#writer rant

have you never heard someone speak with the gravel in their voice when they get angry? Because that’s what a growl is.

Have you never heard someone sharply whisper something through the thin space of their teeth? Or when your mother sharply told you to stop it in public as a kid when you were acting up/being too loud? Because that’s what a hiss is.

Have you never heard a man get so blackout angry that their voice BOOMS through the house? Because that’s what a roar is.

Have you never seen someone bare their teeth while talking to accentuate their frustration or anger while speaking with a vicious tone? Because that’s what snarling is.

you might not know this, but: authors love comments.

the thing is, readers rarely ever comment. most of them will hit kudo and move on, even if the fanfiction permanently changed them.

unfortunately, lots of authors will stop updating because it seems like nobody cares. there's many stories of authors silently dropping their fics. then years, decades later, they'll get one positive comment that inspires them to pick it up again.

so show support for the things you like, because it's so so easy for those things to disappear.

trust me: we love your comments. we really do. whether it's a semi-psychotic deep dive, emoji spam, or something as simple as: "this was good". we love them all.

Ah yes, casual condescension at it's finest, folks.

Every writer knows that one damned sentence.

You write it. You delete it. You rewrite it. You stare at it for ten minutes. You delete and write it again.

It’s either never good enough or just doesn't help on the flow of the paragraph.

In Wundersmith, Thaddea is said to have a "thick scottish accent".

A scottish accent. In a FANTASY WORLD.

Is there Scotland in the Unnamed Realm? Is it like our Scotland or different? Did they also, for some reason, invent bagpipes and haggis? Will we ever get the answer to why there's a random scottish person in a completely fantastical setting? Or is Jessica Townsend trying to say that Scotland is a fae realm that just wound up on Earth by accident?

why do fantasy romances keep chickening out halfway through

Okay, I know I'm about to commit blasphemy in the paranormal romance church, but I need to get this out of my system before I start screaming into a pillow.

Anyway,

I have been inhaling paranormal/fantasy romance since high school.

You know, give me danger, tension, trauma, morally questionable men, emotional complexity, female rage, all of it. You know the jam.

So naturally, like any decent millenial, I started with Twilight. Yeah. I know. But listen. It started great.

Book 1? Atmospheric as hell.

Small town, creepy woods, existential dread, moral conflict...It was great.

And then the series proceeds to faceplant into pure wish-fulfillment sparkleporn with… let's say deeply questionable reproductive plotlines (you KNOW which one).

Cool. Whatever. I survived.

Then ACOTAR enters the chat. And it starts beautiful.

Dark courts, trauma handled like an actual character beat, politics, danger, consequences.

There's this gritty emotional scaffolding and you think "oh damn, this series has actual spine, it might actually go somewhere interesting."

And then halfway through…

Girlboss Ascension Pack™ in addition with Unlimited Sparkle Powers DLC.

Emotional consequences? Hahaha... Yeeted into the sun.

Like ma'am, I was invested.

You had me leaning forward.

You had stakes.

You had grime and shadow and moral rot.

And then you hit me with "surprise!! new genre!! here's your deity upgrade babe ❤️. Because you were such a good girl and you suffered so here's your cake. With powers and glitter."

Look. The thing is...I DON'T HATE power fantasy.

People love it for a reason.

It's just… why do authors start one book and finish a completely different one?

Why promise nuance, moral ambiguity, hard choices, consequences, and then proceed to give me glitter?

Why set up a theme and then run away from it screaming?

It's not about taste.

It's about THE CONTRACT.

If you hook me with atmosphere, danger, trauma, consequences, and then halfway through decide "no, actually this is now a horny empowerment fairytale with wings and abs, deal with it,"

I feel like I showed up for an exam and got handed a birthday cake.

Like yes thank you but also WHAT IS GOING ON.

And maybe this is just me getting too attached to emotional integrity, idk.

But honest to god, half the reason I even started writing the way I do is because I kept waiting for that darker, grounded, emotionally-resonant stories that never arrived.

Everybody kept chickening out and choosing dopamine instead of depth. Because - market.

I know dopamine sells. I get it.

But at some point I realized:

If I want the book I've been searching for since I was fifteen…

I have to write it myself.

So here I am.

Writing the thing everyone else abandoned halfway.

With actual consequences, and trauma that isn't cured by kissing, and characters who break and rebuild without acquiring Goddess Mode or a free set of sparkly wings. With darkness that doesn't shy, with uncomfortable silences and love that needs to be fought for instead of handed over with a pretty bow.

Because apparently writing with integrity requires balls and spine.

Okay. Fine.

Let's grow some.

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Here's the link just in case anyone's interested in what I'm scribbling