Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

Jul 14

The ten-dollar founding father

Anonymous asked: for the fanfic ask game, how about H, R, and S?

Woo, people are doing the thing! From this post.

H: How would you describe your style?

Too many fucking commas.

Seriously, though, I’m not sure how I’d describe my style, since I tend to vary it depending on how I want the story to feel. Something like things we lost in the fire, my Les Mis Avatar AU, is supposed to feel very different from, like, this, my First Order Rey AU. I guess my style is very character-driven–I perceive my characters (and other people’s characters, in fic) as very real people, so I try to model the feeling of the story after the way the POV character thinks. Which is how I end up with things like the Hamilton Star Wars AU, which has A LOT of commas and run-on sentences because…Alexander Hamilton.

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) who you consider an influence?

Oh buddy. Oh buddy buckle up. First and biggest nod goes to Robin McKinley (GO READ HER STUFF IMMEDIATELY), who I aspire to be when I grow up. Robin McKinley taught a very scared and very lonely kid who had just been told that she was too old for playing pretend that there was still magic in the world, and I’m always going to owe a massive debt to her for that. If this was a ‘pick one’ sort of question, it would be her. JK Rowling, obligatory honorable mention, Lions for the Cup. PC Hodgell, who is better at sweeping world-building and not-cliche battles between Good and Evil than anyone I can think of off the top of my head (see my rant about her tragically unknown series here). Neil Gaiman, who balances the creepy with the daily with the mystical in a way I desperately envy. The innumerable mediocre authors I trucked through in my school libraries, who taught me what NOT to do, which is just as important as what to do. For fic authors… @notbecauseofvictories, because her Tumblr fics showed me that it was okay to be messy and wild and just…happy about what I was writing at a time where I kind of needed it. @determamfidd because Sansukh was, like, fucking life-changing, buddy, I am living a post-Sansukh life right now. The author of the first fic I ever read (no idea who it was, but it was a Buffy fic with a rewrite of Season 3, and I was PRETTY CONCUSSED at the time, so the fact that I even remember the plot should earn me brownie points, it was a great fic and I should find it again). Um…I can think of maybe twenty more people, published and otherwise, off the top of my head, but I think this massive block of text is long enough, yes?

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Um…many. I’m a sucker for soulmate AU’s, I really am. I am also pathetically weak for mutual pining, particularly the whole “X person will never love me back and it’s okay I’ll just sit here and quietly pine away because I WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY” thing. It’s probably a good part of the reason I like Enjolras/Grantaire so much, the Enjolras/Grantaire tag on AO3 is here for you and all your pining needs. Those are probably the two biggest ones, although I’m also weak for size difference because I’m FIVE GODDAMN FEET TALL and everyone I could hypothetically date is a fucking giant.

dear bisexuals,

xiv-temperance:

if you’re feeling a little erased this LGBT history month, please remember:
• alan cumming
• alexander the great
• alice walker
• amber heard
• amy winehouse
• anaïs nin
• andy dick
• angelina jolie
• ani difranco
• anna paquin
• anne heche
• billie holiday
• billy joe armstrong
• carrie brownstein
• cary grant
• cynthia nixon
• david bowie
• debbie harry
• dusty springfield
• evan rachel wood
• fergie
• frank ocean
• freddie mercury
• frida kahlo
• gillian anderson
• greta garbo
• gore vidal
• hercules (heracles)
• herman melville
• iggy pop
• james dean
• janis joplin
• joan crawford
• john nash
• julius caesar
• ke$ha
• kristen stewart
• lady gaga
• lindsay lohan
• lord byron
• lou reed
• malcolm forbes
• malcolm x
• margaret cho
• marilyn monroe
• marlon brando
• megan fox
• michael stipe
• miley cyrus
• montgomery clift
• nathaniel hawthorne
• óscar de la renta
• oscar wilde
• pete townsend
• sandra bernhard
• sapphire
• sarah paulson
• sia
• sir alec guinness
• vanessa carlton
• walt whitman
• and me. and you. and probably someone you love, too.

(Source: thisthundrousterrain, via patroclvss)

FanFic Ask Game

yoongis-sass:

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?
B: Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?
C: What member do you identify with most?
D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?
E: If you wrote a sequel to [insert fic], what would it be about?
F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?
H: How would you describe your style?
I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].
K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?
L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?
N: Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?
O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?
P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)
Q: How do you feel about collaborations?
R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?
S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?
T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?
U: Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.
V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?
W: Do you like more general prompts, or more specific ones?
X: A character you enjoy making suffer.
Y: A character you want to protect.
Z: Major character death–do you ever write/read it? Is there a character whose death you can’t tolerate?

(Source: wornquillsandspilledink, via amusewithaview)

Republicans support conversion therapy in their most anti-LGBT platform ever -

gaywrites:

The Republican Party is about to approve its 2016 platform, and their proposed draft takes a stronger stance against LGBT rights than ever before.
Among many other backwards views on social issues, the platform says:
Marriage equality should be overturned with a constitutional amendment
Judges to be appointed (ahem, SCOTUS) should be advocates for “traditional family values”
Parents should have the right to put their LGBT children through conversion therapy
States should be able to dictate which bathrooms trans people use
Kids who have one mom and one dad are less likely to be drug addicts or “otherwise damaged”
Religious principles should guide lawmaking: “man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights”
Please do not vote Republican in this election. This platform could literally mean life or death for LGBT youth, transgender people, and so many others who will be targeted – strategically and legally – for being who they are.

(Source: gaywrites, via enjolrarses)

Jul 13

Anonymous asked: So about this Jedi AU I see that you have all the things about John and Ham but what about Burr? Ham and John have perfect moral compass that doesnt stray but what about Burr and maybe straying between Jedi and Sith and getting corrupted by TJeff idk

All right, my bespectacled buddy, how fortunate, because I have Thoughts about Jedi Aaron Burr. Also, there is now a tag for this AU.

I suppose I should mention that I actually have no idea where the Sith fit in this universe. For a story of sweeping good and evil, the Sith and the Jedi are the logical ends of the spectrum, but a revolution…isn’t that simple. For every General Benedict Arnold ready to turn on his country for wounded pride, there’s a plain soldier ready to go too far in defense of what he believes is freedom, ready to tar and feather someone for the crime of an accent or a birth–the line blurs. The opponent of a revolution is, in fact, lack of emotion. Passion drives a revolution. The Jedi…are not at ease with this. Honestly, the Sith are probably sitting in some corner of the galaxy sulking over the fact that they are suddenly quite superfluous. Between the Empire and the Continentals, there’s more than enough chaos to go around.

First, Aaron Burr is actually the best Jedi–he’s not like Washington, putting up a good facade while he gets secret-married and bides his time for a revolution, nor like Lee, who basks in the glory and honor of being a Jedi Master. Burr really believes it, there is no emotion, there is no ignorance, there is no passion, there is no chaos, there is no death. He’s uncannily good at it, taking whatever the universe throws at him with the same serene smile. He’s so good at it, in fact, that his Master, upon recommending him for Knighthood, added that they would do well to find him something to fight for. That he could be great, if he had something to fight for.

Even a Jedi needs ideals, is the thing.
The first time Burr meets Alexander Hamilton, the feral Force user challenges him with if you stand for nothing, what’ll you fall for?
He…doesn’t have an answer, he doesn’t even think he understands the question, and that…that’s new.

Aaron Burr goes to Washington, with his glowing Jedi record and an offer of help, and it goes about how it did in reality/the musical.

Washington: I am in dire need of assistance!
Burr: Hey, I am 100% down to be a secretary.
Washington: It’s not that dire, take it easy. Hey, angry fighty barely-not-a-teenager Hamilton, you want a job? No? Sure you do.

Aaron is left standing there, overwhelmed with emotion for the first time in his life, and the envy is almost baffling. But it’s all right, it’s fine, he can take a couple of deep breaths and let it go, there is no emotion, there is no passion, and he smiles and smiles and nods and takes the command he’s offered as…the word consolation rises in his mind and he dismisses it with a vengeance. Aaron Burr is a Jedi, like his Master and her Master before her, and his Master crafted a new lightsaber form, she was a genius, her Master did a lengthy stint on the Council, he commanded respect–no lineage of theirs is unstable enough to need consoling. He has a legacy to protect. The hot twist in his gut is only discomfort at how wrong-footed Hamilton makes him, the rushing in his ears only the Force spinning wild in the war.
Aaron Burr fights in the war. Makes quite a name for himself, actually, as crisp and efficient in every way. It’s not a bad reputation to have, especially once he brings that reputation to bear and puts down a mutiny about a year before Monmouth. Admittedly he’s not close with his men, but that’s fine. He’s a Jedi, their commander, and that’s all he needs. Even once he suffers a mild Force burnout and a much more serious heat stroke over Monmouth, he is still of use to the army, even if he can’t fight anymore, and that’s fine, that’s enough, he’s all right with that, because there is peace, serenity, harmony, Force.

He crosses paths with Hamilton often, the man apparently permanently installed in Washington’s orbit, opposite Lafayette and beside Washington’s own padawan. Burr refuses to admit to that flare of bitter heat through his chest every time Hamilton comes bounding up to him, grinning, and greets him like an old friend, spilling joy-irritation-grief-anger-laughter through the Force. Hamilton is a never-ending torrent of emotion, always preferring to fight a battle rather than let it stand, and just being around him feels like it’s contagious.
It doesn’t help that Aaron still feels (or rather, refuses to feel) that twist of envy every time he watches Hamilton spin words out of thin air, feels him move through the Force like he’s a part of it–abrasive and emotional as he is, Hamilton is better than Aaron, and he doesn’t understand why. Peace over emotion, serenity over passion, and yet…and yet Hamilton is wild as anything and still better.

It’s made worse by the fact that Hamilton doesn’t seem to notice. He considers Burr a friend, and he thinks Burr is brilliant–that’s just how he works. Hamilton doesn’t grant friendship to fools, and therefore all his friends must be as wickedly knife-edge sharp as he is, Laurens and Burr and Lafayette and Washington and, and, and….
Hamilton is a hurricane, and all that can be done is to let him sweep you up and trust that you’ll understand eventually.

He is not, cannot be, will not be jealous. He is a Jedi and he will let go his emotions and if letting go feels more like swallowing down, these days, then surely it is only the stress. He just needs to meditate. It will go away.

And now here is a question. Suppose a man spends all his time, for years on end, forcing himself into the trap of the Jedi code and withstanding Hamilton Feeling in his direction constantly, whether it’s the man’s oddly pure and childlike delight with having friends or his eternal aggravation with Burr’s indeterminate politics and philosophy and everything else. Now suppose that man finally, finally, loses his temper.
How do you suppose that such a thing will erupt?

Those historians, you know the ones: but they /can't/ have had a lover of the same sex. They were married to the opposite sex! They had children!
me, a bisexual: I'm about to tell you something that's gonna blow your fucking mind.

REBLOG IF YOU HAVE STRETCHMARKS

enamorxte:

This way people can see they’re not alone. I have them and this would help me see that.

(via lathori)

mikewarrcn:

i think one of my favourite things in hamilton is the line ‘and they say im a francophile, at least they know i know where france is’ bc it implies that aaron burr is so secretive that he wont admit that he knows where france is and that just resonates with me

(Source: raylangives, via windbladess)

guiltyhipster:

misscheetahroo:
guiltyhipster:
TV show idea:
Baby boomers have to switch life situations with a millennial for a year. The millennial gets to live in their house (which they paid off like thirty or forty years ago) and work at their job that provides a good salary and benefits. The baby boomer has to live in the millennial’s shitty, overpriced apartment and struggle to pay rent and work a minimum wage part-time job as well as an unpaid internship in their (the baby boomer’s) field.
The show can be called Switching Cribs and every time the baby boomer throws a tantrum a little cartoon of a baby crying appears in the corner of the screen.
… …
Fund it.
With what money
I’m a millennial

(via clockwork-mockingbird)