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[writeworld-blog]

Alright.

Instead of whispered, consider:

murmured

mumbled

muttered

breathed

sighed

hissed

mouthed

uttered

intoned

susurrated

purred

said in an undertone

gasped

hinted

said low

said into someone’s ear

said softly

said under one’s breath

said in hushed tones

insinuated

[wiwaxiasunglasses]

These posts make me unreasonably cranky. So cranky, in fact, that every time a new one of these goddamn things crosses my dash, I’m just going to dissect them. Both for the edification of newer writers and because fuck these lists.

As mentioned in previous posts: These are not synonyms for whispered. You can’t use them interchangeably. Let’s go through them.

“Well,” she whispered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking in a voice so low it’s become words made of breath, probably because she doesn’t want to be heard.

“Well,” she murmured, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is saying this very quietly, but above a whisper. She may be talking to herself.

“Well,” she mumbled, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking under her breath in low enough tones that her words may sound unclear or slurred. Also very possibly talking to herself.

“Well,” she muttered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking lowly, but more clearly than a mumble. She sounds angry, irritated, or dully frustrated.

“Well,” she breathed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Breathing words may mean relief, exasperation, or exhaustion, and sound half like a sigh. Oh, look—

“Well,” she sighed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is almost certainly not happy. She’s speaking in a tired, heavy breath.

“Well,” she hissed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character’s words are coming out in low, very sharp breaths. She sounds angry, irritated, or maybe just in an intense moment.

“Well,” she mouthed, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is using the barest hint of her voice, if any at all. Her lips are silently forming the syllables.

“Well,” she uttered, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Using uttered in this particular type of descriptive sense actually just sounds awkward. That said, ‘utter’ sounds like a word that implies speech in low yet strong and loud tones, well-enunciated, like someone preaching.

“Well,” she intoned, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The tone of her voice is dull and flat, with little variance in pitch. She is saying this without much emotion (intentionally or not).

Fuck “susurrated”.

“Well,” she purred, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The manner she’s speaking in is silky, smooth, and particularly pleased; quite possibly smug. In this particular example, this implies she probably does have a choice about [whatever it is] and is being facetious.

“Well,” she said in an undertone, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This is bad, because an undertone is something that needs describing. That’s like saying “her dress was a color”.

“Well,” she gasped, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character is speaking in a sharp intake of breath, probably brought on by surprise or shock. She could also be short of breath, being strangled or something.

“Well,” she hinted, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

The character has particular (duh) hint-hint tones in her voice as she speaks to someone. One can just imagine her leaning over closer to their ear.

“Well,” she said low, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Her voice has dropped below normal pitch, but is above a whisper. There’s a certain amount of dullness in the tone, probably.

“Well,” she said, into his ear, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This implies nothing about the actual voice, just that she’s literally speaking right into his ear (perhaps at normal volume, which would be painful). It doesn’t, on its own, carry any connotations of tone or emotion.

“Well,” she said softly, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

I have a personal beef with the word “softly” on account of writers in a certain area of a certain MMO that use that word for fucking everything; speech, movement, touch, footsteps, because it helps to passively describe their character as delicate and pretty or something.

It’s a personal beef. There’s nothing really wrong with the word. Moving on.

Saying something softly implies not only a lowered pitch but a certain gentleness (or at least lack of weight) in tone.

“Well,” she said under her breath, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

This is very like muttered, murmured, etc — it sounds (dur) breathier, and is more likely to imply a person talking to themselves.

“Well,” she said in hushed tones, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Now you’re getting closer to an equal term for “whispered”; hushed tones could mean that, or half-whispered. It does imply a certain amount of whisperiness or breathiness. It also implies a deliberate attempt to be quiet.

“Well,” she insinuated, “I suppose I haven’t got a choice.”

Like with ‘uttered’, this feels grammatically weird in that it’s usually a thing a person describes another person as doing (“Greg didn’t say it, but he insinuated it!”), but whatever. It’s similar to hinting; it means you’re trying to imply or subtly convey something, but has nothing to do with actual whispers.

tl;dr Those words are all different, these lists are terrible writing advice and people need to stop pulling tangentially-related words from the thesaurus and saying they all mean the same thing.

[tehjai]

[mresundance]

as i tell my students:

“use the precise word, not the word that kinda sorta fits or ‘sounds more impressive’ ”

use exactly the word you MEAN

[ceruleancynic]

THIS THIS THIS OH MY GOD THIS.

I fucking hate those lists, they drive me batshit. Put down the thesaurus and back away slowly.

[saberwitch-deactivated20211209]

fuck “sussurated”

[kotorswtor]

“Sussuration” is the continuous, ambient, non-verbal sound that comes from wind or water interacting with solid matter. A person can’t have an intelligible conversation that answers to that description. Precision is important.

[thebibliosphere]

I got to “ sussurated” and started angry scrolling getting ready to make this exact point.

[prismatic-bell]

Stephen King says this exact thing in On Writing. Disliking his habit of just using he said/she said led me to drop dialogue tags where I could, and you know what? IT MADE ME A STRONGER WRITER. With infrequent dialogue tags, I have to characterize well enough that you know AT ONCE who’s speaking, and what emotion they’re conveying, without being told.

This is what works for me. It may not be for you. But I encourage you to find ways to express that don’t mean leaning on lists and adverbs. Consider this:

“These lists are stupid,” @thebibliosphere said angrily.

“These lists are stupid,” @thebibliosphere growled.

@thebibliosphere spotted ‘sussurated’ and stabbed the reblog button. “These lists can die in a fucking hole.”

Which tells you the most about how Joy feels about these lists? Which one makes you feel most like you’re hearing a person speaking?

Just a thing to consider, play with, strip for parts, and use if it suits you.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

The really funny thing about "snakes aren't mammals your snake girl shouldn't have breasts!" is like yeah. Neither should your cat girl.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

The fact that this is the line drawn is really funny! Human breasts are actually incredibly rare among mammals! We don't know exactly why humans have big bazongas but it's probably sexual selection, which presents the really funny problem

If your snake women having sex with people is normal and expected...then yeah, they're ALSO probably going to have something resembling breasts. They might even just have breasts in all but function.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Like yes, non-mammals don't make milk, but you actually don't need the whole kit that humans do in order to make milk. Arguably its not even the important part of the breast to begin with.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

You also don't need to justify it at all you can just be a pervert about it.

[swiftrunnerfelidae]

We actually have another theory why human breasts are like that, and it's because of our flat faces.

Most mammals have, compared to humans, an elongated jaw. So a little tiny bump of a mammary gland is fine, just enough to get the nostrils away from the teat, and the young can freely breathe while nursing. However, as humans started using fire more and more to cook food - which softened it up, rendering powerful jaws less necessary - their jaws began to shorten, resulting in the development of the chin and other unique facial structures as the face flattened out.

This, of course, meant that babies could suffocate while nursing, which would obviously be bad. But what if... what if nipple further from chest? Bigger bump, so baby's nose have spot to go that isn't directly into mommy's chest? Oh, turns out that works! Of course, as more and more fat stores become dedicated to growing that breast mound to keep baby from suffocating, it becomes harder and harder for the mother to reabsorb that tissue when not nursing (as many other mammals do), so they just... don't. Knockon effects from there, and bam. Tiddies.

Which means if your cat girl has a flat face she probably should still have boobs but if she's got the full muzzle, not so much.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

That's actually really interesting honestly.

[fullmetalfisting]

Tbh germ theory DOES sound crazy. Like if you told a regency-era nobleman that tiny creatures lived on the surface of everything and THAT’S what causes consumption, they’d be like “ah, I see you are a lunatic. Would you reside in my hermitage? Rantings and ravings do so amuse my guests”

[mysteryteacup]

But if you told a Medieval person this they would probably go "Ah, so when the miasma settles on surfaces it gains evil life. I understand."

[alarajrogers]

Yeah, actually, it would probably be pretty easy to explain germ theory to a Medieval person as tiny evil spirits that live on everything, but they can be purified by soap and water, or by alcohol, because that is why God has granted us those things. And because they can float in the air, if you cough or sneeze after they have infested you, that can cause them to infest others. And when you are sick, the angels God has deputized to defend the bodies of His beloved children are at war with the evil spirits, and, sadly, sometimes they lose, but the best way to help your angels win their battle is to rest, drink plenty (this would probably be small beer in this time period, not water, because the water was also infested), stay clean, and for the sake of God do not allow anyone to let your blood, for the angels need that blood in their war against the evil spirits. Bloodletting is good for some types of illnesses but not the kinds caused by the tiny evil spirits.

[chekhovs-raygun]

boiling as a sterilization measure is also easy to explain. water returns to the air when heated and it rises as steam back up to the floodgates of heaven; we know God created the world in seven days, He's not up there making more water every time it rains. it circulates. the returning of water to heaven also purifies the water of unclean and malign influences. you know wormy water from a muddy puddle will kill your kid. you know you wouldn't wade into a bog and have a slurp. water that remains in the low places of earth absorbs all that is unclean from our waste and it may also sponge up new diseases from hell, we're not totally sure about that one, but it seems likely. God set up the heavenly water cycle so that the earth's waters wouldn't totally fill up with gunk.

what does this have to do with boiling your surgical tools? well look, the boiling water releases bubbles of steam which carries the malign influences up to heaven. you boil a knife, you send all the miasmic particles off with the steam to heaven. if you rinse the knife off in a bucket the water isn't hot enough, the particles go into the water and then right back on to the knife. you gotta boil it to get the particles all the way away. how can a tool or rag or a bed have miasmic particles on it when you can't smell them? humans have a lousy sense of smell. look at your dog on the hunt. are there no rabbits in the woods just because you can't smell them? we know that miasma is carried on the air, and is what makes stench so dangerous, and we know that humans can't smell worth a damn compared to dogs cats horses etc. a dog can smell if a rat died in a corner of the room last week. you can't. do you think licking the spot where the rat died is going to go well for you? luckily, what humans lack in snout we make up for in brains. we have extra brains where our sniffers should have been. God set that up for a reason.

and why does a rinse with wine spirits work? man, look how fast alcohol evaporates. my guess is that because wine contains a lot more vice than water, it evaporates a whole lot faster, in sort of an equal and opposite way that a rock falls faster than a feather. if you want the miasmic particles to get off there FAST, you dunk it in something that's going back to heaven at a gallop.

what's up with honey? it just preserves things against corruption. doesn't clean them off. honey doesn't evaporate at all. probably because bees don't sin. it's not good for ridding a tool of particles-- it's sticky-- but fine for preserving anything you don't want to go to heaven OR hell. this is why you wash the wound with wine spirits or purified water FIRST, to sluice the miasma out, then slap the honey on AFTER. and boil the damn bandage, too. you wouldn't put a rotten door in a sound doorframe and expect it to keep out bandits, would you? cmon.

[ariaste]

Medieval people also already knew that putting things out in the sun helped to keep them clean (UV radiation killing bacteria). So everyone knows that after you use a butter churn, you rinse it out, give it a scrub, and set it out in the sun to dry, or else it will go sour and everything you make with it will go bad fast. Likewise with when you want to get sheets and clothes really clean and fresh, you boil them with lye soap and then lay them out in the sun to dry.

[cricketcat9]

Medieval paesant: yes, yes, makes total sense

JFK Jr: I take my grandkids to swim in a sewer and dig roadkill

[intimatevoid]

This kind of process is called "headology" in Discworld and is the foundation for an entire branch of witchcraft in the series.

[genderkoolaid]

hey boy don't kill yourself. green's dictionary of slang is available online and allows you to explore 500 years of english vulgarity. you can search by part of speech, source, time period, etymology, and usage. there's a whole category for gay slang. they even have specific citations listed so you can see the exact context for yourself. boy did you know that in 1927 "to kneel at the altar" was slang for "to sodomize"

[genderkoolaid]

some other hits:

Princess: an effeminate and relatively youthful male homosexual or lesbian (1931-4)

Daffodil: effeminate young man (1925)

To throw a fuck into: to have sex with (1919)

Top sergeant: a masculine lesbian (1939) [‘she takes command of the girls’ privates’]

Lily: penis (1919)

Wolf: sexually aggressive man (1847); a homosexual top (1918)

Soul kiss: a deep kiss, involving putting one’s tongue into one’s partner’s mouth (1907)

Tom: a lesbian (1909); [in 'old tom'] prostitute catering to lesbians (1966)

Church mouse: a male homosexual who frequents crowded churches in order to fondle any potential sex partners. (1941)

Discover one's gender: to accept or acknowledge one’s homosexuality (1941) / Lose one's gender: To return to living as a heterosexual

Minty: a masculine lesbian (1941)

Also a lot of early 20th century vulgarity is recorded in Letter from My Father, which is a collection of letters published by a man who's dad was, in short, a major slut and human disaster who wrote about his sex life for his son. It's insane. You can find copies of it online & it's a wild fucking read (literally!) and I think a really interesting look at the life of a person who goes against our stereotypes of what people in the past were "supposed" to be like.

Anyways feel free to add y'all's favs to this post. & if you use this for gay historical fanfic please share with the class

[genderkoolaid]

#OH THIS IS EXTREMELY EXTREMELY HELPFUL#writing#resources#saving for later#maybe i should move my 1920s story from '25 to '27 because..... bro..........

note for writers: these are dated to the first time they were recorded, not necessarily to their first use. I imagine for many of these, they came about naturally through spoken language before they were written down anywhere. This is especially true of more underground slang because it's probably being recorded (in ways we still have) the least. So if you wanna use a term but it's a little off date-wise, give yourself some wiggle room.

also gonna take this moment to highlight two more i found recently:

Best boy: a sweetheart, a boyfriend, a husband. (1893) [w the obvious equivalent term 'best girl']

Honeydripper or honeydrips: a sexual partner (1917)

Like. Honeydripper?????? That's so horny I can't stop thinking about it. We need to bring THAT back

[the-transgenda-agenda]

updates to miscellaneous page - added link to green's dictionary of slang

[ms-mazarin]

Words to replace said, except this actually helps

I got pretty fed up with looking for words to replace said because they weren’t sorted in a way I could easily use/find them for the right time. So I did some myself.

IN RESPONSE TO Acknowledged Answered Protested

INPUT/JOIN CONVERSATION/ASK Added Implored Inquired Insisted Proposed Queried Questioned Recommended Testified

GUILTY/RELUCTANCE/SORRY Admitted Apologized Conceded Confessed Professed

FOR SOMEONE ELSE Advised Criticized Suggested

JUST CHECKING Affirmed Agreed Alleged Confirmed

LOUD Announced Chanted Crowed

LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL Appealed Disclosed Moaned

ANGRY FUCK OFF MATE WANNA FIGHT Argued Barked Challenged Cursed Fumed Growled Hissed Roared Swore

SMARTASS Articulated Asserted Assured Avowed Claimed Commanded Cross-examined Demanded Digressed Directed Foretold Instructed Interrupted Predicted Proclaimed Quoted Theorized

ASSHOLE Bellowed Boasted Bragged

NERVOUS TRAINWRECK Babbled Bawled Mumbled Sputtered Stammered Stuttered

SUAVE MOTHERFUCKER Bargained Divulged Disclosed Exhorted

FIRST OFF Began

LASTLY Concluded Concurred

WEAK PUSY Begged Blurted Complained Cried Faltered Fretted

HAPPY/LOL Cajoled Exclaimed Gushed Jested Joked Laughed

WEIRDLY HAPPY/EXCITED Extolled Jabbered Raved

BRUH, CHILL Cautioned Warned

ACTUALLY, YOU’RE WRONG Chided Contended Corrected Countered Debated Elaborated Objected Ranted Retorted

CHILL SAVAGE Commented Continued Observed Surmised

LISTEN BUDDY Enunciated Explained Elaborated Hinted Implied Lectured Reiterated Recited Reminded Stressed

BRUH I NEED U AND U NEED ME Confided Offered Urged

FINE Consented Decided

TOO EMO FULL OF EMOTIONS Croaked Lamented Pledged Sobbed Sympathized Wailed Whimpered

JUST SAYING Declared Decreed Mentioned Noted Pointed out Postulated Speculated Stated Told Vouched

WASN’T ME Denied Lied

EVIL SMARTASS Dictated Equivocated Ordered Reprimanded Threatened

BORED Droned Sighed

SHHHH IT’S QUIET TIME Echoed Mumbled Murmured Muttered Uttered Whispered

DRAMA QUEEN Exaggerated Panted Pleaded Prayed Preached

OH SHIT Gasped Marveled Screamed Screeched Shouted Shrieked Yelped Yelled

ANNOYED Grumbled Grunted Jeered Quipped Scolded Snapped Snarled Sneered

ANNOYING Nagged

I DON’T REALLY CARE BUT WHATEVER Guessed Ventured

I’M DRUNK OR JUST BEING WEIRDLY EXPRESSIVE FOR A POINT/SARCASM Hooted Howled Yowled

I WONDER Pondered Voiced Wondered

OH, YEAH, WHOOPS Recalled Recited Remembered

SURPRISE BITCH Revealed

IT SEEMS FAKE BUT OKAY/HA ACTUALLY FUNNY BUT I DON’T WANT TO LAUGH OUT LOUD Scoffed Snickered Snorted

BITCHY Tattled Taunted Teased

[leafy-autistics]

Very Tumblr of you to make “LEWD/CUTE/SECRET SPY FEEL” the same category

[northshorewave]

'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter' rebrands to 'They Don't Want You to Know it's Not Butter', to better reflect the 21st-century consumer mindset.

[bisupergirl]

"clark is a sweet, pure, and innocent boyscout <3" him and lois canonically strip naked and have sex in the metropolis night sky what on EARTH are you talking about

[galaxymagitech]

What about that prevents him from being a sweet, pure, and innocent boyscout?

[stealingyourbones]

What suggestions would you have for cool, lesser known DC characters I could write a crossover fic with.

Preferably not Gotham-based characters because as much as I love them I need a break and I want to try something new. I know you mentioned Animal Man in another post. Does he have a solo run I can look up or is he usually in group comics/a side character in somebody else’s comics?

(I am deliberately baiting you to info-dump to me about any DC characters you want and I will write a fic with them so go nuts.)

Sadly at this current moment I can’t infodump nearly as much as I’d want to because my carpal tunnel is being a lil bitch but I can give synopses:

Animal Man- Buddy Baker, a typical suburban dad who also happens to be a hero that can use abilities based on any nearby animal (including bacteria?). He is powered by The Red which is the animal version of The Green (Plant Life). The Red is less the concept of all animals but more the concept that all animals are meat. his comics are either a beautifully terrifying body horror gore fest or a 4th wall breaking mind bending creation. No in between. Having Animal Man fight the Lunch Lady and realize she’s fundamentally a different being and not of The Red would be crazy awesome.

Booster Gold or Ted Kord: Booster Gold is a Time Cop who got his job from stealing shit from the Hall of Justice Museum and heading to the Age of Heroes to fund enough money and fame to pay for his mothers cancer treatment. He could be used in Clockwork related fics a lot and he’s also equally as much as a dumbass as Danny.

Blue Beetle also known as Ted Kord, is basically in the same package deal as Booster. Ted Kord, Late owner of Kord Industries, ja a brilliant master of technology and has stuff from a massive beetle ship to a gun. He’s best friends with Booster and their bromance could be fun if you want Danny to have two partially functional adult mentors.

Wally West. The second and fastest flash. A he’s the most go with the flow dude I’ve seen in recent comics, including dealing with an inter dimensional WWE esque fight where he fights alongside Space Hulk Hogan, and has a wonderful Wife, Linda West, and (sometimes) twin kiddos. The Flash’s entire sthick is family. They’re more family centered than the Fast and Furious movies for god sake. Having Danny find a new home in any speedsters home would be incredible.

The Spectre: the embodiment of Gods Wrath. I would go on far too long of a rant remind me to do one later but for now all I’m saying is that it would be sick as fuck for The Spectre to kill Vlad for the horrible things he’s done.

Green Arrow or in general Star City: Oliver Queen, inheritor of Queen Industries is a dude who got trauma after a boat sank and some island thing (tbh I don’t know his backstory off the top of my head), but he’s a very quippy and hilarious guy who’s jokes would mesh pretty nicely with Danny’s humor and in general he’s underutilized in both dpxdc and DC so it’d be nice to see that change :)

Ok hands are getting angry but I hope that’s a fun starting example list for ya!! :D

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Excellent, thank you very much. I looked up Animal Man (because I love body horror and fourth wall breaking chaos) and he has a 1988 run and a 2011 run, do you have any suggestions for which I should read first/which is better?

I have been considering a crossover with booster gold and blue beetle for a while, but I don’t like writing Clockwork, so I’ll have to come up with a different premise.

Flashfam content seems like too much to get into in the window of time I’m planning to use for this, even if I only focus on Wally (I just need something to work on until my copy of AGIT comes on Monday) but I’ll bump that up on my “to read” list (it’s been on there for a long time😓 but I am a slow reader)

Definitely gonna look up the Spectre because they sound both cool as fuck and thematically appropriate, and don’t think I won’t remind you to go on a rant about them but I’ll wait a few days.

I only know Green Arrow (tangentially) from the CW show because my sister used to be obsessed with it and he is… not like that in the CW show. Like I’d heard it was overly grimdark and out of character but wow was it overly grimdark and out of character; I don’t think he made more than like one joke per season. And because of that I never had any interest in the character I won’t lie. So I guess Green Arrow comics are officially going on my “to read” list also. That sounds genuinely fun.

[stealingyourbones]

Best way to describe the differences of CW Green Lantern and DC comics Green Lantern is Percy Jackson movies vs the books. It’s not the worst but it’s definitely not the same character ya know?

My personal fav Animal Man Run is the 1988 run by Grant Morrison but it has little to no body horror. The 2011 run is the one you’re looking for where it’s a new attempt at Animal Man’s Origins and gains the plot of him being an avatar of the Red. Happy reading :DDD

(For the Spectre I highly reccomend the John Ostrander turn above everything else)

[raaorqtpbpdy]

I think you mean green arrow lol, but yeah, that makes sense. And thank you for the recommendations, I have made notes!

[stealingyourbones]

Dhdkfjtkkr indeed you were correct I was very sleep deprived when making that rec list. Glad you like the list :D

[the-witchhunter]

If you want some more obscure recs to check out for a potential crossover

Frankenstein Agent of Shade featuring Frankenstein and the Creature Commandos, a literal monster mash of creatures working for the secret organization of S.H.A.D.E. Kind of a collection of the old Universal Studios monsters inspired characters put on a secret swat team together. I just think that could work well with a character that’s half ghost. There was a run from 2011-13 so firmly in new 52 territory but it’s a fun idea to play around with

Simon Dark, a not very popular or very good comic, technically set in Gotham but Batman never factors into it. I mainly suggest this because it’s very short and had an interesting idea where Simon is a person sewn together from other people and brought to life through dark magic. He protects his neighborhood and kill a lot of bad people but is also very childish and doesn’t really understand death. If it’s not very good, why do I recommend him? Literally I might be the only person that remembers this character so you can do WHATEVER with him and nobody is gonna say differently about your characterization

And I mean do whatever you want with this character, think anywhere from basically adopts a talon to a potential love interest

[theneonghosts]

An obscure character I would suggest would be:

Resurrection Man, or Mitchell Shelley (note I have only read the new 52 version, and have very little knowledge of him pre new 52) he is an amnesiac former corrupt military general who after nearly dying got injected with a special serum and split in 'two' after the original loses an arm. One who was immortal and whether dies gains a new superpower (and loses the previous one) as well as becoming regretful of all the harm he did as a general and tries to right it, even though he can't remember committing any of those war crimes, he formed the arm after it was incinerated. Where as the other version of him remains mortal, continues to be an overall horrible person and hunts down the other Mitchell to steal his powers, eventually leading to a final confrontation and his death. Also during all of this heaven and hell keep on trying to claim the resurrection man's soul.

[bonebrokebuddy]

This likely isn’t what you were looking for when you asked for character recs, but I’ve seen only really modern versions of DC characters shown in the DPXDC community. Rarely does anyone touch on the golden or silver ages of comics!

A character’s main philosophy doesn’t change that much from its modern counterpart but often how they interact with the world absolutely does. Especially this applies to comics of the Silver Age era due to the Comics Code Authority restricting and heavily censoring Anything they deemed unfit in the comics of the era. The idea of shoving a character not from the silver ages into it and feeling their very being altered and actions betray them due to having to follow the rules of the Comics Code Authority and the narrative troupes of the era is an idea I’ve toyed with for soso long. Or at least even use the characterizations of old in general.

Just using silver ages rn bc I don’t want this post to get too long but In the earlier silver ages comics were fairly high camp. Stories may have an arc but are more likely to set up and finish a story within the same comic issue.

Due to the rules of the CCA:

- villains literally cannot win or be sympathetic At All.

- Cops can’t be portrayed in a bad light.

- No foul language.

- Homosexuality is banned (which, if you put a queer character in. You could go all sorts of psychological or body horror with that. Having them being literally slowly erased from the story or via another method.)

- People can’t use weapons with real world equivalents to prevent the idea that kids should play with them. (hence the amount of bombs, rays, contraptions, etc that exist in the silver ages. Also contributed to TV censorship and hence why Danny Phantom doesn’t have a lot of actual guns shown in the show but instead ghost contraptions that look like guns.)

- Characters cannot die onscreen

- and so much more,

Think Batman 66 levels of camp & heavy level of censorship. Like, the directors trying to medically castrate Burt Ward, the actor who played Robin. Because he had such a honking schlong that the Catholic League of Decency thought his “well-endowed” bulge that showed through the tight shorts Burt wore as apart of his Robin costume was too scandalous for TV. And for whatever reason, medical castration was the studios first choice of action instead of just filming from the waist-up and using his cape to cover his front when necessary. Which was their second solution only after Burt Ward refused to take the pills the studio prescribed to him. That’s the type of heavy censorship I’m talking about. Everything must be child friendly and if it’s not, the CCA and censorship committed would enforce radical changes to the script, costume, drawing, etc to make it fit their idea of purity.

The silver ages are old enough that it is likely your local library has big ol omnibuses of a run of these comics, although it’ll likely be a run from a member of the main JL crew.

That and the 50-80+ year compilation books also provide commentary and background info so they’d also be an amazing resource in this case!

Here’s some additional links to resources if you’re ever interested in the concept:

- In the “Read The Comics” section on the menu of this lovely blog, there’s so many silver age Superman comic scans you can read entirely for free! It’s genuinely an amazing resource for Superman. The site also has amazing comic recs and I’d highly recommend checking it out.

- Captainmarvelology on Quora. They have so, so many fantastic essays on golden age Captain Marvel and is the person who introduced me to Shazam! Here’s one of my favorite essays they did!

Seriously though? take an hour or two to read through their blog. It will genuinely completely change your understanding of the character. It’s so good. And the posts will sometimes go into how the political and social landscape of the time directly influenced the comics!!!! I love that shit!

- An amazing blog dedicated to Golden Age Captain Marvel. Lots of fun essays and history lessons with a side of comic reviews:

- A fantastic blog that has both quick and lengthy explanations of the backstories of The Flashes! Has more of the Flash Family and is a more through and complete resource than the one above. The page I linked is to the series history, where the blog explains the evolution in how characters were treated & how the comic book industry changed its views on these characters as the series progresses! Resource for Golden Age to Modern Age of comics for the flashes if you want to know more about the dudes!

- Chris Sims’ blog. A comic writer who makes lovely analysis and critical essays on Batman and other comic media and semi-frequently writes reviews on silver age Batman comics!

- Reviews of random issues of silver age Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen comics! (The blog is also run by Tony Isabella, a comic writer who created Black Lightning, Misty Knight and Tigra. There’s so much more fun stuff on his blog. Id highly recommend scrolling through and picking whatever post captures your eye) Jimmy is one of my favorites sidekicks of all time. He’s brace and loyal beyond fault, he’s extremely stubborn and down to cause issues he’ll inevitably have to deal with later at the drop of a hat. Chaos follows him and it’s so damn entertaining to read.

- A forum about anything and everything comic. There’s a silver age & golden age section as well’ A wealth of information and takes on the characters by different people. A great way to scout out how other people envision the character and formulate your own while reading the analysis and thoughts of other people!

And, I cannot heavily recommend these podcasts enough for beginner & current comic readers:

geek history lesson. It is what the name suggests! Wonderful recapping of DC characters with lots of research going into them and their history.

Character Corner, an amazing podcast. They also have a YouTube channel. And they have The Best insightful commentary with hosts that understand the fundamentals of the characters very well. Gives amazing comic recs also btw.

Both have issues discussing the Golden Age & Silver Age for many characters and they dive into more in-depth & involve discussions of how the historical context around the characters at the time shaped how comics and characters were written!

I’d recommend first listening to an ep of a character on geek history lesson then next listen to the character corner episode on the same character as they involve additional discussions of characterization & first knowing their history helps a bunch.

[sheepishmastectomy]

//walks in late//

re: animal man and different versions of him-- I think the 1988 run is awesome, but I would also recommend skipping around? the first 26 issues with Grant Morrison writing are the fourth wall bending/breaking ones (and even if you don't read the rest of the comic, I think issue 5 is worthwhile for everyone-- gory but The Coyote Gospel is everything to me).

The next writer (Milligan) isn't very strong, and while it's alright, Buddy's adventures during that part aren't... good? The writing is a lot weaker. I would read a summary and skip forward to #33 where Veitch takes over, or if you're just looking for the best parts, skip alllll the way to #51 where Delano takes over (just read summaries of the issues you skipped). Delano is the series' second strongest writer (or the strongest, even... I kind of liked his era more than Morrison's but I know that's a controversial take). This era gets more into Buddy and family trying to like... first exist in the world and then trying to change the world? Really lovely cast of supporting characters here, too. Plus, if you like body horror/other stuff like that, Buddy spends a huge chunk of these issues as a freaky birdman? He also is a chimera for a while. (Hell, Delano's writing starts with Buddy coming back from the dead in a very bizarre way, and I definitely feel like it's strong with the body horror initially).

Delano goes until issue 79, at which point you stop reading because there's no more :). Really. I promise. ...Okay you can read the Prosser issues (80-89) but they are... indescribably bad. Like, he's trying to do this thing about stories inside of stories, but it's executed poorly, so you spend like 1/4 or more of each issue reading about a story that's telling you something about the larger story? And Buddy gets a terrible dye job and an evil goddess possesses his daughter and gets her pregnant (she's like... less than 10 yrs old at this point). Idk, it was the worst part of the run IMO and a terrible ending point.

2011 Animal Man has a lot of really cool stuff! The family bonding is awesome, and I really like that Buddy is not the main character? Or he is, but-- Well, I won't spoil it, but I was really impressed. I came into it with low expectations because of the era it was written (I'm sorry New52... I may actually respect you a little more now), but it was really good! Some parts are a little wobbly, but it definitely never hits the low lows of the 80s run.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Oh, this is awesome! Thank you so much! I am currently copy/pasting this into a note so I can find it easily. I was actually just about to look for a reading guide for the 1988 run lol, and this is really comprehensive. So far I've read, like, the first three issues since I had heard that most people consider Morrison's tenure in that run to be the best.

I actually read the entire 2011 run yesterday, and I totally agree with you that the main character confusion (for lack of a better term) is really interesting. I'm still iffy about the Bridgewalker thing, I think it was out of pocket didn't really add anything essential to the story, but over all I really loved it. Especially all the lore regarding the Red and how it changed and adapted throughout the series.

[sheepishmastectomy]

I hope it helps you! 1988 is really interesting because the writers all seemed to REALLY make the story their own. Grant Morrison was interested in older heroes, the nature of stories (particularly regarding the characters in them and their fates) and the people who write them. Also the planet. There are PETA advocacy bits that have not aged very well.

Milligan is interested in alternate dimensions and reality/unreality. A lot of the characters he introduces play with these themes... I don't think it's handled super well, but if that's your cup of tea, it might be worth checking out?

Veitch did not leave much of an impression on me, but he did have a lot of Native American and Shamanistic elements to his writing. They haven't aged super well? Very invested in caretaking of the land/man as a more natural being versus the unnatural that man has created.

Delano seemed interested in exploring the limits of Buddy's abilities, but also communities and how they form. He's got the most family/found-family focused part, and we get to see more of Ellen especially going out on her own. I think he's also really interested in people on the fringes and trying to make a better world through communes (Buddy is involved in two different commune projects of different scales during this portion). (Also death and the limits of death!!)

And, like I mentioned previously, Prosser likes stories and storytelling. He was also into the sort of like you create yourself stuff? Also into like historic belief systems... I dunno. It's bad.

I agree!! I was really impressed with Animal Man 2011! I don't remember as many details as 88, because 88 blew my mind (I've been reading a lot of really interesting 80s comics, but Animal Man is something else!) I don't remember the bridgewalker thing, unless it's where they kinda tried to give him back the position of main character with that alien planet deal? Idk... I thought it was a copout & a way to try and recenter him when it really didn't need to happen? Like... the point of Animal Man 2011 (IMO) is that you aren't always really the protagonist... but also that you're trying to make a better world for your children. I think it really condensed down a lot of the environmental messaging from the 80s into that central theme.

[queerfandommiscellany]

Also with an amazing 1988 run: Martian Manhunter!

He is fascinating and I love him.

A shapeshifter from Mars and perennial member of the Justice League/Justice Society/etc in many of its incarnations, J'onn J'onzz is a great contradiction. He has all the basket of powers of the classic overpowered superman-type-- flight, invulnerability, basically laser eyes, superspeed, strength, some other more specific stuff- but in most of his comics, Martian Manhunter is mostly a detective.

Calm, thoughtful, deliberate. He's a personable person, he has to be. A powerful telepath and shapeshifter, this is how J'onn has survived on Earth after being teleported here by a machine that immediately broke and a scientist that immediately died: he takes on the lives, often memories, and shapes of the dead. People of all cultures, genders, occupations, and ethnicities. He very much embodies the idea that bad things can happen, your world can end.... and you still have to move on. You can still be kind. And you still have to keep your caring from consuming you, even if that means prioritizing some people over others.

His backstory varies a bit depending on the version, but generally goes along the lines of: J'onn J'onzz was a detective or scientist or something on Mars, happy enough with his wife and daughters.

And then calamity struck. Sometimes it was other aliens taking advantage of a peaceful civilization, sometimes it was other Martian. Usually, there was a telepathically-transmitted plague that gave visions of fire, and eventually made the patients burn to their death. Because almost every Martian was incredibly telepathic, they all burned. Except J'onn, through quite a lot of luck, and a handful of other exceptions. He then wandered around on the desertified Mars for some amount of time, staggering under the loss of his people before his eyes, until Dr. Erdel on Earth teleported him to his lab by accident.

So for DCxDP specific points of interest, we have:

1) J'onn's civilian identities are usually dead people

2) Similar grade of sci-fi shenanigans to Danny Phantom, with lots of silver age gadgets and doohickeys

3) As a very literal illegal alien, J'onn has nearly as much reason to distrust the government as Danny does

4) Similar powersets! Both can use flight, superspeed, superstrength, intangibility, invisibility, some kind of eye beam attack...

5) Different specialties and vulnerabilities! Danny can pilot someone's body around by overshadowing, getting a result that looks a lot like mind control. J'onn can... actually do mind control, though he usually just makes people forget things. Danny has ice powers, J'onn's eye beam thing is heat. Danny is sometimes particularly vulnerable to electricity, J'onn is extremely vulnerable to fire, especially if it is a symbolic or emotionally significant fire.

6) Mentor possibilities? In some versions, J'onn has a niece, Miss Martian. Miss Martian came to him on Earth for psychic teaching (among other reasons), and there have been some incidents of her powers acting out in wild and ridiculously powerful ways. I could totally see a relationship with Danny going the same way, though tbh the sky's the limit

7) SPACE! Danny loves space and wants to be an astronaut. J'onn is an Actual Literal Alien from Mars.

8) look I love tragedy. DP fans often enjoy tragedy. This bad boy can fit SOOOOO much angst in him.

- probably some Detective Comics bits I don't remember lol

Recommended reading/watching if you want some reference material:

- 1988 Martian Manhunter run (it's short, only 4 issues)

- Episodes 1 and 2 of Justice League (2001) cartoon

[dykemd]

never forget what they took from us.

[dykemd]

[babblingfishes]

Alright, everyone in the comments is like "it was closed because of pirating and don't you dare list alternatives because loose lips sink ships"

This is completly false. Rabbit shut down because they had no business model, were making no money whatsoever, and went bankrupt. What Rabbit did (host and stream remote-control virtual machines) is not inherently illegal by any means.

Hyperbeam is the exact same thing and I've been using it for years for perfectly legal activities -- you can display maps for d&d games, have youtube watch parties, play tag-team neopets, whatever you like. It has full access to the internet, so could someone do illegal things? Probably. But you could also do illegal things with your normal web browser. Not my problem.

Unlike Rabbit, Hyperbeam has a side-hustle (main-hustle?) offering more advanced virtual machines to businesses and schools, so they do actually make money and should stick around longer.

Now go experience the world wide web with your friends.

[gwydionmisha]

When Therapists Lose Their Licenses, Some Turn to the Unregulated Life Coaching Industry Instead

Despite past misconduct, some former therapists have continued their careers as life coaches. Now, after a high-profile conviction in Utah,

[kereeachan]

I read this article a few weeks back, it is very engaging but also contains the reminder that the woman who helped the Utah Momfluencer abuse her kids was a "life coach." Life Coaching is an ENTIRELY unregulated industry with ZERO qualifications that is mostly preying on people unable to get legitimate therapy or psych help.

[tgirl-thucydides]

[elbiotipo]

Me: Did you know that medieval cathedrals weren't actually supposed to be dark and rundown places with only stained glass as color? They were bright places full of light... the reason they look like that now is because of the centuries of accumulated grime and dust, here look at this restoration of the Cathedral of Chartres in France:

It's based on actual paint from the times, and when you think about it, it makes a lot more sense, after all a church is supposed to be a bright place of hope. Yet when we think about the middle ages we think about grimy and dark cathedrals. I wonder how much of our conception of history is shaped by our current visions of historical buildings.

My Goth GF: listen, I don't think this thing between us is working,

[lostsemicolon]

Don't forget that this chucklefuck wants to invade Greenland.

[mini-wrants]

People straight up do not realize that part of the reason manufacturing is not returning to the United States in massive waves is because we have things like “OSHA” and “environmental laws” and “minimum wages.”

It’s not even just about fair wages. It’s literally about the fact that you can’t dump industrial waste in a river here anymore.

Our cheap goods are so cheap because South American and Asians environments are being destroyed so you can buy a $40 pair of shoes every 3 months.

Cutting granite countertops has lead to a rapid increase in silicosis in the lungs out in California. All the working men and women in my family have died from pulmonary fibrosis. They were carpet layers, Post office workers, floor tilers. Staying safe in manufacturing jobs is annoying but also very, very expensive. Real manufacturing factories belch smoke and dust and grime that causes asthma and birth defects in surrounding communities. Everyone wants their manufacturing jobs back until they realize their kids are living directly under the Asthma Plant.

There will come a time when the workers in these countries rise up and demand better and things will start to even out, but if you want to honestly “do your part,” you gotta stop buying cheap shit for no reason.

Not every event needs to be celebrate with a baseball cap or a coozie or a t shirt or a keychain. Not every wall in the house has to have a picture or a cute phrase on it. The knickknacks are killing people.

[mini-wrants]

Yep!

[avelera]

(Writing Advice) Tips for Writing Dialogue

I would never, ever give unsolicited critique on a fic and I would never, ever out a fic I'm reading as being the one I want to critique.

But it gets so much harder when the edits I want to offer are really simple ones. Like, when I know where the author stands in their growth and I can see so clearly what their next step would be and I just aoiruoairoiariowaurwouARGH want to point out one little concept that will elevate their story by lightyears but since I do not know this person I don't dare because you never know what advice is going to be absolutely crushing to someone and entirely unwanted.

SO, before I explode, I want to give the advice I would offer.

This is specifically for people who find themselves writing really long paragraphs of dialogue between two characters that feel sort of unnatural when read aloud. Dialogue that is very "on the nose" ie, characters say what they mean and they say EVERYTHING they mean in a way that leaves nothing to the imagination. It's open, clear communication to a fault and sounds very unnatural as a result.

The thing is, I don't want to tell people not to do that. Actually, writing out EVERYTHING the character could say is a GREAT first step! But the second draft should involve whittling down all of that into the most powerful or gripping parts of that paragraph. And I want to discuss how:

(Note, sometimes that is the pleasure of the genre that the author is going for! Sometimes in fic, the canon characters are so bad at communicating that it can be pleasurable just to write them fucking talking to each other for once.)

But, if your goal is to eventually write more naturalistic dialogue and also dialogue with a bit more tension and momentum to it that really pulls the reader along and makes them feel immersed in the world, you should keep in mind that most people don't say everything they mean in conversation. Even when people are being carefully, deliberately, perhaps even drunkenly entirely open with each other, they often speak in fragments or need to backtrack to clarify a point.

However, most people don't say everything they're thinking, especially if it's very vulnerable, because of things like fear of rejection, or pride, or even because they have their own goals that might be disrupted if the other person knew everything. Sometimes, there just isn't time for a big sit-down where all the feelings come out!

However, this isn't about small-talk, which is a bit more self-evident that it shouldn't be paragraphs long for every exchange. Fiction tends to thrive in momentous moments, moments that tend to be a bit rare in real life but that stick out in our minds forever.

For example, fiction revolves around couples realizing their feelings for each other far more often than any one person would experience that moment in their life. So in fiction we heighten and elevate these really powerful moments and we love exploring them as readers.

SO, when I'm stuck on ALLL the things characters could say to each other in a really charged moment, but I'm not sure what the best thing would be, I don't hold myself back. I just let it all out. I open a pair of brackets and say:

Bill says, [I love you. I don't know how to say it because I'm 20 years old and scared and I've never been in a relationship before, but I do. You've been my best friend my whole life. I think you're the most beautiful and amazing person I've ever met. If you reject me, it would destroy me. But losing you as a friend would destroy me even worse. So I feel like I have to play it cool for a variety of societal pressure reasons but also to protect my heart and my pride. I want to open the door a bit, I want to hint that I like you, but I don't want to risk it if I overstep. I'm not ready to take the leap yet if there's even the slightest chance it won't work. Maybe we could try getting coffee?]

Then I'll go back through and bold the lines that are most powerful to me, the ones I really want to keep, as seen above. Then I mull over that for a bit and try to put it into more naturalistic speech. Something like,

Bill says, "Yeah, well... you're pretty cool too, I guess. Maybe we could grab coffee sometime. Try that new place that just opened."

^^^ Obviously this isn't award winning dialogue but what I would hope to capture with it is a young, insecure person who is leaving a lot of openings for plausible deniability, who isn't overcommitting to a love confession that could get their heart stomped on but is tentatively advancing a compliment and a desire to spend more time together at a plausible location for either a date or just friends hanging out.

The rest of what's deleted from the paragraph is now a secret that they're trying to hide. And secrets tend to be very powerful in fiction and performance. It makes the audience mentally engage with what they think is hidden behind those words. It leaves space too for more conversations between the characters.

Maybe over coffee a bit more of that entire paragraph comes out, which pulls the reader along through the story. Maybe each time they hang out, a little more comes out after that, because most people don't give their love confessions in one huge block the minute they realize they have feelings. And the anticipation of getting to the moment where the whole hidden paragraph is revealed also pulls the reader along and makes them excited (hopefully) for that moment. It makes them keep reading your story to reach that moment.

Anyway, TL;DR: writing out a whole paragraph of everything your character is thinking for each line of dialogue, everything they could possibly say, is GREAT for the first draft! You don't want to lose a potentially juicy and powerful line just because you edited yourself too soon.

But in the SECOND draft, before you publish, dialogue gets a lot more powerful and compelling if you whittle it down to be more naturalistic, to hold a bit back, to allow a bit of mystery, especially with big emotions and confessions that would be hard or scary for a person to reveal, that might encompass the actual plot or subplot of your story (for example, getting to a love confession could be the plot or subplot of a slowburn romance, so you want to sort of piece that build-up out and not just dump a whole confession on the first page, unless that IS your goal!).

Trimming down a huge paragraph to one line of dialogue also makes for snappier, more dynamic dialogue overall, even if the content isn't as emotionally charged as a one-in-a-lifetime love confession.

[eldhuug]

Some people have such a wonderful way with words

[tatumsdrawing]

Haha, so uh, I am re-watching One Piece rn and I just started finding these two real cute.

I’m a sucker for their antagonism