Chaotic Writer

like for me, for example, it is way more important that the songs i listen to play in the right order and that the right kind of audio is on in the background when i do different tasks than it is that i do said tasks at a specific time of day. the routines that are important to me are about how i do things, not when. but nt ppl don’t understand this. 

why is this important? bc i have had So. Many. neurotypicals tell me that the reason i’m depressed/anxious/not feeling well is that i don’t have enough of those when routines in my life. that obviously if i made sure to always shower at the exact same time of day i wouldn’t be depressed. that obviously if i made sure to always get up at exactly the same time, no wiggle room of even a minute, then i wouldn’t be anxious. “because you’re autistic!” they say, “and routines are important for you! you’ve even said so yourself!”

As an editor, here are some mistakes I often see writers make in their manuscripts. (THREAD)

Problem: overusing tags. Example: “How are you today?” asked Simon. “I’m okay,” muttered Mark. “Just okay?” questioned Simon. “Yeah,” replied Mark.

Tags don’t have to go with every phrase, especially in dialogue between two characters. “I was thinking of you,” John whispered to Elle. “Why?” “It just seemed like something you’d like.” Even without tags for the last two, it’s clear who’s speaking.

On a similar note, people often under-use beats. Most communication happens nonverbally, and you should show that in conversations.

Check out the difference between these two examples: E1: “I’m not scared, she said. E2: She raised her chin and looked him in the eye. “I’m not scared.” One tells you what’s being said; one gives you insight into the scene and the character’s attitude.

Writers often struggle with where to begin their novel. Here’s a tip: start where things begin to change. Establish why teh story really takes off at this point in the character’s life, and give your reader a reason to be invested from the first scene.

I often see writers get too caught up in the mundane parts of a character’s story. If it’s a transition, write it concisely or create a scene break. We don’t need to know ever time a character holds an unimportant conversation or walks to a different location.

Writers tend NOT to spend enough time world-building, especially in fantasy. Worlds never exist to serve one character; don’t write them that way. Also, even fictional worlds have some structure to them, so elements shouldn’t pop up only when the character needs them.

Another common problem: relying on adverbs Ex: “I’m not a child,” she said angrily. Rather than depending on the narrator, try letting the character show emotions herself. “I’m not a child.” Resisting the urge to stomp her foot, she let out her breath in a huff and turned away.

Writers tend to fall back on the same few sentence structures over and over (and overuse commas)! Vary your sentence lengths. Watch the way you write and see how/if it flows. Even with a great story, your words and the way you place them must be engaging.

Another common mistake: forgetting what your narrator does NOT know. Example: “My sister scrunched up her face, trying not to say what she’s thinking.” If your book is in first-person POV, your narrator doesn’t necessarily know what other characters think.

…… hm.

when i say “do not repost” i mean, do not: 

save my art to your computer

reupload it to your own social media site, especially without credit

exploit my my art so you can become more popular/get more attention/etc

reblogging/retweeting is not the same as reposting. those actually allow the artist to keep ownership of their own art as it gets spread around. they are different things.

it’s not that i don’t want my art to be on the internet. that’s why i post it. but i don’t want OTHER people taking credit for MY art and the hard work i put into it. i have a store where i sell my art. having people repost my art to their own sites literally takes money away from me. because people don’t know that I’M the artist who drew it, then they don’t know about my store, and instead consume my art mainly through websites that repost my art for their own amusement or profit.

do you know how many japanese artists have deleted their pixiv/twitter accounts because people kept reposting their art without permission, OR credit, and have even profited from stealing their work? so much art is floating out there without an owner because the japanese artists were harassed so much due to their art constantly being reposted without any credit to them, that they had to disappear from the internet just so they could keep ownership of the rest of their art. 

do you know how many people found my art through pinterest? i’ve gotten so many messages from people saying they found my art there, and it took them anywhere from days to WEEKS to find me and my blog, because most, if not all of it was posted 1. without credit, or 2, without a link back to the original, because the pinterest user reuploaded it from their own computer. 

do you know how many people try to apply for jobs with their art, but can’t seem to claim ownership of their own portfolio because it’s been so spread out and reposted everywhere on the internet, that companies can’t be sure that the person they’re interviewing is the actual artist themself?

i don’t think you understand just how detrimental reposting is to artists. and i don’t think you understand how important it is for people to respect artists’ wishes. my art is not yours to use for your own amusement. there is a reason why most websites have a dmca report option, to take down unauthorized use of their art. even the law recognizes it as a personal right.

i do want my art to be shown to the world, but under my own terms. i want my wishes in regards to my art to be respected. you are not doing me any favors by reposting my art onto other sites without permission or credit. just the opposite, in fact–your hurting me personally, financially, and possibly hurting my chances of earning a job with my art. 

so in conclusion, here are the dangers of reposting:

the artists loses ownership of their art

no one knows who made it anymore, and don’t care

the artists stop making art because all that happens is their art gets reposted without a source, and so they prefer to disappear off the internet entirely. the world has now just lost an amazing artist.

people make a profit off their art, literally stealing money and potential customers from them, because no one knows where the art originated from

they lose job opportunities because the reposting and art theft is so ubiquitous, that even if they are the original artist, no one can be sure of that.

etc.

reposting is detrimental. it’s not the same thing as reblogging/retweeting, it’s something that literally harms artists in the long run. 

at the end of the day, the biggest way to prevent this from happening is by respecting the artist’s wishes with some basic human decency. that’s literally it.

Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?? That’s like… If you don’t want your car stolen, don’t park it on the street. If you don’t want to get stabbed, don’t go outside??

Nonbinary people who use their AGAB pronouns are still nonbinary

Nonbinary people who don’t change their name are still nonbinary

I said, "Okay, I know a man who is homeless. He'd be happy to work. He's got a business degree. He would be happy to come clean your house, do your yard work, or help you with your filing, walk your dogs, babysit your kids, or just about any office job. What time tomorrow should he come see you?"

They all just looked at me.

I said, "Mind you, he's homeless, so he hasn't showered in a while and the only clothes he has are the ones on his back because he lost all his stuff last week when ge got picked up for vagrancy and they wouldn't let him go back for his bag. It would be a few weeks before what you are paying him is enough to get shelter and such."

And still they stared at me.

“protect asian lives”

asians worldwide are being beaten and killed. and it keeps going unnoticed. if you are being silent, fuck you.

the amount of hate crimes against asians have risen 1900%. it’s not our fucking fault we are in this pandemic. asians arent a virus or a disease. leave us the fuck alone.

now say it again.

if you have asian friends reblog this

https://www.theycantburnusall.org/

Are people scared that using a white cane will make their blind character seem weak? They can’t use a cane because they’re so special that they already know what’s around them, and other blind people who use guides are inferior because they’re not special?

I’m tired. Give your blind characters white canes and other guides. Let them hold onto their friends, let them have guide dogs. Don’t make white cane users feel ostracized for not being “strong enough” to go without.

Another thing that pisses me off is when a sighted character comes up with the fantasy equivalent of braille and teaches it to the blind character. Braille was invented by Louis Braille, a blind man, in 1824. The blind character should be the one coming up with it.

Tldr I’m blind and tired of sighted people lol

I deleted this post bc I was overwhelmed with all the notes on it and the additions of sighted people saying “is this character good representation though? Have you read so-and-so with this blind character in it, is that okay? LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BLIND OC, ARE THEY OFFENSIVE?” Or saying “well my relative/friend is blind and actually they blah blah blah” as if I’m the authority on blindness now.

And I Was Tired Of That.

I also received MASSIVE amounts of ableism directed at me in my inbox and DMs and the notes of this post (look at all the “you’re blind and sick of seeing? lol” comments, as well as people acting like the knife emojis can hurt them somehow, yes I get it everyone’s a comedian haha). People saw that I was an artist and a writer and hounded me with questions about how I can draw if I can’t see, or how I’m even using the Internet at all as if people are exempt from being part of modern life, someone said “stop taking pictures of your guide dog’s art and posting it as your own” about my art. I had the fact that I’m deafblind written in my bio but I took it out bc I was getting harassed bc of it.

Sometimes I check back on this just to see how popular it’s gotten and I honestly never intended it to reach this far. I still encourage people to reblog it but I could definitely do without all the unnecessary additions, and people coming up to me with questions about how I wrote this in the first place if I’m blind and yadda yadda yadda.

To Answer Your Questions: Daredevil (Matt Murdock) is excellent blind representation. His abilities have clear limits and they do not REPLACE sight. He uses echolocation and other enhanced senses but he still has the challenges faced by blind people because He Is Blind. Same goes for Toph Bei Fong; clear limits to what she can sense, she can’t use her seismic sense on non-earth/non-metal material, she can’t read or write or know what things look like. She just feels the vibrations. I don’t care about homestuck so stop telling me abt it lol. If you write a blind character with powers, absolutely take a page from Daredevil or ATLA— but give them a cane too please! Matt himself uses a cane! It’s not mutually exclusive to have powers and use mobility aids.

TLDR I deleted this originally bc I was sick of dumbasses and ableism but you can still reblog it but keep your comments to yourself or those knife emojis will be a lot more aggressive. I’m tired.

“*floodgates of his laughter finally open, laughing continues*”

All accessibility features are for accessibility. They’re not your personal megaphone. If you’re worried they’re “boring” then you don’t seem to get the point. You can write your comments after the facts. There are places for your personal opinions, and inside an accessibility feature isn’t one of them.

If you’re pulling from a decent PDF, select the text you need, then drop into Notepad if you’re running Windows, then copy and paste from Notepad into whatever word processor you’re using.

Notepad will scrub all the weird formatting shit that gets picked up from PDF and leave you with just the raw text.