#tipping the velvet

[notbeingnoticed]

[partywithponies]

The real tragedy of it is that Keeley Hawes never will play characters who get happy endings, because she's just so damn good at playing all the subtle nuances of flawed and tragic characters. She's so good at making questionable and wrong choices in ways that make you sympathise with her every step of the way, and she just suffers so beautifully.

[marthammasters]

Illustrations by Kelsey Beyer for Anna Pulley’s The Lesbian Sex Haiku Book (with Cats!)

[quotian]

But children, he concluded, weren't made to please their parents; and no father should ever expect to have his daughter at his side for ever... 'In short, Nance, even was you going to the very devil himself, your mother and I would rather see you fly from us in joy, than stay with us in sorrow - and grow, maybe, to hate us, for keeping you from your fate.' tipping the velvet - sarah waters

[zippocreed501]

AUTHOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

'Respect your characters, even the ­minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters' stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist's.'

'Treat writing as a job. Be disciplined. Lots of writers get a bit OCD-ish about this. Graham Greene famously wrote 500 words a day. Jean Plaidy managed 5,000 before lunch, then spent the afternoon answering fan mail. My minimum is 1,000 words a day – which is sometimes easy to achieve, and is sometimes, frankly, like shitting a brick, but I will make myself stay at my desk until I've got there, because I know that by doing that I am inching the book forward. Those 1,000 words might well be rubbish–they often are. But then, it is always easier to return to rubbish words at a later date and make them better.'

'Don't panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends' embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . .'

'. . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end. Leaving the desk for a while can help. Talking the problem through can help me recall what I was trying to achieve before I got stuck. Going for a long walk almost always gets me thinking about my manuscript in a slightly new way. And if all else fails, there's prayer. St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers, has often helped me out in a crisis. If you want to spread your net more widely, you could try appealing to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, too.'

Author Extraordinaire Sarah Waters

[crow-in-a-teapot]

thought this description of a haircut was very sweet

[its-tea-time-darling]

Ten characters of ten fandoms, ten tags.

thanks for the tag ❤️ @swanfloatieknight

teresa agnes - the maze runner

kofun - see (2019)

athelstan - vikings

sansa stark - game of thrones / asoiaf

rumo - rumo und die wunder im dunkeln

kat baker - spinning out

kylo ren - star wars

alex - red white and royal blue

nan - tipping the velvet

katya goncharov - goncharov (1973) (< unreality warning, this is not an actual movie, tumblr made it up)

no pressure tags: @crestfallercanyon @sidekcks @hamartian-cathexis @ulfrsmal @blue-summers @go-catch-a-chickn @thatnerdybookgirliscool @nice-to-meet-ya-shank @ivesterrarium @dumb-bi-thomas

[wlwmoviebracket]

round 2 (39/64)

[violottie]

sarah waters never fails me:

"When I see her,” I said, “it’s like - I don’t know what it’s like. It’s like I never saw anything at all before. It’s like I am filling up, like a wine-glass when it’s filled with wine. I watch the acts before her and they are like nothing - they’re like dust. Then she walks on the stage and - she is so pretty; and her suit is so nice; and her voice is so sweet… She makes me want to smile and weep, at once. She makes me sore, here.” I placed a hand upon my chest, upon the breast-bone.

“I never saw a girl like her before. I never knew that there were girls like her…” My voice became a trembling whisper then, and I found that I could say no more. There was another silence. I opened my eyes and looked at Alice - and knew at once that I shouldn’t have spoken; that I should have been as dumb and as cunning with her as with the rest of them. There was a look on her face - it was not ambiguous at all now - a look of mingled shock, and nervousness, and embarrassment or shame. I had said too much. I felt as if my admiration for Kitty Butler had lit a beacon inside me, and opening my unguarded mouth had sent a shaft of light into the darkened room, illuminating all. I had said too much - but it was that, or say nothing.

Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

RIP Nan Astley you would have loved Good Luck, Babe

[farminglesbian]

tipping the velvet, part 3 (2002)

[nasturtiumsforbreakfast]

Listen. Yes I have watched too much Downton Abbey. Yes Tipping the Velvet did do something major to my brain. No I will not shut up about it ever.

I've read the book and watched the tv miniseries and gone to see the actual theatre play version, I am fully a bit bonkers about Tipping the Velvet, I am aware - but who doesn't find 1880s crossdressing theatre lesbians hot, huh? Huh?? There's a lot of crossdressing, there's a fair whack of BDSM (with a domme bottom) right in the middle act, there's music hall songs, there's crossdressing-to-engage-in-gay-prostitution, there's socialism, there's even a happy ending, tell me please what's not to love?

Also Rachael Stirling's voice is the hottest thing I ever heard, ngl, let's be honest, and I forever want to relive that bit where she gets herself a new suit of men's clothes and is admiring herself in a stall-seller's series of mirrors with her lil Victorian cap on lmao

[partywithponies]

Photos of all of the above under the cut:

[quotian]

'When I see her,' I said, 'it's like - I don't know what it's like. It's like I never saw anything at all before. It's like I am filling up, like a wine-glass when it's filled with wine. I watch the acts before her and they are like nothing - they're like dust. Then she walks on the stage and - she is so pretty; and her suit is so nice; and her voice is so sweet... She makes me want to smile and weep, at once. She makes me sore, here.' I placed my hand upon my chest, upon the breast-bone. 'I never saw a girl like her before. I never knew that there were girls like her...' My voice became a trembling whisper, then, and I forgot that I could say no more. tipping the velvet - sarah waters

[zippocreed501]

Keeley Hawes as Kitty Butler

Tipping the Velvet (2002)

[capnclem]

this photo I found in the queer photo archives is making me weep this is forever how I’ll imagine nan and florence from tipping the velvet