Fayebelle

they/them • writer • dreamer

[princelesthottie]

can anyone tell me what this business of lestat being a rapist is about in the later books because ive just started reading post QOTD and someone told me he literally rapes someone... why would anne do that? and like i don’t wanna believe lestat would do something so awful :( he may be a little bitch but he’s not totally evil like that... what purpose does it serve? my heart is a little broken :(

OOHH LEMME HUG YOU. CAN I PLS????

Ah, I wish I could, but I won’t lie to you. You don’t deserve it, and as much as some of us love Lestat, what he did was—is—inexcusable, especially if you accept later books as canon. He’s both done things equivalent to rape, and he’s actually raped. Both prominent instances occur in Tale of the Body Thief, but I’m not sure how far along you are post-Queen of the Damned or how many spoilers you’ve seen. For one of these, he claims he feels remorseful, but the incident is not revisited. We’re sort of made to forget it, although a lot of us don’t—especially those of us who’ve had our share of unwanted experiences. 

I’m not sure why Anne thought these non-consensual bits were necessary, either. Maybe it was to show how reverse things had become after the whole Akasha ordeal (after all, didn’t his transfiguration scene in TVL come across as blatant rape?); maybe it was to remind us that Lestat will always have a streak of evil. Whatever the reasoning, to me, these parts are undeniably some of the darker ones of the series. 

Have you ever seen someone say these books are horrible? That these characters are horrible, and that they’ve done horrible things? All of them? It may be said lightheartedly most of the times, but in all honesty, it’s very much meant. 

Of course, you can always attribute it to Anne having lost the thread after Queen of the Damned. You can skip over the book (Tale of the Body Thief) if it’s too much for you to take in. And, that’s OK, because while I’m aware these books mean so so much to so many of us, they are only books. I know this is easier said than done, but try not to let it hurt you too much!! But, we’ve all had our ups-and-downs with the chronicles and Anne Rice, and a lot of us can empathize with your heartbreak. Bless her, @monstersinthecosmos even has the tag #the AR lollercoaster dedicated to this. You should take a look through it if you’re ever feeling particularly down and would like a laugh/some company when all that sadness strikes.

But, if it’s just something you’d rather not touch on—that’s completely understandable. You’re not obligated to read any further. You’re always open to leave everything at Queen of the Damned. This isn’t something easy to ignore—to just say, “it’s not canon,” when you accept everything else in that same book as canon. Neither is it easy to come to terms with. Ms. Rice really threw us a curveball with this, huh?

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you feel better soon. And you can always message me (privately or not) if you wanna talk it out some more. You have my full support!! 💜💜💜 

[queen-erika-the-songful]

Classical Music Used in Barbie Films

This is gonna be VERY long, so check it out below the break!

(P.S. If I have missed something or gotten it wrong, please let me know so I can add/fix it!!)

Keep reading

[the-messenger-hawk]

Avatar ships as the “Baby” meme

rediscovered this meme/joke format

[fayebellian]

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 - 𝖘𝖑𝖔𝖙𝖍 | the forever dance

Read 𝖘𝖑𝖔𝖙𝖍 | the forever dance from the story 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 by raebellian (...

𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖋𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖗 - 𝖘𝖑𝖔𝖙𝖍 | the forever dance (by Raebelle)

"Dance!" he cries in a flurry of feathers and blinding brightness. He raises his thousand burning eyes to the heavens and points his steel sword, cruel and cold as ice, at my feet. "Dance, you shall!"

Lovely, foolish angel—he says it like it's a punishment! But to me, it is quite the opposite.

It’s been a month since the old lady has fallen ill, and for thirty endless days and nights I have slaved over her. As I dream of the time before I had to tend to her and the time when I will no longer have to (it will come, one way or another), she raves on and on about times long gone.

Remember, she says. Remember when I first saw you, and you were at your poor mother's funeral, walking bare-legged behind her straw coffin, and you were wearing those horrible clumsy shoes, not because they were appropriate for mourning but because they were the only pair you had, and they were made by Mother Shoemaker out of old red strips of cloth, and your ankles were bright red, and then I drove by in my old carriage and saw you from the window and felt sorry for you, and I felt so sorry for you that I told the vicar then and there to give you to me and that I would take care of you, and that I would treat you kindly, and that I would make you a pretty little princess, and that I would teach you to read and to sew and to dance like a proper young lady, and then before I knew it you were old enough to be confirmed, and I took you to the town shoemaker and got you those red patent leather shoes…

It is only when she mentions the red shoes that I perk up. Just the thought of them, two touches of scarlet amidst an endless expanse of gray monotony, makes me snap out of my numb daze.

My beautiful shoes wait at the foot of my bed. My feet, as if they have minds of their own (surely they can’t wait to fit themselves into the snug, blood-red patent leather), bring me toe to toe with them. Dropping onto my knees, I ritualistically stroke the smooth, polished leather. From its rich, earthy scent emerges lively music and laughter. A dizzyingly opulent chandelier. Glasses and glasses of champagne. Swirling skirts, flying feet. Dancing, never tiring shoes of red, red, red—

Suddenly the old lady calls for me and my dreams of the ballroom and its eternal dance shatter.

The room smells like dust and decay. Her stringy gray hair encircles her head on the pillow like an ashen halo. As I hastily wipe the flecks of blood and bile from her gaunt face, none too gently, she opens her foul-smelling mouth and raves: Have I been reading my passages? Have I been going to church? Have I been doing my prayers every night, thanking Him—blessed be His name—for all that I have, and been a good little girl?

O God, please let this end soon. I can’t stand her any longer.

I see a letter on the nightstand. It’s an invitation to the Spring Dance, the most exciting event in town all year. Again, I dream of lavish ballrooms and lovely dresses and my beautiful red shoes. I dream of respite, from the old lady and from the day-to-day tedium I just can’t seem to banish. I dream of dancing, dancing, dancing forevermore.

I’m just about to slip the invitation into my pocket when the old lady weakly grasps my hand.

“I’m sorry, dearest. I know what you’ve gone through. As soon as I get better, I promise I’ll work even harder to take good care of you.

Her hands are cold and clammy. My lips curl in disgust. I yank out the pillow from beneath her head and hold it tightly over her face. She is too weak and sickly to put up much of a fight. One two three, one two three—the waltz in my head swells with feverish energy. Then the old lady finally goes limp.

I am free at last.

An angel would say that I’m cruel and callous. That I’m wicked. But I say: has he ever tasted freedom, him with his burdensome wings and halo and robes?

I put on my best dress and twirl in front of the mirror at the foot of the old lady’s bed. The invitation to the dance disappears into my pocket, and my feet—at long last—slip into the red shoes. As I waltz around the empty house, my footsteps are the only sound to break the sepulchral silence besides the distant chiming of the church bell.

The shoes fit perfectly, like they’ll never come off again. As if by magic, they take me out of the house and towards the church, tapping a lively rhythm. I am drunk with pleasure until I run into a blindingly white pair of wings, a knife-sharp halo, and a thousand eyes piercing into me and my red shoes.

He tells me I shall dance, forever and ever and ever. As if it’s a punishment. I laugh and thank him, and I tell him that it’s been a pleasure. I tell him that I am free. I take his hand (though it burns my own) and kiss it. And then I dance on.

My shoes will never come off, and my feet will never stop. I lose myself, shed myself like an old skin. Gone is the poor little girl trudging bare-legged behind her mother’s coffin, gone is the poor little girl forced to sit through endless sermons and lectures, gone is the poor little girl slaving over a sick old lady day and night. There is only her and the red shoes, and she dances in them forever.

[ficusdulce]

Here's a love poem I put together using only lines from gay books because they are THAT lyrical

In order of appearance:

●Sappho (the title)

●The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

●Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

●Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

●Tin Man by Sarah Winman

●Ash by Malinda Lo

●Prince's Gambit by C. S. Pacat

●A Gathering of Shadows by V. E. Schwab

●The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

●Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

●The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

●This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

●Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman

●The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

●The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee

●Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by B. A. Sáenz

●The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

[littleredhatwriting]

I know it's a barrier of self-doubt I need to break through, but when I post writing and don't get feedback, I feel like an actor performing to an empty house. I just lose motivation and don't want to carry on.

I know they say "write for yourself", but it's like I need the validation of others to feel that my work is worthy to even exist.

Advice please, anyone?

[vivian-is-writing-deactivated20]

I feel like the point of the “write for yourself” advice is that you should write the kind of story you would enjoy reading, without worrying too much about every possible reaction.

It isn’t that you shouldn’t strive for readers. You just shouldn’t try to make your story marketable to everyone, because appealing to everyone is impossible, and you’ll end up stifling your own vision.

Most writers want people to read their work. Writing was invented so we could share stories and information with other people. It makes perfect sense that you want feedback.

Obviously your work is worthy of existing even if you’re only doing it for yourself, but I get discouraged too when my writing goes ignored. Honestly, I wouldn’t write if I thought no one was ever going to read my work. I would just daydream about my characters.

So, my suggestion is to keep posting, and keep searching for feedback. Make sure information on your writing is organized in a way that allows people to easily get into it. Post about your characters, post about anything that might catch someone’s interest.

Just remember that there are lots of WIPs on Tumblr, and it can be hard to get attention because of that. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the quality of your writing. You just have to keep at it!

[hannah-deactivated20220725]

I think of the advice more as... every kind of writing has its own audience. The point of writing isn't to gain a following, though of course writers want a following or they wouldn't share their writing. However, you shouldn't make your writing about gaining a following. Do what you enjoy writing and followers will find you. Sometimes if your writing is more niche than others (like on tumblr, if it isn't fantasy), it can take a bit of time to gain a following but numbers shouldn't be your main goal. Personal fulfillment, that should be your main goal. And the readers will come.

Some people are fantastic at marketing themselves, know all the little tricks and SEO to make their stories more... accessible, for lack of a better way to put it, but that doesn't mean that just because they know all the little tricks and get more notes because of it, that their writing is any better than yours. It means they know how to get their writing out to the right audience.

Write for yourself is about finding personal fulfillment with or without a following because EVERY writer starts from scratch. There was a time when any single writer had no following, no notes. It takes time and a lot of effort, even for the ones that seem like it's effortless... it isn't effortless, they just know what they're doing. Like a newbie ballerina watching a professional ballerina dancing elegantly on the stage. It took that dancer years of hard work and practice to get to the point where she is so elegant that her dances look like she's floating across the stage.

Same idea here. Even if it looks like someone is just getting notes with no effort, you don't know the story behind how they got to that point.

Just keep trucking! You'll get there. If you're passionate about your writing, people will get swept into your passion and they will love it and they will love your writing.

I guess what it boils down to is... it takes patience.

[therealtsk]

he's entirely correct

[writing-prompt-s]

The Uncanny Valley is not a byproduct of human psychological processes. It is an evolutionary trait. There was a time when our ancestors met creatures that looked almost human. And it was best to stay away from them.

[writing-prompt-s]

You have been sentenced to death in a magical court. The court allows all prisoners to pick how they die and they will carry it out immediately. You have it all figured out until the prisoner before you picks old age and is instantly transformed into a dying old man. Your turn approaches.

[dingdongyouarewrong]

you can explain why it’s important for aspiring authors to read published books and not just fanfiction without condescending to fanfiction authors/readers and implying it’s inherently of lesser quality

[dingdongyouarewrong]

like a lot of fanfiction is genuinely good and well-written! there’s some amazing work there! there is absolutely fanfiction out there that’s the same quality as well-written published works. being like ‘well, it’s cute, but it’s not real writing’ is just dismissive and frankly completely untrue. 

but, at the same time, there are a lot of reasons it’s important to also read published works, and those reasons aren’t just ‘it’s better’. for one, a lot of writing original fiction involves introducing one’s own characters and setting to an audience who knows nothing about the characters or worldbuilding, which is generally not something you’re going to learn how to do by only reading stories where you already know the world and characters. that doesn’t mean the work isn’t good; it just means it doesn’t teach all of the skills you’ll need to know when writing

[roach-works]

im a lifelong fanfic writer, but one thing fanfic won’t teach you is how to end a story. or how to structure one, really. fanfic is itself a continuation of a story, it’s a transformative work, and… it’s kind of rare for long, chaptered fic to actually be complete. it’s awesome when it is! but you do kind of get used to reading fanfic as a big nebulous cloud of what-ifs, and furthermores, and so ons, and etc.

published fiction pretty much always has to have a start, middle, and ending. you can’t really learn formal anatomy from fanfiction. you can learn a lot of creative stuff that published fiction rarely has the freedom to engage in–aus and remixes, for instance–but fanfic really isn’t where you’re going to be able to study structure and discipline.

[tsukithewolf]

Thank god. Finally some good fanfic vs. published story dialogue.

[mixelation]

Fanfiction is also usually published as the author writes it, which means authors are limited in their ability to retroactively change story elements (removing plot holes or subplots that go nowhere, or adding foreshadowing for an important event they decided they wanted 1/3 into their story, etc). This means stories overall are generally less “polished” than professionally published work. 

On a similar note, fic writers can “get away with” a lot more fluff that doesn’t move the story forward– ie, dedicating an entire chapter to characters cuddling, or spending a very long time explaining the economics system of a secret wizard world. This is a strength of fic because it’s often what people want to read– but it’s also something that usually hinges on the reader already being deeply invested in the characters and the world, which is a luxury you’re not going to get from a lot of original fiction.

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

the thing is that while a lot of fanfic is very bad so are a lot of published books and also sometimes reading things that are bad and working out why they are bad helps you to not be as bad as they are

[bloodyspade0000]

Honestly, I’ve read alot fanfic way better than actual books

[writing-prompt-s]

A Vampire’s appearance will shift to resemble that which they feed on the most. Trust not the ones who are visions of human beauty - for friends they are not. Instead seek those with a monstrous countenance such as that of rats, lizards or even insects because those are our true friends.

[badwriterpositivity]

So, you want to restart your WIP…

We’ve all been there. We’ve all stopped in the middle of something and realised it isn’t working, or looked back on an old project and seen new potential with a different premise. Here’s a quick guide on what to do.

Consider if you really want to start again, or if you can simply edit and tweak what you’ve already done. What you see as a major flaw may stem from a minor issue, or can be fixed in the second draft.

Read through your WIP in full, and highlight any lines, plot points, or quotes that you think can be reused. You may have nothing, you may have enough to use as a framework.

Do NOT delete your original, no matter what. Use that as your reference. What did/didn’t work? What did you have the most fun writing? Let this guide you.

In the same way, don’t cling to the past too tightly. Let things go, even if you’ll miss them.

Don’t feel intimidated! This is a fresh start! Your story is yours to tell, and you should tell it in the way you’re most passionate about.

Think about who’s story you want to tell. Is the backstory more interesting? Could a side character present the narrative better? What if other characters were telling the same story?

Write a few draft concepts using any new ideas you have, trying to vary the genre and style. This should help you figure out which route you want to take with your rewrite!

Understand why you wanted to restart, and identity ways to prevent it the next time around.

Switch to an entirely different medium. Try a novella, a script, short stories, whatever. Test out every idea you have.

If you know exactly what you want to redo it as, just go for it! Don’t worry about the integrity of your old plot, or making those drastic changes, just write the new idea as soon as you can and don’t look back or doubt yourself.

Now go and remake some magic!

[aye-write]

[writingwithcolor]

Writing With Color – Featured Description Posts

Some of our most useful posts on describing People of Color, all in one place.

Words to Describe Hair

Words to Describe Skin Tone

Describing Asian Eyes

Describing Wide Noses

Describing Undead & Sick Dark Skin

Describing POC and Avoiding Caricatures

Describing Unnatural Skin Tones: Green

Describing Unnatural Skin Tones: Jaundice

Indicating Race of Characters (FAQ Questions #3-4)

Not Indicating Race at All – Note: You Probably Should

Praising Beauty Without Fetishizing

Olive Skin, Race and Ethnicity

Specific Description Posts  

Describing Skin as Swarthy (Spoiler alert: it’s sketchy)

Describing East Asian Skin as Porcelain (Spoiler alert: it’s also sketchy)

Describing Skin as Russet (Spoiler alert: it’s alright)

Describing PoC as Exotic (SA: it’s othering)

Describing Skin as Ebony (SA: it’s cliche)

Describing Natural Hair as Cloud-Like (SA: it’s cool)

Describing Black Hair as Unkempt (SA: it’s offensive)

Describing Black Hair as Kinky (SA: it depends)

Describing Skin as “Dark as Night” (SA: it also depends)

Describing Skin as Like Dirt or Soil (SA: See above)

Describing Skin as just “Dark.” (SA: it’s vague)

Describing Black Hair as “Nappy” (SA: it ain’t recommended)

Describing Skin With Food (SA: it’s a no-no)

–WWC

[wheeloffortune-design]

tonight’s twitter discourse:

this thread (all their takes after the initial tweet are bad too)

https://twitter.com/benedict_rs/status/1349954211358924800

i don’t know if they wanted to become a more popular writer or podcaster but they’re getting ratioed by the minute. 

i’ve been finding new authors to follow by digging in the quote-retweets

[terriwriting]

The best part of this this thread is watching the OP desperately trying to ignore all the award-winning authors showing up to patiently explain why she’s wrong.

[beyondthisdarkhouse]

The best part after that is knowing that she runs a podcast telling people how to be better writers and has just alienated at least half her potential listeners and guests.

[findingfeather]

The part that hurts my head most is someone with a (small) handful of short-story (and one novella?) writing credits to her name claiming the right to run a podcast telling other people how to write. 

[seananmcguire]

I did not have time to wade into this fight again, at least in part because anyone coming to Twitter with this “hot take” in 2021 has already decided not to read or pay attention to any of the people who have already said very smart things on the topic.

[headspace-hotel]

In case anyone isn’t completely convinced: This is not how learning works, and definitely not how learning to write works holy shit.

There are a number of specific skills that fanfiction cannot teach you. Introducing and establishing character tends to be one of those; with fanfiction you’re typically working with already established characters with established characterization, whereas in original fiction you have to do the establishing yourself.

There’s also worldbuilding, and if you want to write fantasy, worldbuilding is important.

And so on and so on.

But.

You do not become a worse writer by writing imperfect stories. Any variation on “writing can make you a worse writer” is, without exaggeration, the worst possible writing advice, because 90% of getting better at writing is literally the exact opposite, which is writing insane amounts of whatever shit you can scoop out of your brain until you’re getting carpal tunnel in your dreams.

Of course, this is not even getting into the things that fanfiction does a better job at teaching you than whatever is considered to be Real Writing:

Time management and deadlines. Most fanfic writers update their stories chapter-by-chapter in a serial manner, which means they’re not only beholden to other people (which is itself something writers need to learn to adjust to), they’re also learning to work more-or-less regularly.

Relationship dynamics. Fanfic is typically very centered on relationships and the development of those relationships between characters and their interactions. I mention this because so much original fiction (obviously not all! but too much) is so ABYSMALLY bad at showing that two characters like or care about each other.

On that note: TROPES. The fact that fanfic has popularized specific terminology for the tropes that occur within a story is fantastic, because the fact that fanfic writers can identify a “found family” relationship dynamic means that those writers are aware of what they’re trying to do, what is effective and appealing about it, and what elements go into it. This is, again, obviously not a broad universal statement, but many original fiction writers don’t appear to purposefully use tropes or understand what they’re trying to accomplish with them. Original fiction teaches you to fashion characters, worldbuilding, and events, and even though there are general rules to what produces a good story, they’re just that…general rules. Most of the technical knowledge of fiction writing that is like…taught in creative writing classes does not classify by function.

what I’m getting at is, there’s knowing what an antihero is, and there’s understanding what about an angsty self-destructive sadboy pushes all the right buttons in you, whether those are catharsis, trauma processing, the fantasy of being deemed deserving of love despite hating oneself and pushing others away, the projection of future healing and ability to change, or just “what if I made all the bad, self-destructive choices that I’m glad I didn’t make?”

still more of a continuation of the last point but fanfic is a LOT more in tune with how specific stories fulfill specific emotional needs in people, and this makes complete sense because fanfic more or less exists because the source material leaves those things unfulfilled. Sure, fanfiction is often more about scratching an emotional itch than developing a grand, complex story, but that’s not a bad thing for developing storytelling skills. I think it’s great that writers are starting out with the understanding that resolving the main plot doesn’t necessarily mean a full emotional resolution to the story, and that leaving the reader satisfied emotionally is important. Seriously. So many awful endings are awful specifically because they ignore or leave unresolved the changes characters would undergo, traumas they would carry, and healing they would have to do, ending their story without fully acknowledging how the story has changed the character. Not just like, in an obvious sense of Values and stuff, but in terms of what they need and want from life.

also, this reminded me of this xkcd:

…which in turn reminded me of James Joyce’s love letters (repressed memory), which itself became a reminder of something I think is a very good final point: There are outliers, but most fanfiction authors can write a far better sex scene than almost any old straight white guy writing Literary fiction. Literally just clearing the bar of having both characters appear to be actually enjoying it and calling a dick a dick instead of a “bulbous salutation” is acceptable. I know the horribleness of fanfic sex scenes is renowned but. Y’all. Have you EVER read any “literary” adult novel I swear to god I have read so many sex scenes that are just the WORST they’re so uncomfortable

…anyway.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Also, while fanfiction won’t teach you everything you need to know to write original fiction, that's… not actually a flaw in the form?

I mean, by that logic, poets should be shit writers. Because what the fuck are they learning? Weird structures, often way too much description, not enough plot, sometimes no characters at all— not to mention the fact that most of it is just too damn short to ever be a novel.

Or screenwriters! This time not enough description, and they’re definitely not learning how to frame dialogue properly, or communicate where the characters are without literally printing it in capital letters at the top of the page.

Short story writers don’t learn how to manage a longer narrative spanning multiple chapters; novelists may never figure out how to cram a satisfying story into just a few hundred words— it’s almost as if these are all completely different forms with completely different purposes.

Fanfiction is fanfiction, it’s not Baby’s First Practice Writing For Before You Write Your Real Novel.

The only reason it sometimes comes across as more amateurish than ‘proper writing’ is because it’s one of the only forms where the average reader is regularly exposed to work from new writers. Very few people will sit down to write their first story ever and immediately churn out something that ends up getting traditionally published, while most people will happily post their first fanfic online.

(It’s also a form of writing that is exclusively done For Fun— when fanfic is legally done for money it morphs into ‘adaptation’ or ‘tribute’ and tends to traitorously ally itself with the likes of Proper Fiction— which in some cases probably does lead to lower standards. Personally, I don’t edit my fics nearly as much as I edit my original stuff. They would almost certainly be better if they did, but this is For Fun, and editing is Not Fun for me.)

This doesn’t mean that those first time writers (or longtime slackers, like me) will become worse writers because of it. Not only will a lot of the skills they learn from fanfic transfer over to original but, whatever happens, writing a lot of fanfiction will definitely make you better at fanfiction. And that’s not an unworthy goal.

[noirsongbird]

Also, fanfiction CAN teach you worldbuilding and character building, depending on what kind of fanfiction you write.

If you write extensive AUs, you’re probably learning how to worldbuild, because you absolutely have to. You’re creating a new universe for the characters to play in, and you’re often altering the characters somewhat so they fit this new world you’ve made. If you write a lot of OC fic, you have to learn how to introduce characters and integrate them into the world. So saying fanfiction can’t teach you these things is disingenuous and ignores a whole lot of the fanfic that’s out there doing…..exactly that.

Which, again, doesn’t mean that fanfiction needs to be doing any of these things to be valid, but it can and does, because not all fic is canon compliant relationship studies focused only on canon characters!

[moon6shadow-bookmark-writing]

This ^^^^

Also you probably don’t have to wonder completely into another universe to need to do or practice worldbuilding. Sometimes you may want to take a route that is different from canon and the information you need just isn’t there or you have trouble finding it. Eg. If canon took a primarily action packed route but you want to try talking and politics. You may have very little, if any, information to start building on or maybe the knowledge gets you part way but you have to figure it out yourself past a certain point.

Part of worldbuilding could also be deciding what to include or not include, getting inspiration from all over the place, and figuring out how all of these things work together and impact each other. Which is something fan creators do all the time. Sometimes because they go ‘I don’t like these bits but I like those bits of canon’ or ‘What happens if I just give things a little twist here, what ripple effects does that have?’ or ‘Ooh that looks cool I’m incorporating that!’ or ‘canon is doing my head in with all these contradictions, I need to pick one or create some sort of mix mash or something and then stick with it’

So in a way even if you aren’t building an entire world, you are still playing around with world building skills.

[noirsongbird]

yes yes yes, all of this too!! fic that focuses on underexplored parts of canon or that incorporates bits and pieces from different parts of a canon or what have you is also worldbuilding!!! you’re creating something new, and even if there’s a skeleton there you’re still doing a LOT of work adding to it!! thank you @moon6shadow-bookmark-writing!!

[amuseoffyre]

You know what’s really quite funny about this? People pulled the receipts and turns out that said twitter person’s ‘original’ writing includes a Modern Retelling of a historic event with Urban Legendish/Fae aspects. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, technically makes it fanfiction of a specific story.

[aritany]

i’m in my own fandom. when will the author release new content

[mythcreantsblog]

How Do I Keep My Magic Separate?

Hello, Sorry for pestering you with questions lately, but I could once again use your advice. I have a world with two factions at war with each other and a magic system based on magical pigments. One side uses written words to alter people/things in specific ways. The other can transform people/things into the thing they’ve drawn. Both have pros and cons: the written magic is more flexible, quicker, and requires less drawing skill, but the drawn magic is more powerful and less taxing. But since they both have different strengths, I’ve begun to wonder why each side doesn’t learn the enemy’s magic to be able to choose between both kinds depending on the situation or on individual talent/innate power. Is my premise flawed or can I make it work ?