like a teenager writes something with ornate language, leans into imagery, lets the sentences sprawl a little, reaches for something beautiful or complex, and suddenly it’s “pretentious.” it’s “trying too hard.” it’s (my personal favorite) “you’ll grow out of that phase.”

a phase of… what, exactly? caring about language?

because when an adult does the exact same thing—when the prose is lush, indulgent, unapologetically excessive—it becomes “lyrical.” it’s “rich.” it’s “a distinctive voice.” (the same qualities, mind you, reframed through the simple alchemy of age.)

and it’s not just about writing. it’s the broader assumption underpinning it: that young people cannot be sincere without being embarrassing, cannot be articulate without being artificial, cannot be thoughtful without it being dismissed as mimicry. as though any complexity we show must be borrowed (badly), rather than felt.

(which is such a strange position to take, considering that adolescence is, if anything, a period defined by intensity—of emotion, of perception, of trying to make sense of a world that insists on being contradictory. if anything, the “purple prose” makes more sense coming from us.)

there’s also this quiet policing of tone—this expectation that we should be self-aware to the point of self-erasure. that we must undercut our own seriousness. irony is acceptable. detachment is acceptable. but earnestness? earnestness is embarrassing (unless you’ve crossed whatever invisible threshold turns it into gravitas).

and it creates this weird double bind: if we write simply, we’re dismissed as immature. if we write elaborately, we’re dismissed as pretentious. the conclusion being that there is no correct way to speak—only a correct age at which speech begins to be granted legitimacy.

(which, conveniently, is always older than we currently are.)

i don’t think the issue is that young people “think too highly of themselves.” i think it’s that we are not expected to think of ourselves at all—not as thinkers, not as artists, not as people whose attempts might still be worth taking seriously on their own terms.

and maybe that’s the most frustrating part: not the criticism itself, but the preemptive nature of it.

2,37am.

longfic? brewing, slowly steeping.

culprit? @altruistic-meme :blob_points:

I love how you’re writing him to not be another trans stereotype. The way you write his character as a child who understands who he is even if he’s still growing and changing. It’s more realistic to how I see trans kids growing up right now are. A lot of trans characters are written off as “I’m so confused about my gender and that’s all I think about 24/7..”. In my own experience, the last time I felt ‘confused’ about my gender was in the sixth grade. Other than that being a boy just felt more natural and comfortable for me. Obviously gender dysmorphia kicked my ass every other week, but I wasn’t shy or timid when it came to knowing I was a boy. A lot of authors don’t understand that most Transgender people aren’t going to have a huge breakdown anytime someone misgenders us. Yeah, it hurts, but usually it’ll just end up with someone getting politely corrected or punched in the face. (Love Sami for that)

But yeah- it’s nice seeing a trans character I can finally relate to more. He has genuine reactions and emotions, being gay and trans isn’t his only personality trait, I feel like he dose really understand his own gender if anything.

(If max makes him question his identity I’ll kill him. I don’t think he would intentionally, but we’ve seen how yucky Max is when he’s sexual)

thanks, i try my best, i'm very glad you like him so much <333

sami being a person before anything else will always be the most important to me, his being trans or gay are just two elements, and while they are pretty big, they are not all that he is

Everyone: Okay we have a plan we are all happy, we go to bed and work on it tomorrow :)

*next morning around dawn*

Mina: Actually I checked my notes and you’re gonna do it my way

Lance/Fernando - Oh yeah. Makes sense, compels me. Been there, got the t-shirt. A beloved mutual answered this ask differently in part because they said Lance grew up with a loving father and doesn't need Fernando’s experienced older man shtick which a) is true and b) made me laugh but *I* also think that's part of the appeal. Fernando making this initial effort to pillow princess Lance who is like uh? Sure? Want some bourbon that cost as much as your outfit? And basically bringing out Fernando’s own deep-rooted babygirl tendencies by being a billionaire nepo baby who wants for nothing but would like Fernando.

Next answer under the cut because these both got long