as she gets out of bed…

[rainrein]

i love creating oc x canon ships i think more people should do them and i think more people should be really, really, really weird about them

[winaru]

Someone said it finally :’) My entire existence is built on oc x canon ships, and yes I can be very weird about them…

[wovi]

[swordheld]

“I want to know what it means to survive something. does it just mean I get to keep my body?”

— Life of the Party, ‘We All Got Burnt That Summer’ by Olivia Gatwood (via deformititties)

[swordheld]

“it’s a myth that love lives in the heart it lives in the throat we push it out when we speak when we gasp we take a little for ourselves”

— Calling a Wolf a Wolf, ‘Heritage’ by Kaveh Akbar (via decreation)

[winaru]

Taiwan Travelogue

[battlestar-royco]

here have 10 pieces of writing advice that have stuck with me over the years

every character’s first line should be an introduction to who they are as a person

even if you only wrote one sentence on a really bad day, that’s still one sentence more than you had yesterday

exercise restraint when using swear words and extra punctuation in order for them to pack a punch when you do use them

if your characters have to kiss to show they’re in love, then they’re not in love

make every scene interesting (or make every scene your favorite scene), otherwise your readers will be just as bored as you

if you’re stuck on a scene, delete the last line you wrote and go in a different direction, or leave in brackets as placeholders

don’t compare your first draft to published books that could be anywhere from 3rd to 103rd drafts

i promise you the story you want to tell can fit into 100k words or less

sometimes the book isn’t working because it’s not ready to be written or you’re not ready to write it yet; let it marinate for a bit so the idea can develop as you become a better writer

a story written in chronological order takes a lot more discipline and is usually easier to understand than a story written with flashbacks

[theinwardlight]

From Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark

[winaru]

Thoughts after a good breakfast:

I feel today is a good day. It might not just be the breakfast—oyakodon plus a hot spring egg, plus an ice latte using the coffee machine at Family Mart, which has piqued my interest for more than a week, but that I only found the courage to try. It might be that sleep was unbroken for 10 hours and jet lag is no longer a problem. It might be the fine weather, good coffee, or finally that cute black dress fits. One week left in Japan and I’m determined to make the most of it. Not feeling confident about taking the bus in Kyoto (not confident in the slightest in my own city to begin with). But feeling optimistic that nothing will go wrong. Maybe it’s a magical city.

[winaru]

Jet lag / morning coffee thoughts in Shibuya:

I want to be in Tokyo again in five years. I want to be sitting on the 2nd floor of the Starbucks overlooking Shibuya crossing. I’ll sit in the corner watching otakus line up twenty minutes before Magnet Shibuya 109 opens. it’s a bit sunny in this corner in May on a Tuesday morning, but then a girl comes to pull down the blinds with an elongated hook, and travelers say arigato gozaimasu to her as a way of practicing their Japanese before their adventures resume.

I want to sit in the same spot in five years time, still writing, but with the knowledge that finally I made it as a writer.

[winaru]

The funny thing is, I liked Ryou Bakura first. I think this was before the start of my angst-y teenage years. Ryou was kind, innocent and clever and sacrificed himself for his friends when Bakura trapped them in Monster World. He had low self-esteem even though he was beautiful. He was a pretty boy and gentle and helpless and easily manipulated and also friendless before he met Yugi and his friends. He was a character I easily became attached to as I was also friendless and lonely. I had moved to another country. I was not beautiful though. I was not an anime character who could hide behind wide eyes and impossibly slim figure and appear just sad and mysterious and not sad and pathetic. But I loved his eyes and smile. I hated his attachment to the Millennium Ring. I wished it was thrown into the ocean along with Yugi’s Exodia cards. The first time I met him, I absolutely hated Yami Bakura.

[winaru]

I’m thinking about Bakura from Yugioh who I liked immensely when I was 13. Crushes are often painful, but with loving a fictional character, the pain is frequently excruciating when the love is so strong I wish I could share it with someone else. A real life crush may not know I exist but I can change this if I wanted, whereas Bakura does not exist period and I’m powerless to conjure him into existence. Even if I could, what would be the purpose? So I can tell him that I think he is cruel and that his very one-dimensional cold-bloodedness, his vicious smile and hairstyle that just doesn’t make sense, are kinda stupid, and I hate how he goes on making trouble for Yugi for no clear reason. But after he saved his host Ryou, I began to see him in a different light, and would he give me a chance to see more of this side of him? He is set up as the villain and nothing he can do can change his fate, and that’s why I love him…Yeah. Sounds pretty pointless, and I kinda already know how Bakura will respond — in his typically Yami Bakura way.

And almost twenty years later when I look back, I still love him.

To everyone who writes or has written fanfic as a teen, is this painful love the reason you write? To put this love somewhere else, otherwise it feels it will drown you. And you create an alter-ego for your fictional crush as a way of making them love you back.

Here are some of my favourite Bakura looks.

[winaru]

Issue 06: Place & Identity | VAINE

In the newest issue 06: place & identity of VAINE magazine, you will find a short story of mine called “Temporarily Misplaced”. It is a whimsical little story about how feelings of displacement, of homesickness, never really leave those of us who have, for any number of reasons, left behind one home for another. These emotions pop up unexpectedly from time to time. The question of ‘what if’ lingers, but what would you do if given the chance? Would you go back? Sometimes these feelings prompt action, sometimes it’s a temporary passion and the life you’re used to simply continues…It is a personal story and I hope anyone who reads it will be able relate it. Pre-order print copy and buy the digital copy in the link above!

[lsosl]

Chidi Anagonye, the man who was literally killed by his indecisiveness, knew without any debate or advice that he was ready to move on, and was the first of the main cast to walk through the gate.

Jason Mendoza, the loud-mouthed dimwit whose idea of hell was a world where he was forced to be quiet and wise, spent thousands of cycles alone in contemplation of the universe, and sat patiently until he could provide his final act of kindness to the Not-Girl he loved.

Tahani Al-Jamil, the woman who needed constant validation for her achievements and talents, decided to spend the rest of (the foreseeable) eternity by sitting in the shadows and creating the simulations that would help others become their best selves.

Michael, a demon who by nature despised all of humanity, found his happiness in becoming a human, and in learning to grow and change for the better.

Janet, the AI who had no purpose other than to fein happiness and provide for anyone’s desires without question, learned to not only love but to think and feel for herself.

And of course, Eleanor Shellstrop, the woman who needed no one, who owed nobody anything, did not ever spend her time in the good place alone, and refused to walk through the gate until she made sure that everyone else she knew was happy first.

Each of them ended their stories with their original faults/sins resolving to become their greatest virtues, and these virtues became the things that gave them the peace to move on and be one with the universe. This show was absolutely beautiful and there won’t be anything quite like it.

[metamorphesque]

I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live—if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.

Hayao Miyazaki on romance

[grusinskayas-archive]

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness | 夢と狂気の王国 (2013) dir. Mami Sunada

[kawaichihiro]

[winaru]

Finished these four books in the last two weeks. It’s hard to decide which is my favorite because they are so different. I loved Girl with a Pearl Earring more than I expected. Murakami is at his very best in this collection with Drive My Car, Yesterday and Samsa in Love. Higashino always surprises me with his mysteries. Ishiguro had set the bar too high with his earlier novels, but I still loved his writing in Klara and the Sun.