War and Hate on Planet Venus

I like to think that while he can be oblivious to people flirting with him, I think he ignores advances and flirting on purpose.

He has no interest in dating or sex, and after that one time he decided to give it a try and it ended with her telling him he has his "head in the cloudw", he just sorta gives up. The breakup was more of a relief for him, if anything. He can't be bothered to put work into something he just... doesn't enjoy or has no interest in.

Grace getting flirted with as a teacher, when some of the single parents of his kids find out he's not seeing anyone. Just trying to shoot their shot.

Grace ignore all of them, trying to act professional and just pretend to be oblivious for his own sake. He doesn't wanna acknowledge their attempts at flirting nor does he wanna actually have to tell someone no, so.. he finds that ignoring people like this usually works.

I like the idea of Grace being very much aware that other people find him attractive and him just being mostly annoyed because it is an inconvenience for him.

Man if people are gonna pretend to listen to him while just fantasizing about him he would just prefer if they didn't talk to him at all.

It's just a skill issue on everyone else's part if they find him attractive.

First of all, thank you for hosting so many discussions on your blog. It's always incredibly interesting to learn how fandom-related outlooks and experiences differ between individuals.

The topic of feedback and beta-reading has been particularly curious to me. However, while reading through the responses, I couldn't shake off the feelings that the underlying definitions used by each person may also be a fascinating thing to explore.

As such, if you don't mind: what would you describe as "inappropriate feedback"? What characteristics does it have? And likewise, what do you think is "appropriate feedback"? What's your personal guideline for that? Thank you for answering, and well... I would be thrilled to learn what your audience thinks too. 👉👈

Feedback that I give during beta reading is quite different from comments I leave on posted works.

First of all, when I'm a beta, I'm seeing the work while it's still being actively worked on and edited. That means I can make suggestions that I wouldn't make on a posted work - anything that's posted won't be edited beyond fixing typos.

Second of all, when I'm a beta I have a relationship with the author. I might or might not know them beyond being their beta, but as their beta I've talked to them about their story. I know what their goal is for the fic. I've asked about what their priorities are, what they're trying to improve, what they don't want me to comment on.

So for me, "appropriate feedback" is anything that falls within the boundaries they've asked for help with, that I have knowledge of, and that is aimed at helping the author make their story the best that it can be.

Inappropriate feedback would be:

commenting on something they've asked me not to comment on

commenting on an aspect that I'm not knowledgeable about (for example, I won't comment on characterization if I'm a casual fan or if I haven't interacted with canon at all)

making suggestions that would change their writing style to be more like my writing style

making suggestions that would change the story into something different from what they've told me they're trying to do

My goal as a beta is to help an author solidify the story they're already telling, clarify the voice they're already using, and support any areas where they feel like they need support.

I also love it when authors allow me to cheer read and add in comments about parts that I particularly enjoy. Not everyone wants that, but it makes me so happy to have that little back and forth of "OMG I LOVE THIS!" and "YAY! I'm glad that worked!"

Cheer reader comments are the kinds of things that I leave on posted fics as well.

The goal is to help the work become the best version of itself. I think the worst thing you can say when you are doing data for someone else is a flat “I don’t like this.” it’s not just that that kind of negativity can be really discouraging to the author, which it can, but also that you’re not giving them anything to work with. What do you wanna say is “I think this paragraph is too short for the rhythm on the page”. Or “ you’ve combined two ideas here that need more space to breathe.”that kind of thing.

People of tumblr, I believe in you. I trust you to make the right choice. I truly believe we can make this a reality. We have the power. We can achieve anything we put our minds to.

also, for the unaware: mclaughlin v. florida was a 1964 supreme court case that struck down a florida anti-miscegenation law that criminalized cohabitation (and thus, as implied, sex) between white people and people of color of opposite genders. anti-miscegenation laws made marriage and sexual relationships between white people and people of color, most often specifically black people, a FELONY in several states in the united states up until the 1950s and 1960s. though it was already struck down by the supreme court, the state of alabama didn't repeal their law until 2000! there were THREE ATTEMPTS at codifying anti-miscegenation into the us constitution!

like yes, the issue here is partially straight white people's ignorance on the united states's history of homophobic policy, but it's also really important to recognize that arguably the majority of the issue here is straight white people's ignorance of the united states's history of codifying eugenics and antiblack racism.

I think of the "life is reason" part of the film not only answers the astrophage situation in Tau Ceti, but also the underline reason Grace chooses to go get Rocky personally.

paramedic: hi, I'm Allan

me: you told me. and your colleague is Jim, and the man who found me is Peter. guess my short-term memory is okay

me: well my feet are still freezing but it's okay, I know you need to focus on getting my core temperature up first