#writing-contest

[catsonsteroids-blog]

A Journey Through Time: Discovering a Magical Device

What would you do if you discovered a device that can take you anywhere? What if it can take you at any time in history or the future? In this week’s contest, our protagonist, through a quirk of fate, finds such a device. Please leave a comment on the site after reading this free, totally free entry. Thanks

[heritageposts]

Translation: What a shitshow. This years Eurovision has gone to hell. And it's first and foremost the EBU's fault.

Also, excerpt from the same article:

Throughout the course of the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU has acted as if they live in a parallel universe. Eurovision is one thing, the world outside something else. The EBU has stuck its head in the sand. Shoved the problem under the rug. Held their hands over their ears and shouted LALALALALA. They appear to have done everything they can to pretend it's possible to hold an apolitical event in a world that's on fire. We have come together to be "united by music", they say, but the sharpshooters on Malmö's rooftops have nothing to do with us! In its struggle to remain apolitical, the EBU has become like a small fascist state in itself, where the artists' space for expression and action has been reduced as much as the undergarments of the Spanish dancers. It is reprehensible.

Reminder again to BOYCOTT EUROVISION 🇵🇸

Don't watch, don't vote.

[authortoberecognized]

              WRITER’S FORUM  WRITERS CONTESTS

WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers. But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites. Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have…

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Happy September everybody, NaNoWriMo has decided to go "no YOU'RE the baddies" because no one likes their AI-ridden sponsor, lmao. In other news, multiple authors are suing OpenAI for copyright infringement.

[zan0tix]

STUPID PARADOX SPACE STYLE DJ COMIC

[hoss-bonaventure]

will always be chronically ill over jesse saying “get them young and they’re yours forever” to the man who got him when he was young and ruined him for the rest of his life

[northstarscowboyhat]

Corn picking day.

[bulbagarden]

Hiya, Trainers...! Lisia here, but I'm running the 2025 edition of Bulbagarden's annual Spring One-shot writing contest and wanted to tell you all about it! Though the contest is shipping-oriented, (queer)platonic relationships are completely welcomed as well! We have many categories to earn prizes in (including a Best LGBTQ+ Romance prize!), and all entries get a fancy forums badge and reviews on their work, so please consider checking the contest out with the link above!

The entry deadline is on April 10 and the deadline for posting entries is on May 15 -- we hope to see some entrants from our fellow Trainers here on Tumblr (including myself...!), so please mention I sent you if you'd like! LOL

[seahorsepencils]

Thinking about the poorly executed political and social commentary of this most recent episode of Doctor Who, and this is the question I keep asking: how much harder would it have been to tell this story right?

If I had a student write that episode for a class, I would have said, "Hey, I see what you're trying to get at. And I think there are some moments where you're on the right path, but in order to make this message land and tell this story in a more nuanced and ethical way, some big things need to change. So let's brainstorm how you can fix it."

Because there are absolutely moments where it has the right idea. I thought it was a smart choice to have the Doctor essentially verbalize the fact that he feels authorized in an act of violence because his planet was subjected to a form of genocide. That's one of Netanyahu's main propaganda tactics and it's similar to the logic that's being used in the US right now to smear anti-genocide protesters with accusations of antisemitism. I think it's smart and helpful to show a representation of that logic as a reminder that it's a huge red flag and we need to question it whenever we see it. But the episode didn't take time to explain why that logic doesn't make sense. It didn't show someone calling the Doctor out on it. If the writer doesn't thread in that message meaningfully, you risk the viewer missing it altogether, or getting the opposite message.

I also appreciated the episode raising the question "what is the moral liability of the characters who are watching this broadcast?" while airing the episode on the same day as Eurovision. That was kind of a badass move. But, again, they didn't clearly ask that question or deal with it in the narrative in a meaningful way, so by the end of the episode we're just thinking "yay, the viewers didn't die!" There were other good ideas in there, but they were completely lost in the piss-poor and ultimately problematic execution of the story.

Writing TV for social justice and threading in political commentary is hard to do right. Doing it right usually requires collaboration. It requires extensive workshopping, research, sometimes conversations with experts. But DW has the time and money to do that. If TV shows can hire intimacy coordinators and stunt coordinators to ensure the safety of their actors, there's no reason they can't hire sensitivity readers, dramaturgs, and topic experts or consultants to help workshop scripts and make sure the intended social or political commentary is being done right.

It sucks that they didn't do that, because they had a really good opportunity to pull this off and to say something important, and they blew it.

[hedwig221b]

I've got the random sterek idea for a short fic that got me like this and I fear you WILL get a May fic after all...

[catsonsteroids-blog]

Why I Value Critiques Over Prizes in Writing Contests

Unleash your creativity and embrace the thrill of writing contests! Each entry is a chance to share your voice, connect with fellow wordsmiths, and potentially win recognition. Dive into the excitement and let your imagination soar! ✍️✨

This week’s entry… Many of you know I frequently submit contest entries to Reedsy, aiming for several submissions each month. While the tease, the carrot, if you will, of $250 is nice, the reality is that I don’t even consider that part of the prize that I am seeking. People around the world read my stories. While a simple ���like” is an affirmation in that they took the time to click like, it…

[sliding-down-rainbows]

My thoughts on Striker as a PERFECT narrative foil for Blitzo

I've been watching a lot of reactions and reading through theories about HB given the new ep.

One thing I keep seeing is this surprise that Striker would work with the Nobles against Blitzo, considering how outspoken he was about hating royals.

To me, this makes perfect sense and I think they established this for the character early on. Striker hates Blitzo because Blitzo is exactly who Striker THOUGHT he was, and who he claims to be.

The thing is with Striker, I think a review I just watched of tbskyen got it spot on during his first appearance in Harvest Festival. "He doesn't seem to articulate an argument against the hierarchy so much as an argument against his place in it."

Striker, as much as he wants to be seen as a class hero, looks down on other imps and hellhounds, and his resentment is the HE should be above them. He says so to Blitzo.

"Blitzo, c'mon. You know the two of us are superior than most of our kind."

And he REPEATEDLY belittles other imps

"Don't worry, little one. You never stood a chance."

"Plus, you little things ain't worth the cleanup." ―Striker before locking Millie and Moxxie in the cellar

"I still think it’s embarrassing. You’re wasting a lot of potential relying on a weak little-" ―Striker about Moxxie

Calling Fizz a "worthless little pet"

I think I still missed some but you get the idea.

Striker think he and Blitzo are better than other imps, and don;t deserve to be subservient.

But here's the funny thing, BLITZO is the one who started and runs his own business, who became his own boss. And he uses that position to actually pull up other imps and hellhounds. Blitzo, for all of his jokes, fucking respects Moxxie's skill, he doesn't let anyone treat Loona like his pet. He uses his position as being seen as stronger than other imps to help others see their own worth. When Millie was speaking bad about herself:

Millie: We don't deserve this. We're just Wrathians, Blitzo. Muscle. It's all we're good for, all I'm good for. It's why you hired me. Any demon good at making a buck is welcome in Lust or Greed, but here? Demons like us ain't cut out for this. - Ghostfuckers flashback

And Blitzo's response?:

(Long paragraph of encouragment I won't copy all of... The point is, if we can't make it here then- then no one deserves to, right?

Blitzo saved them all from their lowest point and showed them their worth, that they deserve as much respect as anyone else.

And Striker, for all his fucking posturing, is working FOR a Goetia. So you have this guy, who thinks he's some class hero, better than other imps, but is stuck working for royalty. And along swings Blitzo, who is his own boss, and is just as strong if not stronger than him. Blitzo is EVERYTHING Striker wishes he was.

So then we come to Mastermind. Given the chance, Striker fucks over his own race/class in favour of royalty who probably offered a bribe. Blitzo, even to the very end, speaks of imps as a whole being mistreated.

No fucking wonder he became a class hero.

Striker has his "values" so long as they serve him directly, if he can get to the top of the food chain he'll make no effort to dismantle it or help bring anyone else up.

[minkshame]

POWERRED AU CONTEST IS NOW OPEN!

Submit your entries with the tag #PowerRedReveal or tag me and pidge!

Give us some juicy ideas and maybe get a prize from me!

[regheart]

there's something i find particularly annoying in this fandom and it's the way purebloods are written as highly sophisticated extremely rich and straight up a rip off of regency period novels

i understand the choice of this specific portrayal, i can see it as an approximation to historical drama, where the social restrictions are compelling and are relevant to the story, and a good writer can make any concept believable and good

HOWEVER as much as the worldbuilding on wizarding costumes (and a lot of other things) is extremely inconsistent and gets progressively worse towards the later three books, the implications that i see don't point towards this version of a sophisticated performatic elite who interacts only with itself

while i tend to see the blood status in the harry potter universe as a distinction of class and not at all a distinction of race, i don't think the difference is, in practice, as marked as it is in real world contexts, mostly because of how numerically small and insulated the wizarding community is

this post is part of my personal vendetta against purebloods as charming aristocrats & what appears to be the necessity of writing each and all of them as so very well spoken and politically savvy and never-caught-dead-speaking-to-a-half-blood

for once, the sacred twenty-eight is extra canon information and is disputed IN UNIVERSE, because it was anonymously published and received backlash for the inclusion (weasley, ollivander) and exclusion (crabbe, goyle, potter) of certain names

the malfoys are the only extremely rich family we see in canon. extra canon information tells us they made money before the statute of secrecy by trading with muggles

compare that to the potters who are also very rich (there's no scale to tell us who is the richer family), but made most of their money from the invention of sleakezy in the 20th century

the blacks are also implied to be wealthy: sirius manages to live off his inheritance after buying harry an expensive broom, and he says his grandfather likely paid for an order of merlin

there's a lot to be said about the blacks (e.g. they should have at least a couple more properties other than grimmauld place), but the big picture and the similarity with the gaunts (not about the incest, stop fixating on that) suggest they were a family in decadence by the time sirius was growing up

i believe that the implication is that neither of them had a proper job, which creates a similarity with gentry, but gentry lived off rentals and while it is possible they had a country state i don't think grimmauld place was making a lot of money

lucius malfoy also didn't work and spent a portion of his time being a school counselor (and obviously not being paid for it, as it was a way to exercise his political power over the main learning institution in his community)

it's also extra canon that the nott family had equal footing with the malfoys, so we can assume that crabbe, goyle, parkinson and bulstrode were slightly beneath them, either in social standing or money, despite the later two being part of the sacred twenty-eight (or it could appear to be so because pansy and milicent are girls)

the weasleys are obviously the main example of a poor sacred twenty-eight family, as were the gaunts

the crouch family was most like rich (they could afford a house elf), but it's likely that most of that money came from mr. crouch having a high level ministry job. his family and connections were probably an advantage to getting the job, but it's possible he wouldn't be able to maintain the lifestyle without work

longbottom, prewett and macmillan are families that appear to be very traditional, but not remarkably wealthy

other working members of the sacred twenty-eight are: horace slughorn (school teacher, but it can be argued that teaching hogwarts is a prestigious position), garrick ollivander (wand maker and shop owner, but, again, the only wand maker, which holds a certain prestige in itself), mr. burke (shop owner), arthur weasley (ministry employee), frank longbottom and kingsley shacklebolt (both aurors). amycus and alecto carrow are also temporary hogwarts teachers

the blacks married out of the sacred twenty-eight many times (max, gamp, crabbe, potter)

all of these people and every single muggleborn goes to the same school, buys magical supplies at the same place, drinks from the same pubs, etc. that alone should serve as evidence that there aren't many exclusive pureblood hangouts around

the only place that seems to attract the malfoys (arguably the richest and most important pureblood family in the 90s) and not most other people, is the knockturn alley, which is hardly a high brow sophisticated spot

except for malfoy and flint, no slytherin quidditch player during the 90s is in the sacred twenty-eight, so that's hardly a criterion for making it into the team

mulciber is not a sacred twenty-eight name, they could very well be half-bloods

tom riddle and severus snape were half-blood students who formed ties with purebloods while in school and held blood supremacist views, assimilation to a certain level was possible

[stellanix]

(genshin impact spoilers incoming)

one aspect of furina's characterization that's pretty understated but that i really really really love is her intelligence and curiosity. usually in genshin, when a character's intelligence is an important trait of theirs, there are aspects of their design, writing, voice acting, etc, that very clearly tell you "hey this character is smart." albedo, for example, wears a labcoat, is always saying big sciency words in a calm, rational tone of voice, and other characters are always talking about how smart he is

but furina? nothing about her on the surface suggests that she's a "smart" character - quite the opposite, in fact. superficially, she's introduced as a bratty, conceited, overconfident person who actually has no idea what she's doing. we eventually learn in the archon quest that that was all an act, but even after she regains her freedom, nothing about her really seems archetypically intelligent, at least at face value

instead, furina's intelligence is always shown rather than told (the only exception being nahida's voiceline about her). she had an intelligence network across teyvat feeding her information, and we saw in the flashback how she directed researchers to study the prophecy and potential ways of stopping it. before things like lyney's trial or directing the two musketeers, she'd stay up all night planning and piecing things together all on her own. she loves learning new things, she has lines in the teapot about how, when she's interested in something, she wants to become the most knowledgeable person in the topic, and also how she'd like to disassemble the teapot itself to learn how it works, and she's quick to learn new skills (like surfing). and, of course, she's well read, and quite possibly teyvat's foremost expert on the performing arts

i like how furina sort of defies the concept of character archetypes. she's initially presented as an archetypical bratty, dramatic, spoiled popular girl, but that was a role she forced herself into because it's what people expected of her. but the real furina, while still retaining some of the flamboyance from her archon persona, doesn't really fit into a clear mold. she's smart without being a super-genius, and she's kind without being a soft-spoken doormat. it makes her feel multifaceted and real, and i really love that!

anyway, this is why it makes me mad whenever i see people calling furina stupid, cuz she's not!

[drenched-in-sunlight]

back in 2022 when base game Elden Ring was out there was this one post on here dissecting Marika's JP dialogues but at the same time it's very clear the writer had some very harsh view & bias against her, which affects the way they interpreted their own translation. so the whole post read like a diss track against the very concept of Marika having feelings and depth & insists she's just a cruel heartless warlord.

that post went on to become the core talking point of a lot of ppl regarding Marika and how she didn't care for Godfrey & Radagon (because as a God she used omae??? despite ppl like Walter & Isshin also using the same word to refers to 621 and Wolf, yet they still get the grace to be interpreted as strict but caring old man??? despite it being a common word people at higher station in general would use as a formal way of speaking???? but i digress)

so today i come across the blog that wrote that post again and decided to see if their opinion had changed after the DLC... and they actually admit their view of her while writing the original post was too harsh and at the time they even thought why would Fromsoft write such a one-dimensional character ????????????? oh brother--- i mean im glad they changed their mind and openly admitted it... but that post already did its damage... man.