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sistervirtue · 3 years

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okay so im seeing people get anons about this and its coming up in friend groups so i think now's actually a pretty good time to tackle the idea of religious (specifically cultic) abuse in media and how we as an audience interact with it

TLDR: dehumanization and sexualization of cult victims furthers the misunderstanding that cults "don't exist now", and RA survivors would feel much safer in fandom spaces if people acknowledged and analyzed the harmful portrayals of cults in media.

cw: discussions of cults, abuse, and sexual assault

also, if you have questions, please shoot me an ask or dm (off anon preferably, though)

let me start this with a disclaimer that i dont think every media that features ra is inherently bad. i think thats a bit harsh and as an ra survivor ive come to terms with the fact that there are going to be depictions of it in ways that maybe dont give it the respect it deserves, and trying to "what about [x]" everything will only lead people to talking in circles with themselves. what i want to address here is how you, as a consumer, respond to and parse out what cultic abuse means in any particular portrayal of it.

*also please don't harass people about their RAS status, like, if you see someone enjoying something with a less than stellar portrayal of cults, don't send them asks or dms like "well are YOU a cult survivor?" reducing the consumption of media to a yes or no game based on identity-- especially an identity that comes as the result of explicit pain and spiritual violation is not only derivative but also degrading to survivors and the people you're grilling. all we want is for people to think carefully about what they spread and portray, and how they think about those situations.

so, i think the first thing to tackle is...what is a cult? This is something that's surprisingly hard to define, especially in fictional settings with fictional cults. For example, (and pardon the use of this example, I don't feel like hunting for others), My Hero Academia has an organization in it that I would say fits the criteria for being a cult, but by and large isn't considered one by fans because it's not explicitly called a cult. (Although numerous cult jokes have been made about it). It also has an organization that IS explicitly referred to as a cult.

So, when you're dealing with how to process what is and is not a cult-- and how to make your presence safe for RA survivors, you have to be able to sift through more than just "did the narrative tell me this is a cult?"

There's a few different models people use; one of the most popular being the BITE model-- but I should clarify that the BITE model is really tailored towards religious and strictly hierarchal cults, but can be applied to other kinds of cults.

(and yes, there are cults other than religious/spiritual ones. corporate cults and wellness cults have been on the rise, and it's good to keep that in mind both when engaging with media and also in the real world.)

However, I'm a religious cult survivor, so a lot of my experience is strictly irt this, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, and know that I don't speak for every cult survivor, every religious cult survivor, or every religious abuse survivor. I am One Guy on the internet.

When it comes to media, I have a few questions I run through in order to figure out if something is A Cult.

1) Fringe Ideas. This one is one of those that most people know-- and often incorrectly use to attribute cult status to other things. However, it is worth mentioning, that you don't become a cult by following mainstream ideologies. BUT. BUT. not every group with weird ideas is a cult! Some groups are just weird and are fine being weird. It's a rectangles and squares situation. All cults have fringe ideas and behaviors, not all fringe ideas and behaviors belong to cults.

2) Hierarchies. Cults always have people in power, at least in my experience. There have been ideas thrown around about "completely decentralized cults"-- but to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that concept, and I don't know enough about it personally to say whether or not it's legitimate. If you have any sources, hmu.

BUT. Most cults have a power structure. You're going to have leaders, usually with a handful at the verrrrry tippy top, whose word is law. This can be associated with things like religious ideas (channelling god) or being "a genius", like in corporate cults.

3) Control. I cannot stress this enough; cults are all about control. How you think, feel, behave-- they discourage critical thought, encourage snitching on each other, buddy-group behavior; the BITE model explicitly lists these models of control.

4) Us V Them. Cults will give all those that oppose them or simply don't believe them a bad name. They're uneducated, they're evil-- it varies cult to cult, but you'll see them turning the non believers into a homogenous, frightening group. They want to discourage looking outwards, and they want to viciously isolate members.

Other things of note are extremism, talks of enlightenment, harsh punishments, the cult eating large portions of the member's finances, etc.

However, this post is largely to address FICTIONAL cults. and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that fictional cults are rarely fleshed out in a way that can be held one to one to a model, and, more often, don't even afford the victims of a cult humanity.

and this is one of THE biggest issues you find in cult portrayals. the leader is usually a charismatic, or perhaps menacing, figure, one that usually our protagonists-- who are rarely cult victims, they are typically outsiders (not inherently bad, mind you)-- faces personally, with the hoardes of mindless zombies forming one giant hurdle.

Naturally, this can be...hurtful. There's nuance to who is and is not a victim in a cult (although my rule of thumb is to look at what abuses that person specifically exerts over others-- and you can be both a victim and perpetrator of abuse. to treat them exclusively is lacking all nuance), but the people are the bottom, even if they joined willingly, are people who were preyed upon. Not only that, but many media cults forget that people can be born into cults, and never really had a choice to begin with. To treat these people like they are mindless-- or that they deserve the suffering they are in because they are there-- completely erases all nuance, humanity, and understanding to the cult survivior struggle. Not only that, but it continues to sensationalize and deify cult leaders, which is doing their job for them, really.

The second biggest issue is the romanticization and sexualization of cults, religious abuse, and cultic abuse.

(yes...this is a thing.)

The use of cults as a way to make a character edgy or tragic is one thing, but there's something sinister about using it to project a certain sexual behavior onto that character-- whether it be as the subjugator or subjugated. Sexual abuse is rampent in cults, and ritualistic sexual abuse is used to justify it. To sexualize the idea of a cult(ist) raping and abusing someone is...beyond offensive to anyone who has been in a cult where their sexual safety and autonomy has been compromised. Or, in some cases, the cultist is so naive and sheltered they can be easily coerced and taken advantage of due to their brainwashing.

This is...bad? This is bad. To ignore the fact that these depictions are just as harmful as any other romanticization of abuse is to ignore the real suffering of cult victims.

Really, the larger problem is that people don't really think cults exist, not really. They're all things of the past, or things that exist solely in fiction-- when in reality, every day cults form and continue to grow. If you've ever met a mormon, you've met a cultist. The moment you begin to process and parce the fact that this isn't as bizarre and unusual and fictional as it seems, you take the steps to respecting people who have been in that situation and become better at detecting cults, cult recruitment, and are able to more clearly assess what you take in.

Once again, there's so many bad portrayal of cults that it would be...stupid to call for an immediate disowning of anything with it in it. I personally have come to terms with the idea that I will have gripes about these portrayals in most cases, but rarely do I see people other than fellow RA or cult survivors discussing these portrayals. I'm hoping people can become more aware and willing to discuss cults in a serious and analytical context and criticize how they're portrayed in the things they love.

And once again, cult survivors are NOT a monolith. If a cult survivor expresses they are uncomfortable with something I said here that I'm not, or vice versa, listen to the people who actively surround you and whom you care about.

#nyc knacks #cults #ive been sitting on this for a while but it came up on the dash and i took the opportunity to talk abt it #bc i feel very passionately abt it #ok 2 rb

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dykesprentiss · 4 years

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ok so. i know a lot of this has probably been said before, but i wanted to put my two cents in. very rambly and disorganized because i am just like that.

i think everyone in this fandom needs to examine the way they interract with male vs female characters. why is it easier for you to focus on and create content for male characters that have appeared in 2 episodes maximum, then it is for the women that are in the main cast? why do you gravitate towards ships between two male characters who have never met (specifically jonah and like. his harem of old british men. usually based on one single line of dialogue) then the actual, canon wlw relationships?

like dont get me wrong, when lonely eyes first started cropping up it was funny! i enjoyed it, i enjoyed the multiple divorce jokes, because it was a small fandom in joke that made fun of some old bastards. and now its the second most popular ship in the fandom. now its so popular, people think its canon before they start listening. why are you unable to muster that same kind of enthusiasm for any of the female characters? gertrude and mary have very similar appeal to lonely eyes, and yet its a fringe ship that nobody ever talks about. gertrude and agnes have very significant moments and mentions in the podcast, and yet the only people i see talking about them are wlw.

or we could talk about michael and helen! helen who, as of this moment, has become a key player in the storyline. helen who yeeted michael out of existence, who took over the power of the distortion by her own choice, and with her own strength. and so often i see her relegated to "vodka aunt that coos over jonmartin" is that a bad take on her? of course not! but having her only purpose be to comment on the male characters rubs me the wrong way.

lets talk about elias and mary. elias gets praise, and love, and devotion, regardless of the horrible things he does. the entire fandom has the reputation of eliasfuckers now because everyone goes so crazy for him. mary is just as evil, has just as sexy a voice (i assume lol cause tbh? eel eyes does not do it for me and never will), and people just. hate her. full stop. why is that?

it seems like manuela has been. completely forgotten. i Never see anyone talk about her. she has just as much appeal as the male avatars, so why are you so uninterested in her? sasha and tim have the same amount of importance, and both have died, but there is So much more focus on tim. why.

daisy/basira and melanie/georgie are incredibly well developed relationships, their stories are as beautiful and tragic and intimate as jonmartin, but the f/f and m/m fic ratio on ao3 is abysmal. because it seems to me that the only people writing about them are wlw.

which happens.....a lot. het relationships and gay relationships are for everyone, but lesbian ships? thats just for gay women. everyone goes head over heels for mlm movies, regardless of sexuality, but wlw movies never receive the same kind of treatment. why.

this isn't even touching on the. blatant and disgusting fetishising of mlm. elias is evil because hes gay and skanky. tim is bi so he must sleep around. tim and martin are both mlm in the same vicinity of each other so they must have had a friends with benefits relationship. jon/elias and peter/martin have significant age differences and power disparities, so they must have an incredibly fucked up sexual relationship. jon is ace, but yall just fully ignore that so you can write horny fic of him. (and im going to be completely honest, if you get legitimate joy from writing manipulative r*pe fic involving these characters, Especially involving an ace character, ( edit: i apologize for my wording here, i didnt intend to compare trauma between ace and non ace ppl. my point is that jon seems to be the main target in these fics, and that they seem to be a direct response to his asexuality. fic like this is bad regardless of who is targetted). than that is a big problem. you arent "exploring dark topics in a meaningful way" youre writing fucked up porn for your own sick enjoyment. get angry at me all u want lmao but i stand by that)

i could go on about this forever, but what im really asking is for people to look inward and ask yourselves why you are so against connecting and interracting with female characters? no one is saying you cant like the men, but if theyre the only ones you care about? thats a problem. there are more women in tma then there are men, but they still feel like the minority because of the way the fandom acts. this isnt just a tma problem either! you can put as many rounded out female characters as you want into your content, and every time without fail they will be pushed to the side in favor of the men.

and dont come at me with "oh if you want content of the women you should make it" like we fucking are. the issue is that wlw are the only ones doing it. just take a second and think. are you ignoring the female characters in favor of the men? why? why is that your first instinct? why do you not feel the need to go against that instinct?

#the magnus archives #tma #i used to have so much more love for the male characters too but now im just tired lol #long post #ok to rb #rape mention tw

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alltidvinter · 4 years

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how do i love the blindfold scene? let me count the ways

(shitty screenshot for visibility sake, but c’mon, you knew which scene i was talking about)

- first of all, the cinematography. what’s with the indie movie vibes??

- the eerie silence, broken only by those little nature sounds, then the otherworldly music, with the flute and the bells

- JC struggling a bit to follow WWX, stopping to catch his breath

- black and white is such a good combo on JC and WWX looks regal in Yunmeng Jiang’s purple sash and undergarments, plus The Cape™. they both look fire and Wang Zhuocheng should wear blindfolds on a daily basis, his jawline really pops in this scene.

- je simp

- honestly I’m obsessed with the (relative) simplicity of JC’s robes, compared with WWX’s more sumptuous attire. i wanna say, initiate and hierophant? idk, the whole scene looks like a ritual initiation into the mysteries of some deity (Baoshan Sanren, i guess?).

- i was a classicist kid, what can I say

- “Why would I lie to you?” - WHY INDEED, WEI YING

- unrelated but can we, as a fandom, agree that what WWX did was equally a horrible violation (and likely a cultural abomination, à la cutting daemons away in the HDM universe) AND a supreme act of love?? both a selfish AND a selfless act?? and that’s PRECISELY why it is an interesting and compelling narrative choice?? k thx bye

- “From here on out, you'll have to go alone”, well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw

- THE BLINDFOLDING, OH GODS, THE BLINDFOLDING

- i can’t gif to save my life, but the sheer tenderness with which WWX ties the blindfold around JC’s eyes?? even making sure that JC’s side fringe doesn’t get caught in it?? JC’s lowering his head almost submissively?? WWX reassuring touch lingering for a moment on JC’s shoulder??

- i’m dead

-listen, JC is so utterly vulnerable in this scene (WWX could literally crush him with his bare hands like a baby bird) and yet he’s so heartbreakingly trusting and hopeful, allowing himself to be blinded to the truth for the next two decades or whatever

- the way the camera goes black - for we go blind with JC, sure, but also out of modesty for the intimacy of the whole scene (idk??)

- i do love the anger in WWX’s voice where he goes all “You only have one chance! Next time, don’t ever be this reckless again”. WWX is no saint and, for all he knows, he’s about to lose the most important part of himself due to JC’s inability of controlling his own emotions. i respect him for that, 10/10 would love to see that kind of energy again

- JC waving goodbye, fuck

- the rollercoaster of emotions on WWX’s face while he’s watching JC take off. no, really. he literally goes through the five stages of grief. at first, he almost looks like he’s about to call off the whole thing, then we’ve got anger and pain, and finally stone-cold determination and acceptance. kudos to Xiao Zhan

- WWX’s voice guiding JC up the mountain

- WWX giving his name away to JC. JC taking it as his own. names have power. i repeat. NAMES. HAVE. POWER. i’m getting huge fairytale vibes from this detail and tbh, from the whole scene, and i’m here for that

- the wandering fool imaginary, with the stick and the unseeing eyes (after all, JC is being fooled). even more interestingly, The Fool is arguably the Major Arcana that mostly identifies WWX himself.

- also, Orpheus and Eurydice vibes (”No matter what, do not open your eyes”)

- again, i was a classicist kid and that’s my only excuse, really

- back to the eerily beautiful cinematography

- Wang Zhuocheng really invented bone structure, mh?

- the flight of birds is both symbolic and aesthetic, which is excellent

- WQ’s voice is very clearly WQ’s voice but i’m not gonna hold it against JC. he was nervous and emotional and most importantly, he would believe WWX even if he said that the sky is made of silk and the moon of spun sugar. that’s just the way it is

- JC’s little speech, blazing with grief and hope and innocence

- holding onto the fabric is also very aesthetic

- in another story, in another genre, this would be a defining step in JC hero’s journey. the disgraced young prince stepping into a fairytale realm where no fierce beasts dwell, disguised as a blind beggar, humbling himself in order to fulfill his destiny with the aid of an immortal sorceress. but alas, the genre here is tragedy and JC is no hero. so the only fairytale here is the one spun by WWX (ever the storyteller) in a web of lies and love. WWX, who held his shidi’s life, soul and destiny between his hands and weighed it against the whole world, and found the whole world lacking

- that’s it, im going fully feral

#the untamed #mdzs #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #this post isn't chengxian per se but it's surely chengxian friendly #don't @ me im almost 30 and i don't do fandom discourse #jiang cheng clown gang feel free to add more to my ramblings #this is an open post to any jc related clownery

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cloudslou · 4 years

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louies tag game!!

thank u lovely emma @essercipertuttienonperse and dear ollie @voulezloux for tagging me!! hopefully i do it right fjjhdhdh

When did you become a Louie?

hmm double-sided question bc i got into one direction early 2012 when i was 11, bu ti was a niall girl and then became a harry girl mid-2014, and then dropped out of the fandom soon after that? and then last September i got back into 1d/solo careers bc i got into louis’ solo stuff. i guess i ended up following a louie w/o knowing it (ik exactly who this blogger is still) and so the day he performed in madrid suddenly i saw posts from her that were like “he said WHAT??” and i was #curious so i digged on her blog and saw she was talking about louis and the fact that he sang “princess park” in habit, and like That all the info about HL that i had let fade away came back and i was like he sang WHAT so obvs i did some more exploring and watched the vids uploaded of his habit performances and moved on from there, and basically like That was back in... i was casual for that school semester and then some time mid-late december last yr i was lurking on blogs and realized “oh shit, i wanna blog about this myself” and then made this sideblog <3

One thing that drew you in specifically?

his lyrics!!! the first song i heard upon my return was habit, and then all the other ccme/madrid performances and i just loved his lyrics and voice so much

Why did you become a Louie?

ugh so many reasons!!!!!! from the moment i got back into 1d and started narrowing in on louis, everything about him made me love him so much. his lyrics felt so honest and unique, and his voice was so light and yet rich, so dynamic but so able to carry emotion!!!! every video and interview i watched endeared me more and more, and it became so clear to me how compassionate and talented and caring he is and how FUNNY i know he was styled as the funny/loud one of 1d but it is just a genuine part of who he is to have fun and joke around and make people feel comfortable and safe via that trait if his. he’s such a leader and so so so intelligent and careful and purposeful and it shows in everything he does.

Who would you want Louis to collab with?

ugh taylor obviously. the songwriting and STORYTELLING skills would b off the charts!!!!! and then idk if this question means vocally so im gonna say more ppl he should write w: any member of all time low, sam fender, jesse thomas (who wrote on JLY), st. vincent/annie clark

Favorite song on walls?

habit!!! idk if its my legit fav song or im extremely sentimental so my fav song is obvs the song that pulled me back in, but it is what it is

Favorite hairstyle?

ummmm i will always be weak for like 2014-2015 hedgehog-fringe hair. BUT i also love a softer look so an unstyled, no-product kind of look so like the fan vs artist video?? or the GQ video where he makes online accounts and answers fan questions. yeah that. ik he probs has product in his hair in those vids but the point is that he does LOOK like he has lots of product. soft baby.

Back to you, just hold on, or miss you?

miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!! shes my baby

Louis in suits or sweaters?

sweaters!!!!! he looks so good in sweaters its absurd... so cozy and all too. every sweater he wears looks like it was made for him

Favorite tattoo?

the triangle!!! shes so small and perfect

Favorite Louis photo (currently)?

in honor of the fact that we just got this one..... THIS ONE

Random extra? random extra is my earliest memory of louis is me and some friends in our last day of the class, our creative writing elective, early 2012, we were in 6th grade, and we were in the corner writing in a whiteboard. just DAYS ago we as a collective has gotten in to 1d, and we were trying to learn how to spell their names, and i SO distinctly remember us writing out “tomlinson” and just like... memorizing the letters and the sound of it.

ok i suck at tagging ppl so im tagging @starryharry @tourhome @sunflwerlou @burntbromances @wlwalls and @louisau !! sorry if you’ve already done this, i have not kept track :-)

#thank u emma and ollie for the tag!#sorry it took several days to do this #about me #also no pressure to do this lol

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porchwood · 5 years

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Hi just so I understand cause i keep waiting for it and it doesnt seem likely to happen have you kind of fallen out of love with wtm? and everlark in general tbh? cause ive been following you for a while now and you always had lil quotes and pictures and things that reminded you inspired you whatever it was about katniss and wtm and now alllll it is is gadge i followed you because personally i love what you did with everlark and im just wondering if thats gone and not foreseeable any time soon?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to answer this… It’s afair question - to a point. If you’re more of a drop-in person (like me) thanlive-on-the-dash, coming back to find my blog awash in Gadge might have beenquite upsetting. There are several reasons for the current state of things:

1. Life has been driving me into the ground since December26, 2013. (Yes, going on six straight years.) If you were a WtM reader from thebeginning, you may recall that I was pretty energetic and prolific in 2012-2013.Oh, there were tough times, but nothing like what started on the aforementioneddate (a car accident where I was in the “bystander” vehicle and it still got totaled)and has continued relentlessly ever since. Sometimes adversity leads to greatcreativity and sometimes it turns you into a depressed, exhausted, reclusivelump, and the past 5+ years have seen periods of both from me. These past 18months have been exceptionally awful (and expensive), resulting in very littlewriting at all, about any pairing.

2. Writing WtM takes a lot out of me. I don’t know whether thisis common knowledge or not, but it’s the gospel truth. I love that world, Ilove that version of Everlark, but every chapter requires so much hard work, itmakes me tired just to think of it. Not to mention, over the past couple of chaptersEverlark have been pushing for more intimacy than the plot/timeline allows, andso I’ve been struggling with how I want to handle that. Do I fight them andstick to the plan? (I can’t advance the timeline for several reasons.) Do I tryto figure out a cheat for them? They’ve got minds of their own and have changedmy plans multiple times, but this is something they genuinely can’t have, and Ihave to fight them on it. ☹ Which is sad, frustrating, and exhausting.

3. I’m a multi-pairing shipper, and have been from about 3chapters into WtM. Which means that my Everlark fics almost always feature asecondary pairing (or more than one), and sometimes I’ll get a plot bunny for afic about a pairing other than Everlark. Most writers in the THG fandom exclusivelywrite their OTP, whatever the plot bunny, but I find that some plot bunnies don’tfit Everlark as well as they do another pairing. (This is why I’ll never write aBeauty and the Beast Everlark fic unless Katniss is the “Beast,” if you will.)

4. The Everlark fandom is…tricky. I’ve never fit in there. Idon’t write Everlark the way the majority of fans see them (except for Peetabeing “sweet,” I guess), I hated the movies (I refuse to see MJ 1 or 2), and I’vemanaged to really rub some people the wrong way over the years –unintentionally, and for a variety of reasons – all of which leaves me feeling kinda down about Everlark in general. Don’t misunderstand me: I love Everlarkand WtM, but it’s really isolating to be this sad little island of unpopularopinions and unwelcome side-ships. That’s the part I really wish I could makeyou understand. For six years I’ve had Christopher Plummer in my head saying, “You’llnever be one of them,” and he’s so, cruelly, right. I want to cry every time Ithink of Embracing the Season (my E-rated Everlark modern AU oneshot for Lovein Panem - lots of daring for me!) because I poured heart and soul into that andit still wasn’t the Everlark that people wanted.

5. About a year and a half ago (when Strawberry Time reallytook off of its own accord) I participated in Gadge Day 2017, working my buttoff to find and schedule (and tag) over 100 carefully chosen Gale/Madge/Gadge aestheticposts, and for lack of a better way to say it: it turned on my Gadge-dar. After that, thosekinds of posts just leapt out at me whenever I had a chance to scroll, and forseveral months I wasn’t sure what to do with that. With a little encouragementfrom @ghtlovesthg, I came up with #march madgeness – wherein I turned my Tumblrinto Madge/Gadge-land for one month, and it was a blast. (Side-stepping Gadgefor a moment: Madge is a highly underappreciated and underused character,especially in fic/on Tumblr and I love splashing the dash with Madge-love.) Thenext month I launched a run of pent-up Everlark posts (i.e., regularprogramming), but I missed my Madge, so I instituted #madge monday – one day aweek when I could splash the dash with Madge/Gadge. At every juncture I gavepeople tags to block if they didn’t want to see this content (though I stillget unfollows every time I post, alas). I participated in last summer’s THG Reread– on the fringe of it, but my posts (reblogs and meta) were strongly Everlark-focusedagain during that time. So there’s definitely still been Everlark on my blog,but if you’re just dropping in (or for that matter, glancing at my archive), you’regoing to see a majority of Madge/Gadge.

6. Frankly, Gadge is fun. It’s a completely different dynamicthan Everlark, with less pressure to create something transcendent, and whenthe chips are down, I’m more likely to work on something that isn’t my six-years-runningopus. This spring, in the midst of lots of awfulness, I finally wrote a piecethat I’ve had in my head for years – The Best Part of Waking Up – with a differentpairing featured in each drabble “chapter,” including Gadge, Luka/Johanna (whoI’ve been wanting to put out there for AGES) and Jack/Raisa. I haven’t beenable to write quickly in years, and I think I finished those three “chapters”in about two days, maybe three. I completed the Raisa drabble in a couple ofhours and I consider it one of the best things I’ve ever written. (Honestly, ifa pairing was going to topple Everlark in my heart, it would be Jack/Raisa, i.e.,Mr. Everdeen/Mrs. Mellark. I love them to distraction.) Once upon a time I could drabble/sprint Everlark too – notoften, but I could manage it. Maybe it’ll happen again someday, but for thetime being, when I write in quick eager bursts, it’s usually about aside-pairing.

7. Because I just need to say it: about a year ago, I set up a secondary Tumblr for almost all my side-interests and ships outside of THG. When I first joined Tumblr, porchwood was just a fun page where I posted whatever struck my fancy (pretty things, funny things, whatever I liked), and over the next few years, I honed it into a pretty “writer’s notebook” for WtM and my other THG fics (related quotes, aesthetic posts, writing check-ins, etc.). When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out, I shared a handful of posts pertaining to a new ship (not a new direction for my blog or writing, just sharing my excitement) and it was made very clear to me that people didn’t want to see that content on my page. So when I started watching Voltron: Legendary Defender, I had a sneaking suspicion people wouldn’t want to hear about those ships either. So I started an entirely new Tumblr for that content, and every so often I accidentally post something to the wrong page, which I immediately correct in horror, but people still unfollow. Point being: this blog is THG (and a few personal life updates) ONLY, with a pretty consistent aesthetic. I hide literally everything else that I’m interested in so you don’t have to be bothered by it. Is it really so unacceptable for me to have side-ships (complementary to the main pairing, not threatening to them) in the same universe??

8. Believe it or not, I’ve been working on WtM all along,just not making any massive strides. I tried to chip away at the current chapterduring Camp Nanowrimo last July, and it was a disaster. I thought joining awriting group would be helpful, but I didn’t realize that Camp Nano is basicallya lot of writing sprints in which you try to churn out as many words aspossible, which you then report to your “cabin” – and that’s the onlyinteraction with your fellow writers. I can’t write like that anymore (seeabove) and especially not when it comes to WtM, so I got discouraged veryquickly and sort of drifted away. I reattempted Nano on my own in April and wrotealmost 15K words, but in that instance I was really just using the Nano platform toset and reach a goal (which I didn’t ☹ ); I wasn’t in a cabin and didn’t interact with anyother writers, except my friend @ghtlovesthg, who read the finished portion.

9. I want to finish this dang chapter so much, and frankly, theonly way that’s going to happen is if life gets a little better and I holemyself up with my laptop for hours on end for weeks at a time – and somemagical being comes to support/cheer/comfort me while I do so. It’s currentlysitting at about 25K and I anticipate it will need to be at least double that,which is beyond ridiculous, but that’s the nature of WtM. The chapters are asmany words as it takes.

TL, DR: I still love Everlark and I’m still working on WtM, but my life has been extremely difficult for a very long time and I don’t have a great Everlark lifeline. Gadge and all my other ships are fun, and most of the Gadge you see on my Tumblr is aesthetic stuff for themed days/months/occasions. Anything non-THG goes on my sideblog.

#queued #i'm sorry to be snappy #i understand the confusion #and i'm not happy that i'm not finishing wtm either #ask #gade #side-ships #anon

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wolfwhiteflowers · 6 years

Text

-why i didn’t quit before / team family /s9-caryl

-big twd filming spoilers, 9x05?

-carick

-au

My thoughts so far. vvv

I noticed some fans quit TWD early on like in s6 and they mentioned the flaws. They have good points and all. I wondered why I kept watching TWD. I think because it’s just one of the cool shows to watch on Sundays, and just loving the TF. I also think if I’m more critical of the show, I would probably quit the show around s3 or s6 too. Idk if it’s comic story way that made people lose interest or it’s the writing. Like a lot people miss the team family being really close and trying to survive..or on the road and not staying in one place. These comments are like what the comic-fans say too about the comics. So idk. Like it’s just how TWD story goes. Building up to a new world ..arc. (like Falling Skies show?) So, my point is that I didn’t quit back then because I just like the show and I was also was like hoping the show could turn around. I liked s6B. I find it interesting that Carol went to Kingdom and dealing with her issues. Richonne happend and Negan was introduced. (big character in comics) I was curious how it will go and I was curious what Carl will do. I know s7 and s8, the fandom didn’t like those seasons-AOW arc. I kinda don’t like it either. It was so dragged out and less TF. But I still like the show. I still feel hopeful that it will go better.

When Carl died (and he wasn’t like comic-Carl-y, imo like I hoped for) that was hard, but I was like okay so then it’s Rick’s show and I guess Michonne will live longer. AOW ended in s8. S8B was entertaining to me, imo. But I hated the finale and what they did with Carol. The finale should have been like or even better than the s2 finale and tease us the f*** with what will happen and excite us. (remember Michonne first appearance and prison. s3 also had a time jump) Then we got a new showrunner and news about LC and with the finale being so blah & hard to predict, I was like uhh it’s 50/50 chance of the show being better than before. Maybe more Team Family moments? I was still hopeful. We got those spoiler pics of TWD cast like they’re in a parade and them going to the “museum.” I got so excited again and hopeful but a bit conscious about it because Idk what s9 was. Then suddenly we got the AL news of him leaving ( and then LC). I just felt crushed. We lost Carl and now we’re losing Rick, the two big protagonists of the show. That’s just quick and weird. Also totally seems pointless for the show to keep going,imo. (but hey at least Rick got like 2 years of bliss/timejump). I know he wanted to leave some day (duh actors arnt robots) but I wasn’t expecting how it goes like that and it’s just not what I want. I wanted this popular show to end where they wanted it to end. Like Lost, Scandal, Fringe, GoT, etc. But no...show business..life happens or whatever, AMC wants more money. So yeah I lost hope on the show - I quit with this show. So this is why I kept going till s9, I guess. It’s whatever whenever is enough for you. Now I look back on it, it’s really around s5-6 when we feel like TWD is Team Family like and good or fun to watch. There’s some things I liked about TWD that other shows don’t have. Like this slow pace..that feels realistic sometimes, the music, and cast. But seeing other shows, I’m like wow ..we know who are the main characters are and they interact a lot throughout the series. It’s sad. I miss TF.

So yeah I just take s9 as an AU story where Rick dies. -_- I hope Caryl goes canon but well the show is like done to me. So Idk. I would watch or care..if Caryl goes canon and everything else is interesting and TF being close again. Like it’s gonna be Carol and Daryl ..Michonne? and rest are Negan, Aaron, Rosita, Eugene and Tara. meh. It’s hard what do with this. In time I know. So far, s9 just sucks. C/E is gonna be or is canon. I just like siiiigh. I wish Carol isn’t with anyone in s9. I want to know who is Carol in the future and have her with TF again. But it’s not that. Carol with Zeke for some reason. Idk why tease Caryl in s8 and not make C/E canon in s8???? Maybe Carol is just to prop Zeke story and comic death in s9??? That’s another thing. There’s this original TWD show story and characters’ arcs and comic book remixes. I think what we want is balance of those two. But lately s7 and on it’s all super plot-y or super comic book-plot-y. So maybe Zeke dies and then Carol helps Daryl to start the Whisperer war and then ..then what? Will we actually get more TF moments? If Caryl does become canon, will their romance be well written and interesting? (Shipping a non-canon ship to a canon ship changes the shipdom/fandom. People lose interest.)

---filming spoilers and spec in s9

So ep 5 or so, s9 filming spoilers, it’s obvious Rick dies. So right there the show isn’t gonna do a cool happy ending for Rick and the Grimes. No Grimes family off to a boat or Commonwealth. Now, I know. :( Poor Michonne. (writers totally screwed up her character-journey)

Based on spoilers, there’s a white horse (symbolism), that script paper.., Shane appearances. So yeah there’s some over the top death scene happening. Idc in some ways, because this is all AU to me. (twdspoilers4theprivileged tumblr) Based from the script paper spoiler/rumor, I noticed that Carol is there..actually the main five characters are there. It’s nice ..but once again it’s when something major happens. It seems like Rick takes the other parts of comic-Andrea’s death. He dies by trying to kill all the walkers in the herd ...to save his people(?) like Andrea did. It also seem traumatic too, our main characters are watching it as it goes. Like damn ..who wanna see that super sad and depressing death of a character in this ep. Like sure ..Rick deserve this kind of death scene and how important and special he is. But ...it’s not a series finale and writers will forget about this in a couple episodes later with Daryl dealing with Negan and Whisperers, I guess. *Also I guess Zeke wasn’t there..and others. So it’s like Zeke isn’t or still not important in the show. So ..maybe he will die from Alpha in msf or finale in s9. I just think if Zeke will be a main character, then he gotta hang out with Daryl and others,a lot. (so far he’s in ep1. so far Carol in ep 1 and 5..) Idk what Maggie will do / LC’s 6 episodes. There’s some play with time. Maybe Maggie dies in msf?

Yeah Carol so far is in ep 1 and 5. I don’t think she interacts with Rick in s9. I find it important for her to interact with him. It tells me writers remember their bond, care about the character Carol, and what they do with TF. So far, it’s seems like they don’t. This is the part that really upsets me..it’s something also that I was really hoping for in s9 and something to see if it will happen-then the rest s9 will go fine. I love Carick so ..yeah I don’t think there’s good Carick moments in s9 and I think Carol will only react about Rick’s death. Writers ..again don’t care or too lazy to deal with TF moments and Carol and her bonds with other characters. So, it’s like if writers can’t do Carick scenes so then s9/new showrunner doesn’t matter to me anymore. It’s over. Those Carick hopes or Carol hopes were all before AL news, btw. That s8 finale made me doubt.

I might accept TWD s9 and Rick’s death, if like the first 6 episodes or so was treated like a series finale and it was something writers/Gimple have in mind for a long time and that they wanted Rick to die in ‘series finale’. And then the rest be like a spin-off and plus being more character-y..good writing. But eh. We still see characters dealing with his death and other plots going on. It just won’t work, I guess. But right now, I’m like it’s all AU, idc. TF are close and Grimes family lives on.

So, now that im like ‘whatever’ with the show or try to.., i wanna point out the flaws more lately. But it’s stuff we already know. It’s really crazy to watch TWD s8 and then watch the recent season (s5) of The 100 and how much The 100 flows better, character’s arcs goes naturally well or balanced. It’s not too (comic)plotty. And ofc, there’s girls power, and character interactions. Mains still interact. That stuff that I like and interested in. I know they’re different shows. I think TWD is probably more like Falling Skies with how the story goes but it’s not really charactery..in story right now.

...Let’s do AU fanarts.

#twd spoilers #carick #*twd #*twd s9h #caryl #twd writing

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