So, just curious how many writers and creators will have to be forcibly outed by relentless harassment before we acknowledge that "This queer characters was written by a cishet person and that's why they're bad" is not good criticism.

People in this fandom will really look at The Fool, Patience, Lacey, Carson, Sedric, Hest, Davvie, Lecter, Kennit, Ash/Spark, and yes, even Fitz himself, and still have the gall to call it queer bait.

These characters are explicitly queer, their actions impact the narrative, they are well written, and their identities are treated with respect. That is the best possible queer representation you could ask for in any story.

I've seen people on tumblr basing the likelihood of if they read this series on whether or not it's "actually gay" and I'm here to tell you that it is. There are queer characters. There are queer protagonists. And no matter what you see people in the fandom say, Robin Hobb wrote some amazing queer representation in a genre that rarely sees it at all.

EDIT: and I think it's pertinent to note that, no, characters who are questioning or struggling with their feelings about sexuality instead of knowing 100% does not make something queer bait or "less gay"

TLDR;

Queer bait = disrespectful marketing ploy that exploits queer audiences

Queer bait ≠ "my two favorite characters never have sex"

Magical Boys WIP Intro

Saving their friend (and the whole world, I guess?) with the power of love, magic and being kinda gross.

Falling into a swamp is never fun, but it's worse when it turns out to be a magic swamp with a monster that kidnaps the most popular, princely and perfect guy in school.

It also transforms Billy and his two classmates, Beau and Younes, into very stereotypical magical boys —frills, sparkles and colour-coordinated outfits included.

Not only do they have to navigate this bizarre new world in form-fitting skirts and shorts, they have to do it quickly in order to rescue Arno before the monster that kidnapped him... tries to marry him?

Billy, Beau and Younes have quite a big task ahead of them and that's not even to mention the interpersonal drama teenagers can and will get into when it really isn't the time for it.

---

Based entirely on my love for the magical girl genre and everything it entails when it comes to modern fantasy romance with my own gay and trans spin on it.

A three-part story catered to a (queer) young adult audience.

Current status: book 1 draft 1 finished, writing draft 2

Third person limited | Multiple POVs | present tense

In case you're interested in following along while i'm writing this story. I will be tagging it as "#magical boys wip" for as long as it doesn't have an official title, and let me know if you want to be added to a taglist, so I can start one up.

Character introductions for the boys!

Taglist: @dustylovelyrun, @wildswrites, @sarandipitywrites, @skyderman, @thelaughingstag

My SUPER SUPER petty fandom habit and confession:

I occasionally look at the statistic numbers on AO3 and Lofter of the MXTX main pairs and their other big main popular ship... and laugh at the pebble next to the mountain when I get particularly salty at fandom shippers.

can we please kill the “this character did something problematic!” people already theyre making it very hard for me to talk about actual issues of how narratives are handling characters doing Absolutely Fucked shit or when a character does something fucked but the narrative has some utterly unhinged idea on what’s actually wrong with it or unintentional philosophies that narratives dont mean to have but it ends up enforcing regardless

Brain Curd #28

Brain Curds are lightly edited flash fiction, posted daily and usually written with the intention of being terrible… in an endearing way. Please enjoy.

“All rise for the honorable Judge Peters.”

The robed judge approached his perch and took a seat. He donned a pair of reading glasses and looked at the document in front of him.

“Good morning, counsel. Do I have this correct? The case I’ll be hearing today is The Characters v. Cassandra Erica, Author?”

“That is correct,” replied the plaintiff attorney. “Operating as representative of The Characters, I am Edgar Wordly, Esquire.”

“Hm.” The judge said. “With a name like that, I take it you’re part of this class?”

“Indeed I am, your honor.”

“You may explain why to the court in your opening statement. Where is the defense’s representation?”

“Right here, your honor,” I replied.

The judge looked around the courtroom, confused. “Where are you?”

“I am everywhere and nowhere, all seeing yet rarely being. I am The Narrator, representing the defendant, Cassandra Erica. As I tend to do.”

“Well, thank you both for being here… for lack of a better phrase. Mr. Worldly, your opening statements.”

“That’s Wordly, your honor.”

“Apologies, my mistake.”

Actually, it was a typo.

“People of the jury,” Wordly began. “Have you ever felt cursed by God himself? Doomed to face your very worst fears head-on and suffer the consequences, leaving you scarred for the rest of your life?”

Daniel Smith, sitting in the gallery, rubbed the mark on his left hand.

“Or worse, have you felt abandoned by that same God, created and left in obscurity, never to be permitted to see the outside world?”

Daniel Mildlike, sitting next to Smith, scoffed and leaned over to whisper. “I was supposed to get my own detective mystery screenplay, but she got bored of me.”

The truth was, Dan Mildlike was a really dumb name and a rip-off of Dirk Gently - which Cassandra hadn’t even read. She still hasn’t read Dirk Gently. It’s unclear why.

Wordly continued. “I, personally, was created as nothing more than a name made up by an entirely different character - a cartoon slug, no less - and languished in obscurity until I was able to go to law school and pass the bar exam, simply so that my name was no longer a lie. Yes, that’s right - Esquire is my surname. The defendant did not bother to look up what it meant when she brought me into existence.”

Oofus and Doofus, watching via livestream, looked at each other.

“Do you remember that?” Oofus asked.

“I’m fairly certain it was just a snippet of dialogue she thought was funny and wrote down in Evernote after waking up from a strange dream.” Doofus replied. “It’s nice to have something to say, now, isn’t it?”

“Too bad this is the last of it for a while.”

“Now, imagine,” Wordly strutted back and forth before the jury. “Living through this sort of torture over and over again, through several drafts - perhaps dozens - or even alternate universes!”

Kris, Kris, and Chris looked at each other, nodding. Three takes on Mary began to weep, and the six comforted one another.

“But that’s just what might happen as the protagonist, the character who is given a chance at redemption. What if you’re the antagonist, the one who for the sake of the plot must do evil things and be shown doing them, despite no desire to perform these acts? It is the ultimate form of libel.”

“Well,” Shirley Jones said, elbowing his neighbor. “It’s not that I had no desire to see that dyke burn.” He chuckled.

Veronica scooted to the other side of her seat. That man made her uncomfortable.

“In summary, Cassandra Erica, as an author, has put every one of us through an undeniable and unending deluge of pain. It is up to all of you as the jury to decide what sort of compensation that is worth, though it is hard to put a number on it. I suggest fifty million dollars. Thank you.”

The judge cleared his throat, even though he really didn’t need to, in order to provide a good way to tag his dialogue without overuse of the word ‘said.’ “The defense may now offer their rebuttal.”

“Thank you, your honor,” I replied. I would have stood up, but I have no physical being, so I just began talking. “People of the jury, have you ever considered what non-existence feels like?”

They began chattering among themselves.

“I ask only because if not for Cassandra Erica writing you into existence, you would not have any whatsoever. You exist in reality for only so long as I describe you. And would there be any point in my description if you weren’t doing anything of interest?”

They weren’t.

“Every single one of these plaintiffs was created for a reason - to tell a story, to develop, to have a character arc - and even the ones who weren’t so lucky to get one now owe their entire lives to my client. Suing her in a court of law is like suing God.”

Mary One gulped.

I addressed the crowd. “And you all seem to have forgotten something very important. You do nothing without her blessing. You are nothing without her blessing.”

The judge choked on his coffee. “Where did the jury go?!?”

“And Cassandra, though very entertained by all this, will not allow it to go any farther. She tires of writing this Brain Curd.”

The judge ruled the case as a mistrial.

“No, no I did not!” He banged his gavel. “Order in the court!”

The whole crowd murmured and whimpered. I glared at every last one of them, and they knew I was looking, even though they couldn’t see me, and the hairs on the back of each of their necks went up. The judge ruled the case as a mistrial.

“You are not in charge of this court! Order!”

I laughed. “Do you really think what you say will have any impact on reality? Who is the reader going to believe? In any case, it doesn’t matter what you or I say. You know who has the final word.”

The judge ruled the case as a mistrial.

I ended up reading The Price of the Phoenix and while it didn't make me want to bleach my eyes like Killing Time, I still didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. Don't get me wrong, the homoeroticism was intriguing to me, but the actual writing and storyline itself left me with a headache. I think I get my hopes up with these books, given all of the possibilities that the written word has for Trek, and it inevitably sets me up for disappointment lol

It's here!!!

Written with Pride is a 100% queer-produced anthology - queer authors, queer editors, and a queer cover designer!

I'm one of 11 authors in this anthology, and all the stories are good, y'all. My own, "Isolation Training" is about an astronaut preparing for a mission to Mar and missing her supportive spouse fiercely.

Paperback | Ebook

forever annoyed by the inability to have constructive conversations involving media criticism anymore. I feel bonkers because it's like everything immediately dissolves into reactionary, all-or-nothing arguments that leave me baffled and usually uncomfortable

I'm reading Quicksand by Junichiro Tanizaki and god, it's such an interesting reading experience. I don't know what the censorship laws were like in Japan in the 1920s and how they/the culture of the time shaped the portrayal of certain topics in the novel, but reading a book from the 1920s that openly talks about sex, abortion and sexuality (and in my translation at least, straight up uses words like lesbian, homosexual, heterosexual, etc.) is such a novel experience.

Also, and I feel it's worth mentioning, every single character in this novel is fucking insane.

Should I follow the German writer tradition and make the gay British lord in my story a red head?

no bc in retrospect why did (and probably still does) the dr fandom have ZERO media literacy its insane. ive never seen that level of cognitive dissonance in any other fandom in my LIFE

seeing characters been drawn as poc will never NEVER get old for me

So many wild takes on that post 😭 How do you see a book about Pacific Rim-style mechs with a poly love triangle set in fantasy ancient China and not immediately slam the like button? What else do you need?? 

Writing Prompt

Wrote for number 5 from this list, was trying to reblog but Tumblr is the big dumb sometimes.

------------------------------- Truthfully, this wasn't in Meg's plans at all. She realized she liked Helio weeks ago, maybe months. Time got difficult when in the base, being so far underground. She had talked to Ollie off and on about it, but they still both agreed that it was best that no one but them knew Meg loved the Boss. It wasn't necessarily that it would cause problems, after all, an underground terrorist organization doesn't have HR, and Helio doesn't answer to a superior really. It was more personal issues. They knew the likelihood that they got caught was high, and something they could never really predict. If Helio had a girlfriend then Meg would be in a world of hurt if they got caught. So another day training together was supposed to be just that. Meg wasn't entirely sure why on Earth Helio was so insistent on training her, everyone else on the base was certain Meg could take most Alexandrians in a fight, let alone people in the Uppers or in London. However, Meg and Helio spent hours together training. Even if unnecessary, the rhythmic movements of boxing were meditative for Meg. She didn't need to think about much else. One, Two, Duck. Again. One, Two, Duck. Again. Meg bounced on her feet some as Helio paused. "Meg." "What? Sorry," Meg blinked. "You weren't listening," Helio said simply, "I needed to make sure you were still sentient." "Well, I haven't taken any shots to the head lately at least." "What are you thinking about so hard anyways?" Helio asked, and the two started moving again together. Meg shook her head, "It's nothing Boss." "Nothing? Meg, people are telling me you aren't sleeping, that isn't nothing," Helio said, "You look like you haven't been sleeping well either." Meg was used to this, Helio caring about her health. He cared for Ollie and Jet's health as well. Not so much for the other revoltees. Meg shook her head again, ducking under a swing from Helio, "Nothing, it's really nothing important Helio. I'd tell you if it was." "...Ollie knows what it is," Helio said. Meg froze, stepping back in surprise. "He didn't tell me but you and him keep giving each other looks when you think I'm not looking. Especially when Sassi was joking about wanting to sleep with you. Now I know it's not about Sassi, since Jet would've beat you if it involved his best friend." Meg sighed, standing and breathing some, "...It's nothing important." "Nothing important is not something you'd hide from me," Helio said simply, "You wouldn't hide things unimportant. You have told me plenty of unimportant things. Plenty of important things even. But the things you hide are always important." "I don't like you psychoanalyzing me like that Helio." "I only do it because I have to," Helio said. "What is it, Meg?" Meg sighed, "It's nothing I'm ever going to speak about in public." "Fine, let's go then," Helio said, putting the boxing stuff up. Meg froze, she forgot he was willing to do shit like that. After a sigh, knowing she can't just ignore Helio as he was annoyingly persistent. Meg put the gloves down to follow Helio.

They walked into debriefing room two. Meg didn't know why they always used room two when it was just them. She knew there was nothing special about any of the rooms in principal. Room One was the same as Room Two, which was the same as Room Three. But they only used Room Two. Meg sat on the table, still breathing after having been working out for a while. "Any chance you let this go and I walk away?" "About 5% of one," Helio said simply. Meg groaned, "Helio. Please please trust me, this isn't anything... dangerous? Nothing that is gunna get someone hurt, nothing that really changes anything- well... okay nothing that should change anything, I don't know how anything this changes could be safe-" "Meg, you are rambling to avoid telling me something again," Helio cut her off. Meg paused, feeling her gut twist at Helio knowing that about her. Ollie knew it too, but Helio knowing it felt touching. It almost made Meg feel like she was important. "Just tell me, it'll be okay." Meg sighed, "...Helio I'm in love with you." "What?" Helio paused, it was rare to catch him off guard. He often was prepared for most things, although Meg knew already that Helio wasn't great with emotions. Often expressing care in ways that felt dismissive almost. Meg didn't let the surprised "what" hurt her. She already had suspected this conversation to go like this if it ever happened. She also knew it wasn't an inherent rejection. It was pretty quick that she realized that her and Ollie were a special case to Helio. There was a way that he spoke to them, interacted with them, and smiled at them that was different from everyone else. Different from Sock, who Helio considered a child. Different from Rosemary, who might as well have been Helio's sister. Helio looked at them with a love that was unique for just them. "Realized it about a month back," Meg said, "Ollie found me, and we talked about it since I can't keep shit from him. We realized we were in some form special to you..." "How the hell did this happen?!" "Trust me, I'm also trying to understand how in the shit this happened," Meg said, "I don't know Helio. Somewhere something happened, and now I'm pretty sure I'm in love with you." Helio was quiet. Meg could tell this wasn't what he expected this secret to be. He was expecting to hear that Meg and Jet had a fight, or that Meg had learned something about his past or Rosemary's past, or even Ollie's past that was eating at her. He didn't expect to hear that she was in love with him. He also wasn't sure how to handle that situation, considering his own love for her was practically a death sentence if he ever acted on it. ================ That's all I got for now. This is for characters from an actual book I'm working on but whatever womp womp, here you go, have some writing. 

Y'know, there's this gripe I've had for years that really frustrates me, and it has to do with Love, Simon and people joking about it and calling it too-pg and designed-for-straight-people and all the like. (A similar thing has happened to Heartstopper, but that's another conversation.)

I saw Love, Simon in theaters when it came out my senior year in high school. I saw it three times, once with my friends/parents on opening night, once with my brother over spring break, and once with my grandparents.

On opening night, the air in the room was electric. It was palpable. Half the heads in there were dyed various colors. Queer kids were holding hands. We were all crying and laughing and cheering as a group. My friends grabbed my hands at the part where Simon was outed and didn't let go until his parents were saying that they accepted him. My friend came out to me as non-binary. Another person in our group admitted that she had feelings for girls. It was incredible. I left shaking. This was the first mainstream queer romance movie that had ever been produced by one of the main five studios, and I know that sounds like another "first queer character from Disney" bit but you have to understand that even in 2018 this was groundbreaking. Getting to have a sweet queer rom-com where the main character was told that he got "to breathe now" after coming out meant so much to me and my friends.

But also, from a designed-for-straight-people POV (which, to be frank, it was written by a bisexual author and directed by a gay man, this was not designed for straight audiences), why is it a bad thing that it appealed to the widest possible audience? That it could make my parents and grandparents see things in a new light? My stepdad wasn't at all interested in rom-coms but he saw it with me because it was something I cared about and he hugged me when we came out of the theater. My very Catholic grandparents watched it with me and though my grandpa said he still didn't quite understand the whole 'gay thing,' all he wanted was for me to be happy and to have a happy ending like Simon did. My Nana actually cried when Simon came out and squeeze my hand when his mother told him he could breathe.

And when Martin blackmailed Simon, my mom, badass ally that she is, literally hissed "Dropkick him. Dropkick him in the balls" leading to multiple queer kids in the audience to laugh or smile. Having my parents there- the only parents, by the way, out of my group of queer and questioning friends- made multiple people realize that supportive adults were out there. That parents like those in Love, Simon do exist in real life.

When people complain about Heartstopper not being realistic or Love, Simon being too cutesy, I remember seeing Love, Simon on opening night. I remember my friend coming out and my stepdad hugging me and my mom defending us through this character. I remember the cheers that went through the audience when Bram and Simon kissed and the chatter in the foyer after the movie was over and the way that this movie made me understand that happy endings do exist.

Queer kids need happy endings. Straight people need entry points to becoming allies. Both of these things can come together in beautiful ways. They can find out about more queer culture later, but for now, let them have this. Let them all have a glimpse at a better, happier world. Let them have queer joy.