theladylatias

[theladylatias]

When I was in ninth grade I wanted to challenge what I saw as a very stupid dress code policy (not being allowed to wear spikes regardless of the size or sharpness of the spikes). My dad said to me, “What is your objective?”

He said it over and over. I contemplated that. I wanted to change an unfair dress code. What did I stand to gain? What did I stand to lose? If what I really wanted was to change the dress code, what would be my most effective potential approach? (He also gave me Discourses on the Fall of Rome by Titus Livius, Machiavelli’s magnum opus. Of course he’d already given me The Prince, Five Rings, and The Art of War.)

I ultimately printed out that phrase, coated it in Mod Podge, and clipped it to my bathroom mirror so I would look at it and think about it every day.

What is your objective?

Forget about how you feel. Ask yourself, what do you want to see happen? And then ask, how can you make it happen? Who needs to agree with you? Who has the power to implement this change? What are the points where you have leverage over them? If you use that leverage now, will you impair your ability to use it in the future? Getting what you want is about effectiveness. It is not about being an alpha or a sigma or whatever other bullshit the men’s right whiners are on about now. You won’t find any MRA talking points in Musashi, because they are not relevant.

I had no clear leverage on the dress code issue. My parents were not on the PTA; neither were any of my friend’s parents who liked me. The teachers did not care about this. Ultimately I just wore what I wanted, my patent leather collar from Hot Topic with large but flattened spikes, and I had guessed correctly—the teachers also did not care enough to discipline me.

I often see people on tumblr, mostly the very young, flail around in discourse. They don’t have an objective. They don’t know what they want to achieve, and they have never thought about strategizing and interpersonal effectiveness. No one can get everything they want by being an asshole. You must be able to work with other people, and that includes smiling when you hate them.

Read Machiavelli. Start with The Prince, but then move on to Discourses. Read Musashi’s Five Rings. Read The Art of War. They’re classics for a reason. They can’t cover all situations, but they can do more for how you think about strategizing than anything you’re getting in middle school and high school curricula.

Don’t vote third party unless you can tell me not only what your objective is but also why this action stands a meaningful chance of accomplishing it. Otherwise, back up and approach your strategy from a new angle. I don’t care how angry you are with Biden right now. He knows about it, and he is both trying to do something and not doing enough. I care about what will happen to millions of people if we have another Trump presidency. Look up Ross Perot, and learn from our past. Find your objective. If it is to stop the genocide in Palestine now, call your elected representatives now. They don’t care about emails; they care about phone calls, because they live in the past. I know this because I shadowed a lobbyist, because knowing how power works is critical to using it.

How do you think I have gotten two clinics to start including gender care in their planning?

Start small. Chip away. Keep working. Find your leverage; figure out how and when to effectively use it. Choose your battles, so that you can concentrate on the battle at hand instead of wasting your resources in many directions. Learn from the accumulated wisdom of people who spent their lives learning by doing, by making mistakes, by watching the mistakes of their enemies.

Don’t be a dickhead. Be smarter than I was at 14. Ask yourself: what is your objective?

#“you cannot decide that feeling something counts as activism” #more people need to get that through their heads #instead of feeling self-righteous and smug as they share a post and do absolutely nothing else #looking at a family member who constantly lectures about ethical lifestyles #and what she recently read online telling her is the right thing to do #while at the same time works a job that contributes to the military industrial complex lmao

[theladylatias]

[theladylatias]

what if i figured out i could make my neosona anything

(It is mutant, valentine, and plushie ♡)

[theladylatias]

Acquired the Neopets tarot deck from Geekify a few months ago but hadn't actually sat down to do a reading with it until last night! I haven't had the energy to do it. T.T But I spent some time shuffling it and getting to know it... I honestly really like it! And since it's something I have personal connection and nostalgia for, I think I'll be able to get more meaningful readings out of it!

I have to say I'm soooo glad I splurged on this version instead of getting the Faerie Edition... because this deck is gorgeous. Thick cards, gold foiling on the edges and text, almost velvety finish... it feels so luxurious! It's a little hard to shuffle just cause the cards are really big in my tiny little hands, but that's the only downside.

Really trying to get more into tarot, so this is really fun! I have a few other ones that I use for other purposes (one is more for personal spiritual readings, another one is specifically for use with a deity of mine, and the others are just for the pretty art, lol). So this one is a great addition~

#neopets #tarot #personal

[theladylatias]

I think we forgot a lot of the nuances of shipping somewhere somehow. Possibly before I even set foot in fandom. Rant below.

There are different types of ships.

Canon: The ship is built up and established in actual canon.

Plausible: The ship could be canon. It makes sense between those characters. But it is not canon.

Crackship: The ship will never happen in a million years. Could be funny though.

There are also separate types of fans.

Supporter: Shipping hardcore. Making fic, art, meta, etc.

Agreer: Believing the ship is plausible, but not really participating in its community

Denier: Believing the ship will never ever happen.

Anti: Being against the ship for moral reasons.

And somewhere at some point in time, they became this weird ass set of rules

If the ship has a lot of supporters, it is or should be canon. It is okay to attack creators over this matter.

If you post that the ship is plausible, you are automatically considered a supporter.

If you are a denier of a popular ship, you are not welcome in the larger fandom.

If you are a denier of any ship, you are also automatically an anti.

If you ship a crackship that rivals a popular ship (say AxC instead of AxB), you are not welcome in the larger fandom.

No ship is truly plausible- it must be justified via meta and therefore canon.

No fan is truly an agreer- they are either supporters who have yet to fully convert or deniers/antis.

If you are a denier or an agreer who does not wholeheartedly contribute to the ship, you "need reading comprehension" or "aren't a true fan".

All ships are equal, but the ones with rabid supporters are more equal than others.

Also, agreers and deniers have limited fandom participation, if any at all. The focus on shipping may be so strong that blocking that ship's tag locks them out of a character or fandom. This sucks not only for deniers, but for people on the ace spectrum who just might not be into that shit.

There are plenty of ships I agree on, that I find plausible, and would support if their shippers weren't...animals. If they weren't nations unto themselves, with a kangaroo court at the guillotine. For example, I'm quiet about Sormik (Tales of Zestiria) because I'm afraid of attracting attention from bad actors. My PS1 run-through of Final Fantasy VII said "yes" to Cloti, but the raging "Love Triangle Debate" said "no". Soriku (Kingdom Hearts) lost a supporter partially because of the insistence on it being canon. The "Sleeping Worlds Theory" is the finest piece of shipping propaganda in the JRPG world.

In short, shipping has boiled down to a black and white dichotomy when it's more of a spectrum. People who fall between the cracks in that spectrum risk being chased out. Some are accused of the purity/censorship tactics of the "hard no" end of the spectrum. This is used to alienate them further. I'm not talking about actual antis- fuck them- but people who are in the lukewarm middle, mistaken for antis.

I know I'm not the only person who got fucked over by this rabid shipping culture (as previously mentioned, some ace people have voiced concerns). I would like to know more about how it began. Some of the anti stuff is recent (i.e.- only in the last decade or so), but I feel there was always a fight over plausibility that has morphed into canonicity.

The walls are closing in. I better paint them the right shade? Fuck that. Let me paint with as many colors as I want. Fandom is not a place where everyone has to bow to the might of the big ships. It vomits wood and nails and encourages you to make your own. Somewhere, somehow, that is the spirit we lost.

#writing #fanfiction #purity culture needs to die #this is the problem with people needing to categorize everything #and turn it into neat little black and white or good and bad dichotomies #just mind your own business and let people have their harmless fun

[theladylatias]

[theladylatias]

Foggy woods

[theladylatias]

Happy Pokemon Day! ♡

[theladylatias]

I'm done with your purity

I'm fucking done with all of you westerners fucks who take your freedom for granted. AO3 was banned in china because pissy fans reporting RPF TO THE GOVERNMENT UNDER FALSE REPORT OF PEDO OR WHATEVER thus making life a living hell for Chinese writers and fans. ALSO LET ME TELL YOU that fanfic and AO3 is a safe space for many oppressed LGBT people outside of the west

I can't fucking say that I'm trans and bi without having people beating the shit out of me, but I can fuckin' write that I'm gay as fuck in fanfic or writing gay shit about my fave with fanfic

Imagine some people defending state wide censorship over fanfic, because they don't like icky fanfic, that's a sign that either you are brainwashed or fucking privileged and taking your freedom for granted. You know why Asian and other non western USA-European are more chill with fanfic and fandom?

Why we are less prone to make some stupid callout over fanworks?

Because most of us doesn't have the same information and expression privilege like the west, we take any freedom that we can have

That's in 2017... There's probably more than one million websites being censored rn. I cannot even buy pride pin here because NO ONE outside of internet selling it! The censorship always begin from "banning information to protect children and moral from nsfw" down to censoring Spongebob Squarepants

You don't like something? Just don't fucking read it, it wouldn't stop the author to write and when they do stop writing usually after they are harassed so bad to the point of mental break down or suicide. What the actual fuck...

Defending and supporting state wide censorship because you want to feel superior on the internet is beyond stupid and it showing your privilege... Also yah fuck you who defend china aggressive state wide censorship because adult x adult RPF icky or whatever, I like reading Tom Hiddleston x Reader, because I'm lonely and it's fun. Don't lie that you never thinking of marrying your favorite celebrities or dreaming about dating Gerard Way.

What the fuck you gonna do about it? Crucify my ass? So long you are not shoving it to the person's face, who give a fuck? It's not a justifiable ground to cheer for government mandated national wide censorship. A lot of westerners are so privileged and terminally online to the point their mind revolve around online discourse 24/7 I'm not saying discourse has no damn merits but you get what I said...

Some people particularly white westerners are so privileged they have the chance to goes back 180° and agreeing with conservative mindset they claim to hate so much... Also your kink critical bullshit and your bullshit crusading over dark stories? Yeah. Heavily influenced by TERF and conservatism. Newsflash...

I'm not a person who agree with all ship or stories, i don't claim any moral high ground. I was so scared of getting cancelled due to the hostile neo puritan fandom culture, but seeing people defending China great firewall and aggressive censorship finally broke something inside of me and I cannot stay quiet

I don't give a fuck about your fanfic discourse, If i don't like something i just wouldn't fucking engage with it and wouldn't read...

I'm done, I'm tired. Fucking tagging this shit as anti vs pro because i need to get the message out there and LET THE CHAOS begin

( When you want to escape your country censorship to the internet but then you see the supposed liberated westerners people wanting censorship because they want to feel moral. Yes there are even westerners who don't want to see anything even remotely 'problematic' example: they will attack Zutara or fuckin' Reylo shipper whatever. See? You are terminally online and so privileged... Congratulations... Here's your fucking medal and gold star)

#purity culture needs to die

[theladylatias]

#writing #lol oops it me

[theladylatias]

"before you can attempt a first draft, you've gotta take your big character's flowchart and divide it into scenes. Not key moments connected by vibes, but actual scenes" -LocalScriptMan in his video about dialogues

I hope you writers feel called out because I did. The vibes are great. We love vibes. But put them around your story rather than at its heart ! Hide the ineluctable story structure with vibes ! (I like LocalScriptMan's advice but he's a mainly plot-driven writer, like most screenwriters, so if you're a silly little character-driven writer like me maybe don't take everything he says about characters and plot at heart. Either way never take writing advice at heart. Think about it and see if you like it. We writers like to make up rules no ones strictly follows because it's art and art cannot be bend by rules, only explanations).

#writing #no rules work 100% for everyone! #but i definitely have been finding success focusing on writing key scenes first! #the hard part is stringing all of them together lol

[theladylatias]

Definitely have been doing nothing but writing only dialogue (with some minimal description) lately, and I feel like that's fine as long as I'm writing! I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok, it's just for me right now, and I can always go back later and make it better if I want.

I also LOVE the "write a list of what you want to happen that scene to visualize it better" because I do sometimes have a hard time visualizing things, especially something more action-y! Really, the key to my writing lately has been doing outlines, checklists, and bullet point idea lists, and it's helped so much.

Some of my writer’s block cures:

Handwrite. (If you already are, write in a different coloured pen.)

Write outside or at a different location.

Read.

Look up some writing prompts.

Take a break. Do something different. Comeback to it later.

Write something else. (A different WIP, a poem, a quick short story, etc.)

Find inspiring writing music playlists on YouTube. (Themed music, POV playlists, ambient music, etc.)

Do some character or story prompts/questions to get a better idea of who or what you’re writing.

Word sprints. Set a timer and write as much as you can. Not a lot of time to overthink things.

Set your own goals and deadlines.

Write another scene from your WIP. (You don’t have to write in order.) Write a scene you want to write, or the ending. (You can change it or scrap it if it doesn’t fit into your story later.)

Write a scene for your WIP that you will never post/add to your story. A prologue, a different P.O.V., how your characters would react in a situation that’s not in your story, a flashback, etc.

Write down a bunch of ideas. Things that could happen, thing that will never happen, good things, bad things.

Change the weather (in the story of course.)

Feel free to add your own.

#writing

[theladylatias]

This is an appreciation post for the fanfic authors who aren’t included on rec lists

For the fanfic authors who don’t get art of their fics

For the fanfic authors who can’t get to 1000/500/100 hits

For the fanfic authors who don’t get comments/reviews

For the fanfic authors who write for small fandoms

For the fanfic authors who write rarepairs or gen fics

For the fanfic authors who get hate for the ships/characters/fandoms they write

For the fanfic authors who write in English despite it not being their first language

For the fanfic authors who don’t write in English

For the fanfic authors who don’t think anyone reads or likes their work

For the fanfic authors who aren’t big name fans

For the fanfic authors who don’t get requests in their inboxes

For the fanfic authors who can’t write stories that are more than a thousand words

For the fanfic authors who only write one ship

For the fanfic authors who are just starting

For the fanfic authors who have been writing fic for years

For the fanfic authors who use fanfic to practice writing

For the fanfic authors who write self-insert fics

For the fanfic authors who write about their OCs

For the fanfic authors who write to vent or cope

For the fanfic authors who are just waiting for their big break

Keep creating, I love you ❤️

[theladylatias]

My art summary for 2023~

[theladylatias]

workspace 💗🌷✨

[theladylatias]

Took me long enough, but I finally uploaded my submission to @colosseumzine on my writing sites! Come read and review if you like!

Glass Heart is a Pokémon Colosseum fanfic exploring my take on Nascour! One of the villains of the game, and one of my favorite characters <3

FFN: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14315331/1/Glass-Heart Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52862788

#pokemon colosseum #pokemon #fanfiction #writing #my fanfiction #nascour #ein

[theladylatias]

Happy 20th Anniversary <3

My piece for the amazing @colosseumzine