#i just don't get how people could be so disrespectful to the folks creating stories they love. that's awful

[astriiformes]

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[eerna]

Ok Ok so I've been thinking this for. quite a while like even before Stolen Heir was released. it's kind of controversial because I might be making mountain out of a molehill but -

I think Jurdan fans border on being disrespectful to Holly Black at times... the problem isn't what one chooses to focus on even though that annoys me too, like it's not like people can control the fact that they focus more/love a character more than the other. But I'm starting to see this especially on Instagram and Goodreads, and I think I have good reason to believe HB is more active on insta and Goodreads is like, the book reviewing site, if there's any place she may look for comments or critique it's that.

and my problem lies with the language used . HB can announce she's working on something and can give hints about it and I've seen soo many people just outright tell her "I don't care about [x] and [y] just give me JURDAN!!" or anything along that vein , there's also "I'm only reading this for Jurdan lol I kind of couldn't care less about []".

It genuinely annoys me a lot !! And I wish I could say to each their own but ykw? At some point it starts to feel like if these two characters aren't involved people don't even try to make an effort to connect with the other characters, the new protagonist, etc. To be honest your page was a breath of fresh air because I don't even see a lot of folks focus on ANYTHING in TFOTA other than this ship.

There's also the irony that so many people pride themselves on loving Jude, their morally grey female rage character, but refuse to discuss Taryn with nuance. Or Vivi, sometimes. It's weird how so many people love Madoc (justified, I like him too) then refuse to think that hey, maybe Taryn's way of coping with faerie is different than Jude and that affects her actions! something something fandom misogyny

The above unrelated paragraph is just to say that a Nicasia focused book is something many people just absolutely will not be able to handle lmao and I so dearly wish Jude and Cardan's 'screentime' is few and far in between just so that it's less palatable. But oh well.

(And after Prisoner's Throne it worries me because with the implication that the Nicasia focused book might have Jude and Cardan POVs I feel like she's catering more to these people now.

If that's how things turn out that would genuinely make me really sad because I didn't pick up her books after reading TCP, I started with Spiderwick Chronicles, then Modern Faerie Tales, and I love the way she creates atmosphere, her worldbuilding, her depiction of the weird and creepy and magical. I especially think that's her strongest suit, more than characterization, so something like this that hinges more on specific characters genuinely turns me off.)

AGREED SO MUCH WITH ALL OF ITTT I too noticed the really dumb people in her comments crapping on everything that isn't a new Jurdan book... Like, the woman was writing books and enjoyed fame 15 years before Jurdan happened. She obviously has a lot to say about her world. Why the hell would you want her to stop developing it and only focus on 2 characters??? I was a big Spiderwick fan as a kid, and when I read TFOTA I had no idea it was by the same writer but I could TELL the vibes were all there. I too think that is her specialty and I'd rather get 10 stories on different characters than 5 on Jurdan.

I want the Undersea book to be about Nicasia and part of it is because I agree, I think most of the fandom would HATE it and it would fry their brains, and I want to see it. It is dumb and petty of me, but it would be sweet vindication for all the clowns screaming into my ear that Taryn is problematic actually in case I didn't notice. Ultimately I know it is a fruitless endeavor. TFOTA has the misfortune of being too good and complicated for its main audience of tiktok book fans, but also too bad and simplified to spread into more general, unspecified fantasy circles where its themes could catch the attention of people who would know how to appreciate them. That means there is only a small portion of fans who both like the books AND have the critical thinking skills to appreciate all the things they do right outside of romance/basic female wish fulfilment.

In the end, judging by TPT, we are gonna have to take the L and accept we bet on the wrong horse and minority does not make the money. But at least we will be there together to make a mountain out of a molehill!

[cacodaemonia]

TBB alternate story ideas from local rando who didn't watch the whole show

Anyone who knows me knows I don't like TBB and I generally avoid conversations about the show because I don't want to be negative about things other people like. But after talking with some folks—some who love the show and some who share my opinions—last week, I thought of a few basic changes to the character concepts that could have made the show much more palatable to me and probably a lot of other people who have similar complaints about it.

I'm not going to get into those criticisms here because I'm not aiming to bash the show; I'm trying to present a sort of redo and maybe someone will like the idea and run with it.

One of the main reasons why I was so very disappointed in the show was because it was kind of a bait and switch—Disney said they were giving us a show about clones, when TBB (going forward, I'll mostly be using this to refer to Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair; not Echo or Omega), as presented in the story, are arguably not clones at all. Think about it: TBB dislike and disrespect 'regs' (with the seeming exception of Cody), they don't spend time around other clones, they don't act like them, and they certainly don't look like them. A friend pointed out that Disney could have just made a show about some bounty hunters fighting the empire and it would have required fewer mental gymnastics on the part of the viewers and avoided warping everything we've come to understand about the clones and chips from canon.

With that said, here's my idea (under the cut since it's long):

What if, instead of being superior mutants, TBB were regular CTs from various batches who were badly injured in random training accidents as cadets on Kamino? For example, maybe one lost his vision, one his hearing, one has a spinal injury, one a TBI (traumatic brain injury), etc.

They were injured at different times and the Kaminoans decided to experiment on them (which is of course awful, but so was everything about how the clones were brought up) with cybernetics to mitigate their disabilities; after all, while the Kaminoans are geneticists, they might want to know how their 'products' react to interfacing with technology. But then they went a step farther and created or purchased cybernetics that vastly improved whatever senses or abilities the young clones lost or had damaged—like Geordi in Star Trek, for example, who doesn't see like most humans but whose vision is often superior.

So the Kaminoans end up forming a little squad of clones who were part of clone culture before but have been removed from it because of their injuries and subsequent experimentation and recoveries.

I think this would be key in creating a different dynamic between TBB and other clones because then the show could have put less emphasis on TBB being bullied by the mean 'regs,' which makes the 'regs' come off as straight up villains. Instead, the writers could have come from the angle of making TBB feel isolated because of their own perceptions of themselves as 'less than' or 'freakish' or whatever terrible things they might think about themselves. To me, that's a hell of a lot more powerful and interesting than, "I was bullied by some people in this group so now I hate everyone in this group."

And sure, they probably would have been bullied by some, but I think it's a lot more reasonable to focus on how other cadets, being children, might have stared at them a lot because of their visible augmentations, or would have asked them insensitive questions, etc. For example, I have vitiligo on one leg and as a kid, every spring when I started wearing shorts I always got pointed at and asked "What is that??" Obviously this was due to curiosity rather than maliciousness, but it still felt very 'othering.' A lot of us have experienced this kind of thing IRL, and with TBB, it could have reinforced their feeling of being different and isolated.

Then we get to season 7 of TCW: in canon, after TBB has been derisive of 'regs' and outright questioned Echo's loyalty, Hunter says that Echo doesn't belong with the 501st—people who know him and care about him the most—because he's 'different.' This angle fell really flat for me, because not only is it a 180 in terms of how TBB treated Echo, but they see themselves as different and superior. With Echo, on the other hand, there's the definite implication that he joins them because he is different and inferior (obviously not true, but this is Tumblr so unfortunately I have to spell that out)—so why would TBB suddenly extend a hand to a 'broken reg?' If, instead, TBB were cybernetically augmented like Echo, then that would have created an immediate connection between them, and I think it would have made a lot more sense for Echo to even consider leaving Rex and the 501st to join TBB.

So those are sort of the more plot/character-related bits that I think could have made for a deeper, more interesting conflict. But let me touch on some of the themes this could affect.

Sooo many stories of all kinds have done the, "I was bullied so now I'm a jerk," angle, and to me it just seems like the laziest way to try and get the audience to empathize with or even excuse shitty behavior by protagonists. Again, because this is Tumblr, I feel I need to point out that, no, empathizing with someone and excusing their behavior are two different things, but I can still empathize with someone and think they're a boring trash person. So, to me, the self-imposed isolation of, "I'm a freak and inferior so anyone who's nice to me is just doing so out of pity," is so much more interesting than, "some of those mean regs bullied me so now I hate all of them." Now, I'm sure there's plenty of fanon about TBB being jerks because they actually feel inferior, but that definitely didn't come across in TCW season 7, TBB episode 1, or the other TBB clips I've seen. So don't @ me about that. Not only would that thematic change be more complex and interesting (and yes, they could definitely do it in a kids show), but it wouldn't suddenly paint other clones as the villains just to make the viewer sympathize with TBB.

This angle would, I think, also mean a lot more to some people who have been isolated or bullied. I know plenty of people already relate to TBB because they are outcasts, but isn't self-imposed isolation far more profound and interesting? It offers a lot more opportunities for character development without laying all the blame on others.

I know there is often this narrative in stories of disabled folks 'overcoming' their disability and becoming 'normal,' which is obviously a crappy way to look at it. Yes, some disabled people would prefer not to have their disabilities, while others wouldn't feel like themselves without them and strongly identify with their own community within the larger disabled community. However, the changes I mentioned wouldn't even have to touch on 'overcoming disabilities'—it could simply show TBB struggling from time to time, with certain aspects of their old injuries, even with the augmentations. But they help each other through it, just as IRL society should accommodate people with disabilities.

I think this idea could also avoid tearing down the theme that was present from episode 1 of TCW, when Yoda says that everyone is unique and valuable, regardless of who they are or what they look like. TBB, the show, came along and said, "Actually, forget all that—you need to be special and obviously different to be important or worth telling a story about." But because my alternate version of the characters would have started out as regular CTs and wouldn't have a superiority complex, it doesn't feel to me like it's disrespecting that original, wonderful message.

One final thing I wanted to add just because I think it would be a very cool visual representation of TBB's autonomy and identity: what if their visible cybernetic augmentations are very 'Kaminoan' looking? Imagine them as all white, with lots of curves and no real character to them, and how that could further reinforce the idea that TBB are, along with all other clones, property of the Kaminoans. But after, say, Tipoca City is destroyed and TBB eventually have to do repairs or make modifications to their cybernetics, they start adding all kinds of different pieces and end up with a mish-mash of things, which is aesthetically very Star Warsy? In addition, it could work as a visual representation of them becoming their own people.

Anyway, I'd love to read a fic like this but I have no interest in writing it, so I thought I'd yeet it into the Tumblr void. If anyone finds these ideas intriguing and wants to use them, feel free.

[epickiya722]

(I warn in advance this is a long post)

I realized how little I see this (mostly because I just don't go looking for discourse), but has anyone actually called out that even the modern day citizens of BNHA are just as to blame as the Pro Heroes and Villains?

No, seriously. I come across quite a bit of Pro Hero slander (some reasons being actually eh to me, "Miruko deserved that hit by Shigaraki" I'm still in my feelings about that... but it's whatever) more than I see of Villain slander.

Yes, the Pro Hero system is flawed. No one is perfect... but the villains are definitely not saints either.

It's what I like about the characters of BNHA. No one is perfect and no one really is a saint. They all have their faults. It makes the story more interesting.

And when I see "villains" I don't mean just the League. I mean the "villains" as a whole.

"The Pro Heroes suck, they just care about the fame". And not every villain has a tragic ass backstory and deserves sympathy.

Overhaul exist, folks. The man literally betrayed the father figure he had. Eri's grandfather took him in and raised him and mentioned that innocent people shouldn't be hurt. But guess what? What in the hell did Overhaul do? He took a LITTLE GIRL and experimented on her, AN INNOCENT LITTLE GIRL, to create a weapon that when you think about it DISABLES PEOPLE!!

But I don't see that get talked about as much as I seen All Might bashing!

I digress though. Back to the main question of the citizens of BNHA.

Bringing back the whole "Pro Heroes care about fame thing". Why do you think some (not all) care about fame? BECAUSE THE CITIZENS PUT THEM THERE. They give them all this support, put these heroes on a pedestal even if they're the crappiest human being on earth. All Might for example. I doubt this man actually cares for the fame, he just happened to become the #1 for a long time. All Might is a flashy hero (he's a depiction of classic American comic book hero), but he's also friendly and when people flock him he interacts. However, this man puts saving people first before wanting to pose for a camera.

Think about it. When Toshinori retired and people found out about his skinner form he could have easily used his status as All Might to get more public attention. Instead, he still did his best to be a hero. He still did his best to help. When Todoroki and Bakugou faced those villains right after getting their licenses, Toshinori told people to stay back and risked his life at one point before Bakugou swooped in.

He gives advice when asked, he still teaches the class, he still sticks around to help.

Then there's All Might in Vigilantes. I recommend reading the series, it's a good read and actually made me think of this whole post really.

In Vigilantes, there's these scenes that actually bothered me. I touched on them during my Vigilantes read (I only have 2 more chapters, folks) and you can find the posts on my blog. Just search "kiya reads" or "bnha vigilantes".

Anyways! There's this scene where All Might sits down to eat, right? And not even before he gets to take a bite he has to leave to save people. AS IF NO OTHER PRO HEROES ARE AROUND! Another scene is how exhausted he looks and Nighteye tells him he should rest. Now some of you don't like Nighteye, but you have to agree with him when he voiced his concern about All Might's health.

Society has expected so much of All Might that All Might can't even sit down for five minutes. He probably didn't even have the goal to be #1, just wanted to be a hero and put a smile on people's faces. That's all. But no! The citizens rely on him way too much to the point that other heroes compete to be the best just to get that same limelight. And the disrespect to the All Might statue. Oh, he was all "BEST HERO EVER" but the moment Dabi puts out a video about Endeavor it's all "HEROES SUCK, ALL MIGHT IS A FALSE GOD" yadda yadda. So just because one Pro Hero messed up, you decide that the Pro Hero who constantly put his life on the line and you the public practically did see as a god is "false"? Hmmmm.

And about that! In the recent chapter, I saw some people were upset that it was said "Dabi manipulated the public". I understood that. He told the truth. But keep in mind a BUSINESS COURSE STUDENT USED THE WORD 'MANIPULATE'. THAT SAID STUDENT WASN'T THERE TO WITNESS WHATEVER HAPPENED IN THE TODOROKI HOUSEHOLD. THAT A WAR IS HAPPENING BECAUSE OF THE VILLAINS. He's going to think Dabi is just lying because one, Dabi is a villain. Two, he is a child. Three, he's on the Heroes side. He's going to think Dabi manipulated the public.

Which plays into the citizens being at fault. They have the right to believe Dabi, but these are also the same fucking people who didn't think Midoriya shouldn't be given a safe haven. A CHILD.

CITIZENS THAT ACTUALLY FAILED MIDORIYA BEFORE NOW.

People want to blame Bakugou completely for ruining Midoriya's childhood, but I guess the damn adults are invisible. They allowed that. They discriminated against Midoriya, too, for being quirkless. There were adults who praised Bakugou for having a quirk but cared little for Midoriya. I'm not talking about Pro Heroes. I'm not talking about villains. I'm talking about PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THE SAME AREA. People. Not Heroes, not villains. Just ordinary people. They failed both those kids.

Oh, oh. Not just Bakugou and Midoriya now.

Years before that, guess who allowed AFO to get his hands on Shigaraki? THE CITIZENS. THEY SAW A CHILD WALKING A STREET AND LEFT HIM ALONE BECAUSE HE LOOKED WHAT? CREEPY? THAT'S OBVIOUSLY A CHILD THAT NEEDS HELP, HELLO?!

Shigaraki's family was just a bunch of ordinary people. His father treated him like dirt, yet when the Heroes are fighting him it's all bad and they should die. Yet, his biological father treated him badly WHILE HE WAS JUST A CHILD. Heroes fighting Shigaraki are literally just trying to prevent more tragedies, doing whatever they can because they're in a HUGE BATTLE RIGHT NOW. Yet, I see them get called trash more than I see his father get bashed. In fact, it's a 9/10 chance I'll cross a hero bashing post than I would a Shigaraki's bio dad getting bashed post.

A Pro didn't help him, sure. BUT NEITHER DID A SOME NON-HERO.

And it's not like people needed to use their quirks! No one needed a quirk to help a child off the street before a deranged villain got to him. No one needed a quirk to tell Midoriya "hey, I think you're amazing as you are". No needed a quirk to be a decent human being!

Society as a whole is screwed up because previous generations let it happen. Not just Heroes, not just Villains. THE CITIZENS, TOO!

The citizens rely on Heroes too much and care for the Villains too little and then switch up on them!

It's all connected! You can't expect the Heroes to be perfect or Villains to not be villains out of nowhere just because. Sometimes it's how the people who aren't Heroes and Villains treats them.

[nothorses]

this isn't directly @ the for them binder anon but seeing their asks made me realize oh hey i should share my experiences with a similar thing too. the tomboyx "compression top" binder that they're selling in the target pride collection seems to be about the same as this person's experiences with the for them binder! i bought one a few weeks ago after only having had a gc2b for years and the difference is incredible. it's so much more comfortable, for me with my gc2b it'd get like intensely uncomfortable after maybe four or five hours of wearing it to the point that i could get really overstimulated if i didn't take it off asap. but with this honestly it just feels like wearing a sports bra that's doing its job Really Well. i have noticed that it binds a little less than the gc2b, but for the most part it's not enough to make me dysphoric unless i'm hell bent on wearing a really tight shirt. so i definitely think that's a great alternative for people who dislike traditional binders. i will say if you're a bit in between sizes go for the one that's a little bit bigger, even if the elastic band at the bottom is a bit too loose, that's how it is with mine and probably part of the reason i don't find it terribly constricting. plus they're only 25 bucks which is a damn steal for a binder lol.

Awesome!!

It's worth noting that binders like these, which focus on comfort over binding, are going to be most effective for people who already have small chests- others may find them ineffective, and potentially really disappointing because of that.

That's not to say they're not worth a shot, though! Just know your limits & needs, and make choices accordingly.

I also want to point out that tomboyx has a rough history with the trans community. @vaspider has talked about multiple instances of the company ripping off their designs, which he created and sells through his queer-run small business. Meaning they've stolen at least one trans creator's artwork to make a profit off it, and very likely impacted his business and livelihood in doing so.

I don't have the post on hand (and I'm in the woods with barely any service atm) so take this with a grain of salt- but I have also heard some stories around their treatment of trans models, involving, iirc, a lot of misgendering and disrespect. Please make sure to verify that before taking me at my word, though.

If tomboyx's are what you can access and afford, that's a great option! I'm really glad it's available to folks, and the push to get binders into large retail stores is really exciting.

Otherwise, consider buying from forthem if you want a comfort-over-binding binder, GC2B if you want a more effective binder*, or TransTape if you want to try a non-compression binding method.

*Binders should never be painful or consistently, noticeably, or unbearably uncomfortable, and if they are, it is very likely you have the wrong size. GC2B provides free sizing help from experts through their site, and at least in my experience, I've never had a problem with this even when I was wearing a size too small (though that did start to impact my lung capacity over time; always make sure you have the right size).

The scratchier fabric of the binding panel on the inside front can also sometimes be irritating on sensitive skin; you can turn the binder inside-out if that's the case. If you're prone to sensory struggles, though, this kind of discomfort is very possible and very normal; I just want to prevent folks from panicking or worrying in case they don't have good reason to.

[tlbodine]

Hi! Im writing a story that has to mix fantasy and reality, Ive always been interested in folklore, cultures, and beliefs of other people. All of these things are involved in my story, I wanted to add in a character that is Native American (Her name is Rosalie), I'm on the fence because I don't want to touch something that I shouldn't. How should I go about this? Should I change her ethnicity, Should I in someway make it my own? Or how should I write it or should I write about something else.

This is tricky. And the answer is going to be really long. Sorry. 

I want to make it clear that I am not myself in any way a representative of Native people or claiming to be one. I’m just a white lady who grew up near the reservation and have had maybe more interactions with Native American cultures than a lot of people. But at the end of the day, I’d defer judgment to people closer to the people being specifically affected. 

So, with that disclaimer out of the way. Here’s the thing. I’m not here to tell anybody what they should or should not write about. But I can hopefully give you some stuff to think about that will help you decide. 

Thing One: “Native American” is not a monoculture. There are 574 tribes federally recognized by the U.S. government. They are all culturally distinct. They each have their own histories, mythology, religion, food, lifestyle, and so forth. So before you go creating any Native OC, you’re gonna want to narrow that down to a tribal affiliation. 

You can do this one of two ways. You can choose a geographic location and then look for a tribe who lives in that area, or you can choose a tribe and then root them in that geographic location. Of course, a Lakota Sioux could live in New York, but she wouldn’t be from New York, you feel me? 

Writing about “Native Americans” without understanding their tribal affiliation and history is like writing about “Europeans” as if Italians and Russians and Greeks and Germans were all the same. 

Thing Two: If you’re going to be talking about mythology/folklore, you need to do your research while also recognizing that a lot of the most accurate and authentic information is not going to be accessible to you. 

A lot of Native cultures are “closed” cultures in the sense that they’re not going to teach sacred knowledge and rituals to outsiders. They’re just not. It’s none of your business. They’re not hiding this information from you because they want to be greedy, they’re hiding it because until 1978 it was illegal for them to practice their religion in public in a lot of the country. A lot of things from Native cultures have been erased forever or diluted by outside influences. 

So this means that if you’re writing a character whose life includes or is influenced by traditional culture, there are some things you won’t be able to portray accurately. And I personally think it would be disrespectful to just make something up, especially if you don’t make it extremely clear that you’re making it up. 

For an example of how this could work: The film Dance Me Outside is a really great mystery-thriller set on a reservation, and I heartily recommend it. But there’s one scene where one of the characters has married a white guy. She brings him home to her family and, for plot reasons, needs him to be out of her hair for a bit. So she sends him out with some of her male relatives to keep him occupied. They decide it would be hilarious to do a “naming ceremony” to give him an “Indian Name.” It’s very clear in the narrative that they’re making this up as they go along -- they are creating what they think he thinks a naming ceremony would look like, and he’s gullible enough to go along with it because he’s eager to please (and at this point very drunk). The scene is very funny and advances the plot and develops some characterization without ever actually revealing any secret/sacred knowledge. 

But in general? If something is sacred to a tribe? You don’t get to fuck around with it. You don’t get to put your own fresh spin on it or just make up stuff that “sounds” authentic. Because...

Thing Three: You will encounter a TON of fake or inaccurate information out there. Just, a ton. Because here’s the thing. White folks didn’t just commit genocide against Native people. It wasn’t enough to destroy their people and their culture. White folks have a really long history with appropriating their culture. 

So the situation is that you get a group of people whose ancestors were actively hunted like animals (there were bounties for scalps!), sent to forced re-education camps where they were frequently abused and scrubbed of their culture and language, and who were not allowed to practice their religion under threat of law. And at the same time, aspects of those religions and cultures -- that the people who made them cannot practice! -- are taken and absorbed into pop culture.

Yeah. It’s shitty. 

So when you’re researching, you need to be absolutely certain that your sources are coming from actual Native Americans from the tribe you want to write about and not from white folks who think some aspect of their culture is neat. Because, personally, I feel like cultural appropriation -- in the context of Native Americans -- is continuing to perpetuate genocide, and that feels icky. 

Thing Four: Modern Natives =/= Historical Natives. 

There is this....weird, colonialist tendency to imagine Native Americans as...living fossils, or quaint backwards people who live in old-fashioned ways, or as a thing that used to exist but not anymore. I get the impression talking to a lot of people that they think Native Americans stopped existing in the Wild West days. Like “Indian” is a category in their head alongside “Cowboy” and “Samurai” and “Pirate” or whatever. 

But that’s not, like....the case. Modern Native American people exist, and they have varied and complex relationships with their culture and history just like everybody else. Some people live on reservations and practice traditional religious and cultural practices. Some people live in small towns or cities and practice a mixture of modern and more traditional lifestyles. A lot of them are Christian. Some blend cultural aspects of their tribe with Christian aspects of religion. And so on and so forth. It will 100% depend on the individual! 

There are also aspects of cultures that get blended across tribal affiliations! This is especially true among the sort of “powwow culture” groups who dance competitively or trade crafts at powwows and fairs. 

Anyway the whole thing is VERY COMPLICATED and honestly not something you’re going to learn from reading a book. It’s the kind of nuance that’s only going to make sense to you if you’re hanging out with Native people and understand their individual lives. 

Thing Five: There are a ton of harmful stereotypes and things you maybe don’t even think about or realize are stereotypes because there is so much misinformation out there. I feel like almost every representation of Native Americans in media is bad because most of the stories are written by folks who just don’t know what it’s like to be Native, and they’re writing for a White audience. 

PHEW. Okay. That was a lot. If you’re still reading, THANK YOU. 

So what’s my answer to your question? 

I think it really depends. Why do YOU want to write a Native OC? Are you willing to put in some time and effort to research them? What kind of story are they going to feature in? I think by and large, people outside of a culture shouldn’t try to write stories about being that culture. As in, like, I don’t think a white person has any business writing a story to “illuminate the struggles” of Native people or anything like that. 

But if you want one of the characters in your horror novel to be Native because the story takes place in an area with a lot of Native people, sure. That makes sense. And if that person’s frame of reference is flavored by their culture, sure, go for it. 

But I certainly would not recommend writing a story that, for example, re-casts a sacred/mythological Native American figure as a monster (cough, Wendigo, cough), or one that creatively reimagines the mythology unless it is exceptionally clear that the mythology is being reimagined and is not meant to be accurate at all (because otherwise it runs the risk of further polluting an already almost-extinct culture). 

So...that’s my opinion. I hope this was helpful!

[palettepainter]

I still don't see why Lotus, Rae, Parfait, and Charcoal deserved to go to hell. They didn't do anything wrong.

WARNING: Mention of suicide in Lotus’s past as well as arrange marriage, if you are uncomfortable with this please dont read Lotus’s info

They did their fair share of bad deeds when they where alive

Lotus - (still planning out her past so this may be changed) Lotus originally came from a very large family, she had many siblings both older and younger and for the most part she was genuinely a good well behaved kid...most of the time. It was in her families culture and tradition that every daughter was to be wed at a young age, they believed that wedding young would lead to more healthier grandchildren in the family and keep the family tree more stronger. Lotus at the time before her death was the oldest daughter and was coming up to her 16th birthday, her parents had arranged a private marriage to be held between only very close family members. Lotus was to marry a slightly older man, just going on to 20. Lotus had her entire life planned out for her, every little detail was written down on paper. Lotus, towards the run up to her wedding, ran away multiple times, disrespected her families culture, disrespected her parents, threatened them, anything to show her disbain for this marriage. Lotus, caught in a mix of feelings and thoughts died by suicide on the day of her wedding 

Rae - Was born into a wealthy family and was dotted over as a little princess, was an only child and grew very close to her cousin Jasper. Due to Jasper’s habit of drinking and his unsavoury way to dress and behave meant that Rae’s parents often turned their nose up at him with disgust. When Jasper died Rae’s parents treated it as if it was just a minor issue that could be swept under the rug, nothign to morn over really. Rae was affected badly by her cousins passing, Jasper was one of the few that treated Rae as if she was a person, not some fine china doll that would break if not cared for properly. Her parents dismissive behaviour to his death made Rae confused, why was everyone so..okay with this?! In Rae’s upset state her parents try to baby her more with gifts and words of love, which only meant Rae would lash out and would hate her parents mre for the babying. Rae becomes a litten mennace by night, sneaking out of her home to steal, rob, vandalise parts of the city, even physically attack someone if she was caught. She died from injection after she was kidnapped 

Charcoal - Charcoal was a weird kid, she was never very eager about girly things unlike the other girls, which naturally leaded to bullying and being outcasted from kids her age. Charcoal turned instead to reading, she had always liked learning and it was something she did genuinely love to do. At some point Charcoal comes across a book about death and what happens to someone after they die. Charcoal read more into the topic, curious about what happens to ones soul after they pass - she began to experiment on small creatures: Frogs, birds, rats, even going as far as to take the neighbours cat to experiment on. Her parents, highly religious folk, where scared at what their daughter was turning into and left her for adoption. At this betrayal, at this abandonment, Charcoal starts to view people as selfish, life was selfish, what had she done to her parents to get this? Was this how her life was really meant to go? It is in that moment Charcoal looses faith in this ‘god’ her parents followed. Charcoal packs up her things and leaves for the forest in which a local huntsmen takes her in as his own. Charcoal begins to feel faith in humanity again, but only a little. Charcoal dies by an avalanche and freezes to death when her and the huntsmen where hunting rabbit 

Parfait - Grew up an orphan but lived with an elderly women she began to call ‘granma’, her grandma studied into herbs and medicines, often brewing plants to create certain types of tea or healers that could prevent colds or flu. In this time witchcraft was seen as a capital offence, a crime worthy of death. Many people where hunted down in Parfait’s vilage and accused of witchcraft, scary stories where told to children about witches, and Parfait began to fear for her grandma. Her grandma was suspicious that one day, she would be accused of witchcraft, but she always assured Parfait that she would be fine. One day after Parfait returns with some lavender and fresh mint from the forest she finds her grandma’s hut in ruins, everything destoryed, some things even burnt. Parfait rushes to the center of town where she finds her grandma burning. Peole cheering, those twisted smiles of glee, Parfait flet nothing but oure venoumous rage. One night, a few months after her grandma’s passing, Parfait took a farmers pitch fork, and put to death herself the executioner who took her grandma away. His screams rang out in the village and Parfait was caught, as punishment, she was burnt alive

[kiramartinauthor]

Writer to writer, how do you go about creating characters who extend beyond your sphere of personal knowledge. I don't want to be one of those cishet white writers who only write cishet white characters, but equally as terrifying is misrepresenting whatever group I want to give representation to. Its a really big dilema for me because I have not been exposed to a whole lot in my life yet, so my go to point of reference for creating realistic human characters is myself. Please, any tips?

My main character is biracial, so I get ya. I am not Japanese, so I’ve done my best not to misrepresent Japanese people. As far as tips, this sphere of race/gender/sexuality/ability/etc, while scary on the outside, is much the same as any writing. And this is the part where I make a list. Because, well… lists.

1.    Find an understanding through research. This type of research is so important because you need to understand the culture of the group as well as what’s okay vs not okay. After all, your character would probably know all of this and it’s your job to represent your character as accurately as possible. For example, if your character is LGBTQ, you could start a polite dialogue with some out, open, and willing to talk LGBTQ folks. Ask them if they’d be okay with answering a few questions about your characters/concepts/etc. Many people (including my queer self) would be delighted that you would even care and be more than happy to help you. Just keep in mind that it’s best to get multiple perspectives on any topic because no one person is the Voice of Their People™. If you feel awkward about real life talk, internet talk works too. If you feel awkward about that, there’s plenty of resources just a Google search away—it’s just like any other part of the process.

2.    Make them human before anything else. Just because a character is, for example, a person of color, their entire identity doesn’t revolve around their skin color. Basing their personality off of one aspect of their life is a great way to make very stereotypical and offensive character. Obviously, people are more than just a single identity. Understand that there are many different people in the world and that just because some people are of the same race/gender/sexuality/ability does not mean they will all have the same experiences/personality/culture/etc. We’re all human first, so treat your character like a human. Also know that the problem isn’t only in who your character is, it’s in how you present them through their POV.

3.    Don’t preach what you don’t know. If you are not in the same demographic as your character, it’s best to avoid making the book’s main conflict about their experience with oppression within their demographic. Example: I am a cis woman, so writing a novel about a trans woman coming to terms with her gender identity is a hugely inappropriate. It’s so deeply intimate and not only would I have no fucking idea what I was talking about, but I’d be silencing the voices of those who are already oppressed. It’s great being an ally and all, but taking their stories and their struggles without having more than a skin deep understanding is not okay. Instead, use your privilege to lift up those identifying writers/stories and support the ever-loving shit out of them.

4.    Enlist beta readers. If you’re worried that people could take something the wrong way or that your character isn’t coming across right, enlist beta readers within that demographic that might be able to shed more light on it. Ask things like: “So this character has depression, did I present it right?” This DOES NOT mean to recruit allies and hang on to their every word. Allies are great, but they can be like over excited dogs. They just want to help you do the thing, but in the process, they can break EVERYTHING. Listen to them of course, but know that they have no better judgement than you—their voices are not the ones you should be following through on. Granted, it can be hard finding multiple identifying people who are willing to beta a whole book, so if you have non-identifying people saying a certain aspect of your book is ignorant/disrespectful/etc, listen to them and check in with someone who is open and willing to talk. (See #1.)

5.    Listen to the voices within the community. It’s that easy and it’s the most important one. Don’t magically cure disabilities. Say that your bisexual character is b i s e x u a l. Listen to what people within these groups have been saying forever.

All this being said, sometimes certain specific things can just plain not fit with your book’s plot/theme/characters/whatever. A lot of the time (especially in think pieces), being politically incorrect is used as a tool to shed light on the problems in the world around us, but know that some people might only see it as problematic. What you decide to do is ultimately your judgment call and you can only act with the best intentions. Hope this helped!

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