#Stop erasing ace rep

[yourlocalcourtfool]

All the people erasing ace and aro rep because "asexual people can have sex"' and "aromatic people can want romantic relationships" is giving the same vibes as "they just haven't met the right person yet" or "I can change them"

(Quick edit: I want to make it clear that I do support ace and aro specs I just hate non-aroace specs who are just aroace being erased)

[fallenrain40]

the MORE aphobia i see in fandoms, the more annoyingly in-your-face aroace i'm going to get. i aint gonna sit back and let aroace get erased, aphobia is literally just repackaged homophobia.

[redysetdare]

It's all "you guys need to understand how SUBTEXT and CODING are usually the only confirmation of representation queer people get in media especially in older media" but once that subtext and coding is used to say a character might be aro or ace coded/have aro/ace subtext then suddenly it's not a valid way to claim representation. Then it's only "headcanon" or "not confirmed" like do you all hear yourselves? It'd be so much easier to say you hate aro/ace ppl at this rate!

[blahaj-blastin]

Fandom will fight to the death to make sure gay and lesbian characters aren’t in hetero ships, which is wonderful and absolutely what should happen, don’t get me wrong, but then an aro character pops up and suddenly it’s “they could be gray/demi/queerplatonic to fit the amatonormative narrative” and suddenly all that defensive, validating energy is gone. Where did it go?

[genericpuff]

What are your thoughts on the whole Hestia x Athena thing in LO? Personally it always infuriated me with how hypocritical it was of them to date each other despite them both being members of/Hestia being in charge of TGOEM. It especially annoyed me how Hestia constantly told Persephone that as a TGOEM member she can't date anyone but later saying that her relationship with Athena doesn't count. I give some credit to Artmeis for calling them out when finding out, but it wasn't enough

The hypocrisy is one thing but it at least could have been expanded on as a plot point (Hestia didn't even have the spine to return the coat and apologize, Artemis had to do it ???), but what REALLY ticks me off is that Rachel clearly tried to include queer rep through Hestia and Athena who are two traditionally aro/ace goddesses. So really all she did was erase their original queer identities, both of which are still massively misunderstood and argued over whether or not they're "real". And shit, we even see that in her old asks that lesbian sex "doesn't count" and that asexuality is somehow just a sliding scale / stepping stone towards "becoming" another sexuality (in this case, gay).

Like... you can be asexual and also still be romantically attracted to the same sex, "becoming gay" doesn't automatically erase someone's asexuality. Artemis can be gay and aroace. Lesbian sex is still sex and isn't a "loophole" to retaining one's virginity. To be fair, the whole "vestal virgins are flaming lesbians because you can be a virgin and still have hot lady sex" thing came from an anon, but like... she doesn't do anything to challenge that idea in LO either, if anything it's reinforced through Athena and Hestia using their relationship as a "loophole" within TGOEM (and the narrative never actually stops to analyze that.)

And then the cherry on top is Rachel removing the sexualities - sometimes even entire character identities - from canonically or commonly-accepted queer gods and giving them to others. Crocus is no longer a lover of Hermes, but a one-dimensional nymph who was killed as a plot device and then never spoken of again. Ampelos is no longer a satyr loved by Dionysus, his name now belongs to Psyche, a heterocis black woman who doesn't know how to read and has been basically forced into slavery. All of Aphrodite's children who ranged in gender and sexual identities are now replaced with one-dimensional cutout characters with no specific labels or characterizations beyond the translations of their names. Eros has been reduced to the "gay best friend" whose first introduction into the story is inebriating a 19 year old girl with the intent of dumping her in an older man's car. Apollo has been turned into a generic big bad whose only goal is getting his hands on Persephone and nothing else, with zero nuance to his actual characterization or plot arc, he's just "the rapist" who conveniently becomes a pawn in some bigger nefarious plan that makes zero sense. Dionysus and Achilles have both been turned into babies.

If Rachel wanted queer rep, she was already in the right place. The entire Pantheon was her oyster. But instead she managed to go the complete opposite with it and not only erase the queer identities of Greek gods in LO, but went the extra mile of egregiousness by replacing those queer gods with token-queer stereotypes and one-dimensional characters who are just there to say they're gay for the brownie points before being shoved back into the closet. They're out, but they're still not seen.

[magpod-confessions]

Not to kick up the Jon Ace Discourse, but in the episode where Melanie and Basira were discussing Jon, the wording used was:

BASIRA

"Do you know if he and John ever…"

MELANIE

"No clue, and not interested! Although… according to Georgie, John doesn’t."

Not "Jon hasn't" or "Jon hasn't yet." Doesn't.

In my opinion, saying that he doesn't isn't anywhere close to ambiguous as some people like to say it is, and I wish people would stop erasing ace rep when we already have so little in media.

.

[echo-writes-things]

I love Alastor but as an ace, questioning aro-flux, I fucking hate tumblr for the fanfics. It’s smut galore by people who don’t understand was asexuality is and don’t take the time to ask someone who is or use google which is free. Literally if ANYONE needs to write an Alastor fanfic even smut I’m open to give people advice on how this shit works. I’m tired of people erasing my only rep.

I’m not saying you can’t write smut or romance for Alastor, but if you are please learn how that works for someone with that orientation. It’s like y’all making a gay man have sex with a woman and coming up with some wack ass excuse for why he did it.

I will literally open DMs and my askbox for people to ask me about it or hell just make a huge post. Obviously I don’t speak for all asexuals and aromantics. But I can speak for a majority of us when we say stop erasing the only representation we get for your fanfics and acting like it’s still apart of the orientation. Your excuses are a lot more hurtful than you think.

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk. I do plan to write an Alastor fanfic but it’ll be keeping his identity in mind.

[disastergay]

why do people write smut of asexual characters?

"isn't the whole point of being ace that they don't want to fuck?"

They're fictional characters

It's not and never will be canon

Some people are actually shitty and don't believe in asexuality, which is fucked up of them and they should be told off for it

They're fictional characters

Not every ace is sex-repulsed/averse and some are in fact sex-favorable, please don't erase those of us that do have sex

Still others have high libidos despite a lack of sexual attraction

Some aces do experience sexual attraction and feel comfortable acting on it

They are, and I cannot stress this enough, fictional characters, and besides, no fanfiction will ever influence the future of the work's canon because there are literal laws and regulations in place to stop that from happening

say it with me: attraction =/= action. attraction does not equal action.

it's 100% okay to feel frustrated when you see people drawing lewd art and writing smutty fanfiction about your favorite asexual characters. a lot of the people doing that aren't even ace themselves, and plenty of them deserve a side eye. I'm right there with you on that. but PLEASE stop perpetuating the myth that the only reason someone would ever write/draw smut of ace characters is because they're allosexual and acephobic.

I'm not trying to hurt those of you who are sex repulsed by writing about sex between two fictional characters (which I'm told I do so in the most asexual way possible, I might add).

the ace corners of fandoms have always been hostile towards aces who experience sexual attraction and/or are interested in having sex. this is unfair.

fandom at large has always been guilty of erasing ace representation (see the jughead debacle), ESPECIALLY sex repulsed aces who never feel any sexual attraction whatsoever. often times fans will hide behind sex favorable aces and grey asexuals' existence to justify their erasure of canon sex repulsed ace characters. this is also unfair.

both of these things can be true and equally important. stop with the infighting so we can start setting a better example for how to treat both canon and fanon aspec rep in the future.

this has been a PSA.

[flower-boi16]

sorry for the incoming rant.

(cw for: mainly arophobia but also mentions of acephobia and mentions of people shipping an abuser with their victim)

praying for the teens and pre teens who think hazbin is *the* show for queer rep or progressive in any matter. it scares me immensely. not only the blatant fetishism and sex negativity and whatnot, but the fact people are being taught that labels *don't mean anything* and that they can do whatever they want (with a character).

yeah, "i gave my characters labels but fuck those labels ship whatever you want" is SURELY a great sentiment to leave behind. surely nobody would erase or discriminate against labels and identity, right? surely people WOULDN'T repsect labels and identities, right?*COUGH* *COUGH*

seriously the amount of ace- but more aro-phobia in that cult/clusterfuck in that fandom is insane. i hate how the aro tag has been poisoned/infiltrated by red twink no. 45 because of shipping discourse, and these people are being enabled by their "leader", never being lectured correctly. these people will ONLY listen to anyone who either agrees with them or isn't part of said label/identity. im so pissed. aros have little to none rep AT ALL and even then people will erase existing rep or come up with shitty excuses (if i hear the phrase "b-but aros can still date!!" one more time im breaking something. you dont care about the AROMANTIC dating experience, you only care about your stickmen kissing. period.). its more than exhausting.

i am not the only aro and aro-ace severly pissed off by this but im afraid there's nothing we can do. these people ship a severly traumatized victim and their assaulter together so im not suprised. at all.

all i came to know is that nobody actually fucking cares about representation or labels- they're all hopping around in fanfiction-shipping wonderland and bullying people relentlessly if they DARE to think otherwise. and they're being enabled.

-an exhausted and "done" aromantic. (i'm also on the ace spectrum but that's not as important to me right now- even though striker- the only one that's not horny 24/7 and clearly sex-repulsed or at least disgusted, is played as a big joke, but i believe someone else already said that. but that alone should raise eyebrows.)

Honestly, I don't even know what to add other than...this fandom kinda sucks. Like first bullying someone into killing themselves over shipping stuff and now this? And the fact that Viv doesn't call out ANY of this shit at all makes it worse.

Look, I'm of the opinion that we should not blame a creator for having a shitty fandom, HOWEVER, Viv needs to stop enabling her fans and say SOMETHING about this behavior.....but she isn't. Like, she could just say "hey guys stop doing this pls" buuuuut no. She's too busy whining about people criticizing her shows to actually do that.

Alastor is aroace guys, stop trying to erase that part of him just so you can drool over him. Just do that for LITTERALY ANY OTHER CHARACTER. It's that simple.

[doccy]

I'm ngl how some people have reacted to mammon being confirmed ace is strange. most of yall have been cool asf with it I should clarify, but I've seen some people way too disgruntled abt it still on tumblr/twitter/etc. a character isn't suddenly "ruined" because they're aro and/or ace. you can still make risque fanart and fanfics and still ship him if you really want to no one is stopping you 😭

and idk as someone who IS aroace, it makes me happy getting rep. we don't really get rep! and there's so much misinformation and misconceptions on aro and/or ace people in general, y'all act like we can't have sex or be in relationships, etc at all. and his romantic orientation isn't confirmed. y'all can still draw whatever I promise. just don't erase his asexuality n research into how aspecs handle relationships

[schrodingerscal]

News Flash! WLW/WLM Headcannons about/Shipping with the Hunters of Artemis is fucking weird, please stop!

Constantly complaining about lack of sexuality representation and then going around and erasing canon Aro/Ace rep is not only incredibly disrespectful but also extremely hypocritical. There are SO MANY other characters in the PJO franchise without canon sexualities you can headcanon, and so little aroace representation out there. Like, the ONLY canon characters are Lilith from TOH and Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, and both of those characters were/are considered evil.

Another thing I’ve seen is people freaking out over “oh (blank)s (sexuality) you can’t headcanon them as something else!” And have NO SUCH qualms about the hunters being headcanoned and shipped with other characters.

Them being unable to date is such an important part of their character and group’s culture, especially sense it stems down to Artemis and her past suitors/mythology. Sure, sometimes they turn out like the ladies in ToA, but it’s still AroAce erasure.

I’m so tired.

(Hi sorry if this comes off as mean or just offensive but it’s 12 am where I am, and my hatred for hunter Shipping and pent up rage at everyone around me has mixed and I am not in a very good mood.)

[acearchivist359]

not to get sappy about heartstopper season three coming out but the scene of isaac coming out to his friends as asexual [and aromantic of course i don’t want to erase that from the scene because that’s also very important to his character but it’s his asexuality that impacted me and that’s what i wanna talk about not to diminish him being aro rep but what him also being ace rep has meant to me personally] and talking about it with them has just been stuck in my head all day since i watched that episode and it’s so important to me that scene exists and i’ve been emotional about it all day

heartstopper season two and the character of isaac were kind of accidentally instrumental in my… journey i guess, for lack of a better word, of really coming to terms with and accepting my own asexuality. the fact that i was ace had been something that i’d kinda known for a long time but refused for years to actually acknowledge and really accept. i learned the word asexual from this app actually when i was like 13 and it was like as soon as i learned the word i… resonated with it somehow. from the ages of about 13 to almost 21 it was something that would pop into my head every now and then as a concept but i would always push it down and kinda be like “well i don’t have time to think about that right now” “i don’t have time to have that breakdown right now”

it wasn’t until i was like 18 that i met the majority of my friends and that i ended up really facing it for the first time through having one of my friends actually talk about it. i met my friends through an spn group chat in 2020 when those were really popular and as those things go it eventually trickled down from being a lot of us to just a few. eventually one of my friends had been kinda tossing around that they might be ace and they’d kinda been asking our other friends what sexual attraction kinda felt like and i really realized in that conversation that i . very much didn’t know. even without really intending to identify as ace or come out at all in that conversation i really questioned it too i mean i was even asking my own questions by the end.

i didn’t end up actually coming out until… early to mid 2023 and by that point it was like . the closet was glass i mean i wasn’t even hiding it. my best friend [who was in the gc answering our sexual attraction questions a few years back] was calling me ace already by that point and i pretty much knew that i was but i had a hard time saying it for awhile. i think part of my problem was i don’t know much and i had a hard time grasping at my feelings about sex and attraction enough to really feel.. settled with it. i think also . it had become kind of a joke in my friend group that i was the token straight cishet friend and that even extended outside of just my friends on twitter with my irl best friend coming out as by in the last few years and my sister being a trans lesbian. and i am still straight and cis but . i felt weird about the idea of stepping out of that identity like idk i was worried what people would think. not that i thought my friends cared i mean they all kinda knew but … i couldn’t stop thinking that if i was wrong and i actually was just straight cishet and most importantly allo i felt that i would’ve.. lied ? i guess? like if i was wrong i was just like … co opting other people’s identities. even though i was pretty sure. but the trouble was i didn’t really have much to actually go off when it came to sexual experiences or anything cause at that point i’d been mostly single since like 15 besides one kinda complicated on and off situationship [which actually that guy was the first person to suggest to my face i might be ace and i probably should have listened] and i felt like i couldn’t say anything definitive somehow without that.

that continued for awhile. the other big thing that happened was when i got into the magnus archives and the main character was so relatable to me in so many ways and was also canonically ace, my first bit of ace rep i saw, and i couldn’t get that out of my head. i spiralled about it a lot in voice messages to my best friend and finally consulted my ace friends like a smart person. the most monumental thing for me was when i talked to one of my friends who identifies as ace and i told him i was worried that maybe i wasn’t ace but i just had really weird thoughts and feelings about sex and i couldn’t tell if it was a brain thing or a real lack of attraction. what he told me was essentially that well it’s my brain . and if that is a label that fits how i think about things then it can be a label for me.

that’s about when heartstopper season two came out. i’d mostly accepted that i was ace, i’d basically had a breakdown about it to all of my friends as well as my sister, i knew that i was deep down but i had a hard time saying it. i’d actually also just started seeing my now boyfriend at that point and that had become a thing i was really stuck on. i spent a lot of time worrying about what my asexuality would mean for my relationship because my boyfriend is straight cis and allo. and while i am also most of those things i spent my formative years on tumblr in fandom and he spent his .. being a hockey player. and it wasn’t that i thought he wouldn’t accept me because he did when i eventually told him but … i couldn’t get past the idea that sex was not very important to me but it could be to him and i didn’t know how i felt about having it and didn’t know what that reluctance would mean. i also just don’t really place a lot of value on it within relationships and i worried he would and that it would somehow be a dealbreaker that i didn’t. which it wasn’t cause that was almost a year and a half ago and we’re still together and we manage everything fine. so when season two came out that’s where my head was. so watching isaac realizing he was ace and struggling with the concepts of it really struck me. when i finished that season i went into an absolute spiral of scrolling through post about asexuality and researching it. i even actually picked up that book that isaac reads. and while there things in that book that didn’t sit right with me there were also many things that did.

that was really the key i think to finally actually coming out for me. that was the point where i finally actually felt solidified in it. i still don’t know necessarily where i stand fully on the ace spectrum but . i could actually say with confidence that i was ace and mean it. where before i either didn’t really talk about it or i dismissed it with “probably ace” or “possibly ace”. i was asexual. i am asexual. so to watch isaac now in season three talk about it to his friends and open up to them and just . fully know and understand it really hit me to see. i wish that i had been able to see something like that when i was a bit younger and maybe i could have spent less years pushing away the inevitable but . i owe a lot to isaac and to alice oseman and the the show for exploring that. i think if i didn’t resonate with isaac and his method of processing his asexuality so much in season two i’d have continued to have a hard time saying that i was ace for a while. i’m proud of isaac and how far he’s come …. and i’m proud of myself too.

[berrycake99]

On Alastor's sexuality:

Ok so a thread I NEVER thought I'd have to make, but shit's getting out of hand and I am a little bit annoyed now.

For the longest time, I've defended Alastor ships because I really don't have a problem with random fanart/fics, regular fandom stuff...

But it's getting ridiculous, the latest post I've seen is headcanoning Alastor to be "bi-romantic", ofc getting rly defenssive if someone just says ANYTHING else.

The 'hypersexualization' of his character doesn't lay in him being portrayed in very sexy fanart or fics. It's the fact everyone's using Alastor for claiming their sexuality to be more valid, straight up jumping over his entire character. He is a beautifully written complex morally gray character and ppl only seek to see "wELL wHaT hIS seXuAL pREfErEncE iS", is it really that important???

Even if he's not confirmed aro, he is still asexual and just slamming any other title before ace to make him into your sexuality and then gripping onto it so effin hard is childish.

And you can't even make the argument of his sexuality actually being somewhat important to his character (like how for exemple, Vox being bisexual and having internilized homophobia is important to his actions and relations to others in the show, or how Angel being hypersexual is important part of his story with sex-work industry - I know hypersexuality is not a sexuality, but here too the "sexual" identity/part of a character is valid to include in understanding their psychology, do you see where I'm going?)

In regards to Alastor, nothing of sexual nature is really important to his role in the story. I don't mind anyone having fun and making any type of story they like, I do not think that is 'erasing the rep' because the ace-spectrum in itself is a spectrum and is very different for anyone, and everyone is valid.

What is erasing the rep is just making "headcanons" of his sexuality based on your own to make you feel better that you portray as factual. The reason I always say I don't mind is bcs I say the 'fun' doesn't change the show's flow. But some ppl actually do want that to happen, which is not okay.

You can't make an artist change their oc to fit your own standards. At that point, you're self-inserting.

Ppl are being as disrespectful to even harrass the VA into making a statement to explain to y'all that it ain't happening nothing will be canon and chill tf out. And then they still make the "ok no sex scene but there will be romance we have 2 more seasons to go!"

Did everyone forget Vivzie confirming Alastor will be single throughout the series after pilot or???

Not everything needs to have romance and sex in it..I understand these are important factors for ppl in general which is why I encourage everyone to make their own story, that way you have full freedom of expression to say it the way you want it to be. But expecting the show itself to change into your secific place on the ace-spectrum is just very distastefull.

Not to mention this is done only for the characters with no precisely defined sexualities, but mostly Alastor. Imagine someone going "you can't tell me Angel isn't bisexual. Look at the way he looks at Vaggie in this screenshot!" everyone would loose their shit. But for Lucifer, who is still unclearly straight/pan/bi or Alastor who is ace, ppl go "OMG AN EMPTY SPACE! OPPORTUNITY TO SELF-INSERT!" Stop. Again, how is this important to the story..

No shade to any RadioApple, RadioDust, StaticRadio, whateverRadio shippers. I myself find some of the fanart cute and I understand. But please don't try to force the idea of a non-canon dynamic you like onto every ace person irl and the show itself. That is very stupid. Make a fanfic, enjoy the show. Alastor will probably have an amazing lore in the future. He is more than his sexuality.

[septrose]

People on Tiktok are pissing me off.

Because they will think a character is aroace and say shit like "but they can date" and i'm like...okay so???

I'm talking about Alastor from Hazbin Hotel.

He is not Aroace, he is Asexual.

But the fact that people who think he is also Aromantic saying shit like "he can still date" just pisses me off. Because it just sounds like people trying to erase "his" idenity.

Of course he can date, he's asexual not aromantic.

People are gonna probably say shit like "he can still have sex" and thats stupid because he's Asexual, not Ace Spec. He's full-on Asexual. Like it just seems like people are just trying to erase his identity.

Of course he could, but why are you asking that? Are you only asking that because you don't give a shit or what?

We already don't get Asexual / Aromantic rep enough, why are you trying to erase it. This wouldn't be the first time this has happend... If you know you know.

Why are people making hypotheticals for his idenity? He could have sex, he could date. But what if he didn't want to? Is that going to make you not give a shit about him because you can't ship him or write smut or what?

Does his idenity make him less of a character or what?

He's Asexual, stop trying to erase it.

edit: Actually he's Aroace... so i'm still right. I thought he was aroace but then i heard he was just asexual but now it's canon he's aroace.

[420technoblazeit]

the alastor thing feels extra hilarious bc he's canonically ace and (possibly) aro. they gave him a tumblr sexyman body, then said "he doesn't wanna fuck any of you", and the fans went full "that sign can't stop me because i can't read!" mode. which on the one hand is hilarious but on the other i love the ace rep and am thoroughly annoyed by the fans erasing that part of him just so they can fuck the pretty boy. like husk ain't my type but at least he fucks.

he's aroace yeah and like. even outside of htat im gonna keep it a buck fifty with you i cannot imagine alastor having any romantic or sexual attration to anyone at all. like it doestn compute in my brain. he would not be interested your honor he acts like he's just ITCHING to get away from people unless he's talking to charlie or niffty

[spookyscarycreepydollgirl]

I deleted your comment because it made me so mad, but I need to explain why so you don't keep doing this. You shouldn't make queer characters straight, but it's fine to make straight characters queer because they are not a marginalised group. They are not an underrepresented group. HC-ing straight people queer is not the same as HC-ing ace people allosexual. Asexual people are ridiculed and ignored within their own community, so when we get canon representation, that needs to be respected. When the media is as saturated with ace rep as it is straight rep, we can revisit this conversation, but until then if you like the dynamic of two characters there's no reason why you can't take that and make something new with it. You don't need to erase ace characters in the process. Hope this helps

That’s a dumb thing to think, and I think you know it. Characters from marginalised groups requiring protectionist double standards I mean. They’re fictional characters, they exist to entertain. They aren’t real or worth protecting, no matter what their sexual orientation or lack there of is. I literally kill my OCs in the name of fetishisation on my blog. You don’t protect fictional characters, they’re tools, they exist to be used and exploited no matter who they represent.

That’s not even getting into the fact that you aren’t even talking about media representation, you’re talking about fanfiction. A niche close knit form of media that the majority of people will never even see. If you’re trying to influence how others think on a societal or systemic level, fanfiction is a laughable way to do it. You can’t dictate how an audience reacts to a character. You can’t control who people will ship with who or what they write about. Fanfiction is a hobby, it’s done for fun, out of dedication and passion. You should be grateful that people like the same characters you like and the same stories you like enough to want to invent new stories for them, being picky about those stories in an artistic sense is fine, but pretending it’s a question of morality? That’s just self-righteous. It’s just bossing people around and shaming them cause you think you know better.

I ship Gale X Astarion X Tav even though Gale isn’t poly and Astarion has some definite sexual trauma in his past. I ship Yuugi/Atem even though Yuugi is canonically straight. I ship tons of other things that are not even remotely canon. It’s not wrong or evil it’s creative license and it’s fun.

I should clarify that the post they’re so mad about they deleted was me essentially saying: “I ship Yuugi/Yami no Yuugi, even though Yuugi is canonically into pussy, I’m not sparing the straights, so why would I spare the asexuals?” I forget the actual wording, I don’t think I mentioned pussy in so many words. So just think of this version as a slightly more crass and dramatic reenactment.

Anyway I don’t even feel offended by being deleted this time because I’m too taken back by the need of OP to correct my supposed bad behaviour.

I’mma be honest guys, while I told this person I would lance the sacred cow of canonical queerness. I don’t actually have that many fanfiction OTPs I can think of that are straight despite being canonically queer. (Does Pomni X Caine count? An AI could be assumed to be canonically asexual right? But then the Moon is implied to get frisky so…yeah I don’t think I can determine this with just a pilot episode)

So not only am I sex repulsed IRL and thus the last person who needs to be told that life is tough for folk on the ace spectrum but the supposed “horrible” thing this person NEEDS to stop me doing I’m not entirely sure I’ve actually done. (I’ve read ALOT of fanfiction in my life though so I could just be misremembering.)

If anyone’s wondering why I’m so passionate about this though. It’s cause I want to be a proper writer one day and fictional characters as tools to be exploited is an inalienable right for writers. Does this mean I think getting attached to or empathising with characters is bad if you’re a writer? Hell no! But you gotta treat them like Sims characters and drown them in the pool without a second thought. I like my Sims, I empathise with my Sims and I still wouldn’t fucking hesitate to murder them in cold blood. And THAT my friends is the ideal attitude we should all aspire to when writing.