Anyway This Twitter Thread By NK Jemisin Is All I Care About

Anyway this Twitter thread by NK Jemisin is all I care about

Do you have any advice for writing a fight scene that was also present in canon?

I really love your take on the Midoriya vs. Todoroki fight in Anyone and how you managed to use the expectations set by canon and twist and use them to your advantage!

I have trouble writing the fight from the first hero training inside my fic (I swapped Ochako with Shinsou to spice it up a bit more and for changed friendship dynamics). I know the direction I want it to go and I know how I want it to end but for the life of me I don't know how to make it interesting... every time I sit down and write it I think it's boring writing it. And if I think it's boring while I am writing it I don't even want to imagine how boring it is to read.

🙏

Okay, first rule about rewriting a fight that was already in canon: if you're not changing anything and if you're not interesting in writing it just for writing it, just skip them.

Instead of writing ten pages you're simply not vibing with, a "X was still thinking about Y and Z fight. The way X had just hit Z with that fire extinguisher had been a sight to behold. [Insert how he feels for one or the two participants". He breathed in, then out. It was now time to focus." will be much simpler for everyone involved.

Only writing the consequences is also a valid approach.

That way, you and your readers directly get to the juicy part.

But that's if you're not interested in writing the fight in itself. If you really want to write a fight scene, think about two things: 1. What changed in your AU and how does that affect the characters? What's the differences? 2. Who needs to win?

Once you know that, you can focus on the fight. Do you want a character to almost lose but to win because they simply refuse to stay down? Do you want them to win because they are smarter? Do you want they to win because they are an enraged gremlin that has no chill?

I have four tricks when it comes to writing fight scenes.

1. Focus on emotions.

People are made of different motivations. Why do they need to win? Do they respect their opponent? Do they hate them? Do they look for their respect? Are they friends?

For example: Bakugou and Iida vs Midoriya and Uraraka

Bakugou doesn't respect anyone and is focused on Deku. He wants to prove that he doesn't belong in UA and he wants to know what Deku really thinks of him (since he thought he had lied about not having a quirk and he is completely unhinged at the time because nothing makes sense.)

Izuku wants to prove that he belongs in UA, wants to stop being afraid of Kacchan, and wants him to know that he isn't his punching ball anymore.

Ochako wants to win with Midoriya but she doesn't have an emotional stake in this.

Tenya wants to win but also shows that he understands all the rules of the exercise (since he failed to notice that there were rescue points in the entrance exam), hence why he is completely in character as a villain. He also has to win despite Bakugou.

2. Remember that the reader doesn't live in your head

I won't ask you to keep things simple when you write a fight scene but please, always keep in mind that your reader has to understand what is going on. They have to follow what you're saying, and preferably, they don't have to hurt their brains while doing so.

So, if you reread an action and have to pause to remember what it was about, rewrite it.

3. POV switches, my beloved

That's a me thing. Maybe it won't agree with you. But oh boy, I do love my POV switches. That way, you can surprise the reader since A doesn't know what B is about to do. You can also explore the psyche of both characters in the same fight.

Another thing that is fun to do is the Outsider POV. You're writing about the Sport Festival, an event that is on TV and that your readers are already familiar with. Introducing some novelty by having outsiders react to the fight will bring some spice and is good for your story.

For example: Bakugou vs Uraraka in the Sport Festival.

Tomura noticing that Bakugou has a powerful quirk, real instinct when it comes to fighting, and how the public is quick to turn on him because he isn't winning like a hero should, even though winning is the whole point of the fight. Society is hypocritical! He is ostracized because of his quirk! It might be fun to recruit him!

Other example in the first Hero lesson this time: All Might, a new teacher, noticing what the students lacks and what their strengths are.

4. Write what you would have wanted to see in the fight

We're fanfic writers! Being self indulgent is the whole point!

For the First Hero Lesson, I always have Izuku dominating the fight by being OP.

I could also have him winning by booby trapping the entire building and playing Katsuki like a fiddle.

For the Sport Festival, Todoroki vs Midoriya, I focus more on Todoroki actually harming himself (not to Izuku's extent but he flirts with hypothermia to prove a point) and I researched the side effects of hypothermia to show how he kept weakening himself, and I focus on Izuku being angry because he, a boy defined by his past powerlessness, is fighting someone extremely powerful who is limiting himself, which is simply disrespectful.

For the Sport Festival again, if I ever write Bakugou vs Uraraka, I would love to use Uraraka trash talking Bakugou to get inside his head.

So, to conclude this, things about what interests you in a Shinsou and Midoriya team up, then work from that.

Good luck.

[ID: Reed Erickson, a trans man with styled hair, wearing a dark suit and posing with his hands folded. END ID.]

Reed Erickson (1917–1992)

Excerpts from the podcast Making Gay History, S04E07: Reed Erickson.

“He was really accepted in society, both for his relationships with women and his transition, which is really interesting when you think about the 1960s. There were very few people who could so openly and publicly transition, let alone maintain multiple marriages.”

“The influence of the Erickson Educational Foundation cannot be stressed enough. We today would not have trans health care, period, without the funding and the information provided by the Erickson Educational Foundation.”

“It was the first organisation in the world that actually provided support and information to trans people, both through its newsletters and publications as well as an in-person office where people could call or drop in to receive information.”

“Essentially, the framework that trans rights organisations use today in terms of collecting resources by area and distributing them to trans people in need, is based off the work of the Erickson Educational Foundation. So without that, the modern trans movement as we know it would not exist.”

[ID: Three photos of Reed Erickson. In the first, he is standing with his girlfriend Daisy Harriman, wearing a dark suit while she wears a pink dress. In the second, he is posing shirtless, with his top surgery scars visible and obvious facial hair. In the third, he is posing with his wife Ailene and their daughter, in the late 1960s. END ID.]

Trans history involves a fabric of people across generations and cultures. Many trans stories have been erased, particularly trans male contributions, in favour of the myth that Stonewall rioting was the single galvanising event responsible for all progress.

Remember:

Trans men have always existed, and have always been involved in the fight for trans rights.

Stonewall was vitally important, but LGBT+ activism existed before then, too. To think otherwise is to erase the hard work done by the full spectrum of LGBT+ people.

Erasing trans male history further isolates modern-day trans men, and perpetuates the myth that we have never been involved with our own communities. Erasing cis gay and lesbian history perpetuates the myth that our communities have never overlapped, or acted as allies to one another. If you’re passionate about Stonewall, for example, I suggest you educate yourself about Stormé DeLarverie, AKA “the gay community’s Rosa Parks”. She instigated the uprising.

There is not one single person, or one single event, which is responsible for all progress.

idk can we stop…treating a.ce disc.ourse like it’s some haha funney cringe compilation or whatever the fuck because it fucking destroyed the entire ace and aro communities. there is no solid aspec community on tumblr anymore (which was by far the biggest number of aspec ppl). exclusionists took our community and fucking smashed it to pieces and y'all treat it as this fucking stupid joke when they traumatized, gaslit, and abused an entire group of queer people back into the closet. fuck every single person who doesn’t take that seriously.

All I'm gonna say on the bi lesbian discourse is that a lot of what I see said against bi women using the term lesbian just seems like people took other kinds of biphobia and changed some of the words, and/or just blatantly ignored bi history (especially when it comes to past biphobia).

"No, you can't use the term queer lesbian! That word doesn't apply to you even if it has historically!"

"I know bihet was a biphobic phrase used to push out bi people from the community, especially when they dared to be in a m/f relationship, but if you call yourself a bi lesbian why did you get so upset when we called you a bihet?!"

"You're fetishising lesbians by dating lesbians/girls calling yourself this umbrella term!"

Like. Do you really think I haven't seen this before? I'm not even a bi lesbian and my biphobia alarm is sounding. I don't even really have to dig deep to find this sort of original biphobia that bi lesbian exclusionism reminds me so much of; why should I trust you to tell me this is harmful when from a glance I can't separate you from a biphobe who isn't talking about bi lesbians?

[id: a DNI banner that has a pale bi flag in the background, and two drawn Espurr on each end of the banner. The text reads: This post asks a rhetorical question. Bi lesbian exclusionists DNI. I'm not actually asking you, you idiots. I'm just gonna block you if you try to start something. / End ID]

We are forced to live in a system that steals from us daily, Kill snitch culture.