#thepixiediaries

[librarycards]

top 5 novels

first of all, how fucking dare you

okay, modifying this to be about novels most formative in my life as a writer, which i guess is also a form of favorite. but still sahfjkhsdkjf. okay, selves, calm down. here we go. from memory.

Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway

Rivers Solomon, An Unkindness of Ghosts

Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation

Samuel R Delany, Dhalgren

Larissa Lai, Salt Fish Girl

[papenathys]

omg u are the only other person I've seen on this site who has read and dislikes iwwv -- I had a negative reaction to it (like lukewarm to frustrated) and was really surprised by how many people seem to genuinely love it lol

So I thought I'll give a catty response to this about how TSH is light years better because you know, Donna Tartt actually worked ages to improve her craft and wrote the novel over 8 years whereas IWWV was written when M. L Rio was barely a postgraduate I think. But anyway.

Of course people love the book, it has a romance between two white male characters, just enough rhetoric to make it seem like its female characters are complex and just enough Shakespeare references to elevate it to pseudo-academia. Nevermind that it's neither a satire nor a thematic response to elitism. Nevermind that it is full of itself and takes itself seriously and wants you to feel sorry for its entitled wafer thin cast of characters, including *checks notes* a racially ambiguous drug addict!! Never mind that Oliver is made out to be this noble and tragic underdog even though he legitimately has an entire arc of being disgusted at his sister for having an eating disorder because it means he has to cut down on his private school allowance for her therapy. Unlike Tartt, who is telling you at every step that her classics kids are out of touch with reality and falling to their own hubris, Rio wants you to look at her cast as this tragically beautiful Skins-esque friends group despite my coat and my coat hanger having more chemistry between each other.

Fuck Oliver, fuck this book and I'm sorry that victims of EDs, myself included had to read this garbage. Of course booktok hypes it up. It's all style and no substance, something they love out there. The aesthetic is all that matters in the end.

[thelittlestspider]

I need to know about the polycule,, what are the internal dynamics? is there any jealousy, possessiveness etc.?

i think to really get into the polycule i have to talk about the og ships first, then segue into the ones formed later on. so this is probably gonna be pretty long lol.

joe/carter: joe and carter are connected to each other in some cosmic way they don't really understand. they're each other's rock in a sea of evil. they're soulmates. they did not start off that way lol.

joe and carter became partners after they went through basically the entire sector and got paired together because they couldn't work on a day to day basis with anyone else. after a rocky start eventually they bond and become friends, leading to a brief romance that would haunt them for years until they met again.

joe and carter fantasized about running away together and starting a new life, but felt too bound by their responsibility to the others to even think about it as possible.

once they do get married, it's kind of trial and error. they have to learn to communicate with each other again so they can figure out where the boundaries are and how to navigate around their issues (they end up going to therapy, which helps).

ray/scott: ray and scott are soulmates basically. they met when they were kids and it was pretty much love at first sight (even though they didn't recognize it at the time).

they don't realize they have feelings for each other until they're like in their 20s, even though they've been each other's number 1 since forever (everyone thinks ray and scott are secretly married or think they're hopeless because they're oblivious to the fact they're basically married).

peter/javier: peter and javier are best friends who have known each other since they were ten. they met during murder camp and after some murder attempts became inseparable. these two cannot imagine what their lives would have been like had they not met each other.

i think one of the reasons that they fell so hard for carter was that they sort of gave them their freedom without even realizing it. because they had imagined what it would be like to run away and be able to get married and start a life together a million times, but carter killing alastair made that possible. which is like the greatest gift that someone has ever given them.

joe/ray/scott/(carter): these three had a rough beginning that was only going to get rougher. it sort of began as them bonding when they thought carter was dead and they were in mourning. then things got fucked up when joe and scott realized that not only had they met before, they were in this whole relationship that got erased that's felt like a limb that got cut off that they didn't even know they were missing.

ray doesn't really know where she fits in their relationship. she was in the beginning stages of something with scott and carter but carter's gone and now she's in limbo with scott and this grieving man she barely knows.

ray goes through a nervous breakdown and a bad breakup with alec, and some other stuff and like basically sort of a divorce arc where they find out later that carter is alive (carter left a message on ray's phone saying they're alive in salvation, but ray's phone gets lost? while she's running from ranch goons and it gets recovered later somehow. how i don't know yet lol). joe leaves to go find carter and ray and scott are so miserable because they love him so much. then they decide to go after him and all of them be together.

peter/carter/javier: there wasn't really any jealousy here, because they mutually decided they wanted to marry carter the minute carter handed their asses to them and killed their abuser.

in their love language carter might as well have put up a neon sign saying marriage material. carter flees necropolis to meet their sibling in red dog and peter and javier follow carter, starting a beautiful, naive, idiot courtship that carter is very resistant to (at first).

like the first thing peter and javier do after getting married is start stealing a bunch of shit (peter), and joining the bounty hunters guild (javier) to buy a house for the three of them to live in.

i know what you're thinking, "that's insane. why would they do that?" because 1) they were raised in a murder camp where the only people they had was each other. 2) they've only been with each other by this point (until patrice). 3) because of this they're kind of naive, and they don't really know how regular courtship works. if they weren't so incredibly sincere i'd be like, "girl, run for it!"

peter/javier/patrice: i think peter was kind of jealous of patrice when she and javier started dating because patrice was pretty and 'normal.' but patrice was kind to him and they developed a friendship. patrice lives in her own place even after they get married because she likes her space, and they respect it.

a lot of carter's resistance to them is because they think peter and javier are still out to get them, then later it's because of carter's issues. but they eventually come around and they end up married later on.

i think the real friction comes in when carter refuses to put up with peter's feral gremlin nonsense lol. javier's so used to peter climbing all over him and knocking things out of his hands to get to him that he just kind of accepted his fate. carter absolutely will not put up with it lol.

they're fine with peter being clingy, but if he knocks stuff out of their hands or out of their lap they will tell him exactly what they think about it and deny him kisses, which he cannot abide by (javier feels bad for being thankful that carter has domesticated peter into being a better husband, but mentally he thanks carter for their service lol).

javier and patrice have a quiet, passionate relationship with mutual love and respect (not that peter/javier don't also have that in their own way. it's just different). they're the kind of couple that can share a thousand words with just a look. they also have a mutual interest in death (javier because of his upbringing/religion, and patrice being a mortician in training).

i don't know if peter and patrice have romantic interest in each other, but they do get married for convenience.

carter/patrice: carter and patrice worked at the roadhouse together, so they became friends before they married peter and javier. i imagine they're the sort of wives who drink coffee together while their husbands wrestle in the living room, and read novels together. (ray fits perfectly into this dynamic)

joe/javier and joe/peter: peter and javier were extremely jealous of joe because he's carter's 💖 long lost love 💖 and they were afraid carter was going to leave them for him. joe was sad at first because he thought he lost his shot with carter and then was happy when carter reassured him that they still loved him, then sort of like didn't know what to do about carter's jealous husbands lol.

basically they just like get in his face and are like, "if you break our wife's heart, we'll kill you" and joe's like, "are we about to kiss?" it doesn't really hit them how serious it is until joe moves in with them and like. commits himself to being not only a good husband to carter, but also them as well. then all the righteous anger and indignation just turns to horniness lol.

ray/javier: ray likes the quiet, honorable types and javier fits that to a t. she thinks he's very sweet, and terribly sexy when he's in his Serious mode.

scott/javier: once the chaos dies down these two form a quiet relationship where they just sort of chill together. scott and javier are like the laid back guys in the polycule. they could sit in the back yard in complete silence for hours holding hands and be completely comfortable.

ray/peter: i'm not really sure exactly what their dynamic is, but it's probably similar to peter/patrice.

peter/scott: i talked about them a little bit here, but i want to expand a little bit on it. i'm going to get nsfw here because once they get past the pettiness these two are demonically horny for each other and so stupid about it. imagine playing chicken with someone you know wants to have nasty sex with you because you're both too stubborn to lose.

[ispyspookymansion]

u posting about the black phone is making me wanna watch it! i saw the trailer a couple months ago & was a little worried it would be like "bad" (but not in a fun camp way just in a mediocre boring way) but it sounds really good!! ill check it out :3

yesssss my goal of getting people interested succeeds…..im sure its not for everyone i heard some complaints about it being slow/boring but i didnt think it was at all, i was really charmed by it and engaged the whole time!! youll have to watch it and let me know what you think :3

[inactive-writeblr]

My love will never die and in the woods somewhere for the hozier ask game <333

thank you for the ask!!! <3

My Love Will Never Die — What do you think makes a good fictional romance? What sort of tropes?

for me, enemies to lovers >>> instalove. i have a mega soft spot for friends to lovers too, there’s something about the ambiguity of human affection that’s just *chef’s kiss*

also please please make the obstacles to romance realistic 😭😭. now i love me a comedy of errors/miscommunication as much as the next person, but if the slow burn is beyond the realm of feasibility i might just pull my hair out. (these are all unfounded opinions though, as i’ve never properly tried my hand at writing romance! so everyone who does is a master cupid in my eyes :D)

In the Woods Somewhere — Have you created any monsters or cryptids for your story? If so, what are they?

this isn’t something i’ve done for a long time! that said i absolutely LOVE reading about this type of worldbuilding – if anyone has created any monsters/cryptids for their story, this is me officially encouraging you to tell me all about them :)))

hozier song titles ask game ^^

[nbwriteschaos]

aquarius & pisces <3

u are a darling , did you know? sadly i answered both of these but i love u /p thank you for sending an ask anyway and i hope you’re doing well <3!!!!

[librarycards]

The deep by rivers solomon 🙇‍♂️recs too pleek

when i die make sure "🙇‍♂️recs too pleek" [incl. the emoji] is on my tombstone

[WAIT I JUST REALIZED THAT PLEEK WAS FOR PLEASE AND NOT LIKE A NEWER VERSION OF 'FLEEK' IM SKADHKKJSD BYE]

added to TBR | on my TBR | couldn’t finish it | did not enjoy | it was OK [alas, i did not like it very much, but rivers is still an excellent writer] | liked it | loved it [link to my review] | favorite | not interested

recs!!

Larissa Lai, Salt Fish Girl (THE ABSOLUTE BOOK OF ALL TIME)

Joshua Whitehead, ed. Love After The End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit & Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity (and the rest of the trilogy!)

Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves

[librarycards]

the God of small things by arundhati roy, walking on cowrie shells by nana nkweti, Bliss montage by ling ma, even though I knew the end by cl polk + the laughter by Sonora jha

nice, and a couple that are new to me! here are some recs:

Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breaker

Sarah Gailey, Magic for Liars

Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

Emily St. John Mendel, Sea of Tranquility