#a writer rants

[upontherisers]

would you guys be okay if i posted OC meta it’s okay if not i understand. writing OCs is one thing but analyzing them is insane behavior

[bixels]

The final TF2 issue really got to me. Spoilers, but it’s the reveal that all of this suffering and murder and war over gravel and shitty land was for nothing but senseless, bottomless hatred. That the administrator can’t even remember where this revenge plot started as she flashes through different false memories of her parents’ deaths. There was never a tragic backstory or justification, only terrible people doing despicable things. And despite how crass and stupid and unserious TF2 is, the story subverts every expectation by showing the survivors and inheritors willingly breaking the cycle. Ms. Pauling lies to the administrator and chooses not to save her, and finally lets her die. (Hurts even more if you read into the subtext that Ms. Pauling is in love with the administrator.) She lets the final cache of Australium go and walks away from the burden and legacy of a century-old bloodfeud. Hale lets Gray’s daughter go and live her life freely. Spy is the first to arrive at Scout’s house and meet his big family, finally takes off his mask, and helps with the kids. Even Merasmus exhaustedly makes peace with himself and Soldier and chooses not to curse him or something. There’s nothing to finish, no promises to keep, and no one to avenge. The only thing to do is break the cycle and walk away.

It feels odd how happy and warm everything is, but it feels so right and earned. These bloodthirsty, awful, violent men were expendable cogs in a machine of endless violence, and they found a way out. It’s a genuinely great message about letting go the past that burdens you and finding the will and a way to hit the bricks, change, and be happy. Maybe they don’t technically deserve happiness, but they’ve got it nonetheless, and they’re not gonna let it go to waste. They’re still all crazy and violent, but on their own terms now and with people who love them! Smiles.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write Trauma With Humanity

This short post is for those who think that they might be so focused on writing trauma well that they accidentally forget to write an actual character.

As someone who has an "interest" (read: deeply passionate and completely consuming dedication) for psychology and character analysis, I feel like sometimes writers don't really know how to write a character with trauma.

To quote a quote:

Don't Write A Traumatized Character, Write A Character With Trauma

I'm just trying to talk about those situations where the only interesting thing that we ever learn about this character is the fact that they have trauma and that's sad.

People tend to think that PTSD and trauma in general is just:

sit in dark, crying inconsolably about death

have nightmares

hide the fact that you have PTSD with broodiness

try to revenge

die tragically or happy ever after

Remember: Nobody has time for that

These people have obligations, responsibilities, family members, loved ones, and dreams that don't allow for this type of lifestyle.

Many people with PTSD *seem* like standard members of society. They sometimes participate in community activities. They have hobbies and vague interests that they put on their dating profile but don't really care about.

People with PTSD and trauma are interesting REGARDLESS of their trauma and trauma-related bullshit, not because.

If the only thing that's interesting about a character is what something else did to your character, it's not really interesting.

What's their dreams?

What do they like to eat in the morning?

What's their values?

Stop Trying TO ANSWER These Important Questions With:

"don't care :3 trauma will make this character complete :D"

[liesandnights]

Stop shaming people for being passionate about the things that they love. Stop mocking people for having unusual interests. Like, honestly, I’m so tired of feeling embarrassed for being "too much". If being too much means having deep interests that fill my life with romanticism and excitement, then let me be!! I’d much rather listen to anyone ranting about their latest obsession with 16th century swords than have a boring ordinary conversation with those who shame passionate people.

[pianokantzart]

"He's afraid of everything. He's a little awkward, every so often he gets a little aggressive... he's very complicated."

Hearing Matthew Fogel describe Luigi like that, plus some of the expressions in the concept art, has me hoping that at some point (in a very reasonable set of situations) Luigi's going to snap Charlie Kelley style.

[cockroachparty]

currently playing infinity nikki for the first time (as well as my first time playing any gacha game) and i am. so perplexed by this girl.

she is nonconsensually ripped from her home and sucked into some other universe. the annoying rat is taken with her and they end up in some dark souls esque world. she now has the powers of levitation (?!) and shooting objects from her hand (?!) that can only harm bad guys and completely miss everything else in the environment. are these powers conscious of who it can hit or does nikki just have really good aim? after she meets some lady who has been chained to the ceiling for who knows how many years, a "heart" of some sort is forced into nikki's chest which gives her weird pains (no shit) from time to time when she witnesses emotional or "whimsical" displays.

anyway, im traversing this new land, in shock that this poor girl opened a simple wardrobe and is now in what appears to be some alternate universe where clothes have magic powers. if that were me, i'd be freaking out and wondering where the hell i am, what planet im on, and if im dreaming

nikki, though?

nikki is having the time of her life

i mean, shes casually introducing herself to dada and giovanni like shes just some girl from the next town over; no! youre not supposed to be here!! youre essentially an alien and youre fooling everybody!!

this girl is catwalking miraland like stuff like this happens to her ALL. THE. TIME.

which, if it does...

is nikki ok??? should she be put down???

[thatstolenpayal]

ngl but if i were a boy i would have been the best boyfriend

[asuna-elentroda]

Falling in love with a character feels like trying to catch sunlight my hands. It’s warm, it’s beautiful, it fills the spaces I didn’t know were empty and yet… it slips through my fingers every time. It doesn’t stop me from reaching, of course. How could it? They make me feel so alive! Their pain twists in my stomach, their voice lingers in my mind like a song I never want to stop playing. I hold them close in a way that’s both intimate and impossible, and it leaves me hollow in ways I can’t quite name.

Our hearts don’t know the difference. Truly, it doesn’t care that they’re nothing more than ink on paper or colored pixels on a screen. Love doesn’t require clarity to bloom, it only needs a spark. And anyway scientifically, the spark doesn’t know what’s real and what isn’t, right? Our brains are wired for connection, attachment, and it clings to the echoes of something that feels like love. To our minds, this is as real as the warmth of a hand, as real as the quiet of a shared moment. It lights up in the same places it would for someone flesh and bone and breathing beneath the touch of our fingertips

But that’s the tragedy of it, isn’t it? The love we feel is real, yet it has nowhere to go. We can’t reach them. We can’t hear their laugh in the room with us or feel their eyes meet ours in a way that says we are known. And so, we grieve. Quietly. Privately. The kind of grief that doesn’t know how to name itself because it’s not just loss. It’s an ache for something that never truly existed. It lingers, like perfume in an empty room. Knowing our heart is capable of such depth, even if it was never meant to be returned, is bittersweet. Perhaps that’s why it hurts so much, because it’s real for you and me, even when they never can be.

[upontherisers]

we need more love for unhinged AUs. we should have an unhinged AU day. rb with your most out there AUs

[ravenelyx]

And somehow I'm both

[amywritess]

late replies shouldn't be considered a red flag, instead, it should be normalize. when a person replies late, it's either they're busy or they simply don't have the energy to talk. they are either sorting out their priorities and obligations, or dealing with something mentally. be matured enough to understand.

[llamasofchaos]

I just saw a video saying that while op adored Percy and annabeth she couldn't forgive them for ruining so many lives on their quest for a happy ending?????

She was claiming that because they got to be happy they ruined, Rayna and her sisters life, Bianca and Nico's life, screwed over Calypso, and apparently every other character in the books with an unhappy life.

Like next time just say you didn't understand the story instead of trying to justify weird reasons to not like the main characters.

Because it was not Percy or Annabeth's fault that the choice they made to try and survive quests given to them when they were teenagers by the gods were one of the many things that led to bad circumstances for other characters.

Circe was a bad person and just because working for her was okay right then doesn't mean it would have stayed like that. But also it's incredibly stupid to say that Percy and Annabeth ruined the sisters lives when they were 13 and just trying to survive and find grover.

Calypso wasn't Percy's responsibility. He owed her nothing, it was out of kindness and a desire to make things better that he asked that the gods release her from her punishment. He had no idea that the gods would be petty and not tell her she was free. His not going back to get her because he was "so distracted being with Annabeth" isn't a bad thing because once again he didn't owe Calypso anything, he didn't promise her anything. Stop saying that she's an innocent victim because she was on the island for a reason and it is only due to Percy trying to make things better that Leo could swoop in like a knight in shining armor.

Nico and Bianca. This is probably going to make a lot of Nico fans mad but Percy held no responsibility for what happened to Bianca or Nico . Yes he promised to try and protect her however she made a choice that made it impossible for anyone to help her. She knew that and she still made that choice, something Nico does throughout the main and sequel series. Percy once again owes Nico nothing, he did his best to save Bianca, he tried to help Nico even when he wanted Percy dead, he doesn't owe him anything even if Nico liked him.

Stop blaming Annabeth and Percy for every bad thing that has happened in the Percy Jackson universe. Percy and Annabeth did not go on quests for years, fight two wars and suffer trying to save the world while losing friends and family just for you to say that other characters had it worse and it's their fault.

[liesandnights]

The mortifying ordeal of admitting you do want to be loved vs the mortifying ordeal of not wanting people to pity you or feel bad for you vs the mortifying ordeal of wanting to reciprocate affection but being useless vs the mortifying ordeal of being careless with others and actually feeling bad vs the mortifying ordeal of being perceived as vulnerable at all.

[buggoblin2]

Alright bloodmoon lovers lets make a deal

You get:

A full re-write and completion of Blood and Healing, a book about bloodmoon experiencing a redemption arc that was started during the october takeover

I get:

Lots of notes so my brain is happy