same thesis. For example, a lot of Tumblr posts are just us fans jotting down 5 or 6 paragraphs of random thoughts at 2 AM, but some of them are really cool thoughts! Expanding them and turning them into a bona-fide Essay would make those posts into excellent zine chapters. And you can copy small pieces of your own language as long as the whole thing isn’t just pasted word-for-word.

How long do essays have to be? Is there a limit?

With the number of writers we have, I've calculated that each person should ideally keep their essay to about 6000 words. There is wiggle room.

There’s no real minimum for your contribution; some analytical ideas are really good but can be expressed concisely, so it’s okay if your essays only come out to a few pages typed. For reference, with our book size, a page is about 300 words.

What happens if the zine sells a lot and you end up not only breaking even, but turning a profit?

It’ll go to charity. While I’ll ask the participants what they want to do for certain if we do make enough money, my suggestion will be donating it to Alzheimer’s Research UK in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett.

I’m not really comfortable calling this a “charity zine” up front since I simply don’t know if it will raise a significant amount. For the most part, I just want the thing to physically exist, which means breaking even, and don’t want to make it more expensive for buyers than it needs to be to afford the printing costs.

What kinds of essays are you talking about? What could be included?

In short, any analytical thoughts about the Good Omens TV show - and possibly even the fandom as it interacts with the show - are possible inclusions for the zine.

To expand a bit, think about the meta posts you see floating around Tumblr. Often these involve analyzing characters, or picking up on patterns in the plot. Sometimes fans use their own background knowledge to write posts about the significance of certain costume choices or the way music plays into each individual scene. Some posts examine the ways the series approaches gender, while others might discuss ways that the characters present as neurodivergent. That’s how diverse the pool of possibilities is for subjects in this zine.

How does art come into this?

Images will be black and white, to match the bookish mood of the project overall. Images can range in size from a half page to a full page.

I’m planning to talk to the artists and authors and loosely pair artists with essays that appeal to their personal interests.

I know how to illustrate a story, but how do I illustrate an essay?

There are infinite answers to this! I’ve seen some beautiful symbolic artwork in the fandom already (e.g. a number of takes on Aziraphale munching on an apple with Crowley in snake form curving around him), and there are tons of symbolic motifs to draw from, but these are not the only options. An artist illustrating an essay about cinematography, for example, could draw a well-known scene from an alternative angle. An essay about Heaven as a capitalist corporation could be illustrated with a cartoon of Gabriel giving some sort of excruciating PowerPoint presentation. A character analysis could be accompanied by a simple portrait. And on and on. I’m not interested in limiting the possibilities by trying to make a list, but just know that there are many and you don’t have to make it complicated if you don’t want to.

If the writers can reuse their essay ideas, can artists reuse their drawings?

Similarly to the writers, if you already have an interpretive drawing that you’re in love with, artists can use the same ideas and the same fundamental composition that is present in their own existing work. However, it has to be redone in some significant way. Whether it’s taking something you drew in 2019 and redrawing it using an updated style, taking a sketch and turning it into a lined and shaded piece, or redoing a full-color drawing so it presents more strikingly in black and white, it shouldn’t be identical to the thing you’ve already posted.

So how are you choosing participants here?

It’ll be based on what people are interested in writing about (or illustrating). I’ll be looking for people who are passionate about their essays, but I’ll also be looking for variety. It all depends on what people want to offer, so I won’t know for sure what it will look like put together until everyone’s application is in.

For artists, I’ll be trying to figure out whose style looks like it would adapt well to illustrations in black and white, and also who demonstrates an interest in the same subjects as the writers.

If we don’t get a lot of applicants, I’d love to simply include everyone, but I can’t commit to that without knowing for sure how many people are involved.

Do I have to use a formal writing style to participate?

No. You should use a style that makes your thoughts and ideas as clear as possible, but as long as it’s understandable, you can also get a little artistic with it. You can “write like you speak,” though perhaps in a more organized way. You definitely don’t need to worry about stylistic rules like not using the first person. This is not academia.

Is this zine going to center only on Crowley and Aziraphale?

That remains to be seen! It depends on what ideas show up in the applications. There will be a lot of the ineffable partners for sure, but whether the whole zine will center on them or whether there’s plentiful stuff about other characters will depend on what the participants suggest.

Do we have to agree with all your personal interpretations of Good Omens to be in the zine?

No! In fact, I’m assuming that a number of essays will contradict each other, too, and that’s perfectly okay. The zine is a sampler of fan interpretations meant to inspire, not instruct. It’s not “Here’s a fan-made guide on how to understand this TV show,” it’s “Look at all these moving parts and how many meanings we can find in them. What does it mean to you?”

However, there are some basic rules and assumptions by which I’m working here.

I don’t personally have the energy to include essays that are highly critical (“negative”) in this zine. It’s analytical but also meant to be fun.

I’m pretty focused on the TV adaptation. This isn’t “no book analysis allowed” but just that the essays will end up being weighted toward subjects that apply to either the TV show or both the book and the show.

Each writer should focus on making their own points over disproving other fan interpretations. If you’re writing in an expository style, it’s normal for the essay to contain rebuttals to opposing ideas, but these should be minor supporting points, not the heart and soul of your essay. For reference, I’d say the majority of meta I see floating around on tumblr would follow this rule just fine.

Essay ideas that seem to contain bigoted or exclusionary sentiments will not be accepted (no TERFy stuff, for example).

What kinds of editing will go into the zine? Are you going to argue with us about the contents of our writing?

While I might ask you to elaborate on certain points in your writing or clarify your thoughts about your subject, I’m absolutely not here to ask you to change the thesis, opinions, or headcanons on which your writing is based. If I really have a problem with your initial idea, I’ll tell you that up front and politely decline the contribution.

While formatting the zine, I’ll make minor edits if I think I see a typo or misspelling, something small and obviously unintentional. As with any other zine, your content won’t be changed without consulting you.

Is this a SFW zine?

Yes. If people want to discuss sexuality in a theoretical way, like erotic subtext, that would be allowed. There are canon references like Newt and Anathema’s moment under the bed that might come up, too. But there will be nothing explicit, and since these are essays instead of stories, there will be no “action” going on between characters. Let’s just say sex isn’t a forbidden topic, but it will be like discussing it in English class.

As for other topics that could make the zine NSFW, like gore or extreme language, I don’t think they will be an issue. Some dark topics, like abuse by Heaven and Hell, may be discussed, but they will be warned for, and these are not stories, so you aren’t going to see violent actions playing out.

Will there be any “extras” like charms or stickers?

I’m not sure yet. I’m most inclined to keep it simple, because of the nature of the zine, but would be open to including some bonus items if there’s an artist who’s really passionate about it.

With that said, I am pretty committed to making a hardcover edition of the book available, in addition to the standard softcover version.

You’re doing this with only one mod?!

Yes. I personally find it easiest. While I’ve worked on multi-mod projects in other domains and adore all of my co-mods, it’s a little bit different when it’s a project with this many moving pieces that includes real-life components like printing and shipping. Though there are a lot of individual things to be done, I am experienced with all of them, so it’s less overwhelming to just take on the whole project. That way, I know exactly what needs to be done and when, and there are no issues with assigning tasks.

What qualifies you to run this zine?

The résumé answer: in fandom, I successfully solo-modded a large not-for-profit zine in the past, the @soulmakazine2018, and while I can’t speak for the whole fandom, it definitely seemed to be well-received. <3 In real life, I’m a case manager and this involves coordinating and communicating with a lot of different people including my 100-person caseload, budgeting services, and filling out all kinds of paperwork on the fly, all skills that can be imported into zine work.

The practical answer: well, I’m the one who decided to start this project, so if you like the sound of it, you're stuck with me. I say with encouragement and enthusiasm that if you’d like to do a different take on a commentary zine, you should absolutely do it.

[littleeyesofpallas]

So a(nother) weird thing I noticed with Hachi...

ここの周りに施した「八爻双崖」はワタシが仮面化してから独自に創り出した術...

The "Hachigyou Sougai*" that was applieds around here is a technique that I created independently after I became a Visored

死神の鬼道で解くことは不可能デス...

It's impossible to solve with Shinigami's Kidou

I was going over some of Hacchi's kidou stuff and I noticed this weird phrase that wasn't translated properly:

「八爻双崖」(はちぎょうそうがい)

Most of this isn't anything special. The Sougai[双崖]: "Twin Cliff(s)" this is super simple to translate, and is consistently handled across the board.

But you'll notice that that means the real focus here is the kanji gyou[爻]... You can see on the right most panel there, that Viz's translator just didn't bother with the Hachigyou bit at all. But in the fan scanlation they went with "joined" which does seem to have some precedent...

...Except that I couldn't actually find any corroborating information on that. Jisho is the one you see above, but Google translate, Wiktionary, and Weblio all fail to list those readings, apart from the mention of "radical no.89" which is less a translation and more a description of how it fits into the organizational structure of the Japanese kanji system;

that is to say, it is itself a "radical" which is a series of strokes used as the basis for a whole subset of related words. And i think... think... this discrepancy is that it etymologically lends the meaning of "mixing/joining/twining" to the kanji that use it, but it can't actually be used in a sentence, as its own word, to mean "mixing/joining/twining."

I don't really know how to explain that in a less technical way... It's almost like how -ton as a suffix is just a contracted form of "town" and we all just kind of understand that, but you'd never refer to "a ton" or "the next ton over" or "my hometon" as if it were its own word. Right? It's not quite the same, but that's the best I can think of...

Anyway, the point is I had to keep digging, and the alternative reading I found was this...

and against all odds... despite this being kind of an obscure term, I actually know exactly what this means! To start, I'm sure you're actually all familiar in one way or another with some variation of this image/motif,

Bagua is often translated into English as something like "8 trigrams" and it's a part of taoist philosophy/cosmology. Taoism, I think I've mentioned on this blog before, is the broad system of Chinese philosophy and lore and mysticism revolving around the concept of yin and yang; in Japan the adopted form of taoism was called onmyoudou[陰陽道], meaning literally "yin yang way." It's a very broad set of ideas ranging from cosmology and geomancy and divination to the basis of a lot of traditional Chinese medicines and a kind of proto-psychology and spiritualism, etc.... It's also where the concept of chi in Chinese(ki in Japanese) comes from. But getting back to the point...

"8 Trigrams" is actually kind of a vague way to translate it, even if it's pretty literal. The "trigrams" in question are each of the sets of three bars, either broken or unbroken. Each unique sequence of bars is its own trigram. And the eight trigrams are ☰, ☱, ☲, ☳, ☴, ☵, ☶, and ☷. They have a whole series of different systems of meaning that map over them, as is just kind of the way taoism in general tends to work. It's all really cool, but also just not something I can summarize neatly in any short amount of time.

BUT even though the Bagua tends to be the most familiar, there's actually both a much more complicated system involving the trigrams* as well as an underlying concept as well. Because at it's most basic all the more complicated symbols stemming from the trigrams are made up of just two foundational symbols: ⚋, the "broken" bar representing yin, and ⚊, the "unbroken" bar representing yang. And THESE singular units are what 爻 refers to.

The weird part of that is that this whole system of symbols tends to work off of units of 3 digits at a time; you wouldn't normally have an octagram, you'd have a trigram or a hexagram. It's also not super clear if it means to refer to "8 things" where the thing is "yao", and also "two cliffs." ...or if it means "8 things", where the thing is "a yao pair" and then... "cliff" is in there for some reason? The trigram ☶ is actually a symbol for Mountain, but I feel like that's not what Kubo meant? Or else he'd have just used the kanji [山]mountain, not [崖]cliff. And either way it's a trigram, not a pair of two.

But then there's the i ching's use of hexagrams instead of trigrams... And ䷳ is made up of two ☶, so literally a pair of cliffs. There's more context to the I Ching that I can really explain here but that hexagram is called gen[艮] and can be interpreted to mean things like "Bound" or "keeping still, mountain" and "stilling." But again.... that's not "8 Yao..."

I guess a big snag in all this, is that I'm not sure how much Kubo knew about i ching or bagua when he wrote this, so there's always the chance he meant one thing but said something different by mistake...

*do go check out the wiki on I Ching if you have the time, because it's super cool in its own right, but like I said there's a LOT there to read up on

Any way, what's really interesting about this is that it's actually always been a distinct feature of Hachi's that he stacks or layers his barriers, AND later, after the long MIA period for the Visored as a whole, his kidou tends to show up in the form of long bars. So, once you've made the connection to yao, his layering of bars/barriers is like building up to the more complex concepts in the various trigrams and hexgrams of bagua and i ching as you add yao.

AND I've actually stumbled into that subject before, because the emphasis on the bars seems to lean into foodbased themes with him as well...

Incidentally when I went looking for the bar images to clip out I noticed this panel of Hachi summoning up some barriers to slap Barregan with and wouldn't you know it, they're the same shape as 爻, although perhaps more similar to some of its archaic glyph forms.

[palimpsessed]

So @captain-aralias​ did one of these and invited other writers to do the same. And I wasn't really going to because it feels a bit late now and also I've done quite a few other year in review posts for 2020. But then I got to thinking that it would be really nice to have one of these for each year to look back on and compare, which convinced me. So, here we go!

If you’re a writer, I’d also encourage you to steal this. Tag me on your post so I can see your thoughts! 🥰

List of Complete Fics for 2020 1. At the Top of a Tower, With You- General, 900 words 2. Use Your Words- Teen, 16k 3. A Man of Letters, or Five Times Baz Retreats and the One Time He Doesn’t- Teen, 54k 4. To the Manor Borne- Teen, 43k

Total: 4 fics, 113k words

Every one of these fics was written for an event, which, realistically, is the only reason they got finished. I have so many ideas I'm working on all at once, and I came into fandom with a focus on making art, so to actually find the motivation to sit down and write/finish/post a fic was entirely deadline based. And it's a technique I'm sure I will also employ in 2021.

Best/Worst Title?

Well, I've mentioned a few times before that I usually have a title before I have much in the way of a fic concept. I don't really dislike any of the my titles, because they all did exactly what I needed them to do, which was help me focus on what I wanted to accomplish in the fic. Comparatively speaking, though, I can answer this.

Best: Use Your Words - succinct, idiomatic, a book quote/motif that also has the potential to be a spell, does what it says on the tin, is probably what all of us are constantly yelling at Baz and Simon to do throughout the books and the fic itself

(Honorable mention to A Man of Letters because that title forms a perfect heart shape when viewed on mobile on AO3. ❤️)

Worst: At the Top of a Tower, With You - this is also a quote and it fits the fic perfectly, but it is a bit of a mouthful and it has a comma in the middle of it, which, while I love commas, feels a bit off-putting in terms of a title - also, it's always kind of bothered me that it's a Baz WS quote used for a CO-era Lucy POV

Best/worst summary?

Again, I don't really dislike any of my summaries.

Best:

To the Manor Borne: The gang decides to spend Christmas together at Pitch Manor. Romance, hijinks, and holiday cheer ensue.

Anything that lets me use the word hijinks is always good! - it's short and sweet - it does a fair job of setting up the premise for the fic and giving highlights, without giving anything away

Worst: A Man of Letters

I'm not going to include this one because it's so long, I had to cut down the version I posted on tumblr to fit in the AO3 field, which is really why I rank it below my others - it effectively sets up the world of Simon and Baz in Regency England prior to where the story starts, but it is prohibitively long - and it's set up, not summary, so it also loses points for not doing what it purports to do - I could have said exactly what this fic was in one sentence: "Simon and Baz meet at several Regency-appropriate venues over the course of a London season and reflect on their acquaintance in letters", but instead I did the full book jacket version because it was more interesting to me.

Best/Worst First Line?

Oh, this is interesting. I can honestly say that I have no idea where this will go. Going to pull up my docs and find out! Okay, since I only have four fics to consider, and I'm feeling split, I'm going to do two for each. I feel good about my words, but I will say that half of my first lines actually provide information, and the other half are incomplete thoughts. Those were stylistic decisions I made, but when taken alone, it does somewhat limit the effectivness of a sentence when it can't stand without the rest of the paragraph. Perhaps that decision will lure readers in for more?

Best:

In the end, we wind up at Pitch Manor. (To the Manor Borne)

I know that you won't be surprised when I tell you that I do not like writing letters. (A Man of Letters)

Kind of interesting that these both contain key words from the titles 🤔

Worst:

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do this. (Use Your Words)

I love how the title seems to be answering Baz's question when the two are put together like this 😂

Strange that it should end here, where it all started. (At the Top of a Tower, With You)

The title also seems to complete the first line in this one, too. I'm learning about my writing as this goes on, so that's cool!

Best/Worst Last Line?

Hmm. Okay, again, no idea. Also, a little leery of including last lines for anyone who hasn't read the fics they're from yet. (Tho I guess it's unlikely those people would be reading this😆) But let's see what we've got.

Use Your Words and A Man of Letters have very similar final lines, and both are somewhat spoilery.

Best: The ending of A Man of Letters felt risky to me, in the way that it is formatted and changes tone from the rest of the story. It was something that happened as I wrote it and I loved it. I had no idea if readers would like it, if they would feel like it worked as an ending, but I felt strongly enough about it to let the entire fic hinge on that and I think it really paid off. So, without giving you the actual last line, which is only one word, I'm going to say that one is my best ending.

Worst:

To the Manor Borne: "Carry on, Simon."

It's not bad, it's just not mine.

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, fewer than you thought, or about what you predicted?

I did not set out to write any fics in 2020. I was supposed to be taking a break from writing. I've been an aspiring novelist for half my life now, and have been going through major ups and downs with my writing. I decided I needed to re-evaluate and figure out if writing was something that was even going to be able to make me happy anymore. The answer is: YES! Just…not original fiction. At the moment. I'm happiest when I can write for the sake of writing and not have to DO something with that writing. Which is why discovering fan fiction was AMAZING!!!! 🥰🥰🥰

To actually answer the question, yes, I wrote more than I thought I would. I also wrote exactly as much as I thought I would, simply because these were all things I signed up for (with the exception of my Countdown fic, but I committed to it as if it were something that required a sign up).

I have a lot more ideas for 2021, but I don't know how many of them will come to fruition. I'm not putting pressure on myself to have to do anything beyond what I sign up for again, because it did work out so well for me starting off.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

I mean, the pairing and the fandom were in no way a surprise. 😆 They're my only ones, so those were both a given. The genre is also not surprising.

What's your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest?

A Man of Letters, without any hesitation. I adore it so much. It's the kind of fic I know I will unabashedly sit down to read over and over, even if I'm the one who wrote it. I had one reader to please and it was ME. By far, my most self-indulgent fic.

Okay, NOW your most popular story?

That depends on the metric.

To the Manor Borne leads in Comments (107), Kudos (153), and Hits (1992), and Use Your Words leads in Bookmarks (26).

But since To the Manor Borne is top in 3 out of 4 metrics, I'll say that one.

Story most upderappreciated by the universe?

I mean, the least popular by a wide margin is At the Top of a Tower, With You, but I don't know if I'd call it underappreciated. It's short, it's angsty, it's got a very unusual style, it's Lucy POV, it's the first fic I wrote and posted. I didn't really go into it with high performance expectations. I'm proud of it, I just didn't expect it to be popular. It would be nice if more people read it, but I'm not broken up over it.

Story that could have been better?

I'm not even going to touch this one. Everything can always be improved upon, but if I go down that route, nothing will ever be done. This is one of the things I have come to appreciate about traditional art versus digital. With traditional, there is only so much you can do before something is permanent and you have to live with it. It's an exercise in letting go and acceptance. Digital is flashier and more flexible, but I could (and have) spend months on a single piece and never feel satisfied, never stop tweaking. I think that's also the reason I started to hate my novels.

Sexiest story?

Based purely on overall vibes, I find the understated tension of the Regency the most appealing, so I'm going to say A Man of Letters. I didn't actually stray into sex territory in any of my fics (though Simon and Baz have had sex by the time To the Manor Borne starts, and refer to it, and probably do it "offscreen"), but A Man of Letters is the one that feels sexiest to me. Lots of thirsting!Baz and feral!Simon and sensual hand touching (how risqué!) - and YEARNING. That, to me, is the sexiest vibe of all. So. Much. Yearning.

Saddest story?

At the Top of a Tower, With You - for this one, I tagged "angst without plot" and I stand by that. It's Lucy losing her connection to Simon at the end of CO and trying to find a way to reconcile herself to leaving him alone again. I gave it as much of a hopeful bent as I could, with the refrain of Baz's spoken "love" to cling to, but it's very sad.

Most fun?

To the Manor Borne - All of my fics have their fair share of angst, but this one also has some good, silly, holiday fluff thrown in. Since I wrote it for the Countdown, each chapter was based on a different prompt, which led to this one going in all sorts of directions no single fic probably ever should. Plus, it has the most Shepard, and Shepard always makes things more fun.

Story with the single sweetest moment?

Oh my god. I don't know. No, never mind. I do. It's To the Manor Borne, but it's split between the two gift giving scenes, the Constellations and Secret Santa/Gift Giving prompts. These were private moments between Simon and Baz, sharing themselves with each other, being vulnerable, and communicating. It's the gifts they give each other, yes, but it's more so the reasons they chose those gifts, and how they show part of themselves and share their love for each other, through those gifts, that had me in tears writing those two scenes. I'm super proud of them.

Hardest story to write?

Use Your Words - it was written for an exchange and that made it really hard to write it knowing there was this pressure of making my gift-ee happy with the fic. I'm proud of it, and they really liked it, but the anxiety was too much for me.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

A Man of Letters - if there is a fic better suited to me as a writer, I haven't met it. I started writing after reading Pride and Prejudice in high school, so I started out writing Regency and I spent years and years and years of my life obsessed. When I transferred into college, an administrator I had never met before heard my name during orientation and said, "Oh, you're the Austen scholar." (It is a small, private college, and I was a transfer, so the pool of students was even smaller. But still. Many years later, I'm clearly not over it.) I also did my senior thesis on an epistolary novel (Frances Burney’s Evelina), and my English Lit emphasis was for that time period. So, I felt like I had been preparing for this fic my entire adult life. 😂

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

I don't think so. I tend to let my writing be dictated by the characters, so I'm always following their lead. Sometimes they'll do or say something that surprises me and takes me down a route I didn't necessarily foresee, but I don't think there was ever a point where one of them did something that made me rethink who they are as a character.

Most overdue story?

I will say A Man of Letters, since that one felt like a culmination of my seventeen-year-old self's wildest writing dreams. But I should probably say the Scooby Doo AU I still haven't managed to finish, because that one has been a WIP since I joined the fandom. Oops. (I'm hoping when I look over this in a year, I can feel smug that it's finally done.)

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

Writing at all was a risk for me! And writing fan fic for the very first time! Writing an entire fic told only through letters. And then ending it in a completely different style from the rest of the fic. Doing a multi-chaptered fic for the Countdown, using a different prompt for each chapter, and publishing a chapter every single day for thirty days (with the exception of two days that had art). Signing up for fandom events in the first place!

What I learned from taking risks in my writing is the same thing I learned when I took risks in my art this year. I have a much better appreciation for what I've done when I push myself, I feel better about the end product, and I like it longer. I think it's really good for me to challenge myself creatively.

This year's theme and the story that demonstrates it most?

Oh boy. Um. Therapy! Both Use Your Words and To the Manor Borne had their big HEA moments built around sending Simon and Baz to therapy. I don't think that's likely to change for future fics, either. I feel like therapy as the theme for 2020 seems very fitting. (Also, I think I keep sending the boys to therapy because I'm trying to get myself there…)

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Just to write what I want to write, have fun, not put any pressure on myself, and to take risks in my writing and my art because it will help me to grow.

[jimlingss]

Hi, Kina! I think you're one of the most talented fiction writers I've literally ever known. My friend and I always make time to read your fics and sit down, analyze and discuss. We love your ideas, your prose, your writing style so much! Many professional authors write a beautiful beginning, but by the end of their story, they forget to tie up a few loose ends. You, however, elaborately craft stories that are consistently well-written—from the beginning to the end. (1/5)

Anonymous said: I've read A Memory Without You a while back and the only reason I remember it so well is because the ending parallels the beginning. OC steps forward into an office when the fic starts, signifying her step into her story; in the end, Hoseok takes a step forward, mirroring OC's actions (and subsequently entering her life again). I have no idea if that was planned or not, but you tend to parallel the beginning and endings in many of your stories. That's what makes them so memorable. (2/5)

When I read the last line of your stories (I'm usually crying or smiling giddily), I always get this feeling of nostalgia. I'm brought back to vague memories of the introduction of the fic when the OC had yet to experience hardship and character development. I always get to look back at the character's development and see how far they've come. Stories that exemplify this strongly (A Kiss of Poison, APOTM, Tears of a Villain). (3/5)

Your characters have depth, and I appreciate that so much. You somehow convey to me that these characters are REAL humans facing REAL problems. Even if the character is as eccentric as OC from Annihilation of You, as spunky as OC from Brass & Strings or like, not even HUMAN as OC from Game of Temptation, you convince me that these people deserve their story to be told. And I always fall in love with them. Sorry this is so long omg I have ONE more point to make; bear with me 😭 (4/5)

The best part about being on your blog for so long is seeing the improvement. Don't get me wrong, you were always a fantastic writer. But the closer I come to your recent stories, the more I see of subtle plot advances, character development, flow, imagery. I know you say that most of your writing comes from experience, but the talent was always in there somewhere, you know? I hope you'll use your amazing ideas and writing prowess to go do more of god's work in this world! (5/5)

anon, you are praising me too highly. I’m honoured that you and your friend actually sits down to discuss my writing hahaha and that you analyze it like some kind of literature review book club. I’m genuinely honoured.

One of the reasons I actually always make an effort to tie up all loose ends is because when I watch K-Dramas it actually irritates the hell out of me when they often times don’t. I sit there at the end and think ‘what about THIS character from ep 3?? what about that part in ep 7? WHAT HAPPENED?!’. So for that reason, I actually make a whole character list and try my best to keep track of everything that’s happening.

The motif of taking steps forward in A Memory Without You is definitely intentional. While I don’t include it for all my stories and series, reoccurring motifs and symbols are a personal favourite of mine. I really like utilizing them when I can. Another technique I really like is reflecting the end to the beginning. I think it’s called chiastic structure, but I’m not sure. I started doing it in For Love & Money back in 2016 and thought it made for such a good ending, that I’ve been using it ever since LOL I honestly think I use it too much, but whatever. Like ALL my slice of life series have chiastic structure which is one of its signatures, but it makes for a good ending so I’ve been lenient about using it so excessively. 

And thank you. I think I get praised for character development a lot, but frankly, that’s actually a game of russian roulette to me lol. I plan my stories from A to Z and sometimes I intentionally include character development into the story but most often, character development is a byproduct rather than an intention of mine. since it’s actually pretty hard to plan for. it happens naturally as I write and that’s because I prefer to prioritize my plot rather than character development. I don’t want to force something if it doesn’t call for it. So sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.

Anyway, thank you. Your comments and feedback is sincerely heartwarming.

It’s actually quite difficult for me to see my own improvement in writing because it feels a lot like growing hair. You don’t notice a difference between yesterday or today, or even from 3 months ago from today. But over the years, you notice.

I don’t think I’m a better writer today than I was yesterday or even six months ago. But am I better than I was two years ago? I’d like to think so!

[icharchivist]

What colors would you associate with the main 4. I always thought it was green = gon, blue = killua, red = kurapika, yellow = leorio. but in canon I've also seen them use purple for killua and blue for leorio. Mostly tho it's purple for killua which I find kinda weird b/c his eyes are blue and his powers are blue and his clothes are blue so?? I have also kinda started associating Leorio with green more b/c his tie is green and he's working for the hospital which has a green cross n stuff.

Heya!!

Actually, Leorio is often associated to Yellow in the 2011 anime. I think he’s the only one not strongly associated to a color tho.

Gon is always Green, always, close to nature and all, I think he was always consistant in staying Green. And it fits him as a character, especially a green close to forest’s sort of green.

Kurapika is heavily associated with Red, of course, because of the red eyes, but I like the fact he’s still heavily pictured with blue? A lot of covers involving Kurapika usually puts a lot of details about his blue outfits, even recently his suit has blue hues. I think it eventually makes for a good duality to represent Kurapika, the blue being a colder, calmer color, while Red is a warmer color, usually considered more violent. It illustrates well the contrast between his different behaviors.

I wouldn’t take Leorio’s green tie into account too much personally, as it’s mostly heavily the anime’s fault (Leorio changes ties a LOT toward the course of the manga) (yes I pick this kind of details because that’s all I do), but I like the idea of Green because of the medical cross, it’s neat.

For some reasons I think I personally associate Leorio with gold, for some reason? Not really yellow, sometimes I associate him with ocean-blue, but I always picture a strong, warm gold-hue when I think about him. Not only because he’s trying to get money, but also because I think it’d fit this “heart of gold” motif around him. And I do find it also pleasingly ironical to associate him with this color since it’s what he seeks. (and I really don’t think Yellow comes close to the Gold color).

I think the anime went with Yellow because they were setted on the other three’s colors, and they needed a different color that would be different from the other three. tbh I think they just didn’t think Leorio too much through, unless they considered yellow like gold like i would but idk with the anime.

When it comes to Killua, I have a lot to say, because I think the anime was telling a story with the colors used. 

For Killua, I personally picture him more with a cyan kind of blue. It’s usually the color used to color him on the manga covers, and it’s also a good color to use to shade white (like his hair - and it’s how it’s often used in the manga) while it’s also somewhat linked to the Electric blue of his technique.

But I consider also that the purple is more a color associated to the Zoldyck than to Killua - showing a color story of Killua getting out of the systematic color to embrace his own (the last time I can remember of purple being associated heavily with Killua in the 2011 anime is when he removes the needle - the techniques of assassination he uses after the removal, which are Zoldyck’s techniques.). 

Purple is often used as a threatening color, it’s strange, and you’ll notice it’s heavily used in the Zoldyck family’s colors in the 2011 anime : Silva’s, Zeno’s, Kikyo’s clothes are in those shades, so is Kalluto’s ribbon and eyes, Milluki’s clothes are pink (watered down Zoldyck), and when we see Illumi in the York New Arc doing a Zoldyck job, he wears purple as well. (Alluka being associated to pink and green would make her one-step-in-one-step-out, a duality between the Zoldyck and the Nature of Nanika, following this reasoning).

Purple is heavily pictured around Killua when he is under the Zoldyck’s influence. Illumi’s Nen is purple, which surrounds Killua when he’s being subjected to it. When Kikyo talks about Killua “not wanting to see Gon” when he was tortured (ie under their control), it’s also heavily purple:

(you’ll note the torture scenes are always with a candlelight kind of color, and is purple only when it’s Kikyo who talks about controlling Killua, and when Killua threatens to kill Milluki if he touches Gon - an assassin’s instinct, a Zoldyck’s instinct.)

If Purple comes back, it’s always in Threatening situation : but Killua himself is associated to purple only when it comes to him being controled by the Zoldyck, or when he’s using a Zoldyck’s technique or thinking of assassination.

However, I do think his color is supposed to be blue. The blue of his clothes (which in itself is inconsistant, but I talked elsewhere about how Killua’s inconsistant fashion seemed to be an instance of him looking for who he was outside of the family’s circle) his eyes of course, and most importantly, his electricity techniques, the techniques he developpped by himself, something he associate badly to his family (even more considering electricity torture is the reason he distanced himself from his mother). 

Therefore, at the end of the anime, Blue is heavily used when Killua finally faces Silva to get back to Alluka, as it’s the moment he comes to talk for himself, barely as a Zoldyck. 

He also uses blue to threaten his father in that scene.

The blue became Killua’s color, and an assertment of his distance to the family and its control. Therefore I still think the use of Purple is actually on point, toward the course of the manga: it’s just not a color “for” Killua, but “about” Killua. It’s the color Killua has to break free from.

Now, let’s be clear this: This is anime only. The manga doesn’t have this much focus on color (the only color that was actually confirmed was that the Kurta had brown eyes that could turn red - and neither anime gave Kurapika’s brown eyes, despite the fact in 2011 he actually says “all Kurta have brown eyes.”. Moreover the anime is completely biased and it’s like.. not really a secret they loved Killua but didn’t care for Leorio, so it results with Killua being likely more thought of where Leorio was neglected. So. Ye don’t trust the anime’s colors). Killua is heavily associated to Cyan the whole way throught he manga, which is eventually just forshadowing his use of Electricity.

But when it comes to the anime, the use of color is consistant: Purple is the Zoldyck. Killua is blue. If Killua is purple, it’s because of the Zoldyck, everytime. 

Killua breaks out from the purple, he becomes Blue. He was Blue to start with, he was heavily associated with blue, but the purple is always from the Zoldyck’s influence on him - which is a part of him, sadly, but it’s also something he’s breaking away from.

So I totally get personally why purple is used for Killua, but that’s not a color to associate with Killua himself i’d say.

… man I hope it’s not too confusing ahah.

Take care!!

[onnocollective]

Conversations w/ Haved Jabib

a conversation with mixed media artist and musician Haved Jabib (@haved.jabib) who is behind the track titled 'Park Hotel Bathroom Floor'. Filled with breakneck and dirty disco beats, Park Hotel Bathroom Floor is track number 02 from our compilation tape - rough cuts

Listen to Park Hotel Bathroom Floor here -

OC: How have you been in the pandemic ?

Haved Jabib: It’s been alright, I think I was terminally sick for such a large part of the first wave that I didn’t really get the time to mentally focus or fully notice that there was a pandemic. But it’s definitely fucked, so not good

OC: What is one piece of music that you can’t erase from your head

Damn that’s a hard question, there’s a lot of stuff from all different kinds of genres that has that effect on me. But definitely In Death Valley by Tim Hecker. I remember not being able to move just staring blankly at the ceiling the first time I heard it

Tim Hecker is definitely a huge influence for me.

OC: What type of music have you been the most into these days? Any particular track?

I usually listen to a lot of pop and trap hip hop, mumble rap type shit because it calms me down, but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of psychedelic rock. Like King Gizzard and Flaming Lips type shit. Also digging a lot of smooth jazz

OC: Have you noticed any changes in the way you approach music now compared to when you first started ?

Not really, I think I still just go into it trying to be as expressive and honest as possible. Try to kinda capture the kind of energy I’m trying to bring to the table without focusing too much on technicality. But I’ve definitely noticed my older stuff sounds more free and honest

OC: Describe your setup and your music-making process

Phone. Always phone. Except my mom got a tablet now so I guess that’s a screen update lmao. My process depends completely on what I’m trying to achieve. For my noisier tracks it’s all about trying to create that atmosphere by creating an almost dissociative soundscape by just fucking with samples

OC: How did you get started with music?

I've always really wanted to make music for like as long as I can remember. Just growing up in a financially challenged family never quite allowed me to explore my possibilities since I never had a computer or any instruments required to make the kind of shit I wanted to. I think that all changed for me sometime in 2019 when a friend of mine showed me an app on the Android smartphone that lets you produce shit. I was aware of smartphone music apps before but they were all mostly very limited in their approach and never really gave you the amount of freedom that a proper DAW did. And Caustic did that for me . Shortly following my discovery of said app, Rana Ghose from Reproduce asked if I wanted to play a set at an upcoming show. I knew him since I used to do gate for them and had sent him some rough shit I had done on one of those apps before. Where you loop samples and shit. So him asking me to play kinda forced me to put myself in that headspace where I had to teach myself how to figure out the app and do it fast . So yeah, first time playing a gig was also how I started making music.

OC: Did you have any visual motif in mind during the making of your track - Park Hotel Bathroom Floor?

Visual motif definitely. This is from back when I had just been introduced to the club scene of Kolkata - used to hop clubs to check out every gig we could multiple days a week, get fucked, be up all night and party a lot basically. I think this track for me is like a sketch of that time. Trying to capture that person and that lifestyle and moment and music in my own way . I've moved way past it since then but it's still a pretty important time of my personal growth I guess. Hence Park Hotel Bathroom Floor, because I've been on that floor throwing my guts out at 3 in the morning at least once a week every month with an empty stomach. So the idea was to get that energy but to try and retain the noise and dissociative aesthetic of my sound

OC: What have you been currently working on?

I haven't really been working on a lot. Been trying my hand at some classical piano stuff. I had this really intense experience a few months ago in March where a friend sent me some classical albums to try to listen to and I fell in love with them. Have been wanting to try something of that sort for a while since

OC: What type of music have you always wanted to try your hand at ?

Always wanted to be in a band, learn every instrument. Try all kinds of genres I like. I think I've fantasized about playing music all my life. Noise rock, screamo, post punk, hardcore, shoegaze laced grind music, psychedelic stuff, hip hop - everything basically. Always wanted to start a bad brains influenced punk band called Dendrite. There's so much stuff I wanna play

OC: Which do you prefer - experimenting and discovering a song while in the making process or having a rough mental idea beforehand and then trying to actualise it ?

Always experimenting. But I also want to train myself enough to be able to do the second bit so I'm never really limited by my abilities. I've always been a do what you like guy but I think I'm starting to get to a point in my music where I want to try my hand with some more traditional techniques see where it takes me. Definitely have everything come together in some way make some intense shit