Reg Shoe, Rising

Do you embody any stereotypes?

Castle spoilers ahead, in case anyone cares hasn’t watched it all yet

Senator Bracken telling Kate that she should be grateful to him for killing her mom giving her The Tragic BackstoryTM that motivated her & led to all of her current achievements is so Tumblr-writing-prompt-esque… I can’t

Sometimes my brain’s like “hey, here, out of nowhere, a name that’s absolutely perfect for your character!" But most times it’s like "no. nope. this one sounds ugly. this one doesn’t feel like her. this one spells ugly. this one’s nice but transliterates awfully. she doesn’t look like this one. I hate this one for no reason. This one’s good but I already have a character named like this in the same work"

Also for me it’s certainly not the single most stressful part, but it is a special kind of stress to have someone on your character list who is just a description without a name. I’m not even talking about actually writing someone yet unnamed.

why is it that naming characters is the single most stressful part of writing? i’ll spend weeks drafting intricate plots and creating entire fake histories for countries, but the moment i have to name someone, my brain is like, 'uhhhh… kevin?' i can’t have my epic fantasy hero named kevin! but then i overthink it and end up with something like arithalas drakemourn, which sounds like a bad d&d oc. there is no winning.

I was told she pets other dogs but I wasn’t ready for how funny it is

The most typical of the typical days in a writer’s (my) life

This. I do not actively seek a romantic relationship right now and I don’t know if I would or would not like to have any in the future. But I suppose that if joining the Jedi Order was an available option for me and not something:

a) fictional,

b) only available to individuals with certain abilities,

c) only to be joined at a very young age,

then giving up romance would seem a small price for everything that the Jedi Order has to offer and that was listed in the previous posts:

friendly community

lifelong financial stability

loving and supportive environment

self-fulfilment through helping make the world a better place

encouragement to learn, explore, discover and teach

learning to manage my emotions in a healthy way

also, all sorts of wild adventures

getting cool Force powers and learning how to master them

last but not least, wielding a lightsaber

If there was a real-world community that provided all these things and didn’t require worshipping any deity, and if I knew for sure that they were legit, did actual good things, taught actual cool skills and didn’t scam, trick or manipulate anyone, then I would’ve seriously considered joining them instead of having to drag myself through all these job-career-success things and all the marriage-family-reproduction pressure and other stuff. (don’t worry, I’m not actually considering joining a real-life cult. I’m aware that in reality there’s no way of knowing if any organisation is what it claims to be, and I know that even without Force powers such community sounds too good to be true. I’m just dreaming here, ok?)

Call me crazy, but I know for a fact that I would not want a romantic relationship if I was a Jedi.

If I lived somewhere where I was a part of a community of people that I considered my mentors, my friends, my family; if I lived somewhere where I was encouraged to learn, to travel, to help people, to enjoy life as it is, and better myself; if I lived somewhere where I was supported and loved and cared for by the community, and I did the supporting, the loving, the caring for other people in the community as well; if I lived somewhere where it wasn't constantly implied, or sometimes outright stated, that my worth was tied to me marrying a man, popping out children, and making money...

...if I was a Jedi, I can honestly say that the thought of pursuing a romantic relationship probably wouldn't cross my mind at all---not unless I met someone specific whom I felt that sort of connection with, but even then, I probably wouldn't give up being a Jedi to be with them because I'd feel more fulfilled as a Jedi than I would in a romantic relationship.

I honestly don't understand the assumption that the Jedi are miserable because they can't get married, I really don't.

If you feel like you wouldn't be able to be fulfilled without a romantic partner, then that's fine! Everyone's different! We all have different wants and needs! But just accept that you wouldn't be fulfilled without a romantic relationship and stop acting like it's impossible for anyone else to feel differently.

The Jedi all seem perfectly happy as they are.

“where do you get your ideas?”

me: *gestures vaguely to the chaos in my brain*

10 years on...

This photo is so him. He was my author. He was my friend. Like all of you, I miss him everyday. Thank you for keeping the ripples going.