finally get to share the piece I made as a part of Harp in Shadows, a @sheikzine !!! so cool that I got to be a part of this project <3

Thanks so much for having me, Harp in Shadows (@sheikzine)!

Here was my contribution. I hope yall managed to snatch a copy of the zine! 😊💕

Thanks to your support for Harp in Shadows: a Sheik Zine, we were able to donate US$1,000 to GATE: Global Action for Trans Equality! Thank you again to everyone who bought our zine and allowed us to make this happen!!

We apologize for this very late announcement of the zine proceeds donation. Truth be told, we donated the money way back in January, but we wanted to make the announcement special and that ended up taking longer than we expected due to conflicts in our personal lives.

For anyone interested in the specifics of how we got to this number, here's that data below: Total revenue: $1,100.42 (without taxes/fees: $1,040) Bigcartel transfer to paypal: $955.34 Final donation amount: $1,000 (listed as $1,032.70 due to fee)

The confirmation email can be viewed here:

Again, we would like to thank you for your patience and help in making this project a reality! 💙

My calendar set for the Harp in Shadows @sheikzine !!

The Minish cap is a monthly calendar, Majora’s mask is the weekly, and a link to the past & a link between worlds is a reversible notepad!

“Were you close?” Saria asks. A simple curiosity, but one that gives Zelda pause. Were they close? Not with Zelda, certainly. Their meetings had been fleeting, driven by the futile urgency to stop Ganondorf’s plans before they came to fruition. With Sheik, then? They had run into each other more often, even though those moments had been brief as well.  “I think we could have been.” Harp in hand, Sheik sits down next to Saria and plucks out a melody that resolves itself into the Song of Time. A wish, perhaps. Link may not quite have been a friend, but he was one of the only people who knew. “I think he might have understood.”

My fic for @sheikzine, with incredible spot art from @lordsooga! I'm really happy with how this one came out, and it gave me the chance to write an interpretation that's near and dear to me.

Preview for a comic I did for @sheikzine! We have preorders open now! Please check out the cool Sheik art we made :^)

>>> https://harpinshadows.bigcartel.com/ <<<

guess who's a contributor for @sheikzine !! 🤭 I am so incredibly excited u guys, the zine is amazing and I can't wait for you all to see the wonderful pieces every contributor has made! here's a preview of my piece, can u guess what au of sheik I'm doing? 👀

you can preorder harp in shadows from now until dec 15 using the link in @sheikzine's pinned post!

Legacy has been posted!

Read Legacy, my piece for @sheikzine on AO3.

Every collaborator for this zine was so talented, and everything turned out amazing. Enjoy ^^

Summary:

It came on the wind, a soft spring breeze that brought with it hope and sorrow and a breath of relief and a sigh of grief. The young Sheikah caught the slip of paper between two slim fingers, their heart beating a bit faster than usual. It only took a glance to read the few runes written with magic: It is done. ---- The Demon King has been destroyed, and Sheik has been chosen to protect the Goddess Incarnate and help Her people reunite with the Surface. Still mourning the loss of Impa, Sheik meets their destiny head-on, stepping into shoes that seem impossible to fill.

Harp in Shadows Zine Preview!

Text Version:

“Do you remember Link?” “Hero of Time, Savior of Hyrule, something something Triforce of Courage. You did have me be his teacher and messenger, dear sister. Out with it.” “Apparently our dear Hero thinks it was Zelda who taught him.” Sheik lowered his weapon to frown at her. “What?” Zelda’s grin only grew. “He thinks I look good in the Sheik outfit.” Sheik blinked, his brain desperately trying to connect the dots. “He thinks the Hyrule royalty only had one child.” “He doesn’t.” Sheik’s eyes were wide.

I had the opportunity to write a story where Princess Zelda and Sheik are Royal Twins that were separated after Ganon attacked Hyrule. Link... doesn't know they're different people and the twins take full advantage of it!

And I even have spot art to go with it! If it interests you or any of the wonderful fics that explore Sheik's different gender expressions, do check out our zine! POs end soon!

STORE

On every character sarah writes having the same personality: why does every main girl have to be this big planner who has multiple plans on backup and never tells people, only to surprise everyone when everything goes right at the end with no prior explanation... idk if I'm putting this right, but it just made me very... annoyed

Like yeah, that worked great with Aelin, sure, but for me it just doesn't fit with Bryce? Especially on how she was just thrown at this and suddenly figured out she was The Chosen One(tm). It really bugged me, idk

Fair warning, this post rips Bryce a new asshole - not as a person, but as a character that sjm created. So I'm putting it under the cut.

Just to start, in context I said that all the hofas characters ended up having the same personality - though you can make a case for her reusing a lot of the same descriptions and such for all of them. ANYWAY...

To me, the issue is not just that Bryce keeps doing things behind the scenes that we never get any hint of, it's a bigger issue that we never get a hint that she even gives a shit.

With Aelin, at least we already knew what she was working towards and why. We already knew what she cared about and how far she was willing to go to get it. Aelin caring about Terrasen and her court and saving the people she loved was never in question. Her trauma from finding her parents dead, her fear at losing the rest of the people she loved, the weight of responsibility that she felt, we knew all of those things pretty much from the get-go. Her tendency to shut people out could be considered a flaw because she didn't trust other people to help her. We don't know about Terrasen right away, and tbh I don't remember what history we get instead and so I need to reread, but I can point to very specific values, goals, and motivations that make Aelin act the way that she does.

But Bryce - the central problem with her as a character is that Bryce doesn't care about anything, and sjm never figured out what she cares about, either.

Characters need to have central things that they care about, that drive them, motivations, things that they fear and things they would go to great lengths to protect. They need flaws, and clear relationships to the world around them. I could make a list of those things for a lot of her characters. Not all, but most.

With Bryce, I have NO IDEA what those things are. That makes it so that when she randomly find Emile, it just seems like she did it to come across like a nice person. She doesn't care about what humans are experiencing, she shits on Vanir/fae all the time, she treats Hunt pretty poorly, she isn't close to Juniper or Fury (see: their near disappearance from hofas), Danika kept so many secrets from her that I seriously doubt the depth of their relationship. Bryce was working in that library museum thing for Jesiba (I'm already erasing the series from my memory oh my god) and going out and partying and that was all well and good, but... was she going to do those things when she's 200, too? I'm not even saying that she needs to like, go get married or whatever, but she literally has no goals in life!

SJM saying that Bryce is the fun, cute party girl who also has a deep, intellectual side, a pretty woman who can also kick ass, okay, but she needs a reason to kick ass. SJM completely forgot to include the second half of that equation, which is ironic since that was a big point of her character - to prove that women can be feminine and strong, wear high heels and be smart. She failed miserably in my opinion, if that really was the goal of Bryce's character.

When Aelin is snarky to people, I know why. When Bryce is a bitch, it comes out of nowhere and is often turned on people who actually deserve her time and attention and empathy (e.g. Sathia). Aelin is an asshole to that one dude whose name starts with a D because he's a man who is underestimating her and wants to refuse to let her lead because he assumes she will be bad at it. When Bryce is an asshole to Sathia, WHY. I mean really, I wanted to throw my book across the fucking page!!!! Because that's a perfect example of how, if Bryce was guided by a set of values (feminism, I guess?) then she would have responded very differently to Sathia, who has experienced literally the exact same thing Bryce has (being betrothed to someone against her will). Instead, Bryce throws that line back in her face about "well I never let that stop me" as if what Sathia has experienced is her own fault for... not trying enough??? PLEASE. ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW.

The whole "girlboss" thing needs.... something driving it. You can't just bulldoze people and call it being empowered. And I think that sjm has really, really simplified gender and sexuality in CC to the point that that's really the only distinction that matters. That's maybe another issue. I just have a lot of thoughts about these things lol.

Anyway. This is what happens when you write a character built on aesthetic and #girlpower, rather than making them a complete person with fears and values and joys and goals and motivations and flaws.

Okay one more point, this is NOT beyond sjm's capabilities. She obviously is much better at writing characters than this. I just think that sometimes, something suffers when you try new things. In CC, sjm was giving actual world building and magic systems a go. And the characters, really, REALLY fucking suffered for it.

Give-up-everything-for-a-world-that’s-not-even-theirs-club

I watched Epic.

These people would give up everything for a world that’s not even theirs. Legend even multiple times ,that little shit

Time with his eternal baby face

🌌🌙 PREORDERS OPEN!! 🌙🌌

little sneak peek of the piece I did as a part of Harp in Shadows, a @sheikzine !! really happy I get the chance to be a part of such a cool project

preorder from now until December 15th!!

where is my mind [the pixies] played on an electric luna by naomi sv | source

Hello everyone!! Some of you may have noticed we missed the original deadline for the release of the Sheik Zine :') fortunately, we have some answers and a new deadline!

We are now aiming to have the zine finished within the first week of January! This is due to the holidays (unsurprisingly... yet we were still surprised) being busier for us than expected and taking time away from working on finishing up the Zine. But we’re almost done!!

In any case, please have our deepest apologies for not making the original deadline, as well as not letting you guys know earlier, and thank you all for your patience!

My last preview is for my digital notepad merch for Harp in Shadows @sheikzine !! Looks like Sheik got himself stuck on the wall 👀

You can preorder the zine at https://harpinshadows.bigcartel.com/ Preorders are open from October 31 - December 15 (2023)

A little preview of my fic for @sheikzine! Preorders are open until December 15th at harpinshadows.bigcartel.com, go check it out!