#I'm scared to add relevant tags

[crazyboy3million]

Sound off about how you feel about this bc I truly have no problem with discussing it even if you disagree... Here is one of the main reasons why I can't get behind "transandrophobia" as a real term and can't really take posts using that term seriously even if I agree with the points made themselves.

I think it's a very vapid and misrepresentative term for the unique experiences with transphobia that transmascs experience. I think that it stems from transmascs reading about "trans misogyny," which represents the unique intersection of transphobia and misogyny that trans women face, and the thought process from there is "well, we should have a word for our version of that too, let's just change misogyny to a word that means anti-male."

My issue with this is that androphobia does not exist in the wild. The patriarchy has no room for "anti-masculinity" or "anti-maleness." These are baseless ideals reinforced by terfs alone that are typically just used as weapons against trans women.

My theory is that there is an extremely uncomfortable and unfair truth that the transphobic bias against transmasculinity is also a product of misogyny. "That's what we mean by transandrophobia" is not an explanation for the way people actually use that word. Transmascs who post about "transandrophobia" are not a monolith, but every single one of these posts that I've come across has at least undertones of trans infighting and trans misogyny, and an underlying or even overt agenda that mainstream society has a problem with men. I've seen a lot of very obviously fake or exaggerated stories about trans men being belittled by trans women and I believe that these stories are used to spread the bitter idea that trans women hate or envy or look down upon all trans men, when really it seems like the storyteller just met a tgirl who's kind of shitty in her own way. (Btw, I've seen plenty of posts from trans women that seem to have a weird bitterness against trans men, and those seem to also contain sweeping generalizations based on anecdotal evidence. It goes both ways and it's always bad).

Terfs hate us because they want us to be women. They see "deviance from womanhood" in trans men as a product of undiagnosed mental illness or the manipulation of vulnerable little girls. The way I see it, it's rooted in misogyny and anti-masculinity in women, and not anti-maleness. This is of course stupid bullshit that is incredibly dysphoria inducing, and my first instinct would be to come up with another explanation for it as well. Still, white men--it's a different story for black men, which can't be chalked up to "androphobia" either--are not belittled for being masculine in a society where the patriarchy dominates not only social rules but laws and politics. This is why I sort of get an early stage mens rights activist vibe from "transandrophobia."

So to conclude, I think this term indicates a lack of critical thinking about roots of the unique experiences that we, as men, have with transphobia. I think it's used too commonly among trans men who want to establish a hostile division between us and trans women. Solidarity is hard. Sometimes it's an uphill battle. I think if we all approached discourse with the desire to understand and appreciate everyone's point of view, it would just make us all feel a little more peaceful at the very least.

I understand where transandrophobia truthers are coming from. I've been there, I've regrettably touted transmedicalism in the past, I've resisted educating myself out of the fear of being wrong, I've started useless arguments with people online that just raised my heart rate, and now I've given up on being divisive within the trans community and all I want is for people to just hear me out on this stuff even if they still end up hating all of my points and disagreeing with me in the end. Idk if anyone will even see this, it's just something that's been on my mind lately. Pls if you disagree with me at least try to be nice about it 😭 ok bye I'm done

[seaweedstarshine]

Hi! Long time no yap but I've been really bothered by this thing and I know you're just the person I can go to with this (even if we don't always end up agreeing at times).

I got into a tiff with someone in a comments section of a post that was about Amy (Which character do you think deserved to become a villain? or something similar). They brought up Amy's abuse of her boyfriend. I may have tried to defend Amy (key word is tried. I am officially rubbish at debating) but then I may have said something? Because they said that I (and apparently a lot of other fans) was excusing Amy's abuse because of her trauma. It got me stumped because isn't young Amy's treatment of Rory rooted in her trauma? Did I miss the memo where we separate trauma and abuse? Am I missing something?

That statement bothered me a lot because if there's one thing I never want to do it's defend an abuser. So here I am, humbly asking and hoping to clear the muddy waters.

Your really confused and disturbed moot, Tia 💌

TIA!!!!! Thanks for the ask 💌 , and I send you all the hugs.

Discussion of abuse, trauma, ableism, infidelity, and unhealthy relationship dynamics beneath the cut.

(First off… while I really appreciate your faith in my explaining skills <3 <3 <3 my passion for traumatized characters and mentally ill+neurodivergent rights doesn't make me especially qualified to fully clear muddy waters especially not knowing the full context, but I feel you, and what follows is my informed perspective!)

Speaking generally first, harm done in media is best examined by the impact on the audience, with a different lens than harm done to real people. While relatable experiences in media can be useful and validating and incredibly important, you can’t be “defending an abuser” when the abuse is fictional. It's actually normal for traumatized/ND/mentally ill people to project onto mentally ill villains, when villains are the only significant representation for those stigmatized symptoms in a media landscape that excludes and demonizes us simply for existing. RTD can't stop people who hallucinate from reclaiming the Master's Drums and projecting onto the Master, for example — 90% of the best Doctor Who psychosis fic by psychotic authors is about the Master, whether RTD likes it or not. It's not true crime.

(This is speaking generally. Amy Pond is very much not the Master.)

Abuse is a behavior, and there can be many reasons for it, but reasons based in trauma don’t make it not abuse (some forms of generational trauma can propagate abusive parenting styles, when the parent thinks abusive parenting is normal, or lives entirely vicariously through their child). This absolutely should not be taken to mean trauma correlates with abusive behavior; rather that abusive behaviors from traumatized people are more likely to present in specific ways.

Abuse is also a targeted behavior, based in control — not consistently displayed C-PTSD symptoms as seen in Season 5 Amy Pond through many aspects of her life. Mental health symptoms don't become abuse just because they hinder one partner from meeting the other partner's needs. Any life event can do that.

Without knowing the context of the arguments, this is the aspect of their relationship I've seen you talk about before (which I also feel strongly about), and what I assume is what you were debating? So, here I will talk specifically in regard to Season 5.

We all know Amy — she's never attached to Leadworth because she never wanted to leave Scotland, no steady therapist because none of them stick up for her, can't stick with one job yet her first choice is a job that simulates intimacy because her avoidant behavior (a known trauma response) isn't sustainable to her wellbeing. Rory knows her fears of commitment stem from her repeated abandonments, it’s why he’ll always wait for her, and it's why he blames the Doctor “You make it so they don't want to let you down.”, who apart from having caused a lot of her trauma, has actively taken advantage of her being the “Scottish girl in the English village” who's “still got that accent,” because he wants to feel important, so yeah, I think interpreting Amy's issues (and how Amy and Rory transverse them) as Amy abusing Rory indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of their relationship, as well as a misunderstanding of the (raggedy) Doctor’s role in Amy’s formative self-image (which of course she works through in Season 6, but I am sticking to Season 5).

Abuse is always based in control. That just doesn’t fit here. While Amy's detachment from her real life includes things like calling Rory her “kind of boyfriend” (which she is upfront about to his face; differing commitment levels isn't abuse, though it can be a relationship red flag for both parties IRL) — her Season 5 disregard of Rory’s feelings occurs only in response to the fairytale embodiment of her trauma. It's never a response to Rory; it's a response to the Doctor, who stole her childhood and led her by the hand to her death. She cheats on Rory with the Doctor in her bedroom full of Doctor toys, drawings, models, she made from childhood to early adulthood.

(And yes, like many repeatedly-traumatized people, Amy is prone to being sensitive and reactive. Take her “Well, shut up then!” line in The Big Bang; but given Rory responds to this by hugging her, clearly he doesn’t take it as her actually dismissing him. He knows her better than that.)

And by no means do I meant to imply this is fair to young Rory, poor Rory, who's left struggling with the feeling that his role in her life is in competition with the role of her trauma (aka the Doctor). But not every unhealthy relationship dynamic is unhealthy because of abuse. Labelling Amy's treatment of Rory in Season 5 more accurately isn't the same as excusing her harmful choices — but making mistakes is part of being human, Amy's mistakes are certainly understandable, and she works through them out of love for Rory.

If there's one thing to say about Moffat women, it's that Moffat allows his female characters the same grace that the male characters *coughTENcough* have always had, to hurt and struggle and make realistic mistakes and overcome those mistakes and to heal without being demonized.

Amy isn't perfect, but she is a fully realized character, and her story gives us a resonant depiction of childhood trauma.

[froganni]

Maybe a little overly serious approach to the situation, but y'all have GOT to be more respectful towards the creators you watch and consume content for. fWhip's message about getting a lot of hate is honestly abysmal.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love lore-related series! I think they're a lot of fun and I love watching them.But give non-lore series a chance! They're also a lot of fun!

These creators are all responsible adults who are very capable of creating boundaries for themselves and deciding amongst themselves what rules they want to follow when joining a project.

Obviously, there are many viewers and community members who this isn't directed at. :D

Please don't send hate to anyone, it's not helpful. If you don't like something, don't engage with it. Just leave it at that. Show respect to the community you're apart of, and to the creators that head it.

(It's fine to be annoyed with something and talk about it, but don't force a creator to see that negativity. It's not benefiting anyone.) The more hate a creator gets, the less they engage with and organize fun things for the community. Please remember to be kind.

[beesinspades]

if all goes according to plan I should be able to post my new v*shwood fic soon! monday at most. I'm very excited to share it!

debating whether I should title it “scar-crossed lovers” or “for a sinner like me” 🤔

[katsy-kitty]

I high-key think tumblr asking this is super passive-aggressive

as if it's saying, "are you SURE you wanna post this? seriously? maybe think twice y'know just friendly advice"

I've had enough of this tumblr go kys i'll post what i want /lh

[salt-is-a-terrible-currency]

You're my port in a storm, chapter 11

Fandom: Dune

Pairing: Gurney Halleck x f!reader

Rating: Explicit (18+)

Warnings*: graphic depictions of violence, past slavery, heavy angst, comfort, politics, eventual smut, religion

*this is the general warnings for the fic as a whole, I'll add any chapter specific warnings to the beginning notes of the relevant chapters over on AO3

Tag list: @ohsnapitzmarvel @captainpoopweinersoldier @nightonblogmountain @futurewife @peterfrauchen

I've had a very big and emotionally + physically difficult 6 months. I'm glad to be posting again.

Excerpt

It’s impressive, how someone as large as Gurney manages to sneak up on someone as skittish as you.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he gruffs. You jump, almost dropping your stack of fresh bed linen. He watches you closely, brow furrowed and seemingly unaware of the fact that he’s just scared you again with his sneaking around in the corridors of Castle Caladan.

Finish on AO3

[flowersforbucky]

Do you have any general advice for someone who wants to post their writing but is scared to? I write a lot. But I have never posted on tumblr or anywhere else. I don't know why but I'm so nervous to.

had to add a keep reading link because i ended up rambling way more than i originally intended to 😅 sorry if this isn't helpful or isn't the kind of answer you were looking for but here's a summary of my experience with writing/posting on tumblr and some general tips -

i completely understand being nervous. i feel nervous every time i post my writing. i'm always worried that people won't like it, that it'll flop, etc. when i first tried posting bucky fanfiction about 5 years ago, and when i posted eddie munson fanfiction a couple years ago, just about everything i posted performed really poorly. i had a couple pieces that did alright but for the most part, just about everything flopped. and it was very discouraging, i would let it get to me too much for sure - i'd wonder how other people got their work to get so many notes so easily when nothing i did seemed to help.

so when i started writing/posting for bucky again a few months ago i was really nervous, since i hadn't had much luck in the past. i decided to give it a shot anyway, and told myself that i'm doing this for fun, and if people like what i put out then great, and if not then i wouldn't let it get to me because at the end of the day i'm doing this for myself, because i want to.

everything i've posted for bucky the last few months has surpassed my expectations, truthfully. i don't really know why all of my one-shots have performed so much better this time around than when i first tried to write for him back in 2019 - maybe my writing has improved? maybe i'm just getting lucky and posting at the right times? maybe it's the fact that i write more smut than i used to and the fandom seems to love that? maybe a little bit of all of those things? i'm not 100% sure, but i'm happy to give you some tips that i think work for me, at least.

also disclaimer i definitely don't think i've been doing this long enough or am a "big enough" writer within this community to even be giving advice LMAO but since you asked!!

i usually post on wednesday or friday evenings and i've had good interaction on both of those days, however fridays have been the best and i think i will be sticking to friday evening posts for the most part in the future

i usually post between 7:00 - 10:00 pm eastern time, most often around 9:00 pm - if the time you post doesn't seem to work well, try a different time with the next post

tags tags tags! add the most relevant tags first, and avoid adding tags that are irrelevant. so when i post for bucky i add tags such as the following: bucky barnes x reader, bucky x reader, bucky barnes, bucky barnes x you, bucky barnes smut, etc

write a brief summary for the piece that will draw people in but not give tooooo much away. also always give appropriate warnings

use the "keep reading" feature. to be completely honest, if someone posts something that's 500+ words and they don't use the keep reading feature, i'm instantly going to get annoyed that it's clogging up the feed and scroll past it lol. i personally like to insert the "keep reading" link a couple paragraphs into my fic so that people can read the first tiny bit of it and (hopefully) be interested enough to click the link and keep reading.

don't be afraid to reach out to other writers in your fandom and initiate friendships. i know this can be super intimidating because they usually already have mutuals that they are close with but what's the worst that can happen with trying? most people here love making new friends/mutuals and want to be supportive of new writers, though i know it doesn't always feel like that. not everyone that i've followed/interacted with has followed me back but a lot have!

tease snippets of upcoming fics before posting them (and make sure to add a bunch of tags so more people see) to help people get excited, draw in new followers, etc. pick a few lines of dialogue, or a specific paragraph or whatever, that you're particularly proud of and screenshot/copy & paste it and post it and basically say hey here's a snippet of an upcoming fic! i don't always do this but i like to on occasion

lastly, and this piece of advice won't necessarily help your writing perform well notes wise, but i think it's important to remember: write and post what YOU want to write and post. this is a hobby, this is supposed to be fun, and you are not getting paid for this. if you don't want to write smut, DON'T write it just because it's popular and you feel like you have to. if you don't want to write reader inserts and prefer OCs, then write an OC. if you prefer writing one-shots and drabbles over multi-part series, then write one-shots and drabbles! of course readers are going to have their preferences and that's fine, i have my preferences when it comes to reading fanfiction as well, but it's not your job to appeal to every reader out there. it's your job to enjoy this hobby as much as you can and write things that you're proud of.

[profsilverleaf]

Pokeblogging Archive: Area Zero Survey Corps

figured it would be worthwhile to compile the story

relevant tags (other than usual pokeblogging tags): #area zero survey corps, #the mystery of area zero, #paldea road trip!

I'll do my best to include everything and have it all in a proper timeline. They/Them pronouns will be used unless I'm absolutely sure what they use.

Also keep in mind that some of the links start the same. That is because they are different threads that spawned from the same post.

The Start

Grace (@trainergraceneedstherapy) put the group together in this post

Siren (@moonrazemalestorm) (who is stationed in another region) got a drone in this post. They fly the drone into Area Zero. They see a Flutter Mane. But Something destroyed the drone. They plan to go to Area Zero their self with Lunala

Grace is surprised at how many of the group are from Unova

Professor Amo (@fucktherulesletsseetheruins) joins the AZ research corps. She is friends with Grace and is also one of her mentors.

Paldea Road Trip Arc

Lori (@legendofzacian) wants to crash on Grace's couch for awhile. They take the train to Paldea. Grace picks them up from the train station. A Zorua gives them some trouble.

Lori and Grace hang out, they plan to visit the crater, they talk about inviting Amo to their excursion. They also share their worry about Team Nightmare as well as Amo asking too many questions about Hisui.

Devi (@professor-devious) joins the mission. Devi, Lori and Grace joke around about going to the crater.

Will (@challengedbywiley) joins the crew

Silverleaf (me) joins the party

Silverleaf arrives at Grace's house. Devi arrives at Paldea and Miku (@champion-class-hatsune-miku) asks about what everybody is up too. Lori appreciates Paldea's love of the occult.

Siren arrives at Paldea, also planning to search the crater with the rest of the team.

Post about the history of Area Zero and what is known about it and the Paradox Mons along with theories regarding it. Lori also adds her own comments. As well as another person's theories and writing about the crater and paradox mons.

A post about "ballin in the crater"

Siren has set up base in Research Station 3, they have run into a Flutter Mane, and are getting along. Flutter mane Info Siren wrote.

[name unkown] (@blueflare7) jumps into the crater (or at least I think this is them).

Vanilla (@humming-pokemon-helpers) asks Grace about the AZ Survey Corps plans. Someone is concerned about the legality of the team's mission.

blueflare7 is in trouble, they are getting chased by a Paradox Pokemon.

Siren visits the crater and discovers a new Paradox mon.

"The dreamer of truth and ideals" (aka N) (aka @bittersweetformula) is concerned about the Area Zero trip.

Something goes wrong, connection with blueflare is lost, they need help. Amo calls for the group to get together for a rescue mission! N tells everybody to be careful. N decided to head in himself.

Siren wonders if keeping Paradox Mons is illegal. Siren finds the knocked down drone and checks the last thing it recorded. Siren wonders about the Ultra Wormholes opening up in Paldea.

Blueflare Rescue Mission!

Grace, Lori, Devi, and Amo head into the crater. They land.

Quill (@quillpokebiology) has been wanting to join the mission and has ventured in Area Zero before. Sean (@trainer-sean) tries to dissuade them from sneaking in again but they still have plans to get in.

N talks to Team Nightmare about what Grace and her friends are doing. N asks them to send their grunts to scare the team off from the creator.

Devi's Zorua fights an Iron Jugulis, it gets defeated and captured by Devi. But then Sean shows up with a group of Professors and League Officials to stop the group. Everyone gets scattered running away.

Blueflare has contacted Amo again. Blueflare is surprised that so many people are trying to rescue them. Blueflare gets into more trouble and Amo runs off to help them. Blueflare gets injured. Amo finds blueflare and protects them. Blueflare's Charizard helps.

Lori laments that their camera isn't working so they are drawing the Paradox mons they see instead. Amo makes a comment about one of them. Will catches wind of what's going on and heads over to join the crew. Amo and blueflare talk about they are going to do now.

Meanwhile... Devi decides to hang in front of a cave to wait for the others. Lori joins her. But about that time they find out from a message from Amo that Grace is acting weird. Sean tries to help snap Grace out of it but it doesn't work.

Blueflare indicates they have an idea but dismisses it, Amo wants to know what it was. Turns out blueflare has minimal teleporting powers. But they can't put it to much use with the storm. If they can find blueflare's Flygon though... it could help.

Some other people catch wind of the chaos going on. Including Siren who was sleeping in.

From Sean's reasoning, they and Amo figure out that Grace is the Hero of Hisui. Sean decides to try to call Rayquaza for help. Sean warns to be on the lookout for Rayquaza to Will.

Grace is hallucinating, she sees Volo. Her ghost friend that haunts her phone takes over her phone. There's talk about Grace losing a friend the last time she was in the crater. Vinnie (the phone ghost) finds out about Sean's Rayquaza. Rayquaza then appears and is pissed. Luckily Sean has a masterball.

Lori and N talk, N heads over to get Lori and Devi from where they are.

Devi has caught an Iron Bundle with plans to give it to a friend. Devi potentially asks Quill if they had any Iron Bundle info (but I don't know if it's them who asked this or not)

Zekrom flies right past Amo and blueflare. Amo thinks they should chase after it. Blueflare agrees.

N arrives to pick up Lori and Devi and Sean as well. They all take off to try to find Grace. Blueflare and Amo catch up on the Zekrom situation. Lori and Sean feel awkward, Devi is doing barrel rolls. Lori is questioning why N didn't do anything sooner.

Vinnie is worried about Grace.

[cerealmonster15]

MWAHAHAHAA UNO REVERSE CARD 1 & 8 YOULL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

wh- hey- HEY COME BACK do NOT make me add a Draw Four Cards in the same color to your pile!!! COME BACK HERE AND TALK ABOUT CHARACTERS!!!!!

not yet tho. it's my turn 😌 going for twst for both of these 🕺

sorry. i talked a lot. this is why no one else sent me questions probably. bc i can and will do it again given the chance 🧡

1- the character everyone gets wrong

i. 🧍 ok so ive been more in my bubble lately so perhapeth my frothing at the mouth will be a bit more outdated idk. im scared of the main tags LOL but. ahem, i am torn between wanting to pick riddle, maybe cater, or ROOK. im a rook apologist til the day i die i s2g. however i am a heartslabyul stan first and a person second, as i have said many a time, so im going with CATER MY BELOVED CAYCAY ACTUALLY.

listen i admit here that i could also be Fully Wrong bc tbh cater's whole Deal is so vaguely hinted at and peppered in at the most spaced out moments and we know so very little about his Secret Sadness and more somber side, there's probably more that we still dont know that maybe [I HOPE] they will spring on us over time. however. HOWEVER. i do not think cater's sunshine upbeat persona is 100% "Fake". like i think there's more to it. yes sure he is implied to be putting on more of a peppy face for the sake of people around him and gets exhausted by it, but i dont think that means it's ALL A LIE and that the sad boy cater is the REAL cater. like i think it's all real, to an extent? something i really like about twst are how, at least to me, everyone seems to be pretty well rounded and multifaceted. there's not really a one note character. everyone's got their own personality and backstory and some we just have learned more about than others. but the way they react to certain situations and certain people and certain environments... just like in real life, it's going to change sometimes depending on the situation. so maybe he masks a bit and pushes out the negativity bc he's def the mediator type who tries to keep up morale, but i dont think that means he's never once experienced Real Joy in his life. i know the lab story with the madrake had those more morose sadlad mandrakes he desperately wanted to hide from lilia and vil [even tho they saw right through him] but the other ones he made still reflected him too! aspects of him, for better or for worse. i'm just saying i don't think it's gotta be all or nothing. there's def more to him under the surface, but i don't think that means everything he shows is all a complete lie forever either.

to follow up on that, i ALSO don't agree w/the depiction that his friendships mean nothing to him / are also all "fake". listen. i have reread cater's wish from the starsending event SEVERAL times. i know. IT HURTS where trey implies he thinks cater isn't being fully open and honest with him. I KNOW. and the bit in cater's halloween card story (i'm pretty sure it was cater's anyway) where he thinks to himself that lilia has no idea what kind of helplessness he's feeling bc lilia has his diasomnia long term friends and cater's had to move around so much so he's never had that, and it kinda seemed implied that his old friends dont really keep in touch til hes relevant on magicam for the stuff going on in school . i get it! HOWEVER. i think it's again a more complex situation. i think, personally, cater as he's said few times in canon - he likes to live in the moment and make memories! but i don't think those good memories are fake. i think you can enjoy people's company and love them a whole lot and still keep them at a bit of a distance. i think cater does mask some of his more serious feelings, as trey implied he suspected. i think cater probably does get tired of being the mediator. i think being the third in command at heartslabyul is exhausting and cater's a teen boy with a lot of complicated feelings, but i think he has fun with lilia and kalim in pop music club. i think he and trey are genuine friends - they roomed together for 2 years! i think he loves teasing his little freshmen buddies like a big brother lol. i'm about to go on about riddle and cater in the next question but fkljsdfjlkse.

yes cater holds back, but i dont think that means he's never expressed genuine feelings either!!!

8- common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

i am biting anyone that tries to imply cater and riddle arent friends or that trey prefers riddle over cater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LISTEN listen listen. ok i get that it can be an interesting concept to explore of the potential tension between cater riddle and trey w/like childhood friends trey and riddle but then bestie 3rd years trey and cater but then riddle shows up and takes control- i get it! i dont necessarily think it's wrong to explore that potential area.

however. HOWEVER. we are talking about MY options and thoughts and feelings on beloved heartslabyul LOL. And I think cater and riddle ARE FRIENDS!!!!!!! i think all three of them!!!! are!!!!! FRIENDS!!!!!!!! THEY GET ALONG THEY LOVE EACH OTHER!!!! some people portray riddle as being annoyed with cater or whatever and like , on one hand riddle is annoyed at many things and caycay's kind of a goofball so like yeah to a degree that's true LOL but!!!! BUT!!!!! riddle trusts cater. riddle likes cater!!! if you've read the heartslabyul card stories as many times as i have fjlksjkejs you would KNOW that riddle trusts cater enough to have him and trey at his side constantly and gives them BOTH roles of leading the underclassmen for stuff like preparing for the unbirthday parties!! and when he's having his little meltdowns in book 1, trey and cater were the ones he had kind of on the front lines of ejecting ace or whatever klsjfv they are his trusted boys!!! AND in halloween 2 when cater was missing, riddle said usually he'd get on cater's case for talking too much (lol) but he, along with trey and ace, were 😔😔😔 making the saddest of faces as he said it felt weird to NOT hear cater making his jokes to lighten the mood, and trey ALSO commented on how cater's usually there to smooth things over. cater is a mediator and a morale booster and he is recognized as such!!

plus!!! riddle made a point in his dorm outfit story of helping cater study, as he does with all the heartslabyul boys that are struggling, but in a way cater could understand. he literally made a magicam and used it exclusively to help cater focus better and learn in a way that worked for him. like yea he loses his temper, bc hes Like That, but he ALSO cares. he also tries! he's got his flaws but he's still in spite of those flaws doing what he can to try and understand the people around him and especially his TRUSTED FRIENDS LIKE CATER!!!!

and trey loves cater too!!! they are friends!!! yes yes whatever i read the cater gym story where trey goes "u and me are tight but riddle and i are tighter as his housewarden lol" listen to me. LISTEN TO ME. grabbing u all by the shoulders and shaking you so much LISTENNNNNNNNNNNN. again i get it that it can be fun to explore that further of like "ough he chooses riddle over cater cater is all alone" and like im not the fun police people can do what they want. HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i do not think it was That Deep. like maybe it was, maybe a little bit. but i did not read that as "trey doesnt care about cater" or anything like that. i very much see trey and cater's bond as like easygoing well oiled machine but also with a lot of banter and teasing. trey has said on a home screen line (i wanna say it's his ceremony robes card) that he and cater's friendship just kinda naturally fell into place bc cater's really easy to get along with and trey feels like he can be himself around him [which yes coupled with the line he says in starsending about how he feels like maybe cater's got more personal wishes that maybe he doesnt feel like he can share with Trey Specifically is. painful. LOL] and actually!!! in both their ceremony robes stories they are together and trey is teasing cater i think lol. like in cater's they're doing the guessing game of which dorm each student would get sorted into. theyre playing a game!!! cater's being silly sometimes and treys kinda shaking his head at him for some of his comments, but theyre getting along and are comfortable and it's a lighthearted thing. then in trey's story, theyre panicking about how the roses arent painted how they should be, trey says caters gotta split card and go for it and is like "lol thanks for ur sacrifice ♥", caters like THATS EXHAUSTINGGGGGG and treys like "yea yea ill listen to you complain all you want later". and trey smiles to himself at caters magicam post right after! it's endearing. panic together, solutions together, complaining and teasing but ultimately they work well together! they are friends who get along! trey is kind of a goofy guy but it's not as apparent, but i think we see it a little more especially within heartslabyul and especially with cater. maybe thats part of what he means by feeling like he can be more relaxed and stuff around cay. god theres so much of cater and trey being absolute besties - even grim and lilia have separate lines commenting on how theyre like bffs. grim mentions it in the scalding sands event, something about how it's no surprise that cater invited trey to come on the trip. and lilia in book 5 straight up says [in the engtwst translation] "I'm surprised you didn't invite your partner, Trey." and then i mean yea cater immediately is like "wahhh i DID but hes busy helping riddle he rejected meeee we are rejected buddiessss" and later is like "wahhh riddle stole trey away~!!!" when theyre checking on everything lol. BUT i think a lot of that is like just caycay bein silly and trey not only had other obligations but also was likely not going to want to do a performance thing anyway [trey even says later like 'i told you im bad at song and dance lol'] fsjklejkf like i dont think it's that deep here, i think cay was just havin a goof complaining and wanting to hang with his buddies lol. but my point was lilia basically being like "hey man where is your other half that you are constantly with" BECAUSE THEY ARE FRIENDS!!!

ok. ive. been typing for like an hour or so JKLjfldjsf I AM SO SORRY I LOVE TALKING ABOUT CHARACTERS SO MUCH I CANNOT BE BRIEF ABOUT THESE STUPID PIXEL BOYS!!! THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!! thank u for enabling me 😌

[VIOLENCE QUESTIONS] [if this essay wasnt enough LOL]

[escape-from-arcadia]

To The Ends of Our World: Prologue and Chapter 1

A Pre-Canon Douxie-centric Wizards Fic

A wicked king, a runaway sorceress, and a young boy... Ever since the disappearance of his mother left him under the care of Master Wizard Merlin Ambrosius, Hisirdoux Casperan has tried to be a good child. He is diligent in his work and studies, and his boundless enthusiasm for all things magical never wavers. All he hopes is that one day his efforts will be enough to become a master wizard himself and bring his mother back home. But on his thirteenth birthday, everything changes. Sudden flashes of memories that occur at seemingly random times and secrets Douxie's mother tried so desperately to keep hidden begin to spill out into the light. Douxie is starting to uncover a plot far greater than anything he ever could have imagined, but can the young apprentice evade the people trying to keep him from learning the truth of his mother's disappearance? What is it that they're trying so desperately to keep hidden? And will Douxie like what he finds?

General content warning for dark themes (abuse, mild gore, violence, depression). More tags will be added to the AO3 work as the story is written since most don't appear until later in the work. However, you can expect content involving torture, suicide, and a major (and a minor) character death in future chapters. There may be other untagged things that I haven't thought of yet or planned on.

Hi.

I'm back.

Maybe.

Long Convoluted Author's Notes Under the Cut:

I'm not doing particularly well (guess who got a mild case of Covid a week before winter break? lol), but here to say I've started a new fic. I like writing angst when I'm sad. And this slightly convoluted pre-Wizards origin story came to me in a dream. I planned most of it out, wrote the prologue and a few chapters, published it, and realized that since all of my content is now on archive-lock, I should probably promote the fic here.

So here we are.

No update schedule.

No minimum (or maximum) chapter word count.

No clue when it ends.

No beta.

We ball.

So this story doesn't have a hidden meaning or big message you should get by the end of it. It's just an angsty mystery drama with some cliches just because. And the ending (I know what the ending is for once, yes) is very cliche and annoying because it lets me say "Nothing is stopping me from making this canon!" Anyway...

You'll get to see a take on a younger Douxie and Merlin's very...complicated relationship with him. You'll see another interpretation of how Douxie and Archie meet!! You'll see a 17-year old Zoe!!! You'll meet two (2)!!! OCs I suddenly came up with while planning out this story!!!!!! One is a mean lesbian and the other is a cool cleric!!! You'll also see Douxie's mom!!!! Because she is very plot-relevant!!!

I was scared of publishing this fic because compared to a lot of the stuff I've written before (especially coming out of ADAU - I still owe y'all posts), this is much darker. I've written stories about time loops and the inevitability of death and somehow the existentialistic dread I got from writing that left me less unsettled than this fic. To be fair, I'm not working with a beta so this might actually be a lot lighter than I think it is. But compared to my other works, it is...a few shaders darker.

If you do read the fic, I'd be really glad to hear your feedback and comments. Yell at me if there are typos (because stars know I'll miss something as I'm editing). Ask me questions. And if you think there is something there that needs to be tagged, please let me know; I'll add it to the AO3 work tags.

All this is to say that I am very grateful if you managed to read this entire post. Thank you for bearing with me and this blog being...something. It's been abandoned and resurrected several times, and my relationship with this fandom is still a little bit funky. But hey, I've learned to make stuff for myself and on my own time. And if this content isn't your particular cup of tea, you can always not read it. And this blog is just for fun, no pressure to make content, so yeah. I'm going to have fun on the internet.

I guess I'm back.

P.S. I am yearning for more people I can share these darker fics/AUs with, but I'm also very anxious and very busy. Just saying, if anyone has Discord (or a server) and/or doesn't mind sporadic appearances that may or may end up leading to very long conversations, my DMs are open.

[randoimago]

I have a question for you, what's some advice you can think to give to other fanfic writers?

Oh jeez am I qualified to give advice 😖 I'll write some things down that have helped me or things I've noticed. Note that you don't have to do any of this, this is just some advice.

I mean, the number one thing is write what makes you happy. It took me a while to figure this out, but don't force yourself to write something that you just don't have inspiration for or something that isn't your thing just to make your readers happy. Write what you like.

This one is for tumblr specifically I think, but I have found a few fanfics that I really liked but had like no likes or anything on them which confused me. When I tried to find out why, I realized the tags. Tumblr is a sight where you need to tag everything. Seriously, go crazy with tags (but keep them relevant, I forever get annoyed when I look in one character tag and see a completely different fandom because someone just threw all the popular tags on it).

Don't be scared of the block button. When I first started, I didn't like blocking anyone even if I got some mean messages. It's so much easier to just block an anon in your ask box than reply to it (or if you want to be petty then you can screenshot and put that in a new post while blocking the original message). It's just not worth your emotional/mental health to respond to all the annoying anons.

This is something that I'm still learning to do, but reblog/share other writer's works. They worked hard on their stuff and it deserves love too, especially if you really enjoy it. I know you might be shy about the idea of the author seeing any comments you leave, but it's worth it! (I have never seen a writer say, "How dare you reblog my thing" it's almost always "Thank you so much!" or something along those lines).

These are a few main things I can think of. If I come up with anything else then I'll make sure to add them!! Thanks for the question, anon!!

[heyiwrotesomethings]

I'm wanting to write some fics myself after reading yours so much but I find myself not doing so and I think it's because I'm scared or something because I want it to be good. You got any tips for getting over that? or just writing tips in general?

I’ll try my best!

I don’t know if you’re planning to post what you write or not, but that can lead to cold feet sometimes. It might help to treat what you’re writing as something that you’re just making for yourself at first. Keep it to yourself for awhile, maybe even after you finish it. Take a break and go back to look it over, maybe add more or change some things to your liking.

It doesn’t have to be perfect! Once you get it to a point that makes you feel kind of happy or excited, decide where to go from there. If you post it, I’d recommend adding relevant tags before posting to better reach the audience you’re looking for.

Here are some other general miscellaneous tips I gave one time. If you have any more specific questions you would like assistance with, let me know and I’ll do my best to help out. Good luck!

[captainhysunstuff]

Would you please tag your posts about current events? It's okay if not.

I'm really trying to. I'll try harder. I've been trying to tag them with all the relevant tags that were accompanying those posts, and I thought they'd be enough. I also generally tried to add stuff like "politics" or "serious issues" and the like. "Current events" seemed too general, but I'll tag them that, too. My system isn't perfect.

I'm very sorry. I'm in a very strange and scared state of mind, and I'm very sorry for spreading it to my followers. I usually try to avoid reblogging sensitive content like that. That isn't what my blog is about. However, I felt that they were important enough for others who might be freaking out (like me). I'll endeavor to tag them more thoroughly. Such posts will continue to be rare. Today was... special.

*Fun fact: This is actually the third time I've written out this response or something similar, but my phone refused to post it. I had to do it on my laptop (assuming it even posts it).  I'm very stressed out now~. To be clear, I'm not upset with you, Anonymous! Not in the slightest! Just the situation and everything that's lead up to it. I don't like unpleasant surprises/deviances from a blog intended for fun, either. I should probably invest in blocking certain tags, too (as much good as that would do me; my life is more than happy to remind me in other ways).

[izzyfandoms]

You briefly mentioned a Virgil x Everyone au and I almost want to ask for examples? Because I'm a sucker for multiple soulmate aus

Hmmm well when I made the post I was mostly thinking about a soulmarks kinda situation. I've decided to call this the three hearts soulmate au (and tag it as this) for reasons explained later.

Like for each pair/group of soulmates they have a matching soulmark that's partly in colour and the rest of the colour appears when you meet your soulmate/soulmates. Also most people don't have a solmate so it's pretty rare (and easier for soulmarks to be unique)

So I was initially imagining LAMP, anxceitmus and,,,, viremile? I don't think that last one has a shipname so I'm gonna go with that unless told otherwise. I may change my mind later and add more ships but this is it for now

Soulmark placement probably has some kind of meaning but I'm not gonna overanalyse.

Soulmarks are usually simple shapes made up of like one or two colours per soulmate so it's pretty easy to tell which part is which.

Virgil has three soulmarks (unless I decide to add to this) so he's a part of three like soulmate groups. As the three soulmate groups are connected (they all include Virgil) the three soulmarks all look similar.

I am v basic so I decided that the three soulmarks are all hearts!! (I may change it to something cooler later). This is why I've called this the three hearts soulmate au. They're all on Virgil's upper back (from left to right - anxceitmus, LAMP, viremile).

The anxceitmus one is split into three segments (from left to right green, yellow and purple).

The LAMP one is split into four segments (from left to right (light blue, dark blue, red and purple).

The viremile one is split into. three segments (from left to right (light pink, black and purple).

Though ofc Virgil's born with only the purple ones filled in (with the awareness that he has seven soulmates). His parents probably weren't too pleased and Virgil probably didn't really go around telling people (and it's easy enough to keep his back covered).

Also I've decided that for plot reasons Thomas is gonna be Virgil's older brother in this.

Virgil met Dee (Deceit) in high school. They were about 16/17 and kept it a secret from their classmates (to avoid people making fun of them). Dee's soulmark is on his chest over his heart.

They didn't take too long to get together (and Dee was accepting of Virgil's three soulmark situation) and got an apartment together pretty soon after high school. They didn't stay too close to either sets of parents, but they did stay close to Thomas (Virgil's older brother) who becomes relevant pretty soon.

Now, Patton, Logan and Roman met in college. Patton's soulmark is over his heart, Logan's is on the back of his neck (just below his hair) and Roman's is on his right shoulder.

Obviously Roman and Remus are twins and they've lived next door to Remy since they were very small. They all have known basically their whole lives that they must share at least one soulmate because their soulmarks are basically identical apart from number of segments and colour.

Remy and Emile met in a park when they were six and Remy's impulse reaction was to kiss Emile's cheek and it was VERY adorable ofc. Emile's soulmark is on his left wrist and Remy's is on his right ankle.

Oh also Remus's is on his left shoulder.

ANYWAY back to actual plot.

So theyre all adults. Remy and Emile are together; Roman, Logan and Patton are together; and Remus is currently single. The six of them basically stick together and live really close by to each other because of the whole shared soulmate situation.

One day Thomas ends up in a play thing with Roman and Remus and they become friends.

About a month later he's met all six of them (not knowing that they're his brother's missing soulmates) and is friends with them. One day they're hanging out and the subject of soulmates comes up and Thomas is like 'oh lmao ive never seen any of your soulmarks' and Roman, Remus and Emile end up all rolling up their sleeves at like the same time and Thomas sees the marks and is like "OKAY WAIT"

And yeah everyone freaks out because they have known Thomas for like A WHOLE MONTH and theyre only now realising that he is the older brother to their missing soulmate (plus knows Dee who is Remus's other soulmate)

Thomas ends up calling his brother and telling him about all this

And I'm still kinda unsure about this part but I think Virgil and Dee work at like a haunted house thing (cos it's October because I say so) and Thomas was planning on going there that night so he ends up bringing the six of them and Virgil and Dee's introduction to their missing soulmate(s) is Scaring them cos I think that's funny

Anyway they all fall in love and it's all good and fun and amazing and eventually in maybe like a year or something the eight of them all move in together in like a nice house with three bedrooms and Virgil just switches between them and it's great and EVERYONE LOVES VIRGIL IT'S WHAT HE DESERVES

I might do more with this/write stuff if you guys like it lol

[alemanriq]

Same anon here I'm not a hater or trying to be rude, That's just what i felt from your posts and that was just my opinion about what a shipper means and I'm not into veteran ships at all and i don't consider my self a shipper either. Personally I think if i like a relationship between two characters, that doesn't make me a shipper. I have to clarify that bc ppl assumed that I'm attacking you.

I’m sorry that happened. I personally didn’t feel it as an attack, so I remained neutral (I commented that they shouldn’t assume you were an angry shipper or something but just someone who didn’t say things right). But I still think your perception of shipping was (is?) wrong or at least the way you worded the conclusion you came to after reading a short urban dictionary definition, anon. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t rub me the wrong way (I did feel misjudged…again) but I explained why as decently as I could.

You did say “1.from what you said, you are not a shipper, 2.you see LH as a brotp in canon, 3.you don’t want them to get together in a romantic way” and that sequence of assumptions is wrong because these three statements are not consequent. I probs wasn’t clear enough but I will make an extension of my former explanation here:

- You can admit two characters have a brotp bond in canon, while still wanting or wishing they’re together, or just imagining that there’s a remote chance they could develop a relationship, or even just acknowledging a relationship is not possible in any way and still liking to imagine them together. Do you see what I mean? that is what makes you a shipper; not the fact that you think a couple has, how do they call it, “canon proof” or the highest of possibilities; if that was the case, how would you even call people who ships crackships? crackshippers? is that a term? haha.

- Just like no one should assume that you ship two characters just because you enjoy their canon interactions (really people, don’t do this), no one should assume that I don’t want two characters to end up together just because I don’t see all their interactions as romantic. I repeat, there’s non-romantic ways to perceive love between two characters. Is not that the latter applies to me anyway because I’ve always made my ships have tints of romance from time to time in fan content as far as I remember 😅 (since 2013-ish), is just that, from experience, I know that the term “shipping” has become an umbrella term for some, given that they do have an emotional attachment to a relationship between two characters, but just don’t feel the need to see them doing conventional romantic things (I think that’s why the last part of the wiki article adds that it can also be used as a friendship term)

Now everyone can be certain that you didn’t mean to label someone, but you were rather…analyzing? based on your knowledge from personal experience…or formulating a question? maybe? xD; I’m not sure but it was definitely not the first thing it was just a logically wrong thing to say. The one thing I know is that I cannot undo other people’s reaction to your words, and again, I’m sorry about that. Also, this is up to you, but I’d like to know who you are (to apologize once again lmao orz) and talk more in private too; just because we don’t like the same things is not reason to be scared of each other (not saying you are, but just in case hjdhads).

I’m not saying people jumping at your words was right, but I wasn’t surprised at that reaction either. I didn’t tag my ask bc I knew backlash would still come for both of us, one way or another. I’m not tagging this one either.

You probably didn’t know this, but believe it or not, that wrong perception of shipping is exactly what extremist fans use as an argument to invalidate people like me; people who doesn’t want to engage with one side of the fandom, and tries to get the best of every thing they enjoy, even if, to said extremist people, one “cancels” the other. (i.e. shipping two ships that share one character)

I know I’m about to be redundant, but no one has the right to define what we ship or not / to assume what we will defend or not, based on our likings or a bunch of comments/interactions with other fans without looking at the whole picture first (unless I constantly and actively show an obsessed and openly biased attitude, that is). I say this because it’s been relevant to me for the time I’ve been around. Others that “sTay iN thEir LaNe” (can you hear how dumb this term sounds to me) think everything is fun and games for people that stays in middle ground, when in fact it is a nightmare 😂 it doesn’t matter if you do 100 arts or reblog 100 posts of ship A, foolish fans will always see only the last time you gave an opinion of something you don’t like about A or an A shipper that makes all of other As look bad, or see that you’re not enabling all of As attitude as bad as they might get, or they will only look for the times you talked with someone that is known for hating A (yes, people who likes different things can have thoughts in common too, go figure), or the last time you gave a like to a person they don’t like, or how you didn’t defend an A person when they got into a fight with a B person, or look for the last time you shared something in favor of ship B or C, lots of other reasons to start jumping at you and labelling you as a hater, hypocrite and biased person, because that’s obviously way easier than looking at everything else before judging someone. I think this is what just happened with you and your ask too, not to mention this ask came in a bad timing, you were misjudged too and I apologize…I will just stop talking and keep apologizing lmao.

[kukuandkookie]

So, I'm making a story which may or may not be a remake of a old story I made, but with a new setting, new characters, a different tone, and a new storyline. Any writing tips?

Ahhh first off, I just wanted to say how honoured I am that you’d feel like asking me for writing tips! And I must also apologize if this is at all late, since Tumblr has this bad habit of not really notifying me when someone sends me an ask. PS: This might get long ahaha. I tend to ramble a lot. 😅

My first piece of advice is to read and study what you read! I often get inspired by a good book after I’ve finished reading and begin itching to write, but I actually learned how to write stories by imitating the Warriors series when I was a kid. 

I’d also highly recommend studying grammar. Not so much so that it becomes boring and no fun, but enough that it doesn’t hinder your story. Bad grammar or spelling doesn’t usually ruin a story unless it’s really bad, but it can pull someone out of your story. When reading over my classmates’ works, I usually found they worked quite well when read out loud, but reading it over myself caused me to spot those sort of grammatical errors and it would draw me out of the atmosphere they were creating for their story.

And on the topic of atmosphere, it is important to set the scene and also describe things, but definitely don’t go overboard. It often comes off as pretentious or cumbersome, breaking the flow of writing. I do describe certain things while writing, but I usually focus more on dialogue.

When it comes to dialogue, every character has their own voice, so they won’t all sound the same! Make sure to tag their dialogue with variety as well (like, don’t constantly use “he said, she said”). Try looking at other novels. Sometimes authors use “cried, scolded, screeched, begged,” etc). Sometimes they don’t use any dialogue tags at all so as not to break the flow of dialogue.

For example, this is a piece from the chapter I’m currently writing:

Or for something more casual:

The second one had four voices going on, but hopefully the voices flowed naturally enough and it wasn’t too confusing who’s who. If flow is hard to tell, you can try reading it out loud; it’ll also help you pick up on repetition.

Repeating something can be really good for dramatic effect, but too much repetition can also be bad. This is something I’ve had drilled into me by my English teachers since high school. Seeing the same few words a thousand times isn’t very interesting, so try to vary your vocabulary! There’s a whole internet out there to help you find the right words (for example, instead of always writing “angry,” you can look up “angry synonyms”).

Fictional writing, or creative nonfiction, is also where you can break a few rules of English for more dramatic flair. For example, there’s no need to always have full sentences. An incomplete sentence will stand out. 

Definitely be sure to vary sentence length so not everything looks the same. And every time a new action/piece of dialogue happens, it’s a general rule to start a new line.

I like keeping certain things about my characters and world vague and versatile so that I can play around with it more, although I know worldbuilding and detailed characters are important to many writers. It’s okay if your characters start off a little flat—the more you write for them, the more their personality will come alive and have proper depth. 

Sometimes I make a character because I feel like it and I give them a name I just feel like fits. I once made a character with curly brown hair and green eyes and randomly named him Ross, but I eventually incorporated the meaning of his name into his backstory (promontory or headland). He evolved while writing from a more cocky character to someone who is kind and quiet, but stubborn, distant, and has trouble getting over the past.

Of course writing characters also depends on your style. I have a friend who enjoys picking meaningful names for their characters, and there are authors who like to write down all the personality traits, flaws, and strengths right away. I prefer going with the flow, which I find isn’t a bad place to start, but the other way isn’t bad at all!

I usually like fleshing out the backstories for all of my characters, probably more than things like height or birthday. And that’s mostly because every person has their own story and their own scars, so it can affect them in different ways. Even flat characters I first develop just to be a villain often end up becoming more sympathetic later because I decided to focus on their backstories.

And of course we know everyone says “don’t write a Mary Sue!” but characters that seem pretty perfect can still come off as flawed and likeable. Not writing a Mary Sue doesn’t mean writing someone who is boring or terrible at everything or horrible to everyone—there is often a reason the hero is the one with some form of hidden skill or talent.

I’m going to pull on the character of my current obsessions as an example: Wei Wuxian from the novel Mo Dao Zu Shi. He’s intelligent, heroic, kind, and powerful, but such good things can also be translated into bad ones. Flaws are often exaggerations of positives. So for example, even though Wei Wuxian is intelligent, he’s still brash and reckless. He’s heroic, but this translates into a hero complex with impulsiveness, a lack of foresight, and can drive other people away. His kindness can turn into rage or self-sacrifice, and his power makes him arrogant.

Like with the thing on Mary Sues, try not to always worry about avoiding clichés or tropes. It’s good to avoid them, but they’re also staples of writing for a reason, and people do like what’s familiar (in my Film Studies classes, we describe movie tastes as “people want to see what they’re familiar with, but with something unfamiliar sprinkled in”). So it’s okay to use clichés/tropes sometimes, but don’t rely too much on them or your story will feel generic. Add your own twist!

But speaking of twists, don’t try and shock your readers with plot twists out of nowhere. Don’t panic if a reader picks up on your clues and then change the twist to something that doesn’t make sense just to shock the reader. This often cheats people of their experience. If they guess your plot twist, it can mean you laid down the right clues! But if you really want to shock them, try to drop enough hints for the new twist so it makes sense. For example, I find Coco’s plot twist much more sensible than Frozen’s.

Oh, and try not to worry too much about things like Chekhov’s gun. I had a Writing prof ask us to keep it in mind, but I find it more applicable to short stories, and that’s because it started as a rule for theatre. If you show a gun in your play, it should be used later by a character as a sort of payoff. In a longer story, this is less relevant as not every prop has to be important. Still, if you focus a lot on a particular thing, you should probably go back and explain it later. 

I have a bad habit of sometimes mentioning things that seem important to characters at the time and totally forgetting it later until I reread old chapters. For example, I had one character who doesn’t have his mom with him anymore be interested in a ring box in one chapter, but I forgot about it for awhile. I later explained that it was his mom’s wedding ring, which is why he cared about it so much.

I do often get lucky, as my two long-term stories (one that’s close to being wrapped up and one that’s already finished) have both filled most plot points sometimes by chance. I usually just start writing without a real idea of where I’m going—sometimes the stuff I write just establishes characters or their backstories—but they usually start forming into a proper plot later on when I’ve established more characters and backstories and figure out where I want the climax to go.

I’m not saying that my way is the right or only way though! It helps a lot of authors to map everything out from the very beginning. I just find certain plot points change as my writing improves, so I start off with less plan but usually end up coming up with a proper story bible for me to follow as I write. Research and planning, at the end of the day, are still really helpful!

The hardest problem with writing is that we need our readers to care. If they don’t care, then the thing you work painstakingly on won’t feel as rewarding. And it’s easier to have people care when your characters/plot/world are interesting, feel real, and are likeable (or at least have a “love to hate” thing going on for them). Not every character needs to be tragic and edgy—most people recommend against this—but they can still be sympathetic. Sometimes though, characters are just villains or just background characters, and that’s fine too! 

Plus everyone has different tastes, so it’s never guaranteed everyone will like your story—but then again, it’s no guarantee everyone won’t like it either!

I hope all of that helps, and that I haven’t scared you off with my ranting! Writing is a world of infinite possibilities, and I find it easier to test more of those possibilities than with drawing. At the end of the day, don’t forget to write for yourself and write what you also like. Improvement comes with practice, after all!