The Skellingcorner

[its-a-writer-thing]

Accepting that You’ll Disappoint Readers

[septembercfawkes]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I’ve been having some good things happen to me on my writerly path the last six months, but as some of you may have noticed, I’m missing something: a published novel. I’ve published other pieces, but I’m still working on “The Book.”

After sharing some good news with my brother, he asked me if I was worried about how my book would be received. After all the opportunities I’ve had, and the friends, connections, and followers I’ve gained, and the continued growth of my blog, would people have expectations that were too high and difficult to meet?

Years ago this sort of thing would have haunted me with questions: What if no one likes my book? What if my friends or family don’t like it? What if people think less of my skills? What if people think less of me as a person?

The truth is, one of my biggest weaknesses back in the day was my need for consistent validation. Years ago, I had a few life realizations (that I still want and really need to share on here someday) and overcame that. So when my brother asked me that question, I could answer honestly that I wasn’t that worried about it.

Now, I’m sure I will worry about it somewhat when I get to that point–it’s natural to wonder how a book you’ve spent years on will be received. But here’s the thing:

You will always disappoint someone.

Yes, I know that sounds weird to say, and to some people (hello, old me) that sounds really depressing. But in a way, it’s actually a relief. When you acknowledge and accept that fact, I mean truly accept it, you can move on. It won’t hurt that much when it happens.

And here’s why it’s true, especially with readers.

Whenever a book is anticipated, someone will be disappointed. Do you know why? Because readers have expectations, but man, are they vague! Dang vague.

If you asked them beforehand what they were expecting, you probably wouldn’t get a very concrete answer, and you almost definitely won’t get a specific answer. And on the rare occasions that you do, you won’t get more than a handful.

How do you perfectly meet vague expectations?

Easy. You don’t.

Because you can’t.

I’ve seen it happen time and again in life. People want something, and they want it bad. But they don’t actually know specifically what they want.
I remember when the last Harry Potter book came out–to extremely high expectations. But even though Rowling did a stellar job, people were disappointed. I had a friend who just couldn’t power through it.

I remember joking about it, “What did you think it would be about? The giant squid?”

It happens with movies. I once had a friend who really wanted to see a specific movie based on a true story. But because I work in the writing industry, when I heard the true story and saw the trailer, I thought, How can they make a full movie out of that? Truth be told, after we saw it, my friend just said it was fine, but not what he expected.

When I asked what he had been expecting, he couldn’t answer.

The reality is, the true story the movie was based on was a great true story. But just because it’s a great true story doesn’t mean it will make a great movie. People liked the true story so much, that they hoped to like the movie even more than the truth.

But that specific movie just couldn’t live up to those expectations. It didn’t have enough content to work with.

As writers, we are going to disappoint people.

It will happen, and there is nothing we can do about it.

People have vague expectations about what they want to see done perfectly.
And even to satisfy people with specific expectations is often to disappoint other people with other expectations. 

Keep reading

[fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment]

Character Development Questions: Hard Mode

[i-see-light]

1. Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?
   
2. What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?
3. What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?
   
4. Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?
5. On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?
6. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?
7. Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?
8. Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?
9. Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?
10. Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?
11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?
12. In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?
    
13. Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?
14. Does your character remember names or faces easier?
15. Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?
16. Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?
17. What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?
18. Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?
19. What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?
20. In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?
21. If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?
22. What does your character like in other people?
23. What does your character dislike in other people?
24. How quick is your character to trust someone else?
25. How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?
26. How does your character behave around children?
27. How does your character normally deal with confrontation?
28. How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?
29. What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?
30. What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?
31. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.
32. Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.
33. In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?
34. Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?
35. How does your character behave around people they like?
36. How does your character behave around people they dislike?
37. Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status?
38. Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?
39. Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)?
40. How does your character treat people in service jobs?
41. Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?
42. Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?
43. Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?
44. How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?
45. What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

[i-am-venomancer]

Ask me!

[its-a-writer-thing]

Legit’s Historical Fashion Masterpost

[legit-writing-tips]

All right guys, I’ve decided to put together another masterpost for you - this time on historical fashion. This could get lengthy so… bear with me. (Forgive me also if some of the dates are a touch inaccurate - I’m not a historian and I’m going with what Google gives me.)

Prehistory -

Neolithic Clothing - The beginnings of textiles, some woven materials, leather, etc. Circa 102000 BCE - 2000 BCE

Bronze Age Britain - The development of more sophisticated textiles, including wool and some ornamentation, including brooches. Circa 3200 BCE - 600 BCE

Iron Age Clothing (Europe) - Even more sophisticated, ornamented clothing, textiles, hairstyles. Dyed clothing arises. Circa 1200 BCE - 1 BCE (in Europe)

Fashion of the Ancient World

Clothing of Mesopotamia - i.e, Babylon. Also Mesopotamian jewelry. Circa 3000 BCE - 300 BCE

Clothing of Ancient Egypt - All eras.

Clothing of Ancient India - An overview.

Ancient Greek Clothing + Wikipedia for Definitions

Ancient Roman Clothing + More Rome

Ancient Celtic Clothing

Vikings!

Biblical Clothing - i.e., Primarily Ancient Hebrew

Byzantine Clothing

*Note: I’m not including many cultures here (such as Asian/South American) simply because of my own lack of expertise + time and space limitations in this masterpost.

Medieval Clothing

Wikipedia Overview

Anglo-Saxon Clothing - (Pre-Norman Invasion)

England 1066-1087 - Ish

1100 - 1200 in European Fashion - Wikipedia

1200 - 1300 in European Fashion - Wikipedia

*A Note on Women’s Fashion - Tight lacing did NOT appear until about 1340, which means that shapely, comely bodices would not have appeared in fashion before this time.

14th Century Women’s Fashion - The stereotypical “medieval” look with wimple, long sleeves, etc.

Sexy Sexy Knights

Suits of Armor & Their Component Parts

Suit of Armor - Labeled Photo for Reference

15th Century Clothing

The Renaissance

History of the Corset - Italian in origin. Introduced to France in the 1500s.

15th Century Florence

*Note: For the Tudor and Elizabethan eras of fashion it’s important to note that there were laws in place which dictated what clothing you could wear due to your social class.

Tudor Era Clothing - King Henry VIII, et al

Tudor Dress & Its Component Parts

Elizabethan Clothing

Tudor/Elizabethan Corsets - Corsets during this time created a shape with a flat chest and narrow waist.

Jacobean Era Dress - 1603 - 1625

And Beyond

Baroque/Rococo Fashion - France 1650 - 1800

What to Wear in the English Civil War

The “Naughty” Side of 18th Century French Fashion - NSFW. Ooh la la.

Pilgrims in Murica

American Revolutionary War Costumes

Colonial Clothing - 18th Century Murica

Colonial Men - Colonial Women

Overview of Native American Clothing - *Note: Please use this as a starting point only and do your own research. Remember that different groups have fashions specific to their cultures. This is more to know what NOT to do than to know what TO do.

Fashion Under the French Revolution

Regency Fashion - 1800-1845 England

Regency Corsets/Underthings

History of Victorian Fashion

Victorian Men’s Clothing

History of the Victorian Corset

Victorian Women’s Clothing By Layer - All 5 yo.

American Fashion - 1830s

Women’s Fashion During the Civil War

Twentieth Century

La Belle Époque 1895-1914

Edwardian Fashion - 1900-1919

Men’s Edwardian Fashion

Flapper Fashion

More 1920s - 1920s Hairstyles - 1920s Makeup

1930s Fashion - 1930s Hats and Hair - 1930s Makeup

1940s Fashion - 1940s Hairstyles - 1940s Makeup

1950s Fashion - 1950s Hairstyles - 1950s Makeup

Early 1960s - Mid/Late 1960s - 1960s Makeup History

1970s in General - 1970s Makeup - 1970s Hair

Punk Fashion

And I’m stopping here. You should have it after this point, kiddos.

You better appreciate this.

[sweetlittlevampire]

Re-blog if you can write in cursive.

[a-writers-insanity]

I heard cursive is dying. I want to see who still uses it.

[nyc-conservative]

Wait there are people that can’t write in cursive?

[type-one-conservative]

Yeah, they stopped teaching it years ago.

[nyc-conservative]

Oh god that’s atrocious!

[sonador-reveur]

Who can’t ?

[sweetlittlevampire]

This reminds me of two things - in one of my very first classes of Uni in Germany we had to hand-write like half a page and hand it in by the end of the lesson. The teacher straight-up said: “Oh, don´t worry about grammar or spelling mistakes. I know you don´t have access to a spell-checker while handwriting.”

We just looked at each other dumbfounded.

Also, one of our teachers in the course I am attending now told us that some countries are apparently discussing whether or not they should stop teaching how to write by hand altogether, so that the pupils would only learn how to type. Our whole class was horrified.

But yeah, I still can write in cursive, and actually really like to do so.

[sweetlittlevampire]

What´s this wondrous white substance mine keen eyes beheld upon waking?

This means two things:

1. My excitement for snow has just been rekindled.

2. I need to get the shovel out.

[bellshideout]

Death does not come when a body is too exhausted to live. Death comes because the brilliance inside of us can only be contained for so long.

FROM THE VAULT: Michael Lee // “Pass On”

Written and performed by Michael Lee. Make Button Poetry grow!

(via buttonpoetry)

[its-a-writer-thing]

How a Character’s Choice of Clothing Benefits the Story

[its-a-writer-thing]

When writing, it’s important that everything you include serves a purpose. The character’s name, their favorite color, and their choice of companion give an impression about the character, the world around them, and the past that shaped who they are. The more you amplify these elements, the greater the image you’re painting for the reader.

For example, say the plot calls for the character to buy a car, and they choose a blue one. “Blue” is a necessary detail to include in the narrative, but by giving this specific decision meaning, you make it important. Perhaps blue was their parent’s favorite color, and they strive to please them. Perhaps blue is a calming color, and it reflects their calm personality. This makes the narrative richer.

In the same way, characters need clothing, so why not make it a useful element in the story? Take advantage of this opportunity to tell the reader something. Here are three things your character’s choice of clothing can amplify in the story.

1. It Says Something About Their Personality: The way a character dresses can reflect their tastes, views, and emotions. For example, your boisterous character might be best dressed in colorful shorty shorts to reflect her free spirit. Her sass and disregard for other’s opinions is what tells us her personality, but this small addition has made the fact visual as well as mental. In another case, your reserved and slightly distrustful character might be better dressed in a bulky designer coat; this reflects on his desire to be enclosed but also regarded as superior. Your character’s personality is independent, but the proper clothing can complement and amplify their unique views.
2. It Says Something About The Setting: Dressing your characters in clothing that reflects their setting will reinforce this new atmosphere in the reader’s mind. Colors give impressions all on their own; dark colors such as greys or blacks will match the dark atmospheres. If you’re trying to show a contrast between two groups – one more successful and the other starving – dressing one group in bright pinks or yellows will give a sense of light and energy, making them seem healthier. The style also reflects the world; conservative dress such as long sleeves or coats can reflect order or oppression, while less conservative clothing can show rebellion and freedom. Your world itself will determine the setting, but clothing can complement it, amplifying the atmosphere.
3. It Can Say Something About Them Physically: In addition to symbolism, clothing can serve a literal purpose. If you have a young character, dressing them in outfits which are colorful and airy can complement their younger attitudes. If you have a character with an embarrassing scar or injury they wish to hide, constantly dressing them in long sleeves, despite weather, can subtly reveal this. These details can amplify the characters themselves but also open new doors for foreshadowing.

Every detail included in your piece of fiction should serve a purpose, and perhaps even tell a story within a story. Minor details such as a character’s style, their choice of design, or their choice of color can breathe new life into the details of your narrative.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll post different character clothing options as inspiration, and detail how each item could be an asset to your story. Hopefully this will stir up some creative juices and help you make choices to apply to your cast.

Happy writing! And feel free to check out my website: Ember Ink Wordsmithing

[sweetlittlevampire]

[sweetlittlevampire]

A Merry Gathering by SweetLittleVampire

♪♫ Music Suggestion ♫♪

Since it´s already December 31st in my timezone, I´m posting this baby! :D

(Follow the link in the picture title to get to my deviantArt, then click on the pic twice to fullview.)

---

My contribution to this year´s Kaori Yuki Secret Santa / New Year´s Celebration on tumblr, hosted by @yourfavouritedoll .

* Click here to see last year´s contribution *

I got assigned to my dearest @waltzing-marionettes this year,who wanted a piece with atmosphere. I liked the idea of drawing a Victorian greenhouse, but as I have never drawn one before, I wanted to practice more before throwing my mediocre attempts onto the interwebs. So I thought a Christmas scene would be nice, since I kinda know how to do a Christmas atmosphere. I had first planned to only have Cain and Mary on the canvas, but then it looked so empty to me. And because I love Jezabel, I added Jezabel.

I sort of wanted to kill two birds with one stone here, so this is a bit of a nod to @moonlightcaughtyoureye , and her amazing fics Leaving the Garden and On the East of Eden. I just love how she describes the few moments they spend together as a family, especially in that one scene in which they play chess, and I wanted to capture a bit of that feeling with this piece.

---

Cain C. Hargreaves / Mary Weather Hargreaves /Jezabel Disraeli / Count Cain - Godchild © Kaori Yuki
http://sweetlittlevampire.tumblr.com/

[sweetlittlevampire]

Reblogging because timezones, and with revised text. Those damn typos! XD

[its-a-writer-thing]

delectabit asked:

Do you any tips for writing half siblings??

howtofightwrite answered:

Immediately after sending that, I realized you are primarily an action focused writing blog. You don’t have to answer it!! 

The answer to your question is simple in concept but complex in execution. It may not really feel like an answer at all.

Writing a relationship between half-siblings is like writing any other kind of family dynamic. In this sense, it’s freeing because any answer you come up with is going to be right. However, the success of the relationship is dependent on establishing the dynamic, family history, the relationships between their parents, and how that fallout affected their children.

Like full blooded siblings, half-siblings can run the gamut between best friends, my brother, space takers, “eh”, just there, virtual strangers, friendly rivals, bitter rivals who still love each other, and mortal enemies. It’s entirely dependent on their relationship dynamic, their personalities, their relationships with their parents, and their parents relationships with each other.

So, don’t get caught up in trying to build their relationship based on what “should be” in accordance with society. As you establish these characters, let your own imagination lead you to what their relationship is.

When you set out to create siblings, you can start from two directions.

1) The Outside Looking In.

On an Outside Looking In approach, you begin at the beginning and start by establishing these characters’ parents, their history with each other, and lay out the groundwork for their background before they ever entered the picture.

“Rob married Sally and begat John. When John was five, his father divorced his mother and married his secretary Margaret who was pregnant with his sister Jane. Sally received full custody of John, he sees his father and his father’s new family only on weekends.”

From this bare bones outline, we don’t get much of a sense for how John or Jane feel about the situation. We do get a good sense for the interrelations between their parents, the underlying betrayal and sense of loss that might influence any relationship between the siblings.

Once you have a set up, it’s easier to start adding in characters because events are often easier to contextualize than feelings. When you’re on the outside looking in, the whole story seems simple, and the more you dig in then the more complex it gets.

2) The Inside Looking Out.

The Inside Looking Out approach begins with the siblings themselves, or even just a single sibling. Their character, their likes, their dislikes, how they feel about their sibling (if they feel anything at all), using the emotional clues we can begin to work our way outward to establishing what caused the character to feel this way.

“John is sixteen, nearly six feet. He likes trains, aquariums, mathematics, hates reading, and is very fond of his mother. He styles himself as the man of the family and keeps up a part-time job on top of his schoolwork to help his mother with expenses. He doesn’t look forward to the weekends because his dad has been pushing for him to look after his half-sister Jane, who will be joining his school as a freshman this year.”

Looking at this scenario, we get less clues about what happened in the past but we know more about John. We also know that John has a bone of contention with Jane over the amount of time their father spends with each of them. John’s mother never remarried and he’s been busy trying to be the “man of the house” but is always constantly reminded that his sister is getting the father that he never got to have.

On the Inside Looking Out approach, we start to see how the father is the central issue in the lives of these half-siblings, the only connection the two share, and a source of resentment. We may not have all the contextual clues of the greater scenario, but we know how John feels. When asking why, those feelings can be the sources which lead us backward to the whole of his background leading up to the story’s beginning.

All relationships are relationships and all relationships are contextual. There is no real “right” way to write human dynamics.

Learn to listen to your characters and what they’re telling you about their relationships with each other.

Don’t ignore the bad.

Human relationships can be fraught with drama.

Even the best of them can be be petty.

No one is perfect all the time.

Try not to take sides, even if you have a favorite.

Try to figure out how these characters got here and why they are feeling what they’re feeling.

Examine your relationships in your own life and those of your surrounding friends and family.

Practice asking, “why do I feel this way? What caused me to feel this way?”

Creative Fiction is an expression of humanity.

Humanity is a complex beast.

Find the points of tension in their relationship dynamic. The tension with each other, the tension with their parents, their sources of happiness, their insecurities, and everything in between.

Basically, don’t stress. Just start writing it and see what happens.

-Michi

This blog is supported through Patreon. If you enjoy our content, please consider becoming a Patron.

[writingwithcolor]

[saathi1013]

On White Fear & Creating Diverse Transformative Works

So whenever fandom tries to address the question “Why aren’t there more works featuring characters of color?” there are a myriad of (predictable) responses.  One of which is appearing with increasing frequency: “Because we (usually: white creators of transformative works) are afraid of getting it wrong.”

And like.  I’ve already addressed how ‘thinking you’ll get it wrong’ is a failure of both imagination and of craft/skill (and a symptom of the racial empathy gap, which I forgot had a proper name when I wrote that post).  Meanwhile, @stitchmediamix absolutely accurately pointed out that the ‘fear’ being discussed is fear of being called racist, not necessarily fear of failure.

Now, we could go into the whole absurdity of white fragility here, but google is a thing and “white fragility” is discussed all over the place and I trust ya’ll to do the work if you actually give a shit about this subject… which I assume you do, if you’re reading this – but if you’re just here to find a way to dismiss the issue at hand, I’m gonna save you some time and recommend you scroll past.

Writers can also be fragile, especially in transformative works communities, where “if you don’t have anything nice to say, hit the back button and keep your mouth shut” is the primary expectation wrt feedback, and anything that deviates from that is considered a mortal insult (do you vageublog about my fic, sir?).  But if we’re willing to deploy an array of tools to make our writing not-My-Immortal-bad, from spellcheck to wikipedia to in-depth historical research to betas and britpickers and so on, then we should be willing to employ equivalent tools to avoid writing racist stories.

Incidentally, writing stories that erase/ignore extant characters of color, especially if they’re prominent in the source text? is racist.  So avoiding writing characters of color altogether is not the solution to making your writing not-racist.

And, okay.  I feel it’s important to acknowledge here, as I have before, that the Fear of Fucking Up is a very real fear that genuinely does affect people’s enthusiasm for / likelihood to write, regardless of the validity or fairness of that Fear’s origins, and I’m going to be generous enough to assume that there are some people who are acting in good faith when they say “I want to, but I’m scared.”

So. This is for those who are acting in good faith, from the perspective of a white fan who has written fic about characters of color in several fandoms and never gotten pilloried for it, even when I know for a fact (in retrospect) that I’ve fucked up details.

(oh, side note: I know this is mostly tackling things from a writing perspective, but a lot of this can apply to creating transformative works overall with a few tweaks.)

First: realize that the likelihood of getting called out is actually pretty low.  And fans of color aren’t as Mean and Angry and Unfairly Sensitive as some people want us to believe.  (Do you vagueblog about That Dumpster Fire Meta, sir?  /  No, sir, I do not vagueblog about That Meta sir; but I do vagueblog, sir.)

This is not to say that there aren’t people out there who’re more than willing to make a (justified) stink about egregiously racist writing.  But it’s actually very rare to get targeted, especially publicly by a large number of unhappy fans.  Because you know what? most fans, including fans of color, want to just have fun in fandom as much as anyone else.

It’s just, y’know, a little harder for fans of color to ‘just have fun’ when us white fans are showing our asses with stories involving “Dragon Lady” Elektra or “Angry Black Woman” Sally Donovan or “Spicy Latin Lover” Poe Dameron.  And sometimes us white fans only listen to what fans of color are saying when they make a Big Deal out of it. 

That’s not a failure of their ability to stay calm.  That’s our failure to listen before they get loud and organized.  Because I’m willing to bet that people who get called out publicly? got a few polite, private messages about their screwup first, and they doubled down instead of listening. 

Also: there is a thing where, no matter how politely they word their critique, fans of color, especially black fans, are more likely to be unjustly perceived as ‘mean’ and ‘angry’ by white fans.  Again, that’s our failure, not theirs.  Plus, even if they are angry, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re wrong (see: Tone Argument).

Step Two is: pay attention to discussions about racist tropes in fiction.  Yes, even when it’s crit of our favorite shows/movies/characters/etc.  If you understand the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope and why it’s harmful, or you understand the Bechdel-Wallace test, or you can have a meaningful discussion about Mary Sues, or you can (justifiably) rail about how Bury Your Gays sucks, then you can develop a similar appreciation for racial biases and stereotypes.  And then you can find ways to avoid them.  

No, no one’s expecting you to memorize bell hooks so you can write a drabble about Iris West, or demanding you write a dissertation on media stereotypes wrt the simultaneous fetishization and desexualization of Asian women (who aren’t a monolith, either, but Hollywood doesn’t seem to know that) before you’re ‘allowed’ to write Melinda May in a story, but like.  Pay attention when people, especially fans of color, are talking about common tropes so that you don’t unthinkingly replicate or perpetuate them in your fic.

Yes, racist writing can involve more than just thoughtless parroting of harmful tropes, but my best guess is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, fanwork getting ‘called out’ in fandom involves those tropes.  So avoiding them takes your chances of getting criticized from ‘low’ to ‘almost nonexistent.’  Less to fear, see?

Step Three is: more research – basically, at least as much as you’d be willing to invest in any equivalent white character.  @writingwithcolor is a great blog, and has links to additional resources; .  If you’re the type to get a beta or a britpicker, find a sensitivity reader or a beta of the appropriate background.  Not all fans of color are willing to do this kind of unpaid labor, just as not all fans are willing to britpick/beta, but they’re out there.  Approach them respectfully, and listen to them if they say that something in your story looks off.

It’s worth noting here that writing about characters of color doesn’t need to involve - and in fact, some advice recommends avoiding - telling Special Stories About Racism.  Stories about characters of color don’t need to be about slavery or civil rights or the constant parade of microaggressions they have to deal with daily in order to be realistic or compelling (or angsty, for those who love writing angst, as I do).  Research can turn up useful information that can inform our choices as writers, but if we don’t share the oppression our characters face, it’s not our job to tell stories specifically about that oppression.

Step Four is: before posting, anticipate the worst.  What will you do if someone says you fucked up?  If your answer is “argue with them and talk over their concerns,” stop.  Remember that you’re not a victim of a ‘mean fan of color,’ but that you’ve probably written something that they consider harmful.  Being told that you wrote something racist isn’t an attack on your moral fiber.  You’re not an irredeemable monster if you fuck up, but your response to being told you fucked up is far more telling.  Acknowledge their concerns, fix the issue if you can, learn from your mistake, and fail better next time.

You cannot improve if you don’t try in the first place.  Failure to try is failure, so try your best, and improve incrementally – just as you already do as a writer with any story.

In conclusion: The 4 Steps to Getting Over Yourself as a White Fanfic Writer:
(1) recognize that the likelihood of getting called out is pretty low;
(2) educate yourself about the most common racist writing issues, so that likelihood will be even lower;
(3) do your due diligence when writing;
(4) in case of the worst: apologize, fix the issue, learn from the experience, fail better in the future.

(And again, google is your friend – there are a lot of people who’ve written about this subject, like Kayla Ancrum, Morgan Jenkins, the mods at Writing with Color, Thao Le, and Monica Zepeda, among many, many, others.  I’m merely sharing my own perspective from what I’ve learned from listening to a lot of smart people, in case it might help some of you – if it doesn’t, keep looking, a ton of great resources are out there.)

[sweetlittlevampire]

Have a merry New Year’s Eve!

I’m spending the night at the girlfriend’s, so I won’t be around much. Feel free to tag me in stuff and/or send me things so I can have a look at them tomorrow.

See you next year. Have fun, and stay safe! :D