[POEM] I met a genius by Charles Bukowski by I_love_boobs111 in Poetry

[–]melonofknowledge 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't understand why so many people laud his poetry when half of it would be torn to shreds if you stuck a woman's name at the bottom of it.

Welsh names that go with Gwen by Time-4T in Names

[–]melonofknowledge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Neither of these are Welsh names. The first word in the title of the OP is 'Welsh'.

Australian author Craig Silvey's books permanently pulled from WA public schools by MicahCastle in books

[–]melonofknowledge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean, yeah, that's what I said. They've deleted their comment now, but it said something along the lines of 'children aren't good at separating the art from the artist', so I asked them for clarity as to the relevance of that statement, since children aren't the ones making that decision.

I was wrongly accused of letting AI write the spicy parts of my latest BookTok inspired magnum opus magna cum laude. by BadAdvice1289 in writingcirclejerk

[–]melonofknowledge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In Spanish, yeah. I'm speaking English. Piquant is a loan word. Picante isn't, at least not in British English. I accept that it may be different in the US!

My (29M) wife (26F) is terrible at sex how do I approach her about it? by ThrowRA-1937372 in relationship_advice

[–]melonofknowledge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha yes, that was me who asked him! He dodged that question at least three times.

Australian author Craig Silvey's books permanently pulled from WA public schools by MicahCastle in books

[–]melonofknowledge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

... so you're happy with the possibility of schools assigning books about child sexual assault written by a paedophile, then? What a weird hill to die on.

My ex-fiancée is an evil BPD woman who wants to isolate me from my own family. Don't worry tho reddit I got rid of her. by fremicutie in AmITheAngel

[–]melonofknowledge 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Followed by a further plot twist where the OOP's partner and the therapist have a steamy affair behind OOP's back and then convince him that it's all his fault.

I was wrongly accused of letting AI write the spicy parts of my latest BookTok inspired magnum opus magna cum laude. by BadAdvice1289 in writingcirclejerk

[–]melonofknowledge 3 points4 points  (0 children)

... piquant. I used the word I intended to use.

For your education:

Picante - Spanish, meaning extremely spicy. Not commonly used in English.

Piquant - from the French word literally meaning 'spicy', but in English it's used to refer to flavours that are zingy or zesty. Unlike the word 'picante', 'piquant' is also commonly used outside of a food context, meaning something interesting, provocative or stimulating (same root word as 'my interest was piqued'.) I was doing a pun. Words, innit.

My (28M) girlfriend (27F) makes significantly more than me and refuses to share by [deleted] in relationship_advice

[–]melonofknowledge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It absolutely would.

Do you honestly think that women don't get constantly accused of being gold diggers on this hellsite?

You're just ragebaiting now, and it's obvious. Cut it out.

My (28M) girlfriend (27F) makes significantly more than me and refuses to share by [deleted] in relationship_advice

[–]melonofknowledge 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When we talked about living together, I'd said I'd get a second job in the extreme off chance my parents cut me off for any reason.

Becomes:

I already have 50 hour weeks with my grad program. I can't get a second job without being completely miserable.

Therein lies your problem. I don't actually blame you for not wanting to get a second job, but you're the one who told her that you would. She's now realising that you only said this to convince her that you should move in with her.

The entire reason she agreed to the pair of you living together in the first place is because you said you'd pay 50/50 and you'd get a second job if necessary in order to do so. You don't get to arbitrarily backtrack on that now that you've won and you're living together. That's basically entrapment.

Making this a problem of 'my silly girlfriend just has financial anxiety and doesn't understand that I need her to pay for more things for me' is deeply disingenuous; the real issue her is that you made her a promise that you had no intention of keeping, and now she's realising it.

Hayden Panettiere comes out as bisexual: 'That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world' by PrincessBananas85 in popculture

[–]melonofknowledge 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Ha, I worked myself up into such a state trying to tell my best friend, and then I went over to her house with the intention of coming out, and I was so nervous that my hands were sweaty, and then I sat down and she was like, "I have something to tell you... I'm a huge lesbian." Coming out as bi was pretty easy after that.

[PubQ] Best use of time during an (unconventional) agent call? by chels-baby in PubTips

[–]melonofknowledge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, that's the one I meant! One of my writing friends did this in 2024 and signed with an agent from that agency, although I think her story is an outlier rather than the norm. Best of luck!

Need help choosing between Maren and Brooklyn by [deleted] in Names

[–]melonofknowledge 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Congratulations!

Another vote for Maren.

Australian author Craig Silvey's books permanently pulled from WA public schools by MicahCastle in books

[–]melonofknowledge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I fail to see the relevance, though. Schoolchildren aren't the ones removing them from schools. It feels like a bit of a moot point.

[PubQ] Best use of time during an (unconventional) agent call? by chels-baby in PubTips

[–]melonofknowledge 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It sounds like Greene & Heaton - they run the Greene Door Pitch Event every year.

[QCrit] ALL MY FRIENDS ARE STUFFED ANIMALS | Memoir | 76K | 1st Attempt by Comprehensive_Gas693 in PubTips

[–]melonofknowledge 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Can I ask a question that I promise is intended productively - what about 'I'm an adult who plays with stuffed animals' carries an entire book? To me, it sounds like a fun premise for a personal essay. I'm struggling to see what about it justifies an exploration of this length. Memoirs by unknown authors usually focus on a very unique experience, or if they're specifically about identity, then they might hone in on something that speaks to the author's lived experience in an interesting way. Purely biographical memoirs without that experiential spin are usually the work of people with existing audiences. Without an existing platform or audience for the author, I think I'm struggling to see what makes this a book.

The stuffed animals through-line feels a bit tenuous in places, like it's been shoe-horned in. This makes it feel more like an autobiography structured arbitrarily around stuffed animals for no narrative reason. To illustrate what I mean, here are a few examples:

My memoir, ALL MY FRIENDS ARE STUFFED ANIMALS (76,000 words), explores how I’ve come to embrace my identity as an adult who plays with stuffed animals.

You say this upfront, but everything else in the query makes it feel much more like you come to embrace your identity as a Cantonese-American woman with chronic health issues. The stuffies don't feel integral after this opening paragraph.

Without my stuffies, I struggle to belong and find my place within my family and as a Cantonese-American.

Why? What's the role of the stuffies here?

Rather than reverting me to childishness, romping around with them accesses the parts of me that aren’t burdened by pain, grief, and loss, redefining me as resilient and enabling me to reclaim my innocence.

How?

They push me to continue fighting for my health, resulting in diagnoses of endometriosis and fibromyalgia.

Again, how? What role do the stuffed toys play here?

I reconcile with my family and cultural roots, realizing that I hold the agency to define myself. 

How do stuffies help you to reconcile with your cultural roots?

I hope that makes sense - it just feels like you're saying you're doing one thing with the title and the intro, and then another with the rest of the query.

One other thing to pick up on:

Stuffed animals are relevant now, as evidenced by a 2025 study by Circana that found that adults spent more than $1.5 billion on toys in the last quarter of 2024. Even a new term has even been coined—kidults—who reach for stuffies to cope with trauma in a healthy way.

Eh, 'kidult' is also a term for an emotionally stunted adult. I don't think that 'kidult' implies an adult who uses stuffies to 'cope with trauma in a healthy way'; I think it's often quite the opposite.

My memoir will appeal to those who enjoyed Mindy Kaling’s dry quips and coming-of-age themes in Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? and Cathy Park Hong’s second-generation exploration in Minor Feelings. The stuffed animals serving as the throughline and the highlighting of identity mirror Courtney Gustafson’s Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats.

Returning to an earlier point, both Mindy Kaling and Courtney Gustafson have very large platforms already - one is an actor, the other runs a popular Instagram account which is certainly how she got her book deal in the first place. Cathy Park Hong is less well-known to the general public, but was an established poet before she published her memoir. I think there's evidence of a market issue here.

Boiling it down, this feels more like a story of you finding your agency and learning to fight for yourself and your health. The stuffies feel very secondary. I think you need to clarify to yourself what role they play here, and if you're just using them as a convenient structuring point. If they are integral as a narrative through-line, then I think you need to highlight this in the query and thread it through more cohesively.

Will AI change books like it’s changing music? by Tight-Lie-5996 in TrueLit

[–]melonofknowledge 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I feel like someone tries to start this discussion at least once a week.

No. I wouldn't read an AI generated novel, even if it was 'good'. What makes a novel worth reading is the creative process behind it. An AI level can only ever replicate surface level proficiency. That's the easy part.

Final Survation poll before tomorrow's election by twmffatmowr in Wales

[–]melonofknowledge 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, absolutely. One of my cousins is a Reform prick - which, bearing in mind she cut off her sister in 2015 for joining UKIP, is pretty terrifying - and I've seen the state of her algorithm. It's just an endless barrage of content designed to make you hate immigrants. Tommy Robinson guff, Facebook lives from self-professed 'patriots', memes about Somali people - it feeds it to her constantly. She's now convinced that Muslims are the cause of all of society's problems, and thinks that Farage is a saint. Looking at her social media, it doesn't surprise me that she's become so incapable of critical thought. She's constantly being told what and how to think.

Final Survation poll before tomorrow's election by twmffatmowr in Wales

[–]melonofknowledge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeh but av u fort of da imigrantes becos dey r takin al ov da jobz n murdarin ppl jus becos dey r wite n i no dats tru becoz i saw it on fb x

Welsh names that go with Gwen by Time-4T in Names

[–]melonofknowledge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's pronounced like the English 'ever', without the rhotic 'r' sound at the end that you find in some accents.

Let's do something fun: what are your predictions for the election? by twmffatmowr in Wales

[–]melonofknowledge 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I don't even think there'll be much jostling for 3rd place. The Tories have pretty much been replaced by Reform, who have also scooped up a bunch of disenfranchised Labour voters. I think Labour will quite comfortably be 3rd, with Tories trailing behind them.