It’s Okay If Your Prose Is Ugly Right Now. It’s Just Pre-gorgeous.

I find it frustrating and uncomfortable in fiction when children are used as props to make parent characters feel good about themselves, and as a reward for a romantic arc, rather than being characters with their own identity and agency.

And I think I feel that way because so often because in real life, many parents bring a child into the world simply as a reward for feeling successful in their romance, and to be props to make them feel good about themselves, rather than understanding that their children are full people with their own identity and agency that has to be respected.

Anaïs Nin, from The Voice

I should be able to both read for 8hrs a night and sleep for 8hrs a night. That I cannot is very rude and, frankly, poor design.

I think that “there are some fanfiction that are on par with or better than some professionally published books” and “you shouldn’t hold fanfiction to the standards you hold professionally published books as they are often only written by one not professional writer with no editor” are two statements that can and should coexist

In my main wip, I don’t think there’s even a moment where Everyone is happy. Like if I’m in a good mood I might actually add a happy ending, or at least a nice little epilogue.

My characters are so happy right now :) Should I... ruin... everything?

The barista in chapter three? She has a life outside of giving your protagonist coffee. The villain’s henchman? Maybe he’s just trying to pay off his dad’s medical bills. Every character has their own story, their own motivations. The world doesn’t revolve around your protagonist, don’t write like it does.

WHO ARE WE? WRITERS!

WHAT DO WE DO? WRITE!

WHEN DO WE DO IT?

And there was a silence...

On an unrelated note, should I start writing really indulgent one shots for my favorite fandoms? I’m tired of searching for my specific preferred flavor of bullshit and not finding what I want

bitch this is all you’re gonna get. this life, this face, this body. you better not ‘maybe in another universe’ your way out of everything. sit your ass down and face this. go make tea and have a picnic and read a goddamn book. kiss your loved ones, send that damn text, and hug your siblings. this is all you’re gonna get.

One thing I don't see show up as a consideration in worldbuilding a lot is what things are professionalized.

By that I mean how (and whether) certain activities or focuses are conducted in an organized, professional manner or treated as a career path or industry (often with set standards or training involved) rather than those that are treated primarily as hobbies or conducted in an ad hoc manner.

Standing armies, for example, are professionalized in a way that temporary armies or militias aren't. Being in the military is a profession that is organized and has specific standards and training and that clearly distinguishes between people who are or are not in the military. If we look at a lot of past wars, though, as well as many militias, being in the military was not a career for most people (especially most enlisted) and the time and effort between deciding to join and being on a battlefield was significantly smaller.

A professionalized military will generally be a stronger, more cohesive, more effective military--but it is also far more expensive to maintain, because as it is a profession the military servicemembers pull their salary from the military on a regular basis, and it takes away hands from other tasks such as manufacturing and farming.

Over the last few hundred years a lot of countries have seen (to varying degrees) professionalization of fields like firefighting, policing, pharmacology, emergency response, and search and rescue. In these cases, it reflects 1) a recognized need for a standing trained force that can respond quickly; 2) a recognized need for standards and credentialing; 3) the ability societally to have individuals who might otherwise be contributing to manufacturing or food production not do that indefinitely; 4) a dedicated ongoing effort to maintain standards, trainings, etc.; and 5) organizations (generally governments) that can pay for these services.

We also see the professionalization of other things, like youth sports--the push to treat youth sports as either primarily a system to develop professional athletes or a career on its own.

When you're doing worldbuilding, consider what roles would be treated in this professionalized manner, rather than those that would be viewed as temporary positions or conducted on an ad hoc basis.

Is there a standing professional military? How does the professionalization differ between officers and enlisted?

Is emergency preparedness, response, or recovery a professionalized field? Is the focus of that profession on planning? On search and rescue, triage, or other immediate response activities or coordination? On rebuilding following disasters? On managing grants, tax relief, or other monetary aspects of rebuilding?

Is pharmacology a regulated industry that requires training or credentialing? Is medicine?

Is firefighting generally conducted by individuals in the neighborhood? By private industry? By unpaid volunteers managed by a governmental or non-governmental organization? By full-time paid staff?

Are these positions generally a full-time job or an ad hoc/as needed job that can be called on? If it is an ad hoc position, what are the credentialing requirements to be put on the roster?