moved to pillowfort

although you wouldn’t know it from my (accelerated and untagged, sorry D:) queue, I’m going to be leaving tumblr on the 17th. this is partially because in my view, the nsfw purge is a completely indefensible move on tumblr’s part which throws sex workers and artists under the bus and which I believe is the start of a slow, painful decline I don’t want to stick around and watch. it’s also partially because I think the way users are encouraged to engage with endless-scrolling sites like tumblr is pretty messed up, not to mention a time-sink which my writing and life in general would benefit from cutting back on.

I’ve moved to pillowfort, where I can be found at rickygoldsworth. because the fandoms I’m most involved with don’t have major presences there yet, I also have a personal account (which is much more active), which mutuals can message me for.

it’s been wonderful to make so many friends through the BFU community in the time I’ve been a part of it here on tumblr. I wish you all well, and I hope I can stay in touch with as many of you as possible. if we’ve spoken before and you’d like my discord, twitter or personal pfio, let me know and I’ll be happy to give them. I don’t want to disappear from this fandom, even though I haven’t been actively creating content for it for a few months. I’ll still be active in the fandom discords I’m a part of, and I’ll still be cheerleading for all of y’all fandom creators. 

be good to one another!! 

with love,

Hey scavenger hunters! We have an announcement! 

Due to the nature of tumblr’s new TOS, the hunt is going to look a little different from here on out. Most notably: we’re moving to Dreamwidth! Mod Nicole (hi, that’s me!) will still be signal boosting work here and sharing what’s going on over on DW, but the majority of our activity is going to be happening over there from now on.

Also, as you may have seen in the banner, we’re moving to a slightly new format with some really fun goodies, and as such we’re changing our name! Welcome to Buzzfeed Blast: a new challenge for fan creators!! We’re SO excited to share this with you. Like the hunt, there will be prompts each month, and prizes for completing a bunch, but unlike the hunt, your points will stack from month to month, the fills aren’t restricted to shyan-only writing, and you’ll win badges you can display on your DW account, or wherever you’d like! 

All of the rules are on the post linked a couple times in the text up there, but we’re also more than happy to answer any questions you have here :) This blog isn’t going anywhere, it’ll just be a little less central to our mission, which is creating a bunch of fun content for each other.

As I close out this post, Mod Ella and I would like to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has participated, read along, and signal boosted our hunt. What started as an effort to combat negativity in the fandom turned into a source of amazing fic and wonderful friendship, and we’re so genuinely thankful to all of you.

We hope to see all of you over at Buzzfeed Blast, and have a great day <3

lllllllet’s heist!

Mad Max: Fury Road by Zachary Johnson & Ronen V

As probably a lot of you know, I’m a big outliner. I’ve talked about this before. I’m not a 100% outliner–I definitely like to leave room for discovery writing, but if I try to discovery write more than half, maybe more than a quarter, I end up writing crap (sadly). And I think it ends up taking more work to fix.

If you are just joining us and have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain real quick.

Discovery writing is when you start writing your story and “discover” where it goes. (Sometimes people who discovery write are called “pantsers.”)

Outlining is what it sounds like. You outline the story before writing it. (Sometimes people who outline are called “plotters.”)

Most writers are a hybrid of both, but may lean one direction.

Lately I’ve really been wanting to do a post on discovery writing. But. I’m not really a discovery writer. Luckily, author Rachel Taylor is! And I asked her to give us her insight on the process. (Thanks, Rachel!)

A couple years ago, I read a writing craft book that made me so mad I had serious thoughts of book-burning (metaphorically only as I was reading on my phone). The author taught some helpful writing techniques but interspersed were endless jabs at Pantsers (the prior name of Discovery Writers, ditched because it has some unsavory secondary implications). Here’s just one of his comments about us: “It pours out of their head and basically spills all over the place. Two words: a mess. And it often gets even worse from there…”

I wanted to wrap my hands around Dear Author’s neck and give him a giant, head-whacking shake. Being a Plotter vs being a Discovery Writer (which term I will use going forward), has nothing to do with skills, ability, or messes. It has everything to do with how a writer connects with creativity. I connect by fighting things out on the page. That’s where my best ideas come from. Trust me. I’ve tried to plot. I once forced myself to write an entire book based off an outline, and you know what? It was the most boring thing I’ve ever written, and no amount of rewriting or editing saved it from being shoved under the dusty back corner of my bed.

Best case scenario when I try to plot is that I get a couple of chapters in and my contemporary teenage protag suddenly swishes her skirts, dabs a poison on her lips, and says fiddle-dee-dee to her best friend from the Andromeda Galaxy and my carefully devised plot-sheet also ends up under the bed.

I have no choice but to fight things out on the page. And it’s not just me. This is what we Discovery Writers do. Which means we have a whole set of both tripwires and pitfalls that can be (but not always are) unique to us.

Tripwire Number One: The Blank Page Syndrome

This is me staring at an entirely white screen, a frown on my face, a headache forming as I once again wish that I was a Plotter who always knew what needs to be written next. It happens. It happens a lot.

The goal then is to have a plan for when it happens.

My personal plan is simple. Walk away from the computer and go fold some laundry. (I have four kids; there is always laundry. On the rare occasion there isn’t, doing the dishes, cooking something, mowing the lawn, washing the car, and grooming animals also work.) I take with me a notepad of some sort with the last line I committed to the computer written across the top. As I fold/cook/clean/fix, my mind wanders and inevitably ends up on that notebook. (I see this all as boring-the-right-side-of-my-brain-into-action.) Ideas flare up as I work: Pictures. Voices. Motions. Maybe an entire paragraph of words. I race back to my desk and get it all down. Sometimes I’ll manage an entire scene. Sometimes just a few words, but always something comes. Then when I get stuck again, I return to folding laundry. (My house/life/animals get super clean when I’m struggling with a story.)

Now you don’t have to follow my plan for being stuck, but feel free to try if it helps. If you happen to be a Discovery Writer who already knows how to spark your creativity, let us know in the comments as there isn’t one right way to beat the blank page. The important thing is to have a plan ready when the blank page syndrome strikes.

The second tripwire works the same way.

Tripwire Number Two: The “I Wrote Myself Into a Corner” Syndrome

I’ve conquered my blank pages (and fired my housekeeper in the process). I’m at the 75% mark of the book. The protag is facing a Mt. Everest of a challenge (in skirts, with her alien best friend at her side). The love interest is being skewered (emotionally if not physically). All hope is lost. There’s no way out. They are all going to die (but in pretty clothes).

Err… Now what? This is supposed to be an HEA book after all.…

Emoji spell for healing from burn out. May you feel well-rested, rejuvenated, and fulfilled in all avenues of your life.

The found family trope in fiction is an inherently queer trope because it directly involves deconstructing the heteronormative notions of what family is and involves defining family for oneself rather than assuming that the people you are biologically related to are always going to support and care for you. Furthermore it inherently deconstructs and challenges amatonormativity because rather than focusing on a central romantic relationship as the genesis for a family and on forming a romantic partnership as what constitutes making a family, it is focused on close non-romantic bonds. There is an overwhelming preoccupation with family as something immutable and constant because you’re related to them and challenging that is valuable for anyone who for whatever reason is no longer in touch or on good terms with their family. This is a discussion that extends beyond the context of challenging heteronormativity or amatonormativity, but that is the aspect of it that interests me and which I will be focussing on. For the purposes of this essay I will be using queer to encapsulate LGBTQIA+ identities due to the terms wide acceptance in academic circles in the context of queer theory, and because of the application of queer as a verb. This is not just about dismantling heteronormative assumptions and constructs, this is about queering the idea of what family can be and how it is formed.

The found family or family of choice trope, is described by TV Tropes as when characters “mourn the lack of family in their lives and decide to build [a family] of their own out of people they care for and who care for them in turn”. This is important, because the trope often occurs because of stressful or unpleasant family circumstances for one or more of the characters in question, though it is not necessary that this be the case. Because of this, the found family need not be as homogenous and monolithic as a family related to each other, and as such is a great exemplification of solidarity– a very important part of what makes the queer community a singular community rather than many fragmented ones. Disparate members of the community may not face the same challenges, oppression, or stigma, but that does not mean they cannot find common ground and support each other through those various tribulations. Likewise, the found family need not be unified by the same background, the same lived experiences, or even the same reasons for seeking a found family. It is the decision and dedication to loving and supporting one another, to coming together on the common ground they do have and expressing solidarity for that they do not. Beyond it’s values, the trope also serves a valuable role for queer viewers in that it provides a reassuring and valuable alternative to queer folks who are not accepted by their biological families. When as story tells you that a family can be whatever you choose, that the bonds between them are ones of choice rather than biological or legal factors outside their control, that is greatly reassuring to people who need to find a new support structure outside the one they were raised with. At its core the found family is not just representative of quee values, it unseats traditional notions about family structures and challenges heteronormativity– as does any familial unit that does not fall into the narrow confines of a monogamous, straight cis couple and their biological children to varying degrees. It removes the typical vision of a straight couple at the core of a family, the parental homestead as a place always there to come home to, and replaces it with a chosen group to form a trusted and loving community.

The archetypal family unit is deeply tied to heteronormativity as it is centred around a straight marriage as the immutable core of a family, but even more so it is tied to amatonormativity. Amatonormativity is a term originated by Elizabeth Brake to, in her words, “describe the widespread assumption that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship”. Again, it is a concept that has application in a number of contexts, but it is chiefly interesting to me in the context of aromantic identities because that is where my personal experience lies, thought it should be noted that there is a large overlap in the ways it harms aromantic and polyamorous people. There is a widespread conception that settling down and starting a family is a universal goal and moreover, is accomplished in a universal way. Amatonormativity manifests itself in this assumption, and unlike heteronormativity, it is not exclusive to that idea of the archetypal family. While it is mainly concerned with the (monogamous) romantic relationship aspect of “settling down”, it often goes hand in hand with the assumption that settling down means children as well, because what else would a family consist of? What else are you going to do make meaning in your life? This brings us back to found family. Rather than prioritizing a romantic relationship as the most important part of a family– if not one’s life– it prioritizes non-romantic bonds. This is not to say that there cannot be romantic relationships as a part of a found family, but they are not the focal point. By challenging just what a family is, the found family challenges the idea of settling down as the only way to have close supportive bonds, not to mention that those bonds must originate with a romantic relationship. Moreover, since the trope more often occurs among characters who are earlier in life than people who would be getting married and having children, the trope rejects the idea that family and children are the only way to make meaning. A found family is no less important for its early formation, but it is no longer the goal of life but rather a support structure that is a part of a larger whole of a life. It directly opposes the amatonormative notion that romantic love is the most important part of anyone’s life, and leaves room for varying degrees of closeness between the members of said found family, allowing for those who do not prioritize or do not experience romantic attraction to still find a way to make family should they choose.