#because that would make it harder for people to see WHY marginalized people don’t like it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

i-cant-even-function · 1 year

Text

I feel like I see a lot of “Enid fell first but Wednesday fell harder” stuff out there but I would like you to take a moment to consider the opposite.

Wednesday fell first. She started noticing the signs early on, but she couldn’t put her finger on what they were. Why did she listen to what Enid said all the time ? Why did she go out of her way to make Enid more comfortable in the space they shared ? Why did she feel so protective of her ? Then she realized “oh no, it’s because I’m in love with her”. Of course nothing really changed in her outward appearance towards Enid. Wednesday is too in control for that, but it was always there. The whole school already knows Enid is one of the only people Wednesday wouldn’t kill over a minor indiscretion, so it wouldn’t be weird that Wednesday started spending more and more time with her. It became a part of her self identity. “My name is Wednesday Addams. I like murder and mayhem, and I’m in love with Enid Sinclair.” There wouldnt be much to give it away, either. Sure, Wednesday would actually listen to her talk about drama instead of openly ignoring her, and exchanging small gifts would likely be more common, but Enid is someone who watched RomComs and reads fanfiction. She would notice the big signs of love, but the little ones that Wednesday would show would likely go right under her radar. She had no hope of Enid returning her interests, and she was much too busy investigating murders and stalkers and what have you to put much thought or time into a relationship anyways, but it was still there.

Enid however, was too distracted. By boys, by school drama, by everything. Hanging out with Wednesday became a part of her daily activities, but she didn’t give it much thought. She was used to people liking her, so when Wednesday started opening up (in her own, reclusive way, of course) she didn’t think much of it. Of course Wednesday liked her, EVERYONE liked her. But then something happened. I don’t know what it would be, maybe something small, maybe a grand gesture, but it flipped a switch. Suddenly EVERYTHING changed for her. She couldn’t go two seconds without thinking of Wednesday. She dropped everything to go on expeditions and stakeouts with her. She started doodling her name in the margins of her notebooks. She couldn’t even look at her without making a wistful “sigh”, her pupils all but forming cartoonish hearts for pupils. She LOVED Wednesday, and would have razed the world to express it to her.

Wednesday fell first. Enid fell harder.

#quick poorly written post #makes sense to me at least #plus it’s adorable #Wenclair #Wednesday #enid sinclair

1K notes · View notes

cod-dump · 1 year

Note

I’m never gonna write fics for this fandom so I’m gonna throw this SoapGhost thought at you.

BUT— the 141 has 4 people. Captain Price, First Lieutenant Riley, SGT Mactavish and SGT Garrick.

They’re rounding out the team, adding another person. Second Lieutenant whoever. Price knows him, Ghost knows him, but Gaz and Soap don’t. This guy shows up and immediately fits in with everyone— except Soap. This dude *does not* like him. But he doesn’t make it known in front of the others. But Soap can tell.

That’s fine, he’s had to work with plenty of people he doesn’t get along with, it’s just another day at work. But this guy’s contempt for Soap just gets worse and worse. It starts with subtle comments, little digs at Soap that seem like jokes to other people, but the Second Lieutenant just gets this look in his eyes— Soap knows they’re meant to be insults.

It’s worse the first time Soap has to go out on a mission with the Second Lieutenant. *Ghost* was his partner, why did he have to work with *this guy*? Soap tries to keep things professional— he doesn’t joke over comms, he hardly speaks at all actually, just does his job to the best of his ability. But when he comes back, Price calls Soap into his office— something about “insubordination.” But Soap didn’t *do anything.* He can’t argue back, it’s a lieutenant’s word against his.

But things get worse. This guy is the definition of a “hostile work environment.” But Soap can’t do anything about it. Can’t say anything. He just has to take it, because he knows that Ghost and Price respect the LT2, and anytime Soap acts anything like his normal self, the LT2 is up his ass about it— actively *trying* to get him in trouble.

Eventually he just tries to be as straight-laced as possible, so much so that Ghost notices the weird behavior. Soap is too quiet, too rigid— he’s damn near a shell of his former self. Soap doesn’t spend time with anyone on the team any more, just spends most of his free time alone in his room. He draws way more, trying to distract himself. He’s anxious all the time now, waiting to get in trouble *again*. Waiting for a shitty comment *again*. Waiting for that second Lieutenant to finally convince Price to get Soap kicked off their team.

It reaches a breaking point one day.

It’s Soap and both lieutenants on a mission. Soap gets injured. Badly. Ghost is the first to reach him. Soap’s bleeding out, apologizing for fucking up; and is begging Ghost to not leave him there, to not make him die alone, to not kick him off the team— anything that comes to his mind. Nothing but desperate pleas and apologies. He promises to be better, to work harder, promises that he’ll do anything if Ghost and the LT2 don’t ask Price to make him leave.

Ghost doesn’t understand at first. Why would Johnny ever think that Simon would do any of that? He gets them all back to safety. When they finally get back to base, and once he ensures that Soap is safely in medical, he starts looking. He reads through every report the LT2 wrote, looks into every physical documentation of interactions between Soap and the LT2, and— despite his apprehension, Ghost finds Soaps journal and looks through it. His heart breaks.

His drawings are full of pain. The notes in the margins are full of quotes from the second Lieutenant, all of the shitty things he’s been saying to Soap for months. Ghost sees it all. Soap’s fear, his anxiety, his isolation, his desperation. This guy was harassing and hazing Soap right in front of him and he did *nothing*. This guy convinced Soap that he couldn’t trust Ghost or Price, that he couldn’t confide in them all of the shit he’s been dealing with.

He shows it all to Price. Everything he’s found. Price, too, is taken aback by it all. How could could he have missed this? How could they both have missed it? They knew *something* was wrong with Soap, but couldn’t figure out what. The answer was right in front of them the entire time.

They know that the second lieutenant needs to go.

Soap wakes up in an uncomfortable medical bed to find his captain and first lieutenant staring him down. He prepares for the worst.

But it doesn’t come.

*incoherent screaming*

THE ANGST! THE SELF HATE! GOD IT’S SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL! AHHHHHHH!! GOD DAMN IT! I HAVE SO MANY FUCKING WIPS ALREADY! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! YA’LL HAVE SUCH BEAUTIFUL MINDS AND IDEAS GOD! BEING SURROUNDED BY SUCH CREATIVE AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!! AHHHHHH!! THE BEAUTY!! I CAN IMAGINE THE LT2 EVEN FLIRTING WITH GHOST TO PUSH SOAP AWAY! TRYING TO EVEN BEFRIEND GAZ AND COMPLETELY ISOLATE SOAP FROM EVERYONE! EVERYTHING SOAP DOES ISNT GOOD ENOUGH! SOAP BECOMING A LESS VIBRANT VERSION OF HIMSELF, THINKING THAT HE’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH! IT HURTS SO GOOD FUCKING HELL!!!

#*cries in a corner*#i have only one body #i can only work on one fic at a time #you all have such beautiful ideas #*sobs*#call of duty #cod mwii #ask #thanks for the ask <3 #lt2

191 notes · View notes

five-thousand-loaves-of-bread · 1 year

Text

complain about autistic tiktok hour again

(okay to rb just note i get very angry in this)

love seeing a tiktok by late diagnosed person saying “don’t compare late dx & early dx experiences” and “don’t come on my video talking about late dx experiences & tell me it would be so much harder for early dx people”

which like without context, yeah! late dx ppl early dx people have different experiences with their dx! and don’t derail other people venting about their own experience with your own! without context this critique sounds very warranted!

BUT. adding back in context which the late dx person make their video in…. you realize how much conversation shift.

the late dx person literally say “it would have been better if we had known earlier”—if they diagnosed earlier. and go on to say how much better it would be. so now you see how the “hey early dx people have it fucking hard too” is genuinely fucking reasonable, a much needed reminder.

“if you are early dx, it means that your autism was affecting other people to the point they need support dealing with you, and you may or may not have your support needs actually met, but us late dx people had to internalize our autism and not have support blah blah” AKA a subtle way of saying “but i have it worse” directly after saying “don’t compare experiences.”

it’s so fucking clear that some late dx, high masking (& lower support needs & level 1 autistic) have no fucking idea what autism spectrum actually means, because they think all early dx people are is someone who look exactly like them, who experience their autism the exact same way as them, who disabled by their autism the exact same way as them (maybe even with more privilege for example white & male)—but essentially exactly the same but only difference is just happens to be early diagnosed.

sure, some early dx people may be like that. but i guarantee you many many early dx people are not. fucking. like. that.

the reason why i say some late dx ppl think early dx ppl are exact same as them just diagnosed different times is because the rhetoric of you only early dx because your autism “affect other people to the point they need support dealing with you…” fucking consider. some people are early diagnosed because they fucking have speech delay, because they don’t talk until much later, or because they are still fucking nonspeaking as a teenager as adult maybe probably whole life. because they aren’t potty trained pass typical age. because they so disregulated they have daily violent meltdowns they harm self harm others. because they elope run into traffic. sure, these actions affect others, but consider: they affect the autistic person too. intensely. severely. have you considered that some autistic people need more support for themselves?? in “dealing” with themselves????? have you ever fucking experienced not being able to communicate any fucking want desire (yes, maybe even nonverbally!) and no one understand you (even if they try their best! which many don’t!!), how fucking frustrated they may be? because THAT is the reality of many life long nonspeakers who didn’t get access to communication through AAC later in life adolescence or adulthood.

have you ever fucking considered that people have different experiences because people are fucking marginalized to different degree and some people may be more marginalized than you??

you snarkily add the “may or may not” to “early dx people may or may not get their support needs met because severely affect other people blah blah” but we all know your tone and context means you actually mean to imply early dx people get more support while ALL late dx people don’t get any support. which is so fucking blatantly ignorant and false. who gets disproportionately dumped to neglectful abusive ableist group homes because their family either can’t or don’t want to deal with them, abusive conservatorship that strips you from all basic autonomy, who gets disproportionately restrained, sent to seclusion, institutionalized, heavily drugged, murdered by their family, given bleach to “cure autism,” etc? have you fucking looked at the autism industry the ABA industry in early 2000s 1990s or earlier, when many early dx people who are now adolescents or adults are born?

some late dx say “don’t compare struggles! don’t trauma olympics!” to any early dx person or higher support person yet imply or directly state “but i have it worse than you uwu” it’s fucking hypocritical. like please get off your ass and reflect on your own trauma and privilege.

(emphasizing on the some on some late dx people)

saying this as a not-early-diagnosed person (due to birth country etc unrelated reasons)

i’m so fucking angry i hate you

#note: group homes and conservatorship can be very helpful if done correctly. am only criticizing the abusive ones #actually autistic #actuallyautistic #early diagnosis #late diagnosis #high support needs #mid support needs #low support needs #nd #asd #loaf screm #anger tw #caps tw #swearing tw

85 notes · View notes

wickedsnack · 6 months

Note

Hi!! I wanted to mention that the reason Tumblr is changing is because they need to draw in new users!!

They kinda have to develop because they need people to give em money, and they've essentially accepted that most of the current user base would rather kill them than give them a dime.

i unfortunately know how corporations work but thank you!

i’m assuming this is in response to my tags about how the user base doesn’t want someone to develop the site; we want someone to maintain it.

since you came to me to politely explain why tumblr needs to progress as a company, i’m going to politely explain why tumblr repeatedly fails to progress as a company (as i am 29 and have been here half of my life). i’ve touched on this in another recent post of mine, but to expand on it a little, tumblr (the company) is facing a two-pronged issue here;

1. as you said, the current user base would rather kill them than give them a dime. this is partway true. on the one hand, we have the fact that much of the user base is SO BROKE they couldn’t spend money on this site if they wanted to. on the other hand, we have the company trying to sell us the same kind of shit other socmed sites sell, but tumblr (as we know) is not anything like other socmed sites.

in a normal situation where you have a largely “unwilling/unable to spend money” user base, you turn to ads. but, like my previous post explains, tumblr as a community is not friendly to advertisers. the last major attempt to make us more friendly to advertisers—the great porn ban—had the adverse effect of driving half the user base away. it becomes a lot harder to sell yourself as an advertiser if half as many people are seeing your site. which leads into the second part of the problem

2. the current user base doesn’t want a new user base. we especially don’t want a new user base that is more friendly to advertisers; the whole reason we’re here is because people like that have been unkind to us everywhere else.

you’ve seen joke posts about “keeping the rent low by firing shots” followed by some superwholock shit or “keep the rent low by calling my friends faggots”—they aren’t jokes. they are very real ways to keep tumblr from drawing in a new user base that would make this site as unkind to us as every other site is. they compare, in a joking manor, making this site more advertiser-friendly to gentrifying a neighborhood, and in some ways it is similar. (though author’s note here to say that gentrifying a neighborhood is obviously WAAAAYYYYYY worse than making a website advertiser-friendly. community is important, but housing is a necessity.) it’s taking a place where an “Othered” community is safe and “fixing it up” so that it’s easier to sell, for the profit of a third party.

when i say we don’t want someone to develop the site we want someone to maintain it, i say it with the knowledge that it will 1) come at the cost of profits and therefore 2) never fucking happen. but a bitch can dream.

(as an aside i don’t think it’s true that the current user base would never give tumblr money. i think tumblr’s just largely barking up the wrong tree for what to sell. the fake internet check marks did numbers—maybe not as many numbers as tumblr wanted, but it did do numbers. merch i think was a bad idea—few of us want to talk about our tumblrs in the real world let alone advertise them, plus merch has a lower profit margin than, say, the badges, because they have a physical cost associated with them. they try to sell subscriptions when half of us came back to escape a subscription. they’re trying to sell to us based on what’s worked on other socmed sites when we have proven time and time again that shit doesn’t work on us.)

#i tried to be polite but i’m 29 and i’ve been on this site too long #so it was hard for me not to read your ask as kind of patronizing #if you didn’t mean it that way pls understand i was trying so hard to be polite #if you did mean it patronizingly tho pls feel free to sprinkle in more curse words

3 notes · View notes

fineinkline · 1 year

Text

Swing

Chapter Four: Only Angel

Lil detour from the main plot, oopsies. We'll get back on track soon folks! Maybe! Who knows! Thank you for all the likes! I really appreciate it! I haven't written fic for any fandom in a really long time so I know I'm a little rusty and it means a lot that you all are sticking by while I get back into a groove. Thank you! If you want to follow me on Ao3 my user is the same as it is here @fineinkline

---------------

After an hour of convincing Robin and going over their relationship from the moment it started until now, she believed them. “I still don’t see why you didn’t just tell us,” she said, getting into Steve’s passenger seat after he offered to take her home, “Or tell me at least.” Steve rolled his eyes for what felt like the millionth time that evening as he buckled himself in and waited for Robin to do the same. He turns his head to watch Eddie get into his van and pull out of the driveway and down the street before putting his car in reverse and backing out. “It’s not that simple Robin. If we had just told everyone then it would be different.” Eddie could explain this part better. He could explain how telling everyone meant that there would be more expectations put on them and they just wanted to figure out themselves, together, as a couple before everyone else tried to figure out for them. “Different how? You know that the kids wouldn’t have a problem with it, Dustin would be thrilled that his “cool adult males” are practically his dads now! And you wouldn’t have to constantly be worried about looking ‘spilling the beans’! How can ‘different’ be bad?” She asks, throwing her hands up and turning in the passenger seat to look at him fully. “I don’t know how to explain it, Robs. I just wasn’t ready to tell everyone. If we told people then not only are we coming out about our relationship, but then that means I would have to come out too and- I don’t know- it’s just-” he was mumbling and stumbling through his words. God, Eddie was so much better at putting these thoughts and feelings into words and Steve couldn’t remember any of them right now. Robin stopped his stuttering by putting a gentle hand on his knee and giving it a quick squeeze before saying, “I get it. I’m sorry and I get it. I guess I’m just a little mad that my best friend is in his first homosexual relationship before I have even kissed a girl and he didn’t even tell me about it!” She chuckled lightly, but Steve knew that she wasn’t truly upset. “Sorry if I ever made it harder for both of you to tell me.” She said softly, leaning back in her seat probably starting to replay every interaction she’s had with the both of them since Eddie got out of the hospital. “It’s Nancy.” Steve blurts out. If they are telling Robin the truth tonight, might as well not leave anything out. “What is?” She asked, eyes darting around trying to connect invisible dots to make the conversation make sense again. “Nancy is making it harder for us to tell. It’s not like she’s doing it on purpose, I mean- I just don’t want her to think that I never actually loved her, because I did. I mean you know that,” Steve was rambling now, but Robin sat there and listened as Steve finally got this off his chest, “I just know she’ll find some way to make me feel stupid about the whole thing.”

Steve knows that Nancy doesn’t try to make him feel dumb, but she does. It’s the way she tried to help him study and then would look at him funny if he didn’t know the answers to what she called “basic questions”. It’s the way she would edit his essays, covering his pages in red circles and crossed out sections with question marks in the margins. He knows she was only trying to help, but the way she spoke reminded him of how his dad spoke to him when he was in trouble or didn’t do something right. There had been a time when he loved Nancy for the way she was able to find little mistakes and fix them or research something until she found the exact answer she needed, but then she started doing that with him. Finding all his little mistakes and flaws and trying to fix them. Trying to pull answers out of him that he didn’t have. All he did was try to love her and for some reason that wasn’t enough for her. He’s come to terms with that now, he has truly moved past that phase of his life, but he still isn’t ready to face Nancy when it comes to this.

When Steve got home he saw that Eddie’s van was pulled up again outside of his house and Eddie was leaned up by the front door smoking. As Steve pulled into the driveway, he saw Eddie drop his cigarette in the grass and stomp it out with the toe of his Reeboks. Steve didn’t think that they had made any plans for tonight and thought maybe Eddie forgot something at the house. It was late in the evening now and the only light on Eddie were the two lights by the front door. Steve took a moment to look at Eddie just standing there waiting for him to come home. His curls had frizzed up a little throughout the day and the way the light was hitting him made it look like there was a halo around his head. His checks looked flushed in the summer heat and Steve knew exactly where the freckles were sprinkled on his sun kissed cheeks. He was wearing a t-shirt from some band that Steve had never heard of, but he had cut off the sleeves and through the arm holes so you could see his sides. As he stood there, he shoved his hands in the pockets of tattered gray sweatpants and rocked back and forth on his heels, the smirk on his face growing by the second. Steve got out of the car and called out as he closed his door, “Back already? Did you forget something?” He had started walking across the lawn to the front door when Eddie started his little run to him, arms spread wide. The older boy knocked into him, arms wrapping around his waist and burying his face in Steve’s neck, taking in a deep breath. “Yeah, I did,” Eddie sighed happily. “What did you leave?” Steve asks, moving his arms to wrap around Eddie’s shoulders, one hand on the back of Eddie’s head as he buries his face in Eddie’s halo of hair. “You.” Eddie giggled it out and placed a kiss on Steve’s neck, swaying them from side to side. “Come on,” Steve said, pulling away from Eddie’s embrace to grab his hand and lead him back into the house, “Sleep at mine tonight? Or would you rather go back to yours?” Steve is already heading up the stairs to his room to start packing a bag. Ever since they started having these little sleepovers, they have always been at Eddie’s. Even before Eddie had a real mattress they would still stay in his room in a pile of blankets and pillows on the floor in the middle of the room. Even though he knew Eddie would always pick his place, Steve would offer up his house anyways. “I was actually thinking we could stay here tonight,” Eddie said shyly from the doorway to Steve’s room. Steve froze mid tossing a pair of jeans into his usual overnight bag, “I have my bag in my van,” he scratched the back of his neck and studied the carpet in his boyfriend’s room trying to look anywhere but in his eyes, “but if you wanna just go back to mine we can. Uncle Wayne has already left for his shift.” Before he could process what was happening, Steve was grabbing his waist and tossing him onto the bed. He made a surprised oof sound as he hit the mattress and Steve crawled his way up the bed to hover over Eddie. Once he had braced one hand on either side of Eddie’s head, he leaned in to start placing kisses all over Eddie’s cheeks, forehead, nose, jaw, eyelids until Eddie was wiggling under him and had descended into a fit of laughter. Steve finally leaned in and pressed their lips together and Eddie lifted his head a little to meet him halfway. As Eddie’s hands came up to Steve’s waist, he ran his tongue along Steve’s top lip as a way of asking for more. Steve gave him more, letting his teeth graze along Eddie’s bottom lip before giving it a gentle bite. “You taste like red pepper flakes.” Steve giggles into Eddie’s lips before pulling away to look at Eddie. His hair was splayed out around his head and the soft lamplight in the room gave him that hazy halo look again.

Sometimes Steve wondered if Eddie was an angel who had come down to earth to save them all. He disguised himself as a gruff metalhead with a reputation for Satanism as a way to throw people off, but really he was on a mission to make sure Steve and Dustin and Robin and Lucas and the rest of the party made it out of all this Upside Down shit alive. There was a time earlier in the summer when Eddie had taken off his shirt in front of Steve so his bandages could be changed. His back was facing Steve and when he pulled the shirt over his head, the way the muscles in his back moved and flexed, Steve could’ve sworn he saw angel wings. And then there are times like tonight where Eddie’s hair catches the light just right and Steve can see his halo. It makes Steve wonder, if Eddie is an angel (and Steve firmly believes he is), then why would he ever choose to be with Steve? How is it that Steve Harrington, Keg King Steve, Steve whose love is bullshit, Steve who is bullshit, Steve who no one would ever believe is a good babysitter, how is it that he gets to have these moments with Eddie. Whatever the reason was and whatever god had sent Eddie to him, he was thankful for it.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Eddie asks, reaching up to push away hair that has fallen into Steve’s eyes. “You’re an angel.” Steve breathes out, eyes half-lidded like Eddie’s presence alone made him drunk. Eddie chuckles as Steve lowers himself to cover Eddie, his chin resting on his chest so he doesn’t have to stop staring at the angel under him. “You should see yourself. You look pretty angelic to me, sweetheart.” Both his hands have moved to play with Steve’s hair now, making sure to brush it back and out of face every once in a while. “No, you’re a real angel.” Steve’s eyes are getting heavier and heavier with every blink and the day he’s had is catching up with him. Here, with his angel’s hands in his hair and the view of his chocolate eyes and soft curls and a smile that always started on the left side of his mouth and grew to stretch across his face. He was happy to fall asleep in his angel’s arms, knowing he was there to take care of him. Eddie hums a little in response, “Then as an angel, I can’t let you go to sleep in jeans.” Eddie shifts onto his side, effectively moving Steve onto his side as well. As Steve begins the struggle of trying to wiggle out of his jeans without actually getting up, Eddie gives him a hand and pulls off his shoes and socks before finally tugging the jeans off his legs. Steve can hear the thunk of Eddie’s shoes hitting the floor as he kicks them off by the bed. He can feel Eddie trying to yank the blankets out from under Steve’s body and he lifts his hips and legs slightly to make it easier for him. When Eddie finally turns off the lamp and gets the covers on top of them, Steve pulls Eddie back into him, burying his face into his chest again and tangling their legs together. He starts to press lazy kisses into Eddie’s chest and neck as a thank you, “You’re my angel,” Steve mumbles, settling himself even further into the mattress as sleep overtakes him, “I love you, my angel.” He finally lets his eyes close for the night and tunes out the rest of the world knowing that he’s safe in Eddie’s arms. He is so content and peaceful that he doesn’t even seem to realize that that was the first time he had ever said I love you to Eddie and he wasn’t even awake to hear Eddie say it back.

#steve harrington #steddie #steve stranger things #eddie stranger things #steve x eddie #eddie munson #stranger things

6 notes · View notes

bc-johnson · 1 year

Text

The Inconvenience of Drama

I guess I just don’t understand what story the Mandalorian is telling?

Season 1 had the typical “Wolf and Cub” mixed with a traditional Western. Hardass man becomes slightly less hardass, learns to love, etc.

Season 2 had a “what’s best for the parent isn’t always best for the child,” Din tries to make a better life for Grogu with his “people,” even if it hurts him.

Season 3 seems to be “Din sees some stuff, starfighters are cool.”

Like, the season isn’t over so obviously the narrative arc is harder to map, but I feel like this show takes every possible opportunity to do the least interesting thing possible. When Grogu left, the most interesting season 3 would be to explore Din WITHOUT Grogu but with the lessons he’s learned in season 1 and season 2. Then they just brought the little dude back on a different terrible show that no one watched?

What they should have done was keep the drama of season 2′s ending, but do a Luke/Grogu/Jedi Academy show. That way Din’s decision still holds and season 2 actually mattered, but the audience still gets to see Grogu in a different show (which also becomes a hook for that show). So you can have your corporate desires and your story, too, but for some reason they did neither.

So now Grogu is back, but there doesn’t really seem to be a story there. He’s just gonna be Din’s kid now. Din is sorta just content. They’ve chosen the least dramatic path possible.

And now with the Darksaber. They seemed to be setting up an confrontation between Bo and Din, where two marginal friends and actual allies have this nearly literal Sword of Damacles hanging over their heads. They’re going to have to fight, both of them know it.

That’s drama! Story is drama! Milk the drama! They want to be friends or allies (or more?!?!), but they literally can’t because her ambition conflicts with his honor. The audience gets to feel the tension knowing this won’t work, they will have to duel at some point, and they’ll have to both mean it.

Then they just...side-stepped it? “She saved me guys, trust me, here’s the saber.” Like, are we going for convenience or drama?

Is Mandalorian the story of the guy who is kinda friends with the person who unites his people? What are we doing here?

Of course, the answer is “we’re making an endless loop of shows that introduce other shows that introduce other shows,” but its so transparent that it’s killing the enjoyment. I don’t want to watch the next thing if it’s just a commercial for the next thing. Every show should stand alone, or at the very least, every show should actually have a story.

Has this ALWAYS been done? Yes, of course. But it used to be done with a little subtlety. Sure, Winter Soldier introduces Falcon, but it’s in service to Cap’s story: he’s finding veterans to connect to, he easily inspires people to join him, etc. Falcon doesn’t suddenly become the main character of the Winter Soldier. He doesn’t beat the Winter Soldier in the climax while Cap cheers on.

I’m for a Bo Katan show, I’d watch that in a heartbeat. But just, like, make that show. Don’t spend six episodes of another show sneaking in the first season of the Bo Katan show.

What does Din want? Season 3 has yet to even hint that he wants anything. He’s literally a protagonist with no desires or apparent agency. I get that this is a franchise for selling toys, but, like, there used to at least be the bare bones of a story there.

Boba Fett suffered from the same problem. I had no idea what he wanted, or WHY he wanted to do the things he was doing.

Star Wars plays in archetypes, that was always the fun of it. Big cliches slamming together at high volume. But, also basic stuff like three act structure, protagonist wanting something, drama. We can do this. It’s not asking a lot.

#mandalorian #star wars #mando

2 notes · View notes

nickgerlich · 1 year

Text

Five Hours Or Less

People have laughed at Jeff Bezos for about as long as he has been in business with Amazon. When he launched Prime in 2005, people scoffed about why we might need something in two days. When he started talking about drones in 2013, people laughed even harder, and some people threatened to shoot them down from the sky.  

Prime is still with us and going strong, and drones are starting to take off. But not everything can be carried by them, necessitating ground transportation, which Amazon also wants to happen faster and faster. Remember last week when we discussed Target’s sortation facilities to facilitate faster order fulfillment? Now Amazon has responded by increasing its sub-same-day delivery (SSD) to include 100,000 items. The goal is to never let more than five hours elapse between order placement, order picking, and order delivery, all within a 60-minute radius of a distribution center.  

Not bad, once you factor in urban traffic, because SSD is only going to happen—for now, at least—in the nation’s largest cities. Think one million and up.  

Amazon already has in place, or is planning to build, special smaller order fulfillment centers that only handle SSD orders. The sprawling million or more square feet DCs we see in industrial sectors along freeways and near airports will remain, but for all of the other things that Amazon sells. Basically, the new smaller warehouses will almost be like a convenience store equivalent.

Of course, there are some issues, like whether extra charges may be incurred by customers. After all, getting something delivered in a few hours comes at a price for the company. Walmart has already made such promises with its Walmart+ option. And then there is the thorny issue that many of the workers making this all happen are actually in the gig economy. This means they are not employees of the online vendor, and thus do not receive benefits. Individual states could weigh in on this in a crushing kind of way. I’m looking at you, California, as is everyone else, because you’ve already made noises about doing so.

I am most interested in the product selection that will comprise the 100,000 SKU assortment. It will have to be those items that are most frequently purchased, and typically with a current—and sometimes pressing—need. But these items are typically on the lower end of the price spectrum, and therefore don’t leave a whole lot of room for hefty margins. Volume could make up for that, but you have to actually get that volume first.

As for those gig workers, they will likely be driving personal vehicles instead of shiny new Amazon EV delivery vans. I’ve seen them before. They have a magnetic sign on their door, and they zoom around suburbia as fast as possible, because their paycheck is dependent upon their own ability to maintain delivery volume.  

Then we have to think about a society that has become so busy and/or enamored of rapid delivery of everything. Are we really that busy? Or lazy, as some might say? Maybe I have it too good, with a Walmart and a United Supermarket both within a couple of minutes of my parking space. That’s pretty convenient for me, and I get what I want right now. Of course, it may mean I have to delay my workout by 15-30 minutes that day, but so be it.

And never mind that I will never be able to take advantage of SSD anyway, because of living outside a major urban area. Sorry, Amarillo and Canyon peeps: this will never happen here. You’ll have to move to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or Houston. And I suspect you would appreciate it greatly, because you won’t have to venture out into the never-ending traffic.

Now that I think about it, I’m rather happy that I don’t need SSD. I’ve got pretty much everything I need at my fingertips. Anything else can wait two days, just like I have been doing since Prime was introduced.

And don’t worry about drones out here on the High Plains. The way the wind was blowing two days ago makes that kind of thing a losing proposition.   I think we’d all be having the last laugh on Mr. Bezos.

I mean, unless he could harness an 80mph wind to his advantage.

Dr “Dust Gets In Your Eyes“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

#marketing #Amazon #SSD #sub-same-day delivery #e-commerce #online #retail

6 notes · View notes

gun-witch · 1 year

Text

Venting about “Acceptable Targets” and Bigotry.

Fair warning, this is me just speaking my mind with no real concern for formatting or making any kind of coherent point. I’m just venting.

And a TLDR if you don’t wanna read it all: There’s a problem in Leftist spaces with deciding certain bigotries are okay, I used antitheists going from attacking genuinely harmful kinds of Christian faith to attacking all Christians to attacking marginalized religions as a way to explain the issue, but this happens in many other ways.

I’ve been trying to reduce my time on twitter lately for mental health reasons. It’s the kind of site that just highlights the worst kind of people imaginable. When I made the account I currently use, I did my best to block liberally and curate things as much as I could, because I know twitter is just an awful website full of awful people.

For a while, it really seemed to work. The times politics came up on my feed, it was like it is here, curated, people having reasonable reactions to the horrible things that happen in the world. Yeah I also got into the occasional argument with right wingers, but honestly, it’s easy to disengage when you know they’re just not operating in a worldview that remotely resembles reality.

A conservative promoting racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. is really easy to disregard because they’re so ridiculous, that any sensible person isn’t going to take them seriously. You can just post information on why they’re wrong and move on, it’s very easy to disregard what they think about you.

But, more recently, I’ve noticed bigotry creeping its way into leftist spaces (online, I’ve yet to see anything of this outside of the internet). Sometimes it’s the familiar, TERF talking points dressed up as progressive. I’m sure you all know the type, people who wanted to exclude nonbinary people when that was “new”, people who want to exclude neopronouns or xenogenders, or otherkin or whatever else. They’re usually really obvious, and having been one of these people in the past I know exactly what to say, I just tell them what made me realize the harm in gatekeeping and exclusionist thought. Usually, people ignore them, because Leftists usually know better.

Usually.

If you know me outside of tumblr (which most of you do, I’m not exactly big on this site, and I don’t want to be either), you know that antitheism is THE bigotry that pisses me off. Not because it affects me, I can write off transphobia, acephobia, etc. pretty easily even when they’re actively making my life harder, I’m just good at not letting things get to me emotionally. The real reason antitheism gets under my skin is that it’s just different enough from the big “isms” that a lot of genuinely good and well meaning people fall for it.

See, when I inevitably check the profile of someone being nasty over religion on twitter, saying that because I’m a priestess I’m the same as a Christian priest and therefore naturally evil, I often have a lot of mutuals with them, and they’re otherwise an outspoken leftist.

Antitheism is something that a well meaning atheist who sees the very real harm done by the biggest religions in the world can fall for. On the surface of it, it makes sense. A surface level reading of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the “big 3″ religious texts in the eyes of many activists, would have you believe they promote some really nasty stuff. If you don’t know that the Bible was written as a compilation of conflicting beliefs, and that cherry picking is a feature and not a bug, you could be forgiven for thinking Christianity is evil by default.

And on top of that, you experience hate and violence from Catholicism, American Protestantism, and so many other sects. Eventually that violence just becomes “Christianity” to you.

Then it becomes “Abrahamic” religions, because to the uneducated, Abrahamic means Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and as far as you know, these religions are identical. You haven’t done the research to know how ridiculous this idea is, and you won’t because nobody has prompted you to.

Then, because the only preachers you hear are from Christianity (which you’ve already decided represents two other completely different faiths), and you never talk religion with someone who isn’t trying to convert you (really, why would you?), that violence you experienced becomes “religion”.

Religion becomes synonymous with conservativism, fascism, and every other political ideology that we rightfully write off as harmful. So then when you meet a Gnostic, a Jew, a Pagan, a Satanist, a Native American who believes in the religion that’s intrinsically tied to their culture? You look at them and you see a Nazi.

The very important aversion to hateful ideologies is hijacked, you begin to hate marginalized groups in the name of opposing bigotry.

It gets worse though, because from there, antitheism becomes a gateway bigotry of sorts. I’m sure everyone’s heard the statement “religion is a mental illness” at this point. The antitheist becomes so attached to their bigotry, that when they realize a religion isn’t harmful directly, ableism comes in to save them from introspection.

This happened on a large scale a few years ago, in the mid 2010s we saw a lot of youtube channels and social media pages dedicated to opposing religion turn their sights on “social justice warriors”. I remember these channels promoting this hip and new thing called “the alternative right”, what they described as a secular form of fascism, a “good” fascism, because they were so deep into hating religion that they forgot why religion was bad to begin with.

This isn’t unique to antitheism by any means, like I said before it happens with exclusionary movements like transmedicalism, anti-mspec crap, and one could even argue it’s got something to do with how transphobic “feminism” rose to prominence.

I think more people should be aware of how radicalization happens, more critical of what we consider “acceptable targets”. Racism isn’t bad because of the race aspect, race is bad because prejudice itself is wrong, attacking groups of people who lack social power is wrong.

Because it isn’t the big corrupt churches you hurt when you label all religion evil. It’s the marginalized faiths. The Pagans, the Jews, the Muslims, the sects of Christianity which do genuinely preach love and compassion. Focus your criticisms on groups in power, not people who seem similar at a glance.

And this applies everywhere, transphobia and exclusionism toward transmasc people also come from a fundamental misunderstanding of what male privilege is. I’m really only using religion and antitheism as a vehicle to talk about a more general issue because it’s the one that’s on my mind.

#venting #vent #bigotry #transphobia #ableism #antitheism

6 notes · View notes

llycaons · 1 year

Text

this is going to sound so weird but I personally as a bi person wish so badly that wwx was out/explicitly into men in his first life because I think it would be a harder-hitting story. he’s already being marginalized and (unfairly!!) scapegoated because of classism and mob mentality and the corruption and greed of the great sects. if this cultivation world also associated biphobia/homophobia with deviance and horror, and then the reveal comes later that he’s innocent of the accusations leveled at him, I think it would genuinely be a more powerful story. it doesn't have to be immediate wholesale disgust either, we saw how the sects were very happy to praise him for his accomplishments while knowing he was a son of a servant and a demonic cultivator, then turning on him and using any weapon they could to discredit and villainize him as soon as they needed to. it would just be par for the course.

I don’t like how the novel handles homophobia or internalized homophobia, but I actually disagree with automatically eliminating it from fantasy media, and I think it could be a meaningful vehicle to explore sexuality and identity, and the corruption and hypocrisy of the characters in power. it would be actually making a statement about the nature of bi/homophobia within that setting aside from a few disconnected, cartoonishly stereotypical statements by other characters and the godawful treatment of mxy, both of which wwx literally does not react to at all

wwx feels so disconnected from his sexuality throughout the entire story, especially in the novel (ironically enough), and I think discussing/acknowledging how people react to him in the narrative more would just have been a portrayal of a bisexual or gay man that lgbt people themselves could more easily connect with? obviously it was censored, but I think the drama tried to lean in this direction, especially by giving wwx that line after patting down xy. I also want to see the flipside - his sexuality bringing him joy and connecting him to a community and loved ones. which I think cql tries to do too, with nhs, and obviously with the romantic subtext of his relationship with lwj and how much peace and joy that relationship brings him

I get why people maybe wouldn’t want to see this and enjoy that wwx’s sexuality is unconnected from the rest of his very tragic and painful plot, but it just rings a little hollow for me. personally

#again I don't speak for all bi people etc. we're not a monolith it's jsut something I think would fuck. black sails influence on me maybe #incidental bisexuality is all well and good but this story is so deeply about wwx and about his identity and his struggles and his triumphs #being bi or gay felt like a character trait slapped on and not a part of his identity #in the novel #I have seen people talk about why they like how his internalized homophobia is handled and I don't want to talk over them or snything #this is just. personally I would have liked to see it.#i promise im not saying I want wwx to experience bi/homophoba to a greater extent than he already has #I'm just saying I think it would make him a more coherent character #which is wild to say because he alreasy had eight million things going on. he's a pretty coherent character already #and I like that he has a huge character outside of liking men #but I think it would fit really well and make sense #but it feels like SUCH a straight woman writing it.#well. in my head there's a perfect version of the show #cql txp

3 notes · View notes

tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 2 years

Note

your post got me thinking about how i used to like boyles stuff, but when i started watching mock the week i heard him do a bit where he said something along the lines of "back in my day political correctness was called "sp*zzy gay talk"" which really made me sour on him (idk how it is in canada but in the uk sp*z is a straight up slur towards disabled people) and move away from watching his stuff. and on the one hand i get it, this was in like 2006ish so every third joke is questionable at best, but on the other that was the most blatantly offensive one i'd heard so far, and i actually i haven't seen much of mock the week from between 2007s series to 2015s series because i specifically wanted to avoid any more surprise slurs and offensive "jokes". i know its not fair to judge someone by what they said fifteen years ago and i am glad to hear he seems to have changed, but its still unfortunately the first thing i think of when i see his name.

Thanks for this, I always appreciate getting messages from people who have other things to say about stuff I’ve written on here. For anyone who’s reading this and is confused, this message is referring to this post, though at the time this message came in I hadn’t written the update yet.

I think I remember the exact Mock the Week moment you’re talking about, and I understand why your or anyone would not want to watch that. That particular S word isn’t “as bad” where I’m from, but it’s still a word I’d never use. And not just because it’s worse elsewhere. I learned at some point last year, while watching some British show or other, that in Britain that word is an outright slur, while in North America it’s just a generally derogatory word. But even before last year, I did not use that word. Because I don’t want to use slurs or generally derogatory words for marginalized groups that I’m not a part of, and generally think that’s a good rule to have. I spent 2006 figuring out I was (mostly) gay while hearing kids at school use “gay” as an insult, pretty much exactly the way Frankie Boyle used it in the moment you’ve mentioned, and that made it harder for me to accept myself and come out. I definitely do not want to defend Frankie Boyle’s use of those words in that way.

Honestly, I’m thinking of explanations for why I think it’s okay for me to still like Frankie Boyle in the light of all that, and I’m fighting a strong instinct to write a lot of words about those explanations, because they don’t really seem appropriate in the context of the quote you mentioned in that message. I don’t want to defend that one, and I don’t even want to talk about “nuance” or whatever in a way that might make it sound like I’m defending it. That specific comment is indefensible, and my only explanation for why I don’t hold it against Frankie Boyle forever is that I don’t think he’d stand by it today either.

I’ve written about my thoughts on this subject, the subject of how I love vulgar comedy but do not like comedy that hurts people who don't deserve it and how I reconcile those two things, in a few previous posts, and I'm sure I'll write about them in some future ones. But I’m going to resist getting further into them on this post, because any thoughts I have about how context makes certain things okay do not apply to that comment you’ve quoted. That one’s just clearly not okay, a lot of the stuff Frankie Boyle has said is clearly not okay, and I hate the way people can use overcomplicated ideas to defend stuff that is just clearly not okay.

Anyway, it’s absolutely fair enough if the association with that comment puts you off enjoying anything else that involves Frankie Boyle. There are so many amazing comedians out there who don’t have that kind of history, including many comedians who are members of the vulnerable groups that have been hurt by the language he casually used. I hope you can enjoy those other comedians and I’m sorry for all the not okay things out there.

2 notes · View notes

kudzucraft · 4 months

Text

This is personal thinking/ranting so I’ll put it under a cut, sorry ^^; tw for suicidal ideation

This is some idle, uh, journaling/ranting I guess. Just wanted to say it into the void: I really wish that people would stop saying/spreading around this idea that “we are all responsible for countless deaths/endless harm, indirectly through our every action as participants in capitalism/our current system, so technically we’re all murderers/awful people” or whatever—because while to a certain extent it may be true (our systems perpetrate violence and we have no choice but to participate in them in order to survive, so we indirectly support those systems) it redirects the blame to place a huge burden of moral guilt on individuals rather than the systems actually at fault. Like, maybe that sufficiently motivates some people toward political action, to fix the brokenness? But I feel like the end result is mostly ennui and despair.

For me, at least, and I imagine people like me, it just makes me feel hopeless, and deepens my own sense of worthlessness. There’s enough self-harm and negative worth in the world. Saying “you’re responsible for this through your existence” doesn’t help. It’s…well, I’ll be frank. For people with a history of suicidal tendencies (raises hand), it’s two inches from “if you didn’t exist, you wouldn’t be a drain on the system. Why don’t you just die so that there will be marginally less suffering in the world?” (Hurts a lot more if you’ve dealt with disability, too.) Obviously it’s not intended to cause harm! But it does make it a hell of a lot harder to engage in activism when one of the “motivating quotes” is “you can never do anything good/your very existence causes harm.” And it’s not exactly the kind of thing that people trigger tag, so it’s hard to avoid… People tend to use it as humor, honestly, but it’s hard to see the humor when it’s part of a mindset that I, personally, have been trying to overcome for most of my life so that I can see myself as a Whole Person who deserves to live, rather than a burden.

Augh. Maybe it’s just a personal trigger I need to learn to fuckin cope with. I do appreciate proactive rallies for change, like “these specific businesses/movements are responsible for X amount of harm, and we can bring them down through collective action! Here’s what we’ve done so far!” Nihilism is also just unfortunately prevalent in leftist circles. So be it I guess. 🤷‍♀️

#tw sui ideation #alora rambles #personal #oueghhhhh >.<

0 notes

alamwamal · 8 months

Text

When did we, as a web society agree that improving every single site equates making it harder to navigate?! alhamdulillah, I don't have any disability or special needs but these tiny changes makes uncomfortable, I'm not exactly resilient.

Now, imagine how inconvenient it is for people with special needs.

How ironic it is that they want to put everything in your face to ease access they actually make harder?!

Did tumblr just reduce margins on posts to increase space for things I don't actually want to see?!

Fixed head bars? Who ever came up with idea of fixed head bars: you have no idea what did you unleash. what if every thing decided to make fixed head bars?! Last time I was on twitter for some reason nearly 20% of the top was taken -not speaking of the bottom because it's more tolerable. I took notice because I subconsciously lowered my head as if doing so will make me see beyond it. When I want to scroll down I want everything to disappear. It's bad enough that I have to deal with the browser's bars.

Also, why, oh why would you developers think that organizing languages alphabetically instead of putting English as the first option is acceptable or functional? is it supposed to be progressive? if that's the case consider using the term Globish or make something up.

I suggest to sites developers -especially social media: instead of doing minor, unnecessary, inconvenient changes every other day, they do a huge crazy ones every few months, I know some people would love them, while making the older version an optional for people like myself.

#tumblr #social media #websites in general #I haven't updated my tumblr app since april #at this point I turned off updates I just update apps every couple of months unless they broke or malfunction #but I guess you can't with desktop

1 note · View note

t1deleuthera-blog · 1 year

Text

Gendered Politics

The US census states that 50.5% of the population is women. As of 2022 (pre-midterms), there were 147 self-identifying female representatives in congress. Twenty-four senators and 123 house members. That constitutes only 27.5% of the congress, proving it is much harder for women to win elections than men. This posting explores how and why women must take on masculine characteristics in order to win elections.

I shall start by using Lauren Boebert, a congresswoman from Colorado’s 3 district, as an example. Representative Boebert (who at the time of this post is only a few votes ahead of her Democratic challenger) is usually seen wearing a baseball cap (a more masculine article of clothing) and regularly adopts masculine traits and rhetoric in order to gain votes. In the patriarchal society we live in, feminine traits are seen as weak and, therefore, not what voters wish to see in their representatives.

As evidenced by the baseball cap, some women must take on more masculine styles of clothing to appeal to voters. For example, the image attached below shows Margert Thatcher with other world leaders at the G7 Summit meeting of 1987. She is wearing a dark blazer (fashioned after a man’s suit) with cufflinks. All the men are also wearing dark clothes and suits. She also wears high heels to ensure she is of the same stature as the men. If she were shorter, they would assume she is weaker.

Boebert claimed during a video with a conservative comedian that “Women are the lesser vessel and we need to masculinity in our lives to balance that, that so-called weakness” she went on to iterate, “Just us being more frail and needing that strength in our lives.” Boebert makes these claims because, as groundbreaking author Cynthia Enloe argues in her book, Bananas, Beaches and Bases, “In such rivalries, women are marginalized unless (withstanding ridicule as “unfeminine”) they can convincingly cloak themselves in a particular masculinized style of speech and action. Thus a common British assessment of Britain’s first and only woman prime minister: “Margaret Thatcher was the toughest man in the room.” (pg 31)” In other words, strength and traditionally masculine characteristics will get you in power, not feminine ones.

Another masculine tactic employed by Boebert involves her obsession with guns because they provide protection in this extremely perilous world she would like us to believe we live in. So much so that she owned a restaurant called “Shooters Grill,” where staff proudly used open carry as they served their customers. She employs this tactic not just because it panders to Republicans but also because “Among its many questionable consequences, the absorption

of the idea that we live in a dangerous world serves to reinforce the primacy of particular forms of masculinity while subordinating most women and femininity itself.” (pg. 30) Her voters need to have a leader who will protect them, so she tries to give off that image by taking photos of her with guns and so forth.

Valerie Sperling’s book “Sex, Politics, and Putin” explores how the leader of Russia came to power and has stayed in for so long. Images of Putin doing “manly” things, such as riding a horse or shooting a gun, reinforces his position as a powerful leader. Critics of Putin try to undermine his ultra-masculine actions by referring to him as “botox” in order to feminize him. They reason that if he is seen as feminine, fewer people will support him. However, her studies don’t just apply to Russia but everywhere. On page 4, she says, “But a larger part of the explanation goes beyond the Russian case and is rooted in a widespread, if not universal, phenomenon: the cultural aiming of masculinity under patriarchy makes the assertion of masculinity a vehicle for power.” This is a worldwide phenomenon.

In conclusion, unfortunately, women have to take on traditionally masculine roles to get elected. This would not happen if there were not such a “widespread acceptance of gender stereotypes and a patriarchal culture that privileges maleness and masculinity over femaleness and femininity.” It is not until our society drills these notions out of people’s minds that we can live in a more just society that judges human beings as people, not sexes.

1 note · View note

perpetual-stories · 3 years

Text

22 Essential Literary Devices and How to Use Them In Your Writing

hello, happy Monday. Hope you’re all having a wonderful day!

I will skip the pre-info and dive right into it.

What Is a Literary Device?

is a tool used by writers to hint at larger themes, ideas, and meaning in a story or piece of writing

The List of Literary Devices:

Allegory. Allegory is a literary device used to express large, complex ideas in an approachable manner. Allegory allows writers to create some distance between themselves and the issues they are discussing, especially when those issues are strong critiques of political or societal realities.

Allusion. An allusion is a popular literary device used to develop characters, frame storylines, and help create associations to well-known works. Allusions can reference anything from Victorian fairy tales and popular culture to the Bible and the Bard. Take the popular expression “Bah humbug”—an allusion that references Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol. The phrase, which is often used to express dissatisfaction, is associated with the tale’s curmudgeonly character, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Anachronism. Imagine reading a story about a caveman who microwaves his dinner, or watching a film adaptation of a Jane Austen novel in which the characters text each other instead of writing letters. These circumstances are examples of anachronisms, or an error in chronology—the kind that makes audiences raise their eyebrows or do a double-take. Sometimes anachronisms are true blunders; other times, they’re used intentionally to add humor or to comment on a specific time period in history.

Cliffhanger. It’s a familiar feeling: You’re on minute 59 of an hour-long television episode, and the protagonist is about to face the villain—and then episode cuts to black. Known as a cliffhanger, this plot device marks the end of a section of a narrative with the express purpose of keeping audiences engaged in the story.

Dramatic Irony. Remember the first time you read or watched Romeo and Juliet? The tragic ending of this iconic story exemplifies dramatic irony: The audience knows that the lovers are each alive, but neither of the lovers knows that the other is still alive. Each drinks their poison without knowing what the audience knows. Dramatic irony is used to great effect in literature, film, and television.

Extended Metaphor. Extended metaphors build evocative images into a piece of writing and make prose more emotionally resonant. Examples of extended metaphor can be found across all forms of poetry and prose. Learning to use extended metaphors in your own work will help you engage your readers and improve your writing.

Foreshadowing. At its core, storytelling has one ambition: to capture and sustain your reader’s attention and keep them reading your story. Foreshadowing, or slyly indicating a future event, is one technique a writer can use to create and build suspense.

Humor. Humor brings people together and has the power to transform how we think about the world. Of course, not everyone is adept at being funny—particularly in their writing. Making people laugh takes some skill and finesse, and, because so much relies on instinct, is harder to teach than other techniques. However, all writers can benefit from learning more about how humor functions in writing.

Imagery. If you’ve practiced or studied creative writing, chances are you’ve encountered the expression “paint a picture with words.” In poetry and literature, this is known as imagery: the use of figurative language to evoke a sensory experience in the reader. When a poet uses descriptive language well, they play to the reader’s senses, providing them with sights, tastes, smells, sounds, internal and external feelings, and even deep emotion. The sensory details in imagery bring works to life.

Irony. Irony is an oft-misunderstood literary device that hinges on opposites: what things are on the surface, and what they end up actually being. Many learn about dramatic irony through works of theater like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet or Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex. When deployed with skill, irony is a powerful tool that adds depth and substance to a piece of writing.

Metaphor, Simile, and Analogy. Metaphors, similes, and analogies are three techniques used in speech and writing to make comparisons. Each is used in a different way, and differentiating between the three can get a little tricky: For example, a simile is actually a subcategory of metaphor, which means all similes are metaphors, but not all metaphors are similes. Knowing the similarities and differences between metaphor, simile, and analogy can help you identify which is best to use in any scenario and help make your writing stronger.

Motif. A motif is a repeated element that has symbolic significance to a story. Sometimes a motif is a recurring image. Sometimes it’s a repeated word or phrase or topic. A motif can be a recurrent situation or action. It can be a sound or a smell or a temperature or a color. The defining aspect is that a motif repeats, and through this repetition, a motif helps to illuminate the central ideas, themes, and deeper meaning of the story in which it appears.

Motif vs. Symbol. Both motifs and symbols are used across artistic mediums: Painters, sculptors, playwrights, and musicians all use motifs and symbols in their respective art forms. And while they are similar literary terms, “motif” and “symbol” are not synonyms.

Oxymoron. An oxymoron is a figure of speech: a creative approach to language that plays with meaning and the use of words in a non-literal sense. This literary device combines words with contradictory definitions to coin a new word or phrase (think of the idiom “act naturally”—how can you be your natural self if you’re acting?). The incongruity of the resulting statement allows writers to play with language and meaning.

Paradox. “This sentence is a lie.” This self-referential statement is an example of a paradox—a contradiction that questions logic. In literature, paradoxes can elicit humor, illustrate themes, and provoke readers to think critically.

Personification. In writing, figurative language—using words to convey a different meaning outside the literal one—helps writers express themselves in more creative ways. One popular type of figurative language is personification: assigning human attributes to a non-human entity or inanimate object in an effort to express a point or idea in a more colorful, imaginative way.

Satire. Satire is so prevalent in pop culture that most of us are already very familiar with it, even if we don’t always realize it. Satire is an often-humorous way of poking fun at the powers that be. Sometimes, it is created with the goal to drive social change. Satire can be part of any work of culture, art, or entertainment—it has a long history, and it is as relevant today as it was in ancient Rome.

Situational Irony. Irony: it’s clear as mud. Theorists quibble about the margins of what constitutes irony, but situational irony is all around us—from humorous news headlines to the shock twists in a book or TV show. This type of irony is all about the gap between our expectations and reality, and it can make a memorable and powerful impression when we encounter it.

Suspense. No matter what type of story you’re telling, suspense is a valuable tool for keeping a reader’s attention and interest. Building suspense involves withholding information and raising key questions that pique readers’ curiosity. Character development plays a big role in generating suspense; for example, if a character’s desire is not fulfilled by the end of the book, the story will not feel complete for the reader.

Symbolism. An object, concept, or word does not have to be limited to a single meaning. When you see red roses growing in a garden, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think literally about the rose—about its petals, stem, and thorns, or even about its stamen and pistil as a botanist might. But perhaps your mind goes elsewhere and starts thinking about topics like romance, courtship, and Valentine’s Day. Why would you do this? The reason, of course, is that over the course of many generations, a rose’s symbolic meaning has evolved to include amorous concepts.

Verisimilitude. Verisimilitude (pronounced ve-ri-si-mi-li-tude) is a theoretical concept that determines the semblance of truth in an assertion or hypothesis. It is also an essential tenet of fiction writing. Verisimilitude helps to encourage a reader’s willing suspension of disbelief. When using verisimilitude in writing, the goal is to be credible and convincing.

Vignette. A writer’s job is to engage readers through words. Vignettes—poetic slices-of-life—are a literary device that brings us deeper into a story. Vignettes step away from the action momentarily to zoom in for a closer examination of a particular character, concept, or place. Writers use vignettes to shed light on something that wouldn’t be visible in the story’s main plot.

I’ll make a post going into each of them individually in more detail later on!

Like, reblog and comment if you find this useful! If you share on Instagram tag me perpetualstories

Follow me on tumblr and Instagram for more writing and grammar tips and more!

#writing #writing advice #writing tips #original writing #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writersconnection #writersofig #writersofinstagram #writings

3K notes · View notes