Kai

WIP: Daughter of Fairies and Humans

Pronouns: She/her

Sexual orientation: questioning, but she’ll discover that she’s greyromantic and polyamorous.

13 - Birthday: August 29th

Species: Human

Smol Lizzi is Lilian’s younger sister, and she will accompany her in the search of her father. Lizzi loves writing, birds, and she usually draws in her notebook between the pages of her diary. I should also mention that she’s mute and usually communicates using sign language!

.

“Lizzi! Don’t run so fast! ”I yelled. I heard the crunch of a nearby branch and went in that direction, but there was no one there. I kept running in the direction my sister had disappeared, but couldn’t reach her. After a few minutes running, I heard something. A man’s voice. "Be still, you little rascal!” I didn’t recognize the voice, but I assumed they had my sister. I started to worry, and I noticed how a cold sweat ran down my back.”

If you’d like to be on the taglist of my WIP please let me know!

So you’re an old timey writer who enjoys the feeling of paper as you breathe life into a story? Or, like me, you can’t use your phone at school and just wants to get some writing done while math class bores the others? 

Well, me too and I’ve come to your aid! I’ve done some pretty stupid things that costed me hours and hours of searching for lost scenes and struggling to find ideas I knew I’d written down so you don’t have to! 

Find the right notebook for you

By experience, notebooks take a long time to be filled. In good nanowrimo times, I take from 6 to 8 months to finish one. So you’ll be stuck with this guy for a long time. Make sure to pick one that you like and is right for your needs. I, for example, prefer spiral notebooks. You can rip out pages if you need to (if you mess it up, if someone asks you for one, if you just need a page to write down a grocery list or something, etc) and you can put a pen on the spiral. I also like having a pocket to put pieces of ideas I have. 

Some spooky stories about having the wrong notebook: 

I got stuck with a brochure old planner for two years. My mom didn’t use it in the year it was meant for, so I thought oh, it’s free real estate. As it turns out, it had really small space between the lines, so the pages would take forever to fill, it had all those day and hour numbers and the paper was really thin. It was terrible and it made writing terrible. It would have been a thousand times better if I just spent a few bucks on a regular notebook. 

More recently, I started using just the kind of notebook I like, a spiral notebook with a pocket. But I bought it a couple of years ago at a fandom event I attended and the cover was a personalized Divergent cover. At the time, I thought if was pretty cool and everyone would know the reference. But now it has aged so very poorly. The cover has blood all over it and it says “Faction Before Blood”. So now I’m scared to pull it out to write at uni and people will think I’m in a gang or something. 

Number your pages

I know, it sounds like a lot of work. But you can get a notebook with pages already numbered, number it yourself or do it like I do and number it every 10 pages (just because it’s easier). If you don’t feel like doing all of this repetitive work,  date your writing. It’s cool to see how much you progressed, how long you have been writing this project, when you had this idea, etc. One thing doesn’t have to exclude the other, but both methods serve the same purpose. 

And this purpose is to help you get an idea of how much you write (and feel good about your progress) and to help you organize yourself on all you’ve been writing. Which takes us to the next tip. 

Make the first page an index

Not only it will take the pressure off the first page, it will also help you so you don’t keep losing the awesome stuff you’re writing and forgetting it exists. Everytime you start a new scene or change projects, go to the index and write down the page or the date you started this new section. Since I number every ten pages, I find the first page with a number on it and start counting forward or back to the new page. But you can do it in any way that suits you. 

Make a random idea page 

It doesn’t have to be the second page (it usually isn’t for me), but it’s good to have one. Sometimes, in the middle of writing, you have that great idea for something you need to change on what you’ve already got, or you got a completely new insight. It’s good to have your idea page somewhere close you can just flip to, write it down and get right back to writing. And don’t go easy on that page! Write it diagonally, vertically, draw on it, anything. It’s just there to take out those ideas so you can take a look at it another time and not mess the flow you’re in right now. 

Keep your enemies close. And your pen even closer!

You know your favorite bic friend? It has a secret weapon just for you to use. That little flap of the cap? Use it to keep your pen always close. I normally put it on the spiral of my notebook. But if you have a brochure, you can put it on the cover. Sometimes it damages it a bit, but it’s a good trade for having it always ready for action. If you use moleskine, I saw that they normally have designated pen places. If they don’t, I have a tip for it just under this one! 

Take your time to find which kind of pen is your weapon of choice. Personally, I think nothing beats a black ballpoint pen. I know some people like fineliners for writing, but they make the other side of the paper all gross looking and I like to keep it clean. Plus, I write really small and fineliners often bleed in my handwriting. I took my time searching for my favorite brand and I settled on Molin ballpoint pens. 

I would recommend buying your favorite pens in bulk. Nothing is worse than pen hunting around when you have an urgent idea. I bought 50 pens for super cheap and I stack them EVERYWHERE. In all my bags, in my sketchbooks, in my bullet journal, in my writing notebook, in my drawers, anywhere I think it will be easy to find one when I need it ( also giving some to my friends who keep stealing my pens).

Crafting the perfect notebook

You don’t have to be a crafter to modify your notebook to better suit you! Find a ribbon anywhere in the house. Cut it to be a little longer than the book. Tape that bad boy to the inside of the back cover and everytime you stop writing, put that ribbon on the page you stopped. This helps you not to get lost in your previous writing and get right back to business when you resume.

Also, if you really like that moleskine vibe but don’t have the cash, just get a regular clothing elastic, make cut it just the size of the notebook and glue both ends to the inner part of the back cover. There you go! Now you can close it (and keep it closed).  

If you like post-its, you can take half of the block (or however many sheets you cant put in there and still close the notebook comfortably) and glue it to the inside part of the cover of your notebook so it will always be conveniently available for you.

If your notebook doesn’t have a place to put your pen on and you really don’t want to mess up the cover, you  take a small elastic (smaller than the pen) and tape (or preferably glue it) it to the back part of the notebook with both ends inside. There! Ready for the trip! Speaking of which…

Always carry your notebook with you

You never know when inspiration is going to strike. In class. At the bank. In a mall. Whenever you have a little time, you can write something. Or just take a look at what you’ve done and feel good about it. 

Not in the mood for writing? Edit. Reread what you’ve done and start finding what you want to change once you type it in.  When doing this, don’t be scared to cross out entire sentences and rewriting them on top. If it starts getting too messy, go to a blank page and rewrite the scene and you think it should have been done the first time. It seems counter-intuitive in a copy+paste kind of age, but I assure you it is worth it.

Typing your work

This is one of the biggest reasons I love writing in pen and paper. When you type, your first round of editing is done! 

Don’t zone out when typing. As I said, typing is your first round of editing. It is important to keep aware of all of the things you might have done wrong when writing. Some people say writing it on paper and then typing it is a waste of time. I say it saves time and lives. 

Keep it loose!

Just because you are writing in an actual physical book, it doesn’t mean you are writing a actual physical book. This is still your notebook and these are still your notes. So don’t be afraid to get messy. Write things out of order (seriously, it’s okay to not go chronological. i know it’s hard). Outline. Sketch. Tip-ex the whole thing. Get post-its on it. Take notes. Make genealogical trees. Draw maps. 

If you’re feeling down or uninspired, try very basic writing exercises: write what you see, what you feel, something to try and make you laugh or something to make someone cry. It’s your place to express yourself. And once you got those creative juices flowing, happy writing :)

So, I have writing advice.

Your characters have to exist outside of your story. A lot of writers write about their characters so that they only exist within the story. When planning a character, give them a life outside of the actual story. 

Ask yourself: where did they grow up? what’s a niche hobby they have? did they ever move states or countries? when is their birthday? have they ever had any trauma? etc. The more information about their childhood, the better.

Then ask yourself: how did this affect them? 

Think, your characters have to be believable. When I’m reading, I need to see that your characters act like humans, and humans have little traits caused by childhood events. Everything that’s ever happened to your characters should appear in the character someway. E.g. they love illuminations because they grew up in New Orleans. 

Of course, you’ll never use all the information in your story but the reader will see that the character is psychologically consistent. 

Always, ALWAYS, base your story around your characters. Do not base your characters around your story. 

As your characters become more detailed, parts of your story should change to match the character. For example, say you have a character named Claire. Claire is shy, and mute for the most part. In your story planning, you had the idea of Claire talking a guy out of suicide. But, Claire is mute for the most part so a nervous hold of the hands would do better. It’d be in character and more wholesome. 

Drawn and brought to life by the amazing @kai-is-writing

You should check out they’re Twitter here!

Overall a great experience working with Kai, very professional and kept me updated throughout.

-Oh also I will be breaking up the size of the text in this post because I personally have a hard time reading blocks of text where the font size/type is all the same, sorry if this bothers anyone-

Please Do Not spend money to fund ao3, I’m not going to share my personal opinion about their website but I need to say that there are thousands of people who need money way more than ao3 and if you have money to donate please donate to them

There are people who are on disablity which in a quite a few cases is not enough to cover people’s full expenses and *especially* not any surprise expenses that pop up, there are people who have medical bills they cannot pay off, there are people who are transgender who cannot afford gender affirming therapy or transition, there are people who have gone through trauma who cannot afford therapy, there are people who need medical treatment for serious problems, there are people trying to escape from abusive situations. Donate to any of them or the thousands of other people who need money for various reasons. Even if it’s $1 or $5 or whatever. It is still one step closer to however much money they need

I have schizoaffective disorder and am on state medical and likely soon to be on disability, I have also grown up in poverty so I completely understand how difficult it is to struggle with money and can say that people who are in poverty or who struggle with disability or who are trying to escape abuse and feel comfortable accepting money from strangers it is almost always appreciated much more than this website with appreciate your donations.

Also I would like to clarify that you do not have to not spend money on something just because there’s a better cause, even within the arts you could spend money on a art commission or give money to an individual artist you like, which can include writers.

Ao3 DOES NOT pay writers

Ao3 DOES NOT pay writers

You ARE NOT supporting artists if you give ao3 money

Describing Characters without Othering

Mentioning skin tone, hair, and other physical features is literally how you represent someone; you describe what they look like. I mean, you could always outright say “They’re Black” to represent someone as well, but in general it’s a great idea to physically describe your Characters of Color. Personally, I always highly recommend it as an essential means of representation. 

It can become exoticizing in the following cases:

White people are not described, but only the People of Color. 

To only describe PoC would imply they’re the Other, who must be described because they break up the pattern of what readers should assume to be another white person, unless noted otherwise. This is easily remedied by describing everyone enough to indicate race (who is noteworthy enough to get a description). 

There’s a hyper-focus on particular features associated with the race

If, say, describing a Native American character you’re hyper focused on their cheekbones, or a Black character their lips, and describe them obsessively when no one character has their facial bone structure or lips mentioned, then it can become a bit exoticizing. 

It’s perfectly fine to mention those features, but it shouldn’t become the go-to point of description to indicate “she’s Native American / He’s Black.” And do be sure to let them be known for other traits, such as their voice, mannerisms or other physical features. What you’re trying to avoid is defining them by one racially-associated trait, like a caricature.

In Summary (Your Concerns in Particular)

From the snapchat you’ve given us, I don’t see a problem:

You’ve indicated you’re noting all races, including white people. Great! 

Describing a dark brow lifting (in particular) doesn’t really conjure one race that you’re trying to nudge readers to guess at. And again, you’re doing this sort of description for white characters too.

I don’t know enough of the root of the complaint to say “They’re wrong!” 

If all truly is well, this is a good example of how representation can be tricky as it’s a matter of opinions and personal perspectives, so it’s impossible to satisfy everyone. As long as you’re getting other point of views and doing your best in ways of research, keep moving forward with your diverse stories.

More reading:

The Do’s of Writing People of Color: Learn From Mistakes 

How to Write Yourself (and others) out of your Story

PSA to all you fantasy writers because I have just had a truly frustrating twenty minutes talking to someone about this: it’s okay to put mobility aids in your novel and have them just be ordinary.

Like. Super okay.

I don’t give a shit if it’s high fantasy, low fantasy or somewhere between the lovechild of Tolkein meets My Immortal. It’s okay to use mobility devices in your narrative. It’s okay to use the word “wheelchair”. You don’t have to remake the fucking wheel. It’s already been done for you.

And no, it doesn’t detract from the “realism” of your fictional universe in which you get to set the standard for realism. Please don’t try to use that as a reason for not using these things.

There is no reason to lock the disabled people in your narrative into towers because “that’s the way it was”, least of all in your novel about dragons and mermaids and other made up creatures. There is no historical realism here. You are in charge. You get to decide what that means.

Also:

“Depiction of Chinese philosopher Confucius in a wheelchair, dating to ca. 1680. The artist may have been thinking of methods of transport common in his own day.”

“The earliest records of wheeled furniture are an inscription found on a stone slate in China and a child’s bed depicted in a frieze on a Greek vase, both dating between the 6th and 5th century BCE.[2][3][4][5]The first records of wheeled seats being used for transporting disabled people date to three centuries later in China; the Chinese used early wheelbarrows to move people as well as heavy objects. A distinction between the two functions was not made for another several hundred years, around 525 CE, when images of wheeled chairs made specifically to carry people begin to occur in Chinese art.[5]”

“In 1655, Stephan Farffler, a 22 year old paraplegic watchmaker, built the world’s first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels.[6][3] However, the device had an appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design included hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.[2]

The invalid carriage or Bath chair brought the technology into more common use from around 1760.[7]

In 1887, wheelchairs (“rolling chairs”) were introduced to Atlantic City so invalid tourists could rent them to enjoy the Boardwalk. Soon, many healthy tourists also rented the decorated “rolling chairs” and servants to push them as a show of decadence and treatment they could never experience at home.[8]

In 1933 Harry C. Jennings, Sr. and his disabled friend Herbert Everest, both mechanical engineers, invented the first lightweight, steel, folding, portable wheelchair.[9] Everest had previously broken his back in a mining accident. Everest and Jennings saw the business potential of the invention and went on to become the first mass-market manufacturers of wheelchairs. Their “X-brace” design is still in common use, albeit with updated materials and other improvements. The X-brace idea came to Harry from the men’s folding “camp chairs / stools”, rotated 90 degrees, that Harry and Herbert used in the outdoors and at the mines.[citation needed]

“But Joy, how do I describe this contraption in a fantasy setting that wont make it seem out of place?”

“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince FancyPants McElferson propelled forwards using his arms to direct the motion of the chair.”

“It was a chair on wheels, which Prince EvenFancierPants McElferson used to get about, pushed along by one of his companions or one of his many attending servants.”

“But it’s a high realm magical fantas—”

“It was a floating chair, the hum of magical energy keeping it off the ground casting a faint glow against the cobblestones as {CHARACTER} guided it round with expert ease, gliding back and forth.”

“But it’s a stempunk nov—”

“Unlike other wheelchairs he’d seen before, this one appeared to be self propelling, powered by the gasket of steam at the back, and directed by the use of a rudder like toggle in the front.”

Give. Disabled. Characters. In. Fantasy. Novels. Mobility. Aids.

If you can spend 60 pages telling me the history of your world in innate detail down to the formation of how magical rocks were formed, you can god damn write three lines in passing about a wheelchair.

Aaaa this took me a little while but here we go!!

The text on the picture says: "Naela's loyal companion! This good boy is a shadow creature. A shadow wolf to be specific!"

This here is King, a shadow wolf!! He used to be a stray but Naela picked him up when she was around 10 y/o. He's currently with Neiomi since Naela travels a lot!! But he gets excited whenever Naela comes home and demands attention.

Some facts about shadow wolfs:

They can alter their size!! If they want to intimidate an opponent they grow bigger to scare the aggressor. If they're embarrassed and want to show regret/shame they shrink. Their actual heights can vary between 1.20 m up to 1.60 m! (Measured from their shoulders to the ground)

King is specifically around 1.40 m

A Shadow Wolf's fur is a dark black with shimmering white dots. It resembles the starry sky!

Though some people illegally sell their fur since it makes for pretty accessory

They're deemed by some people as sacred and are generally protected by laws

but people still manage to hunt and sell them (which upsets many people)

In the Elementari horoscope shadow wolfs are the equivalent to Scorpios :D

They're usually a peaceful species, living away from civilisation but sometimes they're a little closer to towns

There are two types of shadow wolfs! The ones from Elementaris and the ones from Celeste! Celestian Shadow Wolfs are usually bigger and shy even more away from civilisation. Otherwise they don't differ that much

They're not easy to tame but once they are they're extremely loyal and protective

They can perfectly see in the night but are sensitive to light

They can technically teleport

Your hand can sink into their fur and it will be completely gone. Their fur is also usually very soft!

The text says: "Clodika's Dragon! They may look like a bird but they're an actual Dragon and will get offended if called 'bird'. They've been with Clodika since birth! They're the same age too!"

Pls don't judge my wings, it's late here in Europe and I'm not used to traditional art!

Clodika and Pisces share their birthday and have been together ever since. Pisces can talk! And Fun Fact: as a kid, clodika called them pieps

Pisces is an Iris Peadragon (I might change the name!) And they're very colourful ones with feathers.

Some facts about Iris Peadragons:

Like majority of the dragons, they can speak and communicate with others

The males usually have a blue, purple and pink colour palette, while females have a turquoise, green, yellow colour palette! There are also ones with a mixed colour palette

Their claws are very sharp and they can move them similar to our hands (I wasn't able to show that in the drawing cuz I only came up with it after I drew the feet)

They aren't very big, the adults are as big as your average medium sized dog!

Pisces specifically isn't bigger than a teenage cat and can easily nap on Clodika's shoulder (yes I'm saying that Pisces is still a freaking baby)

Their life span is up in the thousands!

They all tend to be a bit prideful but they mean no harm, they just love their colours

Dragons count as regular citizens meaning if Pisces would be an adult and would have a job they'd have to pay taxes

They're herbivores and feed off of fruit

Okay what makes them special:

Since Shadow Wolfs are hard to tame it's equal to someone in our society having an actual wolf as a pet

Everyone would think it's the coolest shit ever

Though the government requires monthly check ups for the safety of the shadow wolf AND citizens lol

Bro don't hide that in the tags!! (And GOSH I must admit the colouration was completely on accident and when I realized I was like hmmm....)

Aaaa this took me a little while but here we go!!

The text on the picture says: "Naela's loyal companion! This good boy is a shadow creature. A shadow wolf to be specific!"

This here is King, a shadow wolf!! He used to be a stray but Naela picked him up when she was around 10 y/o. He's currently with Neiomi since Naela travels a lot!! But he gets excited whenever Naela comes home and demands attention.

Some facts about shadow wolfs:

They can alter their size!! If they want to intimidate an opponent they grow bigger to scare the aggressor. If they're embarrassed and want to show regret/shame they shrink. Their actual heights can vary between 1.20 m up to 1.60 m! (Measured from their shoulders to the ground)

King is specifically around 1.40 m

A Shadow Wolf's fur is a dark black with shimmering white dots. It resembles the starry sky!

Though some people illegally sell their fur since it makes for pretty accessory

They're deemed by some people as sacred and are generally protected by laws

but people still manage to hunt and sell them (which upsets many people)

In the Elementari horoscope shadow wolfs are the equivalent to Scorpios :D

They're usually a peaceful species, living away from civilisation but sometimes they're a little closer to towns

There are two types of shadow wolfs! The ones from Elementaris and the ones from Celeste! Celestian Shadow Wolfs are usually bigger and shy even more away from civilisation. Otherwise they don't differ that much

They're not easy to tame but once they are they're extremely loyal and protective

They can perfectly see in the night but are sensitive to light

They can technically teleport

Your hand can sink into their fur and it will be completely gone. Their fur is also usually very soft!

The text says: "Clodika's Dragon! They may look like a bird but they're an actual Dragon and will get offended if called 'bird'. They've been with Clodika since birth! They're the same age too!"

Pls don't judge my wings, it's late here in Europe and I'm not used to traditional art!

Clodika and Pisces share their birthday and have been together ever since. Pisces can talk! And Fun Fact: as a kid, clodika called them pieps

Pisces is an Iris Peadragon (I might change the name!) And they're very colourful ones with feathers.

Some facts about Iris Peadragons:

Like majority of the dragons, they can speak and communicate with others

The males usually have a blue, purple and pink colour palette, while females have a turquoise, green, yellow colour palette! There are also ones with a mixed colour palette

Their claws are very sharp and they can move them similar to our hands (I wasn't able to show that in the drawing cuz I only came up with it after I drew the feet)

They aren't very big, the adults are as big as your average medium sized dog!

Pisces specifically isn't bigger than a teenage cat and can easily nap on Clodika's shoulder (yes I'm saying that Pisces is still a freaking baby)

Their life span is up in the thousands!

They all tend to be a bit prideful but they mean no harm, they just love their colours

Dragons count as regular citizens meaning if Pisces would be an adult and would have a job they'd have to pay taxes

They're herbivores and feed off of fruit

Okay what makes them special:

Since Shadow Wolfs are hard to tame it's equal to someone in our society having an actual wolf as a pet

Everyone would think it's the coolest shit ever

Though the government requires monthly check ups for the safety of the shadow wolf AND citizens lol

Meet one of my newest OCs: Tibbs the cat!!

He is a character from my new WIP "The Ghost Princess", and he's the cat of one of the mains. I should also mention that this WIP is a comic, and I'll be making a proper introduction next week!

So this chunky kitty here is quite grumpy, and he likes stealing food when no one's looking!! If you want to know more about him, let me know!

Also, if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist of my art, please let me know!

Taglist: @storyteller-kaelo

Meet one of my newest OCs: Tibbs the cat!!

He is a character from my new WIP "The Ghost Princess", and he's the cat of one of the mains. I should also mention that this WIP is a comic, and I'll be making a proper introduction next week!

So this chunky kitty here is quite grumpy, and he likes stealing food when no one's looking!! If you want to know more about him, let me know!

Also, if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist of my art, please let me know!

Taglist: @storyteller-kaelo

Holy shit y’all 🎉🎉🎉

Words Written: 50710/50000 (~101%)

Average Words Written: 2535

Reflection: !!!!! Not only did I finish early - I finished on 4/20, y’all!! My Colorado spirit has prevailed!!! akljkhsfasj okay, that’s my only four-twenty joke, I swear. But seriously! I’ve not only finished camp nano, I have o f f i c i a l l y finished act two of gifted! 27 total chapters, 235 pages - you really don’t wanna know how many words (I’m gonna have to do so much editing ;-;). This is amazing - not to get all sappy, but there was honestly a time when I didn’t think I would get this far. So I’m basically the human equivalent of !!!!! right now. Anyways, to celebrate and to make up for the utter angst of the past few updates, have some soft Sofia/Vera to soothe the soul.

EXCERPT:

She was halfway through the lobby when she realized the problem. 

“You don’t have access to the gym anymore, remember?” Vera said from where she was sitting at the counter.

“Well, I remember that now,” Sofia snapped and then immediately huffed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Vera, that was uncalled for.”

“It’s alright.”

Sofia grimaced, sent one more longing glance at the door to the stairway, and then wandered closer until she was in the kitchen, leaning on the counter across from Vera with a still-apologetic smile. She was wearing the heather gray turtleneck that tonight. Of all the ones Sofia had bought for her, that one seemed to be her favorite besides the navy blue one.

“So, you got any ideas of what I can do instead?”

“You could have some tea.” Sofia watched, amazed, as Vera reached down and pulled a mug of tea off of the stool next to her and set it delicately on the counter between them, like she was placing an offering at an altar. “Oh, it’s cold.”

Vera leaned forward and blew across the surface lightly, sending out a ripple. By the time she leaned back, the mug was steaming hot again.

“That’s amazing.”

Vera took a sip of her tea, but not quick enough to hide her pleased little smile entirely. Sofia found herself smiling as well as she looked down at her mug. It was the same precious rosehip tea that Vera was always drinking, the kind that Sofia had never seen her share with anyone else. A quick sip burned her tongue but confirmed her suspicions.

“Wait,” Sofia said, frowning. “How did you know I’d come down here tonight?”

“I didn’t.”

“Then how…”

“I’ve been making an extra every night, just in case.”

“Since I passed out?”

“No, since our last conversation.”

“Our last- wait, you mean after my fight with Kruze?”

“Mmhm.”

“That was- Vera, that was over a month ago!”

“I know.”

okay, but you’re not going to like the answer.

here’s the truth: you can’t separate the art from the artist. not entirely. HP Lovecraft was an incredibly talented, but much more incredibly racist man. It would nice to say you don’t agree with his views but you can enjoy his works without that leaking in but…. well, I’m afraid that would be misunderstanding his books entirely.

Consider, for a second, that Lovecraft’s works were horror stories about extradimensional alien monsters having mutant children with humans, they were about invasions from distant monsters, they were about the purity of quaint European towns being tainted. Consider how this may have all been inflicted by the fact that he just simply despised anybody who wasn’t white. Consider how is opinions on “mixing the races” might fight into this; consider why being unable to maintain the “purity” of white Europe was the scariest thing of all to him.

This extends to Rowling too.

I would love to say we can just acknowledge that she is an awful, racist, antisemitic, transphobic person and then say “but at least her books are good,” because, well, they are, aren’t they? I would say so, for sure. But to suggest that one can separate her from them is…. ridiculous.

Consider why an antisemitic woman wrote about a species of goblins who live among us, but who for the most part keep to themselvesand are maybe a little bit oppressed by the institution, but also hold all the cards, all the money, run the banks.

Consider why a racist woman would write about a species of slaves who loved being enslaved, who enjoyed working for no pay, and cleaning up after humans, with the only small caveat of that they didn’t want to be beaten. Imagine that only the most radical of their species wanted to be free, and he still spent the rest of his life working for no pay and helping out a little white boy and his friends wherever he could. Consider why the only person in the story who thought they should be free, that they should have rights, was treated as an overzealous joke, who was acting against the wishes of those slaves who really LOVE being enslaved. Consider that Rowling went on to say that she kind of considers that girl to be black, now.

Consider why JK Rowling, an open and proud transphobe, wrote Rita Skeeter as having a large square jaw, thick “manly” hands, and dressing incredibly gaudily with the most obvious fake nails and fake teeth and fake hair and fake everything. Consider why a woman who tweets about how trans women are “foxes pretending to be hens to get in the hen house” might write this Rita Skeeter to then illegally transform her body in order to spy on children.

Harry Potter is full of Rowling’s bigotry, start to finish. Not even tangentially, like, “oh the goblins are bad, Rita Skeeter is bad, the house elves are bad, but most of it’s good!” because the deeper you dig and the longer you think the more you realise the entire story is based on her prejudices.

Harry Potter pretends to be an aracial story about found family, but if that were true, why are Harry’s distant ancestors important to who he is today even in the seventh book? Why does Harry have to live with his cousin and aunt and uncle? Because magic inherently prefers blood ties. Whilst Rowling was writing a story that seemed to say, “your heritage is not that important and doesn’t make you better than others” she was still writing a story about a boy who got all of his money through his bloodline, who was protected by living with his bloodline, no matter how evil, who was uniquely able to stop Voldemort because his bloodline passed down the invisibility cloak for generations and generations. Any step Harry takes he is compared to his perfect parents who were exactly like him — he looks just like his father, but he has his mother’s eyes, you know! — consider WHY a woman who is racist might’ve written a story like this. A story that on its surface, condemns a blood caste, but still in every step it takes, validates the idea that blood is thicker than water, and your geneological origin is what makes you special.

You can enjoy Harry Pottwr, of course you can. There are fantastic parts. I love a small group of teenagers deciding to become anarchies rebels and train to fight against fascism in secret. I love the murder mystery plots, I love how the series tells kids that it’s a good thing to be brave, and a good thing to fight injustice, and a good thing to challenge the government. But I cannot separate it from its author because it is such a product of its author. All of the structures of the world, the way things work in the universe, and drenched in Rowling’s beliefs, her bigotries. Of course they are: she made them.