#under 4000

[theropoda]

me after sucking dagoth urs dick (it looks like the grandma fish from the chocolate episode of spongebob)

[barnabyboppins]

Hopefully lukewarm take (i haven’t checked)

I recently finished reading the Heroes Of Olympus series (having read pjo immediately prior) and I think it’s pretty shitty that the worth of all of our good guy characters are, to a notable degree, measured by their ability to find and engage in romantic relationships and are then greatly defined by those relationships. (Disclaimer; I don’t think I’m in a justified position to discuss lots of the racial criticisms for HoO but I do agree with a lot of em and that aspect does factor into this topic)

7+ important recurring characters is quite a lot of people to balance, even in a five book series and all of the non-pjo characters suffered immensely for it. But one character arc I anticipated over and over again that never ended up happening was any one character finding fulfillment from the non-romantic relationships around them by de-prioritizing the idea of a perfect someone in favour of accepting the support of their friends/comrades/campers/family/etc. (Second disclaimer: I don’t expect a novel saga from 2010 to have characters declaring their orientations (or lack thereof) aloud but the idea of a character learning to define themself by or through something outside of romance isn’t a new one)

I think Percy and Annabeth are very cute and work well as a couple (are they the only white couple?) and I don’t really see any chemistry between Piper and Jason (I feel like they’re on very different paths from each other and Piper stagnates greatly in favour of supporting jasons development) but I think literally every other Good Guy character had the potential to not need romance in their arcs. Frank could have been raised to praetor by consensus and recognized by his peers and grandma, actively validating his growth rather than him achieving great feats and no one noticing or really caring except for Hazel. Hazel could’ve been shown learning about the modern day with Frank and Nico during downtime and reconciling her identity and trauma with the diversity of today while discovering a new freedom in acceptance (from the Seven) of who she is from back then and who she may yet want to be (and also not dated a 16 y/o at 13).

Leo, Reyna and Nico were the main ones I was thinking would forgo the need for a partner at least as a necessity for their growth/healing as all three have severe familial trauma, are distanced from other demigods socially somehow, and all were explicitly ousted from conventional romance in-writing.

Initially with Leo I had hoped he would confront his struggle being the “seventh wheel” by expressing how he was feeling overlooked as a friend (and as the ONLY shipwright) in favour of everyone’s romantic interests, which would lead into further emotional vulnerability in the party but, that never happened save for a few stoically non-communicative gestures of support to Frank and otherwise weird hang-ups on Hazel before he fucked off to Calypso, letting his friends think him dead for weeks. Leo lacked connection and felt inferior and less important than the rest of the Seven and the narrative validated that by only fulfilling him through an a Rapunzel-like hot babe trapped on an island who is physically dependent on his emotional dependence on her. That’s not a recipe for healthy relationship! I related to Leo initially as an aromantic person with 9 siblings, half of whom are already coupled so it was very disappointing when I realized by the third book that RR just didn’t take what was to me the most obvious arc for a character who is vitally important to a team but least noticed. Also the Hazel-Frank-Leo pseudo-love shape didn’t need to happen, at least in the way it did, and I think the Leo-Hazel-Sammy weird love thing was stupid.

I think Nico and Will are a very cute couple and I��m looking forward to reading their book when I come around to it but I felt unsatisfied that the thing that got Nico to stay at camp after 5 books was a guy who had little significant presence until the last book and not like, any of the other deeply important connections he made during his journeys? Nico’s been talking about never returning to either camp for a while and none of the Seven or Reyna (I think) thought to check in with him? I get that Will is supposed to be like the first person to insistently want Nico around but if Will really is the first then that’s kinda fucked up given the whole like, eight books worth of people he’s met. It’s a bit fucked up that after years of Nico’s presence, seemingly the first connection to anchor him down is an unspoken suggestion of a romance

Reyna’s character journey confuses me because I don’t if I missed or forgot it but I don’t remember her having a conclusion to her internal struggles. Aphrodite telling her she’s doomed to singledom gets brought up again and again and it’s mostly just to make you feel bad for her. She doesn’t tell anyone else. She doesn’t seek fulfillment in the platonic or familial connections she has. They visit her house, trauma dump about her abuse AND fakeout her sisters + the hunters + the amazons deaths just to have Reyna be even more hurt. Reyna and Nico come to understand each other while they’re travelling but by the conclusion of the series she’s just gone back to her isolating and stressful role as the praetor, but now with more work to do! Aphrodite’s words are never explained and their veracity is never tested and all it serves is to give Reyna more misery porn.

I guess what I’m saying is I think the story would have been better if The Seven & Co had a little more connection with each other and not just with their respective partners and if we could have seen some internal growth come from that.

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Sometimes you daydream about a fic and never actually write it. Sometimes you daydream about a fic and write a few sentences, or an outline, and then the story leaves you alone. Sometimes you daydream about a fic and sit down and knock out 4000 words practically in one sitting.

Almost never is this fic one of the many projects you're already working on 😭

[certifiedbi]

Saw a guy on the news comparing the decision of getting into something as dangerous as the Titanic submarine to that of getting into a formula one car and I cannot stress how different the two are

[droughtofapathy]

So, I've been doing SeatPlan for about a year which is this site where you upload photos of your stage view from your seat to earn points. You have to leave a short review about the view and comfort and whatnot, and you used to be able to redeem 4000 points for a $50 telecharge gift card. You'd get between 40 and 120 points per seat review. And of course, you know I see Broadway a lot. Like...a lot a lot. I was on track to get my second gift card this year. Well, they just keep pushing the line, because now it's 9600 points for a $100 gift card. I hate it here.

[ghostpantomime]

was wondering why my liked songs shuffle was playing so many depeche mode songs and then realised i was shuffling depeche mode liked songs Not my full liked songs.

[18catsreading]

Izzy: if she had hit within five --

Brennan: yeah

Rehka: could i have had it

Izzy: what would have happened?

Rehka: 95

Brennan: you would not have broken your wrisy

Izzy: ok

Rekha: oh 🙄

Ally: great checks out

[hmsmilkbone]

I am sorry. I have so much work, and I am very pregnant so I just don't have time to respond to stuff on here as much (or draw, really.) Hoping I can get into a schedule soon which allows me to paint and chat more :(

[not-poignant]

I just recently started rereading your works and wanted to ask if there was anywhere I could find them all in audio form. I found a few on Spotify but I've already finished most of them.

Thanks in advance:)

Anon, I think you have me confused with someone else.

I've never released any audiobooks. And other folks who have done podfics have certainly not uploaded them there under any recognisable search terms. (Like titles or any of my writing names).

I've certainly never given anyone permission to upload anything like that to Spotify. And a search across like 20 search terms relevant to me or my writing doesn't find anything by me there, except for my playlists. (ETA: Never mind, more eagle eyed readers found it!!)

If you're looking for the podfics, you can try the fae tales podfic tag. They're all on AO3.

ETA: It looks like at least one of the podfics has been uploaded to Spotify as an audiobook without my permission *sighs.* Anon, that's not an audiobook, it's a podfic, and I don't oversee or control those, and am not responsible for them. You should also know that it's been edited from the original story, with some words removed or replaced. Podfics are made by fans who enjoy something and are usually done with an author's permission, and placed on sites with an author's permission, but the author doesn't choose who does them and they don't have the audio files themselves.

I've never made audiobooks, and that's still true.

[casuallyhollering]

I fear that culturally we're too anti-intellectual for this conversation, but I wish we could talk about how academics are in a similar position to writers/actors/musicians in that we do all the labor for institutions like universities AND academic presses and do not get the pay, treatment, or residuals that we deserve while it all gets funneled to the higher up admin and for-profit entities

[kamil-a]

your life force ♡

[covenofthearticulate]

not to keep projecting but lmfao i could DEFINITELY see armand developing a hyperfixation on marine creatures

[mejomonster]

45,000 words done!!!

[longhandsart]

I’m really normal about him i promise

[firedragon1321]

On today's episode of "I Have No Life"-

This is gonna be A Year. *insert laugh track*

Plus I got to award myself the Weepy Writer badge because lonely Joran made me sad.

[cannibalisticskittles]

heard back about my car and it's not good lads