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your--isgayrights · 2 years

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hi its me your stalker. I saw your post about lsk and how her sponsor relates to her meta narrative role, can you elaborate? thank you as always

Hi bestie it took me a sec to get back to you and this is kind of just a big text block of my feelings about this so feel free to ask a follow up if it doesn't make sense

Ok so part of what I was talking about was that where omniscient reader is Kim Dokja's story, his mother and the stories associated with her represent the parents/ancestors/family of ORV, the literary works that SS were building on in making their own novel. Samguk yusa in particular is one of the oldest extant korean literary works, like if you ever take a Korean literature history class or smthn that's where you start lmao. So like, in relation to Kim Dokja as a reader LSK represents the influence of the classics that follow a lot of like the unspoken rules of literature vs YJH/HSY representing webnovels that are like not necessarily good or time tested but have an arresting passion and appeal KDJ is swayed by. Then this is also important bc in particular the story of the mother bear LSK is represented by is one that is /about/ following the rules of a narrative and being rewarded for it in the end. The bear and the tiger want to become human, the king of heaven gives them instructions, the bear follows the rules, bear gets to be human, marries king of heaven, and births the first king of Korea. So then in relation to the narrative of ORV, LSK has always been this influence of narrative destiny/inevitability in face of reality... When we see KDJ giving up on the things he wants and dismissing his hopes and dreams as impossible, it's coming directly from the way LSK has influenced him in writing her own narratives about their lives. "The only way for you to be safe is if I take the fall," the consequences have to fall somewhere, there's no ideal world where mother and son live happily ever after w/ no consequence for killing the father, there's no world where both the bear who followed the will of heaven and the tiger who did not get to be human, there's no world where Kim Dokja can reshape the very fabric of the universe to suit his ideals and go home to eat pizza afterward. The niggling thought we all had in the back of our minds when the most ancient dream was "defeated"... That can't be it, can it? It can't just be over like that... How could it be just that easy, in the end? It doesn't make sense... << That's what LSK represents, the sense of narrative that demands happiness be earned, sacrifices be made, anything else is unrealistic, it's not how the world really works, who wants to read that?

This is the real final boss of omniscient reader's viewpoint: the escape from narrative. The entire epilogue is concerned with this question, what ending does this story deserve? Kdjco have to fight KDJ's sense of narrative destiny to tell him it doesn't matter to them what the most artful or narratively complete ending he can come up with is, just that they want to fucking see their friend again. It's the feeling at the end of any tragedy where the reader wonders if the hero could have been saved. It's also the counterpoint to the question between the classics and commercial webnovel literary cultures. Does it have to be artful and poetic? Can't they all just be happy, in the end? Between "the ending is too sad" and "the ending is too unrealistic," ORV prioritizes the desires of the characters and the readers who really connected to them by giving Kim Dokja the ending they wanted.

TLDR; So whereas LSK consistently sacrifices herself or gives up on trying to make things better, consistently trapping herself in certain roles, KDJ is able to recognize what the original narrative of TWSA would make a binary decision and take a third path. this both represents her influence on KDJ as a character and the influence of unspoken rules about what makes a story "good literature" on the narrative of ORV, but that ultimately you have to follow love/influence on or emotions of real people instead of rules that seem set in stone.

#anonymous #ask #orv spoilers

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classicmarvelera · 1 year

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The Most Epic Avengers/X-Men Story in 60 years

It’s hard to say which is the greatest Avengers story in the last 60 years. The same goes for X-Men

Both teams came into existence on July 2nd, 1963 thanks to Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Both redefined the concept of a superhero team in the most Marvel way possible, and both have led to the creation of many new characters as well as comic book titles

And yet, if we have to choose a story that involves both teams that was published at a time when both were dominating the headlines in the comic book industry, only one epic stands out from the rest

But before we reveal our verdict, here’re some notable mentions in which Avengers & X-Men (core teams) crossed paths with each other:

Uncanny X-Men no. 9 (1964)

Uncanny X-Men no. 45/Avengers no. 53 (1968)

Secret Wars (1984)

Uncanny X-Men no. 190-191 (1985)

X-Men vs The Avengers (1987 Limited Series)

X-Men/Avengers Bloodties (1993, 30th Anniversary Crossover)

X-Men/Marvel Universe: Onslaught (1996)

X-Men vs The Avengers (2012)

The Verdict

In 2005, rising star Brian Michael Bendis after shaking much of the Marvel Universe with his Avengers: Disassembled and Secret War stories gave the readers an epic: House of M

The X-Men were riding high from Grant Morrison’s run while the Avengers were coming off the most shocking event in their history with some of their members being killed off for good by an out-of-control Scarlet Witch

This is a story that broke heroes from within. This is a story that shocked the comic book community to the core. There were no Magneto’s Acolytes involved, nor there was Doctor Doom or the Beyonder as the main antagonist(s). While the title had implied Magneto through the use and emphasis on the letter ‘M’, the reality as it unfolded by issue no. 8 was completely mind-blowing for it involved two of the oldest Avengers that were the cause of this ordeal

While Wanda’s madness has been explored before, this story took it to a whole new level. It changed the Marvel Universe (really) and it wounded our favorite heroes deeply, adding to their existing emotional traumas in the most unexpected ways possible

It is a story where pleasant dreams shroud the heartbreaking realities of our superheroes until they break free from Wanda’s hex/hypnosis

Get these Essential Reads

#House of M #Brian Michael Bendis #Olivier Coipel #Marvel Comics #Avengers #X-Men #Avengers 60th Anniversary #X-Men 60th Anniversary

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ettellessa · 2 years

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Little Women VS Virgin Suicides

Someone said that Virgin Suicides is Little Women for the mentally ill and I was like haha sure, BUT it kinda is???? Reading Little Women and Virgin Suicides side by side can be extremely illustrative.

First, let us compare all the sisters. Note: I am not taking Cecilia into consideration because her caharcater is mostly a catalyst for the events.

Therese Lisbon and Jo March

Jo is the second eldest of the March sisters. She is very vocal about doing all the hard work, protecting the family, following her father to the war and playing with boys better than girls. Her main interest is creative literature and she's constantly scolded by her sisters for never taking care of her appearance.

Therese is the oldest os the Lisbon sisters. We are told that she is mostly interested in science, going on camps and reading many magazines on the matter. About her physique, the narrators make it clear that she is the less attractive, with a broad face and lack of confidence: we are told she doesn't to look at herself in the mirror and she wears caps and does the hard work with her father.

Both Jo and Therese have "manly" interests (considered so at their respective contexts) and do the hard work, they do not nurture their physical appearance and could be considered the "unfeminine sister".

Meg March and Mary Lisbon

Meg March is the eldest of the March Girls, she is described as the most beautiful and effortlessly feminine of them. She is the perfect young lady, the perfect wife and the perfect mother. However, she longs for luxury and admiration, to the point of being miserable and careless with her expenses at times.

Mary is the second eldest sister of the Lisbon. She is very interested in her physicial appearance, she hides makeup in the bathroom and matches her scarf and bracelets with the color of her lipstick. Mary makes polite conversation with boy as if she were a socialite. We never learn her dreams, but they are definitively oriented to these matters, since the girl cares about her presentation and manners until the very last second of her life and through her entire depression.

Both girls are the pretty sister, the feminine one, the perfect wife in waiting. Both want to be beautiful and admired for their qualities.

Beth March and Bonnie Lisbon

Bonnie and Beth are the third sister in their families. They are very spiritual, timid and interested in music.

Beth's favorite activity is playing the piano, she avoids all sorts of social interaction and prefers to be with her family.

Bonnie doesn't like extreme experiences, she tries with multiple instruments and is frightened of other people. Her interests are mostly religious and pious, she prays and tends to altars as a way to cope with Cecilia's death.

Amy March and Lux Lisbon

As opposed with the extremely similar girls previously compared, Lux and Amy aren't so obvious with their similarities.

Amy March is the last daughter of the family, she is absolutely devoted to her goals, which are becoming an artist and marrying a rich man. Given the time and context of the book, her character has been perceived as the "evil sister" for many generations until the 2019 film by Greta Gerwig. Being ambitious and brutally honest was not exactly what people wanted in a "good girl" at the time. Plus, she marries the guy every reader thought was meant to be Jo's.

Lux us the youngest sister after Cecilia dies. Just like Amy, she's been perceived as the bad seed of the family because of her sexuality. She is the sister who smokes, who touches men, who has sex on the roof of the house. As well, she has artistic interests, especially in modern music and dancing. Lux is remarkably forward with her intentions and goals, she surprises the men she has sex with with her "singleness of purpose", just like she puts all her abilities in distracting the boys so that her sisters can die in peace and later be found.

It is interesting how both Amy and Lux are so fiece with their determination that, despite being the youngest, they both end up leading the way for the other sisters. Lux guides and guards the suicide, the act of liberation for the Lisbon girls. Amy impulses each of her sisters (and Laurie) to follow their dreams and confront their problems, all the whole securing the economical situation of the impoverished family.

Theodore (Laurie) Laurence and Trip Fontaine

DO NOT CRUCIFY ME. THIS IS AS MALE FIGURES FOR THE GIRLS.

I'm gonna say it, Laurie and Trip are not the same at all, but they are very similar in their character traits, if not in their development.

Laurie is the closest male friend to the March Sisters, he is mischievous and playful. He's Jo's best friend and lately he becomes infatuated with her. He has a long streak of being a playboy, despite his feelings for Jo. At the end of his journey, he matures and falls in love with Amy.

Trip Fontaine is also and playboy, yet a gentleman until proven different. He never speaks about his affairs, yet none of these is serious, until he falls for Lux. Yet, despite this infatuation, in the end he proves incapable of dealing with her emotions and leaves her, even when he lives the rest of his life obsessed with her.

Trip and Laurie are playboys who fall for a sister and pursue her relentlessly, but they are different in their growith: while Trip abandons Lux but never forgets her, Laurie realizes the nature of his childish infatuation with Jo and grows as man who falls for a woman, Amy.

Little Women gives us four girls growing into adulthood with some trouble here and there, under the care of loving parents, an open and comprehensive mother and the constant company of good friends.

Virgin Suicides is the opposite. We follow five (actually four) girls growing up in an isolated family under the hegemony of their overprotective and cold mother, their bland passive father and the absolute indifference of their neighbors and classmates.

It is heartbreaking to make this comparison, because we can see that the Lisbon sisters could've developed just as happily as the March sisters, but they —like many children— were victims of their terrible parents and indifferent community.

THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK xd

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embervoices · 1 year

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20 Questions for Fic Writers

Acquired from @cuubism

If you see this and are a writer on AO3, consider yourself tagged!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

400,433

3. What fandoms do you write for?

That are posted to AO3? Dragon Age and Good Omens, so far. I do have WiPs in The Sandman (one of which is a Neverwhere crossover), and Labyrinth.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Canticle of Dreams (Dragon Age, M - By far the longest, so that makes sense)

I Meant To Do That! - The Inquisitor Coyote Story (Dragon Age, T [so far] - Will probably end up the most kudos if I ever finish it)

Initial Summoning (Good Omens, G - My oldest GO fic, first in a series)

Cheese! (Dragon Age, G - A silly fic from my self-insert series)

To Give A Hand To Each (Good Omens, E - Reader-insert smut!)

(Those all require logins to read, sorry.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I try to reply to every single comment, but occasionally miss one. It seems only fair, if they took the time to leave one.

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

Well, The Canticle of Trials (Dragon Age, M), but that's because it doesn't really end at the end. It's an angsty detour in the middle of a larger story.

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

Probably Objects of Affection (Good Omens, T).

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thus far, no. The worst I ever got was expressed as aghast confusion rather than hate, and I don't assume it was intended negatively.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Occasionally. Whatever comes to mind, as long as I can figure out how to do it justice.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I do, yeah. The most thorough is the Sandman/Neverwhere I've got in early stages WiP right now.

Depending what one considers a "crossover" vs. "reference", the craziest is probably Execution (Dragon Age, T) which is officially set in Dragon Age, but careens through multiple Legend of Zelda, Disneyland, Neverwhere, and Labyrinth settings.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. Most of it's self-insert, which probably makes it kind of hard to steal effectively. It's hard to imagine anyone bothering.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

If poetry counts, yes! В чужих объятьях is a translation of Falling Silent (Good Omens, G).

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

Yes, several times.

I Meant To Do That! - The Inquisitor Coyote Story (Dragon Age, T) is co-written with SeabhacMhor

The Canticle of Trials (Dragon Age, M) was written with help from Cowoline (I could have sworn she was credited as co-author but apparently not… I should ask if she wants to be!)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I'm an Armada type. I want all the ships. By all means, give me the ridiculously complex giant crossover polycule, baby!

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

Anything current enough for me to count it as a WiP is something I choose to believe I can finish someday!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Probably silly comedy? I think I'm pretty good at dialogue?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not actually very good at story structure. Luckily, in fanfic I can rest on the established story structure! Ha!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I can't really distinguish character voice in other languages in writing, so I'm wary of it. I do know a bit of Spanish, so if it doesn't need to be skillful, like, if the characters themselves aren't fluent, I could try it myself, sure.

Otherwise, I'd want a co-writer who is fluent in the relevant language.

If it's a conlang, then I'll happily engage, and have in bits for Elvhen in Dragon Age fic. But I'm less worried I'll get that wrong, because nobody else speaks it either!

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Uhhh… technically I think Disney's Beauty and the Beast? Didn't really think about it that way at the time, and the results weren't great. I wrote one Buffy the Vampire Slayer fix it fic in my late teens/early 20s, plus a little bit of a couple others that never got off the ground.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

It's kind of hard to top my 200k+ word "main fic", The Canticle of Dreams (Dragon Age, M). At least, that's what I'm most proud of.

#questions meme #interview meme #questions for writers #fanfic writing #fanfic writers #ao3

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farfrombrooklyn · 4 months

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Reader's Log, April 2024

April was a chaotic month for me, as my wife and I packed up our belongings and moved to California. I ended up driving, transporting house plants and an oversized dog in the way-back of our old Honda CR-V.

Bob Dylan in America by Sean Wilentz (audiobook)

As the dog and I worked our way across Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, we listened to a collection of essays about Bob Dylan by Sean Wilentz, a Princeton professor but also, tongue-in-cheekily, the "historian in residence" of the Bob Dylan website. Wilentz is a passionate long-time fan of Dylan's, and much of the writing struck me as a bit too passionately fan-ish, but when he mainly wears his historian's, rather than his fan's, headgear, he comes up with some fascinating stuff.

In particular, I enjoyed his long, winding investigation of the roots of the song "Delia," one of the oldest blues songs, which as it happens (and I had never known this, even though I have played my own version of "Delia" on the guitar since I was a teenager in the late 1970s) was based on actual events -- the murder of a woman named Delia Green in 1900. In fact, Delia was just a 14-year-old girl, killed by a child barely a year older, a 15-year-old named Mose Houston, who is referred to as Curtis in the song, at least in Dylan's version. The lyrics draw on actual dialog from the case, including the murderer's insouciant expectation that he would not be jailed, but merely fined, to which the judge replied, "Poor boy, you got ninety-nine." And the most affecting line of the song actually echoes the historical record as well:

Delia, my Delia, how could it be You loved all them rounders but you never did love me.

"Bob Dylan in America" is only the third audiobook I've ever managed to listen to start-to-finish. In fact, I tried and failed to listen to several others on the cross-country trip, including "William Blake vs. the World," "Hitch-22," and Tommy Orange's new novel, "Wandering Stars." Nothing against any of those books, I just wasn't able to enjoy the audiobook experience for some reason. (With the Christopher Hitchens book, the author's lovely reading voice, rumbly on the bottom and crisp on the top, just didn't render clearly on my car's crap stereo, and I couldn't understand a thing he was saying.)

Anyway, before the long car trip, the only two audiobooks I ever listened to in full were Barack Obama's "Dreams of My Father" and Werner Herzog's "Every Man for Himself and God Against All." Like the Wilentz book, these were narrated by their authors. Somehow I find it much more compelling to hear an author reading his/her work, rather than listening to plummy-voiced actors narrating other people's stories. Unlike Obama and Herzog, Wilentz doesn't have a particularly interesting voice but it's a familiar one -- a tad nasal, a tad twangy, as might be expected of a guy who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s.

Regarding those Brooklyn roots, it was weirdly jarring to learn, in the first moments of listening to Wilentz read, that he had grown up in the same Brooklyn neighborhood as me, albeit maybe eight or ten years before I did. Personal info like that (his father ran a record store in Greenwich Village and was tied into the whole Village folk scene of the early 1960s) made the telling much richer, and gave me the patience to get through some of the longer, slavishly positive essays about certain Dylan performances and albums that probably don't warrant quite so much attention. (Wilentz has far more patience for late Dylan work than I do, and there's no small amount of material in the book about later albums like "Love and Theft," and Dylan's controversial gospel recordings, and even "Shadows in the Night," the ultra weird collection of covers of pop songs from the '40s and '50s, many of them made famous by Frank Sinatra.)

One of the nice things about listening to this particular book during a cross-country drive was that, after certain chapters, such as an overlong appreciation of a Dylan concert at New York's Philharmonic Hall in 1964, I could go back and listen to the album in question. So aside from that particular concert (interesting performance, I must say) I also listened to "Blonde on Blonde" for the umpteenth time, and "The Basement Tapes," which is probably my most favorite album ever, "Blood on the Tracks," which to my surprise felt like it hadn't aged well, and "World Gone Wrong," probably the most "recent" Dylan album that I liked, even despite the wreckage of his singing voice.

Having said all that, I'm not sure I would ever recommend this audiobook--unless you find yourself with a hell of a lot of time on your hands and lot of miles to drive. In that case, have at it!

Report on Myself by Gregoire Bouillier

After re-reading Gregoire Bouillier's wonderful "The Mystery Guest" in March, I got a hold of a copy of his only other book that has been published in English, "Report on Myself," a lesser and lesser-known work.

In tl;dr terms, "Report on Myself" is a fragmentary recollection of Bouillier's life, focusing mainly on his parents and older brother, but also on his various lovers.

Like "The Mystery Guest," "Report on Myself" purports to be factual, and I have no reason to think that it isn't a truthful retelling, but because so much of the life it describes is grotesque and even horrifying, you have to wonder, or even hope, that the author is embellishing the facts.

In any case, the book opens with a description of his parent's menage a trois in Algeria in the late 1950s, the result of which is the birth of the author himself. Bouillier is, his mother tells him, the son not of his father but of the third member of their menage, an Algerian, hence Bouillier's olive complexion. (We also get quick report on the quality of his father's penis, at least according to his mother.) Later on, Bouillier says, he was sexually abused by his older brother. Later still, Bouillier shared moment of grotesque intimacy with his own mother.

Suffice to say, this was a messed up family.

None of this is really shocking so much as just ick.

It's hard to believe this book is by the same guy that wrote "The Mystery Guest." That book, his second, was charming and funny. It focused itself on a tiny event, a party at which he, the author, was playing the role of "mystery guest" at an artist's birthday party. The narrator was believably aching from a broken heart and amusingly uncertain of himself as he steeled for his first encounter with his ex-girlfriend, years after she left him. And most importantly, the book was wonderfully written, with elegant curlicues of sentences that ran on and on as the narrator recalled the humiliation and pain of his heartbreak.

By contrast, "Report on Myself" is lumpy and hard to follow, jumping from year to year and even deep into the Bouillier family's past, with no apparent narrative through-line other than, well, it was the guy's life, so it all must be related somehow. The Gregoire Bouillier narrating "Report on Myself" is something of a cliched Frenchman, moody and churlish. At one point he slaps a girlfriend in the face, an act that probably wasn't terribly surprising at the time the book was written, but feels brutish today. There's no sense of humor here, none of the jokey self-awareness that makes "The Mystery Guest" such a pleasure to read.

Strangest of all, "Report on Myself" is poorly written. This may be a defect of the translation. (It was translated by Bruce Benderson; "The Mystery Guest" was translated by Lorin Stein.) I don't know, but I somehow doubt Mr. Benderson is to blame.

At the Bottom of the River by Jamaica Kincaid

I am not sure but I think I have never read Jamaica Kincaid until now. A collection of dreamy reveries of childhood, this was her first book and it's not really like anything I've ever read before, at least not anything that wasn't labeled poetry.

That's both a strength and a weakness of the book; the individual pieces, which I resist calling stories, generally lack narrative and character, and they feature rich, often repetitive language, so they resemble poems. But they are awfully long for poems, and because they tend to follow their own logic, they don't proceed, really, but flit about, like a moth on a hot night.

For the most part, the pieces express the feeling of a moment. In "In the Night," a child lies awake in bed, cataloging the sounds of the evening. The child's imagination then takes over, turning reality into fantasy: a bird-woman feeding on the blood of her enemies, a dead neighbor in a clean suit, having a glass of rum. It's wonderful, it's incantatory, it's swirling and unexpected. But it's also hard to say what it is, other than wonderful, incantatory, and swirling. I mean, that's great, but I somehow want something more. I suppose that's a defect in me, the reader, and not Kincaid, the writer. But after a few of these wonderful swirling creations I was impressed but also dizzy and disoriented.

I will read more of Kincaid, though.

Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector

I was so mystified and frustrated by the last Lispector I had read, ("Near to the Wild at Heart," blogged for January, 2024) that I decided to pick up another of her works and give it a go, but I can't say that I am any clearer on this writer and I certainly can't understand the rabid devotion she engenders in some of her readers.

As with the Kincaid, I guess it's just me!

Anyway, "Aqua Viva" is a sort of diary of an artist. Paragraphs mark individual entries. Some follow what preceded. Some don't.

As with "Near to the Wild at Heart," there is no shortage of abstract musing. For example, "The secret harmony of disharmony: I don't want something already made but something still being tortuously made."

For some reason, this reminded me of nothing more than Lloyd Dobler, the teenage hero of the movie "Say Anything," discussing his plans for the future:

I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.

Anyway, I remain mystified by the appeal of Lispector. I feel doltish, reading the blurbs calling her a remarkable writer, a hidden genius, an artist who belongs in the pantheon of Kafka and Joyce. WTH? I'm going to have to find a thoughtful essay on her to try to help me understand.

One thing I would say is that Lispector seems to pride herself on "improvisation," that is, she is trying to express herself in writing as if she were a jazz musician. One of the last lines in the book is: "This improvisation is." And early in the book she writes, "I know what I am doing here: I'm improvising. But what's wrong with that? improvising as in jazz they improvise music, jazz in fury improvising in front of the crowd."

This strikes me as a pretty weak understanding of what improvising is -- a romanticized notion that improvisation means just letting go, that chaotic blasts of words are somehow truer or realer for the fact that they burst forth essentially unbidden. But that's not what improvisation is about, not at all. (If it were, I would be Thelonious Monk or Django Reinhart.) Improvisation is ever so much more than simply letting go, "jazz in fury."

It's a small thing but it bugged me while I was trying to dig through "Agua Viva."

Maybe I will pick up Benjamin Moser's biography of Lispector. Maybe not. Life is short.

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thepaintedlady00 · 2 years

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Complete Chapter Index:

Chapter 1: The Man in the Glass Cage

Chapter 2: The Sandman and the Girl Without Dreams

Chapter 3: Feathers of Black, White and Red

Chapter 4: The Sound of Her Laughter

Chapter 5: To Promises Kept and Promises Broken

Chapter 6: Friends As Endless and Constantine As Mine

Chapter 7: Hell Has 1,825 Doors

Chapter 8: Later

Chapter 9: A Past As Beautiful and Destructive As Me

Chapter 10: Fates Tethered Threads

Chapter 11: Write My Name In Your Blood

Chapter 12: The Marquis and the Glass Cage

Chapter 13: The King of Nightmares

Chapter 14: A Kingdom of Fraying Threads

Chapter 15: Crossroads of Fate and Grace

Chapter 16: The Path Paved In Golden Flames

Chapter 17: Musings of the Past and Dreams of the Future

Cut POVs:

Dreams POV Sandy

Dreams POV An Unexpected Return

Penelope's POV Hiding at Cain & Abels

Dreams POV Confronting Destiny

Dreams POV The Reunion

Dreams POV The Dreaming

Dreams POV The Duel

Penelope's Adventures:

Penelope's Adventures: Meeting Johanna Constantine

The Dreaming Shenanigans:

Happy Holidays in The Dreaming

Lord Meowpheus: So Cute

Lord Meowpheus: So Sneaky

Lord Meowpheus: So Sassy

The Toad & The Butterfly Babysit

The King of Dreams vs Lyta Hall

Cain and Abel Drug the King

The Ball

Related Oneshots:

Oneshot Request: The Oldest Game

Oneshot Request/Suggestion: Dream vs Movie Night Labyrinth

Oneshot: The Happiest Place on Earth

Strictly Smut:

Soft Dream (First time)

Throne

Practice

Jealous Dream

1589 Dream (all past Dream looks will be featured)

Library

Lake

Satisfied

Fussing

Spotify Playlist: (courtesy of @marvelshtrash)

Penelope and Morpheus

Character Spotlight:

Pierre

Penelope (she can be a reader insert or an OC, whatever you'd prefer to see her as please do! 😊)

Actors I See as The Uncast Endless 🤷‍♀️

The Threads (Dream & Penelope)

The Threads (Matthew)

The Threads (Lucienne)

The Threads (Hob)

The Threads (Johanna)

The Threads (Destiny)

The Threads (Delirium)

The Threads (Death & Destruction)

The Threads (The White Coats)

The Threads (Desire & Despair)

The Threads (Pierre)

#the sandman series #dream imagine #dream sandman #dream smut #dream of the endless #dream of the endless imagine #dream of the endless x reader #dream the endless #morpheus imagine #sandman morpheus #sandman netflix #the sandman fanfic #masterlist #dream x oc #morpheus smut

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seelestia · 2 years

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「 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ; #genshinimpact! 」

⎯ “i see you're a fan of the local delights! you have good taste, they're our specialty and bestsellers. why not take a look around and pick something you fancy? i'll wrap it up nice and pretty for you! a good review (like & reblog) will be truly appreciated.”

archive count (all sections): 31. from the top, works are from oldest to newest!

last updated: apr 13, 2024.

indicators: [☆] = readers' choice (1,000+ notes / significant comments or feedbacks). [♡] = odelia's personal favorites.

─ ⊹ ⊱ ・・・・・・☆・・・・・・・⊰ ⊹ ─

✰ GENERAL. [count: 22]

[☆ + ♡] A TOKEN OF LOVE. (anemo) | xiao, venti, kazuha, aether

A TOKEN OF LOVE. (geo) | zhongli, albedo, gorou, itto

[☆] REDAMANCY IN YOUR GAZE. | xiao, venti, kazuha, heizou, zhongli, albedo, gorou, itto, scaramouche, ayato, childe, diluc, thoma, kaeya

[♡] KISS ME WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. | xiao, kazuha, zhongli, itto [requested]

A FOOL ALWAYS FALLS FIRST. | scaramouche, aether, zhongli, diluc [requested]

❝CAN YOU KISS ME?❞ | ayato, kazuha, childe, thoma (bloru's sweet 'n spice collab!)

[☆] FOR ALL PRIDE IS WORTH. | xiao, scaramouche [requested]

HEARTSWELL. | xiao, venti, kazuha, heizou [requested]

[☆ + ♡] IDIOSYNCRASY. | tighnari, alhaitham, cyno

[☆ + ♡] (DON'T) PUT YOUR HEAD ON MY SHOULDER. | tighnari, alhaitham, cyno

[☆] WELCOME HOME. | ayato, diluc, childe, albedo, alhaitham

[☆] A DAY TO REMEMBER. | xiao, venti, kazuha, heizou, zhongli, albedo, gorou, itto, scaramouche, ayato, childe, diluc, thoma, kaeya. [requested]

[☆ + ♡] WHILE THE RAIN POURS. | ayato, diluc, zhongli, kazuha, tighnari

[☆] BOYFIE, C'MERE! | tighnari, cyno, alhaitham, kaveh, scaramouche/wanderer

[♡ + ☆] I HATE YOU. (LIAR) | scaramouche / kunikuzushi / wanderer

HEART CATCHER! | ayato vs. thoma (elemental supercharge collab)

"OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE LITERALLY MY DREAM PERSON!" | wanderer, alhaitham, albedo, childe

OF EFFICIENCY & INTIMACY. | kaveh

HOLD STILL, PLEASE? | zhongli, alhaitham, xiao, wanderer, gorou, itto

[☆] TOKENS OF LOVE. | wanderer, heizou, tighnari, alhaitham, kaveh, cyno, ayato, childe, diluc, thoma, kaeya, dainsleif.

THOUGHTS OF SACCHARINE. | wanderer, kaveh, alhaitham, cyno, tighnari

[☆] HOW CAN YOU TELL? (OF HOW EASILY I FALL AT YOUR FEET.) | neuvillette, wriothesley, lyney

✰ SERIES COLLECTION. [count: 1]

「 ❝DO YOU LOVE ME?❞ | zhongli [ MINI SERIES, MULTI-ENDING ]

an story where you, a mortal and zhongli's love of the present, come to realize that you stand smaller compared to guizhong, a goddess and his love of the past.

✰ BITE-SIZED BUNDLES. [count: 5]

PERSEVERE. | ayato with a reader whose vision was taken away (0.4k words)

RECOVER. | mini sequel to persevere. (1.1k+ words)

MOON WATCHING. | kazuha. (300+ words)

(IM)PERFECT. | subject 2 / primordial albedo. (~1k words)

GENSHIN MEN AS BOOPERS.

─ ⊹ ⊱ ・・・・・・☆・・・・・・・⊰ ⊹ ─

another reminder — © all works are written by @seelestia on tumblr. DO NOT plagiarize, feed to any AI, translate, repost to any sites nor claim as yours. please have basic human decency.

#navigation! 📌

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bewires · 2 years

Note

22 and 26 for the fic asks, please. You've written a number of very good Joe/Nicky modern AUs, so these both seem like they must be part of your process on some level.

thank you so much! wow okay so you were right I had a lot more to say about these two questions than I thought please don't feel like you have to read the entire essay I wrote you here

22. What is it about watching the same two idiots falling in love over and over again?

it's the hyperfixation

(kidding but only sort of)

in a reading sense, I enjoy repetition a lot. It's comforting to me. At the same time, I don't often reread physical books these days because it always feels like I *should* be taking in new media. That's a pressure I don't put on myself with fanfic, so this is where I go with my desire to see the stories I want to see over and over and also to reread favorites over and over

in a writing sense, it's basically a prolonged love of character study for me. usually I start an AU with a basic concept of what the AU is and then sort of stumble across character notes I'm particularly interested in for that AU, like with "(let go of) the same dream" it was a combination of Nicky's redemption arc and the sort of "what if we were meant for each other but it was actually real" type thing; with the one I wrote recently called "have a little faith, there's magic in the night" it was different ways of processing love and attraction

of course there is comfort there in writing as well. I don't need to tell anyone else the last few years have been stressful; I hadn't written regularly for a long time beforehand. Around 2019 things started being stressful for me in terms of job and work stuff, so I went back to my oldest coping mechanism, fanfic. And then 2020 happened and I fully dove back in. It's not a surprise that I write a lot of fluffy modern AUs because that's what brings me joy to read

26. What would you describe as OOC?

this is pretty tricky imo because there are levels to OOC, you know? I'll try to exemplify

1) in the text vs. not in the text

by this I mean, is your metric for OOC-ness whether it appears in the written/visual text or not. For instance, I would say that it is in the text of TOG that Nicky views himself as having been in the wrong for his xenophobia when he met Joe ("the love of my life was of the people I had been taught to hate"). It's also in the text that Joe and Nicky killed each other, that Nicky is now motivated to do good, and that Joe has a more questioning, philosophical outlook on the moral quality of their work ("depends on the century")

IMO not in the text would be: Joe views his actions during his and Nicky's meeting as having been in the wrong, Nicky views every job the team takes as having been for the better. So to me it would read as OOC for Joe to feel guilty for how he treated Nicky in 1099 or to be equally at fault for the circumstances of their meeting. This then informs how I write them meeting in AUs; to me it is kind of OOC for any initial friction to be a misunderstanding or a mutual behavior (although this is something I have arrived at after a while, if you read my earlier fics I didn't write it this way)

2) reader/writer subjectivity

So you'll note that above, I kept saying "in my opinion" or "I would say" and this is because different readers read texts differently and different writers write texts differently and no one fully understands someone else's intent perfectly. And that's cool - the aspects of characterization that speak to me are a) changeable and b) individual, and that is true for everyone else as well. Someone else might have a different reading of the text than me, or be reading it with a different set of things they are interested in. For instance, I tend to not be drawn towards characterizing TOG characters as neurodivergent (excepting PTSD), which is a combination of me having that reading of the text and me having a background where I'm less sensitized to that topic than someone with more experience with it might be.

Obvsly someone else's reading of the characters as neurodivergent is awesome and often very founded in the text, it's just not something I would come up with or write, whereas other writers might easily see that subtext in the text and write it. Ultimately this is what makes fanfic so cool, we all read/saw the same text and we all come away with different things that move us. I don't think there's some arbiter up in the sky who decides on objectively OOC or objectively in character, I think there's just all of us down here stumbling about deciding what readings work for us and what don't.

3) ~problematic~

so there's a post going around somewhere on this site about how sometimes fans will latch onto a character totally and completely and characterize them in a way that has nothing to do with the text, but they will claim it does. under that there's a long text about how OOC is not a problem so long as you understand that's what you're doing but when you start to try to convince people your reading is correct and the only possible reading, then you're in trouble.

I agree with this take. Basically, you have to understand number 2) up there, that all reading is subjective, if you're proselytizing the only true way to blorbo you are probably stepping on some toes.

at the risk of decimating my inbox tho, I will say once more that I think there is a difference between projecting your own interests onto a fictional character in the full knowledge of what you're doing, and using a fictional character to project racist stereotypes onto and then demand others agree they are accurate and unproblematic, which is a thing that has happened several times over in several ways in TOG fandom. Writing "in character" is something you don't have to care about in fandom if that's not what you're here for, but if you're doing this and your response to general criticism not even directed at specific fics is to create more of a racist stereotype and claim it is the only correct way to read a character then idk what to say, that's definitely OOC :/

#ask game #writing #tog fandom

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orv-quotes-tournament · 1 year

Text

ORV Quotes Tournament Round 1

Plain text under the cut:

Ch 297: Reader and Writer, III: Yoo Joonghyuk slowly opened his mouth. "I want to die." It was a clear voice but there was a voice only clear to me. 「 I want to live. 」

Ch 356: Forgotten People of the Scenario, I: [It has been a long time, puppet of the Oldest Dream.]

#orv #orv spoilers #orv novel spoilers #yoo joonghyuk #secretive plotter #another coughing baby hydrogen bomb i fear #orv quotes tournament

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captainchrisfics · 6 years

Text

My Writing Masterlist

About: A collection of some Chris Evans and Steve Rogers fics I’ve been working on for a while now, descending from oldest to newest trying to show something resembling progress.

Last Updated: October 5, 2019

Total Works: 32

Chris Evans

Faster Than You Can Fall Asleep - Chris and the reader Skype while he’s away filming since they miss each other so much, but little does she know she won’t be missing him for long.

Not in Front of the Children - Chris and the (first person pov) reader spend the morning with their lovely little family.

“Just wait.”- A short and sweet little first person pov something about Chris returning home from wrapping filming on Endgame.

Before the Oscars - There’s a fight in this fic- a pretty big, blowout argument right before what is only one of the largest, most important awards shows in cinematic history. Don’t worry (spoiler alert) my sappy heart wins over.

Hanging Around - Mornings spent watching John Mulaney on Netflix and afternoons making out on the couch are always fun, right?

Jealousy - Chris Evans and a first person pov reader go to an awards show. The couple runs into her celebrity crush on the red carpet, causing Chris to develop a bit of a green-eyed monster.

The Leader of the Pack - Inspired by Leader of the Pack by the Shangri-Las, in which 1950′s greaser!Chris gets the hots for the local good girl and it’s all downhill from there.

Too Tired - Chris and the reader have a door-slamming, voice-raising, tear-filled kind of fight which ends with sleeping in separate rooms. Well, trying to until he realizes he can’t sleep without her.

La Vie En Rose - Chris and a (first person pov) reader reminiscing about everything that led them to the middle of the dance floor surrounded by their loved ones at their wedding as they sway to their first dance.

A Weekend Away - Chris comes home to the (first person pov) reader who had a really rough day and suggests a long weekend away might do them some good.

“I’m yours.” - Chris’s (first person pov) girlfriend insists on coming to set when he films a pretty fervid scene from Gifted’s sequel with his ex, which leads to more than a little bit of jealousy, a fight, and (unsurprisingly) a makeup makeout.

At the Altar - Chris’s friend asks him to be the best man at his wedding, which is great…until he realizes he’d rather be the one meeting Ella at the end of the aisle.

Endgame Interviews and Special News - Chris Evans and the (first person pov) reader are married and going through a round of press interviews, although the plot of Endgame isn’t the only thing they’re worried about spoiling.

“I told you so.” - Chris has a thing for saying he told you so, specifically to the first person pov narrator he has a thing for, too. Between their close friendship, working together, and other relationships all standing in the way, pining after each other without realizing becomes commonplace. Full of angst, fluff, and some sexier scenes, but I wouldn’t call it nsfw personally.

Oh, Baby - After finding out she’s pregnant with Chris Evans’s baby less than a year into their relationship, the first person pov narrator looks for comfort and advice from their fellow MCU cast members. Unbeknownst to her, Chris notices she’s shut him out and decides to confront her at the same time that she plans on letting him in.

Gaps Between Us - Chris Evans and a first person pov narrator have an age gap, sparking a controversy in the public eye, some tension among the MCU cast, and quite a bit of trouble in paradise. Thankfully, RDJ is always there to save the day.

Slipped - On a press run for Defending Jacob, Chris’s mind drifts to every other thing he’d rather be doing than answering questions, causing him to subconsciously reveal his relationship status which sparks a slew of probing questions and potential problems for the newly public couple

Out of Fenway Park - A SoCal born-and-raised reader relocated to Boston, where the very last thing she expects is to run into Chris Evans at a Red Sox game with beer dripping down her head and his hotdog plastered to her shirt. Literally, running into him, and then somehow still getting a date out of it.

Positive - Quite unexpectedly, Chris Evans finds out he’s going to be a father after a first-person pov narrator confesses she’s pregnant. They haven’t been dating for long, but they’ve known each other forever. The only problem is, the baby might not be his.

Paps Meet Politics - While working on A Starting Point, Chris takes a liking to a particular Congresswoman. Amidst speculation that he’s dating his co-star, she tries not to think too much of it when he asks her to be his plus one to a gala, but a probing reporter clears the air in the end.

Good Stuff - Chris Evans comes home to find our narrator still buried in bed and dealing with a bout of anxiety. He offers love, support, and coping skills to boot in this short and sweet fic.

Why Not? - Loosely inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams,” in which Chris Evans and the first-person pov narrator try to escape L.A. in search of some ocean air, planning to spend the night snuggling up on a secluded beach somewhere.

Seahawks vs. Patriots - A first-person pov, Seahawks-supporting reader couldn’t just not show up when Chris Evans throws a Super Bowl party, even if it meant flying across the country to see her second family.

‘Always’ - Chris Evans and his girlfriend break up so he comes crawling back to his friend’s door, only they’re a little more.

Sweet as Strawberries - First-person pov narrator and her husband, Chris Evans, go berry picking with their daughter and chat about having another. Probably the sweetest, sappiest thing I’ve ever written.

Call It Even - First-person pov narrator is one of those doctors that consults on medical shows/movies for the sake of accuracy but it happens to be a project starring the one and only Chris Evans. After a little sexist slip up, he spends the fic trying to make it up to her.

Steve Rogers

Stuck in Siberia - As a new Avenger, there are a lot of things our protagonist has to learn. Mostly, how to avoid getting herself and Steve kidnapped and held hostage in Siberia.

“Home.” - First-person pov narrator accompanies *cough* third wheels *cough* Wanda and Vision to Scotland- just as the fight for the mind stone begins in IW, allowing Cap to save the day.

The Book - A first person pov narrator released a book about S.H.I.E.L.D. that struck a chord with Steve so he tries to confront the author, but ultimately she ends up comforting him instead.

Welcome Home - Steve is sent away on a solo mission, leaving his girlfriend aka our first person pov narrator alone and longing for him. His deep laugh that rumbled like thunder. Those eyes that somehow house the ocean and the stars. His touch… Some help breaking in her new mattress couldn’t hurt.

Nightmares to New Normals - After half of the universe returns following Thanos’s defeat, Steve Rogers and a first person pov narrator struggle to find their sense of normalcy again. Five years apart, her nightmares, his hero complex, and their lack of communication create quite the angst. But that always makes the happy endings better, right?

We Have Today - After he’s gunned down on a mission, a first-person pov narrator tries to take care of her super soldier boyfriend. Of course, being Captain America helps with the whole not dying thing, but Steve could never get away that easily without a good reprimanding. And I could never end a fic without a good kiss.

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