The Cold Friend ❄️

covid19 is exposing that everything we think is real like money and politicians and celebrities is totally made up and the things that actually are real like human compassion and social consciousness and love are genuinely necessary for survival

I want to love me.

Could I please just like myself a little more? Could I please like me, love me, for me and nothing else?

Will I ever like me, if I'm not larger-than life and Caesarean? Do I love me, or do I love the idea of my name on a book that Guardian called "Revolutionary"?

If everyone has a curse I know what mine is

Dissatisfaction

With everything

Please god even if I am doomed and born of sin and evil and I am terrible please I'm begging you to let me make it so I can know what it's like to love me.

I have an ao3 account 🫶🫶

I think you forgot about this thing:

The Blobfish!!!!

who was the fool who was tasked with naming the galaxy and the only adjective they could think of was ‘mmmmmmmmmmmmilky…’

I LOVE THIS

I like these kids

How to Plot a Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin?

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots.

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow.

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear.

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story.  Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story.

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours.

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension.

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work.

Disclaimer for this post.

So the concept was to 'kill the straight' i guess

(In contrast to all the Shakespeare-plays where the concept is to kill the gay)

reblog this if you are gay, constantly tired, or a cryptic entity that merely inhabits a human form

What about this one?

Saving this for later 🫶

If We Were Villains fanfics - a thread by me

Since some of you asked me to recommend some IWWV fics in order to process that devastating ending, here’s my personal thread. I vividly hope  you’re gonna enjoy it :) 

1. what is woven into the lives of others - helloearthlings - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 I think this is the most popular IWWV fic since the first review on Goodreads has posted a link to this story, but that’s only fair given that it is masterfully crafted. The story’s centre is Oliver and James’ reunion, and therefore Oliver’s journey to find him.

2. you’ve got me wrapped around your finger (do you have to let it linger?) - orphan_account - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

This is a “what if..”  and explores how things could have been if the night of their last party -the one in the library, talking through King Lear’s riddles- Oliver would have figured out the truth in time and they would run away together.

I’ve read it an embarrassing number of times, and each time it has the ability to broke my heart in shards not only for the two of them but for the bigger picture of those six as a family (I’m a sucker for a good found-family trope and this one didn’t fail to deliver a heart-warming feeling with only using spare details, shreds of memories and careless laughter from a payphone at 2am).  

Also, there’s this brief inner monologue that perfectly encapsulates Oliver’s perspective and his ardent loyalty for his real-life Shakespearean Tragic Hero:

“I never blamed him. Forever, I will blame the plays. I will blame the theater. I will blame myself and I will blame Richard, but I will keep James safe“.

 This is it. This is canon for me. I’d tattoo it on my skin if I could, there’s so much sentiment in these few lines. Also, can we please talk about the prose? ”but the sparrow had begun to open its eyes, and I met James’ glazed eyes with my own“, it had me in tears.

 3. as if it were the first - Chapter 1 - crownsandbirds - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 This is another reunion fic; it takes place two years after Oliver’s release from prison, and in this universe, we found a broken James who is living -literally- under Alexander and Colin’s wing since his failed attempt to suicide six years ago.

 It’s written by James’s pov, which allow us to know the real reach of his feelings, how pervasive is his sense of guiltiness, how broken beyond recovery he is –“James doesn’t self-harm physically anymore, but he doesn’t think he’ll ever stop looking for opportunities to break his own heart”- so buckle up for some angst -but really, when it’s not angst when we’re talking about two Shakespearean lovers?-.

 Bonus point: the story gives us an intimate view over Alexander and Colin’s relationship, a criminally underrated couple in IWWV in my opinion.

4.  the dead man’s float - misandrywitch - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 Another reunion fic -yeah, you can practically sense our desperate need of a closure whatsoever after M.L.Rio thrown us under a bus with that last line- passed with full marks not only for its peculiar use of a theatre structure which resembles the original novel’s structure -enter, final act, exeunt- but also for the honest portrait of its characters. There are not cheesy moments nor big declarations of love, which is something that represents the original characters: James and Oliver never opened up about their feelings, not even in the end (M.L.Rio once highlighted the importance of Oliver’s answers to James, a simple “you know why”; not even in that moment, behind the bars, they can state their feelings for each other), they’re only capable of Great Acts as papa Shakespeare taught ‘em (aka: go to prison for a crime you didn’t commit. Aka: fake your own death in order to recreate the only non-tragic Shakespeare novel. Aka: ME SICK AND TIRED OF THOSE THEATRE KIDS).

 Despite the premise, I very appreciate this Oliver: long gone the insecure shy obtuse kid, we now find a practical man that knows what and who he wants, who doesn’t step back in front of a confrontation with James -but still, he would blindly follow him to the end of the world-; and I deeply cherish this James Farrow who openly admits and accepts that he’s not the flawless Tragic Hero the Dellecher decided for him to be, so he’s finally free now to live his life according to his own rules and desires, that it’s okay if  he’s a bit coward; human.

BONUS SMUT FIC - cuz sometimes a brief first and only kiss in the middle of a school play is not enough, no matter how poetic it was

no other companion - crownsandbirds - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 Christmas came early this year. You’re welcome

Now, some secondary fics, shorter but still impressive

1.     home is where it hurts - crownsandbirds - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

This is through Alexander’s point of view, and it focuses on the weight of Richard’s death, the motifs that led him to say that fatidic and excruciating “nothing”. There’s a lot of James and Oliver here; there’s this part that to this day is still impressed on my brain:

“Oliver and James were truly a pair of the kind Alexander had only seen in books, old classical books that talked about turning a river into blood and defeating Gods. The prince and his companion, Hamlet and his Horatio”.

2. And Therefore is Winged Cupid Blind - Civilbloodoncivilhands - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

Set during the third year of Dellecher, the clique is in the middle of one of Gwendolyn’s classes; Oliver is oblivious, James is whipped, Richard is a dick and Alexander is the queer queen we all know and love.

3. Merely a Madness… - sapphicfratboy - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 This is a close-up on James Farrow’s private life, from his first kiss and first crush to the encounter with Oliver.

 Something I really appreciated here beside the impeccable prose is the way the author sticked to the truth of the facts: the students of his father that used to slip in the library with him, Oliver’s love for old rock band t-shirts, James addressing his own father as “Professor” in a sardonic way etc

4. Maybe This Is Where It Ends (Take A Bow) - fathand - If We Were Villains - M.L. Rio [Archive of Our Own]

 A brief “what if…” if James would have gone to prison. Short but incisive.