#they’re bad metaphors

[cryptvokeeper]

don’t get me wrong I think the general interpretation of Leo being like “I put up a cocky front but deep down I don’t actually think I’m that great and that’s why I have something to prove” is good. It’s cool, plenty of drama/angst potential and probably what the creators were going for, I’m here for it.

But there is a distinct appeal to me of the slightly-to-the-left interpretation of Leo being like “it’s not a front, I know I’m that good/smart/skilled, but I also know I’m seen by others as just the goofball face man and that’s why I have something to prove.”

#Rottmnt #Wild metaphor incoming but it’s like the difference between a hersheys bar and fancy Ghirardelli or something #At the end of the day they’re both chocolate. But ones got a bit more depth. #where was I going with this again idk I got caught up in food metaphor #It’s like. With the first one it boils down to character A (in this case Leo) going “I’m useless because I’m not good at [thing]” #Resulting in those around him either going “of course you’re good at thing! Remember the time you were good at thing?” #Or sometimes “it doesn’t matter that you’re not good at [thing] we love you regardless of what you can provide” #And again THATS GOOD THATS SOME GOOD SHIT #I LOVE THAT #but with the latter it’s more like “I know I’m good at thing *but I don’t know how to prove it to you*” #And that gives you the best of both worlds where you CAN get character A feeling bad but not for their lack of thing #But because if no can see it surely they *must* be doing something wrong right? #And ALSO you get the characters around them getting all sorts of feelings of “we didn’t do enough to show we believe in them” #Or “we didn’t notice how hard they tried” #Cuz you can get that a little in the first one but it can come off as kinda meh cuz they didn’t actually do anything wrong #It also has more opportunities for emotions besides straight sadness #You can have anger and conflict of “why am I not good enough for you?!” #That straight sef deprecation doesn’t always allow for #You can also have jealously and envy that feels less toxic and more justified #Not that it strictly needs to be justified mind you #Sometimes some toxic feelings stemming from perceived inadequacy are fuckin *chefs kiss* #But again it’s abt the VARIETY yknow #This isn’t even about Rottmnt anymore I’m just rambling #It’s my post and I get to choose the bullshit tags

[vaxieth]

thinking about imogen and laudna, telepathy, and the modifying ordeal of being loved unconditionally again

#imodna #imogen temult #laudna #critical role #my posts #reposting my twitter stuff on here #being with someone who has telepathy and can theoretically read your mind at any and every moment #would be incredibly vulnerable and scary #which is what makes ‘i’ve heard everything inside of you. you’re not a bad person.’ the most soul-crushingly romantic imodna line for me #imogen knows every part of laudna and she loves it all #and that’s why as soon as imogen says that laudna kisses her again #because her words aren’t a metaphor or an exaggeration #they’re the truest affirmation laudna could ever get #anyway :) i’m clearly very normal about this :)

[snickerdoodlles]

setting aside the fact that chess is a proven terrible metaphor for a strategic person/character in the first place, i have the silliest hangups about chess master!Korn in anything because Korn’s canonically terrible at playing chess. he wins because his victims know better than to beat him, not because he’s good at it.

#there’s a possibility canon meant to make him a good chess player and just suffers from the fact that the writers don’t know chess #but honestly I doubt that #Korn is terrible at all his hobbies #and the way his mafia games reflect his chess strategies feels deliberate #he’s just so bad at these games #his strategies might make sense on a street gang level #but in the show context of ‘’high class mafia’’ #they’re extremely out of place and extremely stupid #which also feels deliberate #and again plays into the ‘Korn’s bad at chess’ theme #im trying to cut myself off from a ramble about the shows choice to show a scholars mate between Kinn and Korn but like #ep5 game is such a good metaphor for Korn and Kinn’s relationship in this context too! #Kinn's only making a show of playing Korn’s game #and lets himself lose as a means of escaping his fathers direct machinations #he hasn’t yet removed himself from the situation #which is why he’s still stuck playing Korn’s games #but Kinn yields to Korn because that’s currently his best defense #not because he wants to #:( #anyways Tawan the only bitch dumber than Korn #love that for us #kinnporsche #*im aware that a certain amount of this is show writers navigating extremely stupid source material that thinks it’s clever #and the show writers made their own dumb choices for other things too #but this isn’t about that #and that explanation is boring anyways

[katnissgirlsmakedo]

also fun fact. you can effectively punch holes in plastic glow in the dark stars using a push pin and a rock and just pressing it really hard into your carpet or something so it doesn’t damage anything once it penetrates the plastic. in case you ever needed to know that

#i hope all my actors come to the premiere because i do not think i will be finishing this shit by sunday when we stop filming #going to need to tell them i have surprise presents for them all and use that to make them come see my mid short film #i have to stop putting down my own film. it’s not going to be mid. it’s going to be good. perhaps not as good as some others in the class #but it will not be as bad as the annoying ‘men’s mental health story’ bs one group is doing #frankly i don’t give a shit about men’s mental health but whatever #actually it might not be bad as a film idk their skill levels. but i won’t care about it due to there being no women in there #actually another group is making a film with no women (except the firdged mom) but i think theirs will be good #they have a cast of two people it’s not insane that there’s no women so i’ll allow it #and also of course that guys script was very good and he was actually my first choice when we voted on who’s scripts to make #no i was not my first choice…. i was trying to be humble…. #also i wouldn’t have had to be director on his film. i could have been the bitchy production manager….. #i also would have had to go on multiple hikes due to the locations they needed. so perhaps it’s a good thing my script got voted in too #and i know i complain but i do actually like my group they’re great people to work with #even if the Annoying one and i clash sometimes. i like to think of our dynamic as Divorced Coparents #which sounds more sexy than it is. it’s not sexy at all. there’s no sex going on metaphorical or otherwise #i just mean. we clash sometimes but we also have good rapport. it’s like a tense middle school friendship #and the other guy. he’s great. cringe at times but we love him #i wish i’d known him before this semester so we could have had more time to become friends this timing kinda sucks #anyway. i don’t remember how this post started. #ok bye

[poppyseed799]

Brother why are there so many roaches we have had TWO full exterminations and BOTH TIMES the roaches came back. The first time there were less of them for a week (still some) but the second time there was absolutely zero difference in the number of roaches even immediately after the extermination. Like man. What am I supposed to do about this

#they’re in all the appliances dawg how am I supposed to cook 😭 #and my sister is just like ‘just move out!!!’ brother WHERE #she is actually moving out on the shortest notice imaginable cuz she can’t deal with the roaches #going to our ex step fathers house cuz she already planned to move in there with her partner #but now she’s going there early cuz of the roaches #and like okay sure but WE can’t move in there. and yet she’s like ‘find a new place!’ brother we renewed the lease #and also do you know how the world works nowadays you can’t move anywhere it’s always more expensive 😭 #we’re like frogs in boiling water #I jumped ahead with that metaphor but I’m too lazy to backtrack to explain how I got there #anyways yknow the roach guys said the infestation was REALLY bad and they wanted to do a follow up #but idk when that follow up is cuz it’s been a month since the extermination and there has been 0 difference. as soon as we came back to the #apartment there were still roaches on the walls #like man what am I supposed to do they’re everywhere and it would be so hard to move out 😭 #vent #<- figure I’ll add that cuz like. that’s what this is. my life is just not great rn. constantly hungry too cuz we struggle with groceries #and I’m too scared to make myself some food cuz of the obscene amount of roaches. there was a roach in the dinner last night. then my mom #invited us to dinner at her place and refused to get us dinner. #said she wanted to hang out and didn’t talk to me so wtf #it’s just not going well. I posted happily about how I got those gifts but honestly I can’t even enjoy them because there’s too many roaches #like I don’t know where to put things so that roaches don’t get them. there’s no safe space.

[dihalect]

yknow. i always figured house/wilson was one of those forced “we have to put the main guy in a yaoi” ships. i have gradually and unfortunately discovered that i was wrong.

#txt #i know they’re going to be a slow-burning trainwreck. #bad metaphor. they’re uhhhhhh. #that giant pit of gas in turkmenistan that’s been burning for an unknown number of decades and will keep doing so for god knows how long.

[pepprs]

retreat day 4 done. it’s been a really good day i think

#purrs #we did feedback and i was the only person who cried and i cried twice LOL. once while giving feedback and once while receiving it. the #feedback that made me cry was that…. omg… someone in my pod CAME TO THE RETREAT BECAUSE OF ME. i was the reason for someone. omg i teared up #immediately. and so many other ppl remembered interacting w me during the lockdown when iwas suffering so bad and it made me so emotional in #a good way. we didn’t give up. we kept pushing on. and it MATTERED. there’s a whole group of ppl in the community room now (i just got back) #and they’re eating and talking and laughing and hugging and leaning on each others shoulders and writing each other letters. and i helped to #make that happen. and we all poured our whole hearts in. and im so grateful and so proud. im not prepared to facilitate AT ALL lmao and we h #have to be out of here in 13 hours and i haven’t finished writing my notes yet. but im content and happy. and i feel like ive made (perhaps #only temporary but still) peace w the wounds that got ripped open last night. so i feel good. i can’t believe it’s almost over #retreat tag #also apparently i am a meerkat btw. #<- according to someone in my pod who gave everyone feedback in the form of animal metaphors 🥹

[githvyrik]

I literally hate hate hate when people view stories entirely on a logical level like when people are like “the conflict in this story doesn’t entirely make logical sense” which like yeah sometimes that’s totally a fair criticism but so many times I’ve seen lately it’s like. yeah it’s a narrative device dude it’s a metaphor

#@ people saying the society in the hunger games doesn’t work…………. yeah. the series is kind of about how it doesn’t work my guy #or people saying zariel condemning elturel in dia doesn’t ‘make sense’ it’s like #it’s a metaphor dude. the story is about redemption and retribution and at what point is either reasonable/justifiable/possible #elturel represents her anger at (in her eyes) their betrayal and like. you can explore a) how much of that anger is justified #b) how much of the results of her anger impact at what point she may be beyond redemption #c) how much the betrayal of the hellriders was really a betrayal or if it was the decision to ditch a doomed mission #of mortals spurred on by the wrath of a zealous otherworldly being #d) zariel feeling betrayed by elturel in general for buying the lies and leaving her to her fate #e) etc etc etc ohmygod it’s a METAPHOR you can use it for WHATEVER YOU WANT #f) OH YOU CAN ALSO USE IT TO BE HOW CORRUPT LEADERSHIP SLOWLY CONDEMNS WHOLE CIVILIZATIONS TO RUIN #like yeah maybe elturel being dragged down slowly instead of all at once doesn’t make logical sense #but it makes sense on an emotional and metaphorical level #if you run it right. unfortunately a lot of people don’t really get what a lot of stuff in the adventure is meant to do #and part of that is the book’s fault tbh. it spends a lot of time that it could’ve spent fleshing out the meat of the story #fleshing out baldur’s gate. like literally almost the entire back third of the book (it honestly feels like half) #is spent delving into the intricacies in baldur’s gate #which like. the material itself isn’t bad. it’s really good for running stuff set in baldur’s gate #but in descent into avernus that encompasses the first like. 5 levels. #and they’re important! they can absolutely be used to build upon the themes of the game #(I decided to skip it bc I figured my players would rather get to hell and honestly. the bg part is kinda tough. maybe doable but tough) #but my god they did NOT need to expand it THAT much omg #wow this got off topic. anyway #ANYWAYS while I’m analyzing descent into avernus it’s also about how evil is self defeating but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try #to defeat it anyway #zariel wasn’t necessarily wrong to want to join the blood war but she fell because she chose the ‘what’ over the ‘why’ #it’s also about regret.

[impossible-rat-babies]

horrified by the just waking up thought that eyrie is traumatized simply by existing 🙃

#that warrants elaboration and I mean this in an almost metaphorical way #but also they’re going to live for a long while longer Still #something of to live is to suffer #I dunno ShB and EW did something to their brain. something bad #both are looking death in the face and being dragged back from that precipice #battered broken and bruised and asked to still keep living #that does something to their brain yeah #it’s a concept that is holding hands w redacted asking the WoL What Are You #oc: eyrie kisne

[labmousegirl]

shoutout to translators because i can never do it. i get way too hung up on english equivalents especially with keeping the tone of how a character speaks. translating is way more than just understanding a character in the native language

#case in point i was going to translate the fp homescreen lines for dice’s birthday and i just got stuck. #i know what they’re saying but i just can’t write it in english LOL #zero.txt #also bc i am extremely autistic and study linguistic forms so i will overthink literal and metaphorical implications of speech #i don’t know what to keep and what to leave per say. as they say a literal translation is a bad translation #and i am way too literal

[wubbybubbly]

this is me just being a bitch but like. idk why people always go “oh but they’re just one bad apple” while completely omitting the rest of the saying. it’s “one bad apple spoils the bunch.” don’t forget that last part.

#💬 #the WHOLE POINT of the metaphor is that people with a harmful mindset negatively influence a group #don’t isolate them and treat it as a separate issue!!! #going “they’re just ONE bad apple” undermines the saying and downplays the effects of the bad apple’s behavior #if you’ve been in a fandom you know exactly how true this is. it’s poisonous #sorry but it’s frustrating to me when the internet fucks up sayings

[katnissgirlsmakedo]

ok i know the lyric is “i went tumbling down trying to reach your high” but. i have been hearing it as height for the past several years and i literally don’t care what halsey wrote my brain is right. anyways. that lyric. raf

#high makes it a drugs metaphor but height just makes it like. the narrator of the song thought the object of their affection was #taller (better) than they were. and that was something that they themselves wanted to be #and then find out that actually they’re much worse then the narrator thought #which makes more sense for the song anyway it being about a person bringing out the bad side in the narrator #anyway. who even cares #beth.txt

[azuremist]

I think that more fanfiction should be written with the aim to tackle the original meaning of hanahaki. Because when the concept of hanahaki disease was originally created, it was intended to be a metaphor for suppressing one’s feelings.

Your feelings are this beautiful garden of flora inside of your chest. When you express how you feel honestly, you allow for it to grow freely. But when you hide how you feel out of fear of rejection, and try to make it smaller and smaller, the flowers become cramped inside of you, until you choke on your own feelings. Every flower you cough up is something you’ve felt, but refused to say.

The whole “dying” thing is intended to be more symbolic especially. You’re killing off bits and pieces of yourself and how you feel, because you’re afraid to express yourself.

It’s not really supposed to be, “The one I love doesn’t love me back, and I’m dying from it.” Rather, it’s more along the lines of, “Repressing your emotions is bad for you, and it’s better and healthier to express them freely, even when it’s scary.”

Which is to say that, one, the cure for the disease should be telling the person that you are in love with how you feel. How the other person feels about the person afflicted should have nothing to do with it, as the trope is meant to be about feeling your emotions unapologetically.

And that, two, it’s not an inherently romantic trope. Obviously, it has romantic applications, but it can be written for any situation where a character is hiding how they truly feel. This can include a refusal to address a specific trauma, a desire to indulge in something that they’re ashamed of, and even really practical things, like wanting to ask one’s boss for a higher position.

Although (as an aromantic person myself) I don’t agree with this conclusion about the trope, this application would also avoid people calling it arophobic. When the thing killing the character is a refusal to be honest with themselves, rather than an unrequited love, it’s on nobody’s hands but their own to save their life.

There are a ton of ways that this interpretation of the hanahaki disease could be applied in new and interesting ways in fanfiction, and I’d love to read what things people could come up with!

#hanahaki #hanahaki disease #fanfic tropes #fanfiction #ao3 #azure does a thing

[ezraphobicsoup]

ok google how do i write this funny impulsive childrens book without a harrowing depiction of memory loss

#this is an exaggeration but still #she’s just supposed to be forgetful but idk how to say that without making it sound really sad #like ‘as hard as she tried day by day/she couldn’t get the memories to stay’ feels a bit too much for like a 5 year old #also i don’t acyuallly know why i’m doing this i just decided it #she’s an elephant called freya but she has a bad memory and forgets like her friends birthday and stuff #so all her friends are annoyed cause they expect her to be able to remember everything cause elephants kr something #but then like they realise that just cause she’s an elephant doesn’t mean she can do that #nd it’s not like she’s super talented at anything else but she’s very nice to be sroind #so they’re all friends the end. shabam #it’s a metaphor for something somewhere i’m sure

[even-if-in-another-time]

Give me your ideas please please

GFHDHDBBDB OK SO?? LISTEN. BUCKLE UP. SO. the entirety of the play takes place in front of this one mirror in the center of the stage, and on either side of the mirror is the same room reflected, but one of them is decorated like it belongs to a nine year old and the other is the room of a teenager yk? and so essentially it follows this character that exists on both sides of the mirror, as their teen self and their nine year old self immortalized in it, that can talk to each other. THATS THE TED TALK AND I WANNA SCREAM ABT IT FOR HOURS BUT LIKE ITD BE THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE FUCKIGN THING TO WRITE BECAUSE ITS GOTTA BE ENTIRELY EITHER DIALOGUE OR VISIALS AND. HRHFHFHDHDHNDHDRHG.

#and like!!! the story follows this kid growing up and it’s all a metaphor for the feeling of fighting to be what your younger self never got #to have and this impossibly unrealistic chance to actually be that #to BE the thing you wish you had #and gifted child syndrome in the sense of watching this bright little kid talk to the version of them they know is on the horizon #the version of them fucked up by the world #and queerness!!! pretty sure the mc would be queer and like. do i even have to explain that ‘what if my younger self knew’ and just. HERHFHF #and i don’t have something any more than a vague idea in my mind for the resolution but like #the person on the left side of the mirror the older one they grow up through this #from around 14 to until maybe 18 when they’re moving out for college yk #while the kid stays the same #so the entire point is that it’s obviously false. obviously a projection of ‘i wish i could talk to them’ #and the ending is just a slightly more clear nod at that yk? #at the knowledge it’s fake #I DONT KNOW MAN IM RAMBLING BUT GOD I WANNA WRITE IT SO BAD

[byoldervine]

Foreshadowing Ideas

• Character themes/motifs. I’ve heard of one writer who tries to give each character their own theme for similes, metaphors, descriptions, etc so there’s like a theme to the way they’re portrayed. You could use that to foreshadow notable secrets about the character that will later be revealed, or if at any point they’re disguised then you can use that to tip off the reader that they have the same motifs and so might be related/the same person

• Tiny details hidden in lists. Say the MC was trying to work out the identity of a bad guy, who we know was wearing a red shirt on the day of a big bad event. A few chapters later, MC is checking around their best friend’s room to find them, with the place its usual mess with discarded takeaway boxes, the bed unmade, a red shirt left on the floor that could use a good sweep. The red shirt might not click with all the readers, but those who register it upon their first read will eat it up

• Inconsistent behavioural patterns. Once we have a good idea of what a character is like, having them act out of character can set off alarm bells and make us question what’s occurred to make them act this way. Let the other characters register it too, if it’s reasonable that they would, but let them ultimately brush it off quite quickly to keep it subtle. Or just call it right out, whichever you prefer

• Unreliable narrators. Let one character say one thing and a second character say another, even if they both ultimately agree on the same thing but get one or two small details wrong. Ideally do this two or three times in order for the reader to know it’s not just a mistake in the plot but an intentional inconsistency, but even if it’s only done once and it’s taken as a mistake it’ll still slot together like puzzle pieces in the end and they’ll be kicking themself for dismissing it

• In-universe red herrings. If you’re going to add red herrings as foreshadowing, it’s helpful if the red herring aligns with the intentions of someone person aware of the upcoming plot twist who’s trying to control the narrative. Say the plot twist was the reveal of a mysterious character’s identity to be the best friend of the MC, the best friend might have deliberately thrown the MC off their scent by planting suspicions in the MC’s mind that a different character was the mysterious character’s identity all along. This is less about foreshadowing the actual reveal, of course, but rereads will be a punch to the gut when everyone realises that all this misinformation and red herring business came from someone trying to cover their own ass rather than coming from misunderstandings or multiple other random sources

#writing #writers #bookblr #writeblr #book #writing inspiration #writing advice #on writing #writing tips and tricks #writing tips #writing help #foreshadowing #how to write #writersociety #writersnetwork #writers of tumblr #writer #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writerblr