emihasdreams

[emihasdreams]

i’m trying to decide how my main character should act and be and I just can’t focus on the thoughts aghhhh

He’s supposed to be a stereotypical fictional fuckboy who then grows up as a character and learns to be nice to others but I can’t decide how nice and how he will get there and how how how but I can’t focus on my thoughts

[emihasdreams]

Another throwback to another time when I got blocked by a Wattpad author

This time because they had asked whether they should continue adding the text 18+ to the start of chapters with mature content.

Others were saying that 18+ at the start of the chapters was a spoiler which the author agreed with

I thought it would be an okay time for me to share my opinion so I said that actually I think the 18+ warnings are a good thing because of sex-averse asexuals and how some people might not want to read that content on some days meanwhile they can on other days.

Got blocked

[emihasdreams]

Throwback to that one time years ago when a semi famous Wattpad author blocked me because they had asked whether we readers liked the arranged marriage trope in fiction and I had answered “not really”, without realizing the book had an arranged marriage in it

But tbh if you’re going to ask a question like that you shouldn’t just block people who politely disagree

[emihasdreams]

the word queue is bs

[emihasdreams]

You know it’s kind of weird to come from a family with only like half a hundred people with your last name, because my cousins’ mom is an author and her and me share the same last name…

So if I one day become a published author my name will be automatically connected to her children’s books 😂

The people who grow up reading her children’s books will grow up and then possibly read my published books and be like hmm why is this name familiar

No other people with our last name have their name out there so if I also become an author our last name will be known only because of us

[emihasdreams]

There’s literally no time I’ve read a book and thought it should have been censored—

“I mean, SOME censorship is ok because it makes people more creative! I’m not pro-censorship I swear, I’m actually really cool with doing whatever you want I swear”

[emihasdreams]

I know I’ve said this before but writing with ADHD is hell

Most of the time I can’t even get started on writing because of executive dysfunction and I don’t have any schedule

But at the same time I want to get so many projects started and finished.

And then add on all my other hobbies and there’s just so much to do so I never get anything done 😂

[emihasdreams]

I feel like ”testers” always get the short end of the stick in any hobby space

If you guys are in the crochet community then you know pattern testers never get paid. Even though like beta-readers they also spend so much time checking another person’s work, in this case a crochet pattern. I’ve seen so much backlash in the crochet community when people even suggest that pattern testers should get paid 😅

People do it from the goodwill of their hearts and because of the love for the hobby but maybe I’m the controversial one for thinking people should get paid even a little for their work even if they would do the thing for free anyway lol

It’s kind of sh*tty that beta readers generally don’t get paid isn’t it

like i’m not talking about beta readers for like an AO3 fic or a relatively short story but those who beta-read pretty long novels

Idk, it just seems like people should get paid for it too. They’re still spending so many hours reading your story and then giving you feedback even if the feedback is less professional

Especially published authors need to be very appreciative if they have a beta reader for their project working for free

[emihasdreams]

It’s kind of sh*tty that beta readers generally don’t get paid isn’t it

like i’m not talking about beta readers for like an AO3 fic or a relatively short story but those who beta-read pretty long novels

Idk, it just seems like people should get paid for it too. They’re still spending so many hours reading your story and then giving you feedback even if the feedback is less professional

Especially published authors need to be very appreciative if they have a beta reader for their project working for free

[emihasdreams]

ALL FIRE IS HEAVENLY

❤️��🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

A short story about regret, redemption, eternal love, the cyclic nature of creation and destruction, the impending doom of humanity, and the dangers of giving a tormented little god unsupervised access to the internet.

MXM, Urban Fantasy, Romance. Angst with HE. Mature themes including off-screen sex, but no explicit adult content in this one. 6,250 words.

Available now on AO3, Wattpad, or Scribblehub

Images made with this wonderful Picrew

[emihasdreams]

idk about y’all but for me one of the worst kinds of authors to work for as a beta reader (though I was originally supposed to just be a proofreader for this project that sparked this post) is one that deflects almost all my legit suggestions on how they could improve their writing 😅

Why am I here… just to suffer😅

[emihasdreams]

Someone just commented:

“When people need characterization to be shoved in their faces instead of having it be intertwined in the story telling”

Like y’all he’s literally just a one-dimensional character what’s there to argue about 😅

I went into more detail about why he is a shallow character in another reblog

but like

His whole character is connected with Xie Lian. He is one-dimensional.

Greenlight Covarage defines a one-dimensional character as follows:

A one-dimensional character is a simplistic, flat character often defined by a single trait or motivation. These characters lack depth, complexity, and development throughout the story. They serve specific roles without evolving, remaining predictable and emotionally limited.

Hua Cheng’s only motivation is Xie Lian. He lacks depth. The only development he goes through is for Xie Lian. We don’t know how we thinks or feels, we just know he’s devoted to Xie Lian

Like y’all I can’t believe how two people have already come at me defending how Hua Cheng is actually a multi-dimensional character. He lacks any motivation or character development not connected to Xie Lian. His only personality trait is to be devoted to Xie Lian. That’s a one-dimensional character.

I already said this in my other reblog but all fanfic I read about tgcf struggles to give Hua Cheng a personality because he doesn’t have any in canon either.

It doesn’t mean the story overall is bad, but for me it means that MXTX could have done a better job developing his character and I’m disappointed she didn’t. There’s so much potential that was wasted. You can have a devoted main love interest with personality. What makes tgcf interesting is not the romance for me but Xie Lian’s character because while he’s also a pretty flat character, he at least has more personality than Hua Cheng

Like authors don’t take notes from MXTX for how to write a love interest please. We need less bland love interests and more interesting ones.

i can’t believe how shallow Hua Cheng is😂

He’s just there

he’s just the devoted ml

Who is he????? Where’s the layers??

i swear both him and lan wangji are so uninteresting the only things that make TGCF and MDZS interesting are Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian 😂

[emihasdreams]

Online authors:

There’s a difference between writing a long book and writing a book that just draaaaagggs on.

I’ve read an online novel that was over 300 chapters long and it was beautifully tied up and all chapters had meaning.

I’ve also read a 150 chapter novel (each chapter divided into two parts) that was extremely dragging.

And the thing is, it’s not about planning plot points. Both authors had clearly planned their novel. But it’s more so about pick and choosing what’s actually important to your plot.

Like the other author spent WAY too many chapters talking about the main character’s childhood when it truly didn’t even matter after he grew up. And the whole childhood segment lasted 50 chapters.

Meanwhile the other author also started telling the story from the character’s childhood, but what happened in his childhood was crucial to the story.

Even if you love your characters, there’s a point where you are just blabbing about unimportant stuff with some plot sprinkled in.

And by the way there’s absolutely no reason to write a 800 chapter online book. At over 400 chapters you are definitely dragging your story.

And the reason why I’m adressing this to online authors is because online authors are usually more likely to just write as they publish more chapters. Which sometimes just leads to the story dragging a lot.

[emihasdreams]

Someone commented that it’s the worship that makes Hua Cheng interesting and that he isn’t blindly devoted to Xie Lian, and that he still has both a snarky side and the ghost king side to him.

And i have a lot to say so I’m going to say it here

The thing is though, he is not a complex character because of what has happened to him or because he’s devoted to another character. He’s a shallow character because we don’t really actually know him as a person. Everything about him revolves around xl, and that makes him a one-dimensional character.

Like he obviously has had some sort of a life without Xie Lian but we’re never shown it. Everything about this dude revolves around Xie Lian.

He is blindlessly devoted because we have no reason to believe otherwise. Xie Lian said one line to baby Hua Cheng and this dude decides to follow Xie Lian for over 800 years?

We aren’t shown Hua Cheng growing up, thinking back to the line Xie Lian said and beginning to doubt his devotion to Xie Lian. Even if child Hua Cheng hadn’t felt the warmth of another person being nice to him for a long time and decided to live for him, older Hua Cheng would undoubtedly start questioning whether his devotion has meaning at all. This dude basically became obsessed with Xie Lian just because of one line, and it’s believable in his childhood but less believable as he grows up.

I do think his devotion or worship would make him an interesting character if we knew what is up in his head.

But everything about him revolves around Xie Lian.

And this is a lesson to all authors out there:

Trauma or what happens to a character doesn’t make them interesting. It’s how they react to the world around them that does.

We know bits and pieces of Hua Cheng’s past, we knew he saw Xie Lian suffer and that he challenged the heavenly officials and whatever, but we don’t know what he was thinking.

And how I know for a fact that Hua Cheng is a shallow character is that everytime I read tgcf fanfiction most of the time he is also extremely shallow because most fic writers don’t know what to do with a shallow character.

Him being shallow doesn’t make him uninteresting, it makes him disappointing in canon.

The fact that there might be layers to him that he shows (only in relation to Xie Lian) makes him disappointing. Because he could be an interesting character if more work was put into showing who he actually is.

and like I know I’m not the only one to feel this way because I remember reading a blog post about this that went into more detail about how shallow Hua Cheng is lol.

i can’t believe how shallow Hua Cheng is😂

He’s just there

he’s just the devoted ml

Who is he????? Where’s the layers??

i swear both him and lan wangji are so uninteresting the only things that make TGCF and MDZS interesting are Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian 😂

[emihasdreams]

Like personally I think the brotherly relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng is way more interesting. Not in a ”I ship them” way they’re just both such headstrong characters. And tbh I’m a sucker for family relationships in fiction I’m sorry😭

But y’know Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are both so goddamn stubborn but you still know both of them care in their own ways. I think they are the most interesting characters Lan Wangji be damned

(wang yibo did a good job acting such a boring character 😂)

i can’t believe how shallow Hua Cheng is😂

He’s just there

he’s just the devoted ml

Who is he????? Where’s the layers??

i swear both him and lan wangji are so uninteresting the only things that make TGCF and MDZS interesting are Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian 😂

[emihasdreams]

The only reason I liked The Untamed was because Xiao Zhan is such a good actor and really brings Wei Wuxian to life. I couldn’t care less about Lan Wangji 😂

i can’t believe how shallow Hua Cheng is😂

He’s just there

he’s just the devoted ml

Who is he????? Where’s the layers??

i swear both him and lan wangji are so uninteresting the only things that make TGCF and MDZS interesting are Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian 😂

[emihasdreams]

i can’t believe how shallow Hua Cheng is😂

He’s just there

he’s just the devoted ml

Who is he????? Where’s the layers??

i swear both him and lan wangji are so uninteresting the only things that make TGCF and MDZS interesting are Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian 😂