#EDIT: writer character as a main character

[morallyinept]

🌷 Who's up for a creative challenge? 🌷

If it's not apparent already, I love flowers and I love the Pedro Boys! So, what could be more fun than combining the Pedro Boys and flowers in a creative challenge? 🌷🪻🌻

Perhaps Marcus brings you flowers on date night, Dave's scattered sumptuous petals leading you up to bed, you and Ezra get stranded on a planet with alien-esque florals, or you're showering sweet Javi G with his favourite blooms for his birthday... 🌷🪻🌻

Running during the month of May, I challenge you to write and share a fic - or fics - featuring any of the Pedro Boys and flowers. 🪻

You can also make mood boards or art if you're not a writer - or don't want to write - but still want to participate! 🌷

🌻 See below for the full challenge details! 👇🏻

The challenge deets:

Must feature at least one Pedro Boy - can be any character Pedro has played, no matter how popular. You can feature more than one Pedro Boy too, if you like.

Must contain flowers or plants in some capacity. 🌷🪻🌻 Can be the main feature of your story, or a background aesthetic. Florals, plants, succulents - you name it, you can feature any of them!

Can be as smutty or fluffy as you want! Hot, soft, gentle, fun, quirky - you've got freedom on whether you wanna write smut or not.

No word limit - you write as many words as you see fit.

Any Reader type! You can write in X Reader, original character or just the Pedro Boys engaging with one another. Any gender/race/size or physical ability of Reader is absolutely welcome too! 🌈 This is an inclusive house! 🙌🏻

Mood boards, video edits and original artwork is also welcome - but must feature a Pedro Boy and flowers, and must be your own creation.

No limit to the number of submissions - you can write more than one fic, or submit more than one artwork, but the Pedro Boys must be different for each submission.

Tag me in your work and use the #jettsflora&faunachallenge so I can add it to a Masterlist.

This challenge will run from 1st May - 31st May 2024 and I'll add works as they're posted.

☝🏻 Don't worry too much if you miss the deadline, life happens, and you'll still be able to submit your fic/art after the deadline. Just let me know. 🌷🪻🌻

🪻🌷🌻 And as a flowery bonus...

I will pick one piece of work submitted at complete random, when all the works are posted, and will send that person a bunch of flowers!* 💐

I hope you'll participate and have fun & I can't wait to see what you'll come up with! Would really appreciate a signal boost too - thankies 🖤

A-Z of Flowers Database Look up your flowers 🌷🪻🌻

*I can send flowers worldwide. In order to send them, I'll need a name & a delivery address. I appreciate it if you don't feel comfortable sharing that info with a stranger, however please rest assured those details will stay with me and only me. The recipient will be picked at random using a generator. If you have floral allergies, I can send a substitute little floral themed gift instead. 🖤

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal fandom #jettsflora&faunachallenge #writing challenge

[bramblebush2]

My Dragons Rising season 2 part 2 predictions (None of which will prolly be true but it's still fun to speculate)

An Arin villain arc is upon us? I don't think it'll be like Arin goes full on evil but uses those wolf masks as a shortcut to improving

It's time! Please make Geo x Cole canon!! With Doc confirming that the Source dragon of life is non-binary and Bonzle is trans, they're definitely allowing queer characters in the show, so please, make them canon.

Euphrasia finally joins the main team? Please, that'd be awesome!! She could be like Zane or Cole's student?

I don't think Wu will return, I'm not sure Wu will return in any season of DR at all. He works so much better as a character haunting the narrative now that his students are mentors in their own right. If he'd return from whatever state he's in right now, I wonder what he could even do as a character?

I also don't think Jay is rejoining the ninja this season. He might go rogue from the administration but I don't think he's gonna regain his memories this season.

Kai isn't gonna stay trapped in nether-space forever. I know we have new writers but with ninjago I just have this bias that every Protagonist isn't gonna stay dead (or functionally dead like with Nya at the end of Seabound or Kai right now in nether space). Like I don't imagine they'd just practically kill off Kai when he just had such a great bond and arc with Wyldfyre. He'll definitely return from Nether-space before the end of this season.

Some more cool dragon designs. Not based on anything, I just want to see more dragons. Rontu and Egalt were awesome and I crave more

Maybe some more about Lloyd Dragon heritage cause I feel like that was largely ignored this season? Doc said on Twitter that that wasn't retconned, so hopefully it's at least mentioned.

Wyldfyre learns spinjitzu 🙏🙏

Jordana is possessed by one of the forbidden five. I have no idea what this'll mean for the rest of the season but maybe they'll finally remember her name?

Beatrix returns? I need my bbg back dragons rising. She was in Lloyd's visions, so there's something up with her, right?

Maybe she'll try to retake Emperium along with the people there who still stand by her.

Nya and Lloyd fight against Nokt? I want more duo fights with them.

There'll probably be more cameos of side characters from the original show.

Arin and Sora will have an argument. I feel like that's what they're setting up at the start of this season but idk

Might edit this post and add some more as the thoughts arrive

#thoughts #dragons rising #dragons rising season 2 #ninjago dragons rising #ninjago #lego #lego ninjago

[riseoftherose]

ok update on atla netflix: started final episode, it opens with the attack on the north. its pretty freaking great. frame for frame accurate w the show, and (other than some so so costuming choices, or a few fight-bending scenes with lower budgets) the only changes so far have been for the better

its- wow

its good

katara needs to go apeshit have have some more backbone fr, yue's costuming is god awful im so sorry amber midthunder queen you deserved better, and the overall customing for the northern watertribe is giving lowkey halloween/live action fmab but everything else??? top tier

#atla #atla netflix #atla live action #atla liveblog #avatar #honestly most (most.) of the plot changes the liveaction has made? I'm not mad about #the majority of them i both understand and LIKE #in fact in some of the places they've made changes i think they should go further but that's just me #now #there are some things i would like to edit #like 76% of those things are costume and character-design related #but honestly those are my biggest issues so far I'm okay with a lot of the plot changes #sorry not sorry but i hope their new seasons get double the episodes & bigger budgets & better choreographers & better customer designers #okay yeah the writers need to step up the character development for the main trio fr ESP for katara but honestly the overall writing is oka #COULD BE BETTER though but i get not ever episode can be life changing #and as long as they follow the OG pattern of each season getting more and more developmental and meaningfully complex / deep #IM GOOD with it #i think a lot of people are judging this s1 of the live action with the s3 of the cartoon which is NOT a fair comparison #s1 of the cartoon WAS pretty childish for the majority with the exception of zuko's plot and the finale #each season it grows in depth and the childishness of the overall story and theme diminishes and yall gotta remember that

[riversongsandfolktales]

My OCs' meet cute

(I'm having a bit of edit-anxiety. I have a workshop due at midnight and I’m trying to get myself to edit this last portion. So this is meant to be a warm up to help get me in the right headspace.)

Junior and Leon didn't meet by chance. Nothing in Mountain Pine holler happened by chance. Leon had spent the first warm day of spring fishing along the creek that separated his home - Snake Ridge, West Virginia - from Mountain Pine, Kentucky. He'd heard stories about Mountain Pine holler. He was told it was full of demons and witches and unsavory folks who you didn't want to run into.

So he sat on his side of the creek. He'd been there all day and hadn't caught a damn thing, so he started packing his things up with a huff. Then he heard someone sneeze from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted a young man - no older than him - walking down the dirt path with a fishing pole and bucket in hand. He watched as the other walked out from under the shadows of the forest and sat down in the setting sun.

He was beautiful.

The other young man smiled and waved. Leon's face flushed as he realized he'd been caught staring.

He had no idea what came over him. He'd always been told to never step into Mountain Pine holler. Demons and witches and unsavory folks who you didn't want to run into lived there. But the setting sun got caught up in the stranger's curls just so and all Leon could see was a halo around his head. This here was no demon or witch or unsavory folk - he was an angel sent by the good Lord.

Water rushed into his boots as he stepped into the creek to cross. He took another step, and stone he stepped on shifted and slipped under him. Caught up in the rushing current, Leon found himself being pulled under water. He panicked, thrashing his arms about as he tried to push his head above the water.

He felt something wrap around his torso and suddenly he was pulled from the water with a loud gasp. He felt his body hit the cold dirt of the creek bank and he began to hack the water from his lungs.

"You alright?" a voice asked from above him. He felt a warm hand gently pat his back as he coughed. Leon turned and opened his eyes to the pretty stranger staring down at him. His voice caught in his throat as he realized he was close enough to see the freckles that scattered across the other's cheeks and the small gap between his front teeth.

"I'm- I'm-" Leon sputtered as the other looked at him with soft amber eyes, "Good Lord you're prettier up close."

Much to his relief, the stranger started to smile and laugh.

"I ain't pretty enough to die over. What were you thinking? There's a bridge just down stream."

Leon shrugged, "I wasn't thinking much of anything other than talking to you."

"Makes sense," the stranger said as he rolled his eyes.

"You didn't put a spell on me did you?" Leon asked, his eyes wide and dead serious, "You came from Mountain Pine."

The stranger just laughed more, "No. I ain't that kind of witch. Come on, let's get you dried off. It's still cold enough to catch something."

Leon took the stranger's hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. Once up right, Leon stumbled forward as water sloshed in his boots and his laces got caught under his foot. The stranger caught him and the two froze for a breath.

"You sure you didn't put a spell on me?" Leon asked, his voice low and quiet.

"No," as the stranger answered, the wind picked up and whipped around them, "I think the hills just wanted us to meet."

Leon didn't know how to answer that. So he leaned forward instead...

#writerscommunity #writeblr #writers on tumblr #alivia's writing #appalachain gothic #queer writers #original character #mlm #my main character for this piece is a lesbian journalist and the genere is in no way a romance lmao #these two are important side characters to the plot though - we just meet them when they're much older (like late 70s) and they have a #daughter!! #there's a whole big plot thing #but i like writing queer romances and this warm up is just to help me edit their section for a workshop #gotta know how they met ya know? #spoilers: they're still very very very much in love sixty years later #literally would die without one another levels of love #would i be an asshole if i had one pass away and then a few months later the other goes? #actually i will. i think it would be interesting for the story #oooooooooo #i think i know how i want to end the story when we get to that point!!!!! #anyways. this has been rambles with alivia love yall mwah mwah

[the-kipsabian]

its a sad day when you see a person you know is good and creative to use ai tools to make art

#sigh #i mean.. i get it in this case i guess. and he did edit like half of the text to fit but also ew #i know he could have written this on his own. he has that talent in him. but no he used ai to write the scene instead #and it completely threw a wrong name for one of the characters too like. wouldnt have made that mistake otherwise #as a writer its just bringing me down to know i have someone like this in my circle.. #kinda hurts you know #like.. in small defense of ai it can be good at creating ideas and concepts for reference and starting points i guess #but making full pieces of art and writing with it when you are perfectly available of doing it yourself? #or able to commission someone else to do it? or not using it as a reference but as a ready finished piece of something? #no. #its so hard to put my emotions into thoughts rn but im just. disheartened i guess #as if being a creative wasnt hard enough already. seeing someone close to me replacing my favorite craft with ai.. #im sad fellas #i hope you know im never using ai for anything i make. dont ever put that label on me no matter what #also dont feed my stuff into anything ai or i will have to kill you #i wanna just lay down now ough #night is an absolute mess on main

[one-and-lonely16]

for the writer ask game: 2 & 9!!

2. What fanfic do you wish you got more response on?

honestly i am honestly quite surprised with how much response any of them have already gotten. however, i do wish writers in the dark got more response. i understand why it hasnt (main character death tag scaring people off which is understandable) but this is literally like my baby. its the wip i have never had a stage where i've hated it, its like my comfort wip causing it to become very self indulgent (where i project onto the characters eg. lance) and it has helped me find out where my strengths are in writing, what i find im most confident in writing etc. so yeah, its just my baby and ive been writing since like, this time last year so i have become very attached to it in a way. i'm rambling here but yeah

and i answered 9 in this post so yeah

#i could go on and on about why i love writers in the dark so much #but like i said #i understand why it hasnt got as much attention #bc main character death tag #like that would scare me off too lol #i actually need to edit that tag #bc it might not be that #no spoilers tho

[karmaphone]

it's genuinely really sad to me when there's a legitimately good adaptation - but it still falls into the trap of 'we can fix the lack of female characters by making some of the existing characters female, right?' without considering the broader implications that are actually more misogynistic than the original lack of female characters

[really-dumb-person]

hey! i'm currently working on editing my first draft of my current WIP and i curious to see if people would actually be interested in reading it. just message me if you want to read it :)

#writing #writer #main characters #new author #writerscommunity #please #first draft #creative writing #editing #writer stuff #tumblr writers #writers on tumblr

[nyxire]

the compulsive urge to open google docs and spend the rest of your day writing on a half finished story that you haven't touched in 2 years when you have a million other things to be doing

#<- anyone else got that #i very randomly opened google docs with no particvular reason in. mind like 2 days ago. and i went to looks over at some old writing things #and i read it over and like 'hmm. actually i think i know what to write here! and then i more or less rewrote my oc main character and wrot #like half of the story i had plotted out #his characeterization in the story was pretty inconsistent with the character sheet i had for him but i liked his character in the story mo #i thought it felt more natural and made more sense & stuff so then i went & edited my character sheetand yeah #oh yeah. tips for writers from me ^^ if u do use character sheets don't be completely rigid withthem #bc sometimes u will write your character in a different way & be like. well this is ooc to the sheet but i think this works better? #and so then u hv to figure out if the character is acting the way they are bc of the situation they r in #or if it's just their personality or if it's mix of both! #so then it's a question of okay is this character development or just their character? #at least for me. y'all can totally just stick to your sheets if u want. but generally i try to use the sheet as more of a vague reference #their charecterization isn't strictly limited to what i hv written down. 1st of all bc i know for a fact i can't probably convey that in #the sheet but that's mostly just a me thing. and 2nd of all bc ppl r very multifacted so they will act out in ways contrary to themselves! #sometimes they will be ooc and that's alright! it's a very interesting part of humans. we don't have one stricvt personaliy #there are sides and dimensions to us. some of which will never be fully understood and that's alright! #anyways i totally went rant mode there. idk if any of that is cohesive

[ishouldreallybeelsewhere]

if something is bad and i enjoyed it, then that’s fine

if something is bad and i didn’t enjoy it, then that’s also fine

if something is a continuation of something that i love and hold very near to my heart and is bad because of avoidable reasons, then i will be pissed forever (forever is not very long, it comes and goes)

and sometimes things are both bad and very good at the same time and that’s also fine but usually makes me lose touch with humanity for a few days

#avoidable reasons means editing ur scripts and taking a course on how characters exist #or actually just watching a show and thinking ‘hey these characters have like deeper drives and motivations i should do that’ #or writing one of the worst episodes of a pretty good tv show and deciding to step away from writing for forever #or listening to your own criticisms from the 80s #(the main one is not hiring the writer of lots of very very shit episodes to run a show)

[whim-prone-pirate]

rian johnson has managed to evade all common ethical problems in his screenwriting and i want everyone to know that the knives out mysteries are a perfect representation of how to write about a certain community respectfully AND simultaneously not make a big deal of how good you are at being a diverse writer.

in knives out and glass onion, both main characters are women who have been wronged by the other main character(s)—in marta's case, she experiences xenophobia from the thrombey's constantly; in andi's, she came up with a billion dollar idea which was stolen by a white man. when she took him to court for it, her entire friend group sided with this man; this directly affects helen after andi's death.

andi and marta's stories specifically represent real experiences for women who are minorities in america, but the stories are told without being too ham-fisted or obvious about it. these aren't stories about racism, xenophobia, and misogyny, they're stories involving racism, xenophobia, and misogyny, which i feel is something you don't often see. they're not triyng to prove a point by telling these stories, they're just stories being told—it's a difference that's hard to describe, but you know it when you see it. it's got less of a looking-into-the-camera-for-emphasis vibe.

alongside this, benoit was never a white/male savior to neither helen nor marta (respectively). he helped helen when she came to him about andi and he stood behind marta when he saw the tox report, but he never took over the case and they were never treated like damsels in distress. in the end, helen and marta took control of their own revenge and benoit nudged everyone else to the side while they did it. benoit is not the hero of these stories, helen and marta are.

this is good fucking writing!!!! i need film bros to be positively insufferable about rian johnson NEOW

edit 12/26/22: i've been told that ana de armas is a white latina. genuinely i did not know, she always looked brown to me and i haven't seen her in anything other than knives out, that's truly my bad. i've updated the post now to change the language about marta, other than that everything remains!

#rian johnson #glass onion #knives out #benoit blanc #marta cabrera #helen brand #sorry if this is a little incomprehensible i just had to spend four hours with my grandma #bbcu #benoit blanc cinematic universe

[lyralit]

intense writing things (exposing things that writers do)

discovering a major plot point of their WIP halfway through and just adding it in with any other changes, telling themselves they'll "go back and revise it later"

lots of staring at a blinking cursor hoping it'll magically write

abandoning their main WIP at a crucial part to write the mini WIP that floated into their thoughts

thinking more about what they're going to write than actually writing

complaining about their favourite character dying off in a novel while simultaneously creating a character whose death will be painful for the reader in their WIP

— (iykyk)

can only write during a certain (extremely inconvenient) time of day

"look I wrote another 10 words" to anyone who will listen

knowing the entirety of the plot but nothing at all when you open a new paper

knowing the exact definitions of the most obscure words but forgetting the simplest things

writing a sentence, being proud of it, finding it again while editing, being really proud, sending it to your friend, realizing it's from Percy Jackson or some other popular equivalent.

smiling in pain when your friend asks you about the wip you abandoned months ago ("I know I will finish it this time")

edit: wishing you could type / write as fast as your brain can think it (from @lillinari27)

#writing things #writer's block #lyralit #writblr #writerblr #writers #authors #writers of tumblr #authors of tumblr #on writing #creative writing #fiction

[writingwithcolor]

Is it less offensive to have my black sheriff be a scaredy-cat or trigger-happy?

joeyyygunslinger asked:

I’m conceptualizing a wild-west (I haven't and never will pick a state/year, it's just a generic wild-west setting) black comedy comic series. The main characters are a pair of sheriffs who work together more often than not, one Black and the other White. I want one to be fiery-tempered and trigger-happy (To the point where, in just about every other cover I’ve sketched so far, he has his gun out and is asking the other guy, “Can I shoot it?”), and the other an over-cautious scaredy-cat… And neither of these personalities seem to be a very PC one to give to a Black guy, so which one would be less offensive?

Technically, you can give the character whatever persona you see fit. From there, flesh them out to be more than the traits you mentioned. Show us why they’re the way they are and how they’re more than that. As often stated, it helps to have more characters of the identity if you’re unsure about stereotypes and characterization.

Objectively, a cautious, scared Black man character is less (potentially) stereotypical than one with a temper and trigger-happy. The former recalls Angry Black Person, Scary Black Man and Violent Men of Color tropes. One might argue the scaredy-cat Black man has notes of emasculation, but personally this kind of personality is way less encountered. Exploring a softer, cautious Black man character would be interesting to me (speaking as a Black woman. I’d love to hear from more Black men and people!).

Do not write from a place of fear

I do want to address your comments on being Politically Correct and less offensive. I’m not a fan of those words when it comes to representation. Maybe it’s the snide connotations of the word, often accompanied by a derisive attitude. Maybe it’s just me! But I just don’t love proper and preferred representation being equated to it.

I would like to take the more positive approach.

For one, being respectful and including proper representation vs deliberate or even thoughtless exclusion, should be the focus. Not which choice will step on fewer toes. Writing from a place of fear and extreme caution is stifling. It snuffs out your creativity and will have you questioning your every move. I get that it's natural to feel that way when exploring new territory, but we must learn to be courageous as writers and write against the fear. Your work will turn out much more fluent and natural when you do.

On the other hand, it’s definitely important to build enough knowledge and do the research so you'll have this confidence on hand while you write. This will help create a story with characters that are less like carefully curated caricatures meant to cause the least amount of offensive as possible.

While you should absolutely:

Be aware of stereotypes and what could be offensive as you build your characters and story.

Question your choices and trace the logic of why you made them.

You should also:

Focus on writing varied, complex people.

Let your knowledge guide and inspire you, do continuous research, but not let it fully stop all momentum.

Use the editing, sensitivity read process, and revisions to correct and adjust your work.

~Mod Colette

#Black #western #Black men #creator responsibility #Black tropes #Black stereotypes

[skaruresonic]

The common rebuttal to "this reads like fanfic (derogatory)" is "read better fanfic," which is true in certain cases, but on the other hand, there is some grain of truth to the idea that you can tell when someone's primary mode of literary analysis is fanfic instead of... well... literally anything else. It's okay to like or even prefer fanfic, but if you want to take your craft seriously you also need to read books, dude. Published books will teach you a lot of stuff fanfic doesn't, like proper dialogue formatting and how to introduce your reader to unfamiliar characters. Even the crappiest book (well, if it's not After or 50 Shades, which started off as fanfic to begin with lol) will have been subjected to some sort of editing process to ensure at least the appearance of proper grammar. That's not a guarantee with your average fanfic, and hence why you can't always take all your writing cues from fanfic because it's "so much better" than commercially published original fiction or whatever. Frankly, fic writers tend to peddle some absolutist and downright bad takes sometimes. "Said is dead" is a terrible rule, though not because said is invisible and a perfectly serviceable tag; that's just part of it. Dialogue tags are a garnish, not a main dish that can be swapped out for more ostentatious words. If your characters murmur and mutter instead of simply saying stuff, your readers are going to wonder why nobody speaks up. "'I'm explaining some very plot-important shit right now lol,' she elaborated," likewise, is a form of telling. Instead of letting the reader extrapolate that "she elaborated" via the contents of the dialogue itself, you're telling them what to think about it. And that's why it's distracting: your authorial hand is showing. Writing is an act of camouflage. You, as the writer, need to make your presence as invisible as possible so as to not intrude on the reader's suspension of disbelief. That's the driving reason behind "show, don't tell." And overall, everyone could stand to cut down on the frequency of their dialogue tags anyway. Not every exchange needs "he said" or "she whispered" attached as long as you establish who is doing the talking before the exchange. Some people will complain of confusion if you go on for too long without a dialogue tag, and that definitely is a risk, but at some point you also need to resist the temptation of holding the reader's hand. If they can't follow a conversation between two people, chances are they weren't meeting you halfway and paying that much attention in the first place. In fact, you don't even necessarily need action beats in between every piece of dialogue, as Tumblr writing advice posts will often suggest as a fix. Pruning things often cleans them up just fine.

Another fanfic-influenced trend in writing is, I guess, beige prose? A heavy focus on internal narration with lots of telling. It's not a style I can concretely describe, but every time I click on a non-mutual's writing, I feel like it always has, like. This "samey" voice to it. There's no real attempt to experiment and use unique or provocative language, or even imagery half the time. It's almost a dry recital of narration that doesn't leave much room for subtext. I see this style most often in fanfic where you can meander and wax poetic about how the characters feel without ever really getting around to the plot. And it's like. DO something.

Other tells that the author is taking their cues from fanfic mores rather than books: >>too much minute description of eyes, especially their color and their movement >>doesn't leave much room for subtext (has a character speak their every thought aloud instead of letting the reader infer what they're thinking via action or implication) >>too much stage action ("X looked at Y. Y moved to push their seat in. X took a deep breath and stepped toward Y with a determined look on his face. 'We need to talk,' he said.") >>tells instead of shows, even when the example is about showing instead of telling ("he clenched his teeth in agony" instead of just "he clenched his teeth") >>has improper dialogue tag formatting, especially with putting full stops where there should be commas ("'Lol and lmao.' she said" instead of "'Lol and lmao,' she said." This one drives me up a wall) >>uses too many dialogue tags >>"em dashes, semi-colons and commas, my beloved" - I get the appeal but full stops are your friends. Too much alternate punctuation makes your writing seem stilted and choppy. >>"he's all tousled brown hair and hard muscle" and "she's all smiles and long legs." This turn of phrase is so cliche, it drives me up a wall. Find less trite ways of describing your characters pls. >>"X released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding" >>every fucking Hot Guy ever is described as lean and sinewy >>sobbing. why is everyone sobbing. some restraint, pls >>Tumblr in general tends to think a truism counts as good writing if you make the most melodramatic statement possible (bonus: if it's written in a faux-archaic way), garnish it with a hint of egotism, and toss in allusions to the Christian God, afterlife, or death. ("I will stare God in the face and walk backwards into hell," "What is a god to a nonbeliever?") It's indicative of emotional immaturity imo, that every emotional truth need be expressed That Intensely in order to resonate with people. >>pushes the "Oh." moment as the pinnacle of Romantic Epiphany >>Therapy Speak dialogue. why is this emotionally constipated forty-something man who drinks himself stupid every morning to escape gruesome war memories speaking about his trauma like a clinical psychologist >>"this well-established kuudere should Show More Emoshun. I want him to break down crying on his love interest's shoulder from all his repressed trauma" - I am begging u. stop >>"why don't the characters just talk to each other?" "why can't we have healthy relationships?" I don't know, maybe because fiction is not supposed to be a model for reality and perfect communication makes for boring drama?

>>improperly using actions as dialogue tags ("'Looks like we're going hunting,' he grinned") >>why is everyone muttering and murmuring. speak up >>too many adverbs, especially "weakly" and "shakily." use stronger verbs. ("trembled" instead of "shook weakly") >>too many epithets ("the younger man" or "the brunette detective") >>too many filter words ("he felt," "she thought," "I remembered")

>>no, Tumblr, first-person POV is not the devil; you're just using way too many filter words (see above) and not enough sentence variation to make it flow well enough. First-person POV is an actually pretty good POV (not just for unreliable and self-aware narrators) if you know what you're doing and a lot of fun crafting an engaging character voice. Tumblr's hatred of first-person baffles me, and all I can think is you would only hate it if your only frame of reference was, like, My Immortal. Have you tried reading A Book? First-person POV is just another tool in your toolbox, and like all tools, it can be used properly or improperly. But it's not inherently a marker of bad writing. The disdain surrounding it strikes me as about as sensical as making fun of the concept of characters. Oh, your work has characters in it? Ew, I automatically click off a fic if it has characters in it. like what.

#writing #obligatory disclaimer that I am speaking broadly and this is in no way intended to make anyone feel self-conscious

[jouxlskaard]

Strap in, fuckers. This is a long one.

I've seen a lot of discourse and discussion recently about why TMAGP isn't resonating with listeners as much as TMA did, with a lot of people pointing towards the infrequent structure of each episode and the lack of subtlety that TMA had once excelled in. And while both of these are true, I think the main culprit that has caused these problems for listeners is one thing: the pacing.

TMAGP is only going to be 60 (Edit: 90) episodes long, compared with TMA's absolute behemoth of 200. When I'd found out about this, I'd assumed that it meant TMAGP would have a much smaller story - not having to establish as much information as TMA did, and allowing the story to have lower stakes as a result. This certainly wasn't a bad thing, as many sequels that have tried to one-up their predecessors have gone disastrously wrong, but I knew that the structure would be different to TMA as a result.

However, from the 12 episodes that we've seen so far, it appears that TMAGP is going to have similar levels of stakes to TMA - not the same stakes, of course, but they'll likely be on close to equal footing. This means that TMAGP has to establish the same amount of information to listeners with significantly less time to do it in, and the pacing has to speed up to adhere to that. In the first 12 episodes of TMA, we had established one possible recurring statement character (Gerry), a disturbing worm woman (Prentiss), and the fact that Jon doesn't like his assistant and refuses to believe any of the statements. In the first 12 episodes of TMAGP, we've established every important protagonist and what they sound like, two recurring statement characters (Bonzo and Ink5oul) with one that has already physically appeared, much of Sam's backstory and his ties to the Magnus Institute and the fact that something is deeply wrong with their workplace. That is a big difference.

This difference in pacing is what I believe is turning listeners away from what they'd originally enjoyed about TMA, because there's no longer that warm, comforting atmosphere when you listen to it. Its sound isn't designed to come from a tape recorder and a tape recorder only anymore; it's no longer a sit-down and listen to the Archivist tell you spooky stories for 20 minutes anymore; and, like I mentioned earlier, the structure is no longer the same throughout each episode. The horror anthology aspect, whilst still being there, has now taken a back-burner to the metanarrative because so much has to be established in so little time. To many, that's a bad thing. They listened to the original because they liked the statements, and the little things connecting them hinted to a much larger story at play. When this story was revealed, we got to see Jonny Sims and his brilliant prose at its best, because there was no longer anything to hide and the statements were in their purest forms - no longer having to establish information to the audience, and simply basking in the fear.

I'm sure we'll get to see the same thing in TMAGP once the narrative reaches that point, but the current pacing has uprooted a lot of listeners' expectations for the show. I'm going to listen to the entire thing, personally; yeah, it's different, and it doesn't deliver the same vibes and comfort as TMA did, and I probably won't be able to fall asleep whilst relistening to the more obscure episodes like I could before, but in a frankly disturbing way, I'm still fascinated with what Jonny, Alex and the other writers have created. This type of horror is the only kind that I genuinely enjoy, and I'm excited to see what direction Protocol goes in.

Edit: I feel like I should clarify that I don't see this comparison as something that takes away from TMAGP. Alex has said that it's going to be different from the get-go, and I do think that comparing it to TMA is an exercise in futility to an extent. I just wanted to talk about the shows together because I feel like they complement one another, and the narrative beats that I've talked about are less to do with TMA on its own and more to do with general narrative structure. We have buildup, payoff and pacing no matter what show it is, because that's what makes a story. I think TMAGP could be taken a little bit like Deltarune in terms of its relation to the original source material: separate entities with some overlap in character and themes. At the end of the day, it's still early days for the show and this entire spiel could just end up gathering dust - I just think it's a cool thing to think about, and it gives me an excuse to infodump about how pacing can affect a narrative and the audience's response to it.

I wrote this while my cat was laying on me. Have a picture as a reward for reading this whole thing.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #writing #tmagp theory #tmagp spoilers #tmagp vague #tma #the magnus archives #magnus archives #magnus pod #the magnus universe #the magnus institute #this isn't my usual post but i write fantasy and horror in my free time #i'm certainly not qualified enough for this to be considered the one and only take #but i've been thinking about it and i think it's kind of interesting #this pacing is actually pretty conventional for horror podcasts #but because we're used to tma levels of pacing it feels contrived #i'm just an aspiring writer guys don't take this too seriously

[girlreblogger]

the annoyance with blk y/n and the stories she’s in is hilarious. her characteristics might be the problem one day or her side characters the next. it legit feels like we may never get to a balanced solution on what to do with our own representation since the wrong ppl always talk about it and create it. we have mean and shallow ppl who take over the conversation, ppl who really self hate but try and cover it up with “i just don’t want her to be a stereotype” and then the ones who probably love and support tyler perry movies.

the bottom line is the ppl who do write those niggafying, toxic (it’s a buzzword but that’s what they are) or smutty fics (not talking abt the actual good ones with a blk reader though 🧎🏽‍♀️) can do wtv they want and owe you nothing. that’s why they get so frustrated. i don’t think all the times those should be crucified for what they write when other groups of ppl (or our own) write all kinds of other crazy shit.

and.. i know a lot of ppl who don’t want to say it but y’all keep bringing up the smut and niggafying as the main problem, but i think it’s some of the ppl writing it and their underlings. it’s just no one wants to say anything.

an excerpt from a draft of mine

“a lot of ppl on here be weirdos or mean asl. so when someone block you don’t be like “oh what i did” “they that mad cause of my (internet—fictional—digital on screen) presence”

like nobody got time to go to your acc and say “i don’t like you” who cares. oddly some miserable ppl do actually but still. the lack of awareness is ridiculous. that’s why ppl don’t f with y’all.”

i was talking abt all of tumblr and every other app but it applies here.

from what i see on here, some are just straight up weird, cliquey, and chiesty (if that’s how you spell it) and that’s why ppl be so mad abt those types of books 💀. we also have to acknowledge the amount of overwhelming & honestly damaging blk yn fics (not to be confused with ppls screwed ideas of stereotypical) there are. i understand why ppl write them for personal reasons but when it comes to our own reflections of ourselves as blk women it’s almost hurtful to read some of the things people put “her” through. i mean even her with a white man that use aave and has cornrows is hurtful.. 😔 (i’m trolling now 💀) naw but fr. i personally don’t like reading blk women just being written for smut or going through crazy situations or kinda like.. i don’t wanna say unfulfilling but like.. idk i can’t think of the word. (edit: ppl write blk yn to be in unfulfilling situations) but girl i can watch a tyler perry movie for all that.

again. ppl write these stories for there own personal reasons, relate to them and enjoy them for those reasons as well. that’s why depending! on what it is i don’t think blk writers should be bombarded with hate like that. also ion think smut should be banned like y’all go to far can we just slow down on it … there are some nice ones out there i promise 🧎🏽‍♀️

but in all seriousness there are many other reasons why i feel toxic and smutty fics are popular for blk yn but i don’t think anyone cares to hear that and the conversion will prolly go back to nigga eren somehow which is crazy cause y’all be arguing over a fictional white man.

oh! 😒 i almost forgot 😒 the ppl who are against “ghetto” y/n to try and advocate for more fluffy or like.. normal (healing) stories and from what i see the ppl who are the most up in arms about it in my personal opinion seem to dislike certain parts of blkness that i appreciate personally and so i just straight up disregard their opinions. y/n doesn’t have to “act” (😒) blk but i see ppl get mad about her protecting her hair….. with a bonnet….

sigh, anyway but yeah we need more soft and sweet fics or just like calming ones? but someone gon have to write it! i don’t like this app or my writing all too much so i gave up a while ago.

just like many other blk writers….

gaspp! we should also do like a fluff challenge or sumn where writers do like fluff … march? girl idk so maybe that will trend and all the ppl who spend time arguing and going back and forth with ppl who write stories they don’t like can like idk look for other writers who write soft, normal, fun stories and reblog them or make a list of them. or maybe like possibly write their own stories too????

everyone says the smut fics gets the most likes and they do. that’s why you keep seeing them. so maybe support or refreakingblog the fics that are comforting to you so others can be as well.

i actually made this page to repost softer fics because i was tired of blocking certain tags so i can avoid heavy smut and subtly abuse fics. also pls leave the ppl who niggafy anime characters alone they will not be stopped. i mean we still have ppl who have been calling chris evans jamal since 2020.. calling him that to this date. married and all.

sigh… 2 more days until blk history month ends. maybe next year we can find a balance between “dramatic” and smutty fics and soft and slice of life ones for blk y/n next year. remember this is tumblr too and the ppl writing aren’t even getting paid for this but it’s for the ppl yk.

ppl who are respectful and reblog tho.

muah

#anime x black!reader #aot x black reader #x black fem reader #black reader #x black reader fluff #x black reader #black fanfiction #x black plus size reader #x fem black reader #gojo x black reader #jjk x black reader #eren x black fem!reader #x black oc #connie x black reader #x black y/n #eren x black reader fluff #eren x black reader #i’m so dramatic #rant #rant post #complaining #ramblings #im just a girl #i’m also just being very sarcastic and condescending because i’m so tired of the blk yn bull crap. lemme just read. #i said what i said