#because this:

[onewomancitadel]

The other problem with 'my fave did nothing wrong' is that characters can do wrong in one sense and do the right thing in another.

If Cinder hadn't have gone after the Winter Maiden power, the direct consequence of that would've been Winter using the Maiden meat puppet machine that is obviously a terrible no-good bad thing, and Penny wouldn't have been the Winter Maiden. Cinder's a necessary agent to stop that, in a perverse way you might even say she's essentially part of righting the cycle of the Maiden powers. Actually - yes. I completely buy that, because she sets in motion the urgency of the Maiden power musical chairs game, and she is, in that messed up way of hers, responsible for Amber and everything that follows thereafter, but all of it is necessary pain and destruction to set the cycle of the Maiden powers becoming corrupted, right - which in turn represents the Ozlem wound at the heart of the story!

Which is obviously fabulous, because she's the one with a fucked up perception of them already. Realising the redemption of the power through her own perspective etc. is genius.

Even Fria's death (and demonstration of power) is not something that is framed as a purely negative event, in fact it's a natural good death - she lived her life fully through the triple-goddess cycle of Maiden, Mother, Crone - and isn't left in the Maiden meat puppet machine. So there is clearly some mixed sense of goodness and badness emerging here.

But it's 'wrong' in the sense that Cinder's own motivation for going after the power is misplaced, and it's 'wrong' in the sense she's not meant to have it, and it's 'wrong' in the sense that she's acting under the guise of villainy (in contrast to Ironwood's apparent heroism... Ironwood is a 'hero' doing moral badness - Cinder is a 'villain' doing moral goodness).

You can see how eliding an action in the story into either good or bad actually means you can't really talk about it in the sense that it's actually intended. But equally you've got that problem is that if a character claims to be good (verbally or is considered a hero) everything they do is good, and if they claim to be bad (verbally or is considered a villain) everything they do is bad, which is where I think this type of narrative complexity suffers, because a lot of people will decide to judge the moral actions based on their perceived characteristics and fitting their narrative actions to that. So it's not even just about stan culture but something underlying fitting a character trait to their actual narrative actions. To be totally fair - protagonist-centred morality is totally a thing, and in some cases it works and in a lot of cases it doesn't. That it's actively (and probably a little too obviously) explored with Ironwood is interesting to me.

But 'my fave did nothing wrong' is a natural response if you're on the defense about your fave and in addition to that if you're already uncomfortable with moral complexity but want to enjoy a naughty villain who's not too naughty it's easy to slide into. That's why there are such urgent boundaries drawn between Cinder and Emerald, Cinder and Winter, Cinder and Raven, etc., characters considered to be receiving redemption arcs but are a little too similar to Cinder in terms of narrative potential for redemption, and why comparing them is automatically made to be untouchable territory. That or it's just a case of unlikability, because they're not all the same emotional archetypes.

But to me moral complexity is most interesting, especially in characters who are set up for a redemption arc that recontextualise the moral dynamics and goals of the story - in Cinder's redemption arc, nonviolence, redemption, healing, forgiveness, are naturally embedded into it, and it sets up the final answers to the story, so finding where she is doing 'good' things that are considered 'bad' (especially if they embody Fall Maiden ideals of Choice) when later she will be a 'bad person' who transforms into something beyond good and bad, someone who will redeem herself, is very interesting to me. Which is why I don't want to play that game of saying she did nothing wrong.

Most importantly, a redemption arc happens as a consequence of badness; can't redeem someone if they were never bad.

[telebeast]

unoriginal joke

[blueskittlesart]

i’ve started babysitting for a VERY christian family which is great because they pay me a lot of money but as someone who was raised almost completely agnostic it’s kind of insane. the 2 year old keeps asking me to read her stories from the bible. (why are we reading david and goliath to a 2 year old????) the 5 year old told me today that he was going to bring his legos to heaven with him. he also has repeatedly told me that the lego spaceships he builds are stronger than jesus. (not sure what to say to that. do i deny it??? are things allowed to be stronger than jesus??) had to stop myself mid sentence today because i almost told them im not going to heaven which would DEFINITELY have caused several meltdowns. they’re also both completely fascinated by my nose ring

[sepiamestus]

You guys should read thepromised neverland

[roach-works]

speculative fiction writers i am going to give you a really urgent piece of advice: don't say numbers. don't give your readers any numbers. how heavy is the sword? lots. how old is that city? plenty. how big is the fort? massive. how fast is the spaceship? not very, it's secondhand.

the minute you say a number your readers can check your math and you cannot do math better than your most autistic critic. i guarantee. don't let your readers do any math. when did something happen? awhile ago. how many bullets can that gun fire? trick question, it shoots lasers, and it shoots em HARD.

you are lying to people for fun. if you let them do math at you the lie collapses and it's no fun anymore.

[valtsv]

stuck between "psychological horror statement" and "objectively the funniest thing you could say to your real flesh and blood dad" in the father's day card aisle

[faeriekit]

"This fic was ai generated—" Cool, so lemme block you real quick

[chaotic-neutral-knitter]

I think one of the kindest things you can do for people with various mental health struggles is just... let people back into your life after they've been absent for a while.

Making friends as an adult is so fucking hard already and isolating yourself from other people is a very common symptom of depression, anxiety, burnout, ocd, trauma, grief, etc. Which means that someone will do the hard work of recovery/healing and resurface back into a world where their previous friends have written them off because they stopped showing up.

So if you know someone where you're like "yeah we could have been better friends but they fell off the map a bit" and that person suddenly reaches out, or starts showing up to events even though you kind of forgot they were still in the group chat... well they may have been Going Through It and you don't actually have to punish them for their absence you can just be glad that they're back.

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[everythingwasnormalhere]

pls rb if you think cuddling doesn't have to be s3xual

im tryna prove a point to my bf's mother help me out

[girldraki]

[frownyalfred]

Tips for writing those gala scenes, from someone who goes to them occasionally:

Generally you unbutton and re-button a suit coat when you sit down and stand up.

You’re supposed to hold wine or champagne glasses by the stem to avoid warming up the liquid inside. A character out of their depth might hold the glass around the sides instead.

When rich/important people forget your name and they’re drunk, they usually just tell you that they don’t remember or completely skip over any opportunity to use your name so they don’t look silly.

A good way to indicate you don’t want to shake someone’s hand at an event is to hold a drink in your right hand (and if you’re a woman, a purse in the other so you definitely can’t shift the glass to another hand and then shake)

Americans who still kiss cheeks as a welcome generally don’t press lips to cheeks, it’s more of a touch of cheek to cheek or even a hover (these days, mostly to avoid smudging a woman’s makeup)

The distinctions between dress codes (black tie, cocktail, etc) are very intricate but obvious to those who know how to look. If you wear a short skirt to a black tie event for example, people would clock that instantly even if the dress itself was very formal. Same thing goes for certain articles of men’s clothing.

Open bars / cash bars at events usually carry limited options. They’re meant to serve lots of people very quickly, so nobody is getting a cosmo or a Manhattan etc.

Members of the press generally aren’t allowed to freely circulate at nicer galas/events without a very good reason. When they do, they need to identify themselves before talking with someone.

[sunriseovergotham]

characters have to be a little bit awful in ways that you cant defend. its good for the ecosystem. your honor he did do that. He did in fact do that

[hellishqueer]

we ask that the defense not say "me when i lie" while the witness testifies

[mayhemchicken-artblog]

in the hour or so it took me to draw this op turned reblogs off

EDIT: reblogs are STAYING OFF. op was right and correct and i have never regretted making a post as much as this one. if you want to reblog my art you can reblog something else from my blog. or commission me, lord knows i deserve financial compensation for the nightmare this post has put me through

[evidently-endless]

i think we should remind musicians they can absolutely make up little stories for their songs btw. it doesn’t have to be about them at all. you can invent a guy and put him in situations to music. time honoured tradition in fact.