#any and all constructive critique accepted and encouraged

[eowynstwin]

Not to start a fight, but to discuss. I think as writers who are putting out content, you're inviting constructive criticism on an inherent level. (Not to say that you have to take it or even give it the time of day.) The real problem is that majority doesn't understand what that actually means.

Constructive criticism is about supporting and improving something together.

Example: Hey I really loved aspects A and D of your story, but I think aspect C was what you were really trying to highlight, is that right?

(Say you say yes) Here are some ways you could do that. Blah blah blah.

(If no, say you're trying to highlight A) Yes! It was really well done!

Versus, what seems to be happening:

That was awful and offended me, and everything was garbage. Staph wriiitinnnng.

They're conflating opinion with criticism. It's not the same thing.

First of all, I’ve been writing probably longer than you’ve been literate, so don’t condescend to me with a high schooler’s understanding of critique.

Second of all, no, actually, posting fic online is not an automatic invitation for critique. There are spaces and times in which critique is acceptable and encouraged. Randomly and from strangers is not any of those. If someone wants critique, they will ask friends or peers for their input. That has been a guideline for fandom courtesy since fandom’s inception.

You are not my friend, my peer, or my editor. You are not my beta. You are not involved in ANY capacity in the creation of my work. What on this green earth makes you think you’re entitled to butt in on it?

[anarchistfrogposting]

is anarchy often posited as something we’d need to transition to by starting with less “radical” alternatives to capitalism like social democracy? or is the general goal a swift revolutionary change? i’m aware that revolution versus reform seems like a huge point of contention in most leftist communities but i’d love to know your thoughts on what you think is feasible and/or acceptable when it comes to how we get to anarchy !

To get one thing out of the way, maybe never I feel, has any political model been criticised more immediately and heavily than anarchists of social democracy. It’s not diametrically opposed to anarchism per se, but I think as one of the dominant leftist movements throughout socialist and communist history, I think early anarchist theorists found it rather abrasive. The argument stands that if you want to abolish a state, you cannot ever use the state apparatus to do it. You can (and I say this with intense caution) use the state apparatus to help you, maybe. But you can never abolish the state through the state, as it fundamentally and above all else, exists to keep itself running.

I think a big part what you’re asking is whether there’s a similar perspective shared between Marxism and Anarchism regarding the utilisation of a socialist transition state to achieve the endpoint communist society. This is, like you said actually a very contentious debate, even between closely related strands anarchist theory; even between two people of the exact same self ascribed ideology.

I think it’s important to recognise that the passion for debate and ideological diversity of anarchists is a fundamental part of what it means to be an anarchist. There is no such thing as an anarchist orthodoxy (although some might disagree ;) ) and critiquing your own understanding of your theory and constructing your own theory is a fundamental part of being an anarchist.

But for starters, anarchists believe in a thing called spontaneous revolution. The material conditions of society become such that the working class rises up in a drastic revolution that overturns the state, and that this process occurs spontaneously- I.e. was not designed to occur at that time and place, simply encouraged.

The debate centres around what happens after the revolution. What and where is society afterwards, and what is our ultimate goal?

I would personally argue that anarchism post revolution is only really adjacent to socialism.

Bringing it back to the fact that anarchism is first and foremost a lens of sociopolitical and philosophical analysis, what happens after the revolution is simply just a continual process of eliminating old hierarchies and stamping out new ones; it’s a continual process of renewal and development. There is no end, and there never will be. Some Anarchists who share that view even suggest that the revolution never ends; that the initial uprising and the post-uprising society are both aspects of the same revolution, but that the initial part of that revolution just happened very quickly. I think it was Lenin (?) that said that political change happens very slowly all over the course of decades, then all of a sudden in the space of a week. I don’t personally have an opinion either way.

The legwork- the heft- of the effort will have been done before the revolution. It has to be; the ends of revolution are to place power in the hands of the working class anarchist praxis pre-revolution intends on letting that power be returned to the people as opposed to sitting in an (unstable) vacuum. Anarchism has to create the structures that society falls back on after the revolution.

Baring this in mind, I would argue that in a way, the anarchist socialist transition state is in some long stretch of the definition the society pre-revolution. those structures and systems that are fallen back on after the uprising happens will be in a greater part fully formed pre-revolution, and the seeds of the fall of statehood have already been planted; the transition has already occurred.

Apologies if this is written in a convoluted fashion; I’m a little baked. Thank you for your curiosity!

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

Hello, fellow Hero enjoyers, and welcome to "Hero Deserves To Be Happy" our side blog for Hero Appreciation! We wanted a proper home for all our Hero love and devotion so here we are. 🥰

We mods are a fic-writer (Mod Acacia) and a fan-artist (Mod Sprinkles), are both adults, and are the co-conspirators, co-owners & co-creators of the "When Sun Shines Again" series.

This blog is all Hero content and appreciation all the time--both created by us and lovingly reblogged from other Hero enthusiasts. We will have some HeroMari here too, of course! 💙💜 It is also the home of "When Sun Shines Again": our series focused on Hero's Life After Mari (post-good ending).

This blog is not spoiler-free, but we will try our best to properly mark all spoilers with the "Omori Spoilers" tag.

Feel free to drop by the ask box any time to talk about the best, the kindest, and the most delightful of all OMORI big brothers! 💙 (We'd say out of all the OMORI characters, but the rest of them are pretty cool too 😊).

This blog is and always will be 100% safe for work! Thanks for visiting!

A couple of blog considerations:

All Safe for Work (SFW) Hero content is acceptable here including art, fanfiction, headcanons, and character analysis posts. There will never be any NSFW content here and any of our content containing any heavier themes as seen in the OMORI canon (i.e. grief/mourning, mental health issues, ect.) will include proper warnings.

All major OMORI spoilers in our content will be tagged as "omori spoilers," and we will try to tag spoilers in reblogged content as well.

All platonic Hero friendships will be celebrated on this blog, and the main romantic ship here will be HeroMari (Hero x Mari). 💙💜 There will occasionally be some Hero/OC (in the "When Sun Shines Again" Universe) and maybe some Hero/Brandi (though we tend to write them as platonic friends). Please note: This blog will only entertain Hero x Canon Character romantic pairings in which the other character is confirmed in the canon to be Hero's age since he is canonically an adult [i.e. Mari (who is canonically the same age as Hero) or Brandi (who is confirmed to attend university with him) would be acceptable, but we are personally not comfortable with anything explicitly romantic between Hero and any character of an ambiguous age. Platonic content for such relationships is okay. Please see this post for more information if needed.]. All Hero relationships both platonic and romantic will be properly tagged.

To make this blog super inclusive for all Hero appreciators regardless of their ship preferences for the other OMORI characters, no content that involves undeniably, explicitly, and/or intentionally romantic ships for Sunny, Kel, Aubrey, or Basil will be posted here as a general rule.

Constructive critiques and thoughtful discussion are allowed and even encouraged; however, there will be no meanspirited slander of Hero or any other OMORI characters or relationships on this blog. We recognize that there are many possible interpretations of Hero, the other OMORI characters, and their interpersonal relationships with each other, and we want to state upfront that we personally tend to have positive interpretations, especially as far as Hero's family in concerned. Though they are not perfect and they do make mistakes, we really believe that they are ultimately a loving family, and this blog will reflect that viewpoint and interpretation.

Thank you for being mindful and respectful of our blog rules & considerations!

Featured Tags (Listed in Alphabetical Order):

"hero character analysis" for Character Analysis

"hero fanart" for Art

"hero fic" for Fanfiction

"hero headcanons" for Headcanons

"heromari 💙💜" for content including/featuring HeroMari

"hero and kel's brotherly bond" and/or "it's the brothers 💙🧡" for content including/featuring Hero and Kel's sibling relationship & brotherly friendship

"hero friendships" for content including/featuring any Hero platonic friendships with the other OMORI characters [A/N: There are also specific tags for each friendship with the following naming convention: "Hero and [Canon Character's Name] friendship"]

"hero plush's adventures" for posts featuring the official Hero plushie

"hero polls" for polls about or featuring Hero

"hero songs" for posts with or about songs that suit Hero

"omori spoilers" for content involving, including, or featuring major OMORI spoilers

"our content" for content created by Acacia and/or Sprinkles [both created for this blog and reblogged from our mains]

"When Sun Shines Again ⛅" for content related to the "When Sun Shines Again" universe

⛅WHEN SUN SHINES AGAIN [Hero's Life After Mari]

A Post-Good Ending series focusing on Hero finding healing and building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters. Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship, Hero & Aubrey Friendship, Hero & Basil Friendship, Hero & Sunny Friendship, and Hero & His Family.

Prequel: "Am I Ready For Love? Or Maybe Just A Best Friend" [Hero Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, & Slice of Life; Post-Good Ending. Special emphasis on Past Hero/Mari (Angst) and Hero's platonic friendships with his college friends (Brandi & OCs) in the present. Could be Hero/OC if you really wanted to see it, but this work focuses on their platonic friendship] (**intended to be read prior to "When Sun Shines Again"**) [A/N: originally posted on main]

⛅️"When Sun Shines Again" MASTERLIST ⛅️

Links to Some More Content Created By Us:

Hero Content:

Hero Character Analysis and Some "Post-Truth" Headcanons (feat. some songs that suit Hero) [reblogged from main]

"Hearts for Hero" Headcanon Request Event Masterlist

Hero Birthday Art

Hero Platonic Relationships Poll

What Hero's Attempts to Comfort Sunny on the Night of "Two Days Left" Tell Us About His Character [Analysis Post]

Hero-Centric Fics:

2 AM -- Hero, Kel, and Aubrey discover the aftermath of Sunny and Basil's fight...

300 Profiteroles -- Hero, Bowen, and Daphne Friendship Fluff & Slice of Life (Post-Good Ending)

Hero Character Analysis Posts Masterlist

HeroMari Content: 💙💜

HeroMari Headcanons and a Song [reblogged from main]

HeroMari Sketchdump [reblogged from main]

HeroMari Fics:

More Than Words (Pre-Canon HeroMari Fluff)

Some Things Are Meant To Be (HeroMari College AU)

Hero and Kel's Brotherly Bond Content: 💙🧡

Brothers Headcanons Request Event Masterlist

Brothers Centric Fic:

Tell Me Where It Hurts -- Hero and Kel Brotherly Hurt/Comfort and Angst Pre-Canon

Hero and Sunny's Friendship Content: 💙💛

Sunny and Hero's Friendship Headcanons (Mod Sprinkles' Birthday Event) Masterlist

💙CURRENT EVENT: Interview Questions Ask Game (the questions don't need to be about OCs. You can ask for canon characters too!)

Currently working on our remaining Hero Ficlet Requests. We are (unfortunately) very slow writers. Thank you for being patient!

(The banner of this post and this blog's pfp include official OMORI art and are edited by us)

[cerbe-r-us]

I think it's interesting that all the examples provided so far on how to keep guys from falling down alt-right pipeline is having other men help them unlearn their bad habits/behaviours together. Patriarchy enforces strict cishet-centric dynamics that isolates men from having any platonic relationships after all, which encourages them to see every man as competition and every woman as a prize, making any critique of their behavior afterwards come off as an attack on their person. So getting a guy to value the constructive advice of left-wing men over the self-soothing "you did nothing wrong" rhetoric of right-wing men relies on them accepting that they may have some Issues™️ to work on.

I do think there's also a major issue with men hearing talk about the patriarchy as a system and treating it as a personal attack due to having some of the habits/behaviour being critiqued, making it harder to point out even basic issues.

I've seen a lot of left-leaning women attempt to help the men in their life work on some of their issues with the love and compassion I've seen men beg for only to have said men getting sexual with them because they see any positive interaction from women as flirting and/or get aggressive upon realizing that the relationship is going to stay platonic, which in turn drives women away and leaves the guy in prime position to be taken down alt-right pipelines. And when you conflate extremist feminism views (ex: radfems/TERFS) with the straight up concept of feminism like a lot of right-wing conservatives do, then ofc everything a woman says sounds like an attack or "woke SJW madness" whose words have to be filtered through, like. A Master Chief AI voice to get men to engage with it meaningfully. This also leads to both sides ignoring other types of marginalization that might be impacting them and forming any kind of intersectionality or community. (ex: autistic men may be treated poorly for being too emotional or childish, disabled men may be treated poorly for not being able to work anymore, black men may be treated like a threat more often than their white peers regardless of behavior, etc.)

Personally, a good rule of thumb to district between constructive vs destructive criticism is to see if a person assigns all the blame/responsibility on one group for inherently existing. For example, if someone says that all men are violent predators who shouldn't exist, they're ignoring the actual issue (boys are less likely to be taught proper sexual conduct and boundaries) and ignoring the chance to constructively address it (teach boys proper sexual conduct and boundaries) by placing the blame on someone's sex/gender instead.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[gravitascivics]

CRITQUE OF THE NATURAL RIGHTS VIEW, VII

This blog is currently critiquing the construct that more than any other is dominant in defining what governance and politics are for most Americans – that being the natural rights view.  In general, the critique centers on natural rights’ diminution of community.  That is, it presents politics as a consumer-based activity with little to no communal or common concerns.

         Along this line, educators have adopted certain concepts and paradigms that further this bias by compounding the prevailing individualism, anti-intellectualism, and temporal view of the American people and what they are about.  They have been poorly instructed about the historical turns and forces that led to the current state of affairs.  

These forces, in part, met their loosely “scientific” foundation in the psychology of humanistic learning theory, a theoretical base highly in tune with the elements of the natural rights perspective in that it focuses on individual perceptions and emotions.

 Humanistic learning theory is grounded in the philosophy of humanistic theories of psychology, including person-centered theory … Primary contributors to humanistic learning theory include Arthur Combs, Carl Rogers, and Malcolm Knowles, all of whom believed the goal of education is to facilitate students’ development and self-actualization … Therefore, humanist educators have an unwavering trust in the individual’s growth capacity and view self-directed learning as most facilitative of growth … Additionally, humanistic theorists hold a phenomenological view of humans in that they believe each person’s view of the world is reality for that person and that learning is motivated by personal need based on one’s internal frame of reference … For example, a student with low self-efficacy might not attempt difficult projects because of a belief that “I am not capable,” whereas a student with a high level of self-trust can go beyond the direct instructions of an assignment to tailor the assignment to fit their learning needs. Highly self-actualized individuals view themselves as dynamic beings who are constantly growing and changing …[1]

To summarize: what the concerned parties have had is a history that glorified individuals in their quest to obtain economic well-being.  A national philosophy has taken hold that demeans thought and reflection and has made the here and now all important.  Add to this mix a generally accepted psychological school of thought that leads to the idea that all of these biases are natural and lodged in the nature of humans.

         Basing their propositions on studies basically done with clinical patients, adherents to this perceptional-ist psychology apply clinical techniques to helping services such as education.  Relying on the ideas of two leading humanistic learning theorists, Carl Rogers[2] and Arthur Combs,[3] their main argument is that behavior is a product of perception; that dysfunctional people in the US society act that way because they have low self-regard for themselves.

         Health for these people is a product of, first, freeing themselves of social definitions about who they are or what they should be about, and, second, to get them to define their own standards of what is good and proper. What is important in treating these people is not so much their psychological background, but their immediate behaviors and feelings they express.  Humanistic learning advocates then, in applying this line of reason to schools, advocate a curriculum that:

 1.    Is characterized by a warm atmosphere in which the teacher is helper, communicating a warm positive acceptance, and demonstrating empathetic understanding;

2.    Never communicates that a student cannot accomplish the objectives set forth (making evaluation very problematic);

3.    Provides problems that are relevant to the student (preferably identified by the student); and

4.    Encourages the student to define his or her own sense of morality (they speak of responsible choices, but this does not seem to be defined).

 Of late, the self-esteem movement in American schools is a direct product of the humanistic learning psychology.  While the viability of this bias varies over time, it has held a central commitment to date.

           So, whatever can be wrong with this mode or approach to teaching?  Only a Grinch can object to such an approach.  Before this blogger attempts to get into the negative aspects of this view, he wishes to express a tempered support for its prescribed educational claims and advocacies.  Yes, it is good to treat students with dignity, justice, and an upbeat approach that is encouraging of their efforts.  

But in all that, teachers need to be honest and respectful for the legitimate demands of the society in which they ply their trade.  And in that, humanistic learning theory tends to cut some corners.  And in conducting their interactions with students, effective teachers should not portray to their students false messaging that might sound more acceptable to their students, but in sum will not be beneficial.  The next posting will expound on these concerns.

[1] Katherine E. Purswell, “Humanistic Learning Theory in Counselor Education,” The Professional Counselor, 9, 4 (2019), 358-368, 359, accessed February 27, 2023, https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Pages_358-368-Purswell-Humanistic_Learning_Theory_in_Counselor_Education.pdf.

[2] Carl Rogers, “Learning to Be Free,” in Readings in Curriculum, edited by Glen Hass, Kimball Wiles, and Joseph Bondi (Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1970), 219-239.

[3] Arthur W. Combs, “Seeing Is Behaving,” in Readings in Curriculum, edited by Glen Hass, Kimball Wiles, and Joseph Bondi (Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1970), 210-219.

[duckprintspress]

Giving Quality, Motivating Feedback

A guest post by @shealynn88!

The new writer in your writing group just sent out their latest story and it’s...not exciting. You know it needs work, but you’re not sure why, or where they should focus.

This is the blog post for you!

Before we get started, it’s important to note that this post isn’t aimed at people doing paid editing work. In the professional world, there are developmental editors, line editors, and copy editors, who all have a different focus. That is not what we’re covering here. Today, we want to help you informally give quality, detailed, encouraging feedback to your fellow writers.

The Unwritten Rules

Everyone seems to have a different understanding of what it means to beta, edit, or give feedback on a piece, so it’s best to be on the same page with your writer before you get started.

Think about what type of work you’re willing and able to do, how much time you have, and how much emotional labor you’re willing to take on. Then talk to your writer about their expectations.

Responsibilities as an editor/beta may include:

Know what the author’s expectation is and don’t overstep. Different people in different stages of writing are looking for, and will need, different types of support. It’s important to know what pieces of the story they want feedback on. If they tell you they don’t want feedback on dialogue, don’t give them feedback on dialogue. Since many terms are ambiguous or misunderstood, it may help you to use the list of story components in the next section to come to an agreement with your writer on what you’ll review.

Don’t offer expertise you don’t have. If your friend needs advice on their horse book and you know nothing about horses, be clear that your read through will not include any horse fact checking. Don’t offer grammar advice if you’re not good at grammar. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give feedback on things you do notice, but don’t misrepresent yourself, and understand your own limits.

Give positive and constructive feedback. It is important for a writer to know when something is working well. Don’t skimp on specific positive feedback — this is how you keep writers motivated. On the other hand, giving constructive feedback indicates where there are issues. Be specific on what you’re seeing and why it’s an issue. It can be hard for someone to improve if they don’t understand what’s wrong.

Be clear about your timing and availability, and provide updates if either changes. Typically, you’ll be doing this for free, as you’re able to fit it in your schedule. But it can be nerve wracking to hand your writing over for feedback and then hear nothing. For everyone’s sanity, keep the writer up to date on your expected timeline and let them know if you’re delayed for some reason. If you cannot complete the project for them, let them know. This could be for any reason — needing to withdraw, whatever the cause, is valid! It could be because working with the writer is tough, you don’t enjoy the story, life got tough, you got tired, etc. All of that is fine; just let them know that you won’t be able to continue working on the project.

Be honest if there are story aspects you can’t be objective about. Nearly all of your feedback is going to be personal opinion. There are some story elements that will evoke strong personal feelings. They can be tropes, styles, specific characterizations, or squicks. In these cases, ask the writer to get another opinion on that particular aspect, or, if you really want to continue, find similar published content to review and see if you can get a better sense of how other writers have handled it.

Don’t get personal. Your feedback should talk about the characters, the narrator, the plotline, the sentence structure, or other aspects of the story. Avoid making ‘you’ statements or judgements, suggested or explicit, in your feedback. Unless you’re looking at grammar or spelling, most of the feedback you’ll have will be your opinion. Don’t present it as fact.

Your expectations of the writer/friend/group member you are working with may include:

Being gracious in accepting feedback. A writer may provide explanations for an issue you noticed or seek to discuss your suggestions. However, if they constantly argue with you, that may be an indicator to step back.

Being responsible for emotional reactions to getting feedback. While getting feedback can be hard on the ego and self esteem, that is something the writer needs to work on themselves. While you can provide reassurance and do emotional labor if you’re comfortable, it is also very reasonable to step back if the writer isn’t ready to do that work.

Making the final choice regarding changes to the work. The writer should have a degree of confidence in accepting or rejecting your feedback based on their own sense of the story. While they may consult you on this, the onus is on them to make changes that preserve the core of the story they want to tell.

Some people aren’t ready for feedback, even though they’re seeking it. You’re not signing up to be a psychologist, a best friend, or an emotional support editor. You can let people know in advance that these are your expectations, or you can just keep them in mind for your own mental health. As stated above, you can always step back from a project, and if writers aren’t able to follow these few guidelines, it might be a good time to do that. (It’s also worth making sure that, as a writer, you’re able to give these things to your beta/editor.)

Specificity is Key

One of the hardest things in editing is pinning down the ‘whys’ of unexciting work, so let’s split the writing into several components and talk about evaluations you can make for each one.

You can also give this list to your writer ahead of time as a checklist, to see which things they want your feedback on.

Generally, your goal is going to be to help people improve incrementally. Each story they write should be better than the previous one, so you don’t need to go through every component for every story you edit. Generally, I wouldn’t suggest more than 3 editing rounds on any single story that isn’t intended for publication. Think of the ‘many pots’ theory — people who are honing their craft will improve more quickly by writing a lot of stories instead of incessantly polishing one.

With this in mind, try addressing issues in the order below, from general to precise. It doesn’t make sense to critique grammar and sentence structure if the plot isn’t solid, and it can be very hard on a writer to get feedback on all these components at once. If a piece is an early or rough draft, try evaluating no more than four components at a time, and give specific feedback on what does and doesn’t work, and why.

High Level Components

Character arc/motivation:

Does each character have a unique voice, or do they all sound the same?

In dialogue, are character voices preserved? Do they make vocabulary and sentence-structure choices that fit with how they’re being portrayed?

Does each character have specific motivations and focuses that are theirs alone?

Does each character move through the plot naturally, or do they seem to be shoehorned/railroaded into situations or decisions for the sake of the plot? Be specific about which character actions work and which don’t. Tell the writer what you see as their motivation/arc and why—and point out specific lines that indicate that motivation to you.

Does each character's motivation seem to come naturally from your knowledge of them?

Are you invested (either positively or negatively) in the characters? If not, why not? Is it that they have nothing in common with you? Do you not understand where they’re coming from? Are they too perfect or too unsympathetic?

Theme:

It’s a good idea to summarize the story and its moral from your point of view and provide that insight to the writer. This can help them understand if the points they were trying to make come through. The theme should tie in closely with the character arcs. If not, provide detailed feedback on where it does and doesn’t tie in.

Plot Structure:

For most issues with plot structure, you can narrow them down to pacing, characterization, logical progression, or unsatisfying resolution. Be specific about the issues you see and, when things are working well, point that out, too.

Is there conflict that interests you? Does it feel real?

Is there a climax? Do you feel drawn into it?

Do the plot points feel like logical steps within the story?

Is the resolution tied to the characters and their growth? Typically this will feel more real and relevant and satisfying than something you could never have seen coming.

Is the end satisfying? If not, is it because you felt the end sooner and the story kept going? Is it because too many threads were left unresolved? Is it just a matter of that last sentence or two being lackluster?

Point Of View:

Is the point of view clear and consistent?

Is the writing style and structure consistent with that point of view? For example, if a writer is working in first person or close third person, the style of the writing should reflect the way the character thinks. This extends to grammar, sentence structure, general vocabulary and profanity outside of the dialogue.

If there is head hopping (where the point of view changes from chapter to chapter or section to section), is it clear in the first few sentences whose point of view you’re now in? Chapter headers can be helpful, but it should be clear using structural, emotional, and stylistic changes that you’re with a new character now.

Are all five senses engaged? Does the character in question interact with their environment in realistic, consistent ways that reflect how people actually interact with the world?

Sometimes the point of view can feel odd if it’s too consistent. Humans don’t typically think logically and linearly all the time, so being in someone’s head may sometimes be contradictory or illogical. If it’s too straightforward, it might not ‘feel’ real.

Be specific about the areas that don’t work and break them down based on the questions above.

Pacing:

Does the story jump around, leaving you confused about what took place when?

Do some scenes move quickly where others drag, and does that make sense within the story?

If pacing isn’t working, often it’s about the level of detail or the sentence structure. Provide detailed feedback about what you care about in a given scene to help a writer focus in.

Setting:

Is the setting clear and specific? Writing with specific place details is typically more rooted, interesting, and unique. If you find the setting vague and/or uninteresting and/or irrelevant, you might suggest replacing vague references — ‘favorite band’, ‘coffee shop on the corner’, ‘the office building’ — with specific names to ground the setting and make it feel more real.

It might also be a lack of specific detail in a scene that provides context beyond the characters themselves. Provide specific suggestions of what you feel like you’re missing. Is it in a specific scene, or throughout the story? Are there scenes that work well within the story, where others feel less grounded? Why?

Low Level Components

Flow/Sentence Structure:

Sentence length and paragraph length should vary. The flow should feel natural.

When finding yourself ‘sticking’ on certain sentences, provide specific feedback on why they aren’t working. Examples are rhythm, vocabulary, subject matter (maybe something is off topic), ‘action’ vs ‘explanation’, passive vs. active voice.

Style/Vocabulary:

Writing style should be consistent with the story — flowery prose works well for mythic or historical pieces and stories that use that type of language are typically slower moving. Quick action and short sentences are a better fit for murder mysteries, suspense, or modern, lighter fiction.

Style should be consistent within the story — it may vary slightly to show how quickly action is happening, but you shouldn’t feel like you’re reading two different stories.

SPAG (Spelling and Grammar):

Consider spelling and grammar in the context of the point of view, style and location of the story (eg, England vs. America vs. Australia).

If a point of view typically uses incorrect grammar, a SPAG check will include making sure that it doesn’t suddenly fall into perfect grammar for a while. In this case, consistency is going to be important to the story feeling authentic.

Word Count Requirements:

If the story has been written for a project, bang, anthology, zine, or other format that involves a required word count minimum or maximum, and the story is significantly over or under the aimed-for word count (30% or more/less), it may not make sense to go through larger edits until the sizing is closer to requirements. But, as a general rule, I’d say word count is one of the last things to worry about.

*

The best thing we can do for another writer is to keep them writing. Every single person will improve if they keep going. Encouragement is the most important feedback of all.

I hope this has helped you think about how you provide feedback. Let us know if you have other tips or tricks! This works best as a collaborative process where we all can support one another!

[sofiadragon]

And now an argument for why we can't encourage concrit in the comments!

My last post was all about why we should allow and expect concrit in comments and people can opt-out if they don't want any the same way we post up DNI requests, and was mostly a discussion about the change in online culture. Now for why we really shouldn't encourage concrit and have a strong stance against it.

Concrit isn't fun to receive, even if it is supportive and kind and all the best practices of leaving constructive commentary. It can be discouraging when you did something just for the fun of it for someone to point out a flaw, and there is a sliding scale for what is and isn't criticism that, unfortunately, we can never have a consensus on because the internet is big, international, and constantly changing. One person thinks critique is when a typo is pointed out, another thinks critique means talking about the core plot and characterization. The baseline should be don't say anything but simple praise unless deeper commentary is specifically solicited from you, and no the comment box being unmoderated is not a welcome mat.

To use the overused cookie metaphor: Someone gave you a free cookie. This is not an invitation to ask them all about why they put raisins in it or start a deep discussion about how they made it. Just tell them it was nice or drop it in the bin silently.

Now, that metaphor is a little underbaked when there is a box sitting next to the person giving out free cookies where you can leave feedback, but just like in the other post I want to stress that we already know and agree that being rude or a troll is just not constructive criticism in the first place. Concrit is supposed to be supportive and contain something useful.

But the point here is that too many people will take the opportunity of accepting feedback to be a troll or say something rude, demanding, or entitled rather than trying to start a conversation or point out a helpful tip - and a lot of people just don't want feedback even if they leave the box there, because it's just a hobby.

I had a personal experience that was absolutely horrendous. If you want more details, I shall send you to a Doctor Who Fanfic that I posted on AO3 in 2016, but originally wrote on LiveJournal around 2013 and posted to AO3 several years later. Look at those comments. Look at those unsolicited ten page comments. I will provide select quotes here as well, but know that this started on LiveJournal and most of the polite run-up to these monsters was over there.

Please don't harass this person, I took care of it a while ago. They use several names, versions of their LiveJournal handle and their AO3 one - and not always while logged in. It is fairly clear it is the same person with the tone and legnth of comments.

This person started out with a nice comment with a lot of excited energy and some suggestions. I engaged with them, responding politely. The comments were long, but not offensive to me - as in the other post, I did join fandom in the 90's when deep dive comments and constructive critique was normal. I did not at that time state in the notes or anywhere else that I welcomed constructive commentary, that would never have occurredto me as something I should do before about 2021. [I am mixing up terms on purpose, there is no functional difference in these terms in casual speech and most casual readers will never know any difference in the shades of meaning.] This is the opening line of an early responce to the comments crossing the line, note the date this story was last updated in 2019 and has an ending that resolves the main conflict:

Now, you might say that by engaging with them like this I solicited additional commentary. That is absolutely how this entitled reader saw things, but I want to stress that this was a progression and I am chatty in the comments of all my fics. I was gently suggesting that if they have ideas this plentiful they should go write their own story, which I do several times on AO3 and LiveJournal. The comments on LJ started short and kind, and it was only when I left a big time skip and ended the story that things exploded from a long comment once a month or three over there to several in a day every day for a week on AO3 (I ended it abruptly, I admit, because I ran out of motivation for it when I ran out of River Song salt. I can take someone saying the ending was rushed and they wish there was more. That doesn't make... this... acceptable.)

There are other long comments from other people that point to specific passages and make specific commentary about what is in the story and ask what I was thinking or even disagree with a choice I made. It is over the line when it becomes about things that aren't in the story and becomes demanding more than curious:

This is just a fairly random selection from the last comment before I froze all the threads and told them to back off, which is all about things that aren't in the fic that they want in the fic. The story details say it had been marked complete for three years at this point, and they are making demands about additional chapters. In fact, I added a chapter after marking it complete, so it had been marked complete for about six months longer than the stats suggest, and they knew that! You don't get a vote on the next track that gets played, hun, the DJ had a set playlist and party was over last week. This went so far off the rails and it was painful to read. There has to be more than 10k words just in the last round of comments on AO3 - and they were on my inactive LiveJournal leaving additional comments that were just as long at the same time!

I ended the onslaught thusly:

Again, please don't hunt this person down. I am using an example from my own fanfic to show that having a community stance that concrit is always OK is just not practical. People will abuse it with entitled nonsense like this, and while this was arguably solicited by my replies (even though I don't think I ever asked them for more critique and made it clear that the story was, you know, complete) I have gotten unsolicited critical comments on... I want to say every fic I shared publicly going back to 1998, and I only added explicit welcome of concrit to certain stories starting in 2021.

So this will happen anyway, you have to accept that if the comment box is open someone will chuck some trash in there occasionally, but we shouldn't encourage it by having a culture where critique of fan works is considered the norm. There are just too many trolls who will feel enabled to go on entitled screeching rants if we do.

Now, I've got 9 options on the poll (+ just gimme results) but I'll be real: my opinion in 2023 comes down somewhere between the opt-in and opt-out stances.

Hey fanfiction loving friend!

AO3 has the ability to turn off comments, moderate comments, restrict comments to logged in users only, or let anyone comment on your story. Most other fanfiction hosting websites do not allow comments to be turned off and in the case of some (wattpad) highly encourage comments even on individual paragraphs.

Over on reddit, someone said it is an unwritten rule of fanfiction that you should never leave a negative or critical comment on a story. This was countered most strongly by many arguments. Despite many people asserting that their stance was the one truth and that there was no debate on the topic - there was a lot of debate about what criticism even is and where the line should be for if giving concrit is alright.

So give this some thought:

If you have tea to spill, examples or an argument you want to make, please do. I have some that go both ways, but I'm going to wait for a few responses so I don't pre-empt the results. I'm not going to vote myself for a while, either, so I won't know which way the poll is leaning when I do pour my tea. I tried to cover all the flavors of debate I've seen in the many "definitive" posts I have read here and on reddit. Please reblog for a wider sample!

[shoutoismybaby]

Omega Shame Part 2

Part 1 / Part 3

Thank you guys for all your interest! It made me super happy to see so many people excited about my writing, so I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for the last part soon!

Warnings: Angst, depression, mentions of fighting (bc hero training)

***

The classroom didn't smell right.  Not only was your serotonin inducing scent the class had gotten accustomed to in the past couple months missing, but a certain caramel smell had a hint of burnt rubber and ash to it. Despite some of the girls hearing commotion coming from your room, you didn’t answer their calls or knocks, so no one knew what was going on. The only knowledge the class had was that you weren’t in class and Bakugou was upset. Well, more upset than he usually was.

Even his best friends, whether or not he would admit that’s what they were to him, would earn growls and bared teeth if they got too close. Other than that though, Bakugou was generally unresponsive. Only caring when people got too close, but he didn’t respond when Aizawa called on him, or when the lunch bell rang. Only shoving the teachers hand off his shoulder when he came to check up on the blond.

Bakugou was just too caught up in his thoughts to really be aware of his surroundings as he followed his class aimlessly to the cafeteria.

Even though his body was in the P.E Training grounds, his brain was back in time to your dorm room. Back when your body began to tremble at the sight of him, the way salty tears rushed from your eyes when he started to speak. Your throat squeaking as you begged him to spare the nest you had constructed. It was beautifully made, if you had asked him. The way your soft blankets were woven together with your favorite weekend clothes, pillows being used to stable the walls. It looked incredibly comfortable.

Bakugou knew that Omegas could get upset if their nest was intruded without permission. But he also knew he was nowhere near your circular haven. Yet, you were crying, shaking, and begging.

It was then that it dawned on the hothead that you were scared of him. His omega was Terrified of him. It made his heart beat erratically, how could he make someone he cared about so scared of him? Especially his own omega. It was his job to keep you safe, to take care of you and make sure you were comfortable. You trusted him to fulfill this role, but you thought he was going to destroy your nest?

It made Bakugous’ buzz in confusion. It made no sense that you would be freaking out just because your alpha walked in your room.

Unless you weren't even his omega by choice. What if you just accepted his courting gift because you were afraid he would hurt you? He had been told multiple times throughout his life that he needed to stop being so aggressive,  that he would scare omegas away, but he had always brushed those comments off. He had thought that he would find someone who liked him despite his anger, and he thought you were that person.

Clearly, though, you were too fearful of him to even reject his proposal. Your trembling body inside of your nest was undeniable proof of that. You were too scared to even tell him you were nesting, and if the sight was evidence enough you didn’t seem to have or want his scent anywhere close to your nest. He should have noticed it before. What kind of alpha scared those they were supposed to protect?

You probably just got off of your meds to make him happy too. You had made so many sacrifices to keep him happy, and the thought of that made his blood boil. He had been a terrible alpha to you. He had to end this, he couldn’t put you through anymore pain. His inner alpha cried at the thought of having hurt you.

His large hand moved towards his opposite wrist, gently shimmying the bracelet that sat on it off. It was your courting gift to him, since you insisted on making him something in return. It was simple, made of skillfully twisted threads in his hero costume colors. His heart had skipped a beat the moment you presented it to him, not that he would tell anyone that. Especially not now, not when all the memories he shared with you were put into perspective.

He remembered how it felt as though the threads burnt his skin on its way past. How it dragged his heart down with it as it fell to the floor. Since then, he felt numb to the outside world. It didn’t matter how many times Kirishima tried to get him involved in their 1-1 match, he mostly just stood there, letting his instincts do the bare minimum to protect his body.

“Come on man!” His body dodged another hit just enough before slacking again, causing the redheaded alpha to growl. “You’re not responding to anything and you smell, honestly bad bro. What’s going on with you!?”

The only thing “going on” in Katsuki’s brain was replaying the pain in your eyes over and over. Replaying how you were scared, no, terrified of the person who was supposed to protect you. His omega wasn’t his omega anymore, and his alpha felt broken. He felt alone.

He could only focus on how he failed to do his basic duties. How he failed you. Everyone had been right when they critiqued his anger. He was too aggressive to deserve an Omega. Clearly he couldn’t treat one right no matter how much their smile made serotonin speed through his brain. If he couldn’t protect you from himself it was ridiculous to think he would do anything but fuck up protecting Japan from villains. He was a terrible alpha who couldn’t even treat an Omega properly, so what was the point? He wasn’t even good at his innate purpose.

By now Kirishima was getting desperate. All day his best friend had been growing more and more despondent, and he was scared for what that meant. He just needed Bakugou to talk to him, Kirishima wanted to be reassured that he was okay. And he had an idea of how to pull Bakugou back into the present, even if he didn’t like it.

“I don’t want to do this but, I’m really worried about you. Bakugou is this about (Y/n)?” The blondes alpha perked up at the mention of your name, drawing Bakugou’s head up with it.

“The girls said something happened in (Y/n)’s room last night and,” He hesitated, ruby eyes falling to Bakugou's large wrists. “You’re not wearing the courting bracelet she made for you anymore”

His words caused a whimper to leave Katsukis throat. Kirishima had no idea what kind of pain that reminder brought to Bakugou, but he could guess. The way the blonds hands clenched and brows furrowed made Kirishima's heart drop, he hated bringing up things that could hurt Katsuki. But he could only fix the problem if he knew what was wrong, and for that he needed Bakugou to talk to him.

“Did, did you guys break up?” Kirishima kept his distance, afraid of what Bakugou would do once he snapped out of his trance. But all Bakugou did was begin to shake, blinking furiously as he became aware of his surroundings once again along with the hot tears that flooded his eyes. Kirishima ran towards his friend then, placing a hand on the other alphas shoulder in a hope to be any bit comforting without overwhelming his friend. He analyzed the way Bakugous nose scrunched, causing his large canines to show as the first sob burst out of his trembling frame. It was so powerful that the blond lost his balance, falling into the stunned redheads arms. Face tucked into his friends chest, shielded from the attention his sobs were bringing from his entire class.

“Bakugou…” Kirishima ran his hands up and down Bakugous back gently feeling the way the blond fisted his shirt in desperation, “What happened? You can tell me.”

“I’m a terrible alpha,” Bakugous voice was shaky and Kirishima almost felt guilty at how relieved he was to hear it. “No you’re not man, wha-” “Yes I am!” Bakugous voice reached the same volume as his sobs that interrupted his speech. “She thought that I was going to destroy her nest, she was scared of me. I was supposed to defend her when really I’m the one she wanted protection from.”

Krishima didn’t know how to respond to what his friend said. Eyes too wide in confusion as he looked towards his teacher for answers. You had always been absolutely smitten with Bakugou, just his presence in the room made it seem like you radiated love and positivity. It didn’t seem that Bakugou needed any further encouragement to continue though, as his next statement sent ice down the spines of the whole class.

“I failed as an alpha… I don’t want to be alive anymore.” All Bakugou wanted to do in that moment was curl up and die. He didn’t have a purpose anymore, so he didn’t see the point of existing. It was then that his body seemed to shut back down in order to conserve energy, he began to slack in Kirishima's arms leaving him sitting on the ground despite the redheads' many protests. The revelation of how his best friend felt bringing tears to his own eyes, and a recognition to his teachers.

“Aizawa, what's happening to Bakugou?” Kirishima asked, struggling to hold himself together as he knelt in front of his friend. Bakugou’s eyes seemed more void of life than ever as he stared aimlessly at Kirishima's shirt.

“Someone call Recovery Girl, I fear that Bakugou has developed an Alpha depression.”

***

Tag List:

@pasteldana-blog @fandomtrash1616 @cyntinaaa @my-neighbor-todoro @anime-weeb-bnha @professionalreblogs @thenerdyrebel @weeb-reading-trash @procrastinatingmurder @myherotrashbin @spicyfoodboi @tspice283 @inumorph @rubyreds-stuff @mscarterakaviola98 @arcticsakura

[thecharlestonroyalfamily]

Here’s the thing about the royal simblr drama..

So I feel like I’m a fairly neutral party in the middle of all this drama (kinda fitting considering that’s what I build my nation as as well). I know and have worked on my story both with the people accused and those who haven’t. All of them are lovely people who I’ve enjoyed working with and who gave me no hard time. Now sadly I’ve found out that this isn't the case for everyone. However as I too care about this community I want to help and make it a better place.

Here are some points of observation from someone with years of studying and first hand experience in psychology about the situation: (It’s a long post)

1. The “cliques”. Now we as humans naturally tend to form “cliques”; groups of like minded people who we share interests with. This is completely normal and nothing to be ashamed off. And we as people also tend to not get along with everyone. This too is also fine and completely normal. It is completely okay and acceptable to vent about people/things/concepts you don’t like or find annoying to your friends. We all do it. Yes, even as adults, cause guess what we don’t all get along and that is fine. Is this an excuse to treat someone like shit? No and that’s where the problem begins. 

2. Power corrupts. Shortly when we as humans are placed in a position of power aka a situation where we feel we have the upper hand or are in some form “above” others it gets to our heads (take the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment as an example). Now I’m not saying that these people necessarily think themselves better, I’m saying that with bigger follower number and more influence your behavior might change. Maybe they don’t even consider themselves being mean or gatekeeping.

3. Original ideas. There is no such thing as an original idea. All of us have had our stories inspired by other stories, real or fiction, to some extend. However this does NOT mean you can flat out copy someone else’s storyline. But what is counted as copying? If you take another creators scene, plotline, etc. and add it your story without making any or barely any changes THEN you’re copying. “But I have a scene just like XXX and now I’m being blamed for copying.” If you didn’t intentionally do it, it’s not malicious copying and you can still fix it. If you’re unsure talk it over with the other blog and/or just re-take the pictures from a different angle or re-write dialogue. Being inspired by others if fine! Just know and learn the difference between inspiration and copying.

4. Gatekeeping. Now this is a tad tricky. You see those who first started telling royal simblr stories, and in doing so created this community, might have had or might still have ideas and wishes for what this community looks like. However since this community is this large it’s simply impossible to have those wished granted. We all have different sets of skills and amount of time to put into our stories. While to some this is like making their own book or tv show, others just want to take pretty pictures of sims in grand palaces and tiaras. Both of these approaches are fine and valid! The problem is that when you hold something in high value to yourself and see someone else just “mess around” with it you feel hurt. How can they not take this seriously?! But the thing is they are, just as you. They just have a different set of goals and motivation for their story. Not every book is a bestseller and that is okay.

5. False positivity. False positivity helps no one however there’s a difference between being falsely positive and being supportive. The main difference? What you wanted out of the conversation. A person looking for criticism to improve their work does not want or benefit from just supportive comments alone! If that’s all they get they’ll get frustrated and that’s where bad feeling towards other start. Same thing other other side, a person looking for encouragement does not want criticism! What they need is your thumbs up emojis and a few positive words. If they get unasked for critique they don’t receive it as such, to them it’s easily just bullying. 

How to fix the situation:

Now please note that these are just MY individual ideas. There’s no simple solution to this and it surely doesn’t happen over night but change can be made.

1. Make two separate channels on the server; CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM and ENGOURAGEMENT. Those looking for support can choose which variety they want and need. Now this also means that if you go to the criticism channel that’s what you’ll get! Everyone needs to take personal responsibility on this and not go on the channels they don’t want. If you don’t want criticism from complete strangers DM a friend, or ask a specific creator if they’d have the time to give you critique. 

2. Own what you’ve said, and apologize. Those that have said mean words need to own up to them, apologize from the individuals affected and stop. Private messages shared between friends is fine (it’s human nature), however if your discussions revolve around judging and/or belittling others you might want to reconsider. Also if you’re not directly involved or asked keep your opinions to yourself. No one likes unsolicited comments.

3. NO MORE GATEKEEPING! Now this is should be obvious to everyone. This is a community which means people are going to do things differently. Don’t follow blogs who’s stories you’re not interested in. Don’t send anon hate cause you don’t like what they do. Unlearn the idea that there’s only one way to tell a royal simblr story. If you can’t do that, grow up.

4. Say no. If you don’t want to collab with someone say no. Seriously. Going around this will only create more behind the scenes trash talking. And if you’re told no, accept it. Most of us are adults, we can or at least should be able to handle a no. It sucks when the other person doesn’t share our enthusiasm for an idea but that happens. With so many stories out there sadly not all of them are going to align. Luckily we’re a big community so the odds that someone out there likes your idea is quite large! Which brings me to the last point 5. Keep an open mind. As said we’re a big community of different people from all over the world. We come from multiple ethnicities, religions and countries, we’re individuals of different sexualities and genders. We all have our own set of ideals and ideas we’d like to see. We’re storytellers and readers, weavers of massive intricate worlds, or people who just like to keep it simple. Our difference is a richness. You might not like every idea but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. Let people be and do their thing.

So that’s it for me. I hope I didn’t cross any lines with this. Thank you for taking the time to read what has been the longest Ani’s rambling ever. Let’s work towards a more healthy and welcoming community. My asks and anons are on.

Love, Ani

[quaranmine]

This was part of the Beacon Newsletter that Hermitcraft Reddit posts once a week, a few weeks back regarding the negative S8 posts. Thought you might want it.

Curtailing Critiques of Content. We've had several threads critiquing S8 since it ended last month. At this point we're not going to accept any more of them as the Hermits have started to get pretty testy about the downer feedback and they already get the point. If you have something constructive to contribute about how much you disliked the experimental season, please search out one of the existing threads and leave a comment instead. Also it's worth remembering that while a vocal portion of the Reddit contingent of the fandom may take a dim view of the roleplaying, other parts of the community on other social media sites loved it. Don't fall for the echo chamber effect.

NOOOOO THIS GENUINELY BREAKS MY HEART,,,,

like im glad that the mods have put an end to those posts (and r/hermitcraft always seemed to have pretty tight modding so im sure they *are* deleting them), but what i find heartbreaking here is that it says the hermits "already get the point." THATS NOT THE POINT I WANT THEM TO GET...aaaauuurghslfjslsghsl i feel so bad.

Good on the mods for mentioning that other parts of the community loved it, though. Reddit is absolutely an echo chamber. So is hermitblr, honestly, which we should be aware of at times. But at least we're being positive, encouraging, and appreciative in our echo chamber lol

this just convinces me more and more that we should start commenting on all their videos and maybe making positive posts on the subreddit. there's some posts on here that could honestly be copied and pasted (by the op, dont steal) onto the reddit that would start great discussions. people often post fanart in two places, maybe we should start posting our positive thoughts and technical/narrative analysis (like all those posts about what people appreciated about the build up and stuff)

[kiingocreative]

The Structure of Story is now available! Check it out on Amazon, via the link in our bio, or at https://kiingo.co/book

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There’s a lot of talk amongst the indie writers community about how to deal with bad reviews. I myself have had a lot of conversations on the topic to see how others handle the negative reviews they receive.

I’ve been given a lot of good advice, from looking at it from a critical standpoint, and something you can learn from, to making memes out the worst reviews you get, to completely ignoring them and never looking at them.

My History of Bad Reviews

I still remember the first couple of bad reviews I got for No Pain, No Game.The first one was from someone who couldn’t take the graphic scenes of torture and violence in the book. Though one side of my brain obsessed about how much of a failure this made and my book (…yep, I totally went there), the other part was able to rationalise the feedback. If it wasn’t for them, it was fair enough.

The second bad review I got though was brutal. The reader hated the book and everything in it and wrote a very strongly worded (and somewhat entertaining) review about it. This was a gut-punch, though thankfully by the time it happened I’d gained enough confidence in myself and in my work not to let it bring me down (or at least, not too much).

In a time where everyone’s used to hiding behind a screen, people forget that there’s an actual breathing person on the other end, with feelings as acute as their own.

And because I know how painful it is to receive a bad review, especially when you’re starting out and your confidence in your art may be fragile, I don’t leave bad reviews on others’ books. I wouldn’t lie and leave a positive reviewif I didn’t like it, I just wouldn’t leave a review at all.

I realise we focus a lot on what it’s like to be on the receiving end of bad reviews — what about the other side, I wonder? Do writers who know how crushing a bad review can feel leave negative reviews on fellow writers’ work?

It takes one to know one

In another highly unofficial poll in my Instagram stories recently (I’m loving those!) I asked people whether they leave negative reviews on books, and 62% said they don’t.

Speaking to other authors, I had a feeling that, like me, they may be able to put themselves in other writers’ shoes and be reluctant to leave negative reviews.

Jen Furlong, author of Hidden City, for instance, doesn’t leave negative reviews. ‘Authors, especially new ones need support and encouragement,’ she says. ‘I focus on what I did like about the book and how I see the author growing in future books’. If there was something she didn’t like about a book, she continues, ‘then that’s on me. Someone else probably loved it! Who am I to poo on a fellow writer’s hard work?’

For author of The Path to Resilience Severine Desrosiers, ‘feedback is paramount’ so she does give negative reviews. However, whether or not the title is an indie book or not still influences what she does: ‘ifit’s someone like myself,an indie author who is trying to get known then I wouldprobably not leavea public review. But if it’s someone like Stephen King’s latest book for example then yes because I don’t think that that will affect him as much’.

And this seems to be a recurring view — that it’s not only about leaving a negative review or not, but that there may be a distinction leaving negative reviews on indie books or books written by debut authors, versus those written by more established authors.

When asking people about this in my Instagram stories, someone said that, rather than leave a bad review, they ‘tend to leave no review when it is an indie book with less than 500 reviews’.

I thought that would be a widely spread opinion but, in my unofficial poll, I asked people just that: when deciding to leave a review or not, does it matter whether or not the book is an indie book? And 75% of respondents said it doesn’t.

The Holy Grail of Constructive Criticism

That left me a little confused, and it definitely got me thinking. When checking whether people tend to leave no review at all rather than leave a negative review, the results were inconclusive — 53% said they do, 47% said they don’t… How’s that for a divided jury!

So, most people don’t tend to leave bad reviews, and for 75% of people that decision isn’t impacted by whether or not the book’s an indie book. And there’s no clear trend on leaving a negative review versus leaving no review at all.

Digging into the matter more, however, it looks like there’s more to it than meets the eye. Because most people don’t tend to look at it as a ‘negative review’ or a ‘bad review’. What everyone’s unanimously aiming for is:

constructive criticism.

‘Bad is a relative term,’ a poll respondent said, ‘I’ve never intentionally bashed something’, it’s all ‘constructive criticism’. ‘If worded correctly’, someone else concurred, ‘I think the author can and should use it as constructive criticism and learn’.

And many authors see it that way, too. Lane Northcutt, author of The Delivery Company, says he reads all reviews, good and bad because writers have to listen to their readers. Reviews should be used as fuel for future improvement, he says: ‘I think to myself “how can I see my book through this lens?” or “is this a trend?” and go from there. […] If is a theme within many reviews, then it’s worth taking your time to see what’s going on and how to fix it’.

Alexander Michael, author of Transformations, looks at it in a similar way: ‘Writers, including myself, need to grow. But no review I write will be rude or unhelpful’.

As I was researching this, I came across a great conversation on this very topic in the comments of a post by writer Anna Sheremeteva— here’s some of what people said:

‘I don’t think I’ve ever written a bad review. The lowest rating I’ve done is 3 stars, but I was still able to point out things I liked about the book. I’d say be bold yet polite in your opinion, yet still try to find positives.’

Or again:

‘Give constructive critique and be encouraging at the same time. If it is downright terrible then I’d just not write anything. Better that than trash someone in full view of the IG community. Or maybe DM the person, but again, don’t be harsh.’

I’m sensing a trend… Could it be then that it’s not that people don’t leave ‘bad’ reviews, but that they leave ‘constructive criticism’ reviews instead?

The Right to Conflicting Opinions

In the comments on that Anna Sheremeteva's post I came across this beautifully phrased piece of feedback by a fellow author:

‘I always tell people when I hand them something I’ve written: ‘if my work sucks shit, I wanna know’. Far better to be honest and kind than to be dishonest and coddling.’

There is truth in that, for sure, which is probably why so many people seem to favour giving feedback through a review, constructively, rather than not at all or lying by leaving a falsely positive review.

I hear that, and to an extent I agree. But is all constructive criticism valid criticism? We’re told to write the books we want to write, one that will not necessarily appeal to everyone…

So by definition, some readers won’t like certain books because they simply aren’t right for them — constructive or not, is there value in such reviews, and what is to be made of them? How can we be objective in reviewing a book that simply wasn’t for us?

Reading through the conversation on that Instagram post, I see that angle crop up:

‘I feel it’s ok to have an overall negative opinion,’ someone commented. ‘I would likely find a polite way to express what I liked and didn’t like. But, one thing I’ve seen that I don’t think is very nice to do is when people rate a book based off of what they would do to change the story, not rating the story itself’.

And someone else argued: ‘Today, any topic could be controversial. I may not agree with the authors view on a particular topic, but that doesn’t mean they have no right to express it. I would say, ‘for those who like…’ this is a good read. […] There’s nothing wrong with saying: I don’t necessarily agree with the author’s views, but…’.

And I see their point. There are bound to be books we love and books we don’t. As writers, we have to accept that our work won’t float everyone’s boat. And it seems that everyone’s aligned with the idea that people are allowed their own opinions, whether or not anyone else agrees with them — as long as it’s phrased in a polite and constructive manner. As someone else commented on the post: ‘For sure write a review. Positive or negative, it’s always opinion!’

It’s All Subjective

And that’s the key word, I think. At the end of the day, reviews are just that: opinions.

They’re one person — with their upbringing, values, culture, views of the world — commenting one another person’s work — who will have their own upbringing, values, culture, views of the world. I love the way Jen Furlong puts it: ‘as a writer I find that reader reviews are a lot more about the reader than the book!’

I know from experience that receiving reviews comes with a lot of ups and downs. There’s joy to be found in the ups, and acceptance in the lows. In the words of Alexander Michael:

‘If I receive a bad review, all I need to do is realise that stories and writing are subjective. Someone is going to dislike it. BUT someone else is going to love it. Hang in there and find your clan. Good reviews, on the other hand, are a joy. It's nice to know that something that came from your mind, like a living dream, can be walked in by someone else, and hence enjoyed’.

How wonderfully put!

Bad Reviews… as a Favour?

Here’s one final thought for you, and one I hadn’t really considered until I came across these two comments on Instagram:

‘Express why YOU didn’t like it. This helps people with similar likes and disliked so they know they probably won’t like the book. So they don’t read it. So that’s one less future bad review.’

and:

‘As long as you’re coming from a place of thoughtfulness, then honesty is the way to go! Some people write poorly or write books that aren’t great. If it’s bad, you’ll be helping people not waste money. That’s a good thing.’

How about that?

Yes, constructive criticism can be helpful for authors if they decide to take it onboard. But I’d never really thought about negative reviews as preventing people unknowingly spending their money on a book they wouldn’t like (and therefore writing a bad review afterwards because they’re annoyed they spent their money on a book their didn’t like). And so by helping readers figure out whether a not a book’s for them, you’re helping the author by preventing people posting more negative reviews.

I absolutely love that. I think about the reviews I’ve written and the reviews I’ve received, and I realise — rather shamefully — that neither of these things had really crossed my mind. I thought of writing a positive review as supporting a fellow author, but I’d never considered the upsides of negative reviews like that…

It’s food for thought for me, and something I’m definitely looking to take onboard!

[aijee]

a fic author’s pet peeve

I'm coming out of self-imposed social media/fandom/general Internet hiatus to express a pet peeve as a writer on AO3. It’s a long read (and a bit of an emotionally-charged and in-the moment rant, so keep that in mind), but I encourage fic readers to read this if you have the mental bandwidth.

Dear fic readers,

Fanfic writers are exactly as described—FANfic writers. The things we publish are rarely, if ever, polished. This isn’t to say that fan works should be protected from critique (especially fan works that insensitively express problematic topics). 

But it is very irritating to see comments or bookmark notes, on my own stuff or others', that express curt, frivolous negative statements, especially when next to a similarly frivolous compliment. They aren’t malicious, but to me they showcase readers who judge fics like any other mass-produced content to consume.

“The writing was weird but I liked it overall??”

“OOC but the concept was good”

“I don’t know if the story anything amounted by the end but it was nice”

**Food for thought, but I literally don’t see responses of this nature to fan artists, so why do this to writers?

Critiques are acceptable if they are constructive and done with the author’s improvement (or education) in mind. This? This is just bland. Bookmarks like this especially annoy me because it’s such an indirect response, as if avoiding the confrontation and notification of leaving a comment; authors can’t even respond! And bookmarks are what exploring readers often see before the comments (if they bother to reading fic comments at all), which usually have much more in-depth reviews of the story.

Readers, please please please take into account the fact that you are NOT consuming something that is professionally made, created for mass consumption, or done for profit. Fan authors frequently write out of love and expression; we literally put a part of ourselves, raw and without professional editing, onto the world wide web. Even smut fics are personal because sex, kinks, and relationship dynamics are intimate; it takes a lot of guts and vulnerability to write these things and publish them.

Was the flow of writing weird? Maybe it’s not the author’s first language, or they’re still finding their style. Is it OOC for your bias to swear in an angsty fic? Maybe the author is working through an IRL problem while using their comfort character.

I got a response like the third bullet point above for a fic really personal to me, one that reflected my own real-life struggles with self-esteem and work, plus I objectively worked hard to write and edit the whole thing by myself. I know I can’t make someone understand all the metaphors and second meanings, especially since my English is understandably hard for ESL readers. But it frankly pissed me off me that all this growth and effort was just...passed over. It felt invalidating. Especially in a fic that arguably showcased something personal quite clearly. (Honestly, I just wanted to yell, “There IS growth! Did you even try to read the story outside of wondering when your ship will kiss? Do you need the growth to slap you in the face??”)

“It’s about the written work, not the author! It’s not personal!” Sometimes it isn’t, but it sure as hell CAN be personal. Fics are often a reflection of the writer using a form of media they like. We don’t have ulterior motives (like money). We aren’t making a product to sell. I can’t speak for other fic authors, but I am anything besides detached from my writing. Rule of thumb: assume it’s self expression.

“It’s just a small comment. It shouldn’t affect you so much. It’s the Internet!” First, I’m a human being, believe it or not. Negative statements affect anyone with a functioning system for emotions. Second, is it so hard to just...be nice? And to put some thought into a response for a fic you read in a fraction of the time it took to make? I’m tired of this culture of constant, mindless consumption of content without any regard for the creators behind them, especially independent creators.

I’ve expressed my fair share of critiques and suggestions for improvement on fics, but I buffer anything potentially negative with so much more positivity because I know how much more encouraging it is for a writer to get better and write MORE with positivity as your main motivation.

Most readers I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with are wonderful, appreciative creatures who make the writing process so much more enjoyable. Thoughtful readers are the lifeblood of authors. However, anyone with some form of an audience will know how demotivating and maddening that small percentage of thoughtless readers can be.

Think twice (and one more time for good measure) about your response. Maybe even take a few minutes to research what constitutes a “good” and respectful comment. Being on the Internet doesn’t remove the human behind the username.

P.S. This has nothing to do with fic readers who are too shy or not confident enough to comment. I get that and I see you. This rant is for readers who DO respond but in a way that annoys me. You do you, and I hope you get the chance one day to encourage authors of fics you enjoy because they’ll absolutely love it! (Otherwise they might not know that you like it, since sometimes a kudos can get lost as just a number.)

[jeffchats]

Jeff has pushed away any and all friends besides people that tell him what he wants to hear. He's created an echo chamber and now its only 21 year olds who are scared of him like Steven or Kyle or the likes of old friends with questionable judgement like Cody (I don't count Oscar because he obviously tries to stay out of the drama unlike the others). This is why people question Jeff's credibility sometimes because he doesn't take critique well. He just discounts it all as hate.

The Cody stuff is really embarrassing and is not reflecting well on Jeff. Wish he hadn't done that because it really takes away from his argument. I'm done with Cody after his behavior, totally not okay

Oh definitely, wasn’t a fan of Cody before and definitely not now after that stunt. If I’m being honest, that’s psychopath behavior to me. Who does that to someone who isn’t even a threat? It’s icky and shouldn’t have happened.

But I agree, Jeff has a hard time accepting other opinions. He has a tough time digesting that people might not agree with him and constrictive criticism. To me, there’s a difference between hate and providing constructive criticism. And yes he is surrounded by yes men lol. I mean I have friends who might have a different opinion and in the moment I might be upset but I can also take time to reflect and realize where they were coming from. I do wonder if Jeff does that and really thinks about it from a different perspective or if he just throws a tantrum lol. And I wonder if the people he chooses around him are capable of having the confidence to express their thoughts even if it goes against his? Jeff is the boss but if I feel in disagreement with my boss I would hope that I could freely express my opinion respectfully. And no hate to his team but I question if they’re even capable of having a discussion and not acting “woke” lol. I respect that Oscar draws that line and stays in his lane. I’m sure he cares about Jeff but he has a job as well. Jeff has gone through a lot, his feelings are valid, but he’s also not free from criticism that’s constructive and he should be able to have those conversations and be surrounded by people who encourage those conversations that are meant to only help him.

[valofaxwords]

Blog Post Week #6 Due 9/30

Do you agree with Jeffery Ow in his essay The Revenge of the Yellowface Cyborg Terminator?

In Jeffery Ow’s essay, Ow goes on to critique the game Shadow Warrior (1997) as a giving gamers “ the role of the cold blooded colonizer who rapes, pillages and kills like a digitized reenactment of the My Lai massacre.” In defense, the creators of the game, 3-D realm, excuse all action, dialogue, and themes of their game by stating that the game is not racist but rather “ a parody of all the bad kung-fu movies on the 60's-80’s”. All though I do overall agree with Ow on that Shadow Warrior is a racist game due to their use of Asian themes, I believe that Ow in his essay focuses on the incorrect things due to their ignorance of video games or the video game industry in general. Reading this essay, the ignorance on basic details about the game, such as claiming it is a 2.5D when it is a 3D game, gives off the air of this essay being written by an outsider looking into a world they don’t fully understand, and in turn, making assumptions and invalid accusations. Now this is in no way an attempt at discrediting the author due to their lack of video game knowledge, nor is this a defense to 3D Realm’s game, but rather directing the narrative to a more constructive and applicable place. To put it simply, because Ow’s ignorance of the video game scene in general, they tend to make points about the game that are completely unnecessary when they are completely more valid points to be made. Yes, this game is racist, but not because of the some of the points Ow makes.  

Does parody excuse accusations of racism?

In most cases, no it does not, and in the case of Shadow Warrior (1997), as Jeffery Ow also criticizes it, I would agree with him that the jokes and themes presented in the game go beyond parody and enter the realm of harmful stereotypes. Though Jeffery Ow focuses on the player being forced to perform certain actions due to the game being first person, that is besides the point in terms of the argument against the game. Looking into 3D Realms most popular games during that era, and what was generally popular in the industry at the time, you would see that the first-person shooter was the norm that every game developer was attempting to follow. What should be focused on is not that the player is “forced” into committing such acts, but rather that the developers saw it acceptable to be able to give players this option. Looking at their previous games such as Duke Nukem 3D, we see similar acts of generic violence seen in most games, which is also narrated by an overly macho caricature of cheap action movies speaking ridiculous one liners. What makes Shadow Warrior different is that 3D Realms felt the need to add an ‘Asian’ touch to their already successful formula. To focus on the gratuitous violence, the gameplay mechanics, and perspective is more akin to conservative pearl clutching of M Rated video games that it is a point towards criticizing the racism of the game. The problem lies with 3D Realm, without a care for sensitivity or respect towards the Asian community, thought it would be easy to make a new IP by taking their existing Duke Nukem game and characters, and simply repainting it with an ‘Asian’ brush. So, the terrible action one liners and crude jokes become tinted with their idea of an ‘Asian” flare, and instead rely on harmful stereotypes and overused, unfunny racist humor. What could have been a parody of the ridiculous action martial art movies of the 70’s and 80’s turns into a cheap racist imitation of what they believe those films were. Had it actually attempted to reference these movies and not the stereotypes believed about them, you may have gotten a game with nuanced funny references to movies akin to Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, but instead of you get racist prostitute scene from the movie Full Metal Jacket stretched into a 15-hour game.  

Is online racism feel the same way as in person racism?

If you’ve ever experienced any form of true racism or harassment due to your race in real life, you eventually develop a type of thick skin that can differentiate the differences between words of pure hate and words of micro aggressive ignorance. POC grow up needing to know that difference simply to get by in the world. Their lives need to know the difference because every act of micro aggressiveness towards them can’t feel the same way as a hurtful slur to get by. So when encountering racism in an online space, does that feel any differently? Some may say that because of the internet’s anonymous nature, it may feel like nothing but a small shout in the dark from an unknown assailant, nothing more than a pebble in the road due to it’s facelessness; but others may counter with the notion that the dread of not knowing who it is, that it could be anyone, makes it more mentally looming. Personally, I would counter that online spaces aren’t more inherently different than real life spaces. Though the technology is mechanically different from anything seen ever before, I would argue that all human communications have remained essentially the same, or at the very least, our reactions to them have remained the same. Which to apply directly to the question, online racism feels the same as in person racism. I would feel just as hurt being slung a slur at me with malice if it had been said directly to me, posted to me online, or even been told on the telephone. How racism manifests itself in an online space certainly can be unique and must be analyzed, but if you analyze the root of it all, it all ends up and leads to the same thing, an awful ignorant person spouting hate in whatever means they have.

Is there a way to fix online racism?

There is always a way to deter racism in online spaces but determining to fix racism in online spaces is as fruitless of an effort as insisting you could fix racism found in physical letters or through the phone. Online spaces aren’t a mystical different beast than real life spaces in which people congregate, but what you gain from the mechanical nature of an online space is the technology to head off racism at the pass. The idea that keeping a public space clean and spotless encourages the upkeep in that space because no one wants to be the one to make it dirty, certainly applies in the discussion of keeping online spaces clean. Therefore, most online spaces combatting things like racism will tend to outright ban or censor certain phrases or slurs in their space. But the same problem that happens in real life occurs in the online space. When certain spaces get too big with too many members, the area becomes unmanageable as the caretakers are overrun by the number of people. And with a greater number of people, the statistical likelihood of encountering an outlier person who is perfectly keen on disturbing a spotless place, comes forth to ruin everything. If not nipped in the bud immediately, this causes those around to believe this conduct is okay, and those on the fence of doing harm are now being shown that it is acceptable to act in such behavior and will in turn also act similarly. All in all, there are ways to manage racism in online spaces, and they are normally the same way we would handle these situations in real life, so that goes to say that you can only fix online racism as much as you could fix racism in the real world.

[angstmonsterwrites]

Inner Critic or Inner Bully?

A healthy, mature inner critic is wise to develop and invaluable in any manner of personal, professional, or artistic development. That critical voice should be all about assessing a work or skill for improvement opportunities and building strategies to get there. Ideally, it should be an honest, even-handed voice that recognizes error as part of the learning process, and isn't too quick to shame an imperfect effort that resulted in growth. The inner critic will also be more enthusiastic about seeking out help from well-meaning experts.

However, especially amongst artists and writers, it seems like something tends to go off the rails here. That inner voice turns into something ranging anywhere from a schoolyard bully to an internet troll to a hostile parent to an abusive significant other or friend. What the inner bully does is entirely counterproductive and antithetical to the function of a healthy inner critic, because at the heart of its behavior is a desire to tear down and punish rather that construct, fix, and build up.

Some warning signs that you're dealing with an inner bully:

Its tone is generally condescending.

It confuses ridicule and analysis, and acts quite authoritative about it.

It sounds suspiciously like a past bully or abuser.

It is pessimistic and/or cynical; extremely biased to arriving at negative conclusions in the name of "facing reality".

It is defeatist.

It silently casts aside positive remarks as irrelevant, facile, or ill-informed, while accepting negative commentary, even while it exists in far fewer numbers, as the unadulterated truth.

It may have something of a sadistic streak, making you feel like a detached part of your mind is kicking you while you're down.

It shames the learning process. Being new at a skill or method is ridiculed as embarrassing.

It is preoccupied with the idea of wasted time. Everything is shame-worthy because nothing is the correct activity; all activities do little more than steal from time that could have been used on others.

It casts others' successes as symptoms of your own failure and makes you feel very small around them. (This can make consistent community participation hellish if not outright impossible.)

It moves goalposts and encourages self-gaslighting. Meeting goals or refining skills feels hollow because there's always some technicality that makes it unreal, or calls into question your very perception that progress has been made at all.

It is addicted to ad hominem attacks--negative critiques are aimed at the artists/ writer's self rather than the works they produce.

One helpful question to ask when determining which one you're dealing with in more subtle situations is, "What does this mood/feeling/mindset intend? What is its endgame?"

[sunritual]

Robots don’t need to be sentient to destroy us.

Navy mock neck long sleeves big orange and little white stripe on tube cage sides

A veritcal line stretch waistband

Cross cross and straps back

Square high neck

Scarlet polka dots around can light blue text and beach image as front

Blue stroke red inside square, blue triangle rainbow with eye and funky font

Y either know a particular topic or not , but it’s hard to pin down intelligence on one category

Cream background , ice cream pink script name kinda bev hills hotel script looking ish

Move your mouth in a differ way

Supersonic vibrating butt cleaner

Half magenta half red violet a blue teacup in the center with white floral frills thick serif font

Pink background am orange flower in a vase white present ribbon n red as a table

An app that familiarizes people with science - through experimental learning ― hands on experiences that make it seem less top down and authoritarian , and more like a set of steps that we take, things that anyone can do to get closer with nature and the world

A social media philosophy app - teaches what others said and gives people a chance to express their views , postulate, argue, etc gadfly? How would be avoid a shit show, how can we make social media more humanitarian. how can we care about people while also expressing deeply held ideas , how can we encourage users to examine their deeply held ideas without alienating them. How can we discourage hatred and abuse and groupthink with design? How do we slow people down and encourage them to recognize the human behind the screen. Street epistemology? Socratic dialogue?

Socrates - asking questions. Breaking it down to bits. Deeply understanding their argument. Asking about different possibilities and circumstances. Take vast assumptions and show scenarios that make go against them.

Build fact checking into apps

Narrative self vs experiential

Walks you through steps of the sciefitifc method and encourages you to explain how you feel each step actually helped you- then walks you through a scientist doing the same for their reasarch

Republicans only want to be free in the specific ways that benefit corporations

Are Christians more willing to support the death pen early because they already believe in the cruel and overstepping punishment of hell?

Where did the idea come from that you need to remain impartial when trying to persuade

The idea that there is someone in a similar but different dwelling, hearing similar but different sounds and feeling similar but different feelings is wild

We synthesize sets of traits, and particular actions in a super biased culturally constructed way

With the way we see things as humans- we categorize things into groups that aren’t really reaaal ― paratheletic groups

I just want the people and jobs that benefit society

Connection to nietzsches Dionysian art and eckheart tolle/Taoism

No matter your personality, there is probably a part of the world that you would fit in with naturally.

An ordinary girl is selected as one of the representatives of earth in the first meeting of various alien species after one advanced planet discovered and United 10. Confused as to why she was chosen, she goes on her journey meeting

Wha ba Bada da da da da dada he’s a wha ba ba dadada as a matter of fact it’s not my fault if you came up here thinking that you would win

Wanting to break boundaries and rules for the sake those who are hurt by the rules

You are imagining the best case scenario of the life you want to have and experience Ming the reality of the life you so have.

Yes her drips cosmetics line to students i. Class

Chez it people can goldfish people

Your personality flows where a system needs it to go to maintain balance

Ah you fucking saw a tik Tok about that didn’t you

Coincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false.””

Clay busts with abstract art and philosophical musings (throws up)

Do a sketch a day

What if someone ran for president as an impression of a famous person

Full stemmed flowers, wiggly text creeping behind

Balloons of various sizes and cooors holding people and things

Kelly green cream hot pink black

Green outline one pink air brush cream background black marks

Emdr applebees , bat mitzvah toasts Amitals bat mitzvah , Fiona - i like her better just kidding ,

We tend to learn words by synonyms and not definitions

A bully who takes a kids lunch money everyday all through out high school and secretly puts it in a Roth IRA and presents it to them at graduation

Set up drum set

When it comes to something we have no knowledge of or evidence or proof being certain is the most illogical thing you can be

Getting a degree in philosophy is the not going to college of going to college

It ain’t what they call you it’s what you answer to

You don’t just get to jump from bright moment to bright moment - part of the job is the frustrating ones and the climb to get to be actually good. It’s gonna be bad in the beginning but it’s a measure of how dedicated you are to your craft. Frustration is the process.

You have to decide whit shit sandwjicj you prefer - everything is gonna suck some of the time but if you pick your dream you’ll have those bright moments and at least that shit sammie will be worth it - the bad parts of job you have no interest in don’t add up to anything. If you love what you do you will accept the downsides.

People are like tape. Going through the world collecting bits and pieces of things but none of those things are really them . We can identi ft with them and create with them but we can also escape from them.

I wonder what all these people think about being alive

Curiosity makes everything play. It invites exploration. It makes me see opportunities everywhere makes everything new

Bias to action. Try things. Get your hands dirty, fail Fortean and find what works. Remaining nimble and constantly rethinking

Reframe the problem. Step back, re-examine the problem, examine biases and be open to new solutions

Clay matches clay fire

The differences and similarities between us

Looking back, historical events seem bound to happen, but a few small events could’ve stopped them. Thinking diffently.

“They became revolutionaries despite themselves”

Artists way workbook design

I’m at Eton having to walk around to quell the feeling of being so exited about the future and my possibilities and so sure of success and beauty and magic and love and adventure. I’m going to make beautiful pictures I’m going. To tear down the status quo I’m going g to make people feel like they have on antigravity. I’m so a part of it i made it. I’m a muse I’m it omg I’m so exited - listening to John Denver

Joy is just a thing that he was raised on love is just a way to live and die.

The only thing that made Abe Lincoln Abe Lincoln (tm) was doing what Abe Lincoln (tm) did. The actions that he took made him a hero in history. There was nothing i ate in him that made his great, his actions did. Whatever help inate qualities may have gave him in terms of doing the actions that made him what he was could be negated by pma and doing the damn work to get yourself to where you need to be. Believing it so makes you inclined to take the actions that improve your skills and get to to the point where you can do the things it takes to be who you want to be.

Little vases

I feel like we’ve become addicted to finding things wrong with what people say. Silence the critic. It’s fine. Most people have the best intentions. It’s not that serious. The group you are offended for likely aren’t mad anyway. There is way more you can do - they don’t care about picking the right term

I wanted a very simple menu that could maximize customization options in The shortest amount of time possible for a very fast paced food truck. The system allows the customers to design their own grilled cheese sandwich but ideally would save time by not requiring each guest to decide which cheese and which bread from a long line of choices.

I feel I’m so afraid of being dunning Krueger that i tell myself i am terrible at everything no matter what i actually think about my abilities. You can just say your a beginner you don’t have to say you suck. Plus thinking you suck doesn’t make you any better, honestly worse. You don’t have to rate your abilities just focus on the future, make sure your doing baby steps and make sure they are the right baby steps

Chives ward off insects

Loving thebsunlightttttyt!!

I don’t think music is really something that needs to be critiqued for me ― it’s more about feeling it’s about magic and truth and light or darkness. Getting whatever needs to be out out. it all serves a purpose and is for an audience , if your not in that audience then there’s no need to comment

I have to is weird backwards idea that it’s Nobel to be like you know what I’m not good at this imma bow out. But that is so wrong you have to struggle through it. Pike how i feel like my thoughts are more concise then my writing. There’s no glory in not trying to improve that. You have to awkawardly write until you can beautifully write.