#maybe im an ex writer 😅

[anthrofreshtodeath]

This seems like kind of a dumb question but I'm not a writer so I don't know - is it more difficult to manage to say everything you want in few words in a short story like a prompt/one shot or more difficult to have enough to keep a multichapter story going and stay interesting??

Each has their own pros and cons. Being pithy enough to get a point across in a one shot is hard in a different way than organizing a long form fic is hard, but both are hard.

prompts are nice because I don’t worry about theme or message or organization as much. I just write.

with that said, I haven’t written anything long form in awhile and sometimes wonder if I still have the ability.

#ask anthrofreshtodeath #maybe im an ex writer 😅

[psychewritesbs]

hi! i didnt have much success when looking through ur blog to see if uve addressed this alrdy so apologies if u have.

i was curious to know ur thoughts on jjk's portrayals of gender, esp women/femininity. if u have particular insight from a psych or philosophy bg, id be interested in hearing that (warning, i have a v feminist critique lens)

ik u love gege's writing 😅 but his handle on female characters/femininity has given me such a difficult relationship w jjk, and its v difficult to have discourse on it. on one hand, we're introduced to sm interesting realistic women, tbh i actually never stanned a woman in manga before jjk. but imo it cant be denied that gege is a sexist writer. despite how realistic jjk women r theyre all .. halfwritten? i cant think of a single one who isnt underwritten, not fully explored, not utilized substantially in the plot, etc. and there r sm ex's of extremely minor male characters in jjk who r given more thematic relevance than frequently recurring women that just underscores that gender gap imo

this isnt solely a gege problem ik but what bothers me in particular about jjk vs other mangas is how gege addresses strength, even in the light of nb/androgynous characters, and how it feels as if gege's def of strength is inherently masculine? even despite going so far as to give us a philosophical battle shonen w diverse reps of gender and emphasizing individuality that encompasses both femme/masc traits

how a reader interprets whether a jjk woman is strong or not is obv subjective. like, i think shoko is strong but shes not depicted as such bc she doesnt have a combative technique whereas yuki maki nobara or mei r depicted as "strong" bc of their battle abilities. but it also feels as if those women r strong bc they take on "masculine" traits/mindsets whereas there r no clear depictions of "femininity" making women or men stronger. even utahime who falls into v classic shoujo girl tropes is seen as weak despite teaching her students v proficientally in battle strategy (mechamaru v mahito is a good ex of that imo), as compared to how gojo teaches his (ie dumping them into missions for experience). but thats not what gege ever chooses to highlight

femininity also doesnt even seem to make men/nb characters stronger. the ex's i can think of r naoya as a vagina (lmao), geto as a mother to curses, yuta as highly attuned to his emotions, kenjaku as yuji's mother -- those r things that support these (mostly) men's strong sense of individuality but like, those arent really the things that lend those characters their "strength", u know? like geges just sprinkling in androgyny for the spice 🧐

what is feminine vs masculine, how an individual embodies those traits in their gender identity r already complex topics. im obv generalizing a lot here, but i just, idk despite how many other nuanced philosophies gege explores, what is strong/desirable in jjk still falls down to all-out fighting abilities/physical prowess, emotional detachment, isolation, extremism, etc -- all things we harp on toxic masculinity for. and even when he critiques that, theres no cogent counter solution/way to be strong that gege provides, much less one that incorporates "femininity" and women

maybe im just asking for too much from gege after having read so many great representations of women and gender by female (and male) mangakas/writers but.. i shouldnt be 🙄 he can utilize his female characters more imo, esp when he can clearly set them up so well. and im sure theres things ive misread about jjk and its portrayal of femininity, theres plenty of holes in my thoughts ^^ anyways, this is obv not a great topic to bring up in a fandom that is so polarized between dudebros and women w unaddressed internalized misogyny.. so i welcome any and all thoughts and interpretations on ur end! (also omg im rlly sorry this got so long)

I love you feminist anon, if I may call you that lol, I just always name my anons 😂. I am so grateful that you sent this.

I feel like you've very eloquently explained the deeper reason as to why I personally can't relate to the female characters in jjk. If I'm honest, I like them and think they are fun and good enough representations or attempts at depicting the archetypes that rule their personalities.

As you say, however, some of them remain rather superficial and underutilized... and please forgive me anyone who loves them, but some of them feel like they are basically dudes wearing skirts.

No offense to dudes who wear skirts or people who like men who wear skirts or anyone for that matter. It's just that, as a personal preference, I like female characters that wear skirts, pants, leggings, etc and have equal amounts of masculine and feminine energy.

So, even if I find they are good enough, I've never necessarily loved jjk female characters, because, as you also say, I've read/seen one too many amazing and iconic female characters by other authors...

And it's not like I think you're asking for too much from Gege in wanting better female characters, it's just that, as you also said, I like his writing and I read jjk precisely because of what it's doing for my masculine psyche. Like... quite literally.

So perhaps I'm more forgiving than you are because of it? Because in all reality, there are female character moments in other manga that I have to give the bombastic side eye to, and jjk isn't one of them.

Let's taco'bout it more under the cut.

So, that said, I have to admit that you might not find a lot of "feminist oriented" content in my blog because my feminist lens is reserved for dealing with lame dudebros in my real life, and also, I honestly do not know how to wear the lens on the same level of depth as you do.

Also, since my blog's lens is depth psych, I very much focus on femininity and masculinity as psychological qualities that exist on opposite ends of a continuum regardless of biological gender. You'll see me refer to femininity and masculinity like this throughout my answer.

So because of this, I'm coming at the whole issue from a slightly different angle than you are. The way I see it, I think the way the jjk female characters are written and thematically utilized (basically everything you said), ultimately comes back to how Gege's exploration of femininity is limited by his own sense of self, and very much likely biased by the sociocultural landscape he grew up in.

I don't know how much you know about Japan, but Japan has one foot in the future, and one foot in the past...

And like... ok I'm totally oversimplifying the whole thing. All I'm saying is... Gege is a man who grew up in a man's world, sharing his view of the world through jjk, which is a story about initiation of the male psyche that is published in a magazine for young boys.

Do you see the pattern there?

So If you feel like his female characters are underutilized and underexplored, and that thematically jjk focuses way too much on masculinity and masculine definitions of strength at the expense of the feminine archetypes he does present (like Naoya as a vagina LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL)... well... to me, we're basically looking at the limits of his own relationship to his femininity, which, this relationship is in turn an imperative precursor for psychospiritual development in depth psych. More of this in a bit.

Anyways, that's my anticlimactic reasoning for why I am more forgiving about the issue than you are. To be honest, I've been so consumed exploring my masculine psyche through jjk (because personally my feminine psyche is more developed in certain aspects) that I just never focus on the female characters (that is not to mention what I shared earlier).

ANYWAYS, I fucking love what you wrote about Gege's exploration on power from a masculine perspective because you're 100% spot on. What I'll say to that is that, to me, from a depth psych perspective, that's kind of the whole point.

I invite you to look at it from this other level of perspective (in addition to the whole "Gege's psych is a product of his upbringing"): the whole idea of individuality and focusing on the sense of self as a measure of "The Strongest" is being shown as an incomplete part of the equation...

... that leaves "the strongest" ultimately feeling dissatisfied.

This is a sentiment echoed by several characters because ego strength (masculine definitions of strength) is ultimately an unbalanced measure of strength precisely because it ignores feminine values and measures of strength.

Who knows where Gege is taking jjk at this point, but I will admit I am hoping he is going to explore this in more depth because, central to Jungian thought and depth psych is the idea of the Buddhist middle path and union of opposites.

In Jungian psych this means that, when you have an unbalanced ego attitude like that, something has to give so that the pendulum swings in the opposite direction, which gives the ego the experiences it needs to integrate the "opposite" attitude. This ultimately results in a more holistic and balanced perspective for the ego.

That to say that I'm wondering if Gege is going to make the pendulum swing in the opposite direction with the whole "individuality" idea since self-preservation is a "masculine" trait. Again, psychologically, it's all about balance, and right now, the story is out of balance in favor of the masculine traits you mention.

But... to bring it back to Gege's possible limitations around his perception of femininity and how developing a healthy relationship to his anima (femininity) is a precursor for psychospiritual development... what if, on a meta level, jjk is depicting part of Gege's journey towards integrating and deepening his relationship to his femininity and what you're seeing is the beginning of that journey?

Hint hint Tsumiki! maybe I'll write about it someday

This is the thing... In depth psychology, more specifically what is called "the psychology of fairy tales", fairy tales and myths are stories that depict the thinking patterns of a peoples through metaphor and symbol. The characters in these myths and stories are thus characters playing out dramas in our own psyches. So basically, think of jjk as an objective exploration of Gege's subjectiveness (psyche).

Admittedly, even if the pendulum swings in the other direction (more feminine definitions of strength), you might find that his exploration is rather shallow or that it falls short of your expectations for what you'd like to see from a feminist perspective. And you wouldn't be wrong for it, it's just that Gege is probably not on the same level of understanding that you have about femininity because he's, like you and I, a human on a journey of self understanding and growth reflecting on how his environment has shaped who he is.

The same goes for women with internalized misogyny. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and coming to an understanding of it is a process that doesn't take place overnight.

So I think the only part I'll disagree with is that Gege is a sexist writer. But that's perhaps because I'm being a bit too technical in what sexist means? i.e. masc supremacy or hating women and perpetuating stereotypes. I think that rather than being sexist, his unconscious biases are showing, which is why someone like you can pick them out.

I do understand where you're coming from though, and admittedly perhaps I am being too forgiving of him.

Last thing I'll say is that I've said a couple of times that wanting for jjk to have these iconic female characters feels like an exercise in futility. In retrospect, I now understand that it's not that anyone shouldn't want for jjk to have iconic female characters, but that doesn't change the fact that jjk will probably remain the wrong manga to look for them, and that's something to make peace with because it is what it is.

So, here's to hoping we get a chance to see a deeper representation of feminine values in jjk or Gege's next manga. Because, if he's done such beautiful work with the masculine psyche, like you, I'd be curious to see what he makes of a deeper exploration of the feminine psyche.

Between you and I, I'd actually love reading a proper battle bl from Gege. And I mean proper. Like... gays so canon that even the dudebros can't deny it.

ANYWAYS... giiiiiiiirl what an ask 😮‍💨. I don't think I've done it justice tbh. But hopefully I made sense? I really do love what you wrote. It was very eye opening to see this age-old argument spelled out the way you did it. So thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

If you over have any other thoughts on the topic I look forward to hearing from you!

I rambled too so... hopefully I made sense 🤣.

#ask the mental gymnastics anime girl

[foxymoxynoona]

I won’t lie foxy. I’ve expressed before how much i LOVEEEE your stories. The JK ones are always rereads bc they aren’t just some teenage netflix boo-boo story (not putting them down. some of these stories are great even if they are cheesy and immature sometimes) but the depth, and etc yours have give me so much serotonin ….

ANYWAYSSSS I have to admit, I love that you fulfill my guilty pleasure of adding pregnancy in a good amount of your stories, some being the main plot of it (sugar fairy and meadow(even tho that one stressed me out and bc of that i haven’t been able to reread it yet😝).

I think pregnancy is such a real thing. I’m also at the age and part of my life that talking about pregnancy and having kids although scary. it’s not completely off putting, since i’m not an immature unstable teenager anymore😭 lololol. and it’s a super important factor in all relationships, so for you to bring it into the storyline (especially when we’re talking about REAL mature adults over the age of like 22) and they all have different plot lines which i think it’s also a huge misconception in the fanfic world. so many put down on “found family” or “accidental pregnancy” and i’m unfortunately a who’re for them and not many write about that AU.

So when i see yours, ones i haven’t read yet. part of me lowkey be sitting there like “oh shit she gon get knocked up and then we will see character growth and the relationship build” NO. YOY DONT MAKE THE PREGNANCY THE ARC OF THE STORY AND YES THAT IS SO HEALTHY AND BEAUTIFUL BIT IM TOXICCFFF

like i lowkey was wanting an accidental pregnancy in Amended. I know that would of definitely thrown off the entire arc of the story and character development (for isabella specifically). I like to think that would of been so fun and cute to see. like i know she would of been miserable and gotten in her head bc “history repeats itself” but it would of been cool to see her “repeat history” but change it. JK wasn’t like the last two BDs and etc. Although Izzy got on my nerves 90% of the story, i can’t judge her for trauma she couldn’t control and her forced responses to it and who knows, maybe adding the accidental pregnancy would of probably been so bad there would of been no happy ending but like i said. I’m a whore for an accidental or ex-lovers (parents aus).

I also think bc you write pregnancy/growing families stories so well that I would love to see a good toxic “got knocked up first then fell in love” story from you… maybe a college au make it spicy.

.. I will not ask you to write my deepest guilty pleasure but i def know you would kill it either way. I hate that i’m so anti older woman bc i wanna read the Over the Falls but as a girl who is barely 24 and still thinks she’s 19. the idea of being way older than Jungkook makes me want to throw up

Have a good day and don’t mind me, I might go reread Meadows now bc i lowkey miss the smut and bronny is so sexy once she leaves Korea (spoiler)

L

This was a wild read from start to finish! I find it a little strange you came to a writer who is older than Jungkook to insult women who are older than Jungkook --we don't condone any age-related hate around here, but especially not about women in their 30s living and loving! -- but you also insult teenagers so I take it you only like poeple you're own age? 😅 I definitely encourage you to broaden your mindset here though. You will continue to age, and you will also be older than people around you, and you too will understand in the not so distant future that 30s is not old at all, and that you still deserve all the happiness and romance and to be the protagonist of stories 🥰

Other than that though, I'm very glad you've enjoyed my stories! I just wrote what I wanted to read and didn't expect it would resonate with others and have been delighted to find there are those who it does! There are SO many aspects of life, and pregnancy and motherhood are not the journey for all women, but it's a space I've also found oddly lacking in honesty and variety in many of the stories I've read so it's been fun to connect with others or even just present new ideas around what those aspects of life can look like.

And look I'm all for messiness in stories 😈 I think people make mistakes and behave badly and can be their worst selves in certain situations and it's good to represent that honestly! And sometimes I just want a guilty pleasure messy story without apology😎You're totally right, Amended would have been a very different story. Personally, I do not think it would have gone well, but maybe they would have figured things out eventually and still ended up somewhere happy! You bet your buns I've written accidental pregnancy stories (other than Meadow)... one I may share some day, the other ones I"m not so sure, they were a little too guilty-pleasure to post I think 😂

#asks #amended

[elithilanor]

is there something you’ve always wanted to write but don’t feel ready for?

I’m not sure what you mean by ready? Ready as in I’m not anxious about it or maybe ready as in I don’t feel I’m capable of writing it?

Assuming both I guess, I’m terribly anxious all the time about my writing so I’m always stressed about it even though I love it and the sense of accomplishment in the end. Healthy dose of any writer’s imposter syndrome, anxiety, and neurodivergencies I guess. I also don’t get a lot of engagement on my lotr fics (which is fine) but it means I’m just hoping that my followers still like my writing and blog and don’t just well I haven’t unfollowed them yet thing going on. 😅 Look im short the anxiety doesn’t have any good places to go 😂

[discussion of nsfw]

In regards to capability, kinks! I’m a fairly kinky person honestly, but I’m also asexual (demi specifically) so while I’m fairly confident in my theoretical knowledge of quite a few things, my practical knowledge is…severely lacking. So I really hesitate writing more serious or even just any vague pain-play kinks like spanking because I’m not sure if I’ll portray it accurately enough. And I really try to get as many details about things as I can right (ex-pre modern history major problems) so I tend to go down rabbit holes and then just…not write things. This is why there hasn’t really been much kinky smut here even though I’m all for it and would love to write it.

Thanks for the ask, anon! ❤️🥰

Keep ‘em coming, folks!!

#Elithilanor asks #happy ask Friday #ask Friday

[liquorisce]

Hey ris, i was reading this one unfinished wattpad em fic where eren slaps mikasa on the face out of anger. He hit her, but he instantly regretted it afterwards. This had me thinking, how do you progress from that?

I know you dont condone violence!! but i wanna ask, STRICTLY from a narrative perspective as an author how would you progress the story and ems relationship if that (eren hitting mikasa) was a plot point in your fic?

(I’m at a blank trying to imagine how id continue the story its so hard but then again theres a reason im not a writer 😅)

Hope ur having a great day!!

Hi boo! This is such an interesting question~

I think there are two possible directions I would consider taking the story:

1. This is pretty bleak and depressing but, maybe Mikasa would forgive him. Or maybe he is abusive and she accepts it, and blames herself for why he hits her. This is an interesting direction to go if you wanna explore the psyche of a victim who is gaslit into believing they deserve their abuse. So eren could end up getting worser or he might even ask her “why don’t you ever stop me? Do you like being treated this way?” Which is the ultimate gaslighting tbh, and it’s very depressing, ok I’m done with this idea it’s making my heart hurt.

2. This kinda reminds of the Bollywood movie Thappad! Thappad means slap in Hindi; it’s a movie about how this urban hoursewive’s life falls apart after her husband slaps her (only once). He slaps her in front of a room full of people because she tried to break up an argument between him and his boss at a party they were hosting at their house.

Basically she completely withdraws from him and leaves after the incident. The worst part is that the guy isn’t properly apologetic even (it’s a commentary on the entitled, arrogant behaviour of men in Indian households, especially towards their housewives), and he tries to just brush it off. Society and family also tell her to just look past it bc it is “just one slap” and “a really small issue that she is blowing out of proportion”. But she actually sticks to her ground and says it doesn’t matter if it is just one slap, she didn’t deserve it. It’s actually a wonderful story about a woman’s fight for respect and happiness and how society expects her to compromise on both. Anyway, long story short, after a lot of dirty behaviour on his part, she manages to get a divorce. But at the end the ex-husband finally gets some sense and apologises thoroughly and vows to become a man that will someday deserve her.

So yeah, I think this kind of an ending where Mikasa leaves him and he has to understand all the ways he has wronged her, with concerted effort on his part + a loooong journey on his part to get her back would be interesting to explore!

I wonder what the author was going for tho 🥺 ahh this is why I love unfinished stories so much they really leave us thinking 💕 wish you an awesome day too!!

#anonymous conversations