Literati Love ~-~

Books, books, books, Jess, Rory, Luke, Lorelai...more books...movies...possible glimpses of my writing, and some ecclectic *ooh...just have to tumbl THAT!* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yeah, there's a very definite "Jess Mariano, this is your life" vibe here today. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ;-)

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

What do you really think about Jess?

[iscahmckrae]

I can't even articulate how emotional this makes me. Both Jess and Milo never stop getting better. It is so hard for me to even fathom the fact that there was a time I didn't like him (Jess). That I didn't *start* to see him for who he was until my boyfriend at the time, said the words about Jess: "I just figured out why I can't stand him....... he's me." I totally didn't see it.

I didn't begin to genuinely see it until this wonderful man and I had been married for about a year, and I reached Season 6. I had to work my way backwards.... and really get to know my husband's younger self... and get to know Jess. And, yeah..... very thankfully, my husband never stops getting better either.

I don't ship Literati (Jess and Rory) because (as many people have accused) I'm "part of a misguided demographic crushing on a toxic character." I've been very happily in love with and married to the man I love for 17 years. And I've known him for 27 years. 27 years ago, we met, and he still tells me that night he started to see his own potential... the man he could choose to become, and the kind of life that perhaps we could have together someday if he did.

I hadn't even "met" Jess Mariano yet when *my* Jess showed up to what he didn't know was our first date before I got there, and was sitting on a bench, reading one of the books I'd recommended to him..... oh so long ago, before we'd curated the library we live in; so many years before lockdown turned us into even more of 'a really sweet old agoraphobic couple' who like to mock the same movies and travel together to the locations of fictional worlds we love. Before he showed me that 'not knowing what the other person is going to do at all times' isn't just 'exciting,' but usually playfully hilarious.

And, yeah, I even love him when he gets broody, cynical, and sarcastic; though it's all the better when we're supporting and inspiring one another.

So, yeah...... this gifset makes me happy-weepy. And in my worlds, both reality and headcanon, Jess and Rory got together and have stayed that way for ages, even if it took them quite a few years to get there.

[rogers-carter]

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2005 | dir. Joe Wright

[gilmorescreencaps]

[luna-azzurra]

Things to consider when writing a character!! --2

continuing--

⊹ How do they treat people who can't do anything for them? Waitstaff? strangers? people they'll never see again? this is the oldest trick in the book for a reason. It works. How someone behaves toward people with no social utility tells you everything about their actual values versus the values they perform for an audience.

⊹ What's their relationship with their own body? Are they comfortable in it or is it something they carry around like a problem? do they take up space or make themselves small? are they aware of how they look or completely indifferent? Physicality is psychology and most writers forget the body entirely until someone needs to throw a punch.

⊹ What do they lie about and why. Not dramatic plot lies necessarily. the small everyday ones. the things they exaggerate or omit or reframe. Because people don't lie randomly, they lie to protect something. Find what your character is protecting and you'll find what they're afraid of. That fear is the ENGINE!!

⊹ Who did they used to be? not their whole backstory. just: who were they before the thing that changed them. because that person is still in there somewhere, showing up in small ways, wanting things the current version of them would never admit to. The ghost of a former self is one of the most interesting things you can write into a character without ever stating it directly.

⊹ What would make them walk away?? from the goal. from the relationship. from the person they're trying to be. everyone has a breaking point and it should be specific to them, and please not a generic "too much" but the exact thing, the particular betrayal or loss or realisation that would finally be enough. know this even if the story never reaches it.

⊹ What do they love that has nothing to do with the plot?? a specific kind of light in the afternoon. the smell of old paperback books. bad television they watch without apology. something small that belongs only to them. details like this cost you nothing and they make the reader believe in a person completely. characters who only care about plot-relevant things are not people. they're chess pieces. sorry not sorry.

[bo-kryzze]

Steggy Week 2020 - Day 7: Free choice

The married adventures of Cap and Peggy 

[luna-azzurra]

Writers have two modes and they are "i haven't written in three weeks and i am rotting from the inside and everything feels wrong and i don't know who i am anymore" and "i wrote for four hours straight and forgot to eat and it's dark outside and when did that happen and i feel like a god" and there is nothing in between. no chill. no medium setting. just famine or feast and a very confused nervous system.

[luna-azzurra]

Some writing advice I will never give up:

Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.

It’s your story. Burn it down if you want to.

[an0neemouse]

Two things absolutely changed my life as a writer. You ready?

One- as OP said, your characters can be bad people, they can do bad things. There doesn't have to be a reason or a moral. You can make them bad if you want to. No other reason needed.

Two- it doesn't have to be good, it just needs to be written. On my last book i literally wrote the words "dumbest version" on the top of the page because I had seen some advice to do that. It changed everything. I stopped trying to make it perfect, I just tried to make it. Period. Full stop.

And honestly? Defiance is the best writing I've ever done. All because I let my characters be bad and I gave myself the freedom to write it badly.

[luna-azzurra]

Caretaker Lines!!

✮ "Stop trying to act tough. You're shaking."

✮ "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

✮ "Hold still--I know it stings, but I have to do this."

✮ "You scared me half to death, you know that?"

✮ "I've got you. You don't have to hold yourself up anymore."

✮ "Just breathe. In and out. I'm right here."

✮ "You're going to need stitches and I swear, if you say you're fine one more time--"

✮ "Don't argue with me right now. Just let me help you."

✮ "I'm not going anywhere, so stop telling me to leave."

✮ "Can you squeeze my hand? I need to know you can hear me."

✮ "You're running a fever on top of everything else. Of course you are."

✮ "I found you on the floor. Do you understand how terrifying that was?"

[attenashe-deactivated20190606]

things that always make me happy: serial commenters. there are three types

1) reading a longfic chapter by chapter, leaving an increasingly emotional comment on every chapter, descends into keysmashes near the end: outstanding

2) read one fic by accident, clicked the author name, now working steadily through the backlog and commenting on everything, I wake up to an AO3 inbox full of enthusiasm: precious beyond words

3) the longterm serial commenter whose comment begins with I don’t even know this fandom but because they have followed me from somewhere else: stunning. humbling. magical.

[fineillsignup]

these are all *chef’s kiss* and I want to add one more: 4) left a comment a while ago, comes back and leaves another comment on the same fic, telling you that they’re coming back to reread the fic: angels. blessings. lifesavers.

[perfectquote]

“Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible.”

— Lisa Kleypas

[nemfrog]

The Book of Flowers. 1800.

Internet Archive

[quotefeeling]

“You are somebody’s reason to smile.”

— Unknown

[starshollowconfessions]

[lucaslaescuela]

Yessss!!! I kept thinking about that after I watched that episode. That’d be amazing.

[junienmomo]

My fanfic with exactly that story is about 2k words done. Here’s a teaser:

“You accused me of running a prostitution ring! Does that happen so often that you forgot?”

“There’s a difference between not remembering and not caring, Duke. Get over yourself. We’re here to get Rory back on track.”

Luke bristled at Paris’ condescension. “You have absolutely no memory of this? Do you remember my nephew, who accused me of corrupting him?”

“You really need to get over yourself and focus on what’s needed - getting Rory back to school. I can’t stay on top of my game without her there to keep me on my toes.”

Paris paused and looked at Luke once more critically. “That kid was your nephew? What was his name? Jake? Joey?”

“Jess. Now look at who’s full of herself. And yes, he’s my nephew.”

“I pretend-dated that guy once. He’s a smartass.”

“Pretend-dated? What the hell is that? And yeah, he’s a smartass. Hopefully more smart than ass by this time.”

[iscahmckrae]

I need this in my life. Is this posted anywhere?

[peachfromcmbyn]

People on Tumblr love sharing information about themselves no matter how asinine it is. And I'm the same way. Everybody tell me what the last thing you drank was.

[hthrrloooo]

Catastrophize Benedictine

[luna-azzurra]

A non-writer asked me "but where do you get your ideas" and i genuinely did not know how to explain that it's not a place. it's not a website. it's not a folder. it's that i was on the bus and a woman was holding a paper bag very carefully and something about the way she held it made me need to know what was inside and then i needed to know why she was sad about it and then there was a whole person and then there was a whole story and the bus had already stopped and i missed my stop. that's where.

[quotefeeling]

“Sometimes the person who’s been there for everyone else needs someone to be there for them.”

— Unknown