Lil whiskey

The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate–neurochemical signaling (I hope I’m using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)…people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply. 

significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady “return on investment”–and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don’t have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual “low batteries” in that regard.

that doesn’t mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value–only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low “upfront cost.” these stories are only “easy” to read in the sense that the effort we put into them is rewarded in a timely manner. which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers–they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).

the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that–combined with the shorter average length of fics–means that fan fics very quickly start rewarding the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that’s not a bad thing! and maybe it’s something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.

8/14/1938

~Happy Birthday~

liking men is not unfortunate

‘’Stitch ‘Prisoner’ Closeups’’ by MJ Kreyzer

~~~

Source

‘’Kuzmin’s Coffee’’ by Mutou (abrtni3)

~~~

Sauce

Spider ball pythons can be easily identified by their drippy minimalistic patterns, they are incredibly striking animals and its easy to see why they are sought after.

The Spider Ball Python morph causes an extreme neurological defect that is intrinsically tied to the phenotypic manifestation of the spider gene and how it affects neurological development.

The defect essentially causes them to be unable to balance themselves or tell up from down.

This can causes minor head swaying or wobbling, which can cause the snake to have difficulty feeding and navigating its enclosure but overall does not impact their quality of life. This is however a rarity.

Most often though, the wobble is extreme, causing the snake to corkscrew or flip upside down because it has no sense of balance. These animals are entirely unable to feed or navigate their enclosures.

The spider wobble appears at birth, though the severity increases over the lifetime of the animal and manifests most extremely in recently bred females.

These animal have extremely poor quality of life and over half of them must be euthanized on hatching because they will fail to thrive.

All of this is common knowledge within the herpetological community.

Continuing to breed and support the breeding of these animals is incredibly inhumane.

There is no excuse.