most fantasy books or fics i’ve read that contained a desert biome fell back on real world prejudice and misconceptions in place of authentic worldbuilding for a place and people, and it is so telling that the trope seems to repeat itself
things like
the desert as a lifeless wasteland where ‘life is crushed underneath the shifting sands and blazing sun’ blah blah blah. deserts are full of life and they are beautiful and people have lived and prospered in them for eons. please read a book
the desert as an ugly or barren terrain where everything is harsh and threatening
the desert as something scary
the inhabitants as backwards religious zealots
the men as overly violent and oppressive
the inhabitants in need of outside instruction/intervention, i.e. “civilizing the savage”
the “harem” and women as exotic, sensual, mysterious
writing tribalism with no knowledge of how tribes actually function
djinn (or for the westerners, genies)
Islam Lite (the aesthetics or spiritual practices appropriated and stripped of meaning)
sprinkling random arabic words for ✨flavor✨instead of expanding your worldbuilding to include language as well
clothing as oppressive or mysterious, instead of serving its actual purpose (protecting you from the elements, which should be obvious but i guess it isn’t. covering your skin keeps you cooler and safer in most deserts)
people who live in deserts as ignorant, superstitious, uneducated
this isn’t worldbuilding, it’s just ignorance and bigotry
There are so many unrecognized skills rolled into writing:
knowing what kind of feedback helps you most is a skill
assessing the quality of the feedback is a skill
wrangling the emotional complexities of sharing your writing is a skill
not letting the nice comment happy chemicals unbalance you is a skill
and none of those things are even writing
(text above was originally tags from @the-very-darcy - ty for letting me turn them into a new post!)
Be kind to yourself when you're navigating these issues and remember that each of these is a skill separate from writing that maybe you haven't developed yet.
Give yourself the grace and time you need to improve on these areas too.
And forgive yourself if you find these things difficult. You're not born knowing how to do them. You get better at them with practice and with time. 💗
I was feeling agitated and artblocked yesterday so I decided to give my brain a rest by watching TV and then the next thing I knew these were in front of me
For context, this is Jewish actor Miriam Margolyes. A self-identified dyke,she was professor sprout in the harry potter movies but she's been extremely prolific over five decades. She's pro trans and pro Palestinian.
i was thinking it'd be nice to have a collection of all our mentions of & memories from preclock dante (especially because i recently discovered one that was obscure as HELL)... here goes!
longpost under cut
I: prologue dante
prologue dante is basically the best source we've got on this, because, yknow, this pretty much is preclock dante. we do not get much time with this dante, but a few things are on display here:
they're an arrogant bastard
"just wait till i get the [aspect]... you'll be no match for...!!!" (presumably saying aspect here.) this is anime villain talk. god what a nerd
2. they're quicker to swear than current dante
in the prologue they have THIS wonderful classic line that lives in my head forever, but then after that dante becomes our classic shuckaroonies fella who swears very rarely
(if you aren't familiar with this line, it was added to the game when the prologue through canto 2 got updated translations in late 2025. the wiki has all the new scripts!)
3. the serpent gang seem to think dante would be fixated on their scheme breaking the city's taboos.
this kinda implies dante was head aligned, or at least would've used the head to rat them out, jia mu style... very little to go on, though.
II: the aspect
preclock dante was EXTREMELY fixated on engraving their aspect, whatever the hell that means, so much so that that urgency has carried over to current dante even without any memory of why.
^ in order: prologue, canto 1 start, mid canto 4
this one's pretty clearly apparent and also we don't know much about it so i will leave it at that
III: something of a bigwig
^ canto 3 after siegfried
dante used to be someone important and notable, with competence, leadership skills, and a higher position of power. this is perhaps the most important thing about their pregame character to me.
^ canto 1 during sinner fight (they were a competent leader! unfortunately poor canto 1 dante is an amnesiac wet cat getting pelted by tomato)
they were notable enough for the serpent gang to remark on how much of an occasion it was to kill them. (this further fuels the idea that they may have been part of the head, or at least high up in a wing)
they were notable enough that there were stories about their genius, which hohenheim apparently heard. (?!?!) (^ THIS IS THE OBSCURE THING I MEANT AT THE START. this is battle narration exclusive to the envy peccatula stage of regular checkup. absolutely INSANE place to dante loredrop)
however, for all that notoriety, no one ever seems to recognize them or even give a second glance. understandable because... well, yknow, no face. i wouldn't be surprised if the only reason hohenheim and vergilius know their former identity is because they're privy to some of limbus company's records.
of course with this status thing, you then have to then think about what it means to be 'a bigwig' in the city. you don't get a position of power or fame through benevolence and activism, you do it through ruthless politics, manipulation, and cutting down people in your way.
^ canto 4, before brazen bull
as a final nail in the coffin, this loaded line from faust implies that the old dante was not at all the kind of person who'd step in to a situation where civilians are in danger.
which is all in stark comparison to current dante, who we've known to be thoughtful and hopeful and kind. i can only imagine what finding out about that juxtaposition themself is going to be like.
IV: the blue man group
dante is inextricably tied to the blue star gang, and god, there sure is . well. there's some goddamn thing going on there.
^ canto 4 end
they had talked to demian, and by extent maybe knew (or knew of) the others as well. which isn't very surprising considering having a star is also dante's Thing, but it is nice to get direct confirmation.
^ canto 4 end. this is likely about dante's star... preclock dante wtf were you trying to DO...
^ in order: canto 7 end, canto 7 end again, canto 6 end
when some dialogues from the blue star gang refer to dante as a "fallen nebulae" or "fallen from the skies", this becomes even more interesting, especially because demian kind of calls himself a star. so... was dante one of this group, and then left? would that leaving be due to their amnesia, or was it a decision before that? did dante leave the blue polycule because of realizing they are aroace and like red better? we will simply never know
V: miscellaneous memories
ummmmm ok i was gonna make this a nice misc section of things dante remembers to close this off but there's actually only like one of those that doesn't fit in any of the other categories LOL
^ mid canto 3. they have a history with the christmas song kromer plays, and not a particularly good one.
that's it that's all we got. to my knowledge anyway. please tell me if i missed something and rejoice my fellow 10 dante fans
Ppl who say that trans identity is pointless bc you will supposedly never get validation offline are always showing how intensely online they themselves are bc there are a lot of adult trans ppl out here just having normal tedious adult lives
Like yeah im weird and gay and yeah i live in constant fear of the government, but im also just like, an entry-level professional in my field with corny cishet work friends and arbitrary deadlines to meet for my department. Trans people aren't permanent children, we are teachers and managers and pencil pushers and nurses and truck drivers. Yeah idk ill "never be a cis woman" but i will be somebodies freshman history prof who was always late grading papers
