#thoughts on stories

[sevensistersofsussex]

Hi! (I'm the same anon that asked about Klena and Delena fandom)

So I've read almost every klena fic that exists, and the hate for Damon is something that is common with almost all of them. (Not that I mind, I generally don't care about his character) but I find it interesting because usually he turns into the villain or the abusive partner, while Klaus remains fully a love interest and shows growth, even when he is still written to be a villain. This is not a complain to the Klena fandom btw! I like that they explore the worst parts of Damon because the show writers never allowed him to face consequences for his actions, but I don't understand why Klaus gets to have a chance to have a development in most of these fits, while Damon never changes, and I guess this must have something to do with how these characters were originally written.

I wondered what is it that makes them so different, like what "redeeming" quality does Klaus have that Damon doesn't?

Why Klaus gets to have a chance to have a development in most of these fics, while Damon never changes.

I mean, to put it simply, it's because he is one of the main characters in a Klena fic. Main characters get time and space to develop and grow.

I've not read every Klena fic in the fandom, not even close. Not even half, so I can't speak for any fic other than my own. But take Liberal Arts as an example. Damon is an antagonist in that fic because his want directly opposes the main want of the fic: Klaus and Elena getting together. If the fic were written from Damon's perspective, then he'd come across much differently than he does now. There are many things to consider when reading a story but one of the main ones I think you should ask yourself is, whose perspective am I reading this from and does it matter?

What makes them different. What "redeeming" quality does Klaus have that Damon doesn't.

A redemption arc in a story shows a bad or morally grey character becoming good at the end of the narrative. I don't think either of these characters get much of a true redemption arc. Dying doesn't count for me.

But honestly, I just don't think about redemption for any of these characters. Stories are just perspective to me.

[yeepof]

I understand that tall men are our POV characters, but surely being like a foot taller than everyone around them would have some occasional consequences

[noodles-and-tea]

Our hextech dream….

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

[qiinamii]

we'll do fine.

[lavender-gloom]

lowkey guys, remember to write for yourself too. i abandoned my favorite wip of all time for two years because i thought other people wouldn’t like it. that sucked, and i decided to stop caring if other people will think it’s weird and write what i like. it’s made me a lot happier since i’ve accepted that

[chloesimaginationthings]

Purple Michael is the best FNAF Michael

[transassdemon]

[My art, don't steal, tag if reposting]

[devsgames]

I saw someone be like "It's still as good a time as ever to take a risk and make your indie game into a breakout success, just look at Lethal Company!"

Let's just be clear that "massively unpredictable viral success making an ungodly amount of money" does not equal "realistic and attainable benchmark" for almost any other indie dev.

[dangeroustaintedflawed]

[a-caterpillars-world]

Something I find that people are missing when comparing Minecraft Story Mode to the Minecraft movie trailer is that, while MSM absolutely has its writing problems, compared to the Minecraft movie there's a level of sincerity that puts it well above. Where the Minecraft movie grimaces at itself and refuses to actually care about Minecraft as a game, MCSM treats the concept of "living in a Minecraft world" about as seriously as it can. Things like poofing into a pile of inventory when you die seems silly to us, as outsiders looking in, but to the characters who have been living under these rules their whole lives, they might as well be looking at a corpse. Meanwhile, it doesn't happen in the teaser trailer, but I'd bet anything that Minecraft death and item drops will be the subject of a quippy "well THAT just happened (⊙_⊙;)" joke and nothing more. If you can't at least take yourself seriously while exploring what life would be like under Minecraft rules, then you should not be making a movie about it.

[kenchann]

new tweel cards in august iam so cooked

[raynewolferune]

DC x DP Prompt: Bruce is bad at emoting but at least ghosts are empathic (too bad bat kids are not)

Was reading Twincognito on AO3 when I stumbled across this gem again:

~

" “Danny, Tim. I was just…checking in. Is everything alright?” Curse his inability to make meaningful conversation when it wasn’t a life or death situation.

They glanced at each other and shrugged.

Then Danny hauled himself out of the bed and walked over to Bruce.

Bruce tried not to let too much excitement show on his face. "

~

Now I really want to read a story where Bruce adopts Danny post Meta trafficking and is being his usual emotionally constipated self. His kids keep getting mad at him because he's treating their new meta brother who was trafficked poorly (generally being stilted in conversation with him, walking away hurriedly mid-conversation, avoiding Danny when he's feeling really awkward, etc). They think Bruce is discriminating against Danny for being a civilian, meta, dealer's pick, but really it's just Bruce being horribly socially awkward. Danny knows this because of ghost empathy and find the whole thing hilarious. The whole thing comes to a head with the Bat Kids staging an intervention in the Bat Cave.

[ncutii-gatwa]

really makes me laugh seeing some people complain doctor who is gay now. babe THIS aired in 2005. doctor who has been gay a long damn time get with the program

[egophiliac]

WAIT when did he get FANGS

[lavender-gloom]

friendly reminder to everyone that first draft just needs to exist.

it doesn’t need to be good, it just needs to be there. stories go through so many different drafts that nobody is gonna care if your first draft is a little messy.

you can’t edit and clean up something that doesn’t exist, so make it exist!