#substack article

the betwixt thumb & forefinger substack has officially launched!

here's a link to my first article: how to decide the backdrop of a novel

here's a little FAQ:

WHO: vacant godling (me) & hopefully you! and your friends! and your mom! maybe!

WHAT: a publication that talks about everything that went into and is going into writing btaf, from hypothetical questions and writing advice, to character deep dives and novel excerpts, or just talking about the editing process in general! this publication is (hopefully) going to be a lot of things

WHERE: on substack! you can find the about HERE for a better more fancy explanation of what's going on (and for the trigger warnings list)

WHEN: every saturday (hopefully! that's what the favorite day of the week poll was about lmao)

WHY: for a lot of reasons. as many of you know i'm jobless and broke and scared right now. i literally don't have money for bills and i have no clue how i'm going to be able to stay in my apartment or get food. nothing is certain. and in that uncertainty it forces you to... try new things? this publication currently isn't paid, though perhaps and hopefully in the future--i'd love to make money on what i love doing. but i mostly need to give myself reasons to keep living right now. this novel, and you all, the people who have listened to me rant about this book for 2 years (then i nuked my blog and revamped it) have all been really special and important to my continued existence. so, it would mean a lot to me if you gave this a read, or shared it with someone you think would be interested.

HOW: well, i'll be writing articles while i continue to edit, evaluate feedback from alpha readers, do school, side hustle, and beg for money all at the same time. i'm really at the fuck it we ball stage of life lmao

What makes Fleabag special is that her hyper-s*xuality is something we see quite openly. She is not trying to steer clear of that as many female artists try to do because it might cheapen their work or get them sl*t-shamed. Waller-Bridge’s protagonist “stoops” to that level and lives there. Even the name of the protagonist, which is never revealed, is similar to p*rnography where women are “barely-l*gal teen”, “busty m*lf”, and many other things, but rarely a person with a name.

𝘚𝘰 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵.

I have always thought that songwriting and poetry were very similar, yet incredibly different at the same time. I remember an English lesson from a few years ago where my teacher printed copies of lyrics for George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” and made us compare it to a similarly lustful medieval poem. He had mainly done it for jokes, whilst an incredibly danceable song, “I Want Your Sex” is not the most meaningful songwriting that George ever produced. Despite that, I do believe that all songs are poetry, but not all poetry can be songs. The added element of a soundscape to accompany the words, give this form of poetry a much more 3 dimensional form, allowing a listener to perfectly experience an artist's vision. And so with that today I am going to be diving deep into the lyricism and meanings as well as the sounds of some of my all time favourite tunes. So strap in and get your Spotify playlists ready because you’re gonna wanna hear these.