Ellipsis Mark

[ellipsismark]

If i ask for feedback on my writing, I want 5 things from you:

1. What did you like?

2. What did you dislike?

3. What were some strong points?

4. What were some weak points?

5. What were some themes you were capable of identifying?

Things I don't want:

1. A thesis on your writing philosophy.

2. A lecture straight out of Writing 101.

3. Social commentary on my world when you don't know anything about the history of the world.

4. A total refusal to just ask questions about things.

5. Boiler plate words of encouragement(i.e. "just keep writing")

Also, I'm so close to just cutting out anyone who want quid pro quo beta reading, because those are who this post is the most about. Seriously, when you start yapping about general writing stuff you sound like a teacher. Like you're a guru enlightening my pleb mind. I don't want an education! I want feedback!

[ellipsismark]

Okay, new anime idea.

So there was this atheist science guy who got stage 4 cancer and was going to die, so he took a couple thousand dollars to pre-pay for a box of chocolate to be delivered to his best friend once a month or so with a letter explaining that if there were an afterlife, he would do everything in his power to prevent the chocolate from being dilivered. Citing "If I am successful, then you have proof of an afterlife, and that we will meet again, and if not, at least you get a lovely box of chocolate."

Okay, the idea: An entire team of guardian angels stopping that one guy from stopping the chocolate delivery.

Why? I don't know. Because God said so. Doesn't matter.

What does matter is the absolutely insane length the guy goes to try to prevent that chocolate from being delivered. Include: injuring/killing the delivery man, commanding a murder of crows and/or ravens to attack the chocolate delivery, and collapsing the economy of the country of the chocolate's origin to stop chocolate production wholesale.

The team is like six to eight angels, and they are all at their wits' end, because this dude is literally a genius and just can not be stopped. But the afterlife MUST remain a matter of faith, and so the Chocolate Handling And Delivery Angel Team remains vigilant.

[ellipsismark]

Amazing that no one has done a Latin cover of Carol of the Bells.

[ellipsismark]

Random "Fascism is an ideology of lies" thought:

Funny how fascists lie about immigrants not paying taxes, but they themselves usually are against all taxation. The "CLOSE THE BORDER" and "TAXATION IS THIEF" Venn diagram is a circle, for real.

[ellipsismark]

Glad I can finally be a proud Eridan stan.

[theglitchywriterboi]

I hope every writer who sees this writes LOADS the next few months. Like freetime opens up, no writers block, the ability to focus, etc etc you're able to write loads & make lots of progress <3

[ellipsismark]

Everyone!

Transfer your writer's blocks to me!

[ellipsismark]

I think a critical difference between "MAGA memes" and "Democrat memes" in the current meme war is that Democrats aren't laughing.

Democrats make "JD Babyface" and other memes and MAGA pretend to laugh at them. They fake strength through false indifference. They share the memes and then quietly try to forget about them. When challenged, they puff their chest and say "More!" and the Cycle repeats.

MAGA makes "Sombrero memes" and Democrats hold a straight face and say "That's not funny. That's just offensive." Then MAGA scrambles to try and rewrite the narrative. Trying to double down and project their insecurities onto Democrats. And democrats' response? Stoneface. "You're not funny. You're just offensive."

I think this dynamic is incredibly powerful. It's like how trolls only win when you react in a "funny way." Just hold a calm, cheerful, and sincere demeanor and they eventually just rage themselves out.

So remember, don't laugh, don't rage, don't hide behind irony. Be open and honest. They're not funny. They're just offensive.

Addition: also, it's important to note that all of MAGA's "memes" are AI-generated. They're not even trying to make memes. They're just following a machine's idea of a meme.

[pukicho]

hey funny yellow guy give us your input on the recent events

Hahah

[newbiewithscissors]

wait what happened

[faranon]

The most moderate prominent right wing figure was shot and killed

[tired-stressed-trying-my-best]

Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood at the age of 31, leaving behind his wife and young children.

May he rest in peace, and may every person who celebrates this horrific act of political violence one day feel ashamed of their ghoulish actions and repent.

[pukicho]

For years I've seen a nonstop deluge of right wingers cracking jokes and cheering for the murders, suicides and oppression of vulnerable and marginalized groups. I've seen these same people laugh at the deaths of the other party. I've seen Charlie Kirk at every turn adamantly support the continued genocide of tens of thousands of fatherless children in Palestine. Not once do you express shame with going along with this rhetoric, a rhetoric that casually and willfully allows the continued slaughtering and induced hate crime of an innumerable number of people -- and yet you expect me to feel shame for being glad that the spewer of this vitriol is no more?

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't want to read this" is totally valid.

"This is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't want to read this because it is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[spellscarred]

Bro, blocking someone and then using their tag like this is, all offence, weak as fuck. Like all you had to say was, na bro I don't promote pedo protags on this here blog, because I wholly agree with the premise of your argument given contexts (i.e., writing abusive relationships to show the evils, great; writing abusive relationships to show the romance, yikes).

This response is so, so comically shitty within the context of that tag, oh my god.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[blackheartbiohazards]

"Censorship of some topics in fiction and art is good and I would be happy if it were to be enacted in a way I approved of"

and

"some things should be banned from ever being written or read about in fiction"

are both authoritarian viewpoints to hold and express, even if you don't have the power to enact them.

If you hold these viewpoints you are holding authoritarian viewpoints.

[averageidiotenby]

DUDE IT’S PEDO FICS EVERYBODY THINKS THEY’RE NASTY

[blackheartbiohazards]

Let me explain this to you in simple terms.

Something being nasty is not a good reason to ban fiction about it.

If we accept that "something being nasty is a good reason to bad fiction about it" then we give a foot in the door for all the people who truly, genuinely believe that queer people are nasty to ban all queer literature.

This is not about defending bad people this is about defending the freedom of good people from tyranny, you moron.

[kawaii-pigeon]

I think if you take it to its logical extreme. Say, banning people from writing stories of sexual abuse. That could then be said "well ANY talk about sexual abuse is bad."

And from that, you could ban books that talk about it irl. Or books like how to recover after being abuse. If its not something to be discussed AT ALL.

[plague-of-insomnia]

The fact that I’ve seen this post in some form on my dash like 100x and each time there’s new idiots who do not get that you can’t have *some* censorship.

Either you’re for it or you aren’t.

The moment you agree that something should never, ever exist in fiction is the moment that anything can be banned.

Remember a while back how Tumblr banned a bunch of tags, including many popular innocuous ones that even people who are for censorship used and were upset about?

When censorship happens, stuff YOU like can and will be banned. That’s how it works.

Remember how a bunch of people had their accounts terminated here only last year for writing about their own sexual abuse?

When you ban “pedo” topics, say, any talk of child sexual abuse in any form, that means people can no longer write about their own experiences. It means people cannot educate others so they can learn how to protect themselves or get help from these situations.

Censorship is authoritarian. Full stop.

Even if “everyone” agrees something is “gross” and “shouldn’t exist,” that does not fucking matter.

Do you know who generally believes queer people are gross and shouldn’t exist??

The same people who are banning books left and right solely because they have queer characters or relationships.

The same people who attack and kill queer folk for simply exisiting.

This is not just some fandom matter or a case of being chronically online.

Protecting freedom of expression is essential, and if you do not get that, I don’t know what to say to you.

[scientia-rex]

And the people who keep bringing up child sex abuse as a reason for censorship are doing it very specifically because everyone feels like then they HAVE to agree with the person in favor of censorship.

It’s not that there isn’t widespread societal agreement on this. It’s that they want you backed into a rhetorical corner where you feel compelled to agree with them.

[ruffboi-mags]

Also, like, we KNOW how this shit shakes out in fandom because it's happened before.

In 2007, Livejournal capitulated to the "pedophilia and sex crimes!" cries of (hate group) Warriors 4 Innocence, and you know what communities got shut down? Slashfic communities. Sexual assault survivor support communities. Authors who'd written non-smut m/m fic even got caught up in it. It was DEVASTATING to fandom spaces. I think pretty much everyone knew at least one person whose account was literally DELETED, or were a member of a community that was wiped off the map because they were considerate enough to include topics like "sexual assault" or "BDSM" in the profiles under the badly-named category of "interests" to indicate that posts on said blogs or communities may include discussion of things like that. Even if it was for a SUPPORT group. And it was because a group of religious bigots came to LJ and said essentially "EVERYONE thinks it's gross and that it's promoting CSA, we should ban it."

Like, strikethrough and boldthrough were a large part of what propelled AO3 out of a more unfocused conversation on one person's blog about hosting a site INTENDED for fandom content, into being an actual archive and nonprofit. And it's a large part of why you won't find AO3 banning topics that you find "gross".

Censorship is authoritarian and it will ALWAYS have more collateral damage than you can imagine.

[nyxelestia]

Going to add that fiction which had sexual abuse and communities which played around with it as a writing topic are the very things that protected me from irl sexual abuse when I was a teenager. I was in a dicey situation, and realized that while my situation did not match up to any of the superficial or textbook cases mentioned in passing (if at all) through school, it matched up a LOT to what I'd learned about irl sexual abuse through works of fiction and the rhetoric of my communities. I got out of that situation and dodged what was, in retrospect, one hell of a nasty bullet. If it hadn't been for that "nasty" fiction and those "nasty" communities, I would very likely have been abused, and subject to further violence spiraling out from that abuse.

[benjis-house-boat]

you can’t have *some* censorship.

[the-real-seebs]

Yup! It really is, in fact, pretty much that simple:

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[senirac]

Storytime!

I had a friend. We were 12. We had just discovered fanfiction and were obsessed. We read anything and everything we could get our hands on. One of the stories we read was a "pedo fic." It exposed us to scenarios and language that hadn't ever been touched on in Sex Ed at school or with our parents. To be frank, it "corrupted our young minds with topics we shouldn't have to deal with." It also gave my friend words to finally describe why her neighbor creeped her out so much. "He's creepy and weird" gets a 12 year old scolded and lectured on being nicer. "He's a sexual predator" gets adults asking questions and involving the cops. Her neighbor "moved away."

Censorship is pro-pedo and anti-child-safety. There is no communicating what's wrong if there are no words to describe what's happening. Bad things will happen whether you have the words to ask for help or not. Censorship takes those words away.

"I don't think anyone should be allowed to read or write this because it is disgusting to me" is authoritarian.

[nomsfaultau]

“Bad things will happen whether you have the words to ask for help or not. Censorship takes those words away.”

[cescalovestowrite]

I seriously need people to understand that Penelope didn't wait for Odysseus for twenty years because social expectations dictated it, or because she was expected to be a faithful wife even untill she died.

Actually it was exactly the opposite: her father wanted her to remarry, some of the women wanted her to remarry, her son made her understand that if she took another husband and left home he wouldn't stop her. And at a certain point she recounts that before leaving for war Odysseus had told her that if he were to die, she could remarry whoever she liked (making sure first that Telemachus would take the throne without problems).

I need people to understand that Penelope's choice was entirely personal. She didn't remarry because her love for Odysseus had never abandoned her, because she knew that with no one else could she find that complete identity of thought and mind, that homophrosyne that she had with him.

It was not the choice of a woman who was modest and trapped by the expectations of her time. It was the choice of a woman who was freer and more independent than others, who preferred to remain without the protection of a man rather than resign herself to not having HER man.

[unknownwriter404]

Oh, I just got to the part of the novel where I can be evil to my characters

[ellipsismark]

That's the whole novel.

...

If you're not a coward.

[ellipsismark]

If you're ever stuck in a timeloop,

Go to your local convenience store and buy scratch offs.

Statistically, some will have a high payoff that you can use to fund your investigation into how to escape the timeloop.

[unknownwriter404]

When I can finally stop writing about the magic system and can start focusing on the fluffy romance.

[ellipsismark]

Nuh uh.

How does the magic effect the agriculture industry? I want 3 pages on my desk by Monday.

[ellipsismark]

"Are you scared of the dark?"

"No. If anything, I'm scared of the light. In the dark, I can pretend to see whatever I want. Here, in the light, I am forced to witness my body, dying continuously. Even with all the medicine and my strength of will I am always about to die. Crazy to think, that even as we all have had close calls fighting monsters, my disease has been my closest call every day, yet... I don't know. I just know I don't like living in the light that shows my fake half."

"So then why live among us? And not in the deepest darks?"

"Because all my friends live here in the light. Plus, have you tried using the bathroom in the dark. Not fun."

[ellipsismark]

The Empire Engine: Part 0006: Day Three: Captain Michael Hunter

Capt. Michael Hunter log day 03

Being on this expedition makes me miss my days on the frontlines. Primarily because there were no women to bark my ear off.

That damn kid scouted forward and almost fell off one of these damned gears spinning around. The old hag, Maria, lost her mind. As if the kid didn't have a grappling dial. He literally used it to save my life AND HER LIFE! during the rhino bull attack!

You would think seeing power like that would make you appreciate the sacrifice some people make. Kid literally has dials that will fry his liver, and would blow his heart out of his chest if he didn't have a fake one in there.

I regret not getting mine swapped out, but my dad said that a man was his heart, so I've always been paranoid of those ticker dials. Of course, that didn’t stop me from having a new eyeball put in after my last one was blown out of my skull.

But that just held my idea of beauty. I don’t know if that joke works.

Leader suggested trying to rappel down to the bottom. Nathan suggested trying to make it to the top. I told them we should be trying to make it to the center. Hopefully, Maria can settle the debate by morning, or whatever time we decide to head out. I don’t ready care, I still have a few years, but William and the twins only got until the next taking. William is my real concern. I’m worried he’ll die regretting not doing enough.

Shouldn’t though. Turns out the boy is a menace. Broke a dozen hearts and even got a girl knocked up before heading here. I was at least twenty before I even knew what girls had in their pants. Didn’t stop me from becoming very familiar with them in my twenties and thirties. That’s a better joke, I think.

I still miss my Evelyn.

That Victoria girl reminds me of her, except Vicky is twice as crazy as Evelyn ever was. But they both have lovely singing voices.

Pumpkin and Vicky got me in my military mindset. I need to remember I’m just a citizen on a research mission. I need to let the Depardieu's handle planning and scheduling, but it's nerve-wrecking watching them act so, I don’t know what word I’m looking for, un soldier like?

Of course, William isn’t any better; at least he has the excuse of not knowing better. And he’s the only other one who smokes. Mind you, I’m the one who got him started, but still. Nice to have a smoking buddy. The Nathan boy seems to have opinions on that, but he won’t share them with me. Maybe he had to quit before coming here.

Regardless, we have a long journey ahead of us and only have so many mistakes we can afford.

Hopefully our supplies don't run out. Fairwell says he can make anything edible. So that should stretch our rations out for a few extra days. What scares me is the idea of running out ammo. My revolver dial can use manna, but Vicky's rifle needs bullets. Here's to me and the boy being able to handle whatever comes at us.

End log.

—

Day 4,

We're going up.

Hell yeah.

I love Zap Beans.

End log.

[ellipsismark]

"This taste like ass!"

Okay, but like... is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[unknownwriter404]

Hemingway

[ellipsismark]

I agree.

[unknownwriter404]

For context: I post Hemingway whenever I start drinking as a warning for anything I post after that lol

[ellipsismark]

Cheers, bro. I'll drink to that!