#when i say i love longform tv i mean i love when characters get a chance to breathe

[lisbonsteresa]

dumb little married idiots

[llycaons]

palm tree + sage !!

hi dolly!

palm tree ⇢ do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?

let's see *checks my database of media real quick* eh the only character I can think of is xue yang, just because he's so unhinged. whx is a real treat to watch, and his scenes were just fantastic. he manages to be fun and amusing despite the truly horrific things he did. and if his performances wasn't enough, the sheer power of wearing cheetah-print robes in a wuxia setting sealed the deal. 10/10 presentation but I AM glad he's dead

sage ⇢ what ‘medium’ of art (poetry, music, fiction, paintings, statues etc.) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is?

oh, I love this question! when I was an edgy high schooler I used to joke that I hated art 😭 this was foolish and short-sighted obviously, I just meant that I don't really care for the types of paintings I would see in museums. obviously I appreciate visual arts like illustration and painting now for its aesthetic and the talent that goes into it, but I can't say it really touches me emotionally. same for most songs, poetry, music....I like sculptures more than most things, but still only in a way where I think it's cool and exciting and not in a way hat I feel like, the deeper meaning of what the artist is trying to say.

my most beloved, most meaningful, and most emotional connections to art has always primarily been through storytelling, whether through animation, comics, movies, tv shows...especially longform works where I can follow a character's trajectory and watch their development. I've seen some very condescending posts about people who treat fictional characters like real people who we like personally and who we believe deserve things, and maybe that means that I'm engaging with stories on a more juvenile level than the other people Consuming Art on here, but that's what fun about it, for me. so I don't really mind? yeah it's cool to step back and see something deeper and keep that distance and objectivity but a lot of the times I like rooting for my little guys and sharing their losses and their joys.

the creation of fictional lives and people gives me that emotional connection to really feel a piece of art. I've certainly never cried at any painting or piece of classical music no matter how beautiful it may be...I just find stories about people to be the richest, most rewarding, most endlessly fascinating type of art to be invested in. from the moment my librarian introduced me to fiction to get me to read something besides animal care booklets, to my current fascination with all the worst fanfic the internet has to offer, I just have the most to say about storytelling, and my engagement in it feels the most rewarding.

as for why....idk. I'm well aware this is the majority of how people interact with fiction on here, so my reasons are probably similar to lots of other people's. I've always struggled to communicate with others, so through fiction I feel like I'm getting that sense of connection, whether I'm discovering how other people perceive the world, or seeing myself in someone else's writing. there's also the escapist appeal, but I don't think I've watched this stuff for escapism in a long time. I just like to feel connected to other people, I guess, and I find that writing and tv and other forms of linear storytelling can deliver the types of character development and engaging plot that I find very rewarding. and sometimes I just want to watch or read something that makes me stand up and walk around like

and storytelling (manga in particular - I love you yu yu hakusho) has been the only form of art to give me that

what a fun question. thank you!

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! #3: “Cats” | February 25, 2007 - 11:45PM | S01E03

We start this one with a little ad for a restaurant called Gravy Robbers, an inane family dining restaurant where the gimmick is that their very dry meat will always require gravy, and during your meal you will have to occasionally defend yourself from a “gravy robber” who comes to your table to rob said gravy. This was a holdover idea from Tom Goes to the Mayor that was previously unused. Indeed, dumb theme restaurants was very much in the Tom Goes wheel house.

Later we see snippets of a Gravy Robbers training video, featuring Tairy Greene portrayed by Zach Galifianakis. He’s so funny. Goodness. One of the few comedy people that I feel like hasn’t let me down, EVER. I like when he says gravy “grah-vee”. Eventually we get to see bloopers which is such a funny, self-indulgent thing for an instructional video to do, gosh. Zach intoning “these are traaaaained military veterans” over and over just makes me so happy, because I’m choosing to interpret this as anti-troop. And who could forget his longform Shelly Berman-esque phone bit where he reacts to his friend’s niece being murdered as if he were being told about a friend winning the lottery.

The host stuff for this is: Tim has learned a magic trick where he can turn himself into an orange little kitty cat. Tim, however, finds it hard to turn himself back, and panic sets in. Eric eventually gives the cat away, before wistfully dreaming about better times he and Tim had playing around in a park. The smug way Tim drinks but then spits out the water fountain water is so funny, and the push in on Eric’s face, as if he’s saying to himself “I was always remember this and cherish this moment”. So funny. Tim comes back from cat-transformation at the moment that Eric is dropping him off to his forever home. He is nude, and the way he moans is so weird and funny. I love it so much. Behind-the-scenes note, Eric stated on the DVD commentary that they trained cat they got for the shoot was wonderful, except it smelled like shit. 

The first of the Kidz Break bits is in this one, and this might be the best one of all. “I Sit Down When I Pee” is a spirited rap whose aim is to de-stigmatize the act of sitting down to pee when you’re a boy. The song is very funny, and its purpose is murky. Is this an educational video? Infotainment? Could it simply be a hit song? The end throws up a caption reading “Paid for by Voter Initiative Prop 216” which raises more questions than answers (and this might be one of my favorite jokes of all time!). This is an absolute all-timer. 

There’s a shot-on-the-street segment where Tim offers free portraits for tourists walking around Hollywood. Pranky stuff like this would sorta fade out of the show, if I remember correctly. Tim does a bad job drawing and acts like a very weird guy. He also says things that don’t inspire confidence like: “you only have one mouth so I’ll just do one mouth”. A uh, borderline character if you know what I mean. Tim has some borderliners on this show for sure.

There’s the tender prime time drama “Kitty Cat Man”, where two big bros hug Michael Cera for fucking hours, and then he turns into a kitty cat just like Tim did. I wonder if this is actually intended to be a TV movie based on Tim’s real-life predicament. I guess it’s not a bad thing to have two sketches in the show that are basically the same. I like it! Hey dude, funny’s funny!

Speaking of that other sketch, the way it actually ends is Tim shows Eric how to make his legs very long. This is accomplished by having Tim & Eric act on a green screen and inserted into a cartoon land with cartoon legs. They stomp around with their new long legs, oblivious to the carnage they are creating below the clouds, where they are just crushing people up. Rude way to get laughs, but the moon approves so I do not know what to think. 

Another pretty great episode. I love the Tim & Eric program.

MAIL BAG

I have so many Mail Bags, OH MY GOD

Here's a new mail for the mailbag hot off the press: Tim and Eric are GAY for EACH OTHER. Print it and ship it. Goodbye!

b-dog bites the big one:

(muttering under my breath to a shrill techno dance beat) a-fuckin podcast. a-fucking podcast. a-fucking podcast.

Wouldn’t wanna meet potty mouths like this in a dark alley, I might gets sweared on!

I was hoping you'd say G4 because videogames are super cool 8-)

I never watched that shit it was too bad. And video games are bad. Sometimes they had people affiliated with Playboy on there, and even that would not get me to watch it.

My wife was so obsessed with That's My Bush that she met the guy who plays That's My Bush and got him to fuck her. He was married. She was dating me. But that's our man.

Thank you for a rare sexual Mail Bag... illuminating as usual! It is good to know that true love prevails

I was on an episode of Jonah Ray's Bar-B-Quay and he cooked pizza and burgers on the grill for everyone on the set for like two hours after filming wrapped. Nice guy. He even took selfies with his then new Samsung Propel. Unfortunately, Har Mar Superstar was there and that guys apparently a rapist. Otherwise a great night.

Har Mar Superstore may have gotten the last laugh, but I’m glad you had a fun night. If there were any girls there let me know. I love hearing about girls

[nossbean]

Gunna do a few more of these as they’re fun and I have some random energy and I’m procrastinating! Am v open to being sent more but in the meantime:

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics? 

IMPORTANT HAND HOLDING. I did not realise this until recently but yeah HAND HOLDING THAT CONVEYS THINGS. Also a certain pattern of bickering speech that utilises a lot of em-dashes. Wind blows hair a lot. I am literally about to remove this from a draft of something because I think I return to that well TOO OFTEN. Close study of faces/expressions. I’d like to say problem solving but perhaps more accurate would be characters who listen to each other, both by way of literally listening when they’re being spoken to but also listening to things unsaid and communicated in other ways. Connected to this, making room and space for one another. Caretaking. ngl though I’m circling back to hand holding because that is the first thing that came to mind when I read this question and YEAH. HAND HOLDING OF IMPORTANCE.

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of? 

I’m proud of the worldbuilding in the Thor AU, even if I’m unlikely to go back to it. I think a lot of the meshing of ASOIAF and Ragnarok worlds worked really well and it was a lot of fun finding ways to marry them. I’m also pretty pleased with the worldbuilding in the politics AU. I have pages and pages of notes which is very pleasing!

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue? 

I love both of these challenges! I’ve done versions of both: there’s a section in the politics AU which is only dialogue and the next # of witness to the arc towards the sun only has one line of dialogue. If I were to set out to do one or the other with Jaime/Brienne, I’d probably lean towards no dialogue as I’m writing more with their book characters in mind: I find dialogue-only challenges easier with TV/film canons than book canons because I’m not great at imagining voices for book characters whereas actor’s performances really linger. For instance, I wrote a longform dialogue-only fic back in the Merlin times which I really liked.

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write? 

On the computer is best, but I do write on my phone. Actually, handwritten is tier, but I don’t do that much any more. I do think it affects the way I write: writing on my phone changes how I perceive the length of something and particularly what feels like a hefty paragraph.

Hmmm actually I’m amending my earlier statement: I think bursts of writing are great on the phone, in large part because of the previous description, it makes me feel super productive and like I’m getting my ideas down and out in really satisfying ways, even if when I open it later to edit, it’s in need of A Lot of Work.

Computer is better for editing and sitting down for a deliberate, dedicated writing period. Also good for writing sprints. It also means I have a better sense of how much I’m actually writing, and for editing purposes, a better sense of how things are coming together and the flow of the text, both in the storytelling sense and visually. Is it a block of text? is it sparse? in between? etc.

Handwriting stuff is invaluable for brainstorming and also for afternoons sitting in the park and just fucking going at the writing, no distractions, just me and the paper. I find that, as with writing on my phone, I think I’ve written more than I actually have when I handwrite BUT there is significantly less editing-while-writing that happens which is handy for getting things out and getting into a flow.

[philcoulsonismyhero]

Fic Writer Interview

I got tagged by the excellent @astriiformes Ages ago to do this fic writer interview thing, and I’m finally getting around it! So here goes...

Name:

Mairi (sounds like 'marry'), Kamemor over on AO3 (after a particularly cool Romulan politician in a Star Trek novel, if you were wondering)

Fandoms:

Currently, I'm writing a lot of RWBY fic and that's unlikely to change because I'm deep in Special Interest Hell with no signs of coming up for air. In the past, I've also written a bunch of stuff for Criminal Minds and The Flash/DCTV. I've got a lot of other fandoms, but those are the main ones I've written for.

Two-shot:

Assuming this is asking if I've ever written one, technically no. But I do have a series (Just Hold On, a RWBY fix-it) that currently consists of two fics which could stand alone as they are, although I have plans to continue that one for quite a few more fics if I can find the motivation and time. And I guess I also have a couple of fics that I could have split into two chapters because they switch from one POV to another about halfway through. I like to stick to third person limited POV, and that means I often have section breaks when I want to switch from one character's perspective to another's, and for a two-person scene that usually means two sections. But I like the oneshot structure, and usually I don't feel like what I'm writing is long enough to split into chapters.

Most popular multi-chapter:

I only have one true multi-chapter fic, and it's Moving Forward, a Flash fic based on the idea of Reverse Flash being taken prisoner at the end of s1 rather than being wiped from existence. It's technically still unfinished, but I got a lot of lovely comments on that one a few years back when I was posting it, including a few folks that went through and commented on each chapter and really made my day. Maybe one day I'll actually finish it...

The only other thing I have that’s multi-chapter is a collection of missing scene ficlets, also Flash fic, but that doesn’t really count.

Actual worst part of writing:

My brain tends to be very visual when I'm writing fanfic for a TV show, and few things are as annoying as knowing exactly the facial expression someone is pulling and having No Idea how to describe it in words. Same with tones of voice. Also, I tend to jump straight into writing the bits of scenes that are most interesting to me, and going back and adding in the context that you need to make something actually readable for someone that isn't you can be a bit tiresome.

How you choose your titles:

It depends, tbh. A lot of my older fics are titled with short verb phrases that are pretty straightforward (like 'Moving Forward' or 'Breaking the Cycle'), but recently I've rather enjoyed using song lyrics. Most of my RWBY fics have lyric titles either from songs from the show itself or songs that I've got on my extensive Ironwood character playlist or otherwise just quite like and feel like they fit. I don't tend to find titles all that difficult, and I've got a fair few WIPs that have them already.

Do you outline:

Again, depends on the fic. With longer ones, yes, usually as a list of bullet points describing what happens. But shorter missing scene fics or things that I bashed out in only one or two sessions and only follow a single conversation tend not to be outlined because they just flow as I write them. I've got some more extensive outlines for a few of the fix-it AUs I've been playing with, but even then they're just bullet point lists or mostly held in my own head.

Ideas I probably won't get around to but wouldn't it be nice:

I have. So many. Most of them are RWBY fix-it fic, which is fun to write at the moment of divergence but then A Huge Endeavour to follow any further than that. I’ve planned out a bunch of different shapes for where the three different versions I’ve already written and posted would go, but there’s only one of them that I’m really continuing (aforementioned two fic series). Although I have a dilemma there, because the climax of the story arc that I figured out for that ‘verse would work even better in the other one that focuses more on Penny & Ironwood. But it’s not as simple as just throwing the idea into continuity with that one, because there’s a Major difference between the two in that in one of them, Qrow was the one who got through to Ironwood, and in the other they kinda hate each other over the whole ‘I blame you (and also me but mostly you) for Clover’s death’ thing, so I’d have to plot out a completely different relationship arc there which would have a knock-on impact on how well Ironwood is dealing with everything else. Canon divergence fic! it’s a good time.

I’ve also got So Much other RWBY fic in bits and pieces in various Google docs, it’s ridiculous. (Including a superhero AU that I’m rather fond of conceptually, but don’t really have a solid arc plot for.) A lot of it would be nice to get into a publishable state, but I probably won’t ever be bothered to.

On the not-RWBY front, I've also got a big Criminal Minds/Silent Witness crossover that I've planned out all the beats of, but actually writing it means coming up with the specific details of the murders and the autopsy scenes and a whole lot of technical stuff that I'm not comfortable just winging based on what I've seen on TV. But I also don't like researching real life crime stuff even though I love a good crime drama, so you see my dilemma. I like casefic in theory, but in practice I'm probably not going to write much of it. 

Callouts @ me:

Just because you’re an insomniac who mostly writes fic at night rather than sleeping doesn’t mean that every conversation fic has to happen as a result of one or both characters being unable to sleep, my dude. There are Other circumstances in which people talk to each other.

Best writing traits:

I’m good at character voice, although that’s a pretty standard thing to be good at. I also really like unconventional crossovers, I’ve gotten pretty good at playing around with conversations between characters who never met or aren’t even from the same universe and coming up with a believable dynamic for them. I also like to think that I’m good at getting into the heads of awkward characters and figuring out which bits to poke at in order to get them to do things they didn’t do in canon. (And figuring out how they rationalised the things they did actually do.) That’s a big reason why I liked writing Reverse Flash, the complicated bastard, and it’s why I’m having so much fun with Ironwood now. You’ve really got to work at him to get him to change direction, great big stubborn disaster that he is, and I think I’ve rather gotten the hang of that.

Spicy tangential opinion:

People should write more longfic focused on gen relationships. Some of the most fascinating relationships in stories, at least to me, are the ones between people you’d never expect to be friends, or between adults and the kids they feel responsible for who also feel kinda responsible for them, and that makes for a (imho) much more interesting story than most ships. I Live for a good complicated mentor/mentee relationship, but I hate looking for fic about them because then I have to deal with the fact that a lot of people ship those relationships and it squicks me out. Give me the longfics about types of relationships I actually care about!

(This whole thing is a good 40% of the reason that I’ve ended up get absorbed in planning out a RWBY Vol8 re-write where the parallels and the newly complicated relationship between Ruby and Ironwood is The Main Agenda. (The other 60% of the reason being ‘[x character] deserved better’.) There’s some Really Good Stuff there and I want to play with it in more of a longform situation than my usual oneshots.)

No pressure tagging:

@squireofgeekdom , @catgirlalchemist , and anyone else who wants to give it a go! Feel free to say I tagged you :D

[fullregalia]

20/20.

This year, in hindsight, was a real write-off. I had grand plans for it, and while I ushered it in in a very low-key manner since I was recovering from the flu, I’d expected things to look up. Well, you know what they say about plans (RIP, my trip to Europe). I got very, very sick in early February, and I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t COVID. Since March, the days have been a carousel of monotony: coffee, run, work, cook, yoga, existential spiral, sleep. My Own Private Year of Rest and Relaxation, if you will. Of course, life has a way of breaking through regardless; I attended protests, completed my thesis, graduated from grad school, took a couple of road trips upstate, and celebrated the accomplishments and birthdays of friends and family from a safe social distance. It was all a bit of a blur, and not ideal circumstances to re-enter the real world, or whatever this COVID-present is. 

Throughout it all, in lieu of happy hours, coffee dates, and panel discussions, I’ve turned even more to culture and cuisine to fill the the negative space on my calendar where my social life once resided. However, since a global pandemic ought not to disrupt every tradition, here’s my year-end round up of what made this terrible one slightly more tolerable. 

TV

After an ascetic fall semester abstaining from TV in 2019 (save for my beloved Succession), I allowed myself to watch more as the year wore on, and especially after graduation. I caught up on some cultural blind spots by finally getting around to The Sopranos, Ramy, Search Party, and Girlfriends. I wasn’t alone in bingeing Sopranos, it absolutely lived up to the hype and then some; this Jersey Girl can’t get enough gabagool-adjacent content, pizzeria culture is my culture!

Speaking of my culture, there was also a disproportionate amount of UK and European shows in my queue. Nothing like being in social isolation and watching the horny Irish teens in Normal People brood. I’m partial to it because I share a surname with the showrunner, so I have to embrace blind loyalty even though there was, in my opinion, a Marianne problem in the casting. Speaking of charming Irish characters with limited emotional vocabularies, I belatedly discovered This Way Up a 2019 show from Aisling Bea and Sharon Horgan. And while Connell and Marianne are actually exceptional students, I found the real normal people on GBBO to bring me a bit more joy. Baking was abundantly therapeutic for me this year, and watching charming people drink loads of tea and fret over soggy bottoms was a comfort. I also discovered the Great Pottery Throw Down, and as a lifelong ceramics enthusiast, I cannot recommend it highly enough if you care about things like slips, coils, and glazing techniques. GPTD embraces wabi sabi in a way that GBBO eschews flaws in favor of perfection, and in a time of uncertainty, the former reminded me why I miss getting my hands in the mud as a coping mechanism (hence all the baking). Speaking of coping mechanisms, like everybody else with two eyes and an HBO password, I loved Michaela Cole’s I May Destroy You; though we’ve all had enough distress this year for a lifetime, watching Cole’s Arabella process her assault and search for meaning, justice, and closure was a compelling portrait of grief and purpose in the aftermath of trauma. Arabella’s creative and patient friends Kwame and Terry steal the show throughout, as they deal with their own setbacks and emotional turmoil. Where I May Destroy You provides catharsis, Ted Lasso presents British eccentricity in all its stereotypical glory. At first I was skeptical of the show’s hype on Twitter, but once I gave in it charmed me, if only for Roy Kent’s emotional trajectory and extolling the restorative powers of shortbread. For a more accurate depiction of life in London, Steve McQueen’s series Small Axe provides a visually lush and politically clear-eyed depiction of the lives of British West Indians in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Lastly, how could I get through a recap of my year in tv if I don’t mention The Crown. Normal People may have needed an intimacy coordinator, but the number of Barbours at Balmoral was the real phonographic content for me.

Turning my attention across the Channel, after the trainwreck that was Emily in Paris, I started watching a proper French show, Call My Agent! It’s truly delightful, and unlike the binge-worthy format of "ambient shows” I have been really relishing taking an hour each week to watch CMA, subtitles, cigarettes, and all.

Honorable mention: The Last Dance for its in-depth look at many notable former Chicago residents; High Fidelity for reminding me of the years in college when my brother and I would drive around listening to Beta Band; and Big Mouth.

Music

My Spotify wrapped this year was a bit odd. I don‘t think “Chromatica II into 911″ is technically a song, so it revealed other things about my listening habits this year, which turned out to remain very much stuck in the last, sonically. I listened to a lot more podcasts than new music this year, but there were some records that found their way into heavy rotation. While I listened to a lot of classics both old and new to write my thesis (Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, Prokofiev, and Bach) the soundtrack to my coursework, runs, walks, and editing was more contemporary. Standouts include: 

Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee, which makes me feel like I’m breathing fresh air even when I’m stuck inside all day 

La Bella Vita by Niia, which was there for me when I walked past my ex on 7th avenue (twice!) and he pretended that I didn’t exist 

Fetch the Bolt Cutters by THEE Fiona Apple, because Fiona, our social distancing queen, has always been my Talmud, her songs shimmering, evolving, and living with me every year 

Shore by Fleet Foxes, for the long drive to the Catskills 

Women in Music, Pt. III by HAIM, because these days, these days...

Musicians have been reckoning with tumult this year as much as the rest of us, and the industry has dealt with loss on all fronts. I’d be remiss not to talk about how the passing of John Prine brought his music into my life, and McCoy Tyner, who has been a companion through good and bad over the years. 

Honorable mention to: græ by Moses Sumney; The Main Thing by Real Estate; on the tender spot of every calloused moment by Ambrose Akinmusire; Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers; folklore by you know who; and songs by Adrianne Lenker. 

Reading

What would this overlong blob be without a list of the best things I read this year? While I left publishing temporarily, books, the news, and newsletters still took up a majority of my attention (duh and/or doomscrolling by any other name). I can’t be comprehensive, and frankly, there are already great roundups of the best longform this year out there, so this is mostly books and praising random writers. 

Last year I wrote about peak newsletter. Apparently, my prediction was a bit premature as this year saw an even bigger Substack Boom. But two new newsletters in particular have delighted me: Aminatou Sow’s Crème de la Crème and Hunter Harris’ Hung Up (her ”this one line” series is true force of chaotic good on Blue Ivy’s internet). Relatedly, Sow and Ann Friedman’s Big Friendship was gifted to me by a dear friend and another bff and I are going to read it in tandem next week. 

On the “Barack Obama published a 700+ page memoir, crippling the printing industry’s supply chains” front, grad school severely hamstrung my ability to read for pleasure, but I managed to get through almost 30 books this year, some old (Master and Margarita), most new-ish (Say Nothing, Nickel Boys). Four 2020 books in particular enthralled me:

Uncanny Valley: Anna Wiener’s memoir has been buzzed about since n+1 published her essay of the same name in 2016. Her ability to see, clear-eyed, the industry for both its foibles and allure captured that era when the excess and solipsism of the Valley seemed more of a cultural quirk than the harbinger of societal schism.  

Transcendent Kingdom: Yaa Gyasi’s novel about faith, family, loss, and--naturally--grad school was deeply empathetic, relatable, and moving. I think this was my favorite book of the year. Following the life of a Ghanaian family that settles in Alabama, it captured the kind of emotional ennui that comes from having one foot in the belief of childhood and one foot in the bewilderment that comes from losing faith in the aftermath of tragedy.  

Vanishing Half: Similarly to Transcendent Kingdom, Brit Bennett’s novel about siblings who are separated; it’s also about the ways that colorism can be internalized and the ways chosen family can (and cannot) replace your real kin. It was a compassionate story that captured the pain of abuse and abandonment in two pages in a way that Hanya Yanagihara couldn’t do in 720.

Dessert Person: Ok, so this is a cookbook, but it’s a good read, and the recipes are approachable and delicious. After all the BA Test Kitchen chaos this summer, it’s nice we didn’t have to cancel Claire. Make the thrice baked rye cookies!!!! You will thank me later.

Honorable mention goes to: Leave The World Behind for hitting the Severance/Station Eleven dystopian apocalypse novel sweet spot; Exciting Times for reminding me why I liked Sally Rooney; and Summer by Ali Smith, which wasn’t the strongest of the seasonal quartet, but was a series I enjoyed for two years.  

Podcasts

I’m saving my most enthusiastic section for last: ever since 2018, I’ve been listening to an embarrassing amount of podcasts. Moving into a studio apartment will do that to you, as will grad school, add a pandemic to that equation and there’s a lot of time to fill with what has sort of become white noise to me (or, in one case, nice white parents noise). In addition to the shows that I’ve written about before (Still Processing, Popcast, Who? Weekly, and Why is This Happening?), these are the shows I started listening to this year that fueled my parasocial fire:

You’re Wrong About: If you like history, hate patriarchy, and are a millennial, you’ll love Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes’ deep dives into the most notable stories of the past few decades (think Enron and Princess Diana) and also some other cultural flashpoints that briefly but memorably shaped the national discourse (think Terri Schiavo, Elian González, and the Duke Lacrosse rape case).

Home Cooking: This mini series started (and ended) during the pandemic. As someone who stress baked her way through the past nine months, Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway’s show is filled with warmth, banter, and useful advice. Home Cooking has been a reassuring companion in the kitchen, and even though it will be a time capsule once we’re all vaccinated and close talking again, it’s still worth a listen for tips and inspiration while we’re hunkered down for the time being. 

How Long Gone: I don’t really know how to explain this other than saying that media twitter broke my brain and enjoying Chris Black and Jason Stewart’s ridiculous banter is the price I pay for it.

Blank Check: Blank Check is like the GBBO of podcasts--Griffin Newman and David Sims’ enthusiasm for and encyclopedic knowledge of film, combined with their hilarious guests and inevitable cultural tangents is always a welcome distraction. Exploring a different film from a director’s oeuvre each week over the course of months, the podcast delves into careers and creative decisions with the passion of completists who want to honor the filmmaking process even when the finished products end up falling short. The Nancy Meyers and Norah Ephron series were favorites because I’d seen most of the movies, but I also have been enjoying the Robert Zemeckis episodes they’re doing right now. The possibility of Soderbergh comes up often (The Big Picture just did a nice episode about/with him), and I’d love to hear them talk about his movies or Spike Lee (or, obviously, Martin Scorsese).      

Odds & Ends

If you’re still reading this, you’re a real one, so let’s get into the fun stuff. This was a horrible way to start a new decade, but at least we ended our long national nightmare. We got an excellent dumb twitter meme. I obviously made banana bread, got into home made nut butters, and baked an obscene amount of granola as I try to manifest a future where I own a Subaru Outback. Amanda Mull answered every question I had about Why [Insert Quarantine Trend] Happens. My brother started an organization that is working to eliminate food insecurity in LA. Discovering the Down Dog app allowed me to stay moderately sane, despite busting both of my knees in separate stupid falls on the criminally messed up sidewalks and streets of Philadelphia. I can’t stop burning these candles. Jim Carrey confused us all. We have a Jewish Second Gentleman! Grub Street Diets continued to spark joy. Dolly Parton remains America’s Sweetheart (and possible vaccine savior). And, last, but certainly not least: no one still knows how to pronounce X Æ A-12 Boucher-Musk.

[comicteaparty]

March 25th-March 31st, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from March 25th,  2020 to March 31st, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

How many pages/how long is the ideal webcomic for you?  When do you feel something has gone on too long?

Feather J. Fern

I know I usually think anything that is over 500 chapters a bit too long for a manga series, but I do have a bunch of long running favourites. But they are comedy and gag series. I do like an ending to my stories, sometimes if it keeps oging and going, I know more is good but sometimes more is too much. I know a webtoon I really liked ended around 300 episodes, and it was long running.

I think as long as I can see the end of something I don't think it's too long. Also no chapters that don't contribue to the plot. Sometimes a lot of the time, people pad out a fun chapter for webcomics but it is just too long and starts to get boring. 4 to 5 pages of fun times it a good refresher, but when it's like 20 pages of just them chilling at a pool with NO CHARACTER DELEVOPMENT (Like this is key, if there is a plotline about teaching a character to swim, that makes sense, if there is no delevopment that's a problem)

carcarchu

you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. a webcomic can keep going as long as the content continues to be meaningful and productive but once an author starts needlessly dragging stuff out just for the sake of continuing last past the point where they actually had anything meaningful to say with it that's when it's gone on too long. i'm all for fun bonus content like "what happened after the main story ended!" but there's limits to how far that can go. once the "bonus content" goes on near as long or longer than the actual meat of the story it starts to get painful to read. i'd much rather see a series end with dignity than see a long long drawn out conclusion that no one actually wants to slog through. on the flipside a series is too short when there's not enough time to develop an attachment for the characters or you DO develop an attachment and then poof story's over

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Yesss, very apt quote there.

There are some ongoing comics with multi-thousand-strip archives that I'm caught up with, and when something has kept me interested for that long, it feels like the creators have hit a perfect groove and could keep it up forever. Skin Horse has lapped 4k, Schlock Mercenary is over 7k, and Kevin & Kell leads the pack at a bewildering 8k... But part of why it works is that they're very episodic, ensemble-cast series. They can introduce new problems at any time, resolve those while introducing more, jump to a whole different group of characters for a month in a row without missing a beat. The ideal length for a comic that's "one central story, tightly-focused on the arc(s) of a small core group of protagonists, all building to a single main climax" is way shorter, it would feel badly-paced and exhausting if it dragged on that long.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

As someone who expects their comic to reach fairly far in length, I don't think I'm comfortable judging any comic for any length it has ahahah. If it continues to hold my attention, length doesn't matter to me at all.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I agree that as long as the pacing is good and the overall direction is clear, the specific length isn’t too important to me

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I’ve followed really long webcomic series like The Pirate Balthazar, and it really depends how flexible you are with genre. Because I noticed that in a few cases, if it goes on long enough, the webcomic may shift in tone. I like PB because I don’t mind its shift from action comedy to slice of life comedy, but many people might not share the same sentiments. I usually think a webcomic grows and develops as the artist/author grows. Maybe the changes will appeal or alienate the readers.(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I'm of the "the longer the better" camp, but I like the story to be neatly structured into volumes, each their own little finished story that still add up to a bigger whole. Kinda like a good novel series, you know?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Massive comic archives do intimidate me at first glance - but if I'm hooked after the first chapter, then the path to the end seems all that more reasonable and fun. If the first chapter doesn't grab me, though, then the comic's length starts looking like a chore. I guess that's the case for any story, but yeah, personally, it's all about that first little hill. Get me over it, and it's smooth sailing from then on

RebelVampire

For me ideal length would actually probably depend a bit on genre. For things like horror or slice-of-life, I tend to prefer comics be a bit shorter. For me horror loses its fear factor after a point if it goes on too long. And slice-of-life I find better in small doses. Then there's things like fantasy and sci-fi, who like novels, generally should be longer cause you need more time for world-building. Then there's gag-a-day which in all essence can go onto infinity as long as the writing is still good. That being said, with the exception to gag-a-day, for genres I prefer shorter, I generally prefer them to be less than 300 pages, and for fantasy and sci-fi, I prefer less than 600. Which sounds like a lot of pages, but I've read plenty of comics with that amount that are still ongoing. Now of course, plenty of exceptions here, because if a comic is still good, it could go on for much longer for all I really care. However, just based on my personal experiences, I find for a good majority anything more than that and the comics are more likely to start dragging and padding their story too much. Also, these choices are for practicality cause I've seen a lot of comics get defeated by indefinite hiatus, and I find comics not finishing a huge disappointment. Not that I blame creators for having to move on in life, but just because I understand doesn't mean I don't get sad.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Oooof, 300 pages is not that much for fantasy to me, haha That's less than 10 chapters in the case of my comic. As a reader however, I agree with much of what was said before: as long as the story still has purpose, the length doesn't really matter. But that's more a matter of pacing than length. The only time length deters me is when I'm reading a comic for the first time, and it's over 100 chapters and still ongoing. Then, the concern becomes: "How will I ever find the time to read all this?" But there have been a few comics I started reading relatively close to when they first came out, and they went on for years and 500+ chapters. As long as the pacing is still good, it can go on forever imo.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

How do you feel about long comics with dedicated jump-on points so that you don't have to fight through the really early archives, like schlock mercenary? Because for me it makes a huge difference if there's a dedicated "join the story here!", or if you have to start from the absolute beginning.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Ah....

I'm not really a fan, because I'd feel like I'm missing something

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Same

RebelVampire

I imagine that was directed at Cronaj, but I actually do want to answer that cause it's an interesting subtopic. And my answer is can't do it. I'm a read for the absolute beginning or no dice even when give the option. I've tried jump-on points, and I really struggle because there'll be a) pre-established relationships between characters (even if its just insider jokes) I can't connect with and b) a fandom that does know the beginning and will chat about it and you wind up auto ostracized

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, like I know some people who can jump into the a TV show starting from like, episode 4 season 2 if they get some basic explanation of prior episodes. I am not one of those people.

Same with comics

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Same

I feel so left out

And I'll have to keep asking potentially stupid questions

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I can't even ask questions because I don't have enough info to form questions

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

the sad truth

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I feel that too usually I have to go on the show's trope page to catch up

but at the same time, I also still feel a bit left out

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

If the comic is worth reading, the first 100 pages are worth reading to me

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yep

Me too

It's more a matter of, do I have the time to read this comic at all?

Which I wish didn't come into my decision at all, but it does :/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's understandable, really

not enough time in the world

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

so basically

make it worth the readers' while

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

For the right readers.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

fair enough go straight for the jugular and don't hold back XD

eli [a winged tale]

I love longforms and if I’m invested, I’m there for the entire ride, no matter how long. Will agree with Rebel that it’s heartbreaking when long stories go on hiatuses (but of course, that’s life). As for jump points, I’m one where I can hop on and if I’m intrigued, start from the beginning. I have built in season trailers for this since one of the webtoons, Hooky, seemed to have used it to good effect. One interesting thing that I love is seeing the art grow with time. It’s always so interesting to see the change and the growth.

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

fair enough go straight for the jugular and don't hold back XD

@shadowhood (SunnyxRain) LOL your quote always sound like you're a hunter ready for a kill

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

OH MY GOD

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

that's a great point, Eli. I feel he same. Where it depends on the series, I don't mind long form, but I have to read from the start, because the later episodes will have relationships or events I have 'missed out'. I can tell when a creator has either a) interest in world building, which explains a longer series, or 2) interest in relationship development, which tends to be a little shorter in stories. I've read comics that are in-between which is fasinating and imo, hard to juggle. Oh yes, artstyle change motivates me and what I often recommend to friends. Even if your artstyle isn't up to your standard, it will slowly evolved. It gives me inspiration not to redo series. (if I can help it)(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, if the art is CLEAR enough -- both simple event/action-wise and mood-wise -- then it's good enough. It doesn't need to be amazing.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

a lot of long term webcomic series also tend to improve on their art

so as you post it, over time you'll find yourself improving because you've forced yourself to draw so much

[reactingtosomething]

The Rare and Realistic Female Friendships of The Bold Type

The Setup: The Bold Type is a new show on Freeform (formerly ABC Family), and Miri is a tv addict with self control issues.

I never meant to fall in love with The Bold Type. We’re still in the thick of Peak TV, and part of my job is staying at least conversant on a wide range of tv. Plus I’m 26 and only sort of know what I’m doing with my life, so sometimes I really need to stress-watch 7 1/2 hours of Friends/Gilmore Girls/Grey’s Anatomy. Between the two, there’s not a lot of time to fall in love with something new.

But I truly loved Aisha Dee’s performance in Sweet/Vicious (RIP my favorite new show of last season), it seemed like fun, and the ad campaign was pretty effective, so obviously I was planning to at least watch the pilot.

And then I saw this bit of wisdom:

Kids, if you’re not following Caroline Framke on Twitter, you’re missing out.

That description sounds like about 8 different things I love, so that’s a great starting point. But what really gets me is what every decent creative writing professor will tell you is the note behind the note—it’s not that the setting is modernized or that the romantic relationships are a little less Straight and Narrow than their 2003 counterparts were (although YES #kadena). It’s that the core of the story has finally, finally gotten a makeover. This is a story about and (largely) for women that is actually about women and their genuine relationships to each other.

Wait a minute, you might say. 2000’s era romcoms were about women! Katherine Heigl played so many women who were type-a, had given up love for a (still conventionally feminine) career and wanted love but not from the bad boy with the secret hard of gold! All of those women were women.

And they totally talked to other women, right? ….Right? They had friends. Or at least self-absorbed sisters/employees. They definitely had ponytails and spoke to each other at some point. One was Judy Greer that one time.

Please note that I unabashedly love every single one of these movies. But that ^ is the best gif of two women speaking to each other I could find and let’s not pretend that that is ok.

What I’m trying to say is that The Bold Type is a goddamn breath of fresh air in a way we’ve been largely conditioned out of expecting: the women are friends with each other.

That is foundation the entire show rests upon. It’s far from the only thing going on—there’s romance, personal ambition, sex, socioeconomic differences, cyberbullying, immigration, and a LOT more—but the fact that Kat, Sutton, and Jane have each other to bounce off of and come back to informs it all.

When Jane (Katie Stevens) makes it out of the assistant pool, her friends are there to celebrate, not tear her down. 

When Sutton (Meghann Fahy) is unable to take a leap for her career because she doesn’t have enough financial security, her friends are her sounding boards, her cheerleaders, and her safety net.

I’M NOT STILL CRYING ABOUT THIS, IT’S FINE.

When Kat (Aisha Dee) is a little bit unreasonable (about her own cyber safety, about the realities of being a Muslim seeking a visa in this country, about workplace politics, etc.), her friends are secure enough in their relationship to call her out about it. And she (eventually) listens.

When Jane reveals that she’s never had an orgasm, her friends offer to help her figure it out AND remind her that there’s nothing wrong with her either way.

And when Kat is unsure of whether or not she’s unsure of her sexuality, she has her friends to talk to without fear.

I could have written volumes about Kat’s coming out, but many people have done so gorgeously already. I’ll content myself with this: Not only is Kat a queer woman of color, which is an intersection we see too rarely in media, she is also someone who began questioning her sexuality as an adult without having to be ashamed or made the butt of any jokes. The importance of characters like Kat cannot be overstated right now.

Why do female friendships matter so much?

Because they are a part of life that—like many parts of women’s lives—is so rarely shown in media. There has never been a period of my life when none of my core relationships were with other women. This is true for just about every woman I know, but it’s not true on most tv shows. Even a lot of “chic flick” movies and tv shows are predicated on a frenemy relationship. And even more often they’re about one woman and her dynamics with men. The women of The Bold Type have very important relationships with men (romantic and otherwise), but those are not their only relationships or even their most important ones.

Love interests will probably come and go—longform storytelling dies without conflict and change, and while The Bold Type seems delightfully committed to the primary sources of both being the characters’ jobs and ambitions, not every romantic relationship can last. Their jobs will evolve. I bet one or more of our protagonists will leave Scarlet, if only briefly. And I’m sure there will even be fights at some point. But at the end of the day (or the season), I’m confident that Jane, Sutton, and Kat will have each other to come back to.

And that means we will have them to come back to.

So plop down on your couch/bed/floor, Snapchat your girls, be kinda gay if that’s your thing.

Although I’m still hoping for a show to actually say the world bisexual with the kind of blind-but-jaded hope only a girl who moves to LA and still thinks “Hey, maybe it’ll rain” every time the sun isn’t literally staring her in the face can have.

The Bold Type is that rare show that comes out of the gate feeling fully formed AND holds onto that strong sense of identity. That fact, like everything else on the show, is rooted in the love Sutton, Jane, and Kat have for each other. That’s what makes it all work, and damn does it work.

There’s a lot more to be said about The Bold Type: about the subversion of the Dragon Lady older woman boss trope (Melora Hardin of The Office and Transparent plays Scarlet’s EIC), about how shockingly moving Aisha Dee’s performance during the Soul Cycle sequence is, about the importance of sexual autonomy and the fact that that can mean not having sex at all for some people, about Jane’s realization that we’re never as woke as we hoped we were but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve, about the use of confined physical spaces like the closet and the elevator to convey intimacy, and so much more.

Hopefully @writerininky113 and @whenlifegivesulemon will start watching soon and we’ll have a full Reaction. For now, you can watch The Bold Type on Freeform (Tuesdays, 9/8c) and Hulu.

Also the soundtrack is full of jams and I’ve been listening to the spotify playlist semi-constantly for the last 3 weeks.

[yeslabyrinth]

IMPROV: A NEW RELIGION WITH THE SAME OLD FAULTS  (HUMANS)

When you first get into improv, it's very much like finding a new, wonderful religion. Everyone is super nice, supportive, and you are learning all these exciting principles, and beliefs that make you feel like part of something bigger than yourself. It can truly be a cathartic experience. But soon you start hearing rumblings, and attacks on other people within your own belief structure. You start to see that humans have found ways to make what you thought was "Us", into "Us vs Them Who Are A Lot Like Us".  In religion it comes as, "Those Lutherans are too obsessed with the Gospel, but we know glory to God is what is most important thing.", or, "You know those Presbyterians say the Lord's prayer in a weird way." In improv you'll hear, "Those UCB people are too obsessed with Game, but we know relationship is what is most important.", or, "You know those short form people are a weird breed."

 Ahhh! Can I not escape the drama of life in this thing that is supposed to be my escape from life!?!?!?!?!? The answer is yes, and no. You will have opinions on these divides, and you should, but like religion, the fault comes when you let these minor differences of opinion make you feel superior, or that you have the "right" answer, instead of just what you have found works for you.  

 And I will not try to act above this. If you tell me you don't, "Get into the philosophy of improv.", I will scream (internally), "Than what do you practice! And why!?!?", or if you tell me you don't "play game", but do a premise based opening to generate ideas, I will think, "Suuuuuure. You don't play game."

 I'm not void of opinions, but I think where improv can go off the rails is when we get too distracted by these details, and forget to focus on the fact that we all want the same things in an improv community: Fellowship, friends, laughter, and seeing great comedy made up on the spot. So, with that, here are some things that we often argue over, but actually completely agree on.

 1.) We want to see performers committed to what they are doing.

 Whether you are playing game, doing a short form set, or building a slow relationship in a monoscene, we ALL want performers who are committed to what they are doing on stage. We don't want to see people who are selling out their scene partners, dropping their character, not acting to their best of their ability, being ironically detached, or texting on their phones while on the sideline(yes, I have seen this). Regardless of your preference on style of play, I think you'd rather see a committed short form set, than an ironically detached Harold.

 2.) A rising tide raises all boats.

 Even in Kansas City, we can get into the trap of thinking, "I do improv this way, and only this way.", which, if you want to feel that way, do so, but know that getting outside of your comfort zone is the only way you ever learn new skills. No guitarist ever mastered the blues, and then thought, "I have nothing to learn from jazz." Well, they may have, and I guarantee they stagnated as an artist. What we can agree on is if Theater A is doing well, Theater B gains from it. If someone got into improv by seeing a show at B, but then found out they dig Theater A more, you both gained a fan of improv in your community, who could go on to spread that joy exponentially. If Theater A is doing a lot better monetarily than Theater B, at least the love of improv in your city is growing, the amount of people who want to learn how to do improv is growing, and maybe one day down the road the popularity of the theaters flip (if the history  of Chicago improv is any example). No matter what, your WHOLE city grows from it, as well as the art form.

 3.) What works for me may not work for others.

 Language is a fickle thing. I am a super believer in Game style play the way UCB has worded it. It works perfectly for me in a way I understand. Some super talented performers I know, can't stand it, but I will watch them play, and think they are playing game. They have a way of approaching improv that is different than mine, but ends up with a finished product I absolutely love. So, I have to understand that my way of thinking is just that. My way. Now, this can get a bit more complicated if you're on the same team and using different terminology, or the same words with different meanings, and you may need to sit down, and ask each other, "What do you mean by relationship?", "What do you mean you want to focus on character?", but those things can be worked out(and honestly need to be worked out as a whole. A universal improv language has so many benefits, but that’s a rambling for another day). If you have the hubris to think you have a solution on how to do perfect improv every time, please share it. If not, know that not every great baseball player stands, and holds the bat the same, but you gotta respect what works for them when you see the results.

 4.) Short form is a vital part of this art form.

 Now, this is my final, and probably most controversial thing to say we all agree on. The short form vs longform discussion is a question like Mary Ann or Ginger? New York style or deep dish? It is a matter of tastes, and what you want from your improv. Personally, I prefer longform simply because the time constraints of a short form set make it hard to do my favorite things in improv. Callbacks, characters that develop and get richer over the set, and the occasional slow, patient burn of a monoscene. Does this mean these things can never be done in short form? Of course not.  I have seen them all, including the monoscene, happen in short form sets. It's just statistically less likely in a form where there are these set-ups to punch lines we have to deliver on in less than five minutes. By no means do I think this makes short form inferior. Just less likely to satisfy my improv cravings. With that said, there is no arguing that short form is a vital part of the art form. You'd be hard pressed to find a great improviser who never does it, at least in warm-ups and instruction, and even harder pressed to find someone who thinks it has no value. Short form for a lot of theaters gets people to see a show that is instantly recognizable and engaging. In fact, I'd say most of the people reading this probably got into longform through seeing short form improv at a club, or through tv. And if they didn't, I guarantee, the people that got them into improv did. Short form is fun, it's got a wide appeal, and that again, makes more people become familiar with the entire thing that is improv. Shortform is a gateway drug that can become a lot of people's favorite vice. Don't deflate it because it's not what gets you high.  

  These are my non-religious, religiously held beliefs, on a non-religious religion. Take them with a grain of salt, and let others do the same.

[mannatea]

100daysofwriting: Day 2, Motivation Part II

Still late, but moving along. :)  Prompts courtesy of @the-wip-project​!

Day 2: (For your current WIP!) What motivates you to write this specific story? What makes this story special for you? Is there a special twist/trope/setting you want to explore? What got you started on this particular story?

I think I should start this off by kind of....going over what I consider my “current” WIP: a novelization of a certain Hallmark TV series that I’ve been following for years which is based loosely on a novel series written by an author I’ve followed for even longer. It’s not a great series by any means, but it has its moments and it has a lot of great (older) adult characters that I cannot stop obsessing over. Thanks, ADHD brain!

Here’s the real kicker. I’ve tried starting this novelization like, ten times and I never get as far as I’d like to because I deal with the Fanwriter Loop, which is to say...I question everything about it so severely that I struggle to write anything, I doubt my decision to write it in the first place, I acknowledge that the chance for a solid audience of more than five people is exceedingly low, I admit to myself that I could instead do brainless activities like...play World of Warcraft (TBC HYYYYPE), and then I ultimately give up, because... if I wanted to write something just for me and my bestie I can just talk about it in my Discord DMs. (Sure, it never gets written, but I have fun hashing out ideas and most importantly it doesn’t require me to thoughtfully and artfully construct sentences when I haven’t woken up from a night of sleep feeling refreshed since I was seven years old.)

The problem is that...the story lingers. It lurks. I think about it nearly all the time. I have a lot of ideas for it, and how to best lead the characters through their on-screen interactions and dramas in a way that feels more natural, emotional, and maybe even heartwarming than what could be squeezed into a 40 minute television episode. But when I open that document: bAM...doubt strikes. And I ask myself, “Is it worth it?”

This is a story that would never get published. The main pairing is popular enough even now, but would it be worth the hassle of writing a pairing I’m not that invested in? For chapters and chapters and chapters just to get to the point where my faves really shine? Heck, one of my absolute favorites doesn’t show up until Season 4!

But there’s a part of me that keeps going back to it. That keeps wondering, “What if I just do it? What if I just edit that first chapter one more time and post it? What’s the worst that’ll happen?” These characters do mean something to me. The themes, especially at the start of the series (of grief and moving on from tragedy and respecting the way other people cope or have to move on) are just...SO GOOD and exactly the kinda meaty content I want to dig my claws into.

The worst that happens is that nobody reads it, I guess, but then I could just delete it. Right?

What’s stopping me from writing the thing I think about for hours every week? What’s preventing me from just blocking out some time to work on it? No writing is a waste of time, but is this particular passion project worth the time and effort and advanced thinking it requires to pull off?

Maybe. I don’t know. It sounds fun, though, doesn’t it? I love the idea of novelizations. If I was ever going to finish another longform piece of writing in my lifetime, it would be a novelization. And what better project to work on than one that at least a few people would read? Sure, it’s not a large following, but at least there would be a few dedicated readers eventually. (And then it’s time to start. Open the document. Reread the original first chapter and then scrap it. Start over. Doubt. Cross out of it.)

Back into that Lööp.