Art which tries to please will never delight

🐝

[writerbumblebee]

Bienvenido

Welcome to my little corner!

I'm Noah (He/It/They/Neops.), a writer who occasionally appears to show what I'm working on. Longer pieces can be found on AO3 under WriterBumbleBee here; I also have a secondary, religious account, which is @devoutbutterfly.

In this blog, you will find quite a bit of:

`•° Original writing

°*• Works about Les Misérables and The Picture Of Dorian Gray (I hate Oscar Wilde with a passion).

*•` Rants about my interests

Content Warnings: trauma, drug use, grooming, physical and psychological abuse, mental disorders, death, etc (individual CWs can be found per post).

DNI: queerphobes, radqueers, radfems, racists, anti-theists, religious extremists, proshippers, and NSFW blogs.

I hope you'll find in this blog a place in which to think freely and fiercely, for every dangerous idea started with a lingering thought.

"To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark."

—Victor Hugo

[girlcodedhamlet]

it's very frustrating seeing otherwise well-structured posts about media literacy and critical thinking bookended with statements about "nowadays", "nobody has literacy anymore", "this generation is so anti-intellectual", and the like, unquestioningly falling into better past fallacies.

Do we really think the 80s and its Satanic Panic were better at critical thinking? what about the 40s? the Victorian era? societies have always had problems with critical thinking and literacy, because most societies have dealt with propaganda, corrupt leadership, difficulty providing education (due to poverty or discrimination or other issues), and/or people who resist critical thinking (due to privilege or circumstance or what have you). we can criticize media trends without pulling a "well back in the GOOD OLD DAYS" about it.

[writerbumblebee]

You know, the fact that Iron Lung, Project Hail Mary, and Disclosure Day are all movies that came out the same year really makes me wonder if any cultural thing happened while I was asleep, because what do you mean they're so damn similar that two of these movies even have a crack ship???

Let's look at this:

The three movies take place/are based on space, and all of them have aliens with varying degrees of kindness.

Two of these movies are metaphors of otherness, either towards criminals or people from other countries, and their moral is that all people are human and should be treated with the sympathy and decency of one. They, too, deal with religion and its impact on society, especially when people who were raised in religious groups lose their faith in their god or humanity.

Two of these stories, also, are filled with hope in empathy and love towards one another, believing that team work and understanding are the only way to live a fulfilling life in a fulfilled society.

Two of these stories, moreover, treat the moral dilemma of whether it is excusable to lead a person to die against their will if that would bring salvation towards humanity as a whole. They, too, deal with the question of whether fighting for your life in this situation could be considered selfish and cowardly, or just the natural wishes of a feeling person.

I don't know, I just love these movies so fucking much. Maybe one day I'll write a more thoughtful post about them.

Also, long live Bloodymary.

[everythingwsnormalhere]

HAPPY DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH!!! every disabled person gets a free crime of their choice

[papercranesandpride]

I remember years ago, long enough ago that I was still using either Tiktok or Instagram regularly, because that's where I saw this, long enough ago that unfortunately I do not remember the username, I saw an older trans woman responding to a comment asking "how come we see trans women from your generation, but never trans men?" And her response was simple. "Unfortunately, it's because most of them are dead." Between lack of safe and legal abortions (which, hey, look what's an issue again), the HIV/AIDs crisis (which still is lacking in approved treatments for trans men, and they're still likely to be denied PrEP/PEP even when they should be eligible as sexually active queer men), and how many of them chose to take their own lives after being forced into marriages and other women's roles, a lot of the trans men that should be elderly right now did not make it.

And now, when I find myself making the mistake of going on Instagram, I get to see trans men themselves talking about how historically, trans men didn't do anything for the community, and so we need to step up now. Which, first of all, that isn't true, but second of all, if trans men's contributions are lesser, that makes a lot of sense if we listen to that trans woman talking about the trans men she was in community with back in the day. It's very hard to advance the trans cause if you're not alive.

Anyway. It's a really chilling answer. "Where are all the elderly trans men?" "They're dead." And I just wish more people saw that tiktok and listened to it and really took it to heart, now that we're in the age of "well obviously trans men have it so much easier."

[gracehasaspacesuitquestion]

Please read this because it is EXTREMELY important me (a transgender man) and to other trans individuals.

The US Government is currently trying to pass an incredibly dangerous national law for trans youth called HR 2616.

This bill would ban all Federally funded schools from teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation, prevent teachers from using the correct pronouns and names for trans students, remove books with any trans representation in them, and even go as far as to prevent teachers from acknowledging trans identity AT ALL.

Any school that does not follow this will lose all federal funding. This bill would also require teachers to forcibly out trans students to their families, which would be fatal to any trans student with a transphobic Family or just hateful family in general. Trans people are already a group that already has some of the highest rates of being victim to suicide, domestic violence, and sexual assault.

This bill actively makes teachers put those innocent children at such a big risk. This bill has rapidly passed the house this week with support from all 209 republicans, as well as 8 democrats. But, it's still being voted on in the senate, which means there is still time to help stop this.

To help stop this, you can visit 5calls.org (look up 2616 in the search bar), one of the most top issues filed Oppose Attacks on LGBTQ+ Students. Once you put in your general location, it will pull-up contact information for your senator, and give you a script for calling them.

If you are a minor and/or do not feel comfortable doing this, PLEASE repost this on here, or any other platform you are on/can find! This needs to be heard and fought against.

Thank you for reading this, my lovely people!

(My moots/friends that I'm tagging: @syrupppppppppp @s4pphicfurryr4ve2769 @starstarstarrystar @histrynerdss @billiloveyouso @ultimatebikergangleader69 @trixthemagemain @otlantispearlxox @jaxwithabow)

[skelotan]

I'm still Big Mad from the animation industry AI news, and I had some thoughts I needed to get out. There are lots of more important reasons why artists shouldn't use AI, but here is my philosophical take on it.

PATREON

[writerbumblebee]

To Fall In Love

It is such a silly say

“To fall in love.”

One does not fly,

Nor swim or walk.

You are not met with gentleness,

But with an endless fall.

It is such a dreadful thing,

To fall in love

In such a world.

A world with guns and ropes

At the ready for the mere sign

Of someone falling out of line.

It is such an impossible fate,

To fall in love.

Would you do it?

Against all dread,

Against all wounds,

Against all laws.

Would you do it?

To Fall.

To trust the fall.

To trust you will be caught

By someone you trust.

Would you do it?

Such a silly deed.

Such a dreadful deed.

Such an impossible deed.

Such a beautiful deed.

Such a lovely deed.

To fall in love

And find you are not alone.

To die for love

In a fight many more have fought.

To live with love

In a world reborn.

Would you do it,

To fall in love?

[jiubilee]

The real tragedy about the barricade is that we don’t know how much is true. Victor Hugo was there at the June Rebellion, so what is fact and what is fiction? That question gives me chills because we’ll never know. 

[enjolras-in-valinor]

Charles Jeanne (who I think is probably actual real life Enjolras) wrote an in-detail account of the ACTUAL barricades in a letter to his sister after the fact

you can read it, tenlittlebullets translated it into English :)

it’s really graphic, he leaves no gory details out, just FYI if you’re gonna read it, keep TW: VIOLENCE  in mind

[tenlittlebullets]

#how is he real-life enjolras if he survived (via metellus-cimber)

I’m so glad somebody asked this, because the answer is: when they finally ran out of ammunition, Charles Jeanne rounded up everyone who was still standing, went, “look, if we’re going to die, we might as well die fighting,” and led a suicidal ten-man charge against an entire flippin’ infantry column, armed with nothing but bayonets. The first few ranks of soldiers were so unprepared for such a spectacularly insane attack that they were too surprised to shoot. They crossed bayonets and tried to hold the insurgents off in hand-to-hand combat, but Jeanne’s swordsmanship was apparently aces, because he held off a bunch of them at once and covered his friends as they tried to breach the ranks. And once they were in, nobody could shoot them for fear of taking out their own guys.

So the last stand that the insurgents had intended as a noble suicide ended in them breaking through the ranks entirely and winding up in the next street over, outside the combat zone, going “well shit, what do we do now?” (I’m guessing the infantry column wasn’t very deep; central Paris at that point was a rabbit warren of narrow twisty streets, and assembling troops en masse for an organized attack was a logistical nightmare.) Unlike the National Guard, the army weren’t total chumps and got themselves turned around to give chase and start shooting once they weren’t at risk of friendly fire any longer… and that’s when all the civilians holed up in their houses went “no way, you’re not getting your hands on these crazy bastards” and started hurling furniture and crockery down on the soldiers’ heads. Jeanne was understandably distracted at the time, but afterwards somebody informed him that the barrage of unlikely projectiles included a piano. A piano. That is some straight-up Looney Tunes slapstick right there. No wonder Hugo went for the heroic death scene instead; if he’d stuck to real life, he probably would’ve gotten complaints that he’d wrecked his readers’ suspension of disbelief.

Anyway, someone opened an alley gate for them to shelter in and take stock of the casualties–most of them survived(!!!), but a few were pretty nastily wounded. Their host then had to lock Charles Jeanne in to keep him from charging right back out and taking on the whole goddamn army singlehanded. He probably would’ve broken down the door if the poor man hadn’t pointed out that going back out would give away his wounded comrades’ hiding place and the identities of the people sheltering them. They sat there listening to the gunfire gradually slow and go silent, and then in the middle of the night the ones who could still walk were allowed to slip away one by one at long intervals from each other. Charles Jeanne went straight home, slept like the dead for a few hours, was woken up at five in the morning with a warning that he’d been denounced and the building was surrounded, and then slipped out in disguise and managed to evade the police for four months before a former comrade ratted him out and he was arrested.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why Charles Jeanne’s letter is an absolute treasure that deserves to be available to anyone in Les Mis fandom who wants to read it. Incidentally, “how Actual Historical Enjolras survived the barricades by being too good at his suicide mission” is also one of the stories I tell when anyone asks me what the hell is so interesting about researching people nobody’s ever heard of from an obscure chapter of French history. 

[tenlittlebullets]

Bringing this back for Barricade Day! To answer a few questions that keep coming up in the reblogs: here’s my translation of Jeanne’s letter, which was my main source. Jeanne stood trial, was imprisoned instead of executed (because can you imagine what a martyr he would’ve made), and died of tuberculosis just a few years later. Despite his improbable survival story, the RL June Rebellion was not an everybody-lives AU–like the revolt in Les Mis, it ended in a hard-fought retreat into one of the buildings on the street, followed by a massacre. The guys who led a suicide charge and accidentally won were, unfortunately, the exception.

[writerbumblebee]

This makes pretty much zero sense, but I currently do not care.

I've been thinking about different AUs of enjoltaire in my mind, because gays in different situations, am I right? But then one thing led to another, and I just came out with a pretty crack but emotionally interesting plot: imagine Grantaire for some reason gets into another universe, one where it was Enjolras instead of Cosette who was sent to the Thénardiers. In this timeline, Enjolras is very different from the usual one: he doesn't care about politics (or pretends not to in order to not get even more disillusioned), is flirty to get more tips at the inn, is alcoholic... and when Grantaire finds him he's pretty much devastated with this (even more) depressed version of the man he adores, so he stays with him as Enjolras' first genuine friend to try and help him fight for himself and get away from the Thénardiers; long story short, plot happens, Enjolras gets a bit more hopeful about the future, Grantaire discovers he can, in fact, care... And then, in the end, they have a moment, and Enjolras almost confesses/kisses him/whatever, but Grantaire gently rejects him, because even if he's Enjolras, he's not his Enjolras.

The moral of this whole ordeal is that you should fight for what you believe, which in Grantaire's case is a very rageful blond. Grantaire finds his Enjolras in the end and is brave enough to be genuine, whatever that looks like.

Also, maybe og Enjolras is also there, in another part of town, having to take shit from the other Grantaire in an arc of his own which is about not seeing everything as black or white, especially people.

I've also thought that, if Enjolras is implemented in this, the other enjoltaire would have a past of their own, filled with misunderstandings and betrayal, having Enjolras be regretful and Grantaire spiteful, which would be very interesting for their approach to og enjoltaire, as they would think they're talking to the person they know, not a version of them from a different fucking universe.

Anyway, I'm done with the rambling. Cheers ✌️

[luna-azzurra]

The most interesting question you can ask about any character is not what do they want. it's what do they believe they deserve. because those two things are almost never the same and the gap between them is where your entire story lives. a person can want love completely and believe they don't deserve it and that belief will destroy every good thing that comes toward them in ways they won't even notice they're doing. write the gap. the gap is the character.

[writerbumblebee]

Another thing I think every author should think about is what the character needs. For example, they might want love, believe they don't deserve it, and need therapy. With those three, I think anyone can create a pretty solid character, or at least the basis of one, as well as what their arc should look like.

[bevsi]

I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with relating to characters, “they’re literally me” etc but if that’s the only way you engage with stories you’re kinda missing the whole point of Characters being vehicles through which we can see perspectives outside of our own. and also you’re going to get upset when the Character acts in a way that is not Personally Relatable to You

[spacefruit]

Rewatching The Good Place for a show that:

Successfully critiques the concept of eternal punishments/rewards in the afterlife by using the story to build up the critique. And didn’t just throw it in as a last minute justification for killing off an entire universe of people.

Never forgets that it’s a comedy, despite grappling with very deep questions and concepts. And didn’t pull a genre bait-and-switch at the eleventh hour.

Expresses a deep love for humanity by having its supernatural characters develop redeeming and lovable traits because of their interactions with humans, to the point they eventually fight alongside the humans to save the afterlife-world. And didn’t minimize the agency of human characters by reducing their role in the narrative and by implying that said traits of the supernatural characters were actually just immutable facets of their souls or something they had the whole time or whatever.

Involves the main cast of characters essentially choosing to die, but because the show let them have a prolonged happy ending/afterlife and let them freely choose when it was their time to move on, all after they changed their world for the better, it was actually bittersweet in the best way. And didn’t have every single being in existence get obliterated, including characters who never got to resolve their relationship issues or reunite with their estranged sister or get a real shot at a regular human life or or or

Man, it sure would be crazy if another show chose to do the latter, terrible thing in each of these examples, wouldn’t it? Anyways

[sockth]

Hey if you See This can you reblog this or comment on this with a character you headcanon as aromantic, asexual, or both. It can be canon it can be founded on absolutely nothing I just need more aroace stuff on here #yay

[writerbumblebee]

There're plenty of characters I headcanon on the aroace spectrum, but my dearest one has to be Dorian from The Picture Of Dorian Gray. Not only is he confused about Basil's feelings when the man confesses to him (victorian-style, but still clear enough), but he also never loves either of the two women he courted: he loved the idea of Sibyl, she being an actress and all, and he wanted to be with Hetty only to try and be a better person by making a poor girl have wealth thanks to him (iirc).

Also, he just gives me vibes of being chill with lots of cool friends... if his group of friends wasn't a girl who also only loves the idea of him, groomer A, and groomer B. My boy really needed better people in his life (no shade to Sibyl dearest).

[lesmis-animated]

First of, I'd like to say that all your drawings are very beautiful, and I hope you reach all your goals with this project!

Second, since you've said in your last post that you're taking requests, could you draw Grantaire and Jehan as besties, maybe making art together? I love their (albeit fanon) friendship dearly.

Thank you so much!! I loved this suggestion they’re so cute <3

[writerbumblebee]

Ok, people from the internet who care about this, I have made a vague idea of which era every ami is from in my Les Mis x El Ministerio Del Tiempo AU. Do have in mind, however, that I don't know that much about French history and many of these eras were elected over the first paragraphs of Wikipedia.

Thus, in chronological order:

JEHAN: Renaissance

Ever since I got the idea for this AU, I knew I had to put the poet in a famously artistic era, and since he and Grantaire are the only two who are seen talking about Greek mythology in the book, I thought putting him in the rebirth of that culture would be very fitting.

JOLY: Scientific Rev. (1500s)

If my memory doesn't betray me, this was the revolution that made medicine be what it is today (if we ignore the one in the XIX century, but that was too late for him in this story, imo; he gives me old vibes). Since he's one of the two medicine students in Les Amis, there's no better era for him to be from.

BOSSUET: bro, IDK

As the unluckiest member of the group, he would also be the only one who has been in so many eras for so long that he doesn't even remember which one he comes from, and he doesn't really care.

ENJOLRAS: June 1832

Idea given by @zzalina

Well, this one is obvious: he's the leader of said revolution, and it felt wrong not putting the date in my AU. Sure, I could have gone with the French Revolution, but it didn't sit right with me to put him in a fight that actually worked out, even if temporarily; I think one of the most important parts of his character is that he fought an unsuccessful fight.

FEUILLY: Revolution of 1848

If I'm not mistaken, this fight was started because of the overbearing rule of the monarchy, fought against by both the bourgeoisie (they wanted money) and the proletariat (they wanted rights). I thought having Feuilly fight in such an economic-heavy but historically forgotten fight was on point.

COMBEFERRE: Third Republic

Apparently, the third republic was a time of hope and prosperity, with a lot of scientific and cultural advances. For someone whose most famous line is "liberty," I think this era is perfect.

COURFEYRAC: 1920s

After WWI, the people went crazy celebrating every ounce of freedom and joy they could fight for, and I think Courfeyrac should be in a moment of happiness that is exactly between two of the worst moments of modern history... And I really want someone from this decade in my fanfic.

BAHOREL: May 1968

Lots of angry students fighting to get the freedom and stability the government doesn't want to give them, need I say more? I think not.

GRANTAIRE: Modern Day

Well, of course, I needed someone from the present day in this story, and who else but the main protagonist? Besides, there really should be something said about the amount of cynicism that is happening right now because of all the political and social unrest.

[writerbumblebee]

So... I lost interest in this AU. Maybe I'll pick it up in the future, but probably not. If anyone finds this and wants to write their own version, you have my full support! Just make sure to credit me for the idea and tag me so I can read it.

Anyway, good day to you, strangers.

[littlefingies]

Sorry for us politics posting, but we have until May 22, 2026 to submit public comment to the FCC:

More info from GLAAD:

https://glaad.org/fcc/

They have some good tips about writing a comment and protecting your privacy which, fuck it, I'll just paste here:

Providing an email address is optional. If you have concerns about privacy, you may use your initials or public address in your local area, such as City Hall. Do not use a joke name. It diminishes the comment’s credibility.

Your submission does not need to be long. A single, well-reasoned paragraph is sufficient.

Do not copy/paste a template comment. The FCC values unique perspectives, and an original comment carries significantly more weight in the public record. You can explain why this matters to you without revealing private or sensitive personal information.

Here's what I said:

“Free speech is a fundamental American freedom. I do not need a warning about seeing queer people, much like I do not need a warning about women, veterans, or any other group of people.”

Here's the link to submit your comment by May 22:

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express?proceeding%5Bname%5D=19-41