This is true, coming from someone who is a writer and also fell down some stairs not too long ago.
It’s all true.
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JENNA HIT 100,000 SUBSCRIBERS ON YOUTUBE!!!
Seriously, this is such a huge milestone for Jenna and SO WELL DESERVED!!!
She has busted her ass putting out solid, helpful, amazing, inspiring, and motivating advice so writers everywhere can get a step closer to living their dreams!
So for that, I just want to say THANK YOU @jennamoreci !!
In celebration of Jenna hitting 100,000 subscribers, let’s all talk about how she’s helped us most.
For me, she most helped me understand the importance of OUTLINING, marketing, and the business side of the writing industry.
Reblog with how she’s helped you most in your writing journey!
I’m a little late on the congratulations bandwagon, but a huge congrats to @jennamoreci! I can’t name a single thing she hasn’t helped me with in my writing journey. I never would have had the confidence to finish a project and I never would have known where to start when it came to beta readers or the editing and publishing process. And I know for a fact that I never would have published The Moon-Eyed Ones if it wasn’t for her and her genius advice. This is a well-deserved milestone for her!
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For this Four Gods Friday, I’m going to go in depth on the function of the Si Ling Organization. This concept, as with most in the TFG universe, are taken straight from Chinese mythology, but I have taken some creative liberties with the symbols. Let’s get to it!
In ancient Chinese culture when people were still trying to understand the cosmos, the heavens were divided into four different quadrants: north, south, east, and west. These quadrants were ruled by four sacred beasts: The Black Tortoise for the north, the Vermillion Bird for the south, the Azure Dragon for the east, and the White Tiger for the west. Though this concept existed in Chinese culture for thousands of years, these four beasts were not solidified in these records until the Han Dynasty, which is when TFG begins. Each beast had a number of stars in their quadrants that they ruled over. Historical records speculate that astronomers and astrologers of the times used these four beasts as a guide to make predictions about natural events or signs from Heaven. Others say that these beast themselves ruled over the fate of the Chinese empire. This latter telling is the version I use in TFG. Now, most records say that these four symbols are called Si Xiang (四象) in Chinese, but I use Si Ling in TFG because that signifies that they are the Four Sacred Beasts (which includes the Qilin) rather than simply four astrological symbols, even though that is their main function.
Let’s talk about these creatures themselves, starting with the Tortoise. In Chinese myth, the Tortoise has agency over water and is represented by the color black (the color of water). Its season is winter and the Tortoise, along with the serpent usually coiled around it, is seen as a symbol of longevity and wisdom. The Tortoise, along with the other three gods has seven ‘mansions’ (stars used to determine lunar position) in its arsenal, and reigns over stars in the Sagittarius, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Pegasus constellations. In TFG, I combine this symbol with the myth of the god Xuanwu, who is depicted as a warrior god of the north and is accompanied by a tortoise and a serpent at all times. Some records say they were his cursed intestines and stomach that he ripped out of his own body when he tried to repent for his past sins, others state that they were formed out of his mortality when he ascended and he subdued them and recruited them as his generals.
Next up is the Vermillion Bird or sometimes misnamed as the Phoenix of the south. The Vermillion Bird is often said to be a type of Fenghuang, but the Vermillion Bird is not a Fenghuang, but merely a different type of mythical bird. The character of que (雀) in Zhuque, actually determines that it is a sparrow-like bird, not a chimeric entity like the Fenghuang is. In TFG, Zhuque is merely a position title a Fenghuang can acquire, and is equivalent to a position of a prince/princess or duke/duchess in the Fenghuang rankings. The Vermillion Bird has agency over fire and is represented by the color red. Its season is summer and is a symbol of nobility and respect, as the Bird is said to be selective about what it eats and where it likes to perch (though the same is said for the Fenghuang.) However, unlike the other three gods of the Si Ling, the Vermillion Bird is usually not considered a god or worshipped outside of the four symbol context and is not often used in other imagery, hence the common confusion about whether the creature is a Fenghuang, as their appearances are often similar. The seven mansions of the Vermillion Bird are mainly found in the constellation Hydra.
The Dragon is probably the most signature creature of Chinese mythology, but the Dragon of the Si Ling is a jack of all trades. This Dragon has agency over earth (not water, as is sometimes mistaken because of the dragon’s azure color) and is represented by the color green/blue. The qing (青) in Qinglong describes a rich teal, but can also be used to describe a deep shade of green. Its season is spring and it is also usually considered as the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, due to its sovereignty over the east and its azure color to match. Because it is considered one of the Four Dragon Kings, this guy is considered regal and powerful and is worshipped outside of the four symbols context, especially by seafarers or fisherman who may be trekking out into the Dragon’s waters. This Dragon was also the one to appear on the royal flag of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). The seven mansions of the Azure Dragon are located mainly in the constellation of Scorpio, but it also has mansions in Virgo and Sagittarius.
And finally, we arrive at the White Tiger. Now, some of you who have beta read or have been following these segments are probably wondering where the Qilin comes in. The Qilin was the original creature associated with the west, however, the Tiger later replaced it due to it representing the quadrant better in astronomical records. The Qilin/Tiger in this context have agency over metal (I interpret these abilities as weaponry and magical abilities including lightning) and are represented by the color white. Their season is autumn and both symbols were heavily revered by the ruling class. The Qilin and Tiger overlap in the sense that they are both obsessed with virtue and justice, and they are both associated with the king. The Qilin appears when a virtuous king is born or dies (see more about Qilin and Chonglin here) and the Tiger is seen as a mythical being due to its white color (which symbolizes longevity in this case) and because it has the character for “king” (王) written on its forehead in its stripes. The Tiger, unlike the somewhat pacifistic Qilin, is seen as a god of war and militaristic values, however, both beasts offer protection from evil spirits. The seven mansions ruled over by the Qilin/Tiger are stars positioned mainly in the constellations of Orion and Taurus, but also includes stars in Aries and Andromeda.
That’s all for this week! I hope you enjoyed it and as always, I’ll be open for questions and comments. Until next time!
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Hi all! Just want to let you know that I’m working on future WAW posts and I’m still unpacking and getting back in the swing of things, so there will be no advice blog today. A reader suggested some very good topics to me last week, so next week’s will be focused on outlining and how to start a novel. Stay tuned for next week’s WAW and for Four Gods Fridays!
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I’ll never not be amused by the fact that I can drop the words “crucifix nail nipples” into a conversation and some of you who have been with me since the livejournal days will join me in the flashbacks, screaming and crying all the way.
I require context. Because this is a very interesting start of a story, and now I need the rest of it. Could I get a link, or a summary, or something? Pretty please?
All right buckle the fuck up kids, it’s the year 2012 and I’ve just been handed what should be an easy editing gig by my senior editor. It’s a vampire erotica story because one of the final Twilight movies is about to come out, and everything is vampires. Everything. I haven’t edited a single thing in months which isn’t about vampires. I am ready, I can do this. So I open the file and notice there’s a typo in the title, which really should have been my first inkling that something horrendous was about to go down, but you see I’m not quite dead inside yet so I carry on, bushy tailed and bright eyed with my faith in humanity intact. It’ll be dead by page 24, but I don’t know that yet. I’m just editing one more vampire boner fest.
The MC is a girl who we’ll call Sue. Sue is a Good Girl™, Sue is Not Like Other Girls™, she is pale and awkward and a virgin and has somehow managed to find herself a Bad Boy™ for a boyfriend. We’ll call him Dickhead.
Now Dickhead as previously stated is a bit of dick, he tries to pressure Sue into sex because he knows she is The One™ but he loves her really so it’s okay. Except it’s not okay because Sue is a Good Girl™ and holding out till marriage which he’s fine with except he’s got such a bad case of blue balls that one night walking home an attractive stranger lures him into an alley with the words “hey stud” and he follows, dick out before she’s even finished her sentence. Well turns out that was a mistake for Dickhead because she’s a vampire, but not just any vampire, a Dick Biting Vampire. So what started out as a skeevy blow job behind a club that he’ll feel bad about in the morning, turns into him being bitten on the dick and drained of his life essence and left for dead. Except DBV fucked up and now he’s a vampire. Are you still with me? Good, cause it’s about to get weirder.
Realizing he is now an abomination, Dickhead flees, becoming a creature of the night and feeding on animals rather than humans to repent for being such an asshole in life. Sue meanwhile is heartbroken, but carries on valiantly with her life and goes to bed each night crying for the loss of her One True Love™ who she would do anything to bring back. Well guess what Sue, Dickhead never really left you! He’s been “instinctively protecting her from rapists” by hiding out on her roof and fighting hobos who try to get to her open window via the fire escape for months now. Because that’s not fucking terrifying at all.
Upon learning of his predicament and how it happened, Sue can do nothing but blame herself. Oh if only she’d let him touch her secret places, then perhaps all of this could be avoided! Meanwhile Dickhead is having another dilemma of his own, realizing too late that his vampire powers have given him super senses and now he can smell her blood and he can’t decide whether he wants to get with her or eat her. And I don’t mean in the French sense. But he is strong! And over comes his base manly vampire instincts and neither rapes not kills her. Hurrah! And this is so romantic that Sue gives it up, but not before she launches into a theory about how in all fairy tales, True Love saves the day, so maybe her magical pure vagina that has never been touched by anyone, not even her, can bring him back to life. So Dickhead being a dickhead agrees and rips her clothes off, but not before he takes one last moment to marvel at the beauty of her purity, because he will never again look on her again and know she is Pure.
If you’ve only vomited once by now, I applaud your resolve.
So they hop on the good foot and do the nasty, except she is literally so pure in spirit, her flesh burns his. And I quote you from memory because these words are burned into my soul: “her breasts bit into his hands, like crucifix nail nipples tearing at
his flesh, but he did not care because he loved her so and couldn’t
stop”This phrase haunts me. I dread that it will be the last thing I think about on my death bed and my last words will literally be “god fucking dammit” as I die, carrying that mental image with me into the afterlife. My own solace is in knowing that I inflicted it on other people too, like @ahzuri who is somehow still with me after all these years.
When the magical burning sex fails to heal him and leaves her bruised, battered and broken with “a dainty blue bells of bruises around her secret flower” (I am genuinely quoting this, I could never make something as horrendous as this up without being on acid) Dickhead leaves. Yeah. Off he fucks, leaving her to the mercy of the hobos at her window, and into the night to be the true monster he really is. But wait, there’s more. Remember the dick biting vampire? Well turns out she has figured out she made him into a vampire and has also been stalking HIM and is totally jealous of Sue, so tries to kill her. But again Sues Purity saves her, because sex before marriage which was done out of True Love is not a sin, so she is still a spiritual virgin and I’ll be honest, I started drinking heavily at this point and it’s all a bit of a blur.
A fight ensues some pages later after Dickhead returns, realizing the mistake he has made. And he rescues Sue from the Dick Biter, but not before he assaults Dick Biter, and calls her a slut for luring innocent men into alleys cuts her heart out by cutting her breasts off, at which point i screamed “THAT’S NOT HOW YOU REACH THE HEART” and my brain short circuited completely and I have no idea how it ends because I realized there was 30 pages left and my soul couldn’t take it. I emailed the chief editor like ?????!!!!!!????!!!!!! and the book was immediately pulled from the work line and the author dismissed from the publishing house. Turns out she was a friend of a friend and that was how she got the manuscript past our entry levels for requirement.
And that’s the story of how an author sent me death threats for over a month because I stopped her shitty vampire porn from ever seeing the light of day. You’re all fucking WELCOME.
AUTHOR | HISTORIAN | ARTIST 