#don’t put it on the internet for everyone including the author to see

[perfect-snaccccccc]

urgh people are being mean about fics again. can’t we all just be nice to eachother. can’t we all just eat a cake of rainbows and sunshine’s and be happy? y’all feeling the need to tell the whole internet ur negative opinions about stuff is getting super tiring :(

[olderthannetfic]

I do think the disclaimers from authors about NOT ENDORSING!!!! certain behaviors in fics is pretty funny, but I’ll admit I do it too. Oddly I only put warnings for abuse of the self, not the abuse of others. I write a fair bit of fic that “romanticizes” (or seems like it does) suicide/self harm/eating disorders to the point where it can almost be a tutorial of how to do it if I’m graphic enough. So in those I normally just add dead dove tags and put a disclaimer about how the trigger warning is no joke and you shouldn’t do the things that the characters do in the fic. It’s not like a Lifetime Movie end credits where the authors note is filled with hotlines and stuff, just a quick little note that, hey, yeah, if you’re considering this, don’t do it.

Oddly, I don’t think that behavior comes from fandom itself but rather from a completely different corner of the internet — when I struggled with the same stuff that I write about, it was pretty common for everyone’s bio to say that they “don’t promote” or they’re “not pro” and I guess old habits die hard. (Whether or not certain types of depression/SH/ana blogs etc really DONT promote or those words are just a please-don’t-ban-me card is a completely different discussion.)

It’s pretty ironic actually because when I’m on the other side of things (as the reader), reading about it is really cathartic in fic, but triggering (not in a fun way) in “real” books. Like there’s several books I had to DNF or shelf because it got to be too much, but oddly enough fic actually helps me a lot.

WOW that was all way heavier than I intended to get when I first started typing this ask! But yeah, that’s my own personal relationship to “I do not endorse” and I didn’t realize how odd it actually is until I started reading some of these other asks! I don’t think any type of “this is bad, actually” authors note is ever necessary honestly, but I also don’t think they’re that big of a deal — if a note from the writer about how they’re ~totally against the “bad” thing they’re writing about~ really takes you out of the fic that much, I don’t understand that either…it’d be one thing if they rambled on and on but even then I don’t think it’s that big of a deal 🤣 Annoying maybe but no one is required to read the AN.

My general threshold is “would a movie/podcast/real™️ book have a similar Viewer Discretion Adviced notice? If so, your A/N is likely fine and not virtual signal-ly or OTT at all.”

--

Heh. I think you're assuming a very different type of PSA from what other people are.

From what I've read, self-harm, suicide, and disordered eating are some of the topics that are a bit Monkey See, Monkey Do. Even support group discussions may increase the desire to cut, for example. It's still not 1:1, and we should be able to make art about serious topics, but a PSA doesn't feel totally absurd here. There are plenty of scientific studies showing measurable increases in people hurting themselves IRL after consuming certain material. Even if you did include a hotline, most people's objection is like "That number isn't valid for where I live", not "No one should ever do this".

I think if you polled people, you'd find that many of the PSA-haters are actually totally fine with "Hey, this fic contains serious depictions of mental illness. Make sure you're up for that today." and similar warnings.

But what people are actually talking about in 99% of "PSAs suck" discussions is rape fantasies.

Some clown writes a fic that is blatant fap material for people who like bodice ripper ravishment, and then they plaster it with "Rape Fantasies Bad" commentary that shows that they're judging themselves and their readers in a puritanical way that's a mega-buzzkill, completely out of keeping with the tone of the fic, and completely out of keeping with the actual scientific evidence.

Rape fantasies are commonplace and not a big deal, and to the extent that any depictions are demonstrably harmful, it's things like mainstream Hollywood movies reinforcing very standard cultural narratives, not somebody's sex pollen fic that's probably full of "It's so wrong, so why is it so hot???" anyway.

[bibbityboppitybillyharvgrove]

Stream-Mas - E.Munson

Summary - Eddie gets his stream crashed once again but this time comes a different surprise to his viewers. Kinda a part 2 to Stream Crasher but can be read as a stand-alone.

Word Count - 834

Warnings - Use of Y/N, female reader, mentions of food, mentions of stretch marks

Author’s Note - Welcome to day 13 of 25! We’re getting there, slowly but surely. I have been busy writing so hopefully everything will be written in advance but we’ll see. I hope you enjoy!

my masterlist

25 days of fics masterlist

Feedback is welcomed and encouraged

Enjoy!

not my gif

not my gif

It had been a good amount of time since Eddie had streamed with his wife crashing. However, he had decided that for the month of December, he’d stream everyday until Christmas Eve. So because of this, he was more likely to get his stream crashed once again. He had been almost all the way through, day 23 to be exact without a crash. As he was streaming a replay of Hogwarts Legacy, he heard his wife’s usual gentle knock before the door slowly swung open, the hinges creaking gently.

“Sorry to interrupt honey, I’m just bringing you some food before I go lay down,” She apologized as she approached her husband who was sporting his usual t-shirt and sweats combo, his large headphones draped over his ears.

“Don’t apologize baby. Why are you going to lay down? You feel okay?” He asked his wife, gently taking the plate from her hands. It was some cut fruit and a steaming hot omelette. 

“Just tired, this pregnancy is kicking my ass.” Eddie took off his headphones and made his way to his pregnant and tired wife.

“You didn’t have to make me anything, baby. You go rest with the little one. I’m gonna wrap up my stream so I can spend some time with you.” Before she could protest, Eddie planted a kiss to her lips before giving her a stern look. She nodded at him, kissing his cheek before heading off to their bedroom. As he sat back down and put his headphones back on, he looked at his chat.

It had completely blown up with comments about the interaction he had just had with his wife. Everyone was surprised that they were expecting a baby. As he began to read the questions, he started to eat the food his wife had made him. “I see you guys have a lot of questions so I’ll answer some before ending the stream. As for how far along she is, she’s 7 months in so not long now. We are very excited to meet our little girl and spoil her rotten. So when the baby is born, I will very likely take a bit of a break from streaming until we get a feel for being parents and getting a routine down. We do have a name but we decided not to share her identity on the internet, I’ll probably refer to her as the baby or my little girl or princess but I’m gonna try to avoid using her name,” Eddie rambled to his stream, reading over the comments of constant ‘congratulations’ coming through, some questions thrown in but the comments were flying by too quick to really read them.

“So I’m cutting the stream shorter than usual but I will be back tomorrow for the last day. Thank you all for the well wishes and congratulations, I love you guys. See you tomorrow.” Eddie ended the stream, shutting down his equipment and lights, going to the kitchen to clean up whatever was including his dirty plate before heading to his wife who was asleep on the bed with the TV playing Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. He walked in quietly, shutting off the lamp on her bedside table, leaving the TV on as he climbed into the bed. 

“How long was I asleep?” Y/N asked, her voice muddled with sleep.

“Not long baby, go back to sleep. You’re tired, you and princess need the rest,” Eddie assured her.

“Cuddle with me, I missed you.” Eddie wasn’t complaining, quickly respecting his wife’s wishes and pulling her body as close to his as possible. Her head falling onto his chest, her arm plopped over her abdomen without care. His arms were wrapped around her, one arm around her back and the other over her arm with that hand gently tracing up and down her arm, his other hand resting on the side of her belly where he felt the baby’s little feet pushing on.

“She’s gonna be an mma fighter. She’s always kicking the crap outta you,” Eddie joked as his hand aimlessly traced over her belly and the stretch marks that littered her skin.

“You’re telling me. She kicked my ribs this morning, damn near knocked the wind outta me.” The two shared a sleepy laugh before the room fell into a comfortable silence.

“I love you,” Eddie broke the silence after a couple minutes.

“Love you more, Eds.”

If you had told Eddie from his freshman year that this is where he’d be years in the future, he wouldn’t believe you. His dreams had absolutely come true, he had his dream girl, a career he never expected on top of the one he had planned and a baby on the way. He had slept more soundly than usual, his wife in his arms, feeling his baby kick his hand from where it was resting and the sounds of his wife’s favorite movie from her favorite franchise. He wouldn’t trade it for the world.

[nitearmorweek]

As everyone gets to work preparing for NiteArmor Week, the mods wanted to encourage people to bring their own lived experiences into their creations. You are welcome to write and draw mandalorians in a way that reflects your own life and culture; Bo-Katan and the Armorer do not have to physically resemble their live action counterparts.

What does this mean? Do you want to share your Mexican heritage and weave it into the story of your NiteArmor fic? Hell yeah! Do you see the Armorer has having dreadlocks? Include them! Do you have an insulin pump and think Bo-Katan has one under her flightsuit too? We want to heart about it!

For those who may need a little help or are looking for new resources, we have gathered a small list of guides. Some of the below sources came from @lavenderursa's collection of inclusive writing tips. The mods recommend reading through the original post they worked hard to put together! The hope of this new post is to build out their post to include a few more elements specific to Star Wars.

Writing Resources Collectives and authors who have published tips and guides on writing stories that center diverse experiences:

Writing With Color

The History of Black Hair [Words to Describe Hair]

A Guide to Natural Black Hair

How To Write About Trans People

A Primer on Writing Trans Characters

The Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Transgender Characters

Important Tips on Making/Writing Asian OCs

Dear Non-Asian Writer

How to Avoid Asian Stereotypes, Appropriation, and White Washing

​Tips for Inclusivity with Reader Inserts

A Guide to Writing Disabled Characters

A general cane guide for writers and artists (from a cane user, writer, and artist!)

Creating authentic deaf and hard of hearing characters

Art Tips Helpful information on how to draw different body types, skin tones, and hair:

Basic Skin Tone Coloring [part 2]

Kupa's Guide to Skintones

A Guide to Drawing South Asian Skin Tones [part 2]

Protocols When Drawing Native American Hair

A guide to designing wheelchair using characters! [part 2]

Whitewashing in Art and How Colors Work

​How to Draw Disabled People

Drawing East Asian Faces

Plus Size Body Types

POC Blush tones

Afro, 4C hair

Image References Websites that offer images that can be licensed for use and/or inspiration. The below three are highly recommended resources, but some do have a cost:

createHERstock - Your destination for authentic stock images featuring melanated women

Nappy co - Beautiful photos of Black and Brown people, for free

Eye for Ebony - Beautiful lifestyle stock photos featuring people of color

Affect The Verb - This is a disability-led effort to provide free & inclusive stock images from our own perspective, with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC).

Pixerf - Asia's fastest-growing Asian stock photo market place

Disability: In - Disability Inclusive Stock Photography

Disability is Beautiful - The best free stock images provided by the disability community.

Cosplayers Artists and content creators that have posted amazing Star Wars cosplay! Their hard work and attention to detail in costuming is a wonderful source of inspiration and reference. If you are inspired by any of their photos, please make sure to credit them and send your love. Here are just three examples of cosplayers within the fandom:

Jahara Jayde | twitter | ko-fi

arseniccupcakes | twitter | patreon

cutiepiesensei | twitter | instagram

Further Reading Additional articles, studies, and analyses that discuss racism and ableism within the Star Wars fandom specifically:

Racism In Star Wars: A List of Resources

Star Wars Franchise: Stitch's Media Mix Analyst

Star Wars: A Tale of Racism

Disability In Star Wars

Blind Warriors, Supercrips, and Techno-Marvels: Challenging Depictions of Disability in Star Wars

What's the Problem, Papi?: Internet Daddy-ism and Coddling, Fetishization, and what "Latino-looking" actually means.

Sinophobia in SW Animation

Thank you for making it to the end of this post! Please do not consider this a definitive list or a replacement for anti-racist work in the real world. Keep reading, stay curious, and seek out new perspectives from voices you may not have been listening for.

Do you have any additional recommendations, sources, or guides to share? Feel free to drop them in the comments of this post ❤️

[physalian]

Character Descriptions 101 (Or, the ugly truth about what really matters)

A lot of the appeal of being able to write your own book is being able to take all the characters you dream about and put them onto paper for everyone else to drool over as much as you do. You might create a character so iconic, they can be recognized by their hazy silhouette alone.

Not everyone designs Sherlock Holmes, though.

Not everyone needs to be Sherlock Holmes.

How well you describe your characters, especially your protagonist/opening narrator, says a lot more than you’d probably like about your experience as an author. I’ve got eight years of practice with my own works, twelve if you include my early days of fanfic – and resisting the urge to describe characters in the tried and true clichés is still hard.

So here’s the ugly truth about describing your characters, and some other pointers curated from the Internet you may have seen before.

At the end of the day, what is really important?

Unless you are writing in the genres of fantasy or sci-fi, or you aren’t writing humans, your character will likely be a very average looking human. Doesn’t matter if you think your special bean’s black hair/blue eye/snow white skin combo is unique – is the shape of his face, curve of his lips, how wide his shoulders are really that important outside of, I don’t know, a steamy romance novel?

I ask this because character descriptions fall into three camps: Thematically important beats, thematically unimportant beats, and “oh damn I have too many blondes, uh, here’s a redhead” beats.

I ask this, because “this character doesn’t look like they did in the book” arguments will never stop happening and we all have our sides on what matters and what doesn’t.

These details can be height, hair color, eye color, skin color, hair style, clothing, tone of voice, accent, birthmarks, scars, and tattoos, and anything in between. Sometimes, this trait is this person’s defining trait. Sometimes, the author just felt like it – sometimes the curtains are just blue.

But sometimes, a lot of times, they’re not.

My two cents: If that piece of their design is thematically important, the adaptation should respect it and include it. If it’s not, who cares?

Thematic Character Design

Thematic character design is the intent behind the choices the author makes when deciding how they will present their character to the world. This is *why* the character looks the way they do.

Visually, you see this in anime all the time. Crazy hair colors and styles help distinguish the cast when their faces might otherwise be too similar, or when drawing them from a distance. Sometimes the protagonist will have the most unique, or the loudest hair style (think Yu-gi-oh). Or the Important Lady Character will have pink hair. Or the sad angsty anime boy will have white hair (see my post about color in fiction).

In the written medium, you can “show don’t tell” a few different ways cliché ways:

Give the villain a facial scar

Make your femme fatale a redhead

Make your hero blonde/blue-eyed

But hey, they’re tropes for a reason, everyone knows what you mean when you write them. You might give your character green eyes like their mother, a trait Very Important when a redeemed-ish villain dies. You might give your character a brunette French braid that goes on to become the style of the rebellion. You might make your Illegal Divine Children the only three black-haired major characters in a sea of brown and blonde because they are the Three Illegal Divine Children. You make all your grisled fantasy men have beards and your elves clean shaven.

The existence of these traits serve the plot and the themes of the story. It matters because these traits make them look like the villain, or the dead legacy they must live up to. These traits ostracize them from their community, or help define their culture. These traits are the hallmark of a chosen one, or a pariah. These traits are emblematic of a special power or handicap, religion, faction, rebel cause.

These are the details fans complain about when adaptations get it wrong, and it’s not without merit. But what happens when those details aren’t all that important, no matter how much you think otherwise?

Unthematic character design

Everyone lost their minds when Hunger Games was being adapted and to everyone’s unnecessary horror, Jennifer Lawrence is blonde. Everyone got mad because it’s the little details you have to get right, otherwise you’re disrespecting the source material, yada yada. Is it really so hard to wear a wig, if you can’t get this tiny thing right, what else will you mess up, etc.

Question: Was the color of her hair more important, or the style that it was in?

She dyed it anyway to stay faithful, but which detail mattered to the plot, versus just being what the author picked for her?

Dare I wade into the “this character was white in the book” cesspool? Reluctantly, yes. And all I will say is this: Does their skin color serve any legitimate purpose to the plot or how they define themselves? No? Then shush and let the actors do their thing.

… But what if race *does* matter?

Is this a slice of life novel about some plucky high schoolers in your average American town? If the story isn’t any deeper than prom dates and football games, the skin color of your character is not important. Is this a treatise on segregation and the struggles of womanhood in repressed societies? Then yeah, the skin color of your character might affect their outlook on life a little bit.

In other words: Does your character care what they look like, and does their appearance affect the trajectory of the story?

Yes, it’s disappointing when you see your favorite character on screen and have to be told that’s them because it just doesn’t look like them. But what’s important is if they fit the spirit of the character, even if they don’t quite match their looks (a lesson I, too, need constant reminding of).

Character Descriptions in Fantasy and Sci-Fi

If making sure the adaptation stays faithful to the character design matters anywhere, it’s in these two genres. Why? Because you have free reign as an author to describe your mythic creatures, your aliens, your supernatural entities however you choose, and you worked hard trying to make them distinct from every other fantasy series out there.

But hold your horses on how specific you get.

Generally speaking, the traits that most authors describe first are hair, eye, and skin color, because it’s the easiest to get out of the way and everyone knows what humans look like to fill in the blanks. When you enter the realm of non-human characters, you have a lot more legwork to do to make sure your audience imagines what you want them to.

Maybe they have slit pupils like a housecat or a snake, or they have really floppy elephant ears, or they have antennae that twitch when they’re angry, or they have wings like a bat, a bird, a dragonfly. Or they have distinctive tattoos from their tribe. They have scales or feathers or fur and you want everyone to know how fluffy it is. You want your audience to know how tall they are, how heavy, how lanky, how robust. The shape of their face, their hands, if they have fingers like a pianist or a catcher’s glove.

Or, it matters because you’ve written an allegory on race, class, colonialism/imperialism, a World War, Apartheid, what have you, and your made-up nationalities need their own traits to be bigots about.

Answer: Hire a sensitivity reader before you design an insulting stereotype.

Otherwise, feel free to add as much fluff as you’d like. You go out there and you give exact measurements, constant similes about the textures of their skin, write an essay on cultural wardrobe, take two paragraphs to describe that ballgown and masquerade mask… and accept the fact that your readers will happily go SKIP!

Because description and exposition are also entwined with tone and the purpose of the story. I am writing an 18th century royal ball scene in a steamy romance novel and my hero is about to get her man – my audience might care about things like a sweetheart neckline, perfume, what kind of flowers are in the lacework, how it hugs her body, how the pink looks so damn sexy in the candlelight, how the skirts sweep so elegantly, every piece of jewelry she's wearing and how expensive it is and exactly how she did her hair.

Or, I am writing a fantasy adventure that happens to feature a pitstop at a royal ball – Your audience does not give one flying f*ck about what flowers are on that dress. Describe the color and something cool and eye-catching and move on.

The Ugly Truth: Does. It. Matter?

You can wax poetic about the minutiae of your absolutely unique and like no other fairies no one else has ever written before. Maybe you designed them less like Tinker Bell and more like anthropomorphised flowers – that matters!

You want your hot love interest to have a cupid’s bow and to remind the audience of that detail at least four times throughout the narrative? Not important unless the narrator is weirdly obsessive over it (or, again, romance/erotica).

The same thing goes for fantastical settings.

At what point are you describing the color of the grass, the kind of marble in the walls and floors, the exact shade of blue paint they used, the gables and the roofing tiles and the scalloping on the columns to unnecessary ends?

This also affects pacing.

If your entire story is set in a beautiful castle and the heroes never leave? Describe as much as your little heart desires. Is it just a pit stop on the way? Call it a castle, maybe it’s in ruins, give one uniquely defining trait that’s thematically relevant, and move on.

Side characters too: If you don’t even bother naming the poor schmuck, give their gender and maybe one fun fact and move on.

You’d be surprised how little character descriptions, or lack thereof, are even noticed. The amount of fanart head-cannoning a character being Not-White because the author technically never clarified is everywhere. I just reread the first two PJO books and Chiron’s human half is never described beyond his age and his beard. Everyone who read it filled in the missing details with what they wanted or expected to see and that doesn’t impact his character one bit.

Pacing your descriptions

See this post about how to pace your narrative.

Everyone knows the trope of the narrator waking up, gazing into a mirror and describing themselves to the audience. It’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s dirty, it’s effective.

So why do people hate it?

I think it’s less because it’s overdone, and more because it’s robbed of potential. When I wrote about pacing, I said every scene should be pulling double duty – character descriptions fall under exposition, and should do the same.

If you really want to have your hero describe herself to you via mirror, don’t just write a textbook, give it flavor. Is she self-conscious about her looks, saying she has choppy blonde hair but wishes it was some long, luxurious brown like some girl she’s jealous of? Does she have a big nose and wish it was smaller because she’s bullied? Or, does she love her green eyes, because her late father had them and she loves the connection they share?

Good pacing isn’t about how many or how few words you take to describe something, it’s how efficiently you use those words. Short doesn’t always mean it’s bland, long doesn’t always mean it’s profound. Don’t take 300 words to say something that could be said in 30 – but some things do deserve 300 words.

Examples:

A: She woke and rolled out of bed and stared at herself in the mirror. She had hazel eyes and blonde, curly hair that she pulled up into a ponytail.

B: She woke on the third alarm and rolled out of bed. Staring back at her in her vanity were tired hazel eyes beneath a mop of dishwater blonde curls and crease marks from her pillow.

C: She woke on the third alarm and dragged herself out of bed. Her vanity mirror glared back at her – a rats nest of dishwater blonde and crease marks from her pillow. She scowled and rubbed the sleep from her hazel eyes and raked her curls up into a messy ponytail to be dealt with after coffee.

Or, go even longer, really weave those details into the action of the scene, I didn’t here because this is a blog, not a book.

No matter what, best practice is to not infodump the description, spread it out – another criticism of the mirror trope. There is no one size fits all for any writing advice but if you’re spending more than four consecutive sentences describing a single character, object, or building, break that hot pile of exposition up and look how much better it reads.

Similes for describing your character, like any comparison, should serve a purpose. Think about describing an intimidating queen with snow white skin versus bone white skin – what vibes do you get from one simple word change?

You have a long time to describe your narrator, it’s okay if we don’t know what they look like on the first page. Give the details as they become relevant. If you open en media res and the hero is in a nasty fight scene – describe their hair as it flops in their eyes, describe their skin as it’s covered in sweat or scratches or bullet holes, describe their eyes as they patch themselves up and one is now black and blue – or describe their color full of fear, hate, malice, grief.

Describe them against another character so you get two birds with one stone. Whether the narrator is jealous of, attracted to, or appreciative of their fellow character’s appearance. Describe them self-conscious about trying to impress a crush, their spouse, a superior, interviewer, parent, the public, the press. Or describe them unhappy about how they’re being forced to look compared to how they usually are, e.g. a school uniform, prisoner’s uniform, fancy dress/suit, skimpy undercover costume, bargain bin, ugly hand-me-downs, holiday costume, sleepwear, full face of makeup, or no makeup.

All of these are motivated details that will read better than halting the narration to drop textbook lines of exposition.

Lastly, do not let your characters get side-tracked describing themselves when they have more important and prescient concerns. In the above hypothetical fight scene, a “she swept her blonde hair from her eyes and got back to her feet,” is going to read smoother than “she swept her blonde hair aside. It was short and choppy, cheap highlights fading and flyaways tickling her face. She got back to her feet.”

And even then, personally, I think this reads better still: “She swept her hair from her face and got back to her feet, sweaty blonde tangles stuck to her skin.”

Have intent, make it motivated, and the less it feels like awkward exposition.

Pitfalls to avoid

Full disclosure, I am white, from a long line of the whitest white Europeans. I do not write a pasty white cast of characters. Boy, was it an eye-opening experience realizing how harmful my earlier descriptions used to be, just from the books I grew up reading and through no ill-intent of my own.

So another detail in the realm of “does it really matter”: Not all brown skin is the same shade of brown, but resist the urge to compare it to any flavor of food or chocolate. I just reread a favorite kids’ book of mine and saw “chocolate milk” and as a kid, I never noticed or cared, but you bet I zeroed in on that little beat as an adult.

Is this hard? Kind of, yeah. I suppose you could go scorched earth with the food comparisons and describe all your characters in their flavor of milk. Pale skin has a lot of options: Snow, frost, paper, bone, fair, pale, lily, sandy, fawn, etc. and of course, milk, cream and sugar to boot.

The “brown skin like milk chocolate” is tempting, but dehumanizing particularly when only brown characters are described with food. Decide if the exact shade of brown is important, then get respectfully creative with the comparisons. The same goes with hair styles and textures.

Related to skin color: Be careful with what idioms and metaphors you use when describing characters who aren’t supposed to be white, doing things only possible or noticeable with light skin.

A certain famous author really tried to tell the world Hermione wasn’t *technically* white and the HP fans went and pulled page numbers proving that she has to be based on the behavior of her skin.

I’ve caught myself (and had to be told) a few times describing a not-white character “white-knuckling” something as shorthand for being stressed and tense. Faces blanching, paling, reddening, blushing, turning green, looking sun-burnt and bruised and scarred all look different depending on how dark their pigment is.

I am not at all an expert on what you *should* do for non-white characters so I will say this once again: Do your research and get a small army of sensitivity readers. Even if you don’t think you’re being racist, you might be. Accept the constructive criticism, and change it without complaint. Do not lie down and die on a milk-chocolate hill.

The Beautiful Truth

In the written medium, unless you canonize character art and take no constructive criticism, all your audience has to go on is suggestion. That means that your audience has the freedom to imagine their favorite characters however they want.

That means you get a million variations of the hero in their fan art – that’s amazing! If you never described the protagonist’s skin color? You get an audience that makes him or her or them the hero that they want to see and how you’ve inspired them – that’s amazing!

That’s what I mean when I ask if it really matters. You will always know how your literary darlings look. Is it more important that everyone else draws a million different paintings in their mind of the exact same face like a photocopier, or that you now have an audience giving you a million unique paintings of your life’s work immortalized in the grand literary canon?

[age-of-moonknight]

hi! hope you're doing well. i got a question for you about the what if with marc's funeral, if that's okay, and please let me know if i'm missing the mark or overstepping in any way. as a jewish guy, seeing a non-jewish funeral kinda felt bad to me. like marc was already buried, no one who loved him or knew him participated in the burial, and yes the heroes wore their gear instead of traditional mourning clothing, but putting a star of david on the tombstone felt like an afterthought. marlene's 'may your memory be a blessing' was nice, seeing gena and the kids and crawly was like yes those are his people! but overall idk the setup and eulogy wasn't working for me. tldr my question is, what's your take on marc's funeral?

Hey! Thanks for stopping by! I guess before I say anything I should preface this by mentioning that I’m honestly just some dude on the internet and I really shouldn’t be considered an authority on anything. I’ve just read an unfortunately large number of comics and while I do dedicate a lot of time to learning as much as I can about anything, I definitely shouldn’t be considered an expert on matters as richly complex and integral to people’s very identities as religion or culture. In other words, I definitely appreciate you starting this conversation, but I really can’t offer anything more than a personal opinion that everyone should just take with a grain of salt.

But!!! thank you for sending this message, because, yeah, I realize that sometimes I can get so swept up in any writer even acknowledging that Marc is Jewish that I forget that, “oh yeah, this could be better and we should be well past the age where we had to hope for even the barest crumbs of representation.”

Accordingly, I fully see where you’re coming from and you’re probably right in that there was more the writer could have done. Even as I write that though, I can already hear the long list of excuses that could be made by devil’s advocates about why Marc’s funeral in What If…? Dark: Moon Knight was presented as it was. Most probably could be pretty easily refuted by anyone that wants better from the comic industry, but, hey, that’s comics: they thrive on intense, impassioned reader discussion and can somehow be ahead of their time in terms of cultural sensitivity AND painfully slow in breaking out of some really poor ways of depicting cultures, races, and religions.

[Putting in a read more because this got a little long (sorry all, mea culpa)]

But yeah, some of those excuses I can imagine include, first among them, space limitations. The creators had one page to depict the funeral in the single issue allotted to telling Marlene’s story of becoming Luminary. People could easily say something offhand and questionable like, “oh yeah, Marc’s mom sat shiva, but it all happened off panel,” but that explanation always feels a little cheap to me, as I know for fact that comic artists can get very creative with how they format a page to include critical information, but, eh, there it is.

Some people in these situations sometimes bring up the point that authors that share a background with the characters they depict can approach matters with a good understanding of what’s appropriate/significant. I can see the validity of that approach, but from the (admittedly brief) research I did, I haven’t found any conclusive statements on the writer’s background at least and I personally would rather not make any assumptions/speculations. (Again, that’s strictly a personal thing, because in my line of work, I come across a lot of bad actors who, from their perspective, “““accuse””” people of being certain races or ethnic backgrounds and I am,,,,very tired). Plus, that’s not necessarily a cure all, at least that’s what I’ve gathered from the heated debates on Bemis’ Moon Knight run that I still stumble upon on occasion.

The next thing that comes to mind, well, I don’t want to sound like I’m entirely absolving the creators since, sure, they probably could have done more, but I’m so used to grappling with the bad hands comic books deal me, that sometimes I propose what I guess could be referred to as Watsonian interpretations??? Like, yeah, this was ultimately written like this because creators are flawed, but I cope by trying to puzzle out in-universe explanations. In this case, I see this as potentially being some sort of hazy, not quite well constructed, reflection of Marc’s complex relationship with his background that characterized his adult life. Elias Spector, who frequently represents Marc’s connection to his past and how he wrestles with really complex questions of religion and identity, is dead by this point of time in both of Marc’s established origins, and while I am sure the organizers of Marc’s funeral, like Marlene and Frenchie, fully and deeply loved him, I’m just not sure if Marc ever communicated to them what they should specifically do for his funeral (fully traditional or as small/nondescript as possible if he even thought he deserved/would get a funeral), as enigmatic and….not always forthcoming in discussing such matters Marc circa Marc Spector: Moon Knight was, so they did their best.

But gosh, even as I write that out, that’s such a load of copium. I’ll admit that my fondness for the comic book genre results in me desperately trying to hammer something worthwhile out of sometimes (or frequently????) mediocre material, so thanks again for sharing your thoughts! You are well and away within your rights to not be satisfied with how the matter was handled and I know I thoroughly appreciate your critical eye. Arguably, it is only by such a capacity for critique that the industry will ever shake off some of its worst aspects that still haunt it and evolve into something really consistently worthwhile.

[farm-witches-fic-recs]

Oh, don’t mind us, we’re just carving up our pumpkins and spiking the apple cider. We’ve been busy preparing some spooky treats for the little goblins and ghouls around town. Lil’ Rollie’s costume is supposed to be a real showstopper this year from what we’ve heard.

We hope you sit back and enjoy these community recs from our farm witch friends with some of your favorite candies and leave the authors some love!

+ + + + + + + + +

Feels like home (@thegrayness) **RPF**  “In this absolutely lovely fic, Dan is a novelist whose research on small towns puts him in close proximity with the charming Noah. Complete with Hallmark vibes and just the right amount of pining, this fic is perfect for anyone looking to get in their holiday feels. It's sweet, fun, and absolutely worth a read (or two)!!”

Fifteen hundred miles (morehuman) “This is the one that started it all for me. The one I stumbled upon after falling down a Schitt’s Creek internet rabbit hole and found myself on AO3. The one that made me fall in love with this concept of taking characters that I had fallen in love with and placing them in different situations and have it work. It showed me there were all these people in the world creating unique, compelling and brilliantly written stories. This is my favorite fic for so many reasons, but mostly because of everything it brought to me. New friends, a renewed love of reading, along with reawakening my own creativity. I know it’s already well-known and well-loved but I felt the need to share how much it means to me.”

Halloween whiskey (@missgeevious) “A fine Halloween fic. I love the way this writer is so concise, creating this little gem with nary a wasted word. A tight 5K that's both sweet and scorching hot. Come for Patrick's "do-over" in the beginning, linger for the intense heat in the middle, and leave with the image of Patrick's adjusted costume firmly planted in your brain.”

Into a million pieces (rosieboo98) “This is one of my go to fics when I am looking to read angst. It brings me to tears every time. But then it gives our boys their happy ending. I really appreciate the fact that once they get their happy ending, the story does not end. Instead, the author gives a few chapters of them building their new relationship after it has been so broken.  Highly recommend if you need a good angst with happy endings!”

Language of Love (pandorasdaydream) “If you’ve ever wondered what happened between the episodes, these series are for you. Such attention to detail and explanations for David and Patrick’s thoughts and behaviors. I loved exploring this series.”

The last first kiss - a series of alternate first kisses (poutini/@cheesecurdsgravyandfries) “This piece eighteen alternate “last first kisses” that all take place before the S3:13 grad night kiss we all know and love, hits a bit differently. It’s soft, sweet, funny, and a wonderful bit of evidence that David and Patrick will be together in every universe- sometimes sooner than you’d think. 11/10 would read again and again and again— and you should too!”

Smoke gets in your eyes (@this-will-be-our-year) “This Mad Men (remix) AU is freakin gold!!! Its set in the 60s yet its SO David & Patrick. I cried, laughed, and fell in love with the characters. I'm not even kidding when I say that a fluffy sequel where we see them as "husbands" or a present time fast forward where they marry legally is in my DAILY MANIFESTATIONS. So, so good!” 

Stab: The Elmsboro Murders (@dinnfameron) “I am assuming that everyone knows the quintessential October fic “My Heart is Like a Haunted House” by dinnfameron, so I don’t need to tell you to go read that. Right? Okay, well, after that one, check out another seasonally appropriate one by the same author, “Stab: The Elmsboro Murders.” You’ll love this flirty, lighthearted meet-cute based on a slasher movie. Dinnfameron is such a clever wordsmith—weaving together canon lines in unexpected ways, capturing the tone of a detective story, and including plenty of affectionate and true-to-character banter. The point of view alternates, and the parts in journalist David’s head are particularly fun and sweet. So don’t be scared of this little horror fic. It might kill you, but only in the best, most metaphorical ways.”

[freakishfandomfiend]

911 Fandom Meltdown and Racism **RANT**

As a member of the 911 fandom since day one, I would like to put my two cents in where fanfic writers are concerned.  It has come to my attention that there is a list going around of fanfic writers being “racists” around different servers and the fandom. It’s a list made by WHITE PEOPLE (WP), calling others racists; including People of Color(PoC). As someone who loves some of the authors on the list, I’d like to point out that most of the writing is not racist, but different characterization of a canon character and people are getting butt hurt. 

Just because you don’t like something, because you don’t like someone’s writing of a character, does not make them racist. All of this started when people were bashing Maddie and saying that she shouldn’t have done the things she did in the way of getting into Buck’s apartment and the way she left Buck. When those things didn’t get enough traction, they pulled in Chimney. 

Apparently we can’t talk about Chimney being a liar and being a bully before season 5 (because this disregards character development.. *Rolls eyes*), but I’m going to talk about it. Chimney wasn’t my favorite character in the beginning, I did like him, I wasn’t a huge fan of his lying to his girlfriend and the way he was verbally abusive to his team members. Not just Buck, and we’ll get to why I specified Buck in this. 

Chimney was abusive; he was verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive. When we skip to season 5 where Chim punches Buck, we see the physical part of it. It’s also brought to my attention that he was under emotional duress at the time. That’s not a reason, that’s an excuse. He was still the aggressor and he was still the one who threw the punch. Notice that Buck never hit back. 

Chimney used the fact that Buck kept it from him, that his daughter went to the hospital, that Maddie left, but Chim kept important things from Buck too. 

BUT! According to the WP that made the list, if we defend Buck, if people are held accountable for their own actions, we’re babying Buck. When we do that to PoC, it’s okay because they are PoC. I’m probably going to get put on the list after all of this too, but I couldn’t care less.

Eddie, who is also a PoC, has done some stupid shit and deserved to have the consequences of his own actions. He punched the handicap male, (Who was a douche bag, but I digress), and he went to jail for it. He had to be bailed out. 

Why didn’t Chim go to jail? or get charged? and honestly? as an Abuse survivor myself, I don’t see how Maddie could have forgiven Chim as easily as she did. Especially over the person that she was a mother to for most of his life. How she could let him near their child without him going to therapy. EVEN how Bobby could let him come back as easily and quickly as he did without him being cleared through therapy and anger management. As much as we talk about Buck being Bobby’s kid, he’s also his coworker, his responsibility, and when someone wouldn’t feel safe or feel like they can’t trust someone anymore.. that’s an issue, especially in their field of work. 

I would also like to point out that anyone who is writing stories where Chim is being held responsible for his actions, or any of the 118 being held responsible, I’m so proud of you for writing things that go against the flow of what everyone wants to be brainwashed into your head. I do apologize for the backlash you may get from any of this, but for what it’s worth, as a stranger on the internet, I’m proud of you.   

I personally don’t care if you’re white, black, green, red, yellow, or purple, if you fuck up and make a bad decision, you should be held responsible for your own actions. 

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

Hey there, I have a question. It may not have an easy answer, but it would mean a lot to me if you took the time to share your thoughts.

I love HotD and all of the amazing fanfic that has resulted from it. Obviously, the incest aspect of it is not for everyone, and is very squicky and off-putting to some folks, even if these are fictional characters. No HotD fic authors who write for the incest pairings, as far as I can tell, are condoning this behavior IRL or saying that this is appropriate content for minors, and most are VERY upfront with content warnings.

However, that being said, there’s a part of me that feels guilty for enjoying this kind of content. I am a survivor of sexual assault and I think of myself as a feminist, and yet it’s sometimes hard for me to reconcile that with also liking kinky stuff (including dubcon and impact play like slapping/choking/spanking) and consuming stories with taboo dynamics, such as incest. It seems like you feel similarly (I know you said that you do identify as a feminist, but I’m not making any assumptions about sexual experiences you may have had so please don’t take it that way), and I’d love to get your insight on this.

I feel like it’s mainly kink shaming/toxic modern purity culture that is making me feel weird/guilty about liking this type of content. Also, just fear of being judged or shamed - because there’s so much of that on the internet and just life in general. I’ve, admittedly, gone through phases where I was adamantly anti-kink and unlearning that behavior has been a long, hard journey, so maybe these complicated feelings are part of that? I would love to know if any of this resonates with you? If so, how have you worked through it? And any tips or insight for me?

Hey, nonnie!

Thank you so much for reaching out. I can see that you're struggling with some conflict over your enjoyment of House of the Dragon and its fandom, particularly as it pertains to the more taboo themes it explores. I'm going to do my best to articulate my thoughts here, so please forgive me if it doesn't come out quite right.

I definitely don't agree with the themes I explore in fanfiction as being the basis for a healthy and um, legal relationship in real life. There are a lot of red flags in the incestuous dynamics of House Targaryen, and ordinarily I would perceive incest in media as something abhorrent; for example, Cersei and Jaime Lannister just squicks me right out. I think the interesting thing here is that, at least for the Targaryens, incest is coded as normal - it's not viewed in-world as something immoral, but rather a facet of what it means to be Targaryen. I find that makes it more palatable, though I would still maintain in the real world that this is wrong.

I'm very sorry for what you've been through, and I hope you're doing okay. I can empathise with how difficult your experiences must have made enjoying this kind of content, though my own experience is a little different. I was raised by a very conservative family (not politically, strangely; more morally) that has gradually become more relaxed as I've gotten older. However, the damage had been done - for a very long time, I'd been taught the understanding that I should suppress all hints of sexuality, that experiencing non-platonic interest in someone/thing was distasteful and something to be made fun of, and this has really messed with my ability to seek out relationships as an adult. I've never dated, never had sex, because I'm so afraid of being perceived as 'lesser' for experiencing these sort of urges. I've done a lot of work on myself to come to terms with all this, and the process of unlearning it is slow - this fanfiction is kinda one of the ways I'm trying to let go.

As for the theme of incest and enjoying it in fanfiction - I think it's important to remember that most of the time, the draw isn't about comparisons to your own life. Liking a fantasy guy with blond hair fucking his young equally-blond niece doesn't mean you want to bang your own uncle or anything. I prefer to see it as a fascination with the dynamic. I once saw 'daddy kink' described by someone as a "power differential laced with care and affection", and you could argue that the uncle-niece connection is very similar here. We have an obviously dominant figure wielding authority over a submissive woman, but there's a safety net of love and tenderness that goes beyond sexual desire or romantic love. One could argue that those sorts of feelings are conditional, but a love for family is hard to break free of. There's comfort in that dynamic underpinning the kinkier scenarios such as dubcon or impact play/pain etc.; kind of a reassurance that no matter how far it goes, there's all these different bonds of care connecting the individuals together. TLDR: I feel like the fascination with incest in ASOIAF is more to do with the emotional security/safety than any innate desire to go around banging your own relatives.

For a long time, I too have been really ashamed by my fascination with those more overtly questionable kinks. I don't think it makes me any less of a feminist, though, because I recognise that my interest comes from a need to let go of my control. I constantly need to present myself as an assertive person because of my job or my age or the fact that I'm a woman in a patriarchal society where, if I don't advocate for myself, I'll be steamrollered. I'm not naturally assertive; it's exhausting. The idea that someone who genuinely cares for me could come in and relieve me of that for a while, take me out of my own head, is appealing. I'm so sick of keeping a lid on things, presenting myself as someone with a spine of steel, when all I really want is to be coddled and allowed to just exist free of expectations.

In terms of well, coming to terms with this, my biggest advice would be to be kind to yourself. You're not a horrible person for liking what you like, no matter what anyone says. And it's always good to consider this: what do you gain from shaming yourself for it? What is the value-add to your life? Because if the answer involves something to do with society, or 'normality', or morality, or anyone or thing other than you yourself, then that's not fair to you. You should be allowed to have an interest in themes and kinks that appeal to you, so long as that interest doesn't ultimately cross the boundaries of legality (i.e., I can like Daemon/Rhaenyra, but I'm NOT about to try and pursue my own uncle because ew).

I don't know if this helps at all, and I do sincerely hope I haven't brought up anything unpleasant or crossed any boundaries. But most of all, I just want you to take care of yourself - and remember that you aren't alone. If nothing else, there's plenty of fellow grotties on the interwebz here for you to find a community with; we're all here for you.

Thanks, nonnie.

[pillow-anime-talk]

music & vocaloids month ; twenty-sixth day.

synopsis: What will be the public opinion when it turns out that the most famous Chinese singer – Yuezheng Longya – will be in a relationship with everyone’s beloved actress and model, Y/N Y/L/N?

# tags: scenario; hidden relationship; phone call!au; romance; kinda drama; a bit of comedy; the realities of fame; paparazzi are nasty pigs; sfw

includes: female reader ft. yuezheng longya {vocaloid}

author’s note: fuck, i’m alive and back.

It’s been a hard and long day, but luckily you made it to your apartment; you even had a moment to drink hot jasmine tea and take a bubble bath while browsing the internet and the most popular websites such as Twitter, Weibo or the latest news on the country’s official website.

In addition to a few news stories from the world, you saw a big headline article in which your name appeared. And there would have been nothing surprising about that (after all, your life is full of gossip and information about your achievements in the film and fashion spheres), but you were more surprised to see your partner’s name next to yours. There was also a large inscription saying ‘romance’ and ‘dating’... This slightly ruined your ideal mood so far, and by the way spoiled your desire for anything. You immediately put down the wooden massager on a metal shelf.

Moments later you heard the call ring and your boyfriend's name again. You answered quickly, saying ‘Hello’.

“Did you see that?”

“Mhmm. Literally a moment ago.” You murmured dissatisfied, toying with the white foam filling the bathtub, and in the earphone you heard only a light, male giggle. “What are you laughing at?”

“You’re a great and talented actress, honey, but you definitely can’t play as my friend....” He started and you just rolled your eyes. “Everything’s all right? How do you feel with it? This is probably your first major drama in showbiz and your first dating scandal. Am I wrong?”

“Well... I’m okay, I guess? I’ve been expecting this for a long time, and I’m a little surprised that it only came out now. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but we have to deal with it somehow. Then I’ll talk to my manager... I’m resting now.”

You didn’t say anything for a while until your boyfriend spoke again.

“I spoke to the record label a while ago and asked them to write a statement that this is my private matter and they will not say anything more about it. It’s probably the best solution... Can I come to you today? We haven’t seen each other for three days.”

“I would love for you to come to me... Although it will create more rumors if someone notices you, Yue.”

The young singer chuckled again under his breath, then looked at his black watch. It was well after ten in the evening, which was not unusual for you when it comes to meetings or dates.

“I’ll be there in about half an hour. You can prepare popcorn and some interesting movie. Don’t worry too much about it. We’ll be in the news for a few days on social media and in the newspapers, but people will quickly forget about it and move on to something else.”

You nodded, though your lover didn’t see it. You talked for a while more about the whole situation and then said ‘See you’ to each other. You quickly finished your hot bath, did your evening skincare routine, and then eagerly awaited the arrival of Yuezheng with whom you were going to watch the live-action version of ‘The Little Mermaid’.

As much as you loved your job, you got good money from it, as well as many fans and support, you hated all the internet gossip portals and the paparazzi themselves, who for famous people were only a walking problem and bane, and also a heavyweight problem.

previous day ; ramuda amemura from fling posse ♡ next day ; eli ayase from μ’s

[vvh0adie]

Could we get more bf!jk x oc? 🥺❤️

Hi!

First, thankyu for asking!

And Uh~ I’ve been struggling to answer this simple ass ask but of course the autism has to make me over analyze. Part of me is saying you’re asking about Life Lines!Jungkook since its most recent but maybe this is a good time to show you what I have planned for all my JK’s. im sorry if this isnt what you asked for but im unsure which bf!jk you wanted😭 so short answer: yes more bf!jk with diff personas🥺💖

Since this is an update post now, plz read the author’s notes. This to help determine what to work on and interest. I also include info that really shouldn’t suprise you but saves me from harassment later as I’m being very transparent.

※ Life Lines: Parallel Lines

⇴ drabble | >5K? words

⇴ ceo!jjk x soloist!reader

⇴ smut, angst, fluff

you spend time with jk in his comfort room; or more so parallel play

a/n: i’m gonna use what i didn’t put in Life Lines, in this one. so i’ve already dabbled with this wip. also, if you haven’t guessed by now, OC is chubby

✧༺♡༻✧

※ Bonnet Bust Down

⇴ drabble | >4K?

⇴ bf!jjk x reader (was thinking this persona fits period pooh!jk so well but we’ll see)

⇴ smut, crack, fluff, light angst

jk is jealous of a bonnet😭 the ultimate battle begins

a/n: the idea is in my head and a dialogue prompt written, but other than that no document made. OC is ethnically African American (Black).

✧༺♡༻✧

※ Banana Clip: 몰리 pt.2

⇴ oneshot | currently 7.6K< words

⇴ idol!hopekook x internet personality!reader

⇴ smut, angst, fluff

jk and hobi get rid of an annoying noise, have a learning moment about auditory processing issues, and give you hugs, kisses, and much more…

a/n: Jk and Hobi display a moment of ignorance and insensitivity but not maliciously. Kitten is autistic, chubby, ethnically African American (Black). so please refrain from getting into my inbox/pm and disrespecting me. i can’t please everyone and frankly i don’t like bigots on my blog.

[iamspaceyprincess]

I’ve been having a lot of thoughts about LGBTQIA+ representation in media since the release of Heartstopper on Netflix and trying to put into words just what it means to us queer people.

I was 20 when I realised I was queer. It wasn’t because I kissed some girl at a party, it wasn’t because I fell in love with a friend, and it wasn’t because I’d always known and was hiding it.

I genuinely didn’t know.

I genuinely had NO IDEA.

At 20 years old a YouTuber I was watching (and was in hindsight, far too obsessed with for a straight girl), uploaded a video discussing her sexuality and came out to the world. My whole world changed.

I had known less than 5 out gay or bisexual people throughout my teens, but never really had much in common with them, and definitely never thought I was anything like them. I had barely seen any queer people on TV, YouTube, in a movie or in a book, and the ones I had seen were straight people playing some cliche gay stereotype for jokes, or straight people playing queer people going through horrific trauma. And I had definitely never met or seen a single out queer person above the age of 40, ever.

But here was this girl, my age, into the same sort of feminine fashion, music, internet humor, and generally very similar to me, who was queer, and she was proud of it! She wasn’t hooking up with strangers, doing hard drugs in clubs, going off the rails. She just uploaded wholesome little videos of herself playing ukulele and hanging out with her friends, she was just like me, and she was queer.

At 24 I read my first book with a female protagonist falling in love with another woman, written by a queer author. And I cried, for HOURS, even at the happy scenes. It made me feel seen in ways I had never felt! (One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston, highly reccomend!)

I love reading, I’ve always been a reader, even when it got me in trouble in school.

I love a good gooey romance novel, my bookshelf is full of Bridgerton, John Green, Jane Austen, Outlander, you name a book with a good romance plot and I’ve read it.

Yet I’d never read a single book with a love story I could relate to. I’d read books with a queer side character, I’d read books which alluded to the queer character meeting someone in the future, but I’d never read a book centred around a wholesome happy woman loving woman romance (especially not one written by a queer author who actually knows what it’s like! And no, it’s not enough for a straight author to write a straight love story and change some pronouns to make it queer).

A few months ago, I saw my first queer character in a musical and cried. I couldn’t stop crying, when everyone else was cheering and laughing, there were tears streaming down my face. Representation, in a real life stage show, a thing I never even noticed I’d been missing.

I am 25 and Heartstopper is the first TV show I’ve ever seen with a genuinely happy and wholesome queer love story. No one is going through horrific trauma because they’re queer, no one’s parents are abandoning them because they’re gay, no one’s getting groomed by someone older than them, no one’s hiding their true selves from the world and hating themselves for it. It’s just happy. It’s just two kids learning how to love and having their first romance. It’s kids learning who they are, finding strength and community in their friends, and love and acceptance in their families.

So often, we are left out of media like we don’t exist. And when we are included, it’s in storyline’s involving drugs, heavy drinking, anonymous sex, abuse, suicide or murder.

So when we get mad about a lack of representation, the response we get is “well LGBT issues aren’t family friendly” or “there was just a show about the HIV-AIDS epidemic on Netflix, you have representation”. It’s not good enough.

If the only time we see ourselves in media is surrounded by pain and hurt and suffering, how do you think that affects how we see ourselves? How do you think that affects those who haven’t come out yet, or don’t realise they’re queer?

In 2018, the FIRST film by a major Hollywood studio to focus on a gay romance was released. In 2018!

This movie was something, it was representation, even if the main character was played by a straight actor, even if the main plot involved him getting blackmailed about being gay and then publicly and traumatically outed, it was something! However, many queer film critics disliked it, because they felt like much of the queer plot was watered down to make the film more palatable to straight audiences. It feels like a film written by and for straight people, to say “hey, we can be inclusive, as long as it’s not an inconvenience!”

But hey, maybe we shouldn’t be so picky, representation is something, right?

Representation matters.

Good representation matters more.

After Heartstopper was released, I talked to many of my queer friends and the resounding feeling amongst us in our 20-30’s was that it was so unbelievably bittersweet.

We were so happy to see a beautiful wholesome queer romance (with a predominantly queer cast and crew!), but heartbroken that this didn’t exist when we were children or teenagers. If I had seen this show, this sort of representation when I was a child, or a teenager, I wouldn’t have spent so many years confused and trying to fit into some mold, ending up feeling broken, used, and lost.

We need queer characters in children’s TV shows and movies, we need queer characters in books in public and school libraries. Queer does not automatically equal sexualisation, queer does not automatically equal risk taking behaviour, and it doesn’t have to equal pain.

You can’t turn someone queer, if someone is trans, or gay, or asexual, it’s who they are, how young they are when they discover that, and what they have around them to model themselves after, that’s what prevents harm.

You cannot be something if you never see it. Do you know how confusing it is to be growing up as a queer person and have absolutely no idea what a queer 60 year old woman looks like? I have no idea what that life involves, no idea what future me will be like at all!

When we have absolutely no one to model ourselves after, we feel lost and alone and if we can’t even see that representation in the media we consume, how on earth are we supposed to figure out who we are?

So I’m excited about Heartstopper, I recommend it to every single person I can (no matter how young, old, or straight), and I will continue to do so.

I’m making an effort to read queer books, watch queer movies and TV shows, support queer musicians, and be out and proud and queer in my job working in healthcare.

Because representation matters, it matters more than you realise. 🏳️‍🌈

[wndaswife]

ok im not a minor, I'm an adult (I'm 21) but my sister is 17 and she reads smut and shit like that and we even talk ab it together, and I just wanted to know why do authors not like when minors (like 15-17) read their works? cuz I think all of us were minors reading smut and idk at some point we can understand them? I just want to know your point of view I'm just curious!

yeah ofc no problem ! i started reading smut when i was like 12 or something and i think many other people start reading it around that age too, including a lot of writers who have 18+ blogs right now. i think it’s both an impossible and nonsensical goal for a stranger to try and control another stranger’s internet consumption, but i don’t mean to say anything like that when i make my blog 18+, and i don’t think anyone else is saying that either. we are allowed our freedoms to consume what we want to, but we also must respect those who r putting out 18+ content. i think ‘this an 18+ blog’ and ‘minors DNI’ are synonymous with both saying that those blog owners don’t want minors interacting with their content, which is not the same as saying that they can’t consume it. it is impossible to control and thus out of our hands. but what we can do is make disclaimers that minors r not welcomed to interact with 18+ content, which means not following 18+ blogs or liking, reblogging, or commenting on 18+ content if you are a minor.

personally, and i know a lot of 18+ writers feel the same, i don’t want to see those under 18 interacting with my 18+ content because it’s just personal preference and is something i’m uncomfortable with. because of this personal preference, i cannot force everyone who has ever comes across my blog to just look away if they’re a minor, but i can say that i don’t want them to interact with my content. it may be unfortunate for minors to have to take that extra step but they are at the end of the day reading free content on free platforms from people who take the time to write them for free. it’s just a thing of respect. sort of like you can do what you want, but just respect the writers who put out content. if you are a minor, just don’t interact! you can even choose to deny and in turn disrespect those who have personal boundaries because you have the freedom to do so, but it makes it so much harder when you do, because a lot of times minors will get blocked for interacting with 18+ blogs, which is something i do as well. i am someone online who puts out content, but im also a human being like every other reader and i do deserve to have my boundaries respected as do all 18+ blog owners. i hope this helps a little! :-)

[kamreadsandrecs]

If there’s one thing authors love more than procrastinating, it’s praising one another. During the Renaissance, Thomas More’s Utopia got a proto-blurb from Erasmus (“divine wit”), while Shakespeare’s First Folio got one from Ben Jonson (“The wonder of our stage!”). By the 18th century, the practice of selling a book based on some other author’s endorsement was so well established that Henry Fielding’s spoof novel Shamela even came with fake blurbs, including one from “John Puff Esq.”

Blurbs have always been controversial—too clichéd, too subject to cronyism—but lately, as review space shrinks and the noise level of the marketplace increases, the pursuit of ever more fawning praise from luminaries has become absurd. Even the most minor title now comes garlanded with quotes hailing it as the most important book since the Bible, while authors report getting so many requests that some are opting out of the practice altogether. Publishers have begun to despair of blurbs, too. “You only need to look at the jackets from the 1990s or 2000s to see that even most debut novelists didn’t have them, or had only one or two genuinely high-quality ones,” Mark Richards, the publisher of the independent Swift Press, told me. “But what happened was an arms race. People figured out that they helped, so more effort was put into getting them, until a point was reached where they didn’t necessarily make any positive difference; it’s just that not having them would likely ruin a book’s chances.”

Today, pick up any title at Barnes & Noble and you’re likely to find that it’s plastered with approving adjectives from everyone under the sun. When I asked Henry Oliver, who runs The Common Reader, a Substack devoted to literature, for examples of overused words, he sent back a long list: electrifying, essential, profound, masterpiece, vital, important, compelling, revelatory, myth-busting, masterful, elegantly written, brave, lucid and engaging, indispensable, enlightening, courageous, powerful. “We do it like some kind of sympathetic magic,” John Mitchinson, a co-founder of the book-crowdfunding platform Unbound, told me. “Like a rabbit’s foot … We all do it because we are desperate to prove the book has some merit. There is something slightly troubling about it.”

For first-time authors, offering up contacts for blurbs has become a routine part of the pitching process, along with boasting about how many social-media followers they have. Tomiwa Owolade, whose first book, This Is Not America: Why Black Lives Matter in Britain, came out in June, told me that he, his agent, and his editor drew up a list of potential blurb writers, “and my editor messaged everyone on the list. I don’t know how many on the list responded to the email, or received the book but didn’t read it, or read the book and hated it, and I didn’t pester my editor to find out: I only know of the ones who came back with an endorsement.” One of those who responded was the Dutch author Ian Buruma, a former editor of The New York Review of Books. His unexpected endorsement provided a confidence boost to Owolade, and perhaps a sales boost too. “I’m a big fan of his writing, but we’ve never interacted before,” Owolade said. “I thought it was very sweet of him.”

What’s behind the blurb arms race? Two things: the switch across the arts from a traditional critical culture to an internet-centered one driven by influencers and reliant on user reviews, combined with a superstar system where a handful of titles account for the great majority of sales.

Those trends have disrupted the 20th century’s dominant two-step model of book promotion, in which publishers brought out a hardback—conveying seriousness, prestige, and heft—and then a paperback about a year later. This allowed them two chances to “launch” the book, and the cheaper, more portable paperbacks could also benefit from the (hopefully) glowing reviews for the hardback in major newspapers and magazines.

That model is now broken. Mitchinson and Richards tell the same story: The volume of books being published has become enormous at the same time as many legacy publications have stopped publishing stand-alone book sections; the reviews they do publish have lost much of their cultural impact. So instead of harvesting effusive quotes from professional book reviewers, authors solicit them from celebrities and other writers, usually long before publication. A phalanx of powerful, insightful, vivid blurbs now means the difference between success and failure. In Mitchinson’s 12 years of running Unbound, he says, “it’s moved from sending books out for review, to sending them out at the earliest possible moment for endorsement quotes.” Building excitement before publication day leads to higher preorders, and in turn to more promotion on Amazon and in brick-and-mortar bookstores.

And that reveals another dirty secret of the blurb: They’re not addressed to you. “The biggest thing to understand is that blurbs aren’t principally, or even really at all, aimed at the consumer,” Richards told me via email. “They are instead aimed at literary editors and buyers for the bookstores—in a sea of new books, having blurbs from, ideally, lots of famous writers will make it more likely that they will review/stock your book.”

That’s the magic. Stephen King is well known for his generous praise for less commercially successful authors—which is to say basically all of them—and if he says this is an important book, then it is one. His approval is a signal as powerful as a publisher announcing that it has won a “seven-way” auction or paid a “six-figure sum.” Anointed by greatness, maybe such a golden title will be chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s book club. Maybe it will pick up chatter on TikTok or Instagram. Maybe it will become the title that everyone seems to be talking about, like Yellowface or Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Blurbs are therefore an uneasy hybrid of quality-assurance mark and publicity gimmick. This makes the practice of blurbing a fraught one. Are you doing a fellow striver a good turn, or acting as a gatekeeper of excellence, making sure that only the best books succeed?

Reading a book takes time, so writers have an incentive to blurb only their friends. Writing a good puff quote takes time too: If you ever see the words inspiring and illuminating, assume the blurber hasn’t even cracked the spine. Most established authors are bombarded with proofs, accompanied by heartstring-tugging notes from editors about the importance of this author’s vision. After writing my own book on feminism, I could have made a fort out of advance copies of other books with women in the title sent to me by hopeful publishers. I can only imagine the number of books Stephen King receives; it must be like a snowdrift on the wrong side of his front door. The distinguished classicist Mary Beard announced a few years ago that she was declining all requests, because she felt like she was becoming a “blurb whore” after being asked at least once a week. “I’m beginning to get a lot more authors who say, I can’t do it,” Mitchinson told me.

Not everyone says that, though. In my reporting for this piece, certain names repeatedly came up as prolific blurbers. “Salman Rushdie, Colm Tóibín, even the reclusive J. M. Coetzee make frequent appearances, so many that you wonder how they find time to read all these books and keep up the day job too,” the critic John Self told me. The British polymath Stephen Fry, meanwhile, “has hilariously blurbed about half of all books published in the U.K.,” said James Marriott of the London Times. His brand is cerebral, patrician, and politically unchallenging. “To me his endorsement means nothing, but I wonder how far casual bookshop visitors get that he puts his name on everything.” (I requested a comment from Fry via his agent but have not yet heard back.)

Unsurprisingly, publishers are grateful to the authors who do participate in the practice. Mark Richards sees them as “good literary citizens.” The novelist Amanda Craig agreed. “My thoughts have done a 180 turn,” she told me. When she published her first book, Foreign Bodies, in 1990, she was offered a cover quote by fellow novelist Deborah Moggach, who was nine years older than her. Craig turned it down because she wanted her work to speak for itself. “I was very purist,” she said. Now, though, the squeeze on reviewing space means that good authors struggle to attract attention, and she has a policy of blurbing “anybody I think is good, including people I thoroughly dislike.”

Craig is also annoyed that the male-dominated golden generation above her, whose members prospered in the 1980s when novels were far more profitable, have largely been reluctant blurbers of their successors. They “got the cream, but it never seemed to have occurred to them … to pass it on,” she told me, adding that she wondered if this had contributed to the decline in male authorship. (The success of men at the very top of publishing—as CEOs of publishing houses, as lead critics on newspapers, and until recently on prize shortlists—obscures the fact that most buyers and readers of books are women, and the industry as a whole is female-dominated.) The generation of women above Craig were supportive because they wanted to see other women succeed, but her male peers today did not benefit from similar solidarity. “When I got Rose Tremain and Penelope Lively, it was like God descending from the clouds,” Craig said. “I do feel for the men of my generation.” The blurb arms race, then, is unfair to many marginalized groups—and men may be one of them.

One obvious thing about blurbs is that they are open to corruption. Ask around and you will quickly discover deep suspicions about, for example, reciprocal blurbing—or what you might call a blurblejerk: “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” as George Orwell once wrote to his friend Cyril Connolly, proposing that they gush about each other’s books in print.

Tactical mutual admiration has always been so common that Spy magazine had a recurring feature called “Log-Rolling In Our Time,” and back in 2001, Slate revealed that Frank McCourt had gone hog wild after the publication of Angela’s Ashes, “doling out 15 blurbs” in five years, including one for the wife of his film producer. (You can see the extent of blurb inflation because, for such a prominent author, three blurbs a year now seems like a low number.)

I learned of Orwell’s logrolling—and the puff quotes by Erasmus and Ben Jonson at the start of this article—from Louise Willder’s fascinating study of book marketing, Blurb Your Enthusiasm. In it, Willder, who writes marketing copy for Penguin Random House, confirms (sadly, without naming names) that some puffers don’t read the books they’re endorsing. “One of the slightly shameful secrets of publishing is that occasionally an author will really want to give an endorsement for a writer they admire, but is too busy to do it—and so they hand the responsibility over to somebody else,” she writes. “I confess that, yes, occasionally I have made up review quotes for a couple of high-profile authors in this manner (although luckily they did find the time to sign off on the finished piece of praise).”

Halfway through our conversation, John Mitchinson revealed the existence of something even more shocking than ghostblurbing. Recently, when he requested a blurb from a public figure via his agent, he said, “they quoted us £1,000.” Wow. I knew the blurbosphere was corrupt, but not that corrupt. Mitchinson declined the offer.

But then, as we talked more, I realized that a celebrity can earn five or six figures for a corporate speech that takes far less time than reading a book and writing a gushing paragraph about it. And in terms of sales, a puff quote from the right person is probably worth far more than a few thousand dollars. Perhaps I was naive to assume, as James Marriott put it, “that publishers—a prestige, highbrow industry—would never indulge in the dark arts of publicity the way, I don’t know, fast-food manufacturers would.”

A blurb has always been a type of currency, and many of the most successful books are not really books at all, but brand extensions for a diet guru or productivity hacker or business titan. Why assume that those authors care about literature? Some probably regard people who read books before blurbing them as hopeless saps who don’t even take ice baths or keep a bullet journal. The fallen crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried once said that he would never read a book, and that anyone who wrote one had screwed up, because “it should have been a six-paragraph blog post.”

Hearing these descriptions of blurbing—which can be both a selfless act and a shamelessly corrupt one—reminded me of nothing so much as academic peer review. Getting a paper published in Science or Nature, or another respected journal, is a coup for any scientist. You have been publicly acknowledged as producing something of value, which has been rigorously checked and endorsed by your community. Your university will appreciate the visibility. Your H-index will be bolstered. You might get more research funding or more time off teaching responsibilities. At the same time, for the big journals, the rewards of publishing more and more papers are also obvious: profits (big ones). But the entire system relies on academics giving up their time for free to assess the submitted work. Devolving this quality-control mechanism onto unpaid peer reviewers has obvious flaws, turning what should be an objective process into one that’s open to political bias, petty score-settling, or plain old laziness. The same is true of relying so much on book blurbs. Publishers make money from books; blurbers don’t (well, mostly). In both science and publishing, the merits of the work are supposed to be paramount, but the structure of the industry means that prestige and connections matter too.

Scientists, being scientists, have methodically built an entire movement—called Open Science—to address these potential problems. Authors, being authors, largely complain about them to their friends. They tell stories of being asked for a blurb and then having their tightly constructed praise discarded in favor of a tossed-off sentence by a more fashionable writer. They whisper that some blurbers are only generous with their praise because it makes them feel important. They confer about who’s a soft touch and whose approval really means something. They claim never to be swayed by blurbs themselves, before revealing that praise from a favorite author did, in fact, prompt them to buy a now-beloved title.

“My own personal view is that there should be a moratorium on them—that we as editors should collectively decide not to put any on any of our books for a year, and reclaim our own taste,” Mark Richards of Swift Publishing told me. “Of course, this won’t happen, so like hamsters we’ll be on the quote treadmill until we finally fall off.”



[kammartinez]

If there’s one thing authors love more than procrastinating, it’s praising one another. During the Renaissance, Thomas More’s Utopia got a proto-blurb from Erasmus (“divine wit”), while Shakespeare’s First Folio got one from Ben Jonson (“The wonder of our stage!”). By the 18th century, the practice of selling a book based on some other author’s endorsement was so well established that Henry Fielding’s spoof novel Shamela even came with fake blurbs, including one from “John Puff Esq.”

Blurbs have always been controversial—too clichéd, too subject to cronyism—but lately, as review space shrinks and the noise level of the marketplace increases, the pursuit of ever more fawning praise from luminaries has become absurd. Even the most minor title now comes garlanded with quotes hailing it as the most important book since the Bible, while authors report getting so many requests that some are opting out of the practice altogether. Publishers have begun to despair of blurbs, too. “You only need to look at the jackets from the 1990s or 2000s to see that even most debut novelists didn’t have them, or had only one or two genuinely high-quality ones,” Mark Richards, the publisher of the independent Swift Press, told me. “But what happened was an arms race. People figured out that they helped, so more effort was put into getting them, until a point was reached where they didn’t necessarily make any positive difference; it’s just that not having them would likely ruin a book’s chances.”

Today, pick up any title at Barnes & Noble and you’re likely to find that it’s plastered with approving adjectives from everyone under the sun. When I asked Henry Oliver, who runs The Common Reader, a Substack devoted to literature, for examples of overused words, he sent back a long list: electrifying, essential, profound, masterpiece, vital, important, compelling, revelatory, myth-busting, masterful, elegantly written, brave, lucid and engaging, indispensable, enlightening, courageous, powerful. “We do it like some kind of sympathetic magic,” John Mitchinson, a co-founder of the book-crowdfunding platform Unbound, told me. “Like a rabbit’s foot … We all do it because we are desperate to prove the book has some merit. There is something slightly troubling about it.”

For first-time authors, offering up contacts for blurbs has become a routine part of the pitching process, along with boasting about how many social-media followers they have. Tomiwa Owolade, whose first book, This Is Not America: Why Black Lives Matter in Britain, came out in June, told me that he, his agent, and his editor drew up a list of potential blurb writers, “and my editor messaged everyone on the list. I don’t know how many on the list responded to the email, or received the book but didn’t read it, or read the book and hated it, and I didn’t pester my editor to find out: I only know of the ones who came back with an endorsement.” One of those who responded was the Dutch author Ian Buruma, a former editor of The New York Review of Books. His unexpected endorsement provided a confidence boost to Owolade, and perhaps a sales boost too. “I’m a big fan of his writing, but we’ve never interacted before,” Owolade said. “I thought it was very sweet of him.”

What’s behind the blurb arms race? Two things: the switch across the arts from a traditional critical culture to an internet-centered one driven by influencers and reliant on user reviews, combined with a superstar system where a handful of titles account for the great majority of sales.

Those trends have disrupted the 20th century’s dominant two-step model of book promotion, in which publishers brought out a hardback—conveying seriousness, prestige, and heft—and then a paperback about a year later. This allowed them two chances to “launch” the book, and the cheaper, more portable paperbacks could also benefit from the (hopefully) glowing reviews for the hardback in major newspapers and magazines.

That model is now broken. Mitchinson and Richards tell the same story: The volume of books being published has become enormous at the same time as many legacy publications have stopped publishing stand-alone book sections; the reviews they do publish have lost much of their cultural impact. So instead of harvesting effusive quotes from professional book reviewers, authors solicit them from celebrities and other writers, usually long before publication. A phalanx of powerful, insightful, vivid blurbs now means the difference between success and failure. In Mitchinson’s 12 years of running Unbound, he says, “it’s moved from sending books out for review, to sending them out at the earliest possible moment for endorsement quotes.” Building excitement before publication day leads to higher preorders, and in turn to more promotion on Amazon and in brick-and-mortar bookstores.

And that reveals another dirty secret of the blurb: They’re not addressed to you. “The biggest thing to understand is that blurbs aren’t principally, or even really at all, aimed at the consumer,” Richards told me via email. “They are instead aimed at literary editors and buyers for the bookstores—in a sea of new books, having blurbs from, ideally, lots of famous writers will make it more likely that they will review/stock your book.”

That’s the magic. Stephen King is well known for his generous praise for less commercially successful authors—which is to say basically all of them—and if he says this is an important book, then it is one. His approval is a signal as powerful as a publisher announcing that it has won a “seven-way” auction or paid a “six-figure sum.” Anointed by greatness, maybe such a golden title will be chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s book club. Maybe it will pick up chatter on TikTok or Instagram. Maybe it will become the title that everyone seems to be talking about, like Yellowface or Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Blurbs are therefore an uneasy hybrid of quality-assurance mark and publicity gimmick. This makes the practice of blurbing a fraught one. Are you doing a fellow striver a good turn, or acting as a gatekeeper of excellence, making sure that only the best books succeed?

Reading a book takes time, so writers have an incentive to blurb only their friends. Writing a good puff quote takes time too: If you ever see the words inspiring and illuminating, assume the blurber hasn’t even cracked the spine. Most established authors are bombarded with proofs, accompanied by heartstring-tugging notes from editors about the importance of this author’s vision. After writing my own book on feminism, I could have made a fort out of advance copies of other books with women in the title sent to me by hopeful publishers. I can only imagine the number of books Stephen King receives; it must be like a snowdrift on the wrong side of his front door. The distinguished classicist Mary Beard announced a few years ago that she was declining all requests, because she felt like she was becoming a “blurb whore” after being asked at least once a week. “I’m beginning to get a lot more authors who say, I can’t do it,” Mitchinson told me.

Not everyone says that, though. In my reporting for this piece, certain names repeatedly came up as prolific blurbers. “Salman Rushdie, Colm Tóibín, even the reclusive J. M. Coetzee make frequent appearances, so many that you wonder how they find time to read all these books and keep up the day job too,” the critic John Self told me. The British polymath Stephen Fry, meanwhile, “has hilariously blurbed about half of all books published in the U.K.,” said James Marriott of the London Times. His brand is cerebral, patrician, and politically unchallenging. “To me his endorsement means nothing, but I wonder how far casual bookshop visitors get that he puts his name on everything.” (I requested a comment from Fry via his agent but have not yet heard back.)

Unsurprisingly, publishers are grateful to the authors who do participate in the practice. Mark Richards sees them as “good literary citizens.” The novelist Amanda Craig agreed. “My thoughts have done a 180 turn,” she told me. When she published her first book, Foreign Bodies, in 1990, she was offered a cover quote by fellow novelist Deborah Moggach, who was nine years older than her. Craig turned it down because she wanted her work to speak for itself. “I was very purist,” she said. Now, though, the squeeze on reviewing space means that good authors struggle to attract attention, and she has a policy of blurbing “anybody I think is good, including people I thoroughly dislike.”

Craig is also annoyed that the male-dominated golden generation above her, whose members prospered in the 1980s when novels were far more profitable, have largely been reluctant blurbers of their successors. They “got the cream, but it never seemed to have occurred to them … to pass it on,” she told me, adding that she wondered if this had contributed to the decline in male authorship. (The success of men at the very top of publishing—as CEOs of publishing houses, as lead critics on newspapers, and until recently on prize shortlists—obscures the fact that most buyers and readers of books are women, and the industry as a whole is female-dominated.) The generation of women above Craig were supportive because they wanted to see other women succeed, but her male peers today did not benefit from similar solidarity. “When I got Rose Tremain and Penelope Lively, it was like God descending from the clouds,” Craig said. “I do feel for the men of my generation.” The blurb arms race, then, is unfair to many marginalized groups—and men may be one of them.

One obvious thing about blurbs is that they are open to corruption. Ask around and you will quickly discover deep suspicions about, for example, reciprocal blurbing—or what you might call a blurblejerk: “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” as George Orwell once wrote to his friend Cyril Connolly, proposing that they gush about each other’s books in print.

Tactical mutual admiration has always been so common that Spy magazine had a recurring feature called “Log-Rolling In Our Time,” and back in 2001, Slate revealed that Frank McCourt had gone hog wild after the publication of Angela’s Ashes, “doling out 15 blurbs” in five years, including one for the wife of his film producer. (You can see the extent of blurb inflation because, for such a prominent author, three blurbs a year now seems like a low number.)

I learned of Orwell’s logrolling—and the puff quotes by Erasmus and Ben Jonson at the start of this article—from Louise Willder’s fascinating study of book marketing, Blurb Your Enthusiasm. In it, Willder, who writes marketing copy for Penguin Random House, confirms (sadly, without naming names) that some puffers don’t read the books they’re endorsing. “One of the slightly shameful secrets of publishing is that occasionally an author will really want to give an endorsement for a writer they admire, but is too busy to do it—and so they hand the responsibility over to somebody else,” she writes. “I confess that, yes, occasionally I have made up review quotes for a couple of high-profile authors in this manner (although luckily they did find the time to sign off on the finished piece of praise).”

Halfway through our conversation, John Mitchinson revealed the existence of something even more shocking than ghostblurbing. Recently, when he requested a blurb from a public figure via his agent, he said, “they quoted us £1,000.” Wow. I knew the blurbosphere was corrupt, but not that corrupt. Mitchinson declined the offer.

But then, as we talked more, I realized that a celebrity can earn five or six figures for a corporate speech that takes far less time than reading a book and writing a gushing paragraph about it. And in terms of sales, a puff quote from the right person is probably worth far more than a few thousand dollars. Perhaps I was naive to assume, as James Marriott put it, “that publishers—a prestige, highbrow industry—would never indulge in the dark arts of publicity the way, I don’t know, fast-food manufacturers would.”

A blurb has always been a type of currency, and many of the most successful books are not really books at all, but brand extensions for a diet guru or productivity hacker or business titan. Why assume that those authors care about literature? Some probably regard people who read books before blurbing them as hopeless saps who don’t even take ice baths or keep a bullet journal. The fallen crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried once said that he would never read a book, and that anyone who wrote one had screwed up, because “it should have been a six-paragraph blog post.”

Hearing these descriptions of blurbing—which can be both a selfless act and a shamelessly corrupt one—reminded me of nothing so much as academic peer review. Getting a paper published in Science or Nature, or another respected journal, is a coup for any scientist. You have been publicly acknowledged as producing something of value, which has been rigorously checked and endorsed by your community. Your university will appreciate the visibility. Your H-index will be bolstered. You might get more research funding or more time off teaching responsibilities. At the same time, for the big journals, the rewards of publishing more and more papers are also obvious: profits (big ones). But the entire system relies on academics giving up their time for free to assess the submitted work. Devolving this quality-control mechanism onto unpaid peer reviewers has obvious flaws, turning what should be an objective process into one that’s open to political bias, petty score-settling, or plain old laziness. The same is true of relying so much on book blurbs. Publishers make money from books; blurbers don’t (well, mostly). In both science and publishing, the merits of the work are supposed to be paramount, but the structure of the industry means that prestige and connections matter too.

Scientists, being scientists, have methodically built an entire movement—called Open Science—to address these potential problems. Authors, being authors, largely complain about them to their friends. They tell stories of being asked for a blurb and then having their tightly constructed praise discarded in favor of a tossed-off sentence by a more fashionable writer. They whisper that some blurbers are only generous with their praise because it makes them feel important. They confer about who’s a soft touch and whose approval really means something. They claim never to be swayed by blurbs themselves, before revealing that praise from a favorite author did, in fact, prompt them to buy a now-beloved title.

“My own personal view is that there should be a moratorium on them—that we as editors should collectively decide not to put any on any of our books for a year, and reclaim our own taste,” Mark Richards of Swift Publishing told me. “Of course, this won’t happen, so like hamsters we’ll be on the quote treadmill until we finally fall off.”

[digitaltechtop]

Wapdam

Wapdam is a popular website that offers free downloads of mobile content such as music, videos, games, wallpapers, and themes. It has a vast collection of files that users can access without any registration or subscription fees.However, it is worth noting that Wapdam is not a legitimate site and often hosts copyrighted material without permission from the owners.

Therefore, downloading content from Wapdam could potentially be illegal and put users at risk of legal action.In addition, the website may also contain viruses and malware that can harm users' devices or compromise their security.

Therefore, it is advisable to exercise caution when using Wapdam or any other similar sites that offer free downloads of copyrighted material.

It is always better to obtain content through legitimate means such as purchasing or streaming from authorized sources to avoid any legal or security risks.

Wapdam has been around for quite a long time and has established itself as a valuable resource for MP3 audio, game content, programs, movies, music streaming, etc. There are many free products, goodies, and materials to acquire at wapdam.com, including mp3 songs, movies, films, backgrounds, and more. The materials on the download site are immediately configured or configured to function on any device.

Almost everybody enjoys listening to their favourite music. Today, we all use the web to access our favourite tunes. Nevertheless, we may not always have a connection to the web, particularly because we’re on the road. As a result, downloading the tunes before leaving your house is a simple solution.

Advantages of Wapdam

Users can experience high-speed download.

The first major benefit is that you can obtain everything you want in a matter of seconds or minutes. Anyone may download the complete album in a few seconds if they have a good internet connection. As a result, you won’t need to go to the store to purchase the album. From the comfort of your own home, you may acquire as much music as you desire.

This will save you a significant amount of time and work. The advantage of downloading items from the internet is that you may check customer reviews before buying a product. This might give you a better indication of the content you’re interested in downloading. Songs may be downloaded and accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on the web.

Provides vast options

If you download from a movie website, you can select the types of movies you wish to download and ensure that you only get those. This differs from attending a movie theatre when you are limited to the number of films they have on hand. When you download stuff from the internet, you can select the watching grade you want to see.

Enhances the Quality of Viewing

The majority of individuals who choose to download videos on DVDs must have a library of them someplace in their home. This is likely to expand quite big, and there is a danger that many of the Discs may be lost. In addition, the quality of watches is likely to deteriorate if the DVDs are kept for an extended period. When you download stuff on the internet, on the other hand, the only memory you need is a desktop, and you don’t have to think about losing several of the videos.

Easy to download stuff

These days, watching videos on the internet has become a way of life. Viewing movies is available on various platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Hulu, and Netflix. However, the disadvantage of streaming videos is that you must be connected to the internet. Of course, you may argue that everyone is always accessible through their mobile phones and tablets or that Wi-Fi is now available almost everywhere.

Wapdam provides user-friendly Interphase.

Perhaps one could wish to incorporate video playback availability for personnel who aren’t constantly connected if your organization employs videos for training, collaboration, or exchange of knowledge. Wapdam is a business video platform that is both sophisticated and user-friendly, with excellent offline functionality.

If you’re looking for a quick answer, a pre-built theme could be the way to go. If you’re familiar with Wapdam and its page designs, anyone will have a pre-built template loaded, customized, and live in less than a day. A pre-built Wapdam template does, however, presume some degree of understanding, so if you don’t distinguish the single-page.php layout from your page.

Who uses a desktop pc for surfing these days? (Actually, many people, but that’s a topic for another blog entry.) Many individuals will encounter your brand when surfing on a mobile device for the first time. Because developers know this, many pre-built themes are pre-configured to be apps right out of the package.

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