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[beanenigma]

I'm afraid that I have the worldbuilder's disease and it is terminal.

[beanenigma]

Hey, everyone!

I know I've been MIA, but I'm still writing! If you can read Portuguese, allow me to introduce you to Você Não É Cinderela, a Cinderella retelling where Cinderella is a changeling and was swapped by the real one as a child.

You can get it here: https://amzn.to/430PHAD

[beanenigma]

i feel like i say this all the time, but as your friendly neighborhood creative writing instructor i’d just like to remind you, especially if you’re feeling stuck, that writing is the process of thought, not the product of thought. although cognitively we *can* think a sentence and write it down, or think a sentence and say it out loud, more often we write and speak to conjure the thoughts themselves.

that’s why i believe in the shitty first draft. often, but not always, you have to put all your ideas on a page to even figure out what you’re trying to write, who your characters are, what their lives are about, all the nitty gritty stuff you can’t expect yourself to figure out right away. and then, once all your thoughts are out and they’re right in front of you for you to look at, you write the thing again knowing what’s what. in other words, you have to sketch before you can paint.

if you can accept this, fully internalize the knowledge that you will be writing the thing at least twice, writing that shitty first draft isn’t hard at all. you know you’re mostly going to get it wrong, and that’s okay, because later you’ll get it right.

[beanenigma]

when the story is just not working, but you keep writing anyway

[beanenigma]

Hey, passing by to ask one of the most dangerous things to ask to a writer: what's one scene you really loved writing?

Ooooh, what a delicious questions!

Usually, I enjoy writing everything - I really geek out while writing, I always have a good time. But my FAVORITE thing is when I have an idea out of NOWHERE and just run with it.

There is one scene in Doorways in which monsters are chasing my characters and it was THE BEST! My characters are rushing to get to their flying truck, it won't start, then the monsters won't let it take off, then when they finally do the monsters get tangled in the electric wires... AH! It's the best!!!

Thanks for asking <3

[beanenigma]

Hi! I'm working on story where an important chunk of narrative tension comes from a young character trying to hide the paranormal things that are happening to her. This supernatural stuff effects her body in several ways, one of which is that she can no longer digest food- and no longer needs to. (A good parallel would be vampires not being able to eat human food.) It makes sense for her to perform normalcy with this as she does with her other paranormal symptoms (i.e. pretending to eat while not actually doing so). My concern is that this character happens to be fat, and I want to make sure I'm not drawing unintentional parallels to/encouraging disordered eating. The story has nothing to do with this character's weight or body image and if she were able to, she would be eating normally. There are other fat characters in the story that don't have the same issue. Do you think it would be okay to show her avoiding food, or would it be better to skirt around or rework it? Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!

Hey! First up, thanks for trusting me with your story :)

In second place, I, personally, don't see anything wrong with this concept, although you have to be careful with the execution. It could go badly easy.

As fat people, relationship with food sometimes it's tricky. We've all seen the food obsessed trope to the point that we feel shamed for liking food sometimes. But we've also seen the starving fat kid trope played out. So my concern would be how she would react to not being able to eat: both if she feels too sad about it and talks about missing food too much and if she's too relieved by it and says something about prefering not to eat. I'd try to get the balance between those two sides. And try to keep really clear that this food thing is completely natural and organic and not something bad. Just something different she has to deal with.

Otherwise, if there are fat characters wihout the same issues and you're aware for this possibility and actively taking steps to avoid it, I think you might be in the good!

Just, as usual, this one opinion of one fat person. There might be other people who feel different, so I would recommend talking to some more people!

And if anyone wants to chime in, please feel free

[beanenigma]

Hi! I saw that you’ve talked about writing fat characters before and I was wondering if you’re accepting questions/give advice, and if not, if you know any blogs that do?

Hello!

I am absolutely accepting questions and willing to give advice!

I wish I had some blogs to show you, but I'm still to find one (that's why I made those posts in the first place!) I'm also taking recommendations if anyone has got some

Sorry for the delay in answering!

[beanenigma]

Hello! Can I post your content on my writing ig? I will keep your user in the screenshot and include in that caption that you are the creator

Hey! Sure, as long as you give credit!

Also, if you can tag me on @/beanenigmaBR, i'll be much obliged <3

[beanenigma]

How to write an Indian Character by an Indian person.

Disclaimer: when i say Indian, I don’t mean native Indian. I mean INDIAN INDIAN. You know from that large asian country that’s shaped like a kite? Yeah, that Indian. 

 1. India is a large country not all Indians are Hindu.

2. Not all Indians are vegetarian.

3. Not all Indians are math wizards.

4. Not all Indian people are nerds who don’t know how to date.

5. Not all Indian people are straight and cis. (if you’re writing about Hijra or Kinner character then please do a lot of research into their culture before you write them, Hijras and Kinners are often misrepresented in Indian society to be evil and such other things)

6. We don’t eat curry, curry is not a real thing. You have to be more specific than just curry. Like please for the love of god.

7. The name of the language of India is Hindi, not Indian.

8. India has many other languages other than Hindi. Eg. Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, Marathi and many households prefer to talk in their native state/city languages rather than Hindi.

9. Indian cuisines vary from region to region. So not everyone in India likes to eat the same thing. North Indian and South Indian cuisines are very different from each other.

10. Not all Indians celebrate the same festivals but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy them all.

11. Many people’s Indian accents are a lot more subtle than you think.

12. Different regions in India have different cultural clothing.

13. Not all Indian people look like your typical brown skin black hair, northeast Indians more often than not have features very similar to Chinese people. (But remember when you write northeastern Indian characters, many of them are discriminated against in mainland India and some of them don’t really believe themselves to be Indian)

14. Most Indian don’t use toilet paper (look into this yourself, I’m not gonna go any further)

15. Indian English is more similar to British English than American. Indian English has its own slang too.  Some Indian English things to know:  - Duffer = slang for stupid  - We a lot of the times have problems differentiating between the pronunciation of V and W. - A lot of people pronounce the G in gesture how you pronounce the G in Grapes instead of pronouncing it like a J  - We say rubber not eraser.  - Schedule is pronounced Shehdule not Skedual.  - Mother promise is a way of saying pinky promise.  - Eating my brain means you’re irritating. Eg. “Stop eating my brain” which means stop irritating me.  - Senti is slang for sentimental  - Dickey refers to the boot of the car (please don’t ask)  - Cheatercock is a person who cheated in a test, or an exam or did something to gain advantage in life (not a cheater as in in the romantic/sexual sense)

16. We have a tendency of saying yaar or na after things. Even when we text.

17. ‘Are yaar’ is an expression that can have multiple meanings depending on the context you use it in. But it usually is a saying of exasperation. 

Indian characters can be very hard to write depending on which religion, region, gender, sexuality you choose for them to be. India is a large country, when writing Indian characters, remember that this is the second largest population in the entire world, not all Indian characters are the same, especially the ones you see these days in mainstream western media. 

[beanenigma]

Hey! How would one portray someone with asthma in writing?

asthmatic characters, a primer →

• First, determine how much your character’s asthma affects their day-to-day life. For someone with mild to moderate asthma, it won’t affect them as badly as someone with severe asthma. However, climate and season/temperature also affect asthma symptoms, and can be the catalyst for severe asthma attacks, even if you only have mild to moderate asthma.

• There are variations on asthma that people might not think of: exercise-induced asthma, allergic asthma, occupational asthma (exacerbated by things present in the workplace), among others. I have nonallergic asthma, which means my symptoms are worsened by basically everything, including laughing too hard.

• Asthma isn’t just a modern thing! It’s been recognized since ancient and classical times, and there were treatments for it then, too!

• A few questions to think about, if your story is set in the modern day:

Do they have medication? (For example, I take a combination of montelukast and budesonide / formoterol, which help manage my symptoms. My dad takes fluticasone instead of budesonide. There’s a wide variety of medications.)

Can they afford medication? (With good health insurance, my generic budesonide inhaler costs $100+ at my pharmacy. I have to get a refill every month.)

Are they good at remembering to take their medication?

Do they carry an emergency inhaler? If no, why not? 

Do they see a specialist for their asthma (usually a pulmonologist), or do they see only their general practitioner, or do they see no doctors at all?

• If it’s not set in the modern day, then have a few more questions to think about:

How do they manage their symptoms? (Looking up home and herbal remedies might give you some good ideas here, but keep in mind that the majority of these are not medically sound, and are not intended to be taken as medical advice in real life.)

How common is asthma in this world? How likely is it that more than one person in a community or group would be asthmatic?

How would the climate affect their asthma? Is there a lot of smoke or dust present? Is it often extremely hot or cold? What about pollen?

How much accommodation do they receive when they have asthma attacks? Do they receive medical attention for it?

If there’s magic or advanced medicine, does that account for asthma? How is asthma treated?

• Research tip: Asthma is often lumped in with allergies in medicine, largely because a lot of asthma is caused or exacerbated by bad allergies. Check out allergy resources, too, when you’re trying to look up something about asthma!

• PLEASE DON’T say your character is asthmatic and then have them exhibit 0 symptoms. (I have read books like this. I was so stoked for asthmatic representation and then... nothing.) • DON’T establish that your character has a reaction to something (i.e., heat) and then handwave that same thing later on when it becomes inconvenient. • DON’T assume that an asthmatic character can do everything a non-asthmatic character could: It actually can really limit what you can do, especially if it’s exercise-induced or otherwise very severe. • DO show your characters or world treating asthma as a serious medical condition. • DO show your asthmatic characters struggling or having trouble, especially if they’re a main character or POV character. Like other long-term illnesses and disabilities, asthma will affect many decisions that a character makes. • DO consider the consequences of a character with medication suddenly skipping that medication or being unable to take it. ESPECIALLY DO consider what happens when a character with an emergency inhaler (or other acute treatment) no longer has access to that. (For example, I have panic attacks when I don’t have my inhaler. Panic attacks can cause asthma attacks.)

••• if you have any more specific questions, there are a lot of institutions focused on asthma & allergies, and you can find them fairly easily; i recommend checking out the information they offer and also seeking out firsthand accounts (blogs, etc.) from asthmatics! thank you ♥

[beanenigma]

I saw this post but I’m an over-writer, so …

[beanenigma]

Me: I want to just make a fun self indulgent WIP with self indulgent characters and tropes without worrying about the plot

Me ten seconds into planning: If this story isn’t perfectly flawless and thought out and unique and ready for publishing I will explode

[beanenigma]

Me every year as soon as nanowrimo starts: *Beating new ideas off with a stick* Back, back I say! Do not tempt me, foul demons

[beanenigma]

NaNoProject Reintroduction: DoorWays

Urban Fantasy | New Adult | Third Person Synopsis: Juniper Graham is just your typical college student: she has two jobs, a roomate and a guy she can’t tell if she likes or not. All of this changes when her flying train crashes down on the way home: her boss and mentor is acting weird, her roomate is constantly worrying about her business and this guy she likes just went missing. Put together by fate, this witch, a mermaid journalist, a couple of magic nerds, a man made of stone and a werebear activist have to team up to find out what their university has to do with all of the dissapearances that have been happening for the last decade. Themes: Knowledge; Freedom of Speech; Prejudice; Coming of Age; Friendship; Found Family. Main characters: Juniper Graham | 21 | Traditional Witch | Animation student

Kale Boas | 23 | Sprite | Criminalistics student

Becky Shimizu | 22 | Mermaid-Human Hybrid | Journalism student

Virgil Masters | 18 | Human | Software Engineering student 

 Toriel Roux | 20 | Therianthrope (Werebear) | Nursing School 

Calisto Porter | 19 | European Wizard | Numerology Major, Metaphysics emphasis

More info on my [WIP Page]

[beanenigma]

This has Bird Maidens energy

I’ll introduce the story soon to you all

[beanenigma]

college has broken me and now everything I do has to be in Arial 12 1.5 spacing otherwise I will LOSE IT

wait are there writers who draft in times new roman

are you guys ok

[beanenigma]

Can you elaborate on antisemitism within Dracula and such? I love vampires in media but I can’t continue to enjoy them if I feel they are blatantly antisemetic.

disclaimer! i am not a jewish person, i just have a ba in english and have written and read about vampires a lot, specifically i’ve written and read about dracula like four times in my academic career because every time i read that book i find something new to talk about. if you want actual answers about antisemitism you need to ask a (willing! do not use marginalized people as google) jewish person, they are the experts on their own persecution and i have merely read books and watched documentaries and spoken to people about it

i’m not gonna tell you to cut vampires cold turkey because that doesn’t feel especially nuanced and vampires are their own genre with a variety of lore, tropes, visuals, and what-not to choose from and i think it would be disrespectful to any jewish creators who have created vampire media (what we do in the shadows) to say “throw the whole thing out!”. just like how i would never tell you to completely stop consuming cosmic horror because the architect of the genre had worms for brains since there’s like a huge movement of writers of color and/or jewish writers and/or irish writers taking worms for brains’s ideas and making them good and not shitty. everyone knows i’m a slut for vampires, right? what’s not to love? however, the complicated thing about horror is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. most monsters are never just monsters but representations of something else whether it be a fear, a concept, or a people group. monsters, in the hands of the white horror “masters” often just meant anyone who wasn’t a straight white man, and in dracula that’s especially emphasized

in my thesis project which was mostly on jordan peele’s masterpiece get out, i asserted that the vampire, because it’s an idea that has existed in some form in cultures scattered throughout history, can represent different things at different times. just as zombies or cannibalistic monsters can represent everything from lust to capitalism to the poor, vampires can represent everything from lust to capitalism to the jewish people. vampires, in the hands of the antisemite, are especially violent symbols because often vampires are seen feeding off of innocent white women clothed in white living in civilized white western cities and towns or innocent white children clothed in white living in civilized white western cities and towns and well.... that’s blood libel

this is, like, a broad oversimplification of my own months of research and analysis work but stoker specifically ran right into antisemitism with the portion about dracula coming from transylvania to britain to kill a bunch of white hoes and “spread the vampire curse” when quite a few of the immigrants to britain at the time from that region were jewish folk fleeing pogroms. stoker also has it so that when she’s turned, sweet innocent white queen lucy’s hair turns dark and her eyes look like the devil’s and also there’s the fact that christian imagery repels dracula like there’s a lot to unpack here but basically what you need to know is that while stoker gave the vampire genre a lot to work with, so much of the imagery in his novel is, um, gross at best  and built from victorian racial science and fear of the other and the fact that it became the standard for what we know as the modern vampire is uncomfortable but necessary to recognize so that we can figure out what to do about it

basically, we have to ask ourselves re: monsters, what is this text emphasizing about this monster? what makes this monster monstrous exactly? it’s what you have to ask about king kong and evil aliens with “dreads” and the hillbilly cannibal trope like you have to ask “WHY is this scary?”. you might not like the answer most days, but that’s okay because if you’re a writer like me you can attempt to re-wire these monsters to be powerful, subversive, and respectful to those who have historically been disrespected by horror. like it is possible to create a vampire that isn’t an antisemitic stereotype but it takes a lot of research, honest questions, hard work, and research