Dear author... @dearauthor - Tumblr Blog

Ursula K. Le Guin, “Author’s Note” from The Left Hand of Darkness

the problem with "I need to criticise myself to prepare for other people criticising me" is that it fails to account for the possibilities that a) nobody will criticise you, or b) the people who do criticise you are not people you value the opinions of anyway. I know it feels like a good defence mechanism, but at the end of the day there is a high chance that you're just being mean to yourself for no reason. consider this

moringmark

othersystems

urbanpineapplefarmer

It is really important to me that all of you learn about Al Bean, astronaut on Apollo 12 and the fourth man to walk on the moon, who after 20 years in the US Navy and 18 years with NASA during which he spent 69 days in space and more than 10 hours doing EVAs on the moon , retired to become a painter.

He is my favorite astronaut for any number of reasons, but he’s also one of my favorite visual artists.

Like, look at this stuff????

It’s all so expressive and textured and colorful! He literally painted his own experience on the moon! And that's just really fucking cool to me!

Just look at this! This is one of my absolute favorite emotions of all time. Is Anyone Out There? is like the ultimate reaction image. Any time I have an existential crisis, this is how I picture myself.

And then there's this one:

The Fantasy

For all of the six Apollo missions to land on the moon, there was no spare time. Every second of their time on the surface was budgeted to perfection: sleeping, eating, putting on the suits, entering and exiting the LEM, rock collection, setting up longterm experiments to transmit data back to Earth, everything. These timetables usually got screwed over by something, but for the most part the astronauts stuck to them.

The crew of Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Al Bean, and Dick Gordon) had other plans. Conrad and Bean had snuck a small camera with a timer into the LEM to take a couple pictures together on the moon throughout the mission. They had hidden the key for the timer in one of the rock collection bags, with the idea being to grab the key soon after landing, take some fun photos here and there, and then sneak the camera back to Earth to develop them. They had practiced where they would hide the key and how to get it out from under the collected rocks back on Earth dozens of times.

But when they got to the moon, the key was nowhere to be found. Al Bean spent precious time digging through the collection bags before he called it off. The camera had been pushing their luck anyways, he couldn't afford to spend anymore time not on the mission objectives. Conrad and Bean continued the mission as per the NASA plan while Dick Gordon orbited overhead.

Fast forward to the very end of the mission. Bean and Conrad are doing last checks of the LEM before they enter for the last time and depart from the moon. As Bean is stowing one of the collection bags, the camera key falls out. The unofficially planned photo time has come and gone, and he tosses the key over his shoulder to rest forever on the surface of the moon.

This painting, The Fantasy, is that moment. There have never been three people on the moon at the same time, there was never an unofficial photo shoot on the moon, this picture could never have happened.

"The most experienced astronaut was designated commander, in charge of all aspects of the mission, including flying the lunar module. Prudent thinking suggested that the next-most-experienced crew member be assigned to take care of the command module, since it was our only way back home. Pete had flown two Gemini flights, the second with Dick as his crewmate. This left the least experienced - me - to accompany the commander on the lunar surface.

"I was the rookie. I had not flown at all; yet I got the prize assignment. But not once during the three years of training which preceded our mission did Dick say that it wasn't fair and that he wished he could walk on the moon, too. I do not have his unwavering discipline or strength of character.

"We often fantasized about Dick's joining us on the moon but we never found a way. In my paintings, though, I can have it my way. Now, at last, our best friend has come the last sixty miles." - Al Bean, about The Fantasy.

futureevilscientist

There’s also Alexei Leonov, writer and artist and first person to conduct a spacewalk!

This is his art.

sevensmallgummies

You can't forget this, the first art made in space.

March 1965, Alexei Leonov made this drawing only moments after narrowly surviving the very first space walk.

onlytiktoks

butchlinkle

really helpful technique ^ once you know how to divide by halves and thirds it makes drawing evenly spaced things in perspective waaay easier:

vaspider

Every time we vend at Pride, there are times when I have to fight breaking down.

It's probably not when you'd expect. Yes, I get misty at the Big Moments and the Conversations, and we have those every time. I love seeing the parents who are buying their kid's first Pride item, the trans girls spinning in skirts they just bought, the curve of fresh scars across a chest that's clearly seeing sunlight for the first time this summer. I love it all. I devour every minute of it.

But it's the parents who hand their kid a $20 or tap their Apple watch on our card reader and look slightly bored that get me, sometimes.

My G-d. It's not scary, it's not overwhelming, it's not tense and nervewacking. It's boring to them.

2 weeks ago, my brother tells me, my parents used the right name and pronouns for me through an entire dinner with Jake and his partner.

I turned 47 three days ago.

Today, a parent looked bored escorting their teenager around at Pride.

My G-d.

vaspider

No, no, please, listen to me.

I love when parents are enthusiastic, it's so wonderful, but there is something so unspeakably precious to me about the idea of going to Pride with your kid being so fucking normal that you can be bored.

You're not nervous or on-guard, you aren't worried that you'll say the wrong thing because you're comfortable enough that you aren't constantly making sure you're not Doing It Wrong... you're just At This Thing Your Kid Wants To Do, and it's a fucking normal thing. It's normal like soccer. It's normal like summer camp. It's normal like 4th of July and the big family barbecue. Those things can be fun and cool but also they're so normal that you have the mental room to be bored.

Like, yes, I want the parents to be enthusiastic but also there's something so incredible about it being that fucking everyday of an event. I can't explain it any better than that.

Do you have any idea what I would give for my mother to be bored by the fact that I'm a giant transmasc dyke with two wives? For that part of me to be that level of normal to her?

Sure, I'd love her and my dad to be proud, but holy shit, I'd totally take bored.

ruffboi-mags

Do you have any idea what I would give for my mother to be bored by the fact that I'm a giant transmasc dyke with two wives? For that part of me to be that level of normal to her?

God, THIS THIS THIS. The idea of something like my transness, my sexuality, my relationships being so normal that it's not noteworthy? Like sure when something exciting happens I'd like some excited in return, but just kind of "oh yeah they were just talking to their partner Jack" in an offhanded way that means "there is so little unusual about this I"m barely paying attention to myself saying this" would be. Just.

AAAAH.

vaspider

Yup.

corinnetags

Like this is just a thing their child wants to do, and the child isn’t old enough to go alone, so they’re good parents so they take them. Like that is MINDBLOWING. The idea that you would take your child to Pride. Your child who isn’t sneaking off to go without you, who isn’t old enough to go without an adult, who feels comfortable asking you for money to buy something for them. My god, I’m crying just writing this.

coffeewhiskeysleeprepeat

I went to my first pride in 2004 in a swing state. It covered two city blocks, and the event organizers had security at every entrance. I remember being struck by how young everyone was. The AIDS crisis had hollowed out a lot of our elders, and the idea that your parents would tolerate you after you came out was still new.

Two years later, my friend (around 16 at the time) panicked at the possibility of a news crew getting footage of them at the pride parade with their partner in the background of a shot so badly that our friend group went to all the security people to beg them not to let the news crew leave until we could be sure there was no proof they were there. The security people (mostly leather daddies) understood. They refused to let that camera crew leave until this group of teens decided their footage was ok. I remember one commenting that this happened every year.

Bored is so amazing I can't believe I have seen it in my lifetime. And I have! Last pride, I saw a bored middle aged white guy get a beer while his child gushed over the merch in a tent. Pride took over a dozen blocks, and me and my partner wandered in and out, no security. My partner came out much later, like 2015. I paused to look at the dad who was bored, and my partner tried to tug me away, but I was transfixed.

If you don't remember leather daddies in open vests putting their bodies in between your friend and being homeless, if you don't remember that being queer was grounds to an ass-whooping automatically, you're not understanding this.

The bored dad bought their kid the merch btw.

vivid-sector

my sibling is trans and figured it out and came out years before me. my parents were generally supportive, but also confused and made some less-than-helpful remarks.

by the time I figured it out, I didn't exactly come out to my parents as trans - I just went up to them and told them I was starting hormones. in the hallway, almost as an offhand remark. my dad was going down the stairs. he paused a second, said "okay". there wasn't much else said about it.

recently, they went away for a few months. I was on my own in the house and decided it would be funny if I crammed as much of my transition as possible into that time. I got professional voice training, got bangs and layers, threaded my eyebrows, pierced my nose, got two tattoos, and overhauled my wardrobe.

when they came home, I made a point of waiting a moment, then coming down the stairs and saying "hi mom, hi dad" in the voice I had worked so hard on, and soon told them I was ready to be their daughter. their reaction? "okay, pronouns too? okay"

I have to admit it was a little disappointing, a little disheartening. but just a little. of course I have friends whose parents are unsupportive. as nice as enthusiastic would be... this is really good too, and I'm endlessly grateful for it.

I never really considered any of this as "coming out" - I just told them what I wanted or what I was doing, and they were fine with it. that's amazing.

all-made-of-stardust

I recently went to our town's annual Pride festival, and I didn't want to go alone but all my other friends were busy. So I ended up inviting a friend of a family friend's that I barely knew but liked well enough. They showed up in nothing but a black hoodie and a teeny tiny "he/they" pronoun pin. I went a little crazier.

It very quickly became apparent that this was his first ever Pride event. I'd been to quite a few at this point, so I showed them around. We were SURROUNDED by queer youth, and just as many queer elders. So so SO many high schoolers and college kids who CLEARLY hadn't had a good chance to be themselves in a while, if ever.

Towards the end, I started getting tired and offered to walk my buddy home. Instead, he elected to literally just stand there and people watch. He told me he had never seen that many queer folks in one place, and he just wanted to take it all in.

To them, this was the most magical place ever.

To me, I was bored.

It wasn't always like that for me, and I still struggle a BUNCH with a whole lot of shit, both external and internal. But I saw this post in my friend that day. And I wish nothing but happiness and boredom for everyone reading this.

itgetsbetter

merry gay christmas yall

primordialwhale

sorry i had to add one of my favorites

dancinggrimm

I had to ecosia so many things but I enjoyed it

sleepycatmama

One should always have at least 2 craft projects going. That way, when one of them is messed up and misbehaving, you can switch to another, and let the first one sit there and think about what it's done.

capricorn-0mnikorn

Sometimes (oftentimes), when a creative project is "misbehaving," it's because it is tired, and overstimulated, and just needs a time out to rest -- like toddlers often need.

And sometimes, you should give your creative projects time to talk to each other, as well as to you.

nydescynt

Instructions unclear; my 17 ongoing craft projects have unionized against me.

incorrectbatfam

[at a hotel]

Stephanie: *pushing all the continental breakfast tables together*

Hotel staff: Miss, why are you—

Stephanie: PANGAEA BREAKFAST!

whetstonefires

I do have a piece of writing advice, actually.

See, the first time I grew parsnips, I fucked it up good. I hadn't seen parsnips sprouting before, right, and in my eagerness I was keeping a close eye on the row. And every time I saw some intruding grass coming up, I twitched it right out, and went back to anticipating the germination of my parsnips.

But it turns out parsnips take a bit longer than anything else I'd ever grown to distinguish themselves visually. It's just the two little split leaves, almost identical to a newly seeded bit of kentucky bluegrass when they first come up, and they take a good bit to establish themselves and spread out flat before the main stem with its first distinctive scallopy leaf gets going.

I didn't get any parsnips, not that year, because I'd weeded them all out as soon as they showed their faces, with my 'ugh no that's grass' twitchy horticulture finger.

The next year, having in retrospect come to suspect what had happened, I left the row alone and didn't weed anything until all the sprouts coming up had all had a bit to set in and show their colors, and I've grown lots of parsnips since. They're kind of a slow crop, not a huge return, but I like them and watching them grow and digging them up, and their papery little seeds in the second year, if you don't harvest one either on purpose or because you misjudged the frost, so it's worth it.

Anyway, whenever I see someone stuck and struggling with their writing who's gotten into that frustration loop of typing a few words, rejecting them, backspacing, and starting again, I find myself thinking, you gotta stop weeding your parsnips, man.

wizardarchetypes

I want to write a book called “your character dies in the woods” that details all the pitfalls and dangers of being out on the road & in the wild for people without outdoors/wilderness experience bc I cannot keep reading narratives brush over life threatening conditions like nothing is happening.

I just read a book by one of my favorite authors whose plots are essentially airtight, but the MC was walking on a country road on a cold winter night and she was knocked down and fell into a drainage ditch covered in ice, broke through and got covered in icy mud and water.

Then she had a “miserable” 3 more miles to walk to the inn.

Babes she would not MAKE it to that inn.

pixelartpeach

Are there any other particularly egregious examples?

theglintoftherail

This book already exists, sort of! Or at least, it’s a biology textbook but I bought it for writing purposes:

It starts with a chapter about freezing to death, and it is without a doubt the scariest thing I’ve read in years (and I read a lot of horror fiction).

wandercuriosity-deactivated2024

This book can be downloaded for free on Researchgate, posted there by the author himself:

The Biology of Human Survival: Life and Death in Extreme Environments

lingeringmirth

@katajainen

sabaceanbabe

“People too often conceive of worldbuilding strictly as background research, as a sort of dry and exhaustive homework. Every tiny and immediate detail in a story can be worldbuilding. Every button and widget can imply or reveal something to the reader. You can replace pages of deadly boring infodump with a few comments in conversation, a few glances at what people wear or eat or venerate. You shouldn’t think of worldbuilding as something boxed off from the rest of the text. it can be intrinsic with dialogue, description, etc. It’s crucial (and liberating) to realize that every word you put on a page can and should perform multiple duties simultaneously. Description can be worldbuilding. Dialogue can be character development. Messages within messages, revelation within revelation. Also, remember that nobody can follow all these guidelines all the time without exception or flaw. The point is just to keep aiming higher. It’s art as well as craft. Some parts of it you can measure almost scientifically. Some parts are mad whack inscrutable alchemy. But chances are, if you work hard to lay a solid foundation of craft, you’ll strengthen everything that’s more numinous and subjective, too. There is no “one true way” to write anything, nor one true goal in writing/publishing. Treasure beautiful oddballs and weird experiments.”

— Scott Lynch, author of the Gentlemen Bastards series, on world-building and the craft of writing and publishing, as collated from a series of tweets I woke up to this morning, (via theletterdee)

ignescent

World building can be like those shared stories here where someone just drops into a conversation on the subway complaining about being late to work because of the delays caused by the sphinx on the eastbound lane. And suddenly the world has an industrial age, mass transit, probably capitalism, the setting is in a mid sized city and there are supernatural elements, but they’re common enough you just route trains schedules around them.

farewell-itoshisoup

it's actually so funny how challenging it is to write bona fide graphic, horny smut. like people don't give smut writers enough credit. you are constantly running out of words to describe the same 2-4 body parts and same 4-6 motions. you are constantly attempting to do interesting and dynamic things in the prose with this extremely limited set of words. you are looking at your prose for the nastier bits and wondering if it actually sounds hot or if it just sounds goofy. you are then toning down your prose and then wondering if it now sounds tasteful or if it's just boring. you do ctrl+F for the word "cock" and there are 37 instances of it in the doc but you hate the 1-2 acceptable synonyms so there's nothing much you can do about it

quinnandersonwrites

For the record, this is precisely why I wrote my smut writing guide, which has lists of words/actions that you can consult when you need to vary what you're saying. Including alternatives to "moaned" and "thrusted," the two most common words I see in smut fic. ;)

farewell-itoshisoup

HELLOOOO this guide looks insanely comprehensive and mega useful! thank you so much for sharing and for easing the suffering of struggling smut writers everywhere 🙏

quinnandersonwrites

Happy to (hopefully) help! :D

myfandomrealitea

“Why can’t the freaks on AO3 just go and make a site for all the gross stuff and leave AO3 alone.”

Because AO3 is that site. Because AO3 was that site long before you decided AO3 was better than the sites you bullied us off of before, and I can promise you if someone somehow comes up with a fanfic site you like better specifically for the ‘gross stuff’ you’ll try to bully us off that too so you can benefit from it.

AO3’s specific core purpose is to preserve fanfiction, yes, but it was also instigated as a host site for the fanfiction that kept getting yeeted off other platforms like Wattpad. Its designed to preserve all fanfiction, not just the fanfiction you, personally, think is ‘allowed’ to be written.

AO3 is the site for all the gross stuff the freaks make. We’ve been there just as long as you. We’ve been funding it just as long as you have. AO3 has specifically said you have a place here. The timeline was literally:

Wattpad/FF.net/LiveJournal purge fanfics > AO3 is born > The people who’s fics got purged moved over to AO3 > AO3 gains popularity as the best functioning site > The people who pushed for the fics to be purged off Wattpad move to AO3 > The same people try to push for AO3 to purge fics.

AO3’s source coding is open-access. You go make a polished, strict, rigid site where nothing ‘icky’ is allowed. You go make a site where you can control what is hosted. We already have our space.

ao3commentoftheday

Not really a question, but I wanted to tag onto all the asks people have been sending about getting traction for their fics.

I’ve been writing fanfic for 10+ years now and I know that’s not a lot, and when I first started I was god-awful… but guess what? I was really popular for some reason and I didn’t know why. I guess people enjoyed what I wrote because I clearly had so much fun doing it when I look back on it.

But through the years, my writing has changed and my fandoms have changed. I now write for fandoms that are barely active or have little content to begin with. My last fic has 5 kudos and 2 comments, with 129 hits. Posted two months ago. And I have to ask myself: does it matter what the stats are, when I write for myself?

Before, when I was younger, I loved the validation and attention. Honestly even now, who doesn’t love validation? It tells you you’re good. But what I’ve learned after all this time is that I am good on my own and I don’t need someone to tell me that. I love my writing.

But the most important thing is that I know what my writing means to me and its worth. After all this time, my writing has become my safe space, my comfort zone, the place I can escape to when I am hurt, overjoyed, angry or incredibly sad. My writing is mine and no one can take that away from me.

So at the end of the day, the value of my writing is worth far more than some numbers on ao3 or fanfiction. So I guess what I want to say is: even if 1 person or 100 people read it, your writing is good on its own. You should be proud, because writing is not easy and putting it out there for others to read isn’t easier. The worth of your writing is what you believe it is, not what anyone else says or what numbers say. Just my 2 cents. <3

well said ❤️❤️❤️