#the writers aren’t lazy you are lmfao

[ahalliance]

ooo just stumbled onto a new analysis pet peeve i think . dismissing a character’s actions as “OOC” without even trying to make sense of them

[firelord-frowny]

MY MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND

not to sound arrogant and call myself a ~great writer~ lmfao (even though i ammmmm) but WOW a great writer’s mind works in a totally reverse order sometimes omggggg! 

so i’ve got this character. Pleiades. Extremely gifted in the arts. brilliant philosopher. could definitely be a major force in the development of fine art, but has always failed to live up to her potential, and she hates herself for being so physically weak. none of her talents mean anything to her because she’s weak. can’t open a jar. can’t move heavy objects. can’t fight back against an aggressor. can’t protect herself or anyone else from any physical threat. her fixation on weakness and her fixation on her desire to be strong seems absurd. she’s bereft over it. 

in my head, it’s for no particular reason. it’s just the way she is. 

so, i’m writing a bunch of scenes from various points in her life. 

get to a scene where she’s back in her childhood home at the library of alexandria where her parents work as researchers/scholars/etc, and where she used to work and study as a musician and artist.

almost as soon as she arrives, her behavior becomes bizarre. panic attacks over the slightest criticism. suddenly terrified of performing in front of anyone. she finds herself at the mercy of her old teacher who oversees the music department. she doesn’t really remember it, but this teacher was a psychological nightmare of an emotional abuser. jerked her around. praised her for something on one day, and then scolded her for the same thing the very next day. forced her into opportunities she wasn’t prepared for and then punished her for failing. gaslit her. told her what a disappointment she was, called her arrogant, lazy, berates her for always half-assing everything she does, threatens to dismiss her from the department because she’s just not living up to the required standards. and then tells her how much she loves her and that she’ll never abandon her and that she’s the most gifted student she’s ever had. 

it drives pleiades fucking crazy, but she absolutely has no idea. all she knows is that she feels worthless and wants to die.

So now she’s back at Alexandria. sees her old teacher. old teacher expresses such joy to see her. gushes to all her colleagues about her. talks her up as being the best student she’s ever had. a prodigy. a legend. a Muse in flesh and blood. And she invites Pleaides to be featured in a seminar where distinguished musicians present new techniques they’ve been developing. Pleiades is thrilled. 

the day before the seminar is due to take place, Pleiades has a mild disagreement with her teacher about something, and the teacher turns on a dime and takes her off the program, accusing her of being too difficult, too moody, too arrogant, to unpredictable, too unstable. your new techniques aren’t that special, anyway. i was wrong to trust you to live up to your potential. you never did before, so i was a fool to expect you to be able to do it now. what a disgrace. i’m ashamed to even have people know that you used to study with me. 

she has a breakdown. screaming, crying, breaking things. she shatters some glass and walks all over the shards. a physician has to be called in to give her a sedative so she’ll calm down. 

while she’s knocked out, the physician explains to her companion that ‘this kind of behavior is nothing new for Pleiades. she’s always been prone to self-harm.’ 

the physician then describes past incidents where Pleiades would scream for hours on end in her room, throwing herself at the walls over and over again with such force that she’d be black and blue with bruises and swelling. 

but what nobody knew, because nobody ever bothered to ask, is that she wasn’t just throwing herself at the walls out of sheer insanity. 

she was trying to break the door down because she was locked in. 

her parents used to seal her in her room as punishment when her teacher would report that she’s not doing well enough in her studies. and these lock-ins almost always happened when she was supposed to be participating in some sort of esteemed event where she’d be featured as a master of her craft. 

so she’d ram at the door, trying to get out. but she wasn’t strong enough. 

and every time she rams into that door, she recalls a time where she once tried to hide behind that very same locked door from someone who intended to hurt her, and that person busted right in. 

she’s not strong enough to free herself, but other people are strong enough to breach the barrier that’s supposed to keep her safe. If only she was strong, she could have saved herself in both kinds of scenarios.

FULL CIRCLE!

Literally none of this was on my mind when I arbitrarily decided that she has a fixation on her physical strength. And when I was writing these scenes, I had absolutely no conscious awareness that it would tie in so seamlessly with that character trait that I picked at random. 

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

[fuwushiguro]

I just looked at a bunch of the responses from @decayish’s survey and I... lmfao.

It’s really brutal. It’s brutal to read some of the hateful things that apply to me and I’m sure a lot of other writers here. It’s also weirdly validating to see that a lot of people are too fucking lazy to reblog and appreciate writers how they deserve, it’s almost confirmation that my writing isn’t shit and no one likes the content I’m putting out. It’s just laziness.

My relationship with Tumblr has gone so downhill since last year. Last summer was probably when I last enjoyed it here. I have taken many hiatus’ and left with no intention of coming back a few times. 

The reason I do keep coming back is because Tumblr is very addictive. 

I gaslight myself into thinking “it’s not that bad” and then I feel shit again. This hasn’t been as much the case recently because I genuinely have stopped caring. Do I feel shit about lack of interaction and validation on my writing? Sure. It would upset anyone, I think. But I’ve learnt to not care.

I don’t feel like I used to when I used to log into Tumblr. I’d be excited to chat with friends, share my writing, and see what people have to say.

Now, I feel like I’ve turned into something I’m not. A content machine. I write. I post. I move on. I appreciate when I do get sweet asks, reblogs and comments, obviously. But it’s so rare. So few and far between that I’ve come to terms with not expecting it. 

I used to be able to churn writing out. I’d write a 15k monster in a day and be proud. Now I struggle to get to 1k. I write, now, because of patreon. Seeing that people care about my writing enough to pay for it is incredible motivation which has helped me to stop caring about interaction. 

But even then, I feel under immense pressure to write. I didn’t write for a little while and I lost a bunch of patrons. I was so mentally ill, suicidal etc. and couldn’t bear the thought of writing. Not that I’m blaming anyone for deleting their pledges, but it’s made me feel like I’m not allowed to take a break even if I’m desperate for one. 

Seeing how many people will only read a fic if smut is included is very fucked up I won’t lie. There is a horrendous relationship with explicit content and porn here where people won’t even entertain an incredibly well thought out and beautifully written fic if there’s no smut involved. I have so many writing ideas that don’t include smut. I only write smut because I know that’s all most people here care about. It’s sad. Really fucking sad. 

There are so many beautiful and talented writers here that are suffering. Suffering with their blogs, personal lives, existence. Tumblr used to be such a cool place. A place where people could post what they want, write what they want, and spread love. It’s just not like that anymore. There is no life on my dashboard. It’s incredibly dead and I miss how it used to be.

The lack of gratitude and appreciation on this site is just outright terrible. Please support us. Reblog our works. Comment on fics. Send asks. Make your favourite writers feel appreciated and seen. Valued. Because so many of us don’t.

I imagined a large problem with this is that there’s so many fic writers you think we are disposable. If one of us leaves you can run to another. But there might come a day where every single one of us quits writing for good. And then you’ll be so sorry that you didn’t give a few minutes of your time to show your gratitude to us writers. We aren’t disposable. Each and every one of us has a unique voice. Unique ideas. A unique way of storytelling and expressing ourselves. Thirty people can get the same prompt and still wind up producing thirty different pieces of writing. 

Some of the responses I saw on the server were just truly wretched. People being cruel about people’s writing choices. The way they write. The way they run their blogs and the content they post. These blogs are for fun. For freedom and expression.

Learn to be kind. We are people behind these screens. There is flesh and bone typing on the keys of keyboards to make the works you claim to love so much. But not enough to show us enough love.

Please, if you care about us at all, show us you care before it’s too late.

[alphinias]

Lmfao I just saw someone be like shipping nace and chenford at the same time is giving me emotional whiplash and same, one is a blueprint of how to write a slow burn ship that you weren't expecting to happen and wasn't supposed to be the main ship and the other how NOT to write a slow burn ship you weren't expecting to happen even though there are no other viable options for the characters in the main cast, it's like the show runner/ Nathan were planning on Nolan/Lucy and when no one wanted it they were like you want chenford? We'll play with you and use you for promotion and ratings but you get a good story for them over our dead bodies

Lmao it’s so true though!!! And there seems to be a lot of overlap between our fandoms so we all get to experience the whiplash together.

ND had a few misteps in the plot pacing of S3 but nace REMAINS fantastic. They know what they’re doing and they aren’t ashamed to lean into their slow burn and what the audience loves. Good for them.

I think the rookie writers do intend to do chenford but they are choosing an incredibly lazy method to stall their slow burn in comparison and it really really shows.

[bigskydreaming]

Hey, so ppl who have followed me awhile, you know how occasionally I toss out random concepts as like, just general prompts because they were a thing that happened in my brain and I thought they were a cool idea but have no time/plans to write them ever so I’m always like....dude, run with it if it sparks something for you?

So due to my physiological incompatibility with Being Subtle Ever and my many many rants on how much it annoys me when people who openly state they’re not a survivor themselves then go on to share writing that clearly views Law & Order SVU as viable Research Material like....its not exactly a shocker that I’m a big believer in the idea that there are just some stories that some people aren’t meant to write. Like full stay in your lane premises, stories where it doesn’t matter how thoroughly or sincerely you research experiences outside your own - its just not your story to write.

And occasionally I also definitely come up with novel ideas that fall in this category. Some even make it all the way to extensively plotted/worldbuilt stages of outlining before I clue in that the basic premise is just unworkable for ME, due to my specific axes of identity....like sometimes I just really love an idea and so try and workshop it and come at it from a different angle that is more approachable for me....but ultimately, there have been a number of times when I’ve just had to put aside even a really in depth world or idea because it was just too innately connected in my head to various lived experiences or cultural identities that I don’t feel comfortable writing towards.

Like for example, years ago I plotted out this one YA novel idea that’s like....historical sci-fi, ‘alienpunk’ - like the basic idea was what if a First Contact scenario with aliens coming to Earth happened, but in the 19th century, like late 1800s. Steampunk style aesthetics, but instead of it being ahead-of-its-time steam powered technology, it was the anachronistic results of combining advanced alien technology with early or mid-Industrial Age science.

The thing was, despite trying out various different eras or locations, the story that kept coming out in outline was pretty firmly centered in America in the late 1800s, and like, it would be a huge glaring omission for ME to write that story and not have any black characters or acknowledge the social aspects of it being set during a post-Civil War era, and like...that’s not really For Me to write IMO.....and so as much as I loved the general idea, I felt pretty strongly that as it was, it just wasn’t a story I needed to write, when I have plenty more that are much more based out of my own lanes.

And to be clear, the story isn’t ABOUT slavery, that was never the issue, its not thematically built around related concepts, nothing like that. Its a sci-fi ‘aliens came to Earth and shit inevitably happened both because Aliens and also because People’ adventure....that is also historical fiction, with the era in question being post-Civil War America. Its just a story SET during that time, because that was the way it unfolded for me and I couldn’t get it to click creatively any other way. But still, its just disingenuous to pretend that any story set during that era doesn’t have a ton of room for expansion or commentary or bringing in more themes - with me just not being the right author to do that. Not my place, it just is what it is, and I’m wholly fine with that.

Anyway, my point with all this is I have a pretty sizable number of basic premises and even full outlines along those ‘nope, this isn’t actually for me after all’ lines that I’ve set aside over the years because like....my brain literally never shuts off and I write a fucking lot lot lot. And I do think a lot of them are pretty good ideas that someone could make some really fun stories out of, because I’m biased and occasionally do manage to love myself, like yeah, I do write good shit if I say so myself. But given that I’m not that person to write those particular stories, like I’d love to offer them up to other writers who might be interested in doing something with them.

And again just to be total clear - I am very much an ‘any time I say do whatever the fuck you want with this, I really mean it’ kinda guy. These would come with zero strings or expectations. If you like one of these ideas and want the outline or notes I made for it, its yours to do whatever the fuck you want with. Stick to the outline, don’t stick to it, just run with the basic premise, use the notes as a springboard to launch your own creativity into entirely new directions that didn’t even occur to me - sky’s the limit, have at it, I wouldn’t ask for or expect any compensation or official credit or royalties or whatever the fuck, not the point of this. Literally my only request would be like, hey, if you finish something off of one of these and do something with it, maybe gimme a shout out in the acknowledgments section and drop me a copy when you’re done because literally every story idea I’ve ever had, I’ve had it because at the end of the day its a story I want to read so....I’d definitely want to read whatever you come up with lol, but its YOUR story at that point. No hidden strings or whatever, you can cite this post as your official proof of that if needed I guess? Idk, its all pretty bullshit to me. God, I’m a publisher’s worst nightmare.

But I mean, the entire reason I didn’t ever write any of these specific stories and don’t think I ever will is because I quite literally don’t think I’m the right person to write them which means I quite literally believe there’s a metric fuck ton of people who could write them better than me and do things with them I never could and would never even occur to me, so like...lmfao, please don’t worry that I’m gonna be sitting here ever thinking like ugh how dare they not stick to my outline and notes and think they knew how to write this idea better than me. Like, you can. I want you to. That’s the whole point.

So yeah, basically the endpoint of all this rambling is if any writers out there would be interested in this kinda thing, drop me a reply or a reblog or even just an ask with what you think is a good way to handle that. 

Like, I was thinking just whenever I’m thinking about one of them I’d maybe make a post (maybe tagged with a specific tag I use as a catch-all for any one of these ‘up for grabs’ outlines) about the general idea or a couple of the characters I came up with and a list of the kind of materials I wrote out for that story and their extent, like does that one have a full outline, is it more just worldbuilding and character notes, etc. And if someone’s interested or is like “oh I read this and it totally gave me all these ideas for what to do with a story like that” or whatever, just hit me up and first come first serve, the full file is yours. 

But like, that’s just my ‘puts the lazy in laissez-faire,’ pulled it out of my ass two seconds ago idea for how to approach this, so if anyone has a better or more coherent idea, or even just a thought for what to tag this kinda thing, I’m all ears.

(Just final additional disclaimers: I’m super duper aggressively not interested in being like ‘mmmm, lemme judge your writing first and pick whomever I think is the Most Qualified To Write Mine Idea Properly’ like eww, gross, and similarly I have no desire to ask for identity credentials.  Like if you’re a white writer and you read all of this and hit me up about a story I say I decided not to write because its heavily influenced by Mesoamerican cultures to a degree that I was like, I personally don’t feel anyone but a Latinx writer needs to be profiting off this story - I mean, you could definitely be like ‘oh I’m Latinx’ y’know, like a liar, and I’d be like okay sure, and if it ends up published later and I’m like hey I recognize that story and hey that author is as white as me, like.....you could do that I guess, and that’s a thing that could happen and like....that’s between you and your own choices and reasoning at that point and if you’re comfortable with that I mean, you do you, just be aware I probably think you’re an asshole then. C’est la vie. The world will keep turning.)

[kxlance]

here are my thoughts on the bullshit under the cut cuz it's gonna get long probs i assure you it’s a reassuring post:

ok so the interview itself wasn't bad to me honestly. jeremy did not deny the bi!lance hint, which was the most important thing to know. the fact that he said "that much i can say" implies that there's something left to know that he can't say because nda.

i'm gonna list a positive thing and a negative thing here: the negative one is that on one hand, it pisses me off that lgbt characters are treated as such a big spoilery deal when it should just....feel so natural to have them in a show. also thinking back that dreamworks tagged certain videos as klance just for views...well it's kind of a coward move if they don't at least end the show with lgbt rep. on the other, i really don't see the point with going all "no comment" about it if it weren't to happen?? that would be very assholey, and i know that the writers are not to be trusted, but the mere fact that they lie so much over things than then ended up being canon (e.g: galra keith, paladin allura, pidge being a girl etc) can't help but make me think they are pretty much hiding the endgame couple on purpose. you could argue they could be hinting at allurance which i'm not excluding bc some of the things could be honestly interpreted that way and also they never mention them ever as a couple except i remember like kimberly saying that allura isn't interested in lance (but she could be lying obviously) and jeremy here stating that lance has still a crush on her which is pretty evident and there's nothing new. (we also learned, according to him, that lance basically can dish it out but he can't take it which frankly...i can see pretty well as canon)

on that spectrum, pls note that this happening (or lance ending up with a girl for the matter) doesn't absolutely excludes bi!lance like at all. he can still be confirmed as bi and end up with a girl and that itself would still be very important! one thing doesn't exclude the other honestly so i say very confidently that lance being bi will be confirmed. like 100% convinced that it will. (do not forget lauren's drawing where lance is holding the lgbt sign, there's a specific reason he's the one holding that)

also does anybody think that....this stress over lance liking ladies and stuff is kinda....suspicious?? like jeremy himself was used to say "lol he flirts with anybody on two legs ahha" and now today all of a sudden he's putting a lot of stress on the ""woman"" part. which kind of threw me off? i might be reaching obviously, but mmm you know? and all of this comes after joaquim said "what he's looking for is getting to a place that might be different than when he started in the series" and “what he wants might not be what he needs” and if math isn't an opinion, he started the series always wanting allura so if what he wants is now changing..........................

it is also true that lauren used female pronouns in that interview and while that could be an indicator that lance will end up with a girl, it's also not set in stone bc.... they used to hide pidge's pronouns the same way and if lauren had said "him" you know that keith would have suddenly come to mind bc??? he's legit the only person lance has been paired up so much with. they've been sort of a duo ever since the beginning. and they've had most of the couple tropes out of all the possible pairings??? in the show??? allow me to list some. I'm too lazy to back this up with pics but like you know the scenes i'm talking about (and i also say this because when i ship something i ALWAYS look at canon interactions. and they have a lot):

the bonding moment (or the we are a good team scene if you will), which is not only visually very romantic (the purple lightning aka their two primary colors mixed together) but its sort of the turning point of their relationship and it's something that's very much used with couples especially with couples with their dynamic because oh lord!!!!!! do you know how many heterosexual couples exist with a dynamic like theirs? broody boy meets friendly girl and they're total opposites but ops they fall in love?? bitch literally every goddamn YA novel is like this. anyways, you know that scene would be considered romantic if it was between a boy and a girl, and indeed, allurance sort of paralleled that scene in s4 so if you consider that as romantic but not this one....well....buddy,,,,,,,they're basically in the same lions keith and lance were aka the fire and ice dynamic and if you can see that as romantic with a/l you should be able to see it the same way with....k/l but i digress).

as i was saying, the bonding moment is the turning point of keith and lance's relationship. after that we get:

1) an episode where keith is super anxious to have lance out of a pod and gets jealous when he sees lance flirting with allura, reminds him of their "bonding moment" and gets offended that lance doesnt remember (and an entire discussion could be open as to why he was so offended and the vlog kinda sets that up), overall the flirty banter that we're used to (not to mention this is the famous infamous bi flag planet)

2) a solo mission where they're shown to be working extremely well with each other (like classic battle couple duo scenes)

onto other tropes:

the subtle jealousy that can be interpreted both ways

THE ELEVATOR SCENE which is such a common trope for main couples!! they usually get stuck and have a moment of clarification or something like that. keith and lance's was a lot more comedic but it did lead them to collaborate in battle 2 seconds after so.... it did have an impact like those scenes usually do. (also that scene wasn’t necessary for the plot at all and yet...)

Lance making that fond face while talking about Keith that, may I remember you, was animated purposely to be that way. and overall there's a lot of subtle things like lance being constantly worried over keith in season 2 even though they didn't have much dynamic development??

the hey man scene? the fact that everybody was looking at lance EXPECTING HIM TO DO SOMETHING. and he could have easily looked back at them like "why me???" BUT NOPE, he was ready to go to comfort him!!!!!!!!

i get so worked up over the fact that so many of their scenes can be paralleled with other scenes as the story goes bc LETS BE FUCKING REAL FOR A GODDAM SECOND: they're the only pairing who started a way and are ending up in another. because they've had the most coherent development as a pairing in the seasons and we're fucking halfway through the show and when you also remember that it's pretty clear that lance wants to falls in love and that it's a ""slow burn""" kind of deal,,,,how in the fuck,,,,can it be other than klance??? literally nO OTHER PAIRING had a development since the goddamn start i’m not even saying this with my biased ass i’m saying this objectively speaking!!!!

all of season 3 could be a huge romantic trope honestly but like 2 scenes in particular strike as very romantic:

the leave the math to pidge scene obviously (the way it is framed is very tropey lmfao) and the way we see keith through lance's eyes.......pretty gay if you ask me

and the i got you buddy scene which someone made notice that AN EXACT SAME SCENE happens in the wonder woman movie but with a boy/girl pairing ofc. BUT IT'S THE SAME FUCKING SCENE THAT'S LIKE ROMANTIC TROPE 101 I AINT PLAYING

add on the fact that keith might have left team voltron to make sure lance had a place and boom. pretty romantic to me.

even if jeremy sees them as brothers....which is like...super fucking odd to me bc....he never mentioned this before almost like he's backtracking lololol, his opinion isn't...you know...canon. (and like lbr they never acted like brothers in the show??? and the creators never addressed them as such unlike...you know what) i like jeremy jokes and meme as much as the next guy but i'm a realist and i know that he doesn't really ship klance or anything he just knows how to spoiler the good stuff lolz but also he didn't say anything wrong like it's just how he sees it but the creators never said so (lauren montgomery called lance keith's stability don't forget that) and overall there are wayyyy too many hints to not believe that's its gonna be canon. like......it even makes sense with the overall story better than any other pairing?? because it's pretty plausible that lance had a crush on keith at the garrison that tried to mask with the rivalry. the way he acts and the way he tries to always get his attention furtherly proves that. it's a common thing to do when you have a crush lmao.

LIKE THOSE TWO ARE ALWAYS PAIRED UP EVEN IN THE FUCKING SEASON 2 POSTER?? LIKE THEY COULD HAVE GONE WITH KEITH IN THE MARMORA OUTFIT SINCE IT WAS A BIG PART OF THE SEASON BUT NO??? THEY PUT HIM IN THE SWIM TRUNKS WITH LANCE FOR THOSE 2 MINUTES OF SCENE THEY HAD TOGETHER?????

ok that's it keep on hoping and remember that klance not happening doesn't mean that also bi lance won't because those two things aren’t mutually exclusive ok? but also don't lose hope on klance itself especially if it's something that makes you happy because fandom is meant to be a distraction and klance is an healthy lgbt ship that deserves all the attention it gets and it’s groundbreaking from so many aspects and it being canon would be amazing. bye

ALSO PLEASE STOP COMMENTING SHIT ON JEREMY’S PERSONAL PICS ON INSTAGRAM HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG THIS IS EMBARASSING

bonus

[quellines-stories]

When I say y'all I'm not specifically referring to my followers I'm just referring to the people in general that do this shit while being like grown ass adults who don't take critiques on this subject (just to clarify lmfao)

Can y'alls solution to having a female character dating a male character which you want to get with another male character stop being to just fuckin' kill the female character off like listen my gay ass loves gay ships but literally killing the female character off and/or demonizing her is one of the most boring and shitty things you can do when you want two male characters to get together like I really roll my eyes at that cliché fandom trope lmfao

Seriously having them break up due to a mutual understanding that things aren't working out without her being absolutely awful and out of characterization while allowing them to just remain friends because they respect each other outside of romance is the bare minimum y'all could do lmfao

I'm not saying to like fuckin include her as a primary character in the story I'm just saying that like. if you REALLY want to improve your writing then have some world building outside of the two people you ship by staying true to other side characters characterization through practice

I'm not saying to do the complete opposite of making her a horrible character by going to the other side of the spectrum and making her an absolutely perfect character either lmfao I'm just saying to let a character have their flaws and their pros so it's not OOC

Don't get me wrong I used to demonize female characters all the time when I was like 14 because it was the easiest solution to getting her significant other with whoever I was shipping him with but it was and is literally so uncreative and lazy lmfao

So like yeah I used to do this shit and I'm not blaming anyone if they do considering this kind of stuff usually isn't considered in fandom but like since I've stopped making every character 2-Demensional other than the pair I ship I feel like that's really improved my writing through adding depth because realistically it's like,, two people's lives don't revolve solely around each other lmfao like there's gotta' be some interactions outside of that and the interactions are a lot more rich tbh when you take the time to write a character in character, rather than not caring about characterization and just writing them to further the plot of the ship when contributing nothing else to the story, which just makes it unrealistic when the entire story has no other world building to it

I see this a lot in Hollywood too (not as much as I used to) and it's literally one of the primary things that I've found just make a show too predictable when you're only having to focus on two specific in depth characters while the rest have little to no story of their own and are used as no more than ways to further those characters story

Like it's okay to have evil women and women that are a tragedy but when you're doing it constantly that's really something to consider taking a look at and doing differently to add something new to your writing, like seriously I truly feel like it makes writing a lot more fun when the all around story has more meat to it, so to say

Having more complex characters lets the story have more layers for the reader to have an interest in and for the writer to have a fun time forming. Having characters whose only purpose is to further another character makes the story simple and lacking interest when overused.

[izzyspussy]

ALL 50 QUESTIONS BITCH

HECK

1: Age Group   For fic tbh whatever, I know a lot of people in fandom are underage and are exploring and figuring out what they like, etc. Plus not all my stuff is explicit, and some of the stuff that is still isn’t porn so. As for original stuff that will likely all be explicit as well, so an adult market audience.

2: Genre   Usually fantasy, sometimes science fiction.

3: Big Idea or Detail Oriented Outlining   binch i cant outline for absolute shit. I guess big picture but like…. ?? the biggest possible picture, almost to the point of being useless lmfao. someone help me.

4: Line Editing or Plot Revision   I prefer line editing for fics because I’m lazy and it’s for free, but overhaul type revision results in a better finished product so I use that for original stuff (and commissions).

5: With or Without Deadlines    With deadlines, definitely. I can crank out 1k in an hour if I have a deadline, but without one it can take me 2 years to write just as much (see: Zwangsneurose, started the second I got home from seeing The Winter Soldier, still not finished, word count at ~800 lmfao).

6: The Biggest Compliment   I love it when people mention details that they noticed! Or if god forbid I was funny once.

7: Current WIP Length   I have 12 fic WIPs right now and the longest one is 7.7k. I have 4 original WIPs right now, but they are all in development stages, with no word count yet.

8: Author Comparison Goal   @neil-gaiman 110%. He is my ultimate goals and a huge inspiration, not to mention just a plain cool guy. I also would love to be compared to Rick Riordan or Gillian Flynn.

9: Biggest Struggle   Foreshadowing probably. I sort of wing it as I’m writing, and I can’t do a very good outline like I said, so it’s tough to get good hints and clues as to what’s coming. That’s part of the reason my originals are taking so much development (not just because I have to fill in all the worldbuilding that is already mostly done for fic).

10: Brainstorming With Others or Alone     I like to do a bit of both. I really appreciate input, plus talking things out can really get the creative ball rolling. But I like to get into Deep Shit on my own too, especially with worldbuilding. I’ll always share with others though, even the stuff I wanted to come up with all on my lonesome.

11: Characters Based on Real People     I’m sure there are aspects of people I know, and of myself, in every character I create, and likely even in characters that have already been created. What you know will always leak into your writing. However, I don’t usually base a character fully (or purposefully) around one real person. I do namesakes though, but they’re almost never modeled after that person, it’s just a shoutout to someone I find inspiring in some way.

12: Writing Space Clean or Cluttered     cluttered af binch u been here & seen it smh make me drag myself in front of everyone……

13: Character Driven or Plot Driven     Always character driven!! what kinda question

14: Favorite Writing Related Quote     “Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which sometimes pay the rent.” - guess who lmao

15: My Characters in Someone Else’s World     I would transport my characters into (brace yourselves for a shock lol jk) American Gods, primarily so that they could get some good old fashioned “help” from the Big Guys.

16: Movie or TV Show     Well two of them have pretty finite endings. The romance legend could be a tv show but with a limited amount of renewal, ala A:TLA (but I’d like it better as a graphic novel). The vampire tragedy has a very finite ending so that would make a better movie. And the witch noir and girl gang are both a bit neverending-WIP-ish so they’d make pretty good shows.

17: Soundtracks     Yes! They help keep me focused and writing in a cohesive tone when I have to leave and come back. Y’all can listen to the playlist I have for witch noir here. Eventually I’ll split it up for character and/or scene mood, and I might add some scene suitable ambient noise tracks too.

18: One Song to Sum It Up    witch noir - Temptress, S.J. Tucker    romance legend - Take Me to Church, Neon Jungle    vampire tragedy - Bodies, Celia Pavey    girl gang - Weapon, Bastille & Angel Haze & FUGZ & Braque

19: Me There or Characters Here     …me there, I guess? In the romance legend, vampire tragedy, and girl gang not anything would really be different, but in the witch noir I’d probably have inherited some sweet powers. Not many of my characters are very friendly tho lmao.

20: Most Wanted Adaptation     Probably (a piece of) the witch noir. It’d be neat to actually see all those neat film noir lighting tricks.

21: Finish     Uh. I finish one shot porn a lot? lmao. Other than that, damn… no.

22: Made Myself Cry     lol yah

23: Proud or Anxious     usually I’m more proud, but sometimes when it’s something that’s very deeply personal or controversial I can get anxious.

24: When Did I Become a Writer     tbh sometimes I think I came out the womb that way. I don’t remember not being a writer, and I know I had legit novel ideas as early as like 3rd grade, and was making shit up with pretty words even earlier.

25: Must Reads in My Genre     three guesses what i’m bout to say y’all. Literally anything by Gaiman. Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart series. Any Pratchett. Donna Gillespe fucked me up with The Light Bearer. Bear Daughter by Judith Berman (although that is kind of a tough read, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for everyone).

26: My Genre Needs More…     Diversity in general, specifically more people of color, queer people, and people with disabilities (that aren’t magically erased). Also in my opinion there needs to be more things in between grimdark and go-lucky fairytale.

27: Inspiration Source     History, anthropology, and pseudoscience.

28: Character Naming Stress from 1-10     Probably about a 2 or a 3. I use behindthename.com which can be searched for meanings, sound patterns, usage, and origin, and has a handy “name themes” search algorithm. I also recently found the legit U.S. census thanks to @peppersandcats helping me out with search terms, and that can be sorted by ethnicity, gender, time period, and geographical location. So I’ve got names pretty well covered!

29: Underwrite or Overwrite First Drafts     It could go either way, but generally speaking unless I have a word limit I usually like to add more during editing. Except when something is confusing or too complicated, then I’ll cut it.

30: Calming or Stressing      Not really either tbh. I enjoy it a lot, but it’s mostly exciting! Not calming or stressful, but either a fun adventure or a challenging puzzle.

31: Favorite Trope     Tough to pick just one tbh. I love tropes when they are done “right”. Even tropes done classically can be great (as long as they’re not -phobic of some sort), but I especially love when they are done satirically or inverted.

32: Backstories for Side Characters     Guilty af. Even characters that might not even make it into the finished book have backstories, personalities, and quirks.

33: Characterize Before Writing or Develop with The Story     A little bit of both. I like to have a solid character to work with at the beginning, but for in-text character development I like to let that unfold with the plot and the other characters.

34: Old Writing in One Word     Prolific

35: Villains or Heroes     I like them both pretty well, but my favorite characters of all time are always a little ambiguous so if I had to pick just one kind that’s what I’d go with.

36: B&W Morality     No way! I live in the gray area.

37: Advice     Have fun! Be proud of yourself for what you come up with and celebrate your creativity even if you think it doesn’t compare with other writers. The happier you are to create, the more creative you’ll get. Also, like with any other kind of art, pick a couple role models to emulate and that will help you develop your own solid style.

38: Advice I Fail At     The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. I spend too long line editing while I’m writing my first draft and that makes it a lot harder to finish anything.

39: Importance of Positive Reinforcement     I’d say reasonably important. Definitely helpful. But I know I’ll keep writing even without it.

40: Question for Favorite Author     How much difference is there between how his creation is in his head versus how it came out in the words, and does he ever think about rewriting things that are long finished?

41: Distracting to Read While Writing     Actually, no. Reading other comparable works helps keep me motivated, inspired, and focused.

42: Motivated or Discouraged by Critiques     Tbh I don’t think I have ever received a real in-depth critique so I’m not certain? I’ve had idle “I liked this, but I didn’t like/understand that” type of feedback, and that has usually been pretty helpful and appreciated. If nothing else it lets me know what parts of the story might not be as accessible to an audience.

43: Protagonists in My Likeness     Yes, there’s a little of me in very many of my protagonists, and often even in fic characters that I write. But, like with other real people, they’re not usually modeled after me, we just have some stuff in common because I leak over into them (and sometimes they leak over into me) when I’m writing them.

44: Choosing An Idea      This is something I struggle with, really. My process is usually to try writing a bit of it, and if I hate it it’s probably not viable.

45: Harder or Easier While Stressed      It’s usually a harder to write when I’m stressed, and what I do manage to write doesn’t have as much quality.

46: Sort Protagonists      !!! There are too many!! these are just the Big Ones (so far) in witch noir      Gryffindor - toots, eddie, maddie, anca, seth      Hufflepuff - lily, charisma, s.j., angel, iris      Ravenclaw - fred, ariel, dido, father piero      Slytherin - evelyn, jessica, sloan, clara-claudia, aixa

47: Five Year Goal     Hopefully I will have fucking finished something. Maybe published? Or maybe getting my manuscript looked at. (I have a humble-ish time frame, I think. Writing is a lot of work, and five years is a lot less time than it sounds like.)

48: Co-Writing     I’m a huge control freak, so probably not. At least not with original characters. Maybe for fic tho, because that can be much lower stakes lmao.

49: Fast or Slow     When I’m in The Zone I speed thru, but it can take me a while to get started and I come up on blocks pretty often so I’m a slow finisher.

50: Worldbuilding or Characters     Shit man, that’s a tough choice. I guess characters? I don’t know.

[meggannn]

concrit, and notes for the self

So this is a bit of a weird post I've been wondering how to articulate for a while. I know people have different ideas on fandom courtesy in this regard, and opinions on this topic can be heavily divided.

This is my post to get it out there and say I don't mind, and in fact encrouage, people giving me concrit in my fic in AO3 comments or reblogs. Everyone is different and everyone writes fic for different reasons; some people write for fun and don't care about improving. I totally respect that and that's why I don't offer concrit unless someone specifically asks for it. I'm writing for fun, but I also take my writing seriously, maybe more seriously than I should, so if you've ever read my fic and thought "hm, that bit's not great," please consider this an open invitation to give me all the constructive feedback you want. I try to say I welcome it consistently in my notes when I post fic, but I guess people don't really register that. In fairness, I've seen people say they welcome opinions on their fic and then turn haughty and defensive when someone gives any feedback that isn't praise, but I've always respected writers who freely share the negative concrit they receive (so long as it’s not a troll) because as a reader, it also encourages me to read and interact more with them. If you don't feel comfortable sharing it publicly or want to talk about a certain thing at length, you can always feel free to IM me privately here, or leave the comment on anon on AO3.

This is a weird thing to post on Tumblr, since I don't think I have a big writer presence here, but AO3 doesn't really have a good platform to share this kind of message. And I realize this is a bizarre thing to want to post about -- if I'm not receiving any concrit, like, shouldn't that be a good thing? am I really complaining I'm not receiving any? -- but the few times I have received concrit in the last five years, one was from a friend who knows me well enough to know I welcome it, and the other two were strangers who seemed hesitant to bring it up at all, that made me wonder if they were scared of my reaction so they sandwiched it between complements to soften the blow. I don’t want people to worry about my reaction and apologize for giving negative feedback. I’m always down to talk about ways I can get better. Chances are more likely I’ll probably apologize to you, lol.

Not to say people should look for things to criticize if they think there aren't any -- I'd be flattered -- but I don’t want people thinking giving me concrit will make me resent them, or that bad feelings will fester if we’re mutuals. I promise there isn't anything mean enough you can say about my work I haven't already said to myself. (Though I will say, I'm writing this with the implication people will be reviewing recent or future works judging my talent as a writer now, not dig into my '09-'13 fic history back when I didn't know the word for ellipses and criticize me how I was.)

I have a weird history with concrit (it all started with a flame war back in ‘10...), but now I take the smallest comments from both positive and negative feedback so seriously to the point it does affect how I look at my future works, possibly because most of the feedback fic writers -- including myself -- do receive is just a single bookmark or anonymous kudos with no words attached. Sometimes when I think of people hating my stuff it makes me never want to share anything again, but a large majority of the time when I do receive it, I find that I have a thicker skin than I thought and I'm very easily able to separate the work from my personal feelings. Again: there's nothing anybody can say will be as bad as what I've already told myself, lol.

I'm putting the rest of this behind a cut because it's somewhat related, but it's mostly me blabbing about ways I think I can improve. I've been trying to narrow it down to a few specific areas I want to get better in. Some are going to be on me and only on me to make happen, but I feel like others might better spotted by readers.

This is about to get very mopey and self-indulgent, so if anyone actually reads this bear with me.

Vocabulary. It’s not that I think I have a limited vocabulary, but I think my tendency is to rely on the same words or phrases, which... just feels lazy and fake after a while. @thunderheadfred suggested I don’t try to hard with this one, because trying too hard to include big words can often lend to a convoluted mess, but I think the solution to my problem might just be “read more” and “get creative with how words interact with each other.” Part of this is also just learning relevant jargon or legalese or whatnot and getting familiar with it to the point that I finally don’t feel like I’m playing Mad Libs when I’m talking about something I don’t understand.

General... logic editing. I'm not sure how to describe this one, but I've had moments occasionally while rereading fic where I just think, “Life doesn’t work like that,” or “Megan, you pulled that one completely out of your ass.” You ever just read a fic and think “Goddammit, this makes no sense,” or even with smaller things, just “that’s not how that works”? Some of them are going to be things only specialists will know, which is okay because at that point I feel like learning to get it right is more a bonus than an obligation especially if it’s not plot relevant, but I generally want to make everything as accurate and realistic as possible to the point that the story unfolding in the reader’s head matches the film I’m imagining in mine. Most of the time, I can bullshit my way through stuff I don’t know, but bullshitting also takes talent, which... well. The thing about talent is that you need to have it or develop it, it’s not always something someone can help you with. But still, it’s a bit of a weird problem to articulate when the crux of it comes down to me saing like an idiot, “Uh, I don’t know how things work.” I kinda vaguely know how governments work. My knowledge of science and technology and math is in the negatives. And I don’t have a goddamn clue how the military works, which is a great joke on me for falling in love with a character like Shepard and wanting to write a million fics about them. So, just, part of this is research, but oftentimes research is only half the problem. The other half of the problem is sitting down at my keyboard and thinking “Great, now how am I going to write it?” because more often than not what happens is that the information I just read off Wikipedia or an obscure informative website just collects dust in my brain. I’m trying to be patient with myself about this kind of thing, because on some level I realize I’m pretty damn young and sometimes you just learn things by! going through life! But I am also an impatient ravenclaw motherfucker who wants to be a good writer Right Now. I want to know how things work and how they affect the people around them! I want to be able to make my story and understanding of the world as accurate as possible! I want people to go “yes, this makes absolute sense” not just “oh, that sounds kinda right I guess?” One thing I try to remind myself is, when I think a small thing sounds wrong or try-hard or that that thing doesn’t quite sound right for whatever reason, most of the time, the reader has no idea. The reader might be skimming over it, they may be digesting it without any sense that something is wrong about it whatsoever, hell they might even like it. I mean, if you asked me to read a friend’s fic and point out an error, I’d have to pull out a magnifying glass to find one, and they’d probably be able to recite a laundry list’s worth within five seconds. So there’s that.

Environmental building. I feel like I'm improving on this simply because I've finally started acknowledging where characters are even located in a place at all, lmfao. I'd like to upgrade to "being so good at describing locations and environments that someone other than me can ‘see’ where they are," but atm I'm settling for, "remember to at least TRY to transcribe the physical locale I see in my mind, because half of the time you forget to do even that, dumbass."

Characterization. This is a big one because it affects so much else, namely, the course of the entire fic. I say this all the time to reviewers but I mean it. A fair amount of time I can type on autopilot and it’s like the characters are doing all the work for me, but other times I sit for an hour scratching my head saying “Jesus, what would Varric say in this situation?” and then I realize “Maybe Varric wouldn’t even let himself get into this situation in the first place,” and that starts a whole chain of doubt and thinking about rewriting and actual rewriting while wondering if the rewriting is even necessary. I've recently been able to put my most consistent problem to words, and that's that I will always have staple issues with the POV characters. The nature of my style means that I spend a lot of time in the POV's head, which sometimes means less energy is spent developing their actual actions. E.g., say I write a fic with Shepard as the POV. If Garrus is in the fic, he is absolutely going to be the snarky, confident, more proactive version of himself to make up for all of the angst and moaning I will inevitably write as a result of digging into Shepard's mind. But say I write the same fic with Garrus as the POV. Depending on the time setting, I will be so caught up in his head as he worries about his mom dying and his guilt over losing his team and his place in the Hierarchy or if his dad will ever forgive him or his insecurities over his relationship with Shepard, that Shepard-the-deuteragonist will have to be the talkative, confident marine to draw him out of his own head. And again, imagine this is, like, the same story -- the same story written from a different perspective shouldn’t go a different way! In this example, some of the gap can be excused with the fact that by necessity, the POV has them viewing each other. Garrus and Shepard know each other well enough to know each other's bravado and strength can be a facade for their seriously fucked up emotional issues, so it's not that they imagine the other never has these moments of darker reflection that they do. And the same thing about Varric and Hawke or Hawke and Fenris, etc etc. Depending on how you play them, they could also be looking at each other through rose-colored glasses, or be so used to accepting and supporting the other through their private uncertainties that for the sake of the fic, that what they mostly register in the other is just the best or most confident side of the other's behavior. Narratively, I've realized it might come out of a subliminal urge to balance one's introspective side with the other's more proactive side, which may work sometimes (if they're both serving aggressive roles in the story, for me, the fic might get too 'loud'; if they're both too quiet, it'll just get boring), but most times I feel like it doesn't do justice to the "loud" parts of the POV character, since they are always the one who gets caught in paragraphs on paragraphs of angsty introspection in their own head due to my inability to write anything else. Shepard and Garrus are undeniably “loud” characters no matter how you slice it. Shepard may mope and pine and nearly drown in her depression in her private moments, but she's also a marine, and she’s proactive and brave and assertive. So I'm trying to be hyperaware of when I lose those facets of her personality through the trees when I try to capture the forest that is her darker side. And I would be wholly welcome to anybody who has comments on that type of thing in the future, if I write a character that isn't acting like themself.

This got a lot longer than I thought it would so now I’m not sure how to end it. I think I’m just going to sit in silence for a moment then heat up some soup. Hmm.

ETA: I would be ashamed if I didn’t mention @tetrahedrals, who consistently provides me wonderfully helpful feedback on my ME fic, and none of whose fault this is. All remaining errors in my fic after they’ve been beta’d and workshopped are entirely mine, but she’s helped me a lot to ensure there are far fewer than there might have been. xo

[groundramon]

(shera s4 spoilers - dont want to tag so pls scroll if you’re avoiding)

ive been thinking abt that shera criticism post and idk....i feel like enby stereotypes are “inhuman” yes, but also “robotic”, “alien”, etc.  Double Trouble is a chameleon elf-lookin motherfucker but they’re also.....very much native to that planet.  Like they’re as humanoid as Catra is.  I guess most of the other main characters are humanoid but idk.  They aren’t a literal robot/clone like Hordak.  Lizards/chameleons also aren’t exactly known for their gender-shifting capabilities, although you could argue something about a shapeshifter being enby.  At the end of the day, Double Trouble is voiced by an ACTUAL nonbinary person and is in a show worked on by MANY different LGBT+ people, I think even some of the writers are nonbinary but im too lazy to factcheck.  So I’d say Double Trouble is good nonbinary representation even though they’re also a flamboyant gay (but at the end of the day theyre just a Mood)

Not gonna touch the antisemitism/racism claims with a ten foot pole tho.  I dont think anyone is arguing that they were intentional and quite frankly i have nothing to argue about.  It’s not my place and I’m inclined to side with concerned minorities.  Even if you think it’s “stupid” or “jumping to conclusions” these are genuine psychological triggers for minority groups because it reminds them of other people’s abuse towards them and their cultures.  Just because no harm was intended or its unlikely (if not impossible) to create more bigots doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be acknowledged.

I was gonna write that on the actual post but i saw it had 1400 notes and i was like mmm nah im not touching that shitstorm

It’s obvious to me that OP meant “concerns” quite literally.  It’s good to have concerns.  I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - as an aspiring cartoon writer who cares greatly about diversity, I hope that when I write my stories, people in the distant future will look back at my representation and find it outdated.  Concerns and critiques create conversation and conversation is good.  Just because you’re worried about something in a show being not as progressive as it could/should be doesn’t mean you have to boycott the show or hate it.

I’m definitely worried that Shera could end up a better SU but we’ll wait and see because SU’s ending, despite how powerful it was, was probably about as bad as it could be for the overall story/the fandom’s loyalty to it.  Also Voltron but Voltron never had very good representation lmfao.  At least Shera does.

[zygomatic-process-2018]

11/1/19

November, the writer’s traditional month of gratitude. I’m lazy and lately life has been throwing me some shade, so it’s time to get back to basics and fundamentals of happiness.

Making a daily Gratitude list is the most annoying advice ever. I actually hate that this is going to be a topic for the entire month. See, I’m a cynical person. I have historically been a logical person who is frequently accused of being emotionless. This is far from the truth. In fact, my body turns off my emotions without me wanting it to. It’s the type of body function that is similar to breathing. It just happens. No thought, just do.

Getting into gratitude takes effort. It requires for me to focus on the small positive aspects of life instead of doing what my mind wants: focus on the negative, fix all the problems, make sure everything is perfect. This is an exhausting way to live. Nothing will be perfect, not everything can be fixed and not everything is detrimental to my existence. My brain is creative and has helped me survive some awful situations through this lifetime. My brain is always on the lookout for the next potential threat, amping me up for the next battle. I must come from a long line of warriors because in the face of danger, time slows down. I feel absolute silence and have razor sharp focus. I don’t tell my body to do that, it just does it. In fact, when I’m hyper focused or calm during typically frantic situations, I know my body is in shock. It’s overwhelmed with perceived threats and everything goes blank. It’s really interesting to notice and even more interesting observing what happens after the shock starts.

The hard part of all of this is when my body does this in every day, normal situations. I’ve had some very scary, painful, terrible things happen to me throughout my life. Maybe that’s why I have a high stress tolerance and don’t find every day pitfalls an issue. Maybe that’s why I can handle adversity seemingly easily. I’ve been through so much worse, that my every day conflicts (traffic, crowding, losing time, etc) roll off my back because this ain’t $hyt compared to what I’ve already survived.

Living this way isn’t glamorous or exciting. It doesn’t always make me feel like a warrior (sometimes it does, which is fun). In fact, it has some major downfalls. When you are anticipating adversity, it’s hard to stay grateful. I roll my eyes regularly at gratitude because it’s such a chick’s advice. I just picture this pristine housewife sitting me down at a kids table with crayons saying, “ok honey, let’s sit down and write out some things we are grateful for” in a gentle Snow White voice. Cut to me, gothic Wednesday Addams playing the Mr. Pickles theme song and carving my list into the desk with a dagger. Yeah that sounds about right.

So, for the rest of the month I’m going hard on this gratitude thing. I’ll try not to be annoying but for the most part I want you to know that this is difficult for me. This part of my development is met with my inner eye rolling teenager who thinks all adults are idiots. Don’t worry high school Mary, we are idiots and we already know it.

Without further adieu...

November 1, 2019: Today I am grateful that I have found my voice and have open forums that allow me to express my opinions without persecution. There have been so many times in my life where I couldn’t speak my opinion. I had to “put on the show” in a sense. I was constricted to Best Behavior. I’m not that type of person. I’m a free bird, and rules are lame.

Best behavior drives me nuts. We all know that all of you in society don’t actually act in the way you portray. We know the polished look you’ve created and plaster all over social media isn’t real. You aren’t fooling anyone except yourself when you think we don’t know what you’re doing. We see your lip injections, your fake photo ops, and we see your desperation. Don’t feel bad, we’ve all been there. You have the opportunity to change that if you want to. It’s so much easier to be genuine and share your honest opinion. For anyone that’s accidentally broke character and surprised people with “how funny you are,” you can see how the entire group seems to breathe easier around you when they realize that you’re “cool.” People don’t want to feel restricted and uptight pretty much ever. When you are rigid and demand perfection, no one wants to be around you. I’d rather be alone and do whatever I want without judgement than have a billion social media followers and be a model. I don’t need to be perfect all the time and I have more fun being me. That’s why I write. I use my freedom of speech to drop some truth bombs on you so you can ease up a bit.

Now if I lived in China or North Korea, you’d never know my opinion. Lmfao America! Long live freedom of speech.