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Hi, Chiara,
I read this drabble shortly after watching a documentary about the flowering of the Baroque style of art (painting, sculpture, architecture) in 17th century England and wishing that I could be there to see it all in person. So this drabble really hit home. I could see myself wandering the halls and rooms of palaces and fine buildings, churches and museums, taking just as much time as I wanted to look at all these masterpieces, even the ones painted on the ceilings of the baroque rooms. You are correct -- it would make a visitor very happy to be in the midst of all these wonders.
chiara! :) back once more for the up the mountain event :)
so this is right up my street because i lovelovelove using photography and painting and visual things in writing (which surprises no one i'm sure haha), and you do it so so well in this. i love the way you detail out the things he captures through the idea of zooming in and out - it's so clever and it kinda really pulls into focus in this whole drabble the idea of the sheer amount of stuff in the world and stuff you could look at and photograph and everything. (if that makes sense??) but i just love the idea of zooming in and picking up so many tiny details - and i lovelovelove the images you've chosen for it, they're all so pretty <3
i love the idea as well of taking photos being like a memory - but frozen in time; a memory that you can sort of physically revisit in a photo album or look at online on social media and phone albums and stuff. it's really true - like, photos can be such a memory jog as well as just like, documenting the experience or the view or whatever.
i think my favourite line in this was "records an instant that tastes like eternity". it's just... so beautiful. so delicious. so good. i love it!!
laura xx
chiara!! :) i'm back - also for the up the mountain event :)
i lovelovelove the metaphor in this: that life is like a train travelling too fast. there's just something so good and so real about it - like, it makes so much to me in my head, yk?? and it works so well with the idea of time rushing by and feeling like you're out of time, and, like you say in this, like you're too late for things. it's just so clever and so true and the way you write it, with the image of the person the narrator's talking to running after the train is such a visual image, i can see it so clearly in my head :P
it's also surprisingly emotional, with the note of "having to walk and hope you won't get lost" - in the context of the metaphor it's really sad but really familiar as well, especially coupled with the idea of the driver who doesn't care that you've missed the train.
i gotta say as well how much i love the way you use the repetition of "you only live once". it's so good and it works so well and it adds this sort of rhythm to the whole thing which i love :)
i really like as well how you end this one on a high note with the "it's time to start running" - it's kinda inspirational in its way and i can't really work out why especially but it is and it's such a lovely way to finish this one :)
laura xx
hihihi chiara!! :) dropping by for the up the mountain event :)
this is a really short but a really powerful drabble. you chose a really loaded word with xenophobia, but i love the way you stripped it - and the drabble - back to just the idea of other, and really exposed the way it's sort of ridiculous as a whole idea, because fundamentally there's no real difference between people. and exactly as you say, any different is mostly perceived, especially when people take it so seriously and let it affect the way they behave to others like that.
the stripped-back, slimmed-down nature of this drabble pulls out the whole simplicity (and stupidity) of the idea in a nutshell and it works so, so well!! i also really like how the whole thing is very simple, very plain - and it makes it all the more impactful to read :)
loved it, as always!! <3
laura xx
Hi Chiara, here for a tag review :)
Oh gosh, this one's dark :( I can't decide whether the dancer is a metaphor for people who live their lives by the rat-run, living to work, or have no option but to work until they drop in order to feed and house their families, knowing that there's a social and wealth-based ladder which they'll never climb, which is sadly the reality for the majority of the world (regardless of the lies that capitalism spins us, telling us that we too can live a life of luxury if we work hard enough. It's all bull****). Or, is this a competitive dancer/athlete, performing way past the point of enjoyment because of societal pressure and expectations. I see it's inspired by Stravinsky's rite of spring, which is such a relentless, complex and somewhat brutal piece of music. With the music booming in my head as I read this piece, the dancer is almost driven to madness themselves as they keep on going until they can't keep going any more...and still nobody helps her, but it's 'okay' because they celebrate her passing like a sacrifice.
This was so powerful in a disturbing way. So evocatively written...it's a piece that will stay with me long after the music has finished.
Meera <3
Author's Response:Hi, Meera! Back for some review answering! <3
This is definitely a dark one... but it just stuck into my head and I had to write it... I meant it in a literal way, as a real sacrifice, but I suppose it can be interpreted in many metaphorical ways and that you can draw from it any message you want (that's the beauty of art and writing, isn't it? How it speaks to each of us in a different way) And yes, we are all constantly pushing ourselves to our limits just to meet some kind of societal expectation, aren't we? :/
So glad you found this powerful and that it resonated with you! Thank you so much for a wonderful review as always! <3
Hey Chiara, I have returned for more <3
I think it's definitely possible to feel alone in a crowd, or at least invisible and insignificant, getting swept along in a particular direction, following a life that we might not choose but it's chosen us. Sometimes, we can feel more alone in a crowd than we do on our own. I love the phrasing here - 'all the same and all different' - it reminds me that we all have more in common than what sets us apart, but we are all unique too. Also 'corporeal but blurring' - how these other people are only real in the moment, and once they're out of sight, the mental image of them fades almost as quickly...
It's so difficult to make ourselves visible...and when we do, are we really sure that's what we want?
Another elegantly-written, layered piece. You have such a gift for describing these thoughts and scenes in so few words.
Meera <3
Author's Response:Hi, Meera!
Back again for more answering, while I'm still in the right mindset ;)
You can definitely feel alone in a crowd... and yes, sometimes it feels like we are just following the tide, rather than being masters of our own lives... So glad you liked those phrases! And yes, I agree, we do have more in common than what sets us apart!
It is hard to make ourselves visible... is it worth it? Maybe... who knows... :P
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
Hi Chiara, I'm back for more.
Wow. This one packs a punch of inequality and oblivion; how we may be entirely unaware of what someone else suffers when they live a completely different existence to our own. It's easy to recognise suffering when it comes under the guise of starvation, or homelessness, or poverty - but not so relatable when it's not something essential for survival. The rich princess, trapped in her ivory tower - what could she know about suffering? And she's rich; she has everything she needs to live well...yet the pain of isolation, separated from everyone by her wealth, is just as real as gnawing hunger in the pit of one's stomach. Humans are generally social creatures; to be deprived of companionship and love is perhaps one of the toughest hardships to endure...
Loving this collection of drabbles <3
Meera <3
Author's Response:Hi again! <3
One more answer for the August challenge! :)
I'm so glad you liked this one, too! Yes, sometimes we can't know what other people are going through, and even people who have objectively privileged lives might be suffering in some ways... and living in isolation is one of the hardest things, even with all the riches in the world...
Thank you so much for another wonderful review! <3
Hey Chiara! Tag time :)
This drabble really resonated with me. The insistence that 'the one' is out there, waiting for us, like everyone in the world needs to be paired off with someone and if they're not, they're somehow incomplete - as though finding a 'soulmate' is everyone's goal in life? And at some point, one realises that the fairytale that they've been fed since an early age isn't for them (or for many people really, that's why it's a fairytale).
I love the honesty and openness of this piece, the way that the narrator brushes off the thoughtless comments and assumptions, so as not to return the hurt. And the self-doubt, which makes us question whether it's us that's the issue rather than society's unrealistic expectations...
Really thought-provoking and touching. Thank you for sharing
Meera <3
Author's Response:Hi again, Meera, my dear! <3
Back again for more review answering (and August challenge)
I'm so glad you liked this drabble! It's one that's very personal to me! <3 Yes, we all grow up with this idea that you need to be paired off with someone to be complete... but that's just not true for everyone, right? I'm so glad you liked the honesty and openness of this piece. It is way too easy to fall into the self-doubt and think that there's something wrong/broken within you... :/
Thank you so much for the lovely review! <3 <3 <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
Zoom is such a clever word for Z! Taking life in through a camera lens :Chefs kiss: the idea of capturing a moment for internity <3 Always so fucking spot on with your metaphors and turns of phrase and the way they just EMOTE!
And I said this a bit in the last one, but it can't be said enough how much effort and thought and care I can see when into each one of these chapters. This was an insane and wonderful challenge and I love seeing how everyone took it into so many different directions.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:So glad you liked this last one, too! The idea of capturing life through a camera lens! :D Glad you liked my phrasing and metaphores here, too! :D
Yes, it was a big and hard challenge, but I am very proud of how this collection came out in the end... and I think all the participants did incredible jobs (and I loved the creativity and variety as well)! I remember adoring your collection, too! You captured Regulus' psychology in those drabbles so brilliantly, and I always adore your writing style! <3
Thank you so much again for going through this journey with me! <3
Big snowball hug,
Chiara
SS Voyager :D :D :D
I feel very called out XD Actually, you know? I don't. I do live in the present a lot. I don't do a ton lately - like I mentioned before I haven't been able to journey and adventure like I want to - but I don't often find myself living in the past or worrying. Actually, more often than not I get in trouble because I live a little too much in the moment XD I have an impulsive streak in me.
Still I loved this. I love the way it's talking directly to the audience and helping to push them into action! Only one more drabble to go and I will have finished this collection and let me just say that I know what an undertaking this project was and you fucking knocked it out of the park. Awesome job on each and every one of these.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Okay, I envy you... :P I live in the past or in the future way too much... I should be a bit more impulsive at times... :P I'm glad you liked the encouragement to seize the moment, though! :D
Yes, you've almost reached the end! :D Thank you so much for going through the whole collection and for leaving all these thoughtful, enthusiastic reviews! It's made me so happy to go through them all again today! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
This is powerful. So freaking powerful. And the way you phrase it at the end, that there is no difference except what people percieve - but that's what makes all the difference - MIND BLOWN. It's all about how we percieve one another and bigots are the worst. But also what society has had to realize is that even if we aren't outright xenophobic, there are biases that we carry with us and have to work through and unlearn.
This whole collection has been so impactful and effective and like emotive. I really really like what you've done and the direction you took this challenge!
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:This is one that I found really hard and intimidating to write, but I'm glad it worked. Yes, it's all about what people perceive. And yes, we all have our biases ingrained in ourselves, even if we don't always recognize them and even if we are for the most part accepting... we all have something to learn... and unlearn.
So glad this one spoke to you as well! Thank you for another wonderful review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
Oh this has me in my Firefly vibes you can't take the sky from me XD I love the freedom in this. The just utter gaul to exist how one chooses and fuck those who question it. That's what's so wonderful about our imaginations. limitlessness. <3
No need to explain or justify. I hate that we have to escape to have these moments because our world really does put so much pressure on us. We have to be like 'on' a lot and it's exhausting and I just wanna be me instead. But I also do love my own personal second star to the right and the worlds I can create in my mind as I come up with different stories and worlds and possibiliites.
Another incredible piece!
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:We all have the right to be ourselves, and not having to justify it with anyone! As writers we do have this advantage to be able to create our own worlds in our heads, though, right? :D
So glad you liked this one, too! And it makes me smile, because I think about the Peter Pan theme in your "A Madness Most Discreet"... something we have in common? :P <3
Thank you so much again! <3 <3 <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
OH I LOVE THIS! I feel like I say that for each drabble in this collection, but I mean it every time. They always suprise me. Like, I never expect the theme to carry through in the way that it does and it always leaves me smiling - even the sad ones - because I just love the unexpected beauty in them. And in this one, when the end happens and you're talking to something out there, someone out there that's not us, that's not humans. <3
And I love the way you flip it too. That you pose the question of how significant can you be in a universe so vast and complex and distant and spacious as the one we're in - but you are. Each of us matters. There's someone on the other side of that universe wondering the same things. We're connected even across the vastness of space.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:I am rather proud of the twist in this one :P I've always thought that, of course aliens exist, but they are so far away that we'll never cross paths anyway, so does it really matter? And if aliens exist, they probably have the same wonders we have, they probably feel towards us the way we feel towards them, and isn't that a fun thought? :P
And yes, I agree... as small as we might be, we all matter, and even through the vastness of space we are all connected in some ways. :D
Thank you for another lovely review!
SS Voyager :D :D :D
Wow. I fucking felt this one in my bones. This line here The days are eternal, yet the weeks slip away like a swollen river. Ouch. That one just ripped into my chest a little. This can be so true when you're alone. Waiting all day for the freedom of spending time how you want rather than work or school or family obligations and then you have that time, that freedom and you're like - wait...is what I want to do, doing nothing?! XD The todo list never gets shorter and it's sometimes comforting to just say fuck it XD
To explain this concept, these emotions through the clicking of the clock. The way that can be a countdown to excitement or a never ending irritation of time slipping away - :chefskiss:
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Time is this strange thing, it goes so slow and so fast at the same time... and we are always running behind our daily obbligations and when we finally have some time for ourselves, our energies are so low that we don't feel like doing anything at all... (adult) life is hard... :/
This is a harsh one, I think, but I'm glad I could express the emotions well and that you could relate to this (well, not glad, but you know what I mean...)
Thank you so much for another great review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
Wow. This is crazy to read - what is it now - two years since the lock down? COVID is still around for sure, but it isn't as world stopping as it was back then (in the US at least). This sent me right back to that time though. To those days where it felt like we'd never see people in person again, that the numbers of those lost would never stop climbing in numbers so high it was almost not comprehensible. And you capture perfectly the routine of it all, the repetivtiness of each day when we were all locked inside our own homes. Contained to those walls. The idea of grocery shopping being the most exciting adventure of our time.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:As I said before, I wrote these in full lockdown, so I was basically just describing my own experience here, and I bet it was like that for many of us... who would've ever imagined something like that before? It was absolutely surreal...
Thank you for another great review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
I am obsessed with how you call the horizon's colors blushing! <3 That is so fucking perfect and it's just everything. That it's shy about the touch of the water :heart eyes: that's so fluffy and perfect and wonderful. And that you call the waves conquering and retreating. This intense image of attack, yield, attack, yield, mixed with the serenity and shyness from above :chefs kiss:
I just love it. Love that it's too much. Too vast and complex just like you say, for someone to ever really take in.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:I'm so glad you liked my descriptions in this one, it's another I'm especially proud of! Glad you liked the image of sunset as the sky blushing, and the one of the water conquering and retreating, and the vastness of the ocean... so glad you enjoyed this! <3
Thank you!!!
SS Voyager :D :D :D
AHHHHH I love this one so much too! I keep thinking I found my favorite and then another one just reaches into my heart and is like NO I'M THE FAVORITE XD I love to go to museums and I really love to go there alone. This magic you describe is so fucking spot on. There's just something enchanting about walking around and taking in the solitude and the emotions that a collection of art can bring. And that one painting or installation that speaks to you - feeling like somehow the artist reached into your mind when they made it because how else would they be able to understand your emotions and then put them on display like that? Oh I really loved this. Awesome job!
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:So glad you liked this one as well! There is truly this magic in museums and in enjoying the art, especially when you are on your own! So glad you could relate to the feeling here! <3
Thank you for another lovely review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
He will one hundred percent disobey her again, but I can appreciate the sentiment XD Poor kid. Ugh that has to be the most gut wrenching kind of alone - lost. what a perfect addition to this collection. And your writing choices for it were so intentional. Short, cutting lines. fragments because that's all you can think in when you're frantic. That he thouht he found them and then realized it was a stranger and then just had to run and start the search all over again.
Attracted like iron to a magnet. I love your metaphors and your word choices. They are also so freaking spot on.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Ahahah! Of course he will disobey again, that's what childhood is about... :P
Getting lost, especially as a child, is one of the scariest feelings ever! So glad you could feel the panic and franticness through the short lines. And that you liked the metaphores, too!
Thank you so much for the great review, once again! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
LOOOVVVEEEE this drabble! Adventure is out ther explorers! I had that voice from Up! in my head the entire time I was reading this. So much yearning and ambition and discovery awaiting! So much of the world to see outside of your hometown! I want to go on an adventure XD Can you tell I've been stuck in one place for too long. XD
I love the contrast of the whole world opening as the bus closes in. That his whole future and all the possibiities and mysteries are there waiting to be unraveled. This drabble is just so perfect for this collection. I love it.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Hi again! :D
So glad you liked this one as well! Personally, I'm not sure I'd have the courage to just take on a solo adventure like that, but I do love the idea! :D (And yes, I feel you... we were in full covid when I wrote these, so you can tell I was suffering from being stuck at home, too... :P)
So, so glad you enjoyed this one! Thank you for another great review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
As an extrovert...can't relate. And yet - I totally see the perspective of an introvert in this because you've captured it. That idea that human interaction is effort rather than energizing. That being around people is draining - I do get that, I just don't often feel it myself XD But I love that at the end of it she's willing to stay a bit longer. That she's found a way to enjoy an outing like this in her own way that works for her. I stan a self aware person who can make a situation work for them. Not every outing has to be some big rambuctious to-do.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Ahahah! Well, being all different is what makes the world interesting, right? :P Glad you could still sort of get it, even if it isn't close to your experience! :)
I mean, isn't it cool when you can find a way to enjoy a situation that isn't your ideal, even if maybe in a bit of an unconventional way? ;) And we introverts can enjoy ourselves at parties, too... just from the sidelines... :P
Thank you so much for another lovely review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
I love how much tension and yet playfulness is in this drabble! There's so much in this that's like sort of anticipation and waiting and wondering and hoping not to be found - I can almost feel all those emotions from my childhood games creeping back in as I read about him being hunched up in the wardrobe.
And then he makes a break for it! And he's there! And he's safe and he's conquered the dark and the game and his friends for the win! And I love that it fits with the collection in that the game is people out for themselves. Such a clever take on this theme of yours! Loving these so much!
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:So glad you liked this one as well! The tension and the playfulness! I have very fond memories of playing hide and seek as a child, and it can be very serious and very emotional at that age! :) So glad you enjoyed the idea behind this, even if it's a bit of an unusual take! :)
Thank you so much for the lovely review, as always! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
Oh this one is so sad. I mean all of these in the collection have a sort of melancholy about them, but this one really has me in my feels. I mean, death often does that, but I think it's more of the sort of longing that's expressed in here. The way the memory of what's been lost lingering and hanging about as she tries to talk. It's sort of heartwarming, that moment where the wind blows and she still feels maybe he is still around and with her <3
Funerals and wakes are always such an interesting tradition for me. The small talk, the hugs, the sympathy, but you're still expected to hold yourself together through it. I don't know weird to me.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Yes, this one's sad, but I meant for it to be more melancholy/bittersweet, you know? Like, she obviously misses him, but she finds comfort in tending to his grave, and in talking to him... I'm so glad you liked that moment when she imagined his touch in the wind... <3
Someone (I think it was Vicky) in a review for another story said about funerals how there is this comfort in having a predefinite structure to follow, how it brings comfort to know that you've done everything you were supposed to do the right way, and I think that might be part of the point? That, and feeling the support of the people around you, I suppose?
Thank you so much for another lovely review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
This has me all in my feels. This older man (as I imagine him anyways) walking through this fair, recapturing moments that have passed, maybe memories that he wishes he could live in longer. And just taking in the thrills and the joy and the laughter and the community around him at the fair. The way he closes his eyes and is just silent, taking it all in. <3
And I love the idea of him being a theif stealing a moment's happiness - that's one hell of a fucking phrase. So stinking great. That he feels alive and himself, but out of place all at the same time. That contradiction just makes the emotions so vivid and tangible.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:So glad you liked this one, too! It's actually one I struggled a lot with, but I'm glad it seemed to work in the end... glad you liked the thief metaphore, and the contradiction of feeling alive and himself, but out of place at the same time. I'm very glad this one touched you, too! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
She can't waste a note. I love that line. It's so tangible. So depserate. I feel the energy and eagerness of the dancer in just that single phrase. This pressing you talk about, that want and expectation from the crowd, that she'd put herslef through this pain for their amusement, for the beauty of the piece. And she does it to please a god who doesn't even care. ugh it's just such deep and insightful sort of ideas for how a performer feels. The sorts of challenges and relentless pushing they put their bodies through - all so the crowd can applaud their collapse. Beautifully written. Just awsome.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Hi again! <3
So glad you liked this one, too! Glad that you could feel the pressure and the desperation in this piece! It's one I'm particularly proud of from a stylistic/descriptive point of view, so I'm glad that all the emotions came through!
Thank you so much for another lovely review! <3
SS Voyager :D :D :D
I love this collection so much. There's so much depth to each of them even though they're short lines. I think I love and I hate this one inparticular. I love the idea of solitude represented through asexuality, but I hate that it feels like people are always pressuring this person to find the one. And it's like it's too complicated to try and explain to someone or they've tried before and gotten blank stares so now they just smile and nod and go along with it.
But you're right, not everyone's dream is the same and not everyone wants to be with someone - that idea of a one is not the same for everyone and we need to quit pushing our own expectations and goals onto other people. This was beauitfully understated and I loved it.
- Jacquelin
Author's Response:Hi, Jacque! I'm here for some (very late) review answering! <3
I'm so glad you love this collection, and this drabble in particular! It's one that is very personal to me, so I'm glad it spoke to you! <3
I think asexuality is one of the most misunderstood orientations, because for the vast majority of people finding a S/O is a foundamental part of life, and they'd find so hard to understand that it might not be true for some... but yeah, like you say, we can't push our goals/expectations on others, because we aren't all the same and we don't all have the same needs...
Thank you so much for stopping by with this wonderful review! <3
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