I was using another popular platform to monologue into the void about writing, but the Bot Invasion is doing my head in, so I moved to another-nother popular platform, but the character limit doesn't align with my tendency to go on a bit, so I guess I'm here now.
Will I remember I have this account? Maybe.
But anyway, I'm a writer. I've been working on my current WIP (if you can even call it that at this point, it's basically done) for like 4 years now and I'm kinda obsessed with it. I'm tentatively considering starting a new project while I finalise the details of ATOTH. I intend to self publish because the thought of relinquishing control gives me anxiety, plus I've seen the trad pub process up close and I'm not that patient... or willing to alter my vision to adhere to industry standards. I sometimes write short form, poetry and fanfic too.
My writing resources are tagged as #Mighty Writey Tip if you wanna check them out!
I'm a pretty good writer, but I'm also really bad at other stuff, so it may give me an overinflated sense of success! Who knows?
Here's some of the notes, starting with the things multiple people brought up:
SHRIMP COCKTAIL:
banahbanah: #flashback to that one fic where Peter Parker frets about drinking shrimp cocktail because of the alcohol
generaldeliciousness: adding: what a prawn/shrimp cocktail is
#why is your character turning it down because they're under 21 #do you think prawn cocktail is a cocktail #this lives in my brain rent-free constantly #the rest of the fic was so normal #and good enough that i'll still re-read it #but bro
And then many, MANY, people wondering if this was actually authour mistake, since Peter really would do this!
POMEGRANATES:
zhajhassa: #haha where's that post that was like someone describing someone eating a pomegranate but they ate it like an apple
thornhands: #once someone wrote persephone biting into a whole Pomegranate #had to stop and stare at a wall for a minute
sungsingsanguine: I once saw someone very confidently write about a character eating slices of pomegranate.
FRUIT TREES:
zagreuses-toast: #given a very endearing glimpse into a writers blindspots by seeing them describe someone sitting under a ''pineapple tree''
salatrash: I remember something about picking watermelons... OF A FUCKING TREE
baander: #cranberry trees
DOUGH/BATTER:
maycelium: #I'm a chef so I'm really used to people not accurately describing how to cook food #But I was surprisingly flabbergasted when someone was writing making a cake and was kneading it. Which uh #Not necessary for cake. It was interesting for sure but just bizarre
livebloggingmydescentintomadness: #the one that drove me nuts was when a character set aside a batch of PASTA DOUGH 'to rise' #pasta doesn't have yeast!! #it does need to REST but it will never RISE #you do not want an airy crumb on your noodles
lovesodeepandwideandwell: #THE ONE WHERE THEY MADE COOKIES BY LADLING BATTER INTO A TRAY
Some other topics:
ANIMALS:
catenarwhal: #mandatory 'how cows produce milk' mention#i'll never recover from that one I fear
piromantic: #one time i saw someone fake their way through describing how spiders behave
pluto-lichen: horses
misskittypotter: #stardew valley faking its way through what fresh fish smell like
pa-pa-plasma: #saw someone faking their way through knowing what a seal is once #i still am fucked up over that one to this day. they just straight up did not know #& they were NOT good at guessing it either like it was clear they had never googled that animal ever #& was only just now realizing via answering questions from anons that seals are not!! what they assumed. initially
SEX:
dykevandyke: #what a prostate is #and where it is located #as in. external.
dreamyeyedrose: #I remember back in the ff.net days reading an Ichigo/Renji fic where the writer assumed the penises go inside each other #and I was like “I mean I don't know how it works for sure I don't have one but idk if that's how it works”
SOME OTHER FOOD STUFF:
thetrekkiehasthephonebox: #add another one to the list bloggers#this character is cooking a salad
shosta: #still baffled about the published work that didn't know food could freeze
sun-dari: #once i read a fic where the author didn't understand cinnamon
alto-tenure: #read something recently where the author was just. blatantly wrong about spices
dramatic-dolphin: #i saw someone try to fake their way through what ramen is once. like 14 years ago.#but i remember.#i was very confused about ramen for a few months. they were writing it so authoritatively.
the-celery-stalks-at-midnight: #i will never ever forget someone putting leftover fries in the microwave to reheat them and setting the timer for five minutes
typeghost: #this sparked a memory of a hannibal fic where the author had to fake their way through writing about gravy
draculin: #the one fanfic where the author knows about coffee only as a concept wrote a character as a coffee drinker#was very interesting#I don't remember the fandom or the plot but I was mesmerized by the coffee actions and choices
11235811235811: #there's a lot of faking their way thru congee in the svsss fandom i'll also note
fishali3n: #read one where the person clearly didnt know what tofu is
emmy-everafter: #in the aftermath of shadow and bone s2 i saw a lot of people pretending to know what stroopwafels are #babes they are more like cookies than breakfast waffles #like yes there is a waffle pattern but you're not gonna cut into a stack of them with syrup and sugar#🤣🤣🤣
NON-FOOD STUFF:
red-umbrella-811: Shoutout to Dame Agatha Christie for faking her way through what a wrench is in a very popular published work.
bluebeetle: #once saw someone have a character put an entire phone book in their pocket
nonametis: #- sex talk in languages other than english #<- or just the petnames in a different language other than English
sadisticpony: #the fanfiction i saw this week where op DIDNT KNOW HOW AUTOMATIC DOORS WORKED #and that they arent in peoples homes!!! of course. also opening the automatic door for someone is unironically very funny but its not #its not like. grabbing the door handle to let someone in. helpppp
danmeichael: #reminds me of the fic with the figure drawing class where the character started with the feet. #i love you feet first figure drawing author
meowmix1100blr: #me watching this one fic absolutely obliterate what the board of directors does
vexedhexes: #one time i read an architect character making a doorway bigger by building a bigger door #what a beautiful world. #OH. also gravity falls fic where they go 'oh piedmont is in california so its warm all year round'
leveragehunters: #characters going to a beer garden #And it's literally a garden outside the pub#It was a very cute mistake
fitofpique: #yes! #grown men do not get blind drunk off two beers #but i am possibly guilty of the hypothermia one #assuming it does not make you very horny?
dadvans-likes: #always thinking abt the soup kitchen fic #the entire setting of the fic was 'soup kitchen' #and i very quickly realized #the author did not know what a soup kitchen was #and they thought that soup kitchens only served soup #fic
msmargaretmurry: #i love fanfiction #once read a fic where the characters played 20 questions #but the author seemed to not know how to play 20 questions and was just kind of winging it........ #immaculate
shakespeareaddict: #Look I know not all of us are hockey experts #But it takes about ten seconds of research or any attention paid to the show to realize #That the Stanley cup playoffs are not in fucking September
baejax-the-great: #the funniest one i saw #was someone faking what church is like #like 1. they really didn't have to write an entire church experience for their fic #and 2. they had clearly never even watched a show where people went to church #it was bonkers weird
twosunson: #things ive seen authors faking #knowing how to unclog a drain #knowing. literally any history #knowing what ketamine looks like (apparently- oregano) #(you know who you are)
waterhorseyblues-ao3: #beltane being celebrated in winter #wales being portrayed as a completely separated land from england (i wish) #characters getting up after weeks of bedrest like that dosnt completely fuck you up
violetfairydust: #i once read a fic where the flight time from london to seattle was 3 hours
purekesseltrash: One time, in a fic set specifically in Des Moines, IA, two of the characters casually drove 20 minutes to the ocean. The memory continues to delight me. I want to know where that author thought that Iowa was.
What is a beer garden if not a garden outside a pub? Is there a secret second beer garden I've not been made aware of? Because, like, I was raised in beer gardens and they were all outside pubs. (Some had playground equipment, too, which was fun. One had a bouncy castle.)
Couldn't sleep last night. Ended up seeing how many AI 'writing styles'¹ I could recreate without reference. The answer is two.
If they can copy us, why can't we copy them?
¹ Also, why isn't there an air quotes emoji? I know air quotes are supposed to represent regular quotes, but I feel like an air quotes emoji would've worked really well here.
"There's gotta be an easier way to do this!" — Me deleting chapter headings one by one in Atticus so each chapter doesn't start with 'Chapter One, One' instead of, like, googling whether there is in fact an easier way to do this.
Having a look back at my earliest preliminary ATOTH notes, and found this absolute gem!
Also, apparently I've been working on ATOTH since January 2023, but honestly I thought it had been longer! Like way longer! I feel a little better knowing it's only taken me like 3-and-a-bit years to reach this point.
I've got a feeling I'd been thinking about it a lot before I actually wrote anything down, and some early aspects were definitely recycled from an abandoned 2016ish project, but mostly I think I just have no concept of time. Or I re-saved the initial notes at a later date.
Edit: I re-saved the initial notes at a later date. Found the original, which was created September 2022.
Not to brag, but I actually opened my manuscript today! Good work was done, tracking changes and... stuff, I guess.
If anyone has any thoughts on the issues discussed between me and myself in my MS Word comments, feel free to chime in, because honestly I need a bit of a push I reckon.
My Azrael wasn't even named after the angel, he was named after a character from Spyro 3, who was named after the cat from the Smurfs, who was named after the angel.
Didn't stop me using like a million other angel names and a buncha angel imagery though!
Most people I see playing Horsey Game seem to focus on making the most messed up mutant monstrosities with the most eccentric yet highly efficient ways of winning races, but does anyone else just...
I have a mile-long notes document listing all the pairings, best performers etc. and I've recently started cloning my grand champions once they reach old age and strategically distributing their copies into multiple distinct wild populations to ensure the competition remains valid.
Of course, sometimes the competition is the One-Horned Bipedal Sentient Fence-Busters which accidentally took over my map a few days ago (now safely confined to the most miserable pen) or the Hamster-Looking Rabbit Descents I'm cultivating around the lab, or the Short-Legged Long-Necked Sorta Horses which somehow independently evolved from one of the managed wild herds and have now been segregated, or... mooses.
