"Quillspawn" Reviews
Good evening to you all!
I should introduce myself-- In her last post, Valencia made mention of having Madam hypnotically turn Erika into Quillspawn for the purpose of reviewing stories.
Unfortunately, neither Erika nor I really have the capacity to become a writer of Quillspawn's caliber, so you have the lovely me instead.
Who am I? Well, to make a long story short, I'm a hypnotic personification of Erika's creative and artistic impulses. Though, at the risk of being pretentious, I like to think of myself as her Muse. I'm one of a few aspects of Erika's personality who have the privelege of being manifested and allowed to temporarily borrow her body. Valencia has nicknamed me Quillspawn because I share Erika's fondness for the character, and have.. imprinted on the her, if you will.
So while I am not Quillspawn, I am a fan of hers, and perhaps even a spiritual sister.
If you're curious about technicalities, I'll try to elaborate a little bit... As I write this, Erika isn't conscious of what's happening-- while I share her memories, she doesn't share mine. She will, however, see and approve this post before it goes up on the Kistublot. She will, of course, be able to respond independently of me, and if I reply, I will try to make especially clear that I am Erika's "Quillspawn". Even though I'm a manifestation of Madam's control of Erika, I have no wish to see her embarrassed!
Anyhow, I was brought out to review stories, and review stories I shall! I'll start with a short review of Trilby Else's Legacy, and as a warning, I do spoil certain elements of the plot within. Since the Kistublot doesn't have something equivalent to Livejournal's cuts, I've posted the review in white text... selecting it should hopefully make it readable!
*** Beginning of Spoilers ***
Legacy follows Robin Weyler and her mother Christine and their experiences in a secluded, and hypnotically driven academy known only as The Abbey. Robin's story is punctuated by flashbacks of her mother's experience. Trilby accomplishes the split narrative beautifully-- the reader is never left confused which time the story is in. And the glimpses into the past also offer a view of our protagonist's future. The eventual fall of Robin is well written, and despite not sitting well with my alter-ego in a purely emotional way, searingly hot.
Unfortunately, this story is not without its blemishes. Robin's descent is scorching, but too easily anticipated. Glimmers of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story quickly gave it away, and not halfway through the first chapter, I had already anticipated the ending-- This is forgivable, given the nature of the story, but I personally believe the reader isn't allowed enough uncertainty. From nearly the moment she confronts her rival, Robin's fate is obviously sealed--we aren't allowed a moment in which we could root for her-- or believe she might have a chance. And on that note, I also need to add that the Abbey's apparently negligence stretches believability, unless we are to believe in a farther reaching conspiracy than what we're shown in the story.
*** End of Spoilers ***
But, despite these flaws, Legacy is certainly above-average, and worth the hour or two it takes to read.
~Erika's QS
As a post script, I'll just note that that signature feels a little awkward. Should anyone have any suggestions as to how I should refer to myself, please feel free to let me know.
I should introduce myself-- In her last post, Valencia made mention of having Madam hypnotically turn Erika into Quillspawn for the purpose of reviewing stories.
Unfortunately, neither Erika nor I really have the capacity to become a writer of Quillspawn's caliber, so you have the lovely me instead.
Who am I? Well, to make a long story short, I'm a hypnotic personification of Erika's creative and artistic impulses. Though, at the risk of being pretentious, I like to think of myself as her Muse. I'm one of a few aspects of Erika's personality who have the privelege of being manifested and allowed to temporarily borrow her body. Valencia has nicknamed me Quillspawn because I share Erika's fondness for the character, and have.. imprinted on the her, if you will.
So while I am not Quillspawn, I am a fan of hers, and perhaps even a spiritual sister.
If you're curious about technicalities, I'll try to elaborate a little bit... As I write this, Erika isn't conscious of what's happening-- while I share her memories, she doesn't share mine. She will, however, see and approve this post before it goes up on the Kistublot. She will, of course, be able to respond independently of me, and if I reply, I will try to make especially clear that I am Erika's "Quillspawn". Even though I'm a manifestation of Madam's control of Erika, I have no wish to see her embarrassed!
Anyhow, I was brought out to review stories, and review stories I shall! I'll start with a short review of Trilby Else's Legacy, and as a warning, I do spoil certain elements of the plot within. Since the Kistublot doesn't have something equivalent to Livejournal's cuts, I've posted the review in white text... selecting it should hopefully make it readable!
*** Beginning of Spoilers ***
Legacy follows Robin Weyler and her mother Christine and their experiences in a secluded, and hypnotically driven academy known only as The Abbey. Robin's story is punctuated by flashbacks of her mother's experience. Trilby accomplishes the split narrative beautifully-- the reader is never left confused which time the story is in. And the glimpses into the past also offer a view of our protagonist's future. The eventual fall of Robin is well written, and despite not sitting well with my alter-ego in a purely emotional way, searingly hot.
Unfortunately, this story is not without its blemishes. Robin's descent is scorching, but too easily anticipated. Glimmers of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story quickly gave it away, and not halfway through the first chapter, I had already anticipated the ending-- This is forgivable, given the nature of the story, but I personally believe the reader isn't allowed enough uncertainty. From nearly the moment she confronts her rival, Robin's fate is obviously sealed--we aren't allowed a moment in which we could root for her-- or believe she might have a chance. And on that note, I also need to add that the Abbey's apparently negligence stretches believability, unless we are to believe in a farther reaching conspiracy than what we're shown in the story.
*** End of Spoilers ***
But, despite these flaws, Legacy is certainly above-average, and worth the hour or two it takes to read.
~Erika's QS
As a post script, I'll just note that that signature feels a little awkward. Should anyone have any suggestions as to how I should refer to myself, please feel free to let me know.
posted by erislave at
11:33 PM
9 Comments:
From what I can tell your use of language is very different from Erika's - I'd be interested to see her review the same story to compare it. But that's just thinking out loud, disregard it :)
As for your name, I don't know. If you can't choose and Madam can't choose for you, I'd say something that both reflects Quillspawn and yourself. Like, I dunno...Quillspawn is the spawn of ink?
Just my thoughts-good review btw ^^
I'm not sure what to name you, either. 'Quillspawn' would be deceptive and confusing; you're certainly not Erika . . . Maybe something Latin would work? Or something from the romance era literature Eri adores, which must appeal to you too given your interests.
Yes, good review. Shorter than mine will be! I envy people who can do short reviews and still make good points.
Soebank: If Eri is okay with it, Madam could make her forget about this review so that she could do her own. That *would* be interesting.
You'll get more comfortable with the written word as you're out more. You are a distilled persona not quite used to expressing yourself directly at all in a conversational or written form, after all.
I wonder if any of my sides will ever post . . .
Soebank? LOL That was a typo >_< I am supposed to be Soeroah, and always Soeroah.
Latin is good :) I don't speak much at all..Just know that 'cat' is 'Felis'...and online translators don't help. Though if you could get the words that best describe you, you could make a little of a title. "Slave" doesn't seem..right for Quillspawn in any form but I don't know the extent of it with Erika.
By the way, I apologise if I am getting to personal or offensive, I'm just trying to be helpful ;)
(Actually, 'Musivus" translates to 'Muse-like, Artistic'. Sappho was given the compliment of being called 'the Tenth Muse' by Plato. Mabye you could just see if you'd like to use another muses name? Or, like Val said, anything that really tickles your fancy :) )
I'd vote for Erato or Euterpe myself. Erato was the muse of erotic poetry, and Euterpe was the muse of lyric poetry. Euterpe was also known as the 'well-pleasing', which seems vaguely appropriate here. ;)
Other than that, well it's an interesting setup. I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the creation of such personalities, but if it's working for you. . .well that's what matters, yeah?
These are sides of Erika. They existed before Madam distilled them...Madam simply distilled them. She asked Erika what sides she had, and did this one by one. They integrate. This isn't like Dissociative Identity Disorder, but we've had this discussion. If Eri wanted to remember what happened while any of these sides was out, she'd be able to... and, unlike some *cough*dolls*cough* we don't hide her posts from her in plain view. x.x Just saying. These personae don't have their own lives, aren't even 'out' very often, and are directly concerned with Eri's wellbeing--they do derive from her own personality, and share her experiences, after all.
She's more of a paint-and-canvas artist than a prose artist. And she's good with Latin. No translators needed. ^.~
Weird typo! I just used the name Blogger displayed on your comment. x.x
I'd almost be tempted to say 'Aubade'...morning song, a Shakespearean influence there...but I already gave *Erika* that name! >.<
We shall see.
Hi! I'm just-regular-me now. For what it's worth, my 'aspects' have been around since September-- they were one of the first things Madam did with me.
And I'm horrible with reviews! That's one of the reasons I let the distelled essennce of my creativity and extroversion to do it for me. Plus, like she noted in the review, I had some emotional difficulties with this particular story
None of the muses directly dealt with the visual arts from what I can tell. x.x Though Johannes Vermeer associated Clio, the muse of history with painting. But my painting is nowhere near the same League as Vermeer's-- mine is much closer to a fanfiction of reality than recorded history. But i'll let her pick a name when she comes out again.
Well, I could explain away the type by just saying it's one of the characters I play one of my games with, so I must have typed it out just before writing that last comment.
Also, I remember one explanation now of muses being like spiritual aspects. Say, you have a muse for artistic sides, a muse for confidence, for social purposes, for habits like smoking and whatnot. Is that what you mean, Eri/QS#2? Or Valbot? :)
I happen to adore Gary's suggestion of taking the name of one of the Muses. I like to think I can be well-pleasing, so I'll take your suggestion of Euterpe... Thank you so much!
--Euterpe
Oh, and for Soeroah's benefit.. I'm not sure precisely how to answer that question. There are other aspects of Erika's personality that Madam has... distilled, for lack of a better term. They could be considered Muses, but as far as i know, none of them consider themselves such. I think of myself as a muse purely in the pretentious artistic sense.
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