2025 Writing Log, Part 25
Jun. 28th, 2025 07:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynling- I finished writing 2/3 of the ninth and final chapter of What Dreams May Come, a Bloodborne-themed Zelda/Ganon story set in the future of a timeline where Link fails in Breath of the Wild.
- I went ahead and posted the first chapter of the story on AO3 (here).
- I also posted the last part of Time Flows Like a River, a series of short dramatic monologues from characters speaking to Link in Ocarina of Time. This one (here) is delivered by Zelda at the end of the game before she sends Link back in time. She acts as though her decision is an apology for Link’s lost childhood, but she has ulterior motives. I love Zelda, but I don’t think she’s a good person.
- And also. Though it shames me to say this. I wrote two short stories about romancing the current Tumblr Sexyman, Mr. “Ant” Tenna from Deltarune. I pair him with Spamton (here), and he’s with Mettaton (here). One story is significantly more wholesome than the other, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that either of them is “good.” Still, since this is a game about caring and friendship, it’s important for everyone to get their dick sucked.
- This is the worst dialogue I’ve ever written in my life, by the way. I feel like I should get an award.
- I finished my essay about Deltarune and sent it to my editor at Sidequest. Although explaining the game’s background lore isn’t the point of the essay, I wanted my description of the plot to be accurate, and this was surprisingly tricky. I’ve been doing a lot of background reading on Reddit, and I can’t say that it’s been particularly helpful. Ah well.
- My review of the newly released graphic novella Model Five Murder has been published on Comics Beat (here). This is a sci-fi noir mystery with an interesting premise, tight writing, and impressive art. I’m usually not a big fan of stories set in space, but I really enjoyed this book.
- This week’s post on my book review blog (here) is about がらんどう, a prize-winning novella about two adult women sharing an apartment and gradually coming to the conclusion that their friendship is 200% better than getting straight-married. Although she doesn’t use this exact term, the narrator is aro-ace, and the author does a good job of showing what this looks like – and also showing that it’s totally cool and chill and normal. I’ve been seeing a lot of books like this recently, and the trend makes me very happy.
- I posted a drawing of Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time on Tumblr (here). I had a great time working on this, but I had to make some major adjustments to the character’s outfit to keep myself sane. I love Ganondorf’s original design, but it’s very silly.
- The Ganondorf drawing took a lot of study and effort. To wind down a bit, I drew a moss ball bonsai tree and posted it on Tumblr here (here).
My department has a lot of foreign students; and, as you might imagine, the current federal administration’s policies have made everything difficult in terms of visas and funding. It’s been an ongoing mess, and this week was especially hectic. I don’t mind doing the work, but I wish it weren’t five times more difficult than it needs to be. These days I take my joy where I can find it.
This week’s joy was that an Aldi grocery store opened three blocks away from my house. What Aldi is known for is its “center aisle,” which functions a bit like Costco in that it features limited quantities of discount seasonal items. Since it was a special occasion, I decided to embrace consumerism and spend $12 on an inflatable plastic splashy pool specifically designed for dogs. My corgi was frightened (as she is of most things), but the Pomeranian absolutely lost her shit. I have never seen a living creature so happy.
- I went ahead and posted the first chapter of the story on AO3 (here).
- I also posted the last part of Time Flows Like a River, a series of short dramatic monologues from characters speaking to Link in Ocarina of Time. This one (here) is delivered by Zelda at the end of the game before she sends Link back in time. She acts as though her decision is an apology for Link’s lost childhood, but she has ulterior motives. I love Zelda, but I don’t think she’s a good person.
- And also. Though it shames me to say this. I wrote two short stories about romancing the current Tumblr Sexyman, Mr. “Ant” Tenna from Deltarune. I pair him with Spamton (here), and he’s with Mettaton (here). One story is significantly more wholesome than the other, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that either of them is “good.” Still, since this is a game about caring and friendship, it’s important for everyone to get their dick sucked.
- This is the worst dialogue I’ve ever written in my life, by the way. I feel like I should get an award.
- I finished my essay about Deltarune and sent it to my editor at Sidequest. Although explaining the game’s background lore isn’t the point of the essay, I wanted my description of the plot to be accurate, and this was surprisingly tricky. I’ve been doing a lot of background reading on Reddit, and I can’t say that it’s been particularly helpful. Ah well.
- My review of the newly released graphic novella Model Five Murder has been published on Comics Beat (here). This is a sci-fi noir mystery with an interesting premise, tight writing, and impressive art. I’m usually not a big fan of stories set in space, but I really enjoyed this book.
- This week’s post on my book review blog (here) is about がらんどう, a prize-winning novella about two adult women sharing an apartment and gradually coming to the conclusion that their friendship is 200% better than getting straight-married. Although she doesn’t use this exact term, the narrator is aro-ace, and the author does a good job of showing what this looks like – and also showing that it’s totally cool and chill and normal. I’ve been seeing a lot of books like this recently, and the trend makes me very happy.
- I posted a drawing of Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time on Tumblr (here). I had a great time working on this, but I had to make some major adjustments to the character’s outfit to keep myself sane. I love Ganondorf’s original design, but it’s very silly.
- The Ganondorf drawing took a lot of study and effort. To wind down a bit, I drew a moss ball bonsai tree and posted it on Tumblr here (here).
My department has a lot of foreign students; and, as you might imagine, the current federal administration’s policies have made everything difficult in terms of visas and funding. It’s been an ongoing mess, and this week was especially hectic. I don’t mind doing the work, but I wish it weren’t five times more difficult than it needs to be. These days I take my joy where I can find it.
This week’s joy was that an Aldi grocery store opened three blocks away from my house. What Aldi is known for is its “center aisle,” which functions a bit like Costco in that it features limited quantities of discount seasonal items. Since it was a special occasion, I decided to embrace consumerism and spend $12 on an inflatable plastic splashy pool specifically designed for dogs. My corgi was frightened (as she is of most things), but the Pomeranian absolutely lost her shit. I have never seen a living creature so happy.
