My roommates keep stealing my tools because they don't have any, so I'm curious

Hey when im writing a story how to talk about the lore without exposition dumping and why is exposition dumping a bad thing?

Ouu, fun writing question!

There's no easy single answer to just "avoid" exposition. In some cases, exposition dumping isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be used improperly, like any other writing device. Really, your goal isn't necessarily to outright avoid exposition, but to find a way to naturally implement it into the story without grinding the pacing to a halt or creating confusion for your reader.

To name a few methods to implement exposition naturally:

You can have a main character act as the "surrogate" for the audience. Good examples of this are Harry Potter or Final Fantasy X - both of which are plots that involve the main character entering a world that is not their own and having to learn about that world through their own experiences. Now, you do have to be careful with this as, in the case of Harry Potter, using a character PURELY as a surrogate for the audience like that can result in the character themselves having little personality. Harry Potter himself is one such example, in the beginning we find out so much about the wizarding world through him that we never really get to know him. That's why I include FFX as another example - Tidus is a character who has his own personality, his own motives, his own quirks, while being a stranger in Spira who doesn't know how their world works, but they use that to the advantage of his character writing by making him this sorta doofy dumbass who doesn't take things quite as seriously as the people of Spira do (such as the religion of Yevon) but as such, is able to identify all the problems Spira is suffering from specifically BECAUSE he's an outsider looking in and hasn't been brainwashed like everyone else who grew up in that world.

If you don't have a main character who's new to the world, then you have to find ways to naturally implement exposition. Thing is, if your character and the people around them are familiar with the world they inhabit, why would they describe their world at length to one another? This is where a lot of poorly handled exposition dumping happens especially from writers just starting out. They'll have their characters explain things to each other that they really shouldn't have to have explained to them, and as such it can make it feel really clunky and wordy (and makes the dialogue feel unnatural). You can use shortcuts around this, such as taglines like "Did you forget? Xyz..." or "How can you still be confused, it's xyz..." but those are still tricks that can be overused or feel ham-fisted if not used properly, it really only works if the character who it's being explained to is "out of touch" or if there's reason for them to not be privy to the information being explained to them.

As much as your readers will need things explained to them, don't treat your readers like they're stupid - half the fun of experiencing a story is the discovery process. Not everything needs to be spelled out to your readers, some things can just exist and not have to be explained. The only time explanations should be made is if it's absolutely necessary to your plot, otherwise, having something just be in the background or mentioned casually is more than good enough. To go back to the FF X example, Tidus doesn't need blitzball to be explained to him, it's the one familiarity he has in Spira. Therefore, there's zero reason to have Wakka explain blitzball to Tidus as a way to explain it to the audience. Instead, we get an opening cutscene that shows us enough of what blitzball is for us to understand that it's a sport, and later on we get dialogue from Tidus explaining how he's living in his father's shadow and how his dad had this crazy move that he would never teach him and that back in Zanarkand, Tidus was the "star player". We, the audience, can infer enough from what we've been shown that blitzball is a sport in this world, we do not need it to be explained deeper than that, not until we learn the rules of how to play blitzball through the minigame itself, and still those rules aren't that important in the grand scheme of the plot, it's just a strong part of Tidus' characterization and the one thing tying him to the world of Spira when he washes onto its shores. Blitzball is the first thing we see him do in the game and it's the first thing that introduces him to the world of Spira.

To go on a bit of a tangent, I feel like this is where a lot of fantasy writers in particular tend to struggle. While romances will focus more on the characters and thus not be victim to exposition dumping quite as often (though they can be victim to some... very outdated or otherwise toxic tropes) more detail-oriented genres like fantasy and sci-fi can really tend to get lost in the trees. I've beta-read so many fantasy books that have opened with pages upon pages of world information, from languages the creator invented to the different calendars of the different regions to the races and species and yadda yadda it's literally the worst thing you can open your fantasy novel first because it's quite literally putting the cart before the horse. They get so washed up in the details because they forget their audience is there to read a story, not do homework on fictional dialects and food preparation methods. I feel like this is especially a problem for writers who read books like Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire and see all the supplemental material, but seem to miss the point that the supplemental material came later, Tolkien didn't start by writing The Silmarillion, he started with The Hobbit which was a simple story of friendship and comradery meant for children. Only later as his audience grew more connected to the characters and the world they inhabited was he able to release the supplemental stuff because the people those details were meant for were already invested in the story. You have to get people invested first, then give them the details, and that starts with a simple idea.

Anyways, all that aside, the best way to see good exposition is to just go read books, watch movies, expose yourself to stories that handle exposition in their own way. Again, it's not a bad thing to have to dump information on people, but you gotta find a way to do it that won't overwhelm your reader or bore them before they've even gotten hooked. Start small and branch out from there. Write the details as they pertain to the characters who would be privy to them. Don't underestimate the intuitiveness of your readers, reading and writing is equal parts communication and discovery.

i love YR and i love wille and simon so much but i will be a simon defender till the day i die. i can see both wille’s and simon’s POVs for how they acted but idk as poor POC simon’s actions resonate more with me. regardless, the reason why i say this is because i always see so much more wille support/simon hate online than i do vice versa. im not asking for wille hate but im asking for prepubescent girls to stop supporting wille simply because he’s an attractive white boy. i dont know—maybe im oversimplifying things but what do you think about the split between simom defenders and wille defenders?

I get it. It's not fair but I get it.

Why?

Because Simon is all of us.

I might be able to identify more with Wilhelm when it comes to many things, his personality, his anxiety, his temper... but in essence every single one of us will always have more in common with Simon than with Wilhelm.

It doesn't matter how different our lives, upbringings and the small everyday things which shaped and defined us are from Simon's. It doesn't matter how much I see my younger self reflected in Wilhelm, how much I can relate to his struggles (I mean it does, but for this specific argument it doesn't). My life will still always be closer to Simon's than to Wilhelm's.

We are Simon. Simon fucks up. Simon makes mistakes. Far reaching mistakes, and it's always easier to be self-critical and insecure than not to.

I'm Simon. But I wouldn't have done xyz! (I wouldn't, I'd either have done something worse or nothing at all, which might just be worse still.)

Simon is a teen and he makes teen mistakes. Sometimes understandable ones, sometimes stupid ones, sometimes crazy ones.

It's normal. It's relatable, it's every one of us but different. Of course it's easier to be critical of Simon. To 'hate on' Simon. He is us, but he doesn't always act like we would, nor does he act like the idealized version of the beloved character we want him to be.

He's a teenager and he's flawed and he's human. We love him and we want him to be perfect but he isn't. Of course there's Simon 'hate'. It's not okay, but I get it.

Simon is us, but he makes mistakes we, however unconsciously, think we wouldn't. We think we would do better, or at least we hope so, and so we criticize him.

It's not right, but I also get the urge to do so even if I don't approve.

Wilhelm however? Wilhelm is different.

Wilhelm is a prince. Worse, he's a crown prince and future king. He's His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Sweden, Duke of Some Historical Province or Another.

His entire existence causes a knee-jerk reaction of defensiveness. At least it does in me.

Him being a minor who didn't choose who he was born as helps, but it's not enough. Yes, his life isn't easy. Yes he's living with pressure none of us can understand. Not the irl crown princess and not rwrb's Henry.

But he also has power and privilege and wealth the likes of which we'll never truly be able to comprehend. No matter what he chooses to do once he's an adult, he'll always have that.

Wilhelm's entire existence is a reflection of most of what's wrong with this world. I cannot in good conscience root for him and I shouldn't like him. We shouldn't romanticize and glorify royalty, not even fictional one, because all their wealth, power and privilege is built on our backs and sustained by our backs.

I should hate him, not feel sorry for him. I shouldn't empathize with him.

And yet Wille is my bb and my fav and I love him and he never did anything wrong in his life. Not ever. Wille is perfect. He deserves the world and I'll defend him and his wrongs to the very end of it and damn everything and everyone else.

Why?

Because if I start to acknowledge, in all seriousness, that any of his mistakes or wrongs are in fact mistakes and deserve (more) consequences, no matter if it's the fact that he's an objectively bad friend to Felice (I'm already getting super defensive typing these words because Wilhelm, my poor bb, had reasons and deserves to be selfish!) or that you never, ever point any gun at anyone, not ever, or any of his other numerous mistakes, then I'm opening up a Pandora's box I cannot close again.

Yes, he's a teenager and he's flawed and he's human. Yes, he makes stupid, far reaching mistakes. Yes, it's everyone else who hands him his power and privilege. Yes, it's all inherited, as is his wealth, but that doesn't make it alright.

You cannot, in good conscience, root for Wilhelm without also acknowledging or at least being aware of the inherent power dynamics at play, and I'm not only talking about Wilhelm and Simon's relationship, but Wilhelm and everyone, including his mother and the royal court and the entire government.

All three need Wilhelm more than he needs them, and once he fully realizes that he's going to be (even more of) a menace.

Wilhelm doesn't have any political power on paper, but that doesn't mean that his actions can't influence and control the entire Swedish legislature for years. That can be good, sure, at least in the long term, but it'll also take away from much needed other laws etc being discussed and passed, ones which would better the lives of many Swedes directly and immediately. That is scary, because it's real, or it could be.

Wilhelm is a minor and Young Royals is captivating, fictional escapism. But my ardent republican heart (of the non US kind) still struggles with not getting immediately defensive when talking about my love for Wilhelm, because Young Royals is also so real and realistic and a reflection of so many things which are still extremely problematic in our oh so progressive, look at how much worse all the other countries are, can't you be happy with what you've got? part of the world in ways many other shows aren't, and Wilhelm and his rank and title and entire existence are at the heart of it.

The biggest 'problem' Young Royals has is that despite the premise, it is so realistic and relatable and well done. It's almost impossible to escape into the fiction of it to a degree where you can solely focus on the cute boys falling in love and the romantic tragedy of their struggles, without also being at the very least peripherally aware of our reality being reflected in every scene.

Young Royals is romantic and hot and heart-wrenching, but it also criticizes the system and society and shows us exactly how little people like Simon, people like us, matter to the upper class, and it does so from the very first episode in which Simon tries his best to stay strong and tells everyone exactly who the country's biggest welfare receivers are. And he's right.

Simon deserves our defense, our support. But I don't feel the need to. I should, because Simon is not as strong as he wants to be, but he's also a normal teen and nothing is easier than looking down on teenagers and people we can identify with or have things in common with. We all do it all the time, willingly or not, consciously or not, thinking we're better, that we'd do better, no matter how much we love them, because not doing so would mean acknowledging our own faults and flaws, would mean we'd have to admit that Simon is doing the best he can in a way most of us probably wouldn't be able to.

Wilhelm however? I can identify with parts of him despite of everything he stands for and not because, and that is scary, because I don't want to have anything in common with a future hereditary head of state.

I don't want to sympathize with royalty, with people who can control others around them with nothing but words, worse their mere existence. People who, were I to address them in anything other than the third person and with a title, would consider me to be the rude one, as would everyone around us.

And yet I do. I do identify with Wilhelm. I sympathize with him. I think I understand him, but scratching the surface of that is dangerous, because no matter how much we need escapism in these hard times romanticizing royalty, sympathizing with them and thinking they're just like us is not only tricky but dangerous.

It's what the elites want, all of them, while they laugh at our plight and profit off of our hard work. It's what gets horrible people elected president and billionaires turned into cool, dudebro heroes. It's a slippery slope and none of them are the exception, no matter how much they try to convince us otherwise.

Of course we get defensive, of course we're so passionate to highlight that Wilhelm's mistakes are okay and are overly critical of Simon's.

Defending Wilhelm is not rational, it's not logical, and yet it is, which is why I will burn down the world in Wille's defense and serve it to him on a silver platter, because my bb deserves everything and his feelings and struggles are valid and who am I to judge. Wille never did anything wrong.

Finally, I get where you're coming from, but please don't make this about prepubescent girls. Or teenage girls. Being a girl that age is hard. Your body and feelings are changing in ways you don't understand, people suddenly treat you differently. Adults, kids, other teens no matter their gender. You are sexualized, and your intelligence and skills are suddenly only of secondary importance at best. It's scary, and even when it's good it's not safe. You always need to be wary and careful lest you have to pay a price for your joyful inattentiveness, a potentially traumatic, life changing price. Being a prepubescent and teenage girl is also wonderful and freeing and eye opening in the best way, but anything you do or say will always be reduced to silly teenage girl, even by other teenage girls, someone to be made fun of and not taken seriously, when in truth nothing requires more strength and tenacity than surviving as a prepubescent and teenage girl. So if fixating on attractive, unattainable white boys helps? Let them and don't judge, no matter your age or gender. It's not perfect, but it's safe. More, it's a safe way to explore your budding sexuality and bond with others along the way, something which is so important when nothing about being a girl that age ever feels safe, not even when you think you can do anything and know everything. That attractive, unattainable (white) boy? Be it Wilhelm or the current boygroup heartthrob of choice? He is going to reveal private things about himself (most likely made up, but that doesn't invalidate how finding out those facts makes you feel) without demanding a price, you can develop an intense parasocial relationship with him and learn and grow from it, it can help you in many ways which aren't obvious at first (I still keep up with my teenage boygroup and listen to every one of their new albums even though it's been twenty years and I've had musical anhedonia for almost as long), and he will never, ever grope you or insult you or make you feel awkward and insecure, nor will he ever pressure you to do something you're not ready for (unless it's to spend money you don't have on useless stuff you desperately need). Please don't be condescending or judgmental of prepubescent girls, especially ones having to grow up in the age of social media and smartphones everywhere. Fixating on the attractive white boy is a matter of self-defense. It doesn't mean they aren't aware of what they're doing or that doing so isn't ideal. They know. Everyone is constantly telling them and making them feel guilty about it. Please don't be one of them.

men dressing as women is making a mockery of the transfeminine experience. We need to protect the divine feminine from any measure of mockery. We should gather weapons and storm our nearest Drag Story Hour and teach those degenerates a lesson.

hell of a thing to say when the harshest things being said regarding finnster were;

I can't believe people think a man dressing as a woman is 5th dimension gender levels

it would be nice if people were half as enthusiastic about giving even a modicum of support to trans women, especially when they claim they're all about playing with gender as a performance, which we've been doing this whole time ...

it's frustrating that the only real spaces for this are so highly specific to this one normative expression largely based in fetish that not everyone is into, it would be nice if there was more room for other types of expression

saying that he "represents cisgender fear of trans people" or that him crossdressing is "more of an affront" to gender than trans people is ... bizzare.

his fans kind of suck ...?

his fans kind of suck

huh. it's almost like it's been primarily about the fans this whole time. like, when his fans say stupid transphobic shit about him being The Most Gender, more hated by cis people, and "an honorary trans man" for ... passing as a girl ? of course trans women aren't going to just take it. The most uncontroversial, inoffensive and normative, cishet perception of gender being sung its praises by the same people that scoff at you for actually existing outside of societal norms,

and when you point all that out you're somehow silencing GNC people ... and now we're here at the 30k note post explicitly comparing trans women to fascists upholding bioessentialist principles like the "Divine Feminine", going to shoot "degenerate" drag queens ? maybe it's just me but I don't think that's a reasonable comparison

I’m not one of his fans, I don’t pay a lot of attention to what his fans do. If they suck then that sucks, but isn’t what my complaints were about. The opposite, frankly. I WISH that was the most vile shit I saw. And really it’s not even entirely about HIM, he’s just a prime example of shit that happens outside of him that has bothered me, and bothers a fuckload of other people who have shared anecdotes in the post. He’s just a public example of the shit that sucks to see.

I HAVE seen stuff related to the “I cant believe his fans think he’s on some 5-dimensional gender shit” followed up immediately by the assertion that he’s doing *nothing* by playing with gender cause he’s not doing it in a trans way, AND the insistence that all he IS doing is playing into the fetishes of conservative transphobes, which is always delightful to hear.

In gay male spaces, I have heard from gay men, trans women, and other trans people that wearing women’s clothes in the bedroom is fetishizing transness so anyone who wears a skirt to get fucked is a transmisogynist. Which then spiraled into “anyone who dresses like a woman without doing it in a trans way MUST mean it as a fetish and is therefore a transmisogynist.” Which again, is what I’m complaining about. That either your expression is a perversion of trans experience OR you’re trans, and if you deny being trans then it MUST be the first, as if dressing like a woman is wholly a sacred rite and never done comically.

Does drag often have issues of transphobia, among queens and kings alike? Absolutely. Is drag on its face transphobic? Absolutely not. Yet drag is a caricature of femininity or masculinity, often played for humor, also often played for sex appeal. So why is drag, the flaunting of, sometimes mocking of, femininity or masculinity fine, but other expressions of cross-dressing then inherently transphobic?

People will say, “oh I don’t think finn is transphobic because he xyz but his FANS—“ why is he responsible for them? I don’t know much about his dynamic with them because I don’t watch any of his content, so I can’t speak to him enabling bad behavior but if he is doing his thing and his fans are being shitty, I’m not sure how that’s his fault and encourages vitriol at HIM?

I also don’t think it’s wise to again invent a lovely binary of “he’s the most progressive representation ever and he’s singlehandedly moving us forward with his expression” or “big fucking deal nothing he is doing is cool he’s just stealing from ACTUAL trans people.” I keep seeing “oh who cares my friends are doing xyz” okay, my turn to say “who fucking cares?” Do you think everyone on the internet knows someone who uses xenogenders and it/its and hunts transphobes for sport? Ellen Degeneres sucks so bad but her coming out was revolutionary for the time. The first butch I ever met was my elementary school gym teacher, and her impression on me didn’t stand out until I was in my 20s. It is actually possible to be just eye opening enough to change people’s lives without being like The Best Rep Ever. I don’t understand what it serves to pretend like NOTHING is happening and no conversations are taking place because of what he’s doing, simply because it isn’t groundbreaking to YOU. I also don’t think it’s groundbreaking to ME. I’m bigender for christ sake. But god if I saw someone like him as a kid would it have normalized something for me or let me get comfortable experimenting with things? Maybe.

It reminds me a LOT of how a number of trans men came to realize they were men after engaging in MLM content. They of course were also accused of fetishizing, and then even after coming out AS TRANS, a number still are accused of going through all the effort to prey on gay men. There is discourse allllll the time on this hellsite about how gay trans men are just fujoshis. So, you know, bullshit transphobia framed as protecting “real” gay men.

It is bizarre to hold him to this metric that because his fans think he’s changing the game (which for some people I am sure he is causing awakenings) that he’s somehow deserving of backlash for not being cool enough. It’s cruel to accuse him of riding the coattails of REAL trans people, as it is cruel to do this within our communities. It’s annoying as fuck to see take after take scrutinizing him for behavior that exists within our communities that should also not get flak, and it would be soooooooooo fucking cool if we stopped reinventing binaries every two damn seconds.

The gross behavior is also NOT just from trans women by the way. I’ve seen a whole swath of gross takes about this.

And everything really fucked up that I’ve seen is like a twisted version of what cis transphobes say to US, so IM not gonna stand for hearing it out of the mouths of other trans people.

*I* don’t think it’s reasonable of trans people to swap bioessentialism for gender essentialism and insist it is rid of transphobic roots, because it isn’t.

You don’t have to like him, you don’t have to be a fan, you don’t have to think anything he’s doing is revolutionary—it would just be sick if other trans folks didn’t treat his identity or the identity of others like him like like some abomination for not “doing gender right like me and my friends.”

Honestly what kind of changed the way I view One Piece was when I realized that Oda's transphobia isn't just a side-effect of him having an "outdated" view of trans people, but also like

One Piece is very much about Letting People Live How They Want To

And that includes not just queer people in general, but every single transfem person who either doesn't pass or doesn't want to pass, it includes not just the "acceptable, normal trans people" but also the kinda weird and/or horny ones.

Because Queer Liberation is for everyone

Like don't get me wrong, Oda may not fully understand the difference between GNC and trans people, and most of his transfem/GNC men (only lumping them together because Oda does that) look identical to how gender crits would draw "a trans person infiltrating women's spaces!!!!11!!!". And he does seem to have some actual gender essentialist beliefs (Luffy being "a vegan if he was a girl"........... Bro) with a healthy dose of misogyny thrown on top Generally speaking, it would be nice if his queer rep was more like 50/50 with the """"normal"""" (this is One Piece you know exactly what I mean) and weird queer characters instead of like 95% weird. Not just because it'd give queer people more characters we might actually want to relate to and see ourselves in, but also because it would maybe help drive home to queerphobic readers that One Piece is in-fact for Queer Liberation instead of supporting their beliefs that queer people are just "kinky men who like to wear women's underwear because they're delulu".

All this to say; no, the queer rep in One Piece is still kinda Not It. It could definitely be better*. Like I said at the begining though, realizing OP specifically has the belief that everyone should be allowed to live how they choose to and be free (something Luffy dreams of becoming, the most free person in the world aka Pirate King)... IDK it just changed how I view Oda's transphobia. Because it truly does not come from any sort of malice, it's just... misguided support

(*In fact, One Piece has/had the potential to be so extremely pro-Queer. Like we know trans people play a HUGE role in the Revolutionary Army and helping take down the Government already. We saw a FUCK TON of Queer people being held in Impel fucking Down, the giant prison facility that's meant for "the worst criminal's the world had to offer" that the government had to put away somewhere. I know the implication with the imprisoned queer people in Impel Down was that some/a lot of them were already imprisoned there for some other reasons (probably) and simply transed themselves because being a funny little queer in Newkama Land was a billion times better than being tortured by guards in the jail. Which is understandable. But like, my question is... How many of these people were imprisoned in Impel Down because of some crimes they commited, and how many were imprisoned for being queer? One Piece never exploring queer rights within its world is an absolute fucking shame. It is such a missed opportunity. Like all Oda needed to do was say "it's illegal to be gay on Island XYZ, these people were imprisoned in Impel Down for being queer". Just that, just one island could completely reframe how being queer is seen in this world. It would completely reframe the Revolutionary Army's queer participants, and it would not just remind the readers about why the World Government is Bad, but also drive in for those queerphobic readers that One Piece is, in fact, pro-queer. Like really rub it like salt into their wounds.)

ok midday UPDATE here are some Good Things:

faculty retreat was fun albeit full of Characters lol. they are such a funny species of human. i was telling macky some of them behave like they are simultaneously the most important people in the world AND the most oppressed... like deposed royalty or something. but i learned a lot about our first-year programming and got to meet some interesting people. plus my table had just finished a summer discussion group exploring the idea of implementing specifications grading in their courses and i was like omg i did specs grading and i loved it!! and then they had lots of questions about how it worked in my classrooms which was fun and made me feel briefly like A Teacher again lol

i don't like it when people act like i'm a total nobody until i say something smart & then it's as if i suddenly materialized in their field of vision and they're like oh wait who are you. i hope i never make people feel that way no matter how Important i think i am!!!! but i have to admit there's something satisfying about the challenge of being like "ohhh got it ok this person is clearly telegraphing that they don't consider me worth paying attention to in the slightest. i bet i can convince them i am and i bet i can do it not by monologuing about myself but by practicing the kind of active listening everyone in this room is starved for & asking really thoughtful questions & making connections to things they'd shared earlier that they thought no one was listening to. i bet i can make them feel Heard." and i did that with two people today lol they barely gave me the time of day for the first hour or so but by the end they were both like let's get coffee and keep talking about this why don't you come to my class this quarter why don't you come to this meeting my group is having. like i get ittttt sometimes you don't want to engage with a rando and it's not personal lol but it is still satisfying to be like ok i won you over and therefore i win. liz says not everything has to be framed as a competition but it does make life into a more interesting game.

i am wearing my new black jeans from everlane and every time i catch my reflection the mirror i'm like DAMN girl you look good. gosh they are just soooo flattering and so much more comfortable than skinny jeans. plus i feel like you can dress black jeans up a bit with a work top so i still feel Professional. also my new slip-on sneakers from old navy arrived today and i feel like they are gonna be the perfect way to wear comfy shoes at work but not look quite as casual as my white sneakers do. tbd but i have high hopes

i cleared a bunch of emails off my to-do list! this was virtuous procrastination as i am avoiding finishing the PPT for thurs lol but i think i can probably get the PPT done tonight in under 15-20 min if i just do a burst of work before bed. so i am freeing myself from having to do it RIGHT NOW at work.

it's beautiful out.... fall is so beautiful here.... gosh it's so nice and i think i am going to go home a bit early & walk the dogs since i worked late last night and will do some more work tonight too

my hypercompetent coworker is probably leaving sigh but my other hypercompetent coworker is staying and today she was like i got asked to serve on this board and i could definitely do it but i think you should do it for XYZ reasons, and that was nice. i mean i know it is added work and i'm sure she's glad to be out of it but i feel like there have been a few times where she's gone out of her way to be like "this opportunity is going to be good exposure for you/a good way to meet people/a good way to show people what you can do" and i really appreciate that. everyone else has been here so long and i am still so new both to the institution and to this level of role! and i can figure some stuff out on my own i know it's a learning curve but i really appreciate it when people are like hey i think doing this thing would be good for your career/work. my [redacted] just cannot provide any useful guidance at all so it can really feel sometimes like i'm on my own. but i'm not!!

i know i probably literally can't be pregnant yet as implantation doesn't happen until day 6ish and it's only day 5 and anything i feel could still be side effects from the hcg shot. but i have just had little cramps and twinges all day. i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i hope i am trying to live in the light of hope and not in despair!!! clean hope clean pain!!!! can she do it!!!

Just saw your MDZS thing and I half agree and half not. Like, on the one hand, I think it's absolutely justified (though I don't generally support any torture, but this is fiction and...it's Wen Chao...), but on the other hand, it's not supposed to be black and white??? MXTX clearly wanted her readers to understand the cruelty of this moment. Wei Wuxian was so traumatized he became kind of twisted, at least with the people who massacred the Jiangs. But even though we all know WWX is NOT the evil overlord that the cultivation world thinks him to be, he is not meant to be seen as someone who can do no wrong. He makes mistakes! Some of the fault does, in fact, lie with him! He's not 100% sunshine boy! And THAT'S OKAY. In fact, him being complex is WHY he's such a good character! And it boggles my mind how people will go to any lengths to make him perfectly innocent and pure in everything (rather than being traumatized and human) while also vilifying Jiang Cheng and Jin Guangyao and Xue Yang and whoever else. Like, the latter two obviously did really bad things, worse than WWX, but they are very obvious mirrors to WWX. Xue Yang grew up an orphan on the streets. If WWX hadn't been rescued by Jiang Fengmian, he might've turned out the same way. Jin Guangyao was consistently denigrated for being the son of a prostitute. WWX also faced classism (to a lesser extent) for being the son of a servant (which Yu Ziyuan and Jin Zixun used against him). And don't even get me started on JC. People will go to any extent to vilify him when all of his actions make sense as someone who is also human and flawed and traumatized. Does this absolve any of them of their actions? No. But it does explain them. And just because someone does make mistakes doesn't mean they deserve to be hated and condemned (unless they're Wen Chao, who didn't make mistakes but who instead had an entire personality dedicated to being horrible. Pretty sure he's the only one who MXTX wanted to be a straight up bad guy, though if you can give me evidence to the contrary, feel free). Readers thinking in black and white and condemning other characters for xyz actions without trying to understand them while holding up WWX as a shining beacon who can do no wrong miss the entire point of the novel and do disrespect to WWX himself. Anyway... There's my rant over. Feel free to ignore this if you want, haha.

I’m not completely sure what you mean in regards to “half agreeing and half not” tbh. It seems to me like your disagreement lies with vilifying other characters when the main character is a morally complex character, which was my point? The morality policing was specifically what I was criticizing in my original post? Because, like, I agree with the broad strokes about Wei Wuxian and other characters’ moral complexities and grayness. 

My point was that, even if justified or understandable, the torture of Wen Chao was horrific and brutal, and I don’t completely understand how anyone who DID read the novel (which I understand not everyone has and/or has a different interpretation) is willing to harass actual, flesh-and-blood people over liking a character when the main character has literally tortured someone. That’s it.

I actually made my original post after a bunch of Jiang Cheng antis (who I do actually like talking to and seeing their opinions when they’re not harassing others) found an Aroace-spec Character Tournament poll with Jiang Cheng and were incredibly condescending about it. Which is honestly better than the death threats and threats of violence and doxxing, but it did hurt more than it probably should have to have people so unwilling to even TRY and see why I, and others, connected to Jiang Cheng, even after reading the same book that made them hate him. 

Seeing a character say, “Hey, what you did was not okay. I know why you did it, but it doesn’t change the damage you caused. I do not forgive you." to the main character was something that I needed to hear and see. It was something real, even if it might not be justifiable or “correct.” I like Jiang Cheng not because I think he’s always in the right or a perfect person, but because he’s not. And it’s fine if people don’t like him or think he’s the scum of the Earth or whatever, but I also think that prioritizing the debate about a character that doesn’t exist over actual people is cruel and unjustifiable. Ultimately, I do not care about any fictional character as much as I care about how willing people are to be so unbelievably inhumane for just disagreeing with them. 

And, somehow, this also ties into my opinions about the torture and killing of Wen Chao. I don’t think Wei Wuxian was unjustified, per se, for punishing Wen Chao, but I do think it was wrong in the sense that the action itself is wrong. It’s not a “WHOOO! WE KILLED THE BAD GUY” moment to me but a moment showing the brutality of war and a literary mark of descent to the “single plank bridge.” As someone else said (and so many more have probably said), it was fucked up, and acknowledging it was fucked up doesn’t mean Wei Wuxian is a “bad person” or a character you CAN’T like (paraphasing). It just means acknowledging that the act of torture itself is fucked up, no matter who does it or who it’s done to. Comparatively, sending death threats and threats of violence and doxxing is also fucked up, no matter who the other person is and what they’ve said. Putting a fictional story and character - no matter how much they may mean to you - over actual people for often no reason is fucked up. 

But yeah, I think “just because someone does make mistakes doesn’t mean they deserve to be hated and condemned” is one of my favorite aspects in a lot of web novels. I like that characters have “bad aspects” that while I may not condone IRL, including them make the characters… characters. That the “person” (character) is more important than whatever “bad aspect” they may have or mistake they might have made.

Anyway, I hope this clears up what I was trying to say lol. Not everything I wrote was meant specifically because I think you don’t agree or to argue with you, but to get my opinion across properly. I feel like we’re broadly saying the same thing, even if I’m not sure if I agree or disagree with the finer points like “Wei Wuxian might have become like Xue Yang.” Sorry if any of this comes off as aggressive, btw; it's not meant to be, but I lose my fight with tone everyday.

So, I get to work yesterday, ready to hand in my doctor's note and request for reasonable accommodations, and can't find any managers despite doing a circle of the store. I fold up my note and put it in my apron rather than bring it back to my locker for later.

As it so happened a little while later, one of the assistant managers was in the backroom, so I took a chance and said, "I have a new doctor's note, should I give it to you or wait until I see [store manager]?"

And she tells me the store manager is on vacation for the rest of this week. And she can't act on the note or the request for accommodations, but she'll hang onto them to text a photo to the store manager and see what he can do when he gets back.

I'm so tired.

I feel like my life is a series of waiting for things to get better. And then they don't. And I just have to wait until I can try again. And then I have to wait after I try. And then things go poorly again. And I wait. And I scrape myself together yet again to try.

And then I get told things like, "Why not get a job somewhere else?" "Mind your posture and lifting techniques" "I can help you with XYZ [but not really, because I'm unavailable during the times you need that specific help]"

If it was just ONE thing, I might be able to handle it. But it's my demoralizing workplace. It's my now chronic back pain along with other health conditions. It's my toxic father. It's my hypocritical mother. It's my ablist sibling. It's a dragging winter that won't end, so the seasonal affective disorder won't go away. It's politicians who want me and my friends dead. It's horrifying world news that the so-called "good guy countries" won't put a stop to. It's wishing I could save everyone in the world but being unable to save myself. It's being unable to find even just brief escapism in my writing so I can face any of the above with renewed strength. ...It's being rejected from a fandom project I hoped to participate in, dealing a blow to the confidence I had in my writing strengths, and being the straw that broke the camel's back with the entire rest of the shitshow going on irl...

I'm. Tired. There are precious few things preventing me from completely giving up.

From your perspective, what are the best resources to send to a true beginner (someone who knows absolutely nothing at all about children's publishing but says they have a story idea) for learning the craft and business of writing picture books?

Well, first I'd probably tell them that EVERYONE has story ideas -- trust me, if I tell people I work in publishing, I hear "I have a great story idea!" or "Wow, I've always wanted to write a book!" from anyone from dentist to dog-walker. Actually doing the hard work to study the market, write a book, revise the book, etc, is generally a bridge too far for most. And that's fine.

If they are serious about it, though, they should figure out what kinds of books exist, and what kind they are writing or looking to write. (Many adults don't remember much about kid's books, really, and have NO IDEA how much variety exists in the kid's section, or how to tell these books apart, but it's important! And if they walk in and are just lost, they can always ask a nice librarian or bookseller for some guidance!).

Are they looking to write a picture book? A chapter book? MG/YA? Fiction, nonfiction? Each category of books has its own rules and norms, and you kinda need to know them if your goal is to get published. So they should take some time at the bookstore or library to really get to know the different age levels and categories, and immerse themselves in various books that are in the category they want to write. How long are those books? What is the vocabulary like? What's popular? Which publishers are publishing those books? They will likely come to see that there are patterns -- like, most picture books are 32 pages long and under 500 words (much shorter than their faves as a kid might have been!), most chapter books are in series, etc. (Protip: If you hate this step, and reading a bunch of children's books isn't fun for you, you probably should NOT be writing for kids!)

Now that they know their way around the kid's section, it's time for a little online investigation. There are free Facebook groups, for example, like KidLit411, where newbies can observe and ask questions and there are people a little further along in the journey can help answer them. They will see a lot of jargon and things they probably won't understand immediately (like "queries", "R&R", "twitter pitch" or whatever, that we take for granted that people know, but they won't!) -- so, great, they can google and get more familiar with the lay of the land. They will quickly start to realize just how much they really DON'T know, but they'll also start to pick it up.

They should also think about their GOALS. WHY do they want to write children's books? WHO are they trying to reach with their stories? Do they want to be an agented and traditionally published author, where their books are available in regular bookstores for a general audience? OR, do they want to write a very specific niche kind of book for a very specific audience? (Like, a book about dealing with XYZ Illness, aimed at children with that illness and their caretakers, for example, or a book about a specific regional event that is likely to sell A LOT of copies in one small part of the country, and zero copies outside of it) That might mean that a small niche publisher dealing with that thing/locale/whatever exists -- or it might mean that self-publishing is their best bet. (None of these options are BAD, mind you, they are just different, and might mean the paths they will take are different, and they should be aware of that).

If they find all of this research invigorating / exciting, they should continue to the next step. If they find this daunting and awful, they should STOP and go live their lives!

Once they are clear that a) yes this is work, and will take time and effort to master, and it is FAR from a get-rich-quick scheme, and b) they are up for the challenge, and passionate about the stories they want to tell, and c) yes they not only have "an idea" but also know what KIND of book they are going to be writing and what they should be aiming for, and d) they have some idea of their own motivation and goals...

THEN, I'd tell them to sit their butts down and start writing, and if they are enjoying it and want to go to the NEXT step, look into joining the SCBWI.

The SCBWI has huge conferences, of course, but they also have LOADS of free resources for members, and smaller regional events all over the world that are often free or inexpensive; if you happen to live in an active region there are often meet-ups, critique opportunities, etc -- getting to know other authors and getting access to these resources can be REALLY valuable for newbies. But I would just suggest those other steps FIRST, because it's pointless to spend the money to join if you aren't really committed, and you won't know if you are committed until you know more about what it all even is and actually are writing things. You know?

Some people can't believe their beloved members might be manipulating their audience through shippers or fanservice but I think look at it through a different perspective.

They grew up in a dirty industry, we know the way some of these k-idols talk and act behind the scenes is awful. Burning ☀️ was one horrific thing that got exposed, who knows what else is going on? Then you have people like Bang PD selling their whole souls to get a piece of that western market. Apart from that most kpop idols engage in fanservice and queerbaiting. Don't tell me real people can't queerbait - if you're straight and pretending to kiss your group mate for your straight fans so that you'll get popularity, then what else should I call it? I am just very careful not to use the term for any specific idol because who knows if any of them are queer in real life but as an industry this is a problem. Plus we also have other groups in Hybe like new 👖 where they sexualise minors accidently or on purpose to get buzz or invoke controversy to get eyes on their comebacks. Just think about how many young entertainers have taken their own lives from that industry - it's a rotten place.

When you take into account everything that surrounds BTS that they must at least notice some of it. I actually believe the members are not evil or bad people. If JK or Tae push ships to advance their popularity even if its to the detriment of one of their friends (or girlfriends), they probably think they're not even doing 1% of anything as bad as what others surrounding them are doing.

Tl;dr when everyone around you is an a$$hole of epic proportions, you might think that the slightly manipulative things you're doing aren't a big deal. From their own perspective they might be thinking I'm an angel compared to all these other people. At least I'm not an actual bad person like xyz even though I'm now powerful enough to act like that. Even though as an outsider I find taekook irresponsible and bad friends, they probably don't think anything they do is harmful

I'm not making excuses exactly, I just wanted to say I don't think they're some evil mustache twirling people but I think their moral compass may not be the same as mine. I think it might also explain why Jimin himself let's everything they do slide and stays good friends with them because he also thinks compared to others in the industry these two are probably very decent guys even if they occasionally throw him under the bus.

I also think BTS essentially being good people is why it was difficult for them to claw their way up in the beginning and is maybe the reason Jimin is getting ostracized by his label for not playing their games. Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the truth though

This is an interesting take anon

It often seems that "Don't like, don't watch" is easier said than done.

While Fandom isn't a monolith, I think that most of us have had THAT media. The sort that has multiple installments come out and will hit different for the variety of fans it acrues.

For others, the thing gets better over time. There are bumps and personal pet peeves along the way but most feel that the growing franchise/overall story seems to be chugging along with a good head on its shoulders.

For you, specifically... it lost you. Those bumps are enough to bounce your suspension of disbelief up high enough that it smashes on landing. Whatever magic you saw in it has fizzled out overtime in favor of XYZ angle they're leaning into now. And what was once gushing with a side of salt is becoming nothing but sodium chloride with each installment.

It doesn't even happen at once. Sometimes it's a "Boiling Frog" process where the spark slowly before you can appreciate several scenes but the core of it just doesn't bring it together. Sometimes it is one installment that really hits you with multiple, "This is not for you," vibes.

And it suck when it feels like you're the only one who feels this way. Like the boy who claims that the Emperor has no clothes... except everyone else still see the clothes and actually likes them.

You want validation. You want to be seen. You want to raise a fuss and not get any blowback for it no matter how mean you might sound. You just want people to basically tell you, "No, you're right and they're wrong, sheeple who couldn't critically think their way through a Redemption Arc."

As such, "don't like, don't watch" comes across as condescending from your point of view. You still like some of the thing so why not watch. It might make you a wet blanket or even make you go crazy from the stress you get from the thing actively not being for you no more. But that doesn't matter.

It is your duty and responsiblity to avenge what you once had, to make your pain known. What do the fans know, counterarguing you? Criticism means that you should get the final word and be the only one who matters in this conversation.

I don't even need to fully apply this to any one series because you've probably thought of a number of them these days in today's Social Media climate. They don't even need to be asshole (consistently) or directly mean to people.

They're only problem is that they don't want to drop the thing because a part of them feels like that would be admitting defeat. Another is a sort of... toxic relationship where one party believes that the other will get better. Eventually.

It's... a mess. And I don't want to paint this side of Fandom as purely bad. Some are actually constructive in parsing out what's been eating them and will generally be open to counterpoints. Others just have problems that seem to go beyond just not liking the thing.

For the Be Nosey questions...pick 3 that YOU want to answer! Ones you know you have a good story for, or a fact you'd like to share...just give me your three fave 😄😄😄

OKAY Let me see,

13. Relationship status: lets talk about this for a sec. SINGLE AF, but traumatized, in a way, from my past relationship. 8 years, only person I've ever dated, started in high school. A lot of my fics, esp stuff with angst, come from there. It's why sometimes my angsty work gets more detailed and I can't really find a way to redeem the character back. It's frustrating when I then get a bunch of comments with XYZ should have happened, idk, sometimes I get comfort in writing the angst bit and then writing the way I wish that person would have asked for forgiveness. There are a number of similarities between Bucky and said person. Its been 2 years but I know I'm not over it so here we are :) Tumblr and writing has been a good distraction but eh. It's not always great. (this is also why I just fucking hate fics with cheating, been there and it burns so. No. Esp not with my comfort character bruh)

26. My biggest pet peeve: People who feel the need to be the smartest in the room. This is the teacher part of me speaking. I see it all the time, students/people who are competitive and just need to be the best and be #1. Theres nothing wrong with that but there is a difference in striving for greatness and then just wanting to be better than everyone else, hurting them in the process. You can be smart, bright, amazing, all that but just don't be a dick about it.

30. Words that upset me the most: Anything that has to do with fat shaming. Been there, its awful, esp in school. Lost weight now, sure but the things people say stick with you. I despise people that comment on specific body parts, it irks me to no end because it feels like in one way or another theres no winning, theres always something that has to be fixed. Pls stop and let people just exist.

I'm proship, and I'm sorry you've had a bad experience with proshippers. I'm mixed race, and I feel you. Some people take-up a certain ideology because they have a certain interest and only care about how it benefits them. But that doesn't make that person *not* part of the ideology, and those attitudes should be constantly combatted by those in the community rather than saying "Oh but they're ~not really~ proship" and washing their hands of it.

It's why a lot of POC who agree with proship ideology feel disconnected to the label as well, and why instead they're taking up different labels or just generally stepping away from it. I mostly use it because it's a recognizable label but I too feel that disconnect more and more.

I also agree that writing something doesn't mean someone is free from criticism, and there's a fine line between critiquing and harassment in fandom spaces, especially with people who are more reachable than say, a big name author or media company. Emotions fly, friend groups get angry, and people who are being talked about are going to confront the person talking about them, and it gets nasty fast when someone feels they've been insulted. Harassment is bad, but conflict is also not inherently harassment, and I wish more people in every aspect would understand that and would just block people, vent about it in private, and move on rather than making it into a moral crusade and tagging posts about it with the intent to garner more attention to it. And that part doesn't even necessarily apply to shipping discourse but can apply to any community.

Not to be all fandom old, but I really do think part of this is how mainstream fandom has become. Instead of people making and culminating their own communities with like minded people, everyone gets tossed together. I'm not saying it never happened back in the day, but when people with opposing views are now stuck together, it naturally causes tension and conflict to arise, and since again, everything in now in only a select few places that are all easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection, things get nastier faster while being more in public view

Not to BACK IN MY DAY or anything but I so miss the days of thousands of PHPBB forums and IRC rooms for every little niche of fandom and how you could really find your people very easily in that manner. I don't mind that I have a one-stop-shop for the bulk of my blorbo needs but having lost the separate fan spaces I think really changed the way fandom works nowadays.

That and how many fandoms are barely a flash in the pan before people move on to something else. It's natural that things slow down after a while but it feels like people are more willing to hop franchise to franchise rather than stay and curate a space, and so a lot of people demand that these spaces cater to them specifically without actually giving back or putting any effort into making spaces that suit them better.

Not that there wasn't plenty of fandom drama back then, don't get me wrong. But I feel the problem was different- the drama was insular, rather than someone in XYZ fandom saying someone in ABC fandom is inherently a bad person because the source material showed a titty. The Zutara vs Kataang wars of old were nothing compared to this proship antiship nonsense. And we at least recognized it was nonsense.

Something hard about dealing with mental disorders and illness while being in spiritual spaces is how people react so defensively or angrily if you ever state boundaries around certain ways of thinking or beliefs. I'm not shoving into their spaces and discrediting their experiences, but when people come to ME and my space and say some shit that makes little alarm bells go off in my brain or something that pushes me towards paranoia or my specific triggers around delusions I experience, then I will state that I am not comfortable with whatever they are bringing to me.

And people hate that!! They get so angry and defensive and upset with me, and I really don't understand? I've never been disrespectful (as far as I can tell), and I try to always state that I'm not saying I don't believe them but just that I need to stay away from xyz thing for my own safety and well-being, but again I'm not saying I don't believe them or that they're wrong or anything.

I dunno lol it makes me feel alienated from everything and everyone so thats partially why I've been so quiet over here (also I just... don't have anything to post since I haven't done a lot worth noting). It feels like a very unsafe and unwelcoming environment to people who have mental disorders and struggle with them while still being spiritual. Rhere doesnt seem to be much of a willingness to let people have boundaries in place that keep themselves safe because everyone takes it as a personal attack on their beliefs when thats not what /I'm/ doing with my boundaries at least ;-; Is that what others do with theirs ??

Actually tbh I think it's mostly like... people who are far into new age bs. I mostly follow spiritual people who are more grounded in reality and who are really chill about mental health stuff, and the people I've encountered who have been rude about my establishing boundaries when they come to me have all been new agers lmao

Anyhowdy. I feel like i should apologize for radio silence over here for... however many months/years its been LMAO but I'm just trying to figure out my brain and (new) fatigue situation and reassess how to safely go about engaging with my spiritual path and deity working! I know I keep saying I'm coming back but tbh the fatigue situation is more the issue at hand lately - I've been learning to juggle cleaning with my college schooling with my art making with my trauma situation with my social life with my everything else I've got going on, and I'm continuously trying to see if I can toss the spiritual ball back into the mix yet :') one day!! one day!! I fear everyone else will have moved on by then but either way I'll still be here playing in the mud in my little corner LOL

I’m tired of antis misinterpreting media especially fucking BANANA FISH

Banana Fish Spoilers under the cut, please read at ur own risk (also mentions of SA and rape)

I came across this, and at first, I understood the annoyance, but then I look at everything else and then realized how terribly they misinterpreted Ash’s character.

I wanna preface this by saying: You are absolutely allowed to have headcanons, and you are 100% valid for controlling your online experience. You are allowed to have discomforts. I’m not shitting on anyone who doesn’t like seeing Ash depicted in any sort of sexual act or situation, regardless of the context/who he is depicted with. But your own discomforts/opinions about a FICTIONAL piece of media aren’t definitive rules/must-beliefs in regard to fandom especially. We all enjoy media differently

But that’s all, what should be, common sense. But I wanna talk about how these people could not only misinterpret Ash Lynx’s character, but the story as well.

First of all: Ash is NOT Gay, he is canonically bisexual, as stated by the creator (but also shown in the manga/anime). It is also worth noting that the people in the comments were stating that Ash is asexual(I’ll go into why this is wrong in this context, but headcanoning him as acespec isn’t the problem here)

As you can see, Ash canonically identifies as bisexual, and this image also implies, that Ash has/would engage in consensual sexual intercourse.

Some other things I wanna clarify:

- Ace ≠ SA Victim (and vice versa)

- Ace ≠ No sex/sexual attraction whatsoever

- SA Victim ≠ Inability to have healthy sexual relationships

Not only do the above screenshots show that people have a terrible concept of Asexuality as a whole, but also how trauma, and SA can impact a person. Everyone’s experiences with anything varies.

Asexuality is a spectrum. Sometimes being a SA victim and being Ace have no correlations between eachother, sometimes they do.

I also wanna note how hypocritical these antis are for using the cop out excuse of “(character) is ace!” to not depict a character a certain way, yet tell people who like certain themes in a FICTIONAL context (problematic ships, media, etc) who identify as ace are just saying that to hide the fact they are a pedophile or something.

Me and many others who identify as ace and happen to be proship/anti harassment/etc have been told we aren’t actually ace and are actually just creeps. Yet, antis jump on the (in this case not canonically stated whatsoever) “Ash is ace so you can’t sexualize him/depict him in (xyz) way!” as a excuse to push not only their purity culture agenda, but once again, this is a prime example of how people force their opinions to police everyone else and treat it like they’re laws.

Also, another excuse of “Ash is a minor! 😡” was used here which, once again, it’s fiction and two, Ash literally turns 18 during the events of the story, so if you are so worried about the safety of a character that isn’t real, it’s a dumb and ignorant excuse anyways .

I also think the general misinterpretation of not only Banana Fish as a whole, but more specifically Ash, is so incredibly present here.

Regardless of how you decide to interpret/headcanon Ash, doesn’t mean you have to force that on someone else. Fandom, and fiction, should be something enjoyable, not stressful.

And one more thing, if you can't deal with talk about certain subject matter that is depicted in the form of media itself, then maybe you shouldn't be consuming it in the first place :/

Grow up, curate your own online experience, and don't ruin something for someone else just because you're a whiny bitch who doesn't know what the block button is.

Thai BL and Writing

Okay, so I have something to say.

Thai BL and Writing

I don't, even for a second think, that Thai BL has bad writing.

I'm mentioning this comment specifically because of what they talk about as the flaws - logic, consistency, character motivation or common sense.

I think where a lot of people trip up is thinking that when writers write a contemporary thing that it is set in the real world. Unless it is a true story (and even those aren't 100% factual. But then that's why you have documentaries), the world is built from the ground up even if it is a contemporary, seems like real life setting.

Now to break down the flaws -

Logic and Common Sense - I don't think these two should be applied to any piece of fiction let alone BLs. One reason is if character acted with 100% logic and common sense you most likely won't have most stories. And while on paper it sounds like a good idea it takes away humanity and honesty from any character. Also Logic and Common Sense are actually subjective. Everyone has had an experience where you thought something was obvious but the other person was completely oblivious to it.

What is to be focused on, in any piece of writing, is the themes, the story, what it makes you feel, if there is honesty in the characters (mind you, honesty and truthfulness are not the same thing.)

I think, many times, if someone comes from a different background they might not understand why someone did xyz. Especially true for Western Audiences trying to understand Asian Media as we saw with GAP. Another thing might be someone looking at a thing and going - this is not my world! Meaning that they, in their lives, in the subjective lives don't think that this is how the world works. And this is pretty common and understandable mistake to make.

The other two were - Consistency and Character Motivations.

The example they use is Bad Buddy. Honestly, I don't see it. I have other examples (Specifically from this year) - The Eclipse, Big Dragon, Kinnporsche, Secret Crush on You, Love in the Air, GAP, Not Me, Triage, My Secret Love, hell, even Unforgotten Night and Ai Long Nhai have those two things.

What I always say about this is do not apply real world ideals to fictional works. It's pointless and useless. You won't win. Writing isn't about checking boxes. Writing is about feeling things. SCOY and GAP, even UFN, are absurd pieces of media, and every step of the way you feel these characters. You're not supposed to understand / relate to them so that you can say 'I would do this same thing in the same situation'. That's antithetical to writing. It's antithetical to any form of art. I see this is YA Fantasy too. It's first person POV and there is this expectation that - I'm aka the reader, is the Main Character. This is solely a thing placed upon the character and writer by an inexperienced, often privileged reader. You're not supposed to sympathize. You're supposed to empathize.

I've talked about in general so far but...

This was under a NLMG complain post I made. If you follow me you would know I have no love lost for Never Let Me Go. I think it's badly written. Why? Because it breaks worldbuilding. Plenty of shows I mentioned before lose steam towards the end but they never lose the worldbuilding or themes and that is what matters.

For eg: The Eclipse. (Coz they are both GMMTV) There is one scene that exemplifies their losing steam the best. The Akk Ayan mutual Pin scene. It's not the content itself that shows this. It's that from whatever the previous scene was, they are suddenly in Akk's room, put pins on each other, they are somewhere else. Even something so short, that's anticipated since ep 1, still needs build up and fade out. Without it the whole thing feels jarring and out of place but thematically this was where it was always headed.

NLMG begins by treating the Mafia as a serious thing. Kit even chops a finger in from of his son. It's supposed to be serious. But as the episodes progress, especially once Tanya is shot. It's no longer so. Compare this to other Mafia involving BLs. - Kinnporsche, LITA, UFN. They are all tonally different to each other. You can't confuse one for the other. They all still treat Mafia with the seriousness it deserves. NLMG is much more serious compared to those three. It has an overall heavy vibe. But the Mafia is taken seriously only by Chopper.

That's all Watsonian. A little Doylism now: When anyone attaches the word Mafia to anything there is a weight the institution of Mafia carries. Everyone alive is aware of this. Thus it's absurd to have something that has a universal connotation and not delivering on it after you've established it in universe to have the same connotation as it does outside of it.

Thus,

Logic and Common Sense are not as objective as most people think.

Any individuals lived experience is not the same as another's and trying to make it so is foolish and a folly.

Thai BL has good writing. People just trip over what that means all the time. Eg: LITA's PayuRain part. '~It has not plot~'

Art is not meant to be a point by point checklist. It's sole job is to make you(the audience) feel.

You (a writer) can't take a commonly understood thing and throw what's inside away because you just want the aesthetic.