#i mean most of the phandom does it but eh

[inthememetime]

It is disability awareness month, and because of this and the fact I, too, am disabled, I've decided to go with a trope that's tricky to write without being offensive.

That's right.

Body Horror

Here are the questions we'll cover today: What is body horror? What makes this trope go from an excellent horror device to an offensive abelist stereotype if not done correctly? How do we avoid being offensive? When is it most effective to use body horror?

It's all tricky; and sometimes, as with any time you're writing about a character's body, there's no way to avoid being offensive. But that doesn't mean we can't do our best!

Body Horror is basically a trope where someone goes through negative physical changes. See where this can get really offensive to disabled people really quick?

Things to avoid in body horror:

If your body horror is somebody in a wheelchair, you're not writjng body horror. You're being abelist.

If your body horror is scarring, again, you're being abelist.

Skin color changes to natural colors. Yes, I have seen body horror played like this before. Unless the skin color is changing to something unnatural, or growing massive scales, or similar, you're not writing body horror. You're being racist.

If your body horror involves somebody wearing/using oxygen, or- look. In general, if your body horror is what a disabled person goes through every day? You're either mislabeling your work, or you're abelist.

Things you should use in body horror:

Open wounds! Pus! Blood! Acid! Boils! Go for it! But please do not compare it to what a disabled person goes through. It should be in a context of"wow this is so terrible, this person is constantly oozing bright green blood and spores and stuff, or just looks like a walking corpse", NOT "wow this is so terrible, this person has bad acne, or wounds that need to be debrided regularly."

Eyes! No eyes, more than a normal number amount of eyes, weird pupils, glow, black pits where eyes once were, tears of blood- go for it! Have fun with the messed up eyes! (If your body horror consists only of cataracts, again, you're being abelist and ageist, not scary.)

Horns, scales, hooves, claws, messed up teeth- yay! Again, have fun! Go for it!

Hair- eh. It's tricky, hair loss. You can definitely use it, just be mindful that you don't portray ALL your evil characters/monsters as going through hair loss. Extra hair, though, can be fun!

A not normal number of limbs- does your OC develop 6 arms? Do they turn blue? Do you maybe need to look up deities in Indian mythology before writing something offensive? That aside: extra arms, legs, heads, wings, organs- usually pretty cool! If your body horror is someone is an amputee (no matter how many limbs they've lost), it's abelism.

With all the examples above, it's less what you write, and more how you write it. Let's use the monsters from I Am Legend. As part of a horrific virus, their skin bleaches out (turning to another natural color), experience full body hair loss, and temperature changes.

If it had focused on just one monster, that could've become a horrible racist and ableist thing very quickly. However, it's not. The body horror is a secondary thing to the very real and present horrors of isolation, constant vigilance, and violence.

In The Thing (something that helped really get the genre rolling), it's VERY effective body horror. It combines the terror of what this thing is becoming with isolation, distrust, fear.

In Teeth, the main character has what could be called a disability. However, she learns to use it, gets revenge, and likes having it at the end. In that, it's not ableist, any more than somebody learning how to use their crutches and finally being able to get around is. (Hint: not at all)

Now, body horror can also be played for laughs, like in Danny Phantom. Danny turns his lower chest into a giant ring of oozing ectoplasm to avoid a projectile. He gets cut in half and has a delayed reaction. In the phandom, there's tons of body horror chalked up to Danny being Danny, or 'Body Horror, but guys this is DP'.

The difference between these four is the atmosphere. And this is when it is most/least effective to use body horror:

Combined with fears of others/distrust

Combined with isolation/ can't get help

Unexpected- nobody knew this would happen, least of all the victims

A way for the change(s) to be useful, or even beneficial.

The victim liking the changes/thinking they're cool/using them to escape danger.

Changes in power dynamics. For example, if you have a victim of something, held against their will, then physical changes that enable them to get away and turn the tables on their captors might not be body horror to them. Better believe it's horrifying to the captor!

I hope this helps, if you needed it! And remember: the leas human/more horrifying the changes are, the less likely it is to be abelist.

#inthememetime #horror writing tips #body horror

[goldenpinof]

eh i’d say dan is relevant on twitter in the sense that most of his tweets do well unless they’re about something that not everyone gets (like the final fantasy joke or anything about british politics - but even those get like a solid 30-50k likes) his usual tweets often get 80-over 100k. to me it feels like whenever dan does anything, it’s an event everyone does feral over.

i think you’re talking about relevancy TO us on a personal level. that’s different from relevancy in his business area. his twitter content doesn’t have a wow effect and it doesn’t make people talk about Dan as a creator. people outside the phandom doesn’t talk about present Dan at all (forget coming out articles and etc, that was relevancy on both levels) because there’s nothing to talk about. and i don’t mean that people should talk about Dan’s personal life, i only mean his content or what he gives to the masses.

#answered #dan

[manchestereyes]

8, 10, 12, 39 and i don't think this is in the q's but do u prefer writing angst or fluff? (ps i love your writing

8. what time are you most productive?

you know, it used to be 9-11pm but now that i’ve started drinking coffee (and working 4-10pm most nights), it’s been more like 10am-1pm! and now it takes an insane amount of willpower if i even wanna attempt to write after dinner. it feels soooo weird to me tbh but hey, whatever works i guess lol

10. how do you do your researches?

answered here! ❤

12. favorite place to write

well currently the only place i write is in my room, so i guess there? hahaha but i did really like writing in my dorm room back when i lived at school and i quite liked writing on the train when i wasn’t reading! i mean, i never did get that much done because i felt so nervous about it but it was still fun lol

39. do you want to be published some day?

yes!!! i technically did have an essay of mine published in my school’s fine arts magazine a couple years ago but idk if that counts since they don’t sell it or anything lol. (i did get $100 for it though since i won 1st place which was really cool!) but my dream is to one day publish a novel. idk when that’s gonna be since i’m really enjoying writing fic now and have 0 ideas for anything with original characters but i really hope it can happen one day!

i much prefer writing fluff! i find it soooo much easier lol maybe because, as much as i do like coming up with angsty ideas, it just feels so hard to get them right? but at the same time, it feels sooooo good when i finally do lol 

also thank you so much!!! 💖💖💖💖 other than dnp, i’ve recently started shipping larry stylinson pretty hardcore and i just love saf/tyler and jenna/julien as couples! (does it count as shipping if they’re already together? eh idc they’re cute anyway lol) as for fictional characters, though, that crown goes solely to klaine and maaayybe jim and pam from the office if i’m being nice lmao (i clearly need to watch more tv skdjflsdkhjg) oh and i love seeing phimmy in fic!! pretty much every time i’ve read it, it’s been written extremely well so major kudos to our talented phandom writers for that :D

writer asks!

#y'all need to tell me to stop rambling and actually work on this fic #since i need to post it this week lol #answered #writer stuff #Anonymous

[mellomadness]

Rules: Tell us your favorite character from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people. I was tagged by the lovely @insane-halloween-lover Thanks for tagging me :D 1. Manolo Sanchez, “The Book of Life” Manolo, my son. I love him not just because he’s a beautiful singer (especially in Spanish) but because his morals and values line up pretty much with mine, which is always nice. The boy walks the straight n narrow, so to speak, and he still manages to have fun and rebel a little against his family’s ideals, which sometimes is what I would like to do. Also his relationship with his family is pretty much a perfect reflection of mine (specifically near the end of the movie when they’re fighting Chaqal). I mean, this boy is my phone case. That’s gotta count for how much I love him, hehe. 2. Charlie Eppes, “Numb3rs” Do I have to explain this one? My other son, Charlie, genius with social problems and child-like wonder and curiosity and wonderful humor. I relate so much to him, personality wise and on a deeper, intellectual level. Honestly if you wanna know more why I love him, go through my Charlie Eppes tag and just… enjoy the ride. 3. Tarrant Hightopp/Alice Kingsleigh, “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass” Speak of curiosity, eh? Hehe. Tarrant and Alice, my favorite character duo since the beginning of Time himself!! I relate to both of these characters so much and I love them so much. Tarrant is such an oddball and a dork and a ferocious friend (*ahem* husband to Alice *ahem*). Alice is filled to the brim with curiosity and wonder and selflessness and aaaa! I could go on forever. They’re my favorites because of their characteristics and the way they balance each other out is perfection. I gotta stop now or I’ll never shut up 4. Jefferson the Mad Hatter, “Once Upon a Time” Another Hatter!! Of course. I love every version of the Hatter, I’ve always related the most to the character no matter what the retelling. Jefferson, especially. He does everything he can to help his daughter and make sure she has nothing but the BEST, even at the expense of his own life. He loves his baby girl so much and I absolutely love that she is his motive, he must live for Grace, he must work for Grace. What he often forgets is that like her name suggests, Grace will always give him grace, and is content with whatever they have as long as she’s with him. And again, I love him. 5. The Doctor, “Doctor Who” Doesn’t matter the rejig, I love this character. Defender of the universe, protector of Earth and last of the Timelords. This man has been through so much and he’s grown so much from his first (seen) incarnation. I’m still with 11 at this point in my journey with the Doctor, but as far as I know, whoever plays him does a wonderful job and captures his character extremely well. He’s just so complex and with every episode we learn more about him. 6. James “Jim” Moriarty, “Sherlock” Specifically the BBC version, mind you, but I have loved every portrayal of Moriarty I’ve seen thus far. He is very much the “old fashioned villain” in Sherlock’s narrative, and yet so much more complex than that. I would love to know more about him, definitely going to have to read the original books and delve more into my favorite villain. 7. Princess Kida and Audrey Rocio Ramirez, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” My girls. My wonderful, sassy girls. I’ve loved them since I was a kid and I still love them to this day. They are wonderful female characters, with sass and intelligence and beauty. Everything I ever wanted when I was a tiny Mello and now what I hope I have. Also, have you seen their badassery? They rock. 8. Rapunzel, “Tangled” I relate to Rapunzel so, SO much. As an artist, I love that she draws/paints as much as I do. I love her spontaneity and her wonder and curiosity. She isn’t as naive as people think and there’s so much more to her than pretty green eyes and long blonde hair. She is a fun loving, goofy, strong character with an affinity for art and people. She’s so kind even to the people that scare her, and she’s not afraid to put her foot down. If I had to picks a character that describes me, I’d say Rapunzel, almost to a T, describes me. That’s probably why she’s my favorite (new) Disney Princess. 9. Danny Fenton, “Danny Phantom” What can I say? I love the Ghost boy. He’s a dork, he was one of my first childhood crushes, and he is a very great character even after coming back to the Phandom for the first time in about 7 years. The fact that he’s still an amazing character after all this time speaks volumes, doesn’t it? Hehe. 10. SIRIUS BLACK, “Harry Potter” All caps for him because he DESERVES IT. Sirius Black, my favorite character probably of all time besides Alice and Tare, is single handedly one of the best characters (in my opinion) in the entire Harry Potter series. I really wish we got to spend more time with him (I’m sure Harry wishes that too… oh look tears) and got to know more about him. He escaped Azkaban to protect his godson, his best friend’s son, and if that isn’t pure loyalty then shoot me. This man was wrongfully imprisoned and took the punishment because he thought he deserved it. He thought he got his best friend and his wife murdered when it was really Peter and my WORD Sirius deserved so much better. Sirius is my favorite, I can rant about how he should’ve lived for hours. I will never EVER be over his death. “Sirius, I’m seriously missing you.” Alrighty, time to tag!! I’m not sure I’ll tag ten people, but if you wanna do this, feel free to!! @safyresky @divinitycas @rainycrafts @thewayhistoryiswritten @cxptainalicekingslexgh @lifeisablackhole9 @just-a-racehorse-on-the-track @random-whovian4621 @i-am-against-being-touched @tree-of-blue-squirrel You don't have to do it if you don't want to :)

#taggy tag #tag game #favorite characters #this one was really hard #like I thought I knew who my favorites were #but apparently not #it was really fun though #MelloMoans #insane halloween lover #thanks so much for tagging me!