#i loved fx from the start because i have a soft spot for the honest earnest guys | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ardenrabbit · 2 months

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I love your fic - A Long and Slow Recovery. It’s so beautifully written and the emotions felt are so palpable. Just wanted to pass along my thanks for writing it!

Completely separate from the fic though- What are your thoughts on the Xianle trio - their break up and slow rebuilding of friendship in the novel. 😁

Thank you so much!!! ;-; I'm really glad you're enjoying alasr! I'm really proud and excited about it!

Ah I think about this a lot! As in, I think about it a lot to try and decide my thoughts lol. I'm actually rereading the whole novel rn to try and get a feel for everyone, especially the trio. I've been REALLY excited to write them.

Summary: I love them, I'm sad for them, and I wish them well. Rambling to follow:

So my opinion right now is I love them. I think Feng Xin and Mu Qing are really interesting as foils as well as just completely independent characters, and I love that Xie Lian can see them in both of those lights too. Neither Feng Xin nor Mu Qing are really understood or given enough credit by anyone except Xie Lian, and I don't know if any of them know what to do with that. The impression that I've gotten is that Feng Xin and Mu Qing don't even really want to understand each other, and that's really sad, but understandable. Feng Xin's straightforward form of loyalty doesn't translate to Mu Qing, and Mu Qing's fear that no one will ever care to see the best in him makes him preemptively prickly and eager to beat them to the punch, and that does not play well with Feng Xin's earnestness.

(I'm trying to figure out Mu Qing, especially. I like him as a character and want to do him unbiased justice while writing him, but he's such a unique, self-contradictory case lol. I've met people with his kind of defensive cynicism before--the "stop pretending to be a good person" mindset in the face of altruism--and I've always been annoyed with them as much as I pity them, but I like that he's such a realistic character in that way. I'm intimidated by the prospect of writing him but I'm looking forward to it.)

The Xianle trio breakup, to me, just shows exactly the differences in FXMQ's approaches to conflict. Feng Xin stays with Xie Lian as long as he does because it's a simple answer to him: he's Xie Lian's bodyguard and Xie Lian is his friend, so Feng Xin will stay because that's what is both honorable and personally loyal. It's the right thing to do, and it looks and feels right. Mu Qing leaves before Feng Xin does because 1) his mother needs him more and 2) he hopes he can help more by gaining power and resources elsewhere, because what they're already doing isn't working. It's the right thing to do, even when it doesn't look and feel right.

So at that point, Feng Xin displays the kind of loyalty that traditionally gets praised because it's shown in no uncertain terms, even when it's not performed in the most enterprising way. By the more cynical, Feng Xin's approach can be seen as short-sighted, naive, or even pretentious, when he's really just honest and incredibly steadfast. "Loyal to a fault" is canonically used to describe him somewhere. Mu Qing's integrity is easier to doubt by most people because 1) his reasoning can be interpreted as selfish, even when he's sincere and 2) his intentions aren't always purely good! He's a flawed person and his reasons for doing things can include pettiness and selfishness within the greater good intentions, but that doesn't discount the good in them, at least to Xie Lian. Even when Mu Qing is looking at the bigger picture, people can interpret that as him being cold and uncaring about the immediate problem, and he gets angry that he's the only person acknowledging the complexity or futility of the situation. Anyway, they both try their best to help Xie Lian Back Then and refuse to see the merit in what the other is doing. I forget exactly how much Xie Lian acknowledges that they're both trying to help, so, rereading lol. But Xie Lian is definitely Not in a good place and is definitely lashing out at everyone by the end, which I'm sure he feels ashamed of later.

And reconnecting and rebuilding the friendship!! When Xie Lian ascends again, "Fu Yao" and "Nan Feng" are sent to help him and of course their generals don't know about it. And Xie Lian sees through them pretty early and just doesn't mention it because he's a little shit (extremely affectionate), but he knows what they're doing and appreciates it. But FXMQ both feel like they've failed Xie Lian and want to make it up to him, whether he knows about it or not. And they have to work together to do it, as much as they hate it, but at least they recognize that they share that much in their priorities. I think that while it's ultimately hopeful and sweet, there's a lot about their reconnecting that's just straight up tragic. I'm assuming that FXMQ both feel so much shame and regret about what happened and how they left him, and now that they have another chance to help, the literal devil (extremely affectionate) walks in and takes their spot as Xie Lian's protector and right hand. I think Xie Lian still feels awkward around them, too, as much as he still loves them. I am really proud of them for talking it out as much as they do in the end, though. I need to reread some stuff to see how much they reconcile by the end and in the extras, but I remember it being a good prognosis.

I guess also, I think Feng Xin sees Xie Lian as someone he's been proud to serve and call his friend, because he believes in Xie Lian's ideals and good heart. Mu Qing, though, doesn't know what to do with this mixture of gratitude and the resentment that comes with being indebted to someone, especially because Xie Lian is the only person who's really shown that he believes in Mu Qing's potential, good intentions, and worth as a person. The classic "stop trying to be a good person, altruist" thing doesn't work on Xie Lian, because he really just IS that good, and I think that makes Mu Qing want to tear his own hair out as much as it makes him love Xie Lian. MQ and FX's opinions of each other, though, wow?? They're so convinced that the other's intentions are insincere (mq saying fx is holier-than-thou, fx saying mx is selfish), up until they're tested and they have to act together. They're competitive against one another, but they also know that they act well as a united front, so there has to be some grudging respect and extremely grudging trust there. It's funny how the breakup has FXMQ as divided, conflicting forces where in present day in the reunion, they're much more cooperative. Despite their issues, they've grown to speak the same language on some level.

Might have some serious errors in here lol, but I don't really think I have any particularly hot takes on the Xianle3. Again, I'm rereading the novel so I can get this stuff right, but pls forgive me if I'm off-base on something.

#silver-cyn #tgcf #alasr #my writing #oh look it talks #i just want the best for all of them tbh #i'm not gonna say that they're all equally right about everything #but they're trying their best and i like messy characters #i loved fx from the start because i have a soft spot for the honest earnest guys #despite yknow the sexism and honestly being a total dick to mq #but mq grew on me after i got over the cynicism that personally makes me crazy #i read some really great fic interpretations of mq and they helped open my eyes he's so fun and paradoxical and good at ruining his own day #and now i love both of their weirdo asses #i don't like to give characters free passes on their faults tho #thats boring and cheapens them #except hua cheng he's literally never done anything wrong jk not jk

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peihoeming · 3 years

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Hi, thank you so much for answering my asks. If you don't mind can I ask the why you like those characters (your top 5) from mdzs, tgcf, and svss?

I’ll try to be as brief and concise as possible!

1: SVSSS

Liu Qingge: I have a soft spot for badass warlords I cannot lie. And fierce and loyal characters. Devoted, but a bit of a tsundere. He’s a delight, he just hits all the spot for me to love him. Yue Qingyuan: Who allowed him to make me cry?!? Both the original and the svsss version are so tragic. I really hoped YQY could have some happiness, but that didn’t happen -even if he deserved it. Again, the same thing I said about LQG just way way softer. Shen Yuan: I hardly like main characters, but this dumb idiot!!!! Gotta respect him and his theatrical dramatic persona. Original Shen Qingqiu: I love bastards. Original Luo Binghe: I love bastards x2 + blame the contrastast with the whimpy Luo Binghe we get in the SVSSS universe.

2: MDZS

Lan Xichen: Find me a more gracious and composed and honest man in this book - you can’t. Xue Yang: I love bastards x3 + it’s an extreme result of neglect and power play from the sects but the fact that he was able to stay 2/3 years with XXC only shows that he could have been someone different in different circumstances. Xiao Xingchen: So soft, so gentle, so naive, so righteous. So tragic. Jiang Cheng: Dude grows up neglected by his father, oppressed by his mother, gets ditched by his someone he considered a brother, his sister dies, his sect gets destroyed. Dude turns out actually pretty fine given the circumstances. Anger issues are justified. Lan Wangji: Once I read SVSSS it was clear to me that Lan Wangji is a polished version of LQG.

3: TGCF Pei Ming: He’s not the fuckboy everyone wants him to be!!! He fucks around, sure, but he’s far from being a fuckboy! In fact he has some good damn ethics in a book where almost everyone -main character included- did some pretty fucked up shit. Mu Qing: I love sassy sarcastic assholes. Everytime he rolls his eyes I am happy. I really love how he lived 800 years with an inferiority complex because he thought so low of himself (and badly of XL and FX) that he misundestood everything that went down in Xian Le. Listen he TRIED to do good things and got fucked over because he set up precedents of being a bastard. Xie Lian: Fuck the “all the pain and misery made him kind”. Xie Lian is angry, pissed off, he is jealous, he is still arrogant, but learnt (the hard way) to keep himself in check. You know how book 1 ends up with the cliffhanger of Xie Lian killing or not Qi Rong host? And book 3 starts with him not doing it after book 2 angst? THAT’S THE GOOD SHIT. Xie Lian ACTIVELY CHOOSES to be kind, to offer the other cheek because he knows how easily he could not do that. He goes around with HIS OWN NOOSE AS HIS ONLY SPIRITUAL WEAPON. That’s enough. He Xuan: Oly fucking hell this mastermind of a tragic character! Is he a villain? Is he a hero? Is he a victim? ALL OF THE ABOVE. MXTX made a fantastic job with his story and plot and reveal. So damn complex. Hua Cheng: I love characters who are devoted and Hua Cheng is by definition. I wish we had more of Ghost King Hua Cheng and less of the Hua Cheng who waited for Xie Lian because HC shines when he can be his own character.

#ask #thanad-zid

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joneswilliam72 · 5 years

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Get to know Dahlia Sleeps, the London band making a gamble for your heart with their new mini-album Love, Lost

Dahlia Sleeps are a London-based four-piece who make wrought and impassioned music that harnesses the power of human connection. In their new mini-album, Love, Lost (out today), they have put together a collection of tracks that are fearlessly confidential in their lyricism, while pushing these usually-hidden emotions upwards and outwards with wide-angled production and arrangements.

The collective is twin-spearheaded by lead vocalist Lucy Hill and producer Luke Hester, who were kind enough to answer some questions from us about Dahlia Sleeps' development and process. They record in Hester's South London basement studio, which is where I thought I'd start the conversation.

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It’s hard to imagine such open-armed and expansive music being recorded in a South London basement; tell us about the recording process for Love, Lost.

Luke: Open-armed and expansive...I like that, will be for sure stealing it for future descriptions.

It usually starts with Lucy sat at her piano at home or from some instrumental component that just feels good - whether that be drums or guitar or something completely abstract. To be honest that's probably about as far as I can go in regards to a process, especially with this record. Things happened very naturally, we have a start point, however that comes to exist, and then we just flow with what we think sounds right.

We really started branching out with the equipment we used: lots of old analog synthesisers and outboard FX. It’s great to have tactile pieces of gear to use when writing to keep things as outside of the computer as possible.

Lucy: This is the studio in Luke’s basement in SE London that Love, Lost was written and recorded in. Luke’s girlfriend Ruby Brown (who directed the videos for 'Storm' and 'Settle Down' alongside Leo Taylor) took the photo.

The covers of your releases up to and including Love, Lost have seemed like a series, is the continuity important to the project?

Lucy: We definitely wanted to start using consistent imagery in our artwork and with intimacy - in its many forms - being a key theme in our music, soft nudity made sense for us. The artwork for the previous EP was inspired by a very raw self-portrait by Ana Cuba, this next one followed a similar theme but features the subject of one of the songs. So it all very much ties together with the music.

In your press pictures, the Love, Lost cover, and in the lyrics, physical intimacy is a continual theme; is it a key inspiration for you?

Lucy: For sure - all of the songs on Love, Lost are about intimacy in some form. Physical closeness paired with emotional distance, unresolved feelings, the challenges we face at trying to open up – across all types of relationships. It’s probably our biggest drive to write. I’m really glad that theme comes across in all of the imagery too.

Emotional intimacy sometimes seems less easy; ‘Storm’ and ‘Love, Lost’ both deal with people who find it hard to express their true feelings – is this something you’ve had to overcome?

Lucy: Haha - well spotted. It is so very human to feel trapped inside your emotions - either because you don’t know how speak on them, or because the situation simply doesn’t allow for it. Not all of these songs are autobiographical but it is certainly true that it’s a daily challenge - which I suppose is why we write!

Lucy: This is Luke after a particularly long studio session. He dragged his mattress outside and passed out in the garden in the sun. We spent a lot of time in that garden writing lyrics, working on songs with an acoustic guitar before taking them back downstairs. It was the summer of dreams.

Do you sometimes find it easier to express a deeply felt emotion in a song than in talking?

Lucy: Absolutely. There are things that I think we both struggle to communicate - even to each other - that all comes out when we’re writing. Sometimes it won’t be until I’m sat at the piano that I know what it is that’s creating these tangles.

Luke: So much so, I'm useless at talking...I'm a real Ostrich. So I can say things in songs, and the beauty of it is everybody has their own interpretations of what you are saying - hide in the ambiguity.

How do you present such intimate and personal songs to the rest of the band? Is it ever scary?

Luke: You know it's kind of got to the stage that this is a form of therapy. Getting it all out onto a page and then hearing Lucy sing it back at me...is beyond cathartic.

Lucy: Luke and I have been handing our books of lyrics over to each other for a long time now. We are so used to existing in each other’s minds in that way. It stops being scary. It is quite an overpowering thing though - I would never let anybody but the boys pick up one of those books and I feel a lot of gratitude for what Luke is able to share with me.

What do you hope that listeners will feel or take away from listening to Love, Lost?

Luke: When I connect to music I just get so lost, I can go for hours and hours and easily just do nothing but listen and remove myself from everything else that’s going on. Nothing else can do it. If our music instils even a fraction of that I’d be so happy. And emotion wise I hope people will interpret it in their own way and possibly find some comfort in relating to it - as long as it stirs something.

Lucy: The intro track and interlude (loving you still) were both written and recorded on this piano. Both Luke and I had written a couple of verses of something very pure and we wanted these songs to exist in their un-grown form. They're probably my favourite on the record.

Sonically and emotionally I’m reminded of acts like The xx and Cigarettes After Sex; how do you feel about these comparisons?

Lucy: Very happy! Both these bands are built on pure emotion which is all we want to do in the end.

Luke: Yup, likewise, The xx and especially Jamie's production was and still continues to be a source of influence.

Are there any books, music or films that had an impact on Dahlia Sleeps that you’d like to recommend?

Luke: Musically, I am really drawn to the dark and emotive side of things. Artists that have impacted my production could be: Sorrow, Apparat (Especially the War and Peace Scores), William Basinski, Jon Hopkins, Mssingno, Couros, Lorn, Khushi…to name a few.

Lucy: Picking up poetry books by Nayyirah Waheed, Mary Oliver, Danez Smith, Yrsa Daley Ward, Audre Lorde, Kate Tempest massively fed into the writing process - I would always recommend these. Some of these writers are utterly fearless in their revelations, they say so much with so few words.

Lucy: ‘To The Water’ is about a camping trip to the lake that I took with a friend and this is a photo from that trip. We spent a lot of time by a fire the night before talking about some tricky things and then the next day we cleansed it all here.

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Dahlia Sleeps’ new mini-album Love, Lost is out today on all platforms.

from The 405 http://bit.ly/2Di1OPK

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