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Writer's Block: Peevish
Jan. 27th, 2009 04:49 pm[Error: unknown template qotd] A few.
1. People who use "gay" or "retarded" as an insult - especially when it's in a context similar to "prejudice is so gay" or "stereotypes are so retarded" - which I've seen more than I'd like. I know I'm one of the few people who seems to find "retard" offensive, though.
2. Intolerance. And I'm not just saying that to be Miss America-like.
3. This is more of a self-peeve, but when I make jokes people don't get. I tend to try and be funny, and end up looking stupid. Like how today some girl told me she got her scarf in Barcelona, and I told her I should go there and get it... which I later realized sounded like I thought Barcelona was a store. *Facepalm* (Or maybe I'm just insecure.)
4. People who ask me what's going on during movies. Unless you're nine years old and just being a kid, WATCH THE MOVIE. (At the movie theater, anyway - I don't care if it's a DVD or VCR and I can just pause.) I've had movies I've been so excited to see completely ruined because the person I was with kept asking me questions the entire time.
1. People who use "gay" or "retarded" as an insult - especially when it's in a context similar to "prejudice is so gay" or "stereotypes are so retarded" - which I've seen more than I'd like. I know I'm one of the few people who seems to find "retard" offensive, though.
2. Intolerance. And I'm not just saying that to be Miss America-like.
3. This is more of a self-peeve, but when I make jokes people don't get. I tend to try and be funny, and end up looking stupid. Like how today some girl told me she got her scarf in Barcelona, and I told her I should go there and get it... which I later realized sounded like I thought Barcelona was a store. *Facepalm* (Or maybe I'm just insecure.)
4. People who ask me what's going on during movies. Unless you're nine years old and just being a kid, WATCH THE MOVIE. (At the movie theater, anyway - I don't care if it's a DVD or VCR and I can just pause.) I've had movies I've been so excited to see completely ruined because the person I was with kept asking me questions the entire time.
Six reasons not to send chain mail
Dec. 13th, 2007 11:38 am1. They're often composed of urban legends. Target does not hate war Veterans, Ashley Flores is not missing, Chihuahuas are not rodents, and tanning salons have never been known to fry livers. And don't get me started on Bonsai Kittens.
2. Even if there really is an ill child in a small Wisconsin town who can't get help, how will forwarding chain mail help? Money is not sent by keystrokes. If you really care about ill or poor children, donate money, toys, clothing, books, and canned goods to charity. That will make all the difference in the world.
3. Not everyone wants to see a picture of a dying child, real or not, or read a story about a kid who was beaten to death. That's really disturbing and upsetting when you just want to see if your grandmother emailed you the picture of her new flowers.
4. No emo sixteen year old has ever been known to come back as a ghost and haunt people who didn't forward emails. Just saying.
5. Clicking random keys on your computer is not going to bring up a funny image or the ending to a story. (Although I have to say, I still wanna know the ending to the one about the boy who kept showing people letters that made them mad, and finally one day he read it... does anyone know if that's a real story?)
6. I'll need help explaining this one, since I don't know quite how it works, but apparently spammers can use them to find email addresses. Also, those funny animal pictures you keep sending? Yeah, they may very well contain viruses.
There's more reasons, but that's the gist.
2. Even if there really is an ill child in a small Wisconsin town who can't get help, how will forwarding chain mail help? Money is not sent by keystrokes. If you really care about ill or poor children, donate money, toys, clothing, books, and canned goods to charity. That will make all the difference in the world.
3. Not everyone wants to see a picture of a dying child, real or not, or read a story about a kid who was beaten to death. That's really disturbing and upsetting when you just want to see if your grandmother emailed you the picture of her new flowers.
4. No emo sixteen year old has ever been known to come back as a ghost and haunt people who didn't forward emails. Just saying.
5. Clicking random keys on your computer is not going to bring up a funny image or the ending to a story. (Although I have to say, I still wanna know the ending to the one about the boy who kept showing people letters that made them mad, and finally one day he read it... does anyone know if that's a real story?)
6. I'll need help explaining this one, since I don't know quite how it works, but apparently spammers can use them to find email addresses. Also, those funny animal pictures you keep sending? Yeah, they may very well contain viruses.
There's more reasons, but that's the gist.
Fantasy Meme (it's been around LJ)
Jul. 29th, 2006 09:25 amEleven things I will strive my best never to put in a fantasy novel/fanfiction:
1. One dimensionalism, unless it's the point of a character. Sadly, some people just are. But most people have layers, and I will make this clear in the story.
2. Racist metaphors. They used to be a popular trend in older fantasy, and it bugs me when I notice them.
3. "Girl will die without a guy." There's a reason I didn't like most fairy tales as a kid, and some fantasy that I've seen still has that theme. Yes, love is great, but the girl is competent without one.
4. Sooper gurl. My characters will not fight in a metal bikini, be able to kill with their magcal fingernails, and they won't snog everything that moves.
5. "Well these are BAD BAD people because they come from a BAD BAD town/school/whatever." 100 out of 100 people cannot all be horrible. That's one of the things I actually don't about Harry Potter - the established "fact" that all Slytherins are EVOL. Granted, JK Rowling has said that's not her intention, but that's still how she writes it.
6. A place that's not our place - a different planet - but is exactly like ours with no explanation. This isn't because such plots are bad ; it's because I simply cannot suspend disbelief that much. There are some exceptions, but not many; my universe, if I ever write it, is going to be in this one, but like in Harry Potter, one "we" simply can't see. I just can't understand how another world altogether could still have the same sort of people, the same class systems, the same type of government... to me, it makes no sense. There has to be some sort of way for the world to fit, even though it does still involve some degree of disbelief suspension.
7. Love triangles, unless it's in character. You can't make a really sweet Princess lead on two men. A cruel one, yes, even a ditzy one, but one who's simply too nice to choose? Give me a break.
8. Only romance matters plots. Now, I'm all for all-romance, and I'm not saying romance shouldn't matter - it should. But plots where everyone can die, and the lovers are fine, but then one of them breaks a finger and the other lover goes insane... it just baffles me.
9. The character is raped and enjoys it, or forgives her rapist because "he didn't mean it." First, nobody wants to be raped. Second, a rapist can't not "mean it" - that's not possible, and I'm not going to go into detail why (I don't think I need to anyhow), but it isn't possible.
10. The character is flawless. Nobody can be flawless.
11. Rip-offs. Yes, most fantasy stories all have a similar theme, especially in terms of types of characters (the "slightly absent" father/mother figure, the mentor who dies, the companion(s), the reluctant character), but taking from every fantasy novel out there and putting it into my story? Absolutely not right.
