hey im curious

feel free to rb & explain your answer in the tags!

4?

Thank you 😘😘

4. How much do you trust the reader?

Oof well the reader im most concerned by atm (cos ~theoretically stumbling through a draft😓) is me, and I'm not sure I trust that bitch at all 😅😅

This concept [particularly re ~comprehending the story/aspects] is a bit of a tricky balancing act I think, bc if you as the writer have sat with something for a long time espec while editing/rewriting/tinkering it can be really hard to get a sense of what does come through clearly, espec in a first/single read. And with serialised fiction like multi part fic which isn't published at a fast regular clip, it's impossible to know how much a reader might recall about what's happened already (maybe fic chapters need a 'previously on' segment?!).

Plus and maybe especially as a lover of ambiguity, it can be really hard to know if the sense/s you've tried to convey as an author have come across coherently. I think that's just something you have to accept if that's a style you prefer, and you can figure out how to develop certain aspects/skills better to help; if you want to be surer of things coming across relatively clearly you may have to explicate pretty explicitly and/or repeat more.

But I suppose this is why writing primarily for oneself is important -- if it works for you, then maybe by definition it works for this idealised reader 🤪 both in terms of quality but also of joy, eg if you include easter eggs which make you cackle, maybe they'll brighten someone else's day too!!

further, if you wanna trust the reader, you've gotta create a scenario where they can trust the writer, SuReLy? For example, if you as writer HAVEN'T nailed down what's happening with characters on and off the page or how truthful they're being (in convos but also ~pov) that tends to show; trust of hypothetical ppl probs needs to be earned too.

Ofc whomsoever 'the reader' is is gonna be varied! Can you trust that any reader is going to pick up on your context clues? Obviously not! But I do think writing towards an idealised good faith audience concept can be encouraging.

I suppose it also depends on what you're hoping to trust the reader to do tho! if you can identify, maybe you can ~aid:

Eg: to read your story? Well OK, maybe you can promote it better. To read your story alllll the way to the end? Well OK, maybe you need to focus on making it continually engaging; cut some chaff; have an endpoint in mind. Trust the reader to respond/feed back to the story? Well you can at least request that if it's important to you, and specifying what areas you particularly seek it for will likely help. Trust the reader to interrogate the story? Well, I think certain styles probably encourage this. Trust the reader to reread the story? Well, you better make it engaging then!! Etc etc

Ultimately, I've had ppl comment on my stories in a way which implies they've misunderstood what I was trying to convey, maybe that means I've left it too vague, or that they were bringing their own assumptions and/or didn't read carefully. Does that mean I should trust no readers/completely change how I write? I don't think so, espec when I've also had other ppl engage with the ambiguity in a positive way, or try to crack a secret of the story open, or take the time to try to understand references they weren't familiar with at first glance, or ref things implied-but-not-stated as if they were on the page. It DOES mean though I can consider that it may be worth clarifying or repeating important points if I want them to def be understood by more readers, and that there's some areas where it's probs worth being more specific (eg did I think the setting was obvious cos I could imagine it clearly but maybe that didn't translate and someone could get it totally wrong?). Also how you approach this for different kinds of stories can be v different! Eg a 1500 word short story can easily be v ambiguous & fun for a reader to play with interpreting vs a 200k one probs needs more clarity to not alienate the audience -- if you're referencing line 1 on line one million without any mention of that topic in btwn, I'm not sure you can expect ppl to remember what you're on about!

So I suppose it's about deciding what reader/s you wanna be able to trust -- just you? Just an idealised perf reader type? Or more broadly, and if so how wide? Can you make it work on multiple levels?? And overall yea, I don't think you can be asking an audience to trust you without making it abundantly clear you're trustable at storytelling!

Writing meme: ashamed edition!

lmfaoooo then my job here is done. (: watching Heathers for educational purposes is always a good idea after all. sooo many possibilities for this au too...

awaw, ty, dear :33 i definitely will then. we'll just pat eachother on the back for a job well done and nod wisely at the insane stuff we come up with. like wise, old philosophers uncovering the secrets of the universe.

speaking of... your writing is unbelievable!!! like, i dropped my phone on my face laughing at that 'aegon locks luke and aemond in a room together and forgets about it' drabble. you're reaaally good, love to see it <3

no nono pls don't encourage me rn lmfaooo i already got two lucemond aus in the works, a jaegon one, plus a kind of rhaenicent sort of fix it au, i am drowning in fic and my own tears because some of these bitches turned au angstyy

definiteeeelyyy anon<33. i come bearing disappointing news that i’m yet to watch it, i was going to last night but turns out it’s on hulu and i no longer have it but—i’ll try soon, since it hasn’t left my head since you mentioned it ldkdjd.

love that for us<33

and thanks, i wrote that with one eye open and the other already sleeping and reread it when i woke up and was like oh that’s fun lmaooo

listen to mE, i will ALWAYS encourage writing and creating content of shit you like i won’t stop, can’t STOP. also you’re just like me fr that’s how my notes look like, i have 6 stories (lucemond&jaegon) and i write bits and pieces of each one bc one idea triggers the other and i’m going INSANE SO MORE PPL SHOULD GO NUTS TOO—

THG fandom reflections n shit

I found THG fandom in 2015 after watching the first film, reading the series, then watching CF and just not having enough. I reread the series like three times in a row which is not my usual engagement with novels. Like I just needed MORE. I read a few blogs, started to find fanfiction and then resurrected an ancient Tumblr acct I’d made ages ago. 

Ppl in THG fandom are so amazing and it meant a lot how many would follow-back and interact. No other fandom has had the level of mutual engagement and participation that this one has had. I’ve made friends* and a best friend *waves at @randomnoteforfuturereference* here and that is a true gift. 

(*not listing friends only bc 1. list would be hella long and 2. I’d inevitably leave ppl out but if you see my tumblr name and remember me, we good. I did get to meet @rosefyrefyre in person bc she lives in same city as my brother ^_^ so I will tag her <3) 

I dipped my toe into the writing pool several months after joining the fandom. I am slow writer, but it was fun and I got a lot of encouraging feedback and also got invited to beta. It’s hard to believe I’ll be going on 5 years of beta reading and editing for my writerly friends. More than that, so many from this fandom are going on to be published whether is self publishing or through a publisher. I was happily able to go to Toronto for Tanaz Bhathena’s first book release (Tanb in fandom)! And even met a few THGers there ^_^ I got to work with a number of authors over a number of projects and that meant a lot to me. 

At the time I joined the fandom I was a quasi-quiverfull, white evangelical, homeshooler. In 2016 I left the church and never looked back. In 2017 I sent my kids to public school. In 2018 I started college to get my degree in English so I can make the red pen official and work professionally as an editor. This year, 2020, I graduated and am now officially have my BA in English!!!! 

(as an aside, writing longass tumblr posts was surprisingly good practice at writing essays for my classes)

Leaving church in 2016 was a major traumatic event in my life. I lost every single irl relationship I’d had through church. As a result of not working and staying home (for Jesus!) I had no relationships not connected with church/homeschool. This Tumblr community and my closest internet friendos were all I had. And are still largely all I have. I can’t imagine going through all that utterly alone without this community and friendships from here. 

THGers shared more than just a love for the THG series, they also shared articles, stories, and experiences on important political and racial topics that helped me grow as a person and see that I had a huge gap in my understanding and a lot to learn. So more than just being a fun fandom, THG fans helped me grow, learn, become a better person. The encouragement and support of the writers and beta readers I worked with helped me have the confidence to go back to college. I do not exaggerate when I say being in this fandom has been truly life-changing. I love how fanfiction writing helps to develop  writers who go on to publish original works, but the community that grows up around some fandoms is also a vital source of connection and community. 

So thanks for being my community, my base, my rock for so many years. There will never be a time in my life that I am not thankful for you all. 

Thanks @everlarkedalways for inviting me and other fans to write about our experience with the THG series and with the THG community <3 I’m loving to read other ppl’s stories and am happy to contribute my own. I’d been thinking about doing it since I graduated so this was a great impetus to Get It Done. 

(Askbox and messages are always open if you wanna drop in. My participation dropped to pretty much nil while I was in school, but I’m around and will probs be around a bit more now school’s done.)

i was going back and rereading fics youve written and i felt like i really need to say that your solas/how you write him is basically the only solas i enjoy now? i was Super Big on solas even w/the uh. intriguing writing decisions made. theres SUCH potential in his character and trickster lore! you can do so much with ancient trickster beings! but everything went Like That TLDR youre one of the few writers who i suggest to ppl still looking for solas content

this made me almost cry at work ngl

tysm like sincerely. solas was one of those characters that was like love at first sight for me and I’m just...really angry about what BioWare did w his story tbh, on so many levels, and fandom is so unbelievably shitty from “fans” to ppl who hate him that it’s just exhausting. I got so tired of being policed by ppl that it really means a lot to hear that you enjoy what I do w him. I feel rly alone sometimes

a lot of it is bc I claim a real actual trickster god as a patron, ngl. p much nobody understands them, these writers included. at their best they are powerful enigmas and the lessons they teach sometimes are hard but necessary. Western non pagans only like them if they’re spitting memes 24/7. but there’s deep wisdom if you’re brave enough to work w them. it’s not easy or fun and games 24/7 but it’s worthwhile.

and I’m so tired of white xian writers in general demonizing and vilifying them in fiction. I have always been drawn to trickster figures in stories (prolly bc of who I worship). Inevitably they are treated this way bc white ppl demonized their own tricksters and doubled down on it w indigenous figures.

and I hate that expressing any of this as an explanation for why I ignore it is treated like ~apologia~ or leather pantsing a white fave which first of all he’s not and it’s doubly offensive that he was whitewashed from the concept art given who he truly is and the lore and symbolism w it. but I see him more as an Anansi type figure inspiring rebellion to overthrow oppressors, being a guile hero whose true strength is in cunning and tricksy shit. the dry playfulness and the eldritch wolf w too many eyes are two sides of the same coin. my favorite crack headcanon is that he was Shartan.

anyway tl;dr thank you for the kind words bc they’re really encouraging and make me less timid to write more w him