#moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eeee-lye · 6 years

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A post I wrote as a passing complaint has gotten more traction than expected, and now I’ve got a couple of folks asking me how to write robots and androids in ways that avoid framing autistic experiences and traits as non-human ones, or asking me what I wish to see in a robot or android character.

This alienation from a certain type of fictional creation isn’t an experience unique to autism--it’s something I experience as an agender person, as an aromantic person, as an asexual person. LGBTQIA+ people experience it. People of colour experience it. Disabled people experience it. Anyone who is marginalised will see the experiences and traits of their marginalisation held up in characters that are not human (or whose behaviour is inhumane) in some way, coding for that lack of humanity. Daily, I am exposed to the truth that other humans see my experiences as a human being as fundamentally antithetical to how they conceptualise true humanity.

I am regularly told that characters like me are not allowed to be human, because if they exist in adventure stories, it is only as non-human entities.

I am as limited by my humanity as any other creative, and we have all been raised in a world where many traits and experiences are deemed other and used to indicate an absence of humanity, to the extent that marginalised people have to learn how to love and embrace our own humanity. Despite this, no human can truly, completely and thoroughly write from a non-human perspective; the word anthropomorphise--to give human attributes to something non-human--exists in our lexicon for a reason. Our view of what is and isn’t human is shaped by our privilege and in need of deconstruction, and we all face the job of a lifetime in doing this, in broadening what we know to be human. But we are, we all are, human, and we don’t know how to be otherwise. Being rendered non-human in story after story using stereotypical autistic-coding--with no real understanding of autism’s diversity--wouldn’t hurt so much if we didn’t know our own humanity and didn’t see it go unrecognised.

If all we know is how to be human, if we cannot conceptualise what it is to not be human, if our attempts to write an alien or non-human perspective only show our prejudices in denying other humans their rightful humanity, we should just be writing about being human.

I don’t want to see an avoidance of all the tropes I mentioned just to result in another list of suitable elements. I don’t want to provide a list just to redefine a different way of being non-human, because this will only hurt another marginalised group or identity who happens to fit those elements. I want to see creators treating robots and androids as the human characters they are, with all the diversity and complexity as any other fully-drawn, non-prejudicial human character.

I want to discard the idea that robots are non-human characters and we need a way of positioning them as such. I want to discard the idea that we need to conceptualise and demonstrate non-humanity. I want everyone who is reading this to stop thinking of aliens, robots, androids, dragons, unicorns, fairies, elves, dwarves or orcs as non-human characters--anything sapient is a human there to tell a story about humans, based in our knowledge of what is deemed human. Nothing shows our unquestioned prejudices about who is and isn’t human more, in fact, than all these supposedly non-human characters and the traits commonly associated with them!

These non-human-but-actually-human characters need to be treated the same way we treat any other human character: as though they are diverse, unique, fully-fleshed out characters who don’t rely on stereotype to communicate ideas about the human condition. Humans often have so very little in common with each other, so why should androids be the same? They should have varied speech patterns, varied languages, varied movements, varied philosophies, varied approaches to dress and custom, varied interests, varied skills, varied builds, varied design, varied backgrounds, varied passions, varied relationships to humans and humanity. No android should be similar to any other android in the same way no two random humans should be similar to each other.

When I see autistic-coded android after android, the problem isn’t that these androids are performing stereotypical autism. No, androids should be as autistic as often, and as diversely, as the human population is autistic, just as they should be any other human identity. The problem is simultaneously that androids are too often autistic-coded in the same ways and that autistics seldom get to exist in fiction as anything but an android--not as our real, diverse, human selves. I’m asking allistics to stop doing this because we’ve got enough of this. Now it’s time to push past this limited and harmful usage of our experiences and lives to indicate non-human characters, and the only fix for this is the writing of diverse non-human characters.

The only thing I want to see from a non-human character is the same characterisation you’d apply to any other well-written human character. If you write your robots and your androids the same way you write your human characters, with the same wondrous diversity, your characters will be just fine.

TL;DR: It’s time to discard the idea that we need to indicate any class of imaginative being as fundamentally non-human with a set of over-used tropes and just write them all with the same diversity as human characters. Robots and androids are at heart human and we humans can’t seem to conceptualise something as alien as non-humanity without hurting those who are fighting to have their humanity recognised, so just write them as you would any other well-written human character.

@official-alex-stuff, @moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs

#representation #characterisation #writing on writing #writing #actuallyautistic #autism things #autistic representation #long post #dehumanisation #very long post #K. A. on their soapbox #this might be a shade anthropological

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goldrushrunning · 6 years

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*knock knock knock* PIZZA

what kind tho?? better not have any pineapple on it that is not my jam

#all asks are now tagged #pizza deliveries #moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs

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berrybird-blog1 · 8 years

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Do you think that first person point of view or third person point of view is more conducive to "show not tell" details? I find that a lot of writers tend to give up more about the supporting cast when they write in third person, but you have to reveal more about the MC if you write in first.

Hi there! In my own experiences I’ve found that while third person gives you a wider ability to describe more characters, first person has been more effective as it allows you to make direct observations through the eyes of your narrator. Typically I’ve gone with first-person perspective when I want to make a story seem more “real” and candid, and third-person when I have a lot of characters or intricate details to focus on as far as the plot goes. To me the tradeoff seems to be that third-person limits your ability to easily throw in details via “observation,” but first-person limits your ability to include a lot of big-picture information about the plot itself. As you said, you’re also more obligated to reveal more about your narrator in first-person since they’re your mouthpiece, and if you want to have a large, fleshed out supporting cast then it’s typically easier to use third-person because you don’t have that limitation. Overall I think I’d personally have to go with first person for “show, don’t tell,” but it’s different for everyone. I think it really depends on the size of your cast and your own writing style. (: Hope this helped!

#ask #berrybird teaches #sort of #moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs

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jellokiel · 9 years

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Rules: Tag 20 followers you want to get to know better (or however many you want)

Tagged by redheadedhell (feel free to pm me b/c I’d love to get to know you too~!)

Name: Holy

Nickname: Mello, Cas (occasionally)

Birthday: February 17th

Star Sign: Aquarius

Gender: Female

Heigh: 5′ 7″ (~170cm)

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual (whee)

Favorite Color: Either purple, blue, or red

Time: 9:15pm (us central time)

Average hours of sleep: 6-8 depending

Last thing I googled: “november 11 dtb” cause I wanted to confirm some stuff about the chara from Darker than Black (which is an anime everyone needs to watch!!!)

Number of blankets I sleep under: usually one comforter/heavy blanket but occasionally two, sometimes three in winter lol

Favorite fictional character: ughhhhh um Castiel or Hawkeye (comics mostly) but I love so many. Harry Potter is always in my heart <3

Favorite famous person: Misha Collins!!! He’s too amazing

Crushes: nah

Favorite books: so many >.> Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregelis (or something sorry Ian), Good Omens (Pratchett and Gaiman), and Harry Potter <3 Also I love The Stranger (Camus)

Favorite bands: Alternative bands, especially Twenty One Pilots and Panic!at the Disco

Dream Trip: Cross all of Europe, but mostly Scandinavia and Austria <3

What am I wearing right now: Some random American Eagle red shirt b/c I didn’t want to wash a fandom shirt I’m bringing to college, and some khaki shorts that are WAY too big (aka these r my reserve clothes)

Tagging: soulpunhk, moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs, badwolfinwinterfell, apinchofsanity, and really anyone else! Do this if you want, or just pm to chat ^-^

#answered #tagged #soulpunhk #moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs #badwolfinwinterfell #apinchofsanity #do if you want #redheadedhell

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colorful-disinterest · 10 years

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I Got Tagged

I was tagged by oldnewborrowedbluebox

Rule 1: Always post the rules

Rule 2: Answer the questions the person who tagged you asked, and write 10 new ones

Rule 3: Tag 11 people and link them to the post

Rule 4: Actually tell them that you tagged them

My questions

1. If everyone on Earth was about to die except you and one person of you choice, who would you choose to survive along with you?

I would choose either my little sister or my best friend Christina because I honestly couldn't imagine my life without either one of the two.

2. What made you join tumblr?

My friend Maggie and my love for One Direction. I deleted my first blog years ago and started this one like 2 years ago

3. Favorite author and why?

Right now my favorite author is Markus Zusak because I'm reading the Book Thief and I'm kinda in love? ahaha

4. Do you cry easily or not?

I would say that it takes quite a bit to make me cry. I used to cry super easily until one of my first basketball coaches forced me to build walls and not to take everything seriously

5. Favorite band? Favorite song of theirs?

I am obsessed with All Time Low and my favorite song would have to be either Weightless or Remembering Sunday.

6. What do you consider to be the greatest album of all time?

I am not answering there are so many great albums and it would be impossible for me to choose aha

7. What TV show would you most want to be in? (as in alternate universe)

I would love to be in Once Upon A Time because that show is my obsession..

8. If you could walk into a movie and be part of their universe, which movie would you choose?

I would love to be a part of the Percy Jackson universe, I think that being a demigod would be, while challenging, a lot of fun. It would be awesome a part of that community.

9. What place in the world do you most want to go?

My usual answer to this is Ireland, but since I got to go there at the beginning of the summer, that place is checked off my list. The place that I want to go to the most would be France. Just to tour all around France and see everything I possibly can.

10. Your opinion on youtubers? And favorites, if you have any?

I think that youtubers are completely rad and that they should keep up the awesome work. I enjoy watching danisnotonfire, amazingphil, and thatcherjoe to name a few.

Your Questions:

1. If you had one day to live, how would you spend it?

2. What is your favorite book and why?

3. If you could name one place to be right this moment, where would you go?

4. Who is your favorite person right now? (friend, family, famous, doesn't matter)

5. What is the one food that you could eat for the rest of your life and be happy?

6. Where is your happy place?

7. What is your favorite song?

8. Who is your favorite celebrity and why?

9. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

10. Who is your current crush?

I Tag:

youtubelife25

moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs

bow-ties-fezzes-and-stetsons

thegirlintheblazer

wit-beyond-treasure

sulli17

tardis-at-h0gwarts

dontblinkthewalkerswillgetyou

jughead21

addicted-teens

mischiefmanagedin221b

#youtubelife25 #moonmoonwormtailpadfootandprongs #bow-ties-fezzes-and-stetsons #thegirlintheblazer #wit-beyond-treasure #sulli17 #tardis-at-h0gwarts #dontblinkthewalkerswillgetyou #jughead21 #addicted-teens #mischiefmanagedin221b

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