Thoughts on a Certain Thread of Writing Tips: Also A Thread

I'm using screencaps bc the point is not to drag the author of these tips, but to dispute the content thereof. please *don't* go seek the OP out even to argue with them.

the reason characters w/romantic or sexual tension get together at the end of a story is because it resolves the romantic &/or sexual tension between them.

if characters get together before the end of the story, a new form of tension generally replaces the rom/sex tension.

this, like many other tweets in this Writing Tips thread (& many of the tweets I'm making in response), is a matter of opinion.

Friends to Lovers is probably more realistic than Enemies to Lovers, but part of the fun of fictional stories is the improbability. :)

Zuko's story is a redemption arc because Zuko himself was cruel, imperialistic, and abusive to others, and he spent most of ATLA unlearning all those toxic behaviors & thought patterns & made amends.

Recovery from the abuse he suffered just happened to be part of that process.

This is a dig at She-Ra's ending (as are many other tweets in this thread). so:

1) I don't go here, but I'm pretty sure this is an oversimplification of Catradora's emotional arc
2) two characters trying to murder e/o & then kissing 'out of nowhere' is a common UST trope-->

-->that's reliant on widespread societal conflation of violence & sexual tension (a toxic, real life problem).

some ways that ppl react to this toxic institutionalized issue include kinking on pain, or enjoying tropes like 'enemies to lovers' & rivalshipping.-->

-->(& some ppl just like those things without feeling like it's a subconscious reaction to toxic social sex/violence issues.)

in any case: cart, horse, backwards, & 'fetishized abuse & violence' is an exaggeration.

my first reaction to this was honestly 'oh boy, somebody better tell the Devil May Cry Vergil fans that their fave is no longer redeemable'

my second thought was 'this is an awfully exact amount'

(I'm missing the point, I know)

I'd argue that sometimes a creator's worldbuilding can tell on them, exposing their bigotry/ignorance unintentionally.

but I'd rather a creator say 'wow, you're right, that's really effed up of me! how can I correct this?' than try to paper it over with further worldbuilding.

tips 11 & 12 are standard anti-shipper talking points that look reasonable at 1st glance, but considering how words like 'minor', 'pedophilia', 'sexualize', and 'teenage' have historically been misused by anti-shippers, it's hard to know if they *mean* what they actually *say*.

age of consent laws can be pretty messed up/absurd, but when they're brought up in this context? It's pretty much *always* an excuse for an American to be imperialist. 'Your local consent laws are disgusting, so you can't use them as an excuse for not following GOOD consent law.'

skipping over whatever I don't have anything to say on/don't feel energized enough about to give additional thoughts ...

i agree with some of these tips, unsurprisingly, though most of them I'd phrase differently /shrugs

the problem isn't the boob armor, or the sexual appeal: it's the overrepresentation of straight white cis dudes in character design work. (I doubt OP would be as bothered if they imagined a lesbian creating characters they found hot w/these tropes.)

more! diversity! in! design!!

BUT if you LIKE to plan out every detail, that's ok too!

I know a writer who plans every plot point, then uses an RNG to help them generate details.

how you plan & write is definitely a highly personal thing :)

this comparison bothers me

Friends is more popular than your fave anime IN AMERICA b/c 'Friends' was a American primetime TV show made for (white) Americans, & your favorite anime was not. (betcha the anime was more popular than 'Friends' in Japan.)

Counterpoint: Katekyo Hitman Reborn

7 volumes of slapstick silliness

then it got serious. & stayed serious.

& it was all the silliness that made the characters matter to the audience when it became a drama

what did third person limited ever do to you?

(as the author of a story YOU should probably know what everyone is doing & when, but that doesn't mean it has to be visible to the audience)

tip 36 says 'will they, won't they' stories are 'addiction-peddling'

I don't like those kinds of stories either, but if there's a healthy place to indulge emotions induced by relationship tension that teases relief but never actually gets relieved, it's in fiction

Let Fictional Lesbians Be Problematic And Let Their Relationships Be Toxic Sometimes

(The way the person being quoted put it is crass, but OP also uses it in a misleading context here.)

misuse of 'fetishize', 'abuse', and 'gaslighting' here.

*I* think the most feminist thing to do is support every woman's right to ship whatever they want, even if it's problematic, as long as they don't use their ships as an excuse to harm other, REAL people.

"(41) Rape victims are not villains and should never be written as villains."

wait, so ... abuse victims can't be villains?

-->

-->well this puts a new perspective on the 'Zuko's arc isn't a redemption arc' thing.

according to OP, Zuko couldn't get a 'redemption arc' b/c as an abuse victim, he was never a villain in the 1st place.

Getting 'REAL abuse victims NEVER have toxic reactions to abuse' vibes.->

-->also getting 'In fiction, I think suffering abuse is humanizing, and villains should never be humanized' vibes.

... come to think of it, that's what this whole thread is about: creating stories with flat role model characters & uncomplicated morality

-->which, I mean, that's fine if you want to do that, I guess?

but the real world isn't *remotely* that simplistic, & calling shippers of certain ships 'abuse fetishists' & such suggests OP doesn't recognize that :T

listen:

I would absolutely love to see a mainstream work of fiction resolve a love triangle with a stable polyamorous relationship

(but it's not necessarily 'the best' solution)

'Bury Your Gays' has a complicated history in American pub: specifically, for a very long time it was the only way to get stories w/explicitly queer romantic/sexual content published at all.

so: a lot of LGBTQ+ ppl created 'bury your gays' stories b/c at least it was SOMETHING.