minor keepsakes

John Everett Millais

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate--neurochemical signaling (I hope I'm using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)...people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply. 

significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady "return on investment"--and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don't have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual "low batteries" in that regard.

that doesn't mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value--only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low "upfront cost.” which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers--they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).

the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that--combined with the shorter average length of fics--means that fan fics very quickly start "rewarding" the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that's not a bad thing! and maybe it's something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.

Edmund Koken (1814-1872)

but in a lot of those moments, because i know other people do this too, i think that love and concern and tenderness for these people who reside in our minds and hearts is a subtle expression of looking after ourselves, even if we don’t fully recognize it at first. we wish them things we may hesitate to allow ourselves to wish in reality, but it still is an expression of hope for our own lives

and who’s to say those feelings are ever wasted? who’s to say that in a vast, swirling, unknowable universe, a universe that may in fact be a tiny shimmering square on a tiny corner of a tapestry of infinite other universes - who’s to say that all the stories aren’t true? that we don’t somehow make things real simply by believing in them? who’s to say that somewhere, in that endless space, some version of that character we love isn’t out there, relying on and absorbing those caring thoughts?

even if they do only exist in us, the internal workings of our individual universes are so vast and unique that, indeed, simply being a part of us means they do live. those characters and stories exist in what we do, how we learn, the meaning we glean from carrying them along with us on our own journeys

that’s why i will never allow anyone to tell me that loving an unreal thing is not a real expression of love. if you think of them in the songs you hear, or when you see a certain painting or read a certain line of poetry, if you think of them when you’re feeling lost and scared and alone, or when you’re feeling comfortable and peaceful and happy, if they give you courage in the midst of frightening things or add joy to your day, if they teach you something meaningful or you can see an admirable aspiration in them or you can use them to better understand a reflection in yourself, that’s all real love, capable of transformation and transcendence and healing