daritskaya

[daritskaya]

medicine

law

business

engineering.

these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.

but poetry,

beauty,

romance,

love,

these are what we stay alive for.

happy aniversary dead poets society. you make me bawl like a little baby every time.

[daritskaya]

After rewatching ATLA and rewatching the first couple episodes of Korra I'm always reminded of how much they fucked Korra over by training her inside a compound in the South Pole for thirteen years. I understand that they wanted to keep her safe from the Red Lotus but like. The Avatar is supposed to travel to the other nations to learn their element, but it's more than that: it's about travelling, learning the culture of each nation, their customs, meeting its people, its leaders-- that way, by the time the Avatar has mastered all elements, they also know how the world works, so they know how to protect it.

But Korra? She spent her entire childhood and teenage years locked up in a compound where she was watched all the time. She was only allowed to go out once a year for the Spirit Festival, and once she even had to escape to go because one of her teachers didn't wanna let her go. Her only friends were Katara, her parents and her polar bear dog; she didn't have any actual friends her age until she met Bolin, Mako and Asami.

Of course she struggled with airbending and her spiritual side: it's not just her personality, it's that air is the element of freedom, and she's been locked up with people constantly making decisions for her her entire life. She is just learning what freedom is like.

Of course she acted like that in Republic City in the first episode; it was her first time actually being out in the world. She doesn't know how it works, its rules or how its people struggle because she didn't get to even see it before! Of course she acted like that during ALL of Book 1. If Korra had travelled like she was supposed to, she would have probably acted like her Book 3 self by Book 1: still a teenager, still fierce and still kinda stubborn, but with a better understanding of the world and what being the Avatar means, and of who she is. But no. By raising her like that they strained both her training and her personal growth.

[daritskaya]

It's weird that fans expect the child characters fighting a war to have the same perspective and contextualize certain events the same way that we, adults watching the show, would. Like, you really expect these 12 to 16 year olds with the weight of the world on their shoulders to react to the story of Ozai burning Zuko's face and banishing him the same way that we do?? They would obviously see it as a terrible thing for a parent to do to their kid, but they wouldn't, they can't, be like "He was just an itty bitty 13 year old baby!! He should be playing with his friends and stealing sweets from the kitchen!" Like... C'mon.

... Okay, maybe Aang, who was born in a world without war, would be able to see it this way; but it wouldn't be this Uniquely Terrible Thing, since all of them were hurt by the war and were forced to grow up too fast in their own way. It would pretty much be "Yet another terrible thing".

Now Azula. I've seen people framing Azula shooting Aang with lightning as "How could anyone do that to a sweet little kid?! What a monster!" and like?? Aang is a child to us, but to Azula, who's only 2 years older than he is, Aang is just an extremely powerful opponent. By her perspective, they're equals, and they're enemies on opposite sides of a war. People kill in wars. A child soldier isn't going to look at the other child soldier and like "They're just a lil kid Uwu"

[daritskaya]

One trap that All the Time Daydreamers, Sometimes Writers, fall into is this idea that writing is transcribing the daydream.

It’s not. The daydream is a fuzzy thing. There are gaps that you don’t need to fill in a daydream, because you already get the emotional point. A lot of it is emotion. And because it makes you feel like a complete story would, your brain is tricked into thinking that’s what you have.

Then you sit down to actually write the thing and you realize you’re trying to write a Space Opera without actually inventing any planets or space ships. You don’t even know if the characters start out on the same planet. If they’re on a planet at all. You didn’t bother to check.

Now you will vaguely reference this in first-second person in any writing guide you make up for the rest of time.

When you write, you’re building something. It’s not a pale imitation of what you have in your head- what you have in your head can’t exist on the outside. This is a whole new beast. It’s going to ultimately look different and this is a good thing.

Also the internal critic is dumb.

I’m not even trying to be nice to your writing specifically here. The internal critic is looking for a completed story and you don’t have one yet. So anything it has to say flat out does not apply.

[daritskaya]

STUDIO GHIBLI + HUGS

[daritskaya]

Song for a Daughter

by Ursula K. Le Guin

Mother of my granddaughter, listen to my song: A mother can’t do right, a daughter can’t be wrong. I have no claim whatever on amnesty from you; nor will she forgive you for anything you do. So are we knit together by force of opposites, the daughter that unravels the skein the mother knits. One must be divided so that one be whole, and this is the duplicity alleged of woman’s soul. To be that heavy mother who weighs in every thing is to be the daughter whose footstep is the Spring. Granddaughter of my mother, listen to my song: Nothing you do will ever be right, nothing you do is wrong.

[daritskaya]

“Don’t let it get to that big head of yours, Merlin.

I just… thought you were dead.”

[daritskaya]

That post that's like "stop writing characters who talk like they're trying to get a good grade in therapy" really blew the door wide open for me about how common it's become for a character's emotional intelligence to not be taken into consideration when writing conflict. I remember the first time I went to therapy I had such a hard time even identifying what I was feeling, let alone had the language to explain it to someone else. Of course there are plenty of people who've never been to therapy a day in their life who are in tune to their emotions. But even they would have some trouble expressing themselves sometimes. You have to take into account there are plenty of people who are uncomfortable expressing themselves and people who think they're not allowed to feel certain ways. It also makes for more interesting conflict to have characters with different levels of understanding.

[daritskaya]

The way I interpreted the Marauders was that it was meant to be a cautionary tale for Harry, not inspiration. Both lived during the war but to drastically different outcomes, and it was all due to their friendships.

The Marauders tried to put a bandaid over their fissures (power imbalance, group dynamics, etc.). But, as the war went into full effect, the cracks worsened. Tensions grew. Things were different. They didn't trust each other as easily anymore.

The war got between them. Peter crumbled under the weight of his fear. We can only wonder what would have happened if he felt more supported by his friends and less like a pet. Sirius made it clear where his loyalty lied (the Potters). He suspected Remus as the spy and Remus suspected him. James couldn't mediate under lockdown.

When Remus and Sirius reunite, they apologize for thinking ill of one another because it wasn't intentional. They were just scared. So, the problem lies in the fact that their foundation was rocky to begin with. James had been their pillar.

And you could easily see Harry as the pillar of his group. He's the one they draw inspiration from, after all. But each member is holding their own weight. Harry and his friends remain steadfast because they are loyal to not one but to all.

Even during tough times or moments where they disagreed, there was never a doubt about whether they would finish the fight side-by-side. It really goes to show the strength of their bond. Anyway, I love it.

[daritskaya]

They have no idea what they're doing.

[daritskaya]

It's honestly hilarious when people act like there's no information about the marauders and Lily in canon and therefore canon is irrelevant to the marauders fandom. As if Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows don't exist.

The source material provides LAYERS of relevant information about these characters to anyone who has basic reading comprehension skills. The fun thing about the fandom is all in how we get to take all the info we're given and more fully develop it. Not in blatantly rejecting it all and creating ships and characterizations that directly contradict everything that makes these characters who they are.

James Potter would never date a Death Eater. That's a fact. James and Lily dedicated their entire adult lives to fighting against the very evil that said Death Eaters represent. Also a fact. James and Lily were in love and would do anything for their child. Also a fact. Sirius and James were two tall, wildly intelligent and talented wizards who came from immense privilege but threw all comfort and safety to the wind in the name of fighting for justice. Also a fact. Regulus Black, Barty Crouch Jr, and Evan Rosier were all virulent genocidal maniacs who willingly joined a cult dedicated to slaughtering innocent people in the name of blood purity. Also a fact. Those three were not marauders and would never be friends or love interests for them. A fact. To deny any of these facts is just bad reading comprehension.

The point of fanfiction is not to make the characters completely unrecognizable from everything we know about them in the source material. To do that is just to write original fiction with unoriginal names. Which is fine...just call it what it is.

[daritskaya]

i think some of you dont like narratives or stories or characters i think you just like fanfiction tropes

[daritskaya]

I have a dilemma - I'd like to share some short fiction texts here, but English is not my mother tongue, and I know I won't be able to translate everything in a way that is nice and subtle - I'm even unlikely to notice many grammatical errors because my English leaves much to be desired; so it's unlikely to be enjoyable for everyone who reads it. But I still want to do it? But these thoughts are frustrating me? I don't know :( help

[daritskaya]

Arthur: My relationship with Merlin works because it was built on friendship first. I'm a lucky man cause I got to marry my best friend Merlin: I would have married mine but Lancelot beat me to it. Arthur is a close second so it works

[daritskaya]

In some random modern Arthur returns au, Merlin would be living in this small little everyone knows everyone village. And magic or not sorta world, everyone knows that Merlin is much older than he looks, that's he's lived there for a very long time and just keeps to himself most of the time.

Then Arthur comes crawling out of the lake and joins Merlin in the village, living at his sweet wee cottage.

And the little everyone knows everyone community goes mental that this new and random guy just starts living with the town cryptid.

One day, both Merlin and Arthur are at the town's only cafe/restaurant/ literal hole in the wall, and someone finally works up the courage to ask how the two met.

Arthur, still getting used to the modern world and trying to be very polite to the villagers: we knew each other when we were younger

Merlin who no longer gives two shits: yeah, and then I found him at the lakeside bleeding out from a stab wound after he had escaped a crazy cult

The poor person who now regrets asking: oh... That's nice?

[daritskaya]

You fight it. And fight it. You don’t give up. And then one day, you just change. We all change.

[daritskaya]

I imagine that like a dramatic musically and can't stop giggles

one of my favorite minor "disposable villains" in Merlin who tried to kill Uther is Edwin from 1s6e.

seriously, he was so good, I was rooting for him the whole episode. if it wasn't for his rush at the end, one slip up with gwen and trying to kill not only Uther but also gaius and merlin, (trying to kill merlin I honestly didn't understand. I'm sure he would have succeeded and could have gotten away with it. it was a very clever plan, you can't give him credit for it.

him being a Horrible Dark Sorcerer is not what I'm focusing on at all, because there are so many scenes in this episode that just…. kill me.

the way merlin is happy to use magic for everyday things and what a relief it is for him to share it with someone other than gaius. someone who tells him that his magic can be good and supports him (what a devastation it was to find out everything afterward)

how after edwin said "you watched my parents burn at the stake" gaius replied "they practiced black magic, and now you're practicing it too!" because it's such a convenient excuse - even though they were his friends, even though he watched thousands of innocents die who had nothing to do with black magic, and he knows it, knows he's to blame, but it's so much easier to redirect his anger at someone else than to face his mistakes.

the way the return of gaius is not happy at all, because really edwin is right, and gaius is too old and blind, and in the last scene one old blind man swears allegiance to another blind man, washing himself in blood

it's scary