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Catherine Tate’s Naked Truth for Gok Teens (x)

I swear to GOD I’m not vagueing my situation, but I made a post recently about books I was planning to read this year, and I find it very….. interesting that multiple people came into my inbox afterward to tell me that all the queer authors in the bunch had sinned. like maybe they had, I dunno. it wouldn’t stop me reading (I love Interview with the Vampire, I have Thoughts about Anne Rice, etc). but it is interesting that none of the non-queer authors merited this whisper campaign, despite some of them honestly deserving it. not saying anything outright here, just making an observation. listening and learning. you know

pangur-and-grim

I'm still thinking about the time that someone came into my dms to tell me that Gideon the Ninth's author had written problematic fanfiction.

maybe it's because I don't read or write fanfiction, so all related discourse has always been an iceberg sailing past me, but I just can't imagine who would give a shit. like oh, they wrote about a taboo topic? is it well written? should I read it?

and also, I'm reading work by wife abusers, religious fanatics, old timey racists, antisemites, misogynists, fascists, murderers...... knowing how these people conducted themselves in life gives context to better understand their writing, but that's about it. the only authors I'm actively boycotting for moral reasons are Neil Gaiman and J. K. Rowling, because they're using the money from their book sales in present day to harm people.

talons-n-scales

cave lion from prehistoric planet compared to neolithic cave lion art

pangur-and-grim

Just curious due to the ask you just answered, but you mention you had to add "more romance" at least twice the process of getting published.

How do you feel about the current, published version of the book? Is the book better for it, or do you feel as though the extra romance detracts from your original vision?

I find it interesting there still wasn't enough of it after the first time you edited, and they asked for more again.

I think all the editing notes I got were good!

they definitely wanted me to play Sir Cameron up as a romance, but I'm not anti-romance, so I was happy to make those changes. the only problem was that all the romance books I'd read were written prior to 2010 (Emily Giffin, Sophie Kinsella, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, etc) and conventions have shifted since, so my lack of familiarity with modern romantasy had me making choices that accidentally blue-balled people.

I have since fixed this!! I've read Sarah J. Maas! and also a bunch of denmei for good measure. and in my upcoming book, The Ignoble Invasion of Prince Proculo, there is no fade to black, no matter how much you might wish for it. full pedipalp and carapace action, I swear to you.

derinthescarletpescatarian

This phrase has already entered my vocabulary re: media criticism where like. The viewer has a concrete view of what they expect a story to be based on the tropes and cliches they're used to seeing together, and when that doesn't happen, they judge it as a failed depiction of what they assumed it was going to be instead of judging it as what it actually is.

"This show is problematic because the hero didn't kill the villain at the end": When does he steal the bread?

"These two characters who were close friends throughout the series don't kiss at the end! What the fuck?": When does he steal the bread?

"This feels like it's missing a conclusion! Like, the protagonist does bad stuff and because of a critical decision he makes as a result of his major character flaws, meets tragedy in the end! Where's the part where he learns better and brings is love back from the dead and becomes a good guy and gets a happy ending?": When does he steal the fucking bread??

thetetra

I heard this out as "When criticizing something, you must judge it for what it is, not what it isn't"

derinthescarletpescatarian

#this is why so many of us urge people to get a wider diet of stories

pangur-and-grim

i cant figure out if youve answered this already so sorry if you already have but what was the process of finding a publisher like ?

it was hard! very hard! which isn’t meant to discourage anyone - if anything, it means that you shouldn’t let rejections bother you.

first off was finding an agent, which meant making a list of every literary agency I could find that accepted books in English (using sites like querytracker and manuscriptwishlist), and combing through them to see if they had any agents currently accepting queries in my genre. I had really shit luck with Canadian agencies, because they skew heavily toward literary fiction, and my book was genre fiction. but eventually, I had a list of 120 agents I stood a reasonably good chance with.

then, the applications! it’s good to do it in batches, because the occasional personalized rejection will give you something to work on. like I completely rewrote the 10 book pages I was submitting, and redid my query letter about fifteen times. I paid editors online to critique my query letter, I won a contest where the reward was commentary on my query letter…..that query letter was my magnum opus. I put everything into it, and it still kinda sucked. one thing I learned along the way is that people really don’t care about your social media following, UNLESS it’s on Twitter or TikTok. if you say “I have a blog on tumblr :)” people will just be like “I thought that site got shut down.”

anyway, after 70+ written rejections (and many more silent rejections), I got an acceptance! a literary agent was interested in representing my book - if I made some changes to it. so I did (added more romance and ‘cozy’ scenes), and sent it back to him, and then he began shopping it around to publishers.

it took about six months to find an interested publisher. we didn’t have great luck with Americans, but British publishers seemed to really click with the humour, and suddenly we had multiple places interested at once! we went with Titan Books (technically an indie, but with a distribution partnership with penguin), and then…….back into editing hell because the book still needed more romance.

from start to finish, it took four years from the book being written to it being released! it’s a lengthy frustrating process, and so many people give up because the constant rejection wears you down, but you just have to be incredibly stubborn and have a delusional level of belief in your own work.

good luck!

pangur-and-grim

genuinely, that’s the most important thing you can have! everything falls apart without it. you might have people telling you that your writing is shit, and that you’ll never make it. those people might be friends, family members, partners, peers, professionals in the industry, online trolls, basically everyone but your nonverbal pets. when that happens, you NEED to be like “hmm I dunno, I think I wrote something nice 😌”

if you keep writing, and working on your craft, and knocking on industry doors, eventually you will find success. just don’t give up on yourself!

bogleech

Found a frame of "American Dad" that you're literally going to love no matter what

onceuponymous

@thejakeformerlyknownasprince

thejakeformerlyknownasprince

@onceuponymous #edriss 562 wears this and if anyone so much as quirks an eyebrow they will be dead#animorphs

baccendkenagainn-deactivated202

liquidpaperfoundation1

we have got to get regular porn back on this website

beholdingslut

in absolute tears about the pride module at my work

dikdikpronouncedxylophone

bigfoots-biggest-fan

HOLY SHIT GUYS, I WAS INSPIRED BY THIS POST TO TRY MAKE THE SONG AND YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE SCREAM I SCRUMPT WHEN I DRAGGED THE TRAINING AUDIO OVER THE BACKING TRACK AND IT LINED UP PERFECTLY

Visit Original Link

Tempted to actually put this on spotify so I can secretly stream it at work...

Tagging @batshit-auspol because as an Australian you're the only big account I know who might share (sorry).

punkrorschach

happy first day of pride everyone

blumineck

Context is important! Pole and sex work are inextricably linked, but there are distinctions between them. Strippers made this hobby what it is, and taught me what I know, and while I haven’t lived that life, I’m honoured to stand on their shoulders.

I hear Patreon has cool stuff

beardedmrbean

depsidase

razielim

that's it that's the nutshell genai is in

garashir

hey friends where is that picture of boromir with the gondor flag except its a pride flag?

lesbiansforboromir

Couldn’t find it so I made another because you’re right that it’s a crime and it’s definitely my duty to remedy it

pikestaff

"Stop saying 15 year olds with weird interests are cringe, they're 15" this is true however you should also stop saying adults with weird interests are cringe because who gives a shit

themythicalcodfish

To wit:

switchelsweets

I want to share some wisdom from my high school art teacher.

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

Takeaway here: be as cringe as you want. Don’t limit yourself based on other ppl’s tastes. They’re not you, and you are incredible 💕