You'll Get The Urge As An Artist Or A Writer To Say Out Loud The Things You're Worried About "the Proportions

Me writing Every Hero Needs a Villain like "maybe this is too self indulgent" and encouraging myself to sprinkle in even more self indulgence everytime I think that.

I refuse to let this stay in the tags, because it's so fucking good:

#'well I KNOW bad from good so i can't be affected by media!' #'everyone else also knows bad from good and defines it the exact way i do!' #'so if i think this is bad then the author must also think this is bad!' #i have bad news ....

You have perfectly described why I hate these responses when it comes to criticizing romanticized CSA. People will roll their eyes at you as if it's implausible the person writing it might not actually view it as bad. I am genuingely concerned about people who will defend romanticized CSA to their dying breath, all while refusing to acknowledge some groomers and predators write this content because they genuingely view their relationships as cute and harmless. It's usually not even intentional, because these individuals don't even blink an eye at these themes in their work. Not every person who writes this content is a groomer or predator, but that does not mean those who do suddenly poof away like magic. Refusing to ackowledge the writers that are and behaving as if their victims are just "lying puritans", like I see so many folks do, is so childish and harmful.

Like, I really wish people understood breaking away from purity culture is not this magical remedy that makes shitty people suddenly go away. Using the idea that believing the exact opposite of purity culture somehow erases all evil is falling into the same trappings that purity culture does. Like, purity culture refuses to acknowledge predators within their community because, so long as someone has specific beliefs and follows specific rules, they can't be bad. I am concerned seeing people who claim to believe the opposite pushing the same beliefs. Aka "so long as you think fiction never affects reality, you can't be a predator!". It's just purity culture repackaged.

In summary, great post OP. I know this was posted in 2023, but it's still extremely relevant right now.

I love how on Tumblr, "media literacy" has become "Um, just because someone writes about this doesn't mean they're endorsing this. I hate all these media puritans ruining everything."

I'm sad to inform you that knowing when and whether an author is endorsing something, implying something, saying something, is also part of media literacy. Knowing when they are doing this and when they're not is part of media literacy. Assuming that no author has ever endorsed a bad thing is how you fall for proper gander. It's not media literacy to always assume that nobody ever has agreed with the morally reprehensible ideas in their work.

Sometimes, authors are endorsing something, and you need to be aware when that happens, and you also need to be aware when you're doing it as an author. All media isn't horny dubcon fanfic where you and the author know it's problematic IRL but you get off to it in the privacy of your brain. Sometimes very smart people can convince you of something that'll hurt others in the real world. Sometimes very dumb people will romanticize something without realizing they're doing it and you'll be caught up in it without realizing that you are.

Being aware of this is also media literacy. Being aware of the narrative tools used to affect your thinking is media literacy. Deciding on your own whether you agree with an author or not is media literacy. Enjoying characters doing bad things and allowing authors to create flawed or cruel characters for the sake of a story is perfectly fine, but it is not the same as being media literate. Being smug about how you never think an author has bad intentions tells me you're edgy, not that you're media literate. You can't use one rule to apply to all media. That's not how media literacy works. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Aheem heem. Anyway.

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any genre

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regular communication when planning

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Fair enough!

Happy storyteller saturday! What are you most looking forward to writing in your current WIP?

Honestly? No idea. I don't think like that. I don't (usually) have a scene, a specific character, or even a theme when I start a story. I have the seed of an idea and just write. Thanks for the ask.

Uhm... anyone interested in this silly little thing?

"Hear ye'! Hear ye'! A number of flawed individuals possess tools with dangerous power - and mysterious, godlike beings want to erase them for it. Is it because those beings sense corpses in these individuals' stead?" (A pitch for ya', dear folks).

Tumblr

Join 'Bad Tokens' Omniverse • Community on Tumblr

A place so niche you’ll need a fairy trap to find it! (This is about an upcoming, whimsical series of books, comics, etc)

I thought a community would be a good spot to have all stuff related to B\T (WIPs) in one place.

As to not scroll and scroll after it. Also, the Masterpost only has relevant stuff on it, not everything related to these WIPs. Unlike there.

You can learn more about B\T there or in here:

I adore this. You perfectly took symbolism and imagery associated with the heart that would usually be framed as comforting, and distorted it in a way that gave me chills. This poem felt extremely powerful because of that, and I love the haunting imagery you've created here.

Cracks are in the molding of the drywall

where my fingers push in the heart

I'm tired of holding

The squelch it makes when it hits the ground

notifies me of my failure and makes my voicebox

attempt to imitate that horrifying sound

My knees slip in the flood of red from it's exit

And I fall in time with it's beating

Gorey giggles bubble from my mouth

when I end up landing face to face with it

Realizing that this is karma's dealing

I primarily write horror mysteries, so you night like some of my stuff. I also include a lot of queer characters.

Active writeblrs?

Yelling out into the writeblr void because I haven't been active on here in over a year and my dash is super empty, so if you're a writeblr please reblog this ♡

I especially love horror, mysteries, and really anything about queer characters!

My primary project is a southern gothic horror about a girl returning to hometown after more than a decade, which you read more about on my intro post.

I talk a lot about using your local library, and as a person with a fantastic local library, I am privileged in that push. Unfortunately, it has become apparent in the new year that the budget for audiobooks has shifted. Whether due to inflation, changes in funding, or something else, my local library has not been buying as many audiobooks, which affects me as an audiobook reader deeply.

The secondary service I rely on after the library is, without a doubt, Libro.fm. So, if you want to help me get access to more books, and also enjoy an audiobook service I genuinely believe in, check out my referral link. If you use it, I get credits, which I use to expand my digital library when the library rejects my suggestions.

Here is my referral link:

Libro.fm

Buy audiobooks & support local bookstores

Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks directly through local bookstores.