which of your fanfics that you've written is your favorite?
what a lovely question thank you so much for asking!
i was especially delighted to see this because it gives me a chance to get on my soapbox again about LONG EXPOSURE, a kpop rpf fic that i wrote with my best friend @houtaroo. this one’s close to my heart for many reasons, but especially because writing with zoë remains the most creatively and emotionally fulfilling experience of my life, and i will forever be so proud of our first collaborative work. also i just think it’s a complete banger.
it began life in the dms when we started volleying back and forth ideas about a model seonghwa / photographer hongjoong au, and i believe it was during that first conversation (or maybe one just after) that we came up with the central core of the fic which is hongjoong revealing to seonghwa that he has all these tenderly captured candids of him—but then not being able to actually articulate his feelings for seonghwa out loud because he’s too scared. PAIN AND MISERY FOLLOWS!!!
throughout writing long exposure, we were so careful and thoughtful about the themes we wanted to portray, and we spent so much time coming up with scenes, reworking them, editing them, etc to make sure they fit just right. we did so much research, and it all felt so exciting because we could share it with each other: talk through hongjoong’s photography process and what his exhibition should have in it and the way he felt about art and how we could best show that. we talked about how you develop photos and what settings are on a film camera; we talked about bravery and poetry and relation and care.
i loved living in the torture vortex of hongjoong’s repressed mind. i loved writing about photography as an act of witness, and how witnessing is a form of love. not just hongjoong’s for seonghwa, but all of the members’ love for each other, and our love for them. and for each other! we were just becoming friends when we started writing and it blows my mind every time when i remember that fact, because the second we got into the document it felt like our brains were melding into one.
i love this fic! in fact while writing this answer i stopped to reread a couple of scenes from it and once again thought to myself yeah it seriously rocks. i think it’s tender, hilarious and emotionally agonising. also the title zoë came up with is truly perfect. i would love to know your thoughts if you read it ❤️
20. what are things you look for in a book?
this one is really easy: if someone i respect says "this is really good" i'll read it. many a time has a friend posted about a book and then privately i will read it and never tell them because everything i do is a secret (no one do this to me. please tell me if you ever read something i talk about.) I try to read widely so I try not to turn my nose up at anything but i'm waayyyy less likely to read something long LMFAO. like if it's over 120k it's a way harder sell for me. i have to really trust the person who recommended it. and that's not even long that's like the length of a normal novel LOL. but i would rather read 3 novels under 60k than 1 novel that's 120k+ because i read quote slowly (at speaking speed!) and often if i'm reading something long i'll be reading it for like the whole month and i like variety so tend to dislike being trapped reading something for a whole month lol. I'll do it if i'm convinced but it's less likely.
non fiction doesn't tend to get over 120k anyway so if i see a nonfic recommended that interests me i'll just read it.
i guess to track back around the question if someone i trust can give a convincing argument as to why i should read a book i'll do it regardless of what it's about <3
7. is there a series/book that got you into reading?
ohhhhhh this is tough i don't know if there's a specific book that got me into reading per se… I feel like by the time i was reading series (warrior cats, the unicorn chronicles, judy moody, etc) i had already been INTO reading, iykwim. i was at my local hole in the wall library and my school library and on the books in my classrooms etc
10. do you have a guilty fave?
NO!!! I HARBOUR NO GUILT FOR WHAT I ENJOY!!!!!!! i'm trying to think of a way to answer this question so i can provide some sort of interesting anecdote like um…. if i were the type of person to tragically feel guilt or shame about a book i've read… what book would it be….. idk…. i bought a handsome hardback used copy of the story of o the other day which would probably have remained private information had i not thought to mention it here… but not for guilt or shame reasons i just don't really share what i'm reading online LOL. also i haven't read it yet so who knows how i'll feel about it. have been reading erotic literature recently for fun but what's there to feel guilty about there… for real…… oh actually i just thought of one. bl manhwa "no returns after use". really fun and stupid. don't particularly recommend it for a wide variety of reasons and if i was a little baby i would be embarrassed about having enjoyed it but i'm NAWT!
coming in swinging with a niche pick here which is kate saunders' middle grade "cat and the stinkwater war" - total huge banger that i got in elementary school from a scholastic catalogue and one of the VERYYYYY few childhood books I've hung onto. about a girl whose archaeologist father brings home a weird stone from egypt that accidentally turns her into a cat, and as a cat she must now navigate the weird and complex drama of all of the cats in her neighbourhood, all of whom have very distinct and colourful personalities. it has very charming little spot illustrations that capture the personalities of the neighbourhood cats very well. also has a romeo/juliet cat drama plotline.
other likely option might be kate dicamillo's the tale of despareaux.
8. what is the first book you remember reading yourself?
oh probably 1987 classic children's book WINNIE THE WITCH, which we had a copy of and which i loved very much. or the velveteen rabbit.
15. recommend and review a book. (this is really long LOL)
hit canadian novel by andré alexis FIFTEEN DOGS : under the influence of two greek gods on a whim, 15 dogs at a vet clinic in toronto all gain human sentience for one year, with a bet between the two tossed up on if any single dog with human emotions and the ability to understand language can end one year "happy." the gods exit the scene, the dogs take the stage, and the book details the lives of these 15 dogs with their newfound abilities, how they interact with each other, with their owners (if they return to them at all) and with the world around them.
It is outstanding to me - I think one of my favourite books of all time. I need to be clear here that this recommendation comes with my personal feeling of Not Really Liking Dogs Very Much. I do not read this book with love in my heart for dogs; if I did, many of the events in this book would likely taint that feeling. I read this book captivated by the ways that alexis is able to write about and humanise the "feelings" of dogs in a way that is legible to human understanding while also writing in such a way to illustrates that the characters in this novel are quite notably not humans; they are dogs who have dog understandings of hierarchy, dog understandings of food, and dog understandings of humans. this is not a book about dogs if dogs were people - this is a book about dogs if dogs had a profound ability to assess their own thoughts and the world around them with human thought.
there is a dog that kills other dogs. there is a dog who finds a way to communicate with his owner in such a way that makes me want to like dogs. there is a dog that makes me dislike dogs more than i already do who is not the dog that kills other dogs. there is a dog who becomes a poet.
every time i read i am left with an uncomfortable misunderstanding regarding my feelings on dogs. do i like dogs more now? do i dislike dogs more than i did before reading? has my well honed neutrality on dogs been affected by this novel? the feeling lasts a couple weeks until i settle back into my stance maintained before reading. rarely does a single piece of fiction alter the way i see the world in such an acute manner (as a non-fiction book might) and and i find it very arresting that this book does this to me. frankly, i would never opt to read a non-fiction book about a dog or dogs being heroes or whatever because i have FIFTEEN DOGS, which to me is like a non-fiction book about dogs.
the final thing i am going to say about FIFTEEN DOGS is something that will contradict everything i've said above, and will probably annoy someone, because what the fuck am i talking about? FIFTEEN DOGS is really good because at the very end, it's not really about dogs, and it's not a love letter to dogs or a testament to dogs as companions or partners to the human life, at least not to me - it might be to other readers (probably to the people who really like dogs) - it's actually about the very human necessity of expression.
19. most disliked popular books?
um uhhhh.. ummmm… oh i hated sayaka murata convenience store woman despite being a total shooter for earthlings, which was one of my favourites the year i read it. as you know i hate on earth we're briefly gorgeous. i hate every tj klune i've ever read. that man is a fool. i hate my year of rest and relaxation. what the hell what she talking about. i hate the book of form and emptiness. i have mean thoughts about one last stop. i think those are all my disliked Popular Books LOL
if u open up your soul wide its radiance will dazzle and comfort those who need it most. those it isn't intended for will look the other way but you will find peace in honesty
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