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I’m afraid my character has stereotypical traits. How do I avoid making them a caricature?

Is your character composed of several stereotypical traits, or is it just the one? Are they allowed to act and think in ways that are not confined to stereotypes? The more three-dimensional your character is, the less they are defined by the stereotypes.

One strategy that works in some cases is the “offset” character. This refers to weakening character A’s stereotype by including a character B of the same identity who isn’t stereotypical in that way. Say you have a selfless, “motherly” Black woman who looks after the cast. In addition to developing her own arc and her own desires, try adding a Black woman character with 0 maternal instinct who goes full steam ahead with her goals.

Trace your logic as to why you decided to give certain traits to a character of a certain identity. Our aptly named #trace your logic tag contains examples where we prompt the asker to interrogate their intentions behind certain ideas. Try to ask yourself the same questions.

Further reading:

Tropes and Stereotypes

Stereotyped vs Nuanced Characters and Audience Perception

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This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. For more advice on writing with diversity, start there!

-Writing With Color

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Moth Of The Day #222

Madagascan Sunset Moth

Chrysiridia rhipheus

From the uraniidae family. They have a wingspan of 7-11 cm. They inhabit a wide variety of habitatsd, from deciduous forests to rain forest regions. They are endemic to Masagascar.

Image sources: [1] [2]

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Hello friend :) @mushroommushy @twig-the-egde-lord @lynque-myst1que

Reblog if you’ve made amazing friends online and are grateful for their existence

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It's a holiday. For children. Give them the candy, or fuck off.

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x I plead the fifth

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"but how can you be aroace and in a relationship?"

well, most aroaces do not experience romantic or sexual attraction so they probably won't have the desire to be in a relationship. I use "most" because some aroaces use the label to describe they're both arospec & acespec (so they experience experience little, infrequent romantic/sexual attraction etc) and that's totally valid too 💚💜

However, the aroace spectrum is a big and beautiful one and some aroaces do desire a relationship! Some aroace people don't get into relationships, because the lack of attraction doesn't really prompt a desire to act; but those that do desire to be in a relationship may do so for any number of reasons.

Some are romance/sex favorable, so romantic activities and gestures are fun and they would engage in a romantic relationship with someone and even have sexual intimacy if they want to. They may enter a romantic relationship for all of the experiences that typically come with romance, just without the attraction. Aroaces can date and have sex!

Some aroaces have a desire for companionship and may engage in a qpr, queerplatonic relationship (not a romantic relationship) which do sound wonderful in my opinion 🤭. A lot of people think this is just a fancy term for friendship, but it's really deeper than that. What I understand is that a queerplatonic relationship is a a term for a relationship that does not fit our society's traditional expectation of either a friendship or a romantic relationship. This can mean a lot of different things in different relationships.

QPRs are not just “cuddle buddies.” There are so many more values to a QPR than people realize, and I guess an easy way to describe it is a relationship that queers, bends the platonic. You are allowed to be in a QPR and do whatever you feel comfortable with. You wanna kiss your partner(s) or have kids? Valid! You don’t wanna do that? Also valid.

A queerplatonic relationship bends the rules for telling apart romantic relationships from non-romantic relationships. It typically goes beyond what is considered normal or socially acceptable for a platonic relationship but is not romantic in nature or does not fully fit the traditional idea of a romantic relationship.

It is very important to remember that the validity of you relationship (however you want to label it) is not contingent on how romantic/sexual they are. It all comes to what the people involved decide to do in their relationship; no one should tell you what your relationships should look like - that is for you and your partner(s) to decide. Which is how it should be really!

Humans have classified things in little boxes, for years; including relationships. Kissing and having sex go in this box labeled "romantic" and going to the mall to buy clothes in this one labeled "friendship." I believe that nothing is inherently romantic or platonic. It all depends on the intention of the people involved. If you want to have a partner to kiss and also to play games with and get married but also not go on romantic dates, then do it! And labeled or not, that's valid ⚘

In conclusion, YES, you can be aroace and have a relationship of whatever sorts you and your partner(s) would like 💓 I hope all of this was helpful!!

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So I had a question about writing. How do you usually create characters and give them their personalities? Since whenever a good scenario comes to my mind and I sit down to write, I almost immediately give up because I either create boring characters, or I just can't create any. So do you have any advice you want to give on this?

So it sounds to me like the problem might be the way you’re approaching storytelling - If you’re thinking of scenarios and then trying to come up with characters to plug into them, that implies to me that your scenarios are likely things that are *happening to* those characters instead of things that the characters are *trying to do*.

Characters who are “interesting” usually have some amount of agency in their lives - something they’re pursuing as compelling obstacles block the way. So if a story is just things happening to a character and them reacting… it makes them feel passive, and not super “interesting.”

So what I would do, is instead of thinking of scenarios first, think of the *characters* first and if they’re interesting the stories will come naturally. One of my favorites is Indiana Jones: Stuffy archeology professor with a secret double life as a globe-trotting treasure hunter. That’s a one sentence description that immediately conjures all sorts of exciting ideas.

If you want to break down why that one works so well, it’s because he’s relatable (stuffy professor; everyone’s had one of those) with an interesting twist (secret double life; always cool) and built-in story generator (globe-trotting treasure hunter; traveling the world! Finding treasure!)

I don’t know if anyone else uses that term “story generator” or if that’s a dumb one I made up - I use it to describe the quality of a character or world that, with only a few words, is SO compelling literally anyone could start to imagine stories with it. “Boarding school for wizards”, “amnesiac war robot from Mars”, “Tom Cruise”, “secret hotel for assassins”, “summer camp for psychic secret agents”, “demon who rebels against his destiny to save the world”… these are all great examples of story generators.

Hope something in there was useful!

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fuzzy puffs love artichoke fluffs pt 2

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cairn's birdwing (ornithoptera euphorion) | source

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Abuse survivor advocacy accounts on instagram will make posts talking about how 'abusers brains just work differently in a way that makes them inevitably hurt people because of their bad evil psychology.' And then turn around and say "what do you mean this community has an abelism problem? I literally repost infographics about cptsd:("

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Prancing Peacock Spiders

Maratus volans is perhaps the most widely known member of the genus Maratus, also known as peacock spiders– part of the jumping spider family– which contains 108 recognised species. Maratus volans is common across Australia and the island of Tasmania, and occur in a variety of habitats. They are most commonly found among leaf litter and dry vegetation, especially in dunes, grasslands, and sparse deciduous forests.

Peacock spiders like M. volans are extraordinarily small; both sexes only reach about 5 mm (0.19 in) in length. Members of the Maratus genus are famous for the male’s coloration, and M. volans is no exception; the abdomen is covered in brightly colored microscopic scales or modified hair which they can unfold for mating displays. Some males can also change the color of their scales, and the hairs can reflect both visible and ultraviolet light. Female M. volans lack this distinctive coloration, and are a drab grayish brown.

Reproduction for M. volans occurs in the spring, from August to December. During this period, males will approach females and raise their patterned abdomens and third pair of legs for display. He then approaches, vibrating the fan-like tail, and dances from side to side. If a female is receptive, he then mounts her; if not, she may attempt to attack and feed on him. This may also occur post-copulation. In December, the female creates a nest in a warm hollow in the ground where she lays her eggs. Each cluch contains between 6 and 15 eggs, though females typically lay several clutches. Male M. volans hatch the following August, while females typically hatch in September. Both sexes mature quickly and typically only live about a year.

Like other jumping spiders, peacock spiders like M. volans do not weave webs. Instead, they hunt during the day time using their highly developed eyesight. These spiders are also able to jump over 40 times their body length, which allows them to pounce on unsuspecting prey like flies, moths, ants, crickets, and other, much larger spiders. Other spiders are also common predators of M. volans, as well as wasps, birds, frogs, and lizards.

Conservation status: None of the Maratus species have been evaluated by the IUCN. However, it is generally accepted that they are threatened by habitat destruction, like many other insects.

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Photos

Jurgen Otto 2 & 3

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bug leftovers!

🦋-🕷️-🦋 / 🕷️-🦋-🕷️ / 🦋-🕷️-🦋

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“i make bad art” good. make more

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YOU. are you normal about mspec lesbians, bi lesbians, he/him lesbians, transmasc lesbians, transfem lesbians, nonbinary lesbians, fat lesbians, poc lesbians, butch lesbians, lesbians with facial hair, lesbians attracted to men, aspec lesbians and other lesbians that dont fit your perfect idea of what a lesbian should look, dress, and present as?

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I don’t think you can fully understand transmisogyny without understanding how it’s weaponized against cis Black women.