#ask grey

[writer-in-theory]

What does dead dove mean 😭😭

Dead dove comes from Arrested Development. He opens the fridge and sees a bag that says "Dead dove: do not eat", and when he looks in the bag he says "Huh, don't know what else I expected."

It's a tag used typically to indicate that a fic is gonna be dark. Basically pay attention to the tags and the warnings and listen to them!! Don't be surprised when something dark happens when it's been tagged appropriately, basically

[grey-sorcery]

heyy, how are you? I have a question, feel free to answer whenever. What authors, books do you recommend for starting on energy work? i love your articles on the subject and I'd love to do more research but the internet is a rabbithole for reiki enthusiasts

I don’t do book recommendations. But I can tell you this: if a book about energy work contains the words ”Reiki” “Chakra” (unless it’s 100% based in Hindu or Buddhist practice), or “visualize”, it will be of zero benefit. If you’d like to learn more about energy work, I’d recommend two things,

1: Avoid all New Age bullshit, instead talk with practitioners of Taoist Magic.

2: Adopt a scientific approach. Experiment, trial and error. Account for bias as best you can.

[earlgreydream]

have you tried the wanda hair dye?

OH yes i did :) but my hair doesn't take red well for some reason?? so instead it's just sort of red-tinted.

[heygreyyart]

Hi! I've really been enjoying your work so far, so I was wondering if you mind other people making art of your OC? (With credit and a link back to you, of course!) Ella has such a fun, eye-catching design, and I'd love to maybe try my own hand at drawing her in the future, but obviously I don't want to step on your toes if that's not something you're okay with. Either way, welcome (back) to Tumblr! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work and character!

A HUNDRED TIMES, YES, YES! DRAW MY BABY!

You have no idea how happy it makes knowing that people enjoy this little character I created for the mere sake of having someone smooching the stick-y victorian, science boy (while bitching about it at the same time) 😂💕

Arcane was the first show in quite a long time to inspire me this much and I couldn't stop myself from making a character I could relate to someway and add some of my personal experiences I'm living at the moment -- so, in a way, I'm delighted y'all find this small part of me interesting.

Thank you so much dear, and of course! Draw Ella (and any other OCs I eventually show here) as much as you want, and please please show me! That would make me so happy 😭😭😭

[colorful-corners]

M

[writer-in-theory]

im so aware that im about to sound exactly like this xkcd comic: https://xkcd.com/2390/

but i noticed in your writing that you sometimes drop the "to be" in your passive infinitive conjugations after the word "needed" (eg "needed punished" instead of "needed to be punished" in drink my pain, or "needed pricked" in the type 1 shane writing preview you shared which is what reminded me). that's not something i have heard in the english spoken where I live, so it caught my attention! and I'm curious about it 👀 is this something that feels natural to you to do exclusively with the word "needed" or can you think of any other words you'd do this with?

Okay I had so much fun with this ask and it led to me doing a lot of research. I didn't realize that I did this in my verbal speech much less in my writing but now I keep noticing it throughout the day!

So yes, the short of it is that it's a regional grammatical phenomenon. Without doxxing myself on main, this is most common in the American Midwest and Appalachia. SPECIFICALLY, according to research at Yale the "core location" where the grammatical change originated from is Ohio and Western Pennsylvania but it spread out from there. I've included a map from Yale University on the subject

I needed a little help with the second part of your question on if I do it with any other verbs. Again, I took to the Yale study. They noted specifically the verbs need, want, like, deserve, require, love, hate, prefer, and expect. I've noticed just this morning that I do in fact do with some of these verbs.

But this makes sense why I never noticed it, because I'm from the state of Ohio where this is at its core a part of the dialect. It's so normal that I never caught it, but super interesting to hear that it's not done everywhere! And, I guess something for me to watch out for when I write dialogue because absolutely no one in Heated Rivalry (except maybe Rose) would speak with that kind of grammar change.

Basically, thank you for asking this, it was really interesting!

[writer-in-theory]

hi Grey! Love your work <3 Thanks for writing!

May I as a Russian offer you my advice for Russian petnaming? if not, feel free to ignore this ask

So basically shchenok is correct translation for puppy, but we do not use it in affectionate way. It's more like established dominance, like old experienced man can call shchenok (щенок) the younger one. It's actually pretty contemptuous. Giving off army vibes, maybe bluecollar or "domineering dad" vibes. Grigory could call Ilya that, although only when he's angry at his son

The more suitable word is щеночек – shchenochek. They seem alike but trust me the difference is HUGE. Щеночек is sweet, affectionate and kind, but still a little condescending. So I believe this is the right word for your story.

Anyway thanks for reading xo

Oh thank you so much! I will always take corrections or feedback on things like this. I tried to do my research on petnames and that’s the one that came up, but like you said those sites are probably just giving technical direct translations instead of what is actually used

I will have to update the fic to use shchenochek, thank you so much for explaining the difference to me! That’s so interesting and I appreciate it very much <3

[writer-in-theory]

It sounds like were hitting a point where you're going to have to hold chapter 22 until you can go 24 hours without literal insane people being rude in your ask box. Each time someone is out of pocket, another day gets added. That might get everyone behaving real quick lol

That’s genuinely what I’ve been doing. Chapter 22 has been ready since Sunday night. We have not had a day since Sunday where I have had less than 5 people berate me for not updating. Just to make that clear.

Fandom is fun. It’s meant to be fun. I love talking to y’all, I really and truly do. It’s the small percentage of people being genuinely mean that ruin it for everyone else