#as Tumblr is doing a very odd thing with the link for some ppl

[nextstopwonderland]

Masterlist of Bryan/Nigel content I've posted: part 1

Click here for additional masterlists:

Graphics

(Original post with the song lyrics / quotes)

(Original post with quote)

(Original post)

Video clips

Post-2 out of 3 falls match clip + protective Nigel supercut

“You don’t want to see Desmond Wolfe vs. Lloyd Boner?”

In which they slap each other then shake hands

Bryan Danielson & Nigel McGuinness’s promos ahead of their AWF WSW match “International Assault 2” - June 1, 2007

And another AWF promo

Bryan and Nigel’s entrance at NOAH in Japan July 2007

Video of Nigel talking about his love at first sight prior to diving into the Clamdigger origin

Promo after their first singles match

Those sexually charged handshakes tho

Nigel pulls Bryan’s pigtails while also calling him the GOAT

Nigel with Monkey ‘Brittle’ Danielson at All In Fanfest

“Oh he’s fine to wrestle now is he?”

“Nigel McGuinness has succinctly pointed out, many times at this point, that we have 206 bones in our body, and 205 of mine are perfectly okay

Bryan and Zack and Nigel and mox

Nigel meets yarn Danielson

“Yeah, darling, but it’s not your fault” - Bryan and Nigel, post last ROH match (includes photos)

“We’re both here for the same goal.” (Includes screencaps and gifs) aka the one that looks like a porn setup

Nigel and mox on wrestledream commentary

“If it weren’t for Clamdigger brittle Bryan Danielson I would’ve had that match”

“You need me to take care of this for you Nigel?”

In which Nigel is finally confronted on collision by Kevin and Tony about wanting to wrestle Bryan

“You know, Nigel doesn’t like him.” Danny talks Bryan, Daddy Magic brings up Nigel

Tag team comedic gold in ROH

“Are you okay?” - wxw clip

“Looking at me like that!” - in which we get our first official aew interaction

“Does it hurt??” - interaction number 2

“I would love to wrestle Nigel … I worry about fan expectations” - in which Bryan finally addresses Wembley this year, and lies some

“The other night after Collision ended Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness and I sat in the back and talked for an hour.” - Tony S talks about Bryan & Nigel

Video compilations/fanvids

2023 Bryan and Nigel talking about potentially facing each other again (intercut with some 2006 clips)

“There’s something about Bryan Danielson” (video/audio edit)

🎶two of a kind, we’ll find a way🎶 - fanvid set to Slide Away by Oasis

Video compilation of the nigel talking about Bryan parts of aew unrestricted podcast

Pre and post match moments - first in-ring match (trios)

Compilation of Bryan and Nigel talking about Bryan’s 205 good bones + how magic and professional wrestling are intertwined

Nigel being unhinged on commentary

“That’s Dragon’s favorite perch”

Death match supercut

Collision roast supercut (feat ZSJ)

Supercut of Bryan and Nigel from Wrestling Road Diaries (and Nigel once again talking about that certain something of Bryan’s)

Another wrestling road diaries supercut (mostly Bryan) with some screencaps

Tag team supercut

“You’re obsessed with trying to one-up me, aren’t you?”

“I’ve seen that look on Dragon’s face before”

“You don’t meet many people like that…”

Compilation of Bryan parts of Nigel’s HEY(EW) ep

“Yeah darling but it’s not your fault.” - yet another camera angle of this moment, edited with other footage

“Out of the ring, we bicker a lot.” - another compilation of some WRD clips

Audio posts

Nigel’s favorite career moment of course features Bryan (includes interview text, January 2023)

Nigel talks about Bryan's charisma, clamdigging, and how only one of his bones is broken (August 2023)

“I had this very strange sensation” (May 2021)

Sweet nothings from Nigel (circa 2009)

“I enjoy making fun of him.” (Audio edit, February 2024)

Part 2

[clarabowmp3]

The thing I’m most annoyed about swifties is that they make everything about her relationship or the man she is with and I am just over here trying to engage with her music and her work because she is more than just the boyfriend. But… Taylor herself this era has been shoving her relationship down our throats so how can we really blame swifties for thinking that’s all she is? Why does she do this? Money? To prove how very happy she is? I don’t like it, I wish the boyfriend was not front and center. Fans caring this much about a celebs personal life is not normal and I dont think Taylor likes it but also encourages it?

Mhm very true, I totally get what you mean. Just a heads up that I’m going to be a little parasocial for a hot second lol, I don’t know for sure what her thoughts or feelings are but in my opinion:

I think she likes having/wants to have a public relationship, which is fine. Just like how it wasn’t an issue when she wanted to be private with joe (again, that’s what SHE wanted, as in Miss Americana, even if the kimye thing contributed to this), it’s not inherently an issue for her to be public with Travis. But yea I agree it’s all a little much, Travis is almost inextricably linked to taylor swift the brand especially with the whole ‘passing her a bracelet with his phone number at one of her biggest most commercially successful tours’ (like the point I’m making here is how flashy it all is). I’m not a big fan either, but idk how much of it is just personal preference(I’d sooner die than have a boyfriend acting like that cuz what the actual fuck) or how much of it is just part of the problematic commodification of love esp in the taylor swift context

It’s a little odd considering her previous stance on how she wishes fans would stop speculating about which songs were about which ex etc (which I think she still feels; it feels like some of the songs on ttpd might have been intentionally muddy to throw ppl off, not that I think it helped) but I think a part of her just likes having the entire world root for her and her relationship, esp given her tribulations/insecurities about how suitable she is as a partner/how “lovable” she is, for lack of a better word. There’s nothing wrong with wanting others to support u/ ur choices, but it’s unhealthy how she’s turning to masses and masses of complete strangers for this kind of validation. Then again, getting as famous as she did at such a young age does things to you.

And like you said, maybe she’s doing all this to show the world/joe/matty how she so happy, on top of the world she is, how she’s basically winning at life. It’s a little spiteful of a mindset, but those were pretty bad back-to-back breakups, so I think it’s understandable even if not entirely justified. Maybe in a few years, once the grief of her relationship with joe falling apart becomes more bearable(again, parasocial alert woops 🚨), maybe she’ll cool off on the public displays/frequent pap walks, but I still think she naturally enjoys having a semi-public relationship like this. I alr think things are starting to stabilise (I could be wrong tho).

But yea it’s unfortunate that all this discourse comes with at the expense of meaningful discussion of her art. Folkmore era I’m so sorry I took you for granted but that was one of the best eras (lol) of swiftie tumblr :))

[gaykey]

i'm not watching not me except vicariously thru several ppl on my dash but i had this thought and wanted to get it out lol but i've seen some ppl say that the cop betraying them was the easy way out/typical and idk maybe things are different in bls but for me it seems the opposite? like the path ppl wanted for him (to quit being a cop and join the gang or smth similar) is what usually happens in media (so the cop can become a ~clean~ hero)? so it seems more unique to do what they did. but again, idk i'm not actually watching every second of the show, just what gets giffed on here lmao

also from a writing perspective, taking the "easy" way isn't always a bad thing? the cop seems like the easiest for the antagonists to back into a corner bc they know him better - they know his weaknesses and that he's a weakness for the gang member which makes him a weakness for the gang. they know that he's caught in this powerless centerist place of being a part of the system and that alone makes him easier to manipulate bc he's inherently directly entangled in the messy corruption of that system? like from what i've seen i think i agree that they fumbled the pacing, but i think the decision to have him betray them was a p solid one honestly.

hey rc! yeah, i've seen you like & reblog the odd post. i know you've pretty much seen all the major plot points via tumblr but i actually would still recommend giving the show a proper watch. it's so so good best bl i've watched in a long time.

and i agree with you!

i think a lot of people were expecting all the pretty obvious signs of dan betraying the group to be red herrings, and for the traitor to be gumpa (i admit to being one of those ppl) simply because it's not common for a character from one of the main couples to betray their love interest in such a detrimental and irredeemable way, right near the end of the series. usually, it's all a misunderstanding that gets wrapped up neatly in a bow.

and, like you said, the typical 'the character working with the antagonists ends up turning his back on them and giving it all up for the protagonists' is actually something we see all the time.

i mean, if were talking in terms of what the writers have seemingly been working towards and hinting at throughout, then what we got in today's episode totally makes sense, and tbh, is a far more interesting, though admittedly very painful, outcome.

and yes, maybe it was the 'easier' for dan, but, that's because it was the way his character was written made it inevitable. it would be considered bad writing to ignore all of the obvious build-up, and character points to have it go the other way tbh.

he would never have been able to have it both ways.

yes, he was also the one that was closest to the antagonists. the weak link. the one they had the most leverage over. he's the one that, despite the trauma he's experienced, refused to leave a system that is rotten to the core. he was either forced to leave it behind (which again, based on the way he's been written throughout. i.e being a cop is his dream, his belief in the justice system ect. would not have fit his characterup until now) or be taken in by it's corruption.

i think a lot of people are just really hurt by this, because like i said, it's not common for a bl to have a well-loved couple not be endgame, let alone end in tragedy, so people are blaming the writing choices.

but yeah, it all makes sense for the characters when you think about it.

[t4tlawlight]

Occam's razor is the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct.

this post is going to cover traits specific to the manga and the television drama, since those are the best adaptations to showcase L’s autism. THIS POST is required reading before you read anything i’m about to type, because it explains what kind of character niche L falls into--an unintentionally autistic coded character. i’ll talk more about that at the end.

i’m going to talk about manga L first, since he’s the original version after all. i’m going to go in order of physical traits, to behavioral, to his character writing. also, tumblr eats posts that have outside links, so i’m going to have my non-tumblr sources in a separate post, here.

anyways, more under the cut!

MANGA/ANIME:

sitting with his legs up and spine bent / sitting on the floor

this is such a big one and its extremely common in ppl with autism. sitting in chairs normally is uncomfortable to outright painful w many ppl with these disorders, myself included. L sitting like that (which, to recall, is a blatant homage to sherlock holmes, another character that is so blatantly autistic coded you can find absolutely ridiculous amounts of writing on the topic) and being like "I HAVE TO SIT LIKE THIS TO THINK PROPERLY" is so autistic. like sitting in a certain way to give you specific sensory stimulus/avoid distracting discomfort and pain is a thing. i found this post (1) written by an autistic person on the topic of sitting in chairs being uncomfortable, and it says as much:

“I suspect that seating discomfort is common in autism (though by no means limited to autistic people). Many of us, particularly as children, benefit greatly from chairs designed to be non-stationary: rocking chairs, “fidget” chairs, and so forth. These can improve focus, compensate for proprioceptive hypo-sensitivity, and alleviate restlessness. In short, many “attention issues” can be fixed simply by providing a little motion for the person sitting. Small change, huge results. That's what accommodations do at their best. They make (often minor) adjustments that have profound impacts.”

so when L says that sitting the way he does, for a specific sensory experience, improves his ability to think, it’s perfectly in line with this idea. Also it’s a good pressure stim.

standing with a slouch / shifting his weight around

to begin: yes! it’s very common for autistic people to stand or walk oddly for a number of different reasons, from physical comorbidity to other issues such as dyspraxia (see: movie L). From an article by YAI (2), an I/DD (intellectual and/or developmental disabilities) community program:

“Kyphosis (a curved spine), collapsed chest, dropped shoulders and even scoliosis are observed in many of our patients. These myriad of postural issues may result from reduced strength, decreased biomechanical stability, or from a sensory impairment, such as apraxia. 

Depending on the scene, L has mild to severe kyphosis which is very common in autistic individuals. Other things mentioned in that article if you want to click on it is instability in standing, where you sort of shift your weight around a lot between your  feet or rest all of your weight on one foot, which L is literally doing the first time we see all of him.

speaking with a monotone voice.

i obviously can’t show a picture for this one and it honestly depends on the voice actor you find for L, but in the anime in particular L has a very flat tone. a lot of this is bc he has a dry sense of humor but. just know that it’s very common for autistic people to have a flat affect (or go the other way into being too loud/emotive).

his eating habits. 

a lot (a LOT) of autistic ppl myself included can only eat certain kinds of food for texture and flavor reasons. HOWEVER there’s a term in the autism community called “samefoods” which is really well put by tumblr users candidlyautistic and autism-asks: 

“Samefoods or samefooding is a community word to describe the autistic trait of eating the same food over, and over and over . . . It is part sensory, part routine driven in most cases. A lot of times we samefood because we need that particular mouthfeel / texture / taste, and a lot of times even after that need passes, it turns into a need for routine until you actively dislike that food again.”

“Samefooding on the other hand is closer to a special interest. When I have a samefood (chocolate ice cream, currently), I really, really want that food. I could eat that food endlessly and not get tired of it. I will get upset if I’m not able to have the food in a day. For me, it usually is kind of routine based as well. For instance, with my current samefood, I have some in the evenings and it’s become part of how I wind down from my day.”

we don’t know exactly why L specifically desires sweet food or if he considers it part of his routine, but what we do know is that he really wants to eat sweet food and avoids eating anything other than sweet food, so it could either be that he’s a picky eater and can’t handle savory or he’s samefooding on sweets!

wearing the same clothes

L wears the same clothes every single day. It’s also worth noting that what he does wear is baggy, too-big clothing, the kind that wouldn’t be tight and uncomfortable. once again, sensory issues are a huge thing for autistic individuals. one of my favorite aspects is that in no adaptation does he wear socks. even L wears shoes, he wears them like slippers, not putting them on all the way. people comment that he seems like he’s poor, but we know for a fact that he’s very rich and that wearing these clothes is a personal choice he made.

not caring for himself/outsourcing his self-care

i don’t think one day is exactly canon, rather it’s an exaggeration of what might actually happen--i.e. L doesn’t have a huge closet full of the same outfit, but he does have several versions of the same outfit on rotation; L doesn’t use a human washing machine, but Watari might help him/encourage him to bathe regularly. One Day is a parody comic, but it was made by the creators for a reason and that reason is that L pretty obviously relies on a caretaker (Watari) for his personal needs. Watari, in the manga proper, cooks and cleans and does most things for L. we’ll come back to this topic when we get to the drama though.

doing stimming behaviors

if you don’t know what stimming is, it refers to self-stimulating behaviors, usually involving repetitive movements or sounds. everyone stims to some extent, but in autism it tends to be more obvious, go on for longer, and sometimes be more disruptive to others. it’s often used to help deal with sensory overload, or used to express feelings--think of an autistic person being happy and flapping their hands in the air.

there are a LOT of instances of L displaying stimming behavior, from stacking his food or things on his desk, to spinning in his chair, to biting his fingers/using them to press on his lips, to wriggling and tapping his toes. here are some specific instances:

there are a lot more. i’ll talk about more when we get to dramaverse, but if you rewatch/reread death note it’s definitely worth noting whenever L does something like this!

detective work as a special interest

ok, first and foremost i want to establish what a special interest is. Tumblr user cartoon has my favorite explanation of what a special interest is that i’ve seen to date: 

“To have a deep, intense, passionate and incredibly focused / narrowed interest in a certain area of study, subject, topic or thing - to the exclusion of other interests. This interest is something that exists for the long-term, most often lasting for multiple months, years, or even you’re entire life “

L says that he only does detective work because it’s a hobby, and he finds it entertaining. We’ve also seen that he’s been at it for quite some time--if you take side content (the wammy’s house comic, LABB) seriously, then he’s been at it since childhood, with unwavering interest. it definitely comes across to me as L having a special interest in detective work, rather than it just being a normal hobby or a job for him, especially since he says it isn’t out of any moral obligation.

germaphobia

Germaphobia is very common for individuals with autism. a lot of the time it’s actually sensory issues associated with “dirty” things, and a lot of the time it’s because features of OCD are heavily comorbid with autism, including contamination OCD and such fears. regardless of the reason, though, L’s aversion to touching Bad Things is a very autistic behavior, and so is his resulting quirk that he tends to hold things in a very odd manner!

muted emotional expression

this is getting more into L’s character, but L tends to feel and express emotions in a very muted way. not to say he doesn’t have them, but for instance in the example above, L doesn’t have a solid grasp on what exactly he’s feeling. he thinks he might be acting irrationally and overemotionally because he logically should be afraid, but he isn’t sure, and none of these emotions present themselves visibly. 

i’ve also seen it said that Ukita’s death is another good example of his muted response to emotion--he tells Aizawa to stay rational and his voice doesn’t waver as he tells him as much, but he holds himself tightly. for someone with poor emotional competence, these physical signs of distress can be hard to read in oneself, but Aizawa (a man who is extremely in-tune with his emotions) can tell immediately.

high logic, low empathy

L is also a character who, like many autistic people, lacks a certain degree of empathy. it’s not that he doesn’t have any, but it’s limited enough--and he values logic over it enough--that he’s willing to make extreme decisions and take a “ends justify the means” approach (such as using people as bait.) in the example above, L takes a moment to work through what it must actually feel like, which rings as very autistic.

bluntness/not caring about social convention

there are so many examples of this i honestly could list them all day, but L is a character who is very to-the-point and doesn’t care about mincing his words. he can be outright rude to the people around him, especially if he considers them not worth basic courtesy. see: Matsuda. 

DRAMAVERSE

if you all knew me you should have known this section is inevitable. i’m not going to talk about every single adaptation because i do not have the time and the only other adaptation that is meaningful in that regard is the movieverse (i am fairly certain that movie L is dyspraxic) but on account of the fact that i don’t care about them i won’t subject you all to them here.

anyway, drama L shows much the same traits as animanga L above (they are, after all, technically the same character) but he displays them in different ways. 

he has a much more advanced degree of germaphobia, with Watari saying he’s sensitive to outside air and spraying everyone who enters his space with disinfectant, but not making them wash their hands or anything like that, so we can kind of tell that his issues are more rooted, again, in a fear of germs rather than any actual medical issue. he wants to feel as though he is clean, not necessarily actually be clean. this is very common in contamination OCD, which has a high comorbidity with autism. (my girlfriend has a very good headcanon post about drama L and OCD that isn’t so much analysis than just plain fun, but it’s worth a read!)

he stims, but he has a different array of stims than animanga L--he chews on his jelly pouch bottles, 

he tosses it between his hands, 

he kicks his feet,

and he bounces in his chair.

he still sits in an unconventional manner. he still samefoods, this time even more exclusively--he only eats Lucky Charge jelly pouches and nutritional bars. Watari onscreen puts his shirts on for him, as well as cooking, cleaning, and mending his clothes for him.

however, there are a few traits that are drama-exclusive that i think really add to an analysis of his autism!

social scripting

social scripting and echolalic scripting are both commonly described as “scripting,” but are very different! echolalic scripting is like echolalia, but echolalic scripting is the recitation of longer passages of dialogue from things the individual has heard before. but social scripting is when you memorize common conversations so you can rattle it off without worrying too much! this can be very handy, such as exchanging basic pleasantries or ordering food, but it can also backfire if someone responds in a way your script’s not set up for. you can find more information on the difference in this video (3). 

now, this relates to L in that there are two separate scenes where L says the same thing, rather inappropriately:

L: When I consider Kira’s personality, could it be that the strong-willed daughter is Kira? Or could that sweet-looking son of yours surprise us by proving to be him? You never know what humans are hiding beneath the surface... Soichiro: Enough. L: Sorry. It was just a joke.

-- Episode 2

L: Light-kun. Oh, I’m sorry... If I called you “Yagami-san,” it would be the same as what I call your father.  Light: That’s okay. Call me whatever you want. L: Then what about Kira? (silence) L: It's a joke.

-- Episode 4

one could say that L just has a terrible sense of humor--and, of course, having a poor grasp of humor is common with autistic individuals--but the fact that he says nearly the same thing as a defense twice makes me feel as though he has it rehearsed as a defense when people react poorly to things he’s said, which happens often.

mirroring and echolalia

echolalia was briefly covered in the previous example, but for those unaware, via wikipedia (4):

Echolalia is the unsolicited repetition of vocalizations made by another person (when repeated by the same person, it is called palilalia). In its profound form it is automatic and effortless.

mirroring, on the other hand, is explained as such, also via wikipedia (5):

Mirroring is the behavior in which one person unconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Mirroring often occurs in social situations, particularly in the company of close friends or family. The concept often affects other individuals' notions about the individual that is exhibiting mirroring behaviors, which can lead to the individual building rapport with others.

both of these are very common in autism, and they’re exemplified while L’s character is established watching his favorite TV show, Owarai Paradise. On one occasion, he’s watching the show and this dialogue happens:

Hiroshi: Despite never telling her how I felt, I still got dumped. I am Hiroshi.  Watari: Who was this one again? L: He is Hiroshi. Hiroshi: I am Hiroshi. I am Hiroshi.

-- Episode 2

it’s important to note that in Japanese, “He is Hiroshi” and “I am Hiroshi” are said, at least in this instance, exactly the same, so L is echoing precisely what he’s heard.

On another occasion, L is again watching the show with a glass of wine (seemingly acquired simply to imitate the characters onscreen, as he never drinks it) and when the characters onscreen toast their glasses, L does the same, mirroring them. 

CONCLUSION

I linked a post at the very beginning of this analysis talking about how characters are unintentionally autistic coded, and it’s important to understand how this unintentional coding is different from a headcanon--i didn’t make up these traits. they aren’t something that only exist in my head that i ascribe to L for fun. 

i made this analysis both because i wanted to share L’s autistic coding in one cohesive place, because plenty of people have made lists before, but none that i could find that included so many examples with images and explanations--and i also made it because of the old ryuzaki persona “theory.” 

for those unaware, the ryuzaki persona headcanon suggests that L faked all of these traits in order to make people uncomfortable, to put them off-guard and better mask his identity. i’ve seen posts about people claiming that nobody could actually behave in these ways, that L would surely be unhappy and uncomfortable sitting like that, or eating like that, or engaging in any of these behaviors. I’ve seen some people outright say that L isn’t autistic, but his persona is--that is, he’s pretending to be autistic.

i named this essay “occam’s razor” because, to me, L being autistic is the simplest answer to account for all of these traits. claiming that an autistic coded character is faking it is ableist and it just doesn’t make sense with anything else we know about his character.

but if you want to know more about that, i recommend reading eyecicles’ first!L tag. it’s debunked it in more ways than i ever could.

anyways, in conclusion

[boycottyashahime]

Alright, so I’m bad at Tumblr, and though I wanted to just reblog the original post from @strawberrycreampiefluff and put most of it under a cut or perhaps find a way to trim it, I couldn’t find a way to make it work. So, we’re starting a new thread. Here’s the link the other one if anyone reading hasn’t been following the discussion and want to catch up: https://strawberrycreampiefluff.tumblr.com/post/625063196626223104/what-do-you-think-of-this-whole-ppl-shipping

Anyhow, since we discussed this beforehand, I’ll start from the beginning, only working with the storytelling elements from the series, and I’ll leave out the latter part of the post regarding moralizing (which I mostly agree with anyway, so it’s no loss to me).

“I  was trying to convey that considering the methods of storywriting and telling,  it would break the “pattern” Rumiko Takashi built up and lowering the  impact of Sessh character growth he would later experience.  A father-daughter bond is not inferior to a romantic bond, but it  would seem out of place, to have both his father and brother form a  romantic relationship with a human and then Sessh breaking that pattern  by introducing a new kind of relationship-dynamic - when he is the most  crucial character in the series when it comes to demon-human relations.”

I’m still quite unclear HOW the impact of Sesshomaru’s character growth is necessarily lowered from not having a romantic bond with a human. Why is the continuation of this pattern so important, in your view, to the character’s development? From my perspective, introducing a new relationship dynamic into and breaking patterns is actually a good thing in stories - It’s a great way to add variety and a different point of view to a narrative. Having characters take a pattern in a different, unique direction can add meaning in a way the reader couldn’t see coming, give the story unexpected dimension.

And you’ve already said that you and other shippers like yourself don’t see anything romantic while Rin is still a child in the original series, so that is effectively what happened. Since we agree that the relationship wasn’t actually romantic within the context of the original Inuyasha series, Sesshomaru took a love of a human in an entirely different direction than his father or his brother did. Which conveys complexity in how youkai can relate to humans that wasn’t in the established pattern. As a reader, I find that kind of thing fun and engaging, though you may disagree.

“A father-daughter relationship would still put Sessh in a superior position to Rin (as the father), not adding a lot to his character development other than him caring for one other human being.”

I have to wince here, because while yes, technically Sesshomaru is in a superior position to Rin in a father-daughter relationship, the implication here is that this can be compared to the sense of superiority he had over humans as a whole that you referenced earlier. Is a parent-child relationship really comparable to a racist outlook? I feel like these two things are quite unrelated, having two ENTIRELY different connotations from the word “superior”. One is an entirely natural superior position, using one’s greater experience, knowledge, and ability to facilitate the growth and guidance of someone still on their way up. The other is a wholly unnatural and malicious disregard for a person based on superficial features. Sesshomaru’s superior attitude toward humans before he met Rin was not based on a paternalistic concern, but complete disgust and the notion that they were entirely unworthy of consideration. The two connotations of “superior” here are just not analogous in the greater narrative.

“In a romantic relationship, both partners should be equals (anything  other is unacceptable), for this to happen Sessh would’ve had to lower himself  (his pride) to Rins level, since he was the one with the big ego and  humans were regarded as one of the lower creatures of the food chain.”

Again, I think it is entirely possible for Sesshomaru to learn not to regard humans as “lower on the food chain” through a relationship that ISN’T romance, but that aside, this whole notion brings up a question: why didn’t Rumiko Takahashi write Rin into the story as a young adult? We’ve already discussed how romantic implications to the relationship couldn’t exist while she’s still a child in the series, and why Sesshomaru and Rin are definitely NOT equal during the series. So if it was so important for Sesshomaru to be otherwise equal to Rin so he can lower his pride and truly consider her such, why was Rin not written as a fully autonomous adult so we could cut to the chase? It seems that if what you’re describing was really Rumiko Takahashi’s intent, it would have been a lot easier if the girl was already grown up. At the very least, our dear author could have ended the series when Rin was an appropriate age to actually make the point instead of leaving it hanging.

“Doing the exact same thing he criticized his father for, which  for him would’ve been humiliating in the beginning of the series. The  sequel (if you regard it as canon) goes even farther, making him create  his own half demons - the very reason he hated his brother in the first  place. His mother even said he becomes like his father in the strangest  ways - and the only “strange” thing we know about his father was his  romantic relationship with Izayoi.”

Since English isn’t your first language, I’m guessing you’re just mistaken in the map of this sentence, but the word “strange” here is referring to Sesshomaru’s behavior in relation to his father’s. What is strange is how Sesshomaru is like his father, not his father’s ways. This actually makes the opposite point - it seems to refer to the ways in which Sesshomaru is behaving as odd, maybe in relation to a pattern his father fit into.

“That’s why I think it wouldn’t fall apart if we draw the parallel in a wider context as you say, because other characters didn’t have the same starting point  as Sessh. I very much agree with you, that Inuyasha’s platonic bonds  would also count as a dog forming close bonds with humans, but in  Inuyasha’s or Shippou’s case, they didn’t need the same character  development like Sessh, since they had a different attitude towards  humans or “lesser-beings” in the first place (Inuyasha was even past the  stage of lowering himself, also out of romantic reasons btw, since he  was ready to become human for Kikyo).”

I’m curious as to how the parallel and pattern matter if it’s null and void because Inuyasha and the other characters we talked about have different character arcs. Of course they aren’t starting from the same place as Sesshomaru, characters never do. They’re varied and diverse because it would be boring as tar to write them all going through the same issues. My point about the parallel was that even if it could be said that there’s some similarity in how dog YOUKAI form bonds with humans to actual DOGS, it’s not really a good parallel, because there are other “species” of youkai much less friendly with humans doing it too. I’m having trouble understanding what this argument has to do with that.

In reference to the above, I agree, the example characters you cited didn’t have the same level of dismissive racism as Sesshomaru did (I say “same level” because Shippou does carry a bit of prejudice, even as a small child), but when that’s apparent, why is the pattern even relevant? Since the characters aren’t set to all learn the same lesson, their relationships shouldn’t really resemble each other’s in the long run either, should they? Writers use relationships as tools for character development, and they usually want to use the right tool for the right job. Maybe romantic love with a human was right for Inuyasha because he had issues with vulnerability and reconciling his half-heritage. What if SESSHOMARU benefited more as a character from an unconditional bond (free from the conditions of sexual/romantic attraction) to demonstrate to him how even the weakest creature is incomprehensibly valuable for reasons impossible to articulate, and they are worth using his incredible level of “superior” power to protect and defend them? It’s a different kind of humbling oneself than what you were talking about, but I think it’s just as meaningful, and it fits Sesshomaru’s character development neatly into the the original text. It doesn’t require Sunrise make a sequel more than a decade later to wrap up the character development that Rumiko Takahashi meant to do when Rin grew up even though she could have just written her in as an adult in the first place.

“But Rin will obviously not always stay 8/11 years old, she will grow  into her own person and become a woman (while living apart from Sessh),  creating a completely different power dynamic with Sessh. One that would  still be an imbalance, but much different than when she was a child.”

As far as the narrative was concerned, Rin COULD very well have stayed a child forever, though. She was written as a character in a story. When the story is done, so are the characters. You’ve said before and here that Inuyasha is just fiction, and it is, but accepting that means accepting that Rin doesn’t grow up without some prompting. She doesn’t age but through the hand of a creator, fanfiction authors or Sunrise. When you say she’s not going to stay 8-11 forever, what you mean is that actual humans who experience actual time are not satisfied with her age as it stood when the story ended, and actively impose time upon her.

And since applying time to a fictional character is something that has to be intentional, so too do the conditions you mention to create the perfect environment for the ship. The different dynamic that isn’t father-daughter, but still a little bit of not-weird power imbalance. The “lowering” of Sesshomaru’s ego in that specific romantic way (that I’m still not sure I understand, but we’ll go with it). The way in which the romance is developed without either character realizing it so that Sesshomaru can’t be accused of using the power imbalance to manipulate a girl he’s had authority over since she was eight. Returning to what catalyzed the change in Sesshomaru in the first place while carefully treading around the fact that it was built upon an unconditional relationship that now suddenly has conditions on it. That’s a lot of mental legwork to do, which is fine, because that’s part of creative expression. But you have to acknowledge that none of this would be necessary if the pairing were “obvious”.

It certainly wasn’t very obvious to some of us. We came to a very different conclusion, saw everything a bit differently. Now we’re being punished for having a less popular interpretation of this relationship, shut down by SUNRISE and told that we don’t get to have that interpretation, because they’re considered an authority on what is canon in Inuyasha, and they’re taking sides to squeeze more money out of the Inuyasha franchise with a next-gen sequel. It doesn’t seem to matter that Sunrise was never really very good at telling Inuyasha stories, or that next-gen sequels never seem to be any good for lack of stakes and boring plots.

Sunrise’s interpretation is still considered to be more “valid” than ours. And that really hurts. So, if you found yourself wondering why there’s so much vitriol coming from the anti camp, it’s a combination of this, and the fact that they don’t really have the option of avoiding the content they don’t like anymore. It’s kind of EVERYWHERE now.

So, there we are. I don’t want to give the impression from the above that I’m trying to tear apart your arguments to somehow discredit the pairing. Shippers gonna ship, whether it makes sense to me or not. But I did want to highlight how any of the things you bring up can very well be interpreted entirely differently.

Hope you’re doing well, and you did well on that exam. :)

[leoxxii]

fic writer interview

tagged by - @frill-shark !! I WAS TAGGED IN JANUARY BUT I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO DO IT SO UM. OOPS AKDBKABRWJ

name - hi hello im leo!! i also go by hawk & spooky! hawk is my fursona's name and i used to use spooky a lot while playing among us and got attached to the nickname :o

fandoms - uhh usually i don't write for that many fandoms bc my hyperfixations come and go akbflabrkw but currently i write a lot of subnautica and warrior cats! i also used to write a bit of dbh but uh. my interest in that game dropped HARD i cant even force myself to play it let alone write it anymore so akrhkavrkwhr

where you post - just ao3 😔✊ i usually post links to my writings on tumblr but other than that yeah just a03 :o

most popular oneshot - a jerry-centric dbh thing i wrote like 3 years ago now? it has about 500 hits! its the oldest thing on my ao3 besides my warriors stuff and a03 is not a v popular source of warriors content akfnksbrowbr

most popular multi-chapter - my subnautica: survivors au! first thing since my wattpad days that ive felt genuinely happy with and im glad that other ppl enjoyed my niche little au so much!!

fics you were nervous to post - LITERALLY ALL OF THEM TBH. im always kinda nervous to post content but ive gotten a lot better at being less concerned with it recently! although if i had to choose one uneven odds brought me a lot of trouble bc its That specifically catered to myself. i rewrote it like 3 times just to try to get rid of all the embarrassing parts and i refuse to re-read at all KABDOABROABE

how do you choose your titles - i dont i just close my eyes and spin a roulette wheel and see what happens. FR THOUGH i dont rlly know i just kinda.. choose a phrase or word i like (survivors, the last warriors) or sometimes i use song lyrics (uneven odds, a world alone)

do you outline - yes but im awful at it sjfblavrowvriw. i write very VERY vague outlines that are half shitposty and completely useless as an outline to anybody except for me. i often stray wayyy off the outline too and the story almost always ends up no longer following the outline and i free-write by like half way through 😔✊

favorite story ive written so far - as i mentioned above, red survivors!! the entire series is currently at over 125k words altogether and its been so much fun to write and talk about with its readers. its the first multi-chap fic ive finished in YEARS and im so happy ive stuck with it bc it means so much to me, these characters and their world and interactions make me so emo all the time

complete - out of the 6 i have on a03, 4 are finished! granted 3 of those 4 are oneshots bc im typically not that good at finishing multi-chaptered ones. and this number only includes the fics ive finished enough to get a single chap at least out so um. LABDKABDKBA

in progress - i usually only work on 1 fic at a time so i don't forget about one over the other so im only rlly working on a world alone rn! i am planning a remake of my old warriors story so that's technically in progress ive just been really really slow with it,,, oops

coming soon - ok ok actually i have another subnautica themed thing planned where its like a collection of one-shots of characters on the aurora! i rlly want to further explore and expand the survivors au characters and ive been thinking of a few different scenarios that i could write about,,, might never get finished but im hoping to start writing it once awa is completed! sometime this year if all goes well 👀

prompts - i used to take prompts all the time omg, now i never rlly get any :( but i mean hey, ill try to do something for most prompts if anyone is interested… 👀👀

tagging - uhhh idk how many ppl i know are writers buttttt lets see um @ryttu3k @io-wall @stellar-starryy @flamefoxcat @warriorofkungfu !! no pressure to actually do this tho y'all!!!! i honestly have no idea if some of u write at all but ur all cool ass ppl so yeah!! thabk you for reading ilu all have a good day im embarressed over talking so much byeee !!!!

[thetwistedrope]

Odd question: I used to be over here (for a long time) and moved over to pillowfort. There, there is a very small (50 or so people) community (think tumblr meets a forum) of Kemetics. No one talks or posts or discusses though, despite being part of this community. As someone who really helped create the one here, where conversation is everywhere, how can I do that there? Every time I post, I kind of feel like I'm talking to a wall. Please and thanks!

So the truth about engagement is that its the hardest thing to get, and a lot of factors come into play in terms of obtaining it.

To start, I always like to bring up a number that one of my old marketing managers used to mention, and that number is 2%. 2% is what you can expect your super-user group to be in any given online community. Which is a pretty low number when you get down to it. You’ve got about 12% to 23% for your avg. userbase, and the rest is mostly reading and lurking with nothing else.

I like to bring these up first because I think it sets a realistic expectation for what you can expect when going into any online venture. You can expect that if you get a couple dozen people, only a few of them is likely gonna be worth a damn. You’ll get a handful of avg users that comes in and does stuff every so often, and the rest will likely be silence. And when you look at the 50 people on pillowfort through this lens, it becomes pretty clear as to what might be causing the lack of engagement over there, which is to say, you just may not have enough people to round things out yet.

Another factor to consider about PF is that its not a very popular website. I’ve opened up a few side social media accts since the tumblr BS in Dec, and I’ve probably logged into them a handful of times. PF in particular is ugly and cumbersome to me. I flipped through the kemetic section there and went “yep, three posts” and never went back for a long time. And I wouldn’t be surprised if other people are gonna experience the same, which will be anothe hurdle you’ll have to work around when you’re moving things forward.

Now for actual solutions instead of me whinging about the difficulties and such.

First is that if you want ppl to get onto that platform, the best thing you can do is cross post. I used to cross post WP to FB. I cross post a lot of my tumblr stuff over onto FB and I’ll post relevant stuff over into discord as well. BBback when forums were a big deal, I’d also post things onto those, and I frequently mention social media goings on in my WP posts as well. Linking across several sites allows more people to see your content, and it is a reminder to actually log into that website and check stuff out. It gives them motivation to go into a foreign website and engage with you. Just make sure you don’t drown people in content, because that ccan turn ppl off.

This also works by letting people that you talk to on other platforms know that this PF thing is going on. The only reason I’m on MeWe, f’ex, is because Helms and Nehet told me about it. Otherwise, I”d never have joined.

From there, its largely about getting content up that is engaging. This works best if you’ve got people who are already there, but we all gotta start somewhere annd tumblr used to be dead af too lmao. So even if you’re not making a lot of headway, post anyways.

Don’t just post your content, link to what other people are doing. I find that including people’s work in what you’re doing (a in referencing someone’s post, linking to someones work, citing someone’s work as inspiration, etc.) can help get more eyes on what you’re talking about and doing. It also gets more ppl onto your social media platform.

You’ll also likely want to find things that others can respond to. I’ve learned the hard way that this can go hella south hella fast, bbut it’s always worth exploring and seeing what sorts of questions and post types get a response for you. Some people are more hanging out to look at cool things, others want to learn from academic quotes while others are looking to find people to discuss their practice with, etc. So be diverse until you get a feel for what works best on that platform.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that’s probably where I’d start???

[simmonsized]

A Writer’s Meme

tagged by @nogoawayok (ps i’m very mad at u for forcing me to be brave)

This little tag meme is an opportunity for writers to reflect on (and promote!) our own writing, but also to hear about the work of our fellow writers and to find something new to read!

Rules: answer the following questions about your own writing, whether fanfic or original. If you can’t/don’t want to answer a question, just put N/A. If you don’t have that many posted works, tell us about your WIPs or individual chapters/drabbles or even your ideas! Then tag as many writers as you like :)

AO3 name and link, if applicable: deserts

What’s your most popular fic, by whatever metric is most relevant to you (hits, kudos, comments, reblogs, some other trait)?

(officially untitled, but lovingly referred to as) nobody likes the smiths - probably the most-liked fic i’ve ever posted on tmblr? predictably trash au related. you could pretty much stick your hand into the basket labelled trash au and pull out anybody’s favorite (it’s not mine, but that’s. u know.) shocking, considering it deals with a pretty ugly side of the beginning signs of alcoholism, and isn’t a particularly romantic or fun fic. york and wash centric. probably pretty over-dramatic. i still like it okay, though the companion/sequel is better, if u ask me

ground cover me, and wind your ashes take - this is a favorite just by default, since it’s the only fic i’ve ever actually put anywhere besides tumblr LOL. 9k and counting! RVB au, post-freelancer au, which you can probably tell is gonna be a theme for me. technically gen fic rn, though that’s subject to change. york is sad. they’re all a lil sad. i actually write this in my free time, but it’s slow going. i promise i never fully abandon anything, it’s impossible for me.

(this got rly long so i’m putting it under a read more!!!)

What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

not to copy nogo, but pretty much, anything i’m currently working on. i don’t have a “trail of carnage” per se, but if i screenshot’d my notepad on my phone, you’d cry. i currently have 26 “active” WIPS, and every time i get an idea??? i can’t stop myself i’m a fucking disaster.

currently i guess it’s a homestuck fic abt forgiveness bc that’s just me. i’m love bro strider thanks. also like, a hundred nasty wips that are just alpha dave/bro bc i guess i really just AM That Guy???? wow.

What’s your best fic, and is it different from your favorite fic?

okay this is probably bias (i know it is) but Thunder Blues is probably my favorite thing, aside from the relatively short trash au fics i’ve posted. i like it because i wrote it for me, and me alone, and because i knew what the story i wanted to tell actually was. i like the voice, i like how sad it makes me feel, and although it falls short in a lot of other ways, i’m pretty proud of that Angsty™ dialogue.

the best-best thing i feel i’ve ever written is a hetalia fanfiction from 2011 i will Never Post not ever ever but it’s rly good trust me.

Do you have a fic whose popularity surprised you?

A World Alone - against all fucking odds, this has actually been recc’d before to other people. I am baffled. the prequel’s better. it’s sort of north/south?? sorry??? 

technically, camp weewees is not actually a fic but a 5000 tweet private twitter that ivori made several comics for. we both still get ppl asking about it from time to time. it’s been years. i’m blown away.

ALSO??? ALL OF TRASH AU??? HELLO????????? i STILL get anons and comments, and i still have the whole collection of fanart and playlists. they mean /EVERYTHING/ to me. EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you have a fic you wish more people would read?

this would only matter if i wantonly posted my fic for all the world to see. as it stands, i get one (1) comment and i literally burst into tears of joy. i just want to write things i like, and hope other people like. i know i have Very Specific trope desires. i’m rly sorry. i’m really glad ppl like ground cover me, i hope i can post more and that it still turns out good!

Is there a ship or fandom you haven’t written, but really want to?

literally no LOL

i’ve been writing fanfiction since i was eleven, and have notebooks upon notebooks just FULL of fic for pretty much everything (i burned a good chunk of it out of embarrassment when i was like 17, i’m still rly sad about this tbh i would have loved to read it) and anything i have ever loved. anything i want to write, i pretty much throw myself bodily into, if i feel it’s something i can give a voice!! 

Tell us a random fact about your writing process:

it goes like this:

here is a thought/idea/line > ???? batter up???? > write 5000 words in one sitting > forget about it for a week, find it and reread it > cry > write 5000 more words in another sitting

and then i never get up the nerve to post it!!!

ps i can’t really tag anyone bc nogo tagged pretty much all of my writer friends, and anyone else i am too shy to mention

IF U SEE THIS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO IT, AND THEN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TAG ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WANNA SEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pumpkinpaix]

okay a follow-up--first, @tonyglowheart made a point in the notes that I meant to add and then completely forgot because my brain fried itself which is to say, yes, I have constructed a bit of a false analogy here to make my point. gong/shou are literary tropes not (stereo)types, which distinguishes them from terms like bear/twink. i hope the reason i made the analogy still makes sense though.

second, some replies that got a little long that i'm gonna put under a cut.

@yunljun said: jfc this whole ask is a disaster. isn’t yaoi/danmei/bl mostly consumed by straight women? so a lot of those terms are already not representative of the actual gay community. this is why real gay representation matters and not just bl stuff. and also why we shouldn’t label movies featuring gay couples, made by gay people, as yaoi/danmei/bl…which i’ve seen so many ppl do in online spaces

adding to above, when i say gay representation, i specifically mean for asians. bc i see too many gay asians being fetishized as bl and i think it’s important to keep these things separate

I think you may have missed the point of this post. the idea that BL is largely consumed and created by straight women is one of the main rhetorical points that anti-fujoshi use in their arguments and it's incredibly invalidating and pretty misogynist. you can read about it in the post i linked giving a rundown about fujoshi discourse. you do not know the sexuality of the people consuming or creating danmei. i am not a straight woman, for example. here is a post by someone who also isn't a straight woman about self-identifying as fudanshi and enjoying BL media. whether you like it or not, BL spaces ARE queer spaces--if you don't vibe with them that's fine, but to say that this doesn't count as "real" rep does a disservice to the many, many queer people who relate to these stories. "straight woman who fetishizes gay men" is a strawman at this point. are there problems with BL as a genre? yes. are asians hugely sexualized and fetishized by non-asians? yeah (ask me how i know 8)). could we use more diverse rep pretty much always? yes. but that's not what I'm talking about in this ask anyways. my problem with the ask was the reductive and casually racist nature of the way it was framed and the lack of thought put into the context of the question.

@steinozean said: Thank you for pointing out how even within anons own culture things can be different. It’s exhausting seeing what ppl deem as universal gay experiences in western countries is often just the white cis experience and it wasn’t until mdzs in late 2018 i actually met other western ppl who also went “hey i can actually better connect with this cn gay novel than with the usual gay rep in western media.”

And I’m sure a lot of the appeal of c-media now comes from it being a not-white pov. I’m european, not white but no matter if it’s us or european media (that’s making up most of what was easily accessible for the longest time) it’s always been a whether very white and/or very us-centric pov so none of it felt like good representation of my own queer experience either.

that's a huge mood. I don't think my own queer experience is particularly odd or noteworthy, but I honestly haven't read/seen a lot (any?) stories that reflect it. I don't relate to like 75% of the way people talk about queerness on tumblr, and I've never felt very comfortable at pride here in the US, even though I go. my parents are immigrants, and there's a part of me that wonders about what's considered "my" queer history, whatever that's supposed to mean, and what "my" queer stories might look like. maybe i can find it in danmei/BL whatever.

at the same time, i know that a lot of the appeal of BL stories to me has to do with the release of pressure to identify with and think about my own body and position as a woman (?) in relation to others, and thus somewhat a release from having to consider the realities of misogyny that exist in gendered power dynamics. cmedia is a bonus because I ALSO don't have to think about my race, which I have to say, is also a huge relief. i feel like these aren't mutually exclusive reasons to enjoy and identify with a genre and I think that's pretty cool.

It was only when starting MDZS that I came across the terms “seme” and “uke.” To me these categories seemed too rigid and simplistic compared to actual gay dynamics I have observed. I wanted to ask whether such categorisation is truly reflected in the way gay Chinese people behave or is it just a stereotype?

okay so -- there’s a lot to unpack here. I’ve been sitting on this ask for months at this point but let’s give it a shot. to forewarn you, I found this ask really upsetting for a number of reasons, and I am. really kind of at the end of my patience with this fandom, so this is going to be harsh. please bear with me if you are in a space to do so.

so. seme and uke are japanese terms that come with their own genre conventions and such, even though they roughly mean top and bottom. you can read a little bit about it here under the “seme and uke” section on the yaoi wikipedia page.

the equivalent chinese terms are 攻 (gong1) and 受 (shou4). you might notice that the hanzi/kanji used are the same as seme and uke because i’m fairly sure the chinese terms were derived from the japanese ones. there’s a lot of cultural crossover in ACGN (anime, comics, games, novels) fandoms.

the use of seme/uke vs gong/shou does matter when it comes to anglophone spaces. because one of the facets of anti-asian racism in anglophone spaces is the way that people treat all (east) asians as interchangeable, the choice of which language to use for which media is important, even if the terms are linguistically equivalent.

it's a small thing, but even just saying gong/shou instead of seme/uke in this ask would have softened the blow a little. all of this information is easily obtained with a quick google search of "seme and uke" and "chinese version of seme and uke" and a little bit of analytical thinking. before you ask a random stranger on the internet to dispense cultural information, please do the minimum of research on your own.

with regards to the actual question:

I know this ask is old so maybe a lot has changed for you anon, but regarding this ask specifically, I’m going to ask you to think very hard about what you’re asking, who you're asking, and why you're asking it next time. for a start, I am not a gay chinese man. i have been very clear that I am abc, and i live and grew up in the states. That's not equivalent to "a chinese person who happens to be fluent in english". we are very culturally distinct, and there is absolutely no way that my background gives me any inherently privileged insight into the lives and culture of gay chinese men in china. why are you asking me to speak for them? why are you asking me to tell you about them? gay chinese men behave like individual humans. i am not your convenient tour guide into all things chinese just because I speak english. moreover, please remember that your experience, like mine, is limited. whatever observed "actual gay dynamics" you're talking about are a product of your specific position, location, age, culture etc. and it would be absurd to extrapolate your observations to generalize how all gay people interact with one another even in your specific culture.

I will be very honest: the tone of this ask evokes purity wank bait because of the wider context of the question. there has been a Lot of discourse surrounding the “roles” in danmei in anglophone fandom that essentially boils down to fujoshi discourse redux, which often has a lot of racist underpinnings and comes from an extremely white, western, misogynist, and identity politics-heavy perspective. i put links and such about fujoshi discourse in this ask if you aren't familiar, but I want you to understand that, regardless of your intent, my initial impression of this question (because of the context of these discussions) was uncomfortably close to "I'm better than those oppressive, uneducated straight chinese women who unrealistically fetishize gay men, right?" I am choosing to believe that this wasn't what you meant, but. to draw an analogy: would you ask me this question about twinks and bears in US gay culture? would you ask me if those labels/roles/categories were representative of the way US gay men behaved? what about top/bottom? if not, then why are you asking me about chinese gay men as if they're a different species?

if you can understand that top/bottom or bear/twink are not representative categorizations (though there are, of course, people who happily fall into them, self-identify as them, label themselves as such etc), why are you holding gong/shou to a higher standard?

I get that we're all in different places re: our cultural knowledge, but just. look, if you're coming to me with a question like this, the least you could do me is the courtesy of ten minutes of googling before you hit me with a racist microaggression right out the gate on a sensitive topic. As I said, I don't think you meant harm, but please try to be more aware in the future, okay?

(please do not dogpile anon in the notes, it's not constructive, thanks)

if you are curious about the lives of queer folk in china, there is plenty of interesting information out there in english as well. here's an article to get you started.

[jawnkeets]

hello sorry to disturb you lovely person but i was wondering if you had some advices to have a better literary analysis, or a better culture well, i mean how can i improve my literary intelligence basically ? ( it may not be really clear but i hope you'll understand because i feel like i'm lost... )

hello anon! no need to be sorry, ur not disturbing me at all :+) feel free 2 send an ask at any time ✨✨✨

i’ll attempt to answer this by splitting ur ask into 2 parts. first i’ll try to give some tips on literary analysis, and then i’ll try to talk about the sort of wider awareness of lit (or the culture as you call it).

a little disclaimer: pls bear in mind that i am by no means qualified to speak about this in any way (i still very much consider myself a learner). i’ve generally been left alone throughout my education to do my own thing, which is a good thing in some respects and a bad thing in others; i don’t have the solid foundations that most ppl do, never following things like paragraph structures throughout lower school, and i didn’t know a thing about metre until the start of this month. however, because of my education i think i’ve managed to avoid a few conventional pitfalls. so, in short, you can take as much or as little of this advice as you like!

PART 1: literary analysis

• an excellent way to boost your analysis straight away, dull as it is, is to learn some literary devices beyond, say, alliteration and personification. being able to spot things like chiasmus and epiphora not only wows an examiner, but also enables you to talk about more things within a poem/ book/ play and thus broadens your literary scope in close reading.• remember that for each literary device you mention you should say what it REVEALS (DO NOT just list!!!). the best essays move from a literary device to an explanation of why this device is used - what does it reveal about a character, the speaker, or even the society that the poet or author was writing in?• rhythm and meter in a poem tick boxes in an exam, but can also lead to insightful analysis. how do the rhythm and meter add to the overall message of the poem? does, for example, the metre give a regularity to the poem? why might this be? is it broken at any point? how is this significant?• the above can be applied to rhyme scheme, too. look out for rhyming couplets at the end of a poem, which may give a sense of finality to the poem (or may seem to give a sense of finality when in actuality the speaker of the poem is far from decisive…).• it is important to remember that a particular rhyme scheme (or metre) doesn’t ALWAYS mean anything; it can mean different things in different poems, so instead of applying a ready-made formula, try to go into the exam knowing how to identify these aspects of a poem and then try to work out why you think the poet has used them in that particular poem. flexibility is key, which can be daunting but also somewhat liberating.• i personally find a ‘scribble method’ quite useful. this is where, when first approaching a piece of writing, you write down everything that comes into your head, regardless of how messy, or how basic. you then sort through your ideas, expanding upon what you think is worthwhile and discarding what you think is not. this method is generally more handy when not under time pressure, though, as it can get you into a muddle in the exam.• start simple and build up. it can be tempting to jump straight in but sometimes when you start simply new things can reveal themselves as you work your way up into more complex ideas! • perspective is extremely useful to consider. who is speaking and why? are they biased or objective? who are they speaking to and why?

unseen exam tips

• in an exam, i would approach a poetry or prose extract first by simply reading it, and trying to find out what it is about. then i would go through and highlight words/ phrases of interest, and label literary devices. finally, i would go through it again and build the main analysis. a brief paragraph plan can be useful before writing the essay.• acronyms can help sometimes as a go-to in an exam when you don’t have much time. for example, i use CFTTSOL - content (basic story, characters, who is speaking and why etc) form (poetry, prose, drama etc), tense (past/ present etc), tone (happy, sad, why? is the tone at odds with the subject matter? in emily dickinson’s ‘because i could not stop for death’, for example, the poem is about something dark but it is very jolly), structure/ syntax (rhyme, caesura, enjambment, any disrupted syntax, etc) other (anything not mentioned in the rest of the categories) and language (similes, metaphors, assonance, etc). i would recommend finding one that works for YOU and makes sense for YOU, because creating your own can really help to ease you into analysis.

PART 2: literary awareness

• read, read, read! i cannot stress the importance of wider reading enough, and also the importance of thinking whilst you read (making notes/ annotating books whilst you read is advisable). i am speaking from experience here - i didn’t read outside of the curriculum at all until the end of last year, and since i have started my literary analysis has increased tenfold. this is partly because practice is vital, but also because wider reading gave me an awareness that i could never have expected to gain. it enabled me to start making links between texts, genres, periods, etc – i began to see patterns and conventions in literature. for instance, a poem that breaks convention is easier to spot and talk about – to use a very basic example, a sonnet (usually a form of love poetry) about brutality/ violence toys with genre. if you had read some of shakespeare’s sonnets, you could then compare the violent poem with sonnet 18, to elucidate your point. this isn’t to say that you didn’t already know that sonnets were love poems, or that you wouldn’t have picked up on this without wider reading. but having read sonnets outside of class means that you can talk about this with greater clarity, authority and confidence.• i would also advise you to push yourself with the literary material you explore. it is difficult, but try to find nothing intimidating - read thick victorian novels, read modernist authors, read kant if you want, and even if the prospect of reading ‘harder’ texts doesn’t thrill you then try them anyway - you may be pleasantly surprised! part of the difficulty of studying this subject is that preconceived ideas can erect barriers and put you off. it is important to totally bulldoze these barriers and remind yourself that nothing is above you, and that you are capable. that’s not at all to say that you can’t read ‘simpler’ texts, and of course it is probably wise to admit to yourself when you perhaps need a greater literary background before you tackle a text (for example, i tried joyce’s ulysses, a modernist text full of allusion, when i have a barely working knowledge of greek mythology, and i admitted to myself that though it would not be impossible for me to read it, i would like to read more widely and then return to it in the future).• w i k i p e d i a. it’s often sniffed at but honestly don’t be afraid of using it! it’s an excellent way to absorb info fast. also don’t be ashamed of using websites like sparknotes if you don’t understand a poem to begin with! u shouldn’t rely on them for the crux of your analysis but they can be helpful to get started!• it’s perhaps obvious, but it helps to remind yourself that literature isn’t just fiction - try to read some critical essays if you can, and look at philosophy, history, psychology etc and how they relate to literature as studied in school. this is actually wayyyy more fun than it sounds (!) and will improve your general literary knowledge.• tumblr, whilst being a killer procrastination station, can also really help to broaden your knowledge. reblogged quotes from famous writers often stick around in your memory, and period moodboards can help you get a sense of different ages and help you to visualise what you’re studying. it’s also great to be in a community of passionate people - the passion of others on this site has definitely rubbed off on me!• make it relevant!! all of these texts and literary movements have shaped our society profoundly. as overdramatic as it sounds, look for the romanticism in a house party, or existentialism in internet memes, or hamlet in yourself. legacies are all around us, and seeing the world in this way can really bring literature to life.

literature is a subject where you get out what you put in. it’s relatively straightforward, if you work hard, to get very good grades in lit; if this is what you want, then having a solid knowledge of metre and literary terms, being able to spot them in texts, and then being able to describe what this reveals can get you top marks. but, in my opinion, to develop true literary intelligence you really have to let the subject permeate every aspect of your life. this is a subject where you really can take risks, be original and unique, and explore a huge amount of periods and ideas. if you see it reflected in the world around you, and think deeply and thoughtfully about everything you are reading, then the classwork honestly sorts itself out.

i hope this has been useful in some way and that it answers ur ask adequately!! if u have any further questions or require clarification please do not hesitate to let me know. i hope u have a wonderful day 💘