My Favorite Wenclair Take Is That Once Wednesday Starts Dating Enid The Simp Gene She Inherited From

I don't think fic writers know how much they matter

Do you know how many times you distracted me when I was hurt or lonely? Do you know how many times a line or a scene from fanfic marked me so much that I remembered years later, even though I can’t recall my own phone number? 

Even if the fic isn’t perfect or popular or multi-chaptered… Sometimes there’s just one sentence that changed me.

You, miles and miles away, changed me.

“I’d kill for you. Please ask me to kill for you.” “No.” Is a top tier ship dynamic no I do not take criticism

what does it say about us as a culture that most of our microwaves have a dedicated popcorn button

Saw a video of a video of a lady on tiktok pretending to be deaf to avoid the attentions of some "admirers" while traveling abroad. It was questionable, but it does give me the idea of Lena being fluent in ASL, and using it to ignore people she doesn't want to deal with.

So, say Lena and Sam are traveling, and some dudes start pestering them for greetings/pictures/attention. Lena slips into fluent ASL, legit explaining to them that she's deaf (she is not), and Sam trying not to laugh as she's plays along and translates.

The men eventually move on, but when Lena later goes to the bathroom, she's caught on her way out by the same guys who try to press their luck again. They're drunker this time, and ignore her signing as they leer closer and closer into her personal space.

Just as Lena is about to panic and abandon the charade in favor of telling them off, she hears a call from across the bar.

"Hey!"

The next thing she knows, Lena is wrapped up in a warm hug from a person taller than her but also female, who smells so so good.

When the woman draws away, Lena catches a glimpse of a beautiful face before her rescuer turns to her would be assailants.

"Can I help you?"

Lena nearly chokes at the sound of accented English, the slightly warped, slightly too loud words those of someone who is *actually* hard of hearing.

Then men try to explain that they're friends, but before Lena can deny it, the woman cuts in with a loud "I can't hear you", signing as she goes.

Quickly losing interest in a woman who can speak-- with her voice, loudly-- the men soon drift away, giving the woman room to turn back to Lena.

"Are you okay?"

Then, before Lena can reply...

"Sorry for the hug. Looked like you needed an out."

Lena grins. "I did, thank you. But I have a confession-- I'm not actually deaf."

The woman's smile only deepens. "Well, you sign beautifully."

Lena flushes a light pink. "I have a friend waiting outside. Can we buy you a drink?"

"My sister is already at the bar-- maybe we should buy you one."

Kara turns a little sheepish then.

"Actually... can we? It's rare that I find a stranger who can sign."

Lena nervously nibbles her lip, then makes an executive decision.

"That would be lovely."

“Girls gays and theys” <- uninclusive while trying to be inclusive. Bad. Makes me uncomfortable.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and other distinguished guests” <- inclusive but far, far too formal

“Alrighty gamers” <- Incisive of everyone, informal, and fun to say.

a short comic about witches and wishes and wanting things.

(all my comics are here!)

one of the reasons i love wednesday/enid so much is how much enid respects wednesday’s boundaries without her having to say much (or more accurately, nothing at all)

we see this they first time they meet, when enid accepts that wednesday isn’t a hugger. she doesn’t push wednesday or try to change this fact (something we see the boys do when they try to make wednesday do something she isn’t interested in/not ready for)

and although enid does try to hug wednesday later in the episode, she does nothing more than hold her arms out and step forward. she repeats her earlier statements and leaves wednesday be

this is also after their balcony talk, where enid shares about her vulnerabilities with not being able to wolf out, and wednesday shares in return. they’ve gone from being at each other throats (hyperbole) to enid wishing wednesday safe travels. enid also recognizes how wednesday sharing, in a attempt to comfort her, is her being vulnerable as well, and without prompting she promises not to tell anyone

during the window shots, we can see how enid keeps her distance from the divide between their sides, and it is wednesday who steps closer to enid, even if it just a small bit

in episode eight, as they are packing wednesday’s things and enid goes to try and hug her one last time, when wednesday retreats, enid takes a step back as well. (wednesday also steps closer when enid moves away)

the final moment that solidifies that when it comes to bridging the distance between them, although enid tries more often, it is wednesday who fully closes that cap. in the hig, wednesday doesn’t just return the hug, she pulls enid back in and gets as close to enid as she can (burying her face in enid’s shoulder, something enid doesn’t really do). enid is assuring herself wednesday is safe. wednesday is seeking comfort. she closes her eyes and moves her hand against enid’s back

there are other small, and some may say insignificant moments (like in episode two when enid jokes that wednesday can just ‘glare uncomfortably’), but one moment that did stick out to me was when enid returns to their room

it’s obvious that enid missed wednesday (and vice versa) but she is willing to put in the boundaries wednesday had previously set. she wants to be closer to wednesday but not to the point where wednesday is uncomfortable, and she’s willing to wait for wednesday to become comfortable on her own timeline

the point im trying to make through all my incessant (and probably incomprehensible, given i just spat this out) ramblings, is that ENID RESPECTS WEDNESDAY’S BOUNDARIES in a way other characters don’t seem to

i watched My Neighbor Totoro for the first time, here's my chronological viewing experience:

woo-hoo! dusty old japanese house with japanese architectural details aplenty

these kids got some ENERGY my goodness

family dynamic's adorable. peak quality dad humor

kids: our house is haunted. parents: that's so cool!

hell yeah, wrinkled old lady rep. we need more friendly old women with potato faces and warts like storybook witches. the backbone of society, these ladies

Plot Summary: Small Child Bothers Local Wildlife

sacred tree sacred tree sacred tree

Introducing Totoro! nobody said this fucker's got TEETH???

Uh-Oh! Inadequate Parental Supervision Detected

(you misplaced your four year old! you're not supposed to do that)

4-year-old: i met a magic forest spirit. dad: oh shit fr?

4-year-old: *angrily hugs sister* missed u bitch

this small child has a smile like a toad. like a really really cute toad. like the cutest toad in all existence. i love her she's perfection please just let this child be happy

rice paddies are so pretty....so back breaking....rice is such a prissy crop

*my crush is stranded in a rainstorm* takethisumbrellait'syoursnowBYE *runs away in panic im so good at flirting*

Giant Chinchilla Learns To Hold Umbrella, Is Fucking Delighted By Experience

take this, it will help you on your quest! *hands u trail mix wrapped in a leaf*

LO-FI HIP HOP STUDY LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

crouching down to peer at dirt--A++ top notch foundational childhood experience

mom has a big ass forehead

honey! the chinchillas are performing Rituals in the backyard again

help yeah let's jack and the bean stalk this shit

huh so we're all just climbing aboard the giant chinchilla's tiddies now ok

class trip!

the pure adrenaline of Vegetable Gardening

no! the small child is crying! she is bawling her eyes out. no no no. i can't cope with this. emotionally i cannot cope 🥺🥺🥺

i've only had Mei one hour but if anything happens to her i will raze this earth and everyone on it

please someone make this small child smile again

oh no the tall child is crying too

i can't take this. my heart can't take this.

i need a drink

small child running determined to deliver magic veggies to the hospital. this kid is my hero

she is also unsupervised. so, so unsupervised

babe you are FOUR

godDAMMIT ghibli, you cannot give me watercolor sunsets while a small child is missing. u are killing me. my heart is giving out. this is me, experiencing heart failure.

Totoro to the rescue!

no wait CATBUS to the rescue!

i admit i initially thought the cat was a creep. alice in wonderland prejudiced me. i have revised my notions of smiling cats

i've decided the cat is a metaphor for the magic of a robust public transport system

MEI'S OKAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and so is mom. she's a lovely lady im sorry for what i said about her forehead. it's a noble forehead.

happy ending YES bitch!!!!!!

ok. ok ok ok. that was magical.

(as a first-time adult viewer i was worried i wouldn't be able to Access the Magic. but i could and i did and it was incredible. that was culture. that was ART. joy distilled into animated form. holy rites of childhood. i understand now. how glorious, this world we grow out of. how full of marvels. i'm going outside to smell grass and sun and get dirt under my fingernails. miraculous.)

I see a lot of new writers struggling with pacing dialogue so here's some tips. First off, unlearn your distaste for "said." If you need to quickly remind readers who is speaking without distracting them, put "said."

Second, if the dialogue is meant to be happening rapidly, cut tags out for several lines. Example:

"Give me the map."

"What map?"

"Don't play dumb with me. Hand it over."

"Not until you give me the keys."

"What keys?"

See how quickly this moves? Every beat is another piece of dialogue, feeding the exchange back and forth. We can slow this down by adding tags that carry some description. This makes the reader spend longer on the passage. Example:

"Give me the map," she demanded, holding out her hand.

"What map?" he asked, face a picture of perfect innocence.

"Don't play dumb with me," she said.

See how much slower this exchange feels now? We didn't add any new information and yet the beats have totally changed. Think of description as something that adds time. To demonstrate, consider this example:

"Don't play dumb with me. Hand it over."

He didn't answer right away. "Not until you give me the keys," he said finally.

How do we make the reader pause in a more natural and effective way? By adding description and tags. Example:

"Don't play dumb with me," she spat, voice dripping venom. "Hand it over."

He stared at her outstretched hand, palm empty. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled.

"Not until you give me the keys," he said with a sigh.

See? Without using a single time indicator, we showed a pause, by slowing down the reader and filling those beats with description. Remember that people visualize at the same speed they read. If you need to slow them down, make them read more words. For faster, more intense exchanges, skip all but necessary clarifying tags, as in the very first example.

Lastly, consider the rhythm of your passage. See this example:

"Give me the map," she spat, hand outstretched.

"What map?" he asked, shrugging.

"Don't play dumb with me," she said, narrowing her eyes.

This is repetitive. Avoid using the same pattern of tags and description two or more times in a row. You can fix this by reworking your passage to include more or different descriptions, but for a quick fix, try changing the tags into stand alone sentences and/or moving them before the dialogue. To fix the passage above, we might try this:

"Give me the map," she spat, hand outstretched.

He shrugged. "What map?"

"Don't play dumb with me," she said. Her eyes narrowed.

See how much more natural that is? And we changed nothing but the order and punctuation. Removing the repetition helps you avoid pulling the reader out of the story by reminding them that they're reading. A good dialogue passage should be remembered in your reader's minds as a movie scene.