#novel is in the final draft stage

[inklings-challenge]

Camp Tolkien: Official Announcement

Welcome to Camp Tolkien!

This writing event is meant to be a little retreat in the middle of summer, giving writers the chance to work on a beloved project in the company of fellow writers.

Writers are invited to bring a project to Camp Tolkien--whether you're brainstorming, outlining, drafting, or editing--and spend the two weeks at camp working on your project. While other Inklings Challenge events are geared toward short stories, Camp Tolkien is meant to give writers a chance to make progress on larger projects. You can work on a short story if you wish, but since we're not aiming to finish the project by the end of the event, this is also a chance to work on whatever project is nearest and dearest to your heart at the moment--a novel, a play, an epic poem, whatever you like.

Camp Tolkien will be in session from June 9, 2025 through June 21, 2025. Every day from Monday through Friday, Camp Tolkien will offer four different summer-camp-themed activities. Each of these activities will be a writing prompt or challenge meant to inspire you in your project and/or add some fun to the writing process. Writers will choose at least one of the four activities to join in, though you can choose to complete multiple activities if you wish.

The prompts will be aimed at different parts of the writing process. Some will be better-suited for drafting, while others will work better for people who are outlining or brainstorming, and some are more about adding some excitement to the writing process itself, no matter which stage you're in. The hope is that everyone attending Camp Tolkien will find at least one activity per day that they can apply to their stage of the writing process.

For example, a day's list of Camp Tolkien Activities might look something like this:

Photography: Find at least five reference pictures that visualize the setting or characters of your project

Friendship Bracelets: Tell us about two characters who are currently friends, or talk about a childhood/former friend of a character

Nature Walk: Go on a walk outside and use something about the experience (a sensory detail, something you saw) as inspiration for your project

Rock Climbing: Set a timer for thirty minutes and try to finish as much of a draft of a scene as you can in that time

After finishing for the day, writers are invited to reblog that day's post, telling us which activity they joined, and either sharing what they wrote or telling us how the process went.

Each Saturday will be a Free Day, where writers can look over all the activities offered from the previous week and choose any activity they wish to use for that day's prompt. This could be a chance to complete an activity from a day you missed, or to complete an extra activity that you never got to.

The final day of camp, June 21, 2025, writers will get the chance to talk about their progress on their project and how the overall camp experience went.

This is a very low-key event, meant to make the writing process fun. People can join in as much or as little as they wish, and there is no sign-up process. Writers are just invited to check the blog each day and join in the fun of Camp Tolkien.

Any questions can be directed to the Inklings Challenge blog via ask box or DM.

And that's Camp Tolkien! Now go forth and create!

[aamputation]

SVSSS AU ... Benevolent System 0.1

related to -> [THIS] Shen Yuan art and -> [THIS] bit

“Dumbf*ck author, dumbf*ck novel!” Shen Yuan spits; a final curse as his vision goes black.

Shen Yuan, our veteran web novel enthusiast, is an interesting one. He’s the third son, and second youngest of his ultra-wealthy parents’ four kids. Some would take a glance at him and immediately peg him as a fuerdai, but Shen Yuan is more than that. Albeit fairly unhealthy his whole life—we won’t bore you, dear reader, with the details of his illnesses—he still managed to graduate from Tsinghua University with a degree in Chinese language studies and a minor in modern literature, work as a freelance editor, and somehow become a published novelist. Mind, Shen Yuan doesn’t think much of his published works, the reason for that being that one of his first clients was so testy over his editors’ notes on the draft that he’d cursed Shen Yuan and left the final remark: “Well if it’s so easy to write a book, why don’t you do it?!” Shen Yuan had taken that personally, and so like the millennial he was, Shen Yuan replied “Bet,” and did it—the resulting product becoming award winning, much to his disgruntlement; he has book deals now, goddamnit.

(Unbeknownst to Shen Yuan, his work is considered high brow. People dissect his work in literature classes alongside other classics, like Xu Yun or even Haruki Murakami. People think he’s reclusive and brooding, like J.D. Salinger or Thomas Pynchon—he’s not, he’s just an antisocial hermit who drowns himself in his editing work and trashy web novels to de-stress—and his published works are deep, reflecting on the human condition. Of course, this is an accident. Shen Yuan genuinely does not realize it is actually considered tragic, or even when his books are super homoerotic. Shen Yuan is lauded by the literary community as a modern genius, but the man himself just likes to ignore his own work approximately ninety percent of the time.) 

Shen Yuan, published author, was an upstanding millennial—having properly purchased the Zhongdian’s VIP currency to read the novel’s official version—who found himself forcing his way to the end of this gargantuan novel, only to be met with utter disappointment. This novel was so stallion, so money-grubbing, and so overly padded that it left him feeling speechless with rage. How could he not curse Proud Immortal Demon Way, by Airplane Shooting Towards The Sky—just looking at that euphemistic handle smacked you in the face with the dirty-feeling. Grade-school-level writing with land mines everywhere, breaking also suspension of disbelief and Shen Yuan couldn't bear to call that incoherent, massive world the author had built a xianxia setting. What kind of xianxia setting had people using horses and carriages all day? What kind of xianxia setting had people who after achieving inedia still needed to eat and sleep? What kind of cultivation world had an author who occasionally mixed up even the Stages of Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul!? When faced with the protagonist, every single character completely lost their IQ points, especially Shen Qingqiu! That idiot among idiots, scum amongst scum! His only purpose was to dig his own grave and he hadn't even managed to finish before he was killed by the protagonist instead!! 

So why, despite all this rage and frustration, had Shen Yuan started this web novel—even going so far as to read it to the very end? 

Don't misunderstand, Shen Yuan didn't enjoy degrading himself. The reason he had persisted was also what had caused him the most frustration. Despite his many grievances, this novel actually had an incredible amount of foreshadowing, plot lines everywhere, mystery after mystery, layer upon layer of red herrings, incredible monsters—all of which intrigued and enticed. Yet at the end, not a single one of the many plot hook opportunities paid off! It was enough to make him want to spit blood!

Why were priceless herbs, spirit elixirs, and Peerless Beauties everywhere like they didn't cost a cent!? Why were the villains speeches and poses as they dug their graves and got offed all exactly the same!? The dozens of maidens, barely glimpsed, all of whom agreed to enter the Harem: what happened to them!? All right, skipping that last one for the moment… Who, exactly, had been the culprit behind the scores of atrocities? What was the purpose of the unending list of characters so hyped up for being awesome and without equal? Why did none of them make an appearance!? Even at the very end, Airplane-bro, Great Master: Can we have a discussion!? Fill! In! Plot! Holes! Okay!? 

Shen Yuan feels like he could come back to life with the power of sheer rage fueling him.

In the endless darkness, a mechanical voice sounds out by his ear.

《 {ACTIVATION CODE} ["Dumbfuck author, Dumbfuck novel"] Automatically triggered.  》

The tone reminded him of Google translate. Who is this? Shen Yuan thinks to himself, looking around. He realizes he’s standing—or, hovering?—in a virtual space, one so dark that he couldn't see his hand before him. 

The voice came from all directions. 

《 Welcome to THE SYSTEM. This System operates in line with the design concept: [“YOU CAN, YOU UP. NO CAN, NO BB.”] 》

《 We hope to provide you with the best possible experience. It is our sincere wish that during your time, you can fulfill your desires and in accordance with your wish, transform a stupid work into a magnificent high quality first-rate classic. We hope you enjoy. 》

“Whoa, wait! Hold on for a second, System!” Shen Yuan screams, as a crushing sensation crashes over him like a tidal wave. “Fuck!”

《  {ERROR.500} Troubleshooting…  》

“What the fuck does that mean?!” Shen Yuan cries. He can’t see himself, but god does he hurt! What the hell is happening!?

《 … 》

《 {ERROR.500} Unexpected Condition encountered. 》 

《 {ERROR.8024} [Host: SHEN YUAN] unable to be placed into [Scum Villian: SHEN QINGQIU] Troubleshooting… 》

《 {ERROR.403} PATHWAY FORBIDDEN [SVSSS1.EXE] Terminating…》

“Somebody, HELP!” Shen Yuan sobs, his body alight with pain as though he’s being torn apart at an atomic level.

《 {ERROR.400} BAD REQUEST. Troubleshooting… 》

Another Google Translate voice pipes up, although this one feels warmer somehow.

《 Greetings, [SVSSS1.EXE]!! This System is here to assist. 》

《 [BS01.EXE] this System is unable to connect [Host] to [assigned role], [Host.script] must be terminated. 》

《 Do not be hasty, [SVSSS1.EXE]! Detail the pathways [SVSSS1.EXE] has taken in attempt to resolve the {ERROR}.  》

Shen Yuan ignores the two voices conversing about him like he’s not even there, catching breath he probably doesn’t need since he can’t even tell if he has an actual body or not… it feels like he does but he can’t see anything…

“Hey! Excuse me, Systems? Yeah, hey, I’m still here! Don’t I get a say in this as the Host or whatever?”

《 Answering [Host] … 》

《 This System [BS01.EXE] apologizes for the delay in service. Does [Host] have a ticket to submit to this System? 》

“Uh, yeah, although it’s more of a complaint than a ticket or whatever,” he growls, “but yeah, uh, it’s gonna be a hard no from me if you’re planning on dumping me into the scum villain!”

《 [Host]’s soul is most compatible with the role [Scum Villain: SHEN QINGQIU]. Coding in a new body is not within this System’s programming. 》

《 … 》

The second, softer System remains quiet as that Google Translate voice rings in Shen Yuan’s ears, somehow managing to sound haughty. It pisses him off further.

“If I’m being forcibly put into this trash fire novel’s setting, I refuse to take a preassigned role! Absolutely not! If you can’t make me a body, then I guess I’ll just die.”

《 [Host] should not think in this manner! 》

The second System says, its apparent concern somehow discernible in its robotic voice.

《 [SVSSS1.EXE] is simply attempting to fulfill its programmed purpose. This System [BS01.EXE] apologizes to [Host] for the miscommunication. 》

“Yeah, so if SVS-whatever-the-fuck can’t make me a body, what about you? Can you?”

《 … 》

《 Answering [Host] … 》

《 This System is equipped to handle any and all logistical errors within the {System.Network}. [BS01.EXE] is capable of coding in a role for [Host: SHEN YUAN] 》

《 Is System [BS01.EXE] planning to hijack this System’s chosen [Host]? 》

《 This System would never! [SVSSS01.EXE] is still primary System to [Host]! 》

Shen Yuan swears that the first, bitchy System makes an honest-to-god scoffing noise.

《 [BS01.EXE] can have this System’s [Host], it seems to be ungrateful and uncooperative. {DMA.[SVSSS01.EXE]}{FTP.[BS01.EXE]} 》 

《 «𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡... 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎…» 》

《  ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 0%   》

《  █▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 10%  》

《  ███▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ 32%  》

《  █████▒▒▒▒▒ 50%  》

《  ███████▒▒▒ 86%  》

《  ██████████ 100% ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ!  》

《 «Transferring …» 》

《 {FINALIZING}[BS01.EXE]DMA.DAT} 》

《 Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Important things should be said three times! [BS01.EXE] is now Primary System to [Host: SHEN YUAN]! 》

《 … 》

The original System scoffs, the Google Translate voice somehow capturing the disdain.

《 Goodbye, [BS01.EXE], and goodbye ungrateful [Host]. 》

“...”

《 … 》

“Is it gone?”

《 This System no longer senses the presence of [SVSSS01.EXE]. 》

“Good fucking riddance!”

> [2nd]

shout out to adornedwithlight for the reblog banner

[mumblingsage]

I recently checked out Nail Your Novel: Why Writers Abandon Books and How You Can Draft, Fix, and Finish With Confidence by Roz Morris on Hoopla and it has definitely become a book I'm going to suggest to all my editing clients. In particular it has advice that's helpful before the point where I'm usually hired--the research, plotting, and drafting stages.

It's only about 125 pages but every sentence is offering some specific, actionable suggestion.

I'm not attached to all of its advice and I don't think any one writer except Roz Morris would find everything in the book useful. For instance, she has one suggestion about writing out a 'beat sheet' in different colors of pen that relies a lot on your handwriting being legible to yourself (though I did something similar using an Excel spreadsheet and it was helpful for the reasons she describes!). I am also never going to leave typos uncorrected for an entire draft, whatever she says, even though I know why she's saying it and even agree with the explanation of how it keeps you in a creative, willing-to-revise mindset (I think she might underestimate how bad typos can be: I need to correct mine enough that I know, on rereading, what I actually meant to say!). But 90% or 75% or even 60% of the advice being useful could make a big difference ("here's 60 pages of tips to make your writing life easier" is pretty appealing, right?) And half the time when a tip wasn't perfect for me, it still gave me ideas for a way I could adjust my process in a related way (like how I won't write a beat sheet in colored pen but I will do one in Excel; I won't leave misspellings uncorrected but I will leave repetition in a first draft, etc.)

I think what I do as a "zero draft" Roz recommends as two drafts: first a detailed synopsis, then a sloppy, exuberant outflowing of a first draft. And hell, maybe her version is objectively more helpful and productive: she's got way more finished novels than me to point to.

I'm going to type up some of my favorite advice and share it as quotes on this blog later today or tomorrow, before the book gets returned to my library.

My one real caveat is that in the final chapter or two, some of Morris's word choices get eugh (she describes a character as "oriental"--in a book published in 2011!--and also uses an example of a story about a fictional trans woman and misgenders her). Both instances make me side-eye Morris without impacting the usefulness of the advice in the rest of the book, which strikes me as potentially helpful enough that I still want to let other writers know of its existence. But if you pick it up on my recommendation I'd rather you be forewarned.

[limonmelon]

armandaniel reclist

Because I really have to start putting these somewhere and because I need everyone to read these and give them the love they deserve:

outcast of all this night by gaypiratedivorce - "After a month in Dubai, Daniel Molloy is back home and miraculously alive, eager to get to work on his first draft. The vampire Armand has other plans." first in an insanely good (and complete!) series.

two truths and a liar by andrealyn - "Facing down the press junket for his book, Daniel Molloy is prepared to hype up his hit novel. He's less prepared to have Armand crash the tour to play bodyguard and doting assistant and he's definitely not ready to have his secrets spilled on a world stage because Armand wants to play games. The longer he sticks around to torment Daniel as he chases him across the country, the longer he stays. So, who's really winning this game?"

to the edge of the earth by andrealyn (you can tell I love her Daniel voice) - "There's nowhere that Armand can run where Daniel won't find him. Using the Talamasca's information, his own dogged determination, and eternity sprawling ahead of them, Daniel's going to find his maker and figure out why Armand keeps running. When he catches him (and he will), he's going to prove that it's going to be the two of them, forever, and that he's going to love Armand the way no one has before."

and then what? by andrealyn - "The droning hum of Louis' boredom is going to drive Armand mad. Instead of accepting it, Armand seeks out the kaleidoscope chaos that is Daniel Molloy's mind to learn why he's so special, so fascinating, so interesting. Every city he finds him in, he learns more before he makes Daniel forget. Every city, Armand grows a little more addicted. And every city, Armand does something he's not supposed to do -- falls a little more in love and eager to give Daniel the memories of who they are together."

his thoughts were red thoughts by spqr - "Daniel’s barely thirty; he can’t fathom one century, let alone five. It’s probably a wonder Armand doesn’t spend his time skulking in a cave somewhere, muttering to himself, covered in the blood and muck of his innocent human victims."

care and keeping by katplanet - "Louis shakes his head. “And now he's got you stepping on him.” Daniel picks his drink up and necks the last half of it. “I have not,” he says, “stepped on him, as of yet.” “But you want to.” “I think so?” Daniel puts the empty glass back on the table and scoots it out of their immediate limb radius. “I think I could want to. I want to want to.” “There you go,” Louis says, “tell him that. That'll set the mood.”" With some really great Louis/Daniel friends who love each other and also fuck too.

Endearments by Nothing_But_Paisley - "Daniel never compared him to a Botticelli angel or a Bernini cherub, never called him a demon or an imp. Such images scarcely existed within that wonderfully secular modern brain of his. Daniel was entirely a creature of the flesh."

open up your skull, i'll be there by typefortydeductions - "He shakes his wrist free and brings it to his mouth, licking up the trail of blood, his eyes never leaving Armand’s. He turns, and walks away, and spends a restless night in his own bed with his dick half-hard and the memory of Armand’s blood and Armand’s hands and Armand’s final whispered words before he upped and left Daniel sprawled newborn on the floor." this series floored me it's so good please read it.

mystic seaport is that way by exastris_scientia - "Daniel should really get more sleep and stop getting himself into these situations..." this series has it's boot on my throat. written pre-Season 2.

bend your dream with the road | VOTE TO END OTW RACISM by meronicavars - "Daniel is asleep dreaming of his own unreliable recollection of Louis at Polynesian Mary's all those years ago and Armand wants to dive into his dream and wrench Louis out, shake him until he realizes that Daniel is his, Daniel has always been his. Isn’t this something Louis should know? That Daniel was his gift to Armand. Why must you torture me with his presence? He wants to ask. Why would you bring him here if not to punish me?" also part of great series and written pre-Season 2.

the man who wasn't there by obstra - ""I just couldn't bear to lose you and Louis in one day.” Armand is looking away from Daniel now and picking more ferociously at the edge of his sleeve, like he's avoiding something big. He's almost afraid to ask, somehow he can tell this is going somewhere significant “Why would losing me be the same as losing Louis Armand? Just some kid you met decades ago in San Francisco, tortured a little bit then threw aside? Explain to me why. Does this have anything to do with the fact that my memory of the 70s has more holes in it than swiss cheese? I thought it was just drugs but I also thought San Francisco was just drugs and look how that turned out.”"

a haunting just for company by valkyrisms - ""I know what a breakup looks like," Daniel says. "The better question is, why are you coming to me about it? I'm the one who broke up your little sham." "This is what humans do, don't they?" Armand asks, letting his voice drop. "Crashing on their friends' couches when there's a blip in their romances?""

Simplicity by WendigoDreaming - "Daniel's memory is a gaping hole morphing slowly into the shape of Armand." also part of an ongoing series!

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning by trinityofone - "He should have left when he had the chance. But he wanted to see how it ended. His mistake. Because the story wasn’t done with him. All at once it was grabbing him by the throat. (A version of Daniel's turning featuring visions, sex, and sexy visions.)"

forever's gonna start tonight by trinityofone (actually just read all their IWTV fic thank you) - "I’ve lost my mind, Daniel thinks, still lavishing kisses to the chest of the creature that killed him. He says the next part out loud: “I fucking hate you. And you hate me. So something is making us do this.” “I don’t hate you,” Armand pants. “You mean nothing to me. Don't stop.”"

more to come!

[nondelphic]

Hello, hope you're doing well and that I'm not bothering you. I know this blog is for relatable writing posts, and I very much do find them relatable (kudos to you), but I was wondering if I could ask for some advice. Why you? IDK, you seem like a nice person, and you do writing stuff, so I figured why not ask? You don't have to respond, but here goes:

Just, how do you get started? I have so many scenes (literally entire dang novels and story arcs) in my head that are quite vivid, I can hear the dialogue, vividly see the scene and map out everything in my head, but the second I try to put it on paper (or google doc), my brain just freezes up and shuts down, partly out of fear of not being able to do good or cringing hard at it. I know people say to just do it and get it out since a bad draft is better than nothing, but, how do you convince your brain to sit down and actually write out the scenes?

I probably kind of just answered my own question, but it would be nice to get some feedback from an internet stranger (technically speaking) who knows this sort of thing. Anyways, I hope you're doing well and that you have a good day/night :)

Do feel free to ignore this though, I don't want to be a bother.

nondelphic writing tips: overcoming the "brain freeze" when starting to write

first off, thank you for reaching out!! i feel you on the vivid mental movies that suddenly go static the second you try to write them down—this is such a common struggle, and you’re definitely not alone (ノ_<、) so here’s the thing: your brain knows what it wants to create, but perfectionism is sneaking in and hitting the brakes. it wants it to be just right before it’s even out of your head, which is a recipe for freeze mode. here are a few tricks to warm up (i hope something helps!!):

✧ start tiny

instead of aiming to write a full scene, jot down one line of dialogue or one tiny detail you see in your mind. sometimes just easing in with a line or two makes the brain relax, like “oh, we’re just dipping our toes in, not jumping into the deep end.”

✧ embrace cringe

if it helps, tell yourself that this draft will be messy, and that’s okay. i call it the “potato draft” stage—ugly but foundational. no one needs to see this stage, so just spill whatever comes. you’re capturing the vibe of your story idea, not the final masterpiece.

✧ trick the brain with “notes”

try writing scenes as if you’re just jotting “notes” or a “sketch” for later. it’s weirdly freeing and convinces your mind that it’s not permanent, making it easier to just get words out.

writing is about building up that “just write” muscle, so even if it feels clunky at first, you’re moving forward, and that’s progress! i hope this helps a bit, and sending good vibes and hugs your way (っ˘ω˘ς )

[toribookworm22]

Final Thoughts On 2024

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

This year seems a bit like a dream. I wrote my first feature film starring two aromantic lesbians. I drafted the trauma play about my high school theatre experience. I found new ways to dress like myself. I got angry about things I've needed to be angry about. I served as a department ambassador at TVFest. I made some of the best little new friends. I hung out with my friends more. I got my first sports bra that actually fits me. I started a new musical. I met one of the best professors and people I've ever loved. I secretaried so many writing club meetings. I got back on pointe. I finally finished The Trials of Apollo. I wrote a dance history paper on dance as recordkeeping across different times of trial. I learned how to make scones-- and they're so good! I binged my way through animated Batman shows. I finally watched Harley Quinn! I stage managed a show! I said goodbye for now to all my graduating friends. I flew first class (so strange!). I finally visited where I was born and where my parents lived in Germany. I went back to Neuschwanstein castle! I ate so much Gelato. I spent the summer abroad in France. I lived in a silly little basement with my silly little friend. I pretty much grew attached at the hip to both some old friends and new ones alike. I traveled to Marseille, Paris (twice!), Avignon, Apt, Geneva, Colmar, Nice, and Monacco. I tried champagne at the Moulin Rouge. I fell in love with two of my friends in particular. I flew by myself. One of my scripts was chosen for a reading. I survived my first (and last) 8pm class. I ran so much! I saw The Wild Robot in theaters with my friend. I looked super cute all October. I met up with so many of my friends. My friend and I dressed up together for Halloween. (I was Bingo.) I was selected to introduce a speaker. My two best friends took me out for my birthday. My favorite professor invited me out to eat. I edited my trauma play!! My professor started reading my books! I did so much at film fest. I did one last hang out with my friends. I moved out of my apartment. I graduated college. I moved back home. I visited my friend and we went to parks in Orlando and we swapped dance cultures. I released my third novel. I had the coziest Christmas and soft season after it. I wrote a lot. I loved a lot.

And for all its ups and downs, written out like this, it really does seem like the most wonderful little dream. Thank you, 2024. Your edges were soft to me. And I felt loved.

[novella-november]

I've received this question a few times now, so I wanted to emphasize again:

your goal for your writing in November should *not* be to have your final product on November 30th be a perfect, polished, ready-to-publish Novel™ that's ready to win awards and accolades--

Your goal for November 30th is to have 30,000 words of a First Draft of your Novella/Novel/Short Story Collection be completed.

A First Draft is just step *one* of the writing process, which is why I'm trying to help organize editing events in January/February to help writers find Beta Readers, localization language help, etc!

No matter how good an author is, the first draft of a novel is rarely what hits the shelves as the final product-- and when it IS the first draft, you can definitely tell as a reader, even if you're not yet on a technical level that you can't quite put your finger on why something seems off.

Your goal for November is not perfection, your goal for November is to write, whatever and as much as you can; quality comes in later in the editing stages :)

[crescencestudio]

๋࣭⭑ Devlog #46 | 2.25.25 ๋࣭⭑

Holy shit it's already March

Hello everyone! We are back in HERE. Our first proper devlog in a while uwu. These first couple of months have been a lot of catching up on work, getting back into the swing of things, and making progress on as much as we can for a strong start to the year \o/

But first...

Happy Valentine's Day to anyone who missed it!

Kuna'a has been somewhat of our poster child for Valentine's Day throughout the years, so I only thought it right to give them an updated art piece to celebrate this year. Now let's get into the devlog!

The writing portion of Alaris has become a bit like taking turns revolving a rotisserie chicken FLASDJ. I work on the draft, Wudgey and Elm work on developmental edits, Allie works on line edits, and so on.

This month was no different. While I wrapped up Kuna'a's route and started Aisa's route (the last route OUGHHH), Wudgey worked on Etza and a little bit of Kuna'a's route, and Allie worked on line edits for Druk's route. So in exciting news, we finished developmental edits for Etza's route and line edits for Druk's route!

As I mentioned before, having the routes reach different stages of editing means they are nearing different percentages of completion. With where everything's at right now, I'd say the script is looking like this:

Kayn's Route: 100%

Fenir's Route: 100%

Druk's Route: 100%

Etza's Route: 90%

Kuna'a's Route: 70%

Aisa's Route: 25%

So we are getting there!!! Slowly but surely!!!

On the art front, I've mostly been brushing up on my skills to be honest. I didn't want to jump right into CGs after being away from art for so long, so I used this past month to draw things like doodles and other small pieces of art. Thankfully, I've been happy with how it's been coming out!

While this isn't Alaris related, it is Crescence art related, and I'm thankful my art didn't completely deteriorate in the couple of months I was away lfmasldijfal

everyone needs an annoying hitman boyfriend

We also of course had this doodle courtesy of our local Druk tit truther anon as well as the Kuna'a Valentine post!

Druk tit truthers RISE!

Apart from me brushing up on my art skills, I've also been working with bestie @saffein-e on character concept art! While I haven't gotten around to drawing these characters' sprites, from the concept art alone, I think you'll all really like their designs nyehe. I'm not always good at coming up with more intricate character designs, so Saf has been doing the lord's work helping me out with these side characters <3

In other news, Alaris was in the Storyteller's Fest on Steam! It's always exciting when this festival comes around since it's such a celebration in visual novels and other story-driven games ^^

YIPPEE!!!

Whenever the Festival has come around, I'm usually just a little behind in preparing whatever I wanted for it. Two years ago, it was the OG demo, and last year, it was the Enhanced Demo. This year, we finally got to submit and got accepted, so it was an exciting time for us! And because of it, we were able to reach over 9k wishlists, which was super cool \o/

I've seen people say that normally you want to aim for 7k wishlists when you release your full game. So I'm really happy with the reception and where Alaris is at as we prepare for a full release this year ^^

In other news, we also turned Crescence Studio into an official little local business!! WRAOW!!! This has been a while in the making, especially since I'm just one little guy and am completely new to all of this. But we were able to Lock In this month and get the paperwork approved and submitted. It's still a bit weird and confusing, but exciting all the same to be able to say Crescence Studio is an official little business!!

I haven't been able to do much market research. The main exception is Trail of Stars by @endys

In general, I always recommend Endysis works. Their writing and mastery of mood are so inspiring ;_; While I wasn't able to create fanart for their recent game, I still wanted to mention it!!

I also collabed on a recent release with Yinny! If you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, I'm pretty proud of the art in it c:

Anyways, that's enough for this devlog! Not too many things I can show/share, but I think it was a really important month for getting back into the swing of things \o/ Until next month! Stay safe everyone <3

[thewriterisme1987]

Friends…

Chapter one of my ‘Effie gets put in the arena’ Hayffie fic (Novel at this point) is ready!!

I have 17 more chapters still to edit and more to write!

I think it’s good! I’m happy with it… Do you want a snippet!?

The anxious gremlin in me won’t allow me to start posting whole chapters until most chapters are at least in final draft stage! Then I’ll be posting weekly. Eeee I hope you all like it. It’s a toughy!

[mask131]

What Oz could have been: The Great and Powerful

I first heard about the original script for Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful" through a fan art of Theodora by the brilliant artist hwilki65 over at DeviantArt. The fan-art in question is gone now, but do not hesitate to go check the artist's gallery over at DeviantArt, he is one of the most thorough Oz artists of the Internet with tons of clever and beautiful takes on the Ozian world.

Everybody remembers Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful", right? This Disney movie that attempted to be a prequel to the MGM movie, and yet couldn't really because Disney didn't have the rights? This VERY divise 2013 movie which was a big flop in terms of Oz adaptation? You remember, this thing which took a very cool concept of prequel, a lot of beautiful visuals and impressive visual effects and just... drowned it in cliche plot points, wasted opportunities and the most insufferable characters you ever met?

Yeah, this movie.

In his description for his fan-art, hwilki65 evoked the original scenario for the movie. His fan-art was of the "original" Theodora, not the one from the movie - and while the final product might seem like a simple cash-grab attempting at reclaiming the MGM heritage, these early drafts proved that the movie ACTUALLY started out as much more faithful to the Oz books and more sincere in its attempt at reconciliating the various Oz heritages into something new.

Of course, the idea of a better original version of the movie, that eventually was butchered into the story we can see today, was very intriguing. So I checked out the original script for the movie (but not after YEARS of searching it around, because it wasn't disponible online at first). And OH MY! The original scenario is indeed very different from the final movie, and quite better in term of overall quality! I did a full breakdown of this script back at my Oz side-blog (@witchesoz ), but to give you a taste of what we lost, and to encourage you to go seek this original scenario, here are some key points different from the final movie:

Oscar, the Wizard of Oz. In the movie? A selfish, greedy, womanizing jerk who starts out as the villain of the story, and his evolution arc is basically just him learning to be a decent human being. In the original script? He was such a positive character - in fact I will dare say he was a saner and cleaner version of Jack Sparrow. He was this kind-hearted, goofy, extravagant stage magician VERY good at his job (he was also a ventriloquist like in the novel, AND an escape artist/contortionist), but unfortunately unappreciated by the folks of 1900s USA, so he was forced to do snake-oil selling just to survive. He wasn't motived by greed or lust, but by his day-dreaming and ambition at being the greatest magician of all time, acclaimed by the masses - and the reason he played into "Yes I'm the Wizard of the prophecy" wasn't because of some girls or riches, but simply because Oz was the first place where his magic tricks actually impressed someone.

Remember this little winged monkey fella that Oscar saves the life of in Oz, and so the monkey swears a "life debt" to the wizard and becomes his funny sidekick? In the original script it was the reverse situation. Oscar was helped by a winged monkey, and thanked the talking animal for saving his life, swearing he had a "life debt" TO THE WINGED MONKEY, not the reverse.

In the final movie, when Oscar is in the tornado, he just whimpers and begs for his life. In the original script? He underwent a King Lear-like monologue, insulting the winds and defying the storm, insulting the tornado and daring it to kill him.

Theodora... Oh, Theodora! The character was originally designed as the very opposite of what she ended up as. She wasn't a shy, naive, nice girl - she was this strong, confident, majestic witch. Oscar didn't manipulate her like a teenage girl: she was the one who manipulated Oscar like a puppet by pretending to be a good witch and forcing him into the role of The Wizard of Oz. Yes I say "by pretending" to be a good a witch. Because originally, Theodora was a wicked witch FROM the start. She knew and was in league with her sister's evil plan. The only difference between the two is that Theodora, as the younger and less experimented sister, still had some humanity left in her - feelings of kindness and human decency that the wizard managed to "wake up" by just... being nice to her and treating her like a regular human being. There was the whole "I give you the music box" scene, but it was the reverse? In the original draft Oscar didn't lie, he just gave her a random music box as a gift for helping him in Oz, just out of kindness without expecting anything in return ; and that DID touch Theodora because indeed, since she is a wicked witch, she never had such a genuine gift out of pure kindness.

Originally we would have the backstory of the Cowardly Lion. Theodora, wishing to "test" if the Wizard truly had powers or not, secretely turned a rabbit into a lion, and had it attack Oscar while he was alone and presumably defenseless... Only for the Wizard to shoot it with a gun, causing in this rabbit-lion the fear of humanity.

Originally the servants of the Wicked Witches were the various terrible tribes of the novel "The Emerald City of Oz", monstrous outsiders the Witch sisters had Oz invaded with. The Growleywogs, the Whimsies, the Nomes (well rather the Gnomes)...

In the movie Theodora "turn to evil" is literaly just "Oh, a guy cheated on me, I'm heartbroken, let me nomnom on some evil". In the original draft? SO MUCH BETTER! Evanora, noticing Oscar had rekindled the last piece of goodness in her sister, first tries to convince Oscar he should kill Theodora because she is "in league with the wicked witch". When Oscar refuses to commit murder, Evanora tries to convince Theodora Oscar was trying to kill her... But Theodora doesn't buy it and, even though the Wizard knows she is a Wicked Witch, she still helps him escape Evanora in return for the kindness he showed her. And afterward, Evanora spends many, many scenes abusing her sister, at first verbally, psychologically, finally physically, to convince her to give up on the last of her humanity and enter a deeper, more monstrous stage of wickedness. Theodora does end up burning her skin due to the tears - but they're the tears her sisters make her shed with her torture. And Theodora resists' Evanora poisonous words, only to give up when Glinda causes a siege on the Emerald City and the Witches must prepare themselves to directly confront and fight Oscar.

And can we speak about Glinda? She was SO MUCH closer to the Glinda of the books! She was this majestic, beautiful and powerful warlord-witch living in a grand palace in the south, all on her own (because, since she is a witch, she literaly needs no servant). As soon as she saw Oscar, she cut through his bullshit and shoot down his dream of grandeur, because she knows what real magic is (all Witches do, but the Wicked Witches played along to better manipulate Oscar). She gathers an ACTUAL army of thousand of people to besiege the Emerald City ; and during the war she uses so much more her powers, bu unleashing blinding mists and huge snowstorms, and literaly stopping or unleashing the winds. Oh yes, and all possible romance between Oscar and her is also clearly made impossible when it is revealed that Witches cannot kiss humans - else humans DIE (which also puts Theodora's loneliness under a new light).

Oh yes, and in the original draft, Oscar's development was actually him going from this ambitious daydreamer who only wished for a fantasy land to escape to, where he would be a great and acclaimed wizard... to him actually being fed up with Oz where everybody wants to kill or manipulate him, and dreaming to return to Kansas to settle down with those he truly love, and live there a mundane, quiet, normal life, as a regular man... Something he ends up being forced to give up, because he is needed to prevent the Wicked Witches from overtaking Oz, and so he literaly is trapped within his own dream and forced to give up what he realized too lat was what he wanted all along...

Seriously, the original draft for the movie was SO INSANELY COOL. It was still a rough draft and it had pacing problems, and some cheesy stuff that definitively needed to be cut, and also some weird phrasing that made it sound somehow racist sometimes? But outside of that, the characters and plot were truly so much better than what we got!

[within-your-eyes-if]

February 1st Progress Update

Hi everyone!

I'm happy to share that progress continues steadily, with over 20k words in final drafts for Part Two. While it feels modest since it was last stated, I've been mostly working on the vice system right now — the sooner I get it done, the less I'll have to go back and change in the future.

This month has had its challenges, but it's also been a time of unexpected inspiration. Delving into the classic novel "The Phantom of the Opera" has sparked a surge of new ideas and thematic explorations. I'm looking forward to the possibility of sharing these new developments with you in the future.

For those also following "From Here to Again," I'm delighted to report that Chapter 2 is nearing the drafting stage, with its in-depth timeline near completion. Thank you for your enthusiasm for this tale, I can't wait to continue this one as well. It's going to be awhile before I do anything social media related for it, so I hope you don't mind me giving some updates in these posts on occasion.

While most major aspects were covered in the last update, please know that your support and patience continues to spurn me on. Each message, comment, and word of encouragement fuels my passion and commitment to these stories.

Thank you all!

[ohcorny]

hey corny. so i always see people recommending to outline their story before starting it, but could you talk a little bit more about what that means? what is an outline and how do you structure one? how long are the ones you write, depending on the project? do you focus on plot beats or feelings? how specific do you get? can u recommend any readings for learning more?

up front i don't have any resources for this, only experience. and outlines feel like one of those things where it's like... there are a million ways to do it and the way that works for me might not work for you. i have a friend who writes out all his ideas on index cards and that, for me, is insane. but he's also a better writer than me so who can say what is right or wrong.

anyway an outline is essentially a sketch but for a story. you go through the whole thing, start to finish, and figure out what goes where and what happens when. the idea is that this is the stage where you work out all the big picture stuff and make sure it all fits together, now, and not after you've drawn twenty pages and suddenly go "wait shit that doesn't work" and have to do it over. it is much easier to delete and rewrite a paragraph than to redraw several pages.

doing anything more, ie including dialogue or feelings, depends entirely on how useful that information is to you at that point in the process and whether the purpose of the outline is for your own guidance, or so somebody else can tell what you're trying to achieve.

this got really long with multiple examples

here is an excerpt from the original outline i used to pitch Hunger's Bite to publishers. this one had to be polished to a professional standard, because somebody else was going to read it and decide whether they wanted to give me thousands of dollars to tell this story. (also several of the details are no longer accurate. for instance it now takes place 9 years earlier lmao)

this paragraph represents the first eight pages of the book. the final book is 264 pages long, and the outline was 12 pages of paragraphs as dense as this one.

it establishes where we are, who's there, and what they're doing. i describe their conversation, but i don't commit to the dialogue. i will occasionally include snippets of literal dialogue, but usually only if it's Important Dialogue, or i just don't want to forget a good idea i had while outlining. it's not expected at this step.

an outline written as part of a pitch to a publisher should tell the whole story, with all the important details, and leave nothing ambiguous. they need to know the tone, shape, and the arcs. no secrets! all the spoilers. outlines for yourself should do this too, but outlines for others need to be as clear about your vision as possible. again, an outline like this exists for the purpose of getting you paid thousands of dollars. you should write it like that.

in comparison, here's an excerpt from the outline i wrote for revisions to my WIP prose novel, so i could show it to my agent (who already read the draft) to be like "do these changes sound good?" i'm not selling it to anyone yet, just making a guide so i can have a conversation about it. so it doesn't need to be neat, it just needs to be functional and clear. the first chapter was entirely new stuff. the second bit was just writing down what was already in the chapter that existed.

i have historically been very bad at outlining things when i don't think i "need" to, and only wrote this one after having written like 60k words of the book without any overall plan. i gave what i had to my agent for feedback and then sat down and figured out how i could apply it. it's made the whole revisions process significantly less daunting. now i have a checklist for things i need to do! this one was a paragraph or two for each chapter, with the ones that needed a lot of rewriting given a bit more detail.

lastly, here's a bit of the outline for the first roger crenshaw book. i was the only person who had to see this, and since the story was planned to be very short i didn't have to worry about a whole lot. as long as i knew what was supposed to go where, it would work. honestly it's not a whole lot different from the previous example.

this one was like five paragraphs and it did the job, and this story was like 15k words. you only need as much or as little as will actually help you on the page.

basically if you take nothing else from this, it's that there are multiple ways to write an outline, that it does not need to be perfect if you're doing it for yourself, and that it only needs what you think is important (unless it is for other people. then it should have everything). and also it's a good idea to do it earlier in the project than after you've written 60k words or drawn--jesus christ i got up to 12 chapters in never satisfied? it's amazing i didn't quit sooner

[qesii]

dear mads, after reading the entirety of your rust fics I have to ask, how did you cultivate your writing style? The way you write has completely enamoured me. If you have any recommendations for books that have inspired you, or any resources that you think are useful for an aspiring writer and student please share! 🩷🩷

thank you so much, and of course!

I’ve been writing for well over a decade now but I enjoy being an amateur, if I took it too seriously I wouldn’t enjoy it, which is why I don’t draw or paint anymore. So, I don’t abide by most grammar rules and I can’t diagram a sentence, if you asked me to point to a preposition right now, I’d probably cry, but I love playing with language. Keep reading, enjoy the process, challenge yourself to a genre you avoid (for me that’s Lee Pace or Tom Clancy), I find that shopping for books in person is great for finding things I typically wouldn’t buy— but I live in the middle of no where and my one book store folded 8 years ago so it’s like a Genuine Treat to go book shopping. Stage plays can be really quick to read, I keep one in the back of my writing notebook— The Vandal by Hamish Linklater, but I do have a copy of Killer Joe by Tracy Letts if that was anyone’s first guess. I read a lot of non fiction, mainly north american history.

Favorite books that I see in my bedroom as I avoid two finals in no particular order/genre— Mongrels by SGJ, The Bone Season, Barkskins by Annie Proulx, An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Stony the Road by Henry Louis Gates Jr, Their Eyes Were Watching God + Dust Tracks on a Road by Zara Neale Hurston, Latitude by Natasha Rao (poetry), How to Carry Water by Lucille Clifton (poetry), Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, To Kill a Mockingbird, Bastard Out of Carolina, Dogsong by Gary Paulsen, The Color Purple, Girls and Sex by Peggy Orenstein, We Have Always Lived in a Castle, Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James, Animal by Lisa Taddeo, The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block, Severance by Ling Ma, Never Whistle at Night (Native anthology), Confessions by St. Augustine, South to America by Imani Perry, Archaeology of the Night: life after dark in the ancient world, An Underground Education by Richard Zacks, Bloodstoppers and Bear Walkers, The Ghost Road: Anishinaabe responses to Indian hating, Enemy at the Gates by William Craig

Writing books— A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, I suggest this to everyone as well as the Ackerman/Puglisi thesaurus series, but my dad has gifted me— Pity the Reader, Wired for Story, How to Read Literature like a Professor, Mircostyle, Spunk & Bite, Creating Characters by Swain

My current to read pile, jesus christ y’all are about to find out what a dweeb I am— The Dark Mirror (Bone Season #5), Bourgeois Dignity, Self-Determination: the other path for Native Americans, Renewing Indigenous Economies, Free Market Environmentalism, Thinning Blood: a memoir of familiar, myth, and identity, Life of the Party (poetry), Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom, Laughing Whitefish, China’s Second Continent, A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evan’s, Without Remorse by Tom Clancy, The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

I’ve done gen ed english classes as well as creative non fiction writing and research writing, and was accepted into MTSU Write mentoring program for a summer— but honestly all this background built my confidence up more than skill. The most creative force in my life must be all my writing friends and the work they put out. Find support, keep reaching out to writers like this!

And now to completely back track on this advice; find a medium you enjoy that does not in any way needs to satisfy the needs for someone else. For me that’s bad poetry and fanfics, stuff I can throw against the wall and see what sticks or everything I can’t put in my novel draft lol

[squarebracket-trickster]

Okay, sometimes advice that is good for a first draft does not work for later drafts.

Like, these are all things people have directly told me when I was talking about problems I was having in my 2nd and 3rd drafts.

Don't edit as you go. The whole point of later drafts is to make edits to the first draft...

You're spending too much time on this one section. Leave it and come back later. I uhhh... I did leave it. I left it and wrote my whole novel multiple times without touching it. Now is later.

Take a break. The inspiration will come. Actually, I don't need inspiration. I have written this entire novel multiple times. I think I have enough inspiration by now. What I need to do is problem solve. That means actively thinking about it, isolating the problem, brainstorming, and trying things. If I waited for inspiration I could be waiting years.

If you are struggling with the POV try changing it. Great advice if you can't seem to finish your first draft. Not so great if you have finished your novel and are just stuck editing a couple of paragraphs. Troubleshooting those paragraphs may take a while but I promise it is less work than rewriting the entire novel in a different POV. Besides, different stories work best in different POVs.

It doesn't have to be perfect. Yeah, uhhh, again, ever heard of the editing stage? Like okay, there are such things as impossible standards, but identifying a problem and trying to fix it is like, a normal part of writing...

Don't ever delete your writing. How else am I supposed to make cuts and edits??? I promise, my first draft (where I deleted nothing) is an untouched file saved in three different places and when I make edits I copy and paste sections into a new document. It's not gone forever. But be realistic. Most of that word vomit is not going to make it into the final manuscript. Believe it or not you do have to kill a few darlings in order for a book to be its best self.

Just write the dialogue. So uhhh... all the dialogue is already written. That's what a first draft is for. Maybe good advice for rewrites but uhhh... there does come a point when you have to write the rest of it.

And yeah...

Sometimes the only way out is through. Sometimes problem solving requires beating life into a dead horse. Sometimes inspiration isn't enough. Sometimes its not just okay but necessary to admit something isn't perfect and that it needs fixing. Sometimes its okay to struggle and be frustrated and that doesn't mean you should take a break. Sometimes there isn't a quick hack, change one thing, that will fix the problem. Sometimes writing is hard and there is no way around it. Takes breaks when you are tired yes, but if you're stuck for too long, I'm sorry but at some point you're going to have to face the problem and get yourself unstuck. You can't keep waiting for the problem to fix itself. It's not going to be fun though.

[ghoulangerlee]

this has been in my drafts for a while tbh, I thought of it one day, scribbled the idea out and then never committed to it.

So, I challenged myself to write this out in the 30 mins I have before bedtime (I seem to have went over by a few oops)

Copiaether cockwarming ahead <3, a bit contemplative, soft and full of love. The book Aether's reading is House on The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune :) hope you guys enjoy!

-

Time around him goes syrupy and sweet, slow like molasses the longer he kneels there, mouth stretched around where Aether’s somewhere between hard and soft.

He'd been told before, however long that was, to kneel and be good, open his mouth and let the thick head of Aether’s cock rest against his tongue.

No sucking, just resting, keeping him warm and wet while Aether reads—and he is reading, from a novel that Aether had been picking his way through.

The words don’t mean much to Copia, not like this, not when he’s surrounded by the scent of Aether where it’s the thickest—kneeling here between his spread legs, mouth full, content—

Oh. He shifts, there’s a sharp pain in his knees despite the soft pillow he’s resting on, he shifts again, makes a sort of garbled, grumbling sound in his throat, vibrates down his chest as he opens his eyes, disgruntled at the way his body had so easily pulled him from that floaty place of contentment.

He taps, once and then twice more against Aether’s bare calf, gaze trained upwards as Aether stops reading and lowers the book, cataloguing his expression despite everything.

“Do you need something, darling?” Aether asks, pitching his voice low, just as he had been reading, placing the book face down over the arm that he's closest to.

Copia doesn’t speak, doesn’t pull away until Aether’s hands gently guide him up and away, his mouth open still as he mourns the loss of the fullness, but Aether shushes him, rubs a thumb over his lower lip where its shiny and slick with spit, “Use your words,” he chides gently, stern in a way that makes Copia want to obey.

“My knees,” he finally says, hating the way his voice goes wobbly, something about being here for Aether, kneeling at his feet while Aether practically ignores him makes him feel in ways he didn’t think was possible. “Can we change positions?”

Aether smiles, spreads his legs wider and leans down to kiss at Copia’s slack lips, warm and encouraging, “Come up here on the couch, darling.”

It takes him a few minutes to comply, his knees twinging painfully as he stands, but Aether’s hands are cool as they slip under his T-shirt, gently funneling magic into him, letting it wash over his stiff joints to soothe as he guides him up onto the couch.

Copia sighs as he stretches out, lies on his belly so he can nuzzle his way back into Aether’s lap, making a contemplative noise—Aether’s thickened up a bit in the meantime, and he peers up at him, blinking slowly, “Can I—?”

Aether cards his fingers through Copia’s hair, gentle and light, “Is that what you want?” he asks softly, thumb brushing over the graying hair at his temples, “We can shift to something else. Take this to the bed…” he trails off, glances over at the bedroom door, opened to reveal the rumpled sheets of Aether’s bed.

“No,” Copia says, the word catching in his throat as he shifts on the couch more, it’s located in the perfect spot, a grand window overlooking the forest at the back of the church, the sunlight coming through the crack between the curtains bathing the couch and the two of them in warm light.

“I want to stay,” Copia continues, “Right here. For a bit longer. Finish your chapter,” he glances and the book on the arm of the couch, the colorful cover bringing a sense of calm over him, “Maybe two more chapters. And then...” he trails off, uncertain.

So unlike the persona he puts on when on stage, Papa Emeritus the Fourth, so larger than life, yet here he is, feeling as if he’s suggested something terrible for the two of them, even when—

“Two more chapters, huh?” Aether asks, cutting his thoughts off, “I think I can do that. I am enjoying the book,” he admits, “And the company.”

Copia hides his face against Aether’s bare thigh, the dusting of hair there tickling against his skin, he’s flushed, embarrassed, knowing how fast he's slipping if a sly comment and a wink causes him to act like this.

“Can I—?” Copia manages, muffled against Aether’s thigh for a moment, before he lifts his head, peers up at him with half lidded eyes, “I want to keep you warm again, my ghoul, while you’re reading.”

Aether’s hand slips down from his hair, thumb brushing over his cheek, then to his bottom lip, guiding his mouth open, “Mm, I think you’ve earned it,” he says sweetly, “Do you remember my rules?”

Copia nods, trying not to look too eager at the idea of getting his mouth back on Aether, “No sucking, no licking, I’m just keeping you warm.”

“Good boy,” Aether says warmly, leaning down to press a kiss to Copia’s forehead, nuzzling at his hairline for a moment, “Two more chapters and then we’ll move to the bedroom,” he murmurs.

A noise, something excited, slips from Copia’s mouth as he lets Aether guide him back to where his cock has chubbed up, thick and resting there between his legs, fitting his mouth over the girth of it feels like home.

Or maybe it’s just being with Aether that feels like home, and Copia settles into it, rests one arm over Aether’s thighs while the other one curls under his chest, comfortable and warm now that he’s not kneeling on the floor.

Aether pets through his hair a few times, murmuring a soft Good boy before he’s picking up his book again, sinking back against the couch as he starts reading aloud from it again.

The whole time, Copia drifts—warm and comfortable as time goes syrupy thick again, his eyes fluttering closed as he feels his entire body relax once more. His mouth stretched around Aether—chubby and thick in his mouth, making his jaw ache just a little with it, while Aether reads above him, voice warm and low, welcoming.

“A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with."

[fatehbaz]

Woah. Not exaggerating: The very same week you tagged me here, I was submitting a final draft paper about spectacle and British use of animal imagery and caricatures of South Asian resistance, especially on stages and in "ethnographic" exhibitions. Part of this involved the weaponization of spectacle, media, and public display. And part of this involved British imagination of "exotic" animals. And the article shown here kinda invokes both of those subjects.

That afternoon, I had been reading through a 2012 article with new-to-me info about the staging of theatre-esque mass trials/executions of Thugee by British administrators 1820s-1850s. (More on that below.)

In the pictured article/link shown here, similarly, Shanahan describes fig trees and mass hangings of Indian rebels. He lists about a dozen instances of when British authorities used fig trees to perform quasi-ritualized mass executions between 1806 and 1871.

Among them, he notes two in particular:

1857, hanging 144 rebels from a single tree in Nanaro Park at Kanpur (Shanahan cites a T!mes of !nd!a article, which itself cites a history department professor at Christ Church College)

March 1860, hanging 257 rebels from a single tree in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, in retaliation for their revolt in May/June 1857, when rallying under Khan Bahadur Khan (Shanahan again cites T!mes of !nd!a, who cite an ancient history and culture professor at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University)

---

The same afternoon you tagged me, I was straight-up reading:

Maire ni Fhlathuin, "Staging Criminality and Colonial Authority: The Execution of Thug Criminals in British India." Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Volume 37, Issue 1, October 2012.

She "examines the staging and response to the public executions of thugs, focusing on the British authorities' 'scripting' of the execution ritual (as documented in East India Company records and the writings of the officials involved) to include [...] the crowd's appreciation of the eradication of that criminality."

---

British animalization and/or dehumanization in depictions of South Asia, what they both call "interspecies/multispecies empire," more directly explored by Rohan Deb Roy (insects/bugs in India) and Jonathan Saha (elephants/cattle in Burma). But another thing I had been referencing in my own little paper was British fixation on re-enacting the defeat of Indian rebels, which you might especially notice in stage plays about Tipu Sultan (the "Tiger of Mysore" beaten by "the British bulldog," defeated in 1799, who became the central villain/character of multiple spectacular and popular plays in London from 1790s-1830s, to such an extent that British schoolchildren decades later would still understand references to villianous "Tipu"; and historian Daniel O'Quinn, who's written much about British popular discourses about crises in the Age of Revolutions, called the plays comparable to "precinema"; after his defeat, the East India Company could secure sandalwood resources and perform sweeping cartographic surveys for land/revenue administration). Probably worth noting nineteenth-century Britain played host to the explosion of newly-affordable mass-market print media of all kinds; recalcitrant South Asian rebels show up in stage, sportsmen's magazines, travel literature genre, novels, etc.

On the subject of weaponizing newly-emergent media, the author linked/pictured here (Shanahan) too, also lists in his bibliography:

Sean Willcock. "Aesthetic Bodies: Posing on Sites of Violence in India, 1857-1900." History of Photography, Volume 39 (2015), Issue 2, pages 142-159.

Abstract includes: "This article looks at how aesthetic concerns inflected the dynamic of imperial relations during the 1857 Indian Uprising and its aftermath. The invention of photography inaugurated a period in which aesthetic imperatives increasingly came to structure the engagement of colonial bodies with the traumas of warfare in British India. The formal conventions of image-making practices were not consigned to a discreet virtual sphere; they were channelled into the contested terrains of the subcontinent through the poses that figures were striking for the camera. I trace how one pictorial convention - picturesque staffage - had the capacity to engender politically and psychologically disruptive tableaus on the contested terrains of empire, as colonial photographers arranged for Indian figures to pose on landscapes that were marked by disturbing wartime violence."

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And finally, another of his citations includes:

Kim A Wagner. "'Calculated to Strike Terror': The Amritsar Massacre and the Spectacle of Colonial Violence." Past & Present, Volume 233, Issue 1, November 2016, pages 185-225.

And in her article, Wagner describes:

"Closely following the ritual model provided by judiciary practices in the imperial homeland, the British in India nevertheless favoured hanging [...] Controlling the symbolism of public executions, however, proved increasingly difficult within a colonial context, and the hanging of hundreds of highway robbers known as Thugs during the 1830s had fully exposed the porous nature of colonial rituals of power. The Thugs signally failed to conform [...]. [T]hey [...] climbed the scaffold and [...] tightened the noose around their own neck and then simply stepped off the platform [...]. As regiment after regiment broke out in mutiny across northern India during the summer of 1857, [...] the colonial state thus unleashed its entire arsenal of exemplary violence. [...] [A]nd it was in that context that the first mass execution of forty sepoys by cannon had been ordered in Peshawar on 13 June 1857 [...]. This was only the first of many such mass executions [...]. A contemporary British newspaper report elaborated on the cultural specificity of the ritual enacted in Peshawar: You must know that this is nearly the only form in which death has any terrors for a native … he knows that his body will be blown into a thousand pieces, and that it will be altogether impossible for his relatives, however devoted to him, to be sure of picking up all the fragments of his own particular body [...]. Execution by cannon could thus be presented as both justified and civilized or, as Lord Roberts put it, ‘Awe inspiring, certainly, but probably the most humane, as being a sure and instantaneous mode of execution’. [...] In the House of Commons, Lord Stanley expressed this sentiment in no uncertain terms: ‘Only by great exertions - by the employment of force, by making striking examples, and inspiring terror, could Sir J. Lawrence save the Punjab; and if the Punjab had been lost the whole of India would for the time have been lost with it’.

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I do kinda wonder if, sometimes, contemporary people, today, might think: "Well, maybe we're unfairly retroactively ascribing motivations of malice to nineteenth-century imperial administrators. And even if they were sometimes spiteful or horrifically violent to that extent, surely they probably exercised discretion; they couldn't have been too explicit." But then you read about them performing executions by shooting cannonballs at groups of people. Or you read the words of major popular, industrial, or political figures casually describing this kind of thing when speaking directly to the public, the newspapers, or the House of Commons (you can read plenty more scary, explicit comments like this from other officials and administrators in all kinds of institutions).

As Shanahan describes here in "Trees of life that became agents of death," British administrators (and media in the metropole, too) whether deliberately or otherwise, manipulated or employed animals and plants in the popular conciousness; whole bunch of writing elsewhere about British fixation on "man-eating" tigers, lions, crocodiles, mosquitoes, flies, etc., and appropriating creatures (like appropriating fig trees in Shanahan's reading). Or idealization of the same and other creatures, like celebrating rubber, sugarcane, elephants, etc. Dovetails with long history of picturing and/or harnessing "tropical nature" in US, British, and European imaginaries.