#it really is like. again not even in my top fave discworld books but it is one of the best books ever written

[cosmicrhetoric]

mad as fuck i just started a carpe jugulum reread bc that book is fucking crazy and i miss granny :( but the weather is getting nice and the shadow of night watch looms over me every day we get closer to may

[krowbby]

yoooo discworld for the ask thing if no one's done that yet!

001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Polly Perks or Agnes Nitt (agnes is so underrated, give my girl her flowers)

Least Favorite character: I'm not gonna pick a villain bc I feel like that's a cop-out. Sooo for more or less "good" characters I'd say Fred Colon. I respect the space in the narrative he inhabits but I wouldn't want to hang out with him

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Shipping isn't the main way I partake in Discworld tbh, but here goes - Pollymal (duh), Susan/Lobsang (what could've been... even just as a friendship!), Angua/Sally (yeah), SamSybil (pure fluff tbh), maybe Lofty/Tonker or Agnes/Andre (the pianist from Maskerade).

Character I find most attractive: Sally von Humpeding, baby! Snarky butch vampire? I never stood a chance. I just wish we got to spend more time with her.

Character I would marry: NGL being married to most Discworld characters would stress me out. I think Susan Sto Helit and I could have a good marriage because we're both educators and she tries so hard to have a normal life lmao.

Character I would be best friends with: I think Agnes and I would get along. That girl would love karaoke night

A random thought: I have mixed feelings about the new audiobooks. Some of them are good but the audio balancing is weirdly off between the narration and footnotes. I think they should have just got Nigel Planar to do all the books he hadn't done and same with Stephen Briggs so that all the fans would be happy /j

An unpopular opinion: Not as unpopular on Tumblr but Pterry isn't above criticism! He's clearly one of my fave authors and I think he did a lot of good writing but he obviously had faults and it does him a disservice to pretend he was some kind of saint.

My canon OTP: This one is hard bc there aren't actually a ton of canon ships in Discworld, but my fave is SamSybil. Mostly I'm just a ride or die for Sybil and Sam makes her happy so I will always ship it. Lofty/Tonker is also up there.

Non-canon OTP: PollyMal even though like its bascially canon imo. But y'all already knew this about me

Most badass character: Truly how can you answer this for Discworld. I'm gonna go with Tiffany Aching for beating the Queen of the Fairies at 9 entire years old! (I also read this when I was about her age so I have a soft spot for her.)

Pairing I am not a fan of: I am an autistic aroace Vetinari truther and so I simply cannot get behind V/V. I'm glad y'all are having fun with that though

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): I wanted more Agnes. I think she was going to be the up and coming witch before Tiffany came on the scene and I LOVE Tiff but I still wish Agnes could have had a more concrete arc.

Favourite friendship: This should've been the ship question, I feel like friendships are where this series shines. Angua&Cheery is really sweet, Granny&Nanny is so funny and you can tell they care so much about each other.

I'm adding a question for my top 5 books in the series: Monstrous Regiment (duh again), Thief of Time (oddly a companion book to Night Watch, read it!), Carpe Jugulum, Wyrd Sisters, The Fifth Elephant. (I know the Watch subseries is the most popular, but guys the other books are so good!!!)

[erdariel]

Fic writer review, thank you to @enigma-the-mysterious for the tag!!!

How many works do you have on AO3?

17 apparently

What’s your total AO3 word count?

34,868

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

7 (I'm counting all Tolkien-related fandoms as one bc my fics in terms of Tolkien fandoms have a lot of overlap and often don't really fit neatly as either Silm or LOTR specifically so I'm just saying those are one); LOTR/Silmarillion/LOTR stuff, which is honestly like my oldest fandom really, certainly oldest one I still consider myself to be in, BBC Musketeers, Robin of Sherwood (the 1984-1986 tv show), Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (what I've done with that so far is centered on Herald Alberich from Exile's Honor and Exile's Valor to be specific), Star Trek AOS, BBC Merlin, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A 25th of May (Fandom is Discworld, and I still don't know how that one is my highest by kudos, it's not even good and it's not for the biggest fandom I've written for by any means)

Bloodstains (BBC Musketeers)

Heart of Ice (BBC Musketeers)

First Impressions (BBC Musketeers)

Flames of Fear (Heralds of Valdemar)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I do my best to, although admittedly sometimes I don't do that immediately and then I forget and then I feel too awkward to reply when I remember again a million years later. Anyway, I do it because I love interacting with other fans and talking about my fics and stuff!

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don't really know. It kind of depends on whether you feel like meta knowledge that the characters will in the future be alright makes the ending less angsty or not? Because like A 25th of May and The Darkness of Moria arguably have pretty depressing endings if you take it at face value with where I leave the characters in the story, but anyone who reads them is going to have the meta knowledge that things will get better for the characters, eventually, and no one's gonna die who isn't dead already, and all that, since Darkness of Moria is pre-canon and 25th is pre-canon to all of City Watch books aside from Night Watch.

But on the other hand if you say that if the reader has meta knowledge of the character's survival/that things will get better for them negates the angst, then those aren't too bad. I would say that in that case, Forest of Death, Bloodstains, and But There Is Silence At My Side are my angstiest endings (idk in what order, I'm bad at picking specific ones anyway) since the first two of those deal with The Whole Savoy Thing in Musketeers, which... nothing that happens in canon makes it less painful or more ok that it happened, and in those fics I purposefully chose not to give the characters involved really any kind of emotional closure, since the angle I took in my fics was one where I felt those issues I brought up weren't really resolved at all in any way until the stuff came up in the actual tv show. And But There Is Silence At My Side deals with grief immediately after the death of several close friends of the main characters of the fic, and since the fic was very brief and set during like, the space of an afternoon and an evening, like just over a handful of hours, it wasn't long enough time to handle the way grief becomes tolerable over time, but instead leaves the characters still in the early stages of mourning.

Do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I mean, I come up with ideas I'd love to write, and I've even started writing a few, but I've never gotten any to a point where I'd begin posting them. Idk about particularly crazy, though both my Musketeers of Valdemar crossover AU and my The Warlock and the Hooded Man are crossovers between a decently popular fairly recent BBC show, and an older more obscure fantasy thing.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, not that I'd recall anyway and I don't feel like checking.

Do you write smut? if so what kind?

Nah, it's not my thing

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

If I have, no one's told me about it. I doubt it tho, my fics aren't popular enough

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I've considered translating a few of my own to Finnish for fun, but it seems kinda pointless bc no one would read them in Finnish, so I've never gotten around to.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No. I'd like to try, but knowing the way I generally work (or rather, don't work) on fics, I don't think it'd be fair to whoever I tried doing it with if I did.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Idk I'm not a huge shipper, really, so like. I sorta like a few but I don't really have favourites and I'm not super passionate about any particular ship.

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Like, all of my ones I've started that I haven't touched in months. I'd like to finish them, but who am I kidding. I guess I'm obligated to point out Blood, Shadow, Silver in particular since I posted like three chapters of that before stopping writing it and haven't gotten around to continuing it. I'd like to think I'll come back to it one day, but who am I kidding?

What are your writing strengths?

What fucking strengths? You think I have any?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Like, everything. What in particular depends on the day.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't know I've never really done that on a big scale? Idk don't really have an opinion

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I'm gonna take that to mean "first fandom I wrote for using the account I use now" because any other way to take that question I won't reply to. So, within those lines, unsurprisingly, LOTR.

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

That's a good question. I sorta like most my fics from the last couple of years, but idk if there's any that I really-really like? The Darkness of Moria is one that comes to mind, and it's not necessarily my favorite personally of what I've written but thinking about it makes me feel good because it seems to be @talvenhenki's fave of my stuff.

Tagging uhhh idk @oncefutureemrys and anyone else who wants to do this because idk who to tag!

[the-light-followed]

SOURCERY (1988) [DISC. #5; RINCEWIND #3]

“It’s vital to remember who you really are.  It’s very important.  It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see.  They always get it wrong.”

Rating: 7/10

Standalone Okay: Yes, but more fun with context.

Read First: Yeah.

Discworld Books Masterpost: [x]

* * * * * * * * * *

Magic!  Sourcery! Death!  The apocryphal apocalypse, the Apocralypse!  Puns!  A cowardly wizard who can’t do magic and who takes it in turns to run away from, and then toward, and then away again from danger!

Over the course of the story, Sourcery literally and figuratively rewrites reality and magic across the Disc.

Sourcery feels a lot like a second start for the Discworld series.  Much like The Colour of Magic, it introduces many of Discworld’s major locations, characters, and themes.  It even stars Rincewind, in all his cowardly, unmagical glory.  But unlike The Colour of Magic, Pratchett has locked down not just the look of the place, but also the feel of it.  The Discworld, as a setting, balances on the knife’s edge between absurdist humor and poignant sincerity, and it makes sense that it took Pratchett a couple novels to get the blend just right.  I feel like the first five books in the series mark a slow path to the Discworld that the rest of the novels will occupy comfortably, starting with the purely satirical high fantasy nonsense of The Colour of Magic, shifting through the more original concepts of Equal Rites and Mort, and finally settling in place with Sourcery.

With the arrival of Coin, the powerful Sourcerer—who unlike a wizard is a source of magic, not just able to use the stuff—the balance of magic and nature shifts, wizards and towers rise and fall, and the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions briefly push very, very close to the Discworld before they’re driven back.  

By the time the story ends, magic is revitalized and permanently changed through the arrival (and then departure) of Sourcery, and the balance of power between city-states is permanently altered.  In fact, it is strongly implied that because of these magical battles, some of these places have entirely ceased to exist.

Whoops!

We get a solid cast of characters for this one, coming together and splitting apart again for some really well-paced storylines running alongside one another.  There’s Conina (daughter of Cohen the barbarian, hairdresser by profession and warrior by genetics) and Nijel the Destroyer (son of a grocer, but he read a book about how to be a barbarian once), the Unseen University wizards (who put all their skill points into magic powers and absolutely none into common sense), the Librarian and his flock of books (the books literally fly like birds to escape a fire in the Library), Coin the Sourcerer (parented badly by the ghost of his dead father which is possessing his magical staff (no, really)), Death and the other Horsemen of the Apocralypse, etc., etc.  Even the Archchancellor’s Hat has a pretty solid role to play.

And, of course, we’ve got our main protagonist, beloved run-away wizard Rincewind.

Western media trains audiences to see and expect cowardice as a negative trait, usually given to villains, traitors, and failures.  But although Rincewind’s cowardice is as much a defining characteristic as his lack of magical ability and his misspelled hat, I see him as one of the kindest and most genuinely likeable protagonists on the Disc.  (As opposed to my other faves: Vimes can be too intense, Vetinari too terrifying, and Granny is some unholy combination of both those things.  Moist is, quite frankly, a little shit.)  

Rincewind has ‘runs away a lot, usually from things that want him dead’ as his main character flaw, sure, but I can’t honestly fault him for that. Let’s be real—it’s just a logical continuation of the all-important survival trait, which Rincewind has in spades. And at the same time, he’s also knowledgeable, sarcastically funny, kind in his own way, and totally, completely harmless.  It’s almost sweet, even, how utterly nonthreatening this man is.  Like Coin the Sourcerer says: he’s like a funny little rabbit.  How can you not love that?

I also love that Rincewind’s cowardice doesn’t stop him from doing what has to be done, even when—maybe especially when—no one else seems to be answering the call.  Despite all the infinitely more powerful wizards up in the tower with the Sourcerer, it’s Rincewind who shows up with no magic at all, just a half-brick in a sock, ready to at least try to stop the inevitable unraveling of reality and destruction of the Disc.  (I’m standing by my claim that Rincewind might be a terrible wizard, but an excellent accidental witch.  See my post on Equal Rites for the distinction.)

Anyway, in the end, it turns out that it’s not Coin that’s the real problem, it’s his staff; Rincewind immediately turns to protecting Coin, a literal child.  When he and Coin are pulled through to the Dungeon Dimension, Rincewind uses himself as a distraction so Coin can escape, even though it means he’ll be trapped there with terrible things that want him dead.  The book ends with him still trapped in the Dungeon Dimensions.

That’s not great, obviously, but one thing I really appreciate about the Discworld series is that even though bad things happen or threaten to happen all the time, you can always trust Pratchett not to be cruel for cruelty’s sake or even just for shock and awe.  Things are scary and bad, but they will turn out okay in the end. Pratchett’s not about that grimdark bullshit, and that’s a promise you can take straight to the bank.  He understands people in such a real way—none of his characters are purely good or purely evil, but on the whole, when pushed, they tend toward good.  They think. They reconsider.  They try.  Even when it seems pointless, they fight back, and Pratchett always rewards his characters—and the readers—for that.

Sourcery, a prime example of this, ends on a pretty solid cliffhanger.  Knowing as we do now that there are four more books that star Rincewind in the Discworld lineup, we as a modern audience don’t need to worry.  But in the context of 1988, where there are two full years and three full novels before Rincewind is mentioned again, we have to take Pratchett at his word, and the man really does do everything in his power to reassure us that all will be well:

“Silence drifted around the remains of a hat, heavily battered and frayed and charred around the edges, that had been placed with some ceremony in a niche in the wall.  No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat.”

The Rincewind books were actually some of the last ones I read of the Discworld, my first time around, to the point where I already trusted Pratchett not to mess with my feelings for no reason.  It’s always nice to hit a cliffhanger and know the author will give a satisfying, well-written payoff—he wouldn’t have written it as he did if he didn’t intend to go somewhere with it later.

And now, having read all the books several times over, I have the satisfaction of being certain that even though it takes him a while, Rincewind will make it back to U.U. in the end.  Any time I read one of the Rincewind books and start to feel bad for the poor bastard, I can reassure myself that despite every time he’s forced to risk his life or dragged along against his will on a wild and crazy adventure, eventually he will be given tenure at the University, and he will have the most boring job imaginable, mostly involving sorting his predecessor’s rock collection.  It’s all the man has ever dreamed of getting out of life.

As a final note, I have to sidetrack into something that makes me very excited: in Sourcery, Vetinari is finally given a name!

[Paul Kidby’s version of Vetinari from The Pratchett Portfolio.]

Admittedly, this is not the first time the Patrician appears; he’s been around since The Colour of Magic.  It’s just that he’s now officially been named, and with that naming comes more and more elements of his personality.  Unfortunately, this does not mean he’s now fully, entirely, um…Vetinari-like.  (Is there a good word to describe what, exactly, Vetinari is?  Let me know; I sure as hell can’t think of one. Machiavellian, sure, but there’s a lot more going on in there on top of that.)  He looks like Vetinari.  He’s got some very Vetinari-sounding traits.  He’s even got Wuffles, and let’s be honest, ‘unreasoning love of dogs’ is one of Vetinari’s easiest-to-nail-down personality traits.

But he also dramatically misjudges a situation with the wizards and the newly-arrived Sourcerer, Coin, to the point where he is turned into a lizard for the rest of the book.

On the one hand, this is clearly an object lesson in human-slash-wizard nature that Vetinari takes firmly to heart, because I can’t think of any time in any other Discworld novel where the man fucks up quite that badly.  One of Vetinari’s strongest traits is that he gets people, he understands them and what they want, and the reason he stays in power despite all efforts to the contrary is that he knows how to work that to his advantage.  Future Vetinari is a lot more cautious and delicate with both his demands and his threats, he pretty much always gets what he wants, and he is never again forcibly transmogrified into a small, angry reptile.  That’s character development, folks.

On the other hand, I think I’m so used to Vetinari as the all-knowing, puppeteering chess-master that he seems wildly out of character for the relatively short amount of time he shows up in Sourcery.  I don’t even think I’m entirely wrong in that, because, again, Pratchett is still figuring out Vetinari as a character at this point. He’s been around since The Colour of Magic, yes, but this is the first time we see him as a real, concrete person and not a mere device to drive the plot.  

Somehow, he doesn’t yet feel like the politician slash assassin that we’ll come to know and love.  Sure, we all know he’s secretly got a hidden sense of humor and a live-and-let-die approach to the whimsical absurdity that pretty much runs the Disc, but he doesn’t make mistakes.

By the time we get to Guards! Guards!, though, Pratchett will pretty much have him on lock.  Maybe we really just need to hold his brand of cynicism up next to Vimes’s in order to put them both in the right light.

But we’ve still got a few more books between then and now.  Next up, we return to the witches: it’s the Shakespearean-inspired Wyrd Sisters!

* * * * * * * * * *

Side Notes:

Rincewind does exactly one (1) magic in this book, and I am very proud of him for it.

Something I missed on my last readthrough: the Luggage apparently coughed up the Ottavo after a couple days.  Last I remembered, in The Light Fantastic, it had swallowed this most powerful grimoire on the Disc and showed no signs of ever giving it up.  On the one hand, there’s nowhere safer on the Disc to store a reality-warping spellbook than inside a murderous suitcase, but on the other, Rincewind and his awful luck don’t really need that sort of risk following them around on hundreds of tiny legs.

This book has a really solid message: a person has to decide for themselves who and what they are.  It repeats throughout a lot of the character arcs: Rincewind, Conina, Nigel, even Coin the Sourcerer.

Rincewind might not be great at magic, but he’s got the most common sense.  For example: it’s not Rincewind’s magical powers that make him able to fly the magic carpet.  It’s just that he’s the only one to notice that they’ve set it on the ground upside-down. I think this serves him better than actual magic would in most of his escapades.

Favorite Quotes:

“‘I meant,’ said Ipslore bitterly, ‘what is there in this world that truly makes living worthwhile?’  Death thought about it.  CATS, he said eventually.  CATS ARE NICE.”

“It was quite impossible to describe.  Here is what it looked like.  It looked like a piano sounds shortly after being dropped down a well.  It tasted yellow, and it felt Paisley.  It smelled like the total eclipse of the moon.”

“It’s vital to remember who you really are.  It’s very important.  It isn’t a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong.”

“They suffered from the terrible delusion that something could be done.  They seemed prepared to make the world the way they wanted it or die in the attempt, and the trouble with dying in the attempt was that you died in the attempt.”

“There are eight levels of wizardry on the Disc; after sixteen years Rincewind has failed to achieve even level one.  In fact it is considered opinion of some of his tutors that he is incapable even of achieving level zero, which most normal people are born at; to put it another way, it has been suggested that when Rincewind dies the average occult ability of the human race will actually go up by a fraction.”

“Rincewind rather enjoyed times like this.  They convinced him that he wasn’t mad because, if he was mad, that left no word at all to describe some of the people he met.”

“Despite rumor, Death isn’t cruel—merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”

“The truth isn’t easily pinned to a page.  In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find.”

“The day had, in fact, reached that gentle point when it was too late for housebreaking and too early for burglary.”

[mamashitty]

💕🌼

💕 Your two top fave fictional characters: Oh. Em. Geee. This one is a hard one. But, ever since I was first introduced to Sir Sam Vimes of the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork. Feet of Clay was my first foray into Discworld and Terry Pratchett’s  writing and Sam Vimes--and there has been NO looking back. I absolutely love his character growth and changes throughout the novels that he is featured in. Each time I reread a book involving him, or realize I haven’t read one of his and then pick it up.. I fall in love all over with him again. Y’all, everyone should read Discworld. THe end.

My other is... oh fudge. 

Moist von Lipwig, another one from Discworld. He’s just... incredible and such a fun character to read. This one is a tough one because SOMETIMES he hops over Vimes for me, but not very often and usually Vimes stays number one. Also, and I am way into Mr. Jack Zimmermann at the moment but consistently, it is usually Moist and Vimes as my top fave. 

🌼 Fave flower: Y’all, I used to work at a greenhouse and I really do not have a favorite flower. FOR SHAME ON ME. But, hmm... I do like snap dragons and do coleus count? I find them really awesome looking.  And this is probably going to sound even weirder... but uh they always just kind of remind me of dinosaurs? I have no idea but I associate dinosaurs with them and that is cool to me. 

If anyone else wants to ask me anymore of these, check ‘em out :D

[incomingalbatross]

2018: Year in Review

Rules: answer the questions about 2018 and tag some people.

Tagged by @fictionadventurer​ and finally actually doing it. Thank you! (Also my fic got into your Good Things? I’m delighted. :-D) 

I have a terrible memory for what happened when, though, so...we’ll see how this goes. :-P

Top 5 Movies you watched in 2018:

Ooh. Hm.

I’m not sure I can remember watching 5 movies in 2018 period... I mean, I’m guessing I did, but remembering? ...We’ll see.

1. Tron: Legacy--Probably 2018. It was a pretty good movie. It definitely had a couple things that bothered me, though--most prominently their treatment of poor Tron himself.

2. Moana--Watched this last summer, finally. I really like the music, and the art is gorgeous. Also, as many people have said, I appreciate the way her quest is for her home and her responsibilities.

3. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)--Watched this on New Year’s Eve with family. It was... okay. They simplified some things, of course, and some of their character interpretations were definitely inaccurate, but on the whole it wasn’t bad.

4. It’s A Wonderful Life--Watched it on Christmas. Not a first-time watch by a long shot, but I’m sticking it in because it’s great and I just realized this time how anti-modern it is. I mean, George Bailey’s whole life is him not “pursuing his passion” or “following his dreams” or “fulfilling himself”... and it’s portrayed as being better not only for the town but for him that he repeatedly gave those things up for others! That’s a rare message to find nowadays.

Top 5 TV Shows you watched in 2018:

1. Doctor Who--Perennial fave for me, but this summer Twitch ran a livestream marathon of all of Classic Who and it was amazing. I saw a lot of stories I hadn’t before and it got me back into the show pretty dramatically. Also the stream was just... a lot of fun. Good memories.

2. Lost--Again, pretty sure this was 2018? Watched it with my brother. The continuity is honestly a lot better than I’d been led to expect, and the characters were really compelling even when you hated them--something of a strength of J. J. Abrams’s, I think.

3. Gravity Falls--Watched it this fall! Not over it yet--I have many, many unvoiced thoughts about this story. (Particularly the Stans, geez.) Incomplete list of good things: The emphasis on family, how well they let the characters be complicated, and how willing they were to have the main characters do wrong things and be forgiven.

4. Over the Garden Wall--watched it around the same time as GF. It didn’t grab me in the same way--it might just be too short to hook me like that?--but the audio and animation are really, really nice.

5. Agents of SHIELD, S4--A season counts if it’s for the first time, right? Especially since I actually wrote a fic for it. The first half felt like they were consciously trying to declutter after the last two seasons, which was nice. The second half... opened up a whole bunch of questions about how the writers view personhood. Still engaging, though.

Top 5 Songs of 2018:

HMMM.

I listen to a lot of stuff on Spotify, but... a lot of it’s in one ear and out the other.

I do like “Dead Hearts” by Stars, though. “10,000 Emerald Pools” by BORNS is also good, and “The Nights” by Avicii is currently in my head. Probably not in my Top 5 of the year, but they’re the ones on the top of my mind right now.

Top 5 Books

Gonna cheat and make some of these “series” instead, because this year I read published fiction in big clumps or not at all.

1. Discworld series--Got into these last spring. Good stuff--I have significant philosophical differences with Sir Terry, but also significant agreements. A lot of humor and a lot of heroism, both.

2. Queen’s Thief series--Saw some people on Tumblr liked them, remembered one of my fave fanfic authors had written fic for them, decided to read them. Really good... I should reread them sometime soon.

3. Killdeer--Got it on ebook because I really like the author (Anne B. Walsh). Technically a novella, I think? Soft sci-fi, a nice, sweet read with action and found family.

4. Persuasive Pro-Life--By Trent Horn. Not fiction, but GOOD. Read it as prep for a persuasive speech I had to give in my Public Speaking Class this fall, would recommend.

5. Tolkien: Man and Myth--By Joseph Pearce. Also nonfiction, also good, though I admit I skipped around a little.

5 Good/Positive Things that happened to you in 2018:

1. Got a job in January--stressful in the beginning, but largely good. And I Have Money now.

2. Got my first car last winter! It’s a nice little car and it’s made life a lot simpler.

3. June Trip--I went to my brother’s wedding, got to spend time with some siblings I hadn’t seen in a while, and then went from there straight to the 2018 Catholic Sacred Music Colloquium. The trip as a whole involved some stress--it was too long for me, for one thing--but it was also definitely good.

4. The six-months-and-counting Doctor Who collaboration I have going with my sister, sparked by a combo of my June trip and the Twitch marathon. We’ve had SO MANY ideas and spent SO MUCH time discussing characters and plotholes and worldbuilding... It’s a great thing.

5. Finding... maybe Chestertonian Tumblr is the best description? (Often, but not always, overlapping with Catholic Tumblr.) :-P I joined Tumblr primarily for nerd stuff, but finding the circle of people who share more of my other interests/values really improved my experience here.

some people to tag: I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t already been tagged right now, but if you’re following me and/or you’re interested, feel free to consider yourself tagged!

[rockinlibrarian]

Three Survey Memes

@e_louise_bates tagged me once directly and twice indirectly (I mean, since I'm already typing something here I might as well do the others too), so here. Please feel free to comment! I like discussions!

Survey One (what I was actually tagged for): Name my top ten favorite characters from ten different fandoms.

I feel like the way this is phrased, I should pick ten fandoms first and then narrow them down to the characters, so that's what I did. It's an easier way to find my favorite characters, anyway.

1. From Harry Potter: Luna Lovegood, obviously

2. From Tolkien: Samwise Gamgee, obviously

3. From the MCU: Peggy Carter, most obviously of all

4. From Star Wars: This is a product of me picking fandoms first, and then discovering I don't have an OBVIOUSLY answer this time. But when you get right down to it, I've always had a special place in my heart for Obi Wan.

5. From Diana Wynne Jones: Sophie Hatter. Stealing one from Louise there, but again, obviously.

6. From L.M. Montgomery: Stealing the fandom from Louise that time, but I on the other hand have to stick with Anne Shirley, because she may top my fave character list, period.

7. From Jane Austen: Rev. Henry Tilney, NOT stealing from Louise because again, OBVIOUSLY, as she well knows, too. :D

8. From Discworld: DEATH. This was hard, because as soon as I started thinking of Discworld, so many MUST INCLUDES came up. Tiffany! DEATH's granddaughter, whose name I totally had a minute ago when I first thought of it but now has suddenly slipped my mind as I'm typing it (my brain now keeps trying to tell me it's "Karen" but that feels utterly wrong Her last name's Sto-Helit. I think. EDIT: SUSAN! Of course. The second I hit "post")! Sam Vimes, one of the other great Sams of fiction! But who's there and perfect and wonderful through all of it? DEATH. So I'm sticking with that.

9. Uh, other Marvel properties that aren't the MCU: I just have to shout out again to the Loudermilk twins from Legion. They count as one person because they sort of are, and because their chemistry together just MAKES them, even though they both individually are pretty fun, too (Cary's dorkiness and Kerry's innocent enthusiasm for beating people up). There was like a block of three or four episodes this season without them and it nearly ruined the whole season for me.

10. No particular fandom I'm aware of but no list of favorite characters is complete without: Blossom Culp. From the books by Richard Peck.

SURVEY TWO, a writing one:

1. When did you start writing and how? In first grade I had this dream about a disgruntled Santa's elf taking our church hostage on Christmas Eve. It was a great dream, so I decided to turn it into a book. Recently I decided to revisit it-- the basic plot, at least-- as a picture book. And for some stupid reason I decided it needed to be in verse. It might work some day.

Early on all my story ideas came from dreams, actually. Still today, my subconscious does most of my story-creating. Last night I had one about this huge family that lived in a mansion with a public pool in it and had all sorts of hijinks. They were great. They lived on Chalk Street and the oldest girl's boyfriend was named Granger the Ranger. Anyhoo.

2. What is your favorite line from your own work? It's got to be "Concentration leads to Meditation leads to Levitation leads to Aviation," because that's just a way of life.

I'm also partial to anything at all that Billy Boyd says in the Pipeweed Mafia Stories.

3. Who is your writing idol, and how have they influenced you? Hmm, I wouldn't call Madeleine L'Engle my writing idol, but she has influenced me the most, with her way of seeing the cosmic in the very small and the individual in the cosmic. And I named my daughter after her. But my Patron Saint of Writing whom I occasionally call on for intervention is Diana Wynne Jones. I don't know why. She just seems to be who I need to get my writing juices flowing.

4. Which oc has the best family (found or otherwise)? Of my characters? Hmm, I've never really focused much on family in my works. Even found family. I guess Billy 'Arrison's uncle IS George Harrison, so probably that.

5. Which oc has the most satisfying ending to their story? Ah, I'm terrible at endings. None of my characters has an ending to their story, not just because most of my works have never been finished, but because I keep thinking of things that happen to them later. NO ENDINGS.

6. If you’ve gotten feedback on your writing, who is your readers’ favorite character? If not who do you think readers will fall in love with? Well, no questions there. Billy 'Arrison. I mean look how often he's come up already in this survey. If you ask anybody whose ever read my work to name ANY of my original characters, they will go with Billy. Heck, people who HAVEN'T actually read his story would pick Billy.

7. Which tropes (eg. Friends to lovers, fake death, white haired pretty boy) do you always find yourself wanting to write? All my stories tend to have the theme of disparate people becoming friends through having an adventure together. I recently wondered if that's because I've always thought friendship would be easier if you could cut out all the small talk, and having an adventure leaves no time for small talk.

8. What goes through your head when writing a scene? The... scene? Also, random entirely unrelated stuff. Because I have ADHD. My brain is impossible to follow anywhere.

9. How specific is your idea of your characters’ appearance usually? Do you draw them? (If so can we see it?) Facial features are usually fairly foggy to me. I get general shape and color, so, like, what their hair looks like, their size, their race. I get their sense of style, too-- often I give them a signature item of clothing whether in my mind or in the text. I've drawn a few of my characters, yes, but I'm not particularly good at drawing consistently.

10. What are you proudest of as a writer? That I can occasionally look back at things I have written and be delighted by them as a reader. Unfortunately most of these things I have written continue to not be finished.

SURVEY THREE, also about writing:

1. How many works in progress do you currently have? That depends on your definition of "in progress." If you mean ACTUALLY IN PROGRESS, zero. Zip. Unless you count a couple of GeekMom articles I have in the planning stage. Or unless you count not-writing. I have a living room renovation in progress at the moment.

How many works do I have in an incomplete status that I plan to get back to eventually? Hmmm. At least five.

2. Do you/would you write fanfiction? I'm not INTO fanfiction but I do/have written a few pieces when they occur to me. There's of course the Pipeweed Mafia, which is a mix of Inklings fanfic and real people fanfic. You could count me writing George Harrison into Billy's background real people fic. One of my works in possible occasional progress is a Firefly fic about how Zoe fell in love with Wash. Oh, I should have put Firefly on my list of fandoms above, just so I could name Kaylee. KAYLEE, people. But I haven't written fic about her. Anyway. I also once wrote a very short prompt response X-Files fic that always delights me. It's silly, and yet in character.

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Paper.

4) When did you start writing? First grade.

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? A few people. It depends on the type of work, who would be the best fit for it. Louise is in fact one.

6) Where is your favorite place to write? Someplace where I don't have real life demands calling on me. Oddly enough, I think I got some of my best writing done while working at the Children's Museum, during downtime. On slow days I'd write a scene on the back of my schedule. A page a day really adds up! Of course, on busy days that was unthinkable!

7) Favorite childhood book? Have I mentioned A Wrinkle In Time?

8) Writing for fun or publication? Depends on where I am in life. Now, it is for fun, unless it is an article.

9) Pen and paper or computer? First drafts pen and paper. Then putting it together on the computer.

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes? Yeah, I had some writing courses in college, and I also took correspondence courses twice.

11) What inspires you to write? Ideas. As I mentioned, I get a lot of ideas from dreams. But there's also, like, a swelling of words in my brain that needs to come out through my hands every so often. I called it "writeritis" as a kid, and I guess I still do.

TAGGING: Whoever. You know who you are, if any of this resonates with you!

[writerchickcj]

Favorite Characters Tag Game

I’m on a role with doing tags for YouTube today, so I’m gonna actually post one here (in text, not video, obvs.) I was tagged by @augusta-writes (thank you!). Here we go...

RULES: Name your top ten favourite characters from different fandoms. Then tag ten people.

Aravis Tarkeena - The Chronicles of Narnia (Books: The Horse and His Boy) She’s brave and sassy and she can tell a story like a boss. Plus, she has a talking horse and I wanted to be her so bad when I was younger.

Severus Snape - Harry Potter (Books & Movies) I know there are people who think he’s a horrible person, and I won’t entirely disagree with that, but you gotta love a complex character who highlights both the best and worst of humanity in a single skin.

Ethelinda - Enchanted, Inc. (Books) Omlx, who doesn’t want a fairy godmother! She’s crap at it, but has delightful fashion sense (she wears each new outfit over the last one) and she’s so incompetent, you can’t help but laugh.

Nanny Ogg - Discworld (Books) She reminds me of my younger sister and you can’t help liking a woman who has no shame about her sexuality despite the fact that she’s described as having “a body that can only be described as comfortable” and “a face resembling Mr. Grape, the happy raisin.”

James Mallory - The Mallory Series (Books) Don’t judge me too harshly on this one. Yes, they’re romance novels. Yes, they’re old (from the 80′s and 90′s, I think). James Mallory and his smart ass hottie self is still one of my fave characters of all time. Hands down, my favorite line of his is: “Dear boy, I haven’t done my brother’s bidding since I was eighteen, I’m not about to start now.”

Mrs. Bennett - Pride and Prejudice (Books) I know she’s ridiculous, but she’s got her daughters’ best interests at heart, and as far as I’m concerned, she’s doing her best with what she’s got. Also, she’s silly and makes me laugh.

Michele Gerard - Gilmore Girls (TV Show) I’m not French, but even I get ennui from time to time. Also, I feel his pain when people are “particularly stupid today.”

Margaret Houlihan - M*A*S*H (TV Show) I swear, I’m not that old, but I love this show and Margaret is a fantastic character. For a 70′s/80′s sitcom about war in the 1950′s, she is a fairly well-rounded character. Both bad ass and feminine, Margaret exemplifies some major female dilemmas (both of the time as well as those that carry over into our own time) and she does it with such style.

Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV Show) I enjoy Spike more than any other character on Buffy because, in my opinion, he develops so much from his first appearance in Season 2 through the end of the series. He goes from being this nihilistic, rage monster to becoming almost human again. Also, he “inspired” Billy Idol, which is delightful.

Captain Mal - Firefly (TV Show)/Serenity (Movie) I really would like to say that Shepherd Book or even River was my fave in this short-run series, but I’m a Mal fan. Again, it’s his dual-nature that makes him so compelling to me, plus the smart assness that is essential to his whole “I’m a tough man who doesn’t get emotionally damaged, even though I’m so broken, I can barely function.”

That’s it for me. If I tagged you below, you’re it.

@wordsmithsarah @mywritinghideout @deannabartz @rogueity @pen-and-sword-writing @eternalwritingstudent @rhiannon-writes @word-nerds-united @wordsnstuff @realmeowmeowmerida97

[miss-pyrrha-nikos-isms]

Getting to know the Writer

Thank you to @braith-eisen-isms and @zsweber-studios for the tags!

1. Short stories, novels, or poems?

I’ve been informed when I turn my hand to poetry it’s not bad at all. Sadly, I think otherwise.

Truthfully, the most of what I write is campaign notes, world-building, NPC and character backstories and downtime. I’ve helped building three different worlds thus far, one medieval low fantasy, one extrememly high fantasy, and one somewhere in between. And one Sci-fi universe. Although, admittedly, I had an absolute blast with that.

When I do turn my hand to proper writing, it’s typically RP responses that are grossly overdue and short fics. I’m massively guilty of what I call ‘consequence free writing’ wherein I’ll create a scenario, I’ll let a problem or scene develop, and then I’ll end it after the scene’s climax.

Actions don’t have consequences if you’re a character in one of my fics ^_^

2. What genre do you prefer reading?

I’m a dolt for Fantasy in it’s many many shapes and forms. I’ve been known to pick up a a Sci-fi or Dystopian novel once in a blue moon. There’s even some poetry and epics on my bookshelf. If the paranormal, magical, other-worldly, bizarre or otherwise fantastical make an appearance, I am all over that.

And, of course, some writing manuals. Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ is an actual god send.

3. What genre do you prefer writing?

 I write what I read. Admittedly, RP-wise, I have been writing a surprising amount of romance as of late. I’ve turned my hand to horror before, but I fear it didn’t go overly well.

 4. Are you a planner or a write-as-I-go kind of person?

 I can have a beautiful plot lined up, full of intricacy and clever twists, and my lead character will take one look at it and simply decide otherwise. They have minds of their own. I just sort of set up the world, create the character, their motivation and turn them loose.

 5. What music do you listen to while writing?

 It really depends on the genre. Like almost everyone, the LOTR soundtrack features heavily in my playlist. There’s some translated anime soundtracks thanks to Lie and Lee, Nate Wants to Battle and Amalee. The Swedish Orchestra have done some beautiful work with gaming soundtracks, particularly Bloodbourne and Witcher.  

 6. Fave books/movies?

 Ohhhhhhh buddy. I’ll save us all and limit myself to 5 recent books.

 Mistborn- Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson’s character breathe. They are truly marvellous. His world is a vast one, his story gorgeously compelling and holy hell those twists. 

A Darker Shade of Magic/ A Gathering of Shadows- V. E. Schwab

I adore Delilah as a protagonist. Schwab doesn’t pull punches and try and make his protagonists completely likeable. They are flawed human beings and that gets them into just as much trouble as their abilities get them out of. Kell and Lila serve as each other’s muse and devil, even when half a world away.

 Terry Pratchett- The Night’s Watch

The Discworld never fails to enthral me with it’s wit and charm. Pratchett’s characters are both caricatures and subtle developed individuals. Everyone has at least one character in Discworld they simply adore. Vimes is definitely one of mine. 

The Once and Future King- T. H. White

This collection of Arthurian tales will forever remain on my bookshelf. It has earned it’s place there time and time again.

 The Last Wish- Andrzej Sapkowski

I heard the books where darker than the game. I am currently in the middle of finding out. Sapkowski’s world is a brilliant example of a grimdark world down without the depressing overlay. There are glimpses of nobility, of love and companionship. One just has to be careful those traits don’t get you killed.

7. Any current WIPs?

Every single RP thread I’m working on. The worlds are constantly expanding with more lore and epic-tier backstory.

 8. If someone were to make a cartoon out of you, what would your standard outfit be?

Leather leggings are a must. Likely a vintage cartoon T-Shirt or a block colour top with a loose denim shirt as a cover and ankle boots. 

Unless we’re LRP-ing- Then it’s the corset, gyspy-top, long boots and Hunting coat ensemble. Two swords, a small hand hammer, holy symbol around the neck, more potions than possibly needed and a hipflask (essential). An outfit I love way too much. 

9. Create a character description for yourself:

(More of a NPC description, but ho hum)

‘Away with the fairies’. She had frequently been described as such, and now she seeks to emulate it. Tall, but with far too much of a sweet palette to be lithe. She has a smile like a breeze. Perpetually there, and many don’t realize it’s presence until it’s gone. A mane of curls bounce as she talks animatedly.

10. Do you like incorporating people you actually know into your writing?

I may steal a series of conflicting traits from a person, but I won’t steal their full being.

 11. Are you kill-happy with characters?

 Oh gods no. I will put them through hell, and possibly their worst nightmares, but I will rarely kill them. All too often, that would be a kindness.

 12. Dream job?

A librarian, or a lighting apprentice for a theatre. I’ve always been fascinated by the backstage of the theatre. The special effects and everything else. I can’t be onstage for the life of me, but I would happily delve into the secrets of the backstage arts.

If I could write LRP plot for a living I would love to, but a girl’s gotta eat.

 13. Coffee or tea while writing?

 I’m with Braith. Hot chocolate wins.

14. Slow or fast writer?

 I make the tortoise look like Usian Bolt.

 15. Where/who/what do you find inspiration from?

Everywhere. I carry a notebook everywhere I go. Sometimes it’s a great collection of ideas, sometimes it’s just one well-wrought sentence. 

16. If you were put into a fantasy world, what would you be?

 Oh dang, which one? I’ll assume person preference.

 Probably one I helped make. If I forced to pick, Asyre, particularly in the City of Larchenette. A city risen from the sea, sourced around a fragment of the legendary Sun Crystal. It was one of the first places I ever created and sentimentality holds a lot.

 Not to mention, at some point a dragon washes up on shore, with a merfolk, and half a dozen others.

17. Most fave book cliche? Least fave book cliche?

 Favourite- ‘Two characters sparring, one partner pins another to a wall, intense few seconds, both character start making out.’

 Least favourite- ‘My biggest flaw is I’m clumsy/My power makes me heartless.’ Get OUT of my novel with that nonsense. I will fully rage-quit a story over this type of writing.

 18. Fave places to write?

I tend to write best in an environment where something is going on. A coffee shop, a library, a bar, there’s a lot of options.

19. Fave scenes to write?

 Descriptive, or ones where I can work in some foreshadowing.

 20. Most productive time of day for writing?

 Whenever the feeling strikes. Normally when I’m in the middle of something.

 21. Reason for writing:

 “For a teller of tales will never die- not while there are still people willing to listen.” Stories speak to something primal and universal. In every culture, we have narratives for entertaining, narratives for warning and ones written in tribute or commemeration. I find it speaks to me on that level. Hearing a compliment after I bear my soul, or put my best effort into writing somethingfulfils me in a way nothing else does.

To make things easier, and to quote a wise green haired man once upon a time, I am a writer “because there is nothing in this world I would rather be.”

Tags- @cody-baxter-isms, @churchboy42, @and-his-name-is-rouge-crimson, and anyone else who wants to give it a whirl!

[timelordthirteen]

Multiples of 5 XD

Had to add a cut because it got long as fuck.

5. Top five formative books? Oh wow, um…  It’d be easier to go with authors but Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pride and Prejudice, all things Discworld, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Bell Jar

10. Pick an author (or writing friend) to co-write a book with: Any of the people I listed in this post I would die for collaborate on anything.

15. How do you deal with self-doubt when writing? Hahahahaha! Uh, I don’t. I try to ignore it and push through, and sometimes I throw bits and pieces out in WIP memes or to my friends for some small moments of validation. It helps me feel like I don’t completely suck, and I like seeing people somewhat excited for my writing. Sometimes I go and re-read comments left on previous chapters of the fic I’m working on to remind me how many people like it, or on another fic of mine.

20. Any advice for young writers/advice you wish someone would have given you early on? I’ve mentioned these in more detail in other posts, but 

Find people you trust to be you betas/editors/sounding boards. Good betas are invaluable, and saying things “out loud” to someone else (or just typing them and making them more real) really helps you work through ideas. Sometimes just saying what you’re stuck on and why you’re stuck can unlock your brain, and that immediate feedback from another person, especially a writer, is so good. Don’t have anyone around? Talk to your pet, talk to a stuffed animal, talk to the TV.

Write what you know. And by that I mean if you don’t know something but you want to write about it, take a few minutes and Google. If you have time to write, you have time to do a little research.

Keep writing. Even if you think you can’t, even if you don’t type one character, one letter, one period in that fic. Open up something and at least stare at it. Re-read parts of it, or look at your outline. Having it in front of you keeps you aware of it so it doesn’t fade away to never be worked on again. And if you do think of something, it’s right there and you can do it.

25. What’s your worldbuilding process like? Strange? I don’t know honestly. True worldbuilding takes a long time. I might come up with a concept for the story and know that there will be key things I have to change about the existing canon world to fit it, but I won’t know the details right away. This is partly why I outline any fic that’s not a one-shot. I put down those key things at the top and outline under them. If I need to add more general world notes, I can, and I can expand on different things within the outline as I plot it out. Then I build the world to support the story I want to tell.

30. Do you like to read books similar to your project while you’re drafting or do you stick to non-fiction/un-similar works? Noooooo. I can’t read fics that are like what I’m writing. As I’ve posted before I don’t like to be directly influenced that way and I had an issue with it in the past where someone thought I stole their work (I didn’t) because of it. The books I read for fun are generally nothing like what I’m writing. I read a lot of scifi, fantasy, and spy/thriller stories, with the occasional period piece (reread of an Austen book or something) almost all of which is not stuff I’m writing.

35. Post the last sentence you wrote: Apparently a lot harder than it was to accidentally set an oven mitt on fire. (That is the most out of context thing ever lol!)

40. Do you look up to any of your writer buddies? Oh gosh yes. @rose-tylers who is brilliant and has published two original novels and is about to have a third, meanwhile she’s super active in fandom and on Tumblr, and somehow also works for a living and is really sweet and supportive like wtf?? @thatexactleaf who has written turns of phrase that make me weep and is my darling, dear sister from another mister. @mariequitecontrarie whose writing is so brave, she just puts herself out there with all her experiences and emotions while being the most level headed person I’ve met in this fandom. @rufeepeach who has opened my eyes and my mind in ways I never thought possible and who understands her characters on a molecular level. I always see something new to love about my faves when I read her stuff. @still-searching47, @thatravenclawbitch, @emospritelet all three on top of having limitless amazing ideas and making me ship whole new pairings I never thought of before, are also really fantastic people. @b-does-the-write-thing who worldbuilds like no one else and is incredible. @thescholarlystrumpet without whom I probably wouldn’t even be in Rumbelle fandom and who gets me on every possible level. 

I wanna be like all of them when I grow up.

45. First or third person? THIRD. *cringes at first and second*

50. Do you share your rough drafts or do you wait until everything is all polished? Do you like see how many times I post snippets and wip meme stuff? lolz I have no problem putting draft bits out there. The thing that usually changes the most is all my stupid typos.

55. How do you manage your time/make time for writing? (do you set aside time to write every day or do you only write when you have a lot of free time?) I literally write any time I can and anywhere I can. I keep everything in Google Docs so I can write, plan, edit, etc. on any computer, my Chromebook, my tablet, or my phone. I write during breaks at work, I write in the car when we’re headed somewhere, I write at home in the evenings, and if I wake up at 4am and can’t sleep. I have even written quick things at stoplights because I knew if I didn’t do it right that second, by the time I got to Walmart I’d have lost it. I wish I could set aside designated time for writing, but that’s hard with the other projects I want to do (Photoshop, videos, etc.) and also life.