Work in Progress

But you're all going to be more successful if you use the bus to get as far as you can first. And maybe you can use the bus ride to convince your fellow passengers that your destination is one that they should choose too.

Whether you're writing about a real person or writing about a fictional person, sometimes your blorbo ends up giving you the ick. New information is revealed or circumstances change in some way, and you just can't think about them anymore without feeling bad.

The reason I'm equating these situations is because I don't want you to think this is a moral choice you're making. It's not about whether you're a good person or a bad person.

The choice you're making is about whether or not you want to continue working on a piece of art that doesn't feel the same way that it used to.

I see a few options you have, and maybe the blog can supply a few more:

You could set those WIPs aside for a while and see if your feelings change with having a little bit of distance from whatever is bringing this discomfort up in you.

You could continue the WIPs now just to complete them and stop thinking about them.

You could abandon the WIPs (and if you've already started posting them, you could orphan them too if you want to).

You could take the plot idea and use it for a different fandom instead.

You're allowed to stop writing a thing when you don't like it anymore. And if you stop writing it, you don't have to explain why. You don't need to make a post or leave an author's note (unless you want to). You can just slip out silently through a metaphorical side door, never to be heard from again.

Some solutions I have seen or done:

Delete everything with them in it

Change their names and dub them OCs (most effective in AUs)

Go back and edit to switch them to a different person (most effective for side characters/small parts)

Abandon the stories without comment, but leave them up

Abandon the stories with a note advising of their inclusion for those who want to avoid them

Abandon the stories with a chapter of assorted remaining writing related to them and a note that you're abandoning it

Orphan them to remove all connection to you without removing the stories altogether

If you don’t want ANYONE to read it, add the work to a private collection. I actually have a collection I named “deleted works” where nobody can see what I put in there. That way, I still have it, if I change my mind. I haven’t deleted it or lost anything. Just hidden it. If you don’t mind if others read it, set it to anonymous. Quick, easy, reversible

I am begging the UK trans community and its allies to attend the Mass Lobby at Parliament on June 25th, 11am-4pm, organised by Trans Solidarity Alliance.

The new EHRC Code of Practice pushes trans people out of toilets, hospital wards, and community spaces. It normalises gender policing based on appearance and stereotypes. It becomes statutory guidance in the UK by the end of June.

Trans people are now legally their assigned gender at birth and must join gendered spaces accordingly, but if they are perceived as their lived gender, they can also be ejected from those spaces. The guidance says: either break the law, or don’t pass too well.

A mass lobby is where you invite your MP to discuss your concerns with you in-person. Ask your MP to:

Demand full parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and use their free vote on the EHRC Code of Practice.

Support any motions rejecting the EHRC guidance. As of June 4th, Labour MP Nadia Whittome has submitted a prayer motion - Early Day Motion 240.

Write to Bridget Phillipson, the Minister for Women and Equalities about our concerns

Your MP does not have to be an ally, they do not have to respond to your email for you to show up and greencard them (details below the cut.) What matters is that as many people as possible show up.

I cannot stress this enough: Showing up in person matters. It is much more effective than petitions, emails, and letters.

It is a horrible, stressful time, and I am so sorry if you're trans and live in the UK. But I was at last year's mass lobby and the line for greencarding alone stretched around the back gates. It was a record breaking mass lobby and made us impossible to ignore. Let's do even better this time. Details under the cut:

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!