#writerly thoughts

[karen-writes]

When I say I'm a writer, people think I say writerly stuff, like no Katherine, my hands and my mouth are very different.

[uzumaki-rebellion]

Sinners and Hoodoo

I appreciate how the film "Sinners" doesn't demonize Hoodoo. As someone who grew up around Hoodoo lineages from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia, and who also practices it myself, it is a breath of fresh air to see that part of my culture presented in such a thoughtful way. (Shoutout to Ryan and Zinzi Coogler for bringing Professor Yvonne P. Chireau on the production as a consultant to get the depiction historically accurate).

I personally think a lot of Christians who take issue with Hoodoo being highlighted positively are finally being presented with an alternative view from what they've been ingrained to believe is evil. Colonial religions are a type of brainwashing that many of us have been subjected to whether it is Christianity (or Islam). Black people who were forced to take on these different religions during slavery days in the diaspora did what we always do, take the worst of what we're given and transform it into something that works for us.

Black people bring the spirit to colonizer religions. It's why our ceremonies, gospel music, and ways of worship hit harder at a deeper level than white people's. We call God and the ancestral spirits down, and often, they ride us. We call it getting happy. Catching the spirit. Or the holy ghost took over. Or a Loa/Orixa chose us to ride as their horse. I've had it happen to me in New Orleans at a little club while Big Chief Victor Harris, the Spirit of Fi Yi Yi, was performing with the Mandingo Warriors. I'd been feeling 'touched" all day doing some writing research at Tulane, handling some personal spiritual work, and visiting the late great Big Chief Tootie Montana. The drums got to going, I got to dancing and shouting, and the next thing I know is...transcendence and coming back to myself.

A lot of Black people are taught to be afraid of Hoodoo even though Hoodoo practitioners sit right next to them in church. Pray over them. Take care of the shut-in. Provide food at baptisms and funerals. Teach Sunday school and sing in the choir. A lot of us practice Hoodoo ways at home and simply think , "Oh that's what my mom/dad/grandmother/grandfather/cousin/aunt/uncle used to always do." Some of our laughed about superstitions are Hoodoo. Do you clean your house and eat black-eyed peas for New Years Eve? Hoodoo. Do you burn the hair cleaned out from your comb/brush and never throw it in the garbage? Hoodoo. You don't let just anybody touch/play in your hair period? Hoodoo. Keep your purse from touching the floor? Hoodoo? Throw salt over your left shoulder? Yeah. Hoodoo ways.

All these TikTok videos going around calling "Sinners" demonic for highlighting Hoodoo as a force of good (just like the discourse over Annie being a mammy figure) has shown me that Black folks are struggling with the misinformation about us as a people that has been perpetuated for centuries. I promise you, had Hoodoo been played with in the film as an evil force, Christians wouldn't have much to say because it aligns with their biblical-taught beliefs about so-called witches/mediums/spiritualists. It's why some are tripping out and calling Michael Bakari Jordan a devil-worshipper because he was given his middle name by a Babalawo. Can't make this shit up.

I love "Sinners.". I love how it loves Blackness and Black people. I love how it connects us to our roots through music, dance, and Black American folklore. (I hope the people who believe that Black Americans don't have a distinct culture of our own--several actually-- finally shut the hell up throughout the diaspora. You know who you are). I love Hoodoo practitioner Annie Moore played by the beautiful and insanely talented Wunmi Mosaku. She played the role with respect, reverence, and joy. I feel so seen by all the cultures I'm descended from shown in the movie, from the Mississippi sharecroppers to the Choctaw people, the blues, women like Annie, Pearline, and Mary. Men like Smoke, Stack, Delta Slim, Cornbread, and Sammie.

At this point, Ryan Coogler doesn't make movies. He creates time capsule moments that will reverberate into the future. I am eternally grateful to experience it while it's happening. My Hoodoo heart is happy.

[404daydreams]

"Beg no one, chase no one. If someone really wants to be with you, they'll move mountains to make that possible. Don't focus on words, they are just a pearl necklace of self-conformity, observe the actions. No one in this world can drop you like you never even existed, if they loved you. Don't force anything that's not naturally being yours, even when they know how much you love them; but then you make the biggest mistake, they take you for granted."

-Me.

[rhirily]

Love is a Taste

The flavor of blood

no one's but your own

it seeps through your teeth and spills down your throat

for some bitter, some tangy

some salty or sweet

most gag on the taste of copper and zinc

what we do with the love, if we swallow or spit

we remember it's ours, no one else can touch it

until we both open

our wet mouths to bare

our scarlet stained teeth and the blood pooling there

would you unfurl your tongue and let the love drip

from the beat of your heart to the cracks in my lip?

04/07/26

[madlori]

So one of the reasons fans get frustrated with the writing on their show is that they are operating from a different mindset than the writers.

Generally, fans are operating from what I call a developmental mindset. How does this plot point affect the characters? How will it affect their relationships? How can it be used to illustrate broader themes or personalities?

This is how you write BOOKS. And most of us interact with fandom via fanfic, and fanfic writers or readers engage with a lot of this kind of storytelling.

I'm not saying TV writers DON'T do this, but it varies, and is somewhat genre-dependent. A lot of the time, they're operating from a more situational mindset. How can I set up this next plot point? How do I get this story from A to B to C in the time allotted? How do I get to use this joke or plot twist I wanna use?

Buck's conflict over whether or not he lunged at Gerrard to save him or kill him is a PRIME example of this.

Here's the difference:

Buck: expresses doubt about his own motivations and worries he tried to kill Gerrard.

The fans: How will this affect Buck going forward? Will it make him feel guilty and more likely to go along with Gerrard? Will it create conflict with the team because of that?

The writers: This will enable us to play a moment of suspense when Gerrard returns when Buck and the audience will be wondering if Gerrard will be mad or not, and then we'll whip the uno reverse on him when Gerrard hugs him. That will be funny and a good way to end the episode.

Aaaaaand that's probably as far as they took that line of thought. They viewed that plot point (Bucks' doubts about his motivations) as a means to the end of getting that stinger at the end of 8x03. We viewed it as a character beat. It's not impossible that it could be both, but it's probably the last we've heard about it.

[little-peril-stories]

Lately I've been unable to let go of the question of whether I want to post Book 3 online. (As in Tumblr or ao3.)

rationale + lots of personal rambling below the cut.

I have been having a really hard time with the next book. I maintain momentum for a while, then stop and do something else for a bit, then come back to it, and the cycle repeats. I'm not sure of the exact reason; most likely, it's a mix of a lot of things.

Self-pubbing TMOT and TPSOS went in predictable phases that took my attention in chunks: rewrites, edits, proofread, cover design, blah blah. So that explains the stop-and-start of Book 3 to a certain extent.

BUT: between September and November, I was drawn into fully drafting into a completely different novel, and I did that in pretty much one fell swoop. It was the distraction from the Book 3, and it came with 0% of the hesitancy.

So what's happening?

Idk. It could be burnout. It could be the fact that Book 3 has less whump and more romance, and I feel less confident writing in that realm. It could be real life: my sister is pregnant, my dad has cancer (news that comes after a year that brought two cancer-related deaths to my friends and family), my in-laws have lots of stuff going on, I applied for a leadership position at my school, and that's all on top of just, you know, regular life.

And I do think it probably is a combination of all of the above.

BUT: I also think I'm missing the sense of community I had when I posted TPOT and TQOL online. Like… that fantasy book I wrote this fall? Those characters have only ever been *mine*. I didn't "miss" reblogs or comments or gentle validation from people whose opinions I care about. But with Will and Bree? Those characters were born here. Out of Whumptober prompts and friends' reactions. Their story is the product of the space in which they were created. So… yeah. I do miss that community. And I think I miss it quite a lot.

If you're a self-published author, please don't jump in and remind me that KDP Select will kick you out if it discovers your work has been posted elsewhere. I don't give a shit about that right now. 1) I already know. 2) TMOT & TPSOS are pretty different from the original TPOT, so I don't think it matters because that pattern will likely continue. 3) I don't make much from my books anyway, so I wouldn't really feel the sting of being booted from KU. 4) I was conflicted about KU from the start so if the choice to stay or not were taken away from me, I'd be relieved. 5) This post isn't about that anyway. It's about me and my feelings.

All this to say, I sort of want to start posting chapters online again. I don't know if I'd want to do it here or ao3—ao3 makes it easier to hide/remove, but Tumblr is where Bree and Will started.

(I know I stopped posted TQOL on Tumblr, but I was in a different mental place at the time, dealing with different insecurities.)

I guess… I don't know. Maybe I just need a fire under my butt that is less scary then an editor booking but more than just 'I'll finish it when I finish it.' I like deadlines and external pressure, and I work better with them, but given the stuff going on IRL, I don't know if I can handle having a REALLY strict deadline.

There's no point to this post. I haven't made a decision. I don't know what I truly want or what I'll end up doing. But I guess I needed somewhere to share all this.

Love you all! Happy Saturday.

[rosecarr67]

I really need there to be an alert system on Ao3 that will let my readers know that the chapter is not up yet but I'm currently writing it with them and all their feedback in mind. I'm working on it and it's only taking this long because if all my stans aren't going feral in the comments in the morning I will feel deep regret at having disappointed them.

[missbeckywrites]

The scariest thing about truly thinking about resurrecting my long-stalled 616 Stevetony fic isn’t the thought of having to actually write it. (Though that’s plenty scary.)

It’s the thought of all the comics I need to read in order to get it right.