We will WRITE and WE MEAN IT (chat thread)

[Liou]

Oct 20, 2021 1:30:17 GMT -5 Twillie said:

I have another question, although less introspective this time: Does anyone have recommendations for stories that you find handle representation/discussion of mental health well? Bonus points if it's specifically depression or anxiety related. (...)

*raises hand and skips* oh oh OH
A SILENT VOICE!! manga with an animated film adaptation. Heavy themes, depth, beautiful, excellent.

I also recommend the channel Cinema Therapy for more insight on mental health representation in media, it's a channel with a licensed therapist and filmmaker duo reacting to films. I haven't yet watched their video on How to Train Your Dragon >u>, really enjoying the channel so far.

[Twillie]

Thanks all for the suggestions so far! :3 I'll be sure to look into them~

Liou Ooh yeah, I've watched a couple of their videos before! I didn't realize they dud HTTYD, though, that's got me excited >w>

[Kat]

Another suggestion I thought of is The Legend of Korra, in particular the final season, which delves into trauma and recovery.

[June Scarlet]

"I'm going to really think about and develop my Storm and Storyweaver story idea concept," I thought yesterday. "Any time now," I thought.

Eventually it was time to get ready for bed. And I was hit with an idea... for a Colaina and Scanlines interaction...

Okay. Not what I was going for, but I guess I'll take an idea over nothing.

[downrightdude]

I finally finished the short I started sometime last fall this week! Just need to edit it before submitting.

*contemplates next writing adventure**stares at wall*

[June Scarlet]

So Jo Rioux wrote a book called Cat's Cradle: The Golden Twine a while back. And today I found out it's being rereleased! This is the book that helped inspire my own monster tamer character Saskori.

Anyway, I looked up information about the rerelease, and it looks like she just... re-illustrated the entire graphic novel??


This is the original illustrations, for reference:
www.jorioux.com/catscradle/pages/golden_twine_cover.html

And this is the updated illustrations:
us.macmillan.com/books/9781250625366/catscradlethegoldentwine

Can you imagine? Not only illustrating a graphic novel once, but doing it all again a second time? That sounds like so much work! But also, her style's changed, so maybe that checks out? But usually you only get one chance at publishing a book, and then it's out there.

This is just so interesting to me, and a lot to take in. So I thought I'd share about it here, for further discussion.

[downrightdude]

Sometime before the year ends, I wanna write an article to commemorate my 20 year rule over Neopia.

I'd probably talk about random things like hobbies, the NT and my various memorable Neo moments. Also I need to remind everyone's who's really in charge of Neopia.

*Charlie the llama throws confetti*

[June Scarlet]

I went to a children's writers critique group on Thursday. We had sent around our pieces to review by email beforehand, and met in person. Submissions to the email thread seemed low, so I asked if I could send in a few comic scripts, since that's what I have ready to go. They went for it. But when I got there, and it was my turn, they looked at me, and were like, "We don't know how to critique this." It was so funny. I mean, they were supportive, and they liked the sample art, and the two scripts I shared they enjoyed, but the third script, the one giving me trouble, they had no idea how to help.

I told them I knew I was throwing them a curveball here. And as my mom pointed out, with comics, you either get it, or you don't. There's not much to go off of for critiquing. I mean, I guess I at least confirmed that the third script just isn't working, and needs to go to the bottom of the ideas pile for Crime Show.

It was a fun meeting, I just thought that was a funny bit of it. They did say I could teach them about critiquing more visual things like comics and graphic novels. So that'll be fun.

[June Scarlet]

When referring to one nonbinary person, would it be themself or themselves?

I think I know the answer to this, but I was second-guessed by someone else, and now I want to double check.

[Gelquie]

Oct 27, 2023 19:43:30 GMT -5 June Scarlet said:

When referring to one nonbinary person, would it be themself or themselves?

I think I know the answer to this, but I was second-guessed by someone else, and now I want to double check.

While I haven't heard of "themself" being accepted, I use "themself" anyway because it makes the most sense for referring to one person and I want to normalize it.

Looking it up, it seems "themself" is starting to catch on and be defined in dictionaries. (I'm sure it's not because of me; it makes the most grammatical sense. "Themself" for one, "themselves" for more.)

[Liou]

Oct 27, 2023 19:43:30 GMT -5 June Scarlet said:

When referring to one nonbinary person, would it be themself or themselves?

I think I know the answer to this, but I was second-guessed by someone else, and now I want to double check.

Yep, I also use "themself" to normalise it.

(I would only use "themselves" in a more formal context if some people's grammatical intolerance could cause me problems.)

[downrightdude]

*throws typewriter at wall to wake up board*

Time to stimulate the writing juices and begin a new piece of historic NT fiction. Let's see if my new experimental storytelling style will be "funky fresh" and change the game of my half-abandoned NT career.

[June Scarlet]

my story said "the end" but it's not the end?

Found this quote as the title of a neoboard, and I thought the sentence quite interesting. The board itself is asking why the editor wrote "The End" on a part of their NT series that wasn't the final part. But imagine what the quote could have referred to! Like a character who isn't convinced their story is over.

[downrightdude]

*needs to revitalize my writing mojo*

It's too hard to be productive!

[Gelquie]

So my story accidentally involves a miscommunication. It's one I kind of want to explore, but I don't want it to be too annoying of one (because I find miscommunication tropes annoying too, because so many people do them wrong or sloppily!), but on the other hand, miscommunications IRL are... so easy. I'm looking to create a nuanced one, where no one really smells like roses but it's all able to be talked out later.

Question is whether I'm achieving that balance, and whether the inciting incident is... too contrived.

So, here is your chance to play Am I the Buttface: Nuanced Neopets Edition. I'll post the inciting incident excerpt of my WIP here, with names and pronouns changed so you don't associate them with certain characters. I'm looking for opinions on Alex and Brook.

Do you think anyone's particularly being a jerk? Do you think there's room for miscommunication on both sides here, or do you think someone is being full jerk or full innocent? Is this contrived to the point where you would be annoyed? Do you disagree with other peoples' comments on this? Bring on your (nuanced) judgements.

SPOILER: Click to show

Although the walk was short, it wasn't long before the moquots found them. Volunteers used their own magics, with varying success. Some used air magic to create a wind shield, some used earth magic to hide their scent, others fire to ward the bugs away...

And one striped uni muttered something unintelligible, creating a dark shield around herself that caused all nearby moquots to fall at once.

"Fyora's sake!" cried a green bruce, who stepped back from the uni.

The uni scoffed. "You don't need to avoid it, I only put enough power in it to get rid of the bugs."

The bruce shuddered before turning to his usul companion. "All the dark magic ever done and the darkness from the void, and people still have the audacity to lean into it."

"Maybe working for them in secret?" The cloud usul muttered worryingly.

"Oh shut up and keep it to yourself. Enjoy the Moquots." The uni rolled her eyes and paced to the front of the group.

The bruce shook his head. "What? Dark magic? The dark Void? I can't be the only one who sees it!"

Others in the group murmured mixed opinions, some with a wary look towards the Uni. "It was pretty extreme." "So are the Moquots though, what's the problem?" "What is the difference between dark magic and magic from the void, really?" "Especially destructive ones like that..."

"Can we move ahead?" Brook muttered to Alex.

Alex nodded vaguely, and they moved away from the murmurs.

"Even if the Void is from darkness, that doesn't mean that it's from all darkness," Brook grumbled.

Alex nodded slowly. "Yeah. The type could be anything..."

"Whats wrong, Alex? You're being quiet."

Alex's mouth thinned as they pondered what to say.

"...Don't tell me you agree with him?" Brook looked incredulous.

"No, he's out of line." Alex's frown deepened as they looked distantly. "It's just, the Void being dark magic connected is a thought-"

"A thought? He's only out of line? She's done nothing wrong and has just as much right to be here as the rest of us. You should know that by now."

"No, I know! I-- By now? What--?"

"You know what, I'm talking to her." Brook moved ahead towards the Uni, where they engaged in casual conversation. Alex bit their lip and shut their eyes tight.

"You can do better than [misgender]," the bruce caught up to tell Alex. "I can see that you--"

"No you don't, shut up. Everyone, shut up." Alex moved ahead and walked alone.

(In case the parallel isn't clear, I'm generally treating dark magic here as something that Neopets can be bigoted about.)