Some Ramblings from WhatHaveWeDone

It can almost certainly tell different species apart based on the shape of those air bladders. And it can tell if a fish has something weird inside it, like a metal hook. In Hawaii, false killer whales often pluck tuna off fishing lines, and “they’ll know where the hook is inside that fish,” Aude Pacini, who studies these animals, tells me. “They can ‘see’ things that you and I would never consider unless we had an X-ray machine or an MRI scanner.”

This penetrating perception is so unusual that scientists have barely begun to consider its implications. The beaked whales, for example, are odontocetes that look dolphin-esque on the outside—but on the inside, their skulls bear a strange assortment of crests, ridges, and bumps, many of which are only found in males.

Pavel Gol’din has suggested that these structures might be the equivalent of deer antlers—showy ornaments that are used to attract mates. Such ornaments would normally protrude from the body in a visible and conspicuous way, but that’s unnecessary for animals that are living medical scanners.’

I'm not sure if I ever shared this story before here, but in Curacao, when I was allowed to assist in a guest interaction programme, there was suddenly consternation in the pool behind us. A guest had entered the water and the dolphins were going crazy, paying no heed to the trainers anymore. The lead trainer that was with me gave the dolphins to me to watch over while she went to help. When she came back she told me what had happened. The guest that had caused so much uproar had left the water again and was asked if he had done anything to upset the dolphins. He hadn't, and he couldn't imagine what was wrong... until he mentioned he had a pacemaker. The younger dolphins in the pool had never seen someone with a pacemaker before and apparently it rocked their world.

(this came out of a conversation in the comments on a previous post about an author threatening to stop updating a fic because of lack of engagement)

So there’s this idea that fic writers should write for themselves and not care too much about stats or engagement,

and i totally get the sentiment behind that. if writing becomes entirely about stats and external validation, something important does get lost - creative freedom and joy, conviction in your own writing

but i also think:

“i write for myself, but i post for others.”

because posting fic is not only self-expression. it’s social. ao3 is called an archive, but emotionally it often functions as a community space.

people post for connection, for participation, for others to bear witness to their pain and trauma and grief,

and i don’t think most people are asking to be admired so much as acknowledged. there’s something deeply human about wanting another person to encounter something that mattered to you and go:

“ok, yeah, I see what you were trying to say. I see you.”

especially because fanfic is often people processing very real feelings through fictional characters at a safe distance, one step removed,

and then uploading that deeply personal thing into a shared archive and hoping somebody else might connect with it.

And i think that’s why it hurts so much when you summon up the courage and post a fic into the void and you get nothing back,

and then it’s like,

I wrote these down to help myself. Maybe they can help someone else, too.

Tenet 1. Leave the apple alone. Let the apple be an apple. Stop attacking it with adjectives.

Tenet 2. You are not Shakespeare. The reader doth not needeth each arbitrary hand gesture and head tilt. It’s not a play. Drop the stage direction.

Tenet 3. You've earned the menace. It might be too subtle for you to notice because you’re standing too close. Step back. Check. Stop before it becomes redundant.

Tenet 4. Mr. Neel would rather kill himself than describe anything as blooming. Keep characters consistent.

Tenet 5. Sentences, paragraphs, and chapters are allowed to be short. Stop it.

Tenet 6. The coup must be earned. Building a foundation to get to the cool thing is half the fun.

Tenet 7. You’re allowed to not trust the reader sometimes. YOU’VE SWUNG TOO FAR. COME BACK. The reader cannot derive the plot through osmosis.

Tenet 8. Chapters are thematic. Not just a mishmash of scenes.

Tenet 9. If you’re grumpy, walk away. Forcing it will make it dog shit.

"I'm fine. You already did first-aid."

- that dude who got trapped in a hedge maze for six hours with his dog, remembered he had dinner with his mom at six, and then just walked out

- that lady who nearly got crushed by a train but she just laid down and just waited for it to be over with. She still took the train places after that

- that dude who put the key to that creepy coffin in an ice block and just went about his business

Your characters are allowed to be bad people. Your story is allowed to have no moral lesson.yyour ending is allowed to be sad. The villain can win. The good person can do something unforgivable. The lovers can destroy each other. You are allowed to write the thing that no one asked for and everything that everyone told you doesn’t work and you are allowed to not explain yourself.

One- as OP said, your characters can be bad people, they can do bad things. There doesn't have to be a reason or a moral. You can make them bad if you want to. No other reason needed.

Two- it doesn't have to be good, it just needs to be written. On my last book i literally wrote the words "dumbest version" on the top of the page because I had seen some advice to do that. It changed everything. I stopped trying to make it perfect, I just tried to make it. Period. Full stop.

The initial realization from carer (or carers) that whumpee is gaining consciousness. "They're coming around" (maybe said with relief, or with quietly uttered curses because whumpee being awake will only make things more complicated at this moment) and "Hey, Whumpee, you with me?" and "You're safe, I've got you."