meridian_rose: pen on letter background  with text  saying 'writer' (Default)
It's not straight washing to give a queer character a different queer identity. Canon sexualities (presumed, they're not often stated especially for het characters) are changed all the time for slash purposes and mixed sex OT3s. A character doesn't have to be "Straight" or "A Gay" just because you think canon says so.
The split attraction model is a thing.
Sexual fluidity is a thing. Questioning is a thing. Preferring an umbrella term like queer is a thing.
Bisexuality is a thing.
Seriously, bisexuality is a thing, it needs repeating apparently.
It's not desexualising a character to read them as asexual.
You can can ship asexual characters romantically or platonically; also demisexuality and gray-asexuality exist.
Seriously, you can love someone without having sex with them.
So panromantic asexuals, biromantic lesbians, demisexual bisexuals, and pretty much any other labels you want are available. Especially for fictional characters, who let us explore questions of sexual orientation and identity in ways we could not otherwise do.



Originally posted to Tumblr. I have some specific examples in mind here but I'm generally irritated at the policing of sexuality going on and the subsequent erasure of romantic and sexual orientations that aren't "straight or gay/lesbian".
meridian_rose: pen on letter background  with text  saying 'writer' (Default)
I'm not pariticpating in the current round of [community profile] therealljidol for various reasons (you can sign up until Wednesday if you'd like to). But I will probably read and vote. There's also scope to write non-voting entries for the prompts. This week's is "I need the struggle to feel alive". And I could not disagree more.

I take pleasure in completion of projects, and overcoming some obstacles. Think of an online game; you can complete tasks, save points, buy upgrades. Or you can pay for the upgrades. Which is more satisfying? The one where you put the work in. But constant struggling is not fun, not satisfying, not rewarding. Working witout achieving success is soul destroying.

Which brings me to apathy.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference - Elie Wiesel

the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works - Samuel Johnson

My NaNo failures continue. I skipped a day yesterday, out for a Christmas Shopping & Meal Out with my sister and a movie on the night with family. I don't regret it but it means my wordcount deficit is now staggering, 10.5k, and if I write nothing today 12k.

I've posted a ficlet and a fic during NaNo, hoping feedback would help inspire me to do more. But no matter how many posts I make, or how much fic I post, or fic promo posts I post, I'm not getting comments on fic, barely any reblogs of tumblr posts. Same for journal entries I make, and comments I leave on entries and on fic; barely any response. I've made an effort to make more posts this month. I've made an effort to leave more comments on fic this month and got responses to less than half.

Apathy cannot kill my creative urge entirely but it can sap it enough that I see no reason to finish anything* or share it publicly, and jfc it's laughable to think about original work when fanfic (even about a popular ship) can't muster up enthusiasm from a built-in audience.**
I'm just feeling down for a few reasons right now, this is just one of them but it's a big one. Writing has always felt like who I am and if that's pointless, it's all pointless.***


* 2 x 10k fics one in each of those same two fandoms, why bother? Because I made a commitment is all I've got right now.

** cue "oh you should only write for yourself and not care at all about audience"; if I write for myself and myself alone why post? I've got unposted fanfic novellas that are for me. If I'm posting it's because I'm sharing.
If I write you a personal email I'm talking to you, if I make a filtered post I'm talking to a select group of people, if I make a public post I'm saying "I exist, I am here, I have thoughts, I have made this thing, please listen and respond in kind."

*** cue "you should have more REAL interests"; you think real life friends haven't dropped me once they get spouses/kids, you think I should get a partner when society keeps making it clear that asexuals don't deserve relationships because sex is the be-all-and-end-all of partnerships. Or maybe you think my clerking job (which I do enjoy and get some satisfaction from) is a replacement for the desire to create and be heard? I'm tired of being told I should get more "real work"/be an editor/take up *insert non-creative activity here*; I'm looking to succeed in what I love, not do what anyone else thinks I should be doing.
meridian_rose: pen on letter background  with text  saying 'writer' (Default)

base image source


Sex is Not Vital For a Loving Relationship (No matter what real or fictional therapists tell you)
Excerpt: This supposed professional just denied the existence of asexuality. She erased the right of not just asexuals, but people with physical disabilities which preclude sex, to be in a "loving relationship". She basically implied that survivors of sexual trauma need to have/resume having sex or they cannot be loved.

Originally posted to my wordpress
read more )
meridian_rose: pen on letter background  with text  saying 'writer' (Default)
I've let myself get behind, and there's over two months worth of links here, so it's longer than usual. But given how some of my Tumblr posts have zero notes (remind me how tagging your posts is guaranteed to get a Tumblr audience unlike the "dead" LJ?) I'm keen to showcase them here too, and I always like to share links to articles I've read that have stood out for me.

This Show Reblogged gifs from "The Flash", featuring the father-son type relationship between Barry Allen and Joe West to which I added some commentary about how I love all the characters and this relationship.

Lewis: The Moonbeams Brief review/commentary added to a reblog about an episode of "Lewis" featuring Tom Riley as an artist who appears to be on the autistic spectrum.

Overnight Everything I Loved Was Gone I posted a link to a longer excerpt which was originally posted here and added some commentary of my own about the Internet and public shaming.

Why Historical Inaccuracies in Wolf Hall Don't Matter I posted an excerpt from a longer newspaper article. Wolf Hall is a drama, not a documentary, so artistic licence is allowed. And how accurate can we be about the Tudors anyway…in matters of characterisation, what can accuracy mean? We will never know the exact balance of sexual desire, dynastic ambition and theological disputation that led Henry VIII to marry and divorce in the way that he did. Finally an article saying what I seem to say every damn month. I added brief commentary when I posted the link.

Artisitic License in Vikings, Black Sails, and Da Vinci's Demons A reblog of another article that gets it; Da Vinci’s maxim that “the best story wins” thus applies to historical fiction as a whole. The genre often comes under criticism for historical departures, but as we well know, “history” is a constructed narrative, and what we term “accurate” can often be subjective. Such artistic license not only makes historical fiction more narratively cohesive and dramatically entertaining, but is instructive in ways that history is not, as the artists behind these shows use the conscious inaccuracies to underscore the perspectives and motives of the people of that era, helping us deepen our understand of that era, something history alone cannot do."
I addded my own commentary and graphic.

I'm a 20's Something Erotic Writer Who's Never Had Sex I posted a link to the article with commentary because as an asexual I was hoping to find this inspiring instead of some condescending crap about how with the writer bragging about being "fully functional" despite being a virgin without a husband or kids while being hypocritically nasty about "sad old single romance writers with cats". Her youth will fade and maybe she'll lose her "real" job that she's proud of, and then she'll be the "stereotype" she's so horrified by. Though since this post went utterly unnoticed, maybe everyone agrees with the smug author that it's okay be a virgin but not be an older virgin and/or someone without "real" employment because writing doesn't count. One more author I'll make sure never to read.

Terry Pratchett: An Accidental Pagan Theologian A lovely article I posted a link to that points out "He was one of the very few writers to speculate on how deities come into being, first as particles of energy, then accumulating more energy from the minds of worshippers (in the book Small Gods)" and talks about how "Much of his work explores ideas of social justice."
I added my own commentary: "As a pagan, a lover of stories, and a writer, I agree wholeheartedly. The stories around the power of belief, the power of story, the power of people to affect change, are wonderful concepts. His work has impacted, and continues to impact, my thoughts and beliefs and creativity."

Things I Want in Da Vinci's Demons Season 3 And since I probably won't get the interaction between these two particular characters, despite their shared experiences, I'll just have to write it in fanfic.

Other articles

True Gender Equality Is Actually Perceived As Inequality Reblogged (with some minor commentary in tags) link from a longer article about Fandom and Male Priviledge which is worth a look, examining male privilege generally and the more female nature of fandom and how more recent male involvement risks damaging spaces largely developed by and for women.

In Celebration of Old School Live Journal Timely, given my post about how LJ is not dead is this article where the author waxes nostalgic about LJ and the connections she made through it. Not good enough to keep her invested in using it, and she inadvertently makes a case against Tumblr and it's inability to foster the same kind of personal connections, but it's still an interesting read – and some of the comments on the article are made by current LJ users.

Hapax and Heyer, Austen and Irony, or, What I should have said an interesting article in which the author talks about the difference between the works of Georgette Heyer and those of Jane Austen.

13 Things Fan Fiction Writers Are Very Tired Of Explaining. Yes, we can and usually do write non-fanfic, and actually, writing fic usually isn’t “just a phase” are two of the gems here.

In my mini-meta about sexuality in mainstream vs non-mainstream fiction, I mentioned two articles that I think warrant mention in and of themselves:
The Thing about Reading Fanfic and Original Slash you get used to that particular writing/reading culture after a while. You get used to the frank discussions of sexuality and kink, the close attention to diversity and social justice issues in the text, the unrestrained creativity when it comes to plot. The most amazing, creative, engaging stories I’ve ever read have almost all been fanfiction, and I think part of that is because there’s no limitations placed on the authors.
And
Halt & Catch Pointless Heterosexuality looking particularly at "Supernatural" but addressing issues of representation and queer baiting on the whole: "There are a lot of different rationales fans and viewers put forward in the argument that Dean should not be shown as canonically bisexual, one being that “the show is not about that” or that it would “distract from the story” or that it “serves no purpose.” Alright, well, for the moment let’s just skip over the fact that no one in the history of ever has argued that depictions of heterosexuality ought to be relegated only to shows that are “about” romance/sex. Or that canonical affirmation of a character’s heterosexuality “distracts” from the story. Or that a character’s heterosexuality “serves no purpose” so it should not be present in the narrative at all. Let’s just skip over the queer-phobic nature of demanding that same-sex eroticism constantly justify its own existence in media in a way heterosexuality NEVER EVER EVER is called upon to do. Let’s just by-pass that particular issue, for the moment." The author is rightfully angry about how queer identities are treated.
meridian_rose: Darken Rahl (legend of the seeker) head in hands with text ANGST ANGST ANGST ANGST (cesare slap)
I received a review on an older fic - it's always nice to get comments on older fics, and fics in small fandoms, and this was both. However the writer was under the impression that there were "minor spelling and grammar" errors. Now this is a fic that I edited before posting to AO3, but which has never been beta read. So I copied and pasted the AO3 version into Word to have another look.

I found I'd used portacabin when I mean the propriety term Portakabin. Fair enough. Maybe it was because I used some non-standard words within the dialogue, "lemme see" rather than "let me see" as a nod to a character's speech patterns. I couldn't find any other errors. Then I thought, oh-oh.



Changing the text from UK to US in Word showed up a whole lot of "errors", eg favourite, neighbour. However these are not errors in my work. I try to have characters use the correct terms "elevator" rather than "lift", for example, if the character is American. But I'm British, and I write a variety of characters, fandoms, and original works, and I am not going to start spelling words without a u in them "Because America".


Team America: World Police. "It's okay, we got the terrorists!"

Do I need to have the spelt vs spelled debate again?



#yesIknow #notallAmericans #BritishEnglish
meridian_rose: pen on letter background  with text  saying 'writer' (Default)
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang The original post contains information about the film "Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang" and I've reblogged with critical commentary/review of the movie – I enjoyed it, but there are some issues around beauty=good that need addressing.

Gifs 5 x Borgias gifs made by me for a landcomm challenge

Da Vinci's Demons flashback gifs Gifs not made by me, but I've reblogged with commentary on character development, and the skill of the writers and actors, based on this scene and how it changed the way I thought about a character.

Civil Partnerships For Everyone link to an article from the guardian about why Civil Partnerships (rather than civil marriages) should be available to everyone, I quote from the article and associated comments and give some of commentary of my own

Costume Dramas A reblogged link to a post by arrogant historical author Hilary Mantel who thinks she's marvellous (and everything else is crap) because she prizes historical accuracy over anything else (like say, a plot that can be followed, or characters you can root for). I lay out my reasons for not wanting to ever read any of her work, but basically in any genre you can't point to books or shows I love and then say "That crap? Well it's the same genre only my stuff is good" and expect me to regard you with anything other than utter contempt.
In fact another article talks about The Tudors, singled out by Mantel for criticism, as being unfairly derided – "the show actually sticks much more closely and in greater detail to the historical record than any other production" and concludes that "despite the condescending remarks of the British press, the show is actually intellectually far more demanding than “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”. Perhaps its chief offense is being “pop” rather than “literary”. I reblog the article here and agree that it's literary snobbery that is at play, given how the mainstream British press were rude about The Borgias while preferring the low budget Borgia for reasons that seemed to come down "it's foreign".

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