#sweetweird

[papercraneswriting]

Calling All Cozy Fantasy Fans!

A brand new community! Hey, reader friends! As I mentioned last month in my update post, the blog is here for updates and discussions rather than regular posts, though I will still be sharing some book lists and thoughts on occasion. Here is the first, and I’m super excited for this one! After the last few years of chaos in the world and the time I spent writing Pie-Jinks, I’ve really been…

View On WordPress

[erikag59]

A spectre is haunting pop culture — an adorable and friendly, but slightly messed-up creature that beckons us into a world of kindness and surrealism....

From the essay by Charlie Jane Anders:

Welcome to sweetweird, the storytelling trend that's been quietly taking the universe by storm. Everywhere you look, there are stories that feature lovable characters and a focus on supportive chosen family, set against worlds that are, shall we say, somewhat tarnished and bizarre. Where weirdness has frequently been paired with misanthropy and nastiness, "sweetweird" stories can be incredibly strange, and yet lovely.

And here's where I should admit that sweetweird isn't actually a formal movement, and nobody except for me has been using that term. I wrote in my recent writing advice book Never Say You Can't Survive that I'm burned out on "grimdark" storytelling that revels in nastiness and extreme violence, and instead I'm ready for "sweetweird." And ever since then, I've been meaning to write more about what I mean by "sweetweird," and why I think it's a thing that needs a name.

I think it also needs a meme:

[superbeeny]

The problem with the idea behind sweetweird’s thesis is that it ignores the elephant in the room for why children’s media with queer themes and characters have positive found family stories, which is that they’re kid’s shows, and kids’ media tends to skew towards positive portrayals of families both traditional and nontraditional surviving traumatic situations. I’m saying this as someone who loves a lot of art that falls into this category. 

(plus the idea that queer writers inherently lean towards hopeful stories and idealized portrayals of found families is so weird to someone whose intro to queer-coded lit was Picture of Dorian Gray, on top of knowing anything about Oscar Wilde’s life)  

[demongrocer]

A spectre is haunting pop culture — an adorable and friendly, but slightly messed-up creature that beckons us into a world of kindness and s

Hell yeah, sweetweird!