thuviaptarth | Reading

First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong. ♥

( More details under the cut. )

Current Mood: curious

settiai

I've been experimenting with my air fryer a lot the last few weeks now that I'm properly moved into my new apartment and don't have an oven. I already used it a fair bit even when I had an oven, but I've been trying more and more things recently that I've never cooked in it before.

( Food talk under the cut. )

I'm very curious to see what I figure out how to make in the air fryer next.

Current Mood: accomplished

thistleingrey

Well, drat, the things I wanted most to do with Python to Excel files have needed the skimming of another book: Felix Zumstein, Python for Excel, 2nd ed. preview---that is, O'Reilly will release the second edition in June 2026, but its semifinal draft is on Safari already, for community comment.

Stephens's book, in yesterday's post, is published by No Starch and thus also on Safari (to which one local public library subscribes). Its first three chapters ( in case anyone else were pondering Python x Excel--doubtful )

Once upon a time, I used an old copy of Pkzip to peek into a v2 .epub file (they are in fact .zip containers) and devise a plan to crosswalk Adobe InDesign epub-export XML to the XML grammar I needed. It was InDesign CS6, I think. Today I used a copy of 7zip to peek into an .xlsx file, then closed it without skimming the XML bits within. Python on Excel will be fine, thanks, in preference to reminding myself about the XSLT I used to know, because Python can open and close files safely as part of the scripted processing steps.

ranalore

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: pleased
Current Location: snow on the ground classic easter week in utah

china_shop

Article 48 [Restriction on Acceptance of Engagement] (7647 words) by china_shop [Teen and Up]
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 당신이 잠든 사이에 | While You Were Sleeping (TV)
Relationships: Han Woo Tak/Jung Jae Chan/Nam Hong Joo
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Threesome - F/M/M, Getting Together, Prophetic Dreams, Found Family
Summary:
“Woo Tak, you haven’t left home yet, right?” Hong Joo’s voice comes down the line with the familiar confidence of long-standing friendship. “Don’t drive. You’ll get stuck in traffic, and you’ll miss your test.”
Woo Tak momentarily forgets his place in her life. His crush is usually manageable, but this morning, taken off-guard, he can’t suppress a kindling warmth, nor the smile that accompanies it. “Nam Hong Joo, have you been dreaming about me from all the way over in Australia?”

This request came up for pinch hit around the time I defaulted on Yuletide, and I thought, well, if I can't manage my assignment, I'll at least do a treat. Especially since I'd nominated While You Were Sleeping (one of my long-standing tiny Kdrama fandoms). But in the end, this foundered too. Turns out partners having operations is not great for my writing productivity.

So since mid-February (I think?!), I've been finishing the draft, re-writing, and re-re-writing. I came up against successive problems, and I want to document them here, because I know these issues are cropping up in my writing generally, of late.

Internal/external consistency: one of the big problems with my first few drafts was: Character A decides to do X and continues to believe they're doing X while actually doing Y. In other words, the external dialogue and actions contradict the internal monologue in a way that is not deliberate and just comes across as confusing and nonsensical. ("I've decided not to tell them how I feel... except that I keep hinting without acknowledging that.") I'm sure there are deliberate ways to do this that can be very effective. This was not that.

Solution: step outside the POV and look at what the character is actually doing. Then signpost reversals and the reasons for them.

Cue words/flow: one of Matt Bell's newsletters a while back quoted Robert McKee talking about cue words:
[E]very reaction[...] needs an action to prompt it.

Therefore, ideally, the last word or phrase of each speech is the core word that seals meaning and cues a reaction from the other side of the scene. [...] A miscue happens when a core word is placed too early in Character A’s line and prompts a reaction from Character B, but because Character A has more words to recite, Actor B must swallow her response and wait while Actor A finishes performing his speech.

In prose, this isn't just about external reaction, but internal reaction too. If the POV character's internal monologue isn't reacting to the last thing that happened/was said, then the reader is left scrambling to make connections with something that might have happened lines or paragraphs back, or which might not be there at all. I find I'm particularly prone to this when I have a lot of meta thoughts I'm trying to include in the POV's internal monologue.

Solution: restructure so that the reactions directly follow on from the thing that caused them, and make sure that meta thoughts flow naturally, each one prompted by the last, in a way that fits the overall arc/direction of the scene (keeping in mind that it's perfectly fine to have reversals).

Location of conversation/theory of mind: I've been finding lately that my POV characters often conduct a huge amount of the story just inside their heads, even when there's someone else there. They have all these thoughts and feelings to process! It's a lot! And then occasionally the other person says something, setting off a new cascade of thoughts and feelings. But most people have theories about what the people they're talking with are thinking, how they're feeling, what they're trying to achieve. Conversations, especially romantic ones, usually work better when the focus is shared between the POV character's internal thoughts, and their assessment of what is happening externally.

Solution: make the other party to the conversation more active. And make the POV character react to them, as well as their own internal stuff.

Direction/progress of scenes: I touched on this above, but it deserves its own point. Because I discovery write, I find it easy to take a very meandery path from the start of the scene to where I want to end up. In fanfic, this isn't fatal because we all enjoy spending time with our characters. But it can undercut tension and test readers' comprehension. It's something I want to work on.

Solution: structure scenes so that there's a sense of progress, with only one or two reversals, not flip-flopping every few paragraphs.

Anyway, things to think about. Things to work on. I'm super grateful to

teaotter for multiple beta rounds, helping me figure some of this stuff out. And I'm looking forward to applying these lessons to my current WIP, which oh dear, really needs it. ;-)

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Favourites poll, 63% of respondents have a favourite colour, 23.9% said sort of, and 8.7% said no. In ticky-boxes, rainbows came second to hugs, 68.8% to 87.5%. Raccoon chefs came third with 43.8%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
Still listening to The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley, read by Sid Sagar. At this stage, I'm enjoying the worldbuilding most of all. (Why is ancient xenophobia, eg, Thebians hating on Athenians, amusing, when its modern counterpart is the worst?)

Still dipping into Refuse to Be Done: How to Write and Rewrite a Novel in Three Drafts by Matt Bell. I'm still in the drafting part, which has lots of strategies and good things to think about, but doesn't seem like it will get you a clean first draft. Like, that is not at all his goal.

Kdramas
I've nearly finished my immediate rewatch of One Spring Night. Will I manage not to go straight back to the beginning, or will it be like that time I had Maroon Five's Songs About Jane in my car tape deck for maybe three years straight? (Note to self: potential Yuletide fandom; I would love future fic about teenage Eun-u and his relationship with his new mother (and cousin(s) and possible younger siblings), and also his sort-of-outsider POV on his parents' relationship.)

Finished Undercover Miss Hong, which was sweet and fun. Not a favourite for me, but enjoyable, and I'm glad I watched.

I'm in the market for something new. I started Phantom Lawyer (about a fledging lawyer who sees ghosts and takes them on as clients; yes, it's a shaky business model), but Andrew's watching it with me, so that's an evening thing. I need something else to lure me onto my exercise machine.

I tried episode 1 of The Practical Guide to Love, for Han Ji-Min, but am not convinced. (Is anyone else watching it? Does it pick up?) Also, a little more of While You Were Sleeping, but either VIKI or I have forgotten where I'm up to. No Love Scout this week or last, due to illness.

Other TV
The Pitt. Ahhhh, my favourite weekly stressbomb.

A few more episodes of The Madison, which continues to be pretty; continues to push the message that cities are trash, versus country living, which is wholesome and full of community, and inspires personal growth. Somehow, the appearance of a love interest has turned me off the whole thing, and I don't even know why. Genre shift? Also, (can I be spoilery? does anyone care?)

not even really spoilers

there are all these flashbacks to Conversations from a Marriage between Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, and every single one of these takes place in New York while Michelle Pfeiffer is in the bath. After a while, I concluded that actually these conversations had happened all over the place (at brunch, in the street, in Central Park, in bed), but Michelle Pfeiffer's character's bereavement/grief means she can only conceptualise them as bath conversations. And then Andrew said that soon there'd be flashbacks of her friends in the bath with her, too, and now I can't take them seriously at all. (Also, she must have been so pruney after shooting all those bath scenes!)

Rooster, Cheers, and Scrubs season 1. A little bit of SurrealEstate. Paper Girls with Ed. Fringe and Bluey with my sister.

Online life
520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange modding behind the scenes, yay! Part 2 of sign-ups closes tomorrow, then it's matching, and then things will quieten down for a bit. | A lot of beta. :-) | My computer went into a crashing spiral a couple of days ago, and I started worrying (DNW to upgrade from Windows 11 to a subscription model!), but the culprit appears to have been a faulty flashdrive. Now I've removed that, things have calmed down. *knocks on wood, makes a backup*

Writing/making things
I finished a fic in March (by the skin of my teeth)! Hooray! So happy about that. I'll post about it separately.

I'm still having thoughts about my other started-for-Yuletide WIP, but I've fallen into the "I'll just ~quickly~ get this done before switching to my exchange assignment" trap before, and that way lies desperate last-minute scrambles up against the deadline, especially when I'm going so slowly. So I'm putting WIP #2 on hold until I at least have a 520 Day draft... which is why I'm writing this update, rather than racing to finish a fic that simply cannot be completed in two busy days.

Life/health/mental state things
Things are good. A bit hamster-wheel-esque, but at least my arms are hanging in there. | I'm looking forward to next week when Writers' Hour goes to 8am NZ time, and I can find a new rhythm for my day that somehow includes exercise. (Summers are great because I exercise first thing and then it's done.) | It's a long weekend, with a bunch of family stuff going on. My other-city-based brother (not to be confused with my US-based brother) is coming to dinner tonight for the first time in roughly a decade.

Cat
Halle really likes burrowing; I think she may be part mole. Sometimes I go into the bedroom, and a lump in the bedclothes starts letting out little warning "don't sit on me" meeps.

Car
I stopped driving on about 6 March because, you know, petrol prices. Which meant of course that when I tried to drive to lunch on Wednesday, my battery was completely flat, and I had to call NZAA and go for a long drive to recharge my battery. This seems like a terrible, inefficient system. Why can't my car just sit there, primed, until I (rarely) want it? Bah! I've considered getting rid of it entirely, but we're heading into winter, so idk.

Good things
So many hot cross buns, srsly! I finished a fic, after many many rewrites, yay!!!!! Family stuff will probably be good and will definitely come with delicious food!

Poll #34439 The whooshing sound as they go past

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30

View Respondents

Deadlines, generally speaking

View Answers

yay! motivating!
10 (33.3%)

meep! *hides*
9 (30.0%)

manageable in moderation / under specific circumstances
17 (56.7%)

depends on the time of year
6 (20.0%)

other
3 (10.0%)

ticky-box full of pirate treasure, and the pirates are labradors and border collies
16 (53.3%)

ticky-box of finding a rhythm
11 (36.7%)

ticky-box of sunbeams dancing brightly on leaves in the breeze
19 (63.3%)

ticky-box of lemur vs sloth poetry slam
12 (40.0%)

ticky-box full of hugs
27 (90.0%)

thistleingrey

I did end up finishing Uzma Jalaluddin's Detective Aunty. It's fine---in particular, it's fair about the social roles in which it places its characters. I liked (and had totally predicted) a particular pairing revealed during a pivotal scene near the story's resolution. Would read another, if it becomes serial.

With similar slowness, I'm now about halfway through the second Thursday Murder Club title. It's also fine, a bit bumpier and more obvious than Aunty.

I think my next read, in parallel, is about to be Tracy Stephens' Python for Excel Users (2025). I might know more Python than Excel, if considering any vintage of either one, and there are other recent books that land more firmly on the Python side of the join---but spreadsheets have been my acquaintance for longer, my tasks with Excel over time have been more varied, and (honestly) I've heard more people complain at length about it.

(First spreadsheet acquaintance: AppleWorks 1.1. heh. When I had to make my father's resumes and cover letters, it was clear pretty quickly that AppleWorks could not help us; my mother brought home a copy of pfs:Write, the only word processing app that the local ComputerLand retail shop had. Soon afterwards, fortunately, my mother gained access to WordPerfect 5.0 (and Lotus 1-2-3) via her bus-ad classes, and I moved the job-app stuff into WP, which unlike pfs:Write could hold its tab stops consistently from screen display to dot-matrix printer output.)

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

ranalore

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Current Mood: determined
Current Location: it's cosplaying winter here

aurumcalendula

Argh, the StudioWorks season 1 DVD set I tracked down for the commentary track on 'No One Gets Out of Here Alive' are defective and won't play (I tried it on three different players).

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Our theme for April is arranged marriage!

Since this is a Flashback Round where we revisit a theme from the early days of the comm—arranged marriage was a Cupcake Round back in 2014—this month it doesn't matter if a work has already been recced for this theme, go ahead and rec it again!

The tag for this round is: theme: arranged marriage

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

( Rules! )

( Posting Template! )

( Promote this round! )

Reblog on Tumblr | Reskeet on Bluesky | Retoot on Mastodon

settiai

Spectre Requisitions, a Mass Effect rare 'ships exchange, we live last night. I crashed around the same time everything went out, so I didn't get to read my gift until after work today, but it was so good.

No Touching At All. F!Shepard/Morinth. 2181 words.

It's set during ME3 in a worldstate where Shepard chose Morinth over Samara, with the two of them in a nontraditional romance what with the limitations caused by Morinth's condition.

Current Mood: cheerful

rachelmanija

Camille is a tradwife influencer, living in near-total isolation from all humans but her awful and mostly absent husband Graham and her nosy neighbor Renee. She directs her own life like it's a perfect Instagram post, constantly obsessing over the perfect shade of beige and how her followers will react if she disagrees with a more successful tradwife influencer's insistence on a folic acid-free diet. The best way to get followers is to get pregnant, and she and Graham haven't managed that yet. But there's something lurking in the dark, deep well near the dark, deep woods that might be able to solve that problem for her.

The first quarter or so of this book is so repetitive and anvillicious that I might have DNF'd it if I hadn't been reading it for the horror book club. However, it picks up once Camille has sex with the creature in the well. (Camille tells herself it's an angel but can't stop calling it "the creature;" its actual nature is pleasingly ambiguous.) Her extremely weird pregnancy and increasingly desperate efforts to conceal its weirdnesses from Graham, Renee, and her online followers had me glued to the pages, and once her baby is born, I went from being entertained to actively loving the story. I don't want to give away too much about the baby, but I think it's the first time I have ever gotten deeply attached to a fictional baby. Of course, it helps that the baby isn't quite human...

The story is predictable but in a good way once you're past the interminable first quarter; you can't wait for certain things to happen. It gets increasingly batshit and darkly, gleefully funny as it goes along. It's a good female rage book, and has some quality monsterfucking scenes. Despite the rough start I really enjoyed this.

( Read more... )

Content notes: Very gory.

Incidentally, there are at least three novels called Trad Wife or Tradwife released this year. One by Sarah Langan is coming out in September.

selenak

In which season 2 comes to an end with a bang and a whimper both.

( Spoilers have just heard there will be a third and final season, which is good )

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Munich

$aurumcalendula: reflection of Vinnie from Wiseguy in a shattered mirror (fractured)$

aurumcalendula

Apparently Wiseguy did have at least one queer person among its cast and crew (Joe Dallesandro played Patrice) so now I'm kinda curious if he's ever mentioned if he thought any of the queer subtext was intentional.

settiai

Trust Fall (1076 words) by Settiai
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Video Game), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Viago de Riva/Rook
Characters: Rook (Dragon Age), Viago de Riva
Additional Tags: Antivan Crow Rook (Dragon Age), background Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook, Crow Contracts Exchange, Elf Rook (Dragon Age), Fluff, Male Rook (Dragon Age), Nightmares, One Shot, Post-Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Trans Male Rook (Dragon Age)
Summary: Rook couldn't sleep.

Current Mood: accomplished

pronker posting in

fancake

Fandom: Dark Shadows

Pairings/Characters: Magda Rakosi/Sandor Rakosi, Angelique Bouchard Collins/Barnabas Collins, Barnabas Collins/Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, Aristede, Andreas Petofi, Quentin Collins

Rating: Gen

Length: 93,699 words

Creator Links: AO3 Profile

Theme: Siblings

Summary: What if Julia loses her memory? What would happen if Blair had to actually help the Collins family? The answer was obvious: He'd hate it. He'd hate it soooo hard.

Reccer's Notes: Siblings come in all flavors, and this fic explores the dynamics of a witches' coven brother and sister, Angelique and Nicholas. With Satan as "parent," how is the more familiar sibling relationship different? How is it the same? Author delves delightfully into the question, as well as the all-too-human found-sibling relationship of Quentin and Julia.

Fanwork Links: The Wide Winged Moon

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: comatose in bed
Current Music: birdsong

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Alexei Rosanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Rose Landry
Rating: Teen
Length: 7394
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply.
Creator Links: Evilharlowe on AO3
Themes: Siblings, Action/Adventure, Competence, Established relationship + plot, canon LGBTQ+ characters

Summary: Four months after their wedding, Shane Hollander and Hayden Pike are kidnapped by disillusioned fans who see Shane's coming out and departure from the Voyageurs as the ultimate betrayal. With the police off-limits and a ten million dollar ransom on the clock, Ilya makes the last phone call he ever expected to make — to the estranged brother in Moscow he hasn't spoken to in three years. What follows is a night of unlikely alliances, hockey sticks used as weapons, and the discovery that family isn't defined by blood but by who shows up when everything falls apart.

Reccer's Notes: This is a rare Heated Rivalry story in which Alexei Rozanov isn't a complete shit. He's fairly one-dimensionally a baddie in both the books and the show, but here, while the author doesn't pretend he's a nice guy, the fic leans into him being a police officer and gives him both competence, and underlying family loyalty to Ilya when the chips are down. Another plus is that Shane is far from being a helpless victim. Gripping, and an excellent read.

Fanwork Links: Taken

ETA: unfortunately this author has now deleted their AO3 profile. More info here.

smilebackwards posting in

fancake

Fandom: Shadowhunters
Pairings/Characters: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Jace Wayland, Isabelle Lightwood
Rating: Mature
Length: 31,296 words
Creator Links:

Marchling
Theme: Siblings

Summary: Years ago, when Alec, Izzy and Jace were just starting going on missions, Alec pushed Jace out of the way of a rare and lethal demon. The demon's power rested in ice and its venom almost froze its victims to death. Alec survived but was warned that he would never truly be cured. The venom would rise up in his blood again and again.

With Valentine making moves against everyone Alec loves, Jace trapped in the Institute and his relationship with Magnus still so new, it's the worst time for the venom to strike him down again... but that's exactly what's happening.

Reccer's Notes: This showcases a lovely supportive relationship between Alec, Jace, and Izzy. Whenever I'm in the mood for hurt/comfort, this is one of the fics I always come back to.

Fanwork Links: Weakness and Strength on AO3

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thuvia ptarth

November 2023

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Page Summary

settiai - Dear Arlathan Exchange Creator(s),
settiai - Air Fryer Fun
thistleingrey - reading wed, postscript
ranalore - I've got my teeth in you
china_shop - While You Were Sleeping fic, and writing meta
china_shop - Me-and-media update
thistleingrey - reading wed
settiai - Aurendor D&D: Summary for 4/1 Game
ranalore - The Tarot tells us to nurse our wounds
aurumcalendula - (no subject)
celli - shit, it's April?
runpunkrun in fancake - Round 185: Arranged Marriage
settiai - Spectre Requisitions
rachelmanija - Trad Wife, by Saratoga Schaefer
selenak - Paradise 2.08 (Season finale)
aurumcalendula - (no subject)
settiai - Fic: Trust Fall (Dragon Age)
pronker in fancake - Dark Shadows: The Wide Winged Moon by Kark
mific in fancake - Heated Rivalry: Taken by Evilharlowe
smilebackwards in fancake - Shadowhunters: Weakness and Strength by Marchling

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