Death and Destruction

In case there's anyone still on the fence about this: please keep in mind that if you really want to leave constructive criticism, the time to do it is when the story is under construction. Which pretty much limits this category of feedback to beta-readers and other writing buddy types, not the general audience.

Very, very, very few times is an author interested in pulling down and reconstructing their story once it's up. If you are leaving your criticism after the story is finished and published, it is too late. Now it's destructive criticism.

via mikkeneko: #types of corrective comments that I an author would be willing to receive: #'hey I think maybe this is the wrong chapter? this is a repeat of last time?' #'hey the formatting got stripped out of your document and it looks weird' #'hey it looks like part of your story got copy-pasted wrong - one paragraph was repeated twice and another line cuts off mid-word'' #'hey you spelled a character's name wrong in this very easy mistake to make so you may want to go back and fix that'#(but you'd better be Very Very Sure that your spelling is the right one if you're going to do that) #potentially: 'hey you used a very offensive word and from context it seems like you don't understand what it means so here's a heads up'#(but once again you had better be Really Really Sure before you do that) #anything else? anything you object to about the characterization or plot or pairing or style?#i am Not Interested#just hit the back button and we'll part ways in peace

I would also add: "hey, you're missing this tag that definitely applies to your fic and would be helpful in warning people about it"

What about scientifically incorrect /wrong facts set in media in the real world? Yes I know we don't all remember X grade science. It's basic science, nothing advanced. It's incorrect and able to be read by anyone. As another human being, I believe the author has the right to know they're scientifically, realistically, incorrect.

unless the author is encouraging the readers to do something dangerous to themselves or others ("mix bleach in all your cleaning products kids! it's safe and effective!") then no. fanfic authors don't have an obligation to be educational resources either

And it's entirely possible the author is aware it's inaccurate and decided to use it anyway. (Ref: the Martian's initial dust storm; IRL there isn't enough atmospheric pressure on Mars to knock down the HAB, but the rest of the plot, which is painstakingly scientifically accurate, wouldn't have happened otherwise.)

And if you're wondering why fic authors don't like constructive criticism unless they've asked for it beforehand: reading fanfic is like eating a dish at a potluck. Somebody made something as a gift to the community to share. You don't have to eat whatever they brought! Nobody goes to a potluck and eats absolutely everything. You eat the things you like and pass by the rest. What you don't do, is go up to people and tell them what they should have cooked instead or what is wrong with their dish. Unless, of course, they have specifically asked your opinion.

In the same way, if there is something you don't like about a fic, don't say anything unless the author has asked for it.

let yourself feel it and feel it and feel it until it no longer has so much power over you

dofuwani uwu

Venetian book cat

really confused as to how some cetaceans drink milk from their mothers without flexible lips

ok but now im stuck on imagining whale milk as like…yogurt…and it comes out like a soft serve machine

thank you! I have absolutely no use of this horrifying information other than I will now be haunted by thoughts of whales forcefully shooting toothpaste thick milk into their baby’s mouth like a go-gurt

Atsushi got Kyouka and Haruno to come enjoy the tiny cat purring and Yosano took enough photos and videos to last them a lifetime.

now everyone want a tiny purring cat.

comic based on an idea from @notewithstanding!! I finally did it!! :D

#I bet kunikida was doing the exact same thing when he noticed what was happening… (via @iwritenarrativesandstuff)

Every single fic update there is an author trying frantically to find the right balance between a nonchalant aside of "leave a comment if you enjoyed =)" and clinging desperately to the coat tails of a random stranger, dragging along behind them on the street wailing "Please, please! I have to know what you thought! I'm desperate to talk to people about this! Ask me about the alliterative repetition! Ask me about the symbolism!"

what the fuck is going on this year. january through june didnt happen. july is a distant memory. august and september were the longest months of my life. october ended in 5 seconds. why is november here already this isn’t right

It's the season erosion from the climate crisis, combined with a hyperindividualistic and stress-bound society. It warps your sense of time.

awesome. how do i stop all that though

It just occurred to me that people do not know about what some people make chicken coops out of and it’s a Shame

Please, enlighten us

So the thing with chickens are, they are adaptable and frankly, do not care.

you

can

use

just

about

anything

Here are some more that I like:

@kedreeva

Iñaki Godoy meets Eiichiro Oda!

im normal

I recently found my “gold” hammer after misplacing it. It’s my favorite tool ever because it looks like a regular hammer trying to be fancy,

but then you twist both halves and unscrew it to find a flat-head screwdriver in the middle.

BUT, if you twist the very end and unscrew that

you find a phillips screwdriver.

BUT DON’T THINK THAT’S ALL THERE IS! THERE’S MORE!! unscrew the very end again to find a smaller flat-head screwdriver!

BUT THAT’S STILL NOT THE END!!

unscrew the end of this screwdriver to find a final, teeny tiny, flat-head screwdriver

look at how cute it is!

it’s like a matryoshka doll of tools.

I have one of these and I keep it in my IT toolkit because that teeny little screwdriver is the right side for laptop casings, but because it lives inside a large object it’s harder to misplace than a standard tiny screwdriver. Also because the look on a client’s face when you bring out a brass hammer to fix their laptop is absolutely wild.

TIL that NASA has been launching jellyfish into space since the 90’s. Originally 2,478 were sent up and there were 60,000 orbiting Earth by the mission’s end 20 years later. The jellyfish that have returned reportedly ‘hate life on Earth.’

via reddit.com

Go you want to birth an Eldridge horror? This is how you birth an Eldridge horror

I want to know how they decided that they hate life on earth

I mean, who doesn’t

The “jellyfish that have returned” are the offspring of the ones sent up; they “hate life on Earth” because they were born into a world without gravity - no direction, different kinds of pressure, so when they return they have trouble adapting and (according to the Read More in the source) “Jellyfish babies, at least, have to deal with massive vertigo on Earth after spending their first few days in space,” which you can tell because you can measure how disoriented a jellyfish is compared with norma behavior. TL;DR your cthulu is an infant with a migraine

I have SO MANY questions, re:the jellyfish space habitat.

I mean I guess it’s probably just an airtight aquarium on board the ISS, but I read it the first several times as the jellyfish were just floating in open space.

tbh when I read “NASA has been launching jellyfish into space for years” my initial mental image was just NASA with a giant slingshot flinging jellyfish after jellyfish into the void 

This seems to be what I've learned.

[image description: tweet by Netchimen’s Reverie that reads “Tolkien describing places that are evil: no trees grow there” /end description]

This is doubtless because of his experience of the trenches in the Great War.

Like, this is what things looked like to soldiers who fought in that war (image in black and white of a solitary soldier walking across a muddy wasteland pocked with puddles):

Here’s Delville Wood, the site of a battle in 1916 (sepia image of a wasteland dotted with broken and dead trees):

Here’s an image from the Battle of the Somme, in which Tolkien participated (image of soldiers standing above and inside a trench or earthwork in a grey wasteland; smoke from artillery is on the horizon)

So yeah: no trees = evil was Tolkien’s own direct lived experience. It’s precisely why Mordor and the wastelands around it look like they do in his books.

the plateau of gorgoroth, the heartland of mordor, is described as being scarred by countless pits dug by orcs the true seat of evil is full of foxholes and trenches

There’s a lesson to be learned here.

I hope Tolkien would be happy to learn that a hundred years on, trees grow again here:

From The Atlantic.

I think that Tolkien would be very happy to see that.