A Dance With Death

death’s loving embrace

to the fat trans men who feel like nobody will find them attractive because they're fat: i felt this way too at first but trust me when i say this that there are TONS of folks who love fat trans guys, myself included. while i love all trans guys, i love fat dudes. i love fat men. i love big hairy guys. big arms, big chests, big hips, big bellies, big legs... i want it all. when i was growing up and realizing that i was attracted to men, i always wondered why i was never very attracted to men with low body fat and high muscle content. it's because fat guys are hot as hell.

nobody is inherently unattractive because they're fat. for every person who claims to dislike the way fat people look, there are at least 10 others who will violently disagree. ignore EVERYONE who tells you that no one will find you attractive because you're fat. those people are the devil and they speak nothing but lies. fat trans men deserve to feel confident in how they look. fat trans men deserve to feel sexy if they want to. fat trans men deserve so much more than the world gives to us.

The Middle Ages according to Historians VS the Middle Ages according to Hollywood. More about myths & general misconceptions about the middle ages here;

https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2019/09/10/medieval-myths-bingo/

Follow me on Twitter here;

https://twitter.com/fakehistoryhunt

Writing advice from my uni teachers:

If your dialog feels flat, rewrite the scene pretending the characters cannot at any cost say exactly what they mean. No one says “I’m mad” but they can say it in 100 other ways.

Wrote a chapter but you dislike it? Rewrite it again from memory. That way you’re only remembering the main parts and can fill in extra details. My teacher who was a playwright literally writes every single script twice because of this.

Don’t overuse metaphors, or they lose their potency. Limit yourself.

Before you write your novel, write a page of anything from your characters POV so you can get their voice right. Do this for every main character introduced.

practical writing advice

part 2

avoid writing in bed if you can. writing in bed is the mind-killer. writing in bed is the little death that brings obliteration. you may think "but i can write AND be cozy" you will get sleepy so fast. 98% of the time when i try to get a nighttime writing session done in bed i go to sleep. maybe 70% of the time if it's an afternoon writing session. also it fucking kills your wrists.

STRETCH before writing. stretch as many parts of your body as possible ESPECIALLY YOUR WRISTS! i have chronic tendonitis in both of my arms from not doing this and it is manageable but it is Not Fun!

plug your phone in on the other side of the room. better yet, plug it in and leave it in another room. better yet, power it off and leave it in another room. "i'll just check one quick thing" do not underestimate the power of the doomscroll.

do a warmup. look up writing prompts (i like one-word prompts or prompts that focus on a general theme as it's easier to integrate into my writing style), set a timer for fifteen minutes, or ten, or five, and go ham. make it shitty or incomprehensible, as long as you make it. create a dump document for all your warmups. i currently have two novels in the works that started as one of these fifteen minute little warmups.

pick your background noise ahead of time if you use it, and look for something long. i listen to 3-hour-long silent hill ambient mixes on youtube dot com.

take breaks. around every 45 minutes, as i'm noticing myself begin to lose focus, i get up, grab a drink, get my blood flowing, and give myself some space to breathe.

sometimes i sit down to write and i think "every atom in my body is averse to doing this right now. i would rather dance barefoot on a bed of nails than open my laptop and start typing." and you know what i do? i go do something else instead. don't force it! it will become a chore.

that being said! write as often as possible. try to write every day. try to write at the same time. don't beat yourself up if you can’t, BUT the more often you write, the more often you'll want to write.

if you're stuck on a scene or a page or a chapter, go back to the last place where you felt like you knew what you were doing and start writing from there. keep a copy of your other writing in case you want to reuse it or refer back!

i don't know if this is something that will be helpful for other people but i start mentally preparing myself for my writing session a few hours ahead of time. i will say to myself, "today, at this time, i'm gonna sit down and write that scene where mina walks out on her book club, and it's going to be awesome and i'm looking forward to it." then, by the time i actually begin, i basically have the whole thing written out in my head and can just put it down to paper. it's a good way to at least kickstart the session !

ok thanks bye

Kiss of Death

Do you ever just think about how, as gods, thanatos and zagreus were meant to be worshipped? How mortals fear thanatos too much to sacrifice to him, picturing him as an insatiable beast who takes and takes. How zagreus isn’t even known by the mortals, despite understanding the blood that runs through their veins, their most vulnerable parts.

And do you ever think about how they worship each other? How zagreus allows thanatos that vulnerability, allows him to take him in his arms, his lips, and take take take. How thanatos sees zagreus, always being there for him even when the entire underworld was against him. How he was the steady, grounding heartbeat to zagreus’ chaotic circumstances.

They worship each other when no one else will.

Do you ever just think about that?

Than

Five Fics

@ruiniel tagged me to do some shameless self-promotion for five of my stories! Here goes:

Chthonic Bed Death - 🔞 Hades Game, Thanatos x Zagreus - This is my most popular fic on AO3 and I'm quite proud of it! I really put a lot of myself into this and like... not to brag or anything, but I still think it's pretty damn hot 😏

Until the Sun Rises Again - Castlevania, Alucard x Olrox - this is my main WIP at the moment and considering how rare this pairing seems to be, the response has been wonderful??? I'm just so obsessed with these characters and while they may not have interacted in canon yet, they have all the chemistry in my heart 😩

Hideaway - 🔞 Hades Game, Ares x Thanatos - this was a discord drabble that quickly went out of control. I love it though. There's some emotional moments and bits of imagery I'm really, really proud of in here.

How Do You Sleep? - Once Upon A Time/California Solo, Lacey x Lachlan - My beloved crossover disaster ship! I loved taking these two deeply flawed, dysfunctional people and making them learn how to lift each other up in their own way 😭

Resonance - Hades Game, Thanatos x Zagreus - My other WIP that has sadly taken a back seat while my Castlevania brainworms have been wriggling 😅 Thanzag AuDHD solidarity is very dear to me and the response from people identifying with the ND stuff as well as some of the gender stuff really warms my heart ❤️

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No pressure tag: @killingkueen, @ver-writes, @coffee-writes, @mareyshelley, @red-hot-moon, @delta-pavonis, @abovethemists, or anyone else who wants to do this 😘

yeah i like them a normal amount (mentally deranged)