#bc people just don't wanna be educated and it'll show

[thetearsofadove]

I honestly love writing and writing for other people, but after doing it for years and seeing just how rude people can be is really making me reconsider releasing my writing for other people.

I love fanfiction. I've been writing it for almost 10 years. Started when I was 12, I'm 21 and turning 22 in February. I've blossomed. Fanfiction, both reading and writing it, has helped me grow as an author.

So obviously I'm going to want to share it with people. But...my god, it's become a horrible experience every time I've tried.

First, the entitlement that I see from readers. Sometimes, even from fellow writers. I don't know what's worse; when a reader is being an entitled douche, or a fellow writer.

Stop clogging my inbox with "UPDATE!! UPDATE!!" or things along the lines of begging me to update. I have a life. I have animals to tend to, I have money to make, I have mental health to keep in line. I'll update when I get to it. And if I don't? Apologies. But don't make it worse by making me panic.

I was nice enough to release free shit for you. Show me respect.

Also, stop telling authors what to write. Stop dictating what they should be writing. They don't have to write for a specific audience if they don't want to.

I wrote for DBD at one point and stopped because one asshole spammed me saying "write for Adam!! Horrible author, won't write for Adam".

I was going to in the future, I only started writing a few of the characters so I could work my way up. But I gave up.

Go find a writer that suits your tastes instead of insulting and demanding a random ass author to do it for you. Or, better yet? Do it yourself. We cannot read your mind, we have no idea what you want.

Wattpad is one of the worst sites for this. As a writer? Fuck Wattpad. Some of its users are so immature and entitled, it's insane.

I also cannot stand how people treat authors/writers like we're just these emotionless writing machines. I've specifically stated I am not taking requests right now, it's on my profile, so why are y'all sending me requests after I've stated they make me anxious and make me feel pressured? I left my ask box open for questions, that's it. I'm urged to now close it.

Authors/fanfiction writers are writing stuff for YOU for free. I am more than happy to write. I write for fandoms I'm not too involved in. I educate myself about said fandoms and characters in those fandoms so I can write them the best I can. I do it for YOU. Stop treating me like I'm not a human behind the screen with a life.

Also the lack of manners drives me fucking INSANE. Say please and thank you. Show some appreciation instead of "write this 4 me kthanx". It feels horrible, and like I said above, I am not some emotionless AI that writes for you. I have feelings. I spend an hour at the least out of my day writing for YOU when I could be writing for myself, drawing, watching my favourite TV shows...whatever.

Like...in general, be nice. Be kind. You wanna request? Add a please and thank you. Don't pressure authors. Also, don't make authors feel like they're responsible for your moods. I've been guilt tripped with "write this bc I feel sad and if you won't, I'll be more sad and it'll be your fault :((" and it makes me feel horrible.

I gave up writing for people in the past because I am let down every. single. time. It's 2023, fanfiction has existed for a VERY long time, the fact that being kind, patient and understanding isn't common knowledge is mind boggling.

Also? Get to know me a little bit, ffs. I have emotions. I have interests. Don't use me for just my work. It feels awful when I post something rambling about an interest or asking a QUESTION and I end up being ignored. It's fucking horrible.

[ardentalley]

hi darling! i'm putting your questions and my answers under a read more to cut for length! i don't want to spam ppls dashes haha --

HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET INTO THE INDUSTRY?! I'm imagining you knew some people who knew the path to get there because this isn't the kind of industry they tell you how to get a job in when you're in high school or university.

i kinda stumbled into it! :) the first job that i had out of college was coincidentally an internship at a place that made custom ambient scents (so fragrances for fashion shows, hotel lobbies, high end designer stores, etc) and things just went from there!

What's your background? Did you go to university or did you like work at a perfume shop or??? Did you do chemistry?! Is that even relevant?

i did neither! LOL i went to uni for literally literature haha -- i have a degree in comparative literature of all things, so it's pretty far from the traditional chemistry/math majors that would feed more naturally into the industry, but a fragrance house is so much more than just perfumers and chemists, right -- there's marketing, sales, operations, like if you have soft skills? then you can conceivably work in a fragrance house :)

Do you speak French?

i do NOT speak french, but a lot of people in the industry do! i will say that it's very useful to speak at least one other language if you wanna work in fragrance -- if it's french or italian or spanish, good! but recently, the fact that i speak chinese and also japanese have been huge helps bc the industry is rapidly globalizing!

You listed so many old perfumes on that post! How do you know them when some are older than you or me!!! Do you have a database that you just punch notes into and it spits out records of related perfumes?! DO YOU JUST KNOW THIS SHIT BECAUSE IT'S YOUR FUCKING JOB?! Because that would be so cool.

a combo of all the above actually! LOL so there's a weekly "class" that is offer at my office, and it's just called "fragrance training" thats open to anyone in the office who wants to learn. it's a way to educate the ppl who aren't perfumers/evaluators on the industry, it's history, etc. so we work through the history of perfume, smell market products like mitsouko, jicky, shalimar, and then l'eau d'issey, with the boom of calone (tm), etc. and then after that, you learn raw ingredients broken into families! so we'll smell like the most common citrus notes one day, and then go through maybe some white flowers the next time, and the market products that feature those raws. we also have a giant product room that's constantly being updated with the latest big launches -- so the new billie eilish, the latest coach fragrance, the new j'adore, and we're all encouraged to smell them when they come in. this way, you've got your finger on the pulse of the way the market is trending, and you can kind of track consumer tastes and it'll make you better at your job, no matter what your specific job is!

How many of your own perfumes have you crafted?

since i'm not a perfumer or an evaluator, i haven't actually made any perfumes, but because i'm in sales, i do get to handle the projects as they come in, and i basically get to touch every part of the process, and sometimes even help with the creative bits! so a few ones that i was actually really proud of: all the ledda fragrances, tsu lang yor by troye sivan, all the hp frags by house of sillage, most of the michael malul stuff, papaya isla by abbott

i actually don't wear perfume anymore asldkfjas mostly bc ur not allowed to wear fragrance to work; you're asked to keep your skin "clean" just in case we need "skin" to smell on for stuff that people are working on, so LOL

What is your goal/dream job five or ten years from now? I know being a nose is EXTREMELY difficult, but I don't know what the periphery jobs in the industry are so I can't imagine what comes next in your career.

yeah, i don't think i have what it takes to be a proper perfumer/nose; i do think i want to become an evaluator (which is like the translator between sales and the perfumers) but also, i like sales a lot! i like the client-facing aspect, and i'm still young, so we'll see where life takes me! but i do know that this is where i wanna work, and that i'm very happy where i am :)

i think the common misconception is that the ONLY job in the fragrance industry is like... to be the one making the fragrance, but that's totally not true! like... we are a company, at the end of the day -- and perfumers, while they are the heart and soul of what we do, they're like... maybe 1% of the actual headcount in a fragrance house -- we have ppl in r&d, ppl in the labs, ppl in the factories, ppl who do innovation, so there's so many other ways to get into the fragrance industry! :D

What is the most difficult scent to extract in terms of litre to ton ratio? I know it takes something like a LITERAL METRIC TON of jasmine to get one litre of pure oil. This blew my mind. And so did the old extraction method of sticking the flowers on animal fat between two sheets of glass to extract the scent. That was so cool to see!

yes -- so that animal fat extraction is called "enfleurage", and it's very ancient. it takes a lot of time and effort, and produces good effects, but in the year of our lord 2023... we've got bigger and better ways haha! i think the most expensive raw on the current palette pound of pound would be orris, which is derived from iris root. i would def suggest looking it up! it's a gorgeous ingredient and i am OBSESSED lol

Do you know the Fragonard house full of art that the perfumery is named after?

sadly i do not :( i've never heard of fragonard :(

Rain. RAIN. I AM GOING FERAL!!!!!!!! ARE YOU A NOSE? DO YOU WORK WITH NOSES??! HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO GRASSE??!! CAN WE BE BEST FRIENDS PLEASE OMG I'M DYING IVER HERE TO TALK ABOUT FRAGRANCES WITH YOUUUUUU

LMFAO OMFG!!!! i didn't know you were so passionate about fragrance!!! but to answer your questions:

no i'm not a nose u__u

but yES i do work with noses (perfumers and evaluators, both can be called noses, but i'm assuming you're talking about the people who actually write the formulas, in which case -- perfumers)

i have not been to grasse (yet!) but our company has a villa and an r&d facility out there so the next time i'm in europe, i'll def be able to visit!

yes! we can def be bffs! <3

[mainepdf]

"problematic representation of the gods" You mean taking a bunch of guys who, in their mythology, often amounted to a collection of petulant, violent, lecherous, holier-than-thou assholes on their best days and filtering that though modern-day perspectives (namely a somewhat jaded teenage boy)?

*sighs*

look anon, idk who you are, and frankly, idc. because whether or not it's on purpose, this is one of the most blatantly disrespectful asks i've gotten.

Now i'm gonna start this off by saying that it is completely okay to like pjo (in fact you see me reblog this content on the daily) but you have to acknowledge that it got a lot of shit wrong. and you know what? i'm happy i got sent this ask because i will be able to explain in depth all the things rick riordan got wrong (which is a lot, so i might not get through it).

Let's start simple, first imma talk in a broader sense, then i will digress into the most problematic depictions in my opinion.

In a broader sense, you shouldn't apply human values and ideas to gods. Hellenisimos is a rather small religion and imma just say, if any major religion was represented like this, no one would even go near rick riordan. But people think it's okay to shit on a group of people who worship and work with these gods and find these depictions very offending. More often or not, the people who shit on the Greek gods have only the smallest understanding of mythology and use western retellings as sources, which, imma say it, is a coloniser move because you are disrespecting a beautiful culture and religion by making stupid assumptions based on your small-minded mindset. Think of it like the Europeans colonising places like the Americas and Asia and spreading lies about the indigenous cultures, but instead it's the Romans colonising Greece and butchering their myths. I am not Greek, nor am I a Hellenic polytheist (tho the religion and practices really draw my interest and i'm absolutely in love with it), but I am educated enough to do my own research and actually give respect to all religions.

Now moving on to individual depictions, which I think are the most problematic.

Zeus- I have seen Zeus hate everywhere, including in the general community. In fact I used to hate Zeus as well, until i started following a Hellenic polytheist on tiktok (@/sappho.wannabe) and they explained what's wrong with this problematic mindset and also what's wrong with pjo. Zeus is depicted as abusive, a bad dad, and a haughty, power-hungry ruler, a rapist, and a bad husband (and this is also the general depiction). He is NOT any of that. "Oh but he cheats on his wife and has a bunch of kids" he does this because of prophecies given by the Fates about demigod heroes and frankly, Hera understands this. Lemme just say that when the Age of Heroes ended, he stopped hooking up with other women. "He's a rapist!" This mindset is completely out of context. Think about the culture in which this is written in. The Ancient Greeks did not see it as such and it's considered a huge blessing to bear a god's children. This idea may also have come up due to mistranslations. "He's a bad king and the gods wanted to overthrow him" Yes, that myth of Hera, Poseidon, and others joining forces to attempt a coup is correct. But after that incident, Zeus swore on the river Styx to be a good husband to Hera, a good father to his Olympian children, and a better king. And he lived up to it. About him being a bad dad, he made some decisions that he absolutely did not want but he was the king of the universe; he has to do what's best for it. Frankly, his depiction in pjo is based on western, colonised retellings and stereotypes.

Hera- Imma start by saying that all the goddesses' depictions are sexist. Hera in pjo is a cruel bitch who hates her husband and his lovers. HONESTLY PEOPLE WHO THINK THIS STFU AND DO SOME RESEARCH! "She tortured her husband's lovers!" She punished the lovers who thought they were better than her and yes, she was jealous at times BUT THAT DOESN'T DEFINE HER AND THAT OVERALL MINDSET IS SEXIST! "She hates her husband and is in a loveless marriage" Oh my fucking gods, you think that the goddess of marriage and patron of wives would stay in a loveless marriage?? NO. She loves Zeus with all her heart and yes, she gets mad at him for cheating but like i said, she knows it's for the prophecies. And lemme just say, she's allowed to feel upset about that. But in modern days in a religious context, their marriage is rather healthy as the Age of Heroes has come to an end.

Athena- Lemme say something. How dare Rick write in a maiden goddess having children? Idc how she conceives them, she swore an oath of chastity, which means no children. So essentially, the mere existence of the Athena campers is problematic and disrespectful. Now moving on to her personality: she is depicted as haughty, mean, and cold. Especially in Mark of Athena, like wtf?? Athena would never treat someone like that out of the blue. And her sending off demigods to die just to retrieve a statue?? Also lemme take this moment to say that the myths about Medusa and Arachne are not Greek. They are Roman. And also written by Ovid, someone who hated the gods and authority in general and essentially colonised the myths and wrote them to make the slander the gods, especially Athena and Poseidon because he was kicked out of Athens. In Greek myths, Medusa was born a gorgon, she wasn't transformed. And I don't think Arachne even appears in Greek myths.

Ares- Okay, wow. So Ares in pjo is abusive and sexist. Which is absolutely NOT him. He's literally the patron god of the Amazons, a group of women warriors who rebelled against the patriarchy, how would he be sexist?? And Ares is arguably one of the best dads on Olympus and is in a healthy relationship with Aphrodite. He may be the god of war but he doesn't use violence inappropriately and is not a dumb brute.

Aphrodite- Once again, this depiction is extremely sexist and rick really let all his misogyny into this, didn't he?? In pjo, Aphrodite is a catty bitch who hates anyone pretty and sees people as objects in exciting stories. First of all, just no. Aphrodite is one of my favourite goddesses and i hate the misinfo spread about her. She doesn't hate pretty people, she hates people who use their beauty to compare themselves to a literal goddess of beauty. Mortals comparing themselves to gods in any way is extremely disrespectful. And she lets those people know it. Also, when Aphrodite is a goddess of love, that includes self-love and a lot of people, myself included, see her as motivation to practice self care. May I also say that Aphrodite was worshipped as a war goddess (Aphrodite Areia) in Sparta, comparable to Ares. Sparta, the most warlike city in Greece, respected her as a war deity and a love goddess. Athens didn't do this because they had the sexist mindset that a goddess couldn't be extremely feminine and warlike at the same time.

Artemis- Lemme clear up a big misconception about Artemis, she is not aroace. People want to use her as aroace rep but she's not. If you want aroace, look at Hestia (not Athena because she did have romances with Pallas and Myrmex). Artemis is in fact sapphic (not saying lesbian bc i don't wanna label the gods' sexualities). The vow swears off men, and that allows the loophole of dating women. In fact, the entire point of her hunters is a group of queer women who can escape the patriarchy. Think of the myth of Artemis and Callisto; Zeus chose to take the form of Artemis when approaching Callisto, and this would never have worked if Artemis and Callisto were just friends. THEY WERE DATING! And in the rrverse, it shows Artemis kicking out two lesbian hunters, like wtf?? Finding sapphic lovers is the whole point of the Hunters, why would she kick out women for doing just that??

Hades- Pjo seems to imply that Hades would cheat on his wife to have kids. NO HE WOULDN'T. He loves Persephone SO MUCH, he would never do that to her. And also the insinuation of him siding with the Nazis?? Omg this is just another depiction trying to vilify Hades.

Okay, that's probably the most problematic inaccuracies there (and perhaps the most common). And if you were simply uneducated, you should understand now, but if you're just being disrespectful, fuck off from my blog.