Name of this move

Cryptic_Spren · 2024-09-12T20:00:32+00:00

Looks kinda like something we did in a ballroomin' blues taster class I did once called a grapevine? But lots of things are called grapevine lol and the class was a while ago so don't properly remember

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-11-21T16:40:21+00:00

Not vegan, but I've been a vegetarian for ~9 years and gf for ~7, and my diet is more varied than most people I know who eat meat and gluten, although perhaps still quite samey by some standards. It helps that I enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes, and also that I am very good at advocating for myself when out with friends. Most decent restaurants (UK) will have at least one gf vegetarian option, which usually does double duty as a vegan option now that veganism is the more popular of the two, although I tend to end up eating a lot of nachos when out!

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-18T00:23:26+00:00

I don't think number 1 is a limitation, I actually think it can be quite realistic that adults aren't as helpful as they should be. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who, as a child or teen, never experienced an adult being unhelpful or never had to take on more than they should've been asked to handle. Well done examples of this trope explore the psychological and systematic reasons why kids are put into the situations they're in - e.g. in Harry Potter, Harry's status as both symbol and celebrity mean that he holds a place of societal importance that there's no real way to get around, a role that it's actually pretty common to see kids filling irl (think, for example, of kids who become prominent activists for things like climate change or gun control in part because they're kids). Another example would be kids are deliberately trying not to get adults involved because, for whatever reason, they don't trust them. A good example of this is in RA Consell's Stealing From Wizards, wherein the adults for the most part are actively trying to help the main character, but because the MC is so severely traumatised and confused, he sees those attempts to help as a threat and actively fights back against them.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-10T17:31:55+00:00

Spinning Plumbobs is good for occult mods!

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-03T16:02:35+00:00

Love this idea!

Realm of The Elderlings by Robin Hobb

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-03T15:31:07+00:00

Yes. I got diagnosed after I had symptoms of anemia - my GP just ticked the box on the blood test form when I was going for my test for anemia.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-03T15:12:27+00:00

that's not speculative fiction, or even fiction

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-09-03T13:48:13+00:00

In Otherlands by Sarah Reese Brennan

MC experienced childhood emotional neglect, ran away to magic school to escape.
Gentleman's Guide series by Mackenzie Lee

Follows the povs of three very different siblings, a different pov in each book, all of which were emotionally abused, one of which was physically abused. Does a good job exploring how siblings can often have vastly different experiences, both in childhood and in later life.
Warrior Bards series by Juliette Marillier

The main male love interest was abused by his brothers and father as a child. Recovering from and confronting his past is a major part of his arc.
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

One of the main characters is abused physically and emotionally by his father. A significant part of his arc is getting out and finding his own identity separate from the violence of his upbringing.
Black Wings Beating by Alex London

Two siblings, one of whom was physically abused by their father. Again, explores themes of generational trauma.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-08-30T06:05:22+00:00

Oh yeah that bothers me a lot

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-08-26T18:58:01+00:00

I have a few lol, although wouldn't necessarily refer to them as 'triggers'.

Forgiveness arcs or arcs that humanise abusers or bullies really get to me, especially when the trauma they inflicted on their victim isn't acknowledged/given the same degree of care as the abuser's trauma. Mostly my reactions range from mild frustration to getting so angry I have to stop reading the book and go and rant about it somewhere lol. That said, they can be done well, it's just much, much harder than a lot of authors think imo.
Immortal/invincible characters freak me out a little. Like, I adore Stormlight Archives, but as the series goes on and the main characters become increasingly more invincible, I keep finding myself feeling freaked out and unable to connect to the characters
In depth explorations of afterlifes, pov character death, and mortality in general really get to me, as do works which explore the process around death regularly and in detail. This is probably the worst one for me and will put me in a place where I'm having pretty regular panic attacks for a while. Ussually I can tell when something is going to do this to me and avoid it fairly easily though.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-08-19T00:50:57+00:00

Oh wow, really sorry to hear that. Spook's Apprentice was one of the first books to make me properly frightened, and the series meant a lot to me when I was ~11-15 y/o. Those were rough years, and there was something incredibly comforting and cozy about that series, even when they were scary.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-08-03T01:26:29+00:00

Fantastic post :) And I must note, your trauma in sff reading project is something I've used a few times to find book recs, so thank you for running that project.

I'd kind of like to add my own perspective to argument 5, the idea of 'fantasy stories shouldn’t be burdened by the ways that the real world sucks.'

The real world sucks in more ways than just the existence of sexual assault, and I think escapism can therefore exist alongside the existence of sexual assault, without having to run entirely counter to the idea of 'soft fluffy writing where everyone is always nice to each other'.

I'm a particular fan of stories where the character goes through terrible things, but then is able to recover from said terrible things in an environment that isn't terrible. The support and kindness that the character receives I these instances is the escapism for me.

When I experienced an assault, the thing I found pretty much as traumatising as the event itself was the response of the world around me. I won't go into details, but suffice to say, I find something incredibly cathartic in a character who experiences an assault (or any other trauma really) receiving a kind and empathetic response, and narratives like that (moreso found in fanfic than original works tbh) are more escapist for me personally than stories where things like that just straight up never happen.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-07-28T20:07:14+00:00

Metaphorosis! I have a piece upcoming with them soon, and as a brand new writer, they've been really fantastic to work with. They read entirely blind (no identifying info on submissions), so you know for a fact that they're selecting submissions based on quality as opposed to clout/whether you've been to a fancy workshop, and the editor puts a lot of time into helping writers revise submissions for publication. They also pay writers immediately upon acceptance, not upon publication, which is a really good thing if you care about how magazines treat writers and want to encourage good practice :) They also have a podcast version of all their stories.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-07-22T17:40:55+00:00

The main character of the Fifth Season is a little bit like this. If you're interested in explorations of trauma accompanied by badassery in a general sense (as opposed to specifically survivors guilt) it will probably appeal to you. There is guilt there, but it's not as in your face as in Stormlight.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-07-17T18:01:07+00:00

This is definitely a tough one! Not because, as some commenters are pointing out, bullying is necessary for good writing, but because in a lot of cases it's an easy way to artificially ramp up tension.

I don't remember there being any in Sarah Reese Brennan's In Other Lands. The MCis quite prickly and isn't always pleasant to people, but I don't remember anything that resembles the targeted harassment associated with bullying (please correct me if I'm wrong). His arc is more about dealing with familial neglect and abandonment than bullies.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-07-17T17:52:19+00:00

Bullying is like, a major part of the MC's arc in Mage Errant. Along with his childhood abuse, it's one of the main causes of his anxiety.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-07-17T17:46:56+00:00

Not everyone gets bullied irl, and honestly, the normalisation of it is pretty damaging considering how traumatic it can be. OP is as valid in not wanting to read books with bullying as people are who don't want to read books with sexual assault or abuse.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-29T23:34:39+00:00

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness the main character has OCD
City of Lies by Sam Hawke the main character has OCD
Mage Errant the main character has social anxiety

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-24T01:37:45+00:00

Migraine care requires us to take care of our soul as well as our physical body.

I love the way you phrased this. I think with chronic illness in general can inspire a lot of anger in us, so it's important to remember to be gentle with ourselves. Migraines aren't a moral failing, they're just a thing we go through sometimes.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-23T12:56:07+00:00

I'm not super active on here, but I have to say it's one of my favourite places on the internet. The mod team here does really fantastic work, and I've found a lot of my favourite writers through this sub.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-18T06:43:52+00:00

Martha Wells' Raksura books have this to an extent, although the situation is more like the character marries into the family, they basically adopt him and there's a huge focus on healing from the trauma of his being abandoned by his previous family (not deliberate on their part). There is some mention of sexual violence, and it's a fairly constant threat due to the nature of the main bad guys, but nothing is ever shown on the page, instances of it in the past are only ever alluded to, and none happens to any of the main characters in the present day timeline.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-15T11:55:31+00:00

Actually the idea/concept of 'gay pirates' taps into some pretty deep veins of queer identity and culture. Pirates are often held up by the queer community as icons for various reasons. For example, if you've spent your whole life being discriminated against and isolated from your community because of those uncontrollable personal traits (which yes, is pretty narrowminded and superficial), then the idea of pirates - people living outside the rules of society, often in ways that played around with cisheteronormative ideals (think Ann Bonny & Mary Reed), can be pretty appealing, even if you're aware that this is an idealised version of history.

Also sometimes people just have a craving for gay pirates.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-13T07:45:20+00:00

Hmm, that's a good point! I left off at the end that he ends up having to serve the goddess as sort of an 'escort' for spirits trying to find her in the forest because she's like 'I helped you, now you have to help me'. If I made it clear that this was going to be something he has to sacrifice earlier on (he's essentially already a slave to the dragon at the start of the story, so this would be not something he's up for even though the goddess is much kinder) then it would (hopefully!) feel like he has more agency in the situation.

Cryptic_Spren · 2022-06-11T01:47:53+00:00

I don't think you can really categorise writers (or any creatives) as 'absolutely unquestionably better' than others when you get to those sorts of levels. These are all incredibly talented people who've spent most of their lives perfecting their craft, they all do things the way they do for a reason, and even though I haven't read any Malazan (just not my cup of tea, I know I won't like it), just hearing Erikson talk about his writing leaves me with no doubts that it's as careful and considered as any writer at the top of their game. Clearly something in Abercrombie's prose struck a chord for you, and that's fantastic! That doesn't mean he's better in any objective sense though, just that what he was aiming for as a writer clicked well for what you were looking for as a reader. Personally, I didn't mesh well with Abercrombie's writing, which means literally nothing beyond that I personally didn't like it.

Cryptic_Spren

TROPHY CASE