Friday Update

[clevermanka]

From Twitter:
Fanart of sweet, sleepy Zhao Yunlan next to Shen Wei on the couch.
Zhu Yilong is too pretty for my own good.
Bai Yu licking white frosting off his lips. Repeatedly. There is no way in any universe that this man doesn't know exactly what his mouth does to people.
Super fuckin' cute (and SFW!) domestic Shen Wei and flirty Zhao Yunlan chibis.
Someone else made unintentional art for Ghost Story! Thank you, naye, for the heads-up. I follow them on Tumblr but hadn't seen that one (and now I follow them on Twitter, too).
I interpret this as very sweet, post-sex Weilan snuggles. (I do not understand the caption so am going with what I saw for myself)
While scrolling through these gorgeous pics of Shen Wei (go through to the original Weibo post--worth it), I literally whispered "oh fuck off" and had to look away for a moment.
Not Guardian!
Hacking the Comic Sans trick for writing (it's not the font)

I don't care if you're a Guardian fan or if you even know what the show is. Hie thee over to Portal, a drabble by lannamichaels . It's 100 words, you can spare the time. Substitute just about any artificial separation of people for Haixing/Dixing and it still works, beautifully. They also managed to fit so many knives into another 100 words with Masks so many knives.

Fic writers--how many times per emotional and/or sexy scene do you have to go back and figure out if someone has already closed their eyes? I swear I have to do it at least twice, more if the scene lasts more than 1k words. So annoying.

I'm close to finishing Ghost Story, y'all. So. Close. Also I might've found a title in a song lyric? I was recently reminded of this stellar heart-wrencher with the perfect line "life's waiting to begin" and I was like ahhhhhhhh! So, maybe this poor beast will actually get a name besides Ghost Story. But at this point I'm kind of attached to calling it Ghost Story? IDK. Guess it doesn't matter until I finish, anyway! 


mckitterick got back on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Going through his photos, I came across this, taken during one of the big presentations at the convention. It was a slideshow of notable recent Chinese SF shows. Here's the full-size pic.

Y'all, I screamed. He hadn't even noticed! Didn't see it on the screen at the time, didn't realize he'd gotten a picture. Total luck, and how awesome! Look, there's our SID! It made me (maybe?) unreasonably happy.

Alas, he was not able to secure the Harper's Bazaar magazine. Apparently it's difficult to locate magazines in China? He said none of the stores carry them and the only newsstands are roadside things that he saw only as he was zooming somewhere in a taxi. BUT! He did locate water transfer decals of Zhu Yilong! When he handed them to me I honest to dogs slid off the couch, Tina Belcher style (I am 2% Tina, the rest of me is all Louise). Here I am with my gift:

If it looks like my eyelids are wet that's because I was literally crying I laughed so hard. There's six sheets, and they each have 5-10 photos of him from shows, photo shoots, production stills, ads. Better than a magazine! I don't think I'll ever actually use them, but I love them. I'm not a sentimental person and it's a rare thing that makes me go "I'm glad I have this just because I want to have it." I'm thrilled to have these.


Okay time to finish writing the last sex scene!

Comments

[asya_ana]

I adore the decals! What an awesome gift. You were crying with laughter but I think I would have been crying crying. *laughs at self*

[clevermanka]

Well, I laugh at almost everything. Happy? Laugh. In Pain? Laugh. Angry? Laugh? I laugh when sufficiently sad. (not a defense mechanism or anything nope we're all fine here) So I mean, there probably was a bit of crying crying in there, too. =D

[kazoogrrl]

I screamed a little inside seeing that picture!

I love the gift! It's kind of weird to realize that something that's a big deal to us but not to most of the (Western) world has people involved that are big enough to have stickers made of them from their home country. Does that make sense?

[clevermanka]

Yes! I know exactly what you mean. It's one of those big world/small world conundrums that can feel so magical and unsettling.

[forestofglory]

Thank you for sharing! Both the fanart and the pictures form the China trip. (A couple of authors I follow on twitter where at that con so I had seen some picture but not that one!)

[clevermanka]

Ah! That's so awesome that you know about a couple other people who went. I wonder if they wound up in any of his panels/workshops!

[forestofglory]

Well know might be too strong a word, but I saw some tweets about it.

[clevermanka]

It's still pretty cool to think he was half the world away, and yet we still have these nebulous little connections. I love it!

[naye]

The sleepy Zhao Yunlan on the couch is SO GOOD FOR MY HEART. That tiny bit of tension in his face before Shen Wei puts his hand on his head? Perfection. I think I have written this moment multiple times and I will write it again because it makes me soft.

And thank you for rounding up so much pretty those pictures of both Zhu Yilong and Shen Wei (how is that the same person I still don't get it) are rude and gorgeous.

AHHHH LOOK AT WHAT HE SAW! LOOK AT WHAT HE BROUGHT! I am excited to see our little team in that collection, and also OMG THOSE STICKERS hgjksdjkfghskdhj WOW. ♥♥♥

[clevermanka]

That tiny bit of tension in his face before Shen Wei puts his hand on his head?
SAME. Oh they are so good and perfect for each other.

I am excited to see our little team in that collection
I honestly jumped off the couch to point at the screen (we were looking at them on the television).

[bonibaru]

how many times per emotional and/or sexy scene do you have to go back and figure out if someone has already closed their eyes

or sighed, or raised their eyebrow, and where the heck are all the HANDS MANKA

[clevermanka]

WHOSE HANDS ARE THOSE ANYWAY?

[xparrot]

There are beautiful pictures of Zhu Yilong and beautiful pictures of Shen Wei and my brain with its deficient facial recognition skills has a very hard time believing those are the same people but either way just wow...

Fic writers--how many times per emotional and/or sexy scene do you have to go back and figure out if someone has already closed their eyes?

Or standing up or sitting down...or breathing on occasion...

[clevermanka]

"Can I cram just one more gasp in there without making him sound like he's hyperventilating?"

[xparrot]

Which then gets into the attendant problem of "how many different ways are there to phrase gasp" - "his breath caught," "he exhaled sharply," "the air rushed from his lungs, got up, and said quite rudely, 'really now how many synonyms do you need??'"

[clevermanka]

YES oh my GOD

Can I also say Specifically I am So Very Tired of trying to find different ways to describe air/pressure/something not quite a touch but not not a touch and avoid (at all costs) using the word "ghost" as a verb. *laugh-cry emoji*

[yantantether]

Fic writers--how many times per emotional and/or sexy scene do you have to go back and figure out if someone has already closed their eyes?
And have they already taken their trousers off?? You would not think this would be difficult AND YET.

Those decals are awesome!! And now I'm obvs just watching the frosting gif on repeat good LORD.

[clevermanka]

AND YET, INDEED

That frosting gif is just all the best flavors of obscene.

[trobadora]

Fic writers--how many times per emotional and/or sexy scene do you have to go back and figure out if someone has already closed their eyes? I swear I have to do it at least twice, more if the scene lasts more than 1k words. So annoying.

Haha, I feel you on this so much. For me it's mostly heads turning/where people are looking. Why is this so hard to keep track of, OMG.

Y'all, I screamed. He hadn't even noticed! Didn't see it on the screen at the time, didn't realize he'd gotten a picture. Total luck, and how awesome! Look, there's our SID! It made me (maybe?) unreasonably happy.

Hee! It just made me unreasonably happy too. :D

Thank you for the links, as usual!

[clevermanka]

Why is this so hard to keep track of, OMG.
I am at least reassured that it's such a common problem? =D

Also very glad that others are (unreasonably) happy about Guardian being on that screen. Our darlings were recognized at a massive (and partially government-funded) convention!

[winter_blossom]

What an accidentally-awesome photo!? Cos English-speaking Guardian fandom is tiny and none of my anime-manga set care for it either, I'm always irrationally happy when I see just how popular the show is in China *_*

The decals! <3 Good thing I don't have anything like it or I'd never get any work done. And on that note: whyyy did you have to link me to that Weibo thread? I have way too many screenshots of Shen Wei as-is, but I'm still gonna save these new ones anyway...

Lannamichael's recent gen drabble series was really good. The one about post-finale Dixing was so impactful.

Ooh, in the home stretch for Ghost Story! *Claps* Re: the title, I've also kind of gotten attached to "Ghost Story," but "Life's waiting to begin" would be good, too, if in an "equal parts earnest and ironic" way. Which kind of reminds me of "A Lollipop and a Promise," so it'd be very in-keeping with your style ^_^

[clevermanka]

I'm always irrationally happy when I see just how popular the show is in China
SAME! Like I mentioned to trobadora, above, it was super cool to see it recognized at a massive (and partially government-funded!) convention.

The one about post-finale Dixing was so impactful
Love how broadly political that one and Portals can be read. Reminds me of deputychairman's Star Wars fics about Brexit (I can send links if you're interested, deputy is an incredible writer).

equal parts earnest and ironic
It appears you have cottoned to My Brand. =D

[winter_blossom]

Yes, please, to the fic links! (The fact that I've only watched Star Wars once, in bits-and-pieces, when I was like 10 and never again is - hopefully - not relevant in the face of fic with good political/social commentary...)

[clevermanka]

She writes for the most current ones, not the originals or prequels--mostly Finn/Poe, but some Poe/Leia as well. Here's all her stuff, including the other fandoms she's written for (we met via due South), and the one I was thinking of specifically is a peace without victory. Hope you enjoy!

[winter_blossom]

Which reminds me that I've been planning to watch due South for years now and yet somehow never managed it...

Thanks for the link!

[clevermanka]

due South is the show of my heart, seriously. I think it's a testament to the show that we still have an active fandom, too. If you try it, I hope you love it!

[stultiloquentia]

I really appreciate these link round-ups, since I'm not on Twitter consistently enough to find things myself.

Your decals are so weird and amazing.

[clevermanka]

I love link roundups, both curating and exploring, so I'm thrilled to have an appreciative audience!

The fact that these decals even exist brings me happiness, but owning them is a delight.

[khellekson]

McKitterick is AWESOME! Glad he made you happy!

[clevermanka]

He also brought some maps to use for collage that cost him about fifty cents each. I think he probably spent five bucks, tops, for everything. The dude has learned how to shop for me. =D