Blackcherri-stuff - Blackcherri

“Try to dig a perfect hole. I know that sounds really weird. Who cares if your hole is perfect? But if you’re going to be out there six hours a day, you have to give yourself a purpose. You can either groan about how stupid it is to dig a hole, or you can tell yourself you’re doing something important. You’re digging the best hole anyone’s ever dug. […] When you’re done, stand over your hole. Take time to admire it, no matter how tired and sore you feel. You worked hard digging that hole, and you should take pride in a job well done. And then spit in it. Because, after all, it’s just a stupid hole, and you are better than that.”

— Stanley Yelnats’ Survival Guide To Camp Green Lake

This is insane

to whomstever transformative work writers it may concern -

this is plagiarism.

"Once upon a time, a beautiful vampire lord lived in a splendid palace in a seaside city with his seven lowly spawn, whom he starved and kept in perpetual terror." vs "Once upon a time, a gorgeous vampire lord lived in a splendid palace in a seaside city with his seven sad spawn, whom he starved and kept in perpetual terror."

(almost word-for-word the same sentence and scenario, no true distinguishing features, probably not a sentence two people would uniquely come up with in its entirety)

this is derivative.

"Once upon a time, a beautiful vampire lord lived in a splendid palace in a seaside city with his seven lowly spawn, whom he starved and kept in perpetual terror." vs "Before our story truly began, there were seven poor vampire spawn who lived in constant fear under their beautiful, but terrible, master in the seaside city of Baldur's Gate."

(same scenario or trope, similar voice/phrasing, but a wholly unique work, with clear nods to the influencing material)

this is two writers with a similar voice.

"Once upon a time, a beautiful vampire lord lived in a splendid palace in a seaside city with his seven lowly spawn, whom he starved and kept in perpetual terror." vs "In times of old, a bustling city full of trade sat beside a sea, and in it lived a vampire lord of most evil repute. This is not his story."

(similar tone and voice, dissimilar approach)

this is none of the above.

"Once upon a time, a beautiful vampire lord lived in a splendid palace in a seaside city with his seven lowly spawn, whom he starved and kept in perpetual terror." vs "Cazador Szarr made a deal with the devil. That's how this whole thing started. Part of that deal? Find seven pretty suckers and carve a contract into their flesh. Keeping them as slaves in his shitty basement was just a bonus, really."

(same source material, same scenario, but unique voice/approach/style)

in case you needed to review the difference. stop hassling people because they used the same trope/scenario/word that you did. it's embarrassing. and it's the mark of an amateur, tbh.

hot take incoming: revolt and revolution doesn't create a fair and equitable society. it creates a power vaccum, which is terrifying because it is incredibly fertile ground for all sorts of warlords, aspiring tyrants, paramilitary extremists, and imperial powers to swoop in and start doing atrocities over it. You can put a new society in a power vaccum, but so can anyone else, and most of those potential outcomes are going to be horrifying, not to mention to the hellscape interim period.

To create a fair and equitable society you need to know civics, administration, diplomacy, and yes, statecraft. Yes they're boring and unglamorous and icky and gross. But i promise that you need them. They are mandatory. Not optional.