my main blog that got turned into a sideblog

fox, 22, he/they, find my real main blog @way-too-many-teeth

[charlataninred]

I need people to learn what death of the author actually is. It isn’t “jkr who? Harry Potter was written by Daniel Radcliffe” or whatever the fuck. It means “I don’t care what jkr says she intended or not, the Harry Potter books are riddled with misogyny and ableism and racism.” It means “I don’t give a fuck that Andy Weir claims to not put politics in his books, Project Hail Mary has a shit ton of political statements in it. Stratt being a woman is a political/social statement. Which countries are involved with the petrova task force is political. The fact they get funding is political.”

Death of the author just means that you’re focusing on the reader’s interpretation of the work, not the author’s intention. It can also ignore the author’s history/beliefs, yes, and you can absolutely critique that, but that is why it is a literary theory and just ONE way to interact with literature, not the end-all-be-all of literary criticism

[lorillee]

[metanarrates]

the golden rule is that a very entangled relationship is more interesting if there's genuinely no sex or romance involved. the silver rule is that if you Must involve sexual and/or romantic feelings somehow the presence of those feelings has to make literally everything so, so, so much worse

[sprucestairs]

perks of writing:

its fun

i can do literally whatever I want

cons of writing

i just forgot the word "passenger" and had to search for "cargo synonym referring to a person"

[scribeherself]

There is no drug on earth that can replicate the absolute euphoria of hitting a writing flow state at 2:00 AM. You aren’t even typing anymore. You are a vessel. You are a channel for the gods. The characters are speaking directly into your brain and you’re just the stenographer trying to keep up. You feel like you could fight a bear. You feel like you invented the alphabet

[chalkbird]

i fucking love urban fantasy. yes this car has a mind of its own. literally. yes this abandoned mall is a gateway to another realm. yes this subway train is actually a Creature. yes the streets twist and turn to hide the places you're not supposed to see. yes when you find the right phone booth your call gets forwarded to The Entity. yes if you don't step off the escalator it just keeps going. yes there are fairies on e-scooters. yes you can stop and have a chat with the statues. yes that door says no entry but what if you took a quick peek. just one.

[actualized-animal]

as much as i poke fun at “tumblr prose,” i will acknowledge that sometimes when you’re writing and you’re really in the groove, you’re really feeling yourself, you’re on your capital-a Author shit, and you write a line that makes you go, “oh yeah, this is the Good Shit. this is so Subtle and Says So Much. this is Characterization. this is Themes and Motifs. you could write a whole essay about this one line. the master of the craft strikes again!” and then a month or whatever later when you’re editing you read over it again with post-write clarity and you realize you wrote some real “people die when they’re killed” bullshit

[ouroborosorder]

the problem with writing fantasy is that i have to constantly stop myself from having people say "jesus fucking christ." jesus didn't exist here dammit. i need a fake swear that means the same thing i think

[ravioliet]

huge fan of when characters love each other and are closely bonded in an explicitly nonromantic way. however ☝️ i am very much not a huge fan of what happens when characters like this are introduced to fandom

[an-drom-eda]

environmental storytelling

[tothechaos]

the thing they dont tell you about learning to "trust the process" is that you forget and relearn it every single time you make a new piece of art. unfortunately there is no cure either

[tothechaos]

a chart of what i mean for the visual learners in the audience

[australet789]

Zoom in of the creative process also being like

[the-quasar-hero]

“Why does this character have to be Black?”

Why shouldn’t they be?

“Why does this character have to be a woman?”

Why shouldn’t she be?

“Why does this character have to be gay?”

Why shouldn’t they be?

“Why does this character have to be trans?”

Why shouldn’t they be?

“Why does this character have to be disabled?”

Why shouldn’t they be?

“Why does this character have to be fat?”

Why shouldn’t they be?

[paperandpencilsandskips]

MORE BLACK MAGICAL GIRLS MORE LATINA MAGICAL GIRLS MORE INDIGENOUS MAGICAL GIRLS MORE TRANS MAGICAL GIRLS

[teathattast]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

“which self-help book would you rec—” girl read yaoi fanfiction on ao3 instead

[digitalkiddo]

If you're writing anything involving cons, scams, heists, or morally questionable characters who are very good at lying, here are some free resources I've been using for research. Saving you the "why is this in my search history" anxiety.

1. The FBI's Famous Cases & Criminals archive (fbi.gov/history/famous-cases) has detailed breakdowns of real fraud cases, Ponzi schemes, and confidence operations. The language they use is clinical and precise, which is perfect for getting the procedural details right.

2. The FTC Consumer Sentinel Network publishes annual reports on the most common fraud tactics in the US. Great for understanding how modern scams actually work and what makes people fall for them.

3. The Smithsonian's American Art Museum has a free digital collection of forgery case studies. If your character forges documents or art, this is gold.

4. Court Listener (courtlistener.com) is a free legal database where you can read actual court transcripts from fraud trials. Want to know how a real con artist talks under oath? This is where you find out.

5. The Internet Archive's collection of old newspaper crime sections. Search for "confidence man" or "swindle" in papers from the 1920s through 1960s and you'll find incredible real stories that would feel too dramatic for fiction.

Bonus: The Psychology of Fraud section on the Association for Psychological Science website has accessible articles about why people trust, how deception works cognitively, and what makes someone a convincing liar. Essential reading if you want your con artist characters to feel psychologically real.

Reblog to save for later. Your WIP will thank you.

[valencians]

fantasy: the kingdom has been ruled by one family for 10,000 years

science fiction: a new species evolved in 30 years

[luna-azzurra]

Your character doesn't need to be likeable. They need to be legible. The reader needs to understand every decision they make even when it's wrong, even when it's ugly, even when they want to shake them. Likeable is easy and forgettable. Legible is what makes someone stay with you for years. Make the logic of every bad choice visible. The reader doesn't have to agree with it. They just have to follow it.