Reading, Writing, and Literature

Personally, my pet peeve is when someone reads my work. Out loud. In front of me. It sounds completely fine, but AHHHHHHH STOP IT

Lately, I've noticed that there's lots of differences between how people write depending on where they're from (ex. Americans say gotten, Brits say got). What have you noticed that's different when writing or reading works? I'm curious :)

I recently graduated university and at this point haven’t had to read fiction for a class in over 2 years but I still can’t bring myself to read any classic literature even if I already know I enjoy the story. My brain has made such an intense association between classical writing styles and excessive hw/quizzes/papers that I can’t just relax and enjoy the book. Wondering if anyone else has this issue and how to get over it.

EDIT: Might have phrased this wrong since a lot of people think I just stopped reading books. I still love reading the question is more for people who are fans of classics-how do you get over feeling like it’s work to read them

This might sound really silly, but anytime I’m surrounded in a book store or library or reading a book or even browsing this sub or Goodreads, I get this incredibly cozy and happy feeling. The prospect of discovering a new book I’ll love is thrilling, and the idea of falling into a story and reading the afternoon away with a cup of coffee or tea just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Anybody else?

Edit to add: please feel free to share any books you’ve found yourself completely lost in lately :)

I have been waiting to read Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder for quite a while, but once I finally got it from the library and started reading it, I'm finding myself really not enjoying the writing style. I'm about 50 pages in and I really dislike Yoder's style of narration. I understand that it's about the main character's psychological journey and that it's mostly her stream for consciousness, but I don't like reading it. I very rarely leave books unfinished, but in Nightbitch's case I might just make an exception. Have you ever left books unrfinished because you couldn't get on board with the writing style? Is Nightbitch still worth it?

I mentioned wanting to do this write-up because it exemplifies the silly cliqueishness of YA twitter better than virtually any other drama that's occurred there, and it also couldn't have happened to a better person, so, without further ado:

What is YA Twitter?

YA or Young Adult Twitter is a catch-all term for authors, readers, reviewers, agents, and just about anyone with a vested interest in the young adult category of novels, be it contemporary, romance, fantasy, scifi, or any other genre you can think of. It's uniquely terrible amongst the various X Book Twitters due to the persistent childishness of everyone in this sphere. Someone else has already written on the Sarah Dessen drama of 2020, but assume everyone involved is just as immature and go from there.

Who is Emily A. Duncan?

Emily A. Duncan (hereafter referred to as EAD) is the author of a young adult fantasy series called Something Dark and Holy. The series is described as an Eastern Europe-inspired fantasy but really it's reskinned Grisha fanfic with Reylo inspiration thrown in for good measure. To summarize: the main character, Nadya, is a cleric of Kalyazin (fantasy Russia), a nation that has been locked in religious and magical conflict with the neighbouring country Tranavia (fantasy Poland) for years upon years. When the monastery Nadya lives in is attacked by Tranavian forces, she's forced to flee, and meets Malachiasz, a Tranavian heretic blood mage who she can't help but be attracted to, even when her divine magic may pay the price. There's also Serefin, Tranavian prince and teenage alcoholic, but he's a side character to the epic romance at hand here. At any rate, the first book, Wicked Saints, was released in 2019 to decent acclaim, managing to reach no.4 on the NYT Bestseller list, while the second book, Ruthless Gods, suffered from second book syndrome and a pandemic slump. The last book, Blessed Monsters, had a fair amount of buzz and a release date of April 6th, 2021.

April 5th, 2021

Set the scene: it is a mere day before the final book in the Something Dark and Holy Series is going to be released. EAD has a talk lined up at a local library to launch the book. Everything is going swimmingly. And then there was Rin Chupeco.

Rin Chupeco is a Filipino author notorious for not caring at all for YA twitter politics. In their typical, outspoken way, they tweet . EAD and friends Claire Wenze, Rory Powers, and Christine Lynn Herman are all implicated in conducting a whisper campaign to mock other authors, with East and South East Asian authors bearing the brunt of it. The YA twitter witchhunt begins, and both old and new drama is dug up in the process.

So, who is the Asian author being trashed here? Well, for that I ask you to turn your minds back to the world's most divisive Anastasia retelling, Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao.

The AMZ Blood Heir drama before. There's an excellent on the topic, as well as , which both cover the drama and the fallout very well, so I won't rehash it. Suffice to say, Blood Heir was slated to be one of the bigger debuts of the year, with the full force of the hype machine behind AMZ and her novel. Blood Heir was also only one of two Eastern Europe-inspired fantasy debut novels releasing in winter 2019. The other was Wicked Saints.

Unlike AMZ, EAD was good friends with quite a few published authors, most significantly Rosamund Hodge. While the tweets have since been deleted, , showing EAD alongside other authors/editors who were collectively mocking Blood Heir. There are also by agent Kurestin Armada and by Goodreads user Donatella, which seem to corroborate the fact that EAD was heavily involved in the initial mockery/cancellation of Blood Heir. I'll also link on the topic of respectfully and accurately representing Eastern European culture, and ask you to keep them in mind for later on, because LMAO.

There's another author involved in this thread, HF, or Hafsah Faisal, yet another 2019 debut author with a ton of hype behind her. (Can you see a pattern here yet?) This is , corroborating Chupeco's.

Once the floodgates have opened, none can close them. This anonymous account (since deactivated) chronicled that underpins Something Dark and Holy; the review mentioned in this thread can be , and is generally an excellent read into the issues present in the series.

A on the topic of incest (always handled with such delicacy on social media) was resurrected, with one of the teenagers in question . I think, regardless of whether this is the person in question or not, that they discussed the issue with way more grace and nuance than can be found among the average YA twitter denizen, so I'm throwing it in anyways. There were also tweets from fantasy author Ava Reid on the topic, although she's since deleted them.

Aside from generally being a horrible human being, EAD also thought very highly of themself and their writing. They to , implying that their readers were just too dumb to get the genius of their novel. They , despite the fact that the acknowledgments for Wicked Saints mention the Darkling. Clearly, there was no connection.

Aftermath

EAD posted (if anyone ever figures out how handling antisemitism in a sensitive way relates to using antisemitic nationalist movements as sources, please let me know). Their friends , , and all posted apologies as well and cut off public ties with them. As of today, EAD has not updated their twitter or tumblr in almost a year. Blessed Monsters came and went with nary a peep. And the YA Twitter cycle consumes another, although in this case, I can't say it wasn't deserved.

As a history student, I have to write a lot of essays. However, one problem I have with writing essays is that my writing style is not as sophisticated as I feel it should be. Does reading more often actually help your writing style? And which genre would I be best reading if I wanted to improve my ability to write analytically?

That's it, in a nutshell. Any way to get good at writing without the habit of reading or it is useless to avoid it? Yes, it is a strange thing to ask (and to have) but i guess i am a strange guy. Perhaps i am only choosing the wrong books or am in a strange time in my life, but i still hope for some advice,if you can. Update:

I’m a novice reader. Dune is the first fiction book I’ve read for a very long time but, despite the plot being a bit hard to grasp at first, I really love the way it’s written.

I’m excited to move onto more books with different authors, but I’m wondering if I should manage my expectations for the quality of writing. I know Dune is a very popular classic so I feel as though I may have started on a peak and should expect that there’ll likely be a dip in quality in the next novel I read. Is this misguided?

I'm going through a bit of a slump right now so thought it would be nice to get some inspiration.

What fandom are you currently spending most of your time with at the moment? Are you working on something in particular? What are you reading? Feel free to share any favourites or WIPs!