Age Gaps in Fantasy7/25/2021 Trigger Warning for mentions of sexual assault and explanations of toxic relationships.
The undying question of undying characters — are fantasy age gaps okay? What makes some good, while others questionable? With fantasy being a genre often populated with a mix of mortal characters (the poor, lowly humans) and immortal ones (pretty much everything else you could think of) romantic pairings can get rather suspect. What to do when a vampire is in love with a mortal? What about fair folk falling in (eternal?) love with a human? Does it make a difference if they're a minor? If they've known each other for a long time?
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Casey McQuiston broke the literary world in 2019 with top of the charts Red, White, and Royal Blue — a novel that needs little introduction, with two Goodreads Choice Awards and a constantly-growing fandom. Following a relationship between rivals Alex, the First Son of the United States and Henry, a Prince of England, the book had witty writing, one of the best supporting casts in fiction, and (multiple!) swoon-worthy romances.
Two years later, the author is back with their sophomore novel, One Last Stop, and it lives up to Red, White, and Royal Blue in a positively startling, completely different way. The folklore Love Triangle7/11/2021 Part II: betty
betty Coming from James’ perspective, the song Betty is about regrets and apologies, not to August but to Betty, the girl he had cheated on with August. It is quite ironic that August wishes to write her name on his skin while he writes Betty’s name as the title of his song as well as the first word. This is the second of a four-part series analysing the album folklore by Taylor Swift. Find the first essay here. On Writing Asexuality6/16/2021 Asexuality is probably not a word you are used to hearing often. Asexual characters are often ignored in the media and often neglected in real life. Doing a quick google search, only eight characters come up. From my own knowledge of the media there are not any that come to mind. The Wikipedia page lists a little over 63 total characters that either canonically identify as asexual or that the creator has stated after the fact.
The actual definition of asexuality is one who does not experience sexual attraction. This does not mean they do not like sex or do not want a relationship. There are many different types of aces out there. Sex-positive and sex-repulsed, relationship positive and relationship repulsed, and even polyamorous aces all exist within the community. I personally am sex-repulsed, so that is what I will be focusing on, but just because aces do not experience this type of attraction does not mean they have negative views on relationships of any nature. Agape: how to make your reader care2/27/2021 Agape (Ancient Greek ἀγάπη, agapē) — a Greco-Christian term referring to unconditional love Agape is probably one of the most unlikely forms of love explored in any other character beyond the occasional extreme hero in the hero's journey because it's also one of the hardest forms of love to portray in a way that's relatable to readers. But why does the latter part matter?
"Why things matter" is the question we're unpacking this week. Why things matter to characters, and therefore why they matter to readers. Why even the worst offenses can be forgiven by a moral reader by giving context of the character's ongoing conflict. Redemption arcs, corruption arcs, hero's journey arcs, and everything in between: The answer, in its simplest form, is love. For the month of love and romance, I interviewed contemporary romance author Vanessa Luisa. Our conversation covered everything from her experiences as avid romance reader all the way to publishing her debut, MV, this year, to themes in romance stories, as well as her biggest tips for writing!
Wonder: pulling romance from anything2/14/2021 The superpower of all writers, poets, artists of all mediums and kinds. In this post, we're going to be taking a look at wonder, a part of the process of Making Stuff Up that's usually given a more professional-sounding name that differs depending on the details of said Stuff.
What is wonder, and what is it used in? |