stargazed-wonder

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imo the best way to interpret those “real people don’t do x” writing advice posts is “most people don’t do x, so if a character does x, it should be a distinguishing trait.” human behavior is infinitely varied; for any x, there are real people who do x. we can’t make absolute statements. we can, however, make probabilistic ones.

for example, most people don’t address each other by name in the middle of a casual conversation. if all your characters do that, your dialogue will sound stilted and unnatural. but if just one character does that, then it tells us something about that character.

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Is it bad practice to have a disabled character (or two) in our stories just for the sake of being inclusive? I wrote a blind character to fill in the role of mentor, but then I realise there'd be no difference plot-wise whether he is blind or not.

Honestly, this sounds fine to me. You don’t need to have a special reason that a character is blind. In fact, that idea might come from systemic ableism, such as the idea that disability is uncommon or that disabled people— and characters— must justify their existence.

Blindness doesn’t necessarily need to influence plot so much as character development.

Characters, like blind people in real life, are allowed to exist. You would be surprised how controversial a statement this can be in writing communities. The idea is less about having a reason for them to be blind and more that you portray how their blindness influences their life. Do they use a cane or a soft service animal? Which fits their lifestyle better and why? Do they know other blind people? What is their relationship like with their blindness? How has blindness influenced their relationships with family or friends? What about their work or hobbies? What habits have they developed due to blindness? What have they gained from their experience as a blind person?

Blind people are lucky if we get exactly one blind character in a story. Having more than one is a good thing.

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urgh soook annoyed. I WANNA.BE A WRITER AGAIN…….. but it feels like my fuel for writing has burned out :/ it’s been like months n monthsss since I have written shit I mean. I got ideas but it’s like jeez I genuinely forgot how to sit down and write anymore. sIGH or do I even want to? I do but at the same time………

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It's frustrating that you can come up with the plot of an entire fic in just a few seconds, but writing it all down can take anywhere from never to forever.

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“true love” this, “endgame” that. what about “compelling dynamic that’s fun to explore”

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they call me the metaphor torturer

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would he fucking say that? let's investigate.

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I love the phrase "die badly" 'cuz like usually it's understood that dying in of itself is bad but nah saying "I died badly" implies that my death was just really fucking graceless and pathetic. Like an absolute bummer for everyone involved. A solid 1.5/5 stars. Wasn't even worth witnessing or talking about, everyone left disappointed, even the people who are into death couldn't get anything out of this. Really fucked it up on my way out, you know? One last massive L for the road. Such a good concept, I love language.

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I just reada really good fic but halfway through I realized "oh shit this is really familiar.... didn't I write something like this once?" And as I kept reading I kept predicting what happened next and the further I went the more convinced I was that they'd ripped off my story-

like, copied the ENTIRE plot and re-written it, just better than I had? The characters were more fleshed-out than mine were, and the POV was more interesting, and the pace made more sense- but it was MY STORY?

So close to the end I was like "holy shit.. do I message them? Ask if my story inspired theirs? Should I be angry? Flattered?" Cause their tags and description didn't mention me AT ALL, which, sure, it's fanfiction to begin with, but if you're using my work than at least credit me as inspo, right? Just to be courteous?

But I get to the end of the final chapter, and it's not finished, and I'm kind of disappointed cause I never finished my story and I was really immersed in their version now and had been looking forwards to seeing how they tied up my loose ends- so I scroll to the bottom to leave a comment, and.

It's MY URL.

IT WAS MY STORY THE WHOLE TIME.

THE ONE *I WROTE*.

In *2013*.

And FORGOT ABOUT

BECAUSE I WAS SO INSECURE ABOUT MY SLOPPY, SHALLOW, AMETEUR WRITING

And I'm just sitting here now staring into space thinking about every shitty story I've ever written now like

IT WAS ALL GOOD?

IT WAS GOOD THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME??

I'M A GOOD WRITER?????

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I am going to take a deep breath and just remind you:

Writing is messy, even for the best authors. It's supposed to feel a little uncomfortable, exhilarating, freeing, natural, and terrifying.

It's supposed to inspire you and feel like a too-heavy backpack.

Sometimes, you're going to love being a writer and sometimes, you'll feel so disconnected, you'll wonder if you were ever a writer to begin with.

Give yourself room to make mistakes and hate your work and return to it with renewed confidence that yes, you will get 1% better next time.

It's what we're all going through. Let's speed up the growing process a little by accepting the entirety of it.

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big believer that writing doesn't always have to be writing. sometimes writing is going for a walk. sometimes writing is rehearsing your characters' dialogue in the shower. sometimes writing is putting a song on loop and staring at the carpet. sometimes you need to hang out with your story instead of writing it

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i hope you write (i hope we both write)

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What would be your best tips when creating a comic series? I'm creating one and I want it to be entertaining.

Write and draw what you love. Comic-making is challenging, intensive work. The sense of accomplishment at the completion of each page or chapter is fleeting. You'll be spending the majority your time immersed in the process of writing and producing the artwork. If you enjoy that part - the making - because it's all about things that are deeply interesting to you, you'll be able to get somewhere with it.

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Work with your strengths and quirks, not against them. I've seen a lot of artists decide the only respectable approach is to endeavor to craft a massive lore-filled epic or something...as a first comic no less. And then, when that goes on for longer than their ability to remain interested in it, it becomes a tedious obligation. Then the artist gets stuck in a cycle of beating themselves up emotionally and feeling like a failure for wanting to stop and move onto something else. Try to figure out what kind of writer/artist you are. A sprinter? A marathon runner? Do some small experiments if you need to. See how you fare making a single page. Then a single chapter. Would you want to tackle a whole graphic novel this way? If your brain is wired for short bursts of inspiration and focus, try short form story-telling, vignettes, anthologies. If your primary interest is topical gag/strip comics, make those. You can do amazing things with any type of comic. Just don't set yourself up for misery by, say, expecting to fundamentally change yourself into J.R.R. Tolkien for the sake of your project.

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It's still so strange to me how apparently taboo it is to like a post on someone's Instagram from a month ago when there are posts still circulating on Tumblr from 1550 BCE

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everyone should have at least one fucked up kink

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I did this for a Twitter thread in 2020 and promptly forgot I'd done it. Amazed, in retrospect, that it didn't vanish in the great media purge of early this summer. Anyway, here it is, somewhere safer.