The Evening Kansan-Republican, Newton, Kansas, June 19, 1911

Or did it technically declare all fanfics as canon? 🤔

pb opened up a wormhole for fanfic writers with all of these alternate timelines, new ships alternate stories varying outcomes like holy shit this site is going to write so hard that word processors everywhere will stage unpaid overtime protests

how to write a fat character

by: your local fat writer 

media seems to do such a terrible job at representing people like me and same goes for many fic writers who try to base their characters on these characters shown in media. Here are some basic do’s and and don’t’s to writing fat characters! 

DONT:

make your character in love with food- they’re allowed to eat like everyone else, but not every real fat person has an obsession over food. The rule can get iffy if your fat character is a cook.*

make your character the center of jokes- everyone has something “funny” about them, but don’t make your fat character constantly make jokes about their own weight. Fat people get enough bullshit from skinny people about their weight already. 

make your character incredibly unfit- there are real fat people who are incredibly athletic! their weight may be from genetics or from proper muscle building (not the muscle building we’re groomed to think is right in society). The choices your character makes is what affects their athleticism, not their weight 

make your character the Depressed One- yes, fat people do get upset over their body. Many go through horrible diets to try and get slim. It takes years for real fat people to get over it and realize their body is horrible gross. Their weight can simply be because of genetics, not because of how much they eat. 

make your character’s arc about things involving their weight- unless your fat character ABSOLUTELY needs to involve food, don’t make this their entire character arc. There are so many cooler things you can do with your character; sexuality, friends/family, simplifying the heroes journey, etc. make your character exciting! make them relatable! 

make your character the token fat character- the real world has many types of people, the fantasy world should not be too different from this fact. Your characters should always show diversity, and sometimes repetition is good when its the right character type. 

*making your fat character a chef can be a risky move. think about why your fat character is a chef. was it because they’re the fat character? or is there something that influenced them to become a chef? choose your answer carefully

DO:

make your character’s interests diverse- I like food! but i also like many other things! video games, bike riding, painting, singing, give your character varying interests! maybe your character has that one thing they love above all else. the game Fire Emblem: Awakening has always been my go-to favorite thing, what’s your character’s?

make your character an individual- develop their personality! how would your character react to seeing the ASPCA commercials? What’s their reaction when a family member dies? When their favorite artist is performing in town? Are there songs that make them emotional? What do they do to de-stress? Do they stim? There’s PLENTY you can say about your character that isn’t just “I love food.”

make your character as realistic as possible- just as skinny people are diverse, so are fat people. When you’re describing a fat character, don’t default to “pear shaped.” there are proportionate and disproportionate fat people. maybe they have fatter thighs than they do calves, their stomach pops out but they don’t have “bingo wings,” maybe their chin does that weird thing or maybe it doesn’t (this happens to skinny people, too!). and don’t forget stretch marks. they are real and they are not “taboo.”

write your character as if they’re like any other- it all boils down to one thing: the similarities and differences. I’m an XL and my friend is an XS, we both enjoy oversized hoodies! She would wear hoodies in the summer but I would rather walk around shirtless (if society didn’t tell us boobs are bad.) I would never wear short shorts when exercising because they ride up my thighs. Your fat character can act just the same as your skinny one(s).

also, on this blessed day of trans visibility, here’s a reminder to cis people not to be gross when showing support. you talking about how hot and sexy you think trans people are isn’t you supporting and empowering us, it’s you fetishizing us and it harms us.

also when showing support if you could refrain from saying cisnormative stuff like “wow you look so good you can hardly tell you’re trans” or “you look like more of a girl/guy than i do!!” bc that just implies “looking trans” is a bad thing, or that trans people even look a certain way to begin with, or that trans people are inferior to cis people. just give us regular compliments like you would anyone else.

and of course, don’t ask for deadnames or pre-transition selfies. if a trans person wants you to know, they’ll tell you themselves. if they want you to see what they were like pre-transition/in the closet they’ll show you. bringing that shit up can be very triggering, or it might not bother them at all but either way it’s none of your business and it isn’t your right to ask.

if anyone has any other things cis people should be cautious of for tdov feel free to add on, make sure nobody gets hurt.

say it with me

liking a character ≠ condoning their actions

understanding a character ≠ condoning their actions

relating to a character ≠ condoning their actions

never assume that only because someone likes/understands/relates to a character that they see this character as “perfect” and don’t recognise their flaws

if you ever doubt your writing, be it your themes, or the reason behind it, remember that h.g wells wrote war of the worlds both as a commentary on colonialism and the horrors it brings, and because he fucking hated his neighbours and his 13 hour job, and wanted to write about the town in which he lived getting blasted to the fucking ground by lasers into an irreparable heap and all of the townspeople dying painfully 

you, too, can channel your hatred for that guy that lives down the hall and blasts music at 4am into the one of the most influential science fiction stories ever written! fuck it! i believe in you!!  

Writing Characters Who Don’t Know How to Relationship

Hey everyone, Abby here with another writing post! Today we’re talking about those classic characters, the ones who have crushes and no idea how to act on them.

Everyone knows that one person who can’t relationship. They can’t romance and at the moment it seems hopeless, but it’s also kind of entertaining to see how things work out for them. Today I’m giving advice on how to write that character, things to do and not to do, as well as some ideas to get the inspiration flowing.

So, your character doesn’t know anything about relationships. How do we know? These things usually start off with two things: a crush and a character who has no idea what to do with it. Do they act on it? Do they not? Do they stay friends? Do they just keep staring until their crush gets the message and asks them out? (That was weirdly specific but we’re rolling with it.) Who knows? Not them.

We’re also going to remember that anyone can have no idea how to relationship. It’s not always the quiet kid in the back with the high grades and big glasses, please remember this. It can be the star of the basketball team or the girl who’s friends with everyone. It can be anyone.

Also, there’s a difference between being “good in bed” and knowing how to maintain a proper relationship. There is a huge difference. Characters like this who get into serious relationships can end up being abusive or (more likely) only in it for the sex. If the other person wants a legitimate relationship, things aren’t going to work out.

If you’re character has no idea what they’re doing, they probably fall into one of two categories. They’ve either never been in a relationship or they’ve been in multiple that didn’t make it very far. So, you could probably consider them naive when it comes to relationships. So when they get into a real, lasting one, they’re going to be in love with the idea of being involved with someone. This can often be a misunderstanding or misinterpretation; they might project that love of being in a relationship onto the person they’re with, which could lead to some major issues.

Another problem is the media. It only portrays the extremes. You never see anything in the media about people in regular relationships, they’re either madly in love or falling apart. There’s no in between, and because your character has no experience to tell them otherwise they could fall into the trap of believing that’s the way real life goes. (Hint: it’s not.) This could end up creating a lot of unnecessary drama when things are going fine, because there’s nothing you would see in the news about that and your character expects action.

I just realized I’ve made this more of a list of the negatives of writing these characters. Why not some positives?

This is a relationship, and it’s important to them. If your character cares, they’re going to do everything they can to keep this relationship in a healthy state. This could include things like random little surprises, trips to random places for some time away, things like that. These things are all considered endearing and will definitely earn them some Romance Points™. 

If this character hasn’t been involved with anyone in a while (or ever) and they’re happy in their relationship, you bet they’re going to talk about it. This might include proclamations about how happy they are, how great their partner is, etc.

If your story is set in today’s world, the Internet is a thing. They’ll probably be turning to all sorts of articles to help them out, and the fact that they’re doing this is definitely a good thing. Even if they do something wrong, they cared enough to try.

So, there are some tips to follow. Just to get the ball rolling (because this topic isn’t a stranger to anyone, I’m sure) I’m going to throw in a few examples/ideas for your clueless characters.

Being afraid to talk to their crush.

Thinking about simple exchanges (saying hello in the hallways) for ten million years.

Finally working up the nerve to ask their crush out.

The intense joy that comes after they say yes.

Or the bout of sadness that comes from rejection.

Brainstorming little things to do, like making breakfast in bed or arriving to their house with a bouquet of flowers.

Intense confusion about first kisses, when they should happen, how they should go.

Long phone calls or texting late at night, being exhausted in the morning but it’s okay because at least they got to talk.

Things like this. I would probably die of a cute overload if book characters did anything like that; maybe I’m reading the wrong genre, but I don’t think I see enough of it.

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today. Like a lot of the topics I write about, there are plenty more pointers to give, but I think this would be enough to get you going. If there’s anything you’d like to see me write about in my next post, please don’t hesitate to leave a message in my ask. Until next time, stay lovely <333

I kept myself from writing my own original fiction for a long time because I worried so much about not writing “like other writers”.

I’d read an amazing book and want to make a reader feel all the things I was feeling, but then decided “well, there’s no way I can write like THAT” and whatever inspiration I had would die.

Listen. You don’t have to write like other writers. You have to write like YOU.

No one can write the way you can, because your voice belongs to you and only you.

I finally stopped listening to the voice that told me I shouldn’t write because I wouldn’t be as good as other writers. And when I did, I wrote a book in a little over a month.

Write the stories that you would want to read. Write the stories that you’ve been hiding in your heart.

Write them, because no one else can.

I also often feel the emotions my characters are going through.

things writers can (probably) relate to

-making the facial expression your character’s making and trying to describe it

-writing entire scenes in your head as you shower and not remembering most of it by the time you get to your computer

-deciding you can’t do something you’ve been looking forward to until you write what you told yourself you were going to write, resulting in you laying in your bed doing nothing

-having two completely different ideas for your story to go in and both seem equally good but you can’t do both and you also can’t choose

-having docs with stories you know you’ll never finish but not deleting them anyway, even if they’re only a couple sentences long

-getting random bursts of productivity that could go towards homework or cleaning your room or writing and you know you’ll only be able to do one

-getting inspiration from the most random things

-writing at inopportune times because a perfect line or dialogue just popped into your head and you have to get it down before you forget it

-“what are you writing?” “……..a story”

- “what do you want to do when you grow up?” “uunnghnnggguughhhhh”

-reveling in the embarrassment you put your characters through

Some examples of why the Oxford comma is generally a good idea