Hey! It's Xael

I just really think they would be into the switch in their public-facing relationship dynamics for bedroom activities. The games they could play! Clever "lowly" servant Shang Qinghua pretending he's blackmailing or tricking Mobei Jun into servicing him for revenge, gloating about how he's got his king just where he wants him, getting to really cut loose on the degradation dirty talk (venting for all those years of holding back any kind of criticism out of fear for his life) while Mobei Jun gets some traditional demon courtship fixes out of the process, and also enjoys the opportunity to just completely turn off his brain and his vigilance around someone who he 100% trusts not to abuse the privilege.

Heck, their relationship didn't actually gain ground on physical intimacy until Shang Qinghua started finally cracking and losing his temper and demanding Mobei Jun respect him (and... call him 'daddy', of course...), and when Mobei Jun finally gets Shang Qinghua to tell him how to court him he's like "finally" and makes him the world's worst noodles about it. He's glad that Shang Qinghua is telling him what to do in order to please him! He wants that.

sj: I seem to have become a parent.

sj:... how does one be a parent.

I was just very into this fic because sj slowly but surely becomes a milf as he raises smol binghe into hopefully a decent human being XD give it a read, it's great

-yeast

-sugar

-time

Peepswine moodboard

Punctuating Dialogue

✧

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can also be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

➸ “If it’s the same speaker but different paragraph, keep the closing quotation off.

sold

it turned out so beautifully 🥹

This is the best writing advice I have ever received. Ever.

Anytime I either find myself intimidated by writing something or I simply can’t seem to get words moving, I use this. It’s great for the run of the mill perfectionist, as well.

Giving yourself permission to write garbage means letting yourself do something imperfectly. I always use this when I can’t seem to find a place to start, and I set out to write the “worst version” of whatever I’m writing. Not only do I give myself permission to write badly; I ask myself to. Instead of writing something eloquent like “the banisters were carved straight out of Queen Victoria’s past” I’ll write “the banisters were fancy-looking and stuff”. Or rather than coming up with the beautiful world building of the setting, I’ll just start with “they’re outside and it’s pretty” and move on.

Every time I do this, perhaps the first line or two will be a little worse for wear, but as a whole, never comes out “bad”. You’re just giving yourself the opportunity to write a “first coat”, if you will, and then add onto it when you edit later. And often I just need this advice to write the first sentence, and then I’m in the flow again. For me, at least, if I didn’t do this when I needed it, I’d just sit paralyzed at my computer staring at a blinking cursor. I’d rather just type some garbage that I can edit later than have nothing at all.

rooftop

michael sketch, when i finally shifted to ibis paint