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mishkakagehishka · 1 year

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Idc anymore i think i'm a good enough writer that i can say that when i noticed the pattern in what exactly makes a book "good" on booktok (and, bc of that, what makes it popular and top bestseller lists), it feels almost demeaning and denigrating to the entire craft. Idk if i should blame the way tiktok-esque social media has utterly rotted everyone's ability to concentrate and read more than three sentences, but literally none of those books are objectively good.

(Yes, yes, art is subjective. HOWEVER. Art is subjective when you look at style, at themes, at motifs, at plots and characters. Art is still a craft, it still requires skill. I've seen beyond the tiktok quotes of these books. Not even their editors are good given the amount of typos/spelling mistakes. That is not something that you should find in a traditionally published book.)

You look at these books, and you know the only reason for their existence is to make money. I cannot and will not accept that as art.

(I'm on Tumblr, of course I have to explain every point. Artists who make money off their art =/= people who only create art meant to be profitable. There is a difference between an artist who hopes to monetise doing what they love, who creates what they wish to see more of and who happens to then create something that other people wish to see more of, and a person who looks at what's trending and decides that making an unholy frankenstein's monster of a book that mashes all those trending tropes and motifs together would get them rich quick. The fact that a lot of these booktok books become popular because of nepotism is just the cherry on top. It's soulless.)

And to finally say what I wanted to say, it's because none of these books have any deeper message or even artistic value to them. You will find a few out of context quotes or paragraphs, ones written specifically so they'd look deep and beautiful when taken out of context, so that people would post them, so that people would buy the books. Entire books written just so those few lines could become viral and make cash. It cannot even be compared to a hook line writers would post to get people interested in their works, because in booktok's case, those are the only lines of quality and in the context itself, they are often out of place and forced.

I just hate booktok, i hate what modern social media has done to art. It's all created to be quickly consumed, for the few ☆aesthetic☆ glances, and then discarded. Just to make more money for those who are already nepo babies. As if artists needed more obstacles to jump over.

#of course historically it's always been the same #people with free time to create (rich powerful) created #very rarely did you see someone from a humble bg make it as an artist #which is why killing maiming everyone saying Shakespeare was actually a rich guy btw #but like it makes me angry personally #before you call me just jealous - i don't have any wish to monetise my art #my career ambitions lie in a different field (tho adjacent i suppose since i'm a linguist)#i'm saying it makes me angry for other writers who want to make money doing what they love most #it's always been hard. you've always had to have connections or fight tooth and nail for a chance at being published #why? because of how SUBJECTIVE it is #but at least if your skills distinct you and if you bring a truly unique concept you'd have better chances #then modern social media rolled around and no longer can we just publish and disappear no no #WE have to market our works. on twitter on instagram on podcasts on the radio and tv it's up to the authors #i already found that demeaning enough as an introvert #but now it's not even that. publishers no longer look for unique and distinct #they found out booktok is the real cash cow. they look for colleen hoovers who publish fifty books a year #all of poor quality but with enough aesthetic lines that they can easily be marketed thru #the youth who uses AO3 tags and ''omg it's so girlboss!'' and ''it has representation! (not really it's always piss poor rep)'' to market #it to others. who take the same line over and over and go ''omg... this is so deep'' but the lines never look good in context

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fountainpenguin · 9 months

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I came across your story "Flypaper" about the superhero convention (Fun read! Highly recommend!) and I was just wondering if you had any other interaction headcanons that didn't make the final draft?

Oh thank you... and oh, yes. I didn't include him because I knew no one would know who he is, but I love one special, incredibly charming boy... King Off-Putting himself... Bruno :)

He is so very... uncomfortable to be around.

I had one line referencing Bruno and Danny in "Flypaper" but hhh... Dead Boy Duo, my beloved... I want them to be friends so bad, I want them to be sassy partners in the field, I want this with all my soul. They're brothers in spirit... Their moms have the same voice actor... Please, they would be so funny together.

I know there are oodles of fictional spy agencies in media, but I've always been a Bruno the Kid fan at heart. Ever since I first watched Danny Phantom, I've loved the idea of Globe getting in touch with Danny post-"Phantom Planet" and inviting him into the agency... Sometimes Bruno's villains canonically die instead of going to jail and I think Bruno and Danny would be a silly pair. Two "dead" (they got better!) cartoon boys goofing off and takin' names.

Specifically, Chick E. Love would have a flippin' field day burning holes in the Ghost Zone, unleashing wave after wave of ghosts into the world, and I just really want Bruno to do his "If I ever use a spy gadget the way it's intended I will die" schtick while Danny keeps dumping all the Fenton ghost-hunting gear on him...

I want the sassy boys to drive everyone up the wall. Bruno tolerated being bullied for about 5 seconds and then ruined that kid's life slkdjf. Cheerfully told Cy what he wanted to put on his tombstone. He does not mess around. I want Bruno to straight-up kill a man again and Danny to lose his mind.

Bruno is the boy who ran gleefully towards an electric fence with intent to climb it. He literally targeted HIMSELF with a missile in an attempt to win a chess game. I want the crossover joy of Danny throwing himself at everything that might kill Bruno and Bruno just Does Not Sweat It... Stupid.

[More under the cut]

Anyway yeah I have very normal feelings about "Dead Boy Walking" as an episode. Bruno's enemies pinning him down and injecting a terminal disease in his system... Bruno stumbling around until he hallucinates his best friend giving him self-care advice... Bruno quietly sitting down and staring into the void, separating himself from the ongoing conversation, instead of engaging in his usual banter... Boy crosses Australia on borrowed time, his legs give out beneath him at the worst moment, he's still wheezing about how he's going to do everything in his power to save others, just a little kid lying on the cold floor alone while Sydney gloats that he only has minutes left to live... His enemies making out over his unmoving body... I am so normal about this episode.

I just want Bruno and Danny to be friends :) I think they would vibe with each other even though they'd both want to bonk the other on the head. I so very badly want to see the first moment Danny realizes "Oh... Oh, this guy's, like... serious. He will kill people if I take my eyes off him." sldkfj Bruno's so intense and I love him. Danny is so tired and I love him. I want to see the first moment Bruno blearily wakes up to realize Danny just saved him from a ghost's revenge attack in the middle of the night. I love the Dead Boy Duo.

I only threw one line about these two hanging out in "Flypaper," but in my heart they spent the whole convention together because they're co-workers... they are buddies, your honor.

I do not think WordGirl would like Bruno at all because he comes off as a smarmy, know-it-all creep to those who aren't familiar with his sense of humor... Kid Math should not be left alone with him because he's very impressionable and Bruno is a terrible influence slkjdf.

Here's a little deleted scene I had:

I also had a loose draft for a scene of WordGirl and Super Why getting milkshakes with some other hero friends when Kid Math finds them again. WordGirl greets him like "Oh, how's your day going?" and Kid Math is just... very overwhelmed from his experience of interacting with two fast-paced sassy kids while he's still struggling to grasp the concept of superhero banter. Like. Bruno and Danny would destroy him. Blow his mind. There's no coming back from that.

So yeah, Bruno was definitely at the convention... I just didn't show him apart from that one-liner about him hanging out with Danny. "Flypaper" was really fun to write. I don't plan to do a crossover like this again any time soon, but the convention was a cool setting to explore and I'm glad you enjoyed! <3

One of my favorite stupid jokes in "Flypaper" is that Romeo was being a troublemaker in the daytime and WordGirl asked if he was "even allowed to do that" since he's supposed to be a "nighttime villain" in the PJ Masks lore... But tbh I watched a lot of Romeo clip compilations before this story and ?? apparently it's just a thing that Romeo regularly commits crime during the day and the PJ Masks literally hang back and wait until nightfall before they fight him?? That's SO funny to me.

(I also don't understand when the PJ Masks sleep and if anyone has the answer, please drop it in my inbox because I'd love to know but I also don't want to binge the series over this, ha ha)

I also wanted to make a joke about Alphapig being 5 years younger than the rest of the Super Readers because the amount I lost my mind when I saw that on the [unsourced] Super Why wiki was indescribable. POV: One of your friends is a princess, at least one is in college, and you're starting high school.

(I'm dying at the idea of three 10-year-olds running around Storybrook Village and there's a 5-year-old tagging along with them. The mental image of 7-year-old Whyatt taking a 3 or 4-year-old pig under his wing as his new friend... Such a good boy.)

After Tobey launched Romeo off his robot, I had WordGirl catch him, but I'd originally hoped to have Kick Buttowski catch him because I thought writing cool skateboard rescue mission would be fun. It seemed like it would just be shoving in an extra character who didn't need to be there, though, and it risked dragging down the scene with introductions and descriptions, but in my heart, Kick was at the convention too. Extreme.

I think another of my fave dumb jokes was just... WordGirl approaching the superhero panel she's supposed to speak on, she looks out into the crowd, but then she's like "Oh no the entire Paw Patrol are watching me, this is so much pressure."

Nothing to see here, just Baby Dog Squad taking notes... I still think about that randomly throughout the day and giggle. I love this 'fic.

#Danny Phantom #Bruno the Kid #WordGirl #Super Why #PJ Masks Romeo #Kid Math #Dead Boy Duo #Flypaper #I have seen the Paw Patrol movie twice with no show context and it's really good and I highly recommend tbh #It's a superhero movie but they get stuck in traffic / have breakdowns / get hurt by falling buildings it's so good #Opening scene is a guy disappointed to be saved by dogs and Chase is like 'You're in shock so I'm not gonna take that personally'#Not to be dramatic but Bruno/Leecy is literally my favorite OTP of all time... they love and support each other SO MUCH #Boy really waited two hours for her to arrive late to a concert and instead of complaining took her hand and bought her ice cream #He called and asked her to hack into secret gov't files and she was down without even knowing he's a spy... I love Leecy #I am so very normal about the series finale hooooooly cow #asks #Anon #ridwriting #Sassy kinderspy and co #Going ghost!#apparently art #Grammar queen #Arithmetic Lad #Main Phantom trio #Recommendation Wednesday #None of these is Wednesday #Read Mores are still glitchy if anyone was wondering :)

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