rj-anderson

[rj-anderson]

#so say we all #quoted for truth #Lovely Runner #kdrama

[rj-anderson]

If this is about the Ultraviolet or Pocket Full of Murder series, mea culpa. 😅 I have thought many times about the future lives of those characters, even made a stab at writing a post-Quicksilver story once, but never succeeded in coming up with anything good enough to share with my readers.

At least Tales From the Oakenwyld exists, though?

I don’t think authors understand, do you know that like even two years after I have read a book I find myself randomly wondering about the character and how their lives turned out, like are they happy? How many kids do they have? Are they bored because of what they went through in the book? Is the world a better place?? Like idk. Authors just need to write small preferably 100+ pages on how the lives of these beautiful people they messed up by putting them through so much pain. !!!!

#it's really a great compliment to any author I think #when readers write to beg for more about the characters #so thanks to everyone who's done that #my writing #my books #author life

[rj-anderson]

This is an excellent point and I'm sorry to zero on the wrong bit of it, but "I hate to imply that I understand anything Chesterton said" is going to make me happy for the rest of the day.

I hate to imply that I understand anything Chesterton ever said but whenever a character does something super questionable in the name of survival I'm like uh-oh looks like someone's forgetting to drink death like wine.

#look I love Chesterton #but it's true #and I'm glad someone said it

[rj-anderson]

I am clearly rusty at Tumblr because when I saw that post about the names of different foods and objects I thought “why should I put my answer in the tags when I can just put it in the post?”

Plumb forgetting, of course, that other people might like to reblog it with their answers as well.

#not too bright sometimes #ah well #oh tumblr

[rj-anderson]

Fries, chips, biscuits, cookies, pop, candy, cigarettes, toque, cotton candy

Source: Canadian, southern Ontario.

i'm conducting an experiment. everyone who's from an english speaking country state your country, regional area and what you call the following images. i need to see something

#I am Canadian #regionalisms

[rj-anderson]

That second gif is so 🐹 of him

Are you alive or just existing?

#goo gunil #xdinary heroes #gunil #I can’t wait for this album

[rj-anderson]

REVERSE TROPE WRITING PROMPTS

Too many beds

Accidentally kidnapping a mafia boss

Really nice guy who hates only you

Academic rivals except it’s two teachers who compete to have the best class

Divorce of convenience

Too much communication

True hate’s kiss (only kissing your enemy can break a curse)

Dating your enemy’s sibling

Lovers to enemies

Hate at first sight

Love triangle where the two love interests get together instead

Fake amnesia

Soulmates who are fated to kill each other

Strangers to enemies

Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating

Too hot to cuddle

Love interest CEO is a himbo/bimbo who runs their company into the ground

Nursing home au

#I want to read EVERY ONE of these #no kidding #tropes #writing

[rj-anderson]

I was a victim of the man engine Levant Mine disaster of 1919.

#I have been to the Levant Mine #it’s in Cornwall BTW #I was doing research for NOMAD at the time #I would say this is a great dream but it would also be a really awful one #tin mining #disasters #history of Cornwall #my books

[rj-anderson]

- I decided to get points for newlyweds too. - You mean… You’re going to get married because you need more points [to buy your own house]? Who are you going to marry?

↳ HAPPINESS 해피니스 (2021) | “Episode 2” dir. Ahn Gil-Ho

#plot wise this drama is not my favorite bc zombies #but the writing is top-notch #and THESE TWO ARE THE GREATEST COUPLE #I mean I could have done with a bit more romance #but all the green flags in the world for both of them #Happiness #k-drama

[rj-anderson]

It is more blessed, etc.

#this has been great fun everybody #I am taking my boops and going to bed #the boopening

[rj-anderson]

A hot take for you this morning:

The conviction has been growing upon me for several years that whole segments of Western media are steadily losing the ability to write for & about women. Female characters, female-led stories, and romantic literacy are all getting worse.

I grew up largely free of TV/movies, and for a long time prided myself on reading no book younger than 50 years old (yeah, I was insufferable). I've since sought to change that. That's why I believe I have the authority to say this: I see a really stark contrast between how it is now and how it used to be.

Compared to today, male authors like Shakespeare, Trollope, and even Tolkien had active empathy & respect for their female characters. They centred whole narratives around believable women. And they wrote unabashed romances.

That's largely gone now.

Compare western media to kdrama. Kdrama usually centres male protagonists in a way it doesn't centre female characters. But it also centres romance - HIGHLY sophisticated & detailed romance.

Watching kdrama cemented my suspicions, because it feels like the first storytelling I've found since the 1800s to treat romance with dignity and respect, & above all as something worthy of male attention. That is SO RARE these days.

I don't think something needs to get male attention in order to be worthy, but as any woman will tell you, if something DOESN'T get male attention, it's viewed as trivial and contemptible if its existence is noted at all.

It's true that more women than ever are writing stories about women, including romances. The problem is, this seems to have resulted in women's stories getting shoved into a ghetto; either YA or romance or the dreaded "chick flick"

As this genre divide developed between stories for men and stories for women, it seems like too many male storytellers took it as a license to care even less about writing for & about women.

Ahem, Popular Urban Fantasy Author Who Lists His Female Characters' Bust Size Without Fail.

Please note, I know many good and sincere men who want to do better. I see you and I'm so grateful for your efforts. But if you've mostly been reading "blokey" stories - and I know the appeal of stories about & for oneself - you haven't been given the tools you need.

The final straw seems to be the rise of vocal, self-consciously chauvinist online fandoms which rubbish media they see as being too feminine and loudly demand increasingly chauvinist storytelling. These people DO have an impact. Shows they bless get renewed season after season. Media they curse is lucky to survive. I mention no names. But we've all seen them shape public discourse.

What it all adds up to is this: if I want believable writing about women, in a lot of ways I'm better off reading a man from 1850 than a man from 2020. And that's pretty messed up.

How is this going to change? On a cultural level, I don't know. But I want to shout out to the fellow author who read my mixed review of his book, reached out to me for a detailed critique, and listened for an hour as I talked. You, sir, are one of the real ones.

#Suzannah is not wrong #this is why I can't be bothered with Western drama these days #not that Asian dramas are perfect or don't have some serious discussion-worthy flaws but at least they treat women as human beings

[rj-anderson]

Queen's Thief fandom! Go boop @meganwhalenturner before it's too late!

#you're welcome #I live to serve #Queen's Thief #megan whalen turner

[rj-anderson]

Reblog if you're committing boop fraud

#I committed it by accident #and was MUCH amused #the boopening

[rj-anderson]

There are evil boops?!

#HEE #the boopening

[rj-anderson]

Me today

#BOOP that piece of junk out of the SKY

[rj-anderson]

[rj-anderson]

BOOP

#I missed the boop war as I was busy all day #and only found out about it an hour ago #so I am getting all my boops in quickly before it goes away #nothing like a good boop