JVL
official daine visual archive
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🩵 avery cochrane 🩵
Stranger Things
if i look back, i am lost
art blog(derogatory)
Claire Keane
noise dept.
EXPECTATIONS
almost home
KIROKAZE
Xuebing Du
todays bird
Mike Driver
tannertan36
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
untitled
d e v o n
⁂
seen from Venezuela
seen from Mexico
seen from Venezuela
seen from Iraq
seen from Venezuela
seen from Venezuela
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Ireland
seen from Poland
seen from Ukraine
seen from Germany
seen from Saudi Arabia
seen from Cambodia
seen from Malaysia
seen from Canada
seen from Morocco
seen from Indonesia
@bootlegearthborn
https://twitter.com/tommysantelli
[ID: two tweets by @tommysantelli
“USING a wheelchair. USES a wheelchair.
just like WEARING glasses, WEARS glasses.
not “confined to being behind frames” or “being behind frames” or “lens-bound.”
a wheelchair is a tool. a good tool. like glasses.
this correlation isn’t something i invented. disability communities have been saying these things for years. we keep saying it until it gets imbedded.” End ID]
I have … a tip.
If you’re writing something that involves an aspect of life that you have not experienced, you obviously have to do research on it. You have to find other examples of it in order to accurately incorporate it into your story realistically.
But don’t just look at professional write ups. Don’t stop at wikepedia or webMD. Look up first person accounts.
I wrote a fic once where a character has frequent seizures. Naturally, I was all over the wikipedia page for seizures, the related pages, other medical websites, etc.
But I also looked at Yahoo asks where people where asking more obscure questions, sometimes asked by people who were experiencing seizures, sometimes answered by people who have had seizures.
I looked to YouTube. Found a few individual videos of people detailing how their seizures usually played out. So found a few channels that were mostly dedicated to displaying the daily habits of someone who was epileptic.
I looked at blogs and articles written by people who have had seizures regularly for as long as they can remember. But I also read the frantic posts from people who were newly diagnosed or had only had one and were worried about another.
When I wrote that fic, I got a comment from someone saying that I had touched upon aspects of movement disorders that they had never seen portrayed in media and that they had found representation in my art that they just never had before. And I think it’s because of the details. The little things.
The wiki page for seizures tells you the technicalities of it all, the terminology. It tells you what can cause them and what the symptoms are. It tells you how to deal with them, how to prevent them.
But it doesn’t tell you how some people with seizures are wary of holding sharp objects or hot liquids. It doesn’t tell you how epileptics feel when they’ve just found out that they’re prone to fits. It doesn’t tell you how their friends and family react to the news.
This applies to any and all writing. And any and all subjects. Disabilities. Sexualities. Ethnicities. Cultures. Professions. Hobbies. Traumas. If you haven’t experienced something first hand, talk to people that have. Listen to people that have. Don’t stop at the scholarly sources. They don’t always have all that you need.
Researching clinical explanations of PTSD vs listening to first hand interviews of children from war zones was eye opening.
Who wore it best?
Various actors dressed for Chantecler, a play written by Edmond Rostand and set in a barnyard.
Lucien Guitry, 1910:
Gertrude Hoffmann, 1910:
Simone le Bargy, 1910:
Maud Jay, Frances Kapstowne and Davy Burnaby, 1910:
Maude Adams, 1911:
Bonus contestant! although most characters were feathered, the play did feature other animals, like this dog:
And these frogs (I wish I had a clearer photo):
I want #rivi to stomp on me.
stop talking to me like that
kofi
I am a grown ass dude and strangers need to stop talking to me like this unless they plan on either kissing me on the mouth or giving me a lot of money
the shame disabled people feel when using a mobility device is almost entirely created by abled people pass it on
it is why I can always spot an abled person writing a disabled character: actual disabled people value our mobility devices and the freedom they give us
Abled person writing someone taking pills: *ten paragraph monologue about how this character takes pills and they take as few of them as possible because they don’t trust drugs and what it does to their body so every pill they take makes their entire body shudder in revulsion*
Disabled person writing about taking pills: *possibly funny half sentence about how the character just went to go take their pills but since they’re half asleep they went down the wrong pipe and had to cough a little to get it out but that’s okay cause that happens sometimes and these pills are good and help their body stay as healthy as healthy gets for them and they don’t mind take them*
reminder that disabled people often have internal ableism because of the abuse we suffer /for/ being disabled. it cam take a while to become comfortable with taking care of our bodies and their needs, especially if we don’t grow up in a positive home environment. So yes, i love that there are adaptations that help me to be a functional human, but there are times where i still LOATHE that i require adaptations (meds and devices) to be able to do even a part of what an able person can.
to clarify my original post:
I am talking about the origin of the internalised ableism we feel. I’m not saying that those fears don’t exist, but that they are created by the society (a society that is almost entirely built for able bodied and minded people) in which we live in. Able bodied people are the first to gasp and make us feel weird about our bodies and accommodations. They are the first to say someone is faking when they don’t see any visible signs of disability, or that the person is too young to use an aid when they actually do.
When a chronically ill or disabled person is telling me about a new surgery or device they have, I wait to gauge how they feel about it before I react (because I want the person who is opening up to me about their disability to feel comfortable, I’m not worried about expressing how I feel about the situation!!). Most able bodied people I know don’t do that unless they have been confronted about a shitty thing they’ve said.
All of the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, negative comments we hear every day about disability create the little sparks of fear and self loathing inside us. They are then reinforced by literature and entertainment written about us by people who don’t even understand why what they are saying is so ignorant.
Some of the best writing advice I ever got was if you’re stuck on a scene or a line, the problem is actually about 10 lines back and that’s saved me from writer’s block so many times.
I feel like I need an elaborate explanation
Often times, I find myself stuck on what a character should say next or what should happen in a scene to connect A to B or so on. When this happens, I fall into the trap of writing and rewriting the same few lines over and over, and becoming more and more dissatisfied every time until I give up.
But problem is almost never actually whatever line I’m trying to write at the moment; the issue is the stuff leading up to the line. Maybe there are structural issues with the set up, maybe I wrote a bit of dialogue that was out of character leading to a discussion that doesn’t make sense, maybe I’m missing a vital piece of exposition or expositing too much. It could be a lot of things, but the important part of the advice is to look back and be willing to consider changes to something earlier in the work (even if you’re really attached to like a piece of dialogue or a particular sentence or something) instead of trying to find a way to force out a scene that’s not working.
That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining!
This is really helpful!
Woah! I never thought about that! Thanks!
ITS THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, AND I FEEL FINNNNNE
“Someday we’ll live in the sky. Meanwhile, the house of our lives is this green world. The fields, the ponds, the birds. The thick black oaks—surely they are the invention of something wonderful. And the tiger lilies. And the runaway honeysuckle that no one will ever trim again.”
— Mary Oliver, from “Boundaries”
Good Morning by the Daily Mirror, England, April 4, 1944
yknow 1 of the little things i appreciate about kid icarus is how realistically pit’s outfit accommodates his wings
But the real question is how does he get his spandex top on over his wings
here’s a little drawing i made hopefully explaining it:
Even better question: How does he get out of it again. 8D
alright, well i’ve seen a few people asking this, so i’m back again (this time on my main blog) to try to explain it:
i hope this clears anything up!
Do you have wings
“My position has been compromised. The Grounded know of my wings”
ill be sappy whenever i want. i dont give a shit. i love you. fuck off
“Guides” #Watercolor #painting #art #enchantment #enchantedforest #stag #raven #gold #golden #goldleaf #shinystuff . http://bit.ly/1oYpaeo
SMELL CUBE
the new dnd alignment chart looks great
So, because people writing inaccurate kid!fic bothers me, a quick reference to kids (Disclaimer: I have no professional background in child development, and no offspring of my own - this is all based on other people’s kids.):
Newborn: Person-larva. Cannot do much but eat, sleep, cuddle, cry, poop. Cannot hold their own head up. May pick up on the mood of the person holding them, but response to it is going to consists of either contentment or complaining. Those are pretty much the two states of a newborn: happily cuddly or expressing displeasure.
2 - 6 months: Somewhat more aware of surroundings, own appendages, etc. Will recognize people, like some better than others. Smiles, laughs, babbles. Somewhere in here rolling over commences, and possibly crawling. Starts teething.
6 -12 months: Lots of babbling, but no actual talking. Crawls, pulls self up to standing while holding onto things, may start wobbly independent walking. Some kids are climbers (may heaven help their parents). Eating some solid food (as in, mashed up stuff), but still nursing / drinking formula too. This is the beginning of the exploratory, everything-goes-in-the-mouth stage. Still teething.
1 year old: Has teeth, eats solid food. Many parents wean at this age, but it’s not unusual to continue breastfeeding. Talks, but probably not very clearly - pronunciation will be interesting, and vocabulary very limited. May repeat a new word incessantly. Points at things they want. Physical coordination and verbal skills increase as child gets older. Maybe develop utterly random phobias, usually of things that are new or unpredictable. Interested in other children, may mimic older children. Still sticks everything in their mouth.
2 years old: Speaks well enough to be understood by those who know them, but not necessarily strangers. Uses simple phrases. May mash words together to express a concept for which they don’t yet know the word, or make a word up. Is learning labels for things, though they may not be accurate (i.e. all old men are grandpa, all round objects are a ball, etc.) Knows colors, parts of the body, types of animals, etc. Walks, runs, dances, etc - basically the full range of physical stuff, just all of it is kinda awkward. Can roll a ball or throw it in a clumsy way. May have a favorite toy, security blanket, etc. May play pretend games or make up stories, but they’re likely to be fair inscrutable to adults. Wants to do things independently, but is likely to be easily frustrated. Has tantrums. Plays with other children, but not terribly good at sharing or being nice. Asks questions; the ‘why?’ stage has begun. Toilet training begins around this age; girls tend to get the hang of it quicker than boys.
3 years old - pretty much the same as 2, only a bit better at all of it. Asks a LOT of questions. Has friends. Plays pretend. Understands rules (though is unlikely to obey them very well). Can count, though not very far. Speaks well enough to be understood by strangers; you know that so-cute-you-could-die kid-speak people love to write? This is the appropriate age for it (up through about age 5).
4 to 5 - cutesy kid-speak is age appropriate. May still have tantrums, still not the best at sharing, but should be starting to get socially functional. Can throw or kick a ball, jump, stand on one foot, all that. Can count, recite alphabet. Some kids start learning to read and write arond this age, though it wouldn’t yet be abnormal for them not to be able to. Lots of pretend play. Emotionally intense; everything is dire. Learning to be self-maintaining, i.e. may bathe independently but needs an adult to wash their hair.
6 - 10 - speaks like an emotionally immature adult; the things they have to say are still kid-like, but they should be easing out of kid-speak. Reads, writes, can do math - these skills increase with age. Understands and (usually) obeys rules, has a concept of fairness, kindness vs. cruelty, etc. Forms tight friendships, keeps secrets, wants to fit in and be liked; having a best friend or a group of friends is the most important thing in their world. Wants to be good at things; has definite interests and academic strengths and weaknesses. May bully or be bullied; kids this age can be mean. As in horrifyingly so. Has crushes (though probably still finds it acutely embarrassing). Understands death. Kids this age will curse, though hilariously badly. Still wants parental affection, but probably not in public.
11 - 12 - mini-teen, which is to say emotionally vulnerable, short-sighted mini-adult. Naive still, but not terribly so - has a basic understanding of human nature, events around them, etc. Begins to form political / ideological / religious opinions. May begin reciprocal romantic attachments. Strongly focused on collective identity, what ‘niche’ or ‘crowd’ they identify with. Some girls start puberty. This is also the age of things going badly wrong; kids know which other kids are the sociopaths at this stage. While everybody else is learning how to not be a mean little shit to everybody unlike themselves (or a bitter perpetual victim), those few who aren’t developing in a good direction become downright terrifying.
13 - 15 - somewhere in here, kids will start either facing major adult-scale decisions and problems themselves, or seeing peers doing so. Shit gets real. This is why teenagers think they know everything; the rose-colored glasses of childhood fall off, and they are suddenly So Very Jaded and cannot imagine there being more to the world than what they can suddenly perceive now, because it is overwhelming. Likely to be angry at the world, likely to gravitate toward ideological extremes. Takes risks. Forms romantic attachments; may experiment sexually, may not, maturity levels here very A LOT.
16 - 21 - moody adult with far more curiosity than common sense. Does thing in grand and dramatic fashion. Experiments with different identities. Wants total independence. Many develop greater social maturity around this time; stop seeing others in terms of cliques, develop greater empathy and ability to see things from multiple perspectives. Forms romantic attachments that may be serious or even life-long.
This is pretty accurate IME, and if you want more detail for the first few years, try Touchpoints.
@plsfeedthewriter
Very useful!
@goblinflasked @kinkyfuckeryoftas
i rarely see more than one (1) disabled person in fiction, and at that i rarely see disabled people that don’t have on sight disabilities. ya know i just wanna see a character or two having type one diabetes, better at that, i wanna see them be in some sort of fantasy fiction.
off topic of this, but i hate the “character with x disability gets disability ‘fixed’ once in fantasy/magical land” trope, like why are people so quick to fix us? why can’t people just make living with disabilities easier in fantasy lands instead of erasing them?
like i’d love to have a tiny pocket dragon that could sense my blood sugar highs or lows, i’d also think it’d be cool that a wizard could give me a potion that lets me eat cake or pizza or pasta without dying.
I think a lot of the time, abled writers are under the impression that they’re doing disabled people a “favour” by providing escapism from what they consider to be awful lives. The thing is though, when you’ve got a disability you tend to be quite good at finding ways around it, and honestly? Can you imagine how wild that would get in a High Fantasy? It’d be fantastic. Consider:
Pocket service-dragons like OP said, trained to monitor vitals and blood sugar. They’re good at helping people with cardiovascular-type problems, epilepsy, diabetes and asthma. All the dragons require in return is permission to hoard pocket lint in caches around the home.
A different, slightly larger breed of dragon will sit on the shoulders of those who are Deaf and/or blind. They’re probably about the size of a crow. These ones act as guides and signed language interpreters, and are able to communicate in more code (or a fantasy equivalent) by tapping with their claws. Plus, they’ll breathe fire at anyone who is being an ableist piece of shit.
Fantasy hearing aids that are part magic, part tech. They mould around the ear in whatever shape the wearer wishes (bonus if they look like serpents or vines with a silver sheen) and, if not being used, can coil around a wrist or finger. (Do you have any idea how many times I’ve almost lost my aids bc they fall out of pockets or get misplaced??)
If the wizarding world of JK Rowling gets wingardium leviosa, then fantasy can totally have magically enchanted supports - walking frames, crutches etc - that come to the person’s aid when needed. Also, levitating charms? Clothing that supports the wearer so that a lower-limb amputee can whisk around places? Just think about Doctor Strange’s magical cape.
And then, after all that, your fantasy world can literally just have the same aids as ours. There are many, many creative options and every single one of them are preferable to being erased from the world of fiction.
*sigh* I’ve already made an addition but this idea is SO under-explored. So please also consider:
The literally limitless possibilities for prosthesis, including having a character stand on their flying prosthetic foot in order to fly/levitate, prosthesis that remains awake while they sleep and can defend them in the night, prosthesis that looks completely real but is just packed with compartments, prosthesis that functions precisely like a real limb and is directed normally by the brain, invisible prosthesis, magnetized steampunk prosthesis, limb prosthesis that is basically a floating hand/foot with the limb between missing- like, can’t be touched missing,
A full menagerie of mythical beasts that can serve as service animals, up to and including keeping the soul in the body while waiting for healers to arrive so that the heart can be re-started much longer after it has stopped beating. Some mythical birds were said to steal nightmares and fly away with them as well.
Horse-sized intelligent dragons used as mobility aids
Chariot/chair/wheelchair mobility aids that levitate and/or move quickly
Emergency communication devices that will alert the other holders of a crisis with location and specifics even when you’re is unconscious, such as with epilepsy or passing out from low blood sugar
Hearing aids/glasses that not only aide impaired hearing/vision, but also allow the user to hear/see in other specified places in the world
Magical devices that stimulate dead nerves in cases where a limb goes dead, reducing the need for amputation
Similar magical devices that straight-up reanimate dead limbs, so that you can leave your arm lying around and still use it when you walk away (so much plot opportunity, SO much)
Magical capsules you can swallow that give you lots of healthy energy, which can be used for various disorders that lead to fatigue but can also be used as a first aide to aide healing of wounds/illness
Pill cases that remember what you need to take and what you’ve actually taken and WILL get in your face if you’ve forgotten
Capsules or spells for cleanliness that reduces the need to bathe for those for whom it’s difficult
House plants that release chemicals your brain SHOULD be producing so that you breathe it in- possibly in conjunction with medication that helps to regulate so you don’t overdose on serotonin what you’re trying to sleep
Plants you can eat that will literally replace your compromised immune system
A ritual that will take a magical 3D photograph of your current physical condition, and, if you’ve taken one, you can use this complicated spell to have your physical body go back and become exactly what it was at that point- like a computer backup.
Many, many options for spells, healing herbs and rituals that will ease chronic pain
I think ya’ll mentioned why abled writers ”fix” disabilities. Magic. Why give you a magical hearing aid when they could just magically fix your hearing? It’s magic, there’s no limit to it. I see what you’re all saying and it does sound cool af, but I’m just saying. If any of ya’ll write a story with what you’ve been saying tho, I’d love to read it.
But we’re asking these writers why they wanna “fix” us when magic is right there with so many more options, why “fix” us when there are so many things you can do for us with this magic? Like left and right we see ourselves portrayed as “wrong” or “flawed” and it reasonably irks us that people believe we need to even be “fixed” in the first place.
I obviously don’t speak on behalf of all people like me, but I don’t want some magic trick to fix a characters pancreas if they have type one diabetes, I want to see them be able to live a better quality of life. An easier one. That’s it! I don’t want to see them be fixed and turned “normal”, make their life easier than it is whether it be with magic potions for carb intakes or pocket-service dragons, and whatever else! Just don’t erase us.
It’s a matter of including us vs eliminating us.
A fantasy or science fiction world where disabled people don’t exist is the ideal world of people who advocate for eugenics, for our deaths because we’re broken and not human enough. That is a horror story.
If you want to give disabled readers escapism: write it without the ableism, not the disabled. Write it so every disabled character gets the accessibility devices the medication the prosthetics the accommodations they need. Not magically removing the disability.
I don’t want escapism from my disability I want escapism from ablism.
this goes back to the whole notion of disability justice, which is that people aren’t disabled by their bodies; they’re disabled by an ableist society.
because if someone in a wheelchair, for example, had access to every building and every vehicle, could navigate their way around a city or park or campsite or beach like an able bodied person, had all their basic needs met, had the same opportunities for employment and freedom of movement and housing as an able bodied person…would they be “disabled”? Or would their body just be different, but no less restrictive than anyone else’s?
and that can be the “escapism” in a fantasy setting. accessible fantasy worlds, where all bodies are different and all bodies are good.
I made these as a way to compile all the geographical vocabulary that I thought was useful and interesting for writers. Some descriptors share categories, and some are simplified, but for the most part everything is in its proper place. Not all the words are as useable as others, and some might take tricky wording to pull off, but I hope these prove useful to all you writers out there!
(save the images to zoom in on the pics)
@lid-reblogs
