#because people express the very thing you're trying to poke at and challenge and it'sl ike | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

not-poignant · 3 months

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Hi! from the Behind the Scenes ask, 11 or 21 for Stain? Thank you!!

11. Was there a scene that you hadn't originally planned to include? Why did you decide to fit it in?

I have no plan for A Stain that Won't Dissolve, so right now, there's nothing that I'm doing that I didn't 'originally plan for' because there's no plan! :D

There's not even anything that's completely coming out of left wing, so far everything is steady and on track.

21. What is something you didn't expect people to notice or gravitate towards in this fic?

I didn't expect so many people to believe that the town secretly or actually has Alex's back based on a few minor things, because - presumably - they're rooting for the town not to be abuse and rape apologists, which they absolutely are when it comes to Alex's family and his mom?

Like, the level of sympathy for the SDV town has made me watch in real-time in a way how much people will like... excuse the inaction of individuals or a community under excuses like 'well they want to help' or 'they're actually helping' or 'it's nice that they care for him so much' when we have extremely little evidence of that.

It was like watching that kind of abuse denial happening in a broader kind of macrocosm, and I've had to reply to actually a lot of comments - maybe over 20 now - patiently pointing out that people being benignly polite to someone doesn't mean they're being supportive or that they've ever been supportive. And that the town is a huge part of the problem.

It's one of those 'a lot of these readers have never experienced this kind of community isolation while being abused by a family member and it shows' situations, and that's realistic, it's just interesting to watch unfold!

Like, not bad, just... uncomfortable as I am someone who has experienced that isolation, and in some ways watching people defend the distance and inaction of an entire community is...a little too close to abuse apologism for comfort. The whole 'they care' without adding 'but not enough to ever have done anything about it' does make the author in me go 'OKAY SO NO ACTUALLY THAT'S NOT IT' lol.

From this meme!

#asks and answers #a stain that won't dissolve #palmarosa #the abuse + community town one has been interesting #it's always an interesting dynamic to explore something childhood abuse related #and then watch real people play out those kinds of meta narratives #and sort of get a sense of how these things happen in the first place in communities #because people express the very thing you're trying to poke at and challenge and it'sl ike #'oh this would be...maybe you in a community'#'this is how this happens'#'and this is how people think to justify this happening'#and that's probably a more uncomfortable but also fascinating part of writing trauma recovery stories #it's very easy *sometimes* to pick up who are the abuse victims to 'get it'#and who is reading from a position of...#a lot of privilege re: missing that kind of upbringing #it's not always exactly like that #administrator gwyn wants this in the queue

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