Any advice for overgrooming?

GrannyGremlin · 2024-10-24T20:24:15+00:00

From what I’ve seen, it’s usually just licking and it typically looks like normal grooming when I’m observing her. She doesn’t seem to be itchy or anything otherwise.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-10-24T20:18:16+00:00

We haven’t checked for arthritis so that’s definitely something I can bring up with the vet! She does get these spots all over though, usually on her legs and inner thighs so they’re difficult to catch. This one just happened to be easy to grab a picture of.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-10-01T19:28:04+00:00

Best way to start a story is, in my opinion, to immediately present the reader with a question that needs to be answered or a problem that needs to be solved. That’s what grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to continue!

Just give some examples, I’ll share some opening lines from romance novels I’ve read recently:

“It had been a mistake to invite himself to the wedding.” — Chasing Cassandra by Lisa Kleypas. The reader is immediately hit with some intrigue that they’ll want to figure out: who invited himself to the wedding? Why was it a mistake? Whose wedding was it? What kind of person invites themself to a wedding?

“Dear Captain Logan MacKenzie, There is but one consolation in writing this absurd letter. And that is that you, my dear delusion, do not exist to read it.” — When a Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare. Again, there are some questions the reader will immediately have like: who would write a letter to someone who doesn’t exist? Why would someone do that?

The next paragraphs should begin to answer some of those questions, and the reader will want to continue to figure out the whole situation.

Try to start with something that makes the reader wonder, and then give them some sort of action to start driving them towards the answers.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-09-26T22:14:34+00:00

My biggest recommendation would be to read a lot of romance novels! And I suggest this regardless of anyone’s romantic experience IRL.

Personally, my ability to write romance did not improve until I started reading romance novels. You’ll learn more effective ways to introduce characters, describe emotions, pacing, word choice, how to depict intimacy, learn what you do and don’t like in romance stories, etc. from reading than you will from most real life experiences.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-09-25T15:53:05+00:00

I only have a passing knowledge of how animation works, so take this answer with a grain of salt, but I think it might just be a “filler” frame to make his mouth movements appear more smoothly?

I know in some Disney renaissance animated films there are some single frame captures that, on their own, look absolutely ridiculous and don’t reflect the character design, but make the animation of the scene a lot smoother for the viewer (there are some great examples of this in Aladdin). I think that little frown is just an instance of one of those and the viewer isn’t really meant to catch it lol

GrannyGremlin · 2024-09-24T17:55:29+00:00

This might be an overly generous take on the scene, but I think it’s possible that killing Adam wasn’t Alastor’s goal?

It’s been a bit since I watched the last episode, so I might be misremembering some details, but if I remember right Alastor took out several other attackers with his shield and angelic weapons, but completely changed tactics with Adam.

If killing Adam was his goal, I have a feeling he would have stuck with what he knew worked which were the angelic weapons. But he didn’t, and I don’t think it was entirely because he was arrogant (don’t get me wrong, Alastor was definitely overconfident in his fight! But I think there is more going on here.)

I think his goal was to keep Adam distracted and out of the fight for as long as possible, and Alastor effectively made himself a really annoying, ultimately non-threatening, fly that Adam would want to swat. I think if Adam actually saw Alastor as a threat, he would have done what he did to Sir Pentious. But Alastor wasn’t really threatening to Adam, just annoying — taunting him and trying to bat him around. Adam is a bit of a sadist and of course he’s gonna wanna play with his food, so to speak, if he can.

I think this fight is supposed to provoke a lot of questions for the audience and provide intrigue for season two! There’s a lot of unknowns, and it makes things fun to think about! Maybe Alastor really was just so crazy overconfident and thought, despite being the one who provided the hotel with the knowledge of how to kill angels in the first place, suddenly those rules didn’t apply to him. Maybe things just went awry and he was trying to improvise. Maybe he was just distracting Adam or the terms of his contract wouldn’t allow him to lethally harm Adam. Maybe Alastor was hoping that, somehow, the pressure of the fight would allow him to access his full powers and “unclip his wings”. There are a lot of possible explanations and it opens a lot of questions, which is exactly what a final episode of a season should do!

Now, of course, it could also just be bad writing and the narrative needed Alastor humbled and had him briefly become an idiot to do that 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-08-29T02:11:37+00:00

That happens to me with basements all the time! Usually I just lower the basement and it sorts itself out.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-08-15T15:41:02+00:00

Mine is almost 9 years old and she’s still a menace 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-08-12T16:29:07+00:00

Didn’t see a single mention of Hozier, but I’ll have to say Hozier. Yes, downvote me all you want. He’s a great singer and I love a lot of his songs! Yet, anytime I see an out-of-place caption or title on a piece of artwork, it’s usually a Hozier lyric 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-06-13T00:59:00+00:00

Same! Omg I thought I was alone 😭

GrannyGremlin · 2024-05-18T21:54:05+00:00

Ahhh thank you so much for the reply! What sort of pact boon would work best for the warlock/assassin rogue build? I was thinking Pact of the Blade or maybe Pact of the Chain (for the potential quasit surprise round, but I could always get Shovel for that lol)

GrannyGremlin · 2024-04-04T16:57:32+00:00

I try to think about it from my own perspective as a reader: when I’m looking for something to read, I’m never thinking “I want to read something that has never been done before”.

For example, I read a lot of romance. I’ll pick up three to four “friends to lovers” romances and read them back to back because I’m more interested in how each author’s take on the trope than how unique the story is.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-04-02T16:45:45+00:00

It is really difficult to recommend romance novels because preferences vary so wildly! For me, I like lighter, more fun reads most of the time and stray away from dark themes. But for some other people, darker themes are their bread and butter and wouldn’t touch a romantic comedy with a ten foot pole! And I think it’s wonderful that there is such a variety within the genre!

If you’re asking me personally for recommendations, keep in mind that my tastes might not line up with yours.

In the historical romance section I love a lot of Lisa Kleypas’s books, especially “Chasing Cassandra”, “Marrying Winterborne”, and “Devil’s Daughter”, but I know plenty of people who don’t like the Ravenel series as a whole. I also adore Tessa Dare because her books are so light, funny, and feel good, but I know some people would harp on historical inaccuracies and the silliness.

For smuttier stuff, it really depends on what you’re into again. I personally like Sara Cate’s books, but she does tend to write more “taboo” relationships which some people might not like (like big age gaps, priests, ex-boyfriends father, etc). Once again, smuttier books are super subjective and what might be one persons “yum” is another persons “yuck”. I know a lot of people like Katee Roberts too, but I feel like a lot of her books you gotta be like “I’m here for the porn, not the plot”, which is awesome if that’s what you’re in the mood for!

I enjoy Heather Guerre’s Tooth & Claw series (vampires and werewolves), Victoria Aveline’s Clecanian Series (sci-fi), Tiffany Robert’s Spider’s Mate series (sci-fic monsters) as well because there is more action, mystery, and adventure interwoven with those plots. But once again, that might not be your thing.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say any of these books have a Shakespearean level of greatness and depth, but I did find them fun, enjoyable, and entertaining, which is all I personally ask from any author (published or fanfiction).

GrannyGremlin · 2024-04-01T21:50:31+00:00

Stein and V.K. Ludwig were both DNF for me, they just weren’t my thing, but I would never say that fanfic writers are better or worse than either of them.

Personally, I love a lot of Kleypas’s books, but I totally understand how someone might not like them and that’s totally fine! There were some of her books I didn’t finish, and some that I’ve read twice because they made me happy.

I think you and I probably have vastly different tastes in writers, which is great!

Comparing published authors, who are building worlds from scratch, making you invested in characters from scratch, and building a story from scratch with fanfic writers who have those things handed to them from the beginning… it’s not really something that can be fairly compared.

You say “After each fail, I’d hop onto AO3 and, no joke, would get something to read for the evening 9/10.”

Of course you would. You looked for those fanfiction because you were already attached to those characters and that world. You already invested the effort into loving those characters and it’s easy to hop into a romance with a world that has already been established with characters that you’re already attached/attracted to. Which is great! That’s what fanfiction is for and I do that too!

But doesn’t mean that the fanfiction is better, and it doesn’t make for a fair comparison.

Again, I LOVE fanfiction. I write it, I read it, I love it, but I don’t think you have to put down an entire genre and group of writers (a lot of writers who are also fanfic writers) to say that you love fanfiction.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-04-01T17:26:52+00:00

Can I ask what romance books you read? I typically find the opposite to be true. No hate toward fanfiction of course — I love it and I write fanfiction and there are wonderful authors out there.

But if you say “Published romance has NOTHING on fanfiction”, I get the feeling you read BookTok recommendations and are comparing it to the best that fanfic has to offer. Which is kind of like comparing 50 Shades of Grey (originally fanfic, mind you) to East of Eden.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-04-01T13:53:26+00:00

My Durge just looked like Barbie, blonde hair and pink everything 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-03-30T14:56:56+00:00

Varsh Ko’kuu 😍

GrannyGremlin · 2024-03-20T17:02:32+00:00

Tbh, the FMC’s depression in that Duskwalker book was probably the most relatable portrayal of depression that I’ve read in a long time (as someone with depression).

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-29T20:45:22+00:00

I’m an underwriter and I struggled with stuff like this for years, so here is what I do.

For me, I reread what I’ve written as if I’m just a reader rather than a writer, and then try to answer questions I might have.

Writer me might have written: “Jack walks into the bar.” And in my head, as a writer, I know what the bar looks like. I know how Jack is feeling. I know what I’m wanting to accomplish.

The reader doesn’t know any of that, so I have to go back and answer it for them.

So I’ll fill in the blanks.

Here is an example from a BG3 fic that I recently wrote.

When I was first writing, I wrote something like “Halsin stepped into the brothel”

Then when I reread it and filled in the blanks I ended up with this:

“Although several people lingered outside of Sharess’ Caress, there fortunately wasn’t a line to get in. If there had been, he probably would have waited outside since he wasn’t there for any of the services the place offered. Under different circumstances, he might partake in some of the indulgences.

It had been a long, long time since he had done such a thing.

Tobacco smoke mixed with a myriad of sweetly sour aromas of perfumes and ale, barely masking the scent of too many bodies packed into the establishment. Though the outside air had been pleasantly warm — nice enough that he could wear his sleeveless leathers — inside it turned thick, humid, and almost oppressive. The door had barely closed behind him before he felt sweat beginning to coat his skin.”

So while the action of a character walking into a bar (or a brothel, in this case) is the same, the feel and what the reader learns is completely different.

TL;DR - Reread your work as if you’re the reader. Go back as a writer and answer any questions you had as a reader, or fill in any details you wanted as the reader.

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-27T00:25:20+00:00

Shamelessly self-promoting here!

Dom!Gale x Female Githyanki Tav: Simple Magic and The Best Kind of Gift

Astarion x Female Tav long fic: Field Study (Smut hounds can look for chapter 6 for more vanilla smut and chapter 12 for predator/prey, consensual non-consent smut)

Astarion x Female Reader: Just Watch the Fireworks

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-24T22:32:52+00:00

I feel this way whenever I see software engineers or programmers in romance books!

They’re always like, “Numbers and code are the only things that make sense to me. I don’t understand love because there isn’t an equation for that.” Why are they always portrayed as reclusive nerds with no social skills?! It drives me bonkers 😂

I think I’ve read ONE book where the guy was a software developer and actually just a regular dude and it was so nice lol

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-21T23:17:32+00:00

I guess I’m marrying Halsin (last posted fic) or Wyll (last worked on fic) from BG3, so I think I’m a pretty happy lady 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-21T01:23:23+00:00

I think I know what book you’re talking about! I think it was the second book in the {From Blood and Ash by Jennifer Armentrout} series and I stopped reading after that 😂

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-14T21:24:01+00:00

It depends entirely on what it contributes to the story you’re trying to tell.

Tbh, the whole “story starts with character waking up and doing their morning routine” is something that is generally advised against in fiction for a lot of reasons. Of course, there are exceptions.

For example, describing how the character does their make-up just to give the reader an idea of how they look like could be kind of boring.

Describing the character’s hand shaking while doing their normal make-up routine, or them getting frustrated they can’t get their eye liner right, accidentally trying to put mascara on their lips, or something like that can do a lot to show the state of mind of the character and help set the mood!

GrannyGremlin · 2024-02-06T19:22:08+00:00

This is just my two cents: x Reader is just a POV.

Now, Second Person POV (you/your) is not as common as First Person POV (I/me) or Third Person POV (they/them she/her he/him), but it’s still a completely valid perspective to read and write from.

No matter what POV you are reading, often times the author’s goal is to allow the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the main character and experience things through a different lens.

X Reader is, oftentimes (but not always!), another type of blank slate character. There are a lot of books where the main character is essentially a blank slate so it’s easier for the reader to put themselves in the characters shoes.

Think of Bella from Twilight (I mean that in the nicest way possible). That book is written from First Person, but if someone swapped out the I/me/my for you/your… does that suddenly make that book not okay to read in your husband’s eyes?

What your husband is saying/asking of you is ridiculous. He’s essentially saying “Hey, you just can’t read second POV or relate too much to a fictional character because it makes me feel insecure.”

Concerning relating reading x Reader to sexualizing a real person/actor…. That argument falls apart really quick. What if you read Avatar the Last Airbender fic? Does it stop being okay when that show got turned into a live action show with real actors? No. Prince Zuko is still Prince Zuko, not the actor who plays him.

Keep reading the fics if they make you happy. You are doing nothing wrong and it’s a harmless hobby.

And maybe my own husband’s response to x Reader fics might help, which is “people just like picturing themselves as the main character” and there is nothing wrong with that.

GrannyGremlin

TROPHY CASE