#honestly the way i see it used it's most often not a valid critique with other forms of literature as well. BUT

[rollercoasterwords]

still pondering but. i actually don't think it's possible for "[x thing] was unnecessary" to ever be a valid or useful or productive critique of fanfiction....

[the-modern-typewriter]

How do ik my writings good? It's my first story and so far it's been stressful cause I don't know if I'm doing anything right. I understand that writings a skill that'll build overtime but I have Noone that can give me critiques or tell what's ik doing right. All I get is it good which is nice but it's not beneficial 😅. So idk how to judge my self accurately

Part 1: How to ask for feedback

One way to get around just 'this is good' as feedback (especially when it comes from well-meaning places, like people who love you, so you don't know if you can trust it) is to ask some follow up questions.

This is partly because it helps you figure out what you're going for in a story/what's important, can be a way of checking if you conveyed what you wanted to convey etc. This is also partly because giving good feedback is as much of a learned skill as writing is. The questions can help anyone giving you feedback along because they don't necessarily know what you want or what would be helpful or where to start.

This can be questions that you submit alongside the piece or it can be questions you ask the person after. E.g. 'I was going for X, is this the impression you got?' This can be more or less complicated depending on who the reader is. So, if it is another writer, it might be more technical. If it's a kind friend, it might be 'did you see the ending coming?'

(The questions will depend on you/your story and what it is that you specifically want feedback about. There are many lists of 'questions to ask beta readers' floating around on the internet if you're not sure where to start.)

The questions can help bypass 'good', because no one wants to be mean, but if you ask the right questions it can help highlight if there are any issues in the story etc.

Leading to...

Part 2: It really does come with time/you as the writer/editing skill

Critique and feedback is fantastic and often validating. Most writers (myself included) adore feedback. Yay feedback!

However, the other skill you will developing alongside writing is editing and reflecting on your writing. This might include questions you ask yourself like:

E.g. Is this what I set out to achieve? On on a technical level, does this sentence flow nicely or am I catching on it? Is there a stronger word I could use here? Are there any boring bits?

Reading books you enjoy and figuring out what they're doing can help with this - and so can reading books and figuring out what you don't like about them and why. Both are part of the same skillset, it's just harder to do with your own work.

Final editing note: leave space between finishing a story and going back to it with an editing/'is this good' hat on. You will be blind to your own words straight after the writing process. Coming back in a week or two with fresh eyes can give you a much clearer perspective.

A first draft is often stressful and we are often not sure about it and honestly it often does need work or changes. That doesn't mean your writing is bad. It means it's a first draft and 75% of really brilliant writing is editing.

Part 3: Very important caveat

Good can mean 'I enjoyed writing this.'

You are on your first story! That's so exciting :D

While I've tried to give some practical advice in this post, honestly in the same way that someone who goes running for the first time probably isn't immediately training for a marathon, I'd also seriously argue you don't need to worry about technical ability on your first story. Or your second. Or your third!

Your first job is deciding if you actually like writing, same as with any hobby you might try. It's playing around with things and experimenting, because if you do like writing, that's what will make your writing your writing over any prescriptive guide you might read about writing craft. It's taking a stab at a story idea you had and seeing what happens.

My first pieces of writing were technically terrible. This is an example of my not even first piece of writing, but near the start of my journey:

I posted it back in 2018 with comments on how I would improve it with hindsight. I maintain it's an excellent example of the fact that writing is a skill you build over time. I know you know that. But I think there's a difference between intellectually knowing that and seeing it in action.

I hope this helps!

Good luck and try to have fun <3

[devsgames]

The Art of Feedback

(This post cross-posted from my Patreon. Please consider supporting for access to my unreleased game prototypes, devlogs and blog posts just like this one. It helps me pay rent and supports the work I do!)

The biggest, most important ability anyone working (or hoping to work) collaboratively in gamedev should have is giving targeted feedback.

I'm not saying "you should be able to honestly tell people that their work sucks", but rather you should be able to elegantly and politely express in what specific ways their work could use improvement and, most importantly, why you believe the feedback to be valid.

In my opinion this is a lifeline skill anyone working in games needs to have.

Not being able to give polite and targeted feedback is something that sets apart an amazing dev from a competent one, and generally will make your critiques feel less like an opinion and more like a fair and specific analysis of a feature. It's what separates A Random Gamer Online complaining about a video game apart from an actual dev identifying pain points on a piece of work.

So how do you do it?

Consent

By far, the biggest thing to remember about feedback in my opinion is that feedback is all about consent.

When giving feedback you need to be positive that all parties are aware and on the same page about the feedback and its role in the conversation, and that the party receiving the feedback even wants it in the first place.

There's been countless times I've had conversations in the industry where it was obvious someone was receiving feedback that was not wanted and didn't consent to it - whether it was way too premature, focusing on the wrong part of the feature, not wanted in the first place or coming from someone who may not have been desirable to hear feedback from.

How do you navigate this? Simply ask for consent first.

A simple "Are you interested in feedback on [x] feature?", or "Is there anything you want me to focus my feedback on?" should usually suffice. If yes, give feedback. If no, don't bother!

Not only does this establish a clear line of consent, it also ensures your feedback is useful and you're not giving feedback that will fall on ears that don't want to hear it.

Empathy

Receiving feedback for many people can be intimately personal. Everyone has things about their work that aren't satisfactory, and entering into territory where you're pointing out these flaws can be devastating if not done correctly. There's an assumption that "honest" feedback is the way to go, but "honesty" can be a double edged sword and there's a lot of devs who deal real damage to others under the guide of "just being honest about feedback". Good feedback should be presented in a way that the recipient can take it to heart without feeling hurt. These are not mutually exclusive ideas.

To avoid this situation, the "compliment sandwich" is a time-tested method. Soften the blow of critical feedback by pairing it with compliments before and after, which allows you to deliver the feedback without it feeling like a direct attack. It's rather soulless to say "you should always talk like this", so of course this is not the end-all-be-all, but it's a good starting point for understanding how to deliver feedback in a way that doesn't harm.

In fact, I've found the structure of compliments doesn't matter as long as you're keeping the mindset of being constructive and in a 'building up" mindset about your feedback, and not a tearing down one. Usually I aim to incorporate one point of critical feedback with one compliment is often enough to soften the blow in many cases.

As an example, saying "I think your placement of the car needs work" feels colder and tonally more harmful than "I love how your use of trees to direct the player through the space, but I think the placement of the car needs work". See how those could read differently?

Additionally, you can change up your method depending on the person you're speaking to and your relationship to them.

For example, first impressions based around feedback are important. If you're giving feedback to say, a peer or student you've never talked to before, leading with complements is key. If you've been in a feedback session for a while the conversation might naturally veer into being more or less critical at certain stages, and you may find striking a constant balance of compliments may not be necessary. If someone seems defensive or upset, it might be wise to pile on some more compliments to make them feel more at ease. If you're giving feedback to someone you've know for a long time and given feedback to before it's possible you may be comfortable enough together that you may not even need to compliment at all!

TARGET

I really want to emphasize this point because this is how you make giving feedback an efficient task. If you don't know what specifically the person receiving feedback wants to receive feedback on there's a good chance you'll end up giving feedback on absolutely everything about the game, and ignore the elements that need feedback the most by doing so.

I've been in this situation plenty of times: a feature in your game is only half-implemented compared to the rest of the game, and instead of focusing on giving feedback about [x] new feature your playtester instead spends 15 minutes talking about the feature that is lacking despite the fact you already know it's missing. The feedback isn't about the thing that you as a developer need feedback on the most, and instead covers territory you're already well aware of.

As someone giving feedback, consent comes back into this. Ask "Do you need feedback on [x]?", or "What do you need feedback on the most?". This puts the ball in their court to identify what you should look out for, as opposed to you playing through and simply pointing out flaws in everything regardless of context. It also means the feedback session is going to be more effective at targeting what they need help with the most, and will be most beneficial to them in the end. In context like meetings and student feedback sessions where time is limited, this is vital to ensuring you're not wasting anyone's time.

Another way to improve the targeting of your feedback is to ensure you understand your subject's goals, and tie your feedback into that. Without this your feedback can be wildly off-base.

For example, if your subject is making a project to learn new implementation techniques, it's not going to be useful to provide feedback about their game's polish that would be more applicable to someone, say, trying to ship a game. Asking what your feedback subject's goal is with their project - or even just ensuring you address that and have a surface-level understanding about what those goals may be - is going to put you in a position of understanding what kind of feedback to give.

With this knowledge in your pocket you can now give feedback through a narrower filter that will more effectively improve their work.

"Why?"

"Why?" is the single most important question you need to attempt to answer when giving feedback. Answering "why" is how important changes get made.

Anyone can say "I think [x] feature needs to change", but not anyone can identify why it needs to change, or in what capacity. There's nothing worse than receiving feedback where a director says "I didn't like this feature" and they fail to address why they think that way. Especially as a designer, "why" is a fundamental idea needed to back up any approach you might have to changing or implementing designs - and it's why designers are often in a better position to identify changes than the average player.

Before you give a piece of feedback, ask yourself "Why do I think this?", and be prepared to include that with your feedback.

"I don't like the way the movement feels because it makes it hard to keep the enemies in my sights" is vastly more useful than "I don't like the way the movement feels". It gives what you at least believe is an actionable, and the person receiving the feedback now has a problem they may need to consider going forward.

There's truly nothing more aggravating than hearing - "I don't like this thing" without a reason why. That why needs to exist because if it didn't people would simply be making changes for no reason except "the vibes are off", and a vibes-based approach isn't exactly a sustainable one from a development angle.

Conclusion

The best feedback is when it addresses specific targeted points that are relevant to the recipient's context in a way that isn't going to be harmful to them! It's not a matter of simply saying anything that comes to mind however you want, but addressing relevant pain points that will best help them improve their work. ✌️

[ultfreakme]

Hi,.....if you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from JJK? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this question before....

Also love to read your blog, like I also learn quite a lot of various things from reading your blog....Thanks for sharing them....

Yes, I'm the one who asked the same format ask but from ATLA. (Hi....!)

Hi Anon!!! Nice to see you again! Thanks for sending these asks hehe they're super fun <3 ^_^!! I just realized sending similar asks is a thing on tumblr, i never get asks so I wasn't too sure on ask etiquette and am still learning.

Onto the answer!

Hmm...top favorites.....

Itadori Yuuji: So I like Superman comics a lot. I love optimistic protagonists who choose love and hope no matter how difficult. A critique lot of Superman fans have is that it's unrealistic for Superman to be optimistic and if he was ever faced with true horrors, he'd turn evil. There's games, movies and comics based on him just losing one person he loves(his wife Lois Lane) and going absolutely evil. People use that to justify nihilistic doomerism. "See! Everyone's got evil in them!" Enter Yuuji. He's got that Superman personality and motive. He's evidence to how no matter how horrible the world gets, no matter how much you lose, it's important to hope, to have heart and to love people. To never stop caring. I hate what he has to go through, it always hurts, but to see him form bonds and keep being kind to people is so nice to see. Being kind can be an act of immense strength. Always be kind, never let go of hope. It's a lesson we can learn at 5, 10, 15, 25, 35, 65, doesn't matter how old or young you are and Yuuji really reminds me of that.

Geto Suguru: I think this is obvious hehe. He's very relatable. I've actually been experiencing a level of that existential crisis he's going through in Hidden Inventory. You work and work, you see people die and suffer while all you can do is stand by and watch. His pain his understandable and watching him go through it is pretty validating. So many young people have their hopes of making a better world crushed because capitalism, because money, because you have to compromise and be uncomfortable and take every horrible thing the system throws your way without question because that's how you survive. Everyone suffers through this but due to the emphasis on individualism, people don't realize we're all in this together. Geto's methods are obviously extreme and irrational but the pain is relatable and a good example of the disillusionment we feel towards the systems we're in.

Gojo Satoru: Is this surprising? Lmao I post about him pretty often too. I used to not like him as I mentioned before but his character arc is very intriguing. It shows how power and absolute strength honestly doesn't mean anything when you're alone. I think the idea of 'power' and 'strength' is relative. And sure Gojo is good at everything he does and is canonically the strongest but even he is limited by the social norms and mores of Jujutsu Society. Geto was wrong, Gojo couldn't have achieved the impossible mission of saving sorcerer lives. Power is something to be afraid of, it's a heavy burden. Gojo revels in his fights but it also causes him great pain by entirely isolating him. I think he's a good commentary on what power means, what people can do with it, and how it functions under an oppressive system, and what 'strength' means (he's privileged and wants to fix Jujutsu Society from inside out but never manged it). I love how yeah sure Gojo is physically powerful but his most impactful and long-lasting effect comes from his time as a teacher(Hakari and Kirara finding their own path, Yuuta functioning outside of the higher ups' order, Maki destroying the Zen'in clan and ending the 3 clan system, Yuuji going up against Sukuna). Honorable mentions! Yoshino Junpei(again, obvious af for me), Maki, Yuki Tsukumo(I want to fight Gege for what he did to her like fuck this), Choso, Nobara.

Top 5 favorite moments(not in any particular order).....

Sukuna v Jogo/ Sukuna v Mahoraga In my heart I am a fight fan and these fights were majestic. I'm grouping them together because they happened back to back.

The alley scene at the end of JJK 0 I was so shocked and it hurt me so much. Gojo was so devastated, it's so clear he wanted to save Geto, make him smile, keep him safe but I think they both knew that Geto was already dying. It's so tragic gosh Geto's smile after what Gojo said(HE SAID i LOVE YOU HE HAD TO HAVE) is imprinted on my brain I've doodled that smile like 10 times.

Yuuji holding Junpei's hand saying "I won't curse you anymore."

Just, look at this. I am not strong. I can't do this. It's such a good demonstration of how kind Yuuji is. Like he let himself get STABBED just so he could reach out to Junpei and hear him out. The way he's carefully taking Junpei's hands in in his. Like this is Yuuji's character summed up.

4. Maki v Mai Actually all of EP17. Maki's a pretty effective counter to Gojo whose strength is immense but due to it being conventional to Jujutsu Society rules, he is still ineffective. Maki though, is a glitch in the system and this episode and fight introduces us to that. She can topple the Jujutsu Society by merely existing and using her strength. Her existence is a threat to the house of cards they've built.

Momo talks about how women need to be "perfect" to get ahead in Jujutsu Society. Nobara then asks the question "okay why the fuck should I care about what the Jujutsu society wants from me?" and Maki goes "you norms are shit anyways, and I'll prove to you exactly how".

Maki(and Nobara) show that abiding by the rules of Jujutsu Society is never going to get you freedom. You have to break it to find true happiness defined on your own terms.

5. Maki v Naoya

I loved watching her whooping his disgusting ass. I have no grander explanation for this one. She's scarred up, her hair is burned short, she's fucking brutal and fights with this animalistic, uncontrolled, wild energy. The opposite of everything Jujutsu society wants from a woman and it is glorious.

Side Note: I love how Yuki. Nobara and Maki fight ugly. It's terrifying watching them. I love when women are portrayed as bloody, spitting out blood and tooth and snarling and smirking when they fight. Give me more of that. Gege fucked up so bad in killing most of his female characters in Culling Games.

Utahime, please, I need you to pull a Kali(hindu goddess) and dance and stomp on some curse's spine till they break.

[imagineitdearies-old]

No the posts were definitely hating on fem luke and especially the reply one posted by the author of the not the boy cheating fic. Which you liked so don’t backtrack now.

Alright, so I'm off work now and went and reread the two posts you guys are referencing. This will be in response to all the anons in my ask box rn.

Idk about you, but I don’t have to think “wow I would write this myself, every word is like it came straight from my brain, it is now gospel to me” to hit the like button on a tumblr post as I scroll. I do it because I found it in someway interesting or relatable. I'm still getting used to ppl even noticing me on here, but I wasn't trying to tell fem!Luke writers they are inherently bad, that's not even what I got out of those posts--if I had, I would have just kept scrolling. I see now quite a few people found me doing that to be hateful though, so I'm happy I could explain my own opinion when someone wanted it. I, again, apologize for unintentionally hurting anyone; fictional characters mean a lot less to me than living breathing humans.

Rereading my tags, people may be mad I put "anti fem!Lucerys"? I usually add anti to things if they're talked about with any sort of critique, just bc I want people who have that tag filtered to not see anything approaching criticism on their dash. (I have anti alicent hightower filtered out, for instance, so it's annoying to me when people don't tag it properly). I like criticism/hot takes for most things lucemond but I know a lot of people don't.

Unlessss it's that I wrote fans who refuse any portrayal but fem!Luke being “weird (not good)"? I was being brief since it was just tags, but was referring to how many people have such a preference that they hate on everything that doesn’t fit their fem/bottom view of Luke. It's weird, it's not good. My fic somehow filtered out most of them by my first few chapters, so I got lucky, but that's always been concerning for me to see in other comment sections. DLDR, ya know?

As for the second post, the part that 'people should just go for Aemondxfem!oc more often' was a controversial statement I wholeheartedly agree with (not that it matters?? people can use the name Lucerys however it pleaseth them). But also I liked their last few paragraphs that reiterate what I’m telling you now—I’m not here to police anyone. I’m not here to force anyone to like what I like or be careful about the things I think are important, or vice versa. This fandom is soooo tropey and polarizing in every way and that's fascinating to me, and I do think some weirdly-prevalent tropes in this ship can contribute to stereotypes when they’re used en masse (honestly I have way more personal dislike for toxic abusive Aemond being romanticized, let's not even start)….but I’ll say it again, my opinion literally means nothing and at the end of the day I more care that people enjoy what they like. I would be a hypocrite otherwise.

You can be mad at me if you want. Your prerogative. But someone asked me to clarify, so I did, and people can make of it whatever they will and unfollow me etc etc if that will help. I'm just now noticing the lucemond tag is flooded with talk about this (and some fun fem!Luke recs)--it's definitely a bigger deal than I ever thought to make of it while doomscrolling last night, so my wisdom failed me there.

Shout out to those genuinely hurt by me--idk how many, but y'all are valid.

[bookishfeylin]

I noticed you used to only use the s/jm critical tag but started using the anti s/jm tag recently and I was wondering if you consider yourself an anti and what the difference between the two are if there really even is one. I’m genuinely curious because some people use both and the content seems to be pretty similar (or maybe I’ve just blocked certain people lol, idk) but some people think s/jm critical is better? I want to start posting some thoughts as well and I’m wondering if there are two separate “crowds” or if it’s not really a big deal.

Also I appreciate your abuse analysis💜

Hi anon! You at every welcome! I love to write my analysis 💙

So I honestly use both tags pretty interchangeably and often on the same posts. “Anti” has a negative connotation as someone who harasses people (to oversimplify it), but ofc the whole ACOTAR fandom is toxic so this actually doesn’t matter much here in this fandom. Additionally, tagging anything “anti-“ is also the apparent tumblr etiquette for keeping negativity and criticism and even simple complaining out of the main tags (I guess? I haven’t been on here a full year yet but that’s what I’ve gathered and have seen 90% of the time so that’s what I do anyway.) Unfortunately this sadly holds true for like. Any VALID complaint about these books, such as critiquing the racism or hypocritical discussion of abuse (I got soooo much harassment when I first came on here from people seeing my (inappropriately!) tagged criticism and it was not fun). I don’t harass people or condone it and I don’t attack Sarah personally, so because of the connotation around anti I use the “SJM critical”, BUT again the main way to avoid being harassed myself is to tag things “anti” because chances are that’s the tag most stans have blocked/filtered out. That’s also partially why it irritates me so much when white stans write off all posts in the “anti” tags as complaining or blind hatred for Sarah when a lot of posts are legitimate analysis and critiques of her racism and problematic themes. At any rate… I use both off and on and honestly need a better organizational system lmao. Its a post-sorting-thing mostly.

[socratetris]

Autism and Infantilization - A Short Reflection

Hey all. Quick preface, I am going to speak of my experience being on the autism spectrum and how my opinion differs from a lot of what i have been seeing on social media. If my perspective does not match your experience as a person with autism, that's valid.

Mainly, I want to address the issue of autist adult being treated as children by well meaning people with a lack of experience. Autism in public circles and the news is always spoken about as a children's / family issue. Due most to how young spectrum behaviors can be observed and the misinformation campaigns of anti-vaxxers. These circles never discuss the lived experience of adults on the spectrum, because the enfranchised parents are often the ones socially, politically, and economically empowered. (Because autists tend to struggle with holding employment, tend not to organize into social groups, and thus tend not to have politically empowered representation of autists by autists.)

This is changing however. Real advocacy groups are forming and growing, and autist adults are choosing more to put themselves out there on social media to take on the burden of educating the public of what being autistic is like, and how we are happy, healthy, and fulfilled as adults.

Countering the infantilization of people who deserve to represent themselves is a great goal that I support.

What troubles me, however, is how that so often translates to hostility toward the wrong groups of people. Namely, parents who are just trying to figure it out, and abstract symbols that remind us of infantilism.

Parents:

I both am on the spectrum and I am employed at a public charter school that specializes in education for kids on the spectrum, as the HR and Finance Manager. We are somewhat unique because, as a public school, children on the spectrum attend for free, at no cost to the families. As such, our parents are from every race and economic background, some were born in the US and some are immigrants. Some parents moved from entirely different states just so that their kid can attend our school, and honestly our school does so much that would be resources all public schools should implement for all kids, spectrum or not.

I say this to highlight that some of our parents are well read on autism, others spend too much time with blogs, hearsay, and anti-vaxxers. Disinformation about alternative treatments abounds, and we walk a fine line between respecting the parents who are misinformed but just trying to help and sticking to the most up to date, rigorously tested and regulated. The range of needs is a true struggle for our staff. Some kindergartens can stick to their visual schedule without prompting most days and self-direct from the start, some 4th graders havent even been potty trained or don't know how to let someone know they need to go.

There is no one size fits all "correct" answer for any of our kids, and that flexibility, i believe, needs to be extended to our parents as well.

Literally everything that is a positive goal of our organization can be twisted when taken to a logical extreme, or when highlighting how malicious actors in the national discourse around autism use the same language of fostering independence to profit off the abuse of our children and the selling of snake oil.

It is never okay to infantalize an adult, but most parents who are ushered into this world were completely ignorant of it before becoming a parent of an autistic child. They need patience and understanding, not vilification. Because, at the end of the day, no one else is caring about their specific child but them. (You may be better at caring for people with Autism in general, but that is a different value then caring deeply for one person in a real, material way.) It may be quite hard for them, when their entire identity is wrapped up in being a parent, to expand that association with autism and childhood. These things take time. Critique them with compassion. (Vent your legitimate frustrations too. That's valid. But try to critique actions and opinions, not the person.)

2: Abstract Symbols

"The jigsaw piece is a hate symbol"

My response to this is... kinda yes. I get it.

Autusm Speaks is a horrible organization designed to profit off of "awareness." Allowing neurotypicals, celebrities, and cops feel as though they are helping by funding larger and larger marketing campaigns, and less and less for money going toward actual, evidence based help. For every good step they make, they back peddle 5, and continue to make the mistake of peddling autism as a disease that needs treatment rather than as a person who is just different.

Autism Speaks is a callous, uncaring corporation unfortunately staffed by many people who are well meaning, but have been tricked into doing harm. Imo

However, the jigsaw piece has moved far beyond this one organization.

It is merely the abstraction of the concept of thinking about autism. It is merely the post-modernist sign that points toward us. It is used far and wide and away from any association with any specific group, at this point.

Why is this a problem? Because jigsaw puzzles are toys. Toys are associated with children. Defining autism by our children infantalizes and dismisses the adults they become.

If we allow this kind of infantalization to continue, it will hinder all of the work that the teachers at my school do, for ages 3 to 23, to show the rest of society that autists are a normal part of the tapestry of human life. That different does not mean bad or incapable. It means differently good and differently capable. Loving differences should be the norm. Not "fixing" them.

We may need a new symbol, but those are hard to make intentionally. Heck, even our school uses the image, because its cute and, like all kids, our kids are cute. Parents and teachers love cuteness, and often won't think about things any further than that.

-

So this ended up being NOT a very short writing... I hope my point came across. All this to say that I would like to see more understanding extended to the people who are trying to understand, rather than lumping them together with people who are purposefully ignorant or harmful.

Stay True

[isabellahawkes]

Defending 5 Tropes Everyone Hates In Fiction

Today  I’m going to defend the tropes in fiction that everyone hates. I’ve  been watching Authortube and Booktube for several years, and over a  period of time I’ve realized that certain tropes get more blind hate  than they deserve. So I’ll be talking about the five tropes everyone  hates — or, so they claim to — and explain why they’re really not that  bad.

1) The Self-Insert: People make fun of self-inserts because they, in theory, drag the quality of the story down. But what exactly is a self-insert? Well, it’s supposed to be a character that resembles a more perfect version of the author, typically the main character. This character is hot and can do no wrong, and defeats all of their enemies easily.

However…what is actually a self-insert? The main character. Of any novel. Especially if it’s written by a woman.  Women authors are more often than not accused of writing self-inserts,  especially if the main character is also a woman, and bonus points if  they have the same hair color. Because brown is such an uncommon hair  color. Self-inserts are typically also referred to as Mary-Sues. Here’s a  tip: Go in the opposite direction from anyone who uses that term today  unironically.

I’m  not saying that self-inserts don’t exist in fiction, or that people  don’t write “Mary Sues”. But let’s be honest, this is just another way  to dig at a woman author for not writing the just perfect and acceptable  representation of a woman. The character is likable? Self-insert. The  character is unlikable? Self-insert. The character is good at most  things? This is wish fulfillment. The character is completely  incompetent? She’s so pathetic…so she must be a self-insert.

Aside from this primarily being directed at women — even  though some of the most renowned male authors have never had trouble  expressing their own self-inserts (Leo Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Stephen  King, etc)— self-inserts by themselves aren’t even a bad thing.  Writing a character that has the same traits as the author doesn’t mean  the quality of the story will be less than. If anything, the author  will know how their character would realistically react to any  situation.

To  be clear, I’m also not saying you should just write characters that are  exactly like you. But it’s pretty impossible to write a character that  is exactly like you as you keep writing your story. As you develop your  character, they become a separate entity from you. It’s possible that by  the end of writing your manuscript, your “self-insert” only has a few  traits in common with you. And that’s the strange thing about people  critiquing self-inserts — this is you assuming you know the author. And 9  cases out of 10, you don’t. Not even if they’re a YouTuber. So really,  it’s kind of a creepy accusation. A better critique of a main character  would be that they excelled in everything too easily, or they were so  “perfect” it was annoying…you don’t need to drag the author’s perceived  personality into the mix. Also, make sure the character is actually too  perfect, rather than you don’t expect a woman to be capable of doing  anything.

2) Flashbacks:  I’ve seen a lot of people who hate flashbacks, and honestly this is one  on the list that I can see why people do. However, I’ve seen a lot of  hate being thrown its way…and I personally love flashbacks. When they’re  necessary. I love multiple timelines, when done well. I love a  nonlinear story structure. Flashbacks tend to get hate because sometimes  the flashbacks are placed in awkward times in the story, or they don’t  seem to add much, or they just confuse the audience. These are totally  valid criticisms, but I think like with self-inserts, they’re not always  done horribly.

A  common piece of writing advice is to start your story where the story  starts, otherwise known as the inciting incident. The inciting incident is not always where a flashback takes place in the main character’s  story. Perhaps the most well-known example of this is the show  Lost. For one thing, Lost has a big cast, but it would’ve been annoying  to follow these random characters with family issues that seemingly  don’t have much of a connection until they crash on an island, probably,  what, in the third season? Sometimes a story starts with a catastrophic  event that brings up memories for the main character. It wouldn’t be  effective storytelling to start off with Jack ruining his alcoholic  dad’s reputation and then crashing on an island…that’s some out of  nowhere twist.

Also, sometimes a story needs flashbacks, typically in the mystery and  thriller genres. Maybe readers who don’t like flashbacks don’t enjoy  those kinds of stories, but I just think the flashback hate would  actually ruin a lot of cool stories.

3) The “Chosen One”:  I honestly think that people who hate the “Chosen One” storyline don’t  actually read many chosen one stories. That’s because their complaints  are bizarre oversimplifications about what the chosen one could be…but  never is. I’ve heard people say that the chosen one is randomly chosen  for no clear purpose or reason. The three most popular examples are Harry in Harry Potter, Frodo in Lord of the Rings, and Katniss in The Hunger Games is brought up a lot for some reason.  Critics of this trope act like these characters were just randomly  chosen by some all-knowing being to save the world…and that’s just not  true. All three of these examples weren’t “chosen”, they were victims of  life circumstances, as are all of us.

Harry’s parents were murdered and a protection spell was placed on him, and it was all because of Voldemort. He  made the decision to go after Harry because he heard of a prophecy that  Harry could be his undoing. It also could’ve been Neville. The point  is, this wasn’t some grand design from God, it was circumstances that  led to Harry being the chosen one. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo  inherited the ring. Gandalf and Frodo even have a discussion about how  it didn’t have to be Frodo…but that’s too damn bad, it is. And Katniss  became a symbol for the rebellion in Panem because she was the first  person in a long time to actively show some resistance against the  Capitol. Again, this was due to life circumstances.

The point of the Chosen One is never to show how incredible these everyday heroes are…in fact, it’s the opposite. The  point is that random things happen that lead these heroes down  extraordinary circumstances…and they never want it to, but it’s too damn  bad. I just think people who critique this trope aren’t  actually even talking about the trope when it’s used, they’re just  borrowing jokes from CinemaSins.

4) Teenage Heroes/Super Soldiers:  When people complain about this trope, I get really confused. For one  thing, teenager heroes are typically in young adult books…which you’d  think would be obvious. But a lot of adult YA readers don’t actually  seem to like teenagers at all…so why are you reading about them? I also  get confused when people complain about this trope because they say it’s  not realistic…meaning, it doesn’t reflect real life…they don’t buy that  young people are targeted by any particular industries because they’re  young…

Not  only does the military target high schoolers because that’s when  they’re most physically fit, their minds are also more impressionable.  Universities do the same thing. Every industry  targets the youth to mold into a good soldier, a good student, a good  worker bee, another cog in the machine, if you will. But each person  targeted feels special, kind of like a hero. Sure, it might  sound weird to have an army made of up of 13 year olds because of the  kids you see around you. But back in the day, that was the norm, it’s  only unusual sounding by today’s standards. Just Google the age of King  Tut and you’ll be surprised how wrong you are.

5) One-Dimensional Villains:  For a time, we hated seeing villains that were just evil, for seemingly  no reason. We wanted something different. We wanted villains who felt  real like we do. We wanted funny villains. We wanted quirky villains. We  wanted to see ourselves in villains. Because we wanted to feel  challenged by our material. We didn’t want the good guy to always be  right. We wanted to understand the villain’s point. So…we got a ton of  villains with tragic backstories and redemption arcs. Not one of them  can stay evil unless they’re the last season baddy. That guy’s just Satan. It’s literally Satan most of the time now.

Every  villain’s gotta have a point, or at least a sob story. It’s totally  fine for a villain to have a point, and a sob story. But it’s gotten out  of hand. We’ve gotten to a tricky place where  many writers are unintentionally trying to justify their villains’  actions through their explanations of how a villain got to be the way  that they are. Or, if you’re a writer on YouTube, let’s be  honest, you’re gonna pretend that all of your characters are  three-dimensional people…because you’re the one writing them.

But  not every reader is going to think of your character chart. So, when  you don’t have these tragic backstory reveals, or understand why the  villain is committing genocide, the reader is just going to think, “this  is a one-dimensional villain.”

And that’s okay.

Why  do we need to justify genocide anyway? When we think of some of the  real world’s most evil people, we don’t see their complexity as a human  being…we see a monster. And honestly, I don’t see why every fictional  villain needs to be humanized in every fictional story. It all depends  on the story you’re trying to tell, and your themes. But your story  definitely doesn’t need to give your villain redemptive attributes.

Those are the five tropes I’ve seen get a lot of crap about, even from people  who use these tropes. And I don’t think they’re that bad, they’ve just  been oversimplified. Most any trope can be done well in fiction, they  just need to be utilized in an effective emotional way. And if you still  hate these tropes, well, that’s okay too. Just keeping an open mind is  one of the most efficient ways to improve your writing and expand your horizons.

Also published here on my website, and here on Medium. :)

[thebeautysurrounds]

THIS CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS FOR NEVER HAVE I EVER S2 READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This is quite long I had a lot to unpack.

Since watching the 2nd season of Never Have I Ever a few things have been bothering me about the way people are reacting to Devi, and the show overall but mostly Devi. First of all she’s what a sophomore in high school? and she’s doing this all while being the only brown girl (up until kinda the middle of S2) and still dealing with grief and having absolutely no idea who she is yet. To me outside of being an honor roll student she is not doing things FOR HER she is doing this to appease her mother. Who while she means well pushing Devi to succeed to certain extremes which if Devi shows the slightest behavior of fucking up her mother makes harsh comments instead of understanding Devi is a literal teenager and needs room for fucking up.

Is Devi hella unreasonable at times? YES does she often times act strictly on impulse without a second thought…YES. But as a girl who virtually has no one outside of her friends who also are staring to drift from her and get into their first relationships themselves and have their own activities she essentially is left to navigate the world and her teenage angst alone. While I will give Nalini credit for all the work and time she has put in to not only being a single mother and navigating her own grief but also being a working mother who is a doctor and quite possibly has her own struggles with being a brown women in that filed. My problem lies with her not being able to balance or even let go of a strong arm parenting style that mostly focuses on Devi’s fuck up more than her accomplishments and makes comments on how her fuck ups that haven’t even happened yet. I’m not sure Nalini even realizes Devi is at the very very top of her class because I truly believe (after S1) even though Nalini apologized to Devi Nalini has a ‘hoping for the best but expecting the worst’ attitude when it comes to Devi and that’s in the for front of her mind so much she doesn’t realize Devi goes above and beyond not only for herself but to make her mother proud of her all for her mother to just not acknowledge that.

Now with Devi’s characterization I get where some people are coming from on saying Devi shouldn’t have been “boy crazy” or that they “ruined her character development” but here’s my problem those critiques while valid and your allowed to have those opinions…It’s just not really realistic and let me tell you why like I stated Devi is what a sophomore in high school and she has made it a abundantly clear her parents forbid her to date cause it’s school and extra curriculars only. Which will lead to a good college which thus will turn into a good career. While that’s all well and good. I don’t think y’all realize the FOMO of being in high school and growing up with very strict parents, and wanting to have your first relationship. Wanting to be an actual teenager and not wanting to think about 3-4 years down the line which most teenagers don’t/can’t visualize cause it’s not the right now. Devi wants to have those experiences and there’s nothing wrong with that does she go about it the right way…not exactly but y’all act like YOU have never been a teenager and said and done awful things out of anger or just pure immature stupidity. For the boy crazy part Devi is literally having her first feelings and experiences with boys she has 0 clue what she is doing outside of probably books, tv, movies and what her friends assume they know (even though they mean well) the only person Devi would remotely trusts is gone, and she can’t ask her mother cause her mother would honestly probably shut her down and make her feel guilty for even wanting to start having her first experiences with boys. Y’all have such a warped view of not only real teenagers and high school aged kids but also fictional ones. Y’all are so use to shows having protagonist being awful or starting off kinda okay but then their character turns awful and remains that way. What some of you fail to realize is actual teenagers and “teenagers” in shows can/are VERY morally grey. 

Should Devi have been honest and possibly communicated to both Ben and Paxton that she has some sort of feelings for them both..possibly but Devi is a teenager do you think she is having a in depth analysis and talk with herself (outside of a pros and cons list) about what infatuation versus lust versus genuine connection versus romantic attraction looks like probably not. Let’s also analyze how she literally goes from being in her eyes forgettable to being noticed and even though it’s not talked about in the show explicitly she honestly probably struggles with self esteem/self image issues. To go from being a girl who to her no one cares about/notices to one who is getting the attention of two boys who are in Devi’s eyes attractive in their own right. She is so consumed with two guys ACTUALLY being interested in her that she fails to realize she is/and will hurt them both, Do I think Paxton is genuinely attracted to Devi…maybe. But I’m still on the fence about their relationship to me in the beginning I felt Paxton felt Devi is just another meaningless high school fling that he will forget about once he gets to college but to Devi here’s this guy who is “popular” very attractive and he pays attention to her is she looking at the semantics of the situation and how Paxton is more than likely just using her and is only engaging with Devi to get a passing grade and to basically give her the superficial experience of a “high school boyfriend” no she’s not she’s looking at it like here’s this guy who is attractive and he wants to be with someone like me. But do I also believe Devi in S1 was using Paxton and then fell for him DEFINITELY but I will give credit to Paxton for trying at a real relationship with Devi and I hope he will try to be more open and honest.

Do I think Ben likes Devi I honestly do, While the insensitive jokes (exchanged between both) should be discussed I think Ben over time started to see Devi as a girl who finally saw him not the rich, annoying, know it all. But in his view Devi and him are on equal playing fields because they are both overly driven smart individuals and when she said yes to going out with him it was probably the first time he felt like a girl saw the real him. While Ben too more than likely struggles with abandonment issues him dating Devi in a way made him feel like this was the first time he could actual be happy about something cause it was something he actually wanted and not something he just did to earn points in others books and impress people he genuinely got something on his own and that he was actually happy not a front he put on. To me Ben’s abandonment issues come out even more than in S1 when he tells Devi why he’s so hurt and it’s the night of the party when she runs after Paxton (who he sees has it all) and Devi doesn’t “choose him” Do I think Ben and Devi should date cause they share some form of the same trauma no. But again Devi is not use and doesn’t even know what to do with the attention of two people. Again is Devi looking at the semantics of her relationship with Ben…No. I don’t think Devi even realizes she’s quite literally hurting two people cause we could also discuss how Ben and Paxton probably have had other flings and relationships without a second thought while Devi having no relationship experiences and this is territory for her and she has no idea what she is doing or how to properly navigate this situation.

I’m almost done with this long ass rant I promise but it’s two more things I want to make light of/point out I don’t think anyone really gives Devi credit for still going to therapy, loosing a parent is unbearable especially loosing one as young as Devi did, especially when you feel the only parent that truly understood and supported you is gone. Devi doing things that are impulsive and unreasonable because she quite literally has no guidance her mother is only consumed with Devi not making the family “look bad” Devi’s grief is so heavy and she feels she’s going at it alone because her mother doesn’t take genuine time to talk to her. Now was Devi “stalking” her mother extremely inappropriate yes for sure but do Nalini and her need to communicate better for Devi to understand that her mother wasn’t dating sure even if Nalini was on a date their should have been communication there. Devi will probably never stop grieving her father hell he literally came to her in a dream to tell her she deserves better when it came to “dating” Paxton and Nalini will probably never stop grieving her husband but she deserves happiness too and I believe if Devi and Nalini were both honest with each other her slowly dating again wouldn’t have been a problem. Another point I wanna make connecting Devi, Paxton, and Ben is they all have this view that the grass is greener on the other side and that’s just not the case. Ben is jealous of Paxton cause he feels he has the “Perfect life” but in actuality Paxton is extremely flawed and honestly insecure his own family doesn’t believe in him and he knows people only like him because he is attractive, while Paxton looks at Ben like this, while annoying Ben is smart, rich, and no one ever questions Ben’s intelligence but in actuality Ben is very lonely and has spent most of his life alone or being raised by other people which has caused him to put on a huge front to people and often times overcompensate in his social life, and Devi looks at other girls like they have it all and have 0 struggles or problems (I.e her views on Anissa) but Devi fails to realize thy also struggle, are insecure, is struggling with mental illness, and don’t have themselves figured out, and Devi is looking at this man her mom is “dating” as if he’s taking something away but In actuality he is experiencing his own losses. All in all Never Have I Ever gets teenage angst and messy problematic morally grey teenagers right and the fact that y’all beg for more “flawed or problematic” characters and when you get them you don’t like that they are just that it’s odd to me it seems like y’all only want problematic characters if it’s how you see fit.

TL;DR: Y’all need to stop acting like y’all weren’t gross annoying and had fuck ups as teenagers y’all should really stop pretending like teenagers in real and some of us as teens didn’t have/engage in relationships that weren’t good but we learned from it while this show isn’t real it shows y’all will scream let people fuck up and let them grow but you don’t actually mean it. Devi is a teenager and requires room to grow she even admits she acts out and is impulsive but y’all act like she’s supposed to have the self awareness of a 60 year old.

[two-tied-hearts]

I wasn't going to reply, because what I have to say is a bit charged, and the least thing I want is to make you uncomfortable in your space, but your tags indicated you wanted us to interact so I thought I might as well. I do have to apologise in advance in case of anything, it is really not my intention to upset, but I also feel this needs a reply. I think in retrospect, having read what I wrote back, this might not have even been about reluctance as much as I'm starting to think that post triggered my fight or flight response.

That anon that complained about Yashahime, I can understand the gripe to some extent, and no one ever really said the season is perfect, there were moments in the season that could have been done better, especially partaining to pacing, but especially now when we know there will be more coming, and that what we got is hardly the whole deal, to act like sessrin is reduced to just that first season is ridiculous. Quite frankly even so, their dynamic wasn't impacted at all, they're the same dynamic we all fell in love with, but they're put in a difficult situation... which, sure, ok... but... that's just... storytelling? There needs to be a story... to tell? I'm not sure what exactly people expected honestly.

Maybe not necessarily this case, but most times when I've seen people say that, what they mean is they see Sunrise's portrayal of Rin as a "complacent breeder", which honestly is offensive, false, and also just weird in the context of both the plot and the dynamic, especially if and when you understand it. Or they call Rin useless, apparently that's a thing too now... in any case, it sets some of my alarms off, I think valid critique is most welcome, but the things thay I've seen spewed around here under the guise of "criticism", hardly really qualify as that at all and are said in bad faith.

On a personal note, and this is more why I was reluctant to reply, people who are overly obsessed with fictive characters' ages make me uncomfortable, and dare I say, outright give me the creeps. If you have that much trouble distancing yourself from fiction to the point where you need to know pixel ages down to the last second since their "birth", that you can't even enjoy a character dynamic lest it abides by the bible, that to me is a big red flag, and more often than not people who are so concerned with them are antis/fancops, in other words, abusers. If the person who sent that is who I think they are, then for sure it's a fancop, and when they say "bully", they mean they were called out for harassing artists and spewing terfery, and despite them outright hurting people, and overall being harmful, when that was called into question, rather than hold themselves accountable, they took to fleeing and painting a narrative.

Returning to topic and to the characters' ages business, I'm also suspicious of anyone at all who allocates time to argue about Rin's age any one way or another, because Rin has never even had a canon age as per the original material, and quite frankly it's irrelevant. But I guess that's a hot take, to say that the fake numbers slapped on a fake, nonexistent character, are fake and have no real importance. It just makes me very curious how some are so certain Rin is 16 or younger when there are no sources to be cited either pro or against. Even with assumptions of her age in Inuyasha, which are for the most part a consensus across the whole Inufandom, and subsequent calculations based on Kagome's age and the timeline, most of the time Rin's age results around 17 if you read an analysis done in good faith. The only ones who age her down, and can't even settle on 1 single age for her, since depending on which of them you ask they'll say anything between 12-16... are yet again the fancops. Most people ship things because they enjoy a dynamic, characters' personalities that compliment each other and so forth, it's never about character ages™ or shipping the right™, most realistic™, most morally coherent with our real life views™ thing, and being perfomative and trying to turn it into that has singlehandedly hurt more people, and been the most dangerous turn fandom could have ever taken.

Okay! Let's dive in!

I agree with you. The first season wasn't perfect. it did have it's flaws, but that's what a first season is. It's to set up the characters and the world they live in. I'm not saying next season will be better, but it has room to grow. There is still story left, it's not finished yet.

You are definitely right about this! Rin is in no way a "breeder" or "useless". It's extremely rude to call someone a breeder just because they want/have children. That is very misogynist and reduces women to basically nothing. What's worse is that some of the people who say that are also women so they are saying that themselves and all women are worthless and that is not the case.

Yes, Rin's age was never specified. At the end of the day her age is basically a headcanon. We don't know how old she was when she married Sesshomaru or gave birth to the twins. She could have been 14 or 16 or 17. It was super common back then for people to marry and have kids at a young age. Even today people are having children at that age. But again we don't know how old she was! It shouldn't be a problem and it shouldn't be obsessed over. Just say what you think her age is and go.

Obsessing over a fictional ship/characters isn't healthy. Other than liking sessrin I have responsibilities in the real world. I have a life outside of fandoms that I'm in. I also agree with you, people who obsess over her age or actively showing their hate for a ship makes me super uncomfortable. It's like "okay we get it you don't like sessrin. We don't care as long as you don't harass us just because of lines on a screen." It's nice to like shows and ships but people shouldn't only be contributing to hate. It's unnecessary and a waste of time.

To sum up everything, and to the people who keep spreading hate, here is a quote of my favourite meme: "Calm down son, it's just a drawing."

[misterbitches]

hi! this is long as shit i’m sorry. i hope it makes sense. i ahve adhd and like 5 million learning disorders so this is just word vomit cos there’s so many words in my brain. my b.

i’ve had such a tough day so thank you for replying and sharing! @yeedak​ 

i was thinking about what i wrote and i meant to clarify that as well. some cases are fine for both parties and it’s not like you weren’t consenting and it seems like you were happy! same with my friend who was dating a 20 yr old. if they’re happy you know i’ll clown on ‘em but yea. so for anyone that sees these posts your relationship with your partner who is older or whatever. i’m some dumb girl on the internet okay. ill side eye older ppl tho

i think a lot of people feel the same way you do now (me included.) it feels really good at the time but alter we can see the dynamics playing out. i’m 29 now and i think aging is just such a huge process. it’s wild how you at 31 are a totally different person, right?

and the US racism is probably some of the worst ever in its iteration because of slavery which started from europe etc but USA is so fucking unique bc of columbus bringing slaves here and displacing indigenous peoples or hispanola and because america is so influential the way it views race, particularly with black people as objects, has so deeply permeated into the current historical psyche globally. it’s fascinating to track how necessary anti blackness is to the flourishing of america but also the world at this point. also want to point out how fuckign scary sinophobia is here especially for covid. one is a straight historical line (black ppl + the US) and the other had to be manufactured and to continue to exploit the non-white americans and keep antiblackness in tact.i could go on about this all day. the pain of this place is immense.yet as bad as it is here, this is still the only place i truly feel safe as a black person. because of the unique experience we have in america and through the diaspora especially because we are veyr much ocncentrated here. it would be nice to like move to norway and have some alleviation financially or get free healthcare it’s just not feasible if no one looks like me. it’s fucking tough. 

i hope you don’t hate it here though and people treat you with respect. but as you know being a woman and jewish and an immigrant....shit is tough. the USA is a hellhole. :( america is so deeply tainted and desperately bad because it was founded on strife and blood and there’s no way to reverse that and what this country did in turn when it gained enough power and could capitalize off of the colonial forefathers. this is why we hsould all luv revolution!!!

HOWMEVERRRR 

boy oh boy oh BOY OH BOYYYYYYYY. well wlecome to the world of BL lmao especially as an adult with some obviously deep perspective just given your background. it is a fucking mess and it’s a hard mess to like but it pulls you in. i approach it like i do with soap operas since these are essentially telenovelas, you know? just like the drama at a billion. but the tricky part of that is like....what parts of it do we understand for critiquing? because so many of the shows are so bad at being like good pieces of things to look at just production wise and story wise. but i feel like these shows ask us to take them seriously, so why shouldn’t we take the content seriously? and this is being primarily peddled to young girls. 

i bring this up often but i read this thing about yaoi and the interest younger women/girls have in BL and its fascination with pederasty essentially. this component i think is key when we talk about who gets affected by these things the most. society in general is bad 4 girls bla bla we know lmao but in “more sexually conservative” societies it may be harder for these girls to feel safe even expressing normal emotions romantically and sexually and particularly with guys. some people hypothesized, and i think i agree with this hypothesis, that they can live through the casualness of BL. they don’t feel threatened because they can put themselves into the shoes of the other character. oftentimes, the more feminine or the younger. this was in conjunction with the age gap aspect (they say pederasty as well because there’s unethical age gaps that r gross and that is indeed what we would at least call a touch of sexual abuse if people dont feel like calling it an obsession with youth and power and uhhh young ppl and perhaps kids) where maybe girls could see themselves in these situations as the person being saved, loved, taken care of, and sadly also sexually active and penetrated. 

i think that’s just one aspect of it but i do think there’s validity in who gravitates towards it. i cannot imagine seeing this stuff and not getting enough information as a young kid, i sure as fuck know i didn’t!, and seeing these things and you look at it with 0 critique because you’re young and you may have no interest in it or you simply cannot understand what is wrong. no one is teaching you these things and these shows confirm it. and it is wild how intrinsic patriarchy is to BL although in its existence it also can’t be in line with patriarchy given the nature of two [cis] men!

it begs the question about the replacement aspect. is it just so girls can put themselves in these characters shoes? if so then that means we believe that gender is so interchangeable within our relationships and interactions and that doesn’t seem right. there’s more to lgbtq+ than just existing; it’s finding ways to communicate, finding a family, safety, your people, being a free person. there’s a lot to gain and a lot a lot to lose. and a gay man is also not a woman because those are also two distinct experiences.  especially in societies that have a more hidden aspect to sexuality (idk how to word this bc the BL industry would NEVER survive in america but in a way there’s a more “progressive” look at homosexuality but it’s still fucked up because we live in a Society, you know? at the same time look at what we are doing to trans kids. literally waging war so it’s bonkers how we all collectively have some real progress happening but at the same time not at all. the concept of ‘ladyboys’ and the frequency we see trans people in thai shows is wild and something that we absolutely do not see here in the US. still, none of these groups feel safe or are getting better material conditions in either place. we just show the ways we can try and tolerate oppression witout eliminating it imo)

to me it is clear: it’s money. which most things exist to make money so. but also who is the audience for these shows? and they have to market towards them. all that said all hope is not lost there are some decent shows. it’s just like regular media on TV though where it’s so fucking saturated as an industry that it’s literally sifting through garbage. and there are some days when you can handle the trash and others where it really fucking hurts to watch the violence, the rape, the manipulation, the violations, the stupid messaging. i have never seen more people trying to do mental gymnastics and seeing if things were “technically rape” than in teh BL fandom and that is so fucking sad.

i came into these shows at 28 with almost 0 clue of what as media BL was like esp as media that countries can use as soft power with the revenue. but i realize like...i’m 29 now and so many people don’t have a sizeable, though not huge, amount of life experience. and i wonder for people on the internet who are usually searching for something if they spend so much time on it like what a 15 year old girl thinks. what a 20 year old girl thinks. 

it is incredibly problematic and so awful but there’s also some rewards. if you haven’t i would definitely watch i told sunsset about you which i don’t think i’m going to finish and i doubt i’ll watch the second installment (watch this be a lie) but when i say some fucking impeccable storytelling and art? phew. now that is a fucking piece of media that works. it takes from moonlight heavily and you can see like...the artistic dedication is there and the story makes its world and sets up its stakes extremely well. 

i think because this is marketed towards much younger people too they know they dont have to try as hard. but they SHOULD because then you can have a fucking masterpiece like that. i think even this prolific gay thai filmmaker (who is like solidly against the government) who is so respected (and who i like a lot! if u wanna know i can tell u lmao but the films are very uhhhhhhhh “artsy”) would like i told sunset about you. i wish more people had budget like that and also just cared about the stories. it’s the fucking magic of art to figure out what you can do but there is very little incentive honestly. idk i am very pessimistic. there are days when it’s really a great pick me up and distraction but it is never a place i would love for to feel seen or heard but i’m more of the mind of i never trust the mainstream until they prove me wrong ;) 

or i never trust the mainstream and i still buy into it anyway and then cry when i don’t like what i see adn i yell “BOO GET OFF THE STAGE!” when an old man won’t leave a teenager alone

[laundryandtaxes]

I get where you're coming from, but I think in this instance with Elliot Page it's more about the specific accomplishments/actions/statements made before transition and the rush to erase them and/or remold in terms of the new identity. I think people in the public eye have a bit of a different circumstance surrounding them since people/society have this weird thing with public figures where we consider them sorta authority/important figures above regular people and emulate or idolize them, so it's not quite the same as an average person living through the same situation. I feel like I wouldn't even bat an eye at an acquaintance or local person I've met before transitioning and I certainly wouldn't bother a stranger, but a celebrity is putting a certain message out there with their actions and how they handle their lives. It comes with being famous, and this whole thing with abandoning the past, changing the nature of past roles and works, and disavowing any statements made before transition as associated with womanhood or lesbianism is not exactly a good look. I also think that by becoming famous and choosing to live in the public eye, you open yourself up to public critique and you don't (and shouldn't) have the ability to fully control that. Honestly I think this situation could have been handled better or something if this is them living their truth, but it's not like you can change things that already happened anyway so 🤷‍♀️ it is what it is.

This is probably the only time I’ll address this because I honestly don’t care all that much BUT I do want to respond because I think you’re being honest and normal here instead of dishonest and weird, and I appreciate that, but there are several points where I disagree. I’m gonna pull and highlight different parts because I’ve been spending a lot of time on reddit and it seems the easiest to me.

it's more about the specific accomplishments/actions/statements made before transition and the rush to erase them and/or remold in terms of the new identity 

That may very well be the case with SOME reactions, but I’m very much referring to people who, within a few hours of that social media post, were whining in public about someone they don’t know using a new name and pronouns.

I think people in the public eye have a bit of a different circumstance surrounding them since people/society have this weird thing with public figures where we consider them sorta authority/important figures above regular people and emulate or idolize them 

I totally agree with you here, but if people are doing that then frankly they are acting stupid and that is their own fault. Celebrity culture is stupid. Buying into it is stupid. As grown adults it is stupid to be invested in what strangers do because they’re decent actors, or because they’re famous and gay or famous and black or whatever. If someone is engaging with celebrities in this way, that is their own fault, and it is a poor decision and it is honestly just...stupid. And I say that having been on the other side of that weird relationship on tumblr on a scale that is obviously about a million times smaller, where people will just assume because they’ve followed you for a long time that they can talk to you in ways that are disrespectful if you’re not a friend, or have the right to have input on your life, or place stock in you being a certain kind of way.

a celebrity is putting a certain message out there with their actions and how they handle their lives 

Again, the issue here is that you THINK they are putting a certain message out there when in reality they’re just living a life, with good decisions and bad decisions like everybody else. They are literally just people, just like the other 7 billionish people on the planet. Was Paul Walker putting a certain message into the world when he crashed his sports car into a tree in a residential neighborhood and died? No, he was just being stupid and making a stupid decision and doing something to have fun. It truly is not that deep. Celebrities are nothing except human beings that some people choose to keep up with. They’re literally not even special. There are musicians as talented as all your favorites who you’ll never have the opportunity to listen to. There are actors as talented as whoever won the last big acting awards (I get them mixed up) at your local theater, I guarantee it.

this whole thing with abandoning the past, changing the nature of past roles and works, and disavowing any statements made before transition as associated with womanhood or lesbianism is not exactly a good look 

I haven’t seen any of that, and if it is happening then yeah I agree it is stupid but also people say and do stupid things literally every single day and I shrug and move on. But even if it IS the case, it is not what the people I’m referencing here were bothered by. They were bothered by someone transitioning because they had an investment in that person (who again, is only special in the way that any other random human being you pull of the street would be special) not transitioning, and it is stupid to have that kind of investment in a straight up stranger. It is one thing when you have a buddy that you think is transitioning for the wrong reasons or with unrealistic expectations, and it is one thing to look at the rates of masculine female people who transition and just scratch your head because the rates of us who can only find dysphoria mitigation through transition cannot possibly be this high- both super reasonable imo. It is another to find out some random person is transitioning and whine about it on the internet and expect people not to regard that behavior as ridiculous when it is, in fact, ridiculous.

by becoming famous and choosing to live in the public eye, you open yourself up to public critique and you don't (and shouldn't) have the ability to fully control that 

Agreed here. I also think that if you believed you were x and millions of people made fun of you for it, since again celebrities are literally just random people, you’d be upset by it. But agreed, at the end of the day you cannot and should not get invested heavily in attempts to control the way people look at you.

Honestly I think this situation could have been handled better or something if this is them living their truth 

All due respect, I think the kinds of people complaining that I was referencing agree with you that the whole thing could have been handled better, but I think that “handled better” in their opinion means not coming out. Which, fair enough, but you have to own up to that and just cop to the fact that you generally oppose transition- it is much more reasonable to say that than it is to say you don’t generally oppose transition but every time you hear about it you assume it is coming from self hatred.

I’ve been pretty open about what I think about nonbinary identity (and, while I try to stay very uninformed on celebs in general, it is my understanding so far that that’s how they are identifying) AS it is expressed and discussed by the majority of people I’ve seen fully embracing it- I think the majority of the time it implies really antifeminist things about what men and women can do and like and look like and be like, I think it very often appeals to women because it sucks to know that the world hates women and to be one, let alone to be one who doesn’t fit the image of what women are supposed to be, I think it very often solidly reinforces gender roles by insinuating that people who do not fit the prescribed gender role for their sex are in fact a whole different entity because real women are straight and pretty or whatever, I think it very often hinges on this idea that the majority of people in the world are walking around with a gender identity when the vast majority are absolutely not- like I am not coming at this from the position that all kinds of identities are good and valid and reasonable and that there is NOTHING TO SEE HERE when it comes to the politics of how nonbinary identity is most often presented. I’m just saying that, if a random person who happens to be a celebrity picking a new name and pronouns really deeply shakes you then that probably indicates that 1) you have a baseline issue with transition in and of itself, which, okay but don’t pretend that that isn’t the case, and 2) you have a problem with celebrity worship and that is nobody’s fault but your own if you’re a grown adult.

[meowscarada]

posting this here bc i feel like i'd get crucified on twitter on both sides but honestly like....guys, you have to stop clinging onto a 14-year-old image of gorillaz. gorillaz isnt what it used to be and i guarantee a lot of the people clinging onto it rn werent even fully aware of gorillaz's nature and the extent of the project when phase 2 was happening (myself included). i'm not saying we cant critique gorillaz. in fact, i think people who are constantly shutting down criticisms because "isnt it enough to just enjoy the music?" isn't a good response. those people who get mad at criticisms often do so because they've attached their interests so deeply to their identities that an "attack" on gorillaz is an attack on them. that isnt healthy. if you really love something, you should be willing to observe it at all angles and critique it to make it better. ultimately, critics give opinions because theyre invested in the wellbeing and improvement of the project. at the end of the day, this project was made specifically to encourage criticicism of the music industry. and now that they're in the music industry, it only makes sense to extend that criticism to them. so yes, please critique and question gorillaz's choices! it's really important to do so!

my gripe comes, though, when people are like "gorillaz isn't gorillaz anymore, now theyre irredeemable :((" because at the end of the day, every second gorillaz is active will always be the most gorillaz they've ever been. the same way that youre currently the most you you've ever been. because thats how time works lol. it's not unfair to critique gorillaz by comparing it to what it once was. but what is unfair is upholding what it once was as the only definitive version of gorillaz.

i get it. you wanna lament what's no longer there and you wanna mourn the loss of what the project once was. that's understandable, and its unfortunate because that kind of change in direction happens with a lot of projects, especially long-lasting ones. your disappointment in this case isn't your fault. however, you can lament without expecting for modern gorillaz to suddenly turn back into phase 2 and then get disappointed that it didnt happen. at that point, your disappointment is your fault because youre putting expectations in a place that gorillaz has proven they will not reach since at least 2010.

you can't get mad at a penguin for not flying even if it evolved from something that once could. instead, place your expectations in its swimming capabilities since that's the new direction it evolved into. gorillaz has evolved in a different direction now. you have to accept that at some point. you have to accept that gorillaz is a different project now, and thusly mold your critiques around the project that it currently is rather than critiquing it under the context of a project it's not. if you're not molding your critiques to the project it currently is, then your criticisms lose a lot of relevance. depending on how disconnected they are, they cease to be criticisms at all. they just become complaints.

this is the part where i say obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone is allowed to like or dislike content however they want. everyone is entitled to complain now and again. and at the end of the day, i can choose to mute people if i dont wanna hear endless complaints against gorillaz or endless defensiveness against critics (which i already have muted ppl on both sides). but im not necessarily saying this for my own sake. ive already got myself covered, ive already muted who i wanted to and will likely unmute once everything is less divisive. im saying this for the sake of those who are so distraught by the path gorillaz has taken and distraught by those with valid criticisms against gorillaz. you guys are making your lives a lot harder and youre exerting a lot of your mental and emotional energy investing in either A) a project that no longer exists and will never exist again; or B) valid critiques on said project that hurt your feelings because you've attached your identity to this thing.

all im saying is, if youre not having fun, you can go home. if it causes you so much anguish to see gorillaz or to see people talk about gorillaz, take a break from gorillaz. thats what i did, and it personally helped me gain a new perspective when coming back into it. i still prefer the older way that gorillaz handled things, and probably always will. but the new doesn't taint my experiences of the old anymore because i took a break from the tunnel vision i (and others) have been getting. it really affected my enjoyment of the media i once loved. this maybe wont work for you, but it's a suggestion. because i guarantee you, youre never gonna get what you want being in denial about the state of things. like it or not, accept it and move on with your life.

(in case anyone is wondering bc im not here to start drama, this is NOT against anyone or any group of people specifically. i may have referenced a few people's complaints here, but only bc it's what i saw on twitter. this is not a #vaguepost or #callout or whatever. this is a blanket statement for the entire fanbase. so i better not see anyone commenting "its ok op, you can just say [insert twitter handle here]")

[pulledpurplecurtains]

all the odd ones for the fic questions pls and thank you pepster

all the odd ones, meaning 1, 3 etc right? oh BOY are we gonna be here for a while (and i love it 🥰)

it’s morning right now so let’s see how long throughout the day this is gonna take me sdfghjk let’s do it!!

1) what was the first fandom you got involved in?

hmmmm. i wanna say harry potter, more than a decade ago? specifically dramione and scorose

3) what is the best fandom you’ve been involved in?

for all that it has given me i have to say bechloe

5) which fandoms have you written fanfiction for?

so far just for bechloe

7) list your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in

i’m only gonna list pairs i have strong feelings against and from only the fandoms i’ve been most involved in

harry potter: snape and hermione

frozen: elsa and hans (no but for real. why)

pitch perfect: beca and jessie, chloe and chicago

marvel: hm hm surprisingly nothing comes to mind

the haunting of bly manor: same as for marvel

9) what are the best things about your current fandom?

having a space where i can fully be myself, expressing myself freely through my writing, meeting so many wonderful people, having a previously unexplored side of myself revealed to me, finding and delving into characters that make me feel less alone, and so much more. it’s been a real blessing, having this fandom in my life

11) who is your current OTP?

bechloe

(this was the point where tumblr lost me ALL MY ANSWERS FROM QUESTIONS 13 TO 33 so let’s do this again SHALL WE??? i’ll be saving each answer as we go dear god)

13) any NoTPs?

already answered!

15) is there an obscure ship which you love?

hmm i don’t think so? none that comes to mind at least

17) who was your first OTP and are they still your favorite?

my first OTP, before i even knew what an OTP was, was scorpius and rose from harry potter. it’s not still on top of my OTP list, but always has a special place in my heart

19) is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

not really? i mean, there are popular ships that i don’t support, like hermione with bellatrix or natasha with wanda for example. i can see their appeal and i get why people like them. they’re just not for me and i’m okay with that

21) what was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

ah my accidental multi chap baby sdfghjkdfg

All is Fair in Love and War was posted as an one shot, and that was all it was supposed to be. it was my first finished written piece. and then a couple of people in the comments were really nice abt sharing thoughts of where the story could go next and what they’d like to see happen, and they were very enthusiastic abt wanting to see more of that story. so the second chapter was born

sooo one thing led to the other and before i knew it that fic had become an 8 chapter, over 60k words story sdfghjkdf i’m amused and grateful to this day

23) name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of and explain why you like it

how can you ask a mother to pick her favorite of her kids HUH

no but for real, i love all of my stories equally. i’m a perfectionist, so nothing gets posted before it’s perfect in my eyes. plus, all my stories are my babies. each has its flaws and imperfections, each in their own ways. but they’re all beautiful and meaningful to me

what i will say is, i have a particular soft spot for (wondering if you knew) i was enchanted to meet you. i truly think my writing peaked in that story, in all the parallels and tiny but very important things that are in there

25) what’s your most popular fanfic?

based on views and kudos, it’s All is fair in Love and War

ofc that’s a multi chap, so maybe the numbers aren’t exactly equivalent to popularity

my most popular one shot, by a very large margin at that, is (i’ll let you in) and baby, that’s when

27) what do you hate more: coming up with titles or writing summaries?

i honestly love coming up with titles

writing summaries, on the other hand, is the bane of my existence

29) do you have a beta reader? why/why not?

i don’t, and it’s bc i’m literally incapable of taking any kind of critique over anything unfinished. once it’s posted and out in the world it’s fair game; but until then? that’s a big no for me

31) what’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing?

i honestly can’t answer this question bc every comment is so so special and important to me. i often go back and read them all. even right now while writing this there are so many different comments swirling around in my head. i appreciate and am grateful for all the kind words always 💜

33) do you write one shots, multi chapters, or huge epics?

sdfghjkk definitely not huge epics

i’ve written both of the other two. in the beginning i preferred and wanted to write multi chapters. however nowadays and for the past year or so, i lean more heavily towards one shots

35) do you write drabbles? if so, what do you normally write them about?

i am physically and mentally incapable of writing short things sdfghjkd so no, i don’t write drabbles

37) first person or third person? what do you write in and why?

always third person. idk the idea of first person narration always seemed weird to me. plus, i see my stories as me retelling the events the characters have confided in me. so third person makes sense and it’s also why i use past tense in my stories

39) what is your greatest strength as a writer?

describing and narrating emotions and using metaphors

41) list and link to five fanfics you’re currently reading

my reader’s block has been going strong, so i’m not reading anything currently unfortunately

43) is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

my squirrels 💜

45) what is your all time favorite fanfic?

i have to say Experimentation i just have to

i also love Perdition, what an incredible piece of writing

47) ao3, ff.net or tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

definitely ao3, i just love its interface i guess?

49) do you care if people comment on/ reblog your writing? why/why not?

okay so here’s the deal. ofc i care. every artist who shares their work, every creator, cares; at least to a degree. it’s why we share. we want people to see and love and appreciate our work, we want it recognised and celebrated even. we want people to engage with it, show it to their friends, talk abt it, have thoughts abt it. it’s only natural and ofc i’m absolutely no exception

with that said. i’ve always tried to remind myself that kudos/likes are also engagement. that even just reading is engagement. that everyone’s limit or ability for engagement isn’t the same, and that ultimately it’s their choice how or if they’ll engage with my writing. i try to, and i do, value everyone who even just reads my stories. i share something with the world for free and it’s my choice to do and continue to do so. what happens after that isn’t up to me

so yes i do care a lot abt reblogs and comments. they make me very happy, they validate and encourage me. but people have no obligation, in my eyes at least, to engage with my works a specific way. just like i have no specific obligation to provide a certain type of content on set periods of time or with a set limit of words or to continue to provide stories; or literally any other obligation. no one can police my actions and choices up until i’ve posted a story and i can’t police anyone’s actions or choices after i’ve posted it. and that’s the beauty of fandom for me - we’re all here bc we want to and bc it makes us happy, with no expectations or obligations

ending this with an essay seems only suitable sdfghjkd thank you my egg for giving me the opportunity to talk abt myself in such length 😌💜

[perriwinklesblog]

A bit off topic for my usual Dream SMP posts but wanted to share some of my favourite books that I have read. Some of these books go back a bit but often the message and information in them is still relevant. With that said, some research might be a little old but that’s the joy of these books, sends you down a rabbit hole.

They’re all equally entertaining as they are interesting. All authors here for me have that perfect balance of informative and humour whilst still knowing when to empathise.

I hope if you end up looking into one of these books, or listening to the audiobook, you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson - this book is the reason I have a degree in psychology. It opened the world of psychology to me and delved into psychopathy and how dangerous these people might be. It’s super interesting and Jon Ronson’s writings are always entertaining. He is good at informing, empathising and entertaining all in one book.

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson - Another Ronson book that I wish everyone had to read. This book is a good few years old now and written before the term cancel culture became a part of every day vocabulary. It delves into the lives of those who have been cancelled and explores how they get through it, the good the bad and ugly. It was a warning to the world about what we post online and how we treat others online before we even understood the lasting effects social media has. It’s a sobering and, at times, funny view on the world.

Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz - Now this isn’t about the Facebook selling your data. This book is about using big data such as google trends to boost research experiments reliability and validity in their results. It explores, again in a amusing way, how something as simple as the word order of a google search can reveal something about an individual. It’s about looking at the masses and seeing the trends and how that can help understand and improve the world. It shows the positive of big data and the negatives. It’s honestly one of my favourite books of all time.

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez - This is not just a book for women. It is a book for everyone. It explores the gender data gap, a gap in the data that isn’t always obvious. From snow ploughing to medical research there are biases in our data which can often lead to unintended biases. It’s eye opening and at times saddening about the issues that could be solved if we just had a bit more data.

The Secret Barrister by The Secret Barrister - This book comes from the Twitter account of a barrister in England who allows us a look into the system. Often critiques the issues and explains cases in an honest way the public rarely sees. We don’t often get a look inside the justice system, we rarely see it outside dramatised programmes. The Secret Barrister takes you inside the English court and justice system and explores its fairness and failures. It’s lifting the curtain on a process most only see if they’ve broken the law, have jury duty or work there.

Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime by Val McDermid - Val McDermid has made a career of being once of the best crime authors. She has written fabulous crime fiction throughout her life and through her research for these books has become friends with leading forensic teams. In this book she explores the world of forensic, from fire to bugs, she looks at every discipline and lifts the curtain to allow us a look inside. It will ruin some of your crime programmes once you have the knowledge inside this book but will also allow you to appreciate the science and importance this side of criminal investigations.

[archieism]

In JJ’s case, I think it’s very interesting how he flips out in a split second, that is the only time we actually see him lose it so fast when it comes to someone talking about him (because when he attacks Rafe at midsummers he does it because he wants to defend Kiara, same when they want to beat Pope). Even when his own friends try to call him out he acts like it doesn’t really care, being compared to his father is the only thing that truly gets him all worked up. Hence the hot tub scene.

it truly fucks me UP how prone to violence he is when it comes to protecting his friends but how little he’ll do the same for himself. like we don’t see his personal safety being threatened separate from right alongside his friends but a spare few times, but like.. maybe i’m reading too much into it, but the moment he finally hits his dad back feels Significant, even though there’s not a lot of direct build up; same as his reaction to the line about ending up like his dad. 

a lot of media will oftentimes present a super shitty character, like an absolute shithead of a person for an antagonist, only to later reveal oh look their parent is abusive!!1 and while that is sadly realistic, it’s kinda.. disheartening to see, when there are actual victims of abuse trying to overcome that pattern instead of mimic it. we see from episode one that jj is prone to violence -- trigger happy, if you will lol from how quickly he pulls a gun on topper at the beach party. sure, topper was practically waterboarding his best friend, but he could’ve tackled him or something, but he went straight to using the newly acquired deadly weapon instead (and proceeded to shoot it in the air to scare a whole crowd of innocent people away). he teases a lot, his friends too as a form of affection (all of the pogues do lmao but i feel like especially jj), sometimes a little condescendingly tbh, but it doesn’t make you doubt his affection; it just feels like jj being jj. he can be abrasive, is a bit of a class clown and often responds to aggressiveness by escalating it versus deescalating. he’s deflective in instances of seriousness or critique, however lowkey the deflections can be (see his reaction to john b when he listens to his dad’s message; it seems like a struggle for him at times to read the room), but he’s also so so undeniably GOOD.

he’s ride or DIE for his friends. he shows up for them the most over the entire duration of the show, takes the fall for a crime for one of them, even if it means getting the shit beat out of him and owing 30k in reparations when all of them are dirt poor. he’s the one who accompanies john b to scope out lana’s house. he makes an extra effort to validate john b’s insistence that all these clues are a sign his dad is alive and leading them to some treasure despite having every right to be even a little skeptical. when john b shoves him, he doesn’t shove back. because john b is his friend, and i feel like hurting his friends is one of the worst things he could imagine doing.

i often get annoyed when people woobify (for lack of a better term kdsjvd) characters like jj (it’s literally a trope at this point for so many white guy characters that are presented as a bit of devil-may-care types at first but then later revealed to Have Feelings and struggle with substance abuse and have shitty parents lol see klaus hargreeves, justin foley, etc, even more destructive cases like dean winchester or billy hargroove, though those are a bit different), cause aside from it just not being my cup of tea, it often completely ignores some of the destructive shit a lot of people who’ve been abused have to unlearn. jj can be a bit of an asshole. he's prone to unnecessary violence, he can be abrasive at times, he can act a bit inappropriately nonchalant despite sensitive situations (he literally offers pope some weed when he’s having an emotional breakdown hdsks) these are parts of his character, but they don’t define him; not like his complete selflessness and dedication to his friends do. i’ve talked a lot about jj’s ‘flaws’ (they’re honestly not even that bad; he’s just a bit careless, with himself and others and their emotions) in this post, but it’s not because i dislike his character or think he’s ~problematic~ or anything; i just think the subtle struggle to break out of a cycle of abuse is important and i honestly love how it’s highlighted in outer banks without turning him into a bully at the same time when in so many other pieces of media it tends to fall short.

anyways this got really long but i’d love to see that small interaction expanded on into season 2 as well because yeah, it honestly feels like it speaks a lot to his character and internal conflict more than just in the obvious his dad’s a giant asshole kind of way