They Are Terrible Boyfriends

Nic, he/him, 30s. This blog is equal(ish) parts Simon Snow, Stranger Things, and general writing inspiration and advice. Main: petrochorepoch

[simon-snows-pitch]

January 4, 2026 — new pinned post!

I've had this blog for 5½ years. In the beginning, it was dedicated solely to all things Simon Snow and a few one-shots I wrote. Then my hyperfixation waned... and let's be real, depression had plenty to do with it, too.

So for the last couple years, I've been using this space to slowly collect a small horde of writing advice for fiction—fan-made and otherwise.

I really want to get back into writing, at least sometimes. And I am soooo disappointed by Stranger Things 5 that I kind of want to... idk... rewrite the whole thing?

I'm sure it will just end up being another short series of one-shots, but a man can dream, right? 😅

If you followed me for Carry On content, you might be see an uptick in that as I finally read AWTWB. But you might also see some Stranger Things fics or artwork, and I hope that's cool, too.

Thanks for reading!

[caprart1]

i DO believe that a good writer can make mischaracterization work. oh there's a character who doesn't normally cry? figure it out!! disect the character. make the situation cryable for them. make that character cry ugly tears even if it goes against their very nature. YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK!!!

[amyrosedefensesquad]

A great piece of advice I've seen is "Don't fixate about what the character would never do. Think about the circumstances that would drive them to do this, even if they wouldn't normally."

[ficsinhistory]

Best advice ever!

[luna-azzurra]

If you're a new writer and you're asking yourself "is this too personal, is this too much, will people think this is weird" that feeling is the exact location of your actual voice. The stuff that makes you want to close the laptop is the stuff nobody else could write. The safe version is always worse. Always. I have never once read something and thought "this would have been better if it was a little less honest." go further. It's always go further.

[stephexmachina]

proposing a new genre of fiction called an anti-romance where u r presented w a couple at the start & the story is about their emotional journey towards a catastrophic break up

[minovskyy]

becoming homophobic because when two characters in a scene have the same pronouns you have to say their names one william times

[minovskyy]

finally some good advice on this post

[rowanisawriter]

that “negative kudos” poll really got me lol i have a full time job and a family. do you know what that means lol. I don’t think many people know what that means? it means i have maybe 1 hour MAYBE 2 hours a day that are mine unless i sacrifice sleep. and i use them to write fic most of the time and then i chose to post it online. And there is a subset of people that exists out there that thinks they can and should be able to publicly dislike or negative kudos your fic if they don’t like it instead of just continuing to scroll or hitting back. man no wonder so many people are so easily turning to AI, this unfeeling unflinching thing that just gives and gives more and more slop but who cares about the quality or the person who made it as long as you can just demand more and more and be given more and more. Fic and fanart are not products, you do not get to “review” them. We call it commenting because it’s not a review. And kudos doesn’t reflect on quality, it means thank you for sharing. if you feel the need to complain about something someone used their precious and rare and still valuable time to create for you for free, keep scrolling or literally just die

[a-tangled-mermaid]

Sigh. At least I have this.

[mudwerks]

AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified

Copyright class actions could financially ruin AI industry, trade groups say.

AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They’ve warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic’s AI training now threatens to “financially ruin” the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.

well…darn

[flippyspoon]

like to charge reblog to cast financial ruin of the AI industry 🔮

[novella-november]

originally posted August 8th, 2025.

Authors have until March 30th, 2026 (That is just 9 days as of this reblog, which I am posting on March 21st, 2026) to file their claim against Anthropic to be reimbursed up to $3,000 per work found in the list.

What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement

Updated February 18, 2026 IMPORTANT: The Claims Deadline Is March 30 Background  Bartz v. Anthropic is one of the major copyright lawsuits b

Please click the above link for all of the exact details of how to file a claim and to check for your works, and share this post as far and wide as you can before March 30th, 2026!

[rederiswrites]

Next time you go to write a ten year old child, please know that mine just gave me a fairly accurate explanation of fiat versus commodity currencies, in those terms. So for goodness sake, just have them talk like the adults they’re around most.

Also I saw a post yesterday that said that children under ten don’t understand sarcasm, and I assure you, that is not the case.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

I talked like an adult when I was 10. So did all of my friends. Writing children believably is not about making them not know stuff, or making them struggle to express themselves. Kids can be very knowledgeable and very expressive, especially if they’re little book weirdos like I was.

To write a believable child, DO NOT make them:

- dumb

- inarticulate

- prone to outbursts

- superlatively innocent

DO make them:

- totally incapable of accurately calculating delayed gratification or the long-term consequences of their actions

- intermittently sociopathic

- sometimes choose to lie in a way that cannot possibly be believed, due to a dearth of life experience making it impossible to determine the likelihood of their own statements

- only sometimes, profoundly weird

[lacylu42]

I just want to add: intermittent competence. 

My 10 year old can do her own laundry, cook simple meals, look after pets, carry on a sophisticated conversation, make jokes that will make adults laugh (with her) for days, and do long division, but sometimes wears the same pair of underwear for several days in a row or forgets to wash the conditioner out of her hair. 

[heywriters]

My favorite thing about kids of all ages but especially pre-adolescents is they will casually observe and absorb whatever older kids and adults are doing and be doing it too within a day.

Also, if your little kid has older siblings/kids they spend time with, they have the advantage of learning stuff sooner than expected. Older kids are who you learn dirty, dangerous, and “grown up” knowledge from. If adults won’t tell you, older kids are only too happy to sound wise.

[wellbelesbian]

carry on fans, i need a name for one of the watford goats for a fic! a billy (male) goat to be precise.

i was thinking maybe a magical name, but Merlin feels too obvious.

also named by Agatha, who thinks Minty is a good name, so her taste might come into play.

any ideas?

[rainintheevening]

Okay, we got a new one, boys.

[fleshengine]

Close enough welcome back Chekov's gun.

[comma-souptra]

Prev you can’t bury this in your own tags

[justbreakonme]

I also like the idea of showing something as a problem before it’s shown as a strength. Almost every character trait has two sides, and by showing the “bad” side first, it sets things up to not only make sense, but to also be very satisfying.

[bazzybelle]

IF YOU FOLLOW ME ON DISCORD, DO NOT ACCEPT ANY DMS FROM ME!

My fucking account got hacked!

TO ALL CARRY ON, SANDMAN, DND GROUP'S, ETC, delete ANY DMS FROM ME.

[insanitysilver]

AO3 Tastemaker Game

You? You're an individual. You're a reader and a forager with fine tastes. You're not afraid to wade into the deep end. Browse the dustiest aisles. Get in the vents. Come, pan for gold with me in the far reaches. The game goes like this:

On AO3, navigate to your pairing/fandom of choice

Apply your standard filters

In the 'Search Within Results' field, paste this: kudos<100 comments<5 bookmarks<5 hits<500 sort:>updated

Press the 'Sort & Filter' button

Read down the line until you find something you like

Comment, bookmark, and mark it as a recommendation

For the ultimate connoisseur: Bonus Points - share your new rec off-site Hard Mode - kudos<12 comments<1 bookmarks<1 hits<395 sort:>updated

[clotpolesonly]

there sure is some gold in them thar hills but idk how it got then

[robotslenderman]

Source

[tributary]

teetotailer

[judygemstone]

first incidence of good writing advice i've seen in 10+ years on this platform and it's in the notes of a mustelid wreaking absolute havoc in a german grocery store

[scavengedluxury]

*record scratch*

*freeze frame*

"Ja, das bin ich. Sie fragen sich wahrscheinlich, wie ich hierher gekommen bin".

[darkaviarymc]

Tragedy alignment chart. Feel free to use, but please reblog if you do.

[mikkeneko]

And of course the second part of the tragedy, which is: which quadrant did you think you were in vs. which one you were really in

[mynameisrocks]

[biteorflight]

Fucked up thinking about them again

[threemanoperation]

You think about just like every single thing they made worse.

El's first vanishing actually being bittersweet because they're all like 12 and Hopper comforting Joyce hitting different because there's their own complicated history v the utter meaninglessness of El's death as a symbol of childhood for 18 year old Mike and cop Hopper who just reset and go back to normal.

Hopper's letter telling El he started feeling happier again after she came into his life v Dustin telling his class that he's better because of his friends even though the last time we saw any of these students he was getting beaten up.

Jonathan and Nancy's actual goodbye to an entire life v the teens making awkward plans even though realistically they're not going to hang out more than once or twice as a group.

Seeing Jonathan taking pictures of Joyce's bad cooking and filming Joyce and Will's bad dancing and having fun as a not normal family v Joyce and Hopper getting engaged and dancing at Enzo's where he tells her she did a good job raising her boys.

Said it 49756947 times but he should have stayed dead.

Will winning the D&D game v them needing to summon the mage to win the game for them.

The actual subject to interpretation endings with Hopper leaving the Eggos out for El and telling her to leave the door 3 inches open for him v the I believe in three waterfalls crap.

Erica getting the D&D set and going on to actually play and make her own character v Holly becoming a DM after getting a premade character from Mike.

Just like one-star Temu version all around.