#author treated them differently

[quatregats]

Something I've been thinking about is how Patrick O'Brian manages so skillfully to write characters whose actions contradict their beliefs, which I think is honestly a big part of why his characters feel so real. Mostly with Stephen and Jack—e.g., and perhaps most notably, Stephen has notably leftist sympathies (honestly I have no idea how to characterize his politics in period terms) who nonetheless becomes very comfortable with his rise to the landed gentry, while Jack is a card-carrying Tory who much of the time sympathizes far more with working class sailors and farmers than with the upper classes—but I'm sure he does it to a lesser degree with some of his minor characters (James Dillon, while perhaps not precisely minor, comes to mind), and I love that he's able to do that, especially the way in which he embeds it in the narrative. We see how they're all unreliable narrators of themselves; we understand how they want to be seen and how that does and doesn't coincide with the reality, but most importantly, this isn't presented as something reprehensible, just as a part of their own humanity. They are not their expectations for themselves, but they don't need to be those expectations to be beloved.

#stephen is especially guilty of this and i think it's very interesting how he thinks of himself versus how he acts #which is probably an essay on its own #but i do think that this is another point he and jack make a fun foil on #(for jack this manifests much less explicitly but i think it's definitely still there) #i can't think of other characters atm besides james dillon #(who okay. his actions don't contradict his beliefs exactly but there is a weird and complex relationship between them) #though i do suspect that there are probably more #idk i've been thinking about this a lot because o'brianizing hornblower has brought to the forefront #how different those two authors treat internal/external narratives #patrick o'brian is kind of like yeah they don't really line up but that's okay that's just what it's like to be a person #while for hornblower and cs forester it's like the internal narrative is so unbelievably unreliable and negative #but the external narrative also seems to be resoundingly positive #(which is probably why. in my humble opinion having watched two episodes of it. the tv show is much more Fun) #writing hornblower in o'brian format is just like wow there is no weirdness going on did i write him wrong #but no it's hornblower he just sounds so much more normal without the 24/7 mental gymnastics #perce rambles #aubreyad

[moliathh]

star-crossed in the worst way, even Shakespeare would weep

#alucard x integra #alutegra #hellsing #integra hellsing #alucard hellsing #im still figuring out the mechanism of answering tumblr question #sorry for the late reply but i have received and i am so grateful for the love and support #i am so happy to see people loving alutegra #me too i love them so much #they are literally starcrossed soulmates twinflames #doomed by the narrative and the never ending tale of morality and species different #on second thought they werent doomed by the narrative not at all #on the contrary they were treated so well by kotah hirano thank you sensei you are literally the biggest alutegra captain out there #this was based on THAT brokeback mountain pose #noted that both are naked in this tegra even took off her glasses and cross but lucard still keep the gloves on #because i think it is an important part of their relationship #the cromwell seal is the nature of their relationship as author had described that they are master/servant type of relationship #im trying to depict the restrainment in their relationship #lucard could bite her but he wouldnt even if tegra bare her neck #there is a lot of surpressed tension and holding back

[ravenkings]

final jane eyre hot take of the day: wide sargasso sea did an enormous amount of damage to contemporary jane eyre criticism, analysis, and general cultural perception of the story

#before anyone comes at me #yes i read it and it was an okay book but like..... #anoinetta mason from wide sargasso sea and bertha mason from jane eyre are definitely NOT the same character #and it drives me nuts that people who should know better (i.e. academics) often treat that book as ''canon'' to the jane eyre universe #when there are literal plot differences between the two of them #like if you want you can make it part of your interpretation of the story but it's LITERALLY a different book #written by an ENTIRELY different author a century after jane eyre was first published #so you can't use claims from it to boost your point about the original novel #or assume that other people are going to give the same weight to it that you do #jane eyre #wide sargasso sea #text

[cienie-isengardu]

Fi watched Darman's head drop for a moment, but there wasn't so much as a breath or a click of teeth. He snapped back to his alert position. Fi wasn't sure if he was afraid for Etain's safety or of what she might do, and he didn't plan to ask. "Vau doesn't need that strill when he's got a Jedi with him."    "He takes Mird everywhere,", Mereel said. "Like Mando fathers take their sons into battle."    "If I didn't know Old Psycho was a head case, I'd say that was cute. What is it going to do?"    "You've never seen a strill hunt, have you?" Mereel didn't say another word. He signaled advance to Niner with a sweep of his hand and the squad sprinted for the perimeter of the landing strip.

Republic Commando: Triple Zero

#star wars #republic commando #walon vau #clone commando fi #mereel skirata #walon vau and mird #darman like always worries about etain cute #etain though is gonna have some fun on her own while watching mird in action XD #also i'm trying to figure it out #did mereel actually know how strill (mird) hunt? #i mean the same book mentioned vau #sicced mird on ordo once (a weird choice of the author looking at the whole book series when A) vau treats mird almost like his own kid and #dunno i don't see him to be cruel for animals (people are a different matter lol) #B) #there was no reason for vau to do it and no reason to be around ordo during his training who like all nulls weren't even trained with other #kal's trainees and C) the books had never show vau to do it beside this one example?? #D) the TC i think mentioned that mird hunted down at least one kaminoan but it was more like a thing mird did on his own not on vau's order? #which leads me to two different outcomes #either mereel saw or heard from others (kal? his brothers?) that mird in fact hunted down a kaminoan #which considering how Nulls hated them would be like an awesome new #news* #or he had some knowledge in general about strills? #oh and who knows maybe jaing liked mird more than his brothers because of the hunted down kaminoan? #mereel MEREEL I NEED TO KNOW WHY YOU SEEM TO KNOW HOW MIRD / STRILLS HUNT #my repcom musing #also fi and the Old Psycho was a head case #funny that atin did not talk about vau in that regard of psycho etc (brutality and cruelity? yes but not the psycho) but omegas #in TZ especially use that kind of language toward vau and nulls even (bonker squad)

[videogamelover99]

Actually really pissed that discourse around stereotyping and bad writing in media turned into "does this character have X,Y,Z traits? Is this character an admirable human being? Are they the good guy?" instead of promoting actual good writing and what that entails.

It's not about the presence of individual traits! It's about if the minority character is treated as a complex human being with believable motivations and who is looked at with an empathetic eye by the story!

If you personally don't like certain traits to be present in a character that has your identity, you have a right to do that, but it's not criticism, it's your opinion. You know what your dislike doesn't do? Make that character a stereotype! Because a stereotype isn't a character with traits commonly assigned to them, it's a character who isn't written as a fully fleshed human being save for those traits. The character isn't treated with dignity by the author because the author does not give them a character.

If they are fully fleshed out and complex with understandable motivations then? They aren't a stereotype. Because people like that exist in real life, and you viewing them as a stereotype says more about you than it does about them.

#its the hot take twitter nature of criticism nowadays #'X character has Y trait so problematic' is ppl using like 5% of their brain when they read the text #if the author wrote them well then theit job?? is done??? and they arent obligated to adhere to your preferences #part of this is the amount of bullshit said about vivziepop's stuff but also #i saw people try to claim catra is a bad character because shes an 'angry lesbian stereotype' #a) her sexuality isnt revealed in canon you just assumed #b) you forgot about all the 500 other things to have happened to her to make her angry #like yes sometimes we find characters falling into similar types and having the same identity and if 1 author does it 50 times #they arent being creative anymore theyre copy-pasting #but a well written character isnt copy pasted they feel original #if this blows up i might have a problem on my hands enough to delete this XD #writing #like why did ppl get pissed off about stranger things s4 and will byers #its not bc hes sad his crush has a gf thats such a universal experience tbh #its because he does things that make no sense #hes not gonna be unconditionally supportive of El and Mike no matter how much he knows they have a right to their happiness #hes a person with limits it would make sense for him to be resentful #it makes zero sense for him to further their relationship in the finale cause no person would do that! #it wasnt given enough justification in the writing and so its bad #this same scene would have worked in a different context if told by a better writer who treats will as a character on equal footing #with everyone else #wow i have a lot of opinions suddenly

[abyssalpriest]

God I could and should write a whole fucking book by the end of this life here on Lev and his symbols

ill write it then burn it before anyone else gets a copy. or i wont. im supposed to be helping him this incarnation here to get a better anchor in this plane so maybe it would help more than itd be weird - im just getting from him the energy of "yeah no people already effectively have these things, people on my plane already know me inside and out to an extensive degree, may as well have it here too" you know. fair

#ramblings // #ugh god i love his tone saying that tho. i kept trying to prod to see if it was a ''ugh yeah people know me inside and out and Yes Its #Invasive But -'' but no #oh my god man. his like energy towards his people is..... BEFORE I SAY THIS #I HOPE YOU ALL KNOW IM ANTI PROPAGANDA. the biggest reason i dont work with Lu and others is bc theres this tendency to #be like ''we're darkness but also light! we're teachers we're enlightened we're pure in our own way and the kings are here to #teach you how to empower yourselves and they love all worshipers and they reject all tyrannical authority and they are the good guys #against the chrxstian god who (insert specific atrocity that actually was committed by the kings not the 'chrxstian god' - and #''demons'' should KNOW that because it was AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE WAR so either theyre LYING orrrrr) and we're actually #really down to earth and more holy than anyone else bc we're enlightened - i mean uh uh no wait that contradicts us being #against the love and light style of enlightenment chasing'' like. i will tell you that my boss has massacred a lot of people i will tell yo #im anti monarchy and i dont believe that the kings' peoples are any better than 'angels' and i will tell you a lot of innocents on both #sides have been lost bc of royalty and rich families the kings are directly tied to #so i hope you know that when i say the way lev treats his people in his mind is..... holy shit #i pick apart everything he does. ive seen sides of him that are dark af (and i love him for them lmfao) but as soon as his people are #involved... have you ever been w someone getting hot and bothered and a kid walks in that you thought was sleeping and you just switch #completely into parent mode like. he'll have complex fictions w me helping me write stories about corrupt monarchies and shit #and then no. he is like. hes very good at mindset switching and going immediately into different faces but i swear #his ''i am a king and a king is a head of a mass of people - a king is a servant to his people'' mode is like. impenetrable #he is so. fucking intensely single-minded and trained to be a king unlike anyone else. anyway what was i talking about #OH YEAH. his tone w what i wrote in the post. was so switched into that mode of ''my viscera is theirs to eat as Im splayed on their table #and this is divine ruling. this is my purpose with them'' type shit. PURE thought. there is no other energy i can find in it other than #pure ''this is my job and i do it''. pure as in distilled. a pure tone like a sine wave played on a synth as opposed to a string plucked #leviathan // #ive. im nervous about saying the shit ive said here lmfao but ive had his OK before to say it ALSO. AS I SAID. theres no way his people #dont know the massacre was done by the kings lmfao. like. yall were involved. and also you all have to know that one of the #people that pretends to be the christian god is. two of the kings actually and since lev commonly appears to people and lets them #decide who he is bc hes never arsed making a show of Being Leviathan and whatnot im sure hes been called God plenty of times #too but like. cmon. I dont know who started the ''oh the uh the invading heaven and killing off half the population was the #chrxstian god'' rumour but i was first exposed to it through lu and (his wife) worshipers so yall get the blame - that said...

[pub-lius]

my biggest problem with a people’s history of the french revolution by eric hazan is that he keeps like. implying that lafayette defected to the enemy (meaning Austria and Prussia), but like. mf was immediately arrested bc he was seen as the cause of the revolution. the only people who saw him as a conservative were in france

#marquis de lafayette #lafayette #lowkey feel like the french revolution has so many figures who are misrepresented by people bc they were more conservative/liberal #like robespierre got the same treatment as lafayette but like reversed #i feel like the american revolution wasn’t so controversial as to have the same effect #and on top of that people have been working since it happened to counter balance whenever that happened #obviously some figures are still glorified but like there’s always been a lot of historians treating them as less one dimensional #but based off the books i’ve read about the frev at least one party is portrayed as one dimensional #and they’re always the villain too #like no one in the frev is overglorified GWKWBWKWN #they’re either a complex person or a one dimensional villain #like hazan shows different elements of robespierre’s character but doesn’t do the same to lafayette #the last author i read (forgor her name lol) showed all parts of marie antoinette and king louis’ characters #she did touch on robespierre a little bit showing his qualities but she didn’t go in depth on any of the revolutionaries really #but like brissot and co were portrayed as just bad guys who never did anything good ever #idk im just kinda used to authors at least attempting to show good and bad #even if its just ‘one time he helped an old lady cross the street and then he slaughtered someone’s entire family’ #no hate to hazan tho this book is awesome #i just wish it wasn’t trying to push such a black and white narrative in this particular instance #for the most part he doesn’t do it with anything else #but tbf i did start reading this bc i needed a more leftist sympathetic book to counteract the strongly royalist one i read before #imma tag this as #books #and #resources #in case anyone wants my thoughts on this book #this rant was longer than anticipated HEKWHWJ

[seafleece]

i think everyone should have a moment of disillusion with a creator they really like. not because of anything really wrong they do but just. an interaction that doesn’t go the way you think it will, a response from them that you don’t understand. a moment where you want to communicate something to them and they don’t hear it. it’s good for the soul.

#i have had like two capital m moments #where a creator i really like reacted in a way that bothered me personally and #i was really hung up for a while because of weird brain and then was like. they’re not. i shouldn’t be. nothing wrong happened #they’re under no obligation to consider things the way i do and i am under no obligation to hold them in my mind as an authority #we’re just two guys on opposite end of a string with cans. you can put the can down. they don’t particularly care that you personally #are or are not there. #if i am wise or cool to you and not at least a little cringe. that should change. #like. being autistic and assuming everyone is for the purpose of giving each other social grace #because it’s how you would want to be treated. sometimes talking is weird and it doesn’t go right #maybe it’ll go better next time. maybe it won’t. no one is a bad person. #anyway #in the middle of typing this i had a vivid flashback #to saying something silly on twitter about riverdale and austin walker replying and me feeling so silly #for having this opinion when it wasn’t called upon yk? #and then i went and watched riverdale and was like oh no i get it. the exchange would go much differently with the knowledge i now possess #but it won’t! and now back to watching riverdale #fleece.txt #yes i have also imbibed weed this evening much to the chagrin of that one anon #literally every time i’m high i think of them it’s so funny #somewhere they’re going >:( and i’m molting spiritually due to the taste of food #on another note if y’all only KNEW what one of the two stories is #genuinely one of the most embarrassing things that has ever happened to me and no one knows it even happened unless i tell them #it’s beautiful it’s harmless yet debilitating. #and it’s SO funny

[dearbraus]

thinking a lot about how luke castellan (pjo) and eren jäger (aot) are very similar characters. while we don’t see much of luke before he defects to rise kronos we do know that he was everyone’s big brother, the pride and joy of camp half blood which is why he was able to recruit as many demigods as he did. eren while the protagonist wasn’t necessarily all that well liked however due to his ability to transform into a titan he was a very valuable member of the scout regime and in the four years between s3 and s4 eren had amassed an almost cult like following. but that’s not what makes them similar.

it’s what they did after that makes them similar.

it is universally acknowledged in both pieces of media that while they both went about things wrong, they were right in the issues they were fighting against. luke was right to call out the gods for their negligence however inciting a war that hurt more of the people he was trying to help. similarly eren was right to want to eradicate the power of the titans and fight against marley so that the eldians in libero could be free and exist in a world that didn’t despise their existence however his methods were far to extreme and while he succeeded he hurt far more than he helped.

and they were both killed by family so

#signed fawn #these thoughts aren’t fully fleshed out but i wanted to get them down before i forgot #while they are similar the way the authors treat them are far different and that’s a whole other story

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

despite the writers' best efforts to make them all shallow caricatures except adam--especially ivan--the sutekh-shu-ras are an excellently sad, fucked up dysfunctional mess in all directions and i really need to write up meta about them

#lorien legacies #adamus sutekh #ivanick shu-ra #kelly sutekh #susanna sutekh #andrakkus sutekh #the general is the only one of them who doesn't get treated like shit by at least two of the others (none of them in fact lmao) #(he is at the top of the abuse/toxicity food chain in this family) #(and from my reading he is /still/ acting out generational trauma on them) #(they are all hurting he's just the one whose neck i would not hesitate to wring about it lmao) #and the infrastructure of the abuse and dysfunction affects; and expresses itself through; each of them in various different ways #and it ricochets in ways that are fascinating and upsetting and so very sad #i think ivan is probably the most egregious example of 'tried to make him a big dumb mean one-dimensional bully for you to hate' #'failed spectacularly' #like i've been on the ivan defense squad since fallen legacies came out; for reasons i mostly couldn't articulate #(and i say 'mostly' because for one thing i am really not sure how the authors expected me to react to 'LOOK AT THIS EEEEEVIL WAR ORPHAN') #('WHO DESPERATELY WANTS TO BE PART OF A FAMILY AND EARN HIS FATHER'S LOVE AND APPROVAL') #('LOOK AT HIM GETTING UPPITY AND SCHEMING TO TAKE ADAM'S PLACE AS THEIR FATHER'S /REAL/ SON') #(like that is cartoonishly evil what are you on about. also the ableism lol) #then i started this reread and realized that he Does Not Talk About Himself. Ever. everything he says is about someone or something else #he always always deflects from acknowledging that he even /exists/ #there are exactly two instances of anything like it in TFL; one of them is 'so glad you're awake' followed by 'bc dad will be happy :)))' #the other is a stunned; nonverbal nod when adam asks if he trusts him #he can never ever bring himself to say 'me' or 'i' #and there's a /lot/ more stuff like that that sticks out and adds depth to him once you notice; and start putting it together #and once i cottoned onto that it snowballed from there. he's fcked up and awful and sad and so so underrated and i love him your honor #dyn: so glad you're awake #LL tag

[bijoumikhawal]

You know if I had many thousands of followers I would not use such irresponsible phrasing as "CHRISTIAN COLONIZATION OF THE OLD EGYPTIAN FAITH" but thats just me

#Cipher talk #I can see an argument for that phrasing in its historical context but I would not refer to that as a throw away mention and move on #Because it VERY easily leads to misrepresenting current politics in a manner that harms indigenous people #And honestly I think the power dynamic of Christianization in Egypt is much more complicated than colonization #Plenty of early Egyptian Christians were willing adherents before Christianity became state religion and even under the rule of Christian #Empires butted heads with the central authority because they practiced a different type of Christianity #To the point where some welcomed the Islamic conquest because they initally believed Muslim rulers would treat them better than the #Also famously Christian Byzantine empire #This obviously wasn't the case especially a few centuries in and people wised up on that but. Well.

[dcviline]

making a video about a character called "the real [character's name]" and then completely speaking out your ass about them and being wrong about even the most basic concepts of that character sure is A Choice

#᯽ ooc. ⊱ ── ❝ 𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪. ❞ #the curse of me rereading all of a.soiaf and immersing myself in it again is that I have a hard time watching video essays anymore #because I will hear someone say something that's just outright incorrect and my brain will automatically start citing contradictions #especially when it comes to certain popular 'theorists' that are treated like the fandom authorities and you HAVE to agree with them #and then they will say the most tinfoil hat shit and pass if off like it's fact #like even I will admit I am delulu about things that's the point of fandom but like #I still have a separation in my head of what real canon is and my own fanon wish-fulfillment version of canon #this is about general fandom behaviors as a whole I guess bc it's not *just* a.soiaf (but it is more noticeable in that one to me) #where fanon gets pushed over canon to the point where people can't tell which is which #and that fanon is actively pushed onto others. sometimes in spite of how much it goes against the actual material. #again there is nothing wrong with personal interpretations and that's the point of media literacy actually like what do YOU get from it #but also with media literacy you have to be able to support those opinions with the text / film / etc. #or else you're just pulling shit out of your ass #(and text can be purposefully misused out of context to support a point too but that's a whole other can of worms) #and also . . . authorial intent is NOT the end all be all when it comes to interpretation #one thing can have different meanings to different people and it doesn't automatically mean either are wrong OR right #as long as there is text or subtext to support it #if we discourage different interpretations of subtext and themes we will kill the entire purpose of art #it's the 'why are the curtains blue' question over and over again #the author just wanted them to be blue. a good faith reader makes their own interpretation based on context and themes. #a bad faith reader will bend the text to suit the interpretation they WANT to be there without considering the text itself #and in the end BOTH of them might just be reading too deep #but it's important to do that when consuming media and art. if you can derive no meaning from what you consume then what is the point? #just try to do it in good faith #anyway !!! that's my ramble for the week. back to my bullshit.

[not-mary-sue]

Alright, to ao3's soon to be arriving Wattpad Refugees, a basic guide to general user culture:

1.) Unlike Wattpads vote system that let's you like each chapter, the ao3 equivalent kudos only allows one per work. Everyone is generally quietly annoyed about this. To engage with each chapter, you're heavily encouraged to comment. Trust me, it makes people's day.

2.) Ao3 has no algorithm. By default it's latest updated work first. You can find things to your taste through searches, filters and tags.

3.) 'No archive warnings apply' and 'user has chosen not to use archive warnings' mean two very different things. No archives warnings means the work is free from any content that could require a warning tag (character death, graphic depictions of violence, non-con, etc). User has chosen not to use archive warnings means it could contain any of the warning content, be it hasn't been explicitly tagged. Treat it like an allergen. No archive warnings apply is allergen free. User has chosen not to use archive warnings, may contain traces or whole chunks of the allergen. If you're likely to have a bad reaction, maybe don't take the risk.

4.) Speaking of warnings, ao3 has very few restrictions on the type of work that's allowed. Whatever your personal thoughts or feelings on that are, thats how the site is. You're likely to run across some dark subject matters and a lot of people are uncomfortable with reading that. You're well within your rights not like these works and have your opinion on whether they should be allowed, but harassing the authors of such works (or any works) is more likely to come back on you than them. Ao3 operates on a strong policy of 'don't like, don't read'. Use the tagging system to your full advantage to only engage with the kind of works you want to see.

We look forward to welcoming you all and seeing the fantastic works you create. Happy writing!

#wattpad #wattpad purge #ao3 #archive of our own #fan fiction #fandom #fandom culture

[whoarethegirls]

[author's name redacted due to cringe] is really gd awful at writing addicts isn't she

#of the books i actually read it pissed me off so badly that the one alleged mc who was an addict #was treated like 'he's not like those other dirty filthy addicts he's pure and clean cause he didn't choose this' #which like. kill yourself. #and i'm listening to someone talk about a different series by the same author and i'm putting alcoholics #on a high shelf where she can't have them #i say alleged mc cause if you want me to believe he's a mc you're gonna have to give me more than ONE pov scene across THREE books #was the idea of actually having to portray addiction and not have his emotions come second to every other characters' too much for you. #you untalented cowardly bitch.

[sparky-is-spiders]

*sees interesting fic*: Oh hello

*fic describes female character we know next to nothing about as stupid/arrogant/a huge bitch*: aaaand goodbye!

#SO frustrating! #I could ignore it at first because I had almost zero investment in those characters #(they are both dead before the show even starts and barely get fleshed out) #but it’s so common it’s genuinely uncomfortable #like. my GOD #NO nuance. NO benefit of the doubt #we have a few vague/extremely broad strokes snippets of information about a handful of things they did #stripped of all details and context #which is it’s own issue tbh #but like. at least the show doesn’t demonize them for the sake of the male characters???? #exhausting #vagueposting because i don’t want to start discourse in a fandom I’m lurking in the fringes of #i’d say something like ‘if you know you know’ but lets be honest fandom sexism is fucking EVERYWHERE #but yeah anyway my new fic red flag is either of these two characters being made ‘the bad guy’ #i’m not opposed to reading where they were complicated or not always good or even on selfishly gray in their morals #what little we DO know isn’t emtirely flattering and could be read in a lot of different directions #but I don’t think their character depths were on the forefront of the authors’ minds 99% of the time #and if you’re going to give their (male) relative who has done a BUNCH of Fucked Up Shit excuses? #or at least treat his laundry list of character flaws with more sympathy/understanding/positivity? #do. the same. for them. #ok rant over. goodnight tristate area