#the other thing is that bc of the genre and style and target audience of the show

[camelotluteguild]

Something i really like about Merlin is how they didn’t make love a redemptive force. Uther loves both his children very much -- doesn’t make him a good man or even necessarily a good father. Merlin and Arthur love each other so much, but it doesn’t save either of them, nor does it always makes them better --  oftentimes, it makes them worse. It makes the love no less compelling or meaningful -- in my opinion, it only makes it more so, and it’s a more realistic approach to love. Thoughts and feelings!

[monismochi]

I hate chapter 2 and I feel so bad about it but I cannot fake the enthusiasm I get from group releases for all solos… not all of the member interest me as solo artists and I wonder if this mean I should unstan altogether even though I love them in the group so much.

I think it's super toxic to force yourself to love everything someone releases just bc you like them as people.. and trying to do so will just make you begin to hold it against them.

Like... I think I've said this before last year/early this year when namjoon started doing all sorts of collabs, but if an artist is doing a bunch of different things chances are you won't like everything. But that's good bc it means they're developing as artists and I guess the same thing goes when an artist you love starts focusing on genres you don't like at all. Just pick it up and look at it and if it's not your thing then put it down and enjoy the things you DO like.

I've been thrilled by some chapter 2 developments, neutral about others, and even largely disappointed by others.

But I don't own the members and I don't control them. Maybe over time I might grow apart if they continue doing things in a direction opposite to my interests, but I also might grow closer.

I'm someone who's always been VERY interested in the lyrical aspect of things and love metaphor and the idea that things can be interpreted into many different layers, so tend to lose interest very fast in songs that can only be taken at face value (though exceptions exist)

I'm also very much not a fan of artists repeating the same content as that's equally boring so truly I'm glad evolution is happening even if it feels counterproductive atm.

Am I kinda meh about jks solo? Yeah... bc I enjoy the radio hits done by Justin Bieber, Ed sheeran, Harry styles, and Shawn Mendes... so I'm kinda uninterested in seeing their music be repeated thru jk since I already have them doing that sound... same with dancing. I KNOW jungkook is talented. He's not proving anything to me that I don't know, so him doing replicas of Michael Jackson is also kinda boring bc well.. i can watch decades of MJ doing that already... but for people who don't know him this is a good way for him to show off his vocals and dancing and pop potential... that doesn't include me so I've been pretty meh since it's nothing exciting....

Pop is very repetitive, that's the industry and I'm not faulting that. But if you want to be interesting in it you need to find something that makes you stand out and not replicate what's already being done... :/

I'm not hating on jungkook, and I'm not hating on taehyung.. but I just wish they leaned into things that made them unique instead of doing more safe genres that made them blend in.

But I guess namjoon did that risk and it kinda fcked him over in sales, same with jhope. So clearly I'm not the target audience and they must be doing something right...

Anyways. I'm just hoping that more content is released that IS for me, and I hope the same for you. But if none of it speaks to you it's ok to just enjoy the past content that you DID vibe with and just wait for chapter 3 when they all return and see if that changes anything for you. Xx

I just rbd a ton of content labeled "bts chapter 2" of moments I've really genuinely ADORED and I hope maybe something vibes with you

[crystallinee-waters]

Let me hear something about Vampire Knight.

Hit me with something.

This is random but it’s been on my mind for a while - i’m thinking about all the VK & Hellsing parallels. I do wonder if Hino was inspired by Hirano bc there are so many similar elements in these mangas.

It starts out and ends with some very similar parallels - young orphan girl is saved by a very old, very overpowered vampire who ends up doing anything for her. they grow a strong bond but in the end this now grown woman is forced to live the majority of her adult life without him, in a perpetual state of missing him and thinking about him. the vampire hunting element is prominent throughout the narratives and also what happens when vampires and vampire hunters bond very strongly.

Both Yuuki’s and Integra’s traumas (we don’t even know if integra even has a trauma because the narrative didn’t care) stem from a jealous, creepy uncle (and for those not familiar with the VK lore, the VK uncle is creepier than anything Hellsing comes up with imo). Yuuki and Ai (and later Ren) wait for Kaname like Integra and Seras does for Alucard. (I’m not implying that Seras is their child, she’s an adult.)

But while VK is a shoujo and it took a Long time to make Yuuki strong enough to hold her own, Hirano with his seinen was like ‘aight no more damsels - bring in the maximum firepower and the Girlboss energy” and made Integra an icon who starts out with a traumatic shoujo-ish backstory but skips straight to the boss bitch energy.

While VK is, among other things, about how Yuuki became strong enough to hold her own and got that energy (they’re still not comparable characters by any means, see below). The genres and target audiences are different and that’s partially why they differ, but we all wondered what went down in those 10 years when Integra turned into what she is at the start of the story. (both series have a 10 year time skip from their similar flashbacks)

But Seras is actually the one who really parallels Yuuki - the one who’s loving, anxious and subconsciously wants to be taken care of/provided for (in lack of a better term, wanting to remain the fledgling) in the beginning of the story because her backstory also parallels Yuuki’s - another orphan child, until she comes into her own power.

both were present when their mothers died protecting them and both watched a traumatizing thing happening to their mother and and both were ‘hidden’ symbolically or physically by their mothers, which in the end didn’t really protect them but it sacrificed their mother’s life - they experienced very genuine sacrificial parental love. Esp compared to Integra’s father (yeah I’m salty about Arthur’s actions to both Integra and Alucard but that’s a discussion for another time.)

Both Seras and Yuuki cling to a dependency with an older man they met during a life-or-death situation (while alucard was not really seras’ savior but also her abductor - also a discussion for another time.)

Like Yuuki, Seras also comes into her own power and ends up strong, kickass & relatively independent but Hellsing’s narrative and doesn’t give her the full emotional development she deserves imho. If Hellsing was a shoujo, take the Rio scene for example - we would have explored Seras panic attack in depth and gone into her psyche with her and the narrative would have embraced her struggles in another way. Same with Integra, the narrative doesn’t even tell us if she’s traumatized or really affected by her own upbringing/traumatic event (prove me wrong if i’m remembering incorrectly, it’s been a while since i read the manga) she’s like “yah i was just remembering the other day how we met in that basement” and -if- Hellsing was made in the style of VK - we’d have gone so deep into that and what it actually did to her to suddenly be the master of a being so much more older, experienced and powerful than herself.

(Yes, I love the psychological aspects of characters and events, I can go on about that forever.)

I do not want to see Hellsing as a shoujo any time ever, but honestly it would have been amusing and very interesting to get SOME scraps of stream of consciousness (inner monologue) VK style, from both Seras, Integra and maybe even Alucard. (There might be some that I’ve forgotten about, so disclaimer for that, but they work differently due to being seinen / shoujo)

[tonyglowheart]

for the most part, I do think the way ppl approach “ownvoices” as a concept where it becomes more about policing demographics - or perceived demographics - is unproductive or even counterproductive. But on the other hand, I do think it’s valuable to consider the writer’s demographic, but more in a sort of like... one facet of sociocultural/historical consideration?

bc there’s that one person who is writing a “xianxia-ish danmei-ish” webnovel that they advertise on twitter, and I come across smatterings of these kinds of things on AO3 (tho I find I have a lower standard for AO3-hosted works than like, someone hosting on their own site & advertising to EN audiences), and at least with the “xianxia-ish danmei-ish” novel, it. well, reads a lot like they’re trying to pastiche translated webnovel, except then a lot of the quirks are more quirks of translation than of a “danmei” genre style, imo. So. It was... interesting. And also they had some part about a character having their hair tied up (either in a bun or a ponytail) and then getting hopelessly knotted when it got wet, which I thought was odd bc it wasn’t my own experience with hair lmao. So that led me to trying to dig further into it bc I was already like, “why are you calling it a xianxia-ish danmei-ish novel” (except that’s not a tell for anything, bc Xiran as a counterexample notably ONLY promotes her work with these kinds of buzzwords. LIke to this day I still have no idea what her debut(?) novel is about bc all she ever says about it is that it’s Pac Rim meets Handmaid’s Tale but Wu Zetian and Chinese myth and poly. Like. that’s not a book blurb, that’s a marketing-a-”foreign” work diversity points buzzword salad.) anyway the webnovelist did say on their twt at some point they were white and I was like, ah, interesting. Also they had some twt about them looking at the readership/site visitor demographic for their site and they were saying how ppl in Asia/SE Asia overwhelmingly are not interested in their work, and I was like. Hm. What a Wild Thought. (lmao)

my point here isn’t that they SHOULDN’T write their xianxia-ish danmei-ish webnovel. But. I don’t know, maybe I hope that they can... be a bit more cognizant of the genre and its history & also the like... pathways of transmission/translation? Because I do think there are ways to write “danmei-like” works originally in English, but at the same time I do think being unaware that what you’re pastiching is translation quirks is... well, unfortunate. You probably are speaking to the same audience still - of English-readers who are reading translated danmei. But I think the implications for it are rather unfortunate, and you lose, like, the beauty of both the Chinese language and English language when you’re trying to recreate something which is essentially an artifact of transmission as opposed to artifacts of either the original language or the target language (now become original language). I do think this arising as a phenomenon IS interesting, though, and speaks to something. And I’m not saying that this hybridity can’t create something interesting, the like bridging of Chinese and English. But that when it comes from someone who doesn’t seem to have the genre-origin contextual understanding and doesn’t seem to understand or have examined WHY exactly the translations of works they read are constructed the way they are (translation quirks and the difficulty in bridging gaps of language/vocabulary availability as well as cultural implications/values/history which inflects and influences language & meaning), to my mind it really just... mostly creates something clumsy. Well-meaning, I’m sure! But... perhaps a bit more sinaboo than actually “culturally appreciative.”

[firebirdsdaughter]

Okay.

No one cares about my two cents but I feel like saying a thing.

Do I think this is absolutely the end of the Western toku fandom? No, honestly. If the Mouse can’t stop leaking and piracy, Toei can’t stop all of it. It will definitely start having to come from small circles/shady places, but they are not gonna be able to stop all of it. I think it might slow stuff down make it harder to access, but if people stick w/ it, it won’t disappear (also subs will get worse bar certain services).

Tbh, I’m not entirely convinced there’s a genuine threat either, at most might be a scare tactic, however I strongly support the fansubbing groups’ decisions to not risk it. In cases like this it is way better to be safe than sorry. While it’s disappointing to lose access, it’s in no way worth them risking getting sued or anything like that, esp since they’ve done it on their own time for free for so long.

But I do also have to admit that I think there’s a portion of the Western fandom (esp the American one, I think, as an American, but I could be wrong) that brought this on themselves/the rest of us. It’s not so much an issue in smaller circles, where I try to stay, but I’ve felt for a long time that the ‘mainstream’ ‘general’ toku fandom in the West is… Very, for lack of a better word, toxic. There’s a certain sense of entitlement and arrogance? So many people who seem to totally lose the fact that we are not the target audience. That’s not to say one can’t criticise (I’ll be the first to say that I have things I disagree w/ in shows), but I’ve in many places seen people say things that utterly baffle me, and esp in the Western fandom there’s this attitude that some toku, KR in particular ‘isn’t actually for kids anymore, more adults watch it.’ I see people making wildly inappropriate comments about actors (whoever started that rumour about poor Noa, the challenge to fight you still stands). Stuff like that. The sort of elitist attitude I felt from the whole Amazonz thing.

But the fact is, it is a kids’ show, and we, Westerners, are not the target demographic. Sure, we do represent a portion of sales, but we’re not where bank is. Toei doesn’t care if you won’t buy a Sentai toy bc the girl isn’t yellow, or whether you hate all the characters. We’re not the target viewers. For all I whine up the wazoo and joke about fighting Takahashi, I have no illusions that he cares what I think or that I have any power/can do anything about what was done. I can critique and say I disagree, but ultimately Toei doesn’t care what I think (although I’ve given them some solid cash bc of Horobi and Fuwa… ;^^). I think there’s some large misconception that the Western fandom is more important than it actually is. I’m not saying we’re not part of the equation and we don’t give them money and it wouldn’t behoove sales for us to have access to the shows, but that I don’t think we’re such a substantial cut that ‘losing’ us or having Western consumption slow down will be a large blow to them—at the very least, from their perspective, we wouldn’t be.

Also… There’s this attitude of invincibility? Japan’s not some distant, exotic, magical land of mystery. Toei has a public social media presence. There’s absolutely multiple people at the company who speak and read English, at least, fluently, probably even other languages. You put stuff in places where they will see it, they will see it. I may not be a huge fan of Shirakura’s producing style and I don’t know what he’s like as a person, but I do have to say I respect the grace w/ which he handled getting (twice?) confronted by piracy/leaks by simply saying ‘you/we’re not supposed to know about that.’ And I know those aren’t the only instances (I remember when Nachi was announced as part of the cast, someone was asking him about Thouser, who we were, to quote Shirakura P. ‘not supposed to know about’ at the time).

Basically… It’s the same thing as people harassing fansubbers for not being ‘fast enough’—we were never entitled to these shows, esp not for free. Yes, us getting to see them did provide Toei w/ revenue, but we are not the target audience, this was never an official release of the show or anything else. It was something that some people who were interested in the shows/genre did out of the kindness of their hearts to share it w/ us on the down low. We were not owed anything, we do not deserve any super special treatment. We invested our time, by our choice. It’s sad to see the access go, but again, we were never entitled to it, it was just something people did to share something they cared about, and their well being is more important than getting the shows free.

Of course, I do understand being upset. I’m very disappointed. Maybe support movements to get the shows legally easily accessible in the West? I heard stuff about there being people advocating for that. Alternatively, and not like anyone who would do this is following me or near my blog, maybe don’t brazenly show leaks and mention benevolent piracy to people in the company? For one thing, you’re putting the leak and/or fansubbers in the crosshairs when they’re just trying to do something nice, and you’re being tactless and rude in general. I wouldn’t be surprised if Toei was on the side of turning a blind eye towards the sharing bc of the sales, until it started getting shoved in their faces. What started as a fun, well meaning way of giving access to something enjoyable that other people might not be able to get to was twisted into some sort of… Weird, entitled, toxic, arrogant, demanding mess by people who… I dunno. Forgot the circumstances? Were so full of themselves they didn’t care? Didn’t understand the situation?

Either way… Congrats, guys, you ruined it for everyone. Thanks.

[evalieena]

35 Questions for Fanfiction Writers

well since dearest @bachint​ asked, here goes nothing!

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

well if no downplaying’s allowed i guess i’d give it a 3/5? some mistakes since i’m not a native plus i”m still working on getting my english style better! i like what i come up with all the same, i’ve improved a lot these past two years, and my grammar isn’t that bad i guess?

2. Why do you write fanfiction?

to do what developers didn’t do in the first place to make good use of my imagination, to cope with the fact that some characters don’t exist and i will never follow another one of their adventures, to forget about a boring real life...

3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works?

my writing doesn’t stand out lmaooo but i guess i’m always trying to focus on the character’s psychology, struggles and all that, so if someone likes my work, it’s ‘original’ bc it’s usually quite different from the usual stories where there are a lot of dialogues and interactions.

4. Are there any writers that inspire you?

i’ve been inspired a lot by @welcometogressenheller​ (i wish i could do as well as she does.....), @aceklaviergavin​ (kudos to you even if you never see that post and you probably don’t know who i am), and some others whose name i forgot (sorry!)

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

i didn’t write much but i guess that my latest fics are really nice (There’s No Light In You Anymore, and the whole Faith series on AO3). also my big project “Now That You’re Gone”, i’m glad i’ve been able to write that much for it and i intend on continuing as soon as i find the motivation!

6. What element of writing do you find comes easily?

pain, struggles and all that comes with it as long as it’s in the character’s mind, because beware here you step in a dark space

7. What element of writing do you struggle with most?

ordinary scenes of life? i always find my writing lacking as soon as i step out of my comfort zone, i’m all for rambling and never-ending pain

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write?

desmond/descole surely

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write?

all the good guys (and dimitri allen because i’d love writing about him but i’m? just unable to?)

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for?

that may come as a surprise! angst!

11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most?

a mix of question 8 and 10 and you’ve got your answer

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

professor layton and the shattering secrets!!! i’m so happy of what this AU will look like when i’ll be done writing the following chapters, at first it probably looks annoying but heck i wanna promise anyone who’s reading it that the plot twists are gonna be worth it even though the overall background isn’t that original because i’ve mixed up different elements from other games (aaaand we’re back in our oh-so-amazing comfort zone that covers up a massive lack of imagination)

13. First fandom you ever wrote for?

ummm? the vampire diaries maybe? back when i was 10 or 11 lol

14. What’s your favorite fandom to write for?

hands up... pROFESsoR LayTON

15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for?

i didn’t write for many fandoms but back in my younger days i used to do self-insert fics with the vampire diaries cast and it was so odd and i wish i hadn’t just confessed that on my tumblr blog

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

nothing that comes to mind

17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for.

dunno either

18. Wildest fic you’ve ever written?

PL and the shattering secrets! huge canon divergence and one heck of an AU (also its original version is much worse, my mind was going crazy when i was 15)

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?

i love reading AUs, writing some requires solid imagination which i have not, but honestly i don’t really mind

20. Gen fic or shippy stuff?

gen

21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!)

desmond sycamore x his wife / randall ascot x hershel layton (be it romantic or platonic) / randall ascot x basically anyone from the MM i guess though i didn’t write anything about that yet (it’s about to change guys)

22. Do you listen to anything while you write?

yea i can’t write without listening to music - any playlist does the trick as long as i like what i’m listening to but usually i listen to sad soundtracks, or i’m inspired by some random lyrics

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

i’d go with challenges bc my horrible ass has very few ideas but i usually come up with independent ideas

24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works?

one shots!

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them!

i don’t remember ;_;

26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

i’ve got one OS in mind with randall/layton but i don’t want to be the talk of the town because it’s probably going to be awful? also any other fic including the PL3 crew

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

@welcometogressenheller telling me she believed i was a native!!! i struggle so much trying to improve my writing style in english and i have a lot of insecurities so it was so heartwarming and incredible to read...

also basically any other comment where people tell me they like what i write. i love that writers feel the need to take some time reviewing my works bc i need constant validation

28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing?

well i’ve never really received ‘harsh’ criticism or anything, save for some very rare remarks on my grammar so i guess i don’t know? at first it’s always sad to see that what i’ve done isn’t perfect but i guess it’s impossible to be perfect so i’m really happy that people take some time to underline what looks wrong to them

29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out?

currently trying to with shattering secrets and it’s actually a great way to improve!

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

MERCILESS ANGST

31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them!

i wish i could but it would perhaps be a huge spoiler so i don’t wanna say much about them...

i have 1) annabell sycamore, des’s wife, whose personality fits very much mine. she’s a playwright, spends lot of her time writing and acting in front of des AND WITH des. also she’s a very realistic person and some people usually tell her that she’s being too pessimistic 

2) aurelia from the shattering secrets and on her i really cannot say much... if anyone’s read this far it would be so nice if you could give SS a shot by the way!! 

32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less.

desmond sometimes finds happiness but it’s always taken from him

(isn’t that a summary for everything i’ve ever written?)

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

i don’t translate my works from my original language to english, i write straight in english. i spend a lot of time making sure i haven’t done any grammatical mistakes, checking the definition and the use of some words i’m not sure about, and sometimes it’s quite a pain and it can be also very discouraging bc i end up believing what i write comes from a random internet dictionary while deep down i know it’s not true but hey what can i say. huge insecurities laid bare here.

(if any reader of mine’s reading this, i apologize)

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

(beware: spoilers for the whole prequel trilogy!!!)

“Hershel Layton was puzzled. A funny emotion to feel for someone who loved puzzles that much, but nothing could ever describe better the way he’d felt for hours now, hours that seemed like ages.So much did happen in the span of a few hours.

First he’d learned his parents could be targeted by Targent, then Aurora had made it clear that she didn’t want to live anymore, all so she could protect them. Then Desmond—no, Descole—had taken the key from her hands, and revealed himself as the dangerous scientist Layton knew him to be.

Then they’d fought. Despair was filling the air, though Hershel didn’t understand what Descole meant when he cried that the Azran legacy was all he had to live for.

And as if there hadn’t been enough betrayals as it was, Emmy was soon to follow. Luke had been abducted. He’d had no other choice than siding with Descole to prevent Bronev from unleashing doom on Earth. Misery didn’t seem to end.

Just when he’d thought he’d finally be able to change things, Descole had been ready to sacrifice himself to save Luke. And then…

Then everything just collapsed.

He held his agonizing brother in his arms; the one who’d wanted so hard to take him down only a few hours back was now confessing, fearing death was on the way.“

[...]

from ‘Six Times Hershel Layton Remembered, Plus The One Time He Didn’t’

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

oops i haven’t got anything more to say but thank you for reading? perhaps?

[janiedean]

Hi! I'm the Plato anon for before. First of, thank you so much for your offer, but I think I managed on me own. Second, could you elaborate on the "analysing as YA" vs "analysing as an adult" approach? I assumed that "discourse people" on this website generally don't go beyond "antagonist is bad because they are against the hero!" out of ignorance/lack of interest except to score Internet Fame Points, not that it was due a specific mindest. I also don't really read YA (except Tiffany Aching)

TIFFANY ACHING!! T_T ANON LET ME HUG YOU it’s like the only YA I actually liked in my entire life apart from nick hornby’s one book but that wasn’t typical lmao

THAT SAID, well your discourse people point is pretty much part of it but since I’m here and I can rant have the entire thing I was too tired to hash yesterday ;) so, in order:

first thing, we need to establish that ya books and **adult** books generally have different target audiences which is fine and good because obviously if you want to write a thing you’ll do that for An Audience That You Have In Mind; this doesn’t mean that adults can’t read ya or that teenagers can’t read **adult books** because everyone can read what they want (and personally for one I never cared for ya in my entire life not even when I was the target audience), but it simply means that some books are meant to be liked by one category first and eventual others later and they need to be talked about in that specific context first and everything else later - then there might be books that are aimed for kids/young readers or sold like that or that can be read on more than one level which can be appreciated for different things later in time (for example I read huck finn at sixteen and I absolutely loved it but it was a book that here is seen as good reading material also for eight year olds, and at eight I wouldn’t have liked it for the reasons I did at sixteen, and if I read it now I would still like it, while a bunch of the books for kids I read when I was seven is stuff I enjoyed then but forgot now and probably was good for that age but didn’t stick with me);

second thing, that means that when I discuss a young adult book aimed at teenagers I will never hold it to the standards I would hold a book aimed at a general adult audience, especially if it’s the kind of ya like dunno as stated the vampire diaries aimed at teenage girls which is obviously the kind where you have the fantasy world with the hot dark guy who swoons the high schooler protagonist off her feet etc because that stuff is basic teenage girl fantasy 101 and like... I’ll expect a bunch of romance tropes, the usual push and pull, the guy eventually being into her, the protagonist being someone a fourteen year-old can see herself in, probably a few sexual elements thrown here and there and so on, because that’s the shit marketed at fourteen year-olds who want to read that and like... it’s really not that deep. I can’t ask the vampire diaries to be moby dick because it’s not meant to be. or, if I read percy j/ackson - which is another thing I have zero interest in but I know about because I see tweets from the author - I expect to have a bunch of teens coming into their own coming from different backgrounds because the author wants to represent properly a lot of categories so most of his readers can have someone they can see themselves in and like if a thirteen year-old who suspects being lgbt or whatever sees themselves in the gay kid from per/cy jackson guess what that’s what that book is for, so I won’t judge it on like... being a faithful representation of greek myths or how good the style is or whatever, because even if to me it’s not top notch writing or has a plot idc about it has to be for teenagers and pre-teens, not for me, a thirty year old who again didn’t even like pre-teen aimed literature when she was a pre-teen;

third, I can extra clarify it using the damned hp discourse, as in: when I say I’m tired of people not reading anything else or reading everything like hp, it means that they read it when they were growing up/were teens and it was aimed at them which is fine, but then twenty fucking years later when the people in question are way beyond their twenties (guys I’m almost 32 and I remember when the first one came out come on) when talking about any single piece of media in existence (movies, comics, other books) use hp characters/situations as the terms of paragon - like guys I had to read sn/ape comparisons with theon and ky/lo ren on the basis that THEY’RE GREY CHARACTERS as if sn/ape is the only grey character that ever existed, people keep on talking about vold/emort as the only bad guy that ever existed and so on, and like... you can’t talk about, idk, asoiaf or any book aimed at an adult audience like you’d talk about hp, because at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I read comparisons between sn/ape and ivan karamazov and I think I don’t need to specify how completely nonsensical that would be;

now, with all of this explained, what I mean is: ya in general - which is not a fault per se of the genre since it’s aimed at teens and pre-teens - tends to have... very fixed narrative schemes depending on which teens it’s addressing - like, stuff like tvd or twilight is obviously the romance teenage girl fantasy where you have the girl fighting to be with the dark beautiful supernatural creature in question, per/cy jackson is more like I’ll give you a bunch of relatable characters having cool adventures against bad guys with the occasional redemption so we can see that people are redeemable but you still have right vs wrong, hp is sort of like that in the sense you get relatable-ish protagonist with relatable friends growing up throughout the entire thing and fighting on the good side vs the evil side including the usual death of the mentor plus people who seemed bad actually not being bad™ except that PJ has more povs and better rep from what I gather but that’s not the point so it’s basically the growing up journey for the young protagonist(s) the kid sees themselves in, then there’s stuff like hunger games where you actually have the dystopian worldbuilding just written to be enjoyable by younger people who don’t want to get too depressed (and ngl I haven’t read the books but I’ve seen the first two movies and guys the way everyone ignores the classist commentary in thg to discuss the love triangle is... a staple of the problem tbh) but still try to introduce deeper themes and have more nuanced characters and at the same time are still written to be enjoyed maybe by the more adult side of the target, and at the same time I can’t say that thg is the same as 1984 when it comes to target audience because 1984 doesn’t make the ugly dystopian themes more accessible using the love story/teenage protagonist etc;

at this point the problem is: if you only ever read ya and nothing else in your life (which is what a lot of people here do - guys again when I got here in 2011 if people didn’t discuss hp they discussed john gr/een, the only *adult*-aimed book I see discussed on tumblr is asoiaf... because of got X°DDD) then you end up seeing every other piece of literature expecting what you do out of a young adult and then you expect adult literature out of young adults/ya to approach certain implications the way an adult novel would, which is... frankly ridiculous;

specific examples: I see blogs which are principally about like ya fantasy books ie acotar or shadow/hunters or whatever shitting on grrm because AAAAH HE’S PROBLEMATIC/MISOGYNIST/HE HAS VIOLENCE AND RAPE IN THE BOOKS BLAH BLAH and like... spoilers: if I wrote a fantasy series aimed at fourteen year-olds who want their fantasy romance with the hot dark guy who is maybe a tiny bit problematic but turns their leaf for them I would hold back on blood and violence, if I wrote a fantasy for adults where I want to be realistic about misogyny I will not, and the fact that grrm gets judged on what happens and not how he writes it (and again, saying that a guy who has 1/3rd of his pov characters female except that it’s actually 50/50 because there are no throwaway povs except for mel while guys have a lot more of them and all the female povs have narrative weight [and mel has it before she gets one] and all of them have a different personality and he also has the same trope [brienne and arya] in two people with wildly different personalities and needs which is basically a goddamned miracle is a misogynist because there’s misogyny in his fantasy world is ridiculous imvho) which is.... exactly expecting of asoiaf what you’d expect out of acotar, when grrm and acotar’s writer write for wildly different audiences. now, if I had read acotar at 15 and asoiaf at 15 I’d have had no doubt re asoiaf being more my thing because again the subgenre acotar goes for is not my thing because I never related to that fantasy while brienne is my rep, but in general a 14yo girl who likes the acotar-like stuff will not care for grrm.... which is normal because grrm writes for adults of both genders, not teenage girls (I mean teenage boys also have their own subgenres for which the same rules are valid), and someone who likes percy jackson (aimed at both genders but like... pre-teens early teens) who doesn’t gaf for grrm won’t because it’s not aimed at them unless they like grrm for other reasons ie idk they realize that they relate to jon snow idk but you see my point, so like tldr that’s what I mean with if you only read ya you’ll expect adult writers to handle their themes like ya writers would and like... sorry but if I write stuff for adults I won’t feel the need to specify that the bad guy is B A D with neon lights because an adult should grasp that from the narrative, I don’t need to make sure it’s obvious bc it’s aimed at kids;

reverse: when I see people saying ‘the vampire diaries is problematic because it’s about people who are a hundred years old preying on teenage girls so we need to stop teenage girls from reading that kind of thing because it makes them think it’s okay to go with someone that much older than them’, we’re at the opposite problem in the sense that you’re asking a young adult novel what you would ask of AN ADULT NOVEL when there’s no point in it. like, a teenage girl knows perfectly that damon salvatore doesn’t exist and vampires don’t exist and werewolves don’t exist - the entire point of tvd is that she gets to fawn over the hot supernatural dude who changes for the better thanks to the female protagonist she most likely sees herself in and she gets to have a few nice fantasies about that which is like... normal for people who are developing their sexualities, most people wouldn’t actually want damon salvatore the way he’s exactly in canon irl because they know it’s a fantasy and so it should stay. like, sorry but as someone who watched the show because ian somerhalder is hot in her twenties and tried the first book and gave it up at page 30 because I couldn’t do it, I can 100% assure anyone that the biggest issues with tvd books are that the writing is really fucking bad (for my standards at least), with the tvd show that from S4 the writing spiraled downwards and no one wanted the magical vampire pregnancy witch twins ridiculousness, but none of the content actually was shit that anyone would take seriously like that and I wouldn’t expect tvd to approach that subject realistically. if I read a vampire book aimed at adults who actually wants to write such a relationship as creepy WELL YES OF COURSE I’D EXPECT IT TO BE OBVIOUS ABOUT IT BEING CREEPY, but if it’s aimed at freaking teenagers... it’s a fantasy and not really that deep, take it for what it is and let teenage girls enjoy thinking about smooching damon salvatore (or stefan or whoever) without assuming they need to be protected from Horrible Vampire Fiction™, same as no one goes bitching about unrealistic sex scenes in serialized romance books because people read them because they’re unrealistic and escapism, not because they expect nobel prize worthy exploration of themes from them;

now, ^^^^^^ would not happen if people actually read variedly and studied some decent lit analysis in school - but like, after I had to read I think at some point that of mice and men is ableist... THAT’S the damned point - with ya you can take a lot of the plot at face value, with adult lit you can’t and you have to see motivation beyond the action of the characters and you can’t do that if you only read books aimed at pre-teens/teenagers where obviously that’s... more spelled out than it would be in a book aimed at an adult audience;

that by the way also means wildly missing actual adult themes discussion in ya, because again, I haven’t read thg but from the two movies I’ve seen it’s fucking obvious that the whole thing is an anti us-classism commentary from how the districts are built to how the games are rigged to pretty much everything in the worldbuilding, but all the discourse I see on tumblr is about either the love triangle or katniss being miscast or president snow being a jerk and whatever else, but I never once saw anyone saying ‘heeeeey the people in katniss’ district are an in your face metaphor of poor people in the us of a belonging to certain categories while the first few districts are absolutely the 1% and the entire point of it is that she wants to tell you A CLASSIST SOCIETY IS BAD AND WILL LEAD TO REVOLUTIONS’, which to me was... like, glaring, it was literally what 90% of the entire thing was about and no one ever discusses it in a fandom-wide sense (I mean... I saw a bunch of hg posts back when the movies came out, I never saw this brought out), which... is a problem because it means that the moment people are put in front of a ya product that actually tackles that kind of issue.... they go and worry about the love triangle (which seemed to me the excuse to draw the people in the story) not about the social commentary, and like, maybe a twelve year-old won’t catch on the social commentary, a twenty-year old especially from the us should, and I don’t see that happening;

and sorry but that is because if you only engage with content aimed at a younger audience than your target first you assume that every piece of literature should be consumable/readable/enjoyable by a younger audience (and sorry but no, some of us don’t want to write stuff making sure teenagers like it) and then ask of actual ya media to cater to their *adult* needs and not to the needs of the target audience because wow obviously if you’re 25 you won’t want out of literature what you wanted at fourteen;

and this also is valid for children’s media because again, I’m cutting it short, but adults watching st/even universe and sending people death threats because they don’t agree with their opinion of a cartoon aimed at an audience that’s at moooostttt eight years old is a thing that shouldn’t even fucking exist, and if you think steven/universe is that important at an adult age you need to re-assess your priorities;

tldr: adults should not expect media aimed at kids/teens to cater to their interests and shouldn’t analyze it the way they’d analyze a piece of media aimed at an adult audience and should not presume that every piece of media should have the scope/schemes of medias aimed at kids/teens because some of us don’t want to read that.

now, I’ll leave you with a nice short anecdote which hopefully will further clarify what I mean and add to another point which would be, kids and teens don’t give a fuck about what you, an adult, do: when everyone was in a frenzy about my little pony back in 2013 or so I had to see a ton of posts like ‘AAAAAH MEN/BOYS WHO ARE INTO MLP ARE STEALING THE SHOW FROM YOUNG GIRLS HOW DARE THEY ENJOY IT WE NEED TO KICK THEM OUT’ with added people saying that a ten year old male kid who tried to kill himself bc his friends bullied him bc he liked mlp deserved it and the likes, my only thought was that... when I was 8-10 in elementary school and was actually the target for cartoons and stuff, sailor moon was the rage between all girls my age me included, we’d spend recess playing pretend (and I’d get stuck playing sailor mars bc no one wanted her, sad) and our hugest first world problem in existence was that we needed technically a mamoru and of course no self-respecting boy in elementary school would have admitted under death threats to watching sailor moon because it was a girls’ thing (aaaaah gender roles in the early-mid 90s, how fun) so everyone despaired because ofc no one wanted to play mamoru... and the few times any guy actually showed up like HEEEEY I WANNA DO IT BUT PLEASE DON’T TELL MY FRIENDS I LIKE SAILOR MOON we’d all be like OMG YOU’RE OUR NEW FAVORITE PERSON PLEASE YOUR SECRET IS SAFE because we couldn’t believe we found the magical boy™ who wanted to do it, and if anyone had told us that the kid in question was stealing sailor moon from us we’d have laughed in their face.

like.

kids don’t ask of media what you, an adult do, and it’s unfair of you, an adult, to ask children’s/ya media to cater to your damned interests, which are amply catered to by the tons of adult literature around which also forces you to push on your views and read more challenging things and to not read/watch stuff at face value, which is why I would really appreciate it if the amount of 20yo people on here who I consider adults engaged with more adult media and let themselves be challenged instead of just going back to ya/kids’ things, which are good for teens and kids and can be enjoyed by everyone but should not be the only goddamned genre you measure all other literature against because then you get people saying that lolita is pro-pedo when it’s exactly the goddamned contrary, but if you think that pov character = protagonist = good guy (which is... staple kids/ya stuff for obvious reasons) then you decide that humbert humbert is someone you’re supposed to root for. too bad that you’re not and the author was an actual csa victim so it’s a completely ridiculous reading that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t read lolita the way you read hp.

... okay, I’m done, sorry for how long this was, I hope it cleared things for good xD

[prettywordsyouleft]

Hey chelle! So as you know i happily reached 100 followers and said they could request somethings. I got some requests and i wrote out the stories. The thing is only one of them is getting any real recognition bc its about a certain person. I addressed this in one of my latest posts. Im very upset that's it getting recognition bc i know it's only bc of who it's abt not bc they liked the way it was written. My voice isnt being heard. Ppl just see ooh it's another fic abt so and so. 1/2

It’s also making me upset bc why are the other ones not getting recognition? If you really truly love this one member wouldn’t you also love the other members? Why wouldn’t you look for all content? Yes maybe he’s ur bias, but you could always pretend there’s a different name or you could just read it for the sake of supporting the other members. Im just confused and upset. I have a slight feeling you have a bit of this problem with jinyoung. I also just want my voice to be heard. 2/2

_______________

First off, congrats on your 100 followers! It’s an amazing milestone to meet and I’m so proud of you! 

However, I think you’re being too hard on yourself, if I’m honest. I’m not saying I haven’t done this in the past, because sometimes I will sit there and feel I wrote something amazing and it flops and then write something basic that I gave little thought to and because of the idol or I dunno, the way the wind blew that day, it exceeded all expectations and then some. I think you need to accept there is never going to be an even response to your writing. And no, not everyone will love everyone equally in a group, even if you may be able to. I myself will not read or write for every member in groups I like. It’s just how it is for some people and it’s not a bad thing. There will always be someone out there who enjoys what you do and will read those members who perhaps others won’t! That’s what I love about this community. Who I might struggle to write for, could be someone you excel with and vice-versa! 

I went to check the post you made and for the specific group you’re talking about, the one you mentioned is my favourite to write. I personally have varying interest in the other members because I’m old as hell and they’re youngins. Granted, everyone comes from different groups of age and interests so to assume people will all like the same thing is not going to help you any in the long run and just continue to disappoint you.

Of course, I believe we should write what feels best to us and I don’t think writing for those you don’t feel capable of approaching right now is a good choice either. As for popularity, that’s out of your control. You have two options. You could write what you know will get hit for attention to build up an audience who will be more likely to read your other stories since they liked the others you wrote to follow you. Or you can try not to focus on recognition so much and write what you feel is authentic to you. 

I know that sounds hypocritical of me, as I’ve been bleeting on about recognition and support for content creators lately. And whilst I’m still pro-support creators, I realised how ugly it got for me. I was blessed last year when interaction was more common on my stories. I put out Destined and it blew up. I’m known for my Jinyoung content because I genuinely do love writing for him, but also because I took advantage to keep that content flowing. I played into the “he’s popular” card, I’m not afraid to admit that. However, I couldn’t do that if I didn’t genuinely stand behind my fictions for him. And I won’t do that with others just to get attention either. Still, I knew what formula worked and I got used to that attention. It’s easy to get carried away with that and the drop in interactions has made me doubt myself and my style of writing a lot. I realised somewhere along the line, I was creating for attention. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you keep seeking recognition that way, you won’t be pleased with the results in yourself.

I recently watched a video where the creator said something that stuck with me. When you’re chasing attention, you lose the desire to create just to create. And it’s so true! Phoebe, I know I’m in a different position than you. I’ve worked exceptionally hard to get here though, and I know you will also work hard on your own writing journey. I know firsthand how motivating recognition is. When we are validated, we are more likely to put in more work to receive greater results. Just don’t forget the main reason for why you started writing. Have your moments where you’re frustrated, we all have them. But try not to get too upset because of the decisions of others - you can’t control what they do, no matter how much you try! Your genuine followers will appreciate all you do and it will show in your writing when you embrace that as well. 

Thank you for feeling brave to share your concerns with me

And just a side note: I highly recommend that you post your requests as new posts. Asks limit some of your visibility in searches. Try making new posts and then link them to your asks. It might help to also add more tags to target your stories showing up in the searches. My personal formula is: group / group imagines / group scenarios / group fiction / group fanfic / group genre / group au and then repeat these tags but with the individual member’s name. Just tagging the idol name means people who are looking specifically for fiction won’t find it. 

______________________

My ask box is open for this week’s Chelle Chats!

[acadieum]

(Man, posting at 4 am is a mood) I would say gaining an audience. Beyond just patience, is there any big thing to get the audience thing started?

hmmm well I’d say if you’re going to post art with the intent of gaining an audience in mind, try to draw consistently if you can - especially if you’re a newer / smaller blog. and I mean that in terms of art style, interests, genre, etc.

now I’m not saying you can’t experiment with your style or draw your other interests and you definitely don’t have to force yourself to post art. Art should be fun and it’s your blog so !! Go wild, yknow?

But the chances are - if someone sees your art and they like your style AND they’re familiar with the content you post (and assuming you post it regularly), they’ll be more likely to follow because they know the kind of content they signed up for and are willing to see more!

Like for me, when I started out on this specific blog - I really wasn’t expecting to gain such a following base. I thought, dang, it’d be nice but I wasn’t rlly trying to impress anyone. So, I drew what I wanted but, just in case, I wanted to think about where a majority of my followers would be coming from.

And for me, it was TAZ content. While I branched out occasionally in terms of interests, if you go in my beginning art, there’s nothing but TAZ. Even though I experimented a bit, the style and the target genre of content was always relatively similar (ie. I usually drew soft shipping content or memes, which as it turns out, is very popular amongst the crowds lol.)

Now, I’m not saying you have to draw what’s popular. Draw what you feel like drawing, of course, but draw it consistently ! It’s okay to expand but your audience wants to know what kind of stuff you’ll be posting (for the most part) and within what interest(s) so it would help to keep your blog oriented in that sense!

But, the real big key is REBLOGS. While my content was organized in such a fashion, I still wouldn’t be where I am now without the help of reblogs, especially from my friend Tess on her TAZ sideblog. The reblogs were what REALLY got me out there bc I got rapid exposure, which is why if you like something a creator has made, PLEASE REBLOG IT and share it with others!

Plus, idk if it’s the same with others, but I ALWAYS check out my reblogs so I can see if there are any nice comments in the tags. If I see nice comments, I’m more likely to make more art and I’m sure others would say the same BUT ALSO if I see that the person rbing my art is also an artist, I’m ALWAYS more likely to check out their art tag and reblog what I think is nice! And possibly even follow them! Kind of a civil thank you for supporting me, yknow?

But on another note, I always welcome artists (especially smaller artists) to dm / show me their art, mostly bc I wanna make more mutual artists and support them but also bc [high school music voice] we’re all in this together and I wanna see my fellow artists succeed!!!

So anyways, TLDR try to post consistently and reblog art!

[bookishdiplodocus]

Get to know the writer

I was tagged a while back by @bootsandcleats82! Thanks!

Answer the 10 questions, tag 10 people and write 10 more questions.

1. What do you like to write genre-wise?

Adventures? Is that a genre?

2. Do you prefer first/third person views when writing/reading?

Third.

3. Outline first or just start writing, and outline as you go?

Outline! I used to be a pantser, but that just doesnt work for me. I’d leave every wip after a scene or 10, or start doing meta stuff like drawing maps or designing the world more into detail without ever returning to my story.

4. Dialogue or narration-strong suit?

Ehhhh... I would say dialogue.

5. What is your favourite book/series?

Probably Harry Potter and the books by Rick Riordan.

6. Where do your stories usually take place? Our Earth? An AU? The same AU for each story, or do you change it up?

My current wip is in an AU. My short stories are often in this world.

7. How many WIP’s do you have & how many are you actively working on?

1 wip, 1 idea for a fairy tale I’ll probably write during a sleepless night and 1 idea for a non-fiction book that will probably take a few years.

8. Other than writing, what else do you like to do & do you bring that directly into your writing? Hobbies/school/work?

Reading of course. Last year I read about a 100 books. 121 if I’m correct. I like to write about books and libraries and bookstores, so that gets into my writing. I also edit for the observatory in my city, and stars, planets and constellation tend to have cameos in my writing too.

And I like dinosaurs, but I have no dinosaur related hobby.

9. Who is your target audience?

For my wip: YA, or maybe preteens.

For the fairy tale: myself, maybe my friends and family.

10. What’s your main style of procrastination?

Ahahahahah. *waves hands* Everythingggggg.

My 10 questions: (I’m gonna use questions from OP’s long tag game bc I’m too tired to make up new ones.)

1. Do you create playlists for your stories?

2. If you could change one thing about a book you recently read, what would you change? 

3. Do you like collaborating with other writers?

4. What are your three greatest fears about writing?

5. How much of your week do you spend writing?

6. What the first book you remember being read as a child?

7. Who are the three writeblrs you love?

8. Do you have a specific time of day that you write in, typically?

9. Do you prefer to employ a large cast of characters or a small one? Why?

10. Finally, when did you decide you wanted to be a writer? What made you want to be one?

I’m tagging a few writeblrs from my notifications, so I can get to know you.

@lanceffish @anassarhenisch @zenellyraen @kiarazuri @my-username-is-taken-but-im-not @grittygambit @ahotpeaceofshit @avadakedavra-93 @tumblinbean @samisosa95

[paperhouseniall]

i literally feel so bad for niall :( but why do you think in general he struggles on the charts/with ticket sales? he has a huge fan base (and i know people compare him to harry) but why are their success levels so different. 😔

Obviously I’m not qualified to answer this accurately, especially bc it could be a variety of diff things, but I would say that he’s pretty much had the odds stacked against him since the moment he went solo. Although he’s proven himself to have an amazing range (genre-wise, sound-wise (idk if that’s the same thing lmao)), he doesn’t get nearly as much radio play as Harry and other artists in general do. In terms of the constant comparisons between Niall and Harry, keep in mind that many people know of One Direction as “that band Harry Styles was in,” so the whole “Harry and company” narrative doesn’t really help Niall.

As for ticket sales, I think that goes back to the fact that he’s not really “mainstream,” whatever that may mean to you. And this is just a *personal* opinion: but to release dates for an entire arena tour w/ no album when all you’ve sold out before (in your solo career) is amphitheatres, I don’t think that was a good call. Keep in mind, the general public aren’t like “stans,” they won’t purchase a ticket to a tour if they haven’t heard the album and decided if they like it or not.

In general though, I think it all just goes back to the fact that not everyone can necessarily afford tickets! Large fan base or not, if the prices are not in someone’s price range, they won’t purchase tickets.

I’m not a fan of the constant comparison to Harry because both of them all the boys have proven that all five of them have a very different sound from not only One Direction but from each other as well. It doesn’t seem fair to compare Niall and Harry when they’re not really all that comparable in terms of the music they’re making, or the audience they’re targeting.

[selladaplays]

i had some interest in media and communications when i was thinking about going to college! do you mind sharing what kind of stuff you learn? :o if not, it's completely fine! i only know a youtuber with a job on that field, but i can't ask her bc it will get lost in the shit ton of other comments lmao so as soon as i seen what yours was, i thought i'd ask :)

hey there!a lot of what i learn in media and communications is about advertising, theories of communication, and television/film studies! Part of what i think i like so much about these classes and this program is that everything i’m learning has direct application to the business world. ability to properly communicate and advertise to an audience is all a business wants, so why not study it? this program, at least at my school, is very essay heavy which can be good or bad. i hate big exams, so i love the opportunity to write long research papers instead so i can apply my knowledge more directly. but anyways enough with that, i’ll talk about the actual courses now! beware, my thoughts are very jumbled and messy hehe. 

the first and second year courses tend to be more focused on theories of communication and the history of communication technologies, but there is a lot of sociology and anthropology involved in it because we study how the act of communicating has changed over the years and how it has influenced society. there are so many interesting theories and ideas surrounding how we communicate and how modern media communications have influenced us that i seriously loved all the courses. the majority of these courses will be focused on modern communication so i got to apply my knowledge in research papers about social media and how it has influenced my methods of communication and so on! in later years tho the theory courses get so interesting, next semester i’m in a course called “social and cultural aspects of digital gaming” like holy shit??????i’ve been in a handful of advertising courses that talk about everything from the basics of advertising online, to targeted marketing, to making a full advertising brief for a presentation. less concerned with theory and more concerned with how advertising works and why certain things work while others don’t. once again, great courses for applying real knowledge, i got to talk about how i get advertised to on facebook, tumblr, and instagram last year and it was actually really interesting and insightful.the film studies classes are probably my favourite out of the courses i take. classes can be as broad as “television studies” which i’m taking now, to “issues in popular culture: gender and representation in contemporary cinema” which i’m also in now. these courses will look into everything from narrative styles and conventions of film and TV genre to feminist films, race and class representation, to the evolution of sexuality on-screen.

all in all, i love my program a lot and highly recommend it to anyone interested in popular culture, television and film, advertising, or media in general! if anyone has any questions about the program feel free to message me :)

sorry if this was confusing or poorly written i am running on little sleep because finals have been eating me alive!