#annoyances

I remember reading a book and like a side character, which is being generous he was barely in the book, introduced us to his: black, bisexual, trans, wheelchair using girlfriend who has like 2 lines?

and its like... did you do that because you had anything to say about any of that or just because you wanted people on X and TikTok to say you're a good person and gush about "representation" in their bookTok reviews of your work?

I'm reading a book rn set in a fictionalized Middle Ages/early renaissance England, Knights, horses, even Christianity and the Catholic Church, France etc and I get its not serious, but one character's family is from "Thailand" a place that did not exist at the time, Europeans called it "Siam" and also the nation looked really different from the modern name we know today, it'd be like saying someone was from "France" in a book set in the Roman Empire. Another person's family has roots in Iran, which again, not what Europeans called the place, and also Iran was a part of a central Asian empire founded by Tamerlane at roughly the time this book takes place so like thats a thing?

for sure I get wanting to have diversity in a book, just like, put some thought into it? England would have had contact with North Africa, and the Levant, and in the late Middle Ages and Tudor times we have records of "Moorish" ie black people in England, so do that? also "Turks" a catch all at the time for Turkish and Arab and really anyone who was Muslim or middle eastern. And hey Jews faced a great deal of discrimination and persecution at the time in Europe maybe dig into that?

Ahh thank you so much!! I’ve appreciated your live-blogging comments a lot, and will likely reply to them soon </3 ;-;.

And yeah! Jean Valjean is such a complicated mess of a character, and I find it interesting how a century of adaptations have all struggled to tap into what makes him so complex and compelling. People say that majority of Les mis adaptations focus on Valjean and Javert, but I don’t think that’s true—- I have this theory that most Les mis adaptations focus on Javert, to the point of over-writing Javert and over-complicating his character to the point where he no longer makes sense, and that Valjean is often very underwritten as a result. I think the musical and Arai manga are the two biggest exceptions to this, because for all their changes they do feel very interested in exploring Valjean’s inner life and weird canon Hangups in a way that few adaptations genuinely do.

But yeah not to be pretentious, but I love writing Annoyances (whenever I have the spoons for it) because it helps me figure out why I find him so compelling!! fanfic is a form of adaptation, and trying to adapt something yourself is very underrated as a tool for helping you understand and analyze canon.

Writing the fourth chapter took a while and went through fifty revisions until it was unrecognizable, because I spent time going back though Tempest in a Skull/Immortal Liver/similar chapters trying to figure How To Flowchart Diagram a Valjean Mental Breakdown. I can’t speak to how good the final chapter is (it initially had a few egregious typos) but it did really help me understand how his character worked in a way I hadn’t before, because I had an excuse to close-read chapters I already loved.

Oh and here’s the link for people who haven’t read it!

Just realised that an Etsy error has been showing the cost of my new book journal as the same in both the UK and overseas, meaning that I've been making a loss of a few quid for every journal I've sold overseas so far!

I have had to increase the price overall as it seems the error doesn't have a fix, so if you're in the UK and want to buy one, please get in touch and I can send you a code to take £5 off your order.

Dealing with a impatient manager? Rude customers that try to lay hands-on you because they don't get their way? Teens doing illegal stuff in the parking lot? Anything like that?

The manager is usually pretty chill, but Moon has to constantly fight with him about implementing new rules to the park. Moon is used to rude customers, doesn't mean he likes dealing with them. He's dealt with rowdy teens before and usually just has to scare them away.

But what he hates dealing with the most?

Hmm...can my answer be “everything?”

No, not really, but I can get irritated frequently even if I never actually do or say anything about it.

Let’s see—brace yourselves /j

Having to repeat myself

Being interrupted or not being listened to

Group projects

When other people are inconvenient about schedules (I'm a hypocrite about this one.)

Loud noises/when people speak too loudly

When people are overly theatrical in real life (How ironical, I know.)

Side note: If you're simply expressive, I hope you actually mean it. (Again, I can be a hypocrite with this one. And if it's starting to look like I despise all whimsy, that's not true. Some things just have a right time, place, and execution for them to appeal to me.)

When/if people mock me

Immature senses of humor

When people seem insincerely nice

Artifice in general

When people do not value literature/literacy or think STEM is automatically the superior domain

When people are overly enthusiastic for reasons I don’t understand (No offense to anyone—probably too many things seem performative/ritualistic to me, but again, I get it if people are just expressive.)

When people are too “cutesy” and infantilize themselves (Honestly, doing this feels dumb—I have no real reason for having this opinion as far as I can tell. I just think people should act their age, in most cases. Of course, I understand if someone cannot. That's different from people who try to make you like them or who are trying to sell you something. This also applies to some neologisms. I mean, "icks?" Come on. Not everything has to be akin to baby-talk or onomatopoeia. Also, “boo-boos.” If you’re not a parent, child, or pediatrician, why use it?)

When people are overly, unrealistically optimistic

When people are overly humble and use too much self-deprecation without prompting (I understand to an extent and sometimes people need conversation buffers, but do you want me to agree with you or disagree and reassure you? Sometimes it’s hard and I have to lie. You’ve just created an uncomfortable situation for us both, especially if it's irl. Why would you admit all your shortcomings to me??? I don't completely understand that either.)

Small talk when literally no one cares (Occasionally, it can be nice. Usually, it is boring.)

In a similar vein, talking about vacations or weekends, sometimes

Food if it’s cooled down too much

Glaring sunlight

Electric toothbrushes

The fact that my neurons will die if I don’t sleep

When people shriek and scare me without meaning to

When students I tutor have the same, old problems in their essays (It gets old, but I can understand why it happens.)

Frauds and possibly some conspiracy theorists, snake oil salesmen, anyone who cheats the elderly, etc.

When people are wishy-washy

Certain malapropisms. (The only exceptions are if you're clearly doing it on purpose (real-life puns? use in literature?) or are named William Shakespeare. Aside from those instances, I can't think of anytime that this wouldn't interfere with conversation. Though, if you genuinely don't know, I will not fault you.)

Incorrect grammar (Ok, this one’s tendentious—I’ll just say my opinion on this may shift and I’m in the process of re-evaluating my views. I will forgive anyone who doesn't know any better or wasn't taught or has reasonably forgotten, just not people who do it on purpose—unless it's for stylistic purposes or for another good reason. I.e., unless you're trying to make your point more precise or you're making some kind of deliberate, rhetorical move, why would you use certain constructions? Generally, there are a few I do not like, but that's subjective.)

Too many sequins or general tackiness and some plastic, modern things (This one's also subjective, of course. Sorry if I have terrible taste to you.)

Certain technological updates that require me to adapt or that have a learning curve/starkly different visual display

Hot wax