#OH additional thing but you can censor whatever other personal information if you need to feel comfortable i just need to know what's above | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

musashi · 4 years

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[1/2] hey wendy, i was wondering if you could help me with something? i'm writing a fic about a trans character, and part of the fic includes the character getting deadnamed. i wanted to either redact the name in dialogue or purposefully exclude the actual dialogue where it's said, but my beta reader when reading over the planning document said that it'd be a lot more impactful if the deadname was just said as a regular word in dialogue, so it like. the character's reaction is what

[2/2] gives the name the effect on the reader. they have a point, and it would help the impact of it, but i /really/ don't want to do the whole thing of coming up with a deadname for a character or whatever. i'm trans, but i didn't change my birthname, so i don't have as much experience with this. after reading your trans!ash fic, i was just wondering what you'd do in a situation like this? i don't wanna go too cliche but also... yeah. sorry to bug you like this!!

Is your beta reader trans? This is important info. If your beta reader is a cis person telling you to deadname a character, that shows me a fundamental misunderstanding of the trans experience and what trans people want to read. Cis people have an OBSESSION with deadnames, like they think it is Crucial Info Always, so that's why I ask. If they're trans it's a little more nuanced.

Here's the thing about my trans Ash fic: Ash's deadname is a semi-crucial part of the story there, because Oak met him in the past and created a stable time loop by suggesting his true name to Delia. I wanted to play around with oak's otherworldly 'lol ur son is named Ash' thing and the concept of Delia being like 'okay Sam well this is a girl so I'm naming her this instead.' and just General Shenanigans there. So I left it in for that reason, less as a shock device, more as a storytelling one.

Contrast that to one of my Harley fics, Nettle. Nettle is not about the trans experience, but Harley DOES have a former name in it. 'Harley named himself' is an important Headcanon I have, and the name he had prior has no bearing on the story. He himself feels nothing toward it, as well, so it's not relevant information. To finesse this, I never put his former name in dialogue--i simply talk about him muttering it out, telling other characters it's not really his name, hell let you know when he gets a real one. For the duration of the story, the narration refers to him by an adjective, one he intends to rise above/understand--'Crybaby.'

So what I'm saying is, you can emphasize the weight of a deadname without actually using the deadname. You can cut the sentence right where the deadname is supposed to be and switch to narration. You could censor out the name itself with an emdash, as though it were a break in messily recorded audio.

What is important is to emphasize your character's Feelings, here--how do they feel about the deadname? Does it give them a visceral reaction, a cringe or a prickling fear or a cold nausea settling in their stomach? Or is it more forlorn, reminiscent of a person they've always wanted to know but never truly could? When Ash gets deadnamed unintentionally in Perfect, he knows there's no way Team Rocket could know that's his deadname, so he quietly tries to forgive them despite everything and focuses on breathing and playing the part of that girl he never got to be. It still eats at him, but he tries his best to make peace with it. You want to focus on the internal--initial feeling, reaction, processing.

Your narrative is where the audience's perception will lie. You do not need to use the deadname if it has no greater relevance in the story. The trans people reading your story, more often than not, know exactly all the different ways it feels to be deadnamed--the fear, the sadness, the anger, the exhaustion. And the cis people reading it won't get that 'oh, shit' feeling from the deadname alone, because even if you're a person who changed your name for non-gender reasons, it hits way different. Just saying a deadname will not put a cis person in the trans character's shoes, and on the other end, a trans person is familiar enough with the sensation that saying it won't do much for them either.

So if it were me, I would not explicitly say the deadname. I would focus on your character's reaction. I am much more interested as A Trans on their relationship with that name than I am knowing the name. Deadnames are irrelevant, 9 times out of 10. They're exactly what they say--dead.

I'm mobile right now so I sadly can't give examples of how I might write it (I don't do well writing with my thumbs) but if you have any additional questions and want me to write some samples for you I deffo can when I'm off work!!

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perfcell · 5 years

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Do you have any tips or pieces of advice for someone who's looking to start up an rp blog for a character? I have plenty of experience roleplaying, but none of it is with tumblr.

//OH sure sure !!

lets get the technical stuff out first, make the account for your new blog in advance, before you prepare anything else because tumblr has this anti-bots security system in place which doesnt allow new blog’s posts to show up in the tags (and tags such as #indie rp, #anime rp, #insert show here rp are pretty important in getting ur blog out there). you’ll also have to follow some people, get followed back by at least one, reblog+like some posts before your stuff starts showing up in the tags

of course u can disregard the whole promotion thing and just follow people and wait for them to follow you back, but if u want new people to find you without you actively looking for them, its good to drop something in the rp tag. but again, you dont have to do any of this.

ALSO IM PUTTING THE REST UNDER READ MORE BC IT GOT LENGTHY:

so heres stuff you can prepare (or not, its totally up to you !!)

icons - a relict of dreamwidth era , not necessary but i find that they add some zest to the interactions so personally, im a fan. usually 100px x 100px u can make them fancy or not, your choice. just get some basic facial expressions (but again, you dont NEED them)

themes - some rpers pay a lot of attention to blog themes, i used to be like that but tbh rn i dont think anything beats a nice basic theme w/ a readable font. hit up theme hunter and snag a theme u like !!! OR DON’T, thats totally up to you !!!

also you can set your blog to dash only in the blog’s settings which means u dont have to bother w/ a theme !! its a popular thing in rpc nowadays !!!

oh and just a hint – id avoid using somebody’s art for icons or elements of theme… i mean sure u can credit them but hardly anybody looks at credits so idk id just avoid it altogether cuz the artists dont like that and theyre absolutely right. i used to use peoples art for icons and i had some artists reach out to me and ask that i dont do that and tbh now i cringe at my past-self for not seeing that its soo disrespectful of the artists

what to put on blog:

about page - its a page where rpers put some basic information about the character they write as. it can be super important if youre writing as an OC (not many people will follow an OC if they dont know anything about them tbh) !!! if youre writing a canon character u can just resort to filling out a basic dossier (like listing their name, age, whatever… YOU CAN USE THIS and fill out what u like). or you know, do whatever. on cell, i just wrote a piece of Something and linked his wikipedia page lol. do what you feel like, its just a thing in rp community.

rules page - slightly more important. this is where you set boundaries and introduce yourself ooc. after introductions ur expected to tell people what’s NOT ok by you, for example, you say that godmodding is not ok (godmodding is when people write in their own responses what ur character is doing), maybe shipping is not ok by you, maybe u dont want to write smut ever etc. you put all of that there and any additional info you feel the need to add (for example, asking people to tag certain triggers etc). try to browse other peoples rules pages to get the feel

verses page - some blogs have a lot of specific verses like idk, an AU in which ur character is evil etc. this is a page where u can put them and add descriptions, UP TO YOU. i find that its less important than about or rules page, focus on those 2 first, especially the rules page bc its what people usually check out first before writing with u!! add verses later !!!

how to start an rp blog:

OK so lets say you’re prepared and ready to write. i usually post a promo to announce my Arrival to the rp market. take a look at what’s in the indie rp tag for example, just to give you an idea what ppl post there. it used to be REQUIRED to post like… a graphic advertising ur blog but tbh these days u can just drop a text post (preferably with ur icon so that people know which character u write) and you say smth like ‘HELLO, a new (character here) RP blog here!!! like/reblog if youre interested in writing with me!!’ (ofc write whats natural to you, just introduce ur blog in whatever way u feel like it– OR DONT, YOU DONT HAVE TO DO THIS)

BEFORE POSTING A PROMO MAKE SURE YOUR POSTS SHOW UP IN TAGS FIRST. YOU MIGHT HAVE TO FOLLOW SOME PEOPLE FIRST (refer to this) – where to find those rp blogs?? refer to tags below.

what to tag your promo with: remember that only 5 first tags will show up in the search results. so pick some good tags, i think the most important tag is #(show/movie/books name) rp. heres my promo, u can check the tags i used there and come up with your own accordingly. and also browse these tags to find people to follow, like idk, lets say u wanna rp sb from naruto, then u hit up #naruto rp and just scroll and follow ! also avoid using swear words or nsfw words in ur promo bc tumblr will censor it lol

but remember YOU DONT HAVE TO POST A PROMO, THIS IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU !!!!!

how to start WRITING on an rp blog:

ok so youve gathered some followers, now what. i usually just post a starter call! this is a post that people who want to write with you will like and you in turn will start a thread with them (doesnt have to be IMMEDIATELY, take ur time). you can also reblog rp memes which are like writing prompts people send to you (but i dont recommend starting ur rp blog w/ a memes barrage, people usually want to get to know your blog a little bit more before they send you a prompt).

you can also wait for other people to post starter calls and then you like them (but check their rules first !!! for example, most people have a rule about being mutuals only, which means they will write you something only if youre following each other back), which also works.

AND THATS HOW IT GOES !!! you are now writing on an rp blog. remember to take it easy and do what feels natural !!! browse some other rp blogs to get Inspired (but dont just lift things, stealing is a big no-no in the community). do what you feel comfortable with, if you dont want to make icons then dont! you’ll always find somebody who’ll write with you without icons (we just rly like them lol). be patient with others and yourself, read peoples rules, be nice, dont reblog an rp meme without sending a prompt to the person youre reblogging from (thats called reblog karma, if you dont wanna send a prompt then rb from the source), put yourself out there and UHH have fun !

#if u have any other questions feel free to ask IVE BEEN AT IT FOR A LOOONG TIME i am a fountain of knowledge #Unfortunately.#Anonymous #and again you dont have to do any ot this its jsut advice. there is no RP police that will hunt you down if you dont have an about page #those r just standards people are most familiar with !

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