thephilosophersapprentice

[thephilosophersapprentice]

college gothic

someone in your class mentions communism. they speak about it at length. you are in biology class.

you text your mother. she does not respond for 3 days. you text her again and then realize that it has only been 2 hours since your first text.

freshmen travel in packs. what are they afraid of.

your class is in room 153. the numbers start at 201. you cannot find the first floor.

someone is talking about communism. it is not the same person as last time. this is an english class.

your transcript says you have an A in philosophy 3310. you do not remember taking this class. what did you learn? what did you do?

you meet your elevator buddy. you do not speak. you never do. you ride in silence. one day, they are not there. you miss them.

your advisor refers you to the registrar. the registrar refers you to admissions. admissions refers you to both the registrar and your advisor. you have spoken to two people who do not exist and one who has been dead for ten years.

the boy who sits next to you wears the same clothes everyday. you think this is strange but when you mention it, he tells you that this is the first time he has worn this outfit. you realize that you have lived this day before.

you pass someone sleeping in the quad. he has always been there. stop looking at him.

someone answers, “communism.” it is not someone who has been previously mentioned. the question was, “what is an example of the art of ancient greece?”

you have a doppelganger on campus. you have never met them. they know all of your friends.

the seniors speak only to professors. their eyes are dead. they have given up the safety of the pack long ago.

the professor is talking about STD’s. your math class is very strange.

the powerpoint is in comic sans. you suspect that your economics professor is an extraterrestrial being after all.

“communism,” the man serving you lunch insists. wearily you nod. that’s what everyone says.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

I feel like people miss the point of the "war is bad" message

What it's supposed to mean is that war is terrible, it's destructive, it ruins lives, it leaves scars, and you should only partake in it when there are no other options, because even if you win, even if you survive, you will not be the same, which is why the phrase used to be more commonly known as "war is hell"

But "war is bad" seems to have been construed by people in fandom into "any fighting is bad, if you fight you're morally terrible and impure, you should not fight at all, no matter what", this is annoying in fandom, as it often misses the point fiction is trying to make, but what's worrisome is when people apply this to real life, as I have seen people do regarding russia's invasion of Ukraine

And that's almost never the point of "War is Bad" works

Works like Lord of the Rings, Avatar The Last Airbender, Transformers, The Clone Wars, Halo (especially Reach), etc all have themes on how horrible war is, but they categorically do not say it is wrong to fight, what they say is usually along the lines of "war is terrible, and what makes it so terrible is that we have no choice but to fight, it would be ideal if we didn't have to fight at all, but we must fight, because not fighting is not an option, because not fighting, not opposing tyranny, conquest, and evil only allows those things to exist unimpeded"

[thephilosophersapprentice]

laws and regulations regarding prophecies

Chekov's Prophecy: Any prophecy that is introduced will be fulfilled (or subverted in keeping with the tone of the story) Schroedinger's Prophecy: was that just a weird old lady or the Oracle just now? we won't know until we open the box. What could possibly go wrong? Reverse Occam's Prophecy: Any prophecy that can come true will come true... in the most convoluted way possible. Murphy's Prophecy: Any prophecy that can be misinterpreted will be misinterpreted.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

“It is said that, during the fantasy book in the late eighties, publishers would maybe get a box containing two or three runic alphabets, four maps of the major areas covered by the sweep of the narrative, a pronunciation guide to the names of the main characters and, at the bottom of the box, the manuscript. Please… there is no need to go that far. There is a term that readers have been known to apply to fantasy that is sometimes an unquestioning echo of better work gone before, with a static society, conveniently ugly ‘bad’ races, magic that works like electricity and horses that work like cars. It’s EFP, or Extruded Fantasy Product. It can be recognized by the fact that you can’t tell it apart form all the other EFP. Do not write it, and try not to read it. Read widely outside the genre. Read about the Old West (a fantasy in itself) or Georgian London or how Nelson’s navy was victualled or the history of alchemy or clock-making or the mail coach system. Read with the mindset of a carpenter looking at trees. Apply logic in places where it wasn’t intended to exist. If assured that the Queen of the Fairies has a necklace made of broken promises, ask yourself what it looks like. If there is magic, where does it come from? Why isn’t everyone using it? What rules will you have to give it to allow some tension in your story? How does society operate? Where does the food come from? You need to know how your world works. I can’t stress that last point enough. Fantasy works best when you take it seriously (it can also become a lot funnier, but that’s another story). Taking it seriously means that there must be rules. If anything can happen, then there is no real suspense. You are allowed to make pigs fly, but you must take into account the depredations on the local bird life and the need for people in heavily over-flown areas to carry stout umbrellas at all times. Joking aside, that sort of thinking is the motor that has kept the Discworld series moving for twenty-two years.”

— “Notes from a Successful Fantasy Author: Keep It Real” (2007), Terry Pratchett. (via the-library-and-step-on-it)

[thephilosophersapprentice]

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

[thephilosophersapprentice]

Do you know who prevs icon is?

[thephilosophersapprentice]

A glimpse of some of the hollow knight ceramics that will be at my shop drop on Sunday!

[thephilosophersapprentice]

*stares at all my WIPs*

Well. Right now I'm writing a fic where Kaladin ends up exploring the depths of Urithiru alone that's kind of based on Hollow Knight (Leshwi is Hornet because I love her) where I rewrote Myla's song to be about the Heralds... and a fic where Kaladin was an adult at the time of Gavilar's conquest of Alethkar and ends up as one of Dalinar's elites, which I started because I was joking around about how Adolin and Elhokar both want Kaladin to step on them and my friend commented that young Dalinar would too (and would have multiple crises over it.)

I'm also working on a post-Sunlit Man fic which also deals with the ending of Wind and Truth and is just mostly feels

Sound off, everyone who's working on a Cosmere fanfic! What's your fic about?

I'll start--I'm writing a fic in my Nightwatcher's Thrill series about Yanagawn. It'll be rated Explicit (like the rest of the series) and of course I'm advancing my Bisexual Yanagawn agenda because I love projecting bisexuality onto every character. Can't imagine why 🫣😁

[thephilosophersapprentice]

Fanfiction tropes:

Idiots to Lovers

Accidental Baby Aquisition

And/Or Role Reversal

Idiots to Lovers... Hmmm. Most romantic tropes I'm pretty neutral on (partly because I'm aro). It really depends on the pairing and execution. If it's a pairing I love and done well? Superb. Anything less? Kind of meh.

Accidental Baby Acquisition: There are situations I find it really entertaining, and then there are ones that are just too stressful. When it's low-stress shenanigans and cuteness? I won't usually go looking for it specifically, but I do enjoy reading it.

Role Reversal: oh hell yes. I love exploring how characters would be different in different circumstances, changing up how they interact with the world... how they would have handled situations differently.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

old gods becoming earth

follow my twitter / patreon / shop / buy me a coffee

[thephilosophersapprentice]

Give me a fanfiction trope and I’ll grade it:

A: Love it. Spend my time combing AO3 for it.

B: Like it. Not one of my bigger cravings, but it can scratch a certain itch if I’m in the right mood.

C: Neutral. A good author might be able to sell it, but a bad one will kill it deader than dead.

D: Not my favorite. I avoid it if I can, but it won’t necessarily put me off reading something.

F: Hate it. Will immediately make me nope out of a fic.

[thephilosophersapprentice]

big fan of creatures that are both divine and mechanical

[thephilosophersapprentice]

dungeons & dragons: honor among thieves + text posts bonus:

[thephilosophersapprentice]

*drives one mile faster than the speed limit*

You are a local baronet, and while you have family wealth, you also have a terrible curse. Hundreds of years ago a witch cursed your bloodline, and now you must commit a crime a day forever or die.