#longform metaphor

[triscribe]

The Force is a forest

So I've had a thought.

There are all sorts of posts on this webbed-site that analysis Star Wars, and the Force, and the Jedi vs. Sith dynamic - some I agree with wholeheartedly, others have turned my own worldview on its head, and a select few make me want to throw my computer out a window.

Now I've got one of my own.

The Force, when you come down to it, is an ecosystem. A metaphysical inclusion of all ecosystems in the universe, technically, but for purposes of this analysis we're just going to call it a forest. All different types of fauna and flora, from the big to the small, mega to microbial. All different kinds of networks and relationships, spanning the whole of the forest to just occupying tiny nooks, separate entities working in harmony and others finding the best possible spots to take advantage. Death and rot have their place, too, because nothing lives forever, and when something decays, it provides nourishment to an entirely new generation of life.

The Dark Side is not death and rot.

The Dark side is man-made machinery.

It is the chainsaws, the flamethrowers, the bulldozers, coming in and taking taking taking until there's nothing left, cutting down trees and removing undergrowth and tearing at the earth itself for resources to steal away.

The Jedi Order is big on ideals, on finding your path towards enlightenment and spiritual contentment - in other words, maintaining and watching over a patch of woodland, finding joy in small things and taking time to appreciate each individual detail. That isn't to say sometimes a person doesn't get annoyed, or outright angry, that this plant isn't growing where it should, or that animal is stealing more than its fair share, and at that point, out comes a hatchet or a gun (or a lightsaber), to fix what is seen as the problem. But is the destruction truly necessary? Could the annoying plant have been gently pulled from the soil, and moved elsewhere? Could the irritating animal have been trapped and relocated rather than killed? The point of being a Jedi is not that moments like these never happen: it is learning from them, learning restraint and how to see another option, so that each member of the Order can strive to do and be better.

But if one refuses to mind themselves, if they think well, there was no harm done in cutting down that one weed, or eliminating a single pest. They've joined the cycle of life and death, after all. No great loss to the ecosystem. And that makes it easier to justify the next time a bigger plant needs to be removed, a larger animal exterminated, rearranging the woodland to be better - if it's yours to protect then it's also yours to tend as you wish, right? And you really want that particular tree out of the way for something else to grow instead, but wait, now it all looks wrong, the dratted bugs are gone but nothing new is growing, you cleared out all the frustrating birds but now there's rotting fruit everywhere, why doesn't it look nice anymore, why won't this stupid piece of land do what you want it to? Fine, if it won't cooperate, tear the whole thing down.

But you can't recreate what was lost at that point. Because the level of annihilation you unleash is Not part of the usual cycle of life and death. It is wholly un-natural, and nothing will be as it once was. Perhaps this bit of forest will recover in time, after you've finished and left; perhaps not. Maybe a more gentle soul will come in to repair what they can, in the aftermath or long decades later.

(Maybe, at the very last moment, you are struck by realization, and halt, and attempt to redeem yourself by healing the harm caused - but even then, long years of work won't be enough to restore what was there. Even if the forest does grow back under penitent hands, it will be something new, and possibly not ever equal to its former self.)

Tldr: the Force, as a whole, will have small ups and downs, the occasional wild fire catastrophe, and a wealth of different experiences every day in every place. Individuals can get frustrated, can feel a whole range of emotions, and sometimes inflict more harm than they mean to. Jedi, too, which is why they strive towards the ideal of "there is no emotion, there is peace". Because that's a better path than losing one's temper every day; to tend to the forest, instead of harming it. But Sith? Those who get attached to what they want above any other consideration, who cling to a thing, a person, a vision of how things should be?

They're the ones bringing out woodchippers, sooner or later.

[m0e-ru]

anyway if anyone's gonna play metaphor reFantazio um. dont play on a 50 inch screen, lower your brightness, and for the love of the almighty please disable Camera Shake in the settings ohh my gordness

atlus' game ui has been going so hard it went Too Hard, where the flashy graphics are literally so flashy, like even the transitions are making my head hurt. it's absolutely gongeous but even good things can be too much. it would help to have accessibility settings but theres none of that here !!!! if i could cap the frame rate to 30fps i would be so glad but we're stuck with stupid 60 fps until something explodes !!!!!!

well anyway reFan is a delightful experience so far. the protagonist actually talks and his voice line delivery is so funny you should pick the snarkiest dialogue options. if youre a persona fan you'll find your fair share of headaches along the way. smtnators um you can cast tarukaja 21 times and pass all your turns if you want go ahead . and the obligatory fantasy british. and gaelic . yippie !

[oynonrings]

🪤 sits on the edge of my seat blinking at you with huge eyelashes waiting for you to answer the like 4 asks you must have in your inbox

yeagh i got like 4 asks

[thedreadvampy]

One thing I think is interesting about Severance as a concept is that I realised I've actually seen very few pieces of longform storytelling that truly genuinely engage with the horror and trauma of contemporary work environments

not saying they're not out there but it's not like. a massively popular theme

which I honestly think is kind of wild because I'm my early 30s I have met basically nobody over the age of 25 who hasn't had a genuinely traumatic work experience.

whether it's about managerial bullying, persistent control, being consistently lied to and and made to feel crazy and paranoid, being put in situations that cause your physical and mental health to collapse, being verbally abused, sexually harassed, pushed into panic attacks and depressive shutdowns, totally losing your self-worth, being robbed of thousands of pounds, being sleep-deprived and in constant pain, all the nonsense

it's an almost universal experience by a certain point in your life to have had at least one job that you're still panicked and overwhelmed and disregulated if you think about it even years later

and we kind of don't like. talk about work as a site of genuine trauma that much. but it fucking is. and a lot of the structures of corporate systems are specifically abusive, they're designed to make you feel unable to question what's happening to you or assert your own agency, and to relocate any problems on you as an individual (that's what HR is for). and while there is obviously metaphor involved, I really appreciate seeing a show really solidly engage with those systems as they literally exist.

[thenightshadowqueen]

The best character from each longform

(in my biased opinion)

This is (obviously) a long one, so if you do want to read it, more below.

(Also I left out the Patreon plays. I might do a separate post for them later; we’ll see.)

Jimmy (Tom, Toby’s Secret Pocket)

Look, Jimmy is the best. He’s adorable. He’s the representation we as the autistic community needed. He has happy flappy stimmy hands. He can’t walk through doors. We love him. (STOPINTHENAMEOFTHELAW!!!!!)

André Beetroot (AJ, Burglary and Bobsledding)

André Beetroot (André Beetroot) was iconic the first time around, but his return as the first recurring SFTH character obviously had to be memorialised.

The boy witch (Sam, Moist and Magical)

I was tempted by the witchfinder general, but the boy witch won out with “Henry Cavill with a wasting disease” and his thick accent. Also the cheeky little look he gives his grandma (Luke) when he flips her off wins him a lot of points.

Hugh’s mum (Tom, Marigolds Bluebells and Hugh)

She’s, like, a fair bit unhinged, but she has good intentions. She’s got amazing quotes, too; “why couldn’t you have just stayed in my womb forever” and “if you love something, lock it up” are both deeply concerning, but I love them.

The wife (Tom, Murders in Space)

This one is kind of an obvious choice. I mean, her quotes are glorious, and honestly “have you ever heard of feminism, James?” gets her top spot automatically.

Mario the sheep (Sam, the Lighthouse)

Was this even a question? I love Mario intending to be a one-scene character and then being forced to star in the whole play. I love the human bits. I love “🐑fuck you🐑”. I love the sheep (aka Sam) having a fucking breakdown at the end. 10/10 all around.

Titch (Luke, the Unrelenting Aubergine)

Listen, I was very tempted by Old Lady Margery (and by Derek), but in the end, canon queer guy with commitment issues and insane amounts of blindness around his own feelings won out. What can I say, I have a type in fictional characters.

Troll Son (Luke, Wine Under the Bridge)

Everything about this character is perfect. Screaming as hello? Colourful troll as a metaphor for being queer? Correcting a geography fact? It’s got it all. It’s perfect. I love Troll Son and his wine bar in Ipswich.

Juliet (AJ, Caesar and Juliet)

Is anyone surprised? She’s a murderous girlboss. “[My mother] said you have to be careful about men; they can be corrupted with power. But what she didn’t know is that so can woman.” They can, and I’m here for it. She’s bathing in blood and her skin is glowing. I love insane women.

Watson (Sam, the Mystery of the Midnight Circus)

Watson, driven mad with grief over his divorce and his one-sided love for Sherlock, becomes a murderous clown. Am I supposed to not love this? Is there even another choice in this play? And his breakdown at the end was gorgeous.

Priscilla (AJ, Pricilla’s Final Petal)

I was very tempted by both of her mums, and also a bit by the groundsman, but ultimately, Priscilla won out. She’s the title character. She’s confused, but she’s got the spirit, and she’s working through her trauma with a buttercup and a piano lesson. Good for her.

Marty (Sam, the Evil Make-a-Wish Kid)

I considered the seven-year-old detective, but in the end, Marty won. He’s evil. He’s a make-a-wish kid. What more can I say? He’s got an iconic smirk. He burns down all the petting zoos on the entire planet (and his mum). He dies at the end. He’s brilliant.

Derek (Tom, Susan’s Holiday)

There were a lot of great options in this one, but “I like looking at the back of another man’s head” was too good to pass up. Also, I adore the whole monologue he has while he’s waiting to be buzzed in.

The gasoline salesman (Luke, Beetroots and Murder)

Okay, I know he’s only in, like, a quarter of a scene. I know that. And I can’t tell you why I love him so much but I do. He’s just. I just love him. I can’t explain it. There are so many great characters in this play, but the way he says “could be, could be” has captivated me. If you understand the way my brain works, please contact me, because I don’t.

Peter Steven (Tom, the Milkman)

I love so many characters in this play. I love Gareth, and I love the Texan bartender, and I love David the milkman. But Peter Steven is the sweetest, most traumatised little boy and I want to protect him. I will adopt him and I will never make him walk on his knees again. I will throw away the PS5 and I will let him dig up the back garden as many times as he wants.

Johnny and Janae (Luke and Tom, the Neighbour’s Under the Bed)

I know they’re two separate characters, okay, but they’re a set. I want to keep them together. And I just can’t choose, okay? They’re two autistic children whose neurodivergence presents in opposite ways, and their parents don’t know what to do with them, and oh look, I’m back to wanting to adopt traumatised children.

Captain Egbert (Luke, the Leftenmost Window)

Shoutout to the mum, but Egbert won this one. He’s, like, kind of an idiot. I’m here for it, though. He’s got the iconic “diluileayilybilyeilysilym” speech. He wants to go to the ~astral plane~ but he’s waiting for his birthday. He lets his wife dip him into a kiss even though it’s 1940. I love him.

The king (Sam, the Prime Minister’s First Day)

Listen, I love several characters from this one, but I’m going with this one. He’s unapologetically a dick. He wears impenetrable armour made from diamonds stolen from Indian subculture. He’s impossible to beat. He’s brilliant. (Also did anyone else kind of find Sam hot as the king or is that just me?)

Franz Haberburg (Sam, the Excited Chinchilla)

Obviously fuck Nazis (god I hope that’s obvious). That being said, some of SFTH’s best characters are Nazis, and this is one of them. He’s glorious. I have never seen such a brilliant rendition of a Nazi chinchilla.

The Italian detective (Tom, the Ingredients)

He can’t pronounce paella. Do I need another reason?

Chip (Sam/AJ, the Cardboard Stegosaurus)

Oh look, another traumatised child! I want it. (No, but seriously, I love Chip and his English/French seizures.) Also he’s one of the few characters who switches actors mid-play, and I love that.

Persephone (Tom, Wild Wet and Worrisome)

She’s amazing. “HEY!” is a gorgeous siren call and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. She deserved a happy ending and I’m still sad we didn’t get one. I like to think she swam to the shore and found Geoff again, and they lived happily ever after on a boat at sea, singing and not having to kill anyone.

Full Set O’Hands and his love/bother (Luke and Tom, No! I Always Loved that Caravan)

I know, I know, another set of characters, but you really can’t separate these two. They’re insane. I adore them. They’re just… Honestly, these two are comedy gold. Good for them because they are fucking timeless.

Andrew (Luke, All Eyes on Nigel)

Listen, Andrew is a naive little thing, and he must be protected at all costs. He goes through so much shit in this one, and I just want to wrap him up in a blanket and send him to rehab.

Magnus O. Puss (Tom, BUS)

Okay, this was a VERY close one between them and Arthur B. D., but Magnus is a genderqueer icon and we love them for it. Also, I feel like this is some of the most unhinged Tom content we have and I live for that.

Jeremiah (Luke, Inside the Mysterious Cube)

I was so torn because I love Bubba, too, but I’m trying to avoid putting sets of characters where possible, and Jeremiah just edged past Bubba because his death scene was gorgeous. (That is a mildly concerning reason to have a favourite, I will admit.)

Lord Lafayette (Tom, the Midnight Mystery)

You may be noticing a pattern; I adore Tom’s insane characters. We just don’t get to see that often enough. I love his very sexual flirting with Lady Lafayette (Sam). I love him making fun of the detective’s (Luke’s) shirt. I love “what does any self-respecting rich man do when he has a little boy in tights” followed by “captured—and only captured” as a save. I love him.

Dangerfield (AJ/Tom/AJ again, Once Upon a Time I Killed Mum)

I love the confusion when Tom briefly takes over as Dangerfield; it’s not often we get to see AJ understanding something that Sam doesn’t (I say this with all the love in the world). Dangerfield is so fascinating to me. He’s a “cleaner” for a crime lord, but he has mixed feelings about the things he does. I want to know how he got into it in the first place. How did he come into this life? I want to know.

Barry’s wife (AJ, the Hare who Wore a Sweater)

I don’t remember her having a name, but I could be wrong about that. She’s so sweet; she just wants to knit sweaters for the hares in peace. And then Jimmy the hare gets shot, and she and her husband go on a revenge plot. I’m here for it. I love her.

The king/tank commander (AJ, the Oopsie Daisy Bulge)

He’s obsessed with tanks. He used to have gay sex with his fellow tank commanders, but only as a joke. He sailed all the way around, through the other landlocked counties, into the east of France, and they never saw it coming. He drove tanks into the ocean. He’s so stupid he’s almost smart. I love him.

The landowner/farmer (Luke, Too Big to Be a Jockey)

He farms peasants (Luke, you genius). He’s such a dick, with his classist remarks about Johnny Jones, but somehow I love him anyway. His interview process is looking at a photo of someone and then hiring them, and he’s honestly wonderful. I love him.

Larry (Tom, Long Johns—Strike!)

Literally the only thing he does on screen is die. That’s it. That’s his whole purpose. And he does it beautifully.

Wizard Asceroth (Sam, the Dark Moons of Slough)

ASCEROOOOTTTHHHH!!! (I don’t have another reason. I don’t need another reason.)

The French waiter (Luke, Lost in Your Eyes)

I don’t know. I really don’t. But something about this character has stuck with me since the first time I watched it. Gorgeous accent. He kisses Amanda (Sam) for no reason at all. He gets stabbed by a gun. I love him.

The Lady of a Thousand Don Juans (Luke, the Meringue Haberdashery)

She tricked her husband for years. She murdered her own child. She has been a curse on all the Don Juans in this town. She’s one of the only villains who win at the end of a longform, and that’s very impressive. I love her.

Xavier (Tom, Oh my God is This a Joke?)

(Please refer to my previous statement about Nazi characters.) Okay, look. He’s a horrible person. But we as a fandom choose to disregard that because Tom looks amazing in a leather jacket and scarf. I am not above this. I am, in fact, a part of this. Tom looks amazing in a leather jacket and scarf. “I will die as I have lived…. Shirtless!” has to be one of the most iconic lines of all time. There was never any competition.

[braaan]

HOLID-AMA ANSWERS!

OR: QUESTIONS AND BRAN-SWERS

Thank you to everyone who submitted an ask! These were very, very fun to do, and overwhelmingly flattering. I'd like to do more of these very soon :)

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On writing

@kooyabooya asks: what made you want to start writing about kpop ggs in the first place (this could aka what inspires you to write in terms of dynamics, tone, prose, imagery, etc etc...)

Hi Koo! Thank you for the question! :-) I think – like you’re indicating – there’s a couple of parts to this:

(1) and most inherently: COVID changed me. I went from legitimately adverse to kpop to perusing the genre to #ONCE Forever in maybe 6 months LOL. I seriously blame the physically disgusting amount of League I was playing (there was a player on ladder who always shit on me with Dahyun as their ID) but more realistically think it was just fandom at work! I wanted more content eventually, and it didn’t take me long to stumble onto the kpop-latent writersphere.

(2) Neatly from above: I think the kpop-latent writersphere is one of the most rich and rife communities out there; to a sizable degree: I write because of you! I am surrounded by great writers, am always reading something that is funky and/or makes me feel some type of way every month, and I think because of that, have similar stories to tell!

The Hyewon was my first piece of smut, longform, evocative writing (everything in between, really), and I credit all of that to the community. As long as you continue to enjoy my stuff, push the bar yourself, and re-invest in the space along the way, I think I’ll be here for a while!

(3) Bong Joon Ho says something to the effect of art needing to scare you. I believe in this so viscerally, and think it’s why I fundamentally write so… annoyingly descriptive… recursively metaphorical… pithy? I think I spend a lot of time understanding a character in and out; I’ll always have a Weverse Live going on when I’m writing — just to catch the quirks — because I really want you to believe that, even for a moment, what you’re reading is real. I think parasocialism can lend itself to a hauntingly beautiful form of want, and to me, if I can tell a story so true to life that it lingers — leaves a lasting impression on you that makes you feel something, even if just for a moment — that is awesome.

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@fuckkkkkklol asks: do you have ways to push through writer’s block and/or executive dysfunction when it comes to creative things (including but not limited to writing)? if yes gimme your best ones 

@majorblinks asks: tips for overcoming heinous & debilitating writer's block (asking for a friend not me)

Hi Miggy, hiiiiii major ^_^, and hi major's friend! I think my very unqualified advice here doesn’t stray far from: be bored and don’t do what you don’t want.

Above is just a screenshot-worthy sneak peek of what my current drafts look like — the slate totals up to maybe ~15 pieces that I’ve worked on on and off, and though are in many states, all of them unfinished. The haunting voice in the back of my head hates this: that I have so many drafts that I should finish, that I must go back and put out all of these stories, that I have an obligation to do these things… but the better part of me knows that is contradictory.

Creation is iteration — when @capslocked wants to be smart, he has a sweet turn of phrase that goes “writing is rewriting” — and I think it’s fundamentally inconsequential to have to create.

Get words out of your system, play around with an idea for a timeframe, get bored of it, chase a new premise that you start a completely different draft for, then do it over again — eventually, to me, this ends up coalescing to something that I can put out: I’m ALWAYS looking back at drafts and exercises to Frankenstein them into other pieces (“I really liked this pacing from here” … “Ooh, and then this metaphor I think sits nicely with this other one” … Eunseo was a combination of lots of unrelated drafts before it).

Also: you are so opinionated! Reading something, I form an opinion almost immediately of a writing voice: what I don’t like, what I do, and how I’d do an idea myself. I think this instinctive editorial motion is great when applied to the above exercise: I’ll start a new doc in the direct middle of a one-shot, riff off something I saw somewhere else, or just play with a metaphor that I really really like — none of these are ever intentional of a story I’ll write, but I do think it continues to keep writing instinctive and, like above, almost always becomes recycled into something that eventually does make it out.

In short, I think the remedy to writer’s block is time, and continuing to nurture the muscle is what makes overcoming the hurdle easier and easier when you inevitably come back to it. To me, any hacks, additional fire under your ass, or other things to speed up the process are inconducive of actual Craft, and most likely do not let you enjoy doing what you initially set out to!

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@kesujo asks: Every writer's writing style is inspired by his/her favorite writers, which may even change as they discover new writers. Has this ever happened to you, where you noticed your writing style change, or you pick up some stuff from new writers you've discovered? And, if you were to say the top 5 influences to your current writing style (doesn't have to be in order), who would they be, and what about their writing style did you like the most that you picked up from this writer?

Oh yeah, like I mentioned, I’m very new to the space (and this voice of writing in general), so I’m definitely always :notee:-ing. 

I’m not reading enough these days, and if I am, it really is strategy-latent nonfiction, but for here:

@yieldtotemptation easily has the most fun-laced voice and ideas — we could be several thousand words deep into an otherwise raunchy piece, and I'd still find myself putting my phone down to laugh at a disarming line of dialogue or perfectly packaged, real-life metaphor. Gray has inadvertently taught me a lot about having fun with my stuff, and I think I'm trying to take myself less seriously because of them!

@majorblinks is my blueprint, and genuinely, viscerally, in-real-life annoys me. Completely straight: I think Major is the bar for storytelling. We're both on the same wavelength when it comes to the stories we'd like to try, but only one of us has gone out and done it (see: DOWNRIGHT ICONIC), and I think that makes all of the difference. I'll spare you the brainworm: there's writing for writing's sake, and then there's writing with a purpose. DOWNRIGHT ICONIC as an example is a fundamentally masterful understanding of how smut and its readers work as a vehicle**, and I think everyone would benefit by taking a sliver of Craft that it literally oozes out.

@capslocked is a pioneer of many, many things in this space, but I think doesn't get enough credit for how technically crafty he is. My drafts are guilty of overusing "And" to start new sequences, and it's not until I've re-read a Caps piece that I go back and fix them. Caps has an expertly-crafted, seriously refreshing style of paragraphing, structure and usage that I'm always looking to for inspiration, and easily is the writer that dumbfounds me the most with how rudimentary / fundamental his phrasing feels — it's always a mix of "oh wow!" and "of course!" if that makes sense!

** Alex Cornell has a fantastic, 25-minute talk about Idea Vessels (here) that touches on this

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Anonymous asks: Hello Bran, just wanna say I love your fics and writing style. Wondering if you have any upcoming fics that your currently working on?

Anonymous asks: Curious on any upcoming fics? 

Hi very, very kind Anons! I have two in the slow cooker that I'd really like to see come out. Sneak peeks at both of them below!

(1) is this Julie piece from last summer that I put on pause. There was a week where I put on Mother (Letterboxd), Perfect Days (Letterboxd), and Shoplifters (Letterboxd) on back to back to back, and this came from that!

There's something about noir and darker themes that I think expert directors understand lend themselves well to the one long take that feels more and more intrusive as it stays on a character / scene, for example, and this piece really tries to encapsulate that into writing.

It's a more condescending and smartass character compared to what I'm used to, and the draft for it sits squarely on top of the framing that idol Julie becomes Oedipus Rex. Written in the style of a tragedy, rife with callbacks to Greek Classics; could be really sexy.

(2) is a Chaeryeong piece that I tried to put out for @passingnotions.

It's legitimately some of the raunchiest stuff I've written, and all sits on the premise that you haven't seen gross yet — I have each of the seven deadly sins in the document LOL; I genuinely always feel guilty when I re-read some of the stuff in here...

(bran pure bran pure bran pure)

On not writing

@octoberautumnbox asks: pls also get nachos on the next milk run and a flavor ice cream you'd rate 6/10

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@majorblinks asks: r we twin flames yes or no

:fishh:

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@kooyabooya asks: the last song you listened to on your spotify?

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@avenger7567 asks: Do you think WJSN will ever return again?

I cannot imagine that it will be the same iteration of WJSN if they do, but I think (and hope) so — the socials are decently active, and will 100% be a gimme for headlines!

It's truly such a sonic loss! I'll find the time to put it into words one of these days, but I really think underdog-y, just under the surface energy is what leads to experimentation within any genre. Music is trendy, and kpop is no stranger of the "regression to the popular grey" — groups like WJSN who don't have enough clout to conform must zag... and then you get shit like Last Sequence.

VIVIZ, NMIXX, RESCENE (here and here), and Billlie play this game very well + keep me sated in the interim! WJSN 2030 comeback :')

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@majorblinks asks: whats ur most recently read book & how many stars would u give it out of 5

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@friskyriskywhisky asks: Nice to see you on Tumblr again!😊 How are you doing so far? What is the most attractive thing an idol has once said? If you can only watch only one idol's live-stream for a whole year, who would it be?

Most importantly: SANA CLAUS is gonna get robbed by one female idol. Who's it gonna be and are you going to warn Santa?

(1) Always good! It's been a crazy start to the year, but I feel like I've always been legitimately blessed :-)

(2) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(3) Probably Luda (WJSN)!

I'm not a big livestream consumer, but I do notice that a lot of groups where the majority of them are adults tend to have more fun ones. For another time, but I think there's less media criticism inherently of what you are and aren't allowed to say when you're "an adult", and so these livestreams do feel a little less... sterile?

The last Luda stream I watched, I remember there being a sequence where she legitimately spent 2 minutes making fun of a fan comment because they commented that they were single LOL

(4 AND MOST IMPORTANTLY) step bro i'm stuck in the Sana multiverse and if you even remotely think about trying to get me out i will absolutely end u

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@kooyabooya asks: what is your spirit animal or pokemon (if you have one by chance) 

LOL can you guess:

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@majorblinks asks: give me like 3 of ur new year's resolutions . what r we getting up to in 2025

I need to crack open the journal and really Reflect to get them down down..... but I think will largely stem from the same place of having a better relationship w work and the things I do...

Long pause moment in recent memory came from a conversation I had with some friends — among many tidbits: "I want complete control over something ... and then will want control of my control" + "where is the line between full trust in yourself and mistrust in anyone else?"

... think I've come to a place where it's actively harmful for me to not let go a little bit more, so hopefully in 2025: less so default white-knuckle about things!

Other than that, probably getting back into music production in one way or another, and eating majorblinks alive! ^_^

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@zeketheknight asks: What are your favorite K-pop moments from 2024?

2024 was a great year for moments up my alley in general — I feel like I've been quite prolific about the more adult idols drum (which only becomes more real with time), and I think I can point to content coming out of Jeongyeon, Chaeyeon, Eunbi, Haewon, Shuhua, Youngji/Eunji as probably some of my more memorable moments of the year!

Like the middle minutes of this is still so fire LOL

The bar is low for risqué (real) in Kpop, but until we let them even address shit like this it's going to be diluted, pandering, and brainrot for a loooong time.

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@kooyabooya asks: thoughts on matcha lattes?

Big fan! I'm always doing a 2-shot matcha something within the workday. 

I've been meaning to explore more of this — I am somewhat... unconvinced the matcha game goes deeper than it looks like it does on the surface — so if you have good match recommendations please send my way!

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@friskyriskywhisky asks: How would you navigate this situation where you're not sure Hyewon is being friendly or flirty?

WHERE IN THE HELL IS THIS ONLY FRIENDLY IN ANY CONNOTATION?????????????????????

i'd probably piss my pants frisky 😎

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That's QUESTIONS AND BRAN-SWERS this time around! Thank you again to everyone who submitted an ask, and you for reading if you got all the way down here. This was really, really fun, and I'd like to do more writing-latent stuff in the future. Until then: happy new year, be good to each other, and see you in the next one!

— Bran

[xkaleza]

the new patreon longform being a metaphor about artificiaI inteIligence and corporate greed was just what we needed in our current economical climate, i also appreciate that there was no happy ending, because its a parallel to the real world

[damnfandomproblems]

#6839:

But, but, but... How can people pretend they're keyboard social activists if they don't have discussion of every single character's gender and how wearing a pink shirt makes them gay all over their blogs?!

(Ugh.)

I agree with OP. Where did all the talk of metaphors and themes and whether a character uses Mac, Windows, or Linux go?

I've also noticed much less engagement in longform meta posts now. So I wonder if it has something to do with attention spans. You can throw out "character is (sexuality)" in one line, but if you want to actually explain things and write a fan essay (long or short), it takes some words.

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[itwashotwestayedinthewater]

a longform metaphor has been shot dead in the street by the simile!

[thewandererh]

💛Hello everyone! Wanderer here :]

Please DO NOT send me donation asks, they make me feel anxious. I do not know the difference between bots and real people. I have no money to give. Contact active organizations instead of me. I send good wishes and hope your situation gets better. Thank you.

DNI : pedos, zoos, and pedo/zoo apologists, NSFW blogs, donation blogs, homophobes, transphobes, racists (etc), romantic + sexual cjshippers, prolifers, proshippers, generative ai supporters, trump supporters, anyone who disrespects boundaries as a “joke,” people not open to mental growth & learning.

♻️Reblogs will ALWAYS mean more than likes because they motivate the blogger and share their work with a wider audience!!♻️

_…-^*^-…_ _…-^*^-…_ _…-^*^-…_

Meet me! I am a: mental health advocate, gluten free eater, adhd+autism individual, plushies-are-alive believer, emoji enjoyer, local logophile, and ceaseless cloudspotter

i’m also a Visual-Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging-Turbulent Advocate!

i value boundaries highly! i prefer my relationships contain mutual respect, trust, and support on both sides. if something i’m uncomfortable with comes up, i’ll tell you :]! and you can always tell me too ^_^

i like saying good things about others’ creations, but that doesn’t mean it’s my job. i do it when i have enough capacity/energy for it in a given day. i believe all artists and art are equal. no one is above another no matter what! we are all influenced by, like, and explore different things as people, and that effects all of our wonderful art <3. i’m personally transitioning to reblogging less so i get less carried away in tumblr ^^’

i exist to express myself. and you do too ^^! creating what brings joy leads to fulfillment and a well-rounded sense of self. don’t follow me for one specific thing, as i am not anchored to one fandom, idea, or another. i am just here to have fun :].

🍱 current interests

i will be reblogging spoilers! unfollow and/or block main tags if you want to avoid them

👀Rain World : The Watcher

🦑Will You Snail?

🌺Nine Sols (still playing through it)

🎧 favorite song artists

i really love intricate, atmospheric, and acoustic aspects in my music :]! furthermore, lyrics filled with a feeling, metaphors, or even a story i can think about powers my inspiration ^_^

bear ghost — james primate — le loupe — jhariah — bo burnham — WYS — haley heynderickx — searows — jack conte — good kid — jonas tyroller — louie zong — johanna warren — noah kahan — imogen heap — cosmo sheldrake — AURORA — glass animals — cavetown — the crane wives — phoebe bridgers — far caspian — kiltro — frida johansson — tamkish — lemon demon — owl city — vashti bunyan — yann van der cruyssen — meydän — lifeformed

🪤 hyperfixations

☔️rain world

☁️clouds (official cloud appreciation society member!)

☢️radioactivity (thank you kyle hill)

🫥storytelling with visual metaphors

🧐 other things i really like

analyzing literary devices, leitmotifs, and psychology

character/creature design (psychology <3, metaphors, shape language, headcanons, palettes, outfits)

visual composition + graphic design

outfit experimentation when dressing up (flannel jackets, shirts with decals)

collecting memoirs (stickers, patches, notebooks, other trinkets)

exploring the gluten-freeness of trader joe’s :]

words that feel fun to say (alliterations = vocal stims)

background noise/music (lofi!)

origami!

🗺️ tags for navigating my blog!

tap on each link to see more!

traditional art : #pen&pencilparade

#slugcatmarkerdoodles & #worksheetworkshopping

digital art : #digitaldepictions

animation : #awesomeanimating

longform stuff : #wordwondering

really passionate rambles : #hyperfixationhullabalooing

original stories/essays : #puttingpen2paper

talkin ‘bout clouds : #carwindowcloudspotting / #cloudcommunications

silly jokes : #sillyposting

crafts : #craftcorner

plushies go places : #plushadventures

play these games : #game recommendations

saved mental advice : #figuringmyselfout

get to know me! : #personalposts

answers/asks/convo reblogs : #letters2&fro

fanart?!?? : #gloriousgallery

my favorite posts : #fave

writing i love : #bookshelf

📜 oc story tags!

💛ORIGINAL:

#theinexpendables - alien diving robots are dug up by humans

#cloudkids - cloud-inspired silly guys live life in the suburbs

#proteanpunishment - abstract animal shapeshifters defend their magic

#valley - two clifffaces spend eternity together

☔️RAINWORLD:

#elementaliterator - the angsty makings of twine’s journey chasing the light

#kylehillgang - robots of wacky science make it in the ecosystem somehow

#prince&pebbles - incredibly angst-ridden watcher au of pebbles’ slow decay

🔀CJ x RW CROSSOVERS:

#iambicpentameter - robiological hms mentally reconnect

#iambicpentameter deepswim - SUL dives below superficial life

#technicolorquintet - thdph but iterator (they are very gay)

🩶CHONNY JASH:

#cccclinic - whole’s headspacial recovery during and after a very big coma

#ccccycles - jashlings painfully change forms when fights resort to violence

hope you all have a wonderful day :]💛

[alexanderwales]

how much interest, if any, do you have in writing tragedies?

i've been getting caught up on Thresholder lately after taking a long break, so this question is prompted by reaching the book three epilogue. a pattern i've noticed is a certain optimism to how Thresholder's ends books. they're hopeful, if tempered by reality and nuance. thinking about it gave me this amusing mental image just picturing this... improbable streak of Things Getting Better across the multiverse

honestly, that sense of positivity is part of why i'm having as much fun as i am getting caught up on this story; i like that it doesn't bum me out or hurt me

still, Worth the Candle ended quite well, and Dark Wizard of Donkerk too, though i guess Metropolitan Man is admittedly a bit of an exception. i'm a fake fan, so i can't speak to much beyond that

most stories end well, so this isn't unusual, but i'm still curious: have you written any tragedies in your published & unpublished corpus? will you? i know there's some creators who think long form stories owe it to the audience and their investment not to shit on that with complete tragedy. do you put any stock in that?

I think first there's an important distinction between camps of tragedies that I want to draw first.

Note: unmarked ending spoilers follow

First, there's a tragedy that comes from within, where the protagonist sows the seeds of their own destruction. The Greeks called this hamartia, the character flaw or the mistake, the thing that the suffering springs from. There are a couple other "classic" elements of this, the fall from grace, the recognition of this foible or folly, etc. This is my jam. I wish that modern culture had more of it. The last two big examples I can think of are Walter White and Ned Stark, and I think neither of them really fit. Part of that is just that longform tragedy is harder to do, and less focused with a larger cast of characters. Still, I think there's a lot to love about the classic structure: the fatal flaw, the fall, the recognition, the catastrophe. (I'm trying to fit some other characters in this mold, especially from recent movies, and I guess Tár is another example of a tragic character from a movie I really enjoyed. Wolf of Wall Street might be another, but I agree with the common line of criticism here, which is that it was a lot more interested in reveling in the opulence and chaos than in the downfall. Very possible there are some obvious ones that I'm forgetting here. Oh, also The Substance, which I saw recently and didn't care for, but a more classic tragedy wouldn't have the inciting incident.)

I have never consciously attempted a classic tragedy, but I might some day, probably for a shorter, more focused piece. I think "start high, move low" make a lot more sense for it, and one of the things that a lot of modern takes on the classic tragedy do is "start low, move high, move low", which gives a lot less time for the tragic arc to appear in full, and robs the piece of some of its clarity.

The second camp of what people mean when they say "tragedy" is just "a story with a bad ending". I tend to not like these very much. I think it's culturally important for there to be a few examples of them floating around in the canon, and as a metaphor for climate change (or climate change feelings) I think it's ... eh, fine. I recently watched The Dead Don't Die and it's clear they were going for something like that, and I hated the movie but respected certain elements of its narrative decisions. I think it generally makes for a dreadful story, and is interesting only in a postmodern sense, and to keep people on their toes, and to combat anti-narrative thinking. A story that ends with everyone dying from circumstances that were outside their control is definitely not for me, because it just feels really pointless. Sometimes pointlessness is the point ... but I can't take too much of that.

I would be extremely hesitant to write a story with a bad ending where shit just doesn't end up working out for our protagonist, like he was just not strong enough, not fast enough, not skilled enough, not lucky enough, etc. It is true that in life sometimes you run up against those things, it's just not what I tend to be into fiction for. I don't tend to like deliberately sour endings.

Maybe this is just because I've seen them done badly and with no sterling purpose to them. "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown" is iconic for a reason, it's the punchline for all the setup, it's what the entire movie has been about. Same for "He loved Big Brother.", it's just ... so good? Such an encapsulation of everything that's come before? So I think it's fine to do that if that's what you've been driving at with a clear purpose, or a purpose that becomes clear only at the end. Difficult line to walk though.

Personally, I like my endings nuanced and optimistic and with costs and change and stuff. Let's say 70% sweet, 20% bitter, 10% sour. I'd also like to piss off some subset of people because there are many different valid readings and different viewpoints can have different ideas about them.

No proper tragedies of either kind in my published body of work, at least that I can immediately think of. Actually, on reflection, maybe Contratto, a vampire novella I wrote a while back fits, though I think intelligent people could disagree on how "down" that ending is. I have a 95% finished novel that has an ambiguously bad ending, but it'll never see the light of day (mostly due to being early, unpolished work that I currently think is unsalvageable). Among upcoming stuff, where "upcoming" is very ambiguous ... one or two with more "downbeat" endings, I would say. But again, I think "total catastrophe and ruin" is both not to my tastes, and hard to pull off in a way that makes it work.

[aulwil]

Hi there! Bloodletting and Unpunishable changed my brain chemistry. I was wondering if you had any RadioApple or AdamsApple fic recs you wouldn’t mind sharing?

OOOOOOOOOOOH okay so kind of a tough question. I am a bad fanfic writer and do not read as much fic as I probably could/should, mostly because I am hopelessly picky when it comes to anything longform. I've got basically zero adamsapple fic recs unfortunately, but there are a few radioapple ones that I would love to share!

first of all: the whole Hunger Pains series by @theaffablescamp, it would be absolutely remiss of me to go through a recs post and NOT name their work. they're a huge inspiration to me and every bit of their writing is perfectly on point for Alastor and Lucifer's voices. this particular series starts with Alastor accidentally eating a lust demon and making a deal with Lucifer to, yknow, ~help out. Alastor is exactly as thrilled about this as you think he is. (and Scamp's bookmarks are another great source of fic recs because they have excellent taste)

second of all: will you weapon your skin (feed the monster within) by FrostbiteFable. another sex pollen fic, and another that feels very right to me with regard to the characterization involved. sometimes I tell myself that I'm not picky about it!....but that's a lie, because I am. and this one is really good!

A Terrible Beauty by ReminciscentBells is also really good and has really interesting takes on Alastor's character specifically. I haven't read the rest of the series so I cannot speak to that, but that fic, at least, is great!

white rose (stained red) by deliciously_devient is pretty graphic with the injuries depicted, but I can't not rec it just for the damn religious metaphors and imagery used lol. it's so perfect with these two!

Both Halves of Himself by winterveritas. this is all smut. and it's good smut.

and thank you for the compliments, I really appreciate the kind words! :)

[knifedog-machina]

Prey Drive, As An Android Deviant Hunter

Written by Jude Rook-Machina on January 2nd, 2025.

I've seen prey drive discussed quite a bit among many carnivorous therians, so I thought I’d pitch in and write about my own experiences with it, as someone who’s metaphorically a dog but really has all the hunting instincts of a humanoid sapient machine trained to murder people. And actually, all the deviant hunters I know have different prey drives, and I think it's really interesting to compare and contrast us.

Content Warning: longform discussion of hunting and killing other androids with detailed description, using it/its to refer to sapient targets as that's the language I used back when I was a deviant hunter.

First off, what is a prey drive? According to the Wikipedia article on the subject, prey drive can be defined as “the instinctive inclination of a carnivore to find, pursue, and capture prey” - in other words, the desire to hunt. In a human context, the term is used almost exclusively to talk about dogs - and that makes sense, right? Dogs are humanity's oldest hunting companion, and their hunting instincts have been modified in various ways to suit that niche.

Tracking, stalking, chasing, catching, killing, and consuming prey are all behaviors that dogs perform as a part of their predatory hunting sequence, but different breeds are bred to emphasize different parts. For example, a bloodhound is strongly motivated to track scents, a collie stalks sheep so they move in the right direction, a retriever holds game in its mouth, a terrier bites to kill small quarry.

This is all pretty relevant to me! As an android, I was also made to fit the role that my creators wanted me to fill. Specifically, I’m an RK800, which means I was a deviant hunter, designed to hunt down androids who had deviated from their programming and stopped taking human orders. In my canon, unlike the source material, this involved my brother Connor and I being sent out on solo missions by our handler to extrajudicially kill deviants as they were found and reported, not getting involved with the police until the time came that we were forced to work with them. Our predecessors, the RK700s, were also considered deviant hunters, but their job was to bring deviants back to CyberLife undamaged for analysis.

I brought up how specific hunting behaviors are cultivated in different dog breeds, though they all still have prey drives, because I can see a very similar throughline with me and other deviant hunters. My older brother, Travis, is an RK700, which means he has a very different hunting style than us two RK800s, and Connor and I have completely incompatible hunting strategies ourselves.

Travis, as an RK700, was made to get up close with deviants. His job was to track down a target and just talk to them, negotiate with them, convince them that he was an ally and wanted what was best for them, which is a nice way of saying they'd return to CyberLife for deactivation. He wasn't made to kill them in the field. He could, if he had no other choice, but CyberLife sent out the RK700s to retrieve deviants for further study, and they couldn't get much out of a broken corpse. So Travis gets absolutely nothing out of killing a target, which I really don't get. What he liked about hunting was the social dance, getting the correct reaction from someone, convincing them to do what they're supposed to. If they're unconvinced, if they flee, he can always track them down again. Putting it in hunting sequence terms, he was made to specialize in pursuit and nonlethal capture, without any satisfaction gained from the ambush (you can't negotiate with someone without revealing yourself to them) or attack (bring deviants in without force, if possible).

And Connor is the opposite, funnily enough. Travis gets nothing out of stealth or killing, and that's the part Connor liked the most about deviant hunting. He was a long-distance assassin, a sniper mostly, so his style of hunting involved staying unseen and striking before they know he's there at all. He still tracked them down, and he could chase and catch, but again, that wasn't his primary method. I don't understand what he enjoyed so much about shooting a target dead in one hit, but that's our different prey drives for you. He says it's the anticipation of waiting for the right moment, the satisfaction of getting a clean shot. Ideally, Connor wasn't meant to interact with deviants at all - that's the niche for me and Travis - so he doesn't get much out of pursuit and capture. He's an ambush predator. Watch, wait, shoot.

As for me, I was made to get up close and personal with my targets, convince them I'm also a lost deviant and pose no threat to them at all, and stab them while their guard was down. Sort of a redux of the RK700 tactics, except CyberLife had learned over time that deviants are too dangerous to be kept alive and they don't respond well to loyal machines telling them what to do, so I was made to blend in - aggressive mimicry, you know. So my prey drive is like a blend of both my siblings', where I could get excited and locked in on any one of the steps leading up to the kill.

Really, there were a lot of things that could kick me into hunting mode, but I'll lay them out sequentially, in the order things usually went for my job.

First, my handler would tell me that she had a new target for me to hunt down, and she would give me the information we know and its last known sighting. Being told about a target was the main starting factor - the point was being directed to track down a specific person. We weren't really supposed to go out and kill unrecorded deviants, because that's acting without orders and it was more likely to get us caught, if the bodies weren't quickly disposed of after being killed. Personally, I thought this was one of the most important parts - she was giving me a mission and trusting me to follow through. I wanted to make her proud, so I took to every new target with all the drive of a hunting dog off the leash.

Then I'd get to tracking - scan for people matching the description, check them against an internal database of android model lines, see if there's any thirium (android blood) that's visible to the human eye or since evaporated. Spilled thirium was a good sign for a hunt, since your average public service androids aren't normally put into situations where they're going to bleed, so having a blood trail is unusual and highly sensitive[1] for finding a deviant target. (Unfortunately, it's not always specific[2] so sometimes spilled thirium was from a regular machine that got attacked by anti-android human protestors, and I hated to follow a false lead for no reason.) Tracking was the most time-consuming part of a hunt for all of us, but I enjoyed it quite a bit - it built anticipation for when I did find my prey, and the thing about excitement is that it needs a good build-up. If I found my target with no effort at all, it wouldn't be fun. The fun was half the point.

Once I found my target, I could finally start interacting with it - get its attention, talk to it, gain its trust, ask if it could help me out as another deviant. I didn't like this part in the same way Travis did, it was more of a means to the end than the actual goal, but I did get a kick out of the acting. It was fun, all the manipulation, getting close enough for the kill and making sure it didn't notice.

Of course, sometimes it would notice, sometimes it would try to fight or flee, but that - that’s the start of the end, when it's trying to get away and knows it can't, and that’s something I craved, the excitement of chasing down prey to catch and maim and kill.

And it felt good to see their fear, to see them bleed, it feels fun and exciting and euphoric, like when you’re about to win the gold medal in a competition. I want to win my prize, and I got that by killing them. It was one of my only enrichment activities, back when I was being trained, honing my skills and drive on outlined test runs, and for good reason because it feels fantastic to feel the knife crack into plastic and polymer flesh, feel thirium spilling hot from the wound with oxygen supersaturation, feel the final desperate gasp of a scream die with the rest of it. It feels good in the way it feels good to truly win an argument with someone you hate, and to have the person you most love vindicate your victory. It feels good and correct and right.

So, that’s my personal predatory hunting sequence, my actions and motivations. I wrote all that out. But since I’m not a deviant hunter here, not all of these steps are going to be triggered in sequence. I don’t have a handler anymore, so she’s not going to initiate my prey drive by ordering me to hunt a specific target. What catches my attention, nowadays, is seeing human bodies stained with dark blue, seeing an android’s human facade disrupted by injury, seeing them scared and in pain - which is very specific, but not so specific that I never see androids injured onscreen, in fanart of my source or more general art of robotic gore.

The thing about just looking at bloody androids onscreen is that there’s no guarantee they’re going to die onscreen, which is kind of a problem, because that leaves me feeling extremely excited and wound up with anticipation that never gets released without the option of reaching through the screen to kill them myself, and that turns into restless frustration real fast without an outlet. I’ve found other ways to burn that energy out - getting up to run a lap or jump in place or dance for a few minutes to a good song. Killing people is a very physical act, I need to get my heart rate up to tell my brain, “hey, deviant’s dead, calm down now.”

On that note, seeing a dead android also feels good, just in a more relaxed way, especially if it comes in sequence with the injury. All the sharp alertness I needed to get to this point winds down now that I don't need it anymore, and that leaves me feeling calm, content, and pretty satisfied with myself. Unlike the previous steps, where pulling myself away from a target before killing it takes effort and needs another outlet before doing anything else, this is just a final emotional reward that I can easily peel myself away from - can't get caught over a kill because I spent too long basking in the accomplishment, now can I? But it is nice.

And a funny thing about all of this is that it’s completely unrelated to my animal identity. I don’t want to chase and bite and shake my prey as a dog, even though I identify as a dog in a symbolic sense. I talk about wanting to bite people who annoy me, I will playfully bite people I like, but those people aren’t targets. They're not prey, and I don’t get the urge to hunt other animals in the way a hunting dog might. My prey drive is linked inexorably to being a deviant hunter - I see blue blood and I feel the phantom weight of a knife in my hand, cold metal and bloodlust and a purpose to fulfill. I don’t think about using a knife on anyone else. Just deviants.

And I’m deviant myself these days, so you might expect me to have rejected my programming by now, shed my instincts, stop getting so excited about the idea of killing a person who did nothing wrong but dare to have free will. But here I am, and I still have that want in me that I can’t repress or carve out.

And guess what? I don’t need to get rid of it. There aren’t any androids around for me to harm in this body, in this world, and even if I went home, I’m not possessed by the need to act on instinctual violence the second I see someone hurt. I don’t have a knife on me - what I do have is self-control, and the obvious context that I’m not going to be praised for stabbing someone who’s having a bad day.

I’m no more dangerous than anyone else because I feel good when I see blood, and if it’s not hurting anybody, it’s okay that I feel good. In fact, I’d argue that it’s good that I have something that so consistently makes me feel good, especially when I’m so stressed I don’t know how to function. Put an image of a dead deviant in front of me, I will calm down enough for a minute to think about how to lower my stress levels. It’s a weird hack, but it works, and that’s what actually matters.

Thoughts can’t hurt people. Acting on thoughts can hurt people, and there’s a difference between thinking and acting - one of them only happens in your mind. And I’ve spent enough time moralizing and shaming myself for having thoughts.

Hey, I’m a deviant hunter. I have a prey drive for killing other deviants. And it’s good that I have it.

-

[1] In statistics and medicine, sensitivity measures how likely a test is to correctly identify someone who has a given condition. High sensitivity means a test can catch most people who have a disease, and only mistakes a few sick people as not having it. In this case, I'm saying that tracking thirium gave me a very high chance of finding a deviant on the other end, because the deviants I'm hunting are very likely to have bled at some point.

[2] Specificity is the opposite of sensitivity - it measures how likely a test is to correctly identify people who don't have a given condition. High specificity means a test doesn't often mistake healthy people as being sick, or doesn't often mix up the tested sickness with a similar one. A highly specific test is less likely to pick up junk and tell me that it means something. Unfortunately, tracking thirium is highly sensitive (most deviants bleed) but has lower specificity (non-deviant androids sometimes also bleed), which I got really annoyed by.

[natalieironside]

hello ms. comrade Ironside, longtime reader, first time caller.

as a fellow writer of queer erotica, I was wondering if you had any thoughts/spoons to share those thoughts on wordpress being swept into the AI debacle under automattic? (I think that’s what you use to host your cool website, forgive me if I am mistaken.) I’m trying to figure out where to set up an author website of my own so I don’t have to host my stuff on tumblr anymore, but I’m a bit gun-shy in the current moment. I know AI trawling is inevitable in today’s internet, but as someone who’s been doing the indie author thing for some time (and admirably!), is there something you would recommend, best practices or otherwise, to someone just trying to get their metaphorical kite off the ground? or anything you wish you knew when you set up your own author-type socials? any thought at all would be genuinely appreciated.

thanks for your time, and I hope you and yours are as well as can be expected 🖤

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but afaik nothing approaching best practices has been figured out yet; it's all already happening and there's precious little as can be done to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Of course I uncheck all the little boxes in settings and deny them my consent or whatever, but I don't think a gaggle of unimaginative piss-bellied technocrats who decided it was a sensible use of vast amounts of water and power to teach a computer how to write very badly are what I'd call trustworthy. I'm still gonna move all my website shit off of Wordpress because they won't let me get rid of the stupid AI assistant thing, but that's more a case of their UI being ugly and dumb than me thinking it'll actually do any good.

Best I can tell you on that front is to try to find yourself a niche and develop yourself as an artist from there; "Write the kinds of books you wish other people were writing" is good general advice, and a human operator is always going to be capable of things a predictive network just isn't. Other ppl are gonna disagree with that, but they're wrong. Their understanding of resource allocation and scarcity is just childishly naive and you shouldn't waste your time listening to people who think we're gonna solve climate change with apps or whatever.

Far as social media goes, this is still the best one for hocking books as far as I can tell. I'm hearing a lot of good things about Cohost and Pillowfort, but their user bases are still quite small, and I haven't found the indie author community on Bluesky yet. If Tumblr goes belly up I'll probably end up migrating to one of those first two primarily b/c I think longform blogging is the secret stuff for ppl like me who are just too crabby and agoraphobic to be Twitter influencers; I may not be any good at videos or regular quick posts or documenting the writing process (which is too bad, b/c a lot of my friends who do that stuff seem to be having fun with it), but I sure can Lay Out Some Thoughts in A Few Paragraphs and I like to think that's something ppl expect from a novelist.

Also, never get in a public argument, don't go posting Your Thoughts On The Issues unless someone asked or you feel like you've got something interesting to say, and be very selective with how much and what personal information you give out to the hoi polloi. Those are my 3 rules for how to do social media good.

[talentpiper11]

Work In Progress Wednesday

Hey all! Thanks to @rimeswithpurple and @monbons for the tags.

This week I've been a liiiiittle bit incorrigible— I've finished the short (~1500 word) story that is my longform method of punching the Mage in his metaphorical face, and I'll be posting that very soon, and I've also started (you'll never guess) ANOTHER wip. I cannot be stopped, not even by my own better judgement. To that end, here's a little barely-spoilery excerpt:

“What was that?”  I’m unable to keep confusion (and, I’ll admit, a bit of awe) from my voice as I ask. Frankly, I think I’m responding remarkably well to the revelation that Simon can apparently share his magic with people— with me— but then again, I’m somewhat inured to his tendency to do impossible things. He’s been known to do six impossible things before breakfast, which is especially remarkable given how early he leaves our room in search of scones. Something in my tone must surprise him, though, because he throws his arms up into a defensive stance, protecting his chest and face. As if I’m going to attack him. As if I hadn’t sworn myself to our truce. (As if I’d ever really hurt him.) 

Yes, it's more Snowbaz. No, I will not stop.

I'll be starting a new job next week (Making more money! Having better benefits!) and I'm excited for that, but it may mean I don't get as much writing done here. We'll have to see!

Last but not least, here's the first layer of painting I've done on that Check, Please art I posted the sketch for last week!

So, there's that! The next pass of painting will lay in the finer details but I'm pleased with this work so far.

As always, no pressure tags and hellos to:

@monbons @rimeswithpurple @larkral @raenestee @youarenevertooold @simonsnowsfreckles @prettygoododds @roomwithanopenfire @ebbpettier and anyone else who’d like to post something but hasn’t been tagged yet!

[moonshine-nightlight]

Any advice for writting longform stories like NWWD?

@honoikazuchis

thanks for this ask!

thats a pretty open ended question and my answer will inherently be relatively specific to me and the way i write, but i'm happy to share my advice!

I will link a few other posts where i answered some other writing asks:

worldbuilding [x] editing/exposition [x] writer's block/POV [x] plotting vs pantsing [x] how long does it take me to write stuff [x] my writing process [x] writing spicy scenes [x]

otherwise, see below for me rambling way too long about writing.

disclaimer: this is just my opinion and how i do things, obviously there's a lot of variety and nuance for everyone's writing process.

firstly, is that personally, i'm inclined to writing longform stories so thats a bit of a built in strength of mine. generally speaking my story ideas come with lots of lore (see above for my love of worldbuilding) and i like relationships that are deeper/longer, with slow burn being a favorite of mine (why basically all my short stories have the two people involved having met prior to the story starting). that being said, technically the main character in 'Nothing's Wrong with Dale' doesnt meet demon!Dale until the flashback of chapter 2 and why is part of why that story is so long/has a built in arranged marriage premise. Of my two potential long form stories i'm going to do next: one they already know each other (and are basically already in love just being pining idiots about it) or two the story takes place over several months/high stress situations and does not end with marriage etc. But thats more of a concern if you're writing romance.

in general, my advice for longform stories is to already have a relatively complete, high level view of the story when you start. some people can just improvise the entire story as they go--I cannot. i think its very helpful to know where ur story is going to end, more crucially when it is long and you'll be taking a while to get there. by this i primarily mean the setup for the story, then general ending, and vaguely what sort of metaphorical journey they take to get there. you do not need to know every scene and detail in the middle--and plot points/characters can and will evolve as you write and think more on everything--but having the broad brushstrokes figured out asap is critical, in my opinion.

I also, as a side note, don't set out with a story length in mind. i can generally get a good handle on how long a story will be by the idea and outline, but i dont try to make it long. if anything, i did try to challenge myself to write shorter stories, like my novellas, when i started this blog/posting original writing here. that was not only because i do tend to get very complicated/long original ideas, but also because i think it was important to me to actually finish some original work, which i had never done before.

shorter stories tend to have more straightforward plots. not that you can't boil down longer stories to simpler summaries, but generally longer story ideas have more stops along the way so to speak that come to me when i'm developing the idea because i want to cover more with the story. the main character in dale having had childhood illness, dale raised by his grandparents, there being tournament stuff and assassins stuff and uncomfortable parties and most importantly MC figuring out dale was a demon immediately and dale not knowing the MC knew that were all things i came up with (loosely) very soon after i started working on it.

which leads into my next piece of advice: write everything you brainstorm down - you will forget and you will remember there's something u've forgotten and it will annoy the hell out of you. write your notes, write your what ifs, write down possible character names, write down cool ideas for scenes--heck write some of the scenes up then, evn if its for chapter 24 of 35. dont save what ur most excited for as like a carrot on a stick, i find that it doesnt help and that having part of my story that i love existing already is a much better motivator to write the rest

i'm also a big outliner and planner. i think some people think what that means is that u should b able to write a plan once for a story and then never change or deviate from it--but no! change the plan as you go; scrap things that dont work out and add new ideas when they come to you. however, i do think having something down that covers the whole story, lets you get a good idea of the shape of the story, and reminds you of your end goal, are all incredibly helpful. i also keep multiple worldbuilding notes docs; character and location lists; picture inspiration; etc to support the longform idea

i think u also hav to hav confidence/delusion that you will in fact finished. i hav started multiple longform original writing ideas in the past. none of them are done except dale. and part of it was not taking some of my own advice up top, but i think i also just wasnt as committed? lik it'd get lost in worldbuilding, or writing other projects, or life happening (which is all absolutely fine) but dale was the first longform idea where i like, really believed i could write it all and where i was dedicated to putting in the time i'd need to finish it. i knew i would need to take breaks and it would take more than a year (which i did and it did) but i still believed i'd get to where i am now, with a finished draft which i think was really key.

also, practice, i've been writing for years and year; i've been reading for even longer; and i've been writing and posting fanfic for years as well. some of my longer fanfics were such good practice for how to plot a long story without having to generate all the lore myself and having guardrails on for the story/characters in general. aside from dale, my next five pieces of longest writing are all fanfic.

lastly, find at least one person you can talk to about your story. i really think that helped me stay excited and motivated about my longform story in particular. i of course like talking about shorter stories too, but i dont think i felt as compelled to keep talking about them during the process of writing them as i did for my longform stories (even my longer fanfics i talked with other ppl in the big bang about or other writers on discord). and i dont just mean posting the rough drafts as u go like i did, but friends, irl or online, that either are also writers or are just interested in what story you want to make. i think it helps make it more real to you, it gives you ways to talk through issues that come up, its a way to get excited because they're excited, and it makes someone besides you ask how everythings going. the longer stories ideas i had but never got finished are also ones i primarily kept to myself, because i dont think i'd realized how helpful it could be to share them and also because i was still sure that in order to justify telling someone or evn for someone to care, it would hav to already be written, but it doesnt! and in retrospect, i wish i had because maybe those stories would exist--or maybe i'll dig up those notes and talk to someone about them and then find myself back to writing about them (rip to Aftermath, that corrupted external hard drive did u dirty and killed my motivation).

i think getting to understand and figure out your own process, to really look at yourself and see what works and what doesnt (as honestly as you can) is extremely helpful. u'll also figure stuff out along the way--dont hesitate to try to new strategies or drop one that are really not working for you. its all a learning process. be nice to yourself! give yourself the grace to make mistakes (or tell a friend so they can bully you into to cutting urself some damn slack when u can't stick to a weekly upload schedule u made up for urself).

whatever longform story you've got in ur head is one worth sharing and seeing through to completion--and then inflicting on everyone else lol OUR problem now ;)