"Life needs things to live"

sapphic ace | late 20s | disaster human

[fluffyblue-multifandommess]

oh my GODS

[r2x2]

The Amnesty International report that JK Rowling is trying to censor through legal threats.

It can also be found on Google Drive here and on Bluesky here.

[cbarc]

Please save and share this info where possible. This report has since been removed by Amnesty International due to legal threats of libel from JK Rowling. This information is no longer easily accessible.

[power-chords]

Can you please explain your dialogue theory of fanfiction?

In short, that dialogue, more than anything, makes or breaks a fanfic. What do posts like "He would not fucking say that" and "They would NOT have communication skills that good" have in common? Talk. Characters expressing themselves to one another. The faithful recreation of identifiable speech patterns is weighted heavily in the evaluation of a fic's quality. By "speech patterns" I do not just mean the semantic content of a given character's expression, but idiosyncrasies of style and slang, vocabulary and idiom, even gesture, musicality, and rhythm.

Of course believable dialogue is far from the only thing that makes a good fanfic Good. And there are forms of fic writing, particularly highly abbreviated ones like drabbles and ficlets, that in practice tend to de-emphasize its significance. But if we are talking about the romantic, erotic shippy stuff that is the meat and potatoes of online fandom, dialogue does the heaviest lifting short of the consummation itself. Arguably more so! It's the real keystone to the catharsis, and often the catalyst for it. Is there a confession occurring? A provocation? An evasion or ultimatum? Zoom out, big picture: What is the most potent and fundamental mechanic for developing complexity, tension, and transformation within a relationship, getting it to go from one thing to another? Making these two idiots talk to each other! Often clumsily and indirectly and maladaptively, at the worst possible time and in the worst possible situation, about anything or everything but what they should be — but talk they usually do.

What makes fanfic specifically so challenging and rewarding in this regard is that the talking is as much a feat of translation as invention, because both reader and writer are working off an existing model. Liberties taken with plot, form, and even narrative voice have wider buffer zones; you can get creative with circumventing the events of canon while still conforming to its emotional and substantive essence.

But the training wheels come off the moment you open your mouth to speak in another character's voice. And man, nothing will break a reader's immersion quite like he would not fucking say that.

[power-chords]

I probably should have clarified at the outset (though maybe it’s obvious) that this post was made with televisual media in mind. I’m seeing a lot of comments/tags to this effect and if you want a very straightforward exercise that will strengthen your ear for writing in-character fic dialogue, start transcribing the source material. Re-watch relevant scenes of interaction with either a notepad out or an open Word/Scrivener/Google Doc and translate it word for word back down to written form. Pause wherever necessary to make sure you get it all down, and annotate with any useful observations that jump out at you. Go back over and re-read what you’ve transcribed when you’re done. You’ll start to pick up on, at the very least, certain modular fundamentals: shorter vs longer sentences, preferences for certain words or phrases over others, regional slang, how and how often they curse (or don’t), etc. Do this often and you will get better at replicating how your blorbos speak to each other. Promise.

[deathlonging]

ID: screenshots of three sets of tags: 1. i read this at a time where i am struggling to get a characters voice and perhaps that was a bad time to read it but youre right 2. its why dialogue being my achilles heel hits so much harder - because it becomes so quickly inescapable 3. ah my arch nemesis - dialogue. but this is an interesting read tho

[zalia]

There is a post I saw ages ago, and cannot find which is maddening, but it had some very useful advice about finding character voices by using various scales. I have tried to recreate some of the scales since they've helped me. All of these are going to change depending on the situation, who the character is speaking to etc. but it can help to get a baseline. Formal ----- Casual Does the character speak as though they're meeting the head of state, or like they're talking to their best friend? When they meet someone new, do they say 'Hi!' or 'Pleased to meet you.'? Verbose ----- Taciturn Do they ramble or are they a person or few words? Rude ----- Polite Do they demand to see a manager, or ask an assistant if it would be possible to get some help? Blunt/To the point ----- Meandering Do they say exactly what they mean, or do they hedge/soften their words? 'This will not work' vs 'I think we could also look at other options' Complex ----- Simple Think of this as a scale from scientists discussing black holes at an academic conference to explaining black holes to a five year old. Clean ----- Vulgar Do they swear a lot? Do they make dirty jokes? This one tends to be a bit hazy i fanfic because there are characters who definitely feel like they should swear a lot, but are restricted by being in a PG-13 rated show/game. So for my current Character, Osiris from Destiny... He tends to be fairly formal, especially with people he doesn't know well. He is verbose - the man goes off on rambling tangents frequently and loves talking about things he's interested in. He can be rude - he often ignores the niceties of social interactions, but it's not (usually) because he intends to be rude. He is very blunt and speaks his mind and appreciates others doing the same with him. He tends to fall on the complex side of the scale - he will casually throw high level scientific and philosophical terms into a conversation and just assume everyone understands him. His language also tends to be clean - he doesn't swear much in casual conversation (though he has been shown to in moments of frustration). If he does dirty talk with Saint in the bedroom is up to the writers' interpretation. One thing I also tend to take notice of is if a character uses a lot of contractions or not. Do they say 'It is' or 'it's'? 'We are' or 'we're'?

[gailynovelry]

The fastest way to accomplish The Project is to cease being afraid of The Project. The Project cannot maim you. The Project cannot kill you. The Project is more afraid of you than you are of it. It is okay if The Project turns out differently from how it was in your head, and it is okay if it has flaws. You are capable of engaging with The Project.

[bitchautism]

here's two articles about how JK Rowling just posted on X an upskirt photo of Freda Wallace, a transgender woman, after deadnaming her and misgendering her repeatedly online.

JK Rowling deadnamed and posted 'upskirt' photo of trans woman on X

The wealthy author escalated a social media spat that resulted in posting a photo from a 2023 event at the Institute of Economic Affairs in

JK Rowling posts upskirt image of trans woman while begging to debate her - LGBTQ Nation

Rowling posted the picture taken from below because the trans woman, she said, was "refusing to debate me."

[kat]

i had a dream last night that the entire world used a currency (?) called angrypennies which as the name implies are obtained by experiencing anger. the stronger and more intense your anger was, the more angrypennies you'd gain. an all-consuming rage would earn you more than a slight irritation, etc. so people were always searching for ways to fuel their anger and purposefully keeping themselves angry all the time because they wanted to earn angrypennies. unclear if angrypennies could be exchanged for goods and services, or if they were just a collectible.

anyway, as if this wasn't heavy-handed enough, at one point british comedian greg davies appeared and explained that angrypennies couldn't be worth feeling angry all the time. this was a real revelation to dream-me and i was finally able to break free of the angrypenny grind and allow myself to experience emotions other than anger.

[kat]

it goes without saying that i will be using the word angrypenny as if it was part of the common vernacular instead of a term that my dreaming brain conjured up i.e. "he's all about the angrypennies" (derogatory way to refer to a guy who searches for reasons to be angry and possibly lacks introspection)

[kikmessenger]

sits on my own blog like it’s the edge of a lake wistfully

[kikmessenger]

skips a stone over a few posts

[ferrettaur]

So like an hour ago I just lear🪨︵︵ned that— what the fuck was that. Someone just skipped a rock across my post did you see that

[sforzzz]

i agree that kids deserve and need more access to HRT earlier in life should they desire to transition but i really hate that the main argument in favor of it is "we need to have people transition earlier before PERMANENT IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE makes it so they can NEVER EVER look like their desired gender and they'll be FOREVER UGLY AND CLOCKY"

[sforzzz]

like i just want more bodily autonomy for everyone why do we gotta frame it like this

[katebeckets]

"it's a tv show" "it's not real" i don't care. NO SHOES ON THE BED

[katebeckets]

okay if this breaks containment I think my asian grandparents would be proud of this post being my legacy. but for their sake i must clarify my personal stance. NO SHOES IN THE HOUSE AT ALL

[mikkeneko]

I think my favorite kind of miscommunication to do in fanfic is when a character has only limited understanding of a situation (especially if that's because the other character is concealing something from them) and they use their limited knowledge to come to a conclusion that is 100% reasonable based on what they know, but completely off base from the truth

[mikkeneko]

And, of course, this causes Problems

[caffeinewitchcraft]

A 75 yo man proudly came into the cafe wearing an Ultra Maga hat. I excused my barista from the register to handle the transaction.

"The hat is customizable," he said, struggling with the velcro patch on the front. "If I need it, I have an ICE one too. I pick based off the business i walk into."

"Customizable is an important hat descriptor," I said. "what can I get you?"

"You wouldn't believe how offended people get these days," he said. "And I'm supposed to do something about it if you're offended? You chose to be offended!"

"We all have hundreds of thousands of decisions everyday," I said. I thickened my accent. "That's what my stepdad always said. But I can make one easier - we have a delicious Ethiopian roast available."

"Like if I told you you have a bull ring," he said, "because bulls have rings in their noses. Is that offensive?"

I laughed. "I've heard that before."

"It's a joke, but people get offended. Maybe you're offended."

I looked at him. I smiled. "You aren't trying to offend me though, right?"

Of course he was. I was being friendly and the friendlier I was, the faster he switched topics. He was saying anything inflammatory he could think of to see if I'd take the bait. After about 20 minutes of my redirecting and deescalating, he settled into a more normal interaction. He took up too much of my time showing me a product I'd feigned mild interest in to get him to stop talking about getting accused of inappropriate behavior at work. When we finally disengaged, he spent 10 minutes trying to catch my eye again. When he failed, he left.

There's this new breed of customer who insists on trying to incite political conversation through their clothing and, when that doesnt work, their snide little comments. If I owned my own business, maybe I would have given the guy the fight he wanted. But I work for a corporation and I love paying my bills so I deescalated.

Anyone wearing that type of shit and preying on workers for their own spank bank material is a brainless fucking sheep.

[headedoutleft]

something i want to mention because i’ve seen it growing as a trend online is that not only do people do this just for their own gratification, but watch for glasses. smart glasses are a growing segment of the consumer market, and creeps like this are harassing people in public in order to gather content without the victims being aware they’re being filmed

good job on how you handled it, op!

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

so strange when people assume 'waking up early' means increased productivity bc no??? im awake so i can read fanfic in bed before breakdown

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

BREAKFAST

[toastyglow]

the backrooms are simply not as scary conceptually if there is Something In Them

[toastyglow]

the whole reason why they're so unnerving is BECAUSE there's nothing in them!! because they're unrelentingly liminal and lonely and uncomforting. there shouldn't be a monster guy in there chasing you. you should glimpse other humans (?) from a distance but they walk away before you can close the gap and then they're gone. things should run away from YOU. do u get it

[toastyglow]

"and there was a MONSTERowooowwohhhh" the monster is isolation and banal beige sameness and uncanny valley architecture. you fool. you rube. you're putting a hat on a hat and the second hat is not only unnecessary but it ruins the first hat!!!!!!! "there's a monster in there" great so now it's just another place for a monster to be. ridiculous

[toastyglow]

fine I will concede: you CAN actually put something in there while maintaining the vibes, but it should complement the location instead of just being a generic scary guy you could put literally anywhere

[ezrazzle]

my beautiful princess with a disorder

[alphacrone]

i don't really want to weight in on the "using big words in your writing is ableist" discourse happening on tiktok because i'm like 90% certain it's an anti-intellectual psyop to stir up drama in online circles to promote the use of ai to summarize literally everything and thus feeding the LLMs and lowering the populace's mistrust of such tools but i also have to say: dictionaries and thesauruses are the most accessible they've ever been. if you use an e-reader of any kind you can look up a word without leaving the page. there's a plethora of online dictionaries and if you just type a word + "meaning" into google it'll usually give you a definition. we used to have pocket dictionaries we used when reading in class. i have two on my shelf right now that i used in high school. stop letting the fascists purposefully misuse anti-ableism rhetoric to trick you into never thinking again.

[lastoneout]

"I am not a vessel for your good intent" goes hard as a line from a disabled perspective. Abled people care so much more about being their idea of a good ally than they do actually being a good ally. They shove their good intent right down your throat and then act surprised when you tell them they're suffocating you.

[lastoneout]

[faggotvampires]

[ID: An image of a sign with a blue background and with a graphic of a stick figure in a wheelchair at the beginning, resembling disabled parking space signs. The text below the stick figure reads "I am not a vessel for your good intent." /ID]