#not you dickie youre my hero ily :(

[the-jxck-of-all-trxdes]

the batclan are not heros they are delusionals

[cleromancy]

I absolutely enjoyed reading your analysis and take on why people tend to put most of the blame on Tim rather than taking into account that other characters are just as culpable. You really help me understand why Jason stans might resent Tim for victim-blaming Jason more than the other characters (although it is still them showing their double-standard thought process at the end of the day). In truth, no one is innocent in the situation. Everyone is culpable to some degree for blaming a child for his own demise, and its frankly disgusting.

its one of those things thats really interesting both in universe and from a meta perspective bc. blaming jason for his own death when sheila sold him out to the joker who then murdered them both, which dc wrote/illustrated/published, which they decided to do because of the results a fricking READER POLL... its so silly lmao. and by making it jasons fault the blame doesnt rest with batman, for having a robin in the first place, or dc, for writing and publishing the story. absolutely fascinating tapestry of blame and fault here on all levels

i was thinking some more about it though and i do think its got some to do with tims personality and demeanor as well. hes a perfectionist and a control freak and there are times when he expresses that if someone cant hack it to tims (arbitrary) standards they shouldn't be doing it at all, that kind of thing. and this is something bruce and dick both do as well, bruce is pretty famous for it even, but they're also both like... i mean we already talked about bruce in the last ask but on top of that hes like. scary competent and intimidating. like. hes batman! and with dick, dick is the first robin, hes *the* nightwing, dick was canonically this keystone figure for the new earth dcu hero community... hes a big fucking deal yknow. in-universe people listen to them, and for good reason, and out of universe a lot of the time reading it its like. Well they'd know! and by contrast tim does not have that kind of authority he just acts like be does... like hes made a solid name for himself by the time the reboot hits but absolutely not on dick or bruces level. so when Tim says something about like you shouldn't be doing this you're going to get yourself killed its like. who is this squeaky little toddler and why is he telling me what to do. like its like "who died and made you robin" except the answer to that is uh. Jason todd.

anyway yeah i like to rotate this as an aspect of characterization for everyone involved bc in like. the version that lives in my head the narrative doesnt present them as Right so it becomes *about* the tragedy, *about* grief and the way sometimes a story gets warped in retelling, about coping by putting sense in something senseless... but. it gets a lot less fun when youre reading something and the story itself is like "Yes this 14 or 15 year old only died bc he broke the rules he got what was coming to him & he deserved it :)" loud booing i dont care for that at all.

dick is also interesting bc hes one of the only characters i can think of other than leslie barbara who blames bruce at any point for jasons death, which i neglected to mention in my other ask. (its kind of a big topic and in my defense you were just askinf about bruce Alfred and tim... sorry dickie ily) like dick took more work to convince that a new robin was necessary than bruce did and dick like... dick was so angry and heartsick and guilty over jasons death and all those feelings just went *everywhere* including at himself. so its absolutely a lot more palatable coming from dick and-- i mean i mentioned demeanor earlier. tim tends to be either very blunt or very sharp and he is NOT known for phrasing things diplomatically, like, at all. dick might be thinking about the mistakes he imagines Jason making on the road to his death but what he'll say out loud is usually smth like "he wasn't ready," and its also a lot more palatable coming from dick bc you *know* hes also thinking he himself Should Have trained jason more himself or done this or that other thing.

dickies so so so good hes doing his best. i love him so much. what were we talking about

[dickie-gayson]

Writing Self-Evaluation for 2016 for @dickie-gayson 

Tagged by @camsthisky, thanks!

So, I realized I only published one story last year, holy shit. The rest is either A) Unfinished, B) That Bad I Gave Up, or C) Roleplaying stuff (excuses excuses). Jeeeeeze, I need to step up my story game lol 

1. Lists of works published this year (2016):

Mori Shej (FF.net/Ao3) It’s a Jason and Dick angsty hurt/comfort fic. 

2. Work you are most proud of (and why):

Well, seeing as Mori Shej is my only published one, it’d have to be that. However, I am still pretty proud of it. It’s not my best work, but it was a story I wrote on a whim and it’s addressing serious issues DC seems to overlook involving two of my favorite characters. 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why):

The only option would be Mori Shej again, though there’s a reason some of those stories remain unpublished lmao In regards to Mori Shej, it’s taken a turn that I wasn’t anticipating, which is something I both love and hate. I love the growth of a story, seeing it expand and take a sort of life of its own. I hate it just a bit, as then what was originally planned needs to be rethought.

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing:

Mori Shej:

“You’re wrong. He wasn’t a failure.” He said it with such conviction, Jason could almost believe he meant it. But no, that was just that stupid hero-complex Dick had going on. Robin died and Dick had to make a martyr of him, the asshole. Jason let out a sharp laugh at his words. “Went off and got killed by a fuckin’ clown. Sounds like a failure to me.” It looked like Dick was just barely keeping himself from lashing out again. He really did look a hairsbreadth away from completely losing it. It was hard to revel in that when Jason was barely keeping it together himself. 

5. Share or describe a favorite review you received:

Oooh man, that’s difficult cus I got some p funny and good reviews. I’m cheating and putting more than one cus I feel like a proud mama. ‘Why don't you just walk right up to me and punch me in the throat? This hits right in the honney nut feele'os. This was fantastic and I really enjoyed reading it.’

‘you wrecked my soul and i am emotionally unstable after reading this. absolutely brilliant piece of writing and trading my soul for this is just worth it. thank you for writing it‘

Somebody else said their boss caught them crying at work bcus of what I wrote. The reviews most certainly made my day. 

6. A time when writing was really, really hard:

Honestly, writing for the past few years has gotten increasingly difficult for me, hence the general lack of published work. A few years back, my mother passed away from cancer and I’ve been helping raise my younger siblings as a result. That, combined with my various disorders, and a plethora of drama has made sitting and just writing feel impossible. But, on the bright side, I thiiink I’m starting to get a bit better. I’ve gotten more done in the past few months than the past few years combined.

7. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you:

Writing Jason in general has been a surprise for me. I never expected the pov to be predominately his or to channel him as much as I do. I expected it to be Dick, for obvious reasons, but he seems to be significantly harder for me to write.

8. How did you grow as a writer this year:

For starters, I actually wrote lmao Seriously, though, I think I have grown a bit. I used to be very guilty of overly flowery writing and describing far too much. Let me dredge up an ooold example (2011):

“Screams. Oh, the screams! Grotesque wails so brittle they cracked the air like a cat o' nine cutting the soft flesh of silence. A wicked sound that crawled its way up your spine and into your brain. Its rapacious claws tore away at your sanity and sent you into a rabid frenzy of abject misfortunes. It was a symphony of horrid screeches and wails ranging from deep baritones to high falsettos.”

I was so fucking Extra™.  I’ve chilled in my writing. Toned it down and made it stop looking like I ate a thesaurus lmao

9. How do you hope to grow next year:

I’m hoping to write more in general. I’d also like to get better at pacing and keeping my stories on track. (also I need to get my ass working on paying attention to the tenses I use)

10. Who was your positive influence as a writer (could be another writer or cheerleader or muse etc etc):

Oooh my friend Syn is so good at encouraging me to keep going and also the best roleplay partner. Ily v much

My little sister is also a great cheerleader! I’ve got a friend irl who always asks me how my writing’s going, which is touching because she’s not a big reader but is always interested to know how I’m doing.

Most of my influences are other roleplay partners (I’ve been rping since ‘07 ngl) and they’ve really helped me develop through the years.

11. Anything from real life show up in your writing this year:

Nah, nothing that I could think of that I wrote. That might change this year, though.

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers:

As corny as it sounds, and it’s not new at all, but don’t give up. Not on yourself or your writing. If you look at your writing and you feel its inadequate compared to others, just remember: we all start somewhere. I have some of my earliest writings saved, and let me tell you, I’m glad I didn’t give up. The improvements I’ve made were gradually and I hardly noticed it happening, but it did happen. Keeping pushing on and you’ll get to the point you want to, or at least be that much closer to it. Perseverance does pay off.

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year:

I’m looking forward to finishing Mori Shej!

I’m also looking forward to starting some more Batfam stories, such as my Talon!Dick and AK!Jason story, BatKids Shenanigans, The Crow crossover, and some AUs. There’s a bunch of ideas stewing in my head. 

Not to mention, I’m both eager and nervous to start my own original works.

14. Tag three writers whose answers you’d like to read: 

if you three are down for it! @thegalacticpope @haunt-the-stars @therutherfordwife