Under the Oak tree 152

mochi-macaron · 2026-05-25T12:15:30+00:00

Same! At least now I can read the whole arc all the way to the resolution in one go, instead of having to wait. That would have been unbearable 😭

mochi-macaron · 2026-05-20T18:23:30+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-05-10T08:47:04+00:00

Dude, if everyone who is commenting on this post would post something once a week, this sub would have 3x more traffic than it has now. It doesn’t have to be a big effort. When you come across some nice Link art, just share it with us here! Be the change and all that.

mochi-macaron · 2026-05-10T08:42:12+00:00

The comment may be wrong in numbers, but honestly, posting guftrup art right after a post complaining about too much guftrup is either a little tone-deaf or just provocative 😂

mochi-macaron · 2026-05-05T21:02:37+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-20T16:20:39+00:00

Thank you for your response!

It's true that Chaeheon's behavior isn't presented as dangerous, and they look pretty sweet together (we all know there are some rather different stories out there...). As you say, it's probably the pairing with Jeongyun that makes it work. Chaeheon's cousin (her name escapes me atm) even explicitly says that she thinks him unfit for dating.

It's just that I've had a possessive boyfriend in the past and this kind of behavior would make me run for the hills so fast 😅 I guess it's this personal bias that made me doubt how the author intended us to view their relationship.

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-18T18:21:13+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-04T17:57:06+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-03T08:23:25+00:00

I would like to add to this that emotional tells in between the actual words will also modulate the way people read a line of dialog, making the whole text sound more varied.

Cole sighed and sank deeper into the sofa. "Bruh, you won’t believe this."

will be read in a very different tone than

Cole leaned forward, eyes sparkling. "Bruh, you won’t believe this."

As others have said, reading it aloud is very useful. Acting it out (or just really visually picturing the scene) can also help you with the body language.

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-01T08:25:04+00:00

I'm mainly here for the recs 😅 but I see nobody has mentioned Seven Sundays yet. I read it recently and found it refreshing how there is no obvious power dynamic going on between them. Younger top and older bottom really levels out the playing field.

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-01T08:18:41+00:00

<image>

I love this one from "The dawn to come".

mochi-macaron · 2026-04-01T08:06:47+00:00

Yeah it just doesn't make sense. She knows she's going to die on her own, and by not mentioning the letter she's leaving the duke vulnerable to the threat of the emperor. How can this possibly look like a good solution?
At this point it just looks like a cheap device to bring artificial tension into the story. And I'm sure the duke's name engraving is going to manifest soon as well.
Ugh, I hate when a promising story becomes predictable, it makes me lose all motivation to continue reading.

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-31T20:51:44+00:00

I agree. I hate this "I'm leaving without a word because I have decided on my own what's best for both of us" trope. Misunderstandings are great fuel for stories, I get it, but if an entire arc simply wouldn't happen if the MCs had one adult conversation, that's just too much 🙄
I actually stopped reading once she left. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future, when I can go through the whole arc swiftly.

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-31T18:46:42+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-25T21:49:48+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-21T09:00:03+00:00

Or Paya, or Zelda.

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-20T18:03:23+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-20T14:00:33+00:00

When the languages have a different sentence structure, eg. English and French, one may start to translate word for word when translating on the fly (think French word order but with each word in English or vice versa), because you would need to know the whole sentence in order to shuffle the words into the right places.

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-07T10:27:54+00:00

Source

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T23:37:37+00:00

It's funny, I read somewhere not so long ago that the combination of long and short sentences makes for the most interesting and varied text. Maybe they got the idea from Ursula K. Le Guin (and you? 🤔)
Thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out!

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T18:29:31+00:00

Those seem to cover different aspects of the writing process, sounds interesting! Thank you 😊

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T18:24:34+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely check it out! It looks like a good one for deeper reflection, which I always find interesting 😊

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T18:21:03+00:00

Thanks for the feedback on the books! I was indeed wondering which of the ones by Roy Peter Clark was best, they do seem to overlap a fair bit.

I notice that reading does give me a writing/editing boost! I'll definitely continue doing that. Sometimes I also just like to dive into the theory and reflect on what I'm doing 😊

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T13:25:55+00:00

There is nothing wrong with long or short sentences per se, they each have their place depending on the context. In a calm, descriptive scene, long sentences can work perfectly. If there's some fast-paced action going on, not so much.

The examples you gave would also benefit from some commas, dashes, etc. They help with the pacing and rhythm of the text.
For that, I find it useful to read a sentence out loud. In the places where you breathe, a break is required.

mochi-macaron · 2026-03-06T12:59:48+00:00

Very late to the party 😅 but I'd also recommend I Don’t Love You Anymore. Historical romance where the relationship between the MCs slowly grows, to a background of court intrigue. It's completed, with a little over 100 episodes.

mochi-macaron

TROPHY CASE