#writing discussion

[polling-sonic-fans]

Thanks for the anonymously submitted polls!

Polling Sonic Fans for their opinions on all manner of things. Share good questions to indicate what you want asked. Submissions open.

[sanguine-arena]

one of my favourite writing stylistic Things (tm): using a phrase as a sort of repetition, but slightly modifying it little by little as the story goes on and the events of the story progress

[did-i-do-this-write]

Hey writeblr, I'm curious about something. You know what that means!

*"shared with others" means like sent in a discord or group chat. You may or may not be aware that the reader did this.

[bibliophilesince2003]

Strong Female Characters

Too many times I pick up a new book to read, but I am immediately met with the female protagonist whose personality is "toughness" and/or "meanness." The equivalent is making a "bad boy" character and calling it a personality. Male or female author, anyone could fall victim to this trap.

Skills and tropes are not personality.

Sure, it's easy to mold a character to snap at everyone in an arrogant manner at every dialogue opportunity and call it a day, but the character remains shallow. Especially for your main character, you should have multiple "words" to describe them. This will bring ease to your writing, too.

For example, for one character of mine... I've put down 18 personality traits in her character chart, and I could likely put down more if given enough time.

When I'm met with a "tough" female protagonist, I'm always expecting more details. What sort of people or what kind of environment makes her stiffen, and - this is as equally as important - what sort of people or what kind of environment makes her relaxed? Being "tough" is more about mood than personality, because surroundings could easily change it.

Is she driven or shy? Is she humorous or serious? Is she observant or a free spirit? Is she clumsy or graceful? Is she friendly or cautious?

Notice how I said "or" and separated the two extremes. You cannot have clumsy and graceful... you must pick one side of the spectrum. A person will naturally lean one way or the other.

Some people make the mistake of choosing the other "extreme" to create weaknesses. "She's driven, but she's shy." Being shy is not a weakness... some people are naturally this way, and there are benefits to being shy.

Find weaknesses within the "extreme" you've chosen.

For example, if one is driven... the weakness is impulsiveness. She may get in trouble, or trouble will find her. Being over-zealous is fine... in doses. Let your character make those mistakes to better represent their personality.

If you're struggling, observe the people in your life. Personality will shine through how a person acts, treats others, talks, etc.

Here's what I do... write down multiple personality traits, decide how extroverted/introverted he/she is, and settle on a single word that wraps up his/her whole character, or most of it, to help refer to something simple during the writing process.

And no, that "single word" better not be a skill or trope.

I want complicated female protagonists again, ones that are more than just mood swings or their environment.

[highlordofkrypton]

Bad writing?

I don't usually participate in ACOTAR critical discussions, but I do wanna jump in on the discussion of bad writing. This was inspired by another post about Nesta & bad writing, but I didn't feel like my response was on topic enough to reply -- but here it is.

Authors have every right to go in a different direction with their character development, but the difference between good and bad writing is how do the characters change.

In my experience, and my personal enjoyment of reading:

A bad writer will simply start writing the character differently with no rhyme or reason.

A good writer will set the character up to experience situations, interactions or anything else that will set the character on a path of growth (whether that is good or bad). Usually, a large characterization shift will contribute to the plot/narrative.

A bad writer will contradict their own established canon. Mind you, they created their canon, these are their own rules. They're allowed to break them, but there should be some kind of reasoning for it.

A good writer will establish why their previous statements are no longer valid so that the reader can actively choose to move with or against the development they're proposing for the character.

A bad writer will tell you that you're wrong in your beliefs of this character.

A good writer will lead you towards different paths of thinking about the character, but ultimately, the reader should feel comfortable in making their own decisions about the character based on what was shown to them.

I'm all for the belief that there are no right or wrongs in writing, especially in fan fiction, but if you're writing for a wide audience (or for an audience that is paying for your work), there should be some kind of consideration for your readers.

Many readers want to know what's going on; they want to join your characters on their journey.

Many readers prefer not to be treated like all their beliefs were wrong without a foundation for changes. I hate using this word, but it makes people feel gaslighted and not in a cool, narrative, plot-twisty way.

Additionally, my biggest personal 'bar' for debating whether a writing is good or bad is if the writing shatters my immersion in the book. If I spend more time thinking to myself how this is wrong for the character without thinking that something is happening for the plot, then yeah, for me it's bad writing.

I do wonder, though, if the entire ACOTAR series is just because Feyre is an unreliable narrator. Since it's written in the first person, and we all know how our hearts and minds can play tricks on us, maybe it's just that.

I haven't read past ACOWAR, nor have I read any of SJM's other series.

Those who have read CC and TOG, thoughts?

[imbecominggayer]

Writing Advice: Writing Disabled People

I thought about doing some more posts about writing different kinds of people after my last post that somehow managed to get on @cripplecharacters blew up. So this is for you :D

I'm going to give you one piece of advice that you need to carry with you for all your life.

There are different definitions of a fulfilling life.

Oftentimes, through entertainment, watching our parents, and just existing we pick up different dreams. And those dreams often exclude disabled people.

Today, this topic is going to be centered on tragedy and joy that disabled people/characters have. And what a fullfilling life can be.

Obviously, someone whose definition of a fulfilling life includes "I want to have all of my limbs" would not be able to have an enjoyable life if they somehow lost a limb.

That's where change comes in!

You adapt to your circumstances. You change your idea of what a fulfilling life means. You include what you are always going to be inside your definition of what a fulfilling life means.

Oftentimes, people are going to given the idea of a fulfilling life. Maybe it's a nuclear family. Maybe it's unlimited freedom. Maybe it's a high paying job. Maybe it's a certain creative passion. Maybe it's just having all your limbs

You probably have your own idea of what a fulfilling life looks like. And if you aren't disabled or don't share the same disability as your character, you might impart your own subjective experience on this character.

It's this reason that authors often make disabled characters tragic or insane. They can't imagine having a fulfilling life if they didn't have intelligence, conventional beauty, independence, traditional social structures, certain physical capabilities, and other aspects that could be impacted by disability.

I certainly struggle with this. And you probably do to.

But when you open your mind, you realize that humans are purely adapting creatures. No matter what happens in your character or even your life, you can find fulfillment.

Allow your character to live a life that others and maybe even you would call tragic, or boring, or maddening, or pathetic. Give them the right to be seperate from you. And then give them happy days. Give them moments where regardless of what their life is, they are fulfilled.

Stories often center on the question "after tragedy, can we find happiness?". After death, is there a second chance for the living? After loss, can we gain something new?

Why shouldn't that be the same for a character who was born disabled or developed disability?

Yes, they lost the chance to dream about your fulfilling dream. But that doesn't mean it's impossible for your characters and your fellow humans to develop their own fulfilling life.

When you learn this, life becomes a lot less scarier. While I haven't totally internalized the advice, I have picked up some of the benefits. I don't fear losing my sight. If I do live to be old, I can learn to grow into my body. No matter what happens, I can be happy.

Tagging: @differentnighttale, @melda0m3, @12-cluh, @ravennova7, @madmadhuman, @drivingmebonkas, @fanwriting93, @startheoverseer

[dreamwreaver]

@tacsorium I decided to answer in a post because it's too long for a reply.

To answer your question; some of the intrigue might be based on earlier drafts where Charlie was going to have crushes on men (including al) but end the series with a girlfriend. But also, Charlie and Alastor are dark reflections of one another so their dynamic is inherently going to be something that's interesting to watch. I can't say for certain what route they want alastor's potential manipulation to take; however they have already shown us inserting himself as a wedge between Charlie and those who have the potential to be closest to her, namely her father and vaggie. And, romantic or not, Charlie is being set up to be alastor's "person" his exception to all his personal rules. We know he doesn't like being touched without consent and yet he allows Charlie to do as she pleases with him.

As for chaggie, no, I don't feel like they felt like a couple personally. But my issues with that is solely how little vaggie feels like a complete character outside of Charlie that affects my perception of that dynamic. I'm not opposed to them being a couple, but I am annoyed I don't feel as invested as I should. Their relationship is supposed to be a core element and instead it's just... kind of there. And in a show where there's tons of diversity in sexual and orientation it feels like chaggie's relationship should hold more importance.

Lumity is probably not as apt a comparison since we did get to see it develop over two seasons before they actually got together. Did they have episodes where they went on dates? No, did the plot often get in the way of them being happy? Yes. But at the same time it felt like Luz's romantic connection with amity added more stakes instead of none. Falling for a witch was thematic too since it was part of what sent belos himself over the deep end. And here the villain sees what he deems "another poor human" falling for the same trap that took his brother from him. But Luz also doesn't love amity just because she's a witch, we saw at the time that luz and amity originally didn't get along.

One other ship that seems to be more in line which chaggie is Pearl and rose from Steven universe. Right down to the "do it for her" song "whatever it takes". The problem is that Pearl and rose did have thousands of years together, and even still the betrayal of rose deciding to be with Greg and have Steven cut her to the bone. But Pearl was made for Rose, in a very literal sense. Vaggie it feels to some extent would have fallen for the first person to show her kindness in that vulnerable state and it so happened to be Charlie, there's a sense of indebtedness in both situations. The reason it works for Pearl and rose is that part of pearl's journey in steven universe is learning how to be her own gem, her own person, both in and out her romantic relationships.

Vaggie... doesn't get any of that. And fine, whatever, it's not my show. I don't know what Viv has planned next. But I do feel that we can all agree that if they were going to bother to give vaggie her angel wings back (a topic that's a whole other rant) they could have at least paid it off by having Charlie be rescued by her angelic girlfriend instead of Lucifer ex machina once again. Punching Adam in the face was fine, funny even, but love interest rescuing the falling party is like visual story beat basics.

In short, I don't hate chaggie. I just wish the show had given me more to like. Charlastor fills a trope I like of heroine/villain. It's the trope of "I can fix him/I can make her worse". And as an asexual, it's the chance to explore a character who thinks he's above silly things like attraction of any kind to be walloped by feelings and suffer. I really just want to make Alastor suffer is what it comes down to.

Hope this answers any questions you had for me!

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Given all of this kwami swap talk as well as you explaining how nonsensical it was to hand out the exact two Miraculous that Hawkmoth was looking for to the heroes meant to directly fight his akuma, I’d love to pick your brain about how you think the story would’ve gone if Master Fu gave Marinette the canon Dragon Miraculous and Adrien the canon Turtle Miraculous in Origins instead as well as them having Longg and Wayzz respectively to bounce off of from the get-go. Beyond me loving a classic sword-and-shield combo, I figure that this would still give Marinette the leading stance while giving Adrien the defensive stance in battle, which I personally don’t have a problem with when executed well given Adrien’s issues with self-control in deciding when and on what/whom to use Cataclysm and strategizing in general. In addition to that, having Shellter as Adrien’s power and Wayzz as his kwami would force him to take his and his partner’s disposition in battle seriously from the get-go, with Wayzz being heavily implied to be a kwami that prefers to take his time and thoroughly explain what needs to be done, meaning Adrien would have to show Wayzz that he really understands what he needs to do before getting the transformation phrase out of him.

On Marinette’s side of things, Longg is actually canonically confirmed from his first interaction with Kagami to be a kwami that prefers to take his time and thoroughly explain what needs to be done, which would lead to Marinette being calm enough from his explanation of what’s happening and what her job is to actually remember getting Stoneheart’s akuma the first time without any problems. This is especially in comparison to Tikki who, after Marinette tried to run what she said back to her with a clear lack of full understanding and confidence, even saying verbatim “Aww... this is all going too fast, Tikki... I... won't be able to pull this off!”, simply responds with “Trust yourself, Marinette. Just say ‘Spots on’.” without any further clarification or rerun.

Concerning actually cleansing the akuma, since lightning and especially water have far more cleansing symbolism than creation, either could easily act as the purification of akuma. Lightning could either burn away the negative magic corrupting akumas or burn the akuma itself to ash, which would also deplete Hawkmoth’s collection of butterflies at the time (though Marinette probably wouldn’t like the second option since they’re technically living creatures). An alternative would be Water “washing away” the negative magic in the akuma (while I’m mostly sure that akuma have been sent out in the rain before, Wind could be used to dry off the butterflies before they drown/so their wings aren’t damaged in case I’m misremembering and they’re like normal butterflies in that they can’t get wet). I know I specifically asked for your analysis on the canon Miraculous being given out, and while I would still like that I’m okay with fudging the Dragon JUST this much since it already has established advantages over other Miraculous, a minor wielder not detransforming until all three powers are used instead of just one for example. And while the restoration of Miraculous Ladybug would no longer be an option from the jump, I’m honestly cool with that this far into watching the show as it would push the Parisian officials to get off their butts and actually try to solve the magical terrorist issue WITH the heroes instead of expecting them to just manage everything.

You're actually hitting real close to my "fix" for the dragon with the whole sword-and-shield thing because I absolutely think that the dragon and the turtle should have been a matched set of sorts. I don't like the fact that only the ladybug and the black cat get paired up. I want all of the Kwamis to be part of some sort of set (doesn't need to be a set of two! Just a set). However, I don't see how a sword-and-shield combo fits Adrien and Marinette or how this miraculous pairing would work in the context of canon, though that may just be because I'm missing something. I'll give you why this isn't clicking for me and you can do with that what you will. Do not let me stop you from writing this fic or loving this concept! Fan theories are about having fun, not about appealing to me. I'm only giving you all of this because you asked for my thoughts. Don't feel obligated to read it if it makes you sad.

For me, Marinette's defining feature is her creativity and this setup removes that or at least heavily cuts it back. While you can be creative with the dragon's powers, they're basically just elemental speed boosts which isn't useful in most situations unless we're going to allow akumas to get electrocuted now.

The fights would also become a lot less unique as the heroes are now limited to a shield and the three flavors of elemental speed boost. Those aren't exactly the most diverse powersets in the world, especially given that the elemental thing requires you to physically charge in. You're not casting elemental abilities like a wizard. This new setup could still work if you nerfed the butterfly and made it so that the akumas didn't have such a wide variety of powers, but as-is, that doesn't sound like a balanced fight. The heroes feel too heavily disadvantaged and limited, especially given that they're now both close combat style fighters while akumas can still be ranged.

There's also the issue that Marinette isn't suited to close combat fighting. She has no training in any form of combat sport. Between her and Adrien, it seems more logical to give him the dragon, not her. He's the fencer, after all, and the dragon's weapon is that sudo sword baton thing. Adrien's also better suited to close combat fighting in terms of narrative role while removing Marinette's ranged abilities would further undermine her current role.

In terms of fighting styles, canon's setup is that Adrien does close combat and distraction techniques while Marinette sticks to long range attacks so that she has time to think. This is a really solid dynamic because it lets Marinette be creative. Making Marinette a close combat fighter would drastically limit her ability to be creative because you don't have time to be creative when you're doing that style of fighting. Your brain is simply too focused on survival (saying this as someone who fenced for several years). This is why tacticians are usually at the back of the battlefield relaying orders. You don't tend to send them to the front lines if you can help it.

The final issue with Marinette having the dragon in a canon setup is that I really don't think that you can get away with removing the magical reset button that is her ladybug cure. There are simply way too many akumas that cause mass destruction and even implied death. You'd have to massively nerf the akumas for this change to feel reasonable as it's not a minor change in stakes or tone. Akumas like Syren or The Bubbler would be impossible and you can never let anyone get injured because they now had to heal on a normal timeline, meaning that Adrien would probably end up sidelined before the end of season one.

While I get the desire to have the authorities step in and help more, your theory that the officials would work with the heroes doesn't really match what we've seen in canon or what tends to happen in these sorts of stories. The more likely setup is for the officials to work on solving the case without the heroes help or with the heroes only supplying the occasional tip/coming when summoned via something like the bat signal because, generally speaking, what information can the heroes really give them? Plus that setup requires the heroes and the government officials to have some sort of clear and open line of communication or standard meeting cadence, which is pretty risky and also ads at least one adult character who is now a major player in the story. An adult character who has this as their full time job while the teens are in school unless we're aging everyone up and letting the heroes be available during normal business hours or setting the story during summer vacation?

We've mostly focused on the dragon here, so let's take a moment to talk about the turtle. I do like Adrien as a backup user for the turtle, but you'd have to change the turtle up a bit if you wanted to make it his full-time role. Chat Noir is an incredibly dynamic fighter who jumps around the battlefield via a mix of acrobatics and his staff. Carapace's fighting style is much more tanky with him just holding up the shield and watching for opportunities to move in and defend with his power. This makes perfect sense and would be true for any turtle because of the turtle's weapon and power set. A shield is not suited to offense unless you make it work like Captain America's shield where it's a mix between a shield and a boomerang. For a normal shield, throwing it is a one-time use weapon. It's also not an offensive weapon, so Adrien would be heavily limited in terms of how he could fight.

And if we switch the turtle to Marinette? Then we're back to the whole limited-creativity thing. The turtle's power isn't meant for defeating villains. It's meant for protecting allies and civilians. Whoever is wielding it needs to be watching the fight, looking for risks. They can't give most of their attention to plotting how to win.

All that being said, I really like using the dragon and the turtle to flesh out the team. I think the turtle being the third member of the existing team would make total sense as a way to solve Chat Noir's self-sacrifice problem. You could also replace the black cat with the dragon and make it dragon!Adrien, Ladybug, and a turtle holder, but I'm not really seeing a functional version of canon that removes the Ladybug. It would be a wildly different story.

You asked about the Kwamis, too, so let's end on that!

Wayzz and Longg seem like solid mentors who could arguably replace Tikki without massively changing the feel of the story, but I'm hesitant to replace Plagg. Plagg's got one of the strongest personalities in canon and is the source of a lot of comedy to the point where his poor movie treatment upset a lot of people. Straight up removing him and replacing him with more serious Kwami would change that element of canon even more and I don't know if it would be a good change. Plagg and Tikki's opposing personalities give you a lot to work with. Wayzz and Longg would be way less dynamic and interesting as they're both responsible and calm.

We also have to keep in mind that a lot of Tikki and Plagg's flaws come from the fast pace of the show. Tikki rushed Marinette in Origins because the writers wanted to fit everything into 40 minutes and also establish why Marinette needed to cleans the butterflies in every episode, so they had Marinette and Adrien get their miraculous during the first akuma attack and then mess that up to establish the show's stakes. If they'd been given their miraculous even a day earlier, then things would have gone a lot smoother as Tikki would have had time to fully explain things since no one was in danger. This rushed stakes issue would apply to any Kwami who was handed out during an attack. After all, Wayzz and Longg don't exactly get to give Nino and Kagami detailed explanations when they were chosen either. If Adrien got the dragon or the turtle mid-battle, then I picture things going very similar to Kagami getting the dragon:

Longg: Greetings, young lady and good day to you. Fear not, I am Longg, the Dragon Kwami. Kagami: You're a what? Longg: A Kwa-mi... Allow me to tell you about the many feats that a magic being like myself will help you accomplish once the magic words have been spoken. (Kagami puts on the Miraculous) Ladybug has hopes that you will defeat Ikari Gozen with panache, using the element of your choosing. Wind, water or lightning. But firstly, let me tell you about her plan. Kagami: Longg, bring the storm! Longg: Wait! No! Not yet!

After all, that's basically what happened in Origins:

Plagg: Claws out! That's how you transform. Adrien: Got it. Plagg, claws out! Plagg: No, wait! I haven't finished explaining!--- (enters the ring)

[eldritchtouched]

Actually, I'm still bothered by this, now, with regard to Marika and the Shattering.

The main quest in the base game now shouldn't have happened at all, if you try to incorporate the DLC information and that this is supposed to be an answer related to Marika.

Because there are four possibilities now about the nature of the Elden Ring:

The Elden Ring makes you a god.

The Elden Ring is being used as a leash by the Greater Will/Elden Beast.

It both grants you godhood and makes you beholden to the Greater Will/Elden Beast.

The Elden Ring isn't actually either of those things. It is just a powerful magic ring and its pieces are pieces of its power.

The Elden Ring does have power- the Great Runes all have magical effects. You can muck with it and add and subtract runes from it to alter the state of the world itself and everyone in it. It's a plot point that Marika removed the Rune of Death and how this affected the world and how she got her Golden Order.

If it's a leash, it makes no sense for it to do that, to give Marika more power when you want to keep her under your control.

On top of that, after the Elden Beast is slain and the connection to the Greater Will severed, it still has power enough to grant Ranni's Age of Stars and the various Mending Rune endings. Meaning it doesn't really work as a 'leash.'

But if godhood is granted by going through the Divine Gate and the ritual involving a lord and vessel and god, Marika shattering the Elden Ring is pointless. It isn't where her divinity comes from. It doesn't stop her from being a god. Her divinity is now intrinsic to herself after she did the ritual. Radagon attempting to repair it is nonsense, too, as he would know their divinity doesn't come from a magic ring. It would only work if it's a leash/connection to the Greater Will, then.

And if Miquella is basically supposed to be her repeated, then their process makes no sense in relation to the Shattering. The Story Trailer also makes this clear that Marika did this process.

But Miquella's stuff would mean that Marika shouldn't be in conflict about her own divinity enough to want to stop being a god. It undercuts the theme the game tries to set up with Miquella, that becoming a god involves stripping away all your humanity and you're utterly unrecognizable. But Marika was in conflict about her divinity and humanity with her situation with Radagon. It's a pretty important plot point in the base game's story.

If it's both, both problems remain, though. If the Elden Ring is both power and leash, then it still doesn't change that the Divine Gate stuff happened and Marika is a divinity still, so shattering the Elden Ring doesn't actually change her being a god. And giving someone power if they're supposed to be leashed is also stupid.

But if it's none of that, if the Elden Ring is just a magic ring of great power, then it raises its own questions. Why would Marika having it matter at all? Why bother shattering it, if that's not going to stop you from being a god? Why would the Greater Will's vassal punish Marika for shattering it and the Order's "leal hound" try to repair it? Radagon and the Elden Beast and Marika all would know this is utterly irrelevant.

[sunnywalnut]

Hello writers of Tumblr! I've got a quick question for you

Background for said question for those that want to give an informed answer: I myself am white and on a quest to find enjoyable and inoffensive language to describe wide ranges of people, specifically nonwhite folks and have come across the term while reading through a Tumblr post about a king and his group of concubines with various government backgrounds.

The description piqued my interest and I immediately liked it, looked it up, and loved it even more, since from what I know, foxes are pretty much the one animal nobody has a problem with being compared to. Silver foxes, vixens, or just regular old "you're a total fox" comments. But now that I've thought about it a bit more, I'm curious.

I've looked into it. On Google, on the handful of blogs dedicated to writing poc correctly such as @writingwithcolor, and even a reddit post or two. But very few were actually about what I was looking for, and even fewer had anything to say other than "it means a person with high cheek bones and narrow eyes"

So before I do any writing with it, I'd like to know what you guys think.

Thank you

[polling-sonic-fans]

Thanks for the anonymously submitted poll!

Polling Sonic Fans for their opinions on all manner of things. Share good questions to indicate what you want asked. Submissions open.

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

"oh noooo what if my readers think my new idea is unoriginal and refuse to read it :("

the readers in question and also literally me: "i've read this piece like 10 times already i am foaming at the mouth can you make more of it"