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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 10 months ago

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Wilbert's Worst

Right, so I really was open to having my mind changed on The Worst One but nobody’s argument has budged me.

I was going to write a complete, balanced essay on The Worst W. Awdry Book, but I’m a) mired in the research phase (hey if anyone knows someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of Tom and Jerry hit me up, for real) and b) right now I wanna talk about the characters and their Beloved Dynamics instead.

So I'm just gonna get this out of the way so I can post the poll and move on to answering fun asks and watching Tom and Jerry in peace. Behold: a salty and unbalanced review.

Wilbert’s biggest failure of a children’s storybook?

Henry the Green Engine

Ohhh… because of the, uh, ra —?

Because of the racism, yes!

Oh. You do know that since 1972 they’ve republished it without the n-slur?

Good for them. Two things:

1. I know it used to be there, I’m never able to read it without knowing it was there in the first edition.

2. I consistently try, when ranking the books, to consider them in the context in which they came out. Because of this, I don’t like using “things that happened later” (like a new character never being properly used again or whatever) against the book. This helps me evaluate the author’s successes and failures against what they were trying to achieve when they wrote it vs what I would most want (blorbo content). It helps me not bring to bear the whole weight of fanon and fandom on a text that should be able to stand or fall on its own. Tl;dr I try to read the books like a guy who picked it up in 1951, or whatever.

And yeah, if I’d bought this when it came out it would have had the slur. I’m going to judge it accordingly.

Look, racism is bad, no argument, but does that mean the book as a whole must be condemned?

Yeah, I think the slur and the “aaaand suddenly, blackface! heeheehee” bullshit fuck over the entire book, game over. Go directly to jail, do not collect $200.

The Railway Series is not a work of high art or deep thorny complex literature. The books are meant for children — small children, at that. Children small enough to get bedtime stories read to them. The main goal of each book (especially this early on — you do have to manage secondary priorities like “pleasing the long-time fanbase” the longer you go, but right now we’re only 6 books into the series) is to create a happy imaginary world to enhance childhoods and family lives… to impart to other parents and kids a similar cosy happiness to that the author and his own kids enjoyed when he was workshopping/drafting the stories for them. When we say “children’s book” we really do mean little’uns — these average 1.25 full-color illustrations per page!

And these books sold in large numbers. This means it’s a certainty that somewhere in 1951 there was a Black family who owned the whole series, who went out to the shops, whose kid was like “ooh! Henry gets a book, neat…,” who like everyone else enjoyed the wild ride of Henry’s inspection and coal and wreck and rebuild… only to get verbally spat on one page from the end.

Real mood-killer there. Epic fail, as the cool kids used to say in my youth.

All right, fine, cool kids never said that. Anyway, statistically speaking there was certainly even more than one family that got that experience. Not to mention the non-Black families who even in 1951 were like “... wtf? i’d smack my kid if they ever said a word like that around me, geez. no.” Just a lot of people who had the light the book was kindling in them snuffed out all at once.

You can actually be totally racist and your book not commit creative suicide on the penultimate page! Awdry flubbed his job of 'bestselling books-for-six-year-olds' here. Creative failure. Unforced error. Automatic zero.

But times were different then, you have to consider it in the context of the time.

1951 U.K. was not the nadir of multiracial equality or Black power, but jfc. I can assure you that over 99% of children’s books published that year in the Anglosphere managed to not use the n-slur.

All right, all right. That was bad. But this feels off-topic. If you had never known about what used to be “Henry’s Sneeze,” would you still rank the entire book as dead last in the Wilbert Awdry corpus?

Not dead last, but it is not a strong book. “Coal” and “The Flying Kipper” are super-interesting as material for Henry, but after that the book kind of falls off a cliff; the intrigue drops dramatically. The railway incidents chosen to make stories of are all solid choices, but it was not only “Sneeze” where Awdry’s handling of the material feels clumsy and weird. (And I’m not even talking here of the “heehee blackface — ain’t i a stinker?” gag in “Sneeze.”)

But… “The Flying Kipper”? C’mon. It’s a superb story and no book that contains it can be the absolute worst in the series.

“TFK” remains easily the best single TVS episode ever – but a lot of that is down to Britt and David’s artistry and judgment.

Don’t get me wrong, a full-on railway wreck makes interesting material. But I don’t think the book does nearly as much with it as it could (and I’m trying sooooo hard here to forget about the amazing TVS adaptation, as I think it REALLY shows Awdry up. Even so, the storytelling here is surprisingly tepid and low-stakes). I get that Awdry probably wanted to lean into the comic angle and not make Henry’s condition afterwards seem too grave, in order to ensure the material wasn’t too dark for his young audience? (*mutters* again, a level of tender consideration for his readers’ youth that went right out the window when it came to small Black kids, evidently coz he couldn’t imagine that they read) Understandable, laudable — but if he outright refuses* to make the wreck too dramatic or scary then, well, then the wreck isn’t real scary or dramatic. And it can’t save the rest of the book from its flaws.

*For all I know it could have been the publishers who insisted that the wreck be made preschooler-safe, that’s possible (although it’s also consistent with Awdry’s brand of humor and his overall low degree of emotionalism in his writing). Either way, though, the end result book is what it is and it will be judged accordingly.

In addition to not being as exciting as many remember... @trainsupessandhuntresses asked me once if I thought some of Awdry's stories were "mean-spirited." I had to assent vigorously. And a surprisingly high proportion of those "mean" moments are in Henry the Green Engine? For some reason? It’s not just the racism. Awdry was not in the game to give Henry a deserved happy ending, he’d wanted to kill him off (the fuck?) and when his publishers prevented him (I don’t say this often, especially since I love how salty the Awdrys get about their publishers, but this in case good job, publishers!!) he wrote “TFK” with the primary motivation of giving Henry a new engine basis. Any soft or hearty emotions we get out of the deal are a side-effect — the only emotion that was fueling Awdry as he wrote this was spite, spite and a weird resentment towards his poor, long-suffering, invaluable illustrator. (I don’t blame Awdry for being frustrated that the engine illustrations were continually inaccurate or confusing, but I do think it’s weird to read all this great Henry material knowing that it was written with such poor grace.)

So his ‘happy Henry’ stuff feels perfunctory; his Percy interlude is just brutal (why did you have to drag Percy into Henry’s book purely to give him a fuck-up, a scolding, and a messy dunce cap?); Gordon’s savaging of Henry for being too happy after recovering from a near-death experience is such an incredibly low point for Gordon that it’s hard for me to accept it as canon (there’s being proud, boastful, and self-absorbed, and then there’s being the straight-up raccoon dumpster fire Gordon is in that scene). Oh, and I think “call the police [local constabulary, doesn’t bear firearms]” woulda probably a less reckless way of dealing with the rock-throwing youths than the sneeze of hot locomotive ashes, which of course the Fat Controller doesn’t like, that shit coulda been real dangerous! Mind, there are small rays of kindness throughout that do get me (the interactions between Henry and his crew feeling to me the least perfunctory and most heartfelt), but this is overall such a mean-spirited book. God. It starts off with such a gentle story (almost a non-story, if you’re in it purely for the “railway incidents” game and not character drama), but in short order the vibes just sorta suck. At least in other RWS books, when the vibes are off, they’re usually off near the beginning and then improve by the end. This one gets worse as it goes on. Oof. Don’t like that.

Also, the last page is sooooo lame. I suspect the publisher strong-armed Awdry into writing most of it so that at least the slur wasn’t on the last page of the book... and if Awdry had any idea of how much he’d just empowered Henry and all his fans in this book he shouldn’t have found it hard to find 50 extra words to sum things up. As it was, he’s just filling space and running out the clock, lol. Lame wrap-up. Boring. As usual when it comes to every little thing about this book, Britt and David closed this up better (mind, their closer – “He had taught Gordon and silly boys a lesson, with a whistle and a sneeze” – also sucked. But at least it was blessedly short.)

Didn’t you once list HtGE on a list of your favorite Wilbert Awdry books?

I did list it as one of the books that “at one time or another” have been my favorite in the series. Unfortunately in the case of HtGE, that was back when I really couldn’t read a story that I knew from the TVS without mentally substituting the adaptation into my brain as I read… largely overriding the actual text. Plus, everything I knew from TVS as a kid kind of automatically got a halo effect. Plus, I was super into Henry’s arc.

The first time I read HtGE after calming down and actually reading all the books as books... massive disappointment. There is such a gap there between what I'd thought the book said (all our incredible fanon work overanalyzing and headcanoning Henry and building this beautiful fantasy arc about disability!) vs. what it actually said (limp and careless writing, mean vibes, airbrushed n-slur, bad aftertaste).

I do think there is some stuff about the development of Awdry’s storytelling technique here that is interesting (again, Tom and Jerry superfans reading this, please shoot me a message!) but it doesn’t counteract everything else.

At least we’re over the racism stuff?

Nah, I’m not over it, actually.

#showed his whole ass #an rws book shouldn’t leave a nasty taste in your mouth #but! here we are #okay this rant was not as short as i thought it'd be #but again. there will be a proper analysis in the fullness of time.#henry the green engine (rws)#rws discussion #racism tw #slur mention tw

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calebwittebane · 5 months ago

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ah still caint believe the girl who midjourneys us the backgrounds for the main product shots gets paid about as much per final version as i do for one entire multi-page product specs + e-commerce layout with illustrations and details and Why You Should Choose Our Epic Prodact 💪🔥 essays. no shade to her because she did know what she was doing and the backgrounds were nice and very hi res (she had to work with the full product pics id been given which were SHITE lol she had to enhance them heavily) and she customized them to the very specific instructions i gave her and sent me like 10 versions to choose from every time and generally (the following i suppose is aimed at people who object to any use of generative ai for any visuals ever) the process is just far more efficient than having someone fuckin run out there with the idk tarp tunnel looking for the right Surrounding Foliage and light angle that i wouldve found Acceptable. like i was like yeah girl i need 2pm july/august thinly overcast daylight meaning neutral-warm but no sharp chiaroscuro please and some waist-height pink and purple azaleas for this one and some blue and white hydrangeas of this height and with a light yellow tint on the leaves and darker conifers covering this amount of background oh and can you put a little stone path inside the larger tunnel running thru the middle. and she was like On It Boss. so again no shade to her i think shes been doing a great job. im just saying that i Objectively do more work than she does and i should be paid better than i am LOL

like considering im also tasked with doing all the market research as in i compare web store descriptions and reviews and what specs are sought after and so on. and sometimes im given so little info about the product (which in case its not obvious is not out yet) that step one for me is figuring out how the hell the thing even works by comparing similar products and comparing info and asking for verification from manufacturer if needed. like ok i didnt know how this fucking atomizer worked, and apparently most gardeners in 2024 already do and im stupid, so i had to look at youtube videos with 500 views and in slovak to see someone actually use the thing. anyway ends up i have to finish two entire projects today (thought i had time until 10th but i dont lol) which i only have rough drafts for rn and its doable sure like yeah i can do it before 23:59 which means contractually Ive Done My Job but goddddd i wish it wasnt today of all days like i feel like death and i have to take gaia to the vet later today and its so hot today my cintiq keeps turning into a hot coal

tl;dr I Am Stuck In Garden Tool And Accessory Madness And I Havent Even Been In A Garden Or Any Similar Nice Green Outdoors Area For A Solid Year At This Point

#My Labor Is Being Undervalued.

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freeuselandonorris · 1 year ago

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7, 24, 32 for the writer ask!

writing asks!!!

annoyingly i filled most of this out and then tumblr ate my answers SO take two!

What is your deepest joy about writing?

so this isn’t joy, per se, but i had a conversation with @lost-decade recently where i mentioned that i think a lot of my attraction to writing comes from the fact that i am, at heart, a horrible little control freak (positively unheard of in kink community etc etc) and thus it is very satisfying to me on a deep lizard brain level to put characters in situations and then make those situations conform to my wishes. my writing output always goes up dramatically when i am feeling overwhelmed or uncertain in life and i think this is a big part of it.

but also, i am a person who gets obsessed with things! i am all or nothing! i get obsessed with people (or rather their public personas, fourth wall and all that) and media and scenarios and kinks and tiny little details and big philosophical concepts. writing lets me poke at all those things. picture me like gollum holding a snow globe, shaking it up over and over again to watch how the flakes fall.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

i’ll talk about fic first as that’s what people on here know me for writing-wise. the answer here is: it depends! for my slutty little one-shots i tend to do very little research; stuff like crosstown traffic or a lot like life are largely unplanned or inspired by one real-life event that sparks an idea (although i guess you could say i researched the njoy plug in a lot like life in the sense that i own one lmao).

with longer fics, particularly RPF, i LOVE fitting my fic timelines into real-life events. this is particularly satisfying with motorsport RPF because the races give the year a very particular and easy-to-research structure. so for longer fics like there was always warmth between us i watched a ton of youtube videos and clips of max and daniel for both timeline inspiration and characterisation (although honestly i read that fic back the other day and my dialogue for them is so generic at times gjrskjfs), plus i wrote it relatively soon after the season itself.

with the toto/christian sequel to all the blood runs hot before it’s cold i’m working on, i wrote myself some notes of what themes i want to explore, plus a timeline of last season so that i could tie those themes into the arc of the season, like so:

i probably won’t use all those notes in the final piece, but it gives me a structure to work from.

for original writing, again it depends. for short stories and poetry i tend to free write for a bit beforehand until something appears from the ether that i can use as a starting point. for my novel-in-progress, when i wrote the first draft i basically did…maybe a page of planning? this was a bad idea. it was a mess. i resisted planning for ages but eventually i had to admit that for long-form pieces i cannot adequately structure my writing without one. so i went back and wrote a very elaborate plan using the six-arc story structure, which allows for much more freedom than a traditional ‘save the cat’ style beat sheet. highly recommend. i try not to do too much research beforehand (which is hard given i’m writing a novel about AI, something i have very little practical knowledge of!) because i just get bogged down and end up procrastinating.

jeez, that was an essay.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

oh lol there are SO MANY. i have a few of them tattooed on me. let me answer all three of those with the first example that comes to mind:

for poem, ‘turning and turning in the widening gyre / the falcon cannot hear the falconer’ from the second coming by wb yeats haunts me. the whole poem haunts me, actually, for reasons that should be obvious upon reading. but those lines utterly terrify me.

for novel, again there’s hundreds but the one that first came to mind was ‘you can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style’ from lolita by vladimir nabokov. lolita is one of the books i’ve re-read the most because it is a complete masterpiece, and this line embodies that to me. it’s clever, it’s funny, it’s defensive, it slides in a fantastically important plot point in the shape of a joke. amazing.

from fic, this is maybe a random example but the first one i thought of was this line from darkest little paradise (F1, pierre/charles) by heroics: 'Charles clutches him for another moment, squeezes the back of Pierre’s neck, resists the urge to drop to his knees right here and let Pierre do whatever he wants with Charles’s soft body.' i don’t know what it is about it, something about ‘soft body’. it’s just a line that has really stuck with me as a beautiful example of a dynamic (both in the relationship sense and, a bit, in the kink sense) described with such restraint.

eta: fuck at risk of making this post even more unnecessarily long i just realised i would be utterly remiss not to mention ‘She wants to know where this moral fortitude was when he had her flat on her back in that dark little cottage. Wonders if he had to fuck her to find it. If she has to always be the one to pay for it.’ from @widespindriftgaze’s astonishing taskmaster RPF masterpiece broke both early and late (part 2 in a series), which i have never managed to read without crying.

thank you for asking! ❤️

from this writing asks post. i love shit like this (as you can see from how fuckin long this got); please feel free to ask more if you're reading this!

#ask meme #fic meta

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kylejsugarman · 1 year ago

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hi syd! you mentioned that you’ve won several writing contests (as if that isn’t already obvious from your fics) and i was wondering if you have any tips? finding a good contest, meeting the deadline, catering your submission to the contest and judges, etc? i’m a young writer hoping to win some contests, for scholarship money, college apps, and just. yknow for fun. but i also have adhd, and i have a really hard time finishing projects and meeting deadlines and i guess i was wondering if you have advice for that as another writer with adhd

hey!! so in terms of finding contests, even just researching "writing contests for high schoolers" (im guessing ur in high school based on u saying "college apps", i do not mean high schooler in like a derogatory sense) can usually take u to some helpful directories!! there are a lot of sites these days that will compile contests and applications that u can navigate by deadline/rules. looking to see if institutions in ur city, county, or state offer writing contests is also super helpful: a lot of colleges, professional schools, hospitals, organizations, etc. have these contests and it always looks good if u engage with institutions that are (somewhat) local!! im a really bad source of advice for reaching deadlines because writing is actually the one thing that i dont have trouble meeting deadlines for, but only because when i write something, i write it all at once. this usually means i only write that first draft (which isn't my Advice dfghdfgh), but it also means getting the Hard part over. ur going to feel compelled to like line-by-line write something perfect that everyone will love, but its important to write down Something as soon as possible because there is always time to go back and change things. dont write it with the judges in mind, don't think about like someone hyper-analyzing every word when ur writing things down.

speaking of judges, u do not have to cater ur writing specifically to them, but there are key things to drop in that can improve ur chances. if u are writing for a contest sponsored by a specific entity or associated with a specific institution, u need to do some research and weft some acknowledgement and appreciation into ur writing even if u do not give a fuck about it. try to flip ur prompt on its head. question the prompt in the first line. get meta about it. write about u contemplating the prompt, contemplating ur essay. writing from a different perspective, questioning the prompt, drawing from ur experiences and being vulnerable (people LOVE when u say shit like "i learned that i did not have all the answers. my strength came from asking others for help") will catch their attention and make u stand out. don't be afraid to put a personal flourish in it just because u might not sound Super Professional And Academic. ur trying to make urself stand out and u need to show that through self reflection, dissection of what ur being asked, interrogating ur own experience and bringing that to the table.

so this is kind of vague and basic but my main pieces of advice are find competitions that relate back to ur identity or location or future aspirations, literally just write down whatever comes to mind and do not worry about it being judged when ur working on it, and put urself in ur writing. i know this isnt super helpful, so if u ever want to come off anon and dm me for more help, editing, etc., please dont hesitate!! writing is a really powerful tool and a REALLY good skill to have

#anonymous #ask #syd squeaks

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bluberimufim · 1 year ago

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15, 19 and 23 for the writer's asks!

Heyyyy thank you so much for the ask!!!

15. Is there any scene you were/are scared of writing?

Honestly, there's a few things in "Devourer of Souls" I'm anxious about, especially in book 2, but I've learned to just deal with them as I go. The magic of the first draft and whatever.

But in "Black and White", there were a few scenes I was genuinely reluctant to write in the 2nd draft bc I was scared. Like, Diedrich and Darius have three different confrontation scenes at different points in the story and they were all scarier than the last. And the murder mystery arc was also pretty nerve-wracking.

I'm also terrified of writing most of the dystopia WIP, so there's that.

19. Which OC do you relate to the most?

Johann from B&W is literally a self-insert (kinda?). His arc kinda reflects the way I struggle with my difficulties with college. Except instead of college, it's marriage.

My self-insert is a german stage director in his fifties. Idk what that says about me.

23. Tell me about your newest WIP idea. Even if you haven't written it yet. Even if it will die in a matter of days.

I've actually been pondering on whether to post about this or not, but figured it's an extremely niche thing only I would enjoy reading.

This needs context. I'm a classical singer (like, opera singer) and, for my final year in the conservatory, I had to write a big essay about anything I wanted as long as it related to singing. I wanted to do a huge thing that I'm genuinely still interested in, which idk if I'll ever talk about it again, but I ended up doing it on the transition from Baroque to Classical opera because it's a fascinating part of music history. During this research, I became extremely interested in castrati and women's part in vocal music, because women were fully forbidden from singing in church and couldn't participate in theatrical productions.

BEFORE WE CONTINUE CONSIDER THIS A TRIGGER WARNING FOR MENTIONS OF MUTILATION IF YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW WHAT THE CASTRATI ARE

So, the castrati (italian for "castrated", male plural) were the most well-liked type of singers, which consisted of men who'd been castrated at around ages 7 to 9 to produce voices high and pure like that of a child but with the lung capacity, technique, and vocal projection of an adult. They were in such high demand that they became known as the "original divas" in the opera world. I could rant about them for days because they genuinely fascinate me, but I have asks to answer.

THIS CONCLUDES THE TRIGGER WARNING THANK YOU

So, after all that. My WIP idea was a comedy about a woman (or at least AFAB person, because I wanted to include some gender-questioning) pretending to be a castrato in order to have a singing career. And no one ever catches on because no one knows what women sound like when they sing opera, so they just think her voice has a nice and unique sound. Her name is Chiara and she's lavender-married to an actual castrato named Francesco and they're best friends. Everyone thinks Francesco and Chiara's male alter ego (aka her singer persona) are having an affair bc they have such great chemistry on stage (they pretend to be married every day, so they have a lot of practice) and Chiara's "male alter ego" hangs out at Francesco's house a lot when his wife isn't home (she lives there and they're practising for the upcoming opera together).

I also had ideas for other scenes, but this is the general idea of it. But I think it's something with a target audience of exactly one person (aka me), so idk if I'll ever get around to it.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant on that last one. And the trigger warning. I hope you enjoyed!!

#did you know that we don't really know what castrati sounded like???#the last one died when recordings were grainy as hell #so yeah basically no #THIS KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT #THERE WAS AN ENTIRE VOICE TYPE THAT WE JUST???? CAN NEVER HEAR AGAIN???????#not that we should start the castrati business again bc that's genuinely horrifying #but i just wish i knew what they sounded like ya know #anyway i digress #writeblr #writing #my wips #asks #ask game #tw mutilation mention

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writeblrsvoid · 1 year ago

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ALAHDGDKAHAGDLALAF AHHHHHHHH

⬆️me shrieking into the void about my WIP that’s driving me insane

this thing is taking more work research and dedication than an actual real novel, and it’s probably going to be longer than one too. and it’s a FANFICTION. for a fandom i’m not even apart of. i literally know no one in this fandom and i don’t even like the source material or the person that wrote it, i literally am just obsessed with this one specific story. it’s literally so far removed that it might as well be an original work altogether. everything is different. characters, au, timeline, headcannons made real, etc. the amount of RESEARCH IVE PUT IN. dear god. understanding the magic rules of the canon universe, then realizing it’s so horrifically undeveloped i have to find the fanon magic rules?? and twist them to suit the story avoid cliches while still keeping things in the realm of possibility??? it’s fucking nightmare fuel. the essays i’ve written on other material that inspired it. the drafts and rewrites. the making of and tweaking a goddamn SOUNDTRACK so it matches the timing and the mood of the various chapters as well as the time period it’s set in. i fucking. AKGDLAGSF.

and for who? no one i know irl will ever read it, and i’ll never actually be able to talk about it with them. i have no friends in the fandom and even if i did i’m not even a fan??? i’m just?? obsessed with my own fanfiction specifically?? how does one even explain that???

so as a result i’m just putting ungodly amounts of effort into this project for no reward except a piece of art that’s pretty much solely meant for me. and i’m getting all these mean comments about it not being finished and me taking to long to update… from people i don’t like or respect… and like?? i mean i get lovely comments too but it all feels so hollow.

anyway this is so unhinged i don’t even know. thanks for listening lmao

AAAHHHHHHHHH the void screams with you. That sounds amazing and annoying at the same time.

I hate how entitled readers can get with how quickly writers put out their work. We have LIVES we have THINGS TO DO outside of entertaining YOU.

I am frustrated FOR you on that. But there is so much here to be excited about! :D Art that you love that much that you're willing to be the sole reader for it is amazing! And you're always welcome to come to my inbox if you ever just want someone to talk to about it. I may not know the details but you can always send asks and fill in the gaps where they're at :)

This post has been added to the "relatable content" page.

#the void shouts back #anonymous

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bi-bats · 2 years ago

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18, 43, and 78 for the Fanfiction Writer Asks?

Oh my god Jpeg!!! Hi!!!! Thank you for the ask 💖💖💖 Sorry in advance for turning this into an essay but hopefully you enjoy it and thank you!!!!

18 - Do you enjoy research? Which fic of yours required the most research?

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, honestly. It tends to feel like homework sometimes, but I'm a huge reader and I love reading comics. It's just hard for me to find time between working full time and the D&D campaign I'm writing/DMing and the academic article I'm writing and being in a relationship and figuring out grad school/future stuff. Basically, I'm a really busy person but I just want to read and write fic all day 😭

As for which required the most research that I've already started posting, I'd have to say Know Yourself. I had to read Battle for the Cowl, and I still have to read Final Crisis (is that a spoiler? 👀). I basically did no research for Rooftops & Bookshops (I feel like it shows) but I did read quite a few summaries.

But the fic with the most research I will have to do is definitely the fic I'm going to talk about in the next question, for which I'll have to read Red Robin, Under the Red Hood and some of Tim's Robin run. Probably more, but it'll be worth it.

43 - Is there a trope or idea that you'd really like to write but haven't yet?

YES. So many. I want to write one bed and also time travel and also identity reveal (thank you jaytimweek for forcing me to do it providing me with the opportunity). I actually have two ideas for identity reveal, one of which will hopefully be up for jaytimweek. The other identity reveal is definitely going to be my next long fic. I already know it'll be near 100k words and I PROMISED myself I wouldn't start working on it until Know Yourself is fully posted except for the epilogue (so a few months 😭). The identity reveal longfic is also going to be a soulmates fic 😈 and I think it might technically not be a love square but also it sort of will be? OKAY IF I SAY ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT IT IM GONNA SPOIL SOMETHING NEXT QUESTION

78 - What motivates you during the writing process?

Honestly, I feel sort of shitty being like "people's reactions," because I shouldn't base my worth as a writer on how many kudos/comments I get, etc., etc., and no one reading this should feel any pressure to comment if they don't want to, but when I get to see how someone reacted to my work??? OH that's the stuff.

I tend to be my own worst critic with everything, but especially my own writing, so every time I see a new comment, I have the urge to run to my computer and write. I basically get high off comments, especially when it's from authors I love to read!!! (@ you jpeg. Detective Timothy Drake and the Mysterious Case of the Unclaimed Dildo lives in my head rent free. That fic is a masterpiece.) There's just something about knowing that a writer I love enjoys my work. It really makes me feel confident in my writing, which makes me want to write more.

Also serial commenters!! I'm looking forward to what you think of every new chapter. Also people who just comment ahsjslakhdslkab or second kudos or a heart emoji. And people who post those really long comments theorizing or asking questions or copy/pasting quotes with their reactions??? My favorite. Satisfies the desire I have to watch everyone read my work so I can see them react to it.

Basically, knowing that people are enjoying what I write and want to read more is honestly the biggest motivator for me, which is why I tend to post chaptered stuff. I need the push to keep going, or else my piece would rot in my drafts (like some of my unposted works that I'll resuscitate one day)

Also if anyone reading this has ever commented on one of my fics, just know I think we're besties now. Come say hi. Even if you haven't commented and just want to motivate me to write more! Come say hi!

#batsasks #I was so totally normal about you sending me this ask I swear #<- lying #i still get super excited when you comment on my fics 😂#which is especially funny because I know you sent me one like last week I haven't responded to yet because every time I sit down to #answer comments I get distracted actually writing #so yeah thank you thank you thank you!!!!!#we're friends now I don't make the rules 😊#okay I'm going to go finish writing chapter 5 of Know Yourself now #it's almost ready for betaing!!!!#i want to have it up by next week!!!!

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cantstayawaycani · 2 years ago

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Random: fanfic writers are so hard on themselves.

They get so upset with themselves when they are not constantly churning out content like a factory or a machine.

I think it's the instant access a fanfiction writer's readership/fan base has to them. That they can instantly be made aware of how anxious their fans are to read more of what they produce for them.

Also, unlike a book or something like an article/essay/poem that is usually complete once it gets to the consumer, fanfiction comes one chapter at a time (excluding oneshots ofc).

I see so many writers calling themselves slow and saying they're suffering through writer's block. And they don't seem to take into account that they are essentially working a full-time job producing content for instant consumption on top of what they do in their normal lives.

Your slow productivity IS NORMAL. Authors who write books or articles or essays don't produce half as fast as some of you. And if they do, they certainly don't have their reader base poking at them in public asking when's the next one. Maybe their editor. But that's not privy to the public.

Your writer's block is RECOVERY. You need time not only to ideate, but to develop and research and draft and edit. And maybe to just BE. And wait for your creative muse to speak to and inspire you.

Don't churn out content like a machine. That could result in writing that lacks passion and ambition. It could drain you of your will to create anything because your return on investment (in time and labor) may dimenish and discourage you.

Can I tell you something? Readers are SPOILED for choice. And it's like a buffet. Eyes are bigger than their stomachs. And they will eat. But they will get full. And a lot of good, well made food will go to waste.

Don't worry about being "slow" to produce. Another secret I'll tell you is that a reader will absolutely fucking WAIT for good quality content the writer CLEARLY has passion to produce. Teach your readers how to treat you. Teach them patience and reward them for it.

Now, I'm not saying that writers who are prolific and actually enjoy churning out quality content in abundance are machines without passion.

I'm saying that is not everyone, and it CAN'T be. You don't have to be one of them. Create at your own pace. Put the pen down when you need to. ENJOY what you're doing. Eject passion into it in your own unique way.

Your readers will appreciate what you write, especially if they can tell it didn't cause you stress, anxiety, or self-doubt.

Make them wait. They can handle it, and they will eat it up every time. I know I do.

So tell me, am I off base?

#fanfiction #on writing #random #be easy on yourselves loves

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incorrectpizza · 2 years ago

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#7, 12, 15, 17, and 18 for the writing asks?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

Hmmm....I think it's the way that I can share how I feel with others, without feeling like I'm ranting or an undue burden. Don't like what you see? Scroll past! But it's therapeutic to write through things, and sometimes you can end up really blessing someone else in the process.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules.

One: The ability to come up with the perfect titles in less than ten minutes.

Two: A fearless internal editor that would correct my pieces without judgement.

Three: A great free writing program that wasn't Google-owned AND would offer super-duper-easy import for all my preexisting Google Docs.

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

I did not for the longest time but I've actually started writing in my books! All thanks to an English professor who made me rethink it. I used to think that it was too personal and/or "ruined" my books. But then I found out that it's actually SUPER helpful for researchers to have margin notes from regular old people! He's working on Shakespeare research and reading one of the earliest annotated texts (people didn't like some of his work as it was coming out!). Now I like to think that maybe my meager notes will have an impact in a couple hundred years.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

....what is this "current WIP" you speak of? Jk...kind of. The current thing I'm working on is a 1,700-ish word essay on my relationship with Star Wars, and the things that won't make it into the text are, unfortunately, name-drops of characters or plot synopsis. I accidentally got WAY too nerdy in the first draft. The lore and history is that I was given a choice: to write about conflict or death. I chose conflict with a franchise because I hate conflict with individual people and right now I can't handle emotionally or mentally writing about death in depth.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

I...have no braincells. I don't know if I've shared enough of my writing on here to come up with something I have posted off the top of my head, and I don't have energy to sort through my Google Docs right now. Can I have a raincheck for this one?

#thanks for the ask!#it was fun and now my brain is tired #I think it mistook Write Words as homework XD #writing #writing asks #ask game

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renthony · 1 year ago

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Several people are already asking if I'll share this work publicly when it's finished--the answer is very much yes! I'm posting regular(ish) updates about where I'm at in the project on my Patreon page, and once the actual project (a series of video essays) is finished, it will be available free online!

It's just, ah, gonna take me awhile. I have a very long list of sources to get through, because I'm determined to do this right. The first planned video ("Vaudeville Censorship & the Birth of Film") doesn't have a planned release date yet, but as soon as I have that info, I'll be posting on Patreon, and then here.

Right now I'm immersed in the research & script drafting phase. :)

My current work project started as, "I want to explain to people what the Hays Code is," and it rapidly became, "I cannot explain the Hays Code to you until after we have discussed B.F. Keith's policy for all vaudeville performances hosted in his chain of theaters."

I still have twenty-three texts about vaudeville that I need to finish reading, all before I even get to my readings about Thomas Edison, the Lumiere Brothers, W.K.L. Dickson, and all the other people who are wrapped up in the development of film technology.

We'll get to the Hays Code eventually, I swear. 😭

#ren's censorship project #there now it has a tag!

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poltergeist-coffee · 1 year ago

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It's all devil anon fault, it's all their fault

The headcanon- not the headcanon

Amd that had to be pac's Halloween costume

DEVIL ANON IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, THE VAMPIRE PAC HEADCANON IT'S NOW LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE FOR REAL/j

I'm not joking about it being stuck in my head, but devil anon it's a genius

They are a nice guy(gender neutral) actually, can't blame them, they are only spreading the ultimate truth

Now I have this hc more stuck on my head than it was before and I don't know what to do with it HELP-

What do you do with headcanons? Scream? Make a essay? Hit your head in the wall hoping the bloody mess left will please the voices that are going absolutely insane about it only to not be enough to stop their demands for much time and lose your mind and-

I've been hit with the two(2) brain rots that never truly leave me, mermaids and vampires

On the first chance, when I think I am over it, they come back stronger and hit me with a metal chair several times until my skull is absolutely destroyed

Don't ask about why I'm up to do violent metaphors, I don't know neither

No jellyfish today unfortunately because I have to study to some exams:(

But I want to talk about damselflies and dragonflies for a moment, damselflies will commit cannibalism when there's no much food but dragonflies might do it even if they don't need to

Lil psychopaths

Oh, yeah and they bite, they don't have any venom but as far as I know they can bite hard enough to make you bleed

- 🍽️ (<- spend way too long doing a research about dragonflies for no reason, shouldn't be allowed to have total access to internet)

Devil anon manifested so hard they made it real u-u we owe this to them adkjvsnkasj

kjnadjvakj THE TIMING IS SO BAD HALLOWEEN IS ENDING AND YOU HAVE VAMPIRE PAC STUCK IN YOUR HEAD XDD it's okay halloween and being spooky can be be all year not just October

violent metaphors because Cell is back it's what he would want

OOOH PLATE ANON HAVE YOU SEEN MY VAMPIRE AU? i sort of thought of one ages ago, i think i was going to do a post about insaneduo vampires but i never did.... it's in my drafts... somewhere....

thinking of vampires... pac's skin today reminds me of marceline from adventure time so much >:)) so i am planning to draw him like her heheh

me and you both have exams TT this is so sad for us... AND FOREVER POSTED ON TWITTER LIKE A BIT AGO THAT HE'S COMING BACK ON NOVEMBER 2ND!!!! OH MY GOD THAT MEANS HES NOT OCMING BACK WITH THE EGGS BECAUSE THATS ON THE 4TH ARE YOAU SDVKJANSVKJSMADKASDKJBNFHVSA <- okay, fine, nomrla, not miserbale at all thingiing abotu cubito

dragonflies and qcellbit comitting cannibalism even when they don't need too <33

that's so insane omg jasndvkjas what silly bugs

#✉️ asks or whatever #🍽️ anon

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writteninkat · 3 years ago

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Heyy🦙 I'm writing fanfiction for Hinata (form Haikyuu) and I'm gonna post it once I'm done but that's besides the point..

actually request: Any of the MHA/BNHA boys catch you writing/reading/drawing fanfiction/fan art

the characters are your pick

um- I never tell you this but dont stress yourself either🥰😚

BNHA GUYS CATCHING YOU WITH FANFICTION/FANART

w/ Bakugou, Iida, Kirishima, Denki, Shoto

warnings: suggestive themes

a/n: i'm having trouble falling asleep these days and it's taking a toll on my daily activities but i'm sure i'll manage, thank you :")

navigation

KATSUKI BAKUGOU

catches you reading fanfiction

blond bb knows you love to read, as a matter of fact, he's aware you read more than you spend time with him. and he's alright with that cause he'd rather chill with you in silence than listen to you talk his ear out lol

just because he doesn't mind you with your hobby doesn't mean he isn't curious about it

what kind of books are you reading that have your eyes glued to your screen the whole day every day?

he never does this and really doesn't want to do it but curiosity killed the cat. as you bake cookies with Mina downstairs, you left your phone in your room to charge

Katsuki takes this as his chance to snoop. He won't go to any other app, he'll head straight to your reading apps and sites.

Jujutsu Kaisen x Reader?

Haikyuu x Reader?

Naruto x Reader?

and what the fuck is 'lemon' and 'smut'?

he puts your phone back, discreetly leaving your room to do some research in his room

ah, so you've been reading 2k-10k worth of words of fanfiction about Jujustu Kaisen, Haikyuu and Naruto characters pleasing you...

he shall now delete his search history and pretend he never found out about this part of you

TENYA IIDA

catches you drawing fanart

everyone in 1A knows you draw and that you're amazing at it

Class press never forgets/fails to compliment your drawings, even if you the pieces are half down

but that's the thing. you always let him see and sometimes you even let him watch as you draw, so why are you hiding this particular piece from him?

he guesses it's a surprise for him- but hold on, he doesn't have tattoos or pink hair. so who is it?

while you're in the bathroom, he sneakily takes a peak at your work and thinks he should regret it but honestly, the art is so good he can't even find it anything remotely negative

it's a fanart of who he remembers is Sukuna, the kind of curses from the TV show Jujutsu Kaisen. he's on a throne with a mountain of skulls underneath it, a corner of his lips tugged up into a smile as a woman's head rests in between his thighs

he probably should regret ever taking a peek but the details, holy shit. the shading, the hand- everything just sends shivers down his spine

EIJIRO KIRISHIMA

catches you writing fan fiction

red boi always loves listening to you type as you study or do your homework, he uses it as a sleeping aid. as you work diligently on your desk, he lays on your bed, slowly drifting to sleep land

today, however, your typing sounds different. it's much faster, more rushed and he can't help his curiosity from growing at how you're biting on your lip, smiling as you typed

from what he knows, you absolutely hate typing essays so why do you look so excited right now?

he lets it slide, sleeping to the sound of your rushed typing.

the next day, you ask Eijiro to bring your laptop with him cause you're about to watch a movie with the whole class and the files are in your comouter

it's not even his fault, your laptop was left open and on and when he moved to turn it off, he catches a glimpse of "Tsukishima runs a hand down your thigh, his hot breath rising goosebumps all over your body." and suddenly he's reading the whole chapter

you barge in your room, yelling and asking what took him so long only to catch him glued to your computer screen, mouth left ajar.

you quickly snatch the PC from him, earning a whine. "Give it back! I need to know if Tsukki likes me back!" He pouts.

"This isn't for you to read, Eij! Leave it alone!"

"Oh sure, so your ten thousand followers in tumblr can read it but I, your boyfriend, can't. Okay, yeah. I see just how Eijirophobic you are."

he's pouting the whole day until you finally give in and let him read your drafts. allowing him to correct your grammar and spelling errors along the way

SHOTO TODOROKI

catches you reading fan fiction

this man is utterly confused why you're suddenly reading so much and how your vocabulary is slowly expanding but he's happy for you

as the both of you are in his room, silent as the both of you read your own books, Shoto can't help but get curious

so as you fall asleep with your phone still turned on, he takes his chance to get a peek

he also wants to read the books you're reading, he wants to learn more and improve himself. if your english grades had risen up from reading what you read, surely he'll also learn from how "Toji places your leg on his shoulder as he continues to pound in"-

as a matter of fact maybe he is okay with what he knows now. sometimes ignorance is bliss after all

DENKI KAMINARI

catches you watching fanart

you've forgotten about the wall of mirrors behind you and you're scrolling down your current favorite artist's twitter page, flood liking their posts

mind you their fanarts are 18+ so you thought it'd be best to face your boyfriend so he won't be able to see what you're looking at.

no, yeah you're a complete idiot.

Denki presses his lips together, trying to contain his laughter as he videotapes your reflection. you're zooming into the intricate details of a Gojo fanart with his blue polo shirt completely unbuttoned and sweat glistens over his sculpted abs

"Babe what are you doing?" Denki asks, now zooming into your face after showing to the camera what you're zooming in to

"There's a mirror behind me, is there?" You ask, now feeling like a complete idiot as your boyfriend laughs, absolutely no sound coming out of his mouth as his mouth stretches widely

You face your phone screen at him, showing the fanart. "I'd cheat on you with Gojo."

Denki continues laughing, now out of breath. "And of course I'd be pissed cause why the hell did Gojo pick you and not me?"

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savrenim · 3 years ago

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I've gotten a number of asks recently either directly about being a mathematician, or that have tied in pretty solidly to being a mathematician, to the degree that it's been on my mind enough that this month's patreon monthly hot take is "how to write realistic mathematicians and physicists; or, if you're going to stereotype the whole field, here are some more accurate stereotypes at least by my experience." (this essay as a whole ended up being over 5k, so is being broken into part 1, the mathematicians, and then part 2, the theoretical physicists, will be posted on said patreon presumably next month.)

I (re)-started my patreon this January in anticipation of funding my original work: it is my goal to release all of my original work online for free, and I've got a book that's now written and in editing stage so will hopefully be actually coming soon, but website domain, file storage, copyright filing, and ISBNs all actively cost money let alone treating myself to anything like having art for covers or professional help editing. My patreon was founded on the principle of "hey even though I'm financially stable and have good job prospects, maybe I shouldn't be paying out of pocket to give people things for free, maybe I should at least consider the option that there are folks who'd want to support my work!" The money is still going towards those things, but what with covid, uhhh….

Well my job prospects have been severely shaken what with how brutal the academic job market currently is, and my savings were hit fairly hard by my partner getting deadly sick with covid despite taking full precautions due to an older member of their household not, then being unceremoniously forced to move halfway across the country with next to no warning, so needing support for basic things like rent and groceries in the months before work was found. I've taken an extra teaching load to try to supplement this, but these days I could actually properly use the support.

I work very hard to make my patreon worth it in and of itself! It is $1 access to absolutely all content, and higher tiers are request tiers. There is currently well over 40,000 words of original exclusive content only on my patreon, split between:

weekly/bi-weekly quote analysis or reflections: director's cut commentary on lines from things I've published, or previews of cool lines in my drafts. this includes a fair amount of commentary on my fic, like iifmlam and wriu!

monthly hot takes that range everything from general essays on writing theory, updates on Things I've Been Reading And My Opinions Of Them, complete breakdowns of any of my works once they are finished and posted, any good solid post or commentary that catches my mind.

requests from the request tiers

early release of absolutely all of my work

I post very regularly! These days as I'm taking on more teaching work and trying to figure out if job applications are even feasible to try, it is bi-weekly quotes and analysis, monthly hot takes, and all requests. It may go back to weekly quotes and analysis if my general situation improves. (And, of course, for people waiting on my writing I will certainly write far more quickly if my general situation improves. At this point I'm planning on taking the additional teaching load in the spring again for the money, which will cut continue my writing time severely. If I had an income stream equal to that such that I didn't have to, I would prefer not to, and would probably start writing more regularly again and also have the chance to do more math research and get my job prospects back in far better shape.)

So tl;dr, if you like my writing and have been considering supporting me, give my patreon a try! I could solidly use the support!

#my life #my writing #tbh I am desperate enough that I put in a stretch tier with full story requests every month that #👀 I'm accepting fannish requests so if any rich people desperately want to see the continuation of ifmlam #'1500 words of the next draft of a chapter' is a request I will take #hell if 6-8 people signed up for that tier and always chose that particular request I'd be back to putting out about a chapter a month #if 6-8 people signed up for that tier my financial worries would be completely alleviated

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casual-eumetazoa · 3 years ago

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How do you write your video essays? I'm working on one, but I can't figure out how to make it longer than 2~ minutes. I'm autistic too, but I struggle with not being as brief as humanly possible. I love your essays btw, they are really excellent, and you provide good insight. Sorry if this is a really vague question. Thank you so much! Also if you wouldn't mind @/ing me in your answer, that would be great, tumblr notifs kind of suck.

Hi @wooliebirds ,

thank you for sending this ask, this is actually a great question that made me think about my own creative process, and I’m always in favour of meta-cognition!

I will caveat this entire thing with a “that’s just from my perspective”, cause with my own stuff, my problem is always writing too much. I have this with literally everything, from academic writing to fiction to YT essays – so I’m not sure how much this will help, but maybe it will.

So�� with video essays, you have to approach them like a narrative or a story. I know there is no consensus on what even counts as a video essay, but the vast majority of them are more similar to indie documentaries than they are to a lecture or an informative video. They aren’t similar to something like ASAP Science or Crash Course, they are journalistic or artistic or educational narrative works. Therefore, they tell a story. They have a “plot” for lack of a better word; there’s a natural flow to them, and they combine many different elements into a coherent whole. Usually they are a mix of facts, opinions, and narrative devices – just like any other documentary or journalistic piece. Different essays have different proportions of those elements: some are focused on the facts (like Cass Eris’s “Psychologist Responds” series), some have a mix of facts and opinions (like most Contrapoints videos), and some lean heavily on the narrative (like Abigail Thorn’s Cosmonaut essay for example).

How you adjust this mix depends on what you are trying to do. Any combination of those elements can work, as long as you have a distinction between them. As in, you don’t want to (accidentally or on purpose) blur the line between fact and opinion, or drown the facts in so much narrative that it starts to twist them. Of course humans naturally operate on biases and heuristics and some amount of this is unavoidable, but I think we still have a responsibility as creators/educators to minimize it as much as possible. This is why I have almost as many citations in my videos as in my master’s thesis (and display them on screen as well) – I know that I naturally lean quite heavily on the narrative so I try to make sure it is still grounded in reality.

I do approach the essays as narrative pieces: I start with some general main idea, then let it roll around my brain for a few days and see what it will stick to. For example with my NiTW essay, obviously I started with NiTW and its general vibe, and then it got connected to optimistic nihilism, and then to cosmic horror, and to meaning and storytelling and wham you’ve got an outline for an 8k long script. Based on that main structure, as I am writing the outline and doing my research, more and more ideas connect to it, and then I actually have to trim down the outline and figure out what I will include. Additional things also pop up while I am writing the script and sometimes even when I am editing and citing it. It really is a case of constructing a sort of an inter-connected web of ideas, concepts, facts, and narrative elements that comprise a coherent whole, rather than just picking one thing and talking about it at length.

Sometimes I don’t even completely know what I want to talk about, even after I’ve written an outline and done the research. I usually write “in flow” and quite often I have no idea what I will write until I sit down and do it. It’s always good to remember, with any writing, that first drafts always suck, and that writing a first draft is an exploration of your own thoughts and ideas more than it is an attempt to communicate them. Communication comes later at the editing stage. First drafts are just for getting stuff out of your brain and on paper/computer screen.

I don’t know whether you do any other writing, for me all types are more similar than it would seem at first glance. As in, I feel like my process in writing a science article or a fiction novel or a YT essay is broadly the same – and every kind of writing I do helps the other. I literally use the same method both for writing a scientific report and outlining a YT essay. So I would say, if you are more comfortable and/or experienced in other kinds of writing, you might be able to adapt that process for video essays as well.

And last thing is that having fun and harnessing the power of passion always helps. Being autistic, you probably have special interests, and you probably infodump about them in some form – use that! Infodumping is basically what I do with these essays. I’ve always enjoyed having long, rambly monologues about various topics, and a video essay is a perfect format for it. All I do is just check my facts very thoroughly and structure those rambly monologues so that they make an actual narrative rather than a verbal representation of the Pepe Silvia meme.

So tl;dr of this is:

1) video essays are closer to indie documentaries than to lectures – think about them as narratives built on facts and opinions that explore many different interconnected ideas rather than an explanation of one specific idea

2) first drafts always suck and exist to explore your own thoughts; use drafting, whether of an outline or an actual piece, to figure out what you want to talk about

3) if you do other kinds of writing, adapting that process might help

4) use the power of special interests / passion in general and you will always have something to write and talk about

In the best traditions of me, I’ve somehow ended up writing a thousand words on this question… hope you and maybe other people will find it helpful. And thank you again for the ask and for watching my videos, it is greatly appreciated!

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #video essay #youtube essay #actuallyautistic

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