To Out Manipulate a Liar (this is an idea only open to anyone to use)
Nightmares Ao3
Damianette up for grabs idea
The Calm Point of View Ao3
White As Frost Ch.1
Vixen & Crow Ao3 Masterlist
The fastest way to shut down my "freelance life means I have to constantly be working" thoughts is to remind myself that if I was a boss holding a worker to the standards I hold myself to, their union would hunt me for sport and nobody would blame them.
Not me immediately screenshotting this and posting it to the OPP freelance writers chat I'm in
I apologize if you’ve been asked this question before I’m sure you have, but how do you feel about AI in writing? One of my teachers was “writing” stories using ChatGPT then was bragging about how good they were (they were not good) and said he was going to sell them. To put aside any legal concerns in that, I’m just trying to talk him down from that because, personally, I would not enjoy dream job being taken by AI.
The poor man.
Many magazines have closed their submission portals because people thought they could send in AI-written stories.
For years I would tell people who wanted to be writers that the only way to be a writer was to write your own stories because elves would not come in the night and do it for you.
With AI, drunk plagiaristic elves who cannot actually write and would not know an idea or a sentence if it bit their little elvish arses will actually turn up and write something unpublishable for you. This is not a good thing.
[mysterious circle of robed figures] JK Rowling: hello children Rowling: I was just thinking about how transs people should be eliminated from ssociety Jonathan Chait: whoa whoa whoa! joanne! Chait: you can't say it like THAT Chait: so uncouth Chait: you have to say it with your pinky finger extended
Elon Musk: si! issa no good! Musk: issa too mucha trans genocide Musk: you shoulda only post the right amount offa da trans geocide Musk: lookita me, i lika da trans genocide Musk: but i also like many other genocides Rowling: oh MY GOD Rowling: my empire is crumbling!
Chait: we're not saying you can't still be transphobic Chait: you just have to, you know, cool it a bit Chait: be genteel about it Jesse Singal: mommy mommy i have concerns mommy! Chait: see? just like that
Chait: maybe put a little disclaimer Chait: "this transphobia is for entertainment purposes only" Rowling: do you not know who I am?? I'm JK Rowling! Rowling: JK FUCKING ROWLING!!! Rowling: I MADE YOUR CHILDHOOD MAGICAL!
Rowling: no one tellss me to cool it! Rowling: i own the courtss! Chait: joanne Rowling: and another thing!!! Rowling: SSTOP CALLING ME JOANNE!
[midnight society] JK Rowling: hello children Barker: oh look who it is Barker: what are you doing here joanne? Barker: did your terfs tell you to cool it again? Rowling: Rowling: why doess everyone call me joanne
Rowling: i'm extremely mad about thiss transs football referee Barker: what? Rowling: this transs football referee Barker: Barker: what?
Rowling: there's a transs football referee and i'm really mad about it! Rowling: what, haven't you heard? Barker: joanne, why are you here Rowling: and another thing! Rowling: sstop calling me joanne!!
Rowling: people are alwayss all "joanne this" and joanne that! Rowling: wah wah wah joanne joanne joanne! Barker: do you not like your name Barker: you could change it Poe: clive Poe: just let her tire herself out Barker: no no I've got something here
Rowling: people are alwayss "oh wah wah wah joanne, how can you ssay that! your bookss are all about tolerance and love wah wah wah!" Rowling: bitch i think i know what my booksss are about! Rowling: i fuckin wrote them after all!
Rowling: blah blah blah ohh joanne Rowling: i hate when people call me joanne!! Rowling: they should fear to say my true name! Barker: oh damn look at that Barker: looks like we're having a good ol' fashioned mothers day meltdown Poe: clive don't encourage this
King: but joanne! how can you say that? King: after all the lessons of harry potter? King: you made our childhoods magical!
Rowling: people are all "blah blah blah joanne how can you like naziss now when you ssaid they were bad in harry potter" Rowling: first of all, harry potter iss fiction! Rowling: secondly, the death eaters are actually a ssinister coalition of evil transs, sspooniess, fat people, free masonss, and diane duane Rowling: always have been! Rowling: thiss iss NOT a retcon!
Rowling: that sshould be obviouss if you've read the book Rowling: UNLESSS Rowling: you're a fake potterhead, ssteve King: no of course not! i love harry potter
Rowling: DO YOU Rowling: perhaps then Rowling: you would be willing to take a blood oath to the dark lord Rowling: to belong to the dark lord body and ssoul Rowling: who is always correct King: i uh don't think i'm going to take that oath, sorry Rowling: UGH! Rowling: this is just like Radcliffe all over again!
The Diane Duane line killed me.
Get off my lawn you crazy kids!
Ook!
What’s clear (to me, anyway) is that the otters aren’t scared of The Big Ginger Hairy Man With A Stick, and that the orangutan isn’t upset.
If he got really fed up with their blanket-stealing attempts, he’s quite capable of taking his blanket up somewhere the otters couldn’t get at it.
This might happen in a while if his patience runs out, but it’s not happening right now because Whack-an-Otter is more entertaining.
The flaw with the criticism of "this character isn't acting traumatized, you need to show how this event changed them" is that a lot of people experience EXTREME traumatic events and think it's normal. Their behavior might change in subtle ways, but they mostly just continue with their life.
This is especially true in children/young characters. See example here:
When I write traumatized characters, I ask myself two things.
Let's use my experience as fodder for a moment. I was a responder to a car crash fatality. My answers:
This is an overt trauma response as an example, but imagine a response to something less prevalent than roads. How often would the above responses come up?
Now let's apply the questions to someone who views the event as "normal" (I was aware that I was having an abnormal experience). Either they were raised around it or the people around them at the time of the inciting event made them feel like they were overreacting.
This is very brief, but I hope my point comes across. Yes, trauma is always felt, but how it's felt, when it's felt, when it's seen differs from person to person.
When someone, especially young people, are taught to just "move on" the trauma is still there! But it will express itself differently initially. Not being able to control their emotional response to a traumatic event may become a more visible reaction than any other.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You look a little pale--"
"Aren't you hungry? I'll go grab us lunch. Burgers okay?"
"Uh, yes, but--"
"Text me when you're done here. I don't need to be here for this bullshit."
And when they come back, they don't mention being upset at all.
Potential trigger warning. I was a pedestrian st a crosswalk when I was hit by a truck. I was told I flew 30 feet before hitting the pavement. No broken bones, just abrasions and head trauma. I was lucky.
People don't see my trauma. I used to walk everywhere, now I don't. I have to listen to music while I drive because the sound of a truck engine can cause a panic attack. There are days where I wake up depressed or more anxious than normal.
But I never show any of it. My trauma response is to disassociate. I also dabble in escapism. It is what I am doing right now to write this. I am anxious about something happening in 3 days, so I don't sleep. But I will go to work tomorrow. Smile and tell coworkers my cat woke me up at 3 am (which he sometimes does) and they will accept that I am a little tired but assume I am fine.
It can be hard to write someone like me, but also fun. Just wanted to toss this on because there are as many ways to show trauma and suffering as there are people. No way is write or wrong out right, just right or wrong for the story you are trying to tell.
The flaw with the criticism of "this character isn't acting traumatized, you need to show how this event changed them" is that a lot of people experience EXTREME traumatic events and think it's normal. Their behavior might change in subtle ways, but they mostly just continue with their life.
This is especially true in children/young characters. See example here:
When I write traumatized characters, I ask myself two things.
Let's use my experience as fodder for a moment. I was a responder to a car crash fatality. My answers:
This is an overt trauma response as an example, but imagine a response to something less prevalent than roads. How often would the above responses come up?
Now let's apply the questions to someone who views the event as "normal" (I was aware that I was having an abnormal experience). Either they were raised around it or the people around them at the time of the inciting event made them feel like they were overreacting.
This is very brief, but I hope my point comes across. Yes, trauma is always felt, but how it's felt, when it's felt, when it's seen differs from person to person.
When someone, especially young people, are taught to just "move on" the trauma is still there! But it will express itself differently initially. Not being able to control their emotional response to a traumatic event may become a more visible reaction than any other.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"You look a little pale--"
"Aren't you hungry? I'll go grab us lunch. Burgers okay?"
"Uh, yes, but--"
"Text me when you're done here. I don't need to be here for this bullshit."
And when they come back, they don't mention being upset at all.
So, there's a dirty little secret in indie publishing a lot of people won't tell you, and if you aren't aware of it, self-publishing feels even scarier than it actually is.
There's a subset of self-published indie authors who write a ludicrous number of books a year, we're talking double digit releases of full novels, and these folks make a lot of money telling you how you can do the same thing. A lot of them feature in breathless puff pieces about how "competitive" self-publishing is as an industry now.
A lot of these authors aren't being completely honest with you, though. They'll give you secrets for time management and plotting and outlining and marketing and what have you. But the way they're able to write, edit, and publish 10+ books a year, by and large, is that they're hiring ghostwriters.
They're using upwork or fiverr to find people to outline, draft, edit, and market their books. Most of them, presumably, do write some of their own stuff! But many "prolific" indie writers are absolutely using ghostwriters to speed up their process, get higher Amazon best-seller ratings, and, bluntly, make more money faster.
When you see some godawful puff piece floating around about how some indie writer is thinking about having to start using AI to "stay competitive in self-publishing", the part the journalist isn't telling you is that the 'indie writer' in question is planning to use AI instead of paying some guy on Upwork to do the drafting.
If you are writing your books the old fashioned way and are trying to build a readerbase who cares about your work, you don't need to use AI to 'stay competitive', because you're not competing with these people. You're playing an entirely different game.
I've been mulling this post over since I reblogged it this morning, and if Malcolm doesn't mind, I'm going to clarify for a few people who might be wondering: If these people aren't playing the same game as us other indie authors, what game are they playing?
The answer is that they're playing the algorithm.
It'd be so easy to drop this at Amazon's door, but quite frankly, all book retailers reward this behavior. If you are pumping out work regularly, the sales algorithm will reward you because it keeps you relevant. I'm not talking about authors who produce one book a year or even two or the few people who are genuinely that prolific.
I'm talking about the above people, who, let's face it, treat indie publishing as a form of content farming.
I have zero issues with authors who use ghostwriters, especially when they're honest about it. (James Patterson is a notable example.)
But the people who hide it or attribute it to their "hustle game" while claiming we're all in competition with each other are not competing with writers; they're competing with other Algorithm Gamers because they've realized that no matter the quality of their work, as long as they have something in the New Release category, they're making money.
They're competing to stay relevant in terms of quantity, not quality because they don't actually have anything to say.
It's all just clicks to them -- and I'm willing to bet they make more money from getting people to click their (usually undisclosed) affiliate links than they do their actual books.
So take heart, dear writer. You are not competing with these people.
The vast majority of us don't view the rest of our community as competition. We're just trying to get our own work out the door while also supporting our friends as best we can.
Work at your own pace. Make the art you want. Support other writers. It'll be worth it. I promise.
As a reader, how can we identify this mass-produced word-slurry and filter it out of our searches? It has been increasingly difficult to find the needles of well-crafted fiction within the haystack of self-published work that barely rivals the schmutz turned out by Kevin J. Anderson. And now with these "prolific writers" churning out "content" by the fastest means possible, the haystack is getting bigger.
What can readers do to support authors writing "the old fashioned way?"
How can we more easily FIND well-crafted work?
Talk to your writer friends.
Indie writers tend to be friends with indie writers. Most indie writers are itching for a chance to promote, not only their own new stuff, but also the stuff their friends write. If you're looking for new work, and you've read all your writer friends' stuff, ask them if they have any friends whose work they think you'd like.
If you don't have writer friends, depending on what you're looking for, cruising hashtags on social media that writers use tends to turn up things Written By Humans.
On tumblr specifically, I'd recommend #ownvoices and #book recs as tags that aren't over-saturated with botshit and 3deep5me 'quotations'. #writeblr , #writers on tumblr, and #writing community are occasionally also good places to look, but they can be overrun with botshit very easily. In general, on tumblr, you want to avoid any tag that people also use on instagram or xitter-- people who use something like postybirb to post their botshit to a lot of websites at once will use those tags, and so you get botshit in them on Tumblr too.
I'd also recommend following indie writers on social media- @thebibliosphere , @natalieironside, @renthony , and of course @drchucktingle are all very popular round these parts for a reason.
I'd also recommend @caffeinewitchcraft, @dycefic, @focsle , @fierceawakening , @whatmannerofman , @thesylverlining , and of course me @malcolmschmitz ;)
The algorithm is going to feed you botshit, because botshit is designed to be tasty to the algorithm. If you want things written for and by humans, you're going to have to ask humans.
You have the power to punch a physical presence of depression that only you can see. You decide to purge the world of depression. Tell your story
After a decade of traveling the world, visiting places afar, and kicking the absolute shit out of the iridescent depression demons that only you can see, you decide to retire, a different person. You move to the countryside and, although your cottage has no mirror, you have every amenity you had before you began your quest.
One day, a young man with a power similar to yours knocks on your door.
“Why did you disappear?” he asks after you’ve let him in. “They called you a savior. A hero. They needed you and you abandoned them.”
“The world was…a different place back then.” Your mouth quirks. “Or so it seems to me.” You notice the young man has no demons on his back. You, yourself, have several. You stopped clearing them once you retired.
“It was a dark place,” the young man says. It occurs to you that this man is not so young. Maybe five years, at most, younger than you. His hand clenches into a fist. “It’s darker now. The world needs people like us to lift the darkness. I’m not fast enough. I need you to help me.”
You examine him. He looks, you think, like you. “Yes, yes I imagine you do need my help.” Though not in the way you mean it. You sit back in your chair, hands folded over your substantial belly. A positive in the country– you don’t have to skip any meals. “What do you think happens to them? After we’ve punched them or kicked them or set them ablaze. What happens to the demons?”
“They’re destroyed,” the man says. “The people are released from their burdens. Happy. Able to live their lives.”
“Good,” you say and lean forward, resting your forearms on the table. “Good, good– or it would be if it were true.”
The young man blinks. “Excuse me?”
“Polite,” you say, nodding approvingly. Maybe you are old or set in your ways or maybe you read too many Victorian novels. You prefer ‘excuse me’ to ‘what.’ “And I mean to say that destroying the demon does not destroy the depression–not at all.”
“I–” the man’s brow furrows. “But it does. I’ve seen it. The people are–happy. Happier. They thank us.”
You grunt because you know what he means. They adore you, not just thank you. “People want an easy fix. The worst time in their lives and a masked savior appears to just…take the bad feelings away? It’s a dream come true. It’s what they want. The effects can last for weeks. Months.” You sigh and touch your fingers to one of the beads around your wrist. A Rosary. You’ve found more than your appetite out here. “The happiness fades. It always does.”
“I don’t understand,” the man admits.
Based off a world where everyone gets a Destiny they must fulfill. Bakers and Demon Kings (x) and Villagers (X). You? You are a Hero.
----------------
You are a Hero.
Nobody at the orphanage knows. The mark sets during the worst winter in three decades, when the windows have to be barred to prevent snow spirits from ripping them to shreds and the Director takes half the reserves and runs in the middle of the night.
Sarah, the only caregiver left in the rickety building, holds as many of the kids as she can while the snow spirits scream outside. You’d love to be in the circle of her arms, but you’re holding the door shut with as much strength as your eight-year-old arms allow.
She doesn’t tell you to get away from the door.
“It’s alright,” she says, voice trembling. Her brown hair, matted from the months indoors, hides her eyes. She croons to the younger kids like a bird, so softly and gently that you have to strain to hear it over the howling demons and roaring winds. “We’ll be okay. Our land’s Lord will send a Hero, you’ll see. We’ll be okay then.”
Your arms burn as intensely as your eyes. A Hero. Your stomach aches from hunger and your fingers sting from the cold. You aren’t sure how much good you’re doing keeping the door closed, but there’s something deep inside of you that tells you you must do something. The blows from the snow spirits outside vibrate up your arms, nearly throwing you back.
Heroes, you think, only matter if they show up.
Hope is traumatic. Eight-years-old and you’ve been returned from potential families twice. Three days ago, you found the beginnings of greenery in the woods behind the orphanage. When you excitedly raced back to tell the others that winter was ending, it was only to find the Director and most of the caregivers gone with a significant portion of the rations.
Then the storm clouds rolled in.
Why does the fandom think Nathalie cares about Adrien? She's always all monotone indifference and "this is what your father says/wants". Yet the fandom likes leaving Adrien in her care post-hawkmoth sometimes? If you're really gonna read into things like that let's praise the one adult who DOES care about him- his bodyguard! Remember how the mere sight of him was enough to calm him down enough to thwart Hawkmoth's intentions in the gigantitan episode?
But no seriously I'm so bad at noticing these things- why do people think she cares about more than Gabriel?
Welp, she is the reason Gabriel let Adrien go to school according to Origins Part 2, and then we got the Great Hiatus to let that one tiny moment of feelings sit and fester in the fandom brain.
And Season 5 definitely did it's hardest to frame Nathalie as Here For Adrien, so it's like the whole series is bookended by That version of Nathalie.
But I get the confusion, Nathalie's been all over the damn place. Different Seasons characterize her almost like adjacent sister versions of herself? Like not a TOTALLY different person, but different enough that I'm worried about body snatchers lol. I pretty much compartmentalize Nathalie according to the season:
Season 1 - Belligerent Assistant who's job description does not and should not include taking care of her boss's son yet here she freaking is.
Season 2 - Reveal that she's totally In-The-Know, her indifference has reached knew levels of being just outright negligent, she is officially culpable.
Season 3 - Team Rocket era where she is fully into the evil dramatics. Also the gross fun addition of her officially being In Love™️with her boss and being angsty about it despite her bringing it upon herself. Also girl he's so crusty get some standards.
Season 4 - Bedridden bionic woman. Was it worth it? WAS IT WORTH IT?!
Season 5 - Pissed off divorcee era. She is actively picking fights and weaponizing the children at her not-ex, and while I'm side eyeing the last 4 seasons, I am here for this level of sass while she scoffs at Gabriel being his Worst Self™️. Too bad about the whole Dying thing but hey. You gotta make up for...all of that other stuff, right?
She's just kinda doomed to not be a cohesive character. I do like her heel turn in Season 5, especially because she was RIGHT, Gabriel had THE OPPORTUNITY to save not only Emilie but also Nathalie and threw it away because he wants to throw hands with teenagers. I too would walk away after that spectacular display of failure. I kinda wish she had someone to talk to, like even Duusu, just to explain that the only reason she hasn't exposed Gabriel altogether is because he'd definitely expose her as well and then Adrien'd be left alone. Like it's easy to infer that, but in a kids show, stuff like motivations kinda need to be laid out neatly.
Cuz otherwise it leaves it open ended - is she covering to spare Adrien from being essentially orphaned, or is she covering to save her own ass? After the 5ish versions of her, either interpretation is fair.
Sir, I hope you have your will updated and notarized.
Episode 53 Part 21 First < Previous > Next Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5 Ep 41, Ep 42, Ep 43, Ep 44 Ep 45, Ep 46, Ep 47, Ep 48, Intermission, Ep 49, Ep 50, Ep 51, Ep 52
Bonus:
I broke myself to give Koki Marina and Vesperia Space versions even though I hate power ups. They're for emergencies only! Like chasing Miraculous thieves! And getting to the hospital at the speed of sound!
(I couldn't leave Fox Trot out though!)
Amelia Gray for THE MET GALA 2024
Sometimes I look at dresses like this one and wonder how I’d describe it in a book.
Her appearance gave the impression of drowning. Her dark hair shone under the flash of the cameras as it fell wetly on either side of her bloodless face. No, not bloodless. The simple makeup would have made her striking in any other color besides the sunny yellow of her dress. Against it, her face faded until what caught the viewers attention were impressions: fathomless and direct eyes, vivid purple lips, a pale ear emerging from the hair plastered to her cheek and a thin chin. A pearl necklace looked carelessly added by a coroner, laid over flesh and hair without care.
Her dress was cut into a simple sweetheart neckline but that was where the simplicity ended. Two dandelion yellow fabrics warred for attention. On the outer, tulle. The silhouette was that of a tea dress, the skirt flaring at the waist, but the texture of the outer layer was not fabric-like in the least. What could have been a flirty finish of tulle was blown up into a translucent sphere, only broken by the folds in the fabric that, doubled up, struggled to become opaque. It looked plastic-y under the lights but, paired with her sodden hair, appeared as if a bubble in water.
Through the bubble-cum-skirt one could see a sleeker version of this dress. A coy specimen trapped inside the sphere. The gleaming satin skirt clung to her hips, the ruching pulling up towards a waistline obscured by the apex of the outer layer.
Flowers the same striking purple as her lips gathered at her hem, resting between the tulle and satin. They appeared dream-like through the swollen yellow tulle and somewhat macabre. Like the flowers that drifted along beside Ophelia in the river.
The juxtaposition of the cheerful color and her drowned appearance was dissonant. Nothing invited the audience towards her beyond that hopelessly joyous sun yellow. She was like a painting - the eye enjoyed looking but the ominous tragedy lying underneath the vibrancy encouraged her to be observed from afar.
Times are troubling and hard right now-but never forget, your Beet loving Grandmother loves you very very much and wants you to be safe.
And for you to eat your vegetables.
Awful convenient for you to have this chronic debilitating condition right when I have a minor task I want you to do… must be so nice to have a debilitating condition to get out of minor tasks with…
you’re telling me this is a bloodline curse and that your parents also had it? So your parents also wanted to inconvenience me personally? Sounds pretty ‘made up excuse’ to me
Oh you have a curse-breakers scrit explaining why your curse can’t be broken and how you can’t do tasks that might kill you? Well if your curse is that bad maybe instead of inconveniencing me with minor task you should have died the excruciating slow death? Did you even consider that?
Since I know some people struggle, just to be clear
