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grabbing new writers by the shoulders. it is important to write what you love and to love what you write. if you spend all your time trying to make something other people will approve of you will hate yourself and everything around you. learn at your own pace. you have time. i’m proud of you

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part of what makes tragedies tragic is the story being preventable from the outside but unpreventable from the inside

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i'm just curious bc i'm watching How to Train Your Dragon and i always forget how happy and calm it makes me feel. i mean, i did name my cat after Toothless the dragon. but i also love Lion King, that's my Disney comfort movie. and my Ghibli comfort movie is Spirited Away. watching any of these when i'm in a foul mood or my anxiety is high always helps 🥰 but i watch them just for fun too, not only when i'm in a mood. what about you?

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I can’t even remember where this is in inquisition but I think about this drawing constantly

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Honestly, I should have known I was going to hate Bridgerton S3 P2 when Ross and Rachel from Friends kept coming up in PR.

I’ve never really liked Friends to begin with, but when I did watch it, Ross and Rachel were always annoying as fuck, constantly swimming in the miscommunication trope, and I never found them to be a particularly romantic pairing.

Love Luke and Nic, but that comparison alone should have had me worried about my Polin babies. Because yeah… the romance didn’t deliver in P2. 💔

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There have been a couple of posts going around about how smut writers have the challenge of keeping a sex scene interesting when there's only a few different actions and a few different body parts to talk about

And yes, funny jokes about writing, but when I see posts like these I want to scream

If you feel like the sex scene you're writing is repetitive, no number of synonyms for "thrust" will help you. Synonyms for "cock" or "cunt" will REALLY not help you.

Sex scenes are character studies as much as they are action scenes. What are the characters' frameworks for what they're doing? Emotions, thoughts, specific physical sensations. If there are metaphors, do the metaphors make sense with the characters' experiences/the story's theme's/the setting? Is the sex scene completing a character arc, even a small one? Is there a character arc within the sex scene itself, even a small one?

A really good sex scene is specific and grounded to the physicality, emotions, and thoughts of the characters involved. Even if it's a PWP!

It's been said that the largest sex organ is the brain, and this is not a joke, especially when we're talking about the medium of the written word!

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“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

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you can hate Hillary Clinton in a cool lefty way all you want but this country would be better off in almost every conceivable way if she had been elected in 2016

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Keep in mind I’m a cis woman writing this.

So I was debating posting this but I think it needs to be said.

So I’m a student teacher and this week, we started at a new school district. Now I won’t presume to begin to pretend that I know what everyone’s political ideologies are in this school district but keep in mind that it’s in rural New York State and rural New York State tends to run red. Not as red as some other places but definitely not blue and not even really purple. 

Anyway yesterday was my first ever professional development day. So I’m all dressed up, introducing myself to other teachers, and I shake hands with the superintendent who seems like a really nice guy.

And about halfway through the day, he goes up to the front of the theater and he starts talking about the best ways to talk to and help transgender/nonbinary students. It’s the basic things we all learn in our education classes. And you can tell that he’s a bit uncomfortable and so are some of the teachers. And at last, he stops and says, “Folks, I have to be honest. My father is rolling in his grave right now.”

And I’m in the back like, “Oh no.”

And so he pauses again and then he starts implying that he was raised to have a very negative opinion on the transgender community. And he continues to say that he had to unlearn a lot in the past few decades and then he admitted that he still doesn’t get it. He outright admitted that he personally doesn’t understand how someone comes to the conclusion that they’re not their assigned gender. And he admits that of course he doesn’t because he’s never had to go through that.

Another pause.

And then he says, “But I don’t have to get it.”

The theater fills with whispers and then he says [and I’m paraphrasing here], “I don’t have to get it. I don’t even have to agree with it. Because it doesn’t matter what I think or what I feel or what my beliefs are. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that I respect that student and I respect their choice.”

And then he reminded the teachers of every single policy that the school district follows from letting any student use their bathroom of choice to changing the students’ names per the students’ requests to not telling the parents anything unless the student gives consent to do so.

And at the end, he brought it back by saying, “My father just rolled in his grave again. But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you think, it doesn’t matter what you believe, because it’s not about you. It’s about your kids. And you need to love your kids! Love your kids! Love your kids!”

Long story short, this looks like it’s going to be a good placement.

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Lighter, Brighter, and Quieter -- Colin and Penelope's first kiss

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If you are fine with the fact that the writers had Penelope doing a last minute, zero build-up, half-assed rebrand in order to remain Lady Whistledown (that can’t even logically function with her going public) i.e. her harmful coping mechanism instead of realizing she doesn’t need it anymore…

Sorry, but you don’t actually like Penelope. 🤷‍♀️

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Do you think the writers hate Colin? His character was seriously very undeveloped in s3.

They gave book Colin’s personality (charming/funny) to show Benedict, gave him finding out about LW first to show Eloise and gave him telling the ton that Pen was LW to show Penelope.

I don’t know anything about this Colin other than he likes traveling and going to brothels (icky storyline btw).

I think this season suffered from feminism.

Don't come for me because it's whatever...

One of the sexiest to me about my husband is knowing that when it comes down to it he will scorch the earth to protect and defend me.

Book Colin was more assertive, protective and actionable.

Show Colin got his balls clipped and became a passive, bumbling side character to Penelope.

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Colin, teaching Penelope flirting: What are your strengths?

Penelope: I fall in love easily.

Colin: Um, okay… and what are your weaknesses?

Penelope: Those beautiful blue eyes of yours.

Colin:

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ferelden SHOULD be as gender egalitarian as the introductory flavor text implies, seeing as how they're 30 years removed from a war for independence in which your mom (yes, yours! I meant this more generically but also literally Cousland's mom!) was a freedom fighter and so was their well beloved queen

they should be belligerently proud of that shit. it should be to their mind what sets proud fereldans apart from occupiers and sympathizers tbh

"oh you don't believe a woman's place is on the field of battle? what are you, french?"

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As a Penelope fan, I’m just sitting here wondering how people who claim to love her are happy with what the show (P2 specifically) has done to her.

Lady Whistledown arose out of Penelope growing up in emotionally abusive household where she was and is ignored and belittled, and she develops deeply ingrained trust issues as a result. As she grows older, society then also treats her pretty terribly (whether because of how she looks, who her family is, her shyness… all make sense in a way) and through luck or planning (since the show never tells us), she creates LW as a coping mechanism to be heard and to hit back… which I get - living that sort of life would be incredibly traumatic on a daily basis; I’m not surprised she got angry! But as a result, she ends up CHOOSING to cause hurt in the way SHE was hurt. She becomes a part of the greater cycle of pain and trauma.

That’s not to say the people around her are flawless; they’re not! But even when Pen is trying to (in her mind) help others, despite her intentions she DOES cause harm, to those she cares about AND strangers, and she does it behind a mask and a fear or exposure and censure. She chooses the nuclear option almost every time because she refuses to trust in or rely on others out of fear.

Penelope is perpetually stuck in a trauma-response and holding onto it like her life depends on it because to her, IT DOES - to her, it is the only way she has a say in her life, her way of surviving the grind of the social season, in the society she DESPERATELY wants to be a part of, but where she barely exists to others and is ignored.

And it was interesting; what a conflict!!Penelope, a young woman in a time where women had little to no power or agency, has created this massive machine that the ton is addicted to and feeds… but the power is heady, and she is ALSO addicted to it and can’t seem to stop despite the harm she KNOWS she’s doing, even when it blows up in her face, even when it harms her AND her precious people. Her hyper independence arose out of being emotionally alone nearly her entire life. She keeps her focus outward instead of internal at all costs, because what will she find when she looks inward?

All of this in S1 and S2 was fine with me because characters are allowed to (and should have) flaws. And I was under the impression that in S3, the narrative was going to finally grapple with Penelope’s trauma and the way she CHOSE to cope with it and how those who love her will grapple with this discovery. I was excited for Colin and Eloise to help her realize she is more than what her life has pushed her to be and what she feels she needs to do to survive. And then the show just… doesn’t.

The show’s answer to this was that LW was a victory for her character; that all she needed to do was “be confident” and that fixes all her pain she caused and that staying LW should be the pinnacle of her character growth.

To the show, Penelope “growing up” means actively choosing her coping mechanism over every relationship in her life and framing it as feminist… and that if she were to be rejected, it’s because those people were rejecting Penelope herself, and that she should be blindly supported… when the reality is that the show forces Penelope to reject everything except LW and never lets her consider a different option.

And I’m screaming into the void because how could they want that for Penelope?! Penelope, a hopeless romantic who reads romance novels to escape and because they are a “history of connection,” the thing she has lacked and seeks desperately! And in P2 she’s not alone; she now has Colin who loves her desperately!

Growing up means doing the hard work of self-reflection and acknowledging when you’ve harmed others and then trying to do better. To realize that you can’t live constantly seeking the validation of society because they will always move the goal posts, and that the harm done to you is a reason… but not an excuse to continue to harm others when you know better. But what does the show do?

The show has the briefest of scenes where she attempted a half-assed apology to Colin before the it barrels past any sort of meaningful conversation and then… ultimately keeps her right where she started… but public now (despite the fact that LW CANNOT function out in the open and the show is fucking dumb to pretend otherwise).

Pen is still focused externally on society instead of inward on her own thoughts and her own dreams. The show handwaves LW as “she’ll do better!” with no explanation for what that looks like or entails, (and ignores how people will weaponize gossip now that they know it’s Pen). The show forces Penelope to remain stagnant because they decided they NEED LW to frame future stories, and they would sacrifice everything, even the romance upon which the season is based, to keep that narrative framing as a crutch.

We could have had Colin finding out earlier in the show, still experiencing his RIGHTFUL anger toward Pen and what she’s done… and then having Pen WANT to fight for Colin but not knowing how! To her, who is she without LW? And Colin loving her enough to call her out and help her realize that only living and focusing on what others are saying is deeply unfulfilling when she has her own thoughts to share with the world… because he KNOWS that! He’s LIVED that! LW is mask for a broken, hurt girl but he loves her anyway and they can help the other heal! Polin against the world, against Cressida’s panicked blackmail, against the Queen… against the ton.

Instead, LW is validated every step of the way. Reconciliations with Eloise and Colin are rushed and hand-waved because the narrative demands it. Penelope and Cressida, set up as parallels, never come to together to realize how their actions were influenced by their similar traumas and that maybe they, along with Eloise, can show solidarity and tackle their problems head on. Nope, Penelope is forced to remain hyper-independent (because ✨girlboss✨ or something ) and never learns to rely on others who want to help her: not Eloise, and not Colin. Colin is regulated to her yes man and trophy husband instead of the love of her life who is her EQUAL and has just as much to share with the world if they support one another. Penelope never gets the chance to learn that you can comment on the failings of and imperfections of society without attacking others. That being a writer doesn’t mean you’re stuck as a GOSSIP writer. That she could in fact write about the “histories of connections” she so admires. Nope, for her it’s “I’m this thing that I do, deal with it.”

Her ending is a literal deus ex machina and that is why it is so deeply unsatisfying for so many viewers.

As a Penelope fan, I’m crushed the show didn’t allow her to grow up and move beyond what her emotionally negligent home life did to her, but instead completely shaped her character and ending around it and painted it as a victory. I’m outlining fix-it fic, but it hurts me knowing that this is “canon” and I’m mostly pretending P2 doesn’t exist (aside from a few sweet moments).

This season certainly wasn’t Colin’s, but it wasn’t even Penelope’s - it was Lady Whistledown’s and the writers don’t even realize that they created a tragedy as a result.