Writing "Hot Takes" from Tumblr

[@princeramblerose]

counter to the “fantasy settings shouldn’t have normal curse words” take: it’s funny

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

It also kind of makes sense. I know Tolkien championed this concept that fantasy authors are merely translating dialogue into English from whatever fantasy language it’s in. You think fantasy worlds have other English words like “bathtub”? So, if a character makes a euphemism in English, it’s not really “in English”. We translate their curse words as our curse words because they have the same intent and usage behind them.

[@mikastella]

You can take normal curse words from my COLD DEAD HANDS Also made up curse words just sound weird to me

[@ClowncoreisCool]

Look, a High Elf or Goddess of Creation calling someone a "fucking bitch" is funnier than any fantasy curse word. Simple as that. 😌

[@demigirlwithoutaturtle3556]

Yeah, I personally like it when there are swear words specific to that setting, but normal swear words still exist. For example, in one fic I've read, the main character is a bee-hybrid-alien thing, so instead of saying "oh god", they say "oh Queens", but they still say "fuck" and "shit". Another character in that same fic is a moth hybrid-alien, so instead of saying "thank God," they say "thank the Light", but again, they still say normal swears. A different character says "Ancients of the Deep!" instead of cussing, but when they get overwhelmed, they actually say 'hell". In that case, it's sort of a juxtaposition, (I think I'm using that word right?) because the character is known for being haughty and stuck-up, so they don't use normal swears until they get overwhelmed.

[@catastrophicfailure2745]

anyone who disagrees with you can pry my line "so now I'm back in bastard mode" out of my cold dead hands.

[@chaoscat1446]

personally I think the villain saying "we're not so different" can work *really* well if it's properly baked into the story. Maybe the hero and villain have similar trauma, or have been through the same circumstance and just come out the other side differently. If it's a part of both of their characters it can make a scene like that very satisfying to watch/read.

[@ButterflyColors]

One of my favorite tropes is when the villain describes what the audience initially thinks is the hero and then at the end reveals that they were talking about themselves, showing how truly similar they are (this can also work in vice versa)

[@axsolotle3784]

Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions actually did a video on this trope it covers a lot of your points m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqPYf3d6q86feaM

[@20000dino]

Do you know what works much better ? The *hero* saying "we're not so different" (though I've seen it done wrong too).

[@Game_Erica]

I personally really like the trope. Especially if the hero says it while either trying to relate to the villain or looking back on their own actions and realizing they're just as bad as the villain

[@egrumblybus7792]

I think one good example is in the song “comfort zone” where Dmitry, the narrator notes “after all, you and I are rather similar, I’m just better”, in relation to other mutants. He gets special treatment due to the fact that his telekinetic abilities are highly dangerous, and has deliberately had a superiority complex cultivated in him by the researchers, until fundings get cut, and he, along with other 001 containment type mutants are scheduled for termination, at which he has realised he was about as disposable as anyone else, and runs off with another mutant who happened to be at the right place and time.

[@babblgamgummi6029]

I think relatable characters are important, but 'relatable' should mean 'has relatable emotions and reacts to their surroundings in a way that readers might also react, if they were in the same situation', not 'has the exact same job, hobbies and habits as the average reader'

[@theomega4875]

Honestly I feel like the person who wrote, "don't write relatable characters" didn't understand what people meant by relatable. I think They were thinking about isekai protagonists who are not relatable, they're place holders, they serve the purpose of being whatever the situation needs them to be or to be an easy self insert for whoever is watching.

[@junomifitina3145]

@@theomega4875 THIS !!! i'm sure they (the one who made the tumblr post) mean stuff like isekai protagonist but some people (especially young writers or even neurodivergent ones) might be confused and write their characters as extremly unrealistic

[@lost_spacebunny2769]

Yes exactly. "relatable" in the sense that we are able to see a part of ourselves in them, or have similar reactions to that certain character.

[@aarasko]

Yeah! Totally agree!

[@therighttrousers343]

I'd quite like characters that I wouldn't relate to, wouldn't react, even emotionally, in the same way as me, at least some times. You can go through the paces of "ah, the angry character with a peaceful life at last, their family was killed, of course they're sad and vengeful." But "their family was killed, why are they happy?" And then getting the answer of "because the rage never died, and they are elated to go on a bloodthirsty rampage now that they have the justification of revenge" makes me feel weird about them, it challenges my perspective and my classic champion-the-hero role as reader.

[@danferrusquia2819]

“Fantasy worlds wouldn’t have real-world curse words.” They also wouldn’t speak English or any other human language but stories are written in our languages because they’re meant to be UNDERSTOOD.

[@QuwapaQuwapus]

I mean yes, but it's kind of like watching a 4kids dub of an anime. Sure, you can understand them now but why did a ball of rice become a jelly filled doughnut and did you /really/ have to change this characters theme music from traditional Chinese music to bongos??? (I know the music thing doesn't really work in books but you get the jyst haha) It's good to be understood, but there is a point where things become a little _too_ adapted and it feels out of place. Sure, you could _technically_ just use the modern word here, but why not get a little creative and think of an alternative instead? Of course, the 'point' is different for everyone, however a lot of people do have their preference further towards the side of canonical linguistic accuracy vs modern linguistic accuracy if it applies.

[@ChrissaTodd]

​@@QuwapaQuwapusI heard j r r tolkein just explained that as he wrote all of lord of the rings translated to English

[@danferrusquia2819]

@@QuwapaQuwapusthat is not at all comparable. We’re not translating “pancit” to “spaghetti” here. We’re translating “punyeta” to “asshole.” Most curse words do not have direct translations across languages, so when translating (in the case of fantasy, translating some imaginary otherworldly language into English), you just use whatever gets the meaning across. Sure, you can make up new ones for a fantasy setting, but it’s not going to carry the same weight for the reader. The only time I’ve seen this done well is when it’s an exclamation (like referring to a god’s genitalia out of surprise). But if a character is being a dick, it’s not nearly as impactful to call them a “lape” or whatever in the name of originality.

[@cylyte2436]

Exactly! Even if you take the time and effort to know what the made up curse words mean, they usually don’t have the same impact as the actual words. My only exception is “Jesus Christ” cause that has too many implications on a fantasy world and can be easily substituted and understood.

[@LyndsayChan]

My writing pet peeve (for when I’m writing personally) is when you try to type a characters name, but it’s not considered a ‘normal’ name and it keeps autocorrecting it so you have to manually change it on keyboard settings

[@alex.adamski]

I literally hate that oh my god-

[@aweirdappleenby1758]

I double felt that because it would do it to my own name. like Google I use mla format regularly you're going to have to get over this.

[@mixii4154]

LMAO YES! I have a character named "Mel" and my MC calls him "Melly" and autocorrect thinks I'm typing "smelly" so that makes for some heavy editing when I write at 2am and don't notice autocorrect changes stuff.

[@tticusFinch]

@@mixii4154 might I suggest "Mellie"? I've seen that nickname come up more than "Melly" and it might be in your word processing software's dictionary already

[@veryverybisexual4963]

And the names aren’t even uncommon most of the time, JUST FUCKING LET ME WRITE ALLISE GODDAMIT.

[@TiTaSaX]

I disagree with the mean girls one on just one thing : that person is WORKING in education, you can't know mean girls, they're not mean to YOU, they're mean to people their age. I've had "mean girls" in every class I was in. But they weren't necessary mean to the teacher or in class (or at least not openly)

[@Beabell_]

Yeah implying that there aren’t that many mean teenagers in this world just means that you haven’t been looking very hard

[@dropkicksofthemurphys9696]

I have been in exactly one class without mean girls in high school and only because it was an advanced science elective none of them would end up taking. Mean girls are EVERYWHERE.

[@shouko4218]

I mean adults aren't dumb. They see a lot from being around children and teenagers 5 days out of the week. So there must be some truth to that

[@TiTaSaX]

@@shouko4218 well I'm an adult and I even see mean girls at work - even though there are a lot less of them - so ... And I also worked in education and didn't see anyone "mean", on the contrary they would try to get on my good side all the time, but I just KNEW that the more they would do that, the meanest they were to people their age - and I'm pretty sure most teachers and staff knew. I've been their target as a teen, I know this type all too well. That didn't change the way I treated them, but I'm not a fool. Maybe op didn't have to deal with them when they were younger, I don't know.

[@dropkicksofthemurphys9696]

@@shouko4218 Considering kids at my elementary school were also heavily heavily bullied by older students, and the principal was convinced it was a "bully free school" as she told parents... Yeah I'm not so sure.

[@pot_8_oes]

I'll die on this hill, you're SUPPOSSED to be able to predict where a story is going. If someone is reading my story and they comment something that completely predicts where I'm planning to take the plot, then that makes me super happy and tells me I'm doing a good job of setting up my plot and portraying what I want to portray. It always irks me when I'm reading a fic or story and the author just pulls a red herring out of nowhere and "THIS is the actual solution/problem/bad guy" or whatever. It's fine to have plot twists of course, but if there's no build up to it 9 times out of 10 it will just feel like a cop-out to get one over the reader.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I love being blown away with plotwists, but it does need proper set-up for sure. I read The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald recently, and those last 50 pages made me drop my jaw and I loved it. The truth made so much sense in retrospect, yet I never would have guessed it in a million years.

[@galuxius1861]

A proper-way to set up a plot twist is. If you as a reader reread the story and smack yourself on the head and think "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS" once you know the actual twist, it's done right.

[@pixeledroses4162]

I wish to pull a plot twist like what attack on titan did. Sprinkle around tidbits of clues in dialogue that normally would go over the reader's head, and after the plot twist happens, readers are gonna reread the book and slap their foreheads when they see the clues that's been laid out to them all along.

[@Tesseract_King]

THIS. A good, well set up plot twist is great, but I would rather have no twist at all than a crappy asspull twist that I didn't see coming.

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

Looking at you, Game of Thrones season 8.

[@kaydubsthekoifish]

I once jokingly thought: "What if I name a character after a word in my language?" And then that thought immediately followed by: "Okay, that's a good idea." And so the name Varen Marele was born, which in my language literally translates to: Safe Umbrellas. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what I call efficient improvisation of my own damn language. 😎

[@itsgirlcraft5842]

That's awesome

[@poke-talia268]

I love that. Also, just... me side-eyeing my old heckin character who was named using Google translate Latin. Inanis Vas. Or my other super old character who was very poorly made and had a nonsense name, so I renamed her with a made up last name based on the actual language of the country I think she was supposed to be from and the powers she had originally. (She originally had wind powers, and now her family name is Hayakaze. (Combination of the words for fast and wind. ) )

[@kaydubsthekoifish]

@@poke-talia268 Dope! Those must've been some good times. Varen is a quite younger, I created him in 2020 for a game I was playing. I ended up rewriting the text, and uploading it to AO3.

[@kaydubsthekoifish]

@@itsgirlcraft5842 Right?! I was so damn proud of myself. Plus... The story Varen appears in is actually available to read! I ended up posting it on AO3.

[@nyandoesthings]

I have been bastardizing English words for my characters. For example, Azma. Yes, it's pronounced asthma. Bunni, bunny. It's a post-apocalypse story, so it just kinda makes sense for words that no longer have a meaning to them to be remembered and used as names instead.

[@kattriella1331]

I gave up on the "normal names or fantasy names but never both" concept when I started seeing what people today are naming their kids. Ran into a woman whose children were named Champion, Legend, and Euphoria, and she wondered why her kids didn't listen to her. I have also officially met a Nevaeh, have a friend whose name is S'Aints (pronounced like essence), and have encountered parents whose children didn't even have pronounceable names because it looked like someone had just slammed their face into a keyboard several times to come up with a name. Just name your characters whatever you want, at the end of the day it doesn't matter anyway because I guarantee that someone in the real world has named their kid something way weirder.

[@sirk603]

There are some kids named abcde, honestly you probably can’t get worse than that

[@whoopsie-daisy]

I know someone named Faith, and another named Karma

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

'Champion, do your homeworks!' 'Legend, do the dishes!' 'Euphoria, stop being mean!'

[@JustAnotherHaiku]

@@whoopsie-daisy Faith is a fairly common name, though - I know two. Karma, on the other hand, yeah, that's a name you don't see often.

[@heavenlyusurper]

@@sirk603 Let me just tell you that there is an image that shows proof that someone, somewhere, named their kid Sephiroth

[@mechanical_sport]

'If the characters are memorable, the names will be memorable' is absolutely true. Ian Fleming gave his protagonist the dullest, most generic name he could imagine, and look how that turned out.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

Yes, that's something I learn over the years. I don't like my favorite character's names because of the names themselves, I like them because they're the name of my favorite characters.

[@PxndaCakes]

Bob Duncan

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

There's literally a Disney Channel show at the moment with a protagonist named Molly McGee, the most bland, generic name one could come up with, yet she's one of the most memorable characters in recent years.

[@mathybrain8]

@@PxndaCakes Isn't that the dad from Good Luck, Charlie?

[@belynda1224]

William, Michael and Elizabeth Afton:

[@shcadeyt6722]

I have wanted to write a world where everyone has weird fantasy names like “smnejdjell” and then the gods are just named like “Bob” or “John” or just some other normal name and no one bats an eye

[@DS-xg7hk]

Good time to remember that a lot of those "normal" names come from legendary stories in religious texts or legendary historical figures

[@PaigeLTS05]

Writing the fanfiction you want to read is even better when said fic is the exact thing that ticks someone else's 'hates seeing this in a fic' list. It's like the "oh no. Anyway." Meme.

[@Melissa-sx9vh]

Exactly! You don't like self-insert fics where everyone fall in love with the MC? That's too bad.

[@sinfulloccultist950]

THIS!! "Oh? You don't like it when a fic writer takes the villain of an IP and transforms them into a lovable himbo that's nothing like the megalomaniac they once was AND gives them a mixed race kid? Anyway... Here's 'A cross continental smear campaign' featuring Loki Riddle as the loveable son!"

[@thesetwofloofs5397]

“Oh? You don’t like nonhuman characters falling for each other slowly and absolutely refusing to talk about it while they’re trying to find their way back home from the human world with a (also nonhuman) child in tow? Well screw you, asshole, I don’t care.”

[@fluffystuff500]

@@Melissa-sx9vh I don't understand why people even bother reading fics they don't like. I don't like self insert, so if a fic is self insert, I don't read it. I'm not gonna criticize the author for writing what they like just because I don't like it. I can just go find stuff I like to read. It's not like they're the only person in the fandom writing fics. Why do people think writers have to bend to their will?

[@bumbabees]

yep. once saw someone say they hated stuff like school aus and my reaction was pretty promptly "whoops 🤪📝" everyones entitled to their preferences but as a writer i write solely for myself. everything i write is self indulgant as fuck because that makes me happy, and imo, there is no point to creating if youre not enjoying it.

[@monkewithinternetaccess6107]

I agree with most of these takes, but I think this comment section needs some positivity. Here’s a list of fiction things I love. 1. Using the name of a fictional afterlife/plane of existence as an exclamation. For example, “what in the 20 levels of The Abyss are you doing?!” 2. Comically uncreative names. Like a powerful intimidating dragon called Tim, or William the troll. 3. Villain with a child. Think doofenshmirtz and Vanessa. 4. Stories where the hero doesn’t have that “I’m right, you’re wrong, prepare to be murdered” mindset, and is actually a hero. 5. Creative fantasy creatures. Can be obscure, unheard of creatures pulled from mythologies, but you can also come up with your own. For example: Jokeworms. Lovable, black worms that feed off of positive emotions. They can be found near birthday parties, weddings and adoption agencies. They’re very popular with children, and may even share their good vibes if they take a liking to you.

[@sillygoosetaur]

oh absolutely villain with a child, especially if theyre just a really good parent “I WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!!! oh sweetie we can go to the park after work of course- WITH MY MASTER INVENTION!!”

[@esobelisk3110]

Yes to all of this, especially the fantasy creatures. I don’t feel like we get as much original stuff anymore. It’s all just dragons and trolls. Of course I love dragons and trolls, I just wish we’d get some more odd types as well. Also, fictional swears of any kind are my jam, especially ones that are world appropriate (I remember in ranger’s apprentice, there’s some viking-type people who tend to swear on the various body parts of this one god they apparently worship. We don’t actually hear a lot about their religion, but just the way they swear on the gods makes it feel more real).

[@junomifitina3145]

@@sillygoosetaur this reminds me of a character my friend really likes Suguru Geto from jujutsu kaisen not sure if you've ever heard of it but in the movie there is a scene where he's asking the MC to join his group and kill all non sorcerers (in this world they use curse users/use curse energy and the MC has a really powerful curse linked to him) and while he's saying that one of his daughters (he has two and they're twins) are like "DAD... The crepe store is going to close" and he's like "oh really sweetie sorry *group of heroes* but i gotta go i promised her we would go to a crepe store"

[@Esma8]

Never thought about point 2 but I love the idea

[@junomifitina3145]

@@Esma8 legit it's one of my favorite tropes like i have an oc where she's a litteral goddamn devil and can like crush human skulls by stepping on them (like a normal step and BOOM a skull is paper thin) and her name is Ana

[@LichenJuice]

The "taller and shorter" thing is very handy when you're writing a dialogue but you don't want to reveal their names yet.

[@AlesiiTS]

I can say on the one with the whole cishet white female action girl who's also pretty and feminine, I think it can be done right. Give the poor thing personality traits and flaws and not just a hot action piece for a "Progressive" story. If anything, I want more feminine female characters that have complex personalities and aren't boiled down to stereotypes. It sort of continues that idea that femininity should be rejected and despised by everyone, especially women. That's my hot take though.

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

What leads to the strange concept that women should, or should want to, abandon femininity? What leads to presuming that that is even possible?

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

But why does it have to be an action hero specifically? Male characters get to just be normal men, so why can't female characters be normal women? What's wrong with characters like Punky Brewster or Daria Morgendorffer?

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

@@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts Or better yet, what leads to the strange concept that women should only be action heroes? That in itself is abandoning femininity.

[@justateapot3847]

@@ARCtheCartoonMaster umm, no it isn’t. And female action heroes are their own branch of diverse aspects of what women *can* be. But not every female character is an action hero. There are plenty that are just regular women.

[@seraphiinas]

my favorite character ive written is a white female popular girl who’s very pretty, very popular, and very feminine, because she has depth and flaws and insecurities like any character should. no, she doesn’t have an arc where she becomes a rebellious badass who doesn’t care about her looks like addy from one of us is lying, she LIKES being feminine. i don’t understand the demonization of feminine pretty girls in media. though i also don’t understand writing them solely to be attractive for the author. all characters should have depth and unique traits.

[@Wintermute01001]

Fun fact: Ian Fleming picked the name "James Bond" because he thought it was a boring, ordinary name suitable for a *secret* agent. Now that name is iconic because the character is iconic.

[@GwensFlixs]

I LOVE when villains be a villain, just for fun! Like, call it “lazy” storytelling or “boring” but IT’S AMAZING AND FUNNY! Like, imagine, a gang of villains meet up and explain why they became a villain; #1: I watched my friends and family die in front of me. #2: My parents disowned me as a child, now I seek revenge. #3: The hero was my best friend, but betrayed me. #4: I like it. #1: Excuse us? #4: Yeah! Art was like… so boring, tbh. #3: WE HAVE AWFUL BACKSTORIES AND YOU DO THIS FOR _FUN!?_ #4: Pretty much, yeah.

[@mouhiazeck]

CRYING

[@supercharged5-39]

remember, part of cruella deville's intended backstory was that she was a horrible person

[@Kephy_]

"#4: Yeah! Art was like… so boring, tbh." An Austrian painter agrees with #4.

[@ikelom]

Saitama if he was a villain

[@hyzmarie]

Wings of Fire villains talking to Scarlet lol

[@shyguymike]

Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I have seen people almost always treat the opposite as the objective truth: I like slow pacing. I want to have time to take in the scenes, the environments, the atmosphere. The more time we spend in the non-action part of the story, the bigger impact the important scenes have. I want to get more character interactions and their emotions.

[@simplisticflower8660]

I agree! Slow pacing is not inherently bad pacing, and I adore whenever a piece of media takes its time to slowly set up the atmosphere, the setting, the characters, and the conflict. It makes it all the more satisfying when the plot starts to pick up. That being said, I totally get why some people aren’t fans of slow pacing, but as long as its used effectively, I personally have no issue

[@itsirisii3901]

I dont generally love slow pacing, but I definitely agree that it allows you to get a lot more character interaction, and I love when books take the time to show world building. Recently finished reading a good mystery book, slow pacing in the start but the plot twist in the middle absolutely knocked me off my feet. Probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the plot twist as much without the slower start

[@orbismworldbuilding8428]

I needed to hear this, thank you

[@orbismworldbuilding8428]

Also may i suggest the Gormenghast trilogy? ^^

[@shyguymike]

@@orbismworldbuilding8428 Never heard of it, but I looked it up and it sounds great! Will certainly give it a read once I have time. Thanks for the recommendation.

[@KittyOfChess]

On the topic of fantasy names, there's just this strange pattern I've been noticing in high fantasy, which I like to call "The Guy Named Sam Trope." This is when all the other characters in the book have names like Gandalf, Frodo, Daenarys, Cersei, Celaena, Chaol, etc, and then there's just a character name Sam. Be it Lord of the Rings, A Game of Thrones, or Throne of Glass, there just always needs to be some guy named Sam.

[@user.LCW01]

My main character's name is Sam in my fantasy book Mate I think you're right-

[@renoirrr]

I just remembered a wip I ditched a couple years back where I had planned to put a sam in like wait I think ur onto something

[@nohintshere]

someone add this to tvtropes now

[@confused5804]

@@nohintshere There's something similar with "Aerith and Bob", where so called "normal names" and "fantastical / foreign names" coexist within the same universe.

[@nyandoesthings]

Shit.

[@synodicseason]

i do NOT agree with 1:32, uncertain endings are very good if done right. maybe your character just went through something & they’re absolutely broken but character b comes up to them & smiles in an "it's going to be okay, i'll help you get through this" kinda way and character a smiles back hopefully and then they sit there and hold each other in their arms,,,,, like i love that kinda thing!!!!!!

[@synodicseason]

also i think a combination of weird & conventional names is fun. my main character’s name is ben & his best friend goes by oriole, also his mom is named calliandra (it’s the name of this weird puffy flower!!)

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

Yes, I also love uncertain endings, and I love doing them to.

[@Beabell_]

I love how op said they wanted no nuance in the endings of stories like what?

[@PxndaCakes]

I personally just like seeing a canon ending to stories instead of thinking of my own. It's cuz it forces me to have partially lucid dreams about them, and I find those annoying.

[@christophergarcia9022]

I mean, it lived go the name of hottake

[@hollyro4665]

The whole “write for yourself” thing really resonated with me. I’m a terrible writer. I can’t spell, I never learnt what ; is for. And I’ve read more fanfiction than I have books. I’ve been writing fanfiction for, Jesus, like nearly 10 years. And I’ve never shared a thing beyond looking at super old ones for a joke with friends one night. It’s for me. I don’t need people to read it or understand it. It’s my way of enjoying the things I already enjoy with myself. I even have non fanfiction. Honestly I have writings the length of novels. I wrote a paranormal detective story over lockdown. And I don’t feel the need to share it with anyone.

[@kamilululu2515]

I'm jealous of that. Whatever I do has to be shown or said to someone, I don't have anything I fully do for myself. I don't really have fun with things because of that... Everything must be good enough to share or it's not worth doing. I'm not happy anymore, like when I did lots of drawings no one had to see, because they were for me. But I'm so addicted to people reacting, that I can't stop. And now I'm so tired of it, nothing brings the same happiness I had back then. I wish I could just learn how to be happy with the process again. Without seeking anyone's attention.

[@hollyro4665]

@@kamilululu2515 I totally get that. I used to be almost paranoid about how I wrote incase i decided someone needed to see it. But I learnt that that just made a perfectionist and I was overthinking every word. I actually think my writing has improved since I stopped worrying about others seeing it. I hope you find the joy in writing again ☺️

[@PaigeLTS05]

Cool!

[@foxygrin]

To me that feels like I'm a tree falling in a forest with nobody around to hear it. Kudos on being satisfied with that, I'd like to adapt a similar mindset. As for the semicolon; use it when your heart tells you to, like I did just now. And now I'm using it in an example; a practical way of showing its purpose :)

[@starryslight7095]

You're so valid!! I used to care what other people thought but I've gotten through it over the years 😎 and believe me I too have so many stories hiding in my laptop that nobody has ever seen and im fine with that 😂 I do think sharing your writing with someone else can feel really special but its not at all obligatory!

[@phoenixwrites7181]

For the one on not using descriptors like “the taller one” I understand where new writers get held up. A difficult things about dialogue is making it flow and seem interesting, but also avoiding too much repetition. Some workarounds for just using names when the two characters share pronouns include: -not tagging every line of dialogue. This is mainly in a convo with two characters, but after a few lines the reader gets the hang of who’s saying what. They’ll get it when the new line of dialogue is the other character. You can then use names and other dialogue tags to emphasize certain words or emotions. - You can also focus on what the characters are doing during the dialogue instead of describing the person talking. If I know person A is carving wood and person B is cooking, then I get more value hearing about how their cutting gets more aggressive or they lose their attention and burn themselves on the stove than knowing that the “taller one” is talking. The distinct differences in what they’re doing, or even the competence of what they’re doing will differentiate the characters for you. If there are three characters practicing archery as they talk, I can tell them apart of one is a veteran, another is average, and the third is a newbie, because their actions will show their level of proficiency. This also works good for showing emotion and building the characters. -Describe different notable aspects with each line. Maybe say that a cheery voice popped in and draw your reader to the more optimistic character. Or maybe say a gravelly voice interrupted so we know it’s the older veteran in the group. If you use more unique tags like this in addition to descriptions like “taller” or “older” then you get an experience with more variety. -describe them more creatively. Say that the other man was towering over the other, or that he strained his neck looking up at his companion. This gives more of an immersive feeling of being there than “taller” and “shorter”

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

The second tip is something I hadn't thought about, will definitively try to include that in my stories in the future.

[@boingooingo3317]

This is useful! I was writing a scene and was fussed over how to describe and differentiate two characters sharing the same pronouns without potential readers getting confused on who's doing what

[@starryslight7095]

Ooh these are such great tips, I could've used these 10 years ago 😂 ill def steal these if I run into a newer writer who struggles with these !!

[@noabinnendijk361]

Additionally: nothing wrong with using names! The whole purpose of a name is to make clear who is being referenced, they're meant to be used a lot, most readers will read past them very easily either way. I get way more held up when I have to do active mental work, just to figure out who's speaking at any given moment.

[@devilryhours]

_picks up comment and puts into box_ this is a surprise tool that i will forget about later

[@andromeda_va39]

On "relatable" characters, I relate to some pretty unusual characters in ways that I know the author didn't intend. Like, did the writers at Mihoyo intend for Albedo to be relatable? Most likely not. Does that stop me from almost crying because some of his dialogue is just too dang real? Heck no.

[@evobrand1210]

Spoiler for Shadow amidst snowstorms. Let's make a relatable character? How do we start... right, made from alchemy, as always... a genius of course, I'm sure everyone playing this game will relate to that. What else, of course how about an evil sibling? How about two evil siblings. The more the better! Also oneis a dragon. Made if bones. Who is dead. (I don't have siblings but I feel like that might actually be relatable.) - what about the other sibling? Is it an evil twin or more something monstrous? - Make it both. Make it a plant. With an evil face! This is going to be the most relatable character ever!

[@ayamii37]

Ikr, it's sometimes the best when it's not intended

[@ayamii37]

@@evobrand1210 This is an amazing description of what happened there lmao

[@MintiiLi]

as an albedo kinnie i felt this 😔

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@Legomicroman]

here is my hot-take: not every nuanced or redeemable villain needs to be a tragic character! sometimes people do horrible things, while whole-heartedly believing that they are doing justice, WITHOUT having some horrible past. vice versa: a villain's tragic past doesn't necessarily mean that they need to be redeemed!

[@littleblockser8d840]

my character's "name" is Root, only because everyone used that name for him and just kinda forgot his original name.

[@kairoikki6981]

Awh that's a really cute name though, I like it!

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

He is Root

[@orokinchi]

omg one of my main ocs is named Root as well!! i nearly jumped out my skin seeing this comment bahahahaha excited stimmy moment

[@dimples9746]

plot twist: that’s his middle name, and his full name is Mug Root Beer

[@pixxL_]

I guess you can say, they forgot his roots

[@mash9415]

on dialogue prompts, i disagree with the hot take because no-one's ever saying you have to stick with that pov or tone. it's a _prompt,_ it's a place to start. it's a place to build off of, and you can always go and change up any part of it. for instance, there was a prompt i wrote once that was like "i was having a nice day. but when the balloon popped..." and i could not explain it to you if i tried but my brain immediately said "ghosts." and so i wrote about a friendly ghost at a kid's birthday party who realized they had become solid again when they popped a balloon. i think that's like the farthest thing possible from that prompt but it still did come from the prompt.

[@nyandoesthings]

This is why I don't like putting prompts with my writings, because they usually have nothing to do with the writing

[@chynaanderson494]

Exactly. Clearly the dialogue prompts aren't meant to be rigid and specific. Stories are usually built around the dialogue, not within it.

[@lofi-lila]

FR! Like once I had the prompt: "You're going to be late" and that somehow transformed into a story about an Elle Woods type character training as an assassin. Was it related to the prompt very much by the end? Hell no! Did it get the creative juices flowing? Hell yes!

[@loki_is_tired]

Honestly I kind of like giving my characters unique names. A lot of my characters have what could be considered “normal” names, yes, but one of my human characters is called Oreo. I have an entire species in my universe that all have names of more obscure figures from Greek or Latin mythology. I have characters named Undine, Erebus, Calliope and Aquillo, and two of my main characters are called Nyx and Kore - Cora for short. I enjoy giving my characters cool names. A lot of my characters are given names by me just looking at them, and deciding this character should be called _______. A lot of my characters’ names call back to a subject that inspired their design. My main character is called Delilah because I was listening to hey there Delilah when I designed her and her character was built around those vibes. I name my characters on vibes.

[@spicypumpkin_]

I could not have described my process of naming characters any better! Sometimes names just come to me. I also have one that I named after a song and designed based on the vibes of the song just like you mentioned!

[@lilaboxx]

I try to name my characters on vibes too but I kinda suck at it? I have only named half of my OCS, the other ones just don't have names yet?

[@Ghost_Boyo]

Oreo is such a good name. I know its a brand but its just- its a good name. I like names that are fun to say so if it sounds and/or looks cool I’ll like it. Which is probably why autocorrect/spellcheck sometimes doesn’t like the names-

[@aarasko]

hey there delilah is such a vibe though. totally agreee.

[@evobrand1210]

I always love to hear names from greek mythology

[@pumpkinsmush2489]

I used to get the "totally helpful" advice to avoid overused character troupes (ie. The Jock, the femme fatale, the edgy relatable villain, etc.) but I find that fixating on originality can completely halt progress on stories. I find cliches can be a great emotional narrative device when carefully twisted and manipulated. Whether it's setting "Jake the jock needs to continue his high protein diet for a sense of normalcy during the zombie apocalypse or he will snap" Or simple exaggeration of character cliches "Sure Mandy the meek self discovery chicklit lady wants to "find herself" but how will she handle living on Mars for a year?"

[@Kaitou1412Fangirl]

This. I hate "Tropes to Avoid" lectures. If a writer can put a good spin on the overrused trope, I don't see a problem. For every person that hates a trope, there's probably at least one that likes it and another that likes it when done well enough. (I speak from experience as I love brooding loners and type a shonen rivals.)

[@Vivian-eo3qc]

ooooo. Thank You

[@BlueMiaou]

my characters often fit in a stereotype on first glance, but what i love doing is either exploring these tropes in a way that isn't contradicting it and just goes further so that it's just a small part of the character's full identity, or it _does_ get contradicted to show either that the "trope" is an integral part of a character's identity (jock, likes sports, community and stuff) or is a facade/defense mechanism (tough rebel, masks vulnerability with aggression); even if i'm FAR from the first person to do it and will most certainly not be the last, with enough complimentairy and contradicting facets of a character i'd hope that my characters feel like people and not like one-liner jokes

[@Vivian-eo3qc]

@@BlueMiaou OOOO!!!!! Thank You So Much!

[@lordfelidae4505]

Just don’t make it ALL they are. Yeah, their a jock, but that’s just *one* descriptor.

[@lulujones]

9:09 are there actually people who refer to the opening chapters of Jane Eyre as an 'infodump'? As in her traumatic childhood which sets up the themes of the whole novel? As in 100 pages so harrowing they could have been released on their own as a novella and would still be a classic? I'm so confused

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

It's fine to criticise the classics - I know I have some hangups with some older works that are held in high regard - but what you're describing is sinning characterisation. The equivalent of MrEnter bashing on Ming for being an antagonist, and claiming that _Turning Red_ would have been better without her.

[@lost_spacebunny2769]

4:03 Exactly! A "normal" name is completely subjective depending on where you live.

[@adrianj6795]

I hate that take on fantasy curse words. Like no Jessica I'm not making a whole new set of curse words just for your personal amusement. Also, if it's written in English then any curse words used would be translated to an English equivalent if we're assuming that the fantasy world doesn't use English. Basically it's like someone being upset that a book that takes place in Japan doesn't use Japanese curse words rather than close English equivalents. If your immersion is broken by something like that then you probably just have a fragile imagination.

[@charliekahn4205]

Unless, of course, the culture in the book doesn't stigmatize defecation and fornication.

[@paigemosher8697]

@@charliekahn4205 I'm sorry, but that's not what curse words do. Let's not pretend they're evil for supposedly doing something they don't. Clearly you don't understand the difference between slang and a slur. "Fuck" and "shit", on their own, are slang terms, not slurs. Using them does NOT create stigma in the way you claim it does. I really hope this isn't the hill you're planning on dying on, because a hill built with logical fallacies, stretches, and mental gymnastics as its foundation will only crumble under your weight.

[@charliekahn4205]

@@paigemosher8697 Taboo slang is colloquially included in a language's set of curse words. Also, they themselves don't create stigma, they're created due to stigma.

[@fluffystuff500]

and the person wrote it in such a rude and condescending way, too.

[@maefromnitw]

@@charliekahn4205 who could possibly care less, fuck and shit

[@mastertofu]

"Could a Chinese person pronounce a Nordic name easily?" I feel so called out, I've been complaining for quite a while that I can't pronounce Nordic sh*t for the life of me without making it sound too English or Chinese and it makes it difficult to share about the book/show/movie

[@nikisweird7705]

writing sims fanfic in simlish? now i know what im gonna do for the next few days

[@cupio-stardust]

Send the link. Now.

[@STARVAs132]

Ferb! I think I know what we’re doing today!

[@begaydocrime5719]

3:47 YES THIS! Someone told me my fantasy character names were "too weird"' and I... took them from my country's culture. Sure, I often took old names that are a bit uncommon but not always and not weirder than modern ones. Trust me, the name "Loan" isn't weirder than "Goulc'han" and yet the second is probably more common where I live. It's a weird cultural assumption.

[@osheridan]

This one unnecessarily annoyed me, as somebody whose name is NEVER pronounced right (it's not even hard, it's very close to a word everybody in this country can pronounce!)

[@Tesseract_King]

I like that you had some contradictory ones. My hot take: AUs of magical/sci-fi properties with no speculative elements are overdone. I want to see more urban fantasy takes on sci-fi shows or space opera takes on supernatural dramas. Make up your own genre. Introduce unexplained elements and then explore their ramifications. Do weird world building in your AU. Go crazy with it.

[@itsgirlcraft5842]

Good thing I have every kind of AU!

[@Tesseract_King]

@@itsgirlcraft5842 heck YEAH that's a good thing!

[@thedestroyasystem]

Cool pfp :)

[@Lavender_Fox]

did you mean: do what the undertale fandom did

[@fakeemail6815]

8:06 as a sibling I can decisively say betty absolutely screamed at her brother for taking that pancake, 100% correct word choice

[@eliasmg9144]

Hot take, not every story needs a conflict, sometimes it's enjoyable to just watch characters enjoy themselves and having a good time. Kinda like clerks or slice of life

[@emberhermin52]

I think they still need to have problems in them, but they don't need to be worrisome. Like "oh no there are too many ice cream flavors which one do I get" is enough for a super chill relaxing story

[@noabinnendijk361]

^^ I would barely call fics like that a story (because of lacking plot) but they're ABSOLUTELY still fun to read, and write

[@sinfulloccultist950]

I think you guys are looking for the moomins

[@VenomQuill]

Slice of Life is my absolute favorite to read and write and it's absolutely ruined everything else I've written. lmao I'm not into fantasy, but all of the original works I'm making are fantasy. :,) SoL is just too darn underrated.

[@BinglesP]

Honestly I understand the whole “plot mountain” thing but it makes me feel so under pressure of needing a major conflict

[@hellmo8384]

i don't get the weird name argument. just name your character whatever you want and call it a day

[@signesartandanimation]

Ok personaly speaking i love complex/bittersweet endings everything ending perfectly is boring, and when it all goes to hell it either fells forced or is just way to depressing for my taste.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

I love how you balanced one hot take to immediately oppose the one that came before

[@tticusFinch]

For the first person vs third person argument, I tend to choose the third option: third person limited. That way I can focus on the character, share thoughts and feelings, but also give a better description and explanation of what's happening that comes with third person (rather than having a detail-oriented 1st person narrator)

[@rekhyt_in_the_tardis]

Defining ‘normal name’ can be pretty confusing. In a language my friends and I all understand, our names include Bee, Song bird, Bitter sea, Princess, Date, Ankle, Blessing etc. But we don’t think that we are calling him Ankle, we think we are calling him Jacob. That being said, since I almost exclusively read fantasy books, I prefer it when they make up their own names to detach themselves from our world. Also on the post about swearing, I don’t mind f**k or whatever because I don’t know the etymology but seeing ‘Christ’ in a fantasy book where no one has heard of the Abrahamic G-d is pretty distracting.

[@LeopardMask12]

I agree on the swearing thing. Most curse words are fine as is, but any with a religious background I tend to try and change. Even if it's something as simple as pluralizing an exclamation to be "oh gods" because in that world there are more than one.

[@thedestroyasystem]

@@LeopardMask12 stuff like that always makes me feel more immersed, even if it’s a fairly common one like pluralizing God or using she/her when describing a deity. It’s a fairly simple way to build a fantasy world as separate from our own.

[@lucyandecember2843]

o.o

[@YataTheFifteenth]

okay but Bitter Sea is cool though

[@rekhyt_in_the_tardis]

@@YataTheFifteenth It Miriam. Mar-bitter Yam-sea

[@PaigeLTS05]

I've wrote fanfics in both first and third person. The first person ones are generally character journals or audio transcripts that tell a tale from the characters perspective and give you a glimpse of 'normal' through their eyes and how messed up thier head is. The third person ones tend to take an over-the-shoulder camera and sometimes looks into the characters mind too, but sometimes, first person can convey the how scewed a characters perspective is better.

[@aahana4931]

a lot of y/a authors need to be sat and told about the ''relatable'' protagonist trope but ends up as a blank slate trope, i hate it when the main character's love interest has a more personality than the main character. When a character is in a supernatural setting,when they're over-throwing the government, the relatability factor is already gone. Then the character is white and cishet - if i wanted someone relatable i wouldn't pick up your book white lady? i prefer MCs who are well written and well developed,ofc they can be downright miserable, unlikeable and annoying too over MCs who only serve as a self-insert, the former have aspects that readers can relate to anyways

[@hollyro4665]

In my most recent writings I’ve avoided character descriptions all together. And that especially includes appearance. I’m letting their words and actions build up what they look like. I always find character descriptions sound so forced when I write them and ditching them has really made a huge difference. You get and idea of who they are because of how they act and others act around them. Honestly how they look I’ve learnt is barely relevant unless you’re describing someone who needs to look odd/mundane, so I’ve only added it when it makes sense to explain a certain detail. Best decision I’ve made with writing recently.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@hollyro4665 I never write character descriptions at all lol. Wouldn't know what to do with them.

[@hollyro4665]

@@legrandliseurtri7495 yeah I just find it so pointless. Does it really matter to the plot if my character puts their hair in a ponytail and wears a blue shirt to go to school that day? Probably not. It’s not telling me anything about them as a person I couldn’t learn through other things. But does it matter if my serial killer puts on a uniform that blends them in with everyone else everyday? Maybe. If that serial killer is a police officer wearing the colours of justice while breaking every law it’s gonna matter to telling you about the kind of person they are. But then again by mentioning theyre police you know they’re probably in uniform anyway. So it’s only worth mentioning if you really want to solidify that idea. It has its place but it’s so overused.

[@cornesalvo9366]

@@hollyro4665 You are presenting this as some sort of hot take. It is not a hot take. Writers describe how their characters look so that the reader can visualize what they look like, and not have a shapeless blob be the main character doing things. I would understand if what you said was "I dislike writers that focus TOO MUCH on looks", but you're sounding like you don't like any visual descriptors in stories at all.

[@hollyro4665]

@@cornesalvo9366 my comment literally went through times when it’s important and times when it’s not and put examples and I don’t know how to make that any clearer to be honest. If you wanna like read in between the lines though to find some secret opinion I haven’t expressed then that’s fine. You do you.

[@onlylonelystars9268]

On the fantasy name thing: yeah, there are some pretty memorable protagonists with entirely normal names. Like Paul from "Dune." It's not that deep.

[@vortexwriting1026]

Ah names my favorite argument of the writing space, all names are good in my personal opinion. Though I do prefer if they match the tone just a bit, not as in hallmark romances shouldn't have fantasy names, but as in high-fantasy with basic names makes me laugh every time I see the character.

[@doritoarts9878]

i get the point in the "word count good" take but i think a better way would be to set a specific time to write and use the word count as a loose guideline.

[@orokinchi]

THIS THIS THIS THIS SO MUCH!! i hated doing word counts per day when i was starting taking writing more seriously. ive started just writing streams of consciousness for 15 minutes minimum every day. OH MY GOODNESS. it feels so much better and has helped me feel better self-esteem wise too. how many words i can write in that span of time is SUPER varied- but since im not a professional writer with a paycheck to word towards, its the time and effort that i put into it that matters and not pumping something out. but everyone’s different in that regard yknow?? i just hope _both_ methods become normalised in the future since i think saying “hey guys, THIS is the correct way to motivate yourself to write and if you DON’T do this you’re DOOMED to fail” like it feels like some people push suuuuuper hard one way or another

[@itsgirlcraft5842]

This!! I talked about the same thing in my comment!!

[@caracaracat2958]

My personal hot take is that predictable stories are GOOD and should be so. I like catching snippets of foreshadowing in the stories I read and forming a theory on the futures of the characters, I like having my suspicions confirmed at the end- it gives me a sense of satisfaction, like, the things the story has been building up to have finally been brought to light. I like predicting plot twists because they get me exited about the rest of the story and keep me reading.

[@saru2530]

I personally like "weird" names better for fantasy and even non-fantasy. It helps me remember the character, and makes it easier to look up online. I feel like a lot of writers name their characters names that they'd like to name their kids for some reason? I personally choose really stupid names that I just make up or heard but what matters is that it fits in the end. If a "generic" name is what suits your character ultimately, go for it!

[@whateveryousay8510]

14:20 for some reason, that reminds me of a post that a father did where he played Frozen dolls with his daughter, and she kept trying to pair Kristoff and Elsa together, and this man just couldn't accept his kid's shio. "no, sweety, Kristoff marries Anna, Elsa doesn't need to get married." And his daughter said "okay so Anna DIES and then Elsa and Kristoff get married!" This llttle girl was devoted to her never-to-be-canon ship and one has to appreciate that.

[@princessthyemis]

"If the character is memorable, the name will be memorable." Love that!!

[@Ciara_Turner]

I really appreciate your consistent subtle censorship that keeps the meaning of the post/review/etc. It's a refreshing way to get around yt rules without bleeps every minute that detract from the video

[@fennelcomeaux9663]

My methodology for naming characters, and this may not work for everyone, is to think about what kinds of people their parents are, and what kinds of names they'd give their children. My main character's name is Angelica, because her mother is a very conservative christian, so logically, she'd give her daughter a christian sounding name, right? Again, this won't really work for trans characters, but it's a good place to start.

[@Melissa-sx9vh]

One of my MC is named Angelica just because I wanted her love interest to call her Angel.

[@deciradoxytp1771]

I can say this also works if it doesnt fit their culture on purpose. In Switzerland, you can't give your child a name of the opposite sex, but Hedwig's folks did anyway. Serves both to make him stand out as the protagonist and give extra flavor to his background.

[@sinfulloccultist950]

For those that are trans or not in the gender binary I do one of two things: either take their personality/interests and find names that fit ( Quinn is an artist and their name is derived from quinacridone gold/violet) or pick something that falls in line with possible family tradition ( Orion's name derived from constellations so his trans sister Cassiopeia will follow suite). Sometimes I'll give such characters named that I would've used in place of my own birth name (Crow being an example of that while I was still unsure if I was a girl or not). I usually don't give them dead names unless their respective stories focus more on their journey.

[@shippnets5758]

I think my favorite pov to read, is 2nd person where the audience is another character in the story. I once read a fanfic that handled this beautifully and I've been craving more ever sense. The amount of insight and words left unsaid to that audience-character created this wonderful tension and desire. It also showed a type of character growth I hadn't read before, where the protag. was communicating with a made up version of this audience-character, but the audience-character wasn't like that made-up version. It led to a lot of breaking down expectations and fantasies that resulted in a healthier, more connected relationship. It was really good.

[@crybabydemonboy]

Pet peeve, peoples need to stop making black and poc characters be so 2D and flat. We have other thing in us than the stereotypes (yes I’m black and I like watermelon, but I love onigiri and curry). Just write us like how you’d write your friend or family member. Also the darker your skin is, the less visible your ‘blushing’ is.

[@thedestroyasystem]

Agreed!

[@lofi-lila]

It's strange that when writing black or poc characters, some people forget we're human. No, we are not pets who will eat the same thing every single day, and all act exactly the same as each other.

[@charliekahn4205]

Who doesn't like watermelon?

[@VenomQuill]

@@charliekahn4205 I'd say people who are allergic, but my mom's allergic and still likes them. Well, folks, we found it. The ultimate food.

[@paigemosher8697]

@@lofi-lila While I mostly agree with your points (though it's far from my place to speak over you since I'm not a POC), I REALLY don't appreciate the insinuation that people who DO eat similar things every day are "pets". Some people have sensory issues or EDs that severely restrict their palette, so to call people like that "pets" feels kind of ableist. And that's something I DO have the authority to reprimand you on as a disabled person, so I would advise you to be more mindful of your language in the future. As far as I can tell, it was an honest mistake, but I thought I'd provide a reminder for the future.

[@ribbonsweet8697]

8:41 , as someone who watches Miraculous Ladybug, yeah…. There are literally so many ships that fans make work better than what actually happens in the show that I genuinely can’t choose a favorite ship.

[@Pastel_Dreams]

They seriously need to pull the plug on the "love square." If they're meant to be endgame, make them freaking end the game. Marinette and Luka were good together 😢

[@sinfulloccultist950]

Not me with most of the fandoms I follow now. Hinny especially rubs me the wrong way

[@notaseagull3320]

Personally, I enjoy the Dune approach to names, which is naming the majority of your characters wild shit like Thufir Hawat and Duncan Idaho, and then choosing your main characters’ names to be Jessica and Paul. The worst of both worlds!

[@graysonsk4448]

I beg to differ for the "there's not that many mean girls" When you're an educator, you don't see what we see. You see a nice girl who will listen or be very sweet to everyone UNTIL it's online or outside of the class. And being a "mean girl" doesn't necessarily going to straight up be a girl going "you're ugly" to your face, it's mostly weird looks, judging stares, whispers behind hands, and talking about them behind their back. Students see a lot more than educators do because we are the ones getting bullied. That's why Mean Girls pulls the whole mean girl trope off SO well.

[@demonschnauzer1555]

1:00 It reminds me of something my friend said to me once when I said I feel like not a large amount of people liked the memes I sent in this one meme group chat: “not everyone can relate, but for the people who do, it hits really hard.” If you make a unique and interesting character, there’s gonna be a few readers out there who will just feel this extreme satisfaction of seeing a character who is so relatable to them very specifically.

[@jackkain]

Personally, I'm sick of ppl making reader-inserts these soft little ceramic flowers that will breakdown the moment they're nudged or these stoic killing machines that treat everyone around them like garbage. Is it so difficult making a normal reader insert? Like make them act like an actual person with brains and feelings, not overly exagerated either bruh pls

[@sunflowerboinagachika]

This, but also when the writer makes the reader way too agressive or just flat out rude cuz they want their reader to be “a badass” or “self-dependent.” Like… who wants to be depicted as a jerk.

[@rienn8559]

2:34 There are a SHIT TON of mean girls. there's different levels and most of the time, it's subtly being mean.

[@rowan404]

I used to be in a trans Facebook group and I once saw a trans woman celebrating that she had finally gotten her name changed from Harry to Ellen, especially because her last name was Potter. She wasn’t even named after the character; she was middle-aged. I felt so bad for her. My point is, fantasy names all the way!

[@alicethemad1613]

Oh my god what a devastating birth name to have especially as a trans person

[@princembat]

honestly i mostly agree with all of these EXCEPT for the one about curse words in fantasy my counterargument? i like saying curse words and its funny to see these people in a totally different world saying them. plus i mainly use curse words in writing for emphasis and it doesnt hit the same to make them say absolute nonsense in place of a curse word. there comes times in writing where familiarity might be better than accuracy, and i feel like that can be one of those times.

[@shiningstar737]

4:24 example: my sister is named Pamela and the etymology is that Sir Philip Sidney invented the name Pamela for a pivotal character in his epic prose work, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, written in the late 16th century. He just took the Latin words for “all” and “honey” smashed them together and is now regarded as a totally normal name. On the other side my name is from Hebrew and could be 4000 years old

[@lotusdumplings7066]

1:35 is like. A reading preference and not an actual take on writing. And also I wholeheartedly disagree, nuance is important to some people and others like it simple, but it's not really something you can expect, it's apart of the intrigue. Still a matter of reader opinion tho!

[@dandyspacedandy]

3:37 okay but in general, I HATE the "generic fantasy" naming scheme, especially when naming locations. mfers just mash syllables together if they sound right, but then they all just have the exact same vibe in my head lmao

[@Ali-ni7uu]

one of my pet peeves in stories is when a character is described as super smart, but consistently does the worst possible thing or fails to see how their actions will affect something. most of the time it feels like an attempt to make a character an independant hero icon like they don't need any help from someone else because they already know how to do this this and this because x y and z or the author just couldn't think of a better way to further the story besides making the character make the wrong choice

[@itsgirlcraft5842]

That also depends on if they're viewed by others as smart (and thus see themselves as smart). There's definitely a lot of problems with this though.

[@RinkuChan333]

Honestly, my big thing is I really wish people would stop presenting their writer motivation advice as a one-size-fits-all kind of solution to writer's block. Like yeah, sometimes you need to just sit down and write, and sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to take a break, but what needs to happen at what point for any one person is just going to look different. Writing projects are like relationships: you absolutely want to give it the attention it deserves, but it's not fair to yourself if you drop everything in your life to make it work. It's about finding the balance between those two extremes that works for both parties, and that balance is going to be unique to the person and the project. Like, I'm a person with all kinds of different hobbies and a new title from my favorite game series just came out, so yeah, sometimes I'm gonna take a break from a WIP to go do something else. Sometimes I'm locking myself in my room for days at a time trying to fit all the beats together. And it's working for me, so... The other thing too is like the obsession with finishing projects? It's great if you want to make a goal out of finishing a project, but there's nothing wrong with just...fucking around with an idea for a few hundred words and then flitting off to do the next thing. Honing a skill or participating in a hobby is something that should be enjoyable, so there's nothing wrong with just writing for the sake of writing without putting pressure to have it be a Thing. Visual artists sketch out random ideas without any intention of fleshing them out all the time, and there's nothing wrong with writers doing the same So yeah 👍

[@Arkenidae]

"Look at Harry Potter..." I'd rather not to. Also the one about every story needing conflict. I largely disagree, as someone who writes vague and slice of life fics. Sometimes you don't need conflict. Sometimes you just need two characters to cuddle in some forgotten ruins somewhere deep in the woods and that's okay. Sometimes stories can be about just relaxing and inviting your reader to relax with you without any big problems that need to be resolved. The world out there is too cruel and full of problems already. Let's drink watermelon juice of words together.

[@Omega6T]

What o got from that is that not every piece of wroting needs conflict, but every story does. Like, a story is a series of events that tell about a movement, may that be in the world, the protagonist... So if a story doesn't have conflict, it can't start and move Of course that separates stories from slice of life and relaxing scenes, but that depends on the definition you give of story

[@Arkenidae]

@@Omega6T I mean, slice of life are stories. A guy buying some bread, going home and cooking a meal for himself and a loved one is a series of events that may be conflict free or not. But it's still a story.

[@sugaredbugs4823]

yes. please, let fluffy slice of life be fluffy slice of life. we don't need chapters upon chapters of drawn out angst. stories don't need traditional conflict (as in bad things happening) to be interesting. sometimes the interest can come from the characters discovering new things or planning a fun day out.

[@hsuehejjw1731]

Then that’s not a story, and it has no purpose.

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

@@hsuehejjw1731 it *is* a story, though, by definition.

[@karamelalb2328]

An unpopular opinion: Writing in first person pov can add a lot to a story and can be very interesting to read! People shouldn’t put down a book only because it starts with an: "I woke up." And not a "He woke up."

[@hollyro4665]

Respect for your opinion entirely. But I did recently switch from writing in first person to third and oh my god I don’t know why I didn’t try it before. I’ve always struggled to write first person without making that character sound overly observant or borderline on mind reader. It’s so much easier when you can just openly express multiple characters and it sounds so much more natural. But like I said that’s me and I still like reading in first person.

[@ihopeicanchangethisnamelat7108]

People do that?? I love first person. The most common reason I use third person is if I need to describe the focus character dying at any point.

[@karamelalb2328]

@@ihopeicanchangethisnamelat7108 yep I see it online quite a lot and I think it sprung from some watpad fanfics with the very general protagonist which are all written in first person pov. But I personally enjoy first person pov a lot. Also while I do understand that switching to third pov for the focus character dying, let me offer you an idea: keep writing in first pov but as a ghost :). It's similar to third pov but with the added bonus of this character still being an observer. Of course it doesn't work in many scenarios but I've read some good books with this concept. :)

[@karamelalb2328]

@@hollyro4665 I too usually go for the third pov just because as you said it is easier to make your characters sound more realistic. But sometimes the idea of seeing the world purely from the pov of main character is so refreshing. I personally use first pov mostly when the person who's pov I'm using is not the main character but only an observer of the actual main character. Bonus points if the two are friends/very close so your info dump if you ever need them are framed as dialogs between the main character and your narrator. :)

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I'm much bigger fan of third person. I will not put down a book for having first person, but it will certainly need to do more to convince me to finish it.

[@angelsh0t]

10:10 I'M SO GLAD THE OP SAID THIS. I don't like the trope either in the fact that most people do it with rivals and it makes zero sense. These two go on about how much they hate eachother it doesn't make any sense for them to get together after yelling and screaming at echother everyday. At that point it's just toxic, and the rivals that are shipped usually show *why* they hate eachother so much. My only exception is when it's an already established relationship (like before they choose sides) and then they realize they're much happier being together then fighting all the time and keeping things a secret. The side the choose isn't positive or negative, it's eachother.

[@JustAnotherHaiku]

5:24 I feel like this one depends on the person. Some people work better with a schedule and a set word count, some people don't.

[@v_doll]

5:30 Damn people like this scare me. You wouldn't tell a painter "Just paint for 10 minutes daily 🥺" cause the painting would go to SHIT. Schedules don't work for everyone. I'm all for trying to write everyday but sometimes you just don't have the idea fully formed yet. So many times I stopped writing because I didn't know how to proceed only to be suddenly struck by something I saw, heard etc. that made me think of a perfect resolution. I'm the type of writer who doesn't touch any work for two months and then whips out 40k words in two weeks, not because I count every word but because I was passionate about it. Making writing something you HAVE to do like an everyday chore sucks all the fun and creative freedom out of it.

[@IrvingIV]

7:50 If you just have a list of words and don't know their meanings, yeah that's bad. Don't want to use "shouted" when you meant "whispered," for instance. But word variety is good; I try not to reuse a verb if characters are doing the same sort of thing, at least in a single paragraph. Example of what I mean: Harold inched forward, certain in each moment that he stood at the very edge, and was nearly about to tip over and tumble into the waves, yet as his ponderous march took him inches, then feet, and finally yards beyond what he had expected to be the end of his path, he began to suspect that Janice had misled him. _"Oh, how far you have come,"_ she hummed from everywhere and nowhere. "Spare me your games," Harold breathed, "You have toyed with me for far too long already." _"I have toyed with you for three years to the day,"_ Janice purred, _"but today you are mistaken, I have not misled you, you have transcended the limits of mortals."_ Harold opened his eyes, and, glancing beneath him, saw that indeed, he stood on thin air.

[@anonymouswitness3835]

I really agree with the infodumps comment! Not because I think you can do whatever just because a famous author did it, but because I actually LOVE infodumps, as a reader. I LIVE for those long descriptions of a landscape or a creature or a history. And I can't be the only one, since lore compendiums are basically their own genre now. The hate for infodumps probably comes from poorly-written infodumps (some writers are just better at dialogue) or infodumps that are, frankly, about something that simply isn't interesting (while I love infodumps, I don't enjoy an infodump about an incredibly bland, generic world).

[@Respectable_Username]

I love how you put somewhat opposing opinions beside each other, really highlighting that there's no one right answer and none of the responses alone should be taken as gospel ❤

[@elsalaiho1699]

I feel like one of the issues with "fantasy name" vs "normal name" that makes people have so many opinions about it is that making up names for fantasy settings can be surprisingly hard, and what works depends wildly on your setting and what aspects you overall put emphasis on in the story. Like, at one extreme of the scale you have J.R.R. Tolkien; very few if any fantasy writers are going to be quite at the same extreme as he, because linguistics were one of the things he was most interested in, and he created languages and determined the relationships between various languages for his setting with extreme care, and the names reflect that as much as the languages themselves do and there's a very clear logic to them. Obviously most fantasy writers aren't going to quite go to that length, as linguistics isn't the thing they know a lot about or isn't what they care about most in worldbuilding and is not a thing they plan on really exploring or showing in the story, but they want the vibe that this is a world separate of our own, and therefore are hesitant to use real-world names. Depending on the writers, some may assign vague aesthetics/systems to what the names of characters from different nationalities are going to sound like in an attempt to create an illusion of different languages existing in the setting, while others don't, and just go with whatever sounds good for the particular character. Both are valid ways, and both have their pitfalls, with the first that being that it can reach somewhat caricature-like levels in what the names of each different group of people in the setting sounds like, while with the second the issue is that all the names can easily end up sounding a little too similar to a point of being boring and sounding the same as character names from a dozen other fantasy series. Both also run the risk of the author giving characters names that end up being complex, unpronounceable, just kind of silly, or otherwise just ones where you can tell the author thinks the names are cooler than they are. But just making up names that sound vaguely fantasyish is the way most fantasy authors go, and it generally works fine as long as you have the patience to think about it a little bit Then there's the people that, for one reason or another, prefer to use real-world names, or ones that are made-up but clearly imitate the sound of names in some real world language. It's a pretty solid way to go, if you can commit to it - your fantasy character can be called Liam or Trisha, and if all the other characters (or at least the majority of the ones from the region where the character comes from) have names that also appear commonly in English, no one's going to blink an eye. However, mixing real and fantasy names becomes trickier. You can pull it off if you do it right, and you can pull it off both in serious fantasy (like A Song of Ice and Fire) and in more comedic stuff (such as Discworld; but considering that many of the Discworld books have stories that comment on British society and culture and some are set in places that have strong British elements, it sometimes works better than character names that aren't supposed to sound like English at all would), but in serious fantasy it may take more thinking on how to combine fantasy names and normal ones in a way that works, since it is more likely that people point out that Liam doesn't really sound like the name of a fantasy hero if he's standing next to a character called Raeialdan. Also, please, for the love of god, if you don't want to use quite real names but want to imitate the sound of some language and you don't speak that language, double check whether the names mean anything in that language. There's nothing that puts you out of the story quite like the famous ancient magical dwarven dagger being called Onion Valley because the author apparently wanted the name to sound Scandinavian but didn't feel like checking a Swedish dictionary... To be fair, probably practically any possible combination of letters is going to mean something silly or rude in _some_ language, but if you're striving for it to sound like a certain language while not actually being that language, at least check that you didn't accidentally make it mean something silly in that particular language, okay? But really, practically anything will work in terms of names, as long as you put a little bit of thought and effort into it. Try to pick a method for your story and then try to be somewhat consistent about sticking to that method. Whether it is crafting conlangs for every single group of people in the story and naming characters by the rules of those conlangs, or whether it's just using English names in your epic fantasy world, or whether it's making things up without going off the deep end with actual languages, as long as you're more or less consistent about it, the reader will get used to it and it will become just how things are in that story/setting. (Certainly, if I hadn't been exposed to superheroes since I was like 5 and I heard about them now for the first time, I would think that most superhero names sound rather silly. But give it a little bit and I would get used to it that that's how things work in superhero stories. It's the same with fantasy. You get used to a certain story's way of doing things very quickly, if it's at least mostly consistent about it) Some readers may have preferences, but readers may have preferences about literally everything, so it's not worth stressing about all that much.

[@voidopall548]

Me and my friend did a friends to lovers to enemy’s to friends to lovers rp and LET ME TELL YOU- No other variation of “enemy’s to lovers or friends to lovers” will ever compare to that dramatic train wreck.

[@veneraliaa]

3:09 That’s why I love Percy Jackson so much. It feels so organized and well written. It’s not like it’s trying so hard to be fantastical that all these wild made up creatures that have no correlation to one another and these crazy long impossible to pronounce names so it feels like “fantasy”. Everything ties to eachother, and the names are relatively simple and easy to pronounce (with the exclusion of Reyna, but I think Rick confessed her last name was a troll.) The *ONLY* characters with “complicated” names tie in with their background culture… like Sam in the Magnus Chase series, for example. Anyways, in conclusion, this is why I personally think Rick Riordan > every other fantasy author 😍🤞 /hj /lh

[@rainestar82]

the mean girls one doesnt make sense to me. Mean girls ABSOLUTELY exist, theyre just not like how media portrays them. And many of them ARE like that because of a messed up home life and how it taught them to compete with other women. A mean girl trope meant to deconstruct itself (like Mean Girls did) is a great use of it. A mean girl in a story for the sake of just having a female rival to hate is a different story

[@poxidog]

"She looked in the mirror and saw a short dark haired boy. With a sad resignation to something she knew but hoped she was somehow wrong about, her stomach sank into an emptiness. His eyes lowered with hers. His hand moving with hers to knock the lengths of hair over their face" Inspired by put your own spin on the mirror cliché

[@stinkynorsk5883]

I'm insanely intrigued by this. Is it a trans character? Is it a friend of hers trapped inside the mirror? Is SHE inside the mirror??? I need answers!!

[@poxidog]

@@stinkynorsk5883 I imagined a trans character

[@VenomQuill]

I find the mirror cliche so interesting with trans characters. I wrote a little trans afab kid. Back before he found out, "she" would avoid mirrors at all cost, so whenever forced to look into one, I HAD to describe her. Eventually, I _got_ to describe _him._ Especially in the beginning with self-description. Or a character that wasn't trans, but still denying part of themselves and their physical appearance that reminded them of said part. Mirror cliches can be incredibly interesting if done well.

[@bramnemeth565]

"Hey, why do you avoid mirrors so much? Are you secretly a vampire or something?" "Oh, no, it's just that I, uhh... don't like the way my body looks." Plot twist: They are indeed a vampire (and everyone around them knows about it, too), but they're in serious self-denial.

[@CaptainMyCapta1n]

can't wait lol The people in premiere chat were amazing, we just had a great time. Glad I didn't miss this

[@freycossy]

6:55 I personally love the idea of starting a story with a text excerpt. It allows you to get a jumpstart on a piece that just has not been working for you. Just this week I started one with the dialogue prompt: "How's your day going?" "Well, no one's died." "Those are your standards?" Then I realised that it ties in well with a small idea I'd been holding in the back of my mind, but just could not find a good way to start it; this prompt let me. Sure, some of them are a bit restricting and specific, but that's only some. There are at least double that let the writer take it in whatever direction they want. And, hey, there's probably people out there who prefer the more rigid form of some. It's also interesting to see how different people might interpret or interact with these prompts. I, for example, dislike stories (or at least writing such stories) that begin with a piece of dialogue, so I added a line before the first part. These prompts are suggestion and stimuli to get your ideas flowing, and no one's saying you _have_ to keep it all exactly how you saw it. Or if your issue is that you just don't like the ones you've seen, then come up with your own. A song lyric, something you overheard, a sentence you wish had been written differently. We find inspiration everywhere, and the people coming up with these excerpt prompts would've, too. I fully understand not wanting to use prompts like these, but you can't get pissy at other people for doing so.

[@maem7462]

8:36 I will fully agree with this seeing characters being awkward dorks is adorable and I love it

[@EpicSandwich301]

0:40 As a person, who relates to the anyone but relatable characters - agreed. No, AshelyUwU2007AnimeOneLuV, I don't like this grey mouse protag, I like her bff who is the popular girl in class but dead inside.

[@lefandomtrash7746]

Off topic but the “popular in school but dead inside” trope is one of my favorites.

[@sarahwilliamson4797]

I love Enemy’s to lovers, it’s so fun, cuz you get two charters who hate one another, in a situation where they have to interact, and then gaining a strained ‘ alliance’ as they start to see the each other as actual people, force to re evaluate their preconceptions in this new awkward and strange ‘friendship’ then feeling make it messy :)

[@EpicSandwich301]

13:09 Nah don'y think so. Autobiography/biography are a thing. And not so long ago I've read a Russian classic story 'bout the guy who told his story, and that one also didn't have a conflict. So nah

[@PokeNebula]

interesting how you choose to focus conflicting opinions side-by-side. It shows a consideration for multiple or nuanced perspectives rather than taking a belief or strategy and running with it to the exclusion of all else. i appreciate that

[@azathoththeprimalchaos2289]

That last one was unexpectedly BASED tho

[@atleynater]

oo, the hopeful ending one got on my nerves. nuance & hopeful endings are great imo! in general, i love stories about hope, which is why im an avid hopepunk fan. i personally dont care if their happily ever after is shown, just that there's hope for better days and that they can get their happy ending. i can also kind of agree with the enemies to lovers one? like yeah, it probably wouldn't work in real life. but that's what fiction is for! also, i honestly feel like enemies to lovers works way better in a more homoerotic way than just a straight guy being mean to this girl and they eventually kiss (i'm a gay man, btw). its especially good when its "i have a crush on you but i have to much internalized homophobia to realize it so im just somehow mad at you for Some Reason and you help me accept who i am".

[@cupio-stardust]

Straight enemies to lovers can work but is hardly ever well executed.

[@sodapopshop9214]

If your characters have to physically touch each other to show the audience that they’re in a romantic relationship, then it is a ✨very poorly written romance✨ Take Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase for example. Even when they’ve been dating for a short time, you know that they are head over heels for each other through the ways they talk, joke, and advise each other. And through their acts of service for each other. Romance stories should be an extension of the rule “show not tell”.

[@456puff]

I'm only this far in, but the "mean girls" take around 2:35, coming from an educator of almost a decade, is probably the most insightful thing I'll hear today, The "teaching kids to be better then their parents" is a huge issue and something that needs to be addressed and talked about more. Edit: I just got to 4:23 and yes! Whatever name you want to go by and feel comfortable using is a valid name. In fiction and real life. And if someone can't respect that irl, they probably aren't good for you.

[@stingray2305]

I hate when people feel the need to have a reason for a character being trans. Like, I’ve seen people say that a character shouldn’t be trans unless it’s relevant to the story and that’s kinda bullshit. Like, we just exist sometimes. Not ever single aspect of our lives or conflicts have to do with being trans. There doesn’t need to be a reason to exist.

[@papermoonkings]

0:20 Abbacchio from jojo being not only a cop, but a *retired* cop at only 21 years old. He speedran the death of his career

[@hmmmm7468]

Naming a character is a part of designing the character. I'm not gonna name my characters normal names I heard, I'm gonna fit lore and deep meaning behind it because I like coming up with it.

[@peggedyourdad9560]

Eh, I just like to go on random name generator, pop in whatever languages would sound cool/make sense, and just keep clicking the generate button until I find a name that strikes my fancy. This is how I named my dnd characters lol.

[@hmmmm7468]

@@peggedyourdad9560 that could work too

[@All_thegoodnamesaretaken]

1:14 my take on this, make their EMOTIONS and FEELINGS relatable. Experiences don’t have to relate to ppl, as long as feelings do

[@Littlepup93]

On the relatable characters take, I feel like it's a large scale misunderstanding about what a relatable character is. There are a ton of boring white bread protagonists out there for the audience to slot themselves into (ex. Bella Swan). I see this sort of "relatable" character most predominately in mainstream media, where the writer or writing team are trying to making their work marketable. I'm sure that in the fanfiction community the "relatable" and boring character ends up being a level of overcompensation from the writer to show that this character is a normal person. There are tropes where a character like this works, like the Straight Man of a group of wacky individuals who's able to comment on the absurdity and may be a much needed counterbalance to everybody else's antics. At the end of the day though, "interesting" and "relatable" are not on a scale together. What makes a character interesting doesn't make them unrelatable and what makes a character relatable doesn't make them uninteresting. What makes a character relatable isn't how normal they and their life are. It's in the little things, as it always is. It's in staying up late cramming for a big test, only to be seen exhausted the next morning, it's running up and hugging that friend who they haven't seen in years. It's showing them as people, doing what people do. An ancient piece of paper with doodles on it because some kid thousands of years ago got bored with his writing homework is beautifully relatable, because even though we don't live like that ancient child, we see ourselves in such a small action as that. Your audience won't be in the same circumstances as your protagonists (unless you're writing realistic fiction), but when you hit that bit of humanity right, they'll be relatable.

[@gummyghostxx]

I don't think it's that controversial, But I see nothing wrong with putting something like () in my writing then "save as draft" and go on with my life until I come up with the perfect word or phrase to put instead of the perentacese. that way I don't torture myself while being stuck on what is sometimes a single word and lose time that I could spend writing down the story idea that will disappear in a few seconds.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

I do that constantly, but more often than not it's because it's the name of a fictionnal place that I haven't come up with yet.

[@itsgirlcraft5842]

I really should do that more often, or just put the description of said word I forgot in the parentheses

[@lotusdumplings7066]

2:15 you are because female heroes is rare enough but female heroes who aren't super masc "I don't need no man" types are even rarer and girls are allowed to be whoever, including feminine girls who are into boys and kick ass.

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

... What fricking shows/movies are you watching where every female protag is Ellen Ripley? How have you and the other 42+ people never heard of _Daria_ , _Punky Brewster_ , _Hilda_ , _Kim Possible_ , _The Owl House_ , _The Ghost and Molly McGee_ , _Anne of Green Gables_ and a frick tonne of other stuff with female protagonists?

[@lotusdumplings7066]

@@ARCtheCartoonMaster You're already providing examples that are in largely innovative works with fandoms as apposed to mainstream works or even of culture in fandom. The ocs who are more worthy because they aren't shallow and girly, book love interests who are not like other girls, and the large presence of the femme fatale in our culture all villainize traditional femininity, because it's true that traditional femininity can be incredibly limiting, but it's also true that girls and women can want that and not be shallow or villainous. It's worth mentioning none of the protagonists in those shows are traditionally feminine, aside from Kim Possible. Most are tomboyish in nature. Which is fine! They're all good characters! But heroes and villains with diverse personalities and motivations are important. And feminine girls who kick ass are just as valid heroes as every other female protagonist.

[@cartoonishidealism582]

Honestly aside from Ellen Ripley I genuinely have yet to see an ACTUALLY super masc main female character. Like the idea of a “masc” female character seems to be “She fights people while having perfect makeup, and an hourglass figure, and long gorgeous hair flowing in the wind, and she totally makes out with the dude protagonist by the end of the movie” I genuinely think we need MORE masc female heroes.

[@lotusdumplings7066]

@@cartoonishidealism582 I know what you mean, and I agree! I sorta mean the tyoe of "im not like other girls" "don't be such a girl" "i hate everything feminine, especially dresses" types that tend to be quite dominant in media. Not quite too much about appearance (ala Laura Croft, undeniably sexy but also every trope above). Having characters who are into feminine things and are proud of it is actually quite rare, unless they're the villain or mean girl type.

[@qwertyuiop.lkjhgfdsa]

​@@ARCtheCartoonMaster please stop spacing out your commas so they arent italicised it makes your stuff harder to read and people wouldnt notice if they were

[@lizwrites2463]

Awkward but trying their best (between people with good communication and developed friendship) is the only romance content I enjoy