#whether it's in fiction or even REAL LIFE...

[corpse-kissesxoxo]

people jerking it to fictional characters is definitely not the issue you think it is.

people jerking it to actual people in exploitative situations? yes, absolutely horrible and illegal. report to police.

jerking it to pixels on a screen that don't exist, don't experience pain and suffering and never will? perfectly legal and a non-issue, and reporting supposed "child porn" (incorrect term, csem or csam are more appropriate and do not give off the impression of consent) made of fictional characters (which does not fit into the legal definition of csem and is instead simply artistic expression) would be a waste of resources that could be used to help real children

taboo sexual fantasies of all shapes or forms can exist without being inherently harmful unless the individual intends to act on them with someone who does not or cannot consent to the act. in and of itself, having fantasies is morally neutral, and consuming non-exploitative content of those fantasies is morally neutral as well

of course there's nuance depending on how you are inclined to absorb the content. if, for example, a child or psychotic individual (people generally easily influenced, children because they're still growing, psychotic people because they're prone to delusions) they could be inclined to repeat the behavior however that would still not be the fault of the creator who (supposedly) outlines a trigger warning and a "minors dni"

if someone still interacts with content that could trigger them, and if a child doesn't respect the "minors dni" label, that would not be the creator's legal responsibility. in the case of the minor, it would be a lack of parental oversight that causes any potential issues following the content consumption, as parents have the responsibility to limit a minor's internet access if they are too young to understand the difference between fiction and reality and can find their moral code influenced by what they view. in the case of the individual suffering from psychosis, supposing it's undiagnosed, it would just be an unfortunate series of events, but one largely unpreventable knowing that themes fueling delusions exist everywhere, in religion, movies with themes of persecution, even simple superhero movies.

the truth is that the vast majority of the adult population can differentiate between real and fictional depictions of themes and events and will understand that actions depicted in fiction are not necessarily good in real life. it's simple critical thinking.

so regardless of whether it makes you uncomfortable (shotacon and lolicon, for example, make me personally uncomfortable), it's not an issue, and is just. people having fun with fictional characters, which isn't a bad thing whether they use it for their own sexual fantasies or just because they enjoy exploring these themes

"proshippers are invading fandom" oh no! people having fun with fictional characters?? clearly the biggest problem of 2025

[boundwithpurple]

Sorry if you've made this post already and I missed it but do you have any recommendations for general feminist literature? Mainly of the non-fiction variety

women, race, & class by angela davis is pretty invaluable. the dialectic of sex by shulamith firestone is my choice for the deranged and racist radical feminist i have a strange fondness for (i believe everyone gets exactly 1 - choose wisely). revolting prostitutes by molly smith & juno mac and porn work: sex, labor, and late capitalism by heather berg i think really succinctly explain my stances on sex work and porn. for porn as an issue of representation, skip everything else and head to the sadeian woman by angela carter. although somewhat slantwise, i would say between pleasure and the flesh: performing sadomasochism by lynda hart and parts of skin: essays on sex, class, and literature by dorothy allison will get you to my opinions on bdsm. even more slantwise, the masochistic pleasures of sentimental literature by marianne noble is also key (to both bdsm and sexual representation). both living a feminist life but especially the promise of happiness by sara ahmed have been important to me. various works around trauma and abuse have been really influential: trauma and recovery by judith herman, coercive control: how men trap women in personal life by evan stark, and organised sexual abuse by michael salter. but tbh reading a lot of history and just paying attention to women and gender across time and historical moments and social systems is maybe the most influential thing of all. i’m very unread in lots of areas of feminist theory because let’s be honest i mostly think about sex and families and can’t think much about the other vital elements that structure them, like the real nitty gritty of marxist feminism or economics.

- very idiosyncratic partial and flawed list of stuff i feel has been most integral to forming my views but but whether it’s “general” or technically “feminist literature” would be kind of up for debate.

[shaydystheshadowqueen]

I can honestly forgive the paywall a bit because this, as a gamer, is a great idea for theme parks and especially a VIDEO GAME themed one.

idk how much the Sorcerers Of The Magic Kingdom game cards cost or whether you even have to pay to play the Epcot World Showcase game, but I honestly LOVE the interactive games that big theme parks and events now put into their space because it not only gives something to do when you don't want to go on rides or shop or even while you wait in those long lines (I saw a booth at Transworld offering an AR setup for halloween haunts to use in their lines), but it adds an extra bit of fun to the place and keeps you moving around looking for all these fun games and details you might not have noticed before.

Plus interacting with certain items and then having a real-life effect happen really immerses yourself into the fictional world far quicker than just seeing some good set-design. One thing that really made kid-me super interested was the well on I think WDW's Tom Sawyer Island where you cranked the wheel and a treasure chest came up along with a skeleton (might be misremembering).

And like I said, what better way to represent a video game series than with minigames

Something I love about Super Nintendo World at USH is that the area map doesn't label all the activities individually. The Mario Kart ride is extremely obvious, and there are a few "minigame" activities out in the open where anyone can see them, but other minigames are located in interior spaces with no signs or title cards indicating what they are or even that they are. We keep finding new ones that we overlooked on previous trips because we mistook the entrances for exits from something else!

The reason I love this is that it rewards exploration and curiosity, something that has been almost completely forgotten by the designers of, for instance, Disney theme parks. The focus on optimizing traffic flow and "idiot-proofing" attractions has left little to no room for side paths and hidden details. Anything people aren't guaranteed to see and interact with is considered money wasted.

[ilkkawhat]

[crunchycrystals]

btw i would really appreciate it if people learned the difference between an arg and unfiction

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

watching wish and asha just said 'isn't truth supposed to set you free' and i went:

more seriously i've very rarely seen 'the truth will set you free' used in a context that wasn't at least aware the phrase comes from the bible (the same way people are generally aware that 'to fly too close to the sun' comes from greek mythology)

so now i'm wondering if the people who wrote this line and put it in the movie know where it comes from and didn't care or plainly didn't know. it's just a very weird phrase to use in the context of that movie imo cause it's far less of an all purpose expression than other biblically inspired sayings.

[swordfright]

you guys are so annoying. why do i have to see discourse every year that's like "was tolkien really a woke king or was he your conservative uncle?" the guy was a devout catholic and a genteel misogynist who maintained lifelong friendships with queer people and women, and this isn't even paradoxical because that was part of the upper-class oxford culture he was immersed in. tolkien told the nazis to fuck off (and in doing so demonstrated a real understanding of what racism is and why it's harmful, beyond simply "these guys are bad news because they're who my country is at war with right now") but his inner life was marked by internalized racism that is deeply and inextricably woven into the art that he made. he foolishly described himself as an anarcho-monarchist, and it's kind of crazy to see people on this website passionately arguing that he likely never meaningfully engaged with anarchist theory, because...yeah, no shit, of course he didn't. tolkien didn't have to engage with most sociopolitical theory because as an upper-class englishman of his position, he was never affected by any of the issues that this theory is concerned with. what is plainly obvious from reading both his fiction and letters is that tolkien's ideal political system was that the divinely ordained god-king would rise up and rule in perfect justice and humility; he didn't want a government, he wanted a king arthur, even though (obviously) he was aware that outcome was impossible. why is it so hard for people to accept that he was just some guy! his letters aren't a code you have to crack. no amount of arguing or tumblr-level analysis is going to one day reveal a rhetorically airtight internally consistent worldview spanning jrrt's fiction, academic work, and personal writings, thereby "solving" the question of whether he was a woke king or your conservative uncle. his ideology was extremely inconsistent because, at the end of the day, he was just some guy.

[monochromelullaby]

I read happy hardcore hexidream last night, and on the one hand I can absolutely see the horror elements, the abusive behaviors, the trauma responses.

On the other hand. Agere braincell looks at Hexi and is like 'oh but that could be a good caregiver right there'

[hayatheauthor]

10 World-Building Aspects You Probably Overlooked

When crafting a fictional world, it's easy to focus on the big picture—epic battles, grand landscapes, and memorable characters. However, it’s also important to flesh out your world-building to create a ‘real’ world. Some aspects to consider when world-building are: 

1. Local Cuisine

Consider the types of food your characters eat and how it reflects their culture, geography, and economy. Unique dishes can reveal societal values and local ingredients.

2. Currency & Trade

Explore the forms of currency used and the trade systems in place. This can include bartering, precious metals, or unique items as currency, influencing economic interactions.

3. Timekeeping Practices

Different cultures may have their own methods for measuring time, whether it's a unique calendar system, seasons, or celestial events, affecting daily life and traditions.

4. Cultural Taboos

Consider the unspoken rules and taboos that govern behavior in your world. These can drive conflict and character motivations, adding depth to societal interactions.

5. Local Flora and Fauna

Unique plants and animals can shape the environment and influence the culture, whether through medicine, food sources, or as part of local mythology.

6. Rituals and Festivals

Incorporate unique rituals or festivals that celebrate historical events, seasonal changes, or important life milestones, providing insight into cultural values and traditions.

7. Language Nuances

Explore dialects, slang, or even the use of sign language that reflects the culture and social dynamics, enriching dialogue and interactions between characters.

8. Architecture and Housing Styles

The design and materials of buildings can reflect climate, resources, and cultural values. Unique architectural features can tell a story about the society that built them.

9. Social Hierarchies and Classes

Examine how social structures affect character relationships and interactions. Class distinctions can influence everything from daily life to political power.

10. Environmental Impact

Consider how the natural environment shapes societal behaviours, resource usage, and conflicts. Climate and geography can drive migration patterns and societal development.

Looking For More Writing Tips And Tricks? 

Looking for writing tips and tricks to better your manuscript? Check out the rest of Quillology with Haya; a blog dedicated to writing and publishing tips for authors!

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[luna-azzurra]

12 Emotional Wounds in Fiction Storys

Betraying a Loved One. Your character made a choice, and it backfired, badly. They betrayed someone close to them, maybe on purpose, maybe by accident. Now, the guilt’s eating them alive. They might try to fix things, but can they even make up for what they did?

Guilt Over a Past Mistake. They made a mistake, one that cost someone else. Maybe it was reckless, maybe it was a dumb decision, but now it haunts them. They can’t stop thinking about it, and no matter how hard they try to make things right, the past keeps pulling them back.

Survivor’s Guilt. Imagine surviving something awful, an accident, a disaster, but someone else didn’t make it. Now your character is stuck asking, “Why me? Why am I still here?” They push people away, convinced they don’t deserve to be happy or even alive.

Feeling Powerless. Your character is trapped, maybe in an abusive home, a toxic relationship, or just in life itself. They feel stuck, with no control over their own future.

Being Wrongly Accused. They didn’t do it. But no one believes them. Your character has been falsely accused of something serious, maybe even a crime and now they’re fighting to clear their name. It’s not just about proving their innocence, though. They’re also battling the pain of being abandoned by people who were supposed to stand by them.

Public Humiliation. They’ve just been humiliated in front of everyone, maybe it’s a video gone viral, or they were betrayed by someone they trusted. Now, they can’t even look people in the eye.

Living in Someone’s Shadow. No matter what they do, it’s never enough. Someone else, a sibling, a friend, a partner, always shines brighter. They feel stuck in that person’s shadow, invisible and overlooked.

Abandoning a Dream. They had big dreams, but somewhere along the way, life got in the way, and now they’ve given up. Maybe it was because of fear or circumstances beyond their control, but the loss of that dream has left them feeling empty.

Childhood Trauma. Something happened to them when they were young, something painful that still affects them today. Whether it was abuse, neglect, or a significant loss, the trauma follows them into adulthood, shaping how they see themselves and the world.

Being an Outsider. They’ve never felt like they fit in, whether because of their background, their personality, or something else. They long for acceptance but fear they’ll never find it.

Struggling with Addiction. They’re caught in a destructive cycle, whether it’s with substances, behaviors, or even people. The shame and struggle to break free from addiction are real and raw.

Living with Chronic Illness. They’re living with a chronic illness or disability, and it’s not just the physical challenges that weigh them down, it’s the emotional toll, too. Maybe they feel isolated, or like they’re a burden to others.

[autistichalsin]

In retrospect, four years later, I feel like the Isabel Fall incident was just the biggest ignored cautionary tale modern fandom spaces have ever had. Yes, it wasn't limited to fandom, it was also a professional author/booktok type argument, but it had a lot of crossover.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: a writer, whether fan or pro, publishes a work. If one were to judge a book by its cover, something we are all taught in Kindergarten shouldn't happen but has a way of occurring regardless, one might find that there was something that seemed deeply problematic about this work. Maybe the title or summary alluded to something Wrong happening, or maybe the tags indicated there was problematic kinks or relationships. And that meant the story was Bad. So, a group of people takes to the Twittersphere to inform everyone who will listen why the work, and therefore the author, are Bad. The author, receiving an avalanche of abuse and harassment, deactivates their account, and checks into a mental health facility for monitoring for suicidal ideation. They never return to their writing space, and the harassers get a slap on the wrist (if that- usually they get praise and high-fives all around) and start waiting for their next victim to transgress.

Sounds awful familiar, doesn't it?

Isabel Fall's case, though, was even more extreme for many reasons. See, she made the terrible mistake of using a transphobic meme as the genesis to actually explore issues of gender identity.

More specifically, she used the phrase "I sexually identify as an attack helicopter" to examine how marginalized identities, when they become more accepted, become nothing more than a tool for the military-industrial complex to rebrand itself as a more personable and inclusive atrocity; a chance to pursue praise for bombing brown children while being progressive, because queer people, too, can help blow up brown children now! It also contained an examination of identity and how queerness is intrinsic to a person, etc.

But... well, if harassers ever bothered to read the things they critique, we wouldn't be here, would we? So instead, they called Isabel a transphobic monster for the title alone, even starting a misinformation campaign to claim she was, in fact, a cis male nazi using a fake identity to psyop the queer community.

A few days later, after days of horrific abuse and harassment, Isabel requested that Clarkesworld magazine pull the story. She checked in to a psych ward with suicidal thoughts. That wasn't all, though; the harassment was so bad that she was forced to out herself as trans to defend against the claims.

Only... we know this type of person, the fandom harassers, don't we? You know where this is going. Outing herself did nothing to stop the harassment. No one was willing to read the book, much less examine how her sexuality and gender might have influenced her when writing it.

So some time later, Isabel deleted her social media. She is still alive, but "Isabel Fall" is not- because the harassment was so bad that Isabel detransitioned/closeted herself, too traumatized to continue living her authentic life.

Supposed trans allies were so outraged at a fictional portrayal of transness, written by a trans woman, that they harassed a real life trans woman into detransitioning.

It's heartbreakingly familiar, isn't it? Many of us in fandom communities have been in Isabel's shoes, even if the outcome wasn't so extreme (or in some cases, when it truly was). Most especially, many of us, as marginalized writers speaking from our own experiences in some way, have found that others did not enjoy our framework for examining these things, and hurt us, members of those identities, in defense of "the community" as a nebulous undefined entity.

There's a quote that was posted in a news writeup about the whole saga that was published a year after the fact. The quote is:

The delineation between paranoid and reparative readings originated in 1995, with influential critic Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. A paranoid reading focuses on what’s wrong or problematic about a work of art. A reparative reading seeks out what might be nourishing or healing in a work of art, even if the work is flawed. Importantly, a reparative reading also tends to consider what might be nourishing or healing in a work of art for someone who isn’t the reader. This kind of nuance gets completely worn away on Twitter, home of paranoid readings. “[You might tweet], ‘Well, they didn’t discuss X, Y, or Z, so that’s bad!’ Or, ‘They didn’t’ — in this case — ‘discuss transness in a way that felt like what I feel about transness, therefore it is bad.’ That flattens everything into this very individual, very hostile way of reading,” Mandelo says. “Part of reparative reading is trying to think about how a story cannot do everything. Nothing can do everything. If you’re reading every text, fiction, or criticism looking for it to tick a bunch of boxes — like if it represents X, Y, and Z appropriately to my definitions of appropriate, and if it’s missing any of those things, it’s not good — you’re not really seeing the close focus that it has on something else.”

A paranoid reading describes perfectly what fandom culture has become in the modern times. It is why "proship", once simply a word for common sense "don't engage with what you don't like, and don't harass people who create it either" philosophies, has become the boogeyman of fandom, a bad and dangerous word. The days of reparative readings, where you would look for things you enjoyed, are all but dead. Fiction is rarely a chance to feel joy; it's an excuse to get angry, to vitriolically attack those different from oneself while surrounded with those who are the same as oneself. It's an excuse to form in-groups and out-groups that must necessarily be in a constant state of conflict, lest it come across like This side is accepting That side's faults. In other words, fandom has become the exact sort of space as the nonfandom spaces it used to seek to define itself against.

It's not about joy. It's not about resonance with plot or characters. It's about hate. It's about finding fault. If they can't find any in the story, they will, rest assured, create it by instigating fan wars- dividing fandom into factions and mercilessly attacking the other.

And that's if they even went so far as to read the work they're critiquing. The ones they don't bother to read, as you saw above, fare even worse. If an AO3 writer tagged an abuser/victim ship, it's bad, it's fetishism, even if the story is about how the victim escapes. If a trans writer uses the title "I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter" to find a framework to dissect rainbow-washing the military-industrial complex, it's unforgivable. It's a cesspool of kneejerk reactions, moralizing discomfort, treating good/evil as dichotomous categories that can never be escaped, and using that complex as an excuse to heap harassment on people who "deserve it." Because once you are Bad, there is no action against you that is too Bad for you to deserve.

Isabel Fall's story follows this so step-by-step that it's like a textbook case study on modern fandom behavior.

Isabel Fall wrote a short story with an inflammatory title, with a genesis in transphobic mockery, in the hopes of turning it into a genuine treatise on the intersection of gender and sexuality and the military-industrial complex. But because audiences are unprepared for the idea of inflammatory rhetoric as a tool to force discomfort to then force deeper introspection... they zeroed in on the discomfort. "I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter"- the title phrase, not the work- made them uncomfortable. We no longer teach people how to handle discomfort; we live in a world of euphemism and glossing over, a world where people can't even type out the words "kill" and rape", instead substituting "unalive" and "grape." We don't deal with uncomfortable feelings anymore; we censor them, we transform them, we sanitize them. When you are unable to process discomfort, when you are never given self-soothing tools, your only possible conclusion is that anything Uncomfortable must be Bad, and the creator must either be censored too, or attacked into conformity so that you never again experience the horrors of being Uncomfortable.

So the masses took to Twitter, outraged. They were Uncomfortable, and that de facto meant that they had been Wronged. Because the content was related to trans identity issues, that became the accusation; it was transphobic, inherently. It couldn't be a critique of bigger and more fluid systems than gender identity alone; it was a slight against trans people. And no amount of explanations would change their minds now, because they had already been aggrieved and made to feel Uncomfortable.

Isabel Fall was now a Bad Person, and we all know what fandom spaces do to Bad People. Bad People, because they are Bad, will always be deserving of suicide bait and namecalling and threatening. Once a person is Bad, there is no way to ever become Good again. Not by refuting the accusations (because the accusations are now self-evident facts; "there is a callout thread against them" is its own tautological proof that wrongdoing has happened regardless of the veracity of the claims in the callout) and not by apologizing and changing, because if you apologize and admit you did the Bad thing, you are still Bad, and no matter what you do in future, you were once Bad and that needs to be brought up every time you are mentioned. If you are bad, you can NEVER be more than what you were at your worst (in their definition) moment. Your are now ontologically evil, and there is no action taken against you that can be immoral.

So Isabel was doomed, naturally. It didn't matter that she outed herself to explain that she personally had lived the experience of a trans woman and could speak with authority on the atrocity of rainbow-washing the military industrial complex as a proaganda tool to capture progressives. None of it mattered. She had written a work with an Uncomfortable phrase for a title, the readers were Uncomfortable, and someone had to pay for it.

And that's the key; pay for it. Punishment. Revenge. It's never about correcting behavior. Restorative justice is not in this group's vocabulary. You will, incidentally, never find one of these folks have a stance against the death penalty; if you did Bad as a verb, you are Bad as an intrinsic, inescapable adjective, and what can you do to incorrigible people but kill them to save the Normal people? This is the same principle, on a smaller scale, that underscores their fandom activities; if a Bad fan writes Bad fiction, they are a Bad person, and their fandom persona needs to die to save Normal fans the pain of feeling Uncomfortable.

And that's what happened to Isabel Fall. The person who wrote the short story is very much alive, but the pseudonym of Isabel Fall, the identity, the lived experiences coming together in concert with imagination to form a speculative work to critique deeply problematic sociopolitical structures? That is dead. Isabel Fall will never write again, even if by some miracle the person who once used the name does. Even if she ever decides to restart her transition, she will be permanently scarred by this experience, and will never again be able to share her experience with us as a way to grow our own empathy and challenge our understanding of the world. In spirit, but not body, fandom spaces murdered Isabel Fall.

And that's... fandom, anymore. That's just what is done, routinely and without question, to Bad people. Good people are Good, so they don't make mistakes, and they never go too far when dealing with Bad people. And Bad people, well, they should have thought before they did something Bad which made them Bad people.

Isabel Fall's harassment happened in early 2020, before quarantine started, but it was in so many ways a final chance for fandom to hit the breaks. A chance for fandom to think collectively about what it wanted to be, who it wanted to be for and how it wanted to do it. And fandom looked at this and said, "more, please." It continues to harass marginalized people, especially fans of color and queen fans, into suffering mental breakdowns. With gusto.

Any ideas of reparative reading is dead. Fandom runs solely on paranoid readings. And so too is restorative justice gone for fandom transgressions, real or imagined. It is now solely about punitive, vigilante justice. It's a concerted campaign to make sure oddballs conform or die (in spirit, but sometimes even physically given how often mentally ill individuals are pushed into committing suicide).

It's a deeply toxic environment and I'm sad to say that Isabel Fall's story was, in retrospect, a sort of event horizon for the fandom. The gravitational pull of these harassment campaigns is entirely too strong now and there is no escaping it. I'm sorry, I hate to say something so bleak, but thinking the last few days about the state of fandom (not just my current one but also others I watch from the outside), I just don't think we can ever go back to peaceful "for joy" engagement, not when so many people are determined to use it as an outlet for lateral aggression against other people.

[psychotrenny]

It's incredibly foolish to disregard the dialectical relationship that exists between any materially existing entity/process and its fictionalised depictions; this includes even the most difficult and sensitive of topics like sexual violence and abuse. To say that the fictional depictions, whether actual published media or various informal play scenarios, have nothing to do with the real thing is absurd. They are obviously drawn from the image and ideas around it, and in turn can have varying forms of influence on how people conceptualise and respond to such things in reality. But at the same time the real and fictional are ultimately still separate and so it's equally absurd to talk about them as though they are one in the same

Like you can't take for granted that a piece of media depicting something automatically endorses it, or even that any "endorsement" exists in a context where it's materially meaningful. You can't take for granted that someone engaging in a sort of roleplay reflects any interest repeating those actions or affirming those values in real life; half the time the sense of moral transgression and personal aversion is part of the appeal. If you think that a fictional representation of a problem in any way exacerbates that issue in reality then you need to put in the work to demonstrate an actual throughline, a specific relationship between the material and ideal.

It's also very important to be aware of the limits; a discrete piece of fiction may reflect and in some limited ways reinforce social values but it's never going to "normalise" these values any more than the material structures that created them in the first place. A larger aggregate of media can have a larger effect, but only within the limits of the prevailing material conditions. While a causative relationship can't always be ruled out entirely, it's usually more constructive to view fiction through the lens of reflecting widely extant values rather than as bringing them into existence. The role of the ideal shouldn't be ignored but it shouldn't be irrationally inflated either, no matter how socially rewarding or emotionally satisfying indulging in that irrationality may be.

[bookished]

HOW TO GIVE PERSONALITY TO A CHARACTER

Giving personality to a character is an essential part of character development in storytelling, whether you're writing a novel, screenplay, or creating a character for a role-playing game. Here are some steps and considerations to help you give personality to your character:

Understand Their Backstory:

Start by creating a detailed backstory for your character. Where were they born? What were their childhood experiences like? What significant events have shaped their life? Understanding their past can help you determine their motivations, fears, and desires.

2. Define Their Goals and Motivations:

Characters often become more interesting when they have clear goals and motivations. What does your character want? It could be something tangible like a job or a romantic relationship, or it could be an abstract desire like happiness or freedom.

3. Determine Their Strengths and Weaknesses:

No one is perfect, and characters should reflect this. Identify your character's strengths and weaknesses. This can include physical abilities, intellectual skills, and personality traits. Flaws can make characters relatable and three-dimensional.

4. Consider Their Personality Traits:

Think about your character's personality traits. Are they introverted or extroverted? Shy or outgoing? Kind or selfish? Create a list of traits that describe their character. You can use personality frameworks like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Big Five Personality Traits as a starting point.

5. Give Them Quirks and Habits:

Quirks and habits can make a character memorable. Do they have a specific way of speaking, a unique fashion style, or an unusual hobby? These details can help bring your character to life.

6. Explore Their Relationships:

Characters don't exist in isolation. Consider how your character interacts with others. What are their relationships like with family, friends, and enemies? These relationships can reveal a lot about their personality.

7. Show, Don't Tell:

Instead of explicitly telling the audience about your character's personality, show it through their actions, dialogue, and decisions. Let the reader or viewer infer their traits based on their behavior.

8. Create Internal Conflict:

Characters with internal conflicts are often more engaging. What inner struggles does your character face? These can be related to their goals, values, or past experiences.

9. Use Character Arcs:

Consider how your character will change or grow throughout the story. Character development is often about how a character evolves in response to the events and challenges they face.

10. Seek Inspiration:

Draw inspiration from real people, other fictional characters, or even historical figures. Study how people with similar traits and backgrounds behave to inform your character's actions and reactions.

11. Write Dialogue and Inner Monologues:

Writing dialogue and inner monologues from your character's perspective can help you get inside their head and understand their thought processes and emotions.

12. Consider the Setting:

The setting of your story can influence your character's personality. For example, a character who grows up in a war-torn environment may have a different personality than one raised in a peaceful, affluent society.

13. Revise and Refine:

Don't be afraid to revise and refine your character as you write and develop your story. Characters can evolve and change as the narrative unfolds.

Remember that well-developed characters are dynamic and multi-faceted. They should feel like real people with strengths, weaknesses, and complexities. As you write and develop your character, put yourself in their shoes and think about how they would react to various situations. This will help you create a compelling and believable personality for your character.

[headspace-hotel]

This year has, so far, been for me a series of rapid realizations of what I have been unlearning.

I went to the library. This was a couple weeks ago. I knew I needed to read a book, fiction. I hadn't done so in over a year and it was the longest period of time I had ever gone without doing so. I made a rule: I would only pick books I had never heard of, by authors I had never heard of, and I would not do any preliminary research or even bother to look at what the book was about. I would make my decision on whether to read or not purely on my impression of the title, cover and opening lines.

The book was The Connoisseur by Evan S. Connell. It was kind of a random selection. I sat down with it in a corner of the library and straight up devoured it. I tore through the book within a few hours, without taking a single break. I was captivated. I couldn't put it down.

It is a book about a guy who buys a Mayan figurine in a knickknack shop while he's on a business trip. and becomes obsessed with pre-Columbian sculptural art. There isn't really much of a plot apart from this. He goes to sketchy antique shows, has conversations with museum curators, wealthy art dealers and forgers, and seeks to learn how to distinguish a genuine pre-Columbian piece from a fake one. It was written in the 1970's, so the views on Native Americans are antiquated and sometimes offensive, and there is the troubling thread of the very concept of looting another culture's treasures and treating them as collectibles, though the book is not without commentary on this.

All the same, it was a completely intoxicating read. The vicarious experience of becoming fascinated with a topic and having it unfold a whole world for you was ferociously gripping, and so was the intrigue of the art collecting world itself. The frauds, forgeries, smuggling, museums, academics, aristocrats, auctions and seedy flea markets. Will he ever be able to tell if a piece is "real?" Does it matter if it's "real?" Why does he want to own and possess a piece of art, and how does its "realness" affect that desire? The book leaves you not knowing what to think.

It is a book about curiosity, portrayed in the narrative as a totally unreasonable lightning bolt that strikes a man who has never been fascinated by anything and changes him forever. Why? Why does a Mayan figurine, in particular, speak to him? Why does any piece of art, or any fascinating thing in the world, speak to anyone? It is unknowable.

I went to the library again. I picked a new book using the same rules. This book was Fragile Beasts by Tawni O'Dell. Just like the last time, I was totally captivated. I couldn't put it down.

Did I have a couple major problems with the portrayal of some important aspects of the story? Yes. (It would make the post much longer to discuss.) Was I completely captured by and invested in the story for the time I was reading it? Also yes. The book braids together several very different strands-- the story of a legendary Spanish bullfighter and a wealthy American woman that he loved, two brothers stuck in an ugly family situation after their father's death in a car accident, and a rich old heir to a Pennsylvania coal mining fortune and to the sinister underbelly of her family's business.

There was a lot about baseball, which I know nothing about, and bullfighting, which I know nothing about, and I certainly don't know anything about being a teenaged boy who resents and mistrusts his estranged mother, or an aristocratic old lady who lives in a mansion and eats fancy Spanish food. It was fun to experience so much unfamiliar stuff and to care about things I wouldn't normally care about. Once again I couldn't stop reading until I had finished it.

I don't know that either book was "good," though I thought they were both well written; I just know that reading them was like being hooked up to an IV of something essential and life-giving and feeling it reanimating my body.

It had been a year since I had read any fiction, but it had been much, much longer since I had loved to read. As I became an adult I had become picky and critical about books, and developed a highly sophisticated sense of my taste and the books I considered good- which were very rare. My taste in books became so sophisticated, eventually, that I didn't like books at all anymore.

I had almost withered away from deficiency of that essential nutrient known as STORY. I'd almost crumbled myself into dust from pretentiousness! I may have been terribly wrong about the kinds of things I liked to read, on top of it. And I certainly hadn't realized that story was such an essential nutrient.

"Just entertainment" the pretentious sorts of people might say of a book they think is useless-- but what is entertainment but to absorb your mind in something, and what is absorbing your mind in a book but to experience things you would never have experienced? It expands you and makes you more complicated. It is the study of human existence itself.

Now all I have been able to think about today is finishing my work and going to the library again...

[lqveharrington]

Don’t Blame Me | F.W.

summary: you’re in a forbidden relationship with fred weasley

pairing: fred weasley x malfoy!reader

includes: mild cursing, fluff, forbidden relationship, draco loves his sister, fred being the sweetest boyfriend

wc: 1.3k+

a/n: i figured out how to write again, lol

For the longest time, you didn’t believe in love at first sight.

After years of hearing the romanticized tale of your parents falling for each other the instant they met, you always found the idea overly sentimental—impossible, even. Besides, you were 99% sure Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were promised to each other before they were even born. Whether they grew to love each other didn’t change the fact that love at first sight sounded like fiction—a reckless, illogical fantasy.

But all that changed the moment Fred Weasley didn’t just walk—but staggered—into your life.

It was the start of the fifth year, and Flitwick had just begun his lesson when your eyes met Fred's across the classroom. Something shifted inside you. A spark. A jolt. A switch flipping on in a pitch-dark room you didn’t even know existed.

It was strange, falling for a boy like him so quickly—especially him. You had trained yourself to ignore the Weasleys and anyone your family deemed "beneath" you, raised on the belief that power and blood status defined worth. But when you truly saw Fred—his natural talent in Charms, his wicked sense of humor, his unapologetic joy—it became impossible not to fall.

Suddenly, the world was brighter, sharper, more alive. Everything burned hotter and faster. You’d spent years guarding your heart behind iron walls, fortified by cynicism and caution. But Fred didn’t knock. He didn’t ask. He shattered every barrier within seconds.

His laughter made you laugh. His hugs wrapped you in warmth. His kisses—quick and stolen before Filch could round a corner—left you dazed, breathless. Everything he did made your heart swell with something terrifying and beautiful. Something that changed you completely.

Your friends told you you weren’t yourself anymore—and deep down, you knew they were right.

If this wasn’t love, then it was something more dangerous. Something addictive. Something divine.

And you didn’t want to be saved.

Of course, Draco had thoughts about your relationship. He was your brother, after all. But even he couldn’t stop you—not after he saw the way Fred made you laugh, how you glowed with happiness. Sure, he still sneered at the Weasleys, but he was protective of you above all else. A petty house rivalry wouldn’t outweigh your joy in his mind.

The real problem was your parents.

You and Fred had been together officially since the end of the fifth year. Draco only found out because he caught Fred shamelessly kissing you in the dungeon corridors. He wasn’t a snitch by any means, but it was painfully obvious to both Lucius and Narcissa that something had changed. Narcissa’s constant questions about whether you’d “found someone suitable” were getting harder to dodge.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out.

Draco, always one to stir the pot, made sure to remind you. “How long do you plan on hiding that oaf from Mother and Father?” he asked, tone laced with mild disgust—completely ignoring the fact that Fred was walking beside you and could clearly hear him.

You rolled your eyes at his childishness. He was only fourteen, but still, the dramatics were tiring. You glanced over and met Draco’s blue eyes—annoyed, but with a flicker of concern. He always tried to mask that part.

You sighed. “I was thinking either never…” You smirked, glancing at Fred. “Or, you know, Freddie and I could elope—”

“Or you could not.” Draco glared at you and then at Fred, who was grinning smugly. Draco still wanted to be at your wedding, even if it meant dealing with the entire Weasley clan. But he couldn’t resist taking a jab at you. “Besides, how are you so sure you’re going to marry Weasley anyway?”

“I won’t hesitate to hex you, Draco,” you warned, narrowing your eyes at him. Fred chuckled from behind you, and you whirled to face him, jabbing a manicured finger against his chest. “I’ll hex you too, Weasley. You two better learn to get along, I swear.”

“I’m trying!” Fred placed one hand over his heart and raised the other like a Boy Scout, tilting his head toward Draco. “Your brother isn’t.”

Draco crossed his arms, eye twitching as Fred stared him down. “Excuse me for looking out for—”

“Go.” You pointed to the Slytherin entrance with a cocked brow, and he rolled his eyes, obeying your command. You waited until the stone wall sealed shut before turning back to Fred with a look that matched the one you’d given your brother. “Must you annoy Draco?”

“I feel like it’s my duty as your boyfriend,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. When you didn’t move, he sighed and gently pulled you to him by the waist. “Alright, alright. I’ll play nice with your twat of a brother.”

You pursed your lips, but a laugh slipped out. “You know what? Good enough.”

Fred grinned and brushed his thumb along your waist. “So what I’m hearing is… You want to go to the Astronomy Tower tonight.”

You scrunched your nose, pretending to object, but you didn’t stop him when he tugged you by the hand and led you through the castle. Both of you ran through the stone corridors, avoiding other students and professors who were too exhausted to reprimand the of you. Your laughter filled the air the faster Fred pulled you along, the sweeter music to his ears.

Especially when your laughter switched to giggles. You began to giggle when he picked you up halfway up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, pretending to be annoyed with him when he made it his goal to carry you the rest of the way up.

“I can walk, you know,” you huffed, resting your chin on your palm as you looked down, lips turning up at your view. “Nice arse, Weasley.”

“Says you,” he said smugly, giving your backside a playful tap before setting you down on the platform and helping you stabilize.

You breathed in the fresh air and leaned against the railing, smiling when the breeze blew through your hair freely. You loved the Astronomy Tower because you could see everything Hogwarts had to offer from up here and you were so close to the constellations and stars your family were named after.

Fred stood beside you and admired quietly, gaze averting to your flowing hair, tilting his head and letting his fingers touch the ends of your blonde hair that faded into a dark color.

“How come your hair isn’t like your brother’s?” he asked, twirling a lock of your hair.

You hum and look over at him, your eyes softening at his gentle gaze. He quietly repeated his question, his normal boisterous self gone when he was around you.

Like you, Fred was also changed. He became gentle around you, acting more like the boy his mother raised him to be. He got so used to that personality that it bled into his everyday actions. He used to be the ringleader between him, George, and Lee, but he slowly let George and Lee take the lead the second he began to date you.

Even so, he would never stop pranking. In fact, you became the main victim of his more personal pranks.

You replied to his question, directing your gaze to the ends of your hair. “My mum’s hair is like this. I quite like it.”

“I love it,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

You smiled to yourself and felt your heart swell. Every day, Fred had something new to say about you. No matter what he said, they were all compliments with small kisses anywhere he could reach.

Merlin, you fell fast for him and you knew he fell just as fast as you did.

You finally look up at him again after a silent moment, a teasing grin placed upon your face. “You’re so in love, it’s disgusting.”

“Yeah?” he said softly, sliding one hand to cradle your neck as he leaned closer. “What about you?”

Your voice lowered to a whisper. “You make me feel like I’m on fire.” Your arms wrapped around his neck as you gazed into his face, memorizing every freckle, every flicker of emotion in his eyes. “And I don’t want to put it out.”

Fred smiled—dangerously, beautifully—though the warmth in his eyes betrayed nothing but love. “Then burn with me.”

And you did.

©lqveharrington - all rights reserved. do not copy, translate or share my work on other media platforms

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

WRITING PROMPTS REGARDING ABORTION AND MISCARRIAGE 

trigger warnings for graphic description of the above topics, human trafficking, cannibalism, violence against pregnant women.

everything about this is entirely fictional, meant for writers. since I understand there aren’t many whump blogs that feel comfortable writing prompts about the subject (very understandable), I figured I could offer writers out there some prompts about this, in case they were looking for ideas for their works.

that being said, while the prompts are not real, the subject is very much real and can be triggering, so if it’s not something you’re comfortable with, don’t read below the line.

__________________୨ ୧ __________________

*feel free to change/adjust the pronouns however you want

a pregnant whumpee got kicked in the stomach by whumper, which led to miscarriage.

a pregnant whumpee, who was a housewife, fell down the stairs at her house when her partner was away for work. she didn’t tell her partner about the incident either because she was afraid he was going to get mad at her or because she thought it was fine and didn’t want to worry him. until she suffered severe bleeding that turned the mattress red at night.

whumpee who went through miscarriage kept hallucinating a life where her child was alive and she got to raise them. caretaker tried to help her, and even though her condition only seemed to get worse, they refused to send her to an asylum. 

whumpee who lost her child during childbirth refused to surrender her child’s corpse. It was understandable at first, until the child started to decompose and rot in her arms and she, with a knife in her hand, would attack anyone who tried to take her baby away from her.

whumpee was a sex slave who got pregnant, the thing was that it was a mistake. so in order for her to be able to continue doing ‘her job’, whumper made her undergo unsafe abortion by having a straightened-out wire with sharp edge (from a coat hanger) inserted into her vagina and into her uterus. they got the fetus out, but whumpee later got a nasty infection that resulted in her suffering from hallucinations, and her not being able to stand or stop her pale, naked body from shivering. whether or not she was rescued in time is up to you, the writer. 

whumper is an OB doctor who often lied to the patients that they miscarried their perfectly healthy stillborns and that the babies needed to be surgically removed in order to save the moms’ lives. this made it very easy for the doc to get away with eating fetuses, since the moms would rather not keep the corpses of their stillborns anyway, and police were never involved. (I mean who would question a licensed physician?!)