#it’s about time i actually post about tsoa

[nobuuses]

[wolfythewitch]

whats the green eye thing? with achilles

Every time I post art of Achilles on TikTok (my design of him has blue eyes because I want it to reflect the sea) I always get comments saying that he has green eyes. I looked it up and the only source I could find of him having green eyes is from tsoa, which I very much did not tag on the post. The annoying part is when they're rude about it haha like "um actually his eyes are green 💀💀"

[random-krab]

TSOA rant

I think it is time i bring up my change of tags If you don’t know or haven’t noticed I have changed most tags on my Iliad and “TSOA” posts tags to Anti-madeline miller, there are multiple reasons for this for one re-reading Tsoa her blatant fetishism of gay men is clear and she misuses the mythology and each characters original characterization, But i’m getting ahead of myself.  I’m going to start with Patroclus because he is a protagonist in this, which I admit isn’t a bad idea in itself but she changes so much about him that is hard to recognize but let's start with his age, while we don’t know his exact age we do know that he is older than Achilles because he was a squire, role model, and counsel to him, But she changes this which I admit makes sense when trying to appeal to a modern audience but in doing that you strip him of any solo characterization and authority, He goes from an angry boy to a generally calm man who can make good decisions which really makes his choice to go into battle in disguise really impactful. But she changes that and therefore changes his original personality. Speaking of personality she does something bluntly homophobic which is the feminization of Patroclus’s character, Patroclus goes from a very good warrior, strategist and medic to only a medic in her “Retelling” it is very reminiscent of the “Warrior husband and Healer wife” trope as pointed out by @booklover42 on my "Tsoa isn't accurate" Post; fun fact; most death counts either end with Patroclus having a higher or same body count as Achilles and It is never hidden that he is a fighter.

Speaking of Achilles. Achilles is probably the worst in this. A Lot of his personality, relationships, and actions are retconned which is weird for someone like madeline miller who claims to care about the mythology and accuracy of her “retellings” to do. The first thing I really hate is his relationship with Thetis, his mother. Her overall characterization is horrible, in the iliad she is a caring mother who might be slightly overbearing but she isn’t nearly as bad as she is in this. Her interactions with Patroclus automatically turns the reader against her even after finding out she was forced into marriage.

AND SPEAKING OF MARRIAGE. I will say this over and over and over again. Achilles was sexually attracted to women and men (or at least patroclus). You have no idea how angry I get when I see posts talking about how Achilles was gay. Because 2 things 1. No he wasn’t, he was just Greek literally no one would care about him having a male lover (expect maybe Peleus even then it would be more about the heir aspect of yk having a wife) the only point anyone has a thing to say about his relationship with Patroclus in a negative light is in  that one Shakespearean play where they just complain that they are having too much sex and aren’t doing anything. And Actually saying he was gay is weird because they didn’t have a word for it (Well actually that's kind of a lie they had pederasty, eromenos, and Kinaidos but uh) and 2. He had a wife and at least 1 sex slave of which I will get into later. But on to the marriage thing, His marriage to Deidamia wasn’t her sexually assaulting him or really even forced by thetis like it's implied (actually in one account its said that Achilles sexually assaulted her) but like no, in most versions they just started a intimate relationship while he was in disguise and eventually got married and then he left for war. She wasn’t a big character in the Iliad but she was nowhere near as antagonistic and Madeline miller describes her as. Another fun fact actually Neoptolemus was never taken by thetis?, I don’t know where Madeline got that from but it was in none of the sources I read. But Deidamia actually begged and tried to convince Neoptolemus not to go to war just like Thetis did with Achilles. And Actually let me get to the sex slave  Briseis, someone everyone loves in tsoa but her original character is nice, like actually she doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she is a good character, she was someone of decent standing reduced to a sex slave and a prisoner of war and a thing to be passed off and taken away at a king's wish not to mention she was promised that she would be married but achilles died before they had the chance and when his son arrived and wanted her she would rather try to run away and die in the process then be handed off to him. She is an amazing character and she is a good representation of what war looked like for the people taken captive but in tsoa she is made to be a pity character only used to make the main characters look like good men. I have nothing else to say at least right now anyway I may add to this later but yeah

[pelideswhore]

Heyyy, hope you're having a good day!!

I wanted to ask why you didn't you like Circe or The song of Achilles? /gen

I have not read neither of them but I've heard positive reviews from almost EVERYONE so I thought it'd be good to see a different opinion about them, I don't wanna get my hopes up too much and then get disappointed, yk?

hello!! thank you for the ask :)

i’ll be honest— i haven’t read circe (because tsoa made madeline miller irredeemable to me) but from what i’ve heard of it, it seems to really be pushing radical feminist ideology. in the odyssey, circe (if anyone) is the one to rape odysseus, but madeline miller flips the narrative and puts the blame on odysseus. this is obviously very harmful for male victims of rape. other than that, i’m just really not a fan of any of these feminist retellings. it’d be too much to put in one ask, but it erases history, takes credit away from the real women that lived in these times and isn’t even good feminism to be pushing now

as for tsoa….. omg <33333 i hate it. i have a whole long post about it here, but in short, i hate all the rape that is glossed over, the erasure of achilles’ and patroclus’ actual sexualities, the cardboard of a main character that patroclus is and the vilification of apollo. that’s just to name a few things. even apart from storytelling, her style is just simply not for me. way too extravagant.

[soleillunne]

mutuals appreciation post!! bc i checked my mutuals list the other day and i was like woah

if i didnt tag you here, we havent talked that much so idk what to say but just know i appreciate you nontheless<3

@https-furina : PERSE!!! i don't know how to start this but thank you so much for being in my life. you've been nothing but encouraging since the first time i met you and i love you so much. words cant explain how much i care about you, but i'll find a way to make you know in some way soon hehe

@lucid-lilium : lili my fellow xiao kisser :3 i love talking to you so much you have such a colorful personality and you're so kind and so so so sweet <3 thank you for feeding my angst delusions.

@idyllic-affections : aph my beloved <3333 your works are very nom nom but also youre so sweet and i love brainrotting with you sm bc you never judge me <//3 the friend everyone needs fr fr

@mikacynth : mikaaaaa aaaaa i love your vibe sm you're so cheerful and interacting with you is like taking a deep breath on the first hours of the morning when the air is still cold but you stay out anyway because you dont want to miss the beautiful view <33 mwah mwah

@kisthes : KAZU HI FELLOW TSOA LOVER !!! i love talking with you sm but we've both been so busy lately so i couldnt interact as much as i wanted <//3 i appreciate you sm mwah mwah

@anonbinaryweirdo : OLIIIIII HI OMG the chaos child <3 i love talking to you sm bc you always have sth fun to say and its never boring (not that thats a bad thing but,,, you get what i mean) mwah mwah kisses

@zhongrin : MISS RIN!! i love dropping by in your teashop so much, theres never a dull moment there (be it crazy anons, or events, or anything-) and i love love love seeing you on my dash <3

@floraldresvi : vi, you are so precious!! i know you think otherwise sometimes but thats not true and i will bite anyone that makes you think otherwise >:( you deserve the world mwah

@akiayama : AYA HI HI we became moots not long after i started being into genshin and i remember being so shy to interact with you but you were so kind to me and you still are and i cant thank you enough for being with me through all these times :3

@kopivie : CINNA HI!! you're one of the first mutuals i made here and you're actually the reason i started playing genshin. back when i was trying to write for genshin myself you kept encouraging me so i want to thank you personally for being the reason why i'm here today :3

@i23kazu : ying!! you're so so so kind and talking with you is so fun, i dont even notice the time slip when im chatting with you! i know we dont do it often (which is a crime) but its still lovely to see you on my dash<3

[uhuraisgay]

fic writer meme

ty lore @megafaunatic for tagging meee :3c

How many works do you have on Ao3?

fifty three as of today. tomorrow? who knows.... (probably still fifty three)

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

518,435 words .... wrow.....

3. What fandoms do you write for?

historically its been all over the place but theres so much stuff rotting and dying in my gdrive that has never been posted so i feel like i have a broader actual ouvre than is represented on ao3. which is mdzs heavy at least in the past couple years

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

5. beyond all limit (wangxian i wrote for lore right after i first read the book) 4. if the story's over (moshang post-divorce get-together fic) 3. someone as good for me as you (written in 2016 for holster and ransom when i was reading check, please. LMAO) 2. at least as deep as the pacific ocean (written in 2015 in the clearest example of 'person distraught by the tragic ending of a tragedy misses the fucking point and writes a coffee shop au of achilles and patroclus after she read tsoa' ever, even bigger LMAO) 1. your name safe in their mouth (lsz gets his dad back, and other emotional adventures)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i used to try to reply to every comment i got but i stopped doing that around the same time i went to college and got more depressed. but i love reading comments and i sometimes reply if someone says something that moves me or like. asks me a question about the fic that i want to elaborate on? because i love to yap

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i'm not really good at writing straight angst i feel like it's normally like. angst with catharsis. but i wrote some explorations on grief in the past couple years that i feel like have the angst factor (what i have of you about nhs after nmj dies, and then when your beard fell out about my sweetie pie kageyama tobio in middle school after his grandpa dies)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i have a lot of silly fluffy fics... idk i try to toe the line mostly of like. the joys and sadnesses of human experience but sometimes you just gotta fluff it up. i'll set the table, you can make the fire, which is book verse aziraphale/crowley living in a cottage and being in love, comes to mind....i love that one

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i don't think i've ever really gotten hate on a fic? i have been extremely lucky in that regard. especially since my whole ouvre from like 2014 onward is on that damn site and much of it is very cringeworthy.

9. Do you write smut?

not well!

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

i often will do like kind of a quasi-crossover kind of thing rather than a True Crossover wherein i take characters i like from one medium and plop them into the roles and places of characters i like from another medium. i did a dragon age wangxian fic where lwj was the inquisitor from da:i called we held together the fragile sky that kind of exemplifies this dynamic

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of or that anyone has ever notified me of, but i also don't look that hard. if this has ever happened, it would hurt my feelings, so please don't do it ? lol

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes!!!! and i was honored

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

not as such but i have one not-intended-for-posting fic which is basically just a transcription of jokes i have with my roommate about haikyuu characters LOL which i think counts as co-writing. she's my co-writer in spirit even if i'm the one at the keyboard

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

my answer to this changes with every new fixation i have. like right now it's kagehina. if you asked me four years ago i would have said wangxian. You Know?

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

SO MANY...i think probably my fullmetal alchemist nie brothers au....i try not to post things until they are done and fully edited now, but that one was a whim-based fic that i lost all strength for as soon as i started thinking too hard about kagehina. i also had a fem nielan sci fi au that was vaguely based off beauty and the beast but nmj was like stuck in a ship and she thought she was its computer and that she was a program but she was actually a person....which i never posted any of except snippets on twitter and i think it was just too sprawling for my current skill level...i just was never able to wrangle it. but i am fond of it nonetheless

16. What are your writing strengths?

based on what other people have told me i would say the way i write sibling / family relationships, and while my prose is not always pretty i do think it can be pretty at times ...

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i feel like it's often too self-indulgent even if that's what fic is for lol, and i tend to look back on fics and think, i wrote that because i had feelings about it and wanted to say it, but i'm not necessarily sure that This Character would say/do that at this point in time....idk like i fear that when i don't think about it hard enough my characterization can be weak or guided by what eye personally would do vs. what The Character would do. but some of that is because the majority of my fics on ao3 are from years and years ago and i (hopefully) have continued to improve

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

i'm picky about it but when it's done well i think it's really fun and builds so much of the world/character. i think when it's bad it's really bad. when i go about it i try to think about like, a) do i know this language myself/do i know someone who does. if the answer is no i try to keep it really minimal. b) how do people who know multiple languages approach speaking those multiple languages naturally in real life. like (IN MY EXPERIENCE) ppl don't tend to switch languages for random words mid-sentence unless those words are like, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, ect...maybe swearing if they're less familiar with one of the languages and don't know slang/swearing in it...but again when it's done well it's really good and i'm not an expert. i just can kinda tell when it feels off when i read it, if that makes sense...(it's the same way i feel about grammar lol. sometimes i can just tell it's a little Off)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

probably either fma or soul eater or the sister's grimm book series when i was in middle school. or maybe doctor who? idk i had a lot of fanfic notebooks that i have since destroyed and then regretted destroying

20. Favorite fic you have written?

at the present moment it's in these coming years my kagehina love letter but again i feel like it changes constantly. like the more i write the better i get and the more the newest/most polished thing i've written sort of Becomes my favorite just by default of my satisfaction level with it. sorry if that's a bad answer

tagging @yuebings @dcyiyou @burins @cairoscene @cafecliche @perilously sorry if you've been tagged already also if you want to do this and i didn't tag you just say i did. I'll shut up now

[achillessulks]

What happened to your Goodreads? On my end, it looks like your „Want to Read" list was purged :(

Yeah I think the whole account got deleted actually, I sent an email to the customer support but I suspect it’s just gone because people have been mass-reporting me for a while because of a couple of my more popular reviews (namely The Song of Achilles). I guess they finally won though because if that’s really the case then I’m just absolutely not coming back lol

It sucks because I had that account for over a decade (and mysteriously it wasn’t until my TSOA review blew up that I started getting reported all the time! funny, that) and put a lot of effort into it, especially the reviews where I talk about translations and compare different ones etc., but I guess if I’m not spending time writing reviews then I have more time to actually read books.

Anyway I guess you can follow me here on this account if you want. I can’t promise I will post very much (I do not like social media) but feel free to send asks or DMs and I’ll usually respond to those if I can 👍

[darlingsart]

Do you have any HCs on Achilles' piercings in a modern AU? And Pat as well? The last art you posted got me intrigued😊

Oh, I forgot to draw it in but Achilles is supposed to have one sleeve of tattoos too bc my modern AU is also a band AU lol and naturally the band is other tsoa/Iliad characters, Odysseus on the drums, Diomedes playing bass and Ajax (the greater) playing guitar. I’ll get more into in the fic I’m writing but it’s just my headcanon that in modern times, Achilles would be a musician so of course he’s gotta look the part, and in my AU he started this band when he was 16/17 ish with these older guys and that means getting fun (stupid?) tattoos and piercings to try and look cool and fit in lmao

As for the piercings, I think Achilles would have on both sides the first and second holes pierced which he got done probably when he first started his band and Thetis flipped out bc her baby ruined his ‘perfect little ears!’. And he’s got his septum pierced which he got around 17 once he left home (we’ll talk about that later too 🤫) so naturally a kid with freedom is going to do something stupid like let his band mates shove a needle through his nose. It was Odysseus who did it and the piercing is actually a little crooked but you can only tell if you really look.

I think Achilles also has an industrial (or bar) piercing in one ear too that he got when he was 19 ish, and both helix piercings but sometimes he forgets to put those in. He’s also got the stud nose piercing and he switches between that and the septum sometimes too. He tried to get a web piercing (under the tongue) but it rejected and he didn’t try it again bc the first time was painful and he’s a baby when it comes to pain.

As far as more intimate piercings, I think he’d be too scared to actually do them lmao like he’d talk a big talk about getting a nipple piercing or a more private area pierced and then when the needle comes out he’s just like ‘ACTUALLY—’ 😂

Okay now onto Pat; he’s only got his ears pierced lol just the first and second holes, which he probably got done as a teenager (Like 18 ish?) just because he thought they’d look neat, and because Briseis egged him on and said both would look cool. Sometimes he remembers to put them in, sometimes not and if he does, they’re usually just little black studs. I just don’t see him with a ton of piercings, or any tattoos. He appreciates them from a distance, and always admires the ones Achilles has but it’s not for him and that’s okay 👍🏽

Hope I’m not forgetting anything for these but yeah these are basically what I can think of right now! ❤️

[johaerys-writes]

Hi from the asks list!

😅 and❌?

Thank you so much love your works always!

Thank you so much!!! ❤❤

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

So usually it's either the very fluffy scenes, or the very horny scenes that I'm a smidge embarrassed about? The fluffy ones because I'm never really sure whether I'm doing a good job or if they're sugary to the point of being nauseating, and the horny ones because I feel so *perceived* 🙈 There are a couple one shots that I still like but I was a bit embarrassed when I posted: Winter's Fruit (TSOA) because it was my first time writing food play, and The Rain Through Our Hands (Voltron) because it's the first properly kinky fic I've posted on main and boy is it horneeee. Even though I loved writing them they're probably the ones I revisit the least because they make me feel just a liiiiittle bit squirmy 😅 

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

I generally hesitate to say "oh I wouldn't write that" because every single time I've said that, I've turned around a few months later and written this EXACT thing 😂 I think the only trope I can think of is Mpreg? I don't mind reading it, I actually enjoy reading a/b/o fics from time to time and I'm okay if there's passing mention of it, but I have trouble writing or like entertaining the idea if that makes sense? I just can't figure out the biology in a way that feels plausible to me even in a fantasy setting, and that kills my vibe. No judgement to anyone who enjoys it though! 

But a trope that makes me go feral and I truly wish there was less of it is perfectly encapsulated in this tweet:

I stg this is my villain origin story (I'm looking at you Voltron and Banana Fish 😑)

Feel free to send me another ask from this list!

[darlingpoppet]

[20 Question Fic Writer Tag]

Tagged by @johaerys-writes (who is always welcome to tag me in stuff whenever they want because it makes my day every time <3)

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 16 as of now. I have another fic I’m not yet allowed to publish outside of its anthology that I’d like to upload eventually, and I also have new WIP currently in the works, so the number is slowly growing!

2. What is your AO3 word count? 128,406… I’ve only been actively publishing on my AO3 account for about 2 years so I’d say it’s a pretty decent output!

3. What fandoms do you write for? Right now just two: Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan (mostly Eruri), and Patrochilles (from The Iliad/Hades/TSOA/etc. because it’s better to say the ship itself is the fandom right? lol) Although Hades in itself can perhaps be considered a separate third category because that particular spin on Greek Mythology & its interpretation of Patrochilles has particularly captured my imagination, and because I’ve written for other ships in that universe like PZA and MZT

4. What are your top five fics by kudos? In descending order: Pressed Flowers, Strain, Upon A Lazy Bed, Once More, and Closest To My Heart (the latter two are currently tied for 4th but Closest might eke ahead once this is posted haha.) I actually really love how these are a pretty good representative sample of my works: Eruri, Patrochilles (TSOA-verse & Hades-verse), PZA; some smutty, some angsty & some sweet; their ratings are all that AO3 offers: 1 G, 1 T, 1 M, & 2 E. I’m a bit sad that as of this writing Where The Dead Forget has been knocked out of the top 5 but since it’s still an ongoing WIP that’s only like 25% done, assuming its readership grows, it’ll certainly claw its way back up through the rankings lol

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I do my best to respond! I like to show my gratitude to anyone who kindly takes the time to share their thoughts, and also I love to be able to discuss the story & characters when I have the opportunity! I’ve done my best to be diligent about responding ever since I started posting Patrochilles fics but unfortunately I still have an accumulated backlog from the earlier days of posting… my inbox is sitting at an ignominious 28 “unreads” atm (although I promise I did read & savor each one! I’ll respond eventually, I promise!!)

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Pressed Flowers and Upon A Lazy Bed both have pretty bittersweet endings. Closest To My Heart has a “happy” ending that in the context of the rest of the story is in fact rather bleak, and I’ve rightfully gotten a lot of feedback that people found it pretty unsettling, haha.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Nonbiri-ya, perhaps? Or perhaps it’s Sea Of Love, if you’re a Hadesgame enjoyer who’s also familiar with the Achilles myths and the prophecies about his life

8. Do you get hate on fics? I haven’t received any so far. If anyone dislikes what I’m cooking up they’re gratefully keeping it to themselves or at least where I can’t see it, haha.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes and this year especially I’ve been trying to get better at it! I’ve always personally enjoyed smut that’s used as a vehicle for character/relationship study, that combo of eroticism + emotion is soooo good. As for what kind it is… uhhhh I’m not sure since I’ve done everything from tender & romantic, “fade-to-black” scenes to dead dovey fetish fuel and everything in between, lol. I hope I write the kind of smut that’s hot I guess uwu

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? Not really, unless you’d consider mixing & matching details of different Greek mythology retellings into a new story to be a crossover… but personally I don’t think it counts haha. Sea Of Love in some ways feels like a TSOA/Hades crossover but I think it’s more just the vibes since it was still my aim to depict Hadesgame versions of Patrochilles during their childhood

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I know of… hopefully not haha

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I’ve translated several of my own fics into Japanese for doujinshi publishing purposes: The Upper Hand, Stomach & Heart, Odd One Out, and one more that isn’t on AO3 yet called LoveSick Arrows. I also translated Upon A Lazy Bed into Japanese for fun over a year ago and I’ve been meaning to post it for ages but my partner who usually betas my translations still hasn’t looked it over haha. My fic Harmony was translated into Russian and Ukrainian as part of a fandom group project. Also, I once received a request from someone who wanted to translate The Upper Hand into Russian. Not sure if it ever happened… perhaps it’s out there somewhere on ficbook, though I’m not sure where! (If anyone knows I’d love to link back to it!)

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No, never! I’m not sure how a writing collaboration works exactly but it might be fun to try sometime!

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Oh god… I mean I would have to say it’s eruri right? Just for the sheer amount of time & the degree I’ve gone hard for this ship… all the friendships I made and the person I’ve become literally would not have been possible without it. My comparatively recent foray into writing has come at a time when that passion is in a more dormant period though. And instead I’m having a lot of fun writing with Patrochilles which I can already tell will be another all-timer for me (two years ago me would probably be surprised to know that current me is taking Classical Greek lessons because the hyperfixations cannot be controlled, amirite?) I’ve enjoyed a lot of ships but I’ve had so few genuine OTPs my whole life because once I fall in love with a ship I fall HARD. Probably the only other one that has genuinely changed my life like Eruri and Patrochilles have is Wolfstar… that one definitely comes with a lot of bittersweetness but at least I can still say I have a lot good memories attached to it <3

15. What's a WIP you'd like to finish but doubt you ever will? I wanna say “never say never” because every time I look through my WIPs and fic ideas I’m always like “oh this was so good! I should return to it!” I had always wanted to do my own “Erwin lives” fic but I’m not sure exactly if I have enough passion atm to bring something interesting or unique to that little sub-genre. Maybe someday, if I have a good enough idea. I’ve also for the longest time had a “what if Erwin joined the Military Police instead of the Survey Corps” story idea because back in the early days of the eruri fandom there were a lot of popular fanon & AUs where Erwin was an MP or ex-MP (probably popularized by Audacity?) That mini-genre pretty much died out once we learned his canon backstory but I still wanted to do one in conversation/playing with the canon, because I think that would be an interesting vehicle to explore his character motivations by considering an alternative & I think I could make a neat little political thriller out of it. Again, maybe someday. I think the only WIP I have actually talked about that’s well & truly “dead” is the Achilles POV fic I said I was writing in the notes for Upon A Lazy Bed. It was just too episodic and I could never really come up with a proper narrative through-line for it. On the bright side, much of what I had written for it and its overall thesis statement ended up getting repurposed for Where The Dead Forget, so at least it lives now as something else. There are still a couple orphan stand-alone episodes from it that I still quite like, so maybe I’ll publish them as a little TSOA-verse drabble collection or something someday.

16. What are your writing strengths? I think I’m pretty good at creating a certain tone and atmosphere. I also think I’m getting good at making my prose flow in a rhythmically pleasing way. A friend once called my writing “lyrical” & I think it was one of the kindest compliments I’ve ever gotten ;o;

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I said this in an earlier ask meme but I don’t think I’m very good at action scenes, it’s hard for me to make a sequence of actions both interesting & make sense and I don’t really enjoy writing them haha. They’re harder than sex scenes too because at least in those you can weave in a lot more emotions among the “choreography”. Also: long-form serialized storytelling does not come naturally to me at all and I’m unsure if I do a good job with things like pacing or being able to clearly see both the forest & trees. Time will tell I guess lol. On that note, I’m also a pretty slow writer. I am Not that author who gives regular weekly/monthly updates haha.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Personally I don’t really encounter this often but when I do it’s usually demonstrating a language barrier between the characters, or something being purposely obfuscated from the reader, which I think is all fine & legit. I suppose you would see it more often between characters who are understood to not actually be speaking in the language of the fic, yeah? I was reading a novel recently that was injecting all sorts of words & phrases in the language of the setting and idk… I guess it added to the atmosphere but when I can’t understand what they’re saying even though it’s something the pov character is meant to understand then it starts to feel a bit alienating and I don’t like it, haha.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Gundam Wing, I think? LMFAO! I was 12 and I wrote some kind of AU where they all go to camp and I’m pretty sure it was pure tween cringe haha. The first fandom in which I posted more publicly was Harry Potter. The only one I really remember from back then was a James/Sirius fic I wrote when I was 16 that nowadays would be considered dd content… it’s probably lost to the sands of time but even now I still think the concept was solid uwu

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? The ones I’ve always felt pretty stoked on since posting them are Upon A Lazy Bed and Closest To My Heart… both of them because I enjoyed toying with the ideas behind them, and to me they successfully evoke the atmosphere and emotional responses I was going for. And if I can continue make my writing as pretty as I think UALB ended up being I’ll be very happy indeed! Also: I felt kind of iffy on LoveSick Arrows (the one not on AO3 yet) when I first submitted it but recently I reread it and I think it turned out way better than I gave it credit for… it might be my favorite eruri fic to date :)

Tagging @galpalpetraral @zorthania @lostcauses-noregrets @he1chouarts @goddamnchou @ladymacbethsspot & @elemmacil <3 Also belatedly tagging @sonderous-opia because I couldn’t remember what your tumblr account name was until now ;o;

[honeyblockm]

I absolutely NEED your takes on tsoa I think I may die if I don't hear someone else talk about it

well they're kind of /neg so if you don't want to hear me complain about it for a little while then probably scroll away sfjdkj

so like i don't think madeline miller is a bad writer. i think her writing is pretty banging actually. I just think some of the ways she took her book was a little. hmm. WELL. it wasn't for me ^_^. Also i didn't read the whole thing bc i did not have interest in finishing it but i have skimmed most of it. The way Patroclus is characterized irks me especially like bro... he got defanged (in service of playing into, in my personal opinion, some :| mlm dynamics). i really do prefer more the patroclus in the iliad where his relationship with achilles was on more even footing. and he was a warrior! a damn good one! and not at all immune to getting caught up in the bloodlust and violence of the war! the trojans literally have to have apollo kill him because he was going on a huge murder spree, achilles' armor or no! i can see what miller was going for w the stuff about portraying the brutality and cruelty of war ig but to me that's a really odd leap to make for the characterization of a main character. Patroclus is nice, ofc. i love that guy. but mannnn let him kill people let him be affected by culture of his time let him folly!

also i feel like the book wouldn't have gained mainstream popularity with the. ........... crowd if patrochilles' characters hadn't been warped into something that could be crammed into easily digestible weird gay tropes. (though i don't think this was the intention of madeline miller.)

next thing. ehehem once again the (sort of) sanitation of shitty aspects of the iliad like... briseis. idk. i don't always want to read the silence of the girls type bare and brutal recounts of all the shit that happened to women. sure. and i guess it mightve been a precipice point for a lot of people who want to enjoy the protagonists? but it also feels weird how it's glossed over like the book's going wink nudge don't worry guys patrochilles are one of the good ones unlike all the other greeks. there's nuance to be had, though tsoa just seems to skate around it instead.

and oh this is an interesting one kind of related to the previous point but the way most of the women are portrayed is a little.. well why are they all set up as antagonists of a sort (except briseis). why are women like deidameia and thetis set up as obstacles between the two protagonist's epic gay love story or whatever, with only the barest of sympathy for their positions in the world?

+ every time i go into the iliad tag i have to scroll past 294020 tsoa posts where everyone acts like a marvel character and honestly, things have earned my undeserved scorn for less. lol

sighs deeply. anyways. it's a fine book. it's literally fine. whatever man there's way worse books and i am speaking from experience. it was kind of fun i liked the odydio snippets. i don't think it's ruining greek mythology or killing people or whatever, I'm just too bitchy to set my differing opinions aside about it. i would know him by touch or whatever that one went is a pretty epic quote. i have another line from it in a tentative webweave document rn. it's pretty cool but i hope queer retellings of greek myths get better from here on out. grits teeth. whatever man

[belle-keys]

some multifandom ya and fantasy book opinions - part two

-> part one here

- No rep is better than bad rep. I genuinely prefer when authors just write what they know and do it well than write about marginalized groups and do it poorly. I don't even think it's a shortcoming if authors only write what they know and not write representation

- I have no idea if sjm is actually serious about this awful rhys-centric multiverse or of it's all a little social experiment she's running but if it's the latter then she deserves a nobel prize cus the stans seem unironically whipped omg

- I don't know why the notion of soulmates is portrayed as inherently romantic. Like ofc there are exceptions to this (tpw, tsc) but I don't get the link between a sexual/romantic relationship and then the concept finding your other half in the vast cosmos

- Rivals to lovers >>> Enemies to lovers

- Feminist mythology retellings are great. While I myself, like others, get annoyed that it's always Greek this Roman that (well, it has been for a few years now), that's really opened the doors for more cultures to do awesome retellings (see: Kaikeyi)

- This is actually a popular opinion but Circe and TSOA feel like they were written by different people sometimes. Like, Circe? Art. Literature. Beauty. On the other hand, TSOA for me is... well, just a book.

- Your adult fantasy ladies better start stretching it they even want to be able to reach where RF Kuang is at in terms of writing quality like she could eat them for breakfast and it's a fact

- The fact that so many TSC “stans” go out of their way to imply Cordelia is “hypersexualized” when she exists literally just as an average mc and love interest it's so screwed up because I think it says more about them and how they perceive her actions in relation to her ethnicity and gender than it says anything about how Cassie chose to write her (per my previous posts on this: leave Cordelia alone please and thanks)

- It’s time to stop giving only diasporic authors and diasporic stories (that are laden with just north american perspectives) all the attention, because while we do need these stories and perspectives, it’s also worth noting that persons from diasporic communities can be very much complicit in the harmful bigotry or white imperialism that disadvantages people in the places from which they or their forefathers came.

[classicslesbianopinions]

Your insistence on shitting on Madeline Miller for no goddamn reason made me unfollow. Her books aren’t that bad and she’s far from the only person to ever write adaptations of myths. The fact that people complain about her in particular when she’s one of the only people writing about myths who actually bothers to use the source material at all, as opposed to say the dozens of romance authors writing about unrecognizable parodies of the Greek gods, is extremely frustrating. Also. Her books are pretty fucking good actually. I thought both circe and tsoa did a fucking excellent job of capturing some of the most interesting aspects of the characters in question and in general had extremely readable and compelling prose. Literally the only actual criticism I can see for tsoa is that the presentation was biased towards the Greeks and it could have used some better development of the Trojans. I think people who rag on them because it’s currently in vogue should take a step back and critically ask themselves Why.

you don't have to like what we say, nor do you have to follow us, but i think i've articulated repeatedly what my issues are with madeline miller's works, including the idea that using the source material is not in fact the only or even main criterion for a good adaptation. if the bias for the greeks is the only criticism you can see for tsoa i have a hard time believing you've actually been reading this blog because i've talked at length about my criticisms of how miller treats briseis, and we've had many conversations about her treatment of women in general. we've also had some really interesting conversations about her fitting achilles and patroclus into a pederasty dynamic despite the fact that they're a rare example of an m/m couple in greek myth that doesn't follow that dynamic. you don't have to agree with those criticisms but they do exist.

i did like tsoa the first time i read it, and i do always try to give miller's works a fair chance, which is also why i will read the next thing she comes out with before i start posting about it. i also think she has a very nice prose style, and her depth of research is impressive, even though i still disagree with her interpretations of the myths.

i don't think every critical post has to be super serious or explain every reason why i'm criticizing. at this point my target audience for those posts (our followers) has the context for the criticism, and i think it's okay if the posts are mostly for the target audience. i always explain myself or link to a previous post when challenged, anyway, because i do think an open dialogue is important. but my joke about not wanting madeline miller to touch antigone, for example, exists in the context of my other criticism of her and her stories.

also i've been criticizing tsoa and circe since long before it was cool sorry. i honestly don't know how you even got here if that was a dealbreaker. we have a #madeline miller discourse tag too so anyone can blacklist it for any reason.

i do think it does a disservice to people's critical thinking skills as well to assume people only hate something because it's cool. if people hating on something should step back and ask why, people defending that thing should do the same. that's how we get to actual productive conversations. but i do feel like much of what i say on this blog is either very thoughtful or a silly joke that i will back up with a thoughtful statement if pressed.

but like i said. you don't have to like or follow us. we are going to keep doing what we do.

[werewolfashton]

2022 writing evaluation

darling @igarbagecannotevenoteven tagged me to do this, honestly unbelievable, thank you megs <3 your answers were so interesting btw!!

i’ll also include all my works in this bc i haven’t written much in 5sos this year lmao. the other stuff can mainly be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/villainous_intentions

number of stories posted on ao3: 4 for 5sos, 20-30 in other fandoms, mainly stranger things (this is such a vague number bc i’m including drabbles)

word count posted for this year: ~53.332

fandoms i wrote for: 5sos, stranger things, the iliad/tsoa, [redacted]

pairings: lashton (2), malum (1), ot4 (1), harringrove (like 20+ and some platonic pairings), patrochilles (1), [redacted]

story with the most kudos/bookmarks/comments: for 5sos it’s but underneath we had a fear of flying in all regards

for other fandoms in kudos and bookmarks it’s don’t that man look pretty and in terms of comments: i was far too scared to hit him, but i would hit him in a heartbeat now and into the deep

work i’m most proud of and why: i’m really proud to have written 4k in one sitting for a wild and an untamed thing, and really all i wrote for the harringrove harvest probably

work i’m least proud of and why: ngl i really don’t like any of my 5sos fics very much except maybe the 2 song fics and some horror aspects so

share or describe a favorite review you’ve received: i got and still get so much love for one of my drabbles for st, those always make me smile and then recently i got the funniest review of my life tbh but that stays between me and the unfortunate souls that have my insta

a time when writing was really, really hard: the only time writing was not hard was during the writing challenges in june and october. or well it was still hard but i was putting out words like an insane person anyway. blessed days.

a scene or character you wrote who surprised you: still surprised to be writing in the first place. certainly wrote a lot of stuff towards the end of the year that i did not expect. wrote about a shitload of trauma. OH i wrote crack. did not expect to be able to do that. 

a favorite excerpt of your writing: i mostly like some of the one liners in my fics and this is one of them from into the deep end: "Fear spreads through [Steve] and he rushes forward, half expecting a monster in the middle of the bed, but when he moves behind the others to look into the room he stops as well. It’s not a monster, not really. At least he doesn’t think so. 

It’s just a mullet wearing asshole that’s supposed to be dead."

and i wrote this baby of drabble that’s one of my fav pieces of writing idk i struggled with this point of the review

how did you grow as a writer this year? i have become more open to just writing what i want. especially recently i’ve stopped really caring? like i still look at numbers too much but at least i write what i like now. i’ve also started writing longer works (at least sort of)

how do you hope to grow next year? i wish i had more time to write which isn’t really something i can force so i think i’m just hoping to not care about statistics as much. as to writing itself i wanna just expand my vocabulary.

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc)? alright so, idk. i often feel very uncomfy speaking to people about my fic bc i think i annoy them and they only put up with it. i certainly have some lovely people who have been supportive (like em) and have been kind enough to beta for me (e.g. helen) and especially noah has been helping me with ideas. but yeah overall idk i shy away from talking about my fic bc it just ends up making me feel bad. thus i think the only overall actually very positive influence was the stranger things fandom, lovely feedback, actual engagement with fics, all that stuff has been helpful.

anything from real life show up in your writing this year? haha. y’all don’t need to know how much i projected this year thanks!

any new wisdom you can share with other writers? stop! fucking! looking! at! the! stats!

any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year? @pixiegrl birthday fic. like 30 harringrove drafts. much [redacted]. we shall see though i’m trying not to stress myself

tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: aight idk what’s going on here anymore so i’ll leave this as it is

[i-eat-cars-and-berriesss]

Hello, welcome to my blog! My name is primarily KD, but I also go by Kaciro. I'm an Indo-Caribbean, who is straying from labels rn but I identify as a bisexual. Somewhere, somewhere I'm on the ace spectrum. I'm here and I have sporadic, chaotic interests. I love my dog, that is the first thing you oughta know about me!!! Oh, and sometimes I touch on my culture and roots. Everyone probably knows me for my unhinged, decent posts + incorrect quotes but I'll try to keep this more generalized. but you def will catch me straying into specific fandoms (like Disney). 💫 Pronouns: She/Them but Fae/Faer will do too. 🍄 My Carrd (finally!!!) 🍁 I have tons of things that I’m associated with as a multifandom lover. I have improved this blog from before/can interact better, so I'm proud of that. ALSO, Send me asks for fun lmao

(Btw I love the color blue💕💕, if you can, ask why)

🚶🏽‍♀️👈Get thee gone from my gate, thou jail-crow of Mandos if you are a (DNI List):

Dream stan

Boyfriends stan

Homophobe, transphobe, biphobe, panphobe, aphobe, or lesbophobe (or queerphobe in general!!)

A terf

Truscum/transmed

Racist

Pro-endosystem

Pedo/MAP

Xenophobe/don't support xenogenders and neopronouns

Anti-religious/have prejudice against any religions

Pro-religion/obsessed with it

Sexist (misogynist/support misandry)

Ableist

⚡️Fandoms⚡️:

FNAF (yes, the entire franchise)

Bendy & the Ink Machine (my childhood!)

Incorrect quotes (is that a fandom? idk)

Classical and modern literature

TF2 (im a gaymer)

Mandela Catalogue

The fandom of "Liking fictional and irl people (Con O’Neill, Henry Cavill, and Peter Steele)" (not really romantic)

PoTO

MXTX/Danmei

Baki the Grappler

Ancient Greek Mythology

TSOA

AHKJ/Madagascar

Horseland

Bluey

PJO

Nimona

Warriors (Erin Hunter)

HTF

LotR (Tolkien's writing in general actually)

OFMD (out of that era but relevant?)?

Aesthetics/Stimboards

Dnd/Fantasy

JJBA (part 3)

MTV Downtown

Hatfield & McCoys

Encanto (2021)

Bollywood (my heritage, bby)

Fanfiction (mine mostly)

Dead Dove fics/very angsty fics

Memes

Disorganization of Shrek!! (he is love he is life, he is everything)

Some opinions

Mostly shitposting and reblogging

Rambling

✨Occasional fandoms that are not a main focus✨:

Paleontology

AoT

Courage the Cowardly Dog

TWD

WoF (Tui Sutherland's works)

Avatar: the Last Airbender

Avatar (James Cameron)

DHMIS

TMA

Marvel & DC

Winx Club

King of the Hill

Clone High

Rivals of Aether (Lovers of Aether)

MLP

Miraculous Ladybug

Xenofiction (Ice Age, The Lion King 1994-ish stuff)

Genshin Impact

Writing (my own writing, sometimes horribly-made smut)

Sally Face

Animals (dogs specifically)

Star Wars

South Park

WwdiD

DoaWK

Rick and Morty

Lemon Demon

Vivziepop’s series (sometimes, i used to be huge fan)

Tokyo Revengers (eh)

Always Sunny in Philadelphia 

House of Wax/Slashers

Night in the Woods

Bojack Horseman

Monster Prom

💦Who I would simp for (if I can admit) :

Lan WangJi from Mo Dao Zu Shi

Sauron from Tolkien's Works

Asterius from Hades (2018)

Izzy Hands from Our Flag Means Death

Red Guy from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

Zeke Yeager from Attack on Titan

Gabriel from The Mandela Catalogue

Kakyoin Noriaki from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures: Stardust Crusaders

Kaeya Alberich from Genshin Impact

Lisa from Genshin Impact

Glamrock Foxy from Five Nights at Freddy's: SB

Godrick the Grafted from Elden Ring

Death from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish

Miguel O'Hara (Spider-man)

🍪Comfort Characters:

Simba from the Lion King

Ballister Boldheart from Nimona

Mort Mordecai from Madagascar

Bonnie from Five Nights at Freddy's

ahhh, this is crigne but know that LWJ 🐰 and Sauron 🌋 came before any other of my blorbos lol. i do write time to time, so read those snippets on my ao3! now enjoy yourself, running thru my blog! enjoy this bullshitery and have a good day!

Also, new and better ao3 account with my Hae~ and pinterest and twitter 🌸

Update: keeping to myself to finish fanfic projects I’ve started. I've been simping real hard for a stoner, so I may be a furry... sorry not sorry about liking the freaky bastard Godrick tho. also getting back into reading and picked up danmei. Good luck to me.