Expanding A Thought From A Conversation This Morning:

Expanding a thought from a conversation this morning:

In general, I think "Is X out-of-character?" is not a terribly useful question for a writer. It shuts down possibility, and interesting directions you could take a character.

A better question, I believe, is "What would it take for Character to do X?" What extremity would she find herself in, where X starts to look like a good idea? What loyalties or fears leave him with X as his only option? THAT'S where a potentially interesting story lies.

In practice, I find that you can often justify much more from a character than you initially dreamed you could: some of my best stories come from "What might drive Character to do [thing he would never do]?" As long as you make it clear to the reader what the hell pushed your character to this point, you've got the seed of a compelling story on your hands.

Some of My Favorite Ways to Describe a Character Who’s Sick

pressing their forehead into something cool or comfortable (this could be an array of things. the table, the floor, someones leather jacket, their water bottle, the countertop)

warm to the touch, or heat radiating from them (could be noticed if someone’s gauging their temperature with their hands, hugging them, or just generally touching them)

leaning into people’s touch, or just spontaneously leaning on them (like pressing into their hand when someone’s checking their temp, or just, like, literally walking up and laying their head on them from fatigue. bonus points if the character is usually feral and the other is scared to engage™︎)

falling asleep all over the place (at the dinner table, on their homework, in the car, in the bathroom — just being so exhausted from doing literally nothing)

being overly emotional (crying over things that don’t usually bother them, like their siblings arguing, or their homework, or literally just nothing)

stumbling/careening/staggering into things (the wall, furniture, other people. there is no coordination in feverish brains. running into chairs, hitting the door, falling over the couch, anything and everything)

slurring their words (could be from fatigue or pain. connecting words that shouldn’t be connected, murdering all of their conversations with the excessive use of ‘mm’ and ‘nn’ in place of words) (this is my favorite thing ever)

being overly touchy (basically like a sick kid — just hold them, please. do that thing where you brush their hair back out of their face, or rub circles on their back, or snuggle them. they won’t care. bonus points if this is also the feral character and they refuse to believe it afterwards)

being extremely resistant to touch (flinching away when they usually don’t so someone can’t feel the fever, not letting themselves be touched because they’re so tired they just know they’ll be putty in their hands if they do)

growing aggressive or being extremely rude (it’s a defense mechanism — they feel vulnerable and are afraid of being manipulated or deceived while they’re ill)

whimpering/whining/groaning (this was in my “characters in pain” post but it’s so good that i’m putting it here too. this shite is gold, especially if it’s just an involuntary reaction to their symptoms)

having nightmares caused by a fever and/or delirium (crying and murmuring in their sleep, or being awake but completely out of it and convinced they’re somewhere else)

making themselves as small as possible (curling up into a ball everywhere they lay, hunching over slightly when standing, wrapping their arms around themselves)

TW for vomiting below cut !!

sleeping in the bathroom floor because they keep getting sick over and over (bonus if someone finds them all weak and pitiful. bonus bonus if they find them there in the morning only to learn they’ve been there all night)

using their hands/other body parts to clamp over their mouth so nothing can come out (like pulling their knees up to their chest and using that, or like, their arm, y’know) (~maccreadysbaby who has emetophobia suddenly gets very awkward about this post~) (~yes i have a phobia of puke and still write this happening to my characters, shut up~) (~it’s about the hurt/comfort okay~)

sympathy pukers (people who aren’t the sick ones but get nauseous/vomit when they see someone else throw up) (~aka me~) (~okay I’m done now~)

dry heaving (it’s gross, but good for making your characters absolutely freaking miserable)

rolling/churning/spinning/cramping/ lurching and all those awesome words that describe what stomachs do when sick (i hate these words with a deep, fiery passion. but they’re good for writing or whatever)

Save a fanfic writer, leave comments on old fics

There is this a peculiar set of reasons and biases when it comes to NOT commenting on AO3.

They are all false, but here they are:

Do not comment on old fics

Do not comment on each chapter of a multichapter

Do not comment if the author left the fandom

Do not comment if the author doesn’t respond to comments

It can be summoned up as DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU ENJOYED THE WORK AND YOU LIKE THE AUTHOR.

It comes from the idea, that if you leave a comment on my old work, or leave too many comments, I will think you are strange, clingy, and gross.

Readers are imagining it as commenting on an old Facebook photo — only your granny and creepy strangers do that.

That is not the case with AO3.

Writers put their works there for long-term storage, and we expect, wish, and hope that you will like our works and tell us about it.

This all very interesting, not, but why should I care?

This has awful consequences.  Fanfic authors feel constant pressure to create more and crippling fear of being forgotten, useless, and being literally kicked away from fandom.

I’m online friends with a few great fandom authors, who wrote storied with thousands of kudos, but ALL of them at some point expressed this fear. Very talented people told me, “I’m not sure if I should have ‘writer’ in my bio. I didn’t post anything new in the last half of a year.”

Some young or entitled readers might say, “Hm, well, they are right. They should create MORE to be relevant. Isn’t that a good thing to push authors to write more?”

For better or worse, life doesn’t work like that. We are talking about real people, who go to real schools, have real jobs, families, and all the other important things outside the fandom. Some of them might push to create more from that fear, but most would only get more frustrated and depressed about the whole fanfic writing.

So, please, if you like the work comment on it.

Even if it’s old, even if it’s a multichapter, even if the author doesn’t have time and energy to interact. Especially in all those cases.

Encourage your authors, and show them your support.

UPD:

my previous post How to start writing comments

explanation about fics from 70s by olderthannetfic. Thank you so much for it.

Save a fanfic writer, leave comments on old fics

There is this a peculiar set of reasons and biases when it comes to NOT commenting on AO3.

They are all false, but here they are:

Do not comment on old fics

Do not comment on each chapter of a multichapter

Do not comment if the author left the fandom

Do not comment if the author doesn’t respond to comments

It can be summoned up as DO NOT ACT LIKE YOU ENJOYED THE WORK AND YOU LIKE THE AUTHOR.

It comes from the idea, that if you leave a comment on my old work, or leave too many comments, I will think you are strange, clingy, and gross.

Readers are imagining it as commenting on an old Facebook photo — only your granny and creepy strangers do that.

That is not the case with AO3.

Writers put their works there for long-term storage, and we expect, wish, and hope that you will like our works and tell us about it.

This all very interesting, not, but why should I care?

This has awful consequences.  Fanfic authors feel constant pressure to create more and crippling fear of being forgotten, useless, and being literally kicked away from fandom.

I’m online friends with a few great fandom authors, who wrote storied with thousands of kudos, but ALL of them at some point expressed this fear. Very talented people told me, “I’m not sure if I should have ‘writer’ in my bio. I didn’t post anything new in the last half of a year.”

Some young or entitled readers might say, “Hm, well, they are right. They should create MORE to be relevant. Isn’t that a good thing to push authors to write more?”

For better or worse, life doesn’t work like that. We are talking about real people, who go to real schools, have real jobs, families, and all the other important things outside the fandom. Some of them might push to create more from that fear, but most would only get more frustrated and depressed about the whole fanfic writing.

So, please, if you like the work comment on it.

Even if it’s old, even if it’s a multichapter, even if the author doesn’t have time and energy to interact. Especially in all those cases.

Encourage your authors, and show them your support.

Re practising my hiragana again after two years of break and I forget everything. I’m practising them since yesterday. I hope I can learn them all before December ends hehehe