#eritreayunani

[tartts]

Oh wow. You just brought back a flood of feelings when I read that book. I'm so bad at remembering loads of quotes even if I want to but wow I felt something when I read those again. Thank you. On that note, are there any other books or works by this author that I should read? And maybe just a list of your favourites books (something raw and vivid and real) while you're at it, if it's not a bother xxx

Personally, I haven’t gotten to reading any of Valente’s other works yet, and there aren’t really any other books I’ve read that are similar to Deathless in writing quality, or just reminiscent of the writing. But I have read a few that remind me of Deathless in terms of content and relation to Russian/Slavic mythology:

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine ArdenSpinning Silver by Naomi NovikHunted by Meagan Spooner

But in general terms of my other favorite books:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Villains duology by V.E. Schwab

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Book of the Ancestor by Mark Lawrence

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

This is where it differs to (I loved these books when I was like 13 so they’re probably not so great in writing quality but I really liked their story once upon a time):

The Forbidden Game by LJ Smith

Nightworld by LJ Smith

Thirst by Christopher Pike

Violet Eden Chapters by Jessica Shirvington

Revenants series by Amy Plum

Exodus by Julie Bertagna

[thewinedarksea]

Hello!! Where can I read your writing? I'd really like to! :)

the general tag for it is here, and in chronological order it’s here! and i hope you enjoy it! :-)

[arckhaic]

Hi! your writing is exquisite! It's very vivid and just, even in fragments it takes you to a different place. I was wondering if there are any books that have influenced your writing style, books that you definitely recommend people to read, and maybe some advice on how to develop such a free and creative style :) id really love to hear more on this from you

ohhh wow, thank you so much for your kind words!! that is incredibly lovely of you to say. thank you for reading my work and finding something in it!

hm, i would say that i draw a lot from a lot of books from non fiction to fiction to poetry but a big draw would be from fantasy and poetry. i think some writers don’t see poetry as important to their craft & some poets do the same but they’re both wrong. i would not be the poet i am without my books & i wouldn’t be the writer i am without poetry. 

but, i’ve also been writing & evolving my style for near 10 years now. and i’m still not anywhere i’d like to be. i don’t super feel at home with my work yet but that’s something i’m working on. 

i’m going to combine my influencing books with the recommended books because everyone knows i can’t recommend anything. so! these are just some after cursory glance over my bookshelves. there are more but then we’d be here all day.

silence in the forest of hell by brandon sanderson — sanderson’s style is sparse and quick. and i personally like that. he’s able to evoke a very vivid picture in your head with just the right words & that’s something that i always try to work towards. he is brilliant with worldbuilding and that’s something i also would like to be better at. this story is a wonderful example of the worldbuilding. ( on audiobook, it’s read by claudia black for all yall nerds. ) 

rupurt wong, cannibal chef by cassandra khaw — wowza, what to say about this. lifechanging? maybe. khaw is flowery and descriptive and juicy in her work. god. it’s gross and gruesome and absolutely beautiful. you really can just dig your hands right into the slime with this. i’d love to be able to do that. 

the assassin’s apprentice by robin hobb — robin hobb is known mostly for her characters. her world is more like the suggestion of a background compared to her rich characters. which i don’t mind. i think characterization is a weak point for me & why not learn from the best? this book made me cry and i don’t really cry at books. 

six of crows by leigh bardugo & the raven cycle by maggie stiefvater — bardugo has a lyrical type of voice, not as heavy as stiefvater’s, that i really enjoy. i think this is a kind of theme in ya books … lyrical songbird flighty type of writing which is cool if that’s your jam but it being so saturated in the mainstream, it’s gotta be good to make me feel anything. and bardugo & stiefvater do that for me. 

the secret history by donna tartt, various books by anne rice, game of thrones by george r.r. martin, gone girl by gillian flynn, white oleander by janet finch, various things by lovecraft, and more. i’m actually a pretty slow reader. and i like to read things over again. a lot of these books i’ve read at least twice. i got to get back on it …. 

poets include: donte collins, franny choi, audre lorde, mary oliver, sylvia plath*, richard siken, tracy k. smith, margaret atwood, e.e. cummings, sandra cisneros, aaaand more. but this already so long. 

also short!!!! stories!!!!! i’m a slow reader but i’m pretty good with short stories. and they’re so absolutely wonderful to get to know an author’s style because it’s their style but condensed and magnified like x10. they’re so helpful and wonderful and i adore short stories so much. if you want like some top favs, let me know. 

there’s also books i don’t like that inspire a true and righteous hatred for the mockery they’ve done of writing and thus i must be Better than them but i won’t get into those unless yall want it. 

i’ll direct you to this ask and this one that go into more detail for advice. while the subject matter is poetry, you can apply the same thing to prose. the biggest thing in writing free and creatively … is just learn how to write for yourself. 

write for yourself, not for the views or the reblogs or the likes or the fad or anything. learn what you like, learn the stories you want to tell. it doesn’t matter if it’s been done 2084 times, it hasn’t been done by you. and that’s what your story is so important to tell. 

i personally think that going in to Improve Your Style will cause your writing to suffer bc u will be so focused on mechanics that your story won’t go anywhere. go in wanting to just write. go into writing just wanting to tell this story. and out of that, your own style will begin to show through. having influences is good but …. you’re not looking to copy anyone’s style. you’re looking more for foundations to build on. 

i don’t want to write like brandon sanderson. it’s too spare for me as a writer but i can see how he crafts his stories. how he builds his worlds. how he use uses dialogue. what he does with action or characters and i can try it out. i can build on top of that and see how i like to write. 

this is so long but thank you for your question!! if you have more questions or if you want to talk about writing, feel free!!

[quomododragon]

Hi there! I love how you and your students make jokes using language and I saw your fruit post but I didn't understand it?? There was a suggestion for you to hand back vegetables, I didn't get that part either. Could you explain? :)

One of my students dared a classmate to just hand me random fruit with no context, but then her friends decided to join in. The commenter is suggesting I get back at them by handing them vegetables the same way.

That’s as much as I know. Anything beyond that, and I’m just as confused as you are.

[shitsuji-hcs]

Ah! Did you pick the name Sen because that's also one of the names of the female protagonist in Spirited Away?? :D

Sen: Actually no. It’s from an inside joke with one of my old friends, so I’m not even sure if I remember it. I think it was based on the fact that it could mean either “request” (and that’s what I fulfill on this blog), “hermit” which… I was back then, and “thousand.” That and it worked with my Tokyo Ghoul phase.

Eden: I’m not sure if you want to know about my name but… it came from someone mispronouncing one of my middle names and I eventually went along with it cause it sounded cool. Biblical but… that contrasts heavily with me as a person.

[incandescent-creativity]

Is Satan's secretary your story? :) I've just seen it a few times on your blog and I'd like to know more if that's okay

Yes, it is my story, and yes it is okay! I don’t know what you want to know but I can go on some rambles.

Satan’s Secretary is the first book in what’s planned to be a seven book urban fantasy series. It’s the story of an organization called The Recovery and Existence Experts, or TREE for short. It’s an organization based in New York, and they are the regulators of all the nonhuman races that exist on the east coast.

Essentially, they’re fairy tale cops.

It’s first person narrated, which is weird for me as a writer. Ash Gentum is the narrator and protagonist, and has worked at TREE for four years. There’s a bunch of divisions at TREE, but Ash works at the demon division. (Note: not actual demons. That’s TREE’s word to classify them and is seen as an insult; they’re more like tieflings). 

You can read a full summary of the story here, but the plot of book one is that Satan, the ruler of the demons down in the Under where they live (because naming stuff is hard), he’s looking for an advisor/secretary/counselor person. Ash is the one that signs up for the job, although the whole process is a bit more than she was bargaining on. Magic, shadow demons, and other shenanigans ensue.

Ummm what else? You can read some of my fantasy worldbuilding posts for this series if you want! One / Two / Three

There’s some other characters, too, like Ash’s grandmother Gran, her annoying newbie partner Zach Loto, the head of TREE Director Rush, and some other officers.

I think that’s a good enough summary for now. Thanks for your interest, and if you have any specific questions about anything, please ask them! 

[givethispromptatry]

Please take a nice good rest. *Smooches lightly on the forehead* 😘

I will. Thank you for the smooches! :)

[thedarkestcrow]

Hi there! I don't keep up with manga but I remember there was this memorable line that went: "Sebastian looks on at mankind's foolishness or smt with a certain tenderness" and I think one of the black butler blogs I followed made a discussion post on that line since it was so interesting. Just wondering if it was you or maybe you recall such a line. I don't remember which chapter or Arc but I think it was the very last line.

Hi. :) Ah yes, I think I know which scene you mean. That’s one of those small lines at the end of each chapter which are usually not translated by the official translation but appear in the scanlations. This particular line is from the end of the circus arc (chapter 36) after Ciel visits the workhouse and sees that it’s long abandoned and he has this speech about humans being evil, cruel and selfish.

Here’s the line again:

I’m not sure which post you mean exactly but there is a very good one about that line by @into--the--abyss (take a look here). So maybe that’s the one you remember. If not, it’s worth reading anyway. ;)