#Writing Question

[seaglasswrites]

Writers, I have yet another question for you:

[achromatophoric]

Taking a Break

Serious talk time. Apologies in advance. I have a question that I hope can be asked and answered without any vitriol. I understand that everyone has their own comfort level concerning written content, and I deeply dislike causing people grief of any sort.

For the first time, I was presented with criticism (that weren’t just Asks from bigoted trolls) concerning writing shorts with sexual humor involving two 16-year-olds (Wednesday and Enid), with the idea that an adult writing that content makes that individual problematic.

It’s understandably a very sensitive subject, and it was enough to have me banned from a server I occasionally posted on for content written in this blog. That’s understandable, because the comfort and safety of a server’s members is always important.

I wasn’t offended, and it was even a welcome distraction during a funeral, but it did leave me with a question:

Should I stop writing these?

I’m a big fan of teen sex comedies like Bottoms, American Pie, and But I’m a Cheerleader, particularly since they allow me to experience what I missed out on due to a religious upbringing. I’m also terminally unable to take sex seriously, which could be related to my demisexuality. Needless to say, I haven’t taken my posts very seriously.

I’ve been presumptuous in what I’ve been writing. I don’t have the attention span for longer form, so I always imagined what I write as scenes that could slip into the general gestalt Wenclair headcanon, letting the readers fill in the blanks. Brief, but not hopefully not entirely meaningless.

I knew what I was writing was bereft of plot and heavy on absurdity, but I didn’t realize that by lacking plot for the humor to move forward, it could be taken as sexualizing minors purely for the sake of sexualizing minors. That was so far from my intentions that I’m just disappointed with myself.

I’ve always felt that fanfics (and fanshipping in general) was intended as a safe space to write/share interests that other people would ridicule them for. Just people being their nerdiest and protecting each other from predatory or malicious behavior. So if my writing has ever seemed predatory or malicious, I am deeply sorry.

This fandom is honestly awesome. I’ve never been a part of one before, and it’s given me a much appreciated creative outlet when I’ve had to give most of mine up for various lifestyle/health reasons. So if it’s better for the Tumblr community that I just stop, I’ll be sad to do so, but I’ll understand.

I’ll take the poll results into consideration. That said, even if #7 wins out, I’m not sure how it will go. While I do adore the fandom, I don’t communicate very actively with others in it, so I have no real perspective of how my writing is perceived. Knowing that the things I write are actively making people uncomfortable enough to act on it is… just a lot.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

For those of you unfamiliar: nail guns are a type of power tool that drives a nail (usually through compressed air) directly into wood, thereby eliminating the need for hammering.

[puppetmaster13u]

Hypothetically if I gave Match a toy of some sort for comfort (most likely a gift from Danny) what should I give him? (If you are confused, talkin about This Story based off of this Prompt by @radiance1 and This Thread)

[poorlythoughtoutdescisions]

I'm writing a book and one of my major characters is demi-romantic, and I'm looking for advice(?) I guess about how to write that or just information about the demi experience?

[night-market-if]

Discussion Question

Mostly because I'm curious and want to hear some thoughts...

At this point, who or what do you think is the biggest threat to the Night Market?

[sentfromwolves]

hey writeblr I'm curious: what do you think is the most distinctive trait of your main character/s that your readers will pickup on?

[tales-from-nocturnaliss]

Okay question for all writers out there who happen to see this:

How do we feel about a community for Depressed Writers?

Asking because I looked for one and couldn't find it. It'd be a community where you can share writing-related snips/thoughts/questions, but also life-related questions/issues and get support (ideally).

It'd also be an invite-only community because I'm just one executively dysfunctional person not willing to deal with porn bots. Numbers aren't the game, but genuine community.

Y/N?

Edit: by Depressed I mean Struggling With Life for whichever reasons. Mine is autism. I'm frankly not really depressed (at times), but couldn't think of a better term (yet?)

Edit 2: reached a consessus with myself. Decided against it because honestly I'm a great second-in-command, not so much as leader. Asking the question out loud helped me decide what to do at least!

[deadghostgirl12345]

It’s like 2am, and I’m trying to fall asleep, but I can’t cause I’m thinking about plot and world building, or whatever.

Like I need to know this info, but I don’t need to cause like it also causes no pressing issues at the moment and like I don’t know if this would even be in the book(s) but like…….. what is the answer? Please help me!!!

[supersoakerfullofblood]

I'm curious why I see so many writing posts here talking in terms of genres, character labels ("villain," "hero," idk "whump"?), and specific tropes (all the "character A and character B" stuff, shipping dynamics--you know). I feel like putting a story and its elements under labels like this probably just restricts where your story really wants to go and ends up being more or less derivative. I think writing is similar to comedy in that if you dissect the art too much, you end up killing it by writing something sorta fun and floofy and railroaded.

Not that writing has to be some grandiose "deeper" thing, just that writing discussions centering around that stuff here feels weird. Genuinely wondering--can anyone weigh in?

As Lear said (probably), "anatomize [your story], so you can put it into little boxes"

[contes-de-rheio]

Does anyone have suggestions when you can’t write the viewpoint of a specific character? What do you do to get to know your characters better, to figure them out?

[scareuary]

Writing Question #2

In a horror story revolving around a twisted romance/love, how would you use or apply different story-writing techniques to create different effects in your story? (Symbolism, foreshadowing, repetition, imagery, voice, etc.)

SCAREUARY 2025 - TWISTED HEARTS

[seaglasswrites]

Writers,

[puppetmaster13u]

How do you write Clark/Superman I am struggling so much.

(Yes this is for my cryptid batfam story and his first encounter/meeting of the bats/waynes)

(EDIT) Like, how do you write from his point of view. I'm good at writing uncanny valley stuff

[mercurial-thrills]

Why does reading help us become better fiction writers?

It's common information at this point: reading more often helps us become better writers. This is information that I, and others, have discussed plenty.

The real question I have is, why is it that reading helps us become better fiction writers? Is it because we get to pick up the little idiosyncrasies of our favourite authors? Is it because we're constantly exposed to the proper formatting of how a novel should be? Is it because it helps us understand how good stories are structured?

If it happens to be the third option, does this mean any sort of story can provide us with a better idea of how good stories are structured?

We can find stories everywhere. It's found in movies, theatre, TV shows, and video games. Even music! From the storytelling in a song like "Girls Like Girls" by Hayley Kiyoko, to the associated music video, it demonstrates a story. That's only the first example that came to my mind.

if all of them are structured in similar ways, does this mean that as fiction writers, we can become better by absorbing all sorts of media? 'Cause I might start living like that's true, and have less guilt in the hours I've put into certain lore-driven video games.

In conclusion, maybe it's not the books that make us better fiction writers. Maybe it's the stories that we see in nearly every media we consume. ♥