#i havent been in the fandom for long enough to know the full requirements of being a sam or dean girl

[girl-bateman]

How does one get assigned as sam coded / dean coded ? Do I need a doctors note ? A psych evaluation perhaps ?

[brynwrites]

Ask compilation time again!

Topics covered:

Writing experiences you haven’t had yourself

Nonbinary characters

Figuring out how many novels your plot requires

When you get stuck on an idea

Finding your target audience

Token diversity 

Also:

I promise to (attempt to) tag spoilers

Something I can’t even fathom

A nice message, but not from a moose, unfortunately

I haven’t updated my ask queue page, so if you don’t see your ask there then it’s probably collecting dust in my inbox xP

Writing experiences you haven’t had yourself

Anon asked: I’m currently writing a story and a secondary character is someone who has been abused. I’ve done lots of research and I’m continuing to do so (reading psychology reports, peoples own experience, whatever I can find) as I haven’t gone though the abuse my character has but someone recently told me I shouldn’t write this character because I haven’t gone through it myself. I don’t want to through this character away because he plays a massive role in the development of my mc. Any advice?

1. Ignore this person. They probably mean well but they aren’t helping anyone by gatekeeping. 

2. Try to find beta readers who have a close connection to the the abuse this character faces or who have also done large amounts of research so they can double check things for you.

Nonbinary characters

Anon asked: I want to write a novel with a non binary protagonist, because I feel like it would really fit them and the plot, but I don't really know much about non binary identities. Could you maybe explain a few of them...? I just feel like this question is better answered by a nb person. I've been thinking about making them genderfluid, but I don't know if that would be fitting.

In all honesty, nonbinary people don’t tend to fit in their labels well. Within any given NB label, presentation, pronouns, and more varies drastically. There’s really no wrong way to write a nonbinary character as long as they act like any other fully formed human being. This wiki site has some basic definitions, and these two posts [ x | x ] I’ve written recently cover more.

One thing I will say here though is this: Nonbinary people are not made up of anything different from binary people -- they have the exact same brains which grant the same strengths and flaws and loves and fears and everything else that humans experience -- and therefore they’re the right characters for any plot, setting, genre, etc. That’s not to say that we as writers don’t often get feelings that certain characters have a particular identity or so on, but I see a lot of times were someone thinks a story is right for a nonbinary protagonist particularly because there’s something plot relevantly ‘weird’ with the protagonist's gender or gender expression. Nonbinary characters should not be limited to stories where their nonbinary-ness is a important to the story. 

Figuring out how many novels your plot requires.

Anon asked: How do you know if your plot will be enough for a novel or multiple novels (even after outlining)?

1. How many climactic peaks does it have?

2. How many distinct character development arcs does it have?

Each novel needs to rise in tension until reaching the climactic point, in which the character fulfills or denies their development. At the start of the next book, the tension may or may not fall quite a lot. If instead, you have a dramatic fall of tension somewhere in the second half of act two, that’s no good, nor is having a character arc which ends at any point prior to the climax. 

Learn more splitting up a series into individual books. Learn more about character arcs.

When you get stuck on an idea

Anon asked: Hi! I have this problem when I write something I get stuck on something and don’t see other options, for example, if my first idea for some story is to start it with description of morning I will stick to it and will rewrite it over and over again but don’t even consider and option to start is somehow else. I hope it doesn’t sound strange and that you can understand it. So how to start seeing other options and not get too attached to something?

Whenever you go to rewrite anything for the first few weeks/months (depending on how often you’re rewrite things), stop and brainstorm at least five other options you could use in place of rewriting whatever you originally had. Don’t let yourself rewrite the original until you have these five options written down. 

To challenge yourself further, every few times you do this brainstorming, write out one of these new options in full instead of rewriting the original concept, even if this means you have to write entire chapters you won’t end up using. You’ll learn a lot by making yourself move outside your comfort zone and eventually your brain will start to do the brainstorming on its own. 

Finding your target audience

Anon asked: Hey I'm sure this could apply to writing as well but I'm currently writing a webcomic and as much as I want to advertise it on my blog I'm not sure if people would be interested because overall it's about teenage life, nothing more nothing less and I'm not sure how interesting of a concept that is to anyone. I also started out as a fandom blog and I'm pretty sure a lot, if not all of my followers followed me because I post about the fandom and nothing else.

Every concept is interesting to someone. I don’t know which fandoms you focus on with your fandom blog, but I would suggest looking for fandoms for contemporary YA books (on the ‘less romance’ scale) and similar slice-of-life teen-oriented stories, and connecting with the people in those fandoms on a personal level, because they will be your target audience. 

They will almost certainly only follow you for the fandom blogging unless you become friends with them. Genuine friends who are also your target audience will support your original work to hell and back, and they’ll form a platform for you which other people will be more willing to climb on once they see your original work is already being adored by others.

Token diversity 

Anon asked: Hello! What are some ways to tell apart checklisting from being diverse? Like, putting in POC and mogai characters just to say you did and earn brownie points from the audience? I appreciate the input, thank you <3

My general opinion is this: If you (and the groups represented) can’t tell that diversity is being shoehorned into a book for the sake of brownie points, then it’s diversity, no matter what the author meant it as.

If it’s a well researched and positive representation and it does good for the people it represents, then it’s good.

Working backwards from this definition, some things which might trigger alarms would be:

The use of negative stereotypes.

Diverse background characters supporting an able-bodied cishet white cast.

Members of the represented group telling you that the diverse characters from their group are bad representations.

Diverse characters being less fleshed out or more commonly killed off compared to the other characters.

Tagging spoilers

Anon asked: Friend, could you tag incoming spoilers please, I havent yet got to read these latest Riordan books and wanted to keep whatever queer stuff would be there for a surprise, and whoever the character would be as well

Sorry about that! I will try to tag spoilery content better in the future.

I can’t even fathom

Anon asked: How old are you? Boy or girl?

Excuse you, I'm an immortal Norse trickster deity (without the bestiality), and you do not ask deities their age, thank you very much.

Definitely not moose

@isnotmoose​ said: Hi, Bean! This isn't a question, I just wanted to say hi and hope you were having a good day (or night) :) I also love your blog, it's super helpful!

I’m not sure if you’re calling me a bean of if that was an auto-correction, but either way I approve this message very much. You have a wonderful day/night yourself! <3

[sassraa]

appearance headcanon time

jon has wavy hair that he slicks back in season 1, starts to come done and get wilder in further seasons. i personally dont think he’d be a long-hair person, letting it get to Medium Length at the most. i hc’d him as white with dark hair but i also like the Fandom version of Indian Jon. he IS skinny but not in a sexy way, more like a “can someone give this dude some bread or something.” fastidious about being clean and tidy, dresses like a grandfather in clothes that are usually a bit too big for him. like 5′7 because i like the thought of almost everyone being taller than him.

martin is like, <> shaped like that but turned sideways. wide in the middle. obviously trans. i can’t decide what race i see him as but i lean towards mixed black/white or irish. he Must have wavy/curly hair. it’s Required. he’s taller than Jon but not by a lot (he’s like 5′8-’9ish). people look at him and think “wow.. huggable and cute.” you know those curly haired cows? that’s him.

tim is mixed japanese/white with a strong jaw-line and ridiculously long eyelashes. he’s Classically Handsome and goes to the gym once in a while, but not enough to be buff. he has a wide mouth and dimples, and short straight hair. he’s around 5′10 and gives everyone shit about their heights related to his.

sasha is also 5′10 (she’s technically like half an inch taller than tim and won’t shut up about it). glasses. long curly hair. i havent gotten very far with how i imagined her because it’s been so long, but i like the fandom hc for her.

not!sasha looks absolutely fucked up but no one can tell for some reason. ABSURDLY tall, like 6′4, with long straight hair. all of her limbs are just a little too long. most of her features are kind of vague to anyone who looks at her. 

melanie is short (5′4) and scrappy-looking. she’s got longish black hair with choppy bangs, and often puts her hair into a ponytail. she dresses in Gay Punk style when she’s not acting in a professional setting (she takes her job seriously, so she dresses business casual when it’s in a work situation). she wears eyeliner but not much else in the way of makeup.

basira is like 5′8 with somewhat blocky features. i imagined her as being black but i like the fandom hc as well. no makeup. butch. VERY practical in her outfits. she’s got muscles. her hair is kept short or braided. strong chin and thick beautifully shaped eyebrows (they are natural) and full lips. i am gay just thinking about her. 

daisy has short blonde hair and is somewhat pear-shaped with big arms before the Buried, very skinny afterward. wears makeups and has some sense of fashion. femme. she’s about jon’s height. she could lift him up before the buried but can’t afterward. she’s got a LOT of scars, and a mix of sharp and feminine features. thin mouth and a cute nose. loves boots. 

georgie has a lot of soft, rounded shapes. she’s like 5′6. she’s really cute. i LOVE the fandom hc of her like, black with her hair constantly in a ponytail and always wearing big hoodies. she seems like an overalls kind of gal also. she’s definitely got an hourglass figure and is chubby. dresses practically usually but likes to branch out into fashion once in a while. 

elias is a handsome, sharp-angled motherfucker with a long face and pointed chin. he’s clean-shaven and has high, arching eyebrows. his hair is kept short and slicked back. he always dresses in suits or nice vests that have some stupid eye motif on them, because he loves being cheeky about who he actually is (hence the name of the person he chose to inhabit). owns a pocket watch. 

peter lukas is extremely friendly-looking, ironically. i like the bearded fandom hc. he is Fucking Big. white, extremely pale. 

[bisummers]

Buffyverse tagging meme: got tagged by @lesbian-killers and @bufffysummers  | ty for tagging me and sorry about the delay! 

*I'll do this for btvs only. I haven't seen ats or read the comics in full so i’m gonna skip everything involving those. Please see under the cut!

*top fifteen characters? 

In order: 

Buffy

Tara

Faith

Giles

Then in no particular order: Cordelia, Anya, Dawn, Willow, Glory, The Mayor, Jenny, Angelus, Oz, Harmony, Andrew

*favorite minor characters?

Kendra, Holden, Clem, Cassie, D’Hoffryn, Olivia, Jonathan, the Gentlemen, Mr. Trick, Ethan Rayne... (probably forgetting a lot)

*ranking of favorite seasons of both shows?

I think there's a difference between what's arguably the best produced and scripted seasons vs the seasons i enjoyed the most... so I'll do both.

My faves are 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 but critically, i think the seasons go more like 5, 3, 2, 6, 7, 4, 1.

*top ten episodes of both shows?

In no particular order: 

hush

once more wt feeling

becoming part. 2

helpless

conversations wt dead people

bad girls

band candy

anne

who are you

restless

(this is probably not 100% accurate cause i haven't rewatched enough times to have them all fresh in my mind, but that's the general idea. Also, want to note the body is a magnificently done episode but i don’t love to suffer That Much so i can't add it to the list. That goes for normal again, too.)

*ats or btvs?

I don't think any show will ever surpass my love for Btvs tbh.

*least favorite main character?

Xander can be Too Much sometimes... Angelus is a great villain, but Angel was so uncomfortable to watch most times... and Riley is just boring and pointless

*top ten ships?

Ok this will be both romantic and platonic cause i don't ship enough people together.

Romantic cannon: tillow, calendiles

Romantic non cannon: fuffy, mehane, tara/buffy

Platonic: dawn/tara, buffy/giles, faith/mayor, anya/money, giles/joyce(a lil romantic too ngl band candy ruined me)

*do you write fanfic?

Nope, my only adventures in writing where rpgs long before i watched Btvs.

*what fanfic do you read?

For btvs i've only ever read one-shots done in ask games. I should probably get on that, i've seen so many interesting recommendations, but honestly recently i've found it very hard to keep the attention required for reading stuff that is not in comic form.

*when did you start watching? 

Hmm... i think early 2013.

*show recommendations for Buffyverse fans?

Besides watching other Whedon shows - at your own risk - I have a hard time comparing other shows to Btvs. Sorry!

*do you own/collect anything related to the shows?

Lol yeah... I have a several btvs posters on my walls (ex.), I got the library hardcover edition of season 8, Demons from the Hellmouth, the btvs coloring book, the full dvd set, t-shirts... and i guess technically it doesn't count, but i have bought an embarrassing amount of clothing in attempts to mimic Buffy's style.

*how often will you watch an episode?

I have seen many a random episodes a lot of times while working on graphics so i really dont have a count. On average I dont go more that 3 weeks without watching btvs one way or another.

*how many times have you watched either show all the way through?

I have rewatched btvs in full 3 times, i think. But I’ve done partial rewatches a lot.

*five unpopular opinions?

I don’t ship Buffy with any of her cannon relationships on the show at all.

I don't think Tillow should have been endgame if Tara hadn't died.

I may harbor more resentment than most people for the way the scoobies treat Buffy and their friendship. I'm pretty hard on Xander and Willow.

I love season 1 and all it's camp and outdated corniness.

I think season 4 has some merit. Granted Riley, Adam as the big bad, and the initiative plot line was pretty bad and there is some other episodes that really bomb, but i lot of amazing stuff comes out of this season. TARA, Hush, Who Are You, Family, Restless... 

*least favorite thing about the fandom?

I could say the usual (willow is gay! Dawn is a great character!), but Ive picked my crowd wisely and i dont follow anyone who has sexist or homophobic opinions about the show. So i guess what im saying is i havent truly experienced grievances in the way other people have.

I do think more people should know and follow Passion of the Nerd because it really adds a lot to your buffy experience to watch the episode reviews.

I tag whichever mutuals hasn’t done this yet! I have been offline so idk who that may be but maybe @catty-words or @drelliotreidmd @onceuponaslayer? Really, everyone should do it!