#possible rape mention

[firedragon1321]

So Something I Noticed With Character Questionnaires/Interviews

This is for new characters only. 

I don’t know if you’ve seen character interviews or questions floating around, but basically, they’re questions you ask your characters. It’s like you’re interviewing a real live person in front of you. I used them in high school to get the ball rolling, but not really recently. The protagonist of my newer series is being stubborn, so I turned to them again. And I learned something.

(There’s a long section of examples from my own writing, which contains all the triggering content in the tags. If you don’t want to read that or you just want the advice, skip to the bolded sentence that starts with “So this is a long way of saying...”.)

Characters you’ve worked with for a million years can answer most questions blindfolded. Even if they’re reluctant to answer or the question is irrelevant, you can pretty much figure out how they’ll respond. 

I can’t ask Soren some of the questions categorized under sex/intimacy, because he’s twelve and a virgin (i.e.- “When was your first time?”). But I could still picture his response- “Never. Why do you wanna know, anyway?”, followed by becoming defensive (folding arms across chest, looking away, possibly reaching towards his pocket for a weapon, etc.). He struggles against antagonists who care way too much about whether or not he’s a virgin. For context- he’s a cartoon character dropped into reality who has to fight an organization with too much horny and money, which exclusively targets toons. His interactions with this group shape the deflection of this answer.

The difference between Soren- a character I’ve worked with for years- and a new character is asking a difficult or irrelevant question results in nothing. There’s a generic “I dunno” at best, writer’s block/empty brain at worst. To deflect a question, a character has to already have a personality. Otherwise you- the author- encounters a heavy void of resistance. It just feels like nothing. After a while, it makes you frustrated or upset, ending the “interview”. You can only ask a rock about its dreams so many times before you realize it’s a rock.

I noticed- with my new protag- that there was empty brain with almost every question on a 253 question list. There was only one that I made progress with. It was “Do you have any siblings? What are/were they like?”. He has a brother who was sent to an institution when they were both young, for a phony mental illness (this work is a dystopia, so this kind of dark, mean shit is everywhere). Just before his brother was cleared to go home for appearing “normal”, he died due to poor conditions at the hospital. There were preparations for him to return home- a bed shoved into the protag’s room, and a lot of talk about what the reunited family would do together. So the protag was at least semi-aware of every step in the “returning home” process.

This is all stuff I wrote in my notes. This is all stuff I know already. But when I proposed the question to my character- instead of running into a brick wall- I could see him in my mind’s eye, and I could hear his voice. I got a generic response- “I don’t want to talk about it.”. But it was a response. It’s something worth pursuing another day.

So this is a long way of saying- if you get one of those monster questionnaires, here’s how to handle it for a brand new character-

Always, always, ALWAYS have a blank questionnaire saved to your computer as a backup, or to use with multiple characters.

Make sure the questions in your list- whether homemade or online- are sorted in general categories, instead of all over the place. I used this questionnaire, which may be too long for you, but is a good example on how to sort questions. http://thelabotomyofawriter.blogspot.com/2010/04/epic-character-questionairre-part-one.html

Ignore the most basic questions (what is your name, what color are your eyes, etc.). You don’t need your character’s input for those. The only exception is if those questions includes “how do you feel about your name/eyes/etc.”, because that prompts a meaningful answer (namely- how does your character feel about their appearance?).

If you hit a wall, skip the question. It is either unimportant to your character, or they aren’t developed enough to answer it yet.

If you can mentally see your character and hear their voice when they refuse to answer a question (even if all you get is a generic “I don’t want to talk about it”), remember which question it was. Copy-paste the question into a new, blank document.

After trimming the fat, you should have only the questions that are most important to your character. If you feel you need more, copy-paste some questions from your original document related to those questions. For example- if your character has some response to a question about siblings- add questions related to family. In less focused categories, you can add from the same category, as long as it makes sense. “Do you have a criminal record?” and “What is your best memory?” might be together, but they’re different concepts.

As you answer the questions tailored to your character, they may grow enough to answer/deflect the other questions. If you want, you can trickle those in to see what happens. 

Remember that a well-characterized deflection is just as useful as an answered question. “I don’t want to talk about that” or another generic “no” response is a prompt to put the question aside and explore it later. “Talking about killing makes me uncomfortable. I can’t. Not after I killed him. Can we please skip this?” is a useful deflection. Even if you didn’t learn something about your character, it’s a sign that they’re “alive” enough to avoid the question in their own way.

Don’t try to answer all the questions for a new character. It’s not a “test” to see if your character can answer them all. Figure out what’s most important to them, then drip-feed other, related questions until their voice is more solid. You do not need to answer all the questions (except for fun- i.e- “How would you behave at black-tie events?” “I wouldn’t. They suck.”).

If you get frustrated or upset at any point- WALK AWAY. You won’t be able to hear your character’s voice if you’re slamming your head into a wall.

While the monster lists can be helpful or fun for characters you know, they’re frustrating for new imaginary children. Get the core of your character worked out first, then work your way from there. You can’t ask questions to a rock, but your character isn’t a rock. They just need sculpting.

UPDATE: I’ve made my own character questionnaire, if you wanna check it out- https://at.tumblr.com/firedragon1321/made-my-own-character-questionnaire/ly63olvpuczb

[dykedvonte]

Curly not immediately punishing Jimmy for assaulting Anya is something I don’t think a lot of people are viewing in the complex context for Curly as the superior to both of them and closest confidante they had.

Like I am in no way saying he didn’t under react or fail Anya by not being harsh or direct with Jimmy but it really is the case that he really couldn’t. Imagine being stuck in such a confined space with very little areas to genuinely hold someone if they commit a crime. It’s not like this was an event that occurred before they departed or that they have easy communication with The Pony Express to ask for how to proceed when something like this arises. Not to mention, Jimmy’s relative power in relation to Anya as the co-pilot and second in command, he has the knowledge and access to do something to her had Curly directly punished him in this setting.

They were also Curly’s friends. It’s not just the case of him mediating something between his subordinates but people he is personally invested in don’t want to see spiral further in Anya’s case while also not wanting believe his friend go that bad in Jimmy’s actions. They were both suicidal and Curly putting Jimmy’s stability first is both out of bias but also the fact he’s aware at some level Jimmy is a danger to himself and others if not constantly placated. Combined with the fact he was in denial or just not piecing together what Anya said it’s hard to say what he buying time for and what he had treat as urgent. This isn’t even saying he doesn’t care about Anya but he’s not going jump to the worst conclusions about his friends even if part of him acknowledges the evidence saying so. It’s a complicated thing but he’s still human and needed to process it on top of trying to keep a ship that already took on a lot of water from further sinking, metaphorically.

I just personally think that while Curly failed Anya, it was a scenario where there wasn’t much he could do to the best thing by her safely and like Jimmy, we are underestimating what a good leader would do in a very fragile and tense situation like he was in. By the time he may have been ready and had a plan, things were much too late.

[givemearmstopraywith]

rape ment / not a huge fan of debates from reactionary atheists who joke about mary lying about cheating or being some sort of first century slut, and then making up a story about god appearing to her to hide the truth because like. that's a girl. that's a child. that's a peasant girl under the age of sixteen. if you take that story at historical face value and agree that the mythological aspect is simply not real, then suddenly this is a story about a girl who was almost certainly raped, cannot remember what happened to her, and tells a story that an angel appeared to her and impregnated her. and that is the basis of christianity. christians also do not like to talk about this and i have also sat in the camp of mary's consent was predetermined, but i've also grown enough as a christian and a theologian to recognize how fucking depressing this story is. maybe the story of christ is one that begins and ends with a miracle, or maybe it's one that begins and ends with being brutalized by men.

[timdrake-yumm]

So pretty much everyone agrees that Dick is the most physically affectionate of all the batfam, right? So how much more tragic would it be if after Tarantula, someone tried to hug him (whether they knew about his new trauma or not), and he flinched.

[meggannn]

in justice, breq says seivarden never abused any of justice of toren’s ancillaries. in sword, breq knows seivarden has had sex with ancillaries before, despite knowing little of her post-justice service, and brings it up unprompted. she explains ancillaries do have a range of bodily needs, some of which are sexual, and each body is different and will take care of needs on their own or with others. though seivarden was a jerk, treated ancillaries like tools at the time, and didn’t consider their needs a priority, breq doesn’t consider anything seivarden did to her ancillaries abusive or cruel, so seivarden apparently received consent from those ancillaries she did sleep with.

so this. i believe means breq and seivarden have already had consensual sex with presumably justice of toren kneeling to its lieutenant two thousand years ago. now over breakfast in sword, and then again in mercy’s first scene, seivarden offering to kneel to breq means she wants to flip the script and fill the position breq once filled for her, in more ways than one. hmm

[luneandbarbecue]

a very distressing plot bunny (god please don’t take it lightly) - I made a post instead so that the friend im messaging has a opportunity to opt out and not have a lingering darkness in the chat room

Sephiroth sets out somewhere (maybe on a mission?) where he ends up encountering a very distressed woman. He realises that they are giving birth very very soon and has to help deliver the baby.

The woman is screaming, almost hysterically, telling him to “get it out”. He has no idea what to do, other than try to remain calm even if he doesn’t feel it. There is blood and swear everywhere, even the way the baby was coming out was terrible. The woman finally expels the crying infant and Sephiroth her he’s a boy, it all seemed beautiful until the woman hisses.

“Get rid of it.”

Her words were like a punch knocking all of the air out of his chest. He remained, shocked.

“Get it away from me! That parasite! Now!”

He wasn’t quick enough to react to the woman grabbing the knife to stab the blade through the infants neck. The sharpness connects with his arm before the woman withdrew the blade and leaned back again, huffing from exhaustion. The baby is not crying anymore. She still had yet to expel the placenta.

“It’s over… thank god…”

Sephiroth felt himself go on autopilot, healing the wound from the blade intended to cut the umbilical cord and tending to the woman before medical reinforcements arrived. He knew, logically that there are tragic circumstances where people get unwilling pregnant, that they are unable to love what had came out of them. But a part of him also held onto the concept of a mother’s unending love. Even if she had died, maybe she would have loved him. Yes?

The events that had transpired left him shaken. He couldn’t blame the woman if she did not have a choice on her end to carry a baby, he won’t blame her for that. But even so, the man still felt inner conflict.

Now there was one more thing to be less certain about himself. Maybe he was something his mother wanted to get rid of, that he was merely an unwanted parasite.

Sephiroth was unable to sleep for a few days.

[yellowis4happy]

> find a blog called "butch positivity" that claims to condemn transphobia

> feel intrigued because I have felt increasingly masc in recent years and am considering calling myself butch

> (also I'm just a big dyke and I love seeing photos of butches and butch art)

> begin to scroll the blog to vet for signs of transmisogyny before I follow

> 3rd or 4th post from the top is a reblog from known rapist Eli Erl*ck

😑😑😑

[dennisboobs]

one day i will properly compare dee made a smut film and ptsdee and the differences in the way they handle their very similar subject material but i have shit to do early tomorrow morning so. for now.

do you ever think about how RCG-written episodes, no matter how bad (both character morality-wise and writing-wise) they get, will always have a degree of humanity to them. like. 11x04 has dee doing something that is So incredibly wrong and horrible to dennis. but the reactions to it don't match its intensity. 12x07 again has dee doing something absolutely fucking deranged, and the gang tells her how fucked up it was. there's actually an acknowledgement both from her and from the others that what she did was awful, but her motivation, charlie, dennis, frank and mac's motivations throughout the episode make sense. dee's insecurity is the root of it, she can't handle being someone's "rock bottom", and she needs to prove that it can get worse. 11x04 dee just decides she's going to be a bastard and tell everyone that dennis was raped at 14. we don't know why she does this, and she really has no reason to, other than to be an asshole.

[asherisawkward]

Please note that this is very much a rant about their school system that deals with/mentions topics like grooming, sexual assault/abuse, pedophilia, and the sex education system as a whole.

If any of these topics are triggering or upsetting for you, do not read this post.

Considering a post I just reblogged on banned books and sex education, I figured I’m going to make a post explaining my stance on this, so I can point people here if I ever get asks about this kind of stuff.

I went to a middle of the country school when I was in middle school and my first year of high school, but it definitely was smaller and had a southern vibe. If that makes no sense, look up “Tornado Alley,” and that’s about where I was.

My school system did two years of middle school and four years of high school, and I had some sex education. Rather, I had one class period per year in middle school. I went through this class twice.

It did not teach anything substantial about sex. It did not explain what reproductive organs were or how they worked; it did not explain what sex was; it did not teach me about how to use a condom or even what one was. It did not teach me about consent or what rape and sexual abuse or assault. I didn’t even know what that was.

Do you want to know what I learned?

I learned about some STIs/STDs. The guy showed pictures of them in class and explained the symptoms entirely through sickening food comparisons that have left me having trouble eating/looking at any of those foods today (example: he compared syphilis to pepperoni) He did made no actual attempt to explain how they were contracted (beyond “I told [name] not to lick the pepperoni; he licked the pepperoni”) or where they originated from.

You know what else he taught me?

Apparently, sex felt good.

I had no understanding of what any sort of sexual assault/abuse was, and my basic reaction to the vague concept I was aware of was, “just run away.” (An incredibly toxic and victim-blaming mindset that I am ashamed of to this day.) If I had been in a situation where I was being raped or groomed or in a situation akin to that, I would not have known what was happening to me was wrong and needed to be reported. Fortunately, I wasn’t.

And, for the record, my boyfriend had to explain to me how sex works when I was sixteen, because I still didn’t know. And that supposedly helpful sex ed did nothing to help me.

About the same time my boyfriend explained to me how things actually worked in the bedroom, when I was still sixteen, I met a man who visited the neighborhood occasionally because he had a job in lawn maintenance. He was always friendly to me whenever we met. I didn’t know his name, but I saw him when I went on walks around the neighborhood, and we exchanged pleasantries. I thought he was nice.

He had the habit, whenever we saw each other from afar, of blowing kisses to me. I thought he was trying to be grandfatherly. I didn’t knew what it was, and I still don’t really know what to classify it as.

One day, he approached me in his truck and started speaking to me. He asked me my name and if I had a boyfriend. I gave my name and said yes. He told me I was pretty and he liked me. Then he asked me if I wanted to have sex. This man was in his fifties or sixties, and I’ve been mistaken by people for being a couple years younger than I am. There was no way he could have thought I was an adult. I had mentioned going to high school sometimes when we had taker before.

I walked back home, terrified that he would drive by me, throw me in the back of the car, and I’d end up assaulted and eventually dead in a ditch. He didn’t, but I was terrified the entire time.

I wish I had known this stuff sooner, and I didn’t even experience anything that bad. Knowing about It wouldn’t have stopped that from happening, but maybe I could have seen that a man in his fifties or sixties blowing kisses at a sixteen year old kid was not normal.

Imagine how it could have helped for people who go due experience trauma and weren’t lucky the way at I was. People could have figured out the signs of abusive partners or figured out that behaviors indicators of grooming or predatory behavior. It would allow people to know what to report to authorities.

To sum up the product of my ranting/venting; sex education is just as important aspect of of growing up as secular education, and it is vital for the prevention, report, and punishment of abuse and assault.

[lordgoopy]

i started reading the no longer human adaptation by junji ito and then decided to watch a vid analysis and the comments are Bad. not sure what i expected.

[pet-shop-of-horror-fan]

I know we don't know how Olrox and Mizrak's relationship is going to go yet but it is not at all comparable to Hector and Lenore.

Olrox claimed not to care if Mizark died and then went on to save his life. Lenore manipulated and raped Hector.

These are not at all alike. I am genuinely concerned that people say they are.

[loudmound]

i would really like to read a james/pyramid head story that isn't a rape fantasy, but the majority of them are and the ones that aren't are few and far between and not long enough so. again. i must do everything myself around here.

[moss-feratu]

What happened to hi? What happened to hello?

[surpriserose]

Also sorry while im being pissy can youtube not give me fucking melanie martinez ads?????? Can you fucking explode???????????????

[kingproteus]

Excerpt from the article—

[image ID: text saying “ “his wife was outside the room with the children,” freed hostage Mia Schem said during a newly released interview on Israeli TV. “That’s the only reason he didn’t rape me,” End Image ID]

Clickbait article type headline. The reason he did not rape her, according to the escaped hostage, is social pressure from his family.

She also alleges she was tortured, starved and beaten so the article’s focus on that one point raised warning flags for people. It is widely reported that assault was committed by many assumed-Palestinian, assumed-Hamas affiliated individuals on October 7th. According to the NYT, video evidence exists. Which seems pretty foolproof to me.

It is also true, though, that some instances of sexual assault alleged have been proven false or misleading. (This reuters article comes to mind) But many women have came forward to speak about the rape they suffered on Oct 7th.

Many believe the Israeli Government is using those crimes to further racism towards Palestinians, and to justify their many many war crimes against the Palestinian people. An idea follows that there would be existing social pressure within the far-right portion of Israeli society to allege assault where there was none.

From what I’ve seen, pro-Israeli people argue an idea like “IF we can accept there was sexual assault committed on Oct 7th, THEN the crimes committed against the Palestinian people, Israeli captives, and American citizens, just to name a few, would be acceptable. “

I argue that sticking to the idea that all alleged assaults were false is accepting the logic of pro-Israeli individuals.

It’s not right or important to go after individual Israeli women who allege victimhood. All allegations could be true. All of them could be fake. It wouldn’t change the facts.

No amount of rape of Israeli people would justify their government’s crimes. It would not justify the murder of Hind Rajab. The carpet bombings, the use of white phosphorus. The targeting of medical centers, ambulances. The kidnappings, the murders, the 28,000 dead. The 2.3 million hungry.

(Also, to head things off at the pass,

I am forever and always pro Palestine. Forever and always. )

They are clinging so desperately to their disproven atrocity propaganda.

Keep shaming and exposing these genocidal lairs.

[mx-paint]

I think by far my favorite thing is when someone says "if this happened to the opposite sex, we'd never hear the end of it!!!" and you look it up to find 5 at the ready situations that aren't nearly as talked about as the other one.