#screamin' into the void

[frozenbluecookies]

So the Dracula Daily debate of the day (or the debate of yesterday I guess, i'm a little late): Did Bram Stoker mis-label the date on Lucy's August 30th letter, or is Lucy lying about everything?

My opinion: it's Bramothy's fault, but it wasn't the date he got wrong, exactly.

Explanation under the cut.

I think both theories have merit but also have problems. The "Lucy is lying about all of it" reading checks out in that Lucy has been shown before to put up a façade in order to not make others worry. The most concrete example is with her mother, when Lucy asks Mina to keep the truth of the sleepwalking mishaps from her, but there are also hints of that tendency to put others before herself earlier on, when she writes about rejecting Jack and Quincey and how she felt about it. So do I think she would lie because she doesn't want to make Mina worry/doesn't want to take Mina's focus off Jonathan? Yes, I think she would.

The problem here, though, is that I can't see a reason to lie about still being in Whitby. There's nothing worrying about being in London (as far as Lucy knows, at least). Mina knew Lucy was due to go back to London soon; she asked Lucy to take some of her luggage back. So why lie about it? And, on top of that, the letter is postmarked from Whitby, meaning it had to have been sent from there, unless Lucy has the means to fake a postmark (and that seems like an unnecessary amount of effort even if she could).

Ol' Bram getting the date wrong fixes that though, right? The letter actually was supposed to be sent earlier, while Lucy was still in Whitby, and was feeling better because Dracula had moved to London already. Simple explanation! Except. Except. That would mean that more things are mis-dated. Mina's letter informing Lucy of her marriage was sent on the 24th of August. Lucy's first diary entry, the diary entry in which she has already returned to London, is that same day. If Lucy's letter is mis-dated, that means that either Mina's letter or Lucy's first two diary entries are also mis-dated. And if Lucy's diary entries are mis-dated, then either today's letter from Arthur is also mis-dated or her second decline happens shockingly quickly. In short, it's a slight mess.

So, what I think. I think Bramilton did get his timelines mixed up, but the date on the letter is correct. It is supposed to be an August 30th letter. The timing of both Mina's wedding letter and Lucy's reply to it make sense that way. He just made a mistake about where Lucy was supposed to be on the 30th.

I think he did the thing that writers often do where you write some parts before others, out of order, and then later on you fit them together. Specifically, I think he wrote Mina and Lucy's letters together, but separately from the diary entries and such that are dated around them. And when it came time to piece everything together he missed the fact that the pieces he'd made didn't match up; that he'd written a letter from Whitby at a point in the timeline where Lucy is already in London. I've not read Dracula in its original format, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that the content from these last few days is not presented side-by-side, making the discrepancy easier to miss.

In conclusion, this is why you plan out your timeline before you write, kids. Particularly if your novel is epistolary.

Unnecessary addendum: if I were making an adaptation and trying to figure out what to do with this entry, I'd keep it dated August 30th, but have Lucy write about spending happy times with Arthur in London. She'd be lying, of course, to keep Mina from worrying, because I do think that's in character for her in this situation. That way you get to keep the the rest of the canon timeline intact, and you get to keep the juxtaposition of Lucy's second decline happening at exactly the same time as Jonno and Mina's reunion and wedding, Dracula's previous victim beginning to heal while his newest falls back into his clutches.

[alatar-and-pallando]

Well, just got word that I'm getting laid off. Last day is two days before my birthday. One year of a low-stress, well-paid job with good benefits and now I'm right back to job searching.

Fuck!

[wildtornado-o]

Thinking about Forthing again. Sorry.

So like, he's said to have been abandoned by his parents as a child at the docks, which is how he became an aviator, and then he mentions his sister's existence. So I'm wondering what their whole situation is... were they abandoned together or did they just keep in touch somehow?

(I WOULD ALSO Like more details on his relationship with his son. and like. the whole deal with his wife so bad)

[outguilt]

i need to write my lil dude more

[srtrlites]

*  open starter  :  capping at 5 ! (@2000sfmextras) *  location : inside a major hollywood's studio, around 2am

                            long hours at the studio is something the actress is used to , after all , being in the business since before she could walk made her kind of immune to it . but alas , night after night , dance rehersal after dance rehersal , all the disney star wants at this hour ( before another take of the rendition of the what i've been looking for takes place ) is to enjoy her burrito outside in peace . just as she takes the first bite & releases a satrisfying hum is when the back door of the studio open , startling the blonde so much she drops her delicious food on the ground . “ nooooo - “ she's aware kind of that she's being dramatic but the hours spent waiting for this moment .... “ my burrito !! “ as if the world's ending , she sighs .

[weirdisnowthenewcool]

There is something So fuckin compelling about chaos being heavenly and order being demonic. There is something so compelling about Markus burning up bits of his soul. The is something so compelling about how he balances chaos and order, there is something to the way the line goes down.

[thedndgoblinwholivesinyourwalls]

local oc lover dies. cause of death: thinking about alternative timelines and animatics they can never make

[sheepscoyote]

OK GOING OFF MY TAGS ON MY PREVIOUS REBLOG I FEEL LIKE comparing teacher w kiriona as constructs of the empire also plays a crucial role in the panning out. teacher is a character you’re supposed to empathize with in gtn but he’s relatively removed, he’s not The Main Character, when the atrocity what was done to him is revealed you’re like hm!! that’s deeply fucked up!!! the way you might go abt a news event happening in a country other than your own. like we the audience can recognize what’s been done to him is horrible but because we haven’t been inside his brain, seen his life beforehand, the empathy we have for him is only ever removed and relatively shallow. it’s still there, just not Personal.

when kiriona is revealed, kiriona as the emperors construct, it fucking Gets You. it’s like a slap in the face. it feels!!! SO wrong!! i had a legit sense of dysphoria reading her first couple of chapters!!! and what’s happened to her is essentially the same type of thing as what happened to teacher, they’ve both had their bodies and souls violated and warped into things that benefit the empire, they’ve been dehumanized by its hands. BUT NOW because it’s happening to gideon, one of our main girls, WE fully experience it alongside with her. that empathetic link with the audience is there- we KNOW gideon, she was our introduction to this world, we have spent books enmeshed in her perspective and have come to care about her. we can recognize the distortion and corruption kiriona is of her. we experience the full blunt of how empire fucks you up and dehumanizes you, up close and personal, and oh boy, does it fucking hurt.

[confusedbeannn]

I feel like i am stuck in this corporal form with all these humans and their pettiness and attachment to material objects

[whore0fbabylonn]

I'm fully done with putting effort into one sided relationships and being used. Idc if I end up with no friends at all. Anything beats being shown how little I matter when I've literally given my last to them when they have needed help.

[minnarr]

wait are the brothers who serve huo buyi actually liangqiu qi & liangqiu fei? people keep calling one or both of them 梁邱小将军 (general liangqiu).

[tiphares]

lemon cherry gelato preroll 10x.35

[andyridgeley]

completely convinced that timothy olyphant yelling SEE YA BONER at ben schwartz in this is where i leave you was improv

[necrofae]

its been buggin me that i dont have my art on a seperate artblog so im fixin that!!!

ill be postin it all here now <33 

>> @necrofaery >> @necrofaery >> @necrofaery    ​

[your-neighbours-cat]

[eccentricmoonlight]

I can’t find it anymore but there was a post about how everyone in ensquare is in the most insane polycule ever so I MADE A WEB of (almost) all of my ships as one heinous polycule and I’m torn between posting it (for the funnies) and not posting it (I don’t want people gettin mad about ships included or not included or whatever and also I feel like I’d be stealing this person who I cannot find’s idea)