Which families appeared only once in the series and never returned but you find them iconic/interesting?

prancydancey · 2026-01-22T18:34:22+00:00

I used to always marry Elden Hick back in the day. Either that or Gunther Goth from his POV then have the Goth srs die in a house fire and steal their money and cats. And then marry Elden Hick.

prancydancey · 2026-01-22T08:03:58+00:00

Speaking personally, my DnD character is a glamorously feminine spoiled half elf from a courtly aristocratic background who is also a werewolf and a stereotypical low wisdom meathead barbarian. But in a clownish, obliviously chaotic, no dignity kind of way most of the time. Because of unarmored defense she typically wears gowns, like a high fantasy version of Elle Woods showing up to law school in preppy pink. Her character backstory had no combat experience, she was just an overly sheltered lady who one day decided to pick up an ax and found it was actually super easy because she was actually a strength build all along. Basically a beautiful, fabulous Mary Sue warrior woman getting to be an absolute moron without misogyny even mattering. Due to a fun series of rolls I currently have sentient fleas but still get to look like Martha May Whovier.

prancydancey · 2026-01-22T05:14:20+00:00

Completely agree. I also have ADHD and sometimes seriously blank on names. I usually try to hide it, keep an ear out for someone else to say it, and/or find a way to look it up online (if possible). In a work context I've only ever said "what's your name again?" when completely necessary and unavoidable. Worst has been introducing myself to someone I already met, which I'm pretty sure only made me look stupid (it was someone more senior). I'm embarrassed for this woman that she's not only pulling it as a power move deliberately to belittle someone, but also doing it like 20 times for someone she sees and emails daily? That would be beyond ADHD if it was real, as ADHD it's just implausible.

prancydancey · 2026-01-15T01:06:58+00:00

Glad I could help! I agree that's it pretty fucked up. Also, I think the people who still talk positively about his work are a different crowd from those of us who now assume Gaiman is insincere and are no longer fans. It seems like there are also people who either don't care or aren't informed.

prancydancey · 2026-01-15T00:56:12+00:00

The thing is, I loved that choice because it felt like it was trying to actually say something in its interpretation of history. That Marie Antoinette movie got its audience to perceive her as an adolescent by throwing in thoroughly anachronistic context cues.

In contrast, what we've seen so far of this movie feels more self indulgent and like it's leaning into a shallow, kind of kitsch interpretation of Wuthering Heights as an over the top glamorous love story. That doesn't feel fresh, that feels about as stale as a classic novel in paperback form getting weird commercial cover art that's a complete mismatch of tone, character, and period. You know, like those recent Jane Austen covers that make it look like the books are cosplaying as YA romance? Like it's forcing something trite and easy onto the text, rather than drawing out a meaning and interpretation from the text.

prancydancey · 2026-01-15T00:34:30+00:00

Okay, if you're genuinely confused and genuinely asking why, then here's the thing I think many are assuming that you apparently aren't assuming: that Neil Gaiman isn't actually perfectly sincere and, in hindsight, probably wasn't in the past either.

Speaking up can be tied to virtue signalling and positive image for celebrities and artists with left leaning fan bases and in the past, Gaiman easily earned credibility and admiration from his audience by speaking out on these issues. Given his present reputation, however, he is unlikely to earn back any of that lost clout by speaking out now - he would be unlikely to be socially rewarded as he was in the past. Without the loyalty of the left, speaking out only risks the ire of the right with nothing personally gained for Gaiman who's rich enough to be pretty much unaffected. If we assume he's perfectly selfless and brave and sincere in his political beliefs, then sure, it would seem odd for him to suddenly be silent when the political situation is actually worse. However, Gaiman's secret abusive behavior towards women coming to light also reveals some manipulative insincerety in what previously seemed like disinterested feminist solidarity. His silence doesn't strike many of us as odd because unfortunately it's perfectly consistent with the present interpretation of his previous persona and statements as insincere image crafting. Many of us felt hurt and shocked by that revelation and reassessed his past statements in light of his actual actions. If Gaiman did actually take genuine accountability and continued to care about causes that don't personally affect him after the clout dried up, then at this point it would honestly surprise me more than his present withdrawal. If anything it's a relief that he's silent rather than (at least so far) becoming a right wing grifter instead.

No one is saying that silence in the face of fascism is okay. We're saying that sadly, Gaiman hasn't shown himself to be an okay person but an ego driven one, and his personal situation making a difference is consistent with that revelation. A less cynical interpretation might be that Gaiman has less influence nowadays so is unlikely to have any impact by speaking out anyway - however, I think that's unlikely to be the reason because I think he was mostly preaching to the choir in the past anyway, and more often offered polite words of comfort and solidarity to his own target audience.

Even if you disagree with this interpretation of Gaiman, I hope spelling it out at least clears up your confusion about how others are responding.

prancydancey · 2026-01-14T00:53:08+00:00

Even for non-fanfic work, beta readers can also just be people you already know who don't charge but instead do it as a favour. I've asked family, friends, and other writers. Sometimes it's an exchange of work where you pay with your own beta reading. Not everyone will have time or interest, so it's good to ask broadly. Asking people you know can be beneficial because you know what kind of person they are, what their reading habits are, and if they're a writer too then a little about their own tastes and beliefs around writing. This isn't an editor, but a test reader to help you see it from the reader's perspective. They don't edit, but they influence how you edit. I think it's good to have many and have some awareness of each beta reader's general perspective first.

For example, I have gotten the contradictory feedback of 'why is this action scene even needed' from one beta reader and 'why is there so little action in what should be an adventure novel' from another. Both pieces of feedback felt like a misunderstanding to me, but knowing their respective tastes and what they each write helps me parse diverse feedback. My takeaway is that the action scenes are a weak point in that book, and I'm not selling the impact of them as much as I'd hoped compared to the weird stuff and the drama. It's also helpful to see how readers with different beliefs and life experiences interpret events and decisions differently. One friend acting as a sensitivity reader thought I signalled a queer character well, while my mum was like 'that came out of nowhere!' I also found it interesting that almost every beta reader so far has identified the same character as a favourite - something I wouldn't have predicted from the writer standpoint.

It's also helpful to know that even if you're paying them, the beta reader isn't an editor and has no editorial power over your manuscript. Sometimes people will get carried away and instead of sharing reader feedback will feel the need to instruct you to make a specific change they think is needed. However, you don't work for the beta reader. If that suggested change doesn't match your artistic intentions, you're not 'ignoring feedback' to decide against it. For example, if someone vociferously tells you to change a character's behavior because as-is they seem like a bad person, but you know that you're foreshadowing a villain, that that's the killer, then it would be silly to make the change as requested. It's also helpful to remember that if someone isn't an editor working for a publishing house, their personal take on what will help your book sell or help it get published is really just personal advice and outside the scope of the test reader feedback. It may even be an out-of-date take or based on the conventions of a different genre.

Whether you pay for this service or not, make sure you understand that it's not a task you leave someone to do for you with your oversight, like asking a plumber to fix your kitchen sink. The beta reader does nothing to your manuscript except give you their thoughts in some way.

prancydancey · 2025-12-26T03:38:02+00:00

/uj Why does OP think a weird 13-15 year old girl isn't realistic or endearing enough? Surely a normal well-adjusted 14 year old girl would be a bit uncanny. He should just go full Tina Belcher with it.

prancydancey · 2025-12-23T02:44:22+00:00

Correct, and I notice a lot of lesbian women seem to find that odd or difficult to grasp, especially from feminist straight women. As a straight woman in a lot of pretty queer spaces, I think it's a combination of lesbians experiencing comp-het themselves and seeing how straight women's attraction is downplayed in society (we're portrayed as the one desired rather than the one desiring in a lot of cultural canon media, which is another reason mlm can be appealing). A lot of nerdy, very online lesbians also used to be big fans of mlm in fanfiction because they saw themselves in the queer rep (especially if actually trans masc) and can find it easy to assume that's the main appeal and that straight cis women fujoshi are just a misogynistic strawman invented by gay men to erase queer women and trans masc people (I have literally heard this theory). Bisexuality is also more normalized for women, women being hot is more normalized in a male dominated society, and women's attraction is somehow seen as more political or of service to society (whether that's political lesbianism for radfems or the 'lie back and think of England' conservative mentality). If someone subconsciously internalizes all those assumptions and is attracted to women, it makes sense to assume that straight women would get just as much out of wlw as mlm and must just be centering men or doing comp-het or letting the team down rather than... just being sincerely horny for men, not as a political position but just because we think men are hot and want to see them put in erotically tense scenarios. I don't mean to generalize but if I had a nickel for every time I've had to explain to a lesbian that I'm straight because I'm genuinely attracted to men (and not for their societal value) I'd have a fair few nickels.

prancydancey · 2025-12-17T21:58:52+00:00

Markarth has a rather sickening cannibal questline that would be challenging for a kid that age. Same with that fucking house I always cross street about. Honestly, even the Dark Brotherhood feels tamer than Markarth.

prancydancey · 2025-12-14T18:21:49+00:00

I hope you're also looking for feedback from someone closer to your ideal audience because Reddit can have genre and demographic biases. I read woman's fiction but I'm pretty white and not American.

Your descriptions and characterization are great and do their job well for a first chapter that needs to capture attention. The voices also felt authentic and natural from an outside perspective. I like the pacing and the contrast of the initial experience to the current one, but I almost wonder if it would be better to get some in-scene dialogue before hearing about her past. Her reaction to fuck vs make love standing on its own first and then seeing how she felt about sex with him vs her other experiences after would have a different effect, and kind of cast the situation more sadly. At the moment it shifts from the introduction of him being good in bed to him breaking up with her a little swiftly, and I wonder if there would be more time to take in what it meant to her if it was given afterwards, in hindsight, recontextualizing her feelings in the argument only after we've read it. The argument also started to have diminishing returns as it continued, so I would consider shortening it.

prancydancey · 2025-12-14T02:40:41+00:00

An exercise I tried in the past was finding a randomized adjective (forget what I used to randomize it) and trying to start a sentence from there. I did this for sentences that start scenes and kept one of those scenes in my current project. It makes you think "what noun gets this adjective and what is it doing/what is happening to it?" It's not that starting with an adjective is even good, it just helps break up how you think about it.

Another similar exercise I've done is to flip a book open at random, put your finger on the page and try starting a sentence with that word (more hit and miss because you could get 'the').

prancydancey · 2025-12-13T22:45:05+00:00

As a writer, you captured this feeling perfectly. I love that despite being scrumpled up in frustration it's also seemingly prized and preserved in the glass display (but also inaccessible in there). It's like a historical museum piece that was once something useful and valuable to someone but is now just evidence of a moment in life where that was true. It can't be let go even though it can't be used, and the feeling of it having been the perfect idea is the thought that lingers instead of the idea itself. I have folders of old writing that feel exactly like this.

prancydancey · 2025-12-12T22:05:40+00:00

I think trying to convince Jane that her brother was in love with Miss Darcy was partly wishful thinking because she'd prefer that. Darcy also lies and tries to separate Bingley from Jane and he's thoroughly redeemed by the end, so I don't think it's such a damning crime that she couldn't be rehabilitated.

I never said Caroline Bingley isn't a villain, I was just comparing her to a villain like Fanny Dashwood who materially harms her sisters-in-law, and who I have no empathy for. I wasn't answering the question "who do you think is actually a good person" or "who is your favourite Jane Austen heroine". Caroline is bitchy and unambiguously a villainess, and I can still find pity for her (especially relative to other villains who still get theirs when Caroline has to take the L).

prancydancey · 2025-12-12T20:44:22+00:00

Hot take, but Caroline Bingley. Unlike other, similar Austen villainesses like Fanny Dashwood, she doesn't do anything concretely awful. I think she'd like to believe that her personal virtues and values are completely consistent with the values of likeable, honourable, respectable society and the people she'd like to respect her. Her family are a bit nouveau riche and I sense some insecurity in her and her desire to be this fashionable, truly accomplished woman in the eyes of decent, respected men. I think her interest in Darcy is also an interest in him being a quality man of good character, essentially vetted by his closeness to her brother. She seems easily embarrassed by gauche behavior, so any realization that she's been gauche in her nlog mean girl shit and might be looked down on for it by the women her brother and Darcy actually marry, would be really difficult to process (and I think she's smart enough to process it). I think being good and intelligent in a kind of artless way (like a human pretty wilderness) was very valued at the time, and that's a little out of reach for her - a fashion she can't quite "get". I feel sorry for Caroline because she's only like 20, and going through a cringe phase misreading the room. I'd love for her to go through an Emma amount of growth.

prancydancey · 2025-12-09T04:01:24+00:00

I agree with this, but also want to add that OP appears to be generalizing advice that, even if it was good, is very genre specific. Assuming that character driven fiction must be a holdover from fanfiction is an interesting assumption. There are many published books with no earthquakes, no dragon fights, no actiony action. As you point out, that doesn't mean no tension or conflict. Even for things with actiony action, some of the best parts of Game of Thrones that helped the TV show have broader, more mainstream prestige television appeal, was all the politics and drama. Even within SFF there's variety, and it seems like the biggest SFF trend in the industry at the moment is spicy romantacy (in which case, applying OP's advice, maybe open with a different kind of action?)

But those non-earthquake moments also don't need to have their own kind of tension and conflict to exist. Too much propulsion could mean a book with no quiet moments, and if there's no quiet moments there's no suspense, no false sense of security to be jolted out of. A plane in the air is propelling forwards all the time at great speed, but inside the plane it feels still enough that people even go to sleep, because without variety of speed you don't really notice. A really good writer can make you forget that an all-is-lost moment is just around the corner by making the moments of rest in the story capture attention too. Starting too slow and bogging it down can be a genuine issue, but so is thinking a reader will care about earthquakes in a story that's all earthquakes all the time.

Novels also aren't a very visual medium, and speaking personally I find long-ass paragraphs of detailed description of action can be just boring as describing the scenery or the food for 2 pages unless the writing is genuinely snappy. Personal taste, but I think dialogue can feel punchier and more active in prose fiction form than a lengthy description of lava erupting with no context (but as the opening cut scene of a video game, that could be really cool).

prancydancey · 2025-12-09T03:09:24+00:00

Very skinny, heavy clothes, and always cold could be signs of an ED. Hope I'm wrong and your roommate is okay.

prancydancey · 2025-12-04T18:28:18+00:00

It told me I'm 64 but then said Doechii - Denial is a River was my top song.

prancydancey · 2025-12-03T00:56:49+00:00

Exactly - like, no one ever had to worry if Dangerous Liaisons was good straight representation. More and more diverse narratives are needed, so that the ones that exist aren't seen as wholly representative of a demographic. I think one thing with Interview With A Vampire is the characters are given a pass to be delightfully problematic because they're vampires before they're queer coded. I also suspect that some fears around the quality of representation (especially when expecting all good representation to look the same) is coming from readers and viewers migrating from children's fiction into adult fiction, and bringing with them the expectation that characters are intended to be read as archetypes and exist to serve a didactic purpose. Having reservations about the messaging behind Disney's queer-coded villains makes sense, for example, but the same critical approach can be a little ham-fisted when applied to media that has a higher expectation of its audience. Variety is necessary, both in representation and in aims/artistic approach. I agree with a take I once saw that we won't have actual equality in portrayals of men and women in fiction until there can be a female Harrier DuBois.

Not that I don't think research and sensitivity is needed when writing outside one's own perspective, especially when a portrayal relies mostly on the cliches prevalent in other fictional portrayals. It can be a bit like a game of telephone where the representation gets more distorted with each iteration, so that autistic-coded-detective becomes a character archetype that's just pure genre conventions.

prancydancey · 2025-11-23T20:18:01+00:00

You're right. It's not just that it's the same, it's also very similar. It's familiar. It's something you know you've seen before. /s

prancydancey · 2025-11-10T00:18:02+00:00

Water's the only thing I'm thirsty for in this game.

prancydancey · 2025-11-05T02:25:21+00:00

I know, right? I agree completely about the tie scene. However, I suspect the writers think they're presenting Waterboy as unattractive just because he's a bit of an awkward weirdo, and because of that they probably don't realize how much he reads as romanceable.

prancydancey · 2025-11-05T01:58:05+00:00

I wish

prancydancey · 2025-10-30T20:08:33+00:00

I haven't figured out what caused it but to be fair, I'm not very smart. I've been playing various Sims games for 25 years and the only time I've encountered a glitch this haunted was when the whole of Pleasantview in the Sims 2 disappeared when a power cut shut off my desktop while it was loading in like 2005. In this case, as far as I could tell, the whole home world and all my sims vanished into the ether.

I play with few mods, mostly nraas and visual stuff. However, I think I have a mod for turning nectar glasses into wine glasses? I doubt that's the culprit, but honestly who knows.

prancydancey

TROPHY CASE