I don’t think there’s an applause gif big enough to properly convey my reaction to this.
Also, I love that if anyone tries to say that you’re just “another hack fic writer with no ideas of her own who is jealous of the “real” writers out there”, they could quite literally be crushed under your catalog of award-winning original writing as a response. They can’t dismiss your stance on this topic the way they do to so many unpublished / fanfic writers because you’ve already met all of the standards that they insist someone has before they’ll accept their opinion as worth listening to.
Right?
“Well, fanfic authors never win awards, so–” “WOULD YOU LIKE TO HOLD MY HUGO.” “That’s basically, it’s, you know, the People’s Choice, so–” “LOOK AT MY NEBULA.” “That’s a science fiction award, it doesn’t really–” “LOOK I’VE WON THE ALEX.” “…” “IT’S GIVEN BY THE SAME PEOPLE WHO GIVE THE NEWBURY.” “…” “I’M THE FIRST PERSON TO WIN IT TWICE IN A ROW.” “…well you wrote porn.” “GOSH I SURE DID.”
More attention to this, please. :) From yet another of the I Wrote Fanfic First And I Decline To Feel Shame About It brigade.
(And I also wrote for My Little Pony, which means I may have inadvertently contributed something to Seanan’s state of being. [Which I will file under the “Quiet Unholy Glee” heading.])
Hey children, Did You Know? Representation isn’t exclusively important for the people being represented!!! White kids need to watch POC being heroes too!!! It shows them that people can save the day regardless of their race!!! Boys need to watch girls being strong and powerful!!!! It shows them that people deserve respect regardless of their gender!!! Slim kids need to see confident and adored fat characters!!!! It shows them that everyone can be loved and love themselves regardless of their body types!!!! Cishet kids need to watch queer kids falling in love (or just not falling in love!!!) and having happy endings!!! It shows that everyone is valid and everyone deserves to be happy regardless of sexuality or identity!!!! Representation isn’t just for minorities, it’s important so that kids can learn that yes, they can be whoever they want to be and they deserve good things, but so do people who aren’t like them!!!!
And non-disabled kids need to watch disabled characters who …
Have their own story arc,
Have their own will and agency and goals and motivations that aren’t just to support the emotional growth and maturation or story arcs of the non-disabled
Get to have happy endings WITHOUT BEING CURED OF THEIR DISABILITY
Have complex and nuanced personalities without stereotyping
If they are villains, then their villainy has nothing whatsoever to do with their disability, and there are ALSO “good guys” in the same story who are disabled people
Because non-disabled people need to learn to respect us disabled people as having the same range of talents, interests, etc. as they do. And that we deserve to exist and to be included in the mainstream of society–which means everyone has a shared responsibility for continuously creating an accessible environment. And employers need to learn that they need to ASK us how we intend to carry out the essential tasks of the job instead of just assuming that we can’t do them.
Non-disabled people need to learn that most disabled people can work–and do! If just given the opportunity to show what we can do! And for disabled people who cannot work at all, they have value too and deserve to be respected and included in society because, no, they’re not just “slackers” and no, it’s actually very rare for anyone to be “gaming the system” – if they have welfare then it’s because they have passed very rigorous screening to prove that they really do need the benefits!
Non-disabled people need to learn that videos should always be captioned for people who are deaf or hard of hearing or have auditory processing disorder. Images should always come with image descriptions for people who are blind, have low vision, or vision processing disorder. Important information should be available in easy-to-understand language for people with intellectual disabilities. Public buildings should always be fully wheelchair accessible and have braille and so forth.
Religious diversity matters too–non-Muslim people and non-Jewish people need to see that the overwhelming majority of Muslim people and Jewish people are just regular folks like them, and some of them do amazing things, and some of them are leading regular boring lives just like the lives of many non-Muslim and non-Jewish people. Religious people need to see that atheist people have a sense of morals and values just like they do, it’s just that we don’t consult a particular religious body of literature in knowing right from wrong.
Class diversity matters too. People who are rich or middle class need to realize that most people living in poverty ALREADY HAVE JOBS, and that the average poor person often works harder than the average middle class/rich person. They aren’t poor due to laziness, they’re poor because they may only have the skills for (or only have access to) low paying jobs that don’t pay enough to keep them out of poverty. Or for people who are on social security or other benefits, many benefits and regulations about who can receive them keep people in perpetual poverty with very little, almost no, opportunity to escape–even if they are desperately trying. Regulations meant to get people off welfare often do so simply by cutting them off and leaving them in worse poverty–and NOT by actually improving their access to opportunities for income or other ways to escape poverty without benefits.
TL;DR: representation also matters because kids need to learn to have empathy and equal respect for other kinds of people
Don’t forget Truth (Coming Out of Her Well to Shame Mankind)
This must be why the Trump administration hates them all
The Four Horsewomen of the Trumpocalypse.
Somebody draw this. These four ladies on horseback, ready to wreak havoc on all things fascist.
(I’m torn on giving Victory a head versus having her carry one Headless Horseman style, or just be headless and it not slowing her down one bit.)
Victory would thus be the opposition of Death, for Victory is the defense of it all in the way Death is the end of it all, and Victory is what people die in the hopes of. Her horse is black, deep black in opposition to Death’s pale horse, and represents mourning—for the dead, and for what soldiers and warriors lose of themselves to the ravages of war.
Truth is the counterpoint to Pestilence, for what is a lie but a specific type of pestilence, spreading and infecting and sickening wherever it touches? She carries a scourge, because Truth hurts when you’re accustomed to pretty and convenient lies; unlike the sword of Justice, it is not a killing weapon, but it is still feared, and many are the enemies that flee before it.
Liberty, I’d say is the counterpoint to Famine, because Famine is the tool that undermines liberty: false shortages, deliberately unequal distribution of resources, rent-seeking, exploitation of poverty, and the undermining of people’s ability to support themselves so that they can be forced to depend on their oppressors and pay dearly for that support—these are the destroyers of Liberty. Hers is the torch raised up against the oppressor, and hers is the shining beacon of freedom.
Justice, then, is mirrored to War. More like her counterpart than others, sometimes, in that justice can be cruel, she distinguishes herself from the cruelty of warfare by her fairness, by her careful weighing of the circumstances involved, and by her capacity as well for kindness, which War does its best to wipe out in all involved. Unlike War, who wishes the destruction of the enemy, Justice seeks fair treatment for all involved and the possibility of rehabilitation and recompensation wherever possible.
I already posted about this on twitter but since I’m in a mood today I’m also going to put it here:
This is your semi-regular reminder that if you’re invested in a particular writer continuing to write fic for your favorite pairing, you really should take the time to toss a comment their way whenever you read their stuff. This goes double for smaller/dwindling fandoms, but honestly… even the most popular writers in the most popular fandoms need those comments to stay motivated, my friends.
And really… you can just toss an emoji in the comment box if you don’t have the spoons to write out something more detailed or if being perceived seems scary. I get it! Putting yourself out there is hard! But it’s also very hard to stay motivated if you feel like most people who read the thing you spent weeks/months/years working on didn’t like it enough to tell you about it. Especially on multi-chapter works in progress!!! Because comments are literally the only way we can tell if someone read it since you can’t leave kudos more than once…
Anyway !!! Go forth and give your favorite fanfic author a head pat in the comment section today. They probably need the motivation more than you realize lol.
Ok so the thing about reading like books which are “predictable” is that I, a story enjoyer, go completely bonkers about it bc its like Enrichment in my Enclosure. A scene parallels another earlier scene between different characters thus serving to highlight the differences in their views and priorities???? A line makes me think “hmmm I bet that’s gonna be relevant later” ends up being relevant later????? I am a tiger chewing ice cubes out of a pumpkin. I’m so so happy. Please foreshadow more things. Throw the completely anticipateable plot beats at me like catnip mousies!!!!!
I love playing author tag, as both a reader and a writer. I love hooting like a gibbon when I see the author doing Thematic Parallels or Blatant Foreshadowing. I love writing that shit. I love reading someone in the comments of my work going “ITS THE THIIIIIING!!” I go feral “YES ITS THE THING!! THANK YOU FOR SEEING THAT!!! I WORKED VERY HARD ON IT!!”
It’s the writing version of picking up on how a movie special effect was done and going Oooooh because it still works, and if anything it works even more and looks even cooler now that you know its Playtex and wires. Its Playtex and wires AND a dinosaur! It’s a flagrant waving around of a prop we will use later, and a suspense builder! It’s good!!!
Character: Siobhain, the protagonist of what’s currently my main WIP, aka the villain of the same WIP.
BROTHERS KARAMAZOV: orthodox monasteries, deep woods, starry nights, the sound of paper being torn, dimly lit rooms, withered roses, an unfinished letter, piles of books, the sound of shattering glass, ticking of clocks in a silent house, heavy wooden furniture, the air before a storm, the smell of earth, a crowd of people dressed in black, distant murmurs, emptied streets, the fear of walking alone in dusk.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT: coldness of the skin against a blade, slender pale fingers & slightly shaking hands, a red stain blooming on white fabric, lonely steps in a corridor, the slow dripping of water, looking out of the window into the thickening darkness, a single dying candle on the table, listening to one’s breath & counting heartbeats, too many stairs,the desire to be invisible, a subtle memory of kind words.
THE IDIOT: classical statues, wealth covered with dust, a dark house tainted with inherited madness, an unsettling feeling, long walks in a park, useless chatter, a silken ribbon forgotten on a bench, a melancholic face, an unexpected spring rain, the joy of reading one’s favorite book, the clarity of mind after fully perceiving the world around, looking at cloudless sky.
ANNA KARENINA: fields of crops, flowers brought from an early morning walk, the wind caressing a girl’s hair, a bowl of fruit, the smell of ripe pears, the clatter of a spoon against porcelain when stirring tea, children’s laughter coming from the garden, soft sunlight & white curtains, the sensation of velvet against skin, pearls from a ripped necklace spilling on marble floor, a sudden silence in a room full of people.
WAR AND PEACE: a glass of wine, the brightness of a crystal chandelier, white lace, a raging snowstorm, the sound of a door being gently closed, the moment of holding one’s breath before walking in a ballroom, indulging in looking at a beautiful earring against light, closing one’s eyes for a moment while dancing, the sweet smell of strawberries, a pair of gloves left on an armchair, light scent of powder.
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA: the chaos of a lively city,ambient jazz in an expensive restaurant, jumping on a moving tram, the sight of Moscow from the roof of a house, yellow flowers in a vase, leaning out of the window, shelves stacked with books, a small tin box with old photographs, strange shapes in the night sky, laughing in the middle of the night on a balcony, colorful posters for a surreptitious magician’s show floating in the wind.
EUGENE ONEGIN: a lonely mansion, reading a book in the parlour, faint piano melody lingering in falling silence, long evenings, passing seasons, discussing french novels of the moment, unspoken thoughts, leaning against the door frame, quickly averted glance, eating a peach absent-minded, bright mornings, footprints in snow, a loud gun-shot terrifying a flock of birds nearby.
FATHERS AND SONS: birch groves, morning mist, moss-covered stones near a moor, scientific books, white roses, cheap champagne, shabby pocket-watch, light-hearted irony, a maladroit cello sonata, freshly mowed grass, letting thoughts come & go, a slow yawn, picturesque plates & bowls filled with traditional dishes, drinking tea on the porch.
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO: a strange feeling of loss,writing poems in a diary, traveling by train, the hesitation before touching someone’s hand, the gaze of one lost in thought, the warmth of cinnamon, a scarf brightly embellished with flowers, a glass of water, a threadbare jacket, the tempting void, the evanescent serenity of yesterday.
CHERRY ORCHARD: a lone chair in an empty room, falling blossoms, old samovar, the unsettling need for change, a mirror reflecting full moon, the disappointment of a glossy object turning worthless after second glance, a piano out of tune
…I’m from a country that used to be a Soviet Republic alongside Russia and I grew up reading all these books for school, I guess a lot of it stuck with me. XD
