THIS IS SO RIGHT - Blog Posts
One of the truly most horrifying parts of Mouthwashing is the relationship between Anya and J*mmy. It’s the civil conversation between them. It’s Anya having to ask Jimmy for help. It’s Jimmy feeling comfortable talking to her and making fun of her to her face. It’s Anya talking to Jimmy about the crash as if they’re simply just coworkers in a bad situation together. But it’s the fear on her face. The implied tremble in her voice. The horror of subtext. Anya is stuck with her rapist. She doesn’t know what he’ll do next. She is not only stuck with him but RELIES on him. He is the captain now. She has to ask this monster for help. And he berates her for it. They are in a situation entirely of Jimmy’s creation but he punishes Anya for it.
It speaks a lot on real rapist/victim relationships. We’re not all so lucky as to be able to shut them out entirely. We’re not all so lucky that we get to be cruel back, show our teeth and bite. Sometimes we have to play nice. This is the terrifying reality of Mouthwashing
LITERALLY PLEASE JUST START A NEW PARAGRAPH, THANK YOU.
Please
Please, please, please, please, PLEASE,
When writing fiction
And a character is talking
And a line of dialogue from a different character starts up
PLEASE
START. A. NEW. PARAGRAPH.
We can argue the arbitrary nature of the rules of writing in English all the day long but the truth of the matter is, that is how it’s been done to make reading easier for a long time and if you’re going to break the rule or use an exception, you need to know how to do it, and not just assume that anyone reading can follow along your incomprehensible string of dialogue unseparated by new paragraph breaks.
PLEASE
tap. scritch. scritch. sssssss-
sssSSSSS-
SNIK
"Oh! Serizawa!"
"You're awake?"
Here is my official vision for a Queen's Thief on-screen adaption:
The Thief: live action road trip adventure movie. First half road tripping and character dynamics, next sixth the temple and Gift, final third escape from Attolia and winding down in Eddis. Stories of the gods are claymation
Queen of Attolia: seven-episode limited series, lots of nighttime conversations and interiors and shots of bare landscapes. E1 is capture, hand cutting off, return to Eddis. E2 is slow difficult recovery ending with the reveal of being at war and "stop whining." E3 is intense war strategy with stealing the magus as the high point. E4 is Gen's fear of Attolia and developing his plan, interspersed with flashbacks of Attolia's backstory. (Does it give away too much for this episode to start with Horreon and Meridite, in super stylized 2d animation, like I'm thinking mostly black background, flat colored objects, and people as gold line drawings?) E5 is the kidnapping, extremely long tense proposal/cliff scene, ends with Nahuseresh attacking. E6 goes from that to "diplomacy in my own name", incredible drama and tension through the middle until we realize she's wearing his earrings (as late as absolutely possible). e7 is working out engagement difficulties, up to "she believed him"
King of Attolia: 25-minute sitcom, full length season. Every little event gets its own moment, multiple running plots are introduced and resolved, and we see Gen's power and relationships developing over time.
Conspiracy of Kings: 3-part limited series. First episode is the magus and Sophos getting to Attolia and trying to get through to Gen and Irene as humans and work out the politics, second Eddis arrives and Sophos tells her his slave backstory with voiceover, super saturated lush scenery, melodrama, etc. third part is a snappy political drama as Sophos takes back Sounis.
Thick as Thieves: most of it is a 5-7 minute web series (no fourth wall breaks). Those little episodes keep coming out for a few months and then when Kamet gets to Attolia we have a single 40-minute episode giving his backstory with Gen, Mede fleet stuff, new spy assignment, etc.
Return of the Thief: five-hour two-act stage play