escritorzuela

Five Things! The five things are totally up to you. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

In one of these challenges I asked people to send me questions about my top fives, whatever they'd wanted.

This time I want to ask one myself: what are your top 5 female characters?

They can be from anywhere: books, films, shows, an OC you've created and nurtured for years... go nuts.

To break the ice, I'm gonna go with five female characters from my own original stories, Just Because. Not necessarily a definite Top 5 (I love them all, your honour), but a Top 5 RIGHT NOW :P
 

1. Captain Latoya. She is and probably will always be number one in my heart. Space pirate, alien-human hybrid, daughter and grandaughter of tyrants. Arrogant, idealistic, ruthless, sharp, brave. A killer, a history savant, a natural performer and a hopeless romantic.
2. Lady Vela. Years ago Vela requested the fairies' aid to free herself from the monsters raising her at home. Now, the fairies want to collect the debt. Vela is a young woman of deep, hidden melancholy with a trickster streak of her own, with a very tragic past and little hope for the future.
3. Sadie Maxwell-Arriaga. A young, self-trained witch of immense natural talent, in love with magic above all things. Scrappy, greedy, kind, risk-prone, of easy-going manners broken occasionally by righteous anger. And murder suspect!
4. Fanny. Seductive, deciteful femme fatala playing opposite to Giulietta, a lovelorn private investigator, both human woman (with a few extrasensory talents, in Giulietta's case) navigating a noir city of supernatural creatures. More than meets the eye 😉
5. Imperatrix Lucretia. Visionary (or dictatorial, depending on who you ask) thrice elected leader of an underground society where vampires rule humans in exchange of protection from the outside world. Lucretia rose from the lowest depths of her society to the very top, fighting for her vision. She's calculating, paranoid, and pitiless, and would die before relinquishing power.

I added some images using this picrew, in order, from left to right:

I posted a few more prompts in the second post, so now my lists are

A - first post.

• DC comics, Diana Prince, restoration. 
• DC comics, Dick Grayson, family. (filled)
• DC comics, Donna Troy, identity issues. 
• DC comics, Jason Todd, Robin. (filled)
• DC comics, Kara Zor-el, homesick. (filled)
• DC comics, Stephanie Brown, vindication. (filled. twice over!)
• DC comics, Talia al Ghul, tragedy. (filled)
• DC comics, Barbara & Cass, projecting on others. 
• DC comics, Bruce/Talia, anything with the “son of the demon” storyline. 
• DC comics, Dick/Helena Bertinelli, secret identity. 
• DC comics, Jason & Talia, reunion. 
• DC comics, Jason & any bat, alliance. (filled)
• Young Justice, Dick/Zatanna, second chances.
  

B - second post.

• DC Comics, Jason Todd & any other bat, secret identity.
  
• DC Comics, Barbara/Cass, hot for teacher.
• DC Comics, Dick/Helena Bertinelli, second one-night stand. (filled)
  
• DC Comics, Dick/Jesse Quick, competence kink.
• Young Justice, Dick/Zatanna, gifts.

I also wrote a few fills myself, but I'll wait until the ficathon is over to publish them all (probably in ao3 too, because so far I've made it a personal goal to make them exactly 100 words long. Anything shorter than that, I'd feel "off" posting on ao3 lol). Especially since I hope I write more!

I tend to think everyone knows about The Submission Grinder, a site for fiction and poetry writers to keep track of open submissions. But if you didn't know about it, or you're just starting to get your stories out, it might be useful!

And if you're on tumblr, check out Writeblr Graduates, to promote your published (be it traditional, indie, online, etc.) original writing.

Recently I found out about PostyBirb, a site that helps you speed up the process of posting to multiple sites and schedule posts, which can be useful for artists or writers trying to promote their work.

For my fellow DC fans, I wanted to post about the DCU guide, which I often use to track down characters appearances, chronologies, etc. (very useful for a completitionist like me lol). Although I mostly read batclan-related comics, and for that I tend to go for this regularly updated google spreadsheet of characters appearances and mentions.

Finally: if you haven't seen it, the three sentence ficathon is out! Go post your prompts! I posted a few myself (all about the dcu, of course), in case anyone's looking for inspiration 😉

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. . Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

A while ago I started doing posts with a few recs that got sidetracked when I stopped using this journal for a little while, so I thought I'd do one of those!

• ONE SHOW: yesterday I decided to watch a few episodes from the first season of "Batman: The Animated Series" and was once again overtaken by how much I love that show. I haven't really watched the other seasons, but from what I've seen new adventures didn't quite land that... baby's first gothic vibe season one had going on. Season one though? Superb. The Cat and the Claw and the first meeting between Bruce-Batman and Selina-Catwoman, the utter heartbreak in Heart of Ice, the melancholy It's Never Too Late, the tragic bent in On Leather Wings and ESPECIALLY Feet of Clay, the catharsis in Joker's Favor... this show had hit after hit after hit.
• ONE FILM: "The Lion in Winter". If you enjoy a good story about an immensely fucked up royal family, this one is my favourite of all time. No character leaves you indifferent. And although we're already halfway through January, I love to watch it in winter. Really gets me in the spirit of the holidays!
• ONE COMIC: I recently read "Nightwing/Huntress" (written by the infamous Devin Grayson, whose writing I'm just getting familiar with). Loved it. It's a take on Dick not everyone will enjoy, but I dig it, and the dynamic it presents between the characters is fascinating. Also, it's only four issues long, the art is gorgeous, and Helena should always wear that version of the suit.
• ONE BOOK: "The Sanguine Sorceress" by Camilla Andrew. I don't get tired of recommending this book and this author, someone who I consider both a friend and a remarkable artist. I love a good tale of revenge starting an imperfect victim, with opulent descriptive prose and a detailed fantasy worldbuilding, and this novelette has it all. The paperback edition (still available for purchase) finally arrived in the mail, and it has gooooorgeous illustrations (ETA: forgot to add credit to the artist, Rachel Bostick). If it sounds like it could be the story for you, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

IceBreaker Challenge! Tell us about yourself. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I'm gonna cheat just a little bit, because really, I find talking about myself extremely difficult. But! Lucky for me, I already had to do such titanic effort when I had to introduce myself on January 1st for my brand new author's newsletter (#selfpromo). So I'm just going to borrow from that section. If you want to read the rest (writing updates, an excerpt from an upcoming story, recommendations), you'll have to click the link :P

( Read more... )

As for an ice breaker... ask me a top 5 [insert anything here] in the comments, and I'll reply!

I decided to talk a little about my writing goals for this year. They are two-fold: on the one hand, there's my original writing. On the other, the fics I want to write for the fandoms that have me in their clutches.

For my original writing, the goals are largely tied to my author's newsletter. I want to maintain it; to use it to discuse writing, as a craft, with fellow authors and enthusiasts; and to push myself to share complete short stories with an audience, as I build on larger ones.

As of now, I'm focusing in one of my smaller passion projects: a story I called "Underground Elysium" that's meant to reach only novelette/novella length. It's political/speculative adult fantasy, told in third person omniscient, that takes a harebrained idea (about a vampire running a protection racket during a zombie outbreak) that arose in a discussion of tumblr and I chose to take seriously to its last consequences. The zombies are really just the backdrop for the story of Lucretia, a visionary and tyrannical vampire that built an underground society in which vampiresses reigned, and humans had to choose between staying on the surface and facing its dangers, or resigning themselves to a life of safety and servitude under them. 

Later this month I intend to post a "chapter", telling the backstory of the two most important characters: the Imperatrix Lucretia, of course, and Dana. The later is younger vampiress who once violated the most crucial rule of the new realm, and was punished for it; long years later, she has raised in the ranks, and intends to come against Lucretia in the next election. The story I plan to share will tell what it was that Dana did, that Lucretia did in retaliation, and thus the seeds she planted for their later confrontation.

As for my fanfiction WIPs, I only just posted a list on tumblr yesterday (where I more than welcome questions about them!). I'll try to be both be briefer and more comprehensive here.

First, the vast majority (all but two, really) are focused on DC, especially the comics. The exceptions are a fun Desperate Housewives/Supernatural case-fic crossover I've written on and off for a while (all based on a dream I had where Tom Scavo was brutally killed by some monster and the late-seasons spn team came to infiltrate the suburbs and investigate LOL), and a eerier TVD fic telling the quieter horror that I think Elena and Damon's marriage would inevitably be (especially in an universe where Damon put his money where his mouth was re: alienating others, and he killed Jeremy instead of Tyler).

The others, as I said, are all about detective comics comics 😔 (and more likely than not, about Jason Todd. He's featured in all of these, at the very least).

• THE GIGANTIC PROJECTS.
  
  • Young Justice: FÉNIX. In which I do what I've wanted to for years and write THEE yj!Jason-centric fic that's been so clear in my head. Featuring a lot of Jason & Damian, Jason & Bats reuniting, and tons of secret identity shenanigans.
  • Jason Survives ADITF. Also came up with this one before the fauximile, and it doesn't follow that. It'll focus on Jason's recovery and asks questions about what his survival would have changed in Batman comics as a whole, going forward.
  • Journalist!Dick. Prompted by a tumblr post discusing how he could've gotten inspired to be an investigative journalist (thanks to Clark & Lois!). It takes things from Nightwing & Batman comics, and from the UTRH animated film, twisting some things around (for example, in this world Batman never took another sidekick after Jason's death, so Cass, Steph, and Tim's stories go differently).

• "MID-LENGTH", whatever that ends up meaning.
  
  • Convergence & Incorporated. Takes the end of the new earth timeline and puts Jason & Bruce on a difference direction, taking inspiration from Convergence: Batman and Robin, the basic premise of Batman Incorporated, and explores how Bruce killing Darkseid could've affected things.
  • Amnesiac Jason. Circa new-earth, before Damian entered the picture. Jason faced something that broke his psyche and, while it was getting fixed, Bruce took creative licenses. Now Jason lives a "normal" life, starting college, working... but something is clearly WRONG. I swear I came up with this story before Gotham War xD, but there were some eerie parallels that jumpted at me as I read lol.
  • Batwoman / Robin: 20. AU of Batwoman's third season. Upon the realisation that a lot of what instantly appealed to me about batwoman!Ryan is similar to what appeals to me about robin!Jason, I decided to sit down and write about it. And I took advantage of it to tackle some changes I really didn't like in s3.
  • Outlaws vs. Justice League. If you haven't read the "Red Hood: Outlaws" webtoon, the premise is that Jason, Artemis, and Bizarro are made the new JL for a provation period... and then it's revealed they'd been put in a simulation without their consent (a simulation where they showed more compassion to some of the "criminals" they meant to hunt than the JL did). Then the webtoon did nothing with that, which really disappointed me. So I ran with it instead.
  • Gotham War: everything gets worse. Exactly that xD. I took what happened to Jason in GW seriously and poured more angst over it. What if he got hurt in some incurable way that meant he'd need to change his life going forward? What if he couldn't bring himself to save the child in Catwoman #57? What if the Joker did something much worse to "cure" him? And so on and so forth.
  • Jason's Journals. AU of War Games. Steph survives and is recovering in the Manor. There, she finds some old journals, written by the mysterious second Robin... and she, Tim, and Cass start to unravel the stories they'd been told about Jason vs. what he wrote himself. Just in time for the Red Hood to come into town.
  • One thousand and one nights. Thanks to Batman: The Cult, Jason must know how to deprogram someone. In The Man Who Stopped Laughing, he discovers that Joker goes around brainwashing people into Joker-lites. Do the math.
  • DC vs. Vampires, re-imagined. I read the first volume of that story and I was... disappointed. I decided to do my own spin on it: more character focused, less about the JL/saving the world~~ shenanigans. And obviously, Jason lives xD (well. Technically).
  • Time Travel: Robin Jason. You know all those AUs where robin!Jason suddenly appears on the present, and everyone has to deal with all the angst that brings? I want to do my own take on that. Lots of Jason & Jason bonding.
  • Prison Break: Robins. Jason is facing the death penalty (for something he 100% did, lbr). Dick can't take it and puts himself in the same prison.
  • Cass & Jason: street kids. Cass makes it to Gotham a bit earlier, wandering the city, homeless. Just around the time a catatonic Jason is around, sharing his food with other homeless people. And just in time for her to intervene when people try to take Jason away.

• ONE-SHOTS!!!!!!1 (likely not *truly* short ones smh).
  
  • Immortal Jason. It's basically canon that new earth!Jason came back from things that should have killed him with no explanation. So what if he can resurrect, over and over? This is about each of the Bats finding out about it.
  • Gotham: Bruce plots a murder. Future fic set on the Fox show. How that Bruce would react to Valeska killing Jason. The title sounds tongue-in-cheek but this is very angsty I swear.
  • Rogue Green Lantern Jason. Someone on reddit joked about how, if Jason "overcame great fear" during Gotham War, he could get a ring. I don't think he'd join the Corps, but he would also not renounce to such power coming at a time of such vulnerability either.
  • Jason's rules. Jason takes a victim's death really hard and reevaluates. Set on some amalgam of the main continuity, post-Alfred's death.
  • Jason + Joker's Last Laugh. Jason finds out about what happened in that arc (Dick beating the Joker to death, Bruce resucitating him). It only makes things worse.
  • Jason & Eddie: Orpheus and Eurydice. Jason finds out that Kid/Red Devil, his only peer from back in the day, got his soul sent to Hell.
  • Kidnapping WIP. Also inspired by a weird dream. Bruce manages to snatch Jason at the end of UTRH, takes him to the Manor to heal, and decides to try a little Stockholm syndrome. I also came up with this one before Gotham War xD
  • 5 times Dick and Zatanna fooled around on his birthday, and one time they didn't. What it says. I consider it part of the same continuity as my longer Young Justice WIP.
  • Caretaker Red Hood. I read that at least in some comics it's been said that Jason (and Bruce, but that's less relevant) is 0-. I engineered a situation where the (still masked) Red Hood had to give a blood transfusion on the field to Bruce, and to take care of his injuries.

I've definitely talked your ear off enough, so I'll leave it there ^-^

WHAT I JUST FINISHED READING

I finished Tony Kusher's "Angels in America". What a bonkers, delightful play. I'd love to watch it live.

I also read the first two runs of Young Justic comics related to the show as I complete my rewatch. Not much to report there, except that I still consider this world's version of Dick/Barbara unforgivably boring.

WHAT I'M READING NOW

I'm still following a few ongoing comic runs: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures, Harley Quinn: Black + White + Redder, JRed Hood: Outlaws, Spirit World, Tales of The Titans, The Invincible Iron Man (the Annual was BAD), Waller vs. Wildstorm... I also started "The Cull", a 5-issues long miniseries from Image Comics that intrigued me with its first issue.

Most importantly, I caught up with "Monstress". This comic canNOT be overrated, I swear. I'm enjoying it so, so much. For a little while one of the main character annoyed me to unspeakable lengths; she's supposed to represent ~~hope in the darkest moments and she felt more like a device, and a poorly used one at that, than a character in her own right, but in the last few volumes her writing has improved vastly. She feels more real, more integrated with the rest of the story. And I'm not quite caught up with "Saga", but soon... soon.

ETA: today I got to read the last issue of the Iron Man run and

( tiny spoiler )( tiny spoiler )( tiny spoiler )

Lol. Lmao even.

WHAT I'LL READ NEXT

When I finish beta-reading my friend's novel, I want to pick up James Goldman's "The Lion in Winter" and Catherynne M. Valente's "The Refrigerator Monologues". And, of course. More comics. I've been eyeing yet another ongoing run called "Dark Knights of Steel".

Every summer I can, I attend a short film festival I have nearby. It lasts four nights, and it's always a good time.

This year the films themselves have been 50/50. The ones that were good were REALLY good; the ones that were bad were mind-numbingly boring LOL. The best was definitely saved for last, on Saturday night. My favourite ones were the last three, all covering heavy topics in quite interesting, sometimes new ways. I don't know how likely it'll be to find them online, especially outside Spain/with subtitles, but I'll link their IMDb pages just in case:


Another one I liked was "NO HAY FANTASMAS" ("there are no ghosts"). It wasn't as good as the other three, but it might've inspired an idea for a story LOL (I'm not saying the primary reason I go to this festival is for inspiration but. It doesn't hurt that often I get the embryo of an idea out of a small moment in them!). It's about a young woman who can hear the "echoes" left by the dead, and tries to help those they leave behind to move on with their lives; all while, obviously, she fails to do the same in her personal life. The idea of doing something with the barebones of that premise has started to knock around my head... that + a comic I read last week that has me thinking about clones are fighting for my attention (among many, many other plotbunnies).

WHAT I JUST FINISHED READING

I decided to dip my toe in a couple Marvel runs and finished the limited series "I Am Iron Man". It's... weird LOL. More conceptual than plot. I liked the last two issues the most, because they offered two things I love in my Tony Stark comics: Tony being a paranoid POS who implements preventative measures against friends & allies (thus alienating them), and Tony messing with science in really fun, fucked up ways that inspire fun, fucked up sci-fi ideas in me.

I also finished "Harley Quinn: Black + White + Red" (and started the first issue of its sequel). My favourite remains the first chapter (I need to read the author's Harleen series), but all of the rest were pretty fun. And the sequel comic had a few really fun stories, my favourites being the first two ones because they include, respectively, ( spoiler )

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Other than continuing what I already listed in the last entry, I've caught up with a few runs! Namely "Batman: Wayne Family Adventures" (often too fluffy and preachy for my tastes, but with cute art and interesting plotbunnies), "The Invincible Iron Man" (a possibly... good... Iron Man run?? Whitewashing -in the moral sense- Howard Stark aside rme), and "Red Hood: Outlaws". I wasn't all that sure about that last one at first, but I stuck with it because of the pretty art and because of my love for Jason Todd LOL. But around issues 20-30 there's certain reveal/twist I won't spoil that changed things for me; it's REALLY interesting, basically. I will say that, personally, I think the Bruce in this comic deserves to be punted into the sun by the main trio xD

I've also worked on catching up with two ongoing runs that have been on my radar for a long time, from Image Comics. First, "Saga", which I actually started some years ago, although I can't remember how far I got. I love it; the characters, the framework, the plot, its willingness to show true horrors... A+. The other run is "Monstress", and let me tell you, it was love at first sight. Deliciously grimdark? Check. Tons of female characters doing fucked up, horrid shit? Check. Prospective femslash pairings that are actually interesting and complex? Check! All paired with a gorgeous, gorgeous, whimsical drawing style.

I also caught up with the few comics of interest that came out this week. Nothing much to report there, except that unfortunately "Knight Terrors: Robin #2" comes with a side of that Jason (and Tim!) fanon characterisation that irks me so much xD

And book wise, I've picked up "Angels in America" right where I left off. Which was a little after this gut-wrenching quote (amidst a yet more painful scene):

PRIOR: We have reached a verdict, your honor. This man's heart is deficient. He loves, but his love is worth nothing.

WHAT I'LL READ NEXT

I only intend to keep up with *waves hands* all of that.

.... and probably some more comics smh.

WHAT I JUST FINISHED READING:

Quiiiiiite a few things, as it happens. Last week I finished "The Scarlet Letter" and "Pride and Prejudice", two classics that had been on my list for a long, long time. "The Scarlet Letter" I liked a lot better than I expected, from the moment I met Hester. It's a book I know I'll reread eventually, and meditate over. OTOH, P&P started as a really nice read; I like Austen's style, and I like her character work both for those I find endearing or admirable AND those that make me want to tear my hair out xD. Halfway through, with the first proposal and the letter is when it starts really picking up, fully exploding with Lydiagate, as I've seen it called. Speaking of, I don't think there are words that would suffice to describe my hate for Wickham! What he tried to pull with Georgina in particular was so, so despicable... it's absolutely infuriating he gets away scot-free AND keeps taking money from the rest of the characters, even if it makes the story objectively more interesting and therefore better LOL.

I finished reading a couple comic runs as well; DC has me in its clutches again, tragically xD. I decided to give a go to "Batman: The New Adventures" and read issues #1-14, aka, DC's attempt to introduce Jason Todd, aka my favourite DC character, to the Timmverse. DO NOT RECOMMEND

( spoilers from the run & what I would've preferred )

Like... I know after ADITF DC turned Jason into a cautionary tale for other sidekicks full of good ol' victim blaming but. That's not The Point of Jason. He was not some psycho violent kid doomed to become a murderer or an idiot who died because he didn't listen to wise old Batman. He was a kid eager to help people and to find a loving connection that got killed for reasons beyond his control, just like everyone who comes face to face with a repentless killer. It's that simple and that sad. Smh.

I also finished reading "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow", which I liked far, FAR more. Superb art, interesting storyline (and a nice homage to "True Grit", although the differences in genre/rules make me think I shouldn't rewatch the film, in case the comic looks worse in comparison lol), and a Kara I utterly fell in love with like never before.

I also reread a friend's debut novel now that I have the paperback, "When The Stars Alight", which I recommended here. It came with a little extra scene that wasn't in the ARC that I delighted on, as it's about one of my favourite secondary characters.

WHAT I'M READING NOW

Well, first of all, I've started beta-reading the final draft of "We Will Devour The Night", the next book after WTSA. I have read a previous version and loved it even more than the first book, and I'm excited to read the non-insignificant changes that have been implemented ^-^

I'm also keeping up with my substack newsletters: we finished "Inferno" in Divine Comedy Weekly and will start with "Purgatory" tomorrow; this week Letters from Watson started with a new Sherlock Holmes short story; and this Saturday they'll start sending the third book in the Oz world in Beyond the Wizard.

Other than that... comics. Comics, comics, and more comics (DC only, for now, although eventually I want to catch up with a few Image runs).

I've picked up a few issues from the latest cross-runs event, Knight Terrors, where some new (?) villain is hunting the nightmares of the characters looking for a magical stone. My favourite so far has been Poison Ivy's two-part run (SUPER creepy, reminiscent of Stepford Wives although obviously not nearly as great), although I have some hopes for Robin (with Tim & Jason) and Nightwing (who is trapped in Arkham after supposedly killing [redacted]).

As for current runs I'm also at day with "The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing" (with the usual problems of a Joker story nerfing other characters to keep him breathing, but with some great Jason moments), "Waller vs. Wildstorm" (Lois AND Amanda Waller in the same run?), "Tales of The Titans" (heartwarming first issue with Kory), "Justice Society of America" (Helena Wayne travels in time, changes the past, saves her parents, and becomes stuck), and "Spirit World" (a new nb spirit hero + Constantine + Cass as Batgirl -IDEK what hero names the batkids have rn and at this point I'm too afraid to ask).

I've also started the webcomic "Red Hood: Outlaws" in my quest for decent Jason content (mixed feelings so far, but gr10 art. A very punchable Bruce, I have to say xD), and I read the first issue of "Harley Quinn: Black and White and Red" , since the run is getting a sequel and I've wanted to read it for years. Loved this one; the art is amazing, Harley was written perfectly in those few pages, and Harlivy was at the heart of it in a very evocative way. And I keep re-reading over Jason's Robin Era comics, of course.

WHAT I'LL READ NEXT

The to-do list goes: