rynling: (Mog Toast)
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My summer semester starts soon, but this week I did fuckall except to catch up on some reading. I wouldn’t recommend academia as a profession to anyone, but I can’t deny that it’s quite nice to have a few weeks where it’s your literal paying job just to chill out and read all the articles you’ve downloaded from JSTOR.
rynling: (Gators)
I'm finally getting started on my "Creativity at the Margins" zine, and I'm trying to think through my theoretical model. I'm still figuring things out, but this is where I'm coming from...

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Some creative work is rewarded by capitalism, either in the sense that it makes money or in the sense that its popularity can be measured by numbers on social media, but most creative work returns very little tangible reward at all. Does that mean it doesn’t have value? Of course not! We just need to use a system outside of capitalist metrics to understand what that value is.
rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
Here’s a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown:

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I generally don’t write negative criticism for four reasons. First, every piece of art is a miracle. Second, each of us only has so many days on this earth. Third, I prefer not to platform bullshit. And fourth, the sort of author who feels confident about putting overt sexism, racism, etc. into their work is also the sort of person who won’t hesitate to launch a vendetta against a reviewer who calls it out.

Also, something that reviewers really like to do is open in a style that I call “2010s recipe blog,” which involves writing two or three paragraphs about a summer you spent with your grandparents or a book you read in college (or whatever) before you mention the work that you’re supposed to be reviewing. There’s a place for this in a certain type of literary magazine, but I generally find it annoying and pretentious as an opener. It’s important for a writer to bring a unique perspective to their review, but it’s also important to respect your readers and not bury the lede.
rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
- I’d like to write a zine titled “Creativity at the Margins” about the dignity and value of making art outside of corporate channels in the age of social media enshittification.

- I need to write my “The Green Utopia of Breath of the Wild” essay that I promised a journal editor. This is going to be a substantial project, but I’m looking forward to it.

- I’ll keep working on The Archives of Hyrule. Act 1 of the story is finished, but I’m not sure where it goes from there. I should probably put together an outline!

- I want to make a set of text + image item cards that are contiguous to The Archives of Hyrule, but that I can also post as stand-alone artworks during Linktober this year.

That’s about as far ahead as I can think right now. Between one thing and another, I’ve been feeling uncomfortably stretched and thin. Maybe 2026 is not my year. And that’s okay, honestly.
rynling: (Gators)
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I think I can achieve the first four on my own; but, for the fifth, self-publishing really isn't going to cut it. Unfortunately, that’s not up to me, so it’s definitely worth focusing on what I can do without the approval of gatekeepers.
rynling: (Gators)
I thought about this while taking a nice walk outside, and the conclusion I came to is:

People enjoy simple but tasty little snacks.

In terms of what becomes popular, I'm firmly of the opinion that numbers aren't something you can control. Reception has nothing to do with quality or community, but rather being the right person at the right place at the right time. (Although writing smut about m/m ships in popular fandoms helps.)

Also, mainly from futzing around on Tumblr, I get the sense that a lot of people are suffering from lowkey insomnia these days (I wonder why!!!!) and "turn your brain off" fantasies seem to be in demand and very much appreciated.

In any case, I actually enjoy writing tasty little snacks. I should write more of them. 🍹
rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
I’m going to be salty about fanfic for a second. This is an extended meditation on what I try to do when I write, but also it’s just me being a petty little hater about a common style of fanfic writing that I find annoying, so feel free to scroll on by.

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So I guess my frustration is: why is that sort of bloodless, limp-dick style of writing so popular?

But also: what can I borrow from this style without betraying my sense of integrity as a craftsman?
rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
I want to share the three stories I wrote for this year’s [personal profile] candyheartsex exchange event:

Whenever You’re Ready (on AO3 here) is a pre-canon Breath of the Wild story about Zelda trying to learn archery from Revali.

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A Modest Test of Skill (on AO3 here) is about a Lynel wordlessly challenging Link to a friendly archery contest that ends in the discovery of a Korok.

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The Nameless City (on AO3 here) is set ten years after the end of Final Fantasy VI, and it’s about the warmth of the friendship between Terra and Celes as they explore the ruins of a forgotten city under Terra’s new home in Mobliz.

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rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
An Unfound Door isn’t an adventure story, though it starts as one.

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...which is all well and good, but “tone” and “themes” are difficult to convey in a one-page cover letter! I will keep editing and adjusting and refining and submitting, though.
rynling: (Mog Toast)
While doing research on plague doctors, I recently found an old self-published book (this one here) whose author essentially drove around Germany while spending the night at various castles and taking amateur photos. The writing isn't great to begin with, and the book is filled with typos and formatting errors.

But honestly, I think that's charming. This one goth nerd's weird labor of love is worth an infinite number of AI-generated books with perfect grammar and stylistic organization. And let me tell you. Amazon sure is gloated with an infinite number of AI-generated books these days, many of which are travel guides filled with what I can only assume is hallucinated misinformation. I'm now starting to see AI-generated writing appear in academic articles as well, and I'm not feeling great about it.

As someone with ADHD who's been bullied for being "lazy" about my writing, I have to admit that this is actually kind of validating. Like sure, my work might have an occasional typo or mistaken homophone or awkward bit of phrasing, but at least you can be sure it was written by a human.
rynling: (Cool Story Bro)
My wizard detective story “The Case of the Phantom Portrait” was accepted for publication, so I’m thinking it’s time to write a new one.

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Anyway, this story is about creativity and copyright law. And about how the latter shouldn’t exist.

Idk man, sometimes I think about how large animation studios treat their artists, and it makes me want to write stories about murder.
rynling: (Gators)
When I was in college, I was briefly friends with a guy who came off as an intellectual because he only read “important” books. I liked him well enough, but I never really took him seriously. He was one of those people who was always saying that he wanted to be a writer, but he didn’t write.

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The point of this story is that anyone who has ever self-published a zero-review novel on Itch.io has added more to the world than this guy, and any random person posting gay furry porn on AO3 is worth a million shitty literary “geniuses.”
rynling: (Gators)
It appears that, once again, I got good solstice energy and spent the period between December 15 and January 15 writing the first 20k words of a novel.

The last time I did this was in Dec 2022 - Jan 2023, and I haven't looked at that project since then. I'm feeling the same sense of "I'm done" with my current project, The Archives of Hyrule, and I need to be careful not to let it fizzle out.

My problem is twofold. First, I'm not in love with the contemporary urban setting. And second, I'm feeling like I really need positive feedback right now. The first problem is easy enough to fix by setting the action inside and underground. As for the second, perhaps it might make sense to post the story on AO3 as a series of three or four "seasons." Maybe I'll let the already-written chapters rest for a bit while working on a few illustrations, and then I'll go ahead and post them later in the year.

Also, it might be nice to take a break from the Zelda nerds and get real about the "Bowser's Massive Cock Challenge" story I've been threatening to write for months now. I recently read a tidy bunch of Chuck Tingle stories (about the ongoing homosexual adventures of a billionaire T-Rex), and I feel like not everything has to be so serious. Sometimes it's okay just to be pounded in the butt by the physical manifestation of doing what you want and having a good time.
rynling: (Mog Toast)
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Like 2024, this year was mostly about figuring out how to make good art, as well as how to find a place for it in the world despite being shut out by gatekeepers. Next year I will continue to challenge the gatekeepers! In the meantime, I’ll keep cultivating the most beautiful garden I can outside the wall.

Here’s to lots of green and growing energy in 2026. 🌿
rynling: (Gators)
2025 has been a productive year of writing lyrical and well-crafted short stories with unique and original conceits, but this has gotten me nowhere. Now that the semester is over, I will write what people actually want to read. I'm planning a multichapter fanfic titled "Bowser's Massive Cock Challenge," and it will be about... Well. I'm sure you can guess.

I'm not joking btw. Readers need joy, and writers need positive feedback.

(And purity advocates need to go fuck themselves, perhaps literally.)
rynling: (Default)
I just had a terrible idea:

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I just had another terrible idea:

I bet I could use this conceit to write really interesting porn.

ETA: I outlined the story. This is going to be a good one. 🍸
rynling: (Gators)
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So here's the question: I grew up in and around Atlanta and now live in the place I'm writing about. Would it be considered "appropriation" if I wrote the character speaking in my own natural dialect?

And here's the answer: This is not something normal people care about. You can't write in fear of bad-faith dipshits on the internet. As long as I'm not doing some sort of Stephen King level of caricature, I think I'm probably fine.

ETA: I think I got the voice down, and it's good. What gave me trouble ended up being my speculation on what robotics technology will look like fifty years in the future. But again, I decided that it's best to listen to the story itself and not think about the meta too hard.
rynling: (Mog Toast)
For me, the fantasy of this story is “what if the people pushed to the margins are actually very important,” which is something I’ve been thinking about lately.

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But also the fantasy is, like. What if tech oligarchs actually cared about culture and education. Imagine that lmao.
rynling: (Terra)
Story Summary: Zelda has resigned herself to a dingy office in the dustiest section of the museum basement, but her complacency is disturbed by Ganon, a tech investor who demands access to the collection. As Zelda investigates the objects of his interest, she discovers that some of the more obscure holdings in the underground storage vault are more than mere relics. The museum hides a secret that should perhaps remain buried, but Ganon is relentless in his pursuit of knowledge that has long been forbidden. Despite her better judgment, Zelda finds herself drawn along with him into the mystery of the archives.

…that’s a bit rough, but it works, right? Maybe this story will be fun as Zelda fanfic.

I think it might also be cool for every chapter to include something like a tabletop RPG artifact card that consists of an illustration in (this) style along with a short written passage featuring some Dark Souls / Final Fantasy XII flavor text.

I’d also like to create character illustrations, maybe. I’ve always loved the Dragon Age tarot card style, and it might be an interesting project to learn to replicate it.
rynling: (Default)
I'm thinking about getting started on a new novel. I'm calling the project "The Dark Archive" until I figure out a better title. It might be worthwhile to assemble a set of query materials as I go along, but I'm not against the idea of writing something self-indulgent and unmarketable. If I were to self-publish, what an adventure that would be.

The basic premise:
An archivist relegated to a basement room under a museum is pressured by a wealthy donor who wants access to the collection. When she investigates the objects of his interest, she finds that a number of the museum's more obscure holdings are imbued with magic.

Writing goals:
1. One chapter = one scene. A chapter doesn’t need to be longer than a thousand words.
2. There should be spice every four chapters. Even in this house of death we fuck.
3. This could perhaps be a Zelda fanfic, and it’s okay to use Zelda names as placeholders.
4. I want there to be academic marginalia – index cards, articles, bibliographies. Footnotes!

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