tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59120399277711965312024-03-12T23:03:04.925-05:00EA BlevinsBethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-35493451094315559562022-10-28T09:34:00.001-05:002022-10-28T09:34:37.134-05:00That time my husband was a juror and how it influenced Soul Searching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><br /></b>A few years before I wrote <i>Soul Searching</i>, my husband was on the jury for a case where a middle-aged man was accused of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_misconduct" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sexual misconduct</a> with a 17-year-old girl.<br />
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In the trial, the girl was old enough to consent, <i>but </i>the prosecution argued that the man was in a position of authority (textbook sexual misconduct; position of authority trumps consent).<br />
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<b>The jury had to decide if the position of authority claim held water.</b><br />
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The man had known the girl since she was a kid. He had previously been her sports coach, he was friends with her parents, and the girl and his own daughter were friends. He was giving her college admissions advice during their relationship. He advised her on exactly how far they could go together without getting into trouble, and there was some petting but no penetration. Sexual contact but no sex.<br />
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The situation was complicated by the fact that the man was suffering PTSD from being shot at his workplace the year previous. It affected his decision-making and was almost certainly the reason he took up with the girl.<br />
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My husband told me (after the trial, as you can’t discuss it during) all of the things that were going on, but I’m going to tell you about the deliberations room. There were two men who seemed dead-set to convict no matter what, because they found a middle-aged man romancing a young girl skeevy. Everyone else took it very seriously because they didn’t want to make a mistake. My husband played devil’s advocate for most of the deliberations (two days, I think it was), just to help people think about all the angles. He wanted to consider every little detail, leaving nothing out, in order to make a fair and accurate decision.<br />
<br />After a night mulling the case over, he told the others, “I’ve come to the conclusion that authority is about trust.” He pointed out that while the man wasn’t in a direct position of authority over the girl at the time of their relationship, he had been a constant in her life in one way or another, and always in a role that engendered <i>trust</i>.<br />
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The man was convicted of sexual misconduct. I don’t think he had to register as a sex offender, as misconduct isn’t a felony, but it ruined his career.<br />
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See, the jury’s job wasn’t to judge the man as a person (they all felt bad for the guy, except for those two who were ready to convict the moment they heard “17-year-old girl”) but the law is a set of <i>rules</i>, and the jury had to judge his actions based on the law.<br />
<br />The courtroom felt heavy when they read the verdict.<br />
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When I thought about Liam in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Searching-Blevins-ebook/dp/B09T1QTX3N/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Soul Searching</a></i>, about his position at the start as teacher, adult, and soulmate, it was informed by what I learned about sexual misconduct, even if I didn’t quite realize it until later; in a soulmate universe, Liam might not have gotten in legal trouble if he’d interacted sexually with Paige, but he was <i>absolutely </i>in a position of trust and authority. I wanted him to care about that even if he could have legally gotten away with dating a teen.<div><br /></div><div><b>(Major Spoiler Below)</b></div><div>.</div><div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div></div><div>.</div><div><div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div></div><div>.</div></div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div>.</div><div><b>(Major Spoiler Below)</b><br />
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This also means that the separation of Liam and Paige in later chapters was vital. It let them break away from the teacher-student dynamic and yanked Liam off the pedestal Paige had placed him on. She'd needed to see him as a person, not as an authority figure or an ideal. It wasn't just about skipping ahead to Paige being eighteen: it was about giving their relationship the breather it needed to reset how they saw each other. It stripped Liam's authority away in Paige's eyes, and it gave Liam the opportunity to see her as more than a high school student when he came back.</div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-8941616517199290102022-01-27T11:05:00.001-06:002022-01-27T11:05:14.816-06:00Offensive Language in Fiction<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR5CN3XADYJO4YYUqWHlzy6hFrGk9eLb5SNr2pEvQjuePompgFMgQ2s7yldfC8I4n4TZ1M4JfEyveHZS5kav3OZXYF2G_c0ylJzAVnzCMaNpVqeOHcOxOwsV7AOSSs7imBdSxu8vcuw3J3tVhzPq4E-VQlQnFkF0yQLO6nkkZ2ZGZhcFA8z-2vXUf0ZQ=s2404" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="2404" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR5CN3XADYJO4YYUqWHlzy6hFrGk9eLb5SNr2pEvQjuePompgFMgQ2s7yldfC8I4n4TZ1M4JfEyveHZS5kav3OZXYF2G_c0ylJzAVnzCMaNpVqeOHcOxOwsV7AOSSs7imBdSxu8vcuw3J3tVhzPq4E-VQlQnFkF0yQLO6nkkZ2ZGZhcFA8z-2vXUf0ZQ=w640-h300" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>In fiction, sometimes characters are ignorant, rude, or offensive.</p><p><b>That's not the author's <i>fault</i>, that's the author's <i>job</i>.</b></p><p>Let's define offensive language as words that are traditionally used to harm. Insults of varying degrees, triggering language, even slurs.</p><p>Most triggering language should only be used after careful consideration, if at all. Writers are responsible not only for telling an evocative story but also for balancing on the line between <i>not enough </i>and <i>too much</i>, because sliding into <i>too much </i>will spoil the experience for readers, but being too afraid to trust your instincts and take chances will settle you into the mediocrity of <i>not enough</i>.</p><p>(The type and tone of a story dictates where that line falls. A children's book uses drastically different insults than a horror novel, for example.)</p><p>I've read stories where it wouldn't make sense for a character <i>not </i>to use offensive language, where the occasional use made the story fuller and the characterization richer (<i>i.e.</i> murderers -- not known for treating people with respect). I could appreciate the skill of the lines as a fellow writer and felt that the offensive terms were done well in the context of characterization and setting (and, most importantly, not overused).</p><p>On the other hand, I once read an article about a famous writer who used all sorts of offensive language in his work but then had to write about the protests when segregation was being torn down. The language of those protests was <i>so </i>offensive, he couldn't bring himself to quote it. Instead, he talked <i>around </i>the words, focusing on the feelings they evoked, describing their message instead of repeating it. He described it with words of queasiness, horror, unease, violence, and fear. He gave the <i>feelings </i>of the words, and it was evocative without having to be precise.</p><p>Everyone has their limit. It's why I respect writers who give warnings for certain types of language in their work. If I know racial slurs are going to be in something, it's a pass from me, and I mentally tip my hat at them with a "thanks" as I scroll past because it was considerate of them to let me know.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ8ltCwGUQ0GRjq7doeSjfih5-pWD5iZmg0fv6CyPo4qd1nBZU77dtjdSMbekBmkKUdQfGkT9CkEU6wqkdEtyJyvm61_-XzAASHInpc023_yOWeqPiRuffFyaNuvdchxd7yLBEMHYuQtyoSFZwSQy36eKyvFJNk5GQaJBQu3-R9xD0w2u6ucnJoCVuyA=s898" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="898" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ8ltCwGUQ0GRjq7doeSjfih5-pWD5iZmg0fv6CyPo4qd1nBZU77dtjdSMbekBmkKUdQfGkT9CkEU6wqkdEtyJyvm61_-XzAASHInpc023_yOWeqPiRuffFyaNuvdchxd7yLBEMHYuQtyoSFZwSQy36eKyvFJNk5GQaJBQu3-R9xD0w2u6ucnJoCVuyA=w640-h300" width="640" /></a></div><p>In day-to-day life, when someone uses a word that bothers you, it's okay to ask them not to use it around you. Your feelings are valid, and if that person respects your boundaries, they should comply.</p><p>But there are limits to what you can demand from others.</p><p>When I was in middle school, I policed cursing until a friend's boyfriend gave up and snapped that he wasn't going to bother anymore. There was nothing I could do about it, but looking back I think I would have had better results if I'd started from a place of compromise and been a little more lenient to his slip-ups. My request wasn't wholly unreasonable, I was legitimately uncomfortable with curse words, but I feel like his frustration could have been mitigated if I'd been less demanding and rigid.</p><p>Expecting a person to change a large portion of their vocabulary, personality, or identity to make us more comfortable is unreasonable. At that point, it's probably better to just avoid each other.</p><p>In fiction, it is irrational to expect characters to conform to the expectations we hold for the people around us, and yet I've seen writers put apologetic notes on their stories about "offensive language" that only offended one person. In one case, a reader insisted that the word "stupid" (used as a synonym for foolish) was ableist.</p><p>I actually looked it up, the argument that "stupid" and "dumb" are ableist words, and one article suggested that no definition of these words makes them acceptable, as if their potential for offensiveness makes them inherently offensive. Their <i>existence </i>was offensive to the article writer.</p><p>That idea is, to use language deemed acceptable by one of the articles I found, bizarre and outrageous.</p><p>Most of the words listed as ableist don't have only one meaning, and much of the ableist connotations have faded over the years. Their offensiveness has become a matter of <i>how </i>they're used, not <i>that </i>they're used. Exceptions exist, such as r*tarded, but by and large many words (lame, insane) have become more and more innocuous. Their original definitions have faded into ancillaries.</p><p>Language <i>changes</i>.</p><p>Writers forced to <i>apologize </i>for offensive language in their work is one of the most frustrating and horrifying things I've seen as a reader and fellow writer. Most of these writers were verbally abused by perhaps <i>one </i>thin-skinned reader until the writer was convinced that they'd done something immoral by using offensive language in a piece of fiction.</p><p>Let me be very clear: they did <i>nothing </i>wrong.</p><p>Even if a writer knows their language is offensive, that doesn't mean that the <i>characters </i>do or that the characters <i>care</i>.</p><p>And that, I say to those inexcusably oversensitive fuckers who almost certainly won't read this, is the <i>point</i>.</p><p>Writers aren't writing <i>themselves</i>. We're writing <i>fictional people</i>.</p><p>I wrote a foul-mouthed character in <i>Soul Searching</i>, and he uses some words I'm not super comfortable with because that's <i>him</i>. It's not me. It's who <i>he </i>is. We write characters who are different from us, who have opinions that aren't ours. We write characters who say rude and offensive things because rude and offensive people exist.</p><p><b>That's our fucking job.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjIpbJfa2-d8BYLVu1X0UGG80SUL020XjtJKXAX0fjVfnj4H9HF00ZA8NxlAK6YdwW70doaA3Ffix-FSljhIqQzkZdipOjo97Kyuzj5YiIiF80dY78H9jDhlXiTE6sv-IRzgFUqZBUa1l-i9RRAmp-DzdAj9Iju2nUd-tv4NtwbVhY3AnO3PvSyFeccw=s898" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="898" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjIpbJfa2-d8BYLVu1X0UGG80SUL020XjtJKXAX0fjVfnj4H9HF00ZA8NxlAK6YdwW70doaA3Ffix-FSljhIqQzkZdipOjo97Kyuzj5YiIiF80dY78H9jDhlXiTE6sv-IRzgFUqZBUa1l-i9RRAmp-DzdAj9Iju2nUd-tv4NtwbVhY3AnO3PvSyFeccw=w640-h300" title="You can't blame a writer for what the characters say. -quote by Truman Capote" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-7677230059843909922021-07-09T11:24:00.005-05:002021-07-09T11:26:59.874-05:00Writing and Mental Health<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51U7RZzPDJvvdHKI2zH_ivArv5uL45F4Vy_6dn9FRw7G2GPIZ_Vu8oeqCVYDYQArC31630xR4L6HXy7d5KB4SHSB9egGHRUU5c_eYFxc9JzKYlBH2PVR-xCg2jFBmrI8PNGi3Nh50G7z5/s1647/quote-chopra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1647" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51U7RZzPDJvvdHKI2zH_ivArv5uL45F4Vy_6dn9FRw7G2GPIZ_Vu8oeqCVYDYQArC31630xR4L6HXy7d5KB4SHSB9egGHRUU5c_eYFxc9JzKYlBH2PVR-xCg2jFBmrI8PNGi3Nh50G7z5/w640-h406/quote-chopra.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b style="font-weight: bold;">At some point, anticipation to write becomes guilt over not writing enough.</b><b> </b>This mental line is defined by your expectations: what you think you <i>should </i>be doing vs what you can realistically do. To adjust this line, you must ask yourself: how much time and mental energy do you realistically have to spare? At what point does anticipation turn into stress?</p><p></p><p>Every writer must find their line and stay just on the manageable side of it.</p><p><b>Take a second and picture your current writing project. Did your stomach sink? Did your chest go tight?</b> Those are signs that your expectations are unrealistic. Give yourself permission to reassess and relax what you expect from yourself. If you can only find time to write on the toilet and anything more triggers that tight-chested feeling? That's okay. Focus on what you <i>can </i>do and let the rest go. And if you need to take a break? That's okay, too.</p><p>The idea is that you allow yourself to only do the amount of writing that is reasonable for you and no more. Do not expect yourself to push above and beyond or you'll backslide into stress and worry. You can reassess when your circumstances change, but you should never try to push yourself beyond what is sane and healthy.</p><p>Today I looked at old writing advice I'd saved and found something that tried to <i>shame </i>me for going to bed at a reasonable time, suggesting I should sacrifice sleep to write. And I thought, "Why did I save that? Why did I think that was okay?"</p><p>We hate ourselves when we're not meeting expectations. It's normalized in the writing community for writers to make each other feel <i>worse </i>as a form of "motivation." We judge worth by productivity.</p><p><b>This is self-destructive. We have <i>normalized </i>harming ourselves and each other.</b></p><p>During the pandemic, I had to help my 7-year-old focus on distance learning. I had to take care of him and my 4-year-old daughter. Every time I thought about the writing I wasn't doing, I was filled with overwhelming anxiety, and when I sat down to write? I couldn't. I wanted to cry <i>every time </i>I thought about writing because I just didn't have the time and mental energy.</p><p><b>I know the importance of mental health.</b> I'm on medication for depression and anxiety. Dealing with these in the past made it possible for me to realize during the pandemic that something had to give: I had to prioritize myself over my writing. I couldn't write in the midst of overwhelming stress, and trying to force it was clearly bad for my mental health.</p><p>So I made a choice. Normal life would bounce back eventually, and in the meantime I had to keep my head above water. I prioritized all the things that boosted my mental health: getting enough sleep, going outside, exercise, sunlight, and routine.</p><p>And I didn't let myself worry about writing. It could keep, but my mental health couldn't -- my <i>kids </i>couldn't.</p><p><b>It is okay to take a break to regroup, rest, or take care of real life for a while. </b>It is not weakness or a lack of drive. It's reality.</p><p>Guilt and stress make us <i>worse </i>writers. We second-guess ourselves, feel like we're being pulled apart, get distracted by it, and lose sight of other important aspects of our lives. We are spread taffy-thin, and we think that's the way it <i>should </i>feel. We talk to each other like it's a badge of honor to rip ourselves apart for our art.</p><p><b>Good physical and mental health don't make you a worse writer, they make you a stronger one.</b> You have more stamina and more ability to focus when you're rested. Your brain just <i>works better</i> when you take care of yourself, when you don't have all that negative clutter vying for attention.</p><p>But more than that, <i>you are worth it</i>. You deserve to be healthy and happy.</p><p>Art often helps us through pain, but art itself should not <i>be </i>pain. Art should make your life better, not worse.</p><p>You are worth taking care of. Don't let anyone tell you differently.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFqAy4Dr_w_nw_jtEzB4-mLkydlHpo5ish5lzEYOnXsT-14kEWRHQOSLNgNOblYanLuiqoihSnm3KnQDM_gd9TjdOOSHVSERjqvCwT3I9nyeyfCWhiu7n7IZuXx75hrKQiFY0HSOZ1Doc/s1500/quote-ashe.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="1500" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFqAy4Dr_w_nw_jtEzB4-mLkydlHpo5ish5lzEYOnXsT-14kEWRHQOSLNgNOblYanLuiqoihSnm3KnQDM_gd9TjdOOSHVSERjqvCwT3I9nyeyfCWhiu7n7IZuXx75hrKQiFY0HSOZ1Doc/w640-h290/quote-ashe.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-26565523470365296072021-06-01T08:00:00.025-05:002021-06-01T08:00:00.204-05:00Conspiracy Theories & Pseudoscience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYhGlG5zH_4auUlSc2keIUK3X1bbSORVLUWngKkkj3Ahyd0NZLxBqPQgrhUc5_nAu_hJzT0LmUlWmlvhcP_tR9SWNDip-Sp6_yz5WIlVugEWp8_0tUSUbKuvV0lpfRx53c3RLD6d5jdJ/s640/quote-bondi.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="640" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeEYhGlG5zH_4auUlSc2keIUK3X1bbSORVLUWngKkkj3Ahyd0NZLxBqPQgrhUc5_nAu_hJzT0LmUlWmlvhcP_tR9SWNDip-Sp6_yz5WIlVugEWp8_0tUSUbKuvV0lpfRx53c3RLD6d5jdJ/w640-h316/quote-bondi.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><b>Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience focus on theories that can't be tested. Real science focuses on theories that can.</b></p><p>If one scientist thinks the moon is made of cheese, that's a hypothesis. NASA can test it by sending up a probe for a sample. It returns with moon dirt, so this guy says, "Okay, but that one crater is probably cheese." Another probe, more dirt. Now, he says, "Okay, but I bet the moon's core is cheese." Not only does NASA not have the tools to test this, they are no longer willing to humor a hypothesis that is more and more unlikely.</p><p>
</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>But the guy starts telling people the moon's core is made of cheese. His proof? That NASA won't investigate it. NASA is a conspiracy to hide the truth of the moon's cheese core. And regular people start to believe him because he worked with NASA and is a scientist and would know.
<p></p><p>NASA criticizes him for spreading pseudoscience. He uses the criticism as further proof of NASA trying to silence the truth.</p><p>He has no proof of the moon's cheese core, and NASA would have to spend a huge amount of money and effort to disprove his theory -- BUT WAIT. He's already made NASA the badguy, so even if they got a piece of the moon's core, this guy can wave it away as fake. His followers no longer trust NASA to tell them the truth. They only trust this one guy. And anyone who listens to NASA over this one guy Is Part Of The Conspiracy.
</p><p>Meanwhile, real scientists tested the moon dirt from the first two probes and hypothesized that underneath that was probably more moon dirt and that the core was core-like (I dunno what the moon's core is thought to be like, but like that, that's what they think). They do not think "it's cheese" because the evidence so far suggests otherwise. The real scientists don't worry about a cheese core. They test the theories they can test, and they gather information in order to learn more about the moon, and maybe some day they'll sample the core, but not today, and definitely not because a former colleague turned conspiracy theorist insists it's cheese.
</p><p>There are conspiracy theories about vaccines, Covid, the government, aliens, etc. They rely on people believing only the conspiracy theorist and no one else. They undermine trust in experts, organizations, and authorities so that even when their wild theory is proven wrong, proof that the theory is wrong is written off as another attempt to silence the "real truth." It's impossible to disprove because they don't GET their followers with proof. Instead, they get people to buy into the belief that the experts and authorities are liars and villains, isolating individuals from the very people doing the real science that disproves the conspiracy theories.
</p><p>It's insidious, and this is exactly why I'm not okay with conspiracy theories at all ever.
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyibQysPy6qagoVBe6Yq53yOJ-RT_fi55V2QeqxF6RNrvJ7sRQUpRSCVJ1V2XzQfBt-KT4sgCxVVkGBJHbgRT1nF6x3ak4_nv-NyHKlsNF-K4D98GJvgvOs12N7ON6LOT4i2I_GWeF8nIF/s1216/ba1b6c2cebfa05ad22f04e234aac1bd6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1216" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyibQysPy6qagoVBe6Yq53yOJ-RT_fi55V2QeqxF6RNrvJ7sRQUpRSCVJ1V2XzQfBt-KT4sgCxVVkGBJHbgRT1nF6x3ak4_nv-NyHKlsNF-K4D98GJvgvOs12N7ON6LOT4i2I_GWeF8nIF/w526-h640/ba1b6c2cebfa05ad22f04e234aac1bd6.jpg" width="526" /></a></div>
<blockquote><p><i><b>pseudoscience</b></i> (n.) a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method.</p><p><b><i>conspiracy theory</i></b> (n.) a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event.</p></blockquote><p></p>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-18237690532100291912021-05-09T00:00:00.001-05:002021-05-09T00:00:00.191-05:00Accessibility of Phrasing<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2TqvFQVJdUN_URgw_FXnOnallNlS6jj1nP4QtMVR3bu3lqz-WCLaUBwTSbUPe15N3vEe8wfRqYpMcYJEfcmyUp252kEGZj1t8YDcnS2m1oaonINdR_YFjjp128Nh54NEELoMwVLz0B0x/s646/quote-sjackson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="646" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy2TqvFQVJdUN_URgw_FXnOnallNlS6jj1nP4QtMVR3bu3lqz-WCLaUBwTSbUPe15N3vEe8wfRqYpMcYJEfcmyUp252kEGZj1t8YDcnS2m1oaonINdR_YFjjp128Nh54NEELoMwVLz0B0x/w640-h358/quote-sjackson.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p>When I was 16, in a creative writing class, I mentioned that a classmate’s story used a lot of big words. Another classmate complained about the big words, and we both got chewed out for it, even though I hadn’t meant it as a bad thing, just an observation.</p><p>From that, I learned that people yell at you when you think they shouldn’t use so many big words.</p><p><b>I’m going to talk about people who use too many big words, now.</b></p><p>I learned quite a few new words when I was a teenager by stumbling across one or two I didn’t know while reading. I’d pull out my (pocket-sized) dictionary and learn something new, and it was great.</p><p>Have you ever tried reading a scientific study? Like, the actual study, not the dumbed-down version for us non-science peons? There are a lot of words and phrases <i>per sentence</i> that are confusing if you’re not also a scientist. You have to look up basically everything. Every little thing. I tend to give up after the first paragraph.</p><p>And that’s where accessible phrasing comes in. Those scientists are writing their reports for other scientists, so they use phrasing that is accessible to their audience. If they were writing it for me, they’d dumb it down a hell of a lot (and that’s what articles do when they describe those studies; they dumb it down for us).</p><p>As a layperson, scientific studies and reports <i>frustrate </i>me because they are hard to understand and do not communicate well with me because I am not their audience. The same way my mom was super impressed by my college senior project presentation and how technical it all sounded when it all seemed really easy and obvious to me. (Who doesn’t instinctively understand romanticism and cynicism as philosophical metaphors in literature? So obvy.)</p><p>When I write a story to entertain, however, I need my language to be accessible to my audience. Therefore, my word choice needs to reflect that. I feel fine throwing in “big words” here and there, but I don’t saturate my writing with them because that would make my work less accessible (and more annoying). I still LOVE stumbling across new words, myself. It’s rarer these days, so it’s even more of a thrill. I get genuinely excited when I find a word I don’t know and it’s been used well.</p><p>When I first started hearing terms like cisgender and heteronormative and so on, I was super confused and a little frustrated because those words were not accessible to me, and there were a LOT of them I had to look up. It had the same effect as science reports, where I had to struggle to grasp a lot of new concepts all at once. (Which doesn’t make me hate science, nor does it make me hate gender and sexuality.) Just like with those science reports, I wanted more accessible language. I needed new terms to be thrown at me a little slower, and I needed context clues to figure them out, and I got none of that. I had to google all of it, and it was tiring, and I didn’t like it.</p><p>When articles with gender and sexuality terminology <i>are meant for a different audience than myself</i>, then it’s like those science reports that are meant for scientists, or my senior project that was meant for my professors. It’s not meant to be accessible to everybody, and I get that.</p><p>But when you’re trying to communicate ideas and feelings and experiences to someone who doesn’t have that same specialized vocabulary, you need to consider words they’ll understand. If you want to teach us new vocabulary, cool! I LOVE new vocabulary! But throw all of that vocabulary at us at once? In that case, there’s no communicating going on.</p><p>You must be realistic about your audience and your goal. When talking to someone who shares your vocabulary, all of your phrasing will automatically be accessible, and it’s not a problem (unless there’s someone like me trying to follow the conversation and getting left in the dust; then, use your best judgment). But when you’re talking to someone who doesn’t share your vocabulary, communication gets a thousand times harder <i>when you don’t account for that</i>. People who are confused and frustrated do not listen. And <b>the point of communication is to be heard and understood</b>.</p><p>Don’t lose sight of that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKBdPH-QzSblyL06V3Lq7-TQyn_wWhAnUC6gTA8cLS1yS8gDstI22SNQoWOlCy38GEY-o9HvSJivVia-kUk_7QlJ67eXnNICnvpa5avt8J4FROSrCnriZ6zQS7YeFSF80Ebrq1KKDIIed/s854/quote-shaw.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="854" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKBdPH-QzSblyL06V3Lq7-TQyn_wWhAnUC6gTA8cLS1yS8gDstI22SNQoWOlCy38GEY-o9HvSJivVia-kUk_7QlJ67eXnNICnvpa5avt8J4FROSrCnriZ6zQS7YeFSF80Ebrq1KKDIIed/w640-h338/quote-shaw.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-39274398989664413132021-04-22T10:29:00.014-05:002024-03-07T16:57:32.603-06:00Toxic Activists<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinmWU9HHC3RbOsjYuC9LHHN4J2pGN2HYprEmRZcoqCwVd1CLNsSaMuq_l4eZhdMlr0Zm5Xsxzz3v2ELIdTaJgeoEFxzGzMkxDH-Wju8FZGdkOHrZdzVTDVVKhU1EzhM8JY1YyVkQa6IQEm/s1051/koepke-toxicpeople.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1051" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinmWU9HHC3RbOsjYuC9LHHN4J2pGN2HYprEmRZcoqCwVd1CLNsSaMuq_l4eZhdMlr0Zm5Xsxzz3v2ELIdTaJgeoEFxzGzMkxDH-Wju8FZGdkOHrZdzVTDVVKhU1EzhM8JY1YyVkQa6IQEm/w640-h390/koepke-toxicpeople.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>A few times in the past, I've considered appealing to my conservative friends and family by saying I know there are bad liberals and maybe giving an example, but I never did because trashing folks just to connect to others is hella uncool.</p><p>My mom and I have these occasional “we’re politically different but we can talk about it and not get mad at each other and actually feel better afterwards” chats. In one of these, I mentioned that I know there are bad liberals and good conservatives, just like there are good liberals and bad conservatives, and I went on to tell her that that there’s a part of the Star Wars fandom that <i>really </i>hates the part I belong to, but the reasoning for that hate <i>changes </i>if it’s successfully challenged. <i>The reasons are excuses </i>to be bullies.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaXqgZUKlFMlWEa5Bl2WhFG5238w7_FinFG_Kbh_N_WXr7gNUnAZ1OokN44KRaREy60NU0sLCihqqwXxYqjCIICN47qwsPNeNUj7lxqmvB9_uAqqVfrV0INN2IYHR5MOuWKFs7jwiSOnp/s564/1b81de85ed9ee7a5f894cf8733095ed1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img align="right" border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaXqgZUKlFMlWEa5Bl2WhFG5238w7_FinFG_Kbh_N_WXr7gNUnAZ1OokN44KRaREy60NU0sLCihqqwXxYqjCIICN47qwsPNeNUj7lxqmvB9_uAqqVfrV0INN2IYHR5MOuWKFs7jwiSOnp/s320/1b81de85ed9ee7a5f894cf8733095ed1.jpg" /></a></div>I told my mom that this is how my least favorite liberals are, too. Some liberals use morality as a smokescreen to bully others. They don’t actually care if their accusations are true or if their actions are appropriate. They don’t care if the punishment fits the crime. They just want to bully someone, and bullying someone over a morality issue is an <i>excellent </i>smokescreen.<p>In fandoms, I've never seen any faction walk away from a conflict feeling like their lives are better for it. It never helps anyone, but some people devote themselves to hatred just to fit in.</p><p>Over the decades, I've decided that every fandom has room for its niches. We can love different and even opposing aspects of something without ruining it for each other. Finding joy in the same place, even if it's for different reasons, is <i>awesome</i>. We can and should give each other the space to enjoy what we love and defend our right to enjoy it. (I once told a guy friend, "You are entitled to your opinion [about my favorite character], but you can shut up about it," and I stand behind that energy.)</p><p>With morality issues in the real world, saying something stupid might lose you a friend or get you in an argument with someone nearby. Online, there are hundreds of people ready and willing to pile onto a tsunami of punishment for... what? Being a stupid jerk with a wrong opinion? Is it even <i>worth</i> the time and energy of so many people? And what does it really accomplish? It entertains the punisher, makes them feel good about themselves, gets them a pat on the head from others, but it doesn't create real change. Punishment doesn't <i>build </i>anything.</p><p><b>The biggest symptom of a toxic activist is that they don’t care who they punish. </b>They care about their causes, sure, but their <i>priority </i>is social. They want to be <i>seen </i>defending those causes so that they can fit in and get praise from people they admire. It grants the instant satisfaction of having done something "good" without the downside of effort.</p><p>That's why so many people do it. It's <i>much </i>easier to tear people down than help people up. It has far faster rewards, too.</p><p>But destruction has always been the tactic of cowards and fools.</p><p>Online harassment masquerading as social justice doesn't hold up when compared to women’s shelters, legal advocates, educators, rights defenders, volunteers, counselors, peaceful protesters, and even the smallest cogs in wheels fighting to make positive change in the world. If online bullies really cared <i>that </i>much about this stuff, they’d do something real--but bullies don’t like to do real things. They don’t like to do <i>hard </i>things.</p><p>I didn’t want to share this with my conservative relatives in case it opens the floodgates to complain about liberals. So, instead, I’ll share this with y’all in the hopes that, if you’re liberal like me, you’ll be a little more aware of how destructive these online moral justice warriors really are, and how they’re not actually helping anyone.</p><p>And if you <i>are </i>a moral justice warrior? Consider whether your impact makes a positive difference or if you're just doing it to feel good about yourself and get praise from others online. If it's the latter, maybe consider getting away from the online aspect and reinvesting your time in something more tangible. Volunteer, fundraise, donate, or even look at career opportunities that will help you make a difference. Helping might be harder and slower, but it does more good than destroying people online ever will.</p>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-50548506919731590782021-01-23T18:56:00.003-06:002023-03-04T19:58:34.671-06:00Judgmental<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkqCj2DyOM34l7EjO4Da_Zkiu70S7hf1XjaQD1WLLVv05gTZumrXn_2p6TPiQRz0s1jKCf5ZmtrkqT7RVpopksmchyphenhyphenS67AYssonF30Nq-PlS68Z1RwgMAOkK8dSYUae1Pw8F4Al0s9yE2/s1305/Quote-Baruch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1305" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnkqCj2DyOM34l7EjO4Da_Zkiu70S7hf1XjaQD1WLLVv05gTZumrXn_2p6TPiQRz0s1jKCf5ZmtrkqT7RVpopksmchyphenhyphenS67AYssonF30Nq-PlS68Z1RwgMAOkK8dSYUae1Pw8F4Al0s9yE2/w640-h396/Quote-Baruch.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><b>I grew up in the U.S. deep south as a preacher's kid, </b>and one of the things I realized as an adult is this: the definition of a "real" Christian varies with who you ask. My favorite people have a looser definition, giving plenty of room for different personalities and different opinions on the things that aren't at the core of the Christian faith. My least favorite people have very narrow, specific definitions. In the worst cases, there's an insane standard everyone has to meet, and if you don't... then you're not a "real" Christian and have to be nagged until you shape up. (You know. For your soul.) These people are more likely to intentionally drive people away for failing to fit in.<div><div><br /></div><div><b>There are writers who do the same thing.</b> People who dictate what you have to do to be a "real" writer and put conditions on their acceptance, just like the worst Christians. The standard varies, but the most common requirement is to be traditionally published. Sometimes, the standard is even narrower, defining exactly what they themselves do or aspire to do, and the definition changes only when they change, to better fit them.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Real" is them. Anything <i>other </i>is <i>less</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>And it's hogwash. All of it. It's an excuse to feel superior in venues where people, for the most part, can be different and still fall under the same umbrella. It's an attempt to make those venues exclusive and make themselves special. Better. More impressive. It's a grab for self-worth that is assigned by and for the individual.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-zC3RKB1tkwIDgoHAdl6ZK2SkYP-CzTObUPGUuWl04gWQ-D75tyjEIdZQiMn7O6SWMDciQ3mxV4ew_GZ9Um2RWXvrLcURHn11TgCPJnPKT4-DRry3jD0Urb9rhNopzIEtrLNn_bnl80B/s774/Quote-Neff.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="774" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8-zC3RKB1tkwIDgoHAdl6ZK2SkYP-CzTObUPGUuWl04gWQ-D75tyjEIdZQiMn7O6SWMDciQ3mxV4ew_GZ9Um2RWXvrLcURHn11TgCPJnPKT4-DRry3jD0Urb9rhNopzIEtrLNn_bnl80B/w320-h320/Quote-Neff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>My therapist gave me a book about <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Self-Compassion-Proven-Power-Being-Yourself/dp/0061733520" target="_blank">Self Compassion</a>, which I have not fully read because I'm terrible at reading things I'm asked to read, but there's this quote at the beginning about being as kind and forgiving to yourself as you are to your friends.</div><div><br /></div><div>So here's the thing: I have always been uncomfortable with the idea of calling myself an author if I self-publish instead of traditionally publish, but I don't hold my friends to that standard. I know several people who've self-published, and they call themselves authors, and I have no problem with that. And I only just realized that I have a different standard for myself, and I probably shouldn't. And it's because of fear.</div><div><br /></div><div>The people who look down on self-publication, the people whose judgment I have expected and feared if I self-published, it's just like the judgment of those worst Christians, the nitpickers, the ones who tried and would still try to fit me into a box of their making, a box I set on fire when those same people praised and voted for a man who was everything they told me not to be.</div><div><br /></div><div>Today I thought, <i>Why should I listen to judgmental writers when I've already rejected judgmental Christians?</i></div><div><br /></div><div>So fuck them. Fuck the idea that I need to be someone else's ideal. They might belong to different groups, but they have the same bad attitude.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fuck them all.</div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzcIEdkPP82za5AKSF9lhnkXb8LWDf36uNWCBop447KfPFTvWm_540aYOyRfFe6SgpINN-VifYqfAbtN-0SDWvl5GIcE4-D72MWuEe6E1BiTYNCO6tqhW_YzZjoD9V4igBRNW4ph0qRjm/s1064/quote-wayne.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1064" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkzcIEdkPP82za5AKSF9lhnkXb8LWDf36uNWCBop447KfPFTvWm_540aYOyRfFe6SgpINN-VifYqfAbtN-0SDWvl5GIcE4-D72MWuEe6E1BiTYNCO6tqhW_YzZjoD9V4igBRNW4ph0qRjm/w640-h357/quote-wayne.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-72060411110756184452021-01-21T11:41:00.001-06:002021-01-21T11:41:04.463-06:00Criticism of the Constructive Kind<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSzTYKBVAdAkhbognOHNvunpXhps5qDDXCm4B9QzYsC1pwSvyRuuCkl_6wK5S28tUUqj-8FYO0GP1n-XVOU3GZLc5hzYSlm2BhnMNmyqFa_4D7E550P1cTJYxfjd4Cdcayiqpha4D-153/s916/quote-mcsmith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="916" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSzTYKBVAdAkhbognOHNvunpXhps5qDDXCm4B9QzYsC1pwSvyRuuCkl_6wK5S28tUUqj-8FYO0GP1n-XVOU3GZLc5hzYSlm2BhnMNmyqFa_4D7E550P1cTJYxfjd4Cdcayiqpha4D-153/w640-h282/quote-mcsmith.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />When I was 16, I attended a New Orleans writing class where two of the three teachers criticized me for not speaking up more in critique circle.<p></p><p>I had undiagnosed social anxiety back then, but mainly I was trying to learn how to offer critiques without hurting anyone's feelings. Those two teachers didn't care about that, even told us at the start of class that we shouldn't let our feelings get hurt by critiques, but I still cared. I wanted to learn how to <i>help </i>while also being <i>kind </i>and <i>considerate</i>. I would have liked at least one lesson on how to do that, but those two bastards obviously didn't see the point.</p><p>Twenty years have passed, and I still prefer my way to their way. It's not about watering down feedback but about the way it's phrased, the way it's offered, the <i>tone</i>. Over the years, I've given and received plenty of critiques, and I'm now able to verbalize my opinion in a way I couldn't at 16.</p><p>Critiques tend to go looking for problems. It becomes a game of nitpicking, as critiquers often feel like they have to find <i>something </i>wrong for their feedback to be worthwhile. There's <i>pressure </i>to find something wrong, so, if your work doesn't have many issues, people will just kind of... latch onto something small just to have feedback for you. Critique also gives permission to be unusually harsh, and some writers will take the opportunity to exercise their wit at your expense because it's allowed in the critique format. (Those two teachers liked to sharpen their wit on us students. Again: bastards.)</p><p>I find I much prefer <i>constructive criticism</i>. Functionally, it's what I was trying to do at 16 in my writing class. Instead of nitpicking or hunting down potential problems, constructive criticism only really points out problems when they pop up, rather than laser-focusing.</p><p>It's the difference between polishing a gemstone and cutting a gemstone. One focuses on smoothing away rough edges, and the other harshly cuts away imperfection, sometimes to the point of hacking indiscriminately. Some work needs extra cutting, some needs extra smoothing. But when someone starts to hack indiscriminately, to cut away <i>everything</i>,<i> </i>the gemstone starts to look more like a grain of sand.</p><p>I like constructive criticism because it lends itself better to <i>friendly </i>feedback, and there's less pressure to find something wrong. I've seen far too many critiquers dig up problems that aren't really problems in someone's work just to have something to say about it, and that is ultimately unhelpful and misleading. Giving a critique often feels like you're not <i>allowed </i>to approve of the story or selection the way it is, that you're letting the person down if you find nothing, that they'll be disappointed. But I've found that, most of the time, writers just want to see if another pair of eyes can pick up on something they've overlooked. And they'll be <i>reassured </i>if the critiquer can't find anything. I know I'd be pleased to put my work out there for critique and have someone just say, "I honestly couldn't find anything wrong," because who doesn't want to hear that their hard work is ready for The Powers That Be?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R5K6gO7ay2kmeCGHiran7EJXIrPR3bkN9j3Q3UdooH7kLJsSkzD6d77n2kYbAcB5PT_0PIY2_q67EzyBhTY9gINlsyvETE64cpI0a-3IeD61TzX78gSeJvQXEZfOZvtR2r-0H0dXQotx/s858/quote-abdul.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="858" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2R5K6gO7ay2kmeCGHiran7EJXIrPR3bkN9j3Q3UdooH7kLJsSkzD6d77n2kYbAcB5PT_0PIY2_q67EzyBhTY9gINlsyvETE64cpI0a-3IeD61TzX78gSeJvQXEZfOZvtR2r-0H0dXQotx/w640-h298/quote-abdul.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-43609701195899284942020-07-31T09:00:00.004-05:002021-07-09T12:16:53.136-05:00The Cost of Typos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mwvxbfV1mT9ocwTEycywzfEZBFzS6mQ4KkKP0ao26Yncxpk20LDHb19pXVDvMAz_RrPxMtYWzRondWkRamNU36E_P1aXtjz51SRFOpwGDFVN5h4Mrto0YjzXIbqJMYOzWcjTqvoxOm_s/s250/image2.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="177" data-original-width="250" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mwvxbfV1mT9ocwTEycywzfEZBFzS6mQ4KkKP0ao26Yncxpk20LDHb19pXVDvMAz_RrPxMtYWzRondWkRamNU36E_P1aXtjz51SRFOpwGDFVN5h4Mrto0YjzXIbqJMYOzWcjTqvoxOm_s/w391-h276/image2.jpeg" width="391" /></a></div>
<br /><div>When a self-published book has a typo on the very first page, that's two strikes. When it has errors regularly on the next few pages, that's the death knell. It doesn't <i>always </i>mean I'll stop reading, but it means I will not spend any more money on that specific writer.</div><div><br /></div><div>I cannot express enough how important it is to have clean, tidy writing when trying to tempt readers to part with their money.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even your free work should be untainted by typos because <i>that </i>work is supposed to persuade readers to spend money on the rest of your work. Free writing is an advertisement, a taste of what you can bring to the table. If it's slapdash or lazily edited, readers will absolutely believe that your for-sale work has the same problems.</div><div><br /></div><div>While a small handful of readers will go nuclear at <i>any </i>errors, most will stay with you if the plot is good and the errors are <i>minimal</i>. This means cleaning up your writing <i>as best you can</i>. A typo or two makes it through, fine. Even traditionally published books with professional proofreaders have typos sometimes. But errors on every other page? It will prevent your writing career from blooming into something strong and sustainable.</div><div><br /></div><div>The worst mistakes I've seen in self-published novels were consistent grammatical errors. One book capitalized all of her dialogue tags ("I'm here," He said.) and another used single quotation marks rather than double quotation marks ('How are you?' she asked. 'I'm good,' he said.), which is apparently a British punctuation thing but is <i>dead wrong </i>for American readers.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are places where typos are allowed and writers can flourish despite them, and these places are casual and free and full of other stories by writers that are equally casual and free. Those places are for fun, not profit.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Everything </i>changes when you want to charge for something. Readers demand more. They demand better. They want their money's worth.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've seen writers who insist that the time and effort they've put into their work has earned them the right to set a reasonable price, and to that I say yes and no. You want to set a price that <i>readers will pay</i>. And the more typos you have, the lower that price dips. A typo-riddled work <i>is worth less, </i>no matter how much time you put into it. It is the final product that matters to readers, not the months and years sunk into it on the front end.</div><div><br /></div><div>Does this seem cold? Unfair? Entitled? Sure. But we're not talking about your loving family and friends who will buy your work no matter what. We're talking about strangers stumbling onto your work and deciding whether it's something they want to spend money on. And we're talking about whether, once they've been tempted into dropping a few dollars on one story, they are pleased enough to drop more on your future work. (Preferably at a reasonable markup.)</div><div><br /></div><div>You are asking these people to take a chance on you. To give you just a moment of their attention. And you are promising that it will be worthwhile.</div><div><br /></div><div>Readers are not kind when they don't think you've lived up to your end of the bargain.</div><div><br /></div><div>You want to build an audience. Build a <i>career</i>. You might be able do that with error-filled product if you're good at self-promotion, but your audience will not grow nearly as fast or hit the kinds of numbers your work would see if there were no errors.</div><div><br /></div><div>Those things hold you back. They make your work look unprofessional. You might have some success through the power of your plot, but think of it like a game where you get points for a good plot, good characters, and good writing, but you lose points for poor presentation, confusing sections, typos, and bad grammar. If you have errors, you might still come out ahead in the end, but <i>you're still losing points</i>. And in this metaphor, the points are readers. Readers who have the money to make your writing a sustainable career.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm going to end with this: you already know typos are bad. I don't think a single writer thinks typos are fine. But I've seen enough error-prone self-published works over the years that I feel the need to try and push this: typos lose readers. Most times, readers leave quietly without ever saying a word. They leave, and they don't come back. They don't try again. You <i>never </i>get a second chance.</div><div><br /></div><div>Every story, free or purchased, gives you one shot at making an impression on a first-time reader of your work.</div><div><br /></div><div>Make it a good one.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2pLrLNmuutf0YBSJGxw2vlSenTG22DN9tnVaErRxgUMFx9BqdkFG7pm7c3-GrvYgp-vY6VbTOFfTnDFqwwk75uanhMBNu87kPg9zv4y2KH_ntIfe1HxAIfmtO5IL0gtVWHnuOS2-RiHr/s900/bigstock-Proof-Reading-110261042.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="900" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo2pLrLNmuutf0YBSJGxw2vlSenTG22DN9tnVaErRxgUMFx9BqdkFG7pm7c3-GrvYgp-vY6VbTOFfTnDFqwwk75uanhMBNu87kPg9zv4y2KH_ntIfe1HxAIfmtO5IL0gtVWHnuOS2-RiHr/w400-h256/bigstock-Proof-Reading-110261042.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-28944478654213014172020-06-24T12:28:00.002-05:002020-06-24T12:29:17.403-05:00On Writing Sex as a Christian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
When I was sixteen, I stopped reading a story for a writing class because of the word "hardon." I got in trouble for it later with the head teachers, R and G. When I admitted to them that I'd finished the story because our class teacher had been nice about it, they called that "mature."<br />
<br />
They were dicks.<br />
<br />
They knew I was Christian and made assumptions about me based on that, both political and personal. They assumed I had a problem with "hardon" because of strict religious beliefs when, in truth, it was because I was reading it right beside <i>my mother</i>,<i> </i>and I used to have this weird paranoia that people could tell when I was thinking about something I shouldn't.<br />
<br />
See, I wasn't <i>offended </i>by reading "hardon," like they clearly thought. I was <i>embarrassed</i>. If I hadn't been beside my can't-actually-read-minds mom, I would have been able to handle it. A minor bump, but I'd have managed.<br />
<br />
For years, I wrote with the knowledge that my family would read it, so I stripped anything that might embarrass me out of my work. No profanity, less romance, no sexual situations. Characters basically didn't have libidos because I'd been taught abstinence by the church and that translated into the fear that I'd be a bad Christian if I let my characters have sexual urges.<br />
<br />
It handicapped my work.<br />
<br />
See, I love romance. There doesn't even have to be sex. But you can't create romance if your characters have no sexual urges. Sexuality is what makes us want to hold hands and kiss and gaze into each other's eyes. It's that catch-your-breath feeling, the skipped heartbeats, the skin-too-tight, stomach-swooping anticipation that builds tension so that even a small romantic gesture can make you swoon.<br />
<br />
My characters were essentially castrated. They were wooden puppets. They didn't feel <i>real </i>because I'd taken away an essential part of what it means to be human.<br />
<br />
Personally, I feel as if the way the church approached sex harmed me. It isn't that I think waiting for marriage is bad, it's that abstinence was promoted by trying to get young people to shut down their sexuality. Instead of understanding it, we tried to cut ourselves off from it.<br />
<br />
And that <i>isn't natural</i>.<br />
<br />
It's harmful.<br />
<br />
Because when you <i>do </i>cut yourself off from your sexual side, or even just suppress it, it doesn't magically bounce back after marriage. It continues to handicap you, often for <i>years</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>What does that have to do with writing sex scenes?</b><br />
<br />
Many Christians will have an opinion on writing explicit sexual situations, but I'm going to give you the answer most <i>writers </i>will give you: do what you feel comfortable with. Some writers might say "do what's right for the story" but those people are assholes. Art is not more important than the artist, and you shouldn't make yourself uncomfortable trying to live up to someone else's ideals.<br />
<br />
For myself, I don't know if God approves or disapproves of some of the things I've written. I've tried to be true to the nature of humankind, the nature he designed, and choose not to worry too much about it. I trust his grace to hang onto my soul, and that frees me to take chances in my work.<br />
<br />
I am also weary of the old ways of thinking, the ways I learned as a girl. The ways that cut sexuality out of me and made me ashamed for ever having had it in the first place. I'm in my thirties. I'm not a kid anymore, and I'm done worrying about what others think of me. I need to be able to respect myself and respect my work, and I will not allow anyone to treat me like a recalcitrant child just because they don't agree.<br />
<br />
Also, R and G, if you stumble across this and think I've matured or become a hypocrite or something because "hardon" made me squeamish twenty years ago and I've since used it in my own work? Fuck you. You're still dicks.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-39137736702911965372020-06-20T16:30:00.002-05:002020-06-20T20:31:52.895-05:00W. T. Meadows on Developing a Readership<i>Author W. T. Meadows, a dear friend from college, was kind enough to answer my questions about how he developed a readership for his work. Tom is a particularly charismatic person: outgoing, funny, and sincere, and he always took my trash talk during Mario Kart with a laugh. Talking to him always makes you feel seen and appreciated, and picking up a conversation after any amount of time is easy and natural.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Tom has written five novels in the Shaman States of America series, an urban fantasy world originally created by Chrishaun Keller-Hanna.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Three siblings of the same gender<br />means they all have to Hunt<br />or face monsters coming to their door.</span></i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>When did you first start building a readership?</b>
<br />
<br />
I started talking about the books openly a few months before the first book came out. Amazon lets you post pre-orders 90 days before the book goes live, so we started talking it up a little before the preorder went live. It helped that my co-author and the creator of the universe where the series took place, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chrishaun-Keller-Hanna/e/B01FLML2D0">Chrishaun Keller-Hanna</a> already had an established readership and community. She mentioned me in her newsletters and we started doing social media posts talking about the first three books, which were all slated to come out within about 3 weeks.
<br />
<br />
<b>Did you have readers ready out of the gate or was the growth more gradual?</b>
<br />
<br />
I had my friends who were kind enough to show interest in my books and people who were largely interested in the overall world where I was writing. The first three books became Amazon Best-Sellers within their own smaller categories within the first week of their publishing, but the thing that not a lot of authors say is that that’s just a badge. It’s certainly something to be proud of, but the numbers to achieve that weren’t earth-shattering.
<br />
<br />
Since then, the growth has been much more gradual. The numbers aren’t huge, but the people who read my work have become ardent fans and that’s something I'm infinitely more proud of. Personally, I will take fans who will introduce me to someone else or their book club than a temporary orange badge above my book.
<br />
<br />
<b>Were the steps to build a readership more methodical or more by-the-seat-of-your pants?</b>
<br />
<br />
I guess the short answer is yes. It’s been somewhat like the process for writing the books. I have a general plan and a bunch of major points planned out, but if the process takes me somewhere else I’ll go there instead.
<br />
<br />
As I mentioned earlier, the people who dig my work have graced me by telling others for me. Sure, there’ve been some ad buys and newsletter mentions, but one of the biggest places where I’ve had success was with finding ways to engage with my audience. Whether that’s been at conventions or on social media, it’s always a trip to have someone say “hey, this is the guy who’s books I was telling you about” or even things like “I’m eating WAY more greasy diner food now, and it’s all your fault!” Those are both things that’ve happened from people I’d never met and neither were interactions I planned or expected.
<br />
<br />
Another thing that helped me build up my readership was something that started as nothing more than idle curiosity. I have a single-question poll I’ve been conducting since the launch of the first book based off of an event riiiiiiiiiiiiight at the end. I was very curious what my friends thought, so I asked those who I knew had finished the book first. Their answers were fascinating and encouraged me to have people ping me on social media, typically through my facebook author page, when they’ve finished the book. I try to make everyone know that I’m not about to ask them if they liked the book or not so it doesn’t seem like I’m fishing for complements. The question has nothing to do with the quality of the book, but just that single event. The answers remain delightfully varied. The question has also prompted some amount of additional engagement through social media as well, which again helps bring the interest of more people.
<br />
<br />
<b>Did anyone help you along the way?</b>
<br />
<br />
Absolutely. Not a question in my mind.
<br />
<br />
CKH has been an astounding amount of help throughout this process. I’ve certainly developed my own readership separate from the rest of the Shaman States books, but her helping me out along the way was absolutely intrinsic to that process. She remains a sounding board and constant advocate for me. I could not be more grateful for her.
<br />
<br />
Additionally, groups like <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k/">20 Books to 50k</a> have provided extremely valuable information. As both Craig Martelle and Michael Anderle both say, a rising tide floats all boats.
<br />
<br />
<b>Have you ever lost readers? If so, why?</b>
<br />
<br />
Not to sound glib, but I don’t think so? Even my worst reviews so far, and I’m sure just saying this will prove otherwise, have still been relatively positive. It will certainly happen at some point and I’ll deal with that when it happens, but I hope I’ll remember the wondrous words of Neil Gaiman at that time:
<br />
<br />
“When things get tough, this is what you should do: Make good art. I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician -- make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by a mutated boa constrictor -- make good art. IRS on your trail -- make good art. Cat exploded -- make good art. Someone on the Internet thinks what you're doing is stupid or evil or it's all been done before -- make good art.”
<br />
<br />
<b>What is the best advice you can give other writers for finding and keeping readers?</b>
<br />
<br />
My first instinct is to urge other authors to read that same quote again. Then read it again another few times. Consider Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to create for the sake of creation. There’s absolutely a fine line between creating things that are made to sell well and things that are done for the art of the thing. If you want this to be your career, you may have to find the balance between those things, but I encourage you, much as possible, to lean into making the art you want to make.
<br />
<br />
With that in mind, engage with the people who are interested. Kindle the flames of that interest. Show them how much you appreciate them and that interest will spread to those around them. Be active on social media or your newsletter. Ask questions and don’t worry if you only get a few views or responses at the time. More will come in time if you persist and nurture the audience that’s there.
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<i>Find out more about W. T. Meadows and his work on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wtmeadowsauthor">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/W.T.-Meadows/e/B07FZ9K9PF">Amazon</a>.</i>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-70414954907272845202020-05-13T11:19:00.000-05:002020-05-13T11:27:37.769-05:00Triggered Readers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i><br /></i>
<i>This story is abusive.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This story is transphobic.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This story is racist.</i><br />
<br />
These are all accusations I've seen leveled at writers. Each of them was brought up by one or two people from among hundreds of readers, and each of them was in no way supported by the text itself.<br />
<br />
If you're a writer, you're going to encounter this one day. And you're going to take it seriously. Maybe you'll leap to apologize or reassure. Maybe you'll get paranoid about writing anything that pushes boundaries in the future. Maybe you will become cautious and try to over-explain things in author's notes or the text itself. Maybe you'll stop trusting your readers to be smart enough to understand what you're going for.<br />
<br />
You will doubt yourself. You will doubt your ability to write in a way that can be understood, doubt your understanding of the world, doubt that you are a good person.<br />
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<b>Take heart.</b><br />
<br />
The "abusive" story had a moment of violence, and a reader projected her own history of abuse onto the narrative. She skimmed the apology scene and saw the fifth, sixth, twentieth time her abusive partner had begged for forgiveness, and she rejected the story as abusive.<br />
<br />
The "transphobic" story had a character who had surgeries to make herself into what her father wanted. She suffered from learned self-hatred and the surgeries were a kind of self-harm. But a reader read the character as a negative metaphor for gender reassignment surgery, and so she called it transphobic.<br />
<br />
The "racist" story had a racist character. It was a horror story, and one of the main characters was racist and sexist and horrible. The reader decided that a racist character meant the writer was racist and trashed her reputation online. The writer tried to defend herself, it blew up, and her reputation was tanked. I had a reader tell me she couldn't read my work anymore after I recommended one of this horror writer's stories. During the ensuing (private) conversation, I realized that the reader couldn't give me a reason <i>why </i>she hated this writer. She just did. So much so that my recommendation caused me to fall from grace in her eyes.<br />
<br />
<b>Readers will bring their biases to your work.</b> Their histories, their traumas, their triggers, their hate and pain.<br />
<br />
It is good and right to take their feelings seriously. But that does not make their interpretations correct.<br />
<br />
It is natural to ask yourself if they have seen something you missed. If they have insight into your work that you don't. If they are <i>right</i>. If you have failed not just as a writer but as a person.<br />
<br />
The truth, in all three examples I've given, is simply that the reader was triggered and also wrong. Yes, their feelings matter. Their feelings are valid. They should absolutely not continue to read your story, and you shouldn't try to make them. But their interpretation of the text is not informed by the words on the page. They aren't reading through logical eyes. They are viewing <i>your </i>work through <i>their </i>pain. Pain that wasn't caused by you but by someone terrible in the real world.<br />
<br />
When you are accused, you needn't apologize or defend yourself or doubt everything you are. Simply say this: <b>I'll think about that.</b><br />
<br />
Because you will. <i>How can you not?</i> Who could avoid thinking about an accusation like that? Of writing an abusive, transphobic, or racist work? Very few writers automatically go, <i>Psh, that's dumb. </i>We are much more inclined to go, <i>Are they right?</i><br />
<br />
But when it's one or two people, when everyone else who reads your work does not have that same reaction... it is definitely the reader who is interpreting incorrectly. Feel free to scour the relevant scenes for anything confusing. Feel free to look for wording that might make someone misunderstand you. But I promise you, if you <i>actually have</i> confusing wording, more than one or two people will mention it. More than one or two people will get the wrong idea. When it is less than 5% of your readers assuming horrifying things, take heart. That means it's them, not you.<br />
<br />
<b>Be kind and keep trusting your readers. </b>A few getting it wrong isn't the end of the world. Even if it sometimes feels like it.<br />
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Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-67754887564944254592020-02-19T14:26:00.001-06:002020-02-19T14:35:53.105-06:00Great Stories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A great story doesn't have to be widely beloved. What makes it great is that it resonates profoundly with certain individuals, not that it universally appeals to everyone.
<p>Great stories make you invest emotionally in what happens. They make you care. They make you hope and dream and dread. They inspire real emotions, not shallow approximations.</p>
<p>It can be addictive, how real the feelings are. You want more. You want to continue riding that emotional high. You reread the book, rewatch the movie, replay the game, hoping to recapture that initial storm of feeling.</p>
<p>When someone says it's <i>just </i>a book, movie, or game, it belittles the depth of the emotional investment you've made. It belittles your feelings. It says, "You don't have the right to care deeply about this."</p>
<p>(And sometimes there are those who love the story as much as you do but who think that what you love about it is wrong. And they need to tell you that you're wrong and try to explain why, try to essentially ruin your love of this thing because <i>you're enjoying it wrong</i>. And while I can sympathize with others who feel as deeply about something as I do, there is never a good excuse to undermine what someone else loves about a story.)</p>
<p><b>Great stories bewitch.</b> The connection is special and beautiful and specific to you, to who you are and what resonates most. This experience is... spectacular. Heartbreaking. Joyful. It's a little like falling in love.</p>
<p>And if you've experienced this, whatever the story is or was, I am so happy for you.</p>
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Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-75124771536574866192019-08-19T09:56:00.000-05:002019-11-15T09:43:04.923-06:00Character Conflict: The Subjectivity of Goodness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
A pet peeve of mine is when all of the nice characters approve of each other, when they all have a similar set of values and understanding of the world, and they recognize kindred spirits in each other.<br />
<br />
It is the most basic of truths that all people, good or evil, have differences to clash over. A writer who does not use this does disservice to their story and their readers.<br />
<br />
It is not only naive but <i>dangerous </i>to treat the world as if it works that way. Reality is <i>much </i>messier, and acting as if "good" people all behave and react in the same way keeps us from trying to understand each other and work within those differences to find compromise. It is when we believe that compromise <i>should not be necessary</i> that intolerance and hatred reign.<br />
<br />
Growing up in the church, I knew about churches that split over issues that don't matter to me in the least. When in the service to have communion. Instruments or acapella. Which version of the Bible to use. The smallest things created these huge rifts because in those particular churches, no one was willing to compromise. These were life-or-death issues.<br />
<br />
Anything, absolutely anything, no matter how small it seems to you, can be huge to someone else. Giving your characters these little inconsistencies makes them more human, more real.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNrBTrlhmHb8wqs9LGRc4emCqi3OHpKbBjN440EXKOSWlRbZzWeUytxt23m9t7wd2vYDXWnn_SMbJAEtT8QMLKcYx-lPmORPhMybEiLbrJ2jnZWlxAS1b_5Gkxr9_8tyAO5pxq8P-KNVa/s1600/quote-frank-goodatheart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNrBTrlhmHb8wqs9LGRc4emCqi3OHpKbBjN440EXKOSWlRbZzWeUytxt23m9t7wd2vYDXWnn_SMbJAEtT8QMLKcYx-lPmORPhMybEiLbrJ2jnZWlxAS1b_5Gkxr9_8tyAO5pxq8P-KNVa/s320/quote-frank-goodatheart.jpg" width="320" /></a><i>Good </i>is a spectrum and often subjective. The way I grew up, good looked a certain way, a Christian way. In a few stories I've read recently, it looks like love and acceptance of all gender identities and sexual preferences. The similarity the two share is that both are a bit rigid in their definition of goodness, leading to intolerance toward those whose definition conflicts with their own.<br />
<br />
But I should define intolerance as I use it here. I don't mean hatred or cruelty or demeaning words or active opposition. I don't mean trackable offenses. Many who consider themselves good by their own moral code do not actually go out of their way to make others feel small or unsafe. Those who <i>do </i>engage in cruelty are not good people. No, the intolerance I'm talking about is simply the inability and/or disinclination to try and see things from another point of view. It is beyond difficult to fully understand a point of view that conflicts sharply with one's own, but I've learned that the only way to truly embrace tolerance is to <i>give others the benefit of the doubt </i>that they are not actually bad people just because they see the world a different way. Or rather, that they are not <i>trying to be</i> bad people. That they are trying to be good and honest and fair according to their understanding of goodness; subjective goodness recognizes a set of morals and dedicates itself to living by them.<br />
<br />
It is these intrinsic differences, the <i>subjectivity </i>of<i> </i>goodness, that give characters the potential to both be good and be in conflict with others who are good, even if that conflict is as subtle as a bit of awkwardness during a conversation.<br />
<br />
On the other side of the coin, it is important to recognize that people with intolerant habits can <i>change</i>. Not their core values, usually, but how they treat and react to those with conflicting beliefs. Kindness and friendship and love are not impossible no matter how different our interpretation of goodness, and forgetting that sets us at a disadvantage not just as writers but as human beings.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-80468943213651279602019-04-03T10:39:00.000-05:002019-04-03T10:39:06.235-05:00Toy Bingo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-8509497145715426692019-03-20T09:13:00.001-05:002021-01-21T08:42:40.917-06:00Real Life Spotlight: "Rapture" by Fauster Kent<div class="tr_bq">
<i>Real Life Spotlight is where I recommend works by friends and family in my real life. These are not guaranteed to be works in the same genre as my own, nor will they automatically appeal to the same readers.</i><br />
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<h3><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXHBNH5/"><br /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXHBNH5/"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAVnIZKMq9L4x1r1jBuPu5KJiJEcqZyXMvdhR8ICRROMCWNq_3ZjkwEjA9cf3pfWLPTZJ9d1rvrlkoPbpOScN2D67g6IBu7-7GmXXxVN3ADl0z7k4JAk6U8WnIk7CxLujycwJ5470k8et/s500/51StxFpw1CL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAVnIZKMq9L4x1r1jBuPu5KJiJEcqZyXMvdhR8ICRROMCWNq_3ZjkwEjA9cf3pfWLPTZJ9d1rvrlkoPbpOScN2D67g6IBu7-7GmXXxVN3ADl0z7k4JAk6U8WnIk7CxLujycwJ5470k8et/s320/51StxFpw1CL.jpg" /></a></div>Rapture by Fauster Kent</h3>
Sarah Testament fears her father is dying. Or worse.<br />
<br />
When the Reverend Bill Testament receives a vision of the world's end, Sarah must wrestle with her father's increasingly bizarre behavior, a tragic family history, her own faltering convictions, and the frailty of life itself.<br />
<br />
"Rapture" is a psychological thriller that explores the fragile line between faith and madness.<br />
<br />
<h3>
<b>My Review</b></h3>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I'm not an extensive reader of either horror stories or stories about The Rapture, so I can't compare this to the plots of other works. I am, however, an extensive reader, an aspiring writer, and will give my opinion from that point of view.<br />
<br />
The writing is very strong. The descriptions are excellent, the images evocative, and the first scene really sets the tone for both main characters.<br />
<br />
The story overall is quite dark but compelling. Definitely horror. Violence, language, disturbing situations.<br />
<br />
The most intriguing mystery for me was "Who's right?" Is the end of days actually approaching, or have people been infected with a kind of madness spread by their charismatic leader? The line between right and wrong grows more and more apparent to the reader as the story goes on, and the stakes skyrocket.<br />
<br />
To the very end, you wonder what is going to happen. To the main character, yes, but also to the world. To the possibly mad followers of a possibly mad leader. Will good or evil prevail? Logic or madness? Faith or fear? And is there any goodness left to even be saved?<br />
<br />
It's worth reading just to answer those questions.</blockquote>
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<h3>
<b>Notes From The Author</b></h3>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the words of one angry and dissatisfied reviewer, Rapture is "Well written captivating trash" and another calls it "Deeply disturbing." I couldn't ask for better recommendations!</blockquote>
<br />
<i><b>Find out more about this writer on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fauster-Kent/e/B07RJJBKLV">Amazon</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MrFausterKent/">Facebook</a>.</b></i>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-48113310328739120372019-01-20T19:37:00.000-06:002019-01-20T19:37:10.714-06:00Questionable Material<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<b>Writers are not responsible for morally condemning the immoral actions of their characters.</b><br />
<br />
I’ve seen writers who think that they need to make sure their readers know that certain actions are inappropriate or reprehensible, and I <i>could not disagree more</i>.<br />
<br />
A basic lesson you learn in writing classes is “don’t over-explain; trust your reader to be smart enough to understand what’s happening without spelling it out.” I also apply this to trusting my readers to be smart enough to tell when a character’s actions are morally dubious.<br />
<br />
I’ve seen some writers online nervously put in their notes that they don’t personally approve of X or Y that happens in their story, and if that’s what makes that writer comfortable, okay. But I will defend to the death anyone who chooses not to do that and gets flack for it because someone somewhere thinks they should have made sure everyone knows.<br />
<br />
Are there stories that <i>do </i>make you wonder what the writer thinks? Sure. Sometimes characters reflect the author’s opinions, but it’s only bad writing if there’s no character with a different opinion to balance it. Sometimes every character in the story decides that one person was right and one was wrong, and the wrong person hangs their head and agrees even though it doesn’t make sense for them to change their mind (I’ve seen this in romance novels, and it’s a cheap way to wrap things up). And sometimes the writer has one moral for their story in their head but it comes across as something completely different for their readers (that’s embarrassing, but it happens).<br />
<br />
There’s a lot of ways to deal with a story when you’re concerned that the writer might think something awful, but the best way to handle that is to ask, “Hey, do you agree with X in your story?” or “Can you tell me your thought processes when you wrote Y?”<br />
<br />
It is <i>highly </i>disturbing to me when a writer is personally attacked for their content. Our work does not define us and should not be used to make assumptions on who we are or what we think.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-49770542752935607652019-01-06T19:29:00.001-06:002021-11-16T10:44:37.204-06:00Books We Love To Hate<div dir="ltr">
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<br />
It is <i>good </i>when a book promotes critical thinking (and that includes books that you think handled a topic <i>wrong</i>) because it opens up discussion.<br />
<br />
But you can't have discussions while blocking out other points of view. The important part of discussing books critically is that <i>the discussion happens</i>. Converting others to your view is nonsense. <i>Conversation </i>is the important factor. You can't browbeat someone to understand you or agree with you, but you can have a conversation that exposes people to new ideas.<br />
<br />
When a book is considered harmful to youth or a community or a people, it's easy to attack the work and the writer and the fans of that work. But who is that helping?</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I do not accept, and will never accept, that writers or readers of a problematic, troubling, or controversial work are automatically terrible or stupid or deserve hate. That is not okay. Different people create and consume different works for different reasons. Making assumptions about people over a piece of fiction is foolish and cruel, and I am <i>never </i>okay with it.</div><div dir="ltr"><br />If you feel a book is giving the wrong impression, you can offer up alternative works. Fans get defensive when you say the book they like is bad, but people like getting suggestions for similar things to read. Be a cheerleader for better books. Word of mouth is <i>highly </i>effective, so get some metaphorical pompoms and go for it.<br />
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Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-66518599709621469952018-12-09T10:50:00.001-06:002018-12-09T10:50:18.026-06:00Writing Texting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0txzu9UR3pQPbqxyT_x29EsMBI1N9DE-BjcZYRU-HFizsexAqu_8gRxJtKQXGD-EVtIY0o0xvRPMzQIgniNkVqBtg8lIQ2YjWIQD-_JwVS7UDQzmfrkdFGM-4JgKXI2dqMC4MOhyphenhyphenxIWwG/s1600/in-my-honest-opinion-1934213_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1280" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0txzu9UR3pQPbqxyT_x29EsMBI1N9DE-BjcZYRU-HFizsexAqu_8gRxJtKQXGD-EVtIY0o0xvRPMzQIgniNkVqBtg8lIQ2YjWIQD-_JwVS7UDQzmfrkdFGM-4JgKXI2dqMC4MOhyphenhyphenxIWwG/s640/in-my-honest-opinion-1934213_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
When my characters text in stories, everything is always spelled out with punctuation.<br />
<br />
I realize it’s not how a lot of people actually text, that there are lots of shorthand codes for things, but I never learned most of those codes. Like, I was alive when LOL became a thing. I had to look it up to know what it meant. My mom thought it meant “Lots of Love,” and people online were actually disagreeing about it back then.<br />
<br />
So spelling and punctuation and capitalization is how I actually text. And it’s how my family texts, and how most of my friends text.<br />
<br />
But I know it’s not the norm. I do it that way in my stories because I feel it’s more important for the lines to be clear than to be accurate for how the characters would actually text.<br />
<br />
And also I can’t not punctuate, it gives me hives or something. I’d hyperventilate if I had to leave off that many periods.
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<br />Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-23023226642212330662018-11-26T09:00:00.000-06:002018-11-26T09:00:13.605-06:00Practice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Every single piece of writing you create, even the non-creative work, is practice.<br />
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A journal, a letter to a friend, a blog post, a school paper, everything. It all counts.<br />
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Every writer has a large stack of unfinished work from when they were starting out. Work they despair over because it falls short. It's easy to look at that work and get discouraged. To assume that this work represents your potential and that you will never be good enough.<br />
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I have realized after twenty years of writing that our failures are valuable because they are <i>practice</i>. Beautiful, helpful, wonderful practice. Our bad writing teaches us our strengths and weaknesses so that we can improve. It isn't trash, because it's training. It's helping us get better.<br />
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Writing is learned through trial and error. Any time you feel excited about an idea, write it! If it gets finished, great! If it doesn't, that's <i>fine</i>. Because you can't learn unless you're willing to make mistakes.<br />
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So if you're feeling discouraged because your work doesn't look anything like what you saw in your head, remember that every sentence you write nudges you closer to where you want to be.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-60013277863978079922018-11-19T09:00:00.000-06:002018-11-19T09:00:08.804-06:00Putting In The Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUoCHPloZSXlbVjDLTixcyEh6eOdeW60DtA1CaBVGPFByscAe6GM2JJkiG1HZjngdskMIcK8W29ociBti21-QJTaZcjwSICEtoWJTp2qlXWAtKe1TPF9nSZ4FcpXHQzUQbOe_8w3jO39Ru/s1600/king-talent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUoCHPloZSXlbVjDLTixcyEh6eOdeW60DtA1CaBVGPFByscAe6GM2JJkiG1HZjngdskMIcK8W29ociBti21-QJTaZcjwSICEtoWJTp2qlXWAtKe1TPF9nSZ4FcpXHQzUQbOe_8w3jO39Ru/s640/king-talent.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When someone looks at a piece of writing (mine or otherwise) and says that they could do better, my first thought is, "Then you should." But many who say that don't follow up on it because... well, people like to think that they could create something superior, but they're missing the one ingredient to make it happen -- they don't want to sit down and actually do it. That is the greatest difference between a writer and someone who thinks they <i>could </i>be a writer. You have to actually sit down and do it.<br />
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Those of us who write, and that includes <i>everyone </i>who takes the time to write, we all go through growing pains. It doesn't matter our age – whenever we begin, our work is rarely where we want it to be. Our first attempts are rarely that good, and we often compare ourselves to our favorite authors and get discouraged.<br />
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Let me tell you a secret: putting in the time will get you there.<br />
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Anyone – literally anyone – can get there by putting in the time. If you’re dedicated, if you work hard, if you don’t give up, you will get there.<br />
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Talent doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t stick with a craft. You can be the next coming of Mozart, but you will be outstripped easily by a no-talent hack if you don’t keep at it. But if you do… well, even if you’re a no-talent hack, you will end up producing better work than a lazy prodigy.<br />
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Art has more to do with not quitting than it does with talent. Whoever you are, however much or little talent you have, you will get to a place where you're proud of your work.<br />
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I promise.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-49049967117147697912018-11-12T09:04:00.001-06:002018-11-12T09:04:30.543-06:00Writing and Age<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I’ve been writing for two decades. And by writing, I mean practicing and training and learning and pulling my hair out to try and get better than I was yesterday. I’ve been through the initial growing pains, which, by the way, <i>sucked</i>.<br />
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On average, I would assume that I’m ahead of someone else in the craft when my experience outstrips theirs by a healthy margin. I never assume that I outstrip another person on talent or dedication or inspiration or the number of friends willing to yell at me if I hurt their feelings, but I think it’s safe enough to assume I have a decent lead skill-wise when someone’s age matches the number of years I’ve been writing.<br />
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Skill gaps are much more prominent in the first quarter of life. Twenty-year-old writers are generally better than 16-year-old writers, who are going to be better than 12-year-old writers, but even a 14-year-old can be better than a 70-year-old at something if the 14-year-old has been honing their craft longer.<br />
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See, it’s not about <i>age</i>, it’s about <i>time put in</i>. Any edge I have in writing is absolutely just that I have had more time to put in and have done so. This correlates with age but has <i>nothing to do with age</i>. Anyone – literally anyone – can catch up to and surpass me by putting in the time and being inherently more talented or dedicated than I am. I hope to keep growing as a writer, but I understand that there are prodigies and people who are ridiculously talented at writing and that they’re either better than me or about to be, despite having put in less time.<br />
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For the most part, when you’re talking “best” writers (or artists), they are likely to be the ones who have put more time in and are further along their artistic journey. And this often, though not always, correlates with age. Age correlates with time, and time is what you put into improving your creative skills. (Disclaimer: I by no means consider myself The Best. I only consider myself to be Worth Reading But Only If My Work Interests You Because Taste Is Subjective.)<br />
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If you know someone awesome at writing who is very young, someone better than me and/or another full-grown adult writer, great! Youth doesn’t mean inferior. It just means they’ve had less time. A prodigy who also gets the practice afforded by time under their belt… well, that’s one hell of a creative force. That’s Mozart-level right there.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-45603853141653460362018-11-01T09:23:00.002-05:002018-11-01T11:54:04.321-05:00When Badguys Don't Lose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
One of my favorite books is <i>The Blue Castle</i> by L. M. Montgomery (of <i>Anne of Green Gables</i> fame). It's the story of a young woman, Valancy, who finds out she is going to die and realizes that she has never truly <i>lived</i>. She has spent her life under the sodden weight of her respectable and judgmental family, people who have never expected much of her and have not been disappointed. Valancy's family does not really love her, though she loves them. But she is also afraid of them. Of their disappointment and their judgment. I love that this dynamic is not played for pathos, that it simply <i>is</i>.<br />
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I also love that while Valancy leaves her family and blooms into the most vibrant version of herself, her family doesn't learn any lessons. They don't change. They are the same stodgy judgmental people at the end as they are at the beginning. Valancy's story isn't about showing anyone <i>else </i>that she is greater than they thought, it is about showing <i>herself</i>. And the people who are wise see it, but the people who are foolish, like her family, do not.<br />
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The most important lesson of the story is that it's important to prove your worth to <i>yourself</i>. That the opinions of others don't matter as much as your own self-esteem.<br />
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A secondary lesson is that you can still love people who don't know how to value you. Valancy deserves to be loved, so she goes out and finds people who appreciate her. It doesn't stop her from loving her family, but it puts her in an emotionally healthier situation, and that is an <i>amazing </i>lesson.<br />
<br />
Another of my favorite books is <i>The Trouble with Kings</i> by Sherwood Smith. There are many things to love about this story, and many aspects in common with <i>The Blue Castle</i>, but here is the best: Princess Flian, when she is at home, is often overshadowed by another young lady. Flian is considered "dull." Yet, throughout the story, we see Flian exercising a strength of character and courage that the other girl couldn't hope to match. She grows and changes and becomes this <i>amazing </i>young woman. Yet the other girl never sees it. She is never put in her place, and she never understands how much better Flian is than her. The foolish girl still believes at the end of the story that she is smarter, prettier, and more desirable than Flian. She still looks down on Flian.<br />
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But the <i>important </i>people know better. <i>Flian </i>knows better. And it echos the themes in The Blue Castle that show us that the most important thing is to value ourselves. Flian learns how strong she is; her family knows it; her new friends know it. That is enough for her. She is happy and confident, and no one else's pettiness can weaken her self-worth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hLL1ZBs7SZDFNx2bkDdMaaRDHwedd5zjVCXkw07euWZIL9uWjUk6OMFQQdN0Pnoq0cUIvshcwA8q4MX7BNVzK1puW68VnRGxFXckRUtg7GH1uotJ76T3E2BS6Vtoq90RDIz6LlYSroPe/s1600/roosevelt-inferior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_hLL1ZBs7SZDFNx2bkDdMaaRDHwedd5zjVCXkw07euWZIL9uWjUk6OMFQQdN0Pnoq0cUIvshcwA8q4MX7BNVzK1puW68VnRGxFXckRUtg7GH1uotJ76T3E2BS6Vtoq90RDIz6LlYSroPe/s320/roosevelt-inferior.jpg" width="320" /></a>If someone else had written those stories, Valancy's family might have apologized for not realizing sooner how much they love her. In Flian's case, someone would prove to her bully how much more they like Flian, leaving a sour taste in the bully's mouth. And the lesson there is that, by resolving those situations in the protagonist's favor, it is the last ingredient, the missing piece to their personal happiness. It tells us that perfect happiness cannot be possible without total triumph.<br />
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I <i>much </i>prefer the lesson that it is possible to be happy in spite of it all -- that although bullies don't change and people don't love you just because they should, we can still value ourselves. We don't need someone else's permission to do so.<br />
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Self-esteem is so much more powerful than the people who disappoint you, and that is a lesson we <i>all </i>deserve to learn.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-12041884364197122912018-10-29T14:48:00.002-05:002020-06-22T10:27:20.762-05:00Writer Bias<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><br /></b>
How can you tell the difference between a story with deeply troubling opinions, themes, and character actions and a story where the writer is inserting his or her own views, opinions, and preferences?<br /><br />
<h4>
Warning signs:
</h4>
<ul>
<li>Characters with a certain point of view are written as strong, wise, reasonable, sensible, or normal.</li>
<li>Characters with different or opposite views are written as weak, foolish, strange, wishy-washy, aggressive, or dysfunctional.</li>
<li>Limited ways of thinking. The “right” way and the “wrong” way.</li>
<li>No moderating voice of reason. Even those who should know better fail to be unbiased.</li>
<li>Unrealistic characters, character interactions, and authority figures.</li>
<li>World-building is not only unrealistic but also feeds into the “reasonable” character’s understanding of reality. <i>Reality itself is warped to support a point of view.</i></li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4>
NOT warning signs:
</h4>
<ul>
<li>One or more character is dismissive, contemptuous, aggressive, or unhealthy in his/her point of view. (<i>See:</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator">unreliable narrator</a>)</li>
<li>Good characters all think the same way and badguys are clearly evil. (Good guys are good, bad guys are bad is very common and not typically cause for alarm.)</li>
<li>Characters taking sides. (This is normal human behavior. Even when the sides are unbalanced in someone’s favor, that is realistic. A 50/50 split is too contrived.)</li>
<li>World-building that creates a problematic world or a world where most people fall into a certain way of thinking. (Dystopian worlds and dysfunctional characters.)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4>
Examples:
</h4>
Yes, writers can make a point through story. Classic dystopian fiction like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver all make commentary on human nature and serve as warnings for how far society can fall if we let it. Unreliable narrator stories like The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye have less social commentary and more to do with tragic human nature on a limited and personal scale.
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<br />
On the other end of the spectrum, we have simple stories of good versus evil where characters aren’t very well fleshed-out. Sometimes the good point of view is obviously the author’s idea of what good means, and the evil is evil for no reason, but that’s just failure to think through character motivations and create nuance.
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<br />
It’s only when the fabric of reality in a story (the setting, the facts, the <i>characters themselves</i>) warps into something unrecognizable that you can be sure that the story you are reading is biased. This is most obvious in situations like “Pretty in Pink” where a character is a stereotype or farce of a people or culture. I recently read a story where modern culture was written as oppressive to straight men in a premise that was meant to be light-hearted but made any sane reader deeply uncomfortable. In that story, the LGBTQ+ community was sexually aggressive, wishy-washy, and foolish, as were any “progressive” thinkers, and the main character and his friends were the only “reasonable” people who saw problematic behavior as problematic. The establishment (such as police) supported the <i>warped </i>version of reality by treating straight men as guilty until proven innocent while they treated everyone else with kid gloves. That was a perfect example of a story which pushed its social views on the reader. (I would give you a link and a detailed analysis, but I have no wish to give that mess any web traffic.)<br />
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<h4>
Conclusion:
</h4>
Darkness in fiction is normal because darkness in human nature is normal. Racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, these are real things in our world, and so they make it into our fiction on a regular basis. Sometimes a writer condemns them through their story by making them part of the bad guy’s point of view or something for the main character to change in someone else to make that person “good,” but sometimes they are simply there to create setting, world, mood, and characterization. Because they are real things. And in <i>realistic stories</i>, no plucky heroine is going to undo a lifetime of negative social grooming by pointing out that that mindset is bad.<br />
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Every writer has different motivations for their writing. To entertain, to reveal, to find catharsis, to condemn, or to simply write. Reasons for writing are as widely varied as writers themselves.
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<br />
Therefore, if you ever think a writer him- or herself thinks the way a character does, <i>ask them </i>how they feel about the characters and themes in their work. Ask why they decided on this story and these character traits. (Writers <i>love </i>these questions.) Get the writer’s own unambiguous words <i>speaking as themselves</i> before rendering judgment.
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Anything less is pointless speculation.Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5912039927771196531.post-76696292051899957032018-09-26T11:14:00.004-05:002020-06-29T10:39:37.850-05:00Vaccination Statistics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2JK0gIOEGTIdGOsd-Mdl65PHCzWj_fec7ESkrUvCwO46KG3GVbPZBgLasddEL08oH7P-o0XGC-TqtiJ-VHF2vnoqqh3MPgSV2fsza9JfVBgYposHJ6Ye28hKP-yza7QNvX2FfVUXdi7GE/s1600/vaccine-bear.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2JK0gIOEGTIdGOsd-Mdl65PHCzWj_fec7ESkrUvCwO46KG3GVbPZBgLasddEL08oH7P-o0XGC-TqtiJ-VHF2vnoqqh3MPgSV2fsza9JfVBgYposHJ6Ye28hKP-yza7QNvX2FfVUXdi7GE/s640/vaccine-bear.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>
I’ve done a lot of research on vaccinations. I've gone to the World Health Organization’s website to get <a href="http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/initiative/tools/vaccinfosheets/en/">statistics</a> on the side effects of vaccinations (<a href="http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/initiative/tools/DTP_vaccine_rates_information_sheet.pdf">example</a>) and compared it to the CDC’s statistics on the diseases themselves (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults/vpd.html">example</a>). (You can see a lot of those statistics in image form at the end of this post.) What I learned is that, if you're looking for the safest option from a risk-reward standpoint, vaccines are the <i>far</i> superior option.<div>
<ol>
<li>Vaccines are thousands and millions of times less likely than the disease they treat to have serious side effects. The diseases themselves put you at risk of the following: brain inflammation, brain and spinal cord infection, deafness, blindness, <i>loss of limbs</i>, seizures, strokes, cancer, heart failure, paralysis, miscarriage, birth defects, sterility, and <i>death.</i></li><li>Flu, whooping cough, tetanus, Meningococcal disease, measles, diphtheria, and chickenpox are the most likely culprits for killing you. Several others can result in complications that could also kill you.</li>
</ol>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Other Things:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>The guy who linked vaccines to autism</b> was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield#General_Medical_Council_hearings">a fraud</a> who still (<a href="http://www.startribune.com/anti-vaccine-doctor-meets-with-somalis/118547569/">to this day</a>) makes money scaring people about vaccines. He was originally <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2323045/">paid to discredit</a> the MMR vaccine so some assholes could win a lawsuit. Every study since has found zero support for his findings, and he had his medical license revoked because of gigantic piles of evidence that he was doing it for money and had falsified his data and did basically everything he could to skew his study. He played the victim and pretended it was a huge conspiracy to suppress the truth, but really he’s just a greedy asshole who got (and still gets) paid for it.</li>
<li><b>If you catch a disease you’ve been vaccinated for, it will be less severe</b> and less likely to hospitalize you. Every single time.</li>
<li><b>The human body naturally creates more formaldehyde per day</b> than is present in any vaccine. Insisting your vaccine be formaldehyde-free shortens its storage shelf life and drives up price for no reason.</li>
<li><b>The “mercury” used as a preservative is a harmless mercury compound</b> which is cleared from the body much more quickly than the mercury you find in the environment and has never been shown to have side-effects. Still, its use in vaccines is being decreased for people’s mental comfort.</li>
<li><b>Vaccines work by exposing your immune system to a harmless amount of the disease</b>, like being a boxer who gets to study every move his opponent is going to make in the big fight. It’s a cheat sheet for your body.</li>
<li><b>Most vaccines are inactivated</b>, which means they contain dead versions of the virus. Most live (attenuated) cultures aren’t used anymore, but talk to your doctor if you want to know about the vaccine you’re getting. (This is also why doctors advise against things like chickenpox parties. Dead versions of the virus are safer by a factor of probably infinity.)</li>
<li><b>Kids who are immunocompromised</b> (like having cancer or an auto-immune disease) rely on other kids being vaccinated to keep them safe from diseases that can kill them (see: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity">herd immunity</a>).</li>
<li><b>The flu vaccine doesn’t last more than a year</b>, which is why you’ll see a yearly vaccine setup at doctor’s offices and pharmacies. You can still get the flu after getting the vaccine because there are different strains of flu, so it’s not that the vaccine didn’t work, nor does it mean it’s pointless to get. The yearly flu vaccine is a guess at which strains will be widespread that year (I’m seeing that my pharmacy’s shot covers 4 strains), and getting it is a good idea because of herd immunity.</li>
<li><b>There is zero evidence that spreading out vaccines over time <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-spacing-out-vaccination-shots-20170418-story.html">makes any difference</a> </b>except to leave that person <a href="http://time.com/3726887/doctors-space-out-vaccines/">exposed to harmful diseases</a>. Even the guy who literally wrote the book on timing vaccines differently says there's no proof his way is safer but wrote it to give nervous parents (who might not otherwise vaccinate) an alternative option.</li>
<li><b>The greatest danger of vaccines is if you’re allergic to a component.</b> Make sure your doctor has all your allergy information, and ask for a list of ingredients if you want to double-check.</li>
</ul><div><br /></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Anti-Vaccination Movement</span></b><br />
<br />
It relies heavily on fear and has no provable data to back it up, instead relying on the myth that there is a “conspiracy” by big pharmaceuticals. There are a few reasons that’s bad logic:<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Scientists and the medical community</b> would have to <i>all </i>be in on it, and that’s impossible.</li>
<li><b>Pediatricians</b>, who get into that field because they love kids and want to help them, would have to also be in on it.</li>
<li><b>It is much more likely that one person started all this because he wanted money.</b></li>
</ol>
According to the following definition of pseudoscience published in 1995 by renowned scientist Carl Sagan, may he rest in peace, <b>the anti-vaccination movement has every sign of being pseudoscience</b>:</div><div><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Pseudoscience differs from erroneous science. Science thrives on errors, cutting them away one by one. False conclusions are drawn all the time, but they are drawn tentatively. Hypotheses are framed so they are capable of being disproved. A succession of alternate hypotheses is confronted by experiment and observation. Science gropes and staggers toward improved understanding. Proprietary feelings are of course offended when a scientific hypothesis is disproved, but such disproofs are recognized as central to the scientific enterprise. Pseudoscience is just the opposite. <b>Hypotheses are often framed precisely so they are invulnerable to any experiment that offers a prospect of disproof, so even in principle they cannot be invalidated. Practitioners are defensive and wary. Skeptical scrutiny is opposed. When the pseudoscientific hypothesis fails to catch fire with scientists, conspiracies to suppress it are deduced.</b>”</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
— Carl Sagan, <i>The Demon-Haunted World</i></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>Statistics</b></span><br />
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This is all the data I've <i>personally</i> compiled. It compares the more serious vaccine reactions (per vaccine) versus statistics from the disease itself.</div><div><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqpE4WbH3dweObbV-7kKDwJySCHjvtb7qhje6fD2C35CpCSpth70yeWOp5XEr5ckziZx6FphC3AVKmZJ19sAGXxiR-lm9gsgp63KZSX676NWPub4HwLX_jjWYSiko6n6pPXtXtmrIycNW/s1600/VACCINES-MMR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1256" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWqpE4WbH3dweObbV-7kKDwJySCHjvtb7qhje6fD2C35CpCSpth70yeWOp5XEr5ckziZx6FphC3AVKmZJ19sAGXxiR-lm9gsgp63KZSX676NWPub4HwLX_jjWYSiko6n6pPXtXtmrIycNW/s640/VACCINES-MMR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>Bethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07275637177494490776noreply@blogger.com