#abstractpenny

[abstractpenny]

What Cole actually saw in the tomb of the FSM

[abstractpenny]

imagine writing a fic for a fandom you havent been in for a WHILE instead of doing the ten thousand other things you desperately need to do (on that note, go read FREAK by AbstractPenny on ao3, a short angsty fic about Peter Parker)

[abstractpenny]

Okay, real fast (maybe). So. Cole. He's super gay, I think we can all agree. But why? Why did they make Cole gay?

We always talk about the 'proof' that he's gay, like his true potential episode back in season 1 (about 12 years ago), his lack of true interest in women romantically, and his super homo ass relationship with Geo, but we never talk about the reason he is written as queer.

One argument I see repeated on the 'save my boy cole' side of the internet is the idea that the writers should have written a whole new character to be gay.

And guess what.

They did.

Who? Geo. He's the newly written gay character. He's the new representation.

The problem, though, with making only one new character (or even making a couple or a few) is that we don't have a connection with said character(s). They're reduced to 'the gay character'.

This harms the queer community more than helping sometimes because it reduces queer people to a single type of person. It makes queerness their entire identity when it's only part of it.

So, what's the solution? Write this new queer character into a romance with an old character that could totally be queer.

Cole has kind of always had queer undertones. That's seen most prominently in his season 1 true potential episode. (I won't get too into it here, if you need more information, you can find the episode free on multiple platforms or you can watch/read someone else analyze it.) He's always been able to be queer.

I don't know if Cole was initially written with the intention of being gay or queer. I don't know if he's always been written through that lense or how long he's been written with that idea in mind. But it's there and it's always had potential. It makes sense for his character and doesn't really introduce many plot holes, if any at all.

Him being written with Geo romantically and gay makes their relationship more human and appealing to a lot of people, including queer people.

We're familiar with a whole half of the couple. Many if us have known him for over a decade. He's a lovable character with good morals. He's a hero. Making Cole gay is honestly a wonderful choice for queer representation, especially for queer kids.

Making Cole and Geo a romantic couple makes sense. It would be such a big win for the LGBTQ+ community if they become a thing.

[abstractpenny]

for all my writer friends:

whatever your word count, it's okay.

a small word count means you got your words across quickly and sweetly, while a large word count means more content for your readers.

sometimes chapters are big, sometimes they're small. whatever it is, it doesn't dictate your value.

you're doing so well, keep it up :D

[abstractpenny]

i wish I could draw. Why?

Morro in drag.

I beg, if an artist sees this. Please. Pretty please. Create this. Tag me. Please. I need to see Morro in drag.

[abstractpenny]

average day in the life of a writer:

wake up past 1 pm

open your 300 words of writing

stare at it blankly, struggling to come up with ideas for hours

eat food

keep staring

write a sentence

erase the sentence because it sucks

close writing document

cry yourself to sleep at 4 in the morning because you'll never be able to make your dreams a reality

repeat

the RARE HOLY day in the life of a writer:

wake up around noon

open writing document

crank out 30,000 words in two hours

eat food

crank out another 30k (in an hour this time)

daydream

daydream more

have human interaction (god forbid)

go to sleep at a reasonable time (two in the morning)

never repeat because its impossible to get two of these in a row :(

[abstractpenny]

one of my favorite activities is learning someone's whole life story through their author's notes on ao3

[abstractpenny]

Also here's the thirst trap treehorn edit :3