#themes are for eighth grade book reports

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

We as a fandom don’t talk enough about how Game of Thrones decided to combine Jon Snow and Young Griff into one character and how that was absolutely ridiculous on like 1000 different levels. Because how do you combine two characters who are FOILS to one another and then play it completely straight?! Then to make matters worse they gave Jon the boy’s stupid name?! Goddamnit I knew they didn’t get Jon as a character pretty early on, but why mesh his arc with the one guy you shouldn’t combine with? 😭

[coffee-counts-as-a-meal]

warning for tlou ep 4 spoilers (and TLOU Part 2) but:

not to be horribly meta on main but I'm mainly screaming over how this episode exemplified how well this story was adapted to a television format, ESPECIALLY regarding the themes that ND has repeatedly stated he wanted to explore in the TLOU Part 2 that maybe didn't quite land the way he meant them to

(Benioff and Weiss and their hatred for eighth grade book reports should be taking copious notes rn lol)

I remember when the second game came out and there was this big to-do about how the perspective towards "villains" had changed - not just in the fact that you spend half the game playing as Abby (Joel's killer), but that the developers had actually given names to all the NPCs that end up as cannon fodder for the player. The AI was supposed to be so advanced that for every enemy you killed as either Abby or Ellie, the NPC would beg for their life or curse you as you make the final blow or whatever, and then when their NPC friends found them you would hear their wailing and crying out for "Beck" or "Miranda" or whomever the fuck and the whole idea was that it was supposed to make you the player really think about the implications of taking a human life and the cycle of revenge yadda yadda yadda.

Which is a GREAT CONCEPT, but I just remember how...tedious it became, after a while. TLOU Part 2 got a lot of flak for a lot of reasons (some more valid than others imo) but I personally think its impossibly difficult to instill the lesson of "taking a life is something that carries real emotional weight" through the medium of a video game where you are mowing down LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. That's just par for the course - you end up killing so many people that after a while their names mean nothing, BECAUSE THERE'S NO WAY TO CONTINUE THE GAME WITHOUT DOING SO. (I remember one reviewer talking about how fatigued they were with it - they didn't want to be killing all these people and stabbing dogs and they as a player were screaming through their fingers at the decisions Ellie was making to continue down this cycle of violence but there was no way to continue the game without going through it, even though the point had already been hammered home over and over again to the point where it was exhausting, we get it, killing should not be this easy but this is a video game for fuck's sake).

And maybe that was also the point was to make the player wonder how some characters (like Joel, maybe) eventually become so numb to the concept of taking life, but I just remember it being a point in Part 2 that ultimately just...kind of missed the mark.

And BOY OH BOY did the show hit it in this episode.

Literally, TLOU Part 2 wanted to make its point by naming hundreds upon hundreds of NPCs and TLOU Episode 4 managed to hit it with a single character named Bryan.

I think it also helps that when Joel is shooting back at the "hunters" (idk what they're calling them in the show canon but that's what they were at the game) we don't really see them die onscreen, so it makes Bryan's eventual demise even starker. But holy fuck hearing him plead with Ellie and Joel for his life hit so much harder than it ever did in the game. Hearing him try to bargain with a little girl, screaming for his mom only to go silent...I freaking love Joel and even then in that moment I felt that horror and slight...idek what to call it, not even disgust but just the moral grayness of it all made my stomach churn.

Ellie's tears felt so deserved in that moment. Even Joel's moment of hesitation (fuck you Pedro Pascal I hate how good you are at EVERYTHING) even as you know this must have been a thing he's done thousands of times before and even as necessary you might consider Bryan's death to be. Even as justified it may have been to kill an enemy in that moment, "It doesn't get any easier" is something that rings true. I believe it.

tldr; another banger episode from a team that knows what the fuck a theme is and how to tie that into your story with subtlety and nuance and FUCK EVERYONE AT NAUGHTY DOG AND HBO I CAN'T KEEP GETTING MY HEART BROKEN FOR ANOTHER MONTH AND A HALF

[greatwyrmgold]

We are free will. We are revolution. My brother, we are power!

—Millions Knives; Trigun Stampede, episode 9

It's so nice when a narrative just bluntly puts a thesis in front of you.

[llaw-eurog]

Sorry but who let benioff & weiss be in charge of the three body problem adaptation????????????????????

[lizardsfromspace]

In the 2010s you really had big Hollywood creators declaring shit like "planning is the enemy of creativity" and "themes are for eighth-grade book reports" and being treated like maverick geniuses for it. Then when their work turned south and they went "wow, turns out plans and themes are important, who knew haha" everyone went "oh yes, well obviously that was dumb, we knew that the whole time"

[hamliet]

Not to defend mha but at least part of those flaws you wrote that the author has can be explained by shonen jump's editor's bs and how much character popularity, the weekly pacing and how limited the authors of long running mangas are in that damn magazine lol

Oh 5000%. I said the same thing when Tokyo Ghoul ended. I mean, Ishida literally lost the ability to TASTE FOOD from stress. I'm glad he ended it and prioritized his health.

That doesn't make the story as it stands on its own any better, of course. It's subject to criticism as a work on its own.

Contextually, though, I've never blamed the authors as people for endings I hated. Except in one very, very specific case, and I will go to my grave cursing D&D "themes are for eighth grade book reports" who very, very obviously did not give a f*ck about Game of Thrones and had all the resources in the world and still bastardized someone else's story.

Mangakas should have a livable, workable schedule that doesn't destroy their bodies and mental health, and they should have editors who prioritize a story over catering to fans. Damn capitalism.

Horikoshi has talent and is clearly a compassionate, highly empathetic individual. I wish him rest and then nothing but the best.

[ladyhawke]

not to be someone who sets the bar really low in order to compliment something but after the trauma of watching 8 seasons of a show made by people who thought that “themes are for eighth-grade book reports” black sails hits even harder

[holliday-is-holligay]

Look I'm not saying most takes on Restoration makes me think most RvB fans ALSO think themes are for Eighth Grade book reports but I'm also saying many of ya'll might have closer opinions to David Benioff than you think.

[achillessulks]

would you ever make another goodreads? I was literally devastated to find yours had been deleted, I would spend hours scrolling through your book reviews 😭 they were so beautiful and insightful

Thank you for your kind words. As mentioned in my responses to previous asks, some of my reviews had been backed up on Wordpress and Storygraph, so you can still look there... I did think very seriously about just making a new GR account and reposting everything, but the concept of having to rebuild over ten years’ worth of work is just exhausting. I’m grateful for all the good parts obviously, but overall, yikes.

Ultimately, I’m done with GR unless some pretty significant changes are made to the structure of the website. For example:

There needs to be a way to appeal if a review gets flagged. One time a review of mine got deleted for allegedly plagiarising Wikipedia... but I had written the Wikipedia page, and after writing the review.

There needs to be a way to thread comments. This is a very basic function of any decent forum or really any halfway decent website, and it’s honestly embarrassing that GR still doesn’t have this capability. RSS is not that difficult; you guys are just lazy.

There needs to be more support and allowance for people who aren’t just writing an eighth-grade book report. This sounds mean, and is intended as such, but one of the rules GR has is that your review can’t be about the author’s character, actions, or behaviour. Well, those things inform one’s opinion of a book, so this rule is dumb as hell. Furthermore, I like writing about interesting things, not just a basic summary of plot and theme; all the time I would get comments saying I was writing “bad” or “useless” reviews because I didn’t use the structure of a book report. GR stifles creativity and freedom of expression, constantly and internationally. The types of reviews that are officially sanctioned are unhelpful for me personally.

There needs to be support in different languages. This is a website owned by Amazon; they have the money to pay for translation services. There’s no good excuse for not having at least the basic framework of the site available in languages other than English.

There needs to be a way to rate a book zero stars. Some books just suck.

I’m not even thinking of stuff like the constant and intrusive advertisements on the browser site, because I have adblockers so I don’t see any of that shit, but let the record show that the types of adverts being shown demonstrate that most people on GR have terrible taste. Not my friends though, they’re all geniuses and very smart.

[frumfrumfroo]

Reading leaks for another massively popular media/cultural institution and it a) threw me back to TROS-era leaks and b) made me wonder how it is that such major productions have the entire story spoilt. Why is this a thing? Spoiler culture really is kind of evil honestly, like stories are just the sum of absolute narrative events in poorly summarised bullet-point.

On the other hand... in a really sad, weird way, it sort of prepares one for disaster. But then you have to wonder if such disasters are a consequence of trying to outsmart the audience/leakers (that literally sound so bad they can't be true).

Sloppy, disorganised productions, especially where people involved in the production are irritated, disgruntled, or don't give a shit because the work environment is awful. Like where things keep changing or lots of reshoots are needed due to poor planning or fickle morons being in charge. JJ's productions are leaky for this reason. He's a goofy hack who runs a loose ship and makes soulless corporate slop.

And this is pretty much a new thing. It's not even that it used to be easier to keep secrets, it's that there didn't used to be this attitude that plot beats were the be-all end-all of what made a story. Traditionally, plays were usually based on stories people already knew, and even if you didn't, they might spoil the entire plot in the first few lines. 'Knowing what happens' was not the point. The point was empathy, catharsis, thematic resonance, and communicating with the audience.

But yeah, it's definitely become so egregious partly because of pop writers increasingly thinking of the audience as the enemy and of 'outsmarting' them as being 'winning'. It all feels dripping in juvenile narcissism. But it's also HUGELY because so many of these modern stories are 'content' which was commissioned based on brand recognition from people working for hire who do not know or care what the source material was about and who have nothing to say except 'look how smart I am'.

A story is always saying something, communication is the whole point of storytelling, but Hollywood has cultivated a media culture where themes are for eighth grade book reports, stories are disposable, and no one expects anything to make sense or mean anything as long as it's flashy and has Brand Name on it.

[fromtheseventhhell]

I know I'm stating the obvious here, but it says a lot that the Stansas love the xenophobic, racist show ending and think it will be book canon whereas Key Five stans and other normal fans actually listen to GRRM saying the books ending will be different. Which would explain why Stansas originally hated the Ramsay plot in the show until they realized it could make her more important to Jon than Arya and they could use it to say Sansa is more victimized than Arya and Dany.

What gets me about the show is that there's just...no overall story being told. There are no overarching themes or points made, just us watching a series of events unfolding with no cohesiveness. There were plot points that went absolutely nowhere and no inconsistent characterization. Which makes sense, considering D&D's views on storytelling:

The story lines move forward and dig deeper as the episodes progress but rarely circle back and almost never pause for reflection. When I asked Benioff and Weiss if it was possible to infer any overall intentionality to the upcoming 10 episodes, they sneered. “Themes are for eighth-grade book reports,” Benioff told me.

They literally did not know or think about an overarching story. What gets me though is that all of the material was there in the books, they simply had to adapt it. Instead, we have them completely ignoring all of the book's themes for the entire show and then trying, poorly, to pretend like they cared at the end. The forced conversations about wanting to break the wheel and caring about the smallfolk were absolutely laughable. We had the one character who did the most to fight for the smallfolk, who was actually for systemic change, become a victim of character assassination. Then we had characters who actually show care and concern for the smallfolk in the books having that part of their character completely erased. They just wanted to shallowly trot out "cares about smallfolk" to make the characters they liked look better. Nothing actually ends up changing. The system doesn't get reformed and the people with the most power have never shown any indication of wanting to change the system. That's why people in this fandom praise conformity and demonize those who fight against the system. The only way their faves look "special" is if the staus quo ends up preserved. People will outright justify and defend classism because their favorite character is classist, and that's just where we are in terms of comprehension skills in this fandom.

[jackoshadows]

Saw the stuff from THAT side about the girl in grey on a dying horse unfortunately in the tags recently and not surprised they’re using the show to justify their twisted theories for a ship that never happened, how boring does a character have to be for them to steal a side characters small arc to justify their delusions

The show was trash even for Sansa and yet they want show Sansa's plots for the book version if it gives them Jonsa, never mind that this crackship did not happen on the show either.

Sometimes someone likes or reblogs old posts of mine when GOT was running and I take a look at those posts and go 'I wrote all this?'. What a sweet, summer child I was 😂.

Anyway, in one post I talk about how despite giving show Sansa book Arya's theme of 'The lone Wolf dies but the pack survives' they failed to implement what that actually means in show's Sansa's story.

And I think that's one reason why the North plot was so much superficial, one dimensional, badly written garbage. They replaced Jeyne with Sansa in order to give Sophie Turner something to do on the TV show. And then what? They never carried over any of the reasons for why that plot existed in the first place.

GRRM seems particularly bothered about that plot change and views it as where the divergence happens with book and show canon as I explain here. That's because Arya's marriage to Ramsay in the books is a thread that connects together several plots in the North, exploring themes of loyalty and love.

We got nothing of that in the show because according to Benioff and Weiss themes are not important to the story they are telling.

On Game of Thrones, characters are free to while away hours, even entire seasons, on the periphery. The story lines move forward and dig deeper as the episodes progress but rarely circle back and almost never pause for reflection. When I asked Benioff and Weiss if it was possible to infer any overall intentionality to the upcoming 10 episodes, they sneered. “Themes are for eighth-grade book reports,” Benioff told me.

Theon risking it all, braving the fear of capture and more torture, overcoming that fear and panic to save a nobody like Jeyne Poole - who no one cares for - is now helping Ned's s daughter Sansa who pushes at Theon to help her and who he ends up saving.

While Ramsay marries Sansa to hold the North (Same excuse as in the books for marrying 'Arya'), the show never follows through on the theme of 'The North Remembers'. Even after Sansa escapes from Winterfell, the rest of the North keep fully supporting the Boltons!! They even support Ramsay over Sansa and Jon in season 6!

So why in the world did Ramsay marry Sansa in the first place if he does not even need her to hold the North?!

Rickon is quickly dispatched off even though we get the most powerful Northern house supporting him in the books. There are no mountain clans supporting Ned's girl anymore, no plotting and the game of thrones being played by the Northern houses for the Starks.

And while it's clear Stannis will in some manner be responsible for what happens to Shireen given this was a plot that GRRM told D&D, I am confident the motives and how it happens in the books will be more complex and conflicting than him burning his little girl at the stake to win some battle 🙄

Jon breaking his oaths to go save Arya is no longer a thing, removing that very important conflict (Which makes him a flawed character) from his arc - instead we get Olly killing him for the watch because he let the Freefolk in 🙄.

The less said about Jon's resurrection the better. He got about 30 minutes to be sad and then become mopey Jon Snow so that D&D could hand over his book plot - of rallying the Freefolk to attack the Boltons - to show Sansa. And that was it, he was back to the usual boring and 'noble' Jon Snow after a couple of episodes.

And why the hell did Melisandre randomly decide to resurrect him considering he had no role to play in the defeat of the White Walkers, spending his time running around screaming at a dragon? It would have been better for the show version of the character to stay dead as D&D couldn't be bothered to write for him.

Ghost and Nymeria? The direwolves are non-existent. Who care that these beasts are part of these characters, their soul, their other halves. Bran was not even given one line of dialogue to mourn the loss of Summer. The show only has the space/time and budget for one magical creature and dragons it is.

The Northern houses randomly make Jon Snow KITN when Ned Stark's legitimate daughter is sitting right there! Why? Could it be because she got many of them needlessly killed in the battle of the bastards by not telling them of the Vale army? Nah, that's no big deal and Jon shrugs it off with a kiss to the forehead!

The Vale army? It's Littlefinger who rallies them to support Sansa and all she does is write him a letter accepting his help and then lie to Jon Snow about it. She makes idiotic arguments about how the Karstarks would help and it's Davos who explains that Robb's actions with Rickard makes them enemies. And it's Davos who gets them the lone support of Lyanna Mormont while Sansa criticizes him. So Sansa is not even written as smart on the show!! The Vale lords and army then continues to hang around in the North for some reason.

D&D just wanted the shocking moments from the books without the deep characterization, nuance and complexity. They just wanted to replace Jeyne with Sansa and shock and disgust their audiences with what happens to Sansa without any of the actual plot that goes along with what happens to Jeyne in the books.

This is why Jonsa fans - and even a lot of times just Sansa fans - trying to co-opt this plot for the book character (because they want Jonsa and QITN for book Sansa) leads to all these ridiculous theories of the 'Girl in Grey' being Sansa riding all the way from the vale to the Wall on a horse in the thick of winter... It was ridiculous on the show and it's ridiculous when they try to rewrite the books to mirror the show fanfiction.

[coffee-counts-as-a-meal]

not to be a GoT/ASoIaF meta writer but I'm re-watching the first season and re-reading A Clash of Kings and its occurring to me something something patriarchy something something society but anyway its just really interesting to me how Catelyn (and also Sansa at the beginning) are very good at working within the rules and social mores of their society

of course, we see examples of women who struggle to fit within the rigid definition of "womanhood" that Westeros demands (Arya, Brienne, even Cersei to an extent) whereas Catelyn and Sansa, while clearly finding the limits within their roles (thinking about Catelyn's "I did my duty all my life" monologue), still manage to perform and excel in it. And idk where I'm going with this but I think it's really interesting how Catelyn and Sansa get a lot of hate thrown at them, when in reality it's less about them as people and more about the society that is pointing at them and saying "performing womanhood like Catelyn and Sansa is the only acceptable way"

Arya and Brienne actively rebel against a world that is telling them to be one thing when internally they'd rather be something else. Sansa and Catelyn don't feel the same discomfort, it's easier for them to "fit in", and they do benefit but it's not a character fault.

[greatwyrmgold]

Beat & Motion & Dreams

So, Beat & Motion seems to be establishing a major theme, one that fits the other stuff it's been doing pretty well. Tatsuhiko gave his animation dream another shot after his band fell through, and he was rewarded with a chance to keep doing animation professionally.

And this hits a personal spot for me.

There were a lot of great anime in 2021, but Aquatope on White Sands was my personal favorite. It's about an idol whose idol dreams fell apart, was given a chance to work at a struggling aquarium, and found joy in it. It aired when I was realizing my dream of becoming a biologist had failed, and was trying to find the joy in accounting work. (Which does exist, depending on the job, but that's a topic for another post.)

My point is, B&M is taking a radically different perspective than Aquatope. Aquatope is about realizing that you don't need to follow your childhood dreams to find happiness. B&M is about rediscovering your childhood dreams, vague as they might be.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a biologist. That's it, "a biologist." I wanted to be a scientist who studies animals and stuff. I never really questioned this dream, I merely iterated on it. My plan was simple: Get a basic biology degree, find some entry-level biology work to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, get a graduate degree in that field, get a better job. I failed step 2, and that's why I'm in accounting school now.

Maybe if I'd picked a field, stuck through several more years of school, and gotten a PhD or something, I could have been a biologist. Maybe that would have worked. But maybe not, and I don't think I would have done it without foreknowledge. I thought I had a dream, but I kinda didn't.

That's the thing about dreams. They're not bound to reality.

The freedom of dreams can be a good thing, but it also makes dreams hard to act on. I couldn't become "a biologist" without a more specific, more grounded idea of what that might entail...and I never got that idea. I would have basically needed an opportunity handed to me.

Luckily for Tatsuhiko, that opportunity came in the form of Nico. On one hand, she literally provides an opportunity for Tatsuhiko to follow his dream, in the sense that she hires him to animate her music video. On the other hand, she also pushes him to pursue his dream.

Nico is dreaming unhindered, not worrying about practicality or tact or anything. Tatsuhiko wants to be an animator, so he should be an animator—and he should try to be the best d**n animator possible, the most skilled, the most successful.

From a plot utility perspective, this makes Nico a bit of a manic pixie dream girl. But she doesn't just wander into Tatsuhiko's life and start making things better just because. She only wants to work with Tatsuhiko because he posted that random butterfly animation. Tatsuhiko took the first step himself, of his own volition, moving himself towards his near-forgotten dream and away from the practical yet dull reality of...a failing rock band?

In case you'd forgotten, Tatsuhiko's job before the animation thing was as the bassist in a crappy band. It lasted a few years, but broke up right before Tatsuhiko listened to a drunk woman rant at him. That lead to him digging out his old drawings, animating on a whim, etc etc.

But before that, he was in a band. A failing band. So on one hand, Tatsuhiko didn't have much to lose by pursuing his dream, which isn't a broadly applicable truth. (Contrast, say, Recovery of an MMO Junkie; Morihito chose to give up a high-paying office job to play MMOs.)

But there's a more fundamental issue here. Bands are also a common dream, an artistic endeavor which few people can turn into an actual career. So why was Tatsuhiko's animation dream successful and his band dream a failure?

I wish I could say I expected this question to be explored in later chapters, but I don't think the band has come up once since chapter 1. Analysis of this question is limited to chapter 1, which doesn't go into much detail. And the detail provided isn't great. There's plenty of framing suggesting that the band is a bad dream, but I can only find one possible reason which makes any sense.

Tatsuhiko's band dream wasn't a "real" dream, because it was forced on him by an outside source. He was talked into his band dream—which, to be clear, was genuinely held. He gets excited about it, just not in the first few panels after he's recruited.

Contrast this with his animation dream, which sprang fully-formed out of the forehead of Zeus...

...or not. It's also the result of someone telling him he should be an animator, this time an old animator giving a presentation at his school. Which is probably a good thing, because it means I don't have to try and litigate the difference between a dream that comes from "inside" and one that comes from "outside". Your insides are shaped by the outside world, after all!

So if that's not it, what's the difference? A few possibilities:

Is it honesty? As far as we know, the animator was just being nice and didn't mean it, while all indications point to the band members being genuine. So...probably not.

Is it initial excitement? Probably not; that's just an absurdly superficial reason to judge a dream "real" or not. It's probably just another way to frame one dream as "good" and the other as "bad," not the reason one is good.

Is it ulterior motive? The band members convince Tatsuhiko to join the band for extrinsic rewards, while the animator doesn't have any apparent motive at all. I guess that's not nothing, but it's barely there.

Did the author, knowing that the band was just a distraction for Tatsuhiko and not his Real Dream, not actually bother to explain why?

I think that the last factor is, at least, a significant component. Beat & Motion isn't terrible—it has its strengths, a clear artistic vision, and a solid idea of how to execute that vision—but it's no masterpiece.

The underdeveloped "band dream" thing isn't a crippling flaw. Generally, an author can just show us that a thing in the protagonist's backstory is Not Good and expect the audience to accept this as true without having to explain why it's Not Good. And this is basically that.

The problem is that the Not Good Thing overlaps with something the story considers extremely good—chasing your dreams. It's not intentionally part of the series's thematic construction, but that doesn't mean it doesn't influence it. You can't write a story about following your dreams, throw in a band failing at their dreams, and not have the latter affect the former somehow.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope Beat & Motion circles back to the question of what dreams should be pursued and which should be abandoned, because that's a pretty significant question for a chase-your-dreams narrative. (And, you know, one that's raised by the protagonist abandoning one dream.)

But that's the state of things, three chapters in.

[hydropyro]

Writer Interview Tag

Thanks for the tag @tavyliasin! I just finished reading yours and @redroomroaving's entries <3 I feel mine will also be quite heavy, though I don't struggle with the kinds of things you two beasts /pos do.

I will tag @dude-wheres-my-ankheg, @insanefan, @firlionemoontav, and @dark-and-kawaii,

Questions and answers below the cut -- potential mention of SA

When did you start writing?

I started writing before I could actually write. I would scribble lines onto paper or type nonsense into my grandma's computer and then 'read' it to her.

I was (am?) hyperlexic, and by second grade I had a high school reading level. In school we would do AR tests, and I had to check out books from the public library, as the in-school library did not have books that were challenging enough. This is also when I began to carry around a pen and paper and write my own stories.

The first I remember distinctly was a story about a butterfly who was lost. I don't remember the plot at all. I also wrote, and still have, a spiral bound 'book' that I wrote as a second grade project where we researched a topic (owls) and then wrote a non-fiction story about it.

As far as Fan Fiction goes -- last year! I did rewrite the ending of 'Lucifer' when that came out because they did it wrong -- but last year after playing Baldur's Gate 3 is when I first wrote a piece of fan fiction. And I am deep in these trenches.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I really enjoy crime and psychological horror. The 'Hannibal Lecter' series by Thomas Harris is a particular favorite of mine.

I also was enthralled with 'Animorphs' in third through fifth grade, and had read any and all that I could get my hands on. I was not a huge fan of science-fiction, though there were a few individual stories that I enjoyed. I also read the 'Warriors' series by Erin Hunter. Another beloved series was 'Inkheart/Inkspell/Inkdeath' by Cornelia Funke, the 'Eragon' series by Christopher Paolini, and the 'Purple Emperor' series by Herbie Brennan. Fantasy/(low-fantasy might be the genre) was a particular favorite of mine.

My favorite book, though, which I read in fifth grade -- originally because none of my personal choices were deemed challenging enough -- was 'The Iliad' by Homer. I don't remember which translation was used, but it was not in prose format, so that may narrow it down.

I used to read a lot. These days, I don't read much. By seventh grade when I started my first 'real novel' I was afraid of being too heavily influenced by things that I read. In eighth grade I stopped reading fiction entirely for this reason, after a teacher (vice principal) confiscated my work and viciously accused me of plagiarism as the things I was writing was 'too mature for someone my age to even know about' (Take the hint, mandatory reporter). From that point on, I only read Biographies/Historical reports. 'Operation Valkyrie' by Pierre Galante is thrilling.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Other than my 8th Grade vice-principal, teachers were always very encouraging of my writing. The school librarians, especially. I have had my work compared to 'The Hunger Games' specifically (though I don't agree with) and I was asked to take a test that would analyze a piece of work and tell you what well-known author it was most like. I had Hemingway.

I don't try to emulate anyone, and actively avoid being 'inspired' by any works, as I previously said. As an adult, I think I could better use other work as 'inspiration', where as a child it was more 'copying', which didn't sit right.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

From second grade, all through high school and into college, I carried around a spiral ring notebook (always college/narrow ruled! Never wide ruled!) and pen everywhere I went. When I say everywhere, I mean it quite literally. Over the years I have had hundreds of notebooks full of dozens of stories. Most of them have fallen into obscurity, but a precious few are near and dear to my heart.

I write, and have always written, where I am currently sitting. In school I would write during lectures rather than take notes (some teachers had a small problem with this, though I explained that I need to do that in order to focus. I guess ADHD wasn't as well-known back in the early 00s) and my grades were excellent, so I was allowed to continue. By middle school my father had purchased a metal clipboard case for me to carry, so I could write during sport events when I wasn't competing.

These days I write mostly at my kitchen table, where my laptop is set up, or in bed with one of my spiral-ring notebooks -- though if inspiration strikes while I am out and about I have Word and Google Docs on my phone. I prefer to handwrite and then type it out, rather than write directly on a computer.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

i wish I knew how to answer this question. I have been asked many times over the years.

The best way that I know how to explain my 'process' is that -- I don't write. (Obviously I do just follow me for a moment). I don't 'build' characters. The only time I use baby name generators or the like is when I have an inconsequential side character that needs a name for a paragraph. My characters are 'born', and they tell me their stories. I just record them.

As a child I spent a lot of time daydreaming -- called Maladaptive Day Dreaming by my psych professionals. While doing chores I would be living in my stories, and these experiences would inspire scenes. Walking through the forest while camping -- scene.

Though, I will note, that the hearing of my characters is not a hallucination. It is more like -- a memory of a conversation or experience and I am recalling it.

My hallucinations are very different.

Things that I have found are more likely to get my characters talking is TV shows with strong character development. I wrote a great deal during my 'Supernatural' and 'Lucifer' days. Baldur's Gate 3 has also helped get the creative juices flowing -- though my fan fic is, obviously, directly derived from that source material.

What is your reason for writing?

A sweet and simple answer is -- they make me. The characters and the story make me. My mind is never quiet, and there is a catharsis in allowing the story to flow from my brain and out through my fingertips.

The reason my therapist may ask me to give is more -- intense -- and one I had not realized was the likely case. Feel free to skip to the next question.

Stories -- my characters, the worlds I build, the relationships they form -- are my safe place. There were times in my childhood that I would have eagerly left my home to go to 'Abser' -- lightyears away.

They are the friends I could never have because we moved every year -- they could never leave me. They are the safe, strong, and capable adults I never knew.

They were my punching bags. I was a quiet and sweet child -- straight A student because school was safe. Star athlete because I was admired and loved there. Even when I went to church to a god I didn't believe in because it got me out of the house, I was the best worshipper -- i knew all the trivia at Sunday school. And so torturing my characters once I was forced home was cathartic.

They were my avatars. They could love and live and hate and die -- when they were raped as children they could grow up into successful, happy adults -- not damaged at all. They could have loving parents who would move Heaven and Earth for them.

And, they could live out the -- more mature -- fantasies that I had and hid away out of (appropriately placed, I later found) fear that making them known and -- god forbid acting on them -- would lead to ridicule and abandonment.

In seventh grade I created a character named Kacie. She looked like me. Protagonist. Loving family. Strong woman. There was another character I didn't like much, called Leon. He was mean. Aloof.

As the story developed -- Kacie didn't, so much. But Leon told me his story. Raised without a mother by a man who hated, abused, and neglected him and his little sister -- doing anything and everything he could to protect his little sister, even if it put him in danger -- hiding behind his art trying to white knuckle his way through life -- addict -- hedonist -- angry at life itself -- and utterly alone in the world.

Of course, it is art so his experience is much more extreme than mine -- (sorry, Leon).

ha, ha, fan fic though!

Still the above -- they make me -- but playing with these little dolls that I didn't make, but that I made my own -- is just fun. Sure, I'm probably expressing more yet-to-be-discovered trauma as well, but man do I love to justify my favorite devil and make Alakvyr and Abdirak kiss.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

For my personal work -- when I graduated high school my librarian gave me a notebook and wrote on the inside cover 'Never Stop Writing'. I have yet to use that notebook. When I finished the first draft of my complete novel I was brave and sent it to my family to read. They had never read my work before. My step-dad, who is my hero, said he 'couldn't put it down'.

For my fan fiction work, I love that other people also love them! As I said, I don't percolate on ideas, and for my fan-fiction I hardly even edit. I word vomit -- try to fix some grammatical issues -- and throw it out into the world. When writing fan fiction I wanted it to be solely for the passion of writing -- not perfect.

I love to hear when people catch the little references I put in (think 'call it a ninth sense' that Raphael says in game) and when people tell me that I 'captured' an established character well. Especially Raphael and Abdirak.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Firstly -- awe

Secondly -- I don't know if I want to necessarily be 'thought about' by my readers.

My original work has very few readers -- and though those who have read it have given raving reviews except @summerwarlock who beta read my work and gave an incredibly helpful and extensive review (still raving, but also helpful tips and critiques) no one has asked me questions or wanted to 'better understand' me, my story, or characters. So, as far as fan fic

Think of me as a fan! A fan with gremlins in my head and gloriously agonizing brainrot -- but a fan.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Original Work: hahaha hahahahahaahhahahaha who knows? Probably the same as fan fiction, though.

Fan fiction: probably character development/character study. I love to pull characters apart to deeply understand who they are and why they do, say, think, and feel as they do. One of my favorite things to write is Raphael justifying himself -- and I feel especially successful when people read it and say 'holy shit, he's right'.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Original work -- I was held back by fear of being judged for writing the story the way it needed to be written. I have a character who is a power-mad king. An absolutely shit-pile of a person -- but I wrote him fairly bland. Other characters would tell you 'oh he's awful' but I never showed him being awful because 'what if people judge me for thinking this'.

Fan fic has helped me a lot with this, as well as Summerwarlock's tips. And so, the hedonistic, rapist, abusive king will do those things because it is in character. Sorry -- all the other characters.

For fan fic -- yes and no. I write for myself. I write because I enjoy it and fan fic is my passion project. I don't even edit my work, remember. I just passion all over the page (muhahah) and throw it into the ether. I love that other people enjoy my little weirdos as much as I do.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Original work -- oh, pure shit. Let's move on.

Fan fiction -- I'm a gods damned genius. No, that's a joke. There are some lines that I write that I think 'fuck yea, that came out of me?' but other than that, they're just silly little dolls I'm squishing together, so I'm not too concerned.

I do enjoy sharing it, though, especially with those who write similar things as I do. The Abdirak group I'm in are full of great, loving people who -- as writers themselves -- aren't afraid to give helpful criticism or ask questions that may make you think differently about your work. And they are also wonderful cheerleaders, as I hope I am for them.

I am a passionate person, but I am a very reserved person, so I worry sometimes that the depths of my adoration don't come across -- but I truly do adore you all, and I am so grateful to have found and been accepted into this community.

[bitchfromtheseventhhell]

also just like

“themes are for eighth grade book reports” 

vs 

“this story has the massive overarching theme of the burdens and dangers of motherhood in an oppressive patriarchal society and we will give symbolic voice to our dead mothers as we continue to lay that particular theme bare while also showing political shenanigans and lots and lots of dragons”