This is an 18+ blog. I will swear. There will be mentions/depictions of gore, sex, and the like. This is not a daycare. I am not responsible for minors stumbling upon this page. Earnest criticism, debates, and questions will be met with respect. I will not tolerate hate nor harassment. I will not answer/respond to unsolicited DMs.
FREE Palestine, the Congo, Lebanon, Sudan, Iran, Hawaii, and unite Ireland.
A reminder that darker fiction has a right to exist and explore themes that people are uncomfortable with. Yes, even if it's romanticized. Yes, even if you personally don't like it.
Authors have always written about things that they don't agree with morally, and I hope to god they always will, despite how shitty people treat them for doing that now.
Proship has never meant anything except a combination of three ideas:
Ship and let ship (your ships don't harm me and vice-versa) and YKINMK (your kink is not my kink, and that's okay; my kink stories don't harm you and vice-versa)
Harassment over fiction is not acceptable
Censorship of fiction is not acceptable either
Any other definitions are made by antis, not proshippers, and are an attempt at revisionism to justify harassment based on false claims.
Yeah.
Antis like to claim that the "pro" means "problematic", but nope. "Pro" (for) is simply the opposite of "anti" (against), and all that "proship" really means is "Let everyone ship what they want, everyone mind their own business".
I think one of the problems with the way we talk about media in fandom is that we often say "canon" when we really mean "the text". What is and is not canon is at least partly a question of authority and merit, and will inevitably be litigated as such, but you're going to arrive at some very strange conclusions if you try to use the same tools to litigate what is and is not present in the text.
Throughout my final year here at [my college], I have been confronted with a truth I suppressed: I do not allow myself to work with others. Before college I made art in my own little corner of the world. I did not need to explain it nor defend it. I was self-sufficient with full control. My creative endeavors just existed with little forethought and practically no afterthought. The consequences are now deterring my ability to advertise myself and my work. During the fall semester I perhaps checked in with one committee member once before midterm presentations. This semester I got better in including others to critique and influence my creative decisions. Even so, I struggle with articulating myself at the detriment of my credibility. I am always stressed. Stressed about being misconstrued, seen as a liar, or worse of all - perceived as being insensitive, especially on purpose. I do not present this as an excuse. Causing harm regardless of intention is bad. I, instead, share this fact as context to my behavior.
Firstly I love character design and exploring character development. When I was young I could spend hours staging my toys in elaborate plays. So much so I have an ongoing list of 87 named and designed original characters. From that experience and curiosity, my characters became more defined and eventually started to take on a life of their own. I could see where personality traits started to mirror, clash, and complement each other. Secondly I love details and analysis and theorizing. I mean who doesnât love a good mystery? It allows the media to propagate through a fandom. As well as giving the media a new life and legacy from the rewatch, reread, or replay. I am positive that every one of you can think of a plot twist that recontextualized the entire story. Thirdly, the world needs more unique creations made by diverse creators. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Or in this case, the lighthearted, the gritty, and the experimental.
I have a bit of all three in my artistic pursuit along with understandable push back. Some from self doubt and some from external concerns. Broaching controversial, triggering, or sensitive topics knowledgeably and empathetically is like balancing on an infinitely thin, infinitely long, blurry tightrope. A daunting and seemingly impossible task with a high chance of failure. A challenge I take on but I cannot do successfully by being fearful of offending someone. If I do step over a line I will learn from it with grace and correct my behavior without excuse. I know I will never fully understand the many topics I choose to explore. However, I understand the gravity that real people experience real atrocities. I understand that my actions have consequences. However I have no control over the reactions to my actions and consequences. Above all I understand the delicate stewardship required for nuance. I do not see violence, abuse, or the suffering of others as a joke or gimmick used for shock value. I do, however, believe creating fiction can help. Fiction allows a safe space for unlimited play with the potential to be antithetical to the status quo. Somewhere to process and experience terror and trauma and pain and grief. The capacity for catharsis and hard talks and complicated realites. The horror genre alone is filled with killers, rapists, and unexplainable monsters. Creatives like: Sherley Jackson, David Lynch, Alfred Hitckcock, Steven King, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelly and many more (I cannot make a comprehensive list of every single spooky, scary, suspenseful, thrilling, and/or horrific story and the storyteller(s). )are praised for their work beyond which they are scorned. My point is creatives tackling controversial events and themes via art will continue with a long precedent. With or without me.*
Itâs not much but I know how it feels to be an outcast. Despite the heavy and dark moments I choose to draw from, my stories will end happily. My ultimate message is âallow hope to existâ. Yes bad things can, and will, happen. BUT! With a little bit of hope it will get better, not perfect, but better. I strive everyday to be an artist and person that is earnest, inclusive, and empathetic. As such I often think about kintsugi, the Japanese artform of repairing fractured dishware. The beauty comes from the fact that an object was changed rather than discarded. Faith and trust leading to a second chance. Permission to grow through failure rather than succumb.
The Underlying Truth is a story about the lives of the Waterfell, Featherashe, and King families learning they are more connected than they realized. I delve into themes of community and found family as well as the effects it has on navigating and healing personal traumas. How different perspectives adjust to setting off into the world. How they make a home. How they find their way to take up space. What happens when these perspectives collide? Written in Collapsing Stars: A twisted coming of age story. Follows a group of college students learning how to behave as adults. Saturated in suspense, violence, and emotional immaturity. I conducted an exploration of the loss of innocence when thrust into the world of being an adult. The fears of responsibility, consequences, and self reliance that arise when you do. Though when do you become an adult? Is it when you turn a certain age? By graduating high school or even college? Joining the workforce? Joining the military? Or â Does it happen when fairy tales are shattered and polluted by reality?
*Addendum
I experience life via creating art. That is a major part of how I process and understand basically anything. I want to be a creator that cuts through the noise. I want my work to act as a pillar for difficult discussions. I am doing the work of researching academic facts. However, that will never be as useful as hearing from primary sources. So I came to a solution to use an indirect route. That is why I posed a question on Tumblr. A question regarding which media portrays violence, abuse, suffering, and the resulting trauma in a way that supports victims.
I see and participate in the double standard of finding true crime entertaining and being desensitized to actual genocides and epidemics happening now. Creator Uri Clarke articulates it well in âPARASIiTE FLOWER is About S*XUAL AB*SEâ from 29:00 to 35:00
đŹ 0  đ 1  â¤ď¸ 2 ¡ Ethical Writing ¡ An open question for people with mental illnesses, trauma, and/or who have been discriminated against:
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Along this train of thought â both my thesis statement and my open question (link ^) â with what ethical writing* is and could be, what makes fiction like Moral Oral, Bo Jack Horseman, and South Park marketable? Is it âethicalâ to make true crime documentaries? Screw if itâs âproblematicâ
Even if something is âproblematicâ, which is extremely relative (oh no! Boys holding hands!!!), no-one should be discouraged from creating, Generative AI bull shit excluded. And making mistakes happens to every-fuckin-body!
The what-if isms of justifying any kind creative censorship is harmful.
FULL STOP.
*ethical = reducing harm when possible
I really havenât worked on Written in Collapsing Stars or The Underlying Truth in a hot minute.
Honestly Iâve felt really stagnant regarding my original work.
a talking point i often see when defending the consumption of dark content is that itâs a coping mechanism for those with trauma which is very valid and true but i also want to make this abundantly clear: you can like dark content for no reason. you can enjoy fucked up shit in fiction because itâs enjoyable and entertaining. trauma is not required as a ticket for entry. enjoy your dark content bc itâs fun and sexy and donât let anyone take that away from you
the thing is that why would you even ask chatgbt things you can google??? 'hey chat whats the tallest animal' not to blow your mind or anything but google has known about giraffes for forever. they even sometimes have articles for you to read its awesome. you dont have to ask your imaginary friend
During a class preposed training session - like the pool ep. - Deku gets hit with a mysterious quirk and goes after Bakugou.**PLEASE NO SHIP
Did yâall know I did this?
The other animatic Iâm working on now was conceived around the same time I posted this. It is the first video on my YT channel but, not the first video my art was in. That was âWhy I am not a Boyâ by Ash Hardell
