the thing about subverting a genre and its conventions is you have to love a genre and its conventions to be any good at it. otherwise it's sparkling literary fiction

A wonderful and topical column from a respected queer columnist! How refreshing!!!

I would give the link but you know how Tumblr hates links.

I personally find the pulled quote "I am not entitled to a perpetual state of comfort" to be a) the wisest most comforting shit I've heard all year and b) a maliciously abdicated concept in most young reactionary gays. Also known as tenderqueers, or purity police, or puriteens. So here I go.

JP is an immensely cool guy. We went to college together (generally, not personally). He doesn't play in fandom, or at least doesn't write much about it, so we are now seeing fandom purity culture bleed into "real life" asks and columns and I for one am exhausted. The sheer ignorance of gay history is the bulk of the problem and I don't know how to make younger queers understand that we've always been kinky, we've always been weird and outside and rejected, and while ITS COOL THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE THAT NOW(?), you have ZERO rights to try and cringe-cancel and sanitize a culture of survivors triple your age. Because of les uncomfix, or anything else.

(TW: small fandom-centric story involving trauma dumping re: sexual abuse and incest)

It reminds me of when I received a comment on a chapter of Bandages and Bravado, accusing me of (here we go) promoting/adoring incest for? Midnight making a joke that Aizawa needed a "daddy".

That was it. I also tagged for it. It was a joking sort of tag, because it was ONE SENTENCE, ONE THROW AWAY CONCEPT, like ha ha we are referencing living/classic gay culture in a story about stupid Japanese heroes.

Then.

This person was deeply upset and triggered and trauma dumped, semi-graphically, in the comments on a BDSM-centered fic with nearly exhaustive tags, about how their father sexually abused them and how they have to walk through life knowing that people do this thing that I referenced, and why would I ever do that. This thing that, according to the level of their deep grief, I invented (???) and wrote into a very unrelated story (????) for callous and ignorant laughs.

There is so much wrong with this ahistorical, ignorant, unhealed and reactionary approach to kink and sex and I am still so very sorry that this person stumbled upon that one sentence, or concept, and it was enough to provoke that kind of pain.

I also know that it had little, if nothing, to do with me.

I said (paraphrased), "I am deeply sorry you had to live through that. You should probably not be reading this fic. While it is still your choice, I would not recommend it, because the fact you didn't expect to see basic gay kink content/context in a themed fic overly tagged as such probably means you're not mature enough for the complicated contents to come. It will probably lead to more distress, and I don't want that for you. I will be deleting your comment within 24 hours, due to the fact that others have not consented to your graphic descriptions of your very real abuse. In sharing in public spaces, you may trigger someone else, and I'm certain that was not your intent."

And I did. I was shaken, and sorry, and mad, mostly at the idea that young people (I'm assuming they were young) are irresponsibly barging into pieces of fiction and destroying themselves like this. And, in terms of their comment, possibly harming other people who had come into the space responsibly and weren't at all expecting to encounter an accusatory first hand account of incest and abuse in a story actually WHOLLY unrelated to such things.

I'm just tired, y'all. You are not entitled to perpetual comfort. You are entitled only to maintain your own sense of comfort and your ability to enter and exit spaces that you believe violate your comfort. You cannot do this at the expense of others, and not everything on this green earth is engineered to harm you. Some things simply are.

And if you metaphorically walk up to a rock in the middle of the road and bend over to bash your head into it, not even have the excuse of TRIPPING on it, then you need to take some time with yourself and figure out how to effectively champion your own internet safety. It's your most important responsibility out here, and if you show up with gushing head-wounds more than once, you may not have your own best interests at heart.

Enjoy the good. Block the bad. Curate your feed. BUILD YOUR BUBBLE. MAINTAIN YOUR ARBITRARY CONCEPT OF SAFETY.

And please, PLEASE stop self-harming on my, or anyone's, accurately tagged content. Because did you know? That's what you're doing.

This is sad. Are people really so very afraid of what it is to be human, to imagine, to experience complicated longing. It is different than acting on it, that is the whole point, to recognize all that goes into being human and to be at times messed up, to understand what internal forces are at work, and to then choose to act in a way that reflectes your actual values. Psychoanalysis talks about “the return of the repressed” - if you are always afraid of yourself and repressing so much, you will be even more likely to act out in some way at some point.

I have no doubt that this era of purity culture has had a hand in recent bouts of anti intellectualism. So many people will only interact with something that they can fully align their morality with, ignoring the fact that fiction imparts lessons onto us that can affect or change our own understanding of morals.

Facsim doesn’t want to test your morals, it wants to tell you what your morals are and stick to them.

You cannot tell an anti-war story without depicting war, you cannot tell a story about equality without first depicting inequality. But now that people aren’t interacting with moral challenging media they cannot tell the difference between a story deconstructing a social problem vs a story promoting a social problem. Which leads to people becoming susceptible to propaganda.

Of course there are stories that depict gratuitous, uncritical, unhealthy themes, but you will not know that unless you read it. One of my least favourite books of all time due to its racism and misogyny is also one of my favourite books to deconstruct and analyze. I could go for hours about how so many of the harmful themes go over people’s heads under the guise of ‘pro mental health’, but I would not have be able to have that conversation unless I had read the book.

📢 not hanfu | costume inspired by comprehensive xiyu culture along silk road in tang dyasty by 司南阁

ᴛɪᴘꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ [ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀ]

don't let your skill in writing deter you. publishers look for the storyline, not always excellent writing. many of the greatest books came from mediocre writers—and also excellent and terrible ones.

keep writing even when it sucks. you don't know how to write this battle scene yet? skip ahead. write [battle scene here] and continue. in the end, you'll still have a book—and you can fill in the blanks later.

find your motivation. whether it's constantly updating That One Friend or posting your progress, motivation is key.

write everything down. everything. you had the perfect plot appear to you in a dream? scribble down everything you can remember as so as you can. I like to keep cue cards on my nightstand just in case.

play with words. titles, sentences, whatever. a lot of it will probably change either way, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new turn of phrase—or move along on one you're not quite sure clicks yet.

explain why, don't tell me. if something is the most beautiful thing a character's ever laid eyes on, describe it—don't just say "it's beautiful".

ask for critique. you will always be partial to your writing. getting others to read it will almost always provide feedback to help you write even better.

stick to the book—until they snap. write a character who is disciplined, courteous, and kind. make every interaction to reinforce the reader's view as such. but when they're left alone, when their closest friend betrays them, when the world falls to their feet...make them finally break.

magic. has. limits. there is no "infinite well" for everyone to draw from, nor "infinite spells" that have been discovered. magic has a price. magic has a limit. it takes a toll on the user—otherwise why can't they simply snap their fingers and make everything go their way?

read, read, read. reading is the source of inspiration.

first drafts suck. and that's putting it gently. ignoring all the typos, unfinished sentences, and blatant breaking of each and every grammar rules, there's still a lot of terrible. the point of drafts is to progress and make it better: it's the sketch beneath an oil painting. it's okay to say it's not great—but that won't mean the ideas and inspiration are not there. first drafts suck, and that's how you get better.

write every day. get into the habit—one sentence more, or one hundred pages, both will train you to improve.

more is the key to improvement. more writing, more reading, more feedback, and you can only get better. writing is a skill, not a talent, and it's something that grows with you.

follow the rules but also scrap them completely. as barbossa wisely says in PotC, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules". none of this is by the book, as ironic as that may be.

write for yourself. I cannot stress this enough. if what you do is not something you enjoy, it will only get harder. push yourself, but know your limits. know when you need to take a break, and when you need to try again. write for yourself, and you will put out your best work.

how to write relatable characters

writing relatable characters may seem like an easy task, especially when you’re constructing your protagonist. but what if you want to make your antagonist likeable? what if you want people to hate your protagonist but still root for them? all of this and more requires that your characters be relatable. they need to feel real, so how do you do that? here’s how:

- flaws: this is probably obvious. everyone has flaws, so we should give our characters flaws, too. this applies even if your character is non-human; they cannot escape the personification that we as writers or readers project onto them. we are humans reading, so we expect to see human qualities everywhere we look. if you’re having trouble of identifying your character’s flaws, here are some prompts for ways to think about flaws beyond a list:

- quirks: these are what make your character unique or special, and no, i don’t mean purple eyes or unique physical traits. i mean: what makes your character authentically themselves? what traits define them that few others have? some ways to think about this are:

- values: these come from life experiences: where we were raised, our family and friends, our community, religious affiliations, etc. i suggest identifying eight to ten values that define your character and then narrowing that list down to five values that mark their core or essence. think about how these values influence their choices, decisions, and ultimately, the plot of the novel. here are some more prompts to think about values:

- stakes: what is at risk for your character? what is motivating them? stakes don’t need to be over the top or life or death; they can be as simple as maintaining a relationship or reaching a goal. unless there’s an outside influence (ie. percy’s mother being kidnapped in The Lightning Thief), most stakes—especially those relatable—tie back to values. even those influenced by outside factors can tie back to values: the only reason percy is motivated to get his mother back is because he cares for her and she is the one person who has always advocated for him and cared for him. he values family and riordan uses his family to motivate him and incite the plot. generally, there will be one overarching stake for your character, but throughout your novel, there should be several smaller stakes. these may not service the plot but should elaborate on your character nonetheless. some ways to think about stakes include:

- connection: even if your character is an introvert, they will still be connected to someone, something, or even an idea. we, as humans, look to certain people, pets, objects, and ideas to maintain our sense of reality whether we realize it or not. if your character prides themselves in having no attachments, think about the ideas or themes that mark the cornerstones of their reality. most human beings strive for some form of connection, so here are more prompts for thinking about your characters and connection:

a good rule of thumb is to treat a character as a human, not a plot device. there is a time or place in which a character must act as a plot device, but if you’re wanting your readers to be compelled by your narration and the characters within them, you should strive to write your characters as human (aka as relatable). one of the greatest pleasures i find in writing is when other’s identify themselves in my writing.

you’re not just here to tell a story, you’re here to connect with others through the illustration of your characters. let the reader navigate your prose as a detective, to search for and identify the evidence provided by you. that is to say, show us how these things manifest in your character. don’t tell us.

happy writing! hopefully this post gave you some ways to start thinking about how to show the relatability of your character. if you have any questions about implementing these tools or about writing characters, our ask box is always open.

write EVERY DAY. here's how.

where inspiration fails, habit will always have your back. this is why it's important to build writing into your life as a habit, if you ever want to finish a project or improve your skills.

back in 2018, i (nat) was a college student without much going for me. i was feeling creatively stifled and insecure and like i didn't have TIME to write good. and i was right. i didn't have time to write GOOD. but i did have time to write SOMETHING. so that january, i built the habit. i wrote every single day in 2018, and almost every single day since.

because once you establish the habit, it becomes safer to skip a day (or three days) here and there. you will at least THINK about writing every day, even if you go straight from work to social plans to bed, or you're on vacation, or you're too sick to write. and that thinking is part of the habit!

here are the tips i followed to make this happen.

-pick a reasonable goal. starting off, mine was 300 words. now, i don't follow a goal, because the habit is so solid i don't need to. but 300 words is easy and quick. and if you give a pig a pancake, they'll probably have days where they write 500, 1000, even 3k words.

-log your word count. this is interesting to look back on every new year's eve, and it provides accountability. do this however you like; a spreadsheet, a physical notebook, a note in your phone, each day's section in your planner, whatever works for you. i have a channel in my personal discord server where i log mine.

-do NOT edit as you go. just write write write. if you feel like something you wrote needs work, yeah, it probably does-- everything needs to be edited, but that's a problem for later. highlight sentences you can't get right or make note of them to edit LATER. but do not edit as you go!

-write self-indulgent crap. fanfiction, shitty poetry, manifestos, rants, self insert fantasy romance, whatever floats your boat. having a shitty self-indulgent backup story to work on when i didn't feel like writing for the projects i cared about really helped get me in the habit. write for an audience of one!

-journal if you can't write. this may not necessarily build your skill as much as writing regular prose would, but it does help you maintain the habit and it can be useful in lots of other ways.

-think outside the box. write trivia questions. write a list of your favorite childhood toys. write a review of the book you're reading. i'm writing this post, that's going toward my word count for the day. again, this is still writing, and it helps maintain the habit.

-get comfortable writing on your phone. this took me a long time, but making it over this hurdle has saved my habit so many times.

you'll be surprised at the cool shit you end up writing on those days when you swore you weren't inspired enough. and you'll be delighted with how much progress you will make honing your craft!

happy writing! if you have any questions about how to implement any of these tips, our ask box is always open.

how to write convincing dialogue

did you know that show, not tell applies to dialogue, too? while dialogue can be used to further your narrative, it can also be used to showcase your characters. here's how:

-what is your character hiding? most people don't say things at face value. they hide what they mean within their words and tone, but in writing, you can't verbally hear the character's tone. ways to convey non-verbal tone include: contradictions between words and actions, context behind the words (ie. the scenario, character's actions and feelings), syntax (ie. fragments, repetition, awkward phrasing). also consider who the character is hiding information from: is it the reader? the characters? both?

-favorite words or phrases. does your character use a certain phrase or word a lot? do they often put their prepositions at the beginning or the end of the sentence? these are questions to ask when you're arranging the syntax of the dialogue. everyone has a specific way of talking. make sure you give each character a distinguishable voice.

-personality. this is how you can create a distinguishable voice. is your character confident? are they shy or hesitant? do they repeat the phases of others because they have nothing to add to the conversation? are they confrontational or do they beat around the bush? ask questions like these. if your character is confident, they may make bold statements and appear sure of themselves unlike shy characters who use words such as "maybe" or "should" or "think." to boil it down, think active wordage versus passive.

-observe others. don't look solely at television or other books. sit at your local coffee shop and listen in on conversations, then try and break it down. are they hiding anything? do they frequently use any words or phrases? how would you describe their personality? the better you get at breaking down conversations, the better you can create convincing ones, whether shallow, deep, or as a narrative device, because even if you use your dialogue to move your narrative along, it should still be compulsively convincing.

one way to tell if you've ticked all these boxes is if you can tell who is speaking without any tags.

happy writing! if you have any questions about how to implement any of these tips, our ask box is always open.

Words to Describe Hair

Image: Words to Describe Hair: Afro | Curly | Straight | Look | Texture | Style | Color 

Photo credits: Alex Nemo Hanse

This began as a guide to describing Afro / curly hair but of course, I got carried away. From look and texture of hair, colors and various styles, this guide serves as a thesaurus of sorts for hair, as well as pointers for use in your writing.

Please check under the read more for an accessible version of these lists

Culturally Significant Hair Coverings:

Head Coverings Resources:

Afro - Curly - Straightened

There are many varieties of braids, twists & Afro hair styles; have some more!

Describing Black (Afro) hair:

Texture - Look - Styles

Hair Colors and Style

Writing Tips & Things to Keep in Mind:

~Mod Colette

Read more for accessible versions of the lists:

Keep reading

Showing Romantic Feelings Without Kissing

Let’s be real, the biggest way to show romantic attention between characters is through kissing. However, your characters shouldn’t have to kiss in order for it to be obvious that they’re in love. Here are some other ways to show that connection!

chinese hanfub by 瞳莞汉服

Favourite Designs: The Atelier Couture Spring 2022 Bridal Couture Collection Pt.1

I love how all of the Batman villains are like “ah he’s not at the manor, it’s defenseless! and then alfred just racks an AK-47 and is like pull up bitch

Batman’s Villains: The butler will be easy prey!

He’s just an old man…he doesn’t have any of the Batman’s gadgets or training or fighting skills!

Alfred: Oh my you’re right

There’s something else of Master Bruce’s I don’t have as well

(Cocks a shotgun) A CODE AGAINST KILLING

Batman’s Villains: Wayne isn’t here to save you old man!

Alfred:

Alfred is the original “Call an ambulance — but not for me”

@dragonpuppies I spent way too long on this

Bruce: I have a code.

Alfred: And I have a gun.

Bruce: time to remove the guns.

Alfred: good fucking luck.

I’ve peer reviewed @ebonyheartnet’s addition and found that it deserves a reblog.

Follow me on Twitter for more vampire nonsense

human: dude you've been in our d&d group for literally like three years, you don't need to keep asking if you're invited every time

vampire: i knowww, i just get anxious ok?

human: oh fair

I feel personally attacked. Lol

he was in arthur.

you're thinking of Jill Eikenberry; I think this guy was an astronaut of some kind

that's Neil Armstrong, I thought this guy was in How I Met Your Mother

That's Neil Patrick Harris. I think this might have been the playwright who wrote The Odd Couple.

That’s Neil Simon. I think this is the musician who wrote Sweet Caroline.

That’s Neil Diamond. I think this is an astrophysicist

That’s Neil deGrasse Tyson. I think this is a river in Egypt.

That's the Nile; I think this is the Irish guy who made the movies "The Crying Game" and "Interview with the Vampire".

No no no, that’s Neil Jordan. I think this is the English author who helped write Good Omens.

You’re right! This is Terry Prachet’s tumblr. Good job everyone

ok I love this meme but like

Neil Gaiman actually was in Arthur.

This is true.

world heritage post