Maybe... this was a bad idea...

Art, Anime, Geekery, and Writing

[moueska]

https://papillonblanc.wordpress.com/2025/12/21/another-crimson-tears-chapter-spellbound-by-solstice/

A new Crimson Tears Vignette!!

For the uninitiated, Crimson Tears has been a universe that I've been intermittently writing in for publications like the prompt magazine for a little over 4 years. This particular story crosses over my Fallen Angel universe and my Crimson Tears universe, and I'll have a story going into an anthology that includes Kiringa as well as a few other favorites of mine.

[moueska]

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[moueska]

So my 2nd draft of my novel is done, and I realized that I have grown up accustomed to years of short stories.

You take X amount of characters, throw them in Y scenario, and see what happens.

My novel plays like multiple short stories strung together. I don't stop introducing characters. Because that's how life is... You are CONSTANTLY meeting new people that flow in and out of your life.

Anyway, H'rothgar Says is in Beta Reading now.

[moueska]

I'm working on a short story.

It's canon in my universe setting that Vampires and creatures of the night are real. It's a worldwide thing and barely a secret.

"Most of the vampires in the house couldn't eat food that had been blessed by a priest, and the current guidelines for the food industry included a blessing prior to packaging candy- or anything else consumable- so for those in the house that could eat food, they would avail themselves of the small garden in the arboretum with its tomato vines, when in season"...

- Excerpt from my current draft

Imagine. You CAN get nourishment from food, but society has found ways to redirect you from it. But you are forced to hunt and can't get to eat normal food if you want to. It is as indigestible as gasoline or gravel.

... But what if a celestial could change all that. For 24 hours. What would you eat?

[moueska]

One of my friends: but what about corruption in the capitalist system? There's got to be enough people that are in it for themselves that probably only half the food gets blessed.

Me: Ok, you have a fifty-fifty chance of dying if You eat a Honeycrisp apple. Death or sweet, delicious, sharp, crunchy, juicy fruit-of-our-sins. I'm not reckless enough.

...

Are you?

[moueska]

I'm working on a short story.

It's canon in my universe setting that Vampires and creatures of the night are real. It's a worldwide thing and barely a secret.

"Most of the vampires in the house couldn't eat food that had been blessed by a priest, and the current guidelines for the food industry included a blessing prior to packaging candy- or anything else consumable- so for those in the house that could eat food, they would avail themselves of the small garden in the arboretum with its tomato vines, when in season"...

- Excerpt from my current draft

Imagine. You CAN get nourishment from food, but society has found ways to redirect you from it. But you are forced to hunt and can't get to eat normal food if you want to. It is as indigestible as gasoline or gravel.

... But what if a celestial could change all that. For 24 hours. What would you eat?

[badjokesbyjeff]

A software tester walks into a bar.

Runs into a bar.

Crawls into a bar.

Dances into a bar.

Flies into a bar.

Jumps into a bar.

And orders:

a beer.

2 beers.

0 beers.

99999999 beers.

a lizard in a beer glass.

-1 beer.

“qwertyuiop” beers.

Testing complete.

A real customer walks into the bar and asks where the bathroom is.

The bar goes up in flames.

[yars]

[supersexyawesomeness]

[fruityboyblue]

Ya

[kaiju-wolfdragon]

Dog!

[23-crows-in-a-trenchcoat]

A friend!

[bad-author777]

PUPPY

[vodquila-the-second-bottle]

Good doggy.

[forthefuns]

follow forthefuns for more funny stuff

[invenblocker]

Your honor! Please direct your attention towards the manga.

As you can see there are small pieces of paper sticking out of every volume.

But no such paper is sticking out of the Batman comic.

The reason? The Batman book doesn’t belong to the library. The photographer put it there to take a picture.

[minipupball]

Once again making hasty assumptions, Wright?

First of all, I’d like to direct the court’s attention to this particular spot, in the top right-hand corner.

Notice how the words are blocking the top of the Batman book.

With this in mind, how can you claim that there is “no such paper sticking out of the Batman comic”?!

[invenblocker]

Say whaaaat?

Well uhm

Look at the size of the paper pieces, they’re all sticking pretty far out.

If there was paper in the batman comic, it would be big enough to stick up over the text.

And while gravity does exist, it probably won’t make the paper do a 90 degree turn and just lean horisontally left at the middle.

[minipupball]

Still grasping for straws, Wright?

Hypothetically, if there were a paper there, this picture would not be able to prove its presence. I’ve taken the liberty of drawing a diagram to illustrate my point. We are faced with three possibilities. It is possible that (1) the paper was simply tucked in deeper than the others.

Paper is a soft material, Wright. It’s not unreasonable for it to do a (2) 90 degree turn. 

Or perhaps, (3) a paper does not exist there at all. 

Either way, you cannot prove your client innocent without sufficient evidence.  

Which, of course, is impossible thanks to the obtrusive words.

[invenblocker]

I’m sorry Edgeworth.

I concede that I can’t disprove theory 1

But the image you submited for theory 2 is contradictory.

Look at the tilt of the other papers. They clearly prove how much the paper would tilt.

And theory 3 is my point! Why would the library’s book not have this piece of paper when the other library books do?

While you still have thory 1, there is another contradiction.

The books are not in alphabetical order, this proves that the batman comic was placed there specifically for the picture!

[minipupball]

Ack.

(Perhaps I should’ve left the artistry to the forensic artist…)

Now hold it right there! It doesn’t matter which direction the paper is going because it’s impossible to prove it even exists!

Those theories are all the same! We do not have enough information to prove them. There could be an infinite amount of papers in there for all we know. I simply presented them only so that the court could better understand your baseless conjecture!

… I suppose the order of the books do seem out of the ordinary. However, therein lies not just one possibility. Clearly, those are Japanese graphic novels, also known as “manga”. And the Batman comic book is a graphic novel, too, no?

Seeing as it currently has only graphic novels in the shelf, it is possible that any other novels have simply not yet been restocked. Asserting whether or not this effect was deliberate is useless– there is no way of knowing if the photographer and the captioner are the same person, let alone their involvement in this picture.

Face it Wright, you can’t prove any of these groundless accusations!

[randomthingieshere]

Did everyone just ignore the library sticker?

[dracophile]

[sp00kybitme]

D E AD

[ultimate-reserve-hope]

I will reblog this any time i see it on my dash

[slime-lilly-deactivated20220926]

Absolutely fucking D E S T R O Y E D

[zaunites-finest]

This is the strongest Tumblr post I’ve ever witnessed.

[fishhater-ieatthem]

This was recommended and as a super logical person I can see why

[makishimuu]

I’ve been looking for this for ages!!

[legendary-posts-collection]

Apparently legendary.

[mx-yip-yip-hooary]

@hellsite-hall-of-fame

[shirpowbra]

iconic

[vodquila-the-second-bottle]

Ok I HAVE to reblog this

[moueska]

Back in Everett for about 5 years now, will send you to

About

Writing, Artwork, Poetry, and Mommy Blogging.  Once a month, or once a year, more or less. A list of places you can find me online: Moueska

To see my updates and links, and my foibles and adventures in between.

[suburbanmomromanceclub]

File this under “super obvious yet I always seem to forget it.”

[iamwordsandpixels-deactivated20]

I don’t write romance (I totally respect people who do, though!) but this is also great writing advice in general! What is preventing the protagonist from achieving their goal?

Why can’t these two people be together now?

Why can’t the mystery be solved now?

Why can’t they overthrow the evil overlord now?

If you don’t have a solid answer for these questions, that’s a good indicator that the plot could use some more work.

[megan-cutler]

Also test your answer a little bit. If it’s as thin as they’re just refusing to sit down and have a simple conversation, you might want to re-think how things are going.

[operahousebookworm]

As a beta reader/editor, I tend to ask this question a lot: “Why are they doing it this way when there’s a much easier path available?” That’s not to say that they should take the easier path, because that would usually be boring. Instead, the point is that the question needs an answer–either eliminate the easier path or give them a very clear reason for not taking it. (And if I’m asking the question, that reason isn’t as clear as you think it might be.)

I find it very difficult to root for characters who have a sensible option available and just don’t take it. If the only reason is “Because there wouldn’t be a story otherwise,” you haven’t actually found the story yet.

[riptidepublishing]

And this is why the Big Misunderstanding as a primary plot device is almost universally disliked.

[moueska]

An Update, of sorts

I moved from the northwest down to the midwest, and I have my eye on moving back north - my kiddo is there, as well as my stuff (in a storage locker). Open to suggestions about moving, because right now it feels impossible.

[yesterdaysprint]

Evansville Press, Indiana, February 5, 1912

[anemonequeen-moved]

it’s a leap yeap

[ithelpstodream]

The history behind tipping is racist.

[moueska]

>_<

I knew part of this. But I did not know all of this. Watch.

[fuks]

[salty-red-mage]

[theartofanimation]

Kim Nguyen

[nevver]

OakOak